Defection (MentalModel!Brothers and OC)

Chapter 32

I leaned forward, pressing my lips into my palm as I closed the screen in front of me and allowing the silence of the Scharnhorst's bridge to swallow me in the moment.

It had been about two weeks since we anchored in the small bay of Kanglinnguit. The people living in the growing town were more than generous with our tiny requests, crafting and clothing myself in dense furs from their hunts to hold off the severe fall chill as the seasons began to change, supplying the Mental Models with knowledge and some nanomaterials to replenish what had been used.

There wasn't any issue in talking with them, either. They were willing to speak to me through any Mental Model, eager to etch their language into a database for future use.

My eyes turned downward as I moved myself towards a window, looking over the iced bay and the town sequestered and braced for the harsh winter season. If we stayed for another week, there wasn't a guarantee that we'd be able to leave under our own power through the deeper waters.

Sadko made that warning very clear.

"Captain?" Kara's voice called out from the bridge's main door, his footsteps quiet in the stillness.

"Go ahead," The permission left my lips with a sigh, a thought already forming what he was about to say.

"Do you need more time?"

My eyelids dropped even more, nearly closing as I took in a deep breath, "No. I spoke my piece. Have them deliver it as per my instructions."

"Of course," I could hear the confidence in his voice, "I came here with another objective, though, captain. It's in regards to the American Defense Fleet."

My head snapped up, immediately shifting to stare at the Mental Model.

"Admiral Stanley Crawford sent a message to Choro only moments ago," His glowing blue eyes met my green hues, Kara's expression firm. With a short wave of his left hand, a white screen unfolded in front of me.

<<This is Admiral Crawford sending this message to Admiral Ashley Crawford. We find ourselves behind a thicker steel curtain than we predicted, and are wishing to enlist your assistance one last time.>>

My heart dropped as faint klaxon alarms blared in the background.

<<There has been an unexpected attack on the American Defense Fleet stationed in Quincy. We have dead and wounded civilians and soldiers. I have taken command. The Fleet of Fog has been bombarding the shoreline for the past hour, and we have been ordered to retreat whatever surviving forces we have southward in hopes of blockading more inland rivers. There is much I wish to tell you, Ashley. You are not held to the same standards that we are bound to.>>

"Open a channel!" I barely withheld the terrified scream as I bit down on my bottom lip. Instantly, five screens revealed the other Mental Models within the fleet, their eyes glowing their respective colors while the same faces only held anticipation, "Board your ship selves, break the ice around you, and follow Tirpitz back out to the Atlantic. We have a job."

"Would you like to send a communication request to Admiral Crawford?" Kara's face lit up with his emblem, his color igniting over the hull as the other five ships followed suit. The Tirpitz moved first, the ice resisting against his bow before finally shattering and falling onto itself as the unrelenting metal hull continued forward. The two submarines began to sink beneath the ice while the Admiral Hipper, the Max Schultz, and the Scharnhorst pushed through the thinner ice to merge with the capital battleship's path.

"Active, if you can."

Another white screen opened as the first closed, <<ADF, Admiral Crawford speaking.>>