Chapter 10

Smith had guessed just right. They were sent almost immediately by planes towards base Azure. However, they were not taken to the same airfield where Sanders' company had landed months ago, but to a nearby island from where they would land by boats near the base. Because it was Captain Hill's company that was sent, Captain Hill himself was in charge of their company and the operation. Their intention was to relieve the base, plain and simple. They had been informed that Captain Allen's troops were still at the base and that they needed to join them and fight for the base together.

Fortunately for them, the wind and waves were almost nonexistent, so the flat front landing crafts' weakness that came apparent in rough seas did not bother them at all and they managed to land safely. Far out at sea, they could already hear shots and planes dropping bombs.

-"Let's see what kind of slaughter this'll be... I mean, there are not many of us here."

Although, many of the men did not particularly like their Captain, he was not a bad tactician. He assembled the platoon leaders and began to execute their planned attack on the back of their enemy. They tried to make contact to the base via radio, hoping that Rear-Admiral Reed or Captain Allen would respond, but in response, they only received a static buzz. They were being jammed, as was to be expected.

They had planned the attack a little earlier on the planes, but yet again they went once through it.

-"All clear? Then let's go." Captain Hill slammed the covers of his map book shut, after once again going through the movements of the troops.

Smith watched from the sidelines as some new platoon leader talked to Sanders because he had been promised a couple of Sanders' machine guns.

-"Will I take them right away, or how do we do this?" The young platoon leader spoke eagerly to Sanders.

Sanders stared thoughtfully towards the direction the firefight took place:

-"Hmm… That's probably for the best. Take it calmly."

-"Yessir, we'll take care of these bastards at once, sir."

-"We'll see."

After the young man left, Smith approached Sanders and said with a smug smile:

-"Did you get confused again about these formalities? It seems last time wasn't the last."

-"Maybe."

-"… You're not going to give me any instructions or tips? Pretty unfair if you ask me." Smith asked and adjusted her belt and her backpack.

Sanders smiled shortly at her before he lit a cigarette and said:

-"No. You'll manage without my advice."

-"Oh, but what if I don't? What if I lose my nerve and run straight ahead and get mowed down by machine gun fire?" She chuckled.

-"If that would happen, I bet my advice wouldn't help much at that point anymore."

-"You never know… But I didn't come here just to tease you. Do you know anything about that Captain Allen's situation?"

XXX

XXX

-"Captain Allen."

-"Yes ma'am?"

-"Are your men ready?"

-"Yes they are. We have pretty good positions, but we can't hold them off forever, ma'am."

-"I know. The situation looks pretty bad in a direct fight… Even with my girls, we alone will not survive here more than a few days. At least we have only one front to fight on. Still, we must hope that the message we sent got through… If we could make even a small attack on the back of the enemy, it might surprise them enough that we could get the upper hand." Rear-Admiral Reed spoke. She didn't mean it specifically to Allen or to Washington, but more to herself.

She looked out the window of her office and sighed. They had suffered many severe bombings and many buildings had turned black and gray from fire. Especially the first bombing had been the worst because it had come as a surprise to them. No radar and no Ship-Girl had noticed anything before the bombs began to fall. The first bombs started to fall hours ago. She didn't have time to check the clock, because when the bombs pierced through the roofs of the dormitories, she had much more and more important things to think about.

The Sirens' attack was no coincidence and had been carefully calculated and planned. About a week before, several attacks had taken place all over Iron Blood and Sakura Empire. Therefore, the leaders of both countries had withdrawn their Ship-Girls from the base Azure to ensure the safety of their own countries. And they could not be blamed for it, the Ship-Girls were not the property of Admiral Reed, but were, so to speak, only leased to her. The greatest damage had been suffered in the northern Iron Blood cities of Bremen and Rostock and in the southern Sakura Empire cities like Kanoya and Miyazaki.

-"What if they didn't get the message? What if it was jammed? We aren't getting out here alive, that's for sure."

