Archerfish Ch. 7
13:30 hours (UTC +11), 33°44'26.1"N 161°44'49.2"E
Day +4
"Well, I suppose we'd best make a good first impression, then." (Essex) said dryly.
"Well, not shooting at us is a good way to start." Everyone jumped as two people rose from the sea before them. "U.S.S. Essex? We're your escorts. U.S.S. Michigan and Narwhal reporting."
As the two submarine girls saluted, and Essex returned it, one of the other ship girls gave a startled cry.
"Aieeee!" yelped Taylor "Where in the world did you come from?"
"Below you," said Narwhal, with a slight smirk. "I'm pretty sure Blue Ridge told you we were coming. You should listen better."
Michigan thwapped Narwhal's shoulder. "Behave." To the assembled ShipGirls, she said "We are here to escort you to our group, but first, we have some questions. By the way, before we get too much further into this conversation, you might want to recall your submarine."
"But Balao's right h-" Iowa started to say, then looked around. "Where the Sam Hill did she get to?"
"She's a little over 7 klicks that way." Narwhal replied, pointing behind them, still smirking slightly.
"How do you kno-" started Baltimore, looking confused.
"Kantai! Enough chatter," shouted Essex. She turned back to the SubGirls "We were sent here to meet you and help you. We would be happy to answer your questions. We also have some of our own."
"Quite understandable," said Michigan. "Did you want to wait for your sub to come back?"
"We can't actually contact her when she's submerged. Taylor, would you please go fetch her?" asked Essex.
"Aye Ma'am. Of course, she can't hear me, either. I suppose I can drop practice depth charges on her until she comes up." Taylor replied, turning to go.
"Wait! Depth charges?" exclaimed Narwhal. "Can't you just talk to her?"
"Not really. She's too far down for radio contact." explained Essex.
"No, I mean just talk." asked Narwhal. Off their confused looks, she continued, "Use your external speakers?"
"What do you mean?" asked Taylor. "We don't have external speakers."
"We do." Said Michigan. "Nicole, would you please assist Miss Taylor in retrieving their friend? Assuming that is okay with you, Miss Essex."
"Essex, please. We're all ships here. That would be fine." She turned to Narwhal, "Can you keep up with Taylor?"
"I can do 25 knots on top. That should put us to your sub in less than 15 minutes." She replied. She turned to Michigan, "Michele, if you want to go ahead with the rest of the group, the three of us can catch up to you."
"Got it. Will do. 142!" Michigan replied, smiling.
"142!", Narwhal replied, and turned to Taylor. "Shall we?"
"Ma certo." replied Taylor. She saluted Essex, and then she and Narwhal headed back the way she had come. Michigan returned to Essex.
"If you wouldn't mind providing a little more identification, Miss Essex?"
"What, exactly, are you looking for, Michigan? I am the U.S.S. Essex, fourth of that name, CV-9. I was commissioned in 1942. I was the flagship of TF 14 and struck Wake Island. I led TG 50.3 in the Battle of Tarawa, and against the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. I joined TF 58 for Operation Hailstone. I carried the 'Fabled Fifteen' to fight Marcus and Wake, sortied with TG 38.3 in Operation Stalemate II, and fought at Leyte Gulf. I have weathered typhoons and kamikazes and provided air support at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I am a United States Navy fighting ship, and I came back from the dead to fight the Abyssal Threat. Is that identification enough for you?"
Michigan sank slightly in the water, and replied in a very small voice "Yes, Ma'am."
Iowa stepped over and put her arm around Essex. She addressed Michigan in a comforting voice. "It's very nice to meet you, Michigan. I'm Iowa. We can introduce everyone once we meet the rest of your friends. We thought we were looking for only two subs, but it looks like there are a lot more of you. Do any of your friends require medical assistance? Essex's pilot indicated that some of your friends were hurt."
"Some are, thank you. I think we have established that you are not Goth ships, so let me lead you back to Bri- um, Blue Ridge." she said.
