A/N: April 9, 2019

The Doolittle Raiders

-8-

15 April 2019

Door knocks reverberated through the foreigner dormitories at Yokosuka. After several moments of silence, the knocks sounded again. This pattern repeated in Taigei's ears as she walked through the halls with a food tray in her hands. She turned the corner and found Brooklyn-class light cruiser Nashville knocking on a room door.

"Hornet, come one! You've been in your room all weekend!" Nashville said.

"Good morning, Nashville-san," Taigei said.

"Oh, ohio, Taigee…Reeyouho…!" Nashville swallowed and took a deep breath through her nose to compose herself. The woman before her did not have on her robes, but rather her sailor uniform and apron. "Taigee?"

"Either is fine," Taigei said gently.

Nashville made a nervous smile. "Is that for Hornet?"

"Yes," Taigei said. "Last week I saw her walk in with sixteen boxes of model B-25 Mitchells. 'One weekend of work, here I come!' is what she said. I saw the look on her face. It's the same as the submarines when they get a project started. I offered to bring her food for the weekend, and she said 'Yes, please' and 'Thank you.' I would leave the tray on the table." Taigei nodded her head at the small hallway table next to the door. "Knock on the door, and check after a couple of hours."

Nashville nodded understandingly. "Sixteen B-25 models, huh?"

Taigei nodded.

"Her last Raider passed away a few days ago. Maybe she has something planned for the 18th."

"Maybe." Taigei placed the tray on the table and knocked on the door. She turned and walked down the hall.

"You know, the Doolittle Raid can be considered a failure," Nashville said when she caught up to Taigei. "A couple damaged buildings and a hit on a converted submarine tender." Nashville playfully nudged Taigei with her elbow.

"But it is a victory for boosting the American morale," Taigei said. "And considering the Abyssal War, morale is very important."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess…" Nashville blushingly put her arm behind her head.

Their voices faded down the hall when Hornet opened her door. She picked up the food tray and walked back into her room. She placed the tray on her bed and started taking bites out of the food. She separated small portions out of her meal and gave it to a team of five pilot fairies, who happily nibbled at the morsels.

Hornet's room was brightly lit. Her window was open, and she had three fans on, all on the slowest settings. One was her ceiling fan, another stood at the back of her coffee table, and one was on her windowsill facing outside.

Her flight deck lay on her coffee table. '8' was emblazoned on the bow, and the island stuck up on the left. There were fifteen B-25Bs lined up on the deck. They were painted an army green and fitted with the pre-1942 USAAF roundel. A pile of miniature, fairy-sized .50 caliber machine guns had grown next to the island.

Hornet finished her meal and let her fairies ride in her hands to her desk, which was filled with paint, paint brushes, glue, and model parts. The fairies hopped off of her hand and began messing with a pile of toothpicks and black paint.

Hornet got back to work, placing modeling clay over sections of unassembled model parts, and began painting.

After several hours of meticulous work, Hornet finally finished her sixteenth, and last, B-25B. Removing some tape and clay from the tail revealed an expertly painted tail number; 02344. Hornet held the aircraft in her hand and looked it over. Then she looked at her fairies. One of them was holding up two modified toothpicks triumphantly. The fairies jumped onto Hornet's hand before she walked to her coffee table and knelt down. The fairies jumped onto the flight deck, and Hornet placed the B-25 at the front of the other fifteen bombers. The fairies jumped into the bomber.

As the fairies worked their magic, Hornet looked her finished bombers, all finished to painstaking detail.

#40-2268, tail number 02268, "Bat Out of Hell"
#40-2267, tail number 02267, "TNT"
#40-2297, tail number 02297
#40-2247, tail number 02247, "The Avenger"
#40-2278, tail number 02278, "Fickle Finger of Fate"
#40-2249, tail number 02249, "Hari Kari-er"
#40-2250, tail number 02250
#40-2303, tail number 02303, "Whirling Dervish"
#40-2242, tail number 02242
#40-2261, tail number 02261, "The Ruptured Duck"
#40-2298, tail number 02298, "The Green Hornet"
#40-2283, tail number 02283
#40-2282, tail number 02282
#40-2270, tail number 02270, "Whiskey Pete"
#40-2292, tail number 02292

And finally, at the front:

Doolittle's B-25, #40-2344, tail number 02344

The B-25 glowed for a couple of seconds before the light faded. The fairies climbed out of the bomber. Two of them carried one miniature .50 caliber each and dumped them onto the pile of machine guns. They lined up in front of the bomber and gave a thumbs up.

18 April 2019

"General quarters! General quarters! All hands, man your battle stations!" Hornet bellowed.

Her fairies came out of her equipment's hangar. They ran to the B-25s waiting on Hornet's flight deck and started preflight preparations.

Hornet was off of the San Diego coast in full combat gear. With her was Enterprise, heavy cruisers Salt Lake City, Northampton, and Vincennes, Nashville, destroyers Balch, Benham, Ellet, Fanning, Grayson, Gwin, Meredith, and Monssen, and fleet oiler Cimarron, with Mississinewa standing in for their sister, Sabine.

Surrounding them were spectators on privately own vessels and a couple of ferries and tour boats. Several Shipgirls with cameras were around, too. The spectators have been following the girls of Task Force 16 and 18 since they left San Diego.

One by one, the engines of the B-25s sputtered to life. Before long, the engines gave a steady roar.

"You're full into the wind!" Enterprise shouted.

Hornet raised her right hand. She looked around her.

"Let's go!" Hornet slammed her arm down and pointed forward.

Her replica of Doolittle's bomber released its brakes. The bomber hurtled down the runway and lifted into the air.

A/N: The last Doolittle Raider, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cole – copilot of at-the-time Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle of lead B-25 #40-2344 – passed away today at age 103.