"The first thing you do after waking up is flirt with my boyfriend. Fucking unbelievable…" Stella pinch the bridge between her eyes and scrunch her face as if she was in pain. "Any last words before I put you into another long slumber, Wales?" Don't you think that's a little bit too much, Stella?
"Princess Igo's lap is the best, commander Stella."
"Do it, Eugen!" The Iron blood heavy cruiser grabs a pillow and push it against Wales's face. She is going to die! "Ignore her Igo. That's what she gets from flirting with my boyfriend." Eugen is far worst! SHE FUCKED ME! Why are you letting the worst offender be your executioner?
"But—"
"Belfast, lifts Igo onto your shoulder!" And that what the head maid do. She crouches down, lifts me up from my knees and slouch me over her shoulder. "Go to the ship with Igo! I have several matters that I need to discuss with Wales."
"Don't die, Wales!" I scream as I was being carry out of the room on Belfast's shoulder. The last thing I saw before I was carried away to the ship was Wales giving me a thumbs up while her face was still under the pillow. Well at least this mean that Wales is alright.
XxX-XxX
"We should think of where to bury Wales, kommandant Stella." Eh?
"We'll think about it after this operation." YOU FUCKING KILL HER!? "Now let's focus on our formation for later."
I'm now inside the command room on the Azur Lane's command ship which is being escorted by Azur Lane's shipgirls and Azur Lane's mass produce ships. Try to say that 10 times fast.
"From what our intelligence has gathered, most of the escort firepower are concentrated on the front and the back of Orochi." Stella explains the situation of Orochi using small figures on a table in the middle of the room. She moves the figures on top of a map that have been diced up as if they're a chessboard. "This could either be a trap or an indication that this Orochi's sides might be something that we need to watch more closely."
"Hmm…" Dork E changes into her battle mode as she scans the simulated battlespace in front of her. She is the captain of the 1st Azur Lane single-focus carrier group in this operation. "If I have to guess, it might be the latter one."
The carrier groups are separated into single-focus and carpet-focus group. The carpet-focus groups are tasked to deal with the escorts. In this particular operation, these groups have to deal with a lot of surface target and potentially air target considering that the amount of aircraft carriers amongst the escort for Orochi isn't small. This is why there are more carpet-focus groups than single-focus groups. The single-focus groups are the opposite in which they are tasked to deal with the main target, in this case Orochi, and sink it as fast as possible.
Dork E being the leader of the 1s single-focus group mean that she has some heavy responsibilities on her shoulders because the 1st single-focus group is expected to deliver the biggest damage to Orochi. Seriously, the roster in the 1st single-focus group is one of the craziest I've ever read.
"But don't you think it's too free?" KGV chimes in as place her index finger next to Orochi. "You can clearly see a path that we could take to directly engage Orochi which mean that this likely to be a trap." True. Orochi's escort is basically giving us a red carpet by the look of it. KGV is the leader of the 2nd Azur Lane Barrage battleship group. "By the look of it, if we send our vanguards to Orochi's sides, the escort from the front and back could circles in the vanguard and trapping them near Orochi." If that did happen, it would be hard for the battleship to rain shells against the enemy when they have a high chance of hitting the trapped vanguards.
Just like the carrier, the battleships group are also separated into 2 categories, The Barrage groups and The Focus groups. The Barrage groups are tasked to literally barrage the enemy. This group are mostly tasked to cover the vanguard as they cut deeper into enemy's formation but can also be tasked to sunk as many ships as possible depending on what's going on in the battlefield. The Focus groups acts like the single-focus groups in which they're mainly focus on sinking the main target. These groups consist of girls that can deliver a massive amount of damage in a single shelling and girls that have special ability. For example, Duke of York have a skill that weaken the enemy's armor. She explained to me that when her shells hit an enemy, it would cause a massive and wide crack on their hulls which could be taken advantage by others ships so that their attack would penetrate deeper and cause much more damage. It might not cause a considerable amount of damage but it does help cause a lot more damages.
