Pride of a nation a beast made of steel

Thomas Gundel looked at the beast of a ship that was firing at the Parsians. The other one was right behind them also firing but at a slower rate. Now the ships were close enough that Thomas saw white writing on the grey hull of the ship. The ELS Thunder was firing. Up close the sound was almost deafening. The typhoon fired. Several groups of Parsian ships sank. Only one remained and it turned back to Parsian lands and fled. A sailor threw a rope to Thomas gesturing him to board. "Welcome aboard sir." A sailor saluted Thomas who was two busy inspecting the ship to answer. "What kind of ship is this?" Thomas asked the sailor who answered immediately. "Thunder class destroyer. Revolutionary design designed by Bali Gundel himself." Thomas sighed. Bali would be the only one who could come with an idea this ridiculous. But if that helped Egnerland win the war it was fine. The ship closed in on the port which has been changed drastically. Instead of wood the moors were made out of stone, and two more new ships were waiting. Both Thunder class destroyers. A third steam powered ship was waiting for cargo. Thomas looked over Monisk. Now he saw his little brother's genius. The question was, where was said little brother?

"Alright. We have combustion engines. We have oil. We have destroyers. And we are almost ready to make combat aircraft." Bali grinned. Alice, to the left of the noble looked up. In the past month Bali changed the country. Starting from 'inventing' the steam engine to making warships that had the defenses of a castle, everything was changed. Now he was ready to mass produce aircraft. Balloons had very limited range, but they could be armed with light cannons and the new machine guns. The machine gun was a musket which instead of having to be loaded one bullet at a time, the machine gun was loaded with a "clip" of bullets which could be sprayed before having to be loaded a new clip. The problem with a machine gun was that it was quite heavy. An improved version was as heavy as three muskets, but the brutal efficiency of the weapon made more then up for it. A single P-12, the new aircraft could carry 2 as well as 2 air dropped explosives, although very small ones. Bali was working on the P-13 which should be able to turn well, fly quickly and carry 2 M-12 machine guns and 2 ADE-2-25 bombs. Alice watched amused as Bali tested the P-13. It performed better than either Alice or Bali expected. "I am surprised it flew in the first place. Flight really isn't a dream anymore. But as you said these aircraft have problems. They could only reach Parsian shores if we… launch them from sea…" Alice trailed off as she saw Bali's smile widen. "Exactly. I have a design for a ship type that could carry a few of these planes. A bigger plane could reach Parsian cities and come back in one flight though…" Bali thought before grinning again. The most threatening part of the Parsian army is their navy. So if something would happen to the navy… Parsia would be ripe for the taking.

Twenty one days of standstill in the military operations. Bali was busy designing aircraft, and the factories were producing more then enough ships. Monisk shipyard ACC-1 was creating a new huge ship. The ship which was called ELS Swarmer. On the land, new self propelled armored offensive vehicles (SPAOV) were created. They were light enough that fifty of them could be loaded into the ELCS (EgnerLand Civilian Ship) Bearer. Air bases were placed near Monisk and Ladon. Copperville; a small mining settlement known for it's copper and iron rich hills was mining almost everything away. Swords and spears became bombs and engine components. Steel armor stayed steel armor although instead of being used for humans the armor was for SPAOVs. The Bearer and it's sister ship Snake, were carrying 50 SPAOVs and the Swarmer was loaded up. The war has truly begun.