Ryan was walking along the path that led to his office to begin another productive day of work when he crossed South Dakota coming out of the cafeteria. The battleship saluted him sharply, like she always did, and he returned the salute with a small smile. Even after all that time, the woman who had declared herself his bodyguard insisted on keeping up with the formalities, in spite of him asking her and the other girls to just keep them to a minimum. He had long since given up trying to convince her to stop, so he decided to just roll with it.
She joined him with the pretext of safely escorting him to his destination, and he gladly accepted, not because he needed any protection within the secure confines of the base but simply because he appreciated the company.
"So, you and the others have been training with Freedom lately. How's it going?" Ryan asked her in a casual manner.
"Rather well, Commander. It's a bit weird, but Freedom says we are making progress," South Dakota replied, thinking back to the bizarre training method the shipboy was putting them through.
The two kept making small talk until they reached the administration building, and South Dakota left the Commander alone to do his job, bidding him farewell. Ryan unlocked the door, entered the hallway, and took the stairs to the second floor. He absentmindedly walked into his office, slightly grimacing at the prospect of another day spent filing documents and reports. Upon closing the door behind him, he stopped in his tracks, and alarm bells started ringing in his head when he noticed the figure sitting behind his desk.
He realized immediately that she was not human, nor Kansen. The unknown woman had pale skin and was wearing a white, revealing outfit. She was sitting on his chair as if it was a throne, with her head resting on her right hand. She had long, white hair crowned with a black circlet, and her piercing red eyes were fixed on him, locking him in place.
Ryan stood still, staring at her in surprise, until her voice shook him out of his stupor.
"You are finally here, human. I was getting tired of waiting," Empress said.
His instincts kicked in, and he sprinted back towards the door but was forced to skid to a halt when he noticed the weird spherical contraption hovering right in front of it, blocking his path. The thing was as big as his head, and it was shaped in the form of a mechanical eye, its pupil glowing lightly and aimed at his forehead.
"Not so fast. I came all the way here to ask you a question, and you are not allowed to leave until you answer me." She stood up from the chair and strutted towards him, with a smug grin plastered on her face. He raised his hands next to his head in compliance, slowly turning to face the woman without uttering a word, glowering at her.
She stopped a couple of feet from him and asked him, "Where are the male Kansen?"
"Fuck off."
Empress grabbed him by the neck of his uniform and lifted him up, with his feet dangling above the floor. He tried to fight back against her, but her grip was like iron, and her arm seemed immovable.
"Listen well, feeble human. I'm not here to test you or your precious shipgirls; that's a job for Observer and her clique. I came here for the external variables and nothing else. Don't make things difficult and tell me where they are. If you waste any more of my time, I'll kill you."
Her red eyes were shining with a menacing glow, and he understood immediately that she wasn't bluffing; if he didn't comply with her request, he was dead. He stopped struggling as his body was assaulted by fear, though he managed to hide it rather well. For a second, Ryan seriously considered telling her what she wanted to know to save his own life, like any person with basic self-preservation instincts would do, but despite the dire situation, he was able to find his cool.
"You are going to kill me anyway," he said dispassionately as he grabbed the wrist of the arm holding him and sneered in defiance at her. "You know full well that if you let me go, I'll alert the entire base. You can't afford to have an entire fleet of Kansen on your heels if you are looking for two people." If he had to die anyway, he'd rather do it without betraying anyone.
Empress' dangerous expression turned into a smirk. "You are pretty smart; I'll give you that. Sadly, your wit won't save you," she said as the hovering orb moved into position, aiming its glowing eye at Ryan and charging up an attack.
The Commander closed his eyes and looked away, bracing for the inevitable, when the door to his office slammed open and South Dakota barged in. Empress didn't even have time to blink that the battleship lunged at her with a shoulder tackle, shoving the Siren away with all her Kansen strength, making her lose her grip on the Commander and crash into the desk. Then the shipgirl summoned one of her shields and used it as a bat to smash the orb into the wall.
"Commander, are you all right? Did she hurt you?" South Dakota rushed to his side to help him up. Escaping a gruesome end by the skin of his teeth had left him a bit dumbfounded, and he had to shake himself out of his stupor to properly reply to his savior.
"I'm fine, Dakota. Thank you," he said as he stood up on shaky legs.
