Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.

Chapter 7: Drums of war

=ABKR=

Part 1

=ABKR=

9 May 2009 A.T.B.

CIC

IJN Kongou

South China Sea

Four hours the mood among the sailors of the Second Imperial Japanese Fleet was tense, especially among those standing watch amidst the twilight of the CICs. The low light meant to enhance the contrast upon the various radar displays served to increase the gloom and apprehension of the Japanese sailors. A precious few of them paid little to no attention to the environment and were utterly concentrated on their jobs – most of those were veterans from the Pacific War eager to get some payback. However, many of their colleagues lacked the same fervour and conviction – all they knew was less than two decades ago, the Imperial Japanese navy ended up annihilated in years long, un-winable war. The only reason why the Home Islands remained mostly untouched was the threat of Chinese intervention – something that was still received with mixed feeling by the population.

Despite the best efforts of the military, the same mindset was prevalent amongst the crews of Second Fleet. Many of them were glad that they had the backing of the Federation in this conflict that almost none of them wanted, much less looked up to. That's why when rumours of a staggering Chinese defeat early in the morning began making their way amongst the crews, it hit their morale hard. An air-raid taking out most of a CBG? This wasn't the Pacific War! Such a thing should have been impossible, if Intelligence had at least a vague idea what the Britannians had in the region!

When the Admiral in charge gave orders to be on the look-out for an enemy naval-strike heading their way, that simply gave credence to the rumours and sent the crews buzzing.

Lieutenant Yoshi Shinoin was no exception. He was a history student – working on his doctorate sponsored by the Navy as a part of his contract and knew very well the disparity between the Imperial Japanese Navy and what the Britannians could bring to bear. More importantly, he knew the sheer industrial disparity between the two nations – his precious Japan had just the Home Islands to her name and the Sakuradite, which while a critically important resource that everyone wanted, simply wasn't enough to make up for Britannia's control over the Americas. Kami, even the Federation being on their side might not be enough – all the Britannians really had to do was wrest enough control over the sea-lanes to give their submarines free rein to starve Japan!

Yesterday, Yoshi would have sung another song. He knew that Japan had the newest and most modern navy – because they had to rebuild it from scratch over the last decade with only the Kongou being left from before the Pacific War. However, yesterday, the Britannians hadn't demonstrated that the lessons of that war were still valid and air-power was still perfectly capable to sink capital ships - something that for the last five years everyone had doubts it would be possible without prohibitive losses.

The radar display in front of Yoshi refreshed. It took him a moment to process what he was seeing and then he was shouting on the top of his lungs: "Contacts! Incoming supersonic missiles!"

"Battle Stations!" The XO, who had the watch, snapped. "Someone call the captain to the CIC!"

Lieutenant Shinoin proceeded to rapid fire approach vectors and numbers – forty large ship-killers were approaching fast skimming low above the waves. Half of the incoming death-dealers were heading straight for the Kongou as if they knew precisely where she was going. The others were flying at her two closest consorts – ten each targeted Kaga and Sakura – a brand new destroyed set up for air-defence and an ASW frigate respectively.

"ECM and Jamming is up and nominal! No enemy radar emissions detected!"

"Either IR or TV guidance then." The XO concluded. "Stand by for counter-measures. I want the close-in defences ready! Are those ship-killers large enough to engage with either IR or radar guided missiles?"

"It might work." The tactical officer nodded vigorously. "Can't guarantee hits but we might get a few."

"Fire everything!" The XO snapped.

Yoshi could do nothing but watch the incoming tracks. He barely paid any attention to what was happening around him until the battle cruiser shook lightly the moment it launched a spread of missiles. Ten new tracks separated from the Kongou and seconds later the Kaga followed suit with the Sakura launching mere four.

The Lieutenant stared at the green screen until the approaching and outgoing dots intersected... and then thirty nine ship-killers continued heading his way. The second salvo was already in the air, though it didn't do much better – this time it got just two of the incoming missiles.

The third was a bust – the ship-killers flew up just when they were about to get hit. That was when the IJN vessels went into rapid fire mode launching both IR and radar-guided ordnance. They were also manoeuvring to present the slimmest possible profile by the time the enemy missiles reached them.

Yoshi just prayed to Kami that it was going to be enough!

"Decoys!" The XO snapped.

"Status report!" An older, calmer voice, added a moment later.

"Captain, Sir!"

Yoshi paid no attention to the old man finally reaching the CIC. His radar got fuzzy as the decoys launched – reflective chaff meant to confuse radar in the last moments before a missile could hit the ship, small but bright balls of burning magnesium and the IJN's special – containers with liquid Sakuradite and gas that took just a handful of seconds to disperse into a cloud before igniting into a huge ball of fire that would blind infra-red and optical guidance alike – perhaps for long enough to cause an enemy missile to miss.

The close-in defences roared to life sending streams of radar-guided fragmentation munition in a last ditch attempt to intercept the incoming missiles.

An explosion shook the whole ship, then another – even closer! Yoshi had just enough time for one last prayer, then the world ended as his forehead slammed into the radar screen he was responsible for.

