Of Ships and Girls and Shipgirls - a KanColle-RP (IC)

[New Antonalia]

Force Cat-III. Above the Shipwreck Islands.
The five squadrons of 2nd Generation Cat Fighters, a formation known as Cat-III, had assembled themselves and were looking for targets, unaware of having been spotted via Higashikawa's radar.
Regardless, they acted as soon as they spotted the planes of Fyodor Volkov - unaware, that it were his and acting on instinct, two of the squadrons rolled over their wings and dove down to attack the Il-2s, their own machine cannons barking quickly as they fired AP- and incendiary ammunition in a mix of two AP, then one Incendiary round, quite sure, that they would hit more then just 'something'. His fighters, however, nine o'clock high if seen from the attack planes, went undetected... a rude surprise, because they would have the energy advantage over the 24 Abyssal fighters.
The Il-2s themselves were hard nuts to crack and they would not go down as easily, but eventually they would: The bomber always had its difficulties with the fighter...

SPN Fyodor Volkov, Attacker Group Boris,
Open Waters

As soon as the Abyssal fighters made their first attack run on the attackers, the 12.7 mm machine guns of the Il-2's rear gunners opened up on their assailants, firing in short bursts to conserve ammunition and buy time for the fighters to get into position. "Flight Boris, status update." Fyodor said, observing the abyssal fighters attempting to make another attack run. "Flight Boris is still intact. Planes 2 and 3 report minor damage to the wings and flight 4 reports engine troubles, permission to continue?" The flight leader responded, sounding a little eager to finally get some combat. "Permission granted. Continue to target, Fighter group Anton and Vasilij, break off and engage Abyssal fighters. Regroup with main force only after threat has been neutralized." Fyodor said, smiling as he knew the capabilities of his Yak-9s.

Almost immediately, flights Anton and Vasilij broke off from the group and dove on the attacking Abyssals, their 23 mm NS-23 cannon and 20 mm B-20 cannons thundering as a mix of AP-I and APIT ripped through the first couple Abyssal fighters. Fyodor's fighters knew they had the advantage with not only the altitude and initial speed they had, but their VK-105PF engine's had enough power to climb like mad when the situation called for it. And this was precisely the situation where the ability to dive and climb in rapid succession put the advantage in favor of the Solkovian Yak-9S's.

[Rustyal]

Khorak Recon Group

While an intense dogfight went off between the planes. They were frantically flying around, trying to not get shot as best they could. The lead Khorak broke off from formation, diving down slightly away from the fight in an attempt to give Caty a correction to her coordinates. While it took a lot of gut, a rough estimate was given off.

Empress Catherine

Catherine turned in, starting to close the range more. She adjusted her guns slightly, zeroing in on the target. She was also alerted to the fact that she might be able to hit the enemy Carrier in the meantime. What a lucky day for her, isn't it? She took aim, quickly. Her guns would zone in once more... Blip!. Blip, blip, blip- Her radar was picking up aerial contacts. Damnit. Catherine hated plane assaults. As a 600 meter long behemoth, avoiding hits wasn't exactly her specialty. However, she did have anti air guns. Lots of them. That was her one defense versus planes. She could only rely on the inaccuracy of torpedo bombers to save her repair costs. And, shells were landing around her! Oh my, oh my, this was going to be so much fun! Her pupils shrunk slightly as a mischievous grin came across her face. "Do not worry, my little tovarisch!~
I see them!~"

Catherine fired off her cannons at the heavy cruiser and the carrier, with a loud series of BOOM-s. Another extremely heavy salvo was launched to them, this time with a close spread instead of a wide spread. The sound was exactly as ear destroying as it was- if Stilly was a dagger among broadswords, Catherine must have been a sledgehammer among broadswords. Once that was over with, she looked at the air group, traversing her many, MANY 6 inch and 1.5 inch guns. The siege ship smiled, waiting as the planes got closer, and closer, and closer... Eventually, all at once, her anti air guns begun firing. A torrent of 37mm and 152mm flak rounds begun swarming the planes. With the relatively large size of her, she was able to fire accurately at the fighters. Hopefully, she could bring them down faster than they could get into torpedo range. Hopefully.

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

"I couldn't agree with you more," Comet stated before looking up at the sky. Kanmusu planes. Not those were problems "Now, Starboard? Do help me take care of these planes. I'd rather not be bombed and sink to the bottom of the see. It's not on my to do list." With this said, Comet would aim his guns into the sky and begin to fire on the planes, his own guns quickly being joined by the smaller guns of Starboard.

As the two shit, they began to move around. Nothing too sporadic, but they didn't want to make themselves an easy target, though they stayed generally stable to make aiming easier for the crew who were going to fire. "Status report on everyone else. What's happening?"

"Well, shots are coming at us, boss," Halve commented as she fired in the direction of the kanmusu. "So honestly I'd say we're having a great time down here. Right, Starstruck?"
"You're an idiot," the ship in question muttered as she copied the action of Halve, along with the other Wafa group once getting a bit further in range.

"Enemy spotted down here, boss. I think it's one of those carriers" Anchor commented as she began to ready her weapons. Always good to have weapons at the ready, though the real problem was getting in range without being obliterated.

"Well, fire at it!"
"I'm trying my best, boss, but I'm also trying not to sink."

[Suoji]

Seeing the squadrons of planes that descended on the battlegroup, Jokosuka quickly joined Catherine in shooting them down. Air Defense was his purpose, and he would not want to see a behemoth like Catherine sink because of him. However, it seemed like Catherine was more than capable of handling this by herself. Whilst she had an advantage in sheer numbers of AA guns, Jokosuka liked to think his 60mm guns were of better quality.

He started to fire on the planes; torpedo bombers were the priority, and if one slipped through he’d just have to hope they’d miss. He liked to think his shooting was pretty accurate, but a one miss could lead to major damage.

He frowned as he stared towards the horizon. It angered him that he could see the enemy ships, but did not have the range to fire upon them. Speaking of firing, his ears were starting to hurt from Catherine’s multiple monstrous shots. However, if it ended with the sinking of Abyssals, he was more than happy to put up with it.

[The Selkie]

Force Cat-III. Above the Shipwreck Islands.
The five squadrons of 2nd Generation Cat Fighters, a formation known as Cat-III, had assembled themselves and were looking for targets, unaware of having been spotted via Higashikawa's radar.
Regardless, they acted as soon as they spotted the planes of Fyodor Volkov - unaware, that it were his and acting on instinct, two of the squadrons rolled over their wings and dove down to attack the Il-2s, their own machine cannons barking quickly as they fired AP- and incendiary ammunition in a mix of two AP, then one Incendiary round, quite sure, that they would hit more then just 'something'. His fighters, however, nine o'clock high if seen from the attack planes, went undetected... a rude surprise, because they would have the energy advantage over the 24 Abyssal fighters.
The Il-2s themselves were hard nuts to crack and they would not go down as easily, but eventually they would: The bomber always had its difficulties with the fighter...

SPN Fyodor Volkov, Attacker Group Boris,
Open Waters

As soon as the Abyssal fighters made their first attack run on the attackers, the 12.7 mm machine guns of the Il-2's rear gunners opened up on their assailants, firing in short bursts to conserve ammunition and buy time for the fighters to get into position. "Flight Boris, status update." Fyodor said, observing the abyssal fighters attempting to make another attack run. "Flight Boris is still intact. Planes 2 and 3 report minor damage to the wings and flight 4 reports engine troubles, permission to continue?" The flight leader responded, sounding a little eager to finally get some combat. "Permission granted. Continue to target, Fighter group Anton and Vasilij, break off and engage Abyssal fighters. Regroup with main force only after threat has been neutralized." Fyodor said, smiling as he knew the capabilities of his Yak-9s.

Almost immediately, flights Anton and Vasilij broke off from the group and dove on the attacking Abyssals, their 23 mm NS-23 cannon and 20 mm B-20 cannons thundering as a mix of AP-I and APIT ripped through the first couple Abyssal fighters. Fyodor's fighters knew they had the advantage with not only the altitude and initial speed they had, but their VK-105PF engine's had enough power to climb like mad when the situation called for it. And this was precisely the situation where the ability to dive and climb in rapid succession put the advantage in favor of the Solkovian Yak-9S's.

Force Cat-III. Above Shipwreck Islands.
The Yak-9 was an excellent plane, each and everyone of them knew that... and they knew, that it was an excellent plane at lower altitudes. So, as the two squadrons were engaged by the Yaks, they did not pull up.
That was not their job.
Their job was to buy time for the other three squadrons to take care of the attack planes, now that their escort was engaged. And engaging them it did, two Abyssal-planes went down burning, others with more then enough holes in them, but they turned in to the dogfight, their own 2nd Gen Cats more then a match by sheer grit, determination, firepower and their aircraft's abilities in taking a punch, as well as handing it out.
They cooperated, kept enemy planes off each other's tails, took potshots with their six 12.7mm machine guns, tracers helping them in adjusting their aim, beginning the intricate dance of death with their opponents and curving around like madpeople, especially at slower speeds - after all, they were more maneuverable then the famed Zero at slower speeds, forcing the enemy down to them evened the odds a bit.
Their armour-piercing bullets shredded what they hit and hitting they did.

Meanwhile, the leader of Cat-III sent his own squadron together with the other two remaining after the Il-2s, flying tanks and with rear armament. It would be ugly, but they had one major advantage over the two squadrons fighting Yak-9s belows: They carried two gunpods with one 20mm cannon each, as well as a little ammunition supply.
The latter fact would be of no problem, after all, the Il-2 was not exactly known as a dogfighter, but so aiming would be the least of their worries, as they tore into the formations with vicious glee and barking cannons, their armour piercing ammunition more then up to the task of destroying the flying tanks.
Not with ease, their armour's fearsome reputation was well-deserved, but with far more ease then 12.7mm rounds. Aiming for the wings, as an aircraft without wings was not exactly known for its good flight caracteristics, they went to work, not bothering with the fuselages as they dropped down, then used the excess energy to pull up and to attack the Il-2s from the side.
As a famous person once said: "It's a trap!"

Khorak Recon Group

While an intense dogfight went off between the planes. They were frantically flying around, trying to not get shot as best they could. The lead Khorak broke off from formation, diving down slightly away from the fight in an attempt to give Caty a correction to her coordinates. While it took a lot of gut, a rough estimate was given off.

