Whooosh—
Amid the audience's shock and noisy commotion, the starship activated its anti-gravity engines, spraying long plus of blue fla as it lifted off and sped toward the distant horizon.
Inside the bridge.
Formidable, Victorious, and several other shipgirls were present, alongside a group of thoroughly bewildered and uneasy tankery girls.
Miho Nishizumi, Maho Nishizumi, Arisu Shimada, Darjeeling, Kay—all of them had accepted Formidable's invitation to board the starship in their own tanks.
None of them knew how to refuse such a forceful older-sister-type.
So they obediently complied.
But once aboard, nervousness set in.
Even the usually loud-mouthed Katyusha was hiding behind Nonna's shoulder, not daring to speak.
"They're all so pretty..."
Hana Isuzu whispered to the others, glancing at Formidable.
"Um, may I ask where you're taking us?"
Maho stepped forward and asked calmly.
She felt like a prisoner of aliens, half-expecting to be taken to space and experinted on like in the movies.
"To et the Commander. Don't worry, he holds no hostility toward you. After all, you are the protagonists of this world."
Formidable gave the group a once-over.
Her timing was perfect—most of the key characters from the Girls und Panzer world were gathered for the university selection match.
As for schools like BC Freedom that were missed, they'd just send shipgirls to pick them up later.
"As expected, Tankery girls are a little different from the rest."
With a careful eye, she noticed that although the girls were young—still high schoolers—they exuded a certain military aura.
Especially Maho and the girls from Kuromorimine, dressed in black uniforms with red skirts and military caps.
Their disciplined bearing, combined with their youthful beauty, created a striking contrast—firm and refined, yet feminine.
It reminded Formidable of the Ironblood shipgirls.
"Take a look around, make yourselves at ho. Want sothing to eat?"
Victorious called over several Universal Angels and Bulins to serve refreshnts.
The tankery girls were overwheld by the sight of winged angels carrying trays.
After so coaxing, they slowly sat down and began nibbling on snacks.
"So tasty!"
Katyusha's cheeks puffed up as she stuffed her mouth full.
Maho, on the other hand, didn't touch the food. Among the gathered high school girls, she clearly appeared the most composed.
She took out her phone, glanced at Formidable, then back to the screen, before asking a flurry of questions.
"Are you the one in the news? What exactly is the Starsea Empire? How did you make all those countries surrender in just one night?"
"Is this so kind of movie set?!"
Even with every news outlet repeating the sa report, her instincts refused to accept such an outlandish reality.
These were the questions weighing on her the most, and she looked to Formidable for answers.
"Well... explaining everything would take a while."
"Why don't you see it with your own eyes instead?"
Formidable tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
She gestured for them to look out the observation window.
By now, the starship was cruising at high altitude, slicing across the Eurasian continent at extre speed.
Compared to the flying tanks modified by Bulins the night before, Formidable's ship was much faster—and more stable.
Without the shifting clouds and landscape, the girls might have thought the ship wasn't moving at all.
Looking down.
Parts of Central Asia and Africa were ablaze in warfare.
Interstellar destroyers and cruisers lood overhead, raining down orbital bombardnts.
Super-graviton cannons erased entire battalions of soldiers in one blast.
Countless universal angels dove from the hangar bay, screaming through the air as they swept across the terrain, hunting down the last pockets of resistance in remote corners.
"As you can see, we're from another world, and we've co to conquer this one."
"Most nations were actually very cooperative. Just fly a starship over their capital, flex a bit, send soone to negotiate—done."
Formidable clicked her tongue.
"For the few who refused to see reason, we had to give them a lesson. The Commander doesn't mind if a few countries disappear from the map."
"!!!"
The girls stared at the devastation below—starships and Universal Angels reducing cities to rubble in minutes. That was when it finally sank in:
This was full-on alien conquest.
Don't let the pretty onee-sans fool you—their starships could annihilate a nation or a continent with ease.
"What about our families?..."
The girls grew increasingly anxious.
"Don't worry. We're only targeting the ruling class and elites."
Victorious patted Miho gently on the shoulder, smiling.
"For ordinary people, the only change is who rules over them. The Commander will take the place of their presidents and kings. We have no use for bloated bureaucracies or capitalist parasites."
