Hard Landing Chapter 1, an azur lane/碧蓝航线 fanfic

Hard Landing

Standard boilerplate that I don't own squat….

I don't know where this one is going to go yet… I do know that this will be a combination of AU/Non-canon/Anime/Game, I will be picking and choosing what I do and do not use… I'll try to keep the Kansen in line with who they are, but I can't be assured that I keep it completely inline.

It's going to open with the Commander's POV, most of the story will not be POV, however, switching about a third to halfway through chapter one. Any other major events that occur within the story may swap back to the Commander's POV.

Right now I'm leaning towards a Commander/Hornet parring or perhaps a Commander/Helena parring… But let's see where the story goes.

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Part One – Storm Front

I was lazily looking out the port side of my F/A-18E, I had drawn the short straw to fly ahead and try to make contact with a lost E-2D Hawkeye. The Airboss had been caught by surprise when a tropical storm just appeared out of nowhere on the last known heading of that bird, since I had been up on CAP rotation, I drew the lucky number.

I watch as the rain starts to hit my windscreen, the clouds got dark fast it seems… I give my fuel gage a flick with my left index finger; it's down to almost three quarters. I keep checking my RADAR for anything when I get a blip for a split second before it vanishes again. I hit the radio to try and make contact, what I hear back has me push into afterburner.

+This is EAGLE 4, unknown contacts on us!+

I call back to them, letting them know I'm on my way; +EAGLE 4, FELIX 4: ETA 30 seconds on last known location. Can you climb to ANGELS 15?+

+FELIX 4! Thank god, ascending to ANGLES 15… What the hell is that!?+ They called back to me over the radio link.

I go to try and make contact with them again, but I hear an explosion on their side then static. I take a deep breath and call my carrier, +UNION, FELIX 4, going weapons hot. Unknown hostiles reported from EAGLE 4.+

As I approach the last known position of the E-2D, I roll to starboard and dive down from thirty thousand feet, I can feel the blood rushing to my head with the negative G's I'm pushing in this dive. As I break through the cloud cover I see this black aircraft make for a pink disk floating in the sky. I note that I'm gaining on it; I'm clearly going to overtake it in a few seconds I switch to my AIM-9's and go for a lock.

Just as I get tone it goes into the pink disk, I'm going too fast and I'm too close to evade. I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a split second. I feel my craft shutter, the master alarm is going crazy… I open my eyes to see my displays flashing on and off again, the few actual mechanical dials are spinning like crazy. I look forward again and there is a bright light, I'm dead, I'm fucking dead, I know it…. Then the light fades and I can see the black craft again, I hear the tone and I release the missile. I watch it come off the rail to my port side, the smoke trail going right to the black craft, blowing it apart.

I roll so I can look to try and see the remains of the E-2D or maybe someone managed to bail out, but all I see is open water and a bright sunny day. I give my RADAR display a toggle to try and get it back online.

XXXX

A blue-haired Kansen tapped the side of her head and looked confused as she raced along the water with a blond with pigtails trying to chase down those that had launched a surprise attack on them.

A blond that was off to her side caught the action and she asked, "Helena, something wrong?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head as she said, "I'm not sure… I thought I picked up a Siren fighter, about fifty kilometers away… and a small bird?"

"A bird this far out, that's kind of weird isn't it?" the blond asked back.

Helena nodded, "That's what I thought, but the Siren fighter just vanished a moment ago…"

The blond came to a stop and summoned her ship, she needed to think and send out some scouts. Once the mighty Yorktown class carrier appeared out of thin air, below her feet, she walked the end of the flight deck and pointed out to the horizon, rumbling past her in pairs, stubby blue piston-powered aircraft ran down and off the deck.

Helena jumped up and onto the deck to stand beside the blond as she asked, "Hornet, what are you thinking?"

"You don't get small birds over open water. Maybe you picked something else up Helena… I'm going to send out some scouts to find those Sakura Empire carriers…" she told the younger-looking girl beside her.

As the last of the fighters lumbered off the deck, Helena dropped to her knees, gripping the sides of her head and screamed out in pain.

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The return RADAR pulses came back, showing me everything within one hundred and fifty kilometers, what I saw were three large surface contacts both about fifty kilometers away from my location, making it look like a perfect triangle. I also pick up some air targets, slow-moving air targets closing the distance between them. I dial back the thrust as I feel cold fear grip me, my carrier battle group isn't anywhere within my RADAR range, but one of the surface contacts is in the same direction as to where I had come from. I point my nose that direction and put the throttle into the cruise position to try and conserve fuel.

