Nearing the Edge

by Eagle

Bloc-heads in the Marshalls (An Iowa Class Battleship)

Source

May 7th, 2006
Naval Station Pearl Harbor
H.M.A.S Sydney (ABB-01)
Joint Commonwealth Surface Action Group Pacific (COMMSAG)
(Canadian Carrier Task Force Pacific/Australian Battleship Squadron)
Status: Rearming

It’s been a week since we arrived at Pearl Harbour after a tense month-long voyage from Sydney. Since arriving, our battleship was temporarily tied up alongside her American counterpart until we were given the all clear to be moved into Joint Base Pearl-Hickam, the major naval base for the allied pacific fleets conducting operations in Arcacian waters.

Being the first battleship built in seventy years came with its fair share of publicity as major news anchors on the island chain have flocked over to try to get their five minutes of fame in front of the ship. We did host an open day to the general public who were visiting the Missouri and the open night dinner with some of the Mo’s former crew was one to be remembered. Stories were shared, lessons on battleship operations were exchanged and we wrapped it up with a special ceremony of exchanging a deck plank between the two battleships to symbolise their unification as sister-ships.

Once we have been moved over into the naval base the crew got stuck into taking on new arms to replenish our used ordinance. New missiles were slotted into the empty tubes, all four phalanx guns were reloaded, and we were expected to receive some new shells for the sixteen inch and five inch guns.

---

“So, uh… What’s the deal with this shell again?” Turret 2’s Gun Captain asked curiously.

The senior gunnery officers were gathered on the pier to oversee the arrival of a new sixteen-inch shell that was reversed engineered from some prototype artillery shells on a captured Bloc freighter.

“Apparently this shell is supposed to help us with our next operation.” ‘Tower’ answered. “The yanks managed to snitch one of the Bloc's freighters carrying some prototype weapons not long ago and found these sixteen-inch shells onboard.”

“Strewth! That must’ve been one hell ova Op’. But what kind of shells are these exactly?” Aegis asked.

“San Shiki.” I called out to the gunnery officer as I joined in on their conversation with Husky alongside me.

“San Shi-what-now?” Aegis replied in confusion.

“San Shikidan, it’s Japanese for ‘Common Type 3 shell’ or ‘Beehive shells’ as they were referred to as such.”

“Oh, where did you learn that from, Skippy?”

“During my honeymoon to Japan when I got engaged to my missus. We were in Kure when the maritime museum had its grand opening last year. It’s located next to the shipyards where the Yamato and Musashi were built, which ironically the museum has a permanent gallery dedicated to those ships.” I spoke as I recounted my honeymoon with Holly.

“As we went through this gallery there was a display that had all the different types of shells that the ‘Yammy’ used in her service life. There’s a big red shell placed between two armor piercing shells and it’s the beehive shell, and the way it works is when it detonates mid-air in front of a group of fighters the shell explodes into a big burst of shrapnel and there are these tubes filled with rubber thermite which is ignited and launched into a formation of planes in a twelve degree cone. In practical terms the beehive shells were intended to devastate whole squadrons of fighters or more effectively, bomber formations.”

The group were left impressed with Japan’s ingenuity in regards of developing battleship calibre flak rounds which gave Turret #3’s Gun Captain, Akira ‘Yamato’ Yamamoto a sense of pride. Having come from a military family whose great-grandfather served on a Japanese cruiser during the war, Despite sharing the same name with the famed Japanese Admiral.

“I would never think that such a piece of ordnance like this would be reintroduced into modern warfare? They weren't the most effective weapons in those days, so what’s changed?” Akira asked with interest.

“With the advent of guidance systems in this day and age, an active tracking computer has been installed into the warhead just like what we did with the sixteen inch Laser Guided Munitions.” I started using the LGM as an example. “Fin stabilisers have also been fitted around the main body to help itself take aim at it’s targeted formation which by the time it reaches the two thousand meter mark a small rocket booster will ignite and sends the shell on a terminal intercept course, aiming dead-centre of the formation before detonating.”

“Are we still using rubber thermite in these rounds, sir?”

“No, the tubes on this variant are filled with thousands of explosive tungsten balls. The function of the beehive shells is to be area denial weapons, practically forcing the enemy aircraft into a killzone that’ll allow our anti-air weapons and fighter support from the Presence to be at their most effective.”

“Sounds plausible, but also risky if friendly fighters get caught in the blast radius.” Turret two’s Gun Captain, Shaun ‘Gustav’ Thompson pointed out.

“Which is why we’ll only be using these shells at a ten to fifteen kilometer radius. We shouldn’t have too much trouble dealing with the larger bombers and getting a surprise salvo on the enemy before they line the dots. After that it’s just a matter of controlling how the enemy makes their moves,” Husky reassured the gunnery officer.

“So once they bypassed the minimum engagement range of the sixteen inchers they’ll have to get pass the ‘turbo lasers’ if they wanna get close enough to guarantee a missile hit or drop their bombs or air dropped torpedoes.” A five inch operator chimed in on the conversation.

“Even so, can the big guns keep pace with those fast movers at those ranges and are the Washingtons getting these shells?” The CGO turned to me.

Before I could reply, Akira was ahead of me with a response. “The elevation and traverse mechanisms on the sixteen inch guns have been improved during the re-design phase,” ‘Yamato’ began, “The guns on the Iowa’s have a four degree traverse speed whereas on Sydney and the Washington’s the gun turrets have an eight degree traverse speed. The elevation speed of the rifles was also increased from twelve degrees to fifteen degrees per second. These guns have also been heavily modernised to incorporate a gyro-stabilisation system on the rifles to virtually keep them on target without the motion of the ship throwing them off under heavy conditions. Another fine example is the loading breech can be separated from the rifles and brought down to the loading position while keeping the rifles at the designated firing position and the loading mechanism as a whole is almost completely automated.”

“Unfortunately the Washington’s don’t have an onboard Aegis Combat System to network their guns to unlike the Sydney, so those Shiny-Monty’s will have to rely on other Aegis equipped vessels to help em’ out. So these shells are only given to us for now.” Husky follows up with the second question.

“Alright, so when are we loading these beauties!” The Chief Ordnance Officer claps his hands together in eagerness.

“As soon as we all get a few snags into us and enjoy a good ol’ game of cricket on the helo deck.”

---

As the sun rose to its peak, so did the game up aft ends. Today’s big game was what we called the Special Forces Ashes. A general game of Cricket with the embarked Naval Clearance Divers competing against the S.A.S.R platoon who’re also embarked onboard the battleship. On top of the 1,800 enlisted and officers that make up the standard crew the battleship offers additional accommodation spaces for sixty more personnel. This would allow us to carry not only special forces commandos but also reconfigure the extra spaces for disaster relief and humanitarian aid missions. I’m anticipating that’ll be what we’ll be doing when the war is over, but for now I have to do whatever it takes to ensure we survive what Bloc has yet to throw at us.

