Things had been going so well, too.

In a way, CFS Trinitite had been relieved when one of CFS Firestorm'sscouting aircraft spotted the enemy fleet. The Firebringers had been hitting the Princess's throne for weeks now, forcing her to abandon it and putting the Crossroads Fleet on edge. The incoming fleet was worrying, but it meant that things were going to be resolved, one way or another.

"So… you've reached this place..."

They were outnumbered. The fleet steaming in from the northwest contained 6 carriers, while between Trinitite's sisters and The Princess herself, they could only answer with four. However, the comforting layer of fog that blanketed The Princess's abode concealed her comrades, breaking up the enemy's strikes without firing a shot. For the first few hours of the battle, it seemed the invaders would either find themselves driven off or at the bottom of the sea.

Then the rockets hit.

Trinitite was halfway through launching another bomber strike when one of her Bearcats detected a flicker of movement below. It was too fast to be an airplane, and nothing that small was one of The Firebringers…

It detonated right above her deck, peppering the Wo-class with supersonic shrapnel. If the missile- its payload insufficient to damage her deck on its own- had arrived at any other time, its shrapnel would have been absorbed by her deck and she would barely notice. The six fully fueled and armed bombers on her deck, however, weren't nearly as well-protected. A shard of the rocket's casing, traveling just under Mach 3, cut through one of waiting hell dive bombers like wadded-up paper and into the high-explosive bomb slung underneath.

Half of the Carrier's strike evaporated as Trinitite was engulfed in a fireball, the shockwave tearing one of the launching Hell Divers off her catapult and sending it spinning into the sea. The explosion shattered the Wo-class's bridge, tearing through her command crew before She'd fully comprehended what had happened. Like a fuse had been blown, the light in Trinitite's eyes disappeared and the blast knocked the abyssal out. With that, a fourth of the Crossroads Fleet's carrier division was disabled, fires scouring the unconscious Abyssal as she wallowed in the Atoll's subdued waves.

Bridge Casualties stabilized. Command re-established.

CFS Trinitite could have been out for minutes, or maybe hours. One moment, she had been launching bombers, the next her bow was buried in one of the Atoll's sand bars.

Fires extinguished. Assessing damage to the flight deck and superstructure.

She groaned, raising a hand to her burned deck. The pain that had up until now been unnoticed flared, and with a sharp inhale the Carrier removed her hand. Groaning, Trinitite rolled onto her back, allowing herself further onto the beach. Was it… brighter then it had been previously?

A good portion of the flight deck is missing. 1 catapult is still operational, and we still have functional arresting gear, but there isn't much deck in between them.

We've kept the damage in the hangar low, but there's significant warping around the both elevators. If you want any of the aircraft inside, you'll have to re-assemble them topside.

Ignoring the horde of damage reports flooding her bridge, Trinitite propped herself up on her elbows and directed her attention to the battle around her.

There, not more than 600 yards in front of her, floated an enemy battleship.

Fire director's damaged. If you shift a few degrees starboard we might be able to get one of the remaining secondaries to bear, but I can guarantee you won't hit anything.

The Wo-class froze, eyes locked onto the behemoth that had barged into the bay. The Titan's eight massive cannons, each enough to break her on their own, were facing away from her, thank the deep, but she had plenty of company. The battleship's firepower was doubled in a sister ship, and surrounded by a trio of enemy cruisers and several destroyers. The mass of firepower that had entered the bay was overwhelming, and all of it was aimed at one point.

"Maybe… maybe this is a good thing…"

She always spoke so softly, but still Her Princess's words carried to her. Trinitite's breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of her leader, the Hime battered and burning in the center of the enemy's fleet. The rest of the Crossroads Fleet was nowhere to be seen, but Trinitite knew her princess hadn't been abandoned. They had been forced to fight through every ship in the fleet to get to her, except for one.

"Mother…" Trinitite tried to call out, but what should have been a strong message of encouragement came out as a raspy whisper.

Radio array is thrashed. We won't be transmitting anything today.

The enemy battleship must have said something, but Trinitite was too far to make out her words.

"With this knowledge, I can at last sleep… What?"

Air contact, bearing 043.

Trinitite hadn't noticed the sound of the helicopter's rotors until it had almost passed her. The massive thing briefly blocked out the sun (when had that been so visible through their mist?), turbulence sending ocean spray over Trinitite as it barreled past her. At the last moment, the ungainly thing's nose jerked upwards, and it began to lower. Another one of the enemy's ships- a carrier- bailed into the water.

"Lexie?"

That… wasn't the tone of voice Trinitite would have expected in this situation, and the shock was enough to keep her on the beach, watching. She… Mother knew one of them?

The enemy carrier rushed towards The Princess, shouting something Trinitite couldn't determine. The Wo-class almost attempted to stand, but the attempt was forgotten as the two carriers collided. Were… were they hugging?

No. The blast must have knocked something serious loose, because there was no way her princess could have known one of the enemy that well. She'd said so herself, when she was talking about the old times. That the fire-bringers had destroyed her to prove that her daughters were obsolete. That her failure to stand up to their weapons meant that her kin were doomed in this new kind of warfare. Trinitite had inspected the wrecks of Mother's fleet herself!

What was going on?

The Wo-class, mouth wordlessly opening and closing like a suffocating fish, could do nothing but stare into the bay as the two carriers sobbed into each other's shoulders.

"But… you're dead. I failed you… The Air Force, it-"

The other carrier cut Trinitite's princess off, and held her by the shoulders at arm's reach. How often had The Princess done the same to Trinitite? Was she… attempting to comfort her? From her binoculars, the Wo-class could see tear-streaks marring The Princess's face, but that smile Trinitite knew so well had returned. She… didn't know what was going on anymore. How could they act so familiar after wiping out the Crossroads Fleet?

Trinitite blinked, wiped her eyes with her hand, and took another look at her princess. Yes, the crest on her chest was undoubtedly glowing. What did that mean? It was obscured when the other carrier drew her into a second hug, but returned with force as the glow spread across her body. CFS Trinitite was forced to look away as the glow intensified, blotting out the forms in the bay and surpassing the sun in its intensity. Shielding her eyes, Trinitite was reminded of Her Princess's descriptions of The Fire. Had the enemy carrier snuck one of those weapons on board while they were hugging? No, the enemy was many things, but suicidal was not one of them.

The glow suddenly abated, and Trinitite tried to get another look at her princess before her mind came to an abrupt halt.

Cropped, red hair. Tight-fitting, buttoned dress. Sand-colored skin. Like one of them.

What had they done to her?

Here's something that I threw together on SB, and it seems to be doing moderately well, so I figured you folks might enjoy it. I plan on throwing up two updates here for every one I do on SpaceBattles and Sufficient Velocity, as I'm doing a proofreading pass on every chapter before posting it here and going through the entire story seems a bit too much. It shouldn't take long for you guys to catch up, though.