Operation Siege

Two Royal Navy task forces are currently cruising on the North Atlas Ocean. One of them, led by Hood headed towards the abandoned Gibraltar naval base then join up with the Royal Carnation, and Iris Orthodoxy girls.

The other much larger group, headed by King George V, headed for the area around the Mid-Atlas Ridge, ready to strike at the formidable Siren blockade.

"The attack at Halifax has now commenced. Illustrious, Formidable, Victorious launch your air wings"

"Understood your majesty"

The Illustrious class sisters launched their air wings consisting of fighters and dive bombers and sent them ahead of the fleet.

"Everyone, commence your attacks!"

"Understood, your majesty!" The girls replied.

King George V, and Rodney went off in different directions, followed by their assigned cruisers and destroyers.

The Illustrious sisters then followed being protected by Glasgow, Sheffield and Belfast.

As noted by most of the girls, the commanders are strangely obsessed with protecting the carrier girls going as far as ordering them to stay as far away from the enemy's sight as possible, even though they said they can handle themselves in a fight.

----------

Meanwhile near the Bermuda Island, a thousand kilometres from the East Coast of the Eagle Union mainland, a carrier task force led by Essex is also making their way towards the Ridge area.

They were supposed to be stationed near the Panama Canal, but is reassigned temporarily for this operation. A great risk, but they were reassured by the new commanders.

"This is a really big risk leaving a skeleton crew to guard the Canal" Essex complained.

It's obvious that all the girls in the alliance have doubts on this operation as it's pretty much an all or nothing situation. If they fail, they will lose many of their friends and the territory they struggled to defend all these years.

"I heard one of them is in Halifax right now" Chicago said.

"Yeah, the one from the Northern Parliament. Alena, right? Biloxi said.

"Is Rossiya crazy? Bringing their commander to an area of operation" Essex criticized her ally for doing something downright stupid.

"No use thinking about that now, Essex. Scold them after if you want" Shangri-La said.

Essex sighed and prepared to launch her planes. Shangri-La and Bunker Hill did the same. Bataan launched some scouts, and anti-submarine planes to protect the fleet's perimeter.

If their timings are right, their planes should be able to catch the Sirens off-guard, who should be busy with the Royal Navy's. If not, they will take the role of being the first distraction.

----------

Near the Iberian Peninsula, Hood's task force is slowly making their way to Gibraltar, worryingly unopposed. She expected a Siren fleet or two would intercept them as they reach the southern part of the peninsula, but their trip was very peaceful.

"Perseus, can you scout further ahead of us, please?" Hood politely ordered Perseus. The only carrier assigned to them.

"As you wish" Perseus obliged and sent out a a fighter plane to scout the area around the Strait of Gibraltar.

A few minutes in, the report came in.

"Madam Hood, the Strait is clear. There is no Siren presence, although our allies are absent as well."

"Thank you for that information"

While Hood is contemplating what to do next, they detected multiple aircraft heading in their direction.

Great. Just as I was thinking everything was too peaceful. Hood thought.

The girls got ready for battle as the planes got closer

"Wait!" Hood ordered the girls in her task force to hold their fire as the aircraft looked nothing like the Sirens. "They're planes from the Iris Orthodoxy"

As if on cue, the planes turned back to where they came from. A large biplane then came near the fleet then lightly rocked it's wings signalling the girls to follow it, and turned around towards the Strait.

"It seems they managed to retake the this area of the Mediterranean" Hood said.

"I'm pretty sure they reported several injured when they encountered two Siren fleets. How did they manage?" Exeter asked.

"We can ask them when we meet. Though I'm afraid the Sirens didn't send reinforcements here"

"Then that means--?!"

"That's right, but let's set that aside for now and rendezvous with them."

The fleet continued, following the biplane earlier, which they recognized as one of Dedalo's aircraft, towards the previously abandoned Gibraltar naval base where they waited for another biplane to launch from the base to escort them.

Once they reached the Western Mediterranean, they turned north-east towards the island of Mellorca, where the main fleets of the the Mediterranean forces are currently resting, and waiting for them.

In a couple more minutes, they reached the port of Palma.

"Welcome ladies of the Royal Navy" España bowed, greeting the party.

"Glad to meet you again, España" Hood responded. "Is everyone alright?"

"More or less. Everyone's resting for now. Shall we?" España motioned to follow her further inside.

The group started walking towards a fortress, which was a museum, now used once again for military purposes. Signs of it being bombarded can be seen, along with the area surrounding the structure.

"How did you manage to take control of this area? " Hood asked.

"The supposed Siren backup never came so we took the chance to take the islands" España answered. "Though we didn't continue to Gibraltar just yet since it might be attacked again. And the Iris girls needed to rest"

"I see. I assume you have already relayed this to King George V?"

"Yes, they should've already moved their forces accordingly"

Some in Hood's task force are looking around, looking for the girls from either the Royal Carnation, or Iris Orthodoxy.

"Umm, where are the others?" Leander asked.

