New Jersey, Vittorio, Cole, Brooklyn and Nimitz entered the planning room inside the command center. The room was bustling with activity as members from Vittorio's intelligence division mulled about collecting every scrap of information pertaining to the Sirens in the Mediterranean. Right now, the vast majority of the information coming in was from sources outside of Sicily who were unaffected by the localized radio jamming done by Hermit and her forces that had surrounded Sicily. Almost all of the information being presented showed that an explosion had taken place on the island and that the fleets of pitch-black drone ships had begun to advance on the island.
"Looks like the battle has already begun." New Jersey spoke.
"So, it would seem. That explosion, did anyone catch where it was?" Vittorio asked the room.
"Yes Ma'am. Sources are saying that the explosion took place in the port of San Leone. Where Washington and Ranger are currently holed up. Sources are confirming that the two vessels have survived the explosion and are making steam for the port of Marsala. Missives from Minneapolis state that she is holed up in the islands off of Marsala and radio transmissions from her vessel indicate that I-25 has made her way towards Sicily to acquire the individual known as Max and bring him here for safe keeping." The intelligence officer spoke as he put together a stack of papers containing the very same report and handed them to Vittorio.
Vittorio leafed through the papers, confirming the report.
Turning to Cole, she spoke.
"What do you think? Should we send a forward assault force to help lay the way for our new Blueprint ships? They won't be ready until tomorrow at the absolute earliest." Vittorio spoke.
"If I may… I can take several vessels and command them as a forward operating force while you take up the rear, Lady Vittorio." Nimitz spoke.
"That might not be a bad idea, Admiral. I can handily command the blueprint ships and our escorts. It just comes down to who is doing what." Vittorio said as she folded her arms under her chest.
"New Jersey has volunteered to be my flagship for this event, so I will have to have her with me. I can also take San Diego, Wichita and Gneisenau as escorts and backup. Yorktown will have to remain here as the sailors continue to identify the dead from our invasion of Wilhelmshaven Elde I could bring as air support, but I do not know how well she will be able to handle it. Made apparent by Cole's outburst earlier, it seems that the woman Elbe was with when we found her has been left behind in Germany. How we missed this, I do not know, but the fact remains, I do not know how effective she will be." Nimitz spoke as the door to the command room opened.
"I shall do my duty, Admiral. Even if Lucia is lost, I know we shall find and save her. Until then, I will give you nothing but my best. If I must shred my air wings to make this Sicily operation a success, then my planes are yours to command." Elbe said as she, Natalie and Pavel were ushered into the room by Duca and London.
"Don't think I'm out of the fight either, Admiral. These wounds won't be an issue." Natalie spoke, putting a bit of steel in her voice as she stood on her own two feet without support.
Pavel nodded quietly, as if he too was silently confirming his desire to fight.
Nimitz nodded before turning to Cole.
"Sergeant. Are you going to be taking command here?" Nimitz asked.
Cole shook his head.
"Brooklyn and I will take up the rear with Vittorio and the Blueprint ships. San Diego is the Union's best AA cruiser. We can't leave Vittorio vulnerable… don't want to anger the Black Dragon… with all due respect, New Jersey." Cole said as New Jersey blushed.
"Your concern is appreciated, Sergeant. I will entrust my partner to your care. Keep her safe for me." New Jersey said as she extended her hand. Cole met her hand, and they shook on the agreement.
"So, then who will command ground troops… and do we have ground troops?" Nimitz asked.
"We will have ground forces, Admiral. I pulled some strings, and we shall be pulling around 500 men from the ports around the Mediterranean. All of which were members of the Regia Marina. Some of our top-notch soldiers. The question is, who will lead them?" Vittorio asked.
Cole spoke up.
"Onboard the Yorktown, Van Kinsburgen, acting in light of the Royal Netherlands Navy, awarded Natalie the rank of Captain for her efforts in fighting not only the Nazi's, but the Sirens as well. She did well when she took command of a small group during the raid on Wilhelmshaven, she could do it." Cole suggested.
Nimitz turned to Natalie, who had leaned against the wall to support her.
"Have you commanded a large group of people before?" Nimitz asked as he noticed the paleness of Natalie's skin.
"Before all that… are you sure you can fight in that condition? Fighting when underprepared is a death sentence. A lesson I learned firsthand when the Missouri ran into Strength." Nimitz spoke.
"I'll be fine. Just a bit of blood loss from the injuries I sustained. I'll be fine by the time we land in Sicily." Natalie spoke as Nimitz noticed something off about her arm.
"And your arm? You have that wrapped pretty tight. Your hand looks like you might hand tied the wrapping too tight." Nimitz noted.
"It was a gift from my late friend. She saved my life with this arm. Rest assured; my arm is fine." Natalie said.
Nimitz looked at Natalie with a skeptical gaze.
"Then you should rest to recover as much as you can before the assault. Thankfully, you won't have to do much of anything until we break through the naval blockade. So, until then, you're dismissed to return to your rest. Perhaps Gneisenau would be willing to allow you to bunk on her vessel for the voyage." Nimitz spoke as Natalie nodded before heading for the door with Pavel helping her by throwing her arm over his shoulder.
"In the event she is unable to fight, are there any officers in these 500 men that you have acquired for this mission?" Nimitz asked.
"There are two. But they are not as high ranking as Natalie. They have little experience in dealing with large sections like this." Vittorio spoke.
"It'll have to work. Are they coming here to stage or are they following us in?" Nimitz asked.
"They will follow you in. We cannot risk losing troops before they hit the beaches." Vittorio said as she looked around the room.
"Let us hope that we can eliminate Hermit here. It would be nice to be able to leave the Mediterranean and finally meet this Apollyon character. He seems to be quite the influential person in this fight." Vittorio spoke.
"We will eliminate her here. She won't let us leave alive if we go through with this assault, so we have no choice." Nimitz said.
"Let us hope so, Admiral." Vittorio spoke as she concluded the meeting, turning for the door, prompting New Jersey and Nimitz to begin heading for the docks to arrange their formation.