Hey All! This is my first Fanfic so please be constructive and polite with the criticism. I wrote this one while stuck in quarantine a while back and figured that it should see the light of day if for nothing else than to see if my idea had any merit. It starts in media res and should it be good enough I will finish this chapter and release the prologue and 1st chapter at some point. Thanks!
-1 Week Later-
'Well with the Italians declaring war. That means their fleet is fair game. If I manage to help the British out here, they may be willing to resupply and refuel me so I can head to the Pacific. The only question is what targets to choose and how to avoid the German and Italian land-based aircraft. Based on the sequence of events so far, it looks like certain events are staying the same despite the year change. Pearl Harbor still occurred on December 7th; Bismarck was going to fight Hood on May 24th until we got involved. The only major battle I can think of that will occur soon in the Med is the first battle of Sirte. I think I may have a book on that.' Arthur mused as he began searching his library. Sure enough, there was a book on Royal Navy operations in the Mediterranean in WW2. He began looking through it and managed to discern the timing, location, and disposition of forces, and read ahead to see how Littorio's gunnery was where he saw their dispersion as terrible. 'Hm... bad shells looks like, which means that, should she engage her, we will have an advantage. We'll need some cover from air attack though. Not to mention that its currently December 11th so I'll need to be under way soon.' He thought as he began putting together a plan to intercept the Italian fleet before they split into their covering and attacking forces.
Two hours later, he had an acceptable plan to intercept the Italians, and notified the Spanish authorities in Valencia that he was about to head out and that he thanked them for their support. They replied that they wished him luck and sent port tugboats to lead him out. As soon as Iowa was out of Spanish waters, he immediately went toward the Balearic Islands making sure to stay far enough away not to be seen but close enough to keep it in radar before steaming a course south-southeast. He kept his ship at low speed and began using the Siren Weather Device to ensure that he was shrouded in a thick overcast with mild rain. With his low speed, the squall should be seen as just that and not anything unusual, but just in case, he maintained a high level of alert on his AA batteries. Just before noon on the 14th he began picking up speed as he passed Sicily and headed straight to the suspected rendezvous point. By the early morning of the 16th, he launched drones, and by noon had picked up the Italian formation. He then began tracking them using radar.
'Hmm... a loose cruising formation. It appears that they don't expect to encounter any resistance until they reach the gulf. The Italians have a bad history so far of night combat, which should give us the advantage with radar. We'll engage them at just after dusk coming from the west to throw off their gunners. The main targets will have to be the cruisers and then battleships, with the secondaries working over the destroyers since their torps can cause us a lot of trouble should we get into range.' He decided as he began moving towards the most likely point of contact. Arthur stood on his bridge overlooking his ship moving at an easy 30 knots. Silently taking in the peace before the oncoming fight, a light rain pattering against the windows. 'Another war, another target. This time some Italian ships. German, Japanese, Russian, Chinese; man, I'm racking up a list of international renown. I can't even go home at this point, not that it was an option in the first place. I guess this is where I can be the most useful, after all what is a soldier without his mission?' he mused as he silently huffed on a cigar. 'Well, probably should get some shut eye while I can, tonight is going to be particularly violent.'
-6 Hours Later-
Arthur approached the bridge stretching his back and rolling his shoulders. 'Time to send out the targeting drone. Best way to end this is by sinking the DDs with tomahawks and use the distraction from that to shoot up Littorio, then focus on the other BBs then CAs then CLs. I'll need to put up the ECM drone to jam them and make sure they can't call for help.' He calculated the time for launching and overwatch needed, and two drones took off from the ship with the current overwatch drone starting to make its way back to the ship as the Iowa slowly closed in on the Italian Fleet. Sure enough 30 minutes later the drones had overwatch of the Italian fleet with its convoy and the Targeting drone began painting the destroyers for the Tomahawks, all 10 destroyers would now have a Tomahawk or Harpoon assigned to it. Since he could only fire 6 tomahawks at one time Arthur knew, he would have to send 2 waves, so the first wave would hit the furthest destroyers ensuring confusion in the formation followed by the next wave hitting the nearest destroyers. He ensured the Drone was targeting the main torpedo mounts for the destroyers since a hit there would likely destroy the ships and if not then would at least negate the torpedo threat. The battleships would be the targets for his 9 Mark 7 16in 50cal guns, normally at 25- 30 km his guns would be unable to penetrate the heavy armor of the battleships luckily the shells he had were updated shells from the 21st century that had been specially designed to kill 70,000-ton battleships with 18in of armor at those ranges, specifically the Slava, Shikishima, and Da Long classes. Something that the Bismark and Prinz Eugen came to find out to their eventual chagrin.
