Chapter 26

"This is a rather dangerous predicament." Elizabeth mused, looking over the maps. "The ramifications of us engaging in any form of military action could cause massive international problems."

"Really? While you may be Royal Navy ships, we're not part of it nor do we represent England in any way." I reasoned, writing numbers into my notepad while measuring the distance.

"I'm afraid the Yanks may not see it that way." Ellizabeth shook her head and folded her arms. She raised a single finger from that position. "I advise you to tread carefully here, James. You're no longer just a man just going around with a few ships doing as you please, but a Commander of a large fleet with very powerful warships."

"I will try. But I'm not about to sit idle while one of your kind suffers."

Elizabeth gave me a solemn nod when the door to the map room swung open, followed by Hood stepping through. "Commander." Her soft voice called out to me. "The ship has arrived at our destination, near the final stretch of land to the power station. Warspite and Cleveland are waiting for you out on deck."

Elizabeth beat me to any reply. "Very good, please inform them we will be down shortly, and retrieve everyone else from their tasks as well. One needs a further moment to discuss one last thing with James."

I raised an eyebrow at that, though I had an inkling of what it was.

"Yes, your Majesty." The battlecruiser softly closed the door and left us alone again. The door closed with a dull thud, and left me alone with the tiny Queen once more.

"Are you sure you must go with them? They are more than capable of performing the reconnaissance by themselves." Elizabeth broke the silence, with the same question nearly everyone had asked when I decided to go with them.

"I already said I won't send you girls somewhere I wouldn't go myself, and who else is going to know what they're looking at regarding the machinery that's keeping the ships there locked away from their owner's?" I gave Elizabeth my best look of confidence. "And anyway, you're in charge while I'm gone."

The Queen shook her head and sighed. "Your mind is already made up so there's no point in arguing with you. However, there is something I will do." She rocked on her heels, stretching herself up as tall as she could, then to her tiptoes. Her brow furrowed momentarily then extended her arms, as if gauging something, which soon became apparent. "So bloody tall. Would you please kneel? It will make this easier."

I kneeled down onto the hard metal deck. Now I had to tilt my head up slightly to match Elizabeth's eyes.

"Consider this a boon." She spoke before leaning forward, her arms wrapped around my head and she pressed her soft lips against mine in a kiss. It took me a second for my mind to catch up but once it had, I brought my arms around her small frame and pulled her further into the hug, she responded by idly running her hands through my hair. I could just slightly taste the faintest hint of cherries.

"There." She spoke after breaking the kiss but remaining in the hug. "Now thou art hereby ordered to return to one's side with naught a scratch, as is everyone else. Your Queen demand's it."

"Yes, your Majesty." I complied as I stood back up. I couldn't help but let a smirk grow on me. "You going to kiss the others and say the same to them? Will probably confuse the hell out of Cleveland."

"Nay, this is something reserved only for thee. Be grateful!" Her smile slightly faded and switched to a more solemn look. "But I really do mean it, please be careful, James. And keep an eye on Warspite for me, you two are all I have."

I gave Elizabeth a headpat. "Don't worry. We'll be back before you know it.

"Are we all ready to go?" Warspite called as we walked out onto the deck. I took a look around the ship and the surrounding waters. Javelin had sailed her ship a few miles out to sea, the slightest traces of land could be seen just at horizon, just as I had asked. The sky was lit up in a deep golden light by the setting sun, by the time we got to where we needed it should be fully dark, making us harder to spot.

"If you all are then I am." I spared a glance towards Cleveland, who stood impatiently on deck. While it had taken about half of the ship's food supplies, it was heartening to see that she had seemingly started to recover. It would still take some time but at least there was now some colour in her face. "Good."

Z23 and U-556 nodded, and the two Iron Blood ships jumped off the edge, gearing themselves up and quickly began sailing north. Their role was to cause a large distraction to confuse the people at the facility about how many of us there actually were if we were discovered. It was a plan Z23 had come up with, making me glad she was on our side.

A pair of white gloved hands snaked around my chest and I heard Hood whisper into my ear. "Shall we, Commander?"

