Chapter 5: A blocking attack.

USS Harry S. Truman, Somewhere near Northern Japan, Sakhalin Island, and the Aleutians.

Bruce Campbell looked out over the gray horizon as the huge carrier and her accompanying ships speed northward at flank speed. His carrier groupand accompanying Japanese warships sailed northward to a position from where they could block the advance of the monster Godzilla. Another carrier, the Abraham Lincoln steamed in from the southwest to cover the US Pacific Coast. For the Truman group, they also had the assistance of Japanese forces and rumors started running around that the Russian forces in the Pacific would also jump into the game.

Despite the sight of the assembly of firepower, Campbell could not help but shiver as he remembered the briefing that the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force commander, Rear Admiral Kaizo Tomonaga gave when his fleet linked up with the Truman group. Though the Japanese admiral kept his professional cool, all could see the anger, fear and determination in his eyes and voice as he briefed his commanders and the Americans on their target.

So lost in thought, the admiral didn't hear Henry Boxer arrive on the bridge. The moment the XO saw his commander's face he mentioned, "Maybe you want to take a little rest and let me take care of things".

Campbell didn't realize how tired he was until now but before he left for his quarters he asked, "Any sightings from our aircraft or submarines". Boxer replied in the negative and after looking out at the gray skies, Campbell decided not to ask about the satellites and headed down to his quarters to get some sleep.

JMSDF Kirishima, a few miles off to portside from Truman.

Kaizo attempted to get some sleep but the memories of the events of the past few days conspired to keep him awake. After another few minutes of trying to get some semblance of sleep, the Japanese admiral gave up and left his quarters for the bridge. He soon arrived to the heart of the ship. Captain Kazura Akiyama was busy scanning the ocean in front of the vessel as the admiral arrived. They both turned to each other and the admiral waited as the captain gave his report, "None of our subs and search planes has spotted the monster thus far". He paused before continuing on, "We're still receiving satellite imagery from headquarters but due to the weather, they're not much that we can hope for".

The admiral grunted in annoyance and replied, "If the monster slips past us then what happens here may be what the Americans call the bleakest comedy of errors". Both men took a deep breath before the admiral replied, "I had hoped that after the debacle we had seen the last of Godzilla but it seems I was wrong".

The captain nodded in sympathy and replied, "We'll just have to do the best we can and at least this time we have the rest of the world to back us up". The admiral nodded at that but both remembered just how powerful the monster truly was and whether the full assistance of the world would be enough. Both commands turned back to watch the sea in front of them, wondering whether silent death floated right below them.

Gronzy.

The skies lit orange with the sounds of battle as it had always done so as long as man waged modern war. In his command tent, Drenzhev looked out through his binoculars as the Russian forces attempted to launch another round of attacks against a group of rebels that infiltrated the Russian lines and were causing trouble for the terrified and war-weary residents of the Chechen capital.

As he could already see to his sickening horror, a good portion of the Russian conscripts immediately started to run in panic as the first mortar shells and RPG rounds detonated upon them, their fragments slicing men into hacked up pieces. Soon, some of the RPGs slammed into the BMP-3s and the BTR-80s, easily ripping them open like canned sardines and turning into burning torches that blocked the path of their comrades and left them to the mercy of the attackers. Drenzhev turned angrily to his air officer and asked, "Get the helicopters up and get my troops up there". His air officer angrily replied that the helicopters forces were already strained to the limit and that those that are actually available are badly damaged". Drenzhev raged at the desperate situation and immediately asked if his colleagues had any better luck and he received the same ragged answer that they had heard for the past six years. The Russian general was about to order a retreat when an even worse threat showed up.

The ground suddenly shook as if an earthquake decided to hit the area. The ground suddenly sprung upward and large amounts of dust scattered all around the area. There was much smoke and it took some time for the smoke to clear but when it did, many soon wished that the smoke had indeed stayed in so as to block the imagine of the entity that would soon take many of their lives.

