Norwegian Sea, North of the coast of the Faroe Islands, 25th of June 2030, 0850 hours:
Waves crashed against each other as the wind continued blowing from the west, not too large but at the same could wreck a small fishing boat. The sky was clear that day; the sun could be seen shining upon the surface, heating it up slightly to above room temperature.
An E-2D could be seen high up in the skies; its plate-shaped spinning radar continued to emit waves of signals all over the place, scanning the area inside its detection range to later be transmitted back to its host.
Inside the airframe devoid of biological life, a monitor could be seen displaying contacts that the radar picked up from the returning waves it emitted earlier. Soon, three large shapes appeared in a triangular formation, being shown more than a thousand miles away from its current location.
Just a few miles away from the E-2D's location, a carrier accompanied by destroyers, sailing side by side, escorting her, while keeping a mile gap from each other.
Aboard the carrier, the Enterprise, stood Medellein outside the bridge, her eyes scanning the horizon beyond her for any abnormalities. It was until a voice came through the net from her virtual assistant.
"Three skunks have been detected, bearing 030, distance 360 nautical miles away, moving at 25 knots." Lisa informed her, relaying information coming in directly from the E-2D.
Medellein switched her vision to the radar display and looked at the three skunks the radar from her E-2D just picked up. She looked carefully at the shapes and the formation of the shape, analysing it.
"What about their beacons?" Asked Medellein to Lisa.
"No beacon signal detected from the three contacts, unfortunately, Rear Admiral." Said Lisa.
Medellein nodded and went back thinking. It could be the Type 45 destroyers being dispatched from maybe Devonport. But there were three, and the OPORD paper said there will be only two of them, so they're out of the way. They could be the three Type 055's.
"Lisa, mind sending one element from Hawk 1 to check it out?" Medellein asked.
"Will do, Rear Admiral. Dispatching Hawk 1-2 to make visual contact with the skunk."
Her display changed into a map, showing herself being presented by a circle with a dot and two lines, five of her escorts being presented as a circle with a dot, and her current airborne aircraft being presented as half a circle with a dot, and many other present NATO symbols, showing off assets close to her group's proximity.
She could see a dot separating from the flight that had been flying around the group, heading towards three contacts labelled with the yellow square with a dot symbol, shown by a line being shown as the aircraft's path towards it.
"Hawk 1-2 is now enroute to make visual contact with the skunk; ETA 35 minutes."
—-
0925 hours:
High up in the clear sky of the open wide ocean, at 35.000 feet, a lone F-35 could be seen cruising steadily. Its camera just under the nose scanned over below at the surface, looking for the three unknown contacts once receiving a new mission input on its computer.
Inside the computer-driven and other properties running the aircraft, its insides still had an interior as if it were for human use, yet there was no one controlling it. The monitor, running a GPS and other important systems, showed the aircraft had finally arrived at the intended location.
Another input came in from the E-2D as it guided the F-35 yet to another location to look after the skunk. It zipped through the air, creating a sound as if a large rift was created. The nose camera twitched, scanning carefully and in detail while being assisted by the E-2D's constant radar reports.
Soon, a couple of small silhouettes appeared over the horizon. The F-35's camera zoomed in closely at it and saw three ships with the PLAN ensign waving on the tower, sailing next to each other in a triangular formation while keeping a mile distance from each other. The monitor began beeping as it transmitted information and live footage back to the E-2D.
—-
Back onboard the Enterprise, where Medellein had returned back inside the bridge, sitting on the soft red chair, the ship's captain seat. She received a notification on her vision display, coming in from the E-2D, along with Lisa's voice making an appearance.
"Hawk 1-2 has managed to make visual contact with the three skunks, confirmed to be the PLAN's Type 055 destroyers- Warning, fuel level of Hawk 1-2 is at a low level, setting its flight path back to the carrier. Now preparing Hawk 1-5 to be up in the air."
"Hm. Make sure to keep those three ships within our range." Medellein ordered before switching her vision to the footage that was taken by the F-35 sent earlier.
