Chapter 1

-Unknown Island-

-The Pacific-

-"Sir Colonel sir, the battalion is not going to continue the offensive under my leadership" Said a man talking with his superior on phone.

-"For a fuck sake! I don't approve this!" Yelled a Colonel at the man.

-"Sir lieutenant sir, the enemy is attacking towards the bog, if they make it through, we are gonna get isolated!" said a messenger exhausted from his sprint to his new commander.

-"The enemy is now attacking towards the bog. The whole battalion is in danger of getting surrounded. We will retreat."

-"sigh*. Bring the equipment back here." said colonel Ross sharply.

-"I'll bring the battalion... Over." Said the lieutenant A. Sanders

Sanders started to pass out orders. the Battalion was to move into some organized group with spotters on either side and at the rear. The highest priority was to get those men out of here. And fast.

Walking down from the hill his post was on and to a road Sanders said, "Take the wounded towards north, off the road and near that hill and be ready to leave in 15." to some young sergeant.

-"what about the dead, sir?." said the young sergeant with some uncertainty in his voice

-"Leave them. We have enough on our hands as it is" said Sanders "Let's get moving. come on!"

Sanders was now in charge of the whole battalion. All the higher officers nearby had been killed or taken to other locations where they were more needed and could not lead the battalion. He was the most experienced on the spot. He had tried to give the command to another lieutenant, but he had refused Sanders's offer.

He was the leader of one of the machine gun platoons but had to take first the leadership of the machine gun company and after that the whole battalion.

The Colonel... Ross was his name, and he was a fool of a man. He thought that anything could be won with just discipline and enough effort. He did not see the reality of the situation. The Battalion had been fighting for their lives for the past 2 weeks with very limited rations and ammo. The battalion at the start of the attack was around 950 men strong when they had attacked the island in hopes of liberating it from the sirens. There really wasn't much to liberate anymore, just the land and a few decimated towns. The surprise attack the sirens had carried out a few weeks ago came out of nowhere and no civilians in the small towns had been able to evacuate. And now, there were just around 400 soldiers with maybe two thirds able to fight. Their enemy, the Sirens had harassed their supply lines and made it very hard to bring food or anything else to the men in the front lines. Some chose to share what little they had preserved, and others… well, they did not.

XXX

On the road Sanders met up with Corporal Brown. Brown had been his comrade, maybe a friend for the whole war. At the start of the war Brown was assigned to his machine gun company by an accident and he had proven himself to be a merry bloke to have around. The Corporal was an exceptional fighter and well respected by his fellow brothers-in-arms.

-"apparently we are retreating..." Said Brown with uncharacteristically downcast.

-"Yeah, Ross tried to order us to charge east to relieve Allen's forces." Said Sanders with his regular lackluster face.

-"No fucking way! We are in no shape to continue holding these positions let alone attack." Brown was dumbfounded. Nobody really liked Ross for his overly patriotic personality, but this was crossing the line. His light blue eyes glancing at Sanders waiting for him to say something.

After a small silence, long enough for Sanders to light a cigarette he said "mhm... I told him that we'll retreat, and that I'll bring the battalion towards the shore up north."

-"Well better late than never I guess..."

Their walk was silent for the rest of the way to the hill. Brown sensed that something was off about his comrade but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

-"Aight... Sight*… We'll dispose the machine guns. Don't take anything too unnecessary." Said Sanders to 'his' men. "We'll head for the forest clearing and make our way back to the Colonel. Corporal Brown will take the lead of the group... Come on let's get moving, we don't have all day."

One man asked "A-all of the machine guns?!" to which Sanders answered sharply "That's what I just said! We don't have time for this. Hurry up!"

The men were a bit shocked because the usually so calm lieutenant had a burst of anger. Without any protests started the men throwing the machine guns into a thicket one by one. Some cursed the machine guns for the last time for being heavy as hell. The guns were additional weight and could be replaced.

-"Goodbye you sack of shit"

-"farewell you shit slinger."

Their retreat in the woods was bitter. The whole operation had been a catastrophe. The Sirens had thought of it and had boobytrapped the whole southern part of the island. They had had great progress in the northern parts that the Sirens hadn't yet occupied but after a clearing in the forest, they had encountered fierce resistance from the Sirens. They were not prepared at all to attack such significant defenses.

They could not use the roads because Siren ground-attack aircrafts would have picked them of one by one. So, the next 6 hours they had to struggle through the forest with wounded in tow. Many injured died from their wounds and they were just left behind because there was no time to start burying them. Sanders was as happy as he could be in that kind of situation because he had made the best what he could under the circumstances. Some wounded had to be left, yes, but overall, they had done a good job in their hasty retreat.

