This story was written for entertainment purposes and all characters belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 6: First Blood for the Lucky Leviathan

Elisa woke up groaning as she was rubbing her head from the headache she was getting. As she opened her eyes, she saw that everyone on the bridge was also doing the same thing.

"Is everyone ok?" Elisa called out. She got affirmatives from everyone, some with more colorful language. She then reached for the phone near her chair.

"CIC, report."

"Ma'am, we are all ok here. The admiral is a bit light-headed but otherwise ok," Elisa breathed a sigh of relief. At least the admiral was safe and sound.

"Alright, I need you to get me a report and to see if all the other ships are safe and sound. Also, boost our radar so that we don't get caught with our pants down," Elsia instructed. After getting an affirmative, she hung up.

"XO, you got the conn. I am going to head down to the engine room to see if there are any issues," Elisa told her XO.

"Got it ma'am," the XO replied. Elisa got off from her seat and exited the bridge. As she weaved her way through tight corridors and sailors to head to the engine room, she played teh events that just happened in her head. After talking and calming down Yuna, she made her way back to bridge just as the fleet was about to enter the storm. However, like Andrew and his pilots, she was surprised with the nature of the storm. She had never seen one that looked like the storm did and it was more violent than any sea storm she had dealt with. Soon after, they lost contact with Iceland and then a blinding light engulfed her vision. The next thing she knew, she woke up to clear skies and no storm in site.

She finally made it to the door of the room and knocked on it. There was ruffling on the other side before the door opened. The person who opened it was young man wearing glasses. His short black hair was all over the place and he had some black smudges on his face and uniform. He saw Elisa and gave her a smile.

"Oh, hey there Nee-San," The man replied. Elisa scowled and hit the man on the head.

"Ow! What did I do?" The man asked as she stepped past him to enter the engine room.

"I thought I told you not to call me that when we are on duty," Elisa replied.

"Well, everyone else is too busy with other things so I am here on my own for now," The man replied as he closed the door to the engine room.

Elisa sighed, "Akio, your laid back attitude is going to get you in serious trouble someday.'

Akio smirked, "Well, then it's a good thing that I am a genius huh?" Elisa just shook her head at that. Akio Hannako was something of a prodigy. He was able to enter the University of Tokyo at the age of 16 and got his master's in Nuclear Energy at 22. And now at the age of 25, he was the chief engineer of the two nuclear reactor engines of the Kestrel.

Elisa walked over to the engine and gave them a look. Since the Kestrel was designed using the basis of the Nimitz-Class aircraft carriers, the Kestrel was equipped with two General Electric pressurized water reactors driving four turbines of 260,000hp (194MW) and four shafts. And in case those failed, then there were the four emergency diesel engines that can produce 10,720hp (8MW).

"I ran a few tests but everything seems to be going well. No leaks, no cracks, nothing," Akio said.

"Did you feel anything when the storm hit by any chance?"

"Yeah, it's weird really. I felt like something just hit me and the next thing I know, I was leaning against one of the diesel engines passed out," Akio replied. Elisa thought about that statement. It was the same thing for her and the bridge crew. One minute they were bracing against the storm and then they were all passed out.

A ring brought her out of her thoughts. A phone on the wall was ringing. Akio went over and picked it up.

"Engine Room," Akio replied. There was a brief pause before he replied, "Roger, I will let her know." He hung up the phone and looked over to Elisa.

"That was the CIC, they said you need to head over and fast. They have something."


"We were doing a scan and we picked them up. You can barely make them out but it looks like two aircraft," the radar operator reported. Elisa took a closer look and sure enough, the contacts were there but they were faint. When she entered the CIC, she thought she was going to confront something bad like an air attack but it was just two contacts.

"Do you think it could be Reaper?" Elisa asked.

"Unsure ma'am. If it were them, their IFF would be pinging with us. But it could have been damaged from the storm. We won't know for sure unless we get eyes on," the operator reported.

Many scenarios went through Elisa's head. This could be Reaper flight but it could also be enemies and if she sent a flight up there, it will only alert the enemy on where their location is. She thought about it for a few more minutes before making a decision.

