Midway Pacific Command Headquarters
Midway Atoll, Pacific Ocean, Earth
October 5th 1945
09:30 Hours

It was a calm, warm sunny day on the fortified islands of Midway Atoll. The sun had long cleared the horizon and the local garrison is out in force, maintaining the large naval and airbase to it’s now reduced state of readiness. The last time this base was under threat of foreign attack was three years ago and it turned the tide of the war for the Pacific Ocean completely in the Allies favor that would gradually lead to the end of the second world war.

No more than a month ago the Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the allied powers onboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd 1945, marking the end of Humanity’s bloodiest chapter in its history. The combined might of the three U.S Pacific Battlefleet’s stalled Japan’s imperial conquest of the South East Asia and sent their Combined Fleet to Davy Jones’s locker. Then came the intense island-hopping campaign to take Japanese occupied islands and liberate the larger island nations that had befallen under Japan’s iron grasp. Some islands fell swiftly while others were claimed at a great cost of life.

The United States Navy had a troubling start to establishing its naval supremacy against the IJN. Unlike the United States where it focused the strength of its fleets around its battlewagons, Japan had better success of establishing its carrier program than any of the Allied nations had estimated. However the United States was quick to adapt and thanks to its superior industrial capabilities was able to out produce the Japanese in the long term conflict.

“-The First World War was supposed to be the 'war to end all wars', but some people just wanted to watch the world burn, and sixty million people paid the price for their fanatical ideologies, deception and suffering they brought upon our world. Nowhere was safe from this grand conflict. Those who’d strive to keep the peace were swept under the rug of autocratic fascism while those who turned a blind eye to avoid being dragged into something they were never part of in the first place would awaken to their homes bombed out or an entire naval armada a flaming wreck.

We almost lost the entire 2nd Pacific Battlefleet that day on December 7th. Had the fleet been at anchor in Pearl we could’ve lost almost half of our naval firepower in one swift blow. The fleet had been out at sea conducting the biggest naval exercise the world would ever see. It was meant to show deterrence against the aggressors, but instead they saw us as a much greater threat we wanted to make ourselves.
All I can say at this point in time is never in my career would I go from being a tin can sailor to commanding the biggest and most powerful naval armada the world has ever seen. If only Steigleman survived to see his dream become a reality, I don’t know how we could’ve fared against Japan had we not had the battlefleets.

This concludes what could be my final report as Fleet Admiral, Mr. President. I have done my duty for my country and couldn’t be prouder to have done my part for the war effort.

Until we meet in Washington,
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.”

10:00 Hours

Not long after Chester finalized his report the Fleet Admiral felt the need to stretch his legs and had made his way down to the beach, stopping by the garrison cafeteria to grab a coffee along the way. Once he arrived at the beach where he joined what he roughly estimated was several thousand other American servicemen who got straight into the celebration of the allied victory. A vast majority of the off-duty servicemen are disembarked sailors, airmen and marines from the colossal mass of ships anchored nearby that make up Nimitz’s 1st U.S Pacific Battlefleet.

The battlefleet, over 100 ships and submarines in strength had seen the bulk of America’s naval combat since the U.S entry into the war. The 1st Pacific Battlefleet was stationed in San Diego at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor when it was being expanded to include the two newly completed Iowa class battleships and three Yorktown class aircraft carriers that was to be joining their leading sister ship. Since then the battlefleet had grown three times the size it was since 1941, many ships, great, old, valiant and daring were lost in action fighting the Japanese while new ships, built from the lessons of the war took their place.

As of today the 1st Pacific Battlefleet comprises of twenty Balao and Gato class submarines, fifty Fletcher class and twenty Gearing class destroyers, twelve Cleveland class and seven Fargo class light cruisers, the sole USS Wichita, seven Baltimore class and two Oregon City class heavy cruisers along with the newly commissioned USS Des Moines. All four Constellation class and six Alaska class battlecruisers, all four Iowa class battleships and one Illinois class Command Battleship which originally served as Nimitz’s flagship from 1942 until the arrival of the USS Montana which had entered service just in time to face off the Yamato during the invasion of Okinawa.

Throughout the entire war Admiral Nimitz was given full responsibility of all U.S fleet carriers in the Pacific Theatre. Making up the Pacific Carrier Squadron are the sole survivors of their respected classes Saratoga and Enterprise, all twenty four Essex class Carriers and the newly completed USS Midway which was commissioned a week after the war ended. All of the navy’s escort carrier divisions would be rotated between the second and third battlefleets. Five Akron class airships were assigned to the Pacific Airfleet, three would be lost throughout the war. The three lost airships would be replaced by the USS Columbia (ZRCV-1), the largest airship ever built in aviation history.

On the day the war ended the 1st Pacific Battlefleet had become the largest and most powerful naval armada ever assembled which combined with the other two Pacific and two Atlantic Battlefleets makes the US Navy the most powerful navy in the world with 6,768 active warships, support, amphibious, and auxillary ships prior to the end of the war. Today the 1st Pacific Battlefleet stands guard over the navy’s biggest spoils of the war, the former IJN Shinnano, Japan’s third and final Yamato class battleship which the Japanese had completed just before they accepted the Allies unconditional surrender. Alongside the Japanese super-battleship is the IJN Nagato and two 'Sen-Toku' I-400 class submarines, I-401 and I-403 which had sailed into the Guam garrison and surrendered to U.S forces at the end of September.

