The another chapter of ,,Chinese Down". I just wanted to say that story can be boring by few first chapters, but the real action will start soon. I also wanted to say that this meeting in this chapter will maybe not be liked by everyone, but it's needed.
Anton: Yeah, action, like Operation…
Anton, stay quiet! You know what em I thinking about spoilers?
Anton: Damn, right! Sorry. But sometimes I can't keep my tongue behind teeth.
Crystal: I confirm that.
Oh. And you Crystal.
Crystal: I just came here to remind you about this first review.
Right.
Empty Promise: Alright, I'll change it in dialogues.
Okay, when reviews are done, we can go to the content. And you. Don't brake the 4th Wall anymore.
Lucchini: What wall?
Seriously? Anyway.
Chapter 2
,,Current situation and doubles"
June 11, 2022
12:11
Somewhere in ORP Cracow
It was four hours since the Witches arrived on ORP Cracow. The headmaster issued the massage about that the Witches are not dangerous. After that, they were covered with questions like ,,Why you not wearing pants?" or ,,What's the names of countries in your world?". Some students were surprised hearing such names as ,,Suomus" or ,,Karlsland", but they didn't though they were strange.
Also, after the questions, Witches went to visit the ship. Shirley and Lucchini left in the hangar, where Witches left their Strikers, Sanya and Eila stated to go to sauna, Perrine, Yoshika and Lynette went to use bath house and Minna and Mio went to the bar.
Barkhorn and Hartmann was walking through one of the corridors.
"I must say, that their technology is really advanced"Hartmann said.
"You're surprised. It's 2022"Barkhorn replied.
"I just wondering, what Adrian meant by ,,some sort of Chinese experiment". That sounded strange".
"I don't know, Hartmann. I'm more worried about our Strikers. I hope those mechanics are enough good".
"Easy. You saw those planes in the hangar? If they can take care of something like that, they'll easy handle our Strikers".
Just then, from around the corner, ran a girl and she collided with Hartmann. They bounced from themselves and landed on the floor.
"Watch as you…"she said as she looked at the girl and become speechless.
The girl that collided with Hartmann looked just like her! If not the their different outfit, it could be said that those two are twin sister. They had the same face features, the same hairstyle and color, the same eyes and even their growth and weight looked the same.
"W-Who are you?"Hartmann asked still couldn't believe in this girl similarity to her.
"I'm sergeant Natalia Komesky of the Republic of Slovakia Armed Forces 1st Mechanized Battalion"the girl even had the same voice as Hartmann"And you?"
"I'm lieutenant Erica Hartmann of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing"Hartmann replied.
"Komesky, get back here!"someone shouted.
Then, another girl from around the corner. This time, Barkhorn and Hartmann were surprised even more when then they saw Natalia. The second girl was exact copy of Barkhorn, and again only their outfits were things letting to distinguish them.
"Okay, this day is becoming more and more abnormal! Who are you, by the way?"Barkhorn asked.
"I'm sergeant major Helena Lichkova of the Czech Republic Armed Forces 2nd Mechanized Battalion. And you are…?"the girl replied.
"Captain Gertrude Barkhorn of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing and this is my partner Erica Hartmann".
"Wait. You are those girls that everyone talking about, right?"Helena wanted to make sure.
"Yes. But, I have bigger question. Why are you looking like us?"Barkhorn asked.
"I could ask the same. You know what? There's an old Polish proverb"Natalia said.
"How is it sound?"Erica asked.
"Everyone has their own double".
"And from what I see, this also refers to alternate worlds"Barkhorn stated.
"It's looks like it"another voice said.
When they turned, they saw a young boy with short blonde hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in Hungarian Defence Force uniform and under his arm, he has a pencil and a thin book. Helena quickly saluted.
"Captain Kiss!"she said.
"Ease. I didn't came here for saluting"the boy said and approached two Witches"Captain Janos Kiss, Hungarian Defense Force 39th Infantry Battalion"he introduced himself.
"Captain Gertrude Barkhorn, lieutenant Erica Hartmann"Barkhorn replied.
"BTW, Janos. Where have you been? We were looking for ya for about three days. We though you're dead"Natalia said.
"And, have you checked the storage on Deck 4?"he asked suspiciously.
"No…"Helena replied unsteadily.
"By this three days, I was laying there! And you didn't came to check there! I never going on Linchov party's anymore!"Janos shouted.
"And what happened at those party?"Erica asked.
"Well. There was dancing, singing and at the end there rozovoye vino was pouring down. And after it I lost orientation. I woke up just two hours ago"Janos explained."When I exited the magazine, I met Saltarski. He told me that you have to come to conference room".
"Why?"Erica asked.
"Tomorrow is the meeting of generals with you. And today, we have to present our current situation to you"Janos explained.
"Okay"the blonde haired Witch replied.
And Witches gone to the conference room. But they stopped when they saw that Helena, Natalia and Janos are not going with them.
"What about you?"Erica asked.
"We'll come later. At now, only you and Poles have to be there"the Hungarian boy replied.
The three soldiers went in the opposite direction.
12:21
ORP Cracow hangar
Shirley and Lucchini was watching as the mechanics repair one of the school F-16C Bl. 52+. But of course Shirley was the most fascinated person here.