5 minutes later at 50km he launched the first salvo, 5 minutes later at 45 km he launched the 2nd salvo and began training the guns onto the targets lit up by radar and the drones. The darkness combined with the light storm would play havoc with the Italian rangefinders and spotters and with a very basic set of radar on the ships combined with the ECMs of the Iowa Arthur understood that the Italians would be unlikely to get any accurate reading on his ship until very close range at least in theory. Sure, enough by 40km away the first wave hit their targets, with 8 blimps on the radar appearing to grow and then disappearing followed by the second wave with 8 more blimps doing likewise. The Italians then began a series of evasive maneuvers attempting to figure out where they got hit from. Arthur sensing the confusion due to his radar got closer and closer with the largest blimp on his radar eventually entering his 30km engagement range. His drones and its radar signature identified it as the battleship Littorio, and he began firing at the target from long range with the first salvo straddling the ship by 100m ahead of the bow with a 10m spread. 'Hmm... looks like a practice gunnery is needed after this.' He noted as he made his corrections and fired his broadside again this time getting 5 hits and 4 near misses with most of those hitting the ship in the midsection causing the ship to move out of formation and slow down dramatically. His next salvo hit the Littorio again this time near the forward turrets with 6 hits and 3 hits near the forward funnel and bridge. He was about to fire another salvo when the Littorio started belching flames from its forward super-firing turret followed by a massive explosion that caused the ship to lift itself up out of the water by the bow before breaking apart at the turret and starting to sink by the bow. With Littorio gone Iowaswitched fire to the next battleship the Andrea Doria, which he quickly began battering with 16in salvos. The WW1 era battleship didn't stand much of a chance and had its magazine detonate after 2 salvos, Iowa switched to the final battleship in the formation the, Guilio Cesare, which was starting to fire in random directions and trying to fall back, again this was another WW1 era ship that while formidable to her contemporaries didn't stand much of a chance against a refitted Iowa class with modernized(for 2030) radar and fire control systems, and she exploded as well after 2 salvos.
Arthur began switching fire to the cruisers when another formation was picked up on radar, which appeared to have 7 contacts in it, approaching from the southeast. One of the contacts was big enough to be a battleship so he reoriented his guns to that target and had the drones begin overwatch of that group. He identified 1 battleship 3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers in that formation and began shooting at the new battleship contact which was identified as the Caio Duilio, and much like its sisterships quickly found itself under accurate fire and detonated after a Super Heavy Armor Piercing 16in shell managed to penetrate her forward magazine. The rest of the forces had managed to regroup and decided that there was nothing to be gained from this engagement which had lasted so far 30minutes and attempted to retreat north. 'That might have worked if they were faster than me. Too bad for them because I'm not.' Arthur mused as he began focusing fire on the heavy cruisers Gorizia and Trento. After 5 more minutes Trento was a blazing hulk out of control and Gorizia was dead in the water and sinking. Arthur decided to call off the pursuit and engage in Search and Rescue operations. His drones returned to the ship and an SH-60 Seahawk took off and managed to locate the Trento and found a person on board. He started speeding towards the out-of-control cruiser as the Seahawk began to overlook the other wrecks and found no survivors.
'Odd, for ships of this size even with the explosions I would expect crew in the water. Is it possible these were remote controlled? That would explain their lack of crew compliment. Alternatively, these could be controlled by shipmasters but those are usually few and far between and rarely used.' Arthur wondered as the Iowa approached the stricken Trento which was still aflame. He began deploying boats.
