The Hospital Ship of Azur Lane (Slow Updates)

Recon flight and second attack

Having been refuelled and rearmed, the Eurocopter turns on its engine and takes off once again, this time starting its wild goose chase under new orders from Doctor Solace. This is the first time the helo has to perform a second sortie in just a single day. Even in Austronesia it hadn't seen that much action, and while two sorties in a single day might be nothing for most aircraft, it is too much for the Eurocopter, and considering it had to take off a few more times to put out the fire on Bulin's ship, it has forced it to push its engine to its maximum, and it's not guaranteed whether it will be able to fly any longer or not. Back in the other universe, the maintenance it had to undergo was extended to three days later due to the lack of necessary tools and spare parts since most parts weren't compatible with the aircraft itself. Well, all DS can do is hope that it will find land soon and that neither he, nor the Eurocopter will come under attack again.

There's worse than that though. When DS caused the short circuit, the engines and generators weren't the only thing he disabled. When the 300 volts hit DS, they also overloaded the missile turrets and the CIWS weapons, burning their batteries and causing their software to overload. Of all the things that have happened here, this is the last one DS wants to face. No radar means he has to navigate blind, and with no weapons, he has no way of defending himself. This means that the next time he encounters those black jets, he won't stand a chance. He can't be out at sea for much longer. The sooner he finds a coast or an island, the safer he will be.

After about one more hour of radio silence, Doctor Solace contacts the Eurocopter once again, eager to know what the situation is.

-'Savior One, this is Samaritan One, do you copy?', he asks, still in his lwo voice tone.

After two seconds of silence, the Eurocopter replies in its usual electronic voice.

-'Savior One to Samaritan One, I copy loud n clear'.

-'Did you find anything yet?', asks DS.

-'Negative Samaritan One', replies the helo. 'Nothing but endless ocean. Any clues on your end?'

-'Negative, I'm still trying to restore power to the engines and generators', replies DS again. 'So far I'm being dragged by the currents'.

-'Copy that Samaritan One. Let's keep our radio chats to a minimum. We do not want to be discovered by the enemy'.

-'You got a point there. Alright, I'll keep radio silence. Still, I'll leave my walkie talkie radio on just in case'.

-'Copy that, continuing search', says the Eurocopter and deactivates its radio. Normally, this is a very risky choice as deactivating the radio would mean that they will be unable to communicate with each other, but that's not the case. Unbeknowst to some, all Red Cross helicopters had recently been outfited with a backup radio which could receive messages but its operator would not be able to respond.

Those backup radios were introduced during the Austronesian Civil War when Red Cross convoys and field hospital were keeping track on the frequencies of both sides. This was done so that the rescue teams could go to the reported positions and pick up the wounded soldiers. While this was risky for all rescuers, it did help save many lives on the battlefield on both sides. This however, didn't come without a price.

While many soldiers and civilians were saved and taken to the nearest field hospitals, many rescuers lost their lives while trying. This brought a very big shame to the Red Cross as they couldn't tolerate losing their own personnel. Losing patients is bad enough, but losing their own personnel is much worse. And the Red Cross is supposed to keep everyone alive, or at least try to do so. Unfortunately, neither side was willing to acknowledge that and started what would become one of the worst massacres in military history after the Holocaust.