"Let's see what we got here." Isaac spoke as he tore the sheet off of the salvage that Surcouf had retrieved from the last battle.
"I tried to find everything that I could carry. Armor chunks, Ammunition, and equipment modules." Surcouf said as she and Nimi walked into Eagle's cargo hold.
"You did well, Surcouf. I'm sure we can figure something out with what you brought back." Isaac said as he sat and began examining a piece of armor.
"Defense forward today, aren't we, Liebling?" Nimi asked as Surcouf looked at her with a confused look.
"Liebling?" Surcouf asked.
"Its a nickname in German. Nimi has taken to calling me that since I proposed to her after our first battle." Isaac explained as Surcouf began blushing. Nimi took the opportunity to show off her ring.
"We...we can like the commander?" Surcouf asked.
"Nobody said you couldn't." Nimi said as she watched Isaac with an eager look in her eyes.
"Nimi. I can feel you staring." Isaac accused.
"Idiot Kommandant... I'm not staring... I just spaced out." Nimi said.
"Sure. Anyway, I need someone to take notes while I examine all of this. I am about to begin my experiments." Isaac said as he walked over to a workstation that hosted a toolbox, sledgehammer, and flamethrower.
"Liebling... Where did you find a flamethrower?" Nimi asked nervously.
"I... uh... found it. Nevermind that. Do you have a notepad?" Isaac asked.
"Ja. We can begin the experiments." Nimi said as Surcouf sat by the door and watched.
"Test 1. Subject: Armor chunk from a battleship class drone ship. Test: Shock absorbency and durability." Isaac said as Nimi quickly scribed it in her notepad.
"You can begin, mein Liebe." Nimi said, her eyes watching him hungrily as she watched his body tense and relax.
Isaac swung the sledgehammer as hard as he could, striking the armor chunk with a surprising amount of force. The armor showed no signs of cracking or any damage to it's integrity.
"It takes shock well. No visible damage done to the subject." Isaac said as it was copied to Nimi's notes.
Isaac began to swing the hammer in quick, powerful strokes, hitting the alien material repeatedly with as much force as he could muster. After a few hits, he saw black dust begin to fall from the area he was hitting.
"Repeated force is enough to produce dust made from the material that composes the armor. It it incredibly tough but it does not seem to have the best resilience." Isaac said. On closer inspection, he saw that only one portion of the armor was damaged, the other surrounding areas that he had been hitting were still perfectly fine.
"Armor seems to react to repeated trauma. It determines the least effective piece and transfers all kinetic force to that specific piece, causing the illusion of greater resilience." Isaac updated his findings.
"Mein Liebling. I think we have reached the conclusion for this test." Nimi said.
"I believe you are right. Conclusion of test one: Armor is tough and reactive to impact. Best solution for this is to focus fire on one specific point of the armor. Battleships and large caliber cruisers will be trained in precision gunnery at the earliest possible convenience." Isaac said.
"What is our next test?" Nimi asked, now fully engulfed in learning mode.
"Flammability and resistance to variable force." Isaac spoke as he set the hammer on the floor.
"Der Flammenwerfer." Nimi said excitedly.
"Excatly." Isaac said as he strapped the tanks to his back.
"You do know how to operate such a device, right?" Surcouf asked.
"Having friends in all branches of the military has its perks. And it's not like this is classified equipment." Isaac said as he lit the pilot.
"Test 2 Flammability and resistance to heat and force. Subject: Armor piece from battleship class drone ship." Nimi wrote as a wave of heat washed the room. Isaac laughed maniacally, his laughter masked by the sound of burning gasoline and combusting air. After a few seconds, the flames stopped. Isaac stared in amazement as the armor was not only fine, but when he touched it, it was ice cold.
"What the..." Isaac said as he walked to the workbench and grabbed a bottle and a lighter.
"Liebling?!" Nimi yelled as he lit the towel that was hanging out of the neck. He threw it against the armor and was surprised when the flames immediately were put out.
"Huh. I was not expecting that." Isaac said as Nimi ran over and hit him on the head with her notepad.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Nimi yelled, hitting him repeatedly with the softer side of the notepad.
"What? I told you that it would involve fire." Isaac said with a shrug.
"That was reckless, you idiot. You could have been burned or cut." Nimi said as she pouted.
"Aww, so thoughtful." Isaac said as he picked her up and kissed her on the cheek, spinning her around before letting her back down to the floor.
"Try to be careful..." Nimi said as she tried to be angry, but his kiss had made her smile.
"It seems that the material used to construct the armor of the drone ships is not only fire resistant, but it actively defeats fire in general. If we could make a powder out of it, it might be able to make a fireproof paint for the decks of your vessels. That way we don't have another incident like we had with Akashi." Isaac said.
"That might work, actually. It did seem rather difficult to set fires on the drone ships. The last commander just decided to pour on firepower and hope that something happened. That led to a lot of repairs for the returning fleets. I think we may have a few more tricks now." Nimi said.
"I would agree. So HE shells have no effect whatsoever. And HE bombs are just as useless." Isaac said as he drew a simple conclusion.
"So drone ships are immune to fire damage?" Surcouf asked.
"From what I have seen, that appears to be the case." Isaac said.
"Richelieu. Could you please come to the cargo hold of the Eagle? Bring one of your special HE shells." Surcouf spoke into her radio reciever. Several minutes pass before Richelieu walked through the door.
"I have come. But why have I been asked for my HE shell?" Richelieu asked.
