"First things first," said the Commander to the pair "we're not going to do much if we don't have enough people to help. A fleet isn't made up of two or three soldiers."
"With that in mind, I've gone over the list of possible targets and have landed on this one," he said, pointing to an island not too far from their base.
"Thayt's the place operated by Hornet," said Akashi.
"Hornet was part of the Eagle Union right?" asked the Commander.
"She was," replied Z23 "originally, the EU was led by Enterprise, but after the fight with the sirens…. She was KIA."
"As a result, the remnants of the EU have become pirates, attacking ships indiscriminately and hoarding a vast supply of resources."
"So they've got people and resources," that's good coz we need both of them."
"One thing though Comnyander," said Akashi, raising her right hand up "how do you plan on attacking them? We don't have the numbers on our side so a frontal attack is downright suicide."
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It was late at night, the moon hidden by a sea of clouds, making it the perfect time for a stealth operation. Z23 saw the patrol ships go past her, waited till they were out of sight and made her move. On her back was an oil drum, one of many that the Commander requested to be placed at various locations across the island.
While she did that, Akashi carried the Commander to the island then left. Using the knowledge gained from the maps of the island, he was able to deduce the location of their headquarters. With that in mind, he slowly crept through the forest, taking care not to make any noise or alert the others.
As he made his way to the target, he could not help but think about how this world operated. First of all, there was a lack of any land animals and an abundance of fish. Both this island and the one he operated from had numerous schools of fish near the coast.
He also noticed the lack of any traps or deterrents in his way. This, in conjunction with that brief fight on the beach told him that the people of this world did not have a mind for tactics. Maybe they knew about where to position themselves during an attack, but other than that: nothing at all.
'But they do have patrols in place,' he thought, as he neared a clearing 'that means they expect an attack from the sea. I guess that's why Hood wanted an otherworlder. The fact that I can attack from a different avenue alone, opens up a new avenue on the battlefield.'
Momentarily thinking about Hood caused him to stop his advance. Tension between him and Z23 were pretty damn high. He was sure that the only reason she was even going with this play was out of duty to her friend. This was all the more reason why his plan needed to succeed. Success here would not only add more to their fleet, it'll provide some distance between him and Z, which hopefully, would give her the time needed to change her opinion of him.
Although the ability to launch an attack on land was indeed an advantage that the Commander brought to the table, it was not actually the reason why he was brought here. In truth, he had another ability, one that neither Hood nor Z23 could have foreseen.
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One look at the sky and he could tell thirty minutes passed. By now, Z23 should have placed all the oil cans in their designated locations. Unfortunately, he had no way of contacting her to confirm that. Because the girls of this world were ships, they all came equipped with a communication room. Like how each country on Earth communicated through encrypted channels, the same was evident here. Akashi told him that each faction had an encryption on their communication line and only those of a particular faction could contact each other.
The reason he thought about all this is because he was human, which meant that he had absolutely zero way of contacting them. He tried asking Akashi about building him a kind of communicator, but his lack of knowledge when it came to the working of a com system and Akashi not knowing what a com system meant, pretty much said that he'd have to believe that Z23 had done her job.
'Alright, let's take a look at my equipment,' he thought and took out a sabre, with an ornate handle.
'Yep, that's it,' he thought 'that's the only weapon I've got. Makes sense in some ways though. Why bother making weapons when you can form them just like that? I don't even have any tactical armor.'
This disappointing train of thought came to a halt when he heard an explosion coming from near the beach.
"Thank you Z," he muttered silently before sliding down the hill he was perched on and landing behind their HQ.
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It was painfully obvious from the get-go that attacking straightforward would lead to an early demise. Hence, their only option was to go for something subtle. This was why Z23 lugged around twenty or so oil cans, placing them at designated locations around the island.
When she did that, she would start detonating the oil barrels one at a time. This would cause the defending forces to think that they were being attacked by a large force. While they were busy scrambling around to try and figure out what to do, Z23 would harass them from a distance, while the Commander would sneak in and face Hornet. If he could get her to surrender, then victory was theirs.
