It took around two to three minutes for them to leave headquarters and reach the island. When they arrived, James put Alec down and the pair headed to the main building. As they neared, they noticed a group assembled outside, looking like they were in a deep discussion.
"I believe that we should accompany the Commander on this mission," said Rossiya.
"There is no need to push yourselves like this," said Yorktown, trying to calm her down "you only recently got your weapons upgraded. No one will blame you for wanting to take a moment to get used to the changes."
"We've waited long enough," said Richelieu "The Commander's campaign gave us a good understanding of how he operates. But he doesn't know about our skills and capabilities which is why now is a good time for us to showcase what we can do."
"What's going on here?" asked James.
"We want to accompany you on this mission Commander," said Rossiya and Richelieu together.
"As I was saying before," added Yorktown "the girls don't need to push themselves this much. We're only taking a strike team on this mission so there's no need for the Northern Parliament and the Iris Libre to join us."
James looked at the girls then asked "did Akashi equip you with our latest weapons?"
"Yes Commander," said Rossiya "and we've tested out the capabilities."
"Very well, they'll be coming with me," said James "but I also want Illustrious and Tirpitz as backup."
"Very well, I'll go contact them right away," said Yorktown and left.
"Thank you, Commander," said Richelieu, bowing to him followed by Rossiya also doing the same.
"You don't need to stand on such formalities with me," he said, gesturing for them to raise their heads "and besides, I want to a first-hand look at the group that made Omega's life hell."
"It was a team effort Commander," said Richelieu "our might, combined with Alec's intellect helped see us through many difficult moments."
"About that," said Alec, turning to James "you said you needed my help with something?"
"I'll tell you about it on the way to the comms room," he said then turned to Rossiya and Richelieu, "girls, I want you to choose two members from each faction to come with us. Have them assembled in the courtyard by the time I finish briefing Alec."
The two nodded and went in separate directions to carry out their task.
"As I said before, Bearn, Marblehead and Shangri La provided us information about these farms Omega set up during the initial stages of the war."
"We took that information and used it to scan the areas outside the immediate borders to see if anything cropped up and it did."
"That shouldn't be a surprise, Omega has plenty of them still operating around the planet," said Alec.
"The kicker here is that when we found this facility, we also found a small fleet headed there as well."
"How many?"
"Don't know, I need to ask California or Penny about the details, but safe to say there's at least ten or twelve of them."
"That doesn't make sense, from what I could tell, they only need three ships to transport the prisoners. Having a dozen seems… strange."
"Which is exactly why we're going there to see what they're up to," said James and opened the door to a room.
"Team, meet Alec," declared James "Alec meet our communications team. They'll be providing you with the information you need to make your plans. Also, I asked Bearn and Marblehead to work here for a little while, hope you don't mind."
Before Alec could say anything else, James darted out the door and headed back to the courtyard.
"Is the Commander always so free-wheeling?" asked Marblehead to Arizona, to which the latter only shrugged.
"Right introduction time," said Bearn, clearing her throat then looking at the four battleships in the room to introduce themselves.
"Heyo Alec, I'm California from the Eagle Union," said California "my favorite food is tamale, fish and…"
"Please save the unnecessary personal information till after the mission is complete," interjected her sister "I'm Tennessee, Cali's sister and I'm also from the Eagle Union."
"I'm Pennsylvania from the Eagle Union," said Pennsylvania with a light nod "Marblehead told us all about your plans and I'm eager to see what you can come up with in such a short time frame Alec."
"And I'm Arizona," said Arizona, sounding a little meek compared to her sister "I'm a battleship from the Eagle Union and Penny's sister."
"Hold on a second," said Alec "you're all from the Eagle Union?"
"Yes, when the Commander reunited the Eagle Union, we were working in the communications division," said Pennsylvania "of course, there are times when Arizona and I go out for missions. When that happens, we have replacements from the Sakura Empire, Iron Blood and Royal Navy ready to fill in the gaps."
