Age of Sail: A Tempesta Tale (Chapter 32)

“What is the meaning of this!?” The Commander hissed over the radio.

“As I said, sensor buoys four, six, twelve and thirteen went dark. A sign of approaching Siren fleets. If you'd taken the time to read the procedures here, you'd know that when you get alerts from the buoys, they're not to be ignored. So, since you refused to sound the early warning alarm, considering the commander gets the notifications before we do, I took it upon myself to enact the defense of this base.” Enterprise replied coldly.

“And your unauthorized tampering and deployment of the base-wide alarms?” The commander jabbed.

“A necessary evil considering the last time we fought, we were left woefully unprepared. I was ensuring such a ridiculous conundrum would never befall us again.” Enterprise shot back.

The commander growled angrily.

“If you're going to give orders, now's the time. If you're not going to lead, then I suggest you go back into the bunker.” Enterprise spoke, her tone bleeding with an underlying resentment.

The commander remained silent and cut the line without another word.

“That's what I thought… spineless coward.” Enterprise muttered as she looked out into the bay to see what was approaching. She caught a glimpse of a low level elite approaching with rigging drawn. She was on the horn immediately.

“All close quarters combatants! Refrain from engaging your vessel, there are elites present in this assault! Prepare for close quarters engagement. Everyone else, prepare countermeasures to keep the elites off your vessels!” Enterprise yelled as she watched the battlefield unfold.

As the Sirens made landfall, Enterprise organized the fleet against the mass production ships that had accompanied the elites. Each sector got a small contingent of light and heavy cruisers, a battleship for target prioritization, a quarter of the available destroyer forces, a few subs to help sniff out any stragglers, and coverage from the rotating fleet of carriers stationed within the bay, allowing for unending access to on demand air support.

Enterprise summoned her rigging and touched it to the microphone, syncing her equipment to the base's PA system.

“This is Enterprise, transmitting via rigging. I'm joining the fight. Every sector, send up a flare to give me the signal that you can hear me.” Enterprise ordered.

One by one, five flares shot into the sky high above Wake Island.

“Good to know. Keep your wits. Trust your gut. We don't have Commander James watching over us like the last time the elites were thrown at us. If you feel something wrong, make the necessary moves to change it. Focus on survival and defense. Do that, and we can turn this into a battle of attrition.” Enterprise ordered for the entire base to hear. Once she had concluded her speech, she kicked open the window of the dorms and leapt into the air, landing with her legs spread on the canopy of a passing Dauntless dive bomber that had been launched from her own carrier inside the lagoon.

Enterprise adjusted her cap and made her way into the fight, flying towards sector four, the hardest hit sector at a glance.

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The attack came fast and hard. Sector four had met heavy resistance almost immediately, but Musashi and the more elite of her trainees were on station, easily fending off a large swarm of Explorer and Oceana class elites.

Cloaked in a shroud of purple lightning, Musashi's blade cleaved the air asunder, separating the space between atoms and plowing through anything her blade touched. Days and weeks of constant training were paying in spades as even the heavy armor of an unfortunate Peace Breaker, that had approached far too close, was separated with no more effort than scissors through paper. The outer banks that defined sector four were bathed in thin black blood as the swordswomen of the Sakura showed the fruits of their labor.

A breakthrough in the line saw a trio of Navigators make an attempt to ambush and overwhelm the kitsune, who realized too late that someone had broken the line. Just as she turned to engage the threat, the once harrowing sound of a Dauntless engine filled her ears and three shining arrows ripped through the sky and directly into the hearts of the three siren elites before detonating within, dropping their corpses to the banks like a sack of lead.

“The Grey Ghost graces me on this day.” Musashi quipped thankfully.

“Eyes front. I see Strategists in the backline. I'd expect some aerial resistance soon. Use of rigging is approved and unrestricted. Full defense, Musashi, you're the bulwark on this front, give them hell!” Enterprise yelled from her plane as she left the battlefield just as quickly as she had arrived to go and aid other fronts.

“Say no more.” Musashi whispered as she focused all of her energy into herself. Her sword lost its shroud as all the power in her body concentrated solely on her. Soon she was the one cloaked in lightning. Three massive metal arms sprouted from her body as the ghostly figure of a fully clad demonic shogun arose from the bloody sands behind her. As her main battery turrets formed, a massive purple bladed sword appeared in the arms on the summoned shogun.

