Azur Lane: Silent Service
Chapter 35 - A Night of Blood

[Eagle Union Command Room]

Arthur was preoccupied with reports of long-distance telegrams flowing nonstop. The machines in his room moved without regard to the time that kept turning until it touched the opening of the curfew. The emergency signal sent by the USS Enterprise left her working hours in disarray. As the Admiral in charge of managing the Eagle Union faction, the burden of rescuing the ship girl who was emitting emergency signals became the top priority of his other duties.

“Admiral! Lothawat! The emergency signal from USS Enterprise was again detected by the Azur Lane emergency channel!” Helena, who served as Arthur's secretary, panicked after hearing reports coming into her communications lane.

With the ship's equipment on her body, Helena serves as the ship's maiden who carries out her ship's functions alongside Arthur. Since the ship girl was able to use her ship shape into an armor attached to her body, it made the term ship girl be interpreted with girls who were able to carry out the functions of the ship in the form of women. All of that happened because of Wisdom Cube which is able to change the shape of the ship into small equipment that is easy to use without lowering its function.

...(.(.Helena Fashion Rigging) ...

Today, Helena receives a wide variety of information through radio antennas on her head. The reports he received had their own priorities that were separated directly. With the technique, Helena was able to lighten Arthur's workload focused on the rescue of the USS Enterprise. Until an unknown communication channel tried to contact the frequency of Helena's private network.

“Helena.. Bzzzsttt.. Helena.. Did you hear me?”

Helena adjusts the foreign frequency by minimizing the noise heard through the change of channel.

“Helena.. Helena?”

The voice received by Helena was heard more clearly, until she realized the voice was from the USS Seawolf who contacted her through a foreign frequency that was not registered in the public network of Azur Lane.

Sensing the important information she was about to receive, Helena replied with morse code that was buzzing like static electricity.

“Is Arthur still on duty? Inadvertently, I received an emergency signal coming from the USS Enterprise.”

Slowly, Helena explained the situation with a static signal. USS Seawolf who understood the intent of the static signal was speechless to hear it. The complicated situation can be explained in detail by Helena.

Arthur, who is focused on taking care of the rescue documents and military operations permit, is unaware of Helena's suspicious actions. He calmly assembled a rescue team that came from the Eagle Union faction. The unknown enemy and the distance between the USS Enterprise and the main base of Azur Lane are obstacles that need to be conquered by Arthur. Errors in calculations would add to the burden of losses received by the Eagle Union faction.

“I don't want to add to your workload regarding the emergency signal of USS Enterprise, it's just.”

“Some uninvited guests have been caught on my surface radar. Looking at the signature of their ship, I can confirm if the guests are siren submarines moving in one large group.”

“I don't want to add to your panic, but remember this one thing Helena.”

“Steam surface vessels moving in groups is normal, but for siren submarines moving in groups. It was an abnormal incident.”

“Does the emergency signal sent by the USS Enterprise and the reconnaissance of this siren submarine have the same connection? I don't know.. I'm not responsible for answering that. I leave everything to Admiral Eagle Union and accept all its decisions.”

The communication frequency of the USS Seawolf was cut off and left static waves without receivers.

Helena involuntarily fell silent after hearing the report from the USS Seawolf. The accomplishments and myths circulating about the USS Seawolf lunge are a common mystery to Eagle Union ships. Helena considers all of that to be Eagle Union propaganda to spread passion for Eagle Union ships. However, after a successful siren attack thwarted by the USS Seawolf alone. Helena could not dismiss that one fact. Moreover, he had seen the capabilities of the USS Seawolf with both eyes.

Helena swallowed her saliva liquid and soaked her dry throat.

“A-Admiral.” Helena hesitantly called out to Arthur who was busy writing the travel route on a large map.

“...” Arthur responds to Helena's call by looking at her and stopping her small activities.

“Altair? I thought he was relaxing,” Arthur replied.

“She told me that there are some siren submarines that have been lurking around the main base of Azur Lane,”.

Hearing Helena's words, Arthur's facial expression turned serious.

“Does this have anything to do with the attacks that occurred on the Royal Navy ships?” ask Arthur.

“A possibility like that is not impossible. If the report from the USS Seawolf proves true, the attack that took place inside the main base of Azur Lane, the emergency signal from the USS Enterprise, and the presence of the siren submarine have explained all these events. They are related to each other,” said Helena.

Arthur held his chin and thought hard about the plausibility that had occurred. The thought that feels heavy becomes very heavy because of its responsibilities that are racing with time.

The Eagle Union Command Room was silent, there was only the clang of a clockwork sound that broke the atmosphere and responsibility that felt increasingly heavy at every turn of time.

“I think I should do this. The movements of this siren submarine look very strange. I do not doubt the reports from Altair because of his experience while serving as a unit of the Seawolf submarine. But.. I feel a bad feeling about this decision. My instincts say there is something to be sacrificed in this decision.”

For no apparent reason, Arthur feels a bad feeling about his decision. It was like the decision he made would bring bad influence to the Eagle Union and Azur Lane factions.

Arthur was very confident in his analytical skills, but to experience the battle lines firsthand, he lacked that experience. Instead, Altair was a veteran who fought on the front lines. Siren behavior is a book that is easy to read by him. Arthur wants to deliver the siren submarine in Altair's hands. But.. His body rejected his thoughts.

“A-What is this? Why does my body feel hesitant to take such an important decision?” arthur muttered with a heavy breath that shook his body.

“Admiral, what should we do?” Helena who was standing next to Arthur kept urging him to make up his mind as the Admiral Eagle Union.

“Contact the USS Seawolf and the third Fleet to report to my room as soon as possible,”.

“Un!” Helena responded quickly. His ship's equipment actively emits radio frequencies connected to the USS Seawolf and the Third Fleet.

Amidst Helana's busyness, Arthur stared at the window of his room and noticed the sunlight slowly slumbering into the ocean. The day quickly turns to night and the anxiety that haunts Arthur's heart becomes heavier.

From a distance, Arthur saw a small light coming from the depths of the sea. That bluish-colored thin light that slowly shone brightly quickly entered his eye view.

As Arthur knows, it was a surprise attack caused by a siren submarine.

And.. Arthur was too late to realize. The blue laser strike struck the Eagle Union command room and completely destroyed part of its body. In his final consciousness, Arthur saw the panicked-looking Helena and tried to catch her slowly falling apart body.

*Kaabooommm!!

As the night curtain opens, a surprise attack from the siren submarine becomes the starting marker of a long night of fighting.

The main base of Azur Lane enters emergency mode and a warning sound that reverberates into the beginning of a hunt for siren submarines clad in rage and vengeance.

...(.(.Transport wkwkwk) ...