Astrum Chapter 8, an azur lane/碧蓝航线 fanfic

Nine tenths of the law

Standing on the docks, I watch as sea cans are unloaded off of the hull of Drake, my nose between my hands, the tips of my fingers touching. The crest of the Sakura Empire embossed and painted white against the red corrugated metal of the containers, showing brightly, signaling a possible problem. Looking to my right I see her standing there, hands on her hips, chest puffed out, long silver ponytail flowing in the light breeze, "A mighty pr…" she started as I moved a hand to stop her, just my index finger pointed skyward.

I take a second to collect my thoughts, "Don't tell me, if I don't know, I don't have to act. But, and I can't believe I have to say this, we do not raid ships of nations we are not at war with, anymore."

"I didn't raid anyone. They saw me and kindly donated it by dropping them over the side of the ship." Drake tells me while adjusting her pistol and saber belt.

"Did you or didn't you have your main battery pointed at them?" I ask, when she goes to open her mouth I shake my head and hold up my hand as I say, "On second thought, don't answer, if I don't know, then I can say that as far as I know, you didn't have your weapons pointed at them."

I don't even have to look at Drake to know she's fidgeting, the simple sound of shuffling feet tells me she is, then she mumbles, "I'll just go then."

Closing my eyes and sighing, "That is probably for the best at the moment."

When the last container hit the dock, I motioned with a hand for the manjuu to open them up, might as well see what is in these shipping containers that I officially do not have in my possession. The first of the manjuu approached with what looked like a cutting torch, behind it, several others carried a couple of bottles of oxy and acetylene, with the last one carrying what looked like a sparker.

Looking down to my left just as they started setting up to cut and I ask, "What about the saf…." Whatever else I was going to say, died on my lips. There was a chirp of surprise, a chirp of alarm, and then a flaming chicken running and jumping off of the docks.

A few moments later, another manjuu picked up the torch and started cutting through the chains keeping the containers locked. A few heartbeats later and they were through the chains, in teams of three, they lifted the pins and pulled the double doors open. Crossing my fingers I really want whatever is in there to not be branded with the logo of the Sakura Empire, the containers can be disposed of in the ocean easily enough. With bated breath I waited, my heart pounding in my ears, then the dread hit me as I saw the tip of a large red scabbard. One of the manjuu was carrying it out, and it just seemed to keep coming, going by the shape I knew it was one of those swords the Sakura Empire likes with the curve, made all the more amusing by a manjuu hanging from it in the center. When it finally came out of the container this weapon was easily ten feet long, golden diamond shapes were spaced along the length of the scabbard in an even distribution, and the guard was made of some kind of red metal with a black leather bound handle, lifting my hands back to either side of my nose I groaned, "Someone is going to be missing that."

In the second container, just one manjuu came back out of it, some kind of booklet in their wings. They came over and dropped at my feet, I couldn't read the script that was on it, but the picture told me everything, it was some kind of spa with rocks and a deck, kind of like one of those hot springs I know they've got in the Sakura Empire, tilting my head to the side I sigh, "Well, this one is easier to deal with."

Picking up the book and flipping through it I ask, "Can you build this?"

Looking over the top of the book, the manjuu at my feet snaps to attention, saluting me. Looking back at the book I shrug and hand it to the manjuu and tell it, "Then built it in my backyard. I've got a bigger problem to deal with." Turning my attention to the giant sword, I went back to holding both sides of my nose; I had no idea what to do with this.

XXXX

I'm snapped awake as the radio of my transport plane crackles to life, I was back over international waters having just returned that sword to the Sakura Empire, I did not want the damn thing hanging around my base, it was just asking for trouble. Rubbing my eye and trying to focus on the sky ahead of me just as I hear an angry woman speak with a heavy Sakura Empire accent, "Divine retribution befalls you!"

