War Room, NS Midway Island, June, 19, 2018
Nicholas always thought that the term "War Room" was a bit grandiose. The room had started out as a large conference room on the bottom floor of the main headquarters, and it was now a place to deliver mission briefings. The large conference table had been removed and replaced with several rows of seats. Enterprise had remarked that the room now looked very similar to a squadron ready room. Nicholas was sitting with her sisters in the front row, waiting for Smith to come in and explain why they had been summoned.
She was a bit surprised when Enterprise walked in and sat down in the row behind them. Fletcher leaned across O'Bannon to whisper to Nicholas, "This is the real deal."
"Why do you say that?" Nicholas asked in a whisper.
"Think about it, the captain has gathered all of the combat capable ships on the base in the briefing room. This can only mean he's planning a mission.
Radford, who was sitting opposite of Fletcher, spoke up, "Combat capable, we've only had a week of training."
Enterprise leaned up and told her, "That's more training than the first ship girls had when the started."
"I know," Radford replied with a sigh, "But I would have preferred at least a little more."
All further conversation was stopped when Smith entered the room, and Fletcher jumped to her feet with a cry of, "Attention on deck." It took the other girls a moment to remember what was expected of them before they too jumped to their feet.
Smith simply grunted, "As you were," and the girls retook their seats. He quickly turned on the room's projector and plugged it into a laptop. "I'll have to be quick about this, we don't have a lot of time. One hour ago this ship, the USNS Arctic, was dispatched from Pearl with the ultimate destination of this base," he tapped a key on the computer and a picture of a large cargo ship came up on the screen. "Now, as it stands, the Arctic, only has one escort, the USS Halsey, a Flight I Burke class destroyer," he tapped the key again and the picture changed to that of a destroyer. "Your mission is to rendezvous with the Arctic and assist the Halsey in escorting her back to this base. The probability of her being attacked by the Abyssals is high, they friggin love to go after lightly armed transports," Smith detailed. "Any questions?"
Fletcher raised her hand, then asked, "How are we supposed to get out to the Arctic?"
"Good question," Smith replied, then brought up a map of the Pacific Ocean on the screen. "This is the last reported position of the Arctic via GPS," a dot appeared on the map just outside of the Hawaiian Islands. "We're going to fly you all out in the Seahawk. It just has the range to get out there with a few aux tanks strapped to the side, but it can't make it back. So it's going to land on the Halsey and hitch a ride back," Smith explained. "If there are no further questions, then go over to the equipment yards and pick up your kits, and then meet me at Henderson to catch your ride," Smith ordered.
The five girls chorused, "Aye aye, sir."
It wasn't a long walk from the HQ to the equipment yard, really and old hangar given over for the purpose of storing ship girl weapons. Inside there were rows of storage lockers, each storing a particular ship's kit. Nicholas walked up to the one with her name on it, and yanked the door open. She removed the main pack and shrugged into its straps. The thing was a backpack version of her old number one funnel. Mounted to its front, and laying up her spine, was a smaller version of her mainmast, with its SC search radar antenna mounted on its top. To each side of the funnel were gun pits each containing a quad mount 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns.
Next she pulled out her two quintuple mount 21" torpedo tubes and strapped them to her thighs, and picked up her hand held 5"38 caliber main turret, throwing its web sling over her shoulder. A quick glance at her sisters confirmed that they were almost done donning their equipment. Navy uniform regs meant that they had to wear NWUs while on duty, but Smith had given them a little more leeway with their equipment. For example, O'Bannon had painted a shamrock on her funnel, just like she used to wear on her old stack, and each girl had been allowed to paint a miniaturized version of their combat ribbons and scoreboards on their funnels.
"You girls about done?" asked Enterprise, who had appeared in the door. Her equipment was a bit lighter than destroyer's. It consisted only of a version of her old hull strapped diagonally across her back, and two quad Bofors pits strapped to her hips. Nicholas saw that she was in the process of running a squeeze bottle full of gun oil over the action of her M1903, making absolutely certain that it was ready for combat. When she was done, she stuck the little, plastic bottle back in her locker, and took out the green ammo can with, ". 30-06 5-Round Stripper Clips, Various Aircraft," stenciled on the side. The can had originally said, "840 CRTG 5.56MM," but after Enterprise had stolen the empty can from the range, she had repainted it and re-stenciled it to prevent anyone from using her special rounds.
