"Targets are within range of Rodney's guns, Commander."
"Commander, permission to fire?"
"Isaac, scared"
"Ready for repairs, nyaa"
"Everything is good to go, Kommandant. On your orders."
"Everyone, will you please be quiet." Isaac yelled after hearing the mass influx of radio chatter.
"Commander, we need a game plan, now." Rodney spoke.
"One step at a time. Just like mom taught me. Eagle, fly your Albacores low and drop torpedos as close as you can without sacrificing aircraft." Isaac ordered.
"Aye." Eagle responded as her book began to glow slightly.
"Torpedos launched." Eagle said as Isaac looked through binoculars. The albacores were dancing through the sky, dodging bolts of light coming from the 4 drone ships. Columns of water shot up in front of their hulls as Isaac could see torpedo detonations.
"Three targets confirmed hit. Looks like we didnt penetrate their shields. I see no structural damage." Eagle said, her eyes glowing along with her grimoire.
"Shields? Do you guys have shields?" Isaac wondered.
"We do and they are a lot stronger than drone ships, that said, we still feel the pain." Rodney spoke.
"I see. Well time for a change in tactics. Rodney, fire at will, armor piercing followed by high explosive. Eagle, ready some Albacores with 1000 pound AP bombs. We're gonna rip those shields to shreds." Isaac said as he watched the albacores in the distance fall into the ocean. He turned to see new ones shimmer to life on the runway.
"Sir, Ships have begun firing. They are within 15 miles." Eagle reported.
"Okay. Nimi, time for a close range torpedo run, can your shields manage?" Isaac asked as a bolt of plasma faded against the command tower of the Eagle, rocking the vessel.
"Ja. I'll send them to the bottom." Nimi said.
"Let Rodney soften them up then flank speed to within 1000 meters. Return to the fleet and prepare for another run if needed." Isaac commanded.
The plan began execution the moment Rodney let her 16 inch shells fly. The albacores bore witness to the gaping holes punched in the drone ship shields.
"Holes in the shields, commander." Eagle reported.
"Drop the bombs through them. Soften those ships up so Nimi can get in close." Isaac said as he confirmed the release of 6 - 1000 pound bombs on the forward 3 drone ships.
"6 dropped. 6 confirmed detonations. I see smoke." Isaac spoke as the fleet came under heavy plasma bolt attack.
"Where did that come from!?" Isaac asked as he was thrown sideways into the wall of the bridge.
"Siren Aircraft! That last ship is a carrier class!" Eagle yelled as her albacores were torn to shreds. Isaac scrambled to his feet and scoured the ocean, looking for the Z23.
"Nimi!? We've come under air attack, watch your back!" Isaac yelled into the radio.
"Eagle, ready the spitfires. Everyone else, divert all attention to the skies. Commence AA defence." Isaac barked, watching as the sky above became blanketed with bullets and flak.
"There are too many!"
"We can't shake all of them!"
"God, they really arent pulling their punches anymore."
"Nyaa!" Akashi's scream tore Isaac's eyes from the sky. A fire had broken out onboard the Akashi.
"Akashi!" Isaac yelled as he watched the flames slowly spread.
"Shit! Akashi, pull up next to the Eagle. I'll try to help put out those fires!" Isaac yelled as he ran from the bridge.
"I'm assuming command then." Eagle spoke.
"Nimi, get your torpedos away and get back here, we need to exhaust their air support before we can fire back." Eagle said calmly as alien ships continued to harass the fleet.
Out on the flight deck, Isaac had procured a hose and was spraying foam onto the deck of the Akashi.
"Nyaa! Akashi is not a warship! Akashi does not have good shields!" Akashi cried as she kept pouring buckets of water on the deck, pushing the flaming oil off the deck and into the sea.
"Akashi, we'll hold them off. Retreat to the base. We'll hole up in Fiji for reinforcements. Send for Omaha and I-13." Isaac commanded.
"Shikikan! I can still help!" Akashi protested.
"I'm not saying you can't, young one. But your purpose is not on the battlefield. Retreat! That is an order!" Isaac roared over the sound of gunfire and plasma blasts.
"Hai!" Akashi said after a moment of hesitation. The akashi turned 180 degrees and steamed off towards Azur Lane.
"Commander! Look out!" Eagle screamed as a downed Siren craft bypassed her shields and slammed into the flight deck just inches away from Isaac. He managed three steps in the opposite direction before a fuel cell exploded, throwing him forwards, face first into the flight deck. Isaac blacked out right there, knocked unconscious by the force of the explosion.
"You sons of bitches!" Eagle roared as her eyes glowed brighter than before.
The wreckage was pushed off the runway by an invisible force. One by one, Albacores launched, mere feet in front of Isaac's unconscious form. Eagle began lagging behind the fleet until everyone realized that she had dropped anchor.
"You hurt my precious commander! You hurt my friends! You have drowned this world in sorrow and agony! I will have you atone with your lives!" Eagle screamed as the sky was darkened with the wings of bomb toting Albacores. The sound of gunfire diminished as the roar of engines overwhelmed everything else.