"Quick, you need to get out of here," the shipgirl intimated him as she pushed him toward the door with a hand on his back while also keeping an eye on the intruder, who was already up on her feet. The Arbiter was not happy with how things had turned out, if the murderous glare she was sending them was any indication.
"You could have made this much easier for all of us, but since you won't tell me where the male Kansen are, I'll just turn this base upside-down to find them," she declared as half a dozen more of those weird eye-orbs appeared around her and started charging up. The shipgirl immediately summoned her rigging, grabbed the Commander under her arm, covered his body with her armor, and ran for the window.
South Dakota broke through the glass just in time for the Siren to unleash her attack. Each eye-orb unleashed a concentrated laser beam from their pupils, and Empress directed them all around her, at the floor, the ceiling, and the walls.
Thanks to her superhuman body, the shipgirl with the Commander in tow was able to land on the ground outside the building without an issue, but the two could only watch as the lasers pierced through the concrete like piss in the snow. They cut through the building in a spectacle of light that, on any other occasion, would have been a delightful sight to behold, but at that moment, it only made them shiver at the close call. Soon, that entire wing of the building started collapsing on itself. The walls crumbled as chunks of concrete, bricks, pieces of furniture, and plates came down from the side like during an earthquake.
South Dakota winced in frustration. This wouldn't have happened if she had just followed Ryan all the way inside the office, but she had lowered her guard, only because she didn't expect the Sirens to be able to get past the security system of the base and because she didn't want the Commander to think of her as a paranoid freak. She was only able to save him by chance, and only because she had decided to go back to him after forgetting to ask him about her next scheduled sortie. Upon reaching his office, the sound of a second voice had made her pause since there wasn't supposed to be anyone else inside the building at that hour. When she got close enough to make out the exact words that were being exchanged, her suspicions turned out to be correct, and she sprang into action. She shivered at the thought of what would have happened if she had arrived one second later.
Once the dust settled, the damage was revealed in its entirety. The wing of the building where the Commander's office was located had been dissected unevenly; the second floor had collapsed, revealing the hallways of the opposite wing, and the rubble had gathered right below it, covering the wall of the first floor in a pile of debris. Above said pile stood Empress, completely unfazed, as if she hadn't just torn down half a building on her own head. She was staring down at them, and she was very upset.
Ryan recovered from the landing and looked up at his assailant, with South Dakota still covering his form with her rigging. The shipgirl's reassuring presence gave him some confidence back, and he decided to stall the enemy for time. "Explain yourself, Siren! How the hell did you get past the security system?!"
"Are you referring to that pitiful net of detection devices scattered around the place? That pathetic excuse of a security system could have fooled the likes of Purifier or Tester, but for me, hacking it was child's play," the head of the Arbiters scoffed in derision.
"Note to self: revise the security system," Ryan thought before pressing on with his questioning. "You said that you are here for the external variables; were you talking about the shipboys? What could you possibly want from them?"
"Enough! Feeble human, do you think I don't see through your ploy? Your attempts at buying time for your subjects to arrive are pathetic!" Empress shouted in outrage as her orbs hovered in position around her, aiming their eyes at them.
"Seems like it's working, though," Ryan smirked under his breath. The distinct sound of jet engine preceded Freedom's arrival and Empress' outraged scream as the shipboy rammed into her at the speed of a hawk and dragged her up into the sky with him.
Ryan and South Dakota watched as Empress' orbs were left behind and paused midair in a comical manner before moving to follow behind their owner.
"Commander! Dakota!" The two looked to the side to see Enterprise, Zuikaku, Massachusetts, and Alabama running toward them. They all had been alerted by the light show and rushed to the source of the ruckus as fast as they could.
"Are you two all right?" The Eagle Union carrier didn't hide the concern in her voice.
"Yes, but it was a close call," South Dakota replied, reassuring her friends and her sisters.
"Shikikan, was that an Elite Siren? Where the hell did she come from?" Zuikaku questioned him.
"I don't know; she was waiting for me right inside my office. From what I understand, she has some kind of hacking ability that allowed her to go unnoticed," the Commander replied. "But we'll think about that later. You all go help Freedom; I'll go raise the alarm."
"Roger that!"
Freedom was still brawling with Empress up in the skies above the base. His wings were leaving behind a trail of purple light as the two struggled to one-up each other. The Arbiter was at a disadvantage; she wasn't used to the speed they were moving at, and for that reason, she couldn't properly fight back the male Kansen. The shipboy had an iron grip on the Siren and was putting all his energy into his wings' afterburners, trying his best to push her as far away from the harbor as possible, out of the bay and into the open sea, where they'd be able to fight without having to worry about collateral damage.