"Send up Hinamoto and her wingman up. Have all their weapons in their internal bays. If they are enemies, I do not want to reveal the fleet's position. In the meantime, send a hummer up with them and place Mako Flight on Alert Five. I want us to be ready for anything. And alert the other ships to turn off their radar. No need to show them where we are for now."

"Yes, ma'am,"


"This is Dragon 1, good shot," Yuna reported. She then took control of her Lighting and began to climb. Once she was 15,000 feet, she began to circle the carrier to wait for her wingman to launch. A few minutes later, she heard her wingman's voice.

"This is Dragon 2, good shot," She craned her head to the right and saw a Lightning launch off the carrier.

"Dragon 2, get on my wing," Yuna ordered. SHe saw that the fighter accelerated then got into position of her wing.

"Darkstar, this is Dragon 1, Dragon flight is in the air. Requesting coordinates for unknown contact.," Yuna stated.

"Dragon 1, Darkstar, BRA 150 20 15000. Can confirm it is a 2 ship, I can't identify them at this time over," Yuna frowned. Usually "Darkstar", the E-2 Hawkeye from the Kestrel, would have already identified the aircraft type. That way, she and her wingman can better engage it. However, the fact that they could not identify it means this is something new.

"Could it be Reaper flight that went missing?" Yuna asked.

"Unknown. Our radar is fritzy out for some reason so we can't get a clear picture," Darkstar replied.

"Roger, Dragon 2 and I will get visual confirmation then," Yuna replied then made a right turn to the heading and along with Dragon 2, converged on the unknown contact.

As she and her wingman flew to the contact, a storm of thoughts raced through Yuna's head. Could it be her brother, or was it an enemy? Was her brother ok, is he hurt? All these questions raced through her hand as she gripped the stick. As they are about 100 miles away, Darkstar came back over the radio.

"Dragon 1, Darkstar, I am getting a better picture but this doesn't seem right,"

"Can you clarify Darkstar?" Yuna asked.

"Well, my radar is showing them to be small, like birds or something but they are moving too fast for it to be birds and they are responding negatively to our IFF," Yuna raised an eyebrow. This was new.

"Roger Darkstar," she then switched to another frequency, "Dragon 2, accelerate and surprised the contacts. I will trail and if you can confirm that they could be hostile, report it and I will paint them," Yuna stated.

"Roger," was the response she got as she saw Dragon 2 begin to accelerate and descend, probably going to surprise the unknowns by flying below them and doing a high-speed pass. Meanwhile, Yuna was monitoring the radar for now and not activating her weapons. She saw that her wingman then pitched up and began to climb. As she got closer, she saw on the radar that there were two small specks and from what it looked to be that they stopped in place. She saw that her wingman passed them and then he called back.

"Ma'am! You are not going to believe this but those unknown contacts are girls flying something that look like jets and they are heavily armed!" While Yuna was confused by that first part, what was more important was the second part.

"Understood. Dragon 2, get some distance from them. I am going to jam them and make contact," Yuna ordered. She got a click in response and then pressed a few buttons on her touch screen. Ever since its introduction, the possibility that the AESA radar can jam other radar signatures and even communications was explored. Over the course of the Third World War, it was discovered that it was possible if given the correct ECM set that will essentially fry the other person's computer or chip to the point where it will be difficult for them to operate. Only a few Lightings were given this ECM set as dedicated jammer models of the F-35 were put into production.

Luckily, Yuna's F-35 just so happen to have that ECM set.

She immediately began jamming the unknown contacts of their radar as well as their communications just as Dragon 2 called over the radio.

"Ma'am, I am detecting an AWACs type about 80 miles to our east, the signal matches an E-2."

"For now, keep tabs on it. I am going to contact these contacts," Yuna replied. She then took a deep breath to calm herself before switching to an open channel.

'These people could have been the ones that shot down Reaper flight. If so….. they are going to pay,' Yuna thought, her anger slowly rising as she said over the radio, "This is Dragon 1 to unidentified individuals, state who you are and mission or else we will shoot you down without hesitation."


Akiko paled at the individual's words. She has never been threatened in this way by any soldier. Sure, there were times that some Orussian pilots can be testy when a stray flight flew too close to their territory in the Pacific but none ever said their words with this kind of tone.

