0220 April 8th, 2020 CE

0410 Sun 8th, 196 AE

Somewhere between Soane Continent and Imperitoria Continent

It was a new day. The sea was getting rocky and the skies were grey with clouds. A cold breeze blew throughout the ocean. It was obvious that a storm was coming. Multiple groups of ships were converging on each other and formed a massive fleet. Admiral Edyrm Vaynore sat down on the chair in the specialized command room of his flagship, the aircraft carrier NN Conqueror. Edrym was known as an elf of few words, thus he gained the title of the Silent Admiral; he only spoke when he had to.

He was quite a big elf and the chair he was sitting on barely fit him. He looked around at his officers. They silently stared back. He nodded.

“Begin.”

“Admiral, we have been assigned a new mission. Naval Command has lost contact with Battleship Group 3. Their last message was that they had been attacked and were turning around. Because of this, it is believed that a large human fleet is nearby. Special instruction has also come directly from the Leader.”

The officer abruptly stopped to let that set in. Edyrm nodded to signal for the officer to continue.

“Proceed with extreme caution. This is most likely a new enemy. A nation called the United States of America. They are categorized as being more powerful than the Empire. The recent defeats experienced by the Army were caused by them. We believe that they may have weapons that are capable of hitting from extreme ranges. Take this into account. That is the full message from our Leader. In addition, we have also been warned by High Command that if we lose this battle, the supply lines linking our country with our Army fighting in the Empire would be severed. So it is of utmost importance that we prevent this from happening. We have been given a large fleet of 4 Battleship Groups, 4 Fleet Carrier Groups, 3 Light Carrier Groups, 6 Destroyer Squadrons, and 5 Submarine Squadrons.”

Edrym looked at the map with the blocks placed on it. He sat there staring for a few seconds in silence. He frowned at the supposedly “large” fleet. A toppled wooden red block with a 3BG labeled on it was set a few feet from a group of wooden red blocks that were not toppled and had various numbers and letters on them. They were also multiple red blocks spread out nearby with SS labeled on each of them.

“Give me more blocks.”

The officers brought out more blocks. Edrym started writing on them with a pencil. They were labeled 1.1D, 1.2D, 2.1D, 2.2D and so on and were placed next to the blocks that had the same first number but had BGs on them. Using a stick, he spread the D blocks out and moved them forward. Then blocks labeled DS followed behind. Two of the D blocks, 6.1D and 6.2D were pushed to the south. SS blocks were also pushed forward in seemingly random directions. He bunched together all the BG, FCG, and LCG blocks and very slowly pushed them forward behind the DS and D blocks.

“Detach the destroyers for scouting.”

Then he fell silent and let his subordinates carry out the commands.

A command was transmitted to all the flagships of each group.

“All destroyers from each Battleship Group will form their own independent units. Each new independent destroyer unit will keep the numbers of their Battleship Group but will either have a .1 or .2 added. Specific orders will then be given to each unit.”

Less than 30 minutes later

A large and organized formation was formed when the aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers of the aircraft carrier groups converged on the battleships and cruisers of the battleship groups. Destroyers from the battleship groups and destroyer squadrons steamed out in various directions.

0446 April 8th, 2020 CE

0523 Sun 8th, 196 AE

Afvalin, Elven Nation

“My Leader, why is it that you show no approval of sending out the entire might of the Navy? Are we lacking in capability?”

“You are not.”

“Then for such a dangerous enemy, why are you only sending less than half of the fleet?”

“Because I have plans for the other half.”

“What plans?”

“I had wanted to discuss this with you in the future but I suppose now is a good time.”

“Yes, My Leader?”

“General, I have big plans. Prepare the remaining fleet for a long journey.”

“What are you exactly planning, My Leader?”

“We will hit our new enemy where it hurts most.” >>>

With his phone on his right ear, Tarron stared at the map of the Formidon Continent.

Somewhere between Soane Continent and Imperitoria Continent

Vice Admiral Angela Walters was called to attention by one of the radar operators.

“Admiral, We have multiple contacts on our radar from various locations.”

“Let me take a look.”

The radar operator explained the situation.

“3 groups of surface contacts. Spread far out. Seems to be at least a total of 9 surface ships.”

“Probably a patrol. Well, get the Super Hornets loaded up and in the air. We are going duck hunting. Come on, no time to waste!”

Destroyer Group 4.1, consisting of 3 destroyers, moved at a brisk pace. Using binoculars, an officer scanned the horizon of the rocky seas.

“All seems clear. The weather is quite stormy though.”

A few minutes later

The front of the lead destroyer was seemingly consumed in a ball of fire. It immediately started sinking after the bright flash of light.

