Hey there everyone, sorry for the delay, I had been busy with life but that's all done, so let' get on with the chapter
Chapter 38: The Foggy Seas, the Goddess, the Destiny and the Faithful
1947
6th June
Vilnius Sea
Gallian destroyer, Kléber
It was the middle of 1947 and the Coalition were steadily pushing the Empire and the L'Hexagone allies back and now the Coalition Naval forces moved in to blockade the Empire from support from the L'Hexagone however the waters northeast of Falmarr are uncharted waters and seeing how the Coalition naval forces that were on expeditionary voyages were redirected to assist the Alliance Nations therefore the Vilnius Sea was never actually explored or charted by the Coalition therefore the Coalition ship crews were unfamiliar with these waters.
"Do you see anything?" A Gallian lookout asked.
"No Pierre but I see fog approaching" Another lookout said as he pointed to a large dense fog approaching the Gallian destroyer.
"Oh great, that will make our job even harder than it already is" Pierre grumbled as he took out a flask and drank some coffee.
"Hey got any more that coffee?" The second spotter asked.
"Yeah Joseph, I got more" Pierre said as he poured a cup for Joseph.
"This Radar to Spotters, do you guys see any islands ahead?" The radar operator asked via the speaking tube.
"This is Pierre, well can't help you there, Francois, there is a thick fog rolling in and we can't see anything" Pierre answered.
"Understood, damn this is making my job tough" Francois grumbled.
"Hey Pierre, is it me or is this fog closed in faster than expected?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah, weren't we about a few kilometres away from this thing?" Pierre questioned.
"That's why I am asking you" Joseph said, "Hey Pierre; there is something to our port, I think"
"I can't tell but it looks like something is out there" Pierre said until flashes appeared and the sounds of explosions were heard. Then the destroyer rocked violently as ship as geysers of water erupted next to the ship while the ship was hit by something.
"Sacre bleu; what the fuck was that?" An Anti-air gunner barked.
"CORPSMEN! CORPSMEN!" A sailor shouted.
"CREW! MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS! MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" The captain barked.
In the bridge
"Captain! Damage Control report that we are flooding in deck two!" A sailor barked.
"Helmsman, hard starboard now!" The captain barked.
Spotter Deck
Then more flashes were spotted and more explosions and once again the entire ship rocked violently. Joseph was thrown into towards the railing facing the bow and he watched as something smashed into the side of turret number two.
"ARGH!" A sailor screamed in pain.
"What is shooting at us?!" A sailor shouted.
"I have no idea" Another sailor shouted.
"MY LEG! MY LEG! AHHHHH!" A gunner screamed.
"Radar is knocked out!" Francois reported.
"Fuck, the smokestacks are mauled"
"Turret two is knocked out!" A sailor shouted and the ship shock even more violently when the second forward turret exploded.
"PUT OUT THE FIRE! PUT OUT THE FIRE!" A sailor barked.
"Come on boys, we need to stop the fire!" An engineer barked.
"Helmsman, hard starboard now! Get us out of here!" The captain barked. Kléber turned away heading for friendly waters and she was mauled badly, Coalition servicemen at Pearl's Gate were stunned to see the limping destroyer struggle into port and hear that twenty sailors were now dead. However Kléber wouldn't the last ship to come under attack as a few weeks later another Gallian destroyer, this time the Le Terrible was also crippled by the mysterious attacks which the Coalition now are certain they are cannons as sailors found cannonballs stuck in their destroyer and the wounds on the unfortunate sailors were similar to those inflicted by cannonballs. The next victim was the destroyer escort USS LeRay Wilson however unlike Kléber and Le Terrible; LeRay Wilson sank with fifteen of her crew while the survivors were picked by HMLS Kamloops.
Then HIFMS Hōshō was set ablaze from cannon fire but not before a Zero witch launched from the Hōshō was able to identify what was firing on the Hōshō, it was a battleship that resembles the pre-dreadnought battleships of the Gallian Navy but these ships were white in colour and looked rather comical (For what they looked like, look up Miyazaki's Steampunk Battleships and they are the white battleships) if it wasn't the fact that these ships have killed quite a number of Coalition sailors.
However the strange thing was that the warships were constantly shrouded in fog then it was when a pair of submarine girls, Torsk and Darter observed mages on board the L'Hexagone warships cast a spell that shrouded the ships in a dense fog. Admiral Halsey was not a happy man when he found about this and had some choice words about the cowardly tactics of the L'Hexagone Imperial Navy. He however had an issue; most of the naval forces of the Coalition were still days away as they sailed from Yoroppa while most of the ship girls were assisting in the construction of the Kiseki Islands.
However he remembered of a number of ships just coming out of the naval yards of Synapse and they were the home fleet of the 555th Joint Fighter Wing and Halsey remembered the very first naval action the taskforce took part within hours of arriving into Soethea. They were just two hours into their deployment in Soethea and right after their fleet roster was changed where USS Ranger was swapped with USS Card, USS Gleaves was reassigned to guard Fort Serenity while USS Texas, Petropavlovsk (formerly Marat), SMS Bayern, USCGC Taney, USCGC Mohawk and HMLS Wentworth when they rescued over five thousand slaves from a fleet of slave ships disguised as troop ships. This at first confused everyone in the fleet however it was soon apparent that the slavers wanted to dispose of the slaves because they were deemed "worthless" or "undesirable" and how they planned to do this is to have the UNAF attack the ships thinking they were part of the Saderan war effort thus killing the slaves. These slaves, five hundred of them were children between the ages of 1 year to 12 years old, were a mix of human that were not of the same race of the Saderans and extra-species. These slaves were too sickly, too weak, too ugly or disabled. This angered the 555th, the sailors of Conch and the ship girls of Conch. Megan, better known as Meggie was furious and berated one of the captains and threatened to rip his hands off and shove it down his throat which she followed up after that captain scoffed and tried to smack Meggie aside. The Conch sailors then began taking the freed slaves the ships onto the decks of the USS Texas and Petropavlovsk as the sailors the CRNS Wolf rounded up all 200 slavers and locked in the rowers' deck of the last ship in the line of troop transports. Then Tanisha and Vichy flew up from Calypso and they set fire to the ships and Taskforce Conch sailed back for Fort Serenity, the United Nations Naval Base where the naval gates the Saderan Empire used to attack Norfolk, Halifax, Portsmouth, Toulon, Taranto, Hamburg, Pula, St Petersburg and Tokyo. This was the biggest number of slaves freed in a single patrol. This added another record to the 555th's list of achievements. Anyway after that patrol the ships of Taskforce Conch were sent to Synapse for rebuild and the Angeloid were surprised how dated the ships were compared to the other ships they had rebuilt but rebuild they did and now Halsey had ships to work with.
He knew how capable these girls were so he thought the Marine Impériale L'Hexagone should be spanked and what better way than with the 555th.
"This will teach them" Halsey grinned.
10th June
Vilnius Sea
Marine Impériale L'Hexagone
Dominique De Villiers
"Once again, the builders of Brest has done well, this battleship is a splendid ship" The admiral said as he stood next to the captain at the bridge of the ship.
"Yes that is true sir and it is much better than the old Bretagne" The captain said.
"Bretagne? It was a good ship but times have changed and that means bigger and better ships" The admiral said, "However it is rather annoying that we can't make our enemies cower from our proud battleships, the admiralty is too scared to use our ships effectively"
"I agree with you there sir, I long to see the fear in the face of our enemy when we approach their miserable fleet" The captain said. Suddenly the wind began to pick up and the water began to become very choppy and it was getting worse and worse. Soon the fog which the L'Hexagone used to disguise their ships was now being blown away and the sea was becoming extremely rough.
"Captain, the fog is getting blown away" A sailor shouted. Suddenly the sound of metal twisting and bending before a large explosion was heard and everyone in the bridge turned to the direction of the explosion.
"What was that?" The admiral asked.
"Sir! It is the armoured cruiser Mathieu Bescond, she is been hit! She's crippled, no! She is sinking, sir!" A spotter shouted.
"What?" The admiral gasped. Just then, a signaller shouted into the speaking tube.
