Chapter 46: Final Effort

English Channel, Europe

USS John S. McCain- US Fleet

12 Hours and 25 Minutes After Contact...

After the battle almost forty minutes ago, the USS John McCain navigated itself through the dark, cold waters of the English Channel, where it found itself near the northern exit of the Channel. The moon was full and the night was so dark that the energy waves from the shield were barely noticible. The water was calm, but was shivering cold. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer's crew was more relaxed than ever, still happy about their victory over a pursuer that chased them for an hour or more. The ammo they had left was reserved for the worst case scenerio.

Mark, Andy, and McKenzie were in the bridge with the rest of the bridge crew. Andy was steering and driving the ship while he controlled its speed. McKenzie, as always, waited next to the comms, in case the fleet called. However, it would be a little while before they turned and got more in range of Paris, which was home to one of their targets inland.

"Alright, Andy." Mark said to Andy, who was still driving the ship. "Turn us around and get us closer in range to Paris."

"Aye, aye." Andy replied to Mark, spinning the wheel fully so that the ship would fully turn around from its current course. The waves in the water got bigger as the ship made a hard u-turn. The flags above the ship fluttered in the air as it continued to turn the other direction, then setting a new course near the shores closer to Paris, which was practically the entrance to the English Channel.

"McKenzie, you got everything set?" Mark asked.

"Everything's set, sir." McKenzie answered. "All coordinates are with CIC and we got the weapons loaded and the air waves cleared."

"Very good, Mc." Marked told McKenzie. "Just make sure the air waves are..." The comms started to beep. Mark nodded and McKenzie nodded back. He picked up the radio in the bridge.

"This is the McCain." McKenzie said into the radio. He nodded and turned to Mark. "Sir, it's Admiral Finn."

"Give it here, Mc." Mark said, McKenzie handing the radio over to him. Mark cleared his throat and licked his lips. "Yes, sir?"

"Mark, we've got a problem." Admiral Finn said, looking through his binoculars. The aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, was in the middle of its naval formation with the rest of the US fleet, which was being accompanied by the remnants of the French and British naval fleets. Ahead of their route was a large tower wall, which blocked the route in between England and Scotland. "A large tower wall is blocking the route up north. We're sandwiched inbetween the shield and the wall."

An officer tapped on his shoulder and Finn moved away from his radio.

"What is it, Ronson?" Finn asked the officer, who looked confused and tired.

"Uh... Sir, there's a weird contact up ahead." the officer said to Finn. Finn's heart sank.

"What kind of contact?" Finn asked. Ronson handed over the binoculars to Finn and then pointed in the direction of the contact.

"It's in the middle of the damn night, Ronson." Finn pointed out. "How am I supposed to..." A bright, orange light then appeared over the distance of the water, coming from a large tower-like object. The waves crashed against it as the tower stood still, the orange light coming from its tip. He looked at the tower and then stared at it through his binoculars.

"My God." Finn said silently, but loud enough for Ronson to hear.

"What're your orders, sir?" Finn looked back at Ronson with a blank stare. Ronson shrugged his shoulders.

"Get the fleet ready." Finn said to him. "And, get the McCain back on the line..."

"Yes, sir." Ronson said, getting the radio. As Ronson prepped the radio, the tower shot up three glowing objects that were spinning rapidly and were shaped like shurrikens slammed on top of one another and spun rapidly. A trail of grey smoke followed.

"Get the McCain on the line, now!" Finn barked.

"Their on the line now, sir." Ronson replied, quickly handing the radio over to Admiral Finn.

McKenzie, again, picked up the radio and handed it over to Mark. Mark grabbed.

"Admiral?" Mark asked into the radio.

"Hughes, you may have incoming bogies." Admiral Finn told Mark quickly.

"How can you tell?" Mark asked the Admiral.

"We came in contact with a tower-like structure that launched three objects." Admirall Finn explained. "They may be heading for you." Mark's heart sank instantly as he heard Admiral Finn warn him. He looked back at Andy and then at McKenzie, who looked nervous after he looked back at them. Then, one of the side gunners leaned inside the bridge.

"Sir, we have incoming!" the gunner warned, then getting back on his .50 caliber machine gun, cocking it and loading it with .50 caliber rounds. Mark looked at the rest of the bridge crew.

