"So what, you're some sort of elf princess?" The commander in charge of the base questioned as Princess Iasnë stood before him, accompanied by Marco and Craig since she snuck into their billet.
"Indeed. I'm here on my own accord and have been living amongst the various human civilizations for years now. Yours intrigues me greatly."
The commander was not amused or expecting an elf to literally sneak into their base undetected. He was still puzzled how she got in without anyone sounding the alert. This new world was indeed strange but better compared to Earth as it was before they left. "So what exactly are you doing in our base, and how did you even sneak in?"
"I came to extend my gratitude to my savior here." She grinned flirtatiously at Marco who cleared his throat and shifted uncertainly. The Corps had prepared him for many things. But it had never prepared him for elves. "As for how I snuck in, let's just say I have some abilities you would be most unfamiliar with. Also I wish to hopefully bring my people back into the world from isolation."
"Isolation? Where exactly do you come from miss?"
Iasnë smiled. "From an island down south. We've set up a magic generated barrier to keep outsiders out and leave us in peace. We've been living on the island for many years isolated and I must say, this world is very different from what I was told a hundred years ago as a young one."
The two marines and the commander stuttered at the elves sentence. "Wait what? How old are you miss?"
"One hundred and twenty five years old. I'm rather young for elf standards." Iasnë said calmly while Marco and Craig looked like they were about to loose their shit and the commander planted his face into his desk and sighed.
"Given what I know from elves in fiction, that really shouldn't have surprised me. I'm guessing you would like to meet face to face with our commander in chief?"
"If that's who you refer to as your leader than yes, I would like to speak with your leader." Iasnë said before the desk phone rang, interrupting the commander from what he was going to say before answering it.
"Commander Simons of FOB Charlie responding...come again...understood...roger, thank you for alerting me of this." He hanged up and his face became serious as he initiated the alert switch, sounding alarms across the base as everyone was confused for a second. He dialed another number to contact the officer in charge of the airbase and dockyard.
He issued a full launch of all available aircraft capable of anti-ship combat as well as a full deployment of the fleet assigned to the base, including the New Jersey which was docked in harbor presently. "We got hostile ships inbound. Those Brits have finally done it."
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The sounding of alarms coming from the base startled the Criterrian inhabitants along the coast as they noticed the sudden increase in activity. Soon after the sounds of continuous thunder reached them when F-22X and F-15EX fighters began taking off and flying north. The signs were clear, something had provoked and alerted the Americans.
The fog horns of the USS New Jersey and her escorts of destroyers echoed across the shore as they departed from their docks, alerting fishing and merchant ships to get out the way or risk being crushed by the impending metal hulls.
At present, the US was tracking two separate fleets, one heading for Criterria and the other towards the US mainland. All ships accounted were wind powered and at full sails. The fleet headed for Criterria consisted of over five hundred ships and the one for the mainland consisted of over a thousand vessels.
The USS Nimitz was off shore on patrol with her escorts of four Arleigh Burke destroyers and single Ticonderoga cruiser. She would hold her current position and launch her air wings of F/A-181s and MQ-47Bs to strike the incoming fleet with air power.
A three ship destroyer squadron lead by the USS Kidd was on patrol and reassigned to intercept the incoming fleet, sending warnings to hopefully deter their course. Should the ships disregard or show hostilities, all assets would have free engagement on all ships. "Ships sighted skipper. Definitely sailboats." The XO alerted the captain who was on bridge and looking through binoculars to spot the ships himself.
"Weps, bring Aegis online and acquire target solutions. Launch our hawk to send them a warning."
"Aye Captain." The three destroyers steamed ahead as they faced off against the much larger fleet of five hundred offending ships. No doubt the three destroyers lacked enough munitions to destroy all ships, but with support from Charlie base, the New Jersey and Nimitz they would get them all if needed.
From the rear of the Kidd, one of it's SH-60s began powering up it's engines and starting it's rotors. The helo began to ascend from the deck and fly towards the Britannians to carry out it's warning message. "General quarters! We are at general quarters!"
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"Grand Admiral! Three American ships spotted approaching south!" A seaman shouted as the destroyers were now visible to the Britannian sailors. The fleet was of five hundred and sixty one ships in total. Four hundred ships-of-the-line, fifty frigates, forty brigantines. Fifty schooners, and twenty wyvern carriers carrying twenty of the Empire's wyverns each. All lead by the two hundred gun ship-of-the-line HMS Greatness.