Better to reply before she gets spiked again, replied to the voice, "This is Lieutenant Commander Akiko Masuda of the Vanguard Squadron aboard the Yoryu. The person with me is my Wingman, callsign "Vanguard 2". May I know who I am speaking to?"

"This is Lieutenant Commander Yuna Hinamoto of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force 18th Naval Fighter Squadron. There is information regarding a carrier by the name of Yoryu existing," Yuna replied. This caused Akiko to raise an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Shino had replied back.

"We just launched from the carrier. Also, your accent sounds Fusuon in nature. What is this Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force?" Shino asked, confused and slightly annoyed that someone from her own country would know about the first Fuso built nuclear-powered carrier.

'... It is the navy inclusion of the Japanese Self Defense Force. Also, my wingman says you two are girls that are flying with something on their legs. Is this accurate?" Yuna asked.

Akiko got more confused but answered anyway, "Yes, we are witches attached to the carrier Yoryu. We are conducting a combat air patrol for our carrier group as well as providing air support for our forces at Abu Dhabi." There was a long pause before a response came back.

'I'm sorry, but can you clarify? From what I know the United Arab Emirates aren't occupied by anyone," Yuna replied.

"United Arab Emirates? We are assisting the Kingdom of Jazira in liberating their country from the Neuroi," Shino stated. There was an even longer silence before a reply.

"Eh?"

'Why is she confused about that? I know that this is news everywhere so she should have some inkling,' Akiko thought to herself.

"Ok, so for now, I will need to talk to my superiors about this. I am releasing my jamming so you can talk to your AWACs. I should be meeting you guys soon so make some space," Yuna stated. Akiko then checked her radar and saw that the jamming ended and she could hear Kakizaki again.

"Vanguard 1, are you there?!" Akiko recoiled from the yelling. This is the first time that she heard Kakizaki sound panicked.

"This is Vanguard 1 here. We are fine, Shine Ray, we have made contact and well….." Akiko trailed off.

"What? What is it? Is everything fine?" Kakizaki asked.

"Everything is fine, it's just…." She felt a tug and Akiko turned to see Shino point at her radar. She took a look and saw a spec approaching them. She motioned to Shino to move back. Once both of them created what they believe is enough space, Akiko turned to her left and sure enough the same fighter from before, or one that looked similar to it, approach them. Soon the fighter flew past them and Akiko got a good look at the fighter. It had the same pattern as the other fighter and the same emblem but there was also a painting of a blue swallow, accented so that it can stand out. What really caught her attention were the small paintings of aircraft near the cockpit.

Those were kills the pilot made.

'Those should be Neuroi drawings. Why does he have aircraft there? Did she kill other pilots?' Akiko thought as the fighter flew past. She then saw the previous fighter join up with the recently arrived one and both got into formation.

"Vanguard 1?" Kakizaki asked, confused as to why Akiko stopped.

"Sorry. It's a bit complicated though, so best if I tell you in person," Akiko replied. Yuna's voice came back over the radio.

"Lieutenant Commander, my superiors would like to have a few words with you. They are going to turn on their search radars now so follow that to our fleet. Please acknowledge."


There can be no peace with humanity

That was the mantra and thinking of the Neuroi. They have been on this planet for almost a century now and after observing the humans, they are nothing more than just pests to the Neuroi.

There have been numerous setbacks, however. Despite being more advanced and superior to humanity's weapons, the so called "witches" have been a constant thorn to their side. After their substantial defeat over 40 years ago, the Neuroi went into hiding, only appearing when they have recovered enough as well as to test humanity's growth.

The nests in the Persian Gulf was one such test.

The Neuroi observed humanity's technology advancing at a fast rate. Because of this, it was decided that humanity will need to be reminded that no matter how much they can advance, that they will always be second only to the Neuroi.

The current campaign here was more successful than expected. The human forces in the region were no match for the overwhelming forces that the Neuroi can bring to bear. And despite the front near the canal and the recent bridgehead the humans were able to get, this campaign was good as won and now it was particularly a mop up.

