A once normal port with ships going in and out, now is a full military complex with soldiers and military equipment, it's defended by multiple missile batteries, some anti-tank guns and anti-air guns, unfortunately the CIWS system has been removed to protected the power plants and highly important military factories that still remain. Even with the cold weather soldiers have the hope to fight and have their morale up, after one tanker made it back in piece, bringing one vital liquid , imported from the Northern Parliament. It wasn't easy but it made it, since the Resistance is struggling to find a reliable source of oil even with enough oil they don't have the capabilities to refine oil enough to keep the navy, air force and army.

Now that the tanker is docked multiple trucks with oil tanks showed and wait to be filled with the important liquid, some soldiers are drinking and dance because of one tanker, one out of 3, but even 1 gave them hope, hope that is possible to bring more because of the alien Russian ship.

Chabanenko was still waiting for somebody to show up to repair him, but only 2 tanks and some soldiers looking at him suspiciously, he knew very well that he's being seen as an enemy. After all is a nation created by refugees.

Chabanenko: Hope I didn't made mistake by coming here . . . let's hope at least they would let me go?

Let's be serious, I'm too valuable to them . . . Wait what if the scrap me?! To get my equipment and use it.

But after all trucks full with people came, hopefully not here to scrap Chabanenko. Like usual wielding equipment, two cranes also came to the dockyard ready to move heavy parts.

Chabanenko: Like the old times, when I was in the dockyard.

It was a nostalgic view, to see people around him once again, not his comrades that used to maintain and repair him, but he couldn't make anymore choices now.

One armored car came it parked itself between the 2 tank, one soldier came and opened the door.

Three people came out. One of them was Mike, the other one was Paul and another man dressed like an secret agent.

The 3 of them came to Chabanenko.

Secret agent: Sir I advise you to step back, I can do the talk.

Paul: I know, but now isn't too late? That ship could've killed me yesterday.

Secret agent: What if it has ulterior moves? What if it can transform? A shipgirl from Northern Parliament.

Paul: Then why would they trade with us? A shameful nation? I know there are many results, but what if this ship has a nuke inside it and goes boom?

Secret agent: . . .

Paul: I understand that you are doing your job, but right now we are negotiating and that involves you alien ship.

Mike chuckles.

Paul: Why are you chuckling? You are the captain of the alien ship.

Mike: I don't remember agreeing to this.

Paul: I don't remember you having the right to speak back, officer.

Mike: I'm not in the army.

Secret agent: Navy.

Mike: Navy whatever. . .

Paul: Mike we are here because of you . . . You must take responsibility for your actions.

Mike: . . . Pumpkin.

Paul: We are not getting anywhere the mechanics are waiting for my order for scraping, repairing or leaving.

Mike: Fine.

Paul: Glad we are on the same page officer.

Mike: End me.

Paul: Anyways, shall we begin?

Paul got closer and looked at Chabenenko.

Paul: Udaloy-II class ship, Admiral Chabanenko, I am Paul Malton commader of the Port of Darwin.

Chabanenko: Should I use my spotlights? To talk via morse?

Mike: Just flash your light I can do the translation.

Chabanenko: What if they know morse?

Mike: That's one of the reasons I'm here, I can act as the middle man.

Chabanenko: If you mess it you I will blow you up.

Mike: Ok, you owe some hard cash for that gasoline.

Paul: Are you hostile or friendly? You can use morse with your spotlight, but not in my face.

Chabanenko begins flashing.

Paul: Mike.

Secret agent pulls out a laptop, and starts typing the conversation.

Mike: Depends.

Paul: Could you elaborate please?

Mike: Until now you looked at me like an alien how should I react to aliens like you?

Paul: Then excuse me and my subordinates, for their insult, I will make sure it won't happen again. For the next question you are Northern?

Mike: Northern?

Paul looks surprised at Mike and Mike just rolls his eyes.

Paul: Then do you know the current state of the world?

Mike: Sirens are loose.

Paul: And? Anything else about the other nations?

Mike: No.

Paul: Do you recognize the following names: Northern Parliament?

Mike: No.

Paul: Eagle Union?

Mike: No?

Paul: Sakura Empire?

