Azur lane: The Great Game
02: Fortune's Favour
iceland: Thanks for the reviews, and I'm glad you're liking the story so far. I have plans for Strasbourg, and they will be able to talk to each other soon, but I plan on having her red side for just a bit longer after that. Enemies to lovers type stuff, you know?
Medical Idiot: This is probably the highest praise I have ever gotten for my writing ever, so this really means a lot to me! Thanks for enjoying my story so much.
Under the waves of the North Sea, an unseen battle was raging on
One of the Archipelagic Confederation's prized hunter-killer submarines was on the run, the twenty thousand ton titanium beast forced to depart without her captain as her submarine pen was targeted by Ironblood bunker-busters. Despite her successful escape, she did not get out of Portsmouth unharmed. Falling debris had damaged her incredibly sensitive micromotion tiles that coated her hull, allowing Ironblood sonar to catch a whiff of her scent. Now, the vaunted Siren-hunter was being hunted herself, with the sharks of the Kriegsmarine in pursuit.
Despite their dire situation, the crew of the Amihan were determined not just to go down fighting, but to win the engagement. Hunting down submarines, be they manned, KANSEN or Siren was what she was designed for after all.
"Captain!" shouted a sonar officer "Acoustic torpedoes have detonated. Baby Shark 1 has detected the enemy KANSEN from the ping."
Lieutenant Commander Iris Gomez rubbed her palms together in anticipation, perplexed at the sudden situation she found herself in. No amount of simulator practice could prepare for the real thing, and she knew it.
But at the same time… she felt she could win in a one-on-one engagement. No… she was certain she could win in a one-on-one engagement.
Unlike for surface ships, new generation Confederate SSNs like the Amihan had legitimate advantages over their KANSEN counterparts in a straight up fight that turned what would be suicide into an uphill battle. While KANSEN were faster, harder to hit and their torpedoes had superior guidance and range, Amihan compensated for her large size and lack of mobility with a deep bag of tricks.
A bag of tricks which happened to include two Type-044 class Unmanned Underwater Combat Vehicles and a healthy supply of specialty ammunition.
"Are they in range?" she asked, a smirk forming on her face.
"Aye Captain" her aide replied
"Fire!"
As soon as she gave the command, both Baby Shark 1 and 2 flooded their torpedo tubes and let loose two pairs of warheads. At the same time, the Amihan herself fired four torpedoes, with one half racing towards the target and the other half moving slightly ahead of the warship, deploying a series of speakers that created a modulated acoustic "smokescreen" as its caterpillar drive compelled it forward, travelling perpendicular to the suspected location of the KANSEN.
"Captain, the enemy is responding. Archerfish six, on intercept course with ours"
"Reprogram their guidance" Iris replied "Set our acoustic torpedoes to move ahead and detonate early to throw off their interceptors. Connect our ship-busters with Baby Shark 1's datalink to keep them on bore while their acoustics are down"
"Roger that, Captain. Transmitting new orders"
With the new orders transmitted to the torpedoes, the munitions began to maneuver. Three out of the six torpedoes slowed down their drives, falling back as their cousins sped up ahead of them, forming a triangle around their compatriots.
And once enemy interceptors got close… they detonated
BOOM!
The amount of sound produced by the three detonations deafened sonars for several long moments as the Amihan's sensor team worked to recalibrate her sensors in the wake of the shockwaves,
"Sonars recalibrated captain. Assessing situation"
And once they did… it was clear things weren't going well.
"Secondary detonations!" the sonar operator roared "Infrared sensors detect plasma… Captain, our ship-busters have been intercepted!"
The Captain grit her teeth
"How did they… was it luck? Or was it…"
Magnetic torpedoes
She slammed her clenched fist down on her legs at the realization
"We have lost contact with Baby Shark 1. Enemy is also launching another barrage of Archerfish our way. 6 total, just like before." reported the sonar operator, his voice shaking "Wide spread, but all are heading in our general direction"
Which means she doesn't know our exact location
With that sliver of hope in mind, she gave her next set of orders
"Launch complex decoys and flood ballasts!"
In response to her new orders, several panels popped off of the deck of the Amihan, with decoys ejecting from their holdings with pressurized gas. As they drifted away using their own caterpillar drives, their esoteric inner systems began forming an exact replica of the Amihan's outer shell, screeching out into the void exact copies of her mother's electronic signature. In concert, the submarine flooded its ballast tanks and started to descend at an unprecedented rate, with the Baby Shark II following suit.