Empress Catherine

Catherine turned in, starting to close the range more. She adjusted her guns slightly, zeroing in on the target. She was also alerted to the fact that she might be able to hit the enemy Carrier in the meantime. What a lucky day for her, isn't it? She took aim, quickly. Her guns would zone in once more... Blip!. Blip, blip, blip- Her radar was picking up aerial contacts. Damnit. Catherine hated plane assaults. As a 600 meter long behemoth, avoiding hits wasn't exactly her specialty. However, she did have anti air guns. Lots of them. That was her one defense versus planes. She could only rely on the inaccuracy of torpedo bombers to save her repair costs. And, shells were landing around her! Oh my, oh my, this was going to be so much fun! Her pupils shrunk slightly as a mischievous grin came across her face. "Do not worry, my little tovarisch!~
I see them!~"

Catherine fired off her cannons at the heavy cruiser and the carrier, with a loud series of BOOM-s. Another extremely heavy salvo was launched to them, this time with a close spread instead of a wide spread. The sound was exactly as ear destroying as it was- if Stilly was a dagger among broadswords, Catherine must have been a sledgehammer among broadswords. Once that was over with, she looked at the air group, traversing her many, MANY 6 inch and 1.5 inch guns. The siege ship smiled, waiting as the planes got closer, and closer, and closer... Eventually, all at once, her anti air guns begun firing. A torrent of 37mm and 152mm flak rounds begun swarming the planes. With the relatively large size of her, she was able to fire accurately at the fighters. Hopefully, she could bring them down faster than they could get into torpedo range. Hopefully.

"I couldn't agree with you more," Comet stated before looking up at the sky. Kanmusu planes. Not those were problems "Now, Starboard? Do help me take care of these planes. I'd rather not be bombed and sink to the bottom of the see. It's not on my to do list." With this said, Comet would aim his guns into the sky and begin to fire on the planes, his own guns quickly being joined by the smaller guns of Starboard.

As the two shit, they began to move around. Nothing too sporadic, but they didn't want to make themselves an easy target, though they stayed generally stable to make aiming easier for the crew who were going to fire. "Status report on everyone else. What's happening?"

"Well, shots are coming at us, boss," Halve commented as she fired in the direction of the kanmusu. "So honestly I'd say we're having a great time down here. Right, Starstruck?"
"You're an idiot," the ship in question muttered as she copied the action of Halve, along with the other Wafa group once getting a bit further in range.

"Enemy spotted down here, boss. I think it's one of those carriers" Anchor commented as she began to ready her weapons. Always good to have weapons at the ready, though the real problem was getting in range without being obliterated.

"Well, fire at it!"
"I'm trying my best, boss, but I'm also trying not to sink."

Seeing the squadrons of planes that descended on the battlegroup, Jokosuka quickly joined Catherine in shooting them down. Air Defense was his purpose, and he would not want to see a behemoth like Catherine sink because of him. However, it seemed like Catherine was more than capable of handling this by herself. Whilst she had an advantage in sheer numbers of AA guns, Jokosuka liked to think his 60mm guns were of better quality.

He started to fire on the planes; torpedo bombers were the priority, and if one slipped through he’d just have to hope they’d miss. He liked to think his shooting was pretty accurate, but a one miss could lead to major damage.

He frowned as he stared towards the horizon. It angered him that he could see the enemy ships, but did not have the range to fire upon them. Speaking of firing, his ears were starting to hurt from Catherine’s multiple monstrous shots. However, if it ended with the sinking of Abyssals, he was more than happy to put up with it.

Aircraft Group attacking Battlegroup Caty.
As the ships under attack mostly focussed their AA-fire onto the Torpedo Bombers, Lamia couldn't help but wear a smirk: The Dive Bombers were not completely ignored, but far less bothered. They had a different approach onto their targets after all.
As such, they reaped terrible harvest amongst her poor torpedo bombers, which were not exactly annihilated, but had quite a lot of trouble with the whole occassion. It was understandable, after all even Lamia would bet on the torpedo bomber to sink a ship and less on a dive bomber, but miracles did happen.
But a few, maybe half a dozen, managed to come into the effective firing range of a little less then six kilometres, dropping their loads into the water before they, too, departed this cruel world to be reincarnated as soon as Lamia supplied herself properly. Their targets was all on one: Caty. One torpedo disintegrated before it hit the water by a lucky shot, the remaining five all primed to do their reason for existing proud.
Their carriers wish for that kanmusu to go down was heeded.
The dive bombers meanwhile, began their dives at their targets, two squadrons solely focussed onto Caty with their one ton bombs, which had rather unsettling similarities to 16 inch armour piercing shells nabbed right out of a battleship's magazine, two rather cheeky pilots even going so far as to aim their bombs at Caty's funnels, unbothered by the relatively small amount of AA-fire, that went up to greet them.
A third squadron of dive bombers decided to bother the escort vessels, mostly that... Lamia was tempted to say 'cruiser' with the many AA-guns, which were not bad, quite on the contrary, against her torpedo bombers. Eight bombers went for that one.

Stilly. Battlegroup Caty.
I screamed.
Why did I scream?
Oh, yes, there were the mangled remains of one of my guns in my hand, a destroyer having hit it and caused the ammunition to cook off... with predictable results. My hand was a mangled mess, too.
Please forgive me for not going into detail, but I think, that this is a PG-13 site.
I knew, that if my panties hadn't already been wet from the spray, they would be now... I was lucky, my depth charge rack was wide open, hitting it and cooking it off would result in my causing a boom as big as Miss Caty's guns... speaking of which, she fired again.
I absentmindedly fired a few rounds into the same direction, but there was little spirit in it... I stared at my hand... why do I suddenly feel light-headed?

Lamia.
Still propping Riana up, the Carrier Demon screamed from the top of her lungs, as her fighters took care of the reconnaissance planes. Her scream might be unarticulated yelling to the kanmusu, but in their tongue, it was something different:
[Come and get me, you little whore, your chief engineer had too little of a-meep!] The last was aborted due to the increasing presence of shells in the area, fired by that kanmusu. Most missed, despite the rather tight grouping, throwing the two of them around. One struck Lamia's rigging, exploding with some effect, but most likely not the one Caty had hoped for.
After all, Lamia was an Aircraft Carrier Demon - not as good as an Aircraft Carrier Water Demon, but she still packed quite a punch.
Damage control reported, that she was still capable of flight operations and that most of her still worked. Riana had been protected by Lamia's rigging from the explosion.
The Carrier Demon grinned. [As I was saying... Did your chief engineer need to compensate that much?!], she yelled.
Riana giggled. [You always wanted to say that, right?], she asked weakly.
Lamia blushed lightly.

[New Antonalia]

SPN Fyodor Volkov, Attacker Group Boris,
Open Waters

As soon as the Abyssal fighters made their first attack run on the attackers, the 12.7 mm machine guns of the Il-2's rear gunners opened up on their assailants, firing in short bursts to conserve ammunition and buy time for the fighters to get into position. "Flight Boris, status update." Fyodor said, observing the abyssal fighters attempting to make another attack run. "Flight Boris is still intact. Planes 2 and 3 report minor damage to the wings and flight 4 reports engine troubles, permission to continue?" The flight leader responded, sounding a little eager to finally get some combat. "Permission granted. Continue to target, Fighter group Anton and Vasilij, break off and engage Abyssal fighters. Regroup with main force only after threat has been neutralized." Fyodor said, smiling as he knew the capabilities of his Yak-9s.

Almost immediately, flights Anton and Vasilij broke off from the group and dove on the attacking Abyssals, their 23 mm NS-23 cannon and 20 mm B-20 cannons thundering as a mix of AP-I and APIT ripped through the first couple Abyssal fighters. Fyodor's fighters knew they had the advantage with not only the altitude and initial speed they had, but their VK-105PF engine's had enough power to climb like mad when the situation called for it. And this was precisely the situation where the ability to dive and climb in rapid succession put the advantage in favor of the Solkovian Yak-9S's.

Force Cat-III. Above Shipwreck Islands.
The Yak-9 was an excellent plane, each and everyone of them knew that... and they knew, that it was an excellent plane at lower altitudes. So, as the two squadrons were engaged by the Yaks, they did not pull up.
That was not their job.
Their job was to buy time for the other three squadrons to take care of the attack planes, now that their escort was engaged. And engaging them it did, two Abyssal-planes went down burning, others with more then enough holes in them, but they turned in to the dogfight, their own 2nd Gen Cats more then a match by sheer grit, determination, firepower and their aircraft's abilities in taking a punch, as well as handing it out.
They cooperated, kept enemy planes off each other's tails, took potshots with their six 12.7mm machine guns, tracers helping them in adjusting their aim, beginning the intricate dance of death with their opponents and curving around like madpeople, especially at slower speeds - after all, they were more maneuverable then the famed Zero at slower speeds, forcing the enemy down to them evened the odds a bit.
Their armour-piercing bullets shredded what they hit and hitting they did.

Meanwhile, the leader of Cat-III sent his own squadron together with the other two remaining after the Il-2s, flying tanks and with rear armament. It would be ugly, but they had one major advantage over the two squadrons fighting Yak-9s belows: They carried two gunpods with one 20mm cannon each, as well as a little ammunition supply.
The latter fact would be of no problem, after all, the Il-2 was not exactly known as a dogfighter, but so aiming would be the least of their worries, as they tore into the formations with vicious glee and barking cannons, their armour piercing ammunition more then up to the task of destroying the flying tanks.
Not with ease, their armour's fearsome reputation was well-deserved, but with far more ease then 12.7mm rounds. Aiming for the wings, as an aircraft without wings was not exactly known for its good flight caracteristics, they went to work, not bothering with the fuselages as they dropped down, then used the excess energy to pull up and to attack the Il-2s from the side.
As a famous person once said: "It's a trap!"

SPN Fyodor Volkov,
Open Waters
Initially the outset of the fighting between Fyodor's attack groups and the attacking Cat-III fighters was grim, however there was one thing he knew the Abyssals didn't see coming, he still had a third fighter group in the air, and while they didn't pack as much ammunition as the two escort groups, it was still enough to intercept enemy fighters, and better yet, their flight radius automatically put them in an intercept course with the beleaguered attackers squadrons. "Figher Group Boris, intercept fighters attacking Il-2 bombers. Attacker Group Anton, Boris, and Vasilij, formation Boris and focus fire." Almost in like clockwork, the Il-2s grouped up in a tighter formation than before, putting the more damaged planes in the center of the formation. All he needed was for them to hold until the third fighter group could intercept the abyssal fighters.

