Outbreak

by war4sure

The Sirens has been defeated, but London was surprised with a retrofit, which requires her to be placed in stasis. But during her stasis, a dangerously infectious virus capable of turning normal humans into a bloodthirsty killing machine sweeps across Great Britain. Awoken from her stasis twenty eight days later, she finds herself facing an enemy more terrifying than the Sirens

24. Dive into Hell

"If you're going through hell, keep going" – Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

Note: Contains some pre-2022 geopolitics near the end.

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1st July 2024, Day 49

0818

Chew Valley Lake, GBQZ Southwest Sector

"Wow, they're really kicking it off now, wasn't it?" Sighed Elbe as she watched several Apache attack helicopters taking off from the deck of Bataan and Independence while she took a sip of coffee provided to her by Jade.

"Eh, like we don't have something just as flashy on us." Her sister spoke, pointing her face at the battery of M142 HIMARS parked on top of their ship. Part of the preparation of this mission involves deploying four light carriers, Elbe, Jade, Bataan and Independence several days earlier to help support the ground operation. Chew Valley Lake was chosen as it the largest body of water close to Larkhill that was big enough to allow four ships to be deployed there, as well as deep enough to keep the Infected from reaching them. They were dropped here ahead of everyone and then equipment, supplies and support crews were airlifted to them essentially converting them into a floating support platform. While Bataan and Independence were tasked to resupply the attack helicopters, Jade and Elbe were to be used as a launch platform for the HIMARS.

Personally, Elbe wondered if placing the HIMARS so close to the area of operation is a credible idea. On paper, the rocket artillery system had enough range to hit Larkhill without even leaving Isle of Wight. But she was told that NATO needed an artillery support that could hit their targets as soon as a strike was called in, and here she was looking at four of them parked on her deck, another four is on Jade making it a total of eight HIMARS being used for the operation. Just earlier one of them had opened fire on a distant target and now support crews are working on reloading it. As Elbe watched the process, her communicator picked up Winfried's voice as he was addressing the other girls on the plane.

"Girls, do you hear me?" He spoke.

"Yes Kommandant, we heard you loud and clear." Z23 answered.

"Good, listen. Once you're on the ground, deploy your riggings and regroup quickly with the soldiers. For those with separate rigging like Roon and Heinrich, wait until it is safe to summon them. Until then just use your firearms provided to you. Am I clear?"

"Ja." Roon replied.

"Very well. Now here's another information I have to disclose. This was about your neck guards you all are wearing." There was a pause before Winfried continued. "I was told that the neck guards contained explosives and each of us and NATO have a finger on the trigger." Elbe could feel goosebumps from what Winfried was telling. No doubt after all that happened in London, neither NATO or Azur Lane was in the mode for another repeat of The Breach

"NATO told me should any of you got infected, either we or Gayle will detonate it, and if it all fails there's a cruise missile ready to be fired at you. So please avoid unnecessary risks."

"Understood, Kommandant. Strasse out." After hearing the last transmission, Elbe took another sip of coffee as she stares at the formation of Apache helicopters heading eastwards towards Larkhill.

"Good luck everyone." She quietly prayed.

At the same time

Above Larkhill, GBQZ South Sector

As she fell towards the ground at terminal velocity, Jean Bart took some liberty to look around her. In between the feeling of rushing air, above her was her fellow shipgirls that had just leapt out of the plane, below her, she could see the fellow paratroopers that were about to land or have already landed as well as the destroyed townscape and countryside coming from the combined artillery and airstrikes NATO has been subjecting the areas surrounding Larkhill for the past three days. And she could see the rest of Salisbury Plains over the horizon beyond the rising smoke. Jean had to admit it, if it wasn't because of all the fire and smoke below, or the fact that she was currently freefalling several thousand feet above sea level, this was the best experience she ever have in her life. Then her communicator crackles to life.

"Hey, I see those coloured smoke from up here. That's our drop zone?" L'Opiniatre asked. Jean looked down and she could see the four coloured smoke signals scattered on the fields below.

"Oui. But try to land near the blue one, that's ours."

"Question. Just wanna ask, what happens if we land near the other ones?" Marco Polo inquired.

"Not really much changed, everything's the same. Just who you'll met once you landed change. Those smoke signals were only to help guide us. But it made sense for you to land near your fellow countryman, easier to communicate." Ulrich answered her.

"Ah, I see; made some sense." Allen M Sumner replied. Then there was some silence as everyone were focused on their drop zone. Adrenaline rushed in their blood as their altimeter began to beep indicating that they were getting closer to the ground. Jean let the device beep a few times until it was beeping significantly before pulling her parachute ripcord.

"Deploying parachute!" She shouted on the communicator and with a pull, her parachute deployed instantly slowing her fall. Her actions were followed by others as one by one each shipgirl calls out whenever they were deploying theirs. Mainz noticed this and tells Emile Bertin, who she's been holding her arms together with St Louis when they exited the aircraft.

"Hey, I have to let you go. Gotta deploy my parachute." Mainz said as she let's go of Emile's arm before getting as far as she safely can. "I'll see you two on the ground." She added before pulling her ripcord, instantly disappearing from their views as her fall were slowed.

"Yeah, sorry Emile but I guess I had to go too." St Louis added.

"You remember our promise earlier?"

"Yes. See you on the ground later, mon ami." St Louis then let go of her arm as well, gaining some distance first before pulling her parachute ripcord, waving her hand at Emile as she does so. As soon as her parachute deploys, St Louis disappeared from her view. Now noticing her altimeter beeping louder and faster, Emile too decided to deploy her parachute.

"Okay, here goes…" With a pull of a string, her parachute deployed, instantly slowing her fall from terminal velocity to a more controllable descent.

"Commander, I've deployed my parachute. Now heading towards the nearest drop zone." Emile radioed her commander.

"Affirmative. I'm tracking all of you right now. Proceed to rendezvous with the soldiers once you're on the ground." Reinald's voice replied.

"Bembridge, this is Hunter 2-1. We're encountered a few Infected here but LZ is currently secured. How copy? Over." A soldier, French given his accent spoke on the radio.

"Roger that. Hold position until all shipgirls is on the ground. Bembridge Out." Meanwhile, Jean was approaching closer to the ground. She can already see the drop zone, a couple of soldiers waiting near a blue smoke coming from a canister planted on the ground. She was only moments away from landing when a sudden gust of wind blew her westward towards the road.

"Whoa, what the-!?" Taken surprise by the sudden detour, she quickly radioed her fellow shipgirls of the sudden danger. "Girls, careful with the wind! Just got blown off course!"

"Yeah, I can see it. We're even getting pushed away right now!" Vincenzo barked over the radio.

"Everyone calm down, just aim at the nearest drop zone. We need to get on the ground now!" Strasse radioed. As it happens, Jean were forced to land on the field across the road. Hitting the ground, as soon as she came to a stop Jean quickly discards her parachute but as she does so she heard the all too familiar screeches of the Infected coming from her left side. She turned her head left to see a small group of them emerging from the trees across the fields.

"Ah, shit." She grumbles before pulling out her HK417 issued to her. Unlike all the other shipgirls on this mission, she's the only one who's rigging is not meant to be used on land. Hers was meant to be ridden on while sailing over the water, so Jean had to rely exclusively on firearms. But before she could even aim, she heard gunfire behind her as several French soldiers came over and opened fire on the incoming Infected cutting them down.

"Hey girl, come here!" One of them shouted. Jean wasted no time running towards them.

"Yeah, one of them just landed, but a bit off due to the wind. How copy?"

"Affirmative. Round everyone up first before proceeding. Bembridge out." As they headed back to their supposed drop zone, Jean looked up to see other shipgirls were about to land, the first shipgirls she saw was Joffre, Gascogne, and Foch; Algerie and Kersaint close behind them. When they all landed, Jean went over and asked them about the other Iris.

"Hey, where's the other two?"

"Others? They got blown over to the American and the Italian zone so might be a while before we see them." Foch replied. Just then, L'Opiniatre and Emile Bertin radioed them.

"Uh…L'Opiniatre here. Got myself with the Italians since the wind messed my direction."

"This is Emile Bertin. I'm…uh…I'm with the Americans. Went to the wrong zone. Sorry."

"Are you two already landed?" Jean asked.

"Ah, yeah. I'm on the ground now. Vincenzo's next to me." L'Opiniatre replied.

"Just landed. Making my way to you all." Emile followed.

"Then it's good." Jean then contacted Reinald. "Commander we're on the ground. Waiting for the others right now. How copy?"

"Affirmative, Jean. Regroup with the soldiers and once everyone's accounted for, we hit Larkhill together. We do this fast; you'll be back in three hours. Reinald out."

"Bembridge, this is Hunter 2-1 Actual. All Iris shipgirls are currently has been accounted for. Advice? Over."

"Standby. Waiting for others to update their status. How copy? Over."

"Understood. Hunter 2-1 out." Not long after that, the other teams began to reporting in.

"Bembridge, this is Hunter 1-1 Actual; we got all Eagle Union shipgirls accounted for. Over."

"Hunter 3-1 Actual here; all Iron Blood shipgirls are now with us. Over."

"Hunter 4-1 Actual reporting; all Sardegna shipgirls has been accounted for. Over."

"Affirmative. All ground team standby, more to follow." There was a brief moment of silence before a new command was issued. "All ground team, you are all cleared to proceed towards the objective. Be advised, expect some resistance from the Infected. We suspect some of the Infected from the surrounding areas might be hiding in the town. How copy? Over."

"Solid copy, Bembridge. Status of air support?"

"We have eight Apache attack helicopters, two Predator drones, and loitering munitions on standby. We also allocated a Ghostrider for CAS operations. Artillery is also on standby if you need one. How copy?"

"Solid copy, Bembridge. We're proceeding on foot towards target area, over."

"Bembridge copies all. Good luck. Out."

"Alright girls, follow us. Town's just less than a klick northeast of us. Let's move out and get this done with. We cool?"

"Yeah, we cool." Baltimore replied before turning around to see her fellow shipgirls. "You heard the man, get your rigging out and let's get rolling!"

"Ah…yeah…okay…if you say so…" Heinrich replied, gasping.

"Heinrich, are you okay?" Aquila asked her.

"I'm fine…just…need some air. Getting Eisen out…isn't easy you know?" She replied, pointing her thumb at Eisen.

"Same for me…that's why we normally…let them free." Roon added, Shrimpy right next to her.

