In Universe Memery #2
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
GATE: And Thus The UNDF Fought There V2
- Thread starter quickdraw101
- Start date
- Novel Sci-Fi Fantasy
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- Tags
- gate
Second Battle of Proptor Wikipedia Page
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
List of Cities Hit by Nuclear Ordinance During The War of First Contact
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
The America's:
The United States: El Paso/Ciudad Juarez, San Diego, Clearwater, Miami, Salt Lake City, Laredo, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lockport, New Iberia, New Orleans, Gulfport, Largo, Palm Harbor, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Palm Beach, Boca Raton. Numerous saturation strikes in and around hardpoints in the United States, which carried cobalt warheads, combined with global warming, has rendered most of Louisiana, Southern and Eastern Florida uninhabitable, including most of the coastal regions. As such, the coastal areas are both flooded and radioactive, and even cities like Pensacola, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Mobile, while not suffering from nuclear strikes, suffer from the effects of rising sea levels. As it stands today in 2081, all of Florida south of Tampa Bay, is abandoned due to tainted water supplies, and radiation. The same applies for all of southern Louisiana, and all of coastal Mississippi west of Gulfport.
Brazil: Brasília, Rio de Janeiro
Mexico: El Paso/ Ciudad Juárez, Laredo, Mexicali, and Tijuana.
Chile: Talca
Europe:
France: Toulouse, Toulon, Nice
Italy: Rome
Turkey: Izmir, Sirnak
Russia: Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Nazran, Grozny, Sochi, Rostov on Don
MENA
Libya: Tripoli
Egypt: Aswan, Port Said
Israel: Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth, Jericho, Bethlehem
Iran: Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, Hormoz Island
Syria: Homs, Hama, Idlib, Ar Raqqah, Aleppo
Iraq: Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah, Basra, Kirkuk
Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Mecca, Medina, Buraydah, Tabuk, Jeddah, Damman, Al Khobar
Bahrain: Manama
Qatar: Doha
UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, Al Ain
Kuwait: Kuwait City
Oman: Muscat, Sohar
Asia:
Pakistan: Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan
India: Varanasi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai
China: Lhasa, Kunming, Baise, Tiandong, Nanning, Chongzuo, Sanya, Xingyi, Pu'er, Hong Kong
Singapore: Singapore
Republic of Korea: Pyongyang
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City
Australia: Sydney
The United States: El Paso/Ciudad Juarez, San Diego, Clearwater, Miami, Salt Lake City, Laredo, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lockport, New Iberia, New Orleans, Gulfport, Largo, Palm Harbor, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Palm Beach, Boca Raton. Numerous saturation strikes in and around hardpoints in the United States, which carried cobalt warheads, combined with global warming, has rendered most of Louisiana, Southern and Eastern Florida uninhabitable, including most of the coastal regions. As such, the coastal areas are both flooded and radioactive, and even cities like Pensacola, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Mobile, while not suffering from nuclear strikes, suffer from the effects of rising sea levels. As it stands today in 2081, all of Florida south of Tampa Bay, is abandoned due to tainted water supplies, and radiation. The same applies for all of southern Louisiana, and all of coastal Mississippi west of Gulfport.
Brazil: Brasília, Rio de Janeiro
Mexico: El Paso/ Ciudad Juárez, Laredo, Mexicali, and Tijuana.
Chile: Talca
Europe:
France: Toulouse, Toulon, Nice
Italy: Rome
Turkey: Izmir, Sirnak
Russia: Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Nazran, Grozny, Sochi, Rostov on Don
MENA
Libya: Tripoli
Egypt: Aswan, Port Said
Israel: Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth, Jericho, Bethlehem
Iran: Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, Hormoz Island
Syria: Homs, Hama, Idlib, Ar Raqqah, Aleppo
Iraq: Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah, Basra, Kirkuk
Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Mecca, Medina, Buraydah, Tabuk, Jeddah, Damman, Al Khobar
Bahrain: Manama
Qatar: Doha
UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, Al Ain
Kuwait: Kuwait City
Oman: Muscat, Sohar
Asia:
Pakistan: Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan
India: Varanasi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai
China: Lhasa, Kunming, Baise, Tiandong, Nanning, Chongzuo, Sanya, Xingyi, Pu'er, Hong Kong
Singapore: Singapore
Republic of Korea: Pyongyang
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City
Australia: Sydney
United Nations Military Crisis: January 6th-February 7th 2038
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
On January 6th 2038, twelve days after the end of the War of First Contact, Government leaders world wide voted unanimously to not only cut funding for the UN's Militaries by a large margin, but also with the hopes of de-legitimize the global military organization, seeing as they feel that it is no longer needed to defend Earth from future alien invasions and the hope of returning back to the prewar status quo. However, reaction from the world wide populace was immediate. Protesters took to the streets demanding that the government leaders repeal their decision.
Despite the protests that lasted for weeks, government leaders we're still keen on signing the law that would see the weakening of the newly formed UNDF. With the situation escalating even further, with protesters being beaten and arrested by the police while some refuse to follow their orders, the Military Commanders and Generals decided to make their move. On January 30th 2038, Military Forces loyal to the UN and those who defended the human race began entering the Capital Cities of Washington DC, London, Moscow, Beijing, and many other respective nations demanding that if the governments do not repeal their decision by February 8th, The military will remove them by force.
The police, realizing that they're now in the mercy of the UN Military, began to defect to the military forces and decide to become supportive of the protesters, even deciding to release the ones they've taken in custody, in repealing the world governments decision. With the world now against them, the governments finally capitulated. On February 7th 2038, the law to cut funding for the UN Military was finally repealed.
Despite the protests that lasted for weeks, government leaders we're still keen on signing the law that would see the weakening of the newly formed UNDF. With the situation escalating even further, with protesters being beaten and arrested by the police while some refuse to follow their orders, the Military Commanders and Generals decided to make their move. On January 30th 2038, Military Forces loyal to the UN and those who defended the human race began entering the Capital Cities of Washington DC, London, Moscow, Beijing, and many other respective nations demanding that if the governments do not repeal their decision by February 8th, The military will remove them by force.
The police, realizing that they're now in the mercy of the UN Military, began to defect to the military forces and decide to become supportive of the protesters, even deciding to release the ones they've taken in custody, in repealing the world governments decision. With the world now against them, the governments finally capitulated. On February 7th 2038, the law to cut funding for the UN Military was finally repealed.
UNited Nations of Earth: 2081
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
Chapter 21: Operation Whirlwind
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
I know some of yall are disappointed that it took me this long to make a new chapter, but please understand that I have responsibilities and hobbies outside of writing, and my personal life has been up and down this last while. Luckily things are looking up for me now and ever since I moved to a different section at work, my mental health is doing a whole lot better. Hell, even my dating life is getting better despite not having done this shit in years. So yeah, personal life and work has kept me from writing as much as I would like, but things are starting to change.
Here's the next chapter of UNDF, hope yall enjoy it!
PS: Who can guess the next future couple this story is gonna have?
"Please for God's sake stop sending our finest youth to be murdered on places like Iwo Jima." Contents of a letter sent to Navy Secretary James Forrestal by an unidentified American mother regarding the losses taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
50,000 Feet AGL
Skies of the Special Region
April 28th, 2081
Skies over Sadera
While the bombers attacking Rondel had been called off, the strike as a whole was not. The cities of Sadera, Telta, and Bellnahgo, as well as smaller cities such as Italica, and Crety, were still ongoing. In fact, since the bombers were called off Rondel, it meant that more ordnance and airframes were available for Operation Whirlwind.
A campaign of Shock and Awe against the Empire, against important Imperial infrastructure and military assets. Weapons stores, legionary barracks, dragon and wyvern pens, and the Temple of Immortals, where the legendary super soldiers of the Empire were bred and trained. By the time this operation was over, it was hoped that the Empire's military would be so crippled that it would be unable to respond to raids by barbarians or nomads, much less further military operations by the United Nations Task Forces.
It was also the hope of high command that such a display of destruction would finally convince the Royal Family, as well as the Imperial Senate, that the war was unwinnable, and sue for peace. If not however, then the United Nations would march onwards to Sadera and every other major city, and take them street by street, and house by house if that was necessary. It would be bloody for both sides, and to lessen the casualties on the United Nations' side, many Imperial troops would have to die.
