Shock and Awe I
"So what's the full plan?" Will asked as Selene walked back to a helibot and waited inside until she could see Hrist heading for another. They'd all be apart for some time to keep each flank contained, using the flagships as bases of operations. There was no telling how long this war would last, depending on how quickly they could reach the portals and somehow close them. It could take as little as a few days, or as long as years before they could get a foothold due to the inherent respawning nature of the demons.
"The first phase is for a cruise strike straight through the portals, which will promptly arc and detonate a cluster of nuclear yield warheads, devastating what might come through on the other side. Immediately after the missile has entered, an orbital beam will lance down and clear anything around the gate, followed by a massive artillery strike and STS Missile ordinance. 1st Air fleet is to perform a mass teleport above Silvinholm afterward at a specified time to airdrop ground forces below, given it's the closest portal. Bombers will carpet the area in high explosive munitions to clear the way for our men to charge; meanwhile, 32nd Brigade and 36th Brigade will converge from the north and south vectors around the city, disable cloak and assist.
Once we've at least gotten it contained in a quarantine zone, Hrist will lead the charge on the northern flank and sweep out temporarily to take Caerel Mines and City after sealing off the upper territories. The navy will get Caerel Harbor under control while also landing marines at Alsam Harbor without demonic presence, though it's going to take a bit of effort from our larger ships for the former if there are any hostiles coming through of sufficient size. At the current moment, most of the coast is currently being patrolled by cutters and corvettes, so we need to keep on our toes for any aquatic confrontations behind our backs," Dominic explained.
The empress just clasped her hands together as she leaned forward, listening to the briefing as information flashed through her Hud. Hrist and Bryn were both listening in with their earpieces. Brynhildr was going to move quickly up the southern flank to seal off all movement towards Tal Salunbal and the Seong Neow Republic, to make sure they didn't get involved. The last thing she needed was to have other countries start becoming aggressive and pull stupid stunts, like send their armies to certain death. Given she didn't yet know if they could raise the dead as lost souls or some other shambling horror, the dev wasn't going to take any chances of bolstering their forces. These demons were going to be fighting machines only, immortal metal soldiers; there was no need for men with pointy sticks and crude swords, wispy sixth tier magic.
Meanwhile, Hrist would take her fleet and start from the bottleneck of land that connected Artinia with Eil'Ta Forest, just near Kaldanas Mountains, then teleport in to take Caerel Mines and the City just above them. Once that was secured, she'd push down with support coming up from the rear to meet Selene near Aureos, with Bryn containing the city from the back along the Artel Mountains to the immediate east of the imperial palace.
"After we have phase one down, what next?" Will questioned.
"You're going to need a lot of androids calming the populace while all of this happens" Gala noted, "It's not going to be easy to keep the people from worrying about a demon trying to break through our lines."
"They won't, not if we can keep most of the information confidential. Clockworkians only need to know there is an invading force here, and we are defending against it; to the new Artinian arrivals we'll have, all they need to know is the demons are a non-issue for us, and it's being taken care of" Grey replied.
"Once phase one is complete, phase two will be pushing any hostile forces back straight towards Aureos with a security force set up to keep each portal we haven't closed neutralized. Hopefully, our science division can figure out something by the time we're halfway. As we push forward, it's going to be difficult to gain ground given we'll be closer to their respawn points each time. I'd suggest using fast attack forces to lead the enemy astray on the fringe after our triple wombo combos, followed up with a bait and switch coming up behind. Harass, then hard smash."
"So, we need fast movers to Scooby-Doo out of there as soon as the demons start tracking them after they harass, followed up by tanks… cluster turret drops and spider mine contingents could cover the advance" Selene said as she wrapped her head around the situation. Having most of the turrets picked up after the war was going to be a pain in the ass for her military, very similar to removing unexploded mines in the waters after World War II; the only advantage was the turrets knew what was hostile and what wasn't.
