Sakura Empire
The Sakura fleet returned along with the reinforcements brought by Iron Blood to discuss future plans against Azur Lane. Akagi, Kaga, and Bismark head for a meeting with Nagato to announce the death of the greatest threat to the Sakura Empire.
Mutsu: Who goes there?!
Akagi: It's us, Mutsu; where's Nagato?
Mutsu: She's already asleep, but you must provide a suitable reason to wake her.
Bismark came in, which immediately shocked Mutsu.
Mutsu: B-bismark, what are you doing here?
Bismark: Does a meeting with the fellow leader of Crimson Axis be a sufficient reason to wake her?
All of them are sitting in a War Room to discuss the future of Project Orochi.
Nagato: So, Ms. Bismark, what brings you here?
Bismark: I heard rumors of a carrier more powerful than the Gray Ghost herself, and along with the reason of learning my personal guard was captured by said carrier piqued my interest.
Nagato: Now that you're all here, what is it would you like to discuss?
Akagi: Firstly, we would like to tell you that the Red Star is finally out of the picture.
Kaga: To put it simply, she's dead.
Nagato: That's... Great news.
Akagi: But it came at a cost.
Nagato: Hmmm...
Kaga: While trying to recover the black mental cube from Azur Lane. By chance, we managed to encounter the Red Star and Azur Lane, trying to save their comrades and allow them to break through.
Nagato: Go on...
Akagi: We failed our original objectives of capturing the spies and retrieving the black metal cube. But we managed to finally put an end to the Red Star.
Mutsu: I assume this is not all.
Akagi: She acted as a rear guard so her comrades could retreat. We surrounded her with four fleets, and yet she alone took out 70 of our shipgirls before Zuikaku dealt the final blow.
Kaga: It caused us a heavy blow, but it also hampered Azur Lane's morale due to the loss of their greatest warrior.
Nagato was shocked. Even hearing of the death of their greatest threat suffering such egregious casualties from a single ship. It brought her relief that they managed to defeat her.
Nagato: In the end, she fought well and should be given our highest honors.
Then Nagato coughs.
Nagato: But how do we activate the Orochi if we don't have the black cube? We are still licking our wounds, and Azur Lane only suffered morale damage, not in terms of strength. This means it's a strategic victory for Azur Lane in which they can attack us anytime they want.
Akagi: Leave that to us, and as for the Orochi, supplies are now being transferred for construction, which means it will be finished within weeks.
*shake* *shake*
Nagato: This is the third earthquake this month!!!
Taihou: WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!
All of them raised from their seats.
Mutsu: NOW!?
Bismark: Take us to the docks; we need to repel the attackers.
A few minutes later
It was chaos outside. Everyone was running around equipping their riggings and heading to the battlefield. Explosions can be heard in the distance, then they stopped.
Bismark: What happened!?
Zuikaku: We don't know. We are not getting any signals from our radar.
Akagi: What are the damages?
Shokaku: We are still counting the damages, but the entire warehouse meant for Project Orochi has been destroyed.
All of them are shocked that all of the supplies they so desperately needed were destroyed.
Ayanami: I think it was sabotage. I found this unexploded bomb.
Akagi: DON'T GIVE IT HERE, THROW THAT AWAY!!!
Bismark: But the point still stands. Who could've done this?
A day ago.
A woman is in her command room holding a ham radio powerful enough to reach the Sakura Empire.
???: This is Odin to Manghost 1-1; do you have eyes on the objective?
???: *tweet* *tweet* (We have eyes on the target. 500 meters.)
???: Plant the explosives, then leg it to the extraction point.
???: *tweet* (Roger!)
The Manjuu gestures for the others to move.
???: *tweet* *tweet* *tweet* (Odin, crows dead ahead.)
???: Manghost 1-1 no more crows sighted Manghost 1-2 fire at will.
The Manjuu fired a tranquilizer dart at one of the shipgirls guarding the entrance.
Shipgirl 1: Gahhh!!!
Shipgirl 2: What!?
The other shipgirl was dealt with by the Manjuu sniper.
???: *tweet* *tweet* (Manghost 1-3 set the charges Manghost 1-2 your overwatch.)
???: *tweet* (Samurai doggo heading for the warehouse.)
???: Take her out.
Meanwhile, Atago is walking around the warehouse, minding her own business.
Atago: *inhales* What a beautiful night. OWW! What's this? *trips*
???: Sorry, pooch.
After a few minutes, the Manjuus set up the charges.
???: *tweet* (Charges are in place heading for the extraction point.)
???: Very good, comrade.
bomb: 3...2...1
*BOOM* *BOOM* BOOM* *BOOM*
???: *tweet* *tweet* (This is Manghost 1-1 target eliminated heading back to base.)
???: Affirmative Manghost 1-1 safe travels.
Sakura Empire training grounds
Takao and Zuikaku are training in the courtyard. Takao sees that her friend is once again troubled.
