Isaac returned to his quarters after he parted ways with the girls. He closed the door and made sure it was shut tight.
"I really should address this... I am the commander after all." Isaac spoke to the empty room.
He undressed down to his shorts and climbed into bed. His stomach full from dinner.
"We leave tomorrow. Fiji is our next stop if needed. After that... we're gonna be clawing our way all the way to Davao." Isaac said to himself.
× September 5th, 1945. We stumbled upon a wrecked smuggling vessel. After a quick investigation, we seized weapons, ammunition, and blueprints. The captian was not happy. I tried negotiating but he wasn't being amicable. He then threatened my fleet. My girls. And I responded the only way one could. I met Eli. We learned of the identities of our immediate enemies. Now we leave for Fiji. May god continue to watch over us. × Isaac wrote before shutting off the lights and heading to bed.
The next morning came. Isaac was up early due to the sound of his door creaking open and shut to the motion if the waves.
"What the hell? I know damn well that I shut the door." Isaac thought to himself as he pushed himself to stand. He quickly got dressed and went up the the bridge. Eagle was waiting with a cup of tea for him.
"Good morning, commander. Did you sleep well?" Eagle asked.
"I did. You wouldnt happen to know why my door was open this morning, would you?" Isaac asked.
"That was my bad. I knocked for a few minutes to see if you were awake to issue our departure orders. When you didnt respond, I opened the door to check and see if you were okay. I thought i had relatched the door but i must have turned the handle a bit too soon." Eagle explained.
"I see. Well it was the sound of the door creaking that awoke me. Have we embarked then?" Isaac asked.
"Yes. I assumed command to issue the orders then told the girls to stand by for your orders when you finally woke up." Eagle said.
"Ah. Well then, thank you. I appreciate your concern." Isaac said as he picked up the reciever.
"Fleet check, call out." Isaac spoke.
"Hai!" Akashi called.
"Here, Kommandant." Nimi called.
"Morning, Isaac." A sleepy Eldridge called.
"Commander." Rodney called.
"Alright. Set our heading 30 degrees left of north. We're headed to Fiji." Isaac said as the fleet adjusted course.
Back at Azur Lane, Omaha and I-13 were patrolling the waters surrounding the island.
"Oh my god. This is so boring! Why did Commander have to leave me behind?" Omaha asked, clearly still upset days later.
"Because. He understands that you have a decent array of weapons, and trusts that you can defeat any aggressors." I-13 responded as she rose to the surface.
"I get that, but still. From what he told us, the drone ships don't come out this way." Omaha complained.
"Hey! I'd rather be out there too, sinking drone ships and helping liberate the Philippines. A lot of my friends went down in the Philippines and areas surrounding so I'd love to be there, paying homage. Don't you dare complain about port duty." I-13 huffed angrily.
"Alright. Alright. No need to burst a ballast tank. Besides, I think today just got a bit more interesting." Omaha said as she went to man her radar station.
"Why's that? Sonar isnt picking up anything, and my radar isnt the best." I-13 spoke.
"We have a solo blip. Looks like it's floating and moving solely with the waves. Maybe it lost power?" Omaha asked.
"Let's go investigate." I-13 said as her hanger tube opened and she launched a catapault fighter.
"Give your plane a chance to scout it out first." Omaha spoke as she confirmed launch on her radar.
"I'm going to try and hail them once you get visual." Omaha said, earning a nod from I-13.
"Aircraft confirms a cargo vessel. They're armed... and aircraft lost." I-13 pouted.
"Unidentified Cargo Vessel. This is Omaha, acting under orders from Commander Isaac Garner. Silence your guns and prepare to be intercepted. Any further hostile actions will be met with dire consequences." Omaha barked into the radio.
A language that Omaha couldnt understand came through the radio.
"Huh? I cannot understand you. Can you repeat?" Omaha asked.
Omaha couldnt make out much but the words surrender and help rang clear.
"I-13. We're engaging in a resuce operation. I'm going to approach, stay hidden in case they make a move. If they try to attack, sink them." Omaha said as she took the helm of her ship.