Now outside, James was greeted by the fleet of Rossiya, Tashkent, Richelieu, Algerie, Bunker Hill, Bremerton, Illustrious and Tirpitz.
"Before we begin," he said addressing the six girls "did you get your upgraded weapons from Akashi?"
"Yes Commander," said Rossiya "but I must ask, are you sure its okay to spend so much capital just like that?"
"This is nothing," said Tirpitz "he upgraded the weapons for every member of the fleet during the second war."
"I can't ask you to give it your best when you're working with shoddy equipment," he added "trust me, this is nothing."
With that conversation done, Tirpitz formed her battleship and the team got on board it. Not a few minutes later and they were headed towards their destination.
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"The team should be arriving at the mission objective," said Tennessee.
Alec nodded to her and watched the visuals. The only way for him to get a good idea of what's going on was through the on-board cameras the team were equipped with. As much as Alec wanted to use the satellites to get a better image of the facility, there were too many risks involved.
Soon enough, the communications team saw the facility come into view as well as the numerous ships nearing it.
"Uh-oh,"
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"Not exactly the most encouraging words to hear Alec," said James as Tirpitz brought the ship to a halt.
"There's a hell of a lot of ships. I count three destroyers, two cruisers, one heavy cruisers, three battleships, two carriers and one flagship," said Alec "the team's more than capable of handling those ships. It's the flagship there that's got me worried."
"We never encountered one of those before," commented Illustrious.
"Consider yourself lucky," said Rossiya "that ship alone gave us more trouble than I want to admit."
"It is as dangerous as it looks," added Richelieu "those tentacles fire lasers in random directions, making it nearly impossible to find an opening."
"James, its too risky to take on that flagship with such small numbers. How about we…"
"We can take 'em," interrupted James, surprising Alec and nearly everyone else.
"Commander," said Tashkent "this isn't the time for throwing caution to the wind."
"Consider two important things here," said James "the first time you fought it you were using your basic equipment."
"I don't really think better weapons will make much a difference," said Bunker Hill.
"Hence the second point. We're not here to take out that ship. We're only here to figure out what the Sirens are up to and throw a wrench in the works."
"But we have no idea what they're doing," countered Alec.
"We do know that it's something important," said Alec.
"How do you mean?" asked Tirpitz.
"From the reports you girls gave, a typical transport should consist of a carrier and an escort group of three cruisers or destroyers. We're seeing trip that right now, which should tell you all you need to know."
"The Commander makes a valid argument," said Algerie "whatever's going on there must be something important."
"This could be our only chance to figure out what Omega's up to," added Illustrious "however, I don't want to commit if most of us are doubtful."
"James," said Alec "what's going on in your head right now? Do you want to attack them or figure out what they're planning?"
"We're not looking to thin the herd," he replied.
"Alright, I can work with that. Here's the plan: Richelieu, Rossiya and Bunker Hill: you three will stick to long range and engage the flagship. Do not try and take it down, instead divert it away from the facility. Meanwhile Tashkent, Algerie and Bremerton will focus on the escort ships with Illustrious and Tirpitz providing support. James, while all this is going on, you have to infiltrate the facility and find out what they're doing."
"If a flagship is here, there's every chance one of those three will also be present," commented Richelieu.
"Which means time is of the essence here James," said Alec "I'll give you ten minutes to get in and get the information. If you can't find anything within that time frame, you get out: no questions asked."
"Sounds like a plan to me," said James "alright team. Let's get started."
Nodding in agreement, they split up into their respective groups. James soon saw Rossiya and Richelieu's opening salvo, which was the signal to start the operation.
Wasting little time, he used his boots to gain some altitude and get closer to the base. As he neared, he saw the second group engaging the escort ships. With the ships fully distracted, he had the freedom to sneak in and get the data.
