A/N: As promised, a much quicker update this time.
Rear Admiral Richard Drake watched Bismarck's lone figure sail out in front of the Konigs Tiger from his position inside the bridge. Her beautiful, long blonde hair streamed in the bay breeze, and her massive guns splayed out on both sides of her rigging. In front of her, he could see two fast-moving wakes heading straight for her. The PT imps had spotted her and looked to be converging on her position.
But now that he was getting a good look at Bismarck, Drake noticed there was something different about her.
"Bismarck… Did you change your uniform?" he asked her. Her uniform and hat now had some black and white striped patterns, and her rigging also looked a bit different.
"Hm? Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that. I underwent some sort of remodel procedure here at the base. I can also fire torpedoes now."
Drake remembered what Van Dyke had told him before he left for Germany. The Kai Ni procedure was done for her too?
Drake noticed that most of the bridge staff were also watching Bismarck instead of attending to their own duties. It seemed that they had not had much experience with ship girls, and they were taking this opportunity to see how one really fights. The general public was aware of the existence of ship girls, but very few people actually got to see them in person, even if you were in the navy.
Now the question is how to defeat those imps with just one battleship-class ship girl…
Drake was still standing in the back of the bridge, and it looked like everyone had forgotten he was even there. Nevertheless, it would be up to him to win this battle. This was a smaller enemy force than the ones he had faced at Okinawa and even at Hachijo-jima, but if he failed here, he would likely die along with everyone else in this fleet. This was no joke.
All right, calm down… I've trained for this, he told himself. Back in Japan, he had done many drills where the the capital ships had to hunt down the smaller destroyers and light cruisers, and he had run simulations like that in Alaska too. The situation with the imps was just a more extreme version of that.
"Admiral, the enemy is coming within range of my secondaries," Bismarck informed him.
"Roger that," Drake replied, watching from the bridge. He could see Bismarck's guns beginning to open up on the imps, but it didn't look like even the secondaries were hitting.
Bismarck confirmed that shortly afterwards. "It's no use. I can't hit them."
"Yeah. You need to lure them towards you in order to actually hit them, but since imps fight by launching torpedoes, that's going to be difficult," Drake said, mostly just thinking out loud.
"Or I could try this," Bismarck started, and Drake watched as she lifted the secondary gun in her right hand and pointed it at the enemy like it was some sort of pistol.
When she pulled the trigger, shells shot out from the gun and impacted the water fairly close to one of the imps, though the Abyssal just managed to dodge it.
"So your secondaries aren't mounted to your rigging anymore? That's useful," Drake noted. It would make her aim a lot more flexible.
"Tch. I still can't him them, though," Bismarck observed.
Yeah, that alone won't win this battle, Drake knew.
But he needed to think quickly, because the imps had already sailed within range of Bismarck. The demonic little creatures sped about the bay, throwing up a spray of water whenever they stopped to turn. Soon they had Bismarck encircled.
"Watch out for their torpedoes," Drake cautioned again as he tensed up, unable to think of anything in time.
Sure enough, the wake from the high-speed torpedoes could be seen as the imps launched their spreads. Bismarck swiveled her head from side to side as she tried to keep track of the numerous underwater projectiles heading towards her. She popped a shot of her secondary off at one of the imp packs, but it easily dodged because Bismarck was too focused on the torpedoes to aim properly. Even so, there were just too many torpedoes rapidly coming at her, and she couldn't sail out of their range in time. Some of the torpedoes detonated behind her, throwing her forward and knocking her down. Inside the bridge, the German sailors groaned and cursed.
Drake hurriedly got back on the mic. "Get up, Bismarck! They'll finish you off if you give them the chance!"
She didn't need to be told twice, and Bismarck quickly got to her feet and pointed her guns at the imps. The imps sped away and circled back behind her, and though Bismarck turned to face them again, they were just too fast for a battleship who was lugging around heavy rigging. Each time she got them in her sights, they would dart away.