"And it could also to give way for a much powerful weapon." Jintsuu push a peon using her folded paper fan out of the way. She is the leader of the 3rd Torpedo-focus vanguard team. "Which mean that attacking from the side would guarantee death to the vanguard." Fair. There's a reason why no one is allowed to be near a battleship main gun when it fire, you either going to be straight dead or have a very bad time living afterward. "But the vanguard couldn't penetrate from the front or the back without serious assistance either." No ships could do both, Jintsuu.
Unlike The capital ships that are separated by their types into carriers and battleships before being classified again into their own groups, the vanguards are immediately classified into teams without being separated by their types. These teams revolved around what they do best for example, Jintsuu is the leader of the 3rd vanguard team that mainly used their torpedoes to deal with their enemy. There's AA-focus teams, gun-focus teams, support-focus teams, and tank-focus team. BTW Eugen is the leader of 2nd Tank-focus vanguard team.
"We could try to bait the escort." That's a valid strategy. It has been proven to be successful several times in the past but,
"Wouldn't that take too much time?" Considering how Orochi possesses a cruise missile that could delete a part of the world, sinking it as fast as possible should be the top priority. "Unless I'm in the dark about something."
"No, Igo is right." Thank you, Stella. "The longer the battle, the more likely that Orochi will launch its cruise missile." The cruise missile will probably need a couple of seconds to be armed and launch so we should be able to hit it when we see it. Even though the window of opportunity is only a few seconds. "And that chance also increases with every escort we sunk."
"Back a dog into a corner and it will bite."
"Thank you, Belorussiya. You're right. If we make the Orochi feel cornered, it will launch the cruise missile." Which mean we have to sunk it while it still has a considerable amount of escort around it. "I have a plan," The Admiral of the Navy of Azur Lane starts moving pieces on the table as she tell us about her plan. "since there's a considerable amount of destroyers and light cruisers, the submarine wouldn't be entering the battle until we clear enough so don't expect their help from the beginning." Understandable, depth charges don't need to hit to be damaging to the submarines. Just exploding near them is enough and when that many destroyers launch their depth charges at the same time, our submarine fleet would be out in an instant. "We're going to launch multiple attacks from different angel." From now on, I'm going to describe the Orochi as if it was a compass and its front is the North, Stella has place plane-shaped figures on its North West and North East. "These two attacks would target the escorts."
"Is that going to be enough to make a dent in their formation?"
"Not with that amount of planes." Stella answer my question by adding more plane figures on the North West force. "I'm going to put three carpet-focus groups to for this force." That's some heavy firepower! "But we won't add anything to the other side."
"A bait and a flank, commander Stella?" Souryuu fixes her glasses as takes a quick glance of the table. "But a small amount of planes wouldn't be enough to make enemy turn the other way."
"That's why we're going to have some vanguard teams rush toward the Orochi from the side." Stella then take several arrow-shaped figures and place them to the West of the Orochi with the arrow pointing at Orochi. "And if it's a trap like Jintsuu said, we just need to make sure there is a way for the vanguard to leave." Stella then takes several ship-shaped figures and place it in a line. She placed it several tiles away from the Orochi. "Several barrage groups would focus their shelling on this group of escort." She points her finger at the escort on the North West of Orochi.
"I see, so you want us to separate the escort and focus on one group. This way, if Jintsuu's concern become true, the vanguard would have a path to escape instead of being helplessly trapped." You're smart, Dork E. Why can't you be more like this when we're alone? "But are we going to the ol' improvisation route to sunk the main target, commander Stella?" Being flexible is good but you shouldn't be too flexible. There's a reason why there's rule and procedure, Stella.
"Sigh… Well… Do you have any suggestion, Igo?" Don't dump it on me, woman!
"Hmm?" What am I supposed to do?! I'm new here! Why do you point your finger at me, woman!? "Don't throw it at me when you don't know what do, Stella."
