World War I... in 2051 A.D.!?!?

World War I... in 2051 A.D.!?!?

Warlord Level
Standard size map - random
Remaining countries of the world (in order of territory size)

1. Babylon (me) (approx 45 cities)
2. Maya (approx 35 cities)
3. Inca (approx 15 cities)
4. English (approx 7 cities)
5. Byzantine (2 cities)
6. Portugal (1 city)

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I interrupt this story-line to insert an index of the events of this story. The popularity of this story has astounded me, and inspired me. Having an average readership of over 100 per day... WOW! Additionally, I'm honored by the loyalty of the readers, especially to the point that some would actually produce an index of story postings, for ease of readership for all others. I would like to extend my profound thanks to those who made the indices... Whomp, and IroquoisPlisken. You guys rock!

Without further ado, the indices are posted below - in spoiler format so as not to... well... spoil.

Incan Index: (Last updated 10/07/05)



Babylonian Navy Index: (Last updated 7/14/05)



Espionage Index: (Last updated 7/14/05)



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WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED STORY: Enjoy!

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Opening comments: Interesting turn of events. End-game times. I had just completed an unprecedented era of peace and amazing cultural prosperity (about 225 years?) and about 3 turns before the end of the game, the English declared war against the Maya, which drug me in to a war against the English. I was perturbed about this, but obligated some forces to battle since I was in a full military alliance with the Maya (which I had hoped would prevent them from attacking me preemptively and allow me to get to end game victory (had about 136000 culture points). Well, the game ended and I was the winner. I was happy and all that but… I realized that I could continue to prosecute the war against the English, even though the game was over, to gain some modern era war-fighting experience (you can never have too much of that). So I continued the game.

The very next thing that happened (literally), is where our story begins… in the year 2051:

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BSS NERGAL (SSN-4), OFF THE STRAIT OF BRIGHTON – MAYAN TERRITORIAL WATERS – 0700 HOURS BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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The quiet thrum of the main engines was like a white noise in the background. The early morning watch was always his favorite. Captain (Submarines) Darius Pargo, was proud of his ship, the BSS NERGAL (SSN-4), named after the ancient god of the underworld, and - quite frankly - the newest, and finest, submarine in the Babylonian fleet. As captain, Darius would often muse to himself that his ship was appropriately named. She was able to dive deeper and faster than any prior nuclear submarine in the Babylonian fleet, and could send any enemy vessel to the “underworld”. No other world power had a navy to match Babylon.



“I really hate watching the Mayan shorelines when we are allies with them. There is a war to be fought against the English”, he thought to himself. During the three year long, and running, war against the backward English the NERGAL had been in several successful battles. She had sent six English ships, (destroyers, man-o-wars, and transports), to the ocean floor in her short time in the fleet. Now that the Babylonian fleets had handily defeated the English fleet, there was virtually no “employment” for the submarine fleet. The military leadership in Akkad, in the Pentagon, wanted submarines to continue their stealthy intelligence collection of the Mayan coastline and tracking of Mayan ship and troop movements. “Better safe than sorry” was the Defense Department’s mantra.

Three years ago, an unprecedented 225 year period of Babylonian peace and cultural prosperity was shattered by the English declaration of war against the Maya. Diplomatic protocols dictated that Babylon side with her Mayan allies in a mutual, return, declaration of war against the English. President Kennurabi ordered the obligatory 1/3 of Babylonian forces into action against the English, in what he hoped would be a short and crushing campaign. After all, the English and Maya were on the same continent together, let them fight it out. Despite fundamental communication differences, the Babylonians used their carrier-based stealth bombers and fighters to help “support” the Mayans. Babylonian armies, consisting of modern armored tanks, had been deployed and within one season had taken the cities of Warwick and London. Now, two years later, Oxford and Birmingham were about to fall in to Babylonian rule. Great Britain was certainly not great anymore, and would most likely not exist as a nation within the next year. “What a shame”, Darius thought. The English had committed genocide on themselves by declaring war against the Maya.

