Scene #5044: A New Flagship's Lesson

Owner	Pose
Nagato	It's late afternoon, the sun is setting properly in the sky, casting a crimson hue over the Hikari Seaport. The docks are lit up and one by one the four members of the Training Sortie Fleet is out on the water. There's nothing special about this run, save for Nagato in Night Battle mode, a Night Scout overhead and a searchlight just in case. "We'll be practicing maneuvers and formations, to remind you two destroyers and to drill it into the new Flagship's head." Nagato's voice goes from her normal calm to a stern, Teacher's voice. "Any questions before we being, all rounds shall be training, and the Sendai sisters have made targets available for use. We'll practice the four main formations the Fleet uses. Line Ahead, Double Line, Diamond and Line Abreast. I trust everyone has their sonars available too?" There's a ping of submarines. There's two allied subs, Iku and Goya, underwater, acting as the bait subs for a formation. "Iku and Goya have volunteered their time as well to assist. Submarine evasion is quite high at night, so there's no danger to them."
Shigure	Shigure and Yuudachi come out from the launch bay, turning hard to approach the sortie flagship and the Fleet Flagship. The two Shiratsuyu-sisters eyes are the only things visible in the waning light until the searchlight passes over them. One set of gleaming saphire, the other a baleful burning pair of red coals. "Shigure and Yuudachi, reporting as ordered. Training rounds loaded. Ready for formation drill." snaps Shigure as she salutes.
Yuna Kagurazaka	It's been a typically busy weekend for Yuna, although one which has thankfully been a more relaxed version of 'busy' than some weekends. She finished up some assignments for Beacon, got a good rehearsal session in back on her home Earth and a couple of live appearances around less-trafficked parts of the Multiverse, and has put in much of her Sunday afternoon in solo training off of Hikari. Her fuel reserves are still good - she hasn't been doing speed runs or extended ventures, just staying in the training area near the base. It was late enough when Kagurazaka set sail that she does have night battle equipment on her rigging; as the other kanmusu approach, she turns on her own searchlights, moving into formation with Nagato, Shigure, and Yuudachi. "Thank you all," she greets them with a quick but graceful bow - even as a modest swell of the ocean's surface passes underneath her, her balance doesn't waver noticeably. (She might straighten up a little faster than proper, though.) "Four main formations ... shall we begin with Line Ahead?" She maneuvers to take the lead, silently querying her equipment fairies to make sure her own sonar is up and running. Radar too, even though this shouldn't involve hostile aircraft.
Nagato	"You've taken to the water like a true kanmusu." Nagato states, "It does my soul proud." she turns to Yuudachi and Shigure, "Welcome to the formation." Nagato slows down intentionally to allow the two destroyers to get ahead. "I'm glad you've been putting in practice time so adamantly. You're reliable just like Shigure, Yuudachi and Kuma are. A lot of responsibility is on you with that status, Kagurazaka, please don't let me or the Fleet down with it." Fortunately, for everyone's sake, Nagato hasn't asked any of the carriers to join for night air raids... because no one is capable of doing it on base. There's also a pinging in the Sonar, a 'hello' ping from Goya and Iku. "If you notice behind me, they're going to join you in three of the formations." bubbles rise up before Goya and Iku surface briefly, wave, then dive back down. "With line ahead, it's a simple formation, no glaring advantages or weaknesses. Most fleet formations will be in Line Ahead." "Kagurazaka, take the lead. Shigure, Yuudachi, Myself, Goya and Iku. Once formation has been achieved, take a single training shot at the target." a pause, "In addition Yuna, you will have to command the fleet you're with. Some of them..." she pauses, "may want to act out of line and do their own thing, it's your job as Flagship to make your position, /and/ order respected and heard." There's a private radio channel opened towards ... someone, and an idle grin upon her face.
Shigure	Shigure takes up formation. She is a very dilligent girl and follows orders... Yuudachi, however, grins a bit, the night stoking the Nightmare. The blonde kicks forward out of formation, and charges in toward the training targets.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Kagurazaka looks back over her sholder briefly, waving back to the two submarines - although she's still listening to Nagato as well. Once everyone's lined up, she turns her attention forward -- "Yuudachi, fall back and rejoin formation! You could get in someone's line of fire by charging ahead like that!" She tries not to be too harsh in her tone, really, but Nagato did just tell her she'd have to command the fleet, and while she can't really fault Yuudachi's enthusiasm, formations do exist for a reason. And even though shelling tends to involve arcs rather than straight 'point and shoot,' that wouldn't keep Yuudachi safe from, say, allied torpedoes. There's a tiny little corner of Kagurazaka's mind which contemplates dropping a torpedo just to remind Yuudachi that 'friendly fire' really is a thing. It's a corner which is quickly shushed, though; Kagurazaka just holds her fire completely until Yuudachi is no longer in her line of fire, preferably because she followed orders and got back into formation. .... and Nagato's insrtuctions were to fire, quote, 'once formation has been achieved'. She didn't get the chance before somebody broke formation, ergo, firing while somebody's out of formation would be in error.
