Iowa was only tangentially aware of Ardent's desperate cry of "scatter" as the distant hum of incoming projectiles arced lazily towards the assembled ships. Somewhere off the her port side a destroyer screamed, it sounded like a Japanese voice to Iowa, but she wasn't giving it much attention.
Kicking her propellers into high gear, the water beneath Iowa began to churn violently, the engineers desperately working her boilers to get back her critical speed, soot coated fairies throwing shovel after shovel of coal in.
The destroyers near her had less trouble and had nearly surpassed Iowa's maximum speed when several groups of red geysers erupted, widely dispersed from a few hundred meters to Iowa's right, followed by a series of other splashes, each as vividly colored as the first.
Iowa tamed her crew, using the built up steam to bring herself to a stable eighteen knots and surveyed the situation, the other girls appeared to be in various states at the moment, San Juan and Atlanta seemed focused on keeping the destroyers busy. already Atlanta was going to each individual girl and individually and deliberately instructing them on their task and position in the formation. San Juan for her part, continued watching the horizon, a scowl on her face.
Following her unheard instructions to Hailey, Atlanta broke off, accelerating to the Battleships central location in the fleet.
"Okay," Iowa began angrily, before Atlanta had a time to deliver instructions, "how long has that shit been a thing!"
Atlanta adjusted her glasses through a confused look.
"Shooting over the horizon! They can't even see us!" Iowa announced, angrily gesturing towards the smokestacks.
"It's been awhile, but unless you want me to spend the next half hour explaining advances to gunnery drills we have more important things to do," lectured Atlanta.
"Right." Agreed Iowa.
"I'd like you to hold where you are in formation, they're probably making you a primary target, try going into evasive action after you hear the guns go off."
"Sounds like a plan."
"How are your engines holding up." the light cruiser asked, concern evident in her voice.
The intense negative aura of Iowa's chief engineer could be felt deep inside her as the fairies worked desperately to continue their quickened pace. "Fine." Iowa answered tersely.
Atlanta shot a skeptical look, "can you at least hold speed for another hour or two."
"Shouldn't be a problem." Iowa stated dismissively.
"Right," Atlanta confirmed before turning away from Iowa, "how are you holding up Fran?"
Iowa had just then had the state of mind to glance over her left shoulder, Frank's stood close by, her nervous gaze towards the horizon interrupted with a start by Atlanta's questioning. Jolting her slightly despite Ardent's comforting hand resting on her shoulder.
"Huh?!" Franks asked as if brought back to reality.
"Just checking in." Atlanta explained reassuringly, "how are you and Ardent here holding up."
"Uh- fine," Franks stated out of hand, "or- as fine as things here get."
"It'll be fine," Iowa interjected warmly, "I've been through worse."
Franks nodded glumly.
"Hey uh- you" Iowa fumbled addressing Ardent, standing off to Franks's side.
"Ardent." Ardent explained with brevity.
"Uh- right. You holding up okay?"
"If I said 'no' would there be anything in your power that could change all of that business?" She answered.
"I suppose that's fair." Iowa affirmed.
"Right." Atlanta finished, "well I'm off to make sure Stewart's taken care of. Take care."
"Right ho!" Ardent answered, drawing a confused look from Atlanta, before the light cruiser made her exit.
The silence that filled the gap of her departure did little to distract from the growing tension. The gentle sounds of lapping waves and humming engines were the only sounds before the distant thunder of guns began erupting once again a distant steady rumble of mixed calibers.
"high hell!" Iowa swore putting her rudder into a hard starboard turn.
The destroyers did a wide split, scattering to Iowa's port and starboard flanks and taking an irregular zig-zag to their path, Iowa had scarcely begun entering her turn before the two had made considerable gaps in the spacing between themselves and her, her rudder straining and engines at full speed as she struggled to alter her course.
Turning around and moving herself in backwards evasive maneuver, Franks gave Iowa a look of alarm, "scatter Iowa! Take evasive action!" She called desperately, "they're shooting at us!"
Iowa shot a frustrated look at the concerned escort, "I'm trying!" The battleship called as she shifted her rudder back to follow up on her decisively undramatic but desperate maneuver.
