Commander Blaze, a front line commander story

by Dasmara

Meet William Blaze, a veteran who royally screwed his last mission and was thrown into prison. But when The Sirens invaded, Azur Lane High Command need him once more and so he is reinstated. His new job? Command the beautiful ship girls and give The Sirens big F you in the face. Join them as William balanced his daily life between dealing with the girl's antics and killing Sirens.

34. Operation EAGLE STORM

Walking around the Azur Lane HQ has always been the same even when he wore his full Serpent armor, everyone is staring and everyone is whispering…Really, did those guys know who's inside the armor? William highly doubts so, he knows how bad his reputation is among the people within central HQ. They must be still afraid of him, who didn't hesitate to eliminate his entire task force, despite the justified reason for doing so…people do be like that sometimes, it felt like his efforts in combating the Sirens are just thrown away in vain when he realized that these people are the ones he's trying to save. That is why, he rather thinks that, he's saving the general people as a whole, not the pricks within this fortress who never seen combat and could only talk big…with the exception of the Myrmidon Guards, those guys are the real deal even though their actual combat experience is quite low…they make it up with constant training, polished skills and professionalism.

He finally reached the science complex, the place where his mother spent majority of her time, doing work for the betterment of mankind. William enters her lab, and he's immediately greeted with the view of a busy workplace, scientists, engineers, and technicians moving around frantically, all of them carrying something in their hands. What makes them this busy? William already knew the answer deep down, it's him that caused this ruckus. The Serpent armor will be modified, and he knows it will be complex and painful work to be done, not to mention that William still doesn't know how much modification will be made…Lucas especially wants him to have the state-of-the-art tech ready to be used on the battlefield, and one way of doing that is by attaching the said tech to his armor. While he thought about that, William didn't realize that he finally arrived in front of his mother, who turned around the moment she heard the heavy footsteps behind her.

"William, you finally arrived." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"Oh, hey mum…So, what's the upgrade?" William asked Diana.

"You need to take off your armor first my dear, I'll explain to you regarding the update." Diana said to William.

"Okay, where to?" William asked Diana.

"Step onto the platform, the engineers will help you." Diana said to William as she pointed at the circular platform to her right side.

"…I don't have to take off the undersuit, right?" William asked Diana while he smiled awkwardly behind his helmet.

"Unfortunately, you have to." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"…Dammit, uh, can you give me something to wear then? I don't have anything else underneath." William said to Diana.

After receiving a set of Azur Lane Soldier BDU, William stepped on the circular platform and had his armor taken off piece by piece. He watched as the engineers took his armor parts and took them toward different work stations. It's possible that they are working on the mod separately, so it would be less time consuming. So, while they wait for the armor and the laboratory to prepare for his DNA modification, Diana took William on a bit of a tour around the complex. The one place they stopped at is the laboratory's weapon development section, the place only has a handful of people inside and each group is working on their respective sections. Both William and Diana approached the one closest to the entrance, it's a wide rectangular space with a table in the center that has something on top of it…Something long and quite huge.

"We are quite fortunate that we managed to finish these prototype weapons before the invasion hit…First item on the list, the Siren Slayer." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"…Siren Slayer?" William asked Diana as he stared at her.

"Reinforced steel, titanium infused two handed broadsword and we combined several metals to create this sword…It has complex structuring to give it the best durability possible, the blade is even coated with thick layers of tungsten, so it could resist plasma damage to some degree. Go ahead son, give it a try." Diana said to William.

William looked toward the table in the middle then walked toward it slowly, little by little he could see the details of the blade. The weapon is indeed a two handed broadsword, the blade is double edged, three quarters of his height in total length, has a wide surface that he could probably use to block bullets or even plasma projectiles, and the blade is colored black with silver edges. The blade has a black textured hilt for better grip potential and a dark blue hand guard, made from the same properties as the blade, and looking futuristic in design. William stared at the blade before he grabbed the hilt, which felt cold due to the air conditioning inside the lab, he then lifted it up, and he couldn't help himself but to notice that this broadsword felt like a fantasy greatsword! One thing immediately came to his mind is Cloud's blade from Final Fantasy VII…It's also heavy as fuck!

"Whoa, this thing is heavy." William commented as he lifted the blade with his two hands.

"It is, given that you're most likely going to use your armor whenever you engage the Sirens, we didn't really put that much thought to the weight. Besides, you could probably crush something with it and…perhaps throw it, the weight will surely help with that move." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"Is that so…Can I use it against that dummy?" William asked Diana as he looked at the test dummy in front of him.

"Sure." Diana said to William.

The dummy is equipped with armor that he's seen before as a concept art in the folder he brought back to ALASUC base, it's an armor made to give better protection against the plasma bolts that the Siren infantry used. William inspected the grey colored armor for a bit, the torso plating looks sturdy with smooth plating, there's also shoulder pads, which are complemented by platings on the upper and lower arms. The armor even has wrist protectors and armored gloves, it certainly has more protection than your standard plate carrier. This thing looks like it could take some punishment without failing. William inspected the helmet, it covers the entire operator's head and only reveals their faces to see, it also has a sturdy chin guard instead of helmet clasp. As expected, it has attachments on the sides and on top for sensors or equipment. What William didn't expect is the small flap on the chin's left side, which he pushed, and it resulted in the exposed part of the face to be covered with a blue polarized visor…

Damn! This new armor for their infantry looks futuristic! William wondered what other features the armor has? Based on the design, it looks like the armor has filters or even self-sealing capability which maybe could even be connected to a small oxygen tank? So their soldiers wouldn't have to put on bulky gas masks? Practical, but it must be expensive to mass produce something like this. William did wonder how Azur Lane and Crimson Axis will tackle the budget issue? Well, given the current situation, he thinks that the budget is focused on war efforts, and the factories must've been running 24/7 pumping out as much armor as they could produce in a day…

William put the helmet back on the dummy, he stepped back a bit, and raised the sword in his hands. He calmed himself, focusing on his footwork, and readying himself to make the cut. William set his stance and performed full power downward left diagonal slash, the heavy sword impacted the armored dummy, went right through and caused the dummy to split into two parts…William was quite surprised, he didn't hold himself back with that swing. He expected some damage but to manage cleaving that thing in two? Holy shit, he didn't realize his daily training actually increased his base strength to that level…wonder how much damage he could cause if he let loose while carrying this blade and wearing Serpent armor?

"…Cleaved right through the doll with the GEPIA Mk1, he could use it far better than any of us." The engineer said to Diana as he scribbled some notes on his paperboard clip.

"Impressive. How did you manage to do that?" Diana asked William.

"With the addition of muscle exercise, I've been training to use this kind of weapon for months. My instructor is quite harsh, so I improved quickly." William said to Diana while he smiled as he put the sword back on to the table.

"I can see the result, you moved quite fluidly when holding the blade." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"Maybe it has become a second nature by now…I like the blade mum, I'm sure it's going to help a lot when I fight them." William said to Diana while he smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it. Next for you, we have the experimental shotgun. ASM-2 or Assault Shotgun Model 2, follow me." Diana said to William.

Diana led William to the next station, the firing range, and there were multiple weapons over there that William hadn't seen before. They must be prototype weapons, and Diana picked one up before handing it toward William. He took it, and inspected the weapon. It's unmistakably a shotgun, with a wide and long internal magazine and quite bulky overall. William pulled the fore-end slide for a bit, he checked the ejection port, and he could see an 8 gauge shotgun shell loaded into the chamber…Holy shit, this thing is built to kill, if it's loaded with slugs then those Siren troopers or Brawlers are going to suffer a lot.

"What do you think?" Diana asked William.

"This has an internal magazine? It's quite huge compared to the barrel." William said to Diana.

"We used the prototype quad internal magazine, which means you could load four times the amount of your usual shotgun shells in a shotgun. Eight times four?" Diana said to William.

"Thirty-two shells…I was wondering why the internal magazine is so big, its firing mode is semi auto, right?" William asked Diana as he tried to aim down the sight.

"Yup, it's dual mode actually, so you could either pump it or fire it in semi auto, much like the SPAS-12. I'm sure you'd instinctively know how to operate the weapon…We also include the prototype ammo counter display into the shotgun, though given that your Serpent Armor OS has an ammo counter feature, I think it's a bit redundant." Diana said to William.

"Don't worry, sometimes I have no time to check my own HUD so an ammo counter in the immediate vicinity is a great help." William said to Diana.

So, an ammo counter that displayed thirty-two shells, a heavy shotgun that doesn't need to be reloaded that often on the field, and quite possibly has a strong kick. Looks like these weapons are made with raw destructive power in mind, makes sense considering the Sirens are quite tough to beat with your usual guns that could defeat a human easily, so they want to 'up the ante' a bit. The man goes over to the firing range immediately, takes aim at one of the targets and squeezes the trigger. The shotgun fired and filled the target board in front of William full of holes, this thing would come in handy if he had to stand his ground against a huge horde of Brawlers.

"…Did you like it?" Diana asked William.

"I do…One thing for certain though, this weapon would be a pain in the arse to reload." William said to Diana while he smiled bitterly.

"If you really have to empty the gun and survive, you must be in a pretty bad situation." Diana said to William while she shrugged.

"Have to agree with that." William said to Diana as he put the weapon on the available table.

"Moving on…Next is our newly developed prototype Gauss weaponry." Diana said to William.

"Gauss weapon, wait, as in, incorporating rail gun technology?!" William asked Diana, his smile grew wider each second.

"That's right, Gauss Prototype Model Series…First, meet the GPM Revolver." Diana said to William as she handed him a huge handgun.

Diana handed William a silver revolver with a futuristic design, it has a thick, high tech looking barrel, and the gun is quite heavy. William opened the revolving chamber and noted that it has six chambers, which are preloaded with what appears to be .500 caliber pistol magnum rounds. He closed it back and got a feel for the gun. The sight is a custom one as it glows light blue, and William twirled it in his right hand a few times, it felt quite balanced when he twirled it, and he immediately chose a target board the moment he stopped twirling. William squeezed the trigger twice in succession, the weapon fired two times, and that's when he found the weapon's characteristic…First of all, there's this energy whirring sound whenever the gun fires, no doubt it's the rail tech in the works. Second, the target has two huge holes where the bullets impacted it and almost tore it in two! William was sure that not even .500 caliber pistol rounds could produce holes that big! And the third, this thing's got quite the kick!

"Six chambers for .500 pistol caliber rounds, double action heavy revolver, and I'm sure you'll appreciate the railings on top and beneath the barrel for customization. Loaded with a special ammo, the .500 Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive model, the rounds could penetrate body armor then explode inside the target. The rail barrel will make sure it could penetrate anything to maximize the efficiency of the rounds." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"…This weapon is overkill…So, how many rounds have you produced?" William commented then asked Diana.

"Quite a bit, enough to last in one week of war." Diana said to William as she took the pistol.

"That's not a bit…But still, that is quite overpowered, even by magnum revolver standards." William said to Diana.

"Oh, but you haven't got to the main dish yet…Behold, the GPM Assault Carbine." Diana said to William as she tossed him something.

