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Once their high alert status had gone down, the commander promptly checked on their situation to a much more closer detail, everyone but those that had been involved in the fight, was on a good status, in the case of the Doctors and the little girl they appeared to be excited and anxious to some degree, which was a reasonable response to being alerted they would enter combat within a ship, even if neither them, nor the ship they found themselves in, had participated directly.
The Valkyries seemed perfectly fine, with the only exception of Buggy who was still shaken over the idea of “Sea-Sirens” having “cuddly weapons” which was a perspective that the commander couldn’t quite share. Then again, he fully understood how the Sirens were a threat hard to properly conceptualize as one, a perception often shared among those fortunate enough to have never faced them, nor been on the front row seat for a combat against them during a siege on a port city.
With that subject in mind, regarding the credibility of the Siren threat, quite possibly the worst wake up call for everyone else that had been fortunate enough to not be involved in the war, until that point, had been the Siren’s land incursions. Although the Valkyries had been the end result of a research on how to further tackle such an issue, as well as an incredible amount of worldwide funds and enlistees, the commander considered war to be an ugly issue that he would have preferred that no one knew about, much like he would have rather keep the hidden horrors of the seas deep in the darkness.
Well, she will either get enough first hand experience about such a thing or not. Not quite sure which would be preferable.
Shaking his head and focusing again on the task pending to be completed within the limited time they all had. With his mind already come to the conclusions of what had to be done, the commander finally decided to pick the radio in order to set things in motion
“Azur Lane, this is -Salt actual-, please confirm status. Over.”
“-Witch Idol- here, ‘ seas are fair’ on our lanes, currently on standby. Over.”
Well at the very least those are some good news. No sudden movements on their side.
“Everyone is accounted for. Course changed. Expect arrival within 24. -HornyMaru- Force was greatly appreciated. Encountered unknown -Songstress-. Over.”
“Understood, -Salt Actual-. Expect the proper paperwork for the deployment soon. Wish you fair skies. Over.”
Well, she is still angry but that much was expected . The commander thought to himself as he pondered briefly on everything that had happened to this point. There had certainly been a lot of unknown surprises popping left and right, for which he would have been happier if at least half of those had followed proper Naval protocol.
“Sirens are just not quite the most desirable surprise guests” The commander thought out loud, before sighing.
“fufu~” Azuma let a graceful and quiet chuckle accompany the commander’s thoughts “We would be in a much different set of circumstances if they knew how to play nice.”
“heh, that much is certain, isn't it?” He let a dark chuckle out of his lips before he mentally prepared himself for more tactical preparations “Now, lets just go over our current strategies for our return back to Azur Lane, shall we?”
**
Fortunately enough, all their planning was mostly unnecessary, they enjoyed a quiet trip back within Azur Lane’s reach with no incident, outside of yet another fire event caused by a couple Valkyries and Reno, testing/showing if they could swap their rigging-firearms to Song and the doctors, as well as the -making use of- even when those don’t “belonged” to them. The experiment had been a success (outside of the event of a small fire on the deck of Hornet’s ship) and due to that, there would be many, many reports to be written about that, as a punishment of course.
“This is Azur Lane, please identify yourself” The radio blared to life, bringing the commander’s attention away from the vast expanse of the seas, which he had been staring at from the bridge of Azuma’s vessel, bringing a considerable amount of tranquility to him, as he had felt a constant sense of dread since their last encounter.
“This is -Salt Actual-, we are home.”
**
The way the commander had arranged things had been somewhat out of regular order. Having Hornet dock her ship while everyone else kept their guards up. The Doctors, Song, and the commander as well, had been moved onto Hornet by that point. Now carrying his issued gun with him, in order to be able to offer an extra layer of protection, as pointless as that could be given the enemies they could face every other day.
“Commander, welcome back” Helena greeted the commander as he walked back onto port, with Saratoga by her side as they had waited for them with various other Kansen keeping guard around it, the commander came down from Hornet’s vessel followed by Azuma, Hornet herself, the Valkyries, the Doctors and Song, as well as Reno and Le Malin, in that order, done in such a way so they could have a guard of sorts even in land.
