Yorktown pulled her vessel into the berth next to Gneisenau. A quick glance to her left and she saw one of Gneisenau's front guns still smoking from firing at her, or so she rapidly deduced.
"Get the wounded ashore. We can focus on disembarking afterwards." Yorktown spoke as the soldiers she had been keeping company all nodded and went to work.
Just as the last one was about to turn for the superstructure, Brooklyn jumped onto the flight deck, holding onto Cole, who she had dragged along with her. The soldiers saw this and spotted the insignia on Cole's uniform.
"Sergent on deck!" The soldier yelled. Almost immediately, all of the soldiers pulled an about face-to-face Cole and rendered a salute.
Cole, clearly flustered after being dragged across the harbor, waved them down.
"As you were." Cole ordered, allowing the men to continue their tasks given by Yorktown.
Yorktown, unsurprisingly, was nearly tackled by Brooklyn who had come specifically to see her old friend, or so she assumed.
"Yorktown!" Brooklyn cried as she ran towards the weathered carrier.
"Brooklyn. It's nice to see you here." Yorktown spoke as she accepted the embrace of the overjoyed light cruiser.
With those words, Brooklyn pulled away and studied the carrier before her.
"You're not our Yorktown… are you?" Brooklyn asked.
"What gave it away?" Yorktown asked with a soft smile.
"Besides the Mirror Sea and the new hull… you feel… tone. Your muscles are firm, that doesn't come from laying around in a bed for three years." Brooklyn spoke, her memories from her trips back to the union proving useful here.
"You are correct." Yorktown spoke as she activated her rigging to show off the swords slung under her flight deck, along with the permanent carbon scoring that traversed her rigging as a whole.
"I am a Yorktown from a different time. A different place. A different world. One where it wasn't me who was sunk at Midway… But Enterprise and Hornet. One where I carried the Union air fleet until the arrival of the Essex Class. One… where I killed four of the six fleet carriers of Japan that attacked Pearl Harbor." Yorktown elaborated.
"Four?!" Brooklyn asked.
"Zuikaku. Shoukaku. Akagi. Kaga. Those four met their end by my hand where I came from. As revenge for the killing of my sweet baby sisters." Yorktown spoke.
Brooklyn scratched her head.
"Reports from the Commander say that Enterprise is with him… why didn't you go there?" Brooklyn asked.
Yorktown frowned.
"I cannot bring myself to see her yet. That's the case even more now since I am the only Yorktown that lives in this world." Yorktown explained.
"What?" Brooklyn asked, as if she didn't understand what Yorktown had just said.
Yorktown knew she was the only one who knew.
"This world's Yorktown died in my arms… the facility where she was being cared for came under attack from Empress's elite forces. She fought valiantly, showed more strength in that moment than what she was capable of back at Midway. She was fighting for the life of someone she had feelings for. Protecting them. I was just too late to intervene. I couldn't cut them down quick enough to get to her." Yorktown lamented as Brooklyn fell to her knees.
Yorktown knelt down and placed a hand on Brooklyn's shoulder.
"She went without pain, and her cubes live on inside me…" Yorktown started.
"Her cubes? We could have revived her!" Brooklyn cried.
Yorktown shook her head.
"The fact that she had her physical body after Midway was a miracle. Her cubes were damaged after she was sunk so violently. The damage sustained in the fight for the medical facility made her cubes nothing more than memory banks. She would never have had a physical form again. This was the best course of action… I assure you." Yorktown spoke.
Brooklyn lowered her gaze to the deck and cried more as Cole came over to comfort her.
"That said… I am here to help. These men tell me that this is a safe place. So, consider me a part of this fleet." Yorktown spoke as Cole looked up at her and nodded.
"It is a pleasure to meet a naval legend such as yourself. Cole Spirits, Sergeant of the Union Army's 82nd airborne division." Cole spoke as he extended a hand.
Yorktown took it softly in her hand and shook it.
"The pleasure is all mine, Soldier. I look forward to working alongside you and this fleet." Yorktown spoke.
A few moments later, the rest of the Kansen stationed in Gibraltar made their way onto Yorktown's flight deck to inspect the vessel.
Yorktown immediately locked eyes with Gneisenau.
"You." Yorktown spoke as she glared at the German battleship.
"Me?" Gneisenau asked, unwilling to back down from the strange carrier she had fired upon earlier.
"You might want to learn to identify your target before firing your guns. Had Abruzzi here not answered my hails, you would be sitting deep in this harbor, thanks to that still smoking gun of yours." Yorktown deadpanned.
"You want to repeat that?" Gneisenau asked, her tone indicating agitation
Yorktown replied by allowing several sky pirates to appear on the end of her flight deck, armed to the teeth with bombs.
"I've killed Foxes and Cranes. Fought destroyers in the night. A single German battleship will not dampen my spirit. Much less one that isn't of the same caliber as the legendary Bismarck." Yorktown spoke, her causal and soft tone made the sting of her words cut deeper.
"Yorktown. Please. We're all on the same side here. Gneisenau just has some leftover demons from the war. I assure you she's working them out." Z2 spoke as she walked to the Essex Class warrior.
"She had better. Much unlike this world's Yorktown, I do not take aggression lightly. Especially when this world isn't mine to begin with." Yorktown elaborated as her planes vanished.
"Now. Gneisenau, apologize." Z2 spoke.
"What for?" Gneisenau snapped.
"Shooting me for starters." Yorktown spoke.
