With assistance from a few of the destroyers on the base, Ise and Hyuga had set up a target range. "Alright, what are the rules?"
"The rules are as follows: We cannot have our guns aimed at the targets before we start. Our guns can be loaded though. We have to engage the long-range targets first. Then we engage the close targets with our secondaries and lastly, we engage the air targets. Clear?"
"Clear."
"Alright. The competition begins when I say 'start.' Three...Two... One... Start!"
Their guns rotated, elevated, and fired. Huge gazers of water exploded upward as shells slammed into the ocean. When the gazers cleared both Ise's and Hyuga's fire directors reported one target destroyed. Twenty-eight seconds later their guns thundered again and destroyed their remaining targets.
Their secondary guns began to fire. Small gazers of water exploded upward as dozens of shells were fired from their guns. Small fireballs on the ocean's surface indicated the destruction of their targets and Ise destroyed her last target milliseconds ahead of her sister.
Their AA guns opened fire with Ise targeting the closer targets first while her sister engaged the long-range targets first. Hidden by the sound of gunfire and explosions Ise launched her A6M2-Ns. They stayed at wave top-level to avoid her flack fire and entered a climb once they were clear.
Hyuga spotted them launched her planes as well. They targeted the close-range targets while her guns dealt with the few remaining long-range targets. Tracers from 25 mm, 20 mm, and 7.7 mm filled the sky around them. Fireballs fell from the sky as the targets were shot down. Ise's 12.7 cm guns switched their fire to the long-range targets. She kept her eye on her planes to make sure they weren't in danger of getting hit by her flack.
Minuets after the competition began it ended. Their guns fell silent and their planes returned as the final targets fell to the ocean as burning wrecks. Nothing was said between the sisters as they watched the final target splash into the ocean. "So, who won?"
"Um, I'm not sure. Hatsuharu-san! Were you keeping track!?"
"Why are you asking me!? My sisters and I were making bets on who was going to win!"
She sighed. "Okay. Do you guys know?"
"Hey."
"Big sister, does your crew know?"
"No, but they swear we won. I'm not sure how much I trust them on that."
"So you wasted our time for nothing!?"
"Hey! You're the ones who decided to watch the competition!"
"Because we thought you would be smart enough to figure out who won! I have a lot of money riding on this!"
"Sister. Enough."
She glared at Hatsuharu who glared back. She huffed and sailed back to the docks. "I'm sorry about that Hyuga-san. She can be very rude when she's in a bad mood."
"It's fine- "No, it's not. I'm going to have a serious talk to her about her behavior." She turned around and followed her. Her other sister watched her go before turning to Hyuga-san. She smiled, "I enjoyed watching your competition! Since your curious, I think Ise-san won but I'm not sure. Bye!" Hyuga smiled and waved back to her. "Well, that makes two wins for you big sister."
"I'm not so sure about that. How about we call it a draw."
"Alright, it's a draw. But we are having another rematch later."
"I look forward to it," Ise said with a smile.
A loud rumble for Hyuga's stomach caused her to blush. "I hate it when that happens," she grumbled and glared at her toned stomach. "You guys could just tell me you know."
Ise laughed. "Come on, let's go eat lunch."
"That sounds wonderful."
Date: 6/10/15
Commander Shuko was worried. He received a transmission from the convoy ten minutes but it was garbled. At first, he thought it was due to a weak signal, however, as the minutes ticked by his suspicion grew. The abyssals have the ability to jam communications as they had already shown. When he attempted to contact the convoy and only got static in return in ordered the fleet to sortie.
Minutes later, the fleet was at sea. Shokaku and Shoho launched their Zeros and based their search area on where the convoy should be. The Zeros split into two flights and headed for the designated search area. Shokaku readied the rest of her Zeros while Shoho readied her dive bombers.
Twelve minutes after they launched Shoho's Zeros spotted a ship. They descended for a closer look and the ship had capsized and was sinking by the stern. They informed Shoho of their findings and continued their search. They split into two flights of two; flight headed East while the second flight headed South-East.
The second flight soon spotted two ships steaming South-West towards Okinawa. They flew over them and noticed they didn't have an escort. Their radios crackled, "-Escorts engaged in a delaying action- 26*33'N 128*30'E."
The Zeros rocked their wings to show they heard the transmission and headed to the coordinates. Back with the fleet, Shokaku launched more Zeros while Shoho launched her dive bombers.
The Zeros closed in on the coordinates given to them and they searched the ocean's surface for any sign of the escorts. After a few minutes, they spotted a smokescreen. They turned toward it and spotted a cruiser and two destroyers using the screen for cover. A third destroyer charged out of it and formed up with them.
The smokescreen started to dissipate and the Zeros spotted two light cruisers and four destroyers. They entered a dive and targeted one of the destroyers. AA fire met them as they strafed the destroyer tiring to hit its torpedoes. They pulled out of the dive and came around for a second attack and strafed it again. A flack burst hit the second Zero and set its right-wing on fire. The fuel tank exploded and the Zero crashed into the ocean in flames. The second Zero rolled away and hugged the ocean's surface.
"So much for air support!"
"Yudachi-san! Are you saying we can't win this battle without air support!?"