William thought she tossed him a long box but when he caught it, the thing he just received was a weapon. The closest description of the weapon would be an up-scaled P90, with longer overall weapon length, and boxier. William weighed the gun in his hands, and it's surprisingly quite light for something that looked so bulky, but there's one thing that William couldn't find. Where's the magazine? He fiddled with all of the available buttons or switches on the gun until the top part popped to the right side, and it turns out, it's a long and thick magazine, which is loaded with possibly hundreds of rounds. William loaded the magazine back, he then set his firing stance while holding the gun…The grip is located in the middle of the weapon, the fore-end looked like it could be customized, the sight immediately lit up the moment he aimed down the sight, and below the ironsight is the ammo counter, which showed: 200 ROUNDS?!

"Don't let the compact design, and the fact it fires 9mm rounds fool you, this rapid firing gauss weapon could shred anything. With rail gun technology, our priority isn't bullet sharpness, but total mass and size…The gun is made of a combination between steel and aluminum, which gives the balanced weight, while having the firing system of a Vector to minimize recoil. We also take the example of the Bizon and P90 to create the first rectangle quad P90 styled magazine, which is capable of loading up to two hundred 9mm rounds. We couldn't create a Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive variant for the bullet just yet, but the regular 9mm AP round is more than enough…In addition to a digital ammo counter, we also provide the gun with an advanced Augmented Reality ironsight. This is the dream come true where the mass-produced rifle for our infantry units has the same equivalent as an LMG…Go ahead, give it a try." Diana said to William while she smiled.

…Shit, William was left a bit speechless with how his mother described this weapon. To put it bluntly, this is an oversized SMG with LMG capacity, but it makes up with its raw punching power due to the gauss barrel? Well, he's quite skeptical about the weapon, but he'll try it anyway. William set the fire mode to full auto and aimed at the target in front of him, then he squeezed the trigger of the gun. Just like the revolver, in addition to gunfire sound, there's also this energy whirring noise like when he fired the revolver. William fired a burst of ten rounds then set the safety on, he used the button on the firing range to bring the target board closer, and to be honest, he's quite satisfied with the result. Ten holes through the target, the round could easily penetrate wood…But William wondered how it would fare against Siren armor?

"Minimal recoil, lots of ammo to burn through, high penetration capability, quite light to carry around despite its size…who wouldn't love this beauty?" Diana asked William while she smiled.

"Yeah, but could we test it against armor?" William asked Diana.

"Let's test it using the Siren trooper armor, shall we?" Diana said to William.

"You should've put that out earlier." William said to Diana with half closed eye.

Several people put out the dummy equipped with Siren trooper armor onto the firing range before clearing out, William switched the gun to full auto and didn't hesitate to unload the entire magazine filled with the remaining 190 rounds toward the armor. By the time the gun goes click, the armor has been shredded so badly, it couldn't even be recognized as armor anymore…This is the counter humanity needs in the fight against the Sirens, a weapon that could punch through Siren armor. Infantry squads wouldn't really need to carry LMGs anymore, since each of these could hold two hundred rounds at once. The weapon only would become even deadlier once they could be equipped with more exotic ammo like shredder rounds, Semi Armor Piercing rounds, or even high explosive rounds if they could…Damn, the future is now…

"That does it for the weaponry…Did you like them?" Diana asked William.

"If I remember, my birthday is next month." William said to Diana while he smiled.

"Fufu, just consider it an early Christmas present…As for your armor, we will modify it, so you could take it off by yourself. That's the hardest modification to perform, but it should be done in around ten hours with the aid of our robotic assistant limbs." Diana said to William as she took the gun from his hands.

"Oh good, I really appreciate that feature." William said to Diana.

"We will also add new state of the art technology derived from the Wisdom cube itself. The Neural Interpreter Module." Diana said to William.

"Neural what?" William asked Diana with a confused face.

"Neural Interpreter, it's an add on, so your armor exoskeleton could react at the same time as you do. There should be almost zero delay between your thoughts and the exoskeleton's reaction…But I admit, there's more to it than that. You see, we intend for this module to connect your thoughts and the Wisdom cube. Synchronizing between the two." Diana said to William as she put the gun back to the table.

"…Mum, I have to ask. What will that accomplish? I'm no KANSEN, I can't summon rigging using it." William asked Diana while he folded his arms.

"Do you remember the weaponry on your dropship or prototype helicopter?" Diana asked William.

"Yeah, what about them?" William asked Diana back.

"The Wisdom cube that powered those weapons is capable of storing the said ordnance inside them, like some sort of pocket dimension…We intend for your armor to have the same capability, even if you can't use the feature now." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"…I admit that will help a lot, but that sounds difficult…Too difficult to implement right now." William said to Diana with a skeptical face.

"Hey, if we can make it work with the helicopter? We can make it work with your armor. We will still install it on today's armor modification, we just haven't figured out the control scheme for it without being overly reliant on the computer interface." Diana said to William.

"I see..." William said to Diana.

"Oh, the notification is here…Ah…Follow me son, it's time." Diana said to William after she looked at her phone for a bit.

Diana led William through maze of corridors and room until they reached a huge, red double door being guarded by two Myrmidon guards…Diana showed her ID card and the two guards let them in, what awaits them both is a huge lab, but unlike the tech development that Diana work on; the place is filled with advanced medical equipment. William could see medical tubes, surgery tables, gas tanks, and even a cupboard full of medicine…Both of them ended up in a room with a surgical bed in the center of it, there's several scientists equipped with HAZMAT suits all around the room, preparing tools and equipment…

"This is…" William commented as he looked around.

"The chamber…this is the place where you will receive your modification…William, are you ready?" Diana asked William while she smiled bitterly…

"…I am." William said to Diana while he nodded.

"…This will drastically change you. While we theorized what will happen to you, we still don't know if there are other side effects that might show up later…" Diana said to William as she looked toward the operation table.

"Mum, I'm ready. I am willing to go through this, to gain all of the necessary advantages humanity could give…I have once been defeated by the Sirens, I don't want to experience that again because I'm not sure I would be alive if I fail again…The stakes are high, and my life, I already committed it for the cause…to our survival." William said to Diana to convinced her as he held her left shoulder.

"…I know…Forgive me for being sentimental, I'm but an old woman. A mother who's about to witness her child's modification…You and Serina are the only family I have left, losing one of you is…I don't want to think about it…" Diana said to William while she smiled bitterly.

…Really, she might be so busy that she didn't spend much time around her family, but she loved them enough that she would ask them how they were doing occasionally…Ever since her husband's death, she took any time off she could get throughout the year to visit Serina or William. When her son decided to join the military, she spent most of her time around Serina, even though the girl clearly wasn't that thrilled to bond with her initially. It's better now, but Diana noted that even Serina sometimes put some distance between them. There are things that she never told Diana, like when she got herself a boyfriend, when her phone was 'broken' according to her…Diana knows that if she didn't do something, Serina will only distance herself more when she's graduated from college. She has been thinking of resigning from her job, she made enough of a fortune to open her own business, but…then the Siren War had to start.

And now, her oldest child will undergo an operation that's quite safe, but technically could still kill him if it goes wrong. Diana trusted the scientists within central HQ. She didn't doubt their abilities and skills, but anything could go wrong, and she couldn't help but to worry…William, Diana knew that he's Lucas most trusted man when it comes to combating the Sirens or Crimson Cleanser…He has a dangerous job, and she understood that, but not even all of her reasoning could make her bear the thought of what if he fails? When she received the news that William had to be hospitalized after fighting a Siren, she couldn't work for an entire day as she was busy asking Hood about his condition…

"Don't worry mum. You know me…I'll get through this, one way or another." William said to Diana as he pulled her into a hug.

"…Yeah…Listen Will, after those Sirens are defeated, you, me, and Serina will spend some time with one another. Alright?" Diana said to William.

"I'm down for it…How about her?" William asked Diana.

"I'll figure something out, we're quite strained as a family…I want to strengthen our bonds, so do whatever you can to survive all of this." Diana said to William while she smiled.

"Yes ma'am." William said to Diana.

Diana let William go, and she exited the room. There's a glass panel on top of the room where people could observe the operation, and that's where she's going…William gathered himself, he might have said that to Diana, but a small part of himself couldn't help to be nervous with the operation. But if he wants to beat those Sirens in New York, he has to go through this first. He knows that Midnight has been spotted in New York, if he had to face that Siren again, he didn't know if he could do it as a pure human…He needs every advantage he could get his hands on right now, and this by far is the most important one, next to his armor. Once he receives this DNA Mod, his upgraded armor, and the new weaponry that he will surely receive…he will show the Sirens how one man could eviscerate an entire army.

"Sir, welcome…Are you ready?" A scientist equipped with a HAZMAT suit said to William as he approached the surgical bed.

"I'm ready…What do I have to do?" William asked the scientist.

"First, we need you to take off all of your clothes then put on this mouth guard…We'll handle the rest, you just need to prepare yourself for the operation." The scientist said to William as he handed him a mouth guard.

"…Is it going to be painful?" William asked the scientist as he stared at the mouth guard.

"You might experience some discomfort and a painful sensation all over your body, temporarily." The scientist said to William.

"Err…Can you explain to me, how can that happen?" Might be more comforting if he knows a bit about how it works.

"Um…To simplify the explanation, this serum mutates your DNA, and in response it will also mutate your physical body in real time. That is why you will experience pain and discomfort, rest assured we will introduce pain killers to lessen the effect as much as possible." The scientist explained to William.

"…Okay then…Chance of death?" William asked the scientist.

"If everything goes according to procedure? Then it should be completely safe…If not, well…uncontrollable mutations could result in your physical deformation, psychological degradation, and eventual death…" The scientist said to William.

"I shouldn't have asked…" William said to the scientist as he cringed.

"Haha…Well in any case, we'll do our best to prevent that from happening. You can trust us, this team working with you? We're the best of the best." The scientist laughed a bit before he said to William.

"Alright then…I'm counting on you." William said to the scientist.

.

"Yorktown!" Enterprise said out loud while she smiled.

"Ah big sis! I missed ya so much!" Hornet said out loud while she grinned widely.

Two girls, one blonde, one white haired, crashed into Yorktown in a warm hug, in which she returned while she smiled widely. It's been years since Yorktown could meet her sisters face to face since she was critically wounded during the Great War and had to be hospitalized in a special ward within Azur Lane Regional HQ. It's only a few months ago that she made a full recovery and is allowed to actively serve once again. She's planned to be assigned into ALASUC near christmas, but the Sirens really had to throw that plan into a dumpster fire…Yorktown inspected the face of her sisters, she noted that the two of them seem healthy and happy…Good, even though they're in the frontline most of the time, it would seem the two of them are doing well. It's not just Yorktown sisters, the others also talked to one another as if they're holding a little reunion on top of the carrier's flight deck. The cruisers, destroyers, submarines, battleships, and carriers catch up with one another and exchange information regarding Siren attacks.

"Fufufufu, it's good to see you two, Hornet, Enterprise. How are you two doing?" Yorktown said to Hornet and Enterprise.

"We're doing great! Were it not for this giant invasion, we would still be at the base and having a good time!" Hornet said to Yorktown while she grinned.

"Yeah…What is the situation here, Yorktown?" Enterprise asked Yorktown.

"I'll explain that to you, Enterprise." Someone suddenly said to Enterprise.