As Z23 saw girls start coming to the shore, forming their weapons and getting ready for a fight, she thought about the only major flaw in this strategy.
Time.
This strategy makes the enemy think that they are facing a large adversary. But it won't be long before the enemy figures that out. Therefore, it fell on the Commander to defeat hornet as quickly as possible.
"You'd better not die on me," said Z23, forming her guns and firing a few torpedoes at some of the girls.
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"Cleveland," called out Fletcher as another explosion loomed in the distance "what should we do?"
"Get Portland, Long Island and Phoenix here, now," said the girl in a poncho "from the sound of that explosion, I think the enemy hit one of our supply caches. Have the three of them go and find out how bad the damage is."
At that moment, another girl in an outfit similar to fletcher came to the beach.
"Cleveland," said Aulick, looking very worried "are we being attacked by the sirens?"
"No this isn't them," said Cleveland, petting her little sister's head "they wouldn't try sneaking around like this."
"So then who's attacking us?" she asked.
"I don't know," said Cleveland and that worried her more than anything else.
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"Is there any chance we can settle this with just talking?" asked the Commander to the other person in the room.
"That's pretty low of you to suggest," said the other person, taking a few steps closer towards him "you attack us under the cover of dark, you go after our resources and then you want to try and settle things peacefully?"
"You're insane if you think I'm going to surrender just like that," said Hornet, forming a runway on her side "I'm the leader of the Eagle Union and I'll never allow some stupid otherworlder to get the better of me."
'Hard way it is then,' thought the Commander.
They were in a large hall with four pairs of pillars running the length of it. There were windows dotted along the sides and a single door to enter from. There was also a dirty cloth over some supplies kept in the corner.
As much as the Commander wanted to attack, years of experience taught him otherwise. It would be easy to assume that a closed place like this would limit the power of an aircraft carrier, but the world he was in did not obey the conventional rules. Logic only worked to a certain extent.
This was made clear when Hornet made small airplanes from beside her and send them at the Commander. The planes were about as small as a drone but were a lot more mobile than any drone he had seen. The Commander quickly ran to the right side and avoided them, but the airplanes continued their pursuit. He stood behind one of the pillars and watched the planes fly past him. He wasted no time, attacking with a thrust which took out two of the planes.
"Don't think I'll just be standing around waiting for you," said Hornet, a mere inch away from him. The Commander noticed it just in time and bent forward, avoiding a kick from her. In doing so, he watched her hit the pillar, knocking a chunk of stone out in the process.
It was at this point in time that the Commander came to a sudden realization. He had assumed that because they looked human, the girls/ships of this world had the same strength as the humans of this world. But everyone knows what happens when you assume something.
He thanked his military training which taught him to react as quickly as possible. If not for that, his head would be a red smear by now.
"Take this," said Hornet, sending out another barrage of airplanes that were too close for the Commander to dodge. Though he was able to knock some of them back, most of the airplanes did hit their target, their sharp blades landing multiple cuts across his arms.
If that wasn't enough, Hornet took advantage of the situation, closing the distance between them and attacked him with a punch right to the gut. The Commander convulsed forward, feeling like he was hit by half a dozen bricks. It was only through sheer force of will he was able to keep from blacking out and see Hornet about to attack again with another kick. He raised both his hands up and blocked her, but given the difference in power, that did little to mitigate the damage. As a result, he was sent flying across the hall and crashing into the corner where the cloth was .
"Get away from there," shouted Hornet.
The Commander slowly rose up and saw Hornet coming towards him so he quickly moved away. What he did not notice was that the object he hit were bluish-colored transparent cubes with a light shining in the centre.
Hornet took a step towards him but then she stopped. From the look of things, she was speaking to someone through their internal communicator.
"Cleveland," she said, "what's wrong?"
"I'm calling to report that we've caught the culprit in charge of attacking our base," said the girl on the other side "turns out it was only one person and the damage we thought was great was minimal at best."
Hornet paused again, the pieces clicking together in her mind.
"What do you want me to do with her?"
"Hold her till I get there," she replied, then turned to him.
"Looks like your plan's failed," she said smiling "what are you going to do now?"
