Rally all the clans,
Englishman advance,
Blood of Bannockburn,
Point of no return!
After ending the siege of Hiroshima and freeing the city, the army of Bannockburn Boys High School returned to Nakatsugawa, their home city. The confederate High Command commanded them there to secure the area in case of a federal attack against the inland territories. They didn't have to wait long; they've soon got news about St. Gloriana heading towards them after Habsburg and De Gaulle defeated them between Yaizu and Shizuoka. As the battle was raging along the coast for Shizuoka, Bannockburn was waiting between the mountains for their enemy. As both teams were more or less equally strong this fight will be probably very interesting.
The area around Nakatsugawa was well fortified and the mountains gave extra points to the strength of defense as well. The first defense line consisted of barricades and barriers. Behind them the Archers took positions on the hilltops, and then came the other tanks and the Bishops in the last line.
Wallace was waiting for the report of the scouts he sent forward while he was positioned near the Ena Shrine.
"General! Enemy forces inbound!" said his radio operator from the inside of the Caernarvon. "They are closing to Mt. Ena!"
"How many of them?" asked Wallace.
"The whole of St. Gloriana. They are coming in one group."
"So they want to try a frontal attack huh? Well, let's give our guests a taste of Scottish hospitality. Tell the boys to do as they were told!"
"Yes Commander!"
Bruce's POV, Mt. Ena
A cloud of dust appeared at the southeast made by the closing tanks of St. Gloriana. The scouts of Bannockburn quickly rushed back from their positions and they went behind the line of TDs and bigger tanks. Soon the first Matildas and Crusaders got into the sight of the defenders. The valley in front of them went black because of the mass of the British tanks of the JSF coming in orderly, tight ranks.
"Look how proudly they are marching." snorted Jacob. "Do you think they are trying to scare us?"
"If they want that they'll need to show much more." answered Bruce. "Prepare everyone!"
"Where are their TDs?" asked Jacob. "I can't see any of their Tortoises or AT15s."
"Neither can I. Be aware of them! Maybe they are searching for ambuscades."
Darjeeling's POV
"Are you ready Aurora?" asked Darjeeling.
"All TDs in position. We are waiting for your signal Darjeeling-sama." came the reply.
"We'll need a very exact timing since we'll be dangerously close to the exploding shells. We count on you!"
"We won't fail you commander!" In that moment a shell from Bannockburn Boys High School landed near them.
"All units march forward!" commanded Darjeeling and the tanks of St. Gloriana begun to climb the hill. The Archers of Bannockburn have immediately unleashed their first volley. A few seconds later however the federal tanks have disappeared for them behind a curtain of earth and smoke.
"What on earth?" frowned Bruce. Then a few moments later it happened again. Then again. And again. The boys couldn't aim; the impacts have covered their foe. "Bruce to Commander Wallace!"
"What's going on there Bruce?"
"They are using the Creeping Barrage! The fire of their TDs hides them from us! What should we do?"
"Damn it!" cursed Wallace. "Try to locate those tank destroyers and concentrate your fire on them!"
"Understood General!" replied Bruce. "Squadron, can you see any sign of the enemy TDs?"
"Negative."
"Negative."
"Negative."
"Lieutenant! I see exhaust fumes behind the bushes in Sector 05 near that rock on the opposite hill!" One of the Crusaders commander reported. "Do you see that?"
Bruce looked to the said direction with his binoculars and he indeed saw black smoke and vibrating hot air behind the bushes. A moment later he even saw a muzzle flash.
"There they are! Everyone fire!"
"Darjeeling-sama! They've found our positions! We are under attack!" Aurora radioed.
"All units speed up! Charge at the hilltop!" commanded Darjeeling her troops. The St. Gloriana tanks increased their speed and overrun the first defense line of Bannockburn while shooting heavily. The students of the boys' school had no choice but retreat.
"Bishop squadron! Mark our latest coordinates! Fire!" ordered Bruce the SPGs. In the next two minutes they've fought to keep St. Gloriana on the hill. After that shells started to rip up the surface between the tanks of the girls' school.
"Keep moving, that's confederate artillery!" shouted Darjeeling. They stormed down the hill leaving behind their disabled tanks and some of Bannockburn's Archers.
The rest of the Scottish styled school immediately rushed for the aid of their comrades but they couldn't prevent St. Gloriana gaining nearly two kilometers of land. They didn't count with a Blitzkrieg like that.
The evening of the next day the girls were about to enter the city itself. All of them knew that this will not be easier at all compared to their previous battles. They wanted to get into the center of a rebellious boys' school.