"Darkstar 1 to Task Force Dagger, all targets have been marked, and synced with AWAC data link system." Flight Lieutenant Jessica Goldfarb said over the comm channel. "You are free to pick targets as you see fit."
"Roger that Darkstar," One of the squadron leaders called back. "We're five mikes out from Sadera, what's the status of Hammer Flight?" They asked, referring to the three active B-52 bombers.
"1-1 is currently in a holding pattern over Bellnahgo with Darkstar 2," Goldfarb replied. "1-2 and 1-3 are en route to Sadera and Telta respectively. Time to target for 1-2 is 10 mikes. Time to target for 1-3 and Darkstar 3 is 15 mikes, and should arrive just in time to rendezvous with the other half of Task Force Dagger."
"Affirmative Darkstar, splitting off now, and headed to respective targets. See you over Sadera, out!" The squadron leader said, switching to a different channel. Now all they had to do was wait. Wait as the fighters from Fort Hadrian reached the skies over Sadera, and the carrier based fighters in the Blue Sea reached Telta. The wait wasn't particularly long, but for Goldfarb and her flight mates, it felt like an eternity. They said nothing for a few minutes, silently waiting for the fighter groups to get into position, and for the green light to be given to rain hell upon the Empire. Then one of the flight data officers spoke up.
"Darkstar's one, two, and three have confirmed the existence of 107 prisoners of Earth origin within the cities of Sadera, Bellnahgo, and Telta. The numbers are still increasing as well, especially in the slave quarter of Sadera." He said, the expression on his face one of sadness as he selected the profile of one of the prisoners. One who shared his last name. There was no missing the tear that ran down his face either.
In the postwar world, DNA samples taken at birth were extremely common, as all hospitals were mandated to take them. This system meant that a significant number of murderers and rapists were brought to justice if they left behind any DNA on their victims. It also meant that everyone in the military, as well as dependants and family were cataloged as well. In the very rare case a UN servicemen popped up on the display of data, the profile would come up as dark blue, with family and dependants a light blue color.
"This God damned war!" Flight Officer Cummings cursed. "God damned Imperials! Why couldn't these bastards have just left us alone?"
"All these bastards know is war," Flight Commander Irvine answered in a tired voice. "But they don't know war like we do. So we'll show them how we fight the war we know. Lieutenant Dowling?" Irvine called out, looking over at the man in question.
"Yes sir!" Dowling replied quickly.
"We have operatives in the city, don't we? The ones helping provide targeting information?"
"Yes sir, there are five teams on the ground in Sadera right now," Dowling said, typing a command into his datapad, and projecting the information onto one of the view screens. "One Ghost, one Japanese, one Israeli, one German, and one Austrian team are in the field, with half the Japanese and German teams located at the safehouse. Bringing up their locations on the tac-feed now!" He said, and one of the view screens lit up with the drone feed of Darkstar 1, and the location of the five teams in real time.
The JSDF detachment outside the safehouse consisted of six men split into two teams; Team 1, with callsigns Saber, Archer, and Lanser, were atop a roof with a clear view of the Immortals Temple, providing laser targeting for the incoming bomber. Team 2, callsigns Berserker, Rider, and Caster, were lasing the large Flame Dragon pens that were visible from their position. The Israeli team was on the opposite end of the city from the slave quarter. The Germans were about 1,000 meters away, while the Austrian team was less than 100 feet away from the slave quarter. Less than 100 feet away from where the younger sister of one of his subordinates was being held.
"Whose in command of the Austrian team?" Irvine asked. Dowling tapped his datapad a few more times and the profile of an Austrian Army Major came up on the screen.
Major Felix Cabanac, age 35, Squad Leader, Austrian Jagdkommando Group.
Irvine had served with the man nearly a decade ago, flying one of the last active Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon in a bombing mission against a small holdout of Phauthi soldiers who attacked the city of Río Gallegos, Argentina, after fleeing from their bunker in the Andes Mountains. It was the last holdout active on Earth, and the two men were part of the large task force that drove the aliens from the Andes, and eventually battled them through Argentina. Of the four Typhoons in his squadron from The Falklands, his was the only one not shot down. If not for the timely arrival of American F-35's from two American carriers, he would have joined his squadron mates in the afterlife.
He was the first pilot to respond to a call for assistance from then Lieutenant Cabanac, whose position was close to being overrun, and in desperate need of assistance. The bombs he dropped that day saved many lives, and broke the back of the alien holdout, which was subsequently wiped out by American Airborne and Marine forces who landed mere hours later. Cabanac told Irvine that he owed him one, and whatever he may need, whenever he may need it, he could call in the favor he was owed. Major Cabanac's team was also in the middle of placing IR targeting beacons across the various barracks building across the city, while simultaneously marking targets for the incoming fighters. Irvine then looked over to his subordinate, Lieutenant Harris.
His younger sister, a mere 16 years old, was but a few dozen feet away from a single member of Cabanac's team, who was disguised in the middle of a crowd in the slave quarter. A good commander takes care and looks after his subordinates. Irvine had a decision to make, and he had already made it.
"Patch me through to Major Cabanac, it's time to call in a favor!"
"Access Code White Wolf Authenticated. Secure Line to Asset Black Eagle 159 Granted."
"It's been a long time, Flight Commander Irvine," Major Cabanac said as he ducked into a nearby alley, and out of sight of patrolling Legionaries. "Last time we spoke, you were my best man at my wedding."
"It was a much better time back then." Irvine replied.
"Indeed it was. So what do I owe the pleasure of this call? You finally get out from behind a desk, and back in the cockpit?" Cabanac asked, to which Irvine just chuckled.
"I'm afraid not, my friend. Do you remember the favor you owe me for Argentina?" Irvine asked, getting straight to the point.
"I didn't expect you'd ever let me forget about it. What do you need, my friend?"
"You are aware you and your team are next to a slave market, are you not?"
"I am, and I have noticed a few of them are most certainly our own people. But we-"
"The sister of one of my men is in the slave market just a hundred feet away from you, Cabanac!" Irvine interrupted. "I wouldn't be asking you to intervene if it wasn't for a good reason. But I am calling in that favor."
There was silence over the comm channel for a few seconds, with a few of Cabanac's team linking back up with him in the alley, and looking to him for further orders.
"Do you understand what you're asking sir? We're close to the safe house, but we have no support." Cabanac said grimly. "We could do it, but even if we get them to the safe house, we cannot get them all out of the city."
"Yes I do, Cabanac, and I will take care of that. I just need you to get those people out of there!"
There was another few seconds of silence on the line as Cabanac glanced over at his XO and Staff Sergeant who awaited further orders. Letting out a sigh, he answered.
"Roger that, we'll get it done. Do you want us to grab all the slaves, or just our own people?" He asked.
"I am not going to order you to leave people behind, but our people need to come home, Cabanac." Irvine said.
"Understood. We'll take care of it! Just make sure we get some help to get them out of here."
"You will, my old friend. Thank you for this."
"It's not a problem, Irvine. Black Eagle out!" Cabanac said, cutting the transmission, and turned to his squad members.
"I guess that means we're getting these people out sir?" Staff Sergeant Lukas Fischer.
"You're damn right it does, Sergeant! Get the other teams on the radio, and let them know what we're about to do. See if we can't at least get the Japanese or Germans to help us out here! Lieutenant Bauer, ready the men, and let's get our people out of here."
"Yes sir!" the two men replied immediately, and set off to carry out their orders.
"Thirty seconds to target!" The commander of the second half of Task Force Dagger called over the radio.
"Hammer 1-2 is on station and has eyes on the Flame Dragon pens, preparing to drop ordnance." The B-52 bomber pilot announced, the data uplink in the Tactical Operations Center being updated as the bomber targeted the sleeping giants with its heaviest ordnance.
"Be advised, one of the dragon pens is empty, and the 4th Flame Dragon is currently inside the city of Telta." Flight Lieutenant Goldfarb said.
"Affirmative Momma Bird, we got eyes on the ugly reptile sitting in its pen," Hammer 1-3 replied. "Got a full payload of bunker busters and high explosive for him."
