**** Sorry about the erratic updates, my job is forcing me to focus more on it lately and I will not be able to update this story until November, so enjoy until then. I appreciate the feedback and am happy with the way the story is proceeding so far. Please enjoy the story.****
-29APR, Port Moresby-
Preparations are still underway for the upcoming operation. After talking with SWPA (Southwest Pacific Area) command we were able to get the airpower allotted to us to at least occupy the Sakuran airpower in the region. We would have 24 B17s, 16 A24s, 18 A20 Bostons, 30 P40s, and 12 Boomerangs to support us. With a bit of conversation and arguments the light and medium bombers are practicing skip bombing which in my timeline didn't really occur until 1943. The B17s have already begun photo reconnaissance of Rabaul and have brought back detailed info on the defenses there. From what it looks like we may be able to slip in without the Sakurans detecting us since it looks like most of their naval airpower and search aircraft are not actually based at Rabaul. Task force 17 is due to arrive today which will dramatically increase our fighting power and allow us to hit the airbases and ports in the dawn while the surface ships go in for the kill after the initial raid. I have gotten interesting reports from Admiral Fletcher regarding Sakuran activity in the region. Apparently, the Task Force was intercepted by Sakuran airpower on their way here, the issue with that is the Task Force was out of range of Sakuran aircraft by over 500 miles for the voyage. Combine that fact with the lack of any Sakuran bases in that area yet and this becomes a problematic enigma. The task force was able to fight them off, special attention being paid to Yorktown who destroyed most of the bogies with her air group in a fast and efficient manner. I will brief Admiral Fletcher upon his arrival of the upcoming plan and how I would like his carriers to participate in it. - Admiral's Log 29APR, Rear Admiral Strider commanding.
Strider looked across the harbor to where his ships were laying in dock. The recent gunnery drills and exercises had done wonders for unit cohesion and accuracy. He had upped the training regimen after the lack of what he called adequate gunnery in the Battle of the Bay of Bengal and had trained the ships in both day and night fighting formations, tactics, and gunnery. He introduced the SERENA system after building the required computers with his drones and parts he had requested from SWPA.
The SERENA system was a system built into the late 2010s Allied fleets that allowed the various shipmaster to take control of automized ships or provide information and direct networking to manned ships. This had allowed the Shipmasters to better coordinate their Task Forces' fire and maneuver and even send information to other Task Forces. The main factor behind the success of this was the incorporation of the cube or wisdom cube as some called it, directly into the CIC and computers of the ships. With this enhancement installed Shipmasters could directly counter Siren numbers and even take over Siren ships via hacking into them. Arthur was the first to have this system installed and was considered the subject matter expert of the system, having used it successfully in several major engagements against the Sirens and capturing much of the Siren technology which was later modified and adapted to Allied Ships including USS Iowa.
With this system installed on his ships Arthur was able to direct their fire in any type of weather and through training the rest of the fleet began to use it to send information to other ships within the task force. When Rear Admiral Crace was told and shown the system and its results in training by Arthur he immediately became a huge supporter and was able to convince many in the Australian Admiralty to go along with the idea, provided that there was an override switch installed on their ships to ensure that they could operate without the system. Arthur had agreed and had sent the technical specifications as well as a list of modifications that he had installed on his version, he also requested that these specifications be sent to the Eagle Admiralty so they could use them as well.
'I have enough for Task Force 17 when they arrive, and it should make quite a difference for the operation if they agree to have it installed.' Arthur noted. He had gone over the intelligence reports from the Eagle Admiralty, and they had informed the Australian and SWPA command of the rough outline and timeline of the upcoming Sakuran Operation MO. Arthur already was aware of some of the specifics from his world but with the change in timeline and events knew he couldn't count on his world's events happening the same. The Sakuran operation would take place within a month, so he was looking to hit the invasion fleet and supporting forces before the Sakuran carriers arrived. Those forces he already knew were forming up at Rabaul which his reconnaissance reported.
