=================

3 days ago...

Caster was again, still looking for a good place to do their battle with the Empire. Even with his confidence that he showed towards his adversary, he isn't going to make any excuse to lose. He's still struggling hard. But he knew that the scouting is going to be done tomorrow. 

This was 5 hours after the meeting with the girls about his scouting idea finally got through to them and agreed. 

Then 3 hours after the meeting, Akashi went into the office to tell Caster that the new tech research has culminated into new, better weapons. And she's happy to say that the new tech can be used in the battle. 

This was good news. Very good news. At least they have a chance of surviving more longer.

"Akashi. Before you go, I'll ask something of you." Caster told Akashi, in which she turned around and stopped. 

"Here. A shopping list. Can you please get all of this in a timely manner?" Caster handed over a piece of paper to Akashi. And her ears perked up.

"Here, nya?" Akashi stroked her chin. "I can get this in a day. So, don't worry... But." 

"But what?" Caster laid back on his chair.

"There's an extra fee again," said Akashi and she had a smug look on her face.

Caster sighed and he already knew that this would happen, but he needed the things on that shopping list to make his offensive plan more effective. 

After that, Akashi left the room and left Caster alone.  But before Caster can even look back and the maps, the door opened again, he looked at the person going in. She wore a bright red uniform and complementing it with a bright red cape. 

"I do apologize for the intrusion." The girl bowed to Caster. He hadn't seen this lady before in the base. 

"Um, can I have a name first? I haven't seen you around here yet." 

"Prince of Wales. Or just call me Wales." Then Caster stood immediately from his seat and also bowed to Wales. 

Wales, like Yorktown, was really surprised by the respectful gesture. And she struggled to respond. 

'This guy...' Wales thought. Still surprised. 'I'm pretty sure that the 1st one didn't even try to do anything respectful.'

"HMS Wales, yes? A pleasure to be in your presence." Caster kept his head down in trying to get her respect immediately. That's Caster's 1st option when trying to make a good first impression. He got this idea to not deal with the ignoring issues that he would sometimes get from the girls and he wants to show that he respects them as much as they respect him. 

Needless to say, it was working again with Wales. In which she just sat down on the sofa.

Caster put his head back up and he sat back down the on his chair. 

"Do you want anything to drink? Tea perhaps?" Wales as a British ship, would obviously like tea. And Caster knows this. 

A-kun: Am I stereotyping Brits with tea? I really do hope I won't offend people with that statement from earlier. (I AM NOT NEGATIVELY STEREOTYPING BRITS. I'm JUST A CLUELESS LAD OKAY?)

"No, I'm good." Wales looked on what Caster is doing. He was looking on some maps, in curiosity, she went in front of the desk of Caster and also looked on the maps. 

Wales was surprised because he was looking at Sakura Empire's old maps. And she also heard of the impending battle with the Sakura Empire. And she assumed that he is planning for that battle. 

"Can I offer my expertise on that matter?" Wales asked Caster. Simply put, she was asking him if she can help him with his plans. She just puts it in a really complex way. 

"Sure do. I'll accept whatever help I can get." Caster looked and he was writing down on a piece of paper. Or should I say, papers... There was a bit of a pile of papers around him.

'That's a lot of papers... But for what though?' Wales looked befuddled looking on the piles of papers.

"Wanna know the plan so far?" Caster asked Wales. In which she was surprised. He already had something in mind? She was impressed because of how fast he already planned an offensive. 

Then after Caster had finally told the plan she already saw a major flaw. The plan was nice, but it needed one more thing. 

"Location," said Wales. "Where are we going to do this?"

"Preferably, not in our area. I'm thinking we'll take the fight to them. That would be our best approach and it keeps the others of this base safe." 

"Okay... Not bad." Wales said. 

But her face looked hesitant... She looks like she's holding something back. 

"Um... Can I ask you a question?" said Wales. And Caster looked back at her.

'What if this will be like last time!?' Wales thought. Panicking in her mind. 'I think he's worth the risk asking...'

"What did you do before this? Um, like, back in your world." She was uncharacteristically nervous. 

