With New Jersey:
"Thought you could run faster than me rice-boy?" Jersey lifted the Militiaman up by the throat, soaking in his terror as he struggled in her quite-literal grip of steel. His feet dangled three feet off the ground as Jersey held him up to eye-level. "You're missing about 440 000 horsepower if you ever want to outrun ME for long." She finished.
The man, one of the last members of a group that had led Jersey and two of her Ru's on a merry chase around the Mỹ Phước marketplace, spat at her. Jersey didn't flinch as spittle landed on her face, simply laughing at him as the two Ru's behind her, 01 and 03, made a wish with one of the other survivors.
Of her Rigging, there was no sign, which suited the Battleship-Hime just fine, though it was probably not far, it never was. She began to say something else to mock the man in her grip, raising her voice to be heard over the other's screams, but was interrupted by Kitty Hawk, coming in over her personal radio channel.
"New Jersey? Do you read, over?" Jersey sighed, looking at the man trapped in her grip.
"Hold that thought, I have to take this." She told him. "Kitty Hawk! How lovely to hear from you! How are you doing on the advance? She was feeling positively giddy, it had been months since she'd been able to get her hands dirty, and the silence it brought to her mind felt positively wonderful.
What's your kill-count at now?" Jersey interrupted Kitty's response, looking at the charnel house she'd turned the once-bustling marketplace into. "Actually, don't answer that. I'm winning." "We sustained casualties after you left, apparently the humans were much more prepared than we gave them credit for."
"That can't be all, you wouldn't contact me over a Ri tripping over a buoy." The man she was holding began thrashing in her grip to escape, hands clawing at her forearm, Jersey paid it no mind as he spewed profanity into her face.
"We sustained a large barrage of cruise missile strikes, Kanmusu cruise missiles. It looks like the humans have a new trump card up their sleeves. Ta-01 is ordering a massed-charge down the river to close the distance and help avoid another volley."
New Jersey's Rigging rounded the corner then, gnawing on a half-eaten corpse as it trundled over to the bodies around the trio of Battleships. The two Ru-class quickly made way for the beast, abandoning their fun as it settled down to eat the broken remains they'd left behind. It barely spared a glance in Jersey's direction.
"Kanmusu cruise missiles? that would be... It would seem that you've gained a peer, Battle-Cat. That would be mid-1980's gear, at least. But what could it be? Surely not one of my Sisters, they'd have had the guts to face me head-on, I'm sure of it. And I'm certain they'd have paraded such a refit to the world, especially Wisconson, that gap-toothed idiot never could keep her mouth shut. And that was BEFORE the accident." Jersey put her un-occupied hand to her chin in a thinking pose, still throttling the man before her one-handed.
"Maddox identified them as TLAM-C's or D's, whatever kind of ship it is, it was meant to attack ground assets. That, paired with the Submarine attacks from earlier..." "Maybe it's a Los Angeles-class? They had 'Hawk tubes I'm fairly certain... Unless the Subs were just a red herring and its actually that young braggart Long Beach? Maybe even a Spruance-Class Destroyer or some-such, those little brats never could shut up about them at the docks, never-mind that I had the same thing equipped at the time... Mabe even the Soviets with their own brand? In any case, the conjecture can wait, tell me, what did we lose?"
Kitty Hawk, reluctantly, told her.
Her Rigging snapped its head toward her, its crooked teeth dripping red, its eyeless gaze boring into her skull as she began to shake in rage.
"And so it begins."
The human's head tumbled off, sheared away by the crushing force of Jersey's clenched fist.
With Captain Lu Phen Doc :
"Assign two platoons from the 4th infantry Division here, and across the street there, reports state Jersey's Battleships have broken formation to chase down our Irregulars, we will try to isolate and destroy one of the stragglers. I'm assigning special attack squad four to use as you see fit." The man across from him nodded, and rushed to pass on his order as Lu continued to study the map in front of him. He didn't truly need it, he'd lived in this city much of his life, but it helped to put names to the more obscure side-streets he'd never bothered with.
"Boom!"
