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Gaiden Entry 42.3- Lucky E Rolls the Dice (Enterprise/Little Beavers)
"You're sure about this?" Enterprise had a look at the report. "If this is true, then we have to take advantage of it."
Warspite gave a nod. "They were discovered by one of Eagle's scout planes. There's no mistaking it- it's a Siren fleet heading home, almost entirely mass-porduced ships."
Enterprise gave a nod. "And we won't have long to intercept them. Still, it's strange that they're outside of a Mirror Sea."
Warspite didn't take long to come up with an explanation. "Ever since Purifier broke with the Sirens, we haven't seen them do any of their "experiments". Whatever's going on, they haven't been able to set up one of their games."
Enterprise needed a moment to think. "...They're probably still deciding among themselves what to to do, and they may not necessarily see eye-to-eye on a solution. After all, they do appear to be taking orders."
The Royal battleship looked curiously. "You think they have their own commander?"
Enterprise put the report down. "The commander has heard them reference someone or something they call the Creator, and the fact that Purifier had to be constantly reined in means that the Sirens have some degree of free will. Still, this is a matter we have to act on. I already have a plan."
"What makes this so urgent?"
"It has to do with the commander's next goals, and the steps he wants to take to get there." She folded her hands together. "He asked Yuubari to create something that could cut Sirens off from their data networks so they can be captured, and I was recently informed by Yuubari and Marblehead that they have something ready to go."
Amagi arrived soon. She seemed aware of the conversation. "Ah, Enterprise- I take it you have some matter of planning involved?"
"Yeah." She gave the report to Amagi. "Eagle found a "loose" Siren fleet heading north, and Yuubari has told me that we have the means to take a Siren ship off of the grid. I want to take this opportunity to try to capture a Siren destroyer."
Warspite was about to drink some tea, but was stopped short by Enterprise's plan. "That's... A rather extraordinary maneuver."
Amagi gave a nod. "True enough, but if Yuubari's claims are truthful, it is something that is manageable with our current resources- plus, the commander left her in charge of military affairs. But I do wonder why you haven't submitted this for approval and discussion with the commander?"
"Because our window of opportunity is narrow, and there's no telling when we'll have another one- the further north they go, the more likely they'll be joined by heavy reinforcements." She pointed to the report. "While we know about this, there isn't enough time for us to talk to the commander, discuss the plan with him in the detail he prefers, and gather and organize the forces we need to accomplish this mission. Whatever the outcome, I will take sole responsibility."
Warspite raised a concern. "And you think the others will go along even though the commander hasn't given his personal approval?"
Enterprise shook her head. "We have a chance to further one of the immediate goals the commander has set for the fleet, so we are already acting on his behalf as ships of Azur Lane." She took a deep breath. "And even aside from that, we aren't children, and the commander is not our babysitter."
Amagi gave a nod. "Indeed. There are many ships in this fleet who would turn on the commander if he made a point of treating them like they needed to be protected and sheltered from the danger they are accustomed to, and even revel in- powerful, significant ships at that. I do not believe the commander would remain in his position for long if he adopted such a posture."
Warspite went back to the more immediate subject at hand. "So, what do you plan to do?"
Enterprise had a ready answer. "I want to form a fast force around the Royal Navy and Sakura Battlecruisers and run them straight into the Siren fleet, with support from carriers that can keep up with them- Essex, Bunker Hill, and Ticonderoga. Even Siren fleets can lose cohesion if their circumstances change too quickly for them to keep up. Once their fleet's firepower has been somewhat suppressed, a special squadron of destroyers will use Yuubari's device to lock down one of the Siren destroyers and allow them to capture it. There will be a second, smaller, reserve force whose job it is to cover the destroyers if they are able to retrieve the objective."
Warspite jumped in. "Unfortunately, we don't have that many destroyers to contribute at the moment- almost all of them are on convoy duty right now.
Amagi spoke up. "If you haven't decided on which destroyers to assign to this mission, I would like to recommend the Little Beavers, and just the Fletchers in general."
Warspite blinked. "I would've thought you'd recommend your own ships for this- they're certainly fast enough."
Amagi shook her head. "If we keep our pride and lose this war, then we will possess nothing worth keeping. Our destroyers may be fierce, but they are highly specialized- this seems a highly technical operation which will require more flexibility."
Enterprise scratched the back of her head. "It had been on my mind."
