Tokyo Bay, Sakura Empire

1047 hours

Earth 8447

Current Conditions: Light Fog

The kansen currently calling Tokyo their home, woke up to find 2 Siren Ships towing 2 more kansen in, both from Eagle Union and incapacitated, but what caught most Kansen's eyes was a new jet fighter on the Siren Carrier's flight deck. Its shape was much more akin to a human design than a siren one but considerably more refined than the Ironblood Jets who seemed to be rather temperamental. Curious, the kansen gathered at the port as the Siren Ship docked next to the Musashi. 

Tester B: "Well, there goes keeping the champions secret." she said. 

Observer A: "Ugh....no trouble." she groaned, "They were going to be spotted sooner or later, it's better to get this off our chests now." 

Tester B: "I suppose, better than having them not trust us or something because we hid their reinforcements." she shrugged, floating down to the pier. 

Down on the pier, the crowd of Kansen was lead by Nagato, Musashi, Bismarck, and Prinz Eugen who eyed the new craft with curiosity. 

Nagato: "Tester, what is this new aircraft?" she asked, U-556 and Bismarck colliding in a hug in the background.

Tester B: "This, little one, is our new champion to challenge the Eagle Union with." she replied, "It is a twin-seat, twin-engine jet fighter from the 21st Century." 

Bismarck: "Jests....I remember fiddling around with the 262, is this anything like that?" she asked. 

Tester B: "Sort of, it's faster, more agile, and much better at maneuvering than the 262 is and ever will be, the pilots of this here craft made damn well sure of that." she replied. 

Prinz Eugen: "Ara.~ Is it like that cutie from before?~" she asked, seductively.  

U-556: "One of them is!~" she piped up, innocently, "They should be down any minute!~" 

Musashi: "Hm...interesting....how well can this stack up to the...passion project that the Eagle Union Vice President is cooking up in his lab?
 she asked. 

Tester B: "With careful planning and a lot of modification, they can easily stand toe to toe with Project: Wingman...but it will take a lot of modding." 

Prez: "You guys talkin' bout us?" she called, stepping off the Siren Carrier. 

The girls all turned to see a woman in a flight suit stepping off the Siren Carrier with her helmet off and being held in her left arm, Andy followed her off also in his flight suit and carrying his helmet. The girls cautiously but curiously approached, scanning the 2 Naval Aviators head to toe before the questions began. 

Z1: "How many kills do you have?" she asked.

Yukikaze: "How many times have you escaped death?" she asked. 

Akashi: "You got any money?" she asked, greedily. 

Prinz Eugen: "Are you single?~" she asked, pointedly emphasizing her bust. 

Zuikaku: "How good are you at combat?" she demanded, getting up in Andy's and Prez's faces, "I want a battle." 

Kaga: "As if a lowly being from 5th Carrier Division can talk." she scoffed, shoving Zuikaku aside, "I will happily take her place however."  

Kisaragi: "Do you have candy?" she asked, tugging on Prez's pant leg. 

Avrora: "Would you care for a drink comrades?" she asked, offering bottles of vodka. 

Admiral Hipper: "Oi! Assholes! Stop hogging him so the rest of us can have a turn!" she pouted, trying to get through to the aviators. 

Andy suddenly felt a pair of arms come around him and begin crushing him.

Atago: "You feel so warm.~" she purred. 

Prez: "Hey! Get your mitts off my pilot!" she yelled, smacking Atago a few times. 

Atago: "Ow! Ow! Ow!" she whimpered, letting go of Andy, "Hmph...meanie...." 

Andy: "Thanks....Prez...." he panted, getting as much air into his lungs as possible. 

Prez: "Anytime Bullet." she smiled, patting Andy on the back, "Now, to answer all your questions in order, we have 49 kills each, we have escaped death more times than I can count thanks to this guy, we don't have money, we are both single and ready to mingle, we are both amazing in combat-." 

Andy: "Her on the ground, me in the air." he clarified. 

Prez: "Right, we will gladly duel both of you later, um..." she trailed off looking down at the Destroyers on her leg, "no candy at the moment little ones, sorry. And lastly....yes, we can do with a drink." 

