Azur Lane Mobile Front

"Yes, let's get ready to replace the mecha. Actually, we could have upgraded you a long time ago, but we were a bit short on funds. So we put it on hold."

Before the company could react, New Jersey started running, dragging one of them by the arm. It was a mystery how she could run so fast in those sky-high heels. She kept looking back as she ran, her "I'm so curious" look urging the two on. Rob had to remind her to watch where she was going, otherwise the three of them would tumble together and make a huge scene.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Free Gundam, by Athrun

Ultimately, New Jersey found Rob a large warehouse, dismissed the unemployed staff, and told Rob to get started immediately.

"Why are you even more anxious than me?" Looking at the New Jersey girl in front of him who was jumping around like a rabbit, he grabbed her and tried to calm her down.

"Enterprise, summon the machine first."

The company nodded, and New Jersey cooperated by making room. A flash of light, and the Strike Gundam, which hadn't been seen for a long time, reappeared before Robo's eyes.

"Alright, now it's my turn to work." Rob silently called out to the system in his mind, "System, exchange for the Freedom Gundam."

[Executing.]

After the system finished speaking, the Strike Gundam gradually began to glow, and the entire machine became transparent until it disappeared. Then, a brand new machine appeared in the previous location.

“I feel like this isn’t a renovation. It’s more like you’ve created something new.” New Jersey observed for a while and realized something seemed off.

Rob was startled. Could this be his simple-minded intuition? "It's normal that it's different. It's not the same thing as a regular ship!" Rob chuckled, trying to brush it off.

While Rob was still trying to persuade (or rather, convince) New Jersey, Enterprise had already equipped herself with the mobile suit. The two who were still struggling then turned their attention to Enterprise, who had just changed clothes.

The biggest change from before is undoubtedly the iconic large wings of the Freedom. Next is the torso, which is different from the blue and white color scheme of the Strike Force. It is black all the way down from the chest. If it weren't for the mecha style, Rob would probably look pretty much the same as the silly guy next to him who is trying to mess with the Enterprise.

The company is somewhat unaccustomed to the wings behind it and is constantly changing the shape of those wings.

In addition, New Jersey is really willing to touch and handle things that interest her.

"Enterprise, how's it going? How's the synchronization with the machine?" Rob asked, while swatting New Jersey's hand away for Enterprise, who was clinging to Enterprise's wings and wouldn't let go.

"Okay! It's decided. I need one from the ship equipment R&D department too." New Jersey continued to keep an eye on the company while thinking about how to modify the requirements for the contractor.

"Your ship equipment is almost finished, spare the ship equipment developers' hair." Rob decided to give his R&D brother a hand. "Besides, Miss Black Dragon is already the largest and strongest perfect form, there's no need to add anything else."

"Yeah! Yes, yes, yes! So you think so too!" The silly rabbit put one hand on his hip, looking incredibly proud of me. He accepted Rob's flattery without any pressure.

"Alright, alright, help me prepare the targets for the exercise."

"no problem!"

In the waters near AF, the targets for the exercise had been set up. Rob looked at New Jersey standing with him on the mass-produced warship and couldn't help but ask, "Hey, you're supposed to be in charge here, right? Don't you have anything else to do?"

"No problem, that kind of work is no challenge for me at all!"

"But I even wrote your exercise reports back then."

"Hey, never mind that." New Jersey reached out and patted Rob on the shoulder, making him stumble. "Oh, the company's about to start."

"Commander, I'm ready." Enterprise's voice came through the communicator, and Rob had no choice but to temporarily give up on pursuing the matter of the slap in New Jersey.

"Let's begin. Start with the mobility tests. The Freedom has a much higher output than the Strike, so you must get used to that first."

"Understood." The company responded and immediately began the test. It was obvious that the sudden increase in output power was difficult for her to adapt to, and she was unable to perform various maneuvers in the air well.

"Make good use of the wings on your back and use the high-maneuverability aerial combat mode. These wings aren't just for show." Rob noticed the problem after looking through the binoculars for a while; her wings were folded up.

Upon hearing the prompt, the company quickly switched the form of its wings. With the assistance of the wings behind it, its posture in the air instantly became more agile. As its control proficiency improved, it became faster and more flexible, and various maneuvers that could only exist in imagination before began to be performed with ease.

"Leaving aside firepower, with this level of maneuverability, anti-aircraft guns shouldn't be able to do anything about it, right?" As a ship, New Jersey doesn't need binoculars at all; it can clearly see the Enterprise's movements in the sky from this distance.

