Chapter Nine:
…
"Excuse me, could you help us?" asks Hiei in English.
The Australian farmer frowns at the strange accent. He stops loading his pickup truck and looks to the source of the voice.
He stares. Then he looks away. Then he looks back.
There were three young women. One of them looked like she had swum in a pool of blood. And she smelt like something that had died.
The other two were wearing some strange robes and gold-coloured headbands.
With the news saying that foreign soldiers were occupying the larger Australian cities and the Australian coastline now in danger, the farmer is suspicious and scared.
Was that something moving in their pockets? It looked like a very small head.
"What do you want?" He reaches down into the truck and reaches for his 16 gauge shotgun.
Hiei looks to Stalingrad.
"Good comrade," says the bloodied woman, "We were caught up in the fighting and need to get away from the coast."
Well, that is actually a legitimate reason.
His pickup truck has enough seats to sit all of them. But he does not want the dead-smelling woman in the car.
"She has to ride on the back though," he points to the armless woman.
…
The Australian navy and air force had been overwhelmed.
Now, soldiers from territories occupied by the Abyssals were entering Australia's largest towns and cities.
The Australian soldiers had been at war with the Abyssal for years. The Australian people had seen the stiff resistance other countries around the world had offered. They were not going to let the invaders walks through the front door without a fight.
The soldiers hid amongst the civilians and ambushed the invaders with grenades, rockets and machine guns. Military and improvised explosives scattered and disorganised the invaders. Snipers crawled along the rooftops and high buildings raining death upon their targets. Buildings were toppled onto the invaders.
The vast majority of Australia's population inhabit coastal areas. The foreign warships and aircraft brought the artefacts and monuments of the Australian people crashing down on them. The fight was too much in the Abyssals' favour. Already the Abyssals were planning Australia's new politics and economy. They would reward those who cooperated with them and punish anyone who refused to follow the new regime.
…
"Nothing?"
"Nothing on radar, Kongou-san."
The warships and Kanmusu had pursued the battleship and battlecruiser ship girls until they had disappeared off their radar. Most probably they had gone on land and taken off their ship rigging.
Kongou sighs. She was sighing a lot more these days. It used to only be when the Admiral rejected her love confessions and advances. That was before the Abyssals took over Japan and her sisters went missing.
When she gets her hands on that battlecruiser who abducted her sisters. Kongou, who is a proper lady brought up in England, imagines herself becoming uncommonly violent.
Hm. Someone was trying to contact Kongou on the radio. Kongou has her ship rigging on. All she has to do is cover her ears to listen.
"What is it Amatsukaze?" Amatsukaze is one of their escorts, a destroyer ship girl.
"Admiral has an urgent message."
…
The ships of the Malaysian navy were still waiting.
The influential and powerful people that did not agree to follow the Abyssals' orders, had been removed. As a result, the navy had many new people holding jobs they had no idea how to do.
The captain of the Malaysian frigate Jebat, was supposed to be commanding bulk cargo ships. He had attended the meetings and protests organised by the Abyssal sympathisers just to make sure his wife and sons did not get hurt. There were times when the Malaysian police and army had arrived to break up those gatherings. Those times had been very dangerous and scary.
And now he is in command of a powerful naval vessel because he is trusted by the new government and military that was now filled with Abyssal supporters from all background. He had personally known a few of them, and they thanked him like this…
He has little idea what he is doing. But he has to look like he is in control.
"Tell the unidentified vessels they are to immediately identify themselves or leave Malaysian territorial waters."
"This is Her Majesty's Ship, Hood, and these are my friends."
The Malaysian navy still needs repairs and supplies. There had been fighting when the Malaysian government was overthrown and then the navy was being reorganised. Fighting was still going on in some parts of Malaysia, and people were new to their jobs. This means the Malaysian military was not prepared for another major fight.
"State your purpose for entering Malaysian territorial waters."
"We are passing through Malaysia. Very violently."
