"Stonewall, where the hell have you been?!"
Y'all... I got writer's block bad with this chapter. How do you make crossing open ocean interesting? I had so many drafts that read like absolute garbage, so I settled with this to get y'all something.
Next chapter should be good once I get it out.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy.
On their way back in from engaging the enemy, Enterprise, Wasp, Lexington, and Missouri sailed in close proximity to each other, talking as they sailed.
"E, do you think that book's gonna help her?" Missouri asked, one of her fairies standing atop her head with a pair of binoculars.
"It might. But she's not gonna be happy with the Navy…."
"What?!"
"The Navy used McVay as a scapegoat to cover their own ass. Of course she's gonna be pissed!"
"Then why did you tell her about the book?!"
"Because she'd be more pissed if we hid the facts from her!"
Missouri stopped her train of thought and sighed in resignation. "You're right.."
"So. I'm gonna do my best to support her. If she gets her driver's license I'm gonna let her use That."
"She won't be able to. It's too short of a timeframe." Missouri sighed as they entered the bay, spotting a lone submarine heading out at flank speed. It took the battleship a moment to realize who it was, but upon identifying her, she pulled out of formation and stopped the sub. "Goya, where's the fire?"
"Miss Indy is really angry about something. Admiral Ishigara thought it may be smart for me to leave and go on patrol…"
"I see… Where was Indy when you left?"
"She was in her room."
"Thank you. Have a safe patrol."
"Arigatou Gozaimasu! I will see you when I return!" Goya responded as she continued out to sea. Missouri motored to catch up with the task force, pulling up alongside Enterprise.
"Well?"
"The jap admiral sent Goya on patrol because Indy's pissed."
"Should've figured that'd happen,"
"She's in your guys' room. Maybe you should try to talk to her."
"Shouldn't we give her some room?"
Missouri looked at Enterprise and raised an eyebrow. "What's worse? Being there for her to lean on or letting her figure out who to hate on her own?"
"...Point. But why me?"
"The navy screwed her over, but they screwed you over too."
In the American dorms, Country music blared from behind a closed door as Indianapolis packed a duffel bag, silently stewing over her newfound information about the events following her sinking. The new-age country music was doing a decent job at keeping her visible anger in check, but her fairies could attest that her boiler room was a sweatshop. They'd taken to hosing the boilers down with water to keep them from blowing, and damage control was on standby in case they did.
But none of that mattered to Indy. Instead her mind was on the subject of her Navy's incompetence, and how they'd so masterfully covered their fuckups, leading to McVay's suicide years later.
Yelling at her inner demons, Indy grabbed her pillow and pivoted, snapping it at the door before going back to packing. She failed to notice how the pillow had impacted Enterprise's face the second she'd walked in the door.
"Indy." E called out at a normal volume as she grabbed the pillow and held it at her side, waiting for the heavy cruiser to acknowledge her.
After a moment, she raised her voice and tried again. "Indy!"
She huffed in annoyance when she was ignored again, throwing the pillow at her and yelling. "INDIANAPOLIS!"
"WHAT!" Indy snapped, wheeling around only to take the pillow to the face. Enterprise walked over and hugged her firmly, catching her off guard. "What are you-?"
"I get that you're pissed at the Navy. I am too, but don't shut us out or take it out on the rest of us."
"I'm not! I'm trying to vent some of this so I don't-!" She shouted before quickly stopping, taking a deep breath. "Listen E. I'm pissed, sure. But I have the entire trip back to the states to burn it off."
"You better not give your escorts any trouble."
"I won't. Promise." Indy sighed before she was scooped up in a hug by E. "What-?"
"You better behave yourself while you're in the states."
"Pfft. Yeah right!"
The following morning, Indianapolis woke to the light being turned on, shielding her eyes as she groaned. "Why…?"
"Time to get ready to head back to the states. Get dressed." Enterprise sighed, "There's been an update to the plan. USS Chincoteague, McFarland, Rowan, and Beatty will be joining you until you reach Pearl."