Mike: No.

Paul: Ironblood?

Mike: No

Paul: Sardegna Empire?

Mike: No

Paul: I think there's no reason to ask anymore.

Paul: Then from what nation are you?

Mike: . . . Russia, I'm a Russian.

Paul: Russia doesn't exist anymore, I'm afraid, it became Northern Parliament.

These news hit Chabanenko to the core.

Paul: How did you survive until now?

Mike: I was docked in Kamchatka in a secret port.

Paul: And it's known by the Northern?

Mike: No.

Paul: I see, moving on, have you encountered Sirens?

Mike: Yes.

Paul: Where?

Mike: Around Pearl Harbor.

Paul: Any high-ranked Sirens?

Mike: Yes.

Paul: Same location?

Mike: Yes.

Paul: And you won?

Mike: I used my entire arsenal, but I was overwhelmed.

Paul: I understand. Now here comes the important question, because of this question I'm here.

Are you willing to work with us?

Mike: I don't have another choice if I want to survive . . .

Paul: Are you alright with Mike being assigned to you?

Mike: Yes.

Paul: If you are alright with, I'm gonna take my leave, thank you once again, alie- Admiral Chabanenko. If you have any question please ask Mike, if he can't answer them he will come to me and I will.

The secret agent nods to Paul that the conversation has been registered. Both of them hop in the car, talking to each other.

Mike: They are still suspicious about you.

Chabanenko: Isn't that normal? After all you humans lived this far because of this.

Mike: Heh that's true.

Soldier: Um, sir?

Mike: What? Can't you see I'm planning what should I do?

Soldier: I understand, but what should we do with the mechanics and engineers?

Mike: Oh, right. I'm sorry, you can start repairing.

???: Finally, I thought I would freeze here, so this is the ali-

Mike: Ahem, Chabanenko, Admiral Chabanenko.

???: Right Admiral Chabanenko. With what should we begin? takes a better look Sorry, we will check the entire ship and bring you a report, of what we can do.

Mike: Fine by me have fun.

???: It's been years, since I saw such a wonderful ship, please take good care of it, it's a relic of a human advanced engineering.

Chabanenko: Yes, but without relic.

Mike: Nobody asked you anything. Yeah I will make sure nothing bad happens.

???: Thank you sir. I think 6 hours we will be able to report back.

Mike takes a seat on a bench, takes out a book and begins reading it.

Soldier: Sir, you could use your office . . .

Mike: What?

Soldier: Your office is right there. points to the command building

Mike: I don't remember getting one.

Soldier: The commander informed me a moment ago, is at the second floor last room.

Mike: Ok thank you, tell me if something bad happens.

Soldier: Understood.

Mike: You have a lot of questions, I will answer them. And welcome to the land of shame or how we are

recognized internationally the nation of shame.

Chabanenko: Why is that?

Mike: When the war started, between Azur Lane and Crimson Axis, the war machine needed manpower, but the people didn't want any, the Sirens took too much, now is another war. I was one of those people, and decided to run. Of course soo many people wanted to leave, that each nation decided to ban it. And force you in the army if you do, or you get drafted or try to run and get drafted.

Chabanenko: So you ran like a chicken.

Mike: I ran because I'm sick of it, I fought for more than half of my life, can't I just do something else? I understand I have valuable experience but please, as you saw I tried to be part of that tanker's crew, but here I am stuck with you. But what can you understand you are pile of scraps welded together.

Chabanenko: My sole purpose is to fight.

Mike sighs: After all you are a combat ship.

Chabanenko: About the world, those nations, with strange names Eagle?

Mike: You mean Eagle Union? Ah the pesky Grey Ghost, what a pain, she thinks that we are some kind of dictatorship without rights and freedom for the people. That's what her superiors made her to think.

Chabanenko: Grey Ghost? Who's that?

Mike: USS Enterprise, the mighty aircraft carrier of Eagle Union, blah, blah and blah.

Chabanenko: How? It had lasers? Or what?

Mike: Oh right, you don't know, you Chabanenko are part of the first generation of ships with wisdom cubes, you are more powerful than the a normal ship. But there's the second generation, better, stronger and cheaper, those can manifest a human form, ships that transform in humans to be exact, and can use the power of that ship.