"Sir," that was one of the officers that used to work for an advertising company. And now operated the detection gear of a warship, "there are more contacts. Another set of warships attacked our fleet near Johor Bahru!"
That city was near them. Too close to Kuala Lumpur city.
"Shouldn't they have been someone else's problem?" mumbles the captain.
"Enemy aircraft inbound," the officer tries to understand the detection screens, "Velocity is 434 kilometres an hour (270 miles/hour) from the direction of John Bahru."
"The vessels with Hood have not changed their course and are heading towards us." Another officer must have been in the Malaysian military before because he told the captain all the information the captain could need to respond to the situation.
"Eh, fire missiles."
"How many and at which target?" asked the professional-seeming officer.
"… Some for … each… um, ship."
…
The miniature TBF Avenger bombers drop bombs and torpedoes at the sixteen Malaysian warships.
The TBF Avenger could carry 2000 pounds/907 kilograms of torpedoes or aerial bombs. The smaller Kanmusu version of the TBF Avenger may have smaller bombs and torpedoes, but they still deal the same amount of damage as their regular cousins.
The tiny aircraft dropping very tiny bombs and torpedoes completely demolished the Malaysian warships stationed near Kuala Lumpur.
The warships were not well protected against the torpedoes. They are meant to be floating platforms that shoot long-range missiles. They were not designed to survive thousands of tons of well-meaning explosives. Maybe other ships had inches of steel and metres of space to protect them, but these warships did not.
"It's a shame we had to kill them," says Hood.
"Hey."
The European ship girls meet the American ship girls. Commander Cooke is on the top of a luxury yacht with three decks.
"We thought you would arrive. Took you long enough," says Hood.
"What are you talking about? We just happened to be here," says Cooke. He tips his naval cap over his face.
"If those ships shot any missiles, we would have been totally screwed. Thanks."
"So now that we are all here, we can go sort out the serious problem."
"You mean in Australia?" asks Hood.
"I mean right behind us," Cooke points in the direction of Taiwan.
"You brought guests for us?" Hood indicates the direction of Europe, "And we have guests over there as well."
"Wait," Cooke scratches his head, "Both of us were being chased?"
"Obviously I thought you had a plan."
The ship girl and the commander stare at each other.
…
New Mexico and Pensacola were sad Kanmusu.
The battleship and heavy cruiser had to deal with their new commanding officer. Their previous commanding officer, a greying Vice Admiral, had been promoted to a three-star billet at the beginning of the war. Well, since the war was publically declared. The government tried to keep the Abyssals a secret.
But anyway, the old man had looked after the ship girls of the United States Third Fleet since they were first introduced. Whenever a ship girl got into trouble outside of the base, he was efficiently able to fight off the waves of news reporters and public criticism.
There was that time when the politicians thought it would be a great idea to change the ship prefix for American ship girls. Instead of USS, it would be USSG – United States Ship Girl. Like it mattered and needed to get voted on. The old man had made it clear that the ship girls enjoyed their traditional naming schemes.
But anyway, the new commanding officer was definitely not as competent as the old man. Because he could not be bothered remembering all of them by their proper names, he remembers them by something else.
Now Pensacola is 'Pepsi-Cola' and New Mexico is 'Tex Mex'.
It makes them very sad Kanmusu. They have their own nicknames.
But most of the new naval officers are just as bad or even worse. They got rid of the ship girl's old officers and there is nothing the ship girls can do to complain. They have to follow all the orders handed down by the navy until they are retired or dead.
Most of the people being appointed to powerful positions are chosen because they are loyal to the Abyssals, and not because they are well-suited. Some of the officers were just pissed off with the old system, some just wanted power, others had believed that the Abyssals could not be beaten in the war. Among these Abyssal supporters, probably less than a tenth knew how to operate the United States navy.
"It's not that bad you guys," says the destroyer ship girl, McClusky as they sit down at a table by the shore. Because of the constant fighting, the officers want them ready, and their equipment is close at hand. None of them have had much time to relax because the new officers are scared and nervous.
"Oh cheer up," says the battleship ship girl Nevada, "You can change his mind later."