James landed near the entrance and went inside. It came as no surprise to him that his comm device started emitting static, indicative of the many signal jammers they must have inside the facility. As much as he wanted to turn off the jammers and have Alec try and guide him, time was running out. The girl's presence would undoubtedly force the Sirens to wrap up whatever they were doing here and he had to find out what that was.
Leaping from flights of stairs, sliding down poles and rounding corridors, the question kept repeating in his mind. Omega would not send a flagship to some base if it weren't for something important.
He soon came across a large door. Given how the door size seemed big enough for a Siren ship to pass through, he knew he was on the right track. James took out the sword and cut an opening for him to go through. Once inside, he understood why Omega sent a large Siren detachment.
"This is the second time we're meeting and I still don't even know your name," he said, addressing Alpha "that's really unfortunate don't you think?"
"I don't waste time introducing myself to people who are going to die," replied Alpha, while holding a container in her left hand.
"You know that's the same thing some of Omega's previous lackeys said to me," mused James, slowing closing the distance "and yet, here I am while the rest of them are worm food."
Alpha weighed the options in her mind. If he were here then that means he brought backup. Alpha wanted to beat him but past experience and his track record proves that was not a good idea.
Her objective was to recover the Black Box and that's it. She achieved that and now she had to get back to the base. All that mattered was getting the device back to Omega and away from her opponent.
Realizing this, Alpha pointed her right hand at James and fired an energy barrage. Immediately he used his boots to dash from side to side and avoid the attacks.
"Stand still and let me shoot you damn it," she barked.
To her surprise, James actually did as he was told. Rather than zipping about, he remained firm in a single position. Alpha took this opportunity to fire at him only to see him deflect every shot.
"You haven't seen fast till you've had to dodge Sandy's sparkling barrage for the twentieth time," commented James before dashing towards her.
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"Is it just me or did Omega beef up this thing's armor since last time?" asked Algerie swinging her mace and bashing away a few mechanical tentacles the flagship aimed at her. Unlike last time though, her did only did minimal damage to the armor.
"Stand back," warned Richelieu to Algerie. The girls moved aside and provided the Cardinal enough space to fire a barrage from her cannons. The saw the shots land on the ship and saw the damage was enough to tear through some of its armor.
"The new upgrades have significantly increased our attack power," mused Richelieu.
"Music to my ears," said Bunker Hill. She then let loose a stead stream of fighter jets and bombers which damaged much of the flagship's hull.
Meanwhile Tirpitz and Tashkent dashed from side to side, avoiding the machine guns firing at them from the cruisers and heavy cruisers. When close enough, Tashkent launched a few torpedoes while Tirpitz leapt up and over the target. While in the air, she fired a close-range barrage from her cannons, the force of which tore a hole through the target ship.
Tashkent noticed a destroyer aiming and about to fire at Tirpitz. Immediately, she leapt up and grabbed the Iron Blood leader before their enemy could attack.
Tirpitz nodded in thanks to her friend while Tashkent returned the gesture with a smile.
"What's going on over there?" asked Alec over the communicator "we're nearing the five-minute mark."
Before anyone could answer, they saw an explosion from the facility followed by two shapes shooting out of the fireball. They saw one shape fire while the other tried to get close. It looked like the first shape landed a strong blow on the second one as it started falling back down to the facility.
"Commander," shouted Bremerton "hold on I'll be right there to…"
"Stick to the mission Bremerton," interrupted James, recovering before he hit the ground "I've got this."
"He's right Bremerton," added Illustrious, coming to her "The Commander is capable of handling himself against a high-ranked Siren."
In the air, James tried to get close to Alpha, only for the latter to use every method possible to maintain their distance. Because James only had his two swords for combat, Alpha planned to use her long-range capabilities to their fullest and keep him at bay. The idea was that she would force him to make a desperate move, which she could then capitalize on.
It looked like her plan was about to yield fruit as she saw James suddenly charge forward, throwing caution to the wind. Alpha continued firing at him, fully intending to switch to her sword at the last second. What she did not imagine was James flying past her and suddenly rising up.
