Chapter 28: Hokkaido - 28
1800 - Sapporo - Hokkaido.
Soviet general's POV (Soviet Player)
"Sir! The assault on Tokyo has failed! We've lost contact with the Kirov team, and the fleet is no longer responding!" one of the comm officers reported frantically. Incompetent...
I stood inside my Mobile Construction Vehicle (MCV), overseeing the fortified base we've established while laying siege to the Pacific Front's airbase.
"Armor column is ready to move, General!" another comm officer called out.
"Order them to assault the choke point," I commanded. "I'll deploy the Iron Curtain once they get close enough." A smile crept across my face. This battle had been at a stalemate for some time, but now that I had teched up enough to deploy one of our superweapons, the tide would soon turn.
It wasn't my preferred strategy, but it was workable. Once the Kirovs began rolling out, we'd dominate the skies. The factories were set up, and the first batch was already under construction.
"Where's Boris?" I asked. Boris, our Soviet Commando, was a decorated war veteran from World War II with an impressive kill count. His presence was crucial for this operation.
"In position, General!" the comm officer reported.
"Very well. Let's begin," I said, focusing on the tactical map in front of me. Now then, Pacific Front... how will you respond?
Aqua's POV - Tokyo bay
"And done," I muttered to myself, finishing the assembly of a coastal sensor tower. This would give me a full map of the coastline, but I'd need to build another once I reached land.
Five hours of travel time sucked. Sure, I had Rupture diving alongside me in her submarine rigging, and Gawr was stationed back at the Pearl Harbor base, but it was still dull. At least I had access to Chrono Miner tech—technically interesting, if nothing else.
Chrono Miner Details:
Cost: $1400
Speed: 4 / Teleport
Hitpoints: 1100
Armor Class: Harvester
Prerequisites: Allied War Factory + Ore Refinery
Features: Immune to mind control and confusion rays, self-repairs, remote-controlled, and teleportation-enabled.
Stein Tech made anything Chrono-related, and while the design was impressive, I was more intrigued by the miniature teleportation device inside it. This miner was remote-controlled and teleported only to preset coordinates—definitely worth further study.
If only I have free slot to put it in research boxes.
[Research boxes #1, 3, 5–16 switched to 'Fleet-wide Submarine Hull Integration' – Estimated time: 4 hours]
[Research box #2: 'Counter-Intelligence' Estimated time: 1 week, 3 days]
[Research box #4: 'Spy Satellite' Estimated time: 2 months]
If I could reverse-engineer the Chrono Miner tech, I might create actual teleportation gates—like in Planetary Annihilation or Stargate. Strange that this world relied on Chronospheres instead of developing proper gate networks.
("Commander, this is Fury. ETA 5 minutes.") Fury's voice crackled through comms. Their detour to pick up 24 more T-Dolls cost them an extra hour, but their dropships were faster than my submarine, which is kinda annoying.
Passing through a wreckage of Soviet ships and tanks, I spotted a submarine attempting to blend in. I fired a corrosive missile at it.
Boom! Its hull breached, and water rushed in to fill the void.
Finally, I surfaced and disembarked at the docks. Fires burned in the distance, though some were already extinguished. Gunfire and cannon blasts echoed from farther inland.
Six GIs stationed at the dock rushed toward us, weapons raised. I dismissed my rigging, appearing in my usual hoodie. Amy materialized at my side, wielding an assault rifle and a shield. Helena deployed ten UAV drones armed with laser Uzis.
Rupture emerged behind me using her thrusters, her crew disembarking as she dismissed her rigging. I hacked into their comms with my nanoswarms.
("This is Abyssal Commander. Mercenary force. Your general hired us to repel the Japanese invasion.")
("This is Commander Yuki of the Pacific Front. I'll take your word for it. Over.") That easy?
("I'll need to set up a temporary base. Can you assist? Reinforcements are inbound.") I yawned, walking past the GIs.
"Rupture, clear out the rest of the dock and city. Provide healing support," I ordered. She nodded and took off.
Walking inland, I projected a 3D hologram map as I spread my nanoswarms along the connection lines to rebuild the comm links. The radar got shot down first, huh? Even aerial control over Japan was half gone. The whole north side, including Hokkaido, went dark. I suspected China assisted the Soviets in taking out the radars first.
("Ah, yes, I can send locations over.") The comm replied, and I nodded, receiving the coordinates—northwest of Tokyo. Nice, some forest at least. As I walked toward the area, Rupture had already left to deal with the coastal fight still raging.
"If you two want to join, you can. It's not often you'll find an urban region where grappling hooks actually work," I said to Amy and Helena. The two exchanged glances.
"Go ahead. I can guard Master~," Helena said to Amy, who nodded.