His mind was snapped back to the present by an intercom report. “Conn, ESM, I have two new contacts, designated Echo 34 and 35, transmitting basic navigational radar, bearing 320 and 322.” “Conn, ESM, aye”, barked back the Officer of the Deck (OOD). “Sonar, Conn”, said the OOD, “do you have any contacts along those bearings?” “Conn, Sonar, No”, came the reply.

The NERGAL was operating a periscope depth. The ship was submerged. Only the periscope and a small radio/direction finding antenna was visible out of the water. “Damn sailing ships”, thought Darius. “They are the bane of my existence”. The vast bulk of the Mayan navy still remained in the Middle-Ages. The frigates and galleons were modernized with safety radar for navigation, but they glided along, almost noiselessly, through the water. Much to the chagrin of submariners. With no noisy propellers to propel the craft through the water, their sonar had nothing to track. Since sonar functioned as both the eyes and ears of a submarine, this always presented a very dangerous situation.



"Adjust course to intercept Mr. Gilgar”, said Darius to the OOD. “Yes sir”, came the reply. The NERGAL increased speed and turned to intercept the silent targets. The periscope and ESM operators kept track of the two “targets” as the ship positioned itself for taking photographs and identifying the ships. “Those silly nameplates on the back of the ships make it so damned hard to identify”, thought Darius. The positioning of the ship so close to the sailing vessels, make them inherently more visible to the Mayans.

As the ship maneuvered closer, the periscope operator reported obtaining visual contact. “Put it on the tube”, ordered Darius. The image that materialized on the television screen was showing two old fully-rigged frigates, both flying the blue flag of the Mayan Empire. They were both on a south-easterly course, heading directly toward the NERGAL. Captain Pargo ordered the ship to make a slow turn to starboard, to avoid a collision. He knew he would soon have to maneuver to port and increase speed, in order to come behind the ships and read their names… for the intelligence report. The distance closed between the three ships quickly.



Suddenly, Darius saw his entire world collapse. As they watched in horror on the television, both frigate helmsmen started to execute a rapid turn to port… it appeared that time slowed to almost a standstill. “EMERGENCY DEEP… NOW! NOW! NOW!”, Darius shouted. “MISTER GILGAR…SOUND THE COLLISION ALARM!”……….

P.S... Comments are welcome

Looks promising, will be looking for more updates

Very interesting.. Can't wait for the next update.
Do you happen to be influence by Clancy by any chance?

Great read!! Reminds me of the celtic peacekeepers (and that's a good thing) with the story with pictures.
Although I'm not sure how exciting it will be, considering you're 2 ages ahead of your closest opponent, I'll be reading along.

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MSV-21 YUKOTAN, OFF THE STRAIT OF BRIGHTON, MAYAN NORTHERN COASTAL WATERS, 0700 BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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The ship’s rhythmic creaking had always been soothing to George. As a American-Mayan, he knew that he would probably never achieve captaincy of a ship of the line in his lifetime, but he could always hope. And, if his son were to choose a life in the Mayan military, he may stand a chance for command. Times were changing. American-Mayan were no longer though of as second-class citizens. Ah well. Be that as it may. The war with the English was going well and the Yukotan had just left Brighton on her way to join the fray. The English fleet lie at the bottom of the seas, thanks to the Babylonians, which meant that little at-sea action could be expected. As the coastal cities were falling, the English had little or no port access at this point. The Yukotan would most likely be relegated to coastal bombardment. But what the hell, any action is something these days.

