Chapter 12

FURONG NAVAL BASE, SYONAN, INAZUMA

Vice-Admiral Nagano Yukiko watched as the bodybags aboard the Watatsumi were unloaded. The Inazuman Navy's largest repair ship, RIS Kaifuku, moved in on the aircraft carrier as several hundred technicians worked on the Watatsumi. Yukiko had never seen so many chainsaws present in one singular place simultaneously. The technicians got to work, sawing away at the twisted metal ribs. Nearby in the docks, another convoy was being assembled to resupply the invasion force in Pontus, consisting of ten Akebono Marus, twelve Chitose Marus and three Kamikawa Marus. They would be escorted by Tone-class battlecruisers RIS Fuso and Yamashiro as well as three other heavy cruisers and a sizeable force of destroyers.

Yukiko herself would lead the convoy. Twenty thousand Valkyries - just in her fleet - were at stake. She swallowed, running her hands over the sleek metal superstructure of the Yamashiro, her 250mm guns pointing skyward. The entire invasion force was depending on her, the Empress was depending on her, Inazuma was depending on her - but most importantly, Kokomi also depended on her.

Gods, she loved that girl. The aloof, quiet, occasionally intense admiral, and she knew she wasn't the only one - the only thing stopping her from strangling the Empress whenever her Highness' eyes raked over Kokomi's body was her loyalty to the crown. But when she thought about it, she hadn't volunteered for the Navy after seeing the Empress or the Inazumans' might - it had been the first time she'd seen Sangonomiya Kokomi on her television screen when she was young. Sōrumeito - the term for two Valkyries blood-bonded - translated inaccurately enough to soulmate. The moment she'd set her eyes on Kokomi, she'd known they were sōrumeito. Sōrumeito went far beyond flesh desires - it was a thirst of the soul, where Valkyrian souls were incomplete and flawed until they were mated with their sōrumeito and achieved peace of heart and mind.

But she knew Kokomi would never accept her if she just walked up to her and declared they were sōrumeito. She would have to demonstrate immense sacrifice if she were to show the grieving Kokomi this fact. Rear Admiral Sangonomiya Kokomi was three thousand seven hundred years old - she had undergone countless losses and betrayals, and was not likely to welcome a random anyone in for the next thousand years.

Yukiko sighed. First she would concentrate on getting the convoy across the Astraen Sea intact. Everything else could come later.

YAMATO NAVAL BASE, YAMATO, INAZUMA

Commander Nagano Yukita, younger sister of the Vice Admiral of the Inazuman Navy, gazed up at the ship she was assigned to take charge of - a Kuroshio-class destroyer, the RIS Setogiri. The Setogiri was armed with a 200mm main gun and thirty missiles, and as she reviewed the armament, she swallowed. Her mission? To patrol and destroy any submarines near Tsurumi Island.

She closed her eyes, putting down her cup of coffee and stepping onto the destroyer. Her sister was doing whatever she could to defend their country. Doing the same was the least Yukita could contribute. Chewing on a stick of dango she'd purchased from a roadside vendor, Yukita had a feeling it would be the last bit of sugary snack she would have in quite a while.

RITOU NAVAL BASE, RITOU, INAZUMA

Kobayashi Ayaka ran her hands over the hull of the RIS Uzashio, an Urakaze-class hunter submarine that operated on nuclear power. Next to her, her sister, Kobayashi Ayame, watched several Valkyries load supplies onto the RIS Makishio, sister sub to the Uzashio. The two of them were to command the two attack submarines across the Astraen Sea and ambush any Pontic surface ships of underwater combatants.

Ayaka glanced at Ayame - the more gentle-hearted of the two. Most people had doubted the Rghed as another crate of Type 96 633mm torpedoes slid into the Makishio. "Command advises immediate threats include 3 Kilos and 2 Victor IIIs. Surface include 4 Neustrashimys and 2 Udaloys." Ayaka nodded as she flipped the hatch of the Uzashio open. Both submarines would be working together - it was no longer safe for submarines of any kind to operate alone since the loss of the SOSUS line.

Both sisters nodded quietly at each other before disappearing into their respective subs - both knew this might be the last time they would see each other.

PONTUS COMMAND TENT, SEVASTOPOL, PONTUS

Alekseyev watched wearily as his disarrayed divisions got into position, awaiting the Valkyries. The defeat at Saint Petersburg had been demoralising, ten A-class Guards divisions giving ground to six Inazuman ones. But they were now in a better position - away from the forests where the Inazuman low-level fighters could thrive. And now, it was time for his mechanized infantry to push through.

He glanced towards where the Valkyries were encamped. They were experts at invasions, as the Second Inazuma-Pontus War had showed. But not so at defence. 

"Fire smoke shells." Alekseyev ordered to his artillery and gave a grim smile. It was time to crush the Inazumans.

STALINGRAD, PONTUS

Colonel Nagato Akira watched as a thick wall of smoke washed over the battlefield. And the sounds of rumbling tracks. The tracks were expected - it was a battlefield after all - but it was the smoke that scared her. That meant that Pontus was coming.

Since the previous day, her crew had reset the somewhat balky fire control computer and restocked their shells. Her platoon commander had moved them from the right flank to the left just a few hours earlier, and she was now dug into a bunker of soil, her turret sticking out above the mud. They hadn't bothered with concealment at all. The Pontic tanks would find them anyway.

Her troop had once been made up of sixteen tanks. Twelve of her originals were gone, and only one had so far been able to replace those lost. A voice crackled through the radio. "B Troop, B Troop, come in." Her commanding officer replied, "B Troop here. Over." "Okay, thank Amaterasu-sama you're all there. We just lost contact with an entire armored brigade on the fringe of Leningrad. The Pontic assholes will be attacking soon. When you hear "Zulu, Zulu, Zulu", it means friendly air is two minutes out or less. We'll need you to take out the enemy antiaircraft vehicles, for gods' sake. The Kaminaris have been hit hard." 

"HUA." Heard, understood, acknowledged.

STALINGRAD, PONTUS

"The goddamned Valkyries must love this." The colonel gestured to the low, cloudy skies. "The fighters come swooping in too low for our radar to detect, and this way we have no chance of firing at them before we see them." 

"How badly have they hurt you?"

"See for yourself." The colonel gestured around Sergetov and Alekseyev. Twelve tanks lay burning. "That low-flying fighter did that - the ones they call the Kaminari. Our men call it the Devil's Cross."

Sergetov objected. "But you shot down two fighters yesterday."

"Yes, and only one out of three gun vehicles survived the effort. The same vehicle got them both - Staff Sergeant Lupenko. I recommended him for the Red Banner. It will be posthumous - the second fighter jet crashed right onto his vehicle. My best gunner." The colonel replied bitterly. Fifty metres away, a Kawasaki Ki-188 was a charred garnish atop the blackened remains of a ZSU-23-4 Shika. No doubt it had been deliberate, Alekseyev thought; the Valkyrie had just wanted to kill a few more enemies before she died.

A sergeant handed his colonel a radio headset. He listened for half a minute before speaking a few words. "Five minutes, General. Would you follow me?"

The command bunker had been built hastily with logs, twenty men crammed into the tight space, leaders for the two divisions and three brigades involved in the assault. The final brigade was currently behind the lines, waiting to exploit the breakthrough and pave the way for the OMG to drive behind enemy lines. If, Alekseyev thought, everything went according to plan. 

The attack went ahead, and all went to hell.