"Be advised, we've got multiple Banshees and Seraphs inbound from both port and starboard sides!"
"This is Longsword Charlie Four Niner, I have a bandit on my tail. Someone kill that son of a bitch!"
"This is UNSC Canberra to any nearby ship, requesting immediate support!"
"Shit! Another ODP just went dark! It's the Athens!"
"Damn it... Damn it all..."
Epoch-class heavy carrier UNSC Soul of Amagi muttered to herself as she finished off three Covenant boarding crafts heading straight towards her. Ever since the aliens started attacking the human forces, the heavy carrier along with some other capital ships had been the first ones to receive the blunt end of numerous plasma ordinances. Due to Amagi being the most heavily armored of them and her natural concern for her comrades, she had basically used her body as well as her ship form as shields to give other UNSC vessels valuable time to fight back. A quick look at the carrier's rigging was enough to make anyone grimace. Plates of armor were either melted away or just shot off; her SRS99 sniper rifle, which represented her rapid-firing light MAC, was missing the scope, making targeting a lot more difficult; many Bident and Archer missile pods as well as point defense guns got shot off from her hull and her slanted wings, which were mounted on her back.
Amagi as a "human", however, was another story. Her left fox ear and some of her tails was severed by plasma, numerous cuts and scrapes littered her beautiful pale face, her left pinky finger was missing, blood was seeping through a cut on her forehead, and she even had a cauterized hole on her right shoulder.
In other words, it was a miracle that Amagi was still alive and operational.
Her Battlegroup, originally fifteen ships strong, including both kansens and normal human operated starships, was now reduced to only four kansens left, herself included. The other surviving ships were an Orion-class assault carrier UNSC Enterprise, Halberd-class destroyer UNSC Javelin, and not-related-by-class sister Paris-class heavy frigate UNSC Akagi. Their relationship went way back to the 1940s during the Siren War. Back then, an alliance similar to today's UNSC called Azur Lane was formed to combat the Sirens, but due to some internal... disagreements, two major nations left the organization and formed their own alliance, the Crimson Axis.
But that was the story of the distant past. Now, the kansens were reborn and they all gathered under the same banner, as was evidenced by them sharing the same prefix "UNSC", or "United Nations Space Command". Together, and this time side-by-side, they all took the same oath: To Protect Earth and Her Colonies.
For the past twenty-seven years, despite astronomical losses, the UNSC kansens still withheld that oath.
Ever since the appearance of the genocidal extraterrestrial Empire on Harvest and the subsequent battles against them, every single kansen and every single military personnel of the UNSC Armed Forces knew this day would come, the day that the Covenant finally found humanity's home world: Earth.
But that did not mean they were all totally prepared for the fight to happen so soon. It hadn't even been two months since the destruction of humanity's fortress world Reach and many personnel, both humans and kansens, were still trying to recuperate that the Covenant arrived right at their door. Despite being put on all-time alert, the appearance of the alien forces still caught everyone somewhat off-guard, which resulted in numerous casualties in just a few short hours.
From there, the situation only got worse. With two Orbital Defense Platforms taken out, Covenant ships now had a chance to punch through the defenses and head straight to Earth. Screams of death, fear, horror and requests for help flooded her communication channels, but she had long learned how to ignore them in order to focus on the more important tasks at hand.
It was heartbreaking, yes, and sometimes she even had mental breakdowns whenever she thought about the lives that were lost because of her. But in the end, according to some in the UNSC HIGHCOM, "they were all necessary sacrifices."
Amagi hoped that none of the other kansens of other fleets and Battlegroups would ever have to deal with this pain of hers.
Groaning slightly, the heavy carrier kansen radioed the remaining members of her battlegroup while trying to fend off Covenant aircrafts with the last few point defense guns of hers.
"This is... ugh... UNSC Soul of Amagi to all surviving ships of Battlegroup Dark Blue... status report, over."
