Times of War and Diplomacy

[Metaliturtle]

I think this one has been in a contest already K-man

[Kramerman]

Damn it!
The rules were so simple, yet I managed to F--- them up! Sheesh! I am amazed at my own damn uncany idiocy sometime. I better remove my nomination.

Kman

[Metaliturtle]

Don't worry about it, it's happened before

[johncmcleod]

a important but lame installment

As I said before, this chapter is a transition chapter. Don't rip on me!



Chapter 4: The End of an Era

"The Greek ships came by the thousands, appearing through the mist. The mist was the only thing that separated us from our lives before this and utter despair."
-from the journal of Harrison Madison
1st Nottingham Guard

“INVASION!!!” A pikeman screamed at the top of his lungs. “SOUND THE BELLS! SOUND THE BELLS!”

The invasion bells of Nottingham rung loudly, signaling to the next town to ring their bells, so the next town would ring their bells, and so on. In less than a couple hours all of the invasion bells of every town in Britain rung.

Meanwhile the pikemen of the 1st Nottingham Guard fortified themselves on a hill overlooking the ocean. Nottingham was surrounded by a mountain in every direction except one, north, where a hill was. The hill was the easiest way to get into the town, and the Greeks would have to fight the pikemen before they could take the town and its iron rich mountains.

As the Greek ships came close to the shore, they unloaded the swordsmen and knights into the shallow waters who advanced to the beach to the northwest of the pikemen. A couple of the pikemen jumped and went to move towards where they were landing, but the commander yelled, “Stay back. Our best chance is to defend them from up here.”

It seemed like hours to the Nottingham Guard as a seemingly endless stream of knights and swordsmen advanced towards them. When they got to the hill. They began to mass up. Finally a huge group of swordsmen advanced up the hill. The Greeks were obviously trying to save the cavalry (I don’t mean the unit, I mean mounted units) for later. The swordsmen hiked up the hill slowly, advancing towards the pikemen. When they were only about thirty feet from the pikemen, they yelled and charged.

The first wave looked as if it was knocked down by a giant baseball bat. Wait, they play cricket in Britain. A giant cricket bat. The moment a Greek soldier came close enough to a pikeman, he stabbed the Greek with his long pike. The second wave came the same way, and right as it was beaten away, a pikemen yelled, “Ha-ha! We have become elite!”

One of the pikemen, Bailey Sullivan, was doing his best not to run. At the first wave, he thrusted his pike into the chest of a Greek soldier. It went through him and out the other side. From there, he had a human tipped pike. He batted away other Greek soldiers with it, knocking them down and rolling them down the hill. He couldn’t stand it. Everything in his body and mind told him to run, but he knew he couldn’t. He fought a war within himself as the whole thing was going on. Instinct vs. Bravery.

The Greeks paused their attack. The Britons could soon see why. Hundreds of catapults fired onto the hill. The Brits didn’t think they would be a problem until the cannonballs came towards them. The cannonballs were covered in fire. They fell all around the British, setting the grass and many pikemen on fire. Other pikemen became trapped in the flames and roasted alive in their iron armor. At this moment the knights came in and began to finish the job.

Bailey wasn’t going to give up his position. A knight headed for him, with the intention of slicing his head off. The knight didn’t quite get there. Bailey thrusted his pike into the man’s chest. It went through the armor and through his heart, knocking him off the horse. Bailey then got an idea. He climbed onto the horse and charged another Greek knight. The Greek saw this and charged towards him, his sword pointing towards Bailey. The Greek galloped gallantly at his foe. Only he was abruptly stopped short as the pike went through his throat, knocking him off the horse.

Right at that moment, Bailey was knocked off his horse. A Greek knight had pushed him off. Bailey watched the knight’s horse step on the pike, breaking it. He got up. The knight began to charge him. He was about to decapitate Bailey, but Bailey threw a world class punch right at the horses jaw. The horse fell down crushing the knight’s leg under his weight. The knight screamed in pain as he was trapped and his knee was dislocated.

Bailey then went to stab the knight. He raised a pike he found into the air and-



“John!”

Crikey! The Greek’s life would be spared for the moment.

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing!”

“I’m on the computer, mom!”

“You’ve been on it for like 2 hours! Research shows that computers don’t teach you inner skills, and doing chores teaches you resiliency. So come one up, you gotta sweep the driveway.” A classic line from my mom, a high school counselor.

“Hold on a sec!”


Bailey’s pike plummeted through the man’s chest.


But Bailey’s efforts still couldn’t help turn the tide. The pikemen were almost completely overrun. He began to retreat towards the town. He heard a noise behind him. He began to turn around, but right at that moment, he was surrounded by utter blackness. He felt like he was rising away from his body. Then he heard a voice. It was his. “Wait a minute. You’re not dead yet.” He felt something grab his leg and pull him down to where he was before. It all faded out then. He thought he’d been spared, but the whole scene was only a dream…




John MacLeod stood there on the coast of the southern tip of Britain, right by Leeds. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Greece now controlled Britain.