"Admiral Lena!" Hornet said out loud while she smiled.

"Hey, figured I'd drop by to say hello. It's been a while since we met, right, Hornet?" Lena said to Hornet while she smiled.

"Aye, the last time we met was at that resort. But wait, if ya are here, then are ya going to be our coordinator for any upcoming missions?" Hornet asked Lena.

"Ah, sorry to say, but not exactly. I'll explain more inside the ship, follow me you all." Lena said out loud.

"This ship is so massive, by the way." Enterprise commented as she looked around while she walked.

"Our literal mobile HQ, this ship is well defended and could invade a small country on its own." Lena said to Enterprise while she smiled confidently.

"It has that much power…so that's why we're sailing for New York?" Enterprise asked Lena.

"Pretty much, though we're waiting for you girls before making any move." Lena said to Enterprise.

Lena led them into a briefing room and immediately discussed the current situation with the ship girls, everything down to the details. However, Lena focused on explaining the detailed situation on the water. These girls are still the manifestation of ships after all, so it would be better to keep their focus on naval combat…Lena explained that the situation isn't looking good for the waters around New York, the Sirens worked quickly to make sure the entire city is fortified, and then stationed a massive fleet just outside New York, so the humans wouldn't get any funny ideas regarding a seaborne counterattack. But that's not the worst part of it, Lena could clearly see the dread and nervousness when Lena showed the picture of Orochi, and their subsequent encounter with the said ship…even they know that ship isn't something they could take lightly, it would take more than a small fleet of ship girls to sink that beast down to the bottom of the sea.

"…And that's the situation." Lena said out loud, finishing her explanation.

"Oh dear…Orochi sounds difficult to defeat. Even if we swarmed them with all of the ship girls that came with us, we're still going to take some casualties." Illustrious commented while she frowned.

"That's right, and it's the reason why we're putting the attack on that ship on hold for a while. The fact that the ship hasn't even moved from its position is a good indication that its priority is to hold New York's coast. We could use that to our advantage, for now…however, the situation isn't looking so good for our remaining troops holding out on the Long Island eastern coast, they managed to set up a forward base as the last safe haven for the rest of the military units that are pulling out of New York with the civilians…High Commander Lucas has briefed me regarding the plan and left me in charge of Azur Lane 7th Atlantic Fleet." Lena said out loud.

"You will be commanding this massive force?" Victorious asked Lena.

"Yeah, well, I'm an admiral by rank. It's only temporary though, once we will make landfall on New York, I will relinquish command to High Commander Lucas…Seaborne warfare isn't exactly my specialty." Lena said to Victorious while she smiled.

"Then what about us?" Enterprise asked Lena.

"ALASUC will be working with me, though I would not have direct command. Consider it like a partnership…I heard Enterprise is the one who's in charge temporarily while William is away, so you will decide for every ship girl here until William arrives and takes over." Lena said out loud then said to Enterprise.

"Yes ma'am." Enterprise said to Lena while she nodded.

"Good…In twelve hours, we will be commencing a counter strike operation codenamed Eagle Storm. The goal of this operation is to systematically take the areas surrounding New York before launching a full-scale all-out assault toward the Siren entrenched positions within the city itself. For that reason alone, we're pulling all manpower, resources, and technology currently available at our immediate disposal. If the Sirens want war, we'll give them one hell of a fight…ALASUC, 7th Fleet, and a few other battlegroups en route to join us will combat the massive Siren armada posted just outside New York City, we will clear those ships before making landfall at New York directly and set up a defensive perimeter over there…However, before we could commence the attack on those ships, we need to retake Long Island first." Lena explained out loud.

Operation Eagle Storm…that's Lucas immediate answer regarding the Siren attack on the New York area, a massive counter attack to eliminate any and all Siren presence within New York. He thought it all, regarding how many units needed, the movement pattern for the whole army, and even who will be going to retake the city. A bold move, considering they just lost New York Regional Headquarters and a good number of military units stationed in Northern America. However, it falls in line with the strategy both Azur Lane and Crimson Axis currently use, swift counter attacks on every front where Sirens are located. Erich has sent word that the Crimson Axis will join Azur Lane in retaking New York, but it will take some time for them to prepare an expeditionary group, he hoped that Azur Lane could hold out until they arrive and assist in the battle. In the meantime, Erich sent an Ironblood fleet to rendezvous with 7th Fleet to help with the counter attack.

But that's not all, for the upcoming battle will also serve as the proving ground for any prototype technology the humans currently have. For example, the Sakura Empire will be sending two platoons of their new mechanized walkers consisting of eight mechs to aid in the fight. That's not the only unit they will send over, due to the data sharing between the scientists around the world, Sakura Empire has also created a new experimental interceptor infantry called 'Seraphs'. These soldiers are equipped with a heavy machine gun, missile launcher hybrid weapon system and jump jet pack that allowed them to fly temporarily. Their freshly trained Seraphs, consisting of three squads, will be sent to help with Operation Eagle Storm. The Iris Orthodoxy is sending their new energy shield projector vehicle that could be used as a defensive aid for the Azur Lane firebase. Ironblood is sending their nearby fleet which is rumored to have their prototype combat aircraft stationed on their carrier, those planes would be a great help for the advancing human forces.

It's a large-scale operation, one which could determine the fate of humanity on earth. Why? If the Sirens could hold New York and humanity failed to stop them, then they would have a foothold to begin their subjugation of the North American continent. They could take cities and turn them into fortresses, if that really happened then North America could be considered lost. No one knows the Sirens' true numbers, there could be billions of them, waiting for the right time to pour in and conquer this planet. That's why their invasion of New York is taken very seriously by everyone…

"Long Island will provide the necessary staging area to push the Sirens back to New York, once our units over there could secure the area all the way to our fallen Regional HQ, we could commence the naval attack immediately. If we succeed on the upcoming battle, we will be able to link up with our military forces on Long Island to surround and secure New York's south and southeast side…Then, we only need to hold out until the forces on the mainland managed to make a push before we squeeze the Sirens in the middle with two pronged attacks. This will take a while, and it will be a long arduous battle, some analysts predict that this entire operation could take a whole month." Lena explained out loud.

"A whole month?!" Victorious asked out loud with widened eyes.

"There's just that many Sirens within New York, Ms. Victorious. And, the fact they have built a portal gate inside their base means this battle could even be longer than that…Satellite imaging and sporadic radio chatter between our entrapped troops within the city have revealed huge clusters of civilians being detained by the Sirens. The civilians in New York and some parts of Long Island are being held inside some kind of roofless facilities in multiple areas. We still don't know why they keep those people alive, but we will rescue them the moment opportunities are present." Lena explained further.

"Admiral, how about the civilians on Long Island? Are we going to commence an attack over there?" Amagi raised her hand and asked Lena.

"That's right, and that's also the tricky part. They are being held in the same facilities as the others in New York, but our forces are in range and could rescue them. The only problem is right now they are fully committed to the defense of the staging area, so they can't just send the necessary units to rescue all of those civilians…And that is where Task Force 38 comes in." Lena said to Yorktown while she smiled.

"Task Force 38?" Amagi asked out loud.

"Yes, a combined unit between the navy and KANSENs that has operated in the Atlantic region for the past six months. They have the necessary strength and numbers to make landfall over Long Island to rescue those civilians, aircraft carrier Essex who served as the flagship for the Task Force is on her way here to discuss the-" Lena explained to Amagi.

BANK!

"I AM SO SORRY THAT I'M LATE!"

The door to the briefing room was busted open by a blue haired girl with twin tail style hair and dressed in an Eagle Union blue coat. That person is Essex herself, who rushed to 7th Fleet the moment she heard that ALASUC is coming. With the addition of giving Lena the situational report, she also comes to pick up several ship girls that Lena said will be coming with her to help in the upcoming assault. It was clear that with the number of Sirens on Long Island that the ship girls who tagged along with Task Force 38 wouldn't be enough, they needed extra firepower to make sure that their assault would go without a hitch. Lena and the other ship girls immediately looked at Essex, some were surprised with her sudden entry.

"Ah, there she is. You are indeed quite late, Ms. Essex." Lena said to Essex.

"I have something urgent to attend to before I left so forgive me! Eh?! Everyone is already here!" Essex said to Lena before she commented out loud at the room occupants.

"Nice to see you again, Essex." Enterprise chimed in while she smiled.

"Enterprise! It's an honor that we meet again! I'm looking forward to working with you!" Essex said to Enterprise while she smiled widely.

"Likewise, let's give these Sirens something to cry about." Enterprise said to Essex while she smiled confidently.

"Yes ma'am!" Essex said to Enterprise as she threw a brief salute.

"Ms. Essex, I need the situation report." Lena said to Essex.

"Yes admiral…We could still make landfall, but the Sirens seem to figure out what we're trying to do. They are reinforcing their frontlines over Long Island as we speak, so it will be harder for us to breakthrough their lines in order to rescue those civilians. Our regulars at Task Force 38 should be sufficient to commence the attack, but they will need KANSEN support to break through the frontline. We will need those who can fight both on the sea and land." Essex said to Lena with a serious face.

Lena rubbed her chin; this development is to be expected since there's no way they could hide their huge force from the Sirens. They will figure out that the humans will launch a counter attack the moment their units are detected…The increase in Siren defensive capability on Long Island means they would need more firepower than before, Lena planned to just ask Enterprise to redirect one or two ship girls from ALASUC to help Essex, but with this condition, they might have to send a small fleet…The landfall would be the opening for Operation Eagle Storm, and they cannot fail. If they couldn't secure Long Island then safe to say the rest of the incoming allied units would have to land somewhere else, and it would be much harder to fight the Sirens since they couldn't surround them.

"Hmm…Alright then. Enterprise, could you choose a few girls who fit the criteria that Essex just mentioned? They will come with her to temporarily help with the assault, the girls over there will definitely need the extra help." Lena asked Enterprise.

"…Based upon Essex's criteria, and the enemy we might face outside New York…I want to send Eugen, Hipper, and Baltimore as the frontline hitters with Formidable, Ranger, and Saratoga as support…Carriers won't do much against Orochi for now, so it's safe to commit them to the attack on Long Island." Enterprise said to Lena.

"…Excellent choice Enterprise, you already got the hang of this. Alright ladies, we don't have time to waste, so those who Enterprise just mentioned please get ready to leave with Essex." Lena said out loud.

"After we just arrived? Oh well then, I suppose that's where we're needed." Prinz said out loud while she shrugged.

"Ugh…Please tell me it won't be another six hours ride through the stratosphere." Formidable said out loud while she frowned.

"Don't worry, it's just a short two hours ride with a helicopter." Essex said to Formidable while she smiled.

"You call that short?!" Formidable retorted while she frowned.

"Hahaha! Don't worry! You could rest when we arrive there, we're commencing the attack at dawn anyway, so you'll have some time to catch your breath." Essex said to Formidable while she grinned.

