2232/Naval Exercises Gone Wild

Naval Exercises Gone Wild
Date of Scene:	13 May 2015
Location:	Hikari Sea Port
Synopsis:	A training exercise with the 4th Mobile and 5th Force Recon goes all pear-shaped
Cast of Characters:	637, Shigure, Wo

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Kongou (637) has posed:
    Hikari Seaport is just one island in an entire archipelago of small atolls and islets. Many of them are small, some only supporting singular structures, others even smaller than that and considered generally not useful. One of them is even so low in the water that it completely disappears at high tide, and has been marked with a metal bouy-like tower to alert ships of its presence.

    This self-same submeging island is also often used for artillery practice exercises.

    With the Abyssal base assault deemed Operation W looming on the horizon, Kongou has made the recommendation of taking the girls on exercises to practice skills that they don't often get to use. Fighting enemy ships is to be expected, but shelling a possible enemy installation is a different matter entirely! In a double line formation, a total of five girls with the Fourth Mobile approach the island. Kongou at the front, with Isuzu and Akizuki trailing to her right and Zuihou and Hayashimo trailing to her left.

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma is out here too! Her fleet is only four strong at the moment, but they come in a modified Diamond, Kuma leading with Shigure and Nowaki on the 'wings' with Chitose forming the center, screened by the more powerful direct line ships.

    "Kuma! Fifth Force Recon fleet, sound off, kuma!" cries the spunky cruiser, glancing back at her fleetmates.

    "Mmm, Shigure ready." comes the soft voice of the black-uniformed destroyer. "Nowaki ready, Flagship." chimes in the silver haired girl on the other side. "I'm always ready Kuma!" chirps Chitose happily, before glancing over towards Kongou. She pings Isuzu's radio. >Fifth Force ready for operation start.<

Wo has posed:
    Things go about as smoothly as can be expected for most of the exercise, in this relatively safe place. Abyssal incursions aren't unheard of, especially in the area of the sea around Hikari - but most have always seemed to be straggling destroyers, perhaps sent to keep the enemy alert, more than a true threat. The higher ups would have to assume it also provides unsettling, glowing sets of eyes on things. Regardless, it would not be unusual to spot a small patrol testing the tip of their sword in even these waters, which is precisely what is transpiring just outside of radar range, the sleek shapes of a group of Abyssal Destroyers cutting through the waves, turning hateful, angry eyes toward the exercises currently underway..but keeping their distance, for the time being.

    Today's token offering is a bit different, however. Behind even their lines, standing practically motionless atop the lapping waves, a certain Wo-class aircraft carrier is observing and coordinating their activities, which perhaps is partly responsible for them having the good sense to stay out of contact range for their own sort of training exercise. Beside her, a relatively tall and gaunt-looking humanoid figure - save the possibility that her head has been replaced by a toothy piece of biomechanical kit, and her arms covered in gigantic gauntlet-sleeves and bristling with cannons. On the other flank, a bulbous bodied creature, not unlike Wo's hat in some ways, but with only one 'eye' and muscular legs and arms branching out. Despite being more humanoid than most lesser sisters, they seem unable to speak as surface dwellers would - giving the kind of gurgling, hissing that the destroyers exchange between themselves. The Wo seems to consider these 'sentences' every so often, but for the most part, keeps golden eyes trained on the horizon.

    "..let's..let them, continue - for a bit, longer." It's all she can do to keep the natural blood lust in check.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Flagship, the Fifth Force Recon is ready," Isuzu reports, lowering a hand from her earpiece.

    "<Alright!>" Kongou declares. She spins herself around, though continues to coast backwards with her momentum, hands resting on her hips, "Today's exercise is shelling practice! You will not be able to use torpedoes, so rely on your guns--" Raising a hand, she points at Zuihou, and then further back towards Chitose, "And your bombers!"

    "As one of the Fleet's primary battleships, bombardment is a skill I know well, so~!" Kongou abruptly breaks from her formation, sliding sideways and slowing herself to a low idle. Isuzu slides into place, with Akizuki in tow, transforming the Fourth Mobile into a line formation, "I will observe and provide feedback on your performances! For now, maintain a distance of one kilometer and attack the island!"

