Azur Lane: The Great Game
00: Calm Before the Storm
A/R
This author's remarks is going to be a bit lengthy, so I apologize. After all... out of all of my projects, this is the one closest to my heart.
Azur Lane was always a game close to my heart. It was my first gacha game, and for better or for worse it helped mold me into the person I am today and if it wasn't for this game, then I wouldn't even be writing fanfiction right now. This is a fanfic that traces its roots from my very first fanfic (for Ao3 readers, its on FFN) and while it's shitty, poorly formatted and showed my weakness in writing dialogue, it was a start. From that fanfic, I played around with some ideas, and in an era before Azur Lane's lore was well defined, wrote some of my own, eventually landing on its modern iteration around early 2022. My first attempt at starting this series started with the postponed Arctic Command fanfic, but then I realized that I didn't want to start the series there because I had built up a lot of Rayleigh's past and I didn't want to just explore that in a few flashbacks. Unfortunately, that was also around the time that my passion for the game started to fade... and so I quit.
Just recently, I redownloaded the game to save my Azur Lane account from the Yostar Account binding rework changes because while I wasn't too passionate about the game at the time, I still did remember the game fondly. After playing again for the first time in years... I fell in love with the game again. I missed my shipgirls, I missed the weird, kooky story that had started to build up around the time I quit and even the repetitive gameplay that had allowed me to basically memorize Nelson and Illustrious' skill activation voice lines. Because of that, my mind wandered back to the little universe that I had built. I had spent so long building it that even without writing down notes, I remembered a lot of details. And so with a help of some old drafts and a newfound confidence to write, I made some adjustments to my old ideas and ended up writing this. A story that I truly, from the bottom of my heart hope will grow to be my magnum opus in terms of writing fanfiction.
Think of this as an old veteran's love letter to a game that helped shape the person they are today. To all the Shikikans out there... I sincerely hope you enjoy the product of my 5 years of passion as a part of this community.
Sincerely, twocubed
The room was lit ablaze
Lieutenant-Commander Rayleigh Adams took a deep breath, thick black smoke forcing him to cough as he struggled to keep his teary eyes open. The officer looked around the CIC of the Lady Luck, seeing his comrades in arms laying down on the floor at best and at worst… Rayleigh didn't even want to think about it. He didn't even know if the ones who were in an acceptable state were dead or alive, with his mind too busy processing what just happened to notice any of the minor details that would have hinted towards their status.
For a few moments, Rayleigh didn't stand. The boy was frozen in place, his chest throbbing with pain and tears streaking down his face, admittedly not just because of the smoke. Though not a word was said, his thoughts were clearly painted on his face.
"Someone, please help me!"
That help… would not come
As he lay cowering in the corner of the wrecked CIC, a cacophony of garbled transmissions rang out from consoles both intact and destroyed, with their chaotic bellows further increasing the distress he was experiencing.
Rayleigh was scared
Rayleigh was alone
And he didn't know what to do
A few hours ago…
Portsmouth, United Kingdom
March 18th 20XX
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth was always a busy place, and the events of the day put the entire naval base in an especially festive attitude
Once upon a time, the base was the port from which the final offensives of the Siren War were launched. Just years ago, the myriad of nations that made up the once-unbroken alliance of Azur Lane mustered their fleets and marched into the North Sea, smashing through the Siren strongholds in the area like a sledgehammer through a piece of thin drywall. Once the hard-fought victory was won, it was hoped that humanity would enter a new age of peace and prosperity, now unburdened by war now that the Sirens were reduced to the occasional roving battlefleet.
That hope… now seemed like a distant dream
A KANSEN-led coup of the Sakuran government has split the Asia-Pacific region between an ultranationalist Sakuran Empire and their former allies in the Dragon Empery and the Archipelagic Confederation. Europe finds itself in a cold war as political developments in Ironblood and Sardegna shift the focus of both nations outside their own borders while in South America, a resurgent Gran Columbia seeks to challenge the Eagle Union's influence over the twin continents.
These nations would form an alliance known as the Crimson Axis, splitting the world's major powers in two. In order to show solidarity in the face of this new challenge, Azur Lane decided to make a statement during the annual Portsmouth fleet review. Instead of sending a token welcoming force in order to celebrate the day that the last Siren stronghold was cracked, the nations of Azur Lane turned it into the greatest concentration of naval force that the world has ever seen.
