Three Strikes [✓]

Of Monsters and Men

Chapter Thirty-Three: Of Monsters and Men

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New Arrows Air Base, East Usea.
September 14th, 2019.
1300hrs.

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They all knew what was coming. When they were all told to get ready for a briefing, it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that something had come up. Something big. Today was the day that they were going to finally put an end to the Alicorn, and send it back into the depths where it belonged. Naomi knew it was a horrible way to go out, but the crew had made their bed and now it was time that they lay in it. Their target was Osea, and Naomi wasn't about to let them get away with it. So, as she was told, she reported to the briefing, taking her usual place between Count and Tabloid. She felt determined, and she'd slept better the previous night than she had in a while. She was ready, and by the looks of things, so were her wingmen.

It seemed as though everyone was holding their breath while they waited for the briefing to officially start. Long Caster was finishing up with something on the computer, meanwhile David was patiently waiting for them to finish up, watching silently. Skald and Lanza whispered something back and forth to one another, shortly before Fencer joined in. Jaeger shushed them just as Long Caster pulled up a 3D image of the Alicorn on the display screen. Wiseman looked around as everyone went quiet. "Good. Now that everyone's here and we're done with our computer troubles, we can finally get started. Though I'm sure you all know why you're here. David, go ahead."

From the looks of things, David was in a rather good mood. "I've got some good news for you all. The Erusean military finally sent over parts of the Alicorn's specs, as you can probably see for yourselves. More details than you're used to, right?" he asked them as they all looked over the image on the screen. Plenty of text was displayed, with lines drawn to specific parts of the submarine. "It's basic capabilities were as we predicted. But what's interesting is...this over here." He typed something into his own computer, and the text around the Alicorn was swiped away as David zoomed in on the model. Part of the shiny, blue and white, mostly transparent model began to move. It looked as though a slab of the flight deck was raised up, looking like an odd, electronic cannon of some sort in Naomi's opinion. Like something out of a science-fiction film. Sure enough, her suspicions were confirmed as David explained it, the screen further centering on the cannon as a line of text appeared beside it. "In addition to their main railguns, they have a 600mm/128 caliber rail cannon. The barrel of this thing exceeds 70 meters! Gotta admit, that's pretty cool, huh?"

"Cool, but deadly," Naomi said, studying the model carefully, trying to pinpoint the best places to target. There was no guarantee that they could destroy the gun, so she knew she needed a backup plan. But for now, it was probably best to focus on one thing at a time. She leaned back in her seat, nodding at the screen. "So, what's the official word on the range of this thing? We looking at more or less from what we suspected after Anchorhead?"

David went on without any hesitation. "It's range is over 3,000 kilometers." The screen zoomed all the way out and overhead of the model, marking the range from 1,000 all the way out to 3,000. "That matches what we calculated from the bombardment on Anchorhead Bay." He zoomed back in on the cannon, now showing something being fired from it. It froze in midair, and David said, "The mini nuke they seemed to have obtained has a yield of one kiloton." The animation resumed and followed the projectile as it travelled to the 3,000 kilometer point and made impact on a small circle in the screen. "It'll destroy anything within a 400-meter radius of ground zero. Casualties are to be in the tens of thousands."