Chapter 143 - 130

Zuihou's Type-2 recon aircraft flew overhead, scouting forward the area. Through the monitor, I don't see any Abyssal sh.i.p.s in sight. The plane's radar isn't picking anything up either. Whatever the planes see or hear is transmitted back to the command room and to its owner.

The Type-2 circled back to its owner, landing on the little flight deck attached to her quiver before transforming back into an arrow.

"Good work." (Zuihou)

Zuihou placed the arrow back into her quiver and spun around to face the others.

"No enemies in front. Skies are clear too. Let's do our best today!" (Zuihou)

"Yeah!" (All)

Her rallying skills have improved. Not surprising, since she has been my flagship for quite a long time now. Today, is the final transport run before the final phase of the mission.

"Got it. Remain there till further orders. Admiral, Gangut and the others are already at the resource point and ready for support shelling." (Rei)

"Great. Now it's just up to the others to do their part."

To speed things up, Rei agreed to sortie her fleet to participate in support shelling. As part of our deal, I need to take her out on a date. As much as I hate to do this, we are going to need all the help we can get.

Zuihou is going to pissed...

"Heehee. I'm looking forward to that date~" (Rei)

"You can think about your date after we finish this whole thing."

I'm regretting this decision already...

"STF, your support is on standby at location."

"Roger, we are about to engage the enemy submarine fleet." (Zuihou)

I watched as Shigure tossed a handful of depth charges into the water. A tower of water shot up, indicting a clean hit. Zuihou's planes dropped some bombs into the water, causing more water towers to pop up. I'm not sure if the bombs managed to hit something or they just exploded after impacting the water surface. It can go either way.

Of course, as soon as I had that thought, a dead abyssal's arm flew out of the water and fell back into the sea. I... didn't need to see that. Rei had this horrified expression on her face.

You too, huh?

"Enemy submarine fleet eliminated." (Zuihou)

"Proceed."

The combined task force carried on their mission, eliminating any Abyssal surface sh.i.p.s along the way. There was another submarine fleet that appeared on the radar, but Shigure promptly took them out. It was not long until they reached the resource loading point and met Rei's fleet.

"Oh. You are finally here, comrades!" (Gangut)

"Thank you for supporting us today." (Zuihou)

"What are you saying? We are comrades! Your mission is also our mission!" (Gangut)

"Oi, Zuihou! I have been waitin'!" (Ryuujou)

"Ryuujou! Oh yeah, you are in this fleet too." (Zuihou)

"Wha'?! I told ya, didn't I?" (Ryuujou)

"Sorry. My bad." (Zuihou)

"Yes ye~s! We are ready to go!" (Murasame)

Murasame waved to them. The last batch of resources have been loaded up and it's time for the final push.

"Alright. Before we go, I just do one final briefing. Gangut, you guys will initiate the opening strike. Try to take out as much as you can. Ryuujou, since you can't do any shelling, your job is to secure the airspace."

"Leave that to us!" (Gangut)

"I don't need ya tellin' me that!" (Ryuujou)

"The rest of you, just do things as per normal. Annihilate them and we can finally move to our last mission."

"Roger!" (All)

As the girls moved forward to fight the remaining Abyssal fleet, I turned to Ooyodo, who showed up in the Command Room with Yahagi, Shouhou, Gambier Bay, Satsuki, Fubuki. I have a mission for the six of them.

"You girls ready?"

"Yes! We are reaady to sortie anytime." (Ooyodo)

"Alright. I'll start the briefing."

Just the day before, I received a worrying call from Rondo. At Cape Engano, the Abyssal fleet, which showed no signs of activity for the past week, have begun to move. Based on their movement, the fleet seems to be circling around in a 30km radius from it's starting position. They pose no threat to the surrounding islands for now. The main issue lies with the number of Abyssal sh.i.p.s and Siren sh.i.p.s that have suddenly made an appearance there. Brunei Anchorage is currently doing their best to sink as much as they can, but the large number of enemies prove to be too overwhelming for them. HQ believes that the Abyssal Crane Princess's activity has casued this incident to happen, since the increase in enemy numbers happened as soon as she started moving. As such, HQ has given the order to eliminate the Abyssal Crane Princess. Each naval district is to send one fleet over to thin out the numbers so Yamato's fleet can move in to sink the Abyssal Crane Princess. Azur Lane will also be involved in this operation. Tentatively, this operation has been named 'Operation Sho-go kai'.