As predicted, tiny drone sized aircraft began assailing the front lines on the beach head. Musashi responded by turning her main batteries into shotguns, thanks to her prior knowledge of Sanshiki, she was able to litter the sky with hundreds of thousands of steel ball bearings from her rigging's guns. When mass production light cruisers began closing in on the beach, Musashi realized her detachment of ships wouldn't make it in time to effectively defend, leaving her section open. Flaring her tails and channeling her mind into her rigging, she commanded the shogun to enact a defense.

The shogun answered the call willingly as it hoisted the blade of lightning and swept it in a wide arc over the immediate battlefield, cutting down elites and cruisers alike. Any elite touched by the blade was zapped with enough lightning to immediately torch their skin and melt their armor, while the mass production cruisers were cleaved in half at the waterline, leading to a rapid foundering of the vessels that had gotten too close.

Once the arc had completed its swing, Musashi let out a breath, evidenced by a puff of electrically charged steam. As she resurveyed the battlefield, she smiled as she realized she had temporarily halted the advance of the Sirens in sector four long enough for her contingent of Azur Lanne vessels to get into position to render fire support. New Jersey jumped from her vessel and ran to Musashi, who had taken a knee and was propping herself up with her sword.

“That was insane. Sorry we couldn't get here quicker, the storm is making the waters around base very difficult for the destroyers. Are you okay?” New Jersey demanded as she helped Musashi to her feet.

“I'm exhausted, but uninjured. Our line was broken momentarily, but the Grey Ghost came through when we needed her.” Musashi admitted.

“Understood. Check your wounded. I'm not seeing a whole lot of elites in this sector after that stunt you pulled. I think they pulled back after such substantial losses. Get your girls back on their feet and prepare for another assault. We'll handle the big guns.” NJ said as her main batteries lit up the darkened sky with the roar of sixteen inch freedom.

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“Our forces in their so-called ‘sector four’ have been decimated. I've pulled back the remaining elites in that sector to reinforce the others.” Strength reported.

“This is quite new. It's evident that the Kansen aren't following orders from the commander. Moreover, it seems that Enterprise has stepped in as a field commander for this test. Have we encountered such a thing before?” Zero asked.

“Once. The Kansen of the original timeline were granted such levels of autonomy. Other timelines have never progressed as far as to allow the Kansen to operate without a commander.” Strength replied.

Zero's eyes brightened.

“This is incredible. If memory serves me, the reason the original timeline's Kansen gained autonomy was through the absolute trust of the commander and Naval HQ. Here, it's the opposite. They've revolted into independence in spite of both their current commander and Naval HQ. Their autonomy was achieved through the sheer will and need to live. Did you see Musashi? I've never seen her activate a rigging quite like that. The armored being that swept the battlefield, is that something we've known her to possess?” Zero asked.

“No. Not even in the original timeline. It seems here that she's been adamant on honing her abilities to the fullest. And if we use her as a benchmark, we could very clearly be looking at an Azur Lane that is capable of providing some form of defense against the leviathans.” Strength spoke, inputting the variables she was seeing into an unknown calculation.

“And look over at their ‘sector twelve'! Bismarck and Hindenburg are absolutely dominating the battlefield. I'm seeing platforms of obsidian beneath the drake harnessed by Hindenburg. And the three headed beast obeying Bismarck's commands. Have the Iron Blood truly gotten so adept with our technology that they've made such beasts a reliable reality?” Zero asked.

“This Azur Lane has made it a dead-beaten point to collect any and all scraps of information they can find on us. Remember? This is why we had to start wiping the black box recorders on our mass production vessels. They were advancing far too quickly for us to remain a viable threat. That's also why we switched to using heavy cruisers as our first line of defense instead of destroyers. They found the weaknesses far too quick as opposed to the hundreds of timelines before them.” Strength countered.

“And Commander James has fostered this mentality. Look at them fight? Sure they are taking hits, but this looks almost effortless for them.” Zero exclaimed excitedly.

Strength pushed a screen over to Zero so she could view it.