"Excuse me then, Aqua-chan. I'll be back soon," Amy said, summoning her full combat gear and grappling hooking up to a skyscraper—one with a massive hole in it.
I shook my head. "Well, time for another base building."
"Yeah, let's get to it, Master~," Helena said, leaning closer. "Some alone time with Master~ is always nice," she added as I just smile.
I wondered how the Raptor sisters were doing—probably fine, right? Still, I might send Joy as backup.
("Joy, change your heading to Hokkaido. Assist the Raptor sisters.") I shook my head and spoke into the comm. ("Fury, your T-Doll team is to assist in Tokyo. Clear out all Soviet forces along with Amy and Rupture's teams.")
("Understood, Commander.") Joy's voice responded.
("Affirmative, Commander.") Fury confirmed.
Time to build. I continued connecting communication lines and stumbled upon some broken-down mechs. Already scanned their blueprints when I at Pearl harbor—nothing interesting. Some GIs worked to rescue the pilot. Was the pilot even alive?
I examined the damage—tank round straight through the middle of the chassis. Legs were non-operational, and the cockpit was full of metal shards, its body blocking the entrance to subway line.
Did civilians not have enough time to evacuate completely? I might as well help.
I commanded my nanoswarms to break down the mech, clearing debris, and gently lifted the injured pilot. Near death. Shouting in Japanese broke my thoughts. Local GI. Alright, let's see if I can help a few more while I set up sensor towers in the middle of the city to get the map up and running.
Raptor sister's POV - Flying over Aomori
Boom!
Another Kirov down. That's at least ten now, and we're still heading north toward Hokkaido, taking out every Kirov in sight. I've lost count already. Adjusting my grip on my sword, I hovered midair as my sister waved at me and pointed toward heading 27—northeast.
"We're close! My radar's picking up a few more Kirovs that way. I bet that's Hokkaido!" she called out, her grin wide with excitement. I grinned back, her laser cannon still glowing faintly as smoke trailed from its barrel.
To clarify, we added the smoking effect with nanoswarms because it looked cool. The built-in barrel containment on these cannons could fire up to a hundred shots per second without overheating—not that we had enough power for that rate of fire anyway.
Time for more fun! "Yes! Let's go!" I shouted, raising my sword and angling my thruster legs to propel forward.
I'm starting to get bored with the sword, so maybe I'll rely more on the laser cannons for this run. Not that we've been cleared to use corrosive missiles yet.
Spotting heavy ground movement ahead, I dropped altitude and scanned the area below—what looked like a city in a bay. (Author's Note: This is Mutsu Bay, city of Aomori.) Soviet amphibious transports swarmed the shoreline, setting up a proper base. I also noticed what appeared to be fenced enclosures with searchlights.
Prisoner camps? No—more like concentration camps.
("Sister, I might be a little delayed.") I informed her through comms.
("Okay! You can join the party a bit late, but don't take too long, or there won't be anything left to party about!") she replied with a giggle.
Very well, then. Time to make this fast.
First, I scanned for high-priority targets. Bald guys? About four or five near the fences. Tanks with brains? Nope. Weird spinning towers? Nope. AA towers and infantry? Present. No flak tanks, just infantry-based AA units.
Next—tanks. Lots of them. Thankfully, they weren't close to the camps. And transports—tons of them. This would be so much easier with corrosive missiles.
I shook my head as no one noticed me yet. The anti-sensor coating was working like a charm.
This was a proper base, and they were already constructing more prison structures. No matter—high-value targets identified and marked.
Switching my sword to dual laser cannons, I stopped midair several thousand meters above the ground and opened fire!
*boom! *boom! *boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Seven confirmed hits. Two bald guys conveniently stood near a truck, which exploded. the barracks exploded. The statue toppled over, and another three shots cleared the remaining bald guys. Two more volleys destroyed the amphibious transports.
Panic broke out below as soldiers looked up, trying to locate me. Good luck spotting something 1.6 meter human at this altitude, idiots.
I fired another round of volleys and shifted position as flak cannons began targeting my previous location. Their response was too slow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Two more transports down. The landing site was a wreck. One well-placed shot hit the war factory, causing it to erupt into flames. Three more shots cleared the area around the concentration camp as conscripts panicked and prepared to fire on prisoners.
Not on my watch.
I snapped my aim toward the lead conscript and vaporized him before he could pull the trigger. I followed up with shots on nearby armored columns and radar arrays.
Boom! Boom!
Descending quickly, I hovered a few meters above the ground, summoning my sword and slicing through the fence. Inside, I found dozens of civilians as expected. I gave them a nod before ascending again. They'd take care of themselves for now.
Time to deal with the landing fleet.
