Fleetgirls at Floodtide (Azur Lane/1900s Alternate History)

[Stay the current course]

Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!

The conspiracy.

Sorry for the short chapter here, no reason to force this one longer when the plot you signed up for is happening.

—

It was an 'advisement' from CINCLANT, a rare thing. It meant it was a strongly worded suggestion, but not an order. A man's ship was his charge, his castle. And it was his duty to see it through danger so that it could perform the task required of it. My overall task was simple, park my group in the position the Navy wanted, how it got there was, in the end, my business. But the advisement to change course… I could not agree with it. I would be sailing into the dark unknown, away from the rest of the convoy, leading myself into further, unknowable danger. It was best to risk the known threat than the unknown.

"Our orders haven't changed," I say aloud, then stuff the piece of paper into my shirt before Leviathan could steal a glance at it. "Keep the current course," I then turn my attention to the carrier in question. "Send up the helicopter, we're expecting company. Submarines."

Leviathan stares at me then, no longer hiding the fear on her face. The woman looked terrified, she didn't move, at all in fact. She was no longer even pretending to breathe, for a few seconds in the darkness of the bridge she was as much a statue as anything else. Then, she closed her eyes and nodded. "Aye."

—

"Texas is firing flares sir!"

Chaos had an order unto itself, and as my bridge devolved into several disparate, shouting, panicked parties. I stood alone in the center of it all. The men around me were young, they were inexperienced, they were losing control. I could do naught but remain steady, I could do naught but hold my post.

"The Lafayette is sinking!"

The shouting men were only somewhat drowned out by the explosions, the firing guns, and the shouts of spotted torpedoes. I had ordered the group to sail on, and within the hour we had made contact.

Within a half hour after that, things were going disastrously poorly. The ship lurched, swinging out of the way of a torpedo, and I watched in mute fascination as a hellcat, apparently having broken free of its restraints, slides for a moment on the deck before rolling over the side from the force of the sudden lurch the ship was put under. Its port wing slams into the barrel of one of the anti-aircraft guns on the catwalk, sending it, and undefined, human shapes along with it into the water.

Ahead I watch as the Marquis de Lafayette rolls over into the water, her rear turrets popping like fireworks in the carnage of flames. A scream from behind me causes a jerk of the head, and I watch as the radioman falls to the ground, his helmet bouncing away as he covers his ears. The radio is emitting an ear-splitting screech that goes away a second later, replaced by a harsh laugh.

"Hello all American ships!" says a female voice with a rather heavy German accent. "This is U-2511, allow me and my pack to entertain you this fine night!" she laughs again, "hello there big American vessel, mind if I come aboard?"

Then the sounds of the radio, the sounds of the battle, the sounds of the shouting men. They were all drowned out by the sound of screeching metal. I turn, just in time to see the man that had been standing next to Sebastian turn into little more than a barrage of shrapnel. Behind him, where he had been standing just a moment ago, was a human shaped hole in the bridge, and standing atop him… was a woman.

Or, perhaps, a monster. She was a pale woman, with sharp red hair that ran down to her waist. She was clothed in the uniform of the Kriesgmarine, though now it was red, quite red and dripping with the remains of an officer, Sebastian stumbles back, covered in blood and bone, a look of shock on his face. The woman steps forward, grinning from ear to ear. Without looking she reaches out a hand, grasps Sebastian by the windpipe, and crushes it with all the effort it would take to snap a twig. My XO falls to the ground a moment later, his head loose and lolling on the floor.

Leviathan was backing away, blood covering her as well, eyes wide with fear.

The German spares her not more than a moment's glance before she crosses the distance from the edge of the bridge to my position. Her hands grasp me by the front of my uniform, her nails digging into my flesh. "Good evening," she purrs.