Takao: What bothers you, my friend?
Zuikaku: I don't know... It's just I had my revenge, but why do I still feel empty inside?
Takao: Revenge can be bittersweet.
Zuikaku: She fought to protect her fellow shipgirls, allowing them to escape. She's someone I can respect.
Takao: The attack was probably in response to The Red Star's death. And there is no doubt that they want your head.
Zuikaku: What is Akagi planning anyway?
Takao: *sighs* I don't know.
They stopped their training session.
Takao: Well... Let's head out on our morning patrol.
Somewhere in the Pacific
Takao, Zuikaku, Shokaku, and Ayanami are speeding through the dark blue in response to the increased siren activity.
Takao: The sirens here are getting a little rowdy.
Zuikaku: Don't you think it's a coincidence that when we took down the Red Star siren activity here spiked?
Takao: No, perhaps they feared the Red Star as well, and they think they can run rampant with the Red Star gone.
Shokaku: Enough chatter, we're closing in.
They arrived at their destination, and they were greeted by destroyed siren battleships and carriers.
Ayanami: What happened here!?
Takao: Search the area! Find anything that can indicate who could've done this.
They searched the area but came up with nothing. All they found were wreckages caused by bombs and torpedoes.
Shokaku: Could it be Azur Lane?
Takao: Perhaps? But what reason do they have to operate this far from their bases?
Zuikaku: Could it be Northern Parliament?
Takao: They rarely travel to the Pacific so I doubt it.
Ayanami: Let's just report this to HQ.
Takao: Agreed.
30 minutes ago
Sirens can be seen gathering for an attack on convoys from Azur Lane. They are being led by Tester.
Tester: Put your backs into it!
Tester screams at the lower class sirens.
Tester: We need to finish up before noon.
What they didn't know was they were being shadowed by none other than Enty.
Enty: The ire of death lays across the ocean. A ghost has come to bring terror to the sinful. And none will see the light of day again.
Tester: Come on, get mov-
Before she could respond explosions started happening across the battlefield.
Tester: What's happening!?
(Imagine her face is covered by Ghost's mask)
She sees a figure coming out of the smoke screen. Her face is obscured by a mask and the smoke coming from the battlefield.
Enty: *inhales* *exhales* I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning.
Tester: W-who are you?
Tester said trembling.
Enty: Me? I'm nobody, I'm someone shrouded in mystery, I'm as cold as a refrigerator and a cold one in the morning, I'm a ghost.
Tester: That doesn't even make any sense!
Enty: It will when I take you in.
Enty knocked her unconscious to bring her in for questioning.
Azur Lane Bureau of Ordnance
Multiple researchers, Wales, Enterprise, Hood, Belfast, Akashi, and Hornet surround the cube their spies have retrieved from the Sakura Empire.
Wales: So this is the Sakura Empire's secret weapon.
Hood: Do you know anything about this, Akashi?
Akashi: It's only a byproduct, and it can command siren ships, but only by the Orochi, that's all I know.
Enterprise: But what about that siren?
Akashi: Her name is Observer Alpha and she almost turned me into Shamisen.
Hornet: So that means the Sakura Empire betrayed humanity.
Akashi: Woah, woah, woah! We never knew Akagi and Kaga were working with the sirens.
Belfast: This cube cost someone's life. We should investigate it further and see if we can use it to counter Orochi.
Enterprise saw the cube start flickering so she reached out to it. As soon as she grabbed the cube, she was in an unknown office.
Enterprise: Where am I?
???: Hello Enterprise...
Enterprise: Who are you?
???: The question is, who are you? What kind of person are you Enterprise?
Enterprise: Why should I answer you?
???: For information...
Enterprise was intrigued.
Enterprise: What kind of information?
???: The past of someone you know.
At first, Enty didn't realize it, but once she did the chair next to the desk turned, revealing someone she knew very well.
Enterprise: Enty?
Alterprise: Close enough, but I'm Alterprise.
Alterprise looked at her watch and said.
Alterprise: Oh, looks like we're out of time, but here's the information.
She gave Enterprise a folder of map markers around the world.
Alterprise: Go to each of these markers to know more about her. Anyways, cheers.
Everyone was looking at Enterprise who is staring at the black mental cube.
Belfast: Enterprise, are you okay?
Enterprise suddenly pulled out a folder from the cube before she was brought back to reality.
Hornet: What's that?
Hornet said pointing at a folder Enterprise was holding.
Enterprise: I don't know myself.
Wales: This has something to do with the cube, can you show us?
Enterprise gave them the folder which showed map markers located in the Pacific and Atlantic.
Hood: Where do these markers lead to?
Hornet: It shows specific locations like the Coral Sea, Midway, Denmark Strait, Iwo Jima, and Hiroshima.
All of them are curious about what secrets lie at these locations.
...