His own fleet managed to secure a few spots in this newly found region. It added more islands they counted as out of Gantronese hands. Yet the Gantronese were still up north, and they had several more alien factions to deal with. He now looked at 29 mega ships heading this way. Each one belonged to a different faction other than Gantronese. Hearing much of the islands were cleared in their vicinity proved to reveal mixed results. Casualties were expected, but to deal with a mishmash of allegiances among the strange aliens found was not what he expected. Having more than five factions named through the radio communications gave him an idea of how much of a quagmire the situation looked. Other than the Gantronese and their Aquanne Hitto allies, Admiral Kezef had to think about three or more factions. Some Order of the Beast, the Chaotic Surprise Oligarchy, the Toceanids, and some liberating faction called the IGA. For Kezef this appeared too much to keep up with.
Although he applauded and saluted the efforts of their troops, he could not believe they could secure the whole unknown region. Called the Platform Seas, this massive archipelago of islands stretched from the Iperantosi Isles to the southern hemispheres of Calorn. Thanks to some maps and willing pilots, he was able to note this blocked region of the sea hosted thousands of islands. Looking out the bridge to his flagship, he wondered if it was a good idea. Did they move too far into these unknown parts of their home world? Kezef read stories about caves leading to undiscovered caverns and underworlds. Even the Ottante continent still had places no one really ventured. For at least a few weeks or more they had been here, and hardly heard any word of Gantronese movements. That is what concerned him the most. Not hearing any news or reports since their victory against the Gantronese. Every privateer they hired barely gave a whisper to them. As unnerving as it was he just had to remember, the alien invaders had more valuables to loot. Plus they hunted everyone they suspected of piracy before this war began.
Partially heeding his crews' existence Kezef glanced over at some islands he got to walk on with some escorts of course. Taking a good look at the structures himself he also found some exotic animals living on these islands. A flock of yellow, green, and blue birds called Atotolins roamed around the western islands. These slender bodied, large headed water hens could be found in other parts of the world. Yet to find them here in the platform seas was baffling. He gave orders not to hunt these birds down since they came with enough provisions. Kezef turned his focus away from the thoughts of the birds, and the islands. Next to him one of their new allies came to his side. A commanding officer whose name he already forgot. Yet it was good they forgot his name as well, but not his rank.
"Admiral if these Gantronese regain any foothold they will still have to contend with ten thousand or more enemies. Ones that are not from our factions. My own superiors are sending in a brigade to help." the alien put in.
Not intending to ignore the alien elf Kezef signaled for them to send a warning fire at the incoming fleet. With a bolstered fleet of forty-three vessels he felt ready to take on this fleet of behemoth ships. Some appeared the size of islands. His flag ship fired a warning round at the twenty-nine ships. Letting loose a barrage from their own turrets, these enemy ships answered. A sea battle ensued before his very eyes. Although he fought the Gantronese, Evusians, and the Nazdar, he still felt an uneasy discomfort. His fleet along with nearly a division of personnel were in unknown territory no cartographer mapped out, and not a single explorer came back alive. Aliens, wildlife, monsters, and strange structures were all they found in this part along with the same enemy they had been fighting. He did not take it seriously at first until he met some of the aliens who turned against the enemy. Kezef was even more convinced when he came face to face with the turncoats, prisoners, and a new faction bent on interfering here. Even if their faction were to help, Kezef would prefer it if their superiors did not dictate commands to V.U.V.R. personnel.
"Signal for the Aquanne Hitto to attack along with their Toceanid friends." Kezef ordered. No more than 1053 Aquanne Hitto warriors remained of the hordes that came down to Calorn to fight for the Gantronese. Kezef recalled talking to a General at dinner about them. The General believed the Gantronese were pulling in subjects from other parts of their empire here just to prevent uprisings. Kezef sort of disagreed with him there. He believed the Gantronese were stretching themselves thin. They had to be other wise they would have overrun the southern islands by now. Watching the sea battle unfold from the safety of the bridge Kezef considered the possibility the Gantronese are holding back.
His flagship's guns roared as the crew gunners unleashed lethal shells meant to sink or damage a vessel. Following his ship's lead, the rest of the fleet opened fire from a position that protected their gains. Even though they maneuvered ships slightly north of their claimed islands, the platform seas still exposed flanks. Forces loyal to the Gantronese were bound to come down at the bidding of their Masters. Thanks to the cooperation of other alien defectors they had a few airships to transport personnel out of here quickly. Studying each large behemoth vessel he could only guess the size of the crews. A dozen of the shells fired made impact on their intended targets. Every other shot hit the water, or some smaller island nearby. Grabbing his binoculars, Kezef assessed the damage from the bridge. One of their shells hit a smaller turret, another hit the rails to the deck, the rest just hit the side hulls along the bow, starboards, and broadsides. Seeing they did minor damage, Kezef waited for the next barrage of shells, which could be followed by a return fire.
