RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 41-3: Flight of the Polar Bears (Part 3)

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 41-3: Flight of the Polar Bears (Part 3)

With Taranto still being on the dark side of the Earth currently, one can even see it ablaze in outer space. Truly, the amount of incendiary bombs dropped by the B-40s has been much, much overkill for a harbor that is, while no doubt large for the current period, is still on a smaller scale when compared to the ones in Belka. Regardless, the sudden firebombing has woken up the Sardegnians, sending them either burning to fine crisps or acting like headless chickens.

"E-Enemy air attack! Enemy air attack! Commence AA fire!"

What's left of the triple-As the Sardegnians still have available are directed upward, firing blindly while searchlights try to acquire a target... Any target, to be exact. Tracers light up the scorching night sky but unfortunately...

"Stop! Stop! You're firing at the dock!"

Yeah, the situation is very sub-optimal for the Sardegnian AA crews. Good luck spotting something flying at 14 kilometers in the air, much less shooting at any of them.

Yet, the guns and searchlights frantically do their best to stave off the inevitable. Even still, the bombs just keep on falling, and these bombs are not the dumb bombs that were dropped on the harbor earlier.

Cutting through the upper decks like a hot knife through butter, a bunker-busting JDAM quickly finds purchase in the aft magazine of the RN Vittorio Veneto, the flagship of Sardegna's Alexander Fleet. The combined explosion from a 1000 kg JDAM and the magazine for the C-turret's 381mm guns completely shear off 1/3 of the Littorio-class battleship. The major explosion lit up a large swath of the sea as smoke and flame billowed out high into the air, mixing with the ongoing burning of Taranto itself. Without being able to get underway, the flagship of the fleet is now sinking aft first in the bay, much to the horror of the remaining vessels in the harbor.

"What in God's name was that!?"

"W-We need to get out of here! We're sitting ducks!"

"All remaining vessels! Break harbor and sail out to open water, now!"

"Sir! The Conte di Cavour is still stuck in drydock!"

"We can't save her! She was bombed and without an entire engine compartment when she was drydocked!"

"I don't care whether you have full supplies or not. Just get your ass out of Taranto!"

"That barge over there! Move it! I know you want to get out of here but that battleship is valuable!"

Scenes like that are a dime in dozens at whatever crews that were in charge of the night shift of these warships struggle to get their vessels underway. The chaotic mess of a harbor easily induced further anarchy when, in their haste, a Sardegnian destroyer lost control and ram one of its own. The speeding vessel cuts the other's nose off as both sides suffer catastrophic damage.

Fortunately or soon to be unfortunately for the other Sardegnian ships, nearly half of them manage to make it out of the death trap of a bay. The other ships are either still stuck in the bay or are bombed and incapacitated or sinking. Leading the formation of the survivor is none other than the last Littorio-class battleship of the Alexander Fleet, the Littorio herself. Pushing forth at flank speed alongside the other light cruisers and destroyers in the formation, Littorio barely goes 2 kilometers away from Taranto when disaster strikes.

Previously laid down by Group 3 of the 509th Bomber Wing, the 200 CAPTOR mines are now anchored to the ocean floor and completely block the naval access point in and out of Taranto. A CAPTOR mine is a nifty piece of equipment, conjured up as a way of reducing the cost of a minefield while upping the chance of a sure-kill or crippling strike on an enemy target. It uses a 533mm Mk48 torpedo contained in an aluminum shell and can be placed by either aircraft, submarine, or surface vessel. The CAPTOR, once placed, can last anywhere from weeks to months underwater. The mine uses Reliable Acoustic Path (RAP) sound propagation to passively identify and track the difference between hostile and friendly signatures. Once the CAPTOR identifies an enemy, the torpedo leaves its casing, activating passive/active acoustic homing, snake, or circle search to find and destroy the target. And because the torpedo from a CAPTOR will be attacking a vessel from deep underwater, it will most certainly bypass the thick anti-torpedo protection that is common on most battleships.

"Roger that. Let's swing Enola around for a good look."