Attacker Group Boris,
Open waters

"This is Flight 3 we are hit, losing fuel and the flaps are jammed on my right side, permission to break way?" The flight leader heard over his intercom as the plane at his 4 o'clock started wavering after another strafing run by the Abyssal fighters. "Negative Flight 3, stay in formation. If you break away you'll be cut to pieces." The flight leader cursed his luck, especially making sure to curse the enemy 20 mm cannons that were ripping his planes to pieces. "Flight 2 reporting direct hit on enemy fighter, his wing ripped right off!" He heard, this time coming from the plane on his 8 o'clock as his gunner confirmed the kill. "Good work, keep firing on their approach and when they peel off, that is the best time to shoot."

---

SPN Sergei Malinokov,
Open Waters arriving at Battlegroup Caty

Sergei could see the combat from afar, and knowing how useless he was in close quarters, he decided to stay at long range and began ranging in the surviving cruisers. "Target, Aircraft carrier at 19 km, load high explosive and fire at will!" Sergei said, barking orders into his headset as his main batteries adjusted accordingly. Almost five seconds later, four tandem blasts rocked his rig as the 190 mm shells went screaming into the air, sailing with a bright orange streak as the horizontal dispersion gradually widened. He knew his guns had a very high velocity for their caliber and high explosive going at such a speed would most likely fail to fuse initially and either shatter against the side, or less likely punch through and explode inside their target. However, it wasn't his intent to sink the ship, he wanted to let the abyssal carrier know he could reach out and not just touch her, deliver a gut punch the likes of which she had never felt.

[Higher Japan]

Open sea

"Launching in second wave. All men, clear the deck!" Tokai shouted, the gun's safety coming off automatically as she aimed it towards the sky before looking on her radar. Enemy aircraft had been detected and began to engage the forces, although something was wrong. "Fyodor, hold them off for now. This isn't the main force, no, the main force will be coming soon." She said through the radio, aiming her rifle in the sky as her anti air weapons now came to life, waiting for the enemy.

From Higashikawa, he made a quick turn, heading towards Cathy as he began to release anti air fire towards the abyssal bombers and torpedo bombers surrounding her. "Type 3 shells loaded, take aim and correct!" He shouted out as he fired off another round of 10 cm shells, his cannons going upwards as the final check was done, before they all fired at once. In the air, shells would fly almost harmlessly towards the group before completely blowing up, releasing shrapnel forward to them as he continued to fire more Type 3 shells at them.

[Legatia]

LNS Coriolanus

---

At Sea, Sector CN-17|Operational Sector Wide Sea- Southwest|0800 hours

The battleship steeled herself as she picked up the flight of torpedo bombers rushing at her. The first credible and personal threat to her this operation.. but most surely not the last. Her torpedo countermeasure skills were rusty, but the memories of that fateful Nindegaan night were still there when the words "Torpedo in the water" came to her.

"All engines ahead flank, full port rudder!" Coriolanus began a rapid left turn, and arced herself out of the path of the torpedoes before watching them skirt harmlessly by. A breath escaped her before she had an idea. Triangulating the shots, a barrage of HE shells ripped out of her broadside and hurled themselves towards the base's oil silos.

The idea was simple. That oil silo would get hit on fire- and oil burns. That smoke, hopefully, would sufficiently obscure both the AA and coastal defense guns enough to give the incoming planes some cover coming in, and it would save the asses of the landing parties once they launched. In addition, it'd completely inhibit the chances of her launching many more attacks. It would make the job of the attack aircraft finding targets slightly harder, but considering those positions were already marked, she expected it to be a tactical tradeoff she couldn't afford to miss.

"Flag to Fyodor- you can engage if it won't inhibit your ability to attack priority targets." She switched to a general frequency, and transmitted.

"Flag to Carrier Group. I've engaged the oil silos and I believe I have a hit. If it's succesful, your pilots should have sufficient protection from the AA on the ground, but your target finding will be a little harder. Standby for effect."

The only thing she could do now is pray the winds were in her favor.

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Prophet

Hearing Coriolanus' transmission, Prophet grinned, knowing that the smoke would indeed be a problem for their defenses, and loaded up a magazine of bombers to launch at the Princess, all of which loaded with a single 250 kg bomb.

"Copy that Flag, bomber squadrons Gamma and Delta are prepped and launching." Prophet replied, launching all 20 of his D3A bombers. It was then that he heard what he believed to be gibberish, and looked in the direction it came from to find the Carrier Demon. He almost instantly recognized the sounds to be some sort of insult, and decided to shoot one right back, using a Scottish accent for some reason.

"And a fuck you to you as well you fucking dinghy! I'll have your head on one of your gun barrels when I get to ya!" He shouted back, followed by a war cry from his crew, who clearly shared his desire to see that carrier slip under.

[New Antonalia]

SPN Fyodor Volkov,
Feeling rather naked with no fighters to call on

"Negative Tokai, all fighter groups are already engaged! All I have left are torpedo bombers!" He said before switching to Corolianus. "Affirmative, will engage targets of opportunity if they present themselves." However, Fyodor knew he wouldn't be able to engage anything if his Il-2s were shot out of the sky. "Prophet, I need help defending my attackers, I only have one fighter group able to assist but they need time to reach the attacker squadrons." Fyodor didn't like the idea of calling on, what he felt, was a self-absorbed jackass for help, but right now he didn't the luxury of being picky.

[The Selkie]

Force Cat-III. Above Shipwreck Islands.
The Yak-9 was an excellent plane, each and everyone of them knew that... and they knew, that it was an excellent plane at lower altitudes. So, as the two squadrons were engaged by the Yaks, they did not pull up.
That was not their job.
Their job was to buy time for the other three squadrons to take care of the attack planes, now that their escort was engaged. And engaging them it did, two Abyssal-planes went down burning, others with more then enough holes in them, but they turned in to the dogfight, their own 2nd Gen Cats more then a match by sheer grit, determination, firepower and their aircraft's abilities in taking a punch, as well as handing it out.
They cooperated, kept enemy planes off each other's tails, took potshots with their six 12.7mm machine guns, tracers helping them in adjusting their aim, beginning the intricate dance of death with their opponents and curving around like madpeople, especially at slower speeds - after all, they were more maneuverable then the famed Zero at slower speeds, forcing the enemy down to them evened the odds a bit.
Their armour-piercing bullets shredded what they hit and hitting they did.

Meanwhile, the leader of Cat-III sent his own squadron together with the other two remaining after the Il-2s, flying tanks and with rear armament. It would be ugly, but they had one major advantage over the two squadrons fighting Yak-9s belows: They carried two gunpods with one 20mm cannon each, as well as a little ammunition supply.
The latter fact would be of no problem, after all, the Il-2 was not exactly known as a dogfighter, but so aiming would be the least of their worries, as they tore into the formations with vicious glee and barking cannons, their armour piercing ammunition more then up to the task of destroying the flying tanks.
Not with ease, their armour's fearsome reputation was well-deserved, but with far more ease then 12.7mm rounds. Aiming for the wings, as an aircraft without wings was not exactly known for its good flight caracteristics, they went to work, not bothering with the fuselages as they dropped down, then used the excess energy to pull up and to attack the Il-2s from the side.
As a famous person once said: "It's a trap!"

SPN Fyodor Volkov,
Open Waters
Initially the outset of the fighting between Fyodor's attack groups and the attacking Cat-III fighters was grim, however there was one thing he knew the Abyssals didn't see coming, he still had a third fighter group in the air, and while they didn't pack as much ammunition as the two escort groups, it was still enough to intercept enemy fighters, and better yet, their flight radius automatically put them in an intercept course with the beleaguered attackers squadrons. "Figher Group Boris, intercept fighters attacking Il-2 bombers. Attacker Group Anton, Boris, and Vasilij, formation Boris and focus fire." Almost in like clockwork, the Il-2s grouped up in a tighter formation than before, putting the more damaged planes in the center of the formation. All he needed was for them to hold until the third fighter group could intercept the abyssal fighters.

Attacker Group Boris,
Open waters

"This is Flight 3 we are hit, losing fuel and the flaps are jammed on my right side, permission to break way?" The flight leader heard over his intercom as the plane at his 4 o'clock started wavering after another strafing run by the Abyssal fighters. "Negative Flight 3, stay in formation. If you break away you'll be cut to pieces." The flight leader cursed his luck, especially making sure to curse the enemy 20 mm cannons that were ripping his planes to pieces. "Flight 2 reporting direct hit on enemy fighter, his wing ripped right off!" He heard, this time coming from the plane on his 8 o'clock as his gunner confirmed the kill. "Good work, keep firing on their approach and when they peel off, that is the best time to shoot."

---

SPN Sergei Malinokov,
Open Waters arriving at Battlegroup Caty

Sergei could see the combat from afar, and knowing how useless he was in close quarters, he decided to stay at long range and began ranging in the surviving cruisers. "Target, Aircraft carrier at 19 km, load high explosive and fire at will!" Sergei said, barking orders into his headset as his main batteries adjusted accordingly. Almost five seconds later, four tandem blasts rocked his rig as the 190 mm shells went screaming into the air, sailing with a bright orange streak as the horizontal dispersion gradually widened. He knew his guns had a very high velocity for their caliber and high explosive going at such a speed would most likely fail to fuse initially and either shatter against the side, or less likely punch through and explode inside their target. However, it wasn't his intent to sink the ship, he wanted to let the abyssal carrier know he could reach out and not just touch her, deliver a gut punch the likes of which she had never felt.

Open sea

"Launching in second wave. All men, clear the deck!" Tokai shouted, the gun's safety coming off automatically as she aimed it towards the sky before looking on her radar. Enemy aircraft had been detected and began to engage the forces, although something was wrong. "Fyodor, hold them off for now. This isn't the main force, no, the main force will be coming soon." She said through the radio, aiming her rifle in the sky as her anti air weapons now came to life, waiting for the enemy.

From Higashikawa, he made a quick turn, heading towards Cathy as he began to release anti air fire towards the abyssal bombers and torpedo bombers surrounding her. "Type 3 shells loaded, take aim and correct!" He shouted out as he fired off another round of 10 cm shells, his cannons going upwards as the final check was done, before they all fired at once. In the air, shells would fly almost harmlessly towards the group before completely blowing up, releasing shrapnel forward to them as he continued to fire more Type 3 shells at them.

Prophet

Hearing Coriolanus' transmission, Prophet grinned, knowing that the smoke would indeed be a problem for their defenses, and loaded up a magazine of bombers to launch at the Princess, all of which loaded with a single 250 kg bomb.

