…Three days in and his secret was exposed to the girls, well, not all of them, just the secretaries and several other girls…Enterprise overheard what he was talking about with Vestal, needless to say there's a lot of questioning involved, and the secretaries were called for emergency meeting to explain William's night job…They understand the fact that William had to keep it under wraps but why must it be him? He's their commanding officer and in the event he's wounded or killed then…
"It's complicated." William said to everyone.
"Complicated huh? But you know Kommandant, can you really work two jobs at once? You. Will. Die from exhaustion if you keep that up~" Prinz said to William.
"…Well I don't have a choice, it's a direct order from high command." William shrugged as he answered.
"That's unreasonable." Hood said to William.
"When are they ever being reasonable…?" William muttered under his breath.
William knew that the best, he'd been serving under them directly for years. They demand for something to be done, something impossible to do through normal means, and yet when he did get it done High Command berated him for his unorthodox tactics…He's always wrong in their eyes, but at the same time they needed him…Hood had every right to call them unreasonable.
"Anyway, I'm fine with this current situation ladies. If it gets too much, I'll be sure to let you know." William said while smiling to assure them.
"…You're not forcing yourself, right?" Enterprise asked while frowning.
"Don't worry Ms. Enterprise, I'm not. It's not like I will go to fight the terrorists every night, it's just when I'm needed too so it won't be often." William assured her.
"Okay…just don't forget to rest now and then, commander." Enterprise said while frowning.
After saying that, she excused herself and exited William's office. William looked around and noticed that everyone had their own reactions to the scene but most of them were smiling bitterly, he cocked his eyebrows at the sight and curiosity finally got the better of him…
"…She's quite worried." William said out loud.
"That's because she learned from experience, harshly." Illustrious said to William.
"Oh?" William looked at Illustrious.
"During the war she fought relentlessly. Enterprise is strong but the toll of constant battle finally caught up to her, she collapsed and was almost defeated were it not for Belfast saving her." This time its Hood who spoke.
"I'm glad that I made it in time back then." Belfast remarked while standing beside William.
…William did read the reports of past battles, he did have a basic knowledge of what happened with Enterprise in the past…he thought she already got over that habit of hers, it looks like she did and having a reminder of that being in the form of her commanding officer may cause discomfort for her…Still, he thought the girls were worrying too much about this second job of his. It's only for when he would be needed anyway…But deep down inside, he was smiling at the display of their care…it felt good to receive such attention.
.
…A week passed by quickly, it's all nice and quiet on Azur Lane base with no Siren attacks reported and patrols in the vicinity turned up with nothing…William sat in his office chair while tapping his left cheek repeatedly in confusion with one question haunting his mind, what the fuck are the Sirens planning with all this calmness?! Seriously, they don't even show their shadows and reports he got from the coast on every part of the globe reported the same thing! All clear.
"I'm getting quite restless here…" William muttered out loud.
…His work was done for the day, he's got nothing to do and it's quite hot outside. Well, it's almost summer, and he's tempted to stroll the base but not at noon with the glaring sun like this…William leaned back as he surveyed his office for a bit. A week after he's here and he's already put in many things to decorate the bland looking room, the girls from all over the base also like to come to play or bother him for attention so…yeah, his office was quite crowded sometimes and moments where it's empty were quite rare.
He took off his white uniform and his black t-shirt underneath it, his bare packed-with-muscle torso was exposed for the world to see and he stretched as he relished the cool air conditioned room's temperature directly with his exposed skin. He looked at the scars on his torso, very faint but it's still noticeable if one looked close enough…Heh, William guessed that not even modern technology could hide the proof of his mistakes and close calls in the past. Bullet wounds, stab wounds, slash wounds, burn marks, he's got it all. Belfast, Sheffield and Vestal saw his bare torso but none of them made any comments about it…that's quite strange.
After stretching for a bit, he then turned to the audio player he set up to the right side from the door and set it on, browsing through the music list he found a lot in it…Illustrious' classical music collection, Long Island's anime song list, San Diego's music collection, Hood's jazz music list…When did those girls set these up!? Shrugging in complete loss, William chose one of the two lists under his name…the rock and metal part.
The music kicked in, the room reverberated in sound waves filled with rock tunes so much that every male in the direct vicinity could grow an instant full beard, chest hair, and another pair of balls from the sheer amount of testosterone hanging in the air. William started pretending to carry a guitar as he performed air guitar for the ref of the song that came up in full force, the recent DOOM game's death metal was quite sick, and he's a fan of the game back before he was locked up. Why did he do this? This nonsensical immersion could let off some steam.
He let himself loose, throwing all of his frustration to his movements, his stress into his fingers that move at mach speed, his uncertainty to his passionate immersion. He imagined himself wearing that green badass power armor, with a double barrel super shotgun in his hands, loads of guns on his back, stranded in hell, terrorizing its local populace of demons, rip and tear these assholes until it is done.
"Come on you sods! Have a taste of my good ol' shotty here! BOOM!" William said while pointing his imaginary shotgun.
"Oh, still standing you wanker? Come here and bite this chainsaw, motherfucker!" William said as he swung his arms wildly.
"Hmph! Baron of hell? More like Goons of Hell! You weak cunts couldn't even kill someone smaller than you such as me! Come on! Get some! Get some of this bitch!" William said as he imitated carrying a mini gun with his hands.
"Cyber demon? Pfft! BFG-9000 it is! Go fuck yourself with my bright green balls you poor excuse of terminator!" William said as he pretended to shoot a big fucking gun.
The music ended and by god he's sweating like he's really in hell, that was a perfect immersion and it got his blood boiling to be honest! He's about to go once again when he realizes there's additional light that came not from his window. William turned right and he saw the office door was opened, with Prinz smirking and her phone on her right hand, Belfast who still smiling as usual as if she didn't saw something strange just now, Illustrious eyes went wide as she closed her gaping mouth, Hood and Kongou were trying hard not to burst out laughing, Takao stared with cocked eyebrows and Enterprise stood frozen with astonished face…
"Ah guten tag kommandant, what great content that you just gave me!" Prinz said while smirking.
"Milord, are you alright?" Illustrious asked with a concerned face.
"…Such passion, such bloodlust…Now I understand why you're with Task Force Nimbus, shikikan." Takao said with her right hand on her chin.
"I could imagine how you deal with those terrorists now, commander…you surely don't give mercy on the battlefield." Enterprise said to William.
…Holy almighty shit! William felt like taking the revolver on his waist and shoot himself in the head just to save him from the sheer embarrassment that these ladies just saw him acting like that! That was such an ungentlemanly thing to do…He walked back to his seat, slowly putting on his clothes, then dropped his head to the table before sighing loudly…Five seconds later, he stared back at the ladies with his usual composed face.
"…I would like to ask you to please delete that video, Prinz." William said to Prinz with a forced smile.
"Aww, too late kommandant. It was sent to everyone already~" Prinz said while grinning.
"HUH?! You're shitting me!" William said in fear.
"Ahahahaha! That's the first time I ever saw you looking panicked like that, it's hilarious!" Prinz said while laughing.
