Chapter 23
3 hours & 50 minutes after the terrorist strike…
I sat in my office in our new mansion, fingering a fountain pen.
The Countryhumans deployed their troops with astounding efficiency. Right now, Xu had sent in his own security troops: the 1st Army Group of People's Metropolitan Guard. Jones deployed the 3rd Army Group in the Army of his faction and a large quantity of the Air Force, while the British faction's warships had mostly assembled (though, in truth, there are many other navies that came to our aid).
I, along with all the commanders on the boys' faction of the tankery team and several of the leaders of the Countryhumans, had ordered a rapid militarization of the entire school ship. Right now, armored personnel carriers, main battle tanks, combat robots & armored vehicles are marching down the streets of the carrier, setting up fortifications, barracks & whatever other structures are necessary. All the carrier's airports had been occupied by the Countryhumans, and their fighter jets and air units are moving in. It wasn't without a reason: more reports came in shortly after the attack, filed by Countryhuman soldiers who went on the assault on the terrorists' airfield. There they found 12 F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jets, 7 F-35C Lightning II fighter jets, 4 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor planes & most horrifying of all, an AC-130 Spectre gunship. However, the worst surprise was when the decal on the Ospreys, Super Hornets & Lightnings pointed out that these planes once belonged to the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, currently stationed in Busan port at South Korea. Things are getting more and more fucked up.
Speaking of which, I'll have to say, I am highly impressed by the Countryhumans' technologies. They have developed a kind of combat robot that appear as mechanized versions of Countryhumans, with telltale traits being an electric tone, the frequent but not always appearance of multi-wavelength goggles on their heads, and clothes made from iron flaps. While their navy still uses traditional warships, there are large quantities of what they call "Humanized naval units". Whoever watches Azur Lane will have quite a clear idea what I'm talking about. Their single-pilot jets are also futuristic, or in their words, "one with the pilot", capable of transforming into some kind of rig over the pilot that keeps all the functions. And apart from these, every nation seems to have a set of its own special units. The People's Air Force under Xu's command had Dragon Aviation Crafts - machines that consist of 2 side-by-side laser turrets, a group of 2-meter wings on either side, loaded with rocket bombs & a set of rocket turbines on the back; the U.S Air Force had Humanized Helicopter units – mechanical replicas of US Countryhumans with rotors on their backs & wings on their waists; the USSR faction's Red Army boasts a large arsenal of humanized units, from armored vehicles and tanks to artillery and rockets; the list can go on, but I'm assuming you get the image.
My eyes fell onto the stationery on my desk, and I had to be impressed by how much the office fits my new style. The ballpoint pen in my hands is a sleek matte-black, minimalistic device of aluminum-titanium alloy, with a fine nib of stainless steel & a carbon fiber grip. The thing had a slim cap with a sleek clip, and the symbol of Oarai, along with "A. M." – my new initials – engraved on the body of the pen. The pen writes in a deep black ink from cartridges.
My musings were interrupted by the office's doorbell ringing, the burst of a military-style whistle ringing briefly.
"Eintreten."
The office's door opened, showing Klaus in a grey dress uniform, holding a polished Karabiner 98k rifle. He had on a wide-brimmed hat, with the brim bearing the word "Deutschland" on a black drop.
"Mein Fuhrer" he said, in an emotionless tone of seriousness, "Unsere Gäste aus Saunders sind hier." (Our guests from Saunders are here)
"Gut. Und die anderen?" (Good. And the others?)
"Sie sind alle bereit." (They are all ready.)
"Gut." I nodded and walked to the bookshelf. I opened the secret room and slung the Blitzkrieg Mk III TAR (Tactical Assault Rifle) over my back, while fastening the holstered Panzerschreck II handgun onto my belt on the opposite side of Vehementus.
And I walked out of the office with Klaus.
1 hour, 30 minutes ago…
Kay Wren Smith knew something was wrong the moment she saw those air units show up.
