Former Dongsha Atoll National Park, South China Sea:
Iowa fired a full broadside into the enemy ship at point-blank range. The Battleship, a Ru-class, fell to her knees, a significant portion of her superstructure simply gone. Iowa glanced at Kongou, "Damn, looks like I was too late to save you some damage, are you going to be alright?" she said to the Japanese Battleship, while putting another round of fire into the now-burning hulk of the Abyssal Battleship that had ambushed them.
"Ah, she almost had me, thank you for the assistance dess!" Kongou said cheerfully, in spite of the fact her right hand's clutching grip was the only thing keeping her left arm attached.
The fleet had continued on unimpeded after their brief fight with the Abyssal forces at Bashi, only slightly delayed by another group that was largely seen off by Kaga's airwing. Then they'd reached Dongsha.
The former National Park had been, remodeled, somewhat. The reefs were tipped with a small palisade made of a mixture of wood, steel, and the dark metal seen on enemy vessels. The main Island's buildings had been largely demolished, dismantled and turned into metallic huts that clung to small jetties made of similar material stabbing into the natural harbor, creating a small shanty town of sorts over the water.
Many of the wooden components were burning now, scattered alongside the other remains of where stray fire had impacted a few huts, this, combined with the burning Abyssal hulks trapped drifting within the harbor, created a thick black smoke over the area. This smoke, combined with the ship having been hidden under a wharf when she'd opened fire, was what caught Kongou by surprise.
"I'm fine for now, but if I don't want my barbershop falling into the ocean, I'd better hold on to this, ne?" The Japanese ship continued, waggling her almost severed forearm.
"Oh, I hate knife-fighting range! So little skill involved..." Yuubari commented, taking a moment to peek furtively through the door to a building, sweeping with her hand-held Type 10, she apparently saw nothing, as she turned back to the others.
"I don't mind it! Close-quarters gives me a chance to try out my new sword! Tenryuu said boastfully, waving said instrument, sending a small amount of water and oil flicking away in droplets.
"I still can't believe you were summoned with an actualsword. I mean, I get that its part of your hull and everything, but still!" Iowa said, as she cruised up to the enemy Battleship, giving it a slight nudge with her foot.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't move.
"Iowa get away from that thing! Judging from the smoke, it could have a magazine detonation at any time!" Nagato said sharply, and Iowa, scratching her head embarrassedly, obeyed, drifting away from the hulk.
"Sorry Nags! I just never really got this close to an enemy ship before! I usually blast their faces off before I can get a good look at them."
And blast she had. The first contact they'd had with this base had been its land-locked aircraft, Land-based Liberation bombers and a pair of Sky-fortresses had sortied under escort by a swarm of Abyssal Mk 2 fighters, and for a while it had been all they could do to avoid casualties while the Carriers dealt with them. O'Bannon had taken a torpedo hit meant for Gambier Bay, and had to hang back and practically moor herself to Shinano, who herself had been struggling slightly under her own previous damage. The large carrier held onto the American Destroyer still, the two ships helping to hold each other up, O'Bannon acting as a counterweight to Shinanno's slight list as the Carriers superior tonnage held up the Destroyer easily.
Once the aircraft had been mostly dealt with, the Battleships began a bombardment of the Abyssal base. It had taken four volleys to force the enemy fleet to sortie out onto the open water to engage them, and when they had, well, with the advantages Iowa gave the others relaying targeting information... As well as the submarines, who had gotten within range in the meantime?
They hadn't lasted long.
"I think that may have been the last straggler Nagato-Sama!" Yuubari said, looking into the last hut.
Once the enemy surface fleet had taken enough damage to quit the field, Nagato had ordered the fleet to secure the Abyssal base, where they had been met with scattered resistance, mostly from a few surface ships that had retreated back within the palisade, which now sported some very wide additional entry points.
"Good," Nagato brought up everyone over the fleet's radio, "This Is Nagato, do one final sweep over the area, then meet at the settling pond near the island's main airstrip." She switched channels,"Maruyu."
"Yes, Nagato-Sama?" The small sub answered.
"I think its time we broke out a 'bucket'."
"Sure thing Nagato-Sama!"