“Come on sir. It’s time to go to new Britain.” New Britain was the island they had newly found down south and had just established a town. MacLeod watched as settlers, workers, and the remnants of the British Army loaded up onto the last galleys bound for new Britain.

MacLeod raised his sword into the air. Everyone who knew him knew it was extremely short impromptu later-to-be-famous-speech time.

“May the Lord help us clear this land of the Greek stench! The land that English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish had toiled upon for thousands of years, that had been given to them by god. Lord, help us and our posterity make every Greek soul on this continent loyal to Alexander and his sons suffer!”

He boarded a galley and stared at Britain until it finally went out of sight.



Come on people now! Please post some suggestions everybody get together, try to critique this post right now.

Only you old timers or those who have seen those get back with the 60’s CD commercials will get that lame joke.

I know you guys will tell me as a suggestion to decide wether it's an epic or comedy, but it's an epic, I just add in a couple of stupid parts here and there to lighten it up a bit. I'm not funny enough to write a full blown comedy.

[Metaliturtle]

I'm not funny enough to write a full blown comedy.

True that

[Kramerman]

Excellent!
I think I see where this story is goig now. I leave the story telling to you, it is your story, after all, but I was givin very good advice on characterization by some fellow on my thread. If I had a faster connection Id get you the link, but ,y comp is too slow. Once you go cable it is really hard to get back to 56k, its so tedious, almost painful. Anyway, check out my thread, it is one of the more recent posts where the suggestions were made, I intend to probably use them to some degree in my upcoming installments to try out the different styles.

Kman

P.S. the story itself is, good like I said above, but I didn't particularly like the mother interuption thing. But my taste in stories are those that are all in continuity, so that opinion would probably vary wildly with different people.

[Metaliturtle]

Kman bummed because it taking to long to get mega porns??

just kidding Kman

[Kramerman]

uh...only kidding... right...... porn... frustrated... uhhh... need faster connection...yes...faster...

Kman

[johncmcleod]

I’m sorry for the last installment. Hope this one is five times better, and I think this will be my best installment yet. Oh, and you can imagine what happened to the Knights of Vengeance. I can see them now, at their extraction point on a hill on the ocean next to the Greek city of Tenochtilan, fighting off hordes of Greeks, just waiting for the ships to come. And they never did come. I had to use every ship for the evacuation of Britain.

Chapter 5: A War of Changes

[Be sure to remember that through the rest of the story, the equipment, planes, tanks etc. aren’t real British planes. I made them up. This is Civ3, not real life.]

“Hello, George.” George Dickinson, MacLeod’s military advisor walked into the room.

“Hello, John.” The began their daily game of chess, MacLeod being white, as usual. “The invasion plans are now complete. The invasion will begin at your will.”

“Yes, remember that I’ve already seen them? They’re excellent plans, and the thought of Britons on that soil once again makes my spine tingle with excitement. One can tell you graduated from New Leeds Military Institute. The only problem is I’m not sure about the opening move. You see, just like chess, the opening move can be very vital.” His opening move was moving the pawn at B2 to B4. “Polish Defense. You see, our first move must cripple their chances of counterattack so there is no counterattack once they learn of the invasion. The Greek aircraft carrier Machlas is carrying three fighter squadrons and one bomber squadron, and the carrier Alexander is right by it, carrying four bomber squadrons. Once they learn of the attack, they might knock out some of our transport ships before we can land the second wave. The first thing we must do is knock out those carriers. And we will knock them out with submarines. The Greeks won’t know what hit them.” During this time, the two men had been playing a brisk chess game. “Mate in three moves,” John announced. George had fallen in a trap, and now resistance was futile. John hadn’t lost a game in hundreds of years.

John reflected back on those hundreds of years. The beginning times of New Britain had very rough. Natural disasters had damaged many towns and raging barbarians had almost destroyed them. But they made it through. And then one day, he finally realized he had eternal youth. He was 65 and yet looked like he was under 30.

“Oh, and John? Are you still sure you don’t want help from the Zulu and the Iroquois?” The Zulu, Iroquois, and British were all very good friends with each other. The Zulu and Iroquois were on two large islands next to New Britain.

“Yes, I’m sure. We must do this ourselves.


MAY 29, 1937
0451 HOURS
OFF THE COAST OF NOTTINGHAM

Two Greek sailors stood on watch, bickering with one another, and looking at the seemingly endless ocean between Greece and their biggest enemy, Britain.

“I don’t care if you have the same name as Alexander. That doesn’t make you better than everyone else,” one barked at the other. He walked off towards the other side of the ship. He was almost there when he stopped. Something white was in the water, coming right towards the ship, and closing in fast. It took him a while to finally realize what it was.

