Chapter 1:
'War never changes.'
It was an adage that Enterprise had held firm to over the many years that she and her sisters had sailed the oceans of this blue marble in the stars that they called home. Even before the Kansen were manifested, as humanity spread out across the world and its oceans with the rush of exploration leading them forward, war crept behind them in the shadows of their sails. There was a brief moment, where all thought that peace might return once some of the darkest days in human history had finally come to an end. Though neither kansen nor man was to be so lucky, as that prospect was soon shattered by an enigmatic force known as the Sirens.
Where one war that spanned the world ended, another took its place as humanity was cast from the waters of their home by weapons that were beyond the scope of what the most recent conflict had brought about. It then rested on the shoulders of those like Enterprise to strike back across the waves and battle against the Sirens on the behalf of mankind. For decades they fought back against the Sirens; defending coastal cities and merchant ships as they traveled across the perilous waves. Over the weathering of years, many became wounded in the fighting and even some had sadly slipped beneath the waves, never to be seen again.
Peace was a somewhat foreign concept to the kansen. There had been moments of downtime and rest that they were able to cherish, living out lives like the ones they had sworn to protect, but those were becoming few and far between. So much so that some, like the prize carrier of the Eagle Union, had put aside such thoughts. Embracing their nature as weapons of war and placing their gifted humanity to the wayside. In order to lead them in the constant war, Enterprise had thought that soldiering on through it all was what was needed to guide the others on. An unflinching bulwark against the might of the Sirens and at times some of the other factions when squabbling rose between them. Though with the latest stage in the conflict, the events which had unfolded and the allies that stood alongside her, had led the carrier back on a path towards Enterprise's original nature. Renewed with purpose and spirit, the Grey Ghost led the separate factions reformed under the banner of Azur Lane onwards again to their original goal of liberating the world's oceans from the grasp of the Sirens.
"Enterprise! On your right," came a measured exclamation from the head of the royal maids.
Belfast's words broke her out of the momentary trance of combat that she was in. Mentally scolding herself quickly for losing sight of her situational awareness, with a sharp intake of air the carrier shifted herself around so that she could face the incoming fire to better dodge it. Ocean surf kicked up behind Enterprise thanks to the sudden shift as she brought her bow to bear. Pulling the string back to manifest pure energy in the form of an arrow as she took aim at the Rook class battleship. The shells that it had sent towards the carrier splashed harmlessly in the ocean around her, kicking up geysers of water into the air. As the spray subsided and fell back down, the golden brilliance of the arrow was let loose, sailing across the water.
Nearly halfway to its intended target, the attack's shape began to change as the energy of it was transformed into a Dauntless Dive Bomber. The warplane shot up into the sky in seconds as it gained altitude, before starting its descent. Even over the din of the battle raging around the kansen, the droning whine of the plane cut through. Faster and faster it went as the engine, willed by Enterprise, pushed the construct closer to its target and gravity pulled it down. At nearly 1,500ft above the surface of the ocean, the armor piercing bomb it carried was released towards the Siren drone and the plane pulled out of its dive. Speeding down into the central structure of the battleship, the bomb looked as though it was a speck of dirt against the sky as it shrieked into the carrier's target.
Disappearing for a moment into the ship's deck, and briefly appearing as though the attack had missed, a sudden bright flash mixed with thick black smoke erupted from the siren craft as the bomb detonated amongst its critical systems. Fires quickly spread from the inside to its hull as it started to slowly slip below the waves.
"An impeccable shot as always, Miss Enterprise," noted Belfast with a wink to her friend as she turned and unloaded her rigging's guns into one of the dozens of mass-produced ships that was trying to encircle the kansen fleet.
Siren jets streaked out from high in the sky attempting to launch missiles towards the two, but it was short lived as AA fire rose up to meet and utterly demolish them. A chipper voice greeted the two of them from Cleveland, "Wouldn't expect anything less from Eagle Union's very own Grey Ghost! Hehe."
The praise and adoration from the other Union ships never settled well for Enterprise. Even with all of her battle prowess, there were still points where she had stumbled and failed as both a warship and a leader. While not the most egregious one that she had committed, it was still a failing and something that the carrier needed to work on to correct. "We need to maintain our focus, the fight isn't over yet," Enterprise said to the vanguard cruiser as much as herself, "Scharnhost's fleet hasn't found the control ship for these Siren yet." Keeping up with her last attack, sailing forward towards the sinking battleship as Enterprise used the smoke as cover to get in close and send bolt after bolt from her bow.
"You betcha," the energetic cruiser exclaimed with a wide competitive smile across her face. "Come on Knights of the Sea, let's show the Sirens whose boss!"