"Enterprise, try out the accelerated breakthrough maneuver." Rob decided to broaden the horizons of the silly rabbit beside him.

A beam of light shot hundreds of meters into the sea, and the company completed a dive. I don't know if New Jersey saw it clearly, but Rob certainly didn't. A sonic boom cloud even appeared; it seems the combination of the Mind Cube and space-age technology has made things even more unscientific.

"What are your thoughts?" With his daughter so impressive, Rob decided to show off a little.

"At that speed, there's no way I can stop it. I feel like even if it crashes into me, I'd be in serious trouble." New Jersey scratched his head, simulating how he would react if something were diving down at that speed. He then realized that he was lucky if he could even react; there was no way to deal with it. Luckily, this was his teammate, so Miss Black Dragon was still invincible.

"Alright, let's start testing the weapons."

The company remained silent, simply pulling out its new "Sirius" beam rifle and firing a single shot at the target. The target instantly exploded into a shower of sparks. Then, the rifle fired in rapid succession, each shot hitting its mark. Next, it aimed the railguns mounted on its thighs at the target, this time activating a burst of fire, sending countless waves crashing onto the sea.

However, the experiment still revealed a problem: the most powerful weapon of the Freedom, the plasma beam cannon located on the first wing, was awkward to use, and it was easy to get hair caught when flipping from back to front.

"Enterprise, try out the beam sabers on both sides. You've been learning for a few days now, you should have mastered the simplest slash by now."

After hearing Rob's request, the company glanced across the sea, then accelerated towards the target, slashing twice, and the target exploded.

Rob immediately felt that the company's freedom was exactly what he wanted.

"Excellent, Enterprise! How do you feel about the new machine? Are you satisfied with it?"

"Commander, if we encounter a battle like last time again, I can defeat them all." Enterprise declared that she was now invincible and it was time to get revenge for what happened last time.

"Huh? What? What about the last battle?" The thing next to him had pretty good hearing, it heard everything. Rob could only say, "My company said she can take down six Sakura Empire carriers by herself."

Then, New Jersey's expression was hilarious.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Yorktown-class Gathering

"'AF may be short of fresh water, so the attacking force should bring plenty of fresh water'? It seems we've finally caught Sakura Empire by the skin of our teeth. Send a message to Enterprise Hornet, telling them to head to AF immediately. Also send a message to the person in charge of AF, telling her to prepare. This time, we're going to give Sakura Empire a good beating!"

Because the White Eagles had cracked the Sakura Empire's communication codes, and through a series of calculations, they finally figured out the Sakura Empire's next move. Caught off guard by their calculated attack, the Sakura Empire was sure to suffer a heavy blow this time.

At that moment, Rob and Enterprise were with New Jersey, who invited them to his command center. Rob couldn't refuse, so he went along.

As soon as I entered the command room, I saw a woman with long, light purple hair looking at New Jersey with a serious expression.

"New Jersey, these are the documents that need your signature. Also, this is an urgent telegram from headquarters. These are matters that require your personal attention as the highest-ranking official."

The woman seemed a little angry, so Rob pulled the company back two steps silently.

Who are these two?

"Oh? Oh! Come, come, let me introduce you!" Without saying a word, New Jersey pulled Rob and Enterprise, who were just trying to back away, up. A battleship is a battleship, and Rob said he couldn't resist at all.

"These two are the reinforcements Saratoga mentioned earlier. This is Commander Rob, and this is Enterprise!"

"Hello, both of you. I am Ticonderoga, the sixth ship of the Essex-class." The woman in front of me nodded slightly and introduced herself. "Enterprise? Isn't Enterprise still in the Aleutian Islands?"

"Essex-class? This class of aircraft carrier is already in service?" Rob was taken aback, thinking, "They've already made a killing? This is the sixth ship already." "My company is different from the one you know. You'll see when the time comes."

"Not yet. Just like in New Jersey, we can't join the battle yet, but we will provide support from outside the battlefield."

After welcoming Rob and the company inside, Ticonderoga shoved a document into New Jersey's arms. "This is an urgent telegram from headquarters." He then placed some neatly folded documents on the table in front of New Jersey. "And these, I've already organized for you. Just take a look and sign them if you think they're okay."

As Rob watched this scene, he thought to himself that it was still the same New Jersey he knew. She couldn't possibly concentrate on handling documents.

