It was a Strange Sensation to be brought through Universes. The Spurance materialized, still moving at her 12 knots. Her Crewmen looked around as the waves of this world parted around her Bow. The Spurance, a Normal Sized US Navy Destroyer, was at that moment the De Facto largest Vessel on the planet for about 3 Minutes Her gray hull let her blend into the Sky which was halfway covered with clouds and her masts towered over the water.
Then, half a minute later, appeared the British Destroyer Thunderchild. Her own gray hull appeared against the outlines of the sphere as the Union Jack and Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom flew proudly in the Breeze. The Next ship to appear was A Dutch vessel, the Rotterdam. She was smaller than both Spurance and Thunderchild but compared to any Hunter ship she was still a sizable warship, not counting the fact that unlike the Hunter ships she carried proper guns, and despite being dated by the Standards of the 1980s she could tear apart just about anything of this universe.
Then came the massive hull shape of a larger warship, Thundering through the water not unlike a Red Death herself, the Enterprise entered this reality. If you were of this world, it would be like watching an Island itself move. On her Flightdeck and secured fastly where an Array of Aircraft, F-14s which were brand new at the time and considered one of the best Fighters on Earth, F-4s, which while older could still fight their way through a battle, and F-8 Crusaders, Old, but reliable. The Scary part about her was how silent she was, you'd think CVN-65 would be loud given her size, but her nuclear engines were so quiet the crew themselves made more noise.
As the Rest of the Task Force Materialized the Distant Island was already in view. Its 3 peaks, capped with snow, stood like a lighthouse in the distance. It was a beautiful place, lush green forest covered it with its rock cliffs having waves breaking against them. It would have been a lot prettier had there not been thick wafts of smoke, which rose even higher than the mountains and into the winds which carried them away far across the sky.
"Sir, There is a Rocky Outcropping hardly a Mile away from our Starboard bow." Said one of the Officers on the bridge, they pointed to the Rocky Obstacle which rose like a Skyscraper out of the sea, it rose a few hundred feet out of the ocean and was certainly unlike anything they had ever seen, pardon that coast in Vietnam.
"Steer us to port, 5 Degrees." The Captain said, the Officer nodded and turned the Helm. The Captain looked at another officer, who was manning the Radio set. "Tell all other ships about the Sea Stack, and give them instructions on how to avoid it." He told the officer, who nodded and started speaking into the radio the required course correction the ships would take.
The Spurance swerved, her Wake moving with the ship as she changed her course ever so slightly. The Ships behind her followed suit, making a port turn as they dodged the Rocky Obstacle. The Distant Island seemed a lot closer now, yet it truly wasn't. Despite making a solid 15 knots by now the Fleet seemed just as far away as before.
"Captain, we got those Enemy Contacts on Radar again." One of the Radar operators said, "We have confirmed 38 Ships of a large size, and another 50 Smaller vessels." The Radar operator said.
"Can I get a size reading of the ships?" The Captain asked
"Hard to tell ... .readings making them look about the size of the HMS Victory, the old sailing ship, but that's all 38 ships of large size, the others look about the size of a large fishing boat." The Radio operator said.
"Nearly 100 ships…we have hardly 10, and some are rust buckets." He said, speaking about that dutch ship.
"It's good that our ships are built with the technology of the modern man then." The Radio operator said, "Even a Ship like the Thunderchild could take them out before they even knew we were there right?"
"Yeah." He said, he knew their missiles could probably burn their ships to the waterline with one hit, and he didn't even want to know what a Torpedo would do to the probable wooden constructions of the ships. He wouldn't be surprised if it blew them clean in half, they wouldn't be above the water for long was certain.
"Captain, Radio coming in from the Enterprise, They are launching a Hawkeye." The Radio operator said. The Captain nodded and rushed to the window on the ship's bridge just as the Hawkeye soared past, he watched as it climbed towards the distant clouds and vanished among the gray swirls, his last sight of it was when it began its turn towards the enemy ships.
"We have full Radar coverage of the Island sir, Thunderchild reports at least 92 Aerial Bandits, the same type as what took down the Chopper." The Radar operator said. The Captain grabbed a pair of the binoculars and looked towards the green treeline of the island. He could hardly see them at the Miles distance they were at, but he saw the distant hovering and slow moving dots that were the enemy air forces.
"Get me the Thunderchilds captain, I need their AA up and running as well as ours, and tell the rest of the Fleet to ready Their Guns." The Captain yelled, with at least 92 aerial bandits and close to 100 Enemy ships their hands would be full, it was not going to be a question of FIrepower here, that would go to them since they had bigger, better, more advanced guns. It would be a War of Attrition, whoever tried and ran out of Ammo and ships first would be on the losers table.
None of the ships, Except Thunderchild and Enterprise, were near full capacity on their guns. The Spurance had a good amount of ammunition given it was on its way to a training exercise in Oslo with the Norweigians.
Speaking of the Norweigians, they said they were sending ships too, the Canadians had one of their Frigates on the way and the French had a Task force prepped in case of the Worse. The British supposedly were getting ready to deploy more Destroyers and their own Capital ships. The US Navy was considering reactivating the USS Wisconsin in case things went sour, or one of the Other Iowas. He imagined the massive guns of the Missouri shredding apart one of the Enemy ships, some of those guns may be even bigger than the ships they would be fighting.
"Sir, we have 10 new Aerial Contacts on Radar 2 Nautical Miles off! Thunderchild is moving ahead to provide Flak Cover!"
His face went pale as a Explosion rocked the ship, at first he thought it was something serious, but when he peered out the Windows of the ship's bridge he saw the fireball had struck the deck but hadn't even gone through it. The Firepower of the enemy couldn't even penetrate the ship's Bow Deck Armor.