"Clear the bridge." he said to the crew. He then looked back at the sky, then seeing three orange lights approaching the McCain and the bridge and the front of the ship. "CLEAR THE BRIDGE!" The bridge crew then scattered and rushed out of the bridge, heading down the steps and telling the rest of the crew to start evacuating. McKenzie hopped onto the comms to alert the crew of the ship.

"All hands, abandon ship!" McKenzie yelled over the comm, then being yanked out of the bridge my Mark. As they left the bridge, the objects slammed into it, shredding the bridge into small bits of metal. The loud, spinning noises it made sounded like a buzz saw, tearing into the metal. The second object smashed itself into the front auto cannon, shredding it to small bits as it started to dig into the ship deeper.

"EVERYONE, OUT OF CIC!" a sailor said as he rushed down into CIC. The crew inside rushed out of CIC as CIC started to break apart. Lacy and Riley made it out first as the rest started to get out. As Yumi followed Ulrich out of CIC, a large chunk of the stairs fell apart, making Yumi hang off of the rest of the stairs.

"Ulrich!" she yelled as she hung onto the ground. Ulrich turned to see Yumi hanging on. He offered her his hand and Yumi grabbed it. Ulrich, with his right hand, pulled Yumi from the stairwell. She kissed him softly on the lips.

"Thanks." Yumi said to Ulrich, who smiled. As they looked at each other, a large, buzzsaw-like object started to advance on them as the rest of the crew reached the deck. The orange light beamed out down the halls as it started to chew away at the halls.

"C'mon!" Yumi said, yanking Ulrich with her. They leaped over the ledges for the latch doors in the halls, then closed them to slow it down. The sound, though, could be heard beyond the doors they closed to slow it down, digging into their ears and making them terrified. But, as they reached the end of the hallway at an corridor intersection, the Shurriken Shredder breached all of the doors with their sharp points and sides.

"Oh crap." Ulrich said, the Shurriken Shredder tearing through the doors with ease. As they stared at the object, Mark and McKenzie grabbed the two kids, then tossing them aside with them as the Shredder just barely got them. Ulrich and Yumi looked up at Mark and McKenzie.

"GET UP, NOW!" Mark yelled, helping Yumi up, while McKenzie helped Ulrich up.

On the deck, all of the crewmembers leaped off of the sides of the ship with their life jackets on. The rafts and speed boats were tossed into the water with full gas tanks as the crew swam for them, other crewmembers reaching to help the others. Lacy and Riley leaped into the water, being submerged for several seconds. They swam up to the dark surface, where sailors held flashlights to help find the other sailors in the water. The two swam for one of the life rafts and was pulled up by the survivors.

The USS McCain, however, was sinking badly. The ship was breaking in two and explosions from inside blew apart some parts of the ship. As the sailors swam into the life boats, one of the Shurriken Shredders shredded into the engine room, causing a massive explosion that tore a large hole into the ship as the rear of the ship started to sink into the water.

"EVERYONE OKAY?!" Lacy asked the other sailors, who nodded. "Where's Mark and the kids?"

Mark, Yumi, and Ulrich were climbing up the rear side of the ship, hanging on as it diagnoly sank into the ocean slowly. Some of the items from the rear of the ship started to fall down into the rear side of the ship, where there was a huge hole made from the Shurriken Shredders. A Shurriken Shredder continued to chew up the ship as the three climbed as some of the parts of the ship exploded, sending bits of flamming metal pieces flying into the ocean. Black smoke rose into the night as the ship continued to slowly submerge into the freezing English Channel water. McKenzie had already jumped out the side of the ship to join Lacy, Andy, and Riley.

They then reached the rear of the ship, where they looked down. They saw the huge twin rutters still spinning. One of the rutters then broke off and then slammed into the underside of the ship, then hitting the water. The fires and explosions illuminated the night sky and water as Yumi, Mark, and Ulrich looked down into the Atlantic Ocean.

"WE'VE GOTTA JUMP!" Mark yelled over the noise, looking at the two. Both of them took deep breaths as they looked back down towards the water. Mark, Ulrich, and Yumi held their hands as they jumped into the water, a Shurriken Shredder then plowing through the rear of the destroyer just after they jumped. The three hit the water with a huge splash as the Shurriken Shredder splashed into the water about two hundred yards to their left. As they swam from the ship, the USS John S. McCain was completely destroyed, the entire ship ripped apart. The flamming wreckage then sank into the ocean, with large bits of metal and debris floating in the dark water, flames raging on the waters surface. The USS John S. McCain was sunk.