Thank you to Tigerssman for all his help.
***
Things were not going well for the Allies; their ships were scuttled in port, making landings impossible. Their troops retreating, the commanders could not find room to regroup. The enemies' soldiers were better than the Ally soldiers.
Lee could only look at Global Hawk's images with dismay, "TURN IT OFF!" Lee could no longer be on The Firebrand; she had to go to DC where the joint chiefs were. Congress declared war on several countries.
Lyle's wife couldn't be calm. Lyle had almost five years left for his sea rotation. The wives on base banded around Maria and baby Hope. Maria wasn't used to military life. None of the families had experienced something like this. There was a command structure in place to help Maria.
The wives had as big of a leadership role as the men, maybe more. The wives were not going to let Maria fall through the cracks.
Lee looked around the room with disgust. "Gentlemen, Please! Do I need to remind you that you are the heads of our military, not squabbling school children? Loved ones are dying out there, and you are in here covering your ass, so your branch doesn't get the blame."
"Yes, we were all surprised by the speed of the attacks. The world is looking to us now, and the enemy wants to know if we are a Paper Tiger or one that has a backbone. If we send the wrong signal, we might as well surrender now."
"Now, does anyone have any ideas as to where we can put a defensive force? It looks like they are massing troops in Belarus."
"Australia can't help, they are just hanging on."
"What if we put a head-on juggernaut in Estonia, a unified wall, land, sea, and air?"
"That's a suicide mission!"
"The longer we do nothing, the more troops they will have there. Can Spain, France, and the UK help out?"
"Lee's right, we need a beachhead somewhere soon; it will be a long slog. In theory, we could go through Estonia. What about you Lee?"
"I am sorry gentlemen, I can't help much. I am going all in, a naval blockade around half of Australia. They can't shoot in both directions at the same time, and they won't be able to resupply, our drones will see to that. Global Hawk will be our eye in the sky. They don't have that advantage."
Soon a cogent plan was in place and implemented. Finally, the US decided to do something.
Lee knew that it was a risky gamble; those amounts of resources would leave some of the US undefended. The Allies needed a win, somewhere, anywhere. Fighting on multiple fronts will slow enemy advances.
Lee canceled all leaves.
Captain Kathy and Captain Lesly could not believe their orders, a naval blockade around Australia. Had Lee gone nuts?
When The Firebrand and The Phoenix arrived, it was an impressive sight. It seemed every allied nation that had a ship with a gun on it was there, and more were coming every day.
Without advanced intelligence, the naval blockade was a surprise to the enemy. Lee pressed her advantage by launching several Predator drones, their target, the enemy's flagship carrier.
The enemy flagship could now do very little; their planes couldn't fly due to the air support that the Allies could bear against them. The drones were unmanned, and it was impossible to stop every Hellfire. The flagship disappeared in mere minutes, into the inky sea.
Knocking out their command and control will cause disarray in their fleet. For the first time, The Firebrand and The Phoenix parted ways, their job was to seal the flanks. Norma Rae was working overtime; she and Chin Lee worked together to send out communications to all the allied ships.
The Australian army and air force were to retreat and regroup to gain numbers. They were going to take back their country!
In Belarus, winter had set in, the coldest and wettest in living memory. Forces on both sides ground to a halt. The snow was waist-deep and still falling, this was now trench warfare. Neither force could resupply, opposing armies could shoot anything out of the air.
Mother nature forces were stronger than any army, so as the temperatures dropped, so did the use of weapons of war. Over the millennia, she took on all the most powerful armies and prevailed.
Captain Kathy was getting a crash course on how to use her assets. There were several more battleship battle groups than carrier strike groups. The Phoenix was protected.
Hope heard The Comfort was on its way, but she had no offensive weapons on her. She stayed more than a half day's sail away.
The Firebrand and The Phoenix were so close to the action it made evasive maneuvers difficult. The Phoenix strike group received more firepower against it as it was not the flagship. Therefore, the Captain was not as seasoned. She had survived many near misses, and the launchers were mobile, so the fighters could not find them.
Even Global Hawk had inherent delays.
The enemy followed the Aussies right to their regrouping area.
Lee's gambit had failed; the troops in Belarus couldn't do anything. The blockade had not tilted the conflict. If the enemy entirely controlled the island, there would be a mass slaughter. The Phoenix most likely would be lost because of unrelenting pounding.