"On station and ready to engage, Darkstar 1!" Said the commander of the first half of Task Force Dagger. "All HUD's are synced properly and each aircraft has selected their targets, just waiting for you navy boys to get in position!"
"Ten seconds to weapons release!" Goldfarb said, the anticipation becoming almost unbearable.
"Black Eagle is in position sir!" Lieutenant Dowling called out. "Both the Israeli and Japanese teams are enroute to assist now sir!"
"Good!" Wing Commander Irvine replied, looking at the clock as it counted down to the last seconds.
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Across every screen in the TOC, indicators flashed signaling the release of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of munitions were let loose upon their targets. Twenty seconds later, multiple impacts were registered all across the TOC as dozens of guided bombs and bunker busters were dropped on the cities of Sadera, Bellnahgo, and Telta. As the bombs exploded, and plumes of smoke and flame shot up into the sky, cheers rang out across the room as the mightiest units of the Empire, and thousands upon thousands of its soldiers, were systematically wiped out. It had even seemed as though the Imperial forces were caught sleeping. In some cases, they in fact were.
In Bellnahgo, the single Flame Dragon present in the city was asleep in its pen. It never knew what hit it as multiple bunker busters and vacuum bombs were dropped directly atop the creature. The barracks buildings, armories, and smaller wyvern pens followed in quick succession, as the legionaries within the city, being so far from the front, grew complacent. Only the barest of patrols were on the city walls and parapets and no wyverns were in the sky over the city. Their complacency became their downfall as bombs flattened buildings full of sleeping and resting Imperial troops. Legionaries who had been enjoying time off in the city proper or had been out on patrol, soon found that they had nowhere to return to. Many thousands of men lay dead in their now crumpled barracks, most of their weapons burned in the bombed armories, and what was left of the garrison was in disarray.
In Sadera, the defending garrison was awake, expecting an attack. However, what they were preparing for did little to help them. The Temple of Immortals, who was undergoing a changing of the guard, with half the Immortals returning from patrol, and the other half preparing to leave, was the very first target to be hit by over two dozen guided bombs, of which the lightest was 2,000 pounds. The city shook under the massive explosion that overtook the building as thermobaric munitions fell atop the building directly after the high explosive ordnance. Hundreds of Immortals, some intact, others torn apart, flew through the air, and slammed down to the ground. Air was sucked from their lungs and the concussive force from over 20,000 pounds of high explosive bombs shattered their bones and turned their internal organs into liquid. Hundreds of bodies were soon strewn about the streets, seemingly intact, but blood gushing from holes in their armor. Even if their legendary armor hadn't been broken, their bodies were broken.
Mere seconds after the Temple of Immortals was turned to ruin, the three Flame Dragon pens were assaulted directly by Hammer 1-2, as well as a quarter of the fighter bombers and drones now present. Two of the dragons had been awoken by the initial explosions, while another was already awake. The two newly awoken dragons barely had time to look up until multiple bunker busters and armor piercing guided munitions slammed into their heads, neck, and torso. Chunks of flesh and scales flew into the air as the various mages and legionaries around them either disintegrated, or fled in terror from the massed aerial assault.
The third dragon, which was in the process of eating, opened its jaws and let out a loud roar right as a 2,000 pound Paveway guided bomb flew into its mouth, and lodged itself in the creatures throat. A second later, the bomb exploded, blowing its neck apart in a shower of blood and gore that coated the area in and around the pen. Half a dozen other bombs fell atop the creatures body in short order, further desecrating the dragon's body.
With the biggest threats now neutralized, the aircraft over the skies of Sadera focused their efforts on softer targets. Many dozens of barracks, small and large, and any armory and wyvern pen within the city was bombarded from the air. A few wyverns managed to take to the skies, but were soon swatted town by the handful of fighter escorts with complete air to air loadouts. The massive encampments just outside the city, with hundreds of tents and thousands of men, were doused with napalm and high explosives, creating a firestorm of death and destruction in the ranks of the Imperial forces.
Finally, in Telta, the outcome was more or less the same. The Flame Dragon was blown apart in its pen, the barracks and armories destroyed, and the encampments built outside the city turned into an inferno of charred bodies and craters. The only difference at Telta was a mass gathering of Imperial Navy ships in the Rho River, which was in the process of offloading thousands of legionaries into the city, as well as loading cargo and war beasts. It was a massive gathering of Imperial troops, a gathering so large that hitting it would be a major blow to the Empire. Half the naval aircraft in the strike force had targeted the fleet all along the Rho River, and what resulted was nothing short of a complete, and utter massacre.
Hundreds of vessels ranging from troop transports to warships were assaulted by aircraft carrying incendiary bombs that set the Imperial fleet ablaze. Within minutes, nearly the entire fleet was burning, the dock and port facilities destroyed, and many ships sunk at anchor, or sinking in the middle of the river. The Rho River ran black as burning debris and bodies choked the waterway. Some ships with crews having already been burned alive, sailed aimlessly in all directions. Some beached themselves, some sunk, and some even went so far as to collide with other ships on the river.
One Japanese pilot who took part in the strike on the Telta Naval Port would go on to say that; "It was the Empire's Pearl Harbor, only it actually crippled them."
As crude as the comparison was, it wasn't wrong. Even Admiral Yamamoto couldn't have dreamed of success at the levels of the Telta Massacre. While most of the warships of the Imperial Navy were sunk off the Icelandic coast or from the nuclear detonation right outside Bravo Point, it had many transports left to ferry troops around the continent via the Rho River. The Empire's remaining warships not at sea, were located at Telta, and every last one was destroyed or critically damaged.
Tens of thousands were either dead or dying by the time the strike force had offloaded its deadly cargo, and turned for home.
By the end of Operation Whirlwind, a significant portion of the Empire's remaining military strength had been destroyed, with heavy emphasis on the naval massacre at Telta, which killed tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers and sailors on the Rho River alone. Much of its experienced cadres were dead, their training and war camps in ruin, forts and armories destroyed, and the remaining forces in total disarray. Sure, there were hundreds of thousands more Saderan troops across the continent, but they were either being mobilized and trained after many years of civilian life, or were too far to be of actual use for the Empire.
But the full extent of Operation Whirlwind would go beyond just the military aspect of the bombing. In the city of Bellnahgo, the last bombs dropped by Hammer Flight had landed atop the Magic Academy within the city. An Academy where magical concoctions and potions were experimented with and created for the Imperial Army's Mages. Those very same potions were potent ones, and in the case of one new potion, very incendiary. When the explosions overtook the Academy, they set off a cache of what Grand Mage Godasen had named "Saderan Fire", meant for wyvern riders to drop upon enemy formations. The fires that resulted from the destruction of the Academy had spread all over the city.
Homes, businesses, smaller barracks that were intentionally avoided due to proximity to civilians, and even houses of worship. As United Nations aircraft left the airspace over Bellnahgo, the fires reached the Temple of Hardy, where many thousands were gathered for prayer, and for safety. Thousands of men, women, and children burned inside the church as the city was engulfed in an inferno. While the Empire's remaining military strength had been all but destroyed, the United Nations had unwittingly committed the largest massacre of civilians in the Earth-Saderan War.
The path to the Empire's major cities was now open for the United Nations, but it had come at a horrendous cost in the lives of innocents, including some of the citizens captured by the Empire during the Battle of Iceland.
Samantha Harris had almost lost hope in ever being rescued. She and all those poor souls who were kidnapped in Iceland all those months ago. Ever since that fateful day, she and thousands of other people from dozens of nations were forced into slavery, and subject to hellish conditions. Murder, rape, assault, sleep and food deprivation, humiliation, anything and everything you could think of that could be done to someone, was done to them. In the brutal march from the portal atop that damn hill, through the city of Italica, and finally to Sadera, hundreds had died. Most were tossed into unmarked graves or left for the vultures to pick clean.