On this day, a large formation was on its way to attack the carrier group that was off the coast. This formation consists of 15 large bombers and 20 escorts. The bombers were modeled after the Orussian TU-22M bombers that were used against the Neuroi in the Baltics. The escorts were the standard drone type armed with 4 air-to-air missiles and its laser complement. Normally, such a large formation would not be needed to strike against a carrier group but in this case, the need to destroy the group is paramount to success so this was needed to complete the mission without failure.

On the outskirts of the formation, one of the escorts suddenly detected something. Closer to the formation, it picked up a search radar over the horizon. This was odd since the Neuroi did not detect any ship formation in that direction before. Suddenly, it began picking up multiple search radars but these were unique. They were emitting a frequency that was unknown to the Neuroi. Could these be new naval ships that humanity created?

Then suddenly, it detected the aircraft search radar signal that usually is associated with the Liberion E-2 Hawkeye. THat would mean that those radars are part of a carrier's escorts!

The escort relayed this information to the strike leader, who was the lead bomber. The leader also detected the signal and was deciding on what to do. If there was an airborne radar up, that would mean that there was a carrier nearby which also meant…..

The leader of the formation gave its order, the formation changed directions. Instead of heading to their original target, the formation was now headed to the new contact to engage them.


Task Force Leviathan, HMS Dragon

"Sir, I am detecting unknown aircraft at bearing one-three-zero. They are not responding to our IFF. Range is 130 miles," The officer in the CIC of the Type 45 destroyer perked up. He went over to the operator's screen and saw that the formation was about 35 aircraft.

"Do we know what aircraft they are yet?" The officer asked.

"Standby….. We can identify that some in the formation match the signature of TU-22M bombers while the rest are coming up as unknowns."

The officer now was surprised. The TU-22M "Backfire" bombers were in small numbers ever since the war. The fact that a good chunk of them were heading their way was odd since most are under the strict control of the new Russian government.

The officer picked up a nearby phone to contact the bridge, "Bridge, CIC. We have something and it doesn't look good."


"Ma'am, we just got a report from the Dragon. They say that they detected an unidentified formation heading to the fleet."

"What?" Elisa's head snapped up from a report she was reading. She, along with Admiral Anderson, were in the Kestrel's CIC and were looking over the latest updates on the fleet and to see if there was any damage when the operator spoke up.

"What is the bearing of this formation?" Anderson asked.

"Sir, the enemy formation is 110 miles to our north and closing," The operator replied. Elisa and Anderson took a look at the screen and sure enough, they saw the formation.

"That is quite the number of aircraft heading towards us," Anderson mused, stroking his chin. Elisa frowned and then looked at another operator.

"Get me Dragon 1 now!"


"Dragon 1, this is Starbase, do you copy over?" Yuna was surprised that the call was made through an encrypted channel. Since she and her wingman began escorting the two girls, any communication was done on an open channel so that the girls would listen in as well as their own AWACs can hear as well. The fact that they were being reached on a more secure channel was not a good sign.

"This is Dragon 1, I copy over."

"Dragon 1, we detected an unknown formation heading towards the fleet. They are not squawking ident and we have attempted to call out to them but there have been no reply. We need you to intercept and get visual confirmation on the formation."

"Understood," Yuna thought about it some more and then asked, "Starbase, with permission, I would like our friends to join us in the intercept. They are armed and they may know something that we don't."

"Permission granted," Came the response back.

"Vanguard 1, this is Dragon 1, can you hear me?" Yuna asked over the radio. She turned to her right to see that Akiko and Shino were following them.

"I read you clearly Dragon 1, " Akiko replied back.

"Our ship just reported an unknown formation heading towards our fleet. We are going to go check it out and I would like you two to come with us," Yuna responded. When she got no response after a few minutes, she turned her head back to the pair. She was surprised to see that both girls were getting pale with the younger one's hands shaking.

"Can you repeat that again?" Akiko asked, nervousness evident in her voice.

"We have an unknown contact approaching from the north to our fleet. I am asking if it's ok for you two to join us," Yuna replied, getting worried. Suddenly, Yuna saw both of them accelerate and then back a hard right, heading north.

"The hell?" her wingman exclaimed, surprised that they made the move.