'I don't want a decisive engagement down here at least not yet. With what I learned from Renown, we will need all the help we can get and the more Kansen available the better the odds are when these Psuedo-Sirens show up again.' He thought. His dive into Renown's memories had informed him of several facts; one, that the Sirens he fought were not the same as the ones the Kansen fought, two, that these Psuedo-Siren seemed to be a combination of Shipmaster, Siren, and apparently Kansen technology, and three, that the Psuedo-Sirens had been winning for quite some time now, wiping out most of humanity and then rebuilding it repeatedly. He determined that these Psuedo-Sirens were testing humanity and the Kansens, possibly to develop a more powerful evolution or simply to push humanity. 'Regardless, the losses alone dictate me getting involved.' His initial hunch upon finding the hidden Psuedo-Siren(PS) frequency which always remained in the background at a low enough frequency that it couldn't be picked up by the technology of the time, pointed him to the fact the this 'simulation' was of the PSs doing and that they were observing the events.
He was disrupted from his thoughts when he heard aircraft overhead and as he looked up, he saw a flight SBDs flying overhead. 'Seems Task Force 17 has arrived'.
"Admiral, the Eagle carriers have arrived." Renown reported as she moved up to the bridge.
"Very well, let us meet our new neighbors." he answered as he got up and moved down to the main deck with Renown. "Have you met any of them before?" he asked.
"I have met Lexington and Portland in passing and I know of Yorktown by reputation only. Just as a fair warning, Portland you'll find is a bit odd, Lexington is ok as far as I know." Renown responded.
"Odd? How so?" he asked as they got into the launch to take them to the dock where Lexington as the flagship would be docked at.
"She has a thing for her sister Indianapolis." Renown clarified.
"Oh... that's interesting, I guess. Well, Indianapolis won't be coming with them, so we won't have to worry about that I hope." Arthur stated. "What have you heard of Yorktown and Lexington?"
"Yorktown is by far the most squared away Kansen the Eagles have. According to what my sisters have reported, Yorktown acts as sort of the elder sister or mother to the rest of the Eagle Kansen. Lexington is like her sister Saratoga in some respects such as her 'idol' status however she is more mature than her sister and knows when to be serious." Renown answered.
"Anyone else I should take note of?" Arthur inquired.
"Minneapolis is odd as well but in a different way. She is hard to describe according to what Sheffield reported, although she is noted to be able to sneak up on people rather easily. Astoria and New Orleans both are easy going although at first, they can be a bit shy. I met them once while conducting maneuvers near Bermuda."
"Good to know. Thank you." Arthur said as they moved over to the pier assigned to Lexington.
They shortly arrived there and waited as the task force moved into port with the destroyers and cruisers making way for the 2 carriers which took up positions at 2 docks with Lexington dropping anchor near the dock where Arthur, Renown, and many of his captains and Kansen had now gathered at. They remained there until the ship was secured to the dock and Rear Admiral Fletcher and his party came down to meet them.
"Admiral Fletcher." Arthur greeted him with a salute which his captains and Kansen copied.
"Admiral Strider. A Pleasure to finally meet you in person." Fletcher responded answering the salute and shaking Strider's hand, before he gestured to his party. "This is my staff and Lexington. I'm sure they will work well with your group. Now what is this about using my task force to conduct a raid on Rabaul."
"Of course, sir. My staff and I will brief you on the templated plan if you would follow me." Strider answered as he gestured toward his group and introduced his captains and Kansen. They got into staff cars provided by the Australians and mad their way to the Naval Headquarters mess hall, Strider explaining the situation to Fletcher along the way.
Once they got to the mess hall, which had been set up earlier by Renown and Phoenix, Arthur went over his plan with Fletcher and his staff. The briefing itself took over 2 hours with Fletcher asking about many points of potential friction he saw. Renown answered many of these questions and Strider took over when she couldn't. Strider also told Fletcher that all the land-based senior air commanders would be present for a briefing the next morning with Strider wanting Fletcher to be there to help better coordinate with the air groups. Fletcher agreed and stated that he would have his captains and Kansen there as well. Fletcher and his group left shortly afterwards to oversee the replenishment of their ships. Arthur shortly thereafter dismissed most of his captains and Kansen, and had the rest of them rehearse their brief several more times until they had it down before dismissing them as well since it was already sundown.
