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The Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center

Nice, good old Stormont getting some ink Now, if only the JW Westcott mailboat was in there

another great chapter, bravo Stuart

Burak Gazan wrote:Nice, good old Stormont getting some ink Now, if only the JW Westcott mailboat was in there

Thanks. The tug is probably single-engined in real life, but I took some artistic license there. Not as fun as the battles I know, but I think the destruction of a major city deserves a fair amount of attention if it's going to seem real (there's one brief scene there left to go). I'm afraid the Detroit timeline is trailing behind a bit due to me being late submitting; Stuart did a good job of fixing up the demon scene to not be retrospective.

P.S. Here's one of the deleted scenes, or rather a draft for one. I wrote it back in February, when the tone for the story was looking a bit less serious. It's too silly to go in now, but it would've happened about here and fellow Brits might find the notion amusing.

---

As the GlobalFlyer continued to eat up the distance the smaller mountains were revaled to be just foothills; the range now beginning to emerge on the horizon was on the scale of the Alps. It was dotted with the firey glow of scores of active volcanos. That has to be the place, Sir Richard thought. He flipped the switches that powered up the special equipment installed by the Randi Institute. The tiny screen hastily mounted on the side of the cockpit flickered to life as it began scanning for portal signatures.

Sir Richard Branson had always had a weak spot for thrills on a grand scale, for that rarefied mix of fear and excitement that was found only when one pushed a little past the limits of the possible into what conventional wisdom declared impossible. Be it in business, in sailing or in aviation, he had crossed that limit many times, in person or by proxy. This was almost too much though, sailing high over hell itself, completely isolated and ten thousand miles from anything remotely human.

He shook his head. The risk was irrelevant. He had come here to do his duty to queen and country. Nothing short of a legion of harpies was going to stop him. Though the fact that the PR value of this flight was almost incalculable and could easily double Virgin Group revenues for the year had certainly factored into his decision to fly the mission himself. While he waited for the instruments to do their work he rechecked the fuel gagues for the hundredth time. The flight computer estimated two hour's loiter time at the current position, given a three hour reserve.

The scanner beeped, its initial sweep complete. The display was filled with clutter but two strong blips stood out. Sir Richard eased the Scaled Composites Model 311 into an almost imperceptibly gentle descent, beginning an arc that would overfly both contacts before placing the GlobalFlyer back on a return vector to the hellmouth.

Holy shit! They're gonna port a fleet! With US Navy aircraft carriers and Ruskie Kirovs! Holy shit, mang!

Part 65

“The Lyndon Johnson and Herbert Hoover?"

A nice comment on current American CVN naming conventions. If they continue naming them for politicians, they'll eventually get names like those. I see Nixon is still pariah enough that you had to go to the second (or third) worst regarded Republican in the last century instead lest you go over the top.

Part 64

"remember, you are the ranking officer down there.”

Is he? Young Ms. Kim will certainly be bulldozed by a British half-colonel with a full battalion. Somehow, I don't think a consummate politician who had had a command equivalent at least to a modern Lieutenant General will be quite so intimidated by a junior tribune with a single (if large) cohort.

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that they are already sending ships through. Do they already have an idea of what to expect in Hell's oceans (I remember reading something about 'leviathans' or something like that)?

Our captured demons are probably filling in a bit of intel about the oceans, but I'm personally worried about whether or not the basic chemistry of infernal oceans is going to cause problems. Modern ships take in a lot of 'local' water for various uses, what happens if hell's water has a much higher sulfur content?

Heaton, Dasari? Has someone been watching what I think they've been watching? The Inspector's not got ginger hair has he?
If the Brig's unit does catch up with the baldrick I guess he can utter the famous order 'five rounds rapid!'

Is the Stormont named after the castle and location of Northern Ireland's legislative assembly?

Nice work, btw and I do like that deleted scene.

Also, what's AUTEC stand for?

Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre.

JN1 wrote:Nice work, btw and I do like that deleted scene.

I think we're going to have to do an Armageddon Blooper Thread. Completed with deleted scenes

Stuart wrote:

JN1 wrote:Nice work, btw and I do like that deleted scene.

I think we're going to have to do an Armageddon Blooper Thread. Completed with deleted scenes

That would be awesome. Please do it.

