Chapter Ten:
…
Well the commandant thought she had gotten quite the promotion.
It is official. The Commander of the Australian Fleet has been missing ever since the initial attacks on Japan. The Rear Admiral had been leading a Kanmusu exchange programme with the Japanese. The Australian Navy has lost one of our finest strategic planners and its best ship girls.
The Australian Navy has taken a beating. The Australians have lost a significant military port and fleet officers when Darwin was lost. The command structure is being adjusted.
Before the attacks, the commandant's rank would be the equivalent of a lieutenant commander. She had been in charge of the Kanmusu facilities in Darwin.
A large portion of the military personnel in Darwin escaped. They had managed to evacuate Kanmusu and other personnel before the city was occupied.
But this means the commandant has become the most senior officer in this group. So to reflect her status, Australian Fleet Command has given her a temporary position. She has been promoted to Acting Captain.
She is with navy personnel and Kanmusu in the middle of the desert. The ocean is thousands of miles away.
This is a worrying sign.
When they fled Darwin, the group lost most of its military assets. Hopefully the base in Adelaide can bring them back up to fighting strength.
There are two huge hostile forces now sailing down the eastern and western coasts of Australia. These forces are destroying and occupying the important coastline. The coast is where most of Australia's population and their homes are.
The Australian navy is massing warships and ship girls for counter-attacks. But the navy is weakened. There will be only a dozen patrol boats and destroyer escorts (frigates) for the counter-attack on the hostile eastern forces.
Australian Kanmusu on the eastern coast includes; the Majestic-class light carrier, Melbourne, the Colossus-class light carrier, Vengeance, and perhaps a dozen cruiser, destroyer and destroyer escort Kanmusu.
The Alliance eastern forces have at least two dozen powerful conventional ships. They have dozens of Kanmusu. They have modern supercarrier ship girls.
That is why the commandant has chosen to take this group to the southern city, Adelaide. It will probably be the last city the enemy will arrive at.
Their only hope is that they get more time.
The enemy forces chasing Hood and Cooke were fought off and returned to their countries. Those forces had to chase them across entire oceans.
The Kanmusu with Hood and Cooke have linked up. The plan is for them to smash through the enemy forces on Australia's western coast. There is only one major city along the west of Australia. The enemy forces will be much weaker on the western coast.
If all goes to plan, all these Kanmusu will meet at Adelaide.
The last plan had us meeting at Darwin. Hopefully the new plan works this time. There is nowhere for them to flee if Australia falls.
…
With something like the internet, news spreads fast.
It was everywhere. One battlecruiser ship girl standing against the ferocious strength of the Darwin surprise attack and stopping the advance. The Kanmusu had walked into an opposing fleet, survived, and walked out with two Kanmusu as prize ship girls.
People who were still resisting the Alliance used this as an example of a victory among the recent defeats.
However the internet is being monitored. The people who openly criticise the new Alliance are tracked to their locations and disappear. People find ways to express their dissatisfaction by supporting this Kanmusu.
'For us, there is no land behind Australia.'
The videos of the fight between the battlecruiser ship girl and four battleship ship girls are taken down.
But everyone is reminded again. Reminded of that name, Stalingrad.
…
Sadly the captain of Liquid Assets, Ethan Feuriels could not come with them. Hopefully he managed to survive.
Akashi is looking into something to replace Stalingrad's missing arms. Until they get the proper facilities and supplies, they cannot reconstruct her whole arm.
Akashi can make Stalingrad some prosthetic arms though until they can get her arms reconstructed.
Resource has more urgent problems to deal with.
Stalingrad's overall health is in trouble. She had to cope with extreme damage without immediate medical assistance. She waited on the back of a vehicle with the desert temperatures and heat. Resource moves her to the largest hospital in Alice Springs.
Stalingrad's crew go for some well-deserved shore leave.
She goes to get Midway. Midway's crew has a look at the battlecruiser ship girl. Even American damage control hesitates. Stalingrad is more scrap metal than battlecruiser.
Stalingrad was never in the best health to begin with. When she got into that battle at Darwin, she was still recovering from pervious combat damage.
