October 30th
10:05pm
Several days of planning and further careful aerial reconnaissance had brought the force to the date Anson had chosen for liberation of the port.
They'd set up a forward operating base a mile from the town, and the self propelled guns that Captain Vincent had in his convoy were set up. They'd only get one shot at a ranging shot as the Sirens would be on high alert as soon as the first shells began landing. "George. I know you probably can't hear me. But please give me strength to get through this fight" Anson said to herself as she gripped one of her uniform's medals tightly. She was stood on top of a small hill overlooking the town and port, the cool night air ran through her hair as she pondered things.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Hector asked as he came up alongside and interlocked her free hand with his own.
"Despite all this planning. I cannot help but worry that I've missed something. It's been gnawing away at my thoughts ever since I woke up this morning" Anson answered quietly, not wishing the others to hear her.
"It'll be alright. I'm sure it will. After all we have the element of surprise on our side. And everyone is ready for this fight. No-one is going to let us down" Hector replied, trying to encourage her to think positively about the impending fight.
"Yeah.. You are right. I may not have George's overflowing Charisma. But like my sisters, I share the need to serve my queen and my country. So I will do them proud today and lead everyone into this fight and we will take this port and begin to rebuild and liberate this country" She smiled at him as she gripped his hand tighter.
"Anson?" Came a voice from behind them. The couple turned around to find one of Ryan's men holding a radio. "The Captain got you that portable radio you requested. It's already pre-tuned to our radio and that of Captain Vincent's Artillery platoon."
"Thank you, Corporal. You may go" Anson said and the Corporal saluted her before departing to rejoin his platoon.
"What rank do you actually hold anyway? In terms of the Royal Navy" Hector asked once the Soldier had gone.
"Royal Knight. George is our leader as you may recall me telling you. Revenge and Sovereign are also under the rank of Royal Knight. Sheffield is a Maid as you may expect. Suffolk also. Norfolk was always a stand out as she from what I can recall did train to be a Maid, but never became one. I suppose I'd rank her now as a Knight of sorts. Maybe a formal title can be granted for her at some point"
"Perhaps you can think about it for later." Hector said before they headed back to rejoin the others.
Everyone was in position, their rigging already deployed and weapons to hand, if they had any. Sheffield threw a Lee Enfield to Hector whilst Anson picked up a Bren and put some magazines where she could.
"You good, Anson?" Indomitable asked as Unicorn stood beside her big sister.
"Yeah. Everyone ready?" She asked and everyone nodded. "Alright. We begin Phase 1" she continued before grabbing the radio. "Captain Vincent. Get your men ready. We are headed out"
"Copy that" came the Captain's response as the Kansens and Ryan's men headed for the town.
On the outskirts of the town, Anson ordered they halt. Grabbing the radio again, she gave the order to Captain Vincent. Moments later, the distant sound of gunfire could be heard. Moments later, they could see explosions from the portside as the shells smashed into the ground.
From another hill, Captain Vincent was watching the shots land. "Good hits. Keep the shells to the left, we don't want to hit the designated warehouse"
"Yes Sir!" said one of the loaders as they loaded another round into the Sexton SPG as the other Self Propelled Guns reloaded and fired again.
"Good hits on target. Let's not keep our enemies waiting. Shall we?" Anson said as the second round of shells came in. After a moment she gestured to move and the Kansens charged into battle.
Bulldog and Swift ran ahead, shooting at any Sirens that had run out into the town from the Port. But as soon as two Sirens fell, 8 more burst out into the road. Having seen their comrades fall, they instantly opened up against the Two Destroyers, who quickly dove behind cover.
Anson opened up with the Bren she was holding, hosing down at least one of the Sirens before she fired a salvo from one of her turrets, blasting apart another.
"Doesn't seem to be too many so far."
"There will be so many more. You can count on that" Sovereign said as she fired at some more Sirens.
Sovereign had been correct. A portal appeared out in the bay and a swarm of Sirens poured out, amongst them also came a large Siren Warship.
"Anson! You've got a Warship out there! It just appeared through a portal they've got" Came Vincent's voice over the radio and Sovereign made a face that Anson identified as not being surprised.
"They were faster than planned. No matter. Sovereign, you take Norfolk, Z20, Sevastapol, Wasp, Manchester and Agincourt and deal with that warship and any others if they come out of that portal." Anson said and Sovereign nodded, the small attack force peeling off down a side street to head directly for the water. "How's it looking from the air?" Anson then asked the remaining carriers.
"Siren Forces are managing to avoid our Artillery. Some are getting caught out however. Those two warships docked are however going to be an issue for our Artillery if it goes active" Formidable replied as she shot another Siren that tried to attack them.
"Sovereign will know to take them out first" Anson replied as tens of Sirens then poured into the street and began to fire more at the Kansens.
The attack group ran across the quay taking out any Sirens that got in their way. Norfolk's retrofit enabled her a bit more speed than she had remembered. But she was glad for her enhancements as she drew her Sword and cut a Siren down before she turned the turrets on her right side to shoot at more Sirens trying to approach them. "C'mon! We can't let those ships hit our support!" Sovereign called as the nearest Siren ship began to fully power up and it's bow turret slowly began to turn and elevate to bombard their artillery.
"My planes won't be able to do shit against that thing!" Wasp called back as she fired another arrow from her bow, nailing a Siren right between the eyes.
"Try anyway!" Sovereign called back as she fired a salvo towards the warship, the shots striking the side. Gaining it's attention.
"We wanted it to aim at us, right?" Z20 asked.
"Well it's better than our support" Sovereign replied as she jumped onto a railway flatwagon and then onto a van on the opposite track before she launched herself at the ship, her Broadsword in hand as she brought it down on the turret of the ship. She quickly pulled it out of the turret and slashed the gun barrel to bits before blasting the entire ship with her rigging till the ends of her barrels glowed red.
The group then jumped into the water and skated over to where the other ship was. It had activated before the ship that Sovereign had just blasted, but instead of targeting the artillery, it had waited for them. It fired it's first salvo at Sovereign, who blocked it with her shields as Norfolk dropped her torpedoes against the ship. The torpedoes hitting their mark and breaking the ship's keel. Z20 fired additional torpedoes at it to kill it off fully. "Two done. One to go?" Norfolk stated.
"They've brought more in. We've got a battle ahead of us for sure" Sovereign replied as several more warships appeared out of portals behind the first one.
Anson and her team had gotten onto the quayside and were holding position in one of the buildings overlooking several areas of the port. The carriers that were still with Anson's team had deployed all their aircraft, the tiny planes strafing any remaining Sirens or trying to head out to sea to perform attacks against the warships coming in. However the Sirens had also brought in their own air power, so fighters were dodging and darting all around to take out the enemy aircraft and protect the bombers.
"This is glorious! I have waited too long for such a battle!" Cheered Sevastapol as her rigging blasted a group of Sirens into oblivion
"Don't get too overenthusiastic" Anson warned. "Sovereign's team may have taken out the two ships docked at the port, and Captain Ryan's team has been able to commandeer some of the Bofor's guns that were left here. But this battle isn't letting up"
"That and the night goes on. Sometimes I'm finding it a bit hard to identify friend from foe" Hector admitted.
Anson looked out at the ocean, seeing small shadows of their friends attacking the Siren fleet. "The Lights in the sky are all the stars. The Lights on the sea are all our enemies" she stated. "We have one shot at this. Let's make it count"
"Hopefully your submarine friend turns up! I'd hate for them to only appear after the battle is over" Sevastapol remarked.
"I hope so too" Anson thought as the warships continued to pour in from the portal.