=ABKR=

Seconds before they could hit their targets, all the Britannian ship-killers could see was expanding balls of fire dotted by tiny stars hot enough to seduce most IR seekers. Hardened electronics did last moment adjustments meant to strike their targets, blind – they could see nothing through the fire that replaced the juicy targets programmed into their data-banks.

That was when they ran into the closest thing to a wall of steel the close-in defences of their targets could throw.

Missiles got shredded by explosive shells, some didn't even got the honour of detonating their warheads and simply splashed into the sea as expensive lumps of smashed metal. Others blew up raining high velocity of jagged steel like giant shot-gun blasts that scoured the superstructures of the concealed ships. Others simply missed the slim profiles presented of their targets and either harmlessly flew past their prowls or hit the sea and detonated then only shaking the nearby ships. Finally, the wast two of the ship-killers tried to live up to their name. One slammed into the Kongou's bridge, erasing its crew in the heart of a large fireball that caused significant damage to the battle cruiser and covered its front third into burning rocket fuel. The other did in fact live up to its name – it pierced through the thin hide of the Sakura and detonated after smashing half-way through her VLS cells. The resulting explosion blew the hapless frigate out of the later along with her whole crew.

=ABKR=

Part 2

=ABKR=

9 May 2009 A.T.B.

Flag Bridge

IBN Nelson

South China Sea

Fifteen minutes to midnight, five to effective missile range for the radar guided ordnance. It would be May the tenth when the two fleets entered gunnery range.

Fitting, Admiral Chelsea Williams thought. Eighteen years ago she was one of the first women in the Britannian Navy to serve on the frontlines. As green lieutenant she saw her first naval battle – which was also the last major engagement between surface combatant of the Pacific War. She smiled and placed her gloved hand on the closest bulkhead. Chelsea served on the Nelsonthen too and the brand new girl did bring her home safely after their victory.

The Admiral gave a silent prayer to the gods and refocused her attention on the imminent battle. During the day, bombers sortied three times to strike at Japanese ships with TV-guided missiles. Those Gryphons were the survivors from a massive air raid that somehow managed to take out the heart of a whole Chinese CBG, though details were sparse to even someone in Williams' position. What Chelsea did know for sure – the how she would sell an arm and a leg to figure out and gain the capacity for her command, was that the Japanese Task Force threatening the Philippines was busy consolidating. She knew where, when and a rough number of combatants she would be facing. If it wasn't for scout planes and a submarine confirming that the information from whatever infernal source ONI had among the enemy was spot on, Admiral Williams wouldn't have sailed out to meet them before reinforcements from Pearl arrived. Yet, the three air raids did find and hit something – there were debris, oil and even bodies seen by the scouts and in one case recovered by the submarine Ohio. At least three Japanese ships got hit with one probably sunk if the unrecovered bodies were anything to go by.

Those findings and explicit orders from the new theatre commander for the whole South Asia, who was a prince of the blood no less, forced her hand. To Chelsea pleasant surprise, the information turned out to be spot on. A few hours ago the fleet's scouts detected radar emissions and jamming from enemy sources far beyond the horizon. As ordered, Admiral Williams had her force approach with full EMCON in place that allowed them to come closer to the enemy than it would be usually possible without detection. All it really took was burst tighbeam transmissions feeding her fleet course corrections from the same source that was apparently tracking the Japanese the whole day.

Of course, the charade ended two hours ago when the Britannian fleet approached the suspected detection range of the enemy's shipborne radars against naval targets who tried to appear as holes in the ocean. At that point, Chelsea ordered the radars and jammers back on and the fleet to move in at flank speed. It was only too bad that they reached the enemy during the night. While she could have ordered the fleet's own TV guided missiles launched before dusk, doing so would have alerted the Japanese that she was approaching.

It was a small miracle that the fleet didn't run into any submarines on their way in. It looked like there was just a single one covering their approach vector and it was dealt with early in the afternoon by a pair of Britannian ones vectored into its general area soon after the first air-strike hit the enemy. Chelsea's best guess about that stroke of fortune was that the sub had surfaced for one reason or another and noticed by one of the bombers or their escorts.

"We have firm locations on two more Jap warships. Their Jamming is better than projected. Updating estimated effective engagement range... We'll have positive missile locks in two fifteen minutes, ma'am."

"Finalizing initial strike packages. Admiral?" Asked Commander Liam Hargreaves, William's Operation's officer.

"Fire plan Bravo. No changes." Chelsea confirmed in a voice gruff from ten years of smoking and more than two decades of shouting orders.

Around the Admiral, her staff did their best impression of busy beavers. She allowed herself a tiny smile. They were the best – all hand-picked and trained by herself to excel at their jobs. Ever since the end of the Pacific War, Chelsea knew that round two would be inevitable. War was carved into Britannia's very nature – Napoleon ensured it when he took away her people's birthright. That was why she mercilessly drilled her people into a seamless machine that one day would prove that they were the best sailors, serving in the best navy in the world.

Chelsea's pride would accept nothing less... besides, she did care for her people and she would not allow any of them to ever slack and thus endanger the rest of them!

"Strike package ready. Targets locked in... Time to range..."