The battlecruiser ship girl is sedated. Midway's engineering teams go through the gaping wounds and explore her insides.
When they get out, the chief engineer asks to speak to Resource privately.
It seems Stalingrad's construction has problems. The post-war economy and industry of the Soviet Union after World War Two had to find places to cut expenses. The battlecruisers were never finished. They were not checked for flaws before they were cancelled and Stalingrad was used as a target ship.
Subjected to continual and complete damage, Stalingrad's electronics are showing malfunctions. Her internal plumbing has been exposed to sea water, heat and the harsh environment. The battlecruiser is showing catastrophic failures across the ship.
The battlecruiser ship girl was already malnourished and poorly maintained when she arrived in Australia. She was supposed to be scrapped a week ago by the Russian navy, so she did not get to eat enough. Add the maintenance issues to the overall damage and the battlecruiser ship girl is not in good condition at all.
There seems to be only one reason the battlecruiser has not died yet. Owing to her complicated internal design, the vast range of components, backups and materials fail at different times. This let the battlecruiser stay ahead of the damage.
To make things worse, the battlecruiser ship girl also suffers from severe rust to her insides.
Resource asks the chief engineer if they can solve all these problems.
It will be a task of mammoth proportions to restore the battlecruiser ship girl to her previous health. The battlecruiser will need unbelievable amounts of medical and ship supplies.
"Could we change her internal structure while we perform repairs on her?"
The chief engineer shakes her head. The battlecruiser needs full health before any modifications are made to her.
"How much time would it take her to recover?"
The chief engineer holds up her fingers.
"Is that in weeks?"
The fairy shakes her head.
"Months?"
The fairy nods.
Resource looks at the battlecruiser ship girl.
How would she react to this?
…
I would have joined everyone for dinner. An all-you-can-withstand buffet. But Resource does not think it is safe for me to eat regular food. She's not sure where the food would end up in me.
She lets me go after her medical inspections. I'm not happy with what Resource told me, but the circumstances are demanding all around the world.
I apologise to Kiyoshimo for how I behaved and insulted her. But she did not hold it against me. I suspect she may have told the others because people hugged me even more, if that's even possible.
Everyone was talking and watching movies until late that night.
We rented a small holiday house for the destroyer ship girls to stay together. So all the Kanmusu flocked to this place.
We were not expected to move until tomorrow evening, so it was okay to stay awake until late.
Murakumo and I ended up being the only ones still awake.
We have quite the conversation. She asks me why I spoke of land battles of the Second World War as if I was there.
"I only know what I read."
"Why are you lying, Stalingrad?"
So she could tell.
If you ask many Kanmusu what they remember, they will tell you about naval fights. That is to be expected when you and your sailors were at sea.
I ask Murakumo if she can remember anything other than being at sea.
"Well," she says, "The relationship between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Navy was terrible. I do not recall much about what happened on land."
Then I ask that sensitive question.
"So, you do not remember any of the war crimes that the Japanese committed?"
Murakumo explains to me that the sailors in the Imperial Navy were treated far better than soldiers of the Imperial Army. She believes that the Army was more prone to committing those crimes.
"What do you remember, Stalingrad?"
Well let me think.
The navy and army are meant to be distinct forces with their own places to fight.
But that was not the case for the Soviet Navy in the Second World War.
The Germans and their allies had seen the effectiveness of the attack at Pearl Harbour. The Americans were retreating out of the Philippines. The Pacific was sent into chaos.
So the Germans learned.
The Soviet army and air force were told not to respond to the Germans and their allies gathering on the border of the Soviet Union.
The German ambassador to the Soviet Union handed over a declaration of war.
The Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, Germany's undefeated army and air force subjected us to their blend of blitzkrieg and Pearl Harbour.
The sailors of the Soviet Navy were put on the highest combat alert. They were waiting for the German navy, Kriegsmarine, to show up in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea.
No attack ever materialised.
The Germans trapped our ships in port. They placed naval mines with 660 pounds (300kg?) of explosives around the Soviet fleets.
So the Soviet sailors had to watch as the Germans and their allies brought the Soviet Union to its knees. 4 million Soviet soldiers were dead, wounded or captured in just the first few months.