Focusing back on the game I just catch the ball get walloped by one of the S.A.S.R commandos running batter who sent it soaring off the stern of the Sydney and long past the port bow of the Perth Moored behind us. This time we had the ball tied up in its own netted bag that can be hooked onto a winch of the S-70B-2 Seahawk sitting off side of the flight deck. The winch operator fish the ball out of the water as spectators from the berthed ships watched and cheered for their betting team with the majority being from the Presence’ flightdeck.

The game wasn’t all that was going on onboard the ‘Big Red’. Chef and a few navy cooks had brought their BBQ’s with them and had set up a sausage sizzle underneath turret three’s rifles as the three smallest members of the gunnery crew crawl their way up the sixty-six foot long barrels conducting routine maintenance and scrubbing of the rifling. Akira had a makeshift scaffold set up on the starboard side of the gunhouse where she was painting the silhouette of the Changeling Submarine we sank last week on the side having been credited with the killing blow thanks to the sensors built into the sixteen inch warheads that provides consistent data to the ship’s fire-control computers from the moment the projectiles are fired up till impact to show whether it struck its target or missed by what margin they were off.

Speaking of taking names, the Sydney has earned her first battle star for her actions against the ‘Blockheads’ in the Marshalls and off Johnston Atoll and I obtained the Pacific Star award. Looking back to my early days it feels like it was only yesterday when I was awarded the Australian Victoria cross for my actions in the ‘Adelaide incident’. Australia was never officially involved in the Gulf War, the Adelaide was only passing through for her Mediterranean Voyage. The situation could’ve been avoided had we gone around the African continent rather than risking a quicker run via the Suez Canals. Whether it came down to incompetence or his blind ego, the decision of my long passed superior got himself and a lot of good men killed…

That was to be expected when your ship looks vaguely similar to an American ship. The Iraqis couldn’t have known either that they have unintentionally committed an act of war against us on that day. After we were relieved by the Theodore Roosevelt and her task force we had to be towed back to the nearest friendly port for repairs and getting the fallen back home. We had lost power to the ship from our second hit and anyone that wasn’t tending to the wounded was manning pumps to keep the frigate afloat while the damage control teams tried to get the generators running again. Those were the longest days I had endured on what was my first deployment. I became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia since Vietnam and my fellow crewmates would become the only Australians to each receive the Persian Gulf Medal.

My mind was pulled back to reality by the cry of a “Howzat!” when a SASR batsman was balled out by one of the clearance divers. That’s when an NCO approached me.

“Sir, new orders just came in from Admiral Brown.” He handed me the folder containing the classified papers and I dismissed him.

I motioned Husky to follow me back to my cabin once he got his sausage sizzle sorted. On the way back I stumbled onto some of the 5” gun handlers painting words on the gun rifles to give them nicknames. The secondaries on the starboard side have been named ‘Peashooter, Bug Zapper, and Thumper’. The handlers didn’t know what their portside counterparts were gonna name their gun mounts but a brief mention of ‘wanker-spanker’ prompted a mental note to go over to the other side and offer a few light-hearted words of encouragement to keep things family and media friendly when it comes to painting words and slogans on key parts of my ship. Another matter for another time, right now my attention is completely fixed on the Sydney’s first mission against the Bloc.

As soon as Husky and I have settled back into my cabin I go through the briefing paper.

SECRET
EYES ONLY: JTFP
Admiral Roger Brown (CFMCC) to Captain Elfyn Jones (ABB-01),
Rear-Admiral Erich Dolmann (CCTFP) Joint Commonwealth Task
Force Pacific

OP: Pacific Pearl
Theatre of Operations: Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean

Overview:
May 8th, 13:30
Elfyn, you and the ‘Big Red’ are a sight to behold being here. The after-action report I received from you is beyond astonishing and I would like to personally congratulate you on your efforts on getting the ABS here with no loss or damage inflicted on your end. A lot of the top brass here are overly impressed by your handling of the battlewagon, it’s got the Yanks itching to get their big guns back into the fight. For now the Sydney will need to be doing some of the heavy lifting until the next big offensive.

Which brings us to your first joint mission overview, I know you only got here last week but those Blockheads aren’t gonna wait for us. The Changelings have begun expanding south, claiming and establishing outposts on several key islands in the Central Pacific Region. The main focus of their expansion is around the Marshall Islands where we believe they plan to build airstrips and submarine staging facilities on the larger islands. Latest satellite imagery have shown Bloc Amphibious units deploying multiple Changeling Engineer Battalions to the islands and they have also undertaken a large scale salvaging operation at Bikini Atoll where they are already dredging up the target ships once used in the U.S Nuclear Tests back in 46’. The motive for their operation is unclear but we have reason to believe that they are planning to ship the salvaged wrecks back to the Arcacia to recycle into surplus building materials.

We have also detected an alarming spike of radioactivity at Enewetak Atoll where a radioactive waste dome was built on Runit Island. As we all know that both Bikini and Enewetak Atolls were key sites for America’s nuclear tests from the post-war through to the late fifties’ which left a lot of radioactive debris. Most of which is buried under Runit and those bugs are trying to dig it all up.

The Changelings and their Bloc-head buddies cannot be allowed to complete these bases and carry out operations that could potentially cut off reinforcements from Australia and New Zealand. But more importantly get their hooves on that radioactive waste. If false word gets out that the Changelings are attempting to develop crude nuclear weapons, we both know how volatile this situation will escalate. Here are your objectives:

Objectives:
The corresponding objectives will fall under your first joint mission with the Canadians, codenamed Operation Pacific Pearl. Your primary objective is to assist the Presence in restoring air superiority in the region and assist friendly submarines in hunting down hostile submarines. Once you have regained control of the area, you’ll need to quickly move onto Bikini and Enewetak and put a stop to the Changelings salvage operations. Due to the significance of the latter, this will be a job exclusively for your embarked Commandos. CINCPAC has made a personal request to detach a USN Seal Team and an L.A class SSN along for the Enewetak Mission to examine the integrity of the Runit Dome and confirm it has or has not been breached. We have endeavored to give Colonel Burton and his team maximum flexibility in how their objectives will be achieved. A temporary decontamination chamber will be set up on your ship for the mission to Enewetak.

I wish you all the best, Captain Jones. Good luck and give the “Blockheads” my regards.

I place the paper on my office desk and pull out another piece of paper that outlines what we will be going up against based on the intelligence gathered at the time. As my old man would normally say; ‘Take what you read with a pinch of salt.’ Because by the time your intelligence travels from where it is first acquired to the briefing papers it would mostly be already outdated. Their purpose is to give us a foundation of the potential capabilities that the opposition has deployed and what they could be holding back that our eyes in the sky and beneath the ocean surface have missed.

Hostile Forces:
Once again you’ll be facing off against the Changelings along with some minor elements from their allies operating in the area as well. These guys are an odd bunch when compared to the other Bloc nations. They’re regarded as the least mechanized of the pact but their tactics is similarly aligned with the Chinese when it comes to large scale hit and run maneuvers and these guys excel at stealth with large numbers.