XXX

They arrived at the forest clearing without thankfully encountering any hostiles. It wasn't too large but circling around it would take too much time and the sirens, after figuring out that they had left their defensive line, would surely try to catch up with them.. Of course, going through it would mean that they wouldn't have the cover of the forest on their side. Sanders looked around and saw emaciated men all over the place. They'd have to be divided into groups and go two or three groups at the time. The others would cover their rear during the crossing.

Everyone was tired, hungry, and sick of this war. War. War that they were fighting but didn't know why. The goal of their enemy was still a mystery, well other than that they were killing and slaughtering humans all over.

Corporal Brown was laying on his stomach next to a boulder. He had found some bugs and was tantalizing them with a splinter. He was chuckling about something alone. "The war machine keeps on grinding..."

Sanders was resting against a tree in half-asleep. He had ordered a small break to get some rest. He was nervous. He feared that this small break would allow the Sirens to catch up with them, but the men really needed it. The crossing had to be done in swift motion to get everyone across fast.

He heard something to his right. Like the roar of an engine. It was closing in and fast. He cumbersomely turned towards the noise and peered towards the noise. His green eyes trying to find the source but it was so dark he couldn't see properly. Brushwood was getting crushed like something heavy was driving over it.

Then it came into his view. Far, far away he saw a black machine. A Siren tank. Painted black, sloped and with red spikes coming out of it. Sanders tried to move but his body froze, it wouldn't obey him. As he tried to force himself to move, he saw how the turret turned towards him, his fingers dug into the earth. Then... a flash.

He shot up, His heart pounding like a fully automatic machine gun firing. Sanders looked around. He had fallen asleep. He shuddered because it had felt so real. He relaxed and wondered how did that feel so real.

Some private came to him with cigarette pack and offered one

"Sir, you want one?" asked the private

He looked at the private and said, "Drop the formalities... Thanks, can't have enough of these." as he took one.

He got up, looked at his wristwatch. 17 minutes over 8pm. He had dozed for about one and a half hours. It had to be enough rest for now because the sirens wouldn't let them rest properly... well, at least he wouldn't if he was a siren.

His eyelids were red from the exhaustion, his face ached but he had not suffered anything terribly severe. His mouth and stomach hurt from the excessive smoking with an empty stomach.

- "It's time. The groups one, two and three will go first, after they have made it then it is the next groups' time to go. Everyone else, get ready! Try to do it as systemically as possible."

no-one opposed this. They were too tired to even complain anymore.

Sanders started to walk along the tree line and passed one severely wounded man who was laying on peers. Private Dixon had taken a bullet through his chest. It was a miracle that he hadn't died on the spot, but he was coughing a lot of blood. His partner was wiping the blood from his face and neck with a rag that was already soaked. It was clear that he had troubles with breathing.

-"Cah.. c... can't... ha... haa... even kill... ha... haah.. a... hhaah... man.. prop-haahh... -erly." Dixon managed to curse out.

Somewhere nearby someone else was trying to get his carriers to promise that they wouldn't leave him. No-one was willing to promise him that. Not anymore. Sometimes panic would strike even into the best of men.

-"Don't speak, save your energy. You will be fine." said the man nursing Dixon. They all knew it wasn't true. A few hours ago, Dixon himself was saying those exact words to some other private trying to calm them down.

Sanders watched them. His tired eyes studying the wounded man.

-"Youh... Li-haah... Lieute-... nant... haah... finish… hah… me... off…" said Dixon quietly, his face twitching from the pain.

-"Try not to talk. Save your energy, you'll need it." Sanders told him and started to walk away.

-"Sir, what if the sirens cut us off before we can reach the shore?" said the nursing man nervously

Sanders came to a halt. Without turning around, he said "Let's just focus on crossing this clearing."

2 hours later private Dixon would suffocate on his own blood and pass away. He would be buried next to a small boulder. An unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere. At least he would be buried, unlike those other dozens of fallen men.

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Somewhere east of the herd of men that was supposed to be the 2nd machine gun company was a group that should be the 3rd infantry company under the command of Captain D. Allen.

Allen had just got the news from Colonel Ross that Sanders had announced his retreat and that they should do the same. He got the order late because their signal man had died a few days ago and they had to use messengers.

-"Damn it... If we just had pushed a little harder, we could have broken through their line." muttered Allen. He knew that there was no way they could have done that, but he wanted to believe otherwise. He had requested reinforcements from Ross a few days earlier, but it seems he won't be need them anymore.

