Hey everyone, I'm back to update the story. Hope you enjoy and please take a look at the photos provided by @cheesy1133. Thank you and enjoy the story everyone
It was a bloody massacre, men dressed in light brown over coats and and simple caps could be seen firing bolt action rifles as they were fighting a desperate battle within a port town. Their attackers-!
"INCOMING!-BOOOMM!!"
Ducking under cover, a young rifle men could be seen clutching his rifle close to his chest. He was hiding behind some over turn wagons as explosions and flames surround his person. He was dressed and armed like everyone else here, yet he wore a face of fear.
Peaking over his cover and looking down one of the many cobblestone roads within the town, he could see them. Men dressed like the Empire's troops, but were far too different to even be called imperials. In their hands, the boy saw machine guns that were smaller than his rifle cut down dozens of his fellow defenders.
The constant fire with no room for rest had left the boy strained as he tried but failed to fire back. He could never full bring his weapon to bear. With rapid breaths, the boy scanned his surroundings until his eyes laid upon the armoured land ship. His eyes were wide as he ducked down in cover, then an explosion erupted around him as men were burned or torn apart by the explosion.
"Where's our reinforcements!" One man asked down the line as he fired. Another, a man with a badge on his shoulder showing his rank, spoke out with a gruff voice.
"Their being pinned down by the artillery fire coming from the sea!" Distant explosions could also be heard, though if they were really from the sea or from one of these land ships, the boy just didn't know.
"I-I don't wanna die." The boy, quietly whispered to himself as another explosion landed near him. His ears were ringing from the shock, his fists were white from gripping his rifle. Slowly, he raised his head up but stopped as he stared down the barrel of the land ship. Then, in an instant, the boy's world was suddenly engulfed in flames as the tank fired its main gun.
Finally breaking through the barrier, the steady hum of the tank's engines roared as the treads started moving the tank forward. The squad of homunculus that were following the tank would move up as well. The KU garrison conscripts who survived could all be seen running, though most didn't make it far as they were gunned down by either the tank's machine gun or the infantry that followed.
"Keep pushing forward, we've got a schedule to keep and time is not on our side! Move it!" The Captain of the unit said as he ushered his troops forward.
All around the large town, similar one sided engagements could be seen taking place all over the city. Speed was the name of the game, as each and every unit with a tank could be seen crushing defence after defence while holding nothing back in their blitiz. Out at sea, a fleet of warships could be seen sailing with an almost silent stare.
That is, until the dozen or so guns on every ship lights up and buries the island in explosions, fire, dust, and rubble.
. . .
"Feuer!"
*KA-BOOOM BOOM BOOM BOOOM!!*
Firing a full broad side of 16.9 inch shells, the black haired devil known as Deutschland could be seen standing atop her bridge with an evil grin on her face as her sharp shark like teeth are there to see. "KAHAHAHAHAHA! Run! Run you filthy dogs! Run until you fall flat on your ass so that I could shoot you without trying! HAHAHAHA!!"
Her laughing could be heard from the second ship which was trailing her and matching her firing marks. The ship in question was Kaiser, and she was now enjoying Deutschland's little taunting. In fact, she could even hear it over the radio, meaning she's broadcasting her voice on an open channel.
This has been going on for a good hour or so since they began the invasion. After what could be described as the hundredth laugh, Kaiser snapped as she went to call Deutschland. "Würdest du bitte die Klappe halten, du Idiot!!" Closing the channel immediately after she said that, Kaiser let out a tired sigh as she slumped down onto her captain's chair.
"My god, why did I have to get paired up with damn brat of all people?" Kaiser said in a rather dejected tone. Her face was rather slump, but was quickly washed away when a call came in.
"This is commander 042, current head of the fourth marine battalion. Sending update on frontline." A near robotic like voice spoke through the radio, 'a homunculus commander ' Kaiser thought as she fixed her posture before taking in a more mature look.
"Shouldn't you be informing the high commander of this operation?" Kaiser asked while readying her guns for fire another volley. A few moments later the thunderous booms of cannon fire could be heard. Kaiser waited patiently on her end of the call, the HC remained rather quiet.