Anguirus roared loudly at it tasted fresh air. It swerved his head for a while before clawing its way out from the Earth, the four feet gaining good footing on the muddy ground. After scanning the area in front of if, the monster turned towards the city, smashing everything in front of it.

The surprised Russian forces immediately started to change their target to the beast and soon, even the Chechen rebels transferred their fire upon the new intruder. Unfortunately, most of the fire landed on the monster's armored back, which virtually suffered no harm. Even when the troops managed to aim their weapons at the monster's flesh, it barely had any effect.

The monster soon came close enough upon its foes and soon used its tail to devastating effect in the devastated rubble of Groznyy. Its long tail soon swept aside Russian AFVs and added more destruction to the unlucky city. Those that survived the attack tried to scatter but the rubble strewn streets created immense obstacles that in the very short time available, they had no chance and some stood and fight until the monster was angered enough to charge them underfoot.

Drenzhev looked on in grim horror as the monster slaughtered his forces. Suddenly he looked out into the sky and saw several groups of aircraft, mainly Su-24s and Su-25s angling downward to hammer the beast. Though sending aircraft into a city with friendly troops still inside was a deathtrap, he wanted to give his troops every chance possible to survive.

The pilots looked down in shock and horror as they realized the reports of the Caspian Sea were true. Though some voiced the desire to retreat, once the pilots spotted the monster slaughtering their comrades, all thoughts of retreat vanished and the pilots flew into the fray.

Anguris looked up at the sight of bombs and continued its advance as explosions occurred around the creature. Though the Russian forces brought additional heavy firepower to bear, it barely affected Anguris as it continued on its destruction. As the monster continued its attack, it left a series devastated roadblocks behind it as several groups of T-80UMs and BMP-3s desperately tried to buy time for their comrades to blast a way out. Often, the monster crushed them underfoot or swept them aside like toys with its long tail.

After a few more hours of horrific battle, the spiked-backed monster started to dig another hole in preparation to depart the area. Despite intensive fire, the monster soon departed the devastated battlefield, leaving the survivors including the generals to wonder what the hell happened just now. Soon the word passed on to Moscow and the Russian President immediately called a meeting of his cabinet.

Canadian airspace, near Montreal.

Since the airspace over Canada fell under the sphere of NATO, that meant that the massive radar complex had jurisdiction over the air defense for North America. Already the moment that the three UFOs entered Earth's atmosphere, both air forces scrambled their squadrons along with the refueling tankers into the air as if they were on a war footing and in fact as they were as reports started to come in about the multiple monster attacks.

As NORAD monitored the crisis, one of the radar officers turned to General Arnold as he was on the line with Washington. The general immediately sensed the new arrival and asked annoyingly, his nerves already tensed to the breaking point, "Can't this wait". The look on the man's face said enough and the general replied, "Alright, give me a minute". He immediately shut off the line and walked with the officer back to the control room where an image of the sighting displayed.

The officer started to say, "We just picked up this sighting as it was flying southward from the North Pole". He paused as the general looked at the image before continuing on, "We tracked it from the North Pole towards about this point at a speed of Mach 2.5".

As Arnold looked at the radar map, he turned to ask, "How long will it be before it hits US airspace". The officer paused uneasily before dropping the answer, "The unidentified object will arrive in three hours". General Arnold then asked, "Any fighter groups available". The officer nodded and soon marks started to show up on the screen showing fighter squadrons, their attached bases and their positions". After a few moments of hesitation, the general replied, "Order the fighters to be diverted to the hostile target and if it is hostile then tell them to commence firing". The radar officer was a little shocked but after seeing the ISS destroyed and getting reports of horrific attacks all over the world then he agreed with his superior's decision.

F/A-18 Hornet group near Montreal and Quebec.

Ever since the alert went out, the fighter group had been flying at about 30,000 feet on CAP patrol. This time though they had tankers hovering close by to ensure that the planes were completely fueled and ready for combat.

As the leader of the flight observed the movement of the air traffic as proceed on its normal business route, he wondered what the hell is going on. Though he had participated in operations such as this before, it was never on such a huge scale.