"Admiral, I can't get a good shot!" Bismarck exclaimed in frustration.
Fine, then. Let's use their strategy against them. "Launch your own torpedoes in a circular spread."
"I can't launch that many at one time. There will be spaces open in the circle for them to dodge," Bismarck warned.
"That's no problem. If that's the case, then you know exactly where the imps will be heading, right? Preemptively aim your guns in those spaces not covered by the torpedo spread."
Bismarck complied with the order and shot a spread of torpedoes out from the tubes on her rigging. She then turned and launched another spread in the other direction to cover both sides. The imps that were sailing around her had actually just launched their own torpedoes at this time too, but they jumped up in alarm at seeing a ship girl battleship countering with her own torpedoes. Surprised, they immediately weaved away from Bismarck's torpedoes and sped into the water that had not been inundated with the projectiles.
A splitsecond later, several explosions went off, sending huge plumes of water into the air. Some of Bismarck's torpedoes had collided with the imps' torpedoes and blasted each other open. In the midst of this confusion, Bismarck opened fire on the imps, who had gone exactly where she thought they would.
The first imp pack was hit by two shots from her secondary cannon. The direct hits smashed into the imps and blew up in their faces, immediately battering them into bits. Bismarck had angled her main guns to face where she thought they second imp pack would go, and as she fired her secondary gun, she let loose one of her main cannons too. Since she was not facing in the direction of the second imp pack, the shot from the main cannon missed its mark. Nevertheless, the large blast impact slammed into the imp pack, sending it into the air along with bursts of water. After finishing off the first imp pack, Bismarck turned on her heel and fired her secondary at the stunned second pack, destroying it in mid-air as the spray from the torpedo explosions died and rained down on her.
The rapid sinking of the two imp packs elicited cheers and whoops from the bridge staff, and their morale was back up.
"Wunderbar! What agility and power!" Schumann marveled.
Yeah, it looks like the Kai Ni remodel did make her stronger, Drake thought.
Bismarck looked back the Konigs Tiger, then smiled confidently and raised her secondary gun into the air as a symbol of victory. That brought on even more cheering and clapping from the bridge.
"All right, don't forget we still have the rest of the battle, Rear Admiral Drake," Schumann said, then turned to the bridge staff and officers and said something in German in order to make them quiet down.
"Admiral! Give me my next target!" Bismarck said over the channel, evidently pumped up now.
The other radio channels also sparked to life. Drake could hear frantic shouting in German from the operators' consoles, and judging by the way Schumann's expression changed to one of anger, it was clear that things weren't going well for the rest of the fleet.
The German admiral turned to Drake. "The destroyer Hameln II has been badly crippled and is about to sink. Our other ships seem to be in trouble too. We must have Bismarck go and provide support to them!"
Drake glanced over at the big radar display. It looked like the Ro-class destroyers and the Chi-class were on the offensive, directly attacking the German fleet. The Ta-class did not seem to be moving, and Drake guessed that she was sitting back and shelling instead of rushing fo them.
"I don't know. That Ta-class looks like she's waiting for Bismarck to make a move. She's probably going to try and surround Bismarck with the other Abyssals when Bismarck goes to help out your ships," Drake cautioned. "I'd suggest sending Bismarck out to sink the Ta-class because the Ta-class is isolated right now. She can move to help the rest of the fleet afterwards."
Schumann gave him a look. "Are you mad? The Abyssals will sink all our other ships during that time!"
"Admiral, your orders?" Bismarck asked again.
"Bismarck! Sail east to assist the Hameln II!" Schumann answered instead of Drake.
"Jawohl," she responded.
For his part, Drake kept his eyes glued to the radar screen, wondering what the Ta-class would do. He expected that she would soon break off from her stationary position now that Bismarck was heading into the fray, and a few minutes later, he was proven right.
"Taking fire from the enemy battleship," Bismarck radioed in. "Shall I fire back?"
