A/N: Apparently we're going to have a USN CV officially implemented in the game soon. If E ever becomes canon, I think I would heavily edit this story, or rewrite it completely, or maybe even scrap it completely and start writing new story featuring canon E.
Cheers.
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. .
"Why is she here?" asked one of the ships in the office.
Surprisingly, it was not Kaga that was protesting Enterprise's presence in the room. In fact, Kaga was the one standing closest to Enterprise next to Zuikaku. Her expression was calm, without even a hint of malice. Guess she was serious about that professionalism.
The admiral's office was pretty spacious, but with the numbers of submarines, carriers, cruisers and a battleship in the room, it felt absolutely too small. The admiral herself was seated in her seat, surrounded on each side by the secretary ship Ooyodo, a tall, all-business looking woman with long black hair and glasses, and the light cruiser Tenryuu, a short haired, one eyed teenager with the stature of an active youth, holding her sword on her shoulder. alongside them in the room, There were battleship Nagato, carrier Zuikaku, Enterprise, and Kaga, and all the submarines involved in the scouting mission, and also one that didn't.
Among all the ships present, The one protesting was in fact one of the submarines that were just returning from their night mission. It was Imuya. The pink haired submarine still had her waist length ponytail dripping water onto the office's floor. The sub didn't have her rigging with her, but still she looked like she's about to launch a torpedo down the side of the American carrier.
Zuikaku noticed Enterprise shuffled sideways to put Zuikaku directly between her and the submarine.
Imuya, as Zuikaku understood it, was the ship that practically sunk Enterprise's older sister, the USS Yorktown. After hundreds of planes shot down, both Japanese and American, the sea around the American fleet at Midway was so full of debris that the sub managed to sneak in close without being detected, and damaged the wounded veteran beyond any hope of salvage.
This was awkward. It was clear as day judging by how many times a week Zuikaku had heard her bragging about it that Imuya took pride on 'avenging' the first and second carrier divisions at Midway. And then Enterprise was there in the room with her, well within striking distance. Imagine a serial killer broke into your home and slit the throats of your father, mother, and entire extended family in 7 minutes, and then that guy turned out to be your room mate and you could do nothing about it.
Zuikaku realized that it was a terrible analogy. She's glad that nobody in the room could read her mind.
"She's a wreck, she has nothing to do with this operation." The submarine continued.
"Well, they are my escort, so I think this operation is entirely my business." Enterprise declared somewhat aggressively, with its intimidating effect somewhat diminished by the fact she's practically hiding behind Zuikaku, and that she's at the time wearing clothes less suitable for a war machine as they were for a random college girl. A plain black shirt, blue trainer pants, and a pair of white gym shoes.
"Ah, so you left your comrade to die and now you're feeling guilty about it, is that it?"
Ouch.
Zuikaku saw Enterprise's ayes widening. For a moment she saw her mouth trembling, searching for a decent comeback. When she couldn't find it, Zuikaku saw her hand turning into a fist. Her stance turned aggressive and it was clear that Enterprise was about to jump the submarine, her wounds be damned.
"Why you-!"
"Hey, hey, easy!" Zuikaku moved in, putting herself more directly between the two ships. At the same time, Zuikaku also noticed that the majority of the ships in the room, previously staying silent, were readying to move in to break up the imminent fight.
"Enough. Both of you."
Zuikaku was prepared to hold Enterprise down before Kaga's stern voice echoed throughout the cramped room.
"The admiral is about to speak."
"But, Kaga-san! She's-" Imuya was about to protest when Kaga raised her hand, stopping her.
"I don't care." said Kaga. She had not raise her voice, but it still sounded like she had give an order through a megaphone. "Our opinion about each other are of no consequence to the mission. You're acting like an amateur, submarine."
Zuikaku could almost hear Kaga holding back. Usually Kaga would be more than happy to voice her opinion to the world without restraint, mission or no. But Zuikaku guessed that Kaga had build a new commitment after their talk in the dry dock.
Zuikaku could see Imuya jolting back slightly when Kaga called her an amateur.
"I..." The submarine looked at Kaga with unclear expression, and then gave a vicious glare at Enterprise before finally conceding. "My apologize, Kaga-san." she bowed slightly. "It was unbecoming of me."
"Hmmh." Kaga grunted, completely dismissing the submarine. Instead, she turned towards the admiral.
...who was completely absorbed in her glass of steaming coffee.
