Azur Lane: Dragon Rising

Ch29: The Battle of Sulu (2)

The battle has been raging on for a little over an hour since Enterprise sunk. Liang and Xiao have finally made it to the site and we're all gathered on Jiangsu's flight deck, watching as my planes slowly but surely wear down their defences. They have been completely encircled now and will no doubt soon run out of munitions. When this occurs, the fleet can move in and assist in securing the vessels to be brought back to our country. To this end, I have instructed all aircraft to only focus on disabling key threats while ignoring other targets.

This rather simple strategy, shockingly, works. It's almost as though the enemy is unable to see through my rather obvious actions but perhaps they are merely overthinking the situation. After all, I would be sceptical too.

Xiao: What now? We have them cornered and our air force is successfully repelling any aid they might receive from nearby bases.

Me: Then we wrap it all up and present it to a certain someone's father.

Liang: Haha. I'm sure he'd like that, but how will we do so without suffering additional losses?

Me: Simple. I will board and disable the crew of each ship then you'll come in and take control.

Xiao: Isn't that risky though? Won't they shoot on sight?

Me: You're forgetting that I am a ship. Bullets from handheld guns won't so much as bruise my skin.

Liang: Ah right, armour and all. In that case, lead the way. We'll have the boarding parties ready by the time you clear the first ship.

Nodding, I jump off Jiangsu's flight deck. Some of the crew, still not used to it, shout and scream as though I am in danger but soon calm down once they see me speeding away.

Liang: [Let us know once we should begin.]

Me: [Sure.]

Disarming my ship, I jump up onto the first ship I come across. It's one of the amphibious assault ships and its crew seems outright shocked to see me.

????: Stop right there!

????: Keep your distance, she's the one that's been buzzing around blowing up our ships!

????: Stop speaking nonsense. This female doesn't have any weapons. That one did.

????: But-

????: You there. What are you-

Me: If you're all finished, I'm here to ask you to surrender peacefully. Resist and-

????: You're awfully confident huh, coming onto our ship to ask...no, demand our surrender.

????: Shoot-

????: Shut your mouth idiot. You know very well we can't shoot an unarmed civilian. Do that here and they'll use it as the biggest propaganda-

Me: So am I to take it you are refusing my most generous offer?

He looks at me but before he can respond I've knocked him out. The others freeze in shock. It's to be expected since to them I probably moved faster than their eyes could follow. Still, this state of affairs can't be allowed to continue.

Me: For the rest of you, you have two choices-

????: What are you people waiting on? An invitation? Shoot her!

Looking at the one who spoke, I quickly identify him as the commander of this vessel. I'm surprised it took him this long to get down here but no matter. This only makes things easier. The sailors that have guns all open fire but instead of allowing them to see that I am practically bulletproof, I move out of the way and begin disabling them one by one. The commander can only watch as his men fall before him

????: What are you?

Me: A secret project developed by your government to garner support for the war by defeating your forces in battle.

The look of horror on his face almost causes me to break the serious face I am making and begin laughing but I manage to hold out just long enough for his expression to swap from horror to one of recognition. Before he can speak again, however, I knock him out. To think he fell for such a blatant lie, hehe. Wish I could be there when he tells his superiors what I said, though, perhaps he'll keep it a secret for fear that the same government will kill him for leaking such classified information.

It doesn't take long to subdue the rest of the ship and before long, a team sent by Xiao arrives to take control of the vessel. With them now on board, I move on to other ships and soon, only one carrier remains. It's the carrier with the admiral on board and he already knows what's coming, having witnessed the fall of the other ships. When I arrive on his ship's flight deck, he's already waiting there for me, unarmed.

????: Swear to me that my people will be treated fairly.

Me: No harm will come to you or your men so long as they cooperate.

????: What of the ships? Surely you could have sunk them so the fact that you are going through the effort of capturing them instead tells me that you have something planned. Are you going to-

Me: If you're concerned about us repurposing your ships, fear not. Your ships will be returned to your country if it accepts our offer. The same applies to you and your men. That being said, even if they refuse, you will all be treated as guests and given proper accommodation as long as you adhere to the rules and regulations set in place.

????: I see. So in the end we are nothing more than bartering chips.

Me: There are worst things.

????: Haha. I suppose so. I'll trust you and have the rest of our forces lay down their weapons but in exchange, I want you to allow those who are single parents to return home.

Me: [Liang, you heard that correct?]

Liang: [Yep. It's alright with me, plus it would help increase our reputation with the American people.]

Xiao: [I agree. It's not like we need all their crew anyways and it would be easy to arrange. We could just drop them off in the Philippines given we are right offshore that country at the moment.]

Me: Fair enough. Though, you will need to point out those which match these criteria. This is me trusting you to not include people that aren't supposed to be included. I hope you won't ruin that trust.

Admiral: Very well. I look forward to speaking to you after this entire ordeal. It should prove an interesting conversation I'm sure.

Me: Haha. Perhaps.

With that, the battle ended. It was pretty anticlimactic but I think that's for the best. As promised, we offloaded all of the crew that were single parents. They were received by Philippine/US forces on the islands who, surprisingly, didn't try to free the others. I guess whatever the Admiral told them was enough to prevent such actions though to be fair it may have also been the heavy presence of fighters and bombers in their airspace. With our end of the bargain upheld, the rest of the crew all stood down and we began the journey back to the mainland with a heavy escort.