"Vampire! Multiple Vampires inbound! Counting twenty plus and rising! ETA one minute!"

Subsonic then. The Admiral frowned. The Japanese obviously had better electronics and missiles than ONI estimated if they could engage her out of her own effective range. At least it wasn't as bad as it could be. If the Japanese were running in order to keep the range open and forced her to shoot from this far away, the odds of scoring successful hits wouldn't be good at all. They either underestimated how many Britannian ships found them, knew something Chelsea didn't or had damaged vessels they were unwilling to abandon.

"Time to target?" The Admiral asked.

"Ten seconds and we can fire!"

Those were perhaps the longest ten seconds of her life. Sixty Japanese missiles flew towards her fleet and that was just the first barrage. A second one of over a hundred came behind it once more enemy ships were just close enough to achieve target locks.

Even before William's fleet made its first shot in anger, it was already fighting for its life – the weapons being AA missiles and the efforts of the EW crews doing their best to drown the control signals guiding the enemy ordnance.

"We're in range. Firing." A loud rumble echoed through the great steel bulk of the Nelson as she ripple fired multiple ship-killers from her VSL cells. Her consorts followed her example and soon over one hundred fifty missiles streaked low above the waves heading for the Japanese ships beyond the horizon.

It wouldn't be long now. Chelsea closed her eyes for a moment then glared at the tactical plot. There were ten ships in the front of the Britannian formation. They were primary older AA and ASW frigates and her two oldest cruisers. All had skeleton crews and by design their EW efforts were just a bit worse than the rest of the fleet.

They were a sacrificial offering meant to give the rest of William's people a chance if Intel was wrong or the Japanese had a nasty surprise ready – like electronics better than anyone expected.

Chelsea's sailors did their best. Jamming, decoys, counter-missiles and close in defences thinned out the Japanese salvoes.

It wasn't enough. Twenty missiles from the first found their marks and six frigates and their crews simply ceased to exist. The second salvo fared even better – it had fewer targets to chose from and less incoming fire slammed into it after the first one hit. Chelsea could imagine what was happening with her vanguard – Sakuradite decoys lit up the night like brighter than the sunrise, reflective chaff did its best to throw up additional ghostly images and in the end the close in defences fired blindly in the burning hell surrounding the ships they desperately tried to protect. Some missiles would lose targeting lock in that mess. Others would barely miss the targets they could no longer see and yet more would fall to barrages of shells. Yet, it wouldn't be enough.

The second Japanese salvo hit. For a few heartbeats the tactical plot didn't change and simply showed the last known locations of the vanguard surrounded by a haze of reflected images and thermal blooms from the decoys. When the screen refreshed, only a single cruiser – John Fawkes, was left. Then it blew up a few seconds later.

Chelsea closed her eyes and said a quiet prayer for her people wishing them Gods speed on their way to Valhalla.

The Admiral glared at the tactical plot. Chelsea hated this – her orders were given and now unless something went terribly wrong she was just an observer. Her staff, the various division commanders and ships captains were running the battle for her. She knew that this was how things were supposed to be – there was no way for her to micromanage without causing a disaster. Back when Williams was a Captain herself, she would have loathed if someone tried to do so to her command.

That awareness was a cold comfort. She hated being helpless and unable to protect her people!

The first Britannian salvo finally hit. Two thirds were gone by the time it reached its targets, yet that still left over fifty missiles spread over nine targets – all fully crewed and modern compared to the ships she sacrificed. Chelsea watched with savage glee how seven of them could no longer be detected and while the remaining two were still afloat they were no longer broadcasting anything. That was nine ships whose VLC cells were no longer in the fight and the same was true for their ability to guide munitions towards the Britannian fleet.

The Admiral's joy got dampened moments later when the first enemy missiles reached her battle line. A frigate simply blew up, followed by a destroyer that ate two ship-killers that erased everything above the waterline. One of her cruisers was hit next, then a missile slammed into the New Jersey.

Soon enough she would get damage reports. While painful the hits weren't as bad as they could have been. William's fleet was in a good position, the enemy had suffered losses and damage to ships long before she got anywhere near them and more importantly, the next Britannian salvo hit home and more Japanese ships died.

The missile duel went on and on for almost half an hour until both fleets had their VLS cells empty. Half of William's force was simply gone with more than a third of the rest damaged to one degree or another. The Japanese, were down to about forty percent strength... and only had a single battle ship and battle cruiser left as large gun platforms and both had taken hits. They had four assorted cruisers, three of them heavy and the rest were modern thin-skinned combatants. In comparison, Williams had her Nelson, who was blessed by the Gods because she emerged from the missile duel intact, her sister New Jersey, who had lost her number two turret and the bridge, however had the fires under control and ready for combat and two moderately damaged battle cruisers. They were escorted by a pair of armoured cruisers and four meant for air defence that still had their mostly intact. They were all got hit at least once, however, the enemy hadn't fared any better and the Japanese had lost too much speed due to battle damage to get away.

"Close in on the enemy. Concentrate fire on their capital ships." Williams paused. "But before that hail them and ask if they would wish to surrender."