Somewhere

It had been like Averof had looked directly in the sun. But it should have been impossible since it was the night and only stars illuminated the sky. When her senses came back, she was in a place with a single dead tree. The sky, the horizon was now white like clouds. There was no Gate, there was no fortress, there was no port. Where was this place? The Swordman stood five meters above the water, observing her preys.

"Where are we!" Averof asked.

"Some say it's a parallel universe, some say it's hell and others say it's the land of dreams."

The girl was not convinced by her words. At her side, Yavuz stood.

"You better tell us! We have no time to waste on people such as you!"

"Your mission won't matter if you are dead! Now, stand! Prepare yourself for thy divine punishments!"

The Swordman brandished her sword and executed a motion of slash. From her sword, a laser cut through the water between them and disappeared in the white clouds. Averof was paralyzed by this power. If she was not a Siren, what was she? Yavuz tried to say something, but blood spilling from her mouth stopped Yavuz dead in her tracks.

"Did you get hit!" Averof asked.

"I tried something," Yavuz said. "I can safely say that this person is not a Siren. My curse would have been lifted if it was the case."

What curse? Averof had no idea. Suddenly, Yavuz grinned at her. She laughed and pointed her index at Averof in a defiance pose.

"Georgios Averof! Seitan Papor! I will test you!" Yavuz proclaimed, Averof's eyes opened wide. "I will land you my personnel. If you win, I won't land you over to Sardegna and I will reconsider my position! I will be watching you."

Averof was still not convinced and the Swordman became irritated.

"Hoho! And what if I kill you all?" the Swordman asked Yavuz.

"Then I won't resist you killing me. Deal?"

The Swordman exhaled. Whatever, it did not matter to her. Averof contemplated the chance she was given. It was all or nothing, a gamble. Averof expressed her gratitude and bowed.

"I won't disappoint!"

Yavuz assembled her crew and handed it over to Averof. With the four shipgirl battleships, she could count on the two small cruisers Peyk and Berk. Their weaponry was more akin to a destroyer with two single 150mm and multiple 88, 37mm and mines, courtesy of Ironblood. The four destroyers had been recently acquired from Sardegna as payment, Kocatepe, Adatepe, Tınaztepe and Zafer. They were standard destroyers with twin 120mm and low-caliber AA weaponry. All their submarines had been given by Ironblood and Sardegna as payment and followed a U-boat or Sardegnian configuration. They were Dumlupınar, Sakarya, Gür, Saldıray and Atılay. The former Ironblood and Sardegnian vessels suddenly became less enthusiastic with their leader.

"But we were part of the deal…" the ex-Sardegnian destroyers Tınaztepe said.

"We already fulfilled the deal. We gave a part of our resources for you. The deal ends there. Friendships means nothing in politics."

Her harsh words shut down any attempt by the Redmoon destroyers and submarines, who decided to follow her orders.

Georgios Averof stood in front of her sudden new army. They had followed Yavuz's orders without many protests, the same as Konstantinos in her last moment. Yavuz gave the same aura as her former flagship, but it was her role now. She did not feel like it was a role she could accomplished, as an armored cruiser. Averof felt like telling herself and Yavuz excuses to just follow the Redmoon flagship, throwing away her golden opportunity, a coin flip, an opportunity in a lifetime to honor Konstantinos' sacrifice. Konstantinos had given her the flagship badge, the medal given by their admiral, the leader of the Hellenic Republic before it fell as a dictatorial regime. She had to become a leader, for her former comrades and commanders. Her honor, her faith, her luck rested in her talent alone. The pride of the Hellenic Navy could not run away anymore. She finally understood Konstantinos' intention.

"It was your test all along," Averof thought.

"You can interpret it as such, but life is a trial, isn't it?"

Averof tightened her grip around the medal on her chest. With a dignified voice, worthy of a flagship, she said : "Yavuz. I shall accept your challenge! I won't run away! Just watch!"

"Perfect! My comrades, your life rest in her hands, do not disappoint me!"

"We shall be worthy of the red crescent!" Reşadiye and Sultân Osmân Evvel pronounced.

[Battle A-3]

Cape Matapan, twenty-four hours in Operation Gaudo

A one-sided carnage had befallen the Sardegnians. Searchlights illuminated the group. Time was for revenge and no mercy was shown. Flashfires illuminated the scenes as the Sardegnians were cut down one by one under their merciless guns.

Minutes earlier, Orion had picked up on her radar the presence of a single cruiser. The nighttime prevented her identification, but it did not matter. Queen Elizabeth ordered them to get closer. The cover of darkness rendered Elizabeth's group invisible to the Sardegnian eye. At 35 meters, Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and Warspite stopped, silent. Their exchange was brief.

"Should we offer them surrender? After all, they are only trying to save their comrades," Queen Elizabeth said.

"I don't care! They did not show any mercy to Barham!"

"It shall be swift and destructive," Warspite promised.

Queen Elizabeth lowered her arm, the signal to open the searchlights. The night suddenly was transformed to a day. In front of them, Zara and Fiume were attending Pola, wounded and immobilized. Vittorio Alfieri and Giosuè Carducci had quick reflexes and, knowing what was happening, charged their enemies while Vincenzo Gioberti and Alfredo Oriani laid down a smokescreen in front of the cruisers.