"Can you load it into your rigging for the commander? Your HE shells are made different than most. That armor seems to put out any fire that it contacts. I am sure the commander wants to test as much as he can before concluding that it is completely fireproof." Surcouf said.
"I suppose. Could you fetch a hose? These shells tend to make quite a mess." Richelieu asked as she summoned forth her rigging. Two massive shield bearing arms appeared, armed with two massive quad barreled turrets. Surcouf stood next to her with the hose as Isaac and Nimi stood back.
"Okay... I guess you can fire when ready." Isaac said as Richilieu fired a single shell from her rigging. The moment it contacted the target, the shell busted open and a thick jelly like substance blasted out and covered the target. Several seconds passed before smoke began to rise from the jelly and it combusted into a wall of brilliant white flames.
"Good Christ!" Isaac yelled as Surcouf immediately began spraying the floor, flooding the area beneath the armor chunk as Isaac watched in horror. The chunk itself was melting under the heat and was completely unable to quell the flames.
"What the hell was that?!" Isaac cried as Surcouf finally poured enough water to smother the fire.
"It is something I was forced to learn inside and out. My people call it the flame of god. But it is a very manmade creation. It has been called Napalm by the Union. Basically they fill a shell with this napalm and then drop in magnesium underneath. Once the shell impacts, the magnesium begins reacting with the air and lights this napalm substance, which burns incredibly hot." Richelieu explained.
"Well...damn. I want you to keep those. That will be super useful against carriers and stubborn battleships." Isaac said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"I see. Well, if that is your command, then I will follow. Just remember that I have to make them per salvo. I cannot keep them on hand due to their volatile nature." Richelieu said.
"I understand. Then we will use it only when I command. I believe that if we truly need it, you will be able to perform to the best of your ability." Isaac said.
"Of course. If that is all, I will return to my prayers." Richelieu said.
"Of course. That is all. Thank you for your help." Isaac said.
Richelieu walked out and Isaac breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good Lord. That was intense." Isaac said as Nimi nodded.
"It melted the armor like it was butter." Nimi said. She wrote it down in her notepad.
"I guess we can toss this sample I do not believe that it can be ground up in this state. Our next drone ship we sink, we will try to collect as much of its armor as we can and I will fine a way to send it back to Akashi to begin processing." Isaac said as he touched the chunk of melted metal. to his surprise, it was still ice cold after being melted just minutes before.
"Write down another note, Nimi." Isaac said.
"Of course." Nimi said as she waited.
"If cut into small cubes, could be used as reusable ice cubes." Isaac said in a dead serious tone.
"Seriously?" Nimi asked.
"Hey, if I have to fight a one man war, I'm going to make my own life a little better too. I am tired of drinking warm water." Isaac said.
"Fair enough I guess." Nimi said.
"Odin, How far from Fiji are we?" Mainz asked as she sipped coffee from her tin mug.
"We should reach it in about 32 hours. I'm sure we will be able to easily find the new Commander once we are within range." Odin spoke.
"I cannot wait. My first live performance for our new Kommandant. I can already feel my cubes shuddering." Friedrich said as she stood at the very tip of her bow.
"I agree. I can already feel my bones aching for battle." Odin said as she continued testing out the limitations of her traverse.
"Fiji is supposedly known for a good blend of coffee. I hope the commander can acquire some. Although from what I saw before we left, It seems that he has several Royals with him, so he might be drinking tea..." Mainz said as she got lost in her coffee fueled delusions.
"Does she ever shut up about coffee?" Odin asked.
"I can only assume that her designer spilled coffee on her blueprints when he was designing her hull." Friedrich said as she rested her chin on her palms.
"Huh. So your designer must have loved the fine arts and music then, no?" Odin asked.
"So it would seem. And yours must have been a brilliant tactician. That is why you act the way you do." Friedrich said as she pondered her existence.
"Hmm. This is truly quite the dilemma. But I am sure that we will be accepted regardless. So I will not fret. The new commander Sounds like he is willing to accept those who will aid him." Odin said.
"I believe that is the case as well." Friedrich said as she imagined what kind of man her new commander would be.
"I believe we are less than a days journey from Fiji now. If we make it before the new shikikan, we will rest in port." Yukikaze spoke.
"Of course. I'm sure you could definitely use the rest." Taka said.
"You're not wrong, nanoda. I feel like the moment we land, I'm going to pass out." Yukikaze said as she held herself up with the help of her railings.
"Please rest, Lady Yukikaze. It won't due for you to be passed out when we go to present our case to this mysterious Shikikan." Fu said as he went up to her with a chair and eased her into it.
"If I sleep, you will not be able to keep this speed. My will alone is what is pushing the engines this hard. If I were to give up now... it may damage the engines and make me useless to him. So I need to stay awake and keep steaming ahead. I can slow us down once we reach Fiji and then when the engines are back within normal limits, I'll allow you to take over." Yukikaze said as she eased herself the rest of the way into the chair.
"I don't like the way you're pushing yourself, Lady Yukikaze." Taka said softly.
"I know. But I have to do this. If we were treated this poorly by those creatures... imagine how bad the rest of the world is suffering now." Yukikaze said.
"But..."
"No buts... I cannot allow the world to suffer due to our failure, nanoda. So if this pain is something I must endure to further this man's war... then I will gladly accept it. As compared to the world around us... this is nothing even worth mentioning." Yukikaze said as she set her glazed eyes on the horizon in front of her.
"Please...don't push yourself too hard. I lost my daughter during the invasion. You're her spitting image. Watching you go down... would be like watching her die again." Taka said as he hugged Yukikaze from behind before returning to his duties.