"Bucket?" Iowa questioned, cruising next to Kongou as she helped her look over her wound.
Nagato nodded, "I was waiting to use one, I-8 and Shinano were stabilized enough that we could hold off, but with O'Bannon and Kongou hit as well? This justifies the use of one."
"That... still doesn't tell me what they are," Iowa said. Nagato looked at her, surprised.
"IRB's?" Nagato looked oddly at Iowa's still slightly mystified expression, "I thought they'd have told you, it's a recent development from Tokyo, they call them 'Instant Repair Buckets'"
"I'm guessing it sounds more impressive in Japanese than in English."
"A little," Nagato admitted, "we were assigned a few of them for this mission, and, while I've yet to see them in-use myself, I've heard they can be very effective. Not as instant as the name implies, but still miles ahead of what we would be capable of."
"Oh! I get to try the new-fangled magic anti-boo-boo-goo ne!" Kongou said.
Nagato made a face, "Kongou-san, please don't call it that."
"Dess!"
Iowa looked over, "...is that a yes or a no?"
"Dess!" Kongou reiterated.
Shinano sailed through the mouth of the harbor uneasily, the small yappy Destroyer still clinging to her side as Gambier cruised beside her.
"AG! Easy lass easy! Your jostling muh'keel!" O'bannon said, voice strained as she leaned against the gargantuan Carrier, Shinano evened out, apologizing profusely as she steadied herself.
"How are you feeling?" Gambier asked, feeling practically useless as she sailed along behind the two girls, slowly receiving her wildcats as they came back from their sortie. She'd lost four of the planes in the practical melee in the skies over Dongsha, for an exchange of three enemy craft confirmed shot down, Kaga and Akagi had bagged the lions share of downed aircraft, leaving the others to pick over the remains.
O'Bannon made a face, "Oh, I feel jus' fook'n lovely! 'Snot like I gotta FOOKIN MASSIVE 'OLE in my aft engine room! No sir not at all!" She stopped to re'adjust herself, "I get yer try'na help Gamby, but please, let me be?"
"Oh, um, ok..."
"Oh don't worry about her Gambier, you know how she is, she's just grumpy, always is when she takes hits." USS Taylor said, cruising up beside her.
"I know, I'm just worried, I'm the reason she was hit at all! I couldn't turn out of the spread in time and she cruised right into the torpedo for me..."
Taylor shrugged, before waving her hand near her face, "If it wasn't her it'd have been someone else, we're escorts, it's ourjob to protect big ships like you!" she waved her hand again.
"Big ship? I'm only an escort Carrier, I don't even break 8000 tonnes!" Gambier said.
"Well, I don't break 2500 tonnes! I'd say that makes you a 'big ship'! To me, at least." Taylor said, waving her hand again, this time, Gambier was able to tell that it was actually targeted at something.
"I-Is something bothering you?" Gambier Bay said, looking on as Taylor swiped her arm past her face again.
"Yeah, it's these damn hornets!" Taylor said, her face making a grimace, "I keep finding the damn things trying to build a nest up against my front stack! Doesn't matter where I go, as soon as I get near land the damn things won't leave me alone!"
"They probably smell your galley, you keep your shutters open?" USS Strong said, cruising nearby.
"You know, that's probably it, too. I took on a lot of fruit when we were at the Naval Base, probably what they are after." Taylor said, shooing away some more of the pests.
"This Is Nagato, do one final sweep over the area, then meet at the settling pond near the island's main airstrip."
"Good! Land! I'll be able to put my leg down without worrying it'll sink, at least!" O'Bannon said, still balanced on one leg, her other still lightly smoking from the massive hole blown into it as she cruised alongside Shinano, holding her hand for balance.
The sun was starting to set, casting a red tinge over the area as the Kanmusu fleet gathered at the area specified by the Flagship. The settling pond, a small spit of water, was made to bleed off the heat from the powerplant that had formerly sat next to it. With it torn down, it was simply a small artificial pond in an otherwise unremarkable spit of land leading up to the main landing strip on the island.
"You have it?" Nagato said distractedly, her gaze panning over the ships as she approached the submarines.