"Commander the battleship Lyon is signalling that they are under attack from a fire magic" The signaller shouted before a deafening explosion was heard.
"What the hell was that?" The captain demanded.
"Sir, the Lyon has exploded sir! The destroyers, Algerie and Djibouti were caught in the explosion are now burning!" The signaller shouted before a loud crunching noise was heard.
"Maginot hit an iceberg! She is sinking!" Another sailor shouted. Just then a droning noise was heard.
"An iceberg?! We are in the tropics" The captain said.
"It just appeared out of nowhere, sir!" The sailor reported.
"What is that droning sound?" The admiral asked.
"Sir! There are strange planes in the sky" A spotter pointed to the sky. The admiral looked up and saw cross shaped blue specks approaching the fleet.
United Nations Naval Forces
With the F4f Wildcats
"Holy shit, look at the size of those ships" Clifford said as he looked at the fleet of L'Hexagone ships, all looked grand though one was sinking while three other ships were burning from stem to stern.
"Well don't worry Cliff, those will be at the bottom of the sea soon enough" Bradley said.
"Cut the chatter boys" Jasper ordered, "We are on mission"
"Sorry sir" Cliff said.
"Roger boss" Bradley replied.
"Now, the Avengers will be making the attacks on the Hex bastards and we got to make sure they don't get pounced" Jasper said, "Got that?"
"Yes boss" The other pilots of Gamma flight replied.
"Also we will be coordinating with the fliers of the Card so no funny business, especially from you Clifford" Jasper said.
"Why me?" Clifford asked.
"Because you are the clown of the flight" Edwin said.
"Calypso fliers, this is Captain Schwarz of the Card's Fighter Squadron, I hope we can work together without problems" The lead of the Card Wildcat fliers radioed.
"Don't worry, Schwarz, my boys will stay in line" Jasper said.
"Alright, Delta flight, let's sink some battleships" Alvin radioed as Calypso's Avenger torpedo bombers flew in low towards the L'Hexagone warships meanwhile high above, the witches were causing chaos and confusion.
"Alright Amina, make them dizzy" Vichy said.
"Okay Vichy" Amina said as she zoomed pass in between the L'Hexagone ships. The daughter of Shirley Yeager was using her Speed Boost very effectively as she shattered windows and deafened sailors as she zipped past ships. This caused confusion, chaos and panic among the L'Hexagone ships as soon some of the ships smashed into each other, then came the torpedoes from the Avengers from both Calypso and Card. Geysers of water erupted and reached for the sky while explosions consumed the L'Hexagone ships as their fires ravaged the ships. Amina did a few more sonic booms before resorting to using her M1918 on the L'Hexagone sailors.
"Here are some diplomacy fuckers!" Franco shouted as he fired his 30 cal at the warships and the Hex sailors as his plane turned away from the warships. Out of the fleet of eleven ships, none were undamaged and more was coming.
Then it was the heavy hitter of Taskforce Conch, Tonya with her 75 mm cannon with eight 5 inch rockets attached to the wings of her striker's turn to play the song of destruction. She tore through the L'Hexagone ships that were still floating and unleashed hell. Her Projectile Guidance ability was a useful ability as she guided her rockets to individual ships thus increasing the damage output she had. Then Taskforce Conch came into the range of the big guns of the battleships escorting Taskforce Conch and they let loose with their guns. Soon the proud fleet of eleven L'Hexagone ships were all but wiped out, only a single destroyer remained and it too was badly mauled but Admiral Gittleman orders a halt and a turn back for Pearl's Gate. It is rumoured that as Gittleman surveyed the destruction of the L'Hexagone force, he uttered these words before giving the order to cease fire and recall all fliers, "He who controls the air controls the battlefield".
This continued until the full might of the United Nations Naval Forces was brought to bear to destroy the L'Hexagone Forces two weeks later in which, Taskforce Conch headed towards the tropical south where they began scouting the area there and they uncover a new country called the United Federal States of Spartania which completely inhabited by Reptilian humanoids called Spartanians and thanks to the 555th immediately laid the ground works for the Coalition to create an alliance with the Spartanians.
FLASHBACK
"Shiver me timbers! Land ahoy!" Wentworth shouted as she waved excitedly her wooden sword at the approaching landmass.
"Mohawk, why did you tell Wentworth those pirate stories?" High Tide grumbled.
"I am sorry but how else could I entertain her?" Mohawk said.
"Hey ease up High Tide, at least it gave Wentworth, character" Conch West said.
"Well let's see what this island has in store for us" Western Union said. Taskforce Conch approached the islands and soon it became obvious that this island was different. It was inhabited by reptile humanoids and this made the girls of the 555 so fascinated as they saw how colourful the Reptilians were. They soon found out that the Reptilians were actually Spartanians and that they had arrived on the coast of the Federal Republic of Spartania.
Harlem Cove
"Well it looks like the girls are having a blast" Finnbar said as he watched from the Calypso, the girls enjoy themselves while the sailors, marines and airmen were enjoying the company of the Spartanians with telling stories or cracking jokes with the Spartanians.
"Yes, I am surprised you and your people are fine with my kind" Pasypso said as she looked at the joyous scene, "Most would run away or raid us for nefarious purposes"
"Well, we are not like the humans you had met before, unlike them, we believe in equality no matter what is your race or form" Finnbar said. Then the Spartanians and the Coalition forces signed the Treaty of Dynaborough in 1947, in the capital, Dynaborough.
END OF FLASHBACK
The strange thing that the Coalition found that the Spartanians had Industrial Era technology but has not improved their gunpowder technology as their warships had ballistas as offensive weapons. The Coalition soon began sending old small calibre guns to arm their ships. This were mostly Britannia's old 6 pounder guns, Karlsland's old 37 mm guns and Orussia's aging 47 mm cannons.
Halsey, with Katherine's go-ahead then assigns the 500th to reinforce the 555th JFW in the large tropical region. It was discovered that L'Hexagone had colonies set up in the region, this was done by accident when several witches from the 555 which were Tracie, Susan, Cindy and Mary had an impromptu gunnery classes for a group of Spartanian kids when they stumbled across a landing party made of L'Hexagone sailors, the witches and Spartanian kids immediately wiped the floor with the L'Hexagone landing party and took their ship and sailed for a bit before Conch ship girl Wolf recovered them two days later and in that time, the girls discovered a number of small dragon communities which the girls of the 555 immediately became friends with these communities however they found that the island these communities lived on was about to erupt so they evacuated back to Taskforce Conch will all the small dragons, all 150 dragons. This earned the taskforce, the nickname Taskforce Dragon.
Anyways by July of 1947 Halsey gave orders to Gittleman to raid the Imperial 'Hexagone trade routes and colonies while supporting the Royal L'Hexagone colonies in operations against so Gittleman decided to use the small dragons to help the scout witches to find these trade routes and colonies. This was difficult in the beginning as the dragons would cause confusion and chaos for the Taskforce Conch but soon they got really good at their job and the L'Hexagone were cut off from their resources in their colonies. However, unfortunately Taskforce Conch's work had to be the side show as most of the United Nations Armed Forces prepared to attack the L'Hexagone Empire.
1947
30th June
Vilnius Sea
5000 m over the sea
A lone Helldiver from USS Enterprise was scouting the sea in hopes of searching the L'Hexagone fleet for the UNAF fleet that was hunting for L'Hexagone ships to destroy when the gunner noticed something in the sea below.
"Hey Bob" The gunner said.
"What is it, Gills?" The pilot asked.
"I see something down there" Gills replied.
"Are you sure?" Bob asked.
"Bob, do I ever lie to you?" Gills replied.
"That's true, alright let's see what you saw" Bob said, "So where it is at?"
"Off to our port wing" Gills said, pointing to dark dots in the distance.
"Okay, turning port" Bob said he rolled to port to see the dots in the distance, "Oh I see them… look like ships… wait are we approaching our fleet?"
"No, it can't be our fleet, Bob, our fleet is to the south west of us and this to our north west" Gills said as he checked his map.
"So this is a completely different fleet all together… wait, what is the course of our fleet?" Bob asked.
"Their heading straight for L'Hexagone" Gills said.
"I mean direction" Bob asked.
