"HOLD THE LINE! I don't want a single one of these assholes to get through!" Isaac yelled as he fired the last rounds from his magazine before ripping it out and tossing it aside to reload. From their fortified positions, Isaac had turned Gangut and Odin into mobile mortar teams, allowing them to rain fire over their barricade to dissuade the oncoming horde of revitalized cultists.
"Understood!" His kansens replied, doubling their efforts and pouring even more fire down the confined trench between the two rows of buildings. Isaac had just noticed a glint in the distance before his head was thrown back, taking his body with it, throwing him off of his feet and tearing a gash through the material of his helmet. Odin was the first at his side to survey the damage.
"Belfast, smokescreen NOW!" Odin yelled as their position was filled with an opaque white smoke. "SNIPER!" Odin called out as another shot rang out, barely missing her head.
"Lieutenant! Come in!" Odin yelled.
"Odin? What happened to the Commander?" Perkins asked.
"Knocked unconscious by a sniper. Thankfully his helmet took most of the impact, but he hit his head on the way down, we need fire support now!" Odin yelled.
"Shit. I'm scrambling medics now. Have Hashirama use his forces to keep them at bay." Perkins said.
"Understood, but I still need fire support." Odin said.
"Did you see where it came from?" Perkins asked as he readied himself to give orders.
"No... I don't think the Kommandant did either. But we need to scatter them again. pick a target further north of the destroyed building and level it. We NEED time!" Odin yelled.
"Understood. 30 seconds." Perkins said as he switched channels.
"Turrets 1 and 2. Give me 253 degrees, maintain elevation. Turret 3. Give me 107 degrees at an elevation of 2 degrees. Half powder load." Perkins ordered as he watched his instruments move and light up as his conditions were met.
"All instruments indicate that all turrets are in position locked onto the same target. First mate, confirm." Perkins said.
"All turrets locked on target confirmed. All hands brace, brace, brace." The First mate said from his view on the main deck.
"Fire!" Perkins yelled over the radio to the weapons rooms. A roar of thunder erupted from all 9 barrels of the Iowa, forcing the ship to list to starboard as an effect from the broadside attack.
"3...2...1... Impact." Perkins yelled to Odin as another four story building was leveled by the Iowa's 16 inch guns.
Sure enough, the building falling was enough to scatter the enemy forces as the bomber wings returned to port.
"Akagi!" Odin yelled.
"Hmm?" Akagi asked as she landed her Aichi bombers.
"I need eyes on a potential sniper to coordinate fire. The Kommandant has been hit." Odin said.
"Damn! Thankfully the General is making haste to get here. I can only make a couple passes before I have to return to providing him with air support." Akagi said.
"If I can return to my ship, I have my floatplane, Miss Odin." Fusou said.
"We have smoke cover. Get back to your ship so I don't have to delay the General's retreat. Call on Friedrich. Send her here so we can take a more offensive position." Odin said.
"Understood." Fusou said as she ran through the smoke and back towards the war torn port.
"nnngh" Issac moaned as he finally stirred back to consiousness.
"Kommandant, are you alright?" Odin asked.
"Yeah... just a bit of a headache. What happened?" Isaac asked.
"You were hit by a sniper. Your helmet paid the price, but it did its job." Odin said.
"Where are we?" Isaac asked as he looked around, seeing only smoke.
"We haven't moved or given an inch, Kommandant. The Lieutenant has scrambled medics to come and check you out. You were out for about five minutes." Odin said.
"Cancel that order... I remember which building I saw that flash from." Isaac said as he crawled over to the barricade, being sure to keep his and Odin's heads low.
"That big building at the end of the road. 7th floor. I saw children running through some of the windows though... we can't level it." Isaac said as he held the side of his head.
"Kommandant?!" Odin asked as Isaac pulled his hand away revealing blood.
"Looks like I got clipped a bit closer than I thought." Isaac said as he wiped his hand on his armor, leaving a bright red streak across the chest plate.
"Kommandant, I must insist that you are taken to the medic." Odin said as Norfolk's image once again sputtered to life, indicating that the Explorers had backed away.
"Commander. Your suit is sending a critical failure message, what happened?" Norfolk asked.
"Norfolk, please talk some sense into the Commander. He took a sniper's bullet to the head and refuses to be seen by medics.
"Commander..." Norfolk's eyes darkened.
"I can't leave the front. I would never forgive myself if we lost anyone without me being here." Isaac said.
"If your helmet receives any more damage, it will fail to protect you. You need to come back to the Norfolk for armor replacement. The Head Bulin just finished making your new plates. I will get her to work on upgrading my previous helmet design to provide more ballistic protection." Norfolk said.
"I can't leave. I'll fight without my helmet since the visor's been cracked." Isaac said as he tore his helmet off, revealing the wound that he had received.
"Thank god the wound isn't too bad. Just a scratch." Odin said as she touched it, confirming that it was just a scratch.
"No medics. I won't risk their lives until we control more than just this intersection." Isaac said as he felt a chill run down his spine.
"They dare to harm you?" Friedrich's voice was heard behind him.
"It's just a scratch. I promise." Isaac said as he turned to face her. The sight of his blood on his armor rubbed her the wrong way.
"Nonsense. I will not accept it. I REFUSE to accept it." Friedrich said as two bulins ran up next to her.
"Kill... maim... torture... all is too good for these heathens." Friedrich said as the two bulins nodded.
"No... you two are not going onto the battlefield." Isaac spoke sternly.