"Yes. Cut her off and make sure she doesn't pincer you with the destroyers and Chi-classes," Drake took the opportunity to warn.
"Bismarck, ignore her! Defend the fleet!" Schumann immediately contradicted Drake.
Well, this is a pain in the ass, Drake frowned. Having two people with conflicting views in command was never a good idea, though technically Drake wasn't even supposed to hold any power here.
Understandably, Bismarck was confused. "Uh, so what do I do? Do I sail towards our fleet or towards the Ta-class?"
Drake turned towards Schumann to try and convince the German admiral to change his mind, but before he could say anything, the bridge staff began shouting urgently again. Schumann replied with something in German, and then a new voice came in through the radio comms.
"This is Gripen 01 of SIN," the voice said in accented English. "Who is in command of this fleet?"
SIN? The Swedish Ice Navy? Drake wondered. Did Germany asks the Swedes for help?
"Gripen 01, this is Konteradmiral Schumann of the Kriegsmarine. Are you here to offer your assistance?" Schumann radioed back.
"Yes, we were sent to provide support along with our single ship girl naval unit. Is the airspace clear? I don't see anything on my radar."
"Ship girl?" Schumann repeated, ignoring the pilot's question. "Sweden has a ship girl?"
Drake and the rest of the bridge staff were just as surprised.
"Yes, her name is Gotland. Is the airspace clear? We will not dogfight Abyssal planes," the pilot asked again, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"R-Right, there are no carrier-type Abyssals in the combat zone," Schumann finally answered.
"Roger that, we will provide air support from a distance in order to avoid their anti-air guns. Gotland will sail forward to assist your Bismarck, but be warned that our navy will retreat if necessary."
Schumann immediately switched comms back to Bismarck's frequency. "Bismarck! There is another ship girl coming to assist you! Do you see her?"
"I do see a ship girl signature on my radar, yes. Where did she come from? Our ship girl fleet doesn't have any light cruisers."
Oh, so she's a light cruiser? Drake thought as Schumann explained the situation to Bismarck. He wasn't familiar with the WWII ship known as Gotland, but he was at least glad that Bismarck had some help now.
"Um, hello? This is Gotland of the Swedish Ice Navy. Do you read me, Kriegsmarine?" a new voice said in English on the same channel Bismarck was using. Like other foreign ship girls, she had an accent but spoke English very well.
"We read you, Gotland. This is Konteradmiral Schumann on the Konigs Tiger," Schumann radioed back. "Thank you for your help. Please assist Bismarck in defending the fleet."
"Roger that, sir," Gotland answered dutifully.
Drake still had his eyes on the radar. "The Ta-class is beginning to move. Gotland will defend the fleet and Bismarck will sail to intercept the enemy."
Before Schumann could even reply, Drake got on the comms. "Bismarck, intercept the Ta-class immediately. Don't let her close to the fleet. Gotland, defend the Hameln II and the light cruisers."
"Jawohl." Drake could see Bismarck's signature begin to split off from Gotland's.
"Sir, I think your destroyer is done for… The crew is abandoning ship," Gotland then said.
"Scheisse! Fight the ship, you idiots!" Schumann shouted on another channel when he heard that.
Since Schumann was evidently busy, Drake modified his orders to Gotland. "Fine. Protect the survivors."
"I will try, but… There's quite a lot of Abyssals in this area." A hint of worry could be heard in her voice.
Fuck, she's right, Drake looked up at the radar. Could one light cruiser really take on ten Ro-classes and three Chi-classes? He couldn't send Bismarck back because all her attention needed to be on the Ta-class, who was by far the most powerful ship in the enemy fleet.
Drake turned to Schumann. "Order your light cruisers to help Gotland. Do not let them sink. Also, get those Swedish planes to do something."
"Ja, obviously," Schumann frowned as he got on the comms with the Gripen squadron.
"Be advised, Konteradmiral, we are moving to protect Gotland," Gripen 01 said before Schumann could even get a word in.
