"The locals are talking." One of Wilhelms men spoke softly after coming up to his side.
"You can understand them?" Wilhelm asked.
"A little. My Grandmother is from the Philippines." The man said.
"Can you make out what they're saying?" Wilhelm asked.
"They keep talking about a man named Stefan. Apparently he's someone the locals know." The man said.
"What are they saying about him? Anything we can use?" Wilhelm asked.
"Nothing I can really make out. But the people talking about him also look like the militia type. He may be a local militia leader. Might be worth looking into." The man said.
"What's your name?" Wilhelm asked.
"Jeff." Jeff said.
"Jeff, take a few men, use your knowledge of this language to sniff out this Stefan. See what you can learn from him." Wilhelm said as Jeff nodded and took two men with him, disappearing into the crowd.
"The rest of you, move it. We have to find this airstrip before the next wave of bombers can take off." Wilhelm said as Bismarck looked at him.
"If you would have asked, I could have told you." Bismarck said with a sigh.
Wilhelm remained silent.
"Could you give us a heading?" Wilhelm asked.
"Yes. Follow me." Bismarck said as she took the lead and walked through the crowded streets.
Malan's plane danced through the skies, dodging the machine gun fire coming from the bombers that were flying over the bay. The spitfires following him from the Eagle followed his lead as their machine guns returned fire, aiming solely for the engines and cockpits of the advancing bombers.
"Admiral, we have a problem." Malan said.
"Shoot, Malan. What's going on up there, I don't see bombers falling." Isaac said.
"That's the thing. These are Ki-49's. They are heavily armored for bombers of this class and it's taking significantly more munitions to put so much as a scratch on them. These spitfires don't have the 20mm armament we need to take this spitfires we have are only armed with the .308 caliber machine guns." Malan explained.
"That's not good. Can you force them down lower so we can engage them with Enterprise and Yume's AA suite?" Isaac asked.
"We can try. But with the arms we have, it will be difficult." Malan said.
"I can send Enterprise if I have to, even though I'd like to save her for our landing." Isaac said.
"We will manage." Malan said as he cut the line.
"What's wrong?" Odin asked Isaac over the radio.
"The bombers are tougher than expected. They're soaking up bullets better than a sponge. Thing is, they are too high to reliably hit with our AA suite." Isaac said.
"And you want to save our heavy hitters for the landing?" Odin asked.
"That is correct." Isaac said.
"There isn't much we can do if we are trying to save our carriers from burning out." Odin said.
"So we have to put our faith in Malan to push the bombers lower?" Isaac asked.
"That would be the best course of action. If we cannot hit them reliably, then we need to get closer." Odin said.
"But that also brings risk to the fleet." Isaac argued.
"What choice is there? We're on the receiving end of heavy bomber support. This is what it means to fight a war. We do what we must." Odin said.
Isaac looked to the sky and saw that Malan was slowly driving the bombers lower and lower.
"Odin. Get a bead on those bombers. What's their altitude?" Isaac asked.
"Malan and Eagle have managed to push them down to six thousand meters. We can't hit them with Enterprise and Yume's AA, but the Bofors on many of our vessels can reach that height easily." Odin said.
"Then open fire! Call off Malan and bring down those bombers!" Isaac spoke.
"Understood." Odin said as the fleetwide order went out. Every available anti air gun in the fleet opened fire.
Moments after the shells started flying, explosions rocked the waves around the fleet as the bombers made their way into the space over the fleet.
"Everyone brace! Keep firing!" Isaac yelled over the radio as he watched a five hundred pound bomb strike the deck of the Richelieu.
"Richelieu! Damage report!" Isaac yelled as he hit the red button on his desk, sounding the siren onboard the Norfolk, scrambling the bulins onboard.
"Deck armor held thanks to the shields. Might need to have my deck refinished." Richelieu said
"Don't hold out on me. What's the damage?" Isaac pushed, seeing smoke pouring from the deck of the Richileu.
"The deck held. That's all that matters." Richelieu said as her AA guns continued firing.
"You and I are going to have a talk later. I'm sending the bulins over." Isaac said as the Chief bulin met him on the bridge.
"Something wrong, Commander?" Chief bulin asked.
"Get the girls over to the Richelieu. She was struck by a five hundred pounder. It looks like it put a hole in the deck from what I can see from here." Isaac said.
"That's not good. If I remember correctly, Cardinal Richelieu has her ammunition and powder stores just below the forward deck." Chief bulin said.
