Time has passed, and it's now a year since Outbreak made its presence in the Azur Lane fanfic sphere. One of the darkest, and the boldest fanfic out there given how this fic is never shy of putting your favourite shipgirls in tight situation. To be honest I never expected this fic to blew up, the first chapter was literally written without any proper storyline in place since I'm expecting this fic to go down in flames given that this is 28 Days Later we're talking about. But 5000+ views on FFN and 4000+ views on AO3 proves that there was a crowd for this story type. Anyway, now to the story.
Note: This story was set in a world where Sirens invaded in 2007, so anything that happened from 2008 onwards either didn't happen or happened in a different way. Keep that in mind as you read this story. And this story is rated M for a reason, deal with it.
Also special thanks to Reddit user u/Class-commie for coming up with the name for Adalbert's rigging, and for making research on stuffs relevant to the story so I can focus on writing.
Day 29
0600
Joint NATO – Azur Lane Base Bembridge, Iron Blood dorm
It was still dark outside. After spending some time outside on the beach and having a chat with Montpelier, London since had returned back to Mainz's room and went back to sleep, all without disturbing the priority light cruiser's slumber. For the next few hours, she was asleep without any care of the world, the low hum of the air conditioning being the only noise in the room, at least until the clock hits 0600.
Out of the sudden, the tranquillity of the room was broken by Mainz's phone alarm.
[Now playing: Turmion Kätilöt – Pyhä maa]
"Wha-what the hell?" London was startled by the alarm, which made her jumped out of the bed. Mainz however, extended her left arm while keeping herself under the cover of the blanket she was sleeping in and began to search for her phone. She eventually found it and silence the alarm, before she finally rose up.
"Ah…morning already?" The light cruiser spoke, her voice still half-asleep. She then heard a knock on the door, and she heard the voice of Peter Strasse on the other side.
"Come on Mainz, wake up! Time for the morning assembly!"
"Coming!" She yelled back, before leaving her bed and stood up.
"Do you wake up this early here?"
"Uh, no. Actually, this is a bit later than what we Iron Blood normally wake up to. Back home at Wilhelmshaven, Winfried had us wake up at five. Here, we follow NATO. But we still have to do morning assembly."
"So…do I have to participate as well?" Mainz shakes her head in respond to London's question.
No, no, no, you don't have to. You're yet to partake in any activities with us and pretty sure NATO hadn't figured out what to do with you yet. So, consider yourself exempted for the time being." Mainz then took her jacket and loosely wear it over her pyjamas and quickly fixed her bed hair. Last thing she wanted was getting called out for having an unruly hair by Peter or worst, by Winfried himself. But at least she's lucky that Bismarck wasn't here or she will be definitely do her hair right on the spot, often in her taste. London only stared at her choice of attire.
"Really? You're going to morning assembly in that?"
"Well, do you have time to wear properly at all? They don't really mind much what we're wearing, just be decent enough. That's that." Then there was another knock on the door, this time it was Koln.
"Mainz, hurry up!"
"I know! Give me a second!" She then headed for the door. "Well, I'm leaving, London. Watch the room, okay?"
"Well, okay." With that, Mainz quickly exits the room and dashed down the hallway, not bothering to close the door. London closed the door before heading for the window. From there, she got to see the Iron Bloods currently stationed at Bembridge assembling on the courtyard below. She could tell from their faces which one been staying up at night and those that have a good rest. And while most were in their sleepwear, a few like Graf Spee and Koln was already in their normal outfit, which made her believed that they were probably about to go on a patrol or just returned from one, the latter's from seeing Graf Spee's sleepy face. Then she heard someone coughing, and in an instant the Iron Bloods stood at attention. Then she heard a male voice speaking.
"Good morning to my Iron Bloods!" His voice was audible to London even though she's on the third floor, no doubt this was Winfried. Next to him was Prinz Heinrich, still in her sleepwear and her hair were left untied given the need to assemble as fast as they can. She then heard their response.
"Morning, commander!"
"A bit louder please."
"MORNING, COMMANDER!"
"Now that's I wanted to hear from you. Now, time for the national anthem. Heinrich, hit it." Without saying anything, Prinz Heinrich turned on the speaker.
[Now playing: National anthem of Germany – Deutschlandlied]
London watched as the Iron Bloods go along and sang their national anthem. It reminds her of the time she was also had to wake up early for their morning assembly. It wasn't far off from Royal Navy's as well, although Harland gave the girls up to fifteen minutes to ready up for the assembly which gave the girls just enough time to properly present themselves. As she continued to observe them, she also heard other national anthem coming into her ears, no doubt Iris Orthodoxy and Eagle Union were also having an assembly at the same time.
The mish-mash of The Star-Spangled Banner, La Marseillaise and Deutschlandlied blaring over one another was something to be heard. Even from hearing it, London could tell there was some sort of rivalries between the factions. Whenever the Iron Bloods raised their voice as they sang their anthem, the Iris did so as well, which in turn prompted the Eagles to follow suite. London found it amusing to be witnessing this unspoken rivalry. She couldn't say much because her commander too would have God Save the Queen played at the highest setting their loudspeaker could go and had the Royal girls to sing it as loud as they can just to remind them of whose country they were in.
That is, had the Royal Navy were here, and so does the British Army or the Government. From what she heard from the other soldiers and shipgirls, the remains of the British Government are reconsolidating in Belfast, and so does the British Army, which is now deployed only in Anglesey and Northern Ireland. And then there was Royal Navy, who has been confined to the Holywood Naval Base since four days ago to escape the harsh treatment they've been getting following the events that unfolded, more so after she learned that her commander had since then stepped down leaving the Royal Navy without an acting commander. But she was sure that her faction was still functional, as they still have Queen Elizabeth and King George V to lead the Royals on fleet level, so long as one of them survived at least.
For now, she just watched as Winfried gave a morning speech, which was met with various levels of enthusiasm ranging from fully motivated to just wanted to go back to bed type motivated. But some shipgirls already left the assembly, as she saw Graf Spee heading towards the dorm while Koln headed elsewhere before meeting up with St Louis and L'Opiniatre. No doubt to her that those three were up for the morning patrol as she does remember that the Eagle light cruiser mentioned about it last night. Graf Spee probably just returned from her patrol, which explains her baggy face.
"Poor girl had to stay up to patrol the waters." London thought to herself. Eventually, Winfried finishes his speech and dismisses the girls, and it wasn't long before Mainz returned.
"Oh? Fancy watching us having to fight our sleepiness while enduring Winfried's speech?" She asked.
"Nah, just wanted to see how's life going on here. You know, since this is a joint base with NATO. Something we don't normally have."
"Ah, I see. Well, there's nothing much changed other than having to share amenities with NATO soldiers. That, and participating in NATO-mandated patrols because some Dutch idiots decided to do a survival challenge for some views and got killed because of it."
"Yeah, Montpelier told me about that." London's answer caused Mainz to raise her eyebrows.
"Montpelier? Since when?"
"Ah, I woke up a few hours earlier. Since I don't want to disturb you, I went down to the beach to bore myself out. Montpelier came to me and shared her story. She told me about why did Cleveland acted like that and why did NATO had us shipgirls to patrol around Great Britain. Anyway, what did your commander said in that assembly?"
"Oh. Felt sorry for her sister though, she literally went through hell. By the way, there weren't anything special about his assembly talk. Mostly about what was today's schedule. Who's going on patrol, who's going to train with NATO, and some motivational stuff to keep our spirits up given how the Rage Virus wrecked us even without getting ourselves infected."
"Training?" London was intrigued by Mainz's mentioning of training with NATO forces. "What kind of training do we have with NATO anyways?"
"Some stuffs that normally doesn't concerned us until when we ended up facing the Infected in the streets. Basically, NATO told us that we are good at everything naval-related until we're got taken out of water and suddenly, we became nothing but sitting ducks. I mean, things like shooting and firearms handling, and physical stuff like running. They just wanted us to at least be on their level so we can better protect ourselves because if anything we learned from handling the outbreak, that we relied too much on our riggings that when we couldn't use them, we're good as dead."
"To be honest though, we weren't meant to be used on land. From what I know from my own experience and from other's told me, this was the first time us shipgirls were ever deployed on land, so no one knows what would happen when we fire our guns on solid ground. Well, that and the fact we're shit at close quarter fights since we never really engage with enemies that got way too close to us. Didn't we face those humanoid Sirens and their Pawns up close? I remember having a fistfight with an Oceana at one point." Mainz shakes her head.
"No, there's a very clear difference between the Sirens and the Infected. For one, the humanoid Sirens usually come at you one by one and will back down when they took too much damage. Even the Pawns are still easier to manage even when they come at you because you deal with at most three of them at a time. The Infected fucking sprints right at you in hordes. Keyword here is hordes, because they came like a tidal wave. And they fear nothing. Even tanks and attack helicopters didn't faze them, let alone machine guns. And they kept getting closer at every passing second. One moment, they were in the distance, you blinked and suddenly they're halfway towards you, and next thing you know, they're right in-front of you. At that point, if you don't have a melee weapon, you'll be stuck in a fistfight with them. And spoiler alert, the Infected always wins the fistfight."
"Oh, damn."
"Even with melee weapon in hand, that still won't guarantee that you're safe. You don't want too much blood splattering all over you. Hell, even I was scared to use my sword against them because mine were meant to stab, not slice them. Against one or two of them is fine, but more than that and I'm in a really deep trouble. And from what I heard; some girls got Infected because of this. That's why NATO been busy trying to get us to be more in line with their standards."
"Do you really had to go through this?"
"Yeah. Besides patrolling the waters, we had to participate in their training as well. They even brought girls from the other bases here from time to time. In fact, I also had to attend some firearms training this morning, then I have to go on patrol. Say, want to visit the range?" Mainz asked. London only nodded.
"Then ready up, we hit the mess hall for breakfast first, then we head down the range. I need to be there by 0830."
"Okay. But I don't really have anything else to wear but this right now. Not sure if they've done cleaning my outfit yet."
"Nah, just take a shower. It'll do the trick just fine. Here." Mainz pulled out a spare towel she has and hands it to London. "If you need toiletries, just let me know, I'll pass it through the stalls." And so, both girls went over to the shower stalls. To London, the amenities were spartan-like given that the shipgirls were often used to their own private bathrooms even among shared accommodation with their sisters. But still given that the dorms here were erected by NATO, who prefers function over looks, the girls had to live with it.
0724
Mess hall, Azur Lane side
As soon as both of them had their shower, Mainz and London went over to the mess hall, this time it was the one for the shipgirls.
"Because this base was so large and got plenty of personnel to cater to, it had about three mess halls. Technically, we're free to eat at wherever we want to, but this mess hall here are more tailored to our needs as a shipgirl, that's why most of us prefer to eat here. The one you visited yesterday are the normal one, and there's another one further north near the NATO docks at St Helen. Those two are for the soldiers, but you can eat there if you wanted to." Mainz explained to her.
