Azuma and The Patrol
darthcourt10
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Snippet 136: S0ngD0g13
Azuma and The Patrol...
...............................................
Azuma sailed across the calm waters of the Inland Sea toward the Kanmon Straits, Monitor at her side and two of the Kure Minesweepers, Rebel and Barricade, ranging ahead of the patrol while Virginia rested aboard the Tender Polly with the Minesweepers Scuffle and Barrier. The group was larger than normal; this was a combination patrol and reconnaissance-in-force, as Abyssal activity had begun to pick back up near the straits that connected the Inland Sea with the Sea of Japan.
The Ironclads and Minesweepers had been tapped to execute the recon, with JSDF air-support on-call, since the Abyssals in question were never reported in great numbers and weren't of the most-modern design.
"We'll anchor here," said Azuma as the sun set. "Set pickets and we'll continue at dawn; that should put us into the Kanmon Straits by mid-afternoon."
.................................................
The next morning dawned red, and the sky was a forbidding gray with stormclouds rolling in as the hours passed. The seas grew rough and the waves ran high, and Azuma made the decision to bring the others on-board the Polly, since none of them were especially-blessed with good sea-keeping and Monitor was outright phobic of storms...
The Patrol Tender rounded a point in the Kamnon Straits in search of a sheltered inlet or bay to anchor and ride out the storm, and Virginia felt a tingle across her skin that made her shiver. It reminded her of when she'd...
"Wards," she said to Monitor and Azuma. "We just crossed somebody's Wards." Anything else she would have said was interrupted by the Minesweepers rushing to the rail and bawling thunderously just as an Abyssal burst from cover, its Imps beating a gong in alarm, and fired on them. The projectiles whipped past, the Abyssal's aim spoiled by the growing squall, save for one that crashed straight into Monitor with an echoing BANG before dropping to the deck alongside the stunned Ironclad.
"Shit Fire and Save Matches, that's a twenty-four-pounder roundshot!" shouted Virginia as she knelt to check Monitor. Azuma looked out and saw Abyssals emerging from the hidden inlet, and from the stormy seas behind them...
"They're junks! Wako pirate junks!" shouted Azuma over the storm and the cannon-fire. "Two, no, three dozen!"
Virginia helped Monitor to her feet and snarled. "We're surrounded, Stonewall; they've got us hemmed in tight." The sailor at the helm tried to break free only to be turned back by a hail of cannon-balls ahead of them.
Azuma keyed the radio by the pilothouse. "Thunder, Thunder, this is Iron-Gray; requesting immediate air-support on my position! Patrol currently engaged closely and completely surrounded by thirty-six, say again three-six Abyssal junks with cannon! Requesting support, danger-close!"
"Iron-Gray, this is Thunder; negative, negative, we cannot scramble to support you at this time! This storm has everything with wings grounded! Hold out or break out; we'll scramble as soon as we can! Thunder-Actual out!"
Azuma stared into the grim eyes of her partners and sighed. "It's on us, Girls! The planes ain't coming! Over the side and look alive!"
Monitor rolled over the port rail and summoned her rigging, bringing her two eleven-inch Dahlgrens to bear, and Virginia vaulted the starboard rail and summoned her own rigging with a shouted, "Fucking Chair-Farce!"
Azuma dropped over the stern and the four Admirable-Class AM's took station off Polly's bow...
.................................................
Gotta fly faster... Gotta get there... Got a bad feeling...
The one winged thing aloft in the storm fought the wind and rain as he continued his journey. He'd had a bad feeling all day, until finally he couldn't remain on-base. So he had flown...
................................................
"Stonewall!" shouted Virginia over the din of battle, in her stress calling Azuma by the name she had borne in her Confederate service. "Stonewall, Monitor's nearly swamped; I'm pulling her back aboard the Polly!"
Azuma hurled another shell into the press of Abyssals, missing again, and ducked as another hail of roundshot hissed by her. We can't hit shit in this rough weather; the only good thing is the Abyssals can't hit shit either... Kuso!
"Kuso! Virginia, 'ware boarders! They're trying to close with us!" Azuma sidestepped an Abyssal's lunge and hip-checked it, jamming her portside seven-inch rifle against its hull and firing point-blank, even as Imps leapt aboard.
The Minesweepers howled and Virginia shrieked her defiance to the skies as she fought...
.....................................................
There they are! What?! No! NO!
He couldn't let them be sunk, he couldn't! He nosed over into a dive and roared his rage...
"No One Hurts My Shipgirls!!!"
................................................
Virginia drove her attackers back with fists and boots and cutlass, feeling the slashing melee inside her as her crew fought to repel the Imps who'd made it aboard; as a fresh group hurled themselves in at her, she felt her hide suddenly erupt as though hundreds of hornets had all stung her at once as Monitor fired both her Dahlgrens, loaded with grapeshot, past her. The effects of what amounted to two eleven-inch-diameter shotguns at such close range on the Abyssals was spectacular and bought Kaylee a moment's breathing-room.
