"That stupid fox," chuckled Overseer Alpha, emerging from a portal and standing atop a battleship. She looked on either side, seeing the fleet of ships assembled here and smiled.
"Yes," she said, stroking her chin and smiling as her ships were wreaking havoc on the enemy ships, raining fire on their heads and making it impossible for them to counter.
"This is a very good view."
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"Z23, watch out," shouted Enterprise. In response, Z23 skidded to the left, avoiding the artillery strike aimed at her location.
"Sakura Empire on one side and Sirens on the other," said Belfast, standing back-to-back with Eugen "I dare say this is quite the familiar scenario."
"Here's hoping things will be better the second time," said Eugen, shooting down some of the missiles aimed at the pair.
"How's the ambush fleet doing?" asked Enterprise.
"The Sirens haven't noticed us yet," replied Oklahoma "do we attack them or stay hidden?"
"No," said Enterprise, but looked unsure of the decision "hang back for now and keep your position hidden."
'Damn it Commander, where the hell are you?' she wondered, noticing how quiet he had become since the Siren's attacked.
"While I am happy that at least some of our forces are safe," stated Illustrious, covering her face to avoid some of the shrapnel from a nearby shell "what about us? Should we sound the retreat?"
"We're not leaving," said the Commander, breaking his silence, his declaration shocking everyone on the battlefield.
"Commander are you crazy?" exclaimed Hornet, "were getting pounded here by the sirens."
"We've got enemies on both sides here Commander," added Cleveland.
"Do you really think that we can beat both the sirens and the Sakura Empire?" asked Z23.
"I won't lie to you," he replied "this might be our most dangerous mission yet and I'm asking a lot out of you. I may not know the deep history between the Eagle Union and the Sakura Empire, I don't know how often you guys fought… but I do know that if we turn around and leave, if we let the Sirens kill everyone in the Sakura Empire, then we lose."
"We may win this fight, but we'll lose the war."
Those words sent a chill down everyone's spine. At first glance it would be tactically smart for them to leave the Sakura Empire's soldiers to fend for themselves. They'd use the absence of the leaders to attack the capital and take over it.
However, this method would certainly be met with disdain by various members of the two factions, effectively sewing the seeds of a rebellion. It would effectively end everything the Coalition forces had worked for.
Then there were the greater implications that extended beyond the two factions. Right now, the Coalition was a strong fleet, but in order to become a real threat to the Sirens, they'd need more soldiers to join them. Once word got out that the Coalition's aces abandoned the Sakura Empire's aces to fend for themselves, any other faction would think twice before joining them. After all, if they could do it once, what's to stop them from doing it again?
"This is as dangerous as it'll get," said the Commander "it makes sense to leave. In fact, if you were to head back now, I wouldn't hold it against you."
"But you'd still fight them wouldn't you Commander?" asked Z23, "even if it's just two of us, you'd fight them without hesitation, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah," he replied.
Enterprise saw the look in Z23's eyes, the girl had made her decision. The last time she left, an important friend of hers died. She had no intention of turning back now.
She then turned and saw how their rivals were struggling against the onslaught. Soryuu's left arm was badly hurt, Suruga was providing cover fire for Kinu to pick up an unconscious Yukikaze and the only reason Takao was standing was because she was held up by Kaga and Hiryuu.
Every time the Sirens attacked, the only thing they could do was run. Throughout the first war, it was always them running and the Sirens attacking.
Z23, Hornet, they had run for long enough. It was time to turn around and strike back.
"Commander," she said "if we do this, then you'd better give us three weeks of vacation."
"If we pull this off, I'll make it a month," he countered.
"Right then," said Wales "how do you plan on destroying the enemy fleet?"
"Remember those smoke grenades Akashi whipped up for everyone?"
"The ones we were supposed to use for our getaway," stated Belfast.
"Yeah, those. We'll start with that. In the meantime, Z, do you have my location?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Come and pick me up, there's something I'll need your help with."
In the time that Z23, reached the island where the Commander was located, the latter outlined his plan for a counter attack. To put it simply, there were a lot of moving parts, everything hinged on each part working perfectly together and there was a degree of luck that dictated whether this mission would end in success or failure. All in all, it was a dicey plan at best and a suicide plan at worst.
