Author's note: For anyone who wants translations, don't be afraid to ask. I am all ears.
0500 Hours
Skies over Zhytomyr
"Ракета сзади ниже! Ракета сзади ниже!" was all Stepan could hear from the RI-65 "Rita" or as it was known by its NATO designation of "Nagging Natasha", and was the Bitching Betty's Russian/Ukrainian counterpart, as his MiG approached the combat area. It was notifying him of a missile that an enemy fighter has released. He pulled up, rolled left, and released his flares. The rocket sped to one of the flares and exploded.
"Serves you right for wasting a missile, your form is sloppy." He muttered to no one in particular as his fighter gained enough space to get behind the enemy. He selected the R-27 on his inner wing hardpoint and fired off one, and broke left, his fighter getting farther away from the enemy as possible. The Russian jet he fired at desperately tried breaking left, but alas, the Su-37 was struck head-on by the R-27 and exploded in a brilliant fireball, splinters of metal falling to the ground, smoking and peppering it as it fell.
"Нічого собі! (Woah!)" He exclaimed to himself as the shockwave from the exploding fighter reached him. Suddenly, his radar and again, the Nagging Natasha started beeping in his ear in a calm and monotone voice. It showed that 5 Russian aircraft were fast approaching. There were 1 MiG-29K, 2 MiG-29Ms, and the big workhorses of Russia's air force, 2 Su-30s.
"Якого біса, ти коли-небудь думав просто здатися? Тільки дайте мені спокійно закінчити свою операцію! (Fucking hell, have you ever thought of just giving up? Just let me finish my operation in peace!)" He muttered as he tightened his grip on the control stick and gained altitude, the enemy's fighters losing his radar signatures and heat signatures in the clouds.
He looked to the left and right of his cockpit and noticed that some Імбецил of an ordnance man has attached 2 Anti Ship missiles on the hardpoints closest to his wing root. Once he got back to Vasylkiv, he would find the ordnance man responsible for this and scold him. He carefully did the math in his head and found out that since 2 of his aircraft's hardpoints were occupied by weapons he couldn't detach over a city because his commanding officer would get very angry at the civilian casualties, he found that he had only 5 missiles, enough to deal with the oncoming threat, assuming that they didn't do any evasive maneuvers. If they did, he would only then resort to the Gryazev-Shipunov mounted on the wing root.
"Okay you imbeciles, let's dance." He said as his fighter turned, his voice warning system exclaiming protests that he was approaching a critical angle of attack. Undetected, he approached one of the -30s from the rear and selected an R-60 from one of the hardpoints. The missile dropped away, activating its engine and speeding to its target. The proximity fuse detonated behind the engines of the -30 and it pulled away from the spread-out formation.
"Haha! Fuck you!" He exclaimed in triumph as he watched the Su-30 pull away. The other fighters scattered, each and every single one attempting to get on his six and get a lock on him. He turned his head to the back and noticed that a -29K was approaching from the rear. The RWR started beeping, notifying him that his MiG was getting locked on. It started beeping faster to notify him that the MiG-29K has launched a missile at him. He pulled up, released flares, and continued flying, rolling left to avoid the missile. It collided with the flare, and he turned again, switching to the Gryazev-Shipunov mounted on the wing root, and squeezed the trigger.
The bullets roared out of the muzzle at nearly 2 times the speed of sound, peppering the rear of the MiG-29K, forcing it to roll out of formation, only to explode miles below. He turned on one of the Su-30s, which was now firing its own Gryazev-Shipunov at him. "Too late, you had your chance." He said in mock pity, pulling up, and lowering the throttle completely. His aircraft entered a cobra maneuver, allowing him to get on the 6 of the poor bastard, as he prepared to fire his guns.
His aircraft entered a cobra maneuver, allowing him to get on the 6 of the poor bastard, as he prepared to fire his guns
The Gryazev-Shipunov roared to life, spraying the enemy Su-30 with lead. The aircraft lost altitude quickly and exploded on the ground below. He pulled around, getting behind the other enemies, and preparing to fire. There was one thing missing though. One aircraft was missing. "Never mind that, probably pissed himself." He flew towards the fighter's rear, only to see that he was approaching a storm.
"Shitshitshitshitshitshit" He yelled as his plane was hit by turbulence and lightning bolts. He attempted to pull away, only to see that his fighter was now not under his control. "Fuck, I can't move the stick!" He yelled into his helmet, as the Russians approached. One fired a missile, as the storm ended, sucking Stepan into the "wormhole" produced by the storm.
