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Thaddeus Duke · (08-17-2021)

Present Day

Montauk County Park || Mantauk, Long Island, New York || 1:18 PM

It’s taken several weeks to get a meeting organized with Ares Project General McGovern. Having been repelled from my land by the American Navy, he was obviously hesitant to accept such a meeting with me. Offering the safe haven of New York Harbor wasn’t enough. Offering up Brad Wallace, one of the two prisoners of war I have in my custody, wasn’t enough. McGovern would only accept if it were neutral territory on American land.

It’s safest for both sides in all honesty.

He hits me on American soil, America goes to war and he gets annihilated. Should I hit him under a flag of peace, then that could certainly raise the ire of the American government and it took so long for me to get them on my side. Plus, it’d just be dishonorable.

With the meeting scheduled in about 90 minutes, Dick and Jim lead me out to the beach looking out over Long Island Sound. Jim carries a set of binoculars and stands by quietly as he looks through, scanning the water for any sign of enemy ships.

”Y’all feel like filling me in on why the hell we’re out here this early?” I encourage of my new Chief of Staff and my closest adviser.

”The day after the attack on the Compound I promised you a Navy,” Dick begins before Jim hands the binoculars to him.

”Yes and I’ve been led to believe that that is in fact, an actual thing and I’m not just waiting around with my dick in my hand like I’ve done with Tritter and Jim as my primary advisers?”

”I’m right here mate,” Jim says defensively. ”I’m sorry I was a...”

”Shut up Jim. I don’t have the patience today for you to play the victim.”

”Look northeast,” Dick says to me as he hands me the binoculars.

”Okay? What am I looking...” my voice trails off right as I find my intended target. ”For?”

Standing tall with its blue and white Illuminatus flag and a gold and crimson ‘lion’ banner below it, flapping in the sea breeze, flies atop the mast of a gigantic aircraft carrier way out in the distance.

”The INS Vengeance,” Dick informs me. ”Behind it, the rest of your Naval fleet.”

”What’s INS mean?”

”Illuminatus Naval Ship,” Jim answers.

”Oh I guess that was kind of obvious, no?”

”A replenishment frigate, the INS Fearless,” he says as the large carrier moves along, revealing the ships “hidden” behind it. ”She has no defenses to speak of.”

”Two cruisers for surface to air combat, the Galileo and the Judgment,” Jim informs me. My war boner grows as these two men give me a quick run down of the fleet.

”Three destroyers, in this case for defensive purposes but they have an offensive arsenal as well. The Titan, the Oblivion, and the Thunder.”

”Is that another carrier tailing them all?” I ask.

”It’s a helicopter carrier,” Jim answers me. ”During battle, should we lose a ship, that carrier can dispatch choppers to pull survivors from the water.”

”It has the added benefit of carrying your attack helicopters too,” Dick adds on.

”It named the John McCain,” Jim says and it causes me to look at him a moment and smile. ”For your old friend.”

”Battleships have been obsolete for years,” Dick begins as I focus on the two battleships and a third ship much larger than the others. ”They’re less maneuverable than destroyers, but beggars can’t be choosers. The smaller two are the Relentless and the Conqueror.”

”What’s the deal with the big black one?” I ask him, momentarily peeling my eyes from the binoculars before staring at the colossal war ship once more.

”She’s large. She’s the most powerful and most deadly ship in the world,” Dick pauses a moment. ”She’s been outfitted with a virtually impenetrable hull...”

”I don’t like where that’s going,” I interrupt, but I’m unable for the moment to remove my eyes from her. ”History has not been kind to ships that were coined unsinkable.”

”Oh I’m not saying she’s unsinkable… what I am saying is that she was tested before her new guns were installed. Torpedoes can not pierce her skin. Like the days of the U.S.S. Constitution...”

”Old Ironsides...”

”You know British canon balls bounced off her… torpedoes bounce off this one.”

”That’s not strictly accurate,” Jim interjects. ”The torpedoes blow, but they barely rock her on her keel.”

”What’s her name?” I ask, still peering through the binoculars at the all black warship.

”That my friend,” Jim says as he throws his arm over my shoulders. ”That’s Godzilla.”

As a big fan of ‘Godzilla’ I can’t help but smile a little.

”Long live the King,” I say with a chuckle.

Finally letting down the binoculars, I give Jim a big hug. ”This is a fucking game changer.”

The three of us spend some time discussing different scenarios in which to utilize my new arsenal of warships. I’m an airman by nature, and I’ll continue to be one. Yet at the same time, naval warfare does have its appeal to me. In modern times, naval warfare isn’t what it once was. Warships are mostly safe on the sea while sending planes and missiles to intended land targets. Gone are the days of ship versus ship.

Until now, at least.

While I’m excited to learn this new, to me at least, mode of warfare, the dangers aren’t lost on me. In air are land combat, casualties of war can be rather minimal. On the open sea, if you sink a ship, in all probability, we’re talking hundreds if not thousands of casualties.

As time ticks away, it’s time for our little meeting at the park. Flanked by Jim and Dick with a line of riflemen along the beach, I sit at a picnic table. Brad Wallace, my offering, sits blindfolded, gagged and on his knees several feet away.

A few minutes later, the barrel chested middle aged General William McGovern enters my line of sight. He too is flanked by his men. Here’s to hoping cooler heads stay cool and this Long Island Park stays blood free.

”General,” I say with an extended hand after standing from the table. This is the first time we’re meeting in person and he eyeballs me up and down to get the measure of me. He’s about my height, maybe a little shorter, but far more broad than I. After a few moments, he accepts my offer of a handshake.

