Smoke billowed from the shattered windows on her forehead as Chitose dropped like a sack of potatoes. Twirling to the ground in a tremendous crash as more shells streamed in through the fog. Most careened past the still-standing ships harmlessly, the Battleship's return salvo scattering off in almost every direction as the ship's turrets tried to track every shot back at once, the heavy guns lighting up the ground around them.

"MOM!"

Hakone fired a full salvo from her heavy guns, focusing fire on the direction the shot that had glanced off of Diane's armor had come from, before racing to the fallen ship, letting her Rigging dig a trench into the soil as she let it slide off her arms, to be towed along by the connection ports going into the back of her head.

There was a meaty explosion in-among the noise of the firing guns, whatever had fired the shot having taken a shell directly from the sound of it. Ky Hoa, suddenly bereft of the Cruiser she had been clinging to, panicked a little, before realizing Anne hadn't moved from in front of her, still firing in every direction indiscriminately. The Minesweeper grimaced in a parody of a smile, as she hunched over, the thump of her spigot mortars sounding out as she fired her hedgehog. The munitions sailed over Anne's head towards where a smattering of infantry-fire still lashed out at them.

The cluster of munitions spread out in a rough circle as they flew into the field, the contact-fuzes on the depth charges exploding with... well, they were explosions, and there was a lot of them, and that's what counted in this situation. Lao, having been momentarily shocked by Chitose going down, rallied, sprinting to the fallen ship as Hakone turned Chitose over, quickly looking to see what the damage was.

"Is she okay?!" The Frigate shouted, holding onto her pith helmet with one hand, her 5" rifle held in the other as Hakone brought her arms under Chitose's armpits.

"I don't know!" The Cruiser practically wailed, clumsily dragging the stricken ship towards Diane and Robin, hampered by the bulky Rigging mounted on the Tenders' back "Cover us!" She asked/yelled.

Robin and Diane glanced at each other briefly, before closing ranks in front of the trio, their 6" casemates firing rapidly in an effort to suppress the enemy armor. A tank-round smacked into Robin's right thigh, flattening against her Ru-class armor belt to no apparent effect. The flattened AP round stuck to the ship's thigh, looking almost like a blossoming flower, until she absently swiped it off.

The puff of fire and smoke from the impact seemed to alert the enemy as to her location, however, and the Battleship shielded her face with her arms as the area was lit up by coaxial machinegun fire. The rounds made the Battleship yelp, as they pierced her comparatively thin upper decks, lancing into the outer compartments of her arms more often than not.

Diane, seeing the tracers, fired her 15" guns in something resembling a rolling broadside, her guns barking one after another in a steady rhythm as she swiveled in-place to save turret traverse time. The godly amount of fire seemed to cow or destroy whatever had set its sights on Robin, as the gunfire from that area cut off abruptly.

Meanwhile, Hakone pawed at Chitose, turning her head side to side as she tried to look in through the shattered windows of her command bridge. She started to say something to Lao, before she was interrupted by Chitose, who coughed as she seemingly came-to.

Hakone leaned down further "Chitose! Are you all right?!" She yelled.

Chitose didn't answer, just reaching up to grasp Hakone's shoulder as she continued her coughing fit, before getting a better grip, so she could be quickly helped to her feet by the combined effort of Lao and Hakone.

She looked at Hakone, and the Cruiser idly wondered with mild alarm if her pupils had always been different sizes like that, "Huurk, Hurkonie?" Chitose slurred, wobbling like a wet noodle in the Cruiser's grip.

Lao winced, taking in the smoke billowing out of Chitose's forehead, "Aw man... That can't be good." She turned in-place, snapping up her arm and firing her rifle one-handed into the fog, as a tank round zipped uncomfortably close by.

She turned back, using her other hand to keep Chitose steady, "Hey, Chitose, are you gonna be alright?" She asked worriedly.

Chitose looked at the Frigate, confused, before blinking slowly, one eye at a time. Her pupils still dilated, "Ahmgm... Whoer yoo?" She slurred, swaying.

Lao's face, if possible, grew even more worried, "I'm going to take that as a no," Lao flinched as a few stray .30 caliber rounds ripped into her from the side, disappearing into her hull and leaving nothing but some small pin-pricks in the skin to mark their passage. She shook off the sting, before looking at Hakone, "Listen, we can't stay out here! We have to keep moving or we'll just get whittled down!"

Hakone looked at Chitose in her arms, clearly in no shape to make any decisions. She looked back, "Can we raise Georgia?" The Cruiser asked.

Lao didn't answer, instead simply trying the Sub's frequency, "Georgia, I repeat Georgia, do you read? Over."

Flares suddenly shot into the sky, lighting the dark surroundings as they quickly began to drift to the ground, affected by the strong winds.

"The enemy are assaulting our positions again!" Diane yelled over the din, firing her comparatively paltry AA guns as the blackened forms again rushed out from the rain-spattered foliage, that damnable horn signal sounding out again, closer this time, and getting closer.

The enemy seemed to come faster now, as if possessed, throwing themselves at the vessels with wild abandon, blue eyes glowing all the brighter in the dim light. Making it all the more disturbing that the reckless charge was done in complete silence, whatever noise they may have made drowned out by gunfire and heavy rain.

Lao's eyes widened, looking back at the dazed Seaplane Tender, who possessed the lion's share of their light automatic guns, who looked back at her dazedly, one eye drifting slowly off to the left.

"Shit," she said succinctly, before raising Georgia again. "Georgia DO YOU READ, OVER!!" She shouted this time, taking a moment to get a pair of shots out of her reloaded twin 5" guns, sending a dozen hellspawn rag-dolling into the air amidst fountains of sodden dirt.