“TORPEDO IN THE WA-” He was cut off as a torpedo slammed into the ship, hitting the munitions storage area and creating a huge fireball. Another explosion, even bigger went off as the firestorm incinerated the fuel storage area.


Captain Perry looked through the periscope of his submarine at the carnage. The whole ship cheered. It was a perfect shot. The other submarine’s two torpedos hit the other carrier and sent it to the depths below. The mission was accomplished.

0514 HOURS
THE SKIES OF NEWPORT

Captain Paul Williams searched the skies for signs of Greek fighters. The mission was to clear the skies before the bombers unleashed mayhem over the Greek armor near Coventry. They hadn’t seen a single Greek aircraft in sight. The would fly to Newport and then turn around and head back for the carrier.

“ETA 15 minutes,” he announced over the radio to his other squadron members. He looked at the horizon. It was a gorgeous sunrise. But he stopped thinking about its beauty as he saw about 20 large dots coming from the rising sun. They were getting bigger, and he immediately realized what they were. “Greek bandits! Two o’clock! Engage immediately!” He banked his Grissom Lightningbolt aircraft and headed right for the Greeks. The squadron met them quickly.

The fighters met head on. Both sides shot at each other immediately, being trigger happy, for it was their first combat experience. The planes closed in on each other so fast though that no one hit anyone else. Paul pulled the steering wheel back hard, elevating until he was going parallel to the ground. He spun his aircraft so it was right side up. A Greek fighter was right in his sights.

The Greek did a hard bank turn to the left. But Paul’s reflexes were too quick for him to be shaken so easily. He banked to the left even harder. He had an inside shot at the Greek fighter. He squeezed the trigger hard, the synchronized 30mm cannon and the 4 Johnson .49 caliber wing mounted machine guns all spewing out tracers and bullets at his target. The light armored Greek aircraft could no withstand the beating. The bullets tore through the fuselage and then in the area where the wings were connected to it. The wings fell off and the fuselage broke in two. The smoking plane spiraled downwards and crashed into the ground. It was Paul’s first kill. He then did a victory roll over the town ahead of him, making sure they saw.

Once he was done, he banked hard to the left and got a Greek plane in his sights. He aimed for the center of the fuselage when he heard, “Williams! You got one on your tail!” He turned around and looked through the back of the canopy. A Greek plane was right behind him. It fired, and its tracers bounced off the wings of the plane. Paul then banked hard to the left. The Greek followed and while he was still banking Paul banked hard to the right. The Greek lost him, but got right back on him. He pulled up hard, trying to get back behind the Greek it didn’t work. The Greek seemed to know Paul’s every move. The Greek fired, and bullets bounced off the wings.

“I can’t shake him! Need backup now!” Right at that moment, Paul turned around to see a British plane though being followed by another Greek plain get right on the Greek’s six. He fired, and hit the oil tank. The plane exploded in mid air. He then managed to shake the Greek plane behind him. It was his wingman, Charlie Sullivan.

Paul then saw another Greek plane go by him. He was at a terrible angle of deflection, and he ruddered hard to the left. He immediately realized the risk didn’t pay off. He went into a fast, horizontal spin. He frantically kicked both rudder pedals and tried to stop the spin. And then the plane started going downwards a little bit. He still couldn’t gain control of the aircraft. And a he was headed for a mountain, which was so close he couldn’t see much else through his canopy.

“I’m going down!” he yelled. “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! AHHHH!!!!!” He screamed as the plane was only about one hundred feet away from the mountain. He was able to make out many small features of it. And he knew this was the end for him. His plane slammed in to the side of the rocky mountain. The oil tank exploded, leaving him and the plane only in pieces. The last thing he did was turn around and look back at the dogfight. He smiled, realizing he had done his part, he guessed. The Greeks had almost no planes left, and his squadron had lost hardly anyone. Probably only one other than himself. And then, shear blackness.

0602 HOURS
NEAR THE SKIES OF NEWPORT

1st Air Sergeant Ben Thomas, the top turret gunner, looked over at the pilot, Lieutenant Gavin O’Connor. “What’s our ETA?” He asked.

“20 minutes,” he replied.

“I can’t believe we haven’t seen any Greek fighters. Our planes must have done well.” The O’Connell Albatross shuddered a bit. As if answering his call, they heard a voice on the radio, “Enemy fighters! Twelve o’clock! Maintain formation at all costs!” And there they were, a group of Greek fighters heading right for them.

They grew larger and larger, and they got in range of the gunners of the O’Connell Albatrosses. The planes tore through the formation, firing at everything in sight. The didn’t damage much though because of the head on attack. They were in range only for a few brief seconds. They all turned around and tried attacks from different angles, most of them coming from behind.

