Chapter 10
KYURII STRAITS, INAZUMAN SEA, THIRTY MILES OFF THE COAST OF SYONAN
Lieutenant-Commander Vasily Petchkin sat in the rear of the twin-seated Tupolev Tu-95 Bear bomber, his fingers primed on the weapon release switch. He just had to wait till the Valkyrie fleet was in range of the missiles he was carrying.
Twelve kilometres. His thumb tightened on the clasp, flipping it open.
Five kilometres. His thumb indented the button slightly as his vision tunnelled into one singular funnel.
Three. He took a deep breath.
Two. He exhaled.
One. He closed his eyes.
His thumb pressed down on the trigger, and his wingman, upon receiving the confirmation, made a radical U-turn as Petchkin felt the bomber wing leave his stomach behind.
KYURII STRAITS, INAZUMAN SEA, TWENTY-FOUR MILES OFF THE COAST OF SYONAN
Alarms blared throughout the Watatsumi as a radar operator cried "Kyūketsuki inbound!" Kyūketsuki - or Vampire - was the popular naval term for the T-43 Plamya missile.
Kokomi could feel the Watatsumi enter a radical left turn. The fleet did have two Takanami-class guided missile cruisers, RIS Takanami and Onami, each equipped with the Ījisu - Aegis - tracking system. However, both cruisers carried only a total of one hundred and forty missiles. The computer was not programmed to think about this.
Regardless, both cruisers fired their full payloads. The number of Plamyas was decreasing every minute, one hundred and sixty, one hundred thirty, one hundred, eighty, sixty, fifty... Not quickly enough.
Powerful jamming equipment came on as ships began a radical series of manoeuvres like some stylized dance, with scant attention paid to station-keeping. When the Plamyas got to within twenty miles, every ship in the formation began to fire off chaff rockets, which filled the air with millions of aluminized Mylar fragments that fluttered in the air, creating dozens of new targets for the missiles to select from.
Kokomi and Yukiko, who had hurried up beside her, watched as a Plamya ran close astern to the Makoto and exploded, leaving a fireball that set the rear gun turret of the battleship ablaze.
Four of the remaining missiles were locked onto the Watatsumi. The last lines of defence were the 20mm Close-In Weapon Systems, or CIWS. The Watatsumi had one on the fore port and starboard side respectively, while three were located aft. One Kyūketsuki crashed into the sea and raised a waterspout twelve metres high, and another was destroyed by the fore starboard CIWS a few metres from the carrier. The heat from the explosion stung Kokomi's face.
Two missiles ran close to the aft port mount, not a hundred metres from each other. The CIWS was not designed to deal with multiple targets and entered reset mode, petulantly refusing to engage any. The missiles hit one after the other.
Kokomi was thrown onto the runways by the explosion. Yukiko was right beside her, her face punctured by shards of glass. Two Valkyries immediately convened on the Vice Admiral, but Yukiko waved them away drunkenly, holding a handkerchief to her forehead. Kokomi slowly inched towards where the missiles had struck and sucked in her breath. The lower levels had been completely mangled, twisted wires protruding from the ravaged flight decks. The scent of burning flesh reminded Kokomi - hilariously - of a naval officers' party, where everyone had enjoyed several rounds of barbequed meat.
But as she peeked down, a laugh was the farthest thing from her mind. Bloody bodies blown apart and crimson droplets littered the hangar deck along with the remains of a pair of Nakajima C8N74 torpedo bombers.
Miyuki and Miyune - who were unhurt since they had been in the bridge - hurried up to her, pulling her head back just before a jutting metal rib would have skewered her head like a shish kebab. She surveyed the horizon. Taigei had been to the west, Kokomi recalled. Now all there was was a column of smoke. Only Maya and Nachi looked undamaged, but on closer inspection, Nachi's radar mast was askew. God, was that Sendai burning? She had an entire commando regiment plus armour on board...
