Chapter Text
“Look, they said they found it during the fighting in Africa!”
They certainly did have an active imagination as she listened through the door as she tried to sleep since her return.
She continued to fight on the front lines of the war, never getting the chance to stop until one day when she had been hit, for once the only thing keeping her from the fate many of the ships she fought had faced.
Now in port for the foreseeable future she was stuck in port to potentially undergo some kind of evaluation, she would’ve fought on but it was deemed too dangerous as with just one lucky strike she could be killed. And the evaluation was needed because of lack of self perseverance.
Their prized possession could not be sunk by the enemy for any reason and the autopsy would call into question the abilities of the navy and their capabilities if they managed to lose her, what a nice pedestal.
Her hat was resting on her head as laid down in a bed, what a wonder that small creature comforts come be at a long time at sea. It almost made her forget what it was that she was fighting against.
“Wow, doesn’t it look like our ship's numbers!” And in a way what she was fighting for.
She continued to lay as she tried to get some sleep as the feeling in her body could attest to. A proper rest and she would be good for the rest of the day, just as soon as maybe she could get rid of those companions of hers.
“No way, and you found this on the continent?!” But the little ones had been the ones to keep her spirits up.
Destroyers were children or small for some reason and of course all of them had decided to not try and use them in combat, now if only they could’ve made it into an international treaty. Sometimes it felt like it was easier to fight in the past.
Before even the sighting of the sirens and the invention of ironclads were the easiest form of combat considering how they didn’t have an inkling to apply metal to their ships, then it was a lot easier to do combat.
Wooden ships seemed like a dumb invention considering she herself was from after the invention of ironclads but when you needed a navy for the first time the wooden variety was at least cheaper than anything else.
Oh, you could see how far the use of wooden ships could get you, but still to be back in such an age.
What someone like her wouldn’t give to be in a world like that, without the sirens.
For someone known for their senses, which some would call paranoia, she was absolutely unprepared for what happened next.
Everything around her seemed to be muted by some force and she was physically taken from her bed with her cap falling into her lap as she tried to understand what it was that had some quarrel with her.
Those Sakurans couldn’t have done it as it was far too away from the battlefield with their forces, and none of them could’ve snuck into her as too many shipgirls were on the base each able to provide enough deterrence on their own.
Of course, once again, unless you decided to use the destroyers. Something those leaders of the Sakura empire would do but had hopefully seen the dangers of putting skittish children on the front lines.
Cap now adjourned on her head she looked as the scene before her had changed, curse her and her privacy! No one would take notice until it was time for another sortie, which would be a great thing for morale.
She still had a war to fight with the rest of the Eagle Union forces as they had the upper hand at the moment which meant they had to press the advantage until they reached the home islands and let the soldiers do their jobs.
Or the scientists because if you believed the rumbling of Nevada, they were doing “Something upsetting” to her home state which did not sit well with the state personified, at least none of them had the sickness spreading.
With that in mind she had to make it back before any more of them were lost, even if she didn’t want to get any more blood on her hands she would do it to put what took out her sisters to rest.
Her body was jerked around as she lost sight of the scene before her to another scene with wooden ships which looked to be heading in a direction north from wherever it had been that they had come from.
Let’s see…
Certainly longer than more recent wooden ships and with larger sails than any of the ships in recent memory, and unable to hold any weapons. It might not have had any weapons if the long rows of paddles weren’t enough.
She had never so many rows of paddles as she observed the ships which seemed to be without a challenger from any sort of naval power. Ships she would have easily been able to take care of if given the opportunity.
It did match with her runaway thoughts while on the bed so she wasn’t entirely out of the wish fulfillment idea, of course not many good things happened to the future traumatized girl. But that was the original timeline so who knows?
Yes this little enterprise had still some light in her life aside from the eagle she supposed was now looking for her since her disappearance.
Oh how she wanted to give him one more round of head pats before she had disappeared to get her to know how she loved him.
Eagles weren’t fit for combat no matter how exactly they had kept him from any danger with the grace of the two elder Yorktown sisters. The less they talked about the drunken adventures of Hornet the better.
What she wouldn’t give for them to be reunited once again. As soon as she was able to escape from the hold it had on her she would go home and continue to honor their memory.
