Azur Lane: Silent Service
Chapter 14 - Small Greeting

“Humm! Apparently so. This is the reason why ship girls need men as Admiral” Sofia said as she dried her body with a dry towel.

After her body dried up, Sofia came out of the bathroom and put on her clothes. The distance between my submarine and the main base of Azur Lane is getting closer. My submarine's position is now above the surface of the water and activates radar to detect surface ships.

This small trip takes up to seven days. Diving at a speed of 60 knots with a depth of 500 feels very tiring and boring. To fill that free time, I taught Sofia about SEEEGS and the night battle. Sofia quickly mastered it and learned my weakness with her female instincts. I was so worried about my body's resilience to keep up with Sofia's incredible learning speed.

“Yes, they need men for their other needs” I replied while wearing my military clothes after bathing with Sofia. To save on clean water expenditure and unsatisfied additional needs, we agreed to do so together without coercion.

During these seven days, my work was too busy to teach Sofia about the importance of a woman's body to a man. As an artificial intelligence that has a physical body, Sofia looks like a curious child. Ethics, language styles, and general logic need to be learned to plunge into social circles. I don't want Sofia to get lost in the wrong life.

“Master, I read a report about HMS Sheffield not wearing pantsu behind his Maid uniform. Can I do it too?” ask Sofia.

“Sofia, if you do something like that. I will avoid you and pretend not to recognize you.”

“Moooo... After what Master did, I was just thrown away?” Sofia looked at me with a teary look.

The Uwah! He started to bring out his acting talent.

“Yes, anyone does not want to be involved by such a strange action.”

“Ueeh... Is HMS Sheffield a strange ship? Or perverted?”

“It's not like that, Sofia. There is a special reason why HMS Sheffield does not wear pantsu because of its very unique ship body. HMS Sheffield has a different design from other Royal Navy ships. Unlike Royal Navy ships that use brass for their inner frame, Sheffield uses stainless steel as its inner frame. That's why he became a light ship that has a different speed, maneuverability, and control than other Town-class.”

“I just found out if stainless steel and brass give different performance.”

“Yap, they have different density of objects. Stainless steel has a density that is lighter than brass. That has been the main reason regarding the performance of Sheffield and the uniqueness that the Royal Navy does not have before.”

“Umm... Masters... What about USS Seawolf?”

“Well, haven't you felt it?” I looked back at Sofia's body.

“Truely too, why am I questioning a sure thing. For these seven days I have felt the incredible resilience of USS Seawolf” Sofia said as she stroked her stomach and a red hue filled her face.

“A-I am still not satisfied to end it, Master” continued Sofia said as she smiled at me.

*Glee...

I swallowed my saliva after seeing Sofia's expression blushing in embarrassment.

“You continue it?” I said to tease Sofia.

I think Sofia's seven days of training made her a little hooked with SEEEGS.

Yep, it's my fault.

I should have controlled the wolf sleeping inside me. Doing the SEESGS activities for seven days without pause is a big mistake for the development of Sofia.

“Umm..” Sofia held the shame on her face and nodded.

After we took pains to bathe together and get dressed, a small temptation came back. Is this how the male sailor who longs for his partner in the cold of the night feels?

*beeeep...

*beeeep...

*beeeep...

All of a sudden, a distress alert went off and broke our mood.

“Cih!” sofia and I said those words at the same time.

We ran towards the Control Room and accessed the main system of my submarine. Sofia was sitting in the sonar while I was observing Tactical Map Operation. My eyes were fixed on the surface radar and the Tactical Map Operation which featured six foreign contacts.

“Master, no contact below sea level!” report Sofia.

Since Sofia has a physical body, she has come out of my submarine network. Sofia has turned into a girl born from Wisdom Cube with knowledge of artificial intelligence. Knowledge of sonar operations and submarine systems became little toys for him. The body of my submarine was in my control completely and my brain was a little exhausted to operate it.

“Surface radar detects six ships moving towards us. Looking at the speed and formation of the ship that formed two rows, it looked very suspicious. Sofia, activate battle station mode!” my orders to Sofia.

“Ready, Master!”