Being dropped at the maximum altitude a B-40 Polar Bear can climb to, the Cloudmakers can easily break the supersonic barrier. Their names are derived from the fact that just before they break that esteemed border, the bombs are covered up in misty clouds. That and the fact that when a Cloudmaker detonates, it generates a mushroom cloud that rivals that of a tactical WMD. Arguably, deploying Cloudmakers will be much cheaper than using actual WMDs. However, their size and weight are the only limiting factors, being that they're only deployable by Polar Bears. The 30-kiloton Orkan Torpedo that was used to decimate the Erusean Home Fleet was both lighter and much easier to field on multiple platforms than the Cloudmakers.

There are pros and cons for everything, but right now, it's better to focus on the fact that our Cloudmakers just broke the sound barrier. They're fast on track to deliver a good nogging to the Sardegnians below.

Before the sonic booming can even be heard by anyone, the first bomb, the Big-bada-boom, punches through the thick layers of soil and concrete roofing like nobody's business. It's followed by Wipeout Whitney, the second bomb, a mere second later. The two bombs collectively create a small earthquake when they hit the ground, but they are not done yet, not even close.

Big-bada-boom pierces through the roof first, and before the debris and dirt from above can even come pouring down, the bomb makes a purchase with an unlucky Sardegnian submarine. The newly constructed Brin-class submarine is cleaved in half when the Big-bada-boom goes from her conning tower and through the bottom of her hull before finally hitting the shallow seafloor below. Wipeout Whitney though, goes for a much gentler journey, tentatively, hitting and penetrating through the floors of a barrack. The sheer kinetic force of Whitney causes the barrack to collapse on itself. But before the Sardegnians even have the chance to register what's happening, the bombs explode when their programmable fuzes activate the detonators.

In the confined space of the cavern system, the two bombs detonate into earth-shattering blasts. First, the combined shockwave obliterates any non-reinforced objects, which include human bodies, in the entire naval base before quaking the very foundation of the entire area, causing countless fractures and crevices to form, weakening the structural integrity of the entire base. Then comes the blast itself that destroys buildings, supporting pillars, and even the munitions that are stored in the vicinity. In particular, Big-bada-boom explodes the torpedoes of the Brin-class submarine, causing further chain reactions that quickly spread over to other docked vessels. The numerous explosions, when added up with the deterioration of the base's foundation and roofing, make the entire site collapse atop itself.

The roof comes down first, with tons upon tons of material crushing whatever's still left beneath them. Then, due to Big-bada-boom detonating right at the seafloor, the foundation starts sliding down into the sea due to the added weight, having lost whatever footing it used to have. The landslide then spills into the dock, engulfing the heavily damaged or destroyed ships before running into the open sea, thus completely sealing the cavern system. In short, the entire Sardegnian base is buried alive. It has to be said, however, that most if not all the humans inside the base have perished due to the initial shockwave as they're in a very confined space. Thus sparing them from the fate of being buried alive, lucky them.

From high above, what's left of the base is just a smoldering indiscernible landmass. Indeed, while the explosion isn't as spectacular as when the Cloudmakers explode above ground, the underground movement effect is still a sight to behold that one wouldn't dare to miss out on. Only when they are not on the receiving end though.

"That's a confirmed total destruction. And we've caught it on Ultra HD too. Yeah, I think we're done here, chief."

"Yeah, I can see the good effect, alright. The bastards didn't even stand a chance." The pilot commented. "Rather, being deep below ground gave them no chance at all to survive the Cloudmakers. Alright, radio this in. Enola May is RTB-ing after a successful bomb run. Now we got something to brag with the others back home."

Surprisingly, it's the co-pilot that adds. "This is but a slight warning for Sardegna. No doubt we will be flying many trips later."

"Then it's a good thing my recorder can be made into a permanent feature then." The defensive system officer smirked.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with any of the Enola's systems." The flight engineer warned.

"Say, you think we will be able to engage any enemy patrol fighters or something." The defensive officer asked in a hopeful tone.

Unfortunately for him, the return flight will be an uneventful one, save for the banters they have. After all, not a single aircraft that the Sardegnians have can reach their altitude, much less try to intercept them.