What's in a name? Notice anything about the names of some of the Officers and COs? They're almost all names of important people for the two world wars and before.

Good Guys

Patton - General George Patton of the US Third Army, World War 2, fought and defeated Rommel in North Africa. (He's my favorite)
Montgomery - General 'Monty' Montgomery of Great Britain, fought in N. Africa and constantly in competition with Patton for glory in the invasion of Sicily and Italy.
Nimitz - Admiral Nimitz, US Navy, fought in the pacific war.
Bishop - Billy Bishop, Canadian WW1 flying ace
Nelson - Admiral Nelson, Defeated Napoleons fleet at Trafalgar

Bad Guys
Rommel - Field Marshal Rommel, brilliant german Tank corp commander who swept across N. Africa and almost wiped out the British presence until he had his butt handed to him by Patton and Montgomery.
Mata - Mata Hari, famous showgirl/ Spy
Tojo - Tojo, ruled Japan during WW2
Yamamoto - Japanese Fleet Admiral, responsible for taking over much of the US pacific territories.

Red Fire

An hour later Romanov stood in the now brightly lit command center looking over maps. Surrounding him was the commanders of the various forces in the Red Army. Patton, commander of the armored divisions. Bishop, commander of the skies. Montgomery, commander of the infantry. And Nimitz, admiral of the warfleets. They spent the last hour planning the perfect strategy to wipe out Tojos division, only to have their job made easier when their scouts reported in.
"Sirs!" A soldier cried out as she dashed into the command center, "We just recieved a report from one of out scouts, The Grey Ash army is retreating to Green Earth!"
"This is good" Romanov said, "Now Operation Red Dawn is going to happen for sure"
"So Yellow Comet is free?" Sonja asked, emerging from where she had been standing.
"What are you doing here, this is top secret!" Patton snapped.
"Calm down General" Romanov said, looking over at Sonja, "How long have you been there?"
"About forty five minutes, would have been here sooner but I couldn't remember my way around" Sonja said.
"Some information officer you are" Romanov smirked, there was something about this girl that intrigued him, "So far all the information I've heard from you has been faulty"
"Um sir, what are we going to do?" Bishop asked.
"Right, I want you all to get rested up tonight and tomorrow in preparation for Red Dawn" Romanov said, "Except you Nimitz, I want you to take the first, second and fourth fleets and intercept that Grey Ash fleet I was talking about earlier"
"Yes sir" Nimitz said, "I'll terminate them with extreme prejudice."
"Always your style" Romanov said, "Dismissed."
The commanders filed out for a nights rest before they would sweep through Yellow Comet and prepare to invade Green Earth. Romanov shut the lights off and walked out, followed by Sonja.
"Where do you get off insulting my abilities as an information officer!" Sonja exclaimed, "I happen to be the best information officer on this side of the world!"
"Then I feel sorry for this half of the world." Romanov said, grinning while facing away from Sonja, he was really enjoying this.
"What! How dare you!" Sonja snapped, hearing some laughter, "Why are you laughing."
"You're making this too easy for me" Romanov said, "But I'll give you a chance to prove how good you are"
"How?" Sonja asked.
"A competition, you tell me the information you've gathered on me already and I'll tell you what I know about you" Romanov said, staring her in the eyes, "You go ahead first."
"Fine!" Sonja said, "Your name is Romanov, CO of the Red Army, formerly the first attack wave of the nation of Red Fire, You have a twin brother named Niko who betrayed your country. You are an accomplished sword fighter and an expert military strategist, is that enough?"
"That's nothing" Romanov said, "Your name is Sonja, you are eighteen years old and the youngest CO in Yellow Comet history. Your father is Kanbei, emperor of Yellow Comet. You are an expert at using computers and have an intense fear of bugs. Your CO powers allow your units extended line of sight in fog of war situation and allows vision into forested areas from distances. While in highschool you spent your free time at home on your computer rather than going out with friends and getting involved in highschool romances. You are trained in various martial arts styles. Your childhood dream was to dance ballet but you left that behind to follow your fathers footsteps. You sleep with a stuffed cat named Foobles. Your measurements are..."
"Whoa! where the hell did you get all that!" Sonja exclaimed, shocked that Romanov could have gotten all that in such a short time.
"Easy, I hacked your computer systems and copied the entire database" Romanov said, "The security system was a joke."
"I designed that system!" Sonja snapped, as Romanov started chuckling again, "And stop laughing at me!"
"I must thank you, I haven't laughed this hard in years" Romanov said, walking off towards his quarters, "I suggest you get to sleep as well, tomorrow we must prepare to end the threat of Grey Ash for good."
"I can't believe him! Insulting me like that!" Sonja fumed as she made her way back the the quarters she and Sami we offered.
"What's wrong?" Sami asked from the chair she was sitting on as Sonja stormed in and plopped down in front of a computer.
"Tell me, how good am I at collecting information?" Sonja asked.
"You're the best, no one can best you" Sami said, "You know that"
"I'll show Romanov whose security features are better." Sonja said, "He made a mockery out of me"
"Explain" Sami said, suddenly interested.
"He challenged me to a duel, my info on him versus his on me, I had almost nothing he had everything, even my measurements!" Sonja exclaimed, beginning the process of attempting to hack into the Red Army databases.
"Sounds like he likes you if he went that far" Sami snickered, "Ain't that cute, some one has a crush on little Sonja."
"I highly doubt that" Sonja said, thinking she had cracked into the database, "HA! That was simple!"
"I think he knew you would try this" Sami snickered as the words 'Welcome to Pong' came up on the screen.
"Damn him!" Sonja screamed.
"Calm down, why is it such a big deal?" Sami asked.
"It's a big deal because...because... I don't know why!" Sonja exclaimed, "It just is!"
"You're just trying to impress him" Sami said.
"I am not!" Sonja snapped heading for the door.
"Where are you going now?" Sami asked.
"To get some information" Sonja said, leaving the room.
"I hope she doesn't do anything stupid" Sami said, "That's Andy's job"