Nagato	Underwater, the subs are just giggling at this. The Green Flagship with the experienced fleet behind her. And Yuudachi's off like a rocket to the target. That inkling in Kagurazaka's mind is almost shared by the two submarines... who wait properly. Meanwhile, back on top of the water, Nagato gives Yuudachi this slightly approving look. Partially because /she's/ the one who told Yuudachi to do that and partially because she knew Yuudachi would probably have done it anyways. "Were this a real battle, there would be a very real chance of Yuudachi getting hurt. When your area of fire is blocked by a charging ally, it's good to hold fire, well done. The second formation is not too difficult. It's double line. Flagship and the second ship, Shigure, at front. The next two ships in the middle and the last two ships behind. A two by three formation. This has the advantage of higher accuracy while shelling, we can 'bracket fire' to make sure we can hit the target, though damage may be reduced since not everyone is going to hit." a pause, "After this, the Diamond formation, a formation you and the other Anti Air specialists will find yourselves in a lot."
Shigure	Yuudachi wheels about, and rejoins the formation as ordered, giggling happily, "Very forceful, I think even the Night Battle Idiot'd listen to you, Flagship~." she chirps happily, then settles into the double line next to Nagato. Shigure scoots forward and falls into line abreast beside Kagurazaka, nodding to the Idol-turned-cruiser with a reassuring smile.
Yuna Kagurazaka	To be fair, Kagurazaka wondered if that was deliberate on somebody's part besides Yuudachi ... but that's not the point, is it? Goya's and Iku's giggles go either unheard or unremarked; after taking her shot at the target (and letting the others take theirs), Kagurazaka nods to Nagato. "Switch to double line!" She swerves a little to the right, dropping speed long enough for Shigure to move up to flank her - and nodding back to her, returning the smile with a vestige of relief. She glances back just long enough to make sure everyone's in formation, and then ... "All ships, take your shot!" She's already aiming as she issues the order, and pulls the trigger as if to form an additional exclamation point. After the brief bombardment is complete - shells from the four surface shipgirls, and presumably torpedoes from the pair of subs - Kagurazaka calls out, "Shigure, center with me; Nagato, forward point; Yuudachi, port side; Goya and Iku, starboard and aft point." That's how they should be in a diamond formation, right? Actually shuffling into position MIGHT be tricky on the fly, though. She's also not totally sure which ship besides the flagship is supposed to be in the center for diamond formation, but - Well, if she screwed up, SOMEBODY will tell her, either either now or later. This is why training exercises exist! For now, Kagurazaka adjusts her course and speed to let Nagato get ahead of her and Shigure, without anybody crashing into anybody else. Hopefully.
Nagato	The shots ring out and torpedoes are fired and they hit their mark. Notoriously, Nagato /doesn't/ fire. "Good." in the battleship's mind, she's taking stock of Kagurazaka's leadership capabilities too. As such, she's following the orders as if it was Musashi giving them. "Good good." she listens more for the orders, Nagato doesn't say /how/ to form the diamond formation, but it looks like Kagurazaka knows how to do that already! Nagato moves to take point on Yuna's 'bow' while Iku and Goya take thier point near Yuna's sides. "While normally we would not have submarines in this formation, this is the correct way. Shelling and torpedo accuracy take a hit, but the formation allows for great flagship protection /and/ anti air defense. I would pair you with Maya, the Akizuki sisters and the like to make sure no enemy aircraft survive within your firing radius." she looks ahead in thought. "While there are no aircraft around, we'll stay moving in this formation." Nagato looks back towards Yuna, "The last one I had you do a long while back." a ping and Iku and Goya break off as the sun sets and day turns into night. "Night battles are a specialty for three types of ships. Destroyers, Cruisers and..." if Yuna's attentive... she'd notice that the subs are nowhere to be found. "Submarines. Torpedo attacks are incredibly dangerous at night and risk sending you to the bottom of the ocean if they hit. The last one, Line Abreast, is good against submarines, but any attacks against submarines are... almost guaranteed to fail at night. If you know Line Ahead... Line Abreast is the horizontal version of it."
