Song Hau River, South of Long Xuyen, Vietnam.
New Jersey smirked in satisfaction as she watched Kitty Hawk's Jets take the Human MIG's by surprise, there was no way the Human craft could have differentiated the Phantoms from regular Abyssal craft until they'd sped up after launching their opening salvo of sidewinder's. Though the enemy craft were surprisingly slippery, as she watched two of them outmaneuvered Hawk's craft while the third drew the majority off, flying low as they looped towards them. New Jersey turned towards the Carrier next to her, "What do you think they are up to? They can't hope to actually hit us." Jersey was very aware of the scrambling effect all Abyssal vessels shared against human technology, and had several times used it to devastating effect.
Kitty shrugged, her automated phalanx turrets already rotating to deal with the pests, before the lightweight 21's abruptly turned down the river, heading North as they flew low enough to disturb the lake water under them as the F-4B's took the obvious opening to get on their tail from above, they were still flying dangerously close to the water chasing them as they disappeared behind the slight bend in the river ahead of them.
"They are likely drawing my Phantoms into contact with the other two squadrons I detected over the City itself. Pointless, the only weapons they could ever hope to hit them with is their nose cannons or an unguided missile. They will be trying to hit an object going as fast as them the size of a kite. Having six more planes trying won't make much of a difference." The Carrier finally said, words punctuated as the MIG occupying the majority of her fighters finally wasn't able to turn fast enough, briefly making a new sun as several air-to-air missiles caught up with it. Jersey nodded a bit hesitantly, aerial combat was not where her strength lay. New Jersey raised her forces on the radio, it was time for the surface vessels to advance.
"DesDiv squadrons 1 through 3, advance at combat speed, Ri-12, direct them. Engage the defenders and await further orders."
"Yes Battleship-Hime! you can count on us!" Ri-12 acknowledged. The ships began to accelerate, breaking off from the main force as they moved ahead of the main group.
"You realize they are likely entering a Killzone, right?" Jersey nodded absently to Hawk's question, before responding;
"Obviously, Charlie has had an entire year to fortify, and we are advancing without a softening saturation bombardment, it's likely they will run smack into whatever tricks the enemy has prepared." Jersey finally looked over, to see Kitty Hawk's raised brow.
"Sometimes the best way to disable a trap is to spring it."
Song Hau River West Embankment, South of Long Xuyen, Vietnam.
Corporal Huei refocused the periscope on his 9K111 Fagot where he lay, piles of brush raked up to conceal his position as he lay in waiting with the rest of the men. The anti-tank missile system didn't have fancy optics, most of the tech involved going into the wire guidance system. One of the privates next to him on lookout whispered softly, hand periscope swiveled out beyond the Corporals view, prone as he was. "The enemy is sending in their surface ships, at least twelve destroyers and a Cruiser." That couldn't be all of them, but enough to set the city ablaze regardless if unopposed. The sergeant behind them, Phin Gai, silently radioed the Captain for orders. The next few moments were spent in heartstopping anxiety, everyone waiting for the enemy to fall into the trap.
The sergeant got off the horn, speaking up, "Orders are to wait until the first mine goes off. The tanks near Northern Mỹ Thạnh already have them within sight. We'll unleash upon them all at once then reposition once they are burning wrecks, Understood?"
A chorus of "Ya"s followed, as the first Destroyers approached the minefield. Huei let out several deep breaths as he steadied his hands, opening his mouth slightly and covering his ears before the first Sea mine went off, the Destroyer who'd struck it flinched back in the water, now missing several teeth as it began to take on water in one of its compartments. The rest of the formation cruised to a halt in confusion, but not before another three mines were set off. Similarly damaging the ships that ran into them.
A long whistle sounded from behind, before; "OPEN FIRE!"
The fusillade was intense and immediate, a good majority of the fire aimed at the Ri-class, who managed to dodge most of the Konkur rounds due to her small size and movement, before being hit several times center mass by the wire-guided missiles, Huie's among them. The Corporal didn't bother to wait for the smoke to clear, already scrambling to put another missile in the tube as several Destroyers were bracketed by fire from the Chinese Type 51's downriver. The tanks, relying on visual targeting, missed many of their shots. But what HEAT rounds actually managed to connect penetrated the Destroyers armor like it didn't exist, blowing fist-sized holes through their hulls before blossoming inside, turning several inner compartments into confetti and causing several to begin billowing smoke. one even stopped moving entirely, having had its bridge or boiler hit by the weapons.