Reed sighed and glanced at her cognac cabinet. Oh, how she wanted to pour herself a glassful, even just a drop for the taste, but now was not the time. She ran her hand slowly through her brown hair before she said:

"That's right. The only way out of here now would be by boats but as you know all the larger transport ships are now on the seabed… even with all the girls we have here we would probably still be sunk. I don't know about you, but I would like to avoid drowning or suffocating on oil. Well, that is, if I was lucky enough not to get blasted to pieces and managed to avoid the suction of the sinking ship that would otherwise drag me into the depths... Captain Allen, now is the time to start praying if you believe in any supernatural Gods."

-"Yeah, it's really starting to look like that is the best option we have now. But we won't go down without a fight. I'll fight to the last man if I have to."

-"Thank you. Dismissed."

Allen saluted sharply and walked out of the Admiral's fancy office. Reed sighed, sat down in her chair, and started to tap her desk with her index finger. Next to her stood her secretary Washington. She had been completely quiet the whole time that Allen had been in the room but now she relaxed and sat opposite of Reed:

-"Do you really think we can manage to survive 'a few days'?"

-"No. I would say that if there is no help, we will be fucked before midnight. Maybe with good luck we can hold until tomorrow morning, but after that, no chance… And I don't mean that I don't trust you or Allen and his men, no, but we are going to run out of ammunition and medical supplies before the Sirens run out of soldiers."

Washington chuckled sadly and said:

-"Well, whatever happens, I'll be here with you."

-"Thank you my friend… But still I don't think we'll be granted eternal life today."

XXX

Allen walked out of the building and put on his helmet. He looked around as he walked towards the main gates of the base. Someone was carried on a stretcher towards the medical building. The stretchers were soaked in blood, for they had been used a lot and they would be used a whole lot more. There weren't many medics at the base, at least not many breathing ones anymore. One of the Eagle Union Ship-Girls was a doctor. She was small in size and very firm with her patients. She usually didn't take human patients but now she had made an exception.

In front of a warehouse Allen saw Cleveland and Phoenix sitting down. He walked up to them and greeted.

-"Hey! What happened to you?" He asked when he saw bandages around Cleveland's head covering her left eye.

-"A bomb exploded next to me and cut this side of my head, but don't you worry about that. For many, it has been even worse."

-"Yeah I noticed."

Cleveland studied the man's face with her one working red eye and said:

"Did that emergency message go through?"

-"We don't know. All frequencies are still being jammed, making it impossible to make contact."

-"That's not good… Where are you going?" Cleveland said and adjusted her bandages.

-"I got instructions from Reed to hold the positions, so I got to go and try to slow them down."

-"Okay… Just don't die out there. It would be shame to lose another company leader."

Allen smirked and said:

-"I'll try not to. But what about you? You probably won't be put in a fight right away, how about you, Phoenix?"

-"I'm going with the fourth squad on the sea and we try to flank them."

-"That's good. If it reduces their attack on our lines, then I'll take anything I can get. Well, see ya around."

Allen swung his rifle to his shoulder and walked away. Cleveland and Phoenix watched him go for a moment before Phoenix said:

"What do you think happened to Sanders' company?"

Cleveland grunted as she adjusted her bandages yet again. they didn't seem to be well in any position and was always rubbed uncomfortably. After getting the bandages into a better position she answered:

"Well, he got demoted and the company got a new leader."

-"Yeah guess so… It was still a heavy blow to Helena when she had to say goodbyes to that Brown."

-"Yep, it sure was. But did you notice Atlanta?"

-"What do you mean?"

-"Outwards she tried to show that it didn't bother her, but it did and does."

-"Was she close with any of them?"

-"Pretty sure she was close with Sanders but who knows."

Phoenix pulled one of her knees to her chest and leaned against it and sighed. Cleveland patted her back but didn't say anything.

She remembered seeing unconscious Montpelier being carried to the medical building after her squad had been torpedoed. She had not initially recognized her sister behind the carriers, but after seeing Montpelier with a torn thigh and the other leg missing below knee, she had frozen in place. She just watched as her sister was rushed towards the medical building and she just stood there unable to take another step. Tears welled up in her eye, but she blinked them away. Now was not the time to mourn.