Not far from the sonar seat, Sofia pressed a button to activate the battle station mode.

*beeeep...

*beeeep...

A warning sound calling for battle station mode echoed in my submarine's body, my submarine's headlights turned red and Tactical Map Operation displayed ocean conditions based on my submarine's sensors.

The depth of the sea water is too shallow for diving. It hurt my position.

“Should we turn the direction and look for deep sea lanes?” little mutter.

“Sea—Wolf—”

“What—You heard my—?”

An unknown radio channel tried to contact my submarine. The radio waves travel on analog channels with a common frequency that can be heard by anyone.

Through my periscope system, I observed the ship approaching my submarine. The shape of the ship was very small and slender, a characteristic common to destroyers. It's just, I'm having a hard time recognizing the shape of that ship.

When a foreign ship tries to communicate through radio contact, it should not be a sign of danger. So, I'll reply to that communication contact.

“Haaaah... It will be a tiring talk.”

For some reason, my instincts say that the ship in front of me is a chatty kid.

I changed my radio channels following the general radio waves and merged into their communication channels.

“Seawolf is here..” I answered their call after adjusting the frequency of radio waves.

“Woaaah! Welcome to Azur Lane main base. We came to escort you according to the order of Admirality Code!” answer one of them.

“Flagship of this Little Beavers formation is me, USS Charles Ausburne. With my sister Fletcher-class USS Fletcher, USS Aulick, USS Foote, USS Thatcher, and USS Spence. We're coming to get you! The main base of Azur Lane is very crowded because we share the headquarters with other factions. So, please do not cause small problems like crashing into another ship that is anchored.”

“USS Seawolf, USS Charles Ausburne, orders received. Thank you for escorting me and sorry for troubling you.”

“That's no big deal, Seawolf.”

The six ships in front of me are Fletcher-class. The order from the Admirality Code made them escort me to enter the main base of Azur Lane.

Urgh, how do I explain this.

The main base of Azur Lane has the same coordinate point as the military base of Pearl Harbor. The line of ships anchored at the main base of Azur Lane is divided based on the fraction and type of ship. As I entered the outermost region of the main base of Azur Lane, a warm welcome from the dive bomber or the “Dive Bombing” aircraft threw small bombs near my submarine. Luckily, it was just a small, harmless 500lbs bomb. The pattern on the plane had a cherry blossom symbol that could be interpreted if it was a plane from Sakura Empire.

“Warm welcome, can I reply?” I asked Charles Ausburne through radio contact.

“Ahahaha... Its alright. Sakura Empire was used to doing such pranks. The range of our air strikes is a little difficult to catch up with. If you have a method that makes it possible to catch up to that fast plane, it never hurts to retaliate.” Charles Ausburne replied with a laugh.

“Alright, I'll catch up!” reply brief.

After closing the communication channel, I loaded the UGM-48 Harpoon on a torpedo launch tube and targeted the plane.

“Well, he didn't know that this one thing was faster than their plane” my little mumble.

*Blue...

*Blue...

*Whooosh...

My UGM-48 Harpoon started flying and chasing Sakura Empire's plane. It didn't take long, the sound of the plane explosion above the main base of Azur Lane was clearly heard.

“USS Seawolf's! Is that what you did?” radio contact from Charles Ausburne sounded panicked.

“You said I could shoot him” my short reply.

“I-Yes anyway, but I don't think if it will be done. The aircraft is the latest technology from Sakura Empire. I hope they don't cause you any small problems.”

After that short message, I could feel the gaze of someone observing my submarine.

Well, anyone would definitely be upset if his little plane was destroyed. As a defense, I only retaliated against the attacks given by him!

If things get worse, I'll bring the USS Charles Ausburne as a witness to this incident.

...(.(.Azur Lane Naval Base) ...

*Author Note*

The Mark-48 Torpedo x41.

The Mobile Submarine Simulator x30.

UGM - 84 Harpoon x2.

Tomahawk Anti - Ship Missile x18.

Tomahawk Anti - Land Missile x20.

The Semiramis Underwater Jammer x100.

Hunter Killer Drone x11.