"Correct ma'am. We need to keep them in disarray long enough to move up to those gates of hell, which we believe are connected to sub realms, not necessarily to each supposed floor. They're probably designed as staging grounds that if a local force somehow repelled them and made their way into their portals that they couldn't continue to rampage through whatever realm of hell they came from, like a front porch if you will. This system does act as a double-edged sword though, as they can't just spill out in massive numbers and overwhelm everything, at least not yet. They have to prepare waves to exit, giving easy chances for a welcome package to be delivered each time to keep them from trying to gain a foothold," Grey told them.
"It would take quite an impressive amount to overwhelm any of our military and push them back, though as a reminder what was just said could change at any moment. Being outnumbered 100 to 1 is still going to turn in our favor unless the waves speed up," Dominic informed him. The dev hadn't swapped her fabrication units and 3D printers to military models in some time given she figured they were at an optimum amount to adequately defend the empire. Most of what was made would be civilian construction models or used for farming to help the towns survive the winter. In fact, in her eyes, they were a little overstaffed with spares in reserve, though the navy was still working hard to kick out a diverse line of ship sizes. Production was shifting to satellites, space station equipment, and internal systems for orbit now.
"What about 4th Air Fleet?" Selene asked.
"They'll stay back near Silvinholm once we've taken it to cover our rear guard. 5th Air Fleet is almost ready to fly; they can provide coverage over the valley and the castle." The dev looked at her inventory while the briefing continued, checking on the herbs now filling a section up for the elixirs. She was going to use one right after the tour was finished, though things had changed. Having an upset stomach divert her attention wasn't going to be very fun. She would drink one later that night so it wouldn't interfere with the first phase.
"Ma'am, are you ready?" Will asked as the others waited for her to respond. She was doing her best to remain stoic and understanding of the situation, though this was the time they'd step out of the shadows partially and show their strength. They were still going to use ECM to block scrying. Artinia hasn't had ghosts stealing people in the west; they had a neighbor poised along their borders for the past few months ready to take the entire pot in this card game.
I can't help but be a little anxious right now. All I can think of is we'll win, eventually; just what will happen after? Trade negotiations with two other countries I'd assume, though Tal Salunbal might be reasonably open to communicating with us once Prince Tariq is back safe and sound. That, and dealing with the 'modernization' of the remainder of Artinia now a part of my empire. Oy, that's a mess that will take some effort to get cleaned up… and the dwarves too… not to mention the rest of the world will eventually want to sneak a peek at new lands to colonize…
"Ma'am?" Gala asked. They were all waiting for a response as she seemed lost in thought.
"Sorry, yes, I'm ready, at least as ready as I'll ever be." Her honor guard loaded up, with Hrist and Bryn in the other transports looking at her and nodding. She'd talk to them later with updates on where they were and how things were going on their front. Morlan, Elsei, Donovan, Melsia, and Gabriel were staying back at the castle with the wolves to keep everything under control, each having their personal projects they were in the middle of. Morlan and Elsei especially would be no match for even one of these demons, let alone an army. As much as she hated it, there would be no goodbye for the time she was going to be up above leading 1st Air Fleet. Her pack was going to be wondering what happened to their alpha.
The helibot closed its doors and lifted off, heading for Majesty's Grace, this time ready to house the empress for the remainder of this, hopefully quick, war. As her airlift landed, she was escorted to her quarters where she got changed into her golden regalia. There was always a chance she'd need to head down to Silvinholm once everything was under control to meet this Commander Alfred Dalonas she had a dossier on for the rebel military. Once she had established that she was in charge from then on, they'd move on with support coming up from behind.
The best thing she could think of was all the small favors her military had right now, regardless of being automatons or highly advanced while she changed clothes. There was no need for food supplies; ammunition was easy to provide with either exceptional logistics control and supply depots or inventory hoppers; maintenance was easy to keep up with given that each soldier had auto repair systems that could rebuild parts of the infantryman as long as its basic core, as well as power and memory systems, were still functional. Combined arms operations were easy to perform, with just about anyone else on this planet incapable of even understanding what that meant. What was going to happen before they showed up on the battlefield was what the U.S. had long ago coined as "shock and awe."