She didn't even wait for my reply and just picked me up without the slightest bit of effort, scooping me off the deck bridal style. Following a quick jump we were making our way across the water. Looking back showed me Javelin and Zuikaku atop the deck, watching us depart, the former waving us goodbye with a worried look on her face.

Warspite sailed along at our side carrying Cleveland on her back, who used the Dreadnought's rigging as footing to help her stay balanced. I felt undignified at the sight, and compared it to how Hood was carrying me in her arms.

"Hey, Hood. Do you think I could?"

"And get your dirty footprints all over my nice clean rigging?" She cut me off. "Not a chance."

Hood looked down to me with a mischievous smile, she spoke at a low volume so the others wouldn't hear. "Not to mention it seems like I need to keep an eye on you. With what you've obviously been getting up to, who knows what you may do on my back where I can't see you."

"I don't follow."

"Her Majesty spent a rather long time picking out a suitable lipstick. As I can see she's already put it to good use." I felt myself panic slightly as I rubbed my sleeve against my mouth. To my surprise there wasn't a mark on the fabric at all. Hood continued. "Don't worry, you can't see anything. However, I couldn't help but notice the slight scent of cherries coming from you."

My face started to feel hot in embarrassment. I quickly tried to come up with an excuse. "Ah, well. You see."

Hood laughed at my pitiful attempt to explain. "You don't have to explain your actions to me. What you two get up to is none of my concern. Though I must say you really are becoming quite the womaniser. I wonder if some time in the near future I too will be meeting your lips." She hummed. and looked back down to me. "On second thought, I may refrain from the idea for now, that way I can have the option of catching you unaware whenever I feel like it."

Knowing that Hood probably had a reply for any rebuttal I could give and use it against me I decided to keep quiet and watch the slowly approaching land.

"Right, this place should be secluded enough for you to wait for us." I spoke to Hood as we arrived on land. The last rays of daylight were slowly starting to fade, obscuring the small beach Z23 had spotted on the map. It was going to take us about half an hour to reach any suitable spot that overlooked the old power station, but I didn't want us to risk being detected if we had sailed in closer.

"I will await your return or signal." Hood replied with a bow, but she bit her lip and quickly added. "Though I could come along, it would be easier for me to assist if I was closer."

"No, you stay here. The less of us go the less chance there is of us being seen. I know we are taking a large risk in just us three going." I admitted. "But if things did go south even with the plans in place Warspite would still have to protect the two of us on her own until help arrived.

Hood nodded solemnly. "Very well, I will trust your judgement."

"Z23 and U-556 are in position." Warspite spoke with one hand to her ear. "Javelin also reports being ready to engage if things go sour. ETA is five minutes to get here and eight to reach the facility."

"Good, get everyone to report in once every ten minutes." Giving a final nod to Hood the three of us began the walk towards the point Z23 had pointed out as having good sightlines.

The last rays of daylight slowly started to fade and I was left trying my hardest to keep my footing while walking through the small collection of woods that covered the local area. The two girls didn't seem to mind the low light and merely walked along like it was the middle of the day.

"So." Cleveland piped up, breaking the silence that had been going on for a while. "What's a bunch of limeys like you doing around these parts anyway?"

"We came here looking for answers about your kind and the Sirens. We fought a Siren who passively said the Americans were further along in their cube research than us. That and escorting convoys seem to be a rather lucrative way of making money, running a fleet isn't cheap after all." I realised the coincidence between us learning about the Americans research and us stumbling upon Cleveland after saying it out loud.

"You went up against a Siren?" The Cruiser said with surprise in her voice. "How'd that go down?"

Warspite let out a sigh. "I was severely injured and nearly died." I couldn't fully see Cleveland's face, but from how it quickly swung to look at Warspite I knew she was surprised.

"We were investigating a research facility." She continued. "Turns out the whole thing was being run by a Siren that was somehow able to make humans nothing but puppets that could carry out her research. Z23's cube was hooked up to a machine that was at the centre of it all. The Siren turned up and fought us after we recovered her."