The cause of this nervousness is she asked the same question the 1st otherworlder and he answered with some vile results. Making Wales uncomfortable with being around him. But Caster, however, isn't a creepy weirdo.

Caster's face cringed at the question. He's probably forced to say it again. And he just wishes that he could just lie but he really can't.

"I... I was an Army Commander..." He groaned loudly and sat back on his chair. Facepalming. "I mean, you don't have to believe me."

Wales was shocked at the revelation. Just like every other girl in this base. 

'I guess... Illustrious and Hood were right about him.' Recalling her conversation with Lusty and Hood before her introduction to the Commander personally. 'Trustworthy...' 

Trustworthy is the word that's going through Wales's mind as she froze in place. Unable to respond. She knew that she can trust him and she can definitely expect that she's not going to leave this place anymore. 

"I always feel such a self-centered runt when I say that. I don't like boasting my former position." Caster facepalmed. Telling his honest opinion on the matter. And made Wales realize that he isn't comfortable with saying those exact words. 

She smiled. She finally knew that he was the one. They finally found him. By sheer luck. He was the jackpot that Wales really wanted. 

"Commander," she bowed before Caster. "If you don't mind, I shall be joining your fleet from now on. You're the blessing that everyone wanted. And I'm confident that with you, we'll win this war."

"Come on now. You don't really need a well-thought-out speech to just join my fleet. You're absolutely welcome here." 

=================

A day later...

It was inside the Commander's personal submarine. That same one that got pounded by the Sirens on their first engagement with them. But it was repaired, and it had an upgrade on basically everything. Armor, fuel capacity, navigation systems, hell, even weapons systems were installed in this bad boy. This thing can actually survive a fight. 

That's on Caster if he knows what he's doing. Which right now, he doesn't. 

There were 4 people inside the submarine. Caster, Hood, Enterprise, and the recently joined Prince of Wales. And they are currently in the Empire's territory. They went with the submarine route. Which is working quite well so far. No detection nor suspicion. The Empire isn't really expecting a scouting mission from the Coalition anyway. Since Akagi has been underestimating the Coalition way too much.

"Commander... Are you actually okay? Don't lie to me now." Enterprise sat down next to Caster. He was getting really dizzy and almost vomited a few times but held it back for sanitation purposes.

"Goddamn it... I'm fine, Enterprise. You're worrying too much." Caster coughed afterward. "It's just a bad day."

After some more coughing problems from Caster, he finally got some news from Hood. 

"Shall we surface now? I don't see any more nearby ships in the area." Hood asked. As she was apparently manning the controls of the submarine. Pretty useful. But she can't be the permanent driver. She's built for warfare dang it. 

"Yep. It's," He coughed. "Surface-ACHOO! Now..." He held his nose.  

'He definitely has seasickness...' Enterprise thought as the weight of the submarine started going upwards. And they surfaced. 

"There's an island there. Shall we check it out?" Wales looked at Caster who was looking a bit better than last time. 

"Open the hatch. Let's, scout. Be careful everyone. Anyone who sees us is hostile." Caster said in a stern tone as he went first up the ladder to the hatch. And he opened it. 

He and the girls finally got up to the surface and they saw a pretty tall mountain. But that's basically it that it's going for. Plus it's going to be on the sea. Not land. 

But there's one more thing that made him and the others drive away from that place immediately. 

"A village? Oh, god. Let's go back. That's not a good place to fight." 

The girls and Caster scurried back to the submarine and left without a trace... Okay, maybe some footprints and other stuff. Did they felt sneaky okay?

Then after a while, a recovered Caster was finally manning the driver seat. And as he stopped and as he surfaced, he found another island. It looked... Better than the last one so they went a pit stop on that island. 

"You know, it's getting pretty eerie..." Hood spoke up as the other 3 turned to face her. Confused.

"There hasn't been a patrol for a while now. Do you think that they're on to something?" Hood made an observation. But a pretty baseless one. 

"Akagi has been very cocky with the threats that she gave. So I don't think those guys are planning something against us. I mean, we're still in that 3 day grace period, right?" Caster responded. 

