Our Bonds

"Any questions?" (Suwanto Ao)

Only silence...

"Good. You have your roles. Let's destroy this Mirror Sea!" (Suwanto Ao)

The girls let out a battle cry. The way Ao rallies his girls is not much different from how I do it.

"We will set out in fifteen minutes. Use this time to prepare yourselves." (Suwanto Ao)

The black fog floated about menacingly, giving off a sense of dread. In the distance, colorful laser lights penetrated the fog and project itself on the surrounding clouds. Our objectives is the island where the lights originate from. The place Shioi is at.

I turned to my girls,

"You know what to do."

"I will scout and deal as much damage to any enemy I come across." (Shion)

"Leave the long range attacks to us." (Zuihou)

"I will take out those that managed to break through." (Shigure)

"There won't be any. I can assure you that." (???)

All of us turned to see tall girl with long blue hair. Her outfit consists of a snow-white military-esque uniform and a matching white coat. Imprinted on her coat has the insignia of the North Union. Her c.h.e.s.t was covered with a black cloth, revealing parts of her frontal assets. She also wore a pair of black stockings. The most interesting part of her is her rigging. Two metallic dragon-shaped constructs sprout out from behind her. Both dragon constructs held a claymore in it's mouth and two triple 406mm cannons lined it's body, assuming that is it's body.

"Erm... And you are?"

"Sovestsky Soyuz-class battleship, Sovetskaya Belorussiya. Comrade, let us join hands and lay waste to our enemies. Using my methods, of course!" (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"So you are Rossiya's sister. Please to meet you. I'm Admiral Keita. I'm in charge of Maizuru Naval Base."

"Oh. So you are the Comrade Admiral I have heard so much about from my comrade's letters." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Belorussiya? When did you come on board?" (Suwanto Ao)

"Only just. I want to see the one that will leading my comrades." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"I read your files. It's an honor to work with a strong battleship like you."

"If excellency is what you seek from the Sovetsky Soyuz class, I am your best and only true option!" (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Then, I look forward to seeing the results."

"I must add that these girls are also going to go home with you." (Commander)

Huh?

"Why?"

"There are the North Union shipgirls I promised you before. So treat this mission as an icebreaker." (Commander)

"You can't just throw things at me like this. Ah whatever, the newly expanded North Union dorm was completed yesterday."

"So after we are done we get to see the others?" (???)

A girl in white uniform and blue skirt approached us. Her hair was white as snow. She was also in the files I read,

"Comrade Kirov, am I right?"

"Oh? I see you know your stuff. Salutations, Comrade. I am Kirov. My appearance, rigging, and class are all unimportant in the greater scheme of our ambitions. What matters is that we work together to achieve a future of red glory." (Kirov)

"I look forward to be working with you."

The girls that are part of the rescue fleet are Sovetskaya Belorussiya, Kirov, Tallin, Murmansk, Gremyashchy, and Gromky. All of them are from the North Union. They are essentially our muscle in this operation.

"The others are awaiting their orders. Let's crush the Sirens together." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Belorussiya, make sure you follow Keita's orders. Don't go running off on your own again." (Suwanto Ao)

"I know. Let's go. Comrade." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

Sovetskaya Belorussiya and Kirov kept of the sh.i.p.s deck and back onto the water.

"You four better join them. Get yourselves acquainted."

"Roger." (All)

"Sheffield-san, can I get some more tea?" (Zuihou-chan)

"Acknowledged." (Sheffield)

Sheffield poured Zuihou-chan a cup of black tea. She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she drank. Maybe I shouldn't have brought her along. It's way past her bedtime.

"Zuihou-chan, maybe you should stay back and support from here. I'm sorry for dragging you out here."

"No. I'm happy to be here. I'm just a little sleepy, *yawn~* that's all." (Zuihou-chan)

That's not just a little.

"Besides, I learned something interesting just now from Shion-chan." (Zuihou-chan)

"What did you-"

"Of course, I'm not telling Admiral. Not yet, at least." (Zuihou-chan)

I ruffled her hair.

"Nnaa!" (Zuihou-chan)

"If you are unable to handle it anymore, don't be hesitant to come back here. I will let you sleep on my l.a.p."

