The Hospital Ship of Azur Lane (Slow Updates)

Arrival

While all this was happening, the Azur Lane faction had just fought off a Red Axis air attack of their own. This is the seventh attack in just one day. It looks like the Red Axis faction has decided to put more pressure in the Azur Lane faction lately. Every time they finish with one attack, they launch another one. Looks like they are eager to take over the base sooner than expected. Usually, they would send their dive bombers and torpedo bombers and would avoid direct confrontation. And while they have faced each other head on before, it appears that they've changed their tactics lately. Instead of maritime bombardment, they've switched to air attacks completely, and the Azur Lane faction is unable to find them because they are way too far, and the fact that they have very few scout aircraft puts them at an even bigger disadvantage. If they had a radar that could track down enemy ships, then they could have conterattacked in minutes. Sadly, they have neither the resources nor the equipment to build something like that. The only ones that possess the technology are the Universals, and while they themselves don't have a maritime radar, they certainly have the necessary resources and the tech required, which is one of the supplies brought by the Universals in today's shipment. The only problem is that the said cargo is expensive, so they can't afford it all at once. Last time they paid a fortune to acquire the radar's heaviest parts. As a result, they've been forced to postpone the order of the next section of parts, instead focusing on the purchase of ammunition, aircraft spare parts, ship parts and artillery shells. Sometimes, they even have to order new artillery guns to compensate for their own losses in weapons and equipment. Not an easy task when you can't rebuild your own factories due to constant bombardment, but that's how war is, you have to cut the enemy's wound as deep as you can so it won't heal.

As the personnel of the base is clearing up the mess and putting out the fires, USS Vestal is inspecting the damage on one of the destroyers that was docked near her. Being the faction's sole repair ship, it's her job to verify the status of each warship and make sure they are running properly. Problem is, there's too much work to be done, and being the only reapir ship, she is unable to complete all of her tasks at once. Of course, she could use Akashi's help, fellow repair ship of the Red Axis who defected a few weeks ago, but considering how lazy she is, there's no point in asking her to do any work. For that reason, most of the repair work falls under her.

-'Much worse than I thought', says Vestal after finishing the inspection. 'She won't be going anywhere anytime soon'.

She then walks over to the drydock where another destroyer is placed. This one appears to be much more seriously damaged. The artillery guns are all disabled if not destroyed, the funnels have all collapsed, the bridge's windows are shattered and the ship's structure is full of bullet holes while an unexploded bomb has been stuck to the bow. If it explodes, there's an extremely strong possibility that the entire drydock might collapse. The sooner they get rid of that bomb, the sooner they'll evade the disaster.

-'Get me a flatbed truck here', she says at two shipgirls who are standing near her. 'We got an unexploded bomb here'.

-'Yes Vestal, right away', says San Diego, one of the two shipgirls who is assisting in the repairs. Judging by her happy smile, her ship this time must have made it through the attacks. Vestal has lost count of how many time she had to repair San Diego's ship every time the Sirens or the Red Axis have attacked the island. Whenever the enemy appeared, the bombs and shells would always struck San Diego, causing her to sink in the harbor, thus blocking the exit sometimes. No wonder she never had the chance to go out there and fight. Some have even started to call her unreliable behind her back. Maybe it would have been better if they dismantled her or used her as spare parts. After all, nobody wants be anywhere near her. It wouldn't make much of a difference if they sank one of their own, it wouln't change the course of the conflict.