Chapter 19
xxx xxx xxx
September 8th, 2023 - Evening.
On the bridge of the Liberty.
"... *whistles* What the fuck...! Is this seriously real?" Liam wondered aloud as he took in the sight of countless explosions filling up the battlefield and lighting up the evening sky like fireworks before glancing down at the smaller combat display on the left of his command seat. 'Alright. All that's left to do is to wait for the right moment to let Archerfish's group do their thing and hope that everything works out.'
"My Honorable Master! The Siren Elites! They've started pulling back!" Sirius suddenly called out in surprise. "Not only that, but it looks like they're trying to open up another 'Mirror Sea' too!"
"What!?" 'Shit! Do we let them go, or try to finish them off here and now?' After a moment, Liam shook his head. 'Ah, whatever, screw it!' "Change of plans! Sheffy! Patch me through to the rest of our shipgirls!"
- On the battlefield, a moment earlier -
-With Javelin.
"...Huh? Oh cra-Wah!"
Barely noticing the incoming ether cannon attack in time, Javelin just stood there, momentarily frozen in place, before being (somewhat forcefully) pulled out of the way at the last second by an unfamiliar aircraft carrier with long, straight platinum blonde hair dressed in white and black uniform themed outfit complete with a distinctive naval cap atop her head.
"Hey, now's not the time to space out!" admonished Javelin's platinum blonde savior as she manifested a composite bow in her left hand. "By the way, are you okay?"
"H, Huh? Oh, sorry about that. And, um, thanks... er, sorry. Wh, what's your name?" Javelin asked, trying desperately to recompose herself from such an embarrassing blunder.
"Hm? Oh, right. I'm Eagle Union Aircraft Carrier Enterprise, under the command of Admiral Yang Wen-li. Nice to meet you. And you are?" the now named Enterprise replied without taking her eyes off the Sirens before asking for the smaller purplette's name.
"Huh? Oh, right! I'm Royal Navy Destroyer Javelin, serving under um, Commander Liam Archer! Nice to meet you too, and thanks again for saving my bacon just now!"
Enterprise cracked a smile at the smaller purplette's exuberant and lively attitude and earnest introduction.
"Heh. Aren't you a ball of energy. Anyway, we can save getting to know each other better for later, yeah?"
"Right! Oh, wait... where, where did Ayaya get to? Crap! Everything got so crazy hectic that I totally lost track of her!"
Enterprise, watching the smaller ponytail'd shipgirl flail about looking every which way for her missing fleet sister, couldn't help but shake her head at the silly looking purplette's antics.
"Oi, calm down. Freaking out like that isn't going to help you find your friend any faster."
"... Ye, yeah. Yeah, you're right," Javelin said with a slow nod before taking a deep breath to try and calm herself down. "Y'know, you've really got it together don't you, Miss Enterprise! Guess that's what having lots of experience gets you huh? I hope I can become a cool and collected lady like you one day!"
Enterprise just smiled and shook her head. "Not really. Anyway, stick close to me for now, okay?"
"Mm!"
-With the two Prinz Eugen fleets.
"... Ohoh? It's only been a day and you've all gotten so much stronger," Tester praised as she felt the full weight of the Iron Blood silverette's sword against her lance. "Color me impressed! Very, very impressed even!"
"Oh? So, that's the Siren Elite you fought then?" Eugen(blue) asked as she moved next to her silver haired counterpart after successfully dodging another volley of artillery fire from a now very annoyed Purifier who was currently getting wailed on by Anchorage and her friends.
"... More like she was just playing around with us," Eugen(silver) spat out with a slight frown, less than happy as she recalled their first encounter.
"Hey, I resent that accusation! I was not 'playing around' I'll have you kn-whoa there!" Tester started to protest before quickly evading Eugen(blue)'s own dual sword strikes.
"Tch!"
"You kansen really are uncivilized savages."
In response, the two Eugens simply increased the 'savagery' of their assault as Eugen(silver) moved in from the right while Eugen(blue) moved in from the left, all the while backed up with support fire from the countless other shipgirls behind and around them to help keep the Siren Elites pinned down.
"Oi! Testy! Things are starting to look a bit dicey now, y'know?"
Tester nodded. "... Agreed. So? Do you want to retreat then?"
