Chapter 2: Chapter 1 – A Battle To End A War

The RADAR screen was filled with dots, nearly a hundred hostile contacts all flashing with their approximate names. The flashes of rounds and missiles barely caught by the sensors only distorted things further. All of them flying towards straight towards the United Nations combined fleet.

It was all far too sudden. The enemy had stayed out of earth orbit for the entirety of the war but now? Now, with their fronts collapsing they had seemingly decided to play all their remaining cards in one final push. It was madness. But, he supposed, when your enemy is rolling in on Kamchatka and Beijing at the same time, its the only thing you have left to do.

Captain Edward’s heart could not stop pounding, as the flank of that mass of ships was what Admiral Makarov’s fleet was flying straight into. And he was apart of it. He could not calm himself at all with all the shouts and yells flying around the CIC. Navigation was getting ready for evasive action. Gunnery was desperately trying to get a clear lock on for their missiles, Communication was trying the best they could to communicate with the rest of the fleet with the X-ray signal lamps hastily welded onto the ship to keep complete radio silence. The plan was set.

He could only grip the arm rest of his chair and try to keep his voice steady as he issued orders over the cacophony of noise with his 2IC, David.

All they were waiting on now was the order. The order to throttle the engines, switch on the radios and let loose with their railguns and missiles right into the combined Russian and Chinese cruisers and Battleships laid in front of them.

It was a daring move, to try and knock them out with a flanking attack made up of the available British and Polish destroyers. Any wrong move and they would be ripped to shreds by the enemy.

“Captain Edward!” Alex called out, the mousy communication officer’s eyes unable to conceal their fear, “The attack is commencing in one-minute!”

“Well, you heard them!” David yelled, his voice firm and lacking all of the fear most others now had, “Get ready! Do we have lock on's yet?”

“Yes sir!”

“Well then-“

That is when all hell broke loose.

All the alarms sounded as the RADAR warning receiver started to beep and everyone knew what that meant.

Edward did not hesitate, the order drilled into his head from past patrols, “Helm! Fire thrusters and shift us to port as fast as we can!”

“Aye!”

The ship then jolted, slamming everyone to one side in their seats as the HMSS Comet threw herself to port, firing as much chaff as it could, just as the missiles started to fly towards them. They ducked and weaved, all the ships in the fleet spraying CWIS fire into the volley in a desperate attempt to take as many down as they could. But they were moving so fast.

Some of the captains of the other ships had not been so quick as the Comet’s, as the missiles flew in and struck the Carron, Charity and… Holy shit…

Three of the missiles twisted around, following the late to move Grom amidships, Rear Admiral Makarov’s flagship. The explosions ripped through it’s spine, splitting the ship apart as shockwaves hit compartments in the habitation ring, ripping them open as all communications from the ship were replaced with a SOS and a few final cut off screams from its communications officer.

Time in that moment seemed to slow, Edward’s mind racing as fast as it could to process what had gone on. The death of his CO on the Grom and the fleet’s second in command aboard the Charity. He was doomed, the plan was doomed, the battle may be turned around somehow by this…

But no. No, no, no, no! He was not going to die here, he was not going to let his crew die, the fleet die and he certainly was not letting all those bastards trying to flee the tribunal in the Hague waiting for them get away from it. The plan will be brought to its conclusion!

His hands tightened even further on his arm rests as the acceleration of the ship stopped, everyone else still in shock of what had happened. If they kept doing nothing, they’d all die. They needed someone to take charge.

Edward looked up at the screen and counted in his head all of the remaining ships. One, two, three, four… Twenty-seven ships in total consisting of twenty-five British and two Polish ships. A horrifically low count for a battle against battleships. However, the main guns of all the enemy ships were focused on the mass of Japanese, American, British, French and Indian cruisers and battleships all charging towards them. This, its doable, its doable. We have a perfect flanking shot into them. Just remember that, all we need to do is act.

He breathed in and yelled as loud as he could, “Everyone stop fucking standing there! This isn’t the end! David, take command of this ship and Alex, give me a line to the rest of the fleet, I’m taking command.”

Everyone was left stunned for a moment, starting at him, all but David who was never slow to react and was all too glad to hit back. “You heard him! Get on with it! I want our missiles locked onto that big Chinese battleship and to target their aft like we were planning! And why haven’t we fired our railguns, do it now!” He roared, the chatter of the CIC rising up again as the “Blackthorn’s” rage was spiked.

Edward in the meanwhile was flicking his headset to the fleet’s channel, steadying himself for the absolutely insane act he was about to do. “All ships, this is Captain Edward of the Comet here, I am taking command of this fleet and no arguing. We must move fast and now! Get all of your ships to lock onto and fire on the planned targets now! We need to knock out as many of those ship’s reactors as soon as possible or else we will have another round of missiles on us.”

The channel remained silent. But as Edward felt his decision had failed he heard the voices of the communications officers and captains of the other ships all respond with “Aye!”. They were ready.

“Alex! Re-route the command feed to us if you can and relay our situation to Oliver and George, we are continuing as planned!” Edward called over his shoulder, his body starting to shake again, not out of fear this time but from the adrenaline and excitement tearing through his system, his mind barely able to cope with all of the chemicals running through it.

His heart was left pounding like this for a few more seconds. Come on, come on, we must be ready to fire! Before the tension was released as the RADAR yet again lit up with munitions, but this time it was of their ships firing straight into the enemy.

