Flames crackled in darkness, embers flew into the empty night sky, the sounds of explosions accompanied the images of sinking warships along with the floating corpses in the sea.
In the middle of it all, eyes watched in terror as they stared at the figure in front of them. They could not see the figure's face, for the figure's back was turned to them but they had burned the shadow into their mind; the image of the one who had destroyed an entire naval fleet on their own.
The figure's head then turned ever so slightly, just enough for their lips to be in view. They gave a silent message before walking away from the crash site. A hand then desperately tried to reach out to it, only for the flames to consume them immediately afterwards.
Eyes shot open as Emir jerked up in a cold sweat, his breathing erratic and heart pumping at incredible speeds.
"That dream again." placing a hand on his head, Emir then took slow deep breaths, waiting for his heartbeat to return to normal. Once calm enough, he then turned his gaze to a nearby window and began to look out into the night sky. "Maybe a walk would help clear my head."
Changing into some outdoor clothes, Emir walked out of his room and quietly headed for the beach. Where he enjoyed the soft breeze brushing his skin as he watched the reflection of the stars and moon on the water's surface.
"It seems that I'm not the only one on a walk." a voice chimed.
Turning his head in surprise, Emir locked eyes with a pair of purple irises. Seeing those brought Emir's mind back to his nightmare, the lifeless eyes of the girl that stared back in his dream.
"Is everything ok?" the girl asked with a concerned expression.
"Oh, yeah I'm ok." Emir replied still fazed from the encounter.
Apologizing for scaring him, the girl introduced herself as Enterprise: the representative of the Eagle Union faction, and the second aircraft carrier of the Yorktown class. Likewise Emir introduced himself as well, ironically though the carrier quickly finished off his introduction for him; by informing him that she knows that he was the sibling of their current commander as well the grandson of their old commander.
Shocked that someone actually knew who he was, Emir only stared at Enterprise blinking slowly, which made for an awkward moment between the two.
"So how come you're out this late?" Enterprise asked, changing the subject.
"I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk, you know maybe going out will help me get tired." a slight fib, yet the carrier didn't seem to notice. Instead she seemed fooled since, Enterprise giggled at the boy's answer.
After their somewhat awkward (yet somehow successful) introductions, the two sat next to each other and looked out into the glistening sea. Emir couldn't help but be in awe, he truly loved the sea. Though, after remembering that dream he had, the young man couldn't help but have a feeling of uneasiness when he looked at the darkened water. Tearing his thoughts away from the nightmare.
Emir then found himself looking at Enterprise who was longingly gazing at the sea with a saddened expression. Her eyes welling up with tears that were being held back.
Emir was about to ask if the carrier was ok, but the familiar voice of his maid companion called out from the dark.
"Young master! Young master where are you?!"
Realising that Belfast must've gone to his room to check up on him, Emir quickly stood up and said his goodbyes to Enterprise before running to the worried maid, not even giving the other girl a chance to say her own farewell.
When Emir was now out of sight, Enterprise took another quick look at the ocean before deciding to head back to her own room for some shut eye.
Running through the dark, the boy made a quick turn into a corner only to find himself bumping into a couple of soft cushions the moment he turned a corner. It was like landing on a bunch of clouds: soft and comforting. If only he wasn't standing up, then Emir could lay his face on those cushions forever.
"Young master?" snapping out of the comforting thoughts he was having, Emir slowly looked up only to meet with the blue irises of the light cruiser that he was looking for.
Glancing at the so-called cushions, Emir's face then exploded into a deep crimson when he caught on that the "cushions" were actually the maid's breasts. Quickly separating in a panic, Emir then began to wave his arms in front of him whilst profusely apologising to Belfast, for what could only be classified as harassment.
"Young master, its ok. It was an unfortunate accident, that's all." the maid assured, though its not like she minded the skinship. After all, he grew up with her tending to him.
"Still… You know what, let's just go to bed." Emir suggested, not wanting to drag the entire situation even further.
"If I may ask, what were you doing out?" the maid asked curiously. Emir answered truthfully, saying he couldn't fall asleep, however this received him a scolding from Belfast who warned him that the Sirens could still be about.
"Oh yeah, sorry Bel."
"Its not a problem, just please be cautious."
Morning soon came, but with the ongoing repairs from the sudden attack, it wasn't exactly a good morning. Nevertheless, everyone tried their best to remain positive so as to not worry each other.