Good chapter, but of all the dead presidents to become namesakes of aircraft carriers, why pick Lyndon B. Johnson, one of two people (the other being McNamara) whose stupidity guaranteed the US will NOT win the Vietnam War? Hell, even Benedict Arnold is a more worthy namesake than that cocksucker!

R011 wrote:Part 65

“The Lyndon Johnson and Herbert Hoover?"

A nice comment on current American CVN naming conventions. If they continue naming them for politicians, they'll eventually get names like those. I see Nixon is still pariah enough that you had to go to the second (or third) worst regarded Republican in the last century instead lest you go over the top.

There anything in particular preventing us from naming them after 19th century Presidents? Andy Jackson, for example.

JN1 wrote:famous order 'five rounds rapid!'

Although this time it would be 'girl with the wings, five rounds rapid'.

Is the Stormont named after the castle and location of Northern Ireland's legislative assembly?

No idea; couldn't find that much info on it online. Here's a photo of it though;



and the whole ferry;

Nice work, btw and I do like that deleted scene.

Here's another one of mine that didn't make the cut, either for being too boring, because the character count was already getting out of hand, or because there was already too much 'padding' between the Sheffield and Detroit strikes.

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Over the Asphodel Plains, Outer Provinces of Hell

Ikaarithanjuur watched the reddish brown landscape rolling past with an unusual degree of impatience. Many of Belial’s vassals lamented their lot as a servants of a third-rate lord, but not him. Serving as a wyvern rider was an uncommon opportunity for a lesser demon to gain a position of prestige, literally above the other warriors. Runts who would’ve been expendable trident fodder in the infantry often found themselves ideal for the aerial cavalry, where every pound shaved off the rider meant more speed or payload for the mount. Many also lamented Belial’s reputation for unorthodoxy and disrespect for the ancient traditions, but Ikaarithanjuur tried to embrace the count’s philosophy. Why he even allowed a few particularly talented females to ride in his fury, though of course he was not so foolish as to allow them any sort of leadership role.

The past millennia in particular had been most satisfactory. After the fury had finally been filled out to its full strength they had been deployed more and more frequently to tip the balance in clashes between quarrelling dukes. Ikaarithanjuur had taken great pleasure in devising tactics to use his beast’s speed and altitude to destroy the enemy at little risk to his own riders. The ground cavalry in particular considered themselves the elite of the demon armies, and seeing lying bleeding and broken after a hail javelin volley before his wyvern swept low to incinerate them… well for a demon once considered too weak to even serve in Asmodeus’s legions, that was most satisfying.

The count had only allowed him to take six of his thirteen wings to fight the humans, but that was no surprise, Belial never risked his full force if he could avoid it. Along with himself and his second, that made four score wyverns Ikaarithanjuur was leading to the battle. The formation stretched out behind him, the beasts flying slowly with rapid wingbeats, labouring under the weight of javelins they carried. The long flight to Dis was tedious at the best of times, but the chance to demonstrate his command’s capabilities before a celebrity audience was what really fuelled his anticipation.

The hail javelins had been Guruktarqor’s idea, quickly picked up and refined by Belial. Wyverns had occasionally been used to drop rocks on fortifications, but the idea of wasting expensive metal weapons by dropping them from flyers had never made any sense. That is, not until the count’s production overseer had an inspiration about what to do with the huge amount of contaminated bronze that was sitting in slag heaps around Tartarus. The metal from the spoiled batches was brittle, uneven and worthless for making tridents or armour. It proved to be ideal for the hail javelins though; each was a bronze rod a foot long and an inch wide, with a pointed nose and crudely cast fins. Dropped from the highest altitude the wyverns could reach, the javelins could kill even a cavalry beast with one direct hit, but even when they missed they tended to shatter into a hail of fragments that could lacerate a demon with stinging wounds.