From the grand imposing battlecruisers of the Royal Navy to the silent and subtle submarines of the Confederate Silent Service, nations both big and small brought their major assets to Portsmouth in order to celebrate the occasion. Despite the presence of such large warships representing billions of dollars of investment from their nations of origin, they were not the stars of the show.
Instead… that title went towards the women of Azur Lane's KANSEN program
Training rounds flew through the air as KANSEN battleships began the mock battle with a terrifying display of firepower. As they reloaded the titanic guns that served as their main armament, lighter KANSEN closed the distance, with cruisers getting their guns on target and destroyers unleashing torpedoes. High above, aircraft engaged in a dangerous dance in the skies, the wisdom cube manifestations pushed far beyond the limits of the actual airframes involved.
Far away from the fighting, the bridge crew of the aircraft carrier Lady Luck was huddled up within the ship's combat information center, with the vessel's drones transmitting footage of the mock battle to Portsmouth and consequently, the rest of the world. Said footage was displayed on the many monitors of the warship with the crew members watching the mock battle in order to kill some time, among them being one Lieutenant Commander Rayleigh Adams
"Damn… KANSEN are scary are they?" the young officer said as he watched the fighting "I knew that they were the ultimate weapon of humanity but seeing them up close is something else"
An older, gruffer looking man chuckled at Rayleigh's comment as he watched the same console Rayleigh had his eyes glued to.
"There's a reason they're largely considered invincible in naval combat. Sometimes, I wonder why they still deploy sailors like us when they do a much better job"
"Aww, cheer up Pops, they can't be completely invulnerable" Rayleigh said, patting the older man on the back "I wrote an entire thesis on countering them… though I have to admit the longer I watch them fight the more I lose confidence in what I wrote"
"Don't worry, as untested as your theories are, they at least serve as an interesting thought experiment. I would personally say that your thesis was very well written, Rayleigh"
"Thanks Pops, I really appreciate it"
Before Rayleigh could redirect his attention back to the screen ahead of it, a voice called out his name. Looking towards the direction of the voices, his eyes made contact with a duo of familiar faces he was delighted to see
"Olivia! Micheal! The both of you actually came!"
"Rayleigh!"
The two officers shuffled their way through the crowded CIC, the both of them alternating between hugging their friend and shaking the hand of the Rear Admiral who he was seated next to.
"I see the both of you bought snacks" Rayleigh commented "And is that… wine?"
"Yep" Olivia replied, happily holding up the bottle in her hands "You want some Rayleigh? It's the expensive stuff too"
"No thanks, I'm technically on duty right now. Besides, i don't even like wine that much"
"Suit yourself then, more wine for me and Micheal over here" she said, elbowing her companion's shoulder "Do you have a glass?"
"Go to the mess hall, you still remember where that is right, Commander McMillan?" Rayleigh teased "Hope you still remember the ship you left behind once you got promoted"
"Of course I still remember" Olivia huffed, moving to exit the CIC "I'm not that forgetful!"
Rayleigh and Micheal chuckled as they waved Olivia away. Once she was gone, Micheal turned towards Rayleigh as they both watched the battle unfold before them.
"Hey Rayleigh, do you think any of the KANSEN are hot?"
Rayleigh's expression contorted into a smirk
"Talking about this when your girlfriend is out. You really are a playboy, Micheal"
"Hey, it's not like that alright!" Micheal argued, breaking out of the hushed tone they were speaking in earlier "We got to speak to a few of them earlier… and it was her idea!"
"Lucky bastard" Rayleigh jokingly replied, his voice dripping with fake venom "But you first. Who do you think is hot?"
"Hmm…" Micheal pondered "Royal Navy vanguard, the lead KANSEN. Belfast is her name, I think?"
"Considering the maid outfit i found in Olivia's dresser, i'm not-"
"Let's not talk about that. You next, who do you think is hot?"
Rayleigh's eyes moved towards a tactical screen of the Iris Orthodoxy's main battleline, with the young man switching the screens on his console until he found a drone camera that was zoomed in on the formation.
