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Near Little Vienna
Anne
April 27
Anne stared at the girls before her all dressed in their Bonple uniforms, each unit carrying their flag, all lined up perfectly a golden medal adorning their chest the same for all the girls present who had given their all in the defence of their nation and ready to fight to take it back.
Anne had to give Miho some credit, the medals as well as the treatment that her soldiers had received had installed a sense of belonging and loyalty to Ooarai. It had done a great deal to ease the tension's between the Ooarai soldiers and the Bonple soldiers.
Now here her girls stood backs straight, head held high and hands straight to the side of their body. Today was the day where they're training would be completed or at least the initial training.
Anne's eyes shined with pride as her eyes glanced up and down the rows of the girls the proud Bonple legion flag flying. From the pilots to the infantry to the tankers, each girl stood there as the trainer on the podium next to her finished his little speech to the cheering of the girls.
Silence quickly returned as Anne walked up to the podium, she felt a sense of nervousness like no other. Never had she given a speech to around 150,000 people, gripping the side of the podium to steady her nerves.
"Today is a historical day for all of Bonple. Starting as of today we begin our long crusade to take back Bonple. Alongside Ooarai we shall drive the enemies from our homeland, this will not be an easy or quick task. No, I expect this to be a long harsh road with obstacles blocking every step of the way," Anne spoke passionately the lack of elegance and professionalism was overshadowed by her passion which enrapt the girls standing in front of her.
"But I believe in you girls, I believe that with the combined strength of Ooarai and Bonple, with the determination and will of Bonple that we shall be victorious be it in a year from now, two years or even 5 years later. I believe we shall reign victorious!" She finished her speech to the clapping and cheering of her troops.
Walking off she almost laughed at herself when she realized that Miho had also gained her loyalty not that she minded.
—
Little London
Darjeeling
April 30
Darjeeling looked at the rotary phone on her desk as she looked at the notes in front of her desk, she had agreed to have a meeting with the leaders of Maple and Koala in Little Canada to discuss the war. She was hoping to have a meeting with Kay to discuss some trade deals between their countries as well as hopefully having a simple talk between friends.
She looked down at her notes, her Webley revolver acting as a paperweight at the corner of her papers. The notes could be more described as folders as they described what had happened on that fateful meeting. It still pained her to see Earl Grey's corpse as well as all the other girls that had been in the room, even if they had been less than friendly with her during these past months.
She knew that in all cases and scenarios she had just killed democracy for the Commonwealth and for St-Gloriana, it pained her to do so she believed in democracy or at least used to believe in it but it had been blocking her from properly preparing St-Gloriana and the Commonwealth from effectively fighting.
She picked up the phone as she began to dial Kay's phone, her inner turmoil over her path to becoming the queen of St-Gloriana and her belief of a person having a voice being set aside. She needed to concentrate on this meeting.
The phone rang a few times before she heard the phone being picked up.
"Darjeeling! It's been to long since we've last talked eh" Kay's energetic voice could be heard from the phone although there was a level of stress and strain that hadn't been there previously.
"It has been a while hasn't it Kay, I was going to be in Little Canada next week and was wondering if you had time to set up a meeting, for both political purposes and simply to talk as friends." Her voice had hints of the elegance and eloquently that was normal for her although a heavyweight of sadness had managed to slip through.
"I should be free Darjeeling, I don't see any problem with it. Has something happened... could you even tell me about it? " Kay asked her voice softening
"I... I can't tell you as much as I wish I could." Darjeeling hesitated
"I had guessed as much" Kay's voice had fallen a bit
" How's the war situation?" Kay continued
"Could be better, we've had some dissenters to take care and it has been excruciatingly boring with how little action has been happening on the front. The only action has been at sea, even the air has quieted down. I believe the analogy of the Phoney war that one of the newspapers had in its headline is very apt."
"It is fairly accurate up to this point, isn't it. I'm gonna have to go Darjeeling, I'll see you next week okay?"
"Yes, I'll see you then Kay. The responsibilities of a leader are a strenuous one isn't it."
—
Little Milan, meeting room
Miho
May 2
Miho was standing at the table her uniform had a new medal that had been spread around the army for all that had participated in the Invasion of Bonple. It was a silver medal with the helmet of a soldier being golden, a white and black ribbon accompanied the medal.
Anchovy was standing next to her, her traditional cape on her shoulders with the rest of her appearance being the same as always, the only difference was a medal adorning her chest, it was a silver medal with the colosseum in the center and a black ribbon on it. Her arms were folded each other one hand holding the crop as her eye's stared at the map on the table.
