Chapter 10- Victory
"Tell me about Akagi," said Admiral Yamamoto.
Captain Takeda hesitated. "She has been...strange, ever since Amagi died."
"So I have heard," said the admiral. "She and Kaga aren't getting along?"
"To say the least. I suppose you heard about the incident last week?"
"Where you were almost eaten by a giant fox?"
"Apparently," said Takeda with a grimace. "Looked like a wolf from where I was standing- well, laying."
"It seems that the kami chose well when they made Akagi and Kaga kitsune," said Yamamoto. "She was my second command, you know?"
"Akagi, admiral?"
"Yes. Two years before she was sunk in 1931." Yamamoto had a faraway look in her eyes. "I believe we Japanese have had the easiest time adjusting to these kansen. Even then I could feel the spirit of the ship." He chuckled. "Though even I would not have guessed how much trouble she could cause."
"It would be worse if she wasn't subordinate to Nagato," said Takeda. "Although frankly I don't know why she allows herself to be."
"Nagato has the backing of the Emperor himself," said Yamamoto. "Even Akagi would not go against the wishes of the Heavenly Sovereign."
There was a pause. "Nagato is wise, very much so for her apparent age," said Takeda carefully. "But even the wisest can go astray when given false counsel."
Yamamoto gave him a sharp look, no doubt wondering if they were still talking about Nagato and Akagi. The admiral was deeply involved in the current struggle between the Japanese Army and Navy. The Army was, to say the least, unimpressed with the performance of the Navy in the war. Their answer to this was to argue for staying on the defensive, essentially waiting the Sirens out. The Navy, on the other hand, recognized this for the suicidal policy it was.
Takeda suspected the real reason the Army supported the defensive stance was that they would have the ultimate power on the Home Islands- major rationing and near complete control of the economy by the government would naturally be enforced by the Imperial Army.
The emperor was known to be ambivalent about the issue, and there was a constant struggle by his advisers to persuade him one way or the other.
"Do you think that Akagi is giving her false counsel?" asked Yamamoto.
Takeda accepted the specificity of the question as a sign that the admiral did not want to discuss events in Kyoto. "I think that Akagi believes the current situation is untenable. That drastic steps may need to be taken to turn this war around."
"I believe everyone is in agreement regarding that," said Yamamoto heavily.
"Yes, but..." Takeda hesitated, trying to put into words what he had sensed lately from the kitsune carrier. "I believe she is willing to take the most drastic measures. To do whatever it takes."
Yamamoto regarded him curiously. "Is that not what we need?"
Takeda sighed. "Yes. And that is what frightens me most."
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"Shikikan!"
Takeda turned to see Atago waving at him. Her sister Takao followed her, a fine sheen of sweat on her brow. No doubt she had been training, and no doubt Atago had been teasing her.
He was walking along the winding path toward the dorms, trying to decide what to say to Akagi when he got there. The cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom, the first colors peeking through the branches. He stopped and waited as Atago dashed up to him, a smile lighting up her face.
"Shikikan! I haven't seen you for days and days. How is your big sister Atago supposed to take care of you if I never see you?"
"Hello, Atago." He looked over her shoulder. "Hello, Takao."
Her sister, moving more sedately, nodded. "Good morning, shikikan. I trust you are well?"
"Well enough," said Takeda. "Have either of you seen Akagi around?"
The sisters exchanged glances. "Why do you want to see her, shikikan?" asked Atago coyly. "Why not take a walk with me to the onsen-"
"The last I saw of her, she was near the shrine," said Takao. Atago shot her an annoyed look.
"You'll never get through to her, shikikan," said Atago, her voice a touch more serious. "She goes her own way."
"I have no quarrel with someone going their own way," said Takeda. "So long as it is the right way."
"To strike when it is right to strike," said Takao, nodding her head.
"To die when it is right to die," replied Takeda.
Atago rolled her eyes. "To be stuffy and boring when it is right to be stuffy and boring."
Takeda smiled at her. "Too much for this early in the morning, Atago?"
"New Year's Day," she said, quoting.
"Everything is in blossom!
I feel about average."
Takao looked confused, but Takeda chuckled. "Kobayashi Issa," he said to Takao. "One of the great haiku poets."
"Ah, I remember," she said.
"Faces of devils
Faces of foxes
Spring breeze."
They both looked at her.
"Akagi is down by the shrine, on the left-hand path before the plum tree," she said. "Kaga is with her. Come, Atago."