The returning band of traders with the coast had been changed during their return trip, none of the people outside of them had been able to describe it since they had returned.
But they knew, those oasis always did know.
She had appeared one day on a trade mission for the traders of the Saharan Desert, a woman which none had ever seen before, even her complexion was of a great deal of confusion. And her clothing.
It was a split decision on what to do with the woman colored of white, what should happen to the demon which landed before them? Because she wore clothes of fancy and very expensive only beings or the wealthy could afford.
No normal person would have survived the lack of water which they had to spare as they returned to an oasis in the desert, yet this woman did while in a state of those who had been set into the desert as punishment. Exhaustion evident as she breathed.
The body was dehydrated giving them a chance to look over the woman who landed before them with a bow along with her, something very different and something that might catch the fancy of one of the kings along the coast.
And the parading of the woman would draw many such visitors which would only work to draw more to their wares, and in part because of her unnatural eyes.
Her eyes were proof of her nature not of this earth with eyes only something out of this world could have produced like a spirit reborn into the very world they inhabited. Yet they never were rid of this look that they would never survive her anger.
A feisty spirit which spoke in a language none of them had ever heard of, this made it hard for her to try and come up with a peaceful solution, not that it would’ve helped against their own plans on what to do with her.
So they had to strike first and make sure she was in a state of lull before the sacrifice she would be a part of, she would be put to rest and set free to the world beyond the one of the flesh. Again even if she very much wanted to live
Those who managed to escape had not been prepared for the strength of the spirit and the mystical weapon which seemed to gather the light itself before being used by them to launch arrows at them, another point to the notion of not of this realm.
Now they were still trying to round up all of those who had seen the white demon and their accords of what occurred when struck with the light that gave them all sight, but it certainly changed them somehow.
Starting small and growing at a slow pace as it was hard to get converts to experience the idea of being affected by forces out of this world which just might lead to conversion to a new faith which had yet to be established.
But one thing they did know was that the bow-like weapon was special, from the way it was strung to how strings it had. Although something that big was impractical for humans so it would have to be sized down.
With these and the marks from the weapons they might just be the newest force to become involved in the religious sphere.
The African coast was going to be changed by these people and their weird devotion to the being with no known name. They did however find one thing to call their new god walking among the humans.
6
Her new religion was based on the holy ascension which all lead back to being the one they positioned as the new ‘6’ so to speak, it was spread by this deity and her followers she was unaware of.
It was perhaps best to say they were more like a city state than a nation as all religions start small until one day the floodgates open and converts seek the holy sights of their religion. The E.N.T. religion would find itself a home on the coast.
But as long as they existed they would continue to search for the home prophiseized by the very god they followed. Under her protection they would one day see the futuristic city created in worship of their god.
The seas were her domain so if they wanted even a bit of that power they would have to build their own harbor and ships to maintain the city of theirs, trade and all of its benefits would first reach them first.
Then the inlanders could be hired to help them produce the ships which continued the cycle that worked to lead to the eventual promised land, for now they would rely on the followers in their city to figure out how to create a boat.
A giant monster was shown in their minds as it had a cascading of metal which made up their swords but expanded on an industrial scale, now if only they could find deposits of that which they were looking for.
It came to them one day when they still tried to build a city like the ones in the dreams seen by all, efficient yet somehow dull. That couldn’t stand for long as they went to work to spruce up the community of theirs.
A man seeming to be from that nation up north which they traded with with knowledge of what they looked for, he also bore the mark of the chosen. Clearly he couldn’t have been the only one if she had made her way up north but it would do with their knowledge.
If they prayed enough she might just send out more followers of her to expand the city until they could perhaps make a second one all in her honor. The ‘6’ of theirs had decided on this decision and she wouldn’t be deterred.
This one might just be called.
5
Enterprise tore through the forces she had run into accidentally, seemingly interested in conquering the city in front of her eyes that had broken out into a panic, she was supposed to be a spectator.
The city was going to be lost unless an army was on the way, be they mercenaries or not, otherwise the people with their helmets and swords were going to take the city either way. Something she normally would not allow to happen.
But looking at them once she escaped made it clear they had something to do with the dossiers they received in the present about the history of the Sardengians. Some kind of ancestor perhaps by the familiar colors.