"If that's the case then why not just use your firearms like me?" Jean asked. "Besides, what about extraction? These two won't fit in any aircrafts."

"Eh…no problem. We just instruct them to head towards the sea. They're mechanical creatures, they cannot be infected with the Rage Virus."

"Hey, done talking? We're on schedule here, let's move!" A soldier shouted.

"Yeah, yeah; we're moving!" As they headed towards the town, a transmission came in.

"All ground team, this is Sky Hammer. We're in position, ready to provide CAS when needed. Mark your target with smoke or laze it and we handle it for you."

"Appreciate that, Sky Hammer; we'll let you know if we need one. Hunter 1-1 out." Upon reaching the outskirt of Larkhill, everyone can see how desolate the town was in contrast to the chaos in the distance.

"Uh…yeah, anyone got any idea how many of those things that we're going to shoot today?" A soldier asked.

"Dunno. Heard the Air Force hit everywhere but here. Said they did saw some of them running out of buildings or wherever they were hiding when they started bombing this place but they assured that they hit them good." Another soldier replied.

"Then you are saying that some of them might ran here, because this is the only place that weren't hit during the bombings because nobody had any idea where did the Brits store those prototypes was it?" Littorio inquired.

"Yeah, that's about it."

"Which means we might have more Infected here than what we predicted, wasn't it?" Georgia asked.

"Yep, totally not sugarcoating it."

"Shit. Do we even actually had a plan here other than just barge into random buildings and praying there's no Infected inside?" Foch asked.

"Not really, while they're not sure about it Command does have some ideas where it may have been stored." One soldier replied as he pulled out a tablet which displayed the map of Larkhill. "There's multiple sites all concentrated in the Royal Artillery compound west and northwest of us. Best guess we just go there and check every building in the compound."

"Well, at least there's a plan." Seydlitz remarked.

"If that's the case then why not we just move out instead of wasting our time here?" Said a German soldier.

"Not yet, chopper support haven't arrive yet. We gotta need every air support we can before we can bother moving an inch here." Another soldier replied before speaking on the radio. "Uh, this is Hunter 1-1 to all Tornado call sign, how far are you right now? Over."

"All Hunter team; this is Tornado Five. We're ten klicks out, ETA 2 minutes. How copy? Over."

"We heard ya loud and clear, Tornado Five. Hunter 1-1 out." The soldier then shouted. "Alright, you heard the man. Let's go down this road!" He said, pointing down the road ahead of them.

"Hell yeah, let's get rolling!"

"Bembridge this is Hunter 2-1 Actual; we're proceeding on foot towards target location."

"Hunter 2-1 Actual, acknowledged. "As they walked down the road, they kept a lookout on their surroundings.

"Watch the windows. Watch the buildings, watch the corners, keep your senses sharp. Don't let yourselves jumped by these guys." One soldier spoke.

"God, I rather fight Al-Qaeda or Taliban or someone like that. I really hate fighting these things."

"How does the Infected different from them?" Vincenzo asked the soldier.

"I tell you, girl. At least those guys has decency to retreat if things got too hot for them. The Infected kept swarming you." He replied. As they approached an intersection, a soldier spoke.

"Look at the map man, I think we gotta split up. One team check this base, the other team check the other base. Gets the job done faster."

"Wha-? You idiot? Do you wanna get us all killed? Stick as one team, stick as one."

"Yeah, you heard him. Better stick together. Last time we chose to split up; bad shit happened." Baltimore spoke.

"Okay, okay, just suggesting. Anyway, what's our ROE again?"

"Anything that ran at us screaming at full speed is a legit target. Shoot to kill." A German soldier answered.

"Ain't that the truth out here by now?" Roon interjected. Before anyone responded the lead soldier raises his hand ordering everyone to stop.

"Heads up, warehouses to our left." Eyes turned towards the aforementioned structure. Guns were at the ready in case something happens.

"Bembridge, approaching Site Alpha. Three warehouses. Attempting to investigate. Over."

"Understood. Bembridge copies all. Be advised, reports said the base was evacuated shortly before the Infected arrived but they may be some Infected from the outside taking shelter in the base. Exercise caution when entering any structure; assume there's always an Infected inside. Bembridge out." Just then, another transmission comes in.

"This is Tornado One to all Hunter callsigns, we're arrived and ready for CAS mission. Over."

"Roger. Keep some distance away; we call you in when we need one. Don't want unnecessary attention."

"Understood. Tornado One out."

"Hunter 3-1, get some of your men to check that warehouse."

"Yes. Hey Lutz, take your team and check that building."

"Jawohl."

"Mainz, Seydlitz, follow them." Strasse ordered.

"Roger. Mainz, with me." Seydlitz replied.

"Right behind you." Mainz and Seydlitz followed the squad of soldiers that split off to investigate the nearby warehouse.

"Commander, we're about to enter one of the buildings here." Seydlitz radioed.

"Acknowledged, just follow the soldiers, and do what they told you." Winfried's voice were heard on the radio.

"Roger that, Commander." Mainz replied as she and Seydlitz followed the soldiers into the building. Nearby, another group of soldiers prepares to enter the second warehouse.

"Commander, attempting to investigate this warehouse with the soldiers. I'm going in with Kersaint." Foch spoke on the radio.

"Understood. Be safe, and do what those soldiers told you." Reinald replied.

"Will do, Commander."

Outside the third warehouse, Eagle Union shipgirls readied themselves alongside the men from the famed 82nd Division as they were about to enter the building.

"Eyes peeled, watch for any movements; and anyone that came running at us screaming are legit target. Shoot to kill, people. Shoot to kill!" The captain told some of his men as they stacked up outside the entrance of the hangar. He then turned his attention to the Eagles that were going to follow them. "Just stick with us, okay?"

"We got it, sir." Baltimore replied.

"Likewise." St Louis added, as she checked her shotgun again before speaking to her commander. "Griggs, we're about to move in with the soldiers."

"Copy that. Stay safe."

First Warehouse

Back in the first building, the soldiers of Hunter 3-1 was busy checking the building for any signs of the prototype. However, they didn't find anything.

"Hunter 3-1 to Bembridge. Building's empty, no signs of the prototype here. How copy? Over."

"Roger. Regroup back with the rest Hunter 3-1; Bembridge out." As they head back to their group, Seydlitz were asked by Ulrich about their findings.

"Seydlitz, what do you find?"

"None. We didn't find anything, just a few sleeping Infected inside that we all killed so they won't a problem in the future. Maybe in the next building."

Second Warehouse

"Sabre, your team found something?"

"Negative, all we see here is…hold on, I think we do have something here." The soldier spoke as they stumbled upon several objects covered by a canvas. "Got some bunch of covered objects here. This could be it." They removed one of the canvases which revealed a wooden box underneath it.

"Okay, maybe we have to open it a bit, see if this box might contain that thing."

"Louis, open it."

"Got it, sir." The soldier carefully opened the crate, only to find that it only contained artillery shells

"Uh, sorry. False alarm. All we found are artillery shells."

"Understood. Regroup back team."

"Roger, moving out."

"Yeah, negative. All we found were artillery shells." Kersaint reported.

"Acknowledged. Return back to your team, you two." Reinald replied back.

Third Warehouse

The men of the 82nd were fast at sweeping the building, even with the extra caution to avoid unwanted contact with the Infected.

"Watch it, Infected ahead."

"Okay, okay." Lucky thing it was daytime. The Infected has been observed through field reports and survivors they manage to rescue post-outbreak that they tend to find places such as tunnels, underpasses, and other dark places to sleep into for the day. With their silenced weapons, they quickly and covertly killed the sleeping Infected.

"Clear. No signs of the prototypes here. Just vehicles, artillery shells, and some bunch of sleeping Infected." Hearing what they said, Baltimore contacted Griggs

"Commander, no signs of the prototypes here as well."

"Okay. Fall back and regroup with everyone else."

"Understood, heading back." But as they head back outside, one soldier accidentally kicked a wrench that someone had left on the floor, which made a loud clank.

"Jesus! What the fuck was that!?" Someone shouted, only to be followed by screeches coming from the back of the building. A horde of Infected then emerges from the dark as they ran towards the soldiers.

"Oh shit, here they come!"

"Where did they come from!?"

"Fuck it, just run outside!" Georgia shouted. Frantic gunfire erupts as some decided to shoot back as they retreat.

"Watch your fire, watch your fire! We got live ammunition inside that building!"

"We can see you from here! Everyone get out! Lead them outside!" Someone on the radio shouted. They all ran outside, where the rest of the 82nd, the Eagle Union shipgirls and the Italians were waiting with their guns aiming at the Infected horde. As soon as they were out in the open, the horde was promptly gunned down.

"Huh. God, shit that was intense!" A soldier spoke before someone slapped his head.

"Johnson you dumbass! You almost killed us all!"

"Hey, not my fault! How the hell do I know that someone left that damned wrench on the floor!?" He argued back. Before anyone responded, their captain stopped them.

"Hey, cut the chatter you two! It happened so leave it!" He then radioed command. "Ah, Bembridge this is Hunter 1-1 Actual, no sights of the prototypes. Just encountered a few Infected. How copy? Over."

"Solid copy 1-1 Actual. Listen, we just got this message from the British Army. And we got good news and bad news."

"What's the good news?"

"They managed to track down the engineers that worked on the project and they've confirmed that the prototypes was in Larkhill."

"The bad news?"

"They said that the prototypes were stored on the far side of the base to the east about one klick from your position. Chances are there may be some Infected along the way. How copy?"

"Solid copy Bembridge. Thanks for the info. Hunter 1-1 Actual out." The captain then informed everyone.

"All Hunter callsigns, we have a fix on the prototypes. Command says it's in a warehouse about one klick east of us, let's go!"

"Roger, moving to location." Someone replied.

"Really? Should've just landed there earlier." Grumbled Lutzow.

"Hey, we didn't even know where the prototypes were stored until now. Come on, let's go and end this mission fast. I didn't like it being here surrounded by these monsters." Seydlitz answered. Without any more words the Iron Bloods followed their German soldier escorts eastwards.

"We're cutting through the barracks. Eye's sharp, lots of chance for ambushes here."

"Roger that."

"Passing through the barracks. No Infected so far. Approaching construction site."

"All Tornado callsigns, you see anything on your sights?"

"Ah, yeah, we got a few heat signatures from one of the buildings."

"Which building was it?"

