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Wo     A coastal refinery, one of innumerable others in the multiverse, is situated on a segment of the vastly extended, American coastline. The workers here are notably not Elites, and most of them aren't affiliated strongly one way or another, even if their contracts are primarily with Union groups. What they are, however, are hard working professionals. Even at this late hour, people in work uniforms can be seen maintaining the sprawling facility, hauling supplies around the various suspended walkways, and even helping load up the oil tankers that seem to flow in and out of the adjacent bay twenty-four hours a day. That doesn't include the people in lab coats that are constantly testing samples of the byproducts, and the suits that are balancing the books.

    It is against this backdrop that evening falls, and the rigging and vicinity is lit up by spot lightning and more standard installations. Night doesn't mean that business stops. Though it had scared some customers away, another matter, not visible from the endless work of machinery and towering distillation towers, is that the facility is a bit on edge. Sightings of 'sea monsters' closeby, by some of the crew of freighters and tankers, carries enough real weight in the multiverse to curb some business interest. While it is likely overactive imaginations, Union interests with a stake in the facility, and perhaps even neutral parties, would have received word to send any Elites they can spare, 'just in case'. For the moment, things are quiet, however. Perhaps even relaxing, with the gentle lappings of the water breaking against the nearby piers.

    Of course, that isn't quite the case. Off shore, and for the time being out of range of most sonar and radar, several sets of glowing eyes are watching the flow of shipping, as well as each light of the refinery flicking on as the sky darkens. The Abyssal fleet is here, and in force: At least a dozen destroyers, whale-like creatures ranging in size from large dogs to the size of a minivan, as well as one tall woman with dark, black hair, and another with an enormous, bulbous hat. More conventional seagoing transports would have been provided for their allies that plan to join the attack: The standard stealthy landing craft, that Taro would remember, should he be present. The one in charge for the moment, the Wo-class aircraft carrier, remains patient, waiting for all their forces to assemble and prepare for insertion. The destroyers, a bit wilder, gurgle and buzz between themselves, anxiously, like a pack of hounds waiting to chase the scent of a fox.
Yari Takane Yari is in one of those stealth boats, being piloted by one of the Confederacy's naval personelle. She's dressed in one of those cheap business suits common to the clipboard-wielding types of the refinery. It's a somewhat flimsy disguise, given a bandage or two still on her and her obvious inhuman origin, but given the darkness of night and the impending raid, she'll make the most of it. She has cleverly hidden a few explosives on her person amongst the mesh-weave armor beneath her suit and suit-jacket.

Her tie, oddly, is green and has a bunch of turtles on it.

Arm crossed and fiddling with her clipboard, she radios as her boat makes its way to the rendevouz point.

"Ensign Takane, reporting. Prepared to begin mission, awaiting orders. Sabotage equipment readied." Reports the ninja to her fellow confederates.
Shigure     The Fifth Force Strike fleet is on station. The older looking ships probably standing out against the modern tankers as the fleet sits just off-shore. Yamashiro and Chitose are in Ocean Fit-Out, while Kuma, Shigure and Nowaki stand on the Battleship's deck, watching the water out to sea with keen eyes, and occasional pulses of active sensors, Radar and SONAR. The rumble and roar of piston engines fills the air, floatplane scouts are in the air, dropping Star Shell flares occasionally to light up the area, aiding and filling in between the seeking beams of Spotlights from the two ships.

    "Kuma, Fifth Strike Fleet on station, kuma. Nothing on long range yet, kuma."
Taro      Taro is in fact present, and he does remember the stealthy landing crafts that Wo so helpfully provided the last time they worked together. He also is in fact in one now, which is agily making its way toward their intended target. He's running dark, both figuratively and literally, the only light being the bluish-purple glimmer of two of his accompanying cyber-elves.
    Fossil fuels in and of themselves are of little use to him personally - his homeworld had none to speak of, and Neo Arcadia's were all but used up long before he liberated it - but if petroleum is of use to his fellow Confederates, it's only proper to lend a hand.
Lute      Lute feels an intense amount of regret, there. In a previous operation, Wo was damaged. He wasn't there to help her. Rage filled him. He doesn't want to let that happen again. He tags along on this mission to help the Abyssal Fleet, and to make certain Wo is not hurt.

     Of course, he is still going to be Lute during the mission.

     o/~ "California Girls, we're unforgettable~. Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top~." o/~

     He has an earbud in one ear, listening to that song. He stands, riding along on the back of Imima, his personal I-Class Destroyer. Following behind him, under the ocean, is Mr. Crabs. The water trails behind him as he continues to sing the song. In the sky far above, his Unown are forming a V-pattern, scanning the area with their vision for threats.
Emiya Shirou     EMIYA SHIROU has a perch atop one of the refinery building's roofs. He's clad in ordinary clothing (undoubtedly with armor underneath) and his eyes are on the sea. The teen's got a bad feeling, but...

    "There's nothing out there..." Several times he's THOUGHT he saw something, but maybe it was sunlight off the waves. He ends up scratching the back of his neck more often than not.

    His eyes aren't normal eyes. Although it doesn't look like it, he can see in quite clear detail out to a few kilometers!
Jeannette Thompson The port itself was far away from The Eastern Great Ocean where Triancia found itself in; it was a point aganist their being a proper presence here. Another would be the fact that Triancia's region had already suffered through the loss of carbon resources, and had replacements up and running. Taken by themselves, they shouldn't have any ships nearby to respond at all. Then again...

Pros were the fact that, despite replacement of fossil fuels in large portions of the economy, demand for them certainly wasn't neglible (plastics were plastics, after all), and increasing demand for new crops and exports were eating away at bio-fuel sites. Petroleum was still in demand /elsewhere/, and fetching a heavy price. And, disproportiante as it was, a Union refinery had asked for assistance, and it was very important to show the flag.

It's why there was a little port call being made from RTS /Resolve/, /Kingsford/, and /Glen Lichster/, Strike Carrier, Heavy Cruiser, and Destroyer, in that order. Commodore Thompson was on the flight Deck of Resolve, coat firmly fasented aganist the whipping cold wind of an Autumn ocean flowing over nonskid. It was refreshing, of course, and, while the ocean itself had it's beauty, there was something about the burning lights of a refinery at dusk, small pools of daylight as the industry of man worked on aganist the endless flow of the sea.

<< CIC, Flag. I don't support we have anything yet?>> Jeannette gives a quick thought. The words come back, perhaps slightly muffled, as clearly Jeannette could see it for herself, projected aganist her retinea. <<Flag, CIC. Nothing at the moment, ma'am. If there is something out there, it's stealthy enough that we're not getting a sensor return at this range. /Kingsfords/ manuevering forward to launch her rotocraft for ASW. Drones have a good view of the target area. We should have more shortly.>>
Princess Peach Up above, but flying low along the coast, is a small private jet, with a bright pink and white paint job and a star on the right wing and a super mushroom on the tail fin, it's the Toad Express. As the plane gets close, the door opens and suddenly Peach leaps from her jet, only to glide down toward the refinery on her parisol. She lands on the rough next to Emiya, and certainly stands out in the darkness, dressed in her usual pink dress, white gloves, golden crown and sapphire jewelry. "Hello." She offers Emiya with a friendly wave. "Wonder if there is something out there, but we just can't see it in the darkness."
Wo     From the vantage point in the dark, the Wo-class carrier peers into the lit areas around the refinery, almost like one would expect binoculars to fold down out of her toothed hat. They have a moment's advantage, here, as they are looking into the lit areas, and at least the fleet daughter defenders, and another group she had not encountered before - but can be considered Union for their purposes, apparently aren't making a secret of their presence are easy to see, with all the flood lighting from the refinery, and their own search lights. Every so often, the seach beams sweep into the water, sweat-beadingly close to where the fleet and their allies have assembled, if she had the capacity to sweat at all.

    "...a super dread-nought, and. Su-pporting tender out. Ships of - un-certain, capability." She doesn't really recognize any of Jeanette's forces, sadly. "Scouts, in the air," she speaks, in her improving but still stilted reverb. The Abyssal fleet they had assembled isn't a victory formation. It's designed to run interference to get their other allies on shore. Since it's only a matter of time until they're detected, it's time to get things going. "Allies Taro, Ya-ri," she levels her glowing eyes upon them, for the moment a golden color, "Make land-fall...with our troops." Then Lute, being Lute of course, is given her next glance. He's a bit more capable to make trouble for the actual sea forces they're facing, "Lute... We'll take on, their ships. ...buy time, for the - others." Though she cannot really give any of the others any orders, hopefully they will find them agreeable, as the offensive begins!

