Yorktown had a few more hours until her repair was done. After that, a plane was going to come collect the three of them. Shoukaku was a good kid—well not exactly a kid. She was happy her sister was growing accustomed to living in the Japanese mainland, but what worried her was how she never came to visit. Maybe Essex was nagging her again or Enterprise was being a workaholic or just being plain stubborn.
The older sister pouted.
"Hammann, how many more hours until I'm out?" There was no response from the small destroyer. "Hammann?"
She looked over and saw her peacefully sleeping hunched over. Her hand unconsciously found her way onto Hammann's head and petted her gently. Yorktown couldn't help but smile. This was the fateful destroyer that went down with her and was almost like another sister to her. The bravery, her confidence. It was something she wished she had the luxury to wear into battle.
Into The Abyss - Chapter VII
The door opened and a familiar white-haired woman came in. "Welcome back Shoukaku." she said and smiled, a bit disappointed it wasn't her sister.
"Hello, Yorktown."
"Can't you believe this? My own sister hasn't visited me in months!" she whined and sniffled.
"I'm sure she still really cares about you." Shoukaku comforted.
"Get comfortable, I wanna hear about ZuiZui."
"ZuiZui?" she giggled. "That's a cute nickname for her."
"Use it to tease her!"
"I'll try that out one day."
Yorktown continued to glance at the Japanese carrier. "Go on, tell me more about your dear little sister."
"Well for starters, she's a big tsundere."
"It's the type where they say they don't like a certain person but they do?"
"Yes, but it's more on the side of not being honest with your feelings, even if they don't love someone."
"I know one or two people like that." the American said she looked to the side.
"She's reckless and stubborn. Zuikaku always makes me worry so much because I care about her. She's so cute when being teased."
"Is that why I keep hearing about how you jump in front of her to shield her?" the carrier asked. Shoukaku nodded in response. "Historically accurate." Yorktown remarked.
"During the war back then I did that too. Force of habit, huh?"
"Don't worry about it. I still carried some of my habits from the war too."
Shoukaku's phone vibrated once. "Ah, sorry! I have an appointment this morning."
"No worries, see you later."
She sheepishly smiled and headed for the exit.
"Hey, Shoukaku?"
The carrier turned around again. "Yes?"
"You've met Hornet right?"
"Yes I did, she's a good person I believe."
Yorktown's small smile turned into a smug smirk. "I think you guys make a great pair! If anything happens, you have my support."
Shoukaku turned red and kept her mouth from swinging wide open. The other chuckled. "Unless you prefer Enterprise, that girl can be so oblivious to her effect on women."
"No, no! It's not like that!"
"Unless…you prefer me?" she fluttered her eyes open and closed while looking at Shoukaku with an innocent face. This time, Shoukaku didn't say anything back, still being too embarrassed.
"Please excuse me!" she said and left the room. Yorktown chuckled.
"Maybe that was a bit too far."
Admiral's Office
"The plane is scheduled to land around 1200 hours."
"Thanks for letting me know. However, I'm assuming you have more to say?" the woman said, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know what you're talking about." the American Admiral said.
"Cut the crap. I don't think sending the most fabled ship of World War II and her famous escorts were just because no one else can or would go."
"Meh, what I said was partially right. Why, did something happen? Is she causing any trouble?"
"No, this is to feed my curiosity."
"Have you read the files I sent last week?"
"Yes, of course." she pulled the certain files out from a stack. "A big operation you guys are planning, I get it, but what does this have to do with anything?"
He sighed and adjusted his uniform before stretching his arms out. "Then did take a look at the photo?"
"Which?" she asked and then started flipping through each page. A printed photo fell out of one of the pages and onto the desk. The Admiral picked it up and flipped to the other side. Her eyes visibility widened and retracted, trying to maintain professionalism.
The other saw her reaction and his face turned serious. "Yes, that photo. While we over in the USN are going to be carrying out this operation, your actions will depend on the outcome." He paused. "Are you currently alone, Miss?"
"Yes, I—."
Someone outside started banging on her door. She heard muffled sounds of four people.
"Admiral! Come have tea with us!"
"Hey Admiral! Come on, let me show you my BURNING LOVE!"
If two of the Kongou sisters were here, the other two were bound to be there as well.
"My report of the sortie is ready."
"Admiral, I'm here to help you with paperwork." her hardworking and serious secretary called out.
She was glad she locked the door for once. She coughed into her hand. "Correction. No, I am not. Highly confidential information?"