"Uh, the one to your right. Be advised, there may be more inside the buildings. We're only seeing what we can see from here."

"Okay. Keep an overwatch over us. Hunter 1-1 out." With that information, the captain radioed everyone as.

"All Hunter callsigns, stay away from the buildings in the construction site. There's Infected inside and it's best that we don't rile them up now."

"You know, why don't we blow them up like right now? Save us some trouble later." Someone asked.

"And alert every single Infected here while we're out in the open?"

"Oh."

"Anyway, just mark them for now. In case things do pick up we can hit them immediately."

"Roger. Marking."

"This is Hunter 3-1; we're approaching the construction site."

"Roger 3-1, Oh yeah all Hunter callsign be advised, there's a trail that cuts through the trees on the left side of the construction yard. Head down there and follow the road."

"Okay, okay, we got it. Heading there now." Meanwhile, the French soldiers and the Iris is already at the construction site.

"Okay, careful, careful. Stick to the road. Don't bother getting anywhere further." Their captain spoke.

"Yeah, you don't even had to say it." Jean Bart responded. Reinald then radioed them.

"Girls, don't use your riggings if you don't have to."

"We'll try." Algerie replied. They were careful as they navigated the streets surrounding the unfinished barracks, moving slowly while keeping their weapons pointed at all windows and doors, ready to engage any Infected that decided to charge after them. Their weapons may have been silenced, but they prefer not to cause too much of a commotion as one shrieking Infected will attract others around them, which in turn can easily call an entire horde even from the outside the base. Something they don't want to face, not when they were out in the open with no chokepoints to defend with. But everyone was reminded on how easily the situation changes when what they didn't want to happen happened as they heard the familiar screeches of the Infected.

"Where the hell did that came from…"

"Shit! RIGHT SIDE, RIGHT SIDE!" Someone shouted as several Infected emerges from the building, running straight for them. Gunfire erupted as everyone present opened fire at incoming threat but then more and more shrieks begin to come out as the cacophony began to awake the sleeping Infected in the nearby building.

"Ah, shit; guys I thinks we just stirred the hornet's nest!"

"All Hunter callsigns, get the hell out of there!"

"C'mon guys! We gotta book it!" Jean shouted.

"This is Hunter 3-1 calling to all Tornado callsign; we need gunship support now!"

"Hunter 3-1, I heard ya, Tornado Two inbound hot." An Apache came over and began unloading it's gun on the Infected, cutting them down but the noise pretty much attracted every Infected in the base, not counting those outside the base, something that the AC-130J supporting the ground team above noticed.

"All Hunter teams, this is Sky Hammer; uh we're seeing Infected activity near the barracks area. It looks like they're all gunning for you guys."

"Then do something about it! We're about to get overrun here!"

"Roger that, engaging Infected by the barracks. Be advised, this might gonna attract a lot more attention."

"Just do it! Oh shit, guys! Watch the window, window, WINDOW!" Gunshots were heard before the transmission cuts off as the AC-130J began aiming its guns at the barracks area. 25mm guns began firing down on the Infected horde below.

"Shot out!" A 105mm gun was fired at one of the buildings where the Infected were exiting, demolishing it while killing many of them.

"Multiple Infected KIA confirmed."

"Team, keep up the pressure."

"On it."

"Gun ready!"

"Shot out!" Another 105mm shell was fired on their target down below. At the same time, artillery were called in to hit the areas east of the base to destroy an incoming horde that is heading towards the base.

"Grid WB 849 877, Infected in the open. Fire for effect!" Meanwhile down on the ground, the soldiers and shipgirls alike found themselves in a bit of a trouble as they were still out in the open against the Infected which came at them from every sides.

"Keep moving, keep moving! We need to get to somewhere we can hunker down!" Someone shouted. Even with gunship support, handling the Infected out in the open is still a near impossible task as they came not just in numbers but also from almost every direction imaginable.

"Shit, I thought they said they were starving to death!?"

"That was in London, not here! These guys here can still run!" Enterprise shouted as she now engaged her riggings and began sending out Bearcats to try and shoot as many Infected as she could. "All shipgirls, now's the time to use your rigs! We need all the firepower here!"

"Huh, guess it's time to go all out then!" Algerie responded as she manifested her modified rigging; brimming with M2 Browning's where her guns used to be in the gun mount, she let loose a steady stream of .50 BMG downrange.

"Eisen, get them!" Prinz Heinrich commanded her rigging to charge towards an incoming horde, which the mechanical being obliged; easily flattening them with its bulk. Similarly, Roon's Shrimpy were also doing the same, rampaging nearby shredding the Infected left and right. The other shipgirls were also doing what they can to fight off the Infected, but even the massive boost in firepower still couldn't prevent some casualties.

"Shit, Hunter 4-1 taking casualties!" Someone shouted. Eyes turned towards an Italian soldier who just managed to get an Infected off him, only to hear a beeping noise coming out of his neck. The soldier realized what it meant and was quick to try and get the collar off him as his fellow soldiers quickly got far as far away from him as possible.

"No…wait! I don't want to die like this! Please, someone get this thing off…!" He never got to finish his words as the collar exploded, instantly killing him.

"Oh, God. Fuck!" Aquila cursed upon seeing the dreadful sight.

"Yeah, that's gonna be us if we also got bitten. Don't let them come close!" Yelled Ulrich as she gunned down several more Infected.

"Bembridge, this is Hunter 1-1 Actual; how far are we to the target building!? You see any faster way there!?"

"Affirmative Hunter 1-1 Actual, from your current position you guys were less than 500 meters from the target building. There's a fast way but be advised; that would be a danger close."

"Look, I don't care if it's danger close or not! Just fucking send it! We need somewhere we can setup defense with or we all gonna get killed here!" His demands was emphasized by someone screaming followed by a small explosion indicating that another soldier had fell victim to the Rage Virus.

"We got a man down!"

"Roger. Sending out Package Romeo, danger close."

"All Hunter team, Package Romeo inbound! Danger Close!"

"Danger close!"

"Wait, they're sending what now!?" Reinald's panicked voice came through the radio.

"All Azur Lane commanders, tell your girls to hunker down right now! Keep them clear of the trees!"

"The trees?" Enterprise asked.

"They're going to cut a path for you all by bombing everything between you and the objective!" Griggs voice came through.

"You mean the trees that is just ahead of us!?" Foch barked.

"Yes, which means you stay where you are until the bombings stops!" Winfried replied.

"With the Infected rushing at us right now!?" Seydlitz yelled.

"Just deal with it at the moment! NATO sending in some additional air support to help you out!" Eloisa replied.

"Commander, if any of us dies here it's because you told us not to worry about it when we're practically surrounded by the enemy!" Littorio answered, panic and anger lining her voice.

"It won't happen. Trust us." Tyler spoke. "Now, how about you all hunker down because things were about to explode." It was followed by multiple explosions around the soldiers and shipgirls, taking out a large number of the Infected. Which was then followed by yet another barrage of missiles and bombs just ahead of them. The ground shakes as they were pelted by the debris from the explosion.

"God damn, this is too close!" Someone shouted, his voice barely heard over the explosions. Then the explosions stopped. The only thing they heard was the sound of the AC-130J and the attack helicopters firing at the remaining Infected.

"All Hunter team, the path to the objective has been cleared; proceed to the location ASAP. Bembridge out." They looked up to see the trees ahead had gone, replaced by craters and lines of fallen trees. The shipgirls were shellshocked at first, before a soldier pressed them run forward.

"Hey girls, what are you waiting for!? Let's go! Get to the objective!"

"A-ah, okay! Everyone on me! Let's get going girls!" Enterprise shouted.

"Right behind you!" Emile replied back. They all rushed along the soldiers forward towards their objective.

"This is Hunter 1-1 Actual calling all available air units, give us cover until we reach the objective. How copy, over?"

"This is Tornado Five. We heard ya Hunter 1-1. Keeping close eyes on you."

---

0911

They make their way to the objective, cutting through the burned forest and destroyed buildings caused by the bombardment earlier. They still encountered the Infected, but not as numerous as earlier. As they arrived, they saw several more warehouses.

"Uh, Bembridge this is Hunter 2-1; we're arrived at target area but there's some warehouses over here. Did our Britbong told you which warehouse did the prototypes is stored? Over."

"Solid copy Hunter 2-1; they said the prototypes is stored in the centre warehouse. Judging from your position the building should be ahead of you. We're seeing a lot of trucks in front of it. How copy?"

"Affirmative Bembridge. We're on our way. Hunter 2-1 out."

"They said that building over there?" Kersaint pointed her finger at the building ahead of them.

"Yeah, they said so." A French soldier replied. As they approached the building, they can see a dozen or so trucks parked right outside the entrance, showing signs that prior to being overrun, the base personnel was trying to get something out of here.

"There's a lot of trucks here, clearly these guys were trying to move something." A soldier pointed out.

"Then let's get inside, get what NATO wanted from here and leave. I don't want to be here for too long." Aquila said.

"Yeah, yeah. We heard you. Bembridge, this is Hunter 1-1; we've arrived at the objective. How copy?"

"Solid copy Hunter 1-1. Confirm that the prototype is inside and we can proceed to the next phase. Over?"

"We're checking it right now. Standby." The soldiers then tried to open the hangar door but found it locked. "Damn, this place's locked harder than a casket. You girls can help with this one?"

"Okay. Stand back, this might gonna be messy." Algerie stepped forward and began pulling it open. The door moves but clearly even shipgirls with their rigging still can't do it on her own. "Girls, I need some extra hands here."

"Hold on, I'm coming." Baltimore and Roon came over and helped. But as they open the door, they heard shrieks coming from the inside.

"Oh shit, Infected!" All three heavy cruisers immediately book it out of the way just as the Infected arrived at the door, which all of them were promptly gunned down by those present. Despite this however they stayed outside in case there's more of them inside.

"Got any more surprises now!? You better come out!" Georgia shouted trying to taunt. When there was no response after a minute they concluded that it was safe, although Georgia and Marco Polo would open the door just big enough to allow entry into the warehouse.

"Bembridge, this is Hunter 1-1. We're entering the structure." Four American soldiers went in to sweep the building ensuring there's no more Infected inside. Upon finding there's no one left, they gave the clear sign.

"Clear!" One of them shouted, which signals Georgia and Marco Polo to fully open the hangar doors allowing others to go in. Inside, they can see right in the middle of the hangar multiple objects covered in tarpaulin.

