When it was time to play, they played. A whole week they dedicated to enjoying the summer and after the event, the fleet broke up into smaller groups, each one enjoying some aspect that came from the change in season. As they played and partied, the work was being done.
Bit by bit, piece by piece, repairs were being made and protocols were being set. Developments in detection technology produced by Purin and Buri created an invisible field around the island. If they were about to be attacked, the system would notify them a whole ten minutes in advance. This effectively rendered any ambush null.
He may have spent a few hours in the week playing and being sociable, but much of the time was spent in his office, plotting out the journey and going through the roster, looking for the right candidates.
It was now a month into summer and one evening, after having dinner, he was standing outside someone's room.
"Yorktown," he said, quietly tapping the door, so as not to disturb anyone "can I come in?"
There was silence for a moment. He thought that perhaps she was asleep and that he disturbed her. Feeling bad for doing that, he took a step back then saw the doorknob turning.
"Please come in Commander," said Yorktown, opening the door and letting him inside.
"Sorry for disturbing you," he said.
"Not a problem, I just got out of the bath and was wiping myself down," she said, grabbing a towel and wiping her hair. "Please, have a seat."
"No need, I'll be brief," he said "I've selected the team and we'll be moving out either tomorrow or the day after."
"In my absence, I'd like for you to oversee the fleet. I'll be leaving behind Enterprise and Belfast to help you out."
"But, why me Commander?"
"Hornet told me all about how things worked in the EU during the first war. Enterprise may have been the face of the faction but you're the one that oversaw everything, while she was out fighting. The reason why Hornet took over completely was because she didn't want to burden you with too much work."
"You got all that from our old reports?"
"I'm good at my job," he said with a smirk "anyway, you'll be in charge of things here and Kaga is in control of the base over there."
"Sorry for dropping this all on you," he said.
Yorktown was about to point out that there were two other people who were more capable than her in leading the Coalition. However, she paused and realized why he was speaking to her and not to them.
"And that," he said, smiling at her, figuring out what she was thinking "is why I want you to lead."
"I'll accept but on one condition"
"What's that?"
"That this is only a temporary assignment. I have no intention of being the leader for too long."
He nodded in agreement then turned around and left. Yorktown paused, wondering whether or not to call out to him and bring up what happened when they last met.
The two of them were tired and weary in more ways than one. They were also defeated but tried their best to look like they weren't. Perhaps he did it better because so many eyes were on him, but she could not hold back her pain and bore it all out for him. In the moment between sorrow and realization, she reached out to him, the only one on the whole island who understood what she was going through. She wanted to comfort and felt that he could provide it.
But as the realization came to her, two people who hated themselves would have made for an awkward conversation and a volatile combination.
'No,' she thought watching him leave and close the door behind him 'it'd be asking too much of him. And besides, it'd be unfair to Enterprise if I said anything.'
00000000000000
Eugen, Z23 and Roon sat in the office, waiting for the Commander. He had sent them a message asking to meet him in the office, yet when they arrived, he was not present.
"Odd," said Z23, looking at the clock on the wall "he's never late to anything."
"He might be finalizing the team to come with him," suggested Eugen.
"Perhaps," said Roon "although he did look a little troubled when he was sleeping."
At that comment, the other two in the room stared incredulously at Roon. By now, nearly everyone in the fleet were aware that Akagi and Roon had made a habit of breaking into the Commander's room so they could either greet him or watch him sleeping. Despite the targets efforts at creating some security measures in place, the pairs raw and unholy strength made all his efforts null and void.
Just then they saw the door open that he came through, holding a stack of papers in his hand.
"Sorry, I was just making sure fleet operations won't be affected," he said, placing the documents on the table "Kaga and I were having a lengthy discussion about that but you don't want to hear boring things like that."
"Right," he said, falling into his chair "the reason why I called you here is simple, aside from the team accompanying me to the North, you three will also be joining me."
"Why us Commander?" asked Roon.
"Because that's your home isn't it?" he replied in a way that looked like he was surprised they asked him the question "I figured you guys would want to go back there and see your sisters or family."
"Still not sure how the whole relations things work here," he muttered to himself.
"Well it's not like I have any interest in that place," said Roon "the only home I know is here and the only people I'd call my sisters are the other PR class women."
"Then it'll be an educational trip for you Roon," he said "you'll get to see how your extended family does things and maybe make a few friends along the way."
"Commander," said Z23, "have you thought about how you're going to bring them to your side?"
"By now you must have heard the rumors about the Iron Blood," added Eugen, looking equally concerned "having their weapons would certainly be a welcome bonus to the fleet, but that's if they agree to allying with you."
