Our Bonds

My name is a Suwanto Ao, better known as the Commander of Azur Lane. Welcome to Azur Lane's home island. This man-made island is where all the shipgirls from all over the globe gather. Things happened and I became the head-honcho of this group of explosive girls.

Azur Lane was an alliance originally formed by four shipgirl factions, Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Ironblood, and Sakura Empire. In fact, these four factions were at war with each other. Due to different ideologies, they were consistently fighting each other and creating new alliances. The Royal Navy with the Eagle Union and Ironbloods with Sakura Empire. The fighting got so bad that the Royal Navy-Eagle Union alliance mistakenly kidnapped an IJN shipgirl whom they thought was part of Sakura Empire due to her clothes. That was over a year ago, before I came in and took on the mantle of Commander for Azur Lane. We handle and cleared out an amazing amount of singularities,which could destroy the Earth if left alone for too long. Despite the war, I have made many amazing memories with my girls.

I really like some of the operations we pulled off. Operation Northern Overture was when we first discovered the North Union girls. Though they are now staying at Maizuru. I heard they are doing pretty well there.

Operation Sky Kebab, or SK for short, was an interesting one. We had to take back air superiority at Midway. There were no Siren sh.i.p.s, only Siren planes. A lot of Siren planes. It took us an entire week just to find the machine spawning those things. Zuikaku was so pissed when the destroyers started calling the operation a turkey shooting event midway through.

Overtime, our family grew, taking in members from the Dragon Empery, Vichya Dominion, Iris Libre, Hololive and many others. We set up outposts around the world and dispatch shipgirls there to monitor Siren activity. Thanks to the blueprints from IJN, we were able to create stronger and more efficient weaponry to fight the Sirens.

Life here at Azur Lane is a bliss. Sure, there are lots of work to do, wars to fight, and I spend most of the time fearing for the safety of my lovely girls. Even so, I enjoy my life with them. Some of the girls even share an oath with me. To me, life here at Azur Lane is a heavenly paradise.

*BOOOMM*

"Ahhh! Taihou-san and Akagi-san are fighting again!" (Javelin)

"Waahhh! I had enough! I don't want to do these reports anymore!" (Queen Elizabeth)

"Commander! Let's play hide-and-seek! You are it!" (U-81)

"Hello, everyone! Kizuna Ai here! Today, I'm collaborating with Hololive member, Minato Aqua-chan! Eh? Why did the system shut off?! I just started streaming!" (Kizuna Ai)

"Today is the day I finally defeat you, Grey Ghost!" (Zuikaku)

"Again? Don't you ever get tired of doing this?" (Enterprise)

"Shut up and fight me!" (Zuikaku)

Yep. A chaotic, heavenly paradise... Haah... Time to settle all of this...

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"Master, here are the preparation doc.u.ments for Project Thorn Heart." (Belfast)

Belfast placed a huge stack of papers on my desk. It's taller than me!

"Are you sure all of this are about Project Thorn Heart?"

Please say no. Please tell me the actual amount is way less than this.

"My sincerest apologies. Her Majesty is still working on the remaining half." (Belfast)

That's not what I- This is just half...

"I know what you are thinking, but this is an important project. That's why there is so much to prepare." (Belfast)

"You don't have to remind me. I know that."

Project Thorn Heart is an upcoming operation. Somewhere in the Philippine Ocean, another Siren construct has appeared. Because of the perception-blocking field around it, it looks as if nothing is wrong. However, once you enter the field, you can definitely see that something is obviously wrong. The area has become a maze of giant plant-like structures, which seems to constantly change, making it harder to really map out a path. The maze is covered with thorns and patrolled by Siren Scavenger types, along with the usual mass-produced Siren sh.i.p.s. To make matters worst, the vines covering the maze walls are extremely hostile, from what the Philipine Navy reported. The vones will attempt to strike at anything in range. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The pilots just went in, took a few aerial pictures and got out of there safely. From the pictures, we can confirm that there is a core at the heart of the maze. Akashi and Vestal also confirmed this when they scouted the site. There is a large energy signature located at the heart of it. The aerial photographs also showed that the core had a spikey shell. Hence the name 'Thorn Heart'. Because of the distance, we need to prepare an supply depot and a temporary base of operations. We might need to create need equipment to counter the attacking vines. Something like a flamethrower or napalm to open up a pathway. The most imporatant thing is information, which has been collected and collated by The Royal Navy. Once we know what weare dealing with, we can proceed with the logistics, equipment, strategy and the others.

"But still, this is way too much! If only I can get some sort of reward~"

Belfast stared at me with scornful eyes, before letting out a loud sigh,

"If you finish the whole stack today, I could servi-" (Belfast)

"Deal. Now, where do I start? Maybe this one."

"An instant answer..." (Belfast)

I wonder what should I order tonight~ A bunny girl could be good. Oh, and I better barricade my room. In case a certain fox and a phoenix decide to barge in again.

"Should I make you some tea?" (Belfast)

"I'm in the mood for some lychee ice tea. And make it sweet."

"Understood." (Belfast)

As Belfast proceeds to make my drink, I busy myself with the doc.u.ments. The first few were eyewitness accounts of those who entered the area unknowingly. Although the reports vary, it just proves that the structure is constantly changing and moving. There might be a chance that it would end up blocking off all entrances. But knowing those sick Sirens, they wouldn't program the maze to do that. This is just another experiment to them.

Eh? Why is there a weird kid's drawing mixed in with the witness accounts? It must belong to one of the Destroyers. No, I recognise this style of scribbling.

Queen Elizabeth... For working this hard, maybe I should invite her to join us later. Yep. I will invite her.