"Italian Cruiser Trento! This is Commodore Strider of the American battleship Iowa; we are prepared to lend you assistance should you choose to strike your colors and surrender. Should you do so you will be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The boats coming over are to help transport your wounded. Any attempts to fire on them will result in the destruction of your ship. This is your first and only warning." Arthur called on the microphone and after making sure to have the main guns aimed at the burning cruiser boarded one of the boats and went over to the Trento. He threw up a line and began searching the ship for survivors and intel, mentally ordering the drones that came with him to secure the engine room and torpedo mounts and help put out the fire as he maneuvered his ship close enough to be able to hose down the flaming cruiser. He then moved to where the bridge was and found a young woman on the ground with blue hair and a pool of blood around her with various burns on her body. He rushed over and started stemming the bleeding and feeling for a pulse and breathing which he found and began to administer first aid. After he had bandaged the wounds and stabilized the woman, he moved her over to the boats so further aid could be given. Arthur then headed to the main mast and lowered the colors before raising the stars and stripes once the drones he sent confirmed that the ship was captured and that there was no crew on board. He ordered them to stem as much flooding as they could so they could tow her to port.
As he was doing this the drones had moved the woman over to the sick bay on the Iowa where they began scanning her and performing more in-depth aid to stem her injuries. More Drones were sent over from the Iowa and tow cable were attached to the Trento's bow. After 5 hours of continuous work Arthur had managed to stabilize the Trento. He returned to the Iowa and began towing the cruiser after leaving a few drones on the ship to run it and ensure that the emergency measures to keep her afloat were maintained. 'Trento is heavily damaged at this point and will need extensive repairs to get her back to a semblance of operational. That woman is probably Trento's shipmaster, so if she wakes, she can probably give me a better picture of what I'm working with. It'll take us 4 days to get to Alexandria at this towing speed. Luckily, we should be out of the air range of German and Italian aircraft in 6 hours at our speed which is the limit of the weather manipulator before it must recharge. We'll have to reproduce the Tomahawks and Harpoons spent here, although they did well in destroying the screening forces. This should cause the Italians to rethink their operations for a few months and give the British some breathing time to deal with the Pacific.' Arthur mused. He then set a course for Alexandria with the Trento in tow keeping his radar sweeping for air and sea threats as he updated his scoreboard with the 4 Italian battleships, 2 heavy cruisers and 10 destroyers.
-4 Days later-
'She still isn't awake. The damage must be greater than anticipated to her ship, which in hindsight makes sense what with three 16in shells slamming into her. Still there isn't much I can do on my end anymore except hope the Brits have something that can help her. Luckily her ship is still afloat, and no subs seem to be following us and Alexandria is a few Klicks away.' Arthur thought looking out from the bridge at his 'escorts'.
Radar had spotted several ships in a zig-zag cruising pattern an hour ago and Arthur had sent a radio message on some of the British channels that he had managed to get a good signal on. The message had stated that he was an American ship looking for refuel, and passage through the Suez. Of course, upon hearing the message the Brits had asked what he was doing in the Med to which he responded with "Hunting.". They asked for identification and upon receiving it had not believed him. After stating that were they to do a flyby they would recognize that; one, his outline didn't resemble any Axis ship, two, he had a giant American flag waving from his mainmast, and that three, if they didn't believe him, he would give the French the captured Italian heavy cruiser he had. Upon hearing this they immediately asked for clarification to which he responded that he had the Italian Heavy cruiser Trento under tow and that it was heavily damaged and in need of repair. They had promptly sent two Blenheims to do a flyby and had probably had a very heated discussion off the radio he presumed. When they got back on the radio, he heard a girl's voice ask him what the condition of the Italian shipgirl was. Arthur responded that the said shipgirl was alive but unresponsive in his medical bay and that she probably needed further aid than he could give her. The voice had confirmed the message and stated that destroyers and cruisers would escort him into the harbor but that if he started any trouble that he would face the "full might of Queen Elizabeth herself." Which leads him to the situation he is in currently, namely with 4 destroyers and 2 cruisers staring him down with their gun barrels as they progress merrily to port with the destroyers showing him the way through the minefield. Low and behold as they start to enter port, he spots the Queen Elizabeth and Valiant sitting low in the water.