"And how fast is this plane?"she asked one of the mechanics.
"Well. F-16 can reach maximum speed of 2300 kilometers per hour. But, MiG-29 can easily overtake him with it's maximum speed of 2445 kilometers per hour"the mechanic replied mounting a fuel line.
"Wow, that's even faster than P-51, right, Shirley?"Lucchini asked.
"Yeah. Even Me 262 are not that fast, although it's a jet too"the Liberion Witch said.
"Almost everyone knew that aircraft from your period are slower than modern day planes"the same mechanic said. Next he looked at two others checking the Su-22 flaps"Kamil, Maciek! Be careful wit those flaps!"
"We knew!"they shouted back.
Right then, Hisako ran to hangar in company of other girl. The second girl had short, almost boyishly cut, brown hairs and one green eye. The second was hidden under the eye patch.
"Miss Yeager, miss Lucchini. I was looking for you"Hisako said.
"Oh, really? Besides, who is she?"Shirley asked pointing at the second girl.
"This is my friend Diana Szczera. In addition to her name, she's not so honest"Hisako introduced the new girl.
"Nice to meet you"Diana said.
"The same here. I'm Charlotte E. Yeager, but you can call me Shirley, and this is my partner Francesca Lucchini".
Diana looked at them for a moment and said:
"You're a couple?"
Shirley immediately blushed.
"N-No. It's true that Francesca likes to cuddle into my bosom and I allows her it, bu it not means that…"just then, Diana started to laughing. Shirley finally knew what was going on."It was a joke, right?"
"Sorry. I just couldn't stop myself from asking this question"Diana replied.
Shirley looked at her with anger.
"Coming back. What do you need, Hisako?"she again turned to Polish-Japanese girl.
"Well. Tomorrow is the meeting between you and our General Council members. But today, we have to present our current situation to you"Hisako explained. Then she noticed something"Hey, where's miss Lucchini? Just a second ago…"
Right then, she felt someones hands touching her breasts. When she looked behind, she saw Lucchini.
"Hm. I can give you 4/10"Francesca said like this was nothing weir.
"MISS LUCCHINI! STOP IT! IT'S EMBARRASSING!"Hisako yelled. Mechanics pretended that they don't see anything.
"You overwrite the rating. I would gave only 2/10"Diana said also touching Hisako's breasts.
"DIANA, YOU TOO?!"
"Alright, Lucchini. Enough"Shirley said and Lucchini let Hisako's breasts go.
Hisako started to covered her breasts and looked at Diana. The one eyed girl only smiled.
"You…"Hisako whispered.
"Don't be so angry, it was only a joke"Diana tried to justify herself.
"Don't do it anymore".
Diana only nodded.
"Alright, can we go to the conference room?"Lucchini asked.
"Yes, we can"the black haired girl replied.
Shirley, Lucchini and Hisako went to the conference room, leaving Diana with the mechanics.
12:34
ORP Cracow ,,Bar&Grill"
Although that the students called it ,,bar" and the name of this premises is ,,Bar&Grill" it actually looked like a connection of actual bar with some kind of restaurant. The tables were numbered, waiters were walking around and there was Menu Cards. It's really been more restaurant than bar.
Minna and Mio were sitting at one of the tables marked with number 8. They were reading Menu to see what they have in offer.
"Have you choose something?"Mio asked.
"I'm thinking about chicken soup and tomato soup"Minna replied.
"Besides, why you wanted to go here?"
"I wanted to try some of the Polish food".
She then again looked at the Menu.
"It's good that there's also the food names in Britannian. Otherwise, we would not understand anything".
Just then, a young boy with short blonde hairs approached them. He was dressed in blue shirt, black jeans pants and red waiter apron.
"Good morning, my name is Ludwig and I'll be you waiter today. What do dear ladies want to order?"the waiter asked.
Minna looked at Menu.
"One time chicken soup please"Minna said.
"One chicken soup. Got it"Ludwig said writing the order to his note book"And what for you?"he asked Mio.
"The same"Mio said, laying down the Menu and Ludwig walked away.
After a few minutes, Ludwig was there again, with two plates of chicken soup.
"There's your soup. And I have one advice. It's better, when waiter don't tell ,,bon apetit"he said placing the plates in front of Witches.
"Why?"Minna asked.
"Because if the waiter says so, it means he probably spat out there or something worse"he explained.
"Okay, thanks for advice"Mio said.
"Bon Apetit"Ludwig said and walked away.
Witches looked at their plates, and pushed them back. If this what he said about waiters saying ,,bon apetit" was true, they don't wanted to risk.
"What a pity. He looked so nice"Minna said.
"And finally it turned out that he spat to our plates"Mio added.
"At least, the music is nice".
As they were listening to music, Adrian approached them and sat to their table.
"Hi. I see that you doing well. Why are you not eating?"he asked paying attention on their plates.
"Well…We have supposition that someone spat to our plates"Minna replied.
Adrian nodded.
"Guessing. Ludwig handled you?"
"Yes. How did you know?"Mio asked.
"He's always doing it"he replied.
"Why? What did he got from this?"
"He's kind of joker. He likes to make jokes from everyone".
"So, that's mean…"Minna wanted to be sure.