She, Alisa, and Naomi were aboard a C-5M Super Galaxy, loaded with an M1A2 SEP Version 4 Abrams MBT, a M2A2-ODS Bradley IFV, and 40 soldiers, along with Admiral Karl Smith from USFJ. Their escorts included 6 F-15EX fighter jets and 4 F-35E Super Hornets from the USFJ bases at Aomori. The objective was to visit Oarai, check on Alberich's status, and deliver the payment for the power suits that they gave the US some time ago. Although technicals proved the suits to be too cumbersome, their power systems still gave the US military industry a massive boost.
"Hey, Kay?"
Alisa yanked Kay out of her thoughts.
"Ah, sorry, zoned out, what's up?"
"Is it REALLY necessary for your dad to mobilize so many units to just escort us to Oarai?"
"How the heck can I know?" Kay shrugged, "from what I've heard, there's been a major problem in USFK recently. Could have to do with this."
"What happened?"
"The USS George Washington. One day the crew woke up and noticed that they've 12 F/A-18E Super Hornets, 7 F-35C Lightning IIs and 4 V-22 Ospreys missing. Officers over there were dumbfounded. Nobody had any idea how they went missing and the whole affair is hushed up right now, but there has been speculation of the Bluhtnebel being involved in this. Homeland's experiencing massive troop mobilizations recently owing to this, garrisons at major cities like Las Vegas & New York are being doubled, and they're fortifying the coastlines. Dad said that if those bastards can steal a load of fighter jets off a carrier without leaving a trace, he isn't going to take any chances with me or any of you."
"Well, you've a nice dad there." Naomi commented.
The trio talked for a while, and subconsciously wandered to the cockpit for a view. Nobody stopped them since they were the semi-VIPs of this affair.
But then, things slowly got weird.
"What the heck is…"
"What?" Kay looked out of the glass –
And literally froze.
The massive figure of the IJN Zuikaku, Oarai's academy ship, loomed ahead. But now, a huge naval battle group surrounded it: the first and innermost ring was made up of several ships around the Zuikaku's hull that mostly seem to be aircraft carriers, except for how they had side decks jutting out that carried VLS platforms, CIWS turrets, rocket launchers and even a few of what looked suspiciously like nuclear missile tubes, laser railguns and EMP turrets; scattered among these were several battlecruisers, but their cannons were replaced by what looked like huge, super-powerful plasma artillery, and the AA emplacements were consistent of mostly smaller rapid-fire laser gun turrets, antiair missile launchers or more CIWS, and each of the ships have a helicopter pad with several helicopters or tiltrotor planes or whatnot; ringing these was a dense ring of frigates, destroyers and cruisers, all sporting helicopter decks, VLS, small-caliber QF cannon turrets, sentry guns, rocket launchers and missile tubes, and there are even several surfaced attack submarines within the crowd; on the outermost were countless small vessels: gunboats, hovercrafts with rigid raiders, speedboats, and amphibious vehicles. Air units flew around in the air like bees: helicopters, fighter jets, and smaller air units which cannot be determined. All in all, it was a massive battle group, capable of rivalling a modern US Navy carrier combat group.
Countless questions spluttered around in Kay's mind, but before she can ask any, the cockpit's speakers fizzed to life.
"Unrecognized air force, you are entering the antiair defensive are of the Zuikaku Naval Battle Group." A stern voice said over the radio, "Immediately clarify your designation, affiliation and purpose. Our air units are converging on your location, and a denial of response, or hostile actions, will be responded with fire from all available units."
What the fuck?
"O-kay," Alisa said, all nervous, "since when had Oarai militarized itself?"
"This is getting like Pravda." Naomi agreed. "And I swear, even Pravda isn't militarized to the point of having a naval battle group around their carrier."
Kay silently pulled out her phone and called her dad. After a few moments, the call went through.
"Hey, uh, dad? Tell me I'm not the only one seeing this?"
"I know I know." Karl sighed, "I've just got through to their terminal and told them we're Saunders & USFJ, still waiting for response."
"USFJ air force, you are clarified for landing. Ally air units have been alerted and will be on protection duty. Over."
Kay was about to sigh in relief, but it caught in her throat-
When she saw the thing outside the plane, only 2.5 meters from the cockpit.