"Uh, yes. Please take care of those Ro and Chi-classes," Schumann nodded.
Drake crossed his arms and watched the advanced radar screen with a tense look. Bismarck was easily in cannon range of the Ta-class, but neither of them were firing upon each other right now. The Swedish planes meanwhile were flying towards the bulk of the fighting, but they maintained a sizeable distance and stuck to the perimeter of the battlefield. Given what happened to most of the pilots in Okinawa, Drake couldn't blame them.
"Targets in sight. Gripen 01, firing. Fox Three."
"Gripen 02, Fox Three."
"Gripen 03, Fox Three."
"Gripen 04, Fox Three."
Everyone on the bridge held his breath as they waited. A few seconds later, Gripen 01 got back on the comms.
"All targets missed. Circling back to reengage."
Groans went up among the bridge staff, and Schumann shook his head and puffed up his face with frustration.
Drake rubbed his chin nervously. We can't win like this. Bismarck has to finish that Ta-class quickly…
"You're quite bold to sail right up to me like this," the Ta-class smirked, her blazing green eyes glowing fiercely.
"I could say the same to you," Bismarck replied.
The two battleships stood mere meters apart, their big guns trained on each other.
"Do you know why we have sailed here today?" the Ta-class then asked.
"You Abyssals? You've come to destroy the naval base here," Bismarck narrowed her eyes.
"Haha… Wrong answer!" the Ta-class grinned. "The only reason we are here is to sink you, KMS Bismarck. Destroying this city would be a bonus, but killing you is our only objective."
Bismarck blinked in surprise. "Me? Why?"
"Why do you think? You are the ship girl who single-handedly defeated the European Princess. This is our revenge," the Ta-class glared at her.
"You've got it wrong. I had a lot of help," Bismarck told her. "But I suppose it doesn't matter. If I'm up against a peon like you, I won't need any assistance."
The Ta-class scowled at that. "So you're getting cocky now? Don't think you can get lucky twice. I'll sink you here and avenge our Princess."
The Ta-class' guns went off, which Bismarck was expecting. She dodged them easily enough even at this range, and she prepared to fire her own broadside. However, the Abyssal jaws underneath the Ta-class' guns suddenly opened their mouths and spat out globs of green liquid. Caught off-guard, Bismarck stumbled backwards, though one glob still managed to hit her on the right arm. The liquid sizzled as it burnt her skin, gnawing away at the flesh and muscle and revealing the steel bone beneath.
"Damn it!" Bismarck hissed, then fired an off-balance shot at the Ta-class, which the Abyssal evaded.
"This is the great Bismarck? How pathetic," the Ta-class sneered.
Bismarck smirked at her opponent. "Pathetic, huh?"
The Ta-class froze in confusion and then screamed as the water underneath her suddenly exploded.
"Fool. That's what you get for not paying attention to your surroundings," Bismarck declared proudly as she adjusted her cap.
But as the spray died down, the Ta-class was still there, hunched over but alive.
"Heh… I didn't expect you to have torpedoes. Our intel didn't say anything about that," the Ta-class coughed.
Impossible! With that many torpedoes, even a battleship should have been sunk! Bismarck thought with horror.
The Abyssal stood up. Her eyes were glowing gold now, and the previously green energy that had been emanating from the jaws of her beasts had also turned gold.
"You ship girls aren't the only ones who can be remodeled," the Ta-class held out her hands. "Sink, Bismarck!"
A volley of shells slathered with golden energy shot outwards from the Abyssal's guns, and Bismarck dove to the surface of the water to avoid it. However, this allowed the Ta-class to sail up to her, and the Abyssal took that opportunity to land a smashing kick into Bismarck's stomach and send her flying. Bismarck landed hard on the water and struggled to avoid throwing up after that hard hit.
"Bismarck, is everything all right?" Drake asked through the radio.
"Admiral… This bitch has some sort of upgrade," she let him know.