The Destroyers began to wheel around, spraying Anti-Air fire into the embankment as they readied their 5" cannons. "Shoot again! Again! Don't let them fir-" The sergeant was cut off as a 7.7mm round took him in the throat, almost decapitating him. Huei, meanwhile, had finished reloading his launcher, bringing up his sights again and putting a missile into a Destroyer as the firing became staggered, many forced into cover or wounded from the massed type-89 fire peppering the ground around them. The smoke had cleared from their initial volley, the Ri-class had several finger-sized crumpled holes in her limbs and torso, and had started to billow a black, greasy smoke from most of them. The Cruiser, however, was still very much active. Sending a reactionary shot from her 8" triple mount into the embankment as her smaller 6" rapid-fire batteries began to rake along the shore.
Two of the rounds impacted near the gun-line entrenched on the embankment, the third sailing harmlessly overhead to smash a building to the West into kindling. The two 110kg rounds of high explosive blew large chunks out of the platoon's position, practically evaporating those that were caught within in blast radius. Several men on the outskirts, Irregulars wearing little to no ear protection, screamed as they writhed on the ground, eardrums ruptured. The Corporal steadied his breath, firing his third rocket in the past minute at the Cruiser. Calmly guiding the missile as it streaked towards the creature as it steadied itself for a more stabilized shot. The missile took it just under its 8" mount, and a massive internal explosion rocked the ship. The Ri's arm flying off as its Rigging on that side detonated. Must have hit the turrets internal magazine.
The Type 51's guns sounded again. taking out another two Destroyers as the vessels pounded the oversized (now under-sized) platoon with 5" shells, reaping a terrible toll themselves as the humans fought and died at their posts while reinforcements streamed in from the cover of the buildings, throwing themselves onto the emplaced weapons to continue firing. The Ri, meanwhile, had recovered from the magazine detonation. Her right hand clutching at where her left arm terminated at the shoulder as she seemed to be screaming at herself.
Song Hau River, South of Long Xuyen, Vietnam.
New Jersey switched the channel, the Ri's panicked screaming all the confirmation she needed. "Ru-7, 9, 2 " three-round 16" burst from each of you on-grid reference 9.3759° North, 105.4185° East, high explosive, over." Kitty Hawk spoke up as the battleships to the south opened fire.
"Didn't you want the City intact?" Jersey just grunted at her, watching the plumes of smoke and dirt begin to rise to the North before eventually replying;
"Truthfully? No, I don't, I want the Command center in my grasp before we begin dismantling this ...Nest. Mỹ Thới is a suburb, not part of the City proper. I'm hardly going to lose intel by blowing up a few empty buildings in the outskirts." The Carrier made a hum of acknowledgment as Jersey raised her Carriers, "The MIG's have been drawn off from your forces, you are free to break up your flights into individual fire missions as you see fit. Avoid striking the main enemy HQ and surrounding area. Focus on suppression of the enemy flack weapons and heavy armor, once they are done, target any large concentrations of civilians or entrenched infantry with your mark 47 incendiaries."
"Yes Battleship-Him-!" Jersey cut the channel before they could say anything stupid to annoy her. She switched to the main group's channel;
"Alright you lot, we are moving North, the vanguard blunted the enemy forwards positions, and Ri-12 has kindly informed us of a Naval minefield hidden in the river, advance at combat speed." The ships began to pick up speed as New Jersey turned to Kitty Hawk. "I assume your Sea kings can help with the mines?"
Remember to leave reviews! I like reading people's feedback. Anyway, on with the AU:
The wire-guided and HEAT rounds, when they actually manage to connect, seem to puncture lighter Abyssal class's armor quite handily, the problem, it appears, is that when the shots hit, they are reduced in size and power relative to the mass of the ship it's striking, meaning a round is perfectly effective at penetration, and will likely turn an inner compartment into a death box and cause fires, but unless it hits something vital like a magazine, bridge or boiler, the ship's damage control teams can likely keep the fires down and ship running as normal. Then you have the problem of return fire.
