[X] Spend the night sailing.
Your hand, which had been reaching for the radio on your equipment, falls back down to your side.
No, orders are orders, and you won't defy them. Your Admiral told you to sail under radio silence, so radio silence it will be.
Still, without the Tulsa, it's going to be a very rough night. You were looking forward to sleeping in a bed (well, a cot, but still!). It's not as if you can't make it all the way to Japan without it, but the rest and food it would have provided would have gone a long way to your personal comfort and well being. As it stands, by the time you get to Japan, your boilers will be running on fumes.
You wonder what happened to the Tulsa. It should have been here.
The five of you continue on in silence. Tension saturates the air, and Mahan looks progressively more and more unhitched as the night drags on.
All five of you have your radar active, the flat arrays spinning on your equipment, scanning the ocean for friend and foe.
Neither make an appearance.
At midnight, with only the moon and stars to light your way, Mahan suddenly stops, turning on her searchlights.
"USS Mahan!" Iowa hisses under her breath, screeching to a stop, "Turn off your searchlights this instant! What if we're spotted because of you?!"
"Tulsa should have been here, we shouldn't be sailing at night!" Mahan gasps, shaking like a leaf, "We need to go back, what if she's there now? I don't want to stay out here, we're not prepared for a night battle!"
"There won't be a night battle unless you don't turn off your goddamn searchlights!" Iowa snaps, "Do you want to make yourself a target for every Abyssal bomber out here?"
Mahan's lights pop off with a fearful, "Eep."
"Better," Iowa sighs, "Look, Mahan, I know you're scared, but we have to keep moving. It's our only choice."
"...Alright," Mahan steams forward, rejoining the formation as you all proceed.
The water is still, and the only noise is from the sound of your screws churning the water under you. Iowa looks forward with determination. Mahan is trembling, but otherwise holding together. Atlanta is trying very hard not to fall asleep.
Independence
is asleep on her feet, but still managing to maintain formation.
Two more hours pass like that. It's tense, but uneventful.
Then, off in the distance, you hear the unmistakable sound of cannon fire. Your radar is having problems picking out individual signatures, but you can tell that there's a large concentration of ships towards the din of combat.
And you have no way of determining who is fighting whom.
The lot of you turn your rangefinders in the direction of the sounds, but it's too far away to see anything.
"What do we do?" Atlanta asks, her groggy behavior slowly fading.
"It's not our problem," Iowa replies after a moment's hesitation, "We'll pass right by. Whoever they are, they'll never know that we were here."
"But... shouldn't we do something?" Mahan speaks up, her voice shaky and expression haggard, "What if it's a civilian ship?"
"If it's civilian, then it's their own fault for coming out here," Iowa dismisses her concerns, "and if they're military, they're doing their duty. Come on, let's move."
You feel like you should say something, but nothing comes to mind.
The sounds of combat fade into the distance as you continue your course.
All this running, it's starting to gnaw at you.
Wasn't the whole point of coming out here to take the fight to the enemy? Sure, all you'll end up doing is working with the Japanese Ship Girls, but even so, what was the point if you don't even try and help those who are right in front of you?
As the sun begins to rise, it's all for naught.
In the distance, a lone Abyssal plane is seen zipping around. It gets a good look at your group before dipping back below the horizon.
"Shit," Iowa curses. It was never in range, and the moment Independence launched her own birds, the damn thing fled, "General Quarters, I think we can expect company."
"An air attack?" Atlanta smirks, gripping her dual 5-inchs, "Sounds like my kind of game."
"You don't think there'll be kamikazes," Mahan asks unsteadily, "Do you?"
"I wouldn't rule it out," you reply, but then quickly amend when you see her distress, "but Abyssals aren't known for that kind of behavior. You'll be fine, Mahan."
"I hope so," she readies her own guns.
You check your position quickly. You're actually fairly close to Midway. If you make a run for it, perhaps you and the others could hide and wait out the Abyssals? That is, if Iowa takes your suggestion seriously. If not, you'll have to stay and fight, and no matter how good Atlanta's AAA suite is, some bombs and torpedoes will get through. There will be casualties. This is why Tulsa was so important, she could have outrun any Abyssal strike force... but now it's either hide or fight.
Damn it.
{Options}
[] Tell Iowa your idea.
[] Why bother? She'll just ignore you.
[] Go to Midway. Tell the others your intention and invite them to follow you, then leave anyways.
[] Radio silence is no longer relevant. Broadcast distress messages.