She turned around and was caught off guard by staring directly at the sun. James, who positioned himself between Alpha and the sun immediately descended on his opponent, crashing his left fist into her face and sending her spinning to the ground.
As he watched her descend, he noted how she did not let go of the case. This only served to validate his idea that Alpha had something important.
James flew down, trying to get the case before Alpha woke up. Unfortunately, the latter recovered and immediately fired at James. Rather than dodge, he increased his descent, resulting in him getting a few cuts and scrapes on his face and his shoulders.
Alpha momentarily turned around and saw that they were approaching the water's surface. She changed directions at the last minute but James was falling too fast to change his descent. Alpha watched as he hit the waters but did not lower her guard. She scanned the surface, searching and waiting for him to resurface. When he did, he would need to find where she was and Alpha could use that moment to finish him off.
What Alpha did not count on was that James positioned himself behind her and while she was searching for him, he was slowly moving into her blind spot. When close enough, James swung his sword, but was sent flying back by an unknown attack.
Surprised, Alpha turned around and saw a Siren jet hovering beside her. She looked in the direction the jet came from and saw multiple Siren ships entering the battlefield.
"We're out of time James," shouted Alec through the communicator. Meanwhile Tirpitz moved close enough then leapt up to catch James before he hit the water.
"The mission is over," he said "we can't stay here for longer."
"Whatever she's carrying is important," said James. "I'm not leaving without it."
Not saying another word, James activated his boots and flew towards Alpha. The others tried to stop him but they did not react fast enough.
"Damn it, what the hell is he doing?" shouted Alec "James, you can't take on a whole fleet by yourself."
James didn't respond. Instead, he drowned out all other voices and thoughts. He focused everything on the case Alpha was holding and made the decision to bring it back.
"This is bad," said Bunker Hill "should we provide support?"
"Illustrious, Tirpitz, Bunker Hill, Rossiya and Richelieu will provide long-range support. Nothing else," said Alec.
James saw a cruiser and destroyer moving to intercept him. He tried flying up but they quickly changed course and moved to block him. Wondering what to do next, he noticed multiple planes and bombers passing by him. The planes attacked the Siren ships, giving him the opening he needed.
Now was not the time to thank Illustrious and Bunker Hill. He needed to focus on the task at hand.
Alpha noticed James was coming towards her and tried to fly further away. James did not let up on his pursuit and chased her up and down the Siren reinforcements. The ships tried to attack James but the speed at which he was going and the long-range support made that a difficult task.
The pair landed on the deck of a battleship and James went on the offensive with a flying knee. Alpha bent down before the knee made contact, grabbed him by the foot and threw him into the air. James recovered and saw Alpha firing an energy barrage at him. While in the air, he ducked and weaved his way through the barrage.
When he landed on the ground, he moved from left to right and used his boots to give him added speed and maneuverability. At the right distance, he swung his sword at Alpha only to have the latter deflect his strike with her swords. The force of her counter sent James' blade spinning up.
Alpha saw the opening and attacked with two downward strikes. At the last second, James managed to move back just enough that the sword only landed superficial cuts on his skin. In the time it took for Alpha to realize what he did, James used his boots to propel his body forward and crash his knee into her face.
Alpha staggered back, momentarily letting go of the case. Seizing the opportunity, he grabbed the case then leapt up to get his sword. James gave Alpha a devious smile before flying away.
"Tirpitz, Rossiya, Richelieu, do you have my location?" he asked.
"Yes," replied all three.
"Good. I want you to fire on my position, now."
"WHAT?" shouted Richelieu and Rossiya
"Commander you can't be serious," protested Richelieu
"That's an absurd request to make," added Rossiya.
The two turned to their left and were surprised to see Tirpitz taking aim and getting ready.
"You must be joking here Tirpitz," protested Rossiya "you could hit him".
"That won't happen," replied Tirpitz in a casual tone.
