Awaiting Your Return (Azur Lane)

Offensive

It was then that something caught my attention-something faint. At first, I thought it was my mind simply playing its tricks, but then I began to hear it again and again.

The sound then evolved and continued at a rapid pace. It was a booming noise, and quickly several others joined in with varying tones.

I recognized it to be artillery fire, and no sooner had I done so, the ships around me paused to listen in as well, confirming I wasn't just crazy.

"You hearing that too?" A voice startled me from behind. Haida put up her hands as if to say sorry when she noticed me jump.

"I am-could it be more stranded ships?"

Haida shook her head. "It sounds far too chaotic."

"I found them! I found the rest of the fleet; it has to be!" Nabob shouted from atop her conning tower. "They're engaging a spire!"

I felt my heart sink upon hearing her words. Engaging a spire without a full fleet, surely they happened to run into it by coincidence?

"Alone!?" Haida exclaimed, to which Nabob nodded. The Tester must have led them directly to it.

"All ahead full!! We need to reach them, and quick!" I barked before turning to Haida. "You're much faster than us. Take the destroyers on ahead; we'll meet you there."

Haida nodded with a fierce grin before rushing off, yelling at the destroyers she passed to follow. Soon everyone was running to their stations, while below me, I felt the ship shiver as Nabob pushed her powerplant to its limit.

Along the flight deck, each one of the planes roared to life while their wings folded outward and prepared to take off. As the planes began to line up, I was forced to get out of the way before I then climbed up the stairs into her tower.

"So thou finally decided to join us?" York greeted me as I entered.

"The time called for it."

"So it hath. We sail forth to save our comrades and free ourselves from this imprisonment," York spoke as she pointed the tip of her sword toward the horizon.

I couldn't help but smile at her unrelenting courage before turning my attention to the empty chart on the centre table. Nabob was already hunched over it, jotting down the approximate enemy numbers she had seen.

"What exactly have you spotted?" I asked in hopes of gaining more information. For a second, she didn't reply until she finished writing down her notes.

"The spire is defended by more than a fleet worth of Sirens, both mass-produced and Executer's. Tester was there as well," she stated. "They're heavily outnumbered five to one, roughly twenty miles out."

"Heavens above! It will take an hour to get there!" York exclaimed.

"How much speed can you conjure?"

"Um, if I push it, I could make twenty-one knots. But that puts a lot of strain on my engine," Nabob answered as she twiddled her fingers.

"If you are that worried about it, I will not force you to."

"Ah, No! Of course I'll do it! We can't waste any more time!" She stated with a look of determination. I smiled at her and nodded in gratitude as her ship shuddered once more from the increase in power.

With that settled, Nabob went back to jotting down what she saw as the rest of us were left with nothing to do but wait.

Apart from the sound of her engine and the distant battle, the atmosphere quickly became silent. There was neither wind to wail nor waves to batter against the hull. This, along with the environment we sail upon, was nothing more than food to instigate thought.