"Not really, no. But I'd rather not push things if we don't have to either!"
"... That's shockingly reasonable, coming from you. I'm honestly shocked."
"Hey! Fuck you! Ah forget it! Let's just go already, I'm getting hungry...!"
Tester sighted. "Alright, alright. But first things first."
[Temporary 5% Combat limiter release permitted]
Feeling the sudden swell of power beginning to surge throughout their bodies, Purifier couldn't help but smile as the outflow of ether was dense and potent enough to be seen and felt by the roughly fifty or so shipgirls attacking them, freezing them in place with the sheer suddenness of their surprise 'power up' in the process.
"Heh! Now those are some good looks on your faces!" Purifier said with no small amount of glee in her voice from the absolutely priceless expressions on the shipgirls' faces. And, deciding to have a little bit of fun even as she started retreating, spiked her power up just a little bit more. "Don't blink now, mmkay~? "
"...!"
While all of this was going on...
[Ah, priceless! Don't you wish you had a camera, Testy?]
[Whatever.]
[... You're seriously no fun, you know that?]
[... *sigh* ...]
Their little exchange over with, Tester simply rolled her eyes before launching one last big barrage of (low powered) ether cannon and artillery fire to trip up the still frozen shipgirls to buy just a bit more time for them to safely escape. Naturally, Purifier did the same, only with a huge grin on her face and a lot more crazy laughing.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
This wouldn't really stop some of the more persistent shipgirls from going after them of course, like a certain green eyed, twintailed blonde with a really, really short fuse.
"... Oi! Are, are you bitches seriously running away!?" shouted an indignant Admiral Hipper as she started to chase after the retreating Tester and Purifier.
"Jeez! She's a real firecracker, huh? That sister of yours I mean," Eugen(silver) noted with a raised eyebrow as she watched the petite blonde rant and rave as she fired her guns while in hot pursuit of the two Siren Elites.
Eugen(blue) just sighed. "Ja, meine liebe kleine schwester can be a real handful when she gets like that. Makes her really fun to tease though," the bluenette added with a smirk, eliciting a knowing nod from her silverette counterpart.
"Ah, I totally understand! Those frustrated, flustered, and even angry expressions my fleet sisters and Kommandant get are just, the absolute best...~! "
...
"You all have it rough too, huh?" asked an exasperated Z-23, shaking her head at the two Eugens' antics.
Kii just chuckled. "Our dear Shikikan has it much worse though."
"Oh? Is your Kommandant just that easy a target then?" asked a genuinely curious Bismarck as she internally debated whether or not to use her Geryon's 'autonomous pursuit' mode to go after the Siren Elites or not.
"Oh, you have no idea~! " chirped the ever teasing and somehow perpetually lewd Vampire. "That poor little pervert tries ever so hard to not let the teasing get to him that most of us, myself included, just can't help but mess with him any chance we can~! "
"Your Kommandant really does have it rough indeed," Graf Zeppelin remarked between launching airplane shaped attack drones at the once again stalled Siren Elites.
"And what is your Commander like, if I may ask?" Belfast asked.
"Admiral Yang? Well..," Odin began, putting a slender finger to her chin for a moment. "At first glance, he seems quite carefree and can come across as a somewhat eccentric slacker unfit for the job. That said, he's a brilliant strategist with a knack for turning situations on their head. Overall though, he's the philosophical and gentlemanly sort who enjoys brandy just a little too much sometimes."
"What about your Kommandant? What sort of person is he?" asked Z-23 in return.
"... A pervert who tries really hard not to be seen as a pervert," was Vampire, Alabama, Kii, and Jean Bart's instant and honest, simultaneously reply.
"He's also the type to go with the flow and not let absurd situations overwhelm him. He's surprisingly tough like that," Eugen(silver) shared with a rare, genuine smile and definite pride shining in her eyes.
"Our dear Master is also fairly quick witted and more than up to the task of leading us in battle with all the seriousness that role demands. He's straightforward, if a little awkward and not always the most confident, but, he uses all of those fears and doubts to push himself forward instead of letting them hold him back," Belfast added.
Hearing their thoughts prompted a number of reactions from Yang's shipgirls.
"It seems you all really adore him, don't you?" Eugen(blue) noted with a thoughtful look.