"What..?" Indy blinked at her before she registered what the carrier was saying. "Oh. Uh.. more escorts are always a good thing."
"That's what I was thinking. Remember, you're the most important part of this little convoy. No heroics."
Indianapolis nodded and got up, getting dressed in her sailing outfit she had set out. Their appearance at first seemed cobbled together, random pieces of fabric sewn together to make what resembled clothes, but they had a specific purpose; Camouflage. She had been informed the previous night that her rigging had been painted similarly,
She grabbed her duffle bag and looked at her roommates, Chicago getting dressed as well while Portland was nowhere to be seen. Listening to her surroundings, Indy could hear the sounds of people moving in other rooms, starting their days.
"What's going on? Normally everyone else isn't up this early." She asked, turning to Enterprise.
"Well, The admirals thought this would be a good opportunity to start a massive offensive to cover you. We're not going very far, but it should keep at least some of your trip incident-free."
Indy blinked before she slowly nodded, heading for the door only to almost run headlong in Portland as she entered, hugging her. Her ribs creaked and groaned as her sister squeezed her, finally releasing her as Alaska and Guam passed in the hall behind her, followed by a trio of destroyers. "You better be safe!"
"You know I'll try."
Soon enough, Indy and some of her closest friends made their way to the mess, quickly fueling up in relative silence before they made their way to the launching docks, finding an assortment of girls of multiple nationalities waiting on the water. Battleships, cruisers, carriers, and destroyers all waited around as Indy hugged Portland one more time.
"No heroics. Get there, do the tour, get back in the fight." Portland reminded just before her sister stepped into place to have her rigging mounted. The moment Indy had her 8" guns strapped to her she shivered and grinned, stretching as her fairy crew scrambled over her, readying their stations for immediate action.
Slowly but surely, she skated out into the bay as the larger scaled battlegroups headed out, finding her companions and escorts ready and waiting.
"Hey Indy," Hutchins greeted. "Plan is, we're going to swing through the south Pacific, drop off these other weirdos at Pearl, then head to San Fran. Sound good?"
Indy listened to the very simple brief and nodded. "Sounds like a plan, do we have check in goals?"
"That we do. I'll explain on the way, we're behind schedule."
The professionalism of the destroyer took her aback somewhat before she giggled. "Let's go."
Four days, two refuel stops, and many hours of hard steaming later, the makeshift task force finally slowed to a reasonable cruising speed, Indy taking stock of their disposition. She checked in with Chincoteague, who was in the middle of checking a map.
"What's up?"
The seaplane tender looked up at her and huffed. "Oh. We're at the southern edge of the seaplane operating areas. Air patrols are few and far between, as are ASW and surface patrols. We need to be careful."
"Can you launch a patrol or two?" Indy looked at her while the silver haired woman folded up her map and put it back.
"I mean, not while we're moving. What about you? You've got seahawks."
"Those first couple days exhausted the aircraft fuel bunkers I had. I can launch them, but if i do I'm going to be completely out. I wanted to save them in case we came under air attack." Indy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
"You got your radar on?"
Indy scoffed back at the tender ahead of her, their escorts looking at them both before quietly shaking their heads. "Of course I've got it on."
"Go ahead and save them-"
Chincoteague was abruptly cut off when Beatty, the leader of the formation, abruptly disappeared in a pillar of water, Rowan experiencing a similar fate as she was struck with two torpedoes, a third slipping past and hitting Chincoteague as she wheeled around to check on the lead destroyer.
"Submarine! Left break! Run for it Indy!" Hutchins yelled as the three stricken ships screamed in pain, trying to break in the designated direction as Walke and Bennett broke off the right side of the formation to persecute the submarine, Indy and Hutchins breaking left and making flank speed away.
Amongst the chaos, Indy's crew scrambled to General Quarters as the CIC reported surface radar contacts closing from the South. The cruiser paled as her and her escort raced North, looking back at the task force as it dawned on her.
"Oh hell! It's an ambush!"