The last four hours of the countdown passed quickly. Isaac had been lost in thought as the computer began to beep rapidly.
"What the hell?" Isaac asked as he pressed the finish button. Sure enough, a powerful looking woman appeared as the tube raised from the floor. Isaac noticed that the computer was releasing quite a bit of heat. Isaac went to help the woman out of the tube as the computer console caught fire and began to fill the warehouse with smoke.
"The hell?!" Isaac yelled as he tried to pull the woman from the tube. Her foot had hooked onto the bottom and caused him to fall flat on his back. Isaac could feel several pops as well as a sharp pain in his lower back.
"Son of a bitch. I worked this hard and now I'm going to die like this?!" Isaac said as he began to cough.
The port's siren went off as Alexander had ran and hit the red button on the siren tower.
The girls groggily came outside before noticing that the entire second warehouse had been engulfed. Nobody was moved to action until Odin cried out.
"Move your asses! The Kommandant was in there!" She yelled as she forced her way through the crowd of girls and pulled her jacket tight as she ran straight into the inferno. The other girls began to scramble for hoses and buckets to begin fighting the fire.
"I am sorry you have been injured in your attempt to save me, mysterious man. So I will return the favor." The woman said as she summoned her rigging and used it to shield both her and Isaac.
"Kommandant!" Odin yelled as her voice mirrored the tone of the raging inferno.
"Odin. We need to get her attention." Isaac said weakly. The woman looked at him and began to see a dark liquid seeping across his shirt.
"I would have to agree. You're bleeding out, sir." The woman said.
"My stitches must have snapped when I fell. Damn faulty equipment." Isaac said.
"We need to get you help. I can try something, but I don't know if it will work." The woman said.
"Do it. Anything is better than nothing." Isaac said as his voice got weaker. The air was becoming thin and filled with smoke.
"Kommandant! Call out, where are you?" Odin yelled as she approached where the computer had been. Her coat was slowly burning away as she found herself in the center of the blazing inferno. She looked around and found a shell made by what looked like flight decks.
"Kommandant!" Odin yelled as she ran to the shell, only to find a small trail of blood coming out from under it.
A look of horror crossed her face as she reached down and peeled back one of the edges of the shell.
"Kommandant!" Odin cried as she saw Isaac looking at her with a frantic look in his eyes.
"Odin?! You need to get out!" Isaac said.
"Not without you, sir. Let's go." Odin said as she grabbed Isaac and summoned her rigging. Turning the guns around, she blasted away at the floor to create a cloud of dust and debris to clear a path through the inferno.
"You, Carrier. Let's move, now." Odin ordered. The woman covered herself and nodded. Odin gently picked up Isaac with the help of the carrier woman and carried him through the flames as the other girls advanced on the flames and began flooding the warehouse with seawater.
"Shit. His stitches tore open." Odin observed as she gently set him down, hosing herself down to put out the still burning embers from her heavy officers coat. The carrier also hosed herself down, cooling the burns she had received while shielding him.
"Friedrich!" Odin yelled. A few seconds pass before Friedrich was at Isaac's side.
"Mein Kommandant, please excuse me." Friedrich said as she used the metal tips on her fingers to slice through the thick layers of gauze to reach his stitches.
"It is not as bad as it looks. Just a few small stitches are needed." Friedrich said as she quickly sewed his wounds closed again.
Isaac coughed hard as he tried to force air into his lungs.
"Kommandant, we need to get you real medical attention. This is serious." Odin said as Nimi, Eldricge and Surcouf all came running.
"We saw smoke and made haste. What happen... ISAAC!" Nimi cried as she tried to reach him but was blocked by Friedrich.
"MOVE!" Nimi yelled as anger seeped into her voice, producing her rigging and pointing it at the battleship. Surprisingly, Friedrich yielded and moved to the side so Nimi could pass.
"Liebling. Say something, anything. Please tell me that you're going to be okay." Nimi cried as she clasped his hands in hers.
Isaac coughed again before looking at Nimi.
"I'm a bit banged up... but you can thank her for keeping me alive long enough for Odin to find me." Isaac said as he pointed to the new member of his fleet. Nimi turned to follow his finger and saw a woman slowly forming her outfit away from the fleet.
"Who is she?" Nimi asked curiously, keeping Isaac's hand firmly within her grasp.
"Decrepit. Or at least that is what my crew used to call me." The woman said as she slowly walked towards the group of girls that surrounded Isaac.