XXX

XXX

Captain Hill's company successfully made contact with the enemy. It was hard to say if the Sirens knew about their plan or if they just managed to turn the battle to two fronts very quickly.

-"The Captain ordered us to make an attack through here, and make a breakthrough."

-"If we detach without saying anything and circle around north we'll get away scot-free." Sanders said to Smith and demonstrated his plan on the map.

-"The order is clear." Smith said

-"We won't get through if Allen doesn't push forwards at the same time. Even though they are between us, they probably still have more men than we have combined."

-"I know… but excuses won't help us."

Sanders was quiet and looked at the map. It was crazy to try to break through right away, but if it did happen the enemy forces would be split. He grabbed a cigarette and started quickly smoking it before saying:

-"They've been there for hours and you'll see that they are prepared."

-"We can't do anything about it now… But we have to try. I'll attack over there at the same time. Hopefully, it'll confuse them enough." After saying that Smith got up and left.

Sanders walked down the road towards his own platoon. He saw Cooper sitting on the roadside and asked him where Brown was. Cooper didn't have time to answer when Brown walked out of the woods and on to the road.

-"An attack group should be assembled."

-"Well, I'm such of an attack group by myself, that no one else is needed."

-"Smith will attack from across the road at the same time."

-"All right."

Sanders walked away and left Cooper and Brown alone on the roadside.

-"Come with me, Cooper. We'll go ahead together and clear a path for the others."

-"Yeah, sure, let's go."

XXX

A quiet crackle was heard in the woods. No words were spoken. These men had already been in battle many times. After passing the spotters in front, they took anxious breaths, holding each for a moment, waiting for the first shots. Their gaze wandered to the man walking next to them questioning them, but the other replied with only a look: Not yet.

It was twenty o'clock. Somewhere far away there was a rumble as shells hit the ground. Maybe the Ship-Girls tried to soften their enemy, who knows? The evening sun illuminated the bark of the trees. There were a lot of sticks and branches on the ground. Sometimes a branch that had lost its bark snapped when a boot happened to step on it. No one noticed the beauty of the evening forest. Many serious and lurking eyes looked for the slightest of sign of an enemy. Brown was ahead and Cooper following him slightly behind. They wandered from tree to tree, from bush to another. Suddenly they saw Brown throwing himself on the ground: Pe… pew… pew…

Brrtt… brrrrrtttttt. Brrtt…

It was Brown's submachine gun.

Seeing the opportunity come, Brown stood up and ran behind a mossy rock that was in front of him and began firing behind it. Cooper was not far behind Brown and he too crashed behind the rock and growled "Fuck!" when a bullet hit the rock a few inches from his head.

Then it started to whistle from the sky and shells started to rain down. The bombing did not target them and was like an artillery bombardment that had been ordered and bombed the Siren lines. The trees were hit and fell down and smoke rose. One fragment flew next to Brown's boot and hissed from the heat. The bombing did not last long because it had not been ordered by anyone, it was just a lucky coincidence that it happened right now.

However, after the bombing ended, they did not move. On the gentle sloped hill, the crackling was already so fierce that there must have been a machine gun.

Sanders was right behind the formation and watched the situation. From the shooting, he immediately knew and understood that the enemy had spread wide. There was no chance of victory here other than to pierce through. Sanders watched the enemy line and spotted the machine gun. The head behind the machine gun disappeared when he sent a burst from his submachine gun towards it. A new head rose almost immediately, and the gun fired again. Sanders knew full well that the Sirens would not retreat now.

The fight mustn't last long. They had to make a quick breakthrough and split the enemy line in two. Otherwise, if the battle lasted too long, the men would no longer be willing to charge.

Brown looked at the Sirens' line, examining it, and noticed the same machine gun nest. The nest would make all their efforts be in vain. Brown turned to look at Cooper and yelled to him:

"Shoot that pile next to those birches! And shoot like hell!"

-"Why?"

-"Shoot like hell so I can go behind that rhizome. They will kill me if they get to shoot in peace. If we get there, we can knock down the whole line over here.

