Date: 6/14/15
The wail of an alarm screamed out across the base arousing everyone from their sleep. Personnel rolled out of their beds and threw on their uniforms before rushing out of their sleeping quarters. Kanmusu who were awake at the time dropped what they were doing and sprinted to the docks.
Ise and Hyuga jumped out of their beds, through on their uniforms, and sprinted out of their room. They met up with Shokaku and Shoho. "Ise-san, Hyuga-san it's good to see you're awake."
"It's good to see you Shokaku-san, Shoho-san."
They sprinted to the docks and picked up a few more members of their fleet along the way. When they got to the docks they saw DDGs firing their CIWS almost straight up along with the occasional missile.
They leapt into the water and summoned their rigging. Shokaku, Shoho, Ise, and Hyuga launched their Zeros and ordered them to engage the abyssal level bombers. Their secondary guns fired sending flack shells the abyssal's way. Jets screeched overhead firing their guns and missiles into the abyssal bomber formation. Fireballs appeared in the dark sky as bombers were hit and they became streaks of fire as they fell out of the sky.
"This is destroyer squadron thirty-four! We are under attack from an abyssal fleet and request assistance!"
Blinding flashes lit up the dark ocean before they were swallowed by darkness. "Admiral Goto we're moving to assist destroyer squadron thirty-four!"
"Understood Ise. Watch yourselves, we have no solid information on the number of abyssal warships. Out."
By now the Tenth fleet was at full strength and they were joined by various Kanmusu. Ise and Hyuga increased speed to 25 knots and the fleet matched it. There were multiple explosions behind them and Kako turned around to see smoke billowing up from Yokosuka. "The bastards are bombing Yokosuka!"
"Kako-san, control yourself."
"They're bombing Yokosuka Maya-san! And I can't do a damn thing about it!"
"Control your anger Kako-san; do not let it cloud your judgment."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them they were still burning with anger but it was more controlled. "Thank you, Maya-san."
"You are welcome, Kako-san."
"Torpedo bombers off our twelve!"
"These are land-based bombers where did they launch from!?"
"They might not have launched from anywhere! These are the abyssals we're talking about they could have teleported the bombers here!"
"We can discuss how they got here later! Right now, focus on shooting them down!"
Flack clouds started to appear in front of the fleet; a streak of fire appeared as one of the bombers was hit and it slammed into the ocean. A second bomber was hit and it entered an uncontrolled climb before rolling left and slamming back into the ocean. The rest of the bombers dropped their torpedoes and banked away.
The destroyers had turned on their spotlights to help the accuracy of the AA guns and saw them drop their torpedoes. They had aimed them at Shokaku and Ise. They warned them and the fleet of the torpedoes and the Kanmusu closest to Shokaku and Ise turned away. Ise and Shokaku didn't take evasive action knowing that turning would put them at a greater risk of being hit. The torpedoes missed and the fleet reformed.
"Be advised friendly reinforcements are coming from the North-East! Repeat, reinforcements are coming from the North-East!"
"Admiral Goto, what reinforcements are coming?"
"I- ow- rom- voy- ba-ip- cr-" The transmission cut out.
"The abyssals are jamming transmissions again."
Shoho readied her dive bombers while Shokaku readied more of her Zeros. They loosed an arrow and their warplanes headed toward the flashes on the ocean's surface. They loosed another arrow and it exploded into a squadron of torpedo bombers and a squadron of Zeros. "Destroyer squadron thirty-four we have an airstrike inbound please illuminate the abyssals with your searchlights."
"Understood! Please hurry!"
"Torpedo boats front!"
Ise's radar struggled to pick them up so she tried to find them with her searchlights. Her 127 mm guns took speculative shots at where she thought they were. The destroyers scanned the ocean with their spotlights looking for the torpedo boats. Natsushio lit up one of the boats and snapped a salvo off; it landed short and the boat started maneuvering. Two more destroyers added their firepower and gazers of water exploded all around the boat. A single shell slammed into its bow and ripped it off.
Ise's main battery lashed out at two boats which were lit up by a destroyer's searchlight. Twelve columns of water exploded upward and dozens of smaller columns started to appear around the boat. Hyuga followed her sister's lead and fired a full broadside followed by a withering barrage of fire from her secondary guns. One of the boats just disappeared while the second was ripped to pieces by dozens of smaller hits. The remaining boats turned and ran.
A few kilometers ahead of the fleet the Zeros launched from Shokaku and Shoho flew over the abyssal fleet. They tried to inform the dive and torpedo bombers but their report didn't reach them. Luckily, they were following the Zeros so they found the fleet a few minutes later.
AA fire lashes out primarily focusing on the torpedo bombers. Multiple bombers are shot down but they get through and drop their torpedoes. As the cruisers turn in to avoid the torpedoes the dive bombers start their dive. They drop their bombs and pull out of their dive.
One of the cruisers is hit by three bombs one of which punches through the deck armor and explodes the fore magazine. Its A and B turrets explode upward and fire erupted from their mounts. Its bow was blown out and separated from the rigging. It fell out of formation and started to sink. A second cruiser was hit by a single bomb. It slammed into the rigging and exploded causing heavy damage but not enough to disable or sink it. The force turned away and the destroyers laid a smokescreen to cover their retreat. The squadrons headed back to their home carriers.
The Zeros had split into two formations. The first continued searching for the J-type, or jamming type, abyssal while the second shadowed the abyssal force heading North. The first flight spotted shapes moving away from Japan. They had two 60 kg bombs under their wings so they could attack lightly armored targets. They shadowed them trying to spot the J-type but it was difficult to identify them. With no information to go off of they targeted the ships in the middle of the formation.
