A Certain Lady Part 17
"Kaga, sitrep," demanded Hiei.
"Red squadron has been eliminated and Gold squadron has lost six planes." Kaga's usually cool and detached voice had taken on characteristics far more in line with a searing fury. Sea spray would occasionally fizzle out in a burst of steam when it touched her hull. As she prepared to launch Gray squadron, her next wing of Zeros into the sky, she revealed Green's fate, "Green is down to one."
Hiei bit back a sharp curse as she took in the report. Losing her temper wouldn't do her or anyone else any good.
"What damage were we able to do? And what of Wardog?" Yamashiro queried.
"Both took some hits, but they managed to deal significant damage to one of the Orion-Class battleships before leaving the field. Kaga's planes were able to sink a Svetlana-Class and damage a Guissano-Class. Not much, but that anti-air did a lot of damage." Takao chimed in with the data she was receiving from her floatplane. The Jake was weaving in and out of anything that remotely came close to striking it, fully intent on staying in the field to keep an eye on the situation. "But we have bigger problems."
"They have air support," Kaga all but growled out.
"It has to be operating at an extreme range as well. I can't see any kind of carrier nearby." Takao looked skyward for a moment as her radio room received a long distance transmission. "And nothing from the Global Hawk. Wherever and whatever it is, it's well out sight."
"FFfffffiddlesticks..." Hiei's anger sputtered out as the bad news continued to mount. At that kind of range, the Abyssal platform was likely being held in reserve for a decisive strike or to maintain a CAP over the task force. And she certainly hoped it was the latter. It would be nice if one thing went their way today.
A CAP they could deal with. The scratches and raking fire from fighters was infinitely preferable to the knockout punches that torpedoes and bombs could deliver.
"Whatever their plan is for the mainland, it must be important." Tatsuta cast a dark eye in Hiei's direction. She idly twirled her polearm with one hand, paying no attention to the paths it traced but still handling the weapon with a practiced ease. "Abyssals don't send their precious little planes out just for fun. Even just to keep the skies clear."
"Which is why we're changing formation!" Hiei barked as she pointed to Kaga. "Kaga, pull all your kids back and stow everything that isn't a Zero. I want you ready to lock down any enemy planes. Get into the back of the formation and as far away as you can. Shimakaze, you're on guard duty. If something even looks at Kaga funny, I want it at the bottom."
"Ou! You can count on me." Shimakaze saluted and peeled off to marry herself to Kaga's retreating stern. She was the closest thing to an interceptor that had ever been put to sea and she would make absolutely certain that her speed kept one of Japan's few carriers was safe and sound. Her rabbit ear-like bandanna bobbed energetically in tune with the waves she cut through. "I've got enough speed for both of us."
"I am counting on it." Kaga allowed the barest hint of a smile to grace her features while her crews worked triple time to change gears and her radio operators called back the surviving attack force.
"Hm!"
"Next! Jintsuu, take center with Kawakaze and Shigure. The fox and the hound are going hunting and they'll need a minder."
"We need a minder?!" Kawakaze blurted out somewhat indignantly despite falling into formation with due haste and without question. "If anything, she's the one who needs a minder. Yeoman Third Class my a-!"
"Language, ensign." Jintsuu's slight smile belied the sharp edge to her words. So she had a bit of a reputation. Just a little one. Nothing for anyone to worry about. Least of all her assigned charges. She just hoped they could keep up with the pace of battle. Things tended to get a little hairy in the thick of it.
Shigure merely pulled up alongside Kawakaze, casting a glance in Yamashiro's direction as she did so. Her fists clenched to the point of eliciting a groan of creaking metal. She did not relish the idea of leaving the battleship's side, but she had been given her orders. And unlike some ships, she wouldn't raise a fuss about them just because of certain wording. Besides, she liked dogs.
"Ugh. This is crazy. Can't we just kill them and go home?" griped the pink haired Shiratsuyu.