Enterprise nodded in affirmation, that means they would still have time to rest and to prepare themselves for the fight…But her mind couldn't help itself to wander toward Orochi, a ship that size with such overwhelming firepower that can shred missile salvos like nothing? Enterprise felt she would be useless against that ship, she could surely use light arrows to fight it, but she doubts it will do much damage toward the behemoth...Her eyes widened a bit in realization, she remembered that William entrusted everyone's lives in her hands, she will have to make a decision for everyone, and she needs to think about it carefully. Enterprise will have to rely on her friends, utilize their best strengths, and cover up their weaknesses; if they want to be victorious against Orochi when the time comes…man, she has homework to do.

"…I'll be going now, wish me luck." Formidable said to Illustrious and Victorious.

"Take care over there, Formidable." Illustrious said to Formidable while she smiled softly.

"Yeah, do us proud." Victorious said to Formidable while she smiled widely.

"Will do." Formidable said to Illustrious and Victorious while she smiled.

"Sara, behave yourself over there, okay? And be careful." Lexington said to Saratoga while she smiled.

"Okay! See you later, Big Sis Lex!" Saratoga said to Lexington before she hugged her briefly.

"…Admiral Lena." Enterprise said to Lena as she approached her.

"Yes?" Lena asked Enterprise.

"There's no mission for us at the moment, am I right? I want the others to rest up, it's been a long flight." Enterprise said to Lena.

"Yeah, I understand. We have prepared accommodation for the ship girls within the special VIP compartment. You girls will need your energy for tomorrow as we will be commencing a reconnaissance run and test the Sirens' perimeter just outside New York for their reaction…You girls, you will be our spearhead on this one." Lena said to Enterprise while she smiled.

Lena watched as the ship girls left the briefing room one by one. After everyone had left, Lena exited the room and headed straight for the Combat Information Center for the ALS Terranova. Designed as a flagship and mobile HQ, the CIC for this ship is quite vast, filled with dozens of consoles, huge screens like the ones in their Central HQ, and the room is never empty as personnel keep going in and out to do their jobs. Lena walked toward the holographic table in the center of the room, and she could see the 7th fleet in the center of the table alongside several allied battlegroups approaching from their rear and sides…and a massive Siren armada posted just outside New York. She noted that the patrol groups that they launched haven't encountered any Siren aircraft, and that means they're still waiting for them to come after those Sirens...Lena hoped that nothing bad will happen in the near future, they couldn't afford to fail in this upcoming naval battle.

…The KANSENs have each retreated into their assigned rooms, each room holds up to four ship girls, and they do that to prevent from taking up too much space. Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown naturally decided to share one. The three of them are currently sitting together on one of the few beds within the room. The three talked and spent their time while enjoying snacks and drinks as they talked about all things, from mundane things like new beauty products available near ALASUC base to the info they heard about the invasion.

"…I miss days like this, where the three of us can just sit together and talk all night." Hornet said out loud as she laid on top of the bed.

"Ufufu, indeed." Yorktown said to Hornet while she smiled.

"Sis, how are the medical treatments within the Regional HQ? You're okay now, right?" Enterprise asked Yorktown.

"Don't worry Enty, I am well enough to even participate in combat. But it's been a while for me, I'm more worried about you two who are fighting the Sirens more often than I do." Yorktown said to Enterprise while she smiled a bit.

The details about why she's been away is because Yorktown suffered critical damage during the Battle of Midway; she would surely die if Enterprise and Hornet didn't quickly drag her to the nearby medical ship. Yorktown was quickly given priority for surgery and the medics on board successfully prevented her death, after a twelve hours long operation. However, the Wisdom cube inside her, which could be considered her 'soul', suffered some damage that caused the 'connection' between her physical body and the cube to be distorted, that resulted in her falling into a deep coma…She was brought over to Azur Lane New York HQ to recover because it has the proper technology to repair her Wisdom cube. She woke up around a year ago and spent most of her time recovering. She made a full recovery two months ago and was given full permission to sortie once again.

"Nothing we couldn't handle, right Enty?" Hornet asked Enterprise while she grinned.

"That's right. So far, we have been victorious in our battles against the Sirens." Enterprise said out loud while she smiled.

"I've heard about ALASUC's well-known reputation in combat." Yorktown said to Enterprise while she smiled.

"Oh, you have?" Hornet asked out loud while she cocked her eyebrows.

"Yes…There is one thing that concerns me though, it's about your commander." Yorktown said to Hornet while she frowned.

"Ah, Commander William? Well, I do get why you would be worried about him. He always takes on the Sirens in the frontline directly if given the chance." Hornet said out loud while she smiled awkwardly.

"I'm afraid that one day, he will suffer the consequences." Yorktown said to Hornet in a low tone.

"Oh, he already did." Hornet said to Yorktown.

"What did you say?" Yorktown asked Hornet as she turned to stare at her.

"During the commission to help Sakura Empire troops on Furushima, commander fought against this one Siren known as Midnight. Even though he's wearing highly advanced armor, he still got his ass kicked hard. His injuries weren't that life threatening, but it sure made it hard for him to do things by himself for a bit…From that day on, he trained himself, working his body to the ground and cramming as much knowledge as he could. He learned swordsmanship, CQC, visited the firing range daily, and he didn't stop for anything that we were worried that he would eventually collapse." Enterprise said to Yorktown.

"All because of a single defeat?" Yorktown asked Enterprise.

"Yeah, it's like he's obsessed with winning the next time he might encounter that Siren…Well, he is dedicated, but he focused on training so much that he almost neglected us." Enterprise said to Yorktown.

"Hmm, does he possess a single tracked mind?" Yorktown asked Enterprise.

"Not most of the time. I think he's just sore after losing like that, he's got his own pride for being a former special ops soldier after all." Enterprise said to Yorktown.

"I see." Yorktown said to Enterprise.

"Well, enough about all of that! Come on, let's play some cards! Sister bonding time! Yay!" Hornet said out loud as she sat up.

"Hehe, sure. Enterprise, I hope you improved your skill in playing Seven." Yorktown said to Enterprise while she smiled.

"I don't have that much time to play, but I'll certainly snatch a win from you two tonight!" Enterprise said out loud while she smiled widely.

"Oho, you're on Enty!" Hornet said to Enterprise while she grinned.

.

…A girl with twin tailed blue hair and blue eyes sneezed, she rubbed her nose a bit before she sighed a bit. Intrepid sat on the end of an aircraft carrier runway, she had been using her fighters to conduct reconnaissance over Long Island for the past few hours to monitor any change. Intrepid stifled her yawn as she recalled her fighters from the sky. The sun is going up in an hour, and they will move to attack. After waiting for several minutes, a few F6F fighters approached her before turning into light particles as it landed on her rigging's runway. Intrepid stored her rigging away, turning it into shimmering blue particles before disappearing. She got up and stretched her own body before she turned around and headed for the aircraft carrier's island. She wanted to grab some coffee to prepare herself for the day. Near the entrance, Intrepid could see a blonde girl with tan skin, she leaned on the wall as she checked her phone. The girl immediately noticed Intrepid when she approached her and smiled at Intrepid as she stored her phone in her pocket.

"Intrepid, how's things?" The girl asked Intrepid while she smiled.

"Same as a few hours ago, the Sirens are still entrenched and a few of their land patrols are engaged in skirmishes with ours occasionally." Intrepid said to the girl as she put a hand on her waist.

"Hoo, they could've tried to finish off our units since they're backed into the corner. So why didn't they advance?" The girl asked Intrepid while she pouted in wonder.

"Beats me…By the way Marblehead, where's Bremerton?" Intrepid asked the girl after she shrugged.

"I think she's still asleep, that gal kept playing with her phone until three in the morning. Weren't it for Baltimore scolding her, I think she would stay awake until now." Marblehead answered while she smiled.

"Can you wake her up? We're starting the attack in an hour." Intrepid asked Marblehead.

"Oh, I hope she won't get cranky, but yeah, got it…Oh hey Hill!" Marblehead said to Intrepid before she waved at someone behind her.

Intrepid looked back and saw a blonde woman dressed in the same uniform as her, she's Bunker Hill. Intrepid remembered that Hill was supposed to be with Essex right now, helping her in planning the formation for them when they go into action. Did she take a short break to go outside? She had to admit, the weather is quite chilly, and it certainly would jolt Bunker Hill awake if she felt sleepy. Anyway, Bunker Hill acknowledged Marblehead by nodding and then immediately approached Intrepid.

"Intrepid, Essex wants you to participate in the briefing." Bunker Hill said to Intrepid.

"Okay. Let's go." Intrepid answered as she followed Bunker Hill.

Intrepid and Bunker Hill attended the briefing in the large conference room inside the aircraft carrier, the room was jam-packed with pilots, marines, and several ship girls. The room is quite noisy as people talk to each other, some discussing the mission, some idle chatter, and some even betting on taking out the most enemies in the incoming battle. Bunker Hill and Intrepid immediately went to the few empty seats beside the ship girls and sat there, Intrepid said a brief hello to Prinz Eugen who sat beside her. They're just in time as a few seconds later someone who's clearly an Admiral entered the room, he looked stern and sleep deprived…He immediately headed toward the podium, turned on the holographic screen to his side, and immediately showed the satellite view of the Long Island area that is littered with red and blue icons.

"Is everyone here? Pipe it down everyone, I don't want to waste any time, so let's get started…It goes without saying that we are the vanguards for Operation Eagle Storm, we will be the first to fight the Sirens in this counter offensive operation, and our success here could impact this whole operation…The Sirens have entrenched themselves and established a perimeter across the Long Island on this line, they barricaded any openings, and we couldn't go past their defenses without having to duck our heads with them…We have two primary objectives, first is to push back the Sirens then destroy their Long Island base to secure the area. Second, we are to storm three Siren holding facilities and free any of the captured civilians, they're counting on us to get out of there." The admiral explained out loud.

"Sounds simple." Essex muttered in a low tone.

"Yeah, but every simple objective is always complicated to achieve." Baltimore said to Essex in a low tone.

"We will deploy all of our available units that are not in reserve for the landfall. Some marines alongside Azur Lane Commandos will use the Blackhawks and Ospreys to deploy in several drop zones across Long Island, between our army and the Sirens, they will secure the area ahead and distract those aliens while we land our armor on the beachhead. Once our ground forces land, the air force and the KANSENs will provide support for their advance. We're scrambling all Task Force 38 fighter jets for this operation, two other squadrons with call signs Apollo and Garuda will also join us during this offensive. They are seasoned pilots who have downed hundreds of Siren fighters, their help is greatly appreciated." The admiral said out loud.

"Apollo and Garuda? Ah, they are the squadron from the base next to ours." Prinz muttered in a low tone.

"You knew them, Prinz?" Intrepid asked Prinz in low tone.

"Worked with them several times in the past. If I remember correctly, the leader of Apollo Squadron once sank three Siren mass produced destroyers by himself." Prinz said to Intrepid in a low tone.

"Solo? And he survived? Man, that person is skilled." Intrepid said to Prinz in a low tone.

"Ms. Essex, are the ship girls ready for the support role?" The admiral asked Essex.

"Yes admiral, for this operation, I have borrowed some ship girls from ALASUC on the 7th Fleet. They are highly experienced when it comes to dealing with Sirens, you can trust their capability. The cruisers and destroyers will be joining the offensive directly while the carriers will follow closely behind, we'll be ready for fire support if requested." Essex said to the admiral with a confident smile.