Avrora smiled and tossed the pair bottles of Vodka while the destroyers 'Aww'd before letting go and racing off to the candy store. Prez was about to take a drink but Andy snatched the bottle. 

Andy: "Before we down the drinks." he said, keeping the bottle screwed tight and giving them back to Avrora, "We have a debrief to attend." 

Prez: "Aw...killjoy." she pouted, reluctantly falling in behind Andy. 

Andy: "So, after you." he said, turning to Observer. 

Observer A: "Right, follow me." she said, turning to the flagships in the area, "Nagato, Bismarck, and Soyuz, you guys too." 

The trio nod back and form up with Andy and Prez while the kansen instead turn to their plane as it touches down. 

In the meeting room, Observer makes the area a small mirror sea so as to not take up too much time. The room was similar to the main meeting room onboard Space Battleship Yamato, which was a rectangular room with no lights and a glowing blue floor that could project 3D Images. 

Nagato: "Alright, now that we're a smaller group and that we're not in the open, let us start this off fresh." she said, bowing at a 90 degree angle, "I am IJN Nagato, flagship of the Sakura Empire, IJN Musashi and IJN Yamato are both my protégé's and shall take over when I sink." 

Andy coughs awkwardly at this, knowing that both the Yamato and Musashi sink way before the Nagato even touched the Nuclear Bomb. 

Bismarck: "Guten Tag mein Freundes my name is KMS Bismarck." she saluted, sharply, "I am the flagship of Ironblood, your first mission shall be there so I shall be your Kommandant." 

Sovetsky Soyuz: "My comrades!~ I am SN Sovetsky Soyuz, think of me as your fun, drunk commander for your upcoming operations in the European theater." she said, side-hugging the pair of aviators. 

Observer A: "As you know from radio calls I am Observer Alpha the leader of this division of Siren, Tester Beta over there is our mad scientist." she explained. 

Tester B: "I prefer the term genius but mad scientist works." she grumbled, crossing her arms. 

Andy: "Nice to meet you all, I am Ensign Francis Andre B Yan, TAC Name Bullet." he said, nodding, "I prefer going by Andy most of the time though." 

Prez: "I'm Ensign Robin Kuo, TAC Name President." she added, "I normally ride this guy's coat tails." 

Andy: "Together we're Strider 5, a proud member of USS Enterprise's Fighter Group." he proclaimed, bringing Prez into a side hug which she apparently enjoyed. 

Observer A: "Right, now that the introductions are out of the way, let's debrief you on everything you need to know." she said, the floor activating to show a world map. 

Sovetsky Soyuz: "You see, long ago, humanity and the Siren were at war, Humanity because they did not understand Siren Kind and Siren Kind because they wanted to gain knowledge and data about war and humanity." she explained, "It was a long, gruesome few years marred with heavy casualties for both sides. Eventually however, just when it looked like the Siren may tip the balance back in their favor, humanity invented the kansen. A race of super-beings which could easily outmatch even the toughest Siren." 

Nagato: "Thanks to our invention, we were able to completely eradicate the seas of all Kansen kind. Overtime, the embers of war went out and the world entered peace...but this wasn't to last long." she continued, "At first it was a few incidents of friendly fire during training missions, then it was normally bubbly kansen turning distant and robotic, then...then....." 

Bismarck: "Then the disappearances began, at first it was just a few Destroyers every now and then....then it was Laffey...then it was New Orleans....it continued to get even worse as the weeks went on until finally it all culminated with the disappearance of Enterprise." she said, taking off her hat, "Missing a flagship, the Eagle Union Navy was left with no choice but to be under the direct control of their commander, the first order of business was being fitted with chips which suppressed emotion, free will, and everything. Making them mindless drones for the corrupt bastards of the Eagle Union to play with. They made this a point by stripping all Eagle Union, Royal Navy, and Iris Orthodoxy ships of their names." 

Observer A: "With this newfound power, the war hungry Eagle Union went on a killing spree. Putting the Royal Navy and Iris Orthodoxy under their control." she continued. 

Andy: "Ok...what do these chips look like?" he asked. 

