June 4, 1942

[Jaguar]

Entirely game-based. Except the battle lasted several turns and wasn’t quite as dramatic. A note: I know F-15s, Migs, and Harriers don’t all quite match up chronologically, but I am having them all be Jet Fighters. Zeros are the Japanese carrier-based plane. They are regular fighters civ3-wise. Japan wasn’t doing as well as the other three nations. Last note: History geeks will notice something about the title.


The F-15s took off, one after another. The USS Arizona and the Apache, the last remaining American carriers, held 100 of the American jet fighters each. The British ships HMS Southampton and HMS Norwich each held 120 Harrier jets. And all 440 of these planes were taking off, in a last act of desperation to save the world. The brave pilots knew the odds were staggeringly against them, but still each pilot ran their plane down the runway without hesitation. They had no fear.

Perhaps it was because there wasn’t anything to lose. If they didn’t stop Russia now, there would be no reason left to live. The Japanese, Americans, and British all believed in freedom. Most Russians didn’t know what it was. The three brave remaining democracies would hold strong to the end.

Or perhaps it was because of the way many things worked out like the David and Goliath story. Russia used to be a small country that was applauded for its military skill when it was fighting for survival. It was cheered for when its Musketmen bravely fended off German Panzers, and nobody minded when their Cossacks invaded Germany as retribution. People were happy that the bully was being punished, and couldn’t help rooting for poor downtrodden Russia.

But then it systematically destroyed every other country on the continent. When they took Rome, nobody objected, because they weren’t Roman. And when they took Egypt, the world didn’t object, because they weren’t Egyptian. And then they took France. And the Aztec homeland. And slowly Russia transformed from the beloved little underdog to the owner of 2/3 of the tanks in the world. But now that they were the great menace, they had become cowards. Their soldiers were seen chasing the remaining Greek Hoplites in T-34s because they were too scared to leave the safety of their tanks. David had become Goliath.

America, England, and Japan were now engaging the Soviet Navy in a last attempt to save the world from communism. This battle for naval superiority would decide the war. Without a navy, Russia wouldn’t be able to send reinforcements to the Greek and Iroquois continents, and they would most likely lose them to revolt. Japan and America could do their oil for rubber trades without interference. And the Russian Airforce wouldn’t be able to hit the Allied homelands without their carriers. So slingshot in hand, David marched forward to face Goliath, and the American-British fleet sailed forward.

[WTE_OzWolf]

Excellent start...keep it coming.

[civman2000]

great! What's significant about the title, other than being 2 years before d-day?

[cbraund]

Well Pearl Harbour was December 7th 1941, but I can't think what happened on June 4 of the next year...

Anyway, great story!

Chris

[GeneralTacticus]

Midway?

[cbraund]

Ah, of course!

I'm a bit dumb when it comes to the Pacific war!

Chris

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
Midway?

Yep, this guy is good.

Sorry about being late; I had written a gigantic installment, with an illustration to boot, and then apolyton did its damn "The image needs to be 600x0 to be allowed" thing. Anyway, my story got wiped out. But I'm back, and writing right now.

[Jaguar]

Chris Faulk’s F-15 picked up speed, roaring down the runway of the Arizona. He eased the throttle back, and the plane angled itself upward, into the air. He looked back at the array of ships in the combined fleet. It looked quite impressive, even though the Soviets had by far the larger armada. Although the numbers of destroyers and subs were nearly equal, Russia had ten battleships compared to the Allied five. It also had six aircraft carriers to the Allied four, although one Russian carrier was fortunately in port for repairs. Catherine, the Soviet leader, seemed to like big ships better, which, a 17 year veteran Navy pilot would know, could be a fatal mistake. The Allied plan capitalized on the mistake. He was reminded of the plan over the radio.

All of the Harriers and F-15s were to head for the Russian destroyers immediately, only engaging in combat with the Migs if they absolutely had to. They would not go after the Petlayakov PE 8 Soviet bombers either. They were supposed to damage the destroyers as best they could. Then the Allied fleet would finish them off. Then the Allied Ray Class submarines would be able to take on the outdated Russian subs, and then wreak havoc on the battleships, which were abysmal at anti-sub defense. After the destroyers were all gone, or enough under control, the fighters were to go for the Migs, and try to hold out until the huge Japanese carrier Kagoshima arrived and the 200 Zeros it had on board reinforced the British and American sea-based airforce. The fighters were promised that the cruiser Kemelevya would be taken by a wolfpack of subs, so it would not be a threat. They would only have to evade the Migs.

All right, so the plan was risky. So it had a 1 in 20 chance of working, assuming nothing went wrong. But when Chris looked back on the impressive Allied fleet, he couldn’t help feeling like the chances were more…

[Space05us]

where did you get the picture from??

[Jaguar]

Empire Earth - Its got an awesome editor so its easy to make screenshots. It's 3d, including going underwater, it has 3-4 times the number of units civ3 has, and more terrain options.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Space05us
where did you get the picture from??

By the way, that's bad grammar.

[/]

[beno]

full steam ahead

[SomeOneElse]

nice, very nice

btw, off topic, i know, but is empire earth worth getting?

[Jaguar]

Hehe, this thread has slowly gotten more and more threadjacked... but I think EE is worth it. Its better than AOE by far, and although I didn't like AOE that much, EE is better by so much that I consider it to be worth it.

EE has 14 ages, and slightly more units. (There are far less to each age, but EE has so many ages in comparison.) You'll spend 5-10 playing hours just exploring. Maybe another 5-10 playing with the scenario editor. There are a lot of great fan-made scenarios, and also four campaigns.

[Jaguar]

Migs. The first sign of the Russian Counterattack. There were four Soviet jets screaming down on him. He had a friendly Harrier near him, so it was an easy two-on four. His hand glided across the controls. He armed four sidewinders. The fourth Mig was hit before the first one hit the water.

In his early years of flying, he would hesitate before sending someone down to their death. Now that he was 36, firing the weapons was a reflex. He had spent half his life killing Russians, but he rarely thought about that sort of thing. More often he would think about relevant things to the situation, such as the six more Migs that were trying to head him off.

He saw that another F-15 had pulled up behind the Harrier and himself. It looked like a newbie, so Chris considered it more of a two on six than a three on six. He quickly glanced to his right, seeing the British jet fire several air to air rockets. He sent two sidewinders after them. Then he concetrated on the Russian fire. Two missiles to dodge. He headed fast upwards to dodge, because if he dove, the debris falling from the damaged Migs would hit him.

He looked behind him. Three of the Migs were still in the air, but the newbie's plane wasn't. He saw the parachute heading into the icy cold waters, prolonging its passengers death. But he kept focused. He should see the leading Soviet destroyers any minute...