'Hmm... seems the manned torpedo attacks were a success.' He mused as he detached the towing cable for the Trento allowing the port tugboats to maneuver her into a berth as he was given a berth further in the port. 'Proper caution since they are dealing with an unknown and large capital ship that just appeared with a captured enemy ship in tow.' He entered the berth given and began shutting off his engines so that the tension would be lowered. He then came out of the bridge and moved to the main deck to receive the expected visitors, dressed in his Winter Dress Blue uniform with his Commodore rank on his shoulder boards and sleeves. Sure enough, down at the edge of the berth are a group of what appeared to be Royal Marines led by... 'Is that a child?' Arthur thought as he saw a blonde girl carrying a scepter and had a crown on her head, with a grey dress on.
As he moved down to the party the girl saw him and asked: "Are you the Captain of this vessel?"
"I am do you have a medic with you?" He asked.
"We do, do we have permission to board your vessel?" She asked.
"You do; however, the marines must stay on the main deck. I will lead the medic to the sick bay where the 'Shipgirl' is stabilized." He answered as he made a point of having his ship lower a ramp onto the shore. The party quickly approached, and he saw the medic and motioning him to follow he showed him the way down to the sick bay where the shipgirl lay. The medic quickly began looking her over and getting her vitals. As this was happening Arthur heard the girl that followed him gasp and mutter "Trento...".
"I assume that you know her?" he asked.
"Yes, she was once someone I would call a friend." she answered.
"I assume you play some significance in how this base or at least the naval detachment is run?" Arthur asked.
"Yes, excuse me. I am Queen Elizabeth the flagship of the Royal Navy." the girl identified herself as.
"Commodore Strider, USN. Current commander of the USS Iowa." Arthur stated as he held out his hand. Elizabeth shook his hand as she continued staring at the incapacitated shipgirl.
"How long has she been like this?" she asked.
"4 days. Stabilized her after her ship was rendered uncontrollable and on fire. Boarded her and found her on the bridge surrounded by a pool of blood. We managed to get the ship in tow and put out the fires which helped her condition, but she's been in a coma since then." Arthur explained.
"What happened?" Elizabeth asked as she turned to look at Arthur, her eyes widening for a second as she saw him before she adopted a cool expression. "If you would follow me to the Admiral's Stateroom, I would be willing to explain what happened." Arthur said as he extended a hand to the door. Elizabeth nodded as she headed out the door and followed Arthur through the ship to the stateroom where a wooden table had been set up with chairs. She took one to the head after accepting the seat that Arthur pulled out for her before he sat on the opposite side of the table.
"I have many questions." she stated, "However the primary one now is what happened to Trento."
"She suffered 3 16in hits; one in the engine room, one at the root of the main mast and another that went straight through her bow. Fires started when the shell that went through the mainmast exploded AA shells around the bridge sending shrapnel into it." He stated without emotion. "After that the ship slowed down and I was able to send boats out to take the ship and get her medical attention."
"16in hits like the ones that come from 16in shells similar to what I would say you fire?" Elizabeth accused.
"Indeed. An Italian Fleet had sailed and being that the United States and the Sardegnans are now at war, it was my duty to intercept and inflict as heavy damage upon them as possible." Arthur stated nonchalantly.
"And just what was the makeup of this fleet if you don't mind me asking." Elizabeth inquired crossing her arms as she did so.
"4 battleships; one was Littorio class, two were Andrea Doria Class, and the last was a Caio Duilio Class. 2 heavy cruisers; Trento and Gorizia, 3 light cruisers of the Condottieri class, and a total of 13 destroyers. Spread into two forces providing support for a convoy heading to Benghazi. I engaged the first force that contained 10 destroyers, the heavy cruisers and the Littorio and Andrea Doria Class. The battleships and destroyers were sunk first, then the second force arrived with the Duilio class, the 3 light cruisers, and 3 more destroyers. I engaged and destroyed the last battleship which caused the entire formation to flee, during the rout I disabled the Trento and sank the Gorizia. After that point I have already told you, my story." Arthur summarized.
Elizabeth looked at him stunned for a second. "You do realize that sounds impossible right. 1 battleship versus an entire fleet is not likely. Maybe one or two battleships with light escort I can believe but the ships you are describing, all without hurt to yourself and against several shipgirls no less. No, I cannot believe it." She said.