They must have been surprised by that he though, as the large lumbering ships failed to take any evasive action until the first railgun rounds had ripped into them. Hundreds of kilograms of tungsten disabling the Chinese Battleship Ānhuī outright as all RADAR emissions from it stopped suddenly. All power from the massive ship lost. Two Russian destroyers were also hit as the Comet’s sensors quickly picked them disintegrating. Their spines being shattered by yet more rounds. Typical Russian built quality…

The missiles were having a harder time however, as interceptor missiles from the remaining Chinese Battleships streaked out of their launchers. Their missiles in turn started to corkscrew, trying to evade all of the point defence fire travelling their way.

Radio chatter from the enemy spiked as they realised what sort of missiles they were and even without understanding the language the pure panic in their voices conveyed it all,

One missile hit, three missiles hit, another five down but still the ones left raced towards their targets until- Flashes blinded the thermal sensors across the fleet.

The Nuclear shaped charges aboard the surviving missiles had detonated right on target.

Three battleships gone in an instant. Their aft sections being torn into oblivion as the blasts created shockwaves across their metal hulls as if they were water after a rock had splashed into it. The spall of the shattered ships blasting out at supersonic speeds towards all of the ships behind them, ripping holes and shredding components with the insane speeds each fragment had.

It was pure destruction on a scale not seen before in the conflict. The power of nuclear fire that had been contained by the UN anti-missile defence grid, had finally been unleashed.

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Yet again the crew was rapped in awe, with even David’s voice dying down as he watched the sensors display the carnage that had just unfolded in front of them. “Edward, did you know we were carrying nukes?”

“N-no… Makarov said nothing about this…”

“Well, what a pleasant surprise then…”

A full third of the enemy fleet had been wiped out by that first salvo, but the battle was not over yet, and everything had gotten so much worse for them as the three remaining battleships, the Moskva, the Hǎinán and the Běijīng all started to turn. Their manoeuvring thrusters on full burn. Oh, holy mother…

“David, when the fuck are our missiles going to reload and is the railgun charged up again!? I don’t like the way those ships are moving!”

“Right, it seems like they shrugged off the EMP fast. The railgun is ready to fire again but the missiles will need a little longer-“

“Fire on the Běijīng with everything we have. Alex! Tell the fleet to scatter, now!”

“Got it!”

The ship yet again lurched, its frame groaning as the helm pushed it’s thrusters as hard as they could, making Edward’s eyes start to fill with darkness as the G-forces pulled at his body.

Alarms started to beep again as the battleships tried to get locks onto them and the ship tried to warn it’s pilot that G-forces were getting to harsh for the crew. But that didn’t matter. They needed to get out of the way and now.

“All ships, target the Hǎinán with your railgun and get missiles ready to fire on a spread between the Moskva and Hǎinán!”

Thrusters started to pop off as the ship orientated itself, strained cries between gunnery and the helm trying to coordinate as they lined the spinal railgun up again before the yell of, “Fire!”

The round streaked off, followed by the rounds of other ships, most missing but a handful hitting their target. Most hits however were not nearly as effective as the last ones. The Comet’s round hit the Běijīng right on the front, blasting into it but the behemoth kept moving. The rounds impacting the Hǎinán mostly hit it’s side, one round hitting it’s rotating habitation ring and another in it’s sensor array. It stopped, but then a flurry of missiles shot off from it.

The other two battleships followed suit, firing railguns and missiles back at their assailants.

The fleet had to move, but before it did, their RADARs managed to lock onto their targets as a counter battery of missiles responded back before the destroyers lurched again. Just in time.

Edward locked his eyes onto the RADAR display, watching, watching and hoping that their shots would hit their marks and the enemy’s wouldn’t.

“The Cromwell is hit! And the Crown! Both are down!” Alex called, his heart sinking as both of their markers turned grey on the screen, ripped apart in and instant as the rounds split their central bodies. The other railgun rounds missed however, one streaking within meters away from one of the Polish destroyers. His eyes however remained fixed on the screen.

The missiles however had not impacted yet, the two side’s munitions mingling with each other in the void between the two enemies as each side’s defences popped off. Coilgun rounds filled the space, some hitting friendly missiles in the chaos as thermals became clouded with all of the explosions and rockets motors. But still the missiles kept flying- Oh shit!

“BRACE!”

The Comet was rippled by the explosion as crewmembers were thrown about in their seats. Their belts keeping them in them and leaving bruised marks where they did.

“Damage report, NOW!”

“Missile impacted section three of the habitation ring, its completely destroyed and the ring has stopped it’s motion, our section is safe though, but the others are facing rapid decompressions!”

“What are we doing then!?” David screamed, “Get DC there now and cut off the air supply to those sections!”

“But-“

“They have enough time to scramble to our section! Anyone who can’t are currently dead.”

“Y-yes sir!”

Edward’s eyes were still fixed on the screen as the four missiles of theirs impacted.

Two into the Moskva and one into each of the others.

Four times the blinding fury of nuclear hell fire yet again blinded the void.

Each of those ships hit felt their hulls be torn apart and turned into hypersonic fragments that ripped anything that remained into dust.

Their contacts turned from red to grey with several smaller ships following. Rounds from the rest of the UN fleet kept flying, picking off stunned cruisers like deer, blinded by headlights. The entire enemy fleet paralysed from the loss of all of their capital ships.

And that was when it became too much for Edward, watching the remnants of the enemy get picked apart. His adrenaline dropped and his brain caught up with what had just happened and all the various cuts and bruises across his body finally registered as he passed out.

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