"I reckon this was the prototypes we're looking for. Ramirez, take that tarp off."

"Yes sir." The soldier walked over to one of the covered objects and undid the ropes before pulling the tarp down, revealing the machinery hidden beneath it. For the secretary ships, they've already seen the pictures in the NATO meeting before and now finally seeing the land-rigs in person, but for others it was their first time seeing the equipment.

"Whoa, what in the heckin' world is this?" Seattle asked. The other shipgirls looked perplexed too at the sight of strange yet familiar looking contraption in front of them.

"Hey, is it me or why does this looked like a shipgirl rigging to me?" Seydlitz spoke. By now the secretary girls knew they can't keep the secrets forever, so they decided to disclose some of the information NATO had authorized them to speak off.

"You're not wrong. This thing here that you're all looking at right now, is a land-rig. It's something meant to allow shipgirls to be used as a conventional weapons platform for land combat." Trieste explained.

"Meant to allow us to be used for what!?"

"Yeah, you heard her right Seydlitz. This thing was made to allow us shipgirls to fight on land better than we have right now." Prinz Heinrich answered her.

"Then, what's these things doing here? Is this what the British and the Royals come up with? Questioned Littorio.

Well, nobody but the secretaries knew that it was actually the Russians who developed it first but let's go along with it for now.

"Uh, yeah. And that's pretty much the reason why the Royals kept their mouths tight for the past few months; they're keeping this a secret from us until they deemed it's time to unveil it." Jean Bart answered her. "Even if it means not telling us that we shipgirls sucked at land combat, or the fact that they were already lost against the Infected that week." Her answers triggers a flood of response from the other shipgirls.

"Really, some of us died all because of keeping these things a secret from all of us!?" Roon grumbled in her native German.

"The fuck was they're all thinking back then!?" Algerie voiced out in frustration. "Jeanne, Forbin, Triomphant, they all died for this!?"

"Really now, why even bother developing this thing? Ain't we're supposed to fight Sirens and nothing else?" Georgia spoke. Noticing the rising tension, Enterprise quickly intervened.

"Okay, okay. Before any of us wants to get mad at the Royals, keep in mind that they at least tried to get to us despite what had happened to them. Besides, our mission here is to get this thing out of here. NATO wants these land-rigs back at Bembridge and that's it, so save any arguments after we done here, am I clear or do I have to report each of you to your commanders?" Hearing no other response, she contacted Griggs.

"Commander, we got positive ID on the British-developed land-rigs. Advice?"

"Understood Enterprise. Standby." There was a pause before Griggs spoke again. "Alright, we're sending over the Royal Navy girls to pick up the land-rigs. Be advised, just got words from NATO that they detected another horde of them heading towards your position. They've been working on thinning them down but you all best hunker down until the Royals get there and retrieve the prototypes. Am I clear?"

"Clear."

"Good. Hang on tight. This mission is almost over." The transmission then ends. Loud explosions could be heard in the distance at the same time.

"Oh yay, guess that's the horde they're talking about." Enterprise muttered.

"A what?" Zara asked. It was a soldier who spoke up.

"Bembridge just spotted another horde approaching this area. So we gotta get ready. Everyone to defensive position now! We got a horde inbound! We need to hold this place until we can get the prototypes out! Am I clear!?"

"Yes sir!"

"Hey, how long till the Royals get here?" A soldier asked. Trieste quickly asked the same question to mission control.

"Uh, Bembridge? This is Trieste, how long till the Royals arrive?"

"Affirmative Trieste. We just got word that the Royals had just took off from USS Bataan. ETA is 13 minutes. How copy?"

"Solid copy Bembridge. Trieste out." As soon as the transmission ends, Trieste said it out loud. "They arriving in 13 minutes people! 13 minutes! Just hang on!"

"All Hunter callsigns, this is Sky Hammer; we got visual on the approaching horde. You guys better get ready; this one's big!"

"Affirmative Sky Hammer, can you engage them?"

"Already engaging; circling around right now." The not-too-distant sound of the AC130J's guns opening up gave the soldiers and shipgirls the picture of just what they were about to face.

"All Hunter callsigns, this is Tornado Four; horde's about a klick north from your position here. Engaging."

"Oh god, you Royals better get your asses here fast!" Mullany shouted just as someone spotted the incoming horde.

"CONTACT!"

At the same time

0924

Onboard USS Bataan, Chew Valley Lake

"They've confirmed the prototypes was in there?" Someone asked as he checked his equipment for the final time.

"Yes captain. Just got the confirmation from Bembridge." The other person replied, already in full gear.

"Alright then, let's get this show rolling." The captain calmly spoke as he stood up and gave one last smoke of his cigarette before putting it out on the ashtray. "Soap, Ghost, let's go. Gaz, go get the girls."

"Right away captain." Gaz replied before swiftly leaving the room, heading towards another room where the Royal Navy girls were currently waiting. He gave a knock before opening the door to reveal London, Javelin, Plymouth, and Warspite idly waiting in the room.

"Girls, it's time." Gaz spoke.

"Ah, okay. Come on girls." Warspite spoke as she stood up, the others followed as well as they trailed behind Gaz as he led them to the flight deck, where a Blackhawk were already waiting for them. Price, Soap, and Ghost were already waiting inside, with Bataan overseeing them and the other crews busy resupplying some of the attack helicopters on her deck. As the girls stepped inside the helicopter, Bataan came up to them.

"Good luck out there." She spoke.

"Thanks, we need every one of it." London replied. Then the Blackhawk took off before heading towards Larkhill.

Larkhill

"How good is your time-slowing ability?" Enterprise asked Peter Strasse as she readies her bombers for take-off amidst the chaotic situation surrounding them.

"Not as good as August's, but it should suffice." Peter replied back, also readying her bombers.

"You know, I'm surprised that Winfried sends you instead of her."

"Eh, August is kinda reluctant to join."

"Whatever, just get those Infected."

"Okay, launching planes." Peter then launched a few of her bombers, focusing her thoughts at the incoming horde. As soon as the first plane left her flight deck, a visible dark wave emanates from it briefly startling some of the soldiers but it passes through them without any harm. But when it reaches the incoming horde however, suddenly the ones in front of the horde slows to a mere crawl. While it didn't affect the entire horde, by simply slowing down the frontmost Infected helped as the ones behind would crash into the Infected ahead, and it eventually snowballed as more and more Infected ended up crashing against each other.

Which gave the soldiers and shipgirls the opportunity to take them down by throwing explosives or simply shooting at them.

"Frag out!" A soldier shouted as he tossed a grenade at the pile of Infected. He wasn't alone as several grenades were also thrown towards the same target; the resulting explosions pretty much sends blood and body parts raining around.

Sights that makes some of the girls that didn't saw the original outbreak struggled not to throw up while the more seasoned ones that did kept up the pressure alongside the soldiers. Meanwhile, Peter prepares another squadron of bombers for take-off.

"Heads up! Launching another one! Cover me!" And so, another of the dark wave again came alongside her bombers. It was useful, but not without a limitation: It only worked when Peter launches her airwings. Once she sent all her aircrafts, she must recover her planes before preparing them for launch again. While launching and recovering her aircraft was easy, readying them again however takes time. Which makes every minute spent doing so felt so anxious especially when she had to keep her rigging still right in the middle of an Infected assault.

"Hey, someone watch the flanks!" A soldier shouted amidst the frantic shootout.

"I got it, I got it!" Vincenzo, Zara, and Seattle headed to the right alongside a few soldiers to cover their flanks while everyone else were busy engaging the Infected coming from their north.

"All Hunter callsigns this is Tornado Five; we…uh, gotta refuel and rearm. Air support is unavailable for the time being. Additional reinforcements coming your way, just hang tight." As the fight drags on, some of the attack helicopters had to retreat in order to replenish their fuel and ammo. But for every one helicopter that retreats, another enters ensuring there's always close air support available to back everyone up.

That doesn't mean the fight's getting easier.

"Where the hell did these guys come from!?" Emile Bertin shouted as she shot another Infected dead. "I thought the Air Force bombed them to extinction already!"

"Probably from the outside!" Mainz replied as she did the same.

"You were saying that they came from where NATO said they already bombed them!?"

"Look, they're a bunch of rage-induced maniacs with no regards for self-preservation. You think bombs scare them!?"

"Uh hey you two, how about focusing on shooting them instead of arguing about them!?" St Louis chided as she dishes out 12 gauge slugs with each pump of her shotgun. In between her time in London and today, St Louis had underwent rigorous trainings with shotguns which makes her far more proficient with her shooting. Not to mention that she was now issued a Mossberg 590M, a magazine-fed version of the M590 which meant she can quickly switch ammo types when needed, not to mention the generous 20-round capacity. A feat she demonstrated by pumping the shotgun five times in rapid succession before reloading and pumping two more shells afterwards all under a minute.

"Okay, now you're showing off!" Mainz yelled.

"Thanks!"

"That's not a compliment!"

"Girls, can you spare some help over here!?" One soldier shouted. By now, all the carriers were busy launching and retrieving their planes, while some shipgirls already had their rigging out fighting alongside the soldiers. They held the line well, but with each passing minute the anxiety became stronger.

"God, where the hell are those Royals!?" Foch shouted in frustration. "We gonna ran out of ammo first if this keeps up!"

"Then just chill and aim straight for the head!" Abruzzi replied.

"How am I supposed to hit their heads like this!?"

"Just shut up and shoot!" Both Jean Bart and Ulrich shouted, emphasized by the long burst of gunfire.

"You know, I really started to understand why they were that concerned." Marco Polo added as she carefully fires her guns in a short, controlled burst. "We're literally just dumping ammo on these guys for the past hour! And they just don't stop coming!"

"God, what kind of hell did we just got ourselves into!?" Seydlitz now voiced her concerns.

"The kind of hell that we all agreed to." Mainz responded grimly, all while assisting some of the soldiers. Even they were having problems. By now, they already used a quarter of their ammunition and casualties began to mount among the soldiers they're alongside with. Even with the constant air and fire support, the Infected proved to be an unrelenting foe; despite the buffer zone created by NATO they still ran through just to get to them. Just then, a transmission came in.

"This is Bravo 6 to all Hunter callsign; what's your sitrep?" A British sounding voice came through. An American soldier answered before anyone else would.