"Whether or not you believe it is irrelevant. It happened send flights to Taranto and Benghazi, check with your intelligence operatives. I can assure you that the Italian Navy is right now extremely vulnerable it's because they have lost 10 destroyers, 2 Heavy cruisers, and 4 battleships. What you do with this information, I don't care. My goal is to reach the Pacific and eliminate Japanese forces there." He said again without emotion.
"And what does your Kansen think about this course of action? Hmm? Is she so focused on going to the Pacific or have you done like the other American commanders and just stuffed her into a closet?" Elizabeth asked now getting angry.
"I am the Shipmaster of this ship and have been since its introduction. I have seen over 90 years' service to the United States. I am a Gentleman, an Officer, and a Soldier and I can assure you mam, that I would never do anything like what you are suggesting. What is more is that my country needs me in the Pacific so that is where I will go. I am willing to hand the Italian Shipmaster over to you so that she can be given proper medical care along with her ship. I would request though, access through the Suez Canal which you are obliged to give me since your country and mine are allies." he refuted.
"I do not know of any nation known as the United States and I sure haven't signed any alliance with their fleet. I do not believe you about you not stashing away a Kansen for your own personal use, Thatcher. Furthermore, I believe that you picked on Trento because you could and not because your country is at war with hers and she is not Italian she is Sardegnan something that everyone should know. I believe that you are a spy and will have you detained until an account can be given in your defense." She yelled.
"The United States of America is the most powerful country in the Western Hemisphere to detain one of their ships and officers in a time of war is in and of itself an act of war. Your Prime Minister and President Roosevelt might be best friends but to illegally detain an American combat unit will see tensions between the U.S. and Britain grow and our relationship sour very quickly. So, I would suggest that you refrain from doing so. Also, I would like to know where these accusations come from regarding my character, I am no spy, and I am for damn sure not some bully nor would I take advantage of any woman in such a manner or position. The fact that you would even consider that I would allow that type of position to exist is repugnant and utterly immoral." He threw back not raising his voice. His eyes though seemed to radiate with anger as he glared at the girl.
"Show me you control this ship then." Elizabeth stated.
"Very Well." Arthur spat as he got up and led her towards the stern a death glare on his face as he passed the Royal Marines who got out of his way as he and Elizabeth moved passed, saluting her as she passed by. Arthur and Elizabeth reached the Turret 3 where Arthur elevated the guns on the turret and asked if any ship was in the general direction of the gun. Elizabeth replied that there was not as soon as the words left her mouth, he fired a salvo. That and the moving of the gun and missile mounts appeared to convince Elizabeth as she stared at him with wide eyes for a second before her face morphed into a grin. Arthur by this point was already pissed off.
"So do you believe me now Short-stuff?" he said never once raising his voice.
Elizabeth looked less than flattered at that nickname. "How dare you call your Queen such a name."
"You for sure ain't my queen. I'm an American." Arthur stated his accent starting to come out.
"Oh, I beg to differ after all your mother is one of my knights." Elizabeth stated with the same smug grin.
That seemed to throw Arthur for a loop. "What do you mean my mother is one of your knights? My mother is an American and furthermore a civilian, always has been."
"Maybe not your adoptive mother, but your birth mother." She stated.
"And how would you know that? You obviously don't know me nor my ship. Furthermore, you don't seem to understand that I am an American and was born in America." he said in the same tone but was obviously growing exasperated at this point. "While you may have grown up in the Eagle Union. You are still British by blood and furthermore a member of the Royal Household." She said in a smug grin.
"I am not from the Eagle Union. I am from the United States of America, I was born in Texas." He answered again. "If anything, I believe you are mistaking me for someone else." 'I'm almost tempted to tell her I'm from a different universe from what I gathered. I pray that I'm not originally from this one.'
"Well, your last name is Strider. Undoubtedly the name of your father who just happens to have the same last name as the original human commander of Azur Lane. He and a Kansen had a child who supposedly died at childbirth; however, a body was never found, and Commander Thatcher left under mysterious circumstances and has never been seen or heard from again. Your eyes are red, the same red as your mother's. You have the same blond hair that she does and indeed some of your facial expressions match hers exactly. Tell me have you seen anyone with your eye color? Were you stronger than others as a child? You are obviously part Kansen since you move your ship so smoothly without any human crew. Yet there have been no natural Kansen that have been males. Oh yes some have tried to make more Kansen by impregnating existing ones, they were never successful. Some even still use Kansen for Carnal Pleasure which is why I suspected you of doing so since it is suspected that Commander Strider did the same. That was unfair and obviously mistaken, and I apologize for that." She said with a developing sad look on her face.
