Ohio laughed excitedly as she watched the red blips of enemy fighter bombers get turned into flaming wrecks in the distance. Maybe if they were modern stealth fighters or jets things might have been different but the flying Revenant freaks met the supersonic warheads with their ugly faces. It took less than four minutes of firing for all thirty aerial threats to be vanquished. The Pacific skies were alight with smoke, fire, and falling debris causing the newly named Ohio to feel more powerful than she ever did in her regular life. This was power and knowing she could swat a flight of fighters out of the sky on her own helped inflate her confidence.
“Damn watch her go!” Atlanta giggled at the sight not even seeming to be sad that she didn’t get to fire anything in this encounter. “If we had a few more of the new girl, I mean Ohio I could retire to the beach early. Keep it up new girl! Show those demons what American tech can do!”
Essex watched but her main attention was on her flight of scouts still hunting the enemy aircraft carrier. “Essex all targets down! 30 kills for 42 missiles fired, looking at a 71% hit accuracy.” Ohio said with a grin. “I’ve got 22 more SM-2s, 7 Harpoons, and 8 Tomahawks. Were you able to find the carrier?” She asked after taking stock of her ammo. The small fleet was still moving so she was sailing backwards at the moment hoping that she could fire more missiles.
“You remind me too much of a Fletcher you little murder ball.” The fleet carrier laughed, patting the girl's head approvingly before she got the call on her radio. “Got her kid, here are the coordinates. There is a single carrier and a destroyer about 275 miles and retreating. Think you can hit them?” Essex sent the coordinates to her new little friend and Ohio nodded.
“Absolutely! I’ll go ahead and fire all eight then.” The cruiser was already plotting the course on her map using her hands in the air as Essex looked rather concerned.
“All of them? What about ammo stores? The dock might not have replacements.” She asked, taking on the tone of a big sister in the moment.
“Don’t worry! My crew said that due to me being nuclear I have the special ability to regenerate ammo over time. I should be back up to full missiles in the next 10 hours. Now FIRE AWAY!” The two boxes on her legs flipped forward revealing eight cruise missiles. They were launched one by one towards the coordinates provided, setting the cruise missiles for radar lock once in range. The Atlanta twins watched in interest as the large missiles streaked across the water like flying torpedoes going faster than most naval prop planes. “We should have an impact within 30 or so minutes at this range and speed. Are you planes going to be able to get back to us if they stay to confirm the kills?” She asked curiously, still not entirely certain how to judge the weapons they had. “Oh yeah before I forget… How do I know how my weapons and such work? I was never a ship and I sure as hell wasn’t a military buff in my last life.”
“Don’t worry Ohio, our spirit crews are all trained in the operations of our ships. Think of them as the ghosts of the crew you would have had while in a steel body. Their knowledge carries over to us. My Dauntlesses have about 1500 miles of range. They will get back to us no problem. I’ll let you know if you hit and we can keep on our path home.” Wrapping an arm around the smaller cruiser Essex planted a kiss on the top of the girl’s head before turning her attention to the Atlantas. “Remember you two, start pulling your weight or the new girl will take your job.” Her warning was met with laughter as Atlanta and San Diego both pulled Ohio away and smashed the girl between them.
“She can have it. As I was saying, I could use a vacation.” Trapped between the twins Ohio blushed deep red as she was surrounded on both sides by soft flesh and laughter. Not really touchy in her last life she couldn’t believe that two beautiful sisters were practically smothering her right now. Was she complaining?! Hell no! Girls were much better to cuddle than men and she was especially partial to the fairer gender. If the pink haired twins wanted to smother her she would fight back.
“I do have a question… If my missiles were so effective then why isn’t the navy winning? Don’t the new ships have like hundreds of missiles at once?” Ohio asked peaking out from the mounds of light cruiser around her.
“Size and magical BS my friend. Just think about how hard it would be to get a target lock on something our size. So it makes a bit more sense it would work better for you. Though we will have to find out more if another guided missile ship ever get summoned.” Atlanta responded as the twins let the new girl go and got back into formation. “Does that make more sense? Oh yeah, do you have any hobbies? Wanna join me and my sister for game night tonight after dinner?”
“Game night? What kind of games?” Ohio’s face lit up at the idea as she fell in beside the pair. Barely in this world for a day and she was already making friends with girls that were too hot for her back in her last life. Nearby Essex chuckled at the sight of the three knowing in her heart that the new girl would be just fine. The Atlanta twins were difficult but at heart good girls. Bristol was hanging out with Arizona currently but she knew that the little destroyer had also warmed up to the new cruiser too.
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“We have a Switch and Super Smash Bros! The Japs weren’t good for much but anime and video games sure improve my opinion of them.” San Diego responded before Atlanta chopped her on the back of the head. “Watch your language… Even if we were fighting them in the war they are our allies now. Keep racist comments to yourself.” Atlanta scolded her sister who just pouted at the treatment.