"Yes. He did nothing to your chicken soup"then he looked at clock."Besides. I wanted to tell you that today will be a meeting with general adjutants from other schools. We have to present our situation to you".
"Okay, we're coming. But first, we want to eat"Minna said.
Two Witches quickly ate their chicken soups and together with Adrian went to the conference room.
13:01
ORP Cracow Conference Room
The Witches, Hisako, Adrian and Krystian were waiting on the other adjutants.
"Oh, how long do we have to wait?!"Eila exclaimed in impatience.
"Easy. They'll come soon"Krystian provided.
"And who will appear first?"Sanya asked.
"Those who are closest"Adrian said with smile.
Right then, Helena, Janos and Natalia entered the conference room. All Witches, except of Barkhorn and Erica, winded their eyes seeing two girls looking exactly the same as two Karlslanders. Lynette noticed their calm expression.
"Why are you so calm? They look like you"the Britannian Witch asked.
"It's not so strange"Erica replied.
"But…they look JUST like you!"Yoshika said.
"We know. And?"replied Barkhorn, hiding that this situation started to entertain her.
Witches only looked at them and at the same time shouted:
"IT'S REALLY NOT SURPRISE YOU?!"
At this moment, Helena and Janos smiled and Natalia started to laugh loudly.
"We met earlier. We were also surprised to see that Gertrude and Erica look like us"Helena explained.
"Oh, so that's why you were so calm"Minna said turning to her countrymen.
Meanwhile, Hisako, Adrian and Krystian smiled. It didn't escape Perrine attention.
"You were knew about it, right?"she asked suspiciously.
"Yes, we did. But we wanted it to be a surprise"Krystian replied and turned to Janos"Hey, Janos. You know who will appear now?"
"I heard that Anton, Crystal and Lina already entered the ship. And this time, those two can be surprised"Janos replied pointing at Shirley and Lucchini.
Two Witches didn't knew what he meant. But soon, they get the answer. After a while, three more persons entered the room: another two girls and a boy. And this time, all Witches were surprised. Two girls looked exactly like Shirley and Francesca. Well, maybe with a little difference. The Shirley double had a blonde hair and green eyes and was dressed in French Army uniform. And it was only difference. On the other hand, the Lucchini double has no differences, but she was dressed in Italian Army uniform. And the boy had short brown hair and blue eyes, and was wearing the Bundeswehr uniform.
Suddenly, both Francesca and her double rushed to Shirley and her double like launched from the cannon. They both touched their breasts and said:
"Wow! Surely 10/10!"
Then, they looked at each other and quickly changed their places.
"Shirley breasts are my!"Lucchini exclaimed.
"And Crystal breasts are my!"her double replied.
Meanwhile Krystian, Adrian, Janos and the fourth boy said:
"Oh no! This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!"
"Lucchini, better sit down"Shirley said.
"You too, Lina"Shirley double said.
"Okay"two girls replied.
"So those are those Witches you were talking about?"the French girl asked.
"Yes"Hisako replied.
"Now, you can introduce yourselves"Krystian said.
"Of course"the German boy said"I'm captain Anton Shrauf, German Bundeswehr 13th Infantry Brigade".
"Lieutenant Crystal Le Fem, French Armed Forces 7th Mechanized Brigade"Shirley double said.
"Second lieutenant Lina Tieri, Italian Armed Forces 4th Marines Battalion"Lucchini double said.
"By the way, Crystal. I though that Pierre will come with you"Hisako said.
"Nah. He's waiting for Michael, Linchov, Maleroshka and James"Crystal replied.
The three sat at the table on the side where Poles, Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian sat. Soon, the new five persons, more precisely five boys, entered the conference room.
The first of them was a tall boy with disheveled brown hair and green eyes. Although they were all dressed in gala uniforms, he was dressed in the usual uniform of the Swiss Army with the TAZ 90 camouflage.
The second boy was a medium growth, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in British Army uniform.
The third boy was the same growth as the second and had a black hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in US Army uniform.
The fourth boy was a little smaller than first, but higher than the second and third, with deep dark gray hair and yellow eyes. He was wearing the Russian Armed Forces uniform.
And the fifth boy was the same growth as the second and third and his hair had a brown-black mix color and green eyes. He was dressed in Belarus Air Force uniform.
The five boys saluted and started to introduce themselves:
"Captain Pierre Drichburg, Swiss Armed Forces 11th Infantry Battalion"the Swiss said.
"Sergeant James Hunter, British Royal Navy 25th Royal Marines Regiment"the British said.
"Captain Michael Johnson, US Navy 66th Marines Brigade"the American said.
"Captain Aleksander Linchov, Russian Armed Forces 82nd Spetsnaz Regiment"the Russian said.
"Captain Aleksandr Maleroshka, Belarus Air Force 7th Air Mobile Battalion"the Byelorussian said.
The five boys sat with other adjutants.
"Is this everyone?"Yoshika asked.
"No, we still miss four people"Michael replied.
After another few minutes, Two more girls entered the room. First of them was the tallest and had long black hair and blue eyes. The second was less about the head, with long snow white hair and blood red eyes. When Witches saw her, a slight thrill passed on their backs. Both girls were dressed in Finnish Defence Force uniforms.