The Soviet sailors had to fight with our comrades on land. They built a close working relationship with the other military branches as they fought in our burning cities.
Actually, the Soviet Navy was known as the 'Red Fleet.' Moving on…
So the other Kanmusu remember grand oceanic battles and voyages.
I recall there never being enough of something. Never enough food. Never enough warmth. Never enough tanks. Never enough weapons. Never enough graves. Never enough time.
I recall having to run from the Nazis. I'm sorry that we had to leave our own on the other side of the river, but destroy that bridge before they cross.
Use our motor oil to burn our villages and farms. Scorch our suffering homeland before the enemies come in and take and take and take…
I remember the sailors and soldiers marching into Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). The broken city that had been the jewel of Russia. One million had been starved when the Germans surrounded it. For two years, families were starved enough to eat each other.
The wilful disregard of human life. The suffering of the citizens. Terror and murder, massacres and brutality. Momentous clashes that destroyed everything we had built.
I recall sailors taking part in the apocalyptic battles. That engineer that had to plant mines in front of advancing Panzer tank divisions. That naval infantryman that had to drive in the dark, following the white-painted back of the tank in front of him so the Luftwaffe would not see the tanks. That naval officer that was told 'You either dig your own fortress or your own grave' and dug more trenches than most people walk on ground to their jobs. Those sailors who had to crawl through the rubble when the snipers got busy.
The Soviet sailors fought with the soldiers. From the long road of defeats to victory. Fighting with the soldiers in huge battles that turned the landscape red from the bombs, rockets, shells and blood. The Soviet sailors fought in hand-to-hand and side-by-side with our comrades.
Our own people slaughtered. Our own people taken to Germany to work and die. Our own people were tortured. Our own people lost so much, but we never stopped fighting.
We did not stop fighting until the Italians had been wiped from our homeland. We did not stop fighting until the last person was freed from the death camps. We did not stop fighting until the countries of Asia had reclaimed their homes from the Japanese.
We won. That is what the historians said. We completed every objective we were given. But we lost.
We were tired. The Russian people were tired. We had let the Germans and Italians develop their ideas of socialism into psychotic fascism. The Russian people were paranoid. We installed our communism in other countries in the hopes we would never fight like that in the homeland again. We scared our allies.
Our cities and towns would not recover until the decade was over. Our economy and industry would not reach pre-war conditions for another decade. Our population would not stop falling until half a century later. Our shortages of homes, schools, railways, roads, hospitals, factories and libraries would not be rebuilt for decades. We buried more than of our own people than we could count. We lost track when it went past the first ten million.
Our allies hated us. They blamed us for our way of life. The way of life we had bled for. They blamed us for our quality of life. The quality of life that resulted from our struggle for freedom.
But that war was nothing I suppose, to what I can remember happening even earlier. But the historians struggle to write anything glorious about the famines and production disasters and the purges of undesirables.
It is supposed to be a mark of respect that our allies feared us.
The Russian people died at the battlefields, died at homes, died to our government.
You know, Stalingrad always seems to change its name when there is a change in the government and regime. When it was owned by the Tsardom of Russia, Tsaritsyn. Stalin in charge, Stalingrad. Nikita Khrushchev conducting the show, Volgograd. The Alliance better name it something nice.
I guess there are ship girls who are named after important places and such.
There might even be ship girls named after Tsaritsyn or Volgograd.
But my name is Stalingrad. What do people think of when they hear that?
As the BBC commentator said at the time:
'Stalingrad swallowed Hitler's armies. Poland was conquered in 28 days. In that same time in Stalingrad, the Germans might have managed to capture several houses. France fell in 38 days. In that same time in Stalingrad, the Germans might have managed to cross the street.'
…
"So," grumbles Enterprise, "We're supposed to go around to the other side of the country."
So now Cooke and the Kanmusu have arrived at Australia.
They have two options. Discard their equipment and travel on land. Or fight through dozens of warships coming at them from all sides.
"Now girls," Cooke uses a loudspeaker to address the Kanmusu from his luxury yacht, "Remember to be polite when you meet the Australians. They might forget their manners since they have the war on their doorstep."