“Enemy attack! Evasive maneuvers!”

Elven Main Fleet

“We have lost contact with Destroyer Group 4.1.”

Edrym’s officers have been keeping track of the positions of their units on the map. They made sure that the blocks were as accurate as possible in location. The block labeled 4.1D was toppled with a stick. A small cross marked the estimated location of where it was destroyed.

“That’s the furthest away destroyer group.”

Edrym listened to his officer before speaking.

“Tell the destroyer groups and destroyer squadrons to reverse and spread further out. Make sure that 6.1D and 6.2D don’t stop moving south.”

Then another report came in.

“We just lost contact with Destroyer Group 2.1.”

US Fleet

“Seems like the surface ships are fleeing. There’s one remaining group.”

“Take them all out. They are probably looking for the ships we had sunk.”

A few minutes later

“We have come up to another group of surface ships.”

“Destroy them!”

Elven Main Fleet

“Destroyer Group 1.1 has been destroyed.”

Admiral Edrym Vaynore looked at the standing blocks on the map.

“Destroyer Group 6 status?”

“Nothing has happened to them yet.”

He started sliding 6.1D and 6.2D back up.

“Tell them to turn around. Go north.”

Edrym’s officers looked around at each other. They were completely perplexed about what he was doing but didn’t question it.

30 minutes later

US Fleet

“Two groups of surface ships. This time they are coming from the south.”

“You know the drill.”

Elven Main Fleet

Destroyer Group 6.1 and 6.2 were destroyed. Their blocks were toppled and it was marked. Edrym stared at the map before getting out his pencil. He leaned over on the table and drew a circle connecting the point from destroyed Destroyer Group 6.1 and 6.2 to the point where Destroyer Group 1.1 was destroyed. He drew two lines that crossed at the center of the circle.

“Blue blocks.”

His officers handed him the blue blocks. He placed them down onto the center of the circle.

“Their detection equipment seems to be quite long-ranged. How close do we need to approach before we can launch our aircraft?”

0534 April 8th, 2020 CE

0547 Sun 8th, 196 AE

A few miles off the coast of the Magus Imperium

A Tomahawk missile flew upwards from an Arleigh Burke destroyer before curving left. Light rain pattered the canopy of an F/A-18 Super Hornet sitting on the catapult of the USS Ronald Reagan. A ground crew personnel wearing bright yellow clothing crouched and pointed his two fingers forward. The F/A-18 seemingly rocketed down the catapult and flew upwards towards the grey sky. A few seconds later, another F/A-18 rocketed down the other catapult. They had been out here for a couple of days doing strike missions on targets in the western portion of the Magus Imperium. They have so far decimated multiple elf ground units.

Elven defense line

“Is this all the survivors?”

“Yes sir, we were harassed day and night by human aircraft. We barely held together.”

Colonel Trakkas and Colonel Aewraek held their heads down in clear defeat.

Lieutenant General Faekas sighed.

“It’s fine. It’s not only your units. All units beyond this line have faced numerous air attacks. We are taking heavy casualties. The Western Army is faring even worse. There have been reports of numerous attacks by an undetectable force. Even their defense line is barely holding. We are categorizing it as some sort of advanced human magic that we haven’t developed yet. Information about the condition of the Western Army is also beginning to be restricted.”

Plains

M1A2 Abrams rolled down the plains. Following them were M2A3 Bradleys. In one of the Bradleys, Private Issac Miles yawned and stretched.

Because of the amount of destruction the Air Force and Apaches had brought down on the elf units, the plains were clogged with destroyed vehicles. It made travel difficult and slow. The good news was that they were able to get out and rest because of it. Issac was glad that they could even get out of this tin can. Originally it was planned that they would travel nonstop with only short breaks. He didn’t know how he was gonna survive that.

There had also been reports of snipers but it didn’t reality concern him since it was behind the lines. Counter snipers and drones had been deployed but were taking their sweet time to find whoever was taking potshots at the supply units. Couple of casualties had already occurred but nothing too major to stop the offensive.

US Air Force Base many miles behind the Jungles

In an office, a few high-ranking Air Force officials were discussing their plans.

“The elves have taken up a defensive position on this line. We have pictures of anti-aircraft guns, artillery embankments, and trenches all along it. They have also set up defenses in all cities near this line. We have been given permission to destroy all elf defenses except for the ones in the cities.”

“Why not the cities?”

“We don’t want to bomb any civilians.”

“Are you sure if there are any? From our reports, the elves are extremely anti-human. Wouldn’t it be very likely that they all have been executed?”

“We can’t discount the possibility of civilians. Our ground forces will clear the cities out. Also, keep in mind that there are multiple elf armies approaching.”