<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>> Next morning dawned with Saratoga swearing. She wasn't a fan of mornings at all, but still managed to get up and drag the escort carrier to the cafeteria. Due to Saratoga’s incredibly slow morning there was only two other fleetgirls there. The French battleship Richelieu, who usually was in charge of all cooking, and an unfortunate destroyer that had taken the short straw and was doing the dishes. The meal was over quickly, and Saratoga and Gambier bay both headed down to the water to practice group attacks. This left Enterprise some more time to to tinker with her rigging. The conversations last night had given her some clues. Arresting cables could be fitted to the landing deck, to help slow down approaching airplanes, which would catch the cable with a hook hanging from the plane. With that done, she could focus on the other flight deck, the one used for take off. It featured two cuts in it, running the length of the flight deck, each one with a little hook on a moving piece that could slide along the cut. The hook was also pointing forwards, meaning it definitely couldn't be used for arresting aircraft. It could however launch them, if she found a way to accelerate the little piece the hook was attached to fast enough. After being stuck there for a good hour, she looked to sort out the propulsion instead. First, boots. Two leather sheets had been bent and sewn together to make a rough outline for a left and right boot. They were uncomfortable to wear, but it was nothing a thick sock wouldn't fix. The boots themselves (after quite some time welding and bending out a proper shape) were disappointing in the fact they looked nothing alike. Didn’t left and right shoes normally look like? She had no idea. But… with a pair of thick, heavy socks taken from the spare room, the leather liners actually worked well with the heavy metal shoes. She put them on, tightened them down and took a few steps. And they were not good at all. Not horrible, but really nothing she would want to work far in either. They weren’t even fully assembled. Maybe the right one was, as it didn't seem like anything more could be attached to it. The right one, however, had two little brackets on either side of the shoe. As if it was supposed to be attached to something. But Enterprise's luck ran out and she couldn't find this one elusive part. Or parts, whichever it was. This turned her attention back to the aviation systems. With a bit of persuasion, meaning a hammer and a swift kick, some more metal was put in place underneath the flight deck, not much unlike a big tube. This shape turned out to be exactly the same as an endcap laying among the parts. It was quickly welded in place. On top of that, a series of metal inlays could be put in, together with a conveyor system of some kind and curiously, a long coil spring. The coil spring caused some confusion before it was hooked to the conveyor system. Everything fit together smoothly, it just didn't make sense before it all came together. The conveyor ran underneath the flight deck, and the spring pushed the conveyor back, meaning an item placed in the back of the conveyor that is pushed forward would return to the rearward position. The rear “sprocket wheel” had teeth, meaning it could be stopped at certain intervals. That in itself was interesting enough to keep her going, because the sprocket teeth were very finely machined, and would probably work with the one of the score of other finely machined pieces she still had left. A solid metal plate, thicker than most other pieces was fitted behind the flight deck, on the left side and standing vertically. Several other of the finer parts slid right into holes machined to this metal piece. This was about the time she heard screaming outside. A moment later a siren screamed. The base had received a call from the Eastern district. Abyssals were heading this way. They were still a fair bit out, but approaching fast. Just a minute later, Saratoga came bursting through the door. ‘Esseeeeeeeex!! We're gonna get attacked! Are you seaworthy!?!’ Enterprise looked at the mess in front of her ‘Can you launch planes?!’ The bigger carrier shrugged ‘CAN YOU AT LEAST ASK THE GOD DAMN FAIRIES’ ‘What?’ Saratoga growled a little but barely kept her cool. She brought down the flightdeck she had over her shoulder. And lo and behold, there were little fairies in it. Tiny little creatures, humans shaped but with big heads. Saratoga explained they flew and rearmed the aircraft. Just like the crew on a real carrier ‘I… have never seen those’ Saratoga stomped the ground ‘Have you looked everywhere?’ Essex couldn't answer for the screaming that came from behind. She turned around and ran towards a big concrete building on the shoreline, after informing Enterprise to either get what she could in the air or seek cover. She was about to go look when one of the planes caught her eye. The one she called “father” the other night. She picked it up, shook it a little and actually heard enraged squeaking from inside. ‘Wait, you guys in there?’ More squeaking ‘Can you get out or something?’ The squeaking went over to squealing, and hit an absurdly high tone ‘Get out damnit!’ A small hoard of tiny people flood out of the cargo plane and look up at Enterprise. ‘God above… Can you speak?’ They started squeaking. Again ‘Okay, I get it. But you understand me?’ The fairies nodded in unison ‘It looks like our new friends are in need of help, can you help me do it?’ The little fairies ran around, squeaking and cheering as they went along. The first group gathered around the second transport plane, letting out a second horde of fairies, also cheering as they ran around. In just seconds, some had gotten to the flight deck, some to the planes and some to the boots. They squeaked and squealed, shouting in their own little language. The boots were quickly abandoned, and they went to the flight deck. One of them had a long leather strap attached to either end, and the second one she had worked on just before. They did little to it apart from dragging a wooden part to the back of it. And just as they did, it clicked for Enterprise. That last bit was a rifle stock. As Saratoga had her bazooka thing… This looked remarkably much like the back end of a late 19th century Winchester lever gun. Moreover, the fairies pulled twenty two aircraft from the pile. All eighteen of the Skyraiders, and two pairs of helicopters ‘Just these ones?’ Most of the fairies scattered, some went into the aircraft and some crawled into the flight deck contraption gun thing. Whatever it was. Launcher? She took it up held it like she imagined a rifle would be held, slung the other flight deck over her shoulder and stuffed the planes loosely in a leather pouch she attached to the hip belt. One of the little fairies were wearing a white cap jumped off the device Enterprise decided to call launcher, climbed up her shirt and found a place to sit on her chest pocket, which might have been a bit of a squeeze. And so, without the big backpack-like rigging, without the boots and only with a half assembled launcher and another flight deck slung over her shoulder, Enterprise headed for the shoreline. But before that happened, a most peculiar sight met her. One of the german ships, probably Bismarck judging by size, had a shorter girl over her shoulder in a fireman carry. She wore light colored clothes, very pretty looking. She was shorter than Bismarck was, and only after she had been put down on a rock to sit on did Enterprise see her leg was off halfway up to the knee, all finished up in a few layers of bandages. Bismarck saw Enterprise as she turned around, pointed at the dropped of girl and ran off towards a large concrete building. ‘Who in the King's name are you?’, The wounded woman asked, blue eyes glowing under very neatly cut, red hair. Her accent was unmistakably British. She had a rather slender figure, with neat clothes in hair colors and carried a ship’s superstructure on her back. ‘Essex’, Enterprise lied. ‘USS Essex’ ‘I haven't seen you here before. I'm His Majesty's Ship Ark Royal, of the Royal Navy’ ‘Pleased to meet you’ Enterprise looked out over the rows of fleetgirls in full rigging heading out to sea from the concrete building. Ark Royal did her best to stand up on her one full length leg. While balancing, she picked up a massive compound bow with the two large limbs looking somewhat like flight decks. But there were no planes. She picked up an actual arrow (from a quiver on her right hip, strangely) and put it in a little notch the bow had. However, archery was something that needed two legs as well as two arms. Ark Royal tried in vain to stand up and draw the bow. Not even resting her stumped leg against the rock gave her enough stability to draw ‘You need some help?’ Ark Royal sighed ‘Those damned abyssals did a number on me. I realised i wouldn’t be seaworthy for a while, but now i can’t even use my weapon’ ‘You’re going to shoot them with arrows? And what do you mean with “a while”?’ ‘Are you new here?’ ‘Yes i am. I’ve just been here a day’ ‘Marvellous, you will have to watch and learn then. And this is a bit of a thorn in my pride, but i’ll have to ask you to help me. And to answer your second question, the repair docks work wonders, i should be able to go to sea in a few weeks’ ‘Your leg...grows back?’ ‘Indeed’ ‘Riiight. Moving on, you needed help?’ ‘Yes, i’m unable to draw as i am now’ ‘Want me to shoot the bow?’ Enterprise looked a little daunted. The question itself made Ark Royal frown a little ‘Certainly not. You have size on your side. I ask you to help me stand proper as i get my planes up’ ‘Sure…’ Ark Royal turned halfway around, and Enterprise put her hands on the smaller carrier's waist, whom wiggled around a little, hinting Enterprise to tighten the grip. Satisfied with her stance, Ark Royal pulled the bowstring within an inch of her left cheek with her left arm raised to the sky. The front limbs, or flight decks, stayed in place while flexible rear limbs were pulled by a series of strings and pulleys. The bow let's out a miniscule whizz as the arrow is launched skywards. As it reaches its zenith, the arrow explodes in a flash of white light, with three monoplanes emerging from it. Enterprise looked in aweawe ‘Alright, that's impressive’ Ark Royal grinned and sent up another two groups of fighters, and two groups of four biplane torpedo bombers. ‘Do not judge them by their looks. Someone else did, and paid the price. At any rate, you’d best get to it’ ‘To what?’ ‘Launch your planes, naturally’ Enterprise sighed a little ‘I have no idea how this works, but i’ll try’ She took her launcher with her left hand, dug a little in the pouch for one of the skyraiders and placed it at the very back of the runway. The wings were still folded ‘Do i have to unfold them myself?’ ‘I wouldn’t know’ Enterprise put down the launcher and tried her best to unfold the wings. As she did, the white capped fairey in her chest pocket squeaked furiously ‘The hell do you want?’ ‘Maybe the process is automated. Is there a pilot in the plane?’ ‘Do i have to do that myself?’ ‘I don’t’ Getting more irritated with her malfunctioning flight deck, Enterprise put the empty Skyraider back on the runway and loudly ordered someone to get in. To her surprise, a little fairy actually crawled out from the bowels of the hollow launcher and into the plane ‘Okay, that’s a start. Start the engine and unfold the wings!’ Incredibly, Enterprise actually got a response from the little plane. The powerful radial engine woke to life, spitting flames out of the stubby exhaust. And it did indeed seemed like the wings folded with hydraulic motors. The plane stood at the back of the flight deck, wings spread and engine idling. And while Enterprise held the flight deck like a rifle, it lacked a critical component. A trigger. This left her little choice but verbally telling the plane to take off. Which it did! The white Skyraider roared off the flight deck, gained some altitude and started circling overhead. Happy with her success, Enterprise put another three Skyraiders in the air. ‘Marvellous, that’s a flight. Now get them out to sea!’ ‘I have to tell them that?’ ‘Of course. You’re the carrier after all’ ‘Okay. How do i do that?’ Ark Royal looked very puzzled. Like she was speaking to a carrier that didn’t know what a radio was ‘Via a radio, naturally’ ‘I don’t i have one’ Ark Royal immediately buried her face in her hand ‘Come on, give me a break. I had to build all this stuff myself. I wasn’t sunk in one piece or anything, i was cut up and scrapped’ ‘As was Lady Warspite, and we are yet to see her set a foot wrong’ ‘Warspite…’ Warspite wasa name she recognized. She was a little bit to the Royal Navy like Enterprise was to the USN. A warrior that fought hard from day one until the war had ended. Difference being Warspite had another world war on her merit list before Enterprise was even built. ‘I’d like to meet her, eventually. But for now, what do i do for radio. I have lots of rigging still in the workshop’ ‘Help me get my second wave up, and i shall do what i can to assist’ ‘Got it’ Once she got help to stand up, Ark Royal shot off a few more airplanes and sent them out to sea. Enterprise’s Skyraiders still circled overhead, lacking any other orders. The bigger carrier slung her flight deck over her back, picked up the smaller and went to the workshop. Ark Royal cringed at the slew of parts as Enterprise set her down on the bench ‘Radio, radio radio…’ ‘Just making things clear here’ Enterprise began, ‘I don’t know what half of this stuff does’ ‘Well, first off you will need that’ Ark royal looked at a very bland looking box ‘What’s that?’ ‘I just know it required Bauxite. So, i’d imagine you should think of it as your spare hangar, and arms room’ ‘What’s Bauxite?’ ‘Oh for the love of god. Planes drop ordnance, or are lost. You eat Bauxite, and the stuff comes back, got it?’ ‘Ordnance… Think there’s bombs in there?’ ‘Probably’ Enterprise picked the box up. It had mountings that looked rather familiar. Very much like the ones on the back of the flight deck. The box was turned upside down and pushed down. As it clicked into place, Enterprise felt the while launcher coming alive with Fairies running around like mad inside ‘I believe you can actually arm your warplanes now. A step in the right direction’ ‘Sure is. And what about the radio?’ Ark Royal pointed to the leather harness which looked more like the small parts of a backpack. It had a bit of metal structure attached to it ‘Get that on, and the Antennas over there, i believe they are anyway. It will have to do for now’ Enterprise removed the spare hangar from the launcher, got into the harness and was assisted in attaching said antennas to it. As the last one clicked into place, she felt a little buzz in her head. ‘Whoa. I think I felt that’ ‘Which probably means it's working. Tally Ho’ ‘Yeah. Let's go, princess’, Enterprise said as she picked up the crippled Ark Royal from the workbench ‘Excuse me?’ ‘Your crown’ ‘Certainly not. The real crown is the one Lady Warspite wears and nothing else’ ‘So that's just a headband?’ ‘No!’ ‘So… it's either a circlet, that carries about as much authority as a decorated headband. Or a consort crown, meaning-’ ‘That will be enough! I am an aircraft carrier of the Royal navy and i will not tolerate this! There is a battle going on. Get me to the shore, immediately!’ ‘You sound pretty upset for someone being carrier, but lets go’ A few minutes Enterprise returns to the waterline and sets down Ark Royal on the rock. ‘So, let’s get that first group down and rearm them’ ‘No, they have plenty of fuel. Get new ones up, recover old when you have time’ ‘Got it’ Enterprise raises her launcher again, and then puts the little airplane on the back of the flight deck ‘Okay, little guys, load this thing up with as much pain as you can’ And oh did the fairies respond. The Skyraider was loaded up with an almost obscene amount of ordnance for a single engined propeller aircraft. One very large torpedo under the fuselage, significantly bigger than the ones carrier by the Swordfishes. On top of that, the Skyraider had twelve HVAR rockets and two bombs, probably in the half ton range. ‘That will never take off’ Enterprise looked over to the doubting Ark Royal, leaned in to the little idling airplane and whispered to it ‘Come on little skyraider, let’s show the Limey what we can do’ The R-3350 engine spun up with all the might it had, accelerating the heavily laden plane along the runway. As it reaches the end, it drops a little but has soon gathered enough airspeed to fly. ‘No way’ Enterprise felt a way of smugness roll in with Ark Royal’s disbelief. Another 11 planes were sent skywards and headed east to the approaching enemy fleet. The four first aircraft were brought down again and sent up with only ammunition for the guns as defense for the two stranded carriers. It only took the more powerful Skyraiders half an hour to catch up and overtake the lumbering biplanes and their escorts. The 12 planes were divided into four groups of three, and had given themselves the rather unimaginative callsign “Raider”. Raider had split up into three groups and headed north-northeast at a steady 175 knots. Center group, with Raider 1 and 2 just above the clouds, 3 flying a couple of hundred feet above, down sun, and 4 just below the clouds. Their carrier had just sent them information on the current battle. Strangely, they were strictly forbidden from attacking any Japanese warships, and attacks were instead to be targeted to “Black and white demon women and other ghost stuff” It was by far the strangest darget description Raider Lead had ever been given, but it would had to do. Soon information came through. Friendly aircraft had been facing more opposition than expected against an enemy group of ships. The group was spotted a moment later. A Re-class battleship surrounded by two yet unidentified cruisers and a handful of destroyers. Raider kept outside the range of the lighter AA batteries until another group of aircraft was spotted. Something to draw fire. Raider reacted immediately. 