"Bravo 6, this is Hunter 1-1 Actual. Things not looking good; we lost three soldiers and that's just ours alone. Hunter 2-1 had lost two. Both Hunter 3-1 and Hunter 4-1 had lost one soldier respectively. We're burning through our ammo right now!"

"Understood. We're coming in. ETA 4 minutes. Just hang on tight! Bravo 6 out."

"Nothing's gonna take 4 minutes!" Carabiniere exclaimed.

"Just how much ammo do you got?" Asked a soldier. She checked her ammo and finds that she's down to just five magazines for her submachine gun.

"Five mags left. Might have to start using my rigging after this." She replied.

"Bravo 6, you guys brought any supplies? Kinda runnin' dry here!" Carabiniere heard someone asking on the radio, in which an answer came afterwards.

"Affirmative, we brought some but not much. Besides, once we get the prototypes out, you all bailing out of here."

"Understood. Bembridge, any update on extraction?"

"Affirmative Hunter 1-1, four Chinooks were already dispatched; once the prototypes were bagged, you guys are getting out."

"Roger that Bembridge, Hunter 1-1 out." Meanwhile Roon was about to reload her rifle when she noticed that she only have three magazines left. She considers recalling Shrimpy back to her but then she looked at her right arm. And it got her thinking.

"Should I?" Intrusive thoughts started worming into her mind. It couldn't helped should one knows who Roon is.

She's among the first batch of the so-called priority research ships, shipgirls based on naval projects that didn't really pan out in the real world. Except while her peers like Saint Louis and Monarch actually have real historical plans to be based off with, the only thing that is "real" and "historical" about Roon was her main guns. Even her own ship was no more than an upsized version of the Leipzig-class light cruiser. Perhaps for this reason is why Roon was so unhinged. Together combined with Winfried's insistence that his girls learns close quarter hand-to-hand combat had since made melee combat Roon's preferred method of handling her enemies, literally ripping her enemies apart limb to limb, piece by piece with her own two hands.

There's a reason why her fellow Iron Bloods as well as other shipgirls gave her the nickname, Roon the Ripper. She dwells in the destruction of her enemies, and she likes it.

Then enter the Rage Virus, and the Infected it spawned. It was the first time she had to learn to pull herself back, especially after her actions caused the accidental infection of Eskimo and Long Island. It was also the first time she met an enemy whose aggression finally matches hers. How she were grateful that she still have control over herself even in anger.

And then there was the evacuation of Edinburgh, where miscommunication and confusion led to her team being caught in a NATO airstrike meant to destroy the Infected horde threatening the evacuation. With the Infected closing in and pinned under the rubble, she was given a choice between being left behind and die there or have her right arm chopped off. Roon chose the latter option. That and together with all the other horrible things she saw and did during the operation had since made Roon a quiet girl.

But now she's been given a new prosthetic arm, courtesy of Professor Roth, her self-esteem has improved and she's been working with the professor to improve her arm and, most importantly, to train herself in what her new arm can do. It still takes some persuading to get Winfried to allow her to take part in the operation. And now, she decided to vent her anger to the Infected the way she always do to her enemies:

Rip and tear.

Placing her rifle on her back, she decided to activate her right arm. "Arm, whipfist." Roon mentally commanded, and her right arm began to transform. Metallic spikes suddenly protruded out of her right arm, shredding the right sleeve of her uniform as her arm began to transform into a massive metallic whip-like contraption, drawing attention from those around her.

"Whoa! What the fuck was that!?" A soldier exclaimed.

"Roon! What are you doing!?" Ulrich called her out.

"Doing what I always do." Roon replied as her right arm finished transforming, slashing it around to test it, sparks flying from where the bladed end hit the concrete floor. Ulrich could see the edges glowing bright orange, and if that wasn't clear enough, the distortion in the air around her arm was a clear indication that it had been heated. "Rip em' all apart."

"Roon, I suggest you stop being an idiot and…" Before Seydlitz could finish her words, Roon charged forward, swinging her right arm at an incoming group of Infected, and to everyone's amazement, her arm began to expand in length, and using her momentum, Roon swung her arm to the left, her whip-like arm easily slicing through several Infected in one sweeping arc. She did it again, but this time swinging it to the right. Roon then let out a maniacal laughter as she went off on her own, slicing through the Infected as she does so.

"Holy shit! You guys seeing what I'm seeing right now!?"

"Affirmative. Kinda looked straight outta video games…or a Marvel movie. I dunno."

"Right. Someone keep an eye out on her, make sure she didn't get herself killed out here."

"Roger that, Tornado Three keeping an overwatch on her."

"God damn. Z23, Otto, go and follow Roon." Ulrich ordered the two destroyers they have.

"Jawohl!" Both Z23 and Otto ran after Roon, who is now over the moon dismembering the many Infected coming towards her.

"Ah…is that okay?" Algerie asked.

"Well, she was killing the Infected." Ulrich replied back. "Oh look! She's attracting them towards her as well. Much easier for us since we can just shoot whoever she missed." Indeed, Roon's sudden aggressive outburst had gained the attention of the Infected who began to single her as the most dangerous target. Which in turn means they started going after her instead of the others and that became beneficial as the soldiers and other shipgirls simply have to kill those that was in her blind spot. Occasionally, they can see flying body parts, sometimes an entire upper human torso soaring high through the air.

"Oh…god." Littorio loathed, almost throwing up seeing the unadulterated violence happening right in front of her.

"Huh. Surprised that was clean. I'm expecting showers of blood from all that carnage." Northampton noted.

"Well, yeah. Guess that glow on the edges was hot enough to cauterize the wounds so doesn't bleed. Or at least hot enough to make the blood inside them boiled so the body got sterilized upon death." Ulrich replied back.

"Boiled? Oh shit, that's cruel man. No one deserves that fate." A soldier responded. Just then, another transmission came in.

"This is Bravo Six to all Hunter callsign, do you copy?"

"Bravo Six, this is Hunter 1-1 Actual; we heard ya."

"Hunter 1-1 Actual, is the LZ secure?"

"Affirmative. LZ is secure."

"Been watching this shitshow from up here. Alright, we're coming in!" Indeed, a Black Hawk alongside a pair of Apache's appeared from the west and hovered near the warehouse before touching down. Then, eight people exited it. Two of them was carrying a crate. One person wearing a boonie hat came up to the soldier.

"Captain Price, Task Force 141, What's the situation here?" The man introduces himself before asking about the situation they're facing.

"Not good captain. We got a few KIAs and ammo's running low."

"Don't worry; mission's almost over. We brought some supplies. Soap! Gaz! Bring em those supplies!"

"Yes, sir!" The two soldiers, Soap and Gaz hefted a large crate before placing it on the ground and opening it.

"Hey guys, we brought you ammo!" One of them, having a mohawk for his hair, spoke. Soldiers, as well as shipgirls all rushed to replenish their ammo before heading back. Settling one problem, Price addressed the other problem.

"Where's the prototypes?"

"Inside the hangar captain." The soldier pointed his finger at the hangar behind.

"Thanks sergeant. Ghost, everyone else on me!" He walked towards the hangar, prompting the soldier with a skull mask on his face as well as the four Royal Navy shipgirls with them to follow him. As they headed towards the hangar, London looked around the carnage around her. As she does so, she accidentally locked eyes with Seydlitz, Baltimore, and Algerie, whom simply shrugged off before grabbing a few magazines from the crate and went back in to the fighting.

"Hey, London! What are you looking at? Let's go!" Warspite called her.

"Ah, sorry, coming!" London ran after her group. They then went inside the hangar housing the land-rig prototypes and they met the few soldiers and shipgirls guarding it.

"This was the land-rigs they've talked about?" Javelin asked.

"Yeah, been sorting these things so you girls can grab it and head back. But exactly how are we supposed to use it?" A French soldier answered.

"Come again?"

"Like he said," Gascogne spoke. "Gascogne looked around for some kind of instructions for this land-rigs, but Gascogne didn't find any." Sure enough, they managed to get a forklift running and moved the land-rig that has been on the truck off and even went through the rest, sorting out the various weapons meant to be used with the machinery.

"These weapons are to be used with the prototypes?" Plymouth asked.

"Well, looks like it was." Said Lutzow.

"But, these weapons doesn't looked like it was made to fight Sirens. What was these weapons are for?"

"You know what, you can debate about the ethics regarding shipgirls killing humans later. Right now, I just wanna get the hell outta here. It feels like the longer I stay in this hellhole, the shorter my lifespan gonna get." Reno interjected. Plymouth went silent for a moment before deciding not to discuss the matter further.

"Commander, did you have a copy of the user manual for these things here?" Warspite radioed Tyler.

0937

Bembridge

Tyler listened to Warspite's question and after she finishes he then turned towards Gayle.

"General, do have a copy of the instruction manual for the land-rigs?"

"Uh, we're still digging through the files. Hopefully we can find it."

"Exactly how many files did you got?" Reinald asked.

"When I first got it, I think that would about 8000 files. Photos, videos, documents, 180 gigabytes overall." The general answered.

"Damn, that's a lot." Griggs spoke. Just then, an Army officer came up to them.

"Guys, I got some bad news." He said.

"Speak it." Gayle demanded.

"I got in touch with the engineers, they said they have an instruction manual for it, but…"

"But?"

"It's was still being written at the time of the outbreak, so the whole thing was still unfinished and more importantly, it was still at Abbey Woods sir."

"Wait, wait, wait! So you're telling us that the whole instruction manual was right in bloody Bristol!?" Tyler spoke.

"More or less, yes Commander." The officer replied back. Tyler took a brief moment to take a breath before yelling his frustration.

"Gobshite! What are we supposed to do now!? Send someone over there and check every computer there for a fuckin' half-written manual now!?" He yelled, his frustrations were shared with some of the officers in the room, who felt like the entire mission is almost pointless considering some casualties they had taken. Winfried however, took a deep thought before he asked Gayle.

"Sir, permission to speak?" He asked the General.

"Speak it, Commander."

"The British copied the land-rigs from the Russians right? I think I have a hunch."

"Then, what is it?" Inquired Griggs.

"Think. The Russians took four years to develop the land-rigs. The British only discovered about it about four or five months ago yet they managed to create a few prototypes in that timespan. There's no way they could develop it that fast unless…"

"They literally copied the Russians, right down to its operation. Am I correct?" Reinald chipped in. Winfried only nodded in agreement.

"About to say that, but yes." He then turned to Gayle. "So, does the files you got includes the manual?" The General rubs his head before replying.

