On an intellectual level, the Midway Princess knew things were going well for her. She wasn't under any real threat, the self-absorbed defeatist in the south had been crushed by the two human fleets, and now the combined fleet was surrounded by Abyssal forces. Even if the enemy fleet got out of their trap, they would have an empty set of islands a more useful princess could set up on.
If everyone had actually followed the plan she had set up, then she might have been enjoying herself. The enemy fleet, no matter how large, should be getting battered into the sea by waves of abyssal aircraft, flowing from every point on the compass. They weren't.
"Oh, it's a good thing I'm never going to see those idiots face-to-face." The Princess ranted, pacing in front of her second. "I don't think I could control myself in front of those impulsive whelps."
The Ta-Class battleship, who needed no name other than 'Second,' nodded, but otherwise stayed silent.
"I thought I was pretty clear when I layed out an order of battle. The fleets from Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Majuro were to chase the enemy, harassing them from behind while you intercepted them. Nowhere in my plans did I state that everyone in the Marshall Islands should drop everything and start pointing guns at each other!"
Now, with a three-way standoff over the supply cache the enemy had left on Bikini, getting a combined fleet from the Marshalls before the enemy left Midway's effective combat range was all but impossible. An entire plan, ruined because of some boxes.
"At least I could count on the Jellyfish Princess being uncooperative."
There was no point in sortieing her fleet, now. The Central Princess's island was still contested, and without support from the Marshalls she wouldn't be willing to risk forces in a battle. No Oahu fleet meant no Kauai fleet and no Johnston Fleet. Alone, her own force would be overwhelmed. She was still hammering the enemy with her wing of liberation bombers, but by flying above the enemy's CAP hit rates would be pathetic. The decisive battle she had been dreaming of since the moment the strategic bombers had started hitting Bikini had evaporated before it could truly form.
Incoming message. It has Enewetak's code Prefix.
The Princesses' pacing came to an immediate halt. What, exactly, would one of those failures from The Marshalls want to say to her? An apology, perhaps?
ENEMY CARRIER MOVING NORTH
MOVING BETWEEN WAKE AND MIDWAY
TRAITOR WO-CLASS
DAMAGED FLIGHT DECK
DEPLETED AIR WING
SABOTAGED SUPPLIES NECESSARY FOR WAR EFFORT
It took a moment for Midway to decode the statement, then decipher what the idiot was actually telling her. The "supplies necessary for War Effort" were obviously the cache on Bikini, while the only way an Abyssal could have taken damage like that...
Midway couldn't contain herself. A giggle forced its way past her lips as the Abyssal's rant was firmly derailed. The Ta's facade of stoicism shattered as the battleship jumped away from the princess as the giggle escalated to a hearty laugh, shock plastered across her face.
Seeing the look on her second, the Midway Princess brought her mirth under control, placing a hand on the battleship's shoulder to steady herself. This was the first genuine laugh she'd experienced in memory.
"So, the cache of supplies that was apparently so important they had to fuck my plan over?" The Ta nodded. "It's gone. Some straggler from the Jellyfish's Fleet destroyed at least a part of the cache, and is running north."
The look of shock disappeared, and the Ta smiled back at her leader.
"Exactly. I don't know what's better: That the Marshall's betrayal blew up in their face so quickly, or that they'd think, after all they've done to me, that I'd do any favors for them."
It was impressive, in a way.
"So…" The Ta-Class piped up, finally finding her voice. "What do you want me to do?"
"Stay here." The Midway Princess replied, turning from the battleship. "I have a real fleet to bomb."
Have a short interlude. This is where I start trying to include more comedy in this fic, and maybe the one where I made the most changes from the KC thread.