Cooper didn't resist and immediately began to empty his magazine at the pile. Brown got up, jumped over the rock, and ran forward. A gray whish appeared, and the man was already ducked in cover behind the rhizome. Only then did a burst whizz over him.

All Brown needed was to glance at the situation until he saw a small pit with four Siren riflemen in it. He felt some kind of rascal like joy when he grabbed a hand grenade from his belt. However, he could not resist the temptation and grabbed a fist sized stone next to his boot and threw it into the pit. For a moment he regretted throwing the stone because a burst whizzed dangerously close to his head. The stone struck one of the riflemen and one of them let out a shrill cry. Only for a moment did the Sirens have time to ponder where that stone had come from because Brown's grenade was already flying. It landed into the pit, at the feet of the Sirens and exploded. By then, Brown was moving again. He plunged into the pit and quickly confirmed all the former settlers of the pit.

There was another pit next to the one where Brown was now sitting. The men in that pit hadn't even noticed his attack, and they would never notice. Brown's grenade cleared that pit too.

-"Come on boys… It's my time to shoot… The only way forward is forward..."

He turned around to look when someone rushed into the same pit where he was. Cooper stumbled into the pit and cursed. Some soldier tried to follow them and shouted as he ran:

"Cover me! Cove-"

His yell was cut shot as his helmet clanged and the man fell down to the ground. The bullet had hit his temple.

-"Don't you fucking do it or I'll come and take that bomb from you." Cooper cursed and shot someone trying to throw a grenade at them.

-"Do you have any grenades?!"

-"No."

-"Well fuck. I have two so take this. Let us clear a few more pits. You go right and I'll go left."

-"Oh god damn it. They should discharge me for doing this."

They got up from the pit and ran. Cooper was a few feet ahead of Brown when they heard a whoosh that flew past them.

-"Cooper, look out!"

Another whoosh. It seemed as if nothing had happened before Cooper began to sway in place violently. The submachine gun fell from his hands as they rose to his chest and tried to tear his jacket open. Then the man fell. He gasped for air a few more times, but in vain. Tony Cooper was dead. A direct hit from a plasma rifle had burned a small hole through his chest.

-"Oh fuck!"

Brown couldn't stay and mourn, he had to destroy the machine gun nest. For a moment he crawled forward before he threw his grenade to give himself a bit more time. The grenade exploded somewhere to his left and then he bounced to his feet and towards the machine gun nest. On his last step, he squeezed the trigger and let the submachine gun rip the Sirens behind the machine gun.

And so, these two had made a gap in the enemy's line. It wasn't wider than twenty feet, but it was good enough. Sanders had seen Cooper falling and had already guessed that he had taken a hit. He told the men to move forward and ran with them.

-"Sanders! Over here!"

-"How badly did it hit him?"

-"He no longer needs any help, that's for sure."

-"That's a pity. But what can you do? These things happen."

-"Yeah… But I said that we would get through here."

-"Yeah. Now if we just could take a message to Allen." Sanders said.

-"Then it has to be done." Brown said and set out to find a new magazine for his submachine gun.

XXX

XXX

Allen was sitting on one knee behind a tree and holding his ears. Behind him, some of the Ship-Girls fired at the Siren lines. The cannons roared, Allen narrowed his eyes and looked ahead behind the tree. The rumbling stopped and Brooklyn crouched besides him, looking intently ahead:

"Sir, our main cannons are out of ammo."

-"It's a pity. But don't go yet. You have smaller guns, right? They can be useful later."

-"Yes sir, I have a couple of M2s."

-"Good. However, you better stay a little further ba-"

-"Wait, there's something coming fast towards us!" Shouted the Eagle Union's rabbit-eared destroyer, Benson.

They all turned to look in the direction Benson was pointing. Someone really ran towards them. The man stumbled forward, over the roots and branches. Behind him, the Sirens fired at him, but he continued to run like the devil was after him. Allen watched in astonishment as the man run towards him. He was speechless for a moment before he exclaimed:

"God damn, it's Brown! Cover him!"