"Isn't that literally your job?" No! I'm supposed to help you by executing your strategy! I know that I can also suggest a move or two but normally you'll let someone with the higher rank do the mind job.
"Sigh… It's okay master Igo. Any instruction would be better than none at all." True that. Belfast approaches me and stop when she is beside me. "It's time for Azur Lane to have a proper leader."
"FUCK YOU!"
"Now, how about you start moving pieces on the board, master?" Belfast slither her arm around mine and guide it above one of the figures. "Lower your hand and grab a figure, my master~~" The lewd head maid whisper to my ear while also letting a lot of air out of her mouth.
"Uhn~" She definitely did that on purpose! "Well, considering that Stella have been focusing on this particular group of escort, wouldn't it be better if we dig in even further?" Considering that time is the essence here, reaching Orochi sooner should be our top priority. We could deal with the remaining escort after we sunk the Orochi. "Jintsuu is afraid that the side might be a trap and rightfully so but how about we take advantage of the opening?"
"Hmm… mind to elaborate, commander." Jintsuu copy what Belfast did earlier but she stands on the opposite side of her.
"Well," I grab several arrow-shaped figures and position them on the West of Orochi. "Stella said that this teams of vanguard will push through and move forward, right?" Jintsuu nods her head. "What I was thinking is that we'll send in more teams but they'll break away from the main push and move upward." I hold several arrow-shaped figures in my hand and push it toward Orochi but every several squares, I'll let a figure out of the formation and move it upward toward the targeted escort area. "As the battleships rain shells on the inner escort, the vanguard would peel of the skin." It also would prevent the front escort to move down.
"And it'll also prevent a pincher move." That's right, Jintsuu. You're getting it. "But what are we going to do with the escort on the back? I doubt they'll just stand around and do nothing."
"I hope we'll be able to give the Orochi some considerable damage before we have to deal with them." Stella steps in again after being a deadbeat leader. "We'll see how they'll react to the attack. Will they help where the biggest amount of attack is coming from or they'll try to finish off the smaller one?" North West or North East, which one will they choose? "Now watch me be a good leader as I explain what we'll do in both cases." Her cocky attitude wants to make me turn to my side and make love with Belfast.
"Kommandant Igo, would you take the position of The Admiral of the Navy if Kommandant Stella suddenly disappear?" That's an ominous statement, Eugen.
"Fuck you, Eugen!" I'll be concern for my life if one of the shipgirl start saying that, Stella. "Listen up you bitches!" Chuckles could be heard from the herd of shipgirls as their commander slap the table and cause some figures to fall. "Fix that, Belfast."
"Sigh… can you not do that again, master Stella? You don't look intimidating, you look silly."
"Ufufufufufu~~" I try not to be too rude and contain my laugh but it only makes me sound more smug than I really am.
"Shut it, Igo!" Never! I have my right to laugh at you! "If they decide to attack the smaller force then I'm going to need you girls to bait them as far away as possible while reducing their numbers." I doubt they'll wander far from Orochi though but if they turn tail to regroup with Orochi, their back would be wide open to be attack. I wonder if they'll retreat like how a truck would reverse. "If they decide to attack the bigger forces then we just need to do the same but bigger."
"So that another group would be able to attack from the back when everyone is busy."
"Thank you, George! See! That's how you be a good help!" If any of the girls would like to punch Stella in the face right now, I'll turn a blind eye. "Mhm! So that mean we need some groups to be ready to move down when I give the signal." Stella repositions several figures again and put them further down. "So make sure to told everyone to check their communication!"
""Alright~~""
"That's all for now! Go back to your own team and prepare! The estimation is that we'll arrive in thirty minutes but I want everyone to be ready in fifteen minutes! No buts! Dismiss!"
.
.
.
