Chapter 62 – Defense of Hawaii Part 3

RonTheBlackCat

1032 April 15th, 2020 CE (Washington DC Time)

0432 April 15th, 2020 CE (Hawaii Time)

Somewhere in the “Pacific”

Sitting on his bed, Admiral Vaynore looked at the grey metal ceiling of his room. He had returned to his quarters for a short break. He could still hear the shouts of his ship’s crew. He whispered to himself as if in a daze. 

“... I already quit, my Leader.”

A few more minutes passed before he stopped looking at the wall and got up. 

He opened the door and walked into the brig. His officers immediately came up to him. 

“Admiral, the NN Zumlar has been sunk after 17 hits!”

“We have to find a way to attack them.”

“Admiral, what do we do?”

With the ever-diminishing number of ships, the battleships have placed themselves on the sides of the flagship, the NN Conqueror, in order to prevent it from being hit more. 

Suddenly, Admiral Vaynore had the air knocked out of him as his chest and face slammed into the floor. He got up on all fours, winced, and started coughing. Soon, sounds of panic started around him. 

“We have been hit! We have been hit!”

“There’s damage to the bottom right compartments of the ship!”

“What happened to the battleships? Weren’t they supposed to protect us?”

“The NN Valqen has been sunk!”

“Admiral, are you alright?”

With the help of one of his officers, Admiral Vaynore staggered up on his feet while still coughing. 

“I’m… fine”

After composing himself, Admiral Vaynore walked to the windows of the brig as his officers scrambled to assess the damage. Slowly turning his head from the left to the right, he took in the carnage. The light from the moon and the ship fires provided a clear view. Smoke billowed out from the battleships as multiple fires raged. A cruiser was slowly sinking into the sea. Its front end was halfway in the ocean and its back jutted out in the air. Some elves jumped into the ocean from the sinking cruiser while others on it boarded lifeboats. Tiredness washed over him. Admiral Vaynore took off his naval cap and placed it on the ledge of the window. He sighed.

“I’m stepping down from my position as Admiral. There is nothing I can do at this point. Just let an old elf die quietly.”

Vaynore turned and left. 

The officers watched with wide eyes as the Admiral walked out of the door. Pandemonium ensued. 

“What do we do?”

“Who’s in command now?”

“Vice Admiral, what do we do?”

The Vice-Admiral looked around at all the panicked officers. 

“Calm down! We still have a fleet to command.”

Then a report from one of the crew further shocked them. 

“Report! The repair crews are unable to fix the damage caused by the last hit. We are taking on water!”

There was a heavy and panicked knocking on Vaynore’s door. Vaynore felt exasperated. He had already told them that he quit. He wondered if they were just like Tarron. 

“Admiral! The ship is sinking! The damage from the last hit was too large to be contained.

“I told you already. I’m not the admiral anymore.”

“But Ad… sir, the ship is sinking. We have to evacuate.”

“... I may not be the Admiral anymore but I was only a few minutes ago. I will go down with my ship.”

Washington D.C.

President Hayes looked somewhat nervously at the screen.

“They have set their course directly for Hawaii. We must stop them here and now.”

Secretary of Defense Cralson rubbed his chin. 

“We are trying. We have destroyed a majority of their fleet but their battleships are still there. Under current calculations, it should be impossible for them to reach Hawaii before being completely wiped out.”

“Still, their battleships are quite a nuisance.”

“With enough Harpoon missiles, they will sink… eventually.” 

President Hayes closed his eyes and nodded as if coming to a decision. 

“We will need to make some changes soon.”

Somewhere in the “Pacific”

Seaman Joe Bennington watched as missile after missile was launched. In his entire time of service so far, he had never seen so many launches happening without stopping. Streaks of smoke that blanketed the night sky were illuminated every time a missile was launched. The blazing fire of a missile coming out of its tube in the middle of the night always seemed beautiful to him. 

1032 April 15th, 2020 CE (Washington DC Time)

0516 April 15th, 2020 CE (Hawaii Time)

Oceans near the Magus Imperium 

Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Halbert Johnson, in command of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, viewed the deck of his aircraft carrier. 

“Admiral, the entire surrounding area should be clear. Nothing is coming up on the radar.”

“Good. Make sure it stays that way.”

They had already engaged multiple submarine and destroyer patrols. The fleet sent to clear the seas near the Magus Imperium had suffered little to no damage whilst inflicting heavy casualties on the elves. 

“Seems like the amphibious assault ships are arriving.”

Magus Imperium

Issac sat down on a rock near the beach. His squadmates were loitering around. In front of them, bulldozers and diggers were piling up dirt. Engineers were setting up the buildings and infrastructure. 

