Harbor of Ho Chi Minh City/S̶̗̉ä̴̺́i̶̳̽g̸̟͌o̴̱̐n̸͇͑, Vietnam.
In the waters around what passed as the 'harbor' for Saigon, a pair of Wo-class Standards idled away their time, watching Abyssal small craft pass them by as another resource stripping-barge slowly docked at one of the many piers nearby.
The pair simply bobbed along as they watched, moored as they were to one of the massive buoys installed on the river for just such a purpose.
"I'm bored," one started, tempting fate, "all we've been doing is sitting at harbor while everyone else is gearing up for the big offensive up North, we haven't even seen any of the Hime in days!"
Wo-03 looked at her sister ship, "What? You WANT to see Hime-Jersey? After Ri-07 had to convince her NOT to have us scrapped last time?" She scratched at her shattered flight deck, tentacles still non-responsive and flopping around with every movement.
Wo-01 winced, "Ok, that's... fair, but still!" she gestured at her own ruined Rigging, "We haven't gotten to do any patrols, no fire-missions, not even so much as a spray run!" She sighed irritably, "Having a broken flight-deck sucks."
Wo-03, who still had spots of soot from when she'd been engulfed in jet-fuel, rubbed at one of her own fore-tentacles, as if trying to rub some life into the appendage, "...At least we didn't end up like 02, right?" That sobered the mood considerably, "If I ever start getting sloppy and begin leavinglive munitions stockpiled in my hanger like she did, slap me, would you?" She asked.
Her sister looked at her, quirking a single white brow, "How would I know you were doing it? Idiot, I don't know what goes on in that thing," she pointed at her sister's flight deck, "how is the damage control going, anyway?" she asked.
The Carrier sighed, before answering, "Same as yesterday, we're both repaired about as well as anyone can manage without a dock, you know that," she batted one of her limp tentacles, watching as it limply swayed back and forth, "makes me wonder why we weren't sent off with the other injured. You think there's a plan for us?" She asked with no small amount of dread.
Her sister thought about the question for a moment, before answering, "It's probably because our aircraft are still being used out of the airstrips, if we were given away, our planes would go with us and Jersey-Hime would lose her air coverage," she leaned against the mooring buoy next to her, "she might be waiting on replacements before she gets rid of us."
03 gained a slightly giddy look, "I still can't believe the Kitty Hawk took on some of our aircraft!" the ship 'eee'd' like a schoolgirl, "She's so cool,"
01 shrugged, though she seemed quite pleased herself, "Well, she has the space now, I heard she lost a good handful of her f4's to AA at Xuyan," the thought of losing such advanced craft left both ships wincing for a moment, "so until she gets new ones she's stuck directing some of our crappy Hellcats, I guess."
"Hey! Hellcats aren't that bad!" Wo-03 said, "Could you imagine if we were stuck with regular MK 2's? Or, depth-forbid, those cock-eyed things Wildling Carriers use?" She gagged a little, planes that originated from Wildling Carriers had very little quality control, some were alright, but it was guesswork as to whether or not you'd be able to make more than one flight mission without one falling apart on you.
Not to mention they tended to eat their pilots when in-flight, the feral little shits.
"I'd be okay with floatplanes as long as I could actually use one right now..." Wo-01 said, almost jokingly, "remember those meatball-floaters we saw over Xuyen? They were pretty decent, not as good as actual planes, but I have to admit they had good pilots."
"Yeah..."
The lull in the conversation was interrupted by their shared radio, as a voice came in on an open frequency, a vaguely Japanese-accented voice coming-in in English after a moment.
"Saigon control, this is Cap- this is MCFV Roga, flagship of this convoy, do you read? Over."
"Who-?" Wo-01 made an 'O' of realization, "Oh! Speaking about replacements, looks like that return shipment from the Supply-Princess is here with our new hulls!" She turned to her sister, "Think they'll have a new Wo-class hull in there?" She asked hopefully, it wouldn't bring 02 back, but it would be fun having a new little-sistership around.
