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The Last Mission

Pacific Ocean

Time: Unknown

Mission: Classified

Ship(s): USS New Jersey, USS Missouri

The weather was on the verge of raging, but only the sea showed no signed of easing. The sky was grey and the air was cold. Captain Edwards of the USS New Jersey looked out on the horizon. His face showed no real emotion, but inside his mind, he was somewhat glad he was taking his ship out to sea on a real mission. What that mission was, was anybody's guess, everyone's except his. He alone had been called to a top secret meeting with a member of the UN security console. The mission was to assist the sister ship to the New Jersey. That was it. He was told he would be briefed on the situation upon radio contact with the Missouri.

Like the Missouri, the New Jersey is a World War 2 Era Battle Ship. With nine, sixteen inch guns in three triple gun turrets, four, five inch guns, four phalanx missile defense systems, Harpoon Launch pods, and Tomahawk Launch boxes. From the sixteen inch shells to the missiles the New Jersey was loaded for bear. And just like the Missouri, its museum contract expired and the Navy needed warships in easy-to-return-to-somewhat-active-service condition.

Captain Edwards smiled at the thought of his ship's capability. From the day he walked her decks as a kid when she was a museum ship, Edwards longed for the day he would be put in command of a ship like her. In his personal opinion, Carriers were easy targets, Submarines were Steel coffins, and the rest of the Navy was too reliant on Missiles and five inch guns.

"Besides, only the Carriers come close to looking as nice as the New Jersey, or any battleship for that matter." Edwards remarked to no one in particular.

"Ship on the horizon!" shouted one of the officers on deck.

"It's the Missouri no doubt; try to make radio contact. After contact, route it through to my cabin." Edwards ordered.

"Yes sir" said the lieutenant.

The crew was downsized compared to its World War 2 configuration, but it was larger than its last overhaul configuration.

Captain Edwards made his way to his cabin. As much as I wanted to take command of this ship, I was kind of hoping to take it against a target less advanced than a submarine that holds just about every card; even brute force like the shells we fire. He thought.

What Sailors and Marines who hadn't deserted or too unstable to handle combat, had be stationed on the New Jersey, but almost everyone on that ship was still getting used to their duties, since most were transferred from computer ships that were laid up after the lockdown. While some of the crew was permanently stationed to his ship, most were circulated for either training or refreshing their Analog vessel training.

I knew computers would cripple us somehow; that'll teach the upper brass for being too modern. You'd think their rank would come with enough experience to have back up plans should the original one fail. Especially when computers are involved. Oh well, I guess that's the reason why I've only been one of the lower brass for a while now. I'm just too outspoken and too logical. At least they put me in command of one of the finest ships afloat. Or maybe they think a quiet job like this is perfect for me since in theory I'm not supposed to take this ship into combat.

At this point Edwards had reached his cabin and took one last look up the corridor at all the men rushing this way and that. There was a sense of urgency among their actions. They knew something was up.

As he entered his cabin, the radio phone when off.

"Captain Ling sir" said the radioman

"Thank you Ensign" said the Captain.

He picked up the phone and went through the usual introductions and formal greetings. Then it came down to business. The plan of attack would be to launch a small strike force of three soldiers and on ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle). The ROV would be escorted by the team into a server room that contains one of the AI's (…)Liquid is using to infiltrate the system. (Edwards had no idea about the Microwave hallway in which only one of the members would go.) Upon entering, the ROV would upload a virus into the server that would effectively destroy the AI.

The plan was somewhat simple. While the team would be infiltrating the enemy vessel, Outer Haven, the Missouri and the New Jersey would be attacking the vessel itself. Captain Edwards had the easy job. All he had to do was keep his cool, and send orders throughout the ship. The only few things that could go wrong were the worst case scenarios. The first being that the ship would sink, the second being either most of the crew or all of them panic and abandon ship.

After his briefing with Captain Mei Ling, Edwards made his way to back to the bridge. He still had a somewhat down-cast look on his face, but he didn't let his mind wander on his way back. He stayed focused.

"Enemy Vessel breaking the surface" said a sailor

"Someone had better call the captain to the bridge" said the Lieutenant

"No need; I'm right here" Edwards said.

"Captain on deck" said someone.

"At ease, at ease. Someone put me on the speakers."

Someone flipped a few switches and gave him a phone as Edwards slowly made his way to the General Quarters siren.

He nodded to the men and he set off the siren and gave the orders:

"General Quarters All Hands! Man Your Battle Stations! This is not a Drill! I repeat this is Not a Drill!" A phrase that many a Captain dreads. Before he even put the phone back on to the receiver he heard the sounds of footsteps of men moving to their stations.

The battle had begun.

The Missouri fired first. Its shots were heard clearly on the other side of the Arsenal Gear class submarine.

The damage was minimal.

"All guns locked at enemy vessel. A waiting orders sir." Said another officer

Captain Edwards sighed and said "Fire"

And at that all nine of the New Jersey's big guns fired.

Once again minimal damage against Arsenal Gear.

"Missiles Inbound!" screamed and watchman

"Commence Phalanx Fire." Ordered Edwards in a cool tone.

Bullets flew out of the anti-missile systems. The bullets hit head on with the missiles causing a fireworks display.

"Start up the five-inch guns and put up some flak for those missile to hit. The more shells we have going against the missiles, the lower the chance of us being hit." Ordered the captain.

At this moment a missile went off just off the starboard side.

"Damage Report!" ordered Edwards

"Very minor flooding in the lower compartments. A few concussions and some exterior damage, Sir."

"Put her in some evasive maneuvers, but I want at least one turret on them." Ordered Captain Edwards. His sense of cool was still there, but the somewhat quiet voice was gone and a strong voice with a hint of hostility took its place.