"We can't worry too much right now. If they do attack us, we'll do it back tenfold." Enterprise said. Making the other 3 nods in agreement. 

'These girls really want to stop them once and for all.' Caster told himself as he was going up the ladder. 'But I need to remind them of what we're working for.'

They finally got a good look at the 2nd destination. It had abandoned buildings. And the girls were kinda creeped out because of the haunted town type of feel to it. And it had another good thing going for it. A cheesy flank. A bit of a shortcut. But the waters there were very volatile. Not really safe. 

They went off the island and the girls were still shuddering because the haunted feel of the village still lingered with them.

Caster noticed and tried thinking of a way to comfort them. But he realized that they are ladies. I know. Caster only realized this now. They're not just ships who prepared for warfare. 

So... What did he do to calm them down? He prepared some hot tea. Why though?

"Um... Tea is nice and all, but why?" Wales asked Caster. It was supposed to be Hood that should be asking that but she's way too busy with that tea. And Enterprise just rolled with it. 

"I thought you guys were cold." 

In response, Enterprise spits out her tea. And laughed. With Hood looking at Caster and looked away to finish her tea. While Wales tries to calm Enterprise down. 

"He misunderstood us, Enterprise. You're laughing too much. Even though..." Hood said while looking at Caster slightly. 

"Even what...?" He stared at Hood with a questioning expression. He probably already knows what Hood is saying next. 

"He's a bit of an airhead." She giggled.

"Then give me one thing that can actually calm you down without me doing something weird?" 

The girls tried thinking about some ideas... And after a few seconds, Caster sternly said.

"Exactly. Now, let's find more places. That place wasn't good enough." He went back to the driver's seat and started to move the submarine again.

The girls though were quick to point out that Caster wasn't much of a jokester. Or simply, he can't take jokes that well.

"It was a joke," Hood said. "Did I made him angry?"

"I hope not," Wales said. 

Enterprise, however, did not want to comment on the subject since she reacted first by laughing. But she knew that she might be also the reason that Caster is more or less angry at them.

After a bit more time later, there was another island that wasn't far away from the last one. And Caster's eyes widen. 

"I'm surfacing... Get ready to get out. I think we found it," said Caster.

The submarine surfaced once more. And the girls went out before Caster came out last. 

Then as Caster was helped up by the girls. He raised his hand. The girls were confused but they stayed silent. 

"Patrol. Get down now." Caster ducked. And crawled to the nearest bush he could find. The girls did duck. And they are out of sight from the patrol. 

They kept their heads down until the sounds of engines from the patrols ships from the SE went away. 

The girls and Caster got up and all breathe a sigh of relief. 

"I think this is the island." Caster said. As he pointed on his right. "Because of this." 

It was a stone pathway and it seemed that it was purposely built there. So the girls went that direction and they discovered something that sealed the deal about the location problem that Caster had. 

An underground cave entrance. Inside of a mountain. 

The girls were amazed. Not because of Caster's genius idea, but on how beautiful it looked.

"Cool right?" Caster walked in last. Then he saw a light on the other side. Then he started running towards the other side. 

The girls were confused and just stood there. But not Enterprise as she ran with him.

'What is he doing?' Enterprise thought. 

But Enterprise got tired and Caster kept running until he got there. 

'This is PERFECT!' Caster thought.

Then as Caster finally cooled down, the 3 girls finally caught up with Caster. Who still was gazing outside the cave entrance. 

"They are more patrols... And I don't think we get back home not getting found..." Caster put his head down and looked out on the binoculars that he brought with him. 

"Did we get found?" Hood told Caster who was behind him.

"I don't know. But if we did, our best bet is to stay out of their sights and go out in the blanket of the night." 

"I guess we have no choice," Wales said. 

"Hm... Are you guys hungry?" Caster turned around to look at the girls. 

The girls didn't really respond to that, but one of them did. Enterprise. She nodded. 

"I am kinda hungry right now..." Enterprise sat down. 

"Okay, I'll be right back. Please do stay here." Caster said as he was gone now. 