"Oh." London responded. As they walked into the mess hall, London could see that it was already packed with other shipgirls getting their breakfast as they preparing themselves for the day ahead. Peter Strasse, Princeton, Oklahoma, Benson, Z24, Z23 were already there having their breakfast. True to what Mainz said, this was catered for them as London saw some Manjuus running around carrying used cutlery and plates back to the kitchen, where more were seen preparing breakfast for the shipgirls.
"Oh, haven't seen these Manjuus in a while."
"Bet you would. You've been out for almost a month. Anyways, these Manjuus were from the Royal Navy."
"Really?"
"Yes, you heard me right. When your Canvey base was evacuated, they loaded on as many ships available and brought out to sea. At first, we had some issues about where to put them, so we temporarily house them at the Iris base in Lorient. Only when NATO acquires Bembridge alongside a few more places like Port St Mary and Sumburgh did we finally had a place to put them back. But it used to be more here."
"What do you mean, more?"
"When your commander ordered all Royal Navy shipgirls to reconsolidate at Belfast, they took most of the Manjuus with them. But they left a few so this base can keep functioning, but us Iron Blood and Iris brought a few of our own Manjuus to make up the numbers. But enough of this, what do you want to eat?" London ponders for a moment before finally came up with an answer.
"Just get me a half-boiled egg and a few toasts and a cup of tea."
"Alright, just find a seat for now. I go get it for you." Mainz then leave her towards to get the breakfast for both her and London. The heavy cruiser went around looking for an empty seat for both of them and finally found one. As she settled down, she was greeted by another shipgirl.
"Hello, friend!" London towards the direction where the voice came from and she saw a white-haired standing near the seat next to her. She doesn't have to ask for her name, for it was already spelled out loud for her on her cloth.
"Seattle?"
"Yes, London! It's me, Seattle. We've met before. Can I seat here?"
"Yes, you can." Hearing this, Seattle sat down on the chair and places down her breakfast on the table before calling the others with her.
"Hey, Washington, Atlanta, Sandy! I've found a place for us! And guess who I met here!" And three more Eagle Union shipgirls appeared, each packing with their breakfast ranging from Atlanta's more modest bowl of cereal and fruits to Washington's pancake stack.
"Morning, London!" Washington spoke first. London only looked at her food as the battleship sat down.
"That's a lot of pancakes, you sure you can finish all of it?" She asked, and Seattle assured her.
"Not to worry, friend! Washington here, really needs to eat a lot. She's a battleship after all."
"Well, if you think mine is stacked, then obviously you haven't seen…" Washington then stopped mid-sentence, when she realized that the person she used to compete with were no longer with them, something that Seattle, Atlanta and San Diego seemed to noticed. But rather than letting the sadness overtakes her, she quickly changed the subject. "Umm, never mind that. Anyway, where's your breakfast, London?
"Ah, Mainz getting it for me, should be here any moment now." Right on cue, Mainz returned back with a tray full of food.
"Make way, please! Thank you!" She places down the tray on the table before sitting down next to London and hands over her breakfast. "Here you go, London. Your half-boiled egg, toast, and your tea."
"Thanks, Mainz." London took her food and was about to eat it when she looked at Mainz's breakfast, which the light cruiser noticed as she was about to sip her coffee.
"What? Never seen an Eintopf before?" Mainz asked.
"Well, yes. Looked like a stew to me."
"Because it was a stew. Just some bunch of veggies, sausage, and potatoes thrown together. Simple enough, perfect for when you don't know what to eat but have some random ingredients lying around. You can eat it on its own but its best to be eaten with bread." Which she demonstrated by scooping some of it with a piece of bread and eating it. "Like that."
"London, you sure that's enough for you?" Atlanta asked.
"Yes, this is enough. Not that I'm expecting to do something here for a while. If anything, Mainz were going to take me to the gun range after this."
"Then you better eat a bit more, girl! Because pretty sure you ain't going to just watch other shipgirls shooting guns out there on the range. Here, take some of mine." Washington cuts a small piece of her pancake and hands it over to London.
"Wait, you don't have to do that. Besides, that's yours." London spoke but the battleship cuts her off.
"No, no, just take it." Washington insisted, which she eventually gives in and accepted it.
"Well, if you wanted it then I can give you some of this." San Diego then passed a few fruits from her bowl to London. She looked at her breakfast, the self-proclaimed idol of the Eagle Union was having what looks like yogurt, granola, and fruit all jammed into a small glass in which she just ate the content with a spoon.
"Sandy, you sure that's enough for you?" London asked.
"Yes, I assure you. Just this parfait is enough for me, not that I ate a lot." San Diego replied. "Besides, an idol needs to keep her body in shape, that's why I need to control what I ate."
"Hey, London, want some?" Seattle offered a small portion of her burrito. Having already receiving additional breakfast from the other Eagles, London just accepted them without haste.
"Say, I've heard some stories about what happened to you yesterday. Must be terrifying for you, isn't it?"
"You don't say. I was told that I was to be in stasis for three days. Woke up to find out I've been out for twenty-eight days, and everyone I met in the city has gone mad beyond salvation. Only by luck did I manage to gain NATO's attention and they helped me escape, even if their method was way overboard."
"Ouch, that sounds awful." Washington spoke, while still chewing the pancake she ate.
"You really don't have much manners on the table, aren't you?" Atlanta replied. Washington swallowed her food before replying back.
"Sorry, just acted on instincts." Just then, several more shipgirls entered the fray. Dunkerque, Emile Bertin, and Le Mars all came to the table next to them, each carrying their own breakfast.
"Morning, everyone!" Emile greeted them, and was a bit surprised to find London among the group. "Oh? Good morning, London. Didn't expected you here."
"Well, Mainz here is going to take me to the gun range, so she brought me here for breakfast first."
"Oh my, that's a lot of food you're having for breakfast there." Dunkerque spoke after seeing the pile of food London had.
"Uh, no. Don't get the wrong idea. I only had half-boiled eggs and toast. The others are given from them." London replied, pointing her thumb at the Eagle Union shipgirls next to her.
"Don't thank us!" Washington spoke.
"And don't bother giving me your breakfast. I'm already stuffed from just theirs!" Said London before she sank her teeth into Seattle's burrito.
"Ahaha, don't worry London, like there's enough for us to share it with you." Said Le Mars. The Iris destroyer had what looks to be a ham sandwich with an egg on top of it. Emile Bertin had some toast but with radishes and some butter on it. Dunkerque had some puffs for her. Indeed, their portion was just enough for them. As they settled down, they talked about random subjects, mostly on hobbies, stories from their time fighting the Sirens and everything in between. But then Washington turned on television just as the morning news came on and the news anchor began to present the news.
"Just in, another wave of protests erupted outside the British refugee camp here in Antwerp…"
"Huh? Protests? What was that about?" London was shocked upon hearing what the newscaster said, and already the other shipgirls were glued to the television as the news kept on going.
"Earlier today, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the refugee camp in Ekeren, Antwerp as the protests entered the third day. This protest is part of the much larger protest that is currently spreading across the European Union as protesters deemed that the supranational union had failed to mitigate the economic losses coming from the Rage Virus outbreak in Britain and that they cared more on the British refugees than fixing the situation. The police have been dispatched to control the situation and yet already there were clashes between the protestors and the law enforcements…"
"What?"
"We've managed to interview one of the protestors involved, and here's what he has to say." The camera then switched over to a person who wore sunglasses and mask to cover his face. His voice clearly show frustration.
"You asked why do we protest here? Just look at those British refugees getting free meal three times a day while we're all suffering here! Open your eyes! The Euro's been freefalling since last week, and investors and companies been pulling out of here one by one! Even tourists didn't want to come here all because of the Rage Virus! I mean, the whole thing just started to get good again after the Siren's gone but then this happened, and they got a place to stay and food to eat without doing anything at all. And guess who's paying for all that shit? Us! Those were our tax money we paid that should go to reviving our economy, but all got wasted for this!"
Hearing what the person pretty much tells London that it wasn't just the Royal Navy that were mistreated, but the entire British populace in general. He has a point in her opinion. When the Sirens came, they disrupted the global economy, plunging the world into chaos which lead to nations collapsing. While some nations managed to pull through, many didn't and until today there were still places still in turmoil. When the shipgirls began to appear, some vestiges of global economy were able to be restored but even then, it took some time until there was sufficient number of shipgirls available and the introduction of anti-Siren weapons for the regular human navies did the economy slowly recovers as the Azur Lane helped clear and secure major shipping lanes from the Sirens. The Siren's defeat following Operation Odyssey had since saw increase in economic activities around the world, but progress was slow. Most are partly to repair or rebuild key infrastructures such as ports as many of them were damaged or destroyed during the Siren War or simply abandoned due to the country not having funds or had since collapsed. The United Nations does try to mend this situation but it would years to fully restore the economies affected. Even within Europe itself, only recently did the economy boom post-Siren invasion as trade resumed between Europe and the Americas, with key sectors such as energy, manufacturing, and tourism began flourish once more. But as of now, the Rage Virus in Britain had reset the progress back to zero.
"London, don't bother about it. Just ignore them, they're just fools who thinks that the world revolves on them." Said Emile, Washington changed the channel to something else to throw off the sour mode.
"But still, the reporter says that there's protests all over the EU, what really happened?" London asked.
"Not the whole EU." Said Le Mars. "Just the western EU states. France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, and Portugal. The central, Scandinavian and eastern Europe weren't much. In fact, they were swimming in money right now."
Before London asked, Atlanta spoke first. "The whole Rage Virus pretty much terrified western Europe that everyone thought they're next in line, so naturally everyone tried to get as far away as possible. Which means tourists and investors all chose to setup elsewhere."
"Yeah, hotels and other tourist attractions across western Europe which been getting reservations months before all got hit with cancellations after cancellations so much that a few got bankrupted." Seattle added.
"The governments took control of those bankrupted hotels and used them as refugee centres, which made a few mad." Said Mainz. "And add to that the Euro took a nosedive just after May 20. And it got worse after the British Pound loses value after the British government collapsed. Even the Swiss franc took a plunge as well as everyone feared that the virus would spread outside of Britain. Cue panicked investors running all the way to the east."
"To the east?"
"Yep, after seeing how destructive the Infected was, everyone wants to be as far away as possible from Britain. So, the Baltics, Scandinavians, Balkans, Turkey, Russia, all are fair game to them."
"But want to know the biggest winner of all this chaos? Turkey, Norway, and Russia." Dunkerque spoke. "The ruble is already at all-time high, consistently surpassing the US dollar and the Euro even during the Siren war. The lira and the krone were normal until the outbreak happened, then suddenly their value exploded. Not to mention people began to shift their attention to eastern Europe as well."
"And so, with the investors all heading east, western Europe were heavily affected. Jobs were lost, unemployment skyrocketed, all the things planned to solve it all were halted in favour of helping the British refugees. Obviously, these people had it." Washington spoke.
"Really?"
"Can't really help much. It's a human nature to find a safe haven in times like this. So, everything is shifting to the east." Seattle spoke. London contemplated for a moment. The protestors weren't wrong, but the way they chose to express their dissatisfaction are. Mainz however, looked at the clock and notice that it's almost 8.
