Sunday, July 1

First Naval Battle

The first battle for the 9th Imperial "Kyuubi" Legion, fighting an advance force from the Federated States of America.

The war begins...


Colonel Ichisoku peers through his telescope, located between the massive top tentacles of his Ika class battleship, the IN "Madara". His face wrinkles in a grimace as he spots what appears to be a scout fleet from the Federated States of America. A Battleship, flanked by three Cruisers, and supported with an air-wing of what appeared to be fighters, their tiny shapes barely able to be made out amongst the clouds, while two large bombers appeared to be droning alongside the battleships port side.


His radio crackles as squadron commanders report in, two squadrons of the small Uwatsu frigates plowing their way through the ocean, with three of his own large bombers soaring next to their own fighter squadron. He smiles grimly as he realises that this will be the first real test of his new command, the 9th Kyuubi.


Colonel Ichisoku laughs as he watches the inexperienced American commander swings the gigantic battleship to starboard, almost plowing directly into his own squadron of Cruisers.


The radio squawks a report to him, which he hears over the low rumble of the Ika's twin engines. His own wing of fighter planes has spotted the enemy wing, which is almost in combat distance. With some luck, they should be able to ambush the enemy and win air superiority!


Moments later, the Japanese fighters patch in a garbled message - "Took... too....hits....enemy....*CRZZZ*" Looking out over the battlefield Ichisoku spots flashes of light in the air, and the screech as the full enemy wing rushes towards the now vulnerable heavy bombers. Enraged, Ichisoku gives the order for a full barrage of rockets from the bombers, which plow directly into one of the American cruisers, two massive explosions erupt from within its hull and the entire ship sinks below the waves.


Just as had thought, the enemy fighter wing engages the "Ametarasu" bomber formation, but as luck would have it the sheer amount of Ack-Ack forces the remaining fighters to flee their attack. Two loud thumps are heard reverberating through the water, even the gigantic mechanical squid shakes from the impact. Looking through his scope, Colonel Ichisoku sees two of his Frigates belching smoke from large fires coming off their decks. He breathes a sigh of relief as they are still floating, and turn to bring their guns to bear.


The enemy battleship turns side on, and fires an impressive amount of ordnance at squadrons of Frigates. Many are instantly destroyed, a single salvo from each cannon sending them into the icy water. Ichisoku's headphones ring with the screams of the dying. Ack-Ack from the cruisers manage to strike a vital point on an already damaged bomber, temporarily stopping the gigantic turbine it needed to stay aloft. Unfortunately, before the brave engineers could repair it, the huge bomber slammed into the water and broke into pieces. As Ichisoku watched, the third cruiser turns sharply, but not sharply enough to avoid the American battleship, and it plows straight into its prow - breaking off the entire front third. Ichisoku gives the order for a bombing run, and the two remaining bombers let loose their entire load onto the Cruiser that had just downed their comrade, Ichisoku sees at least three bombs land directly on the command tower, obliterating it from existence - and the ship sinks below the waterline.

Grimacing, he realises the enemy Battleship is still fully capable of wiping out his remaining fleet, at this point a lonely Frigate and his two bombers, and sets his navigational control to surface. Roaring from the depths in a tidal wave of frothing water and flailing tentacles, the "Madara" slams directly into the Battleships starboard side. He looks behind him at the honorable Urotsukidoji technicians, armed with eye-scope augmentations and pulling frantically at the many levers in front of them, as they control the dual tentacles, with the lesser technicians controlling the eight smaller arms. Screams echo throughout the ship, and Ichisoku watches as entire platoons of American marines are swept off into the water by the powerful steel arms. A tentacle comes down on the bridge of the battleship, and destroys it utterly.


A lone squadron of marines remains on the ship, as well as most of its crew. Several arms have been mangled beyond repair by the smaller deck guns, as well as concentrated fire from the marines. As luck would have it, a burst of speed from the Urotsukidoji corp results in wild flailing of the remaining tentacles, and with a final clang of steel against steel, the agonised cries from the battleship fall silent. Ichisoku braces as several torpedos impact against the reinforced hull, but they fail to damage any of the precious internal compartments. He turns his periscope to see the two remaining enemy Bombers swoop up into the air, and catch a thermal breeze to escape the wrath of his remaining forces.

Second Lieutenant Orochi walks up behind him and slaps him on the back, and he realises the crew are roaring and cheering their victory. "Congratulations Colonel, the Kyuubi's first victory!" Orochi yells into his face, as his stunned expression gives way to the smallest of smiles.