Rear Admiral Jojima POV
Four hours, that's how long its been since I received the report, I've been living by the phone ever since. The only forces I can send to assist Furutaka are a destroyer squadron and taskforce twelve/fifty-two arriving in eleven and sixteen hours respectfully; I just don't have enough girls to send more reinforcements. So far I've received no reports of an abyssal force from Furutaka or the two submarines operating in the area which could be good or bad. The best-case scenario is they left the area but that's highly unlikely. If that's the case then the next best-case scenario is that they haven't reinforced and my girls find and engage them long before they can attack Nemuro. The worst-case scenario is that they have reinforced or they slip past my girls and bombard Nemuro and escape before we can intercept them, hopefully, we find them before that happens.
Knock, knock.
"Come in," I heard the door open as a priest stepped into my office.
"We are ready to perform the ritual."
"Proceed without me."
"Sir, the spirts must know that their Commander is waiting for them or it may not work," he protested.
"It has not worked even when I have been there, besides I have more important matters that deserve my attention," I answered.
He was disappointed at my answer but agreed anyway, "I shall proceed with the ritual then." He left and once again I'm left in my office anxiously waiting for the phone to ring.
I-159 POV
Three hours later
"Still nothing?"
"Hey."
"Well, you know what to do."
"Hey."
This. Is. Boooooring. I understand that scouting to find the enemy is what submarines do but it's tedious as hell. I've been searching the same fifty nautical miles of ocean for four hours straight and my sister is in the same boat as I am. Gah, I wish I could play cards like my crew to help pass the time.
We know the number of ships in the force and that they're being led by a dreadnought and knowing is half the battle. The other half is finding the enemy and sinking them and that's proving to be the difficult part.
It's times like these I wish I could enjoy the hunt like my sisters. What's ironic about it is that I'm a submarine and hunting is what I do yet I don't enjoy it. Blowing up the abyssals though that's something I greatly enjoy so at least I'm normal in that regard.
"Grrrr fucking abyssal cowards. They should just show themselves make it easier for all of us."
"Hey, hey hey hey."
"Shut up. I'm not in the mood for your sass," I snapped much to my crews' enjoyment.
Fifteen minutes later I reached the edge of my patrol zone when my hydrophones finally picked up a single contact that slowly grew in size.
"Looks like we found them lets see what we got."
Slowly moving into position I raised my scope and finally got a solid look at what we're dealing with. Right in the middle of the formation sat the big, juicy target that's leading them. A dreadnought. Shock hit me like a battleship when I finally got a good look at it. It looked far closer to a ship girl than any abyssal I've seen and if not for the black teeth-like growths on its body or its pale white skin I could've easily mistaken it for a ship girl. Lighter escorts consisted of two armored cruisers and one heavy along with sixteen destroyers.
They would have a forward scout force but I doubt its a real threat probably just a few destroyers maybe a cruiser and they wouldn't stay around for a drawn-out engagement with the girls. I radioed Furutaka about what I'd found, specifically about the dreadnought, and began to shadow the fleet.
Aoi POV
Two hours later
"Come on girls we have to get to Nemuro ASAP."
"We know Mutsuki but we can't run like this forever," her sister, Yayoi, called out weariness creeping into her voice.
She's right my legs are cramping up from how long we've been going. We can run at higher speeds for longer than other girls but we have limits.
"We can reduce speed to two-thirds and still get there within six hours we won't be much help if we're worn out," I stated.
"No, Furutaka will need all the help she can get with the enemy fleet so we have to get there ASAP," she looked over her shoulder, "I thought you would understand that best."
I bristled with anger, "I do understand but we won't be much help if we're exhausted when we get there!"
"Enough," Yayoi yelled, "I agree with Aoi we need to save our strength if we-BOOM!
A thundering of guns followed by four plumes of water brought a swift end to the brewing argument.
"Where the hell did that come from," Hishi yelled.
"Directly off our port side! Range seventeen thousand yards looks like a scouting force," Yayoi called out.
"Incoming fire evasive maneuvers," I yelled spotting more flashes on the horizon.
"We don't have time for this can we disengage?!"
"The cruiser yeah but we'd have to disable or sink the two destroyers!"
"Son of a bitch! Alright, send them to the bottom girls!"