    One hand raises and then Kongou thrusts it out, her sleeve acting as a flag, "<FIYAH~!>"

Shigure has posed:
    Chitose lowers her hand from her own earpierce. "Operation Flagship have given the order to commence!" she delivers, even as Kongou's voice resonates across the waves.

    Kuma grins. "Also, Chitose, hang back! Shigure, Nowaki Line formation! Maintain one kilometer and open fire with primary batteries!" orders the Cruiser, as her backpack mounted turret traverses into position, and starts firing off a six shell 'burst', the same number of shells her ship-self would fire in a broadside.

    Shigure nods, reaching back and unclipping her cannonfa from their anchor point, sweeping the big barrels around and narrowing her eyes as she coasts up to position. "Targetting angle calculated. Opening fire." she murmurs softly, before the cannons arrayed across those over-sized 'handguns' roar to life.

    Nowaki adjusts her 'satchel' gun, the one on her hip rotating into position before she silently opens fire herself, maintaining a steady barrage.

    The three lighter ships manage a decent consentration, though Kuma has the best spread, owing to her experience.

    Chitose readies her first wave, but isn't launching just yet, waiting for a second 'wave', as if letting the shelling take out some of the AA 'nests' first.

Wo has posed:
    In what must look something like terminator vision, the Tsu-class light cruiser passively observes the activities. How she does so is anyone's guess, possessing little in the way of obvious sensory organs, but such is their mysterious ways. She buzzes out more of that digital stream-sounding static, which if anyone else were close enough to hear, has just the most basic of a human-sounding mumbling undertone to it. The Wo-class listens to the report, raising a black gloved hand to the edge of her large hat, as though tilting it to shield it might allow her own eyes a better look. "..shelling..exercises?" It takes her a few more moments to consider the implications of what the cruiser was reporting. If they're using that battered island as a target, could they be practicing for a surface bombardment?

    One can never make too many assumptions, though. She purses her lip as though considering something carefully, and as more reports of cannon fire echo across the waves, she seems to have made up her mind. There's no spoken command, instead lifting her staff and gesturing forward. The Tsu-class and Nu-class's garbled hissing picks up in pitch, as though in anticipation, and they begin to make steam forward, the group of Destroyers - a half dozen in number, pulling back from probing defenses to form up around them. The Tsu-class herself lifts one of those humongous arms, and a curious sight - an Abyssal recon aircraft, takes wing before expanding, ahead of Abyssal fighters flying out of the Nu-class' cyclopian eye. There's little secret about their presence now - no doubt radar alarms from Hikari would be going off now, just ahead of the fleet daughters equipped with it personally.

    Wo, herself, continues to stay where she is. She doesn't expect this to yield much, especially not with the reported presence of Ko-class being a den mother to them - but if she can confirm the kind of equipment they're using, then she can at least factor things properly.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    With the smaller, faster Fifth Force Recon already opening fire, Isuzu leans port, guiding the Fourth Mobile into an opposing formation. She raises one hand overhead, tracing a circle with her fingers, then pointing land-wards. The first of the Mobile Unit to open fire is Akizuki, her Choujuucentihou-chans already rotated, though out of the entire unit her guns are the smallest, those turrets also turn faster. Moments later, Hayashimo has her hand-carried turret raised, adding her shells, and then it's Isuzu's 15.5cm guns that go off, all bombarding the island with relatively small arms compared to the battleship floating a short distance away.

    "<All Good!>" Kongou calls out, "Now, bombers!"

    While Zuihou draws her arrow back, Kongou's posture straightens, the radars on her headband adjusting. After a moment, she turns in place to look out to sea. Through the vision of her main battery's rangefinder, she sights the Abyssal cruiser first, and the light carrier some distance further out. "..Tch..!"

    Looking back, the battleship calls out, "Zuihou, fighters! Fourth Mobile, Fifth Recon, eyes out!"

    "F-fighters?!" Zuihou fumbles, nearly dropping her Suisei arrow right in the sea. Holding that arrow by the fletching, she draws out a second one with a different arrowhead and draws it back, then looses it. In midair, the arrow splits into a formation of Zero fighters, swiftly banking towards incoming Abyssal aircraft.

    The other Fourth Mobile members adjust accordingly, and it's again Akizuki whose guns are turned first. She also falls back, obscuring her fellow Destroyer, "Your first fight since you joined us, right?" Eyes closing, she smiles, "We'll work together and keep each other safe, it'll be fine!"

