A New Hope

New Discoveries

As the last man takes his seat, Hale and Smith stand's up. "Men, as of 14:45 we can officially say that we are nowhere in our own world, and we are not alone out here."

The room breaks out in a multitude of shocked voices. One of the men stands up. "How can you be sure of this? Where is the proof of these claims?"

Hale slides a manila folder across the table to him without uttering a single word.

Davis opens up the folder, which has [CLASSIFIED] stamped over the front in bright red letters. He sifts through the pictures inside, and even though they were low resolution, each one makes him feel more uneasy than the last. The horror of the trench warfare he went through twenty-five years ago held a candle to it. It was giant, titanic, even, vaguely humanoid creatures with mottled skin and dead eyes that gazed at nothing and yet at the same time everything. He curses under his breath and slams the folder shut. "Fuck. What the hell? What was that?" He looks up at Hale and Smith as if silently asking permission to pass around the folder.

When they both nodded, he turns to Captain Fitzroy and hands it to him.

As the folder passed around the room, shocked swears filled the room. They all sit there, trying to digest what they have just seen. No one can believe it, but the proof was there in a black and white.

Mullen stands up and speaks. "Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted."

Mullen nods his head and continues. "Sir, is this what you meant when you said that we are not alone?"

Hale shakes his head. "No," he responds. "These two," he pointed to Alfred and Andrew, "ran across German planes on their recon flight."

As Hale finishes, shocked gasps fill the room.

Dread fills them faster than water in a sinking ship. Both Hale and Smith looked at them for a few minutes and watched as they quietly chatted in worried tones among themselves. Smith sees Hale squint his eyes slightly and a grimace forming on his lips and gets their attention with a loud whistle.

"Men!" Smith shouts in a stern voice. "If you will all calm down, we will tell you the rest of the report."

"All right," says Smith, clapping his hands together. "The other thing that we have to tell you is that we have a possible base camp location. It's a walled off city we saw in our recon flight. According to the pictures that Captain Jones took, the city has a fairly stable looking port with a sizable military base right beside it." He pauses, looks around at the men, and continues. "After this meeting, we will plan our moves to take the city. Are there any questions?"

Everyone looks around at each other, no one daring to speak, that is, until Davis stands up. "What should we expect in the city when we get there?" he asks.

Smith replies in a low voice. "It is unknown at the time, the Germans could have gotten there before us and set up shop. Or it could be deserted for all we know."

"What about defensive measures?" asks Stone.

"The battleships North Carolina and Washington will guard the entrance to the harbor with a few of our artillery pieces, and the destroyers, light and heavy cruisers acting as the last line of defense in the harbor. There will be some Heavy MG emplacements and artillery on the walls, if we can find a way to get them up there. That is all for now men, report back to your ships." He ends with a sharp salute.

The rest of the men stand up from their seats and return to their stations and prepare to make headway to the city that they had spotted.

                                                           The Port