(Recommended Song: Epic Score – Liberators)
As she stared at herself in the standing mirror, ready to head to the bridge and sit down to lead this main force down the east road towards Aureos, a slight trembling exhale escaped her lips. As quick as it left, she nodded at herself and turned around, heading out of her bedroom to where she would observe the coming battle. With her first step onto the bridge, Bronze Team was waiting for her along with the Admiral of 1st Air Fleet. Out through the windows, before the shutters closed, she could see the rest of the fleet gathered, with troop transports filled with paratroopers. She could only imagine what the insides of those things looked like.
Probably the inside of a can of whoop-ass.
She wasn't far from the mark with her thoughts. Thousands of military models, varying in size, were all prepped for drop out the transports, locked into place with their weapons primed. Each one had their optics set to a glowing red, full combat mode activated with orders to eliminate with extreme prejudice all hostiles just as soon as they hit the ground. The visor armor plating shifted down for each soldier, adding a very aggressive look to the face paneling. It actually concerned the empress a little that they might scare the citizens of Silvinholm just as much as the demons.
"Section two cordoned off."
"Pressurization complete."
"All defenses are online. All squadrons are ready for launch on jump egress. 9th, 11th and 16th Aggressor Brigades ready." The command deck was reporting on all the information coming in as a tactical map beamed into life on a holographic table for her to look at. Multiple points appeared showing where the portals were set up along with her ground armies pulling into place to support the airdrops. Artillery latched to the ground with a range of HIMARS, conventional shell launchers, and ATACMS among Gauss canister turrets. Then… the X Heavies showed up cloaked, towering over everything with their main cannons locking into place; they looked more mobile fortress than a vehicle. What she had forgotten was Shadow Squadron coming in to escort her flagship from the castle and landing, ready to get going alongside the Red Tails. They were the aerial version of Bronze Team, always watching over the empress from the skies.
"We're ready ma'am," Jorge told her, a nod from his armored head. They each nodded to her as she slowly sat down. Selene walked up to each of them as she looked into their optics, some of the first friends she had here.
"Head on down to the drop bays" she quietly told them. The Commander of the special forces team put his huge gauntleted hand on her shoulder gently and squeezed a little as she brought her left hand up to one of his fingers. His optics winked green for a second as the others did the same. "Stay safe, you guys."
"You know us, ma'am, consummate professionals always," Ethan replied as they headed for the door to the bridge.
"These fuckers are never gonna expect us showing up" Deacon chuckled out. He couldn't wait to take aim on what was going to be down there.
"On your order ma'am," the Admiral told her as she saw the rest of the fleet through a heavily armored window. Multiple stations were all crewed to coordinate the efforts of her soldiers, with all military forces ready to drop from bays immediately after they arrived, LRVs and HRVs coming in right behind them followed by tanks airlifted and walkers.
"Drop the hammer."
"The empress has given the command. Opening shot prepared. Nuclear launch in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6" Selene gripped the armrests and waited apprehensively.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Mark. Launch complete." A single missile was ejected from the bottom of a nearby air cruiser as it engaged its engine and shot off towards its intended target miles away.
Thirty Minutes Earlier
Alfred was at his breaking point with the fact that Galdin attempted to push through the opening they created at the gates somehow. They were doing something back at camp for the past day or so, which also seemed odd to never see any of the spell casters out and about attempting to attack the walls. What had happened was that they were focusing all their mana into one singular explosive lobbed by a trebuchet that bounced a few times outside until it reached the eastern gates, blowing them to hell and back. The cost, however, was that not one single wizard would be in the push forward.
The Commander had thought that the General would settle in for the winter, wait until spring and start up again or leave. Even in the snow and cold, he still sent his men forward into the hail of arrows and onager attacks, as if the deaths of his warriors meant so little.