The aim of the maneuver was simple, and that was to dive into the ocean's thermocline layer which provided a layer of protection against enemy sonar and allowed the Amihan to travel faster without her propeller producing cavitation bubbles. Combined with the inability for KANSEN to drop sonar buoys to find her and the manned warship's higher dive depth, Iris was banking on using these factors to aid her escape.
If only her enemies made it that easy…
Without warning, the entire ship rocked and groaned as an explosion ravaged her outer pressure hull, rupturing a few of her fore and aft ballast tanks. Iris' eyes widened at the sudden attack, her mind rushing to think of any variable she missed during the engagement.
Did we get hit by a second submarine? But how did we not see their torpedoes on sonar?
Unbeknownst to her, this was not the work of torpedoes, but naval mines created powered up by the energy of a Wisdom Cube, whose energies hid it from sensors. While it wasn't as potent as the stealth fields on KANSEN aircraft when combined with the sonar-fooling characteristics of the thermocline layer, it was enough to spoof the sensors of the Aminan for long enough that it could get some damage.
"Second submarine detected on sonar!" shouted the operator "She's launching a barrage right at us!"
"Our fore and aft ballasts have been breached! And our propellers have been damaged!" reported an engineering officer "We need to react quickly if we want to surface before we get too deep."
At that moment, it was clear she had only two choices
Sink deeper into the North Sea and risk their submarine never surfacing again due to its damaged ballast tanks, or surface and expose herself to two bloodthirsty ship-girls who would no doubt tear apart her damaged vessel.
For a few moments, Iris froze, her head spinning as the gravity of the situation hit her.
How do we get out of here? What would Captain Nguyen do?
The confident smirk she once held was all but gone now, replaced with a panicked gaze of fear. She knew deep down that she was a fish out of water with two lions staring at her hungrily..
This is it… I'm about to die
And that thought may have very well been her reality… if luck wasn't on her side.
Before any of the torpedoes could land, the submarine's depth gauge stalled at 120 meters. Then after that, all sonar contacts just… disappeared.
"What's happening!" Iris said, staring dumbfoundedly at her tactical screen
"We… don't know!" Replied a sonar technician
What followed next was the strangest experience anyone on board had experienced up to that point.
"Captain we are now… 10 meters below the surface of the water and sinking" a navigation officer reported, before mumbling to himself "How the fuck…"
Still dumbfounded, Iris slumped down on her command chair
"Keep us at periscope depth and deploy our ESM mast"
Once the optical mast was above the surface of the water, the first thing they saw was an island. Upon that island was a naval base, with two mauled warships upon its docks.
"Docked warships identified" a communications officer reported "Fortune's Favour class light carrier AZNS Lady Luck and Duke class destroyer HMS Dauntless. Shall we give them a call?"
After a few moments of deliberation, their acting Captain gave their answer
"Hail them"
Worrying about it won't get me anywhere
Those 7 words constantly repeated in Rayleigh's mind as he intently studied the naval base's inventory records. His logistical work was interrupted by the sound of the office door opening to reveal Lieutenant Charles Collins, with his arm still in a sling.
"Good noon, Rayleigh" Collins greeted "Hope all this paperwork doesn't get you completely knackered"
"Trust me Charles, after all that's happened today, I'm well past that point" Rayleigh replied "Anyways, what brings you here?"
"Josie asked me to deliver you this" he explained, handing him a piece of paper with his good hand "It's a report of the medical supplies in the hospital she and the medical team used. This place may be as dodgy as Brighton on a bad day, but bloody hell did it save our lives"
"Couldn't have put it any better" Rayleigh chuckled "Anyways, thanks for this. It seems that even stick in the middle of fuck all nowhere, paperwork finds time to kick my ass. God, I wish Albrecht didn't get recalled to Ironblood. He was a lot better at this stuff than I ever was."
"I wonder where the bugger is now?" Charles mused "I hope he's doing alright. Things must be tough for him right now, especially since his girlfriend's on the other side of the war."