There were 8 girls around the table each one being a general. There was Amaryllis who had already gotten her nickname as Death's Devil, she had her already iconic uniform on her with the addition of the Invasion of Bonple medal, She was studying the map before her. Next was Erwin her field cap with goggles on her head, her hair in its classic desert fox style and wearing her uniform with the medal pinned to her breast. Anzu was the final Ooarai general present, a rather relaxed version of the uniform with the medal pinned to it and a bag of dried sweet potatoes in her hand, silently munching on it as she studied the map before her.
The three Anzio girls were Carpaccio with a slightly modified Invasion of Bonple medal attached to her breast (it simply had the colours of Anzio filling out the helmet). Carpaccio had her blue beret on her head and had decided to not wear her jacket and simply wear her white dressed shirt, the rest of her uniform was the same as Anzio's uniform. The next girl was a young girl with dark black hair that reached her shoulders, she was a small girl being the height of a first-year when she was actually in her third year, her uniform differed from the Anzio in colour a light blue-grey with the white undershirt and stockings. The girl was named Francesca and she was Anzio's best pilot and an ace. Finally, their was an older girl named Yuki who was in her third year with short choppy brown hair and an aura of seriousness around her, she wore Anzio's light grey-green infantry uniform. She was staring at the map chewing on her bottom lip subconsciously. Her face seemed rough compared to the others and she held her head high and back straight as she sat in her chair.
There were two extra girls at this meeting the co-leaders of the ICI (Imperial Center of Intelligence). While the girl from Anzio was properly dressed and held a briefcase in her hand and had long red hair that was curled. The girl from Ooarai had short brown hair that stops at her shoulders and was also dressed in the Ooarai uniform and looked professional. Both girls were wearing a poker face and had no emotion in their eyes.
"Welcome, I hope you have all read the files we gave you?" Miho asked in a soft voice wrapped in authority.
All the girls except for Anchovy that was standing next to her nodded. Miho looked at the map and continued talking.
"Well then you must know the general plan for this operation but we'll go over it once more in case you have any questions.
This operation will be known as Operation Alpino and any sub-operations will have some variant of the name. This operation call's for a combined push between the Anzio army and the Ooarai army stationed in Little Piedmont, Little Italia and a minor push in the north by Anzio in Little Switzerland."
Anchovy picked up from where Miho stopped " The push will be against the Maginot armies, which means we can expect a stiff defence from them, but this will also be a very classic defence as Maginot prefers the true and tested compared to experimenting.
This operation also takes place in the Little Alpines, which means mountain fighting and small rural roads are what you can expect on the battlefield. The infantry," Anchovy gave a pointed look towards both of the infantry generals before continuing, "will be the focus of these operations with the tanks being mostly relegated to support roles as there won't be enough room for classic tank tactics. The plan is to drive the Maginot forces back as far as 100 km at some parts of the front and as short as 50 km on some other parts. "
Miho finished off "The plan is to be enacted May 26 after Anzio declared war, the plan is to quickly drive the enemy out of the mountains before they can properly defend this section of this front.". Turning to the two Intelligence officers Miho asked " Is there any information we have on the strength of the enemy defences?"
"We know that there about two armies worth of men defending this part of the frontline which means an proximity 600-800 thousand girls in the area." the Anzio Intelligence officer responded
"As for their defences, are spies have confirmed a defence in depth tactic with multiple layers of trenches and barbed wire as well as concrete bunkers and even some stationary artillery turrets which is very well armoured. We can also confirm tunnels inside the mountains and even caves being used as natural bases for the Maginot forces. Reports indicate though that once we break this line they do not have another defensive line." the Ooarai officer responded.
"Thank you, what do you girls think of this operation so far?" Anchovy asked the girls around the table.