"Perhaps a patrol fleet. They must've found us by mistake. Continue our course, we will sink them once we cross paths!" Grand Admiral Dylan Black ordered as the fleet maintained course and continued sailing to Criterria.
It was when the sound of propellor blades spinning in the air reached them that they did respond as the SH-60 Seahawk approached. "This is the United States Naval warship Kidd, you are approaching waters under the protection of the United States Navy! Turn around or you will be marked as hostile!" The onboard speakers blared out as Admiral Dylan growled.
"Send our wyverns up to destroy that craft! We will not be backing down under orders by them!"
From one of the carriers, five wyverns took flight to attack the helicopter as the pilot and copilot both spotted the wing beasts and panicked, trying to pull away. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
The helo was too slow as one of the wyverns latched on but was struck by the main propellor, getting cut up and ruining the rotor as the aircraft began to smoke and lose control. Another wyvern flew up and grabbed the choppers tail, getting injured by the smaller propeller but ripping off the tail as the Seahawk began to spin and fall helplessly to the ocean.
"Ah shit! Mayday, mayday! Angel two-one is struck and going down! Repeat, we're going down!" The four airmen inside braced themselves before the chopper splashed into the ocean surface, the remaining four wyverns flying about in search of survivors while the crew tried to escape the sinking craft.
The Captain watched through his binoculars as the Seahawk was brought down by the winged beasts. This set alight a burning fire which increased in intensity as the survivors emerged from the ocean, only to dive back down to avoid being picked up by swooping wyverns. "CIC, target those wyverns and kill them. Then engage the enemy ships at your leisure. Sink them all."
One of the VLS cells swung open as a single missile flew out. Mid flight, the missile separated into five separate missiles as they screamed towards the wyverns harassing the airmen in the water trying to survive. Before either beast or rider was able to notice, four missiles smashed into the winged beasts in explosions that killed them all, with the fifth being reassigned to target one of the smaller boats as it slammed into a schooner and sunk it in an explosion.
"What in the name of gods! Did that ship launch explosive arrows?" Admiral Dylan questioned before the other two destroyers joined in, firing anti-ship missiles from their VLS as they arched towards the Britannian ship.
Five missiles struck, and two frigates, one brigantine, and two ships-of-the-line were sunk in fiery explosions. "Spread the fleet out! Take evasive actions! Launch all wyverns from our carriers!" The wyvern carrier was based off the hull of a frigate, with two large platforms expanded along the port and starboard for holding of wyverns. A total of thee hundred and eighty wyverns were launched as one of the carriers was struck by a missile and sunk. The wing beasts appeared as a dark cloud advancing on the destroyers.
The Aegis system accounted them and began calculating targeting solutions for proper engagement. The SeaRAM and VLS fired missiles at the wyverns and all three ships combined killed over one hundred wyverns in the joint attack.
The Admiral and crew of the HMS Greatness could only watch in utter horror as a large fraction of their wyvern force was blasted away like mere flies. The surviving wyverns regrouped and flew off to attack the destroyers and dived.
"Aerial contacts inbound! Helm take evasive action!" The Kidd and her sisters increased speed and began splitting off as their CIWS batteries opened up and began spewing 20mm rounds up into the sky at the opposing wyverns.
The Mark 45 main gun opened up and began firing 5in anti-air shells up at the attacking wyverns at each shot created a plume of smoke as wyverns were ripped apart by the fragmentation. A few men outside the bridge manned the .50 calibers to assist as they fired up at the beasts. They weren't as effective as the destroyers' other weapons but they gave more for the wyverns to dodge and worry about.
The wyverns made their attack runs as the air defenses struggled to handle the vast amount of air contacts. Fireballs were unleashed at the metal ships, with most ineffectively missing while some were able to strike the hull. "Skipper we're hit! No major damage!" The fireballs were only able to melt small holes into the hull as the destroyers continued to operate normally and fight on.
Another attack of VLS managed to kill another fifty wyverns before suddenly and unexpectedly the sky split open, and with it a thousand small metal balls scattered into the flock of wyverns and ripped a majority of them apart before disintegrating.