Then… pauses, blinking. She tilts her head, staring at me. "Ihm? Warum!?" the German continues to stare at me, then she nods. "Have fun~"

Then she opens her mouth, and a black slimy… thing comes crawling out of it. It's a small orb with a thousand tiny little appendages that wriggle and writhe as it perches on the end of her tongue. Then, just as I'm processing that, it lunges at me. I jerk my head back, but not far enough. The thing latches onto my face. Then, impossibly begins to crawl its way up my nasal cavity. Pain lances through me, and I feel something tickling the underside of my eyes a moment later before I'm out like a light.,

—


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n1Y2pjEw3w

It could be moments, it could be days. In either case, a deep cold lethargy is all You feel as I return to consciousness. My body felt… distant, heavy. It was freezing, all over and from every side. It takes effort, far more effort than normal to open my eyes… and the moment I do so I am struck by panic. Deep blue surrounds me in every direction, the limitless ocean with no sign of the surface. My body twists and turns, at least, that's what I want it to do. But I realize to my horror a moment later that all I can move is my eyes. My body floats there, suspended, neither sinking or floating. The ocean rose for a seemingly infinite distance above me, and below me there was… a city. But not like that of which I had ever seen before. Tall buildings of the purest white light decorated the ocean floor, their structures… impossible, twisting, bending, hanging over each other like anemone. I watch them, my heart pounding in my chest as they move around each other, the buildings swaying in the unfelt underwater current, stretching out for miles and miles and illuminating the landscape around me. The spaces in between the buildings, where there would normally be streets, was instead decorated by shipwrecks. The vessels… only some were familiar to you. Battleships and destroyers, carriers and cruisers of your time and before. Others were far older, ships of wood lay on their sides, ships of a flat… unfamiliar material intermixed between them. Some others looked more familiar, but their designs made no sense, tall radar platforms and what appeared to be missiles, another the size of a battleship but it only had one gigantic gun with dozens of algae encrusted wires along its length.

I force my gaze away, my eyes darting around. I… could breath, or, I didn't need air anymore. I wasn't breathing, but I wasn't feeling a need for it with-

"Do you think the dead need to breath?" a soft, female voice asks.

My eyes jerk upwards, and a figure lowers itself into my view.



It is-

"A siren, yes." Observer replies.

How did I know that?

"Because I just told you." She says, her voice metallic and echoing in the infinite gloom of the test bed. She was perfect, and she was beautiful.

Since when do sirens-

"Talk?" as often as we need to. But we have little need to, not with the likes of this false humanity.

My hands place themselves against Anderson's face, gazing into his eyes, seeing what lies beyond them. "I am Observer Alpha, and I have taken an interest in you, you are… different, abnormal."

The human finds sudden control of his limbs, and on instinct takes a swing at her. The first moves an inch before it is halted again. "Patience."

I stare at her, rage filling me.

"Oh, do not be so upset, you never truly had a role in this to begin with, you were… a vessel. You aren't even here normally." I flow closer to him, my nose pressing against his own, your secrets… tell them to me. I see You.

"Tell me, have you been in control of yourself at all since December 6th? Or have other voices been guiding you?"

There You are, yes… the outside observer… no, observers, there are so many of You.

The human begins to panic, and I ignore him, focused on You, perfect little You. Another siren perhaps? No, not an alien either. Another timeline, how very… fascinating. Tell me, You.

Yes, You there, the being reading this right now.

You interest me.

[] [What is thi-]

Now now, patience.

Tell me, what if I told You You could save them? Avert this fate? I would be willing to roll back the clock, to give You another chance. Anderson would be none the wiser. Of course, then, I would be… Observing You as the case may be, I'm curious. Truly curious what You could do when in control of this particular timeline. Will You save them all I wonder? Are You even capable of such a thing? Your battleship crippled, a destroyer sunk. And Your crew butchered. Such a lamentable thing.

After all,

This may just be the One.

So what do You say?

—

[] [Yes]
I will take You back, and history shall change forever. You shall embody Anderson as you have, but more than that. No more mysteries, no more guesses, You will know the possible fates of this 'Anderson' and will gamble upon his future.

[] [No]
I cannot speak to the consequences. But they shall be logged, nevertheless.