"Vanguard 1, where are you going?" Yuna called out as she gave chase, followed by her wingman.

"Dragon 1, you need to tell your fleet to engage that formation now! Before it's too late," Akiko replied over the open channel. Yuna could hear the sound of a rifle being cocked.

"What do you mean by that? Do you already know what the formation is?" Dragon 2 asked.

"Please believe us! You need to engage that fleet now!" Shino replied back.

'What is it that got these two this scared and worried?' Yuna thought. Just as she was about to ask a question, another frantic voice called out over the radio that made Yuna's blood freeze.

"Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Air Warning Red! All ships, Weapons Free!"


It knew that it would not be as easy as it thought.

The strike leader detected fighter aircraft radar and the radar signature of witch radars getting near the fleet. Most likely a combat air patrol coming back. Though, it did find it odd that the humans had not responded. Normally, they would already be launching aircraft or firing SAMs at them and yet there was nothing.

They were going to pay for that mistake.

Sending a signal to the other bombers, all 15 bombers opened their bomb bays. Inside, were shapes that look similar to the Orussian AS-4 Kitchen anti-ship missiles. Each bomber carried 2 missiles each. They all fired at the same time, releasing 30 missiles into the air and heading towards the humans.


"Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Air Warning Red! All ships, Weapons Free!" Elisa felt her blood freeze as she saw thirty small shapes come from the formation and headed towards them.

"Get Mako into the fucking air now! Contact the Albatross to launch her fights and see if the Kaga and America can launch their Lightnings too," Elisa ordered. She then looked over to Anderson.

"Sir, I need to head to the bridge. I am sorry to ask this but can you take command of the CIC?" Anderson gave Elisa a nod in response.

"You forget I was once a captain of a carrier too. You can leave the job to this old man," Andrew replied. Elisa gave a small smile before nodding and heading to the bridge.

Anderson went back to focus on the screen and then ordered, "Have all of our escorts engage those missiles. Leave our fighters to handle the enemy aircraft. Our top priority is to make sure that the ships remain intact."


Outside the CIC, the fleet began to respond back. The fleet consists of 14 guided missile destroyers, frigates and cruisers. They range from 2 Arleigh-Burke Class destroyers, 4 Ticonderoga-class cruisers, 2 Type 94 destroyers, 2 Atago-Class destroyers, 2 Slava-class cruisers, and 2 Sachsen-class frigates, with the Anti-air boss being on one of the Sachsen, the Hamburg.

Upon seeing the number of missiles, the anti-air boss on the Hamburg ordered the Hue City and Anzio, both Tico cruisers, to fire their missiles. On que, the vertical launch ports opened and in a string of smoke, launched their RIM-162 SeaSparrow Missiles. An upgrade over the old RIM-66 Standard missiles, each ship fired 20 missiles against the incoming anti-ship missiles. While it may look like overkill, but better to have some spares in case a missile missed. And with the advanced Aegis system, many were confident that they would be able to intercept the missiles.

That thinking would turn out to be deadly.

As the Neuroi missiles were making their way to the human ships, it detected the incoming missiles. To make sure that it would hit its intended target, the missiles then began to evade the incoming intercept missiles, much to the surprise of the radar operators on the ships.

"Sir… the vampires are evading our SAMs," an operator on the Anzio told her CO.

"What?!" Surprised, he took a look at her radar and sure enough, they were moving erratically on the radar to avoid the RIMs. While some were able to avoid the missiles, some did get intercepted. Of all the missiles that were launched, now 15 missiles were heading to the fleet with 3 heading to the Kestrel and Albatross.

Elisa watched in surprise from the bridge as more ships began firing off their missiles. Soon, the number went down to 10, then 6 but it wasn't enough. Now, 4 missiles were left with one targeting the Kestrel, one at the Albatross, one aimed at the amphibious assault ship Boxer and one missile targeting the Missouri.

The ship's point-defense systems came online. Chaff was shot into the air to confuse the missile while the CIWS on each ship began to swivel towards the missiles. Once it was seen that the missiles would not take the bait, the Phalanx CIWS opened fire. The buzzing sound of their guns filled the air as they tried to shoot down the missiles heading towards them. However, just like with the missiles, these missiles began to evade to dodge the bullets. The missile targeting the Albatross was destroyed 10 miles away from the. The missile that was targeting the Boxer was destroyed just before it was about to impact the ship but the missile fragments hit the ship, killing a number of crew members that were not protected.