"Try faster." Ardent suggested unhelpfully.
The whistle of incoming rounds intensified, eventually growing to a loud howl as the rounds impacted the sea not 200 meters ahead of Iowa in a wide irregular pattern, spraying colorful geysers into the air.
Iowa called off her turn, taking herself into a more forward course. "Well that was fun," she announced to Franks with mock cheer.
"The right flank needs to start making smoke, we can't let that plane keep dropping gunfire on us." Atlanta called, "and spread out."
Various calls to the affirmative sounded and the formation widened noticeably gradually thickening puffs of smoke dancing from the funnels of the girls to Iowa's right. The formation steadied, with Franks and Ardent to iowas near her left and the light cruisers taking more distant positions to her right.
The brief feeling of situational control Iowa had was crashed almost as soon as it started as the booming thunder of naval guns sounded again several minutes later from the Abyssals, a series of loud explosions, followed by a thundering and steady series of more deliberate explosions half a minute later.
Placing her rudder into the far right, Iowa desperately tried to maneuver the best she could through the incoming shriek of naal gunfire. A heartwrenching number of seconds counted down until the colored geysers erupted a hundred yards ahead of the battleships.
"That's pretty close…"
"The smoke should prevent them from seeing us, they're ranging in on last known location, just move to the right." Franks explained with clear worry in her voice
"Im trying." Iowa called, frustration evident in her voice.
"Try harder!" Ardent suggested unhelpfully through a smug grin.
Iowa responded with an angry look, channeling the frustrated rage her engine crew was venting at her from her system straining efforts to dodge shells as the incoming sounds of shells grew louder.
The shells impacted directly into the smokescreen, spraying vividly colored water out of the edges of the thick curtain of smoke, bracketing in a close pattern.
One of the Japanese ships let out a startled yelp and the Americans cast nervous gazes towards the pillars of water, Iowa shifted her rudder hard left, taking her on a more irregular movement.
"That was bloody close." Ardent remarked.
"Closer than last time even", Iowa remarked.
The whistling increased again as the next salvo came closer, before slamming hard into the sea, right in the gap between Franks and Iowa, not 30 feet from the battleship and eliciting a scream from the destroyer.
"God damn!" Screamed the battleship.
A second round whistled through the air, before missing Iowa's stern by a matter of dozens of feet.
The half formed plan to alter course was interrupted by the third round's screeching, Iowa began shifting her rudder hard before feeling the pain of the incoming round in one of her starboard secondaries, as it slammed straight through the thinner roof armor.
Iowa let out a scream, falling to one knee in shock at the impact, further rounds missing narrowly around her before a second slammed hard into her stern, piercings through the deck and impacting her stern waterline, severing the drive shaft.
Iowa's pained scream drowned out the sounds of the additional rounds splashing harmlessly in the ocean around the ships as the ship collapsed briefly to one knee, shaking slightly
"Iowa!" Frank's called in alarm, moving protectively to the ship's side and drawing the attention of the other girls.
"Shit!" Ardent called offhand. "Iowa's hit."
Shaking uneasily on the newfound flooding, pain, and broken screw and clutcherinjg her wounded chest Iowa staggered unsteadily upwards, swaying slightly and further crimsion built up through her fingers.
"I'm fine," she stated with finality, despite the thin trickle of blood forming at the corner of her mouth.
Franks looked unconvinced, taking the battleships hand in an attempt to steady her.
"Circle the wagons girls!" San Juan yelled, her armaments swinging outwards to challenge the distant ships. "Franks." She added.
"Ye-yes?" The girl stammered, holding back tears as she clutched Iowa
"I need you to get Kongou on the line. I need it done yesterday."
Franks nodded, slightly and began sending out stammered messages. Into the headset
"Iowa!?" San Juan yelled.
Iowa responded with several choice curses.
"Can you move?"
"Barely." The battleship responded through clenched teeth. "Severed a screw."
"You'll be okay." Franks explained as more of a question than a statement.
Sweeping towards the commotion and towards her sister, Atlanta eyed Iowa with a grimace before returning to her sister for the sitrep.
"Iowa's hit." San Juan stated solemnly.