It was nothing she had ever seen, something only science fiction could've told tales of. At the thing's center was a person, but his head was completely spherical and patterned like the Chinese flag. He wore a helmet, a pilot's jacket, combat pants and high boots, and his arms were spread open, the hands disappearing into the folds of the machine around him. The machine was formed of a large metal structure on the soldier's back, sporting 2 turrets, each equipped with 3 weapons that looked suspiciously like laser railguns, and a pair of wings loaded with rockets. A pair of strange cylinders that appeared to be some means of propulsion were mounted on the back, spinning & glowing w a bright red-gold light.
"Okay …" Alisa muttered, "Tell me I'm not hallucinating."
Kay looked down at the Zuikaku, a peculiar feeling growing inside herself.
"Something's got to be wrong."
A few minutes later…
Admiral Karl Smith looked in speechless confusion as the aircraft lowered itself onto the runway.
He had noticed something wrong as the convoy started dipped close to the designated airfield: the small passenger planes were gone, replaced by helicopters, fighter jets and countless other military planes, and that's not to mention the countless land vehicles: tanks, armored vehicles, armored jeeps, unmanned ground vehicles, infantry combat vehicles and countless more. And a more mind-boggling thing is that there were a bunch of extremely weird-looking things: between 2 buildings, there was a huge kind of combat robot shaped like a huge scorpion, with the star of David painted on the nose; some human figures were much taller than others, reaching 2 stories in height, and carrying what looked like multi-barreled rocket launchers and sentinel guns with them. Weirdly, the entire area is on some kind of armed standby status, with jeeps, APCs, IFVs and tanks parked everywhere and dense infantry rushing onto the runway. Karl couldn't understand what is going on, and he had a very bad feeling about it.
After the planes came to a stop, the Admiral looked back out and saw soldiers running forward with weapons in hand, and multiple vehicles coming up. Then, the oddest part of the soldiers came into his view:
They looked mostly human, but their heads are spheres, with skin that bore patterns of flags from various nations. Most of the ones present are Chinese, US, Russian, French and … hang on, is that the Third Reich?
A series of mechanical sounds yanked the admiral out of his thoughts. The back door of the Super Galaxy was slowly opening, and the sunlight was so bright none could open their eyes for a while. When the light died, a line of soldiers had formed around the perimeter of the planes, clutching assault rifles, LMGs and grenade launchers.
Then, two individuals emerged from the crowd, and the soldiers stepped aside to make way for them. The first wore a uniform similar to that of the US Army, and held something that highly resembled an HK416A8, while the one behind him wore a black tunic & pants that bore a striking similarity to the Wehrmacht uniform of WWII, while holding a submachine gun of some sort.
The lead walked up to Karl, and asked in a very emotionless voice:
"You are Admiral Karl Smith of USFJ?"
Karl nodded and was surprised when the individual behind the speaker saluted.
"The Fuhrer is a bit preoccupied with certain … issues and has ordered me to escort you to the compound."
"Uhh … fine?"
"Good."
Another few moments later …
I stood with my team at the tankery shed, waiting for the Countryhumans to show up.
"Do you really think Uncle Sam is behind that shit?" Johann piped up all of a sudden.
"I don't, but I want to be sure." I replied, "besides, I need to know where those planes came from, and how in the goddamned world they got on OUR school ship without us knowing."
"Hell, mein Fuhrer, what do you think?" Konrad chided, brushing Valkyrie, his new paratrooper rifle, "definitely the Bluhtnebel's work."
The screech of rubber tires interrupted our talk. A heavily armored motorcade grinded into the compound, armored jeeps and IFVs and humanized vehicles of the Countryhumans escorting a bunch of US Army vehicles that looked (very surprisingly) small and helpless within the crowd.
One of the Humvees' doors opened, and out came Admiral Karl Smith, Kay, Alisa & Naomi.
"Okay." I muttered, putting on my 'not-happy-at-all' face, "there we go."
And we walked out to greet the visitors.
Admiral Karl walked straight up to us. "Ah, Mr. Muller (yeah, I didn't see that one coming), I see …" he trailed off, seeing our expressions. "Um … is something bothering you?'
