Chapter 6

A cool, slightly humid autumn afternoon. A battalion roamed through a forest road towards the area of California that the Sirens had occupied. After landing their spirits had been high but when the march on foot had begun the morale had fell fast. It was quiet not counting the noise of hundreds of men's footsteps, the chirping of birds, the rustling of the trees leaves and the otherworldly sound of trees as they rub against each other.

The men just stared at the heels of the shoes in front of them. The shoe in front rose from the ground, moved forwards, and descended back down to the ground. It happened thousands, tens of thousands of times without a break. The men's eyes were glued to those heels. After a while it started to irritate, and the eye wandered around searching something else to look at. The hem of the front walker's coat swayed from side to side annoyingly and almost made you want to snarl angrily about it but at the last moment the huff was restrained, and they just submitted to endure it. After looking at a few other annoying details, like the hat in front or the rifle that swayed on the shoulder, the eye returned back to the heels and the whole cycle started from the beginning again.

Taylor was whispering with someone somewhere behind, someone else was whiling about the weight of the backpack and something about taking a break. It got on Cooper's nerves. He endured it for a long but in the end his patience ran out and he exclaimed in his anger

-"SHUT THE FUCK UP BACK THERE!"

It worked and for the next twenty minutes they were quiet, and then the murmur started again.

This attack would not go the same way as their previous one had gone on that island. This time they had big guns with them right from the start and so they would give the Sirens a tougher fight right away.

XXX

Eventually in the evening they were allowed to rest, eat and sleep. They lit up some campfires and sat around them. The evening weather had absorbed all the moisture from the air so now everyone was much more comfortable to calm down.

Hubbard was telling his stories to anyone that just listened to him. Mostly they were jokes to lift the mood.

-"When my ex cheated on me her explanation was 'I don't know what got into me."

Cooper was sitting on a small boulder, carving a piece of wood with his knife. A little dull blade of the knife had sometimes troubles in cutting. Occasionally a quiet groan could be heard from him when he had to use a little more force than he had intended. The piece of wood looked like nothing but that was its purpose. Cooper wasn't trying to carve anything particular just chipping it piece by piece. The carving helped him to think about other things than his aching feet. Cooper wasn't a master of knife usage but by no means an oaf. Just as he had reached some sort a primitive nirvana, he was dragged back to the cold reality by someone clearing their throat.

-"Ahem." Cooper looked up towards the cougher and rudely asked:

"What?"

-"We are looking for the 2nd machinegun company's 3rd platoon leader Lieutenant Sanders… I thought that the sergeant could enlighten us about his whereabouts."

The disturber was some new warrant officer that had been assigned to their company. Cooper looked at the officer, snorted and turned away. Cooper tried to ignore the officer and the knife started to carve again. For a moment, the warrant officer waited for an answer but when none came, he blurted:

"Well?"

The officer was irritated by Cooper's brazen behavior. He could not understand why he would act so rudely and coldly towards him at their first meeting. After all, the men did just fine. They had food, slower than normal march and now rest. He quickly glanced at some other officer that was waiting for him and was about to demand an answer when Coopers said:

"He's probably with Brown…"

-"… And where could he be found?"

-"Somewhere around those 'things'. That's where he spends most of his free time." The words came out more bitterly and contemptuously than he had intended. It was insignificant to Cooper where Brown spent his time.

The warrant officer looked at Cooper for a moment and in his irritation considered punishment but restrained himself and bluntly growled 'thanks' but Cooper didn't understand the murmur.

And so, the officer left Cooper alone in his loneliness and walked back on to the road. On the road there was a captain waiting for him. The captain shot the warrant officer a questioning look:

"Well?"

-"He is with the, quote on quote, 'things' or the Ship-Girls I presume."

The captain hummed in acknowledgement and they started to walk along the road. Small rocks crunching under their feet as they walked. The warrant officer thought for a moment before speaking:

"Captain Hill? The sergeant whatever his name is seemed… rude… Like I had personally offended him by talking to him."