"They're heading north east" Gills said
"And what about this fleet, where do you think it is heading?" Bob asked.
"Wait… they are heading south east" Gills said as he calculated the direction of the unknown fleet with the map, "Shit! Bob, the fleet's on a collision course!"
"I figured so" Bob said, "Gills, get the camera out, I am going in low and I want you to take photos of those ships"
"Are you sure, Bob?" Gills asked worriedly, "That is a big fleet you know"
"Gills, do you want let our buddies on the Big E down?" Bob asked.
"Y-you're right" Gills said.
"Alright now get ready on that camera" Bob said, "Because we are going below the clouds"
"Got it" Gills said as he took out the camera as Bob brought the plane down to 2500 m above sea level and above the mysterious fleet and the two Liberion aviators were stunned at what they saw. The fleet was a massive fleet with ships that were bigger than even the Yamato class. The two Liberion fliers then started counting the number of ships and categorized them to known classes and what they found was rather disturbing. There six carriers and two of these were massive, accompanied by two gigantic battleships, two super battleships, four battlecruisers, six heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, ten heavy/large destroyers and eighteen destroyers with an additional of at least 40 ships and they were steaming for a collision course for the Coalition Naval Taskforce.
"I got the pictures now let's get the hell out of here" Gill said.
"You don't have to tell me twice" Bob said as he turned straight for Enterprise like a bat out of hell however Bob didn't realize that he had flown lower and closer to the mysterious fleet.
GNS Endeavour
The anti-air gunners of the massive battleship watched the lone dark blue big tailed plane circled around however the order was never given and they watched that plane race straight south.
"Was it a good idea to let that aircraft leave, Admiral Moeka?" The captain of the Endeavour asked.
"Well Letterman, I didn't want to cause an incident that could bring another enemy to our republic" Moeka said.
"What do you mean, admiral?" Letterman asked.
"Have you heard of new force that has arisen in the past two years?" Moeka asked
"Admiral, you can't be serious, that's just a rumour" Letterman said.
"If that is the case, Letterman, care to explain what nation that plane would have come from?" Moeka asked, "It can't be the L'Hexagone, they currently operate biplanes and that was a monoplane, it definitely can't be the Saderans, they don't even have electricity let alone planes, Holstein is out of the question as they are to the northeast of our country and so is Zeon which is to the west of our country, it can't be the Natsukans as that plane doesn't fit with contemporary Natsukan designs and besides Natsukans paint their planes white not dark blue" Moeka said as she crossed out any other possible nations the aircraft could have come from.
"So what now?" Moeka's chief of staff asked.
"Now Hayate? Now we wait and see what happens" Moeka said.
USS New Jersey
The mood in the flag bridge was tense as Admiral Halsey and the other high ranking officers in the fleet plus the key members of the 501st, the 509th and Taskforce 141 as they looked at the images sent over from the Enterprise and they painted a bleak picture as they showed a large naval taskforce was sailing in a collision course with the Coalition Taskforce.
"God damn it" Halsey said as he looked a photo of one of the capital ships, "This is one hell of a fleet and we don't know if it's friendly or not and we are heading straight for it"
"And this may be one battle we will get hit badly" Jisaburō said. Halsey looked around the flag bridge to look at the faces of all the officers and they were all worried and stressed. This was one of the few times Halsey had seen Grace and Minna, arguably the two most experienced witch commanders looking very nervous, uneasy scared and while Amirah's face was stoic, Halsey could see in her eyes and how much smoke she puffing out that she was stressed.
"Damn, these ships are bigger than our Morgana class battleships" Admiral Oktobrenisky as he scratched his blue hair.
"Heck, even our Hell-class battleships aren't as big as that" Admiral Shaikovsky as she bit on her cigar harder.
"Bloody hell" Somerville said, "And the worst part we don't know what nation these ships are from"
"Wait a minute, let me look at the pictures" Relius said as she walked up and looked at the pictures and recognized a picture, it was a destroyer which had a name written on the side and it seems she recognized the destroyer, "I know this ship! This is the Akatsuki of the Gamindustrian Navy, they are not hostile"
"And this is the Endeavour" Masako said as she pointed to the massive battleship.
"What do we do, Halsey?" Somerville asked.
"I suggest we turn away" Jisaburō said.
"Nyet, that would make us look like cowards, especially with the Alliance sailors" Admiral Ivanov said.
"Then what option do we have?" Admiral Lütjens asked.
"I propose we have most of the fleet turn away from this fleet as to not collide with it but send a detachment of ships, which should mostly consist of our best and biggest ships so to not give them the impression that we are weak, to make contact with this Gamindustrian fleet" Amirah suggested as she held her pipe, "It may be risking but it gives us a new ally, a very strong ally, which we can use to crush the L'Hexagone Empire and get back to the reason we were deployed here in the first place"
"For someone who claims to be not well versed in diplomacy, you are very good at it" Relius said.
"I am just stupidly lucky" Amirah said as she put her pipe back into her lips.
"I think Amirah's suggestion is the best option we got, Admiral" Somerville said, "What do you think, Halsey?"
"Let's play diplomat" Halsey smiled, "Alright, here is the plan, we will have our best and biggest battleships and a few of our carriers to sail to the Gamindustrian fleet while our main fleet will turn away so to avoid collision, and hopefully we would be able to establish communications and sort a deal"
"Which ships are we going to send?" Shaikovsky asked.
"Well we can't send all so no offense but we can't risk your battleships because if we have to fight, we need a backup force to have available" Halsey said, "So the ships we are sending are the following; Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Maine, Yamato, Musashi, Saitama (A Yamato class), Tsushima (A Tsushima class), Iwate (Tsushima class), Bismarck, Tirpitz, Hindenburg (H-41), Friedrich der Große (H-41), Lion, Temeraire, Thunderer, Vanguard, Invincible (A Vanguard class) and Belorussiya will sail for the Gamindustrian fleet and backing them will be Enterprise, Essex, Midway, Shinano, Hakuryu, Graf Zeppelin Zwei, Malta and Archangelsk (An Orussian version of an Essex class carrier) while their ship girl versions of themselves will accompany the battleships"
Minna and Grace looked at each other and nodded.
"Sir, we would like to send of our witches to accompany these ships" Minna said, "From both the Strike Witches and the Hell Born Witches"
"I think I can have some of Taskforce 141's members to act as extra security" Amirah said as she crossed her arms.
"Alright, now that's settled" Halsey said, "Let's do some diplomacy"
Soon Taskforce 1942 was split into two, with Taskforce 1942.1 turning starboard to avoid a collision with the unknown fleet as Taskforce 1942.2 under Vice Admiral Yukikaze continued sailing towards the unknown fleet. The sailors on Taskforce 1942.2 were rather nervous as they saw the rest of the fleet turn away. Many manned their stationed despite the fact the order wasn't given. Some of the aircrews and witches were at their machines ready on the flight deck. Radar operators were watching their screens to watch for anything approaching the fleet. It didn't take too long for something to show up on their radar screens.
Shinano
"Vice Admiral! Iowa reports that they got a large cluster of contacts northeast of them" A radio operator said.
"Montana is reporting the same contacts, ma'am" Another radio operator said.
"So it begins" Yukikaze said as she took a sip from her coffee however her hand began to shake considerably that she places her mug down.
"Yukikaze, are you alright?" Her deputy asked.
"I am fine Uranami" Yukikaze said as she took a seat in her chair.
"Ma'am, Rear Admiral Stuart is asking for orders" The first radio operator asked.
"Tell all ships and ship girls to continue current course, maintain speed" Yukikaze ordered.
"Understood, commander" The radio operator said before she broadcasted the message to the rest of the fleet.
Gamindustrian side
GNS Akatsuki
The Grizzly class destroyer was one of the destroyers that formed the radar picket line that arched in front of the Gamindustrian Fleet. The destroyer was on the western most end of the radar picket line. The crew were at their posts and on edge especially since the appearance of the mysterious blue plane two hours ago. Suddenly the radar picked up a cluster of contacts to their southwest, approaching the fleet.
"Commander, we got radar contacts!" The radar operator said.
"What's the direction and size?" The commander asked.
