Azur Lane: Bridge Between Worlds

Chapter One: Surprise Attack

 The salty breeze of the sea blew gently against Mark's face as he leaned on the side of Hornet's tower. He was deep in thought with his eye's closed. Any unknowing passer by might even think he was asleep. But the truth was that it was a common occurrence for Mark, he would often think about nothing of particular interest while at sea. Anything from women to all the land food he missed would cross his mind while in his deep think. Today ,however, a more serious  matter was in his head: this October had been suspiciously quiet so far and everyone was on edge. There was also a whisper going around Hornet's decks that there had been an intercepted Japanese transmission referring to a possible surprise attack on Hornet, but nothing had been confirmed. 

  As Mark pondered he fiddled with the crystal cube in his pocket. The cube was a roughly 2 inches x 2 inches, and resembled a light opaque blue. He kept it with him as a good luck charm. Mark laughed under his breath thinking about the irony of how the only thing that was on his parents when they died mysteriously was what he used as a good luck charm.

???: "Lieutenant!"    

 Disturbed from his thinking Mark shot up and stood at attention to his superior. 

Mark: "Uh, Yes sir,  Commander Shepherd?" 

Commander Shepherd: "You can sleep on your own time Lieutenant!"

Mark: "Uh, Yes sir. Sorry sir. It won't happen again." (Still startled)

Commander Shepherd was Mark's direct superior. Shepherd took fun to finding and disturbing Mark while he was busy. (Or that's what Mark thought at least.) 

Commander Shepherd: "I was just passing by and wanted to congratulate you on shooting down your fourth, fifth, and sixth enemy aircraft during that last scuffle. Now that shot down five aircraft you've officially become an ace pilot. As much as I hate to say it you're probably the best pilot we have. We have our maintenance team painting you new victory marks on your Wildcat as we speak. I also was asked to present you with your new ace jacket."

Commander Shepherd shoved the jacket into Mark's torso pushing Mark back into the side of Hornet's tower. Mark disregarded Commander Shepherd's act of aggression and splayed the jacket out in front of himself covering his view of the commander. The jacket was of a high quality leather with a large patch of Hornet's emblem on the back as well as the emblem of the squadron "Bad Company" which he was the leader of. The jacket also featured his nickname "Sparky" on the left breast. He had earned the name Sparky while training. During his first solo landing he came in too fast and took off the tail landing gear of the training aircraft and as the tail dragged against the landing strip sparks flew everywhere. Ever since that day basically everyone called him Sparky. Mark smiled to himself reminiscing about that day. He embraced the name.

 Mark lowered the jacket to thank Commander Shepherd but he was already gone.

Mark looked down at his watch.

Mark: "12:26." "Past midday and nothing to show for it. Somethings not right, I can feel it."

Mark headed to the hanger deck to inspect his F4F Wildcat which he had dubbed "Witchy Woman" ever since his buddy and bunk-mate Jimmy  had decided to try his best at painting a pinup on Mark's beloved plane that after a few mistakes involving trying to paint hair turned out to be a woman with a hat and Jimmy just decided to finish the look and make her a witch.

Down in the hanger deck Mark ran his hands across the seams and rivets in his wildcat's fuselage as he walked around it. Mark stopped when he got to the nose of the plane and looked  at his fresh victory marks. He had earned all of the protecting hornet from torpedo and dive bombers. He could remember the desperation and pressure that was on him to shoot each of them out of the sky before they reached Hornet, because if he failed not only lives would be lost but his home: Hornet, would sink. 

As Mark was inspecting his plane he heard a strange rumble followed by an urgent announcement coming over the loud speaker.

Loudspeaker: "BATTLE STATIONS! BATTLE STATIONS!  We have a squadron of enemy bombers with fighter escorts coming in from the south! I repeat, man your battle stations!

Marks heart began to pound inside his chest when the loudspeaker clicked off. For a second he stood motionless from shock but he soon snapped out of it when amidst the crowd of rushing people he noticed that his Wildcat was being taken away to Hornet's elevator to be lifted onto the flight deck. Mark quickly sprinted to catch a ride on the elevator with his plane so he could get in the air as soon as possible 

Mark: "I was thinking something was going to happen today but it always seems to come as a surprise non-the-less."

When the elevator reached the flight deck Mark was filled with the sights and sounds of a bustling, urgent warship. Loading AA shells, fast steppes against the tarmac, and lots of unintelligible shouting was just a handful of the things that Mark's ears were assaulted with. Mark didn't let any of the distractions around him bother him. He knew his duty and was completely prepared to carry it out no matter what. Mark slid into has new jacket and jumped onto the base of the folded wing and into the cockpit of his trusty warbird in two fast, and efficient motions. Once inside Mark's hands went to use right away. His left hand went straight to the electric switch under the throttle pushing it down and folding out the main-wing-segment. His other hand flew around the small panel in front of him going over his slightly abridged preflight checklist, all in the name of saving time of course. once finished with the important stuff Mark put in a small amount of throttle in order to pull off the elevator so the next fighter could come out of the hanger and get ready to defend Mark's beloved home.

Now with Mark's engine now at a sufficient temperature for flight he grabbed his radio headset off the hook for it to his right and placed it on his head strategically with the band meant for the top of his head on the back of his head, of course making sure to reposition the mic to be in its appropriate spot in front of his mouth. He took care to position his headset like this so he could wear the black wide-brim hat with the thin faded yellow band that was currently sitting on the holographic gun sight. He had received the hat as a gift from his aunt and uncle as a parting present before he shipped off. His aunt had said it was to remind of him of home, but really Mark didn't need a hat to remind him how much he missed his home. He liked the ocean, but it was nothing compared to the beautiful mountain ranges and large open plains full of sage brush that Nevada had to offer. Sometimes if the night was perfect Mark would sneak on Hornet's deck, lay on his back, and look up at the stars. They looked almost exactly like the Nevada night sky besides the different consolations and star positions. It was moments like that when it was just him and Hornet that really made him feel a connection to her, even if she was just a ship.

Before Mark disembarked from Hornet he checked his pocket for his cube. He never flew without his lucky cube. Once he felt it, he punched the throttle.