"Heyo, commander Igo and Stella!" The greenish blue haired fox journalist greets me. She is ever so cheerful and enthusiastic, huh… "So what had happened between both of you when I'm gone?" The journalist bust out her note and was ready to write. I was expecting her to be low on stamina when we picked her up after having to locate and tail Orochi for a long time but I guess I was wrong.
"You should rest, Aoba." I agree with Stella. She may look healthy and energetic but that could be mind-over-body and she just force herself to work. "Go grab something for yourself in the fridge, will ya?" DON'T TOUCH MY CHOCOLATE MILK!
"Oh come on, commander Stella! Let something out for me! I need some juicy story!" Why can't just journalist have a normal story? Why does it have to be juicy? Does nobody like it when it's dry? "Don't you think I deserve something after doing such a good job!" Well, a reward is due for her if you ask me. She did do a wonderful job!
"Ugh… fine…" Stella look at her tablet. "Helena got pregnant because of Igo and their child was born today… kinda… Her name is Lena and her DNA is one hundred percent similar to Helena's." That's a very short summary of what happened.
"THE FUCK DID I MISS?!" Stop screaming. You're going to burst my eardrums.
"Don't scream! We're about to engage Orochi!" It doesn't have ears, Stella. It can't hear us no matter how hard Aoba scream. You should be more concern about our radar cross section. "Go inside and rest yourself or I'll throw you off the ship and force you to fight too!" What a mean woman.
"Fine! Come with me, commander Igo!" The journalist grabs my hand and about to drag me inside but Stella stop us. "What are you doing commander Stella?! You told me to rest, right?!"
"I never said that you can bring him." I never thought she would also bring me. "You can rest with the others but not with Igo." Don't say it like you're about to work me to death, Stella. "I need to teach him some lessons." You're gonna punch me or something? What's with the wording?
"WHAT?! No! I need to interrogate him!" Stella already told you everything that we know so you wouldn't get anything from me. "Give him to me!" Don't fucking PULL ME! It hurt!
"Stella… Aoba is going to tear my body apart…"
"Aoba, stop or I'll punch a hole in your hull and sink you!" Don't threaten them like that! No wonder the girls jump at any chance to stab you in the back. I'm starting to be on their boat… ship, I mean.
"FINE! Then I'm going to do it right here and I won't listen to you anymore!" See? This is what happened when you're rude with them. "Now commander Igo, tell me everything!" Stella did earlier.
"Igo, it's starting." Stella was dead serious as she looks out toward the sea from the deck of the command ship. "Here's the tablet, make sure you learn how the girls fight." Stella hands me a tablet. It was a radar view of the battlefield and my god, is it large. Even when she spread out the command chain, it would still be a fucking headache to organize this battlefield. "Don't try to digest it, Igo. You'll learn the rope of thing after a few sorties."
"I hope." The blips on the radar are classified into 3 things, ally, enemy, or unknown. Each of those things are colored differently. Green for ally, red for enemy, and yellow for unknown. There is a name of the shipgirl under all green blip on the radar so that's helpful. "Now Aoba, do you want to be a blip on this radar?" The red specifically.
"As long as you let me interrogate you." She is a journalist through and through. "Now answer me!"
"Sigh… fine but I'm going to focus on the tablet, okay?" Aoba furiously nods her head as she prepares her pen. "Well, Helena suddenly comes to me at night and then we sleep together in my office." The first phase of the attack is commencing. A lot of blips suddenly pop in into the radar and move toward the target. I assume those are the planes. "We kinda dreamed about having a beautiful married life and in that life, we had a daughter name Lena." Sooner, more blips start appearing and disappearing as the escorts start moving.
"Ranger, make it rain." I can hear Stella's voice on the comms while also hearing her IRL because she is near me. "Illustrious & Langley, focus on dealing with the enemy aircraft." It seems that it works as more enemy blips disappear from the radar but not for long though. 5 minutes later, their numbers raise again. "Start moving to phase two! The Vanguard teams, prepare yourself!"
