Operation Jet Anna - Part 1

Sea reconnaissance was easy with flying fairies, especially when the enemy base was so tall. Even in the middle of the night, all they had to do was sneak around for a while and they could spot everything. Even scouting a radius of a hundred or so kilometers wasn't a problem if a whole squad was deployed. And they could also protect the Beehive if anything approached in the meantime.

It was quite a decent battle strategy.

Still, with what they spotted, the situation around them was very troublesome. Both the turtle that was many times bigger than a kaiju and the moving dock were engaged in a firefight. Their cannons would light the night from time to time and the explosions of their hits would too.

For how long and how damaged they were was hard to guess from this far, but the difference in size said that the Leviathan would lose in due time. Only their speeds were comparable, and that was without adding the rockets that would pepper the area from time to time too.

And just by seeing the fleets surrounding the two bases, it was worrying to think of the number of wreckages.

The allied main fleet still had, by the fairies' account, almost twenty huge vessels with fewer smaller ones. In most cases, each battleship and heavy cruiser would have a destroyer or light cruiser as a screen, but that wasn't true right now. If their screens were mostly lost or if they were only detached was hard to know, but it was a huge problem right now.

Or to summarize, they had a lot of firepower but lacked the speed to use it.

The enemy's fleet was almost made only of the smallest vessels possible, with their biggest one being destroyer-sized. And there were almost a hundred of them.

Most were likely gun and torpedo boats, which meant a lot of speed at the expense of all else. So, when paired against a fleet of slow capital ships, all they had to do was retreat until they could flank them. Even the oversized singular guns on top of the gunboats would still cause damage with enough time, and torpedos were always dangerous.

It was also a very pirate-like fleet all things considered.

But even with their perfect counter-attack capabilities, the fleet of nimble vessels was still in a stalemate. Simply put, they had no way of attacking without receiving heavy losses when the enemy was trying to flee. They would need to encircle the whole archipelan fleet to pull a win there, and this was where the other battles happening in the area entered.

On each flank of the two bases, smaller fleets from both sides were also engaged in combat. Both in closer combat and both between a group of destroyers and frigates against enemy forces trying to flank the main fleet. Even some submarines, or what seemed to look like one, were spotted in the area. If it was to take a guess, the fact these were still trying to reach a conclusion was why both main fleets were in a stalemate.

With either side falling, the raiders would have enough space to maneuver and wither down the Leviathan's forces. And if they managed to clear either side, there would be enough screening power for a counter-attack.

More than all this, there was another battle too and this one was the weirdest of the four.

A fight between a single outdated and huge vessel against a whole contingent of cruisers. And a stalemate caused by how fast this one outdated vessel was and by how the more numerous cruisers lacked the firepower to sink it.

But even with all this happening, the bridge of the only unengaged ship was yet to decide a course of action.

“Air power’s best used against smaller ships, dammit! Circlin’ these and goin’ to the flank’s better.”

“We can’t ignore what’s so close to us,” Karim argued back with her own point. “And as is, helping them will save us the time of reaching anyone else.”

“No point in savin’ time if you’ll lose it dealin’ with that thing, ‘aight? What exactly ya think some grenade launchers’ll do to a ship that’s holdin’ a whole fleet back?”

“W-well…”

“We should be able to do something! Use that big magic shot you did at the temple and it’ll probably have some effect. We’re almost there anyways…”

“It’d work if I had a decent gun, ‘kay? We’ll need to go closer than half a kilometer fer me to anythin’ with this old rifle or mah’ double barrel.”

“A-actually…”

“By the heavens, why you’re suddenly useless when we need it? Don’t you have some portal we can use to invade that ship or something of the kind then?”

“Ah, yeah, I always carry an instant teleport in mah’ bag… Yer stupid, Shorty?! Didn’t I tell ya how hard to do’re those thingys?”

“Minako did one in two hours.”

“Then ask her!”

“Maybe I sho…”

“It’s something you need to prepare beforehand and have the proper construction, so...” Minako shyly explained herself on the fringes of the discussion.

“Then… We’re saving the people close by anyways!”

“No, we’re gettin’ the flankers to help!”

“HEY!!!” The usually soft-spoken fairy shouted from her, until then, ignored position as the captain of the ship. “Can you stop… stop with… I mean… well… w-we s-should…”

The energetic shout that stop the discussion made both of the angry girls turn to Alya, and soon, whatever she wanted to say was lost due to the pressure. This time though, it was very hard to fault her considering that she was the only one that ended up being actually able to try and interrupt Karim and Anna.

“If ya wanna say somethin’, then say it already. We lack the time fer it, ay?”

“She was likely going to agree with me like a reasonable person.”

“Eh?! Yer crazy, Shorty. If this fairy’d agree with anyone, then it’d be…”

“B-both.” The white-haired fairy answered weakly, which in turn made both annoyed stares go back to her until she managed to stutter what was left of her words. “W-we can, well, we can help both sides… The big ship... w-we can invade it, and, and send the m-main force to one flank… M-maybe let a s-skeleton crew inside, so, so we can arm t-them in the, the Leviathan and have m-more forces…”

In all honesty, Anna didn't understand very well what the white fairy was trying to say with all the stuttering, but she got the idea. Or she at least thought she got the idea. And Karim seemed to be in the same mindset too.

“Now that you say, the ones with armor aren’t the only ones who can fly. It makes sense and you’re actually the one who should be giving orders, so...” Karim noticed her mishandling of authority and turned to her partner with an expression that was both annoyed and bashful.

“Yer right… Less’ do as ya say, but with a change, ‘kay?”

“Annabeth…”

“Hear me out, Shorty. Lemme be the assault team, ay? I take a lifeboat, enchant it and invade ‘em while y’all help the lads on the flanks. Emptyin’ this ship’s too dangerous, so it’s better if ya’ve some reserves other than Col and these other two.”

“Denied!” This time was the kitsune that shouted in protest. “You’re not invading a ship alone. The four of us should go if it’s the…”

“Nay. The three of ya’re the best defense this ship has. As long as Karim can support Col and ya to keep castin', this thing ain’t sinkin’. Ya’ve to stay ‘ere.”

“But…”

“I-I don’t know what, what you can do, b-but… I would like help t-to invade the Leviathan… T-they can be… can be in danger of being boarded...”

“I’m all into going to the bigger boat!” Col added, still from her spot below the consoles and away from the sea. “Cannons are way easier to deal with than falling in the water.”

Seeing both Alya and Col support Anna’s plan, even if the person who made it wasn’t expecting this much, made any complaints hard to be said. Minako seemed to still want to say something and was clearly worried, but she had no arguments right now. Still, the blondie by her side seemed to be different.

“Not sure how you convinced the captain, but if you want to go there so much...” She summoned her blade and walked closer to Annabeth, which made the redhead slightly twitch in answer to the approach and created ripples in Karim’s confidence. “Then take Minako with you. Keeping me and Colette here will be enough, and you’ll have better chances like this…”

She then poked the redhead’s belt and stole the radio there, turning the device back on as it should have been all the while.

“And keep this thing on this time. You may not trust me right now, but communication is important.”

“Fine then…” Anna answered before getting the radio back to its place while trying to suppress any weird thoughts. “I’ll give ya a call when I finish mah’ job first, ‘kay?”

The inquisitor then put on a more-forced-than-usual smile on her face and turned to the exit. She still needed to visit the arsenal before heading out, and they were running against the clock as is already.