"Third ship from the lead" Rayleigh answered "Two quadruple turrets, jet black hair. Her name's Strasbourg, if I remember correctly"
"Well, I can see why?" Micheal teased "She has very… big assets"
"It's not just that" he responded, a light blush forming on his cheek "The ship that the KANSEN Strausbourg was based on was the ship that got me interested in the navy in the first place. So… in a way, I found her beautiful even before the Siren War or shipgirls were a thing"
"Wow, you sound like you're talking about a soulmate" Micheal chuckled "Do you want to meet her?"
Rayleigh's eyes lit up at Micheal's suggestion
"There's no way you can do that"
"What if I did have a surprise waiting for you on shore?" he smirked, "What are you going to do when it finally happens?"
"Fuck" Rayleigh muttered under his breath, as his instincts desperately craved for the presence of a mirror "I would probably ask for an autograph at the very least. She is the personification of one of my childhood idols"
"Your childhood idols are weird, Rayleigh" Micheal remarked
"Yeah, but at least they weren't from a shitty R rated mockbuster parody of a kids show that my parents confused for another series"
"Shut up"
Unfortunately for Rayleigh, he wasn't going to shore anytime soon
Sudden developments in the North Sea had meant that the Lady Luck and a task force of several destroyers had been sent to investigate. Despite the task force likely being overkill for the mission at hand, with evidence of Siren activity, it was better to have more force and not need it than be caught lacking.
As they neared their destination, everyone felt just a bit tense, with Rayleigh's palms beginning to sweat from the tension in the air. The officer remained alert, scanning the console of every single sensor that he could keep his eyes on.
"We are detecting sudden weather changes near the point of interest. Looks like a Mirror Sea is forming"
To Rayleigh, there was something deeply wrong about the mission, something that made the back of his neck itch whenever he thought about it. At first… he tried his best to ignore it, but by the time that they were just a few dozen kilometers from their target, Rayleigh's instincts were screaming at him to run.
"I'm detecting haze on our systems, it's either the nearby Mirror Sea or we're getting hit by EWAR. It's hard to tell"
So when it finally happened, he was both relieved and horrified to find out that he was right.
"Manticore 8, bearing 270!"
Manticore, a word that had been drilled into Rayleigh's head since officer's academy. It was Azur Lane's multiservice tactical brevity code for the firing of hostile battleship shells, with the number at the end of the word indicating how many shells had been fired. There were 8 rounds currently headed towards the battlegroup, and the Lady Luck's crew knew that more were to come in the moments to follow.
"75 seconds until impact, shells travelling at Mach 5.5" Rayleigh remarked, hiding the nervousness "Lieutenant Collins, have the CAPs discovered the location of the enemy fleet?"
"Negative" the officer replied "We have them on the job, but even our AWACS is receiving some surprisingly heavy jamming. It's as if the Sirens figured out exactly how it works."
"Petty Officer Korolev" Rayleigh barked "Our radar might be jammed, but that battleship must have already fired its cannons. What are our acoustics and magnetic disturbance scans looking like?"
"That's the thing sir, I think they're malfunctioning" replied the Petty Officer "We haven't detected any magnetic disturbance from the battleship firing, and the acoustics… it doesn't make sense. It's like someone is trying to fire two battleship guns mere feet from each other!"
Rayleigh's face paled at what the Petty Officer said, knowing full well of the implications.
If this was a Siren Elite, the clustered acoustic pattern would have been expected, but the magnetic disturbance would have been significant due to them using incredibly powerful plasma cannons as their main armament. If there was no magnetic disturbance, then the weapon must have been driven by chemical propellant.
Problem was that with most battleships armed with railguns, there were only two chemically driven weapons that were capable of getting a shell to the speeds of the projectiles that were being fired at the fleet. The first were compact light gas guns mounted on Confederate battlecruisers, which even if their adversary got one shipped to the North Sea from Asia, wouldn't explain the clustered acoustic pattern. The second and much worse option however, lined up perfectly with the information at hand.
The second chemically-driven weapon that could accelerate a shell to such velocities was a normal Second Great War era cannon assisted by the esoteric powers of the Wisdom Cube. And that was a weapon mounted on only one type of vessel.
"Captain Hornblower, Rear Admiral Penrose!" Rayleigh shouted "We have an emergency!"
"Speak your mind, Adams" the Rear Admiral spoke
"Were being attacked by a KANSEN" he frantically replied "Not a Siren Elite, a KANSEN from another nation"
"Good heavens, what a horrible time for this powderkeg to light" the Captain spat "How many are there on the battlefield?"