". . . The fleets flagship, Deutschland, said to send all frontline updates and traffic toward adjacent ship Kaiser. We were also told to receive orders from your command." Kaiser, only stared blankly as she turned to see the lead ship fire another volley of 16.9 inch sized shells toward the near defeated island.
She sighed before regaining her composure. "Alright, send your report commander."
Without wasting a moment longer, the commander started giving his report. The local garrison force was defeated, all that remained are the few who choose not to surrender. The ports to the islands have been captured, and the battle has all but ended.
"Understood, I'll give the signal for the merchant and supply ships to start heading toward the port, from there, establish an outpost and start digging in. You're in charge of the island commander, be sure you don't lose it." With a quick response for the officer, Kaiser cut the call and sighed again. She turned her attention toward a map which showed the local region.
There were four islands, each with a different shape, yet they all formed a sort of circle. From the map, she could also see the various little details of the islands themselves with the water depth, terrain, urban areas, and ports. There were also troop markers set about representing a battalion each.
'In total, we have two divisions, and each island holds either 2-4 battalions from those divisions each. Mobility and armoured warfare is the centre piece of each of these divisions, yet they are also very easy to lose if they fail to take their landing zones.' Kaiser thought as she started thinking more in depth about William's plan.
"Two weeks, we've all been at sea for roughly two weeks, and in less than a day we took these islands. I wonder if the rest are faring any better than us?" Kaiser spoke as she looked outside her ship's window. There she could see the grey clouds approaching the fleet and the island chain.
. . .
"Bismarck, send an order to Sioux and her line of destroyers to lunch their torpedos." Without speaking back, she had already started sending out the order while I kept watch over the horizon. The roar of guns could be heard as Bismarck's main guns fire with steel and flames. In the darkness, and far from the visible eyes view was a fleet that belonged to the KU.
We had just caught the main fleet of the KU with only a force that was just twelve ships strong. It was still rather dark, but slowly the morning sun had began to light up the sea making the dark shadows of my fleet appear in a rather dramatic fashion. The KU fleet, was already well lite due to the flames that adorn their sinking ships.
Looking through my binoculars, I could see the rough outlines of the target ships. It looked to be a heavy cruiser class, though in the next second it was hit with four direct hits from Bismarck's guns while the rest all landed around the target warship. It exploded a second later as flames and smoke rose all around its once defined metal form. "Mark down another, CA class from the looks of it."
"That makes 43 kills in my new service record." Bismarck quipped as she too stared at the distant fleet. "You think I can get another one in this batch?" She asked as I started scanning what ever remained of the KU fleet. From what I can see through the smoke and flames, I count at least nine ships, five destroyers, three cruisers, and what looks to be a dreadnought with a ridiculous number of guns. All of the ships I saw had sustained some level of damage, but they still seemed ready to fight on.
"I count nine, though I suppose you want the big catch?" I say while looking back toward Bismarck, she looked back at me with a small smirk before straightening out her face and taking a professional look.
"I can be a bit greedy at times, but I'd prefer to win rather than be greedy." Nodding my head, I move over to the radio station on the bridge. Picking up the phone and with a click of the button, I connected to the fleet.
"Bismarck here, fleet what's your status." Without waiting for long, I get a response back.
"Tirpitz here, just got my 40th kill." Tirpitz spoke back, a bit of excitement could be heard from her voice.
"Roon here, Admiral I've sunken quite a few destroyers who were getting a little too close. I expect to be rewarded for all my hard work upon my return~." Roon spoke with a bit of a childish voice. I could even feel a chill running up my spin for some reason.
"Hipper here, me and Crusader have been picking off a few of the stragglers but are still getting in a good hunt on our end." Hipper seems a bit chipper.
"Muskoka here, reporting for both Huron and the destroyers, several confirmed enemy ships sunk on our end. Aside from a few scratches, we've held our lines pretty well." Muskoka stated in a rather professional tone.
Nodding my head at everyones report, I quickly look over the local map of the current sea region we were in. The fleet had been divided up into two groups, Bismarck, Roon, Muskoka, Huron, and two destroyers make up our group while the second has Tirpitz, Hipper, Crusader, and the rest of the destroyers. Between our two groups was the KU's fleet, or whatever remained of it. They were locked between our two fleets and were currently running between two heavily armed fleets.