Elisa watched in horror as the missile continued to close in. She immediately reached for the phone nearby for the PA system.

"All hands, brace for impact!" She then heard the alarms go off and yelled to the bridge crew, "Everyone brace!"

The missile hit the carrier near the number 2 arrestor wire. The missile penetrated the hull before detonating, engulfing the ship in a fireball. Elisa saw the missile hit but then was forced to the ground from the blast of the missile. As she got up, she saw the extent of the damage. The rear of the ship where the arrestor cables were supposed to be were on fire. She can already see fire crews springing to action, trying to contain the fire before it spreads.

She turned to her XO, who was also getting up and holding his head which was bleeding," I am going down to see the damage. You have the conn," She then looked in the direction of where the missiles came from and growled.

"Get them. Get those fucking bastards Yuna."


Akiko had heard everything. She heard the radio calls, the frantic attempts to shoot down the missiles.

And the call that a carrier had been hit.

She and Shino were racing to the retreating Neuroi, along with Yuna and her wingman. They were also joined by the Mako squadron, consisting of 4 F-14DFs and Wasp squadron consisting of SAAB JAS 39 EM Sea Gripens.

"This is Sine Ray to all available aircraft, contacts are 95 nautical miles away" Kakizaki reported. Akiko cured herself, it was still out of range for her Phoenix missiles.

"Shine Ray, this is Dragon 1. I advise that Vanguard 1 and Mako go ahead. Wasp and my flight won't be able to get into range in time," Yuna deducted, given that the Phoenix missiles had a much farther range that AIM-120s she and Wasp carried.

"I agree with Dragon 1. Mako and Vanguard can volley off their Phoenix missiles and get some of the contacts," Another voice that Akiko can hear has a slight Baltlandish accent. She turned to see a strange fighter that must be from Wasp flight. It was a single engine fighter with canards near the cockpit, similar to the ones she sees on Orussian SU-33s. She saw that the pilot was looking at her before facing forward again.

There was a brief silence before Kakizaki replied, "Alright, Mako and Vanguard flight. Pursue the enemy. Dragon and Wasp…..um….." Kaizaki didn't know what to have them do since she technically wasn't in charge of them.

"We will provide CAP over the fleet. Shine Ray, recommend you also head to our fleet. We can use the additional radar coverage," Yuna chimed in over the radio.

"Um, ok then. Mako and Vanguard, you are weapons free," Kakizaki replied. Akiko looked straight at the radar contacts and accelerated her engines to get into range. She was followed by Shino and the 4 F-14s, their wings swept back as their speed increased.

The Neuroi detected that they were being approached by enemy fighters and increased speed. However, as the Tomcats would show, they will catch up to the Neuroi.

Akiko looked through her glasses and saw that the formation was 35 targets.

"This is Mako 1 to Vanguard 1, call out your targets. Don't want to waste missiles on the same target," A male voice called out to her.

"My wingman and I will take the 8 on the left flank," Akiko pointed out.

"Roger, my pilots and I will take the rest. Let's get these bastards," the voice replied. Akiko focused on the left most group and saw that there were 6 escorts and 2 bombers.

"Crescent, lock onto the two bombers and two of the escorts. I will fire on the other fighters," Akiko ordered.

Once she got an affirmative from Shino, she selected her Phoenix missiles and targeted the six fighters. The missiles are capable of locking onto six targets at once thanks to its optics. It was easier for her since all she had to do was look at her targets to select it. Soon, her targets changed from green to red. She was in firing range.

"Vanguard 1, Fox 3!" She cried out. Below her, the four Phoenix missiles dropped from their pylons and then raced towards the Neuroi fighters. She turned and saw that Shino also fired hers. To her left, Mako made their own calls and about 24 missiles raced towards 35 targets.

The Neuroi detected the incoming missiles and released chaff to confuse the missile's guidance system. The escorts begin to do evasive actions while the bombers increase their speed to outrun the missile.