"Hmm? Jaime, and the others are on Patrol. The Iris girls were ordered back home since they did suffer quite a lot of damage. I was told that Richelieu and her team will be replacing them, they should be arriving soon"

"What about the Sardgena Empire?" Exeter inquired.

"They're currently guarding the Suez Canal

"By the way, have your ladies rested yet?" Hood asked.

"A little bit. Why'd you ask?"

"We could take over the patrols. I'm sure they would like to take a breather"

"That would be great madam Hood! I'll contact them once we get inside"

The group reached the fort, with a plaque on the entrance introducing the visitors the the centuries old structure.

----------

Up North, the shipgirls under the command of Alena, aboard the Sovetskaya Rossiya, are currently speeding south to join up with the Royal Navy, and Eagle Union on the attack on the Siren blockade on the Ridge area.

"They should be starting the attack right now. Rossiya any word" Alena said.

"Yes, but before that, why did we agree to bring you again? Comrade Commander"

"Because I said so?"

"....." Rossiya just stared at her commander with a blank expression.

"Don't be too serious. You guys wanted to see how Avrora and I defeated the Sirens, right? This is a good opportunity." Alena gleefully said. Then turned her attention to the Eagle Union, and Iron Blood girls.

"And don't forget our bet!"

"Yes yes, allow the others to freely move, right?" Prinz Eugen answered, with amusement in our voice. "I'll convince Bismarck, but I can't guarantee the others"

Alena smirked. All that leaves is for Matteo to succeed in his little experiment.

"Alena our planes have reached the area. It seems the others have bombarded the area with tons of bombs" Intrepid reported. "Quite a lot of the Siren ships are burning already"

"How about the humanoid ones?"

"Here!" A voice said.

"!!!" Alena jumped back, narrowly avoiding a downward kick.

"Comrade Commander!"Commander!" The girls on the battleship quickly moved in in front of Alena to protect her from the Siren that arrived.

"So you're still alive, huh?"

"Tester!!" Eugen identified the Siren in front of them.

"Disappointed?" Alena said in a mocking tone. "That 'you can't even kill a human"

"Why the hell are you provoking her!?" Is definitely what the girls are thinking at the moment.

Tester's eyes twitched and revealed a sadistic smile. "You just got lucky. This time sure". She quickly lunged forward, then immediately got pushed from the deck of the ship followed by a loud boom, which startled everyone except Avrora, and Alena.

The next thing they saw is are splashes a few kilometres in front of their fleet.

"Intrepid, Ark Royal. Attack immediately! Eugen, Hipper, North Carolina go on the offensive now!" Alena immediately barked orders without giving the girls the chance to say a word.

Prinz Eugen, and Admiral Hipper jumped down the ship, and skimmed towards the main battle area with Z1, Z2, Z18, Z19, Z35, and Z36 following them.

North Carolina and her group of battleships, namely Washington, South Dakota, Massachusetts , and Alabama also went ahead followed by Bremerton, Baltimore, and Reno .

"You three, watch out for that Siren"

"Comrade Commander, just now?" Rossiya asked.

Alena made a large grin. "That's basically how we defeated the Sirens earlier"

"Huh?"

----------

At the ridge, the battle is now raging. King George V, and Rodney's group are now clashing with some humanoid Sirens, and destroying some of their ships.

Both aircraft from the Eagle Union, and Royal Navy are now aggressively providing air support for the shipgirls below, trying to make sure the Sirens doesn't get a chance to catch them unaware.

Unfortunately, this isn't full-proof as some of the girls have been knocked out of the fight. The most the planes can do is to protect them until they get out of danger, which makes constant communication one of the most important aspects of th eoperation.

"Haaaah!" King George V kicked the Siren she's clashing with then fired her guns at her opponent.

"Your Majesty!!" Nelson alerted King George of the Siren about to fire from behind.

Tsk! King George steeled herself to receive the attack

Multiple bombs then landed on the Siren, exploding on contact. A number of Eagle Union dive bombers pulled out from the smoke and joined in the chaos in the skies, filled with black smoke and hundreds of planes trying to destroy their targeted enemy.

That was a close one. King George breathed a sigh of relief.

Adding to her relief is the arrival of squadrons of aircraft from the North, who then immediately picked their targets. Along with shells bombarding more of the Siren ships.

This came at a good time when they have already ordered the London sisters to retreat, along with Dorsetshire, and Norfolk. Kent, Jamaica, and Fiji are still holding out, but are exhausted. While Nelson, Rodney, and Valiant are pretty much battered from taking on the Siren bosses.

The Eagle Union side isn't fairing better Tennessee, California, Honolulu, San Juan, Northampton, and Chicago are also battered.

The only girls that hasn't even taken a single scratch yet were the carriers as their assigned escorts were the ones who took care of the Sirens that managed to get close to them.

Due to their current state, another wave of those would have spelled the end of the first and second battle groups of the operation.

Good thing they weren't delayed. King George V thought. "Everyone, head back! We'll now be supporting the third battle group!"

----------

"That hurt! Whoever you are" Tester shouted at Alena, after she managed to stand up.