"Captain Ellen Korharen of the Finnish Defence Force Pori Brigade"the white haired girl said and pointed at her companion"And this is lieutenant Eevi Nieminen".
"Hello"Eevi said to the Witches.
"And only two left"James said as the Finnish girls sat next to him.
Right then, another pair of girls entered the room. They was wearing Japanese Self-Defence Force uniforms. They had the same growth. The first girls had a long blue hair, what surprised Witches, tied in ponytail and blue eyes. The second one had, also long, but curly red hair with two orange highlights on both sides of her head.
"And this is our last two persons"Saltarski said"Could you introduce yourselves?"
"Sure"the blue haired girl said"I'm captain Kozue Adachi, Japanese Self-Defence Force 11th Infantry Regiment in Chitose and this is lieutenant Rin Tomori"And both girls made standard Japanese welcome nod and also sat with other adjutants.
"It's pleasure to meet all of you"Minna said.
"The same with us"Rin said.
Witches quickly introduced themselves. After that, Lynette raised her hand and asked:
"I'm sorry but…um…what kind of school is it?"
"What do you mean?"Maleroshka asked.
"Everyone is talking that this is ,,high school". But you have ranks, you wearing uniform. And you have weapons here".
"It's Military High School"Kozue said.
Witches were confused.
"Military…High School?"Mio replied slowly.
"Yes. But it's also like the secondary school. We also have normal lessons like math, history or biology"Linchov said.
"And why all those weapons are here? If it's a school, there's shouldn't be any weapons or maybe just mocks"Shirley asked.
"Well"Pierre said"Military High Schools are like little armies. Actually, such school can teach maximum of 500, 000 students like with American or Russian school. But there's a one rule: Military High School can teach only half of the country army. So if your country have army of over 1, 000, 000, like USA, the number of students is 500, 000"he explained."And this equipment is here to teach students how use it. That's why our schools have planes, tanks, riffles and others".
"So…It's just training equipment?"Perrine asked.
"Not exactly"Crystal said"Those weapons are real and we use live rounds. Military High Schools students are also parts of military contingents. Student's are taking part in every foreign missions it's nation currently provide. For example, some of us fought in Afghanistan a part of InternationalSecurity Assistance Force-the operation which goal is to keep the peace in Afghanistan and get rid of Taliban".
"So. You are not only students but soldiers, you use real weaponry, live rounds and took part in foreign missions"Minna summed"Yes, it's sounds like army".
"And only students on 2, 3 and 4 year can took part in those missions"Ellen said"But when the war broke out, all students have to fight. No matter if they're First, Second, Third or Fourth Years".
"Wow. This really makes an little armies from your schools"Lucchini said.
"Yes. But our schools are under orders of Ministries of Defence"Anton added.
"And there are two types of MHS: Land and Sea"James said"Land Military High Schools belongs to inland nations. In addition, Sea MHS belongs to nations with access to sea".
"Of course, the Military High School is not only way to get to military. The normal recruitment still is in use"Hisako added.
"But now, let's get to the bottom"Linchov said"I say shortly: we are at war now".
"With who, with Neuroi?"Eila asked.
Almost everyone, except of Krystian, Adrian and Hisako, were confused after hearing the strange term. But Linchov continued:
"No. We're at war with People Republic of China".
At this moment, Witches fell silent. They didn't knew what does ,,people republic" meant, but they knew what just ,,republic" meant. And this mean…
"You're fighting other people?"Yoshika asked.
"It's our sad reality"Adrian nodded.
"Oh…"
The Fusoan Witch hung her head and looked at the floor.
"Forgive her. She swore to protect everyone, and hearing about people fighting each other is…well"Sakamoto explained.
"It's understandable"Eevi said.
"And if you want to know why this war broke out"Michael said hanging to his pocket"this is the reason".
On table, he placed…a cube of glass.
"You fighting for this? For glass?"surprised Barkhorn asked.
"It's not a normal glass. Try to brake it"Adrian said.
Barkhorn activated her ability (what didn't surprised adjutants, because Saltarski told them about it) and with all her strength she hit the cube. Much to Witches surprise, the cube don't even scratch. In addition, it made an electric discharge that threw Barkhorn right into the wall. The Witches in shock saw as their comrade crash into the wall and fell on ground.
"Barkhorn-san, are you okay?!"worried Yoshika asked.
"Yes. It's…it's nothing…Ouch!"Barkhorn replied when she stood again.
The Witches looked again on the cube.
"What was that?"Sanya asked.
"This, my dear ladies"Maleroshka started"is Nitrosium-the supermineral that saved the world from energy crisis".
"If this resolved the energy crisis problem, why you fighting for this?"Minna asked.
"Let's start from the beginning"Anton said.
The screen mounted in conference room wall turned on and showed the map of world. Then, the screen zoomed to Mongolia.
"The Nitrosium were discovered in January 2019 in desert in Mongolia"Saltarski started"The later research showed that Nitrosium can be used in all three states of concentrations: solid as power plants batteries, liquid as a gasoline and gas in gasworks. The Nitrosium in solid form also have power to feed the 5, 000, 000 city for over 500 years".
Witches after hearing the Nitrosium usage widened their eyes.
