Chapter 65
A Ratio of Risk/Reward
"Hold fast!"
The order was issued simply enough, having it carried out was anything but. Maho turned her knightmare about and fired a quick burst from its rifle, keeping the Chinese infantry from chancing another peek above the ridge. They needed to keep the enemy bottled up long enough for fire support to sweep the hill, hopefully before the enemy's had a chance to do the same to their own positions. Speaking of which, Maho moved her knightmare a few dozen meters away from her prior location. A lesson that the JLF had learned very quickly the past day or so was that anything that stayed in place longer than fifteen minutes would get turned into a crater. Neither side truly had control of the air, which meant as much as the combined Japanese-Britannian force could rain hell down upon their enemies, the Chinese were likewise also so capable.
"Captain," Erika called over the radio, "new orders from command, we are to continue withdrawing further south."
Maho kept her expression stoic, but she felt much of the same frustration that leaked out in Erika's voice. It felt wrong to concede so much ground to the invaders, especially in the first major battle the Japanese Liberation Front had engaged in since the occupation began, but Maho trusted in her superiors' strategic inclinations. It did little good to win the battle here after all if it cost them the wider island, and until more reinforcements arrived, the prospect of any victory was painfully slim.
The opening stages of the Battle of Kyushu had not gone particularly well for the Britannians, though that was not to say the imperial forces did not fight with valor and determination. The massive missile strike upon Fukuoka Base had actually been mostly defeated by the base's defenses, but enough still got through to hinder its command infrastructure, and would have hindered mobilization had the garrison commander not already dispersed the bulk of his forces beforehand. That might have yet allowed the Britannians to defeat the landings by the Chinese marines, save for the extremely determined Chinese effort to sweep the Empire's aircraft from the sky. From what little Maho heard, the Chinese had deployed several squadrons of extremely stealthy fighters, which the Britannian air wing was not quite a match for. While the Chinese were not able to completely dominate the air, neither could the Empire bring its otherwise impressive complement of close air support to bear, significantly hobbling one portion of its traditional combined arms doctrine. The bulk of the fire support thus had to come from artillery and other ground-based systems, for which the Chinese had also brought plenty of in the form of their East Sea Fleet. The naval bombardment had been enough, just barely, to keep the Britannian ground troops at bay to allow the Chinese marines to seize Hakata Port and thereby land substantial regular reinforcements. Now, three Chinese divisions were arrayed against the bloodied but still fighting Britannian division and the somewhat larger sized Japanese Liberation Front.
The fighting was entering its third day now, with the Chinese steadily pushing out from Fukuoka City and trying to advance down south to Kurume and eventually Kumamoto, at least as far as Maho knew. A northeastern advance towards Kitakyushu and the bridge leading to the main island of Honshu was also a possibility, but the Britannians were even more heavily reinforced along Honshu's eastern regions, so the prospects of any crossing attempts would be fraught. No, the Chinese needed to win victories, and quickly at that, if they were to try to rally the local populace into supporting their arrival. And from the videos coming out of Fukuoka, at least some of the residents were indeed jubilant at the prospect of liberation. Cardinal Lamperouge might have dulled some of the sharpest pains caused by the Britannian occupation, but resentment that had been left to fester for so long was not so easily assuaged. Still, by and large discipline within the JLF itself held, with its members fighting as doggedly as their Britannian counterparts in resisting the Chinese incursion. Even now, Maho's own knightmare company was working with a Britannian mechanized infantry unit.
"Captain Nishizumi," the CO of said unit called over the radio. "My unit has received orders to fall back to a defensive junction at grid K11, my understanding is that the JLF has a preprepared position that can be manned."
Looking at her own map, Maho identified the coordinates as the Tosu Junction, where the north-south Kyushu Expressway intersected with east-west Nagasaki Expressway. The farmland immediately around that area had provided for ample ground for the JLF to dig defensive works in, even in so short a time as they had. That some of the JLF soldiers had actually spent some time at the former Japanese Army base nearby even helped a bit with local familiarization.