Cleveland gave a slight whistle. "Damn, able to fight off a Siren and live to tell the tale. You Royal Navy girls sure are something."

"Wouldn't really call it fighting one off." Warspite whispered to herself.

Light started to appear far off through the trees, cutting the chit-chat. We continued for a little while longer before reaching the edge of the forest. Soon enough the canopy of pines receded, giving us an overwatch view of the fateful location. I had seen a coal powered power station once before and at first glance this one was similar, with the same outer layer consisting of a wire fence perimeter and similarly dull and square buildings in the middle, and what I assumed to be the generators to a side of the tallest one. However, there was no smoke coming from any of the chimneys and there were a bunch of new looking buildings that didn't look like they had anything to do with the original buildings.

"It really does just look like an old power station." I commented as we crouched behind a small mound. I fished out my binoculars and took a closer look.

A large river ran through the centre of the facility and it became apparent it was also a ship refuelling station at some point. The river was wide enough for ships to come from the ocean, and either load or unload their coal. However while it was still guarded the western part was mostly the unused power station and an old loading yard. On the other side was the main target. Several large brick buildings ran alongside the docks, of which only two identical ships now remained.

"They've upped the guards." Cleveland said. I looked at the tall fence surrounding the perimeter. Just as she had said there were large groups of guards on both sides of the fence, spotlights constantly moved around illuminating the surrounding area. The sight of such heavily armed forces only made this place more suspicious.

"Monty's in there. I have to do something." Cleveland said, quickly growing restless. Before she even realised, she had stood up and began making way, only to be stopped by a tug at her neck.

Warspite's arm reached up and grabbed the collar of her cape dragging the cruiser back down to the ground. "Are you stupid? It's just us three right now and I'm the only one with rigging, where just here to take a look and get a plan together. We will rescue your sister but we can't do it if we ourselves get captured."

Cleveland was silent for a while. She gave a sheepish smile that was all too frail. "Y-you're right, I wasn't thinking straight."

"Don't worry, if it was Her Majesty in there then there wouldn't be much in this world that could stop me from going in." Warspite tried to console her. "I understand, but we need to do this right."

"Of course. Yes. Thanks. You're right" She complied forcefully. "It really would be stupid to just run head first into an unknown like that."

I felt myself smirk. "Yeah, you would have to be really stupid to just go and run headfirst into a facility without any backup."

My amusement was worth the pain of having an elbow hit my ribs.

"Getting back on track." Warspite huffed annoyedly. "I count two cruisers docked up on the eastern side of the river. I'm guessing that's you and your sisters' ships?"

"Yeah, the closest one is me."

I peered at the two docked ships. There was a strange metal mesh that looked like nothing more than a chicken wire canopy covered their hulls completely down into the water. "Guessing that metal stuff over your ships is what's keeping you from connecting to them?"

Cleveland hummed. "That and those pillars they're connected to." There were several other docks with the remnants of the same wire on the other side of the dock. evidently that had been where the other ships had been.

There was evidence of the breakout. Several walls had been knocked down and there were some scorch marks on others. Strangely enough there was a collection of metal containers that looked like someone or something had taken a bite out of them.

"That building there." Warspite shifted and pointed towards a building with several wires leading out of it. "See those oil drums. The main power plant isn't running so I'm willing to bet my boilers that's where they keep the generators."

"Aye." I agreed. "Knock out the power and the ships will be freed." I thought for a moment about a possible course of action. "Think you could fire a shell to hit that building?"

Warspite looked at me with a smug grin. "A building on land with an easy sight line. I could put a high explosive shell down the chimney with both my eyes closed." She grimaced. "However, we don't know what's inside the building. There could be enough oil stored in there to light the entire compound up. No, we would need someone to go in and shut it down manually. Cleveland, any idea what's in that building?"

"Sorry, Monty and I only ever went from our cell to the rooms where they performed tests on us. We rarely went outside."

"So it begs the question." I added. "How do we get in there? The fence is too heavily guarded to just sneak in and we can't risk just going straight through as there's no telling what they will do to Montpelier." I put down my binoculars and rested my hand on my chin and took a wider view of the place." We need to somehow get inside the facility while being as quiet as possible."

