You were chosen to work under Enterprise.

"Ah...it appears I'm going to be sortieing under Miss Enterprise and the Eagle Union." You say as you read your letter detailing where it is you'll meet up and what route Enterprise's task **** will be taking on the way to the region.

"Hmm, well at least you'll be working alongside more familiar allies~" Sirius hummed as she patted you on the head. "If you got picked to work under Miss Bismarck, I can only imagine the rowdiness and explicit bloodlust those ship girls under her might be~ Hehe~ Of course, thankfully, they'll never compare to those Sirens. So this time, I think we should be glad they're fighting on our side and not against us like before~"

"Mmm~" You agreed with that sentiment. While relations are far more tolerable and warm, there are still sore spots amongst the members of Azur Lane and the former Crimson Axis members, which have all since rejoined Azur Lane, for all the destruction and **** they've caused to each other prior to the Siren threat revealing the true extent of their power, forcing them all to cease hostilities and attempt to re-establish a more friendly relationship.

"Still, I wish you the best on your end of the **** Fleet, then~" Sirius gave you a hug and you returned it as you both soon bid each other a farewell before entering your rooms to begin preparations.

"Hmm...This is certainly quite the interesting scenario isn't it...?" You noted to yourself. "This is all rather sudden, huh..? I wonder if this is some sort of in-game event..." You then began to wonder, but shook your head. "No...that can't be it, as far as I'm concerned...this world, despite it being a game before, is quite real now...the characters I've interacted with showcase interesting and truly unique personalities and do things they otherwise simply couldn't if they were just AI or NPCs alone..." After pondering about certain things, you ended up sighing and just packed whatever you needed: Clothes, shoes, rations, etc etc... Eventually, in a few hours, you ended up receiving a text about who else will be sortieing with you and that it will be sent via E-mail.

"Oh...is this Enterprise's roster then? Let's see who's going to be there." You sat down on a chair and opened up your laptop, signing on and then opening your email account. "Hmm...alright...Credit card spam...Oh, coupons for clothing...more credit scam and spam...bla bla bla...ah, here it is!" You clicked on the email, then opened up the attachment to see who's going to sortie.

{Email}: "The following ship girls will be sortieing as part of Enterprise's Task ****:
Aircraft Carriers: Enterprise, Hornet, Illustrious, and Formidable.
Battleships: South Dakota, Massachusetts, and Alabama.
Heavy Cruisers: Portland, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Bremerton, and Baltimore.
Light Cruisers: Marblehead, Dido, Columbia, Denver, Montpellier, Cleveland, Neptune, and San Diego.
Destroyers: Hunter, Musketeer, Simms, Hammann, Amazon, Javelin, Laffey, Eldridge, Juno, Cooper, and Hobby.
Submarines: N/A
Repair Ships: Vestal
All ship girls under Enterprise's command will meet at the Eagle Union dorms around 10:00 AM. Sortie will be around 14:00."

"That's quite a few ships in this task ****...a shame we don't have submarine support though...but we have a healthy 32 total ships in our task ****~" You sighed as you bookmarked the email for later. "This is going to be my first real battle...it was terrifying watching it from afar when I first got here...but now I'm going to go face-to-face with those Sirens? This is definitely going to be an adrenaline fueled experience, that's for sure." You cleared your head as you did your best to rid yourself of the dread and anxiety bubbling within you. "If it really comes down to the worst and final decision, I'll have to abandon them and save myself...I'm not exactly safe behind a screen right now..." You shuddered at the thought of leaving your friends and allies behind, especially since in the other world, you did your best to take of them. "Haah...getting this wound up isn't going to help me with anything...let's leave the questions of morality and ethics out of this...now then, I guess I'll just take a walk around the base, after all, it's not like I had too much to pack, anyways." You got up and left your room, hearing the sounds of the other girls packing their own things from their rooms. You soon exited the building and just decided to enjoy yourself for now, it was a nice day today with relatively cloudy skies and a nice, cool temperature. "Mmm...this is it~" You took a deep breath as you relaxed yourself more, idly watching quite a number of ship girls running around, no doubt preparing themselves for the sortie tomorrow as well, by the looks of it.

"Ah, are you Miss Dido?" You then heard a voice calling out to you from the side.

"Hm? Ah, yes I am!" You immediately answered back, turning to face whoever it was. "O-Oh, Miss Enterprise! I wasn't expecting you to be here!" You stammered out as you saw the silver-haired carrier sitting on a bench looking over what appears some papers in her hands. "I was just out here trying to clear my head, is all!"