"I'm not so sure. Most of the files was in Russian. The Intelligence guys was still working on translating them but there's a lot of them, and apart from a few key documents and videos and photos I don't really touch them."

"Then, can you let me see them? I can read Russian; I can help with that." Winfried offered. Gayle opened the folder where the files were kept and then simply gestured towards his laptop.

"Well, be my guest then." He spoke. Winfried quickly took his seat and began browsing the files.

"Okay, let's see. Combat report? No. List of converted shipgirls? Interesting, but not what we need now. Testing report? Also not right now." As he browses through the files, he tries to maintain a neutral composure. Just glancing at the titles of some of the documents scared him. Exactly just how far has the Russians had pushed shipgirl technologies to is up to anyone's guess, but given the Russian combat footage in Syria Gayle had shown them days earlier it tells him enough. But now he's focused on one thing only.

"Material list? Not this one either. Manufacturers? Still no…. Ah! Here it is! Guys, the manual! I've found it!" Winfried announced as he finally located the file. As he opened it the file, it was displayed upon the projector. The words 'Universal Shipgirl Land Combat Platform' written in bold Cyrillic appeared on the wall, with the emblem of the Northern Parliament and the Russian Armed Forces placed side by side in the middle of it. That sight made the Azur Lane commanders felt unsettled about it.

"Harland, if you can hear me, I just wanted to let you know that you just opened an entire can of worms onto us." Griggs spoke under his breath, but Eloisa managed to catch it.

"Wasn't it the Russians that started these first?" Eloisa asked in a hushed tone.

"Technically, yes. But I rather preferred to find this out in a more normal circumstances and not when we're dealing with a literal god-damned zombie apocalypse." He replied back in a similar manner. Just then, attention shifts as Winfried contacted the girls at Larkhill.

"Okay Warspite. I got the manual, but I have to ask first. How many prototypes are there?"

"Uh…hang on." There was a pause before Warspite answered him. "Why?"

"This manual says something about rigging size. So how many of them and what sizes are they?" Winfried inquired.

"Okay, let me see first." A moment later, Warspite followed up. "There's four rigging. One small, one large, and two medium sized ones. So what's with the size of the rigging have to do with this?"

"Listen, Warspite. I just found the manual for these land-rigs. Says here that these rigs were designed for different ship types. Small ones are for destroyers, medium is for light and heavy cruisers and large is for large cruisers, battlecruisers, and battleships like you. So, as of now which of you four wants to go first?"

"Who's to go first? Hang on, I'll go ask them." Warspite then turned towards her fellow Royals.

"Hey, Commander Winfried's asking who's going to be the first; anyone up for it?" Her question sends shivers up Javelin, Plymouth, and London's spine; the three shipgirls simply looked at each other as if trying to coax one of them to step up forward. Eventually, Warspite sighed and decided to choose one of them.

"London, you go first."

"Huh? Wh-wha-what!? Me!?" The heavy cruiser were shocked when Warspite nominated her to go first. She tried to object, but the looks everyone gave her forced London to yield to the decision.

"Okay." She then contacted Winfried. "Commander, this is London. What's the procedure?"

"Alright, London, let's see…Heavy Cruiser, Medium." Winfried's voice could be heard mumbling in Russian as he reads the manual. "Alright London, here's the first step: Deploy your secondary rig."

"My secondary rig?"

"Yes, this manual says so. Unless you wanted to use your main rig but here it says it recommends using your secondary rig."

"Okay, okay. I got it." London then proceeds to warn everyone around her. "Stand back, I need to deploy my rig." Everyone present took her warning and moved away to give London some space as she deploys her secondary rigging, which given that most shipgirls has been using their modified riggings, the sight of her main 203mm guns and twin 102mm secondaries became something to note about.

"Oh, haven't see those large guns in a while now." Reno commented.

"Well, yeah. Thanks for the compliment." London dryly replied before asking Winfried again. "Okay, I got my secondary rigging out. What's next?"

"Okay, next step is…" Winfried's voice paused for a moment as he mumbled in Russian again before continuing. "You have to detach your rigging."

"Come again, Commander? You said detach my rigging?"

"Affirmative."

"Umm…this might be a bit complicated."

"And why would it be complicated?" Asked the soldier with the skull mask.

"Ah…you see, sir. Our rigging, is quite heavy. Just a destroyer's rigging alone, like Javelin over here." Warspite spoke up as she pointed her hand at Javelin, "Can easily weighted almost a ton. Cruisers like Plymouth and London, or battleships like me obviously have heavier riggings. Forklift like that one we got here can carry destroyer riggings and some light cruiser rigs easily. But for most part when we need to service our rigging, we normally used heavy duty industrial crane for that. Which…"

"Unfortunately what we don't have right now, correct?" The soldier finishes what Warspite was trying to say. The battleship only shrugged in respond.

"Yes." Which led to another collective sighs.

"Anyone got a bright idea now?" Someone spoke.

"Uhh…that…" As everyone ponders on what action to take, Gascogne then moved towards London.

"Gascogne has an idea." The Iris prototype battleship then went behind London and grabbed her rigging, startling her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The heavy cruiser asked.

"Gascogne?" Plymouth also asked.

"Gascogne has made the calculations. Gascogne can lift up to 60 tons. Gascogne can lift your rigging."

"Ah…okay." London contacted Winfried again. "I have to detach my rigging, right?"

"Correct."

"Okay, attempting to detach my rig." With Gascogne holding her rigging, she look around to ask for assistance. "Hey, I need someone to help me detach my rigging."

"How do I help?" Captain Price came up to her.

"Ah, there was this lever underneath my rigging." London spoke, pointing her finger at her rigging prompting the captain to look underneath it. "There's a lever located near where my rig and my body was attached. If it is pulled, it will detach my rig from my body."

"This one?" He gave it a tug, which London could feel.

"Yes, that one. You have to pull it hard though. Tell me when you're about to pull okay?"

"Alright." He then gets into a better position so he could pull the lever with all his strength. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Is that so? Okay, I'm going to pull it. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!" Captain Price pulled the lever as hard as he could, the lever moved but it didn't fully disengage the detachment mechanism. He tried again, and successfully pulled the lever all the way allowing London to detach her rigging form her.

"Whoa!" London almost lost her footing as the sudden loss of weight behind her made her body to lurch forward, but she managed to regain her balance. "Is it detached?" She asked, looking back to see her rigging is now detached from her, with Gascogne holding the heavy machinery before slowly putting it down on the ground.

"Okay Commander, I have detached my rigging. What's next?"

"Roger. The next step…you have to back yourself up to the landrig. It should automatically connect to you like your usual rigging would."

"Really? Just back up to it?" Warspite asked.

"Uh…that's what it reads here. The Russians wrote it like that, and since you copied this from them I assume it was the same."

"Alright; if you said so." London then walked up towards one of the medium-sized landrig being hoisted by a forklift, before turning around and slowly backing herself towards it. "Commander, is there any indication if the connection was successful?"

"Standy, let me see if this manual says something about it." There was a pause before Winfried continued. "It says here that the shipgirl will be greeted with a startup sequence. That's it. Just back up to the landrig, once it connects to you, you just follow what instruction it gave you."

"Alright, noted." London continued to slowly back herself towards the landrig, while Plymouth and Lutzow tried to guide the soldier operating the forklift.

"Okay, raise it a bit. raise it, raise it more…okay, hold!" Lutzow ordered while Plymouth tapped the forklift, and soldier kept the landrig steady as Javelin, Warspite, and Reno looked closely as London slowly closes the gap.

"London, a bit to your left." Javelin called her out, which London obeyed as she shifts slightly to her left.

"Okay, just move straight backwards and you should be able to connect with this thing."

"Got it." Everyone watches as London slowly closes the gap, until she finally made contact with the landrig as it connects automatically to her body. The landrig began to light up and a soft whining noise came from the inside as it became powered. As soon as she was connected to her new rigging, London heard a voice inside her head.

"Initializing startup sequence." The electronic voice spoke, startling her.

"Hey, what?" London inadvertently spoke, which garnered some attention.

"London, who are you talking to?" Javelin asked.

"I don't know, but I heard some voices inside my head!" Then, London felt like she was having a headache forcing her to put a hand on her forehead to try and relieve some of the pain. Warspite then contacted Winfried.

"Commander, we have successfully attached the landrig to London. But it seems like there was a bit of a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"I'm not sure; first I heard some voices in my head and now I'm seeing things now!" London spoke. She wasn't lying, as various HUDs began to pop up in her view. It seems to show her things like ammo count and systems slowly booting up. Then she heard the electronic voice again.

"Shipgirl Land Combat Platform online. Identifying user." There was a brief silence before the voice spoke again. "User identified. County-class heavy cruiser HMS London. Loading combat profile." It was then London saw the various HUDs now fully loaded, showing the ammo count for her two machineguns as well as many other displays that she haven't yet to understand what those numbers and terms are for.

"Uh, guys? What do they mean by 'combat profile'? And what was this with 'empty module'?" London asked.

"We get to that later. Better we just hurry up and get the other riggings installed on the rest of you so we wrap this up fast." Winfried replied.

"Okay." Warspite replied as she also summoned her rigging, followed by Plymouth and Javelin. "Move fast people! We need to get it done and dusted fast!" Her words were heeded by everyone as they try to equip the landrigs on the Royal Navy girls as quickly as they could.

"Hey, what about those things over there?" Lutzow pointed out at a pile of objects still covered under a canvas.

"I don't know. What were they anyways?" Warspite asked.

"Probably the modules for your landrig. Open it up, see what was it." Winfried answered. Reno then walked over to one of the covered objects and rips it off, and what could be described as an autocannon were revealed to them.

"Hey, is that a freaking 25mm gun?" A soldier asked.

"Commander, what are we're supposed to do with this?" Reno asked.

"Hold on, let me check the manual again." Winfried hurriedly scrolled through the document looking for something. He then found what he was looking for.

"Got it. That was a weapon module; it was supposed to go onto the landrigs."

"Really? How to use it then?" Warspite asked.

"Uh…I'm not really sure because these documents we have right now are the Russian version but assuming you Brits copied them whole then it should be the same: Just put the module inside one of the free slots and it should automatically synchronize with the landrig." Hearing his explanation, Reno turned to the Royal Navy girls now having the landrig on them.

"Okay, which one of you wanted to try first?" Each of them stared at each other again. Knowing that she would be probably picked again, London volunteered herself.