Now, the Main Gun of the Spurance tilted upwards, typically they wouldn't consider using that main Cannon for AA, but the slow moving enemy and their close range made it possible. The Cannon Thundered as the shot sailed at nearly the speed of sound, closing the distance in a few seconds. The enemy hardly even had a chance to hear the sound before the first Dragon Flyer exploded, they were gone in that one attack.
Rushing past the Spurance drove the HMS Thunderchild, sailing full ahead. Her Flak Guns fired, lighting the sky up with their shots as Flyer after Flyer fell. It took a few Seconds for the 10 Aerial Contacts to become Sea Debris and Sharkfeed, and as the Fleet drove past they had hardly a Scratch, with the exception of the Spurance who had a Charred spot on her Deck.
"Operator, get me a hold of the Enterprise and tell me where the ETA on the Fighters are!" The Captain said. He knew the enemy lacked firepower, but in sheer numbers they must excel, and should those 100 other aerial contacts turn towards them the battle would be even more bloody.
"The Enterprise is readying Phantoms and Tomcats sir, they have at least 10 minutes before they are airborne." The Captain said.
"Damnit, get me ahold of every ship in the fleet and get ANTI AIR MISSILES operational!" He yelled.
The Spurance's main cannon tilted far to her portside, and aimed skyward. It wasn't aimed anywhere near the island, but instead far out to see over the islands cliffs
"Fire at the enemy ships, make it a warning shot!" The Captain said, "I want it to land close enough to whatever ship is in the Lead to make them sh*t themselves and wonder who is knocking on their door."
The Thunder of the Spurances gun sounded, one shot which sailed clean through the air, piercing the clouds for a brief moment as it came back down. It traveled over the island, an Invisible streak as it left a Wake that could be identified as a Line in those gray swirls of the overcast sky, then it came towards the enemy fleet.
Ryker wasn't leading this fleet, he was leading a different one heading for Berserker island. The Commander of the Hunters wasn't a notable one, but he was somewhat intelligent. When a sudden Explosive occurred less than 300 feet from the Hunter ships bow he was surprised, he looked to the sky expecting to see a Night Fury but apart from the Clouds it was empty.
"Where did that come from?" He asked.
"Sir, take a look at this." One of the other Hunters said, handing him a periscope. He scowled and looked through it, which was when his pants were nearly soiled.
Through the periscope and just visible on the horizon moved a shape, it was not like anything he had ever seen, it was a ship obviously, but instead of Rusty brown it was a Light Grey, and it was massive, over 4 Times the size of their own vessel, which was considered of a large size. He spotted other smaller shapes, around 10, which were hardly visible.
"It's just 10 ships." He said nervously, He knew if he ordered them to turn back Viggo would not let him escape with his trousers, so he ordered the fleet to charge on.
He continued to observe the fleet in the distance, studying them with intense curiosity. That's when he saw several dim and distant flashes. Roughly 20 seconds later a massive Boom was heard and he looked to the side as he saw the Fury of 10 Modern Naval ships rain down one of their longships, in an instant the Longship was split in half, then into quarters as what remained of the burning wreck bobbed to the surface with no major part left to sink.
"Odin help us." He said, shaking his head. "Press on!" He ordered, "We still outnumber them 10 to one!"
As the Hunter fleet charged forward more flashes in the distance, and then suddenly one of the Larger Hunter Brigantines was being hit by a nearly unseen force as shots landed home on it. He watched as an Explosion ripped through its deck near the end of the ship, then a less powerful shot near its foremast. One went clean through its sail, penetrated its rear upper works, and went clean through and splashed through the water. The Explosions from the Former 2 sent fires raging through the ship, and then another salvo landed, this time all struck home and this one caused the ship to be set nearly full aflame. He watched with horror as the ship's masts collapsed in fire and steam as it sank to the bottom.
"Fire back!" He yelled. The Catapults swung their boulders but they splashed in the water far too short of the ships, not even a quarter of the way through the most lenient guess.
Then came the next attack, instead of targeting one ship they targeted many. One shot landed home on his ship and hit the Mast nearly in the middle and went into the deck before exploding. The ship shook as that same mast collapsed, sprawling into the water.
He looked in horror at the Fire Raging in the ship, flames licking at the wooden decks. He watched as Longships were sent to the locker in one hit, as brigs were engulfed in the fires of the HE shells that landed in them. He saw a AP Shell hit a nearby brig on its bow, travel straight through it, and come out the other end before hitting a longship and smashing its mast to matchwood.
Suddenly, an Explosion engulfed the nearest ship as a series of missiles hit it. He watched as a Bank of steam emerged from the Wooden Hulk that was smoldering with the Fury of a Modern War machine.
Then the enemy sent their full might at once, flashes of everything as suddenly ships around them detonated, he watched as missiles tore into the amidship of his vessel, causing it to explode. He watched with horror as he was thrown free, the Hunter Commander landed in the water. He coughed as water tried filling his mouth and as he gripped a pile of wooden debris he watched with horror as the 2 halves of his vessel vanished beneath the sea.
He turned to see his ships turn tail and run, half of them had been picked off in the span of hardly 2 minutes, half his damn fleet! One of the largest forces the Hunters had ever amassed had been destroyed without being able to do a damn thing.
One of the Friendly longboats approached him and he waved, he breathed a sigh of relief as the Hunters picked him up. He looked back towards the island, hoping to the lord the Flyers assault would succeed so the deaths of thousands of Hunter Sailors wouldn't be in Vain
That's where I'll wrap it up, obviously charging into battle against an enemy with missiles and guns while welding sticks and stones wasn't a good idea, muttonhead…