"Southwest of us, sir, size is… oh my god" The radar operator paused.
"Damn it Jones, tell me how many are there" The commander barked.
"There are thirty large contacts and thirty small ones size" The radar operator answered.
"Can you guess their speed?" The commander asked.
"They are going at 32 knots, they will be in visual range in fifteen minutes, sir" The radar operator said.
"Tanaka, inform Endeavour, tell them we got a fleet approaching from the southwest" The commander ordered.
"Aye-aye, sir" The radio operator replied.
"Want me to head to the auxiliary, commander?" The deputy asked.
"Good idea, just in case" The commander said.
"See you later then" The deputy said as she raced for the auxiliary bridge.
"Sir, the Endeavour replied back" The radio operator said.
"What did they say?" The commander asked.
"Sir, they said to not do anything that can be seen as hostile" The radio operator said.
"What?" The commander said.
USS Iowa
"Sir, we are in visual range of the Gamindustrian fleet" A spotter said as the Gamindustrian ships came into sight
"Alright, flash them with the searchlight" The captain ordered.
GNS Endeavour
"Ma'am, the lead battleship is signalling to us with its searchlight" A sailor said as he looked at the flashing lights from the lead battleship
"Can you tell what are they saying?" Moeka asked.
"This… is… the… USS… Iowa… of… the… United… Nations… Armed… Forces, we… come… with peaceful… intentions. We… are… requesting… permission… to… send… representatives… to… your… fleet. They… will… be… flying… to… you. Please… send… confirmation… that… you… will… not… engage… them…" The spotter translated the flashes of lights.
"What do you think we should do, Admiral?" Her vice commander asked.
"Well, I am not in command, Misaki is, she would know what to do" Moeka said.
"Ma'am, Victorious wants us to signal back to the Iowa because it seems that her searchlights are not working" A radio operator replied.
"Okay, signal back to them, that their fliers can come over" Moeka said.
Shinano
"Ma'am, they signalled back, they gave us the green light to send our representatives" A radio operator said.
"Alright Uranami, take command of the fleet, I am heading over with the reps" Yukikaze said.
"Understood ma'am, be careful" Uranami said.
"I will" Yukikaze said as she headed for the hangar deck to meet up with the rest of the representatives group which are Minna, Mio, Gertrude, Shirley, Christine, Yoshika, Masako, Grace, Akanari, Heidi, Olivia and Helen were preparing to take off. Amirah and Vera were part of the representative group but they are riding with the 141 members that were accompanying which were Price, Ghost, Yuri, Vera, Orlovsky, Relius and Dunn in a modified Piasecki HRP Rescuer which has better engines and a steel skin covering the frame also had a sliding door was prepping on the USS Midway.
"Admiral? You are joining us?" Mio asked as everyone turned to see the vice admiral get into her strikers which are A7M Reppū strikers.
"Why, of course, I ain't going to let the chance to fly with both my sisters to slip past, now am I?" Yukikaze smiled as she wrapped her arms around Yoshika and Masako. Masako looked to Yukikaze and noticed that her right arm twitched heavily but before she could say anything, they started to come up to the flight deck.
"Alright, you are clear for take-off! Good luck!" The flight deck officer barked.
"Thank you, let's go" Yukikaze said as she readied her strikers just as everyone else started their strikers.
USS Midway
Amirah and her TF 141 representatives were on board the helicopter, just waiting on clearance. Amirah was sitting between Relius and Vera and she was opening a bottle of Coke, her fourth one of the day and it was barely midday.
"Wow you really love that drink, this is your fourth bottle already" Relius said,
"Well, what can I say after black tea, Coke is my favourite drink" Amirah said before she took a sip from her bottle.
"Hold on to you gears, we are taking off" The pilot shouted as the engines on the Rescuer came to life and soon the helicopter began to lift off the deck of the Midway.
"Lock and load everyone" Amirah said as they cocked their weapons. Amirah had her custom M1A1 Thompson SMG which she has modified so it fires faster and for longer periods despite the recoil increase but Amirah is more than capable than keeping the gun on point as she has an steel grip thanks to her heavy usage of 20 mm and now 40 mm cannons. Soon the helicopter joined the witches however as the UNAF reps flew towards the Gamindustrian fleet, they realized a problem, they had forgotten to ask for which of the Gamindustri ships was the flagship of the fleet and the commanders were trying to figure which of the capital ships has the fleet commander. Minna and Grace were arguing between the largest carrier and the largest battleship. They then decided on the battleship as the respond signal did come from the battleship. So they flew towards the stern of the battleship and they noticed that the crew were surprised to see them.
GNS Endeavour
"Ma'am, it looks like they are approaching our ship" The captain of the battleship said.
"I think they assumed that we are the flagship" Moeka said as she watched the fliers approached, she was surprised they looked like the Steel Mages, with their mechanical brooms, "Well, I will head to the aft deck then"
"Commander?" The captain asked.
"Don't worry, I won't be long" Moeka said as she left the bridge. She made her way through the 350 m long warship to the aft deck just as the UNAF fliers came into land on the aft deck of the GNS Endeavour. One of them who looked like a naval officer looked up to Moeka and glided to her and saluted.
"Greetings, I am Vice Admiral Yukikaze Miyafuji, ma'am, I hope you don't mind us landing on the aft deck" The naval officer said.
"Welcome aboard the GNS Endeavour and I am Admiral Moeka China and not at all, so you are the commander of the UNAF fleet?" Moeka asked.
"No, I am only in command of a section of the taskforce, the rest of the fleet is farther south" Yukikaze said, "So are you command of the fleet?"
"I am afraid not, this is a flagship but only for the first Battleship squadron, the fleet's flagship is the GNS Victorious, right behind there" Moeka pointed to the Glory class aircraft carrier sailing behind the Endeavour.
"Oh? It looks like we ended up in the wrong place" Yukikaze said, "Thank you for clearing that up"
"Not a problem" Moeka smiled before returning Yukikaze's salute which she then turned around to face her entourage.
"Everyone, we got the wrong flagship, the fleet's flagship is the flattop behind us" Yukikaze said to which the other fliers sighed and started up their mechanical brooms and the helicopter took off into the air and actually just hovered and waited for the carrier to sail underneath it before coming back down this time on the flagship of the fleet, GNS Victorious.
With the UNAF representatives
"Wow, look at this carrier, it is massive" Shirley said while Amirah and the rest of the 141 volunteers got out of the helicopter. The witches then placed their strikers next to the helicopter.
"Yeah, even the Midway isn't as big as this" Christine said.
"Are you the UNAF representatives?" A naval officer asked as he approached the group.
"Yes we are" Yukikaze replied.
"Come with me, I will lead you to the fleet commander" The naval officer said. The group of nineteen followed the naval officer into the bowels of the massive carrier. They soon arrived in what the UNAF more veteran officers assumed was the Combat Information Centre of the carrier as it was busy with work often associated with the CIC of a capital warship.
"Ma'am, the UNAF representatives have arrived" The naval officer said. The fleet admiral looked up and she smiled as she returned the naval officer's salute.
"Thank you, Nathan" The fleet admiral said, "Welcome to GNS Victorious, I am Fleet Admiral Akeno Misaki, commander of this fleet, it is a pleasure to meet you"
"Well I must say it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Vice Admiral Yukikaze Miyafuji, commander of the squadron of ships you spotted"
"Well, I thought it was odd that we only saw capital ships" Misaki smiled.
"Well we were unsure so the fleet commander had the bulk of the fleet head south…" Yukikaze said before she shuddered and collapsed to the ground while she was twitching violently.
"What is going on?!" A Gamindustrian naval officer shouted.
"Oh no, it's her nerves, they are acting up again" Yoshika said.
"What happened to her?" Masako said.
"Her nervous system were damaged from an accident"
"Y-Yoshi-shika! H-Help" Yukikaze stuttered as her body spaz uncontrollably. Mio, Yoshika and Amirah immediately held her down to stop her from hitting anything.
"Masako, help heal Yukikaze" Yoshika said as she tried to keep Yukikaze's legs down.