What makes these bugs unique is they possess a form of telepathic abilities compared to the telepathic magic that is rarely used by the Equestrian Unicorns and the Alicorn Monarchy. The Changeling social structure is based around the coexistence of the species under a Gestalt consciousness or in Queen Chrysalis’ case, a central hive mind. They heavily favour the use of their telepathy as a means of short range communications with other units as opposed to using standard issue equipment which makes them all the more potent enemies to face in combat and are the most well coordinated military in the Bloc Pact thanks to this unique trait.

The Commando’s will be facing Changeling Amphibious units and embarked engineers. A large portion of the Changeling Navy is also present and operating within the Marshall’s and we have identified a new ship class that we have never seen before. Based from our initial observations this vessel is based on the Soviet Project 1941 Titan class Communications Ship.

The original ship; SSV-33 Ural was sold to the Changelings back in back in December, 2002 shortly after the Russians decommissioned her due to high operating costs and the current economic state of Russia back then. The reasoning behind the purchase was that Queen Chrysalis was looking for a platform to mount experimental technologies that would allow her to establish a mobile communications array to actively coordinate with her navy officials and maintain the hivemind link with her subjects serving beyond the territorial waters that she controls as her telepathy is strong but her range is limited to the circumference of the Earth. Over the last four years we have seen the seen specialised communications towers and relays propping up all over Changeling territories as they gained new lands and their navy was heavily modernised, this ship plays a key role in Chrysalis’ hivemind network with her deployed fleets and the loss of such an asset could deal a serious blow to the Changelings that no longer have an active link to their central hive. At this stage it is unclear if the Changelings have built additional ships of this description but we can assume otherwise.

The Commando’s can also expect a heavy presence of two major Changeling Marine divisions scattered around the two atolls, their equipment and training is vaguely similar to that of the Chinese but their strength in superior numbers is nothing to scoff at. Expect to also encounter mechanized units on shore and/or air support from a Changeling carrier group operating in the general area. The carrier has a heavy escort group with her comprising of five cruisers, six destroyers and two unconfirmed SSNs that are providing cover for the amphibious landing craft and the salvaging ships brought in for the transport of salvaged materials back to Arcacia. We’ll keep you up to date with any new enemy activity that we pick up over the next couple of days prior to the commencement of the operation. We’re counting on Admiral Doleman to lure that carrier group away to allow you to get close and deploy our boys without compromise.

I place down the other paper on top of the other and look back up feeling semi satisfied with what we’re gonna expect when we return to the Marshall’s. Hopefully, we’ll be fully prepared for any surprises the bugs will throw at us.

“So? Where’s the top brass sending us off to, Elfyn?” Husky Piped up. “Back out chasing subs and flat-tops?”

“Something along that line, the Admiralty wants us to go back out west and retake the Marshalls from the bugs. They’re setting up shop on Bikini and Enewetak, and they’ve began digging up those target ships from Op’ Crossroads for scrap with the possibility of the same occurring at the dome where the yanks buried all their nuclear waste from their tests.” I replied as I passed the forms over to him.

“Bugger me!” John exclaimed as he read through the papers. “Those bugs move fast, I really didn’t think they would be this aggressive.”

“Well, if we look at the current situation from their perspective the bulk of all our forces are concentrated in Equestrian territory with very little available assets to contain the Bloc threat. The Gryphon and Shadow forces are heavily committed on the Equestrian border regions whereas the Changelings have their focus on the Central Pacific islands. It makes me wonder if our stagnation on this end of the pond has given the bugs a false sense of immunity from any counter-attacks we stage.” I replied with uncertainty.

“That false thinking is gonna come back and bite them in the ass if that’s how they feel.” Husky remarked. “This aggressive move by them reminds me of Japanese expansionism, quick to grab up land and are a bitch to get rid of without resorting to unethical means.”

“It kinda does, only this time we’re not gonna be hopping between islands to beat them back to their homelands. Just a simple eviction of the occupants.” I ended the last sentence with a smug.

John couldn’t help but roll his eyes in amusement with how I worded it. “You have an interesting way of describing what kind of a bad day we’re gonna give to the bad guys?”

“What can I say, I’m a simple man and I like to keep it straight to the point.” I shrugged back at my X.O.

Our conversation was interrupted by several knocks at the door.

“Enter!” I called out.

The door to my Stateroom opens as the Communication Information Systems Officer steps through and with a snap of his right arm saluted his superiors. “Captain, Commander, Message from CINCPAC.”

“At ease, Midshipman.” I returned the gesture and take the envelope containing the exclusive message from the top brass.

A quick read through of the message informs me that the Navy Seals assigned to us have just touched down at the marine base along with an attached sub-message from Prime Minister Spink herself.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. As you were.” I dismissed the CISO and turned back to John. “Team Rainbow just touched down at Hickam and will be boarding soon. Have their sleeping arrangements been sorted?”

“It should be, I’ll go have a double gander right now. They requested to take one of the spare rooms with a void space attached. Let me have a quick look at my notes.” Husky opens his notebook tasked for the documentation of embarkation and disembarkation of temporary personnel.

“Don’t we have enough bunk space where we are keeping our Spec-Ops? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind getting cozy with our guys?” I asked curiously.

“Nah, not enough bunks. We got our commandos shoved into one of the smaller accommodation spaces onboard. Ah! Found it, They’re gonna be setting up shop at spare room number two zero eight on deck two, compartment twelve on the portside which has the following void room attached, Alpha-two one six Victor.”

“Sounds good to me.” I nodded in approval. “Throw em’ the keys when they are on board and put a security detail in their passageway.”

“Aye, Skippy. I’ll see you at the officers banquet?” Husky patted my shoulder as he left my cabin.

“I’ll see, Admiral Brown has invited the top brass and the Hawaiian Governor on board for some function tonight and as the most senior person on this ship I have to fulfill my role in exercising foreign relations with our allies.” I shrugged.

“That sounds like fun, if I don’t see you after those Seals embark I’ll see you at tomorrow’s pre-deployment briefing.”

“No worries, see you around, mate.”

---

May 12th, 2006
Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean.
02:15 Hours

In the time leading up to where we are now Admiral Dolmann and the other COs of COMMSAG went over the game plan of how we were going to pull off this operation to the highest odds of success and with maximum efficiency. COMMSAG would position itself in the central Marshall Islands and attempt to lure the Bloc SAG away from the target islands and allow us to get in close to pull off the raids. However in order to reach the islands in question without detection the Australian Battleship will have to break away from the main fleet and proceed to Bikini alone. Under full advisory from my senior navigators we plotted a course that took us south-west under the central Marshalls to avoid hostile reconnaissance units. Once we were in the clear we would then steer north towards Bikini under full clamed conditions. That means full communications blackout, all radar, sonar, SatNav and Aegis systems are to be shut down until we are in a position to bombard the occupied atoll.

The only things to help us stay on course to Bikini is the Ship’s Gyro-Compasses and rotating watches. Having the ultimate responsibility of the ship and the crew I too would take part in the rotation, using only a sextant, a chronometer, timekeeper and utilising a bearing repeater mounted on the open flag bridge I confidently lead my ship to her objective.