"Mou, Prinz, I think you're being too mean to milord." Hood said while smiling.
"It's just a light teasing, Hood…Don't worry, I'm not so heartless to do that" Prinz replied while smiling smugly.
"…Alright, let's just put this under the bridge. Did something come up?" William quickly asked them.
"Yes commander, we have reports of an unknown sighting near the base. Should we investigate?" Enterprise asked William.
"Hmm, let's-"
William's phone rang and he looked at the caller, his eyes narrowed in total seriousness as he stared at the caller for five seconds…The girls wondered if he would pick up the phone or not, he seemed really conflicted about answering it. The call went unanswered and William was about to continue when the phone rang again, this time the girls could clearly see a tick mark on his left cheek…Whoa, their commander is irritated! That's a first for them.
"…Ladies, please stay in here for a bit. I have a phone call to take, you may do as you like." William said as he walked outside.
Exiting and closing the door, the girls were left to stare at each other in confusion after William left the room…Who's that caller? This one week they get to know their commander, he's a friendly person who sometimes got swamped by ship girls' antics and still managed to put a smile on his face every now and then. So, anyone who managed to get him irritated like that must be quite troublesome…
"…He's been in quite a bad mood since morning." Hood said out loud.
"Is he?" Illustrious asked Hood.
"I can vouch for Madam Hood's words. I don't know what happened last night, but master had not been himself since I came to wake him up." Belfast said while frowning a little.
"Could he be frustrated?" Kongou asked out loud.
"Why would he be? His workload was usual and he completed it like usual, there's no trouble on the base and everything seems fine…Could it be the problem is something out of the base?" Hood said out loud.
"…Those terrorists? Commander William went to deal with another mission yesterday right?" Enterprise suggested to them.
"Hmm? Wasn't the reason he went out last night was to visit the town?" Hood asked Enterprise.
"I can confirm that he went out to buy something in town, I saw him off after all." Takao said to everyone.
"I DON'T EVEN CARE!" William suddenly shouted.
The girls were startled when they heard William shout, he sounded angry. Silent agreement were signed between every one of them as they opened the door to peeked at him, there they saw William was on call with an unknown person but his face looked irritated and his huge left fist was clenched…They hoped that he won't be angry enough to punch the wall because they believed he could crack it and explaining that to Akashi would be quite awkward.
"Listen here, I don't want to ever deal with this beautifully crafted clusterfuck again! Do not even think about setting a meeting or so help me god I will nuke Azur Lane HQ without hesitation! What? You think I couldn't procure one? Mate, I can assure you that nothing good will come out from that plan of yours…No, I don't so bugger off with that idea!" William said as he hung up.
He turned back and saw several heads peeking through his office's door, of course they're going to eavesdrop on him if he shouted and let his emotions run wild…Now that he thinks of it, he's showing so much more emotion on this base compared to all the time he served on Task Force Nimbus. During that time, he had to maintain the stoic, professional, and hardened attitude as their job description dictated them…In here though? He got to act like he was before the academy, even the guy who called him was surprised at his outburst of emotion before.
"…Sorry for that horrendous display ladies." William said while smiling bitterly.
"Milord, you can talk about your problems with us anytime. It's not good to bottle up like this sir, you can snap in the future." Hood said to William while frowning a bit.
"I know, but this is my problem, and I don't want to involve you girls in unnecessary trouble. I appreciate the sentiment though…Alright, you girls want to investigate the sighting right? I'll accompany you girls to the area of operation." William said to them.
"What about the roster for this deployment?" Hood asked William.
"We got plenty of resources to spare, I want the third fleet as vanguards and second fleet as support. Enterprise, you and first fleet will be in charge of base defense while we're gone" William said to them.
"Sir yes sir!" Enterprise replied while saluting.
"Let's move ladies, meet me on the helipad in ten minutes." William nodded his head.
He entered a small equipment depot and prepared himself for a deployment by putting on a flight vest, putting on gloves, and taking a flight helmet with him. He took a P228 Handgun, checked the ammo in it's magazine before holstering it on his vest alongside several spare magazines. William made his way out toward the canteen, along the way he saw several big yellow bird-like creatures preparing the helicopter for deployment…Those things were called Manjuus.
How the hell they came to be, how they're sentient enough to understand orders, how they're basically the base caretakers, and how they function mostly out of sight were the biggest questions William ever had since he took over the base but for the sake of his sanity he chose not to dwell too far on it…High Command and by extension Lena, had been trying to avoid answering his question regarding these creatures too. He was told that they're his labor force that were paid by High Command directly, and William could rest at ease with base maintenance because these birds will do it automatically…See? Nothing good will come out with overthinking about them.
"…Hey you, is the helicopter ready to go?" William asked a Manjuu.
The Manjuus who were near the helicopter all stopped whatever they're doing and gathered in front of William in tight line formation before all of them raised their right hands (wings?) toward him like it indicated a thumbs up…William's at loss and could only reply by giving him his own thumbs up with uncertain eyes, but he shrugged…Just go along, it'll be easier.
"Alright, thanks." William said to them.
With those words, The Manjuus saluted at him before flopping off into all direction and disappeared from his sight within five seconds…What the actual fuck? William looked around and he saw no signs of a large herd of chickens ever being present on the helipad. By this time, his back shuddered at the mystery he just witnessed. That alleviated a bit when he saw the girls approaching him, twelve of them that consisted of two fleets.
"Milord? Shouldn't we deploy through the pier?" Hood asked William.
"Nah, it'll take too long. We're going with rapid deployment tactics…Get in the helicopter, I'll personally drop you girls off on the area of operation." William said as he entered the helicopter.
Everyone then started to get inside the helicopter, the vehicle is quite large as it has enough room for at least thirty people in its cargo bay. Everyone got inside, and William started the take-off procedure for the helicopter by checking the rotors, fuel, and electronic systems on board. He meticulously did it in under a minute that he didn't notice that Hood already sat beside him.
"…Milord has employed quite unusual tactics." Illustrious commented while seated.
"But he does have a point…cruising through the air would be faster, this should save a lot of time." Kongou said to Illustrious.
"You girls ready?" William asked out loud while looking at them.
All he got was collective yes and nods coming from them, he nodded back then looked at Hood who stared at him while smiling. He smiled back as he took the helicopter off the helipad and headed toward the designated area of operation at top speed, most of the girls were tense as they're not used to flying but many of them (nah, mostly the destroyers) looked outside the window and relished that they're cruising faster than their top speed while gliding on the sea.
"Milord, you're driving the helicopter yourself? Why not ask a Manjuu to do it?" Hood asked William.
"Don't sweat the small stuff, Ms. Hood. Besides, I like to drive around quite a bit." William said while focusing on piloting.
"I could totally see you being a cab driver." Hood said while smiling widely.
"Really? Not the private driver of a beautiful princess like you?" William shot a meaningful smirk at Hood.
"My, now you're flattering me…" Hood looked away with a faint blush on her cheeks.
"…Approaching drop zone, ready yourselves ladies. Second fleet, take the left side of the helicopter while third fleet take the right. Jump in orderly manners and deploy your rigging in the air, understood?" William said out loud.