"Excellent, you girls will be deploying first to commence overwatch and shore bombardment to soften the Siren defenses along the beachheads. Then, you will join the offensive together with the regular units." The admiral said to Essex and the other ship girls

"Got it, sir." Essex said to the admiral.

"…Are there any questions regarding the mission? No? Then get prepared, the details for the operation are now available on our battle network. Read them carefully…Dismissed." The admiral said out loud.

After the briefing was concluded, everyone immediately prepared themselves…As planned, the ship girls were deploying first. A large group of them cruised on the water before stopping between Task Force 38's position and Long Island…Time is short for them; they have to commence the attack the moment the sun is up on the horizon. Essex looked backwards and stared at each ship girl behind her, some still looked sleepy, some were still reading the plan for this fight on their phones, which are connected to the Azur Lane Battle Network, and some were scanning the area for any signs of threats. Essex honestly felt a bit nervous since this would be the first time she's working with ALASUC, but Essex has confidence that it's going to be fine, since these girls are veterans when it comes to fighting Sirens, so she wouldn't have to instruct them much.

"Alright. I assume everyone is already acquainted with one another?" Essex asked out loud when they stopped at their designated position.

"We already are." Baltimore said to Essex while she smiled a bit.

"Good, now, let's eat before we butt heads with those Sirens! Can't fight a war on an empty stomach! I got our breakfast right here, come closer everyone!" Essex said out loud while she smiled.

"Here I was wondering what's inside that huge backpack you're carrying." Intrepid said to Essex.

Essex carried a huge backpack as she led the others, not that it's unusual since ship girls will carry one when they are assigned to long term commission, it's just that they are close to their base of operation, so getting food is relatively easy. But, due to them being in a hurry to secure the beachhead, the girls skipped breakfast and prioritized their mission. Luckily, Essex took the initiative by packing a huge backpack with MREs and water bottles for their quick breakfast, a filled stomach is always better than an empty one…The ship girls gathered around for a bit as Essex gave them a pack of Meals Ready to Eat and a water bottle each, everyone eagerly took some and start eating.

"MREs huh…Enterprise is surely rubbing off on you~" Marblehead said to Essex while she grinned.

"Wha-, this has nothing to do with her!" Essex said to Marblehead, her cheeks flushed.

"Hehehe, don't worry I'm just teasing you." Marblehead said to Essex while she grinned.

"Yeah yeah, we know you look up to her, but please don't follow her bad habits in eating MREs all the time." Intrepid said to Essex while she smiled smugly.

"Hah, it's not like that…Anyway, you'll want something in your stomach for this fight so eat up everyone." Essex said out loud.

"Formidable! Want to swap with mine?" Saratoga asked Formidable.

"Ah, I'm good, thanks!" Formidable said to Saratoga.

"Aww come on! I want your wiener!" Saratoga said to Formidable.

"PRRRFFFFTTTT!" Hipper spurted out every water in her mouth when she heard Saratoga.

"…Someone just took that out of context." Prinz, who stood beside Hipper, commented as she rubbed her back while Hipper threw a coughing fit.

"Ahahahahahaha!" Casablanca couldn't help herself but to laugh out loud.

"Intrepid, don't forget your meal." Bunker Hill said to Intrepid.

"Yeah yeah I'm eating it!" Intrepid said out loud as she tore open her MRE packaging.

"Bremerton? What are you doing?" Baltimore asked Bremerton.

"Uploading my breakfast to Juustagram! Whoa, people are sympathizing with me!" Bremerton said to Baltimore as she showed her phone screen to Baltimore.

"Yeah, I mean, who would eat breakfast on your way to a fight? You eat it before you leave, not on the way." Cooper said to Baltimore.

"Achoo! Isn't today kind of cold?" Ranger sneezed before she asked out loud.

"What do you expect? It's November!" Marblehead said to Ranger while she grinned.

"Reno! It's good that you're warming up, but don't forget to eat!" Shangri-La said to Reno.

"Okay! Let me stretch my legs first!" Reno said to Shangri-La as she did a set of warm ups.

After eating their share of MREs, the ship girls returned to their assigned group in preparation to begin the attack. Their target? Siren fortifications on Long Island's southern beachhead, those creatures already set up their large trapezium shaped defensive tower equipped with anti-ship cannons, their Spider tanks are positioned around the towers, and several mass produced destroyers are in position just off the shallow beach, prepared to defend against incoming human forces…Intrepid has been appointed as the one in charge coordinating the ship girl's airstrikes, she nodded her head as she noted the Sirens' defensive positions and planned her target priority. After learning all she could from the air, Intrepid recalled her recon aircraft that flew back toward her, landed on her rigging's deck before disappearing in a brief flash of light.

"…Hope you girls are ready for this." Intrepid said out loud on the radio.

"Go for it Intrepid, we're ready to follow your lead." Essex said to Intrepid on the radio.

"Okay, commencing airstrikes!" Intrepid said out loud on the radio.

Intrepid, Essex, Bunker Hill, Shangri-La, Ranger, Formidable, Saratoga, and Casablanca launched all of their available aircraft and sent them toward the Sirens. Their planes filled the sky, forming small clouds of metal machines as they headed toward the beach with the sun rising behind them. The Sirens immediately opened fire the moment the planes were in range, while some of the plasma projectiles managed to destroy several of them, the rest remained steady in their advance. The planes begin attacking their first target, the destroyer formation off the beach. Dozens of torpedo bombers fly at low altitude, ready to deploy their payload toward the destroyers. The Siren ships naturally lit up their AA guns, sending a barrage of plasma and laser bolts toward the approaching planes. Despite downing some of them, the planes successfully launched their aerial torpedoes, which hit their mark and caused the Siren destroyers to be filled with holes. Water immediately flooded their inner structures, and the ships went down without being able to do much.

The rest of the planes are carrying bombs, and they're going for the threats on land. The threats are even bigger than the destroyers since the defensive tower is quite well defended. Just like the tactics performed on Furushima, the planes climbed up to high altitude before diving down at a very steep angle. The carriers have studied Siren fortifications well, and they know their trapezium shaped tower has a blind spot, and that is directly above them. Dozens of bombs are dropped toward the tower and Siren vehicles on the beach, explosions lit up the entire beach as the tower's coastal guns are destroyed, and several of the vehicles were damaged beyond recognition from the bomb strike. The fighters performed strafing runs on the Spider tanks, mechs, and Siren troopers on the beach area; they kept doing it for a while until the Sirens retreated into the buildings near the beach where they could find some cover.

"Good one girls! That should hurt them!" Intrepid said out loud while she grinned.

"I don't have to use my ability, that's great." Formidable said to herself while she smiled.

"KANSENs, we saw the explosions on the beach. What is the situation?" The admiral asked out loud on the radio.

"Coastal guns and destroyers are neutralized, admiral." Intrepid reported on the radio.

"Copy that. Are we clear to launch?" The admiral asked Intrepid on the radio.

"They're responding as we expected. They're redirecting their units to face ours; this is it…Task Force 38! Let's rock and roll!" Intrepid said out loud on the radio while she grinned.

---

(Battlefield 4 Theme starts playing)

---

"Attention all units! Operation Eagle Storm is a go! I repeat, Eagle Storm is a go! Move out and good hunting everyone!" The admiral said out loud.

The ship girls looked behind them, and the sight is enough to give any human on Long Island a glimpse of hope in their darkest hour…Dozens of Amphibious Transport Hovercraft are moving in formation while being escorted by patrol boats, those ships are carrying tanks and APCs from the transport ships, which are going to be deployed on the beachhead. Above them, possibly hundreds of helicopters are flying in unison above the formation. Cobra helicopter gunships forming protective circles around the Blackhawks and Ospreys, which are fully loaded with marines and commandos. Around and above the helicopters, dozens of fighter jets consisting of F-18s, F-35s, and F-22s are flying in formation, ready to intercept any incoming Siren fighters. The massive formation was moving toward the ship girls, they could only smile widely before turning back toward Long Island and cruised ahead of them…leading the charge.

"Whoa...I still can't believe we have this many units on the Task Force!" Bremerton said out loud as she looked around her.

"We're going all out from the start." Shangri-La said to Bremerton while she smiled.

"Now this is a show of force! Let's get those Sirens, guys!" Reno said out loud enthusiastically.

"Head's up everyone, massive Siren fighter formation, twelve o'clock high. We're going in." A pilot said on the radio.

"Garuda Squadron here, we got your back! Let's do this!" Another pilot said out loud on the radio.

"Apollo Squadron, engaging bandits." The pilot said in a calm tone on the radio.

The human jets accelerated toward the massive Siren fighter formation that appeared above Long Island and moved to intercept them. It's hard to tell from the ground which side has the most aircraft, but it's clear no one is backing down from the fight. Missiles are fired, flares are deployed, and tracers could be seen flying around as both aircraft formations close in on one another. In the next seconds, it turned into a massive crowd in the sky as dogfights ensued between them. The fight was witnessed by the humans on the ground, it could be described as the most intense air battle that happened in modern history...Intrepid watched the fight from below, using her rigging's sensors to keep track of the fight while gliding toward the beach.

"I'm on its back!"

"Some of them are chasing me, I'm defending."

"Guns, guns, guns!"

"Clear shot on target, fox two."

"Tally target twelve o'clock!"

"Fox one…Bandit is splashed!"

"I'm hit!"

"Yo buddy, still alive?"

"Yeah, nothing feels wrong on my side. I'm still on this."

"Fox two…Hostile shot down."

"I'm hit! Ejecting!"

"Going for guns…hostile down."

"Range six hundred, I'm going for missile lock."

"Fox three…Bandits splashed"

"Wait, someone out here is racking up kills nonstop!"

"Yeah, Apollo One is slaying those Sirens…he's as good as the rumors said about him."

"Morpho? Huh, his TAC name really doesn't suit him when he's shooting down planes left and right."

"Focus on your own task, you can yap about it all you want when this is over!"

"Shit! They're behind me!"

"Apollo One moving to assist…Fox three…Bandit is down."

"Phew! Thanks for the save Morpho! My ass would've been-. Hey! Where are you going?!"

"He's diving straight into a Siren squadron! Damn! That guy is either insane, skilled or both!"

"First time? Yeah, even we as his fellow squadron members feel that we'll only be a hindrance to him if we try to provide support."

One of the fighter jets, a light blue colored F-22, is moving aggressively behind a Siren fighter. It gunned down the Siren fighter in front of it until the fighter exploded before moving on to the next one that's nearby. The jet fired a missile, which downed one Siren jet, then quickly fired another missile that blew up another Siren jet in the immediate vicinity. It's not done yet as it quickly fired its cannon toward an approaching Siren fighter and quickly destroyed it after putting concentrated fire on the aircraft. However, one Siren fighter managed to get behind it and fired its gun, which forced the jet to dive down close to the sea's surface, in front of the ship girls. The Siren fighter fired a missile toward the light blue jet, but the F-22 didn't deploy any flares as it slowed down considerably before doing a barrel roll. The missile passed beneath the F-22, narrowly hitting the aircraft, and the Siren fighter overshot the jet. The F-22 increased its speed and quickly fired a missile that blew up the Siren fighter before going back upwards to rejoin the fight…Anyone who got the front seat of that event was impressed, the ship girls themselves are quite relieved that there's a pilot on their side with such skill. He will be invaluable to this operation…

"That blue colored F-22…That one fighter decimated every enemy jet it encountered!" Formidable said out loud in an astonished tone.

