1230 Hours
8 June 1942
Azur Lane Main Base
An inferno raged at the base. Multiple ships were at different stages of sinking or burning. The entire attack itself was carried out by only Iron Blood shipgirls and torpedo boats. All across the base, people witnessed different stages of man was sitting by the beach, gripping his stomach as if everything in it would tumble out, further away near the docks Manjuus were pulling dead or dying shipgirls out of the water. Every shipgirl that was able to fight set up a line of defense and fired back at the marauding Iron Blood ships.
Bismarck stood a few miles away, Prinz Eugen standing beside her. She was surveying the battle, her eyes scanning the smoke and coastline like a hawk. Suddenly, a shipgirl with platinum blonde hair landed in the water near Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, no doubt a report about the battle already in her head.
"Frau Bismarck, Z23 reporting. So far, the attack on the Azur Lane base has been going well. They have taken heavy casualties and multiple ships are either sunk or sinking. Bismarck acknowledged this information, nodding her approval to Z23. "Sehr gut. Z23, go back to the battle, come back with another report." Z23 nodded with a smile and launched herself toward the island.
"This attack has been going mostly to plan. We have struck a crippling blow on Azur Lane forces, and we can one hundred percent guarantee a win." Prinz Eugen said to Bismarck, both shipgirls switching to ship form, then her eyes stared out into the sky. Something was wrong. A droning, roaring noise pierced the air, as if someone had launched a tiger or a lion into the air. She turned her head, left and right, trying to see what was happening. Then she finally saw it, a fast-moving object approaching from the east. It flew very fast, and unlike prop-driven fighters that Eugen usually saw, it had no visible wing guns and strange-looking bombs and rockets on its wings.
"Excuse me, Frau Bismarck, but does that aeroplane look strange to you?" Prinz Eugen pointed at the plane. Bismarck turned her head, and her eyes narrowed. She ducked just as the aircraft passed low overhead, banking hard left over the island and dropping its bombs. 3 torpedo boats went up in flames, as well as a destroyer. "This is Bismarck, what the hell is going on over there?" No response answered her. "Gottverdammt!" She then heard a screeching roar as the fighter passed low over her, tipping its wings, mocking her. She waved her fist at it, firing her anti-air guns in response.
Stepan's POV
The ships below fired upon me. Barely dodging gunfire by the skin of my teeth, I banked hard right, the guidance pod for the KAB-500 swinging around to bear on the silhouette of the oversized Potemkin reject. Finally, I banked my MiG in a left turn, finally locking onto the battleship below, and dropped the bombs. They both dropped away, the glorious sunlight glinting off of the side of the canopy and the small rearview mirrors on either side of the polyurethane windows.
POV end
"Why the hell hasn't it still been shot down? Where the hell did it even come from?" Bismarck fumed, as if imaginary steam was coming from her ears. A tinny, whistling noise filled the air, as if someone had a dog whistle that they dropped. She looked up just in time to see four bombs headed towards her and Eugen. The first two hit her ship at the stern, both bombs penetrating the No.3 and No.4 turrets, taking both out of action. Bismarck dropped her binoculars, and muttered an expletive, "Scheisse."
The force of the blast lifted the stern of her ship slightly, as well as knocking her unconscious and into the water. The two bombs aimed at Eugen, on the other hand, did a different kind of damage entirely. The first bomb missed and fell into the water, but the second one hit the bridge, bathing the entire area in a bright orange light, and shredding Eugen's face and body with shards of glass and various debris.
"This is- cough cough P-prinz Eugen. We havebeen attacked and Frau Bismarck has been knocked into the water. We have taken heavy damage, we don't know who or what has attacked us so far!"
She waited for a second, and the responses that came flooding in were appalling.
"Attack Group Six, reporting, we have taken 90% damage! Our leader has been crippled by a bomb of unknown origin. Requesting su-"
"This is Attack Group Nine, we are retreating! Relay your position and run!"
Eugen's face went white with fear. Whoever it was that attacked them, had immense firepower to cripple the pride of the Kriegsmarine and inflict such grievous losses on the attack groups. With shaking, bloody fingers, she clicked the radio piece, and relayed her orders. "This is the Prinz Eugen. As acting leader of Task Force Wirbelwind, I am ordering all Sturmgruppen to retreat back to the staging area and back to base. That is an order."
Multiple voices acknowledged the order, and soon after, every single enemy ship was streaming out of the harbor, at full steam. The fighter was still circling above them, making sure that each and every single one was actually leaving and not planning on attacking again. Once he was sure that they were leaving, he descended to 8,000 Feet, and radioed the main base. "Mother Base, this is Wardog-1. Permission to land, clearance code M12D7Y41." There was a pause, and seconds later the radio crackled to life. "Wardog-1, you are clear to land. Commander D'Elise sends her regards. Welcome to Hickam Field, Major." Stepan switched the radio on, and confirmed he was landing. "Wardog-1, on approach." (If yall can guess what I based the landing code on, then you get 10 years of good luck.)
He lined up the runway in his sights, making sure the centerline was running straight down the middle. Once he was sure that he was on a good approach, he pushed the throttle back to 10%, and deployed the flaps and airbrake. With the airbrake and flaps deployed, the MiG touched down onto the runway, Stepan carefully lowering the nose gear carefully. Once he touched down, he pushed the throttle to 0%, and proceeded to activate the gear brakes. The MiG slowed down, and stopped within distance of a taxiiway. He stomped gently on the rudder, turning the MiG ever so slightly onto the taxiiway, and towards a mesh-layered hangar.