"Sir," says Enterprise, "What is the plan?"
"Obviously we have to stay in the ocean and go around Australia."
"… **** me…"
…
We hit the road the next evening.
I literally did. Kiyoshimo and Murakumo drop me as before they could load me into the vehicle. They apologise. I tell them I was slapped around by large-calibre explosives and this is nothing. That gets Haruna and Hiei to apologise. I tell them all to calm down.
I miss having arms. I never realised how important they were to me until they were gone. Without my ship rigging, falling on my face did more damage than the large-calibre shells the Kongou-class sisters fired at my face. Next time someone aims for my command centre, I'm taking the shot on my chin, because I regret blocking those shells with my arms.
And my body is freaking out, wondering where my arms have gone.
'This is brain central. Please report your status, arms."
'...'
'Hey! Arms corp, respond!'
'…'
'Oh no, set everything to red alert! EVERYONE PANIC!'
Arms and hands are amazing things. They have evolved with humans over time to help us manipulate our environment. Now I can't type into a keyboard. Now I can't grab a snack. I could eat some prosciutto right now. Prosciutto is salted and cured ham. Humans put salt into food so it doesn't taste like dirt, so obviously prosciutto tastes amazing.
I reckon the Australians could make really good prosciutto. All my meals since I have arrived in Australia indicate they have a healthy respect for meat. The ratio of meat to vegetables in some meals appears to be two sausages to a lettuce leaf. So they must be able to do amazing things with their meat if they eat it all the time.
So now we are back on the road heading to the south part of this country.
Kiyoshimo insists that I sit with the destroyer ship girls, but I need to talk with the commandant. I mean, captain Alanta.
…
"Why do you say that?" says the acting captain.
"Well," says Stalingrad, "The Ship Girl Initiative programme in Australia is illegal in the eyes of the Alliance. And they own most of the Ship Girl Initiative. If they are on the enemy side, it's only proper that we call ourselves something different."
"But. Exodus. Initiative. It sounds too awesome to be a military programme."
"So?"
"You know what? Screw it. I'll get Fleet Command to refer to it as that."
The two would have shaken hands to commemorate this moment if Stalingrad had hands.
…
Some supercarrier Kanmusu should never be invited to a marathon race.
Some supercarriers can comfortably travel around the whole world without stopping.
Gerald R. Ford is one of these Kanmusu. She happens to be nuclear-powered, so she does not need to stop and refuel frequently.
Iowa has the group's last decent anti-air defenses. She fills the air with burning metal as the supercarrier saturates the skies with enough jet aircraft to defeat small nations.
The supercarrier has chased them since they left Pearl Harbour.
There is only one option when this group mostly contains vintage Kanmusu.
Run.
…
HMAS Voyager contentedly enjoy her cup of tea as she sits by the banks of the Swan River.
There would be a battle. The fighting would reach them. Eventually.
Perth is the most isolated city in Australia. It is the only city on the entire western coast of Australia and contains almost everyone that lives in the Western Australian state. It will take time for the enemy to get to them.
When you were a ship with battle honours in the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres, you have to appreciate the quiet moments.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday."
Hm? She walks over to her equipment and picks up the radio.
"This is HMAS Voyager. What is your problem?"
While she waits for the response, she takes a sip from her tea.
"This is Arizona. We need immediate assistance."
Voyager inhales her tea and starts choking.
"Are you still there?"
"I'm sorry," she gasps, "Could you please repeat that last statement?"
"I repeat. This is Arizona. We need immediate assistance."
"You guys made it?" says Voyager.
"Obviously."
"Hold on for a minute." Voyager waves the 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' over.
The 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' was a name given to five Australian destroyers by Joseph Goebbels.
It consists of the V-class destroyers, Vampire and Vendetta, and their cousins, the W-class destroyers, Voyager and Waterhen. Their honorary family member was the Scott-class destroyer leader, Stuart.
This particular formation saw action in the First World War with the Royal Navy, and then was given to the Australian Navy. Then they fought at the Mediterranean and Pacific.