"You should know that trying to press people's buttons never goes well." Arthur said with a sigh. "I assume this happened to someone close to you. I won't pry any further but don't judge people based on the actions of a few. Lord knows we all have our own sins to deal with, we don't need to start adding others to our tab as well." He pauses allowing the silence to sink in for a moment. "If you are so certain that this knight of yours is my mother, then I would be willing to meet with her. In exchange I will need to go through the Suez Canal. I'm a soldier, it's one of the few things I have left to me and accomplishing the mission is paramount to being a soldier."
"If you don't mind me asking, just what is your mission?" Elizabeth asked with an inquisitive tone.
"To search out and destroy any siren forces. My duty is to protect humanity whatever the cost." he said.
"Sounds lonely and hard." Elizabeth remarked.
"That's what leadership is at the end. A lonely chair surrounded by an empty hall. It's a burden that people often forget. I made my peace with it long ago. I will help you though and fight with you, however I can never work under you or anyone else." Arthur stated.
"And family? Should my knight prove to be your mother?" Elizabeth asked.
"I will fight with her and help her with all I can but even family has its limits. That being said, I don't think it will be possible to betray her. Since she or you would have to go against my oath and mission." He explained with a small smirk.
"Well, I suppose I don't feel like invading or dominating another world so you should be safe working with us." Elizabeth stated with a large smile.
"I suppose so. Want to start over?" Arthur offered.
"Sure. I am the battleship Queen Elizabeth lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth class, flagship of the Royal Navy, and Commodore in his majesty's navy." She said curtseying as she did.
"I am Arthur Thatcher, Shipmaster of the battleship USS Iowa, flagship of the Seventh Fleet. Commodore in the United States' Navy." Arthur introduced himself as he bowed toward her.
There was silence before they began chuckling which turned into full blown laughter. "Shall we go see what the Medic has found out about your friend." Arthur asked as he calmed down. "Yes, lets. Then after I can regale you with stories of the greatness of the Royal Navy!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm sure." Arthur replied as they headed towards the sick bay. "Just a reminder though, my version of the Royal Navy lost twice against the US Navy."
"That's just because they were not led by me and my knights, otherwise you would be foolish to go against such majesty." She said in a haughty manner.
"Oh, I'm sure, all 4 feet of majesty." Arthur said with a smirk.
"Hey! I will have you know that I am one of the oldest battleships afloat. You will respect your seniors!" She said with mock offense.
"Very well Grandma, shall I fetch your cane?" he retorted.
"Why you!" She responded starting to whale on his chest with her fists. To which he began laughing as they approached the sick bay. Opening the door, they found the Medic still with Trento and noticed that she seemed to be stirring. "How is she doc?" Arthur asked putting on a serious expression.
"She's recovering. Overall, her vitals are stable, and she seems to be coming out of the coma. From what I can tell whatever you did earlier it saved her. The scars will remain for a while, but she will fully recover." He reported as he began packing up his equipment.
Trento started moaning just then as she began opening her eyes. "I'd assume she'll want to see you first." Arthur told Elizabeth who nodded before moving next to Trento's bed and holding her hand.
"Where am I?" Trento asked as she looked at Elizabeth.
"You are on board an Eagle Union ship in Alexandria. He's the one who brought you here." Elizabeth said motioning toward Arthur who gave a slight nod.
"Thank you, sir. What happened to my ship do you know?" Trento asked him. "It's here as well in Alexandria. It's in need of repair but nothing a little drydock can't fix." he reassured her. "I can barely feel it." Trento stated. "What happened to the fleet? Where is Littorio, and Guilio? Where are little Carabiniere, Maestrale, and Gioberti? Are they here to?" She asked with a hopeful expression.