"Oh shit, it's almost 8. Sorry girls, wished we can talk longer but I need to go to the gun range now. London, let's go!"
"Okay!" London went after Mainz as they headed for the exit.
"Hey, say hello to Massachusetts for me." Said Washington.
"Will do." Mainz replied. As they approached the exit however, the door opens, and entered Saint Louis, prompting both of them to stop. Mainz instinctively moved in front of London, putting herself between London and Saint Louis. Similarly, Washington, Atlanta, Seattle stood up as well, each of them looked tense as if they were expecting a brawl. The same also goes for Peter Strasse and Oklahoma. Saint Louis however, only stared at London before simply walked passed her without saying anything.
"Huh, guess she did learn her lesson yesterday." Said Mainz. "Come on, London. Let's leave." London simply followed her without asking further. Only after they were further away from the mess hall did London finally asked.
"Umm…what's with you saying about her learning her lesson?"
"Oh, that one? Well, after what happened yesterday, we all unanimously agreed that the next time she pulled that stunt on you or other Royal Navy girls, there's going to be a beating coming for her. If Jean had no problem breaking her tooth, we're gonna make sure she's going to need a feeding tube." London was shocked at what Mainz said.
"Wasn't that a bit too harsh?" She asked.
"Look, I was here when the Royals used to be with us until five days ago when your commander had all of them to return to Belfast. There's a reason behind that order and that ungrateful Saint was one of that reason. There's a limit on how much we can tolerate her anti-Royal stance especially after NATO revealed what happened that lead to the disaster that is May 20th. Up until yesterday, she just limits herself to verbal insults but when she literally tried to jump on you, we decided that enough is enough." London remained quiet after hearing Mainz's response and just followed her around as she brings her back towards the dorms.
"Say, where's the gun range at?"
"Near the windmill, about halfway between here and the airbase."
"We're walking all the way there or is there's a transport that we can use? I remember Heinrich said there's army transport available to get around since this base is big."
"Transport? We got that covered, and screw the army transport, I had my own." Mainz led London to a car park located near the dorms. There were plenty of vehicles ranging from motorcycles, cars and even trucks parked there.
"What are we doing here?"
"What are we doing here? Why, to get my car, off course." Mainz fished her pocket and pulled out a car key and presses a button, which deactivated the alarm of her car which was parked just ahead of them.
"Wow, nice car." London looked at the coffee brown coloured car.
"Sure it is. 1983 BMW E21 320i. It got a M50B25TU under the hood producing 189 horsepower, and paired with ZF S5D 310Z 5-speed manual transmission for maximum driving pleasure. Almost the whole thing is exactly as it was when it rolled out of the factory. I just give it a new coat of paint, re-do the interior, replaced the engine and transmission, added an alarm system and replaced the audio system so I can play my own song whenever I'm driving."
"You brought your own car here?"
"Yeah, NATO let us have our own transport so naturally we all brought them here for our use. It wasn't just me, every vehicle in this car park was owned by us. Like that blue Tesla Model X over there, that was Saint Louis's, the McLaren P1 next to it was the other St Louis. That grey GMC Denali pickup was Washington's, and that was Tirpitz's Mercedes-Maybach GLS600."
"Damn, you girls sure know how to spend your money."
"Well, we did get paid handsomely by our government, not to mention some of us had some side gig doing product ambassadors or as models for fashion and cosmetic industry. Just after the Sirens were defeated did we realized that we're all standing on a huge pile of money in our bank account, so what's the use having all that if you don't spend it? And you haven't seen the most expensive car in here yet."
"Which one?"
"There." Mainz pointed at a covered car parked to the left of the Model X. "That, was San Diego's Koenigsegg Jesko. You're looking at a 3.5-million-dollar hypercar that can go up to 480 km/h, London. And somehow that self-proclaimed number one girl managed to own one." London's jaw dropped after hearing what Mainz said.
"Wow, every one of you drove nothing but luxury and supercars. Even within us Royals, only a few had that level of luxury. Most of us didn't even have a car, but at most we do know how to drive since Queen Elizabeth really like to go places."
"Oh, really? What kind of cars do you Royals had?"
"Well, for starters, we do have Her Majesty's Rolls-Royce Cullinan. It's purple in colour, kinda weird colour but you know Rolls-Royce. They do anything to fulfil their customer's order so long as it wasn't too ridiculous. It was hers, but Warspite's the one that usually drives it but I actually got to drive it once."
"Hey, it's a Rolls-Royce. The fact that you managed to drive it means you're already at the same tier as these girls."
"Yes, but that's not the only Rolls-Royce we had. There's also Hood's Wraith and Illustrious's Phantom. And then there's KGV's Bentley Bentayga and Monarch's Flying Spur. Oh, I almost forgot, Nelson and Rodney's Aston Martin One-77."
"Damn, the One-77 haven't been in production since twelve years ago, where did they got it?"
"Hmm, let's just say they gave a businessman who owned one an offer he couldn't refuse. But like you, we also had some that appreciates classics."
"Who was it, London?"
"A lot, but the ones that stood out was Belfast and Sheffield. Belfast managed to get her hands on a Jensen Interceptor III."
"Woah! That's a real classic! What does Sheffield have?"
"Knowing Sheffield, you gotta love it: A genuine Aston Martin DB5." This time, it was Mainz's turn to have her jaw dropped.
"She had that? Damn! I would love to drive that thing, didn't expected her to have that James Bond stuff."
"Ha-ha, maybe once this Rage Virus thing blows over, I ask her if she can let you drive her car. All of them was probably still in Canvey base." London then looked around the car park to see the other vehicles there. "Good to know that there were still girls that chose to drive normal cars instead of super luxury ones."
"Yeah, not everyone here is into that luxury stuff. Some just buy whatever that fits them the most. That's Dunkerque's Megane, Emile's S90, Yorktown's Grand Marquis, Montpelier's Camry, Spee's Karoq…yeah, I can name every single vehicle here and who owned it but we have a place to go. Come on, get inside." Mainz spoke as she entered her car. London followed suit. As Mainz said, the interior looked new for an old car, and so does the paint job, not to mention the air freshener she used to achieve the new car smell.
"Like it?"
"Well, you did a good job making this car looked new." London said as she touched the dashboard and the seat, praising Mainz's efforts in restoring the car to its glory days.
"Should be, I sank almost fifteen thousand Euros on this car, almost half of them were spent getting this thing running."
"Oh damn, that's a lot. You could buy yourself a newer, used BMW for that."
"I know, but I wanted a classic. So, I got a bit out of the way to get one. I actually saved this car from a junkyard, they sold this to me as a scrap, which is also why I got it for cheap but in turn, I had to find a new engine and transmission and the interior for it. Lucky thing they also had a wrecked BMW, the car's busted but the engine and transmission are still good so I bought it as well. All that's left is to figure out how to install them, Hipper really helped a lot getting it installed, literally staying up all night doing so." Mainz reminisced back to the time when both of them worked together with the car. She asked Hipper for help when things started to get tough on her as some modification is required to get the engine and transmission to fit. And so, they worked to the night to the point that Mainz decided to call it a day and went to sleep, intending to continue the work the next day. She didn't expect Hipper to stay behind and continued to work with the car all night, for when she came to the garage the following day, she finds Hipper sleeping on a mat, with the engine and transmission already installed. All this were only months ago, not long after the Sirens were defeated. The memories came back to her which made her pensive for a moment, which London noticed.
"Um…Mainz?" She asked, which made her to regain her senses.
"Huh? What is…Ah, sorry about that. Just remembered something. Anyway, let's go." Mainz turned the ignition and the car came to life. She then took out her phone and places it on the phone holder. "Hold on, let me set the song first." London puts on her seatbelt, and then watched as Mainz pairs her phone with the car's media player. Upon successful pairing, she opened Spotify on her phone, and fired up one of the playlists she had.
"Okay, now here's something uplifting." Mainz said as she hits the play button.
[Now playing: Yosh, Gemie & MPI – Barricades]
"Praise JVC for making modern stereo players that fits in a classic!" She puts on the seatbelt before shifting into the first gear. Before London knows it, they had left the parking lot.
0822
Bembridge Windmill Gun range
Thanks to Mainz's expert driving skills, they managed to reach the windmill with a few minutes to spare. Upon arriving, Mainz parked her car on the nearby field, which itself already had several more cars, trucks, and motorcycles parked there. Given Mainz's explanation earlier, London assumed that these were owned by the other shipgirls that was already at the gun range. Exiting the car, Mainz gestured London to follow her.
"Come, we need to go to the armoury first. I need to get my gun." They headed towards the armoury, it used to be a private residence before it was repurposed to store the guns and ammunitions used by NATO throughout the operations here. Entering the building, Mainz greeted the armourers.
"Morning guys!"
"Ah, Mainz, good morning!" They greeted her back. One of them noticed London. "Hey, who is this?"
"Hmm? Who's this? Haven't heard the news yesterday that NATO managed to rescue a shipgirl out of Great Britain? This was her. Meet London, everyone."
"Hi, London. Nice to meet you."
"Hi." She greeted them back. Meanwhile, Mainz talked to the head armourer.
"Uh…I have some firearms practice this morning. Can I have my gun, please?"
"Sure girl, let me get it for you." He then turned around. "Hey Jones!"
"What is it?" Called out someone at the back.
"Mainz here are going for her firearms practice. Get her SCAR please!"
"Hang on, a little bit busy here!" She can hear the sounds of items getting shifted, and footsteps going back and forth coming from the backrooms where the guns were stored. A few minutes later, a soldier came out with a cart, on it was her SCAR and a few magazines.
"Here you go, girl."
"Danke" Mainz replied as she retrieves her gun and the ammunition for it. "Come on, London. Let's go."
"Okay." She followed Mainz up a path leading towards the windmill. She can hear gunfire which means there are others already at the range practicing their shooting, something strange considering shipgirls normally does not use firearms.
"How long have you been doing this?" She asked.
"Ever since this base was established." Mainz replied. "For up until that point, I either evacuate civilians or provide fire support to keep the Infected at bay long enough to get the civilians out. Only after that did NATO started pushing us to start practicing with firearms. By the way of it, looks like they were planning to use us shipgirls for a time being so kinda had to roll with it."
"I see." She can already saw the windmill where the gun range is located. "So that's where gun range was it?"
"Correct. That windmill is currently used as a platform to train sharpshooters and snipers, there's the standard gun range in the field next to it, and to the north was a bunch of farmhouses that have been used for what the soldiers call "The Pit"."
"The Pit? What was that?"
"I explain to you later, right now we need to get to the field." They walked past the windmill and reached the gun range by the field. London could see some soldiers practicing there, as well as a few shipgirls, most notably from the Iron Blood. Mainz herself were surprised to see them as well.
"Odin? Elbe? Magdeburg? What are you girls doing here? I thought you were at Shetland."
"Hmm? Ah, Mainz! Haven't seen you in a while." Odin replied. "Well, Commander had us to attend the firearms training here. So we did, and here we are."