Yuna Kagurazaka	"And in Line Abreast formation," Kagurazaka nods to Nagato, "we're spread out so that we can drop depth charges across a wider field, improving our chances somewhat." She pauses, focusing on her radar - Hoo boy. Last time she was in an anti-submarine exercise, she only had one partner and they did a weaving pattern - what Yuna called a 'helix' maneuver - to confuse the subs and tag them. That won't work nearly as well with four kanmusu side-by-side, though, and on that note - "Line abreast! From port: Yuudachi, Shigure, me, Nagato! Ready depth charges, watch sonar, drop at will! Torpedoes if you get a fix!" It's actually a little scary, even though this is a training exercise with training ammo. Yuna keeps tabs on her sonar, and if there sems to be a contact, she lets loose with either a torpedo or a depth charge, depending on how far ahead of her it is.
Nagato	Nagato gives an affirmative nod to Kagurazaka's statement, and soon, with her orders, everyone starts to move around to their proper place as designated by the flagship. "I'm incapable of fighting submarines, in any form." comes Nagato's comment, "Though, I'm sure you know this." she takes a few breaths, she trusts Goya and Iku with this. And she told them to specifically target /her/ for torpedo attacks. "Listen closely to your sonars." Goya and Iku's training torpedoes are readied and they approach stealthily... getting closer and closer... before Yuna's Sonar goes off like a warning, audio beeps in the direction the subs are coming from, even if charges are launched, the training torpedoes are on their way to the small formation... directly to Nagato herself. "Torpedoes in the water." comes Iku's voice, plain as day in the radio. "Normally I wouldn't say anything but... Iku's having a bit of fun!"
Shigure	Yuudachi blinks, sonar contact. Fish in the water. The Nightmare of Solomon shifts position, and jinks into the path of the torpedoes.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Time to improvise, then. Admittedly, Kagurazaka's first thought of 'improvisation' is to swerve ahead and protect Nagato. It goes against all the protocols she's learned about how the kanmusu do things; the flagship isn't the one who protects, she's the one who gets protected. And then Yuudachi does it for her - interposing herself ahead of Nagato, ready to take the torpedoes herself. Kagurazaka doesn't call her out on breaking formation this time; what she does do is chuck a depth charge ahead of Nagato and Yuudachi, pitching it low and fast and trying to make the torpedo blow THAT up instead of hitting the other two. Another depth charge is flung as well, this one guessing how far away Iku was when she launched that torpedo, and if that second depth charge goes off like it hit something? Then Kagurazaka launches torpedoes - using the explosion for a targeting fix.
Nagato	That's one thing Nagato didn't expect... and possibly should have. Yuudachi moving to protect the Admiral. One should protect the flagship, not the fleet flagship in this case, Yuna's quick thinking with the depth charge causes the torpedo to explode, however, the second one does not. "Submarines have amazing evasion capabilities at night." Nagato reminds. "I'm pleased with the fleet's reactions to this. The training has concluded and you all recieve a passing grade." She looks between Shigure and Yuudachi, "Mamiya's will have a parfait for you when you're ready." and soon, the battleship sails over to Kagurazaka, a hand upon her shoulder. "Training is just that, training. A /real/ mission is where your knowledge will be put to the test. I want you to lead the next mission, Kagurazaka. Ooyodo will have sortie papers ready, and I'll have a fleet ready for you." she looks out towards Hikari Seaport... and she sighs. "You have a big heart, Yuna. Sometimes, you make me question if you're a kanmusu reborn into a wonderful human spirit such as yourself. Come, let's head to the docks and resupply."
Yuna Kagurazaka	"Wh-- leading the next mission?!" Kagurazaka squeaks. Sure, she knows what being a flagship means, and it's basically that you lead a fleet on missions, but the next mission? And not necessarily the other non-native shipgirls (and shipguys), either? She'll be in charge of directing other veteran natural kanmusu? Well, she did manage this group well enough, even with Yuudachi getting out of line once or twice - once to their detriment, the second time doing what Yuna herself would have done. Maybe she ought to chide Yuudachi for cutting across the whole formation en route to protect Nagato, but Yuna's own protective nature towards her friends takes most of the edge off of that. "I'll do my best, Admiral!" she finally replies properly to Nagato, her voice relatively normal again. She can't really tell how to reply to what sounded like a compliment, so she just follows Nagato back to the docks. A parfait sounds pretty good right now. Maybe smaller than the usual, though; her stomach seems to have been invaded. (Only by butterflies. Lots of butterflies.)