Legends

Chapter 47~ The Silence

Working with the Brits was interesting to say the least. Enterprise had run into a few of them in the past but their war was completely different than hers. With the Abyssals running around, in some ways that fact remained.

The biggest difference was in how she was needed. France was just gone, completely gone. Dunkerque had barely made it out but Teste hadn't been so lucky, taking a fatal salvo meant for her fleetmate. Dunkerque arrived in Southampton shaken but alive. Enterprise was put into a three carrier rotation with Yorktown and Lafayette. One carrier would be back at base refueling and/or conducting repairs. The second would providing long range air cover for the convoys and the third would be on channel defense, watching the skies for any Abyssals attacking from the mainland.

The third is what Enterprise was currently on. She still found it hard to believe that the Abyssals had managed to take France like that. She hadn't been here when France fell the first time but looking at the traumatized look on Dunkerque's face, she had some idea of what it was probably like for them. At least this time she didn't have to worry about the British shooting at her.

At the moment, Enterprise's role was rather boring. Which was just fine with her. As much as she accepted her claims to fame, she didn't exactly enjoy getting shot at.

"See anything?" Hood called from her position just off the carrier's bow. She was the lead escort for this mission. Three cruisers including Curacoa were on the outskirts. Enterprise considered it a good thing that Curacoa was with her because if Yorktown got one look at that cruiser, she'd be fighting Big U for her and that wouldn't end well.

"It's quiet." Enterprise replied. "Too quiet." She added in a whisper. She didn't like how empty the skies were. The Abyssals acted like they needed supplies and they had just gotten a country full so why weren't they pressing the advantage? She didn't understand it. It was almost as though they were waiting for something. But she couldn't even begin to guess at what and that made her nervous.

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Half a world away, at a point somewhere between Guam and Midway lay an Abyssal fleet. It was composed of those ships left behind when Tosa traveled to the Atlantic, trusted retainers who could hold the line for their Princess until she returned. And that remained their primary mission. Which is why the new fleet would be pressing the attack.

This new fleet emerged the same way all Abyssals did, from the depths of the icy hell. The door had been left wide open over a century ago, allowing the ship spirits to congregate the world but it had taken unimaginable acts of violence to draw out the darkness that lay hidden underneath. And ever since it had been lying in wait, ready to strike. Now it was ready. A warmup before the main event was coming. And it would come on the one country that hadn't felt an attack on its shores in far too long.

The Abyssals had done their homework on American satellite fixes and chosen a course that would elude all but a few. The Pacific was vast and a fleet could simply disappear into it. America's vast network of THAAD, AEGIS, and SHORAD was useless against this adversary. They would taste blood and victory.

Part one of the plan was already in motion. The Princess' fleet would make a strike against Alaska. With the battleline defending Hawaii, the Abyssals knew better than to try taking those islands again. But Alaska was not nearly as well defended. The Americans and Japanese would descend on them as they had done with the Habbukak. But the sacrifice was a worthwhile one. For it would ensure the survival of the Abyssals for years to come.

Their leader had foreseen one last glorious engagement and the strongest side would win. As long as the Abyssals kept pecking away at their enemy, the fears of those they faced would feed them, regenerating new ships, new fleets to carry on the war. While their enemy tired, the Abyss merely stood back and waited. And nothing fed fear like the chaos of being attacked where you least expected it. The Abyssals split up, one force headed towards the Aleutians while the other set their bows northeast unerringly for the west coast of the United States!