Zhejiang and Enterprise (Book One)

Project Phoenix (3)

The news that there's an approaching fleet surprises me but as I turn to make my way outside to get a better grasp of the situation, Reign speaks again.

Reign: If we're under attack, we could use the opportunity to test them.

Looking back at the girls training before me, I'm not sure how to respond to her question. Whilst they would provide some benefit to our fight, they are woefully inexperienced and could very well prove to be more of a burden than a boon. 

Reign: They aren't the only ones.

Me: Huh?

Reign: These two are the last two we made. After all, you asked for an expansion of our naval forces.

Well...she does have a point. Even before meeting Azur Lane, I was fully aware of just how weak our navy was and had begun work on expanding it but still...I never expected them to create entire ships this quickly. After all, it took years to build me but then again, that may be because of the more advanced technology I use.

Me: So you're saying you completed everyone else?

Reign: Well, yes but-

Me: No experience?

Reign: They do have experience thanks to extensive training but, yes, they lack combat experience. There's also-

Me: What ships did you complete?

Reign: Hmm...they are:

2 Completed Aircraft Carriers
1 Unfinished Aircraft Carrier
2 Completed Submarines
2 Completed Battleships
1 Completed Heavy Cruiser
4 Completed Destroyers (2 being the girls you met prior)
1 Completed Logistics ship
1 Incomplete Battleship
1 Incomplete Heavy Cruiser

Me: You did all that-

Reign: More or less. wasn't particularly difficult to make them when you take into consideration our immense workforce, allowing us to make all at once rather than one at a time. The harder part was converting the ships to KANSEN since we never perfected the method of creating KANSEN so I had to come up with my own method.

Me: I see.

Reign: In any case, you still need to name them for them to fully activate. 

I open my mouth to respond but after noticing that she's walking away, I give the room one last glance before following her. Yat-Sen, on the other hand, takes the time to head outside to command our forces and keep an eye on my sister.

Me: I'm surprised you didn't create something for yourself.

Reign: I considered it but I think I like myself as I am more.

Me: Are you saying you haven't created one to help you out?

She falls silent and I burst into laughter. Of course, she did. I wonder what kind of ship she built to help out though. Perhaps it's the logistic ship she mentioned earlier. I wonder...

Reign: We're here.

Refocusing, I find that we're now in a completely different room. From the looks of it, it's a launch bay for rapid deployment of ships though one could also be forgiven for mistaking it as an oversized Olympic swimming pool. The arrangement is fairly similar after all, with various lanes for each girl to travel down clearly marked. Still, key differences exist such as the size of the lanes and the launch bays themselves.

Scanning the rest of the room reveals additional girls that I've not seen before. They are...well unique would be the word I'd use but I can't deny the fact that most seem fairly consistent with what I'd expect. Not all though, and I can tell Reign took designs of other nations into account when designing ship classes we didn't already have such as Carriers and Submarines.

Reigns: Girls, this is-

????: Mother!

Huh?

????: Mom!

Huh?

Reign: This is, the Empress.

What d-do they mean, mother? I don't have any children! In fact, the only family member I could possibly even consider actual family is Jiangsu and she's my little sister simply by the fact that we are both Type-003 class Carriers. The next person would be Dalian and she too would also only be seen as a sister as opposed to being my actual child!

Me: (whispers) What do they mean mom?

Reign: (whispers) I suppose I might as well tell you from now. They're programmed like that since I assumed you'd want them to have a "hidden mechanism" that would prevent them from ever betraying you or the Dragon Empery.

Me: (whispers) So a contingency plan?

Reign: More or less.

I suppose that makes sense but still...wait, did the others already know about this? Was that why Yat-Sen was so weird earlier as well? So that's what they were talking about...

Reign: Gather around so that you can be named.

????: Kay!

Me: Hmmm...

With all of them now lined up beside one another, including the girls I'd met before, I manage to get a good look at them and I can't help but notice the similarities between them. Still, none scream that they are my children so perhaps that'll make explaining this in the future much easier. Then again, one girl does come close. Black hair, blue eyes in comparison to my blue hair and blue eyes...oh well. I can handle any questions should they arise about a single girl but I don't know how I'd ever explain having this many in such a short time.

Laughing to myself, I can't help but imagine Enterprise's face if she saw me now. Gathered before me are all the completed girls and, well, I look forward to having them join our forces.

Me: Let's see.

Carrier #1: Tianjin
Carrier #2: Fujian
Battleship #1: Hubei
Battleship #2: Hunan
Heavy Cruiser: Luoxiao
Destroyer #1: Ningbo
Destroyer #2: Fuzhou
Destroyer #3: Taizhou
Destroyer #4: Hangzhou
Submarine #1: Baxian
Submarine #2: Han Yu
Logistic Ship: Jiangwei

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Ships (Dragon Empery): New + Original

Type 003-class Carrier: Zhejiang, Jiangsu
Tianjin-class Carrier: Tianjin, Fujian

Hubei-class Battleship: Hubei, Hunan

Luoxiao-class Heavy Cruiser: Luoxiao

Yat Sen-class Light Cruisers: Yat Sen
Chao Ho-class Light Cruisers: Chao Ho and Ying Swei
Ning Hai-class Light Cruisers: Ning Hai and Ping Hai

Anshan-class Destroyers: An Shan, Chang Chun, Fu Shun, Tai Yuan
Type 055-class Destroyer: Dalian
Ningbo-class Destroyer: Ningbo
Fuzhou-class Destroyer: Fuzhou, Taizhou
Hangzhou-class Destroyer: Hangzhou

Type 001-class Submarine: Baxian, Han Yu

Jiangwei-class Logistic Ship: Jiangwei