Captain Hill cleared his throat before speaking "Yes… Sometimes I don't know if they are soldiers or just a bunch of whiners. The sergeant in question, Cooper, Cooper is particularly difficult case… He seems to be always angry about something, like he holds a longtime grudge with me and everyone else from our previous lives."

Before the warrant officer could say something to that they heard someone whisper loudly near a campfire:

-"Look! The fuckin' peacock comes!"

Captain Hill seized the opportunity immediately and started to grumble at them.

'The peacock' was a contemptuous nickname given to Captain Hill for his pompous behavior. Hill had been assigned as the company leader and Sanders had been demoted to a platoon leader and it didn't sit well with some of the men. The demotion was largely thanks to Colonel Ross because he had started a real paper war with the High Command about Sanders. Thankfully Allen had spoken for Sanders and he was able to be with the company. When Allen had told Sanders about the things the colonel had written about him, he replied muttering 'Oh well' or something close to it.

Hill didn't find the guilty one and merely distributed threats to the men, among whom this whisperer had been. Annoyed and heated he returned to the warrant officer and they continued on their journey to find the platoon leader.

XXX

The next day the march continued with equally with as bitter mood as it had been the days before. The sound of the feet, which had lasted for several hours again this day, was heard in the ears. Only when the front walker stopped abruptly, they awoke from their trance. For a long time, they thought that they heard footsteps, but it turned out to be a false observation when it was realized that the rumble was coming from somewhere far in right front. The rumble was not footsteps, nor did it come from the men at all. No, it was the distant rumble of cannons. For a long time, they listened to the rumble without saying anything before the officers began to instruct them to line up in skirmish lines. Unnecessarily early they were commanded in formations and for a long time they had to struggle with excitement and fear in vain.

When the squad that Brown was in was told to get into formation he began to argue:

-"God damn, what's the point going into the formations this early. The shells still fall a long way from us."

Unfortunately for him, the Captain just happened to walk past his group and heard his protests.

-"Don't complain and do as ordered." Captain hill said matter-of-factly to Browns objections. It was clear that this officer would not take the advice of the men.

-"Don't you good man see that it's way too early to line up?"

-"I'm not a 'good man'. I am your company commander, and you will do as you are told." More than that Captain Hill didn't stay to quarrel with Brown. He would have certainly lost his temper. Taylor smiled at Brown spitefully.

XXX

Over an hour they walked forward in formations before the captain summoned the platoon leaders. Many words were exchanged, and many calls were made. It was decided to approach a wooded hill with caution because some distance behind it a field opened. Some squads with Sergeant Wood would continue forwards but Sergeant Tony Cooper's fireteam would approach the hill from the east and at the foot of the hill they would join another company's platoon and take their machineguns on top of the hill. They would continue their journey to the edge of the forest and place their machinegun there. Cooper argued a long time with the captain because he would have wanted to take some other men that weren't in his squad but had to give up on his wish because the captain had told him that every man had to fill their place. Changing the men wouldn't have bothered Sanders but the idea seemed to annoy the captain.

The forest was quiet when Cooper and his fireteam walked towards the foot of the hill where they were supposed to meet the fourth squad. Cooper walked in front with his rifle in hand, behind him Taylor carrying the machinegun base and lastly private Rogers carrying the machinegun and private Sanchez carrying ammo.

They creeped quietly forwards, and their anxiety increased with every step. The platoon they were supposed to meet wasn't there. Cooper's legs jerked slightly with every step he took, and he growled:

"Where the fuck is the platoon?"

For a moment Cooper examined the hill with his gaze and then said:

"I'll go a little ahead, but you'll come twenty yards behind me."

The other let him walk a little ahead and then started to creep in his steps. The rain had left the smell of soil everywhere even though the environment was no longer very wet. The smell entered their noses and made them squeeze their carryings even harder. They walked west for a bit looking for the squad with no success. The others followed Cooper like a bunch of faithful dogs, traced the same footprints after him. All the time Cooper's eyes were examining his surroundings, looking for something that would be out of place but found nothing. He looked at possible ambush sites and possible cover to shield himself.

After some time looking for the squad, he started to lead the fireteam up the hill. His eyes glancing to right, then to left, back to right, forward and to left again.