The two kept struggling midair, flying all the way outside the natural confines of the bay the port was nestled into, gradually losing altitude, until they careened into the water right outside its bottleneck entry. They both immediately recovered from the impact and sprang up straight to stand on the water a few feet away from each other.
They regarded each other with a hostile glare—the purple eyes of the shipboy were fixated on the crimson red of the Arbiter as they sized each other up. Empress narrowed her eyes at him, and the shipboy let out a focused breath, slowly wiggling his fingers like a cowboy over the holster of his gun during a standoff. For a second, the only sound they could hear was the whirring of Freedom's wings and the sloshing of the waves.
The Arbiter was the first to move; her eyes shone with an intense glow as she tried to snap her fingers to call upon her rigging, but Freedom didn't let her. As fast as the eye could blink, he summoned one of his triple main batteries, aimed it at the woman, and shot her. One of his rounds nailed her in the chest, opening a gash so wide he could stick his head in it if he wanted.
Empress' eyes widened in surprise as she looked down on her chest in bewilderment. She raised her head again to meet the unimpressed gaze of the male Kansen, still with his rigging out and his barrels smoking, then a creepy smile made its way onto her face as she unceremoniously fell with her back into the water and stopped moving.
Freedom let out the breath he was holding and dismissed his wings and his rigging. Good thing he was able to neutralize the enemy before she could do too much damage. He had been waiting with Massachusetts and the others for South Dakota to arrive at the usual place so they could start with this day's training session, but then they were interrupted by the commotion coming from the administration building and rushed over there to see what was happening.
Now the coast was clear, but if an Elite Siren had managed to sneak into the base without anyone noticing, there could be others lurking around the place, waiting for their chance to pounce on the Commander. He had to go back to the others and make sure Ryan was safe.
"Freedom!" Enterprise's voice reached him from behind, and he turned to face the approaching group of shipgirls. Freedom waved at them to signal that everything was under control.
"Hey, guys! The Siren is dead! Let's go back to-" His words stopped in his mouth as an ominous shadow fell over him and a black, pointy, metal rod pierced him from behind, opening a gash in his torso and making him spit blood from his mouth.
Massachusetts and the others watched in horror as the shipboy was pierced by the end of the tail of the humongous rigging that had appeared behind him. The thing was lifting Freedom above the water and bringing it to its owner's eye level. Empress was in fact standing on its head with her arms crossed over her chest, no worse for wear.
"Surprised, male Kansen? I can rewind any wound inflicted on my body as long as I have enough energy to do so," she said with a smug tone and a toothy grin, and Freedom regarded her with a murderous glare, gritting his teeth in pain. "Now be good and don't die while I deal with your friends." Empress snapped her fingers, and her rigging moved the shipboy toward its mouth before it opened its jaws and chucked him down its throat with a flick of its tail, under the distraught gazes of Massachusetts and the others.
The monster's jaws snapped close as Empress' gaze turned to the shipgirls, who were taking position in front of her, all of them sporting furious expressions on their faces: Enterprise ahead of the formation, unbothered by the sheer size of the metal beast before them, Zuikaku right next to her, and Alabama trying her best to reel in a furious Massachusetts.
"Mamie, don't do anything rash. If you go at it alone, that thing will destroy you."
"I don't care. That monster stabbed Freedom and ate him. I gotta get him out of there." Massachusetts was raring to go, barely containing the rage seething in her eyes.
"Identify yourself, Siren! Why did you try to kill the Commander?! And why did you take Freedom?!" Enterprise yelled at the Siren while keeping her at gun point with her bow, trying to hold back the anger in her voice. She knew they needed more people if they wanted to take that monster down without hurting the shipboy inside of it, so she decided to buy some time for reinforcements to arrive by making her talk; this was an unregistered Elite after all.
"You shall refer to me as Empress, Azur Lane, and I don't care about your Commander, I'm only here for the external variables," Empress declared haughtily. "Don't further test my patience and tell me where the other one is."
"What do you want from them?! Why are they so important to you?" Enterprise pressed on.