"It seems like we will need a lot of heavy artillery in place if we want this to succeed," Yuki mentioned
"I would recommend having the push emphasis a more cautious and slow approach as a fast and rapid advance could prove detrimental to our supply lines" Anzu brought up
" A nighttime attack could give the infantry the edge they need to get into the enemy trenches" offered Amaryllis
"I agree with Amaryllis" Yuki supported
Miho grabbed a pen and notebook as she began writing it down and Anchovy responded
"all good suggestions, although we need to move quickly in these mountains to be able to capture the critical crossroads which will allow us to supply our forces properly," Anchovy mentioned
"Perhaps we should station more tanks in the south where the hills and mountains are less tall and the roads are more numerous. It would allow them to break through more easily." Erwin mentioned
"Yes, that sounds like a good idea." Miho complimented
"We should bomb the Airfields, it would let us get rid of their planes in one go" Francesca excitedly said
"perhaps the Ooarai tanks should be in the south where it suits them better, while the Anzio tanks remain in the mountains where the CV33 and our other tanks are more suited to mountain warfare." Carpaccio mentioned
"How about we have our spies infiltrate the enemy lines and cause some chaos and confusion on the day of the attack?" mentioned one of the Intelligence officers
Miho looked at them for a few seconds causing them to fidget for a few seconds before she said
"What a brilliant idea!"
The meeting continued for some time as alterations to the plan were made to perfect it as well as preparing for any possible problems.
—
Little Ottawa, Little Canada
Darjeeling
May 5
Darjeeling was waiting at a cafe for Kay to show up, she had just finished her two-day long meeting with the Koala and Maple leaders to talk about the war. It had been decided that they would need more Maple forces in Little Europe to help with the war effort, she had been promised that the maple forces would be there in a year's time. Meanwhile, she had been happy with the news of Koala taking appropriate measures to set up defensive positions on the nearby islands as well as sending some more supplies to Little Egypt. As for her own plans, she had already begun moving some of her navies into the Little Meditarean and had begun preparations for war with Anzio.
Darjeeling was shaken out of her thoughts by Kay's loud and energetic voice "Hey! Darjeeling how nice to see you in person again."
" It is nice to see you in person Kay."
Darjeeling brought her teacup down on the small table in front of her as she got up only to stumble backwards as Kay collided into her wrapping her arms around her. She wrapped her arms around her friend as she let out a smile, something that has been quite rare in these trying times.
They released each other and sat back down, a waitress stopped by their table and took Kay's order.
"You know sometimes I feel like your stomach is a black hole," Darjeeling commented some mirth in her eyes
"What, I'm hungry" Kay responded hands in the air and trying to look innocent
"Which is why you needed a sandwich some coffee and a dessert" Darjeeling raised a single eyebrow in question.
"Sue me" Kay stuck out her tongue in defiance
"So anything interesting happening in the U.S.A other than you becoming the president?" Darjeeling questioned
"Hmmm, no not much has been happening other than politics. Since I wasn't voted in I don't have too many powers at the moment. How about the Commonwealth how is that going on"
A brief flash of sadness washed over Darjeeling before she clamped down on it, she still didn't like what she had to pull on Earl Grey.
"The war is going well, your supply ships have been very useful and appreciated. You have to understand that I can't say too much but we have started training the Bonple girls who had escaped."
"This has been very different from what I expected." Kay smiled gesturing to the surroundings
"Hmm what do you- Oh you mean the VR. Yeah, I almost forget sometimes that I'm in a VR machine. It just feels so realistic." Darjeeling mentioned
"Yes, I know what you mean. It's frighteningly realistic, I hope it doesn't have any real consequences in the real world though." Kay's voice dropped a bit at the end of her phrase.
"Of course it wouldn't. Otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed high school students to be involved." Darjeeling pointed out
"How about Pekoe and Assam how are they doing?" Kay prodded
"Pekoe has been taking care of most of my administrative needs as well as having refused commanding an army as according to her she would rather remain by my side. As for Assam, she has been given command of an army. How about Alisa and Naomi?" Darjeeling relaxed as the conversation took a more casual turn.
"Naomi has been well, she has dedicated at training her troops. She seems to have taken the spot of commander well. As for Alisa, well other than being allowed to thrive with her more cunning side since there are very little rules in this. She's also taken to training with a surprising seriousness and motivation."
The conversation continued as both girls continued talking relishing in the normalcy of simply talking together without having to carry the weight of their country on their back.
—
Hey guys, I know this chapters two days late and it's shorter than usual. For it being later, well I don't have any excuse and for the shortness of the chapter it's mostly that I couldn't come up with any good ideas to include in and so I decided to have this chapter be a bit more of a filler chapter that promises more to come.
I do hope you guys enjoyed this and please send me some feedback I appreciate any and all feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will post a one-shot tomorrow and will post another chapter this weekend (hopefully won't miss it this time).
I hope you guy's had a fun Halloween, I'll see you guys tomorrow with the one-shot.
Signed Irishluck
2020/11/03