"Anyone else also here?"
"Yes, there's Ulrich, Z24, and Z36 over there." Magdeburg pointed towards the aforementioned Iron Blood shipgirls. Just then, Ulrich called them out.
"Attention! Training starting soon, all Iron Bloods not from Bembridge, come here."
"Got to go, Mainz. Have fun with yours." Odin then left her as she heads towards Ulrich's group. London then asked Mainz.
"Hey, what was that all about?"
"Oh, is that this their first time with their firearms training. Those girls are stationed at Shetland, Winfried brought them here to do some firearms training because they don't have a gun range at their base, I guess. Anyway, I need to practice so for now, just look around." Mainz then left her and went on to the range. London looked around to see the other shipgirls practicing their firearms with the soldiers. More often than not, she noticed it was the Eagle Union shipgirls that is coaching the others, as Massachusetts were with Jean Bart.
"Hey, you're aimed a little too much to the right." The Eagle battleship spoke, which irritated the Iris battleship.
"Will you please just shut up and let me do this on my own?" Jean replied. "Besides, I did myself quite good with a gun back then."
"Yes, but from what the soldiers there told me; you just sprayed the whole thing without bothering to aim at all. Good shooters aimed down their sights."
"Fine…Like this?" Jean tried to aim down the gunsight of the M4A1.
"Yeah, like that…Just a bit further back, because the recoil will hit your eyes when you shoot. The M4 may have low recoil but a recoil's a recoil. Better safe than sorry unless you wanted to embrace your pirate's soul and ended up wearing an eyepatch because of it.
"Kay, kay. I got it. I'm not here to listen to your lecture." Jean replied as she readjusted her aim at the target before firing a few rounds. London moves on and saw Prinz Eugen and Algerie practicing with light machine guns, while under the watch of several Bundeswehr, French, and American soldiers as well as New Orleans. Both heavy cruisers were wielding the FN Evolys 5.56, the next generation of light machine guns coming from FN. Both of them were firing the weapon in burst, which after a while, New Orleans tell them to step it up. A soldier presses a button and multiple targets suddenly propped up.
"Alright, now, full auto!" Both Algerie and Prinz Eugen squeezed down the trigger, and the gun responded with a steady stream of 5.56x45 NATO flying downrange. One by one, the targets fell as both heavy cruisers sweep through them. The sound of the bullets pinging against the metal surface fills the air around the range. The soldiers were impressed at how fast the shipgirls catches up to them considering how most of them previously never touched a firearm before, except the Eagle Union off course.
"God damn, they're better than some of our newer recruits." Said a German soldier as he watched Prinz Eugen mowed down several more targets.
"You don't say. Damn, just look at that. Only like, a few days and they already like veterans." Replied the French soldier when he saw Algerie were absolutely killing it with the machine gun.
"That's because when you have to take down incoming aircrafts with your anti-airs, obviously you had to be fast." New Orleans responded to them. "Technically, they're the same concept as us using our anti-aircraft guns, except we need to deploy our riggings first before we could do that. And that's the problem."
"Oh, right. Your rigging just can't be used on land." One of the soldiers replied.
"Close. Real problem is the size. Destroyers, light cruisers, and carriers can get by, but us heavy cruisers and battleships have rigging so big and heavy, good luck moving around on dry land with that." Having experienced what is like to use her rigging on land, London understood what New Orleans said. While she's lucky that her rigging wasn't that big, she does feel that her rigging "tugs" her harder on land than when she's on the Thames. She then hears the distinct crack of a sniper rifle being fired not far from her position. London turned towards the direction where the sound came and this time, she saw a few carriers practicing their marksmanship hitting their targets over long distance away, even further than the other girls.
There was Weser and Independence, both light carriers were equipped with designated marksman rifle. Weser had the G28 while Independence had the M110A1, both weapons being a variant of the HK417 which made them almost identical in specifications. Nevertheless, both of them focused on taking down their targets located far away from them. Both were watched over by German and American soldiers.
"Weser, a bit to the left!" Called one of the German soldiers. The Iron Blood carrier readjust her aim to the left and fired. Her shots hit her target located almost 400 meters away.
"Target down! Good shot Weser." A soldier congratulated her. Meanwhile, a soldier helped Independence on readjusting her sight after they noticed that her shots were off.
"There, now you should have no problem hitting your target now."
"Thanks." Independence then fired a few rounds at her target until it fell. After the target fell, two more targets propped out, this time even further way.
"Alright, now you both had successfully taken out a target 400 meters away, we're going with the 600 meters. This is the furthest your guns can effectively engage, so take everything you've learned so far. Ready?"
"I'm ready." Said Independence, reloading her rifle.
"I'm ready whenever you are." Weser followed suit.
"Alright now, fire!" Both carriers readjust their aim to compensate the wind and began to fire at their targets. London then moves on from them, looking around at all the other shipgirls that were on the gun range. Then she heard someone calling her.
"Hey, London! Over here!" London turned towards the direction where the person called her from, and saw Prinz Heinrich and Adalbert as well as Mainz all waiting for their turn to shoot. Except for Mainz, both sisters wield a HK416. She went over to them.
"So, this is what you girls been doing for the past few days now?" She asked them.
"More or less, yes." Heinrich replied. "But at first it was just the shipgirls stationed here. Only today did the girls from the other bases started their firearms training, which is why they were here." She pointed at the Shetland group, who are already now were given explanation by the members of the Bundeswehr.
"Say, want to check them out? You might get to learn something from them." Adalbert asked. London only nodded. Both of them went over to the Shetland group, leaving Heinrich and Mainz behind as it was their turn to shoot. They arrived just as the officer were giving the girls a brief of what they were going to do.
"Morning girls, I'm Unteroffizier Huber, and welcome to 'Pull the Trigger 101'. Gefreiter Bohn here is gonna do a quick weapons demonstration to show you girls how it's done. No offense, but I heard from the others about how you shipgirls firing your guns from the hip and spraying bullets all over the damn place. You don't end up hitting a damn thing and it makes you look like an ass. Bohn, show 'em what I'm talking about."
"Yes, sir." The private then went down to the shooting range and fired his rifle without aiming. His shots barely hit any of the targets, and if so, it merely grazes it.
"See what I'm talking about? He sprayed bullets all over the damn place. It's fine during emergency situation but if you want to take down your targets faster, you've got to pick your targets by aiming deliberately down your sights from a stable stance. Gefreiter Bohn, show our friends here how the Bundeswehr take down a target. Crouch first, then aim down your sight at the targets."
The private again fired his rifle down the range, but this time he crouched first before aiming down the sights. This time, the targets went down one by one in rapid succession.
"That's all there is to it. You want your targets to go down faster? You gotta aim down your sights. Save bullets, and more importantly, your enemies dead before they can get you. So, anyone wants to try first?" The sergeant asked, there was a silent response first before Magdeburg volunteered to try out. The light cruiser took the rifle provided to her before shooting a few rounds down range. Then the others began to try it themselves.
"So, you're also with them?" London asked Adalbert, which she shakes her head.
"Uh, no. I'm actually from my main base at Wilhelmshaven. Came here to try out my modified rig."
"What? Oh, right. The others did tell me about modified rigging last night, but Mainz said you Iron Bloods can't modify your rigs without specialized equipment."
"She's right. At that time, there weren't enough time to go back to our base to modify it so for the rest of the operation, we just stuck to naval bombardment and evacuation. Only after all that concluded did NATO ordered us to start modifying our rigging. And so we did, but since there's a lot of us to be modified and not counting submarines and there was only room for four in our facility, naturally progress is slow."
"I see. Are you're going to test it now?"
"Not yet, Tirpitz going in first." Adalbert pointed out at Tirpitz, the Iron Blood battleship preparing to summon her rigging. Light began to form around her back before it slowly manifested into a shape. London could see the faint outline of the battleship's rigging before it fully manifested right in front of her eyes. Indeed, where her 38cm gun turrets should be were gone. Replaced by four H&K MG5 strapped together in its place, a total of 16 guns on her. Laser pointers were added in the middle of each "turrets" to give her an idea where she was aiming at. Nearby, a soldier gave her the order to fire. Multiple targets popped out of the ground for her to shoot.
"Fire!" He called, and Tirpitz began to fire one of her "turrets". All four machine guns spewed bullets as she focused it on several targets close to her, and then she stopped firing the first turret and went on to the next "turret", repeating the same actions for each of them. Satisfied that all four "turrets" of hers was working, Tirpitz asked for the targets to be reset. "Reset the targets, please. I wanted to fire all of it."
The soldier complied and with the press of a button, the fallen targets went back up. This time, Tirpitz fired all four of her "turrets", sweeping from left to right. Targets fell one by one under the sheer firepower as Tirpitz unleashed a hail of bullets downrange. London and Adalbert both covered their ears, even as shipgirls who are used to having large calibre guns within the proximity of their ears, gunfire is still loud enough to hurt them. Only when all targets were shot down did she finally stopped firing.
"Oh damn, my ears ringing." Said London.
"You don't say. Funny that we normally fire guns bigger than that without issues, and said guns are often right next to or behind us." Replied Adalbert.
"Yes, but normally you have your rigging on so you don't feel it a lot other than some slight pressure drop."
"And now I'm starting to doubt about the whole shipgirls are immune to hearing loss myth ever since the whole Rage Virus thing started and we started using firearms more often."
"Guess we might have to ask our commanders to start investing in hearing protection. From what I heard, hearing loss are no joke."
"Haha…Nice pun there, London." They then saw Tirpitz leaving the range, giving Adalbert her turn. "Alright, now's my turn here." Adalbert concentrates in order to bring forth her rigging. Like Tirpitz, London saw the same light, this time two of them emerging from her back. The light slowly grew in size before taking the form of two dragon-like rigging floating around her.
"Phew…That's a lot of work. That's why I rather let them roam around in the waters rather than stowing them away since it's exhausting to bring them out. The ones with rigging attached were lucky they don't have to do this." Adalbert spoke. London looked at her two familiars. Like Tirpitz, where her main and secondary guns used to be had been replaced with MG5s.
"Guess you also managed to modify your sentient riggings as well."
"Yeah, but not everyone. Only the cruisers and battleships do. Carriers like Graf, Peter, and August were exempted because they can function like normal even on land. It's just us that need to adapt. Come over here, you two." She gestured at her riggings, which followed her to the range.
"Müller, you stay on my left; Seidel, you go to my right." She told her riggings, which they obeyed and move to their positions indicated by her. Upon confirming that they were in position, she asked the soldier to raise the targets, and the targets were raised once more.
"Alright now, Müller, fire only the targets on your side." The rigging complied and fired upon the targets on the left side. After several targets were down, Adalbert gives another order. "That's enough, Müller. Alright, Seidel, your turn." The second rigging also opened fire on it's target on the right side. Satisfied that both guns were working, she ends her session. "Alright you two, stand down."
"Wow. That was…something." Said London.
"That's just mine. You haven't seen the others yet." Just then, Mainz and Heinrich swings by.
"Hey sister! How's your rigging?" Asked Heinrich.