Under the cover of darkness approximately 200 nautical miles south of the islands we had successfully slipped past the Bloc submarine patrols thanks to the assistance of allied subs operating in the area. We also managed to make our rendezvous with a fellow Australian Collins class Diesel-Electric Submarine; HMAS Sheean (SSG-77), and the Los Angeles class Nuclear Attack Submarine; USS Buffalo (SSN-715). From there the Navy Seals were transferred to the Buffalo and slipped below the waves for Enewetak while our embarked commandos boarded the Sheean and too submerged into the abyss for Bikini with the Aegis Battleship trailing behind.

---

Once we had received the go ahead to start Operation Pacific Pearl our boys were already on the beaches of Enyu and Bikini islands, and silently under the cover of darkness and a growing thunderstorm moved onto their objectives.

“Funnelweb Actual, this is Blue Ring Actual. We’ve reached our insertion point, how copy?” The NCD lead hailed over secured comms.

“Blue Ring Actual, this is Funnelweb Actual, reading you loud and clear.” Colonel James replied. “Big Red, both away teams are in position. Are we go for mission? Repeat, is Rainbow 6 in position?”

“Big Red to Funnelweb, Team Rainbow 6 have disembarked from Silent Thunder and have confirmed to be in position. We are go for mission, repeat, Pacific Pearl is a go!”

“Rodger that, Big Red. Funnelweb is going silent, out.”

“This is Blue Ring, moving onto the first objective, out.”

“Scope, update on the sheean’s current position?” I asked my chief sonar operator, Passlow.

Since transferring the commando’s over to our silent brothers and sisters the Sheean was able to get within a few hundred metres of the outer reefs surrounding the atoll before deploying the SASRs first close to Enyu and slow boating north to drop off the NCDs at Bikini. We last picked her up on passive moving into the interior of the atoll to conduct a photographic survey of the salvage ships until the signal is given to attack.

“Last passive echo reveals that she is moving into the atoll before I lost her going past the islands.” Passlow, her eyes still glued to the screen.

“So, the wolf has entered the sheep’s pen? Good, the more chaos and confusion we put them in the less we have to worry about them shooting back at us.”

“Yeah, if our boys can kill those anti-ship batteries first. How did we even manage to get as close as we have? The bugs should have set up a radar site already?” Husky pondered.

“I could only assume the few reasons behind the array not being active, They probably haven’t set things up proper or faulty equipment? This storm is going to cause further headaches for the bugs before we even give them a world of suffering. Whatever it may be, we’re gonna punish them severely for being incompetent with their gear. We are sitting about ten kilometres off to the south-west of Enyu and by the time Funnelweb has those missile trucks disabled, we should reach the second waypoint which should put us approximately five kilometres directly south.” I replied as I watched the live drone feed through one of the few screens intermingled with all the other key instruments and consoles that helps me keep track of almost everything that is happening with the Sydney. “We’re gonna be engaging them at point blank range.”

From propulsion to navigation headings, bearing repeaters, rudder angles, engine telegram positions, radar, sonar and ASW systems. Everything I need to know what my ship is doing and what steps I need to take, to plan ahead my next moves and making the most of my ship’s projected capabilities.

“Bridge, Ops!” The Navigation Officer hailed through a voicepipe from the armoured conning tower concealed inside the main navigation bridge.

“Bridge, this is the Captain, send traffic.” I spoke back clearly through the pipe.

“Captain, we’ve reached the first waypoint. Are we clear to proceed to the second waypoint?”

“Proceed ahead as planned, Lieutenant. Seven point five degrees starboard, heading zero nine zero, steady as she goes.”

“Seven point five degrees right rudder, heading zero nine zero, aye sir!”

As the Sydney crawls closer to Enyu not much has happened since commencing the operation. The only noteworthy moments worth mentioning were the commando’s giving the scarce changeling patrols the slip as they moved inland and only taking down the few bugs that had isolated themselves from his comrades or if there is no other way to avoid a risky confrontation. Eventually Colonel James and his team would reach the site where the Changelings had the ASM batteries setup according to the most recent intel.

“Eyes on the prize, lads. Looks like three, no, four sentries posted around the trucks and two technical engineers on the radar truck.” Colonel Burton radioed his squadmates in a whispered manner.

“Confirmed visuals, how do you wanna proceed?”

“Quick and Painless, right between the eyes. Gentlemen, pick a target and wait for the thunder.”

“Copy that, I got the one on the far left. Nathan, do you have a shot on the bug between the trucks?”

“I see him, Justin, ready to take the shot.”

“Mark, take the one second right to mine, get ready.”

“Eyes on, awaiting your order, James.”

As mother nature commands a chain of lightning flashes in the north and within the following seconds the sounds of thunder rumbled over the troubled atoll, concealing the near perfectly timed discharges of three suppressor equipped M4s and a MK.14 EBR, striking their targets with deadly efficiency. The four changelings instantly dropped like flies before their brains could even register the violent intrusion of the projectiles passing through their skulls.

“Targets neutralised.” Funnelweb called out, a quick glance back at the Changeling Engineers on the radar truck shows one of them taking notice of his now deceased hivemates. “Fuck! Mark, eyes on the Engies!”

“Copy, I have the left one!”

“I got the right, shoot!”

Two silenced discharges in a heartbeat and the last two tangos go limp with their bodies tumbling off the truck.

“Big Red to Funnelweb, status report? You guys compromised?” I hailed the commandos.

“This is Funnelweb actual to Big Red, you could say we had a small brown alert but we are not compromised. All hostiles eliminated, moving to disable the missile batteries.”

“Understood, be advised, team Rainbow have made contact on Enewetak. We have a limited window before the bugs on Bikini become aware of what's going on at Runit. Silent Thunder is jamming enemy comms.”

“Aye, skipper. Gentlemen, double time it!”

The Commandos make a steady beeline for the missile site keeping a careful eye on any sudden changes in their surroundings. Justin and Nathan climb into the cab of both ASM launchers to place thermal charges on the missile control consoles while James does the same for the radar truck. Mark hangs back to cover his squad, maintaining a constant swivel to track any Equine silhouettes through the thermal sight on his EBR.

“Nathan, Justin, got your charges set?” Burton radioed his two squadmates.

“All charges set on both vehicles, boss. Moving back to Mark’s position.” Nathan replied.

“Rodger, I got a charge set on the radar truck, moving to a safe distance.”

The commandos regrouped and relocated further back from the missile site to prepare a remote detonator to trigger the explosives. Once in position and not in danger of being spotted by the few patrols James armed the charges and pulled the trigger. What followed was a series of collective cracks from the detonating charges and the blinding light of the ignited thermite light up the cab of the trucks as the fire control computers were fried beyond repair and all exposed flammable materials were ignited from the intense heat and erupting sparks starting small fires within the trucks.

If it hasn’t become clear to the Changelings yet that something was wrong, the sudden commotion that has just occured would have gotten their attention now.

“Righto, looks like the bugs now know we’re here if they haven’t gotten word from their buddies over on the other side.” Mark quietly gestured in the general direction towards the other island where the NCOs are operating.

“If they haven’t already, then let’s make sure they don’t mobilize. Suppressors off lads, we need to make as much noise and confusion as possible.” James ordered his squad as he took the suppressor off his M4 and reached for his radio to contact the Sydney. “Big Red, Big Red, Big Red. This is Funnelweb Actual, stage one objective complete, I repeat. Thunder, thunder, thunder!”