The battleship clicked her tongue. "Well if you want quiet you're talking to the wrong ship class."

"Ship class..." I repeatedly looked at the river the two ships were docked at as it ran out into the ocean. "They built the power station against the river to save on having to build a canal. And we know large ships can sail up it." The beginnings of a plan started to form in my head. "Hey, Cleveland." The cruiser looked over from where she had been staring at a certain building. "You wouldn't happen to know how deep that river is would you?"

Warspite gave me a look of horror. Cleveland would be getting a crash course of how we do things.

"I would like to put on record that I believe this plan to be naught but insanity." Warspite commented from my side as we walked into the Javelin's map room.

"And what would be this plan? One wishes to know what's got you worked up."

"I'll explain once everyone is here, no need to constantly be repeating myself." We had immediately begun to return to the destroyer after asking Cleveland the question, only her and Warspite knew the basis of my plan as I was still mulling over the details in my head.

Waiting for the two Iron Bloods to return I grabbed a large piece of paper and began a rough sketch of the power station. I had a rough outline done when the two girls returned.

"Right, we're all here. Would one have an explanation now?" The impatient Queen asked from my side as she curiously watched me draw.

"Right." I took a step back, and drew lines and symbols around the map with a marker, denoting our key points. "Our first objective is to knock out the power to free the two ships they have contained. However the entire perimeter is fenced and guarded, making it impossible to just sneak in and we can't risk just knocking out the power from a distance."

Hood appeared at my side and placed a mug of tea down for me. "Thanks." I took a sip of the drink and tried to figure out how to properly word my plan. "However there is one way that shouldn't be watched too carefully." I put my finger down on where I had drawn the river that ran through the power station. "Warspite said her class isn't one for doing things quietly. But there is a certain class of ship here that I've been told excels at taking the stealth approach."

All eyes on the room moved over to U-556 who was currently munching on some biscuits. The blue haired submarine was caught in headlights and quickly swallowed and cleared her throat. "Who, me?"

"You have told me countless times that a submarine's best quality is her stealth. Cleveland says the river leading up to where her ship is docked should be deep enough for you to sail your ship up while submerged."

"Wait." Javelin interjected. "You want her to sail up the river with her ship, why not just use her rigging?"

"Because how else are we going to get inside the facility? The tried and tested trojan horse method." I traced my finger along the river's path. "We take her ship and get to the docks. Once there, You and Z23 will go to the power station and knock out the power, freeing Cleveland's and Montpelier's ships while we wait beside them. Once Cleveland has her rigging back we enter the main building and find Montpelier before turning tail and getting out of there."

Zuikaku stepped forward. "Wouldn't every guard be on us when we try to leave?"

"Already thought of that." I replied pointing to where I had drawn the old coal stores. "There's still a good amount of coal left from when the place was just a power station, I guess it just wasn't effective to remove it so they left it there. A few shells into the pile should create a large enough distraction to help us leave with minimal resistance. That's why Her Majesty and Hood will remain out at sea, ranged in on that point, they can also give us support if things take a turn for the worse."

The carrier nodded and went back to studying the maps.

Warspite had stood back during the entire discussion. She already knew the layout and most of my plan so she had just leaned against a wall with her arms folded. But now she stood up properly. "As I said earlier. This plan is dangerous, risky and outright insane. There's no end to things that could go wrong." I saw the slightest bit of a grin creep up her face. "But the best plans usually are. When do we set off?"

"If we arrive just before dawn the early light should reflect off the water's surface making U-556's ship harder to spot. But." I drummed my fingers against the table. "It's not up to me if we go. Cleveland, you have the final say, it's your sister after all and Warspite is right, this is a very risky move to make."

The cruiser had spent the entire time just silently standing to the side watching everything. Her face went slightly red at the sudden attention boring down on her. With a deep breath She rubbed the anchor brooch that rested on her cape before giving a proud smile. "If we had avoided taking risks then we'd still be ruled over by you tea swiggers. I say we do it."