"Looks like headquarters has finally figured out Sakura Empire's movements; it's our turn now. Heh heh heh, we'll definitely show them my power!"

"New Jersey, your ship equipment isn't finished yet!" Rob promptly poured cold water on New Jersey's enthusiasm, calming him down.

Near the Aleutian Islands, Enterprise and Hornet had just received orders from headquarters and were rushing to AF at full speed. Meanwhile, Yorktown, far away in Pearl Harbor, also received orders from headquarters and, despite their injuries, began their journey to AF.

Meanwhile, a large number of escort fleets began to converge on the vicinity of AF, and AF gradually became lively.

The company continues to conduct daily adaptation training of the new machine on the sea, striving to master this new power before the major battle.

On this day, Enterprise, Bumblebee, and Yorktown finally assembled in AF. The escort fleet was also nearing completion.

"Sister, it's you?" Enterprise was startled when she saw Yorktown. After all, Yorktown had just been injured not long ago, so why was she in AF now?

"Enterprise, Bumblebee, it's been a long time. It seems this is a rare occasion for all of us Yorktown-class aircraft to attack together." Although Yorktown had been repaired and was no longer seriously injured, his face was still somewhat pale.

"But sister, what happened to your injury before?" The company had doubts about the sister's health.

"It's alright. The port maintenance workers restored me to my original condition in just three days. It's a miracle."

"Yorktown, Enterprise, it's not just the three of us this time!" Bumblebee pointed to the sky, "Look who's coming!"

Above the sky, the company is slowly descending, its wings spreading behind it, like an angel descending from heaven.

"Yorktown Sister, Bumblebee, and another me, long time no see."

The company's appearance completely stunned the three people from Yorktown. Yorktown, in particular, had never seen anything like Gundam, which was so far ahead of its time.

"Oh! Another corporate lady, you're here too! This time, all of us from Yorktown are here. By the way, you look a little different from last time."

"Enterprise, what's this?" Yorktown recovered from her shock and looked her up and down at her familiar yet unfamiliar sister.

“As the Commander says, I’ve been transformed. Now I don’t have to fight for the name of freedom anymore, because I am freedom.” Enterprise was a little more lively in front of her sisters than in front of strangers, she joked with Yorktown.

"Freedom, Enterprise, your equipment isn't the same type as our ship's gear, is it?"

The company didn't reply, but simply walked into Yorktown, pulled down her clothes, and a peculiar wound came into view. Tiny, crystal-like particles were clinging to Yorktown's body.

"Sister, what's wrong?" The other two people present immediately became nervous upon seeing this.

"How come you have such sharp eyes?" Yorktown smiled gently, clearly not intending to tell her younger sister about her situation.

"We must report this situation to headquarters immediately. Sister, you cannot participate in this battle; you must retreat to the rear immediately."

"Headquarters won't agree. I just saw this on Yorktown's ship rigging. Headquarters definitely knows about this. Yorktown, you can stay in the rear for this battle. I'll handle Sakura Empire." Enterprise interrupted her other self, indicating that she could handle all the problems in this battle.

"Another female entrepreneur, so confident now?"

"Want to come? A drill." The company didn't want to say more, indicating that they would show their true strength through their actions.

The remaining three agreed to the corporate exercise after a brief consideration. After all, they would be teammates working together on the battlefield, so they needed to have at least a basic understanding of each other.

Then, their worldview shattered.

The entire exercise can be summarized in one sentence: the company said, "I got up, I killed it in one hit, what's there to say?" Anyone would be stunned to see something that created a sonic boom cloud in the sky rushing towards them.

"Enterprise, how about we apply for retirement? I think we can just watch another Enterprise go and clear out Sakura Empire." After the exercise, Bumblebee, whose worldview had just been shattered, cried to his sister with a long face.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Cherry Blossom Empire: Gone!

In the AF command center, everyone was scratching their heads at the intelligence report from headquarters. According to the report, Sakura Empire forces would launch an attack on AF on the 2nd.

So, Robo had Yorktown and her escort fleet lie in ambush in the waters northeast of AF, while reconnaissance planes were dispatched from AF Island to search for the location of the Sakura Empire fleet.

Then a day passed, and despite the relentless efforts and meticulous search of the reconnaissance troops, they... didn't find a single fox hair from the Sakura Empire.