    Those defenders with long range sensors, visible or otherwise, would see those tantalizing glints that were so dismissable before, become suddenly not so dismissable. Parting company from the relatively vulnerable landing crafts, which are loaded with allies and Confederate troops, the Wo-class gestures a hand forward: The Abyssal destroyers splinter into two distinct lines abreast, backed by that tall woman with the long, black hair: One of the fleet's Ru-class battleships. Suddenly, despite their apparent humanoid and small van sizes, large returns would begin to appear on radars, and they would not be hidden to Emiya's sight any more, their glowing eyes easily visible from within the darkness. He's seen those before, no doubt. The Wo-class, behind the lines, launches Abyssal fighters from her hat's gaping jaws, which quickly overtake their ship's lines and seem intent on an immediate bid for securing air superiority, firing at everything currently airborne as soon as they get into range.

    The peaceful atmosphere was certainly nice while it lasted!
Shigure     Kuma blinks. Shigure tenses up as her Radar starts to light up like a christmas tree. "Contact! Loosen formation! Nowaki, Shigure, hang back and screen Chitose. Yamashiro, provide fire support!" Kuma leaps over the guardrail, landing on the surface, and kicking off at pace.

    Shigure and Nowaki leap over next, skate out a short distance, then transform to Ocean Fit-out. Yamashirou's main battery traverses slowly into position, the reports sounding resonantly across the ocean. "Main guns, take aim... FIRE!" comes the womans voice from deep inside the belly of the metal beast. "Reload..." she contemplates... "A Night battle... I have a bad feeling..."

    Chitose remains resolute, her AA batteries tracking skyward, while her Zuiun bombers turning to orbit around the large Strike Cruiser. They sequence their running lights, displaying 'Friendly' in light sentences, while waiting for an opportunity to enter the battle proper.
Yari Takane Yari snaps a quick salute to Wo.

"Acknowledged, Ma'am! We'll be careful."

And then she waits for the firestorm to begin. Her ship picks up speed, staying roughly in synch with Taro's on the approach. Similarly running dark, the ship quietly slides towards the refinery laden with soldiers, it's lines cutting through the water nicely until they make oil-rig-fall!

The soldiers pour out first, going in navy seals style, but not afraid to fire on the Elites they see. Yari takes a different track, leaping from the boat to the underside of the oil rig. Hanging on with her tail, she'll start to plant bombs and other traps below at what she hopes is the support structures just in case.

But will she be discovered down below with so much going on up top!? Eventually, should she not be disturbed, she'll make her way back up, leaping up to the rig proper. She'll keep to what little shadows there are, but it's not unreasonable that she'd be discovered amidst all the sudden chaos as she makes her way towards the innards of the oil rig from their landing point.
Taro     It had been a quiet evening. Now, it's considerably louder.
    Taro sends a signal of acknowledgement back to Wo only once the noise begins, in hopes of keeping his position and heading a secret until the last possible moment has passed. As the stealth cutter begins to draw up close to the platform, the android priest comes up on deck, his two tiny compaions clinging to his shoulders. He's not there for long, disappearing in the flash of a teleport that should drop him above the maze of machinery and pipes near one of the rig's transmission antennas. All the better for him to make a hacking attempt and perhaps cause a little mayhem in any computer-controlled systems.
    This plan had depended upon the defenders' attention to be caught squarely by the invading air and sea forces. It's entirely possible, in fact likely, that Peach and Emiya could notice him as he drops in.
Lute      The Union is ahead. The enemies are ahead. And, it is the time for the presence of the Fleet to be made known. Lute reaches into his pocket with one hand... To mess with his MP3 Player. It switches modes. No longer is it transmitting through his headphones. Instead, he holds open his labcoat. Underneath, a pair of waterproof speakers, that start /blaring/ the lyrics to California Gurls far ahead. This is made just all the more ridiculous by the fact he is in his ocean battle outfit. Which basically only means he has replaced his pants with black speedos.

     Who the fuck even knows what he is thinking right now.

     He reaches into his /other/ pocket, pulling out a Pokeball. He releases it, his Tentacruel landing in the water on his fight. He points forward, speaking to Imima below him, "FIRE!" The Destroyer, in response, opens its mouth. Though it doesn't aim at anything in /specific/. It's just aiming a blast forward, to possibly maybe hit something, and to trouble the enemy.
Emiya Shirou     Princeses should not rain from the skies. Emiya's pretty stunned by this development and is left gaping at Peach for a variety of reasons. She's pretty enough, but also... PARASOLS DON'T WORK THAT WAY, and what girl would leap from a plane anyways? "Errrr..." His expression's a bit sheepish. She's an ally, right?

    He waves back. "Who knows? It's been prety quiet. I hope it stays that--"

    And then all hell breaks loose out on the waters. "Way?!"

    He flips to his feet, shuffling a little to put himself more directly in front of Peach. Standard Heroic reaction, maybe.

    "Trace... on!"

    A black bow of strange materials and japanese design forms in one of his hands. In the other... a gleaming, glorious sword with a blue and gold hilt and silvery-white blade - as ornate as it gets. And just in time too! Because bullets start flying. Caliburn moves almost before Shirou realies he's under attack up on the roof's edge! Sparks fly and his arm moves at tremendous speed... as if the blade is moving and just yanking it around for the ride. it ALMOST looks like that!

    But only a few of the bullets get through, and they impact against his fibrous armor weave under the shit. The impact's worse than the injury and Shirou's just sent stumbling backwards.

    Peach might wanna move outta the way!

    "What are you doing out here? You don't look like the kind of girl who gets involved in a battle! They might kill you!"
Jeannette Thompson It only takes a moment for those targets to appear before Combat Intelligences on the Triancian ships pick them apart from the background clutter the sensors returns, assign probable formations, and blink them up onto screens and holograph display tanks with red warning lights. It took a few seconds more for the sysops in CIC to recognize what the computers we're telling them, yelling out to officers, who make the immediate decision to assign crew to their stations. Half a minute of time and deliberation, which could have been avoided if they gave the CI's full control. But computers were meant to give information; it was the people that would potentially be dying's role to make the decision.

At least it gave Jeannette a good period of time to sprint across the flight deck and leap through a hatch before the kalxon sounded for general quarters.

CIC on the /Resolve/ was built for it's role as a multi-role flagship meant to direct limited resources on site; almost a stadium of sorts, control stations facing an oversizes holographic tank, currently displayed on the enemy formation as it formed up. Drones were already reworking themselves to offer a better view of the fleet before them, a portion moving toward the oil refinery to provide a view of what was happening there. The status report came upon Jeannette's arrival without prompting. "Ma'am, we're tracking an incoming squadron of... something. Cross referencing with intelligence seems to suggest lightweight combat ships, perhaps frigates, or destroyers, but information on capabilities are coming up short. We also have large amounts of landing craft heading toward the beach; unsure if this is for occupation or a raid. We-" He pauses, looking to the tank again, right as a Sysop calls out. "New contacts! Incomping bandits, from the rear of the formation; fighter-sized aircraft, possibly UCAVs!

Jeannette's decision is quick. She /hopes/ it sounded as resolute as the namesake on which she was standing, but that nagging doubt of the decision she make being wrong ones pulled at her. Nevertheless, pressing on. "Sorting a Marine force to counter them in these conditions would be suicide. Ground forces there will have to make due. If we can control the sea, we can threaten them with our own landing parties. Let's have clear skies, first."

The destroyer and heavy cruiser were built for anti-submarine warfare and ground strikes, respectively... but the aircraft being sent against them were well within their mission envelope. and /Kingsford/ still maintained some of the powerful sensors for detecting air targets that her smaller more focused counterparts had. Electromagnetic waves silently thundered toward the incoming aicraft, bouncing back, fire control systems quickly setting up solutions before VLS cells pop up one by one by one. The missiles needed for these targets were quad-packed, 4 to a cell, and they were being fired at a rather prodigious rate. The obvious objective, it seemed, was launch until there was nothing in the air, or they were out of missiles.

Thankfully, the little Zuiun's were close enough to not be targetted. Close enough that they could see four fighters on the deck of the Strike Carrier, almost ready to launch.
Princess Peach Princess Peach blushes a little as Emiya protectively gets in front of her, but soon has to leap back a little to avoid him colliding into her as he stumbles backward. She does take a moment to answer his question however as she closes her parasol and begins to look around for any enemies that have made it onto land near the refinery.