“Glad to see you out of the office, Sir.” A soft, feminine voice reached out to the Admiral’s ears.

Nimitz turned his head to the source to see his senior intelligence officer, Emma Gallagher standing alongside him. Emma comes from a Texas family with an Irish background who joined the navy as an intelligence officer in the outbreak of the war and served, to this day, alongside Nimitz throughout the entire war.

“Someone has to wrap up those final after-action reports and makes sure everyone gets home safely Emma.” Nimitz smiled.

“And don’t forget who had to aimlessly brisk back and forth through the passageways of a several hundred foot long battleship, collecting reports and orders through the wireless and checking twice that your reports were sent through to Pacific Command over the last four years? Not to mention the thousand cups of coffee I made between us.” Emma replied with a raised eyebrow, her voice breaking into her ancestral Irish accent.

Nimitz chuckled. “I wouldn’t have managed to pull us through this war without you. You have gone far and above the line of duty to bring victory, not to mention some of the acts of heroism you expressed throughout this war will not go unnoticed.”

“Aw don’t be ridiculous, Admiral. I was just doing my part for my country.” Emma waved off the Admiral’s compliment.

To be completely honest, there was a lot more to Emma than she openly admits. When she first joined the war as Nimitz’s leading officer of the Pacific Intelligence Network in June 1942. Throughout Emma’s wartime career she played a crucial role on gathering intelligence on the Japanese movements of their fleets, participated in the finalization of major offensive and defensive operations.

Emma, along with her team would uncover the IJN’s plans to invade Midway, anticipated the Japanese ruse in the Philippines, and was able to keep track of the combined fleet throughout 1943 to 1944. There was a one-off occasion where she saw herself out-foxed by Admiral Yamamoto during the Guadalcanal campaign that almost led to the loss of the key airfield both opposing forces have been fighting over the course of the campaign.

The conversation was briefly interrupted by the distant sound of thunder as it echoed across the atoll from the west. A long, trailing mold of dark greyish storm clouds could be seen creeping over the horizon as it crawled towards Midway.

“Looks like we might be having bad weather over the next couple of days.” Nimitz muttered. “This one looks like it could cause disruptions for the ships partaking in Operation Magic Carpet.”

“I’ll check with the weather team and see what they know about this storm. I’m sure it won’t be as bad as it looks.” Emma spoke before she started her way to the weather station.

Midway Training Group 1 conducting water rescue exercise with PBY-1587
100 Nautical miles west of Midway Atoll
10:20 Hours

A small ways out west of the Midway Islands the weather had taken a turn for the worse. The large storm is only starting to show its ugly side when it engulfed two US ships and a B-17H participating in the exercise. The waves become erratic as the Fletcher class destroyer; USS Jenkins, and the Brooklyn class light cruiser; USS Helena ploughed through them. Several thousand feet above the two ships a well-aged B17-H Flying Fortress, originally an E model dances through the stormy skies combating the strong gale force winds and the occasional gust of turbulence.

The plane had been refitted for maritime patrols/search and rescue after the E models were phased out by the updated B17-G and the introduction of the AC-17 gunship models. As the turbulence became more intense the plane would bank and roll more violently. The pilot makes the decision to return to Midway.

“USS Helena, this is PBY-1587 to Helena, come in Helena.”

“This is Helena actual, go ahead 1587.”

“Helena this storm is really starting to throw us all over the place. We can barely maintain level altitude up here, we have to break off and return to base, over?”

“Copy that 1587, I’ve informed the Jenkins that the exercise has been cancelled and we are returning to base, over?”

“Copy that Helena, exercise cancelled and we are returning to base, over and out.”

As PBY-1587 banked off from its orbit of the training group the Helena and Jenkins prepare for their U-turn trip back towards Midway. What would happen next would forever change humanity’s understanding of the multiverse and have the world’s greatest scientific minds scrambling for an explanation. It all began when those pitch black storm clouds started to glow green.

10:45 Hours

Back at Midway the air raid sirens, originally meant to warn the occupants and those embarked on their ships of an incoming air attack, now warns the island of the approaching storm. As the beach-goers scramble to return to their garrison or to their vessels Nimitz continued to eye the green toned storm with a mixture of awe and concern. Nobody had seen such an intense weather anomaly like this before. Emma returned to the admiral’s side, breaking Nimitz’s concentration.

“Sir, the weather team says they’ve never seen anything like this before! They don’t know whether or not this is some sort of compacted hurricane!” Emma spoke above the gale winds.

Just as Nimitz was about to reply the atmosphere was inundated with strange noises originating from the storm. The noises occurred with such intensity that everyone stopped and looked around for the source. But as quick as the noises appeared, they disappeared, filling the atmosphere with dead silence. Even the gale winds have stopped. Nobody talked or dared to move a muscle.

10:53 Hours

Back onboard the Helena and the Jenkins the eerie silence plagues the surrounding area of the two ships, only the battering of rain pelting the superstructures and the rumbling of the engines could be heard. The crews were in a state of unease and some were expressing discomfort of the situation.

“Sir, have you ever seen anything like this before?” Helena’s Executive Officer asked his commanding officer.

“Never in my life, son.” The commanding officer replied. “Nor have we ever seen anything like this in recorded history.”

The two officers remained quiet for a brief period of time, nobody spoke a word as they observed the calmed storm above them. Then the noises returned, louder than before, to the point where the bridge windows rattled from the intensity of the noise. Some of the crew and officers covered their ears to block out the noise that is now starting to cause irritation for some. Little to the awareness of the crews of the two ships a large wall-cloud was descending from the skies above them with a small funnel protruding out of it as it spirals down to the Pacific.

A keen-eyed sailor however spots the descending funnel and alerts his fellow crewmates. Though waterspouts tend to be a bit of a more common weather anomaly compared to tornadoes in key parts of the globe. But for a waterspout to spawn out in the middle of the ocean was a first for the crews of the Helena and the Jenkins.

From the moment the funnel made contact with the ocean is when all hell breaks loose for the Helena and the Jenkins when an explosion of titanic proportions is unleashed, sending water almost a kilometer into the sky and triggers a small tidal wave that would almost wiped out the two ships that got caught dangerously close to the blast. The Helena and the Jenkins received minor shockwave damage to their external components, deck fittings and virtually all glass viewports and windows were blown out showering those who were unfortunate in shattered glass. What followed was a colossal beam of light that rockets into the sky, those who had a clear view of the beam were blinded by its powerful aura.

10:55 Hours

By now the beam had breached the space-time continuum as it reaches for the stars. Nimitz, Emma and the thousands of navy and marine corps personal gaze upon the anomaly with mixed emotions. How and why this is happening is beyond anyone’s comprehension. Everyone continued to stare at the beam for a good minute before the beam finally dissipates and goes supernova, bathing everything within a three hundred nautical mile radius is a blinding flash of light more powerful than the two atom bombs dropped on Japan in August. As soon as the light faded away and everyone’s vision returns the storm begins to pick up its pace again, this time a lot more violently than before.

Nimitz was gonna turn to Emma only to find himself locked in tightening embrace from her having a panicked reaction from the unexpected event. Nimitz gave Emma a couple of pats on the head to bring her out of her panicked state. The intelligence officer looked up at the admiral before leaping back in embarrassment when she realized what she was doing.

“Uh s-sorry sir, didn’t realize I was doing that.” Emma blushed.

“No need to apologize, Emma. C’mon let’s get back to H.Q.” Nimitz led the intelligence officer towards the safety of the fortified building.

10:57 Hours

As soon as the powerful aura had completely faded away the crews of the Jenkins and the Helena immediately went into damage control mode. Tending to the wounded and reestablishing control of their vessels.

“Alright sound off!” Helena’s commanding officer barked. “Somebody man the helm, I need a medical team up here and a full damage assessment.”

A couple of responding voices rang out throughout the bridge as the crew rushed to help the injured while others manned their battlestations. One of the external access doors opened up revealing a distraught sailor.

“Captain! You need to see this.” The sailor called out.

“What is it sailor?” The commanding officer approached the stricken sailor who simply leaned back out of the access door and point towards the ship’s bow.

The captain’s head followed the sailor’s arm where his eyes met a swirling mass of green energy ahead of the ship. The captain couldn’t believe what he was seeing as did the others on the bridge as the captain selflessly stepped out onto the port bridge wing to get a better look and the view alone exceeded his expectation.

What was revealed in full scope was a colossal green vortex like anomaly stretching five kilometers in length with two protruding bedrock spires towering two kilometers into the sky that anchor the vortex in place. What the captain also realized was the event also seemed to have created an eye at the heart of the self-conscious storm. The captain silently steps back into the bridge.

“Sir?” The executive officer reached out to his C.O over the silence.

The captain simply looked his X.O in disbelief, but his expression shifted to restored authority.

“Get Midway on the wireless… Now!”

11:00 Hours
"Zero Hour"

The senior crew members were so infused in their attempts to reestablish contact with Midway that they didn’t notice a single ship emerging from the anomaly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2tHXPUede0&list=PLMYFz_IsJEovV7EKDGJnZWaUsnuJ8wq_Y&index=14&spfreload=5

Author's Notes:

Hey there fellow sailors, hope you're having an good day.

So finally I bring you the third and final prologue chapter (Excluding the previous chapter). Now I can get back to fleshing out this story, though with a lot more chapters, new characters (and historical figures with altered fates) and a lot more naval action than before. Though right now it's gonna have to wait until I return from my upcoming family cruise to Fiji starting on the 21st and ending on the 6th. Of course there are other factors I need to prioritise at the moment such as looking for full time work and my involvement in Eagle's Nearing the Edge collaboration story.

That's all to say at this time, hope you guys have a fantastic day and until next time,

I'll see you on the naval battlefield!