"That can't be right. Could it be that Sakura Empire knew in advance that we knew about their attack on AF and hid themselves?" New Jersey was completely baffled after a day's fruitless search. "Hmm! That must be it. Have the frontline troops on high alert and keep them concealed. What a formidable opponent! But victory will surely be ours!"

"Is it possible that Sakura Empire's main target was actually the Aleutian Islands?" Someone suggested that Sakura Empire's attack on the Aleutian Islands was just a smokescreen.

"The possibility is extremely slim, unless the Sakura Empire knows that we have cracked their communication system," someone questioned.

"Is it possible that they were simply late?" someone in the corner suggested, voicing both the most likely and the least likely scenario. This was immediately dismissed by the others, as the reason seemed somewhat absurd.

The meeting ultimately didn't reach any conclusions, so we'll just have to expand the search scope tomorrow and see what happens.

So what was the actual Sakura Empire fleet?

Akagi: "Sorry, there's traffic on the way, I haven't arrived yet."

Our attention shifts to Rob.

At first, the entire fleet was on high alert, ready to deliver a heavy blow to any Sakura Empire fleet that appeared. However, as time went on, they naturally couldn't hold out any longer. By the time nightfall approached, everyone relaxed. Except for a few unlucky souls left on guard duty, the rest rested on the spot to conserve their energy.

On the mass-produced ship where Robo was, Robo and Enterprise were the first to relax. Enterprise was initially puzzled, so Robo explained to her, "The Sakura Empire fleet is here to attack AF, not for sightseeing. If we haven't received any information about an attack on AF, it means the Sakura Empire fleet hasn't arrived yet. Why are we so nervous when the main force hasn't even arrived?"

The woman immediately understood and declared that no one knew how to slack off better than her. Not content with just slacking off for a while, she also pulled her sisters, who were still waiting on the surface, ashore.

At first, the three Yorktown-class ships were somewhat resistant to their extra sister's slacking off, especially since a fight seemed imminent. But after a while, it's unclear what Enterprise whispered to them, but soon, all four Yorktown-class ships on Robo's production ship were neatly slacking off.

Later, seeing that everyone was just slacking off, Luo Bo drew a set of mahjong tiles.

Then Robb witnessed what it meant for gods to fight.

At first, the Yorktown-level company was a bit hesitant and didn't join the game. After all, slacking off on the battlefield is already excessive, but playing mahjong is just too much. Later, unable to resist his sister's invitation, he took Rob's place and started the Yorktown-level Mahjong Championship.

After familiarizing themselves with the rules, the group started playing various "god cards".

First, there's Rob's own business, which is the technical one. Rob estimated that she must have calculated all the cards clearly, after all, she could not only win herself, but also feed cards to York City at crucial moments, and York City didn't notice for many rounds.

Then, regarding another company, Rob can only say that humans shouldn't try to fight gods, and the same goes for ships. Can a human even discern a perfect hand like a "Heavenly Hand" or "Unparalleled Hero"? His suggestion is to immediately go to the Sakura Empire fleet and invite the old master Yukikaze.

Bumblebee is just a mortal fighting alongside a god; she's already lost and is starting to doubt herself, constantly hinting that Rob should suffer in her place.

Seeing his sister and her friends having fun, Rob didn't disturb them. He found a place to take a nap and kept an eye on the communicator, constantly monitoring the situation from AF.

After a quick dinner, his sisters pulled his business into the bedroom, probably for some Yorktown-level late-night chat or something? With nothing better to do, Rob started organizing the assets in his system.

After upgrading the enterprise, Robo didn't have many silver coins left. He needed to conserve the resources he got from Saratoga for future use, and couldn't convert them all into silver coins. He had about 3,000 gold coins, around 50,000 coal, two large chests, and several remaining battle banners and bonus banners.

"If we convert some more resources, we can build another mech. But the problem now is, who will synchronize with the mech?" Leaving aside whether ships with existing hulls can synchronize with mechs, the ship's own willingness is questionable. Ignoring these issues, the priority should still be the Eastern Huang's ships. After all, the Eastern Huang's ships are essentially under Robo's command now, and equipping existing forces first is much more cost-effective than relying on luck to build a new ship.

"Looks like I'll have to have a good talk with everyone after I get back to Donghuang." With that thought, Rob gradually drifted off to sleep.

Rob opened the door and saw the company pass by. They nodded to each other and went about their business. It seemed to be the Yorktown-class company.

After a while, Rob saw the company again in the corridor. They were dressed the same as before, nodded to Rob, and then left.