The radio, as before, spit back only static.

"She must be under radio silence again!" Hakone said, as her own rather paltry amount of type 96's opened up, shredding a few more men as she struggled to put on her arm-Rigging again, having let go of Chitose to do so.

The Seaplane-Tender promptly almost face-planted, only barely catching herself.

Diane, Anne, and Robin collectively turned the world around them into ash, lashing out with full broadsides with their heavy cannons. the closest figures, sprinting full-tilt, simply dropped, insides turned to jello from the overpressure of so many guns firing so closley.
Once again fireballs heralded fountains of dirt, as the ships wiped out their attackers, though this time, the apparitions didn't relent, having staggered their advance so that only the leading vanguard would be hit.

More forms came out of the mist, jumping over and in some cases into the craters the Battleships had made, before either setting up heavy MG's or climbing out the other side, continuing their mad dash.

The Battleships didn't have time to reload their main armaments before the first men were upon them, some stabbing ineffectually at the women while most simply attempted to dogpile them.

Anne still had not moved, from where she had taken her stance, her guntacles able to traverse perfectly fine without moving her body. When the first zombified soldiers reached her, she simply took up her Wo-cane, and, roaring in anger, stove in his head with it. The blunt, black Abyss steel not cutting, but crushing its way through the body, tearing a bloodless trench from head to groin.

As the body dissipated, leaving two piles of rags to flop wetly to the ground, Anne had already killed another, one of her guntacles whipping itself forward like a flail, smashing into the next victim with the full weight of a triple-mounted 8" turret.

As could be expected, the man exploded.

Behind her, Ky was clearly in a panic, yelling in pain as heavy MG fire dug into her unarmored hull, even as it cut down two of the approaching revenant troops as well. Her fairy gunners, clearly not impressed, returned fire, pattering the ground around the impromptu foxholes the gunners had taken shelter in with 40mm Bofors. She yelped suddenly, as one of Anne's guntacles wrapped around her midsection. Dragging the small Minesweeper up against the Cessex's back as the much larger ship fended off their attackers, physically throwing them off as they attempted to pile onto her.

Hakone couldn't get her Rigging on again in time before they reached her as well, and had to head-butt the first away, her hands occupied. Her forehead audibly cracked the revenant's ribcage, sending him flying back momentarily as another two tried to mob her.

Chitose, still wobbling, shakily fired her remaining type 89, luckily missing Hakone, unluckily missing all of the surrounding enemies as well. She blinked hard, opening her mouth and closing it several times, swallowing repeatedly as if trying to pop her eardrums.

The flares fired earlier settled on the wet ground, lighting the area as the sound of engines became louder. The vehicles that had been pinning them down finally showed themselves, moving into visual range now that the girls were occupied trying to peel off the infantry mobbing them.

The remaining un-engaged revenant infantry, carrying crew-served weapons, hopped off the vehicles. Themselves a mixture of rusted M24 Chaffees, M113's and a pair of M41 Bulldogs, one of which was half-transparent, showing the burned crew within manning their stations.

The infantry quickly began to spread out, setting up their heavy weapons as the tanks turrets traversed to face the Kanmusu and Abyssals.

Diane threw off a scrabbling soldier, before one of her turrets, a 15" main gun, bit another, tearing a large chunk out of the man with its large, flat teeth as it finished reloading. One of the last men to approach thrust forward with a long bamboo pole, a bundle of type 67 grenades tied off at the tip.

Diane bared her teeth in a snarl as the bundled charge detonated, blasting her long white hair back and sending shrapnel flying, obliterating the sapper and embedding into her arms and face. Her turrets, a grey light leaking from behind their jaws, fired another full salvo in return.

The 15" guns, loaded for high explosives, turned a pair of M113's and a Chaffee into essentially giant fragmentation grenades, sything down nearby troops. The Light tanks, now at extremely close range, opened fire. 76mm AP rounds punching holes through the girl's lighter superstructure, cracking dollar-sized holes through the pair of Battleships, before presumably flattening against their interior bulkheads.

Robin, despite being hosed down by several heavy MG's, managed to disentangle herself enough to complete reloading her own main armament. She fired an identical salvo, with AP rounds this time. One of the Bulldogs was hit directly, the shell, on a flat velocity at practically point-blank range, struck the tank on its sloped front. The shell only deviated slightly as its sheer mass crushed through the armor plating, its passage transferring enough force to lift the vehicle and throw it backward, end-over-end, as if struck by an angry god.

Lao, having thrown herself to the ground, fired her 5" rifle turret from a prone position, blowing off the ridge of one of the craters left behind by their 15" guns. Obliterating an MG nest that had taken up position within it. She switched onto the shared radio channel again, "GEORGIA YOU PRE-SUNK PIECE OF CRAP! ANSWER ME RIGHT THFUCKNOWORISWEARTOGO-"

"HEY!" The Frigate was interrupted, as Georgia finally responded, sounding a little shaken, "W-Watch your mouth, there's children present."

Lao scrunched her face in incredulous annoyance, "Are you kidding me?" She shook her head, even as .30 cal rounds whizzed over it, "Listen, Chitose got hit bad in the bridge, I think she's got a concussion or something, we are under heavy assault, pinned down, and need some damn support!" She yelled the last, as a tank round landed on her right, showering her with dirt.

...

There was a slight pause, and when Georgia responded, she still sounded shook-up, but there was a decidedly cold edge to her voice. "I'm on my way, give me coordinates."