I sighed, rubbing my brow as I slumped forward, "Just... just tell me how Anne is doing?" I said plaintively.

Lao shuffled forwards, a little fairy perched on her open palm.

"I was... talking? With one of her engineers, apparently, they underestimated the damage. They can't get her moving again, but they can power some of the emergency systems and get her talking over radio again at least." The Frigate finished, not quite looking at me as she stared ahead.

"Really?"

Lao nodded, "They lost a lot of pressure when the central boilers were destroyed, but they managed to save some of the steam when the emergency stop valves kicked in, the main problem is that the pipes left coming out of the..." At this Lao gained a look of confusion, "tertiary boilers aren't enough to handle the pressures she needs to get her turbines rotating again."

Chitose piped in, "Does she have any backup gas generators?"

Lao nodded, "Apparently that's what's kicking in now."

I nodded thoughtfully, even as I kneeled down at Diane's side again. "Ok, when she's able to talk again, tell her to get her bridge crew to step back for a bit, poor girl doesn't need to be conscious for any of this."

Lao nodded shakily, moving back the Annes side as I turned to a worried-looking Diane. "Alright, first things first, we're going to remove this squished in plate." I felt around the caved-in section, "Diane, call out some of your engineers, and then tell your Captain to shut things down in your bridge, ok?"

Diane looked at me oddly, "Pardon, but, why would I need to do that? The repairs necessary wouldn't have anything to do with my bridge, would it?"

I poked her in the squished section again, getting a small squeal of pain out of her, "You want to be conscious for this?" I asked rhetorically, "Because I really don't think you do."

I really hoped not at least. I don't think there was a piece of rope dense enough to keep her from biting her own tongue off.

"Hnnn! Ok! Y-you, may have a point!" Diane said through gritted teeth, "My engineers will be with you forthwith. And my Bridge crew are leaving th-"

She slumped back, eyes lolling upwards in a dead faint.

I nodded to myself, patting my girl on the head as Chitose joined me, "There there, I'll try and be quick." I looked over at Chitose, "You got any chalk or grease pencils or anything?" I hefted the tooth I'd appropriated, "I'll need to mark where to cut after the engineers check over the area."

With Lao:

Lao put her open-palm level with Anne's wound, allowing the Engineer she'd picked up to scurry back inside, "This is crazy." She muttered, mostly to herself.

"Why?"

Lao jumped a little, before relaxing as Hakone sat down on her knees next to her. "Don't do that Hakone! My nerves are shot enough as it is!"

Hakone pouted a little, "Sorry," she brushed a strand of hair out of her face, looking at the downed ship in front of them, "Do you think she's going to be ok?"

Lao simply shrugged helplessly, "I have no idea," she gestured at the gaping hole going clean through the stricken ship's abdomen, "wounds like this would sink any ship I know of within minutes, I guess I never really considered what would happen if it happened on land."

Hakone nodded, "I guess it's pretty hard to sink when there's nothing to sink into... Makes me wonder why ships go on the water at all, if it's so dangerous!"

"Mobility and range, mostly." Lao replied, looking over at Hakone, "if we engage on land, we'd almost always be within spitting distance of each other, like this." She swept her arm, encompassing the ruined forestry around them, "If we were at proper engagement ranges, the enemy ship's human-forms would barely be dots on the near horizon!" She put her hand down, "It draws out engagements, and gives you time to think, also bleeds off a lot of a shell's velocity, at ranges like this? Anyone of us could have been snuffed out like that." Lao snapped her fingers, "Before we even had a chance to react. It's just luck we came out on top like we did, anything bigger than a 6" shell at this range would plow through us like tissue paper."

Hakone nodded thoughtfully, "One of my 8" cannons scored a direct hit on a Tsu earlier, she went down right then and there..."

"I̷ ̶d̷o̷n̷'̶t̴ ̶m̸i̸n̷d̸ ̶i̸t̵,̵ ̶t̵h̷e̶ ̵o̴n̵l̷y̸ ̷r̶e̶a̷s̴o̴n̵ ̴I̵ ̴w̷a̴s̸ ̶h̸i̵t̶ ̷w̴a̴s̸ ̸b̴e̸c̷a̴u̶s̶e̸ ̵s̵h̷e̵ ̷s̶h̴o̸t̵ ̵m̸e̵ ̴f̷r̵o̶m̷ ̷b̶e̵h̵i̵n̴d̶," Anne said through her radio, still facedown in the dirt, "A̵r̵e̶ ̸y̴o̵u̸ ̵O̵k̵a̴y̸ ̴L̴a̸o̴?̸ ̶I̷ ̷w̷e̵n̸t̸ ̸d̵o̸w̴n̶ ̴a̶f̷t̸e̴r̷ ̴I̸ ̴d̵i̶s̴a̴b̶l̵e̵d̶ ̴t̶h̴a̷t̵ ̷R̶i̴ ̸t̸h̴a̴t̷ ̸w̴a̵s̶ ̶a̸t̸t̸a̸c̴k̴i̸n̶g̸ ̵y̵o̴u̷."