Cooper came to a halt and listened carefully. A cool breeze gave him the creeps but other than that the forest was dead silent. The others creeped up to Cooper.

-"Maybe the other squads got lost?"

-"Could be… or they walked into an ambush and were taken out already."

-"Don't say that. My stomach can't handle it."

-"Whatever the reason is doesn't matter. What matters is that they are not here."

-"Should we just go back?"

-"No… Let's continue without them."

Cooper took the point again and they started to creep towards the end of the forest. Cooper breathed heavily when they saw the end of the forest. The last ten feet or so they crouch walked to the edge and scouted ahead. They were on a steep cliff that was a good place for their machinegun. In front of them the forest ended, and a field a hundreds of yards long opened up.

In the distance they saw a recently burned barn and some other smoldering remains of buildings. Cooper grabbed his binoculars from his backpack and started scouting while the others put together the machinegun. Grass waved in front of him, and a bird wedge flew but other than that everything was quiet.

-"Sanchez, do some scouting." Cooper ordered and tossed the binoculars to Sanchez.

-"Right…"

Cooper stood up and looked around for a while until his eyes landed on a nice-looking rootstock. He walked up to it, laid down and pulled his cap to his eyes. Taylor inserted one of the ammo belts into the machinegun and sat down to wait. But what he waited for he did not know.

Rogers dawdled around for a while before an angry growl from Cooper made him to sit down next to Taylor. They chatted quietly trying not to annoy Cooper.

-"Oh yeah, we need to send a message that we are in position."

Cooper grunted and without opening his eyes said:

"Rogers, go and tell 'em that other than not meeting the squad we are fine… Mention that arson as well."

-"Yeah, got it."

Rogers hastily left them.

XXX

It was getting dark and Rogers had not come back. Taylor bit his fingernails for a while before he got up and crouched next to Sanchez.

-"Anything interesting out there?" Taylor asked and squinted his eyes.

-"Well, other than that reddish horizon and those ruins nothing interesting…"

-"Wait… Isn't west that way?"

-"Yeah, why?"

-"Well that red horizon isn't from the sunset then."

-"Oh shit, you're right! What the hell is it then?"

-"I have no idea, man… Let's just hope it's nothing bad."

-"It's a good thing that you think so optimistically. There's a town that way… I guess the bastards have lit it on fire." Cooper said in a low voice.

-"Oh yeah, that would exp-"

CRACK

Taylor's sentence was interrupted by a sound of a twig snapping behind them. The trio froze and their heartbeats shot up.

-"What the fuck was that?" Asked Sanchez nervously

-"Shhh!" Cooper snarled

They waited for a moment and listened for any movements. Indeed, some sounds of feet stepping the coarse dirt was heard.

-"Could be Rogers returning..?" Taylor whispered hopefully.

-"No… No-one's feet sound that heavy…"

Cooper moved very slowly to his rifle and slowly inserted a bullet into the chamber. His movement was slow and precise so no sound from the bolt could be heard. He raised the rifle to his shoulder and walked towards a bush behind which the snapping of the twig had been heard. He pushed his rifle slowly through the bush and peeked to the other side. Unfortunately, the sun had already set, and the density of the forest blocked almost all the light. Only the largest outlines were visible to the unadapted eyes.

In the dark, however, Cooper saw something moving behind a tree and squeezed his grip on his rifle. For a moment he hesitated to shoot without a warning but at the last moment he thought otherwise.

-"Victory!" he whispered quickly.

The movement near the tree stopped in an instant and when no answer came immediately, he squeezed the trigger slightly hoping for a last second response. However, the answer came, and it was a high-pitched frightened response.

-"O-Oscar!" The voice answered.

Cooper sighed in relief and lowered his rifle.

In front of him stepped six of those "things" known as Ship-Girls. Cooper wasn't pleased.

-"Fanfuckingtastic…" He growled and turned around to walk back to the machinegun. Fortunately, those "things" either did not hear or pay attention to his reaction.

The girls behind him shared glances and followed him. One of them sped up her pace to walk beside him and said:

"I take it that you are the machinegun squads sent here to scout ahead."