Thinking about our formation and the current enemy statues, I made up my mind on what we can do next to speed up this engagement. "Alright girls, good job but makes sure you don't get cocky. We're a little early in terms of the time table, and the enemy has already lost most of their ships. Tirpitz, I want you to take your section of the fleet and meet up with fleet Papa."
"Are you sure about that admiral? You'll be left with a pretty small force to clean up whatever is left." Tirpitz asked, worry in her voice as she spoke her concerns. I think everyone else on her side was feeling the same.
"I also need to worry about our logistics, we don't have any ports this far south for miles on end and most of our supply ships are with fleet Papa. We've already wasted enough ammo and fuel on this battle, head for Papa and get some rest. Bismarck's sections will deal with the rest, understood." Waiting on the response from Tirptiz, I hear Bismarck's guns fire again along with every ship within our fleet formation.
A few seconds later, and Tirpitz spoke up. ". . . Understood, we'll start heading to fleet formation Papa. However, the moment you finish up with this battle, get to Papa as quick as possible. There's a few things I'd like to talk to you about after all of this is over." Nodding my head, I give a small smile.
"Right, we'll see you there, good luck and stay safe. Bismarck out." Ending the call, I hang up the phone and move back to Bismarck. "We'll be busy for a while longer, sorry for dumping more problems onto you."
Bismarck gave a quick huff before speaking. "Please, as if this could be called a problem. You just want to make sure Friedrich has more fire power to work with when taking that little island nation." Giving a weak laugh in return to Bismarck's knowing response, I could do nothing but rub the back of my neck while just looking down.
"Being a worried wort for the new comers and for the big part of this whole operation can go a long way. Besides, I wanted to give them a kinda fairish fight, if you will." Looking up and pulling my binoculars to view the remaining enemy fleet, I could just barely make out the outlining shapes of Tirpitz's fleet moving away from the combat zone as they start heading South.
"I take offence in believing that unstable mount of guns is a fair match against myself." Bismarck said with a rather deadpanned voice as I felt an imaginary arrow stab me through my back. Damn, hit em while their still down why don't you! I thought as I look again toward the battleship of the KU fleet.
Just then, it had fired most of its guns in our general direction. eight guns to bare, and over sixteen shells flew toward our little fleet. Though, in the next few seconds, most of them all miss and landed around the fleet. Water erupted from the sea as the shells all landed and exploded without making contact with any of the ships within the fleet.
"Looks like they heard you." I joked, Bismarck just chuckled as she replied in kind with her guns and a quick joke she spoke.
"Dann werde ich einfach mit meinen 16,9-Zoll-deutschen Waffen antworten" Sighing a bit, I could only nod at Bismarck's words as I take a look again at the enemy battleship.
"Richtig-oh, Lady Bismarck." She just gave a chuckle at my words.
"Please, I'm not old enough to be called lady Bismarck just yet." Stifling a chuckle, I try to pass on what Bismarck said, but she still caught me and gave me a rather deadpanned stare.
"W-well, in any case, please continue maintaining your current heading and course." She's very pissed off, but looks back toward the KU fleet without much care and just speaks back in a professional tone.
"Understood, maintaining current heading and course." . . . I'm sleeping in another room, aren't I. Lamenting the end of the day, I just ignore the 'what's to come' and focus on what's going on. Another full salvo was fired, another cruiser sunk.
. . .
Standing at the bridge of the battleship Ragnarok, with alarms, screams, explosions and fires obscuring most of her senses, Sigrid could do nothing but stare on in disbelief, fear, anger, and just despair. Never, in her life or the stories of her ancestors, did she stood witness to the destruction of a fleet of well over 60 warships, to just a token force of twelve.
Twelve ships, ships which appeared from the darkness and rained steel upon the Kemlair Union's combined fleet of arms. Sigrid could barely remember anything up to this very point in time, everything from the start of the attack all the way down to the closing minutes of this battle was just a blur.