Suddenly, he heard over the command net orders from the air command to head to coordinates north of Quebec. Other fighter groups had received the same order and soon joined up, a mix of American (F-15s and F-16s) and Canadian fighters (F-18s), flying side by side towards the coordinates.

As soon as the flight arrived, the lead CF-18 now the lead fighter in the group reported that he didn't see anything but then suddenly the radar picked up and when he turned around, he saw a huge flying shape pass not far off and even at that distance, some of the planes felt the wind shears and were forced to steady themselves as the rest of the planes set off on after the huge shadow at maximum burn.

They soon caught up with the huge flying creature and what they saw sent chills down their spine. It was a huge flying pterosaur with one small row of spikes in the back and many spikes on its chest.

Stunned by the amazing sight, the pilots forgot for a moment their orders and it took a while for them to report back but once the commanders heard about it, they gave the order that proved to be a death sentence to the group.

The Americans launched the first salvo with a hail of AIM-120 AMRRAM missiles towards the monster and surprisingly the monster didn't notice as the missiles bored straight in. Unfortunately though, the monster soon took notice when the missiles detonated on its thick hide. Though the monster's hide wasn't penetrated, the attack aroused its temper and it turned back towards them with astonishing speed. The fighters soon broke formation and started to attack with a mix of missiles and machine guns.

Though the missiles pelted the monster with numerous explosions, its thick bony skin prevented the tiny warheads from inflicting any harm while turning the fighters into prey. Faster than anyone could ever thought, the monster immediately changed course and headed straight for them.

The fighters immediately scattered into groups and firing all of their weapons but the monster easily dodged them and the munitions that did find their mark, had no effect on the monster. The huge bird on the other hand, flew in pursuit and despite the fact that the fighters flew at their maximum speed, the monster managed to catch up with them and lunged its beak forward towards the fighters, their pilots unable to bail out in time.

As some of the fighters managed to gain some distance, they thought that they were out of the safety zone but then as the flying monster opened its mouth, an orange beam emerged towards the fighters, killing at least three. Knowing full well that they were in the fight of their lives, the fighters started to scatter in the hope that at least several would get away.

For the next few hours, the fighters used every maneuver in the book and several improvised ones but they were useless as the monster overtook them either by firing its red-orange beam and using its own body as a weapon. Most of the time, the pilots had no time to bail out as the old axiom of war known as speed is life was made evident with the flying monster striking them so fast that they couldn't react in time.

In the end, only two managed to get away (one American and one Canadian) with the rest virtually destroyed. Furthermore, the monster had been angered enough to change its course heading straight for Montreal, its wind shears and fast speed already causing destruction on the ground.

Washington DC/Tokyo.

Both capitals were a beehive of activity as the reports of monster attacks started to come in. Indeed in Washington, many cars escorted by police were out in the streets tonight as important government officials moved back and forth between the White House and the Pentagon. Also, due to the news of monsters that could fly, the airspace around Washington filled with scores of F-15 and F-16 fighters.

In the Situation room, President Richardson and his staff were busy talking with their Japanese counterparts on coordinating the defense. Already PACOM and the JSDF had taken measures in the combined area to take care of the threat while the other theater commanders dealt with the situation as best they could since both Japan and American had not kept their allies alerted and when the monsters attacked the other countries, their shock time was much worse that what the Americans and the Japanese endured.

After talking with others of the JCS, Davidson made his way over to the president and immediately said, "So far we've recorded at least a dozen monster assaults all over the world with a good portion of them in areas that have seen heavy fighting these past few years". He paused before continuing on, "I've already alerted all theater commands and they're doing the best they can in holding off the monsters.

Richardson nodded and said, "Both Hiragashi and I had been trying to calm the leaders of the other Asian nations down and to convince them to accept our help, especially Japan's". They both knew why that had been a difficult subject for Japan's overseas military exploits in the last century had brought nothing but headache.