Warspite had one more thing to say. "Also- I trust Eagle's abilities, but I do wonder what happens if the Sirens have more heavy ships than expected- while the battlecruisers hit hard, they're going to by hard-pressed if a close-ranged battle goes on too long."
Enterprise gave a nod. "True. But there is someone who can keep up with the Battlecruisers and can fight like that against their heavier ships."
Warspite blinked. "Oh?"
The Union carrier closed her eyes. "Indeed- we can leave that role to her."
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New Jersey was all smiles as she stood at the docks, doing her warm-up stretches. "Woo! This is a good day!"
Hood sat down with her tea as she watched, while waiting for the other ships in the operation to assemble. The advanced battleship's flexibility seemed to match her curves, and it would have to- she had heard that New Jersey indulged in pole-dancing once in a while which was certainly an athletic pursuit, in its own way. "And what had you in such a good mood?"
The Union ship gave a giggle. "Well, Enterprise comes up to me and says- "Hey, want to attack some Siren ships and plow them under the waves?" Not that she said it exactly like that, but of course I'm going to say yes. Besides, I've got a reputation, and I can't let anyone down, yeah?"
Kongou sat on one of the piers. "Of course, all of us are under some expectations. It's just a fact of having long histories."
New Jersey hopped in place a bit. "Well, people have been talking me up for so long, that I have to show them that I'm not just a pretty face. I want to show everyone that I've got a whole lot going for me, after such a long time." She sat back on a bench as she watched the preparation continue.
Hiei was doing some reading as she watched. "I do have to wonder- apart from your professional skills, what else would you say you have going for you?"
"What else...?" New Jersey looked up for a moment, before smiling. "Well, I'd say my thighs make a really good pillow. And I'm not just going to say something like that without following through- you can all feel free to try it out, my legs are open for anyone!"
There was a kind of snorting, coughing sound as Hood learned that day that tea was not meant to exit through one's nose.
Repulse, however, was bored just waiting for things to get underway, so she decided that she was game for a little adventure. She popped on over and flopped onto the bench, resting her head and one of her hands on New Jersey's thighs. She got comfy, and then her eyes widened. "Whoah... It's true..."
New Jersey giggled. "You see, this is the kind of guarantee you're going to get, and I'm going to make sure none of you regret putting your trust in me."
Elsewhere, Fletcher had assembled the Beaver squad, plus Morrison as a technical specialist, to explain the plan to part of the multitude of her sisters. She had a chalkboard out, and had even drawn a chalk diagram of a Siren destroyer on it. "Okay, we've found a bunch of wrecks of this thing, so the others have put together a diagram of what its insides are like. A couple of you are going to have a bunch of AP ammo, and your job is going to be to take out its guns. And Yuubari gave us one of these-" It was a thin black box with a display and magnetic clamps. "She was very clear that this, um, limpet jammer only work if we attach it right to the hull, because it just doesn't work right otherwise- it'll pretend to be a part of the ship and shut off its connection to the Siren network, which means it can't call for help."
Spence nervously raised her hand. "B-But... Isn't it usually that if you cut off a ship like this, it just goes boom? You know, to stop from getting captured?" She looked around. "I mean, that's how it happens in movies..."
Foote sighed. "Nah. If getting cut off from their internet caused them to blow up, they'd be much easier to sink- a small amount of battle damage in the right spot would be enough to do it. It just means the ship has to "think" for itself."
Fletcher pointed at another spot, just in front of and below the bridge. "Yeah. And attaching Yuubari's device is just part one- you're then going to have to cut through the deck and into the case that holds its processing core. Marblehead gave us one of these..." She held out what appeared to be a large example of an old-style microchip, except the pins wiggled like legs. "And this'll attach itself to the processor unit and give the ship new orders to head back to base."
Aulick blinked. "But... If the ship can think for itself, won't it outthink that chip?"
Morrison shook her head. "N-no... The mass-produced ships have combat computers that can act on changing situations, but not an artificial brain... Marblehead says that a computer is a sophisticated idiot. It does what it's told really well, but it can only do what it's told."
Fletcher gave a nod. "That reminds me- Morrison, do you have everything you need?"
Morrison was startled. "Yes! Um... I mean, I've loaded all the necessary equipment into Mr. Bear... He'll be able to get us inside."
