Kay and the others were returned to USS George Washington a couple days after engaging with the Russian Navy. Thankfully, the Russian Pacific Fleet was going to be held in Vladivostok as a number of ships had taken damage most notably their flag ship which was heavily damaged and would be undergoing extensive repairs. Kay knew that she had time to reorganize herself as she was going to be taking on Yuri's friend who was put in charge of the forces on the northern half of the ship as Kay knew that the girl had a significantly large force that was strong enough to break her. She knew she was going to have to peel troops away troops from other fronts if she was going to stand somewhat of a chance.
That afternoon, the call was answered as about 1,600 students from Olivia's siege force had arrived at the main port of the ship along with fresh reinforcements. Kay knew she had 12,736 students at her side as many of the local population of USS George Washington were willing to fight for their school ship. Darjeeling was in her tent planning for the operation. Kay soon walked in as she was waiting on her.
"Hey there Kay, we got some news about the local population, upon the ship. Brook has about 24,530 students at her disposal at the time being. I still don't know what she is doing with such a large force." Darjeeling soon told Kay about this as Kay was doing the math. She was still worried about this.
"Darjeeling, Brook still out numbers us 2 to 1, we'll lose since we have inferior numbers." Kay told her as she was still worried about this. Darjeeling pulled out a chair as she sat Kay down.
"Kay, you need to learn that numbers alone do not win a battle. I believe we still have a good majority of the tanks that we have sitting around so I was thinking, taking the Churchill, Matilda's and Sherman's and using them as mobile artillery. Even though Brook has artillery at her side but it can't be moved as quickly as the tanks and would get bogged down in the mud. We'll split the forces into 3 groups. East and West will have 4,000 students in them as well as several artillery pieces and tanks while the Center group you and I will have 4,736 students in it and will have some of the strongest hardware we will ever field. Anchovy says the tanks should be up and running and we should be heading out to the front lines." Darjeeling told Kay as she was outlying the plan. Kay nodded as she began speaking.
"So we're the leading center force, is that correct?" Kay asked as she was wondering about this. Darjeeling was still drawing up plans as she turned to Kay as she began speaking again.
"Yes, my Churchill and your Sherman will provide the advance for the infantry. Also we need to capture several strategic points and hills. According to some of the Ship's resident's, Brook has set up 3 layers of defense around a small province she has renamed Liaoyang and this is where the Saunders School is located, take these points and she might abandon Liaoyang completely." Darjeeling told Kay as she marked the strategic points with a red marker and the blue marker representing their advance. Kay nodded as she knew she was going to have to get the group ready. Kay looked at Darjeeling as Darjeeling began speaking for the last time." Kinuyo says for this sector, leave no student as reserves, they'll all be attacking." Kay nodded as she left the tent as she wanted to gather sufficient strength to begin the attack.
Brook meanwhile was busy setting up the defenses around the school as she was hearing that Kay was getting ready for an attack. She soon looked at her map as she was setting up the defensive rings, the school that Darjeeling was talking about was located on the second ring as much of it was dismantled to serve as fortification for the first ring which was the strongest. She had been speaking to Yuri over the radio was it was clear Yuri was still being stubborn.
"How many times I've told you to relocate, it's a death trap, you lost the first two hills and you have the 174 meter and 203 meter hills left, relocate from Port Arthur now!" Brook shouted to Yuri as she wasn't responding in the most effective way possible.
"No I am not, I can simply keep holding out until the Russian fleets come along and save our asses, there is no need to relocate." Yuri responded as she knew that the Russian fleet could easily destroy the ships that decided to attack the USS George Washington. Brook soon knew she had to break the news to Yuri as she wanted to tell her about what had exactly happened to the battle.
"Yuri, how many times do I have to tell you, you told me the news. The Russian Pacific Fleet lost the battle a couple days back and their admiral was killed in battle, How many fleets would the Russians send on our behalf?" Brook was now shouting as she didn't understand what Yuri was saying that the Russian fleet was now heading to their rescue but Yuri knew she had it all planned out.
"The Russian Baltic Fleet is on its way to help this war out as they have more ships over there than they do with their Pacific fleet." Yuri responded but Brook seemed skeptical about this as she knew that this wasn't going to cut it.
"That's not my point Yuri, from the engagements that we've gotten, Kay and her friends managed to beat off the Russian Pacific fleet and sent them back to Vladivostok. If something similar happens with the Baltic Fleet, we're in big trouble, it's best we give up now while we still have our lives." Brook suggested as she knew defeat was better than death. Yuri soon spoke to her.
"Look if you know how to command the entire force in the north, prove it but we don't give in to a pig's demands." Yuri told her before she hung up, silencing Brook. Brook looked down as it was clear that she didn't want to use up all of her numbers but instead she would create two groups. She soon began drawing out the plans, the plans were three groups, group's south and east which would have a total of 15,800 students with 7,900 in their groups. The rest will be held as reserves since the reinforcements are marching in and it would take them some time for them to come. Brook knew she needed to hold out until then.