"UNSC Enterprise. MACs are offline. Switched to missiles and defense cannons. Covering fire for Cairo Station with Akagi.", the emotionless voice of the Orion-class assault carrier came through first. Looking towards Cairo Station, Amagi could see that Enterprise was indeed shooting down enemy fighters while her Paris-class sister, UNSC Akagi, was busy sending missiles and tungsten rounds from her M392 DMR – which represented her light Magnetic Accelerator Cannon – at Covenant ships. The heavy carrier released a sigh of relief as she saw that her sister didn't have any sign of having sustained damage. The same couldn't be said about the former Eagle Union carrier though, and Amagi couldn't help but wince at the damage done to the poor girl. The fact that she didn't even seem to bother about it was very impressive... in a bad way.
"This is UNSC Akagi to Amagi. I'm currently engaging Covenant battlecruisers while Enterprise is dealing with enemy fighters. Do you require my assistance, dear sister?", Akagi replied with great worry.
Amagi smiled a bit at her little sister's overprotectiveness. 'Some things never change, regardless of era...'. Shuddering a bit as her engines weakly lit up, Amagi started to limp towards the kansens' location.
"Yes, my dear.", Amagi sweetly replied while trying to suppress the pain throughout her body. "I'm on my way towards you now. Wait for me, yes?"
As Amagi was halfway towards her frigate sister, her radio came to life again. A young female voice belonging to the last Halberd-class destroyer in the Battlegroup came through with slight static.
"This is UNSC Javelin of Battlegroup Blue Sea. I am out of ammunition and all weapon systems are offline. I still have one Shiva missile left and my ship has been boarded by Grunts and Elites. I am going to ram myself at the CCS-class attempting to break through the defenses. Everyone, please clear the blast zone. For Earth and Her Colonies!"
A muffled but still clearly audible nuclear explosion came from Amagi's far left just as the small destroyer's transmission got cut off. The heavy carrier subconsciously bit her lower lip in frustration and anger so hard that blood started to leak. Akagi and Enterprise also felt the same emotion as the heavy carrier. Akagi's face darkened considerably while Enterprise still held the same blank expression, though if one paid close attention to her hands they could see that blood started to flow from her fists.
"Damn it, Javy...", Akagi silently cursed, unaware that her comm was still on.
"Her sacrifice shall not be forgotten.", Amagi firmly said. Finally reaching her last teammates' location, the heavy carrier readied her damaged but still functional weapons and joined in the fight.
"This is Commander Miranda Keyes of the UNSC In Amber Clad to nearby kansens. We're about to depart Cairo Station. Requesting backup."
"This is UNSC Soul of Amagi, go ahead and depart, Commander. We shall cover you.", Amagi immediately replied. The Epoch-class then turned to give her subordinates their respective orders. "Akagi, please concentrate your fire on enemy ships. Enterprise, please stay close to the Commander's ship and make sure that she leaves safely. I will take care of the small flying pests."
"Yes, dear sister. / Roger.", the other two kansens replied in unison.
The three remaining kansens of Battlegroup Dark Blue sprang into action at once. Akagi, using her armor and agility, tanked several incoming plasma rounds from Banshees while effortlessly dodging torpedoes launched from battlecruisers. Gritting her teeth, the heavy frigate repeatedly pulled the trigger of her DMR, shooting MAC rounds after MAC rounds at hostile warships. "Have a taste of humanity's wrath, you damned monsters!"
Enterprise, despite having lost her primary cannons, flew right past In Amber Clad and used her ship form to shield the small frigate from incoming fire. Using the remaining point-defense guns and missiles, the assault carrier squatted scores of Banshees, Seraphs and boarding crafts out of existence. However, Enterprise wasn't invincible as more and more plasma ordinances slammed into her hull melting away significant chunks of armor as well as destroying numerous more weapon systems.
Only two minutes of withstanding constant concentrated plasma bombardment later, Enterprise's hull finally failed. One lucky plasma torpedo managed to hit where the carrier's fusion reactor would be and tore away the titanium hull, exposing the power plant to the vacuum of space.