All four of us turned hard to port and charged the abyssals guns blazing. Their destroyers met our charge while the cruiser stayed back providing long-range fire. Hishi and I focused down one destroyer while Mutsuki and Yayoi focused down the other one. Four minutes of furious gunfire left our target a burning hulk as it slowly slipped beneath the waves.
"Disengage we can cover our retreat with smoke!"
No idea who ordered it but I complied and black smoke began to belch from my funnel and with the wind working in our favor, it blew back directly back into the abyssal cruiser blinding it.
"AHHH!"
"Yayoi! You motherfucker!"
My head snapped to the sharp cry of pain and I felt the blood rush from my face. Yayoi's back is nothing but a mess of blood and oil and she's rapidly losing speed making her an easy target for the abyssal's guns. Another shell found its mark and then another one which started a fire that slowly began to spread.
"Aoi cover Yayoi I'll help Mutsuki send that bastard to the bottom. Aoi? Aoi!"
I snapped out of my trance and nodded to Hishi, "Y-Yeah I got it."
I raced to put myself between Yayoi and the abyssal firing my guns I took evasive action but it's focused on Hishi and Mutsuki. My 12 cm guns kept up a steady barrage that started fires and they began to spread. Mutsuki closed to point-blank range and fired off a full spread of torpedos into the abyssal's side. Six plumes of water exploded upward and when they fell back down the abyssal's leg had been blown clean off and it rapidly began to sink.
With the abyssals dealt with I turned my attention to Yayoi and I could see the full extent of her damage. Her funnel is wrecked and her skin is badly burned and scared from the HE shells. Her right forearm is gone and blood is steadily pouring from the back of her head where a piece of shrapnel had left a deep cut.
"Yayoi are you alright?! I'm so sorry if I'd paid attention- Mutuski there was nothing you could do... just got unlucky," Yayoi's voice was strained when she spoke.
"Mut- I'll get her back to base," Mutuski's voice was choked with emotion but she spoke with absolute conviction. Hishi gave a brief nod.
"Be careful you two."
"Same for you."
"Hey Hishi, Aoi kick the abyssals' asses for us will ya."
"That won't be a problem," I stated with grimly.
"Furutaka its Hishi do you copy?"
"We ran across an abyssal scout force and had to engage. Yayoi is badly hurt we're still heading toward Nemuro but we're down two destroyers over."
"Understood we'll be careful out. Furutaka still wants us there ASAP they've been engaging abyssal scouts sporadically for the past hour; she thinks the main abyssal force about to hit Nemuro."
"Well, let's make sure that doesn't happen."
I-153 POV
One hour later
Three hours ago my sister spotted the abyssal force and Furutaka ordered me to intercept them with the information she'd been provided; unfortunately, my sister lost contact with the force two hours later, however, she'd believed they'd stay on the same course and speed. Well, they stayed in the same course but sure as hell didn't stay at the same speed with the amount of noise my hydrophones are picking up and this presents a problem: I'm not in a great position for a torpedo attack.
If I tried to reposition I'd miss my window of attack so I prepared for one anyway. Six torpedos in my foe tubes were prepared to launch as my crew inputted the target course and speed into the computer but with the attack angle worsening, I silently encouraged them to hurry up. Finally, I was ready to attack but I'm shooting practically dead astern.
"Fire tube one," I heard water flood the tube as the torpedo sailed out. The process repeated until all six of my fish are in the water swimming toward the target. Now I could only wait.
Forty seconds later no explosion first torpedo miss. Forty-Five seconds later no explosion second torpedo miss. Forty-eight seconds later no explosion thrid torpedo miss. My stomach started to tighten as the fourth torpedo missed and my muscles tensed as the fifth torpedo also missed. Now I feel sick and my whole body is tight as I glare at the dreadnought looking for a gazer of water indicating the sixth and final torpedo found its mark.
One heartbeat.
Two heartbeats.
Three heartbeats.
"Goddam."
Furutaka POV
We're retreating from the waters around Nemuro. It's a simple numbers game we won't stand a chance against an abyssal force of that size even if they didn't have a dreadnought. I've informed Rear Admiral Jojima of the situation and my decision; he was angry and disappointed but understood and I could hear the sorrow in his voice about leaving the city to its fate. I knew he'd contact taskforce twelve/fifty-two and inform them but I felt it necessary to tell them myself.
"Ise, Kako, Nagara any of you there?"
"Furutaka?" Ise asked.
"Sis! Damn its good to hear your voice," Kako exclaimed, her voice filled with relief and happiness.
