“Mayday! Mayday!” Panicked voices echoed over multiple radio channels. The distress signals came both from the Burke-class destroyers and Lance Baker’s fleet.
Victor stared at the LED screen in the conference room with displeasure. Three of Lance’s Destroyer ships blipped out from the radar map. One of NWO’s Burke-class Destroyer also disappeared. The enemy’s explosive barrage had sunk them.
“How are they doing this, Mav?” Victor asked with a clenched jaw. “How can mere littoral combat frigates (LCFs) defeat destroyer warships?”
“I have no idea, sir!” Maverick replied, scratching his head. The destroyers were firing at will but couldn’t land a scratch on the enemy vessels. On the other hand, the LCF attacks were decimating their navy.
An hour had passed since the battle for Springfield coast began. In the beginning, it seemed the NWO fleet had an advantage. They had technologically superior ships with battle-seasoned crews. With their powerful anti-ship weapons, they were supposed to have made mincemeat of the littoral vessels. However, Monolith vessels soon unleashed a barrage that sank fifty percent of the NWO’s fleet!
“Fly your drones in to give me a bird's-eye view,” Victor ordered Maverick. The latter nodded and tapped away on his laptop. He risked swooping in a drone closer to the battle waters. A decent-resolution video blipped on the screen.
Zing! Zing! They could see the enemy’s Littoral Combat Frigates (LCFs) gradually progressing towards the sandy coast undeterred.
Victor leaned in to observe their attacks. The ships weren’t firing cannons or cruise missiles as expected from LCFs. Their primary weapon fired some kind of laser beam that burnt holes through their opponents’ hulls. It was like a scene out of a science fiction movie!
“Sir, this is unprecedented!” Maverick exclaimed in shock. “That is laser technology! How did Monolith develop such futuristic weaponry so quickly without the world knowing about it?”
Victor pursed his lips as he inferred the truth. Although the LCF attacks looked like lasers, they were completely something different. “They aren’t using laser technology, Mav. Those are Disintegra rays!”
Maverick raised his brows. “Oh, do you mean the substance they used to make antimatter bullets?”
“Yes, most likely. There’s no other explanation for how they managed to sink four destroyers within thirty minutes!”
The five-star general scratched his head uncomfortably. “But, sir… As far as I know—antimatter bullets don’t affect matter beyond a few feet of their target. For example, if an AM bullet hits a person in the arm, the whole body won’t be affected. Only the arm, along with a few ribs and shoulder blades, may disintegrate. It’s a limitation of Disintegra.”
Victor nodded. “That is true. AM tech is still rudimentary.”
“That’s why I am confused, sir,” Maverick added, throwing up his arms. “If those are really AM rays hitting our ship hulls, the resultant large holes are justified. However, the substance Disintegra decays within a fraction of a second after exposure to air. Therefore, its application is limited to short-distance guns. How are the enemy ships firing AM rays over such long ranges and still causing damage? The science doesn’t check out!”
Victor leaned over the table and furrowed his brows. “I can make a good guess about what Monolith did to overcome the substance’s limitations. They diluted Disintegra with Nanite to increase its shelf life from a fraction to several seconds.”
Maverick’s eyes widened. “That gives the terrorists a significant advantage, sir! I can’t imagine how they developed this advanced technology so quickly. I mean, the inventor, Angela Kaufmann, is… God bless her soul… Dead. No other scientist alive has experience in this engineering field!”
Victor nodded. “Angela was on the verge of a breakthrough on the subject. But she categorically told us it would take six months to create a Disintegra-nanite weapon. I am stumped how Monolith achieved this feat. The Puppetmaster had an ace up his sleeve!”
Zing! Zing!
“Mayday! Mayday!” Lance blared over the radio. “Sir, all our ships have been hit! I am escaping via a lifeboat! I’m sorry I failed, sir!”
“It’s alright, Lance,” Victor said. “This mission was beyond your capabilities.”
The rest of the NWO ships blipped out from the radar map within a minute.
“Damn it!” Maverick exclaimed. “They decimated our entire fleet! This is a huge setback!”
“Calm down, Mav,” Victor said calmly. “Prepare an armored vehicle for me. I’m going to join my comrades on the battlefield.”
***
Zing! Zing! Zing!
The enemy vessels anchored themselves in the shallow coast, still firing AM rays. In the first wave, over fifty motorboats sped towards the sandy shore while the mother ships provided fire cover.
Zing! Zing! Zing!
“You need to roll out the howitzers, Val!” Maverick barked over the radio. “The terrorists have almost reached the land! You must trim their numbers before they cross the second line of defense!”