But despite their reputation, the Australian navy kept them at home because there were other Kanmusu to fight at places far from home.
And despite their reputation…
"They brought Arizona back?" asks Vampire.
"They must have done it recently," says Voyager.
"Weren't they travelling around to all those historical sites?" says Stuart, "I imagine they probably brought back Arizona for morale purposes."
The Abyssals have been around for a while. There is evidence they were around since the 1947 Roswell Incident. The war with the Abyssals began to really pick up in the 1950's, but the Cold War made information disappear into nowhere and people were more concerned about political wars by proxy.
This war has been going on far too long. The ship girls of the United States Navy are given holidays as well. It is a popular choice for them to visit the historical sites where they fought. The United States probably brought back Arizona because of her symbolic importance to the American people rather than combat.
It's always been a struggle to secure public support. People criticise the United States for bringing back ships that have questionable effectiveness or histories. But the battleship Arizona is something different.
Arizona was the most devastating loss in the attack on Pearl Harbour. To have lost more than a thousand lives and her flag officer when she went down. That completely obliterated any resistance to the United States participating in the bloody battles of the Second World War.
"Let's go help them," says Stuart. She picks up the radio, "What are your coordinates, Arizona?"
…
"Here you go."
Resource sets Stalingrad onto a chair. Then she goes into the next room.
Then the repair ship girl wonders what she is supposed to do.
She has formulated so many ideas while they drove to Adelaide. But those ideas that felt so correct during the journey feel wrong now.
Where is she supposed to start fixing the battlecruiser?
"Um," Akashi pats her shoulder, "Would this help?"
Resource looks at the green liquid sloshing about in the water bottle Akashi is holding.
"What is that?"
"The Japanese were working on an experimental new complex that could repair ship girls," Akashi smiles, "We stole all the prototypes."
"And, um, how does it do it?"
"No one really knows. But before the scientists died, they said it could expedite or quicken repairs for a ship girl if they put some on themselves."
Resource feels sweat rolling down her face. If this goes wrong, Stalingrad will throw down 'cheeki breeki' on her.
…
"No way."
No way this shifty substance could work exactly as intended.
The two repair ship girls mixed the prototype complex into a bath and put Stalingrad in it.
And …
Stalingrad is as good as new. Better than new. Her recovery time has been slashed to a few weeks.
Her Soviet-processed steel used to be sort of questionable before. But now it gleams, completely free of the rust and grime and cracks.
Her electronics which kept returning errors, operate like they were installed yesterday.
Plumbing and pipes that were completely mangled, have slotted into back into place.
"Can we make more of this stuff?" asks Resource.
Akashi shrugs.
…
What.
I feel good.
I feel great.
The good doctors told me that they wanted to try something.
And now I feel completely healthy. And they gave me some epic prosthetic arms.
These prosthetics were developed by the Chinese when they decided to do something with all their injured sailors. It straps to my arm stumps and then responds to my neural stimuli.
Where are all these wonderful inventions coming from? I'm just a Cold War peasant. I'm not used to the technological master race giving me gifts.
The only downside is that my hunger has returned.
'You wot mate? These fluids they injected are not food!' says my newly returned stomach.
'We second that!' says my newly realigned intestines.
And now that I have something to replace my arms…
Resource told everyone I was not to leave bad for a few days and to leave me alone so I could recover.
So to give me something to do, Resource hands me a tablet computer.
"Comrade," I say, "Are you showing me another wonderful invention?"
"Not really," says Resource as she logs into a program, "But I wanted to show you something."
"Oh?" I say, "What is it?"
"They just implemented the Stalingrad battlecruiser into the Warthunder game. The developers gave it to us, free of charge."
I look at the virtual ship floating on pixelated water.
"This is so great."
"And that's not the end of it," Resource opens another application, "You also got into the beta for World of War-Ship Girls."
Resource clicks on a box with me in it. It has the Roman numerals for eight to the side of it.
I look at the virtual representation of me standing nonchalantly on the waves.
"It's not unlocked for you yet," says Resource apologetically, "The developers said the Stalingrad might be overpowered in the gameplay."
"Outstanding."