The majority of the men had been beaten and the women raped. Not even the teenagers or young children were spared these atrocities. Not even she was spared that horrible ordeal. Many times in the night she'd be dragged away and raped. Sometimes by one man, sometimes by a group. Harris had noted that her and the other teenage girls were chosen more often than the older women for their sick fun. Some of the nobles even preferred the younger girls that were amongst them. The trek across the continent was absolute hell for them all. So many had died while going from that wretched hill to this disgusting city.
Although once they reached Sadera, the treatment had improved, if but marginally. The Saderans had wanted to sell Samantha and all the other survivors as slaves. So the troops weren't allowed to rape them as they wished, which annoyed them, and they had to be fed more. Everyone had lost so much weight that the extra food was a godsend to them.
But for many, it still wasn't enough. Some had medical conditions that were exasperated by the lack of food and brutal treatment, and despite the orders to treat the prisoners better, some had died in the pens. Then without warning, rations were cut again for all prisoners. At first they didn't understand why, then they started to hear whispers. Whispers of men in dark green, brown, and black, who massacred the Imperial troops at Alnus, and that retreating Imperial troops had been ordered to burn fields of crops and poison water wells leading to Sadera. That the main port in which goods for Sadera came through had been lost and that the army sent to take the port back had been slaughtered to the last. Even those gigantic dragons that left that day hadn't come back.
Many of them knew what had happened, and were holding out hope of being rescued. Harris had even seen high flying planes in the sky over the city. When she saw those planes, Harris knew that the United Nations hadn't forgotten them. She just had to hold out hope that soon an army would be outside the gates of the city, and would storm it just as the Coalition of the Willing stormed Baghdad in 2003.
Then the explosions began.
The moment the explosions sounded all around the city, Cabanac and his team moved into action. With most of the legionaries and slave traders disoriented or frightened by the multitude of explosions that rocked the city, they failed to notice that instead of running away, some men were getting closer and closer to their position. By the time any of them noticed, it was far too late. Cabanac shrugged his cape off, raised his StG 89 rifle, and fired. From alleyways and rooftops, the Austrian Commandos tore through the slave market, killing slavers and legionaries alike. Some tried to fight back, but most were too stunned to react. Some who weren't frozen in shock and fear attempted to flee, but were given no quarter.
One Corporal jumped off a nearby rooftop, landing atop a legionary standing guard aside a slave pen. Locking the man's head in an iron grip, he twisted the legionary's neck hard, and sickening crunch sound was heard by those inside the pen. Within moments, the slave market was cleared of hostiles, as well as the resident merchants. All those left alive were the members of Black Eagle and the slaves kept in the assortment of cages all around them.
"All clear?" Cabanac's XO shouted as he swept forward with his fireteam towards the western entry to the market, as Staff Sergeant Fischer's fireteam secured the eastern approach.
"Clear!" Fischer yelled out, firing two shot from his rifle at two legionaries who tried running towards the slave quarter, gladius' at the ready. "We'll keep them back sir, let's get these people out of here."
"König, Haas, start getting these cages open, we got two minutes to get the hell out of here!" Cabanac ordered as he took aim at the lock on the central slave pen, and shot it off. He threw open the door and walked a pace inside, pausing to tap at his wrist console from which a holographic display of a woman came up. Continuing onward, his helmet visor turned clear, and he made his way over to a woman that his HUD had highlighted, and knelt down beside her. "Samantha Harris?" He said, watching the girl's eyes light up as he said her name.
"Yes!" The girl answered back shakily, eyes welling up with tears as she realized that her own personal hell had just ended.
"You're going home, Miss Harris." Cabanac said. "All of you are going home!" As he said this, many of those within the pen, as well as those in the surrounding ones, broke down in sobbing disbelief. They were finally rescued and they were going home.
"It's over," One woman whimpered as she staggered out of the pen, and collapsed into the arms of the team's medic. "It's finally over!" She said, gripping the man in a tight hug and crying into his chest.
"It is alright," He said in slow, accented English. "You are safe now."
"Darkstar Actual, this Black Eagle 159, all prisoners are secured, retreating to safehouse Alpha now." Major Cabanac said as he helped Harris out of the pen, and motioned for the others to follow.
"Roger that Black Eagle! You're in the clear right now, but you need to haul ass to the safehouse immediately!" Darkstar Actual replied over the comm. "Berserker's team just intercepted a group of legionaries trying to reach the slave quarter, so the path is clear for now!"
"Affirmative Darkstar," Cabanac said. "Let's go, we've gotta get out of here!"
"We have a problem, sir!" Sergeant König called out.
"What is it, Sergeant?" Cabanac said as he turned, and was greeted by the answer. The market held hundreds of slaves packed densely together in overcrowded cages. They could account for just shy of 100 citizens of Earth among the many hundreds of slaves present. But the rest were an assortment of elves, catgirls, warrior rabbits, and other various demihuman species. All of which looked hopeful at the handful of Austrian soldiers who were seemingly shepherding away a group of select humans, but leaving the rest of them behind. They all looked hopefully at commandos, hoping that these were the saviors they too prayed to their gods for.
"You won't leave us, will you?" One of the rabbit women asked, whose left ear was half cut off.
"Please take us with you." A male human pleaded.
"We can't just leave them, sir," Private Haas said. "We can't just take a few and leave the rest. It's not right sir."
"Damn it!" Cabanac cursed under his breath.
"I'm not going to just leave them here," Corporal Haas said as he took his pair of bolt cutters to the remaining cages, and broke the locks with trivial ease. "Come on, all of you!" Haas said in slow, heavily accented Saderan.
"You all safe now! We take you safety!" One of the Lance Corporals in his squad added.
"We're gonna get bogged down in these streets pretty damn quickly if we take them all," Staff Sergeant Fischer said.
"We'll get bogged down in these streets regardless of what we do," Sergeant König replied. "And I agree with Haas, we aren't going to leave them behind!"
"We better figure it out soon!" Lieutenant Bauer called out as the ground began to shake and many of the slaves cried out in panic and fear. From the east, an ogre was stomping their way at a trot, and would be on them very quickly. "Weber, load the Gustav!" Bauer ordered, although a bit late as the Private had already unslung it and had loaded a round in the breach.
"Backblast clear!" Weber called out as he pulled the trigger. A loud bang followed as the round left the tube and slammed into the ogre a split second later. The 84mm High Explosive round blew a hole in the beast's armor, which caused the armor to fall apart, leaving the ogre's chest exposed. Its bloody and gory chest, its heart exposed to the air, and beating furiously. The monster roared in pure anger and pain, and the look on its face became one of pure murder.
"Shit!" Weber cursed as he loaded his second and last round into the Gustav's chamber.
"Let's go! We gotta go!" Major Cabanac called out, signalling for his team to rally up, and motioning them down the empty street towards the evacuation site. Another loud bang and the ogre let out a gurgling death rattle as the second round, an Area Defense Munition loaded with over 1,000 flechettes, acted as a point blank shotgun blast into the ogre's heart and lungs.
"Now we can go!" Weber said cheekily as more explosions began to rock the city, and familiar, yet unknown sounds of low flying aircraft engines could be heard. Looking to his right, Weber saw a warrior rabbit, a child by her size, with a broken foot who was desperately trying to keep up with her comrades, who seemingly ignored her. "I got you little one!" He said as he scooped her up with his left arm, and made his way with the fleeing masses of former slaves, and his fellow commandos.
"This is Black Eagle 159, all HVT's secured, but we ran into a bit of a problem!" Major Cabanac called over the comm channel.
"We can see that. I take it there was no option to leave them behind?" Flight Commander asked, not entirely seriously.
"Not unless I wanted half my squad to mutiny and take them anyway," Cabanac replied with utmost seriousness.
"Should have guessed that was the case." Irvine replied. "I got something similar from the German squad commander when he reported in about the slaves they rescued."
"Yeah, well there better be enough room for us to get them all out, or it'll be a slaughter!" Sergeant König interrupted.
"We already planned for this contingency, just get to the evac zone, and you'll be safe." Commander Irvine's replied. "I am uploading the location to you and the other teams HUD's. Get there and we'll be able to get them all out of here!"
"Yes sir, we will be there!" Cabanac replied. Shifting focus to his HUD momentarily, he saw exactly where the extraction point was located. 500 meters directly south, right outside the main gate to the city. And as Cabanac and his squad ushered the hundreds of freed slaves towards their destination, they soon realized how tall an order they were given.