"That does not answer my question. Who are you?" Nimi asked as her rigging turned on the approaching woman.
"I am Intrepid. Third ship of the Essex class of Aircraft Carriers from the Eagle Union." Intrepid said as her rigging came forth, displaying multiple flight decks. Red and blue crackles of electricity surrounded her.
"Isaac. Issac okay?" Eldridge asked as she knelt down next to Isaac. Eagle looked on from the warehouse as she continued fighting the massive fire that has consumed the building.
"I don't feel the best, but I'm sure I'll live." Isaac said with another small coughing fit.
"There is a hospital that escaped destruction on the outskirts of the city. I caught sight of some nurses outside when I first came here. If we load the commander into the armored car, we can get him there to receive proper medical treatment." Alexander said.
"Give me directions. Friedrich and I will escort him there." Odin said.
"I'm coming too." Nimi said.
"Who will remain in command?" Isaac asked.
"You do not need to worry about such things right now, you are in no condition to be issuing orders." Odin said.
"Friedrich, take Nimi, Eldridge and Eagle and get him to the hospital. If anyone attempts to harm him... execute them." Odin said coldly.
"Understood. Come, mein Kommandant. Allow me to aid you." Friedrich said as she gently scooped him into her arms and placed him on one of her metal serpents. He was escorted to the armored car. Fusou looked over and saw the vehicle.
"To think a type 93 would be found here. This must have been a Sakura storage depot" Fusou said.
Friedrich took one look at the car and decided that she would have to sit in the back with Isaac.
"Mein child, you're the only one of us small enough to drive." Friedrich said as Nimi slipped behind the wheel. Eagle slid into the passengers seat and Eldridge piled into the back with Friedrich and Isaac.
Alexander gave Nimi the directions and they were off.
"Good. Now with them gone, we can focus on putting out this fire." Odin said as she turned back to the raging flames that were beginning to consume the empty warehouse next to it.
"This was all my fault." Intrepid said softly.
"How so?" Odin asked curiously.
"I don't know. But my crew said I was nothing but bad luck. So for it to have almost killed that man, it must have been my fault." Intrepid said solemnly.
"I disagree. The equipment looked odd compared to the tech we have back at the base in Niue. So it was probably a prototype. Thankfully, we managed to extract everything from all 3 warehouses before this went up, so nothing of value was lost." Odin said.
"I still feel responsible. That man who awakened me, he wouldn't be in such bad shape had it not been for me." Intrepid said.
"Listen, carrier. That man, is the Kommandant. He runs this fleet. If he does not see you as the cause of this mess, then I will not press the issue. I suggest you drop the piss poor attitude you have and shake off the words of your crew. You are an important addition to the fleet, so you need to be at your best." Odin said as she turned to face Intrepid.
"But..." Intrepid said before a sword to her neck halted her words.
"No buts. Any more complaints will be acknowledged as insubordination. As second in command of this fleet, I order you to get your ducks in a row and fix your attitude. You are now under the command of Isaac Garner. And as far as I can tell, you were his saving grace today. Without you, he'd be dead and we would have no leader." Odin said as she withdrew her sword and extended a hand.
"Now, help us put out this fire and we can work on checking over your ship." Odin said as Intrepid took her hand.
"Odin. Come in." Taka's voice came over the radio.
"Taka. How is the transport coming along?" Odin asked as she picked up the transmission.
"We found another warehouse. We were looking for parts so we cracked the lock. now all 400 of us are staring at a mountain of pristine Siren tech and even some of what look like modified torpedoes." Taka said.
"Understood, I will question the Governor." Odin said.
"Please do, and if possible, send one of the girls. They might be able to make sense of all this." Taka said.
"Understood. I'll send Omaha over right away." Odin said as she turned to Omaha.
"I need you to head over to that abandoned port. Taka and his men found something interesting that they need your assistance with." Odin said. Omaha nodded as she ran to her ship. The other girls in the port had taken up hoses and were fighting the fire as best as they could.
"I have a foam tank onboard. It's mainly used for aviation fuel but it works just as well for electrical fires." Intrepid said as she pointed to the large aircraft carrier that had taken up the only drydock in the port.
"If you can get the foam to reach, do it. Let's get this thing knocked down." Odin said.
The car pulled up outside the hospital, much to the surprise of the nurse that was waiting outside.
The girls filed out before Friedrich lifted Isaac from the car and held him on her back.