Sovestky Soyuz: "They are small black cubes with purple highlights, normally hidden within articles of clothing." she replied, "The only way to get these chips off is with incendiary weaponry such as Napalm." 

 Prez: "Ooh...~" she purred, a murderous glee in her eyes. 

Andy: "Hang on...how much influence does a flagship have on their fleet?" he asked. 

Tester B: "They make an unintentional hivemind with their fleet." she replied, "If a flagship is taken out one way or another, then the fleet has almost 0 free will or must resort to the next highest authority figure which must be the flagship's successor if they do not trust the Commander."  

Andy: "I see...I guess." he trailed off. 

Observer A: "It is really convoluted and very complex, that is about as much as we understand." she replied, "But if you rescue a kansen then they will be under your command until a flagship can be re-established." 

Andy: "So...what the hell do you want me and Prez to do?" he asked. 

Tester B: "We need a pilot who can deal with the man in charge of the Eagle Union." she replied, a bunch of pictures and files being projected, "Crimson 1, otherwise known as Rex Wright." 

Prez: "Crimson...Crimson....not ringing any bells." she said. 

Tester B: "It shouldn't, this man comes from an alternate universe, his dimensional signature says as much." she stated, "He has gone insane, he has no allegiances and his motives are unclear other than to be an anarchist." 

Andy: "Well...what're we flying against?" he asked. 

Observer made a hand motion and a holographic 3D image of a sleek aircraft with railguns and missile launchers on its dorsal side floated into view. 

Observer A: "This is what you're fighting." she replied, "Project: Wingman. It is a Highly Experimental, highly unstable, and very powerful jet capable of making even the F-22 sweat." 

Prez: "That....that doesn't sound good..." she trailed off. 

Tester B: "It isn't....it really isn't." she said. 

Nagato: "Even Yamato struggled against Project: Wingman....she's still recovering from her injuries." she piped up. 

Andy: "Ok, let's take this all one step at a time." he said, making a gesture and putting all the files and photos float away while pointing at the floor which displayed a map of the borders and the continents, "Firstly, where do you intend to send us?" 

Bismarck: "You're being assigned to an Ironblood Airbase since we have the most experience with Jet Aircraft at the moment." she replied, pointing to Germany. 

Andy: "Ok then, let's pick our enemies off one by one, start with Iris Orthodoxy, it'll be easier to move troops in because I reckon that you girls can't engage riggings on land." he said, beginning to scheme. 

Observer A: "In this universe that is the case." she said. 

Andy: "Alright, we can attack Orthodoxy and free their flagship first." he said, "Since we only need good tanks and a lot of troops to get the bastards." 

Tester B: "Ok, there is a stronghold in the Southernmost Tip of Iris Orthodoxy." she said, pointing at a certain point on the map, "We get there and take out the defenses guarding her cube, we win." 

Prez: "Ok, when do we leave?" she asked. 

Nagato: "A few days." she replied, "Before we hand you off to Ironblood we need help to deter the Eagles from just taking us down before you can return." 

Andy: "We can do that." he nodded, confidently. 

Nagato bowed at 90 degrees in thanks before a red alert klaxon sounded with 4 blips appearing on the Map making a beeline towards the Sakura Empire. 

Tester B: "Contact, 4 ships, 3 Light Cruisers; Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Cleveland Class, 1 Alaska Class Battlecruiser, and 1 Iowa Class Battleship." she reported. 

Sovetsky Soyuz: "They are sending in the AA big guns." she said, "Cleveland, Helena, San Diego, Guam, and New Jersey. Tough match-up." 

Andy hummed at this, he knew how dangerous US Cruisers were to aircraft, especially Cleveland's and Atlanta's, he also knew how fucking insane the North Carolina Class Battleships were against aircraft and equated the Iowa's as even bigger and meaner North Carolina's. But he also knew how they needed a way to deter the Eagles from attacking so he made up his mind.

Andy: "Observer, where'd you put our plane?" he asked. 

Observer A: "The airstrip just North of here." she replied, "Why?" 

Andy: "Tell the workers to fuel it up and get it ready for anti-ship combat, we're going on an intercept course." he said, putting his helmet back on. 

Prez: "B-Bullet, are you insane?!" she demanded. 