"Hopefully just the one, I don't feel up to a cross-ocean cruise right yet, if they have our replacements packed up in there too." 03 said, a little worried as she rubbed at her burns a little.
Wo-01 simply scoffed, as the pair began to retract their mooring chains, "Even if they did, they'd need a Hime to Awaken them, remember?" She waved vaguely to the North, "All of them are away right now, we'll still have time."
A quartet of Destroyers, previously moored at one of the various jetties scattered down the river-front, sailed past, heading downriver towards the delta.
"This is Harbor Control, escorts are being sent, once they arrive you are free to begin your approach, over." Came 07's voice, the Ri-class having taken over Admin duties while the Battleships were away.
"Roger that." Came the short response.
"Wanna head to the wharf? See who they offload when they get here?" 01 asked her sister idly, the fact the two were already slowly steaming towards the wharf in-question doing nothing to avoid the question.
Her sister nodded, "Sure, though nine chances out of ten there's going to be at least three Ru-class," she said.
"Makes you say that?" 01 caught herself and shook her head, accidentally smacking herself in the face with a limp tentacle, "Pff! Nevermind, I get it, Jersey-Hime, wish she'd invest in better Destroyers, Wildlings are dumb as a bag full of hammers, and the Constructs we DO have are old hand-me-downs."
Wo-03 hummed in thought, "Hmm, imagine if we had our own personal Destroyer-Hime escorts, like Kitty has Turner and Maddox?" She grinned, "we'd be able to take them on land with us, and spoil them absolutely rotten."
Her sister scoffed at her sister's wild imagination, "Pssh! Thinking big, aren't you? We might be Capital ships, but I doubt we'd ever get to have a Hime as an escort, where would we even find one anyw-" She was interrupted by the sound of distant explosions.
"Did you hear that?"
Her sister nodded, "Sounded like gunfire."
"Harbor Control this is Flagship Roga! We are under assault I repeat we are under heavy assault! Unknown forces appearing all over our RAd-FISH IN THE WATER FIS-" The frequency was silenced as the Carriers could hear multiple explosions, the sounding of shrapnel and tearing metal unmistakable.
They looked at each other, "Shit."
"Aaaaaah, oh noooooo, we are being attacked. Who could have ever foreseen this tragic ambush?" Agame said in a deadpan, sarcasm so thick it was almost visible as the cargo hauler in front of them practically disintegrated. Keel cracked clean in-half by the torpedoes launched by the PT boats it had disgorged an hour previous.
"C'mon, take this a bit seriously!" Rokku slapped the Ru-class in the back of the head with one of her fore-tentacles, even as fighters, some of the newer Cat-fighter Kai included, started lifting off of her flight deck, "Now start shooting! You're a damn Battleship, not a float-around-like-a-useless-lump'leship!"
"Fine! Fine! Mai's spectacles calm down, I'm shooting I'm shooting!" Agame said, lazily aiming her main guns at the veritable swarm of Imps, even as the rest of the 'ambushed convoy' started steaming full-bore towards the Delta like they had the devil in their wake.
The broadside overshot the agile Imps by a literal mile, smacking into the water and sending up veritable geysers where they hit, the Imps meanwhile chittering in excitement at the loud sounds and wild movements around them.
Roga came over the shared fleet-wide channel then (Of which the 'Hostile PT Boats' were also tuned in on) "Alright you little shits, start flailing at us with your piddly AA guns, just try to aim for the belt armor, we can take it, after we cross into the Delta peel off and head along the Coast North-East, we'll meet up with you South of the Paracel Islands with further orders, over."
The small Abyssals opened fire almost immediately, perhaps excited to be allowed to shoot at the larger ships without repercussions, small 37mm cannon fire pattering the waves around the larger vessels, as M2 Brownings stitched lines through the air.
Agame shifted course, putting her in front of Rokku, the Ru class raising a hand to shield her face as the small-caliber munitions impacted her amidship, "Ah! fucking hell that stings!" She cried, as a shot glanced off her armor.