---

“Funnelweb, this is Big Red. Confirmed authentication for fire mission, Enyu. Please confirm your first fire mission code?”

“Big Red, Funnelweb is requesting fire mission for Tango, Foxtrot, Juliet, Kilo at grid reference eleven point five two dash one sixty five point five!”

“Fire mission code authenticated, heavy gunfire support inbound. Keep your heads down lads, we’re about to ring in the thunder from down under!”

“Tower, Ops. All fire control systems are back online and Aegis is active, everything bug-flagged within a hundred nautical miles is now lit up like a homemade summer barbecue!” Tower’s voice echoed through the left side speaker concealed within my headset.

“Acknowledged, Tower, bring main and secondary guns to bear and engage primary targets on Enyu on my mark!” I replied as I switched over to communicate with my lead Aegis operator. “Aegis, prep TLAMs for all land-based targets on Bikini, TASMs and Harpoons for all seaborne assets.”

“Aye sir, prepping weapons. How many do want to deploy?” Aegis replied as she looked back from the main console.

My eyes immediately lock with Aegis’ as I gave her a straight answer. “All of them if needed, this is our only chance we get at hitting the Changelings where it will hurt them.”

Aegis said nothing but gave me a thumbs up as she turned back to her console and went into crunch mode, frantically designating as many targets as we had available missiles. We have eight armoured box launchers loaded with a variety of Tomahawks with additional numbers tucked away in the bow VLS among the ESSMs and ASROCs. All appropriate missiles now had a target designated whether it was a makeshift land installation or the multitude of amphibious ships and their light escorts dotted around the atoll. “All targets of interest acquired, Captain. Requesting permission to engage?”

“Permission to engage on my command, give em’ an absolute flogging, Aegis.” I nodded in approval.

Without skipping a beat, Aegis armed all her missiles and co-ordinated with her fellow Aegis controllers readied their share of the armaments. Outside half of the VSL tubes opened up and the portside armoured boxes were raised into their launch positions. At the same time the large sixteen inch guns and portside five inch guns trained towards the island of Enyu, high explosive shells loaded and ready to fire.

“All stations, this is the captain.” I addressed the crew over the 1MC. “Give them the Thunder from Down Under, hit them with everything we’ve got!”

“Aegis, Fire Control, weapons free!” The senior fire control officer commanded as all prepped missiles flew out their tubes followed by the bracketing roar of the Sydney’s sixteen inch guns each sending two tonnes of Australian made fuck you towards the Changelings. The five inch secondaries sounded off ceremoniously sending smaller caliber ordinance downrange.

The element of Surprise was achieved and the outcome would be devastating to small Changeling fleet present. Within the first minute of engagement the poor bugs had little to no time to react as our missiles scored a ninety percent hit rate as all the amphibious transports at Bikini were destroyed along with all but one of their escorts sunk or crippled. Our H.E salvo obliterated the airstip on Enyu which was being used as a staging ground for the disembarked helicopter squadron which now lay as twisted, burning carcasses and the former civilian aviation facilities were destroyed with lethal accuracy. In the heart of the Atoll the Sheean just launched her first set of torpedoes upon the salvage ships with each of the six MK.48s finding their targets.

“Big Red, this is Funnelweb. Occupied airstrip and enemy assets have been annihilated, your gunners are dead set on target as always!”

“Nothing but the best shooters on the triggers, Funnelweb. Do you require additional support?”

“Negative, Big Red. Changeling presence here is abysmal and we should be gold to mop up the survivors and gather any intel of interest. We’ll let you know when we are ready for extraction.”

“Copy that, Tiger one-eight-seven is on the flight deck ready to extract.” I switch the dial on my headset to touch base with the NCDs. “Blue Ring, this is Big Red, come in?”

“Big Red, this is Blue Ring, we’ve kicked the hornets nest over here and could really some fire support!” Blue Ring leader responded, the sounds of heavy gunfire and more concerning the sounds of screaming civilians in the background. “We managed to bag a Changeling officer and free some of the island inhabitants who were detained, requesting immediate extraction!”

“Copy that, Blue Ring, we’re coming to get you out! Fire control is ready to receive fire mission coordinates for Bikini, send when able.”

“Blue Ring, requesting heavy gun support for November, Charlie, Hotel, Yankee at grid reference eleven point six two dash one sixty five point six two, danger close!”

“Coordinates received, firing for effect! Danger close, repeat, danger close!”

A two-tone bell sounded in the background indicating that the sixteen inch guns have been reloaded followed by a faint mechanical whirl of the turrets adjusting to face the island of Bikini. The salvo alarm sounded and the thunder of guns echoed across the atoll with the second wave of H.E shells descending upon the bug occupied village, the NCDs, their HVT and the civvies braced themselves as the village erupted into a collective of explosions around them. A significant portion of the garrison was wiped out in the ensuring bombardment with those that survived were rendered too shell shocked to push onto the NCDs position.

The navy commandos took the initiative to push out from their holding and away from the now levelled village as the squad lead radioed the Sydney. “Blue Ring actual to Big Red, thanks for the assist right there! The bugs are on the run. All key objectives here have been achieved and we’re ready for pickup!”

“Big Red to Blue Ring, request for extraction authorised. Tiger eight seventy five and Lion two eight one will be airborne shortly and meet you at landing zone designated Alpha. Mark position with green smoke and ensure that they’re no hostile Manpads in the vicinity.”

“Wilco, let our pilots know that we’ll see em’ in five mikes, Blue Ring out!”

I briefly reach over the left side of my chair where the Captain’s Shipwide Communications Console is fitted and pushed a button to raise the Helo Control Station located direct aft of the main superstructure that oversees flight deck operations on the stern of the battleship.

“Helo-Control here, go ahead Ops?” The senior flight deck controller hailed.

“Helo-Control, this the Captain. Tell our pilots to take off and head for L.Z Alpha for priority extraction of a High Value Target captured by Blue Ring along with a group of civilian islanders.”

“Aye, sir. Our birds are lifting off the deck and heading towards Blue Ring’s extraction point.”

---

It didn’t take long for the embarked helicopters to get underway from the get go. The Australian S-70B-2 Seahawk was assigned to the Aegis Battleship from the RAN 816th SQN to serve as the battleship’s ASW helicopter. The accompanying USMC CH-53 Super Stallion had been detached from HMR-363 based in Hawaii with the intention to serve as QRF for extracting the Seal Team from Enewetak but a last minute change of plans would see Seal Team Six be extracted via the Buffalo once they had completed their objectives.

“Hey Boomer, cutting the grass a little short there bud? Those swells are gonna swat you if your not careful.” The Super Stallion Pilot radioed the Aussie chopper.

“Yeah, I’m more worried about those mongrel Manpads than getting my boots wet, Mate!” The Seahawk pilot named Boomer retorted. “Feel free to join us down here, the Bugs are gonna see you coming from a mile away if you don’t hit the deck!”

“Noted, Do we have an exact number of the civies we’re picking up?”