"No Aoba-san! I'm saying it would be easier with air support!"
"She has a point Aoba-san!"
"I will admit, air support would make this battle a cakewalk but where's the fun in that Samidare-san!?"
"I believe that you enjoy battle a little too much."
"Too much! Asagumo-san! I know that you enjoy battle just as much as the rest of us!"
BOOM!
Samidare yelped as a 15.2 cm shell landed right next to her splashing her with water. "Can we focus on the abyssals trying to kill us!?"
Aoba narrowed her eyes at the abyssals. "Rude." Her six 20.3 cm guns fired scoring four hits on the lead cruiser. Yudachi, Samidare, and Asagumo picked their targets and engaged. This left one destroyer and one cruiser not being engaged. The unengaged destroyer targeted Yudachi while the cruiser targeted Samidare.
"I don't like being the center of attention!" Samidare put her maneuverability to work and danced around the shells but two slammed into her hull marring her skin and destroying some of her AA guns. "OW! That hurt bitch!" He guns lashed out in anger scoring more hits on a destroyer.
Aoba scored two hits on the cruiser and avoided its return fire. She continued to trade shots until an explosion destroyed one of its gun turrets. Despite losing a fourth of its firepower it continued to engage. It switched to AP due to the range and scored two hits. One shell was an overpenetration but the second shell penetrated her belt armor and detonated. She hissed and blood began to run from the wound but it didn't affect her combat capability. She lashed out and scored five hits causing heavy damage; the abyssal actually staggered a little from the hits. She launched her torpedoes but didn't aim them at a particular target.
"Aoba-san! Air contacts at five o'clock!"
"Friendly!?"
"They're not responding so no!"
"Understood!"
Ten kilometers away six abyssal floatplanes were closing in on their position. They were lightly armed with only a single 7.7 mm MG for self-defense but did carry two 50 kg bombs. They spotted the Kanmusu and soon flack clouds started to appear. One of the floatplanes exploded into a dozen different pieces as a flack shell hit it directly.
A second floatplane was hit multiple times and its fuselage was shredded; It lazily banked left and crashed into the ocean. A third floatplane was also hit and trailed thick black smoke from its engine. It soon caught fire and an explosion blew the front half of it apart; The remaining three dived on Aoba. They released their bombs but only one hit; it slammed into one of her secondary guns destroying it and setting off the ammo in the turret. The explosion obliterated the gun and started a fire.
"That fucking hurt assholes!"
"Aoba-san, please watch your language."
"Asagumo-san! There are more important things to worry about then my language!"
She just hummed and continued to engage her target. Aoba shook her head at the disinterest she showed. "Even in a fight she doesn't show emotion," she mumbled. However, Asagumo heard her and the edges of her lips twitched upwards.
Fifteen kilometers away six Zeros escorted six D3A1 dive bombers. After a few minutes, they spotted the abyssals and the bombers split into two groups of three. Flack clouds started to appear and they entered a seventy-degree dive. AA fire shot down one of the bombers but the remaining five released their bombs. The first cruiser was hit with two two-hundred and fifty-kilogram bombs destroying two of its turrets. The magazine detonation that followed blew out its sides and it started sinking. The second cruiser wasn't hit but a bomb did land close enough to cause flooding. Five seconds later one of Aoba's torpedoes slammed into its hull blowing open a hole and allowing water to rush in.
"There's your air support Yudachi-san! You happy!?"
"Very! That's one less cruiser we have to worry about!"
"It was also the cruiser shooting at me! Thank you Shoho-san!"
Aoba fired another two salvos at the second cruiser and sunk it. The three destroyers disengaged and activated their smoke generators. "Are we going to sink them?"
"No. The cargo ships are more important."
"Aoba-san, what is your status?"
"Shokaku-san, it's good your hear your voice. Status is green."
"Good to hear Aoba-san. Do you know the position of the ships in the convoy?"
"No. I ordered them to scatter when we spotted abyssals."
"Understood. Aoba-san, was Akashi-san apart of the convoy?"
"Negative."
"Understood, out."
The search would continue for five hours. In that time they would find five more cargo ships, the destroyers Hokaze, Tachikaze, and Oboro along with the light cruiser Sakawa. They would find evidence that the remaining ships of the convoy had been sunk and would sink two abyssal destroyers before Commander Shuko called off the search.
Date: 6/11/15
"Big sister, do you know why Commander Shuko called us to the planning room?"
"No, I don't think anyone does."
Hyuga nodded and look around the room. In attendance, there was Shokaku, Shoho, Kako, Oyodo, Yura, Karukaya, Hatsuharu, Yakaze, Umikaze, Wakaba, and Nenohi.
The door swings open and Commander Shuko entered. Everyone stopped talking as he made his way to the front of the room. "Alright, you are all curious as to why I called you here so I will get straight to the point. Admiral Goto sent a request for reinforcements to be sent to Yokosuka and you all are going to be those reinforcements."
"Sir, did Admiral Goto explain why he needed reinforcements?"
"No."
"Sir, is this a temporary assignment?"
"I do not know. If I had to guess, I think it will be temporary. Any more questions?"
"Just one sir, when do we depart?"
"At ten-thirty hours. Good luck and fair seas."