"Okay Yoshika-san" Masako said before she activated her magic powers and started healing Yukikaze and not like Yoshika who could only temporarily fix her nerves but completely heal them but it was painful but luckily, Amirah silenced any of Yukikaze's screams by having her bite down on sheathed knife. This surprised the Gamindustrians who have never seen magic before and now were getting a glimpse at one it's more powerful users.
"Wow, so the rumours were true" A Gamindustrian radar operator said.
"I guess you're right" Another sailor said.
"I am done" Masako panted slightly as she wiped some sweat off her brow.
"Wow that was something I had never seen before" Misaki said, "What was that?"
"That was magic, ma'am" Price answered.
"Magic?" Misaki said.
"Best you ask the witches, they know them better" Price said.
"And which of you are the witches?" Misaki asked.
"All the female UNAF officers you see here are witches" Amirah said as she stood up before she started explaining what Witches are.
"Wow, you girls are like the Steel Mages in our armed forces. However we don't call it magic, we call it Mana but I don't think any our mages have powers as strong as you lot have" Misaki said.
"Well that is interesting to know" Minna said. Soon the high ranking officers began discussing a deal while the rest of the UNAF representatives were directed to the mess hall of the carrier and it was here two lives would change.
GNS Victorious
Mess
"And here is our mess, now if you are hungry, don't worry the mess crew will fix up food for you" A naval officer said, "Well that's it for this tour, if you need just call me on that radio, I am Lieutenant Deacon if you were wondering"
"Thank you, lieutenant, you are a good man" Helen said.
"Hey, just doing my job" Deacon said as he left the mess, "Well au revoir"
"Well I don't know about you but I am hungry-Oompf" Dunn said before he bumped into someone. It was a young female officer which was about Dunn's height with long purple hair which was tied into two long braids on either side of her head. She also had bright light purple eyes. She had a lean body shape but she had curves. She was also wearing a uniform that looked like a Liberion Ranger uniform but black in colour however the stitching and linings were in navy blue in colour, not to mention so was her beret and her right arm sash were also navy blue in colour.
"Hey!" The girl said.
"Oh I am sorry, didn't see where I was going" Dunn said.
"That's alright, I wasn't paying attention either" The girl said.
"Anyways, my name is Gilbert Dunn, what's yours?" Dunn asked.
"Oh I am Anastasia Neptune but people call me Purple or Nep" Neptune said.
"Cause the hair?" Dunn asked.
"Well aren't you observant?" Neptune smiled.
"Hey, don't judge, I am just saying what I see" Dunn smiled, "And what I see is a good looking lady"
"Why thank you" Neptune smiled, "Well you are not bad yourself, Dunn"
"Oh I can see this couple working out" Amirah said to herself as she stood at the door watching the two chat before heading back to the CIC.
The negotiations went without a snitch and within two days the Coalition Armed Forces had a new ally, the quite powerful Republic of Gamindustri and this alliance proved very beneficial to the Coalition especially for the UNAF as it stands, the Republic of Gamindustri is the closest Coalition power to the UNAF's level of technology in fact Gamindustri is ahead in terms of technology compared to the UNAF in some aspects such as in electronics and jet technology which means that Gamindustri can with little trouble assist in supplying the Coalition especially the UNAF thus removing stress on the infrastructure in the United Kingdom of Falmarr and in addition to that, Gamindustri serves as an excellent base for the Coalition to launch their invasion on L'Hexagone as the nation was just 40 km northwest of L'Hexagone across the Helena Straits. However in terms of army doctrines, strategies and tactics, Gamindustri is lacking as they were highly focused on army defensive operations with little focus on army offensive operations which compared to the UNAF are reminiscence of the tactics used in the First Neuroi War so the UNAF decided to help the Republic of Gamindustri by improving their skills in tactical command while at the same time Coalition troops began to arrive in Gamindustrian cities.
The Liberion and Vespuciusian troops noted that Gamindustri looked like New York State only six times larger with islands surrounding it. The UNAF commanders were at first surprised to hear that L'Hexagone forces had managed to occupy several of Gamindustri's islands but when they heard about how Gamindustri is nearly surrounded on all sides by enemies with the Holy Empire of Holstein to the north east, the Federal Republic of Zeon to the northwest, the Saderan Empire to the Southwest and the recently formed Empire of L'Hexagone to the southeast and seeing that Holstein and Zeon are as advanced as Gamindustri has forced the Gamindustrian Armed Forces to focus on their northern territories as Holstein and Zeon are becoming rather aggressive and showing an increase in hostile military movement.
Therefore the L'Hexagone Empire chose the perfect time to attack Gamindustri and six islands and fell to L'Hexagone occupation ten more still being contested, and they have footholds on mainland Gamindustri and the same time severing Gamindustri's transportation network on their eastern coast. The Gamindustrian Military is around five million strong but with enemies all around, it was stretched thin so the Coalition most notably the UNAF's arrival was much appreciated. At the same time, the Coalition was then given a surprise, they were introduced to Marshal Selvaria Bles, the commander of the Royal L'Hexagone Armed Forces which are the L'Hexagone military that were still loyal to the old ruling family, the Toulon family and had escaped to Gamindustri to wage war against the Empire of L'Hexagone and hopefully retake their homeland. The Royal L'Hexagone Armed Forces were equipped with basically First Neuroi War Gallian weaponry but their uniforms were of the early Gallian Second Neuroi War weapons. Gamindustri has been meaning to reequipped them with them more modern weapons however due to the current situation, they haven't had the chance but the UNAF came and gave the Royal L'Hexagone Armed Forces the equipment and guns that they were replacing with their current inventory.
The UNAF commanders were surprised to hear that the surviving ruling family which was the Toulon family has ran to the Empire of Sadera which at the time of the coup was not involved where they had relatives which was the Tyueli family and had changed their names to the Tyueli family. This immediately raised concern in the UNAF as the Tyueli family is still in Saderan held territory and the UNAF fear that they are in mortal danger. That is until Amirah remembered about an operation she had set up two weeks ago, she was informed by Piña of the Tyueli family and how they were a powerful family however they were a not a supporter of Emperor Zorzal El Caesar thus making them a threat to his control of the Saderan Empire so Amirah decided to make sure nothing happens to the family as Amirah figured they would a great asset for the United Kingdom of Falmarr and she assigned the Sevastan Spartan Commandos for this mission under the command of Major Antonin Dvorak, a feared soldier who has seen countless operations despite being among the younger members of Spartan Commandos at the age of twenty five. Amirah decided to make a call and just in the nick of time.
10th July
Tyueli Estate
"Blyat! How many of these bastards are there?" A Spartan Commando barked as she fired at the Saderan soldiers that were attacking the estate.
"Just enough, Aendia" A Spartan Commando next to her said as he reloaded his assault rifle, "All we have to do is hold this building until our ride gets here"
"FIRE MAGIC! TAKE COVER!" Another Spartan Commando shouted as torrents of fire burst through the windows. The Spartan Commandos were facing off the Saderan elite unit called the Oprichnina.
"Somebody take out that fucking mage!" A Spartan Commando sergeant barked.
"On it, sarge!" A Spartan Commando sniper said as she aimed her rifle and took out the mage, "Mage is down!"
"Goddamn, they chose a swell time to attack!" A Spartan Commando support gunner said.
"I am more curious how the Mistress knew just when to inform us, like an hour before these bastards attacked" A Spartan Commando rifleman said.
"Lucky I guess" The support gunner said.
In another section of the mansion
Antonin was with a few of his men protecting the Tyueli family which included an 18 year old young woman who goes by the name of Sherry Tyueli or to be correct, Sherry Toulon. She is an intelligent and an open-minded lady. She is also a very skilled negotiator and debater. It is rumoured that she is in a romantic relationship with Major Antonin Dvorak.
"Antonin, will everything be alright?" Sherry asked.
