"HMS Dreadnought, I presume?"

"I-"the woman seemed to stop, lifting up an arm and looking over it as if surprised by her own existence. "I am."

"Lewis Maxwell," Lewis said as he took a step forward and held a hand out toward her. "How does it feel to stand among the living?"

"It is, strange," she responded as she took his hand and shook it gently, her eyes looking down at their hands. "Your hand is, warm."

"So is yours," Lewis responded as he let go.

Dreadnought seemed to look at her hand for a moment before smiling. "Yes, I suppose it is," she said before her expressions turned hard. "I . . . . Am aware of the situation."

"And that is?"

"I am the first of my kind, the first who shall stand against the Sirens for humanity, while not being part of it."

"You look human enough," Lewis said instantly as he heard the tone she spoke in. "I don't see why you cannot be human, and more than human at once."

Dreadnought smiled in a coy sort of way. "A kind thing to say, but I do have to wonder if your words are perhaps due to my form being pleasing to your eyes, rather than your thoughts being true?"

"We shall have to find out then, won't we?"

"I suppose we shall," Dreadnought said with a soft smile as she slightly turned her head and eyes toward the gangplank onto the deck.

A second later the scientist from before stepped up and onto the deck, a grin on his lips. "Ah it as a success!" He called as he walked over, eyes seeming to give Dreadnought an undressing before looking to Lewis. "So, does it listen to you?"

"Her."

The scientist looked at Lewis in confusion. "What?"

"Her. She is a woman, treating her as an object is insulting."

" . . . . It's a ship."

"and ships are always referred to as women, not things," Lewis pressed simply as he glanced to Dreadnought, prompting her to speak.

"I am Her Majesties ship, Dreadnought. I stand here now to bring a new age of victory to our people against the sirens. I would speak to the highest ranking officer."

"So speak."

Dreadnought shook her head. "You misunderstand sir. I am requirement orders from a ranking officer above that of captain."

"Well come along then, there are tests we need to run and-"

"You are not a ranking officer," Dreadnought said simply, causing the scientist to stop and stare, then turning his angry gaze toward Lewis.

"Control her damn you, that is why you are here to-"

"Sir Lewis is to be my captain, this I do understand," Dreadnought spoke up, again cutting off the scientist. "However, you are a scientist or perhaps engineer, you do not hold the rank to command a ship or give orders to ship and crew. I would speak to the local Admiral."

"It's humans, isn't it?" Lewis then asked the scientist. "He's the only one of rank not part of R&D here, isn't he?"

"So what if he is?"

Lewis let out a sigh. "It appears our local admiral is unconscious due to an accident upon arrival. We'll have to wait."

"There is no time to wait, we will have to act upon our own then, captain," Dreadnought stated as the entirety of the vessel below their feet seemed to thrum with power."

"What are you talking about?" the scientist demanded to know.

"The sirens are coming."

"No, they have retreated, we have hours until they-"

"fuck," Lewis said as it clicked in his mind. "Dreadnought, you were borne of the Wisdom cube from how I understand it, right?"

"That is correct."

"They contain information, and energy, right?"

"Yes."

"Meaning," he looked to the scientist as he spoke. "Her creation likely created an energy signal, like that of a ship going full ahead across the waves. They know she is here. If she is to be as much of a danger to them as you hope. They will not wait as they have in the past after softening a target up!"

"What, no, that is absurd," the scientist said, seemingly unable to accept such a thing.

Lewis merely shook his head and walked to the edge of the deck, looking around for a second before finding the soldier from before. "Soldier, what is your rank? Who leads the security of this base?""

"My superior, captain," the soldier responded.

"Where is he?"

"Medical bay sir, similar situation the admiral."

"So I take it you re the next in command for this bases security?"

"Technically sir."

Lewis smiled. "Good. You need to keep the base alert and make sure the AA and shore batteries are manned and ready."

The soldier seemed to look conflicted for a moment before nodding. "understood sir. Shall I request Air support from the nearby base?"

"Yes. If they have torpedo or dive bombers that would be best, but any planes would be of help as well. Make it clear that the battle will likely start within the next hour, two at longest I figure."

"Understood, anything else sir?"

Lewis looked back at dreadnought, and then past her and her vessel towards the end of the Drydock. "Flood this dock and open the main gate."

"Yes sir."

"No, Belay that order!" the scientist suddenly yelled before turning to Lewis. "You think you are so smart, but you are a fool! Do you think me blind to what you are trying to do?"

"Save lives?" Lewis offered hopefully.