Sonja walked through Red Alpha looking for the medical center. After asking several helpful red soldiers she found it and found what she was looking for.
"Well well, the little CO of Yellow Comet, come to kill me while I'm bedridden?" Niko asked.
"No, I have a much worse punishment for you later, for now I want information" Sonja said.
"And why should I talk to you?" Niko asked, "Give me one good reason to"
"Why are you going to act like a jerk?" Sonja asked, sighing in annoyance.
"Because I can be" Niko said.
"Fine, we'll do it the hard way" Sonja said, smacking Nikos broken leg and making him scream in pain. The nurse who was on duty looked over and laughed, she didn't care if Niko was in pain, in her eyes he deserved everything he got.
"Don't do that again!" Niko snapped, only to scream in pain again as Sonja hit him again, "Damnit stop! I'll tell you something but only one thing." Niko said.
"Fine, what is it" Sonja said, sitting in the chair beside the bed.
"Five years ago, the final day before Red Fire was destroyed there was a battle in the coastal city of Dover, it was Romanovs first time commanding an army, he was seventeen at the time...." Niko said.

Five years ago.....

Grey Ash and Red Fire, two huge nations in the eastern hemisphere. Grey Ash was the larger of the two but Red Fire was the richer and more technologically advanced nation. For centuries the two nations had co-existed peacefully with each other and the smaller island nations located around them. All the nations of the east were economically prosperous thanks to the efficient network of trade. Grey Ash and Red Fire both kept up large militaries to protect all the nations from possible threats from the western hemisphere of the world. Five years before the war began there was a brillant and high ranking member of the Red Fire military. He had come up with plans for a horrific new weapon and proposed the idea that Red Fire should build the weapon and use it to take over the world. The vast majority of the people in Red Fire were outraged by the meer thought of betraying their friends in the other nations and banished the man from their nation. The man left vowing to make Red Fire suffer for banishing him and he took with him the plans for the weapon and one of his children. Over the next five years Grey Ash began to become more and more hostile to other nations to the point it closed itself off. Then the attacks on Red Fire started. Small raids by Grey Ash soldiers were reported in many coastal cities. Everytime they were pushed back by the superior firepower, training and technology of the Red Fire army. Little did Red Fire know that these raids were only the prelude to their doom.

The attack began some time during the night. A small group of Landers from Grey Ash pulled into the docks. Small raids like this one had been occuring for the past month and it was expected that a major invasion was scheduled soon. Red Fire wasn't just prepared to fend off such an invasion, it already had a plan in motion to launch an counter invasion of Grey Ash, the idea being cripple the military and leave the civilian population untouched. From the Landers emerged a force of almost three thousand Grey Ash infantry, more than enough to overwhelm the one thousand Red Fire soldiers stationed on defense. The Grey Ash soldiers stormed into the city and began destroying everything in sight. Civilians began to flee for their lives and the Red Fire defenders sprang into action, foolishly charging the larger army head on.