"I suddenly feel very sleepy. Ow ow ow! You are going to pull it off!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Yeah yeah. We need to go now." (Zuihou)

Zuihou pulled her little sister's ear and dragged her to the deck.

"We are off, Admiral." (Shigure)

"Be safe out there."

I watched as the four girls jumped off the ship, disappearing from my sight. The sound of water splashing lets me know that they have landed on the water surface.

I turned on my radio,

"You girls alright?"

"I'm fine." (Shigure)

"I'm okay." (Shion)

"Me too." (Zuihou)

"Same here." (Zuihou-chan)

"Who is this?" (???)

"Oh my. What cute children!" (???)

"This one is almost the same height as us." (???)

"Let's introduce ourselves to one another as we go. For starters, I'm Admiral Keita. I will be leading the ten of you in this rescue mission. Let's work together."

"All units, advance into the Mirror Sea!" (Suwanto Ao)

The HMS Hood started moving towards the fog. The bow disappeared, followed by the deck, and then everyone else in the bridge as we passed through. I closed my eyes, anticipating that something is about to happen to my body and the horrors I'm about to see.

It was a relief but kind of disappointing to find that nothing really happened.

The air turned heavy but apart from that, it was as if we hadn't entered a dark area. The place was bright and the skies were clear as day. This doesn't make any sense. Then again, it's Siren tech. Nothing makes sense.

I can see Siren sh.i.p.s scattered all over the place. There are even some shipgirls moving around. Those must be the clones Ao spoke about. They do not have the beacon the girls from this fleet have.

"Lucky us. No fog this time." (Suwanto Ao)

"This isn't normal?"

"Usually we are met with low visibility. So this type of condition is perfect." (Hood)

"Begin the operation! Wipe out the Sirens!" (Suwanto Ao)

"Roger!" (All)

---------------------------------------

Ao and I monitored our respective situations using our individual tablets. While we each have our own set of radios, the enclosed space kind of allows each team to hear whatever we are saying to our teams. Meaning my team can hear Ao's orders while his team can hear mine.

"Enterprise, enemy air fleets are approaching the rescue fleets position. Intercept them." (Suwanto Ao)

The two light aircraft carriers flinched and huddled closer together.

"Do not fret. We are more than enough to stop a few flies." (Sovetskaya Belorossiya)

"Why are you freaking out over some insignificant creatures?" (Tallin)

"It's okay, Ao. They got it. Tallin, Kirov, if you would."

"Fire all cannons! Don't stop shooting!" (Tallin)

"I have your back, Comrade Tallinn!" (Kirov)

Tallin's shark-like riggings and Kirov's dragon-like riggings pointed up towards sky, aiming at approching siren planes. The planes resemble modern-day jet planes. In an instant, the planes were reduced to burning rubble as they fall from the sky.

"You two. Are you alright?"

"Ye-yeah. As long as she doesn't come close, I guess." (Zuihou)

"Ao, don't worry about my team. We can handle things ourselves."

"Alright. I'll leave things to you. Enterprise and Yorktown, get more birds in the air. Sora, Ill.u.s.trious, Unicorn, be careful. Busters have broken through the vanguard. Bismarck, take out that Breaker." (Suwanto Ao)

From where I'm seated, I can see and hear several explosions in the distance.

"Sounds pretty chaotic over there." (Shigure)

"Don't worry about them. We have our jobs to do. Focus only on my voice."

"Ugh. Gross." (Tallin)

"Comrade Tallin! That's rude!" (Murmansk)

"Shion, how is it looking?"

"There is quite a few Siren sh.i.p.s ahead of us. There are also two girls with long rabbit ears among them. They don't have a beacon, so clones I guess. Just like the previous ones this one doesn't have any submarines." (Shion)

The plan is pretty simple on paper. While the others take care of the main Siren fleets, our fleet will circle around them towards the objective. Sounds easy, right? But that is before considering any potential threats along the way. Although most of the Sirens would be fighting the main subjugation fleet, some might spill towards us or are waiting to meet us in battle. That's why I had Shion scout ahead first. So far, we have encountered two surface fleets. This one marks our third.

