Victory at Denmark strait
Over a year ago, the Royal Navy suffered one of its greater defeats at the Denmark strait through losing the 'Mighty Hood' during a battle against the Bismarck. However, today, on 26th November 1942, great news had been delivered to the prime minister Winston Churchill. Not only did operation 'Sea knight' succeed in its primary goal, sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and Jack 'Mad Jack' Churchill and a rogue action of the Ark Royal managed to secure a POW and even saw to it that the Bismarck was damaged enough to be out of action for several weeks at best.
Why only weeks? That's because both men confirmed that the Iron Blood had Siren tech added into their ship's design. According to sir de Wiart, the Siren tech used on the Bismarck was a "barrier that takes the shape of blue hexagonal particles and an advanced targeting system that allowed her to fire past the expected maximal range." Luckily, a few waves of torpedoes were able to take that barrier down, allowing the 'revived' Hood to pierce straight through oil storages and cause major flooding to the 'Terror of the seas,' forcing her to retreat into a mustard gas-like mist.
Hopefully, this victory would allow our forces to pick up the stranded generals Patton and Montgomery from North Africa, along with a task force sent by the Eagle Union, which should arrive in 1 month's time.
For more on Wisdom cubes pg. 5
For more on sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and "Mad Jack" Churchill pg. 6 – 7
For more on the Sirens pg. 8
Marvin Whitlow
Dwight D. Eisenhower put down the newspaper with a small smile. While the report was made with an abridged version of the battle, it was still surprisingly accurate to what he was told by the prime minister and confirmed by the "Invincible Wiart," as he called the man, a few hours later. He was a good companion for a talk and even suggested some tactics that, while crazy, were surprisingly effective in mock battles between infantry units.
The mood all across the Isles and the Eagle Union was at an all-time high ever since the Sirens' appearance, both contributed by the defeat of Bismarck and his countrymens' exploits at Pearl Harbor. And he was positive that every single man under his command wanted to be a part of a ground offensive against both Iron Blood and Sakura Empire, the former because of Patton and his men trapped by Iron Blood forces and the latter to make them suffer for trying to attack Pearl Harbor.
"The war is slowly reaching its climax. But, it is still unclear who will win," Winston Churchill commented as he took another puff of his cigar and looked over the round table they were sitting at with Queen Elizabeth (both human and ship), Hood, Warspite, Prince of Wales, Adrian Carton de Wiart, Charles de Gaulle and a few other politicians and high ranking military men. That alone made him chuckle internally as they were practically imitating the court of the legendary king Arthur.
"I agree. Eet is troubling enough zat ze Seerens exeest. But, to acteevely eenterfere by geeving ze Iron Blood zeir technologee…'' de Gaulle trailed off, leaving the last part unsaid, but everyone understood what it was. But then, Dwight decided to break the gloomy thoughts everyone had by something that he kept secret for about a week now.
"A week ago, I received a report that commander Baker, the very same commander who successfully defended Pearl Harbor against two attacks, one Siren and one Sakura, took a small Iron Blood fleet as POWs," he announced and everyone turned to look at him in surprise, with some looking like they were already preparing to interrogate the fleet, if they ever see them. After all, the POW that was captured after Bismarck's defeat, who was confirmed to be U-556 by Belfast, was still unconscious with no signs of waking up.
"And what about them?" asked a Polish pilot with a strong accent, whose name he couldn't remember, and Dwight noted that the man was on the verge of going on a destructive rampage against everything Iron Blood. And it certainly showed how effective, brutal and deadly the Polish squadrons in the RAF were, when fighting Iron Blood pilots.
"Apparently, they all decided to desert and join Azur Lane," Dwight answered and was met with another round of surprised stares, this time accompanied by shock in the eyes of the Polish pilot, the other present aces in exile and de Gaulle. It was as if they had never expected that an enemy would so readily desert to their side.
"They basically did the same thing as our legionaries did in the Great war," said a Czechoslovak pilot and Dwight nodded as he remembered hearing about the very effective fighting force and many of their exploits, in the former Russia.
"And why aren't there any dignitaries from the Northern Parliament?" It was Queen Elizabeth (the human one) who asked the question that no one wanted to ask so far. The country had cut all contact with them after the Sirens emerged, doing only Stalin knows what, which unnerved everyone present at the table.
"Eet's posseeble zat both ze Seeren and Iron Blood blockades make eet eemposseeble for zem to send someone here, or zat zey truly theenk zat zey can take zem on alone," de Gaulle theoreticized, which was met with nods from everyone. After all, it was a very realistic explanation, except Winston and the ship-girls present knew better.
"It might've been, if I wasn't attacked by a young Northern Parliament lad, shouting: 'for the Motherland!' with a knife in his hand and a black Wisdom cube in his forehead," Churchill revealed, shocking everyone at the table. That was enough for everyone to immediately stop trusting the Northern Parliament at the spot, as it was a clear hostile action against an ally.