But such fatal damage did nothing to stop Enterprise from accomplishing her task, though. The assault carrier still stood defiantly, seemingly unfazed by all the torture the alien bastards had done to her.
Noticing Enterprise's vitals as well as her fusion reactor reaching critical levels via the Battlenet, Amagi involuntarily widened her eyes in shock. The heavy carrier immediately yelled into her radio. "Enterprise! Your reactor is about to explode! Break off, now!"
"Negative, Amagi.", the assault carrier calmly replied. "In Amber Clad hasn't fully departed yet."
"Listen, Grey Ghost! Your luck means nothing if you just keep trying to get yourself killed over and over! If you don't get out of there right now, you will die! That much is obvious, is it not?!", it was Akagi's turn to try and drill some sense into the carrier's thick skull, breaking her usual sly and calm character. Kansens from the long-gone Sakura Empire were known for their politeness and elegance, a stark contrast to their Western counterparts. Though as the losing war against the Covenant dragged on, those traits of the Oriental kansens got lost to time, simply because they didn't have the time for such things. They all pretty much adopted their Western sisters' style since it was a lot more practical and saved a lot of time. The time that they could use to form better plans and save more civilians.
Enterprise, despite hearing Akagi's words perfectly, didn't even move an inch or showed any sign of acknowledging her teammate's pleading.
Despite their differences in nature, Commander Keyes couldn't help but got worried for the safety of the shipgirl who was basically acting as a human shield to buy her some time. She wanted to just lie to the kansen that her ship had already departed Cairo but doing so would expose not just In Amber Clad but also the defense platform to swarms of Covenant attacks. Finally, after Keyes and her crew literally skipped most of the deployment procedures, UNSC In Amber Clad left Cairo Station to join the fray.
"This is Commander Miranda Keyes to UNSC kansen Enterprise. We're already away. Disengage, now!"
In response, Enterprise darkly chuckled. Her weapon systems suddenly went silent at once. Just as Amagi was about to ask the assault carrier what was wrong, Enterprise calmly spoke. "It's too late for that, ma'am..."
"Wha-"
Commander Keyes didn't get the chance to utter even a word as suddenly, a huge fireball erupted from UNSC Enterprise's starboard side as plasma torpedoes slammed into her hull. Just before the fireball fully engulfed the kansen, she managed to croak out some final words. "This is UNSC Enterprise CVA-685, signing off. Finish the fight, everyone."
"...I'm home, sisters..."
As the words left her mouth, the fireball finally consumed the former Eagle Union aircraft carrier. Orion-class assault carrier UNSC Enterprise was no more.
For a few seconds, both Akagi and Amagi couldn't do anything but stood there and stared at the place where their comrade once stood. Before any of them could do anything else, however, an officer onboard Cairo Station exclaimed with panic clear in his voice.
"The carriers are breaking through! They're heading straight for the Cairo!"
That was enough to snap the two kitsunes back to reality. Sure enough, from behind the debris field of what used to be UNSC Enterprise, a CAS-class assault carrier emerged, followed by another ship of identical design. But instead of flying towards Cairo Station like the mentioned officer said, they both completely ignored the Cairo and instead headed straight for Earth.
And the two kansens were standing directly in front of their way.
Akagi immediately brought up her DMR and wildly unleashed her fury at the incoming threats, hoping to, at the very least, bring down their shields. However, those valiant efforts of the small frigate were for naught.
"Why won't you die, freaks?! What have we even done to you to deserve this?!", Akagi yelled in a mixture of desperation and anger as tears flowed down her beautiful face. "DIE!"
The lead Covenant carrier retaliated with a shower of highly accurate plasma torpedoes and pulses of laser, all of which headed straight for Akagi. Time seemed to go into slow motion as the projectiles of death continued to fly towards the frigate no matter how hard she tried to destroy them with her point-defense systems. At the very last second just before the torpedoes and laser pulses hit her, Akagi felt something heavy slam into her right side, pushing her out of the way. A quick glance at the thing revealed that what pushed her wasn't an object, but a person. More specifically, her sister, UNSC Soul of Amagi.
