Black Sea
1300 hours
It had been 2 hours since the destruction of the Xianyang, the Admiral Makarov, and the Retiviy and the Sailors were in a frenzy preparing their ships for sea. When the news of what had happened to the trio of ships reached Sevastopol's base commander, he had ordered every possible ship be made sea worthy and battle ready before hopping onto every Russian Channel he could find.
Sevastopol Fleet Admiral: "Все доступные корабли в Черном море, все предыдущие заказы сейчас приостановлены," he started, "Я приказываю каждому мужчине, женщине и ребенку на борту каждого корабля выполнить одно простое задание. Потопите «Стив Ирвин». Потопите «Стив Ирвин». Потопите «Стив Ирвин». Тот, кто это сделает, получит повышение по службе и повышение заработной платы на 90%. Теперь иди! Пусть Родина гордится!"
Immediately, every ship ceased hunting Ukrainian Supply Ships and escorting their own in favor of hunting for the kansen patrol ship. In the Ukrainian Port of Odesa, one of the listening stations that was listening in to Russian communications picked up this message and got up, running towards a small RV. In said RV, President Zelensky and his family were having Lunch.
Ukrainian Soldier: "Mr. President!" he yelled, barging in, "The Russians!"
Olena Zelenska: "Сукин сын!" she cussed, spilling her orange juice.
President Zelenskyy: "What is it about the Russians this time?" he demanded, "Have they launched another offensive?"
Ukrainian Soldier: "No sir, they aren't stupid like last time." he replied.
President Zelenskyy: "Did they whine about destroying another Abrams even though our men are still training on them?" he asked, annoyed.
Ukrainian Soldier: "While that would be funny sir, no, they didn't." he replied.
President Zelenskyy: "Then what is it?" he demanded, taking a sip of water.
Ukrainian Soldier: "They've ordered every single ship in the Black Sea after your transport." he replied.
The President did a spit take at what his soldier just reported.
President Zelenskyy: "Every ship?" he asked.
Ukrainian Soldier: "Yes sir! The Americans are saying the Kuznetsov and the Velikiy are getting underway as we speak." he replied.
President Zelenskyy: "What did he do to piss them off so much?" he asked.
Ukrainian Soldier: "He sank 2 Russian Escort Ships and a Chinese Destroyer without so much as a sweat." he replied, "It's everywhere over the news, in any case, I must leave now."
Zelensky allowed the soldier to leave as his teenage daughter, his young son, and his wife turned to him.
Oleksandra Zelenska: "So...." she trailed off, "What's the plan now dad?"
President Zelenskyy: "We'll just have to see if the Moskva was a fluke or the norm." he said, "Either way, the Russian Navy has no Kansen and any Kansen they may be friendly with are currently in our Navy. I doubt they can deal with the Kansen the Americans have assigned."
Olena Zelenska: "You have been teasing us of his name for nearly a week now, what is his name?" she asked.
The President smirked, going back to his newspaper.
President Zelenskyy: "I'll tell you when he gets here." he chuckled.
Sighing in frustration, Olena goes back to her own breakfast.
Mediterranean Sea, Bosporus Strait Entrance
2300 hours
In the middle of the night with a slight fog in the air, Andy slipped right into the line of ships awaiting clearance into the Bosporus Strait. He had his lights and his transponder off, his engine revving low, his prop not spinning, and parked the Irwin right next to a massive tanker ship.
Blue: "Are you sure they won't find us here?" she asked, "This could be the very first place they start looking."
Andy: "I doubt it Blue, we just need to wait for all of them to pass by, and if that doesn't go to plan, we launch the bait." he said.
Observer A: 'I still have some very heavy doubts on if this will work at all.' she complained.
Steve Irwin: 'Well, you can brag about it to us if it doesn't and when we win in a fight against these guys.' she shrugged, cockily.
Observer A: 'While I don't like your odds in this bet,' she deadpanned, before smirking a little as she continued, 'I do agree that we would be able to clobber this fleet.'
Andy: "Alright, here they come." he said, noting the blips on the RADAR.