Andy: "We're fighting ships from the 40's, with luck they don't have the 80's refits if they received one, so we'll be too fast and too agile for them to hit us, and even then you can jam their systems and I can drop napalm on them to snap em out of it." he explained, before turning to Tester, "That is how it works, right?" 

Tester B: "Yes, your strategy, while unorthodox, and very dangerous, is feasible if done the right way." she stated. 

Bismarck: "We shall follow you in and get ready to intervene if things get hairy." she promised. 

Nodding his thanks, Andy lead Prez out the door of the meeting room. At the airstrip, their F/A-18 Super Hornet was being tinkered with by a clone of Tester B which promptly disappeared as the pilots and the real Tester arrived. 

Tester B: "I've given your plane some upgrades," she explained, "it now has a miniature pocket dimension to carry extra missiles so that you can rack up more kills every mission and so that you don't have to keep retreating to a resupply line." 

Prez: "Ooh!~ Nice!~" she grinned. 

Tester B: "If you want me to add anything else, I shall leave a clone of myself here." she offered. 

Andy: "Thanks Tester." he nodded, hopping into his plane. 

A little later, the F/A-18 was rolling down the taxiway with Andy and Prez doing final checks to make sure they weren't going to die when they were en route. 

Andy: "Fuel Pressure?" he requested. 

Prez: "Nominal." she replied, "Thrust?" 

Andy: "Normal operating status." he replied, "Hydraulics?" 

Prez: "Operating as they should." she said, "We're good to go."

Andy: "Roger that Prez." he nodded, "Tower, this is Strider 5, request permission for takeoff." 

Tower: "*chirp chirp!* *chirp chirp!*" it squeaked. 

Andy: "Um....tower, say again?" he questioned. 

Admiral Hipper: "Sorry about that Strider 5." she said, clearing her throat, "One of the Manjuu got in the tower, anyway you are clear to take off, wind is calm." 

Andy: "Copy that, clear for take off." he said, brushing the questions off for later. 

With a mighty roar the pair of afterburning Pratt and Whitney F-100's catapulted the F/A-18 forwards down the runway, accelerating rapidly as it went. Shipgirls lined the runway as the fighter jet roared off, faster than any piston powered aircraft they had ever seen and even every other jet aircraft they had ever seen. 

Andy: "V1, Rotate." he called, pulling gently on the stick. 

The fighter jet was quick to respond to Andy's gentle command, pitching upwards and slowly climbing upwards.

Prez: "Positive Climb Rate Achieved, bringing up landing gear." she added. 

The multi-role naval fighter roared away at full speed, climbing steadily and getting ready to fight like hell. 

Mid-Pacific Ocean, 200 miles from nearest civilized island

1700 hours Pacific Time

Current Conditions; Clear

The sea was calm and orderly, the creatures within it going about their daily lives as normal playing in the waves and letting the currents guide their actions. But then they all tense, they sense something...something completely unnatural......a fully mechanized embodiment of danger. Quickly all the sea life search for cover, dolphins and sharks using their great speeds to scatter and run away, schools of fish forming schools and scattering in one direction, changing formation this way and that to confuse predators, even plant life did their best to move the fuck outta the way. 

As they did, the reason became clear as hulking monsters of steal forced their way through the once calm and peaceful waters, their decks bristling with some of the best guns the Eagle Union had to offer. Leading the way was CL-53 or as she used to be named USS San Diego, taking up the rear portions of the formation were CL-55 and CL-50 USS Cleveland and USS Helena respectively, and in the middle were the really big guns BB-62 and CB-2 formerly named USS New Jersey and USS Guam. 

BB-62: "B-B-6-2 to C-L-5-3." she hailed, monotonously. 

CL-53: "C-L-5-3, go ahead B-B-6-2." she responded. 

BB-62: "Request status update." she ordered. 

CL-53: "Clean Picture, no targets on RADAR." she replied, only the briefest of pauses preceding this. 

BB-62: "Copy C-L-5-3," she said, switching radio channels, "C-L-5-0, report." 

CL-50: "Clean picture, no sign of hostiles." she reported, robotically. 

BB-62: "Good." she nodded, switching radio channels once again, "C-L-5-5, report." 