"Thirty?!" Rodney exclaimed after a quick count in her head.
"She launched her entire compliment on sheer will." Rodney stated in disbelief. She looked up at the flight deck of the Eagle, the red glare of Eagle's eyes was unmistakable.
"Taste the might of my swords!" Eagle screamed as the bombs were released over all four ships in the enemy formation, shattering their shields and setting fires on the flight deck of the drone carrier.
"Rodney! Fire everything! I! Want! Them! Dead!" Eagle demanded as her glowing red eyes bored into Rodney.
"O-on it!" Rodney replied quickly as she aimed her 16 inch rifles and fired. With no shields left to speak of, the shells impacted the drone ship hulls unabated. One of the drone ships shielding the carrier sunk quickly after having one of Rodney's shells detonate within the ammunition magazine. Nimi was close enough to weave in between all three remaining ships and drop torpedos on all three, causing massive damage that ultimately sunk the remaining three drone ships. Rodney, Eldridge and Nimi focused on cleanup duty while Eagle limped over to Isaac.
"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay!" Eagle cried repeatedly as she knelt down next to Isaac. The soft rise and fall of his singed back told her he was alive. Eagle looked to the sky.
"Maybe those Iris girls were on to something." She said as she carefully picked up Isaac and put him on her back, using the flats of her rigging to help support him.
"A bit of a heavier chap, arent you, commander?" Eagle said with a forced chuckle. Her own pain from taking the brunt of the plasma fire was also hindering her ability to move.
"Hurts to move, but I'm okay. Us kansen heal real quick. I'll be good as new by the time you wake up." Eagle said, tears forming because she had no clue if he would. After laying the commander in the medical bay, Eagle pulled her anchor and steamed forward to regroup with the rest of their fleet.
"We need to go. The reinforcements will be combing the area by sundown. Thankfully, we are already a third of the way to Fiji." Rodney spoke as Eagle rejoined their group.
"Where is the Kommandant?" Nimi asked. The look on Eagle's face told the rest of them everything they needed to know.
"How bad?" Rodney asked.
"On the outside, it's minor. Just bumps scrapes and cuts from shrapnel. I don't know about his insides... he was only 3 meters from that explosion. He is still unconscious in my med bay." Eagle said as the other three looked over her body as well.
"You don't look too good yourself." Rodney spoke as Nimi walked across the flight deck to her.
"This was just against a single drone ship fleet. And the kommandant's plan worked for the most part. Smash their shields and rip them apart. But we don't have the AA capabilities to face another drone carrier. The fact that we survived... was dumb luck." Nimi said.
"So what, we retreat? We hide and cower?" Eagle asked.
"What can we do, Eagle?! Our commander is out cold and we barely made it through our first fight!" Rodney yelled.
"I... I dont know." Eagle replied.
"Miss Cleveland." Eldridge said quietly.
"Who?" Rodney asked.
"Pearl Harbor. Miss Cleveland at Pearl Harbor." Eldridge said.
"We can't. Pearl is under Siren control and is almost three weeks away under ideal circumstances." Rodney spoke.
"We can't keep sitting on the sidelines. We are only a day out from Tonga. We can turn back.
Isaac sent Akashi to get Omaha and I-13." Eagle suggested.
"That might be the best. Radio the Akashi and tell her that we are retreating with wounded back to Tonga. And to send our reinforcements there." Nimi said.
"Akashi?" Rodney tried.
"N-nyaa?" A frightful voice replied.
"It's Rodney. We are headed back to Tonga. The commander was injured in battle and we can't move forward without those reinforcements. Send them to Tonga to meet up with us." Rodney explained.
"H-hai." Akashi said as the line went to static.
"She just left radio range. Poor thing is scared. She never saw combat, not even during the war. The last Commander never sent her out." Rodney said.
"Our commander didnt have a choice. We were going off of numbers from the pre-war sirens. When they were playing with us. This isnt that. And he made the choice to send her home. So he isnt at fault." Eagle leapt to Isaac's defense.
"I'm not blaming him. But we were foolish to think that four ships would be enough." Rodney retorted.
"Let's discuss this more at a later time. Full steam ahead, back towards Tonga." Eagle ordered, to which the other girls complied.
"Talk about a failed mission." Eagle said as she limped, with the help of Nimi, back down to the med bay.
"Rodney? Did you face off against drone ships when you saved I-13? Nimi asked.
"Yes i did. But the ones we faced today were battleship class escorting a carrier class. We were outclassed from the start. The seven ships I destroyed were destroyer class. Weaker shields, lighter armor, less powerful weaponry. Sure their torpedos hurt like a bitch, but it wasnt anything I couldnt handle." Rodney spoke up.
"I see. So theres that much difference, huh?" Nimi asked.
"Definately. You said it yourself. We survived on luck. Nothing more." Rodney said.