"Hmm probably trial by combat," he said, leaning back on his chair "but that's only if they ask for it."
"You realize that now isn't the time for jokes," stated Z23.
"And you should also realize that problems like those are for me to handle," he replied "I've decided that we need them and whether it be through words or by force, we will return with the Iron Blood."
0000000000000000
Two days after his meeting with Yorktown and a day after his meeting with Z23, Eugen and Roon, the Commander sent out the official statement. He named Yorktown in charge of the island and stated that Enterprise and Belfast would support her in her tasks. He also sent out a message naming the team for the mission.
Putting on his cape, he looked at how early it was and thought how long it had been since he started a mission this early in the morning.
Chuckling a little to himself, the Commander left his room, headed out the main doors and went straight to the beach, where his team was ready and waiting.
For the long-range shooters, Wales, Takao and Monarch. For the aircraft carriers, Akagi, Hornet and Illustrious. And for the vanguard, Yukikaze, Cleveland, Z23, Eugen and Roon.
As he drew closer, he noticed Akagi was holding a sword.
"Akagi," he said, "I didn't know you could use a sword."
"This isn't for me Commander," she said "it's for you."
She gave him the sword and he placed it on his side. Then he unsheathed the weapon and saw that it was a traditional katana, but the blade was colored yellow.
"It was made from the body of the Siren you and Z23 sliced up," she added, with a devilish smile "when we saw the body, I thought to myself 'now this would be a good idea.'"
"Killing them with their own kind," he said, sheathing the sword "remind me never to get on your bad side."
"Alright team," he said, addressing everyone present "I hope you're all prepared for this mission. I've mapped out our path and shared it with everyone before-hand. This should give us the path with the least possible resistance. However, I expect that we're still going to get into plenty of trouble, either from the Sirens or from the Iron Blood."
"Stay focused, stay sharp and I expect everyone to come back safe and sound. Is that clear?"
"Sir, yes sir," they all said together.
The journey to the North would take at least a week to get there. This was accounting for storms and the off chance of meeting a Siren fleet along the way. Traveling such a distance was too difficult for any one of them to do so it was taken in turns. Recently, the Commander found out that they were able to manifest the ships they represented, albeit in a smaller version compared to the original.
This allowed everyone to travel on a single ship for a duration, rest at a nearby island and then continue the journey with another ship.
*Three days into the journey
"Maybe it's just me," said Oklahoma, cutting up some vegetables while Ranger stirred a very large pot "but have you noticed it's gotten pretty quieter now?"
"Well I can understand why," said Helena "there's a certain element of madness we're missing."
"You think so?" asked Oklahoma.
"Yeah," said California "there was a word for it. I remember Noshiro telling me when I went to their base. Ah yes, a manic energy."
"Yep that does sum him up nicely," said Oklahoma, chuckling a little.
"Hey guys," said Columbia, alongside Monteplier "what's up?"
"We're busy making lunch for everyone," said Phoenix "what about you guys?"
"We're bored out of our minds to be honest," replied Columbia "usually we'd be having a game with Cleveland, but she's not here to be our hitter."
"Don't you mean 'Clevebro?'" asked Phoenix and everyone in the cafeteria laughed.
"Guys please," said Monteplier, in a rare display of emotion compared to her usual stoic self "I couldn't stop laughing when the rumor started flying around. It took me a whole day to forget that name."
"It took big sis a whole week to forgive the guy who came up with that name," added Columbia.
"I remember her chasing him around the base with a baseball bat after Thatcher called her Clevebro as well," said California.
"She made sure he'd never say that name again," added Helena.
00000000000000000
"Wow sister," said Yorktown, knocking down the last chess piece on her opponent's side "you are really terrible at this."
"Well can you blame me?" shouted Enterprise "I'm not cut out to be sitting at the base and waiting for things. I should be out there, taking the fight to the enemy."
"Oh?" said her sister, raising her eyebrow "you didn't have any problem with the Commander. Does that mean you don't like your big sister in charge?"
Enterprise was uncharacteristically silent at the question. Perhaps the only weakness she had was that she could never stand up to Yorktown's bullying.
"That isn't what I meant Yorktown," she said, twiddling her fingers.
"I know Enterprise, I just love playing with you like that. But I do admit, the base is a lot quieter now."
"AAAHHH," said Enterprise scratching her head "I'd give anything for something to happen right now."
"Enterprise," said her sister "if that wish of yours ends with us being attacked again, I swear I'll tell the Commander all the stories about you when you were a little girl."
