Chapter 467: Invitation to Joint Defense

"Ah, it's still better to feel solid ground underfoot." Qin Ge stood on the harbor dock, turned, and smiled at his shipgirls as he spoke.

"Hehe, we don't mind. As battleships we were born at sea, and now we've taken human form—so for us, sea and land are essentially the same." Ou Gen Qin Wang said.

"But this time coming back, the Sirens' numbers have clearly increased. It seems we've indeed reached the Siren Tide point you commanders spoke of." Peter Strasse said.

"What's there to fear? As long as they dare invade my territory, just wipe them all out." Qibolin said while disembarking.

"Hehe, I actually agree with Qibolin's proposal this time. Since they dare to invade, we should wipe them all out." Peter Strasse said with a smile.

Qin Ge chuckled, "Let's not talk about that yet. We've been out at sea for over a month now. After disembarking, everyone should go home and rest properly. When the near sea starts acting up, we'll need to prepare for a major battle."

"Yes, Commander!"

As they spoke, everyone looked behind and saw the other shipgirls of Qin Ge Fleet's command ship slowly docking. One by one, the shipgirls stepped out of the command ship.

Although their expressions varied, a sense of joy could be felt in their eyes. After all, nobody likes endless days of battle, so being able to rest occasionally is something everyone looks forward to.

However, although Qin Ge let his shipgirls go rest, he himself did not idle.

The Siren Tide is imminent. Although our fleet's strength has greatly increased, we still need to communicate about the status of other fleets, the free shipgirls, and so on.

So after greeting Hu Feng and Li Chenming, who had come to welcome us, the three of us immediately headed to the conference room to discuss how to counter the upcoming Siren Tide.

The meeting atmosphere remained rather heavy. Recently, the Star Sea Grand Fleet's main strength lies in Qin Ge Fleet; other fleets may have high training levels, but they generally lack many shipgirls.

Thus this is a test—not just for Qin Ge, but also for the other members of the grand fleet.

The meeting didn't last long, since the situation to be understood was quickly grasped. The remaining time was spent consolidating forces and arranging appropriate preventive measures.

However, Qin Ge recalled that, back in the Mirror Sea, the Observer had told him that the Siren fleets he would encounter would be one to three times those of ordinary people.

And this sortie has confirmed that claim—every time Qin Ge encounters a fleet, it's never fewer than two, including the shipgirls of other detachments.

So he was considering whether this Siren Tide would also show such a situation—after all, this is a battle he directly participates in. If it matches the scale of past Siren Tides, we could still hold the line; but if the Siren fleets were to increase by one to three times, that would be another matter.

And now the only thing we can hope for is the envoys that other factions have stationed beside Qin Ge.

After experiencing that before, those envoys dispatched by other factions no longer accompany Qin Ge to the sea, since it's now confirmed that the Sirens' plan toward him is mainly observation—they won't put him in mortal danger for the time being, and his shipgirls' proficiency has risen, so they no longer need to shadow him constantly.

After arriving at the building where the envoy shipgirls reside, everyone began the meeting in the conference room.

"So Qin Ge Commander, you're worried that the Siren Tide numbers might increase by one to three times?" Gan Gu Te spoke.

"That's right. If the Sirens come as they normally do, I think our fleet's current strength can hold them off. But if more Siren fleets appear, we'll definitely feel pressure, possibly even lose the line."

"Although my fleet now has three awakened shipgirls and several fully trained ones, the overall strength of the other grand fleet members is still relatively low; we can only defend one point and cannot cover all fronts." Qin Ge said to everyone.

"So Qin Ge Commander, you mean you want us to lend a hand during the Siren Tide?" Yue Ke Cheng asked.

Qin Ge shook his head. "If we can hold the line ourselves, I'll try not to have anyone intervene. But if it really is as I said before—if the enemy comes with one to three times the fleet—then we'll need everyone to act."

"I believe everyone here already understands what Commander Qin Ge said. My proposal is fine—after all, we're in a state of cooperation, and as shipgirls fighting the Sirens, it's our duty." Hao said with a smile.

"We Iron Blood have no problem, though we have a small request: if we truly join Qin Ge Commander's fleet to fight, could we fight alongside our Iron Blood comrades in your fleet?" Ge Nai Sen Nao said with a smile.

Qin Ge smiled and nodded. "Of course, if it's indeed necessary for you to join the battle, you can all fight under your faction's flagship."

"Then there's no problem—White Eagle also agrees."

"Sardinian Empire agrees."

"Free Iris and Vichy Tribunal also agree."

"Northern Union has no issue."

Seeing all the envoys agree one after another, Qin Ge's heart finally settled. He actually now somewhat wishes the Siren Tide would be larger, because with the help of these dozen or so awakened shipgirls, this Siren Tide would pass very easily.

But what would truly not be easy is if the Siren Tide comes exactly as originally planned—that would be the real test of his grand fleet's strength.

However, I believe that with unity, it will also pass relatively easily.

After finishing all that, Qin Ge headed toward his residence. But just as he turned the corner near his home, he saw several people standing there, waving excitedly at him.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you resting?" Qin Ge asked the few people before him.

"Commander, we've rested enough along the way, and now we've run into such nice weather, so we wanted to invite you to come play with us." Biaoqiang excitedly said to Qin Ge.

"Want to play?" Qin Ge chuckled, looking at the excited Biaoqiang, the slightly shy Z23, the dozing Laffey, the expressionless Lingbo, and, of course, the eager-eyed unicorn.

"All right, then where do you suggest we go? We won't go too far, since we don't have much time left."

"How about the beach? We want to pick up some seashells."

"All right, but I need to go back and change clothes first—otherwise, going out in this commander's uniform wouldn't be proper."

"Mm-hmm."