"It also was used in military purposes. Thanks to it, we managed to create new type of tank armor, bulletproof vests, tank rounds, ammunition and created new types of weapons like Polish Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle and German Leopard 3 tank and boosted our military industry development"Anton explained.
"How does Nitrosium helped in military industry development?"Yoshika wanted to know.
"Well. It turned out that Nitrosium powered factories have bigger work speed and produce more equipment and other things. Also civilian factories powered by Nitrsoium works faster"Crystal explained"And making weapons using Nitrosium Armor or Nitrosium Plastic turned to be more cheaper than using normal steel or plastic".
Then, Tieri took the speech:
"The geological research showed that Nitrosium occurs through all USA, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Europe and Asia. But only one place in Asia was place, where Nitrosium not occurs"Tieri said. All terrains where Nitrosium was were painted in blue. Only one place were painted in red"China. The only Asian country where Nitrosium not occurs".
"And everyone was afraid to trade Nitrosium with China"James said.
"Why?"Erica asked.
"In 2018, the Chinese high rank military officer, general Don Nian made a military coup d'Etat, bringing down the leader of China, Xi Jinping and taking the power. Everyone was afraid what general can do with Nitrosium, and don't wanted to risk"Helena explained.
"But, to have any access to Nitrosium, Nian made this, what he considered as right"Ellen said.
"What did he done?"Perrine asked.
"In May, 2019, he attacked Mongolia. The Ulan Bator fell only after one week of fight"Krystian said, and Mongolia was, like China, painted in red on map.
"But it was not enough for him. Nian next targets was: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam"Crystal said."But the matter was going worse and worse. And in that way, on December 2019, China controlled whole Asia. From Papua New Guinea to Kazakhstan".
"I also fought in Central Asia. I still can't believe we lost there"Linchov added.
Witches were stunned. How nation can conquer whole continent? And in just seven months.
"But…How? How did they done this?"Mio asked pointing at map on the screen. Now, all terrains from Russian border to Indian Ocean was red."Fighting that long should exhaust their army. How they're still able to fight?"
"Well. Nian changed the Chinese recruitment law. Before coup, China didn't had forced recruitment. But when he get to power, he ordered recruitment of woman and men in age range from 16 to 57 years. Of course, Chinese military High School is free from this"Eevi replied.
"Before war, Chinese People Liberation Army had power of over 2, 250, 000 troops and together with paramilitary formations-over 3, 250, 000. Now, People Liberation Army has over 17, 000, 000 active troops, 23, 000, 000 reservists, 2, 100, 000 paramilitary and 500, 000 MHS students of course"Michael said.
Witches were more stunned, hearing and seeing the power of China.
"They were also using their Vulture Tactic"Natalia said.
"Vulture Tactic?"Lynette asked"What is it about?"
"It's simple. Chinese were taking every weapon leaved by withdrawing enemy army and adapting it to their standards"Drichburg said"They were doing the same with peoples".
"What?"Shirley asked.
"The Vulture Tactic also concerns people. Chinese were taking to their army prisoners of war and civilians from occupied terrains. And they were taking everyone: teachers, cooks, taxi drivers and other peoples who even never had any experience with army"Kozue explained."And their second most effective tactic was Man Wave Tactics".
"Man Wave Tactic?"Minna asked.
"The were sending waves of infantry right into enemy fire"Michael explained.
"Horrible"Lucchini said.
"But effective. Thanks to this two tactics, they conquered this territories"Adrian said"Actually, in history the MWT was rarely used by them. But Nian really likes this tactic and set it up as one of main Chinese tactics".
Witches were now thinking about Chinese Army. According to them, the People Liberation Army should change name on People Slaughter Army.
"But, Asia was still not enough"James suddenly said.
"What?"Barkhorn asked"How whole continent could be not enough?"
"He wanted all Nitrosium. Every single cube"Crystal added.
"That's how, when he learned that the world two biggest Nitrosium deposits are in Poland and Portugal, on January 12, 2020, he invaded Russia, and then Europe"Hisako explained."That's how, the European Defense War of 2020 broke out. Of course, we lost it".
"We all fought in it"Ellen added and looked at Kozue and Rin"Maybe not all. Kozue and Rin was fighting in Japan".
"But, even those two continents was not enough. That's way, Chinese did something that no one expected"Maleroshka added.
"What they did?"Minna asked, afraid of answer.
"On April 2021, the war satellite called Orbital Defense Initiative, or O.D.I.N in short, had it's final tests. It was powered by Nitrosium generator. It was the newest weapon developed by American company SpaceX and European Space Agency to be used against the Chinese"Michael said.
"What was the task of this 'war satellite'?"Sakamoto asked.
"It's task was to bombard the China mainland and force it to capitulate"Adrian replied.
"And how it was working?"Perrine asked.
"Maybe it'll be better if we show you"Helena said.
Then, on the screen, appeared a giant construction orbiting in space (as Witches guessed seeing the stars behind it). It had a shape of wheel, from which white arms departed. On every second was painted a flag, resembling the Liberion one, and it's name. From the middle of the wheel protruded two hings: giant spire on the bottom and a cylinder in the back.
