TLIAFD: Peashooters against a Dreadnought

[James G]

Sept 3, 2020 8:06:12 GMT forcon said:

Sept 2, 2020 20:42:02 GMT James G said:

Thank you.
I've been thinking a bit about aircraft munitions when they go after the Dreadnought. Sea Harriers carried a pair of Sea Eagle antiship missiles/ RAF Harriers and Tornado GR4s had Mavericks.
More bang for the buck than a Sidewinder and the target will need that as it is massive!
You've got me thinking now on whether the RAF could actually bomb it with high explosives!

I have been thinking about bigger US weapons use too. Maybe a destroyer in UK waters with Tomahawks. They used SatCom guidance but I am sure there was a backup using star positioning.

Re. Bombing it with high explosives - surely it'd be possible to get aircraft directly above the Dreadnought? The target is pretty much unmissable using plain old unguided dumb bombs. Whether or not that'd be enough to bring it down is another question. Perhaps some sort of bunker-buster dropped from a high-flying Tornado GR4?

Bomb, bomb, bomb the Dreadnought! Yep, I'm gonna bomb it.
I know the RAF has bunker-buster now - the EGBU-15 - but I don't think they had one in 1996.

[James G]

The long standstill ends

When the Dreadnought attacked Glasgow, its main weapon was positioned directly above the spire of the City Chambers building. Glasgow’s council had its headquarters there right in the heart of the city and the centralisation of attack as at that spot. Outwards the wall of fire spread in every direction from there yet the range of destruction wasn’t the same as had been seen the day before when London, Birmingham and then Manchester were obliterated. ‘Only’ for nine miles out it went rather than the fifteen as seen elsewhere. Three-fifths of the range of the fire didn’t mean that any of Glasgow was saved though. Glasgow was big but not that big. There was nothing left of Scotland’s largest city afterwards and the fires engulfed neighbouring towns as well. Still… it was a marked change with regard to the amount of destructive force unleashed.

The attack claimed almost a hundred thousand lives. Glasgow – as well as a wide area around it – had seen that disorganised yet effective evacuation of the civilian population. There remained people behind though. Many Glaswegians couldn’t leave, others didn’t want to. People who were physically unable to get out or planned to soon enough were caught in the fires. So too were certain criminal elements (many from outside Glasgow as well) who came into the city for gain, people who had just given up all hope & waited to die and also those who purposely came to city at such a time due to a ‘religious calling’. The Dreadnought had already killed millions but among a disturbingly high number of people, it was suddenly worshiped as a deity. Below it different groups of people gathered in awe and with love. These were often some of the strangest oddballs yet there were also plenty of normally sensible people caught up in the moment. The Dreadnought killed them just like everyone else when it unleashed the fireball upon the near-abandoned Glasgow. The stupid fools died like so many innocents did.

Immediately afterwards, the Dreadnought started to move. The long standstill over Glasgow was at an end and towards the next target it went. That was a short distance away to the east: Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh.

It never made it.


Military operations undertaken by the British Armed Forces since before July 4th 1996 had used codename which was randomly generated. These gave nothing away and didn’t mean anything but a word on order papers. The failed PERICLES and the aborted MELANCHOLY followed such a pattern. That wasn’t the case with Operation REVENGE. The planned part for Britain in the global counter-attack against the City Destroyers worldwide was deemed REVENGE because it was to be just that. The name was chosen to both inspire and invigorate those taking part.

Strength was gathered ahead of the attack. Using communications which were designed to avert localisation as well as interception (whether the Alien force could make sense of interceptions was an unknown but treated as possible), elements of the RAF and the Royal Navy were brought into REVENGE. The operation was commanded by the British Army though. While they wouldn’t be directly taking part in an overt fashion – making airborne physical attacks – it wasn’t a case that they had no role. Without Land Command, REVENGE never would have happened. Support was given in countless ways beyond the structuring of what was to be done when it was.

All across Britain, there were combat aircraft spread out with the majority away from their home bases. Contact was made with as many scattered forces as possible and all effort expended to get them to take part in REVENGE. Despite the hope that everyone available could, that just wasn’t the case. The evacuations from home bases yesterday brought with it many problems and so too had enemy attacks. The paper strength of remaining air elements was higher than it really was. Joining the RAF and Fleet Air Arm aircraft on the attack was to be some of the Americans from their US Air Force contingent in the UK as well. Moreover, there was also a US Navy destroyer given a REVENGE tasking alongside some Royal Navy warships. The more the merrier!

News came that Glasgow had been hit ahead of REVENGE taking place. This was upsetting though did have the effect of boasting morale even higher than it already was. Getting the Dreadnought before it blasted a fourth British city to ruin would have been so much better but such was the way of things that the counter-attack would happen after it. The final, hasty preparations were made and REVENGE was given the green light.

[James G]

Revenge of the peashooters

Clever military commanders throughout history had hidden their true strength and deceived opponents concerning capabilities (as well as intentions) on their way to success. It is the smartest, and entirely sensible, move to make when going about the business of warfare. When the Dreadnought killed the first three cities which it did, the immense destructive force of its main weapon wasn’t unleashed. Hitting Glasgow was done with an even weaker force. Up and down the power could go with increasing and degreasing range of the fires ignited. Those Hornets within were hidden from view until a hostile move was made and the anti-air defences which the Dreadnought had only used in a last-ditch, short-range fashion when there was much greater capability to do that too. Earth-based opponents of those out to exterminate the human race didn’t know all about their enemy. Humanity was repeatedly surprised. Such a weakness wasn’t exploited as much as it could have been though. All that was done by the Alien force could have been done better than it was. There was hubris in them and victory disease ran riot too. Smashing up Earth was done quick and without zero opposition: it looked like it could go on for ever. For many decades they had been planning on coming to Earth and doing this so they did have time on their side where they could have used better methods. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though and something which, despite all their technology and wealth of experience, they didn’t have.

Across the Central Belt of Scotland the Dreadnought travelled. It went towards Edinburgh when the intention was to level that city before moving back down in England striking at first Newcastle then the Leeds-Bradford urban area before the day was out. The lower-strength attacks were planned to be made without the need to halt & recharge the main weapon. None of these targets were as extensive as earlier ones but there were known to be many humans there who were set to be wiped out. Further military opposition was anticipated. Yes, victory disease was there yet not plain stupidity. The anticipation was though that opponents would be dealt with just as they had been before. No human weapon observed during visits made by scouts – even the supposed fearsome-most ones that there were with nukes: why else was the lost scout (weather conditions got it) interested in New Mexico back in 1947? – was capable of doing anything to impede the Dreadnoughts, Hornets, the space rocks and even deadlier weapons carried by the Mother Ship. It was only the ability that the humans had to endanger the individual members of the invasion force when they were projected to be put on the ground which was an issue. That was why military forces and bases across Earth were attacked like they were from above ahead of that final showdown. The idea created in the mind of a New Yorker about someone catching a cold… that had never been considered.

If only it had been thought about then things would have gone so much differently indeed. As they say, pride comes before the fall.