"The Commander is known for taking 'calculated risks'," elaborated Illustrious "he knows what he's doing, be sure of that."
"Hey, where's my barrage?" asked James.
Sighing in defeat, the pair did as Tirpitz did and aimed at the required location. All at once, the trio attacked with a concentrated shelling, igniting the Siren runway and sending the ship crashing into the ocean.
While Tirpitz and Illustrious remained calm, the rest of the group scanned the surroundings, wondering where their leader was. Rossiya and Richelieu in particular were worried that one of their attacks may have hit him.
They were soon relieved when they saw James flying towards them, still holding onto the case.
"Alright team, let's head back home."
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It didn't take long for the team to reach the base. When they arrived, James passed the case to Akashi, who took it to the research lab right away. While he was checking on Illustrious and Tirpitz, Alec took the opportunity to speak to the others.
"How are you feeling?" he asked "is the new equipment causing any trouble?"
"Quite the opposite actually," said Algerie, playfully swinging her mace "these improved weapons make me feel like I could take on half a fleet single-handedly."
"And what was it like working with James?" he asked.
"In a word: worrying," replied Rossiya "Sirens are technologically and physically superior to the human race. It makes sense to run away from them for fear of death."
"But instead, we have someone charging towards them," continued Richelieu "at first, I was worried that he was in over his head, but then, after seeing him face Alpha…"
Alec was about to say something when James entered the room and spoke "well that was an interesting mission. It's easy to see why you girls caused Omega so much trouble."
"I hope I wasn't too much trouble to work with," he added.
"Aside from that last minute attack," said Richelieu "I have no complaints."
"James, I need to speak to you," said Alec, looking serious.
Sensing the mood becoming tense, the girls all got up and left the room.
"What the hell was wrong with you back then?" asked Alec, trying not to raise his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"I clearly told you we had a limited time to conduct the operation. When we reached that limit, you were supposed to take the team and leave. Instead you keep attacking and then haven them attack you."
"Did you even consider that you might have gotten hurt or worse? What would you have done if one of them got hurt?"
"I won't deny your combat skills and prowess and after today, I can see why Omega hates you so much. But that doesn't give you the right to charge into the enemy like some goddamn anime protagonist."
It took a moment for Alec to realize what he just said. When he did, his eyes widened and he mentally prepared himself for the verbal beating he was about to get. To his surprise though, James remained calm.
"You know, when I first joined the army, the first thing they taught us was that our lives were worthless," said James "from day one, what we wanted did not matter. All that mattered was the cause. We were to devote our very lives to the cause and if that meant getting hurt, shot or killed, then that was the price we paid."
"I carried that mindset with me during the second war. To me, all that mattered was defeating Omega. I didn't care that I got hurt or injured, I was fine with losing an arm, leg, eye or any other body part. I was ready to give my all to the cause of ending the war."
"I never once considered that I'd be hurting everyone around me with that kind of thinking. For a long time I always thought that it'd be okay for me to die. I was an outsider to these girls and they wouldn't mourn the loss of someone like me."
"But I later realized how stupid I was in thinking that way."
"I can't continue being the lone-wolf one-man army I used to be. It'd only cause trouble to everyone here. And if I had enough time, I would change my mindset. The only problem is that fate rarely gives us the time to do what we want."
"No sooner did I start taking steps to change my behavior did we get word about Omega's attack. That's why I need you here. There has to be someone who can reign me in at the right time and keep me from doing something stupid or doing something that endangers the others."
"Why not ask the others to do that?" asked Alec "hell, why not ask Akagi or your maid?"
"None of them would dare," he replied "the respect me too much to try and call me out. Even Akagi and Belfast aren't fully able to put me in my place."
"Doesn't that make me a babysitter?"
"In a way, yes, but you'll also be developing the strategies and plans we'll be using in our inevitable fights."
Alec thought for a moment, weighed his options then extended his hand out.
"Looks like you got yourself a strategist James," he said.