Chabanenko: WHAT?! What ships?

Mike: I was that surprised too, but world war 2 ships mostly, there might be some exceptions, but that's all, and they are all girls. Small ones, medium ones, big ones, dangerous ones, but due of them being ww2 ships . . . somehow the history repeats.

Chabanenko: World War 2?! Again?

Mike: Correct, the fun of ww2 again, you can say is ww2 2.

Chabanenko: . . . Wow, when we we're attacked . . .

Mike: Yup, shipgirls from the Sakura, what a pain in the ass those guys are. We lost Indonesia, and most of our oil supply and refineries.

Chabanenko: From what I remember Australia had quite some oil reserves.

Mike: Those are on the Western Australia, 70% of the oil and gas reserves, but because of Indonesia now under Sakura, bombing runs have destroyed the refineries, we abandoned them, giving Sakura's troops to make do a naval invasion.

Chabanenko: So they are already here.

Mike: Yes, but because of the weather they can't go through the desert without proper supplies, and our boys on the frontline love destroying their trucks, but the flow continues, if Sakura decides to use more than a quarter of it's force we will be destroyed in a matter of months.

Chabanenko: Why don't they attack?

Mike: They are fighting with Eagle Union for some islands, I won't be surprised to see some mushrooms in Sakura.

Chabanenko: But how did the nations become like this.

Mike: Simple, the shipgirls rose to power, for example Eagle Union is led by USS Enterprise, Ironblood is being led by KMS Bismarck and so on, is ironic how we are against our creations. Is a war between a creation and it's creator.

Chabanenko: Who's leading Sakura Empire?

Mike: Nagato? If I remember well.

Chabanenko: What about Russia?

Mike: Northern Parliament, I don't know, unfortunately.

Chabanenko: Have you seen the shipgirls or have you talked with them?

Mike: Yeah, Poland was annexed by Ironblood, and even with the so called Polish Resistance, it was destroyed and decimated. And soon I was forced to join the Ironblood navy, and because I had combat experience, I was ordered to work with Ironblood shipgirls. An awful experience, some would call it heaven, but for me it was hell. Everyday to work to the bone, trainings after trainings, and lessons to learn german . . . my god . . . I even ranked-up and took the test for wisdom cube compatibility.

Chabanenko: Wisdom cube compatibility? What's that?

Mike: For the shipgirls to be exact, for them to operate at maximum capacity they need coordination, affection and so on, like a human does, but this is only available with high wisdom cube compatibility, I don't know how it works, it's based on luck and depends from person to person.

Chabanenko: Then what was your wisdom cube compatibility?

Mike: 70% or so, bad luck. I ended up being captain of a heavy cruiser, she loved to the tease me. What a pain in the butt.

Chabanenko: Ironic how a polish ended up leading a german ship, and a ww2 one.

Mike: Shut up.

Chabanenko: Then how did you escape?

Mike: For a while it was ok, but Crimson Axis declared war on Azur Lane, and even joined hands with Sirens. That was my line, first to put my life on the line for Ironblood was a total no, second they accepted to work the enemy of the humanity and third I had enough war. So I made a plan to escape, by stealing a MIG-21, I was a pilot but grounded later because of health issues.

Chabanenko: And you weren't chased?

Mike: Lucky for me I wasn't, I left during the night and with the help of some of friends who decided to run as well, we slipped undetected, and stopped to Romania part of Sardegna Empire Italy, port of Constanta. There we loaded our planes on a cargo ship and left.

Chabanenko: Quite the story to tell.

Mike: Quite the story, but I still miss my homeland, I wish I could go back.

Chabanenko: Then why you don't go ba- Oh, right.

Mike: I wish I could, but here I am stuck with you in my mind. Ah I forgot, after repairs we will get a mission.

???: Neural-link max range limit, captain left the 500m radius.

Chabanenko: I wonder how much repair will take.

???: Checking damages . . . Damages status critical.

Chabanenko: What makes you think that?

???: Multiple hull breaches, 1 shaft not functional, weaponry disabled, fuel-leaks detected-

?

??: I get it, I get it. Let me rest.