"Ah, they worked as intended. When are you going to modify Eisen?"
"As soon as they done modifying Friedrich's rigging. You know her rigging, took up the whole damn room." While the two sisters were having a conversation, Mainz came to London.
"Hey, what do you think about all this?"
"Well, seeing all the other shipgirls using firearms considering we already had our own is just…weird, I guess?"
"Haha…welcome to the new world, London. The way I'm looking at this, I think these changes are going to stay. Got to adapt and be used to it, stay the old ways, and you won't last long. Say, want to try shooting a bit?" Mainz offered London her SCAR. London took a good look at it; the battle rifle was decorated with stickers on both side of the gun.
"Stickers?"
"Yeah, that way the armourer knows that this rifle's mine. By the way, this was the gun I used back when we escaped the city. NATO let me keep it." London took Mainz's SCAR and went over to the gun range. Mainz asked the soldier on duty to raise the targets for her, which he complies and another set of targets rose up from the ground. While this wasn't the first time London wields a firearm, this was her first time she formally held it. She took note of the attachment Mainz added to her rifle: A red dot sight, muzzle brake, laser sight and what is apparently an underbarrel shotgun. Which made London wonder if all that was necessary to Mainz.
"Like looking at it?" Mainz spoke from her back which startled her.
"Ah! Jesus, you scared me!"
"Sorry, shouldn't do that. By the way, does my gun looks impressive?"
"Well, yeah. A lot of stuff though."
"Just missing the drum magazine. That one is reserved for when there's an actual deployment, that's what NATO said."
"Uh huh."
"Well then, what are you waiting for, London. Shoot it." Mainz gestured her, and London takes aim down the range. "Ah, forgot to tell you, turn off the safety first."
"How do I do that?"
"Here, let me show you." Mainz showed her how to do it. "See that knob just above the grip? That's the fire selector, currently it's on 'S' which means the safeties on. Just set it to '1' or 'A', but for now just set it to '1'." London followed her instructions and just set the selector to "1" before resuming what she was doing before, and pressed the trigger.
BANG!
The sound of gunfire reverbs through her ears. So does the recoil going through her body. She shoots one more time.
BANG!
Again, the same sensation. Unlike the time she blindly fired the battle rifle as she ran down the streets with the Infected hot on her heels, this time she had the time to aim down and pick her targets, just like how she would with her own ship against the Sirens only months ago. As she shoots the targets one by one, she noticed how each of them had a crudely painted faces of people in a state of anger, probably to represent the Infected, giving those training here a reason to shoot it.
"Like it?" Mainz asked.
"Don't know." London replied. "Just maybe felt a bit strange to wrap around, but…I don't know how to describe it, sorry."
"Then switch that knob to 'A'. That's where the fun begins." London then set the fire selector to the aforementioned setting and tried to shoot again. The moment she pressed the trigger, a different sensation hits her.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Her shots took out one of the targets, but the feeling of firing the battle rifle in full auto were a completely new experience for her. The sound, the recoil, everything associated with it just hits different. She then returned the rifle back to Mainz.
"It's thrilling, wasn't it?"
"Oh, I don't know what to say." Just then, Prinz Eugen came by.
"Oh, having fun shooting stuff already, London?"
"I didn't ask, Mainz here let me borrow her gun. That's all."
"Then, want to try this?" Prinz Eugen showed the FN Evolys she had. "This is a light machine gun, it fires smaller round than the rifle you used but what it lacks in stopping power, it made it up for in volume. 200 rounds in a belt speaks for itself." But just before London could take a closer look at the weapon, another voice called her out.
"London, there you are!" She then saw Enterprise rushing over to her, the Eagle carrier stops to catch her breath.
"Enterprise, what's wrong? What's with the hurry anyway?" Prinz Heinrich asked.
"I got some news for London from General Gayle. Been looking around the base for her, didn't expect her here."
"A news for me?" London was intrigued at what Enterprise said.
"Yes, that's why I'm looking for you. He wanted to speak to you directly. Follow me." She gestured her.
"Mainz, I think I had to leave. Thanks for bringing me here."
"No problem, London." Just as she was about to leave, Prinz Eugen stopped her.
"London, can I ask you a question?" Asked the Iron Blood heavy cruiser.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Back when you were on the streets yesterday, did you find or saw my sister?" Those who heard her question nearby came to a standstill, especially Mainz.
"Umm…Sister?" Mainz spoke. Prinz Heinrich and Adalbert both gave a sombre look and tried to look away, knowing the atmosphere carried by it. London however, shook her head.
"Sorry, I don't see anyone resembling your sister. The only Iron Blood I've met was Karlsruhe, but she's not herself anymore."
"I see…Sorry for asking this. You may go." She lets her go, and London went off with Enterprise leaving the Iron Bloods behind. As they walked towards the car park, London asked Enterprise.
"Enterprise, why did Eugen ask me about her sister?" Enterprise didn't answer her at first, but after walking a good distance away from the gun range, she finally answered her question.
"Back then, when orders were made to have us shipgirls to be pulled out of London, the Iron Bloods were among the first to try and make it to the Thames. But for Prinz Eugen and the others with her, they got chased by the Infected all the way up to the Thames. From what I heard, Admiral Hipper and Z19 tried to hold the Infected back so the others can escape." Hearing what Enterprise said gave London the now familiar stories of siblings trying to hold the line only to fail horribly.
"So, what happened to Hipper?" Enterprise paused to figure out an answer before she replied.
"As expected, both of them didn't make it out that day, but she, Mainz, and Weser had high hopes that at least she survived, especially when NATO started a rescue operation to try and save as many shipgirls still in the city the next day. And so, they waited hoping that one of the helicopters carried her. And they waited, and waited from dawn until dusk. Each passing hour, that hope slowly diminished. Weser's the first to give up, then Mainz. But Eugen stayed for almost entire day before Winfried had to talk to her. Even then, Hipper is listed as missing in the Casualty Manifest under Eugen's insistence, because according to her there were no proof of her leaving the city, nor drones spotting her in the streets afterwards." London went silent over her reply. To her, Eugen's situation was similar to that of Cleveland, except at least she didn't go suicidal, just made her borderline alcoholic if Mainz's words are true.
"I see." They then reached the parking lot where Enterprise leads London to her vehicle.
"Come on, get in. I'll take you to the General." London hopped into Enterprise's SUV, and they took off towards the base command centre.
0901
Bembridge Base Command Centre
Arriving at the former Bembridge village hall, Enterprise lead London into Gayle's office, where she finds Reinald and Winfried were there as well.
"Ah, good morning, London!" Reinald greeted her.
"Morning, Commander Reinald." She then turns her attention to General Gayle. "General, are you looking for me?"
"Yes, London. Been looking for you in the Iron Blood dorm this morning until Griggs told me that you went to the gun range with Mainz courtesy of Seattle, that's why he sent Enterprise to get you since he had some business to attend to. But enough of this, let's get to the reason why I brought you here: You'll be sent back to the Royal Navy at Belfast." Gayle's words resonate in her mind, which made London silent for a moment before she came out with a response.
"Say again?"
"As I said, you will be sent back to your faction. And before you ask, this is not my decision, this is a request made by the Royal Navy themselves. They were under a strict order from their commander in that all Royal Navy shipgirls are to be in Belfast, and such, you have to go there. We already arranged a transport for you, but since Northern Ireland was in a bit of a trouble right now, we'll have to send you to Isle of Man first."
"Why Isle of Man?"
"You'll be spending the night at Port St Mary. That's where some of Azur Lane shipgirls were stationed for the purpose of patrolling the Irish Sea. Most of those stationed there are the Sardegnas, including their commander as well. But there were others stationed there as well. I already informed her that we'll sending you there." As soon as Gayle finishes his statement, Winfried spoke as well.
"To simplify it, you spend the night there, and then join the morning patrol. They will stop over at Belfast, that's where they will drop you off. Understand?"
"I understand, just what is going on there that made flying me straight to Belfast impossible?"
"Well, this." Reinald turned on the television and on-screen was another news broadcast showing another protest right in Londonderry.
"Protests all over Northern Ireland over change from Pound to Euro…what?"
"When the British Government collapsed ten days ago, the Pound was essentially worthless. About two days ago, the interim government announced that they will be adopting the Euro, and as you can see, not everyone is happy about it. So, for now, they're in lockdown for the time being." Winfried explained.
"Well in that case, why can't I just sail myself straight to Belfast? I can just identify myself as a member of the Royal Navy."
"That, was another problem. The only way to get into Northern Ireland right now is through an authorized naval convoy. But us here got tied up with patrols and everything, so we couldn't arrange one right now. But those at Isle of Man could, just their schedule was full today so the best thing to do is to head out with them on the next morning."
"I…see. Anyway, I would like to collect my belongings first."
"Of course. Your flight to Isle of Man will be this afternoon, just be at the airfield by 1230." Said Gayle. "Oh, and your belongings are at the laundry."
"1230? Now's just quarter after nine. There still some time around here. Say, you still wanted to tour the base, London?" Enterprise asked London.
"Yes, but let me get my clothes and phone back."
"Okay, okay. Let's go." They both went back to her SUV and went towards the laundry.
"By the way, nice SUV you got here, Enterprise."
"Thanks. 2022 Buick Enclave Avenir, all-wheel drive luxury SUV. Sets me back sixty-two grand."
"That much?"
"Heh, this wasn't even the most expensive car in the base. There are others that drove things more expensive than mine."
"Nah, Mainz already showed them to me. Didn't expect San Diego managed to own a 3.5-million-dollar hypercar in the first place."
"Yeah, she loves to flex her financial status on us." Said Enterprise as she starts up her SUV.
[Now playing: Forts – Eternal Flames]
Enterprise drove London to the base laundry where she retrieves both her clothes and her newly repaired phone.
"Huh, finally back in my clothes again." London said after she changed her clothes back to her uniform. Too bad that while her phone works, her SIM card were damaged which meant that she can't call anyone. While she can at least access the Internet through Wi-Fi, she rather chose to do so later, not when she has other places to check out first before taking her flight to Isle of Man. "So, what's the first agenda?"
"The track. My commander was there right now, overseeing some fitness training."
"Fitness training?"
"After the outbreak, it became clear that we shipgirls would have to see land combat for a while. Given how the Infected was, turns out most of us are shit at running. So, they had us doing fitness training every now and then."
"Understandable." London replied. Enterprise drove her to the track area, located near the former village of Hilway.
0929
Hilway Fitness Ground
Upon arriving at the track, London could see a few soldiers already down on the field making laps around the track. But her focus wasn't on the soldiers, it was on several shipgirls lying flat on the ground in total exhaustion, with Griggs looking over them.
"Commander!" Enterprise called, earning his attention.
"Hmm? Who is…Oh, Enty, it's you. Morning'" He then notices that London was with her. "Ah…good morning, London! Good to see you here."
"Good morning, commander Griggs. Enterprise here, are giving me a tour of this base before I have to take a plane to Isle of Man this afternoon."