"Well, I came to help. I may be a princess, but I'm not helpless. I have offensive and healing magic, and in a fight, I might just surprise you, I'm tougher than I look. Oh, and where are my manners, you can call me Peach." She offers with a smile, still hanging back a bit since the full extent of this attack is still not quite clear and a little cover never hurts.
Wo     Not willing to hold back, especially with a seafaring enemy that is unknown to her in the area, the Wo-class carrier launches a second wave of fighters while her first is still in the air. This is relatively unusual for her, as she usually prefers to take account of what returns, first. She still has one wing in reserve, however. For the moment, it seems she is content to stand back and help coordinate their own forces, as the flagship present. The fact that it was the one now calling herself Yamashiro is present has not escaped her notice, in particular.

    Up ahead, the first wing of five Abyssal fighters roars overhead: While a bit hard to see for the naked eye, given their color scheme against the night sky, these two-meter wide critters are a glossy black, except for white teeth that fringe an upper jaw, with no matching mandible. For some reason, the radar returns continue to suggest something larger, however -- perhaps a quirk of how aura works. Aside from the whine of their jet's turbine, they also seem to be buzzing, making an almost digital squelch between each other, though if it is speech, nothing easily decoded. For one of them, that sheltering Zuiun proves too tempting a target, and as it banks out of the formation, an honest-to-goodness, human-looking tongue slides aside to reveal a chin-mounted vulcan cannon. It opens fire, even as it weaves and, yes, barrel rolls to avoid the increasingly dense anti-air fire from CHITOSE. In the end, it pays dearly for its hunger; a wing gets clipped, showering sparks, before erupting into flames and billowing dense smoke. With its air frame and lift compromised, it soon crashes into the water, it explodes with a fury ill-befitting its apparent size.

    The remaining aircraft run into their own problems. Missiles! Having a jet as their power plant, one would figure they are a bit better equipped to deal with these weapons than would a fleet daughter's conventional craft. It is only partially correct, however, as they lack other modern countermeasures. Relying on their maneuverability, they make another sharp turn at nearly full speed, lacking any obvious pilots to endanger from the maneuver, and then turn on the STRIKE CARRIER. Two more fall victim to circumstances, being simply in the wrong place at the wrong time of their formation, as the missiles make another pass. That leaves two more, that lacking heavy ordinance, nonetheless open fire with more of those vulcans, to harass attempts at the enemy scrambling their own fighters. Despite their size, their gun fire does the same damage that you would expect from a far heavier caliber. The second wave is also fast approaching, but not yet in contact range.

    Elsewhere, the Abyssal's surface fleet closes into range of their Ru-class battleship. As long range shells from the full-size Yamashiro crash around them, the still humanoid Ru-class and her destroyer escorts begins to weave lightly to keep the old girl's tracking honest. She doesn't let this become one-sided, either: Her arms are essentially only there to hold two massive batteries of, human-sized at least, 16 cm guns. One is hoisted with careful aim, and she begins firing off her own salvos at YAMASHIRO, but she won't complain if one of her escorts gets hit. As one side's guns are depleted and reloading, she switches to the other. The destroyers are far less effective at this distance, but their mouths hinge open to reveal 5 cm guns of their own, contributing what they can and counting on a lucky hit to sate their thirst for vengeance, until they can get closer. One of Yamashiro's rounds lands close to a Ro-class destroyer. It doesn't damage it directly, but it does momentarily have to break their lines, as the waters churn around it, causing it to hiss in frustration.

    The facility itself is rapidly beginning to go into lockdown, and all non-security forces are running to their designated shelters. It's orderly enough, surprisingly, yet with the focus on employee safety, it's not out of the question that something
Wo     The facility itself is rapidly beginning to go into lockdown, and all non-security forces are running to their designated shelters. It's orderly enough, surprisingly, yet with the focus on employee safety, it's not out of the question that something will be overlooked in their haste.
Yari Takane Yari spots the pair of Shirou and the Princess out of the corner of her eye as she's racing off towards the inner platforms of the oil rig. Recognition dawns, the woman knowing well just how strong both of them are.

"...Could be difficult." She mutters to herself. Letting the soldiers go about their business, she doesn't have much faith in them actually holding the line. Still, they buy her precious time even as Shirou wields his grand blade.

Which they definitely won't. Soon enough, many are making tracks to more useful areas of the facility, with just enough left to be a crowd to wade through. The man won't need much to cut through or otherwise just punch them to sleep.

Yari, meanwhile, uses all of that confusion and fleeing employees to blend in. She wore the suit for exactly this kind of contingency after all. Hastily slapping some c4 on a nearby support column to the main area of the rig, then wiring up a smaller anti-personelle trap should one of the others come after her, she rushes away after that. Perfect timing to catch up with her, if one can avoid a tripwire and its ball-bearing splattering trap!
Emiya Shirou     "P-princess?!" Well, she looked the part, but Shirou wasn't about to jump to conclusions in the Multiverse. But... wait, PRINCESSES FALLING FROM THE SKY?

    This just got even weirder. The boy flips to his feet though, only mildly hurt by a few bullets that failed to penetrate his armor. Caliburn had been beginning to fade, bits of the edge eroding into motes of light... but as Shirou rises its form is fixed. And he wastes little time.

    The black bow's readied, Caliburn drawn back as an arrow... "Let's see them try that again!"

    A torrent of golden light shines from the blade's tip-- "CALIBURN!"

    And just like that, he lets it fly!

    Straight down at the soldiers. But not specifically at any of them... instead, at the ground.

    The sword's driven a full meter or two beneath the ground before it detonates in a glorious golden eruption of light and pressure and wildly surging magic that's over in a heartbeat. Shirou's aims were to be non-lethal...

    ... But a lot of soldiers might be very badly bashed up by that attack. Some possibly half-buried under debris. Their advance will definitely be hindered.

    "Emiya Shirou. And we've got a serious problem here! I think those guys were just a distraction."
Taro     For the moment, Taro finds his presence unnoticed and unchallenged. That is not likely to last for long, and so he wastes no time in finding one of the antenna's access boxes. The placard warning that it contains no user-servicable parts is ignored as cuts lock and hinges away with a vibroknife, catching the panel with his other hand and setting it aside.
    The two 'elves alight from his shoulders as he begins issuing orders over the din of exchanged fire. "Myrrh, take overwatch, alert me if we're spotted. Sitta, do something disruptive."
    'Yes, Em Taro!' the pair warble in electronic near-unison. One moves to hover in front of him, while the other zips into one of the cables and disappears.
    The android grunts in quiet satisfaction, then jacks himself into the access port normally used for diagnostics and troubleshooting, and his head slumps forward as he begins his own version of breaking and entering.
Shigure     The Zuiun banks sharply, barely skimming the stream of lead. One of its floats gets punched through, then shorn clean off, knocking it off balance. It spirals slowly down to join the Abyssal fighter that winged it. A tiny parachute appears, before the craft splashes down and sinks beneath the waves, the fairy pilot floating down to land in a deployed rubber dingy.

    Chitose's AA battery continues to track and fill the sky with tracer fire, switching to aim at the newly approaching wave of fighters. "Alpha wing, form up and engage approaching hostiles. Cover the carrier!" The remaining Zuiun shift from Orbit to Delta formation, and move to intercept the incoming Abyssal Fighters. They're not built for Air to Air combat, but they should help tie up those fighters long enough for the /Resolve/ to get its birds in the air.

    Yamashiro's armour takes a direct strike from the Ru-class. "KYA! That hurts... I knew it was bad luck..." She starts her engine, setting off so the Ru has to reset her aim again. The Super-Dreadnaught aims again, and returns fire, beginning an artillery duel with her counterpart.

    Shigure and Nowaki turn their AA batteries up, and join in the clearing of the air, though Shigure, being a willfull girl, turns and speeds off to catch up with Kuma.

    Kuma, meanwhile, opens fire at Lute and the Abyssals in general, 14cm shells raining down as she closes to torpedo range. "Don't you dare underestimate me, kuma!"
Princess Peach Yes, it's raining Princesses, well, one of them anyway. Peach watches as Emiya fires down his sword like a giant arrow, only for it to sort of explode and take out a large group of soldiers. As he gives his name and mentions that those guys might have just been a distraction, she blinks, looking around.