"I'm ready," Nicholas announced, throwing her boots over shoulders. The bulky things were what allowed her to sail at thirty plus knots over the surface of the water, but they were a pain to walk around in, so she decided she would put them on later.
"Let's go girls, we have a mission to complete," Enterprise said, slinging her rifle alongside her flight deck. The ship girls quickly made their way to Henderson Field, the island's main airstrip. When Nicholas walked out onto the parking apron, she could see that one of the base's two MH-60S utility helicopters had been pushed out of its hangar onto the apron. There was a flock of NWU clad ground crew personnel running around the thing making sure that it was ready to take off. There was something strange about the helicopter today. Hanging from a pair of stubby wings bolted to its flanks, were several bomb shaped auxiliary fuel tanks.
Her visual inspection of the thing was cut short when Captain Smith ran up to them and asked, "You girls ready?"
Enterprise replied, "We're ready to go, sir."
"Before you go, I have some more equipment for you," he unslung a backpack, lowered it to the ground, and then began to root around inside it. He came up holding a few small radios with attached headsets. "These are a bit better than your standard comms gear," he explained, handing over the radios. Then he brought out a stack of pistols in standard web holsters, "I don't think these need much explanation."
When Nicholas took her holster, she was a bit surprised to see that inside of it was a M1911 pistol, instead of the M9 she was expecting. "Chief Boggs found a stash of these in one of the old weapons lockers. He thought you might like to use something a bit more familiar," Smith explained.
"Cool," O'Bannon remarked, taking her pistol, "I always wanted to try one of these."
"Well, that's all I have, let's go get you in the chopper," Smith said, then walked towards the waiting helicopter. He waved to a man wearing a green flight suit and flight gear. "I don't know if you have had a chance to meet our resident chopper jock yet, but this is Lieutenant Commander Charles "Smokescreen" Walker," Smith explained. Walker was a tall blonde haired man with jovial features, and a smiling face.
"Well, I hope to give you girls a good flight today, we hope to take off in the next five minutes," he announced. "We're ready to load up skipper, just give me the word, and we can go," he said to Smith.
"Then what are you waiting for. We're on the clock," Smith said a bit indignantly.
"Aye aye, sir," Walker replied, then turned towards another man and yelled, "Spin it up chief, we're going now. If you ladies would please come with me, I'll get you settled in the back." He led them into the rear, passenger compartment, and helped them strap themselves into the seats. Ten minutes later the rotors were spinning furiously, and the helicopter was streaking away from Midway towards the USNS Arctic.
A few hours later Nicholas felt someone shaking her awake. She looked up to see Enterprise pointing to her headset. Nicholas plugged the thing in and heard Enterprise say, "The Commander says we're ten minutes out from the Arctic, get your desron ready." Nicholas nodded her understanding, then reached over to shake O'Bannon awake.
"Whazzat," O'Bannon grunted, then fell back to sleep. After several tries, Nicholas finally managed to wake the other destroyer. "Testing, testing, hello anyone on this thing?" O'Bannon said once she had managed to put on her headset.
"This is Commander Cramer aboard the Halsey, who is this?" answered a new voice. O'Bannon let out a little squeak of surprise, then shut up.
Enterprise answered, "That would be Seaman O'Bannon, commander, and she's one of mine."
"Good job O'Bannon, not five minutes into the mission, and you've already ticked off the brass. This has to be a record. By the way this is Seaman Fletcher, also one of Enterprise's," Fletcher said over her own radio.
"Seaman Radford here, sir, are we almost there?"
Next Walker broke into the channel, "This is your captain speaking, good to see that everyone is awake back there. We are about ten minutes out from the insertion point, get ready."
"Isn't the captain back at Midway?" Radford asked, the commander's joke passing right over her head.
"Right, forgot, can't make airline jokes for people who have never been on an airline," Walker muttered, then said in a louder voice, "Halsey reports that they are under attack by Abyssals right now, you'll have to land fighting. You wanna fill them in Cramer?"
Cramer came back on the line and explained, "We are currently engaged with four destroyer types. We can hold them off for now, but if they pick up their attacks any, we are going to be in a real bind."
"I think I understand the situation. Commander Walker, where are you going to put us down?" Enterprise asked.
"I'm going to drop this thing to the deck about a hundred yards off the Arctic. If I don't botch the approach, we should be about two feet of the water when we stop. All you have to do is step out the door," Walker replied.