The scattered British and American aircraft involved in Operation REVENGE flew from airbases and airports all across portions of the UK. They came from out of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North East of England and the English South West. There were some which flew from their home bases yet many others had evacuated to where they did. For the latter, this brought with it several problems in the scale of the role which they could undertake in the massed air attack. Fuel, weapons, aircrew, ground personnel all caused issues that needed to be factored in. As examples, there were American F-15Es who’d escaped to RAF Elvington in North Yorkshire who found that that training base had no arsenal on-site to access so they had to wait for a delivery by helicopter; Tornado F3 interceptors which had fled to the standby base of RAF Stornoway in the remote Western Isles had a long wait on the necessary maintenance engineers to arrive so the majority could fly; the Fleet Air Arm hadn’t had its Sea Harrier FA2s attacked at their home base of RNAS Yeovilton but many of them were spread out far and wide ahead of recall where they came late on and not all were in a fit state to fly straight into action. It was little things like this, the important things which caused problems. If only it had been as easy as it was in the movies! They were worked around as best as they could though. REVENGE went ahead when peacetime regulations and health & safety considerations were thrown out of the window.

The peashooters wanted their revenge against the Dreadnought.

On their third attempt to engage it, aircraft on the attack against the space craft which had killed millions of Britons didn’t just go up with air-to-air missiles and their guns like they had in those previous tries. A far wider range of weapons were carried. They were going after a hard target and the aim was to destroy it all in one go. Of course, that had been the intent beforehand but a far better understanding was in place of the enemy to be struck at. Only one shot to achieve victory it was going to be had and so there was no messing around. All sorts of missiles as well as bombs were carried by the attacking aircraft. When it came to those warships given a REVENGE mission, they would be firing all that they could as well. It hadn’t been known whether the Dreadnought would come into range of the warships which headed toward Central Scotland (via the sea of course) but they were brought into the operation with the hope that they could play a role from off-shore. To have not included them, and seen the Dreadnought then go out over the water, would have been remarkably foolish.


The allotted time came.

High up above the Earth, a Hornet flew towards and inside the Mother Ship. It was that one which came to New Mexico almost fifty years beforehand, suddenly returning home. Two brave men, some would say fools, made that flight. They docked internally and their surprised hosts investigated their vessel. Suspicion came far latter than it should have. Call it comedy, call it farce, call it utter stupidity if you will with that being allowed to happen; those on Earth would later call it fate.

A missile was launched at short range and one hell of a demolition charge laid internally. Escape them came, one of those most daring ones that could have been tried. It worked too when it really shouldn’t have. Away from the Mother Ship the Hornet went, back to Earth and where it really didn’t belong.

And then there was that explosion.

It wasn’t one seen in Britain. It didn’t need to be though because by that point, the Dreadnought was supposed to be exposed to attack. REVENGE went ahead when the defences of the Dreadnought were meant to be down without the Mother Ship going kaboom. If they weren’t… so much of what remained of Britain’s air power (that of air forces worldwide too) was lining itself up like willing lambs going to be slaughtered saying ‘yes, please, Sir: kill us now if you will be so kind’.

[lordroel]

Sept 3, 2020 19:14:07 GMT James G said:

Revenge of the peashooters

Clever military commanders throughout history had hidden their true strength and deceived opponents concerning capabilities (as well as intentions) on their way to success. It is the smartest, and entirely sensible, move to make when going about the business of warfare. When the Dreadnought killed the first three cities which it did, the immense destructive force of its main weapon wasn’t unleashed. Hitting Glasgow was done with an even weaker force. Up and down the power could go with increasing and degreasing range of the fires ignited. Those Hornets within were hidden from view until a hostile move was made and the anti-air defences which the Dreadnought had only used in a last-ditch, short-range fashion when there was much greater capability to do that too. Earth-based opponents of those out to exterminate the human race didn’t know all about their enemy. Humanity was repeatedly surprised. Such a weakness wasn’t exploited as much as it could have been though. All that was done by the Alien force could have been done better than it was. There was hubris in them and victory disease ran riot too. Smashing up Earth was done quick and without zero opposition: it looked like it could go on for ever. For many decades they had been planning on coming to Earth and doing this so they did have time on their side where they could have used better methods. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though and something which, despite all their technology and wealth of experience, they didn’t have.

Across the Central Belt of Scotland the Dreadnought travelled. It went towards Edinburgh when the intention was to level that city before moving back down in England striking at first Newcastle then the Leeds-Bradford urban area before the day was out. The lower-strength attacks were planned to be made without the need to halt & recharge the main weapon. None of these targets were as extensive as earlier ones but there were known to be many humans there who were set to be wiped out. Further military opposition was anticipated. Yes, victory disease was there yet not plain stupidity. The anticipation was though that opponents would be dealt with just as they had been before. No human weapon observed during visits made by scouts – even the supposed fearsome-most ones that there were with nukes: why else was the lost scout (weather conditions got it) interested in New Mexico back in 1947? – was capable of doing anything to impede the Dreadnoughts, Hornets, the space rocks and even deadlier weapons carried by the Mother Ship. It was only the ability that the humans had to endanger the individual members of the invasion force when they were projected to be put on the ground which was an issue. That was why military forces and bases across Earth were attacked like they were from above ahead of that final showdown. The idea created in the mind of a New Yorker about someone catching a cold… that had never been considered.

If only it had been thought about then things would have gone so much differently indeed. As they say, pride comes before the fall.


The scattered British and American aircraft involved in Operation REVENGE flew from airbases and airports all across portions of the UK. They came from out of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North East of England and the English South West. There were some which flew from their home bases yet many others had evacuated to where they did. For the latter, this brought with it several problems in the scale of the role which they could undertake in the massed air attack. Fuel, weapons, aircrew, ground personnel all caused issues that needed to be factored in. As examples, there were American F-15Es who’d escaped to RAF Elvington in North Yorkshire who found that that training base had no arsenal on-site to access so they had to wait for a delivery by helicopter; Tornado F3 interceptors which had fled to the standby base of RAF Stornoway in the remote Western Isles had a long wait on the necessary maintenance engineers to arrive so the majority could fly; the Fleet Air Arm hadn’t had its Sea Harrier FA2s attacked at their home base of RNAS Yeovilton but many of them were spread out far and wide ahead of recall where they came late on and not all were in a fit state to fly straight into action. It was little things like this, the important things which caused problems. If only it had been as easy as it was in the movies! They were worked around as best as they could though. REVENGE went ahead when peacetime regulations and health & safety considerations were thrown out of the window.

The peashooters wanted their revenge against the Dreadnought.

On their third attempt to engage it, aircraft on the attack against the space craft which had killed millions of Britons didn’t just go up with air-to-air missiles and their guns like they had in those previous tries. A far wider range of weapons were carried. They were going after a hard target and the aim was to destroy it all in one go. Of course, that had been the intent beforehand but a far better understanding was in place of the enemy to be struck at. Only one shot to achieve victory it was going to be had and so there was no messing around. All sorts of missiles as well as bombs were carried by the attacking aircraft. When it came to those warships given a REVENGE mission, they would be firing all that they could as well. It hadn’t been known whether the Dreadnought would come into range of the warships which headed toward Central Scotland (via the sea of course) but they were brought into the operation with the hope that they could play a role from off-shore. To have not included them, and seen the Dreadnought then go out over the water, would have been remarkably foolish.


The allotted time came.