"Darjeeling-sama. The scouts say the enemy has left only small garrisons in the outskirts of Nakatsugawa. Their main force has drawn back to the city center. " reported Pekoe when it was getting dark.
"Thank you Pekoe." nodded Darjeeling looking at the lights of the city in the distance.
"Darjeeling-sama."
"Hm?"
"Do you think we should be here?"
Darjeeling now turned to Pekoe. "It's our duty Pekoe. As loyal participants we have to save the unity of the JSF."
"Is this still the real reason you are fighting?" asked the orange haired loader.
"To be honest: personally I just want to keep our home, Yokohama safe."
"Then why are we here? In the inland, many kilometers from Yokohama, fighting an enemy who was once our fellow."
"Because from here they can easily attack us. Guess it's our task to prevent that."
"God, why are they doing this?" sighed Pekoe.
"Maybe they are just too ambitious. Or because maybe… just maybe not everything we did before was right." said Darjeeling. Silence lapsed between them. "Go Pekoe. Please check our resources."
"Yes ma'am!" saluted Pekoe and left.
Darjeeling turned back toward Nakatsugawa. "Gods, help us tomorrow! Let us finally end this!"
Late in the nights it started to rain. Most of the girls stayed inside their tanks listening to the raindrops drumming on their vehicles.
Suddenly out of nowhere a green signal rocket flew up into the sky irradiating the area. A few moments later roaring engines could be heard from the woods between St. Gloriana and Nakatsugawa then the eerie sounds of a bagpipe filled the air and it was closing.
"Prepare for battle!" yelled Darjeeling trying to be louder than the rain, the enemy tanks and the bagpipe playing Scotland the Brave. Suddenly Crusaders and Comets have emerged from the darkness and opened fire taking out some Matildas and Crusaders. "Fire at will!" ordered Darjeeling. The battle raged in the night. It was hard for the girls to fight organized for the boys didn't fight as one group. Instead of this all of their tanks acted on its own and they constantly changed their positions so it was unpredictable where they will show up next. They even managed to push back St. Gloriana's line with a few hundred meters.
Despite of this the girls in red have soon recovered from the shock and begun their counterattack. They moved forward in a close formation while shooting salvos all at once. Step by step they regained the land they've conquered before and by the noon of the next day they pushed back the units of Bannockburn into the city.
Darjeeling decided to bombard the suburbs during the rest of the day and begun the invasion against Nakatsugawa in the morning.
The bombardment had its effect; the defenders had to pull back from the outskirts. The buildings in that area were burning due to the impacts but luckily most of them were abandoned anyway.
Shortly after sunrise Darjeeling gave her order to engage. The tanks begun to move and after they passed the ruins of the destroyed buildings they entered Bannockburn's home city following the Nakatsu River on both banks. They've got deeper and deeper into the city but they didn't meet any resistance. What they've found was silence. Total, heavy and creepy silence. The tank commanders held their heads out of their vehicles to have a better look on their surroundings. They saw no enemy tanks but wherever they looked they've seen the signs that they were on hostile land. On almost all lamp posts flew the flag of Bannockburn Boys High School together with the banner of the Confederacy. Little red tapes were tied everywhere as signs of revolution. On some house walls they've seen graffiti's reading "Bannockburn" or "1314" or "Ye Jacobites by Name" and one of these paintings has shown the emblem of the JSF in the mouth of Nessie.
The girls could feel their heartbeat speeding up and the blood roaring in their ears. That damn silence annoyed them the most. Where the hell the enemy is? When will they show up and when? And how?
They didn't have to wait long. Just as they passed near a tofu shop Rukuriri's Matilda which was leading the line on the western bank got white flagged by a shot from the side. Then another shell arrived then another and another. Suddenly the whole army of Bannockburn appeared before the girls. It turned out they were hiding behind covers with stopped engines so St. Gloriana will not hear them and they can carry out a surprise attack. And it was indeed a surprise like the night raid before. The Caernarvons, Black Princes, Crusaders, Comets and Archers unleashed their full power and stopped the girls' advance.
Suddenly the turret of Darjeeling's Churchill disappeared in a rain sparks.
"Darjeeling-sama! Are you alright?" asked Rosehip worriedly.
"It didn't come through. We're okay." radioed back Darjeeling. It was very close; a huge scar defaced the side of her turret.
The girls reached the road E19 but then they stuck there. They didn't want to spread their forces too much for they were worried that the enemy will hunt them down one by one between the buildings if they do so.