XXXX

Hornet takes hold of one Helena's arms after she stopped screaming and holding her head, her green eyes looking at the other girl with concern as she asks, "Helena are you alright?"

Helena nods as she blinks back tears, "I think so… it was a really powerful RADAR pulse. So strong it overwhelmed my SG RADAR…"

Hornet's attention snapped skyward and she tossed Helena away from her and dove to the side of her deck as a green piston-powered aircraft strafed the deck, narrowly missing her with its cannon fire. Tucking herself into a roll, Hornet summoned another Wildcat to the deck and launched in short order to angle in on the green fighter.

As the two planes twisted and turned the green zero was able to get around behind the Wildcat and cut it to ribbons with cannon and machine gunfire. Hornet grunted and tried to summon more Wildcats but found her reserves empty, cursing to herself for sending everything out to scout ahead. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Helena pointing off to the northwest as she called out, "I've picked up that bird again!"

XXXX

I spot an explosion in the sky and one of the low-speed contacts drops off of my RADAR display, well guess that means combat is going on. I push my throttle wide open and drop down to be about level with where I saw the explosion, in a vain attempt I call out over the RADIO; +FELIX 4, inbound hot.+

I get kicked back in the seat as I see the vapor cone form around my plane in the mirrors, letting me know that I'm going past the speed of sound.

It takes seconds before I see the surface contact; it looks like an old carrier. My attention however is on my HUD when I spot a green plane with red circles on the wings, turning into a high climb like it wants to dive on the carrier. I'm going too fast to do anything about it, I have to turn and bleed speed to be able to get a gunsight on it.

I dump flairs and chaff out of habit and training while I twist my Super Hornet knife-edge and pop my air brake as I nose skyward.

XXXX

Hornet watched as this grey dart zoomed past, without a sound, the wind it kicked up making her long black coat flutter, then the roar hit her ears. As the grey dart twisted and went skywards, trails of air coming off of the tips of its wings, climbing faster than anything she had ever seen before. She watched as it rolled high into the sky before flipping over and diving on the Zero, she saw a muzzle flash come from the nose of the grey dart and the Zero just disintegrated.

The grey dart kept diving towards the water before leveling out, flying away from her, she could see what looked like globes of fire from inside it.

XXXX

I tap the fuel gage again, this little stunt cost me about half of what I had left and the only landing strip I can find within one hundred and fifty kilometers is a little on the short side, if she's got wires I'd need to trap the number one wire, have a clear deck and hope I don't go over the end.

I angle around and try to raise them on the radio; +FELIX 4 calling FLAT-TOP, come in.+

No response, I roll around the get into the glide path, and slow my airspeed to one hundred and thirty-five knots, just above stall speed, I feel cold sweat starting to run down my back when I don't see the OLS, I feel my breath getting shallow, I try the carrier again, on any band, +FELIX 4 to FLAT-TOP, I am BINGO fuel. I am on approach at 135 knots, set wires for 37,000 pounds.+

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Helena sits bolt upright as she looks to Hornet who was standing at the end of her deck, looking at the grey dart, her hand at the edge of her hat to shield more sun, they both could hear the howl coming from the dart as it lowered wheels and a hook.

Helena cupped her ears before repeating to Hornet, "Set wires for 37,000 pounds? They are coming in at 135 knots…"

Hornet coughed out with her eyes wide, "135 knots!?"

Hornet concentrated on the wires at her other end and grimaced the tensioning system only went to 40,000 pounds, she pointed at the point on the deck and raised netting to try and help slow this thing down.

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I see them to start to put up barricades and breathe a sigh of relief, they got my message then. I adjust my glide slope as best as I can, pulling up slightly as I near the deck, I feel my rear wheels slam down on the deck a heartbeat before my nose slams down. I throw the engines into reverse, open flaps, and air brakes and wheel brakes. I feel the sudden hard pull forward as the tailhook catches the wire on the deck. I see the ribbons of the barricade coming up fast and I close my eyes and hope for the best. I never feel the impact against the barricade, my nose just inches away from it. I let out the breath I had been holding as my eyes spot a blond woman with pigtails standing at the end of the deck, holding a cowboy hat on her head with one hand. Her coat being blow open by the reverse thrust from my engines, I tilt my head to the side as I notice she's just in hot pants and a bikini top under that long coat. I open the canopy and start to pull off my helmet; I've got a ton of questions and thanks to giving this carrier crew.