One soldier charged him, catching the man off guard and barreling him over. He quickly rolled into a ditch scrabbling for grip as he punched and struck with the pommel of his sword, breaking away and taking a swing. While it didn't kill the loyalist, it did chop his hand off and cause him to back away screaming only to get hit with a lightning bolt from a wizard on their side. The woman was barely able to stand, casting every ounce of mana she had left and draining herself to save as many lives as possible. As he met eyes with her, stunned and calm, two loyalist cavalry rode by and struck her down, trampling the body under the hooves as they tried to attack wildly. A few arrows from archers with their heads on a swivel put an end to that push.
Commander Dalonas walked forward and saw the mangled heap that was able to help him fend off another attack. A small prayer was all he could manage before an arrow arced through the sky beyond the walls and slammed into his left shoulder, penetrating the armor. He winced and broke off half of it, throwing most of the shaft away. He'd need either a priest or a hot iron to cauterize the wound later, though right now there were more pouring through the new entrance they made. Another arrow tried to hit him square in the head, but a shield came up to block the attack from Pops. Dina let loose multiple arrows to catch the archers in the shoulders and chest, with a couple of them running from her team. A swordsman rushed Alfred again from the side as his mind was elsewhere, knocking them both down a flight of stairs and landing with the leader of the rebels pulling away and seeing he wasn't fighting one… but three. His buddies had followed as the rebels continued to clash just up the steps.
The first one swung, parried as the Commander sliced at his belly, bringing up a small sword breaker from his belt to catch the second. The third tried to maneuver for an attack, but the second's sword was captured and being wheeled around to act as a human shield. As the third tried to push through his ally acting as a battering ram for both to knock him over, Alfred kicked at the knee and knocked the second soldier down, bringing his head down to chest height. He slammed the back of the sword breaker into the man's face and knocked him out, though now the third was on top of him and keeping him pressed against a fallen barrel. There was no sight of the adventurer team that had assisted before he fell down the stairs, more than likely swept up in another battle.
The soldier growled as he tried to press his sword against the leader's neck, with Alfred incapable of putting enough strength into repelling the attack to keep it from slowly inching closer to his skin with his wounded shoulder. It felt like that might be the end of him as he struggled and did his best to breathe and growl in frustration, though the tip of a sword slammed through the loyalist's skull and came out his mouth, blood splattering towards the Commander's face. He blinked twice and rolled the body off to see Sergeant Marin standing there, her arm still not regenerated, the eye patch still covering half her vision. The woman had just proved that she was more than capable of defending not only herself with one arm but her commanding officer as well. They both panted as she helped him up, pulling her sword out of the head of the would-be assassin. "Thanks. I owe you."
"Stop rolling around with the riff-raff sir, we nearly have the gate cleaned up, and they're pulling back for some reason. With the… odd… what's that red light?" she said with a chuckle, changing tone mid-sentence as they both looked out beyond the gates. A glow seemed to emanate from beyond the camp, though they didn't quite see what it was from their position. "Not another wizard strike… I don't think we can hold that one back and-"
"Wait, you hear that? They haven't just pulled back to regroup… something's happened," Alfred told her as they both ran up the steps and pushed through his men to get a better view on the wall ramparts. As they looked out toward Galdin's camp, they saw in the distance, a good two miles beyond, was a red portal half peeking over the hill, seething and blinking as if it was a giant eye with a golden cat's iris slit made of lightning. Coming out of it were demons each time the middle warped.
"Get me a looking glass" the Commander ordered as one of his men brought him the tool, he bringing it up to his eye and watching General Galdin trudging out of his camp towards the portal with his escort. "Damn it, he knows about what's happening… the king did something, I'm sure of it." The General was warned ahead of time about an artifact that could turn the tide of any war they knew of, bring an unstoppable force forward… at least it was invincible to them.