I knew by looking in her eyes that Cleveland was merely putting on an aura of confidence, but her resolve was still something to be admired. "Good. Anyone got anything else to ask?"

"What are our rules of engagement?" Z23 asked.

Everyone turned their attention back to me, most of the girls shifted uncomfortably at her question. The look on my face showed that I had no idea what she meant.

"As in how you wish for us to act if we are fired upon or put in a dangerous position." Z23 explained herself.

Now I knew why everyone was looking at me. My throat dried up at the implication. It was one thing to fire at Siren ships but now I had to decide if the girls should fire upon humans. "I..." I swallowed trying to clear my throat. "I have no right in asking you girls to hold back. What the people at that facility have done is unforgivable, and you are well within reason to do as you must. But... But I ask you to at least only fight in self-defence, I want you girls to be better than them."

I felt my heart sink as I finished speaking, I knew that my words had probably just sentenced people's lives to death. Despite what they had done to Cleveland and the other ships it was still a matter of willpower to stop myself from throwing up and remaining upright.

Warspite stood forward and spoke up as if sensing my discomfort. "That covers everything. If we want to hit this place at sunrise, then we have an hour before we need to depart. U-556, start getting your ship prepped. Everyone else, either help with the preparations or get some food and rest. It's going to be a long night."

Everyone filtered out of the map room soon after. I nodded my thanks to Warspite before leaving myself. I headed down to my cabin to try and get a moment of rest, knowing that I would probably just throw up any food I tried to eat. But just as I reached my cabin and sat down on my bed, someone knocked softly on the door.

"Come in." I replied. The door slowly opened showing it was Javelin who had knocked, to my surprise without Z23 at her side.

I was about to ask what the matter was, only for the look in her eyes to give me the answer, wordlessly I laid down on my bed, pushed myself to the side, and offered my arm out to her. The destroyer promptly kicked off her boots, let her hair down and joined me in the bed, laying down beside me. "Forty minutes." I spoke before letting my head rest against the pillow. With a small nod Javelin brought her small arm across my body and closed her eyes.

I remembered the first night I had spent aboard this ship as I listened to her slowing breaths. Despite knowing it was barely even a month ago it still felt like an entire lifetime had passed since then, it would probably be impossible for me to just go back to living a day-to-day life ever again.

Javelin moved slightly and mumbled something incomprehensible in her sleep, a testament to how she could so easily nod off when she wanted. I wondered if she had come to seek comfort or had come to give it to me. Either way, while sleep eluded me it was nice to rest my mind for a moment.

The submarine was almost impossible to see in the darkness of the night, the only illumination given was the deep red of its interior as it bled out of its open top hatch.

"OK. Line is secured." U-556 called up from the deck as she finished tying a rope keeping the two ships together. "Kommandant. You can make your way over."

Being the only one there that couldn't walk on water I had to use a cargo next as a ladder to get down. Saying a silent prayer to myself I climbed over the ship's railing and started making my way down. The thick ropes stretching around my hands and feet threatened to wrap around them or make me slip. It had occurred to me that I could have just asked one of the girls to carry me over, but I was starting to get slightly annoyed at the whole being babied around thing.

"Permission to come aboard." I asked the blue haired girl as I finally stepped onto the metal grating that was her deck.

"Little late now isn't it?" She chuckled, cutting the tense atmosphere that surrounded us. "But ja, Permission granted."

"Eh, it's tradition." I replied as the ship behind me began to shimmer blue. Soon enough the other girls barring Hood and Elizabeth were making their way onto the ship.

"Thy are to ensure one's safety. It would be very displeasing to hear of you getting injured, there isn't another soul in this fleet that seems to share your skill in brewing one's tea." The blond dreadnought spoke to me as I looked down to her from the ship's deck. Her and Hood stood on the water's surface, their silhouettes slowly bobbing up and down with the waves.

"Don't worry, your Majesty. I will strive to keep myself out of harm's way." I knew her comment was just her way of wishing me luck. "As will I try to ensure the safety of all of your charges." I added, knowing she was worried about Warspite.

"Quite so. One bids thee good luck." She spoke before the two of them turned and began making their way to the predetermined position a few miles away from the shoreline.