"Its good to hear from you Furutaka. What's the situation," Nagara questioned.
"We're pulling out." The line was quiet for a few seconds until, "WHAT," my sister yelled in shock.
"They'll be within range to bombard Nemuro in thirty minutes at the latest there's nothing we can do to a force that size," I stated
"What about disabling the dreadnought? Surely they wouldn't leave their most powerful asset," Ise offered.
"I-153 just reported in her attack on the dreadnought failed."
The line went quiet as the full consequences of what will happen slowly sank in. I and the other girls tasked to defend Nemuro have already dealt with this doesn't mean I regret not being able to do more. I can feel the weight of my decision pressing down on me but its the only realistic one I have.
"Sometimes leaders have to make the difficult call, right," Ise whispered.
"Yes. Yes, we do."
"What is your plan now?" Nagara asked.
"If the abyssals are smart they would have an invasion force standing by ready to invade Nemuro after their fleet finished bombardment. Their scouts would have reported in on our light defenses I'm hoping its made them overconfident and they've left their transports with few escorts. I plan on raiding them to prevent an invasion or at least slow one down."
"Understood we will get there ASAP out."
"Karukaya, Fuyo lets get into position."
Third-person POV
Forty minutes later the entire abyssal force began to bombard Nemuro. Rear Admiral Jojima had alerted city officials about the abyssal threat and evacuations had been ongoing for the past forty minutes with civilians either leaving the city or taking cover in bunkers designed for such an attack. By the time abyssal shells began to land most of the civilians were safe but not all of them. For a whole hour, they dropped shell after shell bringing down towering skyscrapers, obliterating smaller buildings and starting dozens if not hundreds of fires that would rage for days.
By the time they ceased firing massive plumes of thick black smoke rose from the city that could be seen for kilometers around. Ship girls around Nemuro watched as smoke reached hundreds of meters into the sky and all of them made a silent vow. The abyssals responsible for the attack would not live to see the next day.
Ise POV
We're seventeen nautical miles off the coast of Nemuro and with the sun setting, I can see the eerie orange glow coming from the city. As I watched the smoke rise a rage unlike any other hit me with the force of a battleship. I would find those abyssal basterds and send them to the bottom in pieces.
"Heads up ladies just got a report from I-159 there is an abyssal task force heading back toward Nemuro its the same one," Nagara said.
"Time for some payback," I growled slamming my fists together.
"Damn straight," Kako agreed.
"Nokaze you're our scout report back as soon as you spot them."
"Ma'am, did she say how many there are?"
"She counted fifteen ships."
For the next forty-five minutes, I eagerly waited for the abyssals to be spotted. I could feel my body practically twitch with anticipation and my guns kept rotating slightly or elevating or lowering their barrels. My spotters relentlessly scanned the horizon for any shapes against the orange-purple sky looking for our prey.
I shook my head slightly, "That didn't sound right," I whispered.
"We got contacts Nokaze is making her way back, get ready girls."
I formed up between Kako, who's at the front, and Nagara who's behind me while the destroyers formed a battle line off our port side we would be sailing in the opposite direction as our enemy.
"Wait for my signal," Nagara cooly commanded.
As soon as my spotters reported they're in range my fire directers went to work and my guns adjusted according to their calculations eagerly waiting for the order to fire. At seventeen hundred hours on the dot, the order is given and the battle begins.
"FIRE!"
BOOM!
My guns, followed soon after by Kako's, roar in response sending twelve 35.6 and six 20 centimeter shells screaming toward their targets. To my pleasant surprise, one of my shells hit a gun turret while the rest fell short. With the help of my spotters, I could see a look of pure shock written on the abyssal's face and a savage grin spread across mine. If they thought we'd give up that easily they're in for one hell of a surprise. As my guns loaded I heard Nagara's guns bark their response yet the destroyers stayed silent their guns not having the range. As I prepared to fire I vaguely heard Nagara ordering our destroyers to intercept their own followed by the bark of both hers and Kako's guns.
BOOM!
Two shells hit the enemy dreadnought and I finally saw its return salvo; six shells landed well short of our formation followed by the lighter shells from the cruisers. I caught a glimpse of our destroyers fighting a delaying action against eight enemy destroyers with Nagara providing fire support.
"Hey! Hey, hey!"