As if on cue, a Russian Corvette emerged from the Strait and began making its way into the Mediterranean. It was soon followed by Frigates and Destroyers before the only modern Battlecruiser in the world slowly steamed out of the strait, followed by the most inefficient and unreliable Aircraft Carrier in the world. All of them had their lights on to see in the dark and came to a halt to inspect the freighters and tankers.
Some Russian Marines aboard row boats slowly began making their way through the formation, deciding now was as good a time as any, Andy started his engines.
With the Russian Fleet, they were looking through the fleet of freighters when a blip appeared on their RADAR's, it was the transponder of the Irwin, shouting a few cusses the Marines retreated to their motherships which launched a few missiles before giving chase.
The chase dragged on for several miles, the Russians launching everything they had at what they thought was the Steve Irwin everything from P-900's to Brahmos II's to even the P-700's. But everything missed, misfired, went off course, was inert, or in one unlucky case launched....but didn't have the fuel to do anything other than that and crashed into the bridge of the ship which fired it, killing all officers. The Kuznetsov's airwing also could launch because none of the pilots were trained to fly at night.
Russian Admiral 3: "Обновление статуса!" he demanded from the bridge of the Pyotr Velikiy.
Russian Commander: "Нам сообщают о дружественном огне, сэр!" he reported, "Флот применил почти все виды оружия, и ни одно из них не поразило цель.."
Russian Admiral 3: "Ты шутишь, что ли...?" he growled, his left eye twitching.
Russian Commander: "Боюсь, нет, сэр." he replied, regretfully tipping his hat.
The Russian Admiral, angered by the complete lack of reliability displayed by his ships and by the sheer lack of morale, threw his binoculars into the water.
Russian Admiral 3: "Сможет ли кто-нибудь из вас, идиотов, отрезать этого ублюдка!?" he demanded.
Russian RADAR Operator: "Простите, сэр, но он движется слишком быстро." he reported, "В этот момент его смогут поймать только наши бойцы!"
The Admiral cussed once again, but something unexpected proceeded to happen before he could give his next order, the blip showing the Steve Irwin suddenly turned around and began heading towards them on an attack vector.
Russian Admiral 3: "Все корабли, готовьтесь к атаке!" he yelled into a radio.
All crewmembers aboard all ships got into brace positions or held onto something as the blip came into firing range....except, instead of a Kansen racing at them...a helicopter flew overhead, raining missiles and rockets before speeding away.
Russian Sailor 4: "Что в мире?!" he yelped, ducking for cover.
Russian Admiral 3: "Вертолет?" he questioned, turning to his RADAR screen.
The screen showed that the helicopter was exactly where the Irwin was supposed to be. As the helicopter roared away, the Russian Admiral finally realized...he had been duped.
Back with the actual Irwin, it slipped out of the freighter and tanker formation and into the Bosporus strait, still with its lights off to give the Turks plausible deniability. Once it was through, Andy flipped all his lights back on and, following what Pearl told him was offensive for ships, flicked the flag flying from his aft at a Russian Marine that had stayed behind to inspect the freighters.
Russian Marine 3: "БЛЯТ!" he cussed, grabbing his radio.
Andy laughed in amusement as he disappeared into the fog, his helicopter soon landing on his fantail and allowing him to switch all his lights back off.
Blue: "It worked!" she laughed, "Oh my gosh! How stupid can they be?!"
Andy: "I can't believe that worked!" he cackled.
Observer A: 'I can! I came up with the plan.' she bragged.
Steve Irwin: 'And I helped you execute it, so what'd you expect?' she giggled, 'Of course it was gonna work.'
Andy rolled his eyes at the duo in his head, focusing forward.
Black Sea
0700 hours
The Steve Irwin sliced through the fogbank that currently plagued the entirety of the Black Sea and parts of the Mediterranean, while it masked him from the Russians, it was also very fucking treacherous to go through, one wrong turn and you could end up running into a mine or a fishing boat or worse an enemy.