"Will you be accompanying us, or do you have separate orders?"
While the Britannians and Japanese were fighting together, there were still the inevitable frictions, not least of which was that both were still operating under their own chains of command. It was still painfully common for units of combined formations like this one to get different, if not outright conflicting orders, even some that assumed things of the other. By this point both sides understood this was not out of malice, though it still took some effort to keep the resulting frustration from boiling over. One such effort was own display here, with the Britannian officer explicitly asking Maho what her own orders were instead of assuming.
"My own orders are to also head south," Maho responded, "but they do not as yet indicate how far. We will continue to accompany you until clarification or countervailing orders arrive."
"I'll be glad to have you with us as long as you're able."
And Maho herself would be happy to have an infantry screen for her knightmares as well. More than once the Britannian foot soldiers had discovered and fended off attempted sneak or flanking attacks executed by the Chinese troops, demonstrating not just the importance of infantry support for armor but also the Empire's extensive experience in maneuvering these elements together. The JLF infantry were being forced to learn very quickly, but it was undeniably a very expensive education. As courageous and determined as the JLF infantry were, their losses the first two days of fighting had been double that of the Britannians, and that was after the Empire's troops took the brunt of things the first day trying to stop the Chinese landings. Fortunately by now the survivors had smartened up, taking any and all lessons from their Britannian counterparts and generally being less hotheaded in how they confronted the Chinese forces.
"Captain," Erika said as her knightmare moved alongside Maho's. "Chinese forces seem to be pulling back for the moment, so if we're to withdraw, it's now."
Maho nodded, not that her second could see. "Begin pulling back, I will take the rearguard."
"Are you sure, ma'am? I could handle that."
"I know you could, but if our forces run into anything along the way south, I trust you to be able to punch through."
No mere platitude that, Erika's tactical instincts were sharp enough that her tendency towards aggressive offensive action had yet to lead her or her subordinates astray. If the Chinese had managed to sneak a blocking force south of them, her second in command would break through, and more importantly, keep that hole open long enough for the rearguard to rejoin them.
"Roger that ma'am, I won't let you down."
With that, Erika and the other three knightmare platoons departed, leaving Maho with just her direct unit. The Britannian infantry company did likewise, leaving a single platoon of Bradley IFVs to complement her knightmares while the rest of the mechanized infantry hurried south to relative safety. In another parallel, that company's CO also remained behind as part of the rearguard. A few days ago, Maho might have suspected the Britannian captain of wanting to make sure Maho could not pull rank on any of his troops. Now, she knew it was because they both shared a sense of duty towards their subordinates.
"Do you think the Chinese will attempt another foray, before we begin our own withdrawal?" Maho asked the Britannian captain.
"Depends a bit on how quickly they notice, I think," the man responded. "We haven't sighted any enemy drones, even the small ones, so hopefully the Chinese are blinder than we are."
Something Maho had come to greatly appreciate over the past few days was the emphasis the Empire put on battlespace awareness. This meant not only determining where the enemy might be, but also making sure that information was disseminated as widely as possible amongst its own ranks. It had taken Maho one look at the tactical display mounted in each Bradly IFV to gain an utmost appreciation of the advantages this increased awareness offered, as well as some palpable relief that her troops would not be on the receiving end of it. Maho was enough of a realist to recognize that spirit could only do so much to overcome such disparities in technical prowess. While the Japanese Army had been working on implementing a similar such capability before the invasion, little of it reached operational readiness before Japan's fall. The Japanese Liberation Front had lacked the resources in funding, technology, and manpower to do little else than maintain what systems they had managed to inherit. Britannia on the other hand was always a larger, richer, and more prosperous nation than Japan could ever hope to be, and the Empire had had seven years to improve upon their systems. The real pity here was that after all the modifications the pilfered Glasgows had undergone, they were no longer capable of even receiving rudimentary telemetry from the Britannian tactical net, even if the Empire was willing to hand over the cipher keys they'd need. That left the various JLF detachments dependent on their Britannian counterparts for a more complete picture of the overall battlefield, and while the Britannians were not intentionally withholding information, having to manually convey information did result in inevitable inefficiencies.
