Chapter Text
In the end, they had been on high alert for almost an hour, Hornet confirmed that the Siren submarine had made its way to the west to the point that she lost sight of it due to how deep it had gone underwater as well as gone too farther away than she had enough control over her planes. Even with that knowledge, the commander had Le Malin and Cassin run a perimeter around them and had Hornet kept planes on the lookout as well.
The commander was at this point immensely grateful to Saratoga, it might have been an incredible amount of foresight from her, or even just an anxiety-driven prank on her part due to the lengthy halt of communications once they went underground, but he wasn’t so confident they could have fared better with less hands working on his side. Just having Hornet detect the ambush way ahead of time had probably saved their lives, and quite possibly saved what could very well be a new light of hope for humanity. Even now they could also be at much more ease having a considerable anti-submarine force on their side.
The commander stopped himself, and his thoughts, in front of the door to the Medical bay area within the Azuma, he was aware that he needed to be focused and mentally prepared for whatever after fight concerns and tasks that would have to be dealt properly, as such, having an adequate mindset was important. Or so he had found, even a few seconds to properly prepare himself would help greatly with whatever unfolded for them.
He felt Azuma’s hand on his back, yet no words were spoken, he appreciated the gesture and the concern, he nodded minutely, knowing she was currently attentive to his responses.
“Thank you, I’m fine, just gathering my thoughts” he took the opportunity to straighten his cap “Now, shall we?”
The Sakuran lady nodded elegantly in acknowledgement to the commander, which he reciprocated and proceeded to open the door for the two of them to enter.
Inside the medical room he found Kent, a medical chart on her hands that she had been writing something in, in front of her, on one of the beds of the room, laid Brooklyn, still unresponsive looking pale and obviously in pain, bandages wrapped around her head and her left arm, wearing only her undergarments and a blanket covering her lower body, a nasty looking bruise covering most of the left side of her torso, perhaps a testament of Kansen’s resiliency and vitality, the fight had since concluded less than an hour ago and her body had already developed bruise marks, the commander was sure that if the attack had not been so completely out of the ordinary, Brooklyn would be up already and trying to write a full report on how the battle had gone.
“Hey! Commander! What can I do for you?” Kent immediately stood up from the stool she had been sitting at, and then she managed to do a curtsy even when the room had become somewhat crowded with 4 people in it.
“Hello, Kent. I think we can finally take a break from high alert status. Anything of concern to report?”
The Kansen looked at him and then at Brooklyn, who laid quietly on the bed, for a few seconds, shaking her head almost as if not sure how to respond to the question.
“The -impact- she received was an impossibly powerful one, commander. I was behind her when it happened, there was no smoke nor fire from any guns being fired, yet it sounded like an explosion. Suffren claims she saw the Siren throwing a punch at Brooklyn, but that did not sound like it could have come from -just- a simple haymaker thrown at her vessel, at least not like anything we have seen from combat sirens like Purifier. Besides, Brooklyn is a tough little biscuit, regardless of how kind and proper she might seem, I have taken care of giving her first aid a few times before when we got on sorties together, she has taken hits from siren weaponry before and walked away graciously from it.”
“As things stand I cannot properly assess, nor discard, for internal damage but she seems to be stable, if in pain, so it could be just the sheer shock of it.” Kent shook her head again once she finished her report, as if trying to dispel the bad memories from the encounter
“You were hit too, how are you doing so far?”
“ugh… I would rather not remember that. That was a nasty hit on my turret” Kent grimaced at that, gingerly touching her own right arm on a tender spot which would have been linked to that damage. “I could have been of more help if I hadn’t taken that hit.”
“Nonsense, you all performed incredibly well against a complete unknown. No one will ever find fault with you for being on the path of a lucky shot. Besides, you are the one with the most experience as a combat medic among us, your expertise is invaluable in our current circumstances.”
“I- er… Thanks commander, it means a lot to hear that” Kent gave the commander a brief smile that brought some of her usual cheerfulness back to her.
“What about Reno and Suffren? Have you been able to check on them?”
“Ah, no. Not thoroughly at the very least, they seemed a little on edge after the fight, but they both insisted I check on Brooklyn first. I could go and check on them now, but that would imply leaving Brooklyn alone…” Kent said, her lips were making a flatline and once again looked at her friend on the bed, obviously concerned about the possibility of her waking up alone and under distress or discomfort of some sort with no one to lend a hand.