""""""""""Yes sir!"""""""""" Everyone replied.
Hood stood up and headed to the back to join the other. Second Fleet consisted of Prinz Eugen, Helena, Ayanami, Hood, Arizona, and California while Third Fleet consisted of Takao, Atago, Javelin, Kongou, Kirishima, and Illustrious. Seeing all twelve girls ready on their positioning, William opened the helicopter side hatch and everyone was immediately hit by strong winds. William looked forward, and he spotted smoke pillars in the horizon…They have arrived.
"On my mark…Three, two, one, drop now!" William said out loud.
With the command given, twelve girls jumped in orderly manners. They deployed their rigs in the air and all of them landed safely on the water's surface, some naturally adapted with the landing while some had to stumble a bit but still managed to stand nevertheless. William raised the helicopter's attitude once he confirmed everyone already jumped off, he closed the hatch, and now it's time to work.
"This…actually works!" Kirishima said out loud.
"Whoa you're right! This will drastically change our tactics!" Arizona said to Kirishima.
"Kommandant, we're on the surface." Prinz reported through the radio.
"Excellent, you ladies adapted well with on the fly tactics like this…Let's get to work then, everyone head to bearing 320. That smoke came from something, possibly a destroyed ship. Head there and assess the situation" William ordered them.
"Jawohl, kommandant. Let's get moving everyone!" Prinz said while leading the vanguards.
…William was about to set music on the helicopter console when he noticed something, the helicopter he's on was actually armed? How? He didn't see anything attached on the side of the helicopter but the console indicated armaments were installed. He chose to activate the armament and suddenly he heard something coming from the side of the helicopter, he looked outside the window and saw several weaponry materialized on the side of the helicopter.
…Say what?! What in god's name kind of bullshit is he witnessing now!? Did this helicopter come equipped with the same technology that the ship girls used!? It's the first time he knew about this, and he could safely presume that this was still in an experimental state! Man, the number of projectiles available for him to use in the console also exceeded what a normal helicopter could carry…
"…Hey, this thing is equipped to kill something! Heavy Machine Gun turret on the nose, Air to Ground Missile, Anti-Ship Missile, rocket pods, and even Air to Air Missile…Packed to kill, have enough room for ship girls to deploy, and customizable…I think I know how to implement all of this to fight in the future." William muttered to himself.
"Kommandant, we've arrived. It's a destroyed flotilla, a dozen transport ships and four frigate escorts." Prinz reported on the radio.
"…Any survivors?" William asked Prinz.
"…We're surveying the area now." Prinz said to William.
Geez, this first deployment was quite catastrophic to say the least…dozens of transport ships, by the looks of it those were medium class too, so they essentially lost a good amount of stuff that was now at the bottom of the ocean. Four frigate escorts were more than enough to deter raiders or any kind of piracy attempt but…yeah, those that attacked them must've been the size of a battle group and coordinated.
"Commander, we've found no survivors." Kongou said on the radio.
"Impossible, this many ships and not a single human was found? Not even dead bodies?" William asked with cocked eyebrows.
"No sir, nothing…it's like the ships were destroyed and its people just disappeared." Kongou further said.
"Could the Sirens have possibly captured them?" Prinz interjected on the radio.
"It's possible but…this would be the first." Kongou responded to her.
"…Helena, I need you to scan the surroundings. I'll fly around to survey the area too." William ordered Helena.
"Yes commander, scanning now." Helena replied as she deployed her radar scan.
…Not a single dead body or survivors in a large destroyed group of ships like this? This was straight creepy pasta stuff. William racked his brains for any sort of explanation of the event he witnessed…But no matter what he thought, this was an irregularity and according to the girls, the Sirens haven't done this kind of thing in the past either…Just as he thought that, his console blared red in alarm alongside a constant beeping noise. William looked to the left and what he saw was enough to make him sweat, a large squadron of fighters were heading toward him and locked specifically on his helicopter.
"…You've got to be kidding!" William said as he yanked the helicopter control.
"Eh? Commander! Large squadron of fighters is heading toward you!" Helena warned him.
"Yeah I noticed! Ready your AA guns ladies I'll bring them to your position!" William said to the girls.
Every ship girl immediately readied their Anti-Aircraft Guns and pointed it toward William's diving helicopter which was being chased by Siren jets, the girls hardened their resolve as they prepared to combat Sirens naval forces which won't be far behind those fighters. One of the fighters launched a missile toward the helicopter, William noticed it and immediately dumped flares to counter the heat seeking missile which worked as the missile hit the sea instead.
"Damn! Fighter jets! Dodging missiles have always been a hassle with a helicopter!" William cussed out loud.
"They're in range! All cannons, fire!" Prinz said out loud.
"Fighters launched! Holy light, lend me your strength!" Illustrious said as she summoned her fighters.
The air battle raged for a minute where the concentrated AA guns fire, and Illustrious' fighters thinned out the Sirens fighters' numbers to zero in no time, William pulled back up to a high altitude to survey the area, and he saw what the girls predicted. There's a Siren's fleet approaching toward them and they're quite large in size…
"Ladies! Fleet formation, bearing 270…Hit them hard!" William said on the radio.
"Yes sir!" Kongou responded on the radio.
"It's the Sirens, mass produced models." Helena informed the group.
"Look, the second wave of fighters are launching from that carrier." Javelin said to them.
"Let's make sure that's the last of it. Battleships, that thing is our primary target! Load Armor Penetration rounds, skirt to its side and let's punch a hole through it!" Hood said to the other battleships.
"Great idea!" Kongou said to Hood.
"Cruisers and destroyers! Follow me, let's hit those things straight on!" Prinz said while grinning.
They charged the Siren's fleet head on, as expected the Sirens immediately opened fire at them. Shells flew toward the ship girls who dodged them effortlessly while returning fire with their own cannons. Several shells headed toward Prinz, she only smiled smugly as she deployed a large blue shield that destroyed the shells on impact. Prinz immediately fired her own guns that decimated two Siren destroyers that were directly in front of her.
"More! Come on, that's the best you swine could do!?" Prinz taunted while grinning.
"Wah…Prinz really got fired up." Javelin commented on the side.
"Can you blame her? She's itching for a fight after being dormant for a whole month, even I felt like cutting loose right now." Kirishima said to Javelin.
"Atago!" Takao suddenly called.
"Yes nee-san, double torpedo barrage!" Atago said out loud.
Atago and Takao launched four torpedo barrages toward the Sirens fleet, explosions followed soon after as those ships had no possible means of evading the torpedo barrages launched by the two ship girls in close quarters. But the resulting smoke and fiery explosions paved a way for three suicide boats that went past the vanguards, all of them were shocked, but they had to choose between firing at those boats or the rest of the ships in front of them.
"Suicide boats, they're heading for Illustrious!" Hood said on the radio.