"And what of our own vision?" Maho inquired next.
Despite the lack of a video feed, Maho could sense the smirk in the man's answer.
"Well, we're doing a bit better job keeping our drones in the air today, so unless the Chinese got real creative, we probably have at least a few minutes of downtime."
As it were, both sides had been making judicious usage of unmanned drones to get a better picture of the battlefield, which both sides then made judicious effort to shoot down the other side's. Not all drone losses had been a consequence of enemy action either, accidents claimed a few, and friendly fire quite a few more. When the appearance of a drone potentially presaged an artillery barrage or missile strike, soldiers tended to get paranoid and twitchy about anything they saw flitting about. Again the Britannians were doing a bit better on that front, seeing as they had more practice recognizing their own side's drone, while those JLF soldiers that did have some experience with Britannian drones and lived to tell of it needed to undo some of the instinctual responses that had been ingrained in them by said prior encounters.
"Speaking of creative, how is your unit looking for AT?" Maho asked.
A grunt sounded. "Still have four TOWs left amongst my Bradleys, so we're probably okay if we run into enemy armor. You?"
"We expended most of our antitank munitions stopping that push last night and haven't had a chance to resupply, assuming there's anything left of our stockpiles to resupply from."
"Yeah, and Kyushu didn't have any knightmare units officially stationed here, so our own stores wouldn't have had much either."
Another reason for Maho's relief that she was not fighting the Britannians was the painful realization that the JLF actually did not have the munitions stockpiles to sustain the sort of combat tempo they were currently undertaking. For that matter, most of the JLF infantry were now drawing upon Britannian stores, the Empire having set up depots and stockpiles all throughout the island in preparation for the predicted invasion. Fighting a peer or near peer adversary chewed through prodigious amounts of ammunition, and this supply situation was one reason why the Britannians had elected to pull back as far as they had. The further away from the port the Chinese were forced to pursue, the further they had to carry their own munitions, subject to the risk of ambushes and attacks all along the way. Putting themselves out of range of Chinese naval bombardment was also a nice bonus.
"Still, unless the Chinese were able to land more tanks, actually I'm not going to finish that thought."
Taunting Murphy was something Britannian soldiers had an almost paranoid aversion to, Maho had also learned. While the woman herself was not particularly superstitious, she still appreciated the importance of morale and not accidentally diminishing it.
"Twelve tanks and eighteen IFVs," Maho said. "Another company reported taking down a similar number. Taking out upwards a battalion's worth of enemy armor is useful, regardless of what reinforcements they might still be able to land."
The other captain chuckled. "If it's all the same, Captain Nishizumi, I'd rather settle for pushing the entirety of the Chinese invasion force off the island."
As sentiments went, it was one Maho shared, even if the target had so drastically changed.
"Alright, looks like our southern units have made good progress," the Britannian captain said. "We can probably start pulling back as well."
"My knightmares will cover your infantry while they load up."
"Appreciate it."
From her vantage point, Maho watched as the Britannian infantry crawled out of their various nooks and crannies, some seemingly appearing out of thin air as they emerged from hiding. A few even offered jovial waves at her platoon as they formed up and boarded the waiting IFVs. The captain was almost tempted to do the same with her mech. Demonstrations of camaraderie were not entirely foreign to her upbringing or sense of discipline. Once everyone was accounted for, the collection of vehicles returned to the main expressway and began their own journey south.
The combined platoon had the knightmares and IFVs staggered, with two frames taking the lead, followed by two Bradleys, and then repeat. The turrets of the rear IFVs were swerved towards the rear, providing a measure of covering fire that would hopefully be enough to give the rest of the column enough time to swing about, or just decide to keep running, for that matter.
"Recon reports suggest the Chinese are concentrating for a bigger push," the Britannian captain continued conversing with Maho over the radio. "Still not getting any hard assessments on the amount of armor they have, but they at least have a lot of warm bodies they'll be able to throw at us."