In Tokyo, the mood of the room was pretty much the same as in Washington as the Prime Minister of Japan and his cabinet coordinated their efforts to stem the monster tide with the American forces in the area and the other Asian Nations. In fact, after a long harsh talk, the Chinese Navy allowed the JMSDF to sail near their waters as they set off in pursuit of the fish-like monster that was now between Okinawa and the Eastern Chinese Coast. Meanwhile, the Russian Pacific Fleet was steaming to link up with the combined American/Japanese forces.

Lost in thought, Hiragashi didn't notice the Defense Minister arrive at his side until he saw the other man's reflection, "Anything new to report"? The Defense Minister shook his head and Hiragashi took a deep breath and said, "Next to having a nuclear bomb detonate right over us, the image of Godzilla destroying this city is one that will never leave my mind or that of anyone else".

Nakamori nodded and replied, "Yes, it's true that the images that we all saw that haunt us but perhaps that sight is probably what drove us all to fight so hard against Godzilla and all of the monsters". The Prime Minister nodded in understanding but still both faces were exceptionally grim as they waited.

As the commander of the JMSDF Admiral Hattori was talking with some of the others before an aide rushed up to whisper a few words in his ear. When he heard the message, the admiral's face changed to a look of grim expectation. He turned to the aide and whispered his orders before running to Hiragashi and Nakamori, "Sir, the fleet has made contact with Godzilla and is about to engage him. Both men rushed to their seats as the main screen opened up with the US president and his cabinet. As soon as they were seated, Hattori turned to one of the radio operators and said, "Open up a channel". Soon the voices started to filter in followed by images of both the Kirishima and the Harry S. Truman, their crews and the rest of the fleet already at battle stations".

USS Harry S. Truman/JMSDF Kirishima.

The flight decks turned into a beehive of activity as the pilots of the two huge nuclear aircraft carriers rushed to their prepared planes. Nearly everything that could fly was being thrown into the air since the advice that the Japanese gave to their American counterparts was that the best chance for survival against Godzilla without resorting to nuclear weapons was to throw a lot of firepower in and the aircraft carrier was one of the most powerful conventional weapons platforms. Also, the American military always proved to be specialists in the thought of better wasting material than manpower.

On the bridge of the Truman, both Campbell and Boxer looked at the radar screen of the image provided by the submarines and aircraft shadowing Godzilla. As he watched radar scan, the monster was on a heading that took it 200 miles northeast of the task force. While he felt glad that he wouldn't have to engage Godzilla in surface combat, Campbell wondered where the monster was heading. Everyone else in the task force shared the same thoughts that he had about the upcoming battle.

As the last of the Truman's planes catapulted from the flight deck, a communications message came in from the Kirishima. It was Admiral Tomonaga and he spoke in a clear voice as he outlined the battle plan, "Our ships will commence with a cruise missile barrage to cover our fighters as they fly in to attack the monster along with the submarines". He paused before continuing, "This mission will be unlike anything any of us has ever faced and I want you all to keep that fact in mind and not take any unnecessary risks" "Right now humanity is fighting for its very life so now lets hope we can make our own contribution for what we do here will be something that mankind will never forget". He finished with the line echoed by many commanders on the eve of battle, "Good luck and good hunting". When the message ended, there was an air of silence for five minutes before Campbell replied, "Battle stations and prepare to commence attack". The crew rushed to their stations as the carrier admiral looked out at the sea for what could be the last time.

The bridge of the Kirishima had turned dark red as its crew members monitored the systems and prepared the ship for combat. On one of the images taken from a P-3 Orion hovering far above the potential battle zone, Godzilla moved effortlessly through the ocean with half of his body out of the water. Though the face was impassive, all who saw the blood-red eyes of the monster felt a chill go down as the eyes already conveyed the darkness within the monster. To many, it felt as if God himself had taken on a physical form and was planning to punish humanity for its many sins committed ever since mankind first emerged on Earth. Shaking off the macabre thoughts and hoping that indeed the kamis were with them today, Tomonaga turned and gave the order, "Commence firing".