The remaining wyverns were in moment of shock as well as the Britannian fleet while the crew of the destroyers grinned. Only one type of vessel had a weapon of that sort.
The USS New Jersey had joined the fight.
From the Horizon, the mighty battleship readied another canister shell and fired, the magnetic railing accelerating the projectile out of the barrel at hyper sonic speeds as a plasma flare erupted around it mid flight.
Within seconds, the shell was upon the wyverns before it broke apart and unleashed another thousand steel balls, shredding another large quantity of wyverns and leaving only fifteen left flying.
"What in the gods' name kind of ship is that?" Admiral Dylan spoke horrified and astonished as he spotted the approaching fleet of more warships, with what he could only describe as a monster leading the smaller ones.
The remaining wyverns attempted to retreat back to their fleet before missiles flew from the east and nailed them all down in balls of fire. Followed by an air wing of four F/A-181 Black Wasp IIs with two more air wings following behind, launched from the Nimitz carrier.
The jets circled around and reorientated towards the Britannian vessels with air-to-ship missiles and bombs at the ready. The ships were exposed and defenseless with their wyverns having been killed off. "Helm, evasive action! Now!" The admiral ordered before the jets began unleashing their ordinance.
The first missile smashed into the HMS Greatness, piercing through the top deck, and erupting in a devastating ball of fire. The explosion nearly ripped the ship in half but caused secondary explosions to occur as magazines full of gunpowder detonated and ripped the ship apart and set it on fire.
Crew began to jump off the sides and into the water as the ship was no longer sea worthy and was sinking to the bottom. Admiral Dylan was among the survivors as he surfaced and looked around at the battle, if it could be called a battle, taking place.
His ships were being annihilated all around him, with bombs striking and magazines detonating as wood and debris were sent flying in all directions into the ocean water.
MQ-47Bs flew in and dropped both their bombs before flying back to the carrier, sinking several ships in the process with direct hits.
More planes thundered above as F-15EX Super Eagles and F-22X Super Raptors joined the fight and began dropping missiles and bombs. Within minutes, the entire fleet of five hundred and sixty ships was cut down to just under a hundred still afloat. Some ships tried to ditch the battle realizing this to all be a lost cause. The last ship-of-the-line tried to flee from the slaughter, but it wouldn't get far as an HE shell from the New Jersey struck and obliterated the fleeting vessel, turning it into splinters and toothpicks.
This wasn't even a battle, it was a one sided slaughter.
Once the fire and smoke had settled, the entire Britannian fleet was in ruins, with ships split in half, half submerged, or in thousands of pieces as sailors swam for anything that could be used as a makeshift raft, while others drowned beneath the waves.
Some of the wreckage was still burning as it billowed the sky above with smoke, bringing in the sense of utter defeat to the horrified sailors who were just previously sailing a in a proud navy.
Seeing as the battle was over, the US jets disengaged and returned to their respective carrier and airfield, while the New Jersey and the destroyer squadron began launching Seahawks and inflatable craft to commence search and rescue. One of the Seahawks flew above the still sinking wreckage of it's downed sibling as it picked up the surviving airmen bring them on board shivering from the cold ocean.
The other helos and boats drove into the wreckage of ships as they began extracting and taking prisoner any survivors they found. There were not as many as expected as a majority of all sailors died in the battle or drowned under the sea.
While this was going down, the other Britannian fleet was faring no better as they faced off against Uncle Sam's latest weapon of mass destruction.
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The sea trails for the latest battleship were a success as far as any were concern. Only a few minor problems occurred with the ship's digital systems acting up due to glitches. But after a bit of software patching, the ship ran smoothly with little difficulty.
The Montana was an absolute beast, handled and felt like one even. The waves simply gave way as she sailed along the ocean, like a hot knife through butter. After multiple series of rigorous tests, all the small issues had been sorted out and smoothened, making the ship run near perfectly.
Her reactors were running at full efficiency, her guns worked naturally, and her systems ran nominally. Should any dare threaten the states she had the teeth to deter and tear them apart.
Unexpectedly however, that time would come sooner than expected as she received an emergency message from Northern Naval Command.
As it would turn out, the Britannians had attempted an attack on FOB Charlie at Criterria, having been intercepted by friendly vessels in the region and shown to have hostile intentions.