"And what of our own reinforcements?" Maho inquired.
"If scuttlebutt is right, we're looking at an entire brigade on their way," the captain responded, "along with Third and Eighth Fleet. The big question is whether they'll be sent our way or up north instead. Hokkaido is supposed to be taking it in the neck from the Chinese and Russians both."
While Maho had no desire to wish ill upon her countrymen up north, a part of her was human enough to still prefer of those reinforcements would land in Kyushu to help keep her troops, and herself, alive longer. And were she being honest, the Empire did seem to be invested in quickly evicting the Chinese from Kyushu. A good portion of the air support they received and were still receiving came from the Empire's Seventh Fleet, as well as other naval aviation squadrons that were currently operating out of western Honshu. If the other two fleets also joined up, Maho felt at least moderately certain the Chinese East Sea Fleet would be badly outnumbered and forced to retreat or be destroyed. Either would result in the Chinese invasion force getting stranded, and unless those soldiers were really, really dedicated to the 'liberation' of Japan, their surrender should come about in short order. Maho at least hoped it would. She would not shed any tears for anyone that sought to harm her home or people, but neither did she find any particular joy in the ending of lives.
"Perhaps there will be more news-" Maho began.
"Incoming!" the knightmare pilot in the lead suddenly shouted.
The vehicles immediately swerved off the road, dispersing to avoid getting caught in a cluster, but the missile launched at them stayed locked onto its target. Coming down at a steep angle, it struck the top of a Bradley, punching through the thinner roof. Not even a scream escaped before explosions ripped through the IFV's interior, killing crew and passengers all.
Maho's jaw tightened as she noted which Bradley had been hit. Whether it was bad luck or they had somehow known, the enemy had managed to kill the Britannian company commander.
"I'm taking command!" the JLF captain declared over the radio.
"Understood ma'am!" mercifully whoever was next senior in the Britannian platoon did not protest.
"Contacts approaching, bearing 190 and 200," another soldier reported.
South, the enemy had launched their attack from the south. Maho's eyes narrowed as she watched the cluster of soldiers appearing from amidst the trees.
"IFVs, sweep the forest!" she ordered.
The Bradleys let loose with their autocannons, shells punching through the wood and undergrowth. The Chinese had managed to sneak a force through the forested hills, something that arguably the Britannian and Japanese defenders had considered a possibility, but thus far none of their own troops had made contact with any such infiltrators, until now. The big question was just how large a force were they facing.
"Missile!"
Another missile streaked through the air, though this one came at a much shallower angle. That was probably all that saved its target, as the knightmare managed to duck behind a slight incline, letting the projectile slam into the road.
"Infantry, dismount!" Maho ordered. "Defensive line along the west!"
While this would slow any retreat they might attempt, it was better than risking the soldiers getting caught in another IFV that went up. Besides, as more Chinese soldiers filtered out of the forest, Maho was more and more certain she would need those rifles.
"This is JLF Bravo company commander, 1st battalion," Maho called over the radio, "we've encountered heavy enemy presence at grid location B9, estimate company strength at minimum, requesting immediate fire support!"
"Roger, JLF captain," the mercifully prompt response came. "Do you have ability to hand off targeting telemetry for artillery?"
"This is Lieutenant Schultz, 2nd platoon, Charlie company," the Britannian platoon commander joined the long-range radio conversation. "Transmitting GPS coordinates for desired strike targets now."
"Coordinates received," the fire control officer said, "standby."
And with that it was out of their hands. While Maho was fairly certain the Britannian officer up the chain would not dally in forwarding their request for fire support, she had no way of knowing how many other similar such requests were being made and whether the artillery crews themselves were in position to quickly respond. It was ultimately still on herself and her forces here to survive long enough for the fire support to help even things out. Then, a distant thump sounded, signaling just how difficult that was going to be.
"Incoming mortar fire!" Maho warned.