"That must be Apollo One. After what they pulled when we defended Battlegroup Dakota, I'm not even surprised." Prinz said out loud.

"They're as good as you told me, huh." Intrepid commented, she was telling the truth about that one.

"Incoming! Plasma rounds from the beachhead!" Baltimore suddenly said out loud on the radio.

"This is it! Protect our hovercrafts! Vanguards, take them out!" Essex said out loud on the radio.

"Spider tanks and some of their mechs! They're firing at us!" Cooper said out loud on the radio.

"I've heard about their new mechs! They're tough, but they're not invincible! Focus your fire on them, and that thing will go down in flames!" Essex said out loud on the radio.

"Don't worry Essex! We'll take care of them!" Bremerton said to Essex on the radio.

Plasma bolts in varying sizes were flying from the beachhead as Spider tanks and Siren mechs fired their weapons, many of them missed the mark, but two managed to directly hit a patrol boat and one hovercraft. The ship girls' vanguards immediately aimed their guns to the beach area and began firing in rapid succession, high explosive shells rained upon Siren positions in quick succession. But not even the shelling is enough to force them to retreat further, in fact, the Sirens that are defending the beach managed to hold their line by using the buildings around as cover. At this rate, the landing party will suffer heavy casualties because they're getting closer and closer to the beach…with incoming Siren fire becoming more accurate the closer they are to them.

"One kilometer and closing!" Someone said on the radio.

BOOM!

"We're going down!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

BOOM!

"We're hit! We're hit!" Another one said out loud on the radio.

"What?!" Essex looked behind in surprise.

"Two of our Blackhawks are destroyed!" Shangri-La said to Essex.

"It looks like they are committed to their position on the beach!" Baltimore said out loud.

"Ship girls! We need airstrikes on that armor on that beach, or our helicopters are not going to make it!" A pilot said to the ship girls on the radio.

"Roger that…Intrepid, Ranger, Saratoga! Strafe those bastards by the beach!" Essex said out loud.

"Understood." Intrepid said to Essex.

"Roger!" Ranger said to Essex.

"Okie dokie!" Saratoga said to Essex.

"Oh my god! Incoming salvo!" Bremerton said out loud.

Dozens of huge plasma bolts are approaching their position, this time it could possibly take out several ships behind the ship girls' position. It was clear now that the Sirens are specifically aiming for the hovercrafts and the troop helicopters, they know that this invasion couldn't commence without those soldiers and armor, so they wait until the humans are closer for a sure shot…Formidable took a deep breath before she spread her arms wide, and the plasma bolts suddenly become suspended midair. That act allowed the helicopters and the hovercrafts to make quick adjustments to avoid the plasma projectiles. The plasma bolts then resumed moving, and hit the waters behind the invading forces. Formidable stumbled and is about to fall were it not for Essex catching her. The young woman is sweating and panting hard, using her ability to stop that many projectiles, even just for a few seconds, is really taxing her body. Meanwhile, Ranger, Intrepid, and Saratoga launched their second wave of bombers. The planes managed to punch the Sirens' defenses with their relentless bombing and rocket strikes, they managed to force the Siren armor to retreat from the beach.

"Beachhead is cleared of hostiles." Intrepid said out loud on the radio.

"Affirmative. We're going in." One pilot responded on the radio.

"I don't know what you just did, Formidable, but you just saved our collective butts! Are you okay?" Essex asked Formidable worriedly.

"Hah…I'm fine…hah…I just need…some time to…rest." Formidable said to Essex while she tried to control her breathing.

"Okay. Stick to me until you can stand up for yourself." Essex said to Formidable.

"I'm sorry…for troubling you, Ms. Essex." Formidable said to Essex while she frowned.

"Nah, after what you did, this is the least I can do for you." Essex said to Formidable while she smiled.

"Our commandos and marines are on the ground! They're engaging in combat with the Siren troopers!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"This is it! Get your head on swivel! We're commencing seaborne armor assault now!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

The marines and the commandos are safely deployed on Long Island's soil, they immediately open fire at the Siren troopers behind the enemy lines, who couldn't mount up any effective resistance against them. The ship girls reached the beachhead, and they immediately went for the nearest cover they could find, why? Because the Spider tanks, some of the Siren mechs and Siren troopers that previously held the beach didn't retreat that far. They are forming another defensive line among the buildings, creating choke points and making sure many groups of marines and commandos behind their lines couldn't be reinforced by the landing armor. Little did the Sirens know that plan is about to fail spectacularly, because the humans will push through them no matter what.

"Play it on loudspeaker and let those Sirens know we're coming for them!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

---

(Sabaton – Primo Victoria starts playing)

---

The hovercrafts lowered their frontal bay doors, M1 tanks, Challenger tanks, APCs, and even marines immediately poured onto the beach while firing their weapons…it's game on, the Sirens are going to taste the firsthand experience of humanity's savagery in ground combat.

"Spider tanks, Siren mechs, and troopers to our twelve! Prioritize the mechs! Load SABOT rounds! On my mark…FIRE!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Thunderous cannon fire resounded as dozens of tanks focused their fire toward the Siren mechs, the tanks were supported by APCs, which fired their cannons and TOW launchers as they deployed Azur Lane marines. The mechs' shields managed to protect them temporarily, but with how rapid the tanks fired and overwhelming support barrage from the ship girls' vanguards, the mechs' shields quickly fail and their hulls are pounded by hundreds of incoming shells, which forced them to take cover…with the mech's temporarily out of the way, the tanks could focus on the Spider tanks for a bit. The Sirens feel a bit suicidal as they try to push forward, to drive the humans back to the waters. But even as they advanced, the human soldiers didn't show any signs of retreating, in fact, they dared those creatures to come and meet them head on. The Siren troopers are without doubt, an effective combatant against human soldiers with their advanced technology and superior strength. But this time, not all of the human infantry came at them dressed in their usual battle dress fitted with light armor and helmets…there's something else that comes with them.

"Make way for the big boys!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

WHOSH!

BUAM!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

A group of Siren troopers are gunned by a barrage of high caliber rounds before a rocket hit them, the survivors in the group didn't have time to react before they are gunned down by bullet barrages. The others troopers briefly looked at their corpses before looking back at the approaching humans…Among them, there's several soldiers, fully armored with metal platings, carrying miniguns or huge cannon that are connected to the massive backpacks on their backside, they have shoulder mounted rocket pods on their left shoulders, and flexible expandable metallic shields that are attached on their left arms, which covered half of those soldiers' front side. Due to their extensive research into powered exoskeletons, Azur Lane has managed to mass produce and employ that technology to be used in the frontline…the result? A new type of infantry unit, the Heavy Infantry. They are tanks in human form, designed to take direct hits from Siren plasma weaponry and providing firepower equivalent to one, depending on their loadout. These new experimental soldiers are immediately deployed for Operation Eagle Storm, their prowess and effectiveness will be tested directly in the frontline, a baptism by fire.

"Azur Lane Commandos have breached the Sirens' rear guard! They're moving in toward the facility ahead of us!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"That's our cue! Secure the area quickly! We need to move in unison, rendezvous, and establish a defensive perimeter! Get to it!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"The Siren defense line is almost breaking!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"Kill them! Hose those fuckers down!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

No mercy was shown to the Sirens as human forces keep firing everything they have, the Siren mechs are destroyed after receiving sustained fire from the human armored vehicles, the Spider tanks are either in full retreat or destroyed, and the Siren troopers are running away in full retreat with the ones that are still behind get executed on the spot by the advancing marines and Heavy Infantries…The whole skirmish only happened for around ten minutes, but it was bloody and intense. The humans lost some armored vehicles and a few groups of marines, but it's a worthy sacrifice because they managed to beat the Siren ground units to retreat from the Long Island beach area…Essex breathed out in relief, she had never been involved in ground combat before, but now that she experienced it, she really didn't want to fight the Siren ground units directly. Ground fighting is intense and confusing, on the open waters she could see the enemy approaching from the horizon. On the ground? Not so much! Especially within an urban environment like she's in now!

"Formidable, can you walk?" Essex asked Formidable who she still shouldered.

"Don't worry, I can now. Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Essex." Formidable said to Essex while she smiled.

"Don't sweat it…Alright, everyone okay?" Essex asked out loud to the ship girls.

"We're all fine, no one is injured." Prinz said to Essex.

"Yeah, we're quite lucky that none of the Sirens targeted us." Cooper said out loud.

"Must be because of how many of us are present on the beach." Shangri-La said to Cooper while she smiled.

"USS Essex, this is Admiral Stanford. How are you and the other KANSENs?" Admiral John Stanford, the one in charge of Task Force 38 asked Essex on the radio.

"We've regrouped on the beach and are ready for the next phase, sir." Essex said to Stanford on the radio.

"Excellent. Gather your vanguards and proceed to the designated hold out position immediately, our commandos are working to free the civilians out of the Sirens' holding facility, they want the position to be well defended, so the civilians could have some cover as they move." Stanford said to Essex on the radio.

"Roger that sir, we're on it." Essex said to Essex on the radio.

Just as planned, the commandos already infiltrated the Sirens' holding facility that contained hundreds or even thousands of civilians in captivity. While they still don't know why would these aliens captured them, they know that the civilians will need some help to break out of the facility, and that is phase two of the landfall…Between their defensive line and the Sirens' facility, there's a surface rail station with operational trains that are ready to be used to transport the civilians to the station on the end of Long Island's east side. That's the place where the civilians will be gathered before being escorted to the Azur Lane Long Island Staging Ground near the station. To accomplish this task, some of the Azur Lane Commando squads split up from the rest of the units that infiltrated the facility to reinforce and prepare the station for immediate use. The ship girls have read the plan, and that's the place where the vanguards will be assigned to help with the defense perimeter, the backlines will stay behind the defensive line to give air support and to provide reconnaissance data for them regarding the movement of Siren forces.

"Baltimore, lead the vanguards and get ready for phase two of the landfall! Make sure those civilians arrive without being chased by the Sirens!" Essex said to Baltimore.

"Got it Essex, just be ready to help when we request an airstrike, okay?" Baltimore said to Essex while she smiled confidently.

"Yeah, don't worry, call Intrepid in case you need one. Good luck out there!" Essex said to Baltimore while she smiled.

"Hey taxi~!" Prinz said out loud at the incoming APC as she waved her hand, they will need a ride to that station.

"Uh, miss, we are going to the station." The APC stopped before someone said to Prinz on the radio.

"What a coincidence, we're going there as well. Can we hitch a ride?" Prinz asked the driver on the radio.

"Standby…Girls, we are quite jam-packed in the troop compartment. Sorry, but the only free space is on top of this vehicle." Someone said out loud on the radio.

"Better than walking, and the fresh air should help." Prinz said to the driver on the radio while she smiled confidently.

"In that case, hop on, we don't have all day." Someone said out loud on the radio.

"Alright, found us a ride, let's go everyone." Prinz said to the ship girls.