Brook was as far from the field of battle as possible as she was set up in the area that the rebels marked as Liaoyang. The reserves were stationed there but even two main groups weren't going to be enough to counter three of them. She looked from the wrecked Saunders school building as several artillery guns were stationed there.
"Remember don't waste your ammunition on a prolonged conflict since we need to conserve our shots since we don't have that many of them with all of our artillery, We've been caught flat footed." Brook told the Artillery crews not to waste ammunition as it was scarce and accurate gunnery was needed to keep them going. "They outnumber us and we're going to have to hold until we can hold no more or I give the order."
Kay and Darjeeling were busy getting their forces ready as their friends decided now was the perfect opportunity to split their forces up. Naomi was going to be leading the left column of their forces with her Sherman Tank. Assam was going to be leading the right column with her Matilda tank, Kay, Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe were leading the center column as they had the strongest equipment out of them all. The sides began a long bombardment of trying to clear the defenses out so they could mount a massive assault from the center and the flanks could threaten the reserves to the north. Darjeeling looked as Orange Pekoe unloaded about 15 shells into the defenses. Their mostly flimsy defenses were beginning to fall apart as pieces of what they used to barricade themselves in were blown apart easily. Some of the students ducked down into their defensive trenches wondering when this would all stop. Darjeeling looked at Orange Pekoe.
"Okay Pekoe dear, we need some so we can take out some heavily fortified nests once we clear the first line of defense." Darjeeling gave her the order to not waste anymore ammunition and just assault their defenses.
One of the students situated at the front lines poked her head out as another one did much the same thing, they soon spotted one of the PM M1910's, the crew were unconscious but they were still breathing. The two students ran over to man the huge beast. Kay soon looked down to her small force of 4,736 students. They soon saw they had got into range as they began firing, the five bursts they fired were going as followed 3 of them were hits, the bursts from the Airsoft BB's had struck Darjeeling's Churchill twice and a student that was racing alongside it. Kay saw what was going on as the trench was beginning to open fire in several spots determined to keep the attackers at bay. Kay's Sherman looked down as it was going to take a fire at the Machine gun that was spitting BB's at them defiantly. The Sherman soon fired its shot. The shot nearly hit them as the Machine gun continued to spit BB's at them as they wanted to repel the attack. The Sherman prepared another shot as it adjusted its aim and fired a second shell at the crew. The shot misses them again as they were getting very close to them now. Darjeeling knew that Kay was struggling with the gunnery duel as she decided to take a shot at the Machine gun nest that were still spitting BB's at them. She soon fired the gun at the nest. The shot misses them as it takes out some students firing their rifles as they were blown into their trenches.
After the firing of three rounds at the crew, the only logical answer was a frontal assault to break their nerve as the students charged forth at them. The various students still standing were spitting their BB's with their guns continuously trying to hold them off. However even that wasn't enough as the students were now feeling the weight of Kay's force barreling down on them. They knew they needed to retreat. So the group decided to one by one, withdraw from the area to the 2nd defensive perimeter. Their retreat goes completely organized as they were now abandoning their first line of defense which was their strongest ring around Liaoyang.
Assam was attacking the right end of the flank as it was clear she was having a much harder time trying to break through since the student's defenses were much greater there than where Kay had assaulted. Many of the students were better prepared as Assam was attacking a ridge that the students have had the chance to establish the defensive positions on. Assam was focusing on one of the Artillery crews that had brought up their gun on the ridge in an attempt to hold her back. The gun crew looked down as they were going to fire their artillery first.
"Fire!" They shouted. They soon fired their gun aiming at one of the Matilda tanks in an attempt to disable it. Their shot missed as it landed right in front of the tank. The crew were reloading as Assam turned the tanks turret to where the artillery piece was. She prepared to fire on it.
"Blast it away!" Assam gave the order, the Matilda fired as the shot connected with the artillery piece, taking that and the crew out as the other Matilda tanks rallied behind it as they were going to attempt a breakthrough by taking out the ridge's defenses. Two other Matildas came as they wanted to support Assam as they were preparing to fire their cannons away, especially at two maxim positions that were pinning the students down as they had the ridge to their advantage. The three Matilda tanks fired away as they wanted to take out those positions. The three shots hit the two Maxim guns straight away as the third one managed to hit the center of the ridge as the ridge collapsed leaving a large hole for the attackers to pour on through. Assam got out as she blew her whistle as the students began to charge up the ridge.
After their main defenses had been blown, the students on the top of the ridge knew they needed to make a retreat down the ridge to the second defensive perimeter as they wanted to set up defenses there. Soon they began to withdraw however with all of the students charging up at once, the withdrawal quickly turned to a rout as they began rushing away from their positions and in their haste, they had to abandon most of their heavy equipment.
