Commander's Rounds

Entry 70: Tiger Trap

The commander had set his plan in motion, all that was left for the other participants to show themselves.

They didn't have to wait long.

Tiger and Princess Royal showed up on time and in position. Princess Royal had replaced her teacup from the last raid, and had internally vowed to be more careful with her china- It hadn't been easy to find something that was up to her proper Royal standards. Tiger pulled up beside her operating partner. "Heh. Looks like we're out here again. But that's fine with me, really, I'm not the kind of girl who just sits around."

Princess Royal looked over at her. "Well, they seem to have increased their escort a bit, but it's nothing the both of us shouldn't be able to handle, so long as you pull your weight and don't pull any of that Dogger Bank nonsense. As long as that happens, we won't have to use those special escape rounds- we can't make many of them, so the others will be upset if I have to use them."

Tiger chuckled. "Oh, hardly. You can't expect me to blast my full load in vain in front of all these cute girls, hm?"

"Ngh!" Grunted Princess Royal, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. Having to deal with the way Tiger spoke was an ordeal, especially since she knew that the other ship mainly did things that way in order to rile her. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"Oh, I am helping myself." She gave Princess Royal a grin. "Just to everything the world owes us, including a good time."

"While I agree with your motives, your expression of them leaves much to be desired." She finished up her tea this time, and also managed to successfully stow her teacup somewhere other than the middle of the ocean. "At any rate, we have a battlecruiser's work to do, and not the largest amount of time to do it in. They're on their way."

Tiger got her guns ready and in position. "Oh ho! Well, they're on a new, better schedule! Looks like someone has been doing some planning. I'm happy those girls aren't keeping me waiting."

Princess Royal got her own guns ready. "For once, I agree with you. Just like before, drive off the escorts, seize the prize, and go."

"You hardly need to tell me how to handle a ship, you know~"

And then the two were off, and the attack began immediately. They were on the same orders as before- try not to kill anyone, but if some ship or other decided that today was a good day to die, mark it on your calendar.

Thankfully, they didn't have to punch anyone's last clock this time, as the attack proceeded largely the same way as before. The Battlecruisers were able to drive off the escorts with little muss and fuss, owing to their heavier artillery, armor, and other defenses and accessories, combined with a fair bit of speed. there wasn't anything aside from, perhaps, torpedoes that could especially inconvenience them- they took a few stray hits, but nothing to be entirely concerned about. Once they found out what they were up against, they didn't stick around for very long.

Tiger looked over the various secure transports, eyeing all of the numbers until they found the one they were after. "Ah, there we go! That's our prey."

"Leave the rest to me." Princess Royal went over to the ship, and Tiger followed with her. Princess Royal picked up a megaphone she had brought with her. "Attention crew! Prepare your ship for boarding and inspection, then evacuate promptly! Follow these instructions or we will fill your persons with more holes than you would prefer to have on any given day!"

The response came quickly. "All right, we're opening the holds, just give us a moment to get everything ready."

Tiger smiled. "Well, that was quick and easy."