One got Ben’s plane in his sights. He got right up behind the bomber. “We’ve got one on our tail!” The tail gunner, Jason, replied. He fired his twin .49 caliber machine guns at the Greek plane. It dodged some, but most of the bullets hit it. The Greek fired back, hitting the plane in many different places. But it was bad for the Greek more than it was bad for the bomber. It left him in a vulnerable position. Jason fired. The machine guns chewed the Greek plane apart, sending it down to the ground. Everyone on his plane cheered.

But the Greeks wouldn’t stop. Another one got behind and above the bomber, so it was out of range of the tail gunner. It was now Ben’s turn. The Greek fired, hitting the top of the plane. Ben fired back, hitting the Greek plane. The Greek came in for another pass at the same angle. Bullets tore through the bombers fuselage, but damaged nothing. Ben fired at the Greek with a fury in his eyes. The Greek plane lost a wing to the machine guns. It spun out of control and went down to the ground. The whole crew of the bomber cheered. Two kills in one minute. It must’ve been a bomber record.

“The lead bomber is dropping bombs. Let ‘em go, Harry!” The pilot announced to Harold Jennings, the bombardier. Harold got the Greek armor columns in the sights of his MacDonald bombsight. He opened the bomb bay doors and released hell over the Greek armor. He watched as his bombs and other bombs exploded on and near the Greek tanks. Scores of Greek tanks exploded, and when the bombs stopped falling, hardly any Greek tanks could be seen through the dust. The bombers began to turn around, still being pursued by the Greek fighters.

Ben’s bomber’s good luck began to end. “Greek fighters, nine o’clock,” the left waist gunner, Brian McGale announced. “I got ‘im in my sights.” He fired his .49 caliber machine gun at it. The bullets didn’t deter the Greek fighter. He poured bullets into the bomber, hitting it all over the fuselage. Three hit Brian in the face, chest, and stomach. The force of them knocked him over, and blood spattered everywhere.

“@^#*! He’s dead! Let’s get payback on those-” He was cut off as the plane shuddered. A Greek plane was going very slow and firing at them from head on, hitting the plane everywhere in the nose. One bullet went through the plexiglass and hit the pilot in the chest. He died instantly.

“We just lost Gavin!” the co-pilot, John McLaughlin yelled to the bewildered crew. It was now up to John to fly the plane, single handedly. The other members didn’t have time to grieve. More Greek fighters came in. One from behind and the other from 3 o’clock. The one from behind didn’t seem to mind the bullets Jason fired at him. The Greek unleashed hell on the bombers number 1 engine. The engine exploded. The plane then went off to the right, still undaunted by the tail gunner. The Greek then knocked out the number 4 engine.

And the Greek still wasn’t finished. He came in from 3 o’clock where the other one was. The both shot bullets through the fuselage. And they hit the right waist gunner all over. He spun around and hit the ground hard, blood spewing everywhere. Blood was now all over the surviving members of the aircraft.

But the Greek wasn’t yet done. He went down and attacked from under the plane. The crew members heard the belly turret gunner yelling curses over the radio as he tried to hit the Greek. They then heard the guns stopped. A scream came over the radio and they heard the sound of a liquid pouring over the plexiglass.

“I’m gonna get that Go-” Ben stopped as the Greek fighter came from above. Ben thirsted for vengeance. He fired at the Greek. The bullets tore through the Greek plane and hit the oil tank. It made a huge explosion, destroying the fighter in mid air, right where it was. The whole crew yelled with glee. The deaths of the other crew members had been avenged.

Meanwhile, John this whole time had been struggling to fly the crippled plane. The bombers finally made it to the carrier. But it wasn’t over yet. John still had to land it. The other bombers cleared the way for the damaged plane. John then headed for the carrier. The runway filled his window.

“You’re coming in too fast!” The radio man on the carrier yelled. John then pulled on a lever, extending the flaps. The plane stalled in mid air and landed smoothly on the carrier. It was an incredible landing.






Shoot, gotta go. Please post suggestions! Also, I need a little bit of help from you good writers such as Kman, civman, metaliturtle, and/or Grundel, and/or anyone else. You see, the rest of this chapter is about the invasion. I need to write a bunch out of it (I don’t want to just skim over a huge and very important invasion), but I don’t know how I can without just skimming over it. All I can do is just describe a bunch of battles, but then the story would be very repetitious and it would sound like the same stuff happening over and over and over again.

Also, this is the first story I’ve seen with descriptions of air combat, especially in the point of view of bombers. Are there any other stories with that? If so, put a link to them. I like reading about air combat.

[johncmcleod]

No replies in ten hours? I must've really done bad. Could you guys tell me that than rather saying nothing? I hate the suspense.

[GeneralTacticus]

Great! Only problem I have with this, though, is that you went from one time period to another a bit fast for my liking. Still excellent, though.

Also, this is the first story I’ve seen with descriptions of air combat, especially in the point of view of bombers. Are there any other stories with that? If so, put a link to them. I like reading about air combat.