It was perhaps too much, as Saratoga and Helena seemed confused by the procession, Helena was in fact about to question the commander when he reacted first, raising his hand ready to explain himself before sighing and obviously deflating a little after their trip.
“Sara, Helena, it’s great to be back home.” The commander said once he halted their movement in front of them, signaling to their accompanying VIP’s “Let me introduce you to Doctor Louis Bethencourt, Doctor Janeth Soriz and Song… er…”
“Song Bethencourt” The little girl filled in the moment it had become obvious the commander was not sure how to properly address her.
This made the commander look at her, lifting his eyebrows marginally up in surprise for a brief moment before the emotion was replaced by the warm sense of joy that only children seemed to be able to bring forth from people, coming out of him as an earnest chuckle in response.
“Yes. The doctors and Song Bethencourt” he said, giving a defeated smile to Helena as he gestured towards Song who puffed her chest out full of pride.
“We are to safeguard them, please find a place to keep them safe and hold them as guests. Let’s call in for an impromptu meeting for all the faction leaders, as well as Yuubari and Chkalov, high priority meeting, they either attend or have someone to represent them, let’s say, within 1 hour”
Helena for her part furrowed her brows at the tall order, she seemed to focus on it for a moment before giving her thoughts back in return.
“Have you been sleeping well, Commander? And at the very least, have you eaten properly at least today commander?” was her only statement as she looked straight at her superior officer within Azur Lane.
“I don’t see why- There has been no time-”
“We will schedule the meeting within two hours then, one hour alone will make it very difficult to bring forth the necessary people since they might be already engaged on their own tasks. We will use that extra time to give you some proper food and maybe a good brush, I’m sure we have some of the maid corps at the ready in case such a situation occurs. Commander you are leading us, all of Azur Lane, so it would be for the better if you avoided arranging impromptu meetings while looking like a disheveled port worker” Helena said as she stood tall, her hands folded in front of her along with the papers she had been currently carrying, with a somewhat indignant look to her, which was highly uncharacteristic of her.
The commander felt like all his momentum had been suddenly halted by force. He stood there opening his mouth and closing it a couple of times, failing to give a proper answer, before he was completely cut off by Saratoga.
“Well, First things first, Welcome to Azur Lane! Now, while Helena gets the commander sorted out, let big sis Sara guide you into the base” Saratoga jumped in front of the Doctors and the little girl, aiming towards the base after she did half a twirl in a cutesy manner. They swiftly made a beeline towards it, moving along with the two of the Valkyries, Stormcat and Coby, as well as Reno and Le Malin.
As Saratoga continued the introductions as they moved towards the base. When they passed by they took the opportunity to wave at Helena, Hornet took the opportunity to approach Helena and give her a big hug and exchanged a few words and a smile between the two of them, before letting her go, waving off and making herself scarce heading towards her own ship. They all quickly moved away, leaving the Commander, Buggy and Helena behind, still in their respective positions. With Buggy adamantly staying behind the commander as she had done the entire trip, now with an obvious face to her, a combination of uncertainty about what to do, as well as apparently having decided to stick to the commander just as she had done before.
“Do-Do I really look that bad?” The commander finally asked once their guests had left.
Helena chuckled in response, she got closer to the commander and started fixing his attire, straightening the collar of his shirt and the position of his hat, while the commander kept looking at her face searching for an answer.
“Not really, Commander, for better or for worse, you are rather good at hiding your concerns as well as your weaknesses. But Azuma sent me details over the radio once you guys arrived, she has been keeping a close eye on you, and while she personally disapproved of your lack of self care, she understood there was nothing to be done while you guys were out on an extended surprise mission.”
“Besides, you forgot to introduce the Valkyries that had arrived along with you” She looked at Buggy and gave her a small wave of her hand and gestured for her to wait on her for a moment.
“Oh. Kinda slipped my mind, seeing them every day, and they get along rather well with everyone else, makes it easier to figure they have always been part of the team”
“You also forgot to mention the status of my sister” Helena said while she was fixing the commander’s jacket.
