Azur Lane: Konvergenz

Chapter 3: Enigmatic Conflict - Rewritten

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Steadily, the fleet proceeded towards their destination. The situation mainly took on a sense of calmness, with no incidents worth noting occurring. Just a short while ago, they passed through the Panama Canal successfully into the Pacific Ocean, meaning that navigating the rest of the way was certainly easier - it now resembling a straight line.

While they passed through the Panama Canal, they understandably attracted quite a high amount of attention from the people working and living there. After all, it is not every day you see a futuristic frigate getting towed by a battleship passing through. It was definitely possible that a picture of it must have landed somewhere in a local newspaper.

Speaking of this, Hessen, still on board the battleship together with New Jersey, continued to reflect upon this.

"It feels very strange getting this much attention... People look at me like I'm some kind of art piece. I'm just a frigate with a knack for air defense, not a dreadnought."
Being quite a bit embarrassed, she tried covering part of her face with her hat. Her naval officer cap luckily was not burnt to ashes during that fire and was still in good condition, although light damage was visible.

"Well, can ya blame them? They just never saw a ship like you before. They probably think you're some kind of experimental ship of ours who got damaged during a test or something."
New Jersey glanced back towards the Panama Canal they had passed.

"Possible, but I expected you Eagle Union kansen to get way more attention."

"Eh... it depends. We regularly use the Panama Canal, so the people are quite accustomed with seeing shipgirls passing through from time to time. The Eagle Union is big, after all - that canal is a great shortcut so we can go faster to where we want to."

"Say, New Jersey, how long until we arrive?"
She stopped covering her face, her hat going back onto her head where it belonged - although her expression still showed a bit of previous embarrassment.

"Oh, I think it'll take a few hours until we arrive. It could have gone much faster if all of us used their rigging, but as you can see I had to unsummon mine in order to tow you, and you had to unsummon yours since you're damaged."
She gestured to the battleship they were standing on and the frigate getting towed behind it.

Hessen looked a bit nervous at the mentioning of this.
"Yeah... I'm sorry again for all that trouble back there. I wanted to be extra cautious since I found myself in an unknown situation..."

New Jersey responded with a smile, giving her a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"Aw, you don't have to apologize! In the end, no serious harm was done. Well... except that damage you suffered, but hey! You did not sink, so I'll count that as a success!"

"You know... I'm not sure if I said this already, but you 'Eagle Union' girls are really friendly towards someone who, well, stalked you and shot down your aircraft."
If someone had shot down one of her two helicopters with confirmed hostile intent, Hessen would have most likely retaliated with a main cannon salvo at best and a missile strike at worst. Losing a helicopter is a big deal for a frigate.

"Ah, you don't have to worry. We recognized that you acted not out of bad intent, but for your own survival. You did, after all, not fire a single shot directly at us and instead attempted to flee. And that strange flag you have there... we did not recognize it as belonging to the Crimson Axis, so we knew you were not an enemy."
She looked at the flag the towed frigate displayed. Black - Red - Gold. It didn't ring a bell.

However, Hessen's attention fell on the term 'Crimson Axis'. She pondered for a moment. 'Axis' - Back home, that was the name of the military coalition of which her nation, Germany, was part of - a coalition responsible for causing the most destructive war humanity had ever seen in the form of the Second World War before getting defeated. Of course, Germany had atoned and recognized its terrible past, but in this world - if some form of the Axis existed, it would certainly imply many terrifying things.