"Ah, just put it on me." She turned around so Reno could install the autocannon on her.

"Commander, you said just put in in?"

"Yeah, sure looks that way."

"Okay, here we go." Reno then inserted the autocannon on one of the empty slots on London's rig. The instant the autocannon went in, London heard the voice again.

"25mm autocannon module detected. Initializing" London then started to see words and a HUD popping up in her vision.

"Wait, what the bloody hell was this?" She spoke to herself. She can see a crosshair alongside an ammo counter for the 25mm gun now.

"25m autocannon ready." The cannon locks in and London inadvertently fired a few rounds, startling everyone.

"What the hell!?" Captain Price yelled as he and every soldier in the hangar all hitting the deck as soon as they saw and heard London's 25mm gun suddenly firing. "London, stop that shooting!"

"I'm trying! Just I can't figure it out!" London replied in panic as she tried to stop the gun from shooting. "Commander, is there a way to stop this!?" She asked panickily to Winfried, who was already looking for a solution.

"London, you must concentrate! Give a command to your gun to stop!" He replied. Hearing his advice, London tries to issue her gun to stop firing.

"Stop, stop, stop!" London shouted as she focused her mind to stop her gun. Fortunately, the 25mm gun went silent. She breathes heavily upon successfully stopping her gun from shooting continuously. "Damn, my head hurts."

"London, what did you feel?" Plymouth asked, concerned with what she just saw.

"It feels like, your brain were being overloaded with information. So much that you couldn't process everything at once. When that happens, it's hard to control what you were doing, so things could go off even if didn't mean it." London explained, still panting while placing a hand on her forehead trying to ease her headache. "God, trying to keep this thing under control really takes a lot of your mind."

"If that's the case…" Javelin points at the pile of modules that is currently being unveiled by the soldiers. "Should we be worried? There's a lot of them to be carried back."

"Well, you feel like shoving all this on a helicopter?" A soldier answered. "The way I see it; we gotta need like four more Chinooks to carry all of this, and we have to haul em' all onto the chopper first. Take takes more time."

"Yeah, I take that." Warspite answered. And so, each of the Royal shipgirls had to endure it as each of the modules were installed on their landrigs.

"Gah!" Javelin felt like her head just got hit with a big stick as soon as a missile rack was installed onto her. It was lucky that the module were empty, but the clicking noises clearly telling everyone that had it been armed, there will be missiles flying everywhere.

"Is there a safety on these things? Cause I'm NOT going to be anywhere near that thing if they accidentally fires." A soldier grunted.

"Yeah, these things are going to be a pain for everyone." Someone replied. Surprisingly, Plymouth and Warspite managed to keep their modules from firing as they were installed onto their landrigs.

"Hey, how did you managed to keep yours from shooting?" Javelin asked Plymouth, who just had what looks like a cannon of some sort installed onto her.

"Oh…it's just…you really had to…Urgh! Fight the urge!" Plymouth gasped as she was visibly sweating.

"Fight the urge? What was it?" It was Warspite who answered her in a similar manner.

"Javelin, when it's…uh…installed on you…Ha…ha…you feel like…an urge, an itch…that's trying to make you…trigger it…You had to…fight it!"

"Yeah, I think that's how I managed to stop my gun from shooting. But it takes some effort to do so, and it will tax you." London spoke.

"Uh huh." A soldier responded. He watches as the forklift lifts the last module up to be installed on Warspite. "Hey, I think that's the last one."

As soon as the last module, which looked like some sort of launcher were installed on the last empty slot on Warspite's landrig, she disengages the landrig like she would with her usual rigging. She then radioed her commander. "Commander, we have retrieved all the landrigs and their modules. How copy, over?"

"Copy that. Evacuate the Royals first. Everyone else hang tight." Tyler responded.

---

1012

"All units, standby for extraction. Bembridge out." A voice rang out over the comms channel notifying both the soldiers and the shipgirls fighting the Infected outside.

"Wait, they've done already?" Mainz asked.

"Doesn't matter; that means we're done here! I had enough with these Infected already!" Algerie shouted as she fires all her mounted guns as well as her anti-air gun at the general direction of an incoming horde.

"Girls, I think it's best for us to start regrouping. Once our ride arrives, we can all get outta here in one go!" Georgia spoke on the comms.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm already sick of this." Peter Strasse replied before speaking again in her language. "Roon! Get back here! We're leaving!"

"Aww…I'm just getting used to this!" Roon protested before Strasse shuts her.

"Okay, we'll leave you behind then."

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" The heavy cruiser could be seen running back towards the main group, alongside Z23 and Otto trailing behind.

"Cover me, I can't move while my rigging back in!" Strasse ordered as she kneel down so her rigging could be assimilated back into her. For Roon and Prinz Heinrich, they already instructed Shrimpy and Eisen to head towards the ocean, which they did as the two mechanical beasts began carving a path of destruction towards the nearest coastline. As soon as Strasse done assimilating her rigging, she quickly bolted towards the soldiers.

They watched as the Royal Navy girls were ushered into the waiting Black Hawk; which took off immediately as soon as the Javelin climbed onboard. Once the helicopter leaves, four Chinooks arrived.

"Go, go! Get to the chopper!" Someone shouted. They never knew who shouted but they take it seriously as both the soldiers and shipgirls piled up inside each of the four Chinooks, all the while missiles and bombs fall nearby taking out any Infected chasing them.

"Everyone's inside; get us outta here!" The leader of Hunter 1-1 shouted, and the four Chinooks quickly took off, leaving Larkhill behind.

Four hours later…

1230

Proving Grounds, Joint NATO Azur Lane Base Bembridge

"Isn't it too early to start this shit? Girl just got off the hellhole!" Griggs complained as he and the other commanders, alongside General Gayle, a few NATO officers and a few shipgirls stand watch on the edge of the field. Ahead of them was Warspite, fully packing her landrig. And next to her, was an M2 Bradley.

"That's the thing, Griggs." Winfried answered him. "They wanted to see it firsthand, and they're not going to wait. Not when Russia already using shipgirls to fight their wars." They focused on Warspite and the Bradley. Their targets was barely visible in the distance, which already tell them what standards NATO was looking. Then a soldier spoke on the radio.

"Bulldog 2-1, are you ready?"

"Bulldog 2-1 is locked and loaded." The Bradley commander replied. Then Tyler spoke up as well.

"Warspite, are you ready?"

"Yes, Commander…I'm…ready." The battleship replied back. Tyler then spoke to Gayle.

"General, Warspite is also ready. We can begin testing at any time."

"Good, commence the testing now." Gayle commanded.

"Bulldog 2-1, you are authorized to shoot the target. Use the 25mm. Over."

"Roger. Firing the 25mm." The Bradley's 25mm M242 Bushmaster cannon began to fire at its target, unleashing 500 rounds per minute at it, shredding the target in no time.

"Alright Bulldog 2-1, you can stop shooting now." The IFV ceased shooting it's gun. Eyes now turned to Warspite as she prepares to begin shooting her own autocannon mounted onto her. It was the same gun as the Bradley's, yet it haven't been tested before aside from London accidentally discharging the gun earlier.

"Warspite, you may now began shooting your autocannon." Tyler commanded her.

"Yes, Commander." Warspite attempted to aim her guns. She struggled with the controls as she was literally only introduced to the weapon mere hours ago, that atop having to control her urges that is intruding her thoughts to avoid accidental discharge like London did earlier. Using the HUD, she slowly aimed her gun at the target before firing it.

"Guh…!" Warspite grunted as she felt her body shakes as the autocannon fires. But compared to what happens if she fired an unmodified rigging on lands, the recoil are far more manageable. The commanders weren't the only ones spectating the test, as several Azur Lane shipgirls were also present.

"Holy shit, look at her going to town with that!" Exclaimed Washington as she and the many shipgirls stationed at Bembridge witnessed Warspite firing the 25mm autocannon.

"Isn't that gun the same as the one on that Bradley?" Algerie asked as she noticed the similarities.

"Yeah, and it was meant to be used with that fancy rigging them Royals were using right now." Magdeburg answered her. "Heard it was developed by the British so that we can be used as a conventional weapons platform to support their soldiers."

"And they were so secretive about it that they do whatever it takes to keep the information away from us, even if it means not telling us how bad the Rage Virus was. So many died because of it, including sister Sara." Gridley answered, a hint of frustration in her voice.

"Careful Gridley, you don't want to use that tone with the commanders around. You don't want Griggs to hand out punishment, do you?" Baltimore spoke, eyeing the commanders, especially Griggs as they watched Warspite attempting to use the missile launcher. Javelin, Plymouth, and London were also present with the landrig equipped and with various attachments that she didn't know much about already installed. No doubt NATO was serious about testing them that they were sent onto the proving ground only hours after retrieving them.

"Sorry. Still can't get over it, though."

"Did you talked to my sister about it?"

"Bremerton? Yeah, been talking to her since then. But…" Gridley then went silent, having no words to say. Baltimore decided to focus back on the testing, as Warspite fired a TOW missile out of the launcher installed on her landrig. The sight amazed and worried her, a glance at Enterprise as she stands next to Griggs tells the heavy cruiser that the carrier as well as the other secretary girls there knows something they didn't know.

1500

Conference Room

After the testing has been concluded, the commanders of Azur Lane and their secretaries were again in the conference room with Gayle and other NATO officers as they discuss their recent endeavour.

"So…" Gayle began to spoke. "To begin with, the operation was a success. We were able to retrieve the landrigs and its modules out of Larkhill and brought it back here. Unfortunately not without some casualties though. We got at most five KIA and thirteen wounded, but the positive was none of your shipgirls were lost or injured in this operation, mostly thanks to our training, and your girls performed spectacularly in the field, so before anything, congratulations commanders."

"Thank you for your compliment, General." Reinald replied dryly.

"So, you have anything to say about or recent discoveries?" Eloisa added. Gayle only nodded before proceeding.

"Well, for starters the landrigs were quite promising. Maybe their performance during testing weren't as good since they just got the landrigs without any training but even then, their performance was more or less matches an IFV. Actually, might be even better, since unlike IFVs a shipgirl can go on foot allowing them to bring such massive firepower to wherever they needed regardless of terrain. Could've used them in Afghanistan had we had them earlier."