"Because dealing with all external variables messing with the current simulation is us Arbiters' job, but you don't need to concern yourself with that. You only need to bring me the other one, and then I'll be on my way," Empress launched an ultimatum.
"That's not going to happen, Siren!" Zuikaku retorted, gripping her sword with both her hands in front of her. "You are outnumbered, and reinforcements are on their way; surrender the shipboy, and maybe we'll let you go!"
Empress let out a sonorous laugh that reverberated around them, and right at that moment, multiple Siren portals appeared in the sky at a distance from them. The massive number of mass-produced alien ships that came out of them surrounded the base, slowly taking position a few miles away.
"It seems Observer is commencing the siege… It was about time," Empress commented after her laugh subsided.
The shipgirls realized their new predicament and for a second considered falling back toward the base, but Massachusetts' rising anger had reached its peak. "I'm gonna say this only once, cunt! Make it spit him out!" She barked at the Siren.
A frown appeared on Empress' features as one of the barrels of her rigging aimed straight at the woman. "You really need to learn to show some respect to those above you, lowly Kansen."
"The only thing I'll show you is the absolute firepower that I'm about to beat your miserable face to a pulp with!"
With that said, Massachusetts lunged at the Siren, and the battle started.
"Dakota, I told you to go help the others with the Elite Siren," Ryan said to the battleship.
"I'm not leaving your side until the emergency is over," South Dakota declared.
Ryan let out an exasperated sigh. The stubborn battleship wasn't having any of that, and he knew that it wasn't a good time to argue with her, so he decided to just let it go.
The base was on high alert, and every Kansen available had been mobilized, but the massive enemy fleet surrounding the base could level the harbor in a matter of seconds before the shipgirls could even take to the sea. Of course, he wasn't going to let them do as they pleased without resisting, and he knew exactly what he needed to do.
The two were running as fast as they could to the command room. It was just a small square of concrete with what looked like a tall radio tower installed above it, but inside the small building, there was access to what was effectively an underground bunker.
He rushed inside with South Dakota behind him and opened the armored door that brought them to the stairs descending to the lower level. Around the room, attached to the walls or hanging from the ceiling, there were monitors of various size, all of them connected to the cameras around the base, broadcasting live images of the shipgirls outside hurrying to take to the sea or even glimpses of the enemy fleet.
The table at the center of the room was just a glowing square made of glass and metal; the surface was occupied by a holographic grid that portrayed a minimalistic map of the surroundings of the base, which highlighted the position of the enemy forces with red dots… and there were a lot of them right outside the base.
"Shit. The situation is worse than I imagined," Ryan thought, but instead of letting himself get intimidated by the sheer size and proximity of the enemy fleet, he rushed to the main console and started fiddling with the commands.
"Dakota, can you open a channel with the representatives?" He asked his bodyguard.
"Already done it, Commander," came the reply of the battleship.
Ryan grabbed a headset and put it on to talk into the microphone. On the other side, Littorio, Musashi, Peter Strasser, and King George V were waiting for his instructions.
"Ladies, do you copy me?"
"Loud and clear, Commander. What are your orders?" George's voice came in.
"The Sirens have summoned a fleet big enough to raze to the ground the entire base. I'm deploying the shield as quick as I can; after that, it'll be up to you to stop them," Ryan announced, glancing at the holo-table. "The enemy has taken a semicircular formation around the base. George, Musashi, I want you to take two small contingents of Kansen. Guide them outside the base on both sides and start picking at the enemy from behind if you can; you are free to choose the members at your own discretion. Littorio, you'll lead the frontal charge straight out of the entrance of the bay. You and everyone else must draw the attention of the enemy so that the other two groups can take them by surprise. Peter Strasser, go with her. You are in charge of the aerial operations."
A chorus of acknowledgment followed his words, and before Ryan dismissed them, he added, "One last thing. I had a close encounter with an Elite earlier; they are after the shipboys for some reason. Whatever you do, keep Freedom and Sparviero away from their clutches."
"Oh, merda!" The Sardinian battleship's alarmed tone reached his ears.
"What is it, Littorio?" Ryan asked in alarm.
"Sparviero and Carabiniere are at the beach with their friends!"
"Goddammit."
Carabiniere pushed Sparviero down on the sand as the laser of a Tracker traveled above their heads. She aimed her gun at the humanoid Siren and nailed her in the head, then she hooked her arm around the shipboy's and forced him up to his feet.