"Now who's the crazy one, hm?" Takao shot back with good humor. Kawakaze was a bit too hot-headed for her own good at times. And paired with the right fleet and someone was about to come out with a bloody nose.
"Lieutenant, this formation is..." Yamashiro began voicing a growing concern she was having as she started piecing together what Hiei seemed to be planning. And she really hoped she was wrong.
"Don't worry. This won't be like last time. We've got plenty of spirit now. Enough to last us for this and more." Hiei smiled a brilliantly reassuring smile. "And both armor and ammo to spare! Now get your spotter in the air, Takao's is due for return soon."
Takao snickered as Yamashiro sighed and did as she was ordered.
"Now... Arizona, I have something special in mind for you and that belt of yours."
"My... belt?" Arizona spoke up for the first time in quite a good long while. While on base and at least amongst the Richardsons and a select few ships, she felt comfortable enough to be more sociable. However given the debacle with Kaga, Jane's worries, and the large number of unknown Japanese boats, the redhead was feeling less than talkative. She hadn't even really felt the need to harangue Shimakaze for that accursed ensemble.
That last bit was made all the worse thanks to the destroyer's seemingly professional and dedicated demeanor. It did not make sense to her. And she didn't have the spare thoughts to dwell further on it.
"Yup! No one in this fleet has a shred of hope in tanking Battleship Princess' big guns. Not without a miracle and the best angling on the seven seas. No one except you and Yamashiro. And you're packing even more than she is." Hiei thumbed in said battleship's direction and ignored the suddenly sickly pallor the dark haired woman's face had taken.
"My, But I don't think even her armor could handle something that big." Tatsuta remarked offhandedly with a finger on her chin.
"Not for long, no. But she doesn't need to," prompted Takao as she tried to keep a straight face. "Right?"
"Bingo!"
"So what is this formation you have in mind that will utilize our armor so well? Particularly given our speed." There was a mixture of doubt and hope in Arizona's voice. Doubt in the unknown, but hope in Hiei's vast experience. But there was an eagerness as well. A burning desire to fight that taunted her boilers.
Arizona felt her blood chill when Hiei smiled.
—|—|—
A towering splash exploded out of the sea to Arizona's starboard as she steamed ahead at flank.
The pitch black dye slapped against her hull and stained her coat a foul color. Unlike the simple black of Hiei's shells, this seemed to burn and crawl against her flesh as if trying to devour her. She shoved away a shiver whilst cutting a hard shift to port, ending the zig to her zag.
Behind her by a fair number of ship lengths, Yamashiro did the same.
All down the formation did the high speed snaking movement continue until it ended with Shimakaze's snappy turns.
It was an insane plan for fighting an insane enemy.
Arizona felt the massive weight of responsibility crushing against her shoulders. A weight that grew with every splash and near miss of Tosa's massive batteries. What's more, her meagre anti-air guns could not swat the Abyssal spotter from the sky. Even other skyward guns had trouble keeping a sight on the wretched plan. Her only saving grace was that the extreme range threw any real sense of precision out the window. The salvos were relatively accurate, but their precision was horrendous.
"I've lost my plane!" warned Yamashiro as the mayday of her scout reached her ears. One of the Abyssal planes had gotten a good eyeful and decided it wasn't fond of being spied upon. The Fusou-Class scowled, but kept her eyes on the horizon where Tosa's guns continued to thunder. Unless they wanted to risk setting up another launch, they'd have to make due with what their own range-finders could manage. Unfortunate, but they would make do. They had little other choice.
But with the distance closing as rapidly as it was, even for just over twenty knots, the longer ranged guns of their fleet would be able to open fire far sooner than later.
"Is everyone ready?" hollered Takao. A chorus of affirmatives was her reply. Some more high spirited than others. Hiei was perhaps the most enthusiastic of them all, but part of her figured it partly had to do with the fact the brunette was the flagship. Appearances had to be kept up for morale and all. But she wasn't so sure she'd be able to quite match up if put in the same situation.