"Copy that Flag, bomber squadrons Gamma and Delta are prepped and launching." Prophet replied, launching all 20 of his D3A bombers. It was then that he heard what he believed to be gibberish, and looked in the direction it came from to find the Carrier Demon. He almost instantly recognized the sounds to be some sort of insult, and decided to shoot one right back, using a Scottish accent for some reason.

"And a fuck you to you as well you fucking dinghy! I'll have your head on one of your gun barrels when I get to ya!" He shouted back, followed by a war cry from his crew, who clearly shared his desire to see that carrier slip under.

Force Cat-III. Above the Shipwreck Islands.
Despite their best efforts, there were losses as a third fighter group joined the fray, but the leader of Cat-III didn't pay them that much mind. Sure, they were troublesome, but the first two squadrons to attack soon joined them in their violent air-brawl, curving around and covering each others back, using the machine guns to dissiduate enemy fighters of their ill-conceived notion of heroically shooting down the enemy, even hitting the odd one.
The 20mm cannons were reserved for the Il-2s and while the fighters proved to be a bit of a distraction, those were not off the hook, several of the planes visibly damaged - running like wounded dogs. The grins only widened as the Abyssals got more and more shots in, some with spent cannons even aiming for the cockpits with their machine guns.
They did loose a few of their numbers, other accumulating damages, but they would not falter.
It was violent.
It was bloody.
It was war - for the Abyssals, it was Glorious Battle.

Lamia and Comet Battlegroup.
Lamia grinned as a new voice joined the din of screaming insults at each other, this one a guy screaming something in an accent in his English, even audible to her as non-standard English, soon joined by his crew. She didn't understand a word, but the general gist arrived from the carrier.
She turned to him anyways: [Excuse me, Princess, but I have no time for you, you...] And again, gunfire interrupted her, this time from another male, a cruiser. His shells did not miss, their damage was nothing compared to what that single grenade from Caty had done to her. And it smated, as flight deck was taken out of order by the brazen attack.
She winced, not intended on showing weakness.
And then, more cannon fire went up, as Tsubaki and Tsuki, her two Tsu-class Light Cruisers, Basic in every sense of the word, except one: Their bravery. The two of them charged at the heavy cruiser, their 5inch Dual Purpose Guns firing at him, firing like mad, Armour Piercing rounds catapulted into his direction.
And Riana, her Basic Ri-class Heavy Cruiser-self, joined in, her 8inch guns firing at the enemy as well.
No one would attempt to hurt their Demon and get away!

LNS Coriolanus

---

At Sea, Sector CN-17|Operational Sector Wide Sea- Southwest|0800 hours

The battleship steeled herself as she picked up the flight of torpedo bombers rushing at her. The first credible and personal threat to her this operation.. but most surely not the last. Her torpedo countermeasure skills were rusty, but the memories of that fateful Nindegaan night were still there when the words "Torpedo in the water" came to her.

"All engines ahead flank, full port rudder!" Coriolanus began a rapid left turn, and arced herself out of the path of the torpedoes before watching them skirt harmlessly by. A breath escaped her before she had an idea. Triangulating the shots, a barrage of HE shells ripped out of her broadside and hurled themselves towards the base's oil silos.

The idea was simple. That oil silo would get hit on fire- and oil burns. That smoke, hopefully, would sufficiently obscure both the AA and coastal defense guns enough to give the incoming planes some cover coming in, and it would save the asses of the landing parties once they launched. In addition, it'd completely inhibit the chances of her launching many more attacks. It would make the job of the attack aircraft finding targets slightly harder, but considering those positions were already marked, she expected it to be a tactical tradeoff she couldn't afford to miss.

"Flag to Fyodor- you can engage if it won't inhibit your ability to attack priority targets." She switched to a general frequency, and transmitted.

"Flag to Carrier Group. I've engaged the oil silos and I believe I have a hit. If it's succesful, your pilots should have sufficient protection from the AA on the ground, but your target finding will be a little harder. Standby for effect."

The only thing she could do now is pray the winds were in her favor.

Chill, Airfield Princess.
Chill frowned - her bombers had missed, mostly, but there were still a few reports out. That was her only torpedo strike gone without damages. As per her orders, her bombers would turn away and head towards the nearest airfields and carriers, which weren't that far away. They were not undamaged, though, even suffered losses.
Soon, they would join the fray again, togethers with their brothers and sisters in arms.
She herself had a few other problems: Someone, that battleship, most likely, had fired at her oil silos. All except one grenade had hit the silos as well, making them go up spectacularly and smoking heavily - thick, black smoke. Thick, black smoke, that was pressed by the wind into her direction, obscuring her and her entire base in its heaviness.
[Wonderful...], the Princess mumbled. That was exactly what she didn't need, as that was impairng her ability to launch and recover airplanes, but at least it would keep them from having a good sight of her as well... she hoped.
Meanwhile, her Artillery Imps, obscured by the smoke, had radar...

[Sleet Clans]

As the surface battle raged above her, Nevlamas contemplated sailing back to her fleet to help out. However, if she did so, that would mean one less submarine would be guarding the western flank against Abyssal flanking threats. And if, let's say, an Abyssal submarine got through their sonar...

Nope, let's not think of that! The Sleetavian quickly purged those thoughts from her mind before they had a chance to stick. It wouldn't do to have her confidence brought low by what-ifs and potential happenings. If a sub was not live and alert at all times in battle, well, there were plenty of examples out there that spoke of what would happen....some of those examples being Sleetavian in origin. But speaking of potential....

While pinging around the ocean with her passive sonar, Nevlamas spied a prime oppertunity to flank the main Abyssal force inside their own cover. She hoped her fellow submarines were seeing this, because if they could pull this off then many an Abyssal may see their end via torpedo fired from under the depths. However, she couldn't immediately tell the rest of her allies this. Radio waves didn't travel too well through salt water, so that meant that she would have to get to periscope depth and extend her radio mast. She would be extremely vulnerable while doing so however, and if some Abyssal saw her while she was transmitting, it would not only blow her cover, but also put all ASW assets of the Abyssals on red alert.

Still, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, but she didn't want herself to look like she was disobeying orders. She started to slowly pull up to periscope depth, extending her radio mast just above the water once she was at the minimum depth and immediately contacting the allied fleet.

''Flag, Nevlamas. High value Abyssal assets east of current position. If we strike now, we can cause heavy damage to their capability to strike back''

Once that was done, she waited for a response, pray to every god there was that some Abyssal eyes and/or sonar wouldn't catch onto her ploy...

[Fascist Republic Of Bermuda]

CSS Thomas Jefferson Page

"AHHHHH!"

CSS Thomas Jefferson Page really did not know what it was like to be under air attack. She had come to the front when Germany had been on her last legs. No aircraft had ever her way except outdated, desperate aircraft that wilted in the face of her impressive anti-air suite and Allied air superiority. It was entirely a different story here, with swarm upon swarm of all sorts of enemy aircraft, and her ears were ringing, and the big ship firing had left her disoriented... She took a deep breath, collecting herself after her rather impromtu rebel yell.

And, well, she was equipped with dual-purpose guns... everybody was focusing on the torpedo bombers... well, TJP's experience with light bombers lacked torpedo bombers, in fact she had mostly engaged... oh shit. She didn't need the shrieking siren of a Junkers Ju-87 to recognize a dive bomber. "WATCH THE DIVE BOMBERS!" She cried out. Her five inch guns swiveled and raised as fast as they could to engage the dive-bombers headed for Catherine, while her much-closer-ranged Bofors opened up on the dive bombers attempting to attack Jokosuka, leaving her even shorter-ranged 20-mils to drive off any attempt on herself. A shell landed in the water nearby, splashing water all over her. She was panicking, she'd never been in this situation before. But Marse Robert had once said that "Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less." It was that message that the Confederate Armed Forces had lives by ever since the War Between The States, and it was that message that kept TJP steady even in the face of such danger.

HMBS Legate

To be blunt, Legate and her airgroup felt a bit outmatched. Her measly 40 outdated biplanes weren't exactly the pinnacle of aeronautical engineering- her entire complement was outdated when they were designed- Gloster Gladiators were put into service the same year as the Hawker Hurricane, and the Fairey Swordfish, a fabric biplane, had the proud introduction year of 1936. But regardless of her lack of numbers and modern planes, she remained optimistic- for her crews' sake if nobody else. "Cheer up lads, Swordfish sunk the Bismarck! Gladiators defended Malta! You're the finest pilots in the Commonwealth, flying the finest aircraft in the Bermudian Navy!" The pilot scrambled into their fighters, Legate loaded a shot into her Martini-Henry-looking... launch thingy. The rifle cracked, and out flew a flight of 5 Gloster Sea Gladiators, off to join the battle in the air. "Remember, turning engagement, lads!" She encouraged, before launching two flights of 5 Fairey Swordfish, each biplane loaded down with 6 250 lb. bombs. "HMBS Legate to Flag, Swordfish are headed to target!" The excitement of battle made Legate giddy, it always made her giddy, even if she wasn't supposed to get stuck in the thick of things like she had been at Jutland. She fired off another squadron of Gladiators, these ones joining the Swordfish as a fighter escort as the aircraft flew off, looking like a scene that belonged in grainy old newsreels of the Great War.

[Kraicia]

HLFFS Bailee
With CSS Thomas Jefferson Page

The heavy mechanical clicking and gunfire from Bailee’s twin barreled 57mm autocannons (main armament) lit up as abyssal aircraft flew in from all directions. The 20mm AA guns and ordinary machine guns also let loose into the sky, with every Kraician man - Caucasian and African alike - at their post within their distinctive red and black sailor uniforms. The Celtic-Germanic Bentley-Class Destroyer shipgirl was hard work through all this gunfire; however, she wasn’t entirely alone...

“Hey, marklandergirl (American/Confederate Girl)!” Bailee shouted back at CSS Thomas Jefferson Page while an abyssal Five bomber came crashing into the ocean from AA fire, “No need to tear your chest out. Now ye’ think ‘tis lot is hard, ask me sisters! We been ‘round since 1937. Where’s one marklander like ye’ been between 1939 to 1945, eh?”

Bailee was cheerful and grateful that she some company, otherwise she would’ve been insecure and quiet as usual. Unlike ordinary destroyers, Bailee’s armament kept her prepared for air defense, which was why she and her sisters were built in large numbers of 13 ships. Fubuki and her sister ships could be jealous that they would be outnumbered by European made destroyers; however, Bailee knew that the standard 5in guns held on its own for its own reasons.