While the barracks and wyvern pen around the gate had been smashed to hell and gone, there was still a lot of legionaries on the streets. Legionaries were also coming out of the buildings, and his already stretched squad, were stretching themselves even thinner to cover all the gaps, but it wasn't good enough. There was just too many of them and they were too large of a group. Panicked and pained shrieks came from the group as many were cut down by swords and spears. Black Eagle squad tried to defend their charges, but they were simply too outnumbered.
"THEY'RE ALL AROUND!" Private Weber yelled out as he emptied the mag of his StG 89 into a charging legionary, whose body fell forward and collapsed directly in front of the wounded bunny girl whose hands gripped his leg in a vice like grip that seemed almost impossible for a girl of her size. The girl cried out in a language he couldn't understand, but one word she kept on repeating transcended any language barrier.
"Momma! Momma! I want my Momma!" She sobbed out as Weber hurriedly reloaded, and lifted the girl back into his arms.
"WE CAN'T DO THIS ALONE!" Sergeant König shouted just before an arrow slammed into his helmet, staggering him, and disorienting him for a few seconds. That few seconds was all it took for an Immortal to leap from a nearby house, and land a blow that sent König flying into a group of civilians behind him. Looking up at his attacker, he noted the blue flames licking out from the eye holes of his helmet, and the glowing blue sword that was raised, and had begun to fall. But as the sword came halfway down, the blade was shattered by a bright blue-green projectile that tore through the Immortal wielding the sword. The loud bang that accompanied the projectile sounded as if it had come from a cannon. Another loud bang followed and another projectile blew the head of the Immortal apart, forcing the headless corpse to fall to its knees.
"Who said you boys were alone?" Came a strange, electronically modified voice over the comm channel. The voice was joined by gunfire from at least two dozen different sources, all of which sounded as if they were above ground level.
Picking himself back up and grabbing his rifle, he looked to the source of his good fortunes, and saw a soldier wearing an exotic and unknown set of Exo-Skeletal Armor, wielding what looked to be a miniaturized railgun with a glowing barrel. Standing to either side were two more soldiers in a similar set up, albeit with slight differences.
"We got you covered, get those civilians to the extraction point!" Came the voice of the German squad leader as his team began raining fire upon the slowly decreasing number of legionaries in the streets around them.
"Ogre coming up the street!" One of the Japanese Operators called out. The beast stomped their way, shaking the ground with each footfall, and swinging a massively oversized club. A second later, more loud booms and bright flashes lit up the street, and three glowing projectiles ripped through the beasts armor as if it wasn't even there. The creature fell flat on its face, two smoking holes on its torso, and one in its head.
"Go goddammit!" One of the garbled voices called out again over the net. "Every last legionary that ain't at the palaces is converging on our position!"
"You heard him, men!" Major Cabanac said as he loaded a fresh magazine and rallied his men forward. "If we don't get moving, we're going to be overrun!"
On they went, tearing through the hundreds of legionaries who came to meet them on the street, leaving a bloody trail of carnage in their wake until they were but 100 meters from the main gate to the city, and to freedom. German, Japanese, and what Cabanac could only assume where the vaunted and secretive "Task Force Ghost" were leaping from rooftop to rooftop in order to follow and provide support for the team and the civilians they were leading out.
"We're almost there everyone, just a little bit further!" Sergeant König shouted to the mass of people following them. As tired, exhausted, and brutalized as they all were, the idea of freedom being just outside the main gate was enough to give them just enough energy to keep them going. All of them seemed to run faster at the urging and the realization that their nightmare was almost over. Then, a stream of blue bolts came their way, and three of Cabanac's team were cut down. Two of his men fell screaming, one did not.
"Incom-" The Japanese operator was cut off as a nearby roof was hit with a large glowing ball of light and exploded. One of the SOG's was incinerated instantly, while the other went flying into the air, before landing on the ground with a sound reminiscent of a watermelon being hit with a baseball bat.
Up ahead, they could see the source of their problems. Blocking their way out of the gate, was a mage, with about 20 Immortals, standing guard around many dead and wounded legionaries and Immortals alike. They had been expecting Cabanac and his team, and had them right where they wanted them. More bolts cut through civilians who couldn't fall to the ground in time, and another of his men was struck by three bolts to the chest, and crumpled instantly. Half of the Immortals focused solely on them, while the mage, a Human woman in her late 20's, with a horizontal scar across her face, focused her efforts with the other Immortals on the rooftops and surrounding buildings.
One by one, the buildings around them were either collapsing or set afire, and the operators atop them had to flee or be killed. Based on some of the chatter they could hear, there were more casualties among the Japanese and German teams, but the Ghosts were oddly silent. Of the buildings closer to the mage and her Immortals, windows and doors flew open, revealing crossbow armed legionaries who got their hits on the operators on the street. Cabanac and his team were being funnelled into a killzone and like rank amateurs, they fell for the trap. But how and why was there a mage and force of Immortals laying in wait around the main gate? Or were these Imperials just very lucky?
None of them had time to think about that. All Cabanac and his team were focused on was their immediate survival, which seemed less and less likely as the bolts continued to come their way. At least two of his team were dead, half were injured to varying degrees, and a bloody toll had been exacted on the newly freed slaves who hid behind whatever cover they could find, or simply lay on the ground, hoping they wouldn't be hit.
They had walked right into a killzone and were paying for it. Even as familiar sounding booms and flashes rang out behind them, and Immortals fell over as if they were bowling pins, the massacre continued. Even as smoke grenades were thrown out in front of them, and the vision of the enemy obscured greatly, their position was still very tenuous.
"They're tearing us apart, sir!" Corporal Kassel moaned as he clutched at his horribly burnt chest. A blast from an Immortal had vaporized his armor, and had just enough energy left to leave a terrible open wound, surrounded by burns across his whole chest. Corporal Westfall, the team's medic, had done his best to treat it, but he needed a trauma center. Facilities in Alnus or Iceland wouldn't be enough, they would have to evacuate him to Britain or Germany.
But that was assuming they would make it out of here. Something that most of them had begun to doubt, until half a dozen of the "Ghosts" appeared seemingly out of thin air, each spaced out evenly across the width of the street, and each holding a strange rectangular shaped device in their hands. As one, they each pressed a button on the devices, and placed them down in a hurry. Stepping backward a few paces, a loud buzzing sound could be heard, then suddenly a wall of light came forth from each, rising into the air, and to either side, interlocking with the other devices, and creating a solid wall of light.
A solid wall of light that stopped the bolts from the mage and her Immortals dead in their tracks. It was at that moment Cabanac and his team realized what they were seeing. They were looking at an honest to god energy shield. Not a trophy system that took out rockets and mortars before they reached their target, but an actual energy shield that absorbed the hits as if they were nothing.
"Gott in Himmel!" Lieutenant Bauer gasped.
"I'll be damned," Private Weber muttered as he held the still sobbing child in his left arm.
"You will not be damned if we have a say in it!" A very feminine sounding voice said as three beams of light connected with the shield, and seemed to not only make it grow in height and width, but also in strength. Three demihumans, an orc, a warrior rabbit, and a dark elf, advanced slowly but steadily, arms pointed forward as they each projected a different color from their body. "Where are your giant metal birds? I intend to see this vile bitch torn asunder by those explosive arrows they wield!" A tall, green skinned orc woman with white hair asked, her voice laced with venom.
"You know that bitch?" One of the Ghosts asked in the garbled voice their helmet gave off.
"I'm the reason she has that scar on her face," The Orc woman growled. "And why I have the ones across my chest and stomach." The rage and hatred in her voice and eyes was visible to all, and none wanted to get in her way. She seemed ready to leap over the shield and charge directly at the mage and her Immortal guards, but she would never get the chance. The roaring of engines and sight of five low flying aircraft brought cheers to the Special Forces operators and civilians who had been captured in Iceland.
Wraith Combat Drones, designed by the United States, Great Britain, and Japan, were the cutting edge of unmanned ground attack aircraft in the UNDF Air Arm. Capable of reaching speeds of mach 1 and with range and armament size equivalent to most legacy fighters still in use, Wraiths were a terrifying drone to face on the battlefield. And given that they were fully autonomous and made their own decisions, Wraiths were extremely deadly.
