Evening of October 10th, 1945.
A grand old building stood overlooking a field. It showed signs of battle, with burn marks and some small craters in the otherwise sturdy walls of the building.
It had been the Royal Navy's home base prior to the conflict, where all the Ships of the Royal Navy congregated. It had been hidden from view of the Sirens following the battle that took place there, but there were no other defenders to protect it. Leaving it's occupants to only wait and expect another fight on their hands. Staring out of one of the partially boarded up windows was one of the vessels of the Royal Navy. Her hair was of a silver colour and flowed down to her knees. Her outfit was a combination of colours, but Purple was her motif.
"Indomitable" came a voice from behind her. Indomitable turned to find another woman. She had icy Blue hair that changed into a pinky colour at the tips. "It's not safe in these rooms, you know that"
"I know, Sovereign. But our friends are out there, lost, afraid. My sisters are out there somewhere and I need to help them"
"Illustrious was in Bermuda last I heard of her. She is most likely in a safe spot. Especially given what she was given the duty of doing" Royal Sovereign.
Indomitable sighed, she knew what Sovereign was on about. As the Sirens came to their shores, several of the Royal Navy's ships had escaped to their Bermuda base with the cubes from Tirpitz and Bismarck, knowing all too well that losing those two to the Sirens would cause untold devastation. Illustrious had been a part of that fleet, alongside Queen Elizabeth and Warspite. By that point, their fleet had been reduced in size massively, with Monarch up in the Northern Parliament and others missing or elsewhere, it wasn't long before the Sirens overrun them. Many were able to escape, as she and Sovereign were, but others were sunk or captured by the Sirens, those who sunk having their cubes stolen by the Sirens. Indomitable had heard of a rumour that one of the Revenge Class battleships had been reduced to her cubes but one was stolen and the other was claimed by the Sirens, so they would need to be re-united before anything could happen to her. "We have too few to strike back against them. And now we just sit here in hiding" she replied.
"But you've surely heard the echoes from the Pacific?" Sovereign replied.
"I have. They speak of an individual making their way through Sirens out there, all on their own" Indomitable replied. "But how would we get there? We'd have to deal with the Siren leaders that exist here before we could do anything major"
"That can wait. I think Unicorn would like you to see her" Sovereign replied.
Indomitable turned back, she had forgotten about the little carrier. She nodded and exited the room, heading further inside the building to a room where she found the little one.
Unicorn was sitting on a bed, cuddling her Unicorn plush. Upon hearing the door open, she turned to see who entered. "big sister!" Unicorn cried out as she got off the bed and ran over to Indomitable, hugging her.
"I'm here, little one. Don't worry" Indomitable said as she hugged her little sister.
Unicorn stayed quiet as she kept herself close to Indomitable. "I miss Illustrious" she finally said, muffled slightly against her big sister's stomach.
"I miss her too. I would love nothing more than to be able to see her again" Indomitable replied before they went silent for a few moments. Afterwards, Indomitable spoke again. "I'll find our big sisters. All three of them. Especially Illustrious, I promise"
Unicorn sniffed as she wiped a tear away from her eyes, giving Indomitable a small smile. "Thanks big sis" she said quietly.
Indomitable smiled as she rubbed Unicorn's head before turning to see Sovereign standing nearby. She got up and walked over to her.
"Little sister?" Sovereign inquired quietly.
"Illustrious and Unicorn were mostly inseparable during the last war. Some crew took to referring to Unicorn as the 'Little Illustrious'. So she legally adopted Unicorn" Indomitable explained. "so we technically have a class of Five and not Four" she added.
"I see. I didn't realise we could do that" Sovereign replied.
"Well. Illustrious did it prior to her departure. Unicorn's only had me to look after her since, as you could tell."
"Indeed. Let's hope that we're able to re-establish contact with Illustrious, or anyone else that is still around."
Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps grew closer.
"Sovereign! There's someone outside! They're in mither!" Manchester called before she turned around and ran back the way she had come.
"mither?" Indomitable asked, not sure on what the Light Cruiser had said.
"Trouble, from what she told me. Mancunian is a weird one" Sovereign said before the pair of them left Unicorn be and followed Manchester to one of the windows.
Slowly approaching the estate was a figure, their red coat was indistinguishable from those of the King George the Fifth class Battleships, but as they drew closer, it was easy to tell it was neither Wales or York.
"Is that… Anson?" Sovereign pondered as the figure drew ever closer.
"It is!" Indomitable exclaimed as Anson collapsed to her knees, her energy drained entirely. The trio of ships inside exited through the heavily defended entrance and hurried to Anson's side. Manchester and Indomitable kept their rigging prepared, keeping their eyes on the fields in case any Sirens had followed the Battleship.
"Indomitable, get some scout planes in the air. Get them to scan the area around for any unwanted guests" Sovereign ordered as she hoisted Anson over her shoulder
"On it" Indomitable said as she launched her aircraft and they took to the sky as Sovereign moved Anson back inside the estate. They had the battleship in a bed soon afterwards.
"What happened to you?" Sovereign asked, seeing the injuries that Anson had sustained.
"Sirens caught me off guard as I was trying to find a safe place to hide. My rigging isn't going to be of much use till it's repaired" Anson said quietly whilst Manchester applied first aid to her left arm.