Arizona for her part merely narrowed her eyes as the distance grew ever shorter and Tosa's guns tightened up more and more. Even with their evasion patterns, all it would take was one lucky shot to punch through her deck. Even easier for the thinner armor of her allies.
That was why she had been ordered to lead the charge. Golden bullets aside, only the sixteen-inch shells posed any real threat to her. Which made it her job to draw as much fire as possible.
"Here it comes..." Hatsuzuki's stern warning was all that preceded the sky being filled with steel.
The massive broadside from Tosa was bad enough. But now the Guissanos were adding their own to the mix. Inaccurate and imprecise. But there was a quality in quantity as thirty-two shells came raining down. Small, but with plenty of range.
A few of the shells managed to strike Arizona, bouncing off her armor with loud clangs and leaving little more than dents from their sheer velocity. But the vast majority splashed all around her. One even managed to fall so far past her that Yamashiro felt a spray of sea land on her deck. However one of the Italian rounds managed to score a lucky enough it to impact against Arizona's conning tower.
She ignored the itch on her cheek in favor of turning her guns ever so slightly in preparation for their next maneuver.
The distances closed far more rapidly than Arizona could have expected and it was not even minutes before Yamashiro, Hiei, and Takao began returning fire in earnest. But not her. No, she had been ordered to hold fire at her most extreme ranges. Even as every other gun that could reach out and touch someone began to roar and scream in fury, she was to remain silent and let them treat her as more than she was.
Fire was thrown about in earnest with Arizona and Yamashiro taking the brunt of it as they fell into range first. Secondaries were smashed and structures damaged when the malevolent artillery managed to strike home. But nothing was stopping them.
Up high the howling of engines filled their air as Kaga's Zeros began tangling with the Abyssal planes. While it wouldn't readily permit her to launch bombers or torpedo planes, it would keep the skies busy and let those with anti-air crews focus more on the surface.
Shards of stricken planes and tumbling fireballs fell from the sky like the scene from a nightmare.
A salvo of shells measuring thirteen and a half inches each from the healthier of the two Orions slammed into her side with a brutal ring and nearly staggered her. But they did not penetrate. Her armor held. She remained the wall moving forward, unstoppable. Even as her superstructure bled, her will and her crews pushed her forward.
The ear-splitting crack of snapping steel accompanied a pained wail from Yamashiro. One of Tosa's shells had found it's mark and bracketing fire had managed to tear away a portion of the battleship's pagoda mast. It had not struck anything crippling, but it had still torn a bloody gash out of her neck.
"G-Go! We k-keep going!" With blazing red eyes, Yamashiro steeled herself and pushed forward. She refused to be the weak link.
"Start rolling over them! Jintsuu, hunting time!" Roared Hiei over the din of her guns as she took note of the Abyssal destroyers beginning to make their move. "Broadsides! Arizona, weapons free."
As one entity, like a great war machine, the three battleships and one heavy cruiser snapped about in a great arc. Their broadsides were bared to hungry enemy fangs. But no longer was their T crossed. They were not pinned in. This was not the Strait where the last great battle between battleships took place. This was wide open ocean.
Now all guns could fire. Now their rifles would speak as one.
And with a rolling roar, their guns thundered down the line.
A veritable wall of steel, fourteen and eight inches thick, slammed into the Abyssal formation.
While it did not shatter their spine, it did draw first blood.
One of the two remaining Svetlanas was far too slow to evade the deadly salvo and found itself torn asunder with such ferocity that no one was certain who dealt the killing blow. And the dying Orion was given its last rites, finally taking the lethal shell from Takao and giving up the fight in a sputtering, gurgling explosion of burning fuel and black steel.
Yet for all it's impressive display, little more than superficial damage was done to the enemy vessels. And hardly a scratch had been put into the mass of destroyers as they cut violent arcs into the frothing sea.