Nevertheless, the teams were committed to winning this confrontation, and so they started the first phase of the plan.
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"Oh?" said Overseer Alpha, noticing clouds of smoke suddenly engulfing the battlefield. She raised her hand up, causing the ships on her sides to stop their advance. It was a cautionary move and one she paid for.
From the smoke a long-range shell tore through and pierced the side of one of her cruisers.
'They're using smoke to hide their positions and fire at us," she said, smiling cheekily "Continue with the barrage. Even if we miss them nine time out of ten, that's still enough."
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"What are…" said Kaga "what are you all doing?"
"Just stay behind us and whatever you do, don't leave the cover of the smoke," said Cleveland, firing blindly in the direction of the sirens.
"Can we trust them?" asked Takao, now able to stand on her own.
"I don't know," said Hiryuu "for all we know this could be a trap."
"Do we have to spell it out for you?" shouted Hornet "we're not your enemy. They are."
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"We're here," said Z23, "have I mentioned how much I don't want to be here?"
"Yes, more than once," said the Commander "once you've done your part, head back to the line."
"You know it'd be a lot better if it were Cleveland or I doing this," she added.
"I know, but I need you on the ground when the time comes. For that to happen, someone else has to do their part for phase 2. Since no one else is around, that has to be me."
The reason why Z23 commented on how much she did not like her current position was because they were standing directly under the Siren fleet. It was either their luck or the Siren's arrogance they didn't look down and see if someone was there.
"How will we know when to start?" she asked.
"Stick to the timings," he replied.
Z23 rested her head on his back, quietly telling him "you'd better come back alive Commander."
"I plan to," he said and Z23 put her arms around his waist and with all her strength, she threw him up, towards the Siren fleet.
When he was still on the Navy, he befriended one of the pilots and was able to convince said pilot to take him in his jet, during one of their recon missions. It was an ill-fated move as the constant pressure, the G-force experienced and the continuous turns and sudden drops caused him to vomit out his breakfast and lunch after landing.
This ascent almost felt like he was in a jet, climbing higher and higher. It was not a comfortable experience to say the least. But the Commander was able to land on the left-most ship without too much trouble.
As he was getting to his feet, he was immediately assailed by the strong winds that were felt at such heights.
"Just like I planned," he said to himself. He turned and saw the second row of ships, the Siren's versions of Aircraft carriers and Battleships and waved at them.
"HEY UGLY," he shouted (for all the good it did). "BET YA CAN'T HIT ME."
Although his words did not reach them, the fact that he was a huge black dot standing on top of one of their ships got the Sirens attention. As a result, he now saw some of the Battleships turning to him, their guns having him in the centre of their sights.
One of the battleships fired and the Commander quickly ran to his left side, avoiding the attack. This was followed by another shell, but he dodged that too. The Commander noticed that he was nearing the edge of the ship and proceeded to leap off, aiming for the ship closest to the one that he was just on.
Given the distance between the two ships, no human being could make that jump. The only reason he did was thanks to the strong gust of wind that gave him the extra distance he needed. As he got to his feet, he saw multiple airplanes flying towards him. He quickly took out his sabre and cut through the closest ones and avoided the ones further away.
His actions did not go unnoticed and now Overseer Alpha had turned her attention to him.
"So, the plan was to distract me while the Otherworlder came in for the kill," she stated "he must still be mad at us for killing that woman."
And just like that, the Siren fleet turned their attention away from the fleet infront of them and were now aiming to wipe out the Otherworlder.
On paper it seemed like a simple task. Take out one enemy. The Sirens had wiped out entire fleets with little resistance, so a single enemy proved no threat.
But as the Sirens kept firing and firing, they found that this initially easy task was not so easy at all. Whether it was due to the continuously shifting winds that altered the course of their projectiles ever so slightly or the Otherworlder being able to accurately predict the path of their projectiles, for the first time the Siren fleet were finding it difficult to take out this enemy.
"How is this possible?" wondered Overseer Alpha "there's just one of him, one damn Otherworlder."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shouted at her fleet "how are you missing him?"