"I'm not sure how I feel about everyone just unanimously agreeing that he's a pervert though," Odin said.
"But, it seems those shipgirls don't look like they mind all that much," Graf Zeppelin pointed out. "If anything, they seem to really like that about him."
"... So they're all just perverts too?" Z-23 concluded, backing away just a bit.
"It seems so," Bismarck added with a faint smile.
"Oi! Well, I can't deny that... but still!" Kii, albeit halfheartedly, protested.
"... Can we just focus on the Sirens for now?" Jean Bart quietly muttered, a slight, embarrassed tinge of pink on her cheeks.
Bismarck and Odin nodded, eager to move on and finish things already, while Eugen(blue) just laughed. However, before any of them could get moving.
"Hmm? Kommandant?" Eugen(silver) said, suddenly getting everyone's attention.
- Right underneath Tester and Purifier, just out of their detection range -
"Finally! It's time for payback!" Archerfish said with a cackle and a hint of madness in her eyes. "This time! This time... sweet, sweet revenge and glory will finally be ours! All ours! HAHAHAHA!"
Though not as manic as their leader, the rest of Liam's submarines were equally fired up.
"Alright girls! Our fleet sisters on the surface got those Siren cunts right where we want 'em! Now's our best and only chance to do this! Is everybody ready?" Archerfish asked as she and the others finished getting in position and checking over their riggings one last time.
Nautilus shyly but confidently nodded. "... We, we're good to go!"
"Oh yeah, we totally got this!" I-26 said, her animal ears twitching excitedly alongside I-25 and a giggling I-19.
"Oui! This should be quite the show indeed!" Surcouf declared.
Archerfish nodded once more, satisfied by her fellow submarines' efforts to blast the ever loving crap out of an unsuspecting Tester and Purifier. "Hehehe! All that's left is to wait for the Commander's signal, which should come in just about...-"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*
"-now!"
- With Tester and Purifier -
"... Dammit. The interference is thicker than expected and is making it really hard to open up a Mirror Sea without dedicating even more processing power than I can afford... What about you?"
"Doing a little better on my end, but all these kansen cunts aren't helping with how fucking persistent they're being. Anyway, I'm gonna need another minute to force open a connection, so try and buy me a little more time."
"Alright. Just leave it to me," Tester said, getting in front of Purifier with her rigging's guns at the ready.
"... Thanks Testy~!" Purifier cheerfully replied before focusing everything she had on the task at hand.
With a sigh and a shake of her head, Tester faced the shipgirls who finally caught up to them. 'Well. I figured they'd try to surround us, but there's a whole lot less of them than I expected. Maybe they just decided to send out their strongest or most aggressive kansen first...? Well either way, this just makes my job easier so I'm not gonna complain about it. Still bound to be a pain in the ass though...'
Without another word or fanfare, Tester made the first move and fired everything she had.
Naturally, she made sure to keep her output just low enough to not lethally injure them but still keep them down. But, instead of the panic and/or dozens of injured shipgirls she expected, Tester instead caught sight of a few unusually powerful shipgirls not only defending the others, but immediately counter and shut down all her attacks.
"...Hoh? Ah, I see. It's those 'Siren Killers' again!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
After leaving behind around seven or eight autonomous defense drones, Tester readied her lance and moved to engage those pesky shipgirls born with just the right skills to take on her kind... or she would have, anyway.
BOOM!*
"See how you like this!" Harbin roared as she pulled the trigger on her 37mm quad gun topped parasol at point blank range and blasting Tester back the instant she got within a few feet of her and the other 'Siren Killers'.
Another resounding explosion echoed out in every direction as the battle happy light blue haired Siren Elite and raven haired, golden eyed beauty draped in a long, fur lined longcoat were both pushed back from the sheer force of the impact from the other's attacks.
"...Kuh!" 'Damn. That really stung! Not b-'
"-Prepare to receive my my blade you Siren filth!"
But, before Tester could even catch her breath, let alone counterattack, the pretty but definitely out of place sound of innocent giggling could be heard immediately to her left. "...!"
"And, gotcha~!" Anchorage cutely declared as the honey blonde, big breasted heavy cruiser closed in and aimed a punch at Tester's open and exposed jaw.