Miyuki allowed a few seconds of sombre silence before replying, "Inazuma took one on her flight deck and lost a couple of aircraft. But... but... Taigei took three, looks like she's gone. Junyo and Chiyoda both took two... Junyo is barely afloat. Chiyoda fared no better."
Miyune swallowed softly and continued, "But we lost at least four Akebono Marus and three Chitose Marus. Ten thousand Valkyries. They just... just... disintegrated under the warheads. There was nothing we could do. Just... Just gone." Kokomi closed her eyes. "Can we still execute the mission?" Yukiko limped over, the handkerchief now crimson red. "Technically, yes. We still have most of the transport ships. Maya and Nachi are still operational, as are Kasumi, Kagero and Hagikaze."
Kokomi glanced down at the hangar deck - the riveted deck below was covered in white bodybags, and still more were being collected. Not all body parts were present - some were unrecognizable, like some kind of floating graveyard. She clenched her fist. "Yukiko, take the damaged Watatsumi and every damaged ship back for repairs. Transfer command of Nachi to me. I will proceed with Miyuki and Miyune to carry out the objective." Yukiko hesitated for a while, as if to object, but glanced back down to the lower levels, and her eyes hardened.
Thirty minutes later, Kokomi, Miyuki and Miyune watched as the Watatsumi and her nuclear escorts bent towards Syonan at thirty knots, perhaps travelling too fast for antisubmarine patrols, but a submarine would have to move fast to catch them.
RIS Kagero, the chief undamaged battleship, contacted the Shinano Battle Group near the Pontic Coast and requested the Shinano for fighters to intercept the Tu-95s. But the Pontic planes had expected it, and the air wing skirted Murmansk to reach Novosibirsk, where tankers awaited the nearly depleted bombers.
Kokomi turned back to the holographic map in front of her, and the Pontic coast just twenty nautical miles ahead. Her heart was hungering with a desire for blood - the need to avenge fifteen thousand dead.
In terms of losses this was the bloodiest defeat ever in Inazuman naval history, with almost twenty ships lost and a single kill to offset the losses. Already the Pontians were evaluating the results of the first battle between ships and bomber-based missiles. The winner was clear to both sides.
ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV, PONTIC SEA, TEN MILES OFF THE COAST OF SAINT PETERSBURG
The Admiral Nakhimov was a Kharkiv-class battlecruiser deployed to the coast of Saint Petersburg. Pontic naval doctrine had assumed that the missiles would severely cripple a landing force's striking power. But doctrine was fifty years old, and had not accounted for the presence of two guided missile cruisers.
When the captain of the Admiral Nakhimov received the report of a massive Inazuman fleet, it was all too late. The Kasumi and Kagero's main guns detonated the ammunition store at a range of four thousand yards. The battlecruiser did not fire a single shell before it sunk in under three minutes. There were no survivors.
STAVKA HEADQUARTERS, PONTUS, MURMANSK
CINC-EAST stared in numb disbelief. He had believed the missiles would be capable of crippling the fleet and closing the Astraen Sea, but he had not accounted for the Takanami-class guided missile cruisers. By all means, the mission had been a success - the bombers had killed an entire fleet carrier, two battleships and damaged the Watatsumi for no losses at all - but he had been unable to prevent the landings.
He swallowed, calling General Sergey Alekseyev into his office. This would require immediate attention.
AKEBONO MARU A-133, ST. PETERSBURG, PONTUS
Colonel Nagato Akira of the Twelfth Tank Platoon led her platoon of five Type 10 tanks down the transport ship's ramp. Behind her, eight Type 99 self-propelled howitzers awaited disembarkment. This was her first mobilisation to Pontus, but she was well trained. She was confident the Type 10 would be able to handle anything the Pontians had.
She checked the ammunition of her tank one more time - there were 48 depleted-uranium HEAT shells and another 20 HE-APCR for lightly armoured targets.
Pontus wouldn't know what hit them, Akira thought, as she clambered into the hatch of her tank.