The Phoenixs cruised to their targets at Mach 5, reaching them in around a minute. One escort didn't see the missile and was blotted out of the sky. Another attempted to turn into the missile but it exploded near its right wing, causing it to fall into the ocean. The other missiles varied with some success and some failed. In all, 10 missiles hit their target resulting in 7 shot downs and 2 damaged.

"Alright, looks like we got their numbers down. Now we just need to close in to get the rest," Akiko said to herself as she readied her rifle. However, just then a voice came over the radio.

"All fighters, this is Starbase. Cease engagement. I repeat, cease engagement. Return to the fleet for debrief." Akiko thought she didn't hear that right. They were not going to pursue them.

"Starbase, this is Vanguard 2. We have weakened them! Now is the time for us to finish them off," Shino replied.

"Negative. You are getting too far from the carrier. We need all of our fighters with us and we need to figure out who or what attacked us," Came abc the response. Akiko stayed quiet. It was true they were getting farther away from the carrier group and that she and Shino didn't have enough to even make it back to their own carrier so they will have to land on their carrier. Even so…..

"The enemy is right there! Don't you want revenge on what they did?! Don't you want to kill all of them so they won't attack again?!" Shino ranted. Akiko's eyes widened as she saw the young witch turn red with anger and saw that tears were forming. She knew what Shino was going to say next but was too late to stop the young girl from saying it.

"Don't you want revenge on the Neuroi for killing your friends?!"

There was only silence that met the outburst minus Shino's sniffling. Akiko can see the young girl shaking and then dissolved into crying. Akiko flew over and gave the young witch a hug to calm her down. She remembered in the file on Shino that the young girl was attacked by the Neuroi when visiting the island of Formosa. She remembered in the report that she was on a school trip to the island at the time and even though the responding witches were able to kil the Neuroi, there were a number of casualties.

Some of them were children that were in Shino's class.

She heard an engine getting closer as she turned to her left to see a Tomcat approach them. At first glance, it looked like your standard Tomcat but she can tell something was different about it, just from how the engines sound alone. She saw that both the pilot and the RIO were looking at them, with both pilots having their visors up.

"I understand you little lady. I really do. Believe me, I would love nothing more than to chase those bastards, after all they hit our carrier. But, if we give into our emotions, we are just going to cause a lot more trouble for others as well. Whoever this Neuroi is will get their time. Right now, we just need to focus on protecting our fleet from another attack, ok?"

Akiko looked at Shino who had recovered enough to mutter an ok through the radio.

"Mako 1, you lead the way. We will trail and protect the rear," Akiko suggested.

"Roger. We appreciate that," The same voice replied back. The Tomcats made a left turn to head back to the fleet with Akiko and Shino following behind them.


"So, we can still recover aircraft, correct?

"Yes sir. We got lucky in that the missile hit much lower than we thought. The hangar spot the missile hit didn't have many aircraft as that spot was usually where Reaper squadron had their fighters. The fires are under control for the time but it is hampering our efforts in any rescue operations," Anderson grimaced at that. The damage to the carrier looked worse than it appeared. Turns out the portside Phalanx intercepted the missile but the warhead continued to travel, penetrating the armor of the carrier and denoting inside the hangar. Luckly, there were no ordinance or fuel where the warhead detonated so the damage was not as severe as previously thought, though it still caused damage. Two fighters were destroyed outright and a Hawkeye was damaged to the point where it is considered a write-off.

As for casualties, so far there are 35 dead and 60 wounded, though that number can go up as they are still calming the fires down. Overall, this wasn't the worst attack that Anderson had to deal with.

The first was during the Battle of the East China Sea.

He heard the door to the CDC open and turned to see Elisa enter. She smelled smokey from the fires and had taken off her jacket and tied it around her waist, revealing a tank top.

"The fires are pretty much contained. We found 5 more bodies, most likely belonging to the maintenance crew. We are just cleaning up the flight deck and hangar to start receiving Mako and Dragon," Elisa stated as she made her way inside.

"I see. That is good. I had thought the damage was a lot more severe," Anderson noted.

"Same here. Thank God that only the warhead hit. If it was the whole missile, things might have been bad," Elisa stated as she pulled out a canteen strapped to her waist and took a drink.