0630 Hours
June 4th, 1942
Off the coast of Midway Atoll
North Carolina dodged a shell from an enemy shipgirl, as she tried to keep firing her guns in the general direction of the enemy. She was hit by shells again and again as she watched her friends, including her sister figure Iowa, get hit by shells, meanwhile some engaged in heavy hand-to-hand combat. She dodged another and another, and finally, she decided this was it.
"Iowa, come on! We need to stop them from getting closer to Midway!" She yelled as she lunged towards a Sakura Empire shipgirl, her sword raised. She slashed at the shipgirl's side, making a severe dent. The shipgirl staggered, coughing blood onto the ocean. She looked on in pity as the shipgirl saw her final moments, before finally falling into the water, dead.
"Carolina, you okay?" Iowa yelled as she ran towards an enemy shipgirl, cutting her down. Enterprise, Hornet, Yorktown, and a few other shipgirls soon followed suit, their guns raised to rain fire onto the Sakura Empire fleet. "I'm fine, it's just that the attacks are growing in intensity to the point where we can't defend against them." Iowa looked at her sister and then at the Sakura Empire and Iron Blood combined enemy fleet. "We will win, don't worry!" She said, even though she knew that at this point their losses were growing in intensity and the chances of success were thin. "We need to spread out more and create a defensive perimeter in front of the atoll. Spread out girls, it's gonna be a long fight." The other shipgirls acknowledged and got into their positions.
The carrier shipgirls were launching their planes a few miles away, and the battleships, cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers were hammering away at the fleet, their guns damaging and crippling a few shipgirls. It looked as if they could actually win this, but the horizon soon grew with thick fog, and out of the fog sailed 3 Siren ships, no doubt in cahoots with the Iron Blood and Sakura Empire factions. They were Observer, Tester, and Purifier.
"Azur Lane, today is the dayyyy!" Purifier yelled, the crazy one of the trio, her guns raised to fire at the shipgirls. "Oh no, oh god, we are screwed." North Carolina's face paled as she saw the shipgirls approach from the horizon. Iowa looked left and right, sweat dotting her face as she tried to make sure that everyone else was holding their position. The Sirens stopped near the Sakura Empire and Iron Blood ships and nodded at them.
Akagi and Kaga soon stood beside the Sirens, their swords poised to attack the poor shipgirls. Then they charged, while the Sirens ran at a slow pace to be behind the duo. Kaga raised her sword and jumped at and unsuspecting North Carolina, pushing her sword toward her chest. "So, Azur Lane scum, how does it feel to be pushed into a corner, huh?" North Carolina grunted as she tried to keep the sword from pushing into her chest, but to no avail. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.
0730 Hours
June 4th, 1942
A few miles near the battle
Stepan's vision swam as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Rita's monotone voice warned him that he would crash if he didn't gain altitude. "набирай высоту! набирай высоту!" It yelled in his ear. "OH SHIT!" Was all he could say as he pushed the stick to his stomach, finally regaining altitude, grazing the water a little bit. "блять, that was a close one!" He exhaled, inhaling multiple times to get blood circulation back into his head. He flew above a clearing, and suddenly he saw that below were multiple explosions going off. He zoomed in with the HUD, his vision widened as he realized that multiple women with ship attributes were standing there, and were about to be cut down by others with guns that looked like theirs.
He continued looking down, seeing that a woman was about to be killed by a white-haired woman with what looked like 6 fox tails. He looked at the weapons panel, and selected the formerly useless Kh-35s. "Alright, lets see what you can do, shall we?" He said as he locked onto the white-haired shipgirl, and clicked the toggle. The missile dropped away and flew its deadly course towards the target.
0740 Hours
4th of June, 1942
Battle of Midway
Kaga grinned sadistically, as she struggled to push the sword into North Carolina's chest. "Fufufu, this is so much fun!" She giggled, as she watched North Carolina struggle under her sword. "So fun, watching my enemy die today, by my own hand!" Carolina cracked open her eyes, looked left and right, then left again, seeing an incoming object release what looked like a bomb with an engine in their general direction. "Maybe so, but not today." With a final burst of her strength, she pushed Kaga off her and watched as Kaga finally turned her head towards the impending doom. Kaga's face turned into disbelief, her face paling. The missile struck her head on, generating a large cloud of smoke as it detonated.