"Sounds good, everyone, get ready to fight as soon as we hit surf," Enterprise said, then unslung her rifle. Nicholas watched as she removed a 5-round stripper clip from a web pouch on her flight deck, and loaded the rifle. Nicholas picked up her own 5" turret off the floor and checked to make sure it was loaded. The next thing she noticed was the feeling of her stomach dropping as the helicopter went into a dive. This persisted for several seconds, before the helicopter pulled out and tilted back into a hover.
"Looks like we're here, so everybody out," Walker said once all forward movement had stopped.
"I'll go first, then Nick and her desron," Enterprise said, standing up to yank the side door open. She walked up to the edge, and calmly stepped out. Nicholas was a little apprehensive at the thought of stepping out into thin air, but when she leaned out of the door, she saw that they were, in fact, only a few feet above the water. It was simple for her to jump out and land on her feet. She willed herself to start moving forward in order to give her sisters room to exit the helicopter. Off to her left, she could see the bulk of the Arctic and the form of Enterprise raising her rifle to her shoulder.
Enterprise squeezed her trigger and the rifle bucked in her hands. A six plane vee of miniature Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters flew away from the muzzle, and began to climb away. No matter how many times I've seen that in practice, I never get used to it, Nicholas thought to herself.
"CAP away," Enterprise called over the radio, "Let's get an idea of what we're looking at here.
"Enterprise doing her Marine impersonation again?" asked O'Bannon, who had come up next to Nicholas while she was staring at Enterprise. Nicholas looked over to see that her sisters were now standing around her, waiting for orders.
But before she could say anything, they were all interrupted by Commander Walker calling over the radio, "Halsey this is Midway 1, we are now oscar mike, I repeat oscar mike. Requesting a nice place to put this bird down in about five minutes."
"Roger that Midway, tune over to channel five for my flight director, and Enterprise, our current knowledge of the enemy forces is three destroyers off our starboard bow, and two more to our port stern. We sunk the first four, so these are new. That kind of quick reinforcement means they're holding back to see what we can do, expect heavy enemy reinforcements at any time," Cramer reported.
"Acknowledged Halsey, I will relay anything my CAP picks back to you," Enterprise announced. She motored in a circle until she was standing in front of the destroyers. "I'm going to stay near the Arctic and provide support from the rear. Nick, you think your girls can take care of the two destroyers to the stern of the Halsey?"
Nicholas raised her turret in salute, then replied, "Absolutely."
"Then get to it," Enterprise said, waving them away. Nicholas turned and lead the three other destroyers towards where the Halsey was maneuvering and firing like mad with her single Mk45 5" gun. The Abyssal destroyers in question soon became visible behind the large ship.
"Okay girls, volley fire, ready," Nicholas shouted, then raised her gun. When the other ships had lifted their guns Nicholas shouted, "Fire." The four guns barked as one, and four miniature 5" shells were sent hurtling towards the unsuspecting Abyssals. Of the four shots, one fell long, one short, and the remaining two found their marks, causing one of the enemy destroyers to explode with a greasy fireball.
O'Bannon let out a loud whoop of joy, then proclaimed over the radio, "Scratch one DD, let's go get another."
"Again, volley fire," Nicholas ordered. The four guns barked again, but this time the Abyssal knew that it was being fired at by something other than the Halsey. It managed to dodge just time time to miss the second volley. It then turned towards the four ship girls bearing down on it, and opened its jaw, exposing the 5" gun contained inside. A loud crump and a sickly pall of black smoke was the only warning that Nicholas got that there was a shell headed towards her. Luckily it passed right over her head, the wind from its passing ruffling her hair. "Alright, that's it, keep firing in local control," Nicholas ordered, doing her best to maintain her composure. Commanding local control meant that she was giving permission for each of her destroyers to aim and fire their weapons individually. A third, staggered volley went out to meet the Abyssal. This time, all four shells struck the target, and sent a plume of spray towering into the sky. When it had dissipated, the Abyssal was left wallowing on its side, dead.
"Good hits, good hits," Fletcher cried.
"Cease fire, let's not waste ammo," Nicholas added. She then keyed her radio and said, "Halsey, this is Nicholas, report two DDs sunk. Your stern is clear."
"Acknowledged Nicholas, we just cleared out the three to our bow, there are no more hostiles to report on our scope at this time," Cramer replied.