"Yeah," Johann said, fake venomously, "the recent terrorist attack."
I can literally see the blood drain from Karl's face.
"And more," Konrad added, in a similar false enraged tone, "how your government is behind it."
The reaction was spectacular.
Karl literally went as pale as marble, with his eyes boggling in shock and utter confusion. He stammered, wasting some 20 seconds before he could put together a sentence.
"I … I'm afraid I don't understand."
"You'll see soon enough."
A few inches later…...
The jeeps carrying me, my team, the other boys, the USFJ soldiers, the Saunders trio and the other girls pulled up next to the seized enemy jets, still waiting in the recently occupied airfield.
Karl was the first to jump out and run up to the jets, with the rest of us behind. He paced around the planes, examining their decal and murmuring in shock:
"No fucking way … these are … from the USS George Washington? How the fuck could …"
"I believe an explanation would be apt." I stated.
Karl stammered a bit, then he abruptly pulled a phone out of his pocket & began frantically dialing a number. The call got through in a few seconds.
"What is going on?" Johann asked.
"Just watch."
Edward Smith, the Secretary of Defense of the United States, was working in his office when his phone rang.
Picking it up, the man raised his eyebrows in confusion: it was from his brother.
"Hey, bro, what're you calling me at - ?"
"I have a big problem here."
Edward frowned: "And just what can that be?"
Karl, on the other end, took a deep breath.
"The planes stolen from the USS George Washington showed up in Oarai. And according to Alberich Muller, they were used by terrorists on a terrorist attack on their campus."
Edward just about choked up his water.
"WHAT!?"
"Yeah, I know. But I'm standing right in front of it."
Edward was left very nearly speechless out of shock, and it took him 2 entire minutes to recover.
"Keep Alberich calm. I'll inform the Pentagon & White House right away."
"WILCO bro. Talk to you later."
Edward hung up and looked at the world map that hung on his wall.
Fucking shit.
I watched as Karl hung up his call.
"I've called the Secretary of Defense; we'll get a response soon. In the meantime, I believe we can …"
He didn't get to finish that sentence, because just then, a loud roar cut through the air. Everyone flinched in surprise.
"GET THE FUCK DOWN!" Jones roared and pushed the nearest USFJ soldiers down, while the others of us hit the dirt just as swiftly. And with a mighty explosion, a rocket slammed into the ground near us, flinging a few Humvees upside-down.
Choking on the dust, I stood up-
To see something that I never expected to happen.
Volleys of missiles were flying towards the academy ship rapidly. The fleet's sentry guns and missiles were all firing off, but there seemed to be no end to the enemy's rockets. As I watched, a laser CIWS turret swiveled and blasted off at a nearing rocket, successfully detonating it in midair; but immediately, 5 more guided missiles flew in, and this time, one managed to slip by and strike an aircraft carrier in the formation, damaging the elevator. And as I looked more closely, I realized, to my horror, that there are not only missiles, but air units & warships as well: an F-16 swooped down between a battlecruiser & a frigate, its guns blazing & strafing a catwalk on the carrier. The pilot probably didn't get to laugh for long, though, because a Soviet fighter jet swooped down and fired off its autocannons, and the F-16 exploded in a fireball, pieces of aluminum alloy plummeting to the sea. Farther away, a Varyag guided-missile cruiser fired its front cannon at a nearby battlecruiser.
"What the fuck!?" Jones rushed to the side. However, the moment he looked down-
TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
A burst of gunfire sounded, and Jones ducked back as strands of burning lead flew up, narrowly missing him. Moments later, to our shock, 3 UH-47 Black Hawk helicopters emerged from beneath the deck, the side doors open and stationed with chain gun operators.
"SCHEIßE!" I yelled and fired my MP-41 at the lead helicopter, the bullets shattering the glass & killing the pilot. The bird spun and fell sideways onto the deck, destroying the rotors and deforming the fuselage. An enemy soldier pulled out of the side door & tried to fire an HKM16 at us, but a USFJ soldier reacted in time, downing the offender with a spray of AR-15 bullets.