The continued conversation was stopped short by Vittorio clearing her throat.
"This is a most fortunate development. The legendary Yorktown class flagship. Yorktown herself." Vittorio spoke.
Yorktown looked at the Italian battleship.
"The Eternal Flagship. Vittorio Veneto." Yorktown replied.
"You know of me?" Vittorio asked.
"I know of all of you. I come from a world very similar to this one, well… with one major difference." Yorktown said.
"How so?" Vittorio asked.
"The man known as Isaac Garner died in my world. Leading to a very different series of events after Australia." Yorktown spoke vaguely.
A collective shrug from everyone present made it clear that nobody wanted to pry too much further.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Yorktown, legendary sister of the one known as Enterprise." Vittorio spoke.
Yorktown looked at the elegant battleship.
"I'll hear it." Yorktown spoke.
"We have a small group of girls willing to travel to Germany to retrieve blueprints for the Comandante. Thing is, the area is controlled by Observer Alpha. Sources also say that Purifier in the area. Our little fleet has no air cover." Vittorio hinted.
"So you want me to go north to Germany with them to provide air cover?" Yorktown asked.
"Yes." Vittorio spoke bluntly.
"Allow me to keep someone here under medical care and you have a deal." Yorktown spoke.
"If that is your only stipulation, then we will make sure this person is under our best care." Vittorio replied.
"Good. He took a plasma bolt to the chest… Yorktown… this world's Yorktown… gave her life to heal him, at cost to herself. He has a massive burn on his chest since her power could not fully heal him. His name is Corporal Timothy Barnes. He should be unconscious due to the nurses putting him under. I am taking him to be my husband, as per the last wishes of this world's Yorktown." Yorktown explained.
"But why are you marrying him if you have no feelings for him?" Z2 asked innocently.
"I personally don't. But using her memories, I see that he is someone I can find myself falling in love with. I will simply go along with it until it comes around naturally. It might seem cold… but it is all I can do to honor her wishes." Yorktown explained.
Z2 shrugged.
"If that's how you want to do it… who am I to judge?" Z2 asked as Yorktown looked at Vittorio.
"We have a deal?" Yorktown asked.
"He will be kept stable by the best doctors and nurses we have on base. I only ask that you assist the assault team." Vittorio asked.
"So be it. When do we depart?" Yorktown asked.
"Follow us. We were briefing the mission when you arrived. I have the plans laid out in the common meeting area." Vittorio spoke. Yorktown nodded and followed the large procession of Kansen and solders as they went to return to their mission briefing.
"Dear Husband. The battle is over. The last of the suicide boats have been sunk. Stefan's men are rounding up the last of the Wolfpacks in the region for termination. We have won." Friedrich spoke as Isaac stood on the deck of the Norfolk, holding his helmet to his side.
"We did win… didn't we?" Isaac asked as he looked towards the beach where the casualties and dead were being gathered.
"We did. We are at war, my love. War brings these things. We have freed these people from the shackles of Siren imprisonment." Friedrich reiterated as Ben, Wilhelm and Michael all made their presence known, accompanied by a bevy of Kansen.
"You three performed admirably. I can find no true fault with your performance in this battle. I expect this in every battle from here forward." Isaac said, earning a nod from the three men. Isaac then turned to the Kansen.
Before him stood several girls. Bismarck and Tirpitz flanking Wilhelm. Kashino, Gangut, and California surrounding Ben. And Amagi and Eugen flaking Michael.
"I see. We have all fought hard during this last invasion. I suppose we have all earned a little R+R. Eugen you stay behind. The rest of you go and enjoy yourselves. Don't break my men." Isaac said jokingly.
The girls present all blushed aside from Amagi, who smiled softly.
With his peace said, the girls all turned to their male counterparts and left the deck of the Norfolk. As ordered, Eugen stayed behind.
"Did I do something wrong, Kommandant?" Eugen asked.
"You did. And you know what you did." Isaac spoke, his tone one of disappointment.
Eugen looked to the deck, dejected.
"I know… But…"
"I get it, alright?" Isaac interrupted.
Eugen looked at him.
"I get wanting to make them suffer. I get wanting to hurt them in every way imaginable… but take it from someone who has gone that far… If you do that, no matter how much they hurt you… you will be the one to suffer. I will allow you to go and be with Michael. But you are barred from the alcohol stores of the fleet until further notice. You are also to report to Bremerton or myself when you start feeling like you did back there. I made that mistake… of taking things too far. I'm still working on trying to forgive myself for it, not that I think I'll be able to. I don't want you to make the same mistake. If you have any objections to this, speak now." Isaac spoke in a firm but understanding tone.
Eugen let a sniffle escape before wiping her eyes and shaking her head.
"I have no quarrel with this, Kommandant… I… Thank you for your leniency." Eugen spoke softly.
Eugen's surprise was made visible when she received a hug from Isaac.
"I'm glad you're alright. You're not alone anymore." Isaac whispered before releasing her.
"You are to report to wherever Michael is for some much needed R+R. You're dismissed." Isaac said as Eugen nodded and made herself scarce.
"Dear Husband. Musashi and several of the other girls are awaiting you below deck in the medical bay. Shall we be off?" Friedrich asked as Isaac laid a kiss on her cheek.
"Yeah. Let's get going. We can worry about our next steps when everyone is ready to go again." Isaac said as Friedrich smiled and began leading him below the main deck of the Norfolk.