    "...Okay."

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure's eyes turn wide. "Flagship, incoming aircraft!" she warns, turning and heading back to cover Chitose.

    Nowaki tchs herself, glancing to Kuma for orders. She doesn't have to wait long.

    Kuma lifts her hand, making a gesture then pointing towards the incoming Abyssals. "Diamond formation, make sure to cover Chitose! Shigure, you're our air watch, Nowaki, I want your torpedoes primed and ready to go. Link up with the Fifth Mobile, we fight together."

    Chitose mmns, readying her AA guns, and keeping her Zuiun in their launch racks, waiting for the right time to launch her bomber wing. They'd just get torn apart by the fighters if she launched now. "Aye, Flagship." she replies, settling into the 'center' position within the screening of her smaller escorts.

Wo has posed:
    Looks like the shelling exercise is going to get turned up a notch! The Abyssal destroyers, already having spent the past half hour or so with pent up energy, are all too eager to extend the 5-inch guns out of their mouths and begin some shelling of their own! Though, owing to the extreme range, it would have to be an extremely unlucky or distracted girl to be hit by one of these rounds, as most splash harmlessly well wide or short of the mark. A different story are the slightly larger ships that are apparently backing them up. The recon flight is likely short-lived, being easy prey itself to the matching force of Zeros - though it has done its job of getting a better grasp of the enemy formations. Directly behind it, the growling and buzzing of abyssal fighters meets Zuihou's own thunder, banking and engaging them to try and wrestle the skies from their hated foes. In this, they have support from the surface, the Tsu-class turning her cannons skyward, and using radar sense of her own, begins supporting the anti-air campaign.

    At this pace, it won't be long before the two sides are within reach of the other. At a reasonably safe distance, unless she's spotted in particular, the Wo-class calls at a wing of her own fighters. While they blaze out of the cauldron of her hat, quickly achieving full jet speed, she does not have them immediately enter the combat theater. Instead, they increase their altitude, apparently content to fly over and relay information back unless they're specifically engaged. "..they adjust..quickly," Wo muses to herself, frowning again at the particular visage of Kongou coordinating the quick transition. Whenever she sees her, it's an odd feeling. Perhaps their service together when she was Ko-class. ...but, she has to put those sorts of things out of her mind. She and her friends here are the enemy. Besides, the goal isn't to sink, but to figure out what they were up to. After a minor scuffle..they can pull back.

    If their own abyssal destroyers sink. Well..that's just part of the employee screening program. They're very law of the jungle in Iron Bottom Sound.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Choujuucentihou-chan, let's show those fighters what we can do!" Akizuki points ahead, then glances back, "Hayashimo, help me clear a path for Chitose's bombers!"

    "...Right." Keeping a respectable distance from Akizuki for safety, the raven-haired girl in red and white also raises her gun turret, barrels adjusting. The steady staccato of the anti-air destroyer's cannon fire, guided by the spinning anti-air director on her headband, is accompanied by the more hesitant reports from Hayashimo's larger 12.7cm guns, aimed more carefully, but also firing air-burst flak shells into the dogfight unfurling overhead.

    Zuihou, still holding her Suisei arrow, reaches back and pulls out another arrow with the Zero-shaped arrowhead, slotting it into her bow and pulling back, "Your cute friends are in trouble, help them please!" There's the whistle of an arrow, the flash of their transformation, and a second flight of Zeros immediately scatters amidst the Abyssal fighters in a ferocious dogfight.

    "The enemy appears to be a Tsu-class cruiser and a Nu-class light carrier," Isuzu announces, pulling up alongside Kongou, "And the expected destroyer escorts. Your orders, Flagship?" It seems awfully odd, how calm her words are when the anti-air emplacements on her hips rattle off machinegun fire into the dogfight.

    "Hmm~..." Kongou rubs her chin, then points, "Establish air superiority-- We'll prioritize disabling their carrier!"

    "Understood!" And then Isuzu dips away, back into the line formation. Kongou remains where she is, out of formation, and simply thrusts her hand forward, "You picked the wrong day! All guns! <FIYAH~!>" The eruption of smoke and flame from Kongou's hip mount announces the 35.5cm shells arcing towards the formation surrounding the further Nu--while at high range, something that battleships are much more capable of than the destroyers and light cruisers already present.