"Oh, I could tell~" Enterprise cracked an amused smile. "I tried to wave you over at first, but you didn't seem to notice, that's when I called out to you."

"Uwaah... M-My apologies, Miss Enterprise, I'll try to be more attentive next time around!" You began to bow profusely, much to Enterprise's growing amusement as she raised her hand to stop you.

"It's fine, it's fine. I wasn't waving you down because it was something important. It was more on the lines of wanting to meet you and see what kind of person you were, I would preferably like to get to know my Royal Navy peers so it would be easier to communicate and issue orders more smoothly down the line." Enterprise said as she slid over a bit to the side of the bench. "Would you like to sit?"

Seeing nothing else better to do, you simply nodded and sat down next to her. "Thank you, Miss Enterprise, you're rather kind." You observed as you smiled happily.

"Hmm~ I'm glad that's the impression I give off. Some of my comrades say I'm rather aloof at times or hard to approach, so I've been working on it as of late. I guess the lessons are finally paying off, haha~" She smiled back, chuckling as you both made small talk, mostly random chatter as you both got to know the other better.

After spending some hours talking, Enterprise packed up her paperwork into a folder before standing up. "Haa...~ Well, Miss Dido. It was a pleasure getting to know you a bit more, I hope we'll keep this friendly attitude up from tomorrow onwards on the high seas." She held out her hand for you to shake it.

"Likewise, Miss Enterprise, I would love nothing more~" You grasped her hand and firmly shook it as you both then parted ways. "Haa...~ What a nice fellow~" You sighed, feeling far lighter and more content. "Now then~ I guess I'll head back for now~" You headed back to your dorm room for the day, seeing the sky beginning to darken, though you soon found yourself alongside with the rest of the maids back in the main lobby, where tables filled with drinks and food were lined up neatly, other tables were moved next to each other and formed larger tables with plenty of seats available. Music that seemed suited to a fancy ball was playing as well. You looked around, seeing and guessing most, if not all, of the Royal Navy's ship girls on base were here.

Many of the Royal Navy's elite ship girls were also present on scene, those including Queen Elizabeth, her sister ships Valiant and Warspite, Hood, Illustrious, and many more. Their tables were more elegantly decorated compared to most as they all sat near the front. As the last of the intended ship girls had arrived and had been seated, Miss Hood took the stage, her mature beauty and regal demeanor demanding the attention of those around her as she let out a lovely smile. All eyes were on her as a spotlight was shined upon her, the lights dimming and the music volume all but disappeared. She adjusted the microphone stand before she opened her mouth to speak.

"My dear compatriots...as you know, we stand upon an important point in our efforts to extinguish the Siren menace, whose vicious and brutal natures have led to the countless deaths of humans AND ship girls. Tomorrow may very well result in such tragedies once more, I fear..." She looked down for a moment, a feeling of sadness overtook her as she showed a saddened smile to all. "But still...we must remain strong NOW! For those who are with us now...and for those who used to be with us... Our enemies have been shown to be uncaring to all, even each other, and will not hesitate to kill their own in an effort to bring even one of us down! But we must not falter! We must continue to show both ourselves and to those around us that no matter what, we will never give up, that we will do what we must to secure a brighter future for all of us and humanity! We must show our foes that we are just as willing to stand our ground, fight, and die than run away like cowards to be shot in the back!!! We are the LIGHT of the world, the BEACON of humanity, and the DEFENDERS of peace and freedom!!! WHO ARE WE?!?!"

"THE ROYAL NAVY!!!" A chorus of cheers erupted through the crowd of ship girls, even you found yourself shouting it in your excitement.

"THAT IS CORRECT, MY FRIENDS~!! WE ARE THE ROYAL NAVY, WHOSE GLORIOUS FLEETS USED TO RULE THE WAVES!!! AND WE MUST SHOW THAT WE STILL CAN!!! EVEN IF WE ARE DIMINISHED, WE ARE JUST AS STRONG AS EVER, IF NOT STRONGER!!!" Hood theatrically stated as the look in her eyes spelled of certainty, and of strength.

"AYE!!!" The crowd once again cheered in agreement with Hood's words.

"THAT IS WHY WE MUST DO OUR VERY BEST!!! DEFENDING OUR ALLIES, DEFEATING OUR ENEMIES!!! WE ARE THE ONES WHO WILL HELP END THIS SENSELESS WAR!!! WE ARE THE ONES WHO WILL PREVAIL!!! GLORY TO THE ROYAL NAVY!!!" She held her hand over her heart.