“Oh drats! Your sister is-”
“She is well, commander. She herself radioed me once you were within radio distance. Still bruised, annoyed she will have to take a break from her duties to receive medical care, but well nonetheless. She mentioned that you checked on her at least twice a day. I’m actually quite grateful to you for that, commander.”
Once she had finished with some more details of his uniform, she took a step back and gave him a warm smile much closer to the Helena he knew.
“The commander takes care of Azur Lane” she said as she stood in front of him with a brighter disposition, as well as a couple of the royal navy maids behind her, which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere while Helena had been fixing the commander’s attire.
The commander sighed in defeat, he should have known better than to try and rush things, but he also felt blessed that he had competent people working along with him who were not only capable of doing their job, but also willing to point out his faults whenever he started to veer off.
“And Azur Lane takes care of the Commander” He lifted his hands in a placating manner as Helena had made her point clear.
The commander shook his head a couple of times and then nodded once “Ok, so we will have that meeting in two hours then. Meanwhile I’ll get myself straightened out.”
“That’s great, please see if you can get in a quick nap as well. I will compile all the information from the rest of the girls. I think Hornet and Azuma have some of that prepared already, so you don’t have to worry about that. That extra time will give us some time to prepare the reports as well as some time for the early arrivals to at least browse some of the contents of said report. I'll inform you when everyone is gathered.”
“Understood. Thanks, Helena.”
“No need to thank me, Commander.”
“Oh by the way, make sure to go into the meeting room, before anyone is there, and make sure to say loud and clear ‘Clemenceau, this is a very important matter, don’t let your subordinates hear any of it, make sure only you hear it’ , you might as well use the microphone and the speakers in the room so its well heard”
Helena furrowed her eyebrows at that “You think she has microphones and other devices to listen to us in our meeting room?”
“After working briefly with her, it wouldn’t surprise me. So, I would rather look like a fool, than actually being unprepared.”
“Er- Very well, Commander.”
**
By the time the commander finally arrived at their meeting room, he felt refreshed and reinvigorated. By now, fully realizing that the girls had been on the right, he had been pushing himself too hard after their encounter with the unknown Siren. He was certain that it would take more than a shower, some sammiches, and a quick nap on Atago’s lap to recover from the whole ordeal. But as far as things could go, with the limited time they had to make a proper response, that much would have to do, for the time being.
He opened the door, glad to see that all the current faction leaders were present in the room. He made his way to his seat, with Helena by his side, continuing her role as one of his secretaries, with Buggy not currently present, both due to the secretive nature of the meeting as well as finally being properly ordered to get some R&R along with her Valkyrie companions within the Azur Lane base.
As he walked to his usual seat, he took a brief glance to make sure not only all the seats were taken, but also to make sure who was attending, giving that there was the possibility that some of the faction leaders was entangled on some previous commitments, sending a trust-worthy representative, and in some cases they could decide to come along with their second in command, which in this instance wasn’t the case apparently.
Those present were, Enterprise, representing the Kansen of the Eagle Union, more than the Eagle Union itself or its interests, King George the V, the current leader of the whole Royal Navy, Nagato, the official representative of the Sakura Empire within Azur Lane, Bismarck, representing the Kansen of the Iron Blood as well as being one of the de facto political leaders of the reformed Iron Blood Nation, Vittorio Veneto, as a representative of the Sardegna empire, Richelieu, the current representative of the reformed Iris Orthodoxy as well as its religious leader, and Sovetskaya Belorussiya, representing the Northern Parliament this time while her sister, Sovetsky Soyuz remained on their home country as one of the main governmental figures. Chkalov stood behind Belorussiya, not quite but more like a secretarie, much like Helena had done so herself. Now that the commander paid attention, he realized that Yuubari was missing, yet, he figured that having either her or Chkalov meant that they had split their responsibilities in order to be more “efficient”,
Each one sat around a circular table with a projector in the middle in which TB could assist them with visual projections regarding what was being discussed at that moment.