So far, thankfully, Andy hadn't run into anything but he was still being uber cautious, limiting himself to no more than 5 knots, switching his spotlights on every few minutes, and blasting his horn every 10 minutes.
Blue: "Do you think we'll be there anytime soon?" she asked.
Andy: "Well, we should be pulling into Odesa in 3 hours." he replied, "But, I doubt the Russians will make it easy for me to head home with the Zelensky's aboard."
Blue: "Meh, I'm sure you can take em all on." she said, cuddling into his side, "And they won't last 5 minutes on board with me around."
Andy: "I know I can count on that." he chuckled, giving the velociraptor headpats.
Blue purred in pleasure, pressing her head into Andy's hand further causing the Captain to smile warmly and kiss the velociraptor's forehead lovingly. What stopped them from going any further into this act was a Ukrainian Small Boat parting the fog and flashing him a challenge with its signal lamps.
Ukrainian Small Boat: Fate whispers to the warrior, 'You can not withstand the storm. The warrior whispers back...
Andy: I am the Storm
Ukrainian Small Boat: We have been expecting you Steve Irwin, follow us into port
Andy followed the small craft into Odesa Harbor, parting through the fog as he pulled in, revealing that the fog was in no way natural. At least 100 massive fog machines powered by superheated steam engines were running full power to produce a massive cloud of what appeared to be fog over the Black Sea giving the Irwin and most Cargo Vessels some cover against the Russians who were none the wiser about the scheme. The Ukrainians had apparently taken this idea from the Germans in WW2 when they disguised the Tirpitz. Once Andy had tied up in harbor and got off his ship with Blue, he was greeted by multiple Ukrainian Guards who were escorting a family of 4 to the ship.
President Zelenskyy: "Ah, Captain Andy I presume." he said, extending a handshake, "I am President Volodymyr Zelenskyy."
Andy: "It's great to meet you Mr President." he smiled, taking the handshake, "Heard your family needs a lift."
President Zelenskyy: "Yes, this is my wife and my 2 children." he said, gesturing to them, "I trust that you can get them out safely."
Andy: "I made it this far, no way I'm messing that part up now." he grinned.
President Zelenskyy: "Good man." he chuckled, "Now, when can you be ready? Our fog machines won't be able to hold this for very much longer."
Andy: "I'll get going tonight sir, just need some fuel and a few more provisions. For now though," he said, turning to Blue, "think you can show our passengers where they'll be staying for the voyage Blue?"
Blue: "I'm on it!~" she said, happily, "This way you 3!~"
The President's 2 kids followed the excitable Raptor onto the ship while Olena turned to her husband pecking his cheek before leaving for what could be the last time and boarding their way out.
President Zelenskyy: "Have them contact me on Channel 12.3 every night." he instructed, "Just so they'll know I'm fine and that they have somewhere to come back to."
Andy: "You got it Mr President." he saluted, "And don't worry, I won't let the Russians lay a hand on them."
The President nodded, patting the Kansen Captain's shoulder before leaving to plan some strategies for an upcoming offensive into Crimea.
Black Sea, MV Steve Irwin current position
2200 hours
The weather conditions that night were absolutely terrible. A rare but powerful Cat 5 Hurricane had built up in the Mediterranean and drifted into the Black Sea, this caused the artificial fog to be peeled away from the ocean and the waves to start building higher and higher. This was a problem for the Irwin as among the many complaints the British had for Island Class Patrol vessels was the Sub-Optimal seakeeping, which still hadn't been rectified. As a result the Irwin rolled like a destroyer through the rough seas, crashing through swells in an attempt to keep moving at full speed.
Steve Irwin: 'God! This is even worse than the Antarctic!' she yelped.
Andy: "I know ol' girl, just keep us in one piece." he said, keeping the helm from just rolling about every which way as the current attempted to throw the rudder around, "Blue, are the Zelenskyy's alright?"
Blue: "The waves are rolling em to sleep!" she yelled, holding onto the nav station for dear life, "They'll be fine til morning!"
Andy: "Good! Anything on RADAR?" he demanded.