The infantry tried to find cover wherever they could and mercifully the first shell landed well clear of any of them. That was however clearly intended as a zeroing shot, as several more thumps could be heard in rapid succession. Maho did not even hesitate, positioning her knightmare almost atop several nearby infantry. That proved prophetic, as a frightfully close shell exploded, showering her mech with shrapnel and dirt. The knightmare withstood the blast with ease. The soldiers that she shielded would have fared far worse.
"Is everyone alright?" Maho asked over her loudspeakers.
"Yeah, thanks to you, Captain!" one of the soldiers shouted.
Maho nodded inside her mech, moving aside a bit before opening fire herself. While a knightmare's rifle was functionally an autocannon in caliber, the cannon part was certainly qualified by how loud it roared. The Chinese soldiers were no longer advancing quite as enthusiastically, but neither were they retreating. In fact, they were actually extending their own lines, maneuvering to flank and encircle Maho's much smaller collection of troops. That they could do so without thinning those very same lines suggested the initial count of company strength was a gross undercount.
"Command, this is Nishizumi," Maho called in again. "Revising previous estimate of enemy troops, we appear to have engaged a battalion level force."
"Nishizumi, this is Tohdoh," the colonel's voice answered this time. "Can you extract your force?"
Maho looked about her surroundings. The ambush, though at this point it seemed more accidental than properly planned, had occurred at a somewhat messy juncture of forested hills and expressway road. The Chinese were actually positioned southwest of them, indicating a much deeper penetration by the enemy than their own side had realized. Retreating north was out of the question, since there were certainly going to be more Chinese units in that direction. Breaking out east was their only real option, and in more ways than one. Numerically outnumbered as they were, there was never any chance of them actually fighting and routing the Chinese force. They also could not hold their current position, the enemy would be calling down their own heavy artillery soon enough, assuming there was not already a barrage incoming.
"We will attempt to withdraw eastward," Maho thus responded.
"This is Lieutenant Itsumi, Captain, the rest of the company can rejoin you posthaste!"
"Absolutely not," Maho immediately rejected the suggestion.
"Captain!?"
"The Chinese have clearly infiltrated substantial forces much further south than we expected," Maho stated. "If they're actually intending to emerge from Ochozu Forest, that would let them bypass the strongpoint at Tosu Junction and strike directly at Kurume."
"Nishizumi is right," Tohdoh said, though he sounded profusely unhappy. "Our priority must be to ensure the Chinese do not encircle us from the south."
"But Colonel!"
"Erika," Maho chided, firmly but gently. "You have your orders. Follow them as diligently as you have all the others you've ever received."
A pained sound could be heard from the other woman before she responded properly.
"Yes, Captain."
"Good. Colonel Tohdoh, I will be taking my forces eastward. If there is any available air support, it would be appreciated."
"I will see it done," Tohdoh promised.
As if to signal the end of the exchange, loud rumbling sounded as the Britannian artillery barrage fell upon the forest edge. The volume of destruction was such that it was hard to make out those slain by the explosions, but the momentary reduction in enemy fire was sign all by itself. It would not last however, so they needed to make the most of this window.
"All units fall back, bearing 90," Maho ordered. "Natsumi, take point, then infantry. IFVs and knightmares, provide covering fire!"
A lone knightmare peeled off, with the infantry hustling after quickly. Then one by one the remaining armored vehicles followed suit just as the enemy fire intensified once more. And then the shelling resumed, except this time they landed upon where Maho's unit was previously positioned. The Chinese were clearly intensifying their own fire support.
"What's the plan, Captain?" the Britannian lieutenant asked.
"Head into the town," Maho ordered. "We need to break contact with the enemy and the buildings will help with that, a bit."
Less so with her knightmares with how tall they stood, but the IFVs at least might be able to slip away relatively unnoticed.
"Once we have some breathing room, try to consolidate any incapacitated into a single IFV," the captain continued. "If we end up needing to protect them, I don't want our attention dispersed."
"Understood. I don't suppose we're going to get any additional fire support, ma'am?"