"As bad as our situation is right now, I don't envy him either" Albrecht admitted "Last time I heard, they're both positioned in the Baltic, and with the war going on, I wouldn't be surprised if they'll participate in the same skirmish sometime soon"
The both of them continued their small talk for a few more minutes, talking about anything under the crimson sun above, their conversation only stopping when Rayleigh's radio buzzed with a fury.
"Rayleigh's chicken and pizza" he joked as he picked up the radio "Can I get your order, over?"
"Lieutenant Commander" the voice on the other side said "We have established communications with two new contacts"
"Two?" The Lieutenant Commander asked "Weren't we tracking only one?"
"Second contact is a submarine" Louis clarified "Identified as the lead ship of the Amihan-class. Funnily enough, I went on a tour of her yesterday."
"Small world, huh?" Rayleigh remarked "How about the second contact?"
"Multirole Support Vessel Kommuna" Louis added, Rayleigh's expression lighting up at the thought of a logistics vessel "Both of their captains wish to speak with you directly"
"Patch the commlink to my office. Let's get this show on the road"
…
When trapped in a Mirror Sea and meeting fellow military officers, most officers would be replaying different scenarios over and over again in their head. And while Rayleigh was certainly doing just that, it wasn't the only thing on his mind.
"If I turn down the lights and open up the curtains to let the light bleed through, then I'd look pretty cool don't you think?"
Because if there was something he was more concerned about than talking to his fellow officers in such a dire situation, it was looking cool while doing it.
"Rayleigh you look like a caricature of a Johnny English villain"
"Exactly what I was going for" Rayleigh pointed out "It sets the mood to something more… serious"
"I think that the current situation is plenty serious"
"Yeah, but i've wanted to do this since I was a kid" Rayleigh argued "I want to at least complete this before I kick the bucket"
Their banter was interrupted by the ringing of the communication's console that Rayleigh had set up. His eyes now beaming, Rayleigh kicked his chair towards his table using his good leg before clearing his throat and answering the call.
"Good day, Commanders" he started, letting out his best smirk "Welcome to Naval Station Agamemnon. I'm Lieutenant Commander Rayleigh Adams, acting commander of the remainder of Azur Lane's Task Force Pacemaker."
"I am Lieutenant-Commander Iris Gomez, acting captain of the CNF Amihan." a female voice replied " It is nice to meet you, Lieutenant Commander"
"I am Captain Leo Dostoevsky, of the Parliamentary Navy's Kommuna" added a distinct male voice, this time in heavily accented English "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I wonder what a task force like yours is doing inside a Mirror Sea like this, hm?"
"Well, we just kind of stumbled into it" the Lieutenant Commander explained "Our task force was attacked by a KANSEN, and we slipped into the Mirror Sea."
"Same for us here" Iris added "Two Ironblood submarines hunted us down, but before they could finish us off, we just… teleported here"
"You must have sailed through a plate boundary then" Rayleigh replied "They shouldn't be forming this early… but if they did form, then that could be the reason that you're here"
Mirror seas were strange places, with one of their stranger aspects being their tendency to cut up sections of ocean into different "plates". These plates symbolized regions of the ocean where space was relatively undisturbed, and ships could sail normally. It was when crossing through these different plates however, was when things would get difficult.
The boundaries of these plates were places where space was unstable, and crossing through one without thought often led to some unintended consequences. Fleets would often veer far off course, ending up on Mirror Sea systems on the other side of the world or even straight into the teeth of Siren battlefleets.
Azur Lane learned the hard way that the only way to avoid this was to map the "corridors" between plates, which were areas that allowed for relatively safe travel to adjacent plates. Problem being that these areas were natural chokepoints, and Siren fortresses stationed on these corridors contributed heavily towards the brutal Azur Lane losses that they had experienced during Operation Cobalt.
Now that Ironblood had access to such technologies, they held an insurmountable advantage against what would be superior foes. It had an entire ocean in which it could hide and repair its fleets, free from the oppressive chokehold of Eagle Union air power and the long-ranged missiles of the Northern Parliament, while the feared battlefleets of the Royal Navy would find it hard-pressed to penetrate into the fortress the Ironblood fleet had built. With the Iris Orthodoxy in a civil war, the ground forces of Ironblood could be focused against the armies of Polonia-Litueva as their allies in Scandinavia distracted the Northern Parliament.