"Oh no you don't!"
Quickly shoving Izumo away with a burst of power and firing off another cannon blast at the still recovering Harbin behind her, Tester quickly moved to put just enough distance between them to narrowly evade Anchorage's punch. Unfortunately, the entire exchange had sent her right back to where she started.
"... You little shits!" 'But, I suppose that's Siren Killers for you, huh. Fine...!'
[Situational exemption check applied - Temporary 10% Combat limiter release permitted]
Another wave of ether violently surged outwards from her core as Tester felt a torrent of power flow throughout her body and rigging and couldn't help but shiver slightly from the subtle but clear jolt of pleasure that accompanied it. On top of that, seeing the three Siren Killers were on guard and waiting for what she'd do next, Tester couldn't help but grin viciously as she lowered her stance and ready to charge at them, trusty lance in hand.
"...Tch, here I come!"
But, just before she or anyone else could move-
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM1 BOOM!*
-a huge number of torpedoes shot up out of the water's surface right above the two Siren Elites.
...
"What the!? Shit! Really?" 'Those bratty little submarines! Fuck! And we fell for it again! Dammit!'
- Liberty, Bridge -
"Ambush successful," Metis reported as everyone aboard watched the geyser of water and steam rise up high into the sky accompanied by the countless loud explosions from successful torpedo impacts.
"Right, what about the other shipgirls? How're things on their end?" Liam asked.
"Both the bulk of Admiral Yang's and our own forces have safely pulled back and are currently waiting on standby, more than a little eager to move out again," Enterprise reported. "This just leaves Anchorage, Harbin, Izumo and the two Prinz Eugens' fleets as rear support left chasing after and/or directly engaging the two Siren Elites."
"Anything else?"
"Don't worry, my Honorable Master. Aside from Miss Jean Bart needing to retreat and some general but light battle fatigue all around, everyone's holding up," Sirius reported.
"Is Jean Bart okay?" Liam asked with a hint of concern.
"Nothing she won't recover from before too long, but she'll still need a bit more time for her internal nanomachines to finish patching her up," Sirius replied.
"Okay then. Tell Eugen and the others to pull back and for the submarines to keep up their barrage until we're ready to fire our main ether cannons. Speaking of which, have they finished charging?"
"They have. We can fire at any time, Master," Sheffield answered after checking over the data on her console one last time.
"Then I guess, we're as ready as we're gonna be. Metis,"
"Yes, Commander?"
"Connect me with Admiral Yang. We probably won't have another chance to so we really can't screw this up. I dunno if we can beat them even with doing all this, but I'm pretty damn sure we can at least get one last good hit in."
"Understood. Opening secured comm lines now."
- With Archerfish and the other submarines -
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Archerfish couldn't help but laugh with unrestrained glee as she let out wave after wave of torpedoes at the two Siren Elites above her.
"Oh, Miss Archerfish is... very lively, non?" Surcouf observed with a warm smile.
"Well, not like I don't understand though," U-410 said with a smirk. "After all, it feels pretty damn good actually being able to get some real payback, ja?"
Surcouf nodded. "Oui, that's true, but we can't afford to get too carried away either. After all, we have yet to hear back from the Commander."
U-410 nodded. "Good thing we brought quadruple our usual torpedoes this time."
"Oui."
Just then-
"...!"
"Oh? Talk about convenient timing!" U-81 remarked as their fleet leaders received the very call they were waiting for. "So? Do we still need to hold 'em in place, or pull back?" the pinkette submarine asked, looking towards her redheaded fleet leader.
"We're to fire off two more final waves, then retreat."
"You got it!" (x3) cried the three Iron Blood submarines and the other two submarine fleets let loose everything they had left.
- In the area just outside of the battlefield -
Liberty, bridge.
"Commander, the Hyperion's in position and ready to fire as soon as we are. My 'sister' and I have already synced up and await your command."
"Alright then."
Standing up, the young Commander cleared his throat and steeled his nerves before speaking up as clearly and firmly as he could manage to all the shipgirls in the field and the crew of the Hyperion acting with them. "As per the operation's general outline, both the Liberty and Hyperion will fire their main bow mounted ether cannons just before the end of the submarines' second to last torpedo barrage while our forces in the field will be free to act at the discretion of their individual fleet leaders following the initial ether cannon blast!"