"We count at least one battleship type. As for the rest, I'm sure that we'll know very soon." Rayleigh responded, turning his head towards his subordinates "Calculate the vector of those shells, we need to know where they came from!"
Outside the hull of the Lady Luck, the chaos of battle reigned supreme. Guided missile destroyers lit up the sky with fire, their missiles racing to intercept the hail of battleship shells that were raining down on the fleet while the Lady Luck scrambled to get more of her fighters in the air. High up in the skies, combat air patrols scoured the stormy seas for any sign of a KANSEN, their infrared cameras scanning the rough area where the shells came from.
Through a stroke of luck it only took a few minutes of searching to locate a human figure gliding effortlessly through the waves. It was through an even bigger stroke of misfortune then, that she was far from alone.
"Dagon Squadron reports contact!" Lieutenant Collins barked "We found the battleship, but our squadron has been engaged. Looks like they have a carrier with them as well."
"Tell those fighters to keep their eyes on that battleship. Daring, Dauntless and Aquitaine, launch anti-ship missiles in the general direction of the enemy fleet. Four tubes per ship, make it snappy" the Rear Admiral ordered
In response to the Rear Admiral's orders, the fore vertical launch systems of the escorting guided missile destroyers were engulfed in fire, as the anti-ship missiles within raced out of their canisters and into the starry sky. Reorienting themselves, their rocket motors accelerated them towards their target, lofting just above the waves at near-supersonic speed.
"Bulldogs away, Rear Admiral. Time to impact, six to ten minutes" Rayleigh remarked "And a third barrage trashed. Barrages four and five are on their way, sixteen shells total."
For half an hour more, the cat and mouse game between the KANSEN and the Lady Luck's task force continued on. The KANSEN would launch barrage after barrage of shells, while the Lady Luck's task force would swat the shells out of the sky using missiles and CIWS fire. In turn, the task force responded with fire from their anti-ship missiles with the difference being that while the anti-ship missiles didn't have any effect on their mystery assailant, each barrage only creeped closer and closer to the task force.
Until, a shell finally went through
An explosion rocked the mast of the HMS Dauntless, the 13 inch high explosive shell tearing through the destroyer's thin armor, atomizing her fire control and radar. If that wasn't enough, two other shells would seal her fate, explosions erupting at her bow and amidships.
"Dauntless splashed by a Manticore!" Rayleigh called out "...confirmed sunk!"
With a crucial part of their air defense umbrella gone, more and more shells started to get through. Most landed into the sea or were intercepted by CIWS and counter-missile fire, but it was only a matter of time until another shell would land a hit.
Mere minutes later, the Aquitaine's aft would erupt in fire, a battleship shell tearing through her aft and rendering the vessel immobile. Two near misses would graze the Daring, the top part of her mast and her frontal naval gun eviscerated by the shells.
The next victim… was the Lady Luck herself
Like a star that fell from the heavens, a battleship shell plunged into the Lady Luck's flight deck, the armor piercing round cutting through the Lady Luck's flight deck as if it was a hot knife through butter.
That same shell would dive down into the depths of the vessel, impacting the aircraft carrier's CIC, rendering the carrier deaf and blind as its entire command crew were incapacitated or worse.
And as for Rayleigh… everything faded to black.
It was a beautiful day in New York. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and all seemed good in the world.
For a certain Rayleigh Adams, it was his first day of school at the Azur Lane's Educational Institute Langley, and that meant many things. For one, that meant that he was going to his dream school to get his dream job, but at the same time he still felt doubt if he was capable of keeping up with the best that Azur Lane had to offer.
The soon-to-be officer sat down at one of the auditorium chairs, eagerly awaiting the start of the welcoming program proper. Soon enough, the ambient noise of conversation would die down, making way for an older man who looked like he had as many medals pinned to his chest as he had white hairs on his head.
Little did Rayleigh know how much those words would impact his life…
"To all the future students of Langley, I welcome all of you to our institution. But before anything else, I would like to give our cadets a little piece of advice. Once you're out there, act decisively. Because if something goes wrong and you don't even try…"
The old veteran paused for effect, before continuing his speech
"...The death of both you and your comrades is guaranteed"
…
Those same words echoed within Rayleigh's mind over and over again… and that was when the true gravity of the situation hit him
If he did nothing, then the command crew of the Lady Luck would die. If he did nothing, the crew of the Aquitaine, Dauntless and Daring would die. No matter how scared he was, every single second spent cowering in fear was a waste of time, and as more time passed more and more of his comrades would end up under the waves.