Missiles were launched and they flew into and exploded among the masses of legionaries, auxiliary, and Immortals in and around the main gate, to include the force that was bearing down on the assorted operators trying to escape. A mixture of high explosive and shrapnel based warheads made quick work of the vast majority of the Saderan forces on the ground. In fact, the only one who seemed to have survived the initial bombardment was-
"Well I'll be damned!" One of the Germans remarked.
As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, there was only one person still standing amidst the carnage. The female mage who led the ambush against Cabanac and his team, eyes glowing a bright blue the same color as the shield around her body. She looked up at the source of her misfortune, glaring impotently at the five flying death machines that now turned their autocannons against her shield. She winced and fell to her knees as she focused her energy into keeping the shield raised around her.
"There's no fucking way!" One of the Ghosts remarked as they deactivated their energy shield, and the remaining operators and their charges slowly inched forward.
The mage looked back up, this time at the operators, and more specifically, the three demihumans who were leading out front with the Ghosts. Her eyes burned even brighter as she caught sight of the orc woman, who had already pulled a purple glowing sword from a sheathe on her back, and made ready to charge at the Imperial.
"You will die!" She snarled, gripping the sword hilt tighter and leaping forward. The Wraiths ceased firing and pulled back as the orc woman began to approach the mage, and her shield began taking on an even brighter and less transparent glow.
"Not today, you orc scum!" Were the only words she spoke as the shield turned bright white, momentarily blinding all those looking in her direction. As the orc woman swung her sword and was preparing to make contact with the shield, it disappeared, taking the mage with it, and any hope of revenge for the orc woman.
The orc looked stunned for a few moments, looking back at where the mage once was, but was no longer. The look of rage on her face twisted into one of pained regret and sadness. Slowly, she put the sword back in its sheath, looked back towards the group, and motioned for them to follow.
'It was over,' Samantha Harris thought to herself. 'Its finally over.' She had almost broke down and cried when the special forces team freed her and her fellow slaves from the cages they had spent weeks in. But when they finally escaped the city, and she saw the waiting aircraft sitting just outside the city gates, guarded by hundreds of American and Russian airborne soldiers, and was ushered aboard one of the massive planes, she did. Months of agony, despair, and feelings of hopelessness came surging forth, and poured from her like water from a running sink. All those who had been taken from Iceland that terrible day, and had survived long enough to be rescued, were no different from Harris.
No matter the gender, the race, religion, or sexuality of those rescued today, everyone cried. Cried tears of joy at finally being rescued, tears of sorrow for those who didn't make it to see this day, and tears of pain from the absolute hell they went through. For those native to this world, but also forced into the shackles of slavery, they too cried. Especially the nonhumans, who Harris had come to learn were horribly mistreated in this world. The rabbit women especially so. Saderan legionaries would often take them away for hours at a time to gangrape them. The physical and mental scars that had left on them...Harris didn't like to think about. Harris especially didn't like to think about the times she had been raped by those damn barbarians, but every single time she slept, she would see those men in her nightmares. And after being captive for so long, and raped so frequently, Harris had begun to think she was pregnant. She was very late and it didn't take genius to figure out why.
"I don't want to have it," She mumbled to herself, just loud enough that a nearby medic tending to an injured bunny child heard her.
"What was that, ma'am?" The American soldier asked, looking over at her.
"Get it out of me!" Harris mumbled again. "Please, get it out of me!" She pleaded. The soldier's eyes widened slightly as he realized just what she meant. Tapping his wrist console, he quickly pulled up her file with all her information on it.
"Sweet Jesus," He swore as he saw her age. Looking back at her, he nodded to Harris, and put on the friendliest smile he could. "We have medical teams standing by on the field right now. We'll get you taken care of when we land, alright?"
"Thank you," Harris said with a nod of her head. "Thank you so much!"
"I'm just sorry we couldn't have gotten here sooner." The soldier replied sadly. "But we made those bastards pay. Barely any of them left when we pulled out, and there'll be even less when we go back."
"Won't be much longer at this rate," An injured Austrian Special Forces soldier said as he slowly rocked a bunny girl to sleep in his arms. "And if those fucks don't surrender by the time we're ready to kick the door in, we'll burn that fucking city to the ground.
"Might just burn the city down regardless of how quickly they surrender," A tall orc woman sitting next to the man added. "Flare knows the Imperials deserve it. After everything they've done to us, their whole rotten empire deserves to burn!"
"What is she saying?" Harris asked as she looked over at the Austrian. The man smiled and said,
"She says the Saderans are gonna regret the day they ever fucked with us!"
Here's the next chapter of UNDF, hope yall enjoy it!
PS: Who can guess the next future couple this story is gonna have?
"Please for God's sake stop sending our finest youth to be murdered on places like Iwo Jima." Contents of a letter sent to Navy Secretary James Forrestal by an unidentified American mother regarding the losses taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
50,000 Feet AGL
Skies of the Special Region
April 28th, 2081
Skies over Sadera
While the bombers attacking Rondel had been called off, the strike as a whole was not. The cities of Sadera, Telta, and Bellnahgo, as well as smaller cities such as Italica, and Crety, were still ongoing. In fact, since the bombers were called off Rondel, it meant that more ordnance and airframes were available for Operation Whirlwind.
A campaign of Shock and Awe against the Empire, against important Imperial infrastructure and military assets. Weapons stores, legionary barracks, dragon and wyvern pens, and the Temple of Immortals, where the legendary super soldiers of the Empire were bred and trained. By the time this operation was over, it was hoped that the Empire's military would be so crippled that it would be unable to respond to raids by barbarians or nomads, much less further military operations by the United Nations Task Forces.
It was also the hope of high command that such a display of destruction would finally convince the Royal Family, as well as the Imperial Senate, that the war was unwinnable, and sue for peace. If not however, then the United Nations would march onwards to Sadera and every other major city, and take them street by street, and house by house if that was necessary. It would be bloody for both sides, and to lessen the casualties on the United Nations' side, many Imperial troops would have to die.
"Darkstar 1 to Task Force Dagger, all targets have been marked, and synced with AWAC data link system." Flight Lieutenant Jessica Goldfarb said over the comm channel. "You are free to pick targets as you see fit."
"Roger that Darkstar," One of the squadron leaders called back. "We're five mikes out from Sadera, what's the status of Hammer Flight?" They asked, referring to the three active B-52 bombers.
"1-1 is currently in a holding pattern over Bellnahgo with Darkstar 2," Goldfarb replied. "1-2 and 1-3 are en route to Sadera and Telta respectively. Time to target for 1-2 is 10 mikes. Time to target for 1-3 and Darkstar 3 is 15 mikes, and should arrive just in time to rendezvous with the other half of Task Force Dagger."
"Affirmative Darkstar, splitting off now, and headed to respective targets. See you over Sadera, out!" The squadron leader said, switching to a different channel. Now all they had to do was wait. Wait as the fighters from Fort Hadrian reached the skies over Sadera, and the carrier based fighters in the Blue Sea reached Telta. The wait wasn't particularly long, but for Goldfarb and her flight mates, it felt like an eternity. They said nothing for a few minutes, silently waiting for the fighter groups to get into position, and for the green light to be given to rain hell upon the Empire. Then one of the flight data officers spoke up.
"Darkstar's one, two, and three have confirmed the existence of 107 prisoners of Earth origin within the cities of Sadera, Bellnahgo, and Telta. The numbers are still increasing as well, especially in the slave quarter of Sadera." He said, the expression on his face one of sadness as he selected the profile of one of the prisoners. One who shared his last name. There was no missing the tear that ran down his face either.
In the postwar world, DNA samples taken at birth were extremely common, as all hospitals were mandated to take them. This system meant that a significant number of murderers and rapists were brought to justice if they left behind any DNA on their victims. It also meant that everyone in the military, as well as dependants and family were cataloged as well. In the very rare case a UN servicemen popped up on the display of data, the profile would come up as dark blue, with family and dependants a light blue color.
