Gneisenau and Brooklyn kept their eyes on the sky as Cole piloted the Tiger tank towards the center of the town. They kept their rigging active and were actively scanning for low flying aircraft that could endanger the tank.
"How much further?" Brooklyn asked.
"It looks like we're only a few hundred meters away." Cole said as an explosion a few streets over caught their attention.
"What was that?" Cole asked.
"Sounds like artillery guns. Don't know what kind, but they sound like big caliber guns." Gneisenau asked.
"How big… you carry 11-inch cannons." Cole deadpanned.
"Maybe a 105 millimeter? I can go check it out." Brooklyn chimed in.
"Go ahead, they may be shelling our boys on the beach. If it's a Gerry arty… take it out." Cole said.
"Understood!" Brooklyn said as she hopped off the tank and ran through the streets towards the sound of the artillery.
"You married her?" Gneisenau asked.
"She saved my life… more than once. She's a good girl. Powerful yet serene." Cole said.
"Serene? The way she stood up for you back in Gibraltar felt like I was facing down an SS German Shepard. I could almost see the steel teeth." Gneisenau said in her softer tone. Any hint of her overly harsh demeanor had faded in the wake of Brooklyn's pep talk.
"I think she thinks the same for me as I do for her. I sat and talked with her in the wake of Benson's death. She had thrown herself into the Atlantic in the beginning of winter to save me and my guys from a sunken submarine by the name of I-25. I had a feeling that if I had not stayed for her… she would have taken her own life as a result of losing her friend. She practically latched on to me after that talk. I think she's scared of losing me… which is why she stood off with you so fiercely." Cole explained.
"She's loyal… I can see that from a mile away. Keep her reigned in though. She is loyal to the point where she will lay her life down for you. Do not let her die for you. You're a good man, Cole Spirits. I mean that… despite our rocky start. Keep that fire of hers contained. She very well could have died had it not been me that she mouthed off to." Gneisenau said.
"I agree. And I appreciate your input, Gneisenau. Having someone say that from the outside helps. And I will do what I can to keep her contained." Cole said as the Tiger rolled closer to the square.
Gneisenau was about to speak when the tank stopped suddenly.
"What's wrong?" Gneisenau asked before she realized what had happened.
Ahead of them, a pair of Jagdtigers had blocked off the entrance to the square, backed up by a quad 2cm AA gun. Without warning, the AA gun opened up, peppering the frontal armor of the Tiger with 2cm flak rounds, doing little real damage but forcing Cole to close the driver's hatch. The gunner turned the turret of the tank and fired a single round, but the round flew to the right and bounced off the corner armor of the Jagdtiger on the right.
"You need to get behind something!" Gneisenau yelled as Cole slammed the levers to full reverse, changing the angle of the armor just enough to bounce both shells off the upper glacius, sending the wayward shells flying into the buildings behind them, collapsing them and blocking Cole's escape.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Gneisenau spoke frantically as she quickly scanned the area for an escape route. She found one but was not happy with it.
"Gun it forward to the right! We can get a street over by plowing through the coffee shop!" Gneisenau said as Cole did as instructed, slamming the levers forward and throwing the crew in the tank backward as they clung on for dear life. Cole managed to get the tank through the shop just as the leftmost Jagdtiger took another shot at the Tiger, clipping Gneisenau's shield and punching a hole in the very corner of the top deck armor, exposing the engine bay in that corner.
The tank's armor rung slightly for a few moments as the shell passed through the relatively thin armor on the deck and passed into the bricks below them, detonating with little effect.
"How's the tracks?!" Cole yelled.
"Holding, get us out of here!" Gneisenau yelled as she took a few potshots with her rigging at the Jagdtigers, gouging out portions of their armor with her AP shells.
"I don't think we'll be able to punch through their frontal armor." The gunner said.
"You won't be able to. Thankfully, I know where exactly we are. Brace for impact." Gneisenau said as her main batteries stopped pounding away in the distance.
