Terma Lane, an Azur Lane story

Action off Halberd Island, 1939

[Bastion P.O.V]

It's 5 in the morning, and the skies are already filled with metal. A massive aerial battle is taking place above our heads, with hundreds of fighter aircraft trying to gain dominance in the skies. My fellow compatriots fire endlessly at the presence of these Trislandian aircraft.

I then heard someone yell behind me. "Bombers, 11 o'clock!" It was my friend HMS Berkeley, a light cruiser. I turn my head at the approaching aircraft and begun to unleash my anti aircraft guns. But they're soon proven unnecessary as friendly aircraft shot them down effectively. But I saw six bombs were released the moment they're shot down, and right after that I heard something horrifying.

A yelp of pain from one of the light cruisers from Berkeley class, she's been hit by two bombs but luckily no more significant damage. 30 Torpedo bombers headed our way but they met the same fate as their bomber buddies. This is no less than an aircraft carrier, and commander ordered me, 3 heavy cruisers and 4 light cruisers to hunt the enemy carrier.

The enemy fleet is on the horizon, ready for our attack. Muzzle flashes appear as the enemy Battleship fires its main guns. Their 15 inch shells struck the heavy cruiser HMS Sword, damaging her moderately. I saw as the three Heavy Cruisers focus their fire on the enemy carrier but they only did minor damage. The enemy battleship fires again, and Sword failed to evade in time. Six shells hit her, nailing her main guns and destroying a multitude of her AA guns.

I cannot wait any longer, I fired my shots when I'm sure I will hit it. "Fire!" I shot my 16 inch main guns at the enemy Battleship. I soon realize who I am fighting, the pride of the Trislandian Kriegsmarine, Battleship H-014 Wiemann. But my thoughts are interrupted by a grunt of pain by Sword, she got shot by the Kriegsmarine heavy cruisers Lorenz and Bhaum. There's multiple holes in her hull, and she starts sinking.

But before she goes under the waves, she said to me: "Do not let this mere sinking wreck weaken you." My hand wipes the tears off my cheeks and refocuses on the enemy.

I give orders to my comrades, "Focus your fire on the battleship!", followed by a "Yes ma'am" by the remaining allied vessels. Me and the heavy cruisers fired in unison, with most of our shells hitting the battleship. H-014 starts listing to the starboard, it seems our shots have started some flooding. The propulsion system seems to have broken too, slowing down to a mere crawl.

My gut feeling asked me to approach me, while I don't know any rhyme or reason behind it. But despite that, I told my friends to hold their ground, while I approach the crippled battleship. My boilers were on full steam and I started approaching at 33 knots, yet when they saw me turn my bow at them, they started to flee. Heavy cruiser Bhaum and Hildebrand, Aircraft carrier Adler and Eule. I can't believe they would leave their comrade to die like that, especially it's their own flagship. Only one stayed behind, working her soul out to help H-014 stay afloat. I'm glad seeing that there's at least some loyalty left. Although her effort is merely slowing down the sinking, and not stopping it, due to the limited capacity of the onboard pumps. I don't know why, but I start feeling pity towards them.

My ship pulled over besides the sinking battleship, and the two enemy vessels lowered their war flags. I sent out my hoses and pipes to H-014, and then help pump the water out. A weird thing to do at wartime but... I don't know... I just feel like it. The kriegsmarine battleship seems to have leveled out enough to tow, so I strike a conversation with him.

"You put up a strong fight, I'm quite impressed."

And for that he answers in a hostile manner "Was that a mock to me?"

"No" I said. "If your fleet trained in gunnery more, our fates could have been switched."

Upon hearing that his tone softens... a little bit... "a capture is not acceptable in our doctrine, especially for the bigger ships. A battleship will sink alone but it seems like the seas has given us a second chance."