Her mind was like her ship's bridge, chaotic, unorganized, and stressed beyond belief as any kind of order that was originally made was lost the moment the battle began. Whatever happened before and after had left the fleet crippled and left with only seven warships, Ragnarok being one of those seven.
"We just lost the Glow Warm!"
"Enemy fleet is starting to close in! Our remaining destroyers are getting ripped apart out there!"
"Christoff has taken heavy damage and is currently burning down."
"Damage control is at there limits! We can't take any more hits!!"
Gritting her teeth and screaming at the top of her lungs, Sigrid yelled as best she could through the chaos of her bridge crew and asked. "Why the hell aren't we returning fire then!?"
"It's no good! Most of our shots are too inaccurate to land any kind of hit, they're well out of effective firing range!"
"Signal from the Mavur!"
Snapping her head toward the crew who called out for the message, Sigrid wasted no time and spoke out. "What's the message!"
"Orders from the admiral say that we have to delay the enemy as long as possible with all remaining destroyers, they're going to leave us here to die captain!" Sigrid could only cringe as she watched the armoured cruiser pull ahead of the remaining fleet. Her fist could only curl up tight as her nails dug into her hands.
"Damned coward, damn republican dog!" A boom rattled Sigrid's body as she felt her body lurch forward. "What the hell happened!?!"
"We just lost turret B-3! The turret just got blown off!!" Rushing to the side of her Bridge and looking toward the rear of her ship, Sigrid could just see the blue and yellow flames burning what used to be the barbette of the battleship's main gun. "Incoming!!"
Looking around for the scream, Sigrid could do nothing but fall as a second volley of cannon fire slammed into the side of her ship and caused another explosion. The battleship's forward turret was blown off and left another pillar of flames. More explosions followed as the bridge of the once mighty Ragnarok was covered in flames, smoke and explosions. Falling down to the metal floor of her observation deck, Sigrid could do nothing but hold her head down as flames blew over head.
Shells continued to rain down from above, and more key sections of her battleship came under fire. One by one, the battleships turrets all began either popping off the hull in flames, or were destroyed. It turned into a flaming hell as the ship began to lurch to the side. Another explosion, more fires, more screams.
She could faintly see it, through the smoke and fires, she could see some of the remaining survivors of her ship were all starting to jump over board and into the water. Looks like a few were still burning as they jumped the rails and fell into the sea. Though, just before the next group could jump over, machine gun fire and flak guns began ripping through the group.
Limps, body parts, intestines, and brain matter pasted themselves on whatever surface was left. The group were killed in less than a few seconds. Getting up on her knee and looking over the armoured protection of her bridge's observation deck, there she could see it.
A ship the size of a small island, was sailing forward and escorted by ships that looked similar to the giant. Several massive guns and turrets could be seen all lined across the hull of the ship, and the more she looked, the more fear she felt every time she watched. It sailed without fear, and withstood a fleet without much effort.
Her balance started feeling off. 'Oh, that's right, my ship is sinking. . . He's sinking.' Slowly, Sigrid's hands loosened on the guard rail. More flames began to spread, her surroundings were nothing but flames. 'Oh god, tell me, were we destained to fail?' More explosions erupted from the hull, before finally, she was gone as the flames finally took her away.
. . .
So this is what they consider a battleship in this world, rather dramatic with all of those guns and such. I thought as me and Bismarck sailed by the sinking flagship of the Kemlair Union. On the forefront of the ship and written in a Swedish like wording was the name of the ship. I don't know what it means, and I have no intention of remembering the name of some dead ship that will be joining the sea.
"Mark another one down, now let's start heading toward Friedrich's fleet and end this silly resistance." Nodding her head, Bismarck does as I order and begins turning the ship toward the South.
"Admiral, I got a message from T-30, looks like she found a fleeing cruiser. Your orders?" Looking back to Bismarck, I pull out a pocket watch that I've been keeping in my coat pocket. 9:49, Sighing as I close my eyes to think, I'm left with a rather difficult choice. An escaping enemy warship which has first hand experience when seeing my fleet in action is about to get away, yet I could intercept them and sink them with the messaging destroyer.
