Azur Lane: World at War

Chapter 5: Commanders

POV Whitting, 22 Years Earlier

What I remember of that day is hazy at best. It was a pretty normal sunny day at the beginning of summer. Raymond and I were looking forward to going down to the port and seeing the visiting shipgirls, especially the one named after our state. 

"Hey, Cal! Do you think she's gonna notice us? I hear she is some sort of cela- celebrity." His optimism at that age was always a beacon to those who knew him, even when the war was still going on, though I suppose his spelling could always use some work, then again, we were young.

"I wonder what they are like, I hear she has a sister too." That seemed to pull his attention somewhere else though as he looked around.

"Hey Cal, where's Amelie?"

"With mom" Shrugging it off, we went back to playing. All in all, the was going by as any normal day until the attack happened. Shortly before we were going to head over to see the ships Sirens suddenly showed up. I don't remember much of the battle, just alarms, explosions in the distance, and then a thunderous boom before I blacked out. 

"Hey! -think -someone!" Slowly I awoke to the sound of voices and wood cracking as it was moved. As the stones and beams pinning me down were slowly, carefully removed to prevent any more injuries I finally saw my rescuers. The first thing that came into view was the blonde hair, and the calming smile she gave assuring me everything was going to be fine. Twenty minutes later I was pulled out of the rubble into her gentle arms where I could finally see around me, and to my left was Raymond, lightly bleeding and nestled with a while haired girl wearing the same clothes as the girl holding me. 

"Raymond." As I tried to hold out a hand to him, instead the white-haired girl stepped forward and took my hand in hers.

"Don't worry, he will be fine just like you are. Nothin a bandaid won't fix. What's your name?" 

"C-Cal Whitting." She slowly nods with a smile, rubbing Raymond's back to keep him calm as he slept. I didn't know at the time, but he had been hit in the head by a brick and was found crying near the top of the pile. "Amelie, where is she? Where are our parents?" Her face seemed to stiffen for a moment before I heard the sounds of screaming which woke up Raymond who started to squirm in the girl's arms until she managed to distract him with her riggings which he started crawling over with great curiosity. A few minutes later a dark-haired girl came over with my sister.

"Hey Arizona, did you find any other survivors." She shook her head, though I didn't know what it meant at the time that was when I was first told of our parent's death.

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Present Day

"Hey Massachusetts, are all preparations complete?" As I finished filling some paperwork and placing it to the side.

"Yes."

"This should be good enough then for the day, Langley and the Baltimore sisters can take care of the rest while we go to the meeting." As I get up, pushing my chair away and look over at the battleship. "With a little luck, everything will go according to Constitution's plan and we can defuse the situation in Europe." 

"Do you think the others will be so accepting? The rift between Ironblood and Royal Navy has been growing for over a decade." Her response does highlight the greatest issue we will be facing. While Sardegna has been following the general lead of Ironblood, they could be easily dissuaded if Bismark and their new commander agree to cease their current efforts.

"Even if they aren't, it is our job to convince them. Siren technology is too much of a mystery for us to simply implement it into the riggings. Learning off of it? Sure. Developing counters to assist in combat? No issue. Studying to learn what makes them tick to create tactics and refine our own equipment? Understandable development but in the end we are improving our own technology, not incorporating alien tech that is practically unknown to us in how it functions. Sure, you could create a plasma cannon, but what makes it tick, what are the downsides in terms of energy consumption? The sheer reckless abandon some of the factions have just astounds me." Shaking my head in frustration as I grab my uniform coat so that we can head out.