The beach had turned into a battlefield. Around them, the others were fending off the rest of the Executor-class Sirens. Ayanami and Shimakaze were in the middle of the fray, swinging and slashing at the enemies with their blades, while Z23 and Laffey were covering their friends' backs, shooting their guns at any Siren who tried to flank them; all the while they were trying their best to dodge the occasional laser beam raining down on them from Observer's rigging.
The Elite was laughing maniacally at them as the low-tier Sirens pressed the group of Kansen with their assault. She was acting like a spoiled brat messing with an anthill, enjoying the show from her advantageous position as the little ants scurried around, fighting for their lives, sneering and mocking them all the while. Every now and then, she would aim one of her laser barrels at them, fire a couple of beams to shake things up a little, and then go back to laughing hysterically.
Sparviero gritted his teeth in frustration as Carabiniere dragged him away. He could faintly make out Observer's mocking laugh among the booming of the guns, the clashing of steel on steel, and the impacts of the lasers on the ground. He really wanted to help, but the commotion around him was making it difficult to discern the enemy's exact position, and if he tried to blindly throw his planes around, he ran the risk of hitting his friends. The splitting headache that was assaulting him wasn't helping either.
"I feel so useless…" he muttered under his breath as Carabiniere forced him to duck under another laser beam.
"Save it for later. I gotta get you out of here," his bodyguard replied.
Suddenly, a looming shadow appeared above them, and Carabiniere immediately raised her firearm and her double main battery, firing a barrage at the Breaker who had appeared out of nowhere, but the Siren just deflected the rounds with a shove of her mechanical arms.
The Breaker aimed her multiple barrels at the Sardinian destroyer, but before she could shoot her beams, another volley of shells impacted in the side of the pawn's rigging, coming from Laffey and Z23.
"Hurry up, take him away!" The Iron Blood destroyer shouted at Carabiniere.
"Nosy little shit! Hurry up and finish those annoying brats!" Observer snarled at her pawns.
Following the Elite's order, a couple of Trackers lunged at the two shipgirls, who had turned their backs on them to cover their Sardinian comrades. Laffey put herself between them and Z23 to protect her, but before the Trackers could hurt her, Ayanami jumped them from behind and swung her sword, cleaving both in half at the waist. Meanwhile, Shimakaze moved toward Carabiniere and Sparviero, where the Breaker had recovered from the hits and was aiming her guns at the two of them again. The Sakura destroyer jumped at the Executor-class battleship and slashed the tip of the barrels with a wide, powerful swing of her katana, leaving the Siren with an opening for Carabiniere to exploit. The blonde destroyer shot her in the chest and took her down without wasting the opportunity.
"Those pawns are as good as fodder and nothing else," Observer growled under her breath. Most of the Executor-class were now lying dead on the sand, and the Kansen finally had a moment to catch their breath.
Meanwhile, the alien fleet surrounding the base had taken position close enough to commence the shore bombardment. The booming sound of hundreds of their cannons reverbed around the sea, and the group of shipgirls could only watch in dismay as their shots traveled in the air and landed on their beloved homeport.
"And with this, the games are- Wait, what?!" Whatever Observer was about to say, her words died in her throat. Not even five seconds after the beginning of the onslaught an intense flash of light burst from the center of the harbor. One after the other, various spots around the base lit up as well, and soon, the entire port was enveloped in a blinding glow, which forced everyone to avert their eyes. Once the light subsided, it revealed a giant shield of azure energy hovering in the air above the base. The shield was shaped like a huge dome consisting of multiple hexagons, similar to a beehive. It was transparent, and it looked ethereal, but the shells and beams impacting on its surface were proof of its solidity.
The shipgirls knew exactly what it was.
"The Kommandant made it in time!" Z23 exclaimed in relief.
That energy shield, just like the ASD, was another marvel of reverse-engineered Siren technology. Railguns, lasers, piercing rounds, explosive shells… the shield had the ability to block virtually anything. Sadly, its high production costs and energy consumption made it so that only the major ports around the world could make use of it, and it could remain active only for a short amount of time. They all knew it, but that brief amount of time would certainly give their comrades enough time to launch a counterattack on the enemy fleet before the shield flickered away.
"An energy dome of that size… Not bad, Azur Lane. I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised," Observer mused to herself at the sight in front of her. Zero's idea of exploiting the siege to ascertain the progress humanity was making was paying off. Knowing that the humans of this timeline were already at that level of proficiency was great news, but it didn't change the fact that she had something else to take care of.