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma sidles up near Kongou, looking up at the Battleship and waiting for that roaring report to die down, before speaking. "I can take Nowaki around wide to try and flank the enemy formation. Shigure has Chitose and Zuihou covered against any aircraft that break through the air cover, kuma." she suggests, obviously eager to get into the thick of the action.

    Nowaki comes up on the other side of Kongou, firing her 10cm cannons with airburst flak into the aerial dogfight as well, helping to thin out the hostile aircraft, though she's not nearly as good as her contemporaries.

    Shigure skates through the falling shells, alternating between firing back at the Destroyers, and firing up into the fighter melee, streams of machinegun tracers, and the occasional burst of flak shells filling the air around her. "I'm disappointed in you guys." she murmurs softly, narrowing her blue eyes on the hostile fleet.

    Chitose waits for an opening, and once the air cover starts thinning out, she lifts her two launch rails, and beams brightly. "Go go go! Assault their carrier my Zuiun! Lets show the Carriers how things are done!" she chirps, her bomber wing launching in twos, until the 'magazines' are empty.

Wo has posed:
    With a higher vantage point of the arena, Kuma hasn't escaped the Wo-class' remote gaze, either. Another she's had exchanges with in the past..but they had helped each other. Distracted momentarily from the struggles of the battlefield, she reaches a hand up to rub at the side of her face, as if a sudden, throbbing pain had overtaken her. This sensation spreads, somehow, to the ships further afield, their sub-human buzzing again increasing in pitch in response to their coordinators' pain, no matter its source. This unsettling rallying cry can now be heard across the waves, in between the booming of cannon fire.

    At the surface, the abyssal destroyers continue at full steam under the blanket of crashing aircraft - from both sides, their shells falling closer with the shorter range as well as having several shots trained already. They might be smaller compared to the guns that Kongou, or even Isuzu and Kuma, are carrying, but it's probably not a great idea to be hit with them, all the same. One of the Ro-class, in particular, catches a shell from Shigure, blowing a gaping hole mid-way down its 'tail' which immediately begins leaking oil - but does not immediately catch fire, allowing it to continue at slightly diminished speed. Its shelling does not let up, and if anything only gets more angry and desperate.

    Speaking of those aircraft shards that were mentioned before, especially with the concentrated anti-air fire of the fleet daughters, and a reserve wave launched by Zuihou, they are far more likely to be black, curdled abyssal metal than fresh aluminum. In time, enough has fallen that the skies are considerably clearer, or at least buzzing with considerably more Zero than Abyssal. What few are left turn to try and return to the Nu-class that launched them, but otherwise seem to have little concept of self-preservation. They are relatively easy pickings. The Nu-class isn't going to just let the skies fall that easily, of course. Shortly after Zuihou herself had added to the congestion, it begins emitting its own second wave. It gets about halfway through the process, before it stops launching - interrupted by Kongou. More precisely, while her large caliber shells don't quite hit the mark, they don't really need that to create havoc for it, the sea sloshing beneath and around it and causing its mouth to gape and howl. It would almost be funny, if the circumstances weren't so dire.

    With the skies relatively owned by the fleet daughters, Chitose's bombers have little resistance, especially since the few Abyssal fighters still in the air are tangled up. That leaves it to the Tsu-class to try and save the day, emitting a buzzing that almost manages to sound..worried, before redirecting her guns from the dogfighting to the incoming bombers. She's not even really had a chance to try and soften up those chewy little destroyer fleet daughters yet, with all this action in the sky. It's a real pity.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Do it!" Kongou announces to Kuma. She then kicks ahead and places herself in front of the cruiser, sweeping her hand in a wide arc. There's an impact of steel striking steel, an incoming Abyssal shell suddenly and violently knocked off course and into the water. The lead battleship then thrusts both hands forward, ignoring the smoldering black on the heel of her hand, "Kuma, Nowaki, flank their cruiser. We will deal with the carrier!"

