October 15th 1945

As the girls recovered in the hospital, Hector and the soldiers, alongside Norfolk and Sheffield, began to draw up plans for their next moves. Sheffield had already made the soldiers and Hector aware of multiple estates that had been deemed worthy of fortification by Her Majesty. One of which was the Royal Navy's HQ. She and Norfolk were insistent that they would need to get there in order to see if they could re-establish contact with any of their forces outside of the country. It was also likely they would find supplies there and possibly, more ships. Ryan agreed to Sheffield and Norfolk's suggestion, but he recommended that they gather supplies from the protected estates that were closer to them as they headed for the Royal Navy's HQ.

Ryan's men had spent the last few days scavenging vehicles for their own purposes. Aside from their Churchill and the civilian truck, they were now in possession of a pair of Bren Gun Carriers and a Dingo scout car. A Matador truck had also been procured but they were still needing to find some parts for it before it could be used, so until then, it would be towed.

The shipgirls had opted to utilise one of the Carriers for their own purposes, as they could use their rigging whilst inside the vehicle and whilst they would only really be able to fit four or five of them inside. They could make it work, the others would be passengers on the Matador but would also be able to provide their riggings for defence.

Sevastopol was one of the girls who was assigned to the Matador, whilst she had healed well over the last 5 days, her leg was still an issue, as she would limp about on it. "I am going to be so glad to regain my full manoeuvrability back soon." she remarked as she sat on the back of the Matador whilst Perseus stood nearby, using her planes to check for any signs of movements.

"It'll be a little while yet before you get that chance" Norfolk said as she tossed an apple to the Battleship. "However, since the others have now recovered to an acceptable state. We can begin our move"

"We're moving? I had begun to like this place" The Russian Battleship replied.

"I don't see why we can't come back here. That Castle is a very good defence point. Plus we're near to a major transport hub that can get us out to other areas of this county" Hector remarked as he joined them. The ships all turned to him and greeted him. "You don't all have to do that"

"Well since Sheffield dubbed you as her new master. I suppose we are now under your directive"

"Were you not under Ryan before?" Hector asked.

"Not exactly. Before the Siren's attacked, we operated under Azur Lane, a separate organisation to any other branches. So ships from all factions were under the command of a single Commander. He gave us our daily duties, commissions and other things to do." Norfolk replied.

"I'm gathering that he has since gone missing?" Hector asked.

The ships all looked between one another. "We… We don't actually know what happened to him" Norfolk replied.

"The Sirens reduced us to our cubes. I suspect they went after him too. So now we serve you" Sheffield replied simply as she walked past to go and sort out some other things.

"Is… Is she always like that?" Hector asked.

"Yes. It's just how she is. Always so stern and strict when it comes to her duties. It's best to just let her do her thing" Norfolk answered.

"Well then. I'll start now" he replied simply.

An hour passed before the convoy got under way, leaving the city behind. As Hector looked back to the city, his thoughts once again drifted back to his dearest love. She had seen him off when he was transferred away in order to be more active in the fighting. He knew she had her duty to perform as well, but he hoped she was safe.

"Something on your mind?" Norfolk asked, seeing the look on Hector's face. It was her turn to ask the questions.

"I said goodbye to the lady most dear to me before I was shot down. I've been hoping that she is safe"

"I'm sure she's fine. Civilians were taken to safe places from what I can recall" Norfolk replied.

"She was military." Hector replied.

"Oh. Right. Well, let us hope that she's safe"

Hector nodded, he was grateful that she was going to be optimistic about the whereabouts of his partner.

Anson was looking out of one of the gaps in the windows, looking towards the horizon beyond the trees. She was deep in thought. "We'll be reunited again, my love. I can feel it" she said to herself.

"Anson?" Sovereign said from behind her. The battleship turned around and smiled at her.

"Needed to see something other than the walls in my room" Anson explained.

"How's your arm?" Sovereign inquired.

"It'll be fine. Resource says I'll be fully fit for service in a few days."

