"Why did you not contact me?" Lizzy asked the moment Isaac entered the bridge.
"I'm sorry?" Isaac asked.
"Benson and Akashi both reported seeing a rather mysterious woman enter this ship. They described her to me. You didn't call for aid even when one of the four Arbiters was here. I really ought to slap you for your idiocy, Isaac." Lizzy said with a small huff.
"I didn't call for help, because she wasn't here to fight… oddly enough. If I had called for help, she probably would have ended us all in an instant." Isaac explained.
Lizzy sighed and looked at him.
"Do you always find a way to weasel your way into people's hearts?" Lizzy asked with a soft smile and a hand on her hip.
"She wanted to know what happened to Zero's cubes, which we used to awaken Iowa. She seemed… relieved that the cubes didn't go to waste, according to Iowa's testimony." Isaac added.
"I see. She's definitely acting more like her usual self then, not like that's any better…" Lizzy muttered.
"What do you mean?" Isaac asked.
"In the final days before my world managed to push the Sirens out, she became violent. As if she was losing something dear to her. Every battle we had with her in it saw thousands of lives ended and tens of ships sent to the bottom of the sea. So I guess it is some comfort to know that despite her learning that you exist here, she was not in the mood for eliminating you. I don't think I'd be able to take losing you again, my king." Lizzy said as she pushed Isaac to the chair on the bridge and made herself at home in his lap, facing him so that she could look into his eyes.
"Lizzy… this…"
"Shut it. I will hear no excuses from you. I was taken from my world by the technology left by the Sirens. I chose to stay in this world for only one reason. You are that reason, Isaac Garner. So… even if this old battered queen has to throw her flag to the wind, and forsake the good of her own country to keep you safe, I will. Because I refuse to lose you again." Lizzy said as she laid a tender kiss on Isaac's exposed neck.
A pinch to her side brought a squeal to Isaac's ears.
"Ow… what was that for?!" Lizzy cried as she rubbed her side.
"You don't look hardly a day older than the last time I saw you, Lizzy. You aren't old." Isaac corrected her.
Lizzy sat shook for a moment before throwing her head back and laughing.
"I have eighty years on you, in case you have forgotten." Lizzy shot back.
"Those eighty years don't matter when you still look like you're twenty-something." Isaac retorted.
Lizzy looked him in the eye before moving close to his ear.
"You are going to regret saying that, Isaac." Lizzy whispered in his ear before getting off of him and heading to the front of the bridge.
"Maybe… wait, what's that?" Isaac asked as he stood to follow her, only to see thick plumes of smoke on the horizon.
"Fires. Oil fire by the looks of it. Iowa and the others mentioned an attack on the fleet during our absence." Lizzy spoke as she took a hard look at the smoke.
Isaac donned his helmet. Tapping the sides, he reached out to the whole of his fleet, now that he was almost certainly in range.
"Girls! Talk to me! Anyone out there?" Isaac spoke.
A few moments of silence before Isaac realized that he had to order Norfolk to speak to him.
"As of this moment, Lieutenant Commander Perkins's command is transferred back to myself. I order anyone still alive to answer me." Isaac spoke in a more formal tone.
"It is… good to hear your voice, dear husband." Friedrich spoke.
"Friedrich, you sound awful… what happened here?" Isaac asked, knowing full well the events that transpired.
"We battleships did our job, dear husband… some of us… paid more than others though." Friedrich spoke before Isaac could hear groaning on the other end.
Isaac slammed a fist on the window of the bridge before switching to Iowa's radio.
"Iowa, pour every ounce of steam you got into getting us back to the fleet. Things are worse than I imagined." Isaac said as he felt the hull of the Iowa lurch again. Isaac could hear the armor plates of her hull straining.
"If there are damages, you will be at the top of the list to get it repaired, I promise." Isaac said.
"No need. The fleet comes first, Admiral." Iowa spoke as she walked up next to him and Lizzy.
"I can hear the armor straining, you tell me if we need to slow it down. I'll swim if I have to." Isaac spoke bluntly.
"The hull will hold." Iowa repeated.
"New Jersey managed thirty-five point two knots in 1968. Although… I feel like you shattered her record, Iowa." Lizzy thought to herself as the fleet rapidly came into view. Sure enough, the guns of the fleet were still firing on what few drones remained from the assault.
"Iowa, target the remaining drones and sink them." Isaac ordered.
"As ordered, Admiral." Iowa spoke as she closed her eyes.
Out in front of the bridge, the two massive turrets turned slightly to the left and the guns elevated to nearly their maximum elevation.