I'll see what I can find. I have to go pretty soon though.

Shoot, gotta go. Please post suggestions! Also, I need a little bit of help from you good writers such as Kman, civman, metaliturtle, and/or Grundel, and/or anyone else. You see, the rest of this chapter is about the invasion. I need to write a bunch out of it (I don’t want to just skim over a huge and very important invasion), but I don’t know how I can without just skimming over it. All I can do is just describe a bunch of battles, but then the story would be very repetitious and it would sound like the same stuff happening over and over and over again.

I don't see why you would need to describe all of the battles in detail. Do one in depth and the rest in passing (maybe just do the highlights of each one). Just my two cents worth.

[Kramerman]

I don't see why you would need to describe all of the battles in detail. Do one in depth and the rest in passing (maybe just do the highlights of each one). Just my two cents worth.

I agree. What I've done and it seems to be pretty successful is to sumarize some entire campaigns, then on another level I'll sumerize some of the less important battles, and so far, I've only had one really important battle that I've needed to describe in full detail. If done correctly, I think this can potentially have the same effect as watching the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan, or all of Black Hawk Down (The book is excellent by the way, though I read it well before the movie so I dont know if I saw the movie first if it would of changed things). I don't really have this technique down yet, but I think by using alot of detail, a good mix of both dialogue and narration, very good and appropriate vocab and phrasing, and focusing on the battle through the perspective of only a few different characters then you can maybe get a "chills" effect on your readers. This is always what I am trying to achieve anyway. The battles Ive done have beeen from commanders' perspectivesw, so they include quite abit about tactics and strategy, but I fear to much of this might bogg down the story and bore the reader. I'm looking forward to being able to write a good battle scene from a soldier in the thick of battle. This is all still very "experimental" to me though, mind you, so I dont have it down to a science yet, really I barely have it as a idea.

Kman

The arieal combat scene was excellent! I think I'm goiing to use this as a model for when I get to this point in my story, if you don't mind, cause I have no idea how to do this.

[johncmcleod]

Next installment!

Ok. Here’s the next part. I’ll try to write well from the commander’s point of view, which isn’t my strong spot. I’ll also aim for much better character development. Yes, I read road cages reply and it’s very helpful. Believe me, the character development in Chapter 6 (that's a couple installments away) will be excellent. I will introduce one, maybe two more characters in that chapter. Thanks for all the comments! I appreciate every single bit of them. Oh, and yes Kman, you can use my air scenes as a foundation for another part of your story, but you must give me 2 gpt, your world map, and the secrets of the superconductor (:

Chapter 5 Part Two

“Our commanders told us of the horrors we would meet as and after we hit our former beaches. But nothing could prepare us for the experiences ahead of us.”
-from the journal of Corporal Peter Ganely
3rd Royal Marines Battalion

0657 HOURS
THE SHORES OF MANCHESTER

Private Michael McCormack pressed his rifle against he chest as the transport ship headed out for the target. He was shocked, how it all ended up. In the first place, he joined the marines just to get away from his parents. His parents, how he couldn’t stand them. All they did was nag and tell him it’s best for him to do this and that and he hated it. He guessed when you’ve lived with someone for 19 years you get sick of them.

And only a couple weeks after he made it past boot camp and was assigned to a marines unit, the war started and his battalion, the 3rd, was assigned to be the first unit to land. Though it was an honor, he knew his chances of survival were thin. The first unit in almost always gets nearly wiped out before the second unit in reinforces it.

Oh, how he missed his home, New Leeds. He didn’t care if he had to live with his parents for the rest of his life, he just didn’t want to go to battle.

His thoughts were interrupted as the doors of the transport ship opened and he looked at the plains ahead of him. He saw Greek soldiers crouched down there, waiting to shoot the invaders. The sergeant yelled for them to move out. The marines stepped out of the transport, wading in the warm and shallow waters of the ocean. Right at that time, the Greek line exploded with fire. Michael could count hundreds of muzzle flashes, mainly from machine guns. Bullets landed right and left of Michael and his comrades. Several were hit immediately. The water turned blood red.

But the marines kept on trudging towards the shores. And right at that time the battleships and destroyers opened fire. Explosions landed all over the beach, knocking out machine gun nest, snipers, and crouched Greek soldiers. Then the bombardment finally stopped. The marines went in to finish the job. They figured that the Greeks were almost eliminated. They were wrong.

The marines finally hit the beach, firing at the Greeks on the shore. Most of them were on the shore when finally all hell broke loose. The plains all around them, in a semi-circle opened fire. And at the same time, huge sounds erupted from the plains beyond them, as artillery began to pound them. The explosions landed all over the beach. Each one threw British in the air, making them do flips and then hit the ground hard, dead. Machine guns everywhere began to mow down the marines. Three marines in front of Michael got riddled with bullets. Once the first ones hit they were too stunned to move. The just stood there, as the bullets tore through there body, blood spurting out from everywhere. Michael ducked, and bullets landed all around him, but nothing hitting him.