"Let's hope we don't have any uninvited guests in the meantime" Sovereign replied as Anson followed her out of the room.

"Any luck with trying to regain contact with other bases?" Anson asked.

"Not yet. Most of the radio's were vaporised along with the building they were in. But we've been able to recover what was mostly intact and we're rebuilding the radio in the basement. I have a feeling however that we won't have all the parts needed" Sovereign responded.

"Well we'll have to make do with what we have. We may have to search for spare bits from nearby. If there are any abandoned military vehicles that is" Anson said. "I think I saw some on my way in but I was a little pre-occupied at the time"

"Indeed. You must've taken quite a lot of punishment"

"Getting chased non stop for several days by Sirens will do that to you. I only managed to escape because I fell into a river and was dragged away by the current. When I woke up I was on a bank and I had to nearly drag myself here" Anson said, recounting in her head the ordeal she went through just to get to where she was.

"Well. If things go well in the pacific. Then maybe at some point we'll be able to rebuild our lives."

"What's going on out there then?" Anson inquired.

"It's just echoes I've been hearing so far. But there's someone out there, trying to take the world back from the Sirens" Sovereign replied.

"They're brave. But I commend them for that. There aren't too many people out there who are free from the Sirens. Many have been forced into doing their bidding. And then some who joined willingly"

"Their judgement will come. Either from us or from the population that survives. Time will tell" Sovereign said simply, pondering over possible events to come.

The convoy came to a stop at the first estate in the early afternoon. It was quiet. Too quiet.

Ryan ordered his troops to secure the area and then he handed a weapon to Sheffield.

"I have my own" she replied, materialising her two hand held weapons.

"Doesn't hurt to have something spare" Ryan insisted as Sheffield let her pistols vanish and she took the rifle.

".303 Lee Enfield Number 4? It'll do" She commented as she inspected the rifle.

"Grab what weapons we have. I don't think your rigging will be of use in these close quarters" Ryan continued as he turned to the other ships and Hector. They grabbed what they could and began to cautiously search the area.

"Wasp, Perseus, could you get some of your planes to check above or in the windows?" Hector inquired.

"We can try" Wasp replied as she and Perseus deployed their rigging and sent their tiny aircraft up.

The little aircraft flew around, trying to see anything through the gaps in the boarded up windows, but they couldn't find anything, flying overhead, they found nothing from the inner courtyard or gardens to the read of the building either, they returned to the carriers shortly afterwards and their search was concluded before they entered through one of the broken windows. Littered around on the floor was a few ammo cases and crates, some were empty but others still had some inside them and were carried out and back to the vehicles. As some of the soldiers moved the gear, the girls moved into the building. Sheffield led with Norfolk and Suffolk behind her. Bulldog stayed with Wasp and Perseus.

Valiant led her group, with Z20, Akizuki and Arethusa through the entranceway and into the entrance hall. "Where is everyone? There was an order for men to defend these buildings?" Valiant huffed.

"Perhaps, My Lady, they did their job but the Sirens overran them?" Arethusa suggested, inspecting an abandoned weapon on the floor.

"Their weapons are littered about. But ze soldiers are not present. Where did they go?"

"Those things took them prisoner" came another voice. The ships all turned to see a Hector standing nearby, holding a small item in his hands. "When I was back in the city, prior to meeting Norfolk at the station. They had been rounding up stragglers and taking them away. I don't know where but I guess these Sirens are using people like me and the soldiers as forced labour"

The ships remained silent for a moment, realising what the fate of many would likely be.

"I…" Valiant began but Hector held up his hand.

"It's alright, Valiant. There's likely still people out there who are fighting the good fight like we are" Hector answered as he stood up again and then headed through to another room to re-join with Norfolk, Sheffield and Suffolk.

The search concluded not long afterwards, only weapons and ammo were still left, most of it was loaded into the vehicles and they headed out for the second location. It would take them some time to get there and it would be dark by the time they arrived there, so they decided to make camp there when they arrived.

As long as nothing bad happened on the way there...