'That would explain the number of cubes recovered.' Arthur thought as Elizabeth looked at him with an unknown look before looking back at Trento. "I'm sorry Trento, but they were sunk, you are the only one to survive. My condolences, I knew Guilio pretty well." Elizabeth said with a mournful expression. Trento seemed shocked, "What do you mean they are all gone? Littorio was the strongest of all of us. Surely, she survived. I mean I saw her get hit but she could have survived." she stated with confusion and horror. "I'm sorry mam, but there were only 6 survivors 3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers none of whom were the ones you are speaking about." Arthur stated. "Your Majesty, the Sirens must have some new form of weaponry. We were sailing until the destroyers got hit at, then Littorio, then the rest. We thought that we could get help, but Duilio got hit as well followed by Gorizia and me. We never stood a chance! If they are still in the Mare Nostrum you all may be next. We need to get out of here!" She stated starting to move into hysterics.
"Calm down Trento!" Elizabeth commanded causing the taller woman to calm down on her bed. "There is no threat to Alexandria. What you came across is not a threat to this harbor nor the ships here." "What do you mean? Have you already engaged the Sirens?" Trento asked very confused. "What I mean is that those weren't any sirens you faced but an Eagle Union ship." Elizabeth explained. "You came across an Eagle Union battleship that got the drop on you. Nothing more, nothing less. The Eagle Union is currently at war with the Sardegnan Empire as you should know. They were patrolling the area and engaged you." "That's not possible. One ship against a fleet and a supporting task force? No ship is that powerful." Trento denied.
Elizabeth sighed before looking at Arthur. "I believe that you should leave for the time being."
"Very well, I'll be on the bridge should you need me." Arthur stated as he closed the door and headed up to the bridge. Once he was there, he observed the British feverishly working on getting the Trento into drydock. The Royal Marines on deck had set up a perimeter on the main deck, probably to ensure that no one got aboard. Curious civilians from shore kept looking and pointing at his ship which undoubtedly was the largest one at port. 'I wonder if my request for fuel has been put in. I'll have to ask Elizabeth when she comes out. No doubt word of me will get out. I wonder when the Unionists(?) assigned here will start arriving. That'll be a fun time.' he mused as he went back to his cabin to get a book. 'Hmm... I haven't read this one. I've heard it's really good.' he then left with the book and went to the bridge where he sat down on one of the chairs and started reading. Several hours passed and Arthur continued reading his book until he heard someone approach the bridge.
"And how is our guest? I'd imagine that she is rather distraught now." He stated not looking up from the book.
"You could say that." Elizabeth responded with a sigh. "Finding out you are aboard the ship that sank 4 of your sisters and fished her out of the water was shocking for her."
"So, you believe my story then." he stated, looking up at her.
"It's hard not to when she describes it very similarly. I should be happy that a large portion of the Sardegnan fleet is sunk, but the way she describes it... Makes it sound like a Siren attack from back in the war." Elizabeth explained as she sat down in a nearby chair.
"The suddenness and helplessness. The feeling that something is coming to get you, and nothing can stop it, no matter what you do as you see your family and friends, those you have led and are leading are dying all around you. The sense of failure. Failure to your subordinates, those that trusted you. Yeah, I can relate." Arthur admitted.
"You fought the Sirens as well." Elizabeth stated.
"On and off again for over 80 years. In between Siren wars there would be a human war. People trying to take advantage of a situation. It made us desperate and afraid. I lost some good friends fighting those things. Damn near was sunk a few times by them, at least they thought as much and left me to die. I survived though, more than many others could say." Arthur reminisced seemingly lost in a thousand-yard stare towards the docks.
"Before we had our humanoid bodies, we were simply the collection of steel and materials that made up a ship. Our history, personality, our soul, that was given to us by our crews when we were sunk. These beliefs and ideas were formed into cubes by the Sirens. Why, no one knows, but they gave these cubes back to humanity and we were 'born' for lack of a better term. We fought them for 10 years winning some and losing others. Eventually the Sirens just quit. No one knows why, maybe they finally grew tired. After that the alliance we had, Azur Lane, fell apart to where we are now." Elizabeth stated.