He laid on the ground, just hoping he wouldn’t get hit. He couldn’t bring himself up to attack the enemy. He hated all of this. He just wished he was at home, not fighting. He had wanted Britain to be Britain’s again, but now, he just didn’t care. The Greeks could have it, he didn’t care, he just didn’t want to fight. He turned around and saw a sergeant hit the ground right by him, dodging bullets.

Michael heard a voice come over the sergeant’s radio. “TITAN, this is EAGLE. Status?”

“We’re under heavy fire!” the sergeant yelled over the radio. “Requesting air support! Coordinates Y-8-0-4-niner-FOXTROT-3, over!”

“Request granted. Sending air support immediately.” Michael knew that the Greeks were about to get hit bad. He knew that after most of them had been taken out he would have to advance. He laid there, waiting for the bombers to come. They finally did.

He heard the rumbling of engines over head. He looked up, and saw 3 dozen bombers coming right for them, flying low level. They flew right over him and began to drop their payload only yards ahead of him. Explosions sent the sand flying upwards right in front of him. They kept on landing farther away from him and closer to the Greeks. Finally, right were the Greeks were dozens of explosions came. They knocked the Greeks right out of their positions. Bombs landed right in trenches, machine gun nests, and barricades, killing half of the Greeks there. They finally began to run. That made it even better for the Brits. Several bombers flew right overhead of the Greeks, strafing them. Most of the Greeks fell.

And then finally, the shells from Greek artillery stopped falling. The bombers had knocked them out.

“Move out!” Major Johnson, the commander of the battalion yelled. The British advanced through the fields and formed a perimeter around the lading zone, protecting the landing infantry units from the Greeks. This part had been easy for Michael. He hadn’t seen a single Greek since the bombers took them out. He crouched there in his position, looking for the enemy. His eyes stopped as he saw something in the bushes ahead of him move. He got on his stomach and crawled to the spot. He removed the safety, fearing he might have to kill someone. Right at that moment, he saw something silver coming towards him. It was a knife. But Michael reflexes were too quick. He stepped on the knife and fired right at the bush in front of him. A Greek sniper fell out, dead.

1702 HOURS
THE BRITISH OCEAN, NEAR NEW BRITAIN

A British sailor knocked on the door of Captain James MacNair’s quarters. “The new orders from New London have just been decoded, sir.”

“Thank you.” James read the report sent from the capital. It told him of the situation. The British had just discovered a small Greek fleet headed towards New Britain. Their plan: invasion. The Greeks knew the British had left hardly anyone behind to defend New Britain. Almost all of the units were sent to invade Greece. So the Greeks’ plan was to get as many extra troops as they had together, invade New Britain and do as much damage as possible so the public might grow tired of the war. The invasion then would stop. Another reason for the plan was they might be able to divert British forces from the invasion.

The British had sent every naval unit except one to Greece to invade it. The one was James’ submarine, the Dauntless, which went out several miles off the coast. They figured because the rest of the British fleet would take out the Greeks, the Greeks wouldn’t have enough left to mount an invasion. And, if the Greeks did invade the British were close enough to New Britain to catch up with them. But the British were wrong in both assumptions. The British were annihilating the Greek navy, but they hadn’t destroyed everything yet. And the British fleet had strayed out far, chasing the remaining Greeks. They were too far away to stop the Greek fleet headed for New Britain. The Greeks were expected to reach James’ sub any moment now. It was all up to James’ submarine to stop them.

His thoughts were interrupted abruptly as he heard the voice of a sailor over the intercom. “Conn. Sonar, cavitating. I’ve got new contacts, bearings 325, 336, 321, 324, 319, and 329. Four battleships, one carrier, and one transport.” James breathed a sigh of relief. No destroyers to detect them.

He went to the weapons room to give his crew further orders. “Let’s take out the transport first,” he said to one of the sailors.

“We can’t do that sir. The battleships and carrier have surrounded it. The torpedo wouldn’t get past the battleships and carrier with their decoys.” How could I have been so stupid? James thought to himself. He knew the Greeks would form a barrier around the transport.

“Okay. Lets get them one at a time. Lets get the lead battleship, the one at 319.” The sailor set torpedo tube 3 to target the battleship at that bearing. He pressed several buttons, readying the torpedo for launch. He heard the noises coming from the torpedo room stop. James followed standard protocol by being the one to fire it. He lifted the glass case over the red FIRE button and pressed it. He heard the sound of the torpedo speeding through the water. After several seconds, the sailor announced the torpedo’s status. “Unit is running normally,” he said with a grin. They waited for what seems like an eternity. Then finally, he heard an explosion in the water.