"Everything will be fine, we only need to hold until our EVAC arrive" Antonin said before he turned to the radioman, "Kelarth, radio Chrome Dome and ask them the helicopters' ETA"
"Roger sir" Kelarth said as he grabbed the transmitter, "Chrome Dome, this is Metal Team One, requesting ETA of helicopter evac"
"Copy Metal Team One, we will relay ETA of Helix flight" A radio operator on a Sevastan A-50 AWACs replied, "Chrome Dome to Helix flight, Metal Team One is requesting ETA"
"Chrome Dome, this is Helix Alpha, ETA, ten minutes" The helicopter pilot replied
"Copy Helix Alpha, ETA ten minutes" Chrome Dome said, "Chrome Dome to Metal Team One, ETA Helix Flight, ten minutes"
"Roger, Chrome Dome, we hear you" Kelarth said, "Sir, ETA on EVAC, is ten mikes"
"Ten minutes huh? Ask Chrome Dome if we got any air support?" Antonin said and Kelarth got on the radio again.
"Chrome Dome says we got a pair of A-10s in the air, ready to give air support" Kelarth replied.
"Alright those bastards are going to be in hell faster, tell them to engage all targets outside the big house" Antonin said.
"Roger sir" Kelarth said.
5 km from Tyueli Estate and closing
"Talisman, do you have eyes on the target area?" The lead A-10 asked.
"I sure do, Blaze, wow, that is a lot targets" Talisman replied.
"Good, now let's give them hell" Blaze sped up and zoomed towards the Oprichnina forces and attacked with her 30 mm Gatling gun while Talisman followed up with rockets and bombs. The Oprichnina forces outside the residence were defenceless against the A-10 attacks however some managed to get into the building, most were immediately disposed of by the Spartan Commandos however few did make it to the room where the Tyueli family was located and where Antonin's Command Squad was. The Oprichnina members threatened Antonin to hand over the Tyueli family but Antonin denied them to the Oprichnina then proceeded to join his squad in fighting the Oprichnina and they mopped the floor with the Oprichnina and soon the helicopters arrived and they evacuated. It was now revealed by Marquis Tyueli, Sherry's uncle that Sherry is the next in line for the throne of L'Hexagone. Antonin wasn't surprised as he already knew. However with the Toulon family was now in safe hands, the Royal L'Hexagone Military become more motivated to fight.
15th July
New Vladivostok
The capital of the Republic of Gamindustri which many respects looks like New York City merged with Moscow and have a blend from Liberion and Orussian styles to it and the city has the landmarks from both cities including the Six Sisters which are a six skyscrapers being built in Moscow at the moment. Anyway the Coalition soldiers were given some R&R time in the city after two weeks of long tiring military exercises. The Gamindustrians were surprised by how friendly the Coalition soldiers especially the UNAF soldiers were as they filled dance halls, drank at bars and pubs, explore the city and dine on food and one witch is going to be a very happy witch.
"OH MY GOD! THEY HAVE THIS?!" Amirah cheered with stars in her eyes which something which was something uncharacteristic for her well to her comrades mostly but if they had known her when she was younger before the war like Dr Miyafuji or her family has then they would say it is her old pre-war self coming back to the surface.
"I never seen you act like this before" Ember said. Amirah then realizes and immediately calms down but her eyes were still filled with stars. The reason for this break in character, she and the rest of the 501st along with some TF-141 members, Orlovsky, Miller, Ramirez and Frost plus newly added members from the special forces of Gamindustrian Military Major Norie from Gamindustrian Rangers, Lieutenant Commander Neptune of the Gamindustrian Navy Special Divers, Major Blanc of the Helldivers' Parachute Brigade and Major Vert of the Gamindustrian Combined Special Operations Force are standing in front of a restaurant that had the name "Kedai Makan Simpang Melayu"
"I don't get it, it is just a restaurant" Perrine said.
"It is not just a restaurant!" Amirah pouted, "It is a Malay restaurant! That means Malay food"
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you are a Malay Britannian" Shirley said.
"Are Malay food good?" Perrine asked.
"Perrine, the dishes I cook whenever it's my turn are Malay dishes well some of them" Amirah said.
"Oh? Then I stand corrected" Perrine said.
"Now come on! Let's go, I want to eat" Amirah smiled as they entered the restaurant and they had a fun time at the restaurant especially Amirah as she was enjoying a taste of her home again so much so that she was crying with joy. It was here where Ramirez proposed to Shirley who gladly accepted if the big wet kiss she gave the Liberion Ranger was anything to go by. Then another bombshell dropped when Amirah kissed Vera on the lips.
"Amirah?!" Minna gasped as she looked at Amirah.
"It's a good thing Amina is with Taskforce Conch because I don't want to go through that again" Shirley said.
"Same here" Dragoslava said.
"What is it commander?" Amirah asked after breaking the kiss.
"Aren't you married to Orlovsky?" Minna asked.
"Yes we are" Orlovsky said, "Why you ask?"
"But she is kissing Vera" Mio pointed out.
"Amirah, you didn't tell them didn't you" Orlovsky said.
"I might have… forgotten to tell everyone" Amirah grinned as she scratched the back of her head.
"God damn it, Amirah" Orlovsky said, "You did it on purpose just to see anyone would notice again didn't you?
"Maybe" Amirah smiled.
"I am not surprised" Vera said.
"Well better late than never I suppose" Orlovsky sighed.
"Why are the three of you so calm?" Minna asked.
"Well first of all, I am bisexual" Amirah said and this made several of the younger girls blush especially a certain star as she tried to shake the memories of that one night out of her head.
"Second of all, Orlovsky is cool with it and if you are wondering so are my and Orlovsky's parents are fine with as well" Amirah said, "And finally, all three of us are married to each other"
"Wait what?" Mio said, "You three are married?"
"Yes we are" Orlovsky said as he, Amirah and Vera showed their wedding rings.
"Wow…" Minna said.
"Wait, when did you two marry Vera?" Mio asked.
"When we first arrived in Gamindustri, we only had the Taskforce 141 members attend, sorry" Amirah said.
17th July
McNealy Air Force Base
The girls of the 501st and TF-141 were in the girls' bath and now there was a contest.
"Why are we doing this again?" Masako asked as she covered her breasts.
"It is to tell Vert here that she ain't the biggest anymore" Neptune said as she gestured to Vert, a tall girl with long green hair that is tied into a ponytail and was quite endowed.
"I am the biggest" Vert huffed though she did glanced to Amirah
"Are you sure about that?" Amirah asked as she held her pipe and was standing in her birthday suit and everyone could see all the scars and burns she had on her body.
"Enough talk, let's do this already" Hanna said.
"Alright, Francesca will be the judge of this as she is the best at… these things" Dragoslava said with a shudder.
"Don't worry I will just feel" Francesca smiled as she blindfolded herself so it would be fair. Then the contest took place to which Masako called it hentai caused it felt wrong to her. Francesca, after some thought came to a conclusion. Shirley came first as she had the biggest, surprisingly Amirah was a very close second, in fact Francesca had trouble difficulty telling between Shirley and Amirah as they were practically the same size however Amirah's skin was very rough compared to Shirley's skin. Third was Masako, next was Lynette, Vert is the fifth, sixth is Ikaros, Heidemarie was seventh, Vera was eighth, Dragoslava took ninth place and Hanna-Justina got tenth must to her chagrin. This didn't surprise Shirley or Amirah as they are were the obvious in the top shelf in chest sizes in the unit, Vert wasn't very pleased.
31st July
Now the Coalition commanders decided to lay a nasty surprise for the L'Hexagone forces with the agreement of the Gamindustrian Joint Chiefs of Staff and after two weeks of preparation, were ready to commence it. All it needed was morning come to launch Operation All Fronts.
15 km south New Vladivostok, 2 km from the coast
Yekateryevsk
1000hrs
"Look alive, soldiers! The bastards are trying to break our lines again" A Gamindustrian National Guards officer shouted. Soldiers ran to their foxholes and readied their guns. It was the seventh time the L'Hexagone were launching an assault from their beachhead.
"God damn it! These bastards are real persistent" A Gamindustrian National Guards rifleman grumbled as he readied his M14 as L'Hexagone artillery and naval gun shells fell all around them.
"These bastards don't know when to quit" A Gamindustrian National Guards (GNGs) sniper said as she cocked her sniper rifle.
"Let them come, they will pay for invading our homes" A GNGs machine gunner readied his light machine gun.