"Understood." I-13 said as she sunk beneath the waves and followed Omaha from a distance.
As Omaha approached, she could see the cargo vessel had risen a white flag, but had caught a glimpse of a red white and blue striped flag.
"The french flag? Iris or Vichya?" Omaha wondered.
Omaha spoted several men waving from the main deck. She stepped out from the bridge and stood with her rigging equipped.
"Is there anyone who can speak english?" Omaha yelled as she pulled the Omaha next to the cargo ship.
The men looked at each other and pointed to a scrappy boy who was cleaning the deck.
"Let me speak to him." Omaha said as the men pushed the boy forward.
"Hello." Omaha said.
"H-hello." The boy spoke with a heavy french accent.
"Good. You can speak english. Now, bring me whoever is in command. You'll translate." Omaha spoke.
"Oh... Okay." The boy said as he ran for the bridge of the cargo ship. Several minutes passed before a burly man in a trenchcoat and captians hat came out with the boy.
The boy translated as the captain talked.
"Who are you and where did you come from?" The captain asked.
"I am Omaha. Union Light Cruiser. I come from the Azur Lane facility." Omaha replied.
"You're Azur Lane? Where is your commander?" The captain asked.
"He is currently on a mission to free the Philippines." Omaha replied, keeping details quiet.
"Oh no..." The captain lamented.
"What? Tell me what you know!" Omaha yelled.
"Super strong woman with white hair and yellow eyes. She sank all of our manned escort ships. We only just escaped by feigning that we were incapacitated." The captain said.
"Sirens... the commander is too far away for me to catch up in time. Wait a minute. You feigned incapacitation to escape?" Omaha asked.
"Yes. She told us that since we threw down our arms, she would spare us since the sea would swallow us anyway. She said we werent worth the energy to kill if we didnt fight back." The captain said.
"I see. That may be important. Anyway, please continue." Omaha said.
"All that said, we ran out of fuel a week ago. We only happened to drift here by chance. We had recieved a map from one of the naval command offices. They told us to try and get to these coordinates by any means. They said to give these to the commander of Azur Lane. I believe you can be an acceptable replacement." The captain said as he handed Omaha 2 boxes. One was heavier than the other.
"One is from our port in Italy, where we left from. We traveled through the Suez and the red sea to get out to the Indian Ocean. The other came from a port we visited for fuel in Australia. Our path here from Australia was easy, so I'm assuming your commander is clearing the seas as he goes." The captain spoke as Omaha opened the two boxes.
"Wisdom cubes?" Omaha asked.
"Yes. We were told that after we left the red sea, we had to reach the Azur Lane Facility. Our naval command has gifted the two cubes from the one box. We stopped at a remote port in Australia after our run in with the siren... one of the ABDA sailors gave us the other box with an Iris flag draped over it. One of ours as well." The captain spoke sadly.
"I see. I am sorry for your misfortune. Well, anyway, I'm taking you in. You need shelter and we need extra hands to maintain the island. So we will keep you there until the commander returns. In return, We will refuel your vessel and provide protection for you and your crew." Omaha spoke.
"I hope we can get along. We can understand you, but you need Franz here to understand us." The capatin replied.
"Well, as soon as we can get these two ships revived, it will be a lot easier." Omaha said.
"Aye." The captain said as the I-13 rose from the depths next to the Omaha.
"Submarine?!" The captain exclaimed.
"Calm yourself. She's just a bit upset you shot down her aircraft. She wont hurt you." Omaha said.
"Omaha, we should be returning to base. Long range sonar is picking up three blips passing on a patrol route." I-13 said.
"Understood. Let's get back to base." Omaha spoke as she helped the men attach a towing line.
Omaha towed the ship quickly back to the island and pulled them into port.
Omaha jumped from her ship and allowed I-13 to help tie their ship to the docks. Omaha headed for the lab with cubes in hand. She placed one box on the computer and placed the two cubes on the pad while keeping the last one in the box.
"Four hours, huh? Must be a battleship then. If Rodney was any example." Omaha said as she pushed the start button.