Illustrious saw the three boats heading toward her in full speed, she readied herself because her aircraft were too far to help her in time so she knew this would damage her quite a bit. She heard spinning rotors to the right, and she looked just in time to see the helicopter that William rode was being chased by three Siren fighters flying at low altitude while launching rocket barrages at the three boats. The explosion forced Illustrious to hold her skirt down and keep her hat from flying off, the boats were destroyed so she looked at the helicopter when the explosion subsided and found that William was still being chased around.
"Don't worry, keep launching planes! I got the main fleet under my watch!" William said on the radio.
"Yes milord! Thank you for the help." Illustrious said while smiling.
"That's it! We're winning this!" Takao said on the radio.
"Wait, their second fleet is moving toward us from the south! It's larger than the previous one!" Hood said on the radio.
"This time they also have a battleship and a carrier in the mix!" Kongou further adds.
"Can you girls handle it?" William asked on the radio.
"We fought worse shikikan, this much we could handle!" Atago said on the radio.
"Alright then…Give 'em hell!" William said on the radio.
"Javelin, Ayanami, Helena, we're going to their left! Hood, take care of the battleships will you?" Prinz said on the radio.
The combined fleet split into two as the large ships stood their ground while the more mobile ones skirt around the flank, Hood looked at the approaching fleet, and she immediately analyzed which to hit first with first barrage. She noticed that the carrier was a bit exposed sitting alone in the middle of formation…perhaps if they elevated their guns for a bit, they're not Warspite but they could still pull off long range shots.
"Hood-san, your orders?" Takao asked Hood.
"Let's make sure their attention is on us while the others go around their flank. Ms. Takao, Ms. Atago, launch torpedo barrage on my signal." Hood said to Takao.
""Got it"" Takao and Atago responded.
"…This many mass produced models so close to our base, and we didn't detect them? How?" Kongou muttered to herself.
"Doesn't matter for now Ms. Kongou…Battleships, fire at that carrier!" Hood ordered.
Simultaneously, every battleship in the combined fleet aimed their guns toward the carrier. Once they're ready, everyone immediately fired their salvoes toward their target. The rounds rained upon the carrier and completely destroyed its flight deck, Hood nodded at Takao, who alongside Atago, immediately launched another combined torpedo barrage that decimated the Siren's vanguards. All that remained were the damaged carrier, several battleships and several cruisers who were still unscathed.
"Illustrious, we could use torpedo bombers on that battleship." Kongou said to Illustrious.
"They're on the way Ms. Kongou." Illustrious said as she prepared to launch another aircraft.
"This fight is going well. Prinz?" Hood asked on the radio.
"…Double line, stagger formation. Advance! All ships, fire at will!" Prinz said out loud.
Prinz alongside the others managed to get to their flank and unleashed every weaponry they had on their rigging, combined with the battleships focused fire, and Illustrious' torpedo bombers the second fleet was decimated in no time. All that remained on the battlefield were sinking Siren ships with flames engulfing them and sea water flooding their internal structure, everyone took a breath in relief that they managed to defeat them easily.
"…Whoa. That's it huh? Enemy fleet eliminated." California said out loud.
"Kommandant, we're done here." Prinz said on the radio.
"Excellent work ladies, that's a splendid performance…Huh?!" William suddenly said.
His alarm returned and you know what that means, another wave of Siren fighter jets were approaching him and locking his helicopter for missile strike. Just like before William yanked the controller hard to avoid the passing jets but this time the jets also fired their machine guns and several rounds hit the helicopter, William noticed that he's high enough from the ocean surface then stalled the engine on purpose so gravity could do its work but the fighters launched a missile while he's falling.
"Wankers!" William said as he noticed the missile.
"Please hold on milord! Our fighters are heading there to support you!" Illustrious said to William.
"Yup! Some help would be good!" William said as he's trying not to crash and be hit by a missile at the same time.
Illustrious fighter aircraft were making their way to help William when all of them were gunned down from something below the clouds, everyone was startled at the appearance of a third Siren fleet consisting of one carrier and several heavy cruisers. The girls could only watch as William also noticed and strived to avoid the incoming AA gun fire and pushing the helicopter engine to its limits…the man himself had to sweat in nervousness because he treated this transport craft as if it were a helicopter gunship.
"What!?" Illustrious was shocked.
"Third group is advancing on us! Milord-" Hood said on the radio.
"Don't worry! Go and handle them ladies!" William immediately said on the radio.
"But sir-" Kongou said on the radio.
"I can handle a couple of aircraft by myself! Go now!" William ordered on the radio.
The ship girls nodded their heads, and they immediately moved to handle the incoming third fleet, no strategy this time as they relentlessly fired and reloaded their cannons at maximum speed. William noted that the girls were already focusing fire on the fleet, he looked at the incoming fighter jets and narrowed his eyes as he prepared to engage them directly…No more running and letting the girls destroy them, it ends here with his own hands.
"Well…Now that they're out and handling the hopefully last Siren group. Time to waltz, you freaks!" William said out loud.
He managed to avoid another machine gun barrage by diving and pulling up again, he must say that this large helicopter didn't break yet with what he's doing was quite impressive. But he should only do this when he's in a tight situation and make sure this helicopter is always maintained and serviced. William managed to dodge a missile by a narrow margin while several others closed on him from behind.
"…For a fighter jet, they move as slow as a helicopter for some reason…" William muttered to himself.
"Missile alert! Missile alert! Missile alert!" The computer console alerted non-stop.
William noticed that every time he dodged the missiles he noticed that the fighter jets immediately turned around in almost exactly the same fashion…Few of them even pulled a tight maneuver which would make the pilot of the aircraft pass out due to the G force alone. Seeing the example in front of him, William only had one conclusion in mind.
"…They have a pattern in their movement…That insane maneuver. No doubt, it's a drone…" William said out loud.
Few of the fighters disengaged to help with the defense of the fleet leaving only two of them still chasing William around, the man was pumped with adrenaline, everything seemed to move slower as he watched and analyzed the movement of the fighter jets. One of them flew straight before launching a missile from quite the distance, more than two kilometers. William immediately knew what was happening, he can't say he's surprised.
"Long Range Guided Missile huh…Come on, impress me." William said while narrowing his eyes.
…The timing he had to choose in order to avoid a radar guided missile with a slow moving helicopter was quite slim, he had to choose between stalling to the sea or the helicopter getting hit on the tail. William took the risk by making the helicopter spin 360 degrees and narrowly avoided the missile, any further than one rotation then he might crash to the sea. The fighter jet was still flying straight at him, he decided that he had enough with these jets.
"Gotcha you son of a bitch!" William said out loud.
William pressed the trigger for his chin mounted 30mm cannon on the helicopter which fired hot lead straight at the incoming fighter, the rounds shredded the fighter as it spun out of control while being on fire. Another fighter headed toward him and William locked it with his Anti Air Missile, the beeping turned into continuous tone which meant he locked the target, and William squeezed the trigger immediately. The missile launched and hit the fighters and it exploded in the air, the debris flew toward him however and the helicopter shook a bit due to the debris and shockwave. He can't rest easy yet, another group of fighters was heading toward him, and he wasn't sure he could take them on directly like before. But his tension alleviated when the fighter jets were destroyed by AA fire from below, he looked down and spotted Javelin and Ayanami.