“Conn, sonar. Explosion, bearing 307. Torpedo has detonated!” The sailor in the sonar room announced. The whole submarine cheered. They then fired a torpedo and successfully hit the carrier. It was too big for the torpedo to bite on the decoys. James then fired multiple torpedoes, all at the battleships. Unfortunately for the Greeks, only two torpedoes bit on the decoys. They followed all of the decoys, switching targets. The decoys then, automatically, went away from the Greek ships. They all did, leaving the rest of the torpedoes heading for the Greek battleships. Two went down to the bottom, joining the other battleship and carrier.

James then prepared to destroy the final battleship. But he was interrupted. “Conn, sonar, cavitating. I’ve got a new contact, bearing 080. Designated Greek class 1 destroyer.” James swore aloud. The remaining battleship was now right above the submarine, and the destroyer’s sonar now revealed where the Britons were.

“DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!” He yelled over the intercom to the helmsman. Alarms resounded through the ship. All the doors were closed and the crew made preparations for an emergency dive. The submarine began to dive at a steep angle. James stopped his thoughts as he heard a faint noise. It was an explosion above him. Right then, a deafening roar-like explosion made the whole submarine shake. Sailors all over the ship fell over. “Depth charges!” He thought aloud. Another one exploded right on top of the ship. Everyone on the ship fell over.

When James got up, he heard a dreadful sound. A clanging noise, right above him. The depth charge had bounced off the top of the submarine. James immediately knew this one would be close. “Ah, shi-” he was cut off as a deafening noise reverberated through the ship, knocking everyone over again. He heard the sound of running water. “We’ve got leaks in the quarters!” A sailor yelled. Several strong sailors all ran to the room and fixed the leak.

James yelled to one of the sailors in the weapon room. “Is there anyway we can blow them up!”

“Yes, sir but it’s not recommended to fire a torpedo when depth charges are exploding near the ship!” He yelled over the thuds of the depth charges.

“Well I don’t care! We gotta take out that battleship!” The sailor then fired a torpedo at the battleship. Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief when the torpedo made it out of the tube with out prematurely exploding. The whole ship cheered then as the battleship was hit. The explosions stopped. James then had the submarine go in towards the transport. But he then had to stop again.

“Conn, sonar, cavitating. I’ve got a new contact bearing 054. Designated class 2 Greek submarine.” James cursed at his luck. If the Greeks kept on coming, he’d run out of torpedoes.

“Conn, sonar! I’ve got a new contact bearing 053, 052, 051, 050, 049, designated torpedo!”

“Fire the decoy in tube 3 and fire the torpedo net in tube 4! ” James ordered. The crew watched over the sonar screen as the torpedo got closer and closer to the ship. It didn’t go for the decoy and it went through the torpedo net.

“All ahead full! Rudder 40 degrees left!” We’re going to go through the coral reef and hope the torpedo hit’s the coral.” The helmsman looked at the captain like he was crazy, though he followed orders. It seemed they were doomed.

The submarine sped through the coral reef, the crew praying they wouldn’t hit anything. Then finally, the torpedo hit the sides of the reef and exploded. They had been spared.

“Fire torpedo in tube 2!” James ordered.

“Torpedo in the water!” The weapons officer announced. “Unit is running normally.” The crew watched and waited as the torpedo sped for the Greek submarine. Their prayers were answered. It hit the Greek sub square on and sank it. It was now the destroyer’s turn. The Brits sent it to the bottom and then fired two torpedoes that hit and sank the transport.

1803 HOURS
NEAR THE SHORES OF MANCHESTER

Corporal Sam Wilson of the 3rd Royal Marines battalion stood in the fields near Manchester with the other his and other marine battalion. They had been there the whole day, forming a perimeter around the beaches, protecting the trucks and tanks and army infantry units that were unloading there. Nothing had happened the whole day. He hadn’t even had to use his weapon, a flamethrower the whole day. He loved being a shock trooper. Being a shock trooper took a lot of training and hard work, and was very dangerous. Flamethrowers were still in their infancy and accidents with them were common. One had already happened that day. One of the shock troopers of the his battalion had stupidly broken a rule. He was smoking while on duty. He was now ashes. But, shock troopers got a lot of respect from the other soldiers. It was something Sam never had at home.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard loud booms coming from the distance, and then explosions nearby. It was a surprise artillery attack from the Greeks at the hill nearby. “Move out! We gotta capture the artillery battery!” Major Johnson yelled. Explosions landed right and left of the marines, killing many of them. Sam realized that a fragment from one of the explosions could possibly go right through his oil tank and cause an explosion. But he knew he couldn’t stop running. More explosions hit, killing dozens of men around him. But they kept going and they finally got to the hill.

Right at that moment the pillboxes surrounding the artillery opened fire. Bullets whizzed through the air, and dozens of marines were hit. Their attack had been slowed. Right at that moment hordes of Greek soldiers came running down the hill at the disoriented marines, mopping them up. A shock trooper near Sam was hit, and his tank exploded. He hoped the same wouldn’t happen to him. He removed the safety of his flamethrower, determined to wipe out every last Greek soul there. Some of the British began to run, but it didn’t stop Sam.

