The pilot cursed under his breath and as he was about to pull the trigger again he watched as the missile corkscrewed back on course, straight down the tail of the Me 262. The Aryan pilot was surprised and before he had time to maneuver his aircraft the missile hit home.
The Phantoms crew celebrated as the burning wreck of the Me 262 spiraled earthwards and struck a building below. They could see no chute so the pilot was unlikely to have bailed out.
Another brighter flash of pure blue lightning spread across the sky, it reached outwards with wide fingers and crept towards the Phantoms. Suddenly the Me 262’s disengaged with their American counterparts.
“What the hell is going on?” The flight leader shouted as the streak of lightning flashed passed his canopy. The Phantoms spotted an opportunity to get on the tails of their enemies and they were not willing to pass it up.
The F4 pilots were trained to be aggressive and take the initiative in battles and this instinct kicked in. In pairs the Phantoms pushed to get in behind the idling Me 262’s; the American pilots got into a near perfect firing position.
The flight leaders Phantom was obliterated in an instant.
“Shit Los had gone, disengage…” the radio was cut off as a ball of superheated plasma washed over the second Phantom.
The rest of the Squadron bugged out in different directions but it was too late the trap was already set, and more and more orbs raced towards them. The youngest of the pilots rolled desperately and then dived.
“You haven’t lost it Cherry?” His radar operator shouted. “Shit did you see that?”
A ball of plasma was on a direct collision course with a Me 262 but at the last second the orb seemed to move quickly to the left and avoid its friendly.
“That isn’t possible.” Cherry’s wingman kept repeating as the orbs quickly gained on their Phantom.
“Eject Bill, Eject.” Cherry pleaded. He pulled the ejection handle seconds before the plasma impacted onto his plane. Cherry and his wingman had managed to avoid the deadly blast but the intense heat still washed over them and they both passed out before their parachutes had opened.
All across the sky the lightning spread further and further, it stalked a group of Cobras as they started their attack run over the tops of low buildings. Bricks fell as the lightning smashed into the sides of houses.
The Cobras were hit by the burning lightning just before they could fire on the tanks below them. The flaming fuselages of the attack helicopters tumbled into the area below; none of the squadron survived.
Commander Orton’s main battle tanks pressed on with the assault but their rounds still bounced off the front of the super heavy tanks. One of the immobilized Maus tanks turret lined up and fired, a blinding flash of purple enveloped the area as a M60A1 was swallowed in a purple supernova.
“Keep the pressure up.” Orton roared as the gunner fired. The round flew forward and struck the Maus just below its anti aircraft cannon; it was a lucky shot and the Maus went up in flames before exploding completely in a dazzling shower of violet.
“Woah, nice one commander.”
“All armored groups, aim for the anti-aircraft cannon that maybe their only weak spot.” Orton growled, this was no time to celebrate a minor victory.
The battle around the Pentagon intensified as more and more Aryan armor was thrown into the fight. The Maus tanks were joined by the Tiger I’s and by a fast moving medium tank that looked like the world war two Panther but with a long gun.
The tanks did not fire on the Pentagon building itself but continued to take shots at retreating units.
“Why are they not firing on us yet Sir? We are getting free shots on them, it doesn’t make any sense.”
“No idea but just keep them where they are, they can’t be allowed to get any closer to the airport.”
A series of large booms rang out as the USS New Jersey fired another few salvos into a group of advancing Tiger tanks, all but one was completely knocked out as the powerful battleship stopped attack after attack.
Unfortunately for the American’s the air support protecting the New Jersey had been forced out of the fight. A swarm of Me 262’s dove out of the low cloud base at a near vertical angle to the ship. The USS New Jersey’s anti aircraft guns could not track their targets properly.
The first plasma round fell from the stooping Me 262 and was quickly followed by five more rounds. They impacted on the stern of the New Jersey and exploded instantly. Crewmen in the vicinity were vaporized while others who were a greater distance away from the impact sites were badly burnt.
The battleship continued to provide covering fire on the advancing tanks while simultaneously fighting its own fires. The Me 262’s continued their dives and let out wave after wave of plasma as they strafed their target.
At the last possible moment, the Aryan fighters pulled out of the dive and sped away, low across the river before climbing into the cloud base again. Another wave of fighters appeared from the North and began their attack run unopposed.
The USS New Jersey took another four plasma rounds to the stern of the vessel, the last one smashed into an ammo store and a huge fireball engulfed the rear of the great battleship. Crew that were not killed instantly were thrown into the icy water where oil burned on the surface.
The rear guns of the New Jersey fell silent but the battleship continued to fire from the remaining working guns. The men in black watched silently from the situation room in the White House, they knew if the New Jersey went down then the slim hope of victory would be completely extinguished.
General Westmoreland watched on in desperation at the events unfolding in front of him, he ordered the Phantoms to re-engage to try and take the heat off of the New Jersey but it was all in vain as the electrified atmosphere was playing havoc with communications.
Without warning the Me 262’s stopped attacking and fled from the area, simultaneously the armored group that had been advancing on the Pentagon began falling back.
The marines inside the landmark could not believe what they were seeing.
“Are they falling back?”
“Hell yeah I reckon we scared the living shit out of them!”
“Yeah have some of this you cowards.” a private shouted as he fired his M16 aimlessly out of the window.
“Cease fire you idiot!” Sergeant Peter-Smith shouted “Stop wasting ammo. They aren’t retreating, it wouldn’t make any sense for them to do that, which means they must be planning something else. Something worse.”
A whooshing sound came from the East of the burning city, it was quiet to begin with but it grew louder in intensity until the sky was filled with trails of brilliant purple that flew high into the sky. As the rose they burned off the layers of cloud in front of them.
The purple lights hung in the early evening sky for what seemed an eternity before they fell towards the ground. As they fell the lights grew larger and larger.
“Shit.” Sergeant Peter-Smith screamed. “Hit the deck, now.” He flung himself to floor.
Seconds later the inevitable impact took place, the water around turned to steam as the intense heat evaporated it. The Bow of the vessel was gone and the middle vaporized completely after, there was no explosion but a large section of the river where the USS New Jersey had been moored was now ablaze with huge purple flames.
A second volley of plasma artillery flew high into the air and then fell towards the helpless targets, this time the Marines in the Pentagon bore the full wrath of the fire. The women volunteers on the roof were completely exposed and stood no chance.