All the ships except for the two carriers suddenly became engulfed in smoke as they started firing all of their cruise missiles, Harpoons and Tomahawks, off into the far distance. As soon as the last cruise missile left the launcher, Tomonaga turned to Akiyama and replied, "Order the engines to be ready to jump to full speed if something goes wrong and arm our torpedoes". The captain hurried to tell engineering while the admiral turned to watch the unfolding battle.

Godzilla suddenly slowed down his speed and his head turned towards the sky as if he sensed danger approaching. Indeed danger and opposition came in many forms that day. The first form flew in almost immediately above him and soon, the cruise missiles started impacting on the monster's skin. Though the G-cells instantly compensated for the damage, the impact of the firepower momentarily stunned Godzilla and before he recovered, another wave came hammering at him.

JMSDF Uzushio.

Captain Zurabachi watched the sonar scope as it displayed a mix of US and Japanese submarines including his own blocking the monster's path with aircraft waiting further south. Even though he was underwater in a submarine, he and his crew still felt the shockwave caused by the cruise missiles as some slammed into the water beside Godzilla. After the shockwaves stopped, the sonar operator immediately yelled out, "Godzilla is still continuing his advance". Knowing full well that despite the fact that this mission was in a sense pure suicide, Zurabachi ordered, "Arm all tubes, prepare to jump to flank speed and commence firing". Within seconds the trained crew had rushed to battle stations and the first wave of 603b 533 torpedoes sped away with another wave in a minute later. The other accompanying submarines soon joined in by firing more 603b 533s as well as the famous Mark 48s torpedoes towards the monster as well.

While unharmed from the first attack, Godzilla searched the sky for his assailants but for now they weren't coming from the sky but instead from the water as Godzilla soon saw the wake of torpedoes heading straight for him. The monster fired at the water, igniting some of the torpedoes but not enough and the fish soon found their mark. In anger, Godzilla fired down at the water but the subs managed to dodge. He was about to fire his breath again when his ears picked up the sounds of more missiles.

In his F/A-18F Super Hornet, CAG of the Truman, Captain Thomas Sanderson, a veteran of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, observed the action. He believed himself to be a good pilot and his skills and combat record proved it but after seeing what had been going on as of late, he wondered clearly that luck was on his side and how long it planned to remain with him. A message from the Truman's CIC shook him out of his thoughts and he checked his weapons status one more time before heading into combat with a wave of machine gun fire.

From the breaks in the clouds, the other Hornets dove out of the gray skies towards the monster en masse, their turbofan engines at full power and firing all the way in. As the firepower engulfed the monster, the planes soon broke off into squadrons to provide individual targets for the monster to deal with.

Godzilla roared out in anger as the planes flew circles around him but due to the constant bombardment of the aircraft, ships, and submarines he couldn't retaliate with his atomic breath. That didn't mean that he was capable of doing so as several F/A-18F Super Hornets found to their horror as they flew right by the monster. The monster used his hands and tail to swap them out of the sky.

The battlefield soon turned into a chaotic mess of explosions and water spouts as the blockade fleet continued to attack Godzilla from long range. Back at the fleet, it soon became apparent that somewhat would soon go wrong as the missile batteries fired less missile rounds off.

Tomonaga watched in apprehension as his country's greatest nightmare withstood the newest form of 21st century firepower. He turned to the others and asked, "How much ammunition do the submarines have"? One of them replied, "They still have enough but it won't keep Godzilla's attention for long without our help". Tomonaga swore and said, "We won't be able to hold him for much longer". The sudden silence from the missile launchers soon gave truth to his statement as they all realized that after forty minutes of non-stop bombardment, they had run out of missiles to use against Godzilla.

Back at the battlefield, Godzilla's vision cleared up and he soon took advantage as another wave of fighters bore in on him. The monster immediately charged his back before firing a shot of his atomic breath at the sky. When the ray ceased, out of a group of ten aircraft, six had been knocked out of the sky and the survivors immediately pulled out of their attack runs.