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Hornet breathed a sigh of relief when the nose of this dart came to a halt just before the barricade and her own body that is just a few feet after that barricade. From her position she could see that someone was in it, they were opening the canopy and taking off their helmet. She tilted her head to the side when she saw something that looked like a Kansen, but different… human, maybe she asked herself.

She watched as they undid some straps holding them in the dart, before placing hands on the body of the dart and pushing themselves out of the cockpit. Hornet took note of the short dark hair on their head and smooth looking face, they were attractive she added to that mental note. But what they wore had her very curious, they were in a green jumpsuit with lots of equipment on it, when their black boots hit the deck, they turned to look at her and spoke, "Many thanks for being out here, there was no way I could've made it back to the strike group…"

They had extended their hand towards Hornet as they closed the distance, Hornet looked at the gloved hand for a moment before extending her own hand, she found herself a little surprised by the grip they have as they shake her hand continue, "I'm Lieutenant Aidan Webb USN… and you are?"

Their voice was deeper than what she was used to hearing; she felt her cheeks getting a little warm before she said to him, "Hornet."

She watched as their head tilted to the side a confused look on their face as they say, "That's an unusual name… Is there a captain I can talk to?"

Hornet herself was feeling a little confused, didn't they understand, she is Kansen, she has no crew, no captain and she asked them, "Why would I need a captain?"

She had to suppress a giggle at the look on their face when she said that, it was like something in the brain broke as they asked, "I'm sorry, maybe I didn't hear you right there…."

"I said; why would, I need a captain?" she repeated the question.

They blinked at her, their mouth opening and closing a few times like they were trying to form words, several times before they finally said something, "What?"

Hornet looked to Helena and asked, "Helena, are you picking up anything else?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head from side to side as she said, "We've lost them Hornet…"

Turning her attention back to the horizon and pointed off in a direction, letting go of the hand that had been extended. The person that had come from the grey dart shifted how they stood on the deck as the massive ship turned hard and headed for port. Hornet looked over her shoulder at them and said, "I'm Kansen, we are on me."

That seemed to confuse them even more as they moved closer to their dart, looking from one end of the deck to the other; they seemed like they were doing some math in their head before they hung their head and sat on the deck.

She went and sat beside them, pulling her knees up to her chest before looking over her shoulder at the grey dart and seeing in a slightly darker grey circle with two small boxes on the sides and a star in the center, it reminded her of the decal on Enterprise's dive bombers, she shrugged and asked, "So what is that thing? It's some kind of plane right?"

She watched as they looked at her sideways for a moment, like they were still trying to wrap their head around something as they said, "It's an F/A-18E Super Hornet… it's a multi-role strike fighter."

They gave her a sideways glance, their grey eyes narrowing as they asked, "So, what did you mean by 'we are on you'?"

Hornet blinked a couple of times before she spoke, "I'm Kansen, this ship is me and I am this ship…. This body…" she paused and ran a hand up and down, pointing at herself as she continued, "Is the manifestation of the will and soul of this ship." She finished by pointing at the deck.

They blinked at her again and she laughed, "I can't really explain it, a Kansen is a ship given a human-like body. We can summon extra equipment that acts like a ship; we can summon the hull of our ship when we need to… We are the ship and the ship is us."

"I don't really understand… A ship is a ship…" they say back to her, looking just as confused.

Hornet gestures to Helena who is standing near one of the gun mounts at the far side of the deck, "She's Helena, the Kansen of the U.S.S. Helena, a St. Louis Class light cruiser."

They looked even more confused now, making her laugh harder as they said, "But the Helena went down at the battle of the Kula Gulf during the second world war…"

Hornet put her arms out behind her and looked skyward as she said, "Don't say that too loud, Helena gets nightmares about it, it really bothered her…. Being brought back was hard on her."

She watches as their brow knits together before asking, "So if she was, is the Helena that went down during the war…."

Hornet gives him a smile as she points at herself with a thumb and tells him, "I'm CV-8, Hornet…"

"How?" they ask her.

"The better question I guess for you is 'why?'" she says putting her arm behind her again as she explains to him the war against the Sirens, humanity disappearing about halfway through that war, and how there was an uneasy peace in the world between the major fleets.

The entire explanation had taken hours; they had just sat there listening, after what felt like an eternity they stood and asked about a restroom, after a quick explanation they wandered off. When they left Helena made her way over and asked, "Do you think they are a human?"

Hornet nodded, looking more serious, "I think so, and one that has been displaced in time. Whatever they are, I can't banish my ship and just use my rigging right now…"

She paused and pointed at the craft on her deck, "I can't store that thing… it's not known to me."