Command believed this fleet to have similar intentions and the Montana, now the flagship of 8th Battleship Strike Group, was to have her sea trials cut short and engage the enemy fleet in actual combat. A trial by fire as many would call it as the new and inexperienced battleship altered it's course to engage the enemy.
First she had to meet up with a resupply ship to rearm all her weapons for combat as she was initially sailing half empty on munitions during her trials. Now resupplied she was fully armed and operational, ready to take the fight along with the 6th Carrier Strike Group, 1st Battleship Strike Group, 4th Destroyer Squadron, and the 99th Destroyer Squadron with all three Zumwalt class railgun destroyers now in operation. An arsenal bird was also being directed to assist the naval forces should they require any drone support.
"Enemy surface contacts detected on radar commander, bearing zero-one-zero, range fifty six nautical miles, at speeds of nine to ten knots."
"Aegis is tracking a total count of one thousand two hundred and sixty vessels in total. Possible wyvern contacts if our ships up at Criterria encountered those wyvern carriers."
Commander Ryder in charge of the new battleship and her escort detail absorbed all the information being fed to him as he acknowledged the threat present. "Bring us to general quarters, prepare for ship to ship combat."
"General quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battle stations! This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill!" The announcement sounded an additional three times as alarms were going off all around the ship, alerting the sailors to their battle stations as the ship was made ready for combat.
"Weps, arm all main batteries and gain target acquisition for VLS, cruise missiles."
At his orders, the men and women stationed in the CIC bridge got to work acquiring weapons lock on the enemy warships. The escort fleet made up of two Sumter class cruisers, six Arleigh Burke destroyers, and two Constellation frigates were conducting similar operations as they targeted the enemy fleet.
"Master arm armed sir, ready to fire on demand."
"Fire at will."
With authorization given, the Montana's VLS cells flung open and unleashed a massive volley of fifty cruise missiles towards the enemy ships. Her escorts did the same as they fired their VLS cells and launch anti-ship missiles that screamed towards the unsuspecting Britannians who were oblivious to the incoming attack.
Over a hundred missiles were airborne, intent on causing destruction and grief upon the foes of the United States Navy.
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The largest fleet ever procured by the Royal Navy yet was sailing proudly, waving atop their masts the banners of their great empire. Five hundred ships-of-the-line, four hundred frigates, three hundred brigantines, and fifty wyvern carriers lead by ten two hundred gun ships-of-the-line.
It was an extreme feat of naval dominance as the Empire took great pride in it's ability to produce high quality warships in mass, with over a hundred shipyards active and constantly developing a brand new ship to add to his majesty's ever expanding navy.
They sailed unopposed, unchallenged, a feeling of invulnerability swept over them as they sailed to their intended target. Until that feeling shattered with a sound of thunder as several ships exploded out of the blue, spitting apart and catching fire as crew were forced to abandon ship and jump into the freezing cold waters below.
"Bloody hell! What happened?" The Grand Admiral in charge asked as he looked out at the burning wreckage of what used to be his ships. Other vessels that were traveling behind tried to get out of the way, with some ending up crashing into other vessels or getting stuck on the wreckage blocking their path.
A large section of the fleet was in utter chaos as the Grand Admiral ordered a full stop to the entire fleet. "Gather the survivors and figure out what happened." He ordered, without knowing he turned his entire fleet into sitting ducks that were easy pickings. "Send a telegram and contact the other fleet. Alert them of our situation and to send us their status report."
More ships suddenly erupted with explosions as great balls of fire bellowed out and ripped each ship in half. "Sir! Some men are reporting they saw flying arrows hit the ships!" A sailor called out as the Admiral was left stumped.
"That's preposterous, no arrow can hold that kind of destructive power! Where did these so called 'arrows' even come from?"
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"Commander, Captain Rodgers of the Missouri just contacted. They're in weapons range with all batteries primed. Enterprise is launching strike fighters and the Arsenal Bird is standing by with drone support. The Zumwalts are also in firing position."
"Send contact to the Missouri and all other ships. We're engaging with full broadside." The Montana adjusted her course and brought her starboard side to bare, revealing her four main gun batteries and secondary batteries as they swung around and aimed their barrels up to fire upon the Britannian fleet.
The Missouri was doing the same maneuver as well as the 99th Destroyer Squadron, though the Missouri had only 16in railguns and the Zumwalts with only 6in.