---

HLFFS Blakeshire
With the other cruisers

Blake’s quadruple long barreled barreled 6in gun turrets let loose into the sky along with his forest of 20mm twin-barreled AA turrets. Thanks to his advanced precision rangefinders and directors, Blake felt like he was shooting with his eyes closed as flak and cannon fire filled the skies with ease. For a light cruiser having so many guns and high precision, one might think Blake was showing off, but he was very much paying attention since he was vulnerable for his own reasons.

He had no armor, so staying close to the other cruisers were essential, especially with the hose massive Rustyal battleship, Catherine. She had the firepower and the size to intimidate everything in her wake; however, Blake had several issues whenever he glanced his eyes at her. First off, Catherine’s size made Blake feel half the man he was, not personality-wise but rather physically wise - his stern and quiet facial expression bothering not to hide a presence of annoyance from Catherine’s size.

Then, the other problem with the super massive Rustyal battleship was the high profile and vulnerability to air attacks. Subsequently, Blake’s quest for protection against surface threats were neutralized by the fact that he and the other cruisers had to defend Catherine’s giant presence. While he has nothing against Russians except their ideologies, Blake could never understand why the Russians were so interested in such giant objects like the Tsar Cannon, the Tsar Tank, the Tsar Bomb, and giant battleships.

Perhaps it was ‘superpower ego’ as Blake assumed silently - which actually bothered him slightly since this was not the first time he saw this. Nazi Germany was in to big things; Bismarck, Tirpetz, and Grad Zeppelin were one of them. Even though Blake was no pervert and he was a dedicated Roman Catholic, Blake couldn’t help but feel unworthy to such giant mistresses, even though the German ships were about as big and tall as the standard Gordon Shelbyrg Class Battleship (‘coming soon’).

Even so, he still had a duty to carry out as he downed a pair of abyssal dive bombers...

---

HLFFS Gibson Grover
With the other carriers

Hastily launching his T-15 Torpedo Boats, Gibson was in his own dilemma as well. Having just a small array of 57mm twin barreled autocannons, Gibson’s armament was meant to deter surfaced submarines and boat-size threats, not entirely against fast flying aircraft. The T-15s each had a twin barreled 20mm autocannon turret, which helped Gibson keep the air threats away from him; however, his situation was very tense as he stayed close to the other carriers...

[New Antonalia]

Force Cat-III. Above the Shipwreck Islands.
Despite their best efforts, there were losses as a third fighter group joined the fray, but the leader of Cat-III didn't pay them that much mind. Sure, they were troublesome, but the first two squadrons to attack soon joined them in their violent air-brawl, curving around and covering each others back, using the machine guns to dissiduate enemy fighters of their ill-conceived notion of heroically shooting down the enemy, even hitting the odd one.
The 20mm cannons were reserved for the Il-2s and while the fighters proved to be a bit of a distraction, those were not off the hook, several of the planes visibly damaged - running like wounded dogs. The grins only widened as the Abyssals got more and more shots in, some with spent cannons even aiming for the cockpits with their machine guns.
They did loose a few of their numbers, other accumulating damages, but they would not falter.
It was violent.
It was bloody.
It was war - for the Abyssals, it was Glorious Battle.

Lamia and Comet Battlegroup.
Lamia grinned as a new voice joined the din of screaming insults at each other, this one a guy screaming something in an accent in his English, even audible to her as non-standard English, soon joined by his crew. She didn't understand a word, but the general gist arrived from the carrier.
She turned to him anyways: [Excuse me, Princess, but I have no time for you, you...] And again, gunfire interrupted her, this time from another male, a cruiser. His shells did not miss, their damage was nothing compared to what that single grenade from Caty had done to her. And it smated, as flight deck was taken out of order by the brazen attack.
She winced, not intended on showing weakness.
And then, more cannon fire went up, as Tsubaki and Tsuki, her two Tsu-class Light Cruisers, Basic in every sense of the word, except one: Their bravery. The two of them charged at the heavy cruiser, their 5inch Dual Purpose Guns firing at him, firing like mad, Armour Piercing rounds catapulted into his direction.
And Riana, her Basic Ri-class Heavy Cruiser-self, joined in, her 8inch guns firing at the enemy as well.
No one would attempt to hurt their Demon and get away!

SPN Sergei Malinokov,
Open Waters, engaging Riana, Tsubaki and Tsuki
Sergei saw the approaching abyssal cruisers and smiled a little. He was built exactly for this purpose, engaging and destroying enemy heavy, medium, and light cruisers. What he didn't like were the arcs of Armor Piercing shells landing around him, especially with his light deck and hull armor being the main focus of the barrage. "5.3 seconds left til reload is complete." Sergei told himself as he began bobbing and weaving between the torrent of enemy fire. "3.7 seconds." He continued, gauging the speed and range of his opponents best he could. Finally, he heard the bolt slamming shut on his eight 190 mm guns and he took aim at his first target, the light cruiser farthest from him, and he fired, sending a near silver streak of armor piercing shells at his target. With any luck his shells would find the citadel or the powder hold and gut his enemy like a fish.

---

SPN Fyodor Volkov,
Open waters

Fyodor watched as his final squadron of fighters dove on the attacking Cat-IIIs, initially catching the abyssal fighters off guard and downing one in the first moments of the melee, but his attacker group had suffered significantly. He lost three planes total, and over half the remaining attackers were struggling to stay in the air. "God Dammit Prophet!" He thought, not hearing back from his allied carrier. "I have nothing left to send to aid them. He watched as one of his fighters took a hit and crumpled as it's wing was ripped from the frame. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

Attacker group Boris,
Open Ocean, harassed by enemy fighters

"Blyat! They got Alexi!" The flight commander heard as he saw one of the Yak-9s go down in flames. "Chyort, no chute. Poor bastard burnt to death." "Enough chatter, focus on the task at hand!" The commander barked, trying his best to keep his nerve as behind him the 12.7 DShK thundered away at an incoming Cat-III before it careened off the right, black smoke billowing from it's "engine". "Captain, rudder and flaps took a hit! We might not be able to stay airborne much longer!" His gunner reported, his voice laced with fear as the machine gun thundered away at another fighter.

Flighter Group Anton

"Come on, fight like men and die like heroes! Ura!" Was the cry echoing around the comms as the pilots of Group Anton watched one of their comrades go down. There was something the abyssals failed to understand about Solkovian pilots, especially those from the Great Patriotic War, they were fiercely fanatical and often fought until their planes were literally falling apart at the seems. The fighter groups climbed before diving again on the mob of abyssal fighters, ignoring the incoming machine guns as their cannons barked furious returns.

[Rustyal]

Khorak Recon Group

Catherine would now have a radar lock upon enemy ships. She was close enough now.- about 35 km when the radar stops being so fuzzy. The Khoraks had done their job, but they knew they probably wouldn't escape alive. As soon as possible, they would make a break for peaceful skies. I mean, come on. The lead Khorak was the only combat effective one left. One was actually going down and another was in ruins. However, the fairies felt proud to serve their motherland. I mean, come on. This is a damn sight better than dying in the gula- I MEAN, Glorious Rustyan Summer Funtime Camp!

Empress Catherine
Battlegroup Caty

Catherine would bear closer and closer to the enemy fleet. Oh, and are those bombers? Well, cute. Any bomb that directly hit her deck would let out a loud ringing metal noise, as 24 inches is not exactly thin armor. However, the few that were actually aimed at her funnel, did strike. She let out a loud grunt of pain as one of her funnels begun spewing smoke from places it shouldn't spew smoke. Those torpedoes too! Catherine swung herself around, taking four of the five torpedoes anyway from trying to maneuver her fat rear end around.

Catherine was flooding. Catherine was burning... THIS WAS AWESOME.

A twisted glint was in the battleship fortress's eyes. She wanted MORE Destruction. There had to be more of it, no matter the side it came from! "ENGINE ROOM, FULL SPEED! I WANT TO PUNCH THEM IN THEIR CYKA FACES!!" And what better way than to tell that Carrier Princess to fuck off? With yet another salvo of ear-shattering gunfire, Catherine catapulted a salvo at the Carrier Princess and the Ri heavy cruiser. She was giggling with delight as damage control would be immediately starting to work on, you know, controlling damage. The torpedo hits, while she took four, god damn, she wasn't affected much.

It was time. The glorious moment Catherine had been waiting for. She would activate her loudspeakers- the equivalent of carrying a boombox on herself. "HIT IT, GIRLS!" And with that, broadcast to every nearby ship from sound system alone...
The war drums begun playing.
Sure, it's an old motivational boost, but god damn it works. And what better way to raise morale even higher than a massive battleship charging in with THAT playing? Let me tell you, on board Orchestras are great.

Her evil grin would be interrupted by a different explosion. One that involved allied screams. She looked to Stilly- comrade little one- to see her quite heavily damaged. Catherine's war machine fuel directed from insanity to flat out rage. That Abyssal destroyer will be wiped off the face of this Earth faster than you could say "Poshol nakhuy daun yebanyy yebal toyu blyat sem'yu pidoraso cyka blyat!" The battleship fortress brought her secondary guns to bear- The big ones. Literally 18 12 inch guns. In sequence, they fired off an HE salvo. Completely launching her rounds at that one destroyer. NOBODY touches comrade little one and gets away with it.

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Prophet

"For the love of all things holy, please make this carrier shut up." Prophet thought to himself, listening to the semi-nagging Fyodor had to offer.

"I don't know what you want me to do, all I have unlaunched is my recon planes, and all my fighters are in dogfights with those flying beasts!" He replied. Prophet looked to the sky and his eyes widened as his Zeros slowly fell one by one, growing angrier with each passing second. Then he had an idea, and increased his speed to go ahead of the other carriers.

"Tell your planes to last a little longer, they'll have their air support." He added, the plates of his armor opening to reveal the AA guns hidden underneath, loaded and ready to fire.

Salvation

Salvation was racing in between the battlegroups, looking for injuries or likewise for him to patch up. Soon enough, he caught sight of a small ship alongside the floating cannon, staring at her hand, which in itself looked like she held a live grenade for too long. Going full speed ahead, Salvation quickly closed the distance between him and the girl.

"Let me see that hand, I can try to fix it up." He spoke, holding whatever was left of it.