"Anne!" Lao scooted forward, putting a hand on the woman shoulder, "I'm ok, thanks to you, she had me pinned down when you came out of nowhere and-" Lao gulped, remembering the absolutely brutal beatdown that she'd witnessed, "Y-Yeah," she shook herself, "enough about me, I'm fine, how the hell are YOU!? You have a hole going right through you! I can see the grass under you!"

"S̸'̸f̵i̷n̴e̷." Anne rumbled, "I̵ ̴c̴a̴n̶ ̷f̴e̸e̷l̷ ̵m̷y̷ ̷e̸n̶g̴i̸n̴e̴e̸r̶s̴ ̸r̸u̴n̴n̴i̶n̴g̵ ̸a̶r̵o̷u̷n̶d̷ ̸i̶n̵ ̵i̶t̵,̷ ̸f̷e̵e̸l̸s̵ ̵w̵e̸i̷r̴d̷."

"Bullshit, 'it's fine'" Lao groused, "You have a hole bigger than a small house going through you! That has to hurt!"

"N̶o̵t̶ ̷r̷e̷a̸l̴l̵y̴,̶ ̶I̸ ̶f̷e̵e̶l̷ ̴t̴h̶e̵ ̷s̷a̵m̶e̵ ̵a̴s̶ ̸I̶ ̸a̸l̸w̵a̷y̷s̴ ̸d̶o̶,̴ ̶I̶ ̶j̴u̵s̶t̴ ̸c̵a̷n̴'̸t̷ ̸m̷o̶v̸e̵," Anne replied.

"Same as... hold on," Lao reached out and gently poked the edge of the jagged hole, "did you feel that?"

"Fe̸e̸l̷ ̴w̶h̴a̶t̶?̸"

Lao leaned further forwards and poked harder, this time just inside the hole, touching her inner compartments, "how about no-"

" ̷͖̩̻̈́́̆̚͜ ̴͉̣̯̓̈ ̵̭̱̘̇̔̑͝ ̸̞̖̺̔̿͐͝ ̵̨̘̫̫͂ ̸̖͉̊͐̾̕ ̷̗̰̞͓̋ ̵̜̅͋͝ ̵͎̀̀͗͠ ̶̪́!"

Lao and Hakone both leaped back from the still-stationary Anne, landing on their rumps a few feet away from the downed ship.

"...Y̴e̶a̶h̷ ̷I̷ ̶f̸e̵l̵t̴ ̴i̸t̶."

Lao slowly looked at Hakone worriedly, "I don't think she can feel her outer-hull." She looked back, "Anne, um, sorry about that, but, uh, can you get your Captain and bridge crew to step away from the controls for a bit? Georgia is..." Lao winced, "HELPING Diane right now, but when she gets to you, you probably don't want to be awake for it, okay?"

"F̸i̶n̸e̷,̸ ̶t̴e̵l̴l̴i̵n̵g̸ ̸t̵h̴e̶m̷ ̸n̷o̴w̵." Anne's radio channel went silent then, the only noise coming from her the sound of grinders and welding equipment coming from her abdomen.

"Oh, god, I hope she can't feel her hull," The Frigate said worriedly, Hakone looked over at her confusedly.

"Why's that?"

Lao looked back at the larger Heavy Cruiser, "because if she does have feeling in it, she must just be in so much pain all the time that she thinks its normal!"

Hakone's eyes slowly grew wide, before she looked down at Anne worriedly, "I hope she can't feel her hull either," she said quietly.

With Ta-01:

The trio of Abyssal ships hurried Westward, having carefully descended into the ravine some time ago, they were currently following the stream trying to find a path up to the other side, so far, they'd had no luck, the terrain either too sheer, or the gravel too loose to climb safely.

Ru-08 spit off to the side suddenly, "This is bullshit," the other two ships looked back, "That Re gets all the fun while we're stuck in a god-damned hole in the ground!" She kicked a large rock sticking out of the stream, powdering it instantly.

"It's more of a trench, don't you think?" the Ne asked, swerving to get out of range of the Ru as she made to punch her.

"Shut up! You know what I meant!"

Ta-01 looked back worriedly, at where the ad-hoc fireworks display earlier had been, "I'm just worried, those HE rounds we saw in the sky earlier..." she turned back, swerving around a small rock outcropping in the stream, "How does someone miscalculate their elevation that much?" she looked at the others, "I think something went wrong."

"Maybe its just happy-fire?" the Ne said unconvincingly.

"Wouldn't doubt it with that crazy fucking Re." Ru-08 replied, "Hopefully we show up before she eats your sister's bridge or something, we need it for proof, after all."

Ta-01 almost skipped a step, nevermind that she was cruising on water, "W-Well, I suppose we'll find out once she deigns to answer her radio." she said, "Hopefully she found all of them, I don't particularly fancy trying to navigate this jungle in the dark to chase down stragglers."

"Hopefully." The Ru agreed, and the fleet carried onward.

They never noticed as a small drone buzzed along silently behind them.