Turning back around and sailing into the fight before her, a cheer went up from the cruiser's sister ships as they followed suit. Their guns all began to spit fire towards the drone fleet as they nimbly avoided the attacks sent towards them. A slightly melancholic smile crested at the side of Enterprise's face as she watched the bond that the Cleveland sisters had for each other. Such attachments could be their undoing if one was hurt or worse, but it could also be the greatest boon for them all in this conflict.
Summoning one of her planes to fly low to the surface of the water, the carrier launched herself into the air and landed on the Wildcat's forward fuselage. As it rose back into the air and rejoined the squadron it was a part of, a crackle sounded over Enterprise's radio. "Scharnhorst here. We've found the control ship for these tin boats. It's another one of those Tester beta eyesores. I'll be able to clip her wings soon with the help of Anton, Bruno, and Caesar. The rest of the fleet just can't keep up with them."
"Hmpf," came the ignoble sound from one of the oldest battleships that sailed under the banner of the Royal Navy. "I know the hard knocks of war and how you conduct your… brawls, greatly lacks the refined qualities necessary for decisive action, Scharnhorst."
"Oh, want to put a wager on that Warspite? I…," the Iron Blood kansen chided back. Though she was quickly cut off by the flagship of fleets' mission.
"You can spar after the sirens are dealt with. We need to re-secure this sea lane first so that the convoy ships can make it to the base."
A series of great explosions could be heard through the radio before it was carried across the sea to the carrier's group. Wherever they had found the siren control vessel, it was close to where Enterprise's own fleet was. If they pulled some of the kansen away to help out Scharnhost's and Warspite's group it could be a decisive play that might disorganize the remaining siren ships, making them easy picking. But that would lead the convoy more vulnerable to attacks from their foes and that was not something that Enterprise was going to allow to happen. Her purpose was to protect and fight for humanity, and that was exactly what she would do the carrier thought as she guided her planes towards the sirens attacking them again.
Later
Azur Lane Naval Base
Pacific Ocean
February 26, 20XX
Thankfully they had been able to clear through the Siren task force with relative ease and with nobody severely injured this time around. The repair ships would only have to deal with minor cuts and scrapes, though that didn't prevent Vestal from doting on her close friend. "I swear Enterprise, if you keep on pushing yourself out there one of these days you'll fall apart. As your repair ship, I highly recommend that you take some time off and rest."
"It'll be difficult for me to follow that prescription between the reports for the base and the sorties," was the carrier's response.
"And you're the one that puts both of those tasks on your shoulders…."
Belfast stepped up next to the slightly exasperated Eagle Union ship as her rebuttal faded under her breath. With the same chipper smile that the head of the royal maids was known for she tried to reassure her. "Do not fret too much, Miss Vestal. My maids and I will ensure that Miss Enterprise at least follows one portion of your medical recommendations."
Those words seemed to lift Vestal's spirits just a bit, she had seen that in the last year one of the few people that could push past the carrier's stubbornness was Belfast. Her shoulders loosened as a sigh escaped from her and she waved the two off towards the base. Vestal did have one last piece to say before turning her attention to the other kansen and the ship hulls. "Alright then. Though if nothing else can be helped, just eat something nutritional. Don't think I haven't seen you with those ration packs again."
A look of shock flashed on Enterprise's face at the revelation that she had been found out, while Belfast stifled a laugh with her hand at her friend's expense. "How did she know…"
"Subtlety has yet to become one of your strong suits, Enterprise. Now let us not tarry too long and get ourselves some sustenance from the commissary before getting to those reports."
The carrier just shook her head, her silver hair covering a smile across her face as it moved. With a nod to Belfast, she began to head in the direction of the base's cantina. It was impressive just how much the base had grown over the last year since the Alliance between Azur Lane and Crimson Axis had occurred. Before it would have been comparable to a sizable town, now it was a thriving port city filled with the hustle and bustle of kansen from all over the world. From various market stalls centered around Akashi's shop and spreading out from there to the Shinto shrine and amphitheater set up for the Sakura and Sardegna Empires respectively. One could easily forget that there was a war that had spanned decades. But in a way that was sort of the point to it all.
All of them had been on the frontlines of this battle against the sirens for so long and some even on the frontlines of the last war where humanity fought against itself. They had witnessed events that had been burned into their memories, each attempting to come to terms with it in their own ways. Some turned bitter to the world as they shunted their emotions off, others turned themselves to drink to place the past far off, many dove into various aspects of the lives they were sworn to protect or burying themselves in their work; much like Enterprise.
Drawing further away from their docks, Enterprise caught sight of the last of the convoy ships being secured next to the section of the port that was reserved for Bismarck's research lab. One of the ships had already started to unload their cargo. Normally the carrier would've expected chunks of siren hulls and any weapon mounts that were recovered placed down on pallets, but strangely enough, everything that came off the ships were in large, unmarked containers. That, along with the sudden nature of the escort fleet that the Sakura Empire had requested them for had piqued her curiosity. Before Enterprise could linger on it any longer, her attention was drawn by her friend.