Looking at it closely, she zoomed into the formation closer, and at one of the ships where she could see a young girl wearing the navy uniform of the PLA, coupled with boots and a cap that fits the colour of the uniform, her black hair braided. Her face surely looks familiar.
"Well, well, well. If that's not the girl that walked through the arctic ice." Medellein chuckled. Never she would've thought they'd meet again around here. "I thought they'd be somewhere around the coast of Greenland. Huh."
Medellein began wondering what those girls were doing there, some hundred miles away from friendly port into the middle of many Northern European EEZ zones. Couldn't be for dumb reasons like escorting Chinese fishermen, right? She laughed at the thought of it, that would've been very idiotic and silly to do. Like, who would sail thousands of miles away to the Norwegian Sea for fish anyway?
Suddenly, a notification popped out along with the following: "Warning, 15- correction, 35- correction, 45- correction, 50 unknown surface contacts have been detected, bearing 240, distance 360 nautical miles, moving at 18 knots."
"HUH?" Medellein's eyes widened in shock, bewildered.
"Uhh, Enterprise, what's going on over there? E-2D's picking a lot of radar contact.." Nana spoke up with a confused tone.
"Holy, are we under attack?!" Rosey's tone was that of panic; quickly the warning lights on the deck at the hull lit up, and the VLS cell doors began to open up.
Marie scoffed at Rosey's panic attack. "Rosey, they're literally moving at a snail's pace and in huge packs, who does that anyways besides-"
"Fishing boats.." Medellein released a sigh. "Lisa, mind sending Hawk 1-1 to make visual contact with the skunks?"
"Dispatching Hawk 1-1 to make visual contact with the skunks, ETA 35 minutes."
—-
Iceland, Joint NAVARC-AFFOR Air Station and Naval Base, Keflavik CIC, 1002 hours:
The sun was shining up high in the June sky; all was peaceful in the naval base just stationed a kilometre away from the Keflavik Naval Air Station that also served as a civilian airport. Everything was relatively quiet except for the flow of large civilian airliners coming in and out the runway and the screeching sound of turbofan engines that could be heard from afar.
But somewhere in the naval base complex, where there could be seen people and vehicles moving around, doing their usual job of logistics and other matters, there is an entrance with a large metal vault door, leading to a complex underground system where it is the safe haven for the forces stationed in the large island in the Northern Atlantic for the many branches, one of which being the Keflavik CIC, the centre point of the navy's command and control, where words and information went in and out.
The room that was the recently built Keflavik CIC, where there is a stair with huge gaps, each line filled with desks occupied by naval specialists working around the clock keeping things as they should be. The sound of keyboards, machines, and computers was the most common thing inside the room, aside from people talking to each other. In front of the desks hung a very large digital monitor, showing the status of the naval forces shown as NATO symbols and other contacts such as civilian and non-NATO vessels, which could be seen moving around the map in the designated routes.
Then, all of a sudden, the automatic bulletproof glass door opened, revealing the one and only middle-aged man, Rear Admiral Dwight. S. Johnson.
"Rear Admiral on deck!" One sailor shouted.
The specialists immediately stood up upon hearing and seeing the Rear Admiral entering the room, standing at attention.
"As you were." Johnson quickly dismissed them back to their duty. "Now, how is it going right now?"
"All three surface groups are currently in their AO's operating as usual, and also, CSG 11 just reported spotting three Type 055's in their AO along with 54 fishing boats, sir." Said the combat specialist before pointing at the large screen at the wall in front of them showing multiple square-shaped symbols marking the objects mentioned.
"Hm, I see." Johnson sat down at his desk chair just right in front of him, which is a stationary soft cushion chair similar to the rest but with a red fabric covering it, labelled with his name, before looking back at the screen at a yellow square symbol on the map, representing the three ships and putting on the earpiece on his table desk. Usually the Chinese only send a few coast guard vessels to guard their fishermen, not a squadron of shipgirls in brand new ships. This doesn't seem right… "I want eyes on those ships at all times; who knows what they're doing out here in our backyard." He ordered, looking at the communication specialist officer.