"Well was that it? I don't know why we made a big deal out of this, but that was easy," O'Bannon remarked, accidentally keying her mic.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet, CAP reports that there are six more destroyers entering the area. Two on the opposite side of the Arctic, two to the south, and two to the west," Enterprise announced over the radio, "I can deal with the two opposite Arctic, but I'll need someone else to deal with the rest."
Nicholas weighed several options in her head, before proposing, "Fletcher, Radford, can you tackle the ones to the south? Me and O'Bannon will get the ones to the west."
"No problem Nick, we're on it," Fletcher said with a thumbs up, "Come on Raddy, let's go get some more marks for our scoreboards."
As they steamed off, Nicholas heard Cramer call, "Acknowledged Enterprise, we are falling back to screen the Arctic's port quarter."
"Well, it looks like it's just you and me Nick," O'Bannon remarked, "If you let me get one by myself, I'll let you get the other."
"Fine, but follow my lead. No showboating," Nicholas said.
"Me, showboat? Why I would never dream of it," O'Bannon replied jokingly, then tore off towards the west.
"Dammit O'Boat, wait for me," Nicholas called, steaming at full speed after the charging O'Bannon.
Enterprise was in her element. Eyes closed, she was listening to the reports from her pilots and thinking of a plan of action. She racked the bolt of her Springfield a few times to clear the remaining fighter bullets out of it, making sure to catch the ejected rounds before they fell into the water. Then she removed a second clip from her pouches, these cartridges colored light blue as opposed to the fighter's dark blue. She jacked a round into the chamber, and brought the rifle up, aiming at the two black smudges just visible on the opposite side of the Arctic. Releasing a half breath, she squeezed the trigger cleanly and sent a wave of Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers streaking towards the Abyssal destroyers.
As soon as they hit air, the little planes began to climb. They flew to a point right over the two destroyers, then nosed over in a dive, swiss cheese flaps visibly extended. Six black specks fell away from the bombers towards the destroyers. Four of them hit nothing, exploding harmlessly in the water. The other two scored direct hits against one of the destroyers, sinking it. Two hits out of six, man I really need to work with my pilots on bomb accuracy, Enterprise thought a little indignantly. The last destroyer turned its gun skyward, trying desperately to hit the fleeing dive bombers, but the planes were able to escape its attack.
Enterprise brought up her rifle again and launched a second wave of SBDs, ordering them to finish off the last destroyer. While her second wave of dive bombers was lining up for their bombing runs, Enterprise was busy recovering her first wave. She tilted her flight deck up to give the SBDs enough space to land. The little planes touched down, then disappeared as they rolled to a stop. She could feel one of her ammo pouches refilling as the planes turned back into bullets. She looked up just in time to see the last destroyer get pasted by her circling bombers. This time four of the squadron's six bombs found their marks. She smiled in triumph, then keyed her radio saying, "Halsey, this is Enterprise, Arctic's flank is clear, repeat my two targets are sunk. How's everybody else doing?"
"Fletcher here, we are engaging our targets," Fletcher replied over the radio just before she fired a round from her five inch gun.
"They're really frisky today," Radford commented as she dodged an incoming shot.
"Something like that," Fletcher replied, then fired again. She was maintaining a rapid fire stream of shells at the pair of Abyssal destroyers. Not really trying to hit them, but rather suppress them long enough for Radford to close and put accurate shots into them. When she saw that Radford was within range, she yelled, "You ready?"
"Let's show these bastards what the HUK king is capable of," Radford yelled, a little uncharacteristically. They swapped roles, Radford began bombarding the Abyssals with fire, and Fletcher stopped and moved up. Radford was close enough now that she was able to hit one of the enemy destroyers with a pair of well timed shots. The thing staggered to a halt, then began to slowly capsize onto its back. It's companion took interest in its comrade's killer and turned to fire at Radford. That was all the distraction Fletcher needed to open up on it again herself. Now with fire pouring in from two sides, the thing had only moments to live.