"This God damned war!" Flight Officer Cummings cursed. "God damned Imperials! Why couldn't these bastards have just left us alone?"
"All these bastards know is war," Flight Commander Irvine answered in a tired voice. "But they don't know war like we do. So we'll show them how we fight the war we know. Lieutenant Dowling?" Irvine called out, looking over at the man in question.
"Yes sir!" Dowling replied quickly.
"We have operatives in the city, don't we? The ones helping provide targeting information?"
"Yes sir, there are five teams on the ground in Sadera right now," Dowling said, typing a command into his datapad, and projecting the information onto one of the view screens. "One Ghost, one Japanese, one Israeli, one German, and one Austrian team are in the field, with half the Japanese and German teams located at the safehouse. Bringing up their locations on the tac-feed now!" He said, and one of the view screens lit up with the drone feed of Darkstar 1, and the location of the five teams in real time.
The JSDF detachment outside the safehouse consisted of six men split into two teams; Team 1, with callsigns Saber, Archer, and Lanser, were atop a roof with a clear view of the Immortals Temple, providing laser targeting for the incoming bomber. Team 2, callsigns Berserker, Rider, and Caster, were lasing the large Flame Dragon pens that were visible from their position. The Israeli team was on the opposite end of the city from the slave quarter. The Germans were about 1,000 meters away, while the Austrian team was less than 100 feet away from the slave quarter. Less than 100 feet away from where the younger sister of one of his subordinates was being held.
"Whose in command of the Austrian team?" Irvine asked. Dowling tapped his datapad a few more times and the profile of an Austrian Army Major came up on the screen.
Major Felix Cabanac, age 35, Squad Leader, Austrian Jagdkommando Group.
Irvine had served with the man nearly a decade ago, flying one of the last active Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon in a bombing mission against a small holdout of Phauthi soldiers who attacked the city of Río Gallegos, Argentina, after fleeing from their bunker in the Andes Mountains. It was the last holdout active on Earth, and the two men were part of the large task force that drove the aliens from the Andes, and eventually battled them through Argentina. Of the four Typhoons in his squadron from The Falklands, his was the only one not shot down. If not for the timely arrival of American F-35's from two American carriers, he would have joined his squadron mates in the afterlife.
He was the first pilot to respond to a call for assistance from then Lieutenant Cabanac, whose position was close to being overrun, and in desperate need of assistance. The bombs he dropped that day saved many lives, and broke the back of the alien holdout, which was subsequently wiped out by American Airborne and Marine forces who landed mere hours later. Cabanac told Irvine that he owed him one, and whatever he may need, whenever he may need it, he could call in the favor he was owed. Major Cabanac's team was also in the middle of placing IR targeting beacons across the various barracks building across the city, while simultaneously marking targets for the incoming fighters. Irvine then looked over to his subordinate, Lieutenant Harris.
His younger sister, a mere 16 years old, was but a few dozen feet away from a single member of Cabanac's team, who was disguised in the middle of a crowd in the slave quarter. A good commander takes care and looks after his subordinates. Irvine had a decision to make, and he had already made it.
"Patch me through to Major Cabanac, it's time to call in a favor!"
"Access Code White Wolf Authenticated. Secure Line to Asset Black Eagle 159 Granted."
"It's been a long time, Flight Commander Irvine," Major Cabanac said as he ducked into a nearby alley, and out of sight of patrolling Legionaries. "Last time we spoke, you were my best man at my wedding."
"It was a much better time back then." Irvine replied.
"Indeed it was. So what do I owe the pleasure of this call? You finally get out from behind a desk, and back in the cockpit?" Cabanac asked, to which Irvine just chuckled.
"I'm afraid not, my friend. Do you remember the favor you owe me for Argentina?" Irvine asked, getting straight to the point.
"I didn't expect you'd ever let me forget about it. What do you need, my friend?"
"You are aware you and your team are next to a slave market, are you not?"
"I am, and I have noticed a few of them are most certainly our own people. But we-"
"The sister of one of my men is in the slave market just a hundred feet away from you, Cabanac!" Irvine interrupted. "I wouldn't be asking you to intervene if it wasn't for a good reason. But I am calling in that favor."
There was silence over the comm channel for a few seconds, with a few of Cabanac's team linking back up with him in the alley, and looking to him for further orders.
"Do you understand what you're asking sir? We're close to the safe house, but we have no support." Cabanac said grimly. "We could do it, but even if we get them to the safe house, we cannot get them all out of the city."
"Yes I do, Cabanac, and I will take care of that. I just need you to get those people out of there!"
There was another few seconds of silence on the line as Cabanac glanced over at his XO and Staff Sergeant who awaited further orders. Letting out a sigh, he answered.
"Roger that, we'll get it done. Do you want us to grab all the slaves, or just our own people?" He asked.
"I am not going to order you to leave people behind, but our people need to come home, Cabanac." Irvine said.
"Understood. We'll take care of it! Just make sure we get some help to get them out of here."
"You will, my old friend. Thank you for this."
"It's not a problem, Irvine. Black Eagle out!" Cabanac said, cutting the transmission, and turned to his squad members.
"I guess that means we're getting these people out sir?" Staff Sergeant Lukas Fischer.
"You're damn right it does, Sergeant! Get the other teams on the radio, and let them know what we're about to do. See if we can't at least get the Japanese or Germans to help us out here! Lieutenant Bauer, ready the men, and let's get our people out of here."
"Yes sir!" the two men replied immediately, and set off to carry out their orders.
"Thirty seconds to target!" The commander of the second half of Task Force Dagger called over the radio.
"Hammer 1-2 is on station and has eyes on the Flame Dragon pens, preparing to drop ordnance." The B-52 bomber pilot announced, the data uplink in the Tactical Operations Center being updated as the bomber targeted the sleeping giants with its heaviest ordnance.
"Be advised, one of the dragon pens is empty, and the 4th Flame Dragon is currently inside the city of Telta." Flight Lieutenant Goldfarb said.
"Affirmative Momma Bird, we got eyes on the ugly reptile sitting in its pen," Hammer 1-3 replied. "Got a full payload of bunker busters and high explosive for him."
"On station and ready to engage, Darkstar 1!" Said the commander of the first half of Task Force Dagger. "All HUD's are synced properly and each aircraft has selected their targets, just waiting for you navy boys to get in position!"
"Ten seconds to weapons release!" Goldfarb said, the anticipation becoming almost unbearable.
"Black Eagle is in position sir!" Lieutenant Dowling called out. "Both the Israeli and Japanese teams are enroute to assist now sir!"
"Good!" Wing Commander Irvine replied, looking at the clock as it counted down to the last seconds.
5
4
3
2
1
Across every screen in the TOC, indicators flashed signaling the release of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of munitions were let loose upon their targets. Twenty seconds later, multiple impacts were registered all across the TOC as dozens of guided bombs and bunker busters were dropped on the cities of Sadera, Bellnahgo, and Telta. As the bombs exploded, and plumes of smoke and flame shot up into the sky, cheers rang out across the room as the mightiest units of the Empire, and thousands upon thousands of its soldiers, were systematically wiped out. It had even seemed as though the Imperial forces were caught sleeping. In some cases, they in fact were.
In Bellnahgo, the single Flame Dragon present in the city was asleep in its pen. It never knew what hit it as multiple bunker busters and vacuum bombs were dropped directly atop the creature. The barracks buildings, armories, and smaller wyvern pens followed in quick succession, as the legionaries within the city, being so far from the front, grew complacent. Only the barest of patrols were on the city walls and parapets and no wyverns were in the sky over the city. Their complacency became their downfall as bombs flattened buildings full of sleeping and resting Imperial troops. Legionaries who had been enjoying time off in the city proper or had been out on patrol, soon found that they had nowhere to return to. Many thousands of men lay dead in their now crumpled barracks, most of their weapons burned in the bombed armories, and what was left of the garrison was in disarray.