Fletcher looked to the squad. "So, when you're done, there's going to be a separate force coming to back you up. So if it works or not, head towards them, and be careful... I want all of you to come back, all right? I know it's tough for destroyers like us to distinguish ourselves, but it's most important that you come home."
Thatcher giggled. "We won't fail- I'm not going to pass my chance to play this kind of prank on the Sirens."
Charles Ausburne then stood up. "That's right! We have a new chance to strike a blow for justice, so let's come back with more destroyers than we left with."
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Battlecruiser Lexington had also been asked to go with the force (carrier Lexington had been assigned to base defense). Seeing as there was still time before contact with the enemy, she decided to go back and find Essex to see how she was holding up. She gracefully skated across the water to make her way to the carriers' position in the fleet. She eased herself by Essex. "Penny for your thoughts?"
Essex gave a nod. "Ah, just sending the planes around to find the Sirens- radar isn't always reliable, so even with New Jersey around we need as many ways to spot them as we can."
"I see..." She smiled. "Ah, if the other me was here, she would be able to help you more... Still, you seem tense."
Essex looked to the sky that it was her job to control. "Well... Enterprise specifically asked me, I mean, in-person to head up the carriers on this important mission. I mean, it means that Enterprise thinks I can do it, but it also means I can't let Enterprise down either... Ahhh... It's so much..."
Lexington leaned over a bit to have a better look. "It doesn't do for you to be so nervous- if you're thinking so much about Enterprise, something in the here and now might escape notice."
Essex sighed. "Yeah... And normally I'd ask someone like Ticonderoga to help me out, but she's busy with her planes, too."
Battlecruiser Lexington smiled. "Well, I think there's a little something I can do." She scooted around to behind Essex, and placed her hands on Essex's shoulders, beginning to gently rub. "Ah, there we go. It's not good to be tense about Enterprise."
Essex's eyes widened at first, and then slowly closed. "Ah... Of course you know how to do this..."
Lexington giggled. "My carrier self told me that even though I wasn't a carrier, that I should be a big sister to all of you as well, when she isn't around to do it herself. and if I don't trust myself, who can I trust, hm? Now, just relax, keep your mind on your planes, and let big sis take care of the rest~"
The idol had quite the technique, too, as Essex ended up being relaxed, but not distracted- Essex was more able to focus on her planes with "big sister's" attention than without, as it helped ease her mind about living up to Enterprise's expectations and legacy.
However, at the right time...
Her eyes flung open. "All right, I've got 'em! I'm going to inform New Jersey and everyone else, so you had better go to the front. We'll support you all, of course!"
Lexington smiled, and skated her way back. "All right, and good luck yourself~"
The Siren force knew they had been spotted and tried to jam their radar and communications, but thanks to New Jersey's advanced systems, that only made them easier to find. New Jersey was able to filter the noise and gain a good idea of what direction the jamming was coming from, so she was able to lead the fleet headlong into the Siren fleet under the cover of the carrier's planes. She insisted on leading the way, and the impact of their assault was tremendous.
While New Jersey was content to allow their escorts to pick and choose their targets, she took it on herself to direct the fire of the other capital ships to punch holes in their formation and force the Sirens to reorganize their deployment. After this, New Jersey herself devoted her firepower to covering for the battlecruisers, scoping out any Siren battleship or similarly problem foe and putting her own heavy guns into suppressing and sinking them, moving in to fight at close, very attention-getting range. The main fight had effectively become a chaotic melee, as far as naval standards went, as radar control for the guns had become intermittent.
And they wanted to make sure the heavier elements were inescapably engaged and distracted.
During all of this, some squadrons of Siren destroyers perceived this rather focused strategy and broke away from the main formation to move in and look for an opportunity to torpedo one or more of the major combatants while they were distracted.
This situation was exactly what the Little Beavers had been waiting for.
Charles Ausburne gave the signal to go, and the six Fletchers fell upon a flotilla of four Siren destroyers. The spread of torpedoes they fired was the opening statement, though they took careful aim to leave one of the destroyers untouched. The torpedoes themselves were meant as a distraction, at any rate- as the Siren ships maneuvered around the deadly projectiles while trying to retaliate with their own, the Little Beavers picked them off one at a time with the high-volume combined fire of six Fletchers' worth of rapid-fire guns.
Once three Siren ships had been subtracted from the formation, it was now time for the more difficult part of the operation. Ausburne took charge. "Thatcher, Foote, watch your aim and angles, you just need to take out its weapons, not sink it!"