"Goth ships?" asked Essex.
"Black clothes, dead white faces with dark make-up, spikes, collars, red accents, don't talk but shoot people on sight?" she said. "That's how we figured it was okay for us to surface, because you were talking to each other, and you replied to us. The others never did. They just opened fire."
"Abyssals." replied Essex. "We call those Abyssals, since they seem to come from the Abyss."
"They showed up out of nowhere about five years ago. We'll tell you a bit about them on the way, and give you a full brief at Yokosuka." continued Iowa.
"Oh thank goodness! We were heading to Japan in the first place." Michigan looked relieved, then realized: "Oh! My questions! Is the United States still there? Are we at war with Russia? Or anyone else?"
Essex smiled. "The US still stands, Old Glory still waves. Russia is our ally against the Abyssals. Pretty much all of humanity is united, at least in this."
14:20 hours (UTC +11), 33°41'30.9"N 162°00'42.5"E
Day +4
Elizabeth was trying to stay calm while Bri tended to Kaylee's wounds. She had waved the other girl off, and told her to see to her sister first. She wasn't that badly hurt, to be honest. She had panicked a bit about being on fire, but then her CrewFairies had come out with hoses and activated a sprinkler system that she didn't know she had. She had moved the three of them away from the actual battlefield and burning wreckage, partly because the smoke was making them all cough, and partly so that she wasn't tempted to walk over and kick the Goth ship that was still burning. The other ships were in pieces, or on their way to the bottom. Elizabeth was still so furious that she didn't feel guilty about the havoc they had wreaked.
They had been ambushed. The Goth ships had come up from the south and opened fire without ever hailing them. Fortunately, they had all been on edge to begin with, and had spotted the convoy before they had even come close. Though the attack had come without warning, they had not been caught flat-footed; they reacted quickly and decisively. Until that $&^%$#*&*& Goth Carrier had hit Kaylee in the back as she was turning to fire. That's when Elizabeth saw red. NO ONE lays a finger on her little sister. The rest of the battle was a little blurry after that. Her Hawkeyes spotted the new ships incoming, and she sent one off for recon, along with a wing of F-18s. There was too much flak in the air, though, and one of them didn't make it. Bri sent Michele and Nicole to follow up, while Oliver kept hammering the Goths from below. He took off in hot pursuit after the one that ran. She hoped he was okay.
Bri spoke up. "We have incoming. It's Michele, and she's brought quite a few for dinner. I hope we have enough room at the table."
We had all been surprised when the Goth girls attacked, but we had recovered quickly. I don't think they expected us to retaliate so rapidly, but we had picked them up long before we saw them, and had worked out a rudimentary plan, just in case. The case had, in point, come. Kaylee and Bri shot Tomahawks at the battleship, and then hit the cruisers; Nicole, Michele and I took out the destroyers; and Elizabeth went for the carrier. When the last destroyer punked out, I chased her down to let Michele and Nicole investigate the new inbounds. The destroyer was fast and turning hard, but Mk. 48s have active sonar tracking, and are hard to shake. I could tell she was confused by the active pinging coming from either side of her, but a lot of my compassion went away when they fired the first shots. They sent big shells at us and fired a whole school of torpedoes. They bloodied my nose, nearly broke Michele's wrist, and they lit Kaylee's butt on fire. I wasn't glad the Goth girls were dead, but I was glad they couldn't hurt anyone else.
I had just gotten word from Blue Ridge that Michele had come back with the Essex group when I pulled within a half-mile of their location. I rose to periscope to take a look, and then decided to be friendly. I rose fully out of the water and moved toward the circle. Bri had just gestured to me as I walked up, and with as pleasant of a smile as I could muster, I looked at the new people.
"Hi! I'm Archerfish. It's nice to meet you."
One of the girls screamed, and then I was looking down the business end of more guns than I could count.
"What the hell are you?!"
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