In their haste to retreat from the Magus Imperium, the elves were unable to destroy everything. The most important structure of all to the Americans were the ports that the elves had been building in order to transport in new supplies and units. The Army Corps of Engineers was now busy modernizing the ports that the elves had left behind. In preparation for D-Day II, it was vital that these ports were able to accommodate a large bulk of the US Army and Navy. Most of the US Army was already located in the Magus Imperium so it made much more sense to use these ports to invade the elf’s homeland. 

1052 April 15th, 2020 CE (Washington DC Time)

0452 April 15th, 2020 CE (Hawaii Time)

Somewhere in the “Pacific”

The NN Conqueror started listing to the side. Objects in Vaynore’s room started sliding forward. Shouts of his last remaining sailors could still be heard as they ran to board the lifeboats. A knock sounded on his door. Vaynore felt annoyed. 

“What?”

“Sir, are you sure you don’t want to evacuate?”

“I have already said so. I will go down with my ship.”

There was a short silence before the elf behind the door spoke.

“Understood, sir.”

The room had been tilted to an extreme degree but Vaynore could still sit on his bed. Water started seeping in through the bottom of the door. He sighed.

I should have stayed home.

The survivors on the lifeboats watched as the NN Conqueror was slowly enveloped by water. 

On the NN Ulahice, the survivors climbed out of their lifeboats and were helped onto the ship. The officers of the NN Conqueror also gathered there since it seemed the safest. The NN Ulahice was the least damaged out of all the remaining battleships. It had only been hit 6 times. In the brig, the officers bickered about their next step.

“I propose that we retreat!”

“Retreating will bring shame on the Navy!”

“Then what do you want us to do? Just continue straight to our deaths? We are doing nothing more than walking off a cliff at this point!”

“I already brought up the idea. We should split our forces so the humans can’t target us all. Being in one blob is making us easy prey. I have no idea why the Admiral didn’t allow us to do this.”

A few minutes later 

The remaining ships in the Elven fleet all started moving apart. Ships in the center continued forward while the ones on the right and left flanks turned towards their direction.

The missiles being fired were almost all ASROC missiles. A seemingly endless stream of elven submarines was showing up on radar. Los Angeles-class submarines had also gotten within range and were firing their torpedoes. 

S-57

“The 7th Submarine Flotilla has faced heavy casualties. S-22 has been sunk! S-156 has been sunk! S-74 has been sunk! S-80 has bee…”

An endless report of losses came streaming in. The Captain bit his finger. He screamed in frustration. 

“Have we found their ships yet?!”

“No, Captain.”

“We are being shot out like literal fishes in a barrel. We have no idea where they are firing from but they seem to know perfectly where we are.” 

Somewhere in the “Pacific”

The officers of the NN Conqueror looked at each other hostilely. 

“They are still sinking us! Splitting up didn’t do anything to help. In fact, it might have worsened it.”

The three groups have been moving farther and farther apart from each other but the attacks still continued on all of them.

Then, another explosion rocked the NN Ulahice. Objects started sliding to the right. Although it started off minor, there now was an obvious listing to the right. 

“Abandon ship! We are sinking!”

One of the officers slammed his fist on the table. 

A few minutes later

“...we don’t have any ships left.”

On the lifeboat, the elves watched as the NN Ulahice quickly toppled to the right. Its tower splashed into the ocean and the keel could be seen out of the water. Before long, it was completely upside down and quickly submerging. Now only debris and the wide expanse of the ocean surrounded them. Not a single warship was in sight. 

Washington D.C. 

“All enemy surface vessels have been destroyed. There are still a few remaining groups of submarines but I can almost confidently declare that we have prevented the elves from reaching Hawaii or doing any major damage.”

President Hayes started clapping. In a flash, everyone was cheering and applauding in the Situation Room. 

“A bit premature but it has been a stressful few hours for everyone.”

S-57 

A magiradio operator who had been trying to contact the surface fleet for the last 20 minutes looked back at his Captain.

“We have lost all contact with the main fleet.”

“They are lost aren’t they…”

The Captain knew that the surface fleet had been taking a beating. He didn’t expect them to be destroyed so fast. 

“Give me the magiradio. I need to directly talk with the Commanders of the other submarines.”

The magiradio operator handed it over to him. 

<<<“This is Captain Gorwin Olaroris speaking. I would like the attention of all flotilla commanding officers.”>>>

The S-57 was the flagship submarine of the entire submarine fleet that was present. The surviving Commanders or Lieutenant Commanders of the various submarine flotillas that made up the fleet acknowledged Captain Olaroris.

<<<“I have just lost contact with the main fleet. With deep consideration of the mounting losses and having no clear picture of where the enemy is, I have decided to announce a complete retreat. If you have any opposition to this, please speak up now.”>>>

None of the commanders opposed. Having already lost a total of around 50 submarines, each surviving flotilla had already been heavily battered.