"Right here Nagato-Sama!" Maruyu turned to her container, and lifted a hermetically sealed canister out of its hatch, it was large, about the size of the sub-girls torso, and heavy, judging by how the submarine struggled with it. Nagato knelt down, taking the container from the submarines struggling hands.
"Thank you Maruyu, I'll take it from here." The stronger Battleship said, lifting the canister up to read the instructions writ-large against its side.
Iowa walked up to the JMSDF ship, "Well? What do we do with it?" Iowa looked at the canister, "Doesn't look much like a bucket if you ask me."
"The first ones did, I'm told." Nagato said distractedly, still reading, "The first experimental IRB's were contained by some spare pails the lab's janitorial staff had on-hand. They eventually had problems with evaporation and transport, hence the airtight seal."
"Huh, how do they make 'em?"
"I don't know, it was classified, even to me." Nagato finished reading, and turned towards the pond, fiddling with the lid of the container as she did, "Suffice to say, it's expensive and time-consuming. I was only given three for this mission."
Nagato finally figured out the mechanism for opening the container (apparently you had to push downwards on itwhile you turned) and took off the lid.
Her face was briefly lit up by a blue glow, reflected off of her face by what lay within. She knelt down at the edge of the settling pond and gently dumped the container into the water. The contents of the bucket flowed out sluggishly, like a thick molasses. It glowed brightly, but the glow dimmed as it hit the water, diffusing quickly, leaving the entire pond glowing a faint blue.
"So... We just, what? Moor ourselves in the pond?" O'Bannon asked, favoring her intact leg as she peered into the waters.
"No, it's safe to lay down in like a bath at the dry-dock, apparently." Nagato read over the instructions again, "when the water stops glowing completely, remove affected area, re-apply as-required."
"Well! Nothing for it dess!" Kongou said, before sprinting at the pool, jumping as she held her nose with one hand, "Cannonball!" She hit the water with a splash.
Luckily, she'd reduced the effect of her tonnage, and onlymildly sprinkled the other ships with the glowing water.
"Ewww, gross! Stinky pond-water!" Akatsuki complained, wiping it off of her face.
"Meh, it's not that bad." Hibiki said, making to wipe it off, only to look at it curiously, "hey, Akatsuki."
"Yeah?" The purple-haired Destroyer responded, looking over at her sister.
"Those pockmarks on my bridge are gone."
Akatsuki looked and, lo and behold, the small craters, caused by a passing Abyssal fighter's strafing run, had disappeared off of Hibiki's face. "Wow! It doesn't look like you have freckles any-more!"
Tenryuu, having watched the by-play, hesitantly walked up to the pond, and, kneeling down at the edge, dipped her battered sword into the water for a few moments. When she removed it, it was slightly less-bent, the gouges dug into it from deflecting naval shells noticeably smaller. "Well I'll be damned..."
Shioi came next, carrying the smaller submarine, I-8, in a bridal carry as the blond in her arms simply held onto her with one arm, using the other to hold her ruined face, keeping anything from falling out of her compartments. The Sentoku-class gently set the Junsen into the water, the blond silently slipping into the water without complaint, "There you go." I-401 said gently, patting the smaller submarine on the shoulder before stepping back.
"Thanks, Big sis," I-8 said over the radio, her mouth too damaged to talk normally.
"Don't worry about it! Just get better, alright?" She turned to Nagato, "So how long does it say they have to stay under for?"
Nagato hummed, "One bucket can heal a singular Kanmusu nearly instantaneously, but its capabilities worsen the more its diluted. For everyone here? It would probably be best to simply wait here overnight." She looked around at the blasted surroundings, "Yuubari, Tenryuu, Houston, organize your Destroyers in a rotating patrol, short shift rotation, we have the numbers for it, Gambier Bay-"
The blond squeaked at being addressed.
"-You've been keeping up a good CAP lately, keep up the good work, have Akagi relieve you when you go to sleep, everyone else, find an intact building. We'll be laying down here for tonight while the others repair themselves, is that understood?"
"Yes Maam!/Sir!/Vice Admiral/Naggie-Chan!" The ships chorused.
Nagato looked askance at Iowa, who beamed back at her.
"Please don't call me that."
The Blonde Battleship saluted, star-spangled eyes flashing, "Of course Naggie-Sama!"
Nagato sighed.