"Isle of Man? Why are you going there?" He asked. Enterprise answered the question for her.
"London here, is to be sent back to the Royal Navy. Just right now, Belfast is in lockdown, so the only way to get her is through the naval patrol from Port St Mary. Though she be spending a night there first."
"Ah, I see. Hope Eloisa was notified of that so that she and the Sardegna can prepare something for you. Girls got a track record at helping those In need."
"Yeah, especially when the Sardegna's are the only ones that the Royals didn't saw as a hostile right now." London understood what Enterprise said. She still remembers what Dunkerque and the light cruisers told her about the events that unfolded following the fall of London. The levels of distrust and Royal Navy's eagerness to destroy the Infected with little disregard to collateral damage, coupled with anger coming from those that lost their sister ships and friends and fuelled by lies and insults like those of Saint Louis had effectively drove her faction to a corner where they now hunkered down in the safety of their base at Belfast where the barely functioning government are now seated. From the way she heard, the commanders, especially Eloisa and NATO are actively trying to mend the situation, but according to Reinald, it would take time to convince them. London then asked Griggs.
"Just wanted to ask, commander Griggs. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, that." He pointed at the three shipgirls lying completely flat on the ground in total exhaustion: Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Intrepid. "Just checking on how's their 'running from the Infected' training looks like. And as you can see, it didn't pan out for them."
"Air…air…I need some air…" Said Intrepid, gasping for air between her words."
"Dear God, I know they were fast, but not that fast." Minneapolis spoke.
"My God, my legs…it felt like it's about to rip itself off." Baltimore spoke. Griggs pulled a few bottles of water from a cooler and handed them to the girls.
"Girl, you participated like, every single damn sports out there and you got yourself beat like this?" He asked Baltimore, who took one of the bottles and immediately emptied it.
"Commander, there's a huge difference between running because you wanted to win, and running because your fucking life depends on it."
"One was for fun and games; the other is a straight up matter of life and death." Minneapolis followed.
"And given what we've faced back there, obviously those Infected were just…inhuman to begin with." Intrepid replied back.
"Why are you all even doing this?" London asked.
"Well, turns out after the Siren War, a lot of us went out of shape. And when we faced the Infected, which chases after you like a goddamned maniac, that's when we found out that all of us are absolute shit at actually running away from danger." Enterprise answered her.
"Yeah, you can put it like that. But there's another reason actually." Griggs spoke.
"Other reason?"
"The real reason was to get both the soldiers and shipgirls to familiarize with the Infected's behaviour. Most importantly, what to do when you got chased by them. There are times when fighting them is not advisable so the only thing left to do is to run away. Even then, given how they were, just running away won't cut it. You need to know what to do to keep them as far away from you as possible."
"So that explains why all three of them were beat."
"Yeah, and that's just the first stage."
"What?"
"That's right. The first stage was about getting chased around to give an idea about how terrifying it was to face them." Just as Griggs finished his sentence, London heard screams coming from the field. She looked towards it and finds three shipgirls getting chased by some robots.
"NJ, THEY'RE GAINING ON US!"
"HOW ABOUT YOU JUST FOCUS ON RUNNING!?"
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT WHEN THESE THINGS JUST KEEP…..OH FUCK! IT'S BEHIND ME!"
"Z2, out!" Announced someone with a megaphone. While Z2 were seen staggering out of the track being helped by a soldier, the other two shipgirls, New Jersey and Algerie were sprinting at full speed while the two robots chased after them.
"What was with those things chasing them?" London asked, having an interest in them. "Looks like a robot to me."
"Because it was a robot, London." Griggs replied to her. "At first, we had some soldiers to chase them around but turns out even the fittest soldiers couldn't get anywhere close to how fast an Infected could go, but luckily Boston Dynamics were kind enough to lend a few of these bad boys for both us and NATO to use."
"Wow, but then, you said this was the first stage, what's the second stage?"
"Oh, that." Enterprise pointed at what looks like an obstacle course that was modelled to look like a devastated city street. "The first stage was about to feel what it's like to be chased by an Infected. The second stage was about how to stay ahead of them, with what the Iris girls calls it parkour."
"Really?"
"Yeah, from what Reinald told me, when off-duty them Iris girls went around their base doing parkour runs. Hell, Emile and Jeanne actually participated in parkour competition a few times and often either finishing as runner ups or the champion." Griggs spoke. London turned her attention back to the obstacle course, and like Griggs and Enterprise told her, there was a few soldiers readying themselves for their run on the course. Behind them was more of those robots that's been chasing the shipgirls on the track before.
"So, what are all these for?"
"Back when we're fighting the Infected, we noticed something about them. They're fast, that's for certain, but they actually had a hard time keeping up if there's a lot of obstacles in their way. And they certainly don't climb high walls." Said Griggs. "And that's where we have an advantage: We can perform complex manoeuvres better than them, and we can climb. They can't."
"And during the evacuation, both Iris and the French soldiers prefers to stay above the street level, practically engaging the Infected from the rooftops and jumping from buildings to buildings. Saved their asses a lot since the Infected couldn't get to them unless there's a rooftop access. Even then, they stayed there briefly, engage, and then bug out before the Infected arrives. They actively do this throughout the operation." Enterprise continued.
"And that convinced NATO to start getting everyone to do parkour. So, everyone had to, even me as well. Naturally, Reinald and his girls and to less extent, the Sardegnas absolutely dominate the whole course."
"Oh…" She then heard the whistle which marked the start of the soldier's run on the course. They all ran down the "street" while the robots chase after them, and it wasn't long before the soldiers began to find their way above the street with every means available, from jumping on top of abandoned vehicles to scaling the walls with their bare hands. As soon as they could reach the rooftops it was now a matter of limiting their time on the streets.
"Just like that." Enterprise spoke. "Get to the roof as fast as you can, and then try to stay on it as long as possible. If one had to get back to street level, they had to find a way to get back up fast. So long as you have the high ground, the Infected couldn't touch you. Even if they had means to reach the roof, we'll be gone before they could reach us." Just then, they heard some voices calling towards them as New Jersey, Algerie, and Z2, all almost flat from all that running came to them.
"Honey, I need refreshments…." New Jersey spoke, her voice clearly shows her exhaustion.
"God damn, haven't run that fast in a while." Algerie whispered in her native tongue. Z2 however, just let out an incomprehensible mumbling. Griggs went over to them with bottles of water in hand.
"Guess I've seen it all. But I haven't checked 'The Pit' yet." Said London.
"'The Pit?' Ah…the one at the gun range was it?" Enterprise asked her, in which she nodded.
"Mainz didn't show me that yet since you interrupted my tour there first."
"Ah…sorry about that but at that time it was urgent for me to find you since the General ordered it. Let me make it up for you, want to see 'The Pit' for real?"
"Yes." Without saying anymore words they both went back to Enterprise's SUV. As they drive back towards the windmill, Enterprise gave her a brief knowledge about "The Pit."
"Basically, 'The Pit' is akin to a shooting gallery, where you are to clear the whole course from start to finish. There's target for you to shoot, but there's also 'friendly' targets that you mustn't shoot for it would add a time penalty, and shooting too much 'friendly' targets is considered a fail."
"Wow. Reminds me of those crazy videos those Northern Parliament and Dragon Empery often like to share."
"Yeah, like that. Just not that crazy like those Northern Parliament girls do. They certainly just trying to show off than actually showing how proficient they were."
"I know. I mean, does any of it were practical in actual combat though? Like doing a backflip while throwing an axe at your target, wasn't it better to just throw it instead of making some flashy move?"
"I don't know, don't ask me." They eventually arrived to the windmill again, where they find Jean Bart already at the parking lot, having a smoke by what London presumed was her car.
"Hey Jean, did Mamie made you shoot again?" Enterprise asked her. Jean took a long drag before replying.
"No, came here on my own. Then she showed up unannounced. Like girl's a psychic, knowing exactly where I was and then proceeded to annoy me with her wisdom."
"Well, I did saw you shooting down range earlier." London spoke. Jean turned towards her.
"You did? When did you came earlier?"
"I got here with Mainz earlier, she was showing the gun range to me and I was hanging out with the Iron Bloods when Enterprise came to me and ask me to meet the General."
"Ah, Reinald did message me about that as well. Decided to go practice shooting first, didn't expect you to be at the gun range as well. Oh, whatever. I'm done with my business here." Jean then puts out the cigarrete before throwing it away and entered her car. Just before she started the engine, she called out to Enterprise. "Hey, if you're looking for her, she's up in 'The Pit'. Said that she wanted to beat her time." Jean then starts her car and leaves the area. They watched as the Subaru Forester turned right and went out of their sight before heading up towards the place London wanted to see. They walked past Mainz, who was heading towards the parking lot.
"Eh? Back again?" The light cruiser asked.
"Well, you didn't show 'The Pit' to me, so Enterprise doing it for me. Anyway, where are you going?"
"Back to the dorm. Patrol starting at 1135, it's close to ten now, wanted to rest for a while before hitting the waters. Bye."
"Bye, Mainz." They kept on walking past the field where the gun range was. By now, the Shetland group had now move on to the range, with some Bundeswehr soldiers are supervising the Iron Bloods as they took their turns firing various types of firearms with Elbe trying the shotgun while Odin giving the machine gun a go. Both Enterprise and London ignored them as they continued towards "The Pit." After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived.
"Here it is, London. 'The Pit.' This is where both us and the soldiers here test their firearms proficiency and skills. You go in and take out all the targets while making sure no civilian casualties as fast as you can." Enterprise spoke. London took a look at it. Even from the outside, there's already a maze built in front of the structures, filled with obstacles and targets both 'hostile' and 'civilians' which leads into the structure itself, which London presumed were also configured the same but indoors. From what Mainz told her earlier, it used to be a farmhouse before it was used as a proving ground. Outside the maze was a counter where various weapons and attachments were placed as well as ammunition dumps, and timer which was running indicating someone was already inside. She already sees some soldiers lining up, waiting for their turn to tackle "The Pit."
"Huh. Massachusetts must be already inside. Didn't see her waiting."
"Exactly how does it work?" London asked.
"There's about eighty 'hostile' targets and twenty-five 'civilian' targets in 'The Pit', for a total of 105 targets. You can see ten 'hostile' and two 'civilians' outside already. One must take out all eighty 'hostile' while making sure there's no 'civilian' casualties. If it does happen you will receive a time penalty of fifteen seconds for each 'civilians' killed."
"So, who's the fastest at clearing 'The Pit'?" Enterprise shrugged at her question.
"Depends on who you asked. If you asked the soldiers, it's about three minutes and fifteen seconds. Set by a person that calls himself 'Soap.' Don't know why the hell he chose that name. My best is three minutes and thirty-two seconds. But if you asked us, the fastest is two minutes and fifty-one seconds."
"Who set that?"
"Our St Louis. Give her a shotgun and she'll be the closest we have to the actual Doom Guy." Just then, they heard a buzzer and saw that the timer had stopped, showing the time of three minutes and fifty-seven seconds. "Guess she's done. Come on, let's go and meet her." They went to the back where the exit was, and Massachusetts was there resting after an intense run through the course.