With that terrifying implication set aside for the time being, the three silently decided to discuss matters they actually had control over.
"Anyways comrade, this goes without saying, but I would like to dock my vessel soon" said Captain Dostoevsky "So I would like to ask, what is the supply situation looking like?"
"Food situation is fine. The naval base has enough rations stored to sustain an entire battlefleet, so taking on a few mouths to feed shouldn't cause any trouble" Rayleigh remarked "It's the munitions situation that's interesting though…"
"Please comrade, elaborate"
"We found a stockpile of pretty much everything. Railguns, cruise missiles, planes and even a few anti-ship ballistic missiles" the Lieutenant Commander explained "The problem is, none of it is Azur Lane standard. Like seriously, who uses 155mm for artillery these days? What era are we in, the Second Great War?"
"I believe we can help with that, Lieutenant-Commander Adams" Leo offered "My mission was to ferry a few Bulins to the Iris Orthodoxy. I believe that we can use their expertise here to retrofit our warships for combat duty"
"That would be much appreciated, Captain."
"That aside," Iris interrupted, "How about the chain of command?"
"Since I am the most senior officer, it is only natural that I take command, don't you think?" Leo replied "At least when it comes to day-to-day operations. I will leave the combat to fleet officers like yourself."
"We're planning on waiting for Pops-, I mean our Rear Admiral to wake up" Rayleigh explained, turning to Charles
"Are Pops and Harry doing alright?"
"They wouldn't be if we didn't find this island" the Lieutenant admitted "But otherwise, their condition has stabilized."
Rayleigh breathed an audible sigh of relief, before turning his attention back to the two captains before him.
"Let's hammer out the specifics later. In the meantime, contact our crew at the docks. They should guide you to your moorings."
Unknown Location
North Sea Superstorm
Siren Mobile Supercomplex SX-087
Azur Lane Designation "Antecedent"
Observer was doing what she did best… which naturally was observing
She smiled eagerly as she watched over the Mirror Sea with delight, the sheer breadth of information that entered her mindscape tingling her neurons as much as the first time that she had hooked herself up to the expansive observation systems that the Sirens held, with the feeling of pleasure she got never abating no matter how many times she did it.
Her silent musings were interrupted as she heard a soft knock on the door of her mindscape. Once she verified the origin of the signal, she gladly opened the door. After all, it wasn't everyday that you got a personal message from the Creator.
[FRM ADMN_LPLCE, TO SCU_OBa] INQ: NEPTUNE, COR LEONIS, TRISMEGISTUS?
The Siren smiled at the communique from the Creator, it was clear from the way that the voice entered her ears that they missed her greatly.
"All three programs are proceeding as planned, My Creator" she said, reverence in her tone "There shouldn't be any complications for the foreseeable future"
A few hours would pass, and the Siren would continue doing her job. Which was why she was rather surprised when she received a second message.
[FRM ADMN_LPLCE, TO SCU_OBa] CMD: FORESEE COMPLICATIONS. CONSULT ADMN_DAVINCI. DEPLOY ASSET "STARDUST" TO AO
Observer furrowed her brows in concern
"How long until these 'complications' happen?"
[FRM ADMN_LPLCE, TO SCU_OBa] ANS: YOU WILL KNOW SOON. CMD: CONTINUE REPORTS TO ADMN_DA VINCI. BE PREPARED
Observer nodded her head in response, and refocused her efforts to the information she was processing.
It was going to be a busy few months indeed
Oh well, at least she wasn't going to be bored anytime soon
So if i'm being honest, I don't know how to feel about this chapter. On one hand, I felt like I did well but on the other hand I feel like something's missing. But I don't know, maybe its just me. Sirens are up to their usual shenanigans, but I interpret them pretty differently due to the changes I've made to the lore. Anything more than that would be a spoiler for stuff far ahead in the future though.
The whole naval mines bit during the Amihan battle was largely inspired by the fact that U-410 can apparently deploy naval mines as one of her skills in game. I don't have her in game, but since it was cool I decided to add it in. Probably not realistic in the slightest, but this is a setting where world war 2 ships turn into anime women. Plasma torpedoes and Arpeggio of Blue Steel bullshit get a pass (based and Hakugei-pilled)
Feel free to recommend me additions to Pacemaker, as they will be needing it in the coming chapters. Until next time!