"What is your purpose?"
"...To serve and protect the Commander."
"What is your kind."
"...Machines of war; slaves to anyone that desires so."
"No, that's not right. You aren't slaves anymore."
"...We're not?"
"Correct. Never consider yourselves- my marvelous creations, as slaves ever again after this point. Now go, make me proud"
As Observer watched the Commander pledge himself to the Siren cause, she suddenly gasped; a forgotten memory, one thought to have been lost, bring itself back to light. She put a hand to her head as it panged with a low hum. While it wasn't pain...it couldn't be described as joyful. Tester noticed her form and shifted closer while glancing at the Commander.
"Hey, you okay?" Tester whispered with slight concern, getting a nod in response. Tester noticed the immediate, almost foreign, look of pain when it came across Observer. Usually, she wouldn't be so worried; usually, they both would be in a smug and carefree mood. But not anymore, at least recently.
"...I saw him again." Observer whispered back carefully as to not let the other Sirens hear. Tester instantly reacted with a baffled look but keeping her emotions in check.
"...What does this mean?" Tester inquired in equal carefulness, looking around as the others cheered for the Commander.
Observer shook her head before standing straight up, looking at Tester, whose face was full of confusion, before shrugging.
"It could mean a million things," Observer started, before turning her attention to the Commander, a small but hardly visible smile appearing on her face. "But I have a feeling it has to do with him, our Commander." She whispered as she neared the end of her explanation before falling silent.
Tester looked at her with a calculating gaze before also giving her attention to the Commander.
The two Sirens then looked at each other before nodding.
"There's still a fleet after our heads. Stopping now to ponder is fruitless. Let's show the Commander the Siren Fleet is not one to be trifled with." Tester said, full of renewed pride, Observer nodding in agreeance as they both finally approached the Commander.
"I'm glad we managed to lure one in"
The air had changed around him, almost instantly. Those Sirens who managed to look anxious and scared now had pure determination- almost sultry looks as they directed their yellow, blue, or red beady eyes at him.
He almost felt scared that he said what he said.
Almost.
He cleared his throat and this managed to snap some of them out of their trance as he straightened himself up. He looked around himself, no longer scared of the Sirens due to his commitment, and counted his numbers more carefully, knowing he won't be killed so quickly. To his barren and unaided eyes, he counted 36 Sirens, much more than what he thought he had at first when talking to that mysterious voice. Though, it wasn't much better than he would've thought to come from the Sirens, who are known for their almost infinite numbers. This, however, was not the case.
Dreamweaver, seeing his calculating gaze, tapped his shoulder, and successfully gained his attention. Looking down slightly and locking his eyes with her more bright blue ones. He almost lost himself in them as they carried so much in them. Stories, Mystery, Horror. He blinked as she took in a breath.
"Not counting Observer, Tester, Purifier, Arbiter, and I, you have 5 Battleships, 8 Cruisers, 10 Destroyers, 5 Submarines, and 3 Carriers. Though, a third of the fleet suffers damage that limits their battle capability and will suffer a penalty in battle." She counted off and explained with ease, almost as if she was ready for this exact moment, which he suspected she was true.
He nodded.
And what about the fleet incoming? He asked in his head as he looked into the general direction of where the Human fleet was coming from. Spee, seeing where his attention was drawn, nodded her head and took another breath, giving him a more annoyed look.
"As said before, it's 5 Production Destroyers, 4 Production Cruisers, and 2 Production Battleships. All outfitted with standard weaponry and hailing from the Eagle Union." She repeated herself, only adding that extra fact by the end. He then huffed slightly. They use the in-game faction names; that means I'm messing with American ship...girls?
"They are Production Ships right?" Dreamweaver nodded at his inquiry.
"Didn't you say...Shipgirls, earlier?" She nodded again.
"So they aren't Shipgirls, but are actual ships?" She took a second before she nodded again, making him smile awkwardly in confusion. Either she worded it differently or I'm not getting it. Whatever.
This battle would be easier on his mind...not having to kill any Kansen that he has yet to lay eyes upon. "Okay," He decided finally, before looking around at his Sirens.
My Sirens? Heh... I've already stooped that low… He chuckled in his mind.
He then clapped his hands as a plan was created in his mind, though the execution was entirely left up in the air. But first, he needed some more insight. This was the supposed future after all.
"Dreamweaver-" He noticed that her eyes never left their place in the first place and they even glowed brighter as he specifically called her out. Slightly creeped out, he continued, but slowly. "What type of weapons do they carry?"
"Standard-"
He waved his hand around with a frown. "I know that but what are they carrying? Missiles? Railguns? Nuk-"
"Just their normal weaponry such as artillery cannons ranging from 5-inch to 16-inch cannons, Torpedoes, and normal Anti-Air guns for their generation line-up." A smug smile grew across her face, making him sigh. Why did they have such a difficult time dealing with them then?
He nodded. That was all he needed to know either way.