CL-55: "Clean picture, no hostiles." she replied, "Request explanation for status report." 

BB-62: "Request denied, return to posting." she responded, flatly switching frequencies, "C-B-2, report." 

CB-2: "Clear Picture, no hostiles." she replied. 

BB-62 hummed, not pleased by the lack of information, before hanging up and returning to her post. As she did a squadron of what her President called the F-4 Phantom roared overhead, maintaining radio silence with the Kansen to further dehumanize the girls.  

Meanwhile, a few minutes out, Andy was in sight range of the fleet, having hidden his plane from RADAR thus far by flying through clouds and letting them mask his RADAR signature from his opponents. 

Andy: "Alright Prez, ready on the Napalm Bombs and the Bruisers with Napalm warheads." he said, "As usual I've got the guns and Anti-Air stuff." 

Prez: "Copy Bullet." she grinned, sliding her visor down, "Let's turn and burn." 

Andy: "Time to dance with the angels." he grinned, sliding his own visor down. 

Andy gunned his throttles and was thrown back into his seat by the G-Forces, he then suddenly inverted and pulled up, putting the aircraft into a steep dive to get down to wave height as quickly as possible. As soon as they were just above wave height, Andy pulled up sharply and came level with the horizon, roaring towards the fleet at Mach 1.5. 

Prez: "I've got a lock with the Bruisers!" she reported. 

Andy: "Alright then, let's give these bastards a scare." he said, switching his radio onto an Eagle Union channel, "Strider 5! Bruiser! Bruiser! Bruiser!" 

EU Fighter Pilot 1: "Wait what!?" he yelled, shocked. 

EU Fighter Pilot 4: "Down there! Hostile is just above the water!" she called. 

Andy and Prez were able to fire off 2 missiles at the biggest ship in the formation, that being New Jersey, the Napalm Tipped Missiles slammed into the Battleships Bridge and lit a massive fire under the Kansen's Feet, the girl stumbled slightly from the shockwave but after only a few seconds, the fire had burned her chip off and color returned to her eyes. 

New Jersey: "Jesus-!" she gasped, "What hit me?!" 

CB-2: "B-B-6-2, status." she demanded, not an ounce of emotion to be detected. 

Immediately scanning the situation, she uttered a silent apology to her comrades and took aim with her main rifles, using HE shells, and opened fire on her fleetmates as a new jet roared past, dropping chaff and flares and allowing New Jersey's backup optical rangefinders to find their marks while drawing away the highly incapable early variants of the AIM-7's and AIM-9's off their tails. 

In the air, Andy was playing with the F-4's, flying literal and figurative circles around his adversaries, Prez wasn't even suffering, the maneuvers were light compared to what Andy normally pulled against jets like SU-30's, in fact, Prez was heckling over the radio the entire way. 

Prez: "That all ya got ya mothafuckas?" she taunted, "My grandma can do this shit with her eyes closed, and she's fucking dead!" 

EU Fighter Pilot 2: "Who is this woman on frequency!?" she demanded. 

EU Fighter Pilot 3: "I dunno Eagle 2! Just try to shoot em down!" he yelled. 

Eagle 2: "You got it Eagle 1." she saluted. 

Eagle 3: "Damn...it...move you...fucking...pig!" he said, fighting his aircraft. 

Eagle 1: "Damn it! Too close for missiles!" he called. 

Eagle 4: "Help! Help! They're on me!" he yelled, panicking. 

Prez: "Man, you guys must seriously be wishing for guns right about now." she commented, nonchalantly. 

Eagle 1: "They're toying with us!" he yelled, shocked. 

Eagle 3: "Grr....FIGHT US PROPERLY YOU ASSHOLES!!" he roared. 

Prez: "Hm...you sure you want that?" she asked, mockingly, "I don't think you 4 can handle it." 

Eagle 4: "Bring it Devil Woman!" he roared, silently fearing for his life, "Give us your worst!" 

Prez: "Hmhmhm, you hear that Bullet?" she giggled, eagerly. 

Andy: "Yup." he grinned. 

Prez: "Just so you know, I warned ya." she cackled, slightly insane. 

