With Hakone
I watched helplessly as in the distance the humans died so that the civilian ships, one of which I was hauling behind me, could escape. The humansin the ships, too. We couldn't risk firing on the enemy Destroyers, they were too intermeshed with the junks the humans had weaponized. It was decidedly odd, to see a ship in combat without seeing her girl-half. Was this the opposite of what Georgia saw when she looked at me? All girl and no ship? It was a sobering thought, and if I didn't have to concentrate on not accidentally taking away a chunk of the car-ferry with my hands by tugging too hard, I would have given it more consideration.
"Come on... Come ON... You can make it!" Lao's eyes were glued to the fishing trawlers. They hadn't been finished when the Abyssals had begun their advance, and were still tracking oil and other fuel across the river.
The Junks had begun to retreat, they were just no match for the Abyssal Destroyers, having no real staying power against their small-guns. Though I did see half a dozen limp Abyssal craft drifting, maybe they'd hit something important? I paused for a moment, letting go of the ship and looping my arms back into my Rigging for a moment as Countess, the little Frigate-lady, and Chitose-Sama brought their weapons to bear. The enemy's Cruisers seemed to have the same idea, squaring off in firing positions as the skirmishing ships disengaged from one another.
"Cover the retreat! They'll be turned into paste otherwise!" I obliged, happy to finally be able to help. Firing my 8" at... Well, me I guess. The enemy Cruiser in my sights looked exactly the same as me, the only difference being the default Ri-class clothing and the old torpedo tubes m-Georgia-Sama had replaced on me. Looking back, I guess I was pretty underdressed then, wasn't I? compared to everyone else around here anyway.
My 8" was on-target, smacking into the Ri's belt, throwing off her aim as my rapid-fire 6" guns laid into the Destroyers as they attempted to give chase to the human retreat. Countess reaped a terrible toll on them, blowing apart three with her four 8" triple-mounts, helped along with her generous amount of 5" secondaries, another two fell to a combination of Lao and Chitose's 5" guns.
It wasn't enough. Of the eighteen ships that fell back, only four made it past the first enemy volley. I had to tank a 5" hit, I could have dodged it, but then it would have carried into the ferry directly behind me, what I COULD do was make sure it hit an undamaged section of my belt armor. It smashed into me with little effect, other than blowing even more of my dress away and sending minor spiderwebbing cracks through my armor from the impact point. Very likely not an AP shell. One of the fishing trawlers took a massive hit as well from what looked like at least a 16" shell, blowing the aft clear off! I was suddenly extraordinarily glad that I had been shot with the 5". Miss Lao got on the radio, barking something in rapid Vietnamese. The crew of the remaining two ships lit the (by now massive) slick of fuel.
"Burn in hell you damn demon-canoes!" Lao shouted, shaking her fist as even here we could hear the shrill keening as the Destroyers caught sailing through the oil slick were suddenly engulfed in fire. They darted out of the flames as quickly as they could, squirming in panic as the fire clung to their hulls, sending thick black plumes of smoke up to clog their air-ducts, making many start steaming wildly in every direction at full speed to try and force air back into their ventilation by outrunning the fumes. Several Destroyers, the ones the humans had disabled, simply sat and burned quietly. Until they were obscured by the smoke.
Chitose began steaming up-river again; "Come on! that won't keep them occupied forever! " I quickly shook off my stupor watching the blaze, and took another shot with my 8", drilling a basketball-sized hole through a Destroyers stupid toothy face. Before un-hooking my arm Rigging again, letting it hang limply from its connections as I grabbed-hold of the ferry again.
With Ta-01
The Fast Battleship shielded her eyes as fire streamed across the river, immolating the Destroyers that had engaged to human small-craft, as well as the few humans that had survived the destruction of their craft. The Destroyers swiftly became obscured from her sight. Positions only known by the high-pitched keening that emanated from them in their panic.
"Don't spread out! Retain formation!" They didn't listen to her, their panic shutting out any amount of control she had over them as they scrambled to escape the fumes and flames sticking to their hulls. One of the Destroyers, an I-class, likely a wildling picked up from the open ocean, drifted out. Its wooden deck burning like a roman candle as it slowly began to list.
"So what we gonna do now?" I can't see anything through all this crap!" The Re-class next to her yelled, she had to agree, damn whoever designed her class without advanced Radar, but she couldn't see a damn thing either. Finally, the Ta class shook herself out of her stupor, bringing up her radio;
"All ships with wooden decks or unenclosed turrets with exposed magazines, stay back from the fire, everyone else with 6" guns and above, on me and set fire support for grid 10.3759° North, 95.4185° East, high explosive ordinance!" The fleet complied, taking up position, though there were a few questions as to what exactly she was planning. "Open fire on provided coordinates!" 01 said, herself firing into the smokey mass in front of her with her 15".
The rest of the Abyssals followed suit, a volley of fire crashing into the... Well, fire. Making great holes in the wall of flame as the shock of the explosions forced away the oil on the surface and blew out the flames like a candle. The flames immediately sprang back, but far weaker than before, the flames lower and more spread out. Having had most of its fuel source scattered. That still left the choking black smoke, however."Give that section another volley, once the flames are to a manageable level we advance!" 01 said, the ships, now understanding her plan, took to it with aplomb.
With Georgia
I passed under the retreating junks silently, they were completely unaware of my presence, though that wasn't saying much, as they probably had bigger problems. That and I severely doubted weaponized motorboats had ASW capabilities strong enough to detect me. I saw a human body fall off one of the intact itty-bitty-boats as a wave of enemy fire crashed into them, and I quickly scooted over.
The man was thrashing in the water, didn't look like he knew how to swim! I quickly came up under him and surfaced, hoisting him over my shoulder from below, which was about the time he started screaming and hitting me in the back with his fists ineffectually. Luckily the Abyssals LOS was now blocked by an AWESOME pyrotechnics display, so I was able to pass the flailing man back to his hesitant crewmates, who slowed down enough to grab him under the armpits from me as I submerged myself again, giving them a two-finger salute.
Now then, onto business!
I cruised silently up to the wall of smoke. Passing under the flames from a good forty feet down I was suddenly glad at least one of my hydrophones was working. The combination of thick black smoke, along with the Abysmal Abyssal weather made it almost impossible to see a damn thing up there aside from a faint orange glow from the flames. I was able to see the keel of a single Abyssal Destroyer, derelict from the look of it, as it just sat up there, burning.
Suddenly, a large swathe of water to my East erupted, heavy HE rounds by the look of the splashes, I couldn't see what they could be targeting, however, the orange glow dimmed a fair amount... Ahhhhh, I see what their plan is. They were gonna try and cross in a minute, weren't they? The Civilian craft was a fair way's off now, almost behind the Island in the middle of the river to the North. Almost being the operative word, they needed a bit more time to get out of easy range and LOS of the enemy fleet, then I could turn-tail and cruise after them.
I saw another barrage slap into the water, scattering the flames further, but also spreading out the smoke, leaving a large area that was traversable to the more vulnerable Abyssal craft, but choked with so much smoke it would be impossible to see your own nose.
Abyssal keels began to inch into the smoke, Destroyers most likely, before I saw the booted heels of Cruisers and who-knew what else come in behind them. I took a steadying breath (a literal one, as it helped keep buoyancy.)
"Oh boy, here I go sinking things again!"