"Sort of. Some Kanmusu are fine knowing, like your secretary for example."
"One second."
She got up, unlocked, and opened the door. The four Kongou sisters, Hiryuu and Nagato were standing outside. "Nagato and Hiryuu, you can come in. The rest of you, please leave."
"No way Admiral! You've been working your butt off all day!" Kongou had a firm grasp on her arm.
"Please let go, I'm in the middle of an important meeting."
"Ugh, fineee." Kongou begrudgingly compiled. "But you have to join us next time! No ifs, ands or buts."
"Hai, hai." She closed the door and sat back down in her chair.
"Here you go, Admiral." Hiryuu placed a piece of paper on her desk. "I made a written report but am prepared to give a verbal one if needed."
"Is everything on the paper what you were going to say verbally?"
"Yes and no. I wrote the most important details down, our statuses, losses, and fruits of our labor. The verbal would've been all that and more into the details."
"Alright, thank you. You may leave."
The carrier gave a short polite bow and left, locking the door behind her.
"Go ahead, fleet admiral."
He cleared his throat. "The photo is a new type of Abyssal. It is apparently even stronger than a Hime-class."
"What?!"
"You are the only other person outside of the USN to know about this. We've kept it a secret for now. There are only less than a handful of people who know about this. One of our subs snapped a picture recently. What makes this picture even more meaningful is that this one Abyssal could wipe out entire fleets on her own."
"Jesus…" She couldn't think of any words in this situation. Nagato stayed silent but was shocked. The Admiral thought the Abyssal War was nearing its slow end or the beginning of a giant climax but this just added a couple more years to that thought, maybe even decades.
"The true goal of this operation is to either put her out of commission or to gather as much info we can on her for another battle. This is where you come into play. Since she's wandering around in the Pacific, we can attack from both sides. We are going to attack Abyssal fleets left and right nearest to her last seen location to bait her."
"Seems risky. We don't know what she can do or if she was holding back or not. We can't underestimate her and expect that everything will go according to plan."
"Of course." He put his hands together. "What we do know is that she was a battlecruiser converted to an aircraft carrier so she's very mobile. Among the fleets she massacred, there was one recurring pattern about them."
"Go on…"
"You've probably been wondering why I sent the Grey Ghost to you."
"Continue…" she said and impatiently tapped her finger on the desk.
"Of all the fleets she decimated…there's always been only one survivor. That survivor is Enterprise."
"Seems like the Lucky E's lucky has never run out, even in this war."
He nodded in agreement. "But this time, I don't think it's just a coincidence. I feel like there's more to it than just that. I sent her over to Japan to help with relationships, yes, but to also put her on the sidelines of this operation until a bit later on. We can test if she is being actively targeted or because of her skills she survived."
"If she did survive all those times, wouldn't there be more information on this Abyssal? Her attacks, planes, patterns and such?"
"She won't tell us, and I won't force her. I know that losing an entire task force and being left the sole survivor can be traumatizing." He coughed to clear his throat. "The beginning of this operation is planned to happen within a week, please look out for my signal."
"Got it. Thank you."
"This mission is called Operation Squall Squabble."
The Japanese Admiral couldn't hold in her laughter. "That sounds so stupid."
"It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Feels clean and rolls off the tongue nicely."
She heard a light knock on the door of the baths.
"Come in!" Yorktown shouted, thinking it was Shoukaku again. Instead, someone in a yellow kimono and short brown hair came in.
"Hello Yorktown-san."
"Hi, who are you?"
"I'm Hiryuu. I'm pretty sure you know me."
"Indeed. So, how can I help you?"
"Nothing too serious, I just wanted to talk to you."
Yorktown shifted in her tub. "Go ahead." she softly smiled.
"Yorktown-san!" She bowed her head. "Please be my rival!"
"Eh?" She pointed at herself. "Me?"
Hiryuu raised her head. "Yes, you. I would like to be your rival!"
"Me?" the American carrier repeated.
"Yes."
"Me, and not my sisters?"
"Yes." Hiryuu said and nodded along with it. "I thought I had sunk two carriers that day. It wasn't until I was brought back that I found out the truth. You have my full respect, surviving two waves of my attacks head-on."
"You fought bravely. I thought I was going to sink after that first wave but god bless American damage control. Though there are a lot of things I would nitpick about your plans."
"Well, things always tend to go wrong in the heat of the battle."