Prez then muted hers and Andy's comms and allowed her pilot to get to work. Immediately Andy pulled up as hard as he could, getting his nose on Eagle 4's plane before firing an AIM-9X. The Phantom exploding brilliantly when the missile collided with it, Prez recovered from the sudden maneuver and burst of G-Forces before taking note of the kill and jotting it down, taking a picture with her Instant Camera just to confirm the kill later. Andy then broke left, getting into a head-on duel with Eagle 1, shocked at the sudden move, he attempted to flee and gain distance to fire his missiles off only to end up as the perfect target as Andy shredded him and his aircraft into nothing but scrap, Prez taking another photo. Eagle 2 managed to get far enough away from the deadly pair and fire off a trio of missiles. 

Prez: "Bullet, you got this? Or should I?" she asked. 

Andy: "Hm......well, we're running low on chaff, so I may as well." he replied, shrugging. 

With a yank of the stick and a slam of the throttles, Andy performed a perfect 90 degree turn, dodging all 3 missiles before getting a lock and firing back, Eagle 2 stood no chance and became Strider 5's third kill of the night. 

Meanwhile, on the water, New Jersey was in her riggings, blasting away at her fleet mates, so far, the only girl she had managed to rescue was San Diego who was right alongside her blasting with her HE shells and her AA shells. 

San Diego: "Just like the good ol' times, ey Black Dragon?" she yelled over her gunfire. 

New Jersey: "You and I remember those times pretty differently Sandy." she jabbed, firing at Cleveland. 

As fires spread throughout the 3 remaining Cruisers of the fleet, the black chips slowly melted off their necks and onto the floor allowing the trio to finally regain free will and the ability to summon their riggings. 

Helena: "Ugh...ow..." she whimpered. 

Cleveland: "I gotchu." she said, catching her blue-haired crush, "Did ya have to hit us that hard NJ?" 

New Jersey: "If I didn't, the shells wouldn't have gone off." she replied, cycling through radio channels. 

Guam: "So, what's the scoop Big J?" she asked, pulling a microphone out of thin air, "We goin' on the run? Where we gonna run off to?" 

New Jersey: "I don't know yet Guam." she replied, still cycling through radio channels, "But if I can get into contact with that jet from earlier then maybe he can lead us to some allies." 

Guam: "Hm...sounds solid, I like it!~" she said, giving a thumbs up. 

Helena: "Um...girls, I have a contact coming right at us, IFF signature registering as hostile." she said.

Cleveland: "Where?!" she demanded, raising her riggings up to fight.  

Helena: "Heading 1-4-0, 0-7-0 degrees above, rapidly closing in." she reported. 

San Diego: "Let's blast it outta the sky!" she roared, joining Cleveland in aiming upwards.  

The roar of a jet engine was heard up above as Andy's F/A-18 began circling above them, New Jersey immediately gave a gesture to lower their weapons as soon as she recognized the markings. 

Andy: "This is Strider 5 hailing Kansen Flotilla below me on channel 1-4-2, do you read?" he hailed. 

New Jersey: "Um...this is USS New Jersey, former member of the Eagle Union." she replied, "That was a hell of an airshow you put on back there." 

Prez: "Hm...." she hummed. 

Andy: "The fu-?! PREZ! We haven't even known them for a second and you're already shipping me with her!" he complained, "What is wrong with you?!" 

Prez: "I'm just placing my bets before the rest of the competition." she shrugged. 

Guam: "This just in, you 2 need to get a room!" she called, suddenly. 

Prez stuttered, flustered and confused while Andy just rolled his eyes. 

Andy: "Alright, cut the chatter. We gotta get home before our fuel runs out." he said, turning his plane Westward and towards the Sakura Empire, "Follow us." 

Cleveland: "You got it man!" she saluted, leading the chase after him. 

As the fleet followed the Super Hornet towards the sunset the screen pans upwards and into the sky, fading to black as the afternoon gave way to night. 

A/N: Thank you all for reading this chapter, it's not the best and I could certainly have done a lot more but I liked where it went in the end. I'll try to make some non-combat chapters but...no promises. dieHero, you're up, thanks again for reading, see you next time.