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-- Day 02, 2158 hours --
Verlaine: "They shall be named, then - Picket fleets 1 and 2, and with respect to firepower, Main fleet. I'll be on Akizuki with Foster as part of the 1st picket fleet - the american sailors will be on the Benham and Somers, one each, with the 2nd picket fleet. We'll be able to maintain comms if anything goes wrong."
Travis: "Yep. We'll be here - just shout if you need us."
The two light fleets split off in their respective directions, remaining at the edge of the visual range of sensors in the darkness of the night. It doesn't take long before the silence is broken by a voice over the radio.
Travis: "Oh, scratch that - we have contacts, it's a Yubari-class leading a group of 4 Hatsuharu-class destroyers - they're coming from northeast, roughly 14 miles now. Do we engage?"
Verlaine: "We could join up with fleet 2, if you think that's sufficient to deal with the threat. We wouldn't want to respond too harshly to immediate threats - especially since this is just a scouting party, most likely... Hence, we can expect a more serious follow-up attack, where the main fleet would come into play, I suppose.
Most of the planes are on the ground at the moment, but I've managed to get 20 of them in the air - 12 of them are carrying bombs, the rest are carrying torps. I'll be taking them off in groups of 4, about one flight per minute, so if you want to employ air support, just let me know."
Takao: "Admiral, I know I've told you this before, but I'd like to remind you that these G4M1 bombers are completely incapable of vision in night conditions - their visual sensors are simply not designed for low-light operation, hence they will be relying on information relayed from other ships, such as the picket fleets. Otherwise, they will be combat-capable as normal, for detected ships."
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