“Comrade Commander. Welcome back, we see that you have been busy even during your short trips” Belorussiya was the first to greet the commander even before he had fully taken his place on the table.
“We imagine this meeting has to do with these reports of a new Siren? These are concerning reports indeed, Comrade commander” Belorussiya voiced what had seemingly been everyone’s concern as many heads nodded in agreement at the statement.
“I wish that was all this meeting was about. But we might as well tackle that particular subject since this is an issue that will probably come back more than once against us. But First”
“T.B. Can you hear me?” The commander spoke while looking at nothing in particular at the middle of the table where suddenly their AI assistance popped into view.
“Yes, Commander. What can I do for you?” She asked in an electronic monotone voice that everyone had somehow grown attached to.
“Plase, record this meeting with the highest security level. Also, please look for any possible electronic wiretaps and see about disabling them”
“Understood, Commander” She replied, her visage fizzled for a split second before she spoke again “There is one electronic device not identified within the room, do you want me to get rid of it?”
If that one is from Clemenceau, she could get mad at me, but I'm certain her communication network either is more capable or will need to step up. Besides, I'm sure that Richelieu will share the information with her sooner or later.
“Yes, please. disable, fry or disconnect those however you see fit. Thanks, T.B.” The commander said, pulling his chair, accommodating himself within it.
“It is done, commander.” T.B. electronic voice dinged into the room without her actually appearing in the holographic device in the middle of the table. Everyone took this as a signal that it was appropriate to continue with the meeting, now.
“Thanks again, T.B.”
The commander had taken his place by now, with Helena handling him a copy of the report she had compiled, open right on the page detailing the information regarding the combat against the siren. The commander saw a few stickers popping out of his copy, which he imagined were there in order to tag the main aspects of what he wanted to talk about.
After silently thanking Helena, he focused on the room again, deciding to start with the points that concerned him the most.
“As you might have read. Yesterday, we faced an unknown Siren, part of what we imagine was a pincer attack, we engaged her, the other half of the supposed pincer attack remains to be addressed yet.”
“The Siren was leading a formation of five siren cruisers and her flagship, which seemed to be a battlecruiser with a high-power performance, one shell managed to land a hit on Kent’s vessel, over penetrating and disabling one of her turrets-”
At this moment, he felt a poke on his shoulder, taking his attention, without actually being able to turn around before Helena had reached forward pointing at a specific part of his copy of the report.
“According to Akashi’s inspection, Kent was hit by something along the lines of a 280 mm caliber shell at the very least… Leading us to believe that the Siren had a pocket battleship for a flagship” The commander stated, complementing his thoughts with the brief statement given by one of their expert mechanics, Akashi.
Everyone furrowed their brows at that, and the commander could easily understand it, the Sirens seemed to be able to have at their beck and call any ship they wanted, either be models from the past or futuristic nightmares. As such, to pick a pocket battleship seemed to be rather “emotional” when compared with what they had usually fought against.
“Once the flagship was robbed of its mobility, after several torpedoes and various volleys from our forces had hit it, the Siren dropped off it and engaged directly in close quarters”
This, again made several brows raise up, after all, the Sirens were rarely wont to engage physically on their own, they had proven to be more likely to use all their “toys” until they were broken beyond repair, and then they would make their move, which usually involved a disappearing act.
“Pardon, Comrade commander, Am I misreading this? The siren punched Brooklyn herself out of the water, right? Surely not her vessel, but Brooklyn herself?”.
The commander sighted internally, he really wished what he had seen had only been but a bad dream.
“The report is correct, from our accounts, the unknown Siren physically punched Brooklyn’s vessel, lifting it off the water almost in its entirety. I-”
At this moment, Helena had pointed to yet another part of the document, the commander furrowed his brows and sighed internally. He felt like he was slightly unprepared to give the accounts of what had happened, given that he was forced to take some rest, even while he knew it had been for the best.
