It was slow going to the apparently abandoned base since everyone was matching Moskva and Grants speed of five knots. This gave Moskva time to think about how the war progressed and in turn led her to regret that in the end they ended up betraying the alliance at Tokyo bay. Then they were put on the brink of defeat with the allies closing in on Leningrad for a final confrontation with the premier as he tried to flee the planet entirely when all this happened. Leading her to hope that the resistance force that was be assemble in the shadows could avenge the union and lead it to a brighter future
That is when Moskva said, " I am sorry for what the premier did to you guys during Tokyo. He truly brought shame to the union with that betrayal of trust".
It was Grant who answered in a no nonsense tone " Save it you communist pig what has been done all we can do is stand proud and confront this new challenge head on. I'm guessing that whoever we are facing has a significant advantage over us in terms of tech and manpower. Isn't that right Olimpia".
The aircraft carrier now revealed to be the infamous Olimpia known throughout the union for her many kills slowly nodded her head in agreement as she seemed to be more focused on something else. Moskva chalked it up to analyzing the data her drones were recording during their flight nd o boy she could not be more right with that thought.
Since that is when she suddenly stopped and yelled, " hell below fish in the water fish in the water".
Thus every one scattered to avoid the incoming salvo of torpedoes. This led Grant to become extremely agitated and paranoid constantly looking around trying to find the mysterious enemy sub.
Grant then yelled " Where is that submarine firing from? I will get it on scanners and make sure it eats my depth charges and 105mm rounds".
Olympia pointed behind her which led Grant to sigh because it was in the baffles meaning they were being tailed for a long time. That is when Grant's sonar got a ping and she quickly spun around to her seven o'clock, aimed her gun and depth at the conning tower that was just poking out about a thousand yards and fired while charging the enemy sub. The revolver for its size still sounded like it was a full size 105mm cannon yet still managed to fire at such an impressive rate that the sub was not able to react and ended up eating six shells and two depth charges before exploding in a glorious fireball.
That is when Olympia's surprisingly small and time voice spoke, " Sorry about that guys I panicked but I think we should hurry to the island base and take shelter before reinforcements come".
This surprised Moskva because in the Union she was known for sending the most ships to a water grave. She remembers sailors speculating that the crew of the Olympia was rough, tough and almost demonic in their nature. Some even thought they could smell the fear of soviet sailors miles away and would actively hunt them down.
That is when it hit Moskva that she may be scared because she is human and no longer has her crew.
" I know you're scared Olympia but you still need to have faith in yourself just like your crew had faith in you for comrade premiers sake if anyone should be scared since I have none of my fellow union ships here to help me".
When both of the hydrofoils exclaimed, "Don't worry if Grant or Olympia try anything we will jam them for you".
This lead Moskva's jaw to drop as she did not expect the two hydrofoils to flip like that on their comrades this lead to aa frustrated, "why would you do that to your own comrades"
They answered with, " we are all in this together so someone needs to keep everybody in line and since we are supporting craft we figured it was our responsibility".
The answer caused Olympia to groan while Grant was swearing up a storm and wanting to ring the hydrofoils this was happening the two tan hydrofoils were laughing along like they knew they did something that was forbidden but didn't care about it in the slightest and instead thought it was fun.
Once the laughter died down Moskva decided to do something uncharacteristic for the prideful capital ship which was to rush over to hug them and ask for their names. That is when she found out that the hydrofoils don't have proper names, only the numbers 20 and 21. That is when she said Thank you HF20 and HF21 if you ever find the allies to be no longer a fit I will make sure the union welcomes the two of you.
"Thank you Moskva we will remember your offer and also endeavor to do the same for you if the union were to ever get rid of you for you proved to be a capable warship earlier and during the war," HF21 replied.
That when Grant came over and tapped them on the shoulder all she did was point forward. This comes as a sunrise to the three of them but as soon as they look in the direction she is pointing they see on the horizon they start to see a gray blob rise from the water. Moskva immediately uses her still operable radar and find that it is the island bases they had spent the last eight hours traveling to in near silence with this they decided to kick in to high gear for the last ten knots to the island
Four and a half hours later as they arrived on the island in silence. The docks were all destroyed and left in stony rubble so they headed over to the nearby beach where they all gathered to decide what to do. Moskva suggests that they split up only to be shot down by the rest of the group because of how damaged they were minus the hydrofoils who miraculously came out with paint scratches only.
So they decided to head into the first building they saw which was a partially destroyed warehouse in the dock area. Once inside they see some piles of cinder block rubble and pieces of roofing material in piles on the ground. They also noticed a strange glow coming from some of the lockers that were knocked over near the front of the warehouse that appeared to be a machine shop.
Slowly they walked over to one of the lockers and started to look at the lockers and then they found the glowing locker which was labeled emergency repair . Olympia Moskva, and grant grabbed a repair kit which then caused all three of them to feel rejuvenated and restored as they glowed along with the repair kit. Once the glow died down the first thing they noticed was their rigging looked brand new without a trace of the beating they took earlier that day.