“Understood. We are low on available hands at the moment, do you think you could check on them if I send them here?”
“I would really appreciate it if you could do that for me, Commander!” Kent bowed gracefully in that well practiced manner of the maid corps, somehow reassuring the commander that things could very well be just fine.
“Any report from our guests?”
“Stormcat came by, she left Coby with them but nothing of concern happened during the fight” Kent answered with one finger to her lips as she tried to recall everything that had been told to her.
“She mentioned them being distraught rather than concerned or anxious. Other than that, she said that she would check on everyone at the mess hall”
“Understood. Thanks, Kent. Keep up the good work”
“Mhm! Thanks commander! i will!”
**
“Commander in the room!” Stormcat saluted once the commander had entered Azuma’s mess hall, her voice had startled not only the commander but a few of the Kansen in the room as well.
“At ease” he said to her once he realized she had been saluting, looking behind, searching for Buggy, who had been silently escorting him the whole time, he then realized that her whole demeanor had been strictly professional unless told to be otherwise.
I guess they run things slightly different for the Valkyries. Worth asking around how they feel about that, maybe exchanging ideas with some of their officers. A task for another time.
Once again, shelving thoughts for later use, the commander made a beeline towards Suffren and Reno who seemed to have been talking among themselves on one of the tables before Stormcat made them aware that the commander had arrived, as such, they were both looking at him intently.
“Reno, Suffren, I hope I didn’t interrupt you two.”
Reno and Suffren briefly exchanged looks among them before Suffren let out a small chuckle.
“Please, commander! We are on still duty, and even if we weren’t, you are always welcome company!” Reno commented in her cheerful way. “Don’t be a stranger now! Come sit with us! There's still some sodas in the fridge if you’d like some”
“I am glad to hear that. I really don’t want to impose on any of you, even if our stations and duties would sometimes make it seem like we are intent on asking more and more from each one of us.”
“I find myself inclined to agree with both sentiments.” The Sakuran Cruiser spoke calmly while addressing everyone at the table and off from it, the commander and the Valkyrie accompanying them included. “As such, I hope you don’t find it troublesome if I decide to be selfish and prepare some tea for everyone. I think the situation merits it”
Without really waiting for their response, Azuma bowed towards them and then she made her way to the kitchen, leaving everyone blinking for a few seconds before regaining their composure.
“I guess we must look a bit worse for wear” Suffren commented, looking dejected almost as if she had lost some kind of friendly match against a friend.
“I think all of us are a little shaken, and within reason, it has been surprise after surprise for the last couple days.” The commander sat at the table along with them, he lifted his hand to placate them as he saw them ready to rearrange their seats according to station “You too, Buggy. I’m of a mind of having your team relax once we reach the base, for now, at least sit and share tea with us, right now I would say that even if any truly undesirables manage to get inside of a Kanse’s ship, without their knowledge, we still would have 3 of them here for a quick answer, besides, it is much more dangerous to have you standing in the middle of a ship’s mess while in movement than just sitting and being attentive of your surroundings.”
For her part, Buggy furrowed her brows and seemed like she wanted to argue all of those points, she looked directly at the commander, then at Reno and Suffren, she stared at the commander before shaking her head and then briefly nodding in acceptance.
“Understood, Commander Anderson, er… could I get Stormcat too? I wouldn’t feel quite right if only I get to have some rest.”
“By all means. Also, feel free to go check the kitchen with her, if you prefer a soda over tea. While I highly recommend getting to experience firsthand the tea from the ladies of the Sakura empire, as well as the one made by royal maids, I cannot force you to have it, if it’s not your figurative cup of tea.”
“I, er… yes, thank you commander!” Buggy saluted, regardless of the commander’s obvious preference to keep things informal, leaving them, in order to get her companion that was still guarding the door.
Once she was gone, it was Suffren that finally broke the silence.
“Commander, we both wanted to apologi-”
Only to be halted by the commander, he raised his hand while looking at them obviously intending to stop that line of thought he guessed they would arrive to.