2 and 3 split off from the main group, to attack with bombs from the stern and aft, respectively. They would make a high speed approach, drawing and avoiding as much fire as possible before trying to escape into the setting sun. The whine from the supercharger was drowned out from the exhaust, the distant booms and very close explosions from the Re-class's AA batteries. Twelve 1000 lb bomb were dropped from planes screaming towards the waves at 400 knots. Most missed, with two near hits and one hitting between the number one and two turret, bending metal and flesh out of shape with the shockwave. The Re-class screamed in pain and turned every barrel still working at the six skyraiders that were now back on full throttle and heading into the sun. Which was a mistake. Raider 1 and 2 were flying low and fast, approaching from the other side. Their heavy torpedoes were soon dropped, but not without a barrage of HVAR rockets in an attempt to further lessen the AA fire. Some of the rockets hit, but the real damage comes from the three underwater hits. Not even the battleships heavy torpedo bulges could save it from three Mark 13 torpedoes. The explosions sent geysers of water to the sky. She was taking on water and would soon be reunited with the abyss. Despite their reports of good hits on the battleship, their carrier ordered Raider to finish the job. Few knew how important it was to make sure the ship was sunk quite like Enterprise did. Raider 3 and 4 approached from two directions, now coming with the sun directly in their backs. The Re-class must have known her time on earth was at its end and tried to take as many forces of good into the deaths as she could. Long lines of tracers danced across the sky as solid deadly feelers. The Skyraiders did what they could to avoid the fire. With the loss of only Raider 3-2 who bit of more AA than the old plane could chew, the group made it down to drop height and released their deadly payload. Long white trails of bubbles made their ways from the water splashes where they were dropped to the wounded warship. Metal twisted, oil caught fire and ammunition burned as the Skyraiders gunned their engines and hugged the waves to get away. Praise came through from enterprise who had listened to the whole thing. But the planes still had ordnance left. 3 and 4 had rockets still, and 1 and 2 had bombs. Once again, the two groups split up and climbed to gain altitude. They were lighter now, having lost half or more of their payload. Friendly fighters had turned up to deal with the small resistance that remained. The planes themselves were strange, angular machines that Raider didn't recognize. Raider was more keen to show these unknown planes how anti shipping was done. They split up again. Raider 1 flew until it was almost right on top of the cruiser. Almost fifty thousand pounds worth of attack aircraft rolled over on their backs and dove straight for the doomed cruiser. Air brakes deployed over 300 knots, fire away the cannons for some rudimentary aiming system with their tracers. The three planes pulled out, hard as the bombs were dropped. No hits. Once again, these were dropped as a diversion for Raider 2, coming in low over the port beam with engines screaming. They dropped their payload at mast height. The bombs were set with timers and skipped over the water one or two times before slamming into the side of the cruiser. Something very fragile inside was hit and it erupted in a ball of fire that split the ship in half and filled the air around it with shrapnel. Raider 1-2 was caught in the blast and splashed into the water soon after. The last cruiser screamed out her fury and wrath for her lost sisters, pumping the sky full of metal with any AA weapons she had. As the Skyraiders had expended all their heavy ordnance, they were left with HVAR rockets, twelve per plane. For attacks on a single target, Raider squadron split up even more, now with each pilot on their own. Each remaining aircraft got one run at the cruiser, emptying their load of rockets at