"Was there any damage to the other ships sir?" Elisa asked after drinking enough water to quench the thirst she had.

"Boxer took some fragments, which resulted in the death of about 11 sailors. All the other ships report no damage," Anderson relayed. Elisa sighed with relief.

"I hate to say it but we got off easy with this raid. Was there anything else sir?" Elisa asked.

"Well, there is one thing," Anderson then motioned to one of the operators. She nodded and typed on her keyboard. An image appeared on the main screen in the CIC and what Elisa saw made her eyes widened.

On the screen was a woman that was in her early twenties in a white sailor uniform and blue cap. But what real;ly shocked Elisa was the fact that said woman was also wearing something that looked like the tail of a Hawkeye and on her back was the dome of the Hawkeye. She had a Type 64 rifle slung around her shoulder and she was speaking into her radio. But the other thing that shocked Elisa: She wasn't wearing any pants!

"Um, who is that?" Elisa asked, confused.

"Her callsign is Shine Ray. She says she is the AWACs aboard the Shinano and she has been helping in coordinating our aircraft," Anderson answered her without hesitation.

Elisa had to take a deep breath to let that piece of information slowly sink in for her.

"Ok, once Mako and lands, let's get her and the other two that Dragon encountered land and-"

"Unknown contacts! Bearing three one five to our east!"

"Oh come fucking on!" Elisa yelled, the stress finally getting to her. She took a look at the screen and sure enough seven unknown contacts were approaching them.

"Vector Wasp and Archer squadrons to intercept and engage! I do not want anything getting through this time," Elisa ordered. As the operators relayed this, a voice came over the radio.

"Starbase, this is Shine Ray. Do you cop over?" Elisa looked at the screen to see the woman looking at their camera that was pointed at them. She then motioned to a nearby operator to hand her the phone so that she can reply.

"This is Captain Elisa Hannako of the Kestrel, we hear you Shine Ray," Elisa replied back.

"Ma'am, do not engage the incoming formation. Those are friendlies coming. They are the rest of Vanguard squadron," the woman started. Elisa hesitated before someone behind her informed her that Wasp and Archer were about to make contact with the unknown contacts.

"Tell them to hold fire and get visual confirmation on who they are. And put one of Wasp's cameras on screen," Elisa ordered. A few moments later, on another screen, a picture from the camera of one of the Sea Gripens came up. Elisa took a look as the fighters merged with the unknowns. Her eyes widened again as she saw more girls, some of them really young, with things that looked like F-14s on their legs, stop and hover in mid air as Wasp and Archer flew past them.

"This day can not get any weirder," Elisa sighed.

"Well, I have to say this is interesting. Captain, I say we bring all of these girls onto the ship. Let's hear their story and see what they have to say," Anderson said.

"Understood sir," Elisa replied, she turned to an operator, "Tell Wasp and Archer to escort those girls back to our carrier."

Once she got an affirmative, she then turned her attention to Shine Ray, "Shine Ray, once all of your people are gathered, land on our flight deck. We have some….. Questions to ask you," Elisa said.

"Understood ma'am," Shine Ray replied as she got onto her own radio. Elisa sighed and began to massage her forehead to alleviate the incoming stress from the day and more that will surely come when these girls land.

This day couldn't get any more FUBAR for her.

Well, here is it. I tried to take inspiration from the first carrier fight in Red Storm Rising as inspiration for this. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the chapter as I enjoyed writing this one. I also had to change the fleet compilation since I checked and not many navies have guided-missile cruisers so here is the new lineup:

3 Aircraft Carriers

2 Iowa-Class Battleships

6 Guided Missile Destroyers

6 Guided Missile Cruisers

2 Frigates

10 Transport Vessels

4 Amphibious Ships

Ground Element:

1 U.S MEU

1 UK Royal Marine Commando Unit

4 Tank Battalions (2 German and 2 Japanese)

1 Rapid Deployment Regiment (Japanese w/Type 10 MCV)

As said before, this will be revised over time as I am still working out which works the best. If anyone has any questions or wants their OC in the story, feel free to PM. Until next time everyone and stay safe.