Azuma saw a shape pierce the clouds and fall toward them, and heard a high-pitched sound, but couldn't place it... until Bonaparte suddenly snapped his wings wide and swooped over the Abyssal fleet, spewing flame across the wood-hulled enemy ships. The Mastiff-sized dragonet banked away and climbed, flapping hard to gain altitude again, then swung around and made a second flaming-pass before landing atop Polly's pilothouse. He clung stubbornly and spat flames at every Abyssal that came close.
Both passes had reaped a toll on the Abyssal Wako; fully a dozen were aflame and sinking, and as Azuma whooped in joy and Virginia counter-attacked into their disarrayed midst with a fang-filled smile and a Rebel Yell one Abyssal exploded violently as flames reached its powder magazine...
The storm began to slacken and Bonaparte took to the air again, darting in and bathing Abyssals in fire by twos and threes before peeling away. Azuma drew her last Captain's katana and charged in; the sight of Bonaparte, her dragon, fighting for her, drew the cry from her lips, "Fire and Blood!"
Virginia laughed as she hacked an enemy down. "Seriously, Azuma?! You read too much G.R.R. Martin!" The Natural-Born Ironclad laughed a barking laugh. "Fuck it, why not?! What is Dead May Never Die!"
......................................................
The Abyssal Wako were sunk, burned by Bonaparte's flames or shattered by the Shipgirls' blows and guns...
The exhausted Ironclads and Minesweepers lay sprawled on the deck of the USS Polly, the newly-emerged sun bright and warm on their faces...
"Azuma?"
"Yeah, Virginia?"
"Do you reckon if you brought Boney along on every patrol, they'd reclassify you as a Carrier?"
Azuma laughed. "Probably not. I've only got the one Bonaparte, after all."
"Hell," said Monitor, wheezing through sprung ribs, "One Bonaparte's enough to beat a whole squadron from, how'd you put it, Gray-Back? The 'Fucking Chair-Farce'?"
Virginia nodded. "I move Bonaparte be listed as a Naval Aviator, Draconic."
"Motion Seconded," wheezed Monitor.
"Motion Carries by Acclamation. Bonaparte F. Ball, I hereby induct you into the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as an Honorary Ensign," said Azuma. "You did good, Bonaparte..."
Virginia reached out to pet him. "Ya did good, Boney..."
Monitor stroked his chest as she fell asleep...
Azuma sat up slowly and hugged her dragon close. "Thank you, Bonaparte..."
Azuma and The Patrol...
...............................................
Azuma sailed across the calm waters of the Inland Sea toward the Kanmon Straits, Monitor at her side and two of the Kure Minesweepers, Rebel and Barricade, ranging ahead of the patrol while Virginia rested aboard the Tender Polly with the Minesweepers Scuffle and Barrier. The group was larger than normal; this was a combination patrol and reconnaissance-in-force, as Abyssal activity had begun to pick back up near the straits that connected the Inland Sea with the Sea of Japan.
The Ironclads and Minesweepers had been tapped to execute the recon, with JSDF air-support on-call, since the Abyssals in question were never reported in great numbers and weren't of the most-modern design.
"We'll anchor here," said Azuma as the sun set. "Set pickets and we'll continue at dawn; that should put us into the Kanmon Straits by mid-afternoon."
.................................................
The next morning dawned red, and the sky was a forbidding gray with stormclouds rolling in as the hours passed. The seas grew rough and the waves ran high, and Azuma made the decision to bring the others on-board the Polly, since none of them were especially-blessed with good sea-keeping and Monitor was outright phobic of storms...
The Patrol Tender rounded a point in the Kamnon Straits in search of a sheltered inlet or bay to anchor and ride out the storm, and Virginia felt a tingle across her skin that made her shiver. It reminded her of when she'd...
"Wards," she said to Monitor and Azuma. "We just crossed somebody's Wards." Anything else she would have said was interrupted by the Minesweepers rushing to the rail and bawling thunderously just as an Abyssal burst from cover, its Imps beating a gong in alarm, and fired on them. The projectiles whipped past, the Abyssal's aim spoiled by the growing squall, save for one that crashed straight into Monitor with an echoing BANG before dropping to the deck alongside the stunned Ironclad.
"Shit Fire and Save Matches, that's a twenty-four-pounder roundshot!" shouted Virginia as she knelt to check Monitor. Azuma looked out and saw Abyssals emerging from the hidden inlet, and from the stormy seas behind them...
"They're junks! Wako pirate junks!" shouted Azuma over the storm and the cannon-fire. "Two, no, three dozen!"
Virginia helped Monitor to her feet and snarled. "We're surrounded, Stonewall; they've got us hemmed in tight." The sailor at the helm tried to break free only to be turned back by a hail of cannon-balls ahead of them.