Blue: "I can see something on RADAR, it's coming at us from behind!" she reported, grabbing some binoculars and using the swells to make her way to the right bridge wing and a tense beat later she yelled again, "Shoot! It's the Velikiy!"
Andy: "What in blazes is it doing out here?!" he demanded.
Observer A: 'It was probably on its way back to port sir.' she replied, 'It probably detected you and went in to investigate.'
Steve Irwin: 'Well, what's the plan now hun?' she asked.
Andy: "Hm...Blue, are they closing the distance?" he asked.
Blue: "Yeah! They're also flashing us light signals in morse." she replied.
Using the swells to make his way over to Blue, he saw that the Velikiy had indeed been sending light signals.
Pyotr Velikiy: Unidentified ship, off my port bow, identify yourself
In response, Andy mentally swung his signal lamp to face the Battlecruiser.
Steve Irwin: I am a fishing trawler, need assistance, may need tow
Pyotr Velikiy: Copy trawler, closing in to attach line
The Battlecruiser sped up slightly to close the distance with what they thought was a trawler.
Andy: "Ok, ready for combat." he instructed, "We'll have the advantage, we just need them to get close enough that the wind and rain won't matter too much and so that their missiles will be too close to launch."
Blue nodded and got into a seat, bracing for the shock of the 20 inch guns firing. As the Velikiy pulled directly alongside, Andy engaged combat mode and aimed his CIWS and SeaRAM systems at the battlecruiser before opening fire, his starboard side 5 inch gun following suit as his 20 inch rifles slowly aimed at the enemy. The Velikiy had no time to react as GAU-8 tracer tore into its twin gun turret on its aft and SeaRAM missiles slammed into its bridge and exploded violently, killing all the officers, 5 inch shells then began tearing into the Battlecruiser's foredeck, weakening the armor and setting fires to make visibility and getting around the ship a nightmare and to top it all off the 20 inch main guns finally locked onto the Battlecruiser's P-700 ammo rack and fired.
The P-700's being the massive hulking beasts they were stored a lot of explosive material inside of them and having more than 20 in one place meant that when the 20 inch shells from the Irwin slammed through the Velikiy's armor belt and detonated the result was absolutely catastrophic. The explosion lifted the Battlecruiser's midship about 3 feet out of the water before the hull integrity failed and the battlecruiser was engulfed in a fireball which most likely killed everyone which hadn't been killed already. Secondary explosions further ripped into the hull of the ship as ammunition racks were engulfed by the flames.
Andy: "Time to go!" he shouted, gunning his engines, "Before more of these fuckers arrive."
Steve Irwin: 'WHOO!! BURN IN HELL RUSKIES!!' she yelled, excited.
Blue: "SLAVA UKRAINE BITCHES!!!" she barked, happily, "Well, I think that ruined the Russian's day."
Andy: "No crud, losing 2 flagships within 2 years in the same place, I think that's pretty bad." he chuckled.
Observer A: 'Too right.' she giggled, 'Now, if the Russians are smart, and they normally aren't, they'll be attempting to blockade the Bosporus Strait with their submarines, I think we should be running Silent 3 so they can't see us.'
Andy: "Alright, when the Zelenskyy's wake up, we go Silent 3," he said, before explaining, "we slow to 2 knots, take off shoes, make as little movement and noise as possible, and if all goes according to plan, we'll be through the Bosporus Strait in no time."
Blue nodded as the Irwin sailed away from the rapidly sinking, burning wreck of the Pyotr Velikiy.
A/N: Ok, not as long or as full as the other 2 chapters in this mini arc but it still does the job. I think next chapter will end this making this a 4-parter and allowing me to further dive into the story. dieHero, you're up, I'm planning on having the 4th part be similar to the ending battle of the movie Greyhound where 2 submarines attack the hero ship, but instead of a PBY coming in to save the day in the movie, I'll have you come in and kill the second submarine yourself. Anyway, I'll see you next time, and now that I have no school til January next year, I'll have a lot of time that I can use to write.