A couple of hours later much of the city was leveled and of the Red Fire defenders only fifty were still alive. The Grey Ash army had suffered heavy losses as well but were still more than a thousand men strong. It looked grim as the Grey Ash soldiers seemed to be taking great pleasure in slowly beating the remaining Red soldiers to death. One Red Fire soldier tried to make a run for it and made it a ways before a pair of pursuing soldiers caught him and started hitting him the the butts of their rifles. Before they could do any real damage two shots rang out and the Grey Ash soldiers fell over dead. The Red Fire soldier looked up to see a very welcome sight.
"Come Comrade, let us push them back into the sea then take the war to their soil" Romanov said, helping the soldier up, "And make them pay for all the death they have caused."
"Yes Sir!" The soldier said as a line of Red Fire soldiers carrying bullet proof shields advanced behind Romanov. The soldier looked out to sea and saw a red armada of warships and Landers. The skies went dark as hundreds of red Jet Copters and bombers blocked out the sun as they flew overhead out to sea.
"Forward!" Romanov yelled, holdling his sword out as a commander of the old armies would have during a charge. The line of soldiers began to advance, their shields close together making it impossible for the Grey Ash to get past them. Grey Ash soldiers looked in horror at the advancing army and then at the armada blocking their escape at sea. They fired their rifles at the advancing army, only to have the bullets bounce off the shields. Their ammuntion finally exhausted, the grey soldiers turned and ran, hoping to get to their landers and break through the naval blockade. As soon as they did that the Red Fire soldiers raised their shields and let the troops that were following along behind the safety shield charge the enemy. In total, fifteen thousand red soldiers were chasing the fleeing grey army soldiers and gunning down any that were in range. In no time the entire grey raiding force was obliterated. Romanov ordered his forced to take control of the Grey Ash landers and load them up. Several Red Fire landers pulled in to carry the rest of the army to Grey Ash.

Soon after Romanovs force liberated Dover and began the journey to Grey Ash the missiles came. At least fifty missiles flew overhead towards the nation of Red Fire. As each of the missiles exploded on land there was a blinding flash of light and a massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky. Romanovs force could do nothing but sit and watch. All radio communications ceased from Red Fire. The lands had been turned black. The grand cities vaporized. Everyone dead. For hours the force sat off the coast, waiting for any signs that some one had survived, but none came. Some soldiers attempted suicide, having lost everything and everyone dear, only to be stopped by an announcement from Romanov.
"Comrades... it is a dark day. This attack has left nothing standing in our beloved home of Red Fire. I know some of you are contemplating ending your lives now but I beg of you not to. Aside from listening for signs of life from our home I have been monitering Grey Ash communications. The majority of their armies had left weeks ago to conquer our other allied nations, leaving only a small force to keep order. Roughly an hour after the atrocious attack on our nation I received a news broadcast, the citizens of Grey Ash were horrified by the merciless killing of innocent people and are in open revolt against the military." Romanov said, "We shall do as we originally set out to do, invade Grey Ash and wipe out the military. After that we will hunt down the rest of their army and wipe them out, or die trying"
The soldiers that were about to commit suicide put their guns down or stepped off the edges of the ships rails back onto the deck as Romanov lowered the Red Fire flag from the stern of his ship. He took a white surrender flag and laid it out on the deck of the ship. He cut his left forearm with his sword and let the blood drip freely onto the white fabric. Nimitz, Patton and Montgomery came over and did the same, as did other sailors and soldiers until the flag was stained red with their blood. Romanov raised the bloody flag and soon all the ships were lowering their Red Fire flags and replacing them with flags soaked in blood.
"Let our enemy tremble before the might of the Red Army...." Romanov said as the fleet sailed for the nation of Grey Ash.

Present Day....
"So what happened after that?" Sonja asked.
"Don't ask me, I only know that once Red Fire was destroyed I took a transport jet to catch up to the rest of the Grey Ash army." Niko said, "Now that's all I have to say so go away"
"Jerk" Sonja said, leaving the medical center, "I'm think I'll go look around out side, maybe ask some of the red army soldiers."

A lone jet copter flew over the ocean towards a group of fifty Red naval ships. The copter landed on the deck of a huge ship in the center of the formation. The ship was a Gigantis class battleship, salvaged from Aqua Bubble and turned into Nimitz's command ship. The Gigantis class was unique in the fact it was designed along the lines of the the old wooden battleships with fixed guns on each side of the ship. Small square ports lined each side of the massive ship. Nimitz climbed out of the copter before it took off and headed back to the mainland.
"Welcome back admiral" The second in command said, "What are our orders?"
"We're going to go and duke it out with my old friend Yamamoto" Nimitz said, "Just like in old times, right Nelson"
"Um... if I can recall Yamamoto beat you every time" Nelson said.
"That was just for fun, this is real and I'm more than willing to exploit his weaknesses" Nimitz said, "Head out!"

Next: Old school Naval combat, Unexpected Allies and a possible Tragedy