"Here they come! Open fire!" An officer barked however just as the Gamindustrians were about to pull their triggers. The ground in front exploded as rockets and guns blasted the area.
"What the hell?" A GNGs rifleman said as she looked into the sky. There were planes, hundreds of them, no, there were thousands of them in the air and then they saw what appeared to be Steel Mages but they saw that there were not standard and there were way more than the entire Steel Mages Corps flying overhead.
"Look! In the bay!" A GNGs rifleman shouted and now the Gamindustrians looked to the sea and saw something spectacular, it was an L'Hexagone battleship exploding as foreign yet similar looking ships began sailing into view, blasting away at the L'Hexagone Imperial Navy. Then the sounds of engines roaring were heard and the National Guards soldiers turned around and saw hundreds of vehicles approaching.
"It's the new Coalition soldiers, wow, there are a lot of them" A GNGs sniper said.
"We are gonna win this war" A GNGs rifleman said.
Meanwhile
Herestead Island
Fulgograd Line
"Hold the lines, marines!" A Gamindustrian Marine Corps lieutenant shouted as the Gamindustrian Marines readied themselves as the L'Hexagone soldiers tried once again to break the defensive line that stretched across the island and centred around the town of Fulgograd and more specifically on Fort Fulgograd on a hill that dominated the surrounding plains.
"You are not taking any more land fuckers!" A Gamindustrian marine shouted as he fired his rifle.
"Die you Hex bastards!" Another barked. Suddenly the ground in front of the marines exploded.
"What the fuck?" A marine machine gunner said.
"The fuck was that?" Another marine questioned. Just then they saw planes overhead and parachutes fill the sky above them.
"Who the hell are those?" A marine asked.
"Those are the soldiers from the Coalition" A marine major said. The marines turned and saw it was Major Horlon.
"Major Horlon?!" The marines were surprised by the appearance of the legendary major.
"At ease soldiers, we are all comrades here" Major Horlon said.
"So it is true then, the UNAF is a real thing?" A soldier asked.
"Yes they are"
"And you can count on us to fight alongside you" The marines turned and saw two soldiers standing behind them on the ground above their trenches. One was man who wore a uniform similar to a Gamindustrian Airborne uniform and other soldier was what the Gamindustrian marines assumed was an Airborne Steel Mage"
"Who are you?" A marine asked.
"Us? We are paratroopers from the Liberion 101st Airborne Division and we are here to help you now" The male paratrooper said.
"Yeah, we will make sure that your flag can fly tall and proud" The Steel Mage smiled.
"That's good to hear" Major Horlon said just as M46 Pattons and M4 Shermans rumbled forward
Stanton Island
5 km southeast of St Nevsky City
Nikitaton
The Royal L'Hexagone Army (Royals) was tasked with defending the last bastion of Stanton Island that was still not occupied by the Imperial L'Hexagone Army (Imperials) however it seems the Imperials are more than determined to correct that that mistake in their own favour. And the focus of the newest assault was on the town of Nikitaton where an important road junction is located. It was being defended by the Royal 1st Guards Mechanized "Gallia" Division and defending the freeway that ran through the town was purposely erroneously named Squad 7 which was actually a company of mechanized infantry and a tank. They held a strong position as they were defending the only bridge across the Nevsky River that loops around the city.
"Damn these Imperial bastards!" Brigitte Stark or Rosie as her platoon calls her, grumbled as she shoved a new magazine into her new M1918 which she has become quite fond of, "This is the nineteenth time they have attacked the bridge!"
"Well this town has an important road junction, it makes sense they would try to take this town" Largo Potter said before he rose from his cover and fired a rocket from his bazooka and knocked out a VB-1 (a steam-powered FT-17), "Damn, these rockets sure do knock out tanks"
"Well they were designed to damage aliens" Edy Nelson said as she cocked her M1 Garand and started firing on the Imperials that were approaching down the freeway.
"Captain, Zaka is on the line" A radioman said.
"Squad Z Red to Edelweiss, what do you need?" Welkin Gunther spoke into the radio.
"Hey Welkin, how long are we going to hold this position? We don't have the ammo for a long assault" Zaka asked from inside his M4 Sherman.
"Battalion told us to hold for another fifteen minutes, they are sending in reinforcement and supplies" Welkin replied.
"Well they better get here fast because I am running out of HE rounds" Zaka radioed, "And I am not sure about the WP rounds"
"How many you WP rounds do you have?" Welkin asked.
"Ten WP rounds, haven't touched them and if you want to know, I got thirty AP rounds, twenty Canister rounds and now twenty HE rounds" Zaka said, "And before you ask, your sister is doing fine"
"I am fine brother" Isara Gunther, the driver of the Edelweiss said.
"Good to know and thanks" Welkin said.
"No problem" Zaka replied. Squad 7 continued to hold the freeway bridge from the Imperial Army and soon the Imperial soldiers fell back.
"Hey the attack has stopped" Lynn said.
"Yeah, you're right" Jann Walker said as he checked his Thompson.
"Let me go check" Susie Evans said as she got up with her M1A1 Carbine in hand.
"Be careful!" Jann said.
"I won't be long" Susie said before she headed towards and over the small ridge that was a few hundred meters south of the town.
"Alright, let me get back on that loose road wheel" Homer Peron said as he climbed out the Edelweiss and started working on the tracks of the Sherman that was hit by a 37 mm round.
"Let me help" Karl Landzaat said as he came over to the Sherman to help Homer, "Herbert, get your lazy ass over here and help"
"Why should I?" Herbert asked as he stowed his lighter away after lighting his cigarette.
"Hey, do you want to see how this tank works?" Homer asked.
"Alright, you convinced me, let me have a hand as well" Herbert said as he made his way to Zaka's tank.
"Aisha thinks the Imperial Army is regrouping for another assault" Aisha Neumann said as she slipped another clip into her M1 Garand before she fixed her helmet's position. Squad 7 members couldn't decide what was stranger, the fact the UNAF had uniforms tailored for twelve year old girls or the fact they only had the top part for said uniforms.
"Well you are not wrong" Rosina Selden said as she chews on some Wrigley's gum, "Wow this is quite the delicacy, no wonder the Gamindustrians and Liberions love chewing on these things"
"Well, we can stop them, they aren't gonna get past when we have guns like these Oscar Bielert said after climbing out of the Edelweiss to see his brother.
"That's right, brother" Emile said before he checked the scope on his M1903 Springfield.
"I like the new materials I can use to make bombs" Wendy Cheslock smiled which made the Royal L'Hexagone soldiers near her scoot away from her.
"For me, I think their tanks are just magnificent works of engineering" Salinas Milton said happily, "I mean she has a powerful 75 mm gun and her armour is 51 mm thick enough to bounce most rounds the Imperials can throw and she can go up to 48 km/h"
"You're a goddamn tank nerd, you know that?" Nils Daerden sneered.
"Oh shut up, you don't understand a marvel when you see one" Salinas said.
"Whatever" Nils rolled his eyes, "For me, this M1919 is now my favourite new toy, turns Imperials into red jelly very fast"
"Guys, it's Susie, she is coming back and she's running" Alicia Melchiott said as she sees Susie hauling ass while screaming at the top of her lungs.
"THEY'RE COMING! THEY'RE COMING!" Susie screamed as she ran towards Squad 7.
"Get ready men" Welkin shouted and everyone began scrambling to their positions and started readying their guns. They waited as Susie raced for friendly lines. Then they were in for a surprise as Susie was just meters away, the Imperial troops began to crest the ridge once again and this time this was a horde.
"Provide covering fire!" Welkin shouted. Squad 7 opened fire on the advancing Imperial troops who were coming in their hundreds.
"Holy shit; there are a lot of them!" Marina Wulfstan said as she cycled the bolt on her sniper rifle.
"It just means more targets for us to shoot" Cezary Regard said as he aimed and shot at an Imperial officer.
"Damn these bastards, they got guts, I give them that" Nils grumbled as he fired his machine gun.
"CLEAR!" A Royal soldier shouted as he tapped Largo's shoulder.
"Firing bazooka" Largo shouted as he let a rocket fly. The rocket soon found its target, a VB-1, completely destroying the little tank and killing any Imperial soldiers caught in the blast.