[Legatia]

LNS Coriolanus

---

At Sea, Sector DN-17|Operational Sector Wide Sea- Southwest|0800 hours

The battleship sighed relief as her plan came to fruition. Now she could focus her efforts on the pillboxes. And by now, her 6 and 5 inch guns and turrets were placed solidly in range.

"Starboard, full broadside! Impes!"

The 18 inch guns, then the 6 inch guns, and finally the 5 inch guns went off and deafened the surrounding area with their force. Armor-piercing rounds hurtled in groups towards the coastline and to any remaining artillery pillboxes with a sight on the landing zone approach. She did not wait for the shells to land.

"Nevelmas, Flag. Engage if it is tactically practical and possible to do so. Your discretion-out."

"Fyodor, this is Flag. Recall your attack craft for repair and refuel. You're on a suicide run at this point. Their attack craft are neutralized for the better part, I need your fighters operational and ready to escort the landing group in."

"Legate, Flag, divert a flight of air superiority units to assist Battlegroup Caty. Other carriers, get your next wave ready."

Another salvo ripped from her broadside, and she felt a bruise from it. She continued nevertheless, guns smoking.

"Anyone that has shore groups, launch now. Cruisers and destroyers, guide them in as far as you can reasonably. Carrier groups, you're coming in over them."

"Capital group, immediate suppressive fire on pillboxes. If we loose the landing group we're done for."

[Suoji]

Jokosuka had to stop providing support for Catherine, who seemed to be growing more sadistic by the second, as a squadron of dive bombers charged towards him. He turned his AA-guns; but he was too slow. The first three dive bombers hit. Smoke blew from his deck; the reinforced armour was not enough to stop the bombs. He was lucky enough to hit the next few, and the last dive bomber luckily missed. He slowed down. Not only did his deck get hit, but they managed to disable one of his 75mm guns, with the other being badly damaged. A frown slowly grew on his face, and he grit his teeth.
“Okay...” He said. “Now you’ve really pissed me off.”

By now, he was in torpedo range of the carrier princess. He didn’t care if she was the one that sent bombers at him or not, all the abyssal were going to pay. He fired three torpedoes at the carrier. His chances of hitting were slim, but god would he try.

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

"Jesus christ!" Comet braced himself for the impact of all eighteen of those shots hitting the one poor carrier. it ended in a massive boom and then there was proceeding panic coming from those that had been close to the ship in question.

"She's hit, she's hit!" One of the Wafa ships had shouted out in an almost shrill screech. "Oh my god she's hit she's so injured there are parts everywhere oh my god!"

"Just calm down!" Comet shouted as he began to move away from the mess that was his ships. he wouldn't have much use close to his battle group in this fight. he needed to be annoying if he wanted to take fire off of his other ships. "Everything will be fine. You got it? Everything is under control!"

Of course, not everything was under control, but Comet was trying his best to make his ships calm down. Among the sounds of fire, he heard many things. Screams, insults, concerned voices, and the insane laughing that he had associated with Halve a long time ago. He sighed as he fired at any of the plans still in the air, Starboard trailing behind him. "Stay close, Starboard. I don't want you sinking on me."
"But where are we going?" Starboard looked severely panicked as she looked all over the open seas, watching the ships fire at each other. "We can't hurt anything like that monster! our bullets can't pierce armor like that!"
"Make her divide her fire, then. I don't care. Don't make her sink my group. We need to protect them. Let's go." Comet suddenly broke off course and went towards the Kanmusu.
Starboard hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and charging in. "Readying my torpedoes, Prince Comet! We'll see how these people deal with fire so up close!"
"That's the spirit!"

With Comet and Starboard charging forward a bit too haphazardly, Halve would let out a laugh of psychotic glee as she got closer to the Kanmusu herself, though Starstruck stayed further behind. She released a all three of her torpedoes in the general direction of the kanmusu and got to recharging, whooping and hollering as she fired.
"C'mon, you damn whores! I'll make mincemeat out of all of you! I'll tear those launchers off of you with my bear hands and beat you to death with them!"
"Would you calm the hell down? You're going to get yourself killed!"
"Sorry, sis. I got ships to sink!" A manic grin had spread across her face as moved forward in a very risky attempt at getting closer, which was also unnecessary. These were the moments that she lived for above all else. This was bloodshed! This was really what war was like, and she was high off of the smell of the smoke rising off of the guns, drunk with malicious intent and adrenaline.

"Oh, there we go! A sunken ship, and just in range, too." Anchor tried her best to block out the noise of explosions on the surface. All that was important was this boat that she spotted. He had taken quite a few hits, but it was still firing off torpedoes, and she was going to finish off the damn thing. The fewer amount of ships hanging around the monster bitch that was the Catherine, the better. With torpedoes loaded before hand, she fired one torpedo, shortly followed by another. Time to take something down and lessen the load on her team!

[The Selkie]

Khorak Recon Group

Catherine would now have a radar lock upon enemy ships. She was close enough now.- about 35 km when the radar stops being so fuzzy. The Khoraks had done their job, but they knew they probably wouldn't escape alive. As soon as possible, they would make a break for peaceful skies. I mean, come on. The lead Khorak was the only combat effective one left. One was actually going down and another was in ruins. However, the fairies felt proud to serve their motherland. I mean, come on. This is a damn sight better than dying in the gula- I MEAN, Glorious Rustyan Summer Funtime Camp!

Empress Catherine
Battlegroup Caty

Catherine would bear closer and closer to the enemy fleet. Oh, and are those bombers? Well, cute. Any bomb that directly hit her deck would let out a loud ringing metal noise, as 24 inches is not exactly thin armor. However, the few that were actually aimed at her funnel, did strike. She let out a loud grunt of pain as one of her funnels begun spewing smoke from places it shouldn't spew smoke. Those torpedoes too! Catherine swung herself around, taking four of the five torpedoes anyway from trying to maneuver her fat rear end around.

Catherine was flooding. Catherine was burning... THIS WAS AWESOME.

A twisted glint was in the battleship fortress's eyes. She wanted MORE Destruction. There had to be more of it, no matter the side it came from! "ENGINE ROOM, FULL SPEED! I WANT TO PUNCH THEM IN THEIR CYKA FACES!!" And what better way than to tell that Carrier Princess to fuck off? With yet another salvo of ear-shattering gunfire, Catherine catapulted a salvo at the Carrier Princess and the Ri heavy cruiser. She was giggling with delight as damage control would be immediately starting to work on, you know, controlling damage. The torpedo hits, while she took four, god damn, she wasn't affected much.

It was time. The glorious moment Catherine had been waiting for. She would activate her loudspeakers- the equivalent of carrying a boombox on herself. "HIT IT, GIRLS!" And with that, broadcast to every nearby ship from sound system alone...
The war drums begun playing.
Sure, it's an old motivational boost, but god damn it works. And what better way to raise morale even higher than a massive battleship charging in with THAT playing? Let me tell you, on board Orchestras are great.

Her evil grin would be interrupted by a different explosion. One that involved allied screams. She looked to Stilly- comrade little one- to see her quite heavily damaged. Catherine's war machine fuel directed from insanity to flat out rage. That Abyssal destroyer will be wiped off the face of this Earth faster than you could say "Poshol nakhuy daun yebanyy yebal toyu blyat sem'yu pidoraso cyka blyat!" The battleship fortress brought her secondary guns to bear- The big ones. Literally 18 12 inch guns. In sequence, they fired off an HE salvo. Completely launching her rounds at that one destroyer. NOBODY touches comrade little one and gets away with it.

CSS Thomas Jefferson Page

"AHHHHH!"

CSS Thomas Jefferson Page really did not know what it was like to be under air attack. She had come to the front when Germany had been on her last legs. No aircraft had ever her way except outdated, desperate aircraft that wilted in the face of her impressive anti-air suite and Allied air superiority. It was entirely a different story here, with swarm upon swarm of all sorts of enemy aircraft, and her ears were ringing, and the big ship firing had left her disoriented... She took a deep breath, collecting herself after her rather impromtu rebel yell.

And, well, she was equipped with dual-purpose guns... everybody was focusing on the torpedo bombers... well, TJP's experience with light bombers lacked torpedo bombers, in fact she had mostly engaged... oh shit. She didn't need the shrieking siren of a Junkers Ju-87 to recognize a dive bomber. "WATCH THE DIVE BOMBERS!" She cried out. Her five inch guns swiveled and raised as fast as they could to engage the dive-bombers headed for Catherine, while her much-closer-ranged Bofors opened up on the dive bombers attempting to attack Jokosuka, leaving her even shorter-ranged 20-mils to drive off any attempt on herself. A shell landed in the water nearby, splashing water all over her. She was panicking, she'd never been in this situation before. But Marse Robert had once said that "Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less." It was that message that the Confederate Armed Forces had lives by ever since the War Between The States, and it was that message that kept TJP steady even in the face of such danger.

HMBS Legate

To be blunt, Legate and her airgroup felt a bit outmatched. Her measly 40 outdated biplanes weren't exactly the pinnacle of aeronautical engineering- her entire complement was outdated when they were designed- Gloster Gladiators were put into service the same year as the Hawker Hurricane, and the Fairey Swordfish, a fabric biplane, had the proud introduction year of 1936. But regardless of her lack of numbers and modern planes, she remained optimistic- for her crews' sake if nobody else. "Cheer up lads, Swordfish sunk the Bismarck! Gladiators defended Malta! You're the finest pilots in the Commonwealth, flying the finest aircraft in the Bermudian Navy!" The pilot scrambled into their fighters, Legate loaded a shot into her Martini-Henry-looking... launch thingy. The rifle cracked, and out flew a flight of 5 Gloster Sea Gladiators, off to join the battle in the air. "Remember, turning engagement, lads!" She encouraged, before launching two flights of 5 Fairey Swordfish, each biplane loaded down with 6 250 lb. bombs. "HMBS Legate to Flag, Swordfish are headed to target!" The excitement of battle made Legate giddy, it always made her giddy, even if she wasn't supposed to get stuck in the thick of things like she had been at Jutland. She fired off another squadron of Gladiators, these ones joining the Swordfish as a fighter escort as the aircraft flew off, looking like a scene that belonged in grainy old newsreels of the Great War.

HLFFS Bailee
With CSS Thomas Jefferson Page

The heavy mechanical clicking and gunfire from Bailee’s twin barreled 57mm autocannons (main armament) lit up as abyssal aircraft flew in from all directions. The 20mm AA guns and ordinary machine guns also let loose into the sky, with every Kraician man - Caucasian and African alike - at their post within their distinctive red and black sailor uniforms. The Celtic-Germanic Bentley-Class Destroyer shipgirl was hard work through all this gunfire; however, she wasn’t entirely alone...

