This story was inspired by Whispers of Saturn written by GrandLeviathan, and Biscuits with Bismarck written by Admiral Fluffy. Both are fun stories, check them out if you haven't yet.

Very rarely does a 2D character influence me in real life. Mainz is one of them, albeit very minor. That's right, I take my coffee black after listening to her voice lines. I still go back to adding cream and sugar sometimes. I also find her design quite appealing and her skills are pretty cool. I mean, have you seen her idle chibi animation where she launches dark red energy orbs from her hands? Those same orbs are also used in combat. Even Odin summons Mjolnir somehow, and straight up launches what appears to be a lightning spear during actual combat.

This will be a sort of experiment where I try my hand at writing a multi-chapter story. It won't be a lengthy fic, though, and not too plot-heavy that you'll start pinning thumbtacks and red string over a bunch of papers on a cork board.

Fire.

It burned across the water's surface, bathing the base in red-orange hue. This was the first time the enemy had gotten this close, and the defenders were fighting with all they had to protect their home.

"...up...et...get..."

Mainz stirred from unconsciousness, voices barely heard around her. Then something struck her cheek.

Slap!

"Ah, scheiße! Wha- what the?"

"Get up, Schwester!" Admiral Hipper yelled in her face. "We can't stay here for too long, the front line is falling back!"

Mainz regained her bearings, looking around as the stinging pain on her face faded away. Kansen of different factions could be seen, covering each other's retreat.

That's right, we're under attack.

She saw her 'sister-ships' nearby, fighting back while withdrawing. Prinz Eugen struggled to keep her barrier up as enemy fire kept pounding at it, while Weser provided air cover with the help of Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser. Even Tallinn was there, the rest of her Northern Parliament comrades having come to provide aid.

"You blocked a pretty nasty hit there, are you all right?" Saint Louis was next to the pair, her spear gripped in a combat stance.

"Ja, remind me to just dodge next time," Mainz replied as Hipper pulled her up, steadying her feet to float on the water's surface. "How's the situation right now?"

The heavy cruiser grimaced. "Not good. As you can see, we're falling back. The Siren drones may be weak but they are overwhelming us in sheer numbers."

"And that's not even accounting for those damn humanoids," Hipper added. "Some of our stronger fighters were supposed to take them out, but that would end up stretching our numbers thin. We can't afford that right now when the base is getting bombarded."

"Most of the human personnel and non-combatants have already been evacuated but even the bunkers won't last long," Saint Louis said.

As if to emphasize her point, several explosions rang out as the base got hit by bombs. It didn't matter how excellent the anti-air girls were, it was impossible to shoot down all of the Siren bombers.

"What a bunch of party poopers! Just buzz off already!"

Despite the grim situation, Mainz couldn't help but chuckle a bit at hearing Seattle's angry tirade from a distance. She looked down to check herself; uniform torn and burned in several areas, rigging scuffed and dented, and gun barrels burning hot and starting to wear down. A quick glance revealed that her peers were more or less the same. Mainz reached out to her semi-sentient rigging, petting their shark-like heads.

"Just a little more, okay?"

Low metallic growls answered back.

"Here, you almost dropped this." Hipper pushed a familiar blade hilt-first towards her.

"Danke, Schwester." Mainz gripped her sword and sheathed it back in its scabbard.

"You ladies done catching up yet?" Eugen called out over her shoulder. "I can't block everything like South Dakota can, so please hurry along."

Nodding in affirmation, the group prepared to retreat with the others. However, at that moment, another explosion rang out near the center of the base.

"That was close to the command building..." Mainz whispered, feeling dread at the implication.

Frantic radio chatter started going off. Being the personification of warships, they had mental frequencies with each other that they could switch channels with.

"What the hell was that?"

"I-I think that was the command building..."

"The Commander?"

"Is he safe? Who the fuck was with him?!"

"Dido and Sirius were; he should be fine!"

"I'm sending some fighters over..."

"Gah, dammit!"

"Do we know if he got to the bunkers?"

Mainz tuned out the chatter as she made her way towards the source of the explosion before hesitating. She couldn't, in good conscience, leave the rest of her sisters and allies to defend the retreat. At the same time, she wanted to make sure their Commander was safe.

"Go on ahead, Mainz," Hipper said after noticing her sister's conflicting expression. "You're such a damned worrywart, it'll affect your combat here. Besides, you're faster than the rest of our class."

"Are you sure?" Mainz looked back and forth between the base and her allies.

"We have more than enough defenders here," added Saint Louis. "Go."

"I...thank you." Mainz fired up her engines. "Please, be safe." Then she turned and sped towards the shoreline.

Kommandant, hang in there...

What's that saying about frying pans and fires? Not exactly accurate but it's what came to my mind. Anyways, this chapter is just a preview of what will/may happen in the story's future. I have a rough idea of how I want the plot to go, but let me know how this teaser went. Good, bad?