Foote sighed. "Fighting enemies that literally don't know how to just surrender... How annoying..." But as much as she complained about it, she was just as willing to get to work, if only to get it over with. Foote and Thatcher split up and attacked from different angles to work on clearing the Siren vessel's decks of its weapons, putting holes through its guns and hitting its torpedo launchers so they would drop into the drink. It was only after the fact that Foote noticed a Siren round had passed through part of her rigging, and considered that damage yet another annoyance.
Charles Ausburne took out the jammer. She knew she was going to have to find some way to get close enough to slap the thing onto the ship's hull. But, much to her shock, the Siren destroyer made her decision for her, coming about and charging straight at her at full speed- and the glint of light off of the ship's angular prow made something worryingly clear- it wasn't just an angle, it was sharpened.
It was also an opportunity, if she could avoid getting split in two.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Siren ship meant to attack her by any and all means, she moved to the side at the last possible moment to keep her foe from being able to course-correct in time, and she slammed the jammer onto the ship- and then she blinked in surprise as she was carried along with it. She held on to the Siren ship for dear life as she watched the display on the jammer go through the motions. She held on for dear life as she was drenched by the surf and wake of the Siren ship frantically plowing through the waves.
But she had to hold on to make sure that it worked.
Eventually, the display turned green and displayed a simple message:
NETWORK DOWN
"Morrison! It's your turn!" She called out as she let go.
Morrison had been following on as best as she could, and as soon as she heard Ausburne call out to her she went full speed ahead to try to overtake the Siren ship. As the destroyer had been performing maneuvers to try to shake Ausburne off, it hadn't exactly been going flat out, so Morrison was able to catch up- and then it was Mr. Bear's turn.
The robotic teddybear fired off a grappling line which hooked into the destroyer's control towerand reeled both of them up onto the deck of the ship. Morrison made a hard landing on the deck and groaned, but Mr. Bear soon joined her. She laid low and crawled along the deck of the black ship. "All right, it should be around here somewhere... Ah...!?" An armored door on the tech of the ship opened up, and deployed a hidden mount- a twin AA mount consisting of a pair of radar-directed gatling guns, and she was frozen as the weapons began to traverse in her direction while spinning up with an air of menace that wasn't common to mere machines.
"Morrison, stay down, Aulick's here!" Shouted Aulick. As the first rounds started to load into the guns, an AP round from Aulick slammed through the base of the weapon's mount, sending one gun in one direction and the second in the other- both had started firing, and continued spraying rounds as they flew through the air until they splashed into the water.
Morrison continued her crawl up the tech of the destroyer until Mr/Bear stood up and pointed to a cleverly disguised maintenance plate. "There, Mr. Bear? ...Okay, let's do it."
She pushed a few buttons on Mr. Bear, and that activated a high-powered, focused cutting torch which sliced through the maintenance plate- Even Siren destroyers were rather lightly armored. Once that had been cut away, Mr. Bear grabbed the outer plate with its claw and tossed it into the ocean, then went to work on the protective casing around the ship's computer core.
Morrison crawled closer to watch Mr. Bear at work- the inner case was actually more resilient, as though it was expected that the ship might be tampered with, and Morrison gasped as she felt the ship lurch- the Siren destroyer has begun to "panic", and Morrison's white-knuckle grip is all that kept her from being flung overboard.
Just when she had reached the limits of her ability to hold on, Mr. Bear tossed away the top of the protective case, and Morrison hauled herself up to have a look in- and the device looked like the kind of computer that was promised in science fiction- glowing nodes and wires which would be invisible to anyone without shipgirl's superior eyesight, all surrounding a round pulsing core. Forget Yuubari, she wanted to have a good look at this.
But there was no time for that. She took out the new control chip and placed id down in the computer unit, and the chip burrowed itself into the board like a tick. The lights on the computer unit dimmed, halted, and began again, the ship lurching to a stop.
And then started up again, the Siren vessel changing course and just heading home at what one might call a casual speed. Not to the enemy's home, but towards Azur Lane.
Morrison flopped back on the deck and took deep breaths.
Ausburne called up. "Have we got it?"
Morrison could only manage a thumbs up.
As Ausburne was about to proclaim this a victory for justice, Spence immediately rained on the parade. "Ah, boss... They, ah, they noticed us."