“If you look at the annex at the end of the document, Akashi made a quick inspection on Brooklyn’s vessel, which shows not only pictures showing Brooklyn’s vessel crooked bow, but also another picture showing an indentation on it with the shape of a fist”
The commander raised his hands preemptively as he caught the murmur from the Kansen before it really started off.
“From the statements of Reno and Suffren, which engaged directly against this unidentified Siren. She possesses enormous mechanical claws, much like those seen on a few of our Iron Blood friends, making her share a certain resemblance with the Arbiter ‘Strength’ in her general appearance as well as her combat capabilities, both armor and power output but while looking much more like a regular Siren, as well as being too talkative, to the point of being easy to taunt, much like is the case with Purifier. Which in turn was the key factor to lead to her defeat by Reno and Suffren, making her retreat from the battlefield”
“Diminutive black undergarments?” Vittorio Veneto read out loud in surprise, probably unable to contain herself from the absurd note on the report set next to a skillfully done sketch of the siren, posted in the report.
The commander decided to just ignore that and continued with his personal report.
“At the current moment, this Siren is to be given a high-risk assessment. Should she be encountered we are to retreat, taking all possible evasive maneuvers at hand, this is until we further assess possible plans on how to deal with her.”
Everyone nodded at that, slightly confused due subject being obviously shoved aside, quite the surprise since to them this would have been their main priority regarding strategies as well as the high note of the meeting.
The commander sat back on his chair and sighed, he took off his cap briefly, only to pass his hand over his hair, he arranged it back in place as he was preparing himself for the next part of the meeting.
“Now, I presume the next part of the report hangs more on me, given to its delicate nature as well as the diligence and seriousness of everyone that participated in these couple missions. Which means it was completely omitted due to its high level of secrecy.”
Again several eyebrows raised at that, yet everyone remained quiet, waiting for the commander to explain himself.
“As you all know, every now and then, we get requests from various governments to -Audit- facilities and various researches that deal with wisdom cubes. Which in turn, requires us to go and check in on said facilities in various parts of the world.”
By this point there would have been a joke cracked regarding this extension of his responsibilities, yet the solemn air that the commander showed, made everyone aware that the commander had something rather serious to share.
“We went to the island mentioned in the reports, or not. You will have to excuse me if I cannot share its precise location. We met Doctor Bethencourt and other scientists there. The doctor seems to be the head researcher in that facility, while he hasn’t officially disclosed the information, it’s obvious, from his interactions with Suffren and Le Malin, that he is a citizen of the Iris Orthodoxy.”
The commander stopped there, again preparing himself to convey his findings with the proper gravitas, lest he might sound like he is pulling a bad joke.
“From what the Doctor has revealed, they have been successful in making the wisdom cubes manifest armaments and -concepts-.” The commander couldn’t help himself, when he declared this, he looked at Richelieu, she seemed concerned about this revelation, her face remained mostly neutral except for a slight crease on her brow.
“What kind of armament have they produced?” Nagato asked, taking advantage of the obvious silence that had filled the room.
“Siren-like armament. Vehicles, ships, weapons” The commander matter-of-factly replied
“How is that possible?!”
“Does this imply-”
“Please calm down.” The commander spoke over everyone calling for their attention over the concerned voices of those present. “The Doctor claims that the cubes can manifest -virtually anything-, but they discovered that the cubes could produce Siren-like armaments much more easily and at a lower cost of materials”
“He explained to us that by performing stress-tests they could manifest a certain amount of -positive results- the number would vary directly depending on the size and complexity of the desired results, as well as the amount of materials prepared for the manifestation, from his own words, he said that they could mass produce three to five human-designed destroyers or ten to fifteen Siren-like, the results seemed to hold the same ratio when they tried the same test with land-based vehicles, with the result of Siren-walkers, all siren iterations have proven to be pilotable. He made mention of how it is possibly due to the perception of what a weapon is and the Siren’s influence on the world. None of those capable of moving on their own, nor carrying weapons of their own when manifested.”
“Fascinating!” Chkalov had long started taking notes and was obviously prepared to run off the moment the meeting was adjourned.