Helena nodded as she said, "Then it's going to take longer to get to Pearl Harbor then…"

Hornet sighs as she says, "At least half-day at fifteen knots…"

Sitting beside Hornet, Helena asked, "If they are human, what kind of human do you think they are?"

Hornet shrugged before asking, "Wanna find out?"

Helena drew her knees up to her chest and asked, "How?"

Hornet laughed and grinned as she said, "Same way you check a Meowficer, look between their legs."

Helena's face went bright red as she shook her head from side to side and squeaked out, "I can't do that, you do it…."

Hornet just laughed as she suggested, "Fine, you hold them down and I'll look."

Helena turned bright red while looking over Hornet's shoulder, Hornet noticing the look on Helena stopped laughing and almost jumped when she heard the voice of the pilot, "Or you know you could just ask…"

Slowing turning her attention to the pilot Hornet asked, as casually as she could, "So what kind of human are ya? I know they only came in two types…."

"Male." He responded, arching his eyebrow in question.

Hornet tilted her head to the side and pointed down with her right index finger as she asked, "So does that mean you've got a thingy?"

The pilot put his head into his right hand and sighed, "Yes I've got a penis…. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with a ship…"

Helena tried to bury her face in her hands as Hornet went on, "Can I see it? I've never seen one before…"

The pilot twitched and shook his head from side to side in his hand, before sliding his hand down his face as he said, "You first. If I'm going to strip, I get to see if you've got something down there. Or if you're top-heavy just for show."

"I am not top-heavy… oh, you mean these?" she said as she squished her breasts together.

He nodded as she grinned and looped her thumbs through her belt loops and started to tug down, stopping just short of pulling them down as she winked at him and said, "Yeah, not going to happen."

She noticed that he looked a little disappointed for a second before she turned the conversation in another direction, "We're about eleven hours out from port right now… I could go faster, but I don't have a way to lock down your plane, and well I don't want Vestal to kick my but for pushing myself too hard."

She watched as he sighed and walked to his plane before he climbed up to dig around behind his seat, pulling out a pack before he dropped back to the deck and took a seat by the AA guns and pulling out a series of packages and looking at them hard, before stuffing three of them back in the bag and taking out a plastic spork.

Hornet went over to him and sat beside him, to look in the bag that was in his hand, it kind of looked like food, kind of smelt like food, but it reminded her of the rations that Enterprise usually ate. He offered her a spork full as he asked, "You eat right?"

"I do, but I like food… what is that?" she asked him.

He sighed and rolled the bag back over as he said, "Cold hash brown potatoes with bacon… in theory anyway."

She tilted her head to the side and eyed it with her green eyes, "Does it taste good?"

"Not really." He told her and ate the spork full.

"Then why are you eating it?" she asked him.

"Really? Do I need to explain hunger to a ship?" he asked in a slightly condescending tone.

Hornet made a sound like she was annoyed before she retorted, "I know what hunger is. I just prefer to wait until we get to the port."

He shrugged at her as he ate another mouth full before speaking, "Last time I ate was…" he paused to roll his wrist over to see his watch that had stopped at some point, "I have no idea… It was before I launched this morning."

As he finished the contents of the package he took out a different package and unwrapped a pastry, just as he was about to take a bite, he offered Hornet first shot at it. When she looked at it sideways he told her, "It's an apple turnover… at least that's what the package says."

She carefully took a small bite and found it to be too sweet and too salty at the same time. He started to laugh as she took on a look that suggested it tasted awful before she spat it out. After a moment she looked at him and proclaimed, "That is just awful!"

"I never said they tasted good, just that they fill the void." He continued to laugh.

She wiped her tongue with her right hand before telling him, "You can find a room down below if you need to sleep… I'm in the admiral's stateroom; Helena will likely take the captain's stateroom. Anything else is yours for the night."

As she got up to leave, he asked over his shoulder, "So you need to sleep then?"

Hornet sighed and hung her head before turning to answer, "Yes, I've got to do the things humans do… eat, sleep, shower… everything. For whatever reason, you humans thought it would be a good idea to make the Kansen in your image."

"One more question, if you don't mind…" he asked, she could see some amusement in his eyes as she nodded

"Do you get horny?" he asked, a smirk coming to face as she went red in the face, he started to laugh while he elaborated, "The CV-8 had a nickname; 'Horny Maru'…"

She stalked towards him, looking like she was fuming as she hollered at him, "I hate that nickname!"