    Her radars adjust and Kongou raises her eyes, focusing into the distance, beyond the immediate battle. That Wo-class is there, and for a moment Kongou's main battery adjusts for the greater range. However, she can see clearly that Wo is also not contributing her fighters to the battle. A thoughtful expressesion crosses her face for a moment before she fixates back no the closer Nu-class. It's on the floundering light carrier that Kongou fires again with her main battery, the reports hurling up spray from the sea in the moment after she fires. If any of them hit, it'll become immediately obvious she's using High Explosive rather than her usual Armor Piercing ammunition.

    Zuihou follows up slightly behind the two Fourth Mobile destroyers, sliding that Suisei arrow into position but not drawing it back, her eyes fixed on the air battle. Zeros are strong fighters, but they're not invincible. One catches fire, spinning down to the water while its fairy pilot bails out. Another takes fire and banks sharply, using its tighter turn to turn the tables on its foe, only to snap the wing off from the damage and the strain shortly after returning fire. A third, smoking, breaks out and dives low, returning to Zuihou's flight deck, where it only barely manages to land.

    Further ahead, Akizuki swerves, reaching out for balance so she can present a narrower target for incoming torpedos. The twin Choujuucentihou-chans pause in their fire, then eject their smoldering cannon barrels. In a deft motion, Akizuki pulls the spare barrels from her thigh and slots them into place with a loud, metallic sound. Beside her, Hayashimo lifts her turret out of the way and swings her own torpedo launchers down, dispatching two fans of four into the path of the enemy destroyer screen. By the end of the turn, the two destroyers have reversed positions, with Akizuki inside and Hayashimo in full view.

    Isuzu meanwhile has committed her triple cannon batteries on the destroyers surrounding the Nu class, also committing her torpedos to the water with hisses of air and steam.

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma flinches, then nods a grim expression. She turns, and kicks off, scooping a hand for Nowaki to follow. The Cruiser is the fastest of her Fleet, but maintains a lower speed so she doesn't spread her formation too far.

    Nowaki nods, and stows her guns for the moment, focussing on getting into position and dodging incoming shells, arms spreading for balance as she weaves through the explosion plumes.

    Chitose closes her eyes, watching through her Zuiun as they bank and weave through the incoming flak. Two explode violently after being struck directly, their fairy pilots leaping clear a moment before hand. Another takes a wing hit, attempts to correct, but starts to spiral out of the sky. The rest rise high, then angle directly down, deploying their dive flaps and angling onto the foundering Nu-class. As Kongou's shells rain down, so to do those bombs, spread to restrict the Abyssal's routes of escape.

    Shigure grunts as she takes a hit from a shell, managing to get her thicker cannonfa armour in the way, but getting her speed reduced from the impact recoil. Her torpedo racks swivel down, and unleash two fans of four to add to Hayashimo's launch, forming up now with the other two and adding her fire to help cover Akizuki as she reloads.

Wo has posed:
    Kongou's first volley might have been a near miss, but it was enough to get the Nu-class first off-balance, scrambling to recover with its beefy arms flexing and tensing, as it continues to growl. It hasn't given up on ejecting planes when it can, but with its stability compromised, the rate it can funnel them out of its single eye is greatly impacted. Not that it matters, at the rate things are going. It looks skyward, as if to take stock of the situation there, and finds its air cover has all but collapsed. This is, right before it continues watching, almost as if it were somehow fascinated by it, as one of the shells of Kongou's follow-up salvo comes streaking in from the direction of the sun's glare. Its mouth opens just a little wider as it seems to realize the impending strike, and it gets slammed, practically on the 'crown' of its bulbous body. There's not much penetrating damage from the shell, but its already blackened body is now thoroughly charred, a pained howl erupting as its already glowing 'eye' is soon alight for another reason, flames licking out of there as well as smoke smouldering from its mouth. That's not a good shape for a ship to be in, no matter the superficial damage. The concussive force also must have done some deeper damage, or it's just too bothered by suddenly BEING ON FIRE, because it ejects no further aircraft. When Chitose's bombing run strikes, what might otherwise be a relatively light strike is instead the final nail, the Nu-class' staticy wails turning into bubbling as it lapses beneath the surface. That seemingly ends that particular threat.