"I've sent the request up, but I can't say if or how long they would take," Maho said.
"Permission to link with fire support control then, ma'am? I'm plugged into the actual comms network through my Bradley."
"Granted," Maho said. "Call in fire support at your discretion, just keep me in the loop."
"Roger that, ma'am."
If the Britannian officer had better luck rustling up some air support, Maho was perfectly fine with letting him try. Again she lamented the lack of interoperability between the JLF's communications network and the Empire's, even with the JLF appropriating quite a bit of Britannian equipment over the years, like her very own Burai.
The retreat made good progress even with the infantry forced to hustle on foot and once they were into the residential district they stopped just long enough to get the wounded loaded up into a single Bradley. Those still capable of fighting however remained on foot, Maho wanting as many guns available as possible.
"Keep to the larger roads where possible," Maho ordered. "I don't want us getting bottlenecked."
"So head for Route 3 then, ma'am?" the lieutenant asked.
"Only until the Nagasaki Speedway. If we kept following Route 3, that'd just take us right back towards the Kyushu Expressway west and likely into the Chinese force. If we divert at Nagasaki however that will take us further east before we cut south again. Priority is still to link up with the main force."
"Understood-oh shit!"
Spinning about, Maho immediately caught sight of what had so startled the Britannian officer. There, driving down the Route 3 highway, was the squat form of a tank, its turret already traversing.
"Off the road!" Maho shouted.
The infantry were already scrambling aside, while the vehicles needed a bit more time reorient. Unfortunately they did not have that time as the tank fired, its shot slamming right into one of Maho's knightmares. The hit was dead center, punching through the mech's armor, but before the frame went up the pilot pod ejected.
"TOW!"
One of the Bradleys stopped moving to allow its gunner to take aim. A moment later the missile touched off and streaked towards the tank. It hit true, but a tank was a much more heavily armored beast than a knightmare, and it was a frontal strike as well.
"Fall back!" Maho ordered.
There was no way they were facing only a single tank, no one sent armored vehicles out piecemeal unless they were complete amateurs or idiots. She was soon proved right when another tank came into view around the bend of the highway, then another. They were looking at an entire armored column. There was no way Maho's own group could take them on, not with their own side badly depleted of AT weapons.
"Lieutenant, grab my pilot and continue southeast," Maho said. "We'll buy you some time."
"Ma'am!?"
"That's an order!"
Maho did not wait for further protest or acknowledgment as she sent her knightmare into the row of buildings along the road.
"Natsumi, draw the enemy's attention," Maho said. "Ren and I will flank from the east and try to get close enough to disable them."
"Roger," came the brisk response.
The remaining knightmares Maho had with her were very short on munitions that could punch through a tank, but even their non-AT shells could do quite a bit of damage if they got close enough. That was a risky tactic, but the semi-urban environment they were fighting in was arguably the very best possible setup for a knightmare versus tank engagement. As they zipped through the streets, Maho heard the potshots from Natsumi intermixed with enemy cannon fire. Not all of the enemy would be so easily distracted as two turrets were still traversing their direction, but knightmares could be very quick when on their landspinners and pavement, as the roads here allowed. One tank was still a quarter turn away from getting Maho in its sights when her knightmare charged out from amidst the buildings and she unloaded upon its side. The tracks snapped in multiple places while other hits cracked the armor. She was not done however, sliding right behind the enemy tank and fired off one of her last AT shells. That punched right through and began cooking off the internal ammo, causing an energetic blast to erupt seconds later.
Ren was right behind Maho and targeted a different tank, actually slamming into it and nearly falling atop the vehicle. She somehow maintained enough control to plant her rifle squarely on the turret top and fired off a shell of her own. The thin armor there stood no chance at such close range, marking another tank killed. The two surviving tanks were now very aware of the threat amidst them but in such close quarters they struggled to respond. Maho was now zeroing in on her second target. Drawing the massive sword her knightmare hefted, she spun about, lending further moment to the blade's weight as she slammed it down atop the third tank's turret. Hardly a particularly elegant strike, but enough to actually cave in the top. Screams sounded as Maho wrenched the blade free, giving Ren the opening to hose the interior with an antipersonnel round, cutting the cries off abruptly.