"Hmm. Milk and honey. I guess going light once in a while is fine too."
It took a few seconds before the admiral noticed the sudden silence in the room and realized that she was expected to start talking.
"Oh, you guys finished already?" asked the admiral, sounding genuinely disappointed. "Too bad. It was interesting to watch."
The admiral could be somewhat absent-minded at times. Zuikaku suspected that it was caused by the fact that her refusal of sleep had gone well past the level of 'dedication to duty and country' and reached the level of 'Her own subordinates start to speculate that she is, in fact, a homunculus'. The bags under her eyes looked absolutely terrible, and her skin went paler and paler everyday from staying in the office too much. Her body looked like it was about to crumble inside her uniform.
"Uh... about the mission, ma'am?" Zuikaku asked.
"Ah, right."
The admiral tried to stand up, but then decided that she couldn't be bothered and went back to her seat.
"Goya, Could you repeat your report, please?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
A submarine walked to the middle of the room. A Peach haired girl, I-58, or Goya for short. She was the leader of the midnight scouting mission.
The submarine pulled out a stack of pictures from a bag she was carrying, showing a bunch of unclear pictures that Zuikaku recognized as wreckages of Abyssal creatures, taken at the break of dawn.
"During our expedition, we've confirmed that the area where Enterprise-san was retrieved is in range of the enemy land based installation that we've had previously discovered."
Behind the submarine, the secretary Ooyodo opened a large scale map of the local sea area and put it on the admiral's desk. It was large enough that everyone inside the room could easily take a good look at it.
The admiral took out a marker and circled a small island well off the coast of Japan.
"That island...isn't that the base responsible for the naval blockade of our southern sea? A Hime class guards it, if I'm not mistaken." commented the battleship Nagato. Standing near the door, her muscular figure made the black haired battleship looked like an unyielding sentry, incidentally giving the rest of the ships in the room a sense of security.
Enterprise looked at Zuikaku questioningly.
"We tried to break that blockade a couple of times before." explained Zuikaku. "always failed."
Goya continued, and Zuikaku turned her attention back towards the submarine.
"Similar to our previous observation, they have a formidable force arranged in interlocking battle lines, each supporting each other."
The admiral took her marker again, and drew three lines between the circled island and the naval base.
"But something was different and inconsistent with our previous reports. We've noticed a considerable decay in their defensive line. For example, they no longer have as many battleships as they had a week ago."
Goya started to flip through her photos, showing the corpses of abyssal battleships.
"It was clearly visible that great amount of damage has been suffered by the enemy fleet. We also suffered minimal hindrance from the enemy air cover and destroyers, with most of them concentrated around the enemy land-based facility."
"That means..." said Enterprise.
"Hmm. Your escort put up a valiant battle." Said the battleship Nagato. The considerably massive battleship had somehow managed to sneak up behind Enterprise. "Whether they're alive or not, you should feel honored." said Nagato as she put a hand on Enterprise's shoulder. Her massive hand looked like it could easily crush Enterprise bones like a biscuit.
"No, they're still alive." said Enterprise defiantly. "Right?"
As if actively trying to not break the American carrier's hope, Goya showed another picture.
It was an atrociously blurry picture, but it clearly showed a group of kanmusu.
"The amounts of wreckages in the water allowed us to sneak in behind enemy lines without too much trouble. And we managed to spot what looked like a considerably large flotilla of foreign kanmusu."
Enterprise's face brightened.
"Unfortunately, before we managed to make contact, their destroyers started firing on us."
Enterprise's face darkened.
"it was to be expected." The cruiser Tenryuu spoke. The destroyer leader had a considerable knowledge on submarine warfare, mostly from being sunk by one. "They were in hostile waters, and suddenly their sonar detected a group of submarines. I'd be a bit jumpy too."
"Doesn't mean they could get away from it, though. Right, admiral? You're going to punish them when they arrive, yeah?" prodded the submarine I-19, her blue twin-tails had a considerable singe on them.
"We'll see." said the admiral bluntly.
Enterprise looked guilty, even though she herself had done nothing wrong.
"Anyway..." Goya continued. "Their anti-submarine barrage was too intense for us to surface and establish radio contact."
The submarine service was often called 'the silent service' not only because they're, ideally, operating stealthily, but it was also because radio signal generally did terrible job traveling through a highly conductive substance like salt water.