Over at the cafeteria most of the Regis family were being served by Belfast. For the family, the maid's wonderful, revised english breakfast was to die for: perfect golden toast, sausages steaming hot with small bits of char to give it a smokey flavour, and finally eggs benedict topped with a light, creamy hollandaise sauce. That alone, would've sent even the harshest critics to the stars with its taste, but this was the head maid of the Royal navy; simple was not in her menu. Along with her main dish, Belfast also prepared a salad for the family, that used the rest of the missing ingredients of her english breakfast: fresh cherry tomatoes, and small bacon cuts were tossed into a collection of lettuce then drizzled with a sweet, yet vinegary reduction that complimented the entire dish as well as keeping the dish light enough to be a side dish.
"You do too much for us Belfast." Azure commented as she took a small bite out of her toast.
"Of course not mistress, it is the job of the maid to provide excellent service to her masters." the cruiser replied.
"Excellent would be an understatement. You go above and beyond Belfast." Emir inserted which caused the maid to allow a small smile to grace her lips.
"I am glad young master." the maid would be lying if she didn't admit that she found some sense of accomplishment when Emir compliments her. After all, the boy always treated the girl as a member of his family more than he treated her as either a maid or a warship.
Despite his great interest in Naval ships as well as the sea in general, Emir never once forgot that Belfast was a human being as well, to an extent of course. Because of this, he often treated the cruiser as a human more than a ship, to the point that during his childhood, he refused to allow Belfast near anything that could potentially hurt her, despite being a ship that can take on torpedoes and hits from a battleship cannons.
After breakfast everyone went their separate ways, with Azure heading to the office while Emir and Belfast went out to the home port. The older Regis men accompanied Azure, still discussing who the new commander should be. Zander was still adamant that only his father-in-law could command Azure Lane, yet Felix was steadfast about his own inabilities due to age.
"There is no one in this world as capable as you Felix. Azur Lane wouldn't be where it is now, if it weren't for you."
"You mean weak and unprepared? That aside, it's not just about experience, the Sirens are going to be relentless. If they found out that I returned to commanding the ships, then they will do everything in their power to make me croak, and that is not a difficult task."
"If I may interject." Azure said with authority.
"Father is correct in saying that grandfather is an appropriate choice. But after some thinking last night, grandfather is not wrong either. I know that what I am about to say may be up for discussion, however I may know of a replacement who may be just as good as grandfather."
"You do? Who can that be?" Zander asked, shocked that there could be anyone that can be just as skilled as Felix.
"Emir."
Watching as the ships worked together to fix their home port, Emir began to wonder why some ships were children while others were adults despite some of them being around the same age. So he decided to ask his maid for answers.
"Hey Belfast, how come some ships are more older looking even when all the ships were pretty much born around the same time period. The only ones that should be the exception were those closer to the start of the dreadnought era or even before that." the young Regis asked the maid, who was impressed by his comment.
"What a very acute observation you have made young master." Belfast complimented, causing her young master to feel somewhat embarrassed..
"You are correct most of the ships in this home port are around the same age. However, the forms we take are dependent on the perception of humanity. Some will view certain ships as children while others view other ships as adults." the cruiser explained as best she can with the little knowledge she had.
Emir contemplated how humans managed to view each of the ships as they are now, but quickly realised just how creepy it is to think about a ship as a little girl.
Continuing to watch the ships from afar, Emir then saw Enterprise walk along the port with a couple of other shipgirls. The young male Regis then remembered the night before when he managed to sneak a glance at Enterprise and saw the lonesome look she had.
Catching his gaze, Belfast followed the eyes of her young master, seeing that it had landed on the Union's aircraft carrier. Wondering why the young male was interested in the carrier, Belfast asked Emir if he wanted to talk with Enterprise, but the boy quickly told her that he was ok so there was no need, though the cruiser could tell this was not the truth.
Returning to the three older Regis, Zander was staring at his daughter, eyes wide open. Meanwhile, Felix was oddly calm about Azure's suggestion, almost like he knew that this was gonna happen.
It was no surprise that Zander was against this, in fact even Azure becoming commander at the age of 20 was something he refuted at first. Therefore it was no surprise that he would also vote against turning his son into a commander as well, albeit the position was temporary.
