The Hospital Ship of Azur Lane (Slow Updates)

Air attack

Doctor Solace opens his eyes and stretches his arms. He doesn't remember what exaclty happened, except passing out. For how long, he does not remember, but it must be a very long time, cause the storm has now cleared. It appears that the sea is now peaceful and calm. No waves, no strong winds, no lightnings, nothing. Just the sun, illuminating the ocean. He must have slept throughout the entire storm without realizing it. Judging by the damage on his hull, it appears that he's only suffered a few broken windows and some scratches, but nothing serious. Well, it's probably thanks to sheer luck that he made it out alive, even if he had passed out. Normally, even a hospital ship like him would have been consumed by that storm. Well, at least he made it out.

After getting up, he looks around, only to discover that he's wearing his yellow hazmat suit, his goggles and surgical mask. That's strange. As far as he can remember, ships don't have human forms. Yet here he is, walking around his own ship in complete human form. He can move wherever he want, he can touch, he can feel. That's both creepy and amazing. He doesn't know how he's supposed to react to that. This is way too sudden for him. What's most confusing is how he got the human form. Despite his multiple theories, he cannot explain this phenomenon.

Before he can think of anything though, a whistle goes off and the laser guidance systems automatically turn on. That's even more weird. As far as he can remember, the targeting systems can only be activated manually by him. They never had the ability to turn on by themselves. Something must be wrong with his computer, otherwise he wouldn't be facing such problems. A few hours ago his computer was working just fine, so what's going on now? Could it have gone haywire or something. It's possible, but it hwent through maintenance before he left the harbor, and they didn't find anything wrong with it. To make matters worse, it seems that his computer software is not compatible with the laser guidance systems. This means he has to fight without a targeting system and switch to heat seeking and thermal seeking. This by no means makes it any easier, as he is forced to switch to heat seeking and thermal seeking, which is much less effective against enemy countermeasures. The other option is to activate his radar jammer, but that is still on experimental levels, so it's not guaranteed it'll work 100 percent. For now, he will have to defend himself with what he's got at his disposal, he'll fix the rest later.

He runs to the bridge where the computer is attempting to analyze the threat. The targets are identified as twenty modern stealth jets of unknown type. That's weird. As far as he remembers, the Austronesian air force does not have any stealth fighters. Even the navy doesn't have any aircraft in its arsenal, except for a few helicopters and drones, and even they are not stealthy. The only air force using stealth jets in Oceania, is the Royal Australian Air Force, and they are still experimental. Normally, the computer would be able to identify them in no time, but it appears that the type is identified as 'unknown'. Whatever the case is, he cannot take any risks. He needs to keep his defense systems on at all times. If he comes under attack, he needs to be ready to repell the enemy missiles and torpedoes. He might be a hospital ship, but he does need to defend himself, as long as he doesn't brake any rules of engagement.

After 15 more minutes, the jets manage to get close enough for Doctor Solace to have a look. The aircraft seem to resemble the Iranian Qaher 313 stealth fighters, but there's something off with their design seems much more boxy and more detailed, and their speed is much lower than the original Qaher jet. And their missiles seem to have a rather pointy warhead, which is far outdated by modern design standards. Somebody must have taken the design and modified it so that nobody would notice. Well, Doctor Solace definitely noticed that though, but that's not the problem. The real problem is whether his defense systems will be effective or not. Well, he'll just have to wait and see.

As soon as as the jets get into range, the RIM missile batteries turn towards the direction of the aircraft, locking on and waiting for them to fire. The missile batteries are programmed not to fire unless the enemy fires upon the vessel, thus following the rules of engagement. Even if the somebody attempted to push the launch button before the enemy fired, the computer still wouldn't comply with the command. Overriding the system is impossible, so everything is done automatically. The computer will simply analyze the threat and wait.