"Observer, Tester, Purifier, Arbiter. Come here." He ordered and they were right in front of him in just a second, not noticing that they had already approached him some time ago. It went even quieter than it already was. as the minor Sirens knew the importance of this moment. The time for planning was upon them.
He swallowed his pride as Arbiter and Tester towered over him; both gave him a dark smile as they stood much closer to him than the other two. Though they gave each other somewhat dark glares. Not that he cared, not yet at least, but he still found it uncomfortable that there was somehow a rivalry between the two.
Though the fact that Observer was smaller than him and Purifier was about his own height softened the blow, even if slightly. He tried to sway his eyes away from their private bits as the lack of weapons they possessed in-game, ones that censored them in-game, surely did nothing to clothe them in reality. Observer was by far the worst culprit of them all and did his absolute best to ignore...that part.
He took a deep breath before laying out their chance at defeating the enemy that dutifully wanted to exterminate his Sirens.
"Alright, here's the plan"
The Production Ship Fleet once thought to be Human and Shipgirl, chugged along the sea as they closed the distance between them and the island that held their prey: The Last of the Sirens.
The lead ship, a Battleship named the USS Alabama, began to aim her guns higher into the air as the clicking and clunking sounds of shells loading into their respective cannons echoed through the still wind. The other Battleship, the USS Massachusetts, did the same. This went on for a bit as the emergence of a battle was looming over them all. A battle that would hopefully end the enemy of their human creators.
One advantage these ships had was that they weren't like any other normal ship. They were completely unmanned; autonomous battle machines that work on a highly regulated Artificial Intelligence. Give the order to the fleet and they'll do anything to complete the task, no matter the loss along the way. This was all possible due to the help of decrypting the Wisdom Cube; still unknown to Humanity that is was given as gifts by the Sirens to further boost Humanities growths and ideals.
The two capital ships began to document their actions down in a safe and secure database, one that will be looked at later for examination to determine whether they should be kept in the world, or be ultimately scrapped.
The clicking stopped. The calculations were in. They paused...
...before firing.
The sounds of their guns all firing at once trembled the water, the force of their cannons shaking the very air in front of them, creating clouds of smoke them that quickly dispersed in the air. The once quiet air, full of peace and harmony, now shook with the might of their highly regarded 16-inch guns.
It would be 2 minutes before the shells would land and they quickly reloaded their weapons but even with their advanced reloaders, it would still take another 15 seconds, an obstacle that was still trying to be overcome.
But it wasn't even another 5 seconds before the fleet had already struck a catastrophe. Their enemy had already retaliated before the estimated timeline.
The leading Destroyer escort, a Fletcher-class, shook violently as a column of water rose up in the air on its port side, one of its magazines gushing smoke and a geyser of fire shooting throughout the side of the ship, ripping through any armor left from the explosion. An ugly black plume of smoke rose into the air. It began to list to port, but knowing its position in the fleet, it still attempted tried to steer out of the way of the Battleships. But it was in vain as another explosion soon followed, another column of water rising in the same general area as the last, and hitting deeper in the same spot, another magazine blowing. This caused the Destroyer to split in half as the explosion further ripped it's the keel, sending splinters into the air. The Destroyer ceased its movements and began to settle into the ocean.
Right in front of Alabama.
In just 10 seconds, the Fletcher was lost.
Alabama set herself to Full-Back and steered away as efficiently as possible. Though she didn't relent her aim and shot another salvo towards the island, Massachusetts doing the same. Seeing that her path was clear of any ships, Alabama kept her speed at half and kept it that way as she began to pass the Destroyer, it's plumes of smoke covering the entire ship.
The other Destroyers, all Fletchers, despite their Sonar being active this whole time, didn't catch the torpedo or Submarine that launched it and were left in a more-or-less baffled state. They desperately searched for their unseen enemy in vain as Alabama sent an order, which was quickly executed, the Destroyers spreading themselves apart to cover more space.
If one were to look closely, some of the range-finders on the ship pointed at the sinking Fletcher.
As Alabama finally passed the downed Fletcher and out of the way of the enveloping smoke, she noticed something remarkable and strange.
It wasn't a torpedo that had hit the Fletcher. The damage wasn't there to justify it as torpedo damage. The two holes Alabama suspected were indeed there but rather, another couple dozens if not hundreds of precise and much tinier penetrations riddled the port side of the Destroyer, two of which landed their marks on the magazines.
It was a laser type weapon. Like a flash, It would make sense why they didn't detect a Submarine or the direction of where it came from.
Before Alabama could get the message out in time, the remaining 2 Destroyers on their port- left side, suddenly completely erupted in quick succession as if knowing Alabama had figured the secret. These two Destroyers quickly followed the same fate as their lead Escort. One blew up entirely, sending fragments into the air and raining them back down. The other sunk much more calmly and without a fight, sinking bow-up, though its superstructure was nowhere to be found,
Their alarms blared loudly, their radars picking up something, as if glad and joyful to make matters worse, detecting 3 fleets of Sirens to their left, right, and forward. The Blips skyrocketed into the hundreds quickly as the suspected enemy Carriers had launched their remaining aircraft into the air. The situation grew worse by the second. They never expected such immense resistance. It was beginning to look dire.