They started to dive but no AA fire greeted them. They dropped their bombs and pulled out of their dive. The lead Zero banked left to check the hits and watched as two bombs seemed to pass through the abyssal. He ordered the Zeros to break off the attack and watched the abyssal fleet disappear into the ocean. He immediately radioed this phenomenon to Shokaku who was rightfully confused.
"Confirm, you saw the abyssal fleet disappear into the ocean?"
"Hey."
"Well that's a neat trick. Return to base."
"Hey."
The second formation was shadowing another abyssal force when communications came back on. They informed the Tenth fleet of the enemy force and were ordered to attack. Before they did multiple flashes appeared on the ocean. A salvo landed short of an abyssal cruiser and their return salvos briefly turned night into day.
Flack bursts appeared around the Zeros and burst fighters started to appear. They dropped their bombs and headed for the friendly taskforce. As they approached friendly AA began to fire at the abyssals. The Zeros turned and engaged head-on.
Amagi only spared the dogfight a brief glance. Her small fleet was already en route to Yokosuka when they heard it was under air attack. She launched her spotter plane to search for abyssal forces and it reported a force was steaming towards her fleet. From what little the pilot could make out the force consisted of one to four cruisers and eight to fourteen destroyers. This force, no matter what composition, will outnumber her force which consists of herself and five destroyers.
Her plan was as follows. The destroyers would use the cover of night and close in for a torpedo strike. She would distract the abyssals by firing at them with her main battery and then her secondary battery in the hope of tricking the abyssals into thinking her force was larger than it actually was.
She used her speed and maneuverability to avoid incoming shells. From what she could tell, the largest warship in the enemy fleet was a heavy cruiser. Her armor could deflect and shatter those hits but she did everything in her power to avoid getting hit to begin with. She avoided another salvo and fired sending ten 410 mm shells screeching to their target. Six shells missed but four found their target. Two shells did little damage the third slammed into the top of one of the turrets disabling it and the fourth punched through its belt armor and exploded doing heavy damage.
While this was happening the destroyers had taken position and launched torpedoes at the abyssal force. They launched their torpedoes and fell back to Amagi. Their AA guns stayed silent as they passed under the dogfight but one of the burst fighters spotted them. By the time they noticed it was too late and it slammed into Sagiri.
"AHHHHH!"
"Sagiri-san!"
"Big sister!"
Her head jerked to the side and blood ran from the wound and into the ocean. The right side of her face was scarred and burned and blood ran down her face blinding her right eye. Fire licked the side of her face and her damage control teams rushed to put out the fires and do with they could with the damage caused.
"I'm fine little sister," she winced.
"Fine!? That abyssal crashed into your head!" She sailed closer to her. "It destroyed your eye as well!"
"No, it's fine. You just can't see it because of the blood."
"No point in trying to be stealthy. Tear them apart!"
"You hurt my big sister! For that, YOU SHALL DIE!"
Ushio's AA guns exploded sending 25 mm and 127 mm shells hurling upward. They laid down a fierce barrage of AA fire but didn't have much to show for it. The 'bursts' were able to dodge most of their fire but when they hit they hit hard. When they started to slow down their AA fire became far more effective.
Shell splashes appeared behind them and water exploded upward. More shells landed off their port side and behind them; they were being engaged by several abyssal destroyers who had broken away from the main fleet. Multiple explosions echoed from the abyssal fleet as the torpedoes found their marks. One of the cruisers immediately started to sink while a second slowed and started to list. A second torpedo slammed into it sealing its fate. The two remaining cruisers and destroyers fell back but the one's chasing didn't break off.
Amagi's main guns continued to target the retreating cruisers while her secondaries targeted the closing destroyers. Between the combined firepower of the destroyers and her secondaries, three of the destroyers were sunk. The remaining two fired their torpedoes, activated their smoke generators, and retreated.
"Admiral Goto, second abyssal fleet is retreating. Request permission to pursue."
"Negative. Rendezvous with the Tenth fleet."
"Understood sir. Out."
"Sagiri-san, status?"
"The crash damage my radar sets and killed multiple of my bridge crew. I'm still combat-capable Amagi-sama."
"True but I'm not going to risk it. Ushio-san, make sure your sister gets to Yokosuka safely."
"Understood Amagi-sama! Come on big sister!"
They broke off from the fleet and headed toward Yokosuka. Eight Zeros provided air cover for them and another twelve provided air cover for Amagi's force while the rest headed back to their carriers for rearm, refuel, and repair.
Twenty minutes later they spotted silhouettes and they were far closer than Amagi liked. She flashed a challenge to them with her spotlight. She received the proper response and singled again asking who was the flagship of the fleet. The response 'wait one.'
After ten seconds she received a transmission. "This is Ise flagship of the Tenth fleet. To whom am I speaking to?"
"My name is Amagi. It's nice to meet you Ise-sama."
"It's nice to meet you too Amagi-san. Form up with the fleet, we can talk more later."
"Understood."
Five hours have passed since the attack but smoke was still rising from Yokosuka and fires were still raging. The Tenth fleet had been on patrol in case any more abyssal forces showed up.
"Ise, this is Admiral Goto."
"Go ahead sir."
"Your fleet is to immediately head to Truck atoll and reinforce Rear Admiral Nakao's force. We need to strike at the abyssals and fast."
"Understood sir."