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"It is doing us no good to sit here waiting for starvation," said Akagi. "And you know as well as I that the high command will keep dithering forever if we let it."
"Sister, Nagato-"
"Nagato is wise, but far too hesitant." Akagi paced back and forth, her tails waving in the slight breeze. "We must force her hand- everyone's hand."
"Dare we go that far?" wondered Kaga. "In fact, how far would we need to go to force them to go on the offensive?"
Akagi stopped pacing. "I don't know," she said after a moment. "Perhaps-"
She stopped as Kaga held up a hand. After a brief moment, she heard someone coming up the path.
They both composed themselves as Takeda came around the bend in the path. He walked up and bowed. "Akagi. Kaga. Good morning."
"Good morning, shikikan," said Akagi. She studied him.
Tall for a Japanese, with a boyish, handsome face and rangy, lean muscles, he always struck her as courteous yet distant. He was kind- too kind, to her thinking. So far he had managed to keep control of the kansen- except for her, of course.
He had a reputation, of course. He would not have been assigned to his position if he hadn't. In the Battle of Iwo Jima, for example, he had successfully extracted his entire command from an ambush while inflicting heavy losses on the Siren attackers. But that was a perfect example of her concerns about him. His victories had always been closer to valiant defeats- delaying a Siren assault, retreating without major losses, relieving a beleaguered island long enough to slip some supplies through.
Did he, she thought to herself, did he have the killer instinct we need? The desire for victory no matter the cost?
"We need to talk," said Takeda seriously.
"I'll just go-" began Kaga, standing up.
"No," said Takeda, holding up a hand to stop her. "Both of you."
She sat down again slowly, glancing at Akagi as she did so.
"This petty rivalry between you must end," said Takeda. He clasped his hands behind his back and watched them keenly. "I was nearly eaten by a wolf last week."
"A fox," muttered Kaga.
"It really doesn't make much difference what I get eaten by if it's the size of an aircraft carrier," noted Takeda. "What is the source of this disagreement, anyway? You get along fine most of the time."
The two aircraft carriers frowned identically. "We are much alike," said Akagi, after a moment.
"Too much so?"
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps? Again, almost eaten by a giant fox. I really cannot stress that enough. We are well beyond 'perhaps'."
"Kaga needs to remember who is senior, shikikan!" snapped Akagi.
The white haired kitsune glared at her. "I well remember, but I will not be treated like a child, either."
"Then you should stop acting like one!" They were nose to nose at this point.
Takeda gently pulled them apart. "I think I know what the problem is. But if I say it, both of you will deny it and we won't get anywhere. So here's what we're going to do." He pointed at Akagi. "Hold out your hand."
Confused, she did so. He then looked at Kaga. "Now you, same thing."
When she lifted her hand, he took both of their hands and put them together. "Now shake and be friends."
There was a long silence, and to Takeda's surprise both of the carriers started to tear up. "What-"
Akagi turned and ran away, sobbing.
Shocked, he looked at Kaga, who was wiping her eyes as well. "Shikikan," she began, then stopped.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"You did exactly the wrong thing," she said. "Or possibly exactly the right one. I suppose time will tell."
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"So I heard you made Akagi cry."
Takeda looked up from his table where he was eating ramen as an early lunch. "Hello, Shiranui. If it helps, I didn't mean to."
She shrugged. "Makes sense. You couldn't have meant to, because no one would have guessed you even could. Any idea why?"
He considered for a moment, then shrugged. "I made Kaga and her shake hands and promise to be friends, and she ran away in tears. I don't get it."
"Ah, fool of a shikikan. You weren't here when Amagi was still around, were you?"
"Amagi? No, I took over after she died."
"One of the last things she did was try and patch things up between them," said Shiranui. "And for the most part, she did. They were much worse than they are now- at least now, they mostly get along."
"This is better than they were?"
"Much better. And worse."
"Worse?"
"Now they're working together. And it's hard to think of something scarier than those two cooperating in whatever they're scheming."
Takeda eyed her skeptically. "I think you're overreacting. Both of them are loyal to Japan."
"Oh, I don't doubt that," said Shiranui. "The question you should be asking, shikikan, is whether they are loyal to you."
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"Are you sure this is okay?" asked Shoukaku for the fifth time. Soryu had counted.
She suppressed a sigh. "Our orders came from Akagi, Shoukaku. You know that she is closer to the shikikan than anyone other than Nagato."
"Yes, but we haven't been ordered to directly attack the Sirens since at least Zuikaku and I were awakened."