High up above the Earth, a Hornet flew towards and inside the Mother Ship. It was that one which came to New Mexico almost fifty years beforehand, suddenly returning home. Two brave men, some would say fools, made that flight. They docked internally and their surprised hosts investigated their vessel. Suspicion came far latter than it should have. Call it comedy, call it farce, call it utter stupidity if you will with that being allowed to happen; those on Earth would later call it fate.

A missile was launched at short range and one hell of a demolition charge laid internally. Escape them came, one of those most daring ones that could have been tried. It worked too when it really shouldn’t have. Away from the Mother Ship the Hornet went, back to Earth and where it really didn’t belong.

And then there was that explosion.

It wasn’t one seen in Britain. It didn’t need to be though because by that point, the Dreadnought was supposed to be exposed to attack. REVENGE went ahead when the defences of the Dreadnought were meant to be down without the Mother Ship going kaboom. If they weren’t… so much of what remained of Britain’s air power (that of air forces worldwide too) was lining itself up like willing lambs going to be slaughtered saying ‘yes, please, Sir: kill us now if you will be so kind’.

So even in this TL they managed to fly a 50 old spaceship (hornet) that the aliens on the mothership seem not to have missed and use a Mac to install a computer virus that distrupts a highly advance but not firewalled allien computer systym and the use a nuke to blow a schip almost the size of the moon up and survive it.

[James G]

Sept 3, 2020 19:31:07 GMT lordroel said:

Sept 3, 2020 19:14:07 GMT James G said:

Revenge of the peashooters

Clever military commanders throughout history had hidden their true strength and deceived opponents concerning capabilities (as well as intentions) on their way to success. It is the smartest, and entirely sensible, move to make when going about the business of warfare. When the Dreadnought killed the first three cities which it did, the immense destructive force of its main weapon wasn’t unleashed. Hitting Glasgow was done with an even weaker force. Up and down the power could go with increasing and degreasing range of the fires ignited. Those Hornets within were hidden from view until a hostile move was made and the anti-air defences which the Dreadnought had only used in a last-ditch, short-range fashion when there was much greater capability to do that too. Earth-based opponents of those out to exterminate the human race didn’t know all about their enemy. Humanity was repeatedly surprised. Such a weakness wasn’t exploited as much as it could have been though. All that was done by the Alien force could have been done better than it was. There was hubris in them and victory disease ran riot too. Smashing up Earth was done quick and without zero opposition: it looked like it could go on for ever. For many decades they had been planning on coming to Earth and doing this so they did have time on their side where they could have used better methods. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though and something which, despite all their technology and wealth of experience, they didn’t have.

Across the Central Belt of Scotland the Dreadnought travelled. It went towards Edinburgh when the intention was to level that city before moving back down in England striking at first Newcastle then the Leeds-Bradford urban area before the day was out. The lower-strength attacks were planned to be made without the need to halt & recharge the main weapon. None of these targets were as extensive as earlier ones but there were known to be many humans there who were set to be wiped out. Further military opposition was anticipated. Yes, victory disease was there yet not plain stupidity. The anticipation was though that opponents would be dealt with just as they had been before. No human weapon observed during visits made by scouts – even the supposed fearsome-most ones that there were with nukes: why else was the lost scout (weather conditions got it) interested in New Mexico back in 1947? – was capable of doing anything to impede the Dreadnoughts, Hornets, the space rocks and even deadlier weapons carried by the Mother Ship. It was only the ability that the humans had to endanger the individual members of the invasion force when they were projected to be put on the ground which was an issue. That was why military forces and bases across Earth were attacked like they were from above ahead of that final showdown. The idea created in the mind of a New Yorker about someone catching a cold… that had never been considered.

If only it had been thought about then things would have gone so much differently indeed. As they say, pride comes before the fall.


The scattered British and American aircraft involved in Operation REVENGE flew from airbases and airports all across portions of the UK. They came from out of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North East of England and the English South West. There were some which flew from their home bases yet many others had evacuated to where they did. For the latter, this brought with it several problems in the scale of the role which they could undertake in the massed air attack. Fuel, weapons, aircrew, ground personnel all caused issues that needed to be factored in. As examples, there were American F-15Es who’d escaped to RAF Elvington in North Yorkshire who found that that training base had no arsenal on-site to access so they had to wait for a delivery by helicopter; Tornado F3 interceptors which had fled to the standby base of RAF Stornoway in the remote Western Isles had a long wait on the necessary maintenance engineers to arrive so the majority could fly; the Fleet Air Arm hadn’t had its Sea Harrier FA2s attacked at their home base of RNAS Yeovilton but many of them were spread out far and wide ahead of recall where they came late on and not all were in a fit state to fly straight into action. It was little things like this, the important things which caused problems. If only it had been as easy as it was in the movies! They were worked around as best as they could though. REVENGE went ahead when peacetime regulations and health & safety considerations were thrown out of the window.

The peashooters wanted their revenge against the Dreadnought.

On their third attempt to engage it, aircraft on the attack against the space craft which had killed millions of Britons didn’t just go up with air-to-air missiles and their guns like they had in those previous tries. A far wider range of weapons were carried. They were going after a hard target and the aim was to destroy it all in one go. Of course, that had been the intent beforehand but a far better understanding was in place of the enemy to be struck at. Only one shot to achieve victory it was going to be had and so there was no messing around. All sorts of missiles as well as bombs were carried by the attacking aircraft. When it came to those warships given a REVENGE mission, they would be firing all that they could as well. It hadn’t been known whether the Dreadnought would come into range of the warships which headed toward Central Scotland (via the sea of course) but they were brought into the operation with the hope that they could play a role from off-shore. To have not included them, and seen the Dreadnought then go out over the water, would have been remarkably foolish.


The allotted time came.

High up above the Earth, a Hornet flew towards and inside the Mother Ship. It was that one which came to New Mexico almost fifty years beforehand, suddenly returning home. Two brave men, some would say fools, made that flight. They docked internally and their surprised hosts investigated their vessel. Suspicion came far latter than it should have. Call it comedy, call it farce, call it utter stupidity if you will with that being allowed to happen; those on Earth would later call it fate.

A missile was launched at short range and one hell of a demolition charge laid internally. Escape them came, one of those most daring ones that could have been tried. It worked too when it really shouldn’t have. Away from the Mother Ship the Hornet went, back to Earth and where it really didn’t belong.

And then there was that explosion.

It wasn’t one seen in Britain. It didn’t need to be though because by that point, the Dreadnought was supposed to be exposed to attack. REVENGE went ahead when the defences of the Dreadnought were meant to be down without the Mother Ship going kaboom. If they weren’t… so much of what remained of Britain’s air power (that of air forces worldwide too) was lining itself up like willing lambs going to be slaughtered saying ‘yes, please, Sir: kill us now if you will be so kind’.

So even in this TL they managed to fly a 50 old spaceship (hornet) that the aliens on the mothership seem not to have missed and use a Mac to install a computer virus that distrupts a highly advance but not firewalled allien computer systym and the use a nuke to blow a schip almost the size of the moon up and survive it.

Yep.
Farce.

[forcon]

Hell, at least they were imaginitive in Independence Day. In War of the Worlds they just threw high explosives at the tripods and hoped for the best.

[lordroel]

Sept 4, 2020 10:24:29 GMT forcon said:

Hell, at least they were imaginitive in Independence Day. In War of the Worlds they just threw high explosives at the tripods and hoped for the best.

Even in the original and best War of the Worlds movie of 1953 the used a Northrop YB-49 flying wing bomber to destroy a tripod with no succes, the 1996 ID4 uses that bit in my eye by having a B-2 bomber attempt to destroy a Dreadnought With also no result.

[archibald]

Reminds me of Turtledove Aliens vs WWII when RAF Lancasters bomb the shit out of The Race...

[James G]

Sept 4, 2020 10:24:29 GMT forcon said:

Hell, at least they were imaginitive in Independence Day. In War of the Worlds they just threw high explosives at the tripods and hoped for the best.

They always say countries are prepared to fight the last war and that was a case of that.

Sept 4, 2020 13:07:17 GMT lordroel said:

Even in the original and best War of the Worlds movie of 1953 the used a Northrop YB-49 flying wing bomber to destroy a tripod with no succes, the 1996 ID4 uses that bit in my eye by having a B-2 bomber attempt to destroy a Dreadnought With also no result.

That was a bit of 'the rule of cool' using a B-2. Another aircraft could have done the job to be fair.

Sept 4, 2020 15:26:55 GMT archibald said:

Reminds me of Turtledove Aliens vs WWII when RAF Lancasters bomb the shit out of The Race...

Lancasters the RAF doesn't have in 1996 but Tornados, Jaguars & Harriers they do. The Tornados could carry an impressive load too despite being far smaller than bombers of the WW2 era.

[James G]

Burn, baby, burn

It wasn’t just the protective shields – force fields if you like – which the Americans took out. Down went the organic radar systems which both the City Destroyers and their swarming attack craft used as well. If only the former had been disabled, the Dreadnought over Britain would have survived because the Hornets had the weight of numbers to protect her and there were too those self-defence weapons. When the latter suddenly went dark though, the Dreadnought was doomed. The Hornets could still fly and there were defences aboard but there was no ability to control, and thus dominate, the unexpected airborne fight above the skies of Central Scotland. Attacking British and American aircraft flew towards the Dreadnought undetected to do their worst. They had guidance and external control over their operations and didn’t end up having to rely solely on visual sightings as their opponents did.

How quick things had turned around.

How the mighty had fallen… and would.


Like with the two PERICLES attempts the day before, when REVENGE was undertaken the attackers came at the Dreadnought from all sides in a coordinated fashion. Some flew in high, others low. They had their onboard radars switched off but were under the control of a distant AWACS aircraft. That was a Sentry AEW1, the only survivor of the RAF’s once seven-strong fleet of them. It had several crew members aboard from elsewhere (one from Canada, one from Spain) who’d been on exchange duties when the Earth was attacked and thus fought for humanity. The RAF had a Nimrod R1 in the skies also keeping its distance and a US Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint was flying too. Those two were electronic support aircraft but had little to do in the end: unlike that Sentry. Its crew did a sterling job during the fight yet tragedy would strike afterwards when a fatal crash killed all aboard once REVENGE was completed and the aircraft was returning to RAF Lossiemouth. Before then though, it guided the attacking aircraft in to get at the Dreadnought.

Fighters and interceptors launched air-to-air missiles. They slammed AMRAAMs, Sidewinders, Skyflashes & Sparrows into the Dreadnought though had to use many of them against the Hornets which emerged to defend it at the last minute too. Guns were fired against more Hornets as well yet there were a heck of a lot of them airborne. They didn’t all gone down easy using the fighter-AWACS combination and got lucky in hitting many British and American fighters. ‘Flak’ also came out of the Dreadnought. It shot space rocks out as if they were anti-aircraft artillery – thus the Flak name given by the RAF afterwards to that – in a capacity unrevealed until that time.

It wasn’t just fighters though used against the Dreadnought. From up above, aircraft on bomb missions zoomed in. The target wasn’t one that would be missed though there was the use of ‘smart bombs’ alongside ‘dumb’ ones. All bombs available were dropped. Conventional high-explosive was used with those bombs and there was also the use of cluster and anti-runway munitions as well. The aim with the use of the JP233s wasn’t what the weapon was designed for but the RAF did this so that they would gain penetration below the surface at the top of the Dreadnought. The Americans had cluster bombs, delayed action ones too, and scattered them for delayed effect with the intention being when the Dreadnought’s shields came back on (as the incorrect expectation was) and there were recovery efforts mounted, further explosions would take place.

Air-launched Harpoons and Sea Eagles were anti-ship missiles yet they were used against the Dreadnought because they could with when faced with such a target. Mavericks, designed to knock out tanks as well as hard targets, were also fired. Attacking aircraft launched those against the Dreadnought from distance with the aim of putting a lot of explosives as deep as they could inside it. Those anti-ship missiles were especially designed to do that and while they weren’t going to strike fatal blows themselves against the massive target, they came with everything else being thrown at the Dreadnought. Fleet Air Arm aircraft, which had staged from the previously-evacuated RAF Lemming in North Yorkshire on the way up, put their Sea Eagles not into the sides and on top like the RAF did with theirs but instead up from underneath.

Striking the underside the Dreadnought were more missiles, those which came from warships. A small flotilla of Royal Navy warships were in the Firth of Clyde to the west but only the Type-42 destroyer among them had the Dreadnought within range initially. It fired off many Sea Dart missiles. These were designed to take down enemy aircraft and didn’t pack that much of a punch but plentiful of them were fired in a concentrated salvo. Away to the east, a US Navy destroyer likewise launched her anti-aircraft missiles against the Dreadnought over Britain. RIM-66s were fired in multiple waves from the ship on the edges of the Firth of Forth. Co-ordination to make sure that all of these SAMs coming from distant warships didn’t hit the many friendly aircraft in the area yet, despite all precautions, there were unfortunately a pair of friendly fire losses. That what happens when a military operation the size of REVENGE is put together so fast with so many elements active at once.


The Dreadnought was hit as hard as it was from all sides and angles within an extremely short time period. It was close to the edges of Edinburgh that sunny morning on July 4th when attacked. Contact was lost with the Mother Ship and there were those twin failures of both its shielding system and airborne defences control. Initially, it moved onwards towards Edinburgh but the extent of the damage aboard was quite devastating. Blowing Scotland’s capital to ruin was temporarily abandoned and the space craft sought to avoid further anticipated attacks by moving out of the firing line. It turned back westwards and rapidly increased speed. Out towards the North Atlantic the Dreadnought moved where there was little expectation of a human presence with their aircraft.

In doing so, the Dreadnought came into the range of that Royal Navy flotilla in the Firth of Clyde. The RAF, the Fleet Air Arm and the US Air Force had in many ways shot their bolt but the Royal Navy had only just got started. There were Hornets all over the sky complicating matters but an unmissable target came towards them and there was no sign that its defences had come back on. More weapons that before were able to be brought to bear. HMS Gloucester, HMS Iron Duke, HMS Cumberland & HMS Sheffield gave it all that they had. The destroyer put some more Sea Darts into the Dreadnought and the frigates had their short-range Sea Wolves too. Moreover, Iron Duke and Cumberland fired their Harpoons while Exocets from the Sheffield went up too. Gloucester put her helicopter in the sky so it would fire Sea Skuas though a Hornet took it out ahead of firing. This barrage was able to have the success which it did because the Dreadnought was low in the sky and came rather alarmingly close to those ships. No attacks were made against them and sailors aboard watched the mass of smoke pouring out of the Dreadnought. It was also observed as being unstable in the sky.

Another aerial attack came against the Dreadnought and it was far weaker than the first one. REVENGE continued as the target of those attacks moved southwards, significantly off-course from the projected race out over the open expanses of the sea. More missiles were put into it yet the damage was by that point ahead done. It was on fire and it was going down. One of the last hits against it was made by a RAF pilot in his Jaguar GR1. His aircraft had been hit by Flak and was going down: he had lost his entire family when all of London inside the M-25 motorway was blown to ruin. That aircraft hit the Dreadnought rather than the sea when it was out of munitions.


The planners of REVENGE had allowed themselves to consider what the consequences would be of the Dreadnought being brought down. It was a huge vessel and would cause a lot of devastation on impact with the ground. Even if it blew up in the sky and didn’t come down as one whole piece, it was still going to have many serious implications. Hope had been held out that it would go down over the sea or, failing that, a lightly populated area.

The Dreadnought, out of control and doomed, crashed as one piece. When it did, from above the expressed opinion of an RAF Harrier GR7 pilot who strafed it with his cannon was ‘burn, baby, burn’ as he watched it engulfed with fire. It wasn’t on the water though. Instead, it landed smack bang in the middle of the Irish Sea atop the Isle of Man.

Bigger than the Isle of Man the Dreadnought was and there were people below when it made impact as it did.

[James G]

In the movie, that where the story ends. You see the City Destroyer crash into the desert in Nevada and that's that.
This story has yet to end though.

[James G]

Survivors

The lives of the seventy thousand plus people who called the Isle of Man home were snuffed out in an instant. Their island home was only two-thirds physically covered by the crashed Dreadnought – significant portions landed atop the water to the east and west too – but the impact killed almost everyone. Buildings across the island were levelled by an immense shockwave and seawater rushed in afterwards in a tsunami fashion. The Dreadnought was already in flames when it crashed and those spread far and wide post-impact. That was the end of the island’s population.

When it had detached from the Mother Ship, City Destroyer #7 had a total of eight hundred and nineteen Alien creatures aboard. One of them had been killed in the crash of its Hornet on July 3rd and another seventy-three went down with theirs on the 4th during aerial combat. Hundreds more aboard died when the Dreadnought was hit by air power and sea-borne missile attacks before the impact with the Isle of Man took the lives of even more. However, there were close to a hundred who survived the crash and fires to get out of their downed space craft. Some drowned in the waters of the Irish Sea while the rest were on land in the northern reaches of the devastated small island. They were in their protective suits to ensure they could survive the harsh elements: Earth’s atmosphere. When the first aircraft flew low overhead, they started digging. They were seeking to get out of the way of what was coming their way and intended to fight from where they were.

It would take several weeks before they were all confirmed dead. For the very small number of them that there were, it took a remarkably long time to eliminate them. They dug deep and had weapons with them. The British Armed Forces contingent sustained major casualties in wiping them out. The British Army and the Royal Marines landed men on the island while the RAF and the Royal Navy provided fire support for what became Operation STARDUST. The mission was to completely secure the ruins of the Dreadnought and wipe out those survivors. Participants in STARDUST faced the Aliens up close and personal. It was something which they had been briefed to expect but still a rather unpleasant experience with heavy losses taken. Most of the time, the survivors of the Dreadnought avoided contact though. They kept digging down into the bedrock of the island using tools taken from their lost space craft. A whole network was under construction which, with more time and more tools, would have been quite something in the end. It was positioned below the ruins of the Dreadnought as well to give it cover. Falling bombs and shells, then emplaced demolition charges from engineers, were what finished that all off in the end though and opened up the way for STARDUST to finally finish.

On July 24th, the Isle of Man would be finally declared free of hostile Alien presence.


Outside of that crash site, so much of the rest of the country was in ruin with the direct effects of attacks made and the near complete collapse of civil order elsewhere. The death toll, direct from the Dreadnought (as well as Rocks from the Heavens) and indirect from aftereffects, would claim almost ten million lives. Martial law was enforced aided by elements of the British Army who returned home from Germany. A new government was established first at Windsor and then later operating from Harrogate in North Yorkshire. They ruled by decree and were forced to impose the harshest of measures – including the death penalty – to bring order to the nation and allow Britain to survive as a functioning state post July 1996.

Things were worse elsewhere in the world. Many nations were no more and new ones rose in the place. Scenes of anarchy seen in Britain were nothing compared to how bad things were in certain place elsewhere. The STARDUST operation that the UK undertook was rather small in comparison to other countries where they had to deal with crashed City Destroyers too. The Isle of Man was an island where survivors were contained in one place: that wasn’t the case overseas. Chemical weapons were used in Russia & the Middle East, parts of the Amazon were firebombed and in Oklahoma the Americans had to use extensive (conventional) firepower all across the state along with tens of thousands of troops on search-&-destroy missions. Hunger and disease spread in places and there were wars over resources. With some countries getting off scot-free from attacks from above, and neighbours left in chaos, the united front so much of the world put up at one point vanished in the face of what governments did to survive.

The burnout remnants of London, Birmingham, Manchester & Glasgow weren’t resettled. There were recovery efforts to salvage what was left behind but Britain couldn’t rebuilt & resettle them. The radiation leaks from what was once the naval base at Faslane in Scotland saw much of Scotland eventually evacuated. Electricity, water and telecommunications links took a long time to repair. Privatisation of industry and transport was done and there was mass conscription as well. Co-operation with European allies was done in abundance during recovery efforts yet there was less of that with the Americans. Side-by-side armed forces of the two had fought against the Dreadnought yet the post-conflict United States focused inwards: they’d lost twenty-three cities and had nuclear disasters to deal with.

Putting Britain back together would take decades. The Dreadnought was no more and technology recovered from it was useful in places… but it had devastated the nation and changed it for the worse.

The End

[James G]

The City Destroyer's / Dreadnought's reign of terror across the globe.
The numbers are for in the order when they were first spotted. Most attacked more than one country.



City Destroyer #1 – Attacked Russia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Novosibirsk in Russia, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk & Ufa. Destroyed near to Perm in a nuclear attack by the Russian military.

City Destroyer #2 – Attacked India and subsequently Sri Lanka and India (again) - 5 cities lost 
First appeared above Mumbai [Bombay] in India, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore & Chennai [Madras]. Crossed into Sri Lanka to wipe out Columbo. Shot down over the Gulf of Mannar when approaching India once more in an air attack by the Indian military.

City Destroyer #3 – Attacked the Ukraine and subsequently Russia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Kiev in the Ukraine, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Dnipropetrovsk & Donetsk. Crossed into Russia to wipe out Rostov-au-Don. Destroyed over the Don River when approaching Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in a nuclear attack by the Russian military... which accidently also wiped out that city too.

City Destroyer #4 – Attacked Singapore and subsequently both Malaysia and Indonesia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above the city-state of Singapore, destroyed the city and moved onwards to cross into Malaysia. Eliminated the further cities of Kuala Lumpur & Georgetown. Crossed over into Indonesia to wipe out the cities of Medan & Palembang. Shot down above the Sunda Strait in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Indonesia and Malaysia.