"You were there too, Aoba. Don't you remember?" Don't worry, I'm just messing with Aoba. Of course she won't remember something that didn't happen to her.
"I—I—A—I—WHAT?!" It works like a charm. The journalist is panicking like crazy. She grabs her hair and start shaking her head like crazy. "Shit! How can I forget something so important!?" I want to tell her that I was just joking but her reaction is too funny for that. "Don't worry! Please tell me more, commander! Maybe I'll remember it!" You won't.
"Hermes, start making a path to the center of the group. Fourth Battleship Barrage-group, the back escort are getting too close, start giving them hell!" Stella is right. The back escort are moving faster than our prediction and they're going to where the largest threat is located. "I'm going to list some groups and teams and if you're in them, start moving to the back of the target." So this is what Enterprise mean by ol' Improvisation route… "First and second single-focus aircraft groups. First, second, and third focus battleships groups. Third, fourth, and fifth tank focus vanguard teams. First and second support vanguard teams. Second AA teams." How can she remember all of these groups' members? I couldn't even remember one of them without looking at the list. I guess it comes from the experience. "The rest, start thinning out the escort."
"After that we wake up one day and for all we know, we were in my office." Several green blips pull out of the battle and reroute while several more green blips take their position as the entire force of Azur Lane engage the siren. "This is chaos…" I unconsciously stop recounting my story as the scale of the fight gets grander as the entire radar was covered by blips that sometimes overlap with each other.
"Commander Igo…"
"Ah! Sorry! Where was I?"
"Pfft! I think it's better for me to put off my journalist work for now." Why don't you do that from the start? "Here, let me help you." Eh? Aoba put her notepad and pen back into her pocket and stand next to me. "It's overwhelming right, commander?" Yeah… In my last job, the biggest force I commanded was my task force not several task forces. "The trick is separate the battle region into several pieces." Like puzzles? "After that, focus more on the region that you haven't command recently or are either attacking or being attack." To be ready if the chance of attack was a trap or to help the one being attack, huh… "The stalemate shouldn't concern you as both you and the enemy will need a lot more effort to break through."
"I guess I understand where you're coming from." If you decide to attack where a stalemate is happening, you will need to reroute some of your forces and that could break an attack or doom a force, depending from where you take the force from.
"It is hard. Don't let commander Stella fools you." Well I guess there's a reason why she was chosen to be Azur Lane's Admiral of The Navy. "That woman is a freak."
"I can hear you!" Good! That mean you're not deaf.
"Commander Stella, report." Hmm? That is Enty's voice on the comms. "The force field has been improved! It's a lot harder for us to land an attack!" Ah… shit… What now!?
"Second single-focus aircraft carrier group, third focus battleship group, and fifth tank vanguard team. Move to the East side of Orochi and start attacking from that direction." Spread out the attack so that the force field would need to be spread out as well. That would weaken the force field. "First and second submarine groups, you can advance now. Move to the back of Orochi and start attacking."
"Commander Stella, report! Enemy submarine has been detected!"
"About damn time…" She was expecting this huh… "Cooper, focus on detecting the enemy submarines' position. Third support focus vanguard team, work together with Cooper and eliminate submarine that is getting too close to our force."
"A single team to manage an entire battlefield like this? Really?"
"Don't worry, commander! They're the best at what they're doing!" Aoba said in full confident. "No submarine could escape their charges! I've seen them training myself!" It's so nice to have someone hype you up behind your back like this. I wish I have one.
*SSSSSCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEECCCCCCHHHHHH*
"Guh!" A howling shriek travel through the air followed soon by a massive shockwave that rocks the battlefield.
"Commander Stella!" Aoba moves quickly and secure Stella as the entire ship rock from side to side. "Please get back!" The world feels like it just experienced a massive earthquake that happen for 5 straight minutes before everything calm down. "What was that?" Stella said the Orochi's main threat is the cruise missile so this must be a new addition. I could only imagine how much devastation it would cause if Orochi release it near a settlement or an island.