"Captain! Sir! A communique from the Lieutenant, the Abyssals advanced early and recklessly upriver in response to our... Ally's attack. He has deployed the junks to protect the Trawlers." May the thần smile on the man then, he was likely to be dead soon. The force of Junks, jokingly labeled as 'Naval Assets', would barely slow down the Abyssals, and would likely take heavy casualties.
Lu took a paper from one of his aides, a local boy who knew how to read, write, and run fast. Reading the sheet as he slumped down into his chair.
He looked over to the wall, a small section decorated with photos of previous men to hold this office. One belonged to the last acting commander of the ground forces here, Lieutenant General Trần Phi Hổ. "What would you have done, were you in my place?" Lu muttered. The man was, unfortunately, dead. Killed in operation 'Crouched Reed" three years ago, succeeded by Major Hwang, succeeded by him.
Three years ago, had it been that long now? It had been 8 years since this all began, soon there would be an adult generation who would have known nothing before all of this spirit-nonsense.
The Captain's depressing musings were brought short as the radio operator burst into his part of the office. "Captain, the Battleships are congregating, something has them focused Sir, they aren't chasing our distraction squads anymore, the last one to try was simply annihilated by 16" fire." So that's what that distant boom had been. It seemed as though Jersey had caught on to their strategy, worrying. The Captain turned to face another of his command staff.
"Call back the 4th division men, I want all remaining armored forces and special attack squads to prepare ambushes in sidestreets along the main roads leading to Mỹ Bình, all infantry are to fortify the canal facing southwards. They are probably going to try and push through to the HQ directly, I can't see any other reason as to why that devil hasn't bombed us into the stone age yet. She wants information, begin shredding sensitive documents, and wipe the computers."
Some of the men scrambled to obey, and the room was soon filled with the sounds of tearing paper, they had to do it by hand, as the damn shredder had broken last week.
"Sir! the Lieutenant is on the line, he succeeded! The South of the river is blocked with fire and smoke!" Ah! Good news at last! And it appeared the Lieutenant had survived as well, truly, he must have someone smiling at him from on-high.
"Tell him and all remaining ships to fall back to the ferries, the civilians have time now, for now, they are safe." There was a small ragged cheer at that, before the people in the room went back to work. "Any word on our Kanmusu and... Other, allies?" The man nodded.
"He said that the ship-spirits are holding a rearguard position with the civilian ships, they cut down what Destroyers managed to get ahead of the oil-slick before it went up, should I pass along a message Sir? To Commander Pham Ngu Lao?" The Captain nodded as the sound of explosions began to sound, closer this time. Jersey must have begun her attack.
Lao already had her orders, going with the civilians, believing that he would be retreating shortly after. It wasn't to be, unfortunately, someone needed to direct the forces left in the city. And if they just turned tail and ran now, Jersey would have the opportunity to easily launch strikes at the convoys headed East and North along the roads, maybe even catch up to the ferries before they crossed into the envelope of the Cambodian inland border defenses. Best to keep her occupied.
At least they would be able to catch a glimpse of the faces of their killers, not many in this war of naval artillery and bombing runs had gotten that opportunity. He thought back with a rueful grin to an American movie he'd watched with her, what seemed like a lifetime ago when he was still polishing his second language with her help, she would understand what he meant. The Captain finally responded.
"Tell her that she is strong and wise, and that I am very proud of her."
̶ ̶ ̴ ̶ ̷ ̵ ̶ ̵ ̷ ̴ ̶ ̸ ̴ ̷ ̸ ̸ ̴ ̶ ̸ ̴ ̸ ̴ ̸ ̷ ̵ ̷ ̴ ̷ ̷ ̵ ̸ ̴ ̴ ̸ ̶ ̵ ̸ ̷ ̴ ̷̰͎̆ ̶͌̊̔ ̸̭͙̚ ̶ ̶ ̴ ̶ ̷ ̵ ̶ ̵ ̷ ̴ ̶̶ ̶ ̴ ̶ ̷ ̵ ̶ ̵
Faintly and slightly muffled by the rain, there was a distant roar from the South.
