Free Ghost War by Mack Maloney Page A

the Solton 120-mm mobile field gun and the two Royal Ordnance 105-mm field pieces opened up, pumping shell after shell into the battleship, and shaking the C-5 even more crazily with their blasts. Though it seemed that the aerial behemoth would in short order shake itself into pieces, this particular C-5 always somehow defied logic, physics, and aerodynamic law. As before, it held together.
    The situation inside the hold of Bozo was quite the opposite of its beautiful sister, Nozo , however. The shouts of the weapon’s officers directing their crews could barely be heard over the incredible roar of the crazy collection of weaponry all firing at once. But when the three Rheinmental 20-mm converted antiaircraft guns opened up, it was deafening.
    The crewmen were covered with a grimy layer of soot and burnt gunpowder from the thick smoke building up quickly inside the plane, this despite the fact that a series of exhaust fans were cranking at full speed, turning the length of the massive gun hold into one long wind tunnel. On top of that, empty casings of every imaginable caliber were flying all over inside the hold as they were ejected from their weapons’ chambers. Soon a foot thick layer of brass casings and spent rocket charges rattled back and forth along the length and width of the deck. It was controlled chaos.
    Down below, it was a second vision of hell.
    Rockets, high-explosive shells, and cannon rounds were impacting along the port side of the battleship; the tremendous barrage of explosions was rocking the Cult gun wagon every which way. As Hunter banked the C-5 around to rake the ship’s starboard side, he saw the battleship leap forward in speed and turn right full rudder, trying to come around to meet him broadside. It would prove to be a vain attempt at a classic naval maneuver.
    The battleship’s trio of heavily armored 16-inch gun turrets swung in the direction of the C-5. Reacting immediately, Hunter knew it was time to play his ace in the hole—the 17-ton LARS II 110 Multiple Rocket Launcher.
    He banked the C-5 even steeper, maintaining 350 feet of altitude and bringing the airplane around so that barrels of the LARS II were perfectly angled towards the battleship’s two forward turrets. He counted down to five, then gave the order to fire.
    During the next twenty seconds, thirty-six six-foot-long high-explosive rockets were loosed with a Vesuvius-like roar from the C-5, striking exactly on top the two heavily armored gun turrets. The plane was jolted so hard by the fusillade and the resulting concussions that Hunter had to fight to maintain stable flight. Nearly every gunner and ammo feeder back in the hold was tossed around and thrown to the deck. The LARS crew, scrambling back into position, quickly reloaded their awesome weapon as Hunter coaxed the great plane around towards the bow of the ship—and the third 16-inch gun turret.
    “Fire!” he called back again, and another thirty-six rockets streaked down at the ship, once more throwing the crews around the hold of the plane. The second barrage struck on top and all around the battleship’s rear 10-inch thick armored turret. In what seemed like one long gigantic explosion, it simply disintegrated.
    As the smoke cleared, Hunter grimly accessed the damage. These enormous enemy guns that had leveled island after defenseless island were now reduced to three smoldering craters of twisted steel and broken bodies.
    At that moment, Bozo’s Soltam mobile field guns, which had managed to continually fire its 120-mm rounds, finally found their target—the twin rudders of the battleship. Now the great-battleship was locked in its turning degree, steaming at full speed in a tight circle, going nowhere and getting there fast.
    That’s when the ship’s main boiler busted a seam and exploded. Hunter saw the enemy vessel shudder, then drunkenly lurch to the port side. He called back the order to cease fire.
    Circling the smoking hulk three more times, the