"Their screams of agony will fill the air in a song that sends chills down the spines of every Siren. They claim that the Sirens are their gods... Then I will show them that even Gods are not immune to my wrath." Friedrich said as she summoned her rigging and walked past Isaac, who jumped to his feet and tried to grab her arm.
"Friedrich, we can't advance yet. There is a sniper covering this entire street. We will suffer far too many losses trying to move up!" Isaac said as Friedrich turned her guns on the building at the end of the street.
"No! There are innocent's in there!" Isaac yelled.
"They allowed these heathens to use them as shields. See how they remain? They know war is at their doorstep and yet refuse to run. They are either brave... or stupid. And now is not the time to make that distinction." Friedrich said as the glint of a sniper scope flared again. This time, the sniper missed, giving Friedrich the time to aim her guns an launch a full salvo into the 7th floor of the building, much to Isaac's dismay.
"Friedrich! We can't fire on civilians!" Isaac yelled.
"They are actively harboring the enemy. They are not civilians." Friedrich said as her words proved prophetic. The windows of the building were suddenly filled with rifle barrels as the occupants began to fire on their position.
"Get the fuck down!" Isaac yelled as he tackled Friedrich to the ground, the sound of metal disintegrating was heard as a bullet ricocheted off of Isaac's back plate.
"The next time you disobey orders like that..." Isaac couldn't come up with words, because he knew that she had saved his life, and the lives of many potential men who would have been there to evacuate that building. Friedrich spoke up.
"I will accept any punishment you deem necessary, Isaac. But allow me to fight for you." Friedrich said.
"I won't punish you... you were right. I was too blind to see that these Sirens would in fact use women and children as well. How did you know?" Isaac asked.
"I was going on a hunch. Because if I had to face you and your fleet... I would probably do the same thing. Knowing that you do not wish to harm noncombatants, I would pose many of my troops as noncombatants to lay waste to your forces when you least expect it." Friedrich said, causing Isaac to nod in understanding.
"While that makes sense... don't do it again. If they had not opened fire just now, we would have been the ones in the wrong for killing civilians." Isaac said.
"I will try to contain myself in the future." Friedrich said.
"Please do. Try and verify if there are any noncombatants or children left in the building. If there aren't... level it." Isaac said as he helped Friedrich to her knees behind the barricade.
"I see a line of women and children escaping out the back of the building, Shikikan. They appear panicked but unharmed." Fusou said as her floatplane flew down the street, drawing fire away from Isaac and his Kansen.
"Alright girls, shell that building into oblivion. Fusou has given us clear intel stating that all noncombatants have left the building." Isaac said as Odin, Friedrich, Gangut and North Carolina pointed their rigging at the building and opened fire, peppering the building with high explosive, creating shrapnel inside the walls, decimating the opposition.
"Was that truly the best outcome, Master?" Belfast asked as she produced another smokescreen to conceal them.
"It has to be. We can't go back and change it. I just hope that the sniper was the only one in those three rooms that Friedrich targeted." Isaac said, looking at the ruined building.
"Then it is what it is, Master. We took the street. What are your orders?" Belfast asked.
"Move the barricade forward and bring forward the tank. Having a tank in view will promote fear among the enemy. And we can use it for when we further expand. Right now we need to take the next block." Isaac said as he turned to the street before putting his helmet on.
"Hashirama?" Isaac asked.
"You're still 5 by 5 commander. Thankfully you're still in the fight. I was unsure for a while there." Hashirama said.
"Thank you for the support. We are going to move up and take the next block. We should be able to set up a small command base beyond the edge of the road, behind the barricade. I need cover while we move up." Isaac said.
"You'll have it, my men are on standby and have been ordered to shoot any combatants on sight.
"Excellent." Isaac said as he cut the line.
"Norfolk?" Isaac asked.
"Commander... have you come to see reason yet?" Norfolk asked.
"We're pushing into the city. Get Vestal, the bulins, and the nurses up here. We need to set up a forward operating base ahead of the General's arrival. He's bound to have wounded, along with needing my head tended to." Isaac said as Norfolk huffed a sigh of relief.
"At least you're allowing yourself to get checked. I'm going to issue the orders now." Norfolk said as Isaac saw the image flicker.
"Explorers inbound! Get ready!" Isaac yelled as he tore off his helmet and ducked behind the barricade to await the enemy.
"Commander..." Norfolk said as her image cut out.
"We need to find a way to push them back further. We haven't even moved up properly yet. Girls, defend this position!" Isaac ordered as the Kansens readied their guns.
"I can see the city, General. Should we try and radio ahead?" One of the corporals asked.
"Yes. Radio ahead. I see smoke and dust in the air, we've jumped from one battle zone to another. But at least here we'll have support." MacArthur said.
"General!" A woman yelled from behind him.
"Yamashiro?" MacArthur asked.
"It's my sister! She has come with that Shikikan!" Yamashiro cried.
"I see. Is there anyone else who recognizes anyone?" MacArthur asked.
"That is the Battleship Iowa, Sir." Another woman spoke.
"Baltimore?" MacArthur asked.
"I can confirm. That is the Iowa, Sir." A third Woman spoke.
"Thank you Bremerton." MacArthur said.
"We should really pick up the pace then. It seems like they are under attack." MacArthur said.
"Understood. I will radio ahead." Baltimore spoke."
"We are 10 miles out. Let them know we should be there in half an hour." MacArthur said as they continued forward, finally free of their pursuers.