Chapter Three
Guillotined
Arleigh Burke class destroyer OFS Crow.
The sudden launch of SM2s from the forward VLS prompted the ship's Captain, Commander Powell to spit his coffee onto the windshield and jump out of his chair. He knew his Aegis system was set to automatically engage any inbound threats but the sudden launch still caught him by surprise.
"Bridge to CIC, What's going on?" Powell asked after quickly regaining his composure.
"We got hundreds of vampires inbound. We got KH-101s coming in high and Exocets and P-800s coming in low. The rest of the strike group is responding. Transmitting radar footage up to you now."
The flatscreen monitor above him came to life showing the inbound missiles in red and the outbound SAMs from the strike group in blue. Within seconds, barrages merged and over one hundred enemy missiles were shot down. One Exocet managed to get through the opening SAM barrage and was speeding towards the Crow.
"Vampire inbound, CIWS engaging," one of the CIC operators shouted. The forward CIWS battery turned to the right and splashed the incoming missile at two miles with a hail of bullets.
But other ships we're not so lucky. One of the cruisers, the OFS Emu which was cruising alongside the Kestrel Two was blown in half after being struck by two P-700s and an Exocet. The second ship to be sunk was the destroyer, OFS Parrot when two diving KH-101s slammed into its fore and aft VLS cells resulting in catastrophic explosions.
Just when it appeared that the Kestrel ll CSG was on the verge of swatting down the rest of the missiles, a second wave of Exocets and P-800s showed up on the screens of the Crow and the remaining destroyers and cruisers. This wave of one hundred missiles was fired straight from Farbanti.
The Aegis ships launched another barrage of SM2s to meet the new attackers.
Guillotine One
Two minutes later
Commander Claude kept a firm grip on the throttle and joystick as his squadron and their friends in the Mirages zoomed over the water at one-hundred feet.
"Guillotine Two to Guillotine One, how is the picture looking?"
The picture was a reference to the real-time data feed Claude was receiving from one of Osea's satellites that was hijacked by Erusea's cyber warfare team.
"The enemy strike group has lost two destroyers and a cruiser. The Kestrel ll still remains undamaged."
"Only three ships sunk? I thought the missile barrages would've claimed many more by now," Guillotine Two said.
"It's possible the Osean ships are using decoys and electronic warfare in addition to their SAMs and CIWS. Just keep calm and wait for the launch order."
"Roger, Guillotine One."
The data feed on Claude's central display screen showed dozens of anti-ship missiles winking out after being hit by SM2s or being thrown off course by decoys or electronic countermeasures. The Kestrel Two's escorts were putting up a valiant effort to defend their flagship, but their efforts would ultimately be for naught in the next sixty seconds if everything went according to plan.
As the battle continued, another Osean ship dropped off Claude's screen after being hit by two P-800s.
"The Oseans just lost another cruiser."
"Great, but how much longer until we reach the launch point?"
"Thirty seconds," Claude replied.
"You hear that, guys? We'll be weapons-free in thirty seconds," Guillotine Two shouted.
"Loud and clear. SCALP-EGs are red hot and ready to fly," Guillotine Three said.
Kestrel Two Combat Direction Center
Commander Tembo was overseeing the strike group's defensive efforts from here while the captain remained on the bridge and was overseeing the battle from there.
The air attack on Farbanti had been a disaster. All of the Kestrel Two's remaining fighters were shot down by Erusean fighters and SAM units and now, the strike group was in the fight of its life against this missile onslaught. Their fourth ship, the cruiser OFS Cockatiel was just sunk and the radar screen was showing nine P-800s flying towards them.
Tembo watched as several Rolling Airframe and Sea-Sparrow missiles erupted from their launchers and raced out to slam into the incoming vampires. Seven P-800s were splashed but two manage to make it through and strike the ship. They came in so fast, the CIWS guns didn't get a chance to fire.
"Damage report," Tembo shouted.
"Two of the P-800s just hit us on the port side. One of them impacted the stern and the other struck us amidships," Chief Petty Officer Jackie Hayes shouted over the noise of the alarms.
Damage control teams are moving to contain the fires," another Petty Officer said.
"We need to do better with our defensive fire. Keep those guns and missiles-,"
"Sir, multiple bandits just popped up twelve miles from our position and have launched another wave of vampires at us. Incoming missiles identified as Exocets and the bandits have been ID as Mirages and Rafales," Hayes said.
"Focus everything we got on those missiles. Leave the bandits to our remaining escorts," Tembo ordered.
"All batteries engaging."
Guillotine One.
As the Mirages launched their missiles and broke off to make their getaway. Commander Claude gave the signal to his squadron.
"Guillotines, weapons free," he announced then pressed the pickle button three times and felt his Rafale get many pounds lighter as the SCALP-EGs departed from their pylons. With the launches complete, the squadron broke off to the left and remained low for their high-speed egress from the area.
Claude looked up and saw some of the Mirages exploding after being hit by SM-2s from the kestrel Two's escorts. Unfortunate, but the mission plan called for the Mirages to go high after launching their missiles to draw fire in order to increase Guillotine Squadron's chances of escape.
Claude really didn't like the idea of good men being wasted like that. But in the eyes of the Erusean High Command, it was a small price to pay.
Easy for those bastards to say. Claude thought to himself.
As the Kestrel Two's batteries were preoccupied with trying to shoot down the incoming Exocets, they were completely unaware of the thirty-six SCALP-EGs approaching in a straight line.
Of the sixty-four Exocets fired from the Mirages, twenty were shot down, nine had their homing systems scrambled by ECMs and dropped harmlessly into the ocean and two were decoyed by chaff.
But it wasn't enough. Nine missiles struck the carrier as the rest veered away at the last minute and went for the remaining escorts.
As the carrier burned, six of the SCALP-EGs slammed into it then the seventh missile in the line popped up to five hundred feet and the rest followed.
Then just as quickly, the missiles dived back down through the flight deck and went all the way down to the waterline.
A few seconds later, a massive fireball erupted and tore the carrier in half.
The strike group's final cruiser and two more destroyers were blown apart by a pair of Exocets that managed to get through their barrages and rapidly sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The only survivors were the destroyers, OFS Crow and OFS Hawk. The sailors on the bridges and in the CICs of both ships watched in horror and dismay as the Kestrel Two went under.
"Hawk to Crow, my lookouts have spotted sailors in the water. We need to launch search and rescue immediately. I got my helos prepping for launch." Captain Powell's response shocked everyone on the bridge.
"Stand your birds down, Hawk. We have to get out of here."
"But those are our people. We can't just leave them," the Hawk's captain, Commander Curry shouted.
"How many SAMS do you have left? My ship is down to zero."
"Same here, but we still have our ECMs and a few hundred rounds for our CIWS."
"And none of them will do us any good if the Eruseans launch another missile barrage which you can bet your ass they are getting ready to do right now. I don't like leaving fellow Oseans behind. But if we don't get out of here, we're going to join them."
Curry could feel his frustration building. But in the end, he knew Powell was right.
"Fine, Crow. Let's get out of here."
The two ships did a one-eighty-degree turn and sped away from their sinking strike group as fast as they could.