"Enterprise told me some of this." Arthur admitted. "Not the sinking part, but the alliance part. From what I found out the Sirens were testing us, at least on our world. To see if we were 'strong enough'. Eventually they learned the hard way, when you poke a bear get ready for it to bite you. We hit them back hard and while we lost a lot and I mean a lot of ships, crews, and population, we made them pay hard. We learned, adapted, grew stronger. Over time we became less concerned about the peace afterward. Instead, we focused on becoming stronger, the weapons became more and more deadly, longer range, bigger payloads, more accurate, more numerous. We all lost a little something in that regard. We finally after 80 years managed to corner and destroy them. Wasn't even that hard at the end; just designate and watch the nuclear fireworks. Of course, they tried to escape, apparently even Sirens feel pain and fear. That's why I am here, I was the only one left. I called a Base Delta One on my position, I was so ready to die then. Just let the explosion take out both me and the Sirens. I had lost everyone I originally knew; New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, Washington, Alabama, North Carolina... everyone. But then I woke up in the freezing arctic on my ship like nothing had happened. That nothing had changed. That it was all a dream. At the time I wondered why I was the only one left. Why out of everyone, I, who had very little going for them, was left. That was when I picked up Enterprise's distress signal. I found her floating in her debris and managed to get her to shore. After that point I really stopped and thought a while, maybe my purpose wasn't over yet, and here I am. A man with no nation to call home, no friends and many enemies." Arthur explained.
"Would you be willing to, if not join us then, allow us to support you but with certain conditions?" Elizabeth asked.
"It would depend on the conditions." Arthur answered.
"The Royal Navy is sending a carrier task force for to the Pacific to support our operation in Burma and Singapore. We have Repulse, Warspite, and Renown leading the formation with Formidable, Indomitable, and Hermes but that is the only fast task force we can muster at this time. King George V, Prince of Wales, and Duke of York are watching Tirpitz in Norway. Howe is undergoing a refit with Hood and our other battleships are too slow. We are waiting for the task force to gather in Ceylon but with the size and speed of the Sakuran surface fleet, especially the Kongos, should we be caught out in the open, we may be destroyed in detail. If you would be willing to operate with them, we would have a firepower advantage and it would allow us to send more of our ships to refit and repair which we badly need." Elizabeth stated.
"Would I be allowed to operate separately, or would I fall under the command of whoever is commanding that task force?" Arthur asked intrigued.
"You would operate under the guidance of our admiral in the region which at this time is Admiral Sommerville. We can probably convince the Eagle Union to send their ships in the region to support the task force and give you nominal control over that force, but we can't promise anything. If we are successful in defending the approaches into the Indian Ocean, we can spare ships to escort you to Australia at which point you would then fall under Eagle authority. During the operation, we can support you with fuel and armaments as well as friendly ports." Elizabeth stated.
"How long would the operation be, I noticed that you did not mention anything about Singapore, so I assume you are leaving it as already unviable?" he inquired.
"As much as we would like to keep Singapore, the current situation forced us to bring all our capital units to the European and African Theatre, as such when Japan declared war on us, we had no capital ships in the area. We have been able to secure our foothold in Burma due to its proximity with India and with reinforcements from Africa, but with the Australians pulling all their troops and equipment back to defend their homeland, we just have nothing to reinforce Singapore with. We are forced to leave it as a sacrifice to buy us time to reinforce and build our defenses. The operation we are currently planning will allow us to bottle up the straits of Malacca and hopefully allow us to hit the Sakuran Fleet hard and away from their land-based aircraft while still in range of ours. We expect it to take 3-4 months to implement and get the results we want, after that you will be free to move to Australia with an escort of the remaining Eagle ships."
"This sounds agreeable." he said.
"Very well then. I will send a message to our Far East fleet informing them of your participation and to send word to the Eagle ships in ABDA command to rendezvous at Ceylon. You will be given all provisions and fuel required, we still have some 16in shells here for Rodney and Nelson that you can use." Elizabeth said as she motioned to one of the Royal Marine officers nearby and updated him on what she wanted done. Once he was gone, she then turned back to Arthur.
"Now that our business is concluded, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to tour your ship."
"I can do that; however, I will have to prohibit you from some sections due to national secrecy." Arthur warned.
"That is fine, I probably wouldn't understand what half of these systems would do anyway." Elizabeth agreed with a satisfied grin.