“None of that, first, we will wait for Azuma to come back, I think she has the right of it, perhaps we are much more shaken than we initially realized. We will first get to share a drink, together, and once the tea has done some of its purpose, we will begin any sort of meaningful debriefing”
“But, let me tell you this first. You both performed admirably out there, my personal opinion of both of you is at an all-time high right now. Of all of you, regardless of how the current situation might look like, we managed to come out of that with all of us accounted for”
Reno and Suffren both seemed to be chewing through the commander’s words, although obviously somewhat uncomfortable, possibly due to their self recriminations, when Azuma timely arrived along with Buggy and Stormcat, with various cups of tea ready as well as some snacks and a few bottles of soda.
“Please help yourselves with some beverages and snacks” She said, giving the commander a cup of tea even before asking if he had a preference for his choice of beverage “The main goal of the tea is not the tea itself, it is to create a time for it, to clear the cluttering thoughts that become unnecessary, to put aside concern and stress, as best as possible, and of course to share the tea and ourselves with others”
Azuma simply finished serving the tea for everyone, with graceful and well practiced movements, and then she sat beside the commander. By this point everyone was looking at her with a combination of confusion and awe, which was a common enough response when one was given a more profound explanation of the meaning behind certain Sakuran customs.
“Ah-ah… that’s somewhat intense, isn’t it?” Buggy was the first to break the silence. She had brought a bottle of soda for herself, but now she seemed much more interested in the cup of tea in front of her.
For his part, the commander was a bit more used to the whole Sakuran tea experience, so he simply proceeded to taking the cup and enjoy the aroma of it first, not in order to follow some strict ceremony, but rather, just as Azuma had said, he had found that properly engaging onto drinking a good cup of tea did indeed help to dispel unnecessary thoughts and focus himself on his tasks.
“If you girls find it to your liking, or would like to experience more about it, you are welcome to come to the Sakura dorm” Azuma bowed minutely as she invited everyone, but it was obvious she was extending this invitation to their current guests, the Valkyries.
“I-er, we-” Buggy said, intelligently.
“Thank you for the offer, and for your tea, we would be honored if you could have us” Stormcat bowed back in response as she set her cup back on the table, she had brought her own bottle of soda, but had swiftly set it aside once Azuma had given her a steamy cup of tea, making Buggy look at her with wide eyes and her jaw hanging in surprise.
“These last few days must have shaken all of us; I have just realized I’m doing this all, out of order.” The commander put his cup down, and gestured for both Reno and Suffren, only after they had taken some of their tea.
“You two engaged the unknown Siren, and briefly reported that you had taken some damage. How are you feeling? Do you have any sort of health concerns?”
“Er- No commander, nothing we cannot handle with some good night’s rest” Reno responded, lifting her right arm and slapping her own bicep with her left arm, making the commander lift an eyebrow at the obvious dismissal of concern from them.
“Be as it may, I will have you go and get checked by Kent. She will be much more at ease knowing you two are fine. I will feel much calmer as well”
Reno looked at the commander, a slight blush adorned her face before she looked down at her cup of tea she was now fidgeting with. “I- Yes commander, we will make sure to have Kent run a checkup on us.”
“Now, what can you tell me about the enemy we just faced, it didn’t sound like any Siren we know of, but I want your opinion on this.”
“Mm… I think she was a different Siren from those we have encountered so far.” Reno answered as she seemed to be trying to recall not only her last encounter, but others she had been involved in.
“She is certainly quite talkative and forward, I would even say she is as battle crazed as Purifier, down to the manic grin.”
“This all rings true” Suffren continued “But not only was she far stronger than Purifier has shown to be, her appearance was also quite different, she seemed to look more the part of what the reports have on the description of the Siren ‘Strength’, far stronger than normal sirens, with oversized mechanical claws instead of hands, but she had a pale skin rather than Strength’s darker one, also, she wore a cropped jacket and un petit bikini.”
“eh? pardon?” the commander raised an eyebrow at that unsolicited description of attire.
“ Oui , diminutive” Suffren put her hands together making the shape of a triangle, a rather small one at that considering she was talking about any sort of clothing, even for the unruly standards of Azur Lane swimwear.