Naomi was having a real struggle as the flanks side she was attacking was heavily fortified as Maxim Machine guns were spitting BB's at them as they were concentrating on overlapping fields of fire. Naomi had taken shelter in her Sherman as the others had taken cover behind their tanks or some rubble as they were pinned down. Naomi soon went over as she grabbed the radio to notify Kay about the situation at hand.
"Kay, the left side is stubbornly putting up much resistance, can't proceed without assistance." Naomi gave the call. Kay nodded as she motioned for her tanks to get together to help Naomi blow the defenses on the left flank apart for her to speed through. Soon Kay's tank and four others had their guns within range as they prepared to fire on the concrete emplacements. Two shells landed on the emplacements directly taking out the makeshift defenses, two more scored decent hits as they blew them apart but a couple of members were still up and about. The last shot had flown and hit the ground behind them.
Naomi's tanks fired away next as they wanted to demolish the last of the heavy trenches before mounting their assault. Naomi and four other tanks fired. One scores a direct hit another one manages to score some eliminations near the trenches. Two of them flew far from their intended targets as they slammed into the ground behind them and one flew off course as it struck the ground far ahead than expected. Naomi soon opened the tank's hatch as she called for a full frontal assault. The students soon got up as they began to charge at their defenses as they wanted to go take them out. They soon arrived at the trenches as the students began to retreat, their retreat much like the center was an orderly retreat as they had lost the first ring of defenses.
Kay, Naomi and Assam from their respective groups began on the second ring which had received reinforcements from the first ring and whatever equipment they brought. Brook knew that the defenses cannot fall as she fired her artillery guns all at once in an attempt to maximize casualties to make sure they didn't put up an effective offense on the second ring. About nineteen of the 30 guns they had managed to hit their targets as the students were sent flying, however this was the only shot she was willing to use due to scarce ammunition, another eleven fell around as they didn't do much at all.
Naomi attacked first as she had a relatively easy time sweeping over their defenses, the students were forced into a rout after a bit of fighting. Their retreat went in an orderly manner as they gave up the second line of defenses. Assam was charging from the right as she was going to strike at the second ring of defenses. She had a much easier time than the first ring as she was blitzing through their defenses as the ring in this sector abandoned most of their artillery. They fell back to the third ring as the day was dragging on. Kay and Darjeeling decided to assault the middle again wondering if they would collapse under the weight of their tanks. However the center line puts up a stubborn defense as the tanks were disorganized as Kay and Darjeeling continued to push into their defenses in the hopes that these stubborn students would put up a serious resistance as they wanted to make sure Kay doesn't come and take over their school. The center force decided on an all out charge. The student's in the trenches decided retreating to the third ring of defenses was the best thing to do. They withdrew in an organized fashion but not before injuring a few that decided to rush ahead. The students were now on a role as the third ring was going to be seized. Some of the forces wanted to do a complete encirclement and cut Brook off and then help Olivia with the siege. However Brook had other plans in mind.
The sun was setting as the troops from the reinforcements began to arrive to Brook's position but due to what had happened over the day, she knew the situation was uncontrollable. One the girls walked up to her as she handed her a note. Brook takes it as she opens it up as she began reading. After she was finished she realized one thing: The first two rings of the battle had collapsed and she knew that she was going to be encircled very soon. She soon got up as she decided to stand on a crate as she began to speak.
"Troops of the area, we're getting news that our positions will be overrun. We need to pull out of the area as soon as possible or face getting encircled. We've expended much of our ammunition supplies and we're almost out, it's best we fall back to where we can find more." Brook told everyone that abandoning Liaoyang was the best course of action.
Under the cover of darkness with a heavy fog bank rolling in, Brook and the others packed what they could carry as they began the march to the stern of the school ship, the withdrawal would continue into the early morning hours as they took everything they could carry and what stuff that they couldn't was abandoned.
Kay and Darjeeling arrived in the camp of Liaoyang in the morning as there were several artillery batteries as well as several Maxim guns. Kay looked around as she turned to Darjeeling and she then began to speak.
"Looks like they got away, we were never able to encircle them." Kay responded, Darjeeling looked over to her. Darjeeling soon noted this as she began to speak.
"But still it is a win, we lost about 2,292 students to their 1,911 losses, so it was a fierce battle but we probably dealt heavy damage to them as some of them scattered and panicked. Plus we captured hordes of their artillery and some of their Machine guns as they seemed to abandon them seeing they left in a hurry, I guess we can begin pressing them down on their flanks in the hopes we can conduct an encirclement again." Darjeeling told her as several students came running over to Kay who was speaking to Darjeeling, Naomi was one of them.
"Kay, we managed to recapture the school in the battle." Naomi told her. Kay was more than overjoyed.
[A/N]: Finally able to post new chapters again seeing how I got those chapters redone and I thought it would take longer than expected but now I can finish the war up and with a new front, Kay can begin the destruction of the rebels, make sure to review if you want to see more.
Also the first battle I managed to use dice to decide the outcome, the dice system was inspired by Flames of War which used Dice to play their games with their tanks so I thought why not do it here.