The Space Liberators

Chapter 18: A Striking Blow

Chapter 18: A Striking Blow

At the Berlukraften Headquarters Dolan Litmah was inspecting the aircraft, aircrew and the conditions of the squadrons building; once he inspected the squadrons the grand dictator addressed Dom Hercules "HERCULES", "Yes great one" replied Hercules, "you are being re-posted to Molicous of Polandika; there you will defend our GLORIOUS empire from the disgust that is the United Galaxies" said Dolan; "Thanks you great one" replied Hercules; then Dolan continued "You will leave IMMEDIATELY!", "Yes oh great leader, FOR GERMANICOUS!" said Hercules, as he and his squadron leave for Molicous.

Meanwhile in Maltacious, a week after the enactment of a timetable, the first day of a six month long training program in order to gain an advantage over their enemy; the town bell begins to ring at 0600 hours, meanwhile at the field of warriors the sergeants begin waking up the troops as dose General McFarrison "COME ON LADIES, WAKY WAKY, RISE AND SHINE, because it's time for all of you lazy bastards to get on with your six months training" he says as he barges through the door; meanwhile in the main quarters, Admiral Smith just woke up, he walks towards the window and looks out towards the port and the horizon. Meanwhile on board HMS Liberator, the crew are preparing for the first day of training, as Admiral Smith was on his way to board his ship. As for the air force they were already up and willing to get up in the air.

Meanwhile on board HMS Liberator, Admiral Smith was explaining what the training scenario will be "The scenario will be in stages; today we are going to fight a moderate size fleet with a variety of class of ship, battleships, battlecruiser, cruiser, destroyers, and submarines; any questions", no-one asked, and so the fleet left the port, meanwhile on the field of warriors, sergeants Bolter, Vounghanork, and Grant got on with their target practice, whereas in the air, the fighters practised maneuvers and strafing, while the bombers did bombing practice.

A couple of hours went by and as all forces continued with their training, when a Typhoon fighter spotted a fleet of ships which was heading towards the beach of Maltacious; the pilot contacted Lieutenant Albator who then told Admiral Smith "One of my pilots has sighted a fleet which includes four troop-transport ships", Admiral Smith replied "I can see them Lieutenant thank you", he ordered to "send a telegram to all ships 'ACTION STATIONS' also inform Lieutenant Albator about enemy aircraft"; Meanwhile only three miles away from the fleet of Admiral Smith there was a Germanican invasion fleet which consists of two battleships, two cruisers, three destroyers, and the four troop-transport ships.

Admiral Smith's fleet went into battle formation, their main guns swung towards the enemy fleet, their gunners aimed towards the enemy fleet; meanwhile in the air the fighters escorted the bombers for protection against the fighters of 616 squadron; meanwhile in Admiral Smith's fleet 'DING DING' rang through out each individual ship, and then flashes of flame erupt from the barrels of the ships main guns, as the shells fly out of the guns, the fighters brake off from the bomber formation in order to attack the enemy fighters; leading the enemy fighters of 616 squadron as well as two others (38 squadron & 67th squadron) was Dom Hercules and his 1500 strong fighter fleet which approached the bombers but they were prepared for the fighters of 110, 66, and 550 squadrons, meanwhile at the field of warriors the anti-air, and artillery placements swung into action.

The shots fired from Admiral Smith's fleet made a direct hit on the enemy battleships and the two cruisers; the submarine HMS King Henry VIII launches torpedoes on the 3 destroyers, all of them hit the destroyers leaving only the four troop-transport ships; meanwhile the dive bombers finish off the enemy battleships as the fighters of 110, 66, and 550 squadrons battle against the enemy fighters of Dom Hercules 616 squadron as well as 38 and 67 squadron; the air force destroyed half of the enemy's 1500 fighter fleet, leaving only 655 enemy fighters for the allies AA guns.

Meanwhile back on the sea, the enemy troop-transport ships began to turn around until a huge explosion erupted from one of the ships; it was a direct hit, it made a huge hole strait through the centre of the ship; Admiral Smith wondered, "what could have done that?" he immediately ruled out the possibility of one of the ships in his fleet and "it couldn't have been the bombers because they were dealing with the battleships, and it also can't have been the artillery placements; unless it was something giant that has a gun barrel attached to it" he concluded.

The remaining enemy ships retreated in shame, and so did Dom Hercules for the second time. "Another failed attempt of invasion" boasted Admiral Smith, "Well that's the end of training for today" said Lieutenant Albator; the fighters and bombers flew back to base in order to land, also the fleet of Admiral Smith turned back towards the port.

Meanwhile on Zator, Hercules was having a meeting with his pilots "I know it was another set back, but no-body informs our great leader anything about the retreat UNDERSTOOD!", his pilots nodded in acknowledgement, but at the General Schnitzel's headquarters (who was on board one of the surviving troop-transport ships) was also briefing his troops on the recent events "Well it was a resounding defeat... we didn't even make it to the beach; if only the Berlukraften had made recon runs, we'd probably might have made a successful landing" he said as he criticized the Berlukraften, but once he had made the remark Hercules was standing at the door "So you're blaming us for not getting your men onto the beach" he said whilst looking at Schnitzel with anger and disgust running through his veins. "YES!" said the general "Because our great leader knows nothing about military strategy", Hercules lashed back "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT, YOU'RE NO LEADER, YOU ARE JUST A SHIT GENERAL"; then General Schnitzel made his come back "AT LEAST I CAN LEAD MY MEN UNLIKE YOU"; then both Schnitzel and Hercules went into a full on brawl with each other.

Meanwhile on Maltacious, Admiral Smith was in 'The Tommy' still wondering what type of weapon caused that hole, as he drank his cider he turned and looked up to the television; his eyes went bigger in amazement as he saw and knew what type of weapon made that striking blow.

At Zator the fighting between General Schnitzel and Dom Hercules had been going on for over an hour until a loud voice shouted "HERCULES AND SCHNITZEL"; It was Dolan Litmah...