In command of a combined fleet he aimed to keep as many ships afloat for any future engagements. The Gantronese still had a formidable presence in these platform seas. A small brigade's worth of troops held the islands and platforms north of their positions. Thanks to the six aircraft patrolling the region signaled more forces were on their way. It could take every personnel on their own claimed islands to fend off the size of the Gantronese force coming for them. Preparing for the return fire Kezef ordered his crew to go into evasive mode. His crew sprang into action as his Lieutenant Captain repeated his commands through a phone piece on the wall. Feeling a little secure inside a trapezoid shaped bridge Kezef watched the crews prepare the Hervorne. Her bow turret fired a third round before they received an answer. Heavy, and light shells hit more than two hundred areas just in front of the combined fleet. A few islands were hit with tremendous explosions. Splashes from the impact rose up like large waves. Hervorne and a dozen other ships felt the choppy waves that managed to rock them. Their maneuvering made the rocking feel like they were in a small storm. Turret crews fired whenever they felt level. Kezef wished they would stop firing and conserve ammunition.
After several minutes of fighting the waves the Hervorne and nearby ships regained balance through some side-to-side maneuvers. Ships behind them fired their turrets backing those who sailed at the front. Kezef felt tense as held on to a hanging handle on the ceiling. Sailors sat at their posts while he stood up in front of his command seat. He would be sitting down in it, but he felt uncomfortable at the moment. A good walk around the ship would give his legs a good stretch. Letting the ship Captain off the hook for his cabin seemed like a bad idea for his own legs. Kezef would have enjoyed an extended stroll through his flag ship. His military mind was needed, the Gantronese had sent their first fleet since the engagement at sea. More ships arrived to engage the alien fleet, which relieved his fleet of being needed there. Another Vestrisian Admiral and her own fleet arrived, a fleet of Elves, Half-Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Half-Orcs, Half-Goblins, Humans, Dwarves, Gnolls, and Troglodytes. Most of the Gnolls, and Troglodytes who chose to assimilate. He met a few dozen of those humanoids who were raised into the modernizing civilized society.
After another volley of fire each behemoth vessel were hit. Firing at least nine more times the combined fleet brought one of the behemoths down. In a fiery explosion this monster vessel burst into flames as it succumbed to the amount of damage. Watching just one of those sink gave them relief. Cheers went up all over his ship while the gunners were still firing rounds. Eight more volleys of combined shelling brought another one down. One of their own allies lost a ship to five shots out of eighteen from two of the behemoths. Appearing as a blow to their fleet they were still in this fight as a third behemoth went down in ten shots. Kezef watching a fourth one go down in eleven volleys of fire from ten ships alone. To their luck hardly any more of their own vessels suffered any hits except for the one they lost. It belonged to Alagen, an ally of theirs who showed determination to fight. A fifth behemoth went down after fourteen sets of rounds, but it came at a cost of one Vestrisian Destroyer. It went down in six or seven shots. Kezef felt his heart sink as the blow stabbed his heart. Over two thousand sailors were now dead, drowning, suffocating, or afloat at the mercy of this situation. In the heat of the sea battle a sixth behemoth went down, reducing this fleet to twenty three vs thirty-nine allied ships. Checking the flag on these beasts he noticed the Gantronese Flags, and the Nazdar Flags flying over them.
"How many rounds was that, Lieutenant Blackbell?" He asked the third in command aboard the Hervorne since Captain Durnire was in his cabin.
"Sixty-five Sir." the Lieutenant answered.
Not bad, not bad for the first day of engagement. He thought to himself. During his time in the Navy he would see hundreds of rounds fired resulting in little or no damage to any hostile ship. Times were a little different now. Stronger ships, more turrets, large carrying capacity along with a slightly larger crew. There was also the newest technology in radio communications, and radars. Some ships did not need fuel thanks to engineering of Gnomes, and Dwarves working with sea Goblin mechanics. A new enemy invaded their home world threatening to expand into Vestrisia, and Ottante. Some new technology to combat them was secretly handed over as well as scavenged, salvaged or stolen. Watching these behemoths slowly move around Kezef could only imagine how much fuel these mechanical monsters guzzled up. More shots were exchanged before the Behemoths started to back off. A flare shot from one of the leading ships ordering the fleet to stop. In a stroke of luck the Gantronese fleet backed off and began to retreat north. Kezef sat in his seat relieved to watch them retreat.