Suddenly, the spire on the bottom of the O.D.I.N. started to charge. A second later, a series of blue balls was fired from it. The camera moved on the Earth, somewhere in the desert and showed some city with skyscrapers and it's suburb. Right at this moment, the blue ball fired from O.D.I.N. crashed into the city and completely erased it from the map.
After seeing like such big city was destroyed so quickly, Witches couldn't believe that human hand can make such a powerful weapon.
"This is how O.D.I.N. kinetic cannon works"Saltarski said.
"Kinetic cannon?"Erica asked hearing that name.
"Or energy cannon. Tell as you like"Janos said.
"But, somehow, Chinese learned about him. They captured the space shuttle and with it, captured the O.D.I.N. And…Well. Used it"Eevi said.
Witches wanted to know how Chinese used O.D.I.N. but they were afraid to ask. Finally, Sanya broke the silence:
"How they used it?"
"Simple. They targeted some cities and fired at them"Anton replied.
"Which cities?"Shirley asked.
"Originally, they targeted around 31 cities, that what O.D.I.N. on-board computer was saying, before Chinese cut off the signal. But they managed to destroy only 16 of them"Anton continued"It was Austin, Caldera Peak, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, but only partly, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego and Myra".
"Did you said Myra?!"Shirley shouted hearing her hometown name.
"Yes. The city was raised with the ground"Michael replied.
"No…No…"Shirley whispered as she imagined as the kinetic missiles from O.D.I.N. fells on Myra.
"Is she alright?"worried Hisako asked seeing Shirley.
"Myra is Shirley hometown back in our world"Minna explained.
Anton and Michael right then felt like donkeys.
"Sorry. We didn't knew"Anton said.
"C-…Can I go to toilet?"Shirley asked still thinking about Myra.
"Sure. Hisako, could you go with her?"Saltarski said.
Hisako came up to Shirley, and together with her left the room. Of course, Lucchini ran with them.
When the three leaved, the rest get back to conversation.
"Wow. I've never saw her in such state"Barkhorn said.
"And how would you feel if you found out that your hometown been raised with the ground?"James asked.
"Wait, you said that O.D.I.N. destroyed 16 cities, and I counted only 13 of them"Sakamoto said changing the topic to the current one.
"Yes. But those 13 cities was only in United States."Michael said"The other three was Alexandria in Egypt, Perth in Australia and Manaus in Brazil. In other words, the four, including US, other nations not under Chinese control and where Nitrosium occurs".
"That's how China went on war with every Nitrosium-having nations and how's Coalition was formed"Kozue said.
"But what happened to O.D.I.N.? Why he didn't destroyed the rest of cities?"Minna wanted to know.
"It was destroyed. Probably someone pressed the self-destruction button or destroyed the station generator. At least, we know that it fell to Pacific Ocean"Helena replied"It's explosion also destroyed the International Space Station that was near him".
"And, month after the O.D.I.N. strike, China invaded Hawaii, Egypt, Australia and South America. Now, they control all Hawaii, USA West Coast and some parts of northern Australia"Saltarski ended.
Witches were now thinking about everything they heard. The supermineral. The super powerful nation that conquered two, or three if South America was conquered too, continents. The space weapon. It was too many of it.
"If I can ask"Yoshika said"What does China do now?"
"Lately, they were conquering South America. Two weeks ago the last bastion of Coalition there, Caracas, fell"James replied.
"Why they conquered the whole continent, if only one nation had Nitrosium?"Sakamoto asked.
"They were lazy. They knew that Brazil expects the invasion from Europe, and fortified it's coast, so China wanted to attack it from behind. Nian don't wanted to negotiate the military access to move his troops through Peru territory, so he just invaded it. Later, Chinese forces just spilled across the continent"Janos explained.
"You didn't won even ONCE?"Perrine asked.
"Well"Saltarski said"We defeated Chinese several times. First three times were in 2020 during the Defense War. It was: Miracle near Olsztyn, Battle of Hamburg and Siege of Sedan".
"But our first biggest victory took place one year ago"Adrian said"Chinese entered the Sinai Peninsula, and crossed the Suez Canal, but Egyptian Army managed to drove them back. And this was our first biggest victory".
"First?"Yoshika asked.
"The second one was Operation: Sun Never Sets"James said"Or in other words, the liberation of Iceland, Ireland and UK that took place three month ago, and was made by our fleet".
"You saying that your schools managed to liberate three countries alone?"Barkhorn asked.
"We had support from the Regular Armies of Ireland and UK and Iceland Coast Guard"Helena said.
"Can I ask one thing?"Lynette asked"Why there're three schools on this ship?"She pointed at Helena, Natalia and Janos.
"Long story"Natalia said"During the evacuation of Europe, the parliament of European Union ordered the Sea High Schools to take on board as many Land High Schools as they can. NATO ordered the same by the way. That's how all Military High Schools of the Visegrad Group landed here".
"Germans wanted to take the Austrians, but they escaped from Europe with Norwegians"Adrian added and Anton send heavy look to him.
Right then, Shirley, Hisako and Lucchini get back from the toilet.
"You feel better?"Crystal asked.
"Yeah. A little"Shirley replied.
"Okay, thanks for explaining. It's nice from your side"Minna replied.
"No problem"Maleroshka replied"It was nice for us too".