Fletcher watched with horror as the thing, wallowing in its death throes, fired a shell towards Radford's position. Fletcher knew in her gut that this shot would fly true, so she did the only thing she could. She took a running leap at Radford and shoved her out of the way. The shell struck her on the side and sent a lance of pain through her body, and knocked her flat on her face. Radford let out a shout of shock, then ran over to Fletcher's side, and threw an arm around her sister's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," Fletcher wheezed, "Just lemme walk it off." Fletcher shrugged off Radford's arm and shakily rose to her feet. Her eyes went wide and she pulled the M1911 pistol from her side and aimed it at something behind Radford. Radford whirled around to see the Abyssal destroyer that had hit Fletcher struggling to raise its gun in one final act of defiance. Fletcher's pistol barked twice, both rounds striking the Abyssal in the mouth. The thing was thrown backwards from the force of the impact, and when it came to a stop, it began to sink unmoving, finally dead. Radford looked back to Fletcher just in time to see her lurch forward and begin to fall again, but Radford was able to reach forward and catch her sister before she hit the water. "I think I'm gonna need that help after all," Fletcher said, coughing.
"Happy to help," Radford replied softly, then keyed her radio, "Halsey, Fletcher's been hit, she needs a doctor."
"How bad is she," came the worried voice of Enterprise.
"I don't know, she seems fine for now, though," Radford replied, "I can carry her back in myself."
"What is the status of your targets?" Cramer asked, bluntly.
"Both targets destroyed, we're clear for now," Radford replied.
"Very good, bring Fletcher to the Halsey, we'll have the doc standing by," Cramer ordered.
"Be there in a second," Radford replied, then shifted her arms around Fletcher to get a better grip. "Hold on for just a little longer, we'll have you home in no time." She waited for a response, but it never came, Fletcher was out cold.
"I hope these two are as easy to get as the first ones," O'Bannon remarked idly as she and Nicholas skated across the water towards their targets.
"Don't say that out loud, you'll jinx us." Nicholas shot back.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you believe in that crap," O'Bannon said.
"Hush, I see the targets," Nicholas cut her off, holding up a hand and pointing at the pair of black forms in the distance. "Estimate range two hundred yards, and target bearing is 30 degrees. Start with fifteen degrees elevation, plus 5 traverse," she quickly calculated. Bringing her gun up, she called, "Match pointers," and went through the aiming process. When it was done, she called, "Ready."
"Ready," O'Bannon replied.
"Fire," two muzzles flashed, and two 5" projectiles were simultaneously sent hurtling downrange. Nicholas watched as the shells passed above the Abyssals be mere inches. "Shift down two, same traverse," she quickly corrected, "Match pointers."
"Down two," O'Bannon replied, "Ready."
"Fire," this time the shells were right on target. Each struck a separate enemy, causing massive damage. The Abyssals tried to fire back, but the shell hits had thrown off their aim. Their shells fell more than a hundred yards off to Nicholas' left. "Repeat fire," Nicholas called, and the guns barked for a third time. When the shells landed, there wasn't much left for them to hit, the Abyssal destroyers had already begun to sink. "We're clear here," Nicolas announced over the radio, "Any additional contacts."
"Negative, we don't see anything else, but that's not saying much, our sensors are a little hit or miss when it comes to tracking these things," replied Cramer.
"CAP reports clear waters," Enterprise added, "Nick, I don't know if you heard, Fletcher got hit. Radford is taking her to the Halsey for first aid, but you might want to go see her."
"Thank you for relaying that, I'll be over there in a second," Nicholas replied. But before she could say anything else, O'Bannon put a hand on her shoulder and pointed at something behind her. She turned to see what it was, and cursed. "Where the hell did that thing come from?"
"I don't know, it just rose out of the water behind us," O'Bannon replied, eyes wide.
"Halsey, Enterprise, we just had an Abyssal cruiser come up behind us," Nicholas reported.
"Nicholas, do you know what type it is," Cramer asked, a note of concern in his voice.
"Negative Halsey, only that it's one of the ones that look sort of human," Nicholas replied.
"Most likely that is the enemy's flagship. Take her out and we will be clear of attacks all the way to Midway. If she gets away, then she will come back with an even bigger force to attack us," Cramer said.
"Try to stay away from it for awhile, I'm sending an airstrike over," Enterprise added. Nicholas looked over at the Abyssal cruiser. It appeared to be ignoring the two ship girls, focusing its attention on the Arctic in the distance. Its head, and its turrets, were trained on the venerable supply ship.
Nicholas made a quick decision, "We are the only ones that can stop this thing."
"How?" O'Bannon said, skeptically, "It looks like one of the light cruiser types, which mean that those are six inch guns in those turrets. It will tear us to pieces if we try to get close."
"We've got to keep it away from the Arctic until Enterprise's planes can get here," Nicholas answered.
"Then do you want to try a little misdirection?" O'Bannon asked.
