Maritime combat has been sadly neglected in the UFO universe, possibly because the developers are based in a landlocked country. I therefore decided to write a fan fiction in which the various national naval forces play a key role in the events of UFO: Aftermath.

The story largely centres on the Royal Navy Trafalgar class submarine HMS Trenchant, and the role it will play in the war against the Reticulans. Initially it will be operating alone and isolated, but as the war progresses it will take part in fleet actions. The technology and capabilities of the Trenchant at the beginning of the story are all based on real life, with the exception of the Archerfish torpedo system.

At least part of the nuclear and conventional missile deterrents of France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States rests with their fleets of nuclear powered submarines. The Royal Navy Vanguard class nuclear submarines carry the UK’s entire nuclear deterrent, and the Swiftsure and Trafalgar class nuclear submarines carry tomahawk land attack missiles and a variety of torpedoes. China is developing nuclear submarines to help it establish itself as a global power.

A nuclear submarine is capable of remaining submerged indefinitely. It is only limited by the amount of food on board, which is typically enough to last a year. During the Cold War, nuclear submarines were part of the Mutually Assured Destruction policy, which kept relative peace by making a nuclear war impossible to win. Any nuclear submarine on patrol would certainly get through the sporefall intact.

According to the glossary in UFO: Aftermath, Reticulan ships do not use jet engines for propulsion, and they rely on their own natural buoyancy instead. This suggests that it might be possible for Reticulan ships to operate submerged.

This story is going to be long and slow paced for the most part, so I have decided to post it in instalments. The opening episode in particular reduces the crew of the Trenchant to passive observers, which will not be to all tastes, but it introduces a number of themes that I will return to later on.

*** The story contains spoilers for both Aftermath and Aftershock throughout ***


CHAPTER SYNOPSYS


DARK TIDE

The crew of HMS Trenchant are forced to sit back and watch as the invasion begins and mass hysteria grips the general population.


OPENING MOVES

After the spores wipe out most of humanity, the Trenchant starts engaging isolated alien patrol vessels to the consternation of the Reticulan War Committee.


LANDING PARTY

The Trenchant despatches a landing party to explore Bermuda in the hope of learning more about what has happened. Unfortunately, they stumble across an important Reticulan installation.


To come:


ESCAPE

Truswell escapes from the aliens after the Trenchant launches a missile attack on their base. But is his escape a little too convenient?

Excellent idea, friend! go ahead, I'll offer all the support I'm capable of.

Hey, someone's read it I'm glad you like it.

Okay, chapter three added.

When you explore the interior of Reticulan ships and bases in UFO: Aftermath, you sometimes see large turquoise globes with lots of tentacles coming off them, and some of the tentacles appear to be attached to Reticulans. I believe that this is some sort of Reticulan computer system, and I have depicted it as such in this chapter.

I finally got around to read your story Troll. Good stuff! I suspect the HMS Trenchant will play quite an important role in the failing of the Reticulan experiment, with their (un)fortunate whereabouts

I did pick up a few spelling mistakes while reading by the way. Didn't want to edit your work, so I'll just list them here:

"...would at least give the members of the crew that their loved ones were still alive." - End of first post, should probably include "hope".

"...directional beam of super heated heat in their attack." - Somewhere in post two. Super heated heat makes no sense to me, but it might just be me not understanding...?

"...aliens were at a serious tactical advantage while submerged." - Just below the one mentioned above. I think you mean "disadvantage".

"The first think that struck the crewmen who opened the hatch..." - Start of post 3. Guess you mean "thing".

"...so the lieutenant was unsurprised to..." - Unsurprised to "see" I guess.

That's all the nitpicking I could come up with. Keep it coming!

Thanks for spotting the mistakes. Perhaps I shouldn't work on the story when I've had a few drinks

With the alien craft weapon, it was meant to be super heated plasma. From the video clips in the UFO: AM dogfights, I think that the alien craft weapons are scaled up versions of their plasma launchers.

The Trenchant isn't about to stop the Reticulans, but it will slow down their progress by several months in the events of the next chapter. The war will continue, and the biomass will eventually start to spread.

I wouldn't assume that the Reticulans are going to lose though - I'm planning a rather different ending to the four possible endings in UFO: Aftermath. I won't say exactly what I've got planned, but it was inspired by the diplomatic language of the Reticulans in both Aftermath and Aftershock...

As long as you stay away from heated discussions in "The Firing Range" in that state, I think you're safe


Oooh, interesting!

How about a news post on this story and generally fan-fiction? Been a while since we did one.

It might look a tiny bit narcissistic if I did a news post advertising one of my stories, but a reminder of the existence of the fan fiction section is a good idea as there haven't been many new stories lately.

I just finished the third chapter. Can you reveal to us what those very new "archerfish" torpedoes are supposed to do? I'm quite curious in this regard.

I'd better put in a detailed explanation in a later chapter.

Basically, the archerfish missile system is a ficticious missile that is launched horizontally from a submarine's torpedo tubes. Its designers intended it to be used by a submarine while submerged to take out enemy helicopters, but it would not be effective against faster moving jet aircraft.

A vertically launched design would be more efficient, but submarines are expensive and the budget cutters who rule the Royal Navy would veto the design.

During the Cold War, helicopters operating from destroyers, cruisers and aircraft carriers became an important part of anti-submarine warfare. Even now, a lone submarine is defenceless if it is detected by enemy helicopters, so there is a need for a submarine launched snti-saircraft missile. The chances are that several countries are attempting to develop such a weapon, particulalry China and the USA.

I got the name from a species of tropical fish that squirts a jet of water at nearby insects to knock them into the water where it can eat them.

Just finished the latest chapter. I like the way you placed the Myrmecol on Earth. It seems to make sense. Good work!

One of the best fanfic i've read for any strategy/sci-fi games! wow

plz do keep writing...i know its written a long time ago...hehe

Good yarn. Please continue.

I haven't abandoned the story, no matter what it looks like.

Thanks for the kind words guys, I really do appreciate it.