"Well, it seems to have worked if that's the case. If someone was trying to sneak into the area using the onrushing soldiers or even the evacuating personnel, it wouldn't be too hard. Do you think we should go have a closer look?" Peach asks as she pulls out a pink hairband and ties her hair back in a ponytail.
Lute      As the shells come in and explode around Lute, his little group takes some damage. Some burn wounds cover him and his crew, though all of them are still fairly well off. His eyes turn towards Kuma, a smile on his face. It's been a while since he has entered into naval combat with a Fleet Daughter. It's time to show them what he can really do.

     Kuma being within Torpedo range means that Imima is too. Lute gives the orders, pointing forward. The metallic mouth stretches open, the harsh sound of metal creaking against itself accompanying the opening. Its cannon is revealed. A 21 inch Torpedo shoots out of its mouth, skimming along the surface of the ocean. It flies towards Kuma, aiming straight for her.

     His Tentacruel dives under the water. Lute's learned several things about naval combat, recently. And his Tentacruel can work as an /incredibly/ bulky submarine. He's waiting for it to get into position for its attack.

     His Unown, meanwhile, try to stay in the air. The planes, artillery fire, and similar make the sky a dangerous place for them. Even if none are aimed for, a few will likely be hit. The rest keep an eyeo nthe battle, making sure Lute can see most everything occuring.
Jeannette Thompson For five targets, it was a rather large amount of missiles, a clean 1 or 2 to each target that shows up, both the first and second wave. Ships like this had to be very cautious, of course, and it was proven that the caution was well-founded and inadequte, as two of the targets get through. "Slippery bloody..." A sysop montering the battle swore, as the targets swoop over the carrier before it can properly orient itself for a defense. The shells that slame aganist the deck would find, as hard as they hit, the effect to modern composites was less than desired, pockmarking the nonskid and warpping it... and slamming aganist a fighter just about to take off, turning it into smashed wreakage and narrowly missing the pilot.

"Catapult 1 is down! We've lost one fighter, and we've got enemies over the deck!" Jeannette was calm enough, despite the proclimation. There was a layer of shock underneath, but she expected an enemy like this to react in ways other officers might not be used to... like actually getting aircraft close enough to orbit the carrier. "Continue with launching on the remaning catapult. Go to reduced option plan." She didn't need to give the order for the carrier to defend itself. That was on automatic.

The carrier slowly tilts, bow thrusters and powerful engines driven buy fusion plants bringing it's 'broadside' to bear aganist the two remaining fighters. As missles keep launching to defeat the second wave, the carrier's DE defensive positions swivel and direct themselves toward the gun-weilding maws of the sinister craft. If they weren't used to missiles, it would be... debatable on how used to a sudden instant blast of an X-ray laser from those mounts. At the very least, it should keep them busy until the remaining catapult on the /Resolve/ can launch one aircraft. Then another. At a slower pace, but they're slowly getting up to speed.

And given how they fly low aganist the sea and away from those fighters, they weren't going to be in air to air combat. If the Fleet Daughters were covering the carrier, then those fighters could focus on other things. Like that Ru. It was a very, /very/ short flight before anti-ship missiles slip off wings and internal bays and head forward.
Wo     From under the Wo-class carrier's cape, a small, rounded head emerges, wearing a flight cap and raising a pair of suitably-sized binoculars to her eyes. The Wo-class doesn't notice at first, but when she does, her mask-like expression is broken, but just for a moment, her mouth frowning with disapproval, and perhaps even a tint of worry. "...I know, you want to...help. But, it's too danger-ous," she utters below her breath and nudges the fairy back, trusting that Lute did not see, nor would he overhear over his blaring of beach music a bit too advanced for her era, as well as his sudden preoccupation with Kuma and her fleet. The brief lapse does not greatly compromise their operations, though may at least be partially responsible for the Ru-class having to tank a nearly direct hit. She raises one of her enormous, metallic gun decks, realizing that attempting to evade is impossible: The resulting strike momentarily engulfs her in fire, before she emerges from the inferno. Guns four and five are currently inoperable and aflame.

    The black-haired woman's expression never wavers, though, save a slight twist of anger. She cannot put together whole sentences, but one word resounds in the area around her, perhaps the first one every new Abyssal learns to speak most clearly, "Sink...!!" She single-mindedly continues to fire at YAMASHIRO, discarding the damaged side's guns shortly before fires spread to their magazines in a quite brilliant explosion. It proves a dramatic back light for the Ru-class and her escorts. Unfortunately, it also serves to briefly light up another ship farther out. The vague but top-heavy shape is nonetheless unmistakeble as a Wo-class aircraft carrier, to those that even know what that is. Not that surprising, given the aircraft in the air. Concious of this fact, she begins to steam forward, herself, with the intent of changing her position and again disappearing into the inky darkness of the night. It's far better protection than any belt armor could be.

    Along with Lute, the Destroyers accompanying the Ru-class seem to be steaming full ahead. A few of them even split off from the front line and move to flank Imima, like one might expect of Options in a shooting game. Even more appropriate of that, their guns begin tracking what Imima's does, as they buzz urgent conversation between themselves and her. The 14 cm shells begin to rain down more quickly than their own guns can be effective, however; one van-sized destroyer takes a direct hit, and begins to take on water, judging by how it is suddenly struggling to keep up or maneuver, as well as slightly listing. The others take great umbrage to this, and one rowdy destroyer even unleashes her torpedoes a bit early, three streaks in the water fanning towards KUMA's group, but likely too far range to be a real danger, aside from tightening the positioning. The other destroyers, sensing incoming anti-ship missiles -- a curiosity for them, to be certain, they nonetheless figure out the intention. The bulk of them begin a steep turn, but two of them remain in the prior formation to attempt to shoot at the missiles with anti-air rounds of their own. When this fails, they bravely surge forward, picking up enough speed to lift their bulky but streamlined bodies out of the water, intent on sacrificing themselves for their battleship sister.

    Meanwhile, in the air, the first two advance fighters have managed to do their damage, and make a desperate attempt to escape the ever-increasingly dense of mechanical, airborne (go Zuiun!) and even more exotic threats they face. They climb away from the STRIKE CARRIER's deck, amidst the harassment, only to be scissored between streams of anti-air guns and...what the hell was that? They both get smacked by shrapnel, but their airframes seem mostly intact, until they essentially begin to have them ablated away into plasma by X-rays. To their credit, they stay aloft longer than one might expect, by virtue of being creations of a ghost ship, but their buzzing gargles raise into some
Wo     Meanwhile, in the air, the first two advance fighters have managed to do their damage, and make a desperate attempt to escape the ever-increasingly dense of mechanical, airborne (go Zuiuns!) and even more exotic threats they face. They climb away from the STRIKE CARRIER's deck, amidst the harassment, only to be scissored between streams of anti-air guns and...what the hell was that? They both get smacked by shrapnel, but their airframes seem mostly intact, until they essentially begin to have them ablated away into plasma by X-rays. To their credit, they stay aloft longer than one might expect, by virtue of being creations of a ghost ship, but their buzzing gargles raise into something like a scream, as their turbines partially melt and seize catastrophically, and they plummet as half-fused, smoldering lumps. The second wave is apparently not caught as off-guard by the defenses, thanks to the brave sacrifices of the first. They are actually keeping their distance, and waiting to meet whatever gets launched, by the time they can make it there. They can't really afford to go after the strike aircraft, they are busy just trying to secure the air space around the enemy.
Yari Takane Down slashes Shirou's blade, and that brilliant light cuts footing from several soldiers, and others are simply swept away by that powerful energy! Like wheat to the chafe, they fall, either splaying out and breathing heavily or otherwise caught in mangled metal. Alive, but horribly battered, and one or two are going to need casts after this. The young man's skill has kept them alive!

It's more than enough time for Yari to finish up her trap, a trio of ball-bearing and shuriken shooting hazards should Shirou blindly chase after the ninjette. The confusion was enough that her horns and missing arm go unnotice to a majority of the non-Elites. But Reinforced eyes like Shirou's could likely spot the differences, perhaps familiar from time in Dun Realtai or from their fight some time ago. It's suspicious!
Taro     In some respects, the refinery's relatively primitive technology (to him, at least) works against Taro as much as its computer defenses. He cam move no faster than it can support his actions. Still, there is time enough to find a back-door into the local system and to begin bringing down the facility's internal communications. While that would hardly disrupt the Union Elites' radios, it ought to at least temporarily cause confusion for the base's own people. Nect, he reaches out for the extenal communications system...
    The android's physical body remains slumped forward against one of the antenna's support struts, one gloved hand holding the top of the access box to keep him steady. He's completely oblivious to the battle going on around him, though his 'elf is keeping a sharp eye out for anything that lands too close, or if anyone approaches.
Shigure     Yamashiro begins to turn, but Battleships, especially Super Dreadnaughts, have circles measured in Football Fields, so her armour takes more pounding from the Ru-class' return volley. The demand to Sink, is met by an icy cold reply. "You first." As the resounding clunk-clank of shells reloading echo through the night. "Set angle 2.1. degrees. elevation 1.3. degrees. Type 91 Armour Piercing. Ready! FIRE!" Her command is answered with the powerful discharge of her 35.6cm cannons firing another full volley, all aimed at the Ru-class.