"Aye, aye, sir." Kayla, the communication specialist commander, nodded before looking at one of her subordinates. "Message for the Enterprise, eyes on the three Type 055's, don't let lose.
"Aye, aye, ma'am." The subordinate nodded before typing in the message on the computer—a message bound for the group.
Johnson sat idly by on his seat, looking at the on-going activity inside the CIC, making sure everything went well and in order. It was until a specialist's voice appeared on the net.
"Sir, we've got concerning reports about a developing type one hurricane forming up from the north."
Just before Johnson could mutter a single word, Kayla spoke up once more with a concerning report. "Sir, NOAA has sent out a warning about an upcoming Type 2 hurricane from the Arctic that would be crossing us in 13 hours."
Another storm? He thought. How the hell can a hurricane form up in the Arctic like that? It's the 3rd time already! He sighed. "Alright, listen up. I want all operations in our AO to be ceased and all units to be recalled and grounded immediately."
—-
Greenland Eastern Coastline, 1111 hours:
Quiet all there was in the calm, wavy azure of the Northern Atlantic, with the sun shining brightly onto the surface below. But far ahead, a thick grey cloud could be seen rapidly developing and expanding. Thunder could be seen striking down the ocean surface, like the anomaly the storm is.
Within it, winds were blowing in circles, blowing at such rapid speeds that it caused multiple-story building height waves to form, waves that could flip over a cruise liner or any ship that dares to cross it, or even swallow an aircraft if they dare to fly low. Up high in the sky, amongst the dark clouds, a group of mysterious figures could be seen moving along the storm, some with sinister looks on their faces.
"Ah, finally… We're doing it! I can feel the screams that I am about to hear!" Said Tester Alpha before being smacked on the head by Purifier.
"Can you just stop being excited about killing things? That's not our objective here." Said Purifier in an annoyed tone. "I thought testers aren't supposed to behave like this."
"Ow!" Tester Alpha held her head in pain. "I hate you!"
"My, my.. I should've brought Tester Beta instead of you." Observer appeared from behind, floating, teasing Tester Alpha.
"Can you two be supportive of me at least? Ow.." Tester continued holding her head in pain.
"With your murderous psyche? Heh…" Purifier shook her head before glaring into Tester Alpha's eyes. "No."
"Zero told us to look and act evil in front of people, but that doesn't mean we'll kill everyone." Said Observer.
"Did Zero say that? I don't remember her saying any of that." Purifier objected.
"Now, now, focus on the mission. You get the teleporter machine ready while T.A. keeps the storm on course." Observer ordered.
"Hey! Why are you shortening my name?!" Tester Alpha pouted. "Also, why are we doing this? This seems pointless. Weren't we supposed to be testing and killing things? I was supposed to be testing and killing shipgirls! Not doing this…"
"Zero sent us here again for some reason. She's so stingy about giving us proper information on the context of the mission we're doing." Said Observer. "Now get back to work!"
"Zero.. zero.. The more I hear that name, she sound like some stupid edgy-" Tester Alpha was suddenly cut when a thunder struck her, causing her body to jolt in a cartoony way. Her skin turned charcoal, and her eyes turned from yellow to blue.
"Ow."
The two other girls stared at Tester Alpha, in shock after what just happened. Everything was quiet as the two girls, Observer and Purifier, looked at each other before being broken up by another thunder striking in between them, barely hitting their skin, causing their skin hair to stand as adrenaline kicked in.
"Ok! Ok! We'll stop slacking!" Purifier covered her head with her hands in fear.
"Uhh…" Observer pulled out a leash and attached it towards Tester Alpha's hook, who was staring blankly and being unresponsive. "Let's just continue with our mission."
The rest of the trip went uneventful for the three as they continued moving within the storm. The sun began to set beneath the skyline, and up ahead over the horizon, the island that was Iceland, could be seen still brimming with activity.
—-
(A/N: If you want to contribute in the story in some way or to just interact with the writer, you can join the discord server in the following link: [ /mE2nnwYUcY ] )