“At least twelve, most of the islanders left when the war broke out with the exception of this lot. Not gonna be too much of a hassle for you, Big Sky?”

“Just like Talisman Sabre last year, Boomer- Heads up, we got missile trails to the north!”

“We don’t have a missile lock on us here, must be ASMs from a Changeling ship. I can see the Sydney counter-firing ESSMs.”

The crew kept a watchful eye on the missiles ready to pop flares upon the first sounding of an alert tone but the guided weapons were indeed ASMs hurtling towards the Australian warship as a volley of missiles shot out of their tubes and intercepted the Changeling weapons. Sydney’s radar picks up the source of the missiles, a lone Krivak III class frigate that survived the first wave of Sydney’s missile barrage. The range finders immediately acquired the escort and the big guns locked on, firing another volley of HE shells down range. Ten seconds later the Krivak takes half of the nine shells fired at her, causing a chain reaction with the remaining ordinance onboard and the frigate detonated spectacularly.

“Oof, another one bites the dust!” Boomer called out witnessing the destruction of the Changeling ship. “We’re approaching the L.Z, Big Sky, you lads ready back there?”

“My gunners are ready to provide covering fire once you touch down, Boomer. Good luck to you crazy Aussies!”

“Hooah, beginning our landing approach. Confirm visual on green smoke.”

“That’s the Army Boomer! We say Oorah in the Marines, give em’ hell!” Big Sky almost shouted in annoyance.

The Seahawk buzzed in low over the palm trees and touched down on the open field with the Super Stallion landing meters ahead door gunners firing away at the Changelings as they focused their small arms fire towards the choppers. The EWO draws his M4 and returns fire as the twelve civilians ran for the Stallion slowing to a crawl and keeping low as a Marine Crewman guided them aboard. The NCDs would follow suit as they boarded the Seahawk and EWO slides the door shut behind them, the HVT was blind folded and looked a little beaten trying to resist capture.

Both Seahawk and the Stallion immediately take off in near sync as the changelings started firing RPGs at them with none of the unguided rockets hitting their mark. As soon as both Choppers were clear of the L.Z the Sydney pulverises the area with both sixteen and five inch guns. Tiger 75 heads for Enyu to extract the SASR Commandos after raiding a changeling outpost and have gathered a huge cache of intel.

By the time both Tiger 75 and Lion 81 were re-embarked and tied down I ordered the Sydney to pull away from the atoll at full speed. Seal Team Six were able to call in a stealth bomber strike on the garrison at Enewetak and the dome was secured before reboarding the Buffalo and left the area. The Sheean was successful in sinking all the salvage ships and later sinking the Telepathic relay ship using sub-launched Harpoons. The loss of the relay ship would spark a major telepathic-communications blackout for all changeling forces in the Marshalls cutting off communications with the central hive on the mainland until another relay ship can be sent to restore communications to the stricken forces.

---

May 13th, 2006
Central Pacific Ocean.
09:24 Hours.

Six hours up, eight hours down, that was the routine we’ve been pushing the turbines since withdrawing from the Marshall’s over the last couple of days, racing to get back to our escorting taskforce before Bloc gets the jump on us. As long as the weather and the sea conditions behaved into our favour the Sydney can comfortably maintain her top speed of 36 knots (66.6Kph/41.4NMph) for the six hours we can run the turbines at maximum revolutions before we need to back down and let them cool off for an eight hour period.

We have been keeping tabs on Changeling Comms and monitoring their activities as they actively hunt us to seek vengeance for disrupting their operations in the Marshall Islands. It is safe to say that they are not happy at all, on top of that Dolmann was able to cripple the Changeling CTF and his birds embarked on the Presence scratched off a flat-top.

Over the last few hours our SPY-1 and MK.2C air radars have been tracking a TU-142 shadowing us, sometimes he would pop in and out of search range and on another occasion he would hang around for a while until the Bear got spooked by a pair of Raptors operating out of Midway. Up till now everything has been unusually quiet, I was heavily anticipating a massive number of Changeling aircraft to appear on our scopes. With us being alone this would be the perfect opportunity for them to sink a Battleship, unfortunately for them they would unknowingly find themselves on the receiving end of the big guns.

“Mark two Cee, Aegis, radar contact spike off our port stern! Bearing, two three eight!” The Chief EWO calls out.

“What’s the return signatures and Composition?” I replied with me and Husky’s focus drawn to my radar display.

“Eight lights and twelve heavies identified as Flankers and Bears maintaining formation at twelve thousand feet and descending. Speed, four forty eight knots.”

“Sound General Quarters, all hands to air warfare stations! Secure all watertight compartments and ready the beehive shells.”

The klaxon sounded and the lighting dimmed fading the room into a sea of red. I relay orders to the bridge to bring the ship into a broadside position to allow a clear firing angle for the sixteen inch guns to engage the oncoming bomber formation. The gunnery crews get to work bringing up the new shells to be loaded into the main guns.

“Aegis, how far off is the formation?” I asked the CSO.

“Less than a hundred nautical miles and closing, Sir.”

“Getting awfully close to launch their ASMs?” I heard Husky muttered.

“Probably holding off on launching their payloads, get as close as possible to minimise our reaction time to counter their attack.” I pondered watching the grouped dots trickle closer to us with every sweep of the radar’s search cycle. “Roger gave me a brief rundown of the bugs tactics for killing our vessels, according to the AARs our commandos provided and the intel they’ve gathered the Changeling Air Force and their Navy counterparts have adopted their swarm tactics and developed an unconventional means of coordinating their attacks more effectively in comparison to their allies.”

John sympathetically shook his head. “No wonder the Yanks despise these guys the most. So far they’ve inflicted the most damage on our naval tonnage and they’re only gonna become more unpredictable unless we can break their tactics and put enough hurt on their numbers to minimise the damage.”

“Hopefully these beehive shells will prove to be a temporary but effective enough solution to our ‘bug problem’.”

“Enemy formation is less than eighty nautical miles out and closing fast.”

“Bring all guns to bear, enable Aegis assisted tracking for the main guns, lead the target formation by three degrees up.”

“Aye, Sir. Establishing handshake between Aegis and Gunnery Rangefinders.”

The CSO team on the Aegis Combat System began typing furiously away on their assigned consoles, constantly cross referencing targeting protocols and double checking cross system integration as they coordinate the system merge with the Gunnery Systems Controller team up in the fire control tower. It wouldn’t take more than thirty seconds until both teams were successful in linking their respective systems and the SPY-1 array with the laser designators on the MK.1B and MK.2C were now actively communicating with each other. As Aegis actively tracks the Changeling aircraft it is simultaneously relaying vital information to the rangefinders to guide the gunnery control officers as to where the guns need to be aiming to make the most effective use of the beehive shells. The calculated data is then divided and passed on the individual gun turrets for their respected Gun Captains to input the firing solutions should they be operating independently of the central fire control computer.

“Targets are less than twenty nautical miles out from entering the kill zone.”

“Husky, let our air cover know what we’re doing and hold their fire until we get the first salvo away.” I asked John who returned a nod and relocated to the combat communications station to warn the F-22s orbiting us.

