Shigure stepped out on the blue sea, taking in the salty ocean air as she mentally prepared herself for her first official sortie with her fleet while assuming responsibility as the flagship.
Her teammates approached her whilst stretching their muscles to prepare themselves for the journey, Junyou stating,
"God damn, looking at the ocean reminds me of who I really am. No matter how much I love to live without the responsibility of sortieing, it just doesn't feel right for a ship girl to live like a complete landlubber."
Hiei nodded at that, noting that battleships had it the worst.
"If you think that's bad, spare a thought for us battleships. We can't sortie as often as you can, despite being engineered to be stronger than everyone else."
The Kongou-Class battleship continued, although she lowered her volume to address Junyou personally and thus made Shigure feel somewhat ashamed as she heard Hiei personally express her feelings.
"It almost hurts for us to see you all get injured out there and know that we're too much of a burden to do anything about it, despite all the talent and strength we were imbued with."
Junyou nodded solemnly, this private exchange lost on the ship girls who were ahead of them as Shigure tried to pretend as if she hadn't heard that as she sailed on.
Tenryuu pointed to herself with her thumb as she turned back and encouraged Shigure,
"Don't worry, Shigure. If the enemy comes, put me in front of the fleet. I'll cut them all down!"
Tatsuta commented,
"Ara, Shigure-chan, don't worry about the enemy. Just give us the command and we'll take care of them for you, alright?"
And Ayanami cheered everyone on by clapping merrily in order to encourage everyone, finally turning back to address Shigure,
"Shigure, shall we?"
And Shigure nodded in reply, temporarily hit with a wave of nostalgia as she regarded her fleet and experienced the same feeling of camaraderie that she once felt with the Nishimura Fleet.
But she shook her head, focusing on the here and now as she accelerated her boat slippers in order to catch up with her teammates.
She wasn't going to get over her guilt easily, perhaps taking a month, a year, even a decade if it necessary.
But she knew that she'd come to terms with this misplaced feeling of guilt over the Nishimura Fleet's demise with the help of her newfound friends.
And one day, she could face them all without feeling guilty over having survived when they all perished in her wake, and would eventually be strong enough to protect them in this life with the help of her teammates.
That was what friends were for, right?
The day passed by rather uneventfully, the team distracting themselves with small talk but ultimately keeping a watchful eye on the calm sea, checking their radar and sonar quite often to ensure that no Abyssals were going to sneak up from beneath them as if they were in a Jaws movie.
The excitement of going on a sortie for the first time might cause them to make simple errors that a seasoned fleet wouldn't, Junyou and Hiei both utilizing one Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane each to expand the scope of their surveillance to give them more time to prepare should they encounter an Abyssal Fleet.
And as the sun was nearing the end of its journey and cast an orange glow upon the skies and clouds, the clock on Shigure's HUD read,
5.32 p.m.
As Junyou's eyes narrowed, announcing.
"We've got company!"
The fleet tensed up, mentally preparing themselves for combat as Hiei and Junyou, possessing the strongest radar in the team, concentrated in the direction of the Reconnaissance Plane while the Fairies that manned their riggings detected and interpreted the incoming red dots on the radar, finally concluding.
"We've got 2 Ru-Class battleships, a Wo-Class carrier and 2 Ho-Class light cruisers headed our way!"
Everyone looked to Shigure, who tensed up at the focus being shifted to her as Hiei asked.
"What do you think we should do, Shigure? Engage, or run?"
Shigure took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes and mentally running through their odds and a battle strategy, asking,
"How long do we have to plan?"
And Junyou replied,
"3 and a half minutes, max."
"Hiei, what are our odds of winning?"
"None of them are Elites. And if we play our cards right with the right strategy, we can beat them."
Tatsuta leaned in, losing her smile and addressing the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer seriously as she advised.
"Shigure-chan, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone by forcing an engagement that goes against your better judgement. This enemy fleet is stronger than usual, and there's no shame in choosing to retreat…"
"I know."
Shigure finished the sentence, thinking about how to engage the superior enemy fleet.
The Abyssals had two battleships and a standard carrier, unlike the 1st Fleet, which had only one fast battleship and light carrier.
But the upside was that the enemies only had a small protection detail that consisted of two light cruisers.
If the four of them could take down the two light cruisers while Junyou and Hiei tried their best to heavily damage, or outright sink one of the three remaining Abyssals, they could force a power play to convince the remaining Abyssals to retreat.
Not that they couldn't sink them all if they endeavored to do so, but Shigure knew that a prolonged battle would only incur fatal injuries as the cannon rounds of the slow battleships and the payload of the enemy planes would eventually hurt someone.
She relayed this to the 1st Fleet as Shigure's eyes finally opened, announcing to the expectant 1st Fleet as they stood around her to receive their instructions before the battle.
"I have a plan."