"Upgrade…? What do you mean?"
"I mean she's stronger now! This isn't a regular Ta-class!" Bismarck emphasized.
"Okay, that doesn't tell me shit. What is different about her?"
"I don't know! She has increased durability and firepower, probably speed too!" Bismarck replied, frustrated.
"So do you, though. You're telling me you can't beat her?"
"Ugh… Admiral, are you going to help me or not?" Bismarck was fed up.
"You want my help that badly, huh?"
Bismarck could just feel the smugness in his voice, which only made her even angrier.
"Now is not the time to -"
In a sudden burst of the speed, the Ta-class launched herself across the waves and immediately closed the distance between her and Bismarck. Before Bismarck could react, the Ta-class' fist smashed into her face, knocking her back a few meters once again.
Her face stinging with pain, Bismarck reached up to her nose and saw blood covering her gloved hand when she pulled it away. Wiping away the blood, she stood up and tried to regain her bearings.
"Bismarck? Are you all right? What happened? Hello?"
The Ta-class' guns pointing in her direction forced Bismarck to ignore Drake for the time being. She leapt to the side, barely avoiding the Abyssal's shells. The Ta-class rushed at her again, though this time Bismarck managed to catch the Ta-class' punch. The two battleships were locked in a contest of strength, each one trying to push the other back.
Damn it, my guns can't rotate to reach her from this close, Bismarck cursed as she grit her teeth and tried to push the Abyssal back. The Ta-class' burning yellow eyes flashed in Bismarck's face, and the ship girl was steadily losing ground.
"Bismarck! What the fuck are you doing!" Drake's voice sounded through the comms again. "The radar shows you two on top of each other! Just remember the basics of CQC!"
Those words gave Bismarck an idea. Right. If the enemy is concentrated on the upper body…
Bismarck swept her leg out, tripping the Ta-class. Since they were locked together, Bismarck also lost her balance, but she was prepared for that. She made sure to let her portside rigging take the brunt of the landing, and as soon as it hit the water, she launched her remaining torpedoes which were also on the portside.
The projectiles sailed through the water with speed and smashed into the Ta-class, exploding as they hit her. The proximity also threw up the water underneath Bismarck and launched her a few meters back too, but she was mostly unhurt. The Ta-class however, was now nothing more than a flaming wreck, having taken multiple torpedo shots.
With a smirk of satisfaction, Bismarck stood up and wiped the blood from her nose once more. The Ta-class' lifeless yellow eyes stared up at the sky as the Abyssal slipped underneath the northern waters.
Hmph. Don't underestimate the power of a remodeled ship girl.
"Hello? Bismarck? Come in!"
"Mein Gott, what is it?" Bismarck finally replied.
"Good, you're alive," Drake said with relief. "What's the status on the Ta-class?"
"She's dead."
"Nice job. Are you injured?"
She was pretty sore and her nose was still bleeding a bit, but she could still fight.
"I'm all right. I don't have anymore torpedoes, though," she answered.
"Okay. Well, the rest of the fleet is in trouble. Gotland is having a hard time by herself, and our missiles can't lock onto the Abyssals. You're going to need to eliminate the rest of the Abyssals as well."
"Leave it to me, sir," Bismarck replied confidently. "I'll sail towards Gotland right now."
As she got closer, Bismarck could see the Swedish ship girl struggling to evade the numerous Abyssals surrounding her. The enemy destroyers leapt out of the water and occasionally popped off cannon shots, and the Chi-class torpedo cruisers were no doubt filling the water with dangerous projectiles. Behind Gotland, the husk of the Hameln II could be seen trailing smoke into the sky as the water around her was dotted with shipwrecked sailors. Intermittently, a sailor or two was pulled under the waves and did not reappear, indicating that the Ro-class destroyers were at work there too. The Gripen fighter planes made passes overhead, but it looked like they couldn't get a lock on the enemy for the most part.
