At the first glance I saw no difference with what I used to be.

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HMS Delight - BC. Mod - 1986 Retrofit.

Accuracy - 50/100 (+10)

Reload - 50/100

Recoil - 10/100

Machinery - 97/50

Guns - 50/25

Equipment - 95/0

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When I looked at the new bridge I felt both delighted to see the familiar parts still installed, and sad to see that I don’t have a bunch of sci-fi holographic displays. The most sci-fi thing here is a CRT monitor.

Unlike previously, my radar view is just a little bit clearer and gives better image of air and surroundings. Of course, after I checked, it was due to the radars being broken.

The first thing I tried was the helipad. One Sea Lynx helicopter drove out of a small hangar and prepared to take off. A second after it gained some altitude, its rotor blades touched the superstructure and the helicopter crashed in an inferno.

[Great, wonderful, terrific. 11 crashed helicopters out of 1.]

I tried launching the second one, after the fire was extinguished. Luckily, the helicopter will respawn after 1 hour.

‘Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta’

The second helicopter lifted off the pad and slowly floated out of the deadly trap.

This time nothing stood in its way and it flew in the direction the bait fleet arrived from.

Even at its maximum speed the helicopter was slow. However, its advanced optics were times better than a binocular.

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The rep… broken radars, and alive and well observation posts reported nothing. As the time passed, clouds appeared on the horizon. I wondered if it will affect the detection.

“Miss Delight, what are we going to do? I mean, the battle should be over by now.” (L)

“Is it?” I wonder if the empire will surrender.

As the sky started filling with clouds, I prepared to recall the recon but the helicopter reported an anomaly. There was only a small chance it would be the castle-ship but the longer the recon continued, the closer I was to discovering the enemy location.

[Here you are.]

A video of a huge castle-like floating object arrived.

While it is huge, it still managed to sneak to 13 nautical miles from me. If not a suspicion of mine, I might’ve even missed it.

The next concern was what to do.

The weather was becoming worse and the helicopter will have to return very soon. With no radars and no corrections it is useless to open fire now. If I would not hit and cripple the ship with the first salvo, it will be alerted and will try to retreat.

I decided to engage.

“Firing in 3, 2, 1!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

The shots scattered around. I managed to get one near-hit, and two shots even hit the target but they ricocheted.

The castle-ship started turning around to retreat. I decided it would be foolish to give the enemy a chance to regroup. I continued observing the ship’s movements until the wind became insufferable and the helicopter was forced to return.

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The helicopter nailed the approach and was about to touch down when the cruiser hit a wave.

After the second fire extinguisher use I continued the chase.

By the time I arrived to the last known location, the castle-ship was already away. Without an operational radar I was chasing the shadows in a storm.

As the storm grew stronger I started losing the final clues I had. Yet, I had few of them. That’s more than none.

I put all of the eggs in one basket of searching to the left of the castle-ship’s course.

“I see something!” Xera reported from the topmost point of the ship.

I prepared to open fire with guns, as the missiles were unable to fire at such close range.

BANG BANG BANG

I fired again and again but with no reported result.

‘Pom’

Until one shot hit something and set the target on fire. Without a radar it was the closest I could get to seeing the target so I prepared the main guns. I turned to show my broadside.

‘Bom Bom Bom’

‘Pi-ping-ping’

The enemy guns hit my belt but they had no chances of penetrating it.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

I hurried the firing. Instead of two shots, the X turret spewed small flames out of its barrels and I had to sink it in hurry to avoid a detonation.

Of course, with how rash my firing was the accuracy was lacking. I achieved no hit with the main guns and began raining fire from smaller calibers.

BANG BANG Bum-bum-bum

BRRRRRTTTTT

Only 102mm was an actual threat to the castle-ship’s armor but the explosive ammunition flying around managed to scatter its sailors and prevent resistance.

I prepared for the final shots when one of the turrets broke its elevation and the other suffered from a fire.

BOOM

BANG BANG BANG

Despite being so close to the enemy, I was still unable to do anything normal.

BOOM

One shell penetrated the armored front of the ship but did not explode. Yet, I fired everything into the breach.

BOOM

BANG BRRRRTTTT

Bu-bu-bum

I was already considering ramming after having a lot of misses from point blank but I still prepared to fire the last two shots of 14’’.

Which got stuck in the autoloader.