"Cole, Gneisenau is changing targets, make sure you're not in the kill zone!" Nimitz's voice came over the radio.
"Understood, sir. We're behind plenty of cover. Gneisenau, fire away." Cole said.
In the distance, the report of nine main battery cannons came in at the exact same time as Cole felt nine subtle thuds in the ground.
"They're going to explode… aren't they?" Cole asked right before the square was ripped apart from nearly 3,000 kilograms of high explosive, sending a column of rock flying into the air.
"Did you get them?" Cole asked.
"I'd be more surprised if any of them survived." Gneisenau said as Cole pushed the tank forward into a side street, the armor clanking from all of the falling debris.
Out in the water, Nimitz overlooked the battlefield from Yorktown's bridge.
"Our boys just hit the beach." Nimitz said as he saw several machine gun nests opening up on the beach as his men scrambled from their boats and hid behind the sea wall.
A quick count gave Nimitz some upsetting news.
"We lost a little over 75 men just pushing towards the sea wall… we can't even think about pushing up to corner Alpha if we can't make it off the beach." Nimitz said.
"We can't spare planes, Admiral. It's taking everything I got just to dodge the heavy AA guns. Elbe is working on taking the small guns out of commission. See if you can't have Wichita target the pillboxes above the sea wall." Yorktown suggested.
"You make a good point there. Wait… what's that?" Nimitz asked as he spun to look at something that he had seen moving out of the corner of his eye.
"Drone ships!" Nimitz said urgently as he thought of how to counter the new threat.
"Z2, screen those ships!" Nimitz ordered.
"They won't live to see tomorrow." Z2 said as her engine kicked up a few gears to push her to her top speed, allowing her to close the distance to the slowly growing drone fleet.
"Gneisenau, we are preparing to engage the rapidly growing drone fleet, please use your cannons to acquire and sink what you can." Nimitz ordered.
On his order, Gneisenau's guns switched targets again and train on the forward element of the drone fleet before opening fire.
"San Diego, see if you can't target those pillboxes on the beach, I need Wichita to help engage this drone fleet." Nimitz said.
"As ordered, Admiral." San Diego said, her tone no different than it was back in Gibraltar.
"Wichita, I need you up here to help destroy these drone ships. You can also relay information to Gneisenau so her vessel can return fire." Nimitz said.
"You got it, Admiral." Wichita said as she cracked her knuckles and moved her vessel in front of Yorktown and Elbe and began sending 8 inch shells into the growing enemy fleet.
"Isaac." Several voices called to him from the door of Norfolk's bridge.
"Yes?" Isaac asked as he turned, only to have his vision filled with fur.
"Shinano, Musashi… what can I do for you?" Isaac asked as a pair of tiny hands reached out from their tails.
"Yume wanted to see her Papa since we were on the move again." Shinano said as Isaac took Yume into his arms.
"She's getting bigger by the day." Isaac said with a smile.
"She's also becoming very talkative." Musashi said with a smile.
"That's right, Yume is able to talk. How are you getting along with her, by the way?" Isaac asked.
"I absolutely adore her, Isaac. She is without a doubt my baby sister's daughter. And she is one hundred percent my niece. She also enjoys my company, which means that if you need a babysitter when we're in port, I will be more than willing to watch her." Musashi replied.
"I'm glad you have stepped so far into the role of aunt so quickly. I might take you up on that. But it's good for you two to be together. How is she with Yamato?" Isaac asked.
"Yamato is… having Michael help her through some things. But her face always lights up when she sees Yume. I think once she manages to put her… incident behind her, she will step fully into the role of aunt, as I have." Musashi said.
"I hope so. I think Yume would enjoy having Mama and both her Aunts with her." Isaac said as he poked Yume's nose.
"Papa… stop." Yume said with a giggle as she grabbed his finger.
The two Yamato class girls sighed at the sight.
"She will always remain a Papa's girl." Musashi said.
"Agreed. I don't need a dream of the future to tell me that." Shinano said as the fleet continued north, finally leaving the Philippine islands.