Bismarck's cannons thundered as she let loose a volley towards the Chi-class cruisers, if only to distract them and give Gotland a moment's respite. Her guns smoking, Bismarck held up a finger to her earpiece.
"Admiral. What is the plan of attack?"
"We are still outnumbered significantly… How much ammo do you have left?" Drake asked.
"Not much. I am the only ship girl stationed in Lubeck, and the base here has had not experience in training with ship girls, so there wasn't much ship girl ammo stocked up in the first place," Bismarck admitted.
"Hm. That's what I figured…"
A relatively louder explosion sounded from where Gotland was fighting the Abyssals. At first Bismarck thought that one of her cannon shots had miraculously hit, but instead she saw that a torpedo strike had finally connected with Gotland. One of the Swedish ship girl's legs was torn and burnt, and smoke was emanating from her rigging as she winced and tried to sail away from the enemy.
"What happened? Did Gotland get hit?" Drake wondered.
"Atervanda till skeppet, Gotland," a new voice cut in over the comms.
"What?" Drake repeated, confused. "Who the hell was that? Gripen squadron?"
"Urgh… I've been ordered to retreat," Gotland got on the comms too. "Sorry. The rest is up to you all."
"Wait! Not yet! We still need your help!" Drake protested. "Gripen squadron, we need Gotland to stay a bit longer."
"We were ordered to tell Gotland to retreat if she took any damage," the pilot replied back, evidently still monitoring the comms. "There is nothing we can do about it. Those are our orders."
"She can still fight. Right, Gotland?" Drake pressed.
"Um, I… I am still operational, but…"
"Just a few more minutes. We will let her go after that. Besides, it's not as if she can retreat right now with all those enemies surrounding her," Drake pointed out.
"Fine. Hurry up and create a break in their defenses," the Gripen pilot said.
"Roger that. Bismarck, hurry up and get over there. Gotland, just stay alive for a bit longer. I have a plan," the American admiral assured them.
"R-Right," came Gotland's nervous reply.
Bismarck kept on sailing ahead. Strangely enough, those words had reassured her.
"Watch out, Miss Bismarck! There are a lot of them!" Gotland called out as Bismarck approached. The light cruiser's dark blue hair had come undone and was flying in the wind as she tried to evade the Ro-classes that leapt out of the water and took potshots at her.
The destroyers were too fast for Bismarck to get a lock on, so she turned towards the Chi-classes. However, they too were rather agile, and since they had so many torpedoes available, Bismarck was forced to concentrate on dodging the underwater shots instead of taking aim at the Chi-classes themselves.
"Bismarck, Gotland, stop trying to take the enemy on individually. Try to get together and then sail back towards our fleet."
"But then the enemy will take aim at our ships," Bismarck cautioned.
"That doesn't matter for now. Just do it."
Complying with the order, Bismarck turned and blasted her guns blindly into the group of Chi-classes. Though the shots didn't actually hit any of them, the full volley managed to distract them long enough for Gotland to sail over to Bismarck. However, as Gotland was fleeing, Bismarck saw a Ro-class jump out of the water behind her and aim its gun right at her back.
Damn it! Bismarck cursed as she quickly grabbed a surprised Gotland and shielded her form the shot. The destroyer's shell slammed into Bismarck's ribs and didn't detonate, but it still hit her hard enough to bruise them, making her cringe in pain.
"Oh, no! Are you all right?" Gotland asked worriedly.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. A battleship can take that kind of hit better than a light cruiser can," Bismarck replied. "Come on, we need to sail back to the rest of the fleet."
The two ship girls sailed back in the direction of the Konigs Tiger as fast as they could, occasionally weaving away from shots fired by the trailing Abyssals.
"All right, that's far enough. Turn back around and face them," Drake ordered.
"We're just in the same situation as earlier except now the Abyssals can target our ships too," Gotland noted, not seeing what the point of that maneuver was.