    Nowaki continues to screen the Carriers, her AA battery is rather undeveloped, compared to Shigure's, but she still fills the air with tracer fire, and flak shells. Chitose, too, continues the AA screen, even as she loads new Zuiun to her launch catapults. "Seaplane bomber force. GO!" she commands, planes launching from the catapults on gouts of steam. These ones angle not to engage in the air battle, but instead skim low along the waterline, their menace showing in the torpedo slung under the central fuselage.

    Kuma spots the telltale bubble line of torpedoes in the water, jinking aside to dodge one, then shooting a second out of the air as it leaps up to chomp at her. She comes out of the resulting fireball scratched up, with a funnel cap missing from the close-range explosion, but that doesn't mire her determination. Lute earns eye contact, the girls brown eyes glowing a dangerous shade of yellow-brown in the darkness. "Gyorai Hassha, Kuma!" she roars defiantly, as a quartet of her own torpedoes drop into the water, streaking forwards without the white bubble trails the Abyssal ones had.

    Shigure, meanwhile, turns her broadside on the approaching fleet, tanking a torpedo hit to her bow section and begining to list a little, though she toughs through it and launches her own spread of torpedoes in turn, eight metal death cigars streaking out into the water, aimed at whatever's available.
Emiya Shirou     "Down there!" Shirou acts almost without thinking once he sees some of the Au Ra characteristics. Without a pause he vaults off the roof in a stunning display of physical prowess, hoping Peach will know what to do.

    It takes him almost no time at all to cross the distance... his human legs kick with force that humans shouldn't be capable of! So it's more like leaping forwards, really fast, again and again!

    "Stop! What are you doing here?!"

    He discards the black bow. It dissipates into motes of light a few moments later. Repalcing it, Shirou crosses his arms and forces power outwards. His forge-soul disgorges another set of weapons into reality - two chinese short swords, one with a Yin design, the other Yang. White and Black fine swords that he brandishes in a ready guard!
Lute      As the torpedos come in, Lute shouts out to Imima. "FIRE AGAIN!" Two torpedoes are fired forward, towards the four incoming Torpedoes. The hope was to blow them up before they arrive. It is mixed success. The torpedoes intercept two, but the other two keep flying forward. The explosions rock Imima, Lute barely managing to stay standing aboard her.

     "Mr. Crabs! RISE!"

     This is meant more to distract than anything. From the water behind Lute, Mr. Crabs starts to rise. The water parts, rolling off the back of the giant crab Kaiju. It looks towards Kuma, roaring.

     But, as said, it is a distraction. behind Kuma, the Tentacruel has risen again. Lute knows there is a chance it might have been picked up via sonar, so it might not be an entire surprise. The Tentacruel turns its underside towards Kuma, firing a burst of acid spray towards her.

     At the least, he'll hopefully be able to cause Kuma to flee.
Jeannette Thompson The two fighters can't break off as they normally would after a missle launch like that. At the speed they were traveling and with the position of those enemy fighters, they're simply wasn't enough time or space to pull off. Which means they have the unenviable task of overflying an enemy ship formation at subsonic speed. Their load was primarily antiship, and at range, as well; the only defense they had was a blaze of radar and thermal countermeasures... the latter bright and visable, which might make them an even better target for manual weapons. This would be... painful.

But it was still just two planes, and both of them combined lead to two of the contacts on sensor screens in the flotilla flash a dim red and get marked as 'DSTR'. "Enemy squadron has taken losses. Still focusing on allied flotilla. We have Bandits that are... holding. They're in an intercept pattern. Could shoot down anything else we send out." Jeannette nodded to the sysop, for a moment... before she offered a slight smile. "Excellent."

The fighters in position against the carrier are in the proper position to keep anything launched from the carrier reaching it's objective, esspecially with only one working catapult. Missiles and lasers still get sent toward them, of course, attempting to pluck them out of the sky despite their prepared position. But if they're content to stay at arm's length, so is Jeannette's task force. Certainly, the Destroyer places itself in close proximity to the heavy cruiser, it's autocannon swiveling to add it's shells that guide themselves in mid air to the defensive fire. It's clear that it's there to defend the cruiser... which decides to show why it's type has 'Heavy' in front of it.

Wo hard only been briefly illuminated by the explosions of cannon and shells, but it was enough for CI systems to use and coallate with the initial tracking data of the launched enemy aircraft, and the downlinks from the doomed fighters, to bracket the carrier's position. The twin EM cannons on her fore and aft, four guns total in two seperate turrets, swivels as she presents her broadside at ranges that were almost beyond the horizon, a hum of capacitors audible to anyone nearby before the cannons fire in an explosion of the air itself. The shells fly with both range and accuracy, slamming down behind Wo... then a bit in front of her. Steadily braketing her before attempting to slam into her ballistically at hypersonic speeds.
Yari Takane Shirou's bounding takes him right into a hail of kunai and ball-bearings being chucked at him by the spring-loaded traps Yari laid out! No doubt some will likely slice into him, the kunai in particular poisoned with a numbing toxin, and the ball-bearings just hurt. But it wouldn't be lethal to an Elite, and his reflexes might just carry him through!

It doesn't take much for Yari to realize she's being addressed, and she skids to a stop, black dress shoes scuffed as she turns around to face Shirou as he drops his bow.

Only to summon his strange swords. Her eyes narrow.

"...Judging from last time, shouldn't that be obvious?" Comes Yari in turn, whipping out a blade from her person. It's thin and long, with an umbrella-shaped handle. Not a bad blade, and easily concealable given the umbrella end. It's not magic, but the ninja seems to insist on quality.

With a breath, she leaps easily to the narrow railing of the oil rig, charging the young man and aiming a flurry of blows at him! Arms, legs, torso, they're all meant as disabling blows rather than lethal ones, but the ninja has definitely grown faster since their last battle!

Soon enough, given the dual blades he wields, her tail sways out of its suit-holster with a kunai, adding to the rapid flurry of blows. Every now and then the ninja leaps to the other railing, using the tiny area as much to her advantage as she can, but with so little room she too is bound to take blows in the contest of speed and precision.
Princess Peach Princess Peach roughly follows Shirou's gaze just before he starts moving, but isn't quite sure what he sees. "What do you see?" She calls out, but he's already over the side of the roof. She decides to trust his judgement however and leaps off the rooftop just a moment later, only to gently float down to ground level, sparkles of magical energy forming a sort of aura below her dress as she does so. Once on the ground, she rushes after Shirou, doing her best to keep up, still holding onto that parasol as if it's a sword of her own.

In this case though, it pays to not be first it seems. She winces and looks away for a moment as Shirou sets off a bunch of traps, and she recognizes some of the weapons flying from them. "Her again..." She mutters to herself, as she continues to follow Shirou, floating over the traps just in case there were more pressure points that he didn't trip already. Once she finally catches up, she voices her concern for Shirou's well being. "You alright? Those traps looked pretty rough..."

Her question is soon rendered irrelevant however as Yari goes on the attack. Peach quickly leaps forward to launch a counter attack and stabs her parasol at Yari's stomach, then swings a series of blows directed at her head, right arm, and left leg, finishing up with a swift kick toward her chest.
Wo     It was clear that the Wo-class carrier, just on that edge of sensor range, and perilously close to slipping back over the horizon, is trying to resecure her position. Tracking her even now is difficult, but entirely within the range of more advanced radar than she herself has at her disposal. The fairy once again pokes out from under her cape and points urgently, alerting her to something incoming. Something that seems far faster than the conventional shells she would expect from a fleet daughter. The water suddenly erupts behind her, with little physical warning besides a distant report. Followed by in front of her course. The goal is clear; to force her to remain between for the third strike that would be the real one. It's for that reason that she keeps going, urging her non-manifest engines to find that extra burst of speed. Instead, when the third burst arrived and the superheated ocean finally subsided enough to get a reliable reading, the explosion of water leaves no visible radar trace behind.