Lots of red which had been chasing her before she had rained down destruction on her enemies which thankfully hadn’t been hurt in the process, something to look into but they weren’t warships which would make sense for her to kill.
Even as she loathed the killing it made sense that only they would be the ones to cause an escalation to her combat needs. Little humans with their adorable weapons were of no concern to her.
As long as they continued to exist however they would try to birth more shipgirls to fight their wars for them, it was her job to fight and keep the peace so to speak, and to think they were all just a long line of ships before.
Those ships were at the shores of the city which allowed for much closer inspection as she saw the raised device of wood, it looked like it could latch onto other boats making a bridge to them both.
So this was the ancient art of boarding a ship, obviously much more complicated since getting that close was always a high chance of being blonde out of the water before ever reaching your own combatant.
No matter how she tried to hide her looks had made her a person of interest and the armies had some break formation as they ended up looting the city, her luck must be terrible if she was doing this much to survive.
The boat of theirs was just up ahead and with her strength she might be able to push it out to sea and then jump in so none of them could possibly capture her anytime soon. Her speed picked up to the harbor.
New converts had seen the scene before them as they tried to reach out to their goddess as she escaped to another land which was unknown to them but the existence of god might just prove true.
She had speed not meant for the mortals of this realm, undeniable proof that she was something greater than man! It was their passion to be able to serve the lord in any such way she required.
Many of them were split as to where their loyalties should lie, to the nation they had fought for or the new goddess of theirs?
Her path seemed to lead only to the peninsula and if they could find the one ship which had escaped the city to the boot which existed just south of the peninsula. And others had another idea.
Somewhere out past the berbers and right on the other side of hispania was the strategic rock which kept flashing in their minds, it seemed to be important for the control of ships moving in or out.
When thought about, it seemed to be a place where your guard was expected to be kept up for any moment you could find a trickster or a force set to try and take the rock. Money could be made at the rock which made it all the more tennibale.
So the converts split into those on the chase, the great migration, and the defense of the city, a good position and it still had the opportunity to be one of the richest cities of the world despite the war going on.
It was a big net for the religion of hers but that was useful with all of these ports and their potential to turn into naval producers, all in the chance to reach the promised land in what seemed as a world away.
Both of them had been chosen in an attempt to try and come to terms of surrender with the small cities dotting the coast which all seemed to be trying to disrupt the glorious return to power of the Sardengians.
When they conquered all of these small cities it would prove very useful if they could put these seafaring people to work for their empire instead of the allies they had across the pond. It was always a bit of a tenuous position.
Anybody with a stick could try and take a whack at the cities but they had defenses almost out of this world which made conflict for their trade very much a losing position, many more men would be lost in the attempts.
There would be no glory if no one was around to see it or if the populace grew disenfranchised with the direction of the war, and the puppets had not much say but they were in charge of the african holdings.
‘I swear, we leave them alone and it comes to bite us.’
The city of Algiers was a massive boon for whatever side it had yet it hadn’t fallen to any invaders even after the spirit of the Iris was reborn again after the wars which shook up the continent.
The Vichiya Dominion had a keen interest in this city, even one of their cruisers was named after it for god’s sake! The thorn of their was stuck in their ever since the first expeditions. 100 years was a long time to hold a grudge.
Ah to be the slave and the jailer trying to get a city to bend to the Crimson Axis, she did not have much to say other than her cuffs were much too tight. Even if they only pretended they couldn’t even keep up the farce for long.
It almost made her wish that she could’ve gone down fighting in the Atlantic or the channel instead of being stuck in Toulon. The one time she gets freedom she has to use it in an attempt to convince a city of people she never had a chance of convincing with their mysterious devotions..
These cities had been a thorn in many countries' sides but especially for the Sardengians as they held some of the last holdouts on the island of Sicily, all the good ports were taken by them hampering the army which needed a force nearby which couldn’t be spared.
So when this war broke out it was only obvious that they would play a big role in the Med for either side if they managed to take control or convince them. It was for that reason that they decided not to send someone like Littorio.
Sure they both hated each other because of their rivalry since the conception phase but it was either her or trying another contact like these on the other side of the Med which was even more unlikely.
And they couldn’t trust the iron blood… for reasons kept to themselves.