-"Yes but there's only my squad. The other one didn't bother to show up."

The girl raised her eyebrow:

-"Didn't show up? Well, that's weird…" Girl with red hair commented from behind them.

-"So who are you then. I wasn't informed about anyone else coming here." Cooper asked.

-"We were supposed to link up with the other squad but when we didn't find anyone we kind of figured that they were already here."

They stopped near the machinegun next to which Taylor was with a rifle in hand.

-"Hmh? Who are you?" Taylor asked when he saw the girls behind Cooper.

-"Ah, allow me to introduce us. I am Eagle Union's light cruiser Brooklyn, and with me are light cruisers from Royal Navy: Sheffield, Leander and Jamaica. These two are Destroyers Benson and Icharus." Each of the girls greeted with a wave of a hand or with a nod, all except Sheffield, who just looked apathetically at them."

-"Nice to meet ya! I'm private Taylor and that is private Sanchez." Taylor said and pointed at Sanchez, who had tossed his binoculars to the ground and was holstering his pistol. "…And that 'sweet' guy is our squad leader sergeant Cooper."

After exchanging a few words with Taylor, the girls sneaked to the edge of the clearing next to Sanchez and looked ahead.

-"Have you seen anything?" asked the girl with red hair, Jamaica.

"I-It has been quiet. No movement at all."

The girls eyed the red horizon but said nothing. For a while they were quiet before until all the girls except Leander and Jamaica returned back to the trees. Leander hesitated for a moment before saying:

-"Hey.."

-"hmh?.."

-"Sorry to bother you but… have you been here for long?" Leander asked and looked at Sanchez

Sanchez glanced at his wristwatch and thought for a moment:

"eh… 'bout for two and a half hours now."

-"No, I mean the war. How long have you been fighting?"

-"This is my first time. Only got out of training 'bout a month ago."

-"Really? I haven't been in a fight either… truth be told I was awakened only week before last." Leander admitted

-"Yep, me too but a week before that." Said Jamaica

-"'Awakened'? the hell does that mean?" Sanchez looked at them in surprise.

-"I.. I'm not really sure myself, but I came to be then. Like… Just… began to exist." Leander pondered and Jamaica nodded approvingly.

Sanchez was quiet for a moment before saying:

"So… you both are like toddlers?"

-"I-eh… guess so..?" Jamaica said.

Leander closely examined the man's reaction to the news. She wasn't sure how humans would feel about her kind. Many times, she had not spoken to anyone other than other Ship-Girls, but they seemed pretty identical.

-"Do you remember the moment when you came to be?"

The girls thought for a moment and Leander said "… It's hard to say… Like trying to remember a foggy dream. Bits and pieces but not entirely. First real memory is when I woke up in my room with my sister Achilles…" After saying that Leander realized she had revealed a lot and embarrassed.

-"huh…"

Silence fell upon them again. The other girls were sitting around the machinegun and talking quietly. Well, all others than Sheffield who was maintaining her pistols that she had with her. Taylor had tried to talk with her but she turned out to be a poor chatting partner. She had just glanced at him with a glare that made Taylor back off. For half an hour they watched the horizon before Sanchez finally tried to start up a conversation again.

-"… Hey whic-"

-"Sh! What the hell is that?"

At that moment Jamaica spotted movement at the edge of the forest opposite of them. Suddenly loud cracks and the air around them whizzed and gunshots. Leander plunged headfirst into the ground to cover herself. Black borders appeared in her vision and started to shake as she raised herself on her elbows. She looked around and saw Jamaica lying on her chest next to her and Sanchez bleeding from his head just lying there. Leander looked at her chest and stomach to make sure she wasn't hit. She hastily tapped Jamaica's shoulder with her hand, but she didn't move. She sat up on her knees while keeping a low profile and turned the girl on her back. It was not easy because she was relatively small compared to her, but she finally managed to flip her. Her heart froze when she saw a hole with blue rim on Jamaica's forehead. Her red hair turning even redder beneath her. Leander's face twisted into a stunned small smile and she straightened her back. She did not hear the cries of Brooklyn or Icharus ordering her to get down, she was so in shock. Something or someone dashed towards her, knocking her to the ground. Brooklyn's hands reached her face and she held Leander's head in her hands and tried to talk to her, but she did not hear or see anything going on. She saw Brooklyn's face close to her own and her lips moving saying something. The other girls were already lighting up the edge of the forest with their cannon salvos. Brooklyn pushed Leander on her back and checked if she had any injuries on her, when she found none, she glanced at Jamaica and quickly turned away. She helped Leander on her feet and guided her quickly back into the cover of the trees. Tears were running down Leander's face but, on her face, remained the same stunned look.