"I am supportive of this decision. However, Zander's reaction is all too normal when we take in the fact that him becoming commander out of nowhere will raise suspicion among members of the World Union. Not only that there is also the case of handling everything here in the home port." Felix pointed out.
"Then we'll just say to the World Union that one of the ships are the ones in charge while I am in training and some ships here will be more than capable as a tutor." Azure retorted.
Felix wasn't so sure if they could trick the World Union, they're the highest commanding officers so they often come to Azur Lane to inspect it. Although it was not unusual for a ship to act as the base commander, it's happened many times before, it was only the mere fact that Emir being in the home port throughout the year was suspect.
Azure wasn't going to give up though, she didn't want to risk a random person in charge of her fleet; for her, only Emir could replace her.
"How about work experience? Just say that Emir is here for work experience for a university." Azure proposed.
"They'll ask what university, and Emir has not applied to one."
"Then he wanted to work for a year then go to university."
"Here in Azur Lane? Without proper training?"
"Well there are other jobs here in the home port, we'll just assign him to one of those. I'm sure the girls would be more than happy to take him in, if needed."
Zander, Felix and Azure kept on arguing back and forth; in the end, Felix continued to support his granddaughter, while Zander was still unsure. Knowing she cannot change her father's mind without physical proof, Azure came up with an idea to show her old man just how capable her brother really was.
Interrupting the three, Enterprise entered the room then politely asked if she can borrow Azure for a moment. Allowing the carrier to say what she wants, the female commander learned that the repairs cannot be finished since certain materials are not within the home port.
Excusing herself from her family, Azure went with Enterprise to the storage to check with the repair ship Akashi if they were really missing materials. During their travel, Enterprise told her commander about meeting her brother in the night. Curious as to why her brother was out so late, Azure kindly questioned her ship, which the latter honestly told her what she was told by Emir himself.
"I see. Well so long as he was safe then there is no problem." Azure said and Enterprise nodded back to her as a response.
When the two arrived at the storage depot, they were met by the port's pair of experts on everything regarding: gear, resources and repairs; the japanese repair ship Akashi and her fellow japanese destroyer Shiranui.
"Ah its commander nya." Akashi greeted.
"Hello you two, searching for materials as well?" Azure asked, to which the two lightly bobbed their heads.
"There's been a shortage of plaster and cement and those materials are what's needed at the moment, to repair the buildings." Akashi explained, a little worried that they might not be able to repair the port.
The doors of the storage room then opened, Emir along with Belfast entered the room, evidently looking for something. When Emir's eyes landed on his sister, he was slightly surprised, since he thought she was still in her office worrying about who was going to replace her while she went to training.
Azure asked her brother what he was doing and Emir answered that he was asked by a couple of ships to pick up some extra tools for them. Akashi quickly jumped in, taking the young man to where the extra tools were. Meanwhile Azure, along with Shranui and Enterprise, were still looking for cement and plaster for the repairs.
After much searching, the girls found several bags of cement and plaster, but it was still not enough to repair everything. Azure was opting to order more resources, so she asked Shiranui if they could get some. Looking at the clipboard in her hands, Shiranui gave the commander some bad news along with good news: They can order more materials, just that they had to wait for at least a month before the materials were to arrive.
"We can't possibly make everyone wait that long." Azure complained.
"What exactly is being repaired?" Emir questioned.
"Hmm, a part of the repair building, some roads then just some other shops, nya." Emir stared at Akashi quizzically.
"Sis no offense, but if that's all then I'm sure waiting a month is doable. Just use the cement to fix the roads, plaster for the repair building and then wait for the shops." the boy pointed out.
Azure began to think about Emir's words, which only made the boy more confused as to why she needed to think about when their priority should be the repair house. Luckily his sister was no fool and agreed with her brother's plan.
"Akashi take these and prioritise the repairs of the roads as well as the repair shop, then can you apologise that some of the other shops will be unavailable for some time. Tell them I gave the orders." Azure requested with a gentle tone.
"Sure thing nya~" Akashi then pulled out a headset and talked into the mic which allowed her to relay her commanders orders to the other ships in the port.
After the fiasco that was missing materials, the siblings went walking around the parts of the home port that wasn't destroyed, chatting away whether she found a replacement commander.
"Well there is someone, but there's still some discrepancies between everyone's decisions." Azure admitted, a small sweatdrop rolling down her cheek.