A mini fireball rose up from one of the cruisers yet it continued on its guns responding in kind with increasingly accurate fire. My guns roared again the shells screaming toward the target with three nailing the port side wing turret on the dreadnought blowing out the back and top of the turret in a violent explosion, by some miracle the ammo didn't detonate which left the dreadnought wounded but still combat-capable. I felt two shells shatter against my skin their impacts causing light phantom pains that quickly disappeared.
My next salvo fell right on target had the dreadnought kept its course instead it turned hard to port to bring its starboard side wing turret to bear with the cruisers and escorting destroyers following the turn causing us to run parrel with their formation. As we continued to trade shots Nagara ordered us to turn away as the enemy destroyers were rapidly closing the distance. My rear most secondaries began to fire at maximum range and despite losing three the remaining five continued to charge through a barrage of fire.
The turn put my two front turrets out of action and my third and fourth struggled to find an angle to fire; soon only my rear guns would only be able to fire and the abyssal dreadnought would have the advantage in firepower. Two shells hit at such an angle they bounced off while one was a near miss. I fired off one more eight gun salvo before my crew reported that only the rear guns had an angle to fire and from what I could see Kako had the same problem I did.
"Nagara we need to straighten out," she yelled.
"I know but these destroyers are being a pain in the ass!"
My spotters fed information to me about the status of both our destroyers and theirs. Four enemy destroyers are still closing in yet their progress has been significantly slowed by our destroyers but at a cost. From what I could tell all three sisters had varying degrees of damage with Akikaze disengaging from the melee.
Suddenly a sharp pain flared in my side causing me to flinch while five other shells landed nearby; it seems that dreadnought finally found the range and my rear turrets, eager for revenge, fired and scored two hits.
"The abyssal formation is closing in on us and they can bring more guns to bear! If we turn toward them we can bring all of our guns to bear on the destroyers and deal with them quicker," I called out.
"I agree with Ise! It puts us at greater risk but if we deal with the destroyers we won't have to worry about torpedo attacks!"
"Alright! Shiokaze, Nokaze fighting retreat towards us! Kako help me with the destroyers Ise focus on the dreadnought send it to the bottom," Nagara ordered.
"Got it," Kako shouted.
"With fucking pleasure!"
Swing to port all of my secondaries unloaded at the destroyers followed by a full broadside with four hits on the dreadnought. Faced with a withering barrage of fire another two destroyers quickly sank while the last two smoked up and retreated giving the sisters a much-needed lull in the action.
Suddenly the remaining destroyers turned hard to port and a salvo bracketed one of the abyssal cruisers.
"Nagara care if we join in?"
"Not at all Furutaka."
"Sis! We started the party without you," Kako teased.
"Yeah but I'll end it," she fired back letting her serious attitude drop for a moment.
"Kako I'm targeting the lead abyssal cruiser target it as well and we'll send it to the bottom," and just like that she's back to her serious mindset.
"On it sis."
Facing the combined firepower of both sisters the lead abyssal cruiser quickly fell out of formation while its allies turned toward Furutaka and her group recognizing them as the weaker force. As soon as the dreadnought turned a full broadside came hurtling down around its legs and must have damaged its rudders as it continued to turn hard to port leaving it a sitting duck. With a predatory grin, my next salvo landed six hits killing its speed and causing it to list the dreadnought is doomed its just a question of how fast can I kill it!
"Ahh! Son of a bitch!"
"Kako! You alright!?"
"Yeah, the bastard got lucky!"
"I'd say you got lucky that was from the dreadnought!"
"Holy shit! Glad it was an overpenetration!"
That abyssal fucker is just trying to take one of us with it and I'm gonna make damn sure that doesn't happen. Another salvo landed four hits destroying its funnel and setting off smaller explosions from secondary guns grinding it to a halt. The next two salvos critically damaged the bridge and one shell managed to score a hit on the magazine creating a gazer of fire and with the dreadnought sinking the abyssals were routed and only two destroyers managed to escape, Nemuro had been avenged.
"That's right fuckers run! Owwww, that wasn't the smartest idea," Kako winced.
"You alright," Nagara asked.
"Yeah passed clean though still hurts like hell."
"You'll be fine. Ise?"
"Nothing the baths can't fix."
"Furutaka how's your force?"
"The destroyers took a few hits, nothing major, I think we have all earned some R&R back at base."
"I second that," Akikaze yelled her sisters agreeing with her.
"Alright. Furutaka form up with us and we will head back to base, damn fine work all of you."