That is when they noticed that the sun was starting to go down and realized that even though they were originally warships, these new bodies were feeling tired and they would have to do what their crews did to sleep.
Grant was the first to speak, asking, `` I think we should find what are crew called dorms or a barracks to sleep in?"
Moskva replied, "I think you are right. I just worry that this unknown enemy will use this time to attack us but I guess we'll just have to take that risk. I just hope whoever used the dorms or barracks last can forgive us for crashing in their space".
Olympia timidly nodded with the sentiment until HF21 spoke, " I believe under the current circumstance they would agree. I just know that they would want us to be safe and comfortable while we figure out our next move``.
This earned a nod of approval from everyone as they decided to head deeper into the base. The first thing they came to was a plaza that was mostly intact except for a fountain in the middle with a broken obelisk in the center of it. They chalked it up to being a memorial of some sort for the fallen comrades which was quickly confirmed by plaque in front of the fountain with the phrase in memory of and a list of names. This caused the timid Olympia to break down in tears as she visualized the fate her crew would suffer now that she was not there to protect. That is when Olympia heard sobbing coming from her right and saw that Moskva was also crying most likely remembering the the death of most of her crew as well as having a similar vision to her about the fate of her remaining crew members.
They were quickly moved from the fountain by the two hydrofoils before Grant could join the cry fest and ushered to a mansion-like building with banners flanking the one that they all recognized was the lion wearing a crown that alternated between sails and ship sterns. HF20and Hf21 assumed to be a dorm for the officers of the royal navy but note that it must be an overseas base because the climate felt almost tropical.
They were about to enter the dorm when they all stopped as they realized a problem of not being able to fit through the door with their rigging on. This lead to them pacing round while trying to manually pull off their rigging to no avail
An exasperated sigh exited Moskva lips as she spoke in a frustrated tone " what in Lenin's name? Do I have to do to take my ship off? Do I have to visualize my ship or something like that would even make sense but then again if it is for the good of the Union I must try all options' '..
So Moskva closed her eyes and visualized her ship out in the docks. As she was doing that she suddenly felt lighter as her eyes flashed open to see her rigging turn into white cubes that flew to the water behind the dorm instead of the docks and started to reform into her dreadnought. Strangely enough she felt connected to it even though she was not attached to it. She mused that maybe she could raise the launchers which immediately responded causing her to panic and lower them back down.
The others heard what Moskva said and quickly copied the process of visualizing their ships which successfully manifested in the water next to the dreadnought surrounding it in a protective circle that made moskva feel safe and trapped at the same time given as how they were technically still enemies. Once that was done they quickly shuffled into the mansion-like dorm which was intact unlike most of the base.
Grant asked, a little concerned, "How are we going to do this? Are we each getting our own room or are we sharing with someone," the last part of the statement caused the straight-laced grant to shudder for some unknown reason.
Surprisingly the timid Olympia answered, " I'll stay with Moskva while H20 and H21 will share a room. Grant you can take a single room if you want".
This caused Grant to release a sigh of relief from a breath she did not know she was holding. So after that statement the each quickly started looking for a room in the designated pairs they discovered that on the first floor was a common area and kitchenette that still had some things they presumed to be food in them. They also found on the first floor a formal room most likely for events that happen on bases. It wasn't until they reached the second floor that they found the bedrooms and retired for the night, deciding to wake up early and explore more of the base tomorrow.
Once Olympia and Moskva were in their room they realized that their was only one bed but before Olympia could apologize moskva silenced her and said, "It alright I have shared berth with allied ships before so this will be no different and besides you look like you need someone by your side or you might break down crying again. For the pride of the allies you sure seem timid. I guess we'll have to get your confidence back or do you want to be capitalist scum".
This got a quick shake of the head from Olympia who quickly followed Moskva to the bed where they, like the rest of the makeshift fleet, fell asleep not to wake till the first rays of sun streamed into the room.
It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that a lone destroyer separated from the battle cruiser and escort carrier approached the island. She was wearing a short red skirt, long white socks that bled into white shoes and white shirt with blue sides that outlined a star on the bottom left. Over that she had on a pink jacket with plush bunny heads on the cuff of the sleeves. Finally her gray hair was in pigtails and held in place by bunny ear clips.
As she approached she tried to hail anybody in the command center of the island but got no response. Since the destroyer was on the other side of the island she could not see the five other ships docked in the water on the other side.
"Laffey can't get through to anyone all the communication is scrambled makes me think I am in a mirror see".
With that statement Laffey in her wisdom decided to take watch from on top of her ship's bridge where she remained half awake for the night hoping her two other comrades were okay and wondering just what the sirens had done to trap her and what they had in store for her once day break comes. She continued to think about similar things until the moon started to set. That is when her watch finally came to an abrupt end with the need for sleep finally winning out and Laffey fling asleep as the first light started to peak over the horizon.
Little did the destroyer know what would be in store for her in just a few short hours as lone siren explorer came off the horizon and radio in that the trap ws ready to be sprung and all the guests were in place.