"Dad is also making a decision? Hmm, well hopefully you'll find someone soon." Emir said with a smile.
In the middle of the siblings' chat, a voice suddenly called out to them prompting them to stop and look up, where they saw their father running towards them like he had important news.
Zander, while out of breath, told his children that their grandfather was looking for them and that he had something to tell them regarding the new commander.
Not wasting a single moment the three made their way to where Felix was, which was the docks. When they arrived they found that Felix was on a heavy cruiser ship, surrounded by several shipgirls all armed with their gear. Upon seeing his family, the elder Regis male asked for his grandson to go unto the other ship that was docked across him.
Emir first glanced at his sister then his dad, before following his grandfather's request despite his confusion.
The cruiser then began to move on its own, positioning itself in front of Felix's ship, with just a good distance away from him. Curious as to what was driving the boat, Emir turned around only to see a large chick-like creature behind the helm.
Since he was nearer to the docks, Felix only needed to raise his voice in order to communicate to the crowd that had gathered. This was intentional since he didn't want his grandson to hear what he was about to say.
"I'm going to say this so that a decision is going to be made." the elder Regis announced to everyone on the docks.
"In light of recent events, my granddaughter Azure has made the choice of leaving the home port in order to better herself as a commander. However this then means that there will be the need of somebody who will replace her, while she is absent. Normally, the faction leaders would be the ones to step in, however this time both me and Azure have found a reliable replacement. All that's left to do now is to show all of you what he is capable of."
Being so far away from his grandfather, Emir couldn't hear anything that he was saying. Though he didn't really have to wait long before his grandfather, turned to his direction and signalled him to pick up the radio before chatting with him.
Felix explained that he wanted Emir to lead a small fleet in an exercise with him. He wanted to check just how old the gears were and he needed Emir's help with the task. However Emir became confused as to why a monitored exercise would need two commanders, when the girls can be trusted to check their own gear.
Deciding to ignore this factor for now, Emir replied to his grandfather that he would be happy to help him, just that he didn't know how. Emir then heard movement coming from the waters, which prompted him to look out of the edge of his ship only to see the Edinburgh class ships looking back at him.
"What are you two doing here?" Emir asked, surprised.
The two maids then curtsied to Emir before explaining that they will be under his command for the exercise. Dumbfounded, Emir looked at the two ships slack jawed before he noticed at the back, a certain aircraft carrier was floating about.
"Akagi you're here as well?" the young Regis called out.
Gliding closer, the fox girl explained that she didn't really want to participate in the exercise. Yet she just couldn't say no to Felix, expressing her loyalty to him by standing against him only due to his request. To further push her point, she told the young male Regis that she expected him to at least be able to command a fleet as small as the one he had at that moment.
Not really sure how to reply to such an expectation, Emir just nodded his head before leaving Akagi to look at his grandfather again. When Emir looked back at Felix he noticed that the old man's ship had gotten closer. Now, with a fleet of shipgirls of his own.
In Felix's fleet, two ships, one blond and one grey haired one were the vanguard, while the main fleet at the back consisted of only Enterprise.
"Alright Emir, we just have to command the girls as they fight. I don't expect you to be perfect, but I want you to command these girls like they are actually your fleet and that you are actually sending them to battle. Your goal is to win." Felix advised through the radio.
Emir then turned the radio off and began to ponder about the entire situation. Everything just seemed too suspicious, taking into account how sudden the request was and the fact that little to no information about the exercise has been relayed to him.
"Young master." Belfast called, snapping Emir out of his thoughts. He then saw that the two other opposing light cruisers were charging at them.
"Your orders?" the maid asked her acting commander. Emir looked at Belfast with an unsure look, before it changed to a serious one. He took a deep breath before looking at his opponents.
"Ok listen up, this isn't going to be easy, so stay sharp you hear!"
"Yes sir!"
Thank you all so much for reading the chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. I know that it takes a long time get a chapter out, I'm sorry about that but since there's another story that I'm close to finishing I'm putting most of my efforts on finishing it. Hope you guys will still look forward to future chapters though, despite the long wait, though I will work on this once the other story is finished.
Apart from that I have no messages. Once again thank you all for reading this chapter and I will see you all next chapter.
Feel free to tell me all your thoughts about the chapter, everything is allowed.