7 hours later, in Mike's office.

He was throwing paper balls into the trash, can.

Mike: Me in a office . . . is soo boring.

door knocks

Mike: It's open.

One engineer came in.

Engineer: Sir, I came to report about Chabanenko's report.

Mike: Let's hear it.

Engineer: Totaled . . . It would be better to scrap it, rather to keep it, the amount of steel needed and tech, is not worth it.

Mike: Then how it was still floating? And make 2 Sakura's carrier retreat?

Engineer: Luck I guess? Any shot could lead to explosion of the ammo rack. Even the fuel tanks are leaking, I'm surprised that it didn't catch on fire.

Mike: Then what repair can be made, to keep the cost low?

Engineer: To keep the cost low . . . That means only repair what's critically damaged and the hull, still the cost is high. We this amount of steel we could make a new ship.

Mike: What kind of ship?

Engineer: A small submarine or corvette.

Mike: And how much firepower they can carry? They can carry as much as Chabanenko?

Engineer: No.

Mike: And we will need a crew, and we already are short on manpower, as you know the situation on the western front is getting worse and worse, if it keeps like that they could launch an all out-attack on us.

Engineer: . . .

Mike: Anything else?

Engineer: 2 things actually, we found 4 strange looking harpoons with a strange glow and Chabanenko was slowly repairing itself.

Mike: Then why cry about co-? Wait what?! The shipgirls could repair themselves too?!

Engineer: No, but the thing is, extremely slow . . . I think it can handle light damages, but the damages have overwhelmed it.

Mike: So our intervention is still needed, nothing compares to a dockyard after all. What about the arsenal?

Engineer: We currently don't have the correct type of ammo, missile and 120 mm's.

Mike: Can we change the weaponry?

Engineer: We can't.

Mike: Hmm, we can't do anything?

Engineer: I heard when I was in Eagle Union, that the wisdom cube could convert the other types of ammo into the needed for the ship, but a much higher cost, 3 to 1.

Mike: Don't we have anything?

Engineer: We have some Chinese weaponry, actually it can. But I don't think we can resupply all weapons.

Mike: Don't worry, about that holds a bunch of papers we will ask our Sakura's friends to lend us some, heh.

Engineer: Ok I guess?

Mike: Repair the ship, as much as it permits.

Engineer: Understood, I think scrap-

Mike: Do we have the scraping capability? Do we have the time? To sort everything out? The build a new ship, when everyday Sakura's pushing through the western line like is butter?! They have tanks now, and soon will reach here. MOVE AN DO YOUR JOB

The engineer leaves running.

Mike: Uhhh, WHY COULDN'T I MIND MY OWN THINGS?! hits himself with a book in the head I will vent some steam on Sakura, hope you are ready the nation of shame has a new toy.

After a week, Chabanenko had massive repairs, creating a huge steel shortage.

Paul: Hope I made the right bet on you, Udaloy-II.

Mike: Finally I don't have to stay in that office.

Engineer: You could've helped us repair the ship.

Mike: Nah. Anyways what's the status?

Engineer: We found out that if we flow electricity in the ship it's self-repair capability is increased, but due to our limited supply we couldn't flow enough and had to use steel.

Mike: I had lots of papers to sign, for that steel. Too many.

Engineer: 76% has been repaired and ammo is 68%. Some missiles, the main gun is fully loaded, CIWS all of them have over a half and some torpedoes.

Mike: It can do the job, good work.

Engineer: I didn't slept for 4 days, if it comes in a bad shape I will beat you with my wrench.

Mike: Yeah yeah.

Mike: Chabanenko, are you ready?

Chabanenko: Yes, I am ready.

Mike: Here's our mission, we must capture Sakura's convoys.

Chabanenko: Sounds easy, for me is a bottle of vodka.

Mike: Don't rush, I know you Russians like rushing without thinking, but this time every damn shoot counts.

Chabanenko: And how are we supposed to capture Sakura's convoys polish man?

Mike: First let's start with what we know. Because of the fight with the Eagle Union most of the shipgirls should be out of this area. But we don't know, that's why we will take some special counter-measures.

Chabanenko: What kind of counter-measures?