"Everyone! Report!" Stella immediately get back to her feet like nothing happened. Reports start flooding the comms, mostly from the girls that was damaged severely from enemies' attacks and not from the earthquake. It seems that the earthquake didn't do that much to the girls as I didn't hear them complaining about it. It mostly damages the mass produce ships though but it's an acceptable casualty. "All the severely damaged members from the third and fourth tank focus vanguard teams, retreat and get yourself treated! The remaining members of both teams will now be consolidate into third tank focus vanguard team!"
"Aoba, do you know what that was?" I ask the journalist just in case she saw Orochi did it in the past.
"I have no idea. Orochi didn't do or show any kind of instruments that could generate a shockwave like that when I tailed it." The fact that Orochi need to hide it mean that it's a sensitive weapon. Hmm… What would an earthquake do for the siren? Maybe Orochi's mission is to recapture beaches that humanity had set a base on and destroy it until there's nothing left of it because Orochi's a ship, her range is limited to coastal area. "Commander Stella, please allow me to join the battle!"
"I appreciate your enthusiasm but I won't be sending girls that don't understand their own body." Man, she is piss! "Now, rest."
"Eeek!" The journalist immediately shrunk in size as her Admiral of The Navy stares at her with an immense force. Did Stella just use Haoshoku no Haki? "Commander Igo, help…" The fox cower behind me like a scared animal. Don't drag me into your mess, fox. I don't want to get involve when Stella is that serious.
"Sigh… why do you—"
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"Uhh!" Somethings hit me and cause me to fall on my knees. This feels like old TV static electricity but the sensation is much, much, much deeper. Instead of just the hair on my neck standing up, it feels like it hit my entire body simultaneously. Another wave of attack?
"Commander Igo! Are you okay?!" Aoba doesn't feel it. Could it be just me? Why?
*Sizzles* *Sizzles* *Sizzles*
"Ugh…" Another waves of electricity but this time, it's much more manageable. I could actually feel my body—
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
Nevermind… it's fucking with me.
"Are you hurt? Perhaps karma has catch up to you." You fucking asshole! "Come on, let's get you inside." Aoba grabs my arm and put it over her head to support me.
"Wait, I need to ask—"
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"Guh!" Again! Why isn't Aoba feeling it?! "Aoba, please tell me you're feeling electrocuted."
"Huh?" Aoba's confused face is all the answer I need. I was the only one that felt it. "What are you talking about? Are you feeling something? Is this an enemy attack?" It could be but why does it only affect a single person? And it's not even that painful to begin with so that eliminate the chance of this being an attack.
*Sizzles* *Sizzles* *Sizzles*
The sizzles are back which mean that after this is…
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"Gah… Ah… Ah…" It's a pattern… What could it mean? What could Orochi meant to signal? "Stella! Do you feel the static electricity in the air?" Stella's face was similar to Aoba's, a pure confused expression. This is annoying. Why am I the only that is feeling this signal? In the first place, why am I feeling it? I'm not a transceiver… This tingling feeling all over my body… it's like I was facing… a wisdom cube…
BINGO! You're correct! Would you like to take your prize, mister lucky?!
Someone's oddly happy. What's the prize?
Me being a helpful assist on your endeavor to win!
And how are you going to do that? Show up suddenly and morbs all the enemies?
Of course not! That would be me spoiling you, you idiot! I'll be a help by answering your question like usual!
Sigh… how to summon a shipgirl?
Don't get cheeky, smartass. Focus on the battle!
"Uuuggghhh…" I soundly grunt in annoyance. I'm pretty sure Aoba and Stella are confused out of their minds right now.
"Igo, are you okay? Do you need to rest?" Stella approaches me and look at me with a concerned face. "Aoba, get Igo to the hospital ship!"