Some of the more attentive girls would have sworn they heard a malicious and mirthful laughter emanating from Tosa as her well armored belt bounced nearly every single shell that managed to strike her. Kaga in particular, despite being held so far back that even Tosa's guns could not touch her, nearly froze as a hellish timbre seemed to crawl out of her bones to reach her ears.
But as the Abyssal destroyers began charging through the firestorm as though Hell itself was hot on their heels, three plumes of seaspray fell in behind a pair of Shiratsuyu and one Sendai.
"Go get 'em!" Shouted Shimakaze over the radio.
"Hahaha! They don't stand a chance." Kawakaze's boisterous reply was met with a maelstrom of small arms fire. The sea erupted all around them as the Abyssal forces split their fire to accommodate the haymaker that followed the battleships' hook. Everything from one-inch to five was suddenly hurled in their direction.
But she did not care.
Nor did Shigure.
And Jintsuu's expression was one of hunger.
They fell into a tight line as they raced into the enemy formation, returning fire with a dedicated ferocity. The cracking of their gunfire came at such a pace that it sounded like a machine gun without a care for expenditure. Even as their hulls were struck and pierced, they charged into the brink. Flesh wounds were nothing to them.
"Torpedoes! Portside," shouted the normally calm Shigure while one of Takao's salvos screamed overhead to repay an Italian for a particularly nasty blow to her fore.
Without dropping speed, the three banked hard into the approaching fish and scraped by with only a scant few yards to spare. Kawakaze put a few well placed rounds into the nonexistent armor surrounding the W-Class' engine room. They were vile mockeries at best and it showed when the Abyssal's hamstrings were so effectively cut.
But it was Jintsuu who took the kill with a staggered volley of five-and-a-half inch high capacity shells. The explosions came one after another, ripping away Abyssal steel until only burning oil and twisted metal remained.
They did not slow down nor evade the spill, but cut through it. A wave of burning slick was tossed into the air by their passing as they set upon the destroyers with a merciless fervor. They could not take on Tosa. Not with their arms and armaments. But they could butcher the hindrances for those who could.
For those who were familiar with her, Jintsuu's wrath was nothing new.
But Arizona was nearly taken aback as the sweet, yet terrifying woman, all but skewered one of the monstrosities with a well placed torpedo and smiled as she did so.
"Hiei! Dodge!" cried out Tatsuta from her bloody lips as she swerved around another inbound Russian salvo.
"Shit shit shit!" Hiei swore almost frantically as she attempted to blow the falling Abyssal plane out of the sky. Anti-air crews were firing frantically to effect some salvation out of the situation, but it was to no avail. Her evasion came too late and her guns did not pack the right kind of punch.
With a deafening explosion, the aircraft crashed into her deck and erupted into a sickeningly dark fireball. Hiei let out a cry of agony as the combined mass and the explosion punched through her topside armor just aft of her number two turret. Fires raged all over her superstructure as she held her wounded midsection as though it would alleviate the pain in some manner. Only sheer luck and the well practiced work of her damage control prevented the fires from spreading to her magazine.
"Hiei, pull out! Break! Princess has eyes!" Hatsuzuki rarely rose such a ruckus, but when she did you most certainly listened. Particularly when that ruckus was words of warning.
Even if that warning would prove fruitless.
Tosa chose that moment to reach out and truly touch somebody.
And that somebody was the second Kongou.
Battleship Princess' touch was as wicked as could be imagined. What's more, it was downright cruel when she decided effort was worth expending.
Hiei's eyes widened as fireballs erupted all along Tosa's broadside, signaling the imminent arrival of a lethal payload. Her mouth opened in a shout of warning, but no sound emanated from her lips.
Ten shells had been fired and a full half of them found their mark.
One tore half her radar and a fair chunk of her bridge away.
The second and third struck her number four turret. One near the gunport and the other near the barbette. A violent explosion blew the entire assembly apart as loaded powder was cooked off. One of the barrels was hurled so violently by the blast into the air that it crashed down halfway to Takao's position.
The fourth ripped the top half of her bow off in a messy burst of shredded armor and anchor chain.