"It was going to have to happen sooner or later," pointed out Hiryu,
The sun was starting to set as the four carriers- Hiryu, Soryu, Shoukaku, and Zuikaku- skimmed across the water headed west. Atago and Takao were escorting, both taking point. Takao slowed, her skirt flaring as she crested a wave. "We spoke with the shikikan this morning," she said. "He was looking for Akagi. I guess he was planning this attack then."
"The Siren fleet is supposed to be around here," said Zuikaku. She shaded her eyes against the setting sun. "According to that blockade runner, at least. He said-"
"There!" shouted Atago, pointing. "Southwest, hull down on the horizon."
"Sure enough," said Takao. "Orders?"
"Fifth Carrier Division, split off from us and stand off. Atago, stay with them. Takao, you're with Hiryu and me." Soryu's orders came fast, almost staccato. She hoped they didn't betray the nervousness she felt. This was her first time commanding a fleet at sea. "Everyone, be careful."
"Hai!" Zuikaku slowed and her path started drifting north, Shoukaku right behind her. Atago looked as if she wanted to say something, but instead just followed the two carriers.
"Hiryu, the CAP," said Soryu. Her sister nodded, and the first Zeros started launching from her flight decks.
The Siren ships still showed no signs of reacting to the IJN presence, so Soryu decided to launch her strike force before adding to the CAP. Six Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers were soon in the air, followed by another half-dozen Aichi D3A dive bombers. The strike force shot towards the Siren fleet.
Just as the bombers were coming close enough to start their attack runs, the Siren fleet finally reacted. Anti-aircraft fire exploded from the fleet, shooting down several bombers in close succession. The remainder began their attacks. Soryu could just make out the flagship of the small fleet, a Rook-class battleship. She willed her airplanes to attack it, sending the torpedo bombers dropping towards the waves in tight formation.
The battleship turned hard to port to try and dodge the torpedoes, and did surprisingly well for such a large vessel; two of the five torpedoes launched missed. The remaining three struck from amidships toward her stern, sending up gouts of water as they exploded against her hull.
The stricken battleship slowed immediately, her engine apparently damaged.
"Hiryu."
The other aircraft carrier nodded, her own strike units now on the way. Dive bombers screamed in on an attack on the battleship, which was unable to dodge in any meaningful way. A brace of bombs hit, followed by another, and another. The last pair of bombers aborted their sortie as an explosion ripped apart the bow of the battleship.
Soryu pushed her glasses up on her nose. "One battleship down," she said matter-of-factly. She spoke over the radio to her two subordinate carriers. "Shoukaku, Zuikaku, you are cleared to launch. Focus on the light cruisers first, they have the heaviest AA protection."
"Hai!" came Zuikaku's fierce reply. She looked up to see the first attack aircraft flying overhead- and then a weird purple glow in the skies above them.
"Oh, no," she whispered.
The glow resolved into a dozen portals, the noses of Siren ships just starting to appear.
"Siren reinforcements," she said, her heart pounding but her voice still calm. "Call back the strike force. Begin falling back to the base."
Takao was already turning her guns on the incoming ships.
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"Wait, what?" Takeda looked at Ayanami, confused.
"Soryu reports she has engaged the Siren force and successfully destroyed a battleship, yes," said Ayanami calmly. "She is now reporting that additional Sirens have begun to arrive and is requesting support from land-based aircraft.
"What the hell is she doing at sea?" said Takeda angrily. "I didn't- never mind that. Ring up the squadron commander and have him scramble his aircraft. Is Hiryu with her?"
"Hiryu, Soryu, Shoukaku, Zuikakaku," listed Ayanami. "Also Takao and Atago."
"Not enough escorts by far," muttered Takeda. "Get the on-duty girls to head out there, too. Where are Akagi and Kaga?"
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"We could use a little help!" shouted Zuikaku. She dodged a salvo from an on-coming destroyer, then rolled out of the way of the torpedoes it had launched as well.
"We're coming, but we're also engaged," came back Soryu, her voice almost infuriatingly calm. "I've asked for reinforcements from the mainland."
"Great, maybe they can mark the spot where our memorials will be," snarled Zuikaku. Shoukaku's flute lilted sinuously through the sounds of screaming aircraft and explosions.
"Land-based aircraft coming in," announced Shoukaku, her voice a bit breathless.