"Since most of the Abyssals are Destroyer Ni-class and Light Crusier He-class, we will be engaging them with bombing runs. We can expect some Wo-class Carriers too, that's where Fubuki and Satsuki comes in."

"Yes." (Fubuki)

"Leave it to me! Commander!" (Satsuki)

"The two of you will shoot down any Abyssal Aircraft within firing range."

Shouhou and Ooyodo have fighters to deal with enemy bombers, but even they can let some slip through. Having some anti-air defenses is the best way to deal with it.

"Shouhou and Gambier Bay will handle the bombardment. Yahagi and Ooyodo will provide secondary air support and attack any surface sh.i.p.s that come within range."

"Understood." (Yahagi)

"I'll do my best, for sure...!" (Gambier Bay)

"That is all. The other fleets will be sortieing soon, so get all your equipment ready and head out immediately. Secure victory over the dawn horizon!"

'Roger!" (All)

"Admiral, it's starting." (Rei)

As Ooyodo's fleet left for their sortie, the battle against the Heavy Cruiser Princess had just begun

"Let me see your courage!!" (Gangut)

"Start the bombardment! Crush the opposing foes in one go!" (Sovetskaya Rossiya)

Gangut's fleet launched a salvo against the enemy fleet, sinking two Destroyer Ha-class Late Model Elites and moderately damaging a Light Cruiser Tsu-Class Flagship. Not the best outcome but it still helps. Now the others can focus on the rest.

"черт побери! <Damn it> Not good enough!" (Gangut)

"Thats alright. Back off and let the others take over."

"Such boorish people... this is payback!" (Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess)

Oh, she is pissed.

"Combined fleet, battle formation!"

The combined fleet changed from forward formation to the battle formation.

"653rd, please begin takeoff!" (Zuihou)

Zuihou launched the first wave of aircraft. Two Suisei's were shot down but the others managed to land good hits against the enemy. The Light Cruiser Tsu-Class Flagship sunk and the Heavy Cruiser Ne-Class Kai III received some damage from the resulting shrapnel.

"Main gun, take aim.....Fire !!!" (Yamashiro)

Yamashiro fired at the abyssal fleet, but her shots unfortunately missed their targets.

"How unlucky..." (Yamashiro)

"Don't mind." (Mogami)

Both fleets continued trading fire with the Abyssal fleet, explosions and balls of fire erupted on both ends.

"Just sink!" (Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess)

The Abyssal Princess landed a hit on Tama, knocking her onto the water surface as her clothes became tattered and exposing her maroon coloured bra. Her paws, the torpedo launchers attached to her rigging, hung loosely from their joints.

"You did it nya...Ngh...! (Tama)

"Tama, fall back! Yamashiro, Shimakaze, take out that Nu-class! Yuudachi, AA support, now! Zuihou, Mutsuki, Kisaragi and Murasame, focus on the Abyssal Princess. The rest of you, take out that Ne-class Kai III."

The shipgirls worked on their respective targets. With most of the fleet focusing their fire on the Ne-class, it sunk almost immediately. They then shifted their focus towards the Nu-class, who has churning out Abyssal Hell Dive Bomber Kai and Abyssal Revenge Torpedo Bomber Kai non-stop.

One of Murasame's Daihatsu Landing Craft impacted the side of the Abyssal Princess, casuing her to stagger. A group of tenzens and Suiseis flew overhead and dropped their load onto the Abyssal Princess. A ball of fire and black smoke appeared upon impact. More explosions can be seen within the black smoke engulfing the Abyssal Princess.

"A direct hit... huh... the vital parts are... I see. Oh... well... But I'm... What is this? This feeling... it's familiar." (Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess)

By the time the smoke cleared, the abyssal princess had disappeared. More explosions surrounded the Nu-class, sinking it as it let out one final scream of agony.

All enemies have been eliminated and all of the resources have been extracted. The second phase is a success! We can finally move on to the last phase of the mission!

"Admiral, I'm picking up a new reading in the area." (Rei)

I walked over to the monitor Rei was looking at. A red 'enemy' icon can be seen further down towards the south-east of the area. She finally showed herself, the Abyssal Forest Princess.