Azur Lane: Dragon Rising

Ch35: Journey (3)

As I continue launching my planes, I take great care to keep my sister's carrier between me and the enemy submarine. I don't doubt that they've figured out to some extent how we work but I have no intention of giving away more information than necessary. As such, I remain out of sight even as the first sailors come out and onto the submarine's hull. They show some surprise at seeing my sister's carrier floating right beside them but as she shouts at them to come aboard and have her own helicopters begin ferrying them across, no one complains.

I continue remaining out of sight with Liang passed out after I'd knocked her...accidentally, but with my aircraft now all launched I don't need to. Instead, I merely remain out of sight to see how the men will react to my sister being the only one aboard the carrier. As it turns out, I don't have to wait long before they begin discussing it.

????: There's no one on this ship besides the little girl, is there?

????: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

????: I say we commandeer this-

????: Did I overhear you correctly?

????: Captain!

Captain?: You weren't about to attack a little child, were you?

????: No sir! We would never-

Captain?: Is that so...

Smiling to myself, I jump up and onto Jiangsu's deck, disarming the rest of my equipment before I come into sight.

Me: At least one of you has honour. I suppose I'll return the favour by not killing you all for even remotely suggesting that you'd attack my sister.

They're shocked at my sudden appearance. Some are so shocked that they almost jump off the carrier altogether, only stopping at the last second when they realise just how far a drop it'd be.

The captain opens his mouth to speak but before he can, I am contacted by our navy. I hold up my hand, indicating to him to wait before turning my full attention to the incoming transmission. From the report, it seems one of our ships is nearing our position but is still someways out. I'm surprised but rather than inquire about it further, I update them on the situation here.

As they forward the information to the higher-ups, however, the connection drops suddenly. All at once, the entire submarine crew, now on my sister's deck, all collapse to the ground.

Me: Jiangsu!

Jiangsu: I'm sorry, I didn't do anything!

Me: I know, come to me!

The wind begins howling as she runs across the deck towards me. Seeing that I'll need all my mobility, I set Liang down before arming myself. I don't know what's going on but all my senses are screaming at me that something is coming and given we have no allies in the immediate vicinity, it certainly isn't friendly.

Jiangsu: What's that?

Tracing her fingers, what I find leaves me without words.

A black orb hovers some distance away from us far up in the sky. It gradually gets bigger and bigger as it descends towards the ocean but doesn't seem to interact with the clouds it is passing through.

Me: Ready your weapons.

Jiangsu: But-

Me: Shoot anything that moves.

As it touches down, I myself have all my weapons aimed at the location. The air is filled with tension. My eyes spot something moving in the midst of all the darkness and I am about to give the command to fire when a familiar voice reaches my ear.

Dalian: Friendly! Friendly! Hold your fire!

Me: Dalian?

Enterprise: Zhejiang?

I can't tell what shock me more, to hear Dalian's voice again or to hear Enterprise. I am so shocked that even as she runs out of the black fog now replacing the orb, I can only stand and stare mouth wide open. Even as she wraps me in an embrace, crying about how she thought she'd lost me, I fail to react. Unable to process anything, anything at all, I simply melt in her arms.

Enterprise: I...I found you.