"North Carolina!" Carolina heard Iowa yell through the smoke cloud as she hacked and coughed from the smoke cloud. "Are you okay?" She finally heard Iowa's voice close by, as she tried to help her up. "I am fine, what the hell was that?" Iowa looked to the sky, seeing the object peel away and line up for another attack run. "I don't know, it looks like a very rudimental version of a Siren fighter plane, but it has markings that I've never seen before. Could be a new fighter developed by Azur lane, although I am not sure." North Carolina looked up towards the sky and grinned, mouthing a quiet "thank you" as the fighter barreled towards them. "GET YOURSELVES READY!" Iowa bellowed. Being a master swordswoman and hand-to-hand fighter, she knew what was coming, and got into a combat stance.
"KYAAAH! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY SISTER'S BODY?" Akagi yelled as she raised her guns and tried firing at the fast-approaching plane. Under his helmet, Stepan grinned as one of the strangely dressed shipgirls raised her guns at him. "Let's dance, сука, I'm just getting started!" He said into the radio on an open channel. "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEANNN?" Akagi yelled as she kept firing at the MiG. A few meters away, Iowa, being an absolute gigachad, kept singlehandedly fighting off the 3 Sirens. She hacked and slashed, her sword raised, constantly changing tactics, positions, and stances to combat each and every single attack the Siren. Purifier giggled, "So, thinking of giving up, Azur Lane rat?" Iowa laughed in the face of her attack "Not today, bitch, not today!" She hacked and slashed, the 2 other Siren shipgirls approaching her, careful to keep her defense up.
"I can kill you and dismember you in so many ways possible the list would be too long for you to recite! HAHAHA!" Tester laughed as she hacked and slashed toward Iowa. Iowa countered that attack, and with a strong, solid thrust, impaled Tester's side. "Urg-Urgh, you bitch! You nearly killed me!" She grunted as Iowa grinned, pointing her sword at the wounded Siren. "That's the whole point, isn't it? Aww, what's wrong Colonel Sanders, chickennnn?" She taunted Tester, the Siren growing more and more angrier by the second.
Behind her, Observer approached, and swung her sword at Iowa, cutting Iowa's legs in multiple places. "AGH!" Iowa grunted, trying to get up, only to get kicked into the water by the other Sirens. "You can't kill me! I'm -cough- immortal!" Observer scoffed, "You wish you were, fool. Now you will pay for your mistake." Observer raised her sword and swung at Iowa, aiming to kill. Off in the distance, Stepan's METAL MACHINE- sorry, bad Sabaton reference. Stepan's fighter approached the group, and he tried toggling the weapon off, but Rita had other plans. "Определи направление угрозы!" Rita's calm, monotone voice said into his ear. There were too many targets for his radar to target at a low altitude. As his plane gained altitude, Rita finally had a bright idea, for once. "Увеличь обороты." Was the next thing he heard. He obliged, his MiG speeding up, and he finally locked on, releasing the Kh-35.
Iowa opened her eyes, as if in slow motion, she watched the previously seen fighter drop what looked like a bomb with an engine, and speed away, as the dangerous cargo speeded at the Sirens. The missile detonated, throwing the Sirens off and damaging them, meanwhile Iowa escaped unscathed. She carefully picked her sword back up, and searched for her group. Off in the distance, she could see them run towards her, and then she saw the Sirens approach her, as well as the speeding fighter behind them. She raised her sword and prepared for the inevitable. "Not today, сволочі, not today!" He yelled, firing his Gryazev-Shipunov at the Sirens. The bullets struck home, peppering Observer and Purifier with high explosive ammunition.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, YOU FLYING HUNK OF JUNK!" Observer waved her fist at the fighter, as it flew past her, tipping its wingtips left and right, mocking her. She pouted, as Tester put her hand on Observer's shoulder. Observer looked up, her angry face forming into a straight, normal face. "We must leave," Tester said, "Today's battle was a complete failure." Observer looked up again, "B-b-but, w-we can still defeat them! there is still time!" Tester sighed, and said "We can, but then we would just be wasting time. Lets go." "Fine." Observer floated above the water, and put an unconscious Purifier onto her back, looking back at the fighter and the shipgirls gathered to fight them off.
Stepan sighed a breath of relief as he watched the Sirens withdraw. He leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes for a second. A voice over the radio forced him to open his eyes again. "Hey, whoever that was that saved our asses, thank you. That comes from everyone in the fleet. Now how about you get yourself down onto that runway and we can talk." Stepan looked out towards the water, and sighed. "Alright, I will land, give me a moment." He flew for a little bit more before turning towards Midway and preparing to land.