With a smile on her teary face, Amagi only had enough time to mutter three words to her little sister.
"...I love you..."
The heavy carrier could see that her frigate sister was saying something to her as Akagi tried to reach for her hand, but she couldn't hear it. Before the fire of death fully swallowed Amagi, one final thought crossed her mind.
'May we all see each other again'
EARTH
AZUR LANE NAVAL BASE
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII
DECEMBER 6, 1941
20:45 LOCAL TIME
Tonight was just another peaceful night for the Azur Lane kansens at their Hawaii base. Most of the girls, mainly the ones from the Royal Navy, had already gone back to their dorm rooms to retire for the night, though there were still some who were either taking a night stroll on the shore or just staying up late in their rooms doing their things.
Patrolling the perimeter of the base was HMS Belfast, Head Maid of the Royal Navy. It was another usual night as she walked alone vigilantly, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of trouble, both inside and outside. Lately, the only "trouble" that she had encountered was just some rowdy kansens partying too hard, causing way too much noise and leaving a huge mess for the manjuus and maids of the Royal Navy to clean up.
As she walked, she couldn't help but let part of her mind drift back in time. Back in 1939, when Azur Lane was still whole, various kansens of the four major nations lived peacefully with each other in the same base here at Hawaii. They pretty much did everything together, from going out to combat the Sirens or escorting cargo ships to playing and doing recreational activities. After the Sirens had been repelled, the amount of playtime among kansens, especially the ones that looked like literal children, increased, which apparently made the old men on top worried. Most of them expected the girls to be basically the perfect soldiers that humanity had to offer; and when their expectation was not met, a lot of them even considered dissolving the alliance and scrapping the "magical" Mental Cubes research entirely, the same research that led to the creation of kansens.
Thankfully, their Commander was one hell of a sweet talker as he literally single-handedly saved both Azur Lane and the Mental Cubes research by engaging in a verbal debate with all Admirals from around the world; a verbal debate that lasted for three days. At first, some of the Admirals remained skeptical despite being given the cold hard proof. But when the good Commander reminded them that the kansens under his command were the ones who shooed away the alien threat, a feat that none of the traditional human-controlled ships had ever accomplished, the Admirals finally gave in.
To say that the kansens were indebted to their Commander because of his efforts would be an understatement. They literally fell in love with him. After all, they wouldn't be able to get to where they were right now if it weren't for their dear Commander.
Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end. Few months after Azur Lane had repelled the Sirens, some kansens accidentally ran across some sort of storing facility which housed tons of gears, their designs screamed Siren. Then, two contradicting ideas on how to deal with the Sirens started to surface, slowly causing a division among kansens and factions. The Sakura Empire and Iron Blood factions recommended using captured Siren technology to further enhance the combat capabilities of kansens, stating that doing so would level the playing field against future Siren attacks. The Eagle Union and Royal Navy, however, flat-out rejected such proposal. Pretty much everyone in said two factions was appalled when their allies proposed using enemy's technology just to get an edge on the battlefield, fearing that using such technology may bring unforeseen consequences. Or in Enterprise's words: "The only thing that those gears bring is turning us into Sirens. Can you still say you fight for humanity with your heads high and proud after turning into the same things that you swore to eradicate?"
Finally, after over a year fighting side-by-side to protect the very existence of humanity on Earth, Sakura Empire and Iron Blood cut all ties with Azur Lane, went back to their home countries and formed their own alliance, the Crimson Axis. At first, almost all of the kansens were horrified at the fact that they were forced to bid farewell to their friends and comrades just because of some stupid disagreement, Belfast included. But since orders were orders, they had no choice but to do exactly what their superiors wanted them to do. On the day before their departure, a grand farewell party which saw the participation of every single kansen of the four major nations was held for the kansens of Sakura and Iron. Of course, the Admiralty was not amused, but after some convincing from their Commander, they relented. What followed was a party that lasted for over 24 hours in which the girls participated in a series of drinking games, buffets, spars, and other activities. It was also the only time that the more serious and classy ladies of all factions broke their masks and joined in the fun.