"GLORY TO THE ROYAL NAVY!!! GLORY TO ALL!!!" Was the sentiment echoing throughout the whole fleet.

"GOD BLESS THE ROYAL NAVY AND HER ALLIES!!!" Hood shouted out.

"GOD BLESS THE ROYAL NAVY AND HER ALLIES!!! GLORY!!! FOR THE FLEETS WHO RULE THE WAVES!!!" The crowd cheered back.

"Thank you all for being a wonderful audience! Now please, enjoy yourselves for the night! You deserve every moment of it!" Hood bowed as the whole place went ballistic with cries of pride and a strong sense of duty. This went on for awhile, even when Hood sat down. Eventually, the crowds calmed, but were still energized enough and thus the party truly began, everyone enjoying themselves to the fullest. As you looked outside, you could hear similar cries and cheers from the distance, possibly the other dorms had the same ideas to get their ship girls' hopes up, as well as their morale.

"Haah...even I can't find myself being down with such a cheerful atmosphere~ Alright, I'll let loose tonight~!" You shook your head while grinning as you headed in the thick of the party to enjoy yourself.

***

You woke up at around 8:00 AM the next day with quite a headache, prompting you to relax for around half an hour. Interestingly, you found yourself waking up next to Sirius and Illustrious. How it happened, you don't actually remember, but you do know all three of you had your clothes in various stages of disarray and all three of you ended up sleeping on the ground on top of a makeshift bed composed of many sheets. "Wow...that was one hell of a night then..." You hung your head over as you groaned annoyedly, getting up and stumbling a bit. "W-Woah...I have to be a bit careful..." You looked around at the scene around you, many of the girls are in the same position as you were, grouped up and sleeping together. Some were naked, others not so much, some were sleeping in places you didn't think someone could sleep in, but they were, some were sleeping on top of each other, even in the same positions as they were probably before they fell asleep. A few others were awake and cleaning up the messes left behind in the aftermath of the party. You ended up getting up properly after a few more attempts and went to your room to take a shower, finding more than a few hickeys left behind on your body in various places. "Hmm...~ Guess it went pretty wild, huh~?" You chuckled as you showered and properly cleaned yourself and dressed up.

By around 9:00 you had collected your things, and began to head out to the Eagle Union dorms, seeing now that most of your Royal Navy colleagues have woken up and were on the move as well, albeit slightly groggy. By 9:45 you arrived at the Eagle Union dorm area after making a quick stop by the cafeteria to grab something quick to drink. As you approached the dorms, you saw Enterprise and most of her Eagle Union group assembled and waiting, though they themselves also looked a bit groggy and tired still, but it seemed to be wearing off. You also surprisingly found most of your Royal Navy compatriots also waiting there now, how they managed to get rid of looking they just drank a whole lot hours ago you'll never know, but you won't complain.

"Miss Dido, I trust you enjoyed yourself last night?" Enterprise acknowledged and nodded towards you as you did the same.

"Of course, Miss Enterprise, it was certainly an enjoyable night." You responded with a smile.

"Certainly looks the part, don't ya~? By the way, you got a little...somethin' somethin' on your uh...neck there~" One of the Eagle Union girls, as you later came to know her as San Francisco, nudged you with a cheeky grin.

"Hm? W-W-What?!" You quickly went flushed in the face as you went to cover what you thought was a visible hickey.

"Haha~ I'm just messin' with ya, no need to be so uptight~" She laughed and patted you on the head. "Still, the way you're actin' is like a little puppy dog, ya know~?"

"U-Uwaah..." You quickly pouted and hid behind Illustrious, who gave out an amused smile and giggle.

"Mmm...~ I'm glad you're all starting to get along well~" Enterprise was also smiling at this. "Anyways, we have a few hours of free time left, the reason why I wanted us to meet this early was to have brunch together, after all, the best way I found to get to know someone is through having a meal with them. Anyone disagree?" After waiting a bit, she nodded. "Alright then! Let's head back to the cafeteria and grab something to eat, I'm sure you're all hungry after everything you did yesterday~" With that, you all headed back and had brunch together, making a lot of talk and getting friendly with each other as the hours ticked by. Eventually, you all found yourselves at the docking bay, and minutes after that, you were all off on your first joint-sortie as a fleet.