"If you think this surprise will hinder our plans, you are sorely mistaken, but since I'm in a good mood, I'll ask you this again—hand him over, and I'll spare your lives," Observer addressed the group of Kansen. The destroyers had regrouped around the shipboy and were readying their weapons for the second round against the Elite and her pawns.
Before any of them could tell her off, a small flock of aircraft took off from behind them, aiming their armaments at the Elite Siren, and a barrage of gunfire came from the cover of the foliage. The shells crashed into the group of low-tier humanoid Sirens, annihilating them in a cacophony of smoke and explosions. Observer, taken by surprise by the sudden development, could only disappear inside one of her portals after taking a few hits from the fighters.
"Girls, are you okay?" A soft and kind voice reached their ears from behind, revealing the figure of Howe coming out of the foliage and onto the sand of the beach, followed by King George V, Ark Royal, Prinz Eugen, and even Admiral Hipper.
Ark Royal put away her rifle and quickly approached the group, concern showing on her face. "You are not injured, are you?"
"We are all right, Ark Royal-san. Thank you for coming," Ayanami said to the the Royal carrier.
"It was nothing, little one. Javelin would never speak to me again if I let something bad happen to you," Ark Royal replied with a small smile, patting the shipgirl on the head.
"Did Littorio tell you where we were?" Carabiniere asked them.
"That's right. When she told the Commander that you all were out here with an Elite Siren prowling around, he almost burst a vein," King George V replied.
"Honestly, you had to choose today of all times to go to the beach. Good thing we made it in time. Who knows what could have happened if you hadn't told anyone," Hipper reproached them.
"Er… we-" Z23 stammered.
"Schwester, I think we can put off the lecture for later. For now, we have another job to do," Prinz Eugen intervened.
"That's right. We're supposed to engage the enemy from this side. You guys are with us, right?" George asked the group of destroyers.
"Of course, we are. We are ready to teach them a lesson!" Shimakaze replied excitedly.
"Miss Carabiniere, I think it's best if you bring our guest back to the base. He'll be safer down there," Ark Royal addressed the Sardinian destroyer, referring to the shipboy, who had remained silent up to that moment.
"I agree. If you'll excuse us, we-"
"Wait! I want to stay here and fight with you," Sparviero blurted out, much to the surprise of all those present.
"Absolutely not! The Sirens are after you and your brother. Bringing you with us will only put a target on our backs," Hipper declared.
"She's right. We can't let them put their hands on you; the risk is too high," Z23 added from the side.
Sparviero shook his head vehemently, fighting back the lump that was forming in his throat. "Listen; we've been attacked because that Siren was after me. It was my fault, and yet I couldn't do anything against her, but now it's different; I can fight out there, I promise. I know the risks better than anyone else, but I don't want to just stand by, doing nothing, while you all risk your lives to protect me. So please, just give me a chance to prove myself. I don't want to be a hindrance anymore," the shipboy pleaded with the women around him.
The shipgirls exchanged looks with mixed feelings; even Hipper didn't know how to react to his declaration. After considering his words for a few instants, George was about to turn him down again, but Carabiniere intervened, "Maybe I'm biased, but Sparviero saved my life during a Siren ambush. I know what he is capable of, and I think we might need his help out there."
The destroyer was also conflicted. As his bodyguard, she didn't know which to prioritize: the safety of her charge or his feelings. She personally believed the best thing to do was to go back to the safety of the base, but after hearing his passionate words, she couldn't bring herself to deny him that request.
After hearing the destroyer's plea, George finally gave in. "Fine, you can come, but don't do anything rash, understand?"
"I do. Thank you, ma'am."
"Let's not waste any more time; let's go!" George took to the sea, followed behind by all the other Kansen.
The Siren mass-produced ships were only a few miles away from the coast, and all their attention was focused on bombarding the base. They didn't know how much longer the shield could resist, but they had to hurry up.
"All Kansen, prepare for combat!" King George V announced as the group she was leading got closer and closer to the right wing of the enemy fleet. The mass-produced Siren ships' attention was on their comrades protecting the entrance of the bay, but the closest hulls were already turning to face them, aiming their alien looking armaments at them.