Azuma keyed the radio by the pilothouse. "Thunder, Thunder, this is Iron-Gray; requesting immediate air-support on my position! Patrol currently engaged closely and completely surrounded by thirty-six, say again three-six Abyssal junks with cannon! Requesting support, danger-close!"
"Iron-Gray, this is Thunder; negative, negative, we cannot scramble to support you at this time! This storm has everything with wings grounded! Hold out or break out; we'll scramble as soon as we can! Thunder-Actual out!"
Azuma stared into the grim eyes of her partners and sighed. "It's on us, Girls! The planes ain't coming! Over the side and look alive!"
Monitor rolled over the port rail and summoned her rigging, bringing her two eleven-inch Dahlgrens to bear, and Virginia vaulted the starboard rail and summoned her own rigging with a shouted, "Fucking Chair-Farce!"
Azuma dropped over the stern and the four Admirable-Class AM's took station off Polly's bow...
.................................................
Gotta fly faster... Gotta get there... Got a bad feeling...
The one winged thing aloft in the storm fought the wind and rain as he continued his journey. He'd had a bad feeling all day, until finally he couldn't remain on-base. So he had flown...
................................................
"Stonewall!" shouted Virginia over the din of battle, in her stress calling Azuma by the name she had borne in her Confederate service. "Stonewall, Monitor's nearly swamped; I'm pulling her back aboard the Polly!"
Azuma hurled another shell into the press of Abyssals, missing again, and ducked as another hail of roundshot hissed by her. We can't hit shit in this rough weather; the only good thing is the Abyssals can't hit shit either... Kuso!
"Kuso! Virginia, 'ware boarders! They're trying to close with us!" Azuma sidestepped an Abyssal's lunge and hip-checked it, jamming her portside seven-inch rifle against its hull and firing point-blank, even as Imps leapt aboard.
The Minesweepers howled and Virginia shrieked her defiance to the skies as she fought...
.....................................................
There they are! What?! No! NO!
He couldn't let them be sunk, he couldn't! He nosed over into a dive and roared his rage...
"No One Hurts My Shipgirls!!!"
................................................
Virginia drove her attackers back with fists and boots and cutlass, feeling the slashing melee inside her as her crew fought to repel the Imps who'd made it aboard; as a fresh group hurled themselves in at her, she felt her hide suddenly erupt as though hundreds of hornets had all stung her at once as Monitor fired both her Dahlgrens, loaded with grapeshot, past her. The effects of what amounted to two eleven-inch-diameter shotguns at such close range on the Abyssals was spectacular and bought Kaylee a moment's breathing-room.
Azuma saw a shape pierce the clouds and fall toward them, and heard a high-pitched sound, but couldn't place it... until Bonaparte suddenly snapped his wings wide and swooped over the Abyssal fleet, spewing flame across the wood-hulled enemy ships. The Mastiff-sized dragonet banked away and climbed, flapping hard to gain altitude again, then swung around and made a second flaming-pass before landing atop Polly's pilothouse. He clung stubbornly and spat flames at every Abyssal that came close.
Both passes had reaped a toll on the Abyssal Wako; fully a dozen were aflame and sinking, and as Azuma whooped in joy and Virginia counter-attacked into their disarrayed midst with a fang-filled smile and a Rebel Yell one Abyssal exploded violently as flames reached its powder magazine...
The storm began to slacken and Bonaparte took to the air again, darting in and bathing Abyssals in fire by twos and threes before peeling away. Azuma drew her last Captain's katana and charged in; the sight of Bonaparte, her dragon, fighting for her, drew the cry from her lips, "Fire and Blood!"
Virginia laughed as she hacked an enemy down. "Seriously, Azuma?! You read too much G.R.R. Martin!" The Natural-Born Ironclad laughed a barking laugh. "Fuck it, why not?! What is Dead May Never Die!"
......................................................
The Abyssal Wako were sunk, burned by Bonaparte's flames or shattered by the Shipgirls' blows and guns...
The exhausted Ironclads and Minesweepers lay sprawled on the deck of the USS Polly, the newly-emerged sun bright and warm on their faces...
"Azuma?"
"Yeah, Virginia?"
"Do you reckon if you brought Boney along on every patrol, they'd reclassify you as a Carrier?"
Azuma laughed. "Probably not. I've only got the one Bonaparte, after all."
"Hell," said Monitor, wheezing through sprung ribs, "One Bonaparte's enough to beat a whole squadron from, how'd you put it, Gray-Back? The 'Fucking Chair-Farce'?"
Virginia nodded. "I move Bonaparte be listed as a Naval Aviator, Draconic."
"Motion Seconded," wheezed Monitor.
"Motion Carries by Acclamation. Bonaparte F. Ball, I hereby induct you into the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as an Honorary Ensign," said Azuma. "You did good, Bonaparte..."
Virginia reached out to pet him. "Ya did good, Boney..."
Monitor stroked his chest as she fell asleep...
Azuma sat up slowly and hugged her dragon close. "Thank you, Bonaparte..."