"We've not had many Sirens attacks since we ourselves got here. There's only been a few"
"And yet they haven't destroyed this place yet." Anson replied. "This is one of our bases away from the main Azur Lane base, surely it would be an ideal target to take over"
"I guess the soldiers who used to be here put up a good enough fight to warrant them not coming back" Sovereign replied.
"There was army troops here?" Indomitable asked.
"Yes. They defended this place when the Sirens first attacked the isles."
"It's possible they got captured and the Sirens simply left this place alone, thinking it would remain abandoned" Anson said quietly as Manchester put her arm into a sling.
"True. It's likely that they might also think that we may be trying to find supplies here, only to leave soon after. And so they do not consider us a threat" Sovereign suggested.
"We are meant to operate on the ocean. Not here on land. I get that you two will be able to. But myself and Unicorn don't really get that benefit"
"Well Anson won't be moving for a while. We need a proper place to take her for recovery. Or we need a repair ship" Manchester spoke up as she continued to check Anson over.
"Resource was here during the invasion. But I don't recall hearing about her after we all got separated. We could keep an eye out for her I guess" Sovereign replied.
"I have faith she'll come. Whilst not everyone knows about this place. The Royal Maids know of this and several others like it. So I think we should be expecting some guests soon. But we should still prepare for the event that the Sirens take us as a genuine threat and go to attack us" Indomitable said as Manchester finished with the bandages and she slowly lowered Anson down in order to let her rest. The ships left her be soon after, with Manchester being told to monitor their new arrival.
Hours passed and the night came. Unicorn was tucked away in her bed sleeping and Manchester was checking on Anson as Indomitable and Sovereign kept watch. Things felt eerie when the night's came. The halls and rooms were pitch black and they only had lanterns or torches to light their way. And to Indomitable, she always felt like something was watching her. As she continued her routine patrol to near the entrance to the well defended estate, she thought she could hear something outside. Looking to her right, she found a gun that must've been left behind by the original defenders and after checking it had ammunition in it, she ventured outside and into cover, where she could possibly take the unknown voices by surprise. As she hid behind a sandbag wall, she could hear the voices nearing her position.
"For the record you really do not live up to your name, Swift!" Came one voice.
"I would be much quicker if you actually did a good job fixing my leg!" 'Swift' responded.
"I needed proper supplies. I should be able to find what I need in here" the first voice responded as Indomitable saw the pair walk in front of her. Gripping her weapon, she pointed it towards them, remaining hidden by the shadows.
"And what makes you think you'd be allowed in so easily?" The Carrier spoke.
"Fuck's sake" the first voice said as she and 'Swift' put their arms up.
"State your name, rank and intention" Indomitable continued.
"HMS Resource. Repair Ship to the Royal Navy. I was going to get Swift here some medical attention after we were attacked in the nearby town." Resource spoke.
"Resource?" Indomitable asked as she walked out towards them.
Resource turned around and saw the woman approaching her. "Indomitable? I… I thought you were captured by the Sirens"
"News travels fast about mine and Unicorn's apparent demise I see" Indomitable responded. Without saying anything more, she hoisted Swift into her arms and carried the Destroyer inside. "Sovereign and I were actually talking about you earlier this afternoon. It's great timing that you've turned up actually. Anson arrived in a bad way and we need you to do a check on her. Manchester is in the room with her currently."
"Well get me and Swift to that room. I'll set up my workspace there." Resource said, her tone changing to a serious one. Indomitable nodded and they headed through the dimly lit hallway to the room Anson was in.
Anson was still asleep when the door opened and Indomitable brought Resource and Swift in. Swift was put down on the seating nearby whilst Manchester was asked to bring another bed into the room so that Swift could be placed in it. The Light Cruiser was quick and had a bed prepared for the new arrival as Resource checked on the first aid Manchester had given to Anson. "You've done well, Manchester. I'm thinking that it would have likely taken a while for Anson to heal prior to my arrival. But since I am now here. I can get her back into the fight far sooner."
"That's good to hear. There's no telling when the Sirens might attack us. Were you two followed?" Sovereign asked as she stood by the door.
"We were attacked in one of the nearby towns. It was dark and we couldn't tell who or what it was. But it had rigging" Swift explained.
"Right. That narrows it down. But without official confirmation, we'll need to keep our wits about us" The battleship responded. "Rooms are too tight to use our rigging in. Best arm yourselves with the army's weapons"
"I already picked one up" Resource responded, not taking her attention away from Swift as she had finished with Anson.
"This is going to be a long night" Indomitable commented, dreading a surprise attack.
-
Hector, the shipgirls and the Soldiers had relocated from the Castle to the nearby hospital. The injured were receiving medial attention from the nurses inside the hospital. The two soldiers that Ryan had sent out were able to recover a truck and they used it to take their wounded to their current destination. Most of the injured shipgirls wouldn't be bed bound for too long, as their injuries weren't too severe, mostly cuts and bruises. But Sevastapol was in a worse state and would not be in combat for a bit.
Norfolk was sat on one of the beds with Suffolk beside her as they chatted with Arethusa. They talked about their lives before the war with the Sirens and how things had been so much better. Hector sat with them, quietly listening in to what they were talking about. He'd only really met shipgirls like them during the war, and even then it was only briefly. But as they talked, his mind drifted to something else. To his dear sweetheart. She was out there somewhere, and he would find her..