"So, this is over of the meeting?"Sakamoto asked.
"Yes"Saltarski replied shortly.
After those words, everyone left the conference room.
19:45
Saltarski's room
Saltarski was laying on bed and hanging a RC controller. With it, he controlled a model of T-72 that was riding on the floor. He placed some training target, in form of mock of the building wall with integrated hit sensors and LED's, on the tank way. He set the tank turret in direction of the target, fired and soon the LED's lit up, symbolizing the hit.
Right then, Sakamoto entered the room. Through her shoulder, she had strapped sleeping bag. In the second hand, she had her sword.
Saltarski quickly looked at her and stopped the RC tank.
"What are you doing here?"he asked.
"Minna asked your general, where we have to sleep. He said to her, that we'll get the room allocation"she replied"Minna sleeps in his room".
Saltarski nodded. Then, Sakamoto noticed the tank on the floor.
"What is it?"
"Huh? Oh, right. This is my RC model of T-72 tank".
"RC?"
"It means 'radio controlled'. This controller that I have here, sends an electromagnetic signals to this tank and thanks to this, I can drive him. I'll show you".
He activated the tank, and drove some meters. Next, he turned the tank and made some turning. At the end, the tank drove under the bed. Saltarski put down the controller and set the mock target on the shelf.
Sakamoto was still surprised seeing how this tank moving.
"Don't be so surprised. It's not a big RC controlled thing"Saltarski said laying on be again.
"No?"she asked.
"There're bigger"he replied calmly.
She then noticed two other things: one screen hanging on the wall and one on the desk. Before she asked about them, Saltarski said:
"This thing on wall is TV. It allows you to watch movies and such things. And this black box that is connected to TV is DVD player. It's designed to play movies from special discs. This second thing, on my desk, is computer".
"Computer?"Sakamoto asked surprised.
She once saw the computer. More precisely, the ENIAC, probably first computer of the world. She remembered that ENIAC occupied almost whole room. She never suspected that computer can be that small.
Next, she started to set her sleeping bag. Then she looked at the photos standing on the shelf. On one of them, Krystian and Hisako was posing together in white-navy blue gala clothes. The inscription was saying: "Rozpoczęcie Roku Szkolnego 2012-2013, Glewiec, 1 Września, 2012". Sakamoto didn't knew what does that mean, but she now knew that Hisako and Saltarski were knew each other from some time.
"How long do you know Hisako?"she asked.
"From the birth"he replied. When Sakamoto get back to looking at photos, Saltarski added"We were born at the same day".
"Really?"
"Yeah. Our families knew each other since Hisako parents dwelt in Wierzbno, our home village. Our older sister were best friends too. Hisako's parents even helped my parents in choice of my older sister name".
"And what's your older sister name?"
"Yuma".
"And what's she doing now?".
"She went to collage in Canada together with Hotaru, Hisako's older sister. They both studying on Art and Humanities Research direction in the University of Alberta in Edmonton".
"Why Art and Humanities Research?".
"Yuma want to become an painter and Hotaru want to become a historian".
Sakamoto again looked at photos. She saw Saltarski in company with two girls. First of them was taller and had pink hair, tied in two ponytails that she put on her shoulders, and blue eyes. She was dressed in jeans pants and green T-Shirt.
"This must be his older sister"Sakamoto though.
The second girl looked like two year old, and had long brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a short red skirt and jacket.
"Who's she?"Sakamoto asked pointing at the little girl.
Krystians saddened and said:
"It's…It's my younger sister. She's name was Zuzanna, but everyone just called her Zuza".
"And what's happening with her?"
"She's…she's dead".
Sakamoto was shocked. She didn't expected this king of response.
"D-Dead?"
"Yes. She died during the Battle of Warsaw two years ago"he paused. Then continued"I promised myself that I'll find this one that killed her. And I'm going to keep this promise".
He then turned and covered with quilt.
"I'll tell you about it someday".
Sakamoto entered her sleeping bag and though about this everything. But before she knew, she was sleeping.
19:49
Near the Adrian's room
Yoshika and Lynette got the same room as Adrian. They also had the sleeping bags.
"It'll be for me the first time when I no sleep in bed"Yoshika said.
"Yeah, mine too"Lynette replied.
When they entered the room, they stopped dead.
Adrian was kissing with some girl next to the wall. They both were half-naked and Adrian started to undid fly of his pants.
"So this what they saying about you is true"the girl said"You like to go straight to the bottom".
"You should guess"Adrian said.
Right then, Adrian noticed Yoshika and Lynette standing in the door frame.
"What's wrong?"the girl asked. Adrian pointed at two Witches.
The girl and Adrian quickly ran to the bed and started to quickly dress themselves. When they ended, girl quickly left the room.
Witches looked at Adrian.
"Did we stopped you in something?"Lynette asked.
"No, no. I'm going to break with her anyway. I already have someone on my eye"he replied.
"Eh…What?"Yoshika asked.
Adrian sat on the bed and said:
"You know what does 'casanova' means?"
"It's a guy that change girls like gloves"Lynette said according to the truth.
"And I'm called 'Polish Casanova, the fastest lover of NATO' with reason"he replied.
Witches right then understood.