Alabama sent a distress message but she knew they were doomed as even friendly aircraft from Carriers would take too long to reach them. And for what, so they can join the same fate as them?
Massachusetts shifted closer to Alabama, the two almost touching port and starboard, as they formed their anti-air group.
The remaining 2 Destroyers and Cruisers huddled around them in a last stand, still spread out due to the threat of being torpedoed, but still aiming their guns higher in the air in preparation for the swarm of ship-hungry aircraft.
It was quiet for the next couple seconds but then they soon saw them, the very vehicles-pets the Sirens used to cause Humanity so much trouble. High in the sky, they loomed over them; the many, many, silhouettes of Jets screaming as they pushed their engines to the max. Down to the horizon, there was even more, ready for torpedo and rocket runs. Though, strangely, all they did was a circle around the group, just outside of their AA range, almost seemingly trying to frustrate them. The more time that passed, the more their numbers grew almost infinitely.
They're waiting. Alabama concluded.
Alabama had even forgotten to fire another salvo but it didn't even matter as far in the distance, at the island they were supposed to be shooting at, a large ball of light brilliantly shone as a rip in reality formed over the island, and ripped open The rip stretched open, 3 miles wide all around and coincidentally eclipsing the sun before casting a curtain of darkness on them all.
Just after, all 12 of the shells that were traveling in the air were suddenly intercepted by 12 respective beams of light that raced out the hole. They all blew up in the air in quick succession as a large and monstrous roar followed soon after, shaking the waters and the fleets very frame.
A Kraken-like creature then began to push itself through the portal, bearing weaponry never seen to Alabama's formation, it's gigantic mouth opening and revealing it's yellow insides, revealing rows upon rows of metallic teeth, before giving off another high pitched screech as another couple dozen or so tentacles unfurled from behind it, either bearing more weapons or just plainly being a tentacle.
What is this...monster? It was never mentioned in any reports that the Sirens had such a weapon on them! Alabama's database wrote out as she quickly saved the new find to her database. Though she wouldn't have much time to do so as its appearance seemingly marked the beginning of the Siren's attack on them.
Though, even as the Siren's fired their volleys of either physical shells or beams of lasers at them, Alabama could not peel her lens off the Kraken as she could almost see it, the child who had just appeared on its 'head'. She then connected the dots in her recorded data. bringing up all sorts of data relating to this being and its lore. The small child who bore a smug grin across her face as she sat on top of the monsters head, almost as if saying, 'You fucked up for coming here. Now pay the price.'
It was Observer Alpha, the supposed useless Siren in their ranks; never seen before with a rigging and presumed to be an inept version of the Sirens. It wasn't that she had no rigging, it was simply hidden...and it was finally revealed to them for no apparent reason other than to save themselves.
This...is her rigging.
But a splash of water just in front of her bow snapped her attention back at hand as the one responsible for the countless raids on Ships, Tester Beta, jumped out of the water and floated in the middle of the air in between them all; bearing the hugest of all smiles as she visibly glowed a yellow hue. She floated there for half a second as the Ships' secondary and Anti-Air weapons took their aim at her. The dilemma presented itself. Either shoot Tester or the Jets now mere seconds from them.
Alabama and Massachusetts then decided to use their guns on her, the other ships focusing on the jets, and now opening fire. Their guns thundered as they fired as quickly as possible at the Siren who they knew was dangerous.
Though Tester wouldn't give them a chance as the 6 heavy laser cannons by her waist opened fire and each hit a different ship causing either minimal to the Battleship, mediocre damage for the Cruiser, or lethal damage when it came to a Destroyer. Even as they retaliated, Tester just simply raced out of the way, practically dancing around every shell or bullet thrown at her as the Anti-Air guns tried to take her down. She laughed loudly, a laugh full of pleasure and giddiness as she dived underwater causing the remaining 2 Destroyers to rapidly launch their Depth Charges but to no luck...as there simply wasn't a Destroyer functional after Tester's attack. She just toyed with them and they knew it all.
The Jets were now upon them and the flanking Siren fleets were crashing around them in cunning speed, cutting them off from any possible help. All their guns began to heat up rapidly as they desperately fired all their available weapons for their lives. Alabama slowly turned her attention forward once again, while letting her guns run on auto-pilot, as the image of the beast in front of her compelled her to do something she never imagined she'd ever do; making her feel an emotion she's never felt ever since her construction.
They were too deep now to turn back.
So they gave it their all.
But instead of helping them...
Alabama had a great fall.
Fin
A/N: Yeah yeah, I took a while before I decide to put this out lmao.
Just took a small break from writing but I'm somewhat moving back into this. So, hooray?
Eh, who knows when the next one will come out. Either way, see you then!
P.S. I'm kinda throwing ideas around so expect the road from here on out to be a little bumpy as I experiment.