The last tank of the enemy platoon had resorted to swerving about to try to line up its gun for a shot, but something suddenly struck its side and an explosion tore through its interior. Downrange, Maho saw the two Bradleys, one evidently having fired a missile.
"Lieutenant, I ordered you to retreat," Maho said.
"Yeah, about that," the lieutenant responded. "My standing orders were to provide support to your company, and I've yet to receive anything to rescind that from my own chain of command, so."
Despite everything Maho could not help but smile slightly.
"This is a, how do you Britannians put it, rules lawyering?"
The lieutenant chuckled. "I came up through the ranks as enlisted, ma'am, so I've been around the blocks a few times."
That certain did explain the degree of initiative the lieutenant was showing compared to those that obtained the rank after graduating from an academy.
"Don't worry, ma'am, we pulled your other pilot out and I've had the infantry continue southeast with the wounded. Now we just need to join them."
"Good-"
That word turned out to be painfully premature as another roar sounded and suddenly Ren's knightmare toppled over. Unlike the other frame however, the pod did not eject.
"Ren!"
Further north along the road, Maho saw even more tanks. And not just tanks, there looked to be infantry carriers as well.
"Captain! Pull back!"
Maho began her retreat, or at least tried to, as a wave of cannon fire and even a missile or two came streaking towards her. The other burning vehicles offered some measure of cover, but against that volume of fire something was eventually going to get through. What little fortune Maho had left was probably spent when that something did, it cleaved through her knightmare's arm and not the frame's core.
"-seeing large enemy armored column coming down the Route 3 highway," Maho heard the lieutenant frantically calling in their situation. "They're-new contacts bearing 250!"
With her own frame facing south in her retreat, Maho could see enemy infantry as they started filtering out. A missile shot out from that direction, just falling short of one of the Bradleys. It was not so lucky with the second one, the projectile getting a clean hit on the side and punching straight through.
"Lieutenant!" Maho shouted.
"Christ! Command, we are getting flanked, requesting immediate fire support!"
Somehow Maho made it back to the two other surviving vehicles, though for how much longer that remained an open question. With the armored column coming from the north and the enemy infantry, likely the same ones they'd run into before, pushing from the east and south, they were about to be encircled, again. And this time, they might not have the strength to retreat, not without drawing the enemy into the other survivors still fleeing.
"Lieutenant, I need you to hold the enemy infantry at bay as long as you can," Maho said. "Natsumi and I will try to stall the enemy armor."
"We'll hold, ma'am," the lieutenant assured, "as long as you need."
That might have been mere bravado, but Maho would certainly not impinge upon the man's honor and courage.
"Same as before, Natsumi," Maho said. "Distract them as best you can and I will engage at close range. Once I am amidst them, close the distance yourself."
"Right behind you, Captain."
Once more Maho drove her knightmare forth. The semiurban landscape about her was growing increasingly marked by pockets of destruction, with buildings collapsed and vehicles burning. Even more and more bodies were piling up and laying strewn. The enemy was also much warier about being hit by the sides, the armored vehicles arranged to cover each other, with infantry disembarking to provide a further screen of security. For all the good that ended up doing as Maho charged right into their midst, making it so that if they fired upon her, they almost certainly would also hit each other.
The evolution of military doctrine over the years was centered around one thing, to be able to kill one's enemy with the absolute lowest risk to one's own side. For while it was certainly true that being able to see the whites of an enemy's eye meant one was within easy reach to strangle said enemy, that proximity in turn placed you in similar reach by the enemy. That made the resulting ratio between reward and risk uncomfortably low. In its effort to increase the favor of that ratio, humanity continued investing much effort and ingenuity in increasing the standoff range by which lethality might be delivered. From the humble rock to the most powerful ICBM, humanity's progress in this field was as astonishing as it was often horrifying.