Of course the senate saw it as nothing more than getting their rightful roman land but it was a tenuous agreement on the part of the kansen as they weren’t ready as they thought seeing as the siege of the city had ended in failure.
So, yes, in any case the only person who wasn’t a bootlicker or enemy just happened to be her main rival in the world of navies.
The both of them made the journey to the city which was officially open to both sides but certain feelings still remained over their Sicillian brothers. Who wanted a port out on the coast of Africa anyways?
When the real goal of those Hellenic islands were still out there for the taking?
Yes, her very own Mare Nostrum was out there if she could only get the resources to take the islands which had the best potential to make the dream a reality. Now if only they could dislodge the turks and greeks from their little protection racket.
How they had managed to put lifetimes of discourse away with such an enticing city acting as a mediator between both civilizations was the work of god. There had to be a crack she could exploit for the empire..
“And your role is to provide relief for the besieged defenders out on the islands!” What a secondary objective for them than the one of fighting the war, at least this way she just might get a vacation.
They were shipgirls, aircraft carriers and some of the best of the Eagle Unions navy. The Yorktown class would be proud to have both of them, and even more when they saved the very important islands… and their resources.
So what if it was self-serving a bit? It was just a bit of a win-win for both sides.
The landing was a bit of a rushed one as they had to sneak in and reach the target before it fell, no ships this time as their rigging would be enough to make sure they retreated and thought twice about trying to invade their ally.
A straight was observable just a few miles away, the control of the straight would provide many advantages for the troops needed for their eventual return to the Philippines and other such islands on the way to the mainland.
Cries of charges could be heard as forces kept trying to assault the city and failing but wearing down the defenders who could only hold out for so much longer. Both of them ran as fast as they could.
More forces could arrive from nearby or they could draw in that kingdom to the north, despite their questionable usefulness more bodies were more bodies. If you strained your hearing you could hear prayer.
“At a time like this!” She fired into the attackers which spooked them enough where the survivors had to take valuable time to regroup as they grew closer. And it seemed to grow in intensity and loudness.
The both of them were able to see the inside for the first time for the outside world, It all seemed to be a normal city with residents who went about their days with no such worries of the outside world.
Because they had their goddess.
A warm reception was what shocked them in the end, out of all of them it was the aircraft carriers which held the key to the locked knowledge.
At least it was just the two of them as some others would've been taking notes about their city and all the weapons they might have, the war machine and everything.
It must've been annoying for the government when the worst they could do was the peaceful annexation of the holy site, of course this could've devolved into a representation issue.
But God was on their side so nothing else mattered.
The two sisters bore the same aura as their god, it was imperative that they had the best possible experience as those blessed as family.
And they themselves were gods in their own right along with the rest of those who fought in the battle long since warned. Many generations were waned on the clash.
Life was good in the canal as the toll booth between the Pacific and Atlantic, certainly much more than the old world one which had almost any power breathing down their necks.
All that cash when it wasn't being spent on improvements was used to develop those ships that seemed to almost fit in with the modern age but not yet.
Those iron beings had been created but not refined to the point of being at the same level the texts mentioned.
So as that still seemed much too far away they got to enjoy the tropics while occasionally dealing with governments which planned to seize the canal itself. Suffice to say they didn't succeed.
Because they also had a big old partner in the continued independence of the canal, the holy land was enough of a warning against trying again, and the defense was much better.
Playing favorites may have annoyed the neighbors and puppet acquisitions flew but with such a vast network it only seemed natural to include the international world in this.
Like in real life no one had a stake in it so to speak and it was open to everyone then no one cared enough to change the system.
It was lonely in the canal aside from some tiny pieces of land out along the coast of Mexico. And we all know why exactly they had not faced many threats.
Those miscreants would face punishment for what they tried to establish in the land of their god. Although they did have to wonder about the comparative strength of the kansen turned figures.
One benefit of her being their deity had to be the lack of aggression in the teachings, at least it wasn't some sort of Sakuran as not many would be trusted by the rest of them.
Best not imagine an Akagi religion.
As the development continued before the discovery of the gods, the lazy life continued as they waited for the day she returned to all the people she had affected in her life.
Once she had pushed the boat out to sea she had stopped at the first island she had seen before embarking once more as it wasn’t the place she was meant to go for some reason that none of them could find a reason for in the present.