"Easy for you to say," says New Mexico, "He did not give you completely shitty names."
"I beg to differ," says McClusky, "He calls me 'McCluster-fuck'."
"Okay," laughs Pensacola, "That is the worst I've heard."
"But he calls Nevada 'cheer-up ship girl' because she's lucky enough to have been called that in the past."
"Come on guys, chee - " begins Nevada.
"Shut up," grumbles New Mexico.
New Mexico yawns and then pulls out a newspaper. The front page declares 'Victory in Victoria: Australian state capital city of Melbourne surrenders to the Alliance.'
The Alliance is now just a name for the countries the Abyssals believe they control. It does not mean that all the Abyssal-occupied countries are co-operating with each other. It's probably going to change.
New Mexico turns to the relevant pages and reads.
By now, the invasion forces are entering some of Australia's largest cities. Australia is a large island and has a long coastline, but the takeover of Australia will end in Alliance victory. The Alliance also wants to use some of its forces in the region to occupy New Zealand as well. Very optimistic of them to just split their forces.
The photos in the newspapers do not have confronting images. There are pictures of the Alliance soldiers helping the Australians citizens. There are never pictures that show too much of the death and destruction.
There are mentions of other battles in other cities which the newspaper covers, so New Mexico looks at those.
It is one of the smaller articles that catch her attention.
…
'Criminal Kanmusu in Darwin disappear.'
Yesterday, at 8:30 am in Darwin, the Alliance made a daring and courageous manoeuvre on the city of Darwin. While the city is now in the capable hands of the Alliance, the foreign Kanmusu fugitives being harboured by the illegitimate Australian government managed to escape. Attempts to seize the Kanmusu were stalled by an unexpected obstacle. The foreign Kanmusu have been dishonourably discharged by their respective navies and have been accused of committing grievous war crimes.
Along with these Kanmusu, a substantial amount of military personnel managed to evacuate before the Alliance could capture the city.
The official information is that the aforementioned unexpected obstacle was a 'battlecruiser' Kanmusu. The Kanmusu managed to hold the attentions of the Alliance forces before escaping with two Alliance Kanmusu as hostages.
The Alliance is acting with the assumption that this particular Kanmusu is the Stalingrad, the lead ship of the unfinished Stalingrad-class.
This Kanmusu has been a disruption to Alliance operations in the Asian region on numerous occasions. The Kanmusu smuggled the fugitive Kanmusu illegally through Philippine and Indonesian waters.
As the name suggests, the Stalingrad-class were Soviet ships. Had they been finished, they would have been the last battlecruisers with large-calibre artillery in the Soviet navy. They would have been some of the last 'gunslinger' ships of the Soviet Union.
The Russian government has announced that the Kanmusu presumed to be Stalingrad was to be scrapped for unsatisfactory performance. If this is the case, the Alliance may have to review the changes it wants to make to their inventory of Kanmusu.
The Kanmusu engaged Alliance warships for almost an hour before it took its hostages and retreated. It was pursued, and contact was lost when the Kanmusu escaped onto land today. The 'unsatisfactory' performance of the Kanmusu proved to be a major annoyance to Alliance efforts to peacefully occupy Darwin city.
The hunt for the fugitive Kanmusu is still ongoing.
Pictures below:
…
"Anything interesting in there, Mexico?" asks Nevada, the blonde girl has notices New Mexico has frozen.
"Not really," says New Mexico. She shows them the article, "Look at this woman."
The other three ship girls look at the pictures.
One of the pictures is the plan views of a battlecruiser, side and top.
The next picture is an artistic impression of the battlecruiser.
Not a bad-looking ship.
Then there are photos of the ship girl.
They have been around North Carolina, and she's called the 'Showboat' for a reason. The American Kanmusu thought they were immune to many of the ship girls being beautiful.
The serious-looking woman in the photo is very pretty. This photo must have been taken before she became a criminal. She has the legs and thin frame of a cruiser, but not the muscled arms of a battleship. It kind of reminds the American ship girls of the German heavy cruiser ship girls.