Sanderson cursed as he realized what had just happened. He immediately radioed Truman first asking, "Anymore support you can give us". The officer on the other end of the line replied, "None that can reach you in time". He then paused before saying, "Command orders that you use all of your weapons and then fall back and regroup with the fleet". Cursing the fact that now the odds of surviving had just decreased, the captain replied angrily. "Roger that sir". He switched to his squadron mates and told them the bad news, ending with yelling out the order, "All squadrons, commence general attack on the monster". He soon flew back into the battle at full throttle, dumping everything he had in the hope that it would make a dent in the monster's hide.

The others soon joined in and Godzilla soon found himself engulfed in an enormous amount of smoke and flame. Unfortunately though, it literally ate up the firepower of the Hornets and once the smoke cleared, Godzilla's red eyes glowed with anger and he started unleashing round after round of blue atomic breath out at his assailants, both above and below the water.

On the communications net, everyone heard clearly the screams of men under their command as Godzilla took their lives by the score. The monster didn't even resort to using any of his body parts to inflict damage as the blue-white flame did most of the job. Soon, the area around Godzilla turned into a graveyard of pilots and sailors with the survivors out of ammunition and trying to scatter. Satisfied with the destruction, he dove back under the water, this time at a course southeast.

Tomonaga, despite feeling relieved, ordered, "All units rendezvous with the supply ships and prepare for pursuit". He then yelled out, "Send this to command, we need reinforcements".

As soon as Sanderson landed back on the Truman, he immediately ran up to the bridge to find out the casualties that they suffered and what he heard was staggering. At least 20 aircraft from Truman alone with a similar number from Stennis were lost as well as four submarines, two Los Angeles, one Harushio and one Oyashio respectively. He along with many others wondered out loud, "What the hell just happened here and who lead us to this massacre"?

Captain Zurabachi also had a somewhat similar reaction but managed to keep it under control as he ascertained the situation. After all the subs checked in, the captain ordered, "Set course to follow Godzilla and relay my intentions to headquarters".

Washington/Tokyo.

Both leaders stood in silent shock at the sight that the combined forces of both Japan and America had just endured. It took a while before they as well as their respective staff could regain their composure. Richardson immediately asked, "Any change of Godzilla's position".

Davidson replied, "He's heading away from Japan for now but his direction has been listed as Hawaii". That sent a shock throughout the room that it took a few minutes before the president could gather his composure, "Order all units to get in front of him and try to slow him down". He then turned to the Secretary of State Michael Reynard, "Call in an emergency session of the UN as soon as possible". The older man headed to fulfill the request as the president continued to give out orders".

On the other end, Hiragashi stood in silent shock as well before he composed himself and turned to Nakamori and Hattori, "Order our northern forces to join in pursuit while the southern forces block the other monsters".

Hattori replied, "But that will stretch our forces too thin and besides our ships are designed to work in close ashore.

Hiragahsi then lost his temper and roared, "But haven't we done this kind of thing before". He tried to gain control of his temper before replying, "Better to fight the monster elsewhere than to fight him on our own shores".

Hattori, feeling the pressure replied back, "But we only did this with a few ships, not with a whole task force". The commander of the JMSDF then took a deep breath before answering, "But I understand what you mean". He walked out to transmit the order to the northern forces while the rest turned back to the screen and like their American counterparts wondered what the hell they do next.

Hiragashi then turned to Richardson and said, "You heard over speakers". The president nodded and said, "I understand and thanks for the assistance". The Japanese Prime Minister nodded and said, "I hear that you will be convening the UN to discuss the crisis". The president nodded and Hiragashi continued on, "I'll have my representatives there meet with your so we can present a full report on the situation". The president nodded in thanks and replied back, "Looks like everyone is going to be busy from now on". After sneaking a look at the exhausted faces of his staff, Hiragashi nodded at the truth of the harsh statement.

So, how did I do with my first battle against Godzilla.