Yorktown nodded in agreement. "First off, if you guys started to engage in a surface battle because you thought we wanted one, why did you come with them?"
"Eh?" Hiryuu let out a genuinely confused noise.
"Yes, I read up on my facts, but a carrier going into a surface battle? What were you guys thinking?! The moment you would be the battleships' range you might not even have a choice to retreat." Yorktown rambled.
Hiryuu awkwardly looked at her. "Wait but every time we sortie as Kanmusu, it's technically a surface battle isn't it?" she asked.
"Well, yes, but since we're shipgirls we can dodge easier than if we had our original hulls."
"Seriously, never do that ever again and never copy what Enterprise ever does. No, scratch that. Never copy what any of my sisters do. Hornet comes in, guns blazing, and smacks people with her flight deck! I know it looks cool and the idea sounds great on paper but that is ridiculous!"
She didn't expect her to start venting out her frustrations of her sisters.
"I've endured too much stress from them." she pouted. "I'm sorry, I haven't been to therapy in a while. I need to talk to Vestal again."
The other didn't say anything and was spacing off. Hiryuu was only brought back when Yorktown clapped her hands loudly right next to her ear. She let out a yelp in surprise.
Yorktown giggled. "Sorry, but you were spacing it. Is everything okay?"
The latter nodded. "So about what I said earlier…"
"Rivals hmm…" she put a hand to her chin. "Sorry, I'm not the best person to go for if you want a rival."
"Eeeh? Why not?"
She shrugged. "I'm not that competitive."
"Aww man." Hiryuu stretched her arms. "Anyways I have to go, I'll talk to you later if I can!"
"Thank you but you don't have to." Yorktown waved her off.
The energetic girl dashed to the door, gave a quick wave, and dashed off.
Some hours later
Yorktown, Essex, Hammann, and Albacore were all gathered near the shore of the beach, waiting for the plane that was going to pick them up.
"Why are you here Albacore?" Essex asked.
"I've been recalled back to the states." she sighed. "It was getting fun here too, teasing them."
"Jeez, how much trouble have you caused here already?"
"Not much, would've liked to cause more."
They just stood there, in silence, still waiting. Until Yorktown broke it.
"Why can't we just—."
"Boo."
Yorktown and Hammann shrieked in surprise while Essex jumped a bit. Albacore just flinched, startled. Standing behind the older carrier was her little sister, Enterprise.
"Mou, you scared me! Hornet's rubbing off on you!"
Enterprise smiled softly. "And Japan is rubbing off on you."
"Hmph." her older sister moped. "You didn't visit me at all until now!" She wrapped her arm around Enterprise.
"Good grief Yorkie." she tried to move her arms off of her but they wouldn't budge, the oldest carrier refused to remove them.
"Let me stay like this for a little longer. Maybe I can sneak you on the plane with me…"
Essex put a hand on Yorktown and sighed. "You know we can't do that. Especially with the operation—." she cut herself off and cleared her throat. "Ahem. I meant to say she is needed here in Japan."
With the help of Hammann, Essex managed to pry Yorktown off of her sister. Hammann quickly took her place between the carrier's arms to help separate Enterprise.
"Sorry I didn't visit you sis. I was busy."
"Busy? You sure were busy with the Japanese carriers." she said and a cocky grin was plastered on her face. Essex immediately blushed to this while the other pre-war carrier just tilted her head to the side. The destroyer wasn't paying attention and kept looking at Essex's expression then back at Yorktown's.
"Yorktown you pervert! Enterprise did no such thing!" Essex instantly snapped at her.
"Oh, by whatever do you mean?" Yorktown said with fake obliviousness. "I mean she was hanging out with them, wasn't she?" she still had the smug smirk on her face that Essex wished she could just wipe off.
Essex sighed. "Why is she always like this?"
[You can't keep playing with your food like this.]
The other Abyssal simply stared at her. [Hm…? My food? What food?]
[That little carrier.] the Abyssal Jellyfish Princess stated.
[Ah, yes. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing.] the other said nonchalantly. She resumed her earlier activity.
[I don't particularly mind, but the others will. They'll call you weak for trying to cling to something that will never be ours.] the Princess said and turned her back towards the other, closing her eyes.
[Whatever.] she shrugged it off. She picked up a certain item in the room that had been collecting dust for quite some time now. Brushing it off gently, she effortlessly picked it up with one hand.
[You've been doing whatever you've wanted for a while now.] another voice cut in, coming from the doorway.