"Yes Sir!" replied the navigation officer "All ahead slow! 15 degrees to Port!"

Edwards felt his ship sway under his feet. He braced himself for the turn when suddenly there was a lurch that sent the ship rolling hard to port.

"Straighten her out and ahead full" ordered Captain Edwards

Before he even finished the last word, a giant finned thing appeared on top of turret number one determined to put it out of commission. Turret two had been brought to the forward facing position for the maneuver and had all three guns facing the thing.

"Fire Turret 2!" ordered the captain

And at this the top half of the thing was blasted apart. The rest of it slid back into the sea.

"What was that thing sir?" asked the radio man?

"Metal Gear Ray." Edwards replied

"Metal Gear Ray?" asked the weapons officer

"Metal Gear Ray was a Top Secret undertaking by the US Navy and the US Marines." Edwards explained "It was to be controlled by an AI and was designed with the idea of taking out copies of its predecessor; REX. But the Big Shell incident led it to be scrapped due to public backlash and the government's response to said backlash. That giant submarine was also to be a new addition the Navy. It was to fall under the Arsenal Gear Class submarine, but once again after the Big Shell incident it too was scrapped."

"But if both programs were scrapped, then how can either of these be?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but for right now, let's shoot first, ask questions later."

At this turret 1 aimed at the open hatch on the submarine and let off a salvo.

No damage to the rail gun but some minor explosions said that some IRVINGs (Gekko) were destroyed.

"Sir! Message from the Missouri!" called the radio man

"And?" Edwards inquired.

"It says that the strike team is halfway to the objective."

Edwards stared at the submarine.

"Ask if there is any chance of the team speeding up."

"Yes sir."

Edwards looked at the battlefield. Missiles were flying all over the place, flak was everywhere, as were tracer rounds; Metal Gear Ray was all over the place and the turrets were mostly busy focusing on them instead of the Arsenal Gear Class sub.

Now there was a new sight on the battlefield. Small crafts were approaching both vessels.

"Metal Gear Ray, Missiles, and now Liquid's elite troops. See if those Bofors still work and aim them at the small craft, and also have one of the five inch gun turrets fire at them too."

"Aye sir" said an Ensign and rushed off with the new orders.

"Request to ram them sir?" asked the second in command

"Denied. It's barbaric and a last resort. Have the Marines stationed get read to repel the boarders." Ordered Captain Edwards

"Aye sir." Said the second in command and turned to give orders to another ensign on the bridge.

Enemy or not, it just wasn't viable to try and ram something small.

Edwards un-holstered his pistol and checked it over quickly.

"Sir!" called the radioman "Report from the Missouri! Strike Team has made it to the server room. They are uploading the virus now."

Before Edwards could respond, shots were fired nearby. A few marines rushed through and took positions by the door. Bullets flew in both directions. Edwards took cover and shot towards the enemy. Three shots flew from his gun, two connected with their target. But it didn't flinch. It just kept on firing back. One of the Marines took a hit to the arm and went down.

Edwards grabbed a small medical kit nearby and dove pass the door frame to aid the wounded soldier. It was a shoulder wound. He's live, but he was out for the battle.

Edwards slid the fallen marine over as far as he could and replaced his Captain's hat with the Marines helmet and started to return fire.

After his pistol ammo had been expended, he picked up the Marine's M4 Carbine. It had been a few years since he had been in any kind of combat, but just like riding a bike, you can never forget.

"Barricade the other door with whatever we have that isn't important right now." Ordered Edwards "I don't want to risk being flanked."

In any other situation, he would fall back to a better position, but since it was the bridge there was no other option than to defend.

Burst after burst, Edwards shot. It seemed as soon as one went down another took its place.

"Hand me some frag Grenades" he ordered.

He ripped one of the pins and tossed the whole lot down towards the FROG soldiers. At that he shoved the door shut and bolted it shut.

"I want two guns on that door at all times." He ordered "Fire turret 2!"

He said this as Metal Gear Ray was about to strike the turret. Its Arms or at least the limbs that it wasn't standing on were blown off and knocked it off balance

Everything was starting to happen at once. Metal Gear was all over the place. More and more soldiers were pouring out of the sub fast. And the Both battleships were taking a beating. Some Gekko that had piggybacked on a Metal Gear Ray had boarded and they were moving too fast to be killed. Nothing they had was effective or mobile enough to kill them. One jumped to the bridge and smashed its bullet proof window as if it were paper. Then it held back a bit to let Mini-Gekko through. At this point it was too much. Bullets were flying and Edwards was pinned by a Mini-Gekko. Then as if it couldn't get any worse. It stopped.

Metal Gear Ray were going belly up. Gekkos fell from the upper decks and into the sea, while their mini counter parts simply rolled all over the place. But they had the better half of the deal, the soldiers we on the ground screaming in agony, vomiting, or just plain passed out on the ground.

"Sir!" called a new radioman (the other had been knocked out when a Metal Gear Ray had jumped onto the deck. "Message from the Missouri! Its Over! We've won!"

The sailor could barely contain himself in his excitement.

Edwards looked at the battlefield. His ship was damaged but nothing that wasn't fixable. The Missouri also needed to be repaired but it wasn't anything that would affect its combat effectiveness. He gave a small smile for the victory but thought about those who had been lost on both sides. The enemy was the enemy, but even the enemy had life before war.

"Ensign" called Edwards "Get me the Missouri on the radio."

Then he had a thought as the radioman started calling the Missouri.

"Actually, get a launch ready. What I need to say to her is too important for the radio."

"Aye sir."

He made his way to the launch and took only two guards with him since he wanted to make sure his ship was safe from any kind of uprising.

It was only a minute until he had cast off the launch and was on his way to the Missouri.

The battle is over, as is the war, but who are the winners and the losers?