Six bells were sounded over the loudspeaker. George was interrupted in thought by Xandrexyl, the navigator. Xandrexyl pointed out to George that the wind would provide more speed-over-ground by tacking to the southeast and beginning a zig-zag type pattern. George agreed. Xandrexyl was a good man. He would be going far in this man’s navy. George grabbed the intercom and buzzed the captain’s room. “Captain”, came the reply. “Yes sir, this is Lieutenant Taylor, the OOD. The ship is on course 140, full sails, making 15 knots. There are no radar contacts, save for the Ixmata, which is on course 140, 14000 yards astern, making 14 knots. Based upon the navigator’s recommendation, I request permission to begin tacking maneuvers to the southeast to gain more speed-over-ground.”, he said professionally. “How much speed are we estimated to gain by these maneuvers Mr. Taylor?” the captain asked. “Approximately 2 knots sir. A significant increase.”, answered George. “Very well Mr. Taylor, begin tacking. Report any new contacts immediately, so I can re-evaluate our need for tacking.”, the captain ordered. “Yes sir”, George tersely replied.

“Yukotan to Ixmata.”, george said in to the bridge-to-bridge transceiver. “Ixmata to Yukotan, go ahead – over”, said the radio. “Yukotan to Ixmata – we are coming hard left to one one zero – over”, said george in his most professional seaman’s voice. “Ixmata to Yukotan, understood, over and out”.

“Mistah Ix'iloom!”, shouted George over the wind. “Aye sir”, came the reply. “Come hard left, steer course one one zero!”, George yelled with hands cupped around his mouth. “Come hard left, steer course one one zero, aye sir.”, shouted Ix'iloom, as he began to crank the ship’s wheel, almost frantically, to the left. The creaking of the ship became more pronounced as she strained against the sea below. The sails began to get more full and pronounced. The increased speed was barely perceptible to all but the most tenured seaman. Satisfied, George turned around to resume his other duties.

As the turn was nearing completion, the forward lookout spotted an irregular glint of light in the near distance. He squinted hard and was alarmed to see what appeared to be a periscope – very very close to the ship. “PERISCOPE IN THE WATER, CLOSE ABOARD, DEAD AHEAD.”, he yelled with all the strength his voice could muster. “BRACE FOR COLLISION!”. George whipped around. “What the hell!?!?”, he thought. George sounded the collision alarm from his station, the klaxon sounded obnoxious in his ears. “This can’t be happening”, he though with exasperation….

Gotta love that sub bug. Keep up the good work.

Hook, line, and sinker.

Sounds good. I'm looking forward to more.

not bad at all

I really love that picture.

Very good work. Map?

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MSV-17 IXMATA, OFF THE STRAIT OF BRIGHTON, MAYAN NORTHERN COASTAL WATERS, 0700 BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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Captain Itzel Stexyl stared in awe, with jaw agape at the wreckage of the YUKOTAN. Her keel had been broken and she was sinking fast. “BATTLESTATIONS SUBMARINE!”, he shouted in to the intercom. He spent several anxious moments agonizing over the decision to rescue his comrades, or fight the threat. Obviously the English had more up their sleeve than intelligence had believed. Submarines… my god! Why didn’t the damnable Babylonians, with all their “superior” weaponry find and sink this thing before now. Itzel watched as his highly trained crew sprang in to action and began manning the cannons, depth charges, and small arms on the Mayan ship of the line.

His decision made, Itzel ordered the ship toward the last known location of the submarine. He was furious at what had happened to the YUKOTAN and was bent on revenge, to the extent possible, before the English could shoot him with a torpedo as well. It seems that the English submarine had been extremely close to the YUKOTAN. Perhaps they hadn’t fired a torpedo. He hadn't seen, or heard, an explosion?!?! Perhaps there had been a terrible accident instead? Highly unlikely he presupposed, as he resumed overseeing his ship’s preparedness for battle.

Oooo, allies fighting allies, are the English going to get a lucky break?

Thanks for all the positive comments. The sub bug got me. I had the hardest time trying to figure out how I could work this in to a story - considering the irony of the circumstances. More coming today... I hope. Been swamped at work and don't have lots of time to collect my thoughts to compose.