The next photo has her smiling. Woah.
It looks like the woman tried a small smile for the first time and got excited when she did it.
What is striking about that smile is that it seems to hold the emotions of bittersweet happiness, regret, exhilaration, fear, and sadness at the same time. The smile is like a snapshot of all the feelings the woman is having in that moment, a glimpse behind those pretty eyes and face.
But these conflicting emotions all seem natural for the woman's face. It's… breathtaking in a subdued way. Elegant.
"Did you guys finish reading?" asks New Mexico.
"… I was too caught up looking at those photos," says Penascola.
"Yeah. She's stunning," McClusker agrees.
"Never mind."
…
Kiyoshimo cries herself to sleep.
The Kanmusu have ridden in the back of a Bushmaster armoured personal carrier for more than half a day with barely any stops. Murakumo looks at the pocket watch Quickmatch takes out. The time is almost 11:00 pm.
They have to get from the northern city of Darwin to the southern side of the country.
The distance the invaders have to travel to get to all the cities is huge. The majority of the invading forces went to the eastern coast of Australia, where most of the other Australian cities are close together.
All the major cities hug the Australian coastline because it gives them access by sea to the rest of the world. Now Kanmusu, human and Abyssal warships were travelling along the long coastlines and putting hostile troops onto the land.
Darwin was gone, but it would take a while for the whole country to be occupied.
The planned destination is the southern city Adelaide. The Stuart Highway is a major road that does not mess around. It will take them straight from Darwin to Adelaide.
The highway is shared between the Northern Territory and South Australia state. A few years ago, the government set a maximum speed limit for the Highway at 68 miles/hour or 110 km/hour.
But the convoy of military and emergency vehicles coming from Darwin go traditional. They have removed the speed governors from their vehicles. Speed governors limit the top speed of a vehicle. There may be reasons for this. That did not matter now.
As the convoy zips across the Australian interior, the drivers – there are more than one because you can't stop a vehicle on the Highway because you're tired – turn up the volume of the radio. It's depressing to hear the news reports. This area has been bombed, please get away and stay away. There is fighting in this town and unknown amounts of casualties. This military unit has been destroyed.
"Okay girls," the driver sounds like he's taking his daughters to the football. The football that you wear gear so you can run into people, "We arrived in Alice Springs. That means we are halfway there."
Alice Springs sits in the middle of Australia. It's a large and comfortable town to stay in if you want to explore the desert.
"Thank you," Murakumo is eager to get out because she's been in the vehicle for so long.
"Here," that driver hands the ship girls some brightly-coloured notes and coins, "Find somewhere to stay and be back to the vehicles by tomorrow evening. After the sun starts setting, so 7:00 pm."
The sun starts setting at 7:00 pm? That must be tough to live around here.
"When does the sun start rising here?"
"5:30 am."
Murakumo shakes Kiyoshimo awake. Then the two destroyers set off.
…
The Australian town is twitchy and nervous.
There is little chance they will be attacked this far into the country. Hopefully.
But suddenly these girls had entered the town looking like foreigners and wearing strange clothes.
Nestor and Quickmatch easily sooths their suspicions. They enter a fine dining establishment.
"Can we have a menu here, mate."
The word, mate, is used differently in the Australian context. It's like their version of bro, boyo or lad in Australia.
So Nestor and Quickmatch settle down into a nice clothed table and chairs and enjoy pork belly with potatoes.
Murakumo looks at the weird and wonderful shapes and colours of Australian money. Because the Kanmusu had, unsurprisingly, more experience with the Japanese currency (Yen), the amounts seemed too small. What could this 10 dollar note get you?
Murakumo and Kiyoshimo were not very familiar to the foreign customs and culture. They very quickly head towards disaster.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
It appears that they have stepped into a tavern or pub. All the people here have some form of liquor.
Murakumo instantly puts all engines into reverse and backs away towards the door.
"Argh!"
One of the drunken men has grabbed Murakumo arm.