And he would rather be damned before he didn't at least try to prevent the deaths of as many of his comrades as possible
Legs still cowering from the shrapnel in his leg he found the strength to stand up, limping his way to a nearby intercom console despite the intense pain.
"This is Lieutenant-Commander Rayleigh Adams. To all the medical crew of the Lady Luck, we have suffered a direct hit to the ship's command complex. Calling medical personnel to assist."
[Aye, Lieutenant-Commander, our medical team will have personnel there shortly]
"Command to Helm, are we still being attacked?"
[Attacks are focusing on the Daring, Lieutenant Commander]
"This is Command to Engineering. Cut all power to unnecessary systems, including engines and especially radar. Helm, signal the Daring to do the same with a signal lamp, and make them send out a communique that they are experiencing an electrical malfunction. All aircraft in the air are to jettison their craft as close to the Lady Luck as possible"
[But Lieutenant-Commander, that would leave us…]
"A sitting duck" Rayleigh interrupted "And therefore not a threat. If we're lucky, the KANSEN will have a change of heart and leave us alone, after all it gets a lot harder to fight someone when they're not shooting back. As for search and rescue, conduct them with our rigid hull inflatable boats for now. We can start using helicopters when we're sure we won't get shot at."
[Complying with orders, Lieutenant Commander]
Once he hung up on the intercom, Rayleigh limped his way towards the still-intact first-aid box, hastily opening it up to reveal a myriad of medical equipment. Looking back towards the now wrecked-CIC, he muttered a joke to anyone who could hear him.
"Today's a really bad day to take my first-aid refresher course"
"My aircraft have confirmed that your guns have rendered the task force combat ineffective. Well done, Strasbourg"
Strasbourg held a neutral expression as she listened to Joffree's report, aware that by firing on the task force, she had betrayed not only the trust of her friends that did not see things the same way. She had even fired at a manned Iris destroyer… a fact that as much as she didn't show it, ate away at her.
But still… duty came first and foremost. Or at least that's how she rationalized it
"Good" she replied, her response uncharacteristically curt "Should we finish them off? Command did say not to take any prisoners"
"I'm sure that the approaching mirror sea will do that for us" Joffree replied, seemingly sensing the discomfort in her demeanor "The Lord does not approve of senseless violence"
"You're right" she replied, relieved "For the glory of Vichaya"
"For the glory of Vichaya"
A/N:
In order to get the girls relevant for modern naval combat, I may have upped their combat capabilities just a wee bit. Mostly by upgrading their firepower to be on par or even superior with their modern in-universe counterparts, all while essentially having the radar cross section of jack shit and fuck all and by boat standards, the ability to maneuver like a UFO. Even in regular Azur Lane lore, one KANSEN is enough to challenge a modern fleet, and I wanted to emulate that in my fanfic to some extent.
Strasbourg was admittedly a VERY late addition to the story, but one that I think was absolutely perfect to my plans down the line. A bit of lore to the development process of the fanfic, Rayleigh was supposed to have a love interest named Fortuna who was slated to die at the first battle (to all Arctic Command readers, she was supposed to be the initial "a little wine goes a long way line) to serve as one of Rayleigh's main motivations, but I at first postponed her death (because I thought it would be too cheap) before scrapping her entirely because I had a very hard time coming up with a personality for her. The first time I saw Strasbourg, I thought she was the hottest Vichaya shipgirl (better than Mogador, and I will fight you on this) and checked her voicelines and skins. Once I read those voicelines, that was when I realized that she and Rayleigh had some seriously insane potential, and so I put her in the story.
She definitely won't be the only love interest (partly because its an Azur Lane fanfic and partly because I think it would be super interesting to write) but I'll limit it to a number that I'm confident I can write well. All will be major characters, none will be left behind in development, that I can assure you.
Anyways, massive thanks to any who took the time to read this passion project of mine. Comments about the story are greatly appreciated and I will gladly accept any constructive criticism levied. I love comments... they really encourage me a lot!
Anyways, Shikikans that's all for now. Thank you for reading Rayleigh's Bizzare Adventures and until next time!
-twocubed