it. Their explosive and shaped charge warheads with unburnt rocket fuel turned the cruiser into a ten thousand ton torch. Floating still, but combat ineffective. This left the destroyers who quickly found themselves without friends, as the Skyraiders found themselves without ordnance. But following the example that the pilots from Gambier Bay among others had set during the battle of Samar, not having bombs does NOT mean the end of an anti-shipping mission. And while a. 50 caliber machine gun, or even a .38 caliber pistol will do very little against the mighty Yamato, these were destroyers, which had significantly weaker armor. And the skyraider didn't have any machine guns. Embedded in the wings of each skyraider nestled four 20 mm autocannons. When firing AP rounds, these cannons stand a good chance of going through a destroyer. They stood no chance. The Skyraiders came in with propeller licking the waves, the whole plane vibrating as 40 shells per second left its gun barrels into the ship. This heavy barrage of fire had a devastating effect on anything left on the outside of the ship, AA guns for example. The aircraft did their work on the helpless destroyers and didn't head back until every single round in their guns had been fired. Half an hour earlier, Enterprise heard the shrieking from the fairy in her chest pocket, furiously squeaking and pointing to her pouch ‘What do you want, all my planes are airborne!’ The fairy kept squeaking with with increased intensity ‘These? They have no guns!’ Enterprise picked up the four helicopters she also had laying around in the pouch ‘Perhaps you should listen to her?’ Ark Royal weighed in ‘She's just squeaking!’ ‘She's telling you to launch those machine. In a rather rude manner, I have to say’ ‘You understand them?’ ‘Just get the machines in the air’ ‘This is stupid…’ Enterprise mumbled as the helicopter was placed on the flight deck. Without her actually telling it to do anything, the engine started and it flew away ‘It took of vertically…’ ‘It took off without orders!’ Despite this, Enterprise put the other three on deck and they did exactly the same thing, taking off and heading to sea. ‘Why do they do that?’ ‘I have no idea. I've never seen a machine like that before’ ‘Not having wings can't be efficient. They will be back soon. Did your strike go well?’ Ark Royal grinned a little. ‘I would indeed count it as successful. A cruiser damaged and one destroyer sunk’ ‘Not bad. And i have to say, these Skyraiders are something else than what i’ve had before’ ‘Good sortie?’ ‘Good sortie’ Enterprise smirked to herself. ‘Good sortie’ As the skyraiders were returning, several types of aircraft came along to the formation of attack planes. Several Zeroes, the angular planes from before, even some american aircraft Enterprise would actually recognize, and some she had absolutely idea what they were. Many wanted to see these new large monoplanes that had carried more firepower than dedicated bombers. The swarm of planes also saw one of the big engines spew smoke and sputter to a stop. Raider 3-3 started losing altitude. There was at least a parachute opening before the plane slammed into the waves and joined the abyssals deep down in the ocean. Most of the enemy planes left the Skyraiders alone as they approached the western naval district. Enterprise had learned how the planes wouldn’t land on her launcher flight deck, but always stuck to the other flight deck, which she carried on her back. It was admittedly a little tricky to hold the second flight deck steady as the heavy planes (twice as heavy as the F4F Wildcat) thumped down and caught the arrestor cables ‘Say, Essex…’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘I’m hearing very strange radio messages. Just asking, how good of a sortie did you actually do?’ ‘Rather well actually, not much of a challenge with that weak AA and no fighter cover’ ‘Does “rather well” mean that or does it mean something else?’ ‘I did my job, Arkie. Let’s leave it at that’ Enterprise turned around but didn’t get much further than the workshop before she heard the helicopters again. Unlike the fighters, they were happy to land on the deck attached to her launcher. Worryingly, they were much more heavily laden than when they took off. There were fairies, lots of them. As per usual, when Enterprise encountered a problem that made sense in this world, and not her own, she went to Saratoga >>>>>>>>End of part 3<<<<<<<