After ensuring that the brief was as prepared as possible for the morning, Arthur decided to take a walk to help clear his thoughts. As he did so he remained deep in thought, until he was disrupted from his thoughts as he accidentally ran into someone and almost knocked them over.
"Oh, I'm so sorry are you alright mam?" He asked as he helped her up.
"I am. Thank you for your help. I was focused on something else." she said as a girl came running up to her dressed in a maid's outfit with what appeared to be animal ears on her head.
"Miss Yorktown are you alright!" the girl asked as she looked over the now identified Kansen who was brushing herself off.
'Well, she looks lovely.' Arthur noted as he finally looked at Yorktown in detail, before he locked that thought down since he realized that she would potentially be his subordinate.
"I'm fine Hammann, nothing to worry about. I was just not paying attention." Yorktown explained as she looked at Arthur. "Ah, where are my manners. I am Yorktown CV-5. My companion here is Hammann DD-412. We are Eagle Union Kansen that have just arrived. Do you know where we would be able to find Admiral Fletcher? We were told he would be at the Naval Headquarters but we seem to have gotten lost."
"Ah, well Admiral Fletcher is no longer at the Naval Headquarters. I don't know where he is currently, but I can take you to the Headquarters and call him from there if you don't mind?" Arthur inquired.
Yorktown smiled at him. "I don't mind at all. How about you Hammann?" she asked turning to the small girl.
Hammann looked at him for a moment before saying, "So long as there is no funny business." She glared at Arthur.
'Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.' Arthur mused. "This way ladies. My name is Arthur. I am with the Eastern Fleet contingent here." he said as he gestured down where he had come from.
"Oh, the Eastern Fleet so you were at the Bengal Bay?" Yorktown asked.
"I was." Arthur responded.
"Reports say you all sunk a portion of the Sakuran battle fleet. I find that to be unlikely." Hammann stated.
"Oh, how so?" Arthur asked.
"The Sakurans rarely do surface gunnery battles and would never push their battleships so far out there without carrier support." Hammann explained.
"That would be true if the carrier engagement hadn't occurred, and the Royal Carriers weren't hit as badly as they were." Arthur conceded.
"We didn't hear anything about a carrier engagement." Yorktown stated.
"In short the Sakurans caught the carriers off-guard and managed to cripple most of them in port. The battleship force was meant to finish them off. We managed to intercept them far enough away from the carriers and destroy them due to the damage the Sakuran air groups sustained attacking the carriers." Arthur explained.
"Who was hit?" Yorktown asked with a worried look on her face.
"From our side Indomitable, Illustrious, Warspite, Dorsetshire, and Formidable were badly damaged. Hermes, Cornwall, Ramilles, Royal Sovereign, Revenge, and Exeter were sunk along with some of the destroyers. In the surface engagement we managed to sink Nagato, Mutsu, Ise, and Hyuga along with the Haguro, Ashigara, Maya, Chokai and 6 destroyers. We lost Hawkins, Frobisher, Java, John D. Ford, Alden, Pope, Paul Jones, John D. Edwards, and Kortenaer in our surface engagement. Overall if it was a victory, it was a pyrrhic one." Arthur stated solemnly.
The two Kansen were silent for a moment as they continued walking towards the Headquarters.
"Were you at the raid at Sunda?" Yorktown asked looking toward him.
"I was." Arthur responded cryptically.
"It was reported that you all won a great victory there." Hammann stated.
"We won a relatively painless victory yes. Whether or not it was worth the effort, only time will tell." Arthur explained.
"What do you mean by that? Sakuran ships were destroyed, war infrastructure was destroyed slowing their advance, and an invasion was halted for a while." Yorktown inquired.