"Oh I thought you'd be knocked out for a longer time" Alena said, with a voice that sounded uninterested. Currently she's aboard Tashkent's ship as Sovetskaya Rossiya needed her rigging to deal with the Siren.

Alena, and Sovetskaya Rossiya readied themselves as portals appeared beside the Siren where black ships started to emerge.

Hmm. Alena observed the Siren ships that came out of the portal, which numbered seven. She then looked up at the sky devoid of clouds, but choked by smoke coming from the battlefield.

We're screwed. She thought, but still gave orders via the weird headband.

"Rossiya, Avrora take care of those ships. Tashkent do your best to avoid the shells from those ships, and support those two when you can"

The girls nodded in agreement and went for the attack firing at the ships while maintaining their position in front of Tashkent's ship.

The Siren ship's fired back, but with the limited ways of positioning themselves, Avrora, and Rossiya are getting close calls left and right.

Even Tashkent is finding it very difficult to steer her ship to avoid the incoming shells. They also have close calls, and majority of those shells just exploded before it managed to get hit the destroyer.

Seeing this, Tester took the opportunity to once again lunge at the Northern Parliament commander, surprisingly holding back from using her full firepower.

Alena took two steps back and moved to her left, narrowly avoiding the downward punch of the Siren. She immediately followed with a low sweep kick.

Due to the Tester being caught off-guard, she fell to her bottom and is then hit on the face by Alena's heel, and got pushed hard by a still unknown force, although she immediately recovered before hitting Tashkent's railing.

Alena focused her breathing, carefully observing Tester while glancing at Avrora, and Rossiya somehow managing themselves against the seven Siren ships, even destroying one of them. Tester seems to not care that Tashkent is literally firing at her ships and focused solely on Alena.

"You're fast. What are you, human?" Tester asked, suspecting that Alena is the one responsible for the invisible shield around the Northern Parliament destroyer, which hasn't taken any damage from the enemy ships

"....."

"If you're not going to talk." Tester aimed her guns at Alena. "Farewell"

Before she is able to fire, Avrora distracted her by targeting her, while Tashkent turned her ship into small cubes and into her rigging, then rushed to carry Alena before she fell to the ocean. Shells started to explode on the water where Tashkent's ship was supposed to be.

"Get me to one of those destroyers, now!" Alena ordered.

Tashkent complied without asking and skimmed towards the destroyer nearest to them.

Tester tried to run after them, but is blocked by Avrora. "Oh no you don't!"

----------

Tashkent managed to get Avrora on the deck of one of the Siren ships and is ordered to assist Rossiya, and Avrora who are most likely at their limit.

"I hope this ship is as advanced as those Sirens" She then focused and released electric pulses throughout the ship to get an idea on it's control system.

Alright! Got it! The destroyer stopped attacking the Northern Parliament girls and started firing at it's former allies. It also released all of it's torpedoes, which hit all the ships near it.

This relieved the pressure on the girls as the ships are now focused on the "rebelling" destroyer, which gave them enough time to gang-up on Tester.

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Alena desperately tried to make sure she lasts long enough until the girls defeat Tester. She is currently using all her remaining strength to maintain a shield on the crucial parts of the destroyer, mainly the turrets, the hull, and the deck making sure it isn't sunk, or blown up.

She doesn't have enough energy to fire all the guns so she can only make do with the front one, but it's still enough to damage and sink the last enemy destroyer, but unfortunately they still have a battleship, and two cruisers to deal with.

Damn! I'm at my limit. Alena cursed as her vision slowly got blurry. This is where she stopped going on the offense, and focused on not being blown to bits as her destroyer is still getting pummeled.

On the bright side though, she saw that the girls have managed to defeat Tester, and is now focused on the remaining Siren ships.

Since she ceased being a threat, the Siren ships assumed that the smoking, and listing destroyer is done for and refocused on the girls giving Alena an opportunity to relax a bit.

"Those girls sure are tough" Alena said, praising the endurance of the three shipgirls, and went inside the bridge to rest a bit.

She didn't realize it, but she fell asleep due to exhaustion and woke up a day later in one of the rooms in the Royal Navy headquarters. She looked around and saw a man sitting beside her bed.

"You're finally awake"

"Ohh. Andrew"

Andrew then gave Alena a smack on the head with the book he's reading.

"Ow! What the hell are you doing?!"

"You almost got killed you know?!" She got scolded.

"Huh?!"

"The destroyer you're in exploded. It's fortunate that King George went to your group and got you out before anything happened. What the bloody hell is that recklessness?!" He smacked Alena once again. "You were supposed to stay at Halifax!"

"Ow! Ow! Alright! Alright! I'm sorry!"

"Anyway, do you feel hurt anywhere?"

Alena checked her body for any wound, or injury. "No, probably"

"You can stay here for a while to rest. I'll tell everyone you're awake now"

"What happened to the operation"

Andrew gave a large grin. "A major success! With this the alliance now have control of most of the Northern Hemisphere"

Alena breathed a huge sigh of relief and fell back on the bed.

"Also you're grounded" Andrew said before walking out of the room.

"What did you say?!" Alena bounced back and ran after Andrew.