Brown staggered, his leg got stuck in rhizome, but he yanked himself loose and in an instant, he was next to them. Blood dripped down his forehead and his helmet was missing. Brown gasped for air for a moment before he said:

"Bloody hell, there are bullets flying everywhere!"

-"The hell are you doing here?! Where did you come from?!" Allen asked.

-"I had a picnic of course. But listen, now you must attack. Sanders has pushed so far with the others that you have to do something here too."

-"Sanders? He's here too?"

-"Yep, and a whole company of men, but there's no time to waste. Our company is attacking their back and we are trying to break their line through here."

-"Are you serious?"

-"No, I just happened to be around and came to say hi. But now is not the time, we have to go."

And so, they started to push the broken line on the other side as well. Thanks to the small fracture in the line, they managed to collapse it fast. The Sirens started to quickly retreat but because there was no longer a direction for them to retreat to, they began to desert. The deserters tried to run in all directions, but they were all shot. After the battle there were stories told about the different platoons. One of the most popular rumors was that Lieutenant Smith had hit a Siren with the stock of her rifle so hard that only the barrel would have remained in her hands.

Captain Hill had gathered the platoon leaders again and was speaking to them when Rear-Admiral Reed arrived on the scene. She hadn't survived the engagement without injuries either. Her jacket was torn from her sleeve and her pants were stained. Small cuts were visible on her cheek and her jacket. Her walking style had also changed. It was not as perfect as a high-ranking officer, but she slightly limped her left leg. She talked with some of the Ship-Girls and told them to go to the medical building immediately. Then he saw Sanders and her eyebrows rose. She walked towards the officers and yelled:

"Sanders?! Is that you? Good evening to you, well not really good but you know…"

-"Evening to you too."

Captain Hill snarled at Sanders as he spoke to a senior officer so casually and turned to Admiral Reed:

"Ma'am, the company has managed to drive away the enemy."

Reed turned to look at Captain hill and back to Sanders:

"Why do you have a Captain with you?"

-"I-err… I'm not a company leader anymore. I'm Captain Hill's 3rd platoon leader."

-"Is that so?"

The now irritated Captain Hill said:

"Like I was saying, ma'am. We have secured this forest and the nearby buildings."

-"That's good… Come, Sanders. We have lot to talk."

-"Yes, ma'am"

Reed waved her hand in amusement and blew air out:

"Just come on!"

XXX

Somewhere next to the base's main gate Brown sat with the other soldiers waiting for them to be let in. He sat on the roadside and waited. Staying still felt painfully dull. He had walked around nervously for a long time a little earlier. After tens of minutes of waiting, Lieutenant Smith finally came to give them permission to enter the base. Now there was a new problem in sight. He hadn't thought where Helena might be. He walked past some of the collapsed warehouses from which some Ship-Girls were trying to clean up some of the rubble.

Then he saw it. A glimpse of blue hair of one of the girls that were cleaning a smaller warehouse's entrance. He walked towards the group of girls. The blue haired girl had her back towards him. He stopped a short distance away from the girls and watched them. For a moment he examined the blue-haired girl and made sure it was Helena. He stepped and stopped a yard or two from Helena and cleared his throat. Helena's expression showed sadness before she saw Brown. Her eyes widened and she froze in place. For a moment she blinked her eyes and looked stunned.

-"Uh… Hi…" Brown said.

Helena cried out and rushed to hug Brown.

-"Oh my god! Brown, It's you!"

Helena squeezed Brown's body with shocking force. Brown lifted Helena into the air and hugged her back. It was a reunion of a two people who cared a lot of each other.

A/N: Yo. Not much to say. Again. I have some really important exams to get over and after that I'll be free for a while. This was really fun to write, mostly because I think the conversations flow better if Reed is present. Maybe that's just me idk. Often when Sanders says something I have to shorten the sentence, but with Reed I do not need to worry so much.

Also this is the chapter 10! wooo. A small pat on the back and lets keep going. If you have read this this far: Thank you so much.

Like every time reviews are very much appreciated no matter what you want to say.

See ya hopefully next time! Some Dood out!