Only much later would her shock be defused, and crying would force her to hunch over with violent jerks.

XXX

XXX

The next day after driving the enemy out of their weak positions, did they go back and recover the two bodies. Despite the casualties, they had to continue their journey to free California from Siren occupation.

The companies of Captain Hill and Captain Allen were close to the head of the attack and they were the first ones to find an externally untouched farm. Ship-Girls Atlanta, Phoenix, Helena, Cleveland, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Casablanca were assigned to assist Captain Hill's 2nd machinegun company of the 6th infantry regiment.

Sanders' platoon arrived on the farm after the first platoon. At the farm's gate they met the first platoon's lieutenant leaning against a fencepost.

-"Good morning to you." The lieutenant called out to them

-"Morning, Smith… what's the situation?" Sanders asked from her.

The lieutenant Smith waved her hand with cigarette to follow her and started:

-"Well, at first everything looked pretty normal, especially from the outside… until we saw that." She pointed at a tarp laid to cover something on the ground next to a well.

-"What's that?"

-"See for yourself…"

They walked up to the tarp and Brown was about to lift it before they heard someone voicing their annoyance:

-"The hell do you mean we can't come there?!"

The yeller was of course none other than Atlanta and behind her extremely embarrassed Phoenix and Helena. Atlanta was, At least in her own words, in a perfectly civilized conversation with a soldier about why they should or should not be allowed on the farm.

-"Oh for Christ's sake…" Smith growled "Let 'em in here!"

Walking towards them, after flipping the privates off, with the smuggest expression anyone could have Atlanta and the two others.

-"Fuckin' assholes…" She cussed under her breath "So… what's up?"

-"That's what we were about to find out." Brown said, crouched and threw the tarp off the lump¨

What was hidden under the tarp was not a pretty sight. A badly slashed dog's carcass. Light and deep cuts all over the carcass, couple of its legs were hacked completely off and its intestines hanging out.

-"What the Fuck?!" Brown yelped and took a step back.

Atlanta let out a shriek and quickly turned Helena away:

"DON'T LOOK!"

Sanders didn't voice out his reaction, but he clearly too was startled and crouched next to the dog.

-"Yeah… I said everything seemed normal at first." Smith sighed. "You see all those slashes? Not something you do to kill fast." She pointed at the cuts on the dog.

-"Yeah… yeah, I think I have seen enough…" Sanders said and pulled the tarp back over the dog.

-"After finding that we searched the house and that shed and found nothing" She waved her hand towards the buildings. "But in that barn…" she led them towards it.

-"Aight… I'll warn ya this ain't a pretty sight either." Smith warned them

Brown glanced around before turning towards the girls and saying:

-"You don't have to come inside..."

-"Nonsense! What could be worse than that?" Atlanta rejected the proposal but after seeing a naked man with torn out eyes hanging inside from the crack of the doors she quickly said "On the other hand we really don't need to see! Come let's go over there!" dragging Helena behind her.

XXX

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A/N: The old prodigal son returns. Hiya! This chapter took a long time to make, and it does not show in its quality I'm afraid. I actually lost interest in Azur lane about a week after posting the last chapter and I only picked it back up when that new Iron Blood event was here. Very long break, I know.

I actually had a lot of problems writing this one and I think I deleted like 2k words at one point because I was not happy with it. I need to try making this story more about the Ship-Girls and not so that they are only a side part. Also I made some slight changes to some of the previous chapters but you shouldn't be able to notice it.

Like every time reviews are very much appreciated no matter what ya want to say.

See ya hopefully next time! Some Dood out!