"It sounded like that. How bad is it? Can she make it back to port."
"Well, it sounds like she's not sinking anytime soon."
"That's good." Atlanta muttered, her characteristic drawl filled with tension.
"But she's not going anywhere soon, the shot severed a stew and she's slow enough as is."
Atlanta responded only by casting a hard glare on the horizon towards the enemy ships."
"They stopped shooting for now."
"So they did." San Juan agreed, probably conserving ammo."
"They also stopped moving." Atlanta stated, mentally checking her radar."
"You think it's the smoke?" San Juan asked. "God knows if they get close we'll fill them with more torpedos than they sent out at suritago."
"It might be," Atlanta noncommittally stated, "but either way we're stuck until Iowa gets fixed."
In the center of the formation, the battleship's world had begun to blur, despite the non-catastrophic nature of the hit, the pain had begun to dull her senses. Her damage control teams were frantically pumping, welding and extinguishing fires inside her the battleship struggled to make sense of damage and help direct the
"You promised!" Franks cried tears, welling up.
"i'm fine, just need to put out a few fires."
"I can send you damage control!" The girl pleaded.
"They don't know boilers or older ships anyway, just a few minutes of waiting and I'll be good to go," Iowa groaned clutching her wounded abdomen.
"We don't have a few minutes!" cried, Akebono from the right, angrily buttiing into the conversation. "Stupid battleship can't even keep up."
Franks cast a tear streaked death glare towards her Japanese contemporary. "We can't leave her!." she yelled angrily
For her part Akebono's recoiled and her expression softened slightly with guilt and the Japanese destroyer muttered softly to herself before granting the rest of the ships blissful silence. Pulling up next to her Japanese friend to watch from a distance.
Ardent had begun to tear off he ends of Iowa's dress, throwing it over the rapidly expanding crimson stains. Every time she wrapped a wound the rapidly paling battleship winced slightly under her touch.
Iowa broke the concentrated silence of the destroyer and Frank's light tears with a bitter chuckle, "those were some damn good shots, never seen anybody shoot through smoke like that before."
Frank's smiled slightly, "I haven't seen shooting like that since the Iowa's."
Iowa laughed, wincing slightly as Ardent tied of another bandage, "don't flatter me."
"Other Iowas," Ardent replied flatly, drawing a sheepish look from bebeath the battleships's paling face.
"I guess that makes sense."
Ardent tore a further strip from Iowa's dress, finally bringing about the battleship's notice.
"Man, I liked this dress too." She remarked sadly, "I wonder if the Japanese make nice clothes still?" She asked, directing her attention to Franks's worried face, 'I remember seeing some pretty ones when I was last there. Maybe we can get you something too, Franks, bet you'd look nice in one of those bright kimonos."
The destroyer blushed slightly.
"Sounds like the bloodloss is getting to her." Ardent muttered sarcastically, drawing Iowa's ire.
"Hey Fran!" Haggard called, suddenly, interrupting the conversation.
"Huh?"
"Are you seeing this?" Asked the further Fletcher, gesturing in the general area of their opponent.
"Seeing wh-" Franks began before stopping short.
Ardent cast a worried look at her friend and stopped her work, standing at the ready. Frank's expression locked firmly trough the smoke on the enemy formation.
"Are they coming?" Iowa asked, her good turrets turning to position.
"No," Franks replied with a smile "they've turned around."
"What?"
"They're retreating."
"What?" Ardent repeated.
Frank's smiled and gave a noncomittal shrug.
"Well that's good." Ardent stated, "unless they're being tricky."
"We need to stay on guard,", Iowa affirmed, taking a combative stance despite the damage.
"Hey Ardent!" Zubian repeated, yelling louder to get the destroyers attention.
"What?!"
"We've been yelling at you for fifteen bloody minutes." The girl chatized.
"I was trying to stop our dunce of a battleship from bleeding to death you that, why didn't you just bring your lazy arse down here?!"
Zubian gave a brief expression that seemed to indicate that she had hardly considered the idea, before recalling her earlier reasoning and holding up a headset, "We've got Kirishima on the line, she says she's almost in support range."
"Well that'd probably be it." Iowa stated.