Ausburne took a look- a Siren heavy cruiser and a group of lighter cruisers were in hot pursuit, and the captured destroyer wasn't going fast enough to outrun them. Ausburne gave a nod. "All right, get ready to protect the ship as much as we can- they probably don't want us to have this thing. I need you to-"
And then a round from the heavy cruiser overpenetrated part of Auburne's rigging.
She winced a bit, and saw that a fair chunk of the rigging on her right side was hanging uselessly from its frame, and so she used one of her own guns to blast it free to keep herself from being encumbered by it. She didn't like losing those guns and torpedoes, but they were useless to her anyway. "Take care of the captured ship as best you can, but take care of yourselves to- you don't want to make big sis cry, all right?"
"Yes sir!" came the chorus.
Charles Ausburne knew her squadmates would exert themselves. If they could just get in enough torpedo hits and slow them down... Well, it was daunting, at least, and... Wait, wasn't there a relief force?
As soon as she remembered that possibility, there was a roar of engines in the sky. Waves and waves of Swordfish airplanes flew low overhead and dropped their deadly cargo into the sea towards their pursuers. Great plumes of water went up as the torpedoes found their mark, and even those that didn't seem in immediate danger of sinking couldn't keep up the speed required to pursue, owing to the great gaping holes in their hulls.
Charles Ausburne took off her cap at the sight, closed her eyes, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, allowed herself to breathe.
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After all the excitement, the various members of the Little Beaver squadron, plus Morrison, spent their time lounging on the captured Siren destroyer as it motored its way to its new home. The combination of hardware they slapped onto the ship meant that it couldn't phone home, nor did it need to- as far as it was concerned, it was following orders to head to Azur Lane. The Little Beavers rested while the actual escorting duties were taken up by some of the many other Fletchers.
Foote sighed. "I hope no one asks me to do anything when we get back, 'cause I'm not going to do it."
Charles Ausburne smiled. "After this, I don't think anyone will stop you from taking a nap."
Spence gave a teary-eyed smile to Ausburne "But... This means we won, right? We just... did it?"
Thatcher giggled. "Heh. Not only was this worth it to take a ship right out from under the Sirens' noses, there's going to be something even better, later."
Morrison looked up from tinkering with Mr. Bear. "Ah... What's that?"
Thatcher put on a big grin. "We get to see the expression on his face when he sees this thing sitting in port!"
Aulick smiled as she climbed up on the control tower of the Siren ship. "Ah.... Well, no matter what, it always feels great to do these kinds of things with the rest of you..." She then pointed to the horizon. "Ah! There's the rest of the relief force!"
The Little Beavers declined to dismount- they just wanted to relax, and they soon had a look at who sent those planes to rescue them. At the center of the battlegroup was Ark Royal, who smiled and gave an enthusiastic wave, while Glorious stood beside her.
Aulick was a bit surprised. "Ark Royal? You were sent to lead the other force?"
The Royal carrier blushed a little. "Ah, yes... Enterprise came up to me and told me what her plan was, and that you destroyers would need help to get home, no matter how things went. So... Of course I told her yes!" She folded her hands together. "So... Are you all okay?"
Ausburne stood up. "A couple of us had our rigging messed up, and we're going to have Vestal look us over anyway, but we're all still here."
Ark Royal was ecstatic. "Ahhh...! Well, that's good. I wish I could've done more to help, but... Enterprise said this was your show, but either way I'm always happy to help take care of our destroyers."
Morrison looked over. "So... How did things go with the main battle?"
Glorious spoke up. "New Jersey and the others weren't able to get them all, but there's so few left that they're not really a threat- the Sirens aren't going to get any useful amount of forces back. Some of the girls are going to need to get their rigging fixed and need some other looking over- even if these were just automated ships, these are still Siren weapons they're packing. But nothing really tragic happened."
Spence gave a sigh of relief, and allowed herself to flop back, immediately napping under the sun.
Ark Royal continued. "You brave destroyers won't have to worry about a thing on the way back. I'll look- I mean, we'll look after you as we head back to base, all right?"
Foote just lounged. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Charles Ausburne sat at the front of their captured prize. Before she had any space to think about their victory, she saw Stephen Potter skating alongside the ship nearby. After the bubble from her gum popped, Ausburne asked a question. "So, what can I do for you?"
Stephen Potter looked up. "So... about this Little Beaver thing you have here."
"Yes?"
Potter took a deep breath. "So... how does one get in?"