    In that momentary lull, no new fighters are launched, at least. The destroyers, at least the ones not currently damaged, sinking, or escorting Imima and Lute, and even the Ru-class seem to be somewhat bothered by this development, as their speed slows just for a moment as their own contact with the Wo-class vanishes. It gives a moment for YAMASHIRO's volleys to find purchase against the Abyssal battleship, two splashing around her, before another slams into her body, causing her to vanish in another fiery display. When she once again emerges, her chalky white skin is visbly burnt and marred, and her black suit is torn. Physical pieces of her body are missing, but she still lurches forward, unnaturally, "S-Sink..." Her one word becomes shaky, as she suddenly picks up speed again, and actually breaking off from her destroyer escorts, sets on what looks like a collision course for Yamashiro's ocean fit-out frame. Her remaining gun line, held in front of her, still fires, but it's more like a shield at this point. Is she intending to ram her!?

    Speaking of unnatural. The moves of these Abyssal fighters is a bit unreal. They almost move more like animals than aircraft. At this point, it's almost like they're playing chicken with the missiles, while attempting to retain their air cover. Nonetheless, attrition eventually takes its toll, as two of the original five of the second wing are caught up in missile fire and concentrated flak, respectively. The other three seem to be running low on fuel, if one can guess based on them suddenly banking to attempt to return in the direction they came from. But they buzz confusingly, as the beacon from their home carrier has momentarily vanished. Are they going to even have somewhere to land? That's when they spot another carrier: MR. CRABS. Like hatchlings returning to their kaiju parent, they move to set down on the gigantic beast's back, settling into place with relieved gurgling between the few of them. Of course, if Lute noticed, that might be a bit worrisome. Where did Wo end up?

    Meanwhile, the Abyssal destroyers have recovered from some of the momentary shock of the Wo-class flagship's disappearance, and the Ru-class battleship's sudden berserker charge. They're going to engage in a proper lady-like game of Go Fish with KUMA, Nowaki and Shigure. To the one that had dropped her torpedoes early's embarassment, the rest of her sisters, about 7 in total remaining, release theirs at a far more effective range, content to fire and let Neptune sort them out. They turn sharply afterward, since torpedo duels are all about firing and then frantically forgetting. The damaged one, as well as the two that had sacrificed themselves for the Ru-class, finally tilt over and lapse beneath the waves.
Taro     By now, the local security forces and employees alike realize something more is wrong than just the firefight around them, as dead relay stations turn radio chatter to static. The local IT persons are going to no doubt notice his prescence in the network soon, assuming that a few of them stayed at a secure workstation somwehere in this labyrinth. Thus Taro hurries to bring down their connections with the outside world. With time and tech constraints, he won't be able to close the gates entirely, but killing the primary antenna's transmitter should slow things down considerably.
    He spares a few cycles to call out to his fellow Confederates, and finds that the battle is still ongoing. Since none of their ships are in position to begin receiving cargo, once he's finished knocking out the transmitter, he moves to delve into the call logs to see if there are any ships that have already been loaded and still at dock...
    Meanwhile, his physical body hasn't so much as twitched.
Emiya Shirou     "Huuuuaghh!" Shirou's reflexes have improved drastically, as have his overall tactics. Faced with an insane onslaught of traps he wasn't expecting and slowed by a tripwire that throws off his gait all he can do is put up both arms around his head and batter away at some of the projectiles. A few kunai are dealt with handily - only a fraction of them strike him... but they hit unguarded flesh and deliver a poison regardless. He can feel his body throwing weird signals. The boy's pelted by projectiles, the ball bearings ripping into flesh. But though he staggers and grunts, his vitals seem to have gotten through the matter unharmed.

    "You... know her..?" He woozily asks Peach... only for his honed combat reflexes to ping DANGER again.

    Magic pulses through Shirou's arms and with a flash of metal on metal he catches Yari's blade with the chinese swords in a series of unlikely-looking but graceful parries. It's not the rough and unpolished swordsmanship of their last encounter.

    Yes... to call it strange is an understatement. Shirou's movements are polished but the style seems WRONG somehow. Elegant, efficient coordinated swings seem to redirect her blade away from its target again and again, resulting in numerous grazes along his limbs and side that are far from tendons and muscles. She's getting lots of flesh and blood, but nothing actually useful.

    On analysis it makes very little sense. Shirou's weird motions seem to always leave dangerous and naive openings, but no attempt to exploit those openings is actually WORKING.

    But her extreme speed and disciplined training is working to her advantage. Shirou's fully on the defensive and backpedaling, brow furrowed and breath out of sync!

    "It's you again?!"

    The Kunai makes the difference. It pieces his defenses, striking him in the abdomen... but there's a weird CLANG on impact, for all the embedded kunai seems to have struck flesh and not metal. Shirou staggers, only to roughly rip the weapon out... and raise his hand.

    "/My body is made of swords!/"

    Bolts of prana fly high over his head, forming into close to fifty identical kunai... all of which start flying at Yari in waves!
Shigure     Shigure grunts a little. "Flagship!" she calls out, her 10cm forward turrets aiming onto the Tentacruel. She knows that sonar blip well by now, with how many times the Fleet's faced off against Lute. She fires rapidly at the jellyfish-Pokemon, while Kuma jinks aside, earning the hissing agony of acid splashed across her right arm. She levels her own cannon at the Tentacruel, and fires, while skidding sideways in a long arc back towards the allied fleet. "Regroup on allied Carrier, kuma!"

    Shigure transforms back to Land Fit-Out, and turns too, limping a little from the damage as she falls in with her Flagship. She skates backwards, leveling her rigging to fire bursts into the water, attempting to detonate the torpedoes prematurely.

    Yamashiro furrows her metaphorical brow as the Ru charges in. "Why throw away your life so recklessly?" she asks, as the massive frame of her Ocean Fit-Out fades into the tall, stately woman with short black hair. She changes course, to meet the Ru-class head-on, red eyes beginning to glow. "If it is death you seek, then I shall gladly give it to you!" She reaches back, unhooks the massive turret assembly from her back mounting, then swings it around in a wide arc while holding a pair of the barrels, She swings it up overhead, then brings the entire assembly down on where the Ru-class is about to be, like a giant sledge hammer. "... May you find peace..." she murmurs softly, sadness tinging her words.
Yari Takane He should be on the ground bleeding, or maybe even dead. Part of her is glad the young man isn't. He's allied with Dun Realtai, as far as she's aware, and he might even catch on to a relieved sigh from the ninja. Still, her eyes are narrowed. He's gotten better. So has she, but the difference is astounding. She should have him beat in almost every category, those open strikes, and yet he manages to survive.

"...Shirou, right? You've gotten better. It's a bit frightening, to be honest. You should probably be dead right now, even so." There's honest relief in Yari's look to the young man. She doesn't like killing seemingly nice people.

Then they narrow, taking in all those strikes. Sure, she was aiming to disable, but even then, it's suspicious.

"Are you that skilled? No. Instinct?" Comes Yari's confused mutterings as they fight, blood shed, and finally her kunai works it in.

Clang. Her eyes go wide, and she's taken off guard, right in time for a familiar technique is tossed right back at her. That wasn't armor. That was metal, too deep in the boy's body to be anything but pure steel.

She does the only thing she can, as kunai pierce through her umbrella-blade, shattering all but the hilt to pieces. She hangs it in her clothing and rolls back, quite a few kunai in turn slicing her up. She comes off with quite a few wounds until she undoes her suit-jacket. Left in her blouse, the cloth catches a majority of the blow even as she's bleeding from multiple wounds as she ends up on her feet.

There's suddenly a Princess in the way, and a familiar one! Yari manages to duck back from the initial strike from that parasol, dodging to the right, only to be pinned! Her face is struck right in the cheek, a horrible bruise forming even as she tilts her cheek to slide off the strike! Then her arm is struck right in the join, her bones aching and microfractures forming! The strike to her left leg is parried with a kick from her right leg in turn, but it leaves her open for that last kick to her chest! She's sent flying backwards from the force of the solid blow, and she lands in a roll along the narrow walkway!

Yari breathes heavily, pained, smirking lightly and bitterly.

"...We really meet up too much in these kinds of situations, Princess. It's a shame."

By now, with that jacket still fluttering in the air, she's a bloody mess. But she's still standing. Holding the umbrella end of her weapon, she pulls the trigger, and a blast of rock-salt is sent at the Princess. It won't kill, but it sure as heck will hurt if it connects! Seems she came expecting civilian resistance.