"Can this day possibly get any worse?" Johann moaned as we fired on some troopers coming out of the second Black Hawk. "TWO terrorist attacks in a row? And this one is a systematic, coordinated military?"
"WHY AND HOW IN THE WORLD is all of this shit going on?" Karl cursed, taking out an enemy with his Desert Eagle.
"This position is not favorable!" Jones yelled, "Retreat to campus!"
"Kopieren Sie das!" Klaus yelled, then he turned to a fellow Third Reich Countryhuman, "Rufen Sie sofort die Mutanten für massive Notfallunterstützung an! Wir werden alle Verstärkungen benötigen, dies ist ein Großalarm!"
"Verstanden, Kommandant!"
"Another day in the goddamned office." A US soldier mumbled as we pulled back.
…
Miho Nishizumi looked out of the window of the helicopter.
A day ago, they had decided to take a brief excursion to the mainland, in hopes of calming their jumpy nerves (yes, owing to none other than our Alberich Muller). However, the Countryhumans, namely Xu Zhen Zhong, had been rather nervous. Xu insisted that a few of his troopers and some Mutants accompany them on their way.
Speak of those Mutants … they were interesting people. Of the 6 Chinese Countryhumans who came with them, the most important (he identified himself as Huang Wei Guo, a comrade, colleague & close friend of Xu) was the ace of all: he had impossible reflex, stamina, body density, regeneration and mobility, capable of outmaneuvering even most other Countryhumans, mutant or not; he is capable of wielding a lot of weapons, but prefers to use 2 QBZ-96 assault rifles. The guns were enchanted to never run out of ammo, and the scopes were tied to Huang's conscious, capable of instant aiming. Apart from that, he had actual wings, 2 dragon-like appendages grown on his back that allows for flight, and he is also a master of stealth weapons, swordsmanship, martial arts and a huge variety of other skills. The other 5, although not as strong, were formidable warriors too: one had the ability to manipulate the entire EM spectrum merely by changing his brainwaves; another is capable of bending fire to suit his own will, even making flames reach temperatures that rival the epicenter of a nuclear blast or solidify & shape it to wield as a weapon; a third can exert strong cognitive shock with ease, with results ranging from severe mental handicapping to a complete & permanent delete of individual identity & consciousness; the fourth was a mage who works at what he calls "the Institute", and although he is still only a student, he is already capable of easily warping space & matter, creating portals and altering matter & existence on a moderate scale with relative ease.
"Miss Nishizumi?"
Startled, Miho looked back, to see Huang looking at her.
"You look nervous."
Miho sighed.
"Yes, Mr. Huang, I am."
"And what for?"
"The upcoming match. We have around 10 tanks, and approximately 80 infantries at maximum. And I received this." She handed over her iPad.
Huang scrolled through the contents. Apparently, the match between Oarai and St. Gloriana – BC joint teams have undergone an emergency event, with new rules installed. Now, tanks, infantry, artillery, explosives, fortifications and armored vehicles are all allowed, and each side can bring in a minimum of 50000 personnel. Evidently, the Federation was trying to put Oarai in the greatest disadvantage.
However, Huang burst out laughing as he thought of it.
"Mr. Huang?" Miho asked, "what's so funny?"
"Oh, in the name of Mao Zedong … do these people KNOW what they're doing?" Huang stammered through laughs.
"Excuse me?"
"Let me tell you this." Huang looked at Miho, "the Polish Faction is one of the less powerful factions in our entire world. Yet, a single one of their Army Groups have a minimum of 1000000 serving combat personnel, not to mention non-combat faculty such as mechanics, drivers and whatnot. And any one of the Chinese arms factories can churn out millions of infantry weapons in a month's time. All we have to do is open the warehouses holding our WWII weapons stockpiles, and your school will find itself overflowing with weaponry."
"So, to put this simple, all we have to do is deploy a few armies and spend a few months producing necessary weapons, and those British-French forces will be overwhelmed. VERY literally overwhelmed."
It took a while, but Miho eventually caught on.
"Oh, my god."
