The Hospital Ship of Azur Lane (Slow Updates)

Cleanup

With the hostile fleets having retreated, DS has returned to the harbor. It's in a complete mess. Destroyed depots, buildings with shattered windows, bomb craters on the ground, damaged anti aircraft guns, burning fuel tanks, you name it. This is no longer the same harbor as what it looked like a few hours ago. This place is barely recognizable with all the damage done, it's even surprising the harbor cranes managed to survive the attack. Everything looks like a post apocalyptic movie set. To be honest, Doctor Solace wonders what their point is of trying to rebuild it. They don't even have enough tools and materials from the looks of it. Now he understands why the Universals are the only faction that has managed to survive so far, despite being so small. At this rate, the Universals will surpass both sides in this conflict as history proved it with the US surpassing the UK as a superpower nation after WW2. Given how little damage the Universals have suffered so far, it's no wonder they are doing much better than the Azur Lane faction. DS can only imagine what the situation for the opposing forces is, but he assumes that it is pretty much the same.

After docking, DS walks over to Vestal and Akashi who are picking up some debris from a burning depot. Judging by how big the fire is and seeing one of his fire trucks struggling to tackle it, it must be a munitions depot, cause the explosions continue, one after the other. To be honest, it seems that his fire truck could use some assistance, but the rest of the vehicles are tackling the rest of the flames. At least the other fires are not as serious as this one, so until the other fires are put out, DS can only hope that his fire truck will be able to prevent the spread until assistance can be provided. That is, if there will be anything left of the structure.

-'You two okay?', asks DS to Vestal and Akashi as he approaches them. Judging by the scratches on their faces, the injuris seem very light, if they have any. Still, it's better to verify as he cannot leave anyone ti their own luck. Anyone injured, he takes care of them as usual.

-'Yup, we're both fine', replies Vestal in her calm voice tone. It seems that she has begun copying DS' relaxed attitude. 'We did receive some shrapnel, but it only scratched our faces. We're not injured or anything'.

-'Regardless, I need you to come to one of my ambulances for medical verification', says DS in his serious voice tone. 'I'm not willing to risk any of you endangering your health even further, at least until I verify you are okay myself'.

-'If you say so', says Vestal, rather annoyed. She is a repair ship herself, she knows when to check on her own health and when she is doing okay. DS however, is much more strict when it comes to injuries. He's seen a lot more and much worse in Austronesia, some of which were beyond help. Even though he's managed to save enough lives back there, he's not willing to go through the mental drama once again. He's suffered a lot, both physically and mentally, and he's in no mood of living it again. If he can prevent the worse from happening, then it's better if he acts quickly.

Just then, his Jeep ambulance pulls up in front of him with its lights flashing. This means that something has gone wrong.

-'Problem at the main road', says the Jeep. 'EM-1 has gone off the road into a bomb crater. I am unable to verify how much damage he has suffered'.

-'What?', replies DS surpised. EM-1, which is the codename of the first of the five Lotus Espirts M, was supposed to remain on standby and inspect damaged areas. Given its personality and sense of responsibility as a medical car, it wouldn't seem surprising that it was speeding on those dirt roads. It might be a responsible vehicle, but it is still reckless, or overly responsible, depending on how someone sees it. 'I better go there and check'. DS then turns to Vestal and Akashi. 'Would you mind coming along? I might need some extra hands'.

-'Of course, but what about the fire and the debris?', aks Vestal. She's not willing to leave the fire truck all by itself to tackle the fire, given how big it is. She has a point. A single truck like the Scania cannot handle this all by itself.