Though the first strikes had been hopelessly inaccurate, under Ikaarithanjuur’s direction the fury had developed a vertical dive manoeuvre that could hit a marching legion or a large castle with nearly the whole payload. The soft-skinned humans should be much more vulnerable to the fragments, and he looked forward to sweeping the ramparts of the castle they were supposed to have built in Dysprosium. He wondered if there would be time for a follow up strike before Beelzebub’s army overran the castle. Perhaps their strong points would have to be smashed with dropped boulders… if they somehow managed to make a stand in the open, so much the better, his riders would get a chance to attack with brimstone. There was nothing quite like the smell of burning brimstone, that wonderful sulphuric odour…

Ikaarithanjuur shook his head. No time to reminisce. He was charged with reporting his lord’s success to Satan, and while it was not a duty he relished, at least the news was pleasing enough for his chances of survival to be reasonable. If he was going to deliver that message, get a picture of the tactical situation from the ground commanders and get back to his riders in time, he’d better get going. He looked over at his second, flying three wing-spans to the left and a wyvern-length behind, and mind-spoke ’Aaesurnarthuse, I must fly ahead to my appointment with Mekratrig now. Take command of the fury and wait for me at Beelzebub’s field headquarters. But if I do not return by the time the assault starts… do not miss our chance to make an impression.’

I obey, Ikaarithanjuur. I hope you don’t miss the fun.

That was almost certainly a lie, any demon would jump at the chance to prove their worth by leading this historic strike, but Ikaarithanjuur let it pass. Focusing on the wyvern’s brutish little mind, the demon mentally spurred his mount, which gave its characteristic honking roar and increased its speed. Unencumbered by the racks of ammunition the lesser beasts carried, it rapidly pulled ahead of the rest and disappeared into the omnipresent gloom.

Stuart wrote:I think we're going to have to do an Armageddon Blooper Thread. Completed with deleted scenes

Just so long as you don't include that deleted scene.

Sidewinder wrote:Good chapter, but of all the dead presidents to become namesakes of aircraft carriers, why pick Lyndon B. Johnson, one of two people (the other being McNamara) whose stupidity guaranteed the US will NOT win the Vietnam War? Hell, even Benedict Arnold is a more worthy namesake than that cocksucker!

That was rather the point - I was having a jab at the current convention of naming carriers after Presidents. I was thinking of the Millard Fillmore and Calvin Coolidge but that would be over-egging the pudding.

This may have already been answered, but what conventions are you following for the naming of minor demons? Is it merely gibberish?

I want that deleted scene.

Yeah Glider, don't dangle the carrot!!

Awesome deleted scenes and chapters; this is awesome!

Cannot wait for more.

Stuart wrote:

Sidewinder wrote:Good chapter, but of all the dead presidents to become namesakes of aircraft carriers, why pick Lyndon B. Johnson, one of two people (the other being McNamara) whose stupidity guaranteed the US will NOT win the Vietnam War? Hell, even Benedict Arnold is a more worthy namesake than that cocksucker!

That was rather the point - I was having a jab at the current convention of naming carriers after Presidents. I was thinking of the Millard Fillmore and Calvin Coolidge but that would be over-egging the pudding.

I personally favor the USS James Buchanan or the USS Rutherford Hayes - or better yet, the USS William Henry Harrison.

The Warren Harding or Woodrow Wilson could work too.

and the Cleveland fireboat

Try Franklin Pierce. He was the only president my college produced, but strangely enough we don't have anything bigger than a study room named after him.

Great work again. The bloopers idea is immensely tempting, I'll admit.

Stuart wrote:That was rather the point - I was having a jab at the current convention of naming carriers after Presidents. I was thinking of the Millard Fillmore and Calvin Coolidge but that would be over-egging the pudding.

No Franklin D Roosevelt?

MKSheppard wrote: No Franklin D Roosevelt?

He already had one. I'll bet ten quatloos that CVN 79 or 80 will be the USS Edward M. Kennedy.

It just occurred to me to ask - what date has Armageddon gotten up to so far?

R011 wrote:He already had one[/i]

Uhm, the Roosevelt CVN today refers to Theodore Roosevelt; not FDR. The FDR was a Midway which retired long ago.

Stas Bush wrote:"Turf wars"?

A term used to refer to two groups in the same side fighting or coming in conflict over who gets to do what. The British aren't just going to save the PFHL, they're going to take over, thereby infringing in America's "turf" because it's their operation. The reason the Brits are doing it is the same thing that motivates all turf wars, they want all the credit.