Even that's abandoned, as she uses the opportunity to make several handseals!

"Katon!"

A massive fireball rips towards the duo of Peach and Shirou as she spits out a constant torrent of flame, burning up magic and physical stamina at an alarming rate! The Princess might notice that poisoned knife she used against her tucked into her belt, too, ready to be used should the pair close in!
Lute      The Tentacruel doesn't have much chance to dodge. It tries to sink back under the water from where it came. The cannonfire strikes it multiple times, causing it a fair amount of damage. It dives back down, though heavily wounded. It can still move, but not fight. It retreats towards Lute, and his location.

     Mr. Crabs recieves the fighters readily. It's brief moment of surprise is gone, though. Lute shouts out orders to it, demanding that it fall back. He doesn't care too much about the fighters. He views them more like animals than sapeint beings. He's less familiar with them. His eyes do look towards the Ru class. His first instinct upon seeing her, the damage she has taken, and the suicidal ramming strategy is to go for her.

     But Wo is missing.

     "IMIMA! Head over there, /now/!" He doesn't need to be more specific than that. Though the I-Class began listening to Lute only due to it being ordered, now he has a definite bond with it. They know each other well. Lute's Tentacruel knows him well, too. The three of them speed off towards Wo's direction, while Lute's remaining Unown fly to scout the area rapidly. The Tentacruel is swimming backwards, keeping an eye on Kuma and her Fleet. Sure, the Tentacruel is injured. But it can at least slow down Kuma if she follows on Lute's path to search for Wo.
Jeannette Thompson There's a few more shells that slam down into the sea, just to make sure (fusion plants and EM slugs made for a rather afforable launch platform). As the water dissapears a hiss of steam, however, the enemy contact... just isn't there any more. Or she was. The Sysops aboard the Strike Carrier report inconclusive results. No radar contact, but no debries detected on the surface of the sea. She'd been a slippery contact earlier, and if she'd gone to ground after flight operations, it was unlikely they'd be able to find her. But her removal and the smashing the enemy ships had taken meant that the enemy's ability to project power had been curtailed. A /lot/ of missiles had been expended for reletively small gain, but the fighters had been shut down, as well, as another fighter launchers from the deck.

Jeannette looks at the plot, and nods, snapping her fingers and pointing. "Order ships to atttack directly. /Lichster/ to make torpedo runs on remaining vessels with /Kingsford/ supporting with cannon. Keep them off of us. Let's mop up here and get control. And someone get me on Broadband."

The air threat gone, another fighter is launching from /Resolve/'s undamaged catapult, as the two 'tin cans' of the flotilla manuever and head at full tilt toward the enemy destroyers, hitting them from another flank as they engage the Fifth Fleet. Cannon mix with torpedos that flash foward at the speed of cannon shells when they hit the water, striking aganist the surfaces they'd hit with explosives and sheer kinetic energy. They're goal was to roll up the remaining ships, even as /Resolve/ parked herself, light amphibous vehicles mixed with rotocraft leaping off her flight decks, heading toward the refinery.

Jeannette finds her open channel. "Attention, enemy forces. This is Commodore Jeannette Thompson, of the Royal Triancian Navy. This ship is now conducting landing operations for Royal Trancian Marines at your position, soon to be supported by aircraft and surfance naval gunfire. You do not have the forces nor the supplies to deal with what we are sending. You have two options: immediate withdrawal from this area, or surrender. Continued combat operations will be met with the full force of the Royal Triancian Navy and her allies. You have five minutes to show intentions. Commodore Thompson, Clear."
Princess Peach Princess Peach frowns at Yari in agreement. "It really is a shame, but I guess you have your allegiances, and I have mine." She retorts, and a moment later her eyes go wide in a mix of shock and pain as Yari pulls the trigger of her umbrella and it fires a blast of rock-salt at her like a shotgun. She staggers backward for a moment, then her eyes are drawn to the movement of Yari's hands, and fear washes over her face.

"Get down!" She cries, leaping to the ground as the fireball flies toward both herself and Shirou. The fireball blazes over her back, lighting her hair on fire, at which she yells in shock and rolls a bit to put out the flames. Finally she looks up for a moment, hearing Jeanette's warning to the Feds over the radio. She looks to Shirou as if to ask "what now?"
Wo     The Wo-class was not sunk, as Lute and her other allies might have worried. Not completely, anyway. Instead, the reason for her radar signature all but disappearing is that she's bobbing up and down in the water, with the fairy before trying to snap her out of it. While the actual structural damage is light, she seems absolutely stunned, her eyes staring without focus up into the pitch black sky from the surface. 'Is that really all you had? The multiverse is so much more than you know,' comes a voice in her head. 'Who...' 'It won't matter, unless you pick yourself up now. Are you really going to let them down again?' A twitch of her body, and while she has no real heart as a human does, red vein-like marks course over it. 'That's more like it. This battle is lost, but let's give them hell on our way out.' Her eyes blink once, pupils drawing back in as she sits up, somehow kneeling on the ocean's surface. If he's left to it, it's about this time that Lute would come upon her. She turns to look at him and gives a shake of her head, "Stay back. Or - bet-ter yet, turn your head. For-get what...you're about, to see. We're leav-ing. I'll cover, our troops."

    That's when the signal goes out more generally to their Confederate allies, and the Wo-class' radar signature returns. That isn't the whole story, though. The radar return begins shifting significantly, and those that retained visual contact would see what seem to be plates and spires of tarnished and rusted metal rising from the deep. They seem to be forming around and under her battered frame, which has fractures along it, mirroring what rapidly assembles into the shape of a full-size aircraft carrier. As it finishes, the plates fuse with glowing hot red welds at the seams - welds that do not stop glowing that ominous red, in the darkness of the night. When more STRIKE AIRCRAFT arrive, they would find this monstrosity staring back at them, with a contingent of full-sized jet aircraft staring at them from the deck, with more arriving via working elevator. The worst part is, at the bow, it has a mouth, inside of which looks like a furnace burning with molten metal. The anti-air turrets swivel, but then they seem to hesitate, as another broadcast comes across. The Wo-class stares down the distant fleet from one side of the flight deck, the fairy stuffing her chubby cheeks with a cheeseburger on the same. This isn't necessarily counter to what they were intending, but, she nonetheless sends a response, via wireless telegraph.

    "NUTS"

    The anti-air guns begin opening fire, while the Ru-class finishes her death charge at Yamashiro. The Abyssal battleship impacts solidly, but gets even better than she gives in her weakened state. She pauses, almost frozen, where she impacted, then begins to slump forward. At the last moment, it almost looks like she might have regained some semblance of a self, as one hand reaches to try and vice onto Yamashiro's ankle above one of her ship-clogs. "H-help," she gurgles, but she's far too far gone, and if Yamashiro actually tried, who knows what might happen? She might be pulled under, as well. After a while, the grip loosens, mercifully. The destroyers, meanwhile, have nothing left to give, here. They go into full retreat, under what cover they have and can muster, but two of them still get struck right in the tail flukes, reducing their speed to 'sitting duck' levels, before they finally succumb. The remaining five shark-like destroyers limp away, with their figurative tail between their figurative legs.

    Overall, however, it seems to be mostly bluster to cover the retreat, and for the landing craft of Confederates to evacuate.
Taro     It appears that while he has been making headway in the refinery's computers, his compatriots have not fared as well with the rest of its takeover.
    Taro's head snaps up as he shifts his attention back to the physical world, shaking his head once as he reorients himself. A moment later, a puff of light pops out of the access box to drop onto his right shoulder. He gives it a tiny one-fingered pat. Then his gaze falls to his other tiny companion who's been guarding him. "Myrrh. Sitta. Hold on. We're leaving."
    Once the elves are settled and secured, he leaps away from the rooftop on which he's been perched, extending his armor's wings to glide close enough to one of their own ships that he can teleport safely aboard.
Emiya Shirou     Shirou's not in much shape to fight after taking a few poisoned kunai to the arms. His arms don't want to move properly and it's a wonder he's staying up. Really, his consciousness is hazy and brain all but on fire. He couldn't possibly be suffering much more, he'd imagine. He's probably wrong, but it's still bad.

    Yet simply having Peach here, not just backing up, but someone he needs to protect... is keeping him on his feet. No matter how much the brigade of injuries that now bleed profusely have him winded and crippled, no matter how much he wants to just leave... none off that is important.