He fired at a Greek soldier right in front of him. The Greek was engulfed in the flames and was killed instantly. He then ran right in front of a cluster of Greeks right in front of him. They all looked at him and raised their weapons, but it was too late. They all became covered in flames and ran around wildly. Sam then held down the trigger of his flamethrower and unleashed hell on the whole surrounding area. Dozens of Greeks were lit on fire. They could do nothing to stop him.

A few tried, though. Several surrounded him. But for some reason none of them had any weapons, not even knives. He couldn’t burn them, though, for they were too close and then flames could kill himself. He would have to use his hand to hand combat skills. They all charged at him. He punched the first one hard in the face, knocking him over. He kicked to his side at another Greek, hitting the Greek in the knee and making him fall over in pain. He grabbed another Greek’s head and threw him down to the ground behind him. Two more Greeks charged Sam, running at full speed. Sam tripped the first, sending him face first into a large rock beside him. Sam stuck his foot out and then when the Greek got there Sam grabbed the Greek’s back and flung him over, causing him to do ¾ of a front flip. The Greek landed hard on his back. All of the Greeks laid down on the ground, too much in pain to do anything. Sam ran off, back towards the center of the battle.

A marine immediately pulled him over to the foot of the hill. All the marines had been pinned down by several pillboxes. “We need you to take out those three pillboxes right there! Once that happens, we can get up the hill and take the other ones from behind!” The marine yelled over all the gunfire. “GO!!”

Sam began to climb the hill, hugging it to stay away from the gunfire. He slowly climbed it. He realized luck was on his side. None of the Greeks had even seen him. Once Sam was about 20 feet from the pillboxes, pulled the trigger of his flamethrower. The flames shot right through the opening of the pillbox, incinerating everything inside. The other two pillboxes noticed. The fired at him. Sam pressed against the side of the hill. Two bullets hit him on the helmet, making loud panging noises. He quickly looked up and fired a brief spurt into one of the pillboxes. The flames burned the men inside it, and went through a tunnel under it and ignited a cache of artillery shells. The whole top of the hill blew up, sending fragments everywhere and killing all the Greeks. Samuel was flung from the hill and landed hard on his stomach.

The explosions and gunfire then ceased. A calm went over the grasslands, but soon afterwards the whole ground moaned. Bodies were everywhere. Several marines saw Sam, the hero laying on the ground. The wind had been knocked out of him. They helped him to his feet, and he brushed himself up. “Are you all right?” They asked.

“All in a day’s work,” he replied.


Please, I beg the members of this forum for suggestions, or whatever they think about the story! I want people to tell me what they like and dislike. And most ofall, I want people to say what they think about it, whether it's bad, okay, or great. Right now, you! Yes, I'm talking to you. Don't like around at someone else. I'm talking to you. Write a reply and say what you think. No, don't wait, do it now!

[Kramerman]

This was really good. I loved the style. I got chills in a couple of parts.

A few tried, though. Several surrounded him. But for some reason none of them had any weapons, not even knives. He couldn’t burn them, though, for they were too close and then flames could kill himself

Its not really a big deal, but I just thought this was kinda weak, i mean, that these soldiers just 'happened' to not have any weapons. But im totally a realism type of guy, and this didnt seem all that 'real' to me. No biggy.

Two bullets hit him on the helmet, making loud panging noises.

This is just something real technical, but if these are kinda like WWII style, steel helmets like I invisioned while reading this story, then bullets, unless they were just barely glancing hits, would of gone straight through it. A medium powered rifle round (like AK-47 or 30-06 or something) can go through even a modern kevlar helmet if it hits at the right angle (I think it has to be at least, like 60 degrees, otherwise it would deflect.) This is just a little stupid thing though that doesn't matter. I probably shouldn't have said anything, im sure the last thing you want to hear is little pointless criticism like that.
But, I guess it could be considered a really good sign if these trivial things were the only things that i could find that I didn't like about this installment.

Keep going

Kman

[johncmcleod]

Thanks! Yeah, that one part was kinda weak. You see, it was 12:30 at night and I was thinking of that really funny part in Airplane when Kramer is at the airport and those religious guys with the flowers surround him, and I just couldn't resisit putting it in the story. I did not know that bullets would go through a steel helmet like that. I saw a part in a war movie where bullets hit someone's helmet dead on and it didn't do much. So much for hollywood. Next installment coming soon, I hope. The problem is the family reunion is coming to town, and even when I have time to write my mom will say, "JOHN!!!! OUR FAMILY IS HERE AND WE DON'T SEE THEM MUCH AT ALL AND I WANT YOU TO BE SOCIAL, SO GET OFF THAT COMPUTER!"