In Sadera, the defending garrison was awake, expecting an attack. However, what they were preparing for did little to help them. The Temple of Immortals, who was undergoing a changing of the guard, with half the Immortals returning from patrol, and the other half preparing to leave, was the very first target to be hit by over two dozen guided bombs, of which the lightest was 2,000 pounds. The city shook under the massive explosion that overtook the building as thermobaric munitions fell atop the building directly after the high explosive ordnance. Hundreds of Immortals, some intact, others torn apart, flew through the air, and slammed down to the ground. Air was sucked from their lungs and the concussive force from over 20,000 pounds of high explosive bombs shattered their bones and turned their internal organs into liquid. Hundreds of bodies were soon strewn about the streets, seemingly intact, but blood gushing from holes in their armor. Even if their legendary armor hadn't been broken, their bodies were broken.
Mere seconds after the Temple of Immortals was turned to ruin, the three Flame Dragon pens were assaulted directly by Hammer 1-2, as well as a quarter of the fighter bombers and drones now present. Two of the dragons had been awoken by the initial explosions, while another was already awake. The two newly awoken dragons barely had time to look up until multiple bunker busters and armor piercing guided munitions slammed into their heads, neck, and torso. Chunks of flesh and scales flew into the air as the various mages and legionaries around them either disintegrated, or fled in terror from the massed aerial assault.
The third dragon, which was in the process of eating, opened its jaws and let out a loud roar right as a 2,000 pound Paveway guided bomb flew into its mouth, and lodged itself in the creatures throat. A second later, the bomb exploded, blowing its neck apart in a shower of blood and gore that coated the area in and around the pen. Half a dozen other bombs fell atop the creatures body in short order, further desecrating the dragon's body.
With the biggest threats now neutralized, the aircraft over the skies of Sadera focused their efforts on softer targets. Many dozens of barracks, small and large, and any armory and wyvern pen within the city was bombarded from the air. A few wyverns managed to take to the skies, but were soon swatted town by the handful of fighter escorts with complete air to air loadouts. The massive encampments just outside the city, with hundreds of tents and thousands of men, were doused with napalm and high explosives, creating a firestorm of death and destruction in the ranks of the Imperial forces.
Finally, in Telta, the outcome was more or less the same. The Flame Dragon was blown apart in its pen, the barracks and armories destroyed, and the encampments built outside the city turned into an inferno of charred bodies and craters. The only difference at Telta was a mass gathering of Imperial Navy ships in the Rho River, which was in the process of offloading thousands of legionaries into the city, as well as loading cargo and war beasts. It was a massive gathering of Imperial troops, a gathering so large that hitting it would be a major blow to the Empire. Half the naval aircraft in the strike force had targeted the fleet all along the Rho River, and what resulted was nothing short of a complete, and utter massacre.
Hundreds of vessels ranging from troop transports to warships were assaulted by aircraft carrying incendiary bombs that set the Imperial fleet ablaze. Within minutes, nearly the entire fleet was burning, the dock and port facilities destroyed, and many ships sunk at anchor, or sinking in the middle of the river. The Rho River ran black as burning debris and bodies choked the waterway. Some ships with crews having already been burned alive, sailed aimlessly in all directions. Some beached themselves, some sunk, and some even went so far as to collide with other ships on the river.
One Japanese pilot who took part in the strike on the Telta Naval Port would go on to say that; "It was the Empire's Pearl Harbor, only it actually crippled them."
As crude as the comparison was, it wasn't wrong. Even Admiral Yamamoto couldn't have dreamed of success at the levels of the Telta Massacre. While most of the warships of the Imperial Navy were sunk off the Icelandic coast or from the nuclear detonation right outside Bravo Point, it had many transports left to ferry troops around the continent via the Rho River. The Empire's remaining warships not at sea, were located at Telta, and every last one was destroyed or critically damaged.
Tens of thousands were either dead or dying by the time the strike force had offloaded its deadly cargo, and turned for home.
By the end of Operation Whirlwind, a significant portion of the Empire's remaining military strength had been destroyed, with heavy emphasis on the naval massacre at Telta, which killed tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers and sailors on the Rho River alone. Much of its experienced cadres were dead, their training and war camps in ruin, forts and armories destroyed, and the remaining forces in total disarray. Sure, there were hundreds of thousands more Saderan troops across the continent, but they were either being mobilized and trained after many years of civilian life, or were too far to be of actual use for the Empire.
But the full extent of Operation Whirlwind would go beyond just the military aspect of the bombing. In the city of Bellnahgo, the last bombs dropped by Hammer Flight had landed atop the Magic Academy within the city. An Academy where magical concoctions and potions were experimented with and created for the Imperial Army's Mages. Those very same potions were potent ones, and in the case of one new potion, very incendiary. When the explosions overtook the Academy, they set off a cache of what Grand Mage Godasen had named "Saderan Fire", meant for wyvern riders to drop upon enemy formations. The fires that resulted from the destruction of the Academy had spread all over the city.
Homes, businesses, smaller barracks that were intentionally avoided due to proximity to civilians, and even houses of worship. As United Nations aircraft left the airspace over Bellnahgo, the fires reached the Temple of Hardy, where many thousands were gathered for prayer, and for safety. Thousands of men, women, and children burned inside the church as the city was engulfed in an inferno. While the Empire's remaining military strength had been all but destroyed, the United Nations had unwittingly committed the largest massacre of civilians in the Earth-Saderan War.
The path to the Empire's major cities was now open for the United Nations, but it had come at a horrendous cost in the lives of innocents, including some of the citizens captured by the Empire during the Battle of Iceland.
Samantha Harris had almost lost hope in ever being rescued. She and all those poor souls who were kidnapped in Iceland all those months ago. Ever since that fateful day, she and thousands of other people from dozens of nations were forced into slavery, and subject to hellish conditions. Murder, rape, assault, sleep and food deprivation, humiliation, anything and everything you could think of that could be done to someone, was done to them. In the brutal march from the portal atop that damn hill, through the city of Italica, and finally to Sadera, hundreds had died. Most were tossed into unmarked graves or left for the vultures to pick clean.
The majority of the men had been beaten and the women raped. Not even the teenagers or young children were spared these atrocities. Not even she was spared that horrible ordeal. Many times in the night she'd be dragged away and raped. Sometimes by one man, sometimes by a group. Harris had noted that her and the other teenage girls were chosen more often than the older women for their sick fun. Some of the nobles even preferred the younger girls that were amongst them. The trek across the continent was absolute hell for them all. So many had died while going from that wretched hill to this disgusting city.
Although once they reached Sadera, the treatment had improved, if but marginally. The Saderans had wanted to sell Samantha and all the other survivors as slaves. So the troops weren't allowed to rape them as they wished, which annoyed them, and they had to be fed more. Everyone had lost so much weight that the extra food was a godsend to them.
But for many, it still wasn't enough. Some had medical conditions that were exasperated by the lack of food and brutal treatment, and despite the orders to treat the prisoners better, some had died in the pens. Then without warning, rations were cut again for all prisoners. At first they didn't understand why, then they started to hear whispers. Whispers of men in dark green, brown, and black, who massacred the Imperial troops at Alnus, and that retreating Imperial troops had been ordered to burn fields of crops and poison water wells leading to Sadera. That the main port in which goods for Sadera came through had been lost and that the army sent to take the port back had been slaughtered to the last. Even those gigantic dragons that left that day hadn't come back.
Many of them knew what had happened, and were holding out hope of being rescued. Harris had even seen high flying planes in the sky over the city. When she saw those planes, Harris knew that the United Nations hadn't forgotten them. She just had to hold out hope that soon an army would be outside the gates of the city, and would storm it just as the Coalition of the Willing stormed Baghdad in 2003.
Then the explosions began.
The moment the explosions sounded all around the city, Cabanac and his team moved into action. With most of the legionaries and slave traders disoriented or frightened by the multitude of explosions that rocked the city, they failed to notice that instead of running away, some men were getting closer and closer to their position. By the time any of them noticed, it was far too late. Cabanac shrugged his cape off, raised his StG 89 rifle, and fired. From alleyways and rooftops, the Austrian Commandos tore through the slave market, killing slavers and legionaries alike. Some tried to fight back, but most were too stunned to react. Some who weren't frozen in shock and fear attempted to flee, but were given no quarter.
One Corporal jumped off a nearby rooftop, landing atop a legionary standing guard aside a slave pen. Locking the man's head in an iