Missiles Away! - A Gerry Anderson A21 News Report

by A21 Reporter Andy Clems

The quiet sounds of dawn were shattered by Marineville's warning klaxons this morning as the base was placed on battle stations alert. The ring of WASP tracker stations detected a large underwater fleet, numbering at least 30 vessels, approaching the west coast of North America at terrific speed. All attempts to communicate with the fleet were met with silence and Commander Shore of Marineville wasted no time in securing the base. The surface installations slid into their underground emplacements and colossal blast-proof covers slid over the silos to afford maximum protection. Stingray was launched with orders to investigate. Due to the number of craft in the unknown fleet, Stingray was joined by WASP patrol vessels Typhoon, Argonaut, Orca, Sea Thunder and Maco. As the WASP craft approached the reported position of the fleet, they were stopped dead in the water by the sight that awaited them. Captain Tempest of Stingray reported, "We reached the position as relayed by tracker station number four. Visibility was about a kilometer. At first there was nothing at all, but then as we watched, a lone mechanical fish appeared out of the murky water dead ahead. Then another joined it and then, like something out of a nightmare, not 30 ships, but hundreds. They were everywhere! I gave the order for an immediate retreat and radioed Marineville to update them on the situation. Several of the mechanical fish had managed to outmaneuver the Sea Thunder and she was hit, but managed to make it away without sustaining further damage. We had no idea how so many of Titan's forces got so close without being detected, but the nearest thing we could come up with was some kind of sonar-jamming equipment. They left some of their ships detectable to lure us in and ambush us." Back at Marineville, Commander Shore ordered a hydromic missile barrage of the area. He explained, "Titan's sneak attack constituted the single largest gathering of enemy craft we had ever seen. It must have represented the majority of his naval forces. Those numbers were overwhelming, even launching all of our undersea craft wouldn't have made much difference. I reasoned that a squadron of spearhead bombers might have stood a chance, but hydromic missiles would have the best odds of success." The missiles were launched at 09:30 hours this morning. They traveled on a pre-programmed course to point of impact and the contact explosions were detected by seismographs hundreds of kilometers away. The WASP vessels made it clear of the blast radius and have reported in. Sea Thunder is returning to Marineville for repairs. It remains for the other vessels to risk entering the target area to verify the enemy fleet has been destroyed. Commander Shore concluded, "No one knows what they'll find, we have further patrol craft on immediate standby and our bombers are en route to the area in case they are needed. Anything could happen in the next half hour." Stay tuned for more information as and when it is available.