"What weapons do you use anyway?" Hana piped up from the helicopter's backseat, "I noticed some of your men who looked like they had armored cars grown into them."
"Ah, you mean the Humanized units. Yeah, they're not really Countryhumans."
"Pardon?"
"You humans have the concept of cyborgs, right? Robots that resemble humans? It's the same in their case. They're mechanized war machines, built to resemble us in order to acquire better mobility and attack capabilities, similar to the concept of mechs in your science fiction stories."
It was a period of silence before Hana managed a "Wow."
"What kind of weapons do you use?" Yukari asked.
Huang looked like he would've answered, but just then-
BEEEEEP-BEEEEEP-BEEEEEP-BEEEEP!
"什么鬼!?" Huang yelled, shock and worry visible.
"1架未知战斗机正向我方袭来！已确认型号为为F/A-18E大黄蜂战斗攻击机！我机已被敌方空对空雷达锁定！导弹和火箭弹袭击迫近!"
(1 unknown fighter is coming our way! The model has been confirmed as the F/A-18E Hornet fighter-attack aircraft! Our aircraft has been locked by enemy air-to-air radars! Missile and rocket attacks are imminent!)
A collective gasp of shock ran through the girls. An unrecognized fighter is not something you'd want on your daily routine. And for the girls, this was the first time they were caught in a case that frightens even the Countryhumans.
BUAAARRRR-BUAAARRR-BUAAARRR-BUAAARRR!
"敌机向我方发起攻击！检测到2枚AIM-9响尾蛇空对空导弹！执行紧急规避动作！电磁干扰波段发射！"
(Enemy aircraft is attacking us! 2 AIM-9 Rattlesnake AAMs detected! Performing emergency maneuver! EM interference band fire!)
The plane lurched sideways, making the interior tilt an ominous 43 degrees to the left, and a buzzing sound rose before quickly dying away.
"立刻向总部呼叫支援！我们的直升机不具备击落战斗机的能力！" Huang yelled over the radar's screeching.
"总部，总部，这里是0001号特遣队，重复，这里是0001号特遣队，我方直升机受到未知F/A-18E大黄蜂战斗攻击机袭击，无法进行有效还击，请立刻加派战机支援，重复，请立刻加派战机支援 – 什么！？"
(Headquarters, headquarters, this is Task Force 0001, repeat, this is Task Force 0001, our helicopter has been attacked by an unknown F/A-18E Hornet fighter-attack aircraft and is unable to respond effectively, please send more fighters immediately, repeat, please send more fighters immediately – WHAT!?)
"发生啥了？" Huang demanded.
"总部称母舰正遭受大批不明巡航导弹，海军单位和空军单位的袭击！而且有一部分敌人用登陆艇登上了我方战舰！所有部队正在全力反击！无法抽调支援单位！"
Miho can swear that Huang's eyes flashed crimson for a spilt second.
"活见鬼！这下怎么办！？"One of the Mutants moaned. "我们用的是老式直升机，没装力场盾装置啊！"
Another high-pitched alarm cut through the cabin.
"黄卫国同志！我们怎么办！？"
Huang had a grim look on his face.
"执行规避动作。剩下的，就听天由命吧。"
But at that moment, a thunderous
"黄卫国，你特码个人才，学生们怎么办！？"
(Huang Wei Guo, you fucking genius, what of the students!?)
And a with a massive roar, something flew by the helicopter's side, and slammed into the incoming missile, detonating it in mid-air. As the smoke cleared, the girls saw, to their utter stun, a person floating where the missile was mere moments ago.
There was quite some smoke coming off Xu's clothes, but he looked fine. He snarled in the direction of the attack and flew off; seconds later, an explosion sounded. And as everyone watched, the broken fuselage of the attacking Super Hornet plummeted from the sky, burning; and behind it, Xu hovered in the air, flames burning on his gloved fists and glaring down at the fighter's remains.
"Xu, what the hell is going on at campus?" Huang demanded.
Xu looked very unhappy: "See for yourself."
And he flew over, grabbed the helicopter by the fuselage, and flew towards the academy ship while pulling the helicopter behind.