"They are trying to violently spread communism to the entire world, while we're preoccupied with the Sirens, Sakura Empire and Iron Blood… Clever, but foolish," Prince of Wales spoke for the first time since the start of the meeting and everyone gathered nodded at that, knowing full well that the Northern Parliament had only drawn a big target on itself with that action.
"We are surrounded by enemies left and right, but we will weather the storm and don't stop, until we see us through to victory!" Queen Elizabeth, the human one, proclaimed and then, Prince of Wales with Warspite drew their saber and sword respectively, in a salute to acknowledge the promise made by the young monarch, while the rest raised their cups of tea, or a lit cigar in Churchill's case, in the same gesture.
Harvey looked over his now expanded fleet with a smile on his lips. While he was still a bit lacking in torpedo coverage, he had more than enough AA to deal with a full complement of an entire Sakura carrier division long enough for BBs to finish them off, if he so wished. Not to mention the fact that he had 4 CVs under his command, with Nimitz's own ship making it 5 total.
"I have chosen. On this mission will go: Enterprise, Z23, Vestal, Helena, Amazon, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Blücher and Atago. I expect the rest of you to hold down this port, until we return. Cleveland, you will make sure that this base still stands," he said and after hearing an affirmative from the short blonde, who was standing next to her sisters Birmingham and Columbia, along with her CVL half-sister Independence, he turned to face Nimitz, who simply nodded at his decision. After all, more AA was needed in here, due to Sakura Empire's focus on building CVs, unlike with Iron Blood's focus on bigger guns and subs.
"We'll leave in two days. Be ready to depart by then," the admiral added, before dismissing the gathering, which led to a mad dash as everyone tried to prepare everything for the departure of the chosen group to Europe and North Africa.
Souryuu and Hiryuu bowed to Kaga and Akagi and sat down next to Taihou, Shouhou and Ryuujou, along a long table, on top of which was the map of the Pacific with many islands marked by stones with a sakura petal drawn on them with only a few adorned by an eagle or a crowned lion remaining. It showed the nautical and aerial superiority of the Sakura Empire and everyone gathered in the room was happy about it.
"Everyone's here? Good," Akagi began and placed her hands on the table to allow manipulating with the stones across the map. They are close to Pearl Harbor, which still is under Union control, Soryuu thought with a slightly raised eyebrow as she watched her superior's movements. Her lapine ears even caught a very low growl coming from the kitsune's throat as she looked at the Union territory.
"I called this meeting to discuss our next step against the pesky Union dogs. We must strike decisively enough to deny them sending help to the Royals against the Iron Blood," she continued and everyone gathered nodded to acknowledge it. After all, if they failed at that, they would definitely lose, which was unacceptable to a varying degree for their mindsets, with the most radical of them being Akagi's.
"We will strike against the Midway atoll base. Apparently, the remains of MacArthur's forces on stolen troop transports and a few surviving Union and Royal Navy ships are moving there and it has a strategic position for staging another attempt at attacking the Eagle Union's mainland," she explained with a mad gleam in her eye that somewhat unnerved both Soryuu and Hiryuu.
It's a good plan, but there are too many variables on how the Union and Royals would respond, Soryuu thought as her mind worked in overdrive to come up with the most likely scenario and the best counter to it. But, no matter what scenario she thought about, it always ended with their side heavily damaged at best, or with everyone sunk at worst. That unnerved her a lot, since most of the plausible scenarios didn't feature the Royals at all, but all had one thing in common: all three Yorktown-class sisters were present at Midway and either, or both 1st and 2nd CarDivs didn't survive the battle.
"But, what if the Grey Ghost is there as well, along with both of her sisters?" Hiryuu asked and Soryuu caught the brief look of anger on Akagi's face. She faced her before… and lost, even with Siren tech at her disposal, Soryuu realized and after glancing at Hiryuu, she knew that she was not the only one who came to that realization.
"We should send submarines or Shimakaze with Ayanami after her," Shouhou suggested and Soryuu nodded in response, knowing that it was a good idea. But, if Akagi and Kanga's expressions were anything to go by, they strongly disagreed with it. And that would lead us to ruin, she thought with well hidden disgust as suddenly, the idea of joining Azur Lane seemed to be the best option to save hers and Hiryuu's lives.
"I suggest drowning them in bombs from an endless wave of our dive bombers to not let a single splinter of wood remain," Taihou added with a mad cackle, it quickly matched by a feral grin from Akagi, who then quickly agreed to the idea, but it was surprisingly shot down by Kaga with the explanation of it also being possibly powerful enough to wipe them all out as a collateral.
But, she dismissed that thought quickly and prepared herself for what would possibly be at least 6 more hours of arguing about the strategy on how to take Midway, prepared to try and at least curb, with the help from her sister and possible help from Shouhou and Ryuujou, any and all too violent ideas from taking root.
"Takao-san, why do you have such a glum face ever since you returned from Pearl Harbor?" asked the gentle voice of Yamashiro as she clumsily sat down next to Takao on a pier that she spent the most of her time for the past few days with the only times she wasn't there being mealtimes and that one time, when Fusou managed to talk her into going to sleep in the dorms just two days ago.