”Commander,” he greets as we both take a cautious seat at the table. The awkward silence carries on for what seems like a long time before he breaks it. ”I’m told you wanted to treat with me Commander. But I have no patience for...”

”I’m gonna annihilate you,” I interrupt him. An awkward silence ensues for a few moments more before I continue. ”Whether I live or die General, doesn’t matter to me but even if I’m dead my men and women will fight you until you are entirely destroyed.

“My children have a right to grow up without the fear of assholes like you putting a bullet in the back of their skull. I will see that through McGovern. Dead or alive, my children will live.”

”It’s funny to me Commander...”

”There’s nothing funny about any of this,” I interrupt.

”You just always seem to weasel out of certain death, no matter the odds.”

”It was my house, General. No one knows it better than I do.”

”If not for the Navy...”

”If not for the Navy we’d still be sitting here now,” I say with conviction.

”Four of my men went into your Throne Room...”

”I killed them,” I interrupt. ”They thought they were safe. I snuck along the wall in the darkness. I sat my throne and turned on the torches. When they turned around I shot them dead.”

”You’re turning more ruthless,” he says aloud and I’m almost unsure whether he meant to do so.

”Fact is General, I hold back. I make a conscious effort to not be so cold, so ruthless,” I begin. ”But you’ve hit me at home twice. You’ve slaughtered my survivors, you’ve destroyed my house and you’ve put my son’s life in danger.

“When the next battle comes General,” I pause for effect. ”There will be no mercy for you. My gloves are off. I no longer give a fuck who thinks differently of me because I do bad things at war time.”

The General smiles ever so slightly.

”I’m done playing by the rules, McGovern.”

”We’ve beat you more than you’ve beat us Commander,” he begins. ”I still like our chances.”

”That’s true,” I tell him as I pull my Desert Eagle from my thigh holster and set it down in front of me. ”But the tide is turning heavily in my favor.”

General McGovern scoffs and just about laughs before he eyeballs my weapon.

”It’s not for you.”

”A Desert Eagle,” he says. ”It’s a very powerful weapon.”

”It’s all I own is powerful weapons,” I tell him as I pick the gun up, point it at Brad Wallace, then pull the trigger sending a bullet into his skull. McGovern watches his former soldier fall dead on the ground and his soldiers draw their rifles. So my soldiers draw theirs.

”That wasn’t part of the deal,” he says as he holds up a fist, signaling his men to back off.

”I was advised once, that I knew what to do with Brad Wallace when I was done with him. I’m done with him sir. But the last thing I’m gonna do is just give him back so you can re-arm him and point it at my head.”

”He had a family, Commander,” he protests weakly. ”I told his wife I was securing his safe return.”

”That sounds like a ‘you’ problem, not a ‘me’ problem,” I insist. ”I too have a family but you don’t make that distinction when you hit me where my son sleeps.”

He seethes with anger but keeps his cool. Out on the water, behind McGovern, behind his men, my Navy has progressed a lot closer to land. I no longer need binoculars to make them out. One long, deep blow of a horn reverberates off the waters of the Sound. McGovern turns in its direction, before standing up. He quickly rushes across the yard toward the beach. I follow him. Standing beside he and his men, he looks over at me a moment, then out to sea.

”What the hell is that?” McGovern asks almost rhetorically. Her massive hull is broad side. My flags fly upon its masts. Her guns positioned in such a way that she nearly resembles her namesake from this vantage point.

”That’s Godzilla,” I reply with a smile. ”And her friends.”

He looks at me again, then again back out to sea.

”That’s the ship I’m gonna destroy you with,” I inform him as I turn around and begin to head back toward my men. With their backs to mine, staring out at the magnificent warship, I only nod. My men send a volley of gunfire at his men. They drop to their deaths right on the beach.

”You son of a bitch!” McGovern calls out. ”You have no honor whatsoever!”

Stopping in my tracks, I turn to face him again. He looks around at his dead men.

”This is the monster you’ve created General,” I tell him before turning once more and heading back toward my men.

”Why not just kill me too?” he asks.

”I like a little foreplay first General,” I call back toward him. ”Before I fuck you.” The General, now alone with no protection, rushes off in haste.

Apparently having been aware of this plan, a boat has been dispatched from one of the ships. Once it arrives on a dock nearby, my men load the dead onto it to bury them at sea. Ordering the deaths of a dozen men under a flag of peace does not please me. It is however, something I felt needed to be done. The Ares Project has terrorized my people and more importantly Frankie, who never asked for any of this. I will protect that boy by any means necessary. Even if it means I have to do things dirty sometimes.

Standing by the beach and looking out at my fleet, a sense of peace washes over me. The war is very clearly not yet won, but I’m done trying to be the good guy. I will rip the Ares Project limb from limb if I have to and I can guarantee you lives will be lost, but I will not lose a moments sleep over any of it.

”That went well,” Dick says sarcastically as he walks up and stands beside me. We watch as the first body is dumped from the boat.

”Swimmingly,” I reply with a growing smile.

”I’m glad you’re standing here,” he says to me.

”Why?”

”Because there was one last ship I failed to mention earlier,” he says as he looks out to sea with me. A moment or two later, the surface of the ocean begins to ripple and break as a large submarine breaches.

”OoooooOOOoooo.”

”Your nuclear submarine… Leviathan.”

”You’re really good at this naming thing.”

”The plan you put together for this fleet… its dangerous,” he begins before pausing. ”McGovern though… you just pissed him off. He’ll send his fleet to chase Leviathan. She’ll lead his whole fucking fleet into the Bermuda Triangle… and the awaiting jaws of Godzilla.”

”And her friends,” I conclude with a smile.

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