Considering the situation he was in, the stakes at play, the low chance of success and the high risk of failure, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Commander was scared of making a mistake.
Yet with all of that bearing down on him, the Commander was charging from one ship to the next, getting closer and closer to the Sirens.
He could not afford to think about losing. All that was running through his mind was winning. Losing here would mean losing everything that brought him here in the first place. His fleet were trusting him with their lives, everyone back at the base trusted that he'd win, Hood died believing in him.
'Hood,' he thought, covering his face as a shell exploded too close to him sending shrapnel into his chest and legs 'I wonder if this is what you went through when you charged the enemy.'
The airplanes launched at him landed cuts on his face and arm, there were injuries on his chest, his sides and his feet, the adrenaline fueling him for so long had stopped and the pain of his injuries threatened to slow his advance.
But he kept going.
"This can't be," said Overseer Alpha, feeling a chill run down her spine. By all counts he should be dead. She knew that if it were anyone else, they'd have been dead long before they even reached the first ship. But against all odds he was getting closer and closer.
"Stay away," she said, unconsciously taking a step back "stay the hell away from me."
"Only one left," he said, pointing his sword. Overseer Alpha was only one ship away. The only thing between her and him was an incredibly long distance.
The longer he stayed, the easier of a target he became. The Commander ran off the side of the ship leapt off at the last second and landed on her ship. Without wasting a second, he charged towards Overseer Alpha, who was now running away from him.
Try as she might to teleport herself away, she found that she couldn't thanks to how her mind was in complete disarray.
It didn't take long for him to corner her. Overseer's was near the edge of her ship and the Commander was drawing closer.
"This can't be happening, this isn't possible," she kept telling herself, hoping desperately that it would stop him.
The Commander said nothing. He simply raised his sword up and swung it down, intending to cut her down where she stood.
Or at least that's what should have happened.
Overseer Alpha expected her end to be a swift and painless affair. Instead, she noticed the sword only a few inches away from her, causing a smile to form on her lips.
"Of course," she said, feeling a surge of confidence "the force field."
"What?" said the Commander in shock and was immediately knocked away by one of her tentacles.
"Hahahaha," she laughed menacingly as she was the one holding the upper hand while he was the one with his back against the wall.
"It doesn't make sense," he said, crawling back "the other one didn't have any forcefields."
"Of course not," shouted Overseer "we'd never give such valuable technology to the rank and file. No that's only reserved for someone like me, one of the top three leaders."
"I'll be honest with you Otherworlder," she said, drawing closer "I honestly thought you were going to kill me there. That was quite the scare."
"No one's ever been able to do that to me and as consolation," she said, with only a hair's breadth distance between them "I'll let you watch as I kill all your friends."
Overseer Alpha followed this up with a maniacal laugh, solidifying her victory. Despite everything he did, the Otherworlder had no clue about this ace in the hole she had and as a result, he lost. The rebellion was over and nothing would stop the Sirens from taking this world.
Overseer Alpha continued to laugh, but as she did, she heard something strange. She noticed he was laughing as well.
"Why are you laughing?" she asked, looking surprised by his actions.
"Because," he said in-between chuckles "for an alien race with floating ships, teleporters and forcefields, you guys are a bunch of idiots."
"What?" she said, her anger reaching a boiling point now.
"Think about it, for a minute here," said the Commander, "I've got one good arm and even on my best day, I could snap a wooden board in half while the girls here could shatter three storey buildings in a single shot."
"I was never the trump card," he said, and Overseer Alpha began to shudder.
"I was the distraction," he added and rolled off the edge.
It was only now that Overseer Alpha noticed that the barrage from her enemies had suddenly stopped.
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(AN: Try to imagine the opening menu to Project Nimbus playing here.)
Meanwhile, back on the sea, Enterprise raised her bow up and fired an arrow. Hornet flung as many airplanes as she could. Illustrious pressed certain parts of the runway like a professional pianist, creating numerous airplanes as well.
This was then followed by the first fleet and the ambush fleet letting out a storm of shells and airplanes, all of which were trained on the Siren fleet.
As stated before, the plan revolved on a lot of moving parts. For easier understanding, they'll be called Phases. Phase 1 was where the first fleet used their smoke grenades and pretend to attack the Sirens, allowing the ambush fleet the time they needed to reach them.