Without another word, Sheffield, Sirius, and Enterprise moved to handle the cannon's targeting, energy gauges, and communicating with the rest of their fleets so that nobody got caught up in what was about to happen.
- Back with Tester and Purifier -
"Tch!" 'Persistent little shits!' "Oi, Purifier! How much longer!?"
"... Just fifty-five more seconds!"
"... Then I'm putting everything into covering us both! Just hurry up and get that damn Mirror See open!"
"Yeah, I kno-Huh!?"
"What's wron-Oh, shit...!"
Sometime between the latest barrage of seemingly never-ending waves of torpedoes coming at them from underneath them and the last twenty or thirty seconds they needed before they could escape, two rapidly increasing bright flashes of incredibly hot and densely charged, plasma-like ether were headed straight for them from their left and right.
"You have got to be kidding me! Those humans actually decided to try and attack us too!?" Purifier groaned.
"... Evidently. And I don't understand why you're so surprised. I mean, it's what I'd do if I were them," Tester countered.
"Yeah, whatever! Look, I can't move right now and unless I stop what I'm doing to help defend us... I don't think we're gonna survive."
"... Dammit! Fine!" Tester bitterly conceded. "Right. sync up with me and pour any excess energy you have left not working on the Mirror Sea into me so I can keep our shields up for as long as possible!"
"Getting attached to your vessel Testy?" Purifier asked, eyebrow raised and wearing an even more annoying smirk on her face than usual.
"Just hurry the hell up!"
"Already done, killjoy!"
With no time to spare and already feeling the searing heat from the blinding death beams about to hit them, the pair of Siren Elites barely managed to cover themselves in a double layered energy shield made up of purple hexagons.
...
'... Ugh. What the hell were we thinking, staying behind like this...!'
xxx xxx xxx
Somewhere in the sky high above and some distance away from Liam and the others floated two somewhat familiar looking figures passively observing the climax of the battle taking place between the shipgirls and Siren Elites.
"..."
"So, are you really going to intervene?" asked the taller of the two mystery figures floating/standing to the left of their partner.
"..." Instead of replying, the second, smaller of the two figures simply stretched out an open palm in the Siren Elites' direction.
Seeing this, the taller figure couldn't help but let slip the ghost of a smile. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Still, are you sure? We were only supposed to observe you know. Not like it really matters now but, I'm not gonna be the one to deal with 'you know who' because of this, got it? That'll all you."
"... Doesn't, matter..."
Hearing their partner's blunt and to the point reply and without anything else to say, the taller figure simply decided to let whatever would happen, happen.
"Well okay then, have fun."
...
"... Zap...!"
xxx xxx xxx
Liberty, bridge.
'... Holy shit..! It, it worked!? Seriously!? Damn! Talk about lucky...! Oh, right!' "Metis."
"Yes, Commander?"
"What's the damage?"
He knew he might be jinxing himself asking, but Liam just had to know, needed that confirmation.
"The deployed observation drones just finished reconnecting. I'm bringing the latest video feed up now." Metis calmly reported before she then highlighted, focused and zoom in on the impact zone. Unfortunately...
"...Ah, dammit...!"
... the two Siren Elites managed to survive. Heavily damaged, but still survived.
'Not that I expected anything else really, but not even two direct ether cannon shots were enough to finish them off!? Seriously, Sirens really are monsters!' "...Alright. Let's get-"
However, before Liam could give out any orders or say anything at all...
"-Master!"
"Huh? Sheffield? What happened?" 'I think that's the first time I've heard any real emotion in her voice..!'
"A sudden, high energy mass is gathering above the two Siren Elites! Source unknown!"
"What, another Siren attack or something!?" 'Fuck my life!'
"Unknown," reported the normally stoic royal maid.
Liam turned to his de facto second-in-command. "Any ideas, Metis?"
The hyper intelligent, advanced super AI shook her head. "Not really, no. I'm sorry, but without any more information to go on, I'm just as stumped as you are..."
Just then.
"Master! The unknown energy mass seems to have finished gathering and is about to discharge!"
"What!? Where!? Here!?"
Sheffield shook her head, slight surprise in her voice.