"Go down kicking," he replied throwing his sabre at Hornet, which the girl was easily able to avoid. What she didn't count on was by doing that, she allowed the Commander to close the distance between them and grab her leg before swinging her into one of the nearby pillars.
"God damn, its like lifting a tree," he exclaimed.
Hornet, in response created more airplanes and sent them towards the Commander. The target in question broke into a run, darting across the hall. Hornet took this chance to come up behind him and was about to deliver a swift punch to the face but the Commander bent down at the last second, causing Hornet to get hit by her own airplanes.
The Commander breathed a sigh of relief but that respite did not last for long. Hornet recovered faster than expected and attacked him with another kick, sending him crashing into the wall.
He groaned in pain as he struggled to raise his body back up and fight. Judging from the immense pain he felt in his stomach, that kick must have broken a rib or two at least. To make matters worse, they also have Z23. No telling how much trouble she's in.
'Crap is this really where it ends?' he thought as Hornet drew closer. Rather than give him the chance to run away, Hornet attacked him with airplane after airplane, landing multiple cuts on his body while drawing closer.
'There has to be something,' he thought 'some way I can beat her and save Z23. Think you idiot think.'
"Looks like the legend of the otherworlder isn't all its cracked up to be," said Hornet, standing before him ready to end the fight. Just as she was about to strike him, an arrow made of fire shot past her, embedding itself into the wall.
Surprised and confused by this, both Hornet and the Commander turned to where the arrow came from. They saw a grey haired woman in a white sleeveless top, a black skirt and a white cap, holding a (ridiculous looking) bow in her hands.
"I go away for a few months and look at all the trouble you caused," said the woman, marching towards Hornet and the Commander.
Although the Commander had no idea who this lady was, Hornet's face spoke volumes. A mixture of shock and joy were the emotions she felt as she watched the woman draw closer.
Then, to both their surprise, the woman stopped before the Commander and got down on one knee.
"I heard your voice calling out to me," she said, with a soft expression "when I heard you calling out, I knew I couldn't stay on that side any longer."
"Sorry I took so long to get here but rest assured my Commander: I, Enterprise will not let any harm come to you."
Still confused and baffled at the sudden turn of events, the Commander turned to the woman and said "forget about me, you need to help her."
"Hmm?" asked Enterprise, raising her head.
"If I can get some distance, I'm pretty sure I can last a little longer against Hornet," he said, "but my comrade, her name's Z23 is out there facing God knows how many others. Please, go and save her first and then come and get me."
Enterprise's expression once again grew soft as she said "even with help right in front of you, your first concern is for others. I expect nothing less from my Commander."
"Huh?" he asked.
"Do not worry Commander," said Enterprise, standing up "I wasn't the only one who heard your voice."
At that statement, Hornet slowly turned her attention to the cubes that were in a corner and, much to her horror found that they were no longer present.
"They…. They actually listened to him," said Hornet in shock.
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"And to think", said a woman dressed in a red and grey outfit, her weapons slowly forming on her sides "this is what's become of the mighty Eagle Union. The same faction that once pushed me and my forces back to our homeland."
"How pitiful," she added then cracked her neck.
"What's going on here?" asked Cleveland, baffled by the sudden turn of events "I thought you were the only one here."
"But I was," said Z23, staring at the woman in red-and-grey "Prinz Eugen."
"To have held your own against so many enemy forces for so long," said a lady in snow-white hair with a dress that matched her hair, standing beside Z23 "you are an admirable girl indeed."
"Illustrious?!" exclaimed Z23
"I-I'm here too," said a meek sound voice next to Z23.
"Unicorn," she said, immediately recognizing the little girl with the telltale stuffed animal firmly held in her hands.
"It seems that we all heard a voice calling out to us," said a blond haired woman dressed in an admiral's uniform, beside her a woman in a maid's uniform with long, flowing white hair.
"I dare say I am interested to meet the one who brought us back," said the woman in the admiral's uniform.
"Who-who are you guys?" shouted Cleveland, completely amiss with what was going on here.
"This lady was a part of royalty a long time ago," said the maid.
"And I," she added, putting her hand on her chest "I'm just a passing maid."