Even so, circumstances still arose where one had no choice but to fight in the very midst of one's enemies. Where, through either chance or unfavorable odds, one did not have the luxury of killing one's enemies out of arm's reach. This was one such instance, and Maho now demonstrated why, even though it was important to be proficient in the more modern ways of war, being similarly skilled at the classical methods also came in very handy.
With steely nerve, Maho took full advantage of what being in a multi-ton armored walker provided. The gunfire from soldiers was barely worth noticing as she rolled right over them, not even feeling the crunch of bodies. The enemy IFVs were more troublesome, but their thin skins meant her sword could both carve right into them and not get stuck as with the heavier tanks. And as for the tanks, well, they were really not designed for close quarters combat, and their reactions showed. Even with multiple tanks ostensibly having overlapping fields of fire, Maho kept ahead of them, using enemy units as cover even as she went about thrashing them. And that was before Natsumi joined in, helping more than double the mayhem they were causing.
Mere minutes had passed, but Maho was in no condition to register such mundanities. She could not even fully track how many enemies they had killed, as anything that was dead immediately left her awareness so that she could focus on those still around to threaten her and Natsumi. The enemy was also wising up, their forces dispersing to make it harder for the two knightmares to use their own side as shields. Another consequence of the increasing distance was the increasing time it took to get from one enemy to another. With her own knightmare limited to just a sword, that was proving a genuine problem for Maho. The longer she was kept from engaging the enemy, the longer they had to also try to put her down.
Natsumi was doing a bit better, still capable of retaliating at range. She was however completely out of AT shells and so was only a threat to the infantry, the survivors of which were now very wisely dispersed and behind whatever cover they could find, and the IFVs that were similarly regrouping behind the surviving tanks. That meant she by and large playing decoy again for Maho, but with so many enemies about, there were only so many that Natsumi could hold the attention of, and so many before she herself came under genuine threat.
"Natsumi!"
The last thing the woman heard was her captain crying her name as a tank finally zeroed in on her, and struck her frame dead center.
Maho was breathing heavily now, from both the exertion of battle and seeing the last of her command fall. She had heard nothing from the lieutenant since the melee started, so for all she knew she really was alone here. Still, while her knightmare stood, she would not yield.
"-Nishizumi! Captain-!" the radio crackled.
It was in English, the voice.
"This is Nishizumi," Maho answered, somehow still maintaining a level tone.
"Captain, we've lost Lieutenant Schultz, you need to withdraw!"
Maho accepted the news of the good lieutenant's death with eerie calmness, even from her perspective. She idly wondered if this was how her own mother had felt when the end came. Perhaps, the surety of it was what wiped away all fear of that great unknown.
"Command, are you able to triangulate upon my position from my radio?"
"Wha-yes, yes we can, Captain."
Maho took a moment to recall the exact wording in English. The Britannians had so many terms within their military jargon.
"I am requesting a final protective fire upon my position."
Static was all that answered her for a moment, and then.
"Understood, Captain. And, Godspeed. Incoming fire, thirty seconds."
Maho might not have been Christian, but she did understand and appreciate the sentiment. Raising her knightmare, she hefted her sword. Always forward, her mother's words reverberated. And it was with those words in mind that Maho charged forth. Thirty seconds later, a massive barrage from a full battery swept the immediate area of her fallen knightmare.
End of Chapter 65
Kyushu would only be one chapter, he says. I really should just shut up.
One thing I want to emphasize is that while Maho did a lot of damage with relatively limited resources, you will all note that over time her own side was being systematically ground down and in the end sheer numbers still overwhelmed her. With good tactics and equipment, it is possible for a smaller force to absolutely wreck a larger one, but doing so will still come at a cost. And if the ratio of forces is lopsided enough, well, Pyrrhic though a victory might be, there are still consequences to losing, up to and including the death of your own side, no matter how much you managed to cost the other.
Hoping that I don't skew towards realism in my stories when that's what underpins the strengths of my stories might be missing the point.