“I would love to! Back home I was running a Starfinder game for my friends. Do any of you play tabletop RPGs?” Ohio asked with anticipation.
Said hope was temporarily dashed as they shook their heads before Essex joined the conversation. “They might not but Arizona, San Francisco and myself would be interested to learn. That’s the game with wizards and fighters and dragons and such right?” Arizona would have added something but she was busy being the big strong amazonian that she was while Bristol bounced around the battleship trying to explain the plot of some cartoon she had been watching.
“That would be Dungeons and Dragons! Starfinder is sort of like that but scifi. So you have elves but in space with laser weapons and magic.” She offered to Essex with all the excitement the carrier would contribute to a destroyer. Maybe having a nuclear reactor gave one the energy levels of the little fireballs.
“Interesting… I wouldn’t mind trying it with you.” Essex responded with the twins also nodding to let Ohio know they would give it a try to. Nobody hung out at a gaming session without rolling up a character. Then the atmosphere changed as Essex got word on her radio. “My scouts have confirmed impact. The enemy destroyer was sunk with a single missile. Looks like they managed to shoot another two down with point defense. The remaining five struck the carrier and yeap she is sinking! Arizona, chalk this mission up as a success. Six destroyers and a carrier have been sunk.” With the relay they could hear back from Arizona hooting out a cheer.
“Tell Ohio I’ll let the Admiral know that she was the reason the carrier sunk. I’m pretty sure this is the best first outing an American ship has had.” The big battleship offered her praise and Ohio covered her face in embarrassment.
“I couldn’t have done it without Essex’s planes. Hopefully once we get to Pearl I can get my IFF records updated and my systems linked with GPS and I can make full use of my radar. Though knowing we can use a plane for spotting like that is pretty awesome too!” Smiling brightly, the missile cruiser couldn’t hide her happiness at the situation. Despite everything today this moment made it worth it. She was useful to someone!
“Just remember Ohio… Now that the Revenants know about you, just expect a torpedo in the future.” San Diego teased bumping the new girl as she passed by. Ohio just paled at the thought before remembering her own equipment.
“Well good thing I have sonar, anti-sub rockets, torpedoes, and decoys of my own then!” The light cruiser couldn’t help but shake her head at the response while muttering, ‘of course she does’ to Atlanta’s delight. “Besides, it won't just be me anyways.” Racing alongside San Diego she grinned before wrapping an arm around the younger of the twins' shoulders. “If I’m getting shot at odds are you will be nearby too. So I will be relying on you San Diego for protection!” Then with a lean in she stole a kiss to the other girl’s cheek before taking off towards Arizona and Bristol. “Thank you again!” She called out to the other cruiser laughing all the way.
Little did she know but someone had indeed taken interest in her. An enemy scout plane would be caught on the way back by one of Essex’s Dauntless scouts and shot down but not before it delivered its report to its allies. For now though the members of Task Force Pearl would make it way to Hawaii without any further issues.
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“Report… six destroyers and one carrier sunk. Unknown enemy reported with the human’s guardians. Advised that the unknown is classified as a threat.”
The voice came from a Revenant battleship as she kneeled in front of a figure on a throne. The entity on the throne looked like the other Revenants but wore a tiara and held an elegance that the other monsters didn’t. Her aura though was even more monstrous than the beings in front of her. A fleet of demons if there ever was one. Lifting her head up the entity that could only be presumed was the leader of the group stared at the battleship with barely restrained malice.
“And?” She asked her supplicant with a sneer while her free hand tapped at the throne arm rest. Her claws digging into the polished wood with controlled violence. “What sort of threat are you referring to?” As she spoke the battleship stood up ramrod at the tone.
“The new enemy appears to be a post war American vessel armed with missiles my Lady. Not only did she possess anti-air missiles but also long range ones as well. Your carrier was sunk by a cruise missile at over 200 miles.” The battleship explained keeping her eyes averted hoping to not be on the receiving end of the threat of violence her Lady was capable of.
“So be it. Not the first time humans have attempted to beat us with technology. She is but one and we are legion. Next time you see her on the sea just do as we did with their warships. Swarm over and drown her in flesh and steel. One ship does not win a war.” The Revenant Lord replied with a huff seemingly dismissing the concern. Her battleship did not fail to notice the implication of the response.
“Yes My Lady… I’ll let the others know. I shall take my leave now and dispense your will” The battleship bowed before shuffling off in a hurry. She understood the implications all right. Their Lord had just signed the death of many of their forces. How many of their forces would sink before their target ran out of ammo? As many as needed… Not like they couldn’t just add more to their numbers after all.