    The abyssal destroyers, barely aware of anything except their usual hatred of anything having to do with a fleet daughter, don't seem to sense this sea change in the tide of the battle. They're too focused on their inexorable march forward to care about strategic, thinky things like air superiority. What they do understand, however, are torpedoes. A buzzing, gargling sound is exchanged between them, and as a group they begin to swerve to the side to attempt to outmaneuver the fanning, outgassing of the fleet daughters' torpedoes. This also puts them in position to answer in kind, the sides of their bodies erupting somewhat to allow their own torpedoes to enter the water, and soon the water is filled with dueling missiles. The destroyer that had already been damaged is too slow to properly make the turn with the rest of its group, and one of its eyes seemingly opens a little wider as one of Hayashimo's torpedoes finds a mark. It was brief, but beyond the haze of a destroyer, was that a glance of..recognition? Another destroyer seems to make an instinctive judgement, sensing a round from Isuzu has a chance of striking the Tsu-class, summons enough force to fling itself out of the water and take it, instead. It sacrificed itself to save its more 'developed' and humanoid sister, it seems.

    Speaking of that Tsu-class. As something of the flagship remaining in the harassing force, she's about to train her cannons on the hated fleet daughters. But, unlike the Destroyers, she's able to do a little bit of math, and that math isn't good. Instead, she extends her right arm, the one that has torpedo launchers at the ready, and drops three of her own into the water, before buzzing to the Destroyers still in the water. They seem to return the call, and in between the bombs and shells still flying in their direction, they seem to be moving to break off the engagement - though one of Chitose's bombers takes one out that had already been crippled by a near miss; it desperately tries to tread water, but only ends up sinking faster because of it.

    Further out to sea, the Wo-class has recovered from her headache, just in time to see what was practically inevitable, though it still causes her to visibly frown. They were able to confirm their armament, however, so it wasn't a complete loss for their side. The abyssal fighters that had been buzzing ahead the whole time, now likely a bit more obvious to the fleet daughte

Wo has posed:
    Further out to sea, the Wo-class has recovered from her headache, just in time to see what was practically inevitable, though it still causes her to visibly frown. They were able to confirm their armament, however, so it wasn't a complete loss for their side. The abyssal fighters that had been buzzing ahead the whole time, now likely a bit more obvious to the fleet daughters other than Kongou, veer off to return to her, if left unstopped.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Isuzu veers to avoid a torpedo strike, the outer edge of the Tsu's volley just narrowly missing her draft and scraping aside. Prioritizing what's in the water, she takes a solid hit from two separate shells, creating black marks on her outfit but not quite managing to penetrate anything critical. Her outfitting trails a thin haze of smoke, but it seems the fire was short-lived and already contained when the girl raises her right hand and the gun in it, "They're signalling a retreat!"

    Hayashimo, gliding amidst the plumes of water cast up by shells, slows, her single visible eye locked on the sinking destroyer. She coasts to a stop, lifting her gaze to stare quietly across the waves to the lone figure of the Wo class in the distance, recovering her aircraft. Slowly, the raven-haired girl tilts her head. Was it a cant of confusion, or a nod of recognition?

    With the announcement that the enemy fleet is coming about, Akizuki likewise lowers her speed, then leans into a turn to return to Hayashimo. The twin Choujuucentihou-chans attentively glance about, little paw flippers dangling.

    "Ahh..!" Zuihou fumbles again, in the back of the line. One of her Zeroes, unable to land safely, ditched in the water nearby and the girl swings around to recover the fairy. Straightening up, the fairy crawling into her sleeve, the carrier looks out over the waves herself with a sigh, "I'll be picking them up all night..!" Though the remaining Zeroes continue circling overhead. With the second enemy wave on the retreat, they don't give chase, instead circling above the retreating Abyssals to remind them that leaving would be the best option.

    With the Nu class sinking and several destroyers lost, Kongou swings her attention to the Tsu class, who was just signalling a retreat. A shell impacts the battleship's shoulder, bursting, but not penetrating due to the low caliber coming up against heavy armor. All it manages to create is a black mark on her haori. Pushing her hands out, she opens fire with her secondary 15.2cm casemate batteries, less intent on sinking the fleeing Tsu class and more intent on harassing it into leaving more quickly and taking the destroyers with it.

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma and Nowaki, being in almost perfect position, unleash a spread of torpedoes into the path of the retreating abyssals. Four each from the Cruiser and the Destroyer. They're not tightly aimed and only meant to add to the 'AND STAY OUT' message.

