Azur Lane: Never Dock

Hikaryu Maru

A clock bell ticked on by, it's chime signaling the current time. It was 4 PM in this Sakura port town, it established a ways outside of the main homeland.

A figure wearing a simple shirt and jeans was walking to the dock, his yellow eyes observant of all his surroundings.

He showed his papers to the guard there, who looked up and said "Hikari Haru. Position and ship?"

He smiled before doing a quick salute, "Radio officer, stationed on the cargo ship Hikaryu Maru."

The guard checked his paperwork before stamping the paper and saying, "Go ahead."

"Hikari Haru" was just a cover name he established. Midway had infiltrated and wrote up cover stories for him based on Shinano's input. He had an ironclad back story. It was unfortunate, however, that this would be the last voyage of the Hikaryu Maru.

He quickly was greeted by the captain, an older man, experienced in the field of commanding a cargo ship. Midway was quickly shown his position and looked over the equipment.

It was practically an antique compared to the radio station on his ship, but for the purpose, it was sufficient for his cover. He needed to further infiltrate into the Sakura Empire, and that required extreme measures.

He tapped the final message to the port before the departure. "Hikaryu Maru, Departing."

Reaching his quarters, he was lucky to have his own given his position and supposed experience. Taking out a pencil and some ink, he started writing on the wall everything so far.

He grabbed a flashlight and shined it at the words, which started to disappear. Satisfied, he grabbed a black light from his back pack and shined it.

The words were revealed again, and with that, he could continue his plans.

It has been 4 weeks into the journey to the Eagle Union for supplies and then heading to the port of Osaka. The ship had already stopped and refueled at Pearl Harbor where it gathered the supplies. Midway watched the port as he could fell the tense atmosphere.

He looked over at the Morse code and radio telegraph machine and looking over the codes. Someone then behind asked, "And who are you?"

Midway turned behind spotting the tomboy cruiser, Cleveland.

"All your crew mates are on land and relaxing, why don't you join them?"

"My job is to run and maintain this equipment. I can relax when I'm finished." Midway simply stated.

The cruiser looked a bit suspicious before walking out. Midway turned back and quietly tapped the pencil against the desk.

He ventured back into his room and looked over the route. Shinano had told them that the loss of this cargo ship was something he could use to get further in.

He laid down on his bed and looked up to the ceiling. Taking his black light, he shined it up there. Greeting him was a map of the entire Pacific Ocean written in invisible ink. An X marked the spot, near the Philippines where the ship was gonna be sunk.

He finally closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"You.... you did good... kid."

With shaky breath, the crane carrier Zuikaku woke from her nightmare. She looked around panicking before getting up. She washed her face a bit with water and looked at the mirror.