City Destroyer #5 – Attacked the United States - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Washington DC in America, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Cincinnati (OH), Louisville (KY), Nashville (TN) & Atlanta (GA). Shot down over the north of Alabama in an air attack by the American military.

City Destroyer #6 – Attacked Iran - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Tehran in Iran, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Qom, Esfahan, Ahvaz & Shiraz. Shot down over the Persian Gulf in an air attack by the Iranian military.

City Destroyer #7 – Attacked the United Kingdom - 4 cities lost
First appeared above London in Britain, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Birmingham, Manchester & Glasgow. Shot down over the Irish Sea to crash into the Isle of Man in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Britain and the United States.

City Destroyer #8 – Attacked Morocco and subsequently Algeria, Tunisia and Libya - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Casablanca in Morocco, destroyed the city and moved onwards wipe out Rabat before crossing into Algeria. Eliminated the city of Algiers. Crossed over into Tunisia to wipe out the city of Tunis. Crossed over into Libya to eliminate the city of Tripoli. Shot down above the Med. near to Malta while approaching Italy in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Egypt and Italy.

City Destroyer #9 – Attacked France and subsequently Italy - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Paris in France, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Lyons & Marseilles. Crossed over into Italy to wipe out the additional cities of Turin & Milan. Shot down over the north of Italy in an air attack by the Italian military.

City Destroyer #10 – Attacked China and subsequently Vietnam and China (again) - 6 cities lost
First appeared above the autonomous Hong Kong, destroyed the city and crossed over into China to wipe out the city of Guangzhou [Canton]. Moved on to eliminate the further cities of Nanning & Kunming. Crossed over into Vietnam to destroy the cities of Hanoi & Haiphong. Shot down above the Gulf of Tonkin in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of China, Vietnam and the United States.

City Destroyer #11 – Attacked the United States - 6 cities lost
First appeared above New York City (NY) in America, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Philadelphia (PA), Pittsburgh (PA), Cleveland (OH), Buffalo (NY) & Boston (MA). Shot down over Rhode Island in an air attack by the American military.

City Destroyer #12 – Attacked Germany and subsequently the Czech Republic - 8 cities lost
First appeared above Berlin in Germany, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Hamburg, those clustered in the Ruhr (Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf & Essen), Frankfurt & Munich. Crossed over into the Czech Republic and shot down over Bohemia in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.

City Destroyer #13 – Attacked Thailand and subsequently Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Taiwan and China - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Bangkok in Thailand, destroyed the city and crossed over into Cambodia to wipe out the city of Phnom Penh. Crossed over into Vietnam to eliminate the city of Ho Chi Ming City [Saigon]. Crossed over into the Philippines to destroy the city of Manila. Crossed over into Taiwan to wipe out the city of Taipei. Crossed over into China and shot down near to the city of Fuzhou in an air attack by the Chinese military.

City Destroyer #14 – Attacked Iraq and subsequently Saudi Arabia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Baghdad in Iraq, destroyed the city and crossed over into Saudi Arabia to wipe out the city of Riyadh. Moved on to eliminate the further cities of Mecca, Jeddah & Medina. Shot down over the Saudi desert in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of France, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

City Destroyer #15 – Attacked Russia - 4 cities lost
First appeared above Moscow in Russia, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Nizhny Novgorod [Gorki], Kazan & Ulyanovsk. Destroyed over the Volga River valley when approaching Samara & Togliatti in a nuclear attack by the Russian military.

City Destroyer #16 – Attacked Indonesia and subsequently Australia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Jakarta in Indonesia, destroyed the city and crossed over into Australia. Eliminated the cities of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne & Canberra. Shot down over New South Wales near Sydney in an air attack by the Australian military.

City Destroyer #17 – Attacked the United States - 4 cities lost
First appeared above Los Angeles (CA) in America, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of San Francisco (CA), Sacramento (CA) & Las Vegas (NV). Shot down over the middle of Nevada – near Area 51 – in an air attack by the American military.

City Destroyer #18 – Attacked South Africa and subsequently Mozambique and Zimbabwe - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Johannesburg/Pretoria in South Africa, destroyed the cities and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Cape Town & Durban. Crossed over into Mozambique to wipe out the city of Maputo. Crossed over into Zimbabwe and shot down over the middle of Zimbabwe in an air attack by the South African military.

City Destroyer #19 – Attacked Canada and subsequently the United States - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Ottawa in Canada, destroyed the city and moved onwards to wipe out the city of Toronto before crossing into America. Eliminated the further cities of Detroit (MI), Chicago (IL) & St. Louis (MO). Shot down over the west of Missouri in an air attack by the American military.

City Destroyer #20 – Attacked Italy and subsequently Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Rome in Italy, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the city of Naples. Crossed over into Yugoslavia to wipe out the city of Belgrade. Crossed over into Hungary to destroy the city of Budapest. Crossed over into Austria to eliminate the city of Vienna. Crossed over into Switzerland and shot down over the middle of Switzerland in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of France, Germany and Switzerland.

City Destroyer #21 – Attacked Cuba and subsequently the United States - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Havana in Cuba, destroyed the city and moved onwards to cross over into America. Eliminated the further cities of Miami (FL), Tampa (FL) & New Orleans (LA). Failed American nuclear attack destroyed the city of Houston (TX) below the craft. Moved on to wipe out the city of Dallas (TX). Shot down over Oklahoma in an air attack by the American military.

City Destroyer #22 – Attacked the Congo & Zaire and subsequently Angola, Zambia and Zaire (again) - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Brazzaville in the Congo / Kinshasa in Zaire, destroyed the cities and crossed over into Angola to wipe out the city of Luanda. Crossed over into Zambia to eliminate the city of Lusaka. Crossed back over into the Congo to destroy the city of Lubumbashi and destroyed over the middle of Zaire in a nuclear attack by the United States military.

City Destroyer #23 – Attacked the Netherlands and subsequently Belgium, France, Switzerland and France (again) - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Amsterdam/Rotterdam in the Netherlands, destroyed the cities and crossed over into Belgium to wipe out the city of Brussels. Crossed over into France to destroy the city of Strasbourg. Crossed over into Switzerland to eliminate the city of Geneva. Crossed back over into France to wipe out the city of Bordeaux and shot down over central France in an air attack by the French military.

City Destroyer #24 – Attacked Egypt and subsequently Sudan, Eritrea and Yemen - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Cairo in Egypt, destroyed the city and moved onwards to wipe out the city of Alexandria. Crossed over into Sudan to eliminate the city of Khartoum. Crossed over into Eritrea to destroy the city of Asmara. Crossed over into Yemen to wipe out the city of Sana’a and shot down over the south of Yemen near Aden in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

City Destroyer #25 – Attacked Turkey and subsequently Greece, Turkey (again) and Bulgaria - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Istanbul in Turkey, destroyed the city and crossed over into Greece to wipe out the city of Athens. Crossed back over into Turkey to eliminate the further cities of Izmir, Ankara & Bursa. Crossed over into Bulgaria and shot down over Bulgaria in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey resulting in the crash of the Dreadnought into the city of Sofia... to level that urban area.