One demon had the appearance of a centaur with eight legs and four horns, a grimacing skeletal face with a burning fireball in the middle of its stomach as it looked down at the man saying something to it. Galdin quickly turned around and raised his hands towards his men, showing a sign of victory. The demons served the king it seemed. However… they did not serve Galdin. Before he could head back with a smile on his face, a massive battle axe quickly came swinging in a single arc, lopping off the heads of the entire group, with the General's flinging through the air and slowly twisting from a smile to agape, the eyes rolling up.
The remainder of the loyalists quickly started to abandon the camp and scatter, with many of them heading for the walls and willing to surrender or even join immediately, turning on their previous leader now lying dead on the ground. Quite a few didn't make it very far, tripping and falling as the demons wiped out the camp and burnt it to the ground, with more collecting behind. They didn't march just yet toward Silvinholm, as if they were waiting for something… more warriors to trample through and completely close off any escape.
"We need to get that gate closed immediately, or we're done for" Marin told him as he brought the looking glass down. His eyes were filled with calm and control, though in the back of his mind he was doing everything he could to not panic. Their numbers were slowly expanding as larger and larger came over the hills from the portal towards the camp to stand in a waiting army, looking right at them.
We're doomed. There's no way. The gates wouldn't do anything against them. Our walls are going to crumble instantly. It wouldn't matter trying to double the size of our defenses. We have to run, escape via the western gates immediately!
A single ball of fire was launched from one demon, arcing beautifully through the air as silence washed over everyone. As it struck, the explosion rocked the area, creating a twenty-meter wide hole and collapsing the section of wall above it, some of his men falling to their deaths below. That was one attack, and it was ranged. If they threw a volley of hellfire or cast any spells, the whole city would be destroyed.
"By the gods… no way… that was one of them?!" Marin squeaked out as she stared in horror. These demons were beyond anything they had fought, the strength difference between the imps or satyrs that had once harassed their armies in the far past were nothing compared to what they were looking at. It would take just one to slowly work its way through their city… and there were over five hundred in as little as a few minutes.
"We need to evacuate! There's no hope against those things!" The lieutenant yelled from down below as he used hand signals to get men to pull back and head to the other side of Silvinholm. The lone imp that had thrown the previous hellfire laughed at the damage he had caused and pointed at the beleaguered humans. To him, it was a good throw, killing a good ten soldiers.
"Agreed. If we move now, maybe… maybe we can reach the outskirts, head south…" Alfred responded as calmly as he could, though he knew what was coming. The power was incredible from one strike. Within ten minutes, there were one thousand; within twenty, it was two thousand as the portal widened and allowed even more to come through at a time. They ran from the walls and came down to the streets below as Commander Dalonas ordered his men to retreat back, the loyalists not even once attempting to attack any of them and even helping to try and get barricades up, brothers in arms from opposing forces now finding common ground… utter annihilation. There were even scenes of loyalists dropping their weapons entirely just to help remove rubble from pinned rebels. They needed to escape the city, it was a death sentence to stay.
"Gigsen protect us… Gigsen protect us…" one soldier rambled as he held himself squatting next to a door, trying to squish his helmet down closer to his shoulders as if he could somehow hide inside of it.
"Elesia, please guide us to a new life of peace and tranquility… for I know my end is coming…" a female adventurer prayed as she kneeled, one of the few that had headed to the Abbey with the Rikter brothers and unknown mercenary team.
Not even Morlanion Rikter and his lover could fend this off…
As Alfred turned around and saw multiple strikes against the wall, collapsing a massive sector and allowing him to see the army start to march a little bit forward, the new demonic threat, their eyes all locked on the little flesh bags that were hiding within their stone and wood homes. They could sense the life of the humans inside. The numbers reached up to ten thousand before the demons somehow thought that was enough to start moving forward, with massive one-hundred-foot flaming giants walking behind them. The soldiers ran en masse, nearly trampling the Sergeant as she tried to get out of the way, though she didn't have the second hand to try and get free. The lieutenant came out of nowhere and grabbed her as he passed by, getting her to safety as Alfred had to push back into a storefront to keep away from the mass of people charging through the streets. Corporal Topher leapt from the mass of bodies next to the Commander and waggled his eyebrows at him, wondering what to do next.
