The Life of Carriers
Chapter 4
Our First Mission
About a week went by and Special Squadron 1 was on the down-low. Nobody called for them and they didn't really do much. On the other hand, all of the others groups had missions of their own. As nice as it was to be away from the battlefield, Kaga was becoming very restless. Carriers were one of the most important ships in the fleet yet she and Akagi weren't doing anything. She couldn't help, but question the Admiral's decisions about their squadron.
The days at the base were very boring. Most of the other squads were sent on missions of varying tasks while their squad was left alone. Since the five of them weren't very close yet, it made things a little awkward. Whenever they wander around aimlessly, they would run into each other, but have nothing to say to each other. The only who tried to talk to the others was Fubuki. She longed to hang out with Akagi, but Kaga was very scary to her so she had to keep her distance.
Finally, the other squadrons returned home which made things seem a bit livelier. However, that was when Special Squad 1 was called to headquarters. The five of them hurried to headquarters where Nagato gave them the rundown of what was to happen during their first mission.
"Thank you all for coming and the Admiral thanks you for your patience. Today's mission is a little strange. For the past few days, we've been getting reports from our other squads that the Abyssal main island is very quiet. Normally, we would just ask you to send your scout planes to figure out what's going on, but the Admiral decided that it was better to send a squad to check it out."
"Is there a reason for this?"
"The only contact we've got information is a lone carrier patrolling the island. The other squads have tried to get as much information on it as they can, but the only thing they could gather was that that was the one responsible for the protection of the island." Akagi and Kaga looked at each other with concerning eyes.
"Wait, just one? Does that mean…"
"Yes. That's the lead carrier. If we can eliminate her, our chance at taking over that island will be that much higher."
"Count me in. I've been wanting to sink a carrier for so long, desu!"
"Kongou-san?"
"Well, if there aren't any other questions, please report to your battle stations and get this operation underway.
"Aye!" They saluted the two of them and headed out quickly as they could. As they watched them leave, Mustu couldn't stay quiet about this little operation.
"Do you think they'll be able to do it?"
"I don't know. The Admiral has never been entirely wrong before and they are among the best so we have to put our hopes on them. This could be our only chance to punch a hole through their defenses."
Special Squadron 1 made their way into the docks where they packed on their equipment and headed out to seas. Immediately, Fubuki felt like a new girl. After all that training she did really paid off. The five of them sailed through the water with incredible speed. Akagi and Kaga lead the group with Fubuki and Hibiki in the middle and Kongou covering their six. From the looks of it, they seemed to be working pretty well even though nothing really happened yet.
As they sailed along, they decided to stay quiet. On the other hand, Fubuki really wanted to sail next to Akagi, but she knew that that would distract her too much so she remained where she was until they finally arrived at their destination. After a few minutes, they saw the Abyssal main island on the horizon and decided to stay back and draw up some kind of plan.
"What do you think we should do, Kaga-san?"
"Well, judging by the circumstances of this mission, we can't be careless. We should split up into two groups and observe the island. If we find the lone carrier, initiate an attack as fast as you can and pull out even faster."
""Desu! Who's with who?"
"Kongou-san and Hibiki, you'll be with Akagi-san. I'll take Fubuki. Survey the island and we'll meet up on the other side."
"Aye!" The squad split into two and went their separate ways. Immediately, Fubuki was saddened. She was split up from Akagi and put with Kaga. To her, Kaga was definitely cool, but nowhere near Akagi's level.
As the two of them started their survey, there was nothing that was needed to be said. They remained silent and focused on the mission. Kaga decided to take Fubuki as her escort so that Akagi's life wouldn't be put in danger if something bad happened. Having both Hibiki and Kougou would almost guarantee her safety. That and Kaga believes she wouldn't be a distraction to Fubuki. The survey went on for quite some time since the island was pretty big, but there was no sign of any carrier. However, they had to stay vigilant if this mission was going to be a success.
"Um, Kaga-senpai, can I ask you a question?" She sighed.
"Make it quick."
"Do you dislike me?" Kaga immediately grew confused.
"Why would you ask that? What makes you think I don't like you?"
"Well, it just seems that you're really hard on me and I've never really seen you smile when you're with me."
"Fubuki-chan, you don't need to worry about something like that. If you want to know something about me, it's that I don't like to smile. And I don't dislike you in any way." Fubuki's face immediately lit up with joy. It wasn't much, but it was definitely a start for the two of them. "Do you see anything?"
"No, not yet. It's much foggier than I thought it would be."
"Yeah, this island's always like that." The two of them continued to look around for the lone carrier, but there was nothing in sight. Just out of curiosity, Fubuki decided to look up at the skies when she saw two planes diving right for them.
"Kaga-san, look out! Fubuki pointed upwards and Kaga knew what was happening. She quickly maneuvered out of the way as Fubuki shot and destroyed the two planes.
"What the heck? Where did they come from?" All of a sudden, the fog slowly started to subside. The two of them looked back at the island and saw something they weren't expecting. There were two carriers being escorted by four destroyers. "Fubuki-chan, we need to move."
"Aye!" They turned around to head the other way, but cannon fire from the enemy destroyers were cutting them off. As that happened, the enemy carriers launched several planes into the air, surrounding the two of them. "Kaga-san, what do we do?"
"Have you been able to contact the other group?"
"No, our communications have gone static." She gritted her teeth.
"Well, then it looks like we'll have to fight. Focus your firepower on the carriers. I'll take out the destroyers." She nodded her head and began to follow Kaga's plans to the letter. Fubuki moved it to get a better shot on the carriers and her pan worked. She wasn't able to land a shot on them, but she shot around them causing them to retreat a bit.
"Kaga-san, it's working."
"Good. Just keep going. The other group should be meeting with us soon." With the help other fighter planes, Kaga managed to destroy half of the destroyers without a sweat. Unfortunately, they were slowly starting to learn her plans which made them separate from each other. For Kaga, this made things much more difficult, but she didn't have much of a choice. She directed her planes to focus fire on the remaining destroyers. She then looked over at Fubuki who handling things pretty well. This took Kaga by surprise.
Unknowing to them, another carrier appeared from way outside the area of the island. It launched two planes into the air, carrying bombs ready to blow. Fubuki and Kaga were too busy to realize that something was happening without them being aware of it. The enemy planes grew closer and when they were finally within range, they dropped their bombs and bailed out. Once Kaga was finished her part, she decided to help out Fubuki when something caught her eye. She saw two black bombs heading right for Fubuki.
"Fubuki, get out of there!" She turned and looked at Kaga who was looking above her. She then turned and saw two bombs heading right for her. There was nothing Kaga could do. Her planes were too far away and launching anymore now would only cause more of a scene so she did everything she could to sail over to her as fast as she could. "Fubuki!" The bombs was only a few feet away when it finally exploded.
Boom! The explosion covered the entire area around her, leaving only smoke to float around.
"Nnnoooo!"
End of Chapter 4