"Commander! Are you alright!?" Javelin asked on the radio.
"Whew, thanks! You girls saved my skin." William said while smiling.
"Their third fleet is being taken care of as we speak, victory is almost ours." Ayanami reported on the radio.
"That carrier is going to launch another wave of fighters!" Javelin said on the radio.
"Oh hell no it won't!" William said out loud.
William immediately switched the weapon to anti-ship missile, he got a lock on the Siren aircraft carrier and quickly launched two missiles toward the ship. The girls who were fighting the aircraft carrier stopped firing when they heard missiles flying above them, the missile hit the ship's bridge and the resulting explosion was enough to tear the ship in two…William was seated while stunned in the helicopter cockpit, he's still trying to comprehend the power he's got with this helicopter by his side…
"…A single helicopter could do all of this? What did that commander think when he ordered one of these?" William said out loud in wonder.
.
Belfast was waiting for the deployed fleet to return and she walked toward the helipad when she noticed that the helicopter was approaching the base, the helicopter landed smoothly and the ship girls disembarked with smiles on their faces. Belfast took this as a good sign, it seems none of them were harmed during the battle but out of politeness and care she still asked.
"Welcome back ladies. How's the battle?" Belfast asked them.
"Went really well! Although they're mass produced models, we really managed to defeat all of them without a single scratch!" Prinz said to Belfast.
"Though, there's something different than before." Hood said while smiling a bit.
"And why is that?" Belfast asked curiously.
"Shikikan…he also participated in the battle." Takao said to Belfast.
"Huh? Is that true?" Belfast cocked her eyebrows.
"Yes. He saved Illustrious from a suicide boat with the helicopter, he waltz toward them in low altitude before launching rocket barrages…our previous commander always watched the battle from a safe distance, Commander Blaze participated directly, and he was chased around by Siren fighters because of that" Kongou said to Belfast.
…Now that the helicopter had landed, Belfast noted that the helicopter itself suffered some damage. There's several clear bullet holes on the hull, some burn marks near the rear rotor and a few windows on the cargo bay seemed to crack. Belfast narrowed her eyes but returned to her usual composed face when William disembarked from the helicopter, his hair was a mess and he looked a bit tired. William noted that the girls still stood near the helipad, he cocked his eyebrows in confusion.
"Why are you girls still standing here? Go on, you need to rest." William said to them.
The girls looked at each other before nodding or saluting then went down the helipad, William looked back to check on the helicopter's condition as Belfast approached from behind…William frowned at the sight he saw, this was a first battle but it seemed he had to better his flying skill if he want to avoid taking damage like this in the future. Granted, these were miracles in itself with how huge and unwieldy this helicopter is in the air yet still managed to avoid taking fatal pounding during that air gangbang.
"Master." Belfast said to William.
"Yes Belfast?" William asked Belfast.
"Allow me to say this…What you did was quite reckless." Belfast said in a stern tone.
…Whoa, did Belfast just get mad at him? William shuddered a bit at the thought, he looked toward Belfast who was still looking at him with small frown and narrow eyes…Yep, she's pissed, because not even when she's irritated Belfast would show hints of facial expression directly as far as he experienced. But, William didn't back down as he answered.
"I know." William simply said.
"Then why did you do it? A commander is the head of a military force, if one was killed then that force could crumble" Belfast asked William.
"…Because that's how I fought." William said to Belfast.
…When did he ever lead from behind the desk? Only several times during the academy course where he was tasked to lead a large group of simulated forces to take a city…Hologram simulation was quite realistic nowadays. That's basically the only time he did that as the rest of the course involved him taking a Combat Course with a former SAS Instructor, since that day he always led from the front with guns in hand…
"I always lead from the front, ever since my days in the academy. With this helicopter, I was given a power to turn the tide of battle…Illustrious almost got hurt were it not for me intervened with those suicide boats, I was able to prevent a Siren Aircraft Carrier from launching their next wave of fighters…Belfast, I did what I did because I believe that I could make a difference even with the limited capability I have on the battlefield. Dangerous? Yes it is, but I'm prepared for the consequences when I signed up as a soldier...It's my duty" William said before he realized…did he just ranted!?
"…My goodness…you remind me of her." Belfast said while closing her eyes.
"Oh?" William raised his eyebrows.
"I know someone who also acted like you, master…She's reckless and stubborn, pushing through her limits no matter the cost to attain victory…I don't say I disapprove of your methods, but please…Don't push yourself too far. Providing fire support directly for the ladies is admirable, you went above your duty requirement but please value your own safety too on the battlefield." Belfast said to William.
"Yeah…Thanks for the advice Belfast." William said while smiling.
"It's the duty of the maid to correct her master sometimes…Oh." Belfast said out loud.
Both of them heard the sound of stomach growling and both of them knew whose stomach it was, obviously it's William who forgot to eat lunch as he had to sortie with the other girls and the mission took a bit longer than expected. Belfast smiled as she noted William cringed at the experience and internally cursed his stomach for its timing, Belfast smiled as she asked.
"Master, what say we have early dinner?" Belfast asked William.
"Hahahaha, yeah that sounds nice." William said as he started walking.
"What would master want to eat?" Belfast asked as she followed him.
"…Hmm, how about we go to the cafeteria once for a while? I think eating there with the others would be a good change of pace." William said after thinking for a bit.
"Understood." Belfast simply replied.
Both of them walked toward the canteen from the rooftop, when he opened the door he was greeted by a large commotion around the returning ship girls. Just before he's about to ask what was going on, one of the ship girls noticed him however, and suddenly he was swarmed by ship girls asking him barrage of questions that some of the more mature girls had to help William calming down everyone, he looked at the girls who sortied with him actually looked at this scene with amused face…they really didn't have any slightest intention to help him here?!
"Hey Commander! Is it true? You saved Illustrious by yourself?!" Cleveland asked William.
"We heard from the others that you saved Illustrious with that helicopter above us! They said you dived in while being chased by three Siren fighters to destroy couple of suicide boats!" Saratoga said to William.
"Well…that did happen." William said awkwardly.
"Amazing! That's the first time a commander would do that!" Cleveland said to William.
"Huh? It's nothing to brag about, I'm simply doing my job." William said modestly.
"It's not nothing, milord. You saved me from taking damage. Our previous commander wouldn't go that far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Illustrious said to William.
…Really? What did their previous commander do before he was posted here? The more he heard about him the more he sounded like an apathetic commander who sent them off to the battlefield and left them to take care of everything…That commander was the one who owned the helicopter he rode before. Why didn't he try to provide any kind of support to these girls? Thinking about it now, William was getting quite irritated by that former commander.
"I see…" William replied in a low tone.
"Now come on Commander! We need to celebrate our first victory after a month of doing nothing!" Cleveland said while pulling his hands with the other destroyers.
"Okay okay! Don't pull so hard now!" William said as he's being led to his seat.