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BSS NERGAL (SSN-4), OFF THE STRAIT OF BRIGHTON – MAYAN TERRITORIAL WATERS – 0730 HOURS BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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“What a nightmare”, Darius thought. Water was gushing in to the ship from the massive cracks and wrent metal of the hull. For some reason the Mayan ship, riding over the back of the NERGAL, had caused immense damage. Granted, the Mayan frigate was worse-off, but that didn’t even begin to calm the palpable fear Darius had. He thought of his men. He thought of his country. He thought of his family.

“Conn, Sonar… splashes in the water, directly overhead.”, reported the sonar supervisor. “Dammit”, thought Darius… “depth charges.” The NERGAL was at a depth of 150 feet and damage control efforts were ongoing. Water had washed on to electrical panels. Smoldering smoke and outright fires had erupted onboard. Breathing apparatus was being worn by all the crew members, which was beginning to hamper fire-fighting efforts. Darius was sorely concerned that his ship would even survive. “And now they add insult to injury by dropping depth charges on us?”, he thought. "Do they actually think we meant to hit them?!?!"

Charge #22 was released from the depth charge racks onboard the IXMATA. The charge spashed into the water and began it’s slow, almost graceful, descent into the briny deep. Deeper and deeper it went. 100 feet…. 125 feet…. then....there was a muffled, almost deadened, metallic thunk against the hull of the NERGAL. Everyone in the NERGAL’s Control Room looked at each other with unbridled fear in their eyes. BOOOOOOOOM!



The ship rocked and lurched violently to the concussion of the explosion. Darius could tell immediately that his submarine was in grave danger. He made the hardest decision in his naval career… to abandon ship. “Diving Officer emergency surface the ship”, he ordered with urgency. “Emergency surface the ship aye sir”, came the crisp reply. 4,500 pound compressed air was released violently into the NERGAL’s ballast tanks. As air displaced water, the ship began to rise in an uncontrolled ascent to the surface.

Then…. The unthinkable happened. A second collision! As the NERGAL was rocketing to the surface, she came up directly underneath the IXMATA. There was another shocking reverberation throughout the NERGAL. “What now!”, thought Darius. His instincts honed by years of submarine service, He could just tell that the last shock they had securely spelled the death knell for the NERGAL, as if they had truly had a chance before. Time was of the essence. He needed to get his crew off the doomed submarine. It looked like NERGAL was living up to it’s name. It was threatening to take the entire crew to the underworld. “How ironic”, Darius thought.

The order was given to abandon ship. The submarine floundered for a few minutes on the surface, allowing time for about two-thirds of the stricken-ship’s crew to climb out and jump into the frozen waters of the North Sea. Captain (Submarines) Darius Pargo’s last thoughts were of his family, and how he had let his country down. Then, as the ship plunged ever-deeper into the black depths of the sea, the hull gave way, and in an instant… it was over… the NERGAL was no more than strewn wreckage on the seafloor.

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MSV-17 IXMATA, OFF THE STRAIT OF BRIGHTON, MAYAN NORTHERN COASTAL WATERS, 0730 BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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Itzel had both felt… and heard… the sickening collision with the submarine. The IXMATA was still afloat, but barely. Damage control efforts were well underway, and at least he knew the immediate threat of sinking was over.

“HOLY $*%&”, came out of a seaman standing near Itzel. Itzel looked at the seaman, who stared out at the ocean with jaw agape. Itzel snapped his head in the direction the seaman was looking. He saw a whale leaping out of the water. “Wait a minute”, he thought, “that’s a submarine! We got that son of a...”.


The modern submarine bobbed gently on the surface. Itzel could tell it was mortally wounded. The top of the submarine had been ripped open in several places. The submarine crew had opened the hatches and were streaming out of the submarine as fast as possible, several of them were helped by their shipmates. Smoke was coming from the hatches as well. The submarine was slowly settling lower and lower in the water. The submariners were boarding inflatable rafts. Some were just jumping in to the frigid waters. Their confusion was grimly comical their desperation obvious. As the NERGAL silently slid beneath the ocean surface, Captain Itzel ordered his ship to steer toward the rafts. He told his crew to stand-by on their guns and prepare to open fire on the floundering crewmen.