"Easy, I don't going to pick up any of your friends"Adrian provided.
Two girls sighed.
"I see that you're going to sleep here"he said, seeing the sleeping bags.
"Yes. Your general told us to sleep in your room"Yoshika replied.
"So, make yourself comfortable".
Yoshika and Lynn set their sleeping bags and lay down in them. Adrian also lay down on bed and covered in quilt.
"You not going to change?"Lynette asked.
"No. I like to sleep in things that I was wearing whole day"he replied as he undid some buttons in his uniform.
After this, he was snoring. Witches looked at each other.
"And think that he wanted to have sex with that girl"Lynette said.
"You think?"Yoshika asked looking at him".
"Seeing what they were doing here, I can say yes".
They closed their eyes and, despite the Adrian snoring, fell asleep.
19:53
Near Hisako's and Diana's room
On the other hand, Shirley and Lucchini had to sleep with Hisako and Diana.
"I just hope, that Hisako is not angry at you anymore"Shirley said.
"Probably not"Lucchini replied"Besides, how'd you feel?"
"Better. I just couldn't believe that Myra was destroyed".
"Yeah. But you can be calm, because Myra in our world is still on place!"
"Fact. I didn't know myself why the fate of this world Myra hit me so hard".
Right then, they entered the room.
It was a big room, bigger than the others, with two beds on different sides of the room. One of the beds blocked the wardrobe. On the wall, in front of Diana's bed, was hanging a TV with attached DVD player on the dresser and under the window stood two desks turned with their backs to themselves. On them, stood computers and books was laying. The shelf's were divided in two parts signed ,,Hisako" and ,,Diana". On shelf's stood books, DVD's and photos.
Hisako were sitting on her bed, when Diana was laying on her backs and reading the book. When the two saw the Witches, they quickly stood up.
"Hi. You'll be sleeping in our room?"Diana asked.
"Yes"Shirley replied"I see that you're not angry, Hisako".
"Nah. It passed away quickly"Hisako replied.
Then, Shirley again looked at Diana's eye patch.
"What happened to your eye?"she asked.
Diana touched her eye patch and said:
"Third-level meeting with Chinese interrogation specialist. He burned my eye with cigarette".
"Ouch"Lucchini said.
"Yeah, it's hurts. But I learned to live with it".
Shirley looked at walls and saw some posters. On the Diana's said, she saw posters of movies like ,,Transformers: The Last Knight", ,,Blade Runner 2049" or ,,Alien: Covenant". She first time saw this movies, but the robots on the first poster looked really cool. In addition the poster with a ugly black monster on the white background and with word ,,pray" written under it looked really scary. She deduced that it have to be a title Alien.
When she looked on Hisako's posters, her eyes expanded. She saw posters on which were really futuristic cars. Every poster showed the car from really impressive angle and on the track. The posters were named ,,Bugatti Divo", ,,Doge Viper" or ,,Ford Mustang".
"You like cars, huh?"Hisako asked seeing Shirley's face.
"I more prefer motorcycles, but wow! Those cars look really cool!"
"Yeah. I was always interested in automotive. In the age of eleven I've even built my own go-cart".
"Oooh, really?"Lucchini asked.
"Yeah, but...Let's say that I'm not the best constructor and during the first test, I crashed into a tree and landed in hospital for two weeks"Hisako said shyly.
She then yawned.
"Tired by this day?"Shirley asked her and yawned too.
"Yeah. I think it was too many for me"she replied with smile.
Then, Lucchini yawned too.
"I see that all of you are tired"Diana said.
"And you not?"Lucchini asked.
"I want to end the chapter, that's all".
"And what book are you reading?'Shirley asked.
She took the book and showed them.
"'Felix, Net & Nika and the Palace of Dreams'. Only twelve pages left to read"she explained.
"Huh. So, enjoy reading"Shirley said, setting her sleeping bag.
The Witches and Hisako lay down and fell asleep.
19:56
General Sobczak room
Minna was laying in her sleeping bag. Meanwhile, general was sitting on his bed and reading the book. She rode the book title. Pan Tadeusz.
"General"she said.
"Yes?"he replied putting the book down.
"I wanted to ask about your adjutant".
"Captain Saltarski? Ask".
"I noticed that he has so…unconscious look. Why?"
General looked at her and said:
"Captain's younger sister was brutally raped, then killed during the Battle of Warsaw. It all happened in front of him. That girl was only four year old".
Minna couldn't say anything after hearing it.
"Who?"she finally asked"Who could do something like that?"
"Chinese officer-lieutenant Hu Lizing of the PLA High School. Since then, Saltarski want to take revenge on him".
This time, both of them didn't said anything. They just covered themselves with quilts and fell asleep.
XXX
And the chapter 2 is done. Before someone say. It's just a story. I know that conquering whole continent (not mention three) is almost impossible. But hey! It's just a story. There everything can happen. And, I tried my best to explain how China did this everything. If someone don't understand, please write in comments, and I'll try to explain it better.
Minna: Exactly.
Hey Minna. How do you feel after hearing what happened to Saltarski?
Minna: I feel sorry for him. He's even a cool guy. And seeing your sister being raped and killed…Somethings horrible.
Yeah. But now, see in the next chapter!
Minna: See ya!