"No." I grab Stella's arm. I'm not hurt, Stella. It's uncomfortable but it's not something that would make me lose my life. "Would you believe me that Orochi is emitting a signal right now?" I wouldn't hold it against Stella if she doesn't believe me. For all she knows, I'm just feeling a 'weird energy' that nobody else is feeling. Sounds like crazy talk to me.
"Yes." You trust me too much! Thank you but please don't. "What kind of signal, Igo?"
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"A signal repeated three times."
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
"A new signal repeated three times."
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"The first signal repeated three times."
"A code…" We both immediately arrive at the same conclusion, huh… Maybe we're meant for each other. "It sounds like an S.O.S signal." Now that she said, it does! "But why would a siren use our signal? I understand if Orochi is in danger but why is it using human's morse code to send signal?" True. It did a good job of hiding the signal but why wouldn't it go even further? Why would it take the risk of the signal getting decipher? Does it believe that no one can feel the wisdom cube signal? "Is it a trap?"
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"It couldn't be." Aoba instantly refute back. "If it was a trap then we would need to be able to detect the signal." True. If it was a trap, it was specifically lay out for me. "Considering that only commander Igo that can feel it, maybe the siren is confident that humanity won't be able to detect it, hence not bothering to cipher the signal."
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
"It could be… Whatever it is, it doesn't change our objective. We still need to sunk the Orochi. It just forces us to do it faster." The SOS signal would just call in reinforcement for Orochi and it would make things way more complicated than it already are. Stella return to her post and star commanding again.
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"Every ships, focus on sinking Orochi! This has gone for far too long!" I'm surprise Orochi hasn't launch its cruise missile yet. What's stopping it from doing so? "First and second barrage battleship groups, start raining shells on Orochi to depletes its force field! All single-focus aircraft carrier groups, sunk the Orochi! Fourth and fifth carpet focus aircraft carrier groups, focus your attack on Orochi! All submarine groups would focus their attacks on Orochi! The rest deal with the escort! Make sure none of them interrupt the attacking groups and teams!"
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
Stella really is something… It makes me feel useless because I literally haven't done anything to help. Hey, Cubey. I'm going to claim my prize.
Sure, what's up?
Why am I the only that can feel the signal? Wouldn't the shipgirls be more sensitive to the wisdom cube than me?
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
Ugh… This technically has something to do with summoning a shipgirl but… Guh… Fine… Just this once.
Your pain brings me joy.
Shut it before I change my mind.
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
Fine…
Sigh… Well, the shipgirl come from a wisdom cube but you know that there are several cube types, right?
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
They're using different cubes that is undetectable to normal wisdom cube. Am I right?
Bingo. Imagine that it is like X-ray light. Normal people wouldn't be able to see it but you have special glasses that allow you to see it.
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
I see. The reason I can sense it, is because my affinity is with the cube in general and not only the wisdom type, right?
Yep!
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
That's pretty genius actually. It's easy to intercept a signal when you send it through normal light because everyone can see them but using an 'invisible light' would drastically make it safer because only specific people can see it. Plus ciphering it would increase its safety even more. Doubt humanity would actually do that. Last I check, a large amount of X-ray is dangerous to a human's body.
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
*Sizzle* *Sizzle* *Sizzle*
*Bzzt* *Bzzt* *Bzzt*
"SHUT UP!" It gets up my fucking ass! I know that you're dying but can you shut the fuck up while doing it! Why don't you just explode and sunk to the bottom of the fucking ocean!? You're being a nuisance to us who can feel it, okay?!
*BBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM*
"Commander Stella! A huge explosion had just happened on Orochi!"
Oh thank god, it's finally stop! And at the same time, Orochi was reported to be erupting in a huge explosion. SUCK ON THAT AND SUNK ON THAT! This is what happen to—
*TTTHHHHOOMMM*
Ah… fuck…
A new shockwave hit me and it's the *Bzzt* signal but times a hundred. It feels like my entire body had just been hit by an invisible truck. It actually feels like a proper shockwave now. Congratulation Siren! Now can you stop?
