"Shioi, report."
"Submarine fleet reporting. We are now at point D. Standing by under the surface." (Shioi)
Shioi and the others remain underwater and held their current position.
"Any movement or pinging sonars?"
"None." (Shioi)
Good. Everything is going just as planned.
"Akiyama?"
"First wave fighters are en route. ETA five minutes. Start the battle in two and draw them in." (Admiral Akiyama)
"You girls heard that?"
"Yep!" (Imuya)
"Loud and clear dechi!" (Goya)
"Dechi dechi!" (Ro)
"Ro-chan!" (Goya)
"I'm starting the countdown. On my mark."
We are halfway through the operation. The girls that were chosen for the next phase have moved to the Forward Base in Rabaul. That means Zuihou will be away from me until the operation has been completed. With Ooyodo joining the fight, Miyuki is my comms operator for today. After the transport phase and the sinking of the Southern War Princess, it was my submarine girls turn to shine. Though, their role is to lure and distract the enemy aircraft for ours to shoot down. Though they have limited aircraft capacity, it is still enough to incite a response from the enemy.
"One minute. Surface and get ready."
The submarine girls surfaced. Shioi's hanger opened up and a catapult extended into position. A Seiran moved onto the catapult and unfolded itself. A Type 2 Seaplane Fighter Ka peeked out from Hachi's book while Iku and Goya got ready to throw theirs. The propellers of the seaplanes roared to life, ready to take flight.
"10 more seconds... 3... 2... 1... Commence the mission!"
"Alright~! Gooo~!" (Shioi)
"I have no choice...!" (Hachi)
"I'm counting on you." (Goya)
"After I defeat them, I want a reward, Admiral." (Iku)
"If you can defeat them."
The seaplanes took to the air and fanned out. Red marks immediately appeared on my radar. Looks like they took the bait.
"Enemy aircraft detected!" (Goya)
"Call your aircraft back! Wait for them to get close before diving."
"Over here! Bleehh~" (Ro-chan)
"Woah! There is so many of them." (Imuya)
The seaplanes narrowly escaped being shot down by their pursuers as they retreated back to their owners. Iku and Goya caught their seaplanes while Hachi closed her book on hers. Shioi's Seiran landed on the water, letting its owner pick it up and place it back on her catapult.
"Akiyama!"
"I know! I can see them on my radar. Bring your girls underwater. My planes are reaching" (Akiyama)
"Crash dive! Now!"
The six of them dove underwater just as the Abyssal Dive Bombers swooped in to begin their bombing run. The bombs dropped into the sea and the sound of explosions accompanied by towering pillars of water followed instantly.
"Ahahaha~ Too bad~" (Iku)
There is no change in the vitals. Good.
"Next time, dive a little earlier, would you? Nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Come on. You worry too much, Admiral. Those kind of bombs won't take us out that easily dechi." (Goya)
The bombers flew circled around their position, waiting for a chance to attack my submarine girls. I watch on the monitor as our allied planes slowly came into view and rained bullets on the enemy planes. With our surprise attack, the Abyssal aircraft were all destroyed in mere minutes.
"Air superiority achieved. Perfect defence for point D obtained." (Akiyama)
"That took a longer than expected. We should adjust the timing of when Shioi and rest begin the luring them and when our planes should go in."
"I have to agree with you on that. I will make adjustments so the fighters can reach the designated points within a minute after your submarine girls lured them in." (Akiyama)
"Admiral, should we continue?" (Shioi)
"Yes. Move to the next point and do the same thing."
"Understood!" (All)
"It's just going to be same for the other 5 points, isn't it?" (Hachi)
"It's a little boring." (Ro-chan)
"I know it's just luring the Abyssal Aircrafts into range but you girls are acting as bait. It's still risky role."
"Like I said, you worry too much, Admiral. We are submarines. Taking risks and being sneaky is what we do." (Shioi)
The girls continued their mission and our fighters to take care of the enemy birds that thought my girls were going to be easy pickings. So far, so good. At this rate, we might finish this mission by the end of the day.
"Ah. Something is coming." (Shioi)
"An enemy?"
"Not sure. Sonar detected one surface entity just ahead of us." (Shioi)
"Get a visual confirmation. If it's an Abyssal or Siren, we make a decision whether to destroy it or go around it. If it's a ordinary vessel, Akiyama will inform the Solomon Island government to send the coast guards for a Search-and-rescue operation."
"Why me?!" (Akiyama)
Shioi and Ro-chan peeked out of the water.
"Is that...? (Shioi)
"It's smaller than usual." (Ro-chan)
On the monitor, in the direction the two girls are looking, there is a humanoid figure just standing there.
A Wo-class.
But it looks different. The usual Wo-class Carriers are tall, noble-looking, and menacing. This one is shorter and looks confused. Is this the weird Wo-class Ao was talking about the other day?
"Akiyama, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah. Azur Lane reported to us about an abnormal Wo-class the other day. We just haven't launch an official enquiry into it." (Akiyama)
"Well, we are still in the midst of an operation. Let's circle around it for now. If it's still in the area, we can get another fleet to take care of it."
"Ro-chan and Imuya-chan can take it out with our torpedoes." (Ro-chan)
"Yeah. Let us have something to do." (Imuya)
Hmmmm...
"Got it. Let's take it out."
"Yay!" (Ro-chan)
"You sure about this?" (Akiyama)
"It's just one oddly small standard Wo-class. It only has minimal AS capabilities. If it were one of the flagship variants, I will be worried. Besides, we are also nipping a potential threat in the bud. You never know if that thing will grow into something even more dangerous. Moreover, it may attack our fighters if we leave it alone like this."
The Wo-class turned to look toward Shioi's direction.
"Oh crap. It spotted us!" (Shioi)
"Dive. Ro-chan, Imuya, ready your torpedoes. Launch them when it gets close."
"Load tubes 1 through 4." (Imuya)
The two submarines prepared to launch their torpedoes as the Wo-class moved towards their current position.
"Huh?" (Shioi)
"What's wrong?"
"You hear it too?" (Hachi)
"What's going on? What are you girls hearing?"
"I'm picking up a transmission. Sending it over." (Shioi)
"...io... ...t... ...ou... ...e... ...om..." (???)
YOU ARE READING
Our Bonds (A Kantai Collection Fanfic) (Remastered)
RomanceBeing an Admiral sounds fun but it is definitely not easy. First there is the war with the mysterious Abyssal Fleet, which have decided to lock down the sea and it's surrounding airspace, indiscriminately shooting at anything they deem a threat. The...