"There are more of them! It's the whole goddamn Imperial Army!" A Royal soldier shouted.
"Holy fucking hell, how many Imperials do they have in this attack?" Alicia asked.
"Jenkins! Get Battalion on the radio and tell them to get those reinforcements here faster! We can't hold this attack for long!" Welkin barked.
"Roger sir!" The radioman replied.
"MEDIC!" A Royal soldier shouted as she clutched her shoulder in pain, "MEDIC!"
"Calm down, I am here" Jann said as he started to patch up the wounded soldier with the help of two other medics, "Everything is going to be fine, Sandra"
"Lay it on them! Keep firing!" A Royal lieutenant shouted as he fired his Thompson.
"Have a grenade you Imperial bastards!" A Royal sergeant shouted as he threw a frag grenade at the Imperials.
"Here, try my new bomb for size!" Wendy shouted as she threw a modified bundle grenade at the Imperials which made a big explosion.
Everything seems to holding out for Squad 7 that was until three large shadows crested over the small ridge and this sent chills down the Royal soldiers. It was the Imperial heavy tank, the VBL-2 "Chamond" (Saint-Chamond but with thicker armour and is steam powered) which the Royals found almost impossible to kill and now three were steaming towards their lines.
"Fuck! They got Chamonds!" A Royal soldier shouted.
"No shit!" Another soldier shouted back.
"Oscar! Target, lead Chamond, 35 degrees, 400 m, load AP" Zaka barked. Homer rammed an AP round into the breech.
"Round loaded!" Homer shouted.
"Got it" Oscar said as he adjusted the aim of the gun, "Target found"
"Fire!" Zaka barked.
"Firing!" Oscar shouted as he fired the 75 mm and watched it penetrate right above the gun and within the second, the Chamond burst into flames, "Target down!"
"New target! Chamond tank! 15 degrees! 400 meters! Load AP!" Zaka said but the Chamond tankers were faster and fired a shot at the Edelweiss, bouncing off the side of the turret, "Fuck!"
"Damn it" Homer said as he nearly dropped an AP round when the tank shook, he then rammed the round into the gun breech, "Round loaded!"
"Fire!" Zaka shouted
"Firing!" Oscar shouted as he fired the 75 mm again but the round bounced off the top the tank.
"You missed!" Isara shouted in panic while Homer frantically loaded another round into the gun breech.
"Same target! Fire!" Zaka barked but the Chamond fired first and it smashed into the top of the gun mantle, swinging the gun up and before they could fix the aim, the third Chamond open fire and hit the driver's periscope, the round didn't penetrate but the impact knocked out Isara as the periscope slammed hard into her face.
"Fuck! Isara is wounded!" The hull machine gunner shouted. Welkin had a sinking feeling when he saw the Sherman take the hit to the driver's hatch.
"Felix, get the medic kit, fix her up!" Zaka said.
"Roger!" Felix replied as he started patching up Isara
"Zaka, the gun's jammed!" Oscar shouted.
"Damn it" Zaka grumbled as he watched as the Chamonds rumbled towards Squad 7's lines whilst firing their guns at Edelweiss, each more accurate than the last, "Is this it?"
"Don't give up hope!" A voice came on the radio.
"What?!" Zaka exclaimed in surprise as he then opened his hatch to look for any nearby friendly tanks when suddenly the lead Chamond was blown to pieces, "What the… where did that shot came from?"
2 km north of Squad 7's position
"Good shot, Nonna, like always" Hana said as she looked at the wreckage.
"Oh please, you can do better, without a scope" Nonna said as she reloaded her gun. Hana then fired her 150 mm cannon and tore right through the last Chamond tank.
"I suppose that is true" Hana smiled.
"Looks like no kills for me today" Naomi said as she popped a stick of gum into her mouth.
"Saori, targets are destroyed" Nonna radioed.
"Roger, I will relay to the commander" Saori replied, "You, Hana, Naomi and Assam are to continue providing sniper cover fire"
"Da, we will keep up the sniper fire" Nonna said.
200 m north from Squad 7's position and closing
"Miho, enemy heavy tanks has been destroyed" Saori said.
"Well, that wasn't so hard" Kay said as she lit her cigarette, "If this keeps up, there won't be tanks for us to kill"
"Never say never, Kay; you can never know what can happen" Darjeeling said.
"Ja, we can't be too sure for" Maho said.
"What are our orders?" Alice asked.
"It will be a general advance, we need to give our new allies some much needed breathing space" Miho said.
"Da, our comrades have put a good fight, now it is our turn" Katyusha said as she readied her 100 mm cannon.
"Let's give them hell" Anzu grinned.
"I agree with this plan" Nishi nodded her head.
"Well, there is no better time than the present" Mika said. Miho then smiled.
"This is Miho to all Ground Stompers, we will be launching a general advance to relieve the pressure off our allies, Oryō, assist in healing any soldiers that are wounded"
"Rojā" Oryō replied.
"Good, let's show them what we can do" Miho broadcasted throughout the unit.
"Roger" The other members replied.
"Panzer Vor!" Miho barked and soon the all sixty seven members of the UNAF 1st "Ground Stompers" Combined Tank Witches Battalion moved out to assault the Imperial forces. The members of Squad 7 watched in awe as these tank witches rumbled past them and into the fray.
"Vy ne prodvinetsya nikakikh dal'neyshikh (You will not advance any further)" Klara barked as she used her Blizzard on the enemy troops.
"AARRGHH!" An Imperial soldier screamed as he was impaled by ice shards.
"Klara! Speak English god damn it!" Katyusha barked.
"Prosti (Sorry)" Klara said before continued on.
"Well let me warm you up then" Alia smiled as her eruption magic caused her Willie Pete round to burn even more.
"AAAAAHHH" Imperial soldiers scream in pain as they were singed by the white phosphorus rounds.
"Have a blast!" Nina shouted as she fired a 152 mm shell at VB-1 and detonated it just it entered the turret.
"Taste the wrath of Rome!" Caesar shouted as she slashed Imperial troops with her Roman sword while having her Legion's Wrath active.
"Tallyho! The cavalry is here!" Rosehip shouted as she charged into Imperial soldiers with her cavalry sword in hand.
"Time for you to get a wash" Koume said as she used the water from the Nevsky River to wash away the Imperial troops.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Saemonza laughed, "It seems you have the wrong target, for I am here"
"Hit the floor, chumps" Yamagō shouted as she created a shockwave by slamming her striker into the ground.
"Burn motherfuckers, burn" Aki laughed manically as she unleashed torrents of fire at the enemy.
"Ain't this a shocker?" Mikasa said as she sent bolts of electricity into Imperial soldiers.
"Sorry boys but the Britannian Army only advances not retreat" Darjeeling said as she advanced forward with her Iron Wall magic running which mean all the rifle rounds were bouncing off her.
"Let's make it interesting, try finding us in the sand" Anchovy smiled as she created a sandstorm that blinded the Imperials but the Ground Stompers had no problem finding their targets.
"We will show you Fusoan tenacity, BANZAI!" Tamada shouted as she, Konparu, Sora and Hinata shouted as they charged at Imperial soldiers with bayonetted rifles.
"You cannot hide from us" Nishi said as she used her Area Scan and shot at Imperial soldiers.
"Hiding will not save you" Rukuriri said as she activated her Enchanted Vision, "You will still die"
"Tenno Heika Banzai!" Sakura shouted as she charged at the Imperial soldiers while wielding her Naginata.
"Here, have your tank back, nya" Nekonyā shouted as she threw a VB-1 at the Imperial soldiers. The Ground Stompers drove a massive wedge into the Imperial L'Hexagone Army lines which were soon exploited in by UNAF forces were parachuted in and later by other Coalition forces that were shipped in. The UNAF launched a massive scaled offensive against the Imperial L'Hexagone Army on all fronts with almost no expenses wasted. Nowhere along the frontlines could the Imperial L'Hexagone Army hold the Coalition onslaught and this gave hope for the Royal L'Hexagone Military that they now had a real chance at retaking their homeland. This prompted Marshal Bles to utter these words, "Our retreat ends here, now we can only advance forward"