"Hey Mamie, what's up?" Enterprise spoke to her, the battleship heard her and responded.
"Ah, Enty. Hello London."
"Hi."
"Say, how's your run this time?"
"Well, I was faster…by about six seconds. Still not good. Hardly made it to the top ten for us shipgirls."
"You have a leader board for this?" London asked.
"Yes, we got separate leader board for both the soldiers and shipgirls alike. It's over near the starting point." Massachusetts spoke. "Its purpose was to give us incentive to improve ourselves but most of the time it was mostly for bragging rights."
"Yeah…that's so much about it." Enterprise continued. "Anyway, anything else you wanted to see here, or you wanted to see other parts of the base?" She asked London.
"I…think I'm done here. But I wanted to see more of the base." And so, Enterprise ended up taking her around the base for another hour.
1210
Joint NATO – Azur Lane Base Bembridge airfield
It's almost her departure time as London were sent to the airfield by Enterprise. There, she could see an A400M waiting for departure to Isle of Man. There were still some cargoes being loaded into the plane, but once done she will be off.
"So, I'm hitching a ride on a cargo plane?" London asked Enterprise, to which the carrier just nods her head.
"Yeah, NATO isn't exactly hot on comfort, but this was the fastest way to get you to your destination. But the soldiers said there should be some seat near the cockpit where you can sit down, and the flight shouldn't take that long." They then heard the sound of a vehicle coming behind them, and turned around to see a black Forester came to a stop. London recognized it, being the vehicle that Jean Bart drove from the gun range earlier. She was correct when the battleship and Reinald as well as Griggs and Winfried exit the vehicle.
"Pardon our intrusion, girls. Just coming over to check on things." Griggs spoke.
"Oh, there's nothing to worry about, commander Griggs." She replied. "Though I didn't expect a ride in a cargo plane."
"Well, they do have seats onboard. Besides, there were more cargo than personnel to be moved around these days." Reinald responded. "And you weren't the only one flying to Isle of Man today, there's some soldiers getting transferred there as well so you won't be lonely throughout the whole flight."
"I see." London looked at the cargoes being loaded onboard the plane. "A lot of cargo though."
"Most of them were supplies. Food, water, medicine, weapons and ammunitions…they were to be dropped onto the quarantine camps in Great Britain."
"Wait, quarantine camps? I remember the soldiers told me about it on the helicopter but didn't say much about it, they have those camps right in the isles?"
"Correct." Winfried answered. "Not all of Great Britain is overrun by the Infected, in some places especially in northwest of Scotland, there were no Infected. Either they didn't reach there on NATO managed to keep them at bay. To reduce the refugee pressure in Europe, NATO set up a few camps to house the remaining uninfected population of Great Britain there, and any survivors they found afterwards were also brought there."
"And obviously given the situation, the camps were supplied by air. All those cargoes you see being loaded there? They're sent to Isle of Man first, then transferred to another plane were they and anything else that needed to be dropped into the camps were loaded." Griggs followed.
"Oh…anyway, you're all here to send me off?"
"That was one of the reasons." Jean Bart spoke. "The other reason was Reinald wanted to introduce you to someone that was recently transferred here." On cue, another person exits the SUV, whom London recognized her.
"Hello!" She greeted her.
"Foch?"
"That's right. Foch here, were transferred here to replace Saint Louis from this operation." Jean continued. Foch went over to London.
"How are you? Been a while since we last met."
"I'm…fine. But why did you wanted me to see her?" London asked, and Reinald spoke.
"Because like you, Foch were also in coma when the whole Rage Virus thing hits."
"Really? She then turned back to Foch. "What happened to you?"
"Well, the thing is…about a month ago I was on patrol in the Mediterranean. Dead in the night and with thick fog all around. Don't know whose fault it was, but I ended up colliding with a container ship about 54 nautical miles from Marseille."
"Ouch, what happened afterwards?"
"The collision almost sank my ship and knocked me unconscious. When I woke up, it was already June. And that's also how I learned what happened."
"Sorry about that."
"I know. Woke up in a stasis chamber like you, the only shipgirl around was Le Terrible and Surcouf. When I asked where is everyone, they said almost everyone is down in Great Britain trying to contain this Rage Virus. I wanted to join, but they don't let me saying that I'm just out from repairs and there's things that they wanted to check first, so I was held back until yesterday."
"Obviously Foch, you're fresh from the repairs and your ship was still undergoing repairs in the drydock. Even your rigging had to be rebuilt, and you wanted to jump into action straightaway." Said Reinald. Before Foch could argue, Griggs steps in to stop them.
"Hey, I don't know what you two are arguing about, but we're here to send London off was it? How about we don't end it on a sour note." In the meantime, Winfried took out his wallet and pulled a few hundred Euro notes and hands it to London.
"Here, you should take it. Helps you out in a while." London was shocked over the Iron Blood commander casually handing her 500 Euros in cash. She wanted to decline it but then Enterprise made her reconsider.
"You know, given the news the British Pound is nothing more but a glorified toilet paper right now. You ain't going to buy anything with it, I say just take it."
"If you say so." She took the money from him. "Thank you, commander Winfried."
"Sie sind willkommen." London then sees some soldiers began to board the plane, which indicates that it was her time to leave.
"Hey, they were starting to board so I think I have to go now. Thanks for everything guys! Goodbye!"
"Bye!" Enterprise and Jean Bart as well as the commanders responded. They waved their hands as they watched the Royal heavy cruiser went aboard the aircraft, which soon began to taxi towards the runway before taking off.
"Guess that's one part of the problem solved." Said Griggs.
"Just hope that what she's going find out once she reunites with the remaining Royals didn't gave her fuel pump failure." Jean Bart replied.
"Better hope so." Enterprise spoke, just then they heard a vehicle coming to a stop behind them. They turned around to see Prinz Heinrich jumping out of her Touareg.
"Wah! I forgot that London is leaving today! Did I miss her?" She asked in a panicked tone.
"If you're looking for London…" Enterprise and the others pointed out at the plane which is now climbing up.
"She just left a moment ago." Winfried spoke.
"EEHHH!?"
1337
Isle of Man Airport
The flight was short, about roughly just over half an hour from Bembridge to Isle of Man. The flight took her across southwestern England and northern Wales, which when viewed from high above looked completely normal. But London knew that it was normal only on the surface, down below on the streets was a nightmare for anyone still uninfected with the Infected roamed the streets looking for victims to kill or infect with. Not to mention the various damage to public and private infrastructures thanks to NATO's aggressive approach which calls for bombings, naval bombardments and airstrikes at every opportunity. But she put that behind her, wishing only to see her fellow Royals sooner. Right now, she needs to make a stop here first before departing towards Belfast.
As of now, she was at the airport, having lunch. She arrived just after 1300, but contrary to what she was told, there was no one to greet her. Which is why she decided to have a lunch at the airport's terminal first, which also gave her opportunity to shop for new clothes due to the low prices she found there. Part of it had to do with the Rage Virus, with the economic collapse of United Kingdom the merchants had to make up the losses by selling their items for cheap to attract customers. Good thing she took Enterprise's advice on taking the money Winfried offered, as many of the shops no longer accepts the British Pound. Lucky thing that the exchange accepts Euro which after conversion, gave her enough to buy a few clothes and a lunch. But with the British government choosing to adopt Euro, things may change soon. As she were about to eat her lunch, a call came through, startling her as its've been a long time since she received a call.
"What the-!? Oh, just my phone. Who's calling me?" She answered the call and a female voice greeted her.
"Hello, is this London?" The person asked, a hint of Italian accent in her voice.
"Yes, it's me. Who is this?"
"This is commander Eloisa from the Sardegna, didn't you recognize me?"
"Ah, sorry I forgot about it."
"Don't worry, it's been a while since we last met or speak to one another. Anyway, where are you? Me and Trieste been waiting for you for over half an hour now."
"Umm…I'm having lunch in the terminal right now."
"The terminal? Ah, we've been waiting by the tarmac entrance. We thought that NATO dropped you there."
"What? No, they sent me to the terminal first after the plane landed. They didn't tell you that?"
"Nothing. But whatever, just stay there. We'll come for you." With that, Eloisa ended the call. London shrugged off and continued to have her lunch. It wasn't long before she saw two individuals approached her, one calling out her name which made her know who she was.
"London, there you are!" Eloisa was the first to spoke, followed by Trieste afterwards.
"Hey, you still remember me?" She asked her.
"Sure, Trieste was it?" The Sardegna cruiser only nodded. "Come on, we've been here for too long, let's get going." She said.
"Come on Trieste, we don't need to rush things out." Eloisa spoke to her.
"Then who's paying for parking?"
"You used my card, was it? So I'm paying, which means we can take things slowly."
Trieste gave out a sigh. "Fine…"
"Good." Eloisa then turned to London. "So, anything else you wanted to do here before we head back?"
1411
After getting what else London needed, the trio finally went towards the car park where their ride was parked.
"So, apart from the Sardegnas, who else were posted here?" London asked.
"There's a few from the Eagle Union. Arizona, West Virginia, California, Lexington, Essex, Ticonderoga, Gridley, North Carolina, Bremerton, Honolulu, Boise, Ingraham, Bristol, Mullany, Stephen Potter, Thatcher…I think that's all." Trieste replied back. "With the exception of Bremerton, North Carolina, Honolulu and Boise, all the Eagles here are those that suffered losses during the operation." She continued which surprises London.
"What? Why lump them all here?" Then Eloisa explained.
"Given what had happened to them, obviously they need some talking to help them out. Littorio, Aquila, and Zara are good girls to talk to, but Griggs rather wanted to separate some of them from what he said more 'severe' ones. That's why he places them under my care, and sent a few to help out."
"I understand." London knows what Griggs meant with "severe" is, already witnessed what it was. She then asked another question. "Just asking, why did they trust you with this?"
"Because of all the Azur Lane faction involved in this operation, we're the only ones that didn't suffer any casualties." Trieste answered. "We narrowly dodged the May 20 disaster, so there's no traumatized girls in our fleet that is."
"But still, seeing just what happened to those girls were unnerving to us." Said Eloisa. "Luckily God spared us from that fate by having Littorio and Abruzzi suddenly having engine problems as we're about to depart to England that day. We were busy fixing their engines when the news reached to us. Even after we fixed their engines later that day, I chose to stay in Bilbao until we figured a way." London didn't say anything about this, and decided not to ask any further question as they walked down the parking garage until Trieste pulled out the car keys.
"Well, here's our ride. Just put your belongings at the back." She said as she presses the unlock button on the knob, in which a nearby Skoda Kodiaq flashes it's lights. London places her items on the backseat before getting on the SUV. Eloisa got on to the driver's seat and started the vehicle, and soon the vehicle left the airport bound toward Port St Mary.
[Now playing: R E L & Artemis Delta – Night City]
"By the way, your phone's working again was it? Why didn't you try and contact someone from the Royal Navy?" Eloisa asked London.