William was being led to a seat and the girls kept asking him what he wanted to eat, after he thought about it for a bit he said that he wanted some 'heavy' dinner because he didn't eat lunch. What he got however was a fuckton of food variety that was enough to make his face blue at the thought of having to finish it and the girls only kept smiling while saying 'he has to finish it to stay healthy!'…Oh well, it's do or die as William took a spoon and said his prayers while hoping he won't have to visit Vestal tonight.
"…He's quickly accepted by the girls." Belfast said as she joined Hood.
"…What can we say Bel? He did a lot in the first week compared to the previous commander. He befriended everyone, he studied hard and he even participated in that fight directly." Hood said to Belfast.
"Yes…you're right…Now, shall we join them?" Belfast asked Hood while smiling.
…It was little celebration but it was quite the warm one, the destroyers and several cruisers have retired to their dorms while the 'grown up' ship girls were still on the canteen, eating cakes and drinking alcohol while accompanying William who almost passed out on the table after eating so much, and Prinz basically forced him to duel her in drinking contest…
"God…I never knew I could eat that much..." William said with his face planted on the table.
"Master, does your stomach hurt?" Belfast asked William in worried tone.
"…Nah, just full from all that food…and alcohol. I must say, Prinz is quite a strong drinker." William said out loud.
William lifted his face from the desk and spotted Prinz still drinking with another glass of beer in her hand, she shot a wink at him and continued drinking. William could only chuckle in discomfort at the thought of yielding in a drinking game, he had his pride too damnit! But for the sake of a comfortable morning, he chose to forfeit the game. Illustrious sipped a wine from her glass, she then asked William.
"Milord, may I ask how you are so good at flying a helicopter?" Illustrious asked William.
"I was trained to be able to utilize anything that could give me an edge on the battlefield, simply put a helicopter is one of them." William simply answered.
"Is there anything you couldn't do commander? You're so skillful." Enterprise asked William.
"Well…There's a few things I couldn't do well." William said to them.
"Oh?" This caused the girls to raise their eyebrows.
"For example…I'm bad with kids" William confessed with a bitter smile.
""""""""""""…Eh?""""""""""" Every girl within earshot said.
"Yep, you heard me." William said while shrugging.
"But…why?" Illustrious asked William.
"The thing is, my natural look is quite frightening for children. There's one time when I held one of my friends' newborn baby. She cried when she saw my face." William said, then sipped on his tea.
…After a good five seconds of silence, the ladies around him burst out giggling at the story. Oh yes, they could totally relate with that baby. At first when they met him, he did give the same impression and it somehow forced them to act professional…But yeah, that baby just doesn't know him well enough to know the softer and more expressive person underneath that hard façade.
"Oh my." Illustrious said after giggling.
"I'm sure we could remedy that, milord." Hood said while smiling.
"Hood, you sound so sure." William said while smiling bitterly.
"Believe me, we'll make it work. The ladies here are ready to help you anytime." Hood said to William.
And Hood's statement was followed by collective nods coming from each of them…William smiled and nodded in appreciation when he noticed his phone was ringing, he checked the caller and surely it's Lena. He immediately answered the call, if she called at night it's usually a job.
"…Yeah?" William asked Lena.
"Hey uh, I know this is sudden but can we land on the courtyard? The helipad is full after all." Lena asked William.
Widening his eyes, William bolted his way out from the canteen and earned several weird gazes from the girls who wondered what happened to him. They followed him out only to find him staring blankly into the sky with a single UTH-66 Black Hawk Helicopter hovering above the canteen with lights on, William watched as a single rope was thrown down from the helicopter, and someone descended from it. A brunette with shoulder length hair, wearing white gloves, blue jacket, equally blue skirt with black stockings and white shoes. She waved her hands and the helicopter left the area, leaving Lena herself standing in front of William…
"Lena, you should've told me that you'll be coming here earlier!" William said to Lena with unamused eyes.
"I did, check your phone." Lena replied also with unamused eyes.
"…Oh right…sorry." William said while cringing after seeing several miscalls and messages.
"Don't be, it's quite sudden after all." Lena said while smiling.
Lena looked behind William to see several ship girls coming out of the canteen to see why William suddenly ran outside. Lena smiled a bit at the sight of some ship girls trying to act disciplined at the sight of her rank on her jacket. This would be the first time she met with a ship girl directly, she put on her best smile as she walked toward them.
"So you are the ship girls. Greetings, I'm Admiral Helena McAllen, I figured some of you might already know me." Lena said while smiling warmly.
"…What is it, Lena? In my experience, whenever you're on the field that means something went wrong." William said from her back.
"Oh you know it Will, perhaps we could find some place to talk?" Lena asked while looking at him.
"…Will this involve the girls?" William asked while folding his arms.
"Not really…but it's best if we could talk privately." Lena answered William.
"…I see…Ladies, we'll be talking in my office. You can enjoy the rest of the night." William informed them.
"Shall the maids bring you some snacks and refreshment to your office, master?" Belfast asked William.
"That's great, thank you." William said to Belfast.
"Whoa, a real maid!" Lena said out loud.
Lena approached Belfast who kept smiling as Lena inspected her closely, she was inspecting Belfast like she's a mannequin doll, and she looked awestruck. The other ship girls thought that Lena was quite strange, she didn't act like a person with her rank. Then again, their commander was the same case and the fact the two knew each other might relate to something…
"Greetings Mrs. Lena, it's good to finally see you directly." Belfast said while smiling.
"Likewise…You're the one named Belfast, no?" Lena asked Belfast.
"You are correct." Belfast said to Lena.
"…Will must be having the time of his life." Lena said out loud.
"And why would he be, Mrs. Lena?" Belfast asked Lena.
"As far as I know, Will has some kind of maid fetis-"
But before Lena was able to spout another word, Will had covered her mouth and started dragging her away toward the command building. Will sensed that if Lena kept talking then his reputation among the maids (Belfast especially) would take a massive hit, so he moved as fast as his body allowed to silence her, ranks be damned he'll do this to the Azur Lane High Commander himself if he had to!
"Alright lady, no more words, or I'll have to silence you at all costs!" William said as he dragged Lena.
"Hey! Is this how you treat your superior and ex-girlfriend!?" Lena protested out loud
"You asked for it in the first place!" William replied with an annoyed tone.
And just like that the two of them disappeared into the command building. But in front of the canteen, there's several ship girls who were still standing in silence. Hood, Belfast, Enterprise, Kongou, Illustrious, Takao and Atago are still stunned upon hearing that new critical piece of information that they just heard and frankly quite surprising…
"…Huh?" Enterprise managed to utter.
"Did she just say that Mrs. Lena…" Hood trailed off.
"Is milord's former lover?" Illustrious finished for Hood.
""And they get along?!" Takao and Atago asked.
.
"I heard about the phone call incident at noon." Lena said to William.
"Oh sure you do. I'm not joking when I said I will nuke Azur Lane HQ if they keep pressing with that matter." William said to Lena.
"You want to talk about it?" Lena asked with a mischievous smile.
"Nope, not now not ever…But please Lena, tell that blockhead of General to stop doing that." William said while folding his arms.
"Fufufufu…Oh alright, but you owe me." Lena said after giggling.