Kathy was all too aware of the threat. "Did they put those fires on aft out yet?"
"Not yet, Captain. They are working on it; that one almost penetrated the deck."
"I will be damned if they sink my ship. They can court-martial me later. I want a scorched earth policy on their front line. Send the GPS locations of anything we can blow up and scatter through to the bombers and fighters. Have all ships in this area concentrate fire on the port. Ships to start at 20:00 hours, fighters and bombers to start 08:00 hours."
"Those sons of bitches are not going to hide on me."
"Captain, we may hit our allies."
"I am willing to risk that. They need relief. If we sit here we will go down. Let's drive these assholes into the desert with no water."
Lee was reading the communications to all ships near Kathy. "What the hell is she playing at?"
"Kathy is getting tired of being shelled, so she is going all-in with everything they have. She will disobey any direct order to stop. You did say she was to seal the flank."
"If she is successful have The Firebrand follow suit. I want these mother fuckers pinned down twenty miles into the outback."
The tracer shells made the night, day. It came from every ship on the horizon. There was chaos at the port, explosions causing thick plumes of smoke.
At 06:00 the pilots got their briefings. At 08:00 they launched and fired at everything they could lock onto, including several mobile launchers. The forests were ablaze; the wildfires consumed all.
Now, there was a natural defensive wall; no one could breach the fires, and all forward locations the enemy had in the forests were gone. The flames would burn for weeks.
The fighters took out most of the transport and artillery the enemy had; they will come back to mop up. The enemy headed to the hills where the Australians had the high ground and the artillery. The Army set up a line to get crossfire angles.
The next wave of fighters flew low and strafed the enemy with gunfire.
Then it was The Firebrands' turn, as Norma Rae was typing out the message to all ships she said, "This is for all my friends you have killed you dirty S. O. B's." She finished the transmission with USA! USA! USA!
Captain Lesly was even more ruthless than Kathy was. She let her subs join in the launching of missiles with her Marines and her gunships followed the bombardment. The Marines were to make it through the forest and go northward.
After checking with the Australians, Kathy and her force pulled out and let her allies liberate their land. She sailed north, her drones leading the way. Captain Kathy forgot what her job was. All the destroyers, frigates and other anti-submarine warfare ships had left the area.
The enemy regrouped and had its submarines surface as well as manning boats in the harbor. Kathy was now the hunted, but she was only looking for ships in front of her, not behind her.
On the west side of the country, Captain Lesly was holding her flank. The Firebrand pounded the enemy day and night and continuing to add ground troops.
When the Marines arrived at the other side of the forest, they dug in. Food and water were close to them. They sent handheld drones and Osprey tilt-wing helicopters to check enemy strongholds.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard from the V-22's as the drones redirected their flight path.
The Marines did not want to make the same mistake they did in WWII when they used flamethrowers as the island jumped. They had a new toy, one that burned so bright it blinded everyone inside, and so hot it started to melt the rock, releasing toxic gasses.
The battleship battle groups were trailing Kathy's armada. The subs had caught up to them, and three battleships were targets. The order to Abandon Ship was given almost immediately. Kathy let the enemy have multiple free shots at high-value targets.
The battle raged for twenty-four hours straight; Kathy never left her post. The Ensign ordered Hope to the bridge. "Captain, as a Chief medical NCO, I can order you to stand down and have you get a solid eight hours of sleep. You are no use to us in this condition. I am asking nicely, don't force me to get Doc involved and make this a more formal matter." Two Marines escorted Kathy off the bridge and into her cabin; she could barely stand up.
Even with the loss of several of the battleships, Kathy had more firepower. The forces were so close together that launching planes would be hazardous. Once the tide of the battle had tipped, the enemy retreated before more concentrated firepower reigned down upon them.
Lee was watching the Global Hawk intel while the Marine mortars were pounding enemy strongholds. The Marines knew the desert of The Outback would break the back of the enemy, so they stayed near food and water and forced the enemy to sprint to safer ground.
Lee was elated; today she was going to promote Kathy for her idea for hitting the port. Kathy was to get her star and a medal. All her comrades were to watch the ceremony.
"Captain Kathy front and center."
Kathy interrupted Lee before she could speak again, "Permission to speak freely Fleet Admiral!"
Lee knew because of Kathy's rudeness and abrasive tone this would not end well.