"I think given how the situation was, it's best that I met them in person. They may have received the news of me surviving Great Britain, but showing up at Belfast myself is better in my opinion. Same reason why I'm not checking the Internet right now."
"Well, if you turned on your mobile data or Wi-Fi, you'll be bombarded with a month worth of chat messages anyway. And that's a giant headache to manage." Trieste spoke.
"That one was the other reason. I mean, just seeing how much Shropshire tried to contact me and the many messages sent by the UK government is just…Yeah, you get it."
"Point taken." She casually replied. As the vehicle now reaches the coastal road, London saw the glimpse of her destination in the distance, evidenced with many docked warships.
"There's Port St Mary." Eloisa pointed out.
"I know, it was one of our main bases back during the Siren War. I was posted there for about a year or so."
"Then you still remember the way around?"
"Provided nothing's changed, should be."
"Good, at least I don't have to show you around." Trieste spoke. London looked around the SUV's interior. It wasn't as fancy as Enterprise's Buick or the classic looks of Mainz's BMW, but the Kodiaq was for all its purpose, an SUV.
"You know, after seeing the parking lot at Bembridge, glad to see someone drives a normal car for once." Trieste heard her and replied.
"Oh, this is just my car, London. Once we're at the base, you'll see it for yourself just what us Sardegna could afford."
"This is yours? I thought for certain that you could have bought something more epic than this if what Mainz told me was true."
"Nah, not if you're the secretary ship. You're bound to do a lot of things so you need a vehicle that can do it all, so SUV it is."
"Girls, we're here." Eloisa spoke as the SUV turned left into Port St Mary. The former coastal village were turned into a naval base and remained so ever since. London was posted there before between 2018 and 2019 so she knew the place by heart. The only changes now were the absent of Royal Navy shipgirls nor the presence of the regular Royal Navy which were also there back in the days. But she's about to discover what other change which is the parking lot, where upon entering the base, she was greeted with an entire row of nothing but Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Maserati's, and Pagani's casually parked there.
"Right, after all this blows over I'm definitely got to check my bank account and see how much do I have so I can buy something worthwhile." London thought for herself.
2045
London stood by the docks as she oversees her ship being refuelled. It's been some time since she last brought her ship form out, thus it was necessary to check her ship to make sure it won't be throwing any fit tomorrow morning. But remembering how it was to meet the shipgirls stationed here was something to her. In between receiving apologies from Lexington, Arizona and Thatcher over what they've done, and helping the Sardegnas preparing dinner, at least she was welcomed here.
As she embraces the cold air blowing towards her, London looked around the dock area. Where Royal Navy ships were once docked is now replaced with Sardegna and Eagle Union ships, a complete change of scenery. Eloisa told her before they were recalled to Belfast, there were a few Royal Navy ships stationed here. She tried to convince her commander to let them stay but the girls chose to leave on their own accord. Just then, she heard Eloisa calling her from behind.
"London? May I talk to you?"
"Ah, commander Eloisa. Why, yes."
"Just call me Eloisa, no need to address me like that." She said as she stood next to her. "So, is your ship in good condition?"
"Yes, just ran some tests half an hour ago. Right now, I'm refuelling it, barely had enough fuel to start the engines."
"I see." They then just stare out at the sea in front of them. It took some time before London finally speaks.
"You know, the last time we all met together were six months ago, during the Christmas party the Iron Blood held to celebrate our victory over the Sirens."
"Yes, but back then it was all about celebration." Eloisa replied. "Everyone is having fun; joys of victory are all over the place."
"Indeed, including you, commander." Another voice came from behind them, Eloisa and London turned around to see Trieste and Littorio coming towards them. "Let's just say we got a bit too wild during that party." Littorio spoke.
"Oh, yeah. I did got myself wasted that night." London remembers it well given how significant that party was, being both a Christmas party and a celebration for the end of a sixteen-year-old war between humans and Sirens. "I definitely woke up with goddamned headache like I just got hit with a battleship round head on."
"Oh, London. Waking up drunk isn't the worst that happened." Trieste spoke. "I was there as well, didn't drink a lot so I got up light, but let's just say the are girls even wilder than you."
"Really? I don't remember a lot about what happened afterwards, but I do recall seeing some girls just straight up sleeping on the floor, on the couch, even outside in the garden. Hell, Prinz Heinrich woke up in a fucking dishwasher of all places."
"Well, that was the girls that just got drunk. You haven't yet counted girls that decided to have another kind of fun, both with the other girls and the commanders." Littorio spoke. London contemplates for a moment before she realized what Littorio was talking about and her face went red.
"Oh, that one." She replied. "That was definitely something."
"Ohoho…I had to say, that was the best night I've ever had with Illustrious and her sisters."
"Alright, alright, do we have to talk about that?"
"Don't worry about her, London." Trieste spoke. "But still, that night was wild. I remember some of the girls asked the Eagle girls if they can have their commander for the night. I knew this because Aquila was one of them."
"Wait, why did they want commander Griggs?" London asked.
"You know him, right? He's…black." Before London says anything, Trieste continued. "Let's just say some of the girls got jealous at the Eagles because they have 24/7 access to a what they call 'BBC' whenever they wanted, and so they paid a hefty sum of money to the Eagles so they can have him for the night. In exchange, they can have their commanders."
"What the fuck…"
"Oh yeah, that includes Hood, apparently."
"Oh…wait, what?"
"And Aquila, August von Parseval, Taihou, Chapayev, Foch, and surprise, surprise, Saint Louis. Seven shipgirls paid the Eagles just so they can have their commander for the night. Long story short, they're not virgin anymore." London could only facepalmed after hearing Trieste said.
"Right, that sounds like prostitution with extra steps. Can't fucking believe Hood and Saint Louis of all people ended up doing that." She said under her breath, but then Littorio speaks up.
"You know London, shipgirls sleeping with the commander was a thing, but you know how to top that one? A commander sleeping...with another commander."
"Littorio, please." Eloisa suddenly spoke, her face went beet red. London noticed this and couldn't help but asked.
"Umm…just asking, what happened?" Before Eloisa could speak, Littorio spoke first.
"The next morning, obviously we had to get everyone accounted for, so I went around to find other Sardegnas. Already had everyone accounted for except for one person." She said as she eyed on Eloisa. "I walked around the hotel trying to find her, and coincidentally ran into King George V, who were also looking for her commander. And so happened that we both tried to call our commander at the same time, and cue hearing the ringtone of their phones…right inside the same room."
"Oh god, please don't remind me of that!" Eloisa pleaded, but Littorio continued the story anyway.
"So, with the help of the hotel manager who can override the key cards, we opened the door and there they was. Clothes strewn all over the floor, and Eloisa here along with your commander together sleeping on the bed, naked." London's face went from red to white from what she just heard.
"WHAT!?" She can't believe how her commander actually managed to sleep with the Sardegna commander. She took a quick glance at her, who already buried her face behind her hat in pure embarrassment. No doubt her face is totally red.
"Lucky thing signorina Eloisa here, was on the pills or else we'll be having some weird situation here."
"Alright, that's it Littorio. Enough with this, the commander would really wish that you didn't bring this up again." Trieste intervened.
"Fine, fine. I stop here."
"Thank you, Trieste." Eloisa spoke.
"Exactly how did my commander managed to do this though…I don't know it went like this. No wonder why George went sulking for entire week while he did everything to appease her back afterwards."
"To be honest, that's what too much alcohol in your system would do to you."
"Really? If anything, I say he has a good taste." Littorio spoke.
"Why so?"
"Just look at it. Your commander and ours aren't far off in terms of age. If anything, they were born in the same year only two months apart. Besides, how could he resist her. Our signorina here, is what you got when a Slovenian fashion designer and an Italian businessman met and fell in love with each other."
"Oh…"
"And obviously, once alcohol got involved, they got a bit tipsy, and your commander offered his room so she can rest. And when you put a drunken man and women together, and especially if the women are attractive like signorina here…"
"Littorio."
"Oops, sorry. My bad."
"Alright, enough of this. By the way, it's getting late. London here will be departing on the first patrol this morning, so I think it's best that you catch some sleep early."
"Understood Commander." Both Littorio and Trieste leaves the docks leaving Eloisa and London.
"Ah, but I'm not done refuelling yet. It's going to be another ten minutes."
"I know, that's why I'm staying with you until you finished all the necessary checks. Once you're done, I guide you to your sleeping quarters."
"Thanks Eloisa." And so, London focused on her ship until she decided it was ready for tomorrow's journey.
Day 30
0555
Port St Mary Naval Base, Isle of Man
It has been so long since London last sailed. Last time she did so was eleven days before she was placed into stasis. As such even after all the checks last night, she decided to run by it again.
"Fuel…check. Rudders…check. Communications…check. Now time to start this thing up." She mentally commands her ship to start the engine. The loud bang followed by low hum and vibrations tells her that it started normally, which was confirmed by the readings on her system gauge. So far, there were nothing unusual to her. She now had to wait for the rest of the fleet to be ready. Up ahead was a small fleet of Sardegna ships, two destroyers and a light cruiser. But London was told that normally other Sardegnas would often hitch a ride to Belfast as well, returning later in the afternoon, being part of the welfare towards the Royal Navy in an attempt to mend things up. So, while officially Maestrale, Libeccio, and Duca degli Abruzzi will be patrolling the Irish Sea, Trento, Aquila, and Zara will be tagging along as well. Just as she started her ship, she receives a transmission.
"London, this is Abruzzi. You're ready?"
"I'm more than ready."
"Good to know, we're scheduled to depart in fifteen minutes. Make sure everything you wanted to bring is onboard."
"I already checked. Everything is in its place."
"Understood." Fifteen minutes later the fleet begins to sail into the still foggy sea. As she was now connected to the current communication network used by NATO, she gets to hear Abruzzi contacting the command centre at Bembridge.
"Bembridge, this is Abruzzi of Disciple-3. We're just departed for our patrol. How copy, over?"
"Solid copy Disciple-3. Proceed as usual. Just asking, stopping at Belfast as usual?"
"Yeah, we got a VIP that needs to be dropped there."
"Understood. Make sure to finish the patrol as scheduled. Bembridge out." And so, London's journey towards Belfast begins.
"Girls, I'm coming back home." London thought to herself as the fleet plies through the fog.
On 29th March 2021, the first chapter of Outbreak were published on both FFN, AO3 and r/AzureLane. It's now a year since then and with total of 14 chapters as of now, I couldn't make it this far without your support. Your favourites, bookmarks, follows, and reviews gave me the fuel to keep the story going.
Now with London on the way to reunite with what's left of the Royal Navy, there's another round of flashbacks similar to that of chapter 10. Given how it goes, get your tissues ready if you're a Royal Navy main. Because there will be another round of death coming your way.
Also, normally I don't ask my readers for help, but to help speed the writing of the next chapter, I might want you to come up with some insults, something that someone who lost siblings and friends would throw at when blaming someone else. Might a good idea to write the name of the shipgirl that would say such words. The Casualty Manifest in the second Codex chapter should help give you an idea about who would say it.
Until then, enjoy.