The both of them were now inside the safety of William's office, at first glance Lena commented that she 'could imagine that he would put so many unnecessary things in his office' one which he rebutted with 'he's so enjoying this pseudo civilian like freedom'. Both of them sat opposed to each other on the sofa with William setting the audio player to play one of Hood's soft jazz ambience music, William poured a glass of brandy for Lena before pouring one for himself…time to talk business.
"…Now, mind telling me why you're here Lena?" William asked Lena.
"Well, I got good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Lena asked as she sipped on her drink.
"…Bad news then, what kind of mess Azur Lane landed into now?" William asked as he also took a sip from his glass.
"The Sirens haven't shown their face in a month." Lena said to William.
"Nope, we literally fought three fleets of those things just this noon, Lena." William said while smiling smugly.
"Oh, did you? Good job, that changed a few things…But still, people have been disappearing for the last month Will. We suspected that the Sirens started to purposely kidnap people around the coast." Lena said to him.
…And how did he only knew about this now? Didn't he tell high command to give him whatever info that concerned him or his job? How the hell did this critical piece of information slip past him? William looked at Lena with a dissatisfied face as he put down his glass of brandy on the small plate. William knew that Lena would always give him info as soon as she could, that's how both of them worked…so something must've been up with a piece of information that made Lena refuse to immediately disclose it to him. Probably, she's trying to validate the info for the past month…William had to stay positive, Lena's a longtime friend and a trusted ally of his after all…the one willing to break the rules for him too.
"And why are you only telling me about this now?" But still, he couldn't help but ask.
"Because the number just suddenly skyrocketed today…So what do you think?" Lena asked William.
"…That's plausible. Just this noon we also encountered a destroyed flotilla with dozens transport ships and four escorts, all of them destroyed but no dead bodies or survivors could be found around the site…Could this be connected?" William asked Lena.
"For sure, that confirmed my suspicion then…Usually, what do you think when the enemy starts capturing our civilians?" Lena asked William.
"Usually, the rules of war forbid that, but we aren't fighting someone who obeys those rules…That means, every option is on the table. They could use our civilians as labor forces or even…test subjects." William said to Lena.
"Right. Because we don't know anything about the Sirens all we can do now is to speculate, furthermore the reason we still didn't manage to find their base is because they came here through a portal." Lena said to William.
"…Portal?" William cocked his eyebrows.
"Yes, genuine portal. Take a look at this." Lena said while taking out her phone.
On her phone a recording taken from one of Azur Lane Fighter Jets patrolling the coast before the Sirens appeared, there's a purple round portal appearing midair before their familiar black ships with glowing red parts appeared and fell down to the sea. The jets immediately came under fire from the ships AA gun and had to be bailed from the area as soon as possible…Seeing the recording, now William knew why traditional tracking never succeeded and satellite tracking always failed. There's a possibility that even the Sirens didn't come from Earth, no one knew where their base of operation was, and they come and go as they please…Annoying pricks.
"…This is some sci-fi bullshit." William commented.
"How come you know that?" Lena asked William.
"See this? It's like a faster than light portal, ships used this kind of thing when they jump great distances." William said to Lena.
"…You've been engrossed in your novel too much, Will." Lena said in an astonished tone.
"Meh, deep down you know it's true. How about the good news?" William asked Lena.
"Sardegna Empire has agreed to send two ship girls to this base, Sakura Empire also sending three ships, and furthermore Royal Navy's Prince of Wales and King George V had concluded their business and are also on their way to this base." Lena said to William while smiling.
"Reinforcements. That eased my heart…Wait, that's it?" William asked while frowning.
"…What? You expected more?" Lena asked back with cocked eyebrows.
"To be honest, yeah…" William answered while shrugging.
"You're in for a disappointment then…Everyone still trying to recover from that fatal mistake, had we not waged war with one another perhaps we would have more strength to deal with the Sirens now…" Lena said with a frown and looking to the side.
Yeah…how the world would stand a better chance at facing these things if the war didn't happen but sadly, there's no way of changing that. The war was started by their manipulation in the first place, to divide and conquer mankind. Fortunately, it was over before it could cause even greater damage to their already fragile world and now those things showed their true face…Reinforcements would be a great help if he's going to face these mysterious creatures, he'll need all the edge he could get.
"We can't change the past Lena, you know that the best…So, what part that you didn't want the girls to know?" William asked Lena.
"…Will, tell me honestly. How do you view these girls?" Lena asked William.
"…I'm getting a bad case of déjà vu here." William said while frowning and folding his arms at the same time.
"I know that question reflects when you asked me to marry you, but really…What do you think of them?" Lena asked while smiling bitterly.
"…They're the most valuable military asset in Azur Lane's arsenal." William said to Lena.
"Is that it?" Lena asked, in an almost disbelieved tone.
"No. They're also genuine people…I've heard about their purpose as tools of war, that they solely exist to fight on the frontline. But they're also no less human than us in the end, Lena. They have their own feelings, motivation, purpose and man, they're quite a handful to handle in some cases." William further added with a serious face.
"Good. That means I have nothing to worry about." Lena smiled.
"Now can you explain why you ask me that? I'm not good with mind games." William asked Lena.
"I know…The real reason I asked you that is because I was worried, there's a lot of…talks regarding your assignment to this base." Lena said to William.
"Really? What did those wankers say?" William asked curiously.
"Lots of things. But the most disturbing part? That you're given this chance because of you-" Lena said to William.
"Hold up." William suddenly said.
William raised his hand and Lena stopped talking, she was curious why would William stop her from telling him something he's probably dying to know as well? William sipped on his brandy before he looked toward the office's door.
"Ladies, I know you're out there." William said out loud.
…Three seconds later, the door opened and several ship girls entered the room. There's Prinz, Hood, Enterprise, Takao, Atago, Illustrious and Belfast…Lena was quite perplexed, how did William know they were outside the office? She didn't hear a goddamn thing! Lena looked at William weirdly, what did he experience in that mine that he could manage to do this now?
"…How the fuck…?" Lena muttered in astonishment.
"Please forgive us, master. I simply wish to deliver these snacks, but the ladies were already in front of the door by the time I arrived." Belfast said to William.
"Nonsense! If you wish to deliver those then you wouldn't also join us!" Hood said to Belfast.
"Now now, I'm not mad or anything. My talk with Lena is basically finished, you could join us here." William said to them.
The girls reluctantly sat on the couch as William rose up and head to his desk while searching for something on the drawers, Lena looked at the seven ladies that were secretly eyeing her, and she came to a conclusion…These girls must've heard what William and her talked about and that included the part where William actually did asked Lena to marry him, Lena smirked as she sipped her drink before she went out with the killer shot.
"…I bet you girls were curious about Will asking me to marry him." Lena said to the girls.
"You're starting off with the most embarrassing part." William commented from his desk.
"Come on, honestly that was one of the happiest moments in my life you know?" Lena said while smiling sadly.
"Mrs. Lena, so how come you didn't marry him in the end?" Illustrious asked Lena.
"…Politics, milady. Politics was the one that prevented us from being together. But, Will and I have agreed to remain friends despite all of that…" Lena answered while smiling sadly at Illustrious.