“That’s… certainly disquieting, yet-” Vittorio murmured.
“This could really change the course of the war! To mass produce entire fleets!” Belorussiya exclaimed excitedly, echoing the inner thoughts of many of her comrades in the room.
“Pardon, commander” Richielieu raised her voice, making the murmur die down, everyone now focusing on her.
“You said they also had success in manifesting Concepts?” Richelieu asked quietly yet with a firm intensity that the very keenly emotionally aware Kansen detected immediately, now everyone quickly looked at the commander in search for an answer.
The commander’s mouth was a flat line before he nodded quietly at the question. He was aware that the information of the Basillica had not been openly shared among the various factions, as such, the fact that Richelieu was asking meant she was at least comfortable with sharing more openly some of the events or at least the technological secrets and findings deep underground the Basillica, during that mission.
“Yes. From what he has explained, they were successful in manifesting various concepts to life, as a single entity.”
“Just like?!-” Richelieu exclaimed perhaps a tad more highly than she wanted to, her voice close to breaking out of her usual calm demeanor. Making more than one head turn her direction with evident curiosity.
The commander for his part raised both his hands to try and mollify her.
“No. The Doctors manifested what they describe as ‘the conceptualization of humanity’s endless potential and growth’… the living concept of what they consider the greatests assets of humankind.”
The moment the Commander finally shared what had been concerning him, he felt like a weight had finally lifted from his shoulders, he even managed to straighten out a little bit. He also soon realized that the room had burst onto questions, comments, and murmurs.
“Commander, is this concept hidden within this facility?” Enterprise finally asked, breaking out of her usual silence.
“No. the -conceptual living organism-, which we will refer as ‘Song’ arrived to Azur Lane with the fleet I commanded during this mission”.
“‘Song’? As in, the little girl ‘Song’?! the one that arrived today along with you and the Doctors?!” It was now Helena’s turn to break out of her usual professional demeanor and ask a question even while she held the position of secretary.
“Yes.” The commander turned to acknowledge her question before turning back to the table, and everyone’s questioning looks “The Doctor said that rather than to search the finalized concept of something which is in turn -unfathomable- for mankind, since we are too far away to even grasp at the basic understanding of such a concept, they focused on something more ‘like a seed’ to nurture it and let -it-, or rather, ‘her’ grow. If what the doctor said is true, that little girl has unlimited potential within herself, he claims she should be as physically fit as a Kansen right now, despite her looks or her age.”
“With that in mind, Chkalov, as soon as we are finished here, I want Vestal to check on her. Then it will be the turn for you, Yuubari and all the scientific power of Azur Lane, along with the Doctors, to then check on what she might be capable of doing. The doctors carry with them several binders worth of information about their research with them, you and Yuubari are cleared to analyze those, as well as anyone you can trust with this.”
“T’was within my plans, Commander. But thanks for keeping me in your thoughts. We will arrange for health and potential tests” Chkalov nodded at the commander, only briefly looking at him for confirmation, before going back to her notepad, surely to scribble potential tests and questions.
“Ok, firstly, now that I have explained most of it. We will keep this subject within wraps. Until we have figured out if the doctor’s claims are true, I don’t want any of our governments to get their hopes up, or worst case, decide they want to test any of these findings, or people, on their own.”
“Even after we discover which parts of these claims are true. We will then meet and discuss what we are supposed to do after that.”
“Next point. We are to approach the girl and the doctors in a controlled manner. I’m not implying that we should make any sort of access lists nor anything similar. It’s actually the other way around, I trust all of you, all of us, to be mindful regarding a child. Especially when she is so much like a priority ship, a child which is closer to a newborn with actual past nor memories that dictate how she would likely behave or live. What I am asking of you is to think of her as a comrade and a friend. For she might very well become one in the future…”
“Comrade commander. Be it an aspect of humanity or not. You are talking about possibly sending a child to war”
The commander laid back on his chair and closed his eyes, thinking about that statement for a moment before rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms.
“Yes. I wish I wasn’t… but that seems to be the case.”