Azur lane: A history through their eyes...

Enterprise's Breaking Point

Just a short commission before maybe launching my new series, but we'll have to see. So enjoy and thanks again Jun for your time and talent.

Artist: https://twitter.com/JunHakase/status/1221077174146322432?s=20

November 2nd, 1942

New Caledonia.

Enterprise hobbled around battered and bruised in a room given to her as it had been a week since the horror that was Santa Cruz and her younger sister Hornet lost.

Enterprise herself had been hit badly, rubbing her side where a near miss torn a scar along her hull.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way..."

Enterprise looked to the beautiful night sky, standing next to her desk, feeling malformed and ugly.

She wondered if Yorktown and Hornet were watching over her, unaware that they would be named among the new generation of Essex-class carriers that would be joining her in the near future.

But for now, she mourned the loss of her true sisters, alone...

"Are you two in a better place now? I hope so... York keep an eye on Bumblebee, I'm sure I'll be right behind you two."

Enterprise forced a smile, staring at the half moon above.

"What do I do now...?"

Enterprise looked down to her hands as they held a picture of her with her arms around Yorktown and Hornet taken before Pearl Harbor.

Memories flooded back as she heard their voices and laughter fill her head, only to be replaced by screams.

Yorktown was hit two times and sunk at Midway while Hornet suffered suicide attacks and torpedoes at Santa Cruz.

Enterprise suddenly snapped and threw the picture at the floor, smashing the glass.

"I'll make them PAY!!!" Enterprise screamed at the top of her lungs as she started to smash everything in sight.

"Enterprise!" Suddenly her door was thrown open, North Carolina stormed the room weapon drawn with South Dakota and Northampton at her flanks, eyes searching for any threat to the last carrier of the Pacific fleet.

"GO AWAY! PLEASE JUST!" Enterprise screamed then sobbed completely heartbroken now. "Leave me alone..."

"E..." North Carolina and the others stood down as they just stared at the wreck of a ship in front of them.

They had never seen Enterprise this bad, even after Yorktown was sunk.

"Hornet was all I had left, and now she's gone!" Enterprise's voice barked full of anger and fear, she began sobbing uncontrollably in the middle of her destroyed room.

'Enty..."

North Carolina gritted her teeth, knowing what she had to do as she sailed straight into Enterprise with open arms.

The carrier girl began to strike her "Right hand" with balled fists as North just embraced her tightly.

Enterprise buried her face into the nape of the blonde battleship's neck and sobbed loudly.

"How many must I sink to end this!?" Enterprise growled hatefully as her strikes grew lighter and lighter before she finally gave up.

"I'm all alone Carolina... both my sisters are sunk... everyone else is sunk or being repaired... it's me vs the IJN?!" Suddenly a hard voice interrupted her.

"US! It's IJN vs US! Remember that!" Northampton spoke up firmly as she had done shed her tears for Lexington and Hornet and now wanted revenge.

Then a gentle hand fell on Enterprise's right shoulder.

"A warrior is only as strong as her tribe, you are our bow and arrow. Us, your shields." South Dakota declared proudly as she wrapped her arms around all of them.

"But I've lost my sisters." Enterprise wiped her tears slowly, calming down some. "I can't bear to lose you all too..."

The others leaned back, looking at each other as North Carolina spoke up in her brash southern accent.

"Well, when Davy punches your card that's it, but until that day... I'll send as many Japanese ships to the bottom of the fucking sea, before I join them." Enterprise looked to Carolina bravely as the very ship that had protected her so many times was waiting for the carrier's confidence to come back.

Enterprise composed herself firmly, fixing her coat properly as she took a deep breath.

"Ladies! Let it be known here and now! Our patched hulls and wielding spots are more than just repaired holes! They are symbols! Symbols of our transformation from little row boats to hardened veterans! We shall carry them like battle scars!" The moon peeked out from behind the clouds illuminating the carrier in a sheet of moonlight, revealing her damaged frame to the others.

"Our mission changes tonight... Henceforth, we will accept nothing but the Japaneses unconditional surrender!" The others stood silent, holding onto their flagship's every thunderous word.

"We'll shell them! We'll bomb them! Our ships and marines will rip them to shreds. We are fighters! We will lose friends and comrades and we'll mourn their loss. Then make the enemy pay ten fold! No matter how long it takes! No matter the distance! No matter the cost! We WILL secure absolute victory in the Pacific!"