Leaning so I can try and see behind the plane from the cockpit, all I can see is a big radial engine in the way, reaching across the instrument panel for the radio. Before I can reach it, I see an indicator start to flash red. Turning my attention to it, I feel the plane start to shudder, just before there is an explosion and my bird starts to dip to starboard. Looking at my displays I see the fuel located in my starboard wing is draining at an excessive rate and the R.P.M. on the outer starboard engine is at zero. Fighting with the yoke to get this bird to level out, I feel through the yoke another hit, this time on my port side, looking out the window, I see my inner port engine is on fire, with a sizeable chunk out of the engine. Dancing my hand quickly, turning on the fire extinguisher, and setting the prop to just rotate with the wind, I gulp, this isn't looking good.

Grabbing the radio I call out over open airways, "Wyvern heavy two-one, I am under attack. Repeat wyvern heavy two-one, I am under attack, approximately one-one-point-three-six by one-six-six-point-seven-eight. I require assistance, two engines are out."

My bird drops again, pulling back on the yoke; I find the elevators are sluggish bordering on non-responsive.

This is bad.

Looking up just as a green plane zips past, I can see it's a single-engine monoplane in dark green with a white belly and a great big red circle on the fuselage, it turns knife edge to me to start coming around. When it levels out, facing me, I undo my straps and dive out of my chair, right as four flashes come from the wings of this plane. Rounds pass through my cockpit, punching through the bulkhead and exploding within the vast empty cavern that was the cargo area. Tearing a great rent in the airframe, the wind whistling and I know I need to bail.

Pushing myself off the deck, I dash into the cargo area, finding a parachute; I start getting it on as I curse myself, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Getting to the door and opening it up, I look towards the aft of the plane, seeing that the horizontal stabilizers are missing, well that explains the lack of response from the elevators. Pushing myself back inside the airframe, I grab one of the raft kits and put on a self-inflating life jacket, just as that green plane comes back around, more fire being breathed from the wings. I watch in horror as the port wing bursts into flames, the outer section of it coming free by the outermost engine.

It's now or never it seems.

Backing up just a little more, I run towards the open door and dive through it, just missing being clipped by the vertical stabilizer as the bird starts to roll and fall towards the ocean below. Pulling the cord on my parachute, my descent starts to slow and I watch the bird continue its dive towards the ocean, black and white smoke along with fire licking away at her and I groan, "No good deed."

The roar of a radial engine makes me look around and I see that dark green airframe angling towards me, swallowing hard, I worry I'm going to eat cannon fire, or worse, that's a pretty big prop. My breathing starts to pick up, that plane is getting close and closer, but it's holding its fire.

It's going to ram me!

Bracing for what is going to be a quick, violent, gory, and very painful death, I'm determined to at least meet this head on and I start to yell at the oncoming plane.

The sudden barking of machine gun fire takes me by surprise, it also seems to take the green plane off guard as rounds rip through it from below, sheering it in half. The green death pitches up, the engine pulling it in that direction while the tail section slowly starts to tumble away, vanishing in a flash of blue cubes. While I'm trying to process what just happened, I see the belly of my dark blue savior, the bend of the wings, and the great big blue and white circles filling me with relief. The dark blue bird circles around me watching over my descent as I make a soft landing in the water, my life jacket inflating as soon as it made contact with seawater. Tossing the life raft away from me it inflates in short order, allowing me to climb into it and be out of the water, ditching my parachute in the ocean and activating my rescue beacon, I look up and see my dark blue guardian keeping watch overhead, just in case that green one returns.

XXXX

The next morning I'm halfway through my ration pack, when I pick up the sound of something moving quickly over the water, looking up, my protector is still there, doing hot laps. Looking at where the sound is coming from, I see a well-endowed woman in white, a floating ribbon behind her, with one hand she's holding her hat on her head. When she sees me looking at her, she lets go of her hat to wave, causing it to blow off of her head. But all she does is shift her weight from one foot to the next until she comes to a stop in front of my raft. Her blue eyes feel so warm, just like her smile, "It would seem, Merlin, I was able to give you a soft landing this time."

XXXX