I watched the two silhouettes disappear before turning and making my way over the submarine's tower. The other girls had already started making their way into the ship, leaving only U-556, Warspite who stood guard nearby and myself outside. I looked up to the cloudy sky and tried my hardest to calm my nerves, something in the back of my mind kept telling me we were slowly approaching a point of no return.

"Feast your eyes upon the state of the art machinery that is Iron Blood technology, Kommandant!" The chipper submarine beamed as I finished the descent down the ladder into the ship.

I looked around. The word compact didn't even come close to describing it. Pipes and machinery were all over, even standing in the middle of the deck I had to crook my head slightly to not hit it against something. I had spent my fair share of time ducking and squeezing through machinery in the past but this was something else. How could any crew be able to operate a ship like this, let alone fight in one?

"It's... Efficiently designed." I finally commented, noticing U-556 was waiting for my answer. Even the air somehow felt compact. I looked at the other girls in the ship, and while they were fortunate to not be the same height as me and therefore could stand normally I did however notice the uncomfortable looks on their faces.

Grabbing what I assumed to be a handrail I looked back down to U-556. "Right, do whatever it is you need to do and get us moving."

"Ja!" She replied, saluting.

I heard the hatch above us swing shut and the lock move into place. Now without there being anywhere for light to leak out the deep dark red was replaced by normal white lighting.

The roar of the engine steadily grew, and we all watched in surprise as U-556 started running about the control room pulling levers and spinning valves, all while shouting out commands in her native tongue. She even jumped up and practically hung off one lever that was positioned high on the ceiling, swinging it down with her weight. Several other instruments moved on their own, responding to her shouting.

My lips curled up into a smile as I finally realised what she was doing. U-556 was acting out how her old crew would have commanded the vessel. I leaned over to Z23. "I'm right in believing she doesn't need to do any of this?"

"Ja, she could do everything without even having to move." The destroyer replied.

I shrugged and went back to watching the spectacle. "At least she looks to be having fun."

I felt my stomach lurch and the ship groaned around me. The deck seemed to tilt with the bow plunging downward. It wasn't steep enough to risk me losing my footing, but I reaffirmed my grip on the metal handrail anyway.

My ears popped; I saw a few drops of water coming from the pipes above me, it wasn't anything serious but it still made me realise I was in a small metal container that was steadily plunging into the deep darkness of the cold unforgiving sea.

The deck steadily levelled out and the sinking feeling I felt disappeared. "We are at depth, Kommandant." Reported U-556.

"How long until we reach the facility?"

The Submarine hummed as she brought a hand to her chin and tapped her foot against the deck. "With the tide as it is and not wanting to risk detection if they do have some form of rudimentary sonar system. I would guess about ninety minutes."

"Ninety minutes." I repeated mentally picturing a clock and guessing the time we would arrive. "Good, it will be just before dawn by the time we get there." I gave her a headpat, resulting in a beaming smile from her. "Keep us steady and stay alert for any sign of us being detected."

"Ja, Kommandant!"

I looked over to the other girls around the room. All of them had a similar look of discomfort on their faces. "You girls alright?"

Warspite was the one to reply. She took a deep breath and steadied herself with a hand on her stomach. "Ships are not supposed to go under the water. It's just not natural." The nods given by the other girls showed they shared the sentiment.

"Well it shouldn't be for too long and you'll hopefully get used to it." I replied scratching my head having no idea about what to do to abate their discomfort. It also made a question appear in my head. Could ships get seasick?

"Just try and find somewhere to sit down for a while and stare at something stationary. It might help you girls feel a bit better."

With half nods the girls began to slowly filter out of the room. Either to find some sort of crew accommodation or something to occupy their time. Only Z23 remained to assist in the submarine's operation.

A short while later I found myself at the stern of the ship. I had tried to help U-556 and Z23, but with all the machinery and dials being in German and using a measurement system I had never seen before I ended up constantly needing help, so I just excused myself and with her permission went to go and see how the submarines engines and control systems worked. I swore to myself I would learn these too. Chances are that being a polyglot will be good for me later down the road… though part of me shuddered at imagining what Zuikaku's mechanisms would be like.