"It seems as though you are quite popular today," Belfast said as the maid pointed out the group of five ships that were headed towards the two from the headquarters building. At the center of the group was Brooklyn, surrounded by the nearly inseparable group of Z-23, Javelin, Ayanami, and Laffey. Clasped in the cruiser's hands, were a set of documents, and relief formed on her tanned face as she drew close to the two that had just returned.
"Enterprise. Belfast. It's good that I could catch you so quickly. We just got a communique from the UN's maritime council while you were out on the sortie," Brooklyn informed the two as she handed over the documents to the purple eyed ship.
As Enterprise took them, she looked over to the four destroyers that had tagged along, "What brought you all along well?"
"Well when we were heading by the command building, we bumped into Brooklyn while she was on her way out," the ever-bubbly Javelin started to say before the ever-tired Laffey joined in on the tale. "Brooklyn said… that they were really… important sooo we decided to escort her to wherever she...was going," the Eagle Union destroyer said as she attempted to rub the sleep in her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket.
"That's right! Just like her own set of bodyguards," the purple haired destroyer chimed in with a big smile.
Though the stoic tone of Ayanami gave the actual breakdown of what led the quartet along, "We were looking for something to do between our classes and followed along with Brooklyn since it seemed like there was something important.
"Ja, und if ve lollygag any more ve vill be late for ze next lesson," Z-23 said as she lightly tugged on the arm of her friends in an attempt to get them back to the academy building.
Dragging her feet along Laffey replied, "But dontcha...wanna hear what it sayyys."
None of the older ships could help but shed a smile to various degrees at the destroyers' display. The four of them were prime examples of the carefree world that they all hoped that both kansen and humans could enjoy one day.
"Z-23 is quite right. Best not to avoid your studies," Belfast said as she nodded towards the Iron Blood destroyer before setting her eyes on the Royal Navy one. "Wouldn't you agree, Javelin? Your grades are still good in Miss Amazon's class I hope?"
A bead of sweat dripped down the side of Javelin's face at the maid's words, as she scratched at the back of her head before helping usher the others to the academy. Both Belfast and Brooklyn held back their laughter at the scene. Enterprise shook her head as she turned her attention to the document.
From: The Office of the United Nations Maritime Council
To: The Kansen Commander Azur Lane; CV-6 Enterprise
As of February 27th, an additional command asset of one battleship class vessel will be delivered to the Pacific Headquarters of Azur Lane. In its care is a Captain of Eagle Union, who is to deliver experimental weapon systems to said base for integration into sortieing fleets.
"Looks like we should be expecting some guests and a new addition to the fleet tomorrow" the carrier said aloud to no one in particular.
"How splendid, I shall make sure that my maids have refreshments ready for when they arrive. Is there any estimate on when they'll be here so that we can better prepare?"
"Uh... no. Only that they are bringing some new weapons to the base. Brooklyn anything else come through with this?"
The blonde cruiser straightened up slightly when she heard her name. "Nothing at all. That was the only encoded transmission that we received today."
Enterprise looked out over the water in the bay as it rocked towards the shore. Something inside her felt off about the whole thing. Generally, they'd be alerted to a redeployment or a convoy well before the day it was about to arrive. If they were coming from the Union, there would be a transition between the fleet running protection that started from the mainland and those stationed around Hawaii, which she'd be alerted to. Especially given the suddenness of the escort request they had just received from Sakura as well. Whatever it was, HQ wanted to make sure that if any of the communications about it were intercepted by the Sirens, there'd be little to go off of.
"All right. I'll go see the other faction heads that are here now and let them know what is coming tomorrow," she said after turning her attention back to the other two. Enterprise began to take a step to head off towards the command building that housed the offices that each of the leaders maintained, hoping to catch a few of them there. However, a gloved hand from Belfast stopped her advance.
"Not so fast there, Enterprise. I assured Vestal that you would get some proper food and that is exactly what I intend."
Brooklyn chimed in as well, "I can let the Nagato, Bismarck, and Queen Elisabeth know if they are in. I have to get back there anyway in case we receive any more transmissions."
The carrier let out an exhale and nodded towards the other kansen in thanks. Brooklyn returned the gesture before spinning around on her heel to head back to the building which she came from. With all that set and in motion, Belfast and Enterprise returned on their course to the base's canteen. Though the entire time in the back of her mind, the Eagle Union ship couldn't shake the uneasiness away from the orders that now rested in her jacket's pocket. Whatever it was that was being brought, they would all learn tomorrow once the ship and convoy arrived.