[Pacific Princess? What are you doing here?"] the Jellyfish Princess inquired as she faced her.
The Pacific Princess petted her (whale?) and turned to the other Abyssal. [I'm going to have to end your game of cat and mouse. We can't waste any more time than you already have.]
[I know what I'm doing, and Lurker made some fun toys for me to try out.] the unknown Abyssal said and stretched. [You've heard of Operation Squall Squabble, right?]
[Of course. I was about to talk to you about it. You are aware they're trying to take you down right?] the Pacific Princess said and crossed her arms.
[All this gives me is another opportunity.] she chuckled. [I've always wanted to know what you do in the face of despair, Enterprise.] A sinister smirk spread across her face.
The carrier rested her head on the palm of her hand, looking out the small window. It was a relatively sized plane on the inside, despite looking pretty small on the outside. It was a peaceful ride. Essex did prefer going home by water though, but it was a stupid idea to sail with a fleet of three by themselves.
Hammann was sleeping on Yorktown's lap while she stroked her hair. The older carrier could be such a hassle sometimes but she knew better than to get in the way of her motherly or older sister instincts. Being the lead of her class, she had many sisters but didn't act like how the others would in regard to them. Sure, she cared about them but not to that extent.
The submarine boarded the plane with them but was nowhere to be found in the room. Essex's guess was that she was camping out in the bathroom or something.
Her mind then wandered back to her idol—ahem. She meant her respected senior. Why couldn't the higher-ups just send one of the many weebs homed at the base to Japan? It would've probably made their dreams come true and boost relations. Two birds with one stone. She always never understood that saying but still uses it anyways. She was pretty sure that normal people can't kill a bird with a stone, let alone two of them.
An alarm started going off on the plane. Essex quickly rushed to the front of the plane and opened the door to the cockpit.
"What happened?!"
The pilots quickly glanced over at her then back to the windshield. "There's a large force of Abyssals approaching below us! We can't send you down to engage but they might start firing at us. We might have to make evasive maneuvers."
"What part of the military are you?"
"We are trained for being transportation pilots but we are a part of the marines."
"Alright, move aside. Let me fly." she said.
"What? But—!"
"I'm more trained with planes than you guys. Don't worry, I've handled jets back in the day. I'll try not to spin too much."
She heard one of them whisper, "Jesus take the wheel."
"Meh, I'm not Jesus but I'm the closest thing we can get to use getting our asses out here alive."
One of the pilots got out of his seat and crouched in the corner. Essex sat in the chair and took the wheel. The other pilot fastened his seatbelt as tight as possible.
She looked down and sure enough, she saw the Abyssal force. It looked to be around twelve of them, three aircraft carriers and two battleships while the rest were a mix of cruisers and destroyers, with the exception of one oiler.
Anti-air guns hit the bottom of the plane, making small but noticeable clanking sounds. Essex sped the plane and started gaining altitude. Flak clouded the pat ahead of them, some of them covering the windshield.
"Hold on tight!"
Essex accelerated as fast as the plane would let her and did an aileron roll. She slowed down, just slightly to make a quick turn and another one in the opposite direction, getting the plane flying back to its original direction and stabilizing.
"Haha, take that suckers!" she taunted the Abyssals. Of course, they never heard her.
"Um, miss? We might not have enough fuel to make it back." the pilot next to her said.
"Eh?"
Albacore popped out the ceiling vent and hung upside-down. "Wow, nice flight skills. Can you teach me sometime? Where'd you learn those?"
"I don't know, it's just like muscle memory or something." she answered as she flexed her hands, opening and closing them again.
"Essex!" Yorktown burst through the door, pissed. Under her arm was Hammann, who looked on the verge of crying while the carrier was effortlessly carrying her with one arm.
Essex's mouth hung open with a slight smile of fright as her eyebrows twitched. She knew she was in trouble.
[Well, damn. That's some cool ass tricks from that plane. What a badass.] the Re-class battleship stated and put a hand to her eyes to shield it from the sunlight.
[Focus, we're on a mission. Plus, I think we wasted enough ammo shooting that anyways.] the flagship stated
[I wonder why I wasn't the flagship. This mission is about me and all.] the unknown Abyssal from before said, putting her hands on the back of her head, careless as ever.
[You always go on your own anyway, why would it matter?] the flagship spat.
Completed: March 14, 2021
A/N: Apologies for the short chapter. Things are going to get serious, I may have written this story too calmly so far.