Chapter 848: Heading to the Polar Regions

The personnel quotas were finalized with this meeting, and everyone was soon notified.

Although I had known it might be possible when I came, I would be unable to participate in the latter half of this journey, but when this day actually arrived, many shipgirls still felt somewhat disappointed.

Naturally, this disappointment was not about Qin Ge's confirmation of these quotas, but about one's own insufficient strength, being unable to help one's commander.

However, the few who were selected were overjoyed; Ling Bo was somewhat better, especially Xuefeng, who over the past two days has been practically bursting with pride.

Finally, the day of departure arrived. After bidding farewell to Zuikaku and Xianghe, Qin Ge led everyone onto the return route. Naturally, this is how Zuikaku and the others see it, since heading to the Northern Union is comparatively secret, so it was impossible to set sail directly north from the Sakura Empire's home islands.

After leaving the Sakura Empire's waters and confirming no personnel were nearby, Qin Ge's command ship and two other command ships split from the main fleet, heading south then north, sailing toward the Bering Strait.

Because the mass-produced Sirens in the sea area had disappeared, this leg encountered no enemies; the voyage across the ocean was very calm, with only the howling sea wind blowing ceaselessly day and night.

Upon entering the Bering Strait and crossing into the polar region, the surrounding air instantly turned cold. Although some ice and snow had already melted, icebergs and huge chunks of ice could be seen everywhere on the sea.

Therefore, navigating this area requires extreme caution; one must maintain constant attention. Otherwise, if the ship were to collide with an iceberg or ice chunk, it would become a serious problem.

For most of the time, Qin Ge's three command ships sailed along the coastline, which allowed them to avoid most of the ice and permafrost coming from the Arctic Ocean.

Finally, after several days of sailing, they arrived at the polar military port previously agreed upon with the Northern Union.

The Soviet Bella Rossa stationed here gave Qin Ge's arrival a warm welcome.

Seeing that there were only about forty or fifty shipgirls stationed in the entire military port, Qin Ge felt quite surprised.

"Do you normally rely on just this many people to guard the entire polar sea?" Qin Ge asked Soviet Bella Rossa.

"That's certainly not the case; previously there were more people, but never more than a hundred. The environment here is too harsh for long-term human habitation, so even originally, only a few shipgirls were stationed here."

"After experiencing the Siren Tide earlier, although the attacks here are relatively weak, we still lost some personnel; currently our polar squad consists of just a few of us awakened shipgirls, while in fact most personnel belong to the logistics department."

"We are constantly engaged in a seemingly endless seesaw battle with the polar Sirens, and our current deployment is intended to cope with such harsh conditions by normalizing a rotation system."

"That is why we have no way to deal with the secret hidden in the polar vault; we can only turn to Commander Qin Ge for help." Soviet Bella Rossa explained.

She then turned her gaze to the shipgirls beside Qin Ge, saying, "It seems Commander Qin Ge has brought great sincerity this time; I can feel the power they possess. Aside from those few cruisers and destroyers, each one exerts overwhelming strength."

"And if I'm not mistaken, that one should be our Northern Union's Kronshtadt."

"Hehe, Bella Rossa, your eyes are sharp; I am indeed the 69-type heavy cruiser, Kronshtadt." Kronshtadt laughed at Bella Rossa.

"Legend of the seas, it seems Commander Qin Ge quickly strengthened his strength after the previous battle. Although the Emperor Frederick who fought alongside us last time is not here, being able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with New Jersey, I believe their identities are also not simple." Soviet Bella Rossa said.

"That's correct; New Jersey and Kronshtadt, you know Xinong, so I won't introduce them. As for the others, they are respectively the Sakura Empire's Musashi and Shimakaze, the Royal's Vanguard, and Iron Blood's Ulrich von Hutten." Qin Ge introduced, "As for these three, they are ships from Yujin—Feilong, which you have fought alongside before, so you should be familiar with them. These two are Counterattack and Reputation, and they are also our helpers for this mission."

"According to them, they once sensed the aura of an Arbiter on the Northern Union's polar ice fields here; if they are not mistaken, it is quite possible we will encounter an Arbiter during this foray into the vault, which is why I brought these people—I hope you don't mind."

"No problem; this was originally meant to be cooperation, and furthermore we rely on Commander Qin Ge's fleet's strength, so everything must be carried out ensuring safety." Soviet Bella Rossa expressed understanding.

"Hmm, then shall we set out now, or do you have other arrangements?" Qin Ge asked.

"Actually, there's nothing much to prepare; I just don't know whether the Qingge commander's shipgirls can adapt to northern polar combat and need some more time to familiarize themselves." Soviet Bella Rossa asked.

"No problem; during this time since entering the Arctic Circle, they have often been active on the sea surface. Although polar combat may not be as profound as you understand, they are absolutely capable of handling this crisis." Qin Ge said.

"Alright, then since that's the case, I will introduce the personnel for this polar operation. Everyone should get to know each other, as we will be fighting side by side afterward." Soviet Bella Rossa said.

"Understood."

Soon, Soviet Bella Rossa introduced the awakened shipgirls participating in this vault exploration. Aside from her as the team leader, there were Kirov, Tallinn, Murmansk, Thunder, and Hongliang.

Qin Ge possessed all these shipgirls, so getting along was relatively easy. After everyone had become acquainted, they resupplied at the polar military port and then set sail toward the direction of the vault.

"By the way, what about Soviet Russia? Isn't she also a member of the polar fleet?" On the road, Qin Ge asked Soviet Bella Rossa.

"Russia, Kabyayev, and Ta Shi Gan lead the main force of the polar fleet, conducting broad patrols around the vault; we fear not the ten thousand but the one in ten thousand—if the Sirens were to appear, a pincer attack on us would be disastrous." Soviet Bella Rossa said.

"I see." Qin Ge nodded; if this were ordinary waters, he could still tell them the Sirens' target is not here, and they are currently in a phase of rest and recuperation.

But Qin Ge has never been to the polar regions before, so he doesn't know the situation here; if it differs from what the Purifiers said, after all he is leading this operation, so the action must be carried out with absolute certainty.

As the fleet advanced, the number of floating icebergs increased, and everyone drew closer to the target.