"Hiryuu and Souryuu, huh. Even for clones, they are pretty formidable." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Are they tough?" (Shigure)

"Not as tough as the real ones back at Azur Lane. But they still pack a punch." (Murmansk)

"Apart from the executors and elites, the clones are another troublesome enemy." (Gromky)

"So, your orders?" (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Shion, launch two torpedoes salvos and crash dive immediately. Do as much damage as you can and stay out of sight until the fight is over. Zuihou and Zuihou-chan, get some fighters up in the end and intercept any planes. Zuihou-chan, don't use your Abyssal Aircraft. Save your energy. Shigure, provide AA and fire support. The rest of you, show me what you got."

"Roger!" (All)

"Right. Let's get this started!" (Shion)

Shion brought out her launchers and fired a salvo of torpedoes at the clones. She hastily loaded the next batch of torpedoes and fired them out before crash diving to hide. Most of her torpedoes made contact with some of the Siren sh.i.p.s, severely damaging them.

"Crush the enemy! Break their spirits, then their bones!" (Sovetskaya Belorossiya)

Sovetskaya Belorussiya's fired her cannons, finishing off the damaged sh.i.p.s and reducing a few more into burning rubble. The rest of the siren sh.i.p.s begin charging towards the fleet.

"Comrade Gromky, Comrade Gremyashchy, take care of the Knights and Pawns. Comrade Tallin and Comrade Murmansk, you deal with the Bishops and Busters. Comrade Kirov, you and I will handle the rest. You girls will handle the air support and AA." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

Don't just change things on your own!

I was going to interject but decided not to. Belorussiya's file did mention that she likes to switch things up a bit. I want to see how well they handle this.

"Admiral, what should we do?" (Shigure)

"Do as she says for now."

The North Union girls charged forward, destroying the Siren sh.i.p.s in the path with a mix of cannon fire and melee attacks. Belorussiya, Kirov and Tallin were using their scary looking riggings to rip and tear through the Siren sh.i.p.s. I cold have sworn I saw a bear appear behind Kirov, which ripped a siren ship to shreds. Belorussiya's rigging each held a sword in their mouth, which was used to promptly reduce the Siren sh.i.p.s to scrap metal. Gromky was slashing her way through with that oversized cleaver of hers whilst Gremyashchy swung her spiked ball and anchor around, knocking and smashing anything unfortunate enough to be within range. Only Murmansk seems like a normal shipgirl. She hasn't done anything flas- Never mind, scratch that. She was simply waiting for the Sirens to come closer so her dragon-like riggings can reach for the kill. Her rigging is shorter than the others. As they moved, it looked as though they were dancing.

The four girls stared at them mouth agape as the Russian sh.i.p.s reduce the mass-produced sh.i.p.s to scraps in a beautiful display of violence and move closer to the Hiryuu and Souryuu clones. Portals appeared behind the clones and more siren sh.i.p.s came pouring out. Now that's just cheating.

"Keep up the good work. Shion, get your Seiran up in the air. Shigure, torpedo and shelling if you would. Zuihou and Zuihou-chan, get some bombers along with the fighters. Zuihou-chan, get a small fleet of Abyssal bombers up and running. But don't exhaust yourself. That's an order."

"Roger!" (Shion, Shigure, Zuihou, Zuihou-chan)

Shion surfaced and launched all three Seirans into the air. Shigure leapt into air as she fire a salvo of torpedoes before bringing her guns in front. Zuihou and Zuihou-chan launched their bombers and began their bombing run. Zuihou-chan raised her hand high up and twelve Abyssal Cat Fighters poured out of her sleeves.

"Heh. Interesting moves you got there." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Comrade Belorussiya, we have more important things to stare at."

"Hehe. I know that, Comrade Admiral." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

Belorussiya aimed her cannons at the clones,

"Cease your pointless struggling!" (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

Hellfire rained down on the clones and their minions with explosions galore. Everyone focused their attacks on the clones and before long, the clones exploded, disappearing into nothingness.

So that's what happens if they are killed.

"Good job everyone. That was a magnificent display of power."

"With Comrade Belorussiya on our side, we will surely come out victorious." (Kirov)

"This comes as no surprise. All I did was nudge those fools toward the annihilation they so d.e.s.i.r.ed." (Sovetskaya Belorussiya)

"Let's continue the operation. Shion."

"On it." (Shion)

The Seirans returned to their master, detaching their floats and folding in their wings as they returned to the hanger. Shion closed her hanger and dived underwater, swimming forward. The rest of the girls followed soon after.