"Indeed, however the attack forced the Sakurans to focus on the Eastern Fleet with the results being the removal of Royal naval assets from the Eastern Indian Ocean." Arthur pointed out. "I'm not saying that raid wasn't beneficial since we struct at the Achilles heel of the Sakuran war effort, that being its merchant marine. The question at this point is not whether we can win the war, that was never in any doubt. There is just too much in the way of industrial capacity the allies have that the Sakuran Empire simply can't match. The question is how many losses are we willing to take and how do we want the post war environment to look like. So far as we know the Axis has been using Siren technology, which if true means that the Sirens are not yet extinct, which if true means that this war is more of a side show to the main one. That of Humanity vs the Sirens." Arthur elucidated.
"You think the Sirens are involved in the war." Yorktown realized.
"It's just a theory at the moment, since we have had no reports of Siren activity. But I find it unlikely that the Sirens were destroyed in the last war. Also, the fact that the Axis seem to have little difficulty in incorporating their technology onto their ships, I am led to believe that they may be working together." Arthur stated.
Yorktown and Hammann looked at each other for a second before Yorktown looked back at Arthur. "We believe likewise in that regard. At Pearl and along the way here we were shadowed by Siren drones, and part of the attack on Pearl was done by Siren technology equipped aircraft. The Sakuran Empire has traditionally shown disdain toward using the Siren Technology at least before the war. Nagato was rather against using the technology since it can be at times unpredictable. That's part of the reason we are here. The reports have stated that Iowa is capable of using Siren technology at times and has developed countermeasures against it." Yorktown explained.
"Hmm..." Arthur mumbled as they approached the entrance to the naval HQ where Renown was seemingly waiting for him.
"Admiral, we have just received a message on one of our encrypted channels. It was labeled urgent." Renown reported.
"Very well. Let's head to the signals room and have a look at it." Arthur responded. He then turned to Yorktown and Hammann who now realized who he was. "Ladies, the sergeant of the guard will ensure that Admiral Fletcher is informed and will lead you both to where he is. If you are having trouble with him, just find the signals room and I will help you out." he said as he walked up the stairs with Renown leaving both Kansens in a state of shock.
Renown handed him the message as she led him to the signal room. "From the message itself sir, it doesn't make any sense. It mentions two places, a time, what appear to be grids which don't make any sense and a catchphrase. Something about a Taiwan, a dragon, and a blue ghost appearing." Renown stated seemingly offended by the message and seemingly pouting.
Arthur was slightly amused at Renown's pout. "I see this message has confused you?" He asked.
"Those coordinates make no sense. I spent the last 40 minutes trying to decipher the thing and that's all I get. I'm tempted to believe it's a prank message from a kansen." Renown exclaimed.
"Hmm... Smacking the Dragon around Taiwan, the Blue Ghost appears." Arthur read out loud.
"Do you know what it means sir?" Renown asked.
"If I'm right then we should have a big friend at Nendo Island. The coordinates you thought were grids are actually a Zulu time, radio frequency and radio setting." He explained.
"A big friend? You know this Blue Ghost?" Renown asked.
"He and I go way back." Arthur stated as they then headed out of the building. "The signals room won't have what we need to contact him but Iowa will."
As they approached the front desk, Arthur saw Yorktown and Hammann waiting by the door. "Y'all ladies having any trouble?" he said as they saw him.
"No trouble Admiral, the sergeant is having us wait here till a car can arrive to take us to our lodgings." Yorktown stated as she stood up.
"Well if y'all want to I can take you to see the Iowa. You wanted to see the ship anyway so I don't see too much of a problem now since Renown and I have to go to the ship anyway. If you're interested that is." he stated.
"I don't think we will mind that too much at all Admiral." Yorktown accepted the invitation as he passed and led them to his car which he opened for them before getting in the driver's seat and heading down to Iowa's berth. Once the arrived at Iowa Arthur helped them onto the ship and went to the radio room with Renown while Yorktown and Hammann looked around. Once he and Renown got to the radio room, he input the fill into his radio and managed to get the full message from "Blue Ghost".
"Chipped Tomahawk, heavy damaged, request support... On fire... Sirens present... SOS..." the message stated repeatedly in a broken transmission.
Arthur had a grave look on his face as he heard the transmission. "Sir? What are we going to do about him?" Renown asked.