"They are retreating!" one of the Command Bridge Crew members cried out causing a loud rise of excited voices. His entire crew cheered with joy at the sight of their enemy retreating again. The whole fleet expressed their excitement over this. For them it had been weeks since they saw the enemy retreat like this. In his mind he knew the enemy would return.
Dawn came as the next day began with the two sides returning to positions. Instead of twenty-three Behemoths they saw twenty-one come after them. Kezef received word their own ground troops on the islands fought off the Gantronese forces. Marines, Rangers, Infantry, Allied soldiers, turncoats, and new allies fought off over 7,000 troops with just 12 tanks engaged their forces on nine different islands. Every tank was destroyed or sank in the muddy shores. Gantronese forces lost well over 5,250 infantry and 75% of the forces originally holding the northern islands. According to prisoners this was the only force they managed to send along with the rest of the defenders who surrendered or allowed themselves to drown. As for their casualties, a few hundred men and women died in the fighting. That did not explain the missing behemoth. One of the Aquanne Hitto had to inform him and other Admirals here that a force of 1,053 Aquanne Hitto launched a night attack on the crew of a behemoth. It was after they slaughtered the survivors of the enemy crews in the waters. Toceanids were preoccupied with summoning something else to help. Not even a score of Aquanne Hitto survived despite massacring the sleeping crew. Other behemoths opened fire on the one they attacked, sinking it as it burst to flames.
Kezef ordered for the surviving Aquanne Hitto to leave and save their species. However they refused, insisting on acting as spies while the next day of battle commenced. Twelve shots is what it took before another Behemoth to go do down. Another blow to the behemoths, but not as staggering as watching a Sloop sink to five shots, and a VUVR ship sank after suffering three shots. One behemoth ship with a Gantronese and Vorcadam decoration on the bridge sank in fifteen shots. Kezef's fleet suffered more losses. The second Vestrisian ship sank after suffering five shots. One of their own frigates does down after 6 shots. It pulled out quickly with smoke emitting from her hull. An Ivodran ship sinks after getting hit 8 times. To his left flank an Evusian light Battleship sinks after 16 hits. Everyone else either pulled back or helped collect survivors as the Behemoths went everywhere. Two of them were forced to retreat, and three of them had a few working turrets. He could not tell if they were winning or losing. They brought more ships, but these aliens had larger vessels that proved hard to take down. Looking through his binoculars he noticed each one had a different shape than the other. More conventional weaponry was installed over the energy blasting ones he heard about from spies. Nevoran Federation fleets suffered heavy loses to the alien ships that used weapons that shot out beams of fire. Despite the advantage the alien ships still went down after several days of fighting. One report detailed an explosion caused within an alien vessel guessing it used too much energy or something ignited.
Seeing his own fleet retreat he began to lose hope. Several ships let loose depth charges, mines, and torpedoes. Kezef's heart started to beat harder and faster as he grew tense from watching. His hands squeezed the binoculars shaking them a little. Beads of sweat emerged from his pours as he watched a few torpedoes hit two of the behemoths. This is the end of our expedition. He thought to himself, keeping that from the ears of his own crew. The Hervorne slowly turned around with one of the turrets still firing away. Hoping to outrun the enemy fleet Kezef's combined fleet went full speed ahead. Kezef handed command of the ship to Durnire while he raced over to a balcony facing the stern. Getting to the stern side of the destroyer he witnessed a behemoth ship hit a reef, or something while another got entangled by large tentacles at an area they had not ventured. From the skies scores of alien fighters attacked the Gantronese and Nazdar behemoths. Turning to face the direction the fighters came zooming in he spotted Yvonnes airship with the Vestrisian Flag painted on it. Leaving the scene of the battle felt difficult due to the loss of thousands of sailors. Just as many sailors were rescued in time before the whole fleet returned to base.
For the rest of the evening he held a meeting on one large island where the discussions, planning, and apologize grew into tense arguments. No one threw a punch just protested ideas, turned down roles, and threatened to leave soon. Kezef's reminder to them about the enemy losing ships as well and air superiority at them moment, calmed them down. When he mentioned the sea monster they also got angry and scared of that thing before someone on his side managed to shut everyone up. Captain Argosan Vroigson of the Lybresan Frigate Bogam, half goblin-half human, got everyone's attention. He reminded them of new allies, the fleets they had on the other side of the Arm of Lost Souls.
"...My fellow Captains, Naval Officers, and peers, we have another fleet on the other side of that wall of ruins. More than half the behemoths are damaged. I say we stay and fend them off!" Captain Vroigson slammed a hand on the table. Around the meeting table the other Naval Officers nodded in agreement. Some of them crossed their arms with intrigue, and skepticism. A few muttered their approval. The room filled with chatter for a moment or two as they discussed among each other.