"Commander!" Wales called Caster to get back but to no avail. He probably has an achievement now named: 'I can't hear to save his life' achievement. 

"Oh, no. Where did he go this time?" Hood facepalmed. 

But the girls, now that they're on their own, and the Commander's commands playing in their heads, they settled down and sat down inside the mountain underground entrance. 

And they talked about some simple things, then it started to transition to gossips about the Commander. Wales was intrigued the most out of the 3. Since she only met Caster just yesterday. 

She expected the gossips to be negative. Because again, the 1st otherworlder. But she heard nothing but positives about him. And even that story when Caster helped Oklahoma and others to get the volleyball out of the tree even got to Hood and told it to the other 2. Hood was very, very open about gossiping.  But she notified the 2 that she wants to talk about how Caster and his immediate impact in the base. And how other girls look up to him already. 

"Actually..." Enterprise spoke out of the blue. "I have a video that I can show you. It was passed to me by Hornet the other day." She took out her phone. Her heartbeat slightly going faster because of the thought of him. 

She turned the phone on, and she immediately went to the video app and showed the "singing" video to Hood and Wales. And both of them are watching it for the first time.

"Wow... He is very good at singing." Hood smiled. "Actually, we should convince him to sing after this is over, don't you think?" Hood suggested such a good idea that made Enterprise agree in an instant. 

"And, what are you all doing?" Caster came out of nowhere. Surprising the girls and Enterprise almost dropped her phone into the water. He probably didn't hear the things that Hood said. But the girls thought otherwise. 

The girls scrambled to hide what they were doing from the Commander. And after all that, they all slightly flustered at the situation that just occurred. 

They turned to him and what he had on his hands was fruit. Mostly apples and other stuff. Even some grapes too. Then he gave them to the girls. 

"I already washed them in a clean water source. Not the saltwater... So, have fun eating that." Caster sat down next to Hood. 

They each receive one of the fruits and Enterprise didn't waste any time and started to eat the apple she was given. 

"How did you manage this? You went into the forest for this?" Wales asked Caster.

"Well, as an Army soldier, I have to survive in the wild. Again, I'm mostly land-based. If I was in the Navy, I would have dived down to get some fish." Caster said as he took a bite out of the apple. 

"The food I brought you is sufficient, yes?" Caster turned to the 3. 

"Hmm-hmm." Hood nodded. 

"It's more than enough, Commander," Wales said.

And Enterprise just nodded. 

Then Caster got up and got some sticks. And tried to make a campfire... 

...

In which he actually did create one. A small one. But a campfire nonetheless. The girls were impressed once again by his seemingly endless array of things he can do. And they all turned around away from the water to face the campfire.

Hood smiled. "It's like you read my mind, Commander. I was getting slightly cold." 

Caster just shrugged. "Plus it was getting cold anyway. Shall we stay here a bit more before we go?" 

The girls agreed, and they stayed there for another hour as they can't get found by the Sakura Empire's patrols. 

And after the patrols have calmed down, the 4 finally went off in the night and the girls got to spend quality time with the Commander. And you know what that means. Right?

=================

The day before the fight...

First and foremost, the setting was a cold night in the Azur Lane base. Everyone is getting nervous about the fight but they have faith within Caster to lead them. 

But Caster still wasn't done with the preparations. Before this, Caster finally received the "shopping list" items that he requested Akashi to get but again, steep price. 'What a greedy cat.' Caster thought. 

And he's going to Yorktown's personal dorm. He opened the door. 

"Commander. What made you come here?" Yorktown said. She was getting supervised by Juneau and Edinburgh. Her own personal maid. 

The other two bowed to Caster and he nodded. Signaling that he's good. 

"I have something to ask of you." As Caster took a spare chair and put it next to Yorktown's bed.

"Of course. Ask away." 

"Since I'll personally be there for the attack, I need a backup leader for this base while I'm gone." Caster said, looking at the papers. "You know where I am going with this right?" 

Yorktown nodded... Saying: "It's fine. Please get back here alive. And win this fight for us." 