"As much as I would like to attempt a rescue, we have a mission to accomplish. Once we hit Rabaul then we will go looking for the "Blue Ghost"." Arthur stated.
"Who exactly is the "Blue Ghost" sir?" Renown inquired.
Arthur leaned back in the chair he was in and sighed with a slight grin. "Matthew Bennington was an old friend of mine from the Academy. Back in the war, we operated alongside each other at times, me in Iowa and him as Shipmaster in USS Lexington, not CV-2 mind you, but CV-16, an Essex class carrier named after her. He was damn good at what he did, managed to rack up quite a scoresheet against Japanese ships and aircraft. After the war like the rest of us he was heavily modified eventually becoming a secondary carrier and then eventually a training carrier shipmaster until the First Great Pacific war where he was brought back into service to provide amphibious airpower support and anti-submarine duties. He was the last of the Essexs to be used by the Navy until he disappeared due to a freak storm while convoying troop ships to Taiwan. No one ever knew what happened to the ship. After the war a thorough search was conducted but we never did find anything." Arthur explained.
"I guess the Sirens pulled him over here." Arthur deduced, "And from the sound of it he seems pretty badly beaten up." he stated with a grimace.
"Sir, we don't need all the ships here, we can dispatch some of them to go look for him." Renown pointed out.
"True, but with Siren activity there that would be dangerous to any Kansen that approached. Also, Matthew may strike out at anyone he doesn't know. With those factors in mind, it would be best if I went. I have anti Siren measures that would stave off a possible Siren attack especially if this is an ambush which I believe it to be. The only problem is that this is my operation, if I leave then the carriers may not have the protection they need, especially if the Sakurans see them coming and go after the carriers with large amounts of aircraft or the Yamato, and Kongo classes." Arthur countered.
"Sir, we can take care of ourselves." A voice said from the entrance of the radio room.
Arthur and Renown looked to the origin of the voice and saw Yorktown and Hammann standing there.
"How long have you been listening?" Renown asked.
"We were here since the beginning." Yorktown admitted. "Admiral, we have been operating without you and have not been under your command, and we have been successful. Now I am sure that your plan is sound with or without you being there, especially since your subordinates seem to trust you implicitly and Admiral Fletcher who has commanded us seem to think so. Furthermore, from what you have told me and Hammann your fleet is experienced enough to take care of themselves for a while. You can trust us to accomplish the mission. I know we have not had much interaction; indeed, we have just met, but Renown can probably tell you the same thing." Yorktown said motioning toward Renown who nodded with a determined look in her eye.
"Admiral, as much as I know you want to oversee this operation, saving the Lexington and her shipmaster is a priority as well. You are the only one equipped to deal with the likely Siren involvement, you said so yourself. We can take care of ourselves for this operation. You can trust us; you can trust me." Renown said forcefully.
Arthur sighed. "The last time I let someone else take command of my ships and men, they got caught in an ambush and wiped out. Would it have made any difference if I was there probably not, but those men and women were my responsibility, they trusted me and, in the end, I wasn't there when they needed me." he said sounding angrier as he went on." I promised myself that I would never leave my command to another ever again, not when I can stop it." he said with determination in his eyes.
Renown sighed deeply. "Sir, I know you know that you can't predict everything, nor can you control everything. This is one of those times when you must let us go and do what we need to do. Matthew needs you right now. You have trained us hard, trust us to do what we need to do." she said as she put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. After a few moments Arthur sighed deeply and shook his head.
"Very well. I leave you in charge of the Australian fleet Renown. I will forward all plans to Admiral Fletcher and leave him in overall command. The Admiralty is gonna be pissed." he mused.
"Very good Sir. I'll inform our ships, I would suggest you get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow and you will need the rest." Renown stated as she began to leave the room with Yorktown and Hammann.
"Thank you, both of you." Arthur said sincerely as the Kansen turned around to see him. "I have lost so many friends and had to make so many calls about who to save and who to die, that I just want to save one of them. Just one. Thank you for the opportunity." He said with a smile.
"It's no trouble sir. You would do the same in our position. Have a good night." Renown responded as the Kansen left the ship.