Zuikaku looked up. The first aircraft, a flight of Zeros, dove in on a group of Siren planes. Their guns fired and two of the three Sirens dropped out of the air, trailing smoke. The third one was picked off by Atago as it tried to turn away from the attacking fighters.
"This is Dragon One to Soryu," said a voice over the air. "Dragon One to Soryu."
"Soryu to Dragon One, go ahead, over."
"Captain Takeda is ordering you to return to base immediately. He is dispatching reinforcements, over."
"Acknowledged," replied Soryu's voice. "Out. All ships, you heard him. Fall back to the base- we've got help coming."
Above them, two of the land-based Zeros suddenly fell out of the air, caught by interlocking anti-aircraft fire.
Zuikaku watched helplessly. Unlike her aircraft, those were actually crewed.
Two men had just lost their lives.
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Ayanami trotted along Takeda as he ran along the pier to her waiting ship. "Ayanami, status?"
"Our ships are launching," she said. She gestured toward the harbor, where he could see Aoba and Yamashiro leaping onto the sea. "All ready aircraft have been scrambled, and the squadron commander is preparing more."
"Very good." He pounded up the gangplank, which began retracting as soon as Ayanami had followed him. "Any word on Kaga and Akagi yet?"
"Still trying to reach them, yes," said Ayanami. Her normal reserve cracked slightly. "Soryu reports they've been cut off from base."
Takeda looked out to sea, but they were too far to see anything. He clenched his fists.
They were too far to do anything, either.
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The land-based aircraft had initially achieved surprise, but the superior numbers of the Sirens were beginning to take their toll. A torpedo bomber pitched and rolled as it made an attack run on a Siren heavy cruiser, splashing into the sea and disappearing so fast Soryu barely saw the splash.
They had, at least, managed to join up with Zuikaku and Shoukaku. Atago and Takao fought back to back, guns blazing away at the encroaching Siren ships. At least three or four destroyers had gone down to their combined fire, but a few more spreads of torpedoes and they would find themselves in real trouble.
"Sister," said Hiryu quietly. "Take the others and head back to base. I'll cover your retreat."
"It will take more than just you to do so," said Soryu. She felt no fear, now, just an overwhelming shame at having been defeated so utterly on her only sortie. "I'll stay with you."
Her sister hesitated, but then nodded.
"Zuikaku, take the others and-"
A cruiser headed towards them, guns blazing away, suddenly burst into flames and started to capsize, explosions rippling along her starboard side. Soryu looked up to see several planes made of blue fire angling up from their attack run.
And suddenly the sky was filled with fire.
A voice came over the air. "First Carrier Division, attack!"
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They had just come into visual range of the battle. Yamashiro, off their starboard stern, was already starting to fire on the force blocking Soryu's task force from retreating. It would have been too little, too late, but-
Swarms of fiery planes dotted the skies, diving in on Sirens as they milled about in sudden confusion. Ships began to explode, burn, and sink.
"Shikikan, look!" shouted Ayanami. She was pointing to the north.
Takeda saw two figures, one in red, one in white. "Akagi and Kaga," he said quietly.
They were launching aircraft rapidly, one after another. Their planes merged seamlessly with both the few remaining aircraft from the Soryu group and the land-based fighters and bombers, augmenting their formations with their own. Kaga came close to a Siren heavy cruiser and made an almost casual throwing motion. A blue fireball shot from her hands and struck the cruiser's superstructure. A pillar of flame erupted from the Siren ship, lighting the sea around it.
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The rest of the battle was almost anti-climactic. The few Siren ships that were left after Kaga and Akagi's counter-attack- and the reinforcements from the base- fled, most falling to parting shots from the exhausted but jubilant kansen.
Takeda jumped from the Ayanami's deck and ran down the pier to the beach where Shoukaku and Zuikaku were just coming ashore, each holding the other up. "Are you girls okay?"
Zuikaku focused her eyes on him. "Shikikan. Yes, we're all right."
"The others?"
"We're fine." Takeda looked up to see Soryu and Hiryu following Takao and Atago onto shore. Hiryu staggered but Takao caught her. All four kansen looked at least as exhausted as Shoukaku and Zuikaku.
Relief was gradually being replaced by anger. "What were you thinking, going out there?" shouted Takeda. "You could easily have been killed! That's not to mention-"
The kansen looked at him, bewildered, but before they could speak he saw Akagi approaching along the beach, Kaga behind her. He looked at her eyes and knew.
"Akagi."
"Shikikan. May I congratulate you on your first major victory with the kansen," she said, her voice supremely self-possessed.