Sparviero was sailing at the center of the formation, surrounded by the group of destroyers and the other veteran shipgirls. Sensing that the moment had arrived, he stopped in his tracks, making the poor Laffey bump into him from behind with a yelp. He apologized to the shorter Kansen, and the other women turned to him.
"Why are you stopping all of a sudden?! You can't just stand there. You'll be like a sitting duck!" Hipper yelled at him, coming to a stop herself.
"How far are we from them?" The shipboy ignored her tirade and questioned the others.
"Close enough for them to hit us if they start shooting. We don't have time to lose; let's move!" George declared with a stern tone.
"They are right; we need to go," Carabiniere tugged on his arm with urgency in her voice.
Sparviero gently shook his head and declared, "No, this is as far as I can go. Everyone, stay here and cover me."
"What?!" The complaints and objections of the shipgirls around him fell on deaf ears, their impatient voices becoming more muffled as he focused on his Cube.
During the few days of his stay, he had had his radar repaired, and now that it wasn't acting up anymore, he could contribute to the fight without having to rely on the indications of others. Sparviero raised a hand to his blindfold, taking a deep breath to prepare himself, then brought it down, revealing a pair of empty, vitreous, pale eyes to the world, making the Kansen around him pause in confusion.
Focusing his "eyesight" in front of him, a significant number of fuzzy red dots started appearing in the black curtain that was his vision. He noticed a bunch of those red dots huddled together ahead of him in the distance, one of them bigger than the others, probably a carrier and its escort. Of all the enemy forces on the right side of the formation, they were the biggest group, and they were barely inside his range; only half a mile further, and they would have been too far for him to attack, but most importantly, they were all huddled together in the back, and there were no azure dots in their proximity. They were the perfect target.
He extended an arm in their direction under the perplexed and outraged looks of the shipgirls around him. The star-shaped portal leading to his pocket dimension opened in a flash, right next to the group of enemies. Aircraft started pouring out of it like water from a broken dam, shooting all their weaponry at the alien ships before throwing themselves straight at their hulls. The attack was so swift and deadly that the mass-produced ships couldn't put up any resistance. One after the other, they were enveloped in a cacophony of explosions; when the clouds of smoke and fire dissipated, only the dismembered keels of the warships remained.
Instead of recalling his portal, he just kept making it spew aircraft out, and instead of forming them up in squadrons, he just sent them straight at the closest enemies. The unfortunate vessels tried their best to defend themselves, but for every aircraft they shot down, ten more came out of his portal, ready to join the fray in the blink of an eye. There was no strategy behind their movement, nor was any thought put into their flight pattern. It was just pure, unbridled firepower raining down on the enemy like a meteor shower. One after the other, all the enemy units were overwhelmed by the sheer number of planes flying around the place.
In only a few minutes, more than half of the right side of the Siren formation had been annihilated, leaving only a number of stragglers alive and trying to regroup.
"This side of their formation is broken. Time to capitalize on it," Sparviero declared, letting out a breath, and lowering his hand as the gate to his pocket dimension closed on itself, disappearing out of thin air. He adjusted his blindfold on his eyes once more and addressed the group of shipgirls around him.
"I can summon my portal so far away from me only one more time today, but I don't have many aircraft left, and it's best if I save it for an emergency. For now, I'll just keep my remaining planes in the air to cover our advance," he said, trying to keep his voice from showing the immense strain he had just put his body and his Cube under.
Sparviero couldn't notice the dumbfounded expressions on the shipgirls faces as their gaze switched from him to the Siren wrecks ahead of them. He started moving forward, knowing he didn't run the risk of bumping into any of the women around him, but sensing that they weren't following him, he turned to say, "What's wrong? The others are still under enemy fire, right? We should hurry."
His words were enough to shake them all out of their stupor, and they fell back into formation without uttering a word. Ayanami moved to flank him and patted him on the back. "That was lit."
"Hehe, thank you."
AN: About Empress' rigging: what the hell is that supposed to be?! Wherever I look, it's classified as a generic shark, but it doesn't have teeth, and the shape of its head doesn't match. Both its upper and lower jaw clearly resemble the bone structure of a blue whale's cranium, but it still has the fins of a shark. It's clearly not a whale shark, and the basking shark-type rigging already belongs to Omitter; its body shape doesn't help at all since it looks more like the spine of a snake, so… I don't know. I'll just roll with the blue whale.
Next Chapter: Fire and Brimstone