Yes, and now the Abyssals have us all in one spot as well, Bismarck thought as she frowned. I wonder what your plan is, Admiral…
"Okay, now you need to drive the Abyssals back. I wanted the other ships to help with this, but Admiral Schumann refused to send them, so you're unfortunately on your own right now. But we will provide fire support as much as we can from afar," Drake said.
"Drive them back… But how?" Bismarck asked. "I am low on ammo, and there are too many of them."
"It doesn't matter if you hit them or not. Your only objective here is to drive them back to the Hameln II. Use all your ammo if you have to, just be sure to keep a constant stream of gunfire up and advance forward. You too, Gotland."
The two ship girls looked at each other unsurely before they turned back to face the enemy. There was nothing they could do but follow orders, so they began shooting off their guns in the direction of the Abyssal fleet.
First Bismarck fired her main guns, then Gotland and Bismarck's secondaries started shooting. Almost all of their shots missed because neither one of them was taking aim at a specific target, but they did succeed in keeping a constant barrage up. The Konigs Tiger was providing support with her big railguns, and her shots were landing among the Abyssal fleet from afar. Even the Gripens had joined in, though their contribution was intermittent as most of their planes were probably running low on missiles.
As Bismarck fired her booming main guns again, she wondered what the purpose of this was. They were definitely pushing the Abyssals back, but they were not scoring any hits. Lost in her thoughts, Bismarck forgot to fire her guns again when it was her turn, and this allowed one of the Chi-classes to finally get in a counter, and it launched its spread of torpedoes directly at Bismarck. Bismarck swerved harshly to the side, splashing water into the air and then firing her guns to continue the advance. However, the torpedoes had been launched, and they were heading directly towards the Konigs Tiger.
"Admiral! Torpedoes heading your way!" Bismarck urgently warned.
"Torpedoes…? Doesn't matter. Continue forwards. Don't stop for anything, even if the Konigs Tiger is hit!"
"But -"
"There's nothing you can do about it now, Bismarck. Just keep going forward! We lose if you don't push them back!"
Gritting her teeth in frustration, Bismarck turned back towards the Abyssals. I shouldn't have been so careless. Hopefully they can evade the torpedoes…
Bismarck and Gotland pushed the Abyssal fleet back until they had returned to the site of the burning Hameln II. Most of the shipwrecked sailors were gone by now, either having evacuated via the rafts or been eliminated by the Abyssals or drowned. Bismarck and Gotland were still fairly far away from the enemies, and if they pushed them back any further, they would go past the sinking destroyer… Not that they could anyway; Bismarck had completely run out of ammunition in both her primary and secondary guns.
"What do we do now?" Gotland wondered. Their orders were only to push the Abyssals back towards the Hameln II, and the Abyssals were definitely backed up against the ship now. But now that Bismarck and Gotland could no longer keep up their steady stream of the fire, the Abyssals would finally begin to scatter and counterattack.
Just then, a explosion sounded from behind them. Bismarck and Gotland whipped around to see the Konigs Tiger lurch in the water as she was in the middle of a turn to port. Her starboard side had been struck with at least a couple torpedoes.
"Admiral! Are you all right?!" Bismarck hurriedly asked.
No response came, and Bismarck continued to stare at the now-smoking battleship in horror. Realizing Bismarck was distracted, Gotland turned back towards the Abyssals and started firing at them, attempting to hold them off as best as she could until Bismarck regained her bearings.
"Admiral! Answer me!" Bismarck demanded again.
"... Bismarck, I'm all right. What's your status?"
Bismarck could hear shouting in the background of Drake's transmission, and Drake himself sounded rather shaken up.
"What's going on over there? Is the ship going to sink?"
"I told you not to worry about that! What are the Abyssals doing right now?"
"Answer my question first! You have to abandon ship if it has taken too much damage!" Bismarck refused to back down.
"What's with you? Why are you so worried about me suddenly?" Drake asked, frustration clear in his tone.
"Because… Because…" Bismarck wasn't sure how to answer that herself.