The winds seemed to be in her favor at the moment and then she had to wait as nothing could rock her from her boat as they took them to where she could see a new island eventually. A nice trip like this was just what she needed.
Out on the open sea with no chance of harm from anything other than the sirens which would hopefully be defeated at some point in the future. Scratch that, when they defeat them in the future.
Life before the age of the industrial revolution was certainly different as it took much longer to arm and create weapons for the soldiers who had been called up in their version of the draft.
How different was the ocean from the life she knew too much about?
She could unfortunately recall resting places and the like but what about the animals which she never paid much attention to? How were they now that the world had returned to before they were able to change ecosystems so much?
The world out there was a beautiful and deadly one but she was ready for the potential knowledge which she would find out there if she could just have something like her own ship returned.
Her trusty boat wasn’t getting her anywhere on the chance of a bad storm and any such resistance, wow it was even before cannons, a world where the bow was actually a strong weapon.
She did have to wonder why she had been given a bow of all things, sure swords seemed like relics but there were carriers who fought up close, that could’ve been her if she tried hard enough. But no, the bow was hers to master because of her creation.
On the plus side she could make a decent fisherman, chalk that one up to her arrows not acting as normal arrows would. Singlehandidly she would endanger the European fish which called these waters home.
Skewering one on an arrow she put it against a wall on the boat to just sit as she prepared for the next piece of land which would hopefully have something on it, unless they were people. She didn’t want to keep developing patterns.
The stepping stone of prime island property was on the horizon as she prepared to pull the ship on shore and see what could be found on an island which she had no such briefings on during the war, she would have to trust her instincts.
Something like a maintained path was found on her journeys through the wilds, clearly along the coast was the only way to travel the world, jungles were much too big of an issue for civilization.
Roads gave way to two directions, either one was good, the answer was to obviously take both paths with her speed, racing down both paths she managed to run into the remains of one of the cities that dotted the rest of the island.
Literature was there but she had no such methods of reading something that wasn’t in the semi-modern tongue and even then it would be a bit of a disconnect. Taking a glance at her surroundings it just seemed too perfect.
She just so happened to be the one to find such a historical artifact which could be important or something like a grocery list. Ah but it was part of her vacation so she might just have the need to keep it.
But certainly something had to be here as a sign that she had been in the island at all, it was a big one so it might take a long time to be found but someone would know what it meant in the 20th century.
It had become a bit of a point of contention with those who would call the island home in the future as everyone wanted to live in the site blessed personally, to live in her blessing was the height of joy aside from an actual meeting.
The beauty of this was they had to be the ones protecting the forces still trapped on the island until they could escape back to Egypt under the Isles control, they were already enemies with the Ironblood, no love lost as they fought.
Many men were still stuck in the island of Crete waiting for ships to potentially allow escape, how they planned to sneak away during the battle that raged was a bit of an incomplete conclusion.
At least until they decided to invade the Greeks drawing what distractions they could use to allow for the escape of those to fight another day, while they would describe the conditions as above par it did have the feeling of somehow being transported back to the past.
Once the two of them had hopefully put it into an armistice as they left Algiers their next mission would be to see if they could convince the Turkish to try and stop supporting the island in their own backyard essentially.
Before entering the area around the capital and the little pieces of land littering the coast of the Turkish was an individual, a ship was behind them, outdated and somehow still standing despite the dismantling of the navy.
Neither she or her prisoner had seen the ship before in their lives, clearly a secret and yet she was openly protecting these waters and the city behind her. She seemed to be some sort of hero to the city.
Zara took the lead on trying to investigate who it was that had taken up a position on the Bosphorus. No such intel had told them about the invention of a kansen by those not in control of wisdom cubes and yet here was someone new.
She was certainly a relic as the navy had been in decline since the war of independence. Something about her was familiar…
Ah, she was one of those relics wasn’t she?
The cruiser from an age long ago due to advancements.
It was clear because of her guns.
“SMS Breslau, now how are you here?” She was unwavering under the stare of Zara clearly taking notice of the ship accompanying her out of her control.
“Midilli, my new name.” Ah, so she fancied herself after the sick man, how amusing.
Hm, what an easy conquest it would be against such an outclassed cruiser.
A true sick man even after it’s reported death.
Meanwhile she looked towards the prisoner on her jailers side.