Enterprise froze at the threat. There were some parts of her life that were best left relegated to the past. Her youthful troubles were one such section.
Just then they saw Belfast running into the room, looking concerned.
"Something's happened," she said. In response, Yorktown simply stared at Enterprise, who shrunk under her sister's gaze.
Nevertheless, the trio left the room, heading to the beach with Belfast in the lead.
"Kinu and San Diego noticed her in the distance and went to pick her up," she said to the two.
"Her?" said Yorktown "you mean one of our own? who is it?"
"That's the problem," said Belfast.
When the trio reached Kinu and San Diego, Belfast led Enterprise and Yorktown to the woman in question.
She was an auburn haired girl, wearing a dark blue shirt and a pair of jeans. Judging from how messed up her hair looked, the prunes on her fingers and the dryness of her lips, it was easy to say that she had been drifting in the ocean for more than a few days. She was alive, but needed food and water, actual drinkable water.
"Should we take her to Vestal?" asked Kinu.
"Not yet," said Yorktown, analyzing the woman carefully "we still don't know who she is."
"Maybe she's from the Royal Navy," suggested Enterprise.
"Doubtful," stated Yorktown "I remember everyone from the Royal Navy and I can honestly say I've never seen this woman before."
"Well she's definitely not from the Eagle Union or Sakura Empire," said Enterprise "and she can't be Iron Blood either."
Occam's razor is a principle from philosophy that states in the event of ruling out all possible and probably explanations, the least likely one is the answer.
Considering that she did not belong to any of the four factions, there was only one possible, albeit hard to swallow idea.
"Then," said Enterprise, turning to Yorktown, "she might be an otherworlder."
Just as the possibility of that ran through Yorktown's mind, the group noticed the woman stirring, followed by her coughing up some water.
"Get her to the emergency room, quickly," declared Yorktown "for now we'll get her back to normal. After that, we're going to get our answers."
000000000000000
Like how the Eagle Union had an island as their base and the Sakura Empire had their own base as well, the Iron Blood had a large swathe of land they made their home. True to their nature, the faction spent a great deal of time and effort into building a gigantic fortress called 'The Eternal Throne.'
On the journey, Z23 and Eugen were talking about the fortress, telling him everything about it and getting excited to see their family after so long. They talked about how the fortress flew the Iron Blood colors on two giant hanging banners, how there was a flag at the top of the fortress to show their enemies where they were and that in the years that it was built, no force was capable of breaching the defenses.
His planning worked out well for him and the team reached the North two days ahead of schedule.
"Commander," said Z23, holding his hand to hide the fact that she was trembling. She wasn't the only one though.
When The Eternal Throne came into view, everyone had reason to be worried.
The banners that hung proudly on either side of the fortress were torn and tattered, the flag that stood high and defiant in the sky was burning and the walls that held back attack after attack, standing the test of time were now shattered and broken, scattered across the island.
There was one reason for this, there was only one reason why a fortress like this was in such ruin.
As the Commander looked to the skies, his gaze fixed on the cause of this devastation, he said "team, this mission changed from recruitment to rescue."
0000000000000000
Inside the fortress, a blonde-haired girl darted through the halls, stopping only for a moment as the ground and walls around her shook violently. She made her way through a large set of doors, to where the rest of her sisters stood.
"How is it like outside?" asked a woman with short silver hair and a single streak of red hair on her left side.
"Bad," she replied "those damned aliens made it through the central defenses."
"Tch," said a girl with dark grey hair and had a two tufts of hair colored red and white "let me at 'em."
"Sit your ass down you moron," shouted a woman with an eyepatch "you're still dealing with the injuries from the last attack."
"Where the hell are Zeppelin and Tirpitz?" asked the woman with a single streak of red "I know they went with you."
"Tirpitz took a beating in the attack," she replied "Zeppelin's helping her get here."
"Why aren't you helping as well?" shouted the woman.
"Because I need to see mother," she replied "there's been a development."
"Oh?" asked a voice and the two of them turned around, looking at the raven-haired woman with red horns on the side of her head "and what has changed? Has the enemy grown bored of attacking us?"
"No mother," said the blonde-haired woman "on the way here I noticed several new entrants on the map. I believe it's them."
"Really?" asked the woman with a red streak "their timing could not be more fortuitous."
The raven-haired woman turned to a window, looking at the Siren fleet in the sky, continually raining fire and destruction on their heads.
"I guess it's time for one last concert," said the leader of the Iron Blood, Friedrich der Grosse.
(AN: I know that Friedrich is a PR but please bear with me till the story is done as I have a reason for her being here.)