"Uh huh." Griggs responded, his tone shows his disdain towards NATO's enthusiasm towards utilizing shipgirls, once a tool of hope and freedom into another machine of war. The same was shared with Enterprise and Jean Bart who both began to see the implications. Technically it was the Russians who started it first, but with NATO also following the same path it's obvious to see where this was heading. "So, how do we move forward from this?" He asked.

"Since there's only four of them that we can use so for now, the landrigs will be with us for further testing with the Royal Navy shipgirls. But we've sent some of the schematics that we have to our defense contractors to see what they can do. Also there was some concerns on the Royal Navy's own second-generation shipgirls program, given what files we managed to dig up." The General said, which again made heads turning towards Tyler, Belfast, and King George V. The former secretary shipgirl reluctantly speaks.

"Um…we never really knew how the Russians did it since the files about them was heavily encrypted and we only managed to take a peek at it, but we did come up with a theory on how to manifest Cold War warships using the Wisdom Cubes and already prepared the necessary modifications to the centrifuge. But we never able to complete it thanks to the outbreak." She said.

"And accessing the centrifuge requires us to retake Canvey Island. And that, brings us to the second problem." Gayle said as the screen behind them shows the map of London. "As it was discussed a few days earlier, the EU wanted us to have London ready for repopulation by the second week of August so we have to begin cleanup operation by next week. But of course, with ISG still running around eliminating them was the biggest priority before any cleanup operation can begin. I think you all still remembered what issues we faced trying to take them out." The General's words brought a gloomy atmosphere in the room as the Azur Lane commanders and shipgirls knew just what that must be done.

"So, we have to go back to the streets no matter how much we slice it, didn't we?" Trieste remarked.

"Yes, unfortunately. Given that the ISGs didn't fell for our artificial signals, the only way to draw them out was to have actual shipgirls down on the streets. Your girls don't have to fight, you just hang back, draw their attention to you and we take care of the rest." Gayle spoke, but Enterprise objected.

"Yes, I know. But given what happened back then, I seriously doubt any of us wanted to be back on the streets now that the stories been circulating around." She said.

"Same to us Royals." Belfast also spoke out. "After what happened to us at Cricklewood, and my own experience surviving in Manchester and our subsequent escape, we're done. There's a few that wanted to go in, but not me. I just…don't want to do it anymore. Especially not when their sister ships and friends were still there running around thirsting for their blood." Neither Griggs nor Tyler objected their secretaries opinion. The Royal Navy took the biggest loss, and with Eagle Union trailing behind with some of the ISGs still alive coming from their faction, it was easy to see how neither faction wished to risk their shipgirls again. Eyes now turned to Reinald, Eloisa, and Winfried.

"Uh…the Sardegna might be able to send a few shipgirls." Eloisa spoke. Trieste simply eyed her with a worrisome face as deep down, she knew Eloisa weren't exactly willing to send her shipgirls in. It was then they noticed Winfried staring at the ceiling, as if he was thinking of something.

"Winfried, you have something on your mind?" Reinald asked him, breaking him from his thoughts."

"You know, there was another option here that we're not seeing. But I'm not sure if everyone would agree to it." The Iron Blood commander spoke.

"Care to share?" Gayle asked. Winfried looked around first before speaking up.

"You know, if none of us are willing to send in our shipgirls, provided if they're willing to go back to the streets of London in the first place, why don't get another faction to go in instead? I mean, there are still three more factions that made up the Azur Lane. Not just us here." As he expected, his suggestion was met with a flurry of mixed reactions from everyone.

"Exactly who are we're supposed to call for help? The Sakuras?" Griggs spoke. "I doubt the Japanese government would approve that; not to mention they're halfway across the globe and last I checked, quite a number of them was still in the South Pacific mopping up the last of the Sirens there so they might be reluctant to send some of theirs to help us, not to mention what we intended to do with them. And don't get me started on the Dragon Empery because they ain't leaving China no matter what."

"That's what I said; there was one more that all of you was ignoring, a giant ass elephant in the room that we might probably need."

"Let me guess, you're talking about the Northern Parliament." Eloisa spoke.

"Ja."

"But with all due respect, commander, is this the best option?" Gayle asked. "I mean, you've seen those footages…"

"I know, I know," Winfried interrupted him. "Yeah, I know you NATO guys don't really like the idea of knocking on the Kremlin's door and asking for help; but at the end of the day, the Northern Parliament is still part of the Azur Lane. And the last time I checked, apart from their meddling in the Middle East, Russia wasn't in any conflict with us, nor did they have any reason to pick a fight with us."

"But then again, why would you wanted them to assist us?" Winfried simply gazed at Gayle before answering his question.

"One, they were closest available faction that we could ask. Two, they have the most suitable equipment for the job. Say what you want, but you can't deny that they probably had enough of those landrigs for their entire fleet. Which brings me to point three, which is that they were probably had better proficiency in using the landrigs than us. Which also leads to my final point." Winfried pauses for a moment.

"Which is? Tyler asked. Winfried looked at the commanders as well as the NATO officers before continuing.

"Given that they were deployed to fight in Syria, it is without a doubt that Northern Parliament shipgirls had no qualm about killing humans. Which means if there's anyone around that could not just face the ISGs but also eliminate them, it would be them." His words was met with silence. To the shipgirls and Azur Lane commanders, Winfried was right.

"But…would this be a good idea?" Someone asked, it wasn't sure who it was but it was certainly from one of the NATO officers in the room with them.

"Well, that was only a suggestion; but in case you don't want to go through with this, us Iron Bloods did managed to requisition a few new shipgirls these past few weeks. Still fresh; never seen real combat before. They might be able to handle the task." Winfried answered the question. "So, anyone else had a brighter idea than mine?" He asked, and silence follows.

2nd July 2024, Day 50

0500 British Summer Time

Joint NATO-Azur Lane Base Bembridge

Winfried readies his handphone as Heinrich stood next to him, taking a long drag of her vape before letting it out; a hint of raspberry flavour filling the air as she does so.

"Kommandant, are you very certain about this?" She asked.

"Right now, we could only try." Winfried replied as he scrolls down the contact list for a specific person that he hadn't called ever since the end of the Siren War. "If they decline, then some of us had to go back on the streets, you included." He continued as he finally found the contact number he was looking for. Winfried then presses the number before calling it up. It rings for a few moments before someone picked it up.

0700 Moscow Standard Time

Kronstadt, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

The relatively peaceful atmosphere of the office room was broken by sound of the phone on the desk suddenly ringing, briefly interrupting his recitation of the Holy Quran. Before he speaks up however, his secretary was quick on her feet.

"Hold on, I got it." She spoke as she picked up the phone and upon glancing at the number calling it, she quickly answered it. "Hello? Winfried? Good morning, Kommandant."

"Good morning, Kirov. Is Ilyas available at the moment?" Winfried's voice came out in Russian.

"That…" Kirov glanced at her commander, who was placing the Quran back on the bookshelf. "Yes, he just finished with his morning routine."

"Good. May I talk to him now? I have an urgent business with him."

"In a moment." Kirov briefly put the phone aside as she calls her commander. "Commander, you got a call from Winfried; says he have an urgent business with you."

"Really? Hand it to me, please." Kirov handed over the phone to him, who immediately replied. "Ah, Winfried. As-salamu alaykum; haven't heard from you in a while."

"Funny hearing that from someone who literally ghosted us the entire time. But anyway, let me cut to the chase; are you aware of what's going on in Britain?"

"Ah... the Rage Virus outbreak. Yes, I know. I heard you lost some of your girls in the outbreak, so my condolences on that."

"Thanks, but right now, I need your help."

"I'm listening. How may we help you?"

"The European Union been pressuring NATO to have London ready for re-population by at least this September. Which means we have to clear the city of every Infected by next week. But here's the kicker: That includes the shipgirls that got infected, and they're good at hiding from NATO drones."

"Okay."

"And since baits doesn't work on them, we had to bring the shipgirls back on the streets again to lure them out. And they understandably find the idea of having to kill their own sisters and friends to be too much for them. So we came with the idea of bringing in shipgirls outside of those already involved. NATO wanted to bring in the Sakura's, but I argued that you are closer."

"Ah, I see."

"We may need a few of your girls. They don't have to do anything; just walk around town hoping that the infected shipgirls will come to them. We then handle everything." Winfried knew just what the Northern Parliament were now capable of, but he chose to ignore it.

"Ah, that was quite a bit of request there Winfried."

"I know. That's why I'm just asking…"

"Nyet. You called at the right time. You see, my president's visiting for a fleet review. And we also have the Chinese visiting us as well. I'll see if I could take it up to him." Just then, Ilyas heard a knock on the door. "Yeah. Anything else you wanted to say? I think I have to go now."

"Ah…no. Anyway, thanks for actually speaking Ilyas. Goodbye." And so the call ended, and so does the knocking on the door returned.

"Hey Ilyas, it's time! The President's arriving soon!" A voice comes out from the other side of the door.

"Yes, yes, Alexei. I'm coming!" Ilyas shouted as he grabbed his hat and put it on. "Kirov, let's go. Don't keep him waiting."

"Da, Commander." Kirov responded as she adjusted her hat before following her commander. Ilyas opened the door to find Alexei, his mysterious handler assigned to him ever since he became the Commander of the Northern Parliament.

---

Damn, writing a new chapter seems a bit longer than what I thought. But then again, my job really was eating into me. It's been a while since I started writing Outbreak. The first chapter was written in 2021; when 2024, the year the story took place in was still a distant year. Now we're in 2025 and boy oh boy was the real 2024 was an absolute shocker which is one of the reasons why writing this chapter was challenging as maintaining balance between reality and fiction was monumental. Then again, Outbreak's storyline was made prior to 2022 and given the premises set in by the story, it probably would be weird to see Russia as an ally but here in this fic, Russia was more or less a neutral party through the Azur Lane so NATO can request their shipgirls for help. But obviously Russia would not simply lend their shipgirls without attaching a few baggage to them; exactly what they're planning will be revealed in the next chapter.

Speaking of it, this chapter was supposed to be longer but upon the advice of a friend, I decided to cut it and move them to the next chapter, which also allows me to formally introduce the two other factions of the Azur Lane that so far were only mentioned but were yet to appear in person.

And more importantly, this year will saw the release of 28 Years Later, so obviously Outbreak will be in a bigger spotlight and as such I would try to release as many chapters as I can this year. For that, I may require more proofreaders to help guide me through. If you're interested, look up war4sure on Discord and message me.

Enough writing for now, see you in the next chapter!