Politics were the true reason that they could never be together, she had imagined that if she never took the path of being an officer for Azur Lane Military…The both of them now might be married with kids on the way. But she never had much of a choice anyway, not even William himself had a choice when he was thrown into the Deep End and god, the things she did to defend him. She strived hard to prove his innocence, yet the odds were against them from the start…But things were different now, she took her chance. William was out of that mine and more importantly, still alive…He could be happy here, surrounded by these girls.
"Well enough about me now! I'm curious about you girls, Will never told me much about you. Since I'm basically his superior, I think it's a good idea to get to know you girls who are his secretaries." Lena said energetically.
…They talked until midnight, William actually had to excuse himself at ten when he realized there's no way he's going to sit there and torture himself with girls talk until midnight so William opted to sleep in his own room so his weary body could rest. He was woken up by Belfast as usual, Lena and William ate breakfast together in the Iron Blood dormitory in the morning, chatting and discussing things with Bismarck and the other Iron Blood ship girls was quite refreshing and mind opening for Lena herself. They did tour of the base for a bit, Lena almost getting scammed by Akashi with a shady deal which, fortunately, William stopped from happening, they spent the day exploring the base and interacting with ship girls…Afternoon rolled and it's time for Lena to head back, William alongside Lena, Hood, Belfast and Prinz stood near the helipad with Lena's helicopter on top of it preparing to take off.
"…It was fun to do this once in a while, Will." Lena said to William.
"Yeah, stop by anytime." William said while smiling.
"I'll be sure to do that. See you later…Ladies, take care of him!" Lena said as she boarded her helicopter.
"Understood milady." "Of course madam." "Leave him to me." Belfast, Hood and Prinz said to Lena.
The helicopter took off from the helipad while the four of them waved, after the helicopter left the base area William looked at the girls beside him who also looked at him meaningfully…His spine was tingling and not the good kind, he knew something happened when he left them alone with Lena last night.
"So…What did you girls talk about last night?" William asked them.
"…Kommandant, I never knew you're that wild in bed. How lewd~" Prinz replied while smirking.
"…Huh?" William was dumbfounded.
"Milord, is it true that you often write poetry for Mrs. Lena while you're on the frontline?" Hood asked William.
"Wait, what-" William was speechless.
"Mrs. Lena has told me about your habits master, I'll be sure to put the information to good use." Belfast said while smirking.
"Alright! Did she just spout some random trivia about me to you girls!?" William said with wide eyes.
"Some part of it, we got to stay and chat about a lot of things after all." Belfast said to William.
…William took out his phone and contacted Lena, he knew that she couldn't be trusted regarding his secret information. Lena took some time before she answered the phone, and William immediately said one simple sentence to her.
"…Lena, on second thought. Do not come back to this base!" William said to Lena.
"Aww, come on! You know I will do it again despite your words! Those ladies and I are becoming fast friends!" Lena said to William.
"Precisely…just don't do what you did last night without my approval!" William said then sighed.
"No promise! It was fun after all~!" Lena responded in a cheeky tone.
…In the dense forested hill overlooking the base, two men dressed in dark green cloaks surveyed the base with binoculars in their hands. They carefully monitored the whole base, they grimaced at the sight that the base didn't look like guarded but the two of them knew they would be blasted into thin red mist with how many girls there are possessing ship grade weaponries as their personal weapon. One of them pushed the other to the ground as a helicopter passed through them, it flew out from the base and headed to the city…Both of their cloaks flailed around a bit, revealing their codename strapped on their left shoulder. Recon-1 and Recon-2.
"…Doesn't look like we could enter the base." Recon 1 said.
"At least not now. We'll have to do it at night." Recon 2 said.
"…Seriously though, all of this just to kill one man?" Recon 1 asked.
"Not just any man, you know who he is." Recon 2 said.
The two of them continued looking through their binoculars when Recon 1 caught something in his vision, it's William himself who was walking with Belfast toward the command building. William looked exasperated while Belfast was smirking confidently at the conversation that happened between the two of them, William shrugged before he said something to Belfast. Belfast nodded her head, performed a curtsy with her skirt and went off to a different direction.
"Damn…he got a sexy personal maid! Think we can have fun with her when we're done with the mission?" Recon 1 asked out loud.
"…Have you ever bang a ship before?" Recon 2 asked back in complete disbelief.
"No? But there's a first time for everything. Bet she'd like my oxygen torpedo, hehehehe." Recon 1 laughed creepily.
"…Sick fuck…Remember, despite their appearance, they're just weapons in the end." Recon 2 said in monotone voice.
"Fine. If you say so…hah." Recon 1 said then sighed.
"Cheer up. The girls back on the base are more attractive than those warships anyway." Recon 2 said.
"Hmph. You always-"
"Shut the fuck up Recon one! Cut your unnecessary blabbering and give me a report!" Their radio suddenly said.
"Sheesh boss! You just tore my left ear drum!" Recon 1 said.
"…He's here boss, but the base is occupied with lots of ship girls. We could charge now but this would end in bloodbath." Recon 2 said on the radio.
"...Azur Lane isn't known for their weak defenses, that base is basically their nexus of ship girls operation so of course security would be overkill." The one called Boss said.
"I can see that. Look at those AA gun emplacements, by the looks of it those things are equipped with the latest automatic targeting AI. No plane would go there and come out unscathed." Recon 2 commented.
William walked into the building before he stopped in the entrance, he looked around and toward the hill where the two men laid prone while watching him. Recon 1 zoomed in on him and got a clear look on his face, William's right eye looked like he pierced Recon 1 soul directly, and he shuddered when he saw that glare of his.
"What's wrong?" Recon 2 asked him.
"…I think we're compromised. He stared at me, like he stared at my soul directly." Recon 1 said.
"You're overthinking it, there's no way he'll see us at this range…Anyway, what's the word boss?" Recon 2 asked on the radio.
"…We'll strike at night, all units stand by for orders. Get comfortable, this will take a while." The boss said on the radio.
Just as he said that, around thirty men wearing the same green cloak carrying various Sub Machine Guns with silencers attached on their barrels appeared from the bush or above the trees near the two men on the cliff edge. All of them wore black masks, with combat goggles concealing their eyes, black clothing with light bulletproof vests, ammo pouches alongside utility belts, and wearing black boots. All of them took position around the two men, overlooking the base as black storm clouds moving in from the direction of the sea.
"…We found the old dog, our Intel is on the mark. He will pay for what he's done to our brother and sisters…Rest assured men. For tonight, the last Nimbus Knight will fall!" The boss said on the radio.
Updated: 25-07-2021 (Beta Readed by Culture-Hunt3r)
Here's the continuation dear readers! Finally, the first combat scene on the story and followed by something alarming near the end. It's time to unwrap the plot for a bit. Thank you for the follow, favorite and review everyone! I have to say that really motivated me to keep writing despite the shortcomings I have, safe to say that your support pushed me to carry on no matter what! Let me know what you think and hope you enjoy this one!
See you next time!
- Dasmara