“Hey, marklandergirl (American/Confederate Girl)!” Bailee shouted back at CSS Thomas Jefferson Page while an abyssal Five bomber came crashing into the ocean from AA fire, “No need to tear your chest out. Now ye’ think ‘tis lot is hard, ask me sisters! We been ‘round since 1937. Where’s one marklander like ye’ been between 1939 to 1945, eh?”

Bailee was cheerful and grateful that she some company, otherwise she would’ve been insecure and quiet as usual. Unlike ordinary destroyers, Bailee’s armament kept her prepared for air defense, which was why she and her sisters were built in large numbers of 13 ships. Fubuki and her sister ships could be jealous that they would be outnumbered by European made destroyers; however, Bailee knew that the standard 5in guns held on its own for its own reasons.

---

HLFFS Blakeshire
With the other cruisers

Blake’s quadruple long barreled barreled 6in gun turrets let loose into the sky along with his forest of 20mm twin-barreled AA turrets. Thanks to his advanced precision rangefinders and directors, Blake felt like he was shooting with his eyes closed as flak and cannon fire filled the skies with ease. For a light cruiser having so many guns and high precision, one might think Blake was showing off, but he was very much paying attention since he was vulnerable for his own reasons.

He had no armor, so staying close to the other cruisers were essential, especially with the hose massive Rustyal battleship, Catherine. She had the firepower and the size to intimidate everything in her wake; however, Blake had several issues whenever he glanced his eyes at her. First off, Catherine’s size made Blake feel half the man he was, not personality-wise but rather physically wise - his stern and quiet facial expression bothering not to hide a presence of annoyance from Catherine’s size.

Then, the other problem with the super massive Rustyal battleship was the high profile and vulnerability to air attacks. Subsequently, Blake’s quest for protection against surface threats were neutralized by the fact that he and the other cruisers had to defend Catherine’s giant presence. While he has nothing against Russians except their ideologies, Blake could never understand why the Russians were so interested in such giant objects like the Tsar Cannon, the Tsar Tank, the Tsar Bomb, and giant battleships.

Perhaps it was ‘superpower ego’ as Blake assumed silently - which actually bothered him slightly since this was not the first time he saw this. Nazi Germany was in to big things; Bismarck, Tirpetz, and Grad Zeppelin were one of them. Even though Blake was no pervert and he was a dedicated Roman Catholic, Blake couldn’t help but feel unworthy to such giant mistresses, even though the German ships were about as big and tall as the standard Gordon Shelbyrg Class Battleship (‘coming soon’).

Even so, he still had a duty to carry out as he downed a pair of abyssal dive bombers...

---

HLFFS Gibson Grover
With the other carriers

Hastily launching his T-15 Torpedo Boats, Gibson was in his own dilemma as well. Having just a small array of 57mm twin barreled autocannons, Gibson’s armament was meant to deter surfaced submarines and boat-size threats, not entirely against fast flying aircraft. The T-15s each had a twin barreled 20mm autocannon turret, which helped Gibson keep the air threats away from him; however, his situation was very tense as he stayed close to the other carriers...

Jokosuka had to stop providing support for Catherine, who seemed to be growing more sadistic by the second, as a squadron of dive bombers charged towards him. He turned his AA-guns; but he was too slow. The first three dive bombers hit. Smoke blew from his deck; the reinforced armour was not enough to stop the bombs. He was lucky enough to hit the next few, and the last dive bomber luckily missed. He slowed down. Not only did his deck get hit, but they managed to disable one of his 75mm guns, with the other being badly damaged. A frown slowly grew on his face, and he grit his teeth.
“Okay...” He said. “Now you’ve really pissed me off.”

By now, he was in torpedo range of the carrier princess. He didn’t care if she was the one that sent bombers at him or not, all the abyssal were going to pay. He fired three torpedoes at the carrier. His chances of hitting were slim, but god would he try.

Air Attack against Battlegroup Caty.
Most of the bombs dropped from the dive bombers against Caty seemed to hit, but only those aiming for the funnels seemed to have an effect - it was not exactly natural, but predictable, as Caty had to get her mass from somewhere.
Armour against which even battleship shells dropped from on high were useless.
At least one of the escorts was hit to a sufficient effect, the dive bomber leader thought, before his plane disintegrated. As soon as their payload was delivered, they did as they were told and began to retreat, the one remaining torpedo bomber crashing into the sea... right as the attention of several of the escort vessels turned onto the dive bombers, who made to get the bloody hell out of there.
Not all of them were destroyed, but by the time they had left the range of most of the AA-guns and were prime targets for basically any fighter, not many were left and none of them would have to worry about sorties for the time being. They made to retreat over to the next Airfield Princess on the other side, as per their orders.

Lamia.
Lamia smiled as the last reconplane was forced to retreat by her fighters, which promptly assumed guard positions above her. It was a nice day, too, she thought... a good day to die.
Her own assets reported, that the remains of her bomber-force were escaping and she had half a mind to send her fighters after them as escort, but she did not do that. Their job at this point was to keep them busy until the Baka-Prince arrived...
[Lamia, Tsundere.], she radioed towards the Adjutant, [Where's the Baka-Prince?]
[He'll be there in a few minutes. Hang on!], came back. [And yes, I know, that you can hear me, so get your rear end into gear!]
Laughter from the reinforcements filled the air. Nervous.
Not many had combat experience.
Then Catherine fired, a few of her shells going wide, but some hit, cut deeply into her, exploded and forced the wind out of her. Tears were in her eyes, as she came back up again, a demented grin on her face...
...less then thirty kilometres away, wasn't she?
More then enough room for her own AA-suite to get to work, especially her one remaining and functional 5inch-gun. There was no way, that she would penetrate her with that peashooter, but she would not only try, but succeed to set her on fire with incendiary ammunition.
Make her feel real pain.

Force Cat-III. Above the Shipwreck Islands.
Despite their best efforts, there were losses as a third fighter group joined the fray, but the leader of Cat-III didn't pay them that much mind. Sure, they were troublesome, but the first two squadrons to attack soon joined them in their violent air-brawl, curving around and covering each others back, using the machine guns to dissiduate enemy fighters of their ill-conceived notion of heroically shooting down the enemy, even hitting the odd one.
The 20mm cannons were reserved for the Il-2s and while the fighters proved to be a bit of a distraction, those were not off the hook, several of the planes visibly damaged - running like wounded dogs. The grins only widened as the Abyssals got more and more shots in, some with spent cannons even aiming for the cockpits with their machine guns.
They did loose a few of their numbers, other accumulating damages, but they would not falter.
It was violent.
It was bloody.
It was war - for the Abyssals, it was Glorious Battle.

Lamia and Comet Battlegroup.
Lamia grinned as a new voice joined the din of screaming insults at each other, this one a guy screaming something in an accent in his English, even audible to her as non-standard English, soon joined by his crew. She didn't understand a word, but the general gist arrived from the carrier.
She turned to him anyways: [Excuse me, Princess, but I have no time for you, you...] And again, gunfire interrupted her, this time from another male, a cruiser. His shells did not miss, their damage was nothing compared to what that single grenade from Caty had done to her. And it smated, as flight deck was taken out of order by the brazen attack.
She winced, not intended on showing weakness.
And then, more cannon fire went up, as Tsubaki and Tsuki, her two Tsu-class Light Cruisers, Basic in every sense of the word, except one: Their bravery. The two of them charged at the heavy cruiser, their 5inch Dual Purpose Guns firing at him, firing like mad, Armour Piercing rounds catapulted into his direction.
And Riana, her Basic Ri-class Heavy Cruiser-self, joined in, her 8inch guns firing at the enemy as well.
No one would attempt to hurt their Demon and get away!

SPN Sergei Malinokov,
Open Waters, engaging Riana, Tsubaki and Tsuki
Sergei saw the approaching abyssal cruisers and smiled a little. He was built exactly for this purpose, engaging and destroying enemy heavy, medium, and light cruisers. What he didn't like were the arcs of Armor Piercing shells landing around him, especially with his light deck and hull armor being the main focus of the barrage. "5.3 seconds left til reload is complete." Sergei told himself as he began bobbing and weaving between the torrent of enemy fire. "3.7 seconds." He continued, gauging the speed and range of his opponents best he could. Finally, he heard the bolt slamming shut on his eight 190 mm guns and he took aim at his first target, the light cruiser farthest from him, and he fired, sending a near silver streak of armor piercing shells at his target. With any luck his shells would find the citadel or the powder hold and gut his enemy like a fish.

---

SPN Fyodor Volkov,
Open waters

Fyodor watched as his final squadron of fighters dove on the attacking Cat-IIIs, initially catching the abyssal fighters off guard and downing one in the first moments of the melee, but his attacker group had suffered significantly. He lost three planes total, and over half the remaining attackers were struggling to stay in the air. "God Dammit Prophet!" He thought, not hearing back from his allied carrier. "I have nothing left to send to aid them. He watched as one of his fighters took a hit and crumpled as it's wing was ripped from the frame. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

Attacker group Boris,
Open Ocean, harassed by enemy fighters

"Blyat! They got Alexi!" The flight commander heard as he saw one of the Yak-9s go down in flames. "Chyort, no chute. Poor bastard burnt to death." "Enough chatter, focus on the task at hand!" The commander barked, trying his best to keep his nerve as behind him the 12.7 DShK thundered away at an incoming Cat-III before it careened off the right, black smoke billowing from it's "engine". "Captain, rudder and flaps took a hit! We might not be able to stay airborne much longer!" His gunner reported, his voice laced with fear as the machine gun thundered away at another fighter.

Flighter Group Anton

"Come on, fight like men and die like heroes! Ura!" Was the cry echoing around the comms as the pilots of Group Anton watched one of their comrades go down. There was something the abyssals failed to understand about Solkovian pilots, especially those from the Great Patriotic War, they were fiercely fanatical and often fought until their planes were literally falling apart at the seems. The fighter groups climbed before diving again on the mob of abyssal fighters, ignoring the incoming machine guns as their cannons barked furious returns.