"Obviously not, you are just planning on sailing off with this ship, with our creation, giving us nothing!" he stomped his foot on the ground as he glared at Lewis. "I knew getting a criminal who already once screwed over this project to help was a bad idea and now you prove it! This project has finally completed its first phase, but now there is more worked to do, so much more than you can even understand, so you are not-"

Lewis had had enough and walked straight toward the scientist, and as he reached him swung a fist into his stomach knocking the wind out of him, and then from good measure he grabbed the scientists head, lifted him back up, and punched him again knocking him out cold. "You talk too much," Lewis said before he turned to look down at the soldier below. "I apologize, but a scientist has no right to put paperwork over the lives of the innocent. Will there be an issue?"

Many scientist, dockworkers and engineers looked conflicted, but the soldier merely let out chuckle. "Absolutely not sir, I know my job and that is security, but I haven't forgotten my training, and every rifle exists for one thing." He said before he began walking down the length of the dry-dock. "You heard the man you idiots, get moving! Disconnect all those pipes and get this dock flooded!"

"I apologize for that," Lewis said as he turned to Dreadnought.

"No apologies are necessary for what must be done," she said with a nod before turning an glancing up at the vessels bridge. "I shall meet you upon the bridge as soon as you have finished with depositing that man elsewhere and doing whatever else you will need to."

Lewi smirked as he noticed the very please expression Dreadnought was wearing on her face as she turned and began moving toward the ships stairs. "Well then, it will have to be quick so we can get out to sea it seems." Without another word he grabbed the now unconscious scientist and threw him over a shoulder, walking him downs off the vessel and onto the dry-dock where only one technician was awaiting him with what looked like a rolling toolbox beside him.

"Just toss him on here and I'll move him out of the way sir," The technician said with a smirk. "About time someone put him in his place."

"Not liked is he?" Lewis asked as he put the man on the toolbox.

"Not really, no," the scientist said as he began dragging the toolbox away. "stay safe out there, we hnave no idea what that ships true potential power could be, or what it may do."

"I would not worry so much, I feel she has our best interest in mind," Lewis said as he walked back up the gangplank onto the deck of the Dreadnaught, it being taken away mere seconds after he stepped off of it. Walking around the deck toward the stairways up was an experience that Lewis had felt before, yet with no one running around the ship it felt hollow. This was not a ship made to move by the actions of hundreds after all, but it still felt odd.

As he reached the door to the bridge the sound of water pouring into the dry-dock reached Lewis's ears. It was a comforting sound in a way, but he could not simply stand and listen to it, not when he needed to know what was going to occur rather shortly. He then opened the door to bridge, silently thankful that it actually opened, and strode in and through the back sections of it to the main bridge itself.

It looked little different than many other bridges really. The various positions and posts were in different places than she ships he had captained, yet the machinery and designs of those stations while different were much the same. The bridge was also immaculately clean, not as if it had just been built, but as if it had never been dirty to begin with, a prominent difference indeed. And what caught him most by surprise was Dreadnaught herself, standing in the middle of the bridge a single hand upon the wheel, while she seemed to be staring out at nothing with a stare that could take planes out of the sky. Yet was cold, sad, and solemn.

"You, don't believe we're going to live through this, do you?" Lewis asked after a moment of silence from the entryway into the bridge.

"We are beset on all sides by those who would do us harm and aim to end everything we hold dear. Our allies at best send us warm wishes, while hoping we would fall so that they might learn from our demise, and our penultimate foe holds power that we can barely fathom," Dreadnought stated clearly as she did not turn to look at Lewis. Instead she slowly lifted one of her hands and seemed to look it over before speaking again. "I know I shall likely not survive long in this war. I am a proof of concept, a mere prototype to what humanity wishes to save itself with."

"I know the feeling," Lewis said as he walked into the ridge and stopped just a meter shy of Dreadnought. "I'm only here because I am expendable, and because the one who betrayed me got a guilty conscience."

"That Admiral that was mentioned?"

"Yes."

"And, how were you betrayed by him?"

" . . . . . . . Tell you what, I'll tell you that, once we survive this coming engagement, alright?" Lewis said with a smile. "you planned to go out and engage whatever sirens attack us due to your creation, right?"

"Yes. They will come, and if not stopped, they will destroy this facility, and everything relate to my creation so that more like myself cannot be made to stand up before them," Dreadnought stated seriously as the entire vessel sifted slightly, making it obvious that the dry-dock had filled with enough water that it was now floating.