"Fire at will."
The starboard and main guns of the Montana erupted with an echoing boom as sixteen inch and six inch HE shells flung out with a burst of plasma generated by their velocity upon exiting the barrel, traveling at hyper sonic speeds as they homed in on their targets, demonstrating the ship's over the horizon strike capability with her guns.
The Missouri and Zumwalt destroyers conducted their own over the horizon attack as F/A-181s from the Enterprise unleashed their missiles that scream off towards the Britannian warships below.
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"Admiral! We have lights on the horizon!" A sailor shouted as he and several other crew men spotted streaks of light reach up towards the sky.
Everyone was mesmerized and wondering what it meant. Was it a sign or message from the gods? However the Grand Admiral had other thoughts as his eyes went cold, a chill running down his neck as he watched the lights rise up then begin to descend. "Get the ships moving! Get the ships moving! Launch all wyverns!" He shouted his commands before the streaks of light flew in at extreme velocity and smashed into multiple ships.
One of the fleet's two hundred gun ship-of-the-line was struck by one of the lights before being pulverized into oblivion by a large explosion. Five wyvern carriers were also struck as they were engulfed in a plume of fire before any of their wyverns could take off.
The wyverns of the remaining forty five carriers were able to take off as nine hundred wyverns dotted the sky above the fleet, believing they were safe from the onslaught occurring to their ships.
How wrong they were as they became detectable on multiple radars and targeted by anti-air weapons, missiles launched from destroyers as they raced towards the winged beasts with the intent to kill.
Their fleet was quickly reduced to under eight hundred warships, with ship wrecks going up in flames and survivors struggling to stay afloat on makeshift rafts. Everyone was now alert and confused by what was occurring, with ships blowing up from streaks of light, to flying arrows buzzing about. Just what exactly was sinking their warships?
From the south and west, missiles came flying in and began downing all the wyverns in a flurry of explosions. The remaining wyverns were able to notice the incoming doom and attempted to evade, but the arrows followed and still struck them in a blazing heat of fire and shrapnel.
Six hundred wyverns were downed by the missiles as the Missouri and Montana switched ammo types, going for their canister anti-air rounds as their railguns fired up into the swarm of wyverns.
Several thousand pellets combined created a massive cloud of molten hot steel balls as they tore apart the remaining winged beast in a single joint attack. What remained of them fell from the sky and crashed into the ocean or on ships that were still afloat. "By the gods! What kind of sorcery is this? Is this the wrath of the gods we're facing?"
"Admiral! We're not receiving any response from the other fleet!" An officer reported as the Grand Admiral's blood ran cold.
"It's the Americans, they knew we were coming! But how?" He was thrown of his feat as the ship next to his was split in half by an explosion, sending shrapnel and burning debris in all directions as it slowly sank into the ocean.
"We're losing too many ship! Send telegram to Naval HQ! We've been engaged by the Americans and have suffered heavy casualties by long ranged attacks! All ships full retreat!"
The remaining ships altered course in a desperate attempt to retreat and regroup from the onslaught, leaving behind the survivors who were shouting desperately at the ships to come back.
However despite their altered course, the US was still attacking as railgun shells and missiles continued to hammer them. Eight hundred was reduced to just under two hundred, with more ships sinking by the second as the Americans were unrelenting in their attacks. However the US warships had decided to move in closer to reveal themselves to the fleeing wooden vessels as they continued to attack.
The Montana and her escorts were off their starboard, the Missouri her fleet on their rear, and the Zumwalt fleet on their port. "They're gaining on us sir! We're not going to make it!" The helm shouted in a panicked manor as another ship was engulfed in a fiery explosion followed by secondaries from the magazine.
The thought crossed the Admiral's mind as he bared witness to the destruction of the largest fleet the Empire has ever conjured, all under his command. "We've lost this battle long before it even began. We've angered a sleeping giant, and filled him with a dreadful hatred and lust for blood."
That was the last thought the Admiral ever had as a single shot from one of the Montana's guns struck his vessel, obliterating it and him as well. What remained of the once mighty fleet of the Great Britannian Empire sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Thousands of lives lost in both battles, with thousands more to die in the war that had only just begun.
The beast had been awakened, and it would bring down a fiery wrath upon those who dare disturb it.