The IXMATA got closer to the rafts of the survivors. Itzel had calmed down significantly from the state-of-rage that had previously consumed him. Despite being at war with them, he had a mariners sense of pity on the English survivors. He took a hard look at their uniforms. “Wait!”, he though. “It can’t be”, Itzel said out loud, under his breath. The IXMATA was closing in on the first raft of survivors. “Jones… use your binoculars. What flag is on the arms of the survivors?”, Itzel shouted to a Petty Officer. “MOST DEFINITELY Babylonian sir!”, answered Jones after a concerted look through his binoculars. “Babylon?!?!”, said Itzel with disbelief still in his mind. “THE Republic of Babylon?!?!”, he thought. “Hold your fire men”, he shouted. “Master at Arms… recover the survivors”, he ordered. Acknowledgement of his orders were echoed around the ship. As the ship began to take the survivors onboard, Itzel muttered under his breath, “This is gonna be one helluva report back to the admiralty”.

This story is awesome! Its like Daft Panzers (RIP). Keep it coming. I need to tell everyone about this.

Cool story line. Keep it coming.

VERY cool story!

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OFFICE OF THE HONORABLE KENNURABI, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BABYLON, 1130 BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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A gentle knock came through the door of Kennurabi’s office. The occupants of the room all looked at their President. “Come in”, he said. The door opened to the office. Maria, the president’s secretary, came in. “Mr. President… the Mayan Ambassador is here to see you sir”. “Thank you Maria,” said Kennurabi, “please send him in.” The others in the room stood back and assumed their “positions” behind the president. The ambassador strode in to the room, an almost apologetic look upon his face. The awkward events which called-him here, along with the news he had to convey, clearly made him exceedingly uncomfortable. “Mister President. Thank you for seeing me so quickly….”

Thanks again for all the comments. Much appreciated. Been VERY VERY BUSY these days . Just came back from a business trip where I thought (yeah right ) that I would have time to write. Turns out I had to go out to a long dinner every night :shakehead with the folks I was visiting, as a "cost" of doing business... ergo - no time to write. So - here is a quick-hitter. I hope to have another today, but lots to catch up on in the office.

Thanks again to those following.

Coinich

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BATTLEFIELD GRID 4-36A, SOUTHWEST OF PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, MAYAN ARMY COMMAND TENT, 1830 BST, MARCH 23rd, 2051
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Lieutenant Colonel Hans Vanderhof, Babylonian Air Force Liaison to the Mayan Ground Forces Commander at Portsmouth, saluted the guards, flipped the canvas, and entered the tent of Mayan Division General Mixr’et.

“You called-for me sir?”, Hans said? “Yes Hans”, Mixr’et said, pointing toward a chair, “come in and sit down”.

“Hans, let me be brief,” the general began, “my country has just declared war against yours.” Vanderhof was clearly taken aback, “Was this as a result of that submarine accident yesterday?” Mixr’et nodded grimly. Hans stopped short of saying something else, confusion clearly in his mind. “What now sir?, he said. “Hans. You have been a trusted friend and ally. I, also, am completely stunned by this turn of events. However, you will understand when I say that my loyalties lie first to my country…” Mixr’et said. Hans nodded, understanding in his eyes, and butterflies in his stomach.

Mixr’et stood, composed himself, and put on a stone-faced expression. “Guards,” he called out. The two sentries bolted in to the tent obviously wondering what event would cause them to be called. “Lieutenant Colonel Vanderhof, under the Conventions of War, I hereby order you to be arrested, and detained, as a prisoner of war”, ordered the general. “Gentlemen, please arrest and detain Colonel Vanderhof.and send in my aide.”