Change of Plans
A few hours after leaving the South Pearl Dominion, the Sakura Empire strike group led by Akagi and Kaga were ambushed by a large Siren fleet severely damaging almost half of the members of the group. This forced them to retreat back to the Davao naval base where they would hold, while the others went back to the Sakura Empire for repairs.
"I deeply apologize, Shikikan-sama for my failure" Akagi is currently prostrating in front of Akira, who's not even mad to begin with. He's very uncomfortable right now to be honest.
He actually blames himself because he, Sophia, and Matteo were very careless with their movements.
"It's okay Akagi. It's our fault to begin with" Akira tries to get Akagi to stand up.
"To not be able to execute Shikikan-sama's plans properly and be defeated like this.." Akagi continued with her self loathing apparently not listening to Akira.
Akira knelt in front of Akagi and patted her head. "Like I said, it's not your fault. It was my carelessness that led to this"
Even though Akira is saying that it's okay, he still has a problem in his hands. The fifth carrier division should be proceeding relatively smoothly. In fact, he just got word that they are near the uninhabited islands they marked as the midpoint between Guam and Palau.
His part of the plan called for the Crane sisters to arrive at Palau while Akagi's group is engaged in battle. This should catch the Sirens off-guard and allow them to snatch a victory, but he didn't expect the Sirens to be this proactive as they have been reactive ever since he started being the commander of the Sakura Empire.
Are they planning something else? He thought of the many scenarios that the Sirens could be playing out . He's so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice Akagi slowly wrapping her arms around his waist, careful not to let her commander's hand fall off of her head.
"Shikikan-sama~"
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Shoukaku's group went back to the uninhabited island between Guam, and Palau after orders came in telling them to head east and meet up with Enterprise's group. It also came with the report about the defeat of Akagi's group.
"To think that the senpais at the first carrier division would be defeated" Zuikaku sighed.
"All those moving around the last few days definitely alarmed the Sirens. Why didn't they cancel the operation?" Haruna criticized the move of their, and the Eagle Union's commander.
"It's surprising that Nagato-sama agreed to continue this operation" Kongou added.
While the others are discussing or criticizing the outcome of the current plan, Shoukaku is silent and deep in thought. Zuikaku noticed this and tried calling her sister,
"Shoukaku-nee?" This made the others notice as well.
Kongou approached Shoukaku and waved her hand in front of her face. "Oiiiii Shoukaku"
She then poked Shoukaku's cheeks.
"Oh? Ah sorry I wasn't paying attention"
"You're finally back"
"What were you thinking about nee-chan"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Shoukaku smiled, reassuring everyone.
The others got confused, but left it as that nonetheless.
"Then everyone. Let's go, shall we?" Shoukaku moved ahead without waiting for any reply.
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A few hours into their expedition, Shoukaku's group is now near the Makur islands where Enterprise, or Hornet's group is supposed to be. All of them are stressed out since they have been on alert the entire time.
Shoukaku and Zuikaku launched scout planes an hour earlier, hoping to get a a visual on their allies since they haven't detected their signatures yet.
"Still nothing yet, Zuikaku?" Haruna asked.
"Yeah, I can't even see any island near us"
"Are you sure we're in the right direction?" Kongou asked.
"We should at least be detecting at least one of them by now" Haruna added.
"Shoukaku-nee, did we get lost by any chance?"
"Wait! I'm detecting numerous unknown aircraft a few kilometers ahead. They don't seem to be heading towards us" Kongou alerted the group.
The crane sisters nodded at each other and readied their flight decks. Streaks of light ran across the deck one by one and transformed into their aircraft.
"I hope this goes well, commander" Shoukaku said in a soft voice
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The planes of the Sakura Empire managed to arrive at the scene of the battle just after it ended and are now tailing the Eagle Union aircraft.
Back at the group.
"Are those the airfield princess' planes?" Zuikaku asked after she saw the P51s for the first time.
"I guess so, but they seem to be few in numbers"
"The battle earlier might have been intense"
The crane sisters then noticed that the P51s have dived down through the clouds. Assuming that something is happening below, they had their planes follow suit.
After their planes broke exited the cloud formation, they immediately saw the Eagle Union girls in an intense battle with the Sirens.
"Everyone, our allies need our help. Full speed ahead" Shoukaku ordered.