Alfred dashed up the stairs of the building as he could spot through small holes in the wall the wave of scared men and women all just trying to save their own skins as Topher just watched the legs charging and trying to pull those who would be trampled to safety, a herd of frightened beings all trying to stay alive. The leader of the rebels just held hope that somehow there was enough debris above to reach another roof and jump from building to building, to get away from the mass of evil heading in their direction. As he broke through the second-floor door and ran up to the third floor, massive parts of the roof completely blown away from a random trebuchet boulder beforehand. He watched as the demonic army seemed to drink in all the fear and terror they were causing, finally getting ready to attack.
Another volley, this time coordinated, was flung towards the city. There was no way to leave the third floor to another building. They were trapped.
(Recommended Song: Audiomachine – Dauntless)
"By any gods that are willing to hear me… I know I haven't exactly been one of the faithful, never once cared to go to a sermon in one of Gigsen's or Elesia's temples… hell, I'm even willing to be helped by Solon or Xaxara… just… if someone is listening, some deity out there that is willing to stop this nightmare… please… save these people…" There seemed to be no real response, the balls of fire landing and wiping out a section of unoccupied Silvinholm. Still… he could feel the heat even from where he was standing. Flyers flapped their wings as they rose up into the sky, ready to dive and grab at the people just trying to get away.
It was worth a shot. I know I'm just begging to anyone out there who will listen. I guess… gods don't listen to those who aren't true believers…
Before the demons could fire another volley, they moved a little closer towards the city. Alfred instinctively held his sword a little closer, as he steeled himself for what was to come. Something suddenly lazily arced through the air and headed right past the demons as they watched as well, completely distracted as it was heading toward the portal… and entering. "What the…" A massive detonation erupted from inside, a slight concussive blast launching out of the only exit and flinging the guards around it. "Did… did a god just answer?"
It was quickly followed by a beam of white and bluish light coming down from the sky, striking the portal and everything around it, with a volley of… something… fired from well beyond visual range coming down and shelling the area with impunity. This all was only just the beginning… the main spectacle still hadn't arrived. Immediately after the incredible display of firepower hit and cleared up, a holy fleet teleported just above their heads. Up above, orders were given. His jaw dropped.
"Command to commit forces is a go. Go for drop. Go for drop." The bays opened as the ships above, held up by the power of some deity or technology they had never seen, allowed a military almost like a dream come raining down, Bronze Team simply in free fall at the head of it followed by multiple paratrooper platoons. It was unlike anything the people below had ever seen, a military that could fight back against demons… and then some.
"LZ is hot, go in loud and heavy."
"Rolling out the welcome mat, send out the greeting cards." LRVs came in quickly behind as Heavies just landed without a parachute, causing tremors and small craters as they hit the ground running followed by walkers taking up position for tanks to roll in under them. The demons actually paused as they wondered what was actually charging back at them, the swarm of green and blue eyes all locked onto their forces… quickly followed by confused attacks as they had no idea what they were up against when multiple types of high tech weapons laid into their heavily reinforced bodies… and carved right through. "Scramble spooky 2-2 and 2-3, run rampant."
Bronze Team was a marvel on the battlefield as Alfred simply saw a group of black-armored metal soldiers cut through swaths of demons off the planet, practically dancing and dodging through their claws and hell bolts while returning fire with their own incredible weapons made by a god. A tank rolled past the destroyed east gate and fired on the move, with a bigger brother coming up nearby and launching twin anti-tank missiles. The sound could be heard from where he was.
Whoever answered my prayer… thank you. Truly.
Alfred was never one to care about gods before, but for the first time, he believed there was someone listening.