“At the current power output, this Azur Lane is able to put up a defense of about forty to fifty percent against the leviathans that wiped out the original timeline… matching the original timeline's output. But…” Strength said as she added in factors that Zero recognized from Empress's report on Fancy.

“... with the addition of Fancy and the other kansen that James is recruiting, that number jumps to seventy five percent. And if we are able to turn this around and secure a pact with Azur Lane, we could see a near perfect defense, around ninety five percent effective. There'd be widespread damage to humanity, cities lost, millions dead, civilization thrown back to pre-world war one… but… they'd survive. This timeline could withstand an assault similar to what destroyed the original timeline.” Strength spoke.

Zero was unable to remain stoic.

“How are the pirate girls so effective?!” Zero asked.

“They were created without limitations. There was no technology used in their creation, according to Empress. Their potential is limitless in theory. Reading heavily into her report, I saw a girl of extreme importance.” Strength said.

“Oh?” Zero asked.

“Empress mentioned her name as Sao Martinho. The lead ship of the Spanish Armada. But… what makes her special is how she manifests.” Strength explained.

“I require an explanation.” Zero demanded.

“Empress defined her as a ‘tan-skinned angelic figure’. Empress put a note in her report about a theory around this kansen. It simply read along the lines of ‘possibly impervious to conceptual warfare’.” Strength explained further.

“So there's the potential for her to be able to directly attack the Leviathans… and then the Dolphin girl… I've been thinking more. Our destroyers saw four sailing vessels, but when one of our destroyers was sunk, one of the sailing vessels just fell apart. The refloated destroyer appeared right next to what I assume is the Dolphin. If that's the case, she can seize command of anything she sinks. Fancy is a monster in and of herself… these Age of Sail Kansen are like eldritch deities when compared to today's modern kansen.” Zero spoke.

“Which is why they are deemed as being effective in the calculations. Zero… we might be able to stand a chance here.” Strength spoke firmly.

Zero nodded.

“Then we press on. We'll continue testing Azur Lane in James's absence. Forget about the new Commander, he's proven his uselessness. Focus on disrupting anything coming from NHQ involving anything that could impede Azur Lane's progress. The entire infiltrator corps is available to make life hell for NHQ. This incident has shown the depths of their corruption. We cannot allow them to dismantle what has been built up here.” Zero demanded.

Strength nodded.

“Understood.” Strength said as she and Zero returned to dictating the battle at Wake Island.

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“We've made it.” Kearsarge said as the three of them dropped anchor in the shallows of an unmarked island. Up close, towers of black metal were seen where pillars of rock once stood.

“She wasn't kidding… this looks exactly like a siren stronghold.” Friedrich spoke as she carried the canister in her arms as the three kansen walked ashore.

“Nakhimov, are you getting anything?” Kearsarge asked.

“I'm getting bits of interference, but this place definitely is run down. I guess three centuries erodes even the most advanced technology.” Nakhimov spoke before a sharp voice split the air.

“Halt and identify yourself. Failure to do so will be met by my wrath.” A woman spoke. Friedrich stopped as she saw the woman in question.

Before the trio stood a tanned woman in white robes. A crown of red light floated eerily above her head as a spear of blood red steel spun slowly in her hand. Behind her, a woman with blue hair and a tattered captain's coat could be seen by Friedrich.

Friedrich opened her mouth to speak, but it was too late.

“Perhaps I had not made myself clear…” The tan woman spoke as four wings appeared from her back cloaked in light and covered in eyes that darted in every direction before freezing and narrowing their gaze on Friedrich.

“Identify yourself, or perish.” The woman spoke, her tone now ethereal.

“My name is Friedrich der Große. H-class battleship of Azur Lane.” Friedrich called as the woman's whole demeanor changed immediately.

“H-class? Like… Miss Ulrich?” The woman asked.

Nakhimov, Kearsarge and Friedrich all immediately looked at one another and then back at her.

“How do you know my sister's name?!” Friedrich hissed.

“Because… I met her… almost three hundred years ago. The last I saw her… was on this island before she and my friends all disappeared into a flash of light that I could not follow. But before she left, she said that she would show back up here. So… I've been waiting here all this time.” The woman said, her wings retracting as she approached the trio.

“Just… who are you?” Friedrich asked.

“My name… is Saō Martinho, Flagship of the Spanish Armada. Angel of the seas.”