"Who do we talk to to get him medical treatment?" Nimi asked.
"Right this way. Can you tell me what happened?" The nurse asked, too shocked to argue with anything the girls were presenting her.
"The Kommandant was trapped for several minutes inside a burning warehouse. Thankfully, his body was not burned due to the efforts of our colleague, but his lungs have taken in quite a bit of smoke." Friedrich spoke.
"I see. Let me notify the other nurses." The nurse spoke as she rushed ahead.
"Isaac okay." Eldridge said as she held his hand.
"It's okay, Liebling. We're at the hospital. They'll be able to help you." Nimi said as she looked at Isaac's face. His eyes were closed and his breathing wasn't the best.
"Take him to room one." The nurse said.
Friedrich carried him to the room and laid him in the bed. She then stood outside the room and stood guard as Eagle, Nimi, and Eldridge went in and sat with him.
"Do you girls have any relation to him?" The nurse asked.
"He is our Kommandant. And my Husband." Nimi said.
"He is my Fiance." Eagle said.
"Isaac act like big brother." Eldridge said.
"I see. Well, I'm going to need you all to clear the room for a minute. I need to examine him before we can move forward with treatment." The nurse said.
"Just do the exam here and now. We don't mind." Nimi said.
"Ma'am, it's hospital protocol." The nurse said.
"Listen. We are under orders to stay with the Kommandant no matter what. Do the exam, or we will find someone else who will." Nimi said as she struggled to keep from deploying her rigging.
"Nimi... It's okay. I'm not going anywhere." Isaac said as he coughed up a slick black substance.
"Your airway is caked in soot. You shouldn't be talking, sir." The nurse said.
"Nimi... contact Odin. Tell her that we have arrived." Isaac said.
"Sir. I am ordering you, as your nurse, to stop talking. If you continue to assault your body like this, you can cause permanent damage." The nurse spoke, earning her several gun barrels pointed in her direction.
"Do not use that tone with Mein Kommandant." Friedrich said as she looked into the room.
"Friedrich. Stand down." Isaac spoke before devolving into a coughing fit again.
"Alright. The exam can wait. We need to get you on oxygen" The nurse said as she went out of the room to hunt down an oxygen mask.
"Water." Isaac said softly.
"Of course." Nimi said as she went to the sink and got a small cup of water for Isaac to drink.
"That feels a little better." Isaac said as the nurse returned.
"We are going to have to keep you for a few days to ensure that there is no permanent damage." The nurse said as the girls looked at each other.
"The three of us will return to the port to give a report. Kommandant, we are leaving Friedrich here with you. Please rest so that we can get back to our mission." Nimi said as Eagle and Eldridge stand with her to leave.
"Please be careful you three." Isaac said as he laid back in the bed and allowed the nurse to place the oxygen on his face. The girls all left, save Friedrich who sat in a chair at Isaac's bedside. The nurse walked out of the room, leaving Isaac to rest under the watchful eye of Friedrich.
"Odin. We found an interesting blueprint that may help us in the long run." Richelieu said as she came from the only warehouse that hadn't sustained damage from the fire.
"Let's see it." Odin said as Richelieu laid out the blueprint for a new class of ship.
"Norfolk Command ship?" Odin asked.
"Supposedly it is a modified Atlanta class that has integrated technology to help our Commander better command and control the fleet." Richelieu said.
"I see. How would we build it?" Odin asked.
"We have the bulins, plus the rest of us Kansen are very capable of lifting heavy materials." Richelieu suggested.
"Let me draw a copy. I want to take this to the Kommandant to see if he would approve of such a project." Odin said.
"Well, if we are waiting for approval, Just take it to him. We can't waste resources on something the commander does not want." Richelieu said.
"You have a good point. I will make my way there. Nimi and the others should be on their way back. They decided to leave Friedrich in charge of his security." Odin said as the sound of screeching tires could be heard as the Armored car returned to the port.
"Looks like I have a ride. I am allocating command to you until my return. Make sure that fire is out for good and get Intrepid out of dry dock." Odin said.
"Understood. Radio us with his reply so we can get the hull laid down as soon as possible." Richelieu said with a nod from Odin.
Eagle and Eldridge disembarked the armored car and Odin slipped into the passengers seat.
"You going to see the Kommandant?" Nimi asked.
"We found a blueprint. I want to run it by him before giving approval for its construction." Odin said as Nimi took off towards the hospital again.