Azur Lane: Dragon Rising

Ch46: Thus It Begins

Enterprise has been taken. I don't know who has taken her but I have my suspicions. However, since her ship is still confirmed to be in the dockyard and conventional weaponry won't be capable of harming her, I've decided against chasing after her blindly and am instead currently in the back of a military transport plane with my sister and Dalian about to skydive down to meet the Indian Navy. I was surprised that they elected to side with us but I can't say I'm not pleased. Theoretically speaking, they are the only other nation capable of truly challenging us on a purely numbers basis given they also have well over 1 billion registered citizens. The things we can do together...

Pilot: [We're 30 seconds out.]

Me: [Good. We'll take it from here.]

Pilot: [Are you sure you won't be needing parachutes?]

Me: [I'm sure.]

Pilot: [Very well. Good luck!]

The rest of the crew salutes us as we line up to jump. A couple of blinks later, we're outside rocketing down towards the clouds below. The J-20s escorting our plane buzz by as we continue accelerating until we've reached our terminal velocity. 

Me: [Dalian, aim for their largest ship.]

Dalian: Indian or-

Me: Enemy. We're going to punch right through it.

Dalian: You're joking right?

When I don't respond she gets the meaning and adjusts her course so that she's in line with me. Jiangsu, on the other hand, continues toward the Indian fleet thus separating from us. As we break through the clouds and back into the open, I lock on to the remaining ships but wait until I'm a mere few hundred feet away before firing. My missiles, still in KANSEN form, easily evade efforts of the allied automated air defence at this range and all hit their targets at the same time Dalian and I punch through the deck of the USS Shiloh. By the time we resurface, the enemy fleet is no more but just to make sure I fire another volley of missiles at any ships still floating on the surface before heading over to the Indian Navy.

We arrive to the startled faces of the Indian crew. 

????: What the hell just happened?

Me: We destroyed the enemy.

????: I can see that, but how?

Me: I'm Zhejiang and with me is Dalian. You've already met my sister, Jiangsu.

????: AH, yes. Where are my manners? I am admiral Amar Khatri and this is my flagship, the INS Vikrant.

Me: Pleasure to make your acquaintance, admiral.

Amar: Likewise, Lady Zhejiang.

With pleasantries completed, we move to the briefing room where I'm provided with an update on the current situation. The fleet we'd just destroyed seems to be most of the forces in the immediate vicinity but there are more ships already confirmed en route and amongst them is an American carrier. We could choose to go for them or we could continue with the original plan which was to destroy the UK's forces currently within the Persian gulf thus freeing up our allies in Iran and enabling Russian convoys to continue passing through Iraq unopposed. This would mean disabling US bases still within Iraq but such should be relatively easy.

Amar: We suspect that the Saudi will attempt to reinforce the UK strike group should an attack be detected so you might also wish to disable their forces prior to attacking-

Me: No. We'll go straight for the carrier. Everything else is of little consequence and can be dealt with once we've destroyed their naval presence entirely. 

Amar: Hmmm. Any particular reason for this approach?

Me: It is simple. Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Egypt all want them out of the picture. If they attack, it gives all the other nations in the region a valid reason to invade and seize their oil reserves for themselves. However, it also gives my own government the same legitimacy and I can't say it wouldn't be in our best interests to do so.

Amar: Should you be telling me this?

Me: What are you going to do? Seize them for yourselves? Please, you neither have the manpower nor the hardware to embark on such a campaign. 

He feigns offence at my comments but from the glint in his eye, I can tell he's enjoying the conversation. It's refreshing to talk to someone who doesn't cower before your very presence and I'm sure he's feeling the same.

Me: In any case, the real reason simply comes from the fact that the Strike group poses a bigger threat to us. If we eliminate them, all else will follow in due time.

Amar: Very well. We'll continue blocking the strait but I can't make any promises to support your operation further as my government has yet to decide-

Me: Say no more. 

He nods and after going over a few more details, we head back up to the flight deck where we find the deck partially cleared. Smiling, I thank him again before walking over to the edge of his carrier's deck.

Amar: Won't you be needing one of our-

Me: That won't be necessary.

He gives me a quizzical look but I simply ignore it in favour of jumping overboard. Dalian and Jiangsu follow soon after and though some of the crew screams at us they soon fall silent as we blast away from the ship clearing the fleet before turning northward towards the entrance of the strait. I considered deploying my ship or some of my aircraft but after much consideration, I decided against it. It's bad enough that they saw two of us wipe out an entire fleet. It'd be something else entirely if they saw us carrying around entire ships of our own. Best they think we're using some mechanical suit or something.

Dalian: What's next?

Me: We've done our political duties. Now, we sink the UK's flagship.

Dalian: Queen Elizabeth?

Me: Yes.