He got a messenger from Sanders saying that he should just leave everything that would slow them down. Allen respected Sanders for his experience but this wasn't a good suggestion. They would need everything to hold their positions back with Ross. Every gun mattered because if the Sirens decided to attack, they would have to fight tooth and nail with everything they got just to hold the position. So, he disregarded Sanders advice

Without delay he started to dish out orders to retreat. His plan was simple. Get the anti-tank cannons back to Ross and hopefully hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. If there were any reinforcements to arrive that is.

Within 10 minutes the anti-tank cannon positions on top of a treeless cliff were dismantled and men started to haul the cannons towards his position that was just at the forests edge.

Out of nowhere they heard screaming from the sky. Everyone turned to look up. Nothing. Nothing could be seen because the clouds were hanging low but then a black aircraft pierced through with significant speed. behind the one there were six or seven more aircrafts diving. The screaming got louder, and everybody became fully aware of the situation. They were Siren dive bombers racing towards them with really, really high-speed. In a split second the bombers were over and past their position.

It felt like the time had stopped. Men were caught in mid scream, running and in the middle of taking cover. Allen had thrown himself behind a tree and his hands clasped to cover his ears. then it happened. A hellish blast that knocked trees over, hurled rocks and dirt everywhere. Everything went bright red and after that black.

Allen heard screaming, yelling, and begging. His body felt heavy, but he forced his eyes open. At first everything was grey and blurry. He blinked few times and then he stared seeing colors again. Colors that he did not want to see right now. Red, yellow, and orange. Fire. Trees around him were caught on fire from that blast. He scrambled up and looked behind him at the blast point. Earth had been thrown all around and there were a few large holes in the ground. He was still trying to piece together what had just happened, the blast had made him dizzy and forget momentarily what had happened.

As the memories started to crash back to him, he heard yelling to his right. There was a private trying to crawl away from the blast point. Next to him was another man that had been cut in half and his guts were all over them both. Near the blast was another screaming man with his leg torn in the middle of his thigh and his left arm near his shoulder.

Some men were running to the wounded, trying to help them as much as they could. Others making makeshift stretchers from branches and canvas. Allen was just standing there, shocked, not knowing what to do.

His anti-tank group had been wiped out with no trace of the cannons left. That one bomb run had killed dozens of men and left many more severely and fatally wounded.

Allen snapped back to reality and started to order men to help the wounded with a little shaky voice. He ran to the man crawling from the blast point.

After making sure the man was not in mortal danger, Allen noticed another man laying on his back, trying to raise himself with his arms unsuccessfully. It was Sergeant Bennett. Allen made his way hastily to him and knelt next to him. Bennett's chest was bloody, and his stomach had been slashed.

- "P-Please, pray for me… I-I can't anymore…" said Bennett to Allen crying.

Allen was quiet for a moment but then opened his mouth and started praying.

- "May the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you;

the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Amen."

Bennett had not heard the last part of the prayer anymore. Allen just sat there. He felt like he could throw up. He had gotten dozens of men killed with his order.

However, Allen's self-hating moment did not last long because someone yelled "Siren tanks closing in from south, about 500 meters."

"Fuck." Was the only word that came into Allen's mind. There was no time to lose, they would have to get moving and fast.

Allen jumped up and ran to the cliff's edge. Indeed, dozen tanks were rolling towards them.

Allen yelled "Get the wounded on stretchers and let's get moving fast! We'll retreat back to Ross!"

Everything happened without delay. In a flash they were running north, running back towards Ross.

XXX
XXX

Sanders was crossing the clearing in the forest with the last 2 groups. He was carrying a stretcher from the front end when someone screamed "Oh fuck! Siren dive bombers!". Against the gray sky those black spots stood out like a sore thumb. They were really high up, but that just meant they would dive any second.

And that they did. Just when everyone had turned to look up, the bombers started to dive.

- "Groups 8 and 9 scatter!" Sanders yelled as he helped the wounded man to take cover. Hands protecting his ears, Sanders waited for the explosion and hoped it would miss him.

A few figures ran out to the clearance and opened fire against the diving bombers. The fire that they opened was no normal rifle fire. It was the singing of Anti-Aircraft batteries that sang in unison. The aircraft pulled up hard and broke the formation to dodge the AA-fire. Only when the bombers were out of sight did the AA-fire stop. Men were still laying and waiting for the explosion… that never came.

Sanders opened his eyes and stared at the log that was in front of him. He slowly took his hands off his ears grabbed his hat that had fallen from his head and stumbled up. His heart still pounding like the artillery at Verdun. He looked around for the reason why they were not at the gates of heaven with Saint Peter right now. His eyes quickly found four bright-haired… girls?