"Targets acquired… firing." Iowa whispered as six earth shattering sounds exploded from the barrels of Iowa's cannons. Isaac then switched his radio to Akashi.
"Akashi." Isaac asked.
"Hai?" Akashi asked innocently.
"How is I-19?" Isaac asked.
"Stable,nyaa." Akashi reported.
"Can she sail under her own power?" Isaac asked.
"Hai. I-19 is awake again, a bit dazed, nyaa, but otherwise fine." Akashi spoke.
"Good, get her untied from your hull and get in there. We have ships in desperate need of attention and I'm sure Vestal is swamped with the girls she is already looking after. Find Enterprise as well. We're going to need more bulins to help with the workload. Enterprise has something called a Nuclear Reactor onboard to produce electricity. Attach cables from that reactor to the Matrix and get us some more Bulins, please." Isaac ordered kindly.
"Hai! Akashi will get right on it, Shikikan." Akashi replied as Isaac watched a head of green hair scurry around the deck of the repair ship and cut the lines holding the I-19 to the Akashi.
"Akashi said I should report to you, Shikikan." I-19 spoke tiredly.
"How are you feeling?" Isaac asked.
"Tired… but proud. I killed that bitch all on my own." I-19 spoke vulgarly.
"Good woman. I'll be sure to commend you once things calm down. For now though, There are three Ironblood submarines, I-13, K-9, Torricelli, and a Submarine tender somewhere within my fleet. Go ahead and find them. I'm sure Patty would just adore having a new friend." Isaac said.
"Hai, Shikikan." I-19 spoke as he watched the sakura submarine sail slowly on the surface, unwilling to dive until repairs to her vessel were made.
"Admiral, most all of the radar contacts are gone. There are only a few stragglers." Iowa reported.
"Good. Take them out then get me to the Norfolk. I'll figure out where to start from there. You did well on this mission, Iowa. I'm proud of you." Isaac said.
"Your honors… are appreciated, Admiral." Iowa spoke awkwardly as she adjusted her heading to get to the fleet.
"Alright everyone, tighten formation around Elbe and Yorktown. We're entering the English channel. Thankfully there's plenty of fog cover today. That, however, also bears true for the enemy. Keep your radar and sonar active and move cohesively as one group. Yorktown, Elbe. Launch fighters and keep it tight. Map our course through the fog and get us safely to
Germany." Nimitz ordered as Yorktown nodded.
"As you say, Admiral." Yorktown spoke as a squad of Skypirates shimmered to life on Yorktown's deck. Nimitz looked over to the Elbe and saw the Kansen and Lucia standing on the flight deck watching the Stuka's barrel down the flight deck before taking to the skies.
"Elbe, remember, keep it close." Nimitz reiterated.
"I understand Admiral… never thought I'd get the chance to fly my planes through the English Channel, just taking a moment to admire the view." Elbe spoke as she cut the line.
Nimitz turned to Yorktown.
"Keep her in check. We can't risk detection so soon. We're already deep in the heart of enemy territory." Nimitz spoke.
Yorktown nodded.
"There's fighting going on… I feel a pocket of resistance growing in Britain. We may have an out should things get hairy." Yorktown muttered.
"You feel?" Nimitz asked.
"Gut feeling. I sense something of unease coming from the left side that isn't Elbe. Like the sirens don't have total control of Britain." Yorktown clarified.
"I see. Perhaps we can find a way to aid them, if we're lucky. If not, we can always point the guns of the main fleet in that direction." Nimitz said.
"You have a lot of faith in Isaac Garner." Yorktown spoke.
"He has one hell of a fleet built up. How he contains that much power is beyond me… he wasn't even a member of the Navy… just a Union Mechanic who was contracted to the Naval Yards. But apparently his fleet has taught him and nurtured some latent ability to lead… I practically had to grant him a title, other than a little spat with MacArthur. Should he ever return to the Union… I'll place my own reputation on the line to see him welcomed as a Hero. And if not… I will not rest until his name is one for the History books." Nimitz explained.
"I see… he also commands my sister… Enterprise. She has a hull that he should not be able to comprehend. But yet… from your description, I have a feeling that he will have her figured out in no time." Yorktown spoke.
"Does that bother you?" Nimitz asked.
"Not at all. Enty needs all the support she can get. And if her Admiral can understand her inside and out… then she will finally have all the support she needs to help put an end to the Siren scourge." Yorktown spoke.
"I have faith in the man." Nimitz said.
"I hope it is well founded." Yorktown replied as the raid fleet inched closer to Germany under the fog of the English Channel.