"We'll rebuild everything with advanced technology and establish a new world order."
The political nuance was mostly lost on the high school girls.
But hearing that Earth wouldn't be turned into a smoking crater gave them so comfort.
"Tovarishch! Down with the capitalists! Send them all to Siberia!!"
Katyusha was suddenly fired up.
She waved her arms and shouted enthusiastically.
"..."
"This one's got so spirit."
Aurora and a few Northern Parliant shipgirls eyed the small girl with interest.
Pravda High School, after all, was modeled after the Northern Parliant.
Their tanks were classic Soviet models: T-34s, IS series, KV series.
And as the head of Pravda's tank division, Katyusha was just like the younger Northern Parliant shipgirls—always spouting slogans.
The hamr-and-sickle on her cap gave the shipgirls an unexpected sense of kinship.
"Can you sing? The one that has your na in the title?"
Tashkent tilted her head curiously at Katyusha.
"You... are comrades too?!"
Katyusha's eyes widened as she listened to the shipgirls introduce themselves.
They all glanced at the insignias on their hats and uniforms.
Identical.
Comrade recognized comrade.
"When the blooming pear trees stretch across the skies, soft veils drift above the river tides..."
As the commissar Nonna softly began the first line in Russian, the Northern Parliant shipgirls and the girls from Pravda joined in one by one.
An intense sense of camaraderie blossod, as if they had once fought side by side.
Their clear, lodious voices gave "Katyusha" a uniquely charming tone.
The other schoolgirls and the Royal and Eagle Union shipgirls were left utterly dumbfounded.
"???"
Formidable dropped her teacup, spilling it everywhere.
"Wait, why does it suddenly feel so... Soviet in here?!"
"Shensu! Leiming! Stop painting hamr-and-sickle flags on my ship! I'm a Royal Navy shipgirl!!"
...
Whoosh—
Inside Formidable's ship, the Northern Parliant shipgirls and the Pravda girls quickly beca besties.
They went from singing "Katyusha" to "The Hawthorn Tree," to "The Unbreakable Union," and finished off with a round of resounding "Ura! Ura!"
The rest of the shipgirls just stared, black lines forming on their faces.
Finally.
The starship passed through a teleport anchor and arrived at the other side of the Earth, revealing a magnificent capital city below.
The tankery girls leaned against the observation windows, gazing in awe at the sprawling, majestic cityscape.
Above them flew streams of starships and universal angels. Below, colossal buildings lood, proud and towering.
The largest of the buildings—the administrative center—rose like a mountain into the sky, a towering marvel that left the girls speechless.
After landing.
Escorted by universal angels, Formidable led the still-anxious tankery girls to the top floor of the administrative center.
"Commander! I brought the girls for you. That world is basically wrapped up as well. Prinz Eugen and Aegir are handling the final phase."
"Hmph, such a simple task isn't worth ntioning."
She said that proudly, but her eyes kept flicking toward Setsuna expectantly—almost as if begging for praise.
"Good work. Go get so rest."
Setsuna nodded, giving her a headpat.
He glanced over the report she handed him.
Conquering a pre-spacefaring civilization was nothing special. The shipgirls had done this countless tis before.
Once the major nations surrendered, the few remaining rogue states were swiftly subdued. Administrative teams would be assigned, and the rest would unfold according to well-established protocols.
They would soon beco stable sources of resources and manpower for the Empire.
Next, his focus turned to the tankery girls.
They looked at Setsuna cautiously.
It was obvious this man—the Commander they had heard about—was the leader of this world.
And also, the one who had conquered their Earth.
From what they'd seen and heard, the shipgirls were all his subordinates.
Powerful, and beyond comprehension.
Just a single glance was enough for Maho Nishizumi to sense sothing unmistakable about him.
Setsuna bore the aura of a real soldier—a man who had seen bloodshed and commanded armies.
In comparison, the tankery girls, who had only played at war in school competitions, felt like children playing make-believe.
"Don't be afraid."
Setsuna placed a hand on Miho and Maho's shoulders.
"We're just arranging a transfer for you."
"What fun is there in driving tanks on the ground? Co on, it's ti to learn sothing truly exciting."
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