It was the one time that Belfast got to be alive.
Fast forward two months, and here she was, at the Azur Lane base that lacked the faces of Sakura and Iron kansens. Formally, the Crimson Axis was a direct rival to the Azur Lane, though if one of the two guilds ran across the other one who was fighting against the Sirens, said guild would be more than happy to give a helping hand. The same principle also applied to the kansens. There would be some skirmishes here and there between the girls of the two alliances, but if there were Sirens nearby, all hostilities would be dropped in favor of neutralizing the threat. The kansens of both sides also had two unspoken rules that they held close to heart: to not kill or inflict grievous injuries to their former comrades and to never hurt the humans of both sides.
And so, for the past two months, both alliances had been operating like that, sometimes fighting together and other times fighting against one another, though nothing deadly had been recorded.
Belfast truly wished it would stay that way. Maybe in the future when the Sirens were totally annihilated, the kansens could finally reunite under the same banner, just like old times.
Just like old times...
Sighing to herself, Belfast realized that she had already finished her routine patrol for a while now. She then turned on her heel and started her journey back to her own dorm room. Tomorrow, ladies Illustrious, Unicorn, and Enterprise would arrive at the base, and Belfast would be the first one to greet them.
The maid smiled to herself when she thought about her friend, Enterprise. It had been six days since the carrier sortied to investigate an SOS signal off the coast of Cook Islands and she was expected to arrive at Pearl Harbor tomorrow morning, around the same time of the two Royal carriers' arrival. Belfast hoped that her dutiful yet stubborn friend paid attention to her health while on mission.
Opening the door of the Royal dorm building, the Head Maid gazed at the ocean in front of her one last moment before closing it behind her. Though had she stayed for a little more than three seconds, she would have noticed three bright stars appeared in the night sky before immediately vanishing.
BIO:
1. UNSC Soul of Amagi (CV-073)
- Class and type: Epoch-class heavy carrier
- Length: 2563 meters (8410 feet or 1.59 miles)
- Mass: 35 million metric tons
- Hull: Titanium-A battle plate
- Armament:
+ 1x rapid-fire light MAC
+ 2x Mark 15 heavy ship-to-ship coilguns
+ 20x M4020 Bident heavy guided missile pods
+ 12x M66 sentry autocannons
+ 70x M58 ship-to-ship archer missile pods (24 missiles/pod)
+ 12x M870 point defense guns
+ 20x M810 AAA point defense guns
- Complement:
+ 36x Pelican dropships
+ 24x space fighters (Longswords + Sabre)
- Representing weapon: SRS-99AM sniper rifle
2. UNSC Javelin (DD-061)
- Class and type: Halberd-class destroyer
- Length: 485 meters (1590 feet)
- Mass: 1.8 million metric tons
- Hull: 2 meters of Titanium-A battle plate
- Armament:
+ 1x MAC battery consisting of dual twin-linked 1170mm/647mm MACs
+ 26x oversized M58 ship-to-ship Archer missile pods (over 800 missiles in total)
+ 4x M870 point defense guns
+ 3x Shiva-class nuclear missiles
- Complement: 2x Pelican dropships
- Representing weapon: M41 SPNKR rocket launcher
3. UNSC Enterprise (CVA-685)
- Class and type: Orion-class assault carrier
- Length: 2220 meters (7283.5 feet or 1.38 miles)
- Mass: less than 35 million metric tons
- Hull: Titanium-A battle plate
- Armament:
+ 2x heavy MACs
+ /data_corrupted/
+ ...
+ /data_corrupted/
+ ...
+ /GRANTED/
+ Numerous missile batteries and point defense guns
- Complement:
+ /REDACTED/x M808 "Scorpion" Main Battle Tanks
+ Automated factories
- Representing weapon: special custom-made double-barreled M6 Spartan laser