The MiG's engine's spooled down to a gentle, tinny warble, and finally, he shut down the engines with a flick of the "Master APU" switch. He cranked the canopy open, and unfolded the ladder on the side, and climbed down the ladder. As he was about to take off his helmet, he felt something bump into his leg. He looked down, and saw a yellow duck looking thing standing at his left foot, hugging it. He bent down, and gave it a scratch on the head. The Manjuu released his leg, waddled over to the MiG and started jumping up and down, it's arms outstretched, as if it wanted to get onto the plane.
"Sorry little one, I can't let you on. I don't want you getting yourself." He lifted the Manjuu, though the duckling waved its flippers in protest, and set it down near the entrance to the hangars. As soon as the little creature waddled away, he spotted a crowd walking towards the hangars. Once they reached him, they started flinging questions at him, some of which he found downright amusing.
"What kind of a plane is that?"
"Are you a Siren?"
"How many kilometers does that bloody thing go?"
They all attempted to force their way in, although they were soon stopped by six shipgirls wearing MP attire. The crowd dispersed soon after, and the MPs turned to him. "Sir, you are to report to barracks until further notice. We are putting the base on lockdown until further notice." Stepan nodded and grabbed his helmet and gear, heading towards the main building. As they walked through the interrogation area, they paused at the door where a couple of Navy JAG officers were standing, hunched over a desk. One was sitting on a chair, his hands in his hair as he looked through a camera that led into an interrogation room. The JAGs appeared to have issues with translating the words of a Iron Blood shipgirl that they were interrogating, which turned out to be Prinz Eugen, the shipgirl from before.
One of the JAGs turned to the MPs standing in front of Stepan. "We simply cannot translate anything she is saying. Her English is at about the level of a two year old with a windpipe problem. We need a German translator, stat." Stepan motioned for the guards for a second, and stepped up to the JAG. "Sir, if I may, I am very fluent in German. I could interrogate the lady." The JAG looked him up and down and said, "Do you have experience in interrogation?" Stepan smiled, "Yes sir. In the Air Force, we interrogated crashed fighter pilots all the time. 100% sucess rate." The JAG pointed at the interrogation room's door with his hand, motioning for Stepan to step inside. "By all means, go ahead. Don't worry about her posing a threat to you, we have stripped her of any weapons."
He nodded, and walked into the room. The shipgirl smirked, wondering how they would bother her today. She muttered to herself in German, mocking the man as he walked in. "Ein weiterer gedankenloser Idiot, der geschickt wurde, um mich zu belästigen, wie urig. (Another mindless idiot sent to pester me, how quaint.)" Stepan chuckled, pulled up a chair, and sat down in front of her. "Frau Prinz Eugen, richtig? Versuchen Sie nicht, mich zu täuschen, indem Sie so tun, als würden Sie kein Englisch sprechen. Ihre ehemalige Azur Lane Task Force sagt eindeutig, dass Sie recht gut Englisch sprechen. Was Deutsch angeht, spreche ich es sehr gut, also versuchen Sie nicht, mir irgendwelche Tricks auszutricksen, ich werde sie sehr leicht durchschauen. (Madam Prinz Eugen, right? Don't try to fool me by pretending to not speak English. Your former Azur Lane Task Forces file says that you speak it quite well. As for German, I speak it very well, so don't try to pull any tricks on me, I will see right through them.)"
The smirk on Prinz Eugen's face dissapeared, as if washed away by a bucket of water. Behind the one-way mirror, the JAGs and MPs stood there in silence, wondering what can come out of this conversation. Finally, Prinz Eugen switched to lightly accented English. "Fine. You got me. Do your worst." She crossed her legs as Stepan crossed his arms from across the table. "Alright. What was your original plan when you were going to attack the base?" He took an oblong recording device, which he put down on the table and clicked a button marked "Record" on. "We were planning on striking key points across the islands, but our main objective was to kidnap Commander D'Elise from her office in Oahu. That failed once a strange aircraft showed up and annihilated 3/4ths of our forces, including heavily damaging our Task Force's leader."
Stepan laughed, and switched to German, pointing at Eugen. "What if I told you that it was me who bombed your fleet?" The German looked at him, and smirked a bit. "I wouldn't believe you, then, because you don't look like a pilot to me." Stepan raised his eyebrows, reached under the table, and pulled out his helmet and breathing mask, placing both on the table. "Does this convince you?" She stared at them for a few seconds, and nodded, resigned. "Do you believe that if I wished to do so, I would wipe your little "Crimson Axis" off the face of the planet?" She nodded, the color draining from her face. "Good. Now, tell me every single Base Of Operations, Naval and Air stations, factories, etc." He once again clicked record, and the tape started rolling.
A few hours later, he walked out of the interrogation room, his face wearing a smile. The JAGs turned to him, waiting for a debrief. "Gentlemen, I believe we now have high value targets, as well as things to do. Now, lets get to work, shall we?" He clapped his hands together, and they nodded, as he headed for the cafeteria, his helmet under his arm, and a wide smile on his face, for he knew, that he could fight and protect the opressed from tyranny.
(A/N: Hey gents and gentleladies, sorry for not uploading for a long time, I had some personal stuff to take care off, my mental state, post appendicitis recovery, school, and work. I promise I will post the next chapter soon, Grade A 100% guaranteed.)