Commander's Rounds

Entry 105: Duplicate Orders

Two battlecruisers headed south through the Bering Strait, passing south of the Arctic Circle. On first glance, the pair would appear to be Renown and Repulse, but on closer inspection, there would seem something off about them- their rigging was ashen and soot-covered, their unsheathed swords red hot, as though just removed from the furnace. Every time their swords touched the water, clouds of steam would shoot up in an instant. Considering that, for all intents and purposes, they were Repulse and Renown, they weren't paid much mind.

The one that might be Renown spoke up. "...Are you sure those are our orders?"

"I'm not a dummy, you know!" Said the one that was presumably Repulse. "I still have them right here." She opened up an envelope that she had stored in her rigging. "Look, we have orders to find and eliminate the impostor Renown and Repulse, and you know that the invaders can create pawns that just look like the genuine article."

"Correct," replied Renown as the pair passed by an area that once had a Siren fortress. "Still, it's strange that we haven't gotten even a hint on where to find them- Oceans tend to be large. It's practically a definition."

"Ahh, it's not like there's a time limit. Look, it just says to get it done as soon as possible. Which means if it's impossible to find them instantly, we'll go get them when it's possible, right?"

The one who was possibly Renown put a hand under her chin. "One might presume that, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case... It's not as though we have more options, however, so we may as well do our best."

"Mmmm! But we'll do it together, sis. There's no way the invaders will get the better of us."

And then the pair continued south into the Bering Sea.

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The Bering Line was a network of observation outposts and other early warning stations that lay at the lower boundary of the Bering Sea, set up on the Aleutian and Commander island chains that stretched from Alaska to Kamchatka. Their purpose was originally to spy on any Siren movement coming into the Pacific from the Arctic, but due to the Sirens' ability to move undetected, their success had been spotty due to the Sirens' ability to confuse radar tracking, communications, and even sometimes locally manipulate the weather. While the information they could convey was often limited, some was still better than none.

Ironically enough, it was one of the safest positions for someone serving in national forces despite laying across from the Sirens' northern defenses, as Sirens rarely seemed to care about being detected on the occasions when it did happen. It wasn't like the Bering Line had the equipment and firepower needed to stop a Siren Fleet from going about its business.

So, it was a quiet and stable position, so long as one didn't mind the cold, wasn't prone to cabin fever, or didn't have anxiety issues that were triggered by internalizing the idea that monstrous but indifferent automated killing machines could be passing close by at any moment without you noticing them.

It was one of the few places in the national services where rotation was very strictly enforced.

What it did mean, however, is that Azur Lane would occasionally send a Kansen or two up there to see what the situation was on the ground and report back with whatever improvements they needed. Sometimes Azur Lane could even provide them.

Roon smiled sweetly as she leaned on the table, cupping her face in her hands as she looked at the officer on the other side of the table. While Captain Hillman conceded that Roon was unnerving even when she wasn't, he had served on the Bering Line for years. This meant he placed Roon in the same category as most of the things he encountered this far north- Something that could easily kill him and every other man on his island without any of them being able to do anything about it.