The ship girls unequipped their rigging before they climbed on top of the APC one by one and sat comfortably, they gained a few curious glances from the passing soldiers, both on foot and on vehicle. Sitting on top of an APC or tanks are nothing uncommon, soldiers have been doing it for a long time. But when it's a group of beautiful girls? Of course everyone would be staring…The APC moved, followed by a bunch of tanks, Humvees, and APCs behind in a sizable convoy. Baltimore stared ahead, she stared at the buildings around Long Island, which many have holes on them or outright destroyed to the ground. What makes it worse is that not all of the holes are caused by plasma projectiles. Baltimore could recognize that many are caused by impacts from ship grade cannon shells…In their effort to shell the Sirens on the beach back there, they could still miss and cause the shells to hit the buildings behind them…It's good that there's no civilians around or…Baltimore shook her head, she really didn't want to imagine it.

She immediately remembered something that happened back on the base, if she's not mistaken, just a few weeks after William Blaze became their base commander. ALASUC Fleet One and Two were too engrossed in their heated training; worse is the fact that it's a live fire exercise, and the rounds fired were pounding some areas around their base. Belfast, who oversaw the training, immediately reported it to William; he then headed to the pier, lined up the ship girls involved (including her), and angrily berated them regarding fire control discipline and awareness concerning their surroundings…Now she fully understands why he's quite pissed about it, the weapons on their rigging is capable of causing mass destruction, and in a situation where the enemy is in front of the civilians? They couldn't afford to miss.

Baltimore took a brief check on her comrades: Bremerton is checking out her Juustagram, Cooper is waving at the passing soldiers who waved back at her while smiling, Marblehead is yawning as she sat while looking at their rear, Reno is sitting on the edge while dangling her feet and humming the Avengers theme song, Prinz Eugen and Admiral Hipper are arguing (or Eugen teasing Hipper) regarding something…Baltimore then returned her gaze to the front, and she noted that they are nearing the station, it's still in relatively good condition and currently occupied by Azur Lane Commandos. They could be seen on the rooftop, setting up machine guns, or watching the perimeter for any hostiles. Baltimore felt the APC slowing down, she and the others quickly dropped down from the vehicle's roof. The convoy continues to move and split up to their designated positions, they are going to set up a defensive perimeter around the station.

"This is the place." Baltimore said out loud.

"So, we should just wait here?" Reno asked Baltimore.

"It pains me to say, but we're not specialized in ground warfare. Let's do it like how we're instructed, we stay here and make sure those civilians can pass through the station, safe and sound." Baltimore said to Reno.

"Alright then." Reno said to Baltimore while she nodded.

"You are the ship girls?" A soldier asked out loud as she approached them.

"Yeah, who might you be?" Baltimore asked the soldier.

"Just a runner ma'am, I got a message from my CO. He needs the ship girl's help, there are two tall buildings just in front of this station's main entrance, and he requests that you take up position over there. It should give you a clear view for the incoming civilians and any hostiles that might chase them." The soldier said to Baltimore.

"Great idea, I was just about to think where we can position ourselves. Tell your CO we said thanks." Baltimore said to the soldier.

"Roger that ma'am!" The soldier said to Baltimore as she saluted then left the area.

"Okay, let's get to it. There's seven of us, I will be on standby in the station's front entrance to help the civilians. Hipper, Eugen, pick two girls to go with you to a building's rooftop." Baltimore said out loud.

"Ho, I understand…Well then, Bremerton, Marblehead, I hope you two won't mind working with me?" Prinz asked both of them while she smirked.

"None at all, let's do this." Marblehead said to Prinz while she grinned.

"I got your back." Bremerton said to Prinz while she smiled.

"Then I'm going with Reno and Cooper, see you later." Hipper said to Prinz before she walked away.

"Sure, be careful out there." Prinz said to Hipper.

"O-Oh, yeah…you too." Hipper said to Prinz awkwardly.

"…Hmm? Not going to tease her?" Baltimore asked Prinz while she smiled.

"…Nein, she'll need a cool head for this one. I better not provoke her." Prinz said to Baltimore as she stared at Hipper's retreating figure.

"Wait, all this time, when you provoke her, it's so she can go all out during the mission?" Baltimore asked Prinz in disbelief.

"Who knows~?" Prinz said to Baltimore before she winked then walked away.

"…I swear, I could never figure her true intentions out." Baltimore commented in a low tone.

…Both Prinz and Hipper are on standby with their respective teams on top of the buildings in front of the station, from there they could see the facility that Sirens use to hold the civilian captives. It has an open roof, black colored, with red linings here and there, angular around the edges, and it looks ominous. Yup, that really fits the Sirens' common architecture. Prinz noted that the area around the building was too calm, the Sirens weren't the type to let their buildings go unguarded, so she looked more carefully…on closer examination, Prinz managed to note that corpses are littered everywhere, and there are a few Spider tank husks…Their commandos are surely something, Prinz now knows why William is so confident with his fighting prowess… She looked to the side and noted that Marblehead is leaning on the building's rooftop fence while looking pretty bored, nevertheless she still scanned the area in front of her to detect any kind of Siren activity. Bremerton also did that, but unlike Marblehead, she would occasionally check her phone or use it to snap a picture…Prinz cocked her eyebrows a bit, so despite her casual style, Bremerton turns out to be quite serious?

"Baltimore! This is Intrepid! Bad news, the Sirens are moving towards you!" Intrepid suddenly said on the radio.

"How big are their forces we're expecting to show up here?" Baltimore asked Intrepid on the radio.

"At the very least? Armored battalion size." Intrepid said to Baltimore on the radio.

"…Shit, that's like…hundreds of tanks?" Baltimore asked Intrepid in an unsure tone on the radio.

"Not exactly, but there's a lot of them coming. I'd suggest you get to a vantage point, thin them out before they could arrive. Our tanks only have so much ammo they could use, they'll need it when the civilians start coming." Intrepid said to Baltimore on the radio.

"We're already on it." Baltimore said to Intrepid on the radio.

"Oh good, I'm readying my bombers should you need it. Intrepid out." Intrepid said to Baltimore on the radio.

"Heads up everyone! Ready your riggings! We got incoming Siren forces!" Baltimore said out loud on the radio.

Prinz stretched herself a bit before deploying her rigging, Marblehead stopped leaning on the fence before deploying her rigging, and Bremerton stored her phone before she deployed her rigging while she pulled down her orange goggles to cover her eyes. They looked to the building next to them and noted that Hipper, Reno, and Cooper have also deployed their riggings, looks like all of them are ready for combat…After waiting around five minutes, they could see something moving around the facility. Spider tanks and their dropships hovering closely above them. A few seconds later, the ship girls opened fire without hesitation. Dozens of shells immediately rained the approaching tanks and dropships, the first salvo successfully caught the Sirens off guard, the rounds managed to destroy several tanks and downed a few dropships. However, once the salvo ends, the Sirens quickly adapt. They spread out the Spider tanks between buildings and the dropships ascended to a safe altitude. They couldn't be targeted by the ship girls' main guns but are still far enough from being targeted by their AA guns.

Now, it's a whack a mole game with those Spider tanks as they pop out of their cover occasionally. There are dozens of them, and the ship girls have to be quick in shooting them. Luckily, the ship girls are capable of one shotting the damn things. The problem? Those Spider tanks are quite agile, so the girls would have a hard time keeping up with so many targets popping out of cover randomly. At first, everyone on top of the buildings fired at the tanks that showed up out of cover to move closer toward the station, but a few minutes later, with their patience running thin, the ship girls started firing at the tanks that were even behind cover. Their shells destroyed the buildings, but they successfully took out the tanks behind them, a small price to pay if they could keep this evacuation site secure. The Sirens then decided to send out their next wave of ground vehicles, this time it's Spider tanks and some of their mechs. Bremerton set her guns to fire high explosive shells, then she rained one of the mechs with a salvo. As expected, there's a purple energy shield that protects it, they will need to soften them up before they could land the killing blow.

"Siren mechs! We need those things softened up!" Bremerton said out loud on the radio.

"Hold on Brem Brem, we're coming!" Saratoga said to Bremerton on the radio.

"…That's the first time someone ever called me that…What does Brem Brem mean anyway?" Bremerton muttered to herself.

"GET DOWN INCOMING!" Prinz shouted out loud.

PSIU!

A stream of purple beams passed through on top of Prinz, Bremerton, and Marblehead. Prinz checked to her sides and noted that her fellow ship girls were alive. She's glad that her warning is on time or else Bremerton and Marblehead might be cooked alive. Prinz was suspicious that one of the mechs took a knee while aiming its handheld cannon toward them, her danger instinct immediately went off, and she shouted for the ship girls to duck. From the cannon's shape and projectile, Prinz theorized that it's some sort of sniper cannon, and that means the mech that holds it is their main priority. She heard buzzing sounds high up in the sky amidst the occasional gunfire and cannon shots. Prinz looked up and found hundreds of turboprop planes diving down to the battlefield…Looks like their air support had arrived. The planes immediately go for the mechs that were quickly overwhelmed due to how many bullets, rockets, and bombs pounding them.

"Here come the civilians!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"In the middle of a fierce fight like this?! How can we protect them?!" Someone asked out loud on the radio.

"By taking out those assholes as quickly as possible!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"Oh shut up and start shooting!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Hipper looked downwards to see several groups of marines accompanied by two tanks advancing to the front, Hipper looked ahead toward the facility, and she immediately noticed the large crowd of people running to their position with occasional panicked screams and shouts for help. They are the captured men, women, and children. There are thousands of them filling the street and all of them are running with panicked faces. Suddenly, plasma bolts started flying from their rear as Siren troopers started firing on the escaping civilians, Hipper gritted her teeth in outrage as she aimed her cannons toward the facility and fired at it. Her salvo killed several troopers and forced them to back down, that should at least keep the civilian crowd safe temporarily. Hipper clicked her tongue as she reloaded her guns, these Sirens dare to kill civilians? They will have no mercy from her.

"There's the civilians! There's so many of them!" Reno said out loud on the radio.

"Watch your shots girls! Don't fire too close on them! Let the marines handle the civilians, take out any surrounding Siren armor!" Baltimore said out loud on the radio.

Baltimore signaled the commandos at the station's entrance to prepare for the incoming civilians, they opened the door as widely as possible. The civilians that arrived at the station were panting hard for they had run quite some distance, and they only wanted to be safe. All of them didn't spare Baltimore or the commandos any glances nor greetings as they rushed inside the station. No one bothered to enter in an orderly fashion, some were even stuck near the entrance because there's so many people entering the place at once. The commandos and Baltimore shouted out loud, so the civilians could enter in orderly manners. Some of the commandos discharged their sidearms to get their attention, but all it accomplished is making the civilians even more panicked than they already are…Baltimore observed their faces one by one as she waved her hands and yelled at the civilians to go inside properly. She noted one thing…All of them looked back to the direction of that facility, their faces are full of horror and laced with terror…What the hell happened inside that facility to cause these people to be so fearful for their lives?

"Ho…Siren Infantries, charging toward us. How is the evacuation?" Prinz asked out loud on the radio.

"We still have hundreds outside! Wait, did you just say infantries?!" Baltimore asked Prinz on the radio.

"That I did, Brawlers and Troopers, they're coming and our armor is being overwhelmed. We need to do something." Prinz said to Baltimore on the radio.

