"We've made it to international waters, how are they still able to track us?" Ranger asked as she saw another massive wave of Siren aircraft approach the fleet as they dashed south towards Bermuda.
"I don't know, but we have to lose them before we reach Bermuda or else they will know where our stronghold is and prepare to assault." Atlanta said.
"Agreed, but I don't know what all we can do... It's a straight shot from Massachusetts down to Bermuda." Juneau said as their AA guns burst to life again, filling the sky with flak.
"And we don't have the provisions to feed these people for more than a few days." Ranger said as her own AA roared to life. Refueled and rearmed fighters took off in short order from her flight deck to handle the incoming enemy aircraft.
"What did that Admiral say about this?" Washington asked.
"He's all the way in Australia, Washington. It's not like he can just snap his fingers and be here." Ranger said with a sigh.
"Australia? How the hell did he contact us then?" Washington asked.
"He said he would explain when we meet up. Other than that, I'm assuming that he has salvaged some tech from the Sirens to tap into their relay network." Ranger said.
"Wouldn't that tell them exactly where we're going?" Washington asked.
"I doubt he'd use their actual frequency. We just have to hope that isn't the case and that the Sirens are just really good at tracking." Ranger said, scratching her head.
Washington scoffed at the thought.
"Well, whatever the reason, we need to lose these trackers, or else we're all in trouble." Washington said as she watched the flak tear into the approaching aircraft.
"Rearrange the fleet. Benson, you're up front. We're running, not attacking, so let the AA cruisers come back and form a wall to cover us. Washington, you have plenty of AA as well, support them. I'll take Benson and Wichita for escorting purposes." Ranger said.
"What are you doing?" Washington asked.
"I'm taking these two and creating a diversion. I'm releasing my life boats with every civilian on my hull. You have the space." Ranger said.
"Ranger, that's suicide." Washington said.
"Maybe so, but if my sacrifice can save these people, the I consider my job done." Ranger said.
"You keep those life boats, damn it! We'll fight them off. Remember, we have support on the way. Another Cruiser and Illustrious. We can hold them off." Washington said sternly.
"If they keep tracking us, It's over." Ranger said.
"And if any of us sink, we will have failed our mission. I swear to everything holy, if you break off, I will sink you myself." Washington said as she leveled her main batteries at the Ranger.
"Washington, this is madness." Ranger argued.
"You want madness? Take a look at the state of the world. We have an Admiral fighting in the Pacific, trying everything he can to destroy the sirens. But other than that, the world is gone. It belongs to the sirens. That is madness. The fact that we failed this badly and allowed this takeover to occur. That is madness. What we're doing? This is the most sane thing I can think of right now." Washington said as Ranger could finally hear the emotion in her voice.
"Washington... are you... crying?" Ranger asked softly.
"Shut it, Flattop. Battleships don't cry." Washington ground out.
Ranger stopped talking, abandoning her plan of breaking away under the threat of Washington's 16 inch guns.
"So what do we do then?" Ranger asked.
"We fire until our barrels melt away. Then we hope our shields hold long enough to reach Bermuda where we can better defend these people." Washington said sternly.
"Uh... I think I found out why they're still following us!" Benson cried as her shields flared in front of Ranger.
"Benson! Report!" Ranger yelled.
"Enemy submarines!" Benson yelled as her shields continued to flare, indicating several enemy submarines.
"Activate your depth charge launcher!" Ranger yelled as Washington and Atlanta's shields also flared.
"We've been surrounded!" Ranger cried out.
Ranger activated her radio and set the frequency to general.
"Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is Union Carrier Ranger. My fleet has come under attack from Enemy submarines. We can't hold out much longer. Please assist, we have Civilians onboard." Ranger spoke into the receiver, not expecting a reply.
Static.
Several seconds later, the static cut out.
"Ranger?" A woman's voice called.
"I remember that voice. Bluegill?" Ranger asked.
"Yup! Bluegill is here to save the day!" Bluegill said as columns of water shot up around the fleet.
"Did Dace and Albacore come with you?" Ranger asked.
"Nope! Bluegill made some friends. I-19 and U-557 are with me!" Bluegill said excitedly.
"Well... either way, your appearance is a godsend. Can you deal with these subs? Benson is too occupied keeping her shields up and helping with AA to use her depth charges." Ranger said.
