The first was a flash of light followed by hundreds of others afterwards. In seconds, thousands of bullets and shells streaked across the sea, aimed at the invaders. The fleets that covered the sky and the land led by Gamma took their positions and began their attack.
The Command Ship rocked and swayed. Not only did they have to contend with the rough and tumultuous seas, now there was the threat of incoming fire.
Alec personally did not want to be on a ship. The last time he was and it nearly ended his life. He turned to see the Commander spinning the wheel and turning the ship. As he did, the vehicle moved with the grace and speed of a ballet dancer on ice and avoided the incoming barrage.
"Damage report?" he called and was inundated with numerous voices. However, all of them said the same thing.
"Close but nothing serious."
Alec rose to his feet and saw the barrage still coming. They were determined to stop the enemy from advancing. Or, at least, that's what Alec first thought.
"She's trying to disrupt our ranks," said the Commander, seeing some pattern Alec did not.
"What makes you think that?"
"Fire in random directions and scatter the forces," he elaborated "do this and you break up formations, making it easy for your side to pick off the enemy forces."
Alec paused and slapped himself for not noticing something so obvious. It reminded him of the terrible gap between him and the Commander.
"All forces stay the course," he declared "Carriers: space out your ships so none of our troops get hurt. As for the rest, stay in formation. Those bullets are nothing more than flies."
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Gamma cursed as she watched the enemy's formations stay the same. Despite the loss though, she did understand something. The Commander was the one leading this, not Alec. The latter would have fallen for such a trick but the former is far craftier.
Gamma now adjusted her plans and enacted the new one.
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Alec calculated the time it would take for their battleships and carriers to start attacking. Currently, they were the only ships that could hit them at such a distance. He thought for a moment that Gamma might send out the capital ships but ignored the idea. After all, those were the Siren's second strongest unit. Gamma wouldn't use them so early.
It seemed as he was not the only one thinking this as the Commander looked out the window and saw several balls of light arc into the air before curving down and coming to them.
All the girls saw this and dodged the attacks effortlessly. The carriers sustained a few dings and scratches on the side but once again, it was not too bad.
"Sandy," said Alec "Gamma will start sending out her planes now. Work with Enterprise and the other free carriers to counter them."
"Roger," she said as she formed her guns and took aim. Beside her was Enterprise and Essex, two of the best carriers as far as she was concerned. The trio saw the approaching swarm of jets and bombers coming to them like a black sheet stretched across the horizon and smiled.
With so many of them, there was no need to aim.
Sandy fired recklessly and let loose a hellacious barrage. Star-shaped fire streaked across the sky at incredible speeds and hit their targets. She and the other saw several lights appear in the sheet, indicating they all hit their mark.
Enterprise and Essex had no intention of falling behind and started firing their own barrage. They were joined by other heavy hitters like Ark Royal, Illustrious, Ryuuhou, Hiryuu, Soryuu, and more. Their barrage kept many planes at bay however, the sheer volume the enemy had meant some of them did get past.
Those that did were instantly hammered by the fleet's AA guns. The guns swivelled and targeted the planes that got close and fired.
The exchange was well underway and now, the tanks also joined in on the attack. The fired shell after shell, aiming for the troop carriers in an effort to stop them. The girls moved their ships to dodge the incoming barrage. Those that did not react in time had help from the carriers and destroyers who either shot or deflected the attacks.
Several carriers made landfall, allowing the soldiers to get off and begin their land assault. In response, the battleships began pouring a stream of what looked like black rain from their sides. This would turn out to be Hybrids, who quickly took their positions and started firing at the attacking humans. Despite their efforts, Curtis' division were struggling against the assault.
"Damn it," he barked on the communicator "we're getting hammered here."
"Alec, take the wheel," said the Commander leaving the wheel and going outside before Alec could say anything.
"Saint Louis, Belfast, let's go cause some trouble," he said and took off.
Saint Louis and Belfast saw him streak through the sky while the formed their groups Together, the PR class and the Royal Maid Division charged after their leader.
With many of the carriers depositing their troops, they then shifted their attention to helping out establish air superiority. They also started firing their planes into the sky and engaging the enemy. Girls like Ranger, Illustrious, Hornet and more who were protecting the troops now started attacking the planes.
On the ground, Curtis' troops were dealing with several enemy emplacements, bunkers, and fire from the tanks. By now, they had integrated the Anti-Siren technology into the rockets and grenades. This meant they had a way to deal with the Siren fortifications but had to establish a clear line of sight first.
That was difficult to do when almost every soldier was being riddled with bullets before taking one step. Curtis was about ready to call a retreat when he saw someone land ahead. He was about to shout at the man to run away but the words stopped in his throat. The man ahead was joined by two groups of women and Curtis knew.
Without saying a word or issuing an order, The Commander charged into the enemy troops. He was backed on both sides by the Maids and the PR class who pelted the enemy troops with long-range fire before actually engaging.
The sudden attack caused all the Hybrids and weapons to turn and focus on them. This gave Curtis' people time to dig a trench and bring in more troops. At time, the soldiers paused and saw the Commander ducking, weaving or deflecting enemy fire despite being surrounded by ten Hybrids at once. It wasn't just him though, as the others that accompanied him were also dealing with enemies and enemy fire from all sides. However, despite the numbers advantage, the invading group were carving their way through enemy ranks, inching closer to a few bunkers.
One of the tanks saw the Commander out of a group of attackers and fired at him. The shell it produced was summarily cut in half by Saint Louis who then flung her spear into the tank's cannon just as it fired. The result caused an internal explosion that caused the vehicle to crumple in on itself.