Sanders blinked a couple of times. Is he dead after all? No… probably not because he still feels the strain that he had been feeling. Sanders made his way up to the girls who were talking a bit together.

- "Did you four just save our asses?"

- "Yes sir, we did!" Stated the girl with blonde hair.

- "You have my gratitude but who or what are you?" Asked Sanders suspiciously.

- "I'm Cleveland! The big sister of the Cleveland-class light cruisers, Hull Number Cl-55! We are Kansen, in other words ship-girls!" Replied the same girl enthusiastically.

-My name is Atlanta - Hull number Cl-51! I am the big sister of Atlanta-class light cruisers!" Said the girl with pink hair and really eye-catching eyes.

- "Yo! I'm Brooklyn-class cruiser Phoenix!" answered the girl with red colored hair. Her hair was the colors of fire and with a quick look you could have mistaken her head for a campfire.

- "Hi! I too am Brooklyn-class light cruiser. Name's Helena, Hull Number Cl-50!". This girl had blue hair with a violet tint.

Sanders just stared for a moment trying to process what in the God's name was happening. "Okay… Well like I said you have my thanks for saving us." He said while he sat down on a tree stump and tried to find a cigarette pack from inside his jacket. He was having a hard time lighting his cigarette since his hands were shaking.

A man came half running to them. It was Corporal Brown who had crossed the clearance with group two. He stopped next to Sanders, put his hand on his shoulder and asked, "You okay, man?". He took the matchbox out of Sanders' hands and lit the cigarette for him.

Sanders answered "Yeah… Yeah I'm okay." As he took his matchbox and stuffed it into his pocket.

- "And who are you?" asked Brown the girls. They introduced themselves and Brown looked as dumbfounded as Sanders had a moment ago.

When neither of the men seemed to be able to speak, the girl named Atlanta broke the silence and said "Sir, Captain Allen. We are here to reinforce the 3rd infantry company in your retreat back to Colonel Ross!" while saluting. The other girls followed her example and saluted as well.

Sanders was quiet for a moment, stared at the girls and then opened his mouth. "uhm… You got the wrong man. I'm the commanding officer of the 2nd machine gun company."

- "Oh…" was only thing that Atlanta said as she blushed and turned away.

- "So, we got lost?!" Asked the red-haired girl named Phoenix as she stepped forward.

- "I guess so…" Sanders blurted out while wiping his forehead and running his hand through his hair.

- "Well, Helena, you don't have to walk that far because you are supposed to be the reinforcement for the 2nd machine gun company!" Said Cleveland smirking. Helena just nodded.

- "Do you know where Captain Allen and the 3rd infantry company could be located?" Phoenix asked.

- "We don't know exactly where they are because they lost their signal man awhile ago. If I had to guess they probably are south-east from here. Of course, knowing Allen, he might have liberated the whole island by himself." Said Corporal Brown chuckling after thinking for a few moments.

- "Well we must still find him. His forces are the most overextended compared to others right now." Said Atlanta after recovering from her embarrassment.

- "Yeah we need to get moving!" Said Cleveland

Atlanta went and hugged Helena and asked "Are you going to be okay if we go?"

Helena just said "Yeah! … Of course I'll be."

Atlanta released Helena from the one-sided hug and got into Sanders face, glaring, and said "If any one of you try to do something funny to her, we will make you pay dearly for that! Understood?"

Sanders just stared back at Atlanta expressionlessly and said after a while "Yeah… Understood."

The trio started to walk away from them while waving to Helena, leaving concerned Brown, tired Sanders, and unsure Helena alone.

- "Jesus Christ, I thought she was going to break your spine with just her gaze!" said Brown after the girls were out of hearing distance.

Sanders just stared at the girls' backs and said "mhm…"

Sanders fell deep into his thoughts while smoking his cigarette. Brown tried to talk with Helena, but she seemed to be a bit shy with her friends gone. Sanders got up said, "You could take the rear guard now… and bring her with you." And started to walk away from them towards the wounded man he was carrying before the attempted bomb run. Brown just waved lazily at him meaning that he accepted.

After watching Sanders a bit, Brown turned to Helena and said "Don't worry too much. The Lieutenant ain't terribly bad man."

Helena looked at Sanders' back and said "Okay."

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A/N: Well… I wasn't supposed to release this but fuck it. As you can probably see I'm not a native English speaker and neither am I very experienced writer. You could probably count with one hand the times I have written a story of some sorts.

Not sure how long my interest will carry this fanfic, but we will see.

You can drop a review if you want, not necessary of course but would be appreciated.

See ya hopefully next time! Some Dood out!