"Yup yup! It'll be done, Miss Ranger." Bluegill said as more columns or water shot up around the fleet.
Nearly an hour of constant AA and ASW actions passed before Bluegill contacted Ranger again.
"Sonar isn't detecting any more submarines in the area, Miss Ranger." Bluegill said.
"That should help keep the Aircraft off us as well." Ranger said as silence fell over the fleet. They all watched the last Aircraft fall to the sea, shot to hell by Atlanta's AA compliment.
"Bluegill, we're heading for Bermuda. Would you and your friends like to accompany us?" Ranger asked.
Several minutes later, the three submarines surfaced around the Ranger and kept up with the fleet.
"We'll follow you, Miss Ranger. I-19 needs to get her bearings and U-557 is looking for her sister, so hopefully being in Bermuda will help everyone." Bluegill said cheerfully.
"We're actually under orders from Admiral Garner. So I'm sure he'd love to know you three are joining us." Ranger said.
"That's even better!" I-19 said excitedly.
"I wonder if he's seen my sister." U-557 said softly.
"Well, Tirpitz is in Bermuda, so I'm sure she'll know something." Ranger said.
"Lady Tirpitz?" U-557 asked.
"She is." Ranger said as she swore she could hear the German sub sigh happily.
"Then let's move. Flank speed. We need to get some distance between us and the Mainland Union." Ranger said as she directed the fleet to turn further out to sea.
"It should only take us about two more weeks. We're rounding the bottom of South America right now." Kitakaze said in her report to Warspite.
Warspite sighed.
"I hope her Majesty is alright." Warspite said softly.
"If this Kommandant is half as good as my last one, She's fine." Roon said as she strolled onto the bridge.
"Are you feeling a little better?" Warspite asked.
"Yeah. Shrimpy went fishing and caught a Shark. It was... relaxing for lack of a better word." Roon said.
"A Shark? I hope you didn't make a mess of the stern." Warspite said.
"Nope. We didn't shoot it. Shrimpy used his teeth." Roon said.
"And what will you do with it?" Warspite asked as she put a hand on her hip.
"Cut it up and cook it!" Roon said as she eyed Warspite's sword.
Warspite followed her gaze and sighed.
"Just make sure you clean it when you're done... And don't leave the blood on the deck. It's hard enough to keep the deck clean." Warspite said.
"Do we have space in the cold storage?" Roon asked.
"We do. But you have to wrap the meat tightly. Planning to give it as a gift?" Warspite asked.
"Believe it or not, shark meat is delicious. I'm sure the Kommandant will love it." Roon said.
"Do you know how to cook it?" Warspite asked.
"Not particularly... but I'm sure there's someone in his fleet that knows how to cook shark." Roon said.
"From what I hear, the Sakura has several members there. Maybe they have some recipes for it." Warspite said.
"We have the destroyer." Roon said.
"My name is Kitakaze..." Kitakaze said as she appeared behind Roon, startling her.
"Jesus fickt Christus! Du hast die Hölle aus mir herausgeschnormt!" Roon yelled as she spun around to see the destroyer standing behind her.
"Uh... translation please?" Kitakaze asked.
"You scared the hell out of me!" Roon yelled.
"Roon, put the rigging away." Warspite said, seeing the mechanical beast standing mere inches from her.
Roon breathed a few deep breathes, causing her rigging to disappear.
"Kitakaze, you can't startle her like that." Warspite said.
"Sorry. I was on my way over because I heard that she caught a shark. I wanted to see if I could help with the preparation. I have a few recipes in mind." Kitakaze said.
"I'm sure Roon would be delighted." Warspite said as she looked at the German Powerhouse.
"Roon. Go ahead and take care of your catch. No sense letting it go to waste." Warspite said as Roon made her way off the bridge and out to her catch on the stern.
"You're giving her quite the liberty, Warspite." Kitakaze said.
"She's been through a lot. Nobody who knows her fight can argue that her reactions are warranted." Warspite said.
"She's still very dangerous." Kitakaze said.
"So am I. So are you. We all are. She's just a little more fragile than the rest of us." Warspite said.
"If you say so." Kitakaze said as they watched the sea ahead.