He started to laugh harder, she haled an arm back just as something grabbed her arm and a soft voice spoke up, "Hornet, he's just trying to bother you…"

He put his arms up defensively as he kept laughing out, "I'm sorry, but after you said, 'I've got to do the things humans do…' I just had to have a go at you."

Hornet spun on her heels and stormed off, causing him to laugh more. Helena bowed a little to him and said, "I'm sorry Sir, Hornet doesn't usually get that excited over… well, anything really…"

He stopped laughing, and she worried he was about to turn his taunting and teasing to her, she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder as he said, "I'll apologize to her tomorrow, I've had a long shitty day and she made it too easy."

She looked up at him and saw him looking past her; she straightened up a bit to look over her shoulder to see where he was looking; all she saw was Hornet stomping away. Helena turned her attention back to the pilot before looking down and shifting her weight from one foot to the other before she asked, "Are you doing okay Sir? I can see how all of this could be a lot to take in…"

He sighed and let his arm drop back to his side as he turned to look at the setting sun. After a few moments, he finally spoke, "No, no I'm not. And you can call me Aidan… no point in keeping rank right now it seems."

Helena nodded as she kept shifting back and forth, she had never seen a human before; he didn't seem that different from a Kansen. She took a deep breath and reached out to poke his shoulder. It had some give, like her body, but a little less so, like it had more muscle mass. Her poke caused him to spin around and give her a look along the lines of annoyance; she went red in the cheeks as she mumbled out, "Sorry, I just wanted to know if your body was hard or soft… I've never seen a human before…"

He sighed and opened his flight gear exposing his upper body to the sea air; she saw his skin become slightly bumpy in the change in temperature. She reached out to touch it, but stopped just short of actually touching his skin as he said, "Go ahead and give it a feel."

Helena felt her cheeks blush a little and took the glove off of her left hand and put her hand against his skin, she saw him shiver as he said back to her, "Your hand is cold."

"Sorry..." she mumbled out as she started to trace the lines on his back, running a finger along with his shoulder blades, up to his collar bone then down his spine. She steps closer and places her right ear against his back, listening with it. She heard him take a sudden deep breath, while his body shivered before she said, "Your heart is beating really fast…."

"Yeah…" he got out hoarsely, he had to admit the contact she had been giving him and been really sensual, even if it hadn't been her intention.

She listened to his heart pounding away for a few moments before she broke off the contact and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help bring your heart rate down?"

He shook his head, he wanted to say yes, but now was not a good time to put the idea forward for that, he focused on the sun and tried to use his willpower to calm down as he told her, "Not right now, thanks though…"

She smiled and stepped back and told him, "Okay, if you need anything I'll be down below for now… We're close enough to Pearl that I don't think the Sakura Empire would dare a second attack so soon."

He did his flight gear back up as he asked, "You said we're close to Pearl… as in…?"

She nodded, "Pearl Harbor, the pacific fleet capital for Azur Lane… though it's mostly a base for the Eagle Union these days…"

She saw his shoulders slump, before he asked, "So you are telling me that I'm nearly five hundred nautical miles away from where my strike group was? What the hell was that pink disk anyways then…."

She mouthed the word, 'pink disk' and racked her brain about it before clapping her hands together as it came to her, "That sounds like a portal that the Sirens used when they launched their attack against humanity…"

She watched him from behind, his shoulders drooping more, his head hanging low as he reached down and grabbed his pack as he headed below deck he said over his shoulder, "I'm going to go find a room, good night Helena."

When he had vanished through the doorway, Helena made a subtle wave motion with her ungloved hand as she whispered out, "Good night… Aidan."

Helena stayed out on the deck till just after the sun dipped below the horizon, she looked up just as all the stars came into view, she liked this time; she liked the quiet of it. Smiling up at the stars just before heading below deck to the room she would use for the night. It didn't take her long to get there, she knew the layout rather well, once in the room she took her dress off and looked at herself in the mirror, twisting to look at her back in it, looking at the shoulder blades and collar bone, she remarked to herself, "I'm a lot more slender then he is…"

Reaching as far as she could she traced as much of a shoulder blade as she could, noting that it felt very similar to the pilots' own. Twisting back around, she lifted up her bust with each hand, giving them a soft squeeze, comparing the density and softness against the tautness of his back as she asked, "Why did they make Kansen look like this? Are we the reason humanity went away?"

She ran her hands down her belly and stopped at the waistband of her underwear, thinking about what she looked like down there and wondered how he looked different. Giving a tug on it, before shaking her head and turning out the light as she crawled into the bed.

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A/N: And here we are, end of Chapter One. I'm not totally sure where this one is going to go yet, so please hang in for the ride.