"As the division commander, I judged our situation as too perilous to continue and chose to withdraw."
Goya put her pictures back into her little bag. She turned towards the admiral and gave a salute.
"And thus conclude my report." she said, before joining back with her fellow submarines at the edge of the room.
"Thank you, I-58. You and your team can go and take a bath. Nimu, you stay here."
"Y...yes, ma'am!"
Nimu was one of the submarines in the room. However, she didn't participate in the night scouting mission. Instead, the admiral had her called in the middle of her breakfast, as evident by the bit of rice stuck at the edge of her mouth.
When Goya and her submarines already out of the room, the admiral began talking to the rest of the ships in the room. "As you can see, although the enemy defense line was partially damaged, possibly by the action of Enterprise's escort, they still possess a considerable fire power from their ships and land-based aircraft and artillery."
The admiral then drew two circles on the map, both near the coast of the naval base.
"Our rescue plan would be executed by two forces, 'decoy' and 'infiltrator', with some auxiliary forces to act as support."
The admiral wrote an 'I' and a 'D' within the two circles.
"Zuikaku, Nagato, Tenryuu, Nimu. Come forward."
The four ships silently made their way to the front of the admiral's desk.
"Zuikaku?"
Zuikaku perked up.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"How's your eye?"
For a moment Zuikaku considered lying to secure her position in the operation, but then she decided against it.
"My main range finder is damaged. My anti air defense is not operating at optimum capacity." Zuikaku said, bluntly and honestly.
"Do you believe that you could still lead the decoy force?" asked the admiral again.
Zuikaku mulled. Should she risk herself? Zuikaku was fully aware of her status as an asset to the navy, and her sinking would make considerable dent in the defense of the home islands.
Zuikaku looked at Enterprise, and found that she was looking at her.
Zuikaku found her answer.
"Ma'am." she began. "I still remember my time with the northern force. I believe I could use some of my knowledge to good use in this mission.".
The northern force, of course, referring to the time when Zuikaku, already practically ran out of aircraft, played the role of a decoy in the planned three-pronged attack in the battle of Leyte Gulf.
"Bah. two eyes are overrated anyway." quipped Tenryuu.
"Hmm, very well. Kaga." The admiral continued.
"yes, ma'am?"
"You will be under Zuikaku's command for this mission. Is that fine with you?"
For a moment, Zuikaku was sure that Kaga would refuse. But then, Kaga nodded.
"Of course, ma'am." Kaga answered confidently. If she was irritated by this assignment, she hid it well.
The admiral pulled up a pen and wrote Kaga's and Zuikaku's names near the 'D' circle.
"Tenryuu."
"Infiltration?"
"Infiltration. You are to make contact with the remnant of the American fleet and lead them back to the base. I trust you to do it quickly and safely."
"Roger that." The cruiser answered in an obviously confident tone.
"Nagato?"
"Ma'am?"
"You'll be in charge of covering their retreat. Make sure that they have a clear rendezvous, and do not let any enemy goes through you."
"Understood."
"Nimu?"
"Y...yes!"
"You're in charge of our submarine operation. Harass the enemy defense and secure a clear passage from the area of operation to our base. "
"Yes, Ma'am!"
As the admiral assigned the commanders of her fleets, she scribed their names on the map according to their position.
"I'm giving you all free reign for this mission. Use all available resources and any off-duty ships as you see fit, within reason, to fulfill these criteria;"
The admiral started facing her commanders, one by one.
First, the decoy.
"Zuikaku. You will pick your own escort. Seek cruisers and destroyers that could keep up with you and provide decent AA cover. Remember that you are a decoy. Build a fleet worthy of a main attack force."
Then, the infiltrator.
"Tenryuu, your fleet will consist of destroyers and light cruisers. Try to pick ships with good fire rate and torpedo loadout. Make sure that you can outrun anything you can't outgun and outgun anything you can't outrun."
Third, the rear guard.
"Nagato, get some battleships, cruisers, and destroyers that you think know how to take some good hits, and make sure that you have scouting planes in the air at all times."
And last one, the saboteur.
"Nimu, Take a look at our combat record. Seek submarines that have good initiative and capable of independent action."
The admiral took one sip of coffee from her cup before finally finishing her command.
"Coordinate with each other to make sure your ships don't overlap. Get your list of names on my desk by 0900. Dismiss."
And with that, the four ships in front of her gave her a uniform salute.
"MA'AM!"