"It's not healthy to skip sleeping or staying out during the cold night," Yamashiro added as she tried to convince Takao to move inside and talk about what troubled her. But, Takao made it a lot more difficult by acting like a stubborn dog that refused to move until its owner, or in this case sister, arrived back home. Which would also allow Akagi and Kaga to warp her mind way easier, Yamashiro thought with a frown and silently hissed at reminding herself of those vixens who attempted to shut down every single shrine on Sakura soil and almost succeeded.
"C'mon! Move, you mutt!" Yamashiro growled as she clumsily tried to push Takao off of her spot, only to fall into the cold waters of the Pacific and if it wasn't for a hand grabbing her kimono and pulling her up, she would've sunk below the surface.
She then looked up to see that her savior was not Takao, but Hiei, with an amused Kongou and Haruna standing a bit further away. But then, she noticed the blush on Hiei's face and looked down and squeaked like an embarrassed little girl as she tried to fix her kimono… to no avail as her "luck" kept her from covering her bust on her own to the embarrassment of everyone able to see it happening.
That was until Fusou arrived, sighed at seeing Yamashiro's current situation and fixed her kimono to make her presentable once again, furthering her embarrassment and making the BCs exhale in relief. But, the few seconds of silence that then ensued were broken by something softly landing on the water and the quintet turned to see Takao just standing on the water with a shocked face.
"How is that possible… both are still alive?!" she muttered and sped past Kongou and Haruna, just as the sunburst flag of the old Japanese empire, along with the star-spangled banner of the Eagle Union, suddenly deployed on her rigging, in place of the flag of the Sakura empire. Yamashiro silently gawked at the retreating form of the CA, before tapping into the comms, along with her four companions… and what they heard positively shocked them, even if it was riddled with interference from the Siren force field surrounding the port.
"... from Midway… Yamamoto. Stop… MacArthur… of survival… Hope… old coding… reinforcements, MacArthur…"
Somewhere in the Pacific ocean, IJN Yamato
Isoroku Yamamoto was not pleased with the current situation, but it was way better than being turned into a slave of those aliens that killed the emperor and effortlessly obliterated both the Army and Navy. Running into the Union general MacArthur and the remains of both his men and some surviving idiots from the Army two weeks ago was a surprise, but not unwelcome, as it gave him a better chance at surviving and resisting the aliens' future advances.
Before that, he only had the Yamato, the Zuihou and the Samidare, all of them damaged to some degree from several battles he had to fight against the aliens, under his direct command but now, he had a half of the original number of the Navy's troop ships and some of those Eagle Union LCVPs and LVMs added into his "fleet," all of them retrofitted with radios, better engines and even a couple of those 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns. But right now, they were just a decoration, much like those 4 M3 Stuarts and 2 Type 97 Chi-Has.
"Do you think that anyone, who's not allied with the Sirens, heard us?" MacArthur's skeptical voice asked from the troop ship, Hawaii Maru, after they finished the rather risky move of talking to each other about their destination through the old Sakura empire communication channels.
"I believe so. At least your teitoku, Nimitz, should've caught it, along with any scattered Royal Navy and Sakura units that aren't controlled by the aliens," Yamamoto responded with conviction, due to him intercepting a conversation, about 3 weeks ago, between those blasted traitor ships, Akagi and Kaga, talking about two ships defecting from their side, escaping along with some men from the Navy that evaded capture by the aliens. And to say that it made him proud of them, would be like saying that the arrival of the aliens was a mere shock.
"How long is it until we reach Midway?" Yamamoto asked one of the officers next to him as he looked out at the seemingly endless expanse of water that was the Pacific after they left the alien-infested Philippines behind. It was a waste in his eyes, but after witnessing MacArthur's wow to return, he swore not to stand in his way, when the time comes. After all, it reminded him of the samurai of old his father told him about, when he was young.
"About a week at our current speed, teitoku," the officer in question answered and Yamamoto nodded, before turning to address the officer in charge of supplies, a silent question in his eyes, which he caught and immediately responded.
"We have enough fuel, water and military rations to last us that long. But, our ammunition's low. We can fire only 4 full broadsides with our main guns, our AA is just a decoration now and the secondaries have enough ammo for only a single salvo, if we use them all at the same time. The Samidare and the Zuihou report the same, but Zuihou also reports having no fuel left for the aircraft."
Yamamoto nodded and scowled slightly upon hearing that. It wasn't ideal, but it could've been way worse. If we aren't forced to engage an enemy fleet, it should be enough for now, he thought and listened to MacArthur's report about the idiots from the Army and his men's situation with supplies and even raised an impressed eyebrow, when he heard that one either incredibly brave, or monumentally stupid, Yank managed to force a shark to jump at him out of the water and then kill it for some food for the men on the troop ship with the least foodstuffs.
"The aliens underestimated the human capacity to band together in danger," he said and let a small smile slip on his face, making sure that no one saw it as he let his thoughts wander what the next week of travel would bring.