"Then we should be prepared both for what they will have in store for us, and for what our fellows will have when we return," Lewis said simply.

"You see enemies among our closest allies?"

"No, I see people who do not consider us allies to begin with, least not till we prove your worth."

"Not your own as well?"

"They have made their decision on my worth," Lewis admitted simply. "It's yours that will decide this."

"I see," Dreadnought said in a strange tone just as a heavy thud of gears and mechanisms echoed out through the dry-dock. In seconds the massive gate far ahead of them began to shift and open, letting seawater pour in and join that which was pumped in mere moments before. The vessel beneath them shuddered and shifted, rising up noticeably, but did not make either Lewis or Dreadnought twitch at all. "You have good sea legs."

"You can't take the sea out of a sailor," Lewis stated as he decided to stop acting secondary and walked forward till he was beside Dreadnought.

"That is good for one who is to be my captain," Dreadnought state before turning to look at Lewis. "you have been a captain before, yes?"

"Of three different ships,"

"Their names?"

"The S-class Destroyer Shamrock, I was the vice-captain of that one technically. I Captained the J-class Destroyer Jaguar next. Finally, I captained the Erebus Class Monitor, Erebus," Lewis said with a bittersweet smile on his face. "They were good ships, and had the best crews a man could ask for, especially the Erebus."

"Good, then you know some of what my weight can Accomplish,"

"I wouldn't say you above what weight a lady should be, in fact I'd say you look rather fetching as you are," Lewis replied instantly.

"As nice as such a compliment is, this is not the not the time," Dreadnought chastised, leading Lewis to simply let out a sigh that made it clear he agreed.

"Quite right, my apologies. I forgot myself temporarily."

"It is fine. You have been through much, and shall be going through much more shortly," Dreadnought said.

Then, very suddenly, Lewis felt the Vessel beneath his feet come to life. The hum of a boiler, the sound of reverberating machinery, and after a second, motion as it began to slowly slip out of the dry-dock. "We're moving."

"Yes. Did you think we would not?"

"I do not know what to think, though," Lewis paused and looked over Dreadnought. "I suppose I expected you would need to hold the wheel, or at least a console of some kind."

"No," Dreadnought said simply before turning to face Lewis, the lights in the bridge suddenly shutting off, and then turning back on. "This Vessel is a mere extension of myself, and I can manipulate it with no more difficulty than you open your hand. I need not even be on it to achieve such a feat either, though, I suspect that scientist from before would find such information of some concern."

"He and all of the old coots who sit above would," Lewis said as he walked up to Dreadnought and then past her up to the window, peering out of it for a second before smirking, his reflection visible in the glass. "It would be a shame if such information was, forgotten to be mentioned to them."

"That it would."

". . . so, how is this going to work?" Lewis asked after a second, only turning to look at Dreadnought after his questions was given.

"Meaning?"

"This combat," Lewis Clarified. "I am a captain even if I am rusty, but you are this vessel."

Ah, I see. I am, unsure myself," Dreadnought said as the vessel broke free of the dry-dock in its entirety and began turning to leave the port.

"Then an easier question. You can . . . . . feel every system of this vessel?" Lewi asked, having had to search for the right word for a moment.

"I can."

"Then what can I do to assist that will not make things difficult for you to engage the enemy?"

Dreadnought brought a hand to her chin and gently touched them together as she seemed deep in though. "While I know our foe, I do not know them. Can you man the Radar and observation systems and prioritize targets for me?"

"Of course, where are the instruments?" Lewis asked as he looked around the bridge.

"Here, this console should suffice," Dreadnought stated as she gestured to one near her.

Yet, when Lewi looked it over he was dumfounded. The radar looked similar enough to what he knew, but it looked far different, instead of black and green is was blue and showed more shapes, and he could see no dials or knobs anywhere near it. "Um, where are the controls?"

"What?" Dreadnought asked as she looked at the console and then sighed. "Yes, of course, because I control everting, there are none. Oh dear."

"alright, its fine, I'll just watch it and call out priority targets that I see, and act as an advisor for now," Lewis said as he could see a ping on the far edge of the radar. "Speaking of, we've got a hit. About . . . forty nautical miles out. Not bad radar."

"Yes, I cannot sense much aside from its presence though. We will need to be closer to know what it is."

"Well, shall we brave the elements and meet our alien foes then?" Lewis asked with a smirk.

"Yes, I believe we shall."

Xxxxxx

Authors note: Leaving this chapter here because the upcoming combat will be major, as what comes after it.