“Captain, sixteen inch guns are loaded and ready to engage!” Aegis calls out.

I gave Aegis a thumbs up in approval. “Permission to engage when in range, Lieutenant. Let’s swat them out of the sky like the annoying flies back home.”

The room goes silent as we held our breath and mentally counted down the final seconds before the trigger was pulled. Mild tension builds up but the focus of the operators remains unfazed. Within the same heartbeat that the Changeling birds crossed the forty nautical mile marker, Aegis’ voice broke the ice.

“Enemy birds have entered the kill zone! Main batteries are locked on target!”

The Chief Gunnery Officer sounded the salvo alarm. “Fire Control, Ops, firing solutions locked down! Shells on the way!”

The silence of the seas was once again disturbed by the deafening thunder of the sixteen inch guns as the first set of nine Beehive anti-air shells were sent spiralling towards their targets at extreme velocity. Ten seconds into the flight a set of explosive bolts separate the bottom cap of the shells to reveal a small rocket booster which automatically ignites as a set of fins and stabilisers pop out the body of the shell and the remote guidance computer begins tracking the formation to home the shells in. The overall flight time would take forty five seconds as the shells began their final convergence upon the hostile aircraft.

Less than two nautical miles out the remote detonator for the explosive tungsten balls was armed and the rocket booster dies out from exhausting the small fuel tank. Within the final moments before the two groups intersected additional explosive bolts peeled off the outer panels and the thousands of tiny explosives were released into the open sky turning the surrounding airspace into a deadly airborne minefield. The formation made contact with the beehive shells and the payloads were detonated turning the sky into a colossal killer fireball and all the Changeling aircraft were instantly vaporized in the unsuspecting attack. The flaming carcasses of the once formidable warbirds exit the fireball spiralling uncontrollably towards the Pacific, the remains of their crews are nothing more than green paste.

“Aegis, hows our mark?” I called out to the CSO.

“Dead on target, Captain. We completely obliterated them, like, control-alt-deleted them.” Aegis replied, her facial expression painted with mild shock at the brutal effectiveness of the weapon.

“Then I call that a successful test of the new AA shells. Admiral Brown will be expecting a full data report of the shells performance be drafted by the time we return to Pearl.”

“Might be a bit too soon to start on that, Sir. New radar contacts off the port bow! Bearing, three two five!”

“Another wave? What’s the return signatures?” I asked in mild haste.

“More Flankers and Bears, but twice the numbers- Wait, a third wave has just popped up behind them. ‘Fencers’, Twenty of them!” Aegis observes the new contacts

“Ops, Bridge, hard right rudder! Realign us back onto our previous heading, All ahead full on the turbines!”

“Bridge, Ops, coming right to one-one-zero! Bridge to Engineering, give me full power!”

“Big Red, this is Garuda Team. We’re breaking off to lure as many escorts away from you guys. The rest is open season.” One of the Raptor pilots radioed.

“Big Red to Garuda, give em’ hell mates! Stay clear of the bombers, we’ll be engaging them shortly with battleship calibre anti-air ordinance.” Husky replied forewarning Garuda of the beehives.

The Raptors broke away from their orbit of the battleship and made a beeline towards the bomber formation gaining an altitude advantage as they went. The main guns were reloaded and countermeasures armed as we waited for the bugs to get into range. The fencers were showing a steady descent in altitude giving off the impression that they are going to deploy their weapons at sea level to divide our defensive weapons.

“Aegis, ready the Sea Sparrows, have them all target the fencers.” I ordered the CSO.

“All of them, Sir?” Aegis looked up from her console for verification.

“All ESSMs please, they wanna hit us with overwhelming firepower then I am more than happy to play their game.” I reassured the CSO.

“Aye, sir, all air to air missiles armed. Ready to launch.” Aegis nodded and turned back to her station.

“Fire Control, Ops. Second wave is in range and we’re ready to engage!” The GCO called out through the voicepipe.

“Ops, Fire Control. Standby, Garuda Team is about to engage the formation.” Aegis replied from her end of the pipe.

“They should be clear long before the shells hit their mark, shoot on my mark.” I called out to Aegis who looked back in bewilderment.

“Are you sure, Captain? It’s gonna be danger close if we pull the trigger now.” Tower advised me with initial concern.

“I’m aware of the risks, Tower. Once Garuda has called Fox-Two, pull the trigger.” I reassured my CSOs.

Meanwhile, high above the clouds and well out of sight of the Changelings, the two Raptors pitched their noses downwards and dive upon the unsuspecting aircraft. Both Talisman and Shamrock single out a bomber and fire their respective missiles at them. The targeted bombers were struck down as Garuda passed by the bombers in a near vertical dive, four of the sixteen escorting Flankers detach from the formation to pursue and engage the Raptors.

The bears and their remaining escorts continued on despite the threat of the American stealth fighters below them, the crews were semi confident that the numbers advantage would be sufficient enough to deal with them. Sadly their strength in numbers advantage was cut short by the next salvo of beehives intercepting the formation. The formation was mostly consumed in the blast like the first wave with all but two bombers and five fighters surviving the aerial bombardment, the Bears panicked fired their ASMs and turned for home, the pilots near screaming through the comms of their ordeal with the ‘sky bursting into flames around them’.

Most of the missiles wouldn’t acquire the Australian Battleship flying harmlessly over us, the ones that did would not be enough to overwhelm our defences with our counterfire catching the rest. The surviving Flankers remained committed to doing as much damage to us as possible, staying on course with full afterburners open. We let em have it by launching several ESSMs at them with one going down from taking a Sea Sparrow to the nose. The rest would evade and close in to the ten mile mark where they were greeted by concentrated flak fire from the five inch guns with two more Flankers going down. The remaining two would get their weapons away as they came under fire from the CWIS. The SRBOCs and a Nulka decoy were fired to distract the missiles with all but one of the enemy missiles would be baited by our countermeasures. I ordered the crew to ‘brace for impact’ moments before the sole weapon struck the portside armour belt.

The explosive warhead was insufficient to penetrate the heavy multi-layered armour plate and only left a large scorch mark on the hull. The CWIS guns would get a kill on one Flanker going vertical, it’s now burning airframe fell into the sea a few hundred metres off the portside. The remaining Flanker would get past before the CWIS could track him, emptying his 30mm autocannon into the navigation bridge during his flyover. Thankfully all crew present had retreated into the safety of the armoured conning tower as the hostile birds got close to the ship. The only casualties to be inflicted would be the bullet proof glass being almost shattered by the autocannon fire, various navigation and communications equipment were destroyed and the thinly armoured superstructure of the bridge riddled with holes and shrapnel.

The last Flanker passed over to our starboard side where he would be brought down by the waiting five inch guns as they all fired a full broadside into the doomed fighter and like his wingmen fell into the sea in a great ball of fire.

“Bridge to Ops, be advised that fighter just unloaded his cannon into us up here.” The Officer of the Watch reported.

“Ops to Bridge, give me a damage report?”

“Superficial damage to the superstructure, nothing serious, no casualties to report- Break! Fire, fire, fire! We have an electrical fire in the bridge!”