Lamia Battlegroup.
Tsubaki screamed as some of the shells hit her - scream in rage, hate and pain.
It was not a hit on the citadel, but close enough to be very, uncomfortable. A moment later, her sister fired all her guns with malicious intent, sure to his something as Riana joined with a bark of her cannons.
[Tsubaki, are you alright?!], her sister called worriedly.
[Never been better!], came back, enraged - and another salvo flew from her guns towards the cruiser, towards Sergei, followed by her using her torpedoes. They were nothing special and they were aimed directly into his course.
He would have to either dodge them or take them.
Taking them might sink him, dodging gave the initiative to Lamia's battlegroup - herding him, as that was called by the Abyssals.

Force Cat-III.
Something that humans rarely understood was, that Abyssals were fanatics, too - in their hate and rage, both the hot and cold ones, it all made them fight until their very end, even if the battle was long lost. And so they did fight against the planes sent by the carriers Fyodor and Prophet, both against his fighters and bombers, damaging and getting damaged, to the point of some going down.
It was not much they did, it was clear by now, that their beloved Princess would go down, but hell, they would not sell her hide cheaply. They wanted her head, they had to work for it hard.
Supporting each other despite the rage, the Abyssals curved around and got curved around, a splendid display of aerial dogfighting from either side, even they had to give that to their fellow warriors, but time and ammunition were running out as more and more fairy-piloted planes joined the fray.
And, after one last push, the leader of Force Cat-III had enough.
On his orders, his planes pulled up, above the levels of altitude, where the Yak-9 was effective and make their way towards the Anchorage Princess.
It was over. Of five squadrons, sixty planes, twenty-seven were shot down, thirty-three, not even three squadrons, were damaged beyond recognition. None of them would fly again today.
It was even questionable, if all of them would arrive there in their condition.

Prophet

"For the love of all things holy, please make this carrier shut up." Prophet thought to himself, listening to the semi-nagging Fyodor had to offer.

"I don't know what you want me to do, all I have unlaunched is my recon planes, and all my fighters are in dogfights with those flying beasts!" He replied. Prophet looked to the sky and his eyes widened as his Zeros slowly fell one by one, growing angrier with each passing second. Then he had an idea, and increased his speed to go ahead of the other carriers.

"Tell your planes to last a little longer, they'll have their air support." He added, the plates of his armor opening to reveal the AA guns hidden underneath, loaded and ready to fire.

Salvation

Salvation was racing in between the battlegroups, looking for injuries or likewise for him to patch up. Soon enough, he caught sight of a small ship alongside the floating cannon, staring at her hand, which in itself looked like she held a live grenade for too long. Going full speed ahead, Salvation quickly closed the distance between him and the girl.

"Let me see that hand, I can try to fix it up." He spoke, holding whatever was left of it.

Stilly. Battlegroup Caty.
As he took the hand, or what remained of it, he did not encounter any resistence.
Literally.
I watched with detached bemusement and bewilderment as the strange repair ship suddenly held my hand in his, my arm swinging down to my side. The water below it turned red, as drops of blood and oil fell onto it.
It looked pretty.
Something in the back of my head told me, that this was not supposed to happen.
As was my other gun not supposed to fall to my side on its strip as my hand shot up to my face, hiding a slightly off-kilter giggle. Well, Miss Dia did try to help me with my PTSD, but I believe, that this would throw me right back into the thick of things.
Then my eyes turned back into my head and I fell.

LNS Coriolanus

---

At Sea, Sector DN-17|Operational Sector Wide Sea- Southwest|0800 hours

The battleship sighed relief as her plan came to fruition. Now she could focus her efforts on the pillboxes. And by now, her 6 and 5 inch guns and turrets were placed solidly in range.

"Starboard, full broadside! Impes!"

The 18 inch guns, then the 6 inch guns, and finally the 5 inch guns went off and deafened the surrounding area with their force. Armor-piercing rounds hurtled in groups towards the coastline and to any remaining artillery pillboxes with a sight on the landing zone approach. She did not wait for the shells to land.

"Nevelmas, Flag. Engage if it is tactically practical and possible to do so. Your discretion-out."

"Fyodor, this is Flag. Recall your attack craft for repair and refuel. You're on a suicide run at this point. Their attack craft are neutralized for the better part, I need your fighters operational and ready to escort the landing group in."

"Legate, Flag, divert a flight of air superiority units to assist Battlegroup Caty. Other carriers, get your next wave ready."

Another salvo ripped from her broadside, and she felt a bruise from it. She continued nevertheless, guns smoking.

"Anyone that has shore groups, launch now. Cruisers and destroyers, guide them in as far as you can reasonably. Carrier groups, you're coming in over them."

"Capital group, immediate suppressive fire on pillboxes. If we loose the landing group we're done for."

Rhiannon. Flank.
Firing a few arrows at retreating airplanes, I heard Coriolanus' call and nodded.
"Rhiannon, Flag.", I reported to Coriolanus, "Understood."
Searc and I turned to the little Island with the Airfield Princess, which was pounded upon by the battleships. In addition to the smoke from the oilfire, I could see more then enough pillboxes going up as my crew readied the one hundred men of 3 Horse and their boats I had onboard.
It was not exactly an amphibious landing like it was perfected during my early service time, but it would do its job. Hopefully.
As a light cruiser, I only had a draught of 6.2 metres, which put me well within the range of my boats, the coastal artillery and anyone else trying to be a dick about it. My arrows flew towards where I saw muzzle flashes, 135mm shells maybe not enough to kill an artillery imp, but I wouldn't stop from trying.
And it made them keep their heads low.
My boats went towards the shore, hopefully to be joined by the boats of the other shore party carrying vessels.
And then, Searc spoke up as her longbow let loose another arrow towards the Princess, not sure if she even hit a runway, but surely keeping their heads low: "Searc, Coriolanus. My radar is picking up a new force of contacts, aerial, coming from DN-16. It's a... a wall of contacts, Ma'am."

[Novaya Equestria]

[spoiler=Legatia and Sterkistan-Quotes]snip

"Thanks, Rhi. I can only bring two tanks for a landing op; bring more than two is going to be a high risk." Broadsword replied. "If you ask, I'll be the target of Abyssal ships or defensive emplacements that will not just take out me, but also the fairies onboard. And seriously, Searc, don't laugh at me just hecause I asked Rhi an honest question. That was rude, you know." Broadsword added, with the last sentence spoken to Searc.

"Roger that, Coriolanus." Novaya replied as he sent the second group of fighters and bombers to attack the Abyssal emplacements. "Broadsword, you should have brought four tanks, not just two. This whole landing op will go moot." Novaya said to Broadsword. "Coriolanus, permission to use rockets on the pillboxes." Novaya requested.

[Higher Japan]

Open sea

"Radars picking something up...walls?" Higashikawa muttered to himself, laughing maniacally as he made a full turn towards the direction of the contacts. "All crew, prepare for anti air combat. Type 3 shells on overload, we're going to tear it down!" He shouted to himself, radar spinning on overdrive as he began to sing some obscure song, the crew looking worried as it seemed as if a red aura followed his eye as he looked towards the sky. "The skies today shall be painted with red, yellow, and white. Like the battle off Tokyo!"

"God damn it..." Tokai muttered to herself, looking at Tokai rushing off and singing as she loaded in a fighter group. Taking aim, she fired off the group as they followed the initial landing craft, the 777th A7M fighters giving chase to the cat fighters while some escorted the landing group. Kaguya moved up slowly as she looked towards the sky, radars spinning while she cursed under her breath before rushing forward to help the wounded as she picked up wounded or fallen men that had gone overboard. Kaifu began moving forward, sonar spinning as he escorted the landing craft before opening fire on the coast, generating a smoke screen to cover them.

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Prophet

Prophet picked up Rhiannon's transmission, and hearing as she reported a wall of aerial contact caused him to go into a full grin. A bunch of planes would still be no match for his AA power, and he knew this.
"Prophet to Flag, tell the others to keep up the fight if you would, I can handle those contacts myself." He spoke, veering off in the direction of the contacts with his AA guns fully deployed, as his divebombers began to drop their loads onto the shore defenses to help the invasion force.

Salvation

Salvation's eyes widened as he witnessed her faint right in front of him, and with no thought of it, extended his arms to catch the girl, and lifting her up with ease. After a quick inspection, he found that a combination of Caty's gunshots and the pain from her hand had caused her to fall unconscious. Turning on his radio, he reported to Coriolanus.
"Salvation to Flag, I have an unconscious ship that needs immediate attention!" He spoke, moving him and Stilly to a distance where Caty's guns wouldn't blast his eardrums out.

[Rustyal]

Khorak Recon Group
Boarding Catherine

The two battered biplanes would land on the water, genuinely getting hoisted out of it by Catherine. The fairies disembarked, and they quickly evacuated into the rig. Cath in the meantime would take the two biplanes and put them in her hangar, returning her attention to the many many abyssals.

Empress Catherine
Battlegroup Caty

"Aircraft carrier obliterated, another one critically struck!!" She grinned wider, laughing maniacally. Now this is where her specialty could come in. Her guns were massive. She could theoretically sink the princess only using half her turrets. And, she had a range lock! It was common sense, when a battleship has its range lock, you're screwed. She swung her two turrets around... only to get a hailstorm of flak faced with her. The fires that started would amass in size quickly. She stared at them, her eyes losing whatever sense of sanity they appeared to have left. The only thing on her mind now was more blood must be spilled. Damage control fairies would desperately begin to work on the fires.

Catherine, almost twitching from excitement and lust for destruction, drew her X-Y turrets on Lamia, and her A-B turrets upon Tsubaki. The cannons thundered out with a loud shriek of BOOM-s. More superheavy rounds were launched out upon the two ships. She diverted her attention to another contact- Another Heavy Cruiser. It seemed like a royal one, but you know, it was a heavy cruiser. She could tear it apart with her bear hands if she wanted.. "DON'T THINK YOU CAN JUST SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!" Her full 12 inch secondary broadside came to bear upon the heavy cruiser, those guns firing out in sequence. With 52 caliber 12 inch guns, it wasn't like they were innacurate either. More and more metal was pumped into the air, almost in unhealthy amounts, now upon Comet.

Suddenly, three more torpedoes hit her. She grunted out once more, rocking back and forth a bit with a huge ploom of water appearing beside her. "DAMAGE CONTROL, FIX THAT OR GULAG WHEN WE GET BACK!" And dear god, those fairies hurried. With 15 inch torpedo protection, they don't create massive holes, but they do cause flooding anyway. Catherine at this point was still cooking. Her wooden deck coating was being torched. But you know? That was fine. The Battleship Fortress was so full of adrenaline that she was almost numbed to her senses. It almost only felt like tickling.