City Destroyer #26 – Attacked Mexico - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Mexico City in Mexico, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Guadalajara, Leon, Monterrey & Chihuahua. Destroyed over Central Mexico while heading north towards the United States in a nuclear attack by the American military.

City Destroyer #27 – Attacked Nigeria and subsequently Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Mali - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Lagos in Nigeria, destroyed the city and crossed over into Ghana to wipe out the city of Accra. Crossed over into the Ivory Coast to eliminate the city of Abidjan. Crossed over into Guinea to destroy the city of Conakry. Crossed over into Senegal to wipe out the city of Dakar. Destroyed over Mali in a nuclear attack by the French military.

City Destroyer #28 – Attacked Israel and subsequently Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and Iraq - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Jerusalem in Israel, destroyed the city and moved on to eliminate the city of Tel Aviv. Crossed over into Lebanon to wipe out the city of Beirut. Crossed over into Syria to eliminate the city of Damascus. Crossed over into Jordan to destroy the city of Amman and shot down over the west of Iraq in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Britain, Iraq, Syria and the United States.

City Destroyer #29 – Attacked Pakistan - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Islamabad in Pakistan, destroyed the city and moved on to wipe out the further cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad (Pakistan) & Karachi. Crossed over into India and destroyed above Gujarat when approaching Ahmedabad in a nuclear attack by the Indian military.

City Destroyer #30 – Attacked Japan and subsequently South Korea - 7 cities lost
First appeared above Tokyo in Japan, destroyed the city and moved on to wipe out the further cities of Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto & Kobe/Osaka. Crossed over into South Korea to eliminate the city of Pusan. Shot down over the middle of South Korea in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Japan, South Korea and the United States.

City Destroyer #31 – Attacked Argentina and subsequently Uruguay, Argentina (again), Chile and Peru - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Buenos Aires in Argentina, destroyed the city and crossed over into Uruguay to wipe out the city of Montevideo. Crossed back over into Argentina to eliminate the further cities of Rosario & Cordoba. Crossed over into Chile to destroy the city of Santiago. Crossed over into Peru and shot down over south of Peru in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and the United States.

City Destroyer #32 – Attacked Tanzania and subsequently Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Dar es Salem in Tanzania, destroyed the city and crossed over into Kenya to wipe out the further cities of Mombasa & Nairobi. Crossed over into Uganda to eliminate the city of Kampala. Crossed over into Ethiopia to destroy the city of Addis Abba. Shot down over the east of Ethiopia in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of Ethiopia, France and the United States.

City Destroyer #33 – Attacked India - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Delhi in India, destroyed the city and moved on to wipe out the further cities of Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Surat, & Nagpur. Shot down over central India in an air attack by the Indian military.

City Destroyer #34 – Attacked South Korea and subsequently North Korea, China and Russia - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Seoul in South Korea, destroyed the city and crossed over into North Korea to wipe out the city of Pyongyang. Crossed over into China to eliminate the further cities of Shenyang, Changchun & Harbin. Shot down over the Pacific region of Russia in a coordinated air attack by the military forces of China and Russia.

City Destroyer #35 – Attacked Russia and subsequently Finland, Sweden, Poland and Belarus - 6 cities lost
First appeared above St. Petersburg, destroyed the city and crossed over into Finland to wipe out the city of Helsinki. Crossed over into Sweden to eliminate the city of Stockholm. Crossed over into Poland to wipe out the further cities of Gdansk/Gdynia & Warsaw. Crossed over into Belarus and destroyed near to Minsk in a nuclear attack by the Russian military.

City Destroyer #36 – Attacked China - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Shanghai in China, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Nanjing, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Changsha & Chongqing. Shot down over Central China in an air attack by the Chinese military.

City Destroyer #37 – Attacked Brazil - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, & Natal. Shot down over eastern Brazil an air attack by the Brazilian military.

City Destroyer #38 – Attacked China - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Beijing in China, destroyed the city and moved onwards to eliminate the further cities of Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, Xi’an & Lanzhou. Shot down over Northern China in an air attack by the Chinese military.

City Destroyer #39 – Attacked Spain and subsequently Portugal and Spain (again) - 5 cities lost
First appeared above Madrid in Spain, destroyed the city and crossed over into Portugal to wipe out the city of Lisbon. Crossed back over into Spain to eliminate the further cities of Sevilla, Barcelona & Zaragoza. Shot down over the north of Spain in an air attack by the Spanish military.

City Destroyer #40 – Attacked India and subsequently Bangladesh and India (again) - 6 cities lost
First appeared above Kolkata [Calcutta] in India, destroyed the city and moved onwards to cross into Bangladesh to eliminate the city of Dhaka. Crossed back into India once more to wipe out the cities of Patna, Lucknow, Agra & Gwalior before being destroyed above central India in an air attack by the Indian military.

City Destroyer #41 – Attacked Guatemala and subsequently El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica - 4 cities lost
First appeared above Guatemala City in Guatemala, destroyed the city and crossed over into El Salvador to wipe out the city of San Salvador. Crossed over into Honduras to eliminate the city of Tegucigalpa. Crossed over into Nicaragua to destroy the city of Managua and shot down over Costa Rica in an air attack by the United States military.

[lordroel]

Sept 5, 2020 19:32:15 GMT James G said:

Survivors

The lives of the seventy thousand plus people who called the Isle of Man home were snuffed out in an instant. Their island home was only two-thirds physically covered by the crashed Dreadnought – significant portions landed atop the water to the east and west too – but the impact killed almost everyone. Buildings across the island were levelled by an immense shockwave and seawater rushed in afterwards in a tsunami fashion. The Dreadnought was already in flames when it crashed and those spread far and wide post-impact. That was the end of the island’s population.

When it had detached from the Mother Ship, City Destroyer #7 had a total of eight hundred and nineteen Alien creatures aboard. One of them had been killed in the crash of its Hornet on July 3rd and another seventy-three went down with theirs on the 4th during aerial combat. Hundreds more aboard died when the Dreadnought was hit by air power and sea-borne missile attacks before the impact with the Isle of Man took the lives of even more. However, there were close to a hundred who survived the crash and fires to get out of their downed space craft. Some drowned in the waters of the Irish Sea while the rest were on land in the northern reaches of the devastated small island. They were in their protective suits to ensure they could survive the harsh elements: Earth’s atmosphere. When the first aircraft flew low overhead, they started digging. They were seeking to get out of the way of what was coming their way and intended to fight from where they were.

It would take several weeks before they were all confirmed dead. For the very small number of them that there were, it took a remarkably long time to eliminate them. They dug deep and had weapons with them. The British Armed Forces contingent sustained major casualties in wiping them out. The British Army and the Royal Marines landed men on the island while the RAF and the Royal Navy provided fire support for what became Operation STARDUST. The mission was to completely secure the ruins of the Dreadnought and wipe out those survivors. Participants in STARDUST faced the Aliens up close and personal. It was something which they had been briefed to expect but still a rather unpleasant experience with heavy losses taken. Most of the time, the survivors of the Dreadnought avoided contact though. They kept digging down into the bedrock of the island using tools taken from their lost space craft. A whole network was under construction which, with more time and more tools, would have been quite something in the end. It was positioned below the ruins of the Dreadnought as well to give it cover. Falling bombs and shells, then emplaced demolition charges from engineers, were what finished that all off in the end though and opened up the way for STARDUST to finally finish.