"We'll help them, Eugen…Reno, Cooper, follow me!" Hipper said out loud on the radio.

"Okay!" "Roger!" Cooper and Reno said out loud on the radio.

"They're fast! Some managed to slip inside the perimeter! Oh shit! Dropship-" Someone said out loud on the radio.

BOOM!

"We lost Hunter Five! Our tanks are down!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"Gah! We are being overwhelmed over here!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"What about the civilians?!" Someone asked out loud on the radio.

"Many of them have passed us! The rest are dead! Troopers and Brawlers chased and killed them!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

"There's too many of them! Fall back to the station!" Someone said out loud on the radio.

Baltimore gritted her teeth in frustration, how come the Sirens prepared a counter strike this quickly? She thought they would be able to get all of the civilians inside the station before they could mount any counter with overwhelming force; they underestimated the Sirens' ability to deploy their forces rapidly. Baltimore is joined by Hipper, Reno, and Cooper a minute later. They also immediately help her secure the civilian crowd, who have become even harder to instruct as the sound of plasma bolts and gunfire are heard closer by each passing second. The ship girls' radar then detected something in the sky, and they proceeded to look up. What they saw immediately caused them to dread their future and told the civilians to get inside the station ASAP…Several Siren dropships dived down from the sky, stopped a few meters above the ground and began unloading their cargo which consisted of Siren troopers and Brawlers. The commandos did their best to take down the dropships, going so far to focus their fire upon them. The ship girls would've helped, were it not for the crowd of civilians around them that could suffer collateral damage from their cannon fire. But that's not the worst, what makes it worse is the fact that all of the dropships aimed their chin plasma cannons toward the station's frontal entrance and fired at it.

PSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIUPSIU!

The dropships fired straight to the entrance of the station, it caused the entrance to collapse and the debris crushed the unfortunate civilians beneath it. The rest immediately stopped moving, many screamed out in fear and surprise as they watched blood seeping out from beneath the debris pile. There are still hundreds of civilians outside, and they are being surrounded by dozens of Siren troopers and Brawlers that slowly advanced toward them. Baltimore, Hipper, Cooper, and Reno immediately jumped and stood between the civilian crowd and the Sirens. Their rigging is deployed, and they are ready to protect the people behind them. Prinz, Bremerton, and Marblehead know the situation behind them, but they couldn't help because that will allow the Siren mechs and Spider tanks to breach through their perimeter, and they can't let that happen. The retreating marines with the tanks and APCs also couldn't help, because the Siren dropships pointed their cannons at them, the Siren troopers aimed at them and the civilians…any spark will cause a bloodbath, both sides are being careful with this standoff.

"Essex! Bad news! The station entrance just collapsed! There's still hundreds of civilians out here, and we are surrounded!" Baltimore said to Essex on the radio.

"Can you redirect the civilians out of there?!" Essex asked Baltimore on the radio.

"We can't! We are being completely surrounded! There's no way out of here!" Baltimore said to Essex on the radio.

"We're coming to help you!" Essex said to Baltimore on the radio.

"I don't know if you could make it here in time!" Baltimore said to Essex on the radio.

"We will! Trust me!" Essex said to Baltimore on the radio.

"Even their ship girls are here!" Cooper said out loud.

"…Siren ship girls on land? Oh no…" Baltimore said to herself in a low tone.

A group of Siren ship girls consisting of one Strategist, two Peace Breakers, and four Explorers approached them from behind the Siren infantry. Naturally, this caused Baltimore, Reno, Cooper, and Hipper to redirect their cannons at them since they pose the biggest threat out of all the Sirens surrounding them…But, Siren ship girls on land? This is the first time it happened, and it sends an ill omen for all of them. Did the Sirens adapt with how the humans were fighting them? All this time, Siren ship girls are only seen on the seas, Azur Lane and Crimson Axis took advantage of this by deploying the ship girls for ground operations, although in limited scale. The most prominent examples being the operation on the North Pole and ALASUC's method of fighting that involved ship girls fighting on the ground occasionally…One of the civilians in the crowd tried to run to the side of the station, he was seen by the Sirens and several Brawlers moved to intercept him.

"S-STAY AWAY!"

The Brawlers managed to get a hold of him, and they ripped him apart limb by limb. The limbless man is thrown back toward the civilian crowd who avoided him as they screamed out in terror. Blood poured out profusely from the dying man, none of the civilians could move to comfort him, they were too afraid to do anything after that brutal display. The ship girls felt their stomachs churned in disgust, these Sirens don't have any sympathy, and there won't be any forgiveness for them even if they surrendered in the end. The Brawlers closed in on the crowd, but a cannon aimed from the ship girls successfully halted them. The Brawlers however grinned maliciously, it's only a matter of time until they could pounce on these humans, and they know it…The Sirens know that these people are trapped, and they got the advantage on this one, the human ship girls won't be able to fight properly with civilians nearby. The civilians were also too afraid to move, and the human soldiers behind them couldn't do anything as long as they got the civilians under gun point. Tension was high, and it only took a little spark to set everything ablaze.

"Stay behind us, everyone! Do not run just yet!" Hipper said out loud.

"…This is a true Mexican standoff…" Cooper muttered to herself.

"Don't come any closer, or we will fire on you!" Reno said out loud to the Brawlers.

"Forget it Reno, those Brawlers can't understand us!" Hipper said to Reno.

"Then how about the ship girls or the troopers? Intel said they could speak English." Reno asked Hipper.

"You are correct…Hand over the civilians back to us, and we will let you go." The Strategist ship girl suddenly said to them in an emotionless tone.

"…You expect us to believe such bullshit like that? Besides, we are not going to hand over these people back to you!" Hipper said out loud to the Strategist while she scowled.

"We think you're in no position to negotiate. We outnumbered you five to one, do anything foolish and we will kill you then take the civilians behind you by force." The Strategist continued.

Seriously, what's with the Sirens' newfound lust for human civilians!? What do the Sirens aim for with them?! They are going so far as to be careful here because if they want, they could've just killed them all. But the Sirens chose to wait and attempt to negotiate with them?! This has never happened before! Regardless of the oddity, the ship girls knew that nothing good will come out of this standoff at its current state, not to mention that this negotiation is very one sided. The Sirens surely didn't understand the concept or are too prideful because they got the advantage…Baltimore gritted her teeth as she racked her brains to think for a way out, relying on Essex and the others for reinforcement is out of the question, but so is firing first and bolting out of here. The civilians aren't as fast as the ship girls, no doubt they will be recaptured or worse, massacred. She knew better than to trust these creatures, they might have said they want to take the civilians, but they surely didn't hesitate to kill one of the civilians to make an example…

"Baltimore, this is Essex. I've asked the admiral for some reinforcement to relieve you, he did agree, but he could only send someone codenamed Knight to help you out immediately. Do you know what he means by that?" Essex said to Baltimore on the radio.

"Knight? Ah…we're in good hands, Essex." Baltimore said to Essex with a confident tone on the radio, a smirk formed on her lips when she heard that codename.

"What? What do you mean?!" Essex asked Baltimore in confusion.

"Attention all units, general alert! Stand by for Knightfall!" Admiral Stanford suddenly said out loud on the radio.

WHUNK!

BANK!

All of a sudden, something fell from the sky and hit the Brawler in front of Baltimore and the others. It's a huge sword that has black blade with a silver edge and blue hand guard. The sword sliced the Brawler into two and embedded itself on the pavement behind the Brawler's split corpse. That shocked everyone there including the Sirens, how often do you see a sword fall from the sky and split a Brawler? Someone must've thrown that thing! But who could possibly do that? While Reno, Cooper, and the other humans were pondering the question inside their minds, both Baltimore and Hipper already figured out the perpetrator for that move…He is here…All of them could hear a jet getting closer and closer before something else fell in front of them: a blue mass, and it fell upon the other Brawler beside the Brawler corpse, crushing the creature's head into the pavement below them and causing yellow blood to spurt out everywhere.

CRACK!

SPLAT!

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(At Doom's Gate 2016 starts playing)

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"Good, you've arrived. We're looking through your HUD, and my god they are indeed in deep trouble, it's a good thing that you arrived in time. We'll broadcast your view publicly, put on a good show, Will." Lucas said out loud on the private radio channel.

The Brawlers took a few steps back in surprise, the ship girls and the humans stared at the entity between them and the Sirens. He's a huge man, cladded in cobalt segmented armor with a golden visor, his helmet has the shape of a serpent, and the twin jet exhaust ports on his back slowly died down. Baltimore grinned out loud in confidence, Hipper smiled widely as she felt relieved, Reno looked star struck, and Cooper's mouth hung a bit in amazement. The man in front of them is none other than William Blaze himself, who has received his modification and is ready to fight the Sirens.

He stood up slowly, briefly looked at the people in front of him to make sure they're okay, then he turned around to face the Sirens. The Brawlers are growling, they are ready to jump upon William at any moment…William walked forward for a bit, he grabbed his embedded Siren Slayer Blade and pulled it out of the pavement easily. William whispers something, and the blade glows blue before disappearing, just like how the ship girls unequipped their rigging. He whispered something else, and something appeared in his hand in a blue flash of light. It's the new Assault Shotgun Model Two, an experimental shotgun issued to him by Diana herself. He stood menacingly between the humans and the Sirens, he carefully noted each position of the Brawlers in front of him and marked the Siren troopers behind them that aimed their weapons at him. In total, easily forty Brawlers, thirty Siren troopers, seven Siren KANSENs, and four dropships are present all around them…William raised his shotgun as he stared at the Brawlers, the Sirens are about to learn why they shouldn't mess with the humans…the hard way.

"…Attention everyone, this is High Commander Lucas Carville…The leader of ALASUC, Codenamed Knight, is given full authorization to use whatever means necessary to stop this invasion and send the Sirens back to whatever hell they came from. From this moment on, all of the KANSENs on Eagle Union's eastern coast are under his direct command…Knight! Show those aliens what you can do! Show them how one man could make all the difference in the world! Show them the strength of humanity's best warrior! Show those creatures what happens if they come to our world uninvited and spill humanity's blood! VENTURE FORTH! SLAY THEM ALL, AZUR KNIGHT!" Lucas energetically said out loud on an open radio channel, he's certainly enjoying this too much.

"…Sirens…You're in for a world of hurt." William said out loud…It's game on.

CKCHK!

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Updated: 14-02-2022 (Beta readed by Culture-Hunt3r)

…Okay, honestly, I didn't think this chapter would be done by year's end, but I got the sudden motivation to speedrun this chapter. If you ask why? Of course, it's because of the new Ironblood event, and hoo boy, I am going to grind the hell out of this one. I fell in love with Peter Strasser, Prinz Heinrich, and Nurnberg at first glance, and I will not let anything else get in the way…So, to that end, with that motivation, I finally finished this chapter. That concludes the opening of Operation Eagle Storm, if the Sirens think humanity will just stay down and not blitz them for taking one of their cities? Think again! Those invaders better prepare themselves for the humans who are going to come at them, with the full might of Earth's best arsenal.

Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews dear readers, couldn't get this far without all of you. Stay tuned for a new chapter!

See you next year!

- Dasmara