And the fifth pierced deep into her side, coming to a halt near the magazines for her already imperiled number two turret and the damaged number one. If it had not been for the efforts to prevent an explosion of her stores already in place, the ensuing detonation of the Abyssal armor piercer would have blown Hiei to kingdom come in a scene very familiar to two certain battleships. Instead it only ravaged already damaged components to the point they would never be recognizable again.
But as she fell to her knees upon the water in a savaged and bloody heap, Battleship Hiei knew she was not yet dead. She still had her facilities. Her boilers and screws. She still had one set of working rifles.
Yet she could not move of her own volition. She was dimly aware of her surroundings. Of the list to one side and of the loss in power as she slowly drifted out of formation in a blazing wreck. Of the last few cookies she had saved falling into the bloody ocean.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she might have sworn she heard an explosion of rage and fury. But then there was nothing but darkness.
—|—|—
Yamashiro continued firing as a sickening numbness fell over her.
Her secondaries lit up a destroyer that had managed to sneak past Jintsuu's bloody offensive. The foul parody of British engineering had it's torpedoes set off before it had any chance to line up a shot, crippling the vessel before Tatsuta's guns finished the job with perhaps more firepower than was actually needed for the kill.
With an almost machine-like detachment, she swung her bow towards the enemy flagship to spoil the chance for Battleship Princess' next salvo to strike against her broadside. Takao was doing much the same with a much more stricken expression as her guns continued pouring fire onto the speedy Italian cruisers. There was a groan or tearing metal when one of the heavy cruiser's volleys struck below the waterline and gouged a lethal hole into the Abyssal hull. Yamashiro only noted there was one less target to worry about as the Guissano sank rapidly.
Kawakaze and Shigure broke off from Jintsuu's stern to flank the last Svetlana on each side. A barrage of torpedoes emptied their stock and blew the Russian to smithereens. There was next to nothing left of the cruiser below the waterline and what remained of it's internals sloughed out of the unsupported shell with the screech of grinding metal.
The pink haired destroyer gave only an extra moment to flip an obscene gesture at the corpse before rejoining Jintsuu and Shigure, her guns never going silent.
"A-Attention fleet," started Yamashiro before she fired another salvo at the Princess, managing to miss by a wide angle as the Abyssal flagship turned to return the favor of spoiling her firing solution. "I'm t-taking command. Hiei is critical. I repeat, Hiei is critical. P-possibly lost."
Hiei's unmoving hulk did not refute these words.
Far removed from the bloody crossfire, Kaga's heart turned to ice.
"Understood." She drew a deep breath while working to cycle out her fighters. "Your orders?"
Remain calm. Remain in control. Do not allow yourself to be anything other than precise, efficient, and dedicated. Hiei was a casualty of war. They all knew the risks and that an infinite number of factors could spell their end. Whether gallantly, foolishly, or brutally. They all could be sent to the deep without mercy.
"Kaga, you're overheating." Shimakaze's grief stricken face did not look at the fleet carrier as she pointed out the billows of steam rising from Kaga's feet. She wanted to get into the fight herself. But she had been ordered to guard one of Japan's few and precious carriers. And she would. What's more, blood would be repaid with blood, even if not by her. That was the only solace she could take at the violence against their flagship.
They could grieve and mourn should Hiei's fate prove to be final, but now they had to make sure the rest survived.
"Kill them. Clear the skies and kill the cruise-." Yamashiro was cut off as a roar of pain and anger erupted from the spearhead of the line. She looked towards Arizona, who was hunched over and spilling smoke from her bridge. The American's body was shaking and she could not tell whether from pain or from rage. "Get those planes in the a-air."
"Yamashiro, the Orion!" Tatsuta called out the British battleship's charge to cover Tosa before being forced to swing around in a tight circle so as to avoid incoming fire from said warship. A high capacity shell hit her fore turret and nearly tore it from it's mountings with a mighty blast. She bit her lip whilst dumping her fish into the water. Ablaze and wrought with shrapnel, the weapons were a greater liability to such an outdated ship as her.