“er- Ok” The commander appreciated that they could recall minute details about their enemies, so they could create a visual profile even if they didn’t had cameras ready during initial confrontations, but he couldn’t help to be a little confused about the focus on the clothing “what about her weapons and her fighting style”
“Ugh, she really likes throwing heavy punches around” Reno groaned as she doubled down a little, obviously recalling her encounter with the siren. “She got me by surprise, and even while I managed to jump back and relax my body, so it wouldn’t hit me with full force, she send me flying and it still felt as if one of the big seven had decided to tackle me at full throttle”
“Truly.” Suffren continued with the subject “She evaded one of my lance attacks and dashed forward from under it, almost as if she was a darn pugilist, I managed to block her punch with my rigging and take some of the brunt off, yet it will probably take about a week for my rigging to self-repair on its own, I don’t really care to see how that looks on my ship.”
“Oh! And we got a brief glance at her rigging, it looked like a Dolphin!”
“What? A dolphin?!” Buggy asked, completely baffled by the revelation.
“Er… yes, so far from all the sirens we have encountered, none has had something like a dolphin.” Reno filled her in, as she started listing the sirens they had interacted with.
“Purifier has a hammerhead shark for a rigging, Omitter has tentacles, lots of them… so we suppose she has an octopus or something, Tester comes flying with a manta ray”
“Wait wait wait! You get to fight cute sea creatures, while we face some multilegged-eldritch-horror tier stuff?” Buggy stood up from the table, agitated and frustrated in equal measure as everyone looked at her.
“I think I prefer it that way, you know? it would be kind of a downer to fight something cutesy, like, imagine some land-based animal conversion, like maybe, a siren mechanical bear? I mean, sure, big and fierce, but they are well known for being cute and cuddly. Heck, General Shamwee told me that she once-” Stormcat was interrupted by Buggy putting a hand in front of her, which in turn sort of startled her out of her train of thought, while she herself remained quiet, obviously frustrated but with her head down, her face not being readable by the rest of the group as now everyone was looking at her. After a few seconds she finally sat back seemingly deflated, sighing deeply as she visibly shrank onto her seat.
“please, just… don’t mind us, just continue with your debriefing, sorry…” She said, gesturing with one hand to try and have the conversation carry on without them, as she doubled on herself, her forehead resting against her other hand on the table, her red locks covering anything that could be seen from her face, obviously frustrated beyond what she was capable of handling.
“Ah, yes. So, er… she used her rigging to create a distraction, and then she jumped at us, I’m sure I managed to see some Siren guns on the rigging, but it was only there to enact diversion tactics, for her surprise attack and in order to flee.” Suffren gestured with her hands, filling the holes in her conversation regarding the movement of the rigging, gesturing how it jumped from the water.
The commander mentally chewed that information for a while before asking his next question.
“Kent mentioned that she was hit by a rather powerful shot that over penetrated one of her turrets. Do you think that was from the flagship the Siren was riding on, or do you think it might have been from her rigging?”
Both Suffren and Reno furrowed their brows at that question, their lips flatlined as they obviously thought as deep as possible, trying to recall the events from their brief encounter.
“I think her rigging had energy weapons, similar to the weapons we have seen on other riggings. If the shot over penetrated, it must have been a physical volley from the cruiser she had been originally riding on” Reno said as she seemed to finally gather her thoughts on the matter.
“That’s somewhat troubling then, did you get a good look at the enemy flagship” The commander asked pondering that last question himself.
“mmmm… It kind of looked like a battlecruiser, not trying to point fingers or anything, but it resembled some of the Ironblood designs” Suffren said after thinking about what she had seen.
“Hornet said the same” The commander thought out loud “But with that firepower it might have been more akin to a pocket battleship. Which is an odd choice for a flagship, Sirens usually have their own custom made flagships but they always use their own designs, this time it was more akin to a ship picked, maybe even out of preference given the kind of Siren that was on it, but that’s only a conjecture at this point…”
“Well, for now, please make sure to visit Kent. And be honest with her, even it’s only a slight ache or a bruise, I would rather spend medical consumables than risk any of you. Now, if you will excuse me, I’ll go and check on the Doctor and his people, make sure they are fine as well. I’ll let you know if there are any sort of changes to our plan of action”
“Yes, commander!”
Everyone was about to stand up, even the Valkyries, when they realized that Azuma was still sitting sipping at her tea, they soon noticed they had maybe taken half a cup of the delectable beverage, it was a weird couple seconds until it was obvious this was not the sort of fight that Azur Lane, even with the commander on their side, had any chance of winning, so they kept their defeated sighs to themselves and focused on enjoying the rest of their tea.