Rokku fired a couple of shots over the covering Battleship's shoulder, 5" shells landing dangerously close to the Imps who had been focusing on her friend, "I get this is all fake, and they aren't trying to actually sink us, but do they have to just shoot at us? Come on! There's other ships here!" She shouted, shaking a fist at the Imps.
A couple of the small horned vessels responded in-kind, shaking their small fists at the ships, even as their guns kept firing wildly in their direction.
"Chikkaka doppikk-fripp! Kyaahaha!" One of them shouted.
"This is Harbor control! Hostiles have been confirmed, escorts are on their way to assist!"
"Shit," Roga looked at the quartet of Destroyers steaming out of the mouth of the River leading into Saigon, "Alright! we have actual eyes on us now, girls! Start shooting like you're trying to actually hit something!"
Roga switched radio frequencies as Agame laughed, "Alright you little munchkins! Dance!"
She opened up with ALL her secondaries, pattering the water around a trio of Imps, who, understandably, started stumbling over themselves to take up evasive maneuvers.
The Wo-class's fighters began their strafing runs, adding to the illusion, as the escorting Destroyers took up a loose defensive screen in front of the Capital ships as some of the Imps began launching their torpedo-
"Shit! They're launching fish! Fish IN THE WATER!" Agame screamed, watching as a Ro-class nearby suddenly broke with a muffled 'whump', two halves sinking into the water separately.
There hadn't even been a vapor trail to follow.
"I know, stick to the plan, let the Destroyers take the few hits they dish out, and put the reinforcements from Saigon in front of you," Roga said calmly, "the PT Imps don't have direct wire-control once they shoot, the Mk 48's will home in on the nearest target frequency, as long as you keep in back, they won't hit anything important."
"But our escorts-!"
"-Were beat-down hulks selected for this exact purpose, we can afford to lose a few of them, now MOVE."
The shock of the command got the ships moving, as the Destroyers kept up the defensive line, firing back at the Imps. The few PT boats who had expended their torpedoes, having moved in closer, were subject to the more accurate return fire of the fleet's reinforcements, who were not aware that the 'ambush' was largely simulated.
"Sink them," Roga commanded, not looking back from where one of her planes was coming in for a landing, "they might give chase."
The PT Imps obeyed, focusing the majority of their fire on the larger Wildling craft, who, unlike the capital ships, didn't have the armor to shrug off their surface guns.
The last of them sank just as the ships cleared the Delta, entering the River-proper.
"We're in the clear, break off," Roga commanded the Imps sternly, who quickly began scurrying away as the aircraft Carrier turned towards the City with a heavy sigh.
She switched frequencies, adopting a fake harried, exhausted tone as she spoke, "Harbor Control, this is Flagship Roga, Hostile Vessels have cleared off. Your escorts held them off long enough for us to make it to shallow water, doesn't seem like the little bastards want to follow us in! Thank you, we would have taken a lot more losses without them, Over."
She turned towards the other ships, switching off her radio, "Well, hard parts over-"
One of her tentacles shot forward, catching the fist thrown at her by an angry Ru-class.
"The FUCK is wrong with you?!" Agame said, trying to wrench her arm free of Roga's Rigging, which had curled around the Battleship's arm like a... well, tentacle, "You ordered them to fire their fish at us!"
"Only enough of them to make the fight look real. And only at ships that were expendable." Roga said, tapping the struggling Battleship on the forehead with her other fore-tentacle, "Those escorts fucked the plan sideways, they were probably reporting back to their Command, and if they'd spotted our fleet fighting without taking ANY losses? It would have raised flags, flags we don't want. Now, I'm going to let you go, and we are going to go to the docks and repeat the story Mai had me drill into all of your bridges for the past three days, got it?"
"But-"
"-Got, It?" Roga said dangerously, grip tightening around the Battleship's forearm.
There was a long pause, before Agame slumped, "...Fuck, fine."