    Shigure coasts out of formation, looking at the sinking destroyer with an expression of pity. She kneels down as it slowly slips beneath the waves, and says to it. "I hope you can find some peace, at least."

    Chitose recalls her surviving Zuiun, letting them land in the water around her feet like little ducklings to their mother, winching them up with her crane as she looks to Zuihou." Don't worry! I'll help you. Besides, Dragonfly Fishing is my speciality!"

Wo has posed:
    They're really intending to let them leave, instead of extending the turkey shoot? It seems even the fleet daughters can be surprising. The Tsu-class, able to reason on a basic level, is definitely taking the hint, and after making a turn to rejoin the remaining destroyers is heading in exactly the opposite direction. Without a visible face, it's up to body language for her to expression much emotion - and those shoulders that pendulously support those huge gun gauntlets hang just a little bit lower, as though some pride was wounded, more than the few shell marks on the exposed parts of her body. The Destroyers are still sometimes briefly turning to return fire, but with their haste to leave the combat theater and the difficulty of the angle for them, it's quite obvious it's more bluster than actual bite, much like Kongou's secondary fire and Kuma and Nowaki's 'and stay gone' torpedoes.

    Though they're leaving, and shortly after would lose radio contact, the Wo-class carrier in the distance still remains standing there, where she's been the entirety of the engagement. At this point, she's not making any real secret of her presence, not that she took great pains to before. A somewhat knowing glance is exchanged with Hayashimo, though her face doesn't express much too strongly about it, otherwise. Instead, she seems to just be staring openly. Eventually, her eyes fall upon Shigure, in particular, moving to provide spoken comfort to a fallen enemy; the Destroyer itself buzzes, seemingly half in pain and half in confusion. That is, before congealed oil comes out of its mouth, and it finally loses what buoyancy it had remaining. Finally, even if Kongou has since moved on to other matters, she gives a final look to the battleship, before turning in the water and beginning to move off, in a different direction than the others.

    She's going to have some decisions to make. They're not supposed to keep secrets from each other in the abyssal fleet, so why should the Wo-class feel conflicted about this, now? ..how is it that she even has the capacity to feel conflict? She reaches up to her hat again to pull it low, as she finally exits radar range, herself. All the blips are gone, and it seems the fleet daughters have a mess to clean up on their previously nice, clean training grounds. Obviously, the true goal of the mission!

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Surrounded by the haze of her secondary battery, Kongou straightens her posture and focuses into the distance. Across the waves, where oil and floating parts and fairies of all stripes relax in little yellow lifeboats, she locks eyes however briefly with the distant flagship Wo class, narrowing when the other capital ship turns to depart. After a long moment, Kongou lifts her finger to her chin, eyes wandering skyward, "Is it the same one~?"

    "What do you mean?" Isuzu slides to a stop a few yards away, lowering her weapons. Her rigging smolders, the fire extinguished but still showing some internal damage.

    "The Wo-class that visits Boston," Kongou shrugs with her eyes closed, "I'll have to ask Admiral later~. I think she's more likely to talk to him than me."

    Closer to Zuihou and Shigure, Hayashimo's eyes lower to the destroyer that Shigure consoles. As the hulk sinks beneath the waves, the quiet girl murmurs a faint, "...I'm sorry." Akizuki reaches out, resting a hand on her shoulder, prompting a look. When the two destroyers meet eyes, Akizuki smiles, with pulls the faintest hint of one out of the more grim of the two.

    "You would?" Zuihou claps her hands, "Thank you!" She looks out over the waves again, her shoulders drooping when every shot-down fairy pilot activates her signal light at the same time. In the furthest distance, one fires a tiny flare with a hiss and a pop. "...Time to fetch them."

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure stands, and turns to look at Hayashimo. She reaches to place a hand on the raven haired girl's other shoulder, and smiles as well, looking between the other two Destroyers.

    Kuma and Nowaki slide up a few moments later, both carrying a small number of the downed pilot fairies. "We did the best we could, kuma. But there's so many we couldn't get all of them, kuma!" Nowaki nodding agreement, as one of the fairies sits in her hair, and casts out a fishing line, much to the stoic girls chargrin.

    Chitose giggles a bit at the young Carrier, and claps a hand on her shoulder. "Better get started then! We'll lose sight of them in the dark else."