"...No. It looks like it's going to hit the Siren Elites instead...!"
...
"The hell!?"
Liam was surprised and had no idea what to say. Honestly, it was just one crazy thing after another.
It wasn't just him either; everyone on the bridge felt the same.
"Commander, your orders?"
Thankfully Metis, his trusty and ever reliable AI adjutant, was the first to recover and get her Commander's attention.
"Hu, huh? Oh, right! Get in touch with the closest fleet there and have them go and check things out from a safe distance. Also, keep the submarines on standby while scanning the area for anything else out of the ordinary."
After he finished giving his order, Sirius spoke up next.
"My Honorable Master, Admiral Yang is on the line and is requesting to speak with you, likely to discuss what just happened."
Liam nodded. "Right. Put him through, Sirius. Maybe he knows something, maybe he doesn't. Either way, it'll still be good to toss ideas. In the meantime, Enterprise, begin prepping our shields and whatever guns we have left just in in case!"
"Yes, Master!" (x2)
- On the battlefield -
"...!" Eldridge's eyes went wide when she saw the sight of the dark red lightning strikes while feeling a faintly odd, tingling sensation in the back of her head that she just couldn't quite describe.
"...Whoa...~! Red zappy!" Anchorage, on the other hand, was innocently enraptured.
"Where in the hell did that come from!?" was all Alabama could half ask, half shout in a rare bit of utter shock.
"... A new ally?" Kii asked.
"Who knows," Jean Bart replied, shaking her head. "But I don't think it came from of us or one of those other Commander's shipgirls though."
"Ja, agreed," Eugen(silver) said with a nod.
"Nein, definitely not one of ours," Eugen(blue) confirmed.
"Jiejie?" Ping Hai asked, tugging on Ning Hai's sleeve.
"Hm? What is it meimei?"
"What do you think is going on?"
Ning Hai shrugged. "Dunno. Let's just leave all that complicated stuff to the Commander."
Ping Hai nodded. "... 'Kay. Anyway, you want a meat bun?"
"Sure."
New Jersey didn't say a thing and just whistled..
- Hyperion, bridge -
"...Oi, Admiral! Was that who I think it was?" Walter asked, standing next to a thoughtful looking Yang Wen-li.
A slight pause passed before Yang ave a small shrug.
"Probably, yes. But I really didn't think they'd act though. considering they never interfered before."
"... I wonder what made this time so different then. It just, seems so out of character for them. At least, based on what little interactions we've had with them in the past anyway..," Walter commented, hand thoughtfully under his chin.
Yang scratched the back of his head, honestly just as perplexed. "Who knows. But... I suspect that whatever made them act may have had something to do with our new friends."
"What, you mean that other Commander and his shipgirls? Why's that?"
"I can't say for sure but yes. Otherwise, I just can't see any other reason for their intervention. Either way, the Sirens are most certainly out of commission now. At the very least, I don't think they can keep fighting."
"So what now? Do we finish them off, or..."
Yang shook his head. "No, let's just observe things for now and see what happens."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Besides, for all we know, this could still all be part of some elaborate Siren plan to make us lower our guard. That, and I want to see how Liam handles the situation first."
Walter smirked. "It seems a bit harsh to let him take the lead like that, being a newbie Commander and all, y'know?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Just consider this me simply wanting to see how he handles the unexpected. Don't worry, we'll back them up if something comes up."
"Gotcha."
xxx xxx xxx
After everything was said and done.
"You certainly look happy," said the taller of the two mysterious figures with a smirk.
"... Yes," was all the smaller figure said before turning to leave.
"You aren't gonna stay?"
The second, smaller figure paused a moment before finally shaking her head and continuing on.
"... No."
"Alright then. Best to head back and report in anyway."
The smaller figure nodded before leaving the world in a way similar to a picture slowly being burned away by red electricity.
"Well, considering who's all there I can't say I'm surprised by what you did. Now then," the figure said to herself before squinting her eyes and focusing in on the two heavily damaged Siren Elites. "Oh, wow. Well, that's fine I suppose. Might not have finished you off but... it'll do for a proper greeting from us to you, so..."
And, after leaving behind those unfinished words, the taller figure also turned to leave, vanishing from the world in the same manner her partner did.
xxx xxx xxx