The sound of footsteps pulled me away from my investigation to see Warspite uneasily walking through the hatch into the engine room, her eyes zeroing on me. "Aha. So this is where you've hidden yourself."

"Not been trying to hide. How are you feeling now anyway?" I stepped back from the machine I had been trying to figure out what it did and sat myself down on the floor, resting my back against a fuel tank.

"Better now that there's no more food left in me to throw up." Warspite half joked as she joined me. "You're going to need one hell of a good reason for me to get into one of these things again."

I opened my mouth but she quickly interjected. "Don't worry. I'm still more than combat capable. And the others are faring far better than I, so don't go worrying about them now."

"I think we've spent far too much time together." I chuckled. "You already know all the questions I'm going to ask before I even say them."

The old warship matched my smile. "That may be true, as it's the reason why I know there's something weighing heavily on your mind right now and you're trying your hardest to mask it from everyone else."

She didn't even let me try and attempt to deny her before she started speaking again. "I had you on my ship long enough to know that whenever you get unsettled on something or can't sleep you go and fiddle with something mechanical, causing me a fair few headaches on our voyage across the pond. But I can't deny my heating system now runs smoother because of it. So," She pointed to the machine I was just looking over. "What's on your mind now?"

"Am I really that readable?" I sighed, and was glad Warspite didn't answer that rhetorical question. "I'm sure you can already tell what's plaguing my mind. Just a few hours ago I have possibly set in motion events that will lead to people's deaths. No matter how I try to justify it I just can't shake the growing guilt I feel. I know that for what they have done they deserve nothing less, but I feel like I would just be dropping down to their level."

Since the incident at Inverness the friendship between Warspite and I had grown, but despite how some of the other girls acted she always acted proper and professional, the only moments of intimacy between us being the few short times she had offered her hand to help give me strength or when she had been too drunk to think straight.

Which made her next actions incredibly jarring to say the least. Without a word she scooted closer and wrapped her hands around me, practically forcing my body against her small frame. With our difference in size, she merely rested her head against my shoulder. "You are nothing like them, and you never will be, you hear? You are far more than they can ever hope to be."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Only her Majesty and I were around during the time of the Great War, so we are the only ones to have fired our guns upon humans. While that was back when I was nothing more than a lump of steel I can still feel the slightest echo of what my crew felt back then; they would think about home and what would happen if they were to fail in their duty. What we are about to do may put us in a situation that's kill or be killed, and while I doubt they have anything that could endanger me I will not hesitate if your life is threatened."

I let her words run around inside my head for a while, her body heat helping to calm my nerves.

With a sigh I found myself chuckling slightly. "I really have gotten myself into one hell of an interesting life here haven't I?"

Matching my laugh, Warspite let her arms go and sat back. "Well, it must surely beat living in an estate and doing nothing but playing croquet and drinking all day."

"Javelin told you about that then?"

"Nah, her Majesty did." She smiled at my look of confusion. "Who was in part told by Hood, Who was told by Javelin." The old warship gave me a smug grin. "We're women, we tend to gossip. And who do you think tends to be the subject we talk about?" She tried to match the upper-class way of speaking Hood usually used.

"Really?" I asked, the other girls were no surprise, but I was amazed that Warspite was interested in that sort of stuff.

"That would be telling." She joked. "Oh?" Warspite looked back towards the centre of the ship a second before I felt it starting to angle upward. The ship's lighting went back to a deep red.

"Looks like that short sub was right. Ninety minutes to the dot." Warspite spoke as she stood back up patting off her clothes and readjusting her scarf. She offered out a hand to assist me in standing up. "Hold fast, James. Action calls."

(A/N) Another chapter all done and dusted. I Want to say thanks to everyone who has continued to read this story and I enjoy seeing all the reviews and comments.

The next Chapter might not be out for a while due to me being away for a few weeks, but I will strive to make progress on it while I'm away.

Also. I hope this chapter comes out all right, this site seems to be having a fair few issues recently.