"Gah…" Eh? As my entire body recover from the blast of energy, I notice that Stella is grunting. Is something matter? She shouldn't be able to feel the energy so why is she grunting? "What was that?" Wait! Could it be!? The wave was so powerful that someone else is actually feeling it!
"Commander IGO!" Aoba dives in to the rescue as my body wobble and lose its balance. Good catch, Aoba. "Are you okay?!" No… Please let me rest for a moment. My entire body feels like it was swarm by ants.
*TTTTTTHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOMMMM*
"Guh…" And now it's Aoba too. So it's that powerful that other people are feeling it too. "What is this?" Welcome to my world, Aoba. You can leave your shoes outside the door. "Do you feel it, commander Stella?"
"Yeah…" Stella leave her post and come to me. "It must be harder for you if we can feel it, right Igo?" I nod my head weakly as I get up from Aoba's arms. "Orochi exploded itself for whatever reason." What? We weren't the one that explode it?
"Why?"
"Dunno. Everyone is still in a state of confusion right now." I can understand that. Why would the Orochi explode itself? Why doesn't it try to launch even a single cruise missile and decide to sunk itself with them on board? It doesn't make any sense! "Do you think the shockwave is coming from Orochi, Igo?"
"I don't know. Maybe if I was closer to it, I could determine that." Stella nods her head understandingly.
"Aoba, prepare—"
*TTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOMMMMM*
"Ugh…" Stella shakes her head violently from the sensation. "That doesn't hurt but damn does it makes you uncomfortable." It makes me want to stay the fuck away from it. "It must be hell for you, Igo." Yep. "Why would Orochi emit these waves after it explode itself? Wouldn't it make much more sense to do this when we're fighting?"
"Maybe it isn't coming from Orochi." That's a possibility. "But if it didn't come from Orochi then where did it come from?" That a good question actually. Whatever it is, it, at the very least, has 100 times more power than Orochi from how powerful its waves are.
"It feels a hundred times more powerful than Orochi's most powerful signal." It just a feeling but it's not like anyone have a standardize unit of measurement about wisdom cube's signal, right? "If it wasn't Orochi, then at the very least, it's a hundred times has more power than Orochi. Is there any vessels that fit that description, Stella?"
*TTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM*
"Guh…" Another wave wash over us. "Not that I know of. I should tell everyone to retreat first." That's a good idea. Better be careful than sorry. Stella activate her earpiece and said, "Everyone, retreat back to the command ship." Affirmations flood the comms as more and more shipgirls can be seen approaching our position. "Now that my mind is at ease, we can focus on finding out where is the signal coming from?"
"It may be a response to Orochi's SOS signal." Hmm… Maybe the signal is coming from a fleet of siren ships and their individual signals stack on top of each other, creating one massive signal. "Should we retreat back to base, commander Stella?"
"We'll prepare for that option. For now, we hold our ground."
Alright, I'm going to help you on this one. It's coming from a ship.
A ship? So this ship must be huge or super powerful, right?
Both actually.
Ah… fuck… Do you know what kind of ship?
A flying one.
A flying one? What do you—Ah… fuck…
No…
No!
NO!
Please don't fucking tell me!
"STELLA!" I run toward my girlfriend and grab her shoulders firmly. "WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" We're going to die if we don't! Like really fucking dead!
"Igo! Calm down, we—"
*TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM*
The strongest wave of energy hit us and my entire face turn pale as both of us turn our head toward where the signal was coming from.
On the horizon… the looming doom is on our sight… It presence inspire fear and panic… It existence breed desperation… It's the word 'destruction' put to shape…
The Arsenal Bird
And it's coming right for us.
"Well good news to all of you is that I'm not the 'fuck-around-and-find-out' kind of commander."
"If I may be so rude but I would like for you to consider other options, commander."
Unless you girls have some sort of X-ray vision that I don't know about.
"… sigh… I should really get myself check… I'm unquestionably sick for falling in love with you."
Honestly… debatable.