However, a destroyer against a cruiser is still a bad match up. Even with an advance technology, a destroyer can always be done over by a cruiser. However, considering our supply, I doubt we can spare any more fuel or time dealing with just one ship. A battleship could potentially follow and destroy the ship, however Bismarck is needed to help support the main invasion force.
". . . Bismarck, when can we get another U-boat squadron ready to launch and trail this lone cruiser?" Opening my eyes and turning to face the lady in question, she quickly looks down in thought before looking back and answering my question with professionalism.
"At best, we can have a unit ready by 2300. At worst, two days." Clicking my tongue and looking back out into the open sea. I weighed my options with more care before giving my verdict.
"Leave the ship for now, we've got more important things to do rather than chase down some lonely cruiser. However, I still want that U-boat squad. Have T-30 transmit the cruiser's heading, speed, and estimated course. After word, send that to any U-boat squadron we have on deck and tell them to get on it."
"Aye admiral."
Thus, we sailed South, all the while that burning battleship slowly began slipping in the waves. It's hull raised high as fuel spilled out and over. Finally, it disappeared, forever lost in the blue sea of the abyss.
.
.
.
.
.
Unknown location
It was dark as scattered flames of torches and the like could be seen giving a poor sense of light. Steel bars and stone walls was all that could be seen. Iron chains and skulls littered the side of the walls and were often found on the other side of those iron bars.
This place, is a dungeon used to trap, torture, or kill those unfortunate enough to go against the land's lord. Yet, there were many who were not from these lands, those who were forcefully taken away and forced into this dark and cruel place of horrors and death. In one such ceil, the shadow of a body could be seen in the darkness.
Their clothes were mostly torn and warn, but still had traces of gold and purple. "So, who's in charge of feeding them today?" A man dressed in a dark green coat asked as he and another could be seen marching by the ceil in question.
"Don't know, besides were suppose to only hold these poor saps for a few more days anyway. It's not like they're going to die anytime soon." The other said in a rather bored way as he tugged on the strap of his rifle. The other, seemed rather displeased with the answer.
"Oh come on, you said that last time and we both got into shit because of it. Besides, we've been running out of funding lately, so some new 'investors' are needed to keep things going."
"Haa? What do you mean we've been running out of funding? We've got the republic's support, right?" Nodding his head, the first soldier sighed as he leaned against one of the stone walls.
"Yeah, but even they are starting to run a little dry. Some new flow of cash will be able to keep us afloat for a while longer, and give us the time to finish our contract with the republic and pull out of the war." The older, much more shabby guard began scratching the top of his head.
"Eh, I guess, but still won't we just continue with business as usual when all of this is over?" Pushing off the wall and standing with the fellow guard, the man just shrugs his shoulders before he started walking off.
"Who knows, but I'll tell ya one thing though, we'll still be making a killing off of anyone stupid enough to try and-"
*Boom-Wash-boom-boom*
Cut off from speaking any more, the sound of distant explosions could be heard echoing around the dark space. "The hell?" The shabby one said as he and the proper guard both slung their rifles to their hands before walking back toward where ever they came from.
More explosions still echoed in the dark space, until-!
*WOSH-KA-BOOOOOOOMMM!!*
Shaking from the shock of the explosion, the dark dungeon rattles and shakes as dust, rats, and people all start shifting and moving about. Following the first, more explosions of similar sound and force rocked the dungeon three more times.
The shadow, slowly shifted in the dark before putting themselves into a seated position with their back against the wall. Soon, the sounds of air raid sirens, screams, and finally chaos all began setting in as the noise echoed down below to their underground hell.
"Chichioya ga iru . . . Tsuini kimarimashita . . . No soba ni arimasu . . . Teikoku?" The person said in a rather slow and quiet voice as they heard the sounds of chaos above his ceil along with many others.
End of Chapter
word (4469 Noice)
Ok, I got this done, and oh boy did it take a while. I'll be back again with more stuff to throw at you hungry readers so don't worry about it. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day.
<Warning, event has been triggered!!>
"Such a lovely evening commander, would you care to take a stroll in the gardens?"
Tirpitz is asking if you would join her.
What will you do?
Note: All art, music, and content used in the making of this chapter is not mine and all credit for the said works should go to the proper creators. Thank you and have a lovely day.