On July 24th, the Isle of Man would be finally declared free of hostile Alien presence.


Outside of that crash site, so much of the rest of the country was in ruin with the direct effects of attacks made and the near complete collapse of civil order elsewhere. The death toll, direct from the Dreadnought (as well as Rocks from the Heavens) and indirect from aftereffects, would claim almost ten million lives. Martial law was enforced aided by elements of the British Army who returned home from Germany. A new government was established first at Windsor and then later operating from Harrogate in North Yorkshire. They ruled by decree and were forced to impose the harshest of measures – including the death penalty – to bring order to the nation and allow Britain to survive as a functioning state post July 1996.

Things were worse elsewhere in the world. Many nations were no more and new ones rose in the place. Scenes of anarchy seen in Britain were nothing compared to how bad things were in certain place elsewhere. The STARDUST operation that the UK undertook was rather small in comparison to other countries where they had to deal with crashed City Destroyers too. The Isle of Man was an island where survivors were contained in one place: that wasn’t the case overseas. Chemical weapons were used in Russia & the Middle East, parts of the Amazon were firebombed and in Oklahoma the Americans had to use extensive (conventional) firepower all across the state along with tens of thousands of troops on search-&-destroy missions. Hunger and disease spread in places and there were wars over resources. With some countries getting off scot-free from attacks from above, and neighbours left in chaos, the united front so much of the world put up at one point vanished in the face of what governments did to survive.

The burnout remnants of London, Birmingham, Manchester & Glasgow weren’t resettled. There were recovery efforts to salvage what was left behind but Britain couldn’t rebuilt & resettle them. The radiation leaks from what was once the naval base at Faslane in Scotland saw much of Scotland eventually evacuated. Electricity, water and telecommunications links took a long time to repair. Privatisation of industry and transport was done and there was mass conscription as well. Co-operation with European allies was done in abundance during recovery efforts yet there was less of that with the Americans. Side-by-side armed forces of the two had fought against the Dreadnought yet the post-conflict United States focused inwards: they’d lost sixteen cities and had nuclear disasters to deal with.

Putting Britain back together would take decades. The Dreadnought was no more and technology recovered from it was useful in places… but it had devastated the nation and changed it for the worse.

The End

Thanks for the TL James G, in the end the Earth of this TL is worse of than the 1996 movie, also a bit more realistic to me.

So the Isle of Man will become the United Kingdom version of Area 51.

[James G]

Sept 5, 2020 19:47:39 GMT lordroel said:

Sept 5, 2020 19:32:15 GMT James G said:

Survivors

The lives of the seventy thousand plus people who called the Isle of Man home were snuffed out in an instant. Their island home was only two-thirds physically covered by the crashed Dreadnought – significant portions landed atop the water to the east and west too – but the impact killed almost everyone. Buildings across the island were levelled by an immense shockwave and seawater rushed in afterwards in a tsunami fashion. The Dreadnought was already in flames when it crashed and those spread far and wide post-impact. That was the end of the island’s population.

When it had detached from the Mother Ship, City Destroyer #7 had a total of eight hundred and nineteen Alien creatures aboard. One of them had been killed in the crash of its Hornet on July 3rd and another seventy-three went down with theirs on the 4th during aerial combat. Hundreds more aboard died when the Dreadnought was hit by air power and sea-borne missile attacks before the impact with the Isle of Man took the lives of even more. However, there were close to a hundred who survived the crash and fires to get out of their downed space craft. Some drowned in the waters of the Irish Sea while the rest were on land in the northern reaches of the devastated small island. They were in their protective suits to ensure they could survive the harsh elements: Earth’s atmosphere. When the first aircraft flew low overhead, they started digging. They were seeking to get out of the way of what was coming their way and intended to fight from where they were.

It would take several weeks before they were all confirmed dead. For the very small number of them that there were, it took a remarkably long time to eliminate them. They dug deep and had weapons with them. The British Armed Forces contingent sustained major casualties in wiping them out. The British Army and the Royal Marines landed men on the island while the RAF and the Royal Navy provided fire support for what became Operation STARDUST. The mission was to completely secure the ruins of the Dreadnought and wipe out those survivors. Participants in STARDUST faced the Aliens up close and personal. It was something which they had been briefed to expect but still a rather unpleasant experience with heavy losses taken. Most of the time, the survivors of the Dreadnought avoided contact though. They kept digging down into the bedrock of the island using tools taken from their lost space craft. A whole network was under construction which, with more time and more tools, would have been quite something in the end. It was positioned below the ruins of the Dreadnought as well to give it cover. Falling bombs and shells, then emplaced demolition charges from engineers, were what finished that all off in the end though and opened up the way for STARDUST to finally finish.

On July 24th, the Isle of Man would be finally declared free of hostile Alien presence.


Outside of that crash site, so much of the rest of the country was in ruin with the direct effects of attacks made and the near complete collapse of civil order elsewhere. The death toll, direct from the Dreadnought (as well as Rocks from the Heavens) and indirect from aftereffects, would claim almost ten million lives. Martial law was enforced aided by elements of the British Army who returned home from Germany. A new government was established first at Windsor and then later operating from Harrogate in North Yorkshire. They ruled by decree and were forced to impose the harshest of measures – including the death penalty – to bring order to the nation and allow Britain to survive as a functioning state post July 1996.

Things were worse elsewhere in the world. Many nations were no more and new ones rose in the place. Scenes of anarchy seen in Britain were nothing compared to how bad things were in certain place elsewhere. The STARDUST operation that the UK undertook was rather small in comparison to other countries where they had to deal with crashed City Destroyers too. The Isle of Man was an island where survivors were contained in one place: that wasn’t the case overseas. Chemical weapons were used in Russia & the Middle East, parts of the Amazon were firebombed and in Oklahoma the Americans had to use extensive (conventional) firepower all across the state along with tens of thousands of troops on search-&-destroy missions. Hunger and disease spread in places and there were wars over resources. With some countries getting off scot-free from attacks from above, and neighbours left in chaos, the united front so much of the world put up at one point vanished in the face of what governments did to survive.

The burnout remnants of London, Birmingham, Manchester & Glasgow weren’t resettled. There were recovery efforts to salvage what was left behind but Britain couldn’t rebuilt & resettle them. The radiation leaks from what was once the naval base at Faslane in Scotland saw much of Scotland eventually evacuated. Electricity, water and telecommunications links took a long time to repair. Privatisation of industry and transport was done and there was mass conscription as well. Co-operation with European allies was done in abundance during recovery efforts yet there was less of that with the Americans. Side-by-side armed forces of the two had fought against the Dreadnought yet the post-conflict United States focused inwards: they’d lost sixteen cities and had nuclear disasters to deal with.

Putting Britain back together would take decades. The Dreadnought was no more and technology recovered from it was useful in places… but it had devastated the nation and changed it for the worse.

The End

Thanks for the TL James G , in the end the Earth of this TL is worse of than the 1996 movie, also a bit more realistic to me.

So the Isle of Man will become the United Kingdom version of Area 51.

It took me longer than I anticipated and went places I didn't think.
I often think about the realities of events in films and want to do something with them.
Well... it's destroyed and abandoned but not so much secret.