The day passed and they could gain only about 200 meters of land. At night they continued the offensive because they didn't want to give the confederates time to strengthen their lines.
At night the battle shifted to a small agrarian field, the sides were shooting each other from the opposite sides of it. At some point the boys suddenly begun to retreat.
"Here's the time girls! Follow me!" yelled Rosehip in enthusiasm and her squadron of Crusaders charged the field at full speed.
"Rosehip wait! Maybe there is…" Darjeeling tried to warn her but it was too late. In the middle of the field the surface disappeared under the Crusaders and they fell into a hidden trench. Their comrades couldn't do anything but watch as the tanks of Bannockburn return and they finish off the impotent medium tanks.
"I'm sorry Darjeeling-sama. I was again…" said Rosehip from her smoking, white flagged tank.
"Too redheaded?" sighed Darjeeling.
For St. Gloriana's commander this battle seemed far more endless and hopeless than any of the former ones. Darjeeling just felt that this nightmare will never end and she'll spend the rest of her life between the mountains of Gifu Prefecture on the streets of Nakatsugawa fighting an enemy who has far more motivation than the federals.
Days came and days passed. They've fought nearly each day and during the nights when there was no clash between steel and steel they were just sitting on their tanks trying to improve each other's moral while they could hear the bagpipes playing and the Bannockburn boys singing somewhere on other streets.
Seriously, for how long they are going to stay here? For the rest of the war? And when will the war end? It has come to a terrible deadlock. None of the sides could carry out a fatal strike. The fronts went back and forth. What will happen if they manage to occupy Nakatsugawa? Where will they have to go to continue this? Darjeeling couldn't answer these questions to herself. She was just thinking about her family. She didn't see them for such a long time. What are her mother and father doing right now? And her younger sister? Is she alright? Do they talk about her every day? Oh God, she didn't even have the opportunity to thank them the cakes and the scarf they've sent her for Christmas! She promised to herself that the first thing she'll do when they meet again is hugging all three of them.
"Darjeeling-sama." Assam's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Here you are." said the gunner giving her a cup of tea.
"Thank you Assam." nodded Darjeeling. "That's what I need right now."
Ami's POV
"Dear Lord, that's my seventh visit here!" thought Ami as she was walking again on the quay of Vladivostok's seaport. She arrived to the building where the local office of the International Martial Arts Federation was. She climbed the stairs and went inside through the big oak-glass door. The young woman wasn't in need of guidance; she exactly knew the interior of the classicist styled building now. On the second floor she found herself before a door on which the label said: "Student Secretary". Ami knocked.
"Enter!" came the reply from inside. Ami stepped into a nicely furnished office. There were old styled wooden cabinets and bookshelves, a beautiful carpet on the floor, a picture of Dmitri Shostakovich on the wall together with a painting portraying Tsar Nicolai II, and a writing table in the middle. And at the table was sitting a young Russian boy wearing a green shirt, black trousers and brown shoes. He stood up to greet his guest. "Ah! Привeт лeди Chonou!" he bowed his head.
"Vorobjov-san." Ami bowed.
"I've told you that you don't need to do that here лeди Chonou. I'm not Japanese." said Aleksey Vorobjov a Sensha-Do practicing student from Bering High School from Vladivostok with a smile.
"I know Vorobjov-san, but I'm too used to do that." replied Ami.
"Then I don't have objection. Please take a seat!" he gestured.
"Arigato." said Ami and as soon as she sat down he took out multiple envelops from her brief bag.
"So you've find more."
"Hai. I've never thought before that one day I'll find things like these in the Federation's archives. And here are further reports from the fronts."
Aleksey flipped through the documents. "You know, we are very grateful that you are helping us with this. The Japanese crisis became really worrisome now."
"That's exactly why I'm here." said Ami. "I want to stop this and give back the Federation its former dignity."
"I can't promise anything, but we'll try our best to assist in this." replied Aleksey.
"And I'm grateful for that. Did you send my earlier reports to your leadership?"
"Kонечно (Of course). I've transmitted everything to Vienna. Now it's up to the leaders what they'll do."
"Let's hope the best Vorobjov-san. Let's hope the best."
"The best." nodded Aleksey.
Hello folks, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me wish all of you a Merry Christmas! Maybe in the next few weeks I'll be a bit slower with my fics because I'll have exams at the university so I'll be occupied with the Roman Empire, the ancient Middle East, the historical geography of Europe (I'm learning archeology), but I'll try my best! Have a nice day!