“Damage control to bridge, fire fighting team Hotel four has been dispatched to their assigned positions on level four. Recommend all assigned personal to evacuate the bridge.”

“All personnel have vacated the affected area, the Navigation Officer is still on the helm.”

“Bridge, this is the Captain. Tell Joseph to transfer ship control to the guys in the auxiliary wheelhouse and clear out of there.”

“Aye, sir. We’re handing to keys over to the guys back aft.”

---

Once we had refocused our attention back on the remaining Fencers we immediately fired our remaining weapons against them. Fifteen of the buggers went down to the ESSMs with the survivors being mopped up by the Raptors once they had dealt with the Flankers from the second bomber group that gave chase. I sounded the all clear and everyone including myself can breathe much easier now.

“Husky, relay a message to those flyboys. Let them know if we ever cross paths again, kindly inform them that we have two beers reserved for them in the officers lounge.”

“You got it, Elfyn.”

Once our invitation for the beer went out and General Quarters was secured both me and John made our way to the pilot house to assess the damage. Upon entering via the starboard door I was greeted by the smells of burnt electrical cables and CO2 fumes from the fire extinguishers used by the damage control party to contain and extinguish the small fire. Making our way around and the true extent of the damage was revealed, some cables hung loose from the ceiling and broken bullet proof glass littered the floor. Power had been cut and ship based controls was still being managed by the guys in the backup wheelhouse down below.

Most of the navigation equipment mounted portside were destroyed and the very few that remain intact were thoroughly examined by the Technical Engineers as they searched from any imperfections. Laying at my feet was the portside gyrocompass, picking it up for a closer look it was almost split open from where a 30mm shell pierced it and the following G forces of the shell’s velocity tore it from its mounting to my right. John was looking at some of the small dents made on the outer armour plating of the conning tower where several shells impacted and harmlessly bounced off.

“What a bloody mess, the boys up here are lucky they had some proper protection.” John shook his head sympathetically.

“It could have been a lot worse if they didn’t.” I replied humbly. “This is going to require a few days dockside to get this all fixed up and source some new parts, mainly replacing the damaged plates, glass panes and setting up some scaffolding. We have a small surplus of equipment modules in the stores, the boys down in the workshop will need to fabricate some new mounts and housings for them.”

“Righto, I’ll start putting together a shopping list and pass it to the logistics team.” Husky patted me on the shoulder as he exited the bridge.

I lingered around for a bit longer before making my way back to my cabin, I placed the broken compass down on my scorched chair which was the culprit for starting the fire being ignited by a damaged cable that came loose. This was gonna be one heck of an After Action report to forward to Dolmann and Brown once we have regrouped with COMMSAG.

---

Bloc Pact Naval Station Ravenholm
Gryphon Empire, Arcacia

In the North-Western reaches of the continent the bulwark of the Gryphon Navy have gathered in the largest available port city in their core territory, Ravenholm was already a well established maritime trade hub prior to the transition to Earth six years prior. Since then it has been heavily modernised initially to accommodate the mammoth cargo ships the Humans possessed before the embargo and the navy established its new headquarters here. Warships of various classes call Ravenholm their home base but what makes the city strategically valuable to the Bloc’s war effort is the shipyards that drives its local economy. Constantly building and launching new ships and submarines whenever the navy demands it. Time, effort and the latest in Gryphonian engineering craftsmanship is heavily invested in the shipbuilding industry.

On the opposite end of the harbour, at the Gryphon naval base, sits their latest creation. A floating fortress of heavy metal and large calibre guns to rival that of the American and the lone Australian battleships allied with the Equestrians. The Gryphon battleship, whose design was heavily influenced by the former Soviet Sovetsky Soyuz design and heavily modernised, has been blessed by the Gryphonian leadership as the pride of the fleet whose guns and missile capabilities can outclass her rivals and her armour serves as the nation’s shield.

Residing within his personal quarters onboard the mighty behemoth, Lord Admiral Victor Von Valkenburgh was overseeing his final preparations for the next string of operations against the Human fleets and strengthening the noose of the Blockade around Equestria. Victor was a well established and respected officer within the Gryphon chain of command prior to transition to Earth where he influenced the radical restructuring of the navy and oversaw its full modernisation. Hailing from a proud military family with close ties to the crown played a key role in Victor’s progression up the ranks, mastering the navy’s doctrines and accumulated an understanding of naval tactics that outclassed previous Admirals. A knock on his door broke his concentration.

“Enter.” His elderly voice broke the silence.

The door gently opened, revealing a young female Gryphon officer serving as Valkenburgh’s naval intelligence advisor as she passed through the doorway in a brisk pace and gently shut the door behind her. The young Gryphon approached her superior and greeted him with a salute.

“Lord Admiral, apologies for interrupting you from your work.”

“No need to apologies, Dixie, no time is ever wasted when it comes to news from the front.” The Admiral smiled at the young officer as he invited her to take a seat opposite of him as he offered a cup of lemon tea to her.

“Thank you, Sir.” Dixie happily accepted the cup and brought it close to her beak and gently blew into it whilst stirring a lemon slice around with her free claw. “I bring unfortunate news from the Changelings, Their attempts to occupy the Marshall Islands has ended in complete failure with heavy losses.”

“As predicted…” Victor shook his head with hinted annoyance. “Chrysalis is a fool to allow such an operation to take place, not to mention to complete waste of military assets she committed that would have been better used fighting the Equestrians. I anticipated the Americans would send a carrier group out to retake the islands.”

“Actually, sir.” Dixie Politely spoke up. “The Changelings forces were defeated by mostly a single ship.”

Victor Raised his brows curiously. “One? Are you sure?”

Dixie took a small sip of her tea before continuing. “Yes, we’ve identified it as the Australian Aegis battleship, Sydney. She managed to slip past the Changeling patrols and with the assistance of submarines, deployed several commando teams onto the islands and routed the Changelings off.”

“Impressive, whoever is in command of that ship is definitely a bright minded human who’s not afraid to take a risk to get the job done and confidently lead his or her crew into uncertain odds and accomplish their goals.” Victor took the news with heightened interest.

“Indeed, a Human who thinks like that and is given the right tools to carry out his required tasks efficiently is a huge threat to us that needs to be dealt with immediately.” Dixie spoke with worry.

“In due time, Dixie, but right now our focus is on the northern trade routes and suppressing the American’s ability to safeguard their convoys over the Northern Pacific. We’ll eventually confront them once we know enough about them.” Victor reassures the young intelligence officer.

“Of course, Admiral, I will continue to monitor the situation and inform you of any new developments.” Dixie stood as she downed the last of her tea. Before biding the Admiral a farewell. “Thank you for your hospitality as always, Lord Admiral. Rule Gryphonia!”

“Gryphonia shall rule the waves!” Victor chanted as the Intelligence Officer left the Admiral’s cabin.

Author's Note:

Big thanks to Iowa for writing this, and he did damn fine at it too. I think he's able to write a more exciting and satisfying battleship chapter than I am, honestly. He's got more battleship stories under his account, if you want more of it.

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"That's Ravenholm... We don't go there anymore"

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