"What do you mean?" Nicholas asked, not understanding.
"Oh, just a little tactical use of smoke," O'Bannon replied, then detailed her plan to Nicholas. A few minutes later they were ready to execute it. Nicholas began to dump raw fuel oil into her funnel, causing a thick, black plume of smoke to stream from its top. She continued to steam forward, leaving a trail of smoke as she went. This had two effects, one, it allowed O'Bannon to disappear into it, and two, it immediately drew the attention of the cruiser to Nicholas. It slowly turned its bulk towards her, bringing the gun turrets to its sides to bear on the American destroyer.
"That's right, keep looking at me," Nicholas muttered as she began to fire at the thing. Her 5" shells had little effect against the heavier armored ship, but were just enough to keep it focused on her. It fired back, but didn't have the range, its shots falling short. Nicholas immediately doubled back into her own smoke, concealing herself from return fire for a second. Then she popped back out just long enough to fire at it again. "Keep looking at me," she repeated softly as she continued this tactic of fire and hide. On one of the passes, a return shot grazed Nicholas' arm, creating a two inch gouge in her skin and a bolt of pain. She quickly ducked back into concealment, nursing the fresh wound.
She finally came out for good when she heard O'Bannon whisper, "Ready," over the radio. Nicholas watched as O'Bannon appeared out of the smoke behind the cruiser.
"Shoulda been looking at her," Nicholas announced triumphantly.
O'Bannon yelled at the top of her lungs, "Here, catch," and threw something at the cruiser. Out of reflex it reached up to catch what O'Bannon had tossed at it. It looked at whatever it had caught for several seconds, before looking back at O'Bannon.
O'Bannon raised a finger pointed at the sky, then slowly pointed at the sea. The Abyssal jerked with panic as it caught sight of what Nicholas had already seen, the ten bubble trails from the ten Mk 15 21" torpedoes already in the water. The cruiser tried to dodge out of the way, but it was too late. At least six of the things hit its side, their explosions throwing towering geysers of spray into the air. When the columns of spume dissipated, there was nothing left of the Abyssal but a rapidly growing black stain on the ocean's surface. "We just sunk a cruiser," O'Bannon shouted over the radio with a whoop of joy.
"What? Can you repeat that please?" came the dumbfounded response from Cramer.
"Report, we have sunk one enemy cruiser with a salvo of torpedoes. It has been sunk," Nicholas added.
"My fighters confirm it, the cruiser has been sunk. Good job Nick," Enterprise praised.
"Hey, I was the one who fired the torps," O'Bannon interjected.
"Then, if all contacts have been destroyed, you are free to come aboard the Halsey for a hot meal and a clean rack," Cramer informed them.
"Right now that sounds wonderful commander, we'll be there in a few minutes," Nicholas said.
"I will be along just as soon as I recover my planes," Enterprise said. O'Bannon sailed up to Nicholas' side and they began to sail back to the big destroyer. As they went, Nicholas asked, "Just out of curiosity, what was it you threw at that thing?"
O'Bannon reached into her pocket and pulled out something, tossing it at Nicholas she said, "Just this. Stole a couple from the mess before we left" Nicholas looked down at what she had caught, and laughed. In her hands was a raw potato. "If we have to fight these things, we might as well remember out histories as we do it," O'Bannon explained, "And there is one incident that sticks out rather well in my memories."
Nicholas chuckled, "O'Bannon, I can't tell sometimes if you are a genius, or crazy as a moon bat."
"Why can't I be both?" O'Bannon asked, her tone completely serious. Nicholas only replied with a new round of laughter.
Captain Smith was standing at the end of the main pier expectantly waiting for the Arctic and the Halsey to pull into the lagoon. Standing with him were Chiefs Boggs and Zimmerman, Commander Miyata, and pretty much the entire staff of NS Midway Island. There was an air of anticipation in the air as the big ships drew closer. Everyone had heard the reports of the outcome of the battle, and were waiting to congratulate the girls who were responsible.
The Halsey was in the lead of the little flotilla, and, as they drew close to Midway's barrier reef, she pulled to the side in order to let the Arctic enter the lagoon first. Smith almost missed as four forms jumped off the Halsey's fantail, and sailed over to the Arctic. There was a flurry of pointing and questions as everyone caught sight of the victorious ship girls. They led the big supply ship into the lagoon to a raucous cheer from the assembled personnel. Finally, Chief Boggs had to bellow, "Alright, you buncha lunatics, clear out so the yard gang can get her tied up." That had the desired effect, quickly the personnel began to move off the dock in order to let the teams of line handlers and yard workers take care of lashing the Arctic to the pier.