"Commander," said Curtis on the communicator "we've got things covered here. Get your teams out and leave the rest to us."
"Let's go ladies," he called out and the girls shifted movement. Rather than moving forward and taking down anything in the way, the girls now started moving back. They were aided by the barrage that cut down several attackers before they were dangerously close.
The teams moved closer to the soldiers and once they were behind, they moved to their next objective. Alec watched as the Commander and the PR class moved ahead of the other divisions and launched a combined attack on the front-most Siren cruiser. It was down in seconds.
Alec used the satellite uplink to get a bird's-eye-view of the battle. Several circles appeared on the map indicating the Azur Sky's place. On the opposite side were several triangles meant to denote enemy positions. The varying colours each triangle had categorized the enemy into their respective positions.
Alec saw that Curtis' group was now exchanging fire with the Hybrids and were making steady process towards the first leg. As for the others, the girls were facing stiff resistance as the enemy was doing everything possible to keep them away from the other legs.
He saw how the circles denoting the Commander and the PR class were on the front lines and were once again succeeding in gaining the enemy's attention. He saw this opportunity and capitalized on it.
"Destroyer division, Cruiser division, break into two groups and attack the remaining legs. The rest of you continue providing support to the Carrier and Battleship divisions," he declared and the order was immediately met with doubt and concern.
Those on the ground at the head of the charge, particularly Cleveland, Z23, Yukikaze, Javelin, and Tashkent saw the increasing number of ships going after the Commander and the PR class. If they moved away now, then it would drastically reduce the support fire they provided to the ones ahead.
Unfortunately though, they had their orders and the girls knew well not to question the chain of command. They had to believe that Alec was making the right decision and that the Commander and the PR class can handle this increased pressure.
As ordered, the Cruiser and Destroyer division broke into two groups. One group moved ahead, targeting the legs that held up the Terraformer. The others divided their attention between providing covering fire for the Commander and helping the Carriers and Battleships.
Alec saw the plan was going as expected. The Siren's prioritized the Commander over everyone else in the fleet and wherever he went, the enemy followed. Alec and the Commander used this to their advantage by having the latter wade deep into enemy territory so that the bulk of the forces focused on him.
While many of the Siren divisions were deeply engaged with the enemy forces, Alec noted how two divisions were only providing support fire. The tanks and the Capital ships were seemingly content in doing long-range attacks rather than engage the enemy head on. This development was good as it kept Alec from using their fleet's most powerful group for now.
In the centre of all this anarchy was the Commander who leapt from ship to ship, avoiding enemy fire while attacking when possible. He paused to turn and saw several planes coming to him and stood his ground. With both swords ready, he shot forward and used a modified version of Atago's fighting style to cut through the enemy forces without much effort.
He once again paused and saw several destroyers' fire at him all at once. He dodged some but a few managed to get by and land a few scratches on his right leg and hand. There was a momentary flash of pain but he ignored it and moved on. As for the destroyers, they were summarily put down by the combined effort of Saint Louis, Neptune and Roon.
Alec, watched as the Sirens were slowly moving troops away from the Commander and the PR class to chase after the girls that were going for the other legs. He watched as numerous Cruisers, destroyers, carriers and battleships shifted attention and went after them. He saw more and more of the ships moving away from the annoyance ahead.
When a significant portion of the fleet had broken up into two smaller divisions, Alec knew it was time.
"All frontline forces," he declared "disengage current attacks and follow the Commander."
The order once again drew more questions from the girls, but to James, everything was moving to his plan.
Before they left, James outlined his idea of getting the insertion team inside the Terraformer. With what he knew about Omega, the Commander surmised the leader would have placed her Antiochs at different levels of the mega structure with her at the top. The immediate objective was to get the insertion team inside. To do that, required a bit of trickery first.
As detailed in the plan, the Commander utilized his notoriety among the Sirens to gain their attention and have all forces converge on him. Alec then had some of the Cruisers and Destroyers move to attack the other legs. Gamma sees this and moves some troops to defend. In the time it takes for the defenders to move into their new position, Alec has all frontline forces stop their attack and commit to a single location. The ensuing chaos was what they'd capitalize on.
Alec saw the enemy triangles moving and trying to understand what was going on. All of a sudden, their attackers were converging on a single location and it will take time for the ships to reach that position. In the time that it takes for all of them to reach that point, the Commander and the insertion team will have completed their objective. Additionally, Alec had no intent on making the job easy and so, had the PR class and the maids run interference, further complicating matters.
And where exactly was the Commander leading them to? It was the very same leg that Curtis' troops were attacking. By now, Curtis and the soldiers made great progress in eroding the opposition. That made it easy for the Commander to flank them from the left and barrel through any defences they had.
"Alright, infiltration team on me," he declared.
Across the fleet, the members of the infiltration team shifted focus to their new goal. Queen Elizabeth, Z23, Rossiya, Tashkent, Takao, Zuikaku, Tirpitz, Richelieu, Cleveland, Akagi, and Kaga all made their way past the groups and headed towards the Commander.
Meanwhile, the leader had several destroyers and cruisers launch a simultaneous barrage at the base of the leg, ridding it with numerous explosions. The attack had the intended effect and they now saw a large hole created on the side of the leg.
"Alec, you're now in complete control of my fleet," said the Commander as members of the insertion team went in ahead of him "your orders are to bring them all back alive. Failure is not acceptable."
Alec felt the weight of the world suddenly come down on his shoulders. Up to this point, he'd either been following James' lead or putting his plans into action. Now though, he had only himself to rely on and find a way to defeat Gamma.
Curtis saw the Commander enter the newly-made entrance in the leg and turned around. The easy part was over. Now's where things get difficult.