He nodded. And he bowed down to Yorktown. And even still 2 weeks and a half in his tenure as a Commander, she still doesn't know how to respond to that. 

"You're going to be with... Juneau, Vestal, Lexington, Oklahoma, and Portland. Sounds good?" 

Yorktown nodded as Caster got up from his chair and started to leave the room. Now, the last thing before he can finally finish the preparations. 

He went into the lesser-known dorm rooms. The one houses some ships that aren't that notable.

He opened the door, he saw Saratoga, Long Island, and some new faces.

North Carolina...

And Washington. 

The girls were surprised that Caster even thought to go into this room. And one of them, Washington, got behind her sister ship N. Carolina. 

"Oh, am I disturbing any peace here?" Caster looked around the room and he saw nothing much happening. 

"No, Commander!" Then Saratoga ran up to Caster and proceed to throw a bucket...

Of powder. 

He coughed loudly and wiped the powder off his face. 

"Damn it." Caster cursed. "Great start huh?" He immediately composed himself. 

"Saratoga, you should not be doing that all the time." North Carolina scolded Saratoga and she pouted and gone to her respective bed. 

"I'm sorry for that Commander. Do you want to play some games?" Long Island tries to give a controller to Caster. 

'This room is filled with so much contrast of personalities.' He thought. 

"We'll play for another day. Long Island is it?" Caster gave the controller back to her. 

She nodded and sat back to her chair looking at the TV screen.

"Good evening, girls. My name is Edrich Caster, pleased to be in your presence, everyone." He bowed down to them and rose his head up quickly to finally be done with the preparations. 

A-kun: Can we get a 'milady.' meme in the comments, please? Can you even do that in Wattpad?

"Good evening as well, Commander." North Carolina said to Caster. "My name is North Carolina and behind me is Washington..." She nervously smiled. "She's... Nervous to see you." 

'A grown woman is scared to face me? That's how it's going to be then?' He scratched his head.

"Washington, I've been told that the 1st Commander has done some bad things to you." Caster looked into the papers of the 2. "I will guarantee you that none of that nonsense will get you anymore. I promise." 

He spoke with a stern tone it made Washington finally get away from her sister's back and sat down next to her.

"I need you all to come near me right now. I have some papers to show you." Caster took out from his pocket is a lot of papers. Plans. 

His aura was felt in the room. Even the happy-go-lucky attitude of Saratoga got shut down with Caster's aura. And everyone followed and went near him. 

He gave out the papers to the girls and they were shocked. 

"We're sortieing with the likes of Enterprise, Wales, Cleveland, and Illustrious?" Long Island spoke up first. 

You see, on why Caster went into this room in the first place is... The numbers advantage.

=================

"Akagi, Kaga, Takao, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Kinu, Suruga, Akatsuki, Yukikaze, and Choukai." Caster said. As he groaned loudly. "Damn it."

"We don't exactly have the advantage of numbers, Master." Belfast sat down next to the desk. Few feet away from Caster.

'I gotta find a solution to this. To overcome the disadvantage.'

=================

You see, the Sakura Empire not only has more aces but way more ships than the Coalition. And since he's planning to take the fight in their territory, they would surely call back-up and overwhelm Caster's fleet. And it would mean defeat for the Coalition. And he needed to find a way to combat this. 

And he already got one plan for it. 

"Are you sure with us going in there? They are really powerful. I don't think we could hang with the Empire." said North Carolina. And the atmosphere of the room turned sour. Thinking that Caster might lead them into impending doom. 

"Actually, the other fleet I'm going to command is the fleet that will turn around the battle against them. It just means that the victory or defeat of our fleet lies on all of you." Caster took back the papers from them. 

"Are you ready to take that task? To make a big step in the war?" Caster asked the girls.

And all said: "Yes!" And Caster smiled.

'This base is way too big. I probably have more ships at my disposal but I just don't know it yet probably. But these 4 will be more than enough. They're formidable on their own.' Caster thought as he left the room.

As he was going back to the office, he smirked.

"But let's add an element of surprise." 

Word Count: 4227 Words. 

10:51 PM
4/22/20