On their third day the combined fleet let these behemoths have it on the seas. Fore a whole hour the coalition bombarded the first line behemoth ships, peppering them with turret shells. Not caring if their guns overheated, they went at it. Maneuvering was easier in the southern part of the waters they chose to fight in. Although it seemed awfully close to home base, it was still north of their positions in the open water. Six or so shots sunk a behemoth flying Nazdar colors. It resembled a battleship mixed with a blimp. On another one, five good hits destroyed a smaller behemoth resembling a steel shark. As the sea battle dragged on the coalition flanked the behemoths, which forced a portion of the fleet to pull back. Four well placed torpedoes and four hits sank a third behemoth that flew a Gantronese flag. Taking with it thousands of souls, this third one held the shape of a forked blade of some sorts. One damaged behemoth ship with an eagle shape took four more hits before going down in flames. Its bridge, radio tower, turret, and hull became nothing but destroyed debris. Twelve hits took down a lightly damaged behemoth that sort of resembled the shark one. A sixth one went down after receiving hits from multiple ships. Just three hits to the engine following ten others demolished the ship. Four more ships on the coalition side sank on the third day of battle. One of their Destroyers sank after receiving eleven shots, four hits sank a Steel Sloop, four hits sunk another Destroyer while twelve hits sank an allied Cruiser on his left flank.
Just four more losses in this battle compared to eight more losses to the behemoths. Only twelve behemoth ships remained. Twelve damaged behemoths managed to stay afloat. Was he counting wrong or did more behemoths join the fight. A ship of his own fleet went ahead of the fleet. Not what he wanted, and it was too late to call them back. One single tear went down his cheek as he watched the ship go down with over several hundred sailors he commanded. His heart became heavy. Kezef dropped the binoculars while slumping back down in his seat. Another Vestrisian fleet gone to the enemy guns. Another volley managed to sink seventh behemoth for them. What did that make it now, elven or ten behemoths to worry about? Sure they were damaged from the fighting, but each still posed a threat. Ignoring everyone in the bridge and a few calls to him, he clasped his hands. All he focused on was the heavy loss, the ten or more behemoths still a float and how to get out of this one. In his mind he wondered if this was a fleet cut off from communications with the fleet just northwest of these hidden islands. Taking his eyes off his own hands he saw a Vorcadam Death Bringer went after this one ship caught in the open. As it came upon its starboard side the Death Bringer succumbed to torpedoes from the west. Squadrons of alien craft zoomed in from the skies. A mixture of aircraft attacked the Gantronese and Nazdar behemoths who could only answer back with flak guns, and AA fire. From behind them and their eastern flank scores of aircraft roared overhead towards the enemy. A wave of flying engines created a startling noise that he and some crew members jumped out of their skins.
Roaring Eagles, Dreamfires, Screaming Hawk, and Holy Angels came to their rescue in a few waves of dive bombers and torpedo planes. Like seagulls and pelicans diving for food these aircraft unloaded on the remaining behemoths. Watching 108 of their own aircraft attack these behemoth ships made Kezef uneasy. Did the Gantronese and Nazdar have aircraft coming in to counterattack them? With wings resembling an inverted shape their Roaring Eagles held the shape of an eagle. Its H tail and cockpit took away its resemblance to that of an eagle. Known for its dive bombing feats the Roaring Eagle-7 became the VUVR's number one aircraft for the job. It was also produced, and shipped over to certain allies. Kezef was astounded by the capability it had against these alien aircraft. Dreamfires held more than one wing shape. The only one he saw was the D shaped nose and the thick Oblique wings, the Dreamfire 5b. An aircraft whose wings can fold upward or backwards to make room. Agile, fast, well armored this Dreamfire could act as a fighter, bomber, and torpedo diver. Its double engines allow speeds up to 625-701mph making it the fastest aircraft in their arsenal. Whatever the engineers did to this aircraft went beyond expectations. Due to its speed the Dreamfire was tasked with escort jobs, and fighters for dogfights. Screaming Hawks showed a more mid-wing aircraft with straight edged, and tapered trailing end. Its mixed engine made a screaming noise thus dubbing it Screaming Hawk. Acting as a dive bomber, and torpedo launcher, the turbo fanned craft can carry nine bombs, and two small torpedoes. Holy Angels flew with three engines, double tails, space for two pilots, and four guns could place a bomb or three on its target at once. Only three of these types came from air craft carriers while one of them had to be launched from Ruhonthran Islands. Kezef smiled at the sight of twelve behemoths going down ending the battle for the southern platform islands.
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