Everyone was so focused on the Arctic that they almost missed as the Halsey entered the lagoon. But were soon reminded when the destroyer let out a long, joyous blast from its horn, eliciting a new round of cheering. Smith watched quietly as Enterprise detached herself from the other girls, and sailed in front of where he was standing. She delivered a stiff salute and said, "Sir, I would like to report the successful completion of our mission."
Smith returned her salute and asked, "I expect a full report later, but right now, what are your injuries? I don't see Fletcher with you"
"Sir, Fletcher took a direct hit from what we think was a five inch shell. Her equipment took the brunt of the impact, but the explosion broke her left arm," Enterprise replied, "Funny thing is she managed to fire her sidearm twice after it broke. Stopped an Abyssal from hitting Radford at close range." Smith winced in sympathy, he had no idea what trying to absorb the recoil from a pistol with a broken arm felt like, but he assumed it would be excruciating.
"Where is she now?" he asked.
"When Radford carried her aboard the Halsey, she had passed out from the pain. The doc there reset her arm and put it into a splint. She's still in the sickbay sleeping off a tranquilizer," Enterprise replied.
"I'll tell our doc to send someone around to collect her, and that she will need a cast for that arm," Smith said, "Were there any other casualties?"
"No, sir – wait, Nicholas was grazed by an enemy shell. Did little more than give her a nasty cut. Corpsman bandaged that up already," Enterprise remembered.
"Well, you girls did an outstanding job out there, I expect a full report later, but right now you have all earned a rest. Go take the rest of today and tomorrow off," Smith ordered.
"But sir, we had plenty of rest on the Halsey," Enterprise protested.
Smith raised a hand and replied, "The base will still be here in two days. You have earned a rest, take it. Do I have to make it an order?"
"No, sir, thank you, sir," Enterprise said.
"Go, help the Destroyers to the showers, I'll have some food sent to your rooms when you're done," Smith said. Enterprise nodded, then turned back towards the rest of the girls. They sailed off towards the old seaplane ramp, which had been re-purposed as a place for ship girls to enter and exit the Smith made his way back towards the HQ, he thought, If your out there watching us Abyssals, you better take note, because the US Navy has just taken a major step towards ensuring your destruction.
Author's Note: Well wasn't that a wild ride? It certainly was for me. Thus ends the American girl's first baptism by fire. Now that I've got the first main action chapter out of the way, expect the next one to be mostly new character introductions.
And to answer the question that has been asked more times than I can count, yes I have seen Morgane's Pacific artwork. The Enterprise in this story is basically the same one as hers, just with a rifle instead of a bow. I will be basing further characters off of those in that book.
And seeing that I will never remember to PM everyone(and I can't PM guests) I will answer reviews now, and in every subsequent chapter.
Thorthemighty321: Yes I do intend to introduce a girl in the future based on the USS Walker from Mr. Anderson's works.
SulliMike23: Taffy 3 is going to be fun to do because there are a dozen different ways to spin their characters. I intend to introduce a few familiar characters in the next chapter, and expect one of the Taffy 3 girls to play a major part in coming plotlines.
c0dy88: It is amazing how many people forget that Taffy 3 was originally an escort carrier task force, not a destroyer flotilla. I already have plans for Samuel B. Roberts, Gambier Bay, White Plains, and St. Lo, and expect more in the future.
FrancisJames: Thanks for the comment, I answered that one because you're not the first person to ask that.
hfdt123: Yes I do. In some of my earlier stories I could be persuaded to write a new chapter just by getting one review. So if you want to keep seeing new chapters, keep giving me feedback.
Jedii: Here's the update, hope you like it.
Wolfman-053: Thanks for the suggestion, I went and read up on the Blue Ghost, and I think she would make a great character.
Potato slayer: I love you suggestions for the Iowa sisters, and I will probably steal some of them in the future. But before I bring them in, I have to figure out the museum ship problem. Its easy to get around with the Iowas but it might be tricky in the future.
Guest: Thank you for the comment, keep sending me feedback and I'll try to keep chapters coming.
Thanks to everyone for reviews, and I'll go work on the next chapter now.
edited 07/8/15