But still she returned fire with her functioning guns, however ineffective they might prove to be. Tenryuu would never let her live it down if she let such a scratch keep her out of the fight.
Yamashiro was about to send orders to Takao, when Tosa furled another broadside into the air. This time split between the heavy cruiser and Arizona.
Two shells managed to strike the American, one only bouncing off her turret with a tremendous clanging sound. The other hit amidships and gouged a chunk of Arizona's belt out of her hull just aft of her rear tower. The wound was gaping and the most delicious vulnerability any enemy could ask for when against a heavily armored battleship. As if to speak her defiance, Arizona's rifles bellowed furiously in retaliation.
Takao was fortunate enough to only be struck once, but that single shell carried enough weight to demolish the central turret of her fore batteries. The impact rocked her terribly and she fought to stay stable. The savaged armament fell forward without sufficient support and crashed down on her forward-most turret, effectively knocking out as the metal twisted about itself.
The cruiser let out a cry of pain as her arm was effectively broken in twain. She could not help the tears of agony streaming down her face as the battle of attrition continued to rage.
"Ha-Hatsuzuki! Break off. G-Go help Hiei if you can." Yamashiro barked her orders with far less poise or authority than Hiei, but they were orders nonetheless. And would have been glad to see the destroyer follow them without even a moment of hesitation. She caught sight of Jintsuu's savage task force dance around and through fire, cutting themselves to butcher the destroyers lest they make for the much slower line of capital ships. The Fusou-Class would not stop them. Their job was needed.
More heavy fire sailed by, slashing down into the water or bouncing off of sufficiently armored surfaces.
As an Abyssal fighter slammed into an allied Zero, the sound of new aircraft reached the flagship's ears.
Kates.
All twenty-one members of Kaga's torpedo armament.
They screamed low to the surface like a wave of locusts. Far too low to be effectively engaged by anti-air installments and only high enough that the churning waves could barely splash against their deadly weapons.
Kaga was furious.
And the fury of Carrier Division One is not to be taken lightly.
Tosa could not engage the planes to protect her escorts without silencing her sixteen-inch rifles, not without allowing the brutalized allied the chance to effectively regroup. There were plenty of sacrifices she was willing to make. While not pleasant, she was more than willing to sacrifice her escorts if it allowed her to hunt the weakened shipgirls.
Paltry fire swatted down two of the vengeful planes, but they screamed forward nearly unimpeded towards the Italian cruisers.
Up above, the surviving Zeros threw themselves into a frenzy. Dangerous risks. Near suicidal turns. And maneuvers that came close to tearing their own planes apart. All to keep the dwindling Abyssal planes in check. Even if reinforcements came, they would be set upon by screaming eagles.
In moments, the water was filled with torpedoes. Three groups. All chewing through the sea like ravenous sharks.
One Kate took a shot to the wing, slicing it off and sending it tumbling into the Guissano is had targeted. The ensuing explosion was made all the more furious when the spread of torpedoes struck.
Kaga's planes had brought down the hammer upon the cruisers and in a series of oily explosions, nailed down the coffins on two cruisers that remained. The third having barely escaped with it's life. But it's hull was still a wretched mass of twisted steel. Mortally wounded, it began charging at the battle-line.
It would never make it even halfway.
Jintsuu loosed the fox and the hound upon the last two destroyers while she cut hard towards the final Guissano. Her eyes were empty all for a serene violence. This monster did not harm Hiei. Not even close. But she would murder it as if it had been Tosa herself.
Her torpedoes flew from from their tubes madly, knifing into the water or bouncing off of it in a bizarrely savage display. Guns barked viciously as she dismantled her opponent. Fires raged and blacked steel was torn. One by one Jintsuu's torpedo struck with great plumes of fire and water. One of her weapons flew from the water and crashed against the bridge of the Italian, detonating with such ferocity that the bridge was reduced to little more than scrap.