    He doesn't matter.

    Saving the workers here does.

    Which is why... when faced with a fireball, he drops Kanshou and Bakuya, both of which are heavily cracked from the clash with Yari. Instead, "trace, on...!"

    With another flash of prana, seemingly at the last moment, SHirou raises a black blade of legend into the onrushing flames-- "Turn it aside... KUSANAGI!!"

    The weapon howls. Literally. Winds swirl and gather like a giant gaping maw, blocking much of the fireball's mass. Streams of flame get through, threatening both SHirou and Peach, but the great mass of flame itself is halted by a twisting wind that revvs it up into a whirling, hellish maelstrom.

    But Shirou's not too good at projecting Kusanagi, nor does he have the power to bring its full power out even if he could. For a work on this scale though... it seems to be enough. The fire is REVERSED after losing about half of its potency and streams wildly back at Yari along with whipping winds! Amidst the swing, Kusanagi shatters and Shirou staggers.

    "Probably... best... to pull back, call on more allies. You can't fight her alone!"

    But he answers Yari nonetheless. "Yeah. Emiya Shirou of Dun Realtai. What are you doing here?! This place is full of workers, not fighters!"
Yari Takane Yari's eyes close as she sighs heavily.

"That's the way of the Multiverse more often than not." Admits the ninja to Peach. At least the woman has backed off by now thanks to her duo of blows, and the ninja has alighted back to the railing.

Which does little for her as she's forced from her perch as flames are forced back upon her! She drops down with magic-boosted speed, flames whipping past her and causing her to cry out as flames rip across her back! If she had taken even half of that, someone like her would have fried to a crisp! Slowly, she shoves herself to her feet, smoke rising from her now scoured back.

"Following my orders. I don't like dealing with them this way, but they /are/ enemy assets. Get them out of here, Mister Shirou. My timing should leave enough for that. Goodbye."

Wo calls a reatreat, and Yari whips out a small handheld detonator.

The outside supports of the oil rig blow, and some small damage might be done to the interior as her own charges engulf her in flames as the scaffolding falls! Her body plunges into the sea, right into the cold as she catches on fire!

Hopefully someone will be on hand to collect her as she falls unconscious amidst the waves.
Shigure     Chitose marshals her remaining air fleet, and is treated to a sight from her Zuiun as they break off their attack runs and return. "Knew I wasn't imagining it..." she mutters to herself.

    Yamashiro looks down with a sad pity in her eyes as the Ru-class begins to sink. She kneels down, taking the hand on her ankle lightly, as if offering some solace before the grip loosens. She stays there, as the other girl slowly slips away. "... how... misfortunate..."

    Kuma, Nowaki and Shigure don't provide a chase, leaving the Confederates to retreat should they be doing so. Anyone that makes more aggressive moves has an entire fleet of cannons and torpedoes to deal with now. "Around the refinery, a perimeter create, kuma." calls the Cruiser, even as smoke billows from her rigging, and a seeping of sticky black ooze drips down from an open 'wound' in her right upper arm, where the acid ate through the surface. "If the Confederates are fleeing, let them run." It's then the charged blow, causing the Cruiser to turn and stare in shock.

    Shigure takes up a position, her own body battered and 'bloodied' with the same black ooze, though her 'wound' is on her right thigh, the trail seeping all the way down to her shoe.
Princess Peach Princess Peach slowly stands and does her best to brush herself off, but there isn't much she can do about the fact that she's singed and covered in dirt and grime from the ground. Oil refineries are not exactly known for being clean. She turns to Shirou just in time for the boom of Yari's explosives to go off.

"Yes, we really should get out of here, I don't know what that was, but it didn't sound like anything good... Do you need any immediate healing?" She asks as she steps closer to Shirou, attempting her own visual check of his wounds after the fight.
Lute      Lute, at first, doesn't want to stay back. It's not him that moves away. It's Imima. Imima turns around, beginning to head on the retreat. The Tentacruel keeps following, at a close distance. Lute is at least not going to be mad with Imima for her disobedience. After all, he's still watching Wo despite what she said.

     The monsterous carrier, the huge thing that Wo has called forth? Lute just stares at it, in awe. Most people would want to run away from such almost immediately. Lute, instead, is different. He just stares forward.

     He wants to compliment her. Normally, he would. After his last attempt to flirt in the middle of battle, it turned out REALY REALY BAD, though. So he won't. Instead, he just gives a pleasasnt smile up to Wo. A simple sign that even this isn't going to disturb him.

     He'll flee back. He will, in fact, wait to fight Jeannette and her Fleet with Mister Crabs. At least, for a bit. Until he is either ordered to keep going, or Jeannette's fleet fails to show.
Jeannette Thompson The fighters that were overflying Wo's originaly position try to scramble again; they'd gained some speed, but it isn't enough at this altitude, and rounds shread the airframes. One aircraft dies with it's pilot, smacking aganist the sea in a gout of smoke and burning aviation fuel. Another pilot's able to eject... in the middle of waters still occupied by retreating Destroyers and Mr. Crabs. The remaining fighter, moving to stike the destoryers, retreats and heads back to the carrier; it wasn't risking going over that giant thing.

And the rest of the Triancians weren't going for it, as well. A ship of that type, with the Confederate's retreating... even if they had done damage, vengence was not worth hundreds of lives at the cost of the ships they had. "Conduct operations to secure the refinery. Once we have it secured, we need to redepoly. The Fifth Fleet isn't going to be here for long, we're low on ordance... and let me tell you, that Confederate on the crab is an ass, but he's not lying. I am not throwing anything but a battlecruiser squadron at him; If he stands off..." She pauses. Takes a deep breath. "If he stands off... that shall be enough for now."

She didn't mention out loud, as the ships redeploy closer to the coast, ensuring the Confederates retreat, that, while it would accomplish their objectives with a minimum of loses, it would also tarnish the honor of the Royal Triancian Navy. Declarations made to villians and scoundrels were still declarations, and she would need to see it satisifed. And, if she wasn't willing to risk ships, she would need to see it satisfied, personally.
Yari Takane Yari falls into the blackness of the water, the pure chill shocking her into wakefulness. Her suit is nearly ruined, her body is scorched in more than a few places, but she's somehow managed to live.

Yet she can barely move, and only the groping hand of a Confederate soldier pulls her onto the stealth-boat that initially carried her in. She water-logged, bleeding, but the med-techs on deck keep her wounds nice and plastered up after a bit of drying. The ninja breathes out lightly.

"...Fighting two on one really is tough. Especially when it's two skilled people." She mutters, before finally passing out.
Emiya Shirou     WELL, there go chunks of the refinery. Shirou frowns. Better a bit of infrastructure than people. They did win time for safety protocols and evacuation to shelter, at least.

    Shirou's in rough shape. He LOOKS pretty bad. He's covered in many, many cuts that are dripping blood... but they're bleeding pretty slowly all things considered. Unusually slowly. Like he's ALREADY benefitting from healing magic to some extent. But he's looking woozy on his feet and lopsided, one hand grabbing another.

    "I'll be fine, this is nothing." Which it clearly isn't, but Shirou's always one to put others first. "There's bound to be workers caught up in this mess, they'll need magic help more than me."

    With an act of pure willpower he stands up straight again. "Let's go... make sure... they're alright!"

    There is something wrong with this guy.
Wo     With a few more losses, the remainder of the Abyssal fleet is in full retreat, now. For what it's worth, the destroyers don't seem bothered by the 'unusual' shape of the carrier they're escorting, perhaps owing to her mental influence. She had remained strong and defiant in the face of having to withdraw, but in the end, at least their goals were achieved, in some twisted away. It won't be a permanent shut-down, but the facility won't be operating at full capacity for a few weeks, most likely. They also didn't lose any Elites, along the way, with Taro and Yari having been hauled aboard the rapidly retreating, and stealthy landing craft, which are speeding toward a rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. If they are left alone, eventually the last of the defensive cover fire vanishes, along with the radar and sonar contacts.

    Aboard the deck of her ocean fit-out, the Wo-class simply collapses, as it continues to cruise along. Something about that dark, pitted metal is oddly comforting, with the low rumble of turbines resonating through its frame, and though the damage to her own body is moderate, she used up a lot of effort trying to coordinate the rest of her fleet, as well. Since the cat is out of the bag, the landing boats pull up alongside of the carrier and begin to board it. Having a bit more room and a more stable platform to deal with the medical emergencies is useful.

    The Union forces drove them back, but now they have a real mess to clean up.