USHIO pushes her way through the line until she can talk to AKEBONO without shouting.

USHIO
It's going to be an hour before they can scramble the Coast Guard.

AKEBONO
Coast Guard?! Does the shitty Admiral know what's happening here?

USHIO
(helplessly)
Do we?

IOWA suddenly appears on top the wrecked coal bunker next to AKEBONO and USHIO, startling them both.

IOWA
(briskly, pointing with two fingers)
You need ships covering these slipways. There are civilian ships getting under way and they're going to be steaming right into the line of fire. You take them into the canals or the rivers, you keep them out of the harbor. I need a perimeter as far out as Governor's Island.

AKEBONO
(baffled)
Why in the hell should I take orders from you?!

Before IOWA can answer, they are set upon by a pair of RI-CLASS HEAVY CRUISERS and an ELITE RU-CLASS BATTLESHIP. As USHIO and AKEBONO watch in mute astonishment, IOWA annihilates one of the RI-CLASS with a broadside from her #1 and #2 turrets, cripples the second RI-CLASS with #3 turret, and peppers the RU-CLASS with her secondaries, then finishes them both off with some bare-knuckled CQC, ripping off one of the RU-CLASS's cannon/shield array arms and beating her down with it as a sort of final remark.

AKEBONO blinks, her face completely blank, then turns to the other DESTROYERS as if nothing had happened.

AKEBONO
I need ships in those channels, lead the civilians back and away from the harbor. We're going to set up a perimeter all the way out to Governor's Island.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.