Her foe dead, but her anger was not satiated.
"She's running!" shouted Kawakaze as she killed one of two destroyers still afloat.
Sure enough, expending the Orion as a shield, Tosa was attempting to put on steam and flee the field. But she did not silence her guns. Not in the slightest.
That was the last straw.
"GET BACK HERE!"
From Battleship Arizona erupted a roar of undiluted fury. Her guns exploded in unison, hurling a wrathful salvo at Battleship Princess as she put everything she had into hitting flank and charging at her hated enemy. The anger mounted when they missed wildly or merely deflected off of an armored face.
"Arizona! Get back here! Ge-!" Yamashiro tried to stop the standard battleship to no avail, watching almost helplessly as her commands were ignored. She did not hold the leash that Hiei did. And even then she was not certain she would not do the same if she was not saddled with the duty of a flagship. "All ships! Cover Arizona!"
The unanimous confirmation drew all guns that could still speak to fire upon the last two enemy vessels as their owners cut in to regroup and fulfill their orders.
Arizona paid no attention to her sudden support. Her blood-tinged vision saw only objects of hatred. Targets of vengeance. Things to kill. Monsters to slaughter.
The golden flecks of her steely eyes glowed like yellow fire while she shouted her throat hoarse in tune to her guns. She cared not for her safety as her crews began firing far faster than they were ever rated to. Her damage control focused only on what would let her kill more and kill longer. As an incarnation of wrath, Arizona descended into a state not unlike an enraged beast.
The Orion appeared to flinch in the face of her wrath and under the pummelling of support fire, its returning fire missing wildly.
But Arizona did not care for the effect she inflicted upon the Abyssal.
A furious roar was spoken in a tongue not recognizable by any as Arizona incoherently demanded that the Orion get out of her way.
When it did not comply, her guns blasted the British warship's midsection with a volley from both forward turrets. The barrage was married with every functional secondary Arizona could physically aim at it. It pierced deep into the machine spaces and the detonation of her armor pierces shredded everything to ribbons. Fires raged and made their way down the innards of the Abyssal.
With plumes of fire exploding out of the weakened armor, the last Orion was rent asunder beneath Arizona's savagery and the combined fire of her allies.
But the real target still evaded her.
Tosa fired her aft cannons to drive away her pursuers, forcing Takao and Yamashiro to take evasive action or be slain openly. Meanwhile the Abyssal's secondaries held the destroyers and cruisers at bay. Even Jintsuu was unable to move in through the walls of gunfire being projected in front of her. A daring advance nearly took her head off as a barrage of five-and-a-half inch shells raked down her superstructure.
"Kaga, can you get planes on her?" demanded Yamashiro as she continued firing to support the charging Arizona.
"Negative. Not without sacrificing what I already have in the air."
Yamashiro held back a curse before turning her attention from Tosa to Arizona.
"All forces! Stand down and fall back. Focus on repair and recovery." The dark haired battleship swallowed her nerves as she called out the end of the battle. "Battleship Princess is fleeing. W-We've completed our mission. Repeat. Mission complete..."
She refused to say they had won.
"ARIZONA! STAND DOWN!" Jintsuu shouted with the kind of deathly authority Hiei normally commanded.
The redhead fired one last salvo before slowing down, the fourteen inch shells flying with the last of her fury.
Of those that struck, only one managed to draw blood from Tosa.
It did not pierce anything of value. Nor did it come close to inflicting any real damage. But it did manage to punch clean through Tosa's smokestack.
It was the most severe wound inflicted on Battleship Princess during the entire engagement.
As the fleet regrouped and set about doing everything they could to save the dying Hiei, Arizona fell to her knees. Her eyes, now filled with a hateful despair remained focused on the distance and the smoke trail in the southeastern sky left by Tosa.
They had driven off the enemy.
They had completed their missions.
But at tremendous cost.
Battleship Arizona clenched her eyes, letting filthy tears fall to mingle with bloody wounds before roaring her impotent fury at the heavens.