Just as I flew toward the bay, I noticed some of the civilians arming themselves with confiscated weapons, subduing the unconscious conscripts. Military training? Probably. GIs blending in with civilians? Most likely. I didn't detect any active Allied radio channels, so there was no commander in charge here so that their plan probably.
Shaking my head, I sped off, firing more lasers at any Soviet structures that looked important or were building too quickly.
("Raptor Sister! This is Joy with two squads of T-Dolls ready for deployment!")
I grinned at the friendly voice. ("Well, let's clear the northern coast then. My sister's going to have a blast in Hokkaido!"
The Another Raptor Sister's POV - Sapporo, Hokkaido
"Hmm hmm mmhh~" I hummed a cheerful tune, slicing through yet another Kirov that had just launched from the war factory about 1,000 meters below. I rolled sharply to the right, narrowly avoiding another flak barrage.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I angled my thruster legs backward, propelling myself out of range as two more flak volleys exploded nearby. They only had flak defenses? Pathetic.
Hovering in place, I surveyed the base below. Flak cannons, infantry, anti-air APCs, and more flak turrets. Wow, they were fast at building this, although pathetic these weapon are.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More flak rounds burst around me, but my acceleration was higher than their aim. I spotted an Allied base up on the hill to the south. Huh, looks like I entered from the southwest and completely missed their position earlier.
Anyway, time to finish this Soviet base.
("Commander, permission to use corrosive warheads?") I requested through comms, feeling Aqua's presence as she linked to my vision.
("Permission granted. Have fun~ Connect me to the Pacific Front general once you make contact.") Aqua replied, her voice casual but observant. She was still watching through my sensors, huh? Well then, time to put on a show!
I fired four quick laser blasts, cutting through the flak turrets before dismissing my cannons. Sweeping my hand through the air, I summoned four corrosive missiles overhead and launched them.
"Eheheh~" I giggled as the missiles streaked toward the base. Then, out of nowhere, what looked like the main construction building shifted and folded into a massive behemoth on tracks. Its color changed to a deep crimson.
BOOM!!!
The war factory erupted in flames, its structure collapsing under the corrosive payload as giant hole appear. Defensive lines crumbled, and several tanks fell into the destabilized ground. But the MCV…
It was still intact, encased in some kind of shimmering crimson shield. As I hovered closer, it started moving toward the coast.
(Author's Note: In-game mechanics give 40 seconds of immunity to any units or building shielded. Translating that here means 40 minutes.)
"Retreating?!" I exclaimed.
("Ignore the MCV. Wipe out the rest of the base. You can sink the ship it's loaded on later. It's probably immune to all damage for a while. Also, thanks for the test. I'll think of a way to bypass that.") Aqua's voice cut in.
Fine, then. I fired another volley of lasers, setting off explosions across the base. Flames consumed every corner as I sensed an incoming communication request.
("Oh, don't worry about that. Just continue. I'll handle this.") Aqua reassured me.
Pacific Front General's POV
"Do we have full records of the fight?" I asked again, rubbing my forehead in frustration. I stood inside our underground command post carved into the hillside overlooking Sapporo.
We'd held out long enough—barely.
"Yes, General! Fourth GI squad, Second Armor Battalion, and the Thirty-first Scouting Team recorded everything!" the comms officer reported.
"Sir! She's not appearing on radar!" another officer called out.
I turned to the display screen, staring at the image of what could only be described as a flying girl with thrusters for legs and wielding cannons that fired laser beams.
Just how advanced was this Abyssal faction? And was she even human?
"Sir! Connection established!" another officer reported.
"This is Pacific Front General Richard. Thanks for the assist—over." I spoke into the comms.
("Ah, General, good to know you're still alive.") A female voice replied. Abyssal Commander. My eyebrow twitched slightly.
"I won't die that easily. Your girl helped a lot."
("Ahh, one of the Raptor sisters. What can I say? They love this job.") The commander's tone was lighthearted.
("Anyway, let's cut to the chase. I'm currently based near Tokyo. One of your commanders—what was her name again?—Yuki? She's still alive and leading whatever's left of Tokyo's forces. My troops are clearing out Soviets in northern Japan, and once we finish in Tokyo, I'll move west. That's about it.") Aqua rattled off the details quickly.
That was all she had to say after destroying what I know of technology world view? Her force was operating like mercenaries, and honestly, I'd rather keep paying them than risk them switching sides with that amount of firepower.
"You'll get what you want," I said simply. No point pretending we had the upper hand here.
("Good. Oh, and the jammers should be down now. I'll leave you to it.") Aqua cut off communications just as another officer burst in.
"Sir! Reports from Niigata and Sendai—both requesting reinforcements!"
Another officer shouted over him, "Sir! Osaka has been overrun by Soviet forces! Concentration camps are being set up as we speak!"
I sighed. "Let's get to work."