"Correct. The Richelieu class has a magazine and ammunition storage under each turret. So if a fire has started on the forward deck, it could burn down even lower and detonate." Isaac said.
"Understood, Commander. We will rush over and see what damage there is." Chief bulin said as she tipped the captains hat she had gotten from Isaac back in Australia.
"That's good. She will be needed. And if I recall correctly, she has a sister out there somewhere. One of the boys from the Massachusetts said that they got into a scrap with another Richelieu class down in Italy." Isaac said.
"Down in Italy?" Chief bulin asked.
"Yeah, a vessel by the name of Jean Bart." Isaac said as Chief bulin shrugged and went to fetch her underlings.
"You know of my sister, Admiral?" Richelieu's voice asked from the radio.
"Richelieu. You've been damaged. Why would you lie about the damage you received?" Isaac asked.
"To keep you focused. We made it this far on your command. If you break your concentration, we all die." Richelieu responded.
"Weren't you the one who told me not to throw my life away? What in the god lord's name makes you think I'll let you do the same?" Isaac scolded her.
Richelieu went silent for a moment.
"To think you would use my own words against me." Richelieu said.
"Considering you more than likely fought to stay with the main fleet to find your sister… I'm not going to let you die before you two are reunited." Isaac said as the Chief bulin walked past with a few others and out onto the deck of the Norfolk.
Wilhelm eventually found himself in a bush outside a fenced off airstrip on the island of Cebu.
"How did you know this was here?" Wilhelm asked as he faced Bismarck.
"Following the path of the Bombers flying inside of my radar cone, they came from this direction. I figured that this would be the most logical conclusion." Bismarck said.
"Right…" Wilhelm said as his masked face looked at Bismarck.
Bismarck blushed a bit.
"What?" Bismarck asked.
"Just as beautiful as the day I left." Wilhelm whispered softly.
His comment caused the battleship to blush deeper.
"W-w-what are you talking about?" Bismarck asked.
Wilhelm was saved from answering by Jeff's return, followed loosely over the next couple minutes by several local men and women.
"Jeff?" Wilhelm asked.
"This is Stefan. According to him, he's the leader of the Local Militia. They've been planning a mass revolt on this island but when one of their meet-ups got busted, most of their members were killed or fled to the surrounding islands." Jeff explained.
Wilhelm looked at Stefan.
"Stefan, I presume?" Wilhelm asked.
"That would be correct." Stefan said as he adjusted a canvas bag on his back.
"What do you got there?" Wilhelm asked as he watched the bag closely.
"Rifles. Handguns. Grenades. Things I managed to get past the wolfpack." Stefan said.
"A revolutionary at it's finest." Wilhelm said.
"And these people?" Wilhelm asked.
"The survivors." Stefan said.
"This is all of them?" Wilhelm asked.
"Yes." Stefan said.
"Are any of them people you do not personally know?" Bismarck asked.
"No. I know each and every one of them. Why?" Stefan asked.
"Explorer class Sirens are used to blend in, according to the Admiral. I was checking to ensure that nobody from your group is a spy." Bismarck said as she looked at Stefan.
"Believe me. I know them all personally. We are all willing to fight and die for our freedom. This masked man told us that you're here to help liberate the islands. Is that true? Who is the woman?" Stefan asked as Wilhelm placed the barrel of his Stg under Stefan's chin.
"The Woman has a name. I will not tolerate you not using it." Wilhelm said as Bismarck's hand crept over the barrel.
"Jager. No need to be so cold about it. He doesn't know my name, and it does not offend me. Remove the weapon." Bismarck said softly as she gently pulled the rifle away.
"My name is Bismarck. Pleasure to meet you, Stefan." Bismarck said.
"Bismarck… as in… the battleship? The one from the new reels?" Stefan asked.
"One in the same." Bismarck said as she deployed her rigging.
"What do you need with us? We are ready to help." Stefan said, his resolve solidifying even further knowing that they had a chance to end it all.
"We're taking out this airstrip. They have bombers in the air. We need to make sure they can't launch any more." Wilhelm said.
"Easy. There are fuel tanks on the end where they store the bombers. That was our original target to cause chaos so we could try to take out the one up top." Stefan said.
"Excellent. We'll do that to destroy the airfield with help from Bismarck. Once the bombers are dealt with, the main fleet will invade and then there'll be hell in the streets. We have over four thousand waiting and ready along with a fleet that can burn the oceans. We'll take this island quickly once we succeed here." Wilhelm said.
"Well… if it's that simple… then lets get a move on." Stefan said as he uncovered the guns in his canvas bag.