[Battle A-4]

It had been in vain. The Royal Navy battleships showed no mercy and cut down the Sardegnians to pieces. Their cruisers and destroyers laid down torpedo barrages that the destroyers had to dodge. The swift destroyers Vittorio Alfieri and Giosuè Carducci disappeared under the battleship's shelling. Zara and Fiume were also erased from the battle. The last remaining, Pola, urged the destroyers still alive to run for it. Behind their smokescreen, they left Pola.

[…]

When Vittorio Veneto learned of her crucial mistake in port from the destroyers, the lone survivors of the nightly engagement, she broke down and cried. In her attempt to not leave anyone behind, she had sent a whole cruiser squadron to their death. Now, her sister would certainly see her incompetence and take the title of flagship. There was one thing to be done.

"Abort Operation Gaudo and recall everyone!"

The forces at Tobruk Fortress were recalled to the mainland. Caio Duilio acknowledged while her sister was disappointed that she saw no combat, yet again. Vittorio Veneto then sent a telegram to the Dodecanese telling the authorities about what had happened and to relay the news to Littorio who should have been at the base at the time.

"They have not reached you yet?"

"And we can't get in contact either! It has been two hours already!"

It coincided with the time the cruisers had been intercepted off Cape Bon. She had difficulty swallowing her saliva. The amount of cortisol rushing to her brain was almost immobilizing her. Veneto regretted everything she had done and her sister's fate was in the hand of lady luck.

"Please! Friends, come back alive!"

Somewhere

Averof was accustomed to receiving orders but giving them felt different and odd. At first, she imitated her master Konstantinos, rapidly learning that everyone came with their own style of leadership. It the heat of the moment, she had to improvised against the Swordman who demonstrated unworldly abilities. Levitating, shooting lasers and dashing around like she had been a fly all her life. Despite her abilities, she showed clear pattern, almost robotic. It is like her power was bind to certain mathematical pattern and even her new allies could see it.

After each of their hitting salvoes, the Swordman became more rash and powerful. It was playing to their advantages despite the wounds she was inflicting to them. Making her enemy mad rendered her movements even more predictable and Averof was not scare to take a hit for her allies to take free shots in the back of the enemy. One by one, the turrets were blown off or disabled. Averof grinned in the face of her opponent.

"What is funny!" the Swordman screamed.

"I don't who you are or why you are here, but this is the end of the line."

Averof signaled to the battleships to hold their salvoes until her signal.

"I'll make you swallow up your words!"

The Swordman, her sword held high, rushed toward Averof at high speed, but more slowly like she was hesitating. The signal came and the Redmoon battleships opened fire on the easy target. Bleeding profusely and handicap, the Swordman laughed.

"You are truly the Lucky Uncle George I had heard about. It was a good fight, but I am done."

From her riggings, smoke rounds engulfed the battlefields. When the smoke disappeared, the night sky, the Gate and the Strait came back. The only proof of the battle was on their worn-out body. Averof bore the brunt of the Swordman's attack and had lacerations all over her body. Luckily, no important body parts had been heavily damaged. If they had wanted, Yavuz could have still handed Averof over to the Sardegnian, but she came to Averof with a satisfied smile.

"You fought well. You are truly the Seitan Papor I know and despised. From enemy to friend to enemy to friends. Today, you showed me why you are truly Lucky Uncle George."

"You have no right to call her Uncle George!" Spetsai objected.

"It is all right," Averof said. "Will you reconsider your position with Azur Lane?"

"Now that you earned my trust as a reward, I will let you stay again for a short period of time where you will be able to cut a deal with us. I hope you won't deceive me."

"I will uphold your hospitality and will use my diplomatic connections to the best of my abilities."

Both flagships shook hands to seal the deal. Yavuz exhaled. Her eyes lost their seriousness. Her traits became relieved. It was like a tired yet sweet person had taken ahold of Yavuz's body.

"I am sorry for my harsh language earlier."

It was not even the same voice of two minutes ago. Averof was taken aback and excused herself for nothing, then she justified her excuses on the mistake of not having disobeyed her high command during the Gate War.

"I just had one question about that," Yavuz said, "Why did Azur Lane and its allies not helped you? You would have certainly won."

Averof's face cleared.

"A clearly political game played inside Azur Lane and led to us getting abandoned except by the Royal Navy who stayed on our side. To be honest, I thank them for not joining us. Us, Hellenic shipgirls, did not want to attack our allies to begin with. That is why we performed as poorly as we could without it being noticed by our commanders."

Averof doubted such an excuse, but it would explain the Hellenic's slow pace to catch them and fast surrender against Yavuz superior power.

"When we saw that you had clearly used Siren weapons to attack us, we chose this as an excuse to run away after a short fight. We knew it would be bloody and our blood was not worth one man's ambition."

Yavuz was discouraged that the narrative she had told herself for so many years was shattered in a matter of seconds. She had defended the Gate against her enemy, but her enemies had facilitated her victory.

"I only have one service to ask you even if can't reach a deal," Averof asked.

Yavuz was ready to listen.

"Can you let my deceased friends rest at the Golden Gate?"