Once the ambush fleet reached them, the two teams would form a firing squad. Of course, this took time, which was why Phase 2 involved the Commander running across the Siren fleet, keeping them focused on him and allowing the others the time they needed.
Phase 2 had the unintended side effect of some of the Siren ships getting damaged thanks to how much the Commander was dodging them. After he had strung them along for a set amount of time, he'd make his escape.
If Phase 1 and Phase 2 went off smoothly, then Phase 3 became the easiest part of the entire plan.
With their line in disarray and some of their ships damaged, the Sirens were now wide open for a counter attack.
"Keep pouring it on everyone," shouted Hornet "the Commander risked his life to get us this chance, so you better not miss."
As the Coalition forces assailed their enemies with a barrage of bullets, missiles and shells, the aces of the Sakura Empire looked on in surprise.
Both Hiryuu and Soryuu, remembered Hornet's words ringing through their minds at the same time.
"'We're not your enemies.'"
And she was right. There was only one enemy that they had, one enemy that everyone in this world had and they were the Sirens. Thanks to the Sirens, the peace so many of them knew and loved was gone. Thanks to them, there was another brutal and terrible war being waged.
'They're the enemy,' thought Soryuu and Hiryuu as their blood started to boil.
This way why the two of them looked at their friends and shouted in unison "everyone, fire on the sirens!"
And in that moment, the spark of rebellion that began with Hood, became a full-blown inferno.
Kaga, Suruga, Yukikaze, Takao, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Kinu and Akatsuki trained their weapons on the Siren fleet and with a shout loud enough to shake the sky, the unleashed their fury into their enemy.
The orchestra of gun and cannon fire doubled in size, igniting more than half the sky in in a massive explosion. To the attackers continuing their assault, this was where the rebellion truly began. It was here where two different factions with a long-standing rivalry against each other buried the hatchet, right into their enemy's head.
To the human closest to the destruction, it looked like Heaven itself was torn wide open and from it, fire came pouring out.
And, to the fox standing at the top of the hill, watching the spectacle unfold, it looked like a giant Sakura tree in full bloom.
As much as they wanted to continue firing, both fleets had to stop. Not because they were getting tired, but because they simply had no more ammunition left to expend.
The sky filled with explosions now turned into a large black cloud and everyone wondered if they had done enough. When the smoke cleared, it was almost impossible to describe what they were seeing.
The supposedly almighty Siren fleet that came to destroy them was reduced to a single cruiser. Even that survivor suffered from numerous holes across its body and a number of smaller explosions riddling the deck. Rather than risk its luck any further, the lone cruiser quickly teleported out of the battlefield.
There was silence among the soldiers, no doubt they were all trying to get to grips with what they were seeing.
"Did we…," said Hornet, breaking the silence "did we win?"
"We did it," said Kinu, still in shock, as was the case with everyone else.
"We… really…. We really did it," said Illustrious who looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion.
"Hornet," said Enterprise, putting her hand on her sister's shoulder "shout it out loud."
With a big smile on her face, Hornet cried out "we won."
The two factions began cheering and exclaiming that they won as loud as they could. Everyone was congratulating each other and celebrating this moment. There were also a few of them who were crying, but these were tears of joy, not sadness.
"I can't believe we pulled it off," said Eugen, looking at the empty sky that was once filled with Siren ships.
"It still feels a little hard to believe," said Z23, "but we did it, we beat them."
"Guys," said the Commander through the communicator.
"Commander," exclaimed Enterprise "we did it. We really did it. We beat them Commander. Did you see it?"
"Yeah, I did. It was one hell of a light show you guys put on," he said.
"Everyone from the Sakura Empire also helped us," she added, "you should have seen it."
"Probably missed out on something really big there," he said "there's something I wanted to run by you guys."
"Huh?" she asked, covering her other ear
"It turns out that when I was planning this whole mission…. I kind of forgot about how I was going to land."
"Say what now?"
"The landing. In the plan. I forgot to have one."
"EHHHHHHH?" shouted Enterprise, reflecting how surprised she was at the Commander forgetting such a crucial part.