"I asked you a question!"
…
Stalingrad generously hands over to the farmer a blue note that proudly displays $10. Well, more accurately, Haruna took the notes out of Stalingrad's pockets and handed them over.
"Many thanks comrade," says Stalingrad.
The sun has gone down. She thought she was getting cooked on the back of that truck. The back of a pickup truck is conveniently known as tray. How… appropriate.
The Kanmusu almost stopped in the middle of nowhere. But now, like an oasis in the desert, a large and busy town seemed to have sprung up from the endless sands and shrubs of the Australian desert.
Of course, people noticed the strange sight of three women covered in blood and dressed strangely. And were their pockets moving? They obviously did not know they were Kanmusu.
"What," says that voice which Stalingrad instantly recognises.
Stalingrad turns and beams at the repair ship girl.
Resource has been recovering from the traumatic moment when she had glanced into Stalingrad's soul. It had been terrifying. It seemed that as she looked into the abyss, the abyss looked into her. It had inspired terror and other random emotions that Stalingrad had been feeling.
Resource thought she had been able to recover. After all, it had been a long time since then.
Then she realises that the corpse she was staring at was…
"We have a battlecruiser named Invincible," said Resource, "But what the actual - "
Then she remembers that the battlecruiser looks like a corpse.
"I had to leave the rigging behind," says the battlecruiser ship girl cheerfully, "Too heavy to move on land. Worked like a charm though."
"… You better come with me."
"My good doctor, is there somewhere that my comrades can stay?"
Then Resource notices two Kanmusu she has never seen before. But they seem familiar…
"Hello," one of them bows, "My name is Haruna."
"And I am Hiei," the other bows.
Resource looks between the Kanmusu.
"You have quite a story to tell."
…
In many places, a tavern is part of a bigger establishment. On many occasions, the tavern shares the building or premises with accommodations.
Resource leads us to one of these excellent establishments.
"Been here least time," she goes to open the door, "Great service and - "
Then she stops and stares at the door because that sounded like a girl screaming.
Is that Murakumo?
Haruna turns to face Stalingrad and asks what they should do.
"Open that door."
Resource opens the door and I take a moment to judge the situation. Judging the situation before I get too –
I can see Murakumo getting harassed.
I know as a Kanmusu we are not meant to fight the people we are supposed to be protecting. Our ship rigging gives us most of our strength and abilities, but we are still quite strong. We could probably fight a professional boxer.
But that does not matter.
I'm quite tall so I might have to crouch a bit to head-butt them.
…
Dear Great Comrade.
This must be what it feels like when the capital ships get swarmed to death by the littler ships.
All around me are these cute little destroyers and even some light cruisers coddling me. I can't move. Please. Help.
Resource and Akashi looked into my missing arms. They said they would have to rebuild my arms. Actually, first Resource scolded me for frowning. She has gotten so used to me smiling when it gets painful that it really distracts her when I don't.
I've been on the back of a pickup truck getting cooked at 130 degrees Fahrenheit/(like, 54 degrees Celsius?) for all the time the sun has been up. I'm not joking when I say it was up in the sky for more than twelve hours. The pain got boring. A wine connoisseur gets bored if they taste the same blends or variety of wines.
I don't really get to use my extensive lexicon or vocabulary that stores all the offensive language my crew and I remember. But it makes me this close to swearing like a sailor. You could not see how close it was could you? Oh yeah, that's because I have no f*c*i*g arms.
S*i*. I can't start **************** swear now. Not with all these adorable little ship girls all around me.
They were really excited because I somehow came back. Again. The Japanese Kanmusu and Midway-
(I forget we had an American with us. I forget so I don't go around and ask her to fight me)
Thanks for wiping off the sweat Hiei.
I try very hard not to gunboat diplomacy Midway.
-Anyway, the Kanmusu are getting used to seeing me come back alive from heavy damage.
We will get to Adelaide, but what we do there is something that will have to be answered when we get there. Or earlier if they give me back my arms.