"... Never mind. But listen, Bismarck. I refuse to lose this time, and I refuse to you lose you either. That is why I need you to follow my plan no matter what happens to me, got it? Now what's your status?"
"I… I'm out of ammo, but we've pushed the Abyssals back towards the Hameln II like you said," she replied, only just now noticing that Gotland was dumping the last of her ammunition on the Abyssals.
"Good. That's good, because they've already fired. Now, you two, get the fuck away from there as fast as you can."
Not needing to be told twice, Bismarck and Gotland turned around and retreated from the area. When she turned to face her fleet, Bismarck saw that the ships on the perimeter had launched a good number of missiles into the air.
Is he trying to use the same tactic he used when we sunk the European Princess? Bismarck wondered. But that's impossible. Unlike back then, there is more than one target now, and they are all moving. It's impossible for a modern cruise missile to lock onto a mobile Abyssal, especially ones as fast as destroyers and cruisers!
Even if the missiles landed in the vicinity of the Abyssals, they could still evade the majority of the blast zone and escape with only minor damage. If that happened, the ships would also be out of ammo, and there would practically be nothing left to combat the Abyssals with.
What is he thinking…? Bismarck thought, keeping an eye on the missiles. But the way he spoke… I have to trust him.
The missiles fell from their apex and darted downwards towards the area of the Abyssal fleet. Moments later, a massive explosion tore open the air, sending a huge spray of water, fire, and smoke into the sky and causing Bismarck to stumble in surprise. A shockwave followed soon after, almost knocking her over again.
"W-What was that?" Gotland was shocked.
"We couldn't target the Abyssals with our missiles, but we can definitely target another human-made ship," Drake got back on the comms. "I told Admiral Schumann my plan, and we had all our destroyers and cruisers lock onto the Hameln II and fire all our missiles at it. The impact from the missiles blew up the ship and its entire ammo and missile stock, which is why we had you two push the Abyssals back towards it. If they're caught in an explosion that big, they won't survive."
I see… So he targeted the Hameln II instead of the Abyssals themselves, Bismarck summed up.
"Confirming, all Abyssal signatures have disappeared," Drake added. "We did it. Bismarck, you're all right? Can you make it back to the ship?"
"Yes, sir. I'll be there shortly," she replied, unable to keep the smile from her face.
"Okay. That's good…"
A few minutes later, Bismarck and Gotland entered the holding bay of the Konigs Tiger. Gotland had let the Swedish pilots know that she was going aboard the German battleship for repairs, and she was given clearance to do so now that the battle was won. The Konigs Tiger herself was still smoking from the torpedo hit, but she was otherwise unharmed; it seemed like Bismarck's early warning had allowed the ship to turn away from the majority of the torpedoes. The rest of the German ships were sailing towards the site of the Hameln II's sinking, scouring for any potential survivors in spite of the fact that the blast would have wiped out both human and Abyssal alike. The Gripens had returned to the SIN carrier that was sailing into the bay now that the threat had been eliminated.
As a trio of engineers helped Bismarck gingerly remove her rigging, Konteradmiral Schumann walked into the holding area.
"Bismarck! Well done," he congratulated her in German. "Nothing less from the Reich's greatest battleship!"
"Thank you, sir." Bismarck couldn't help but proudly puff up in spite of her injuries. "But… I must give credit to Admiral Drake. It was his plan, no?"
"Hm. Yes, the American proved to be smarter than I thought," Schumann nodded. "He was a bit reckless in causing such a huge explosion, but we had no choice but to go along with his plan when he told us that he ordered you and Gotland to waste all your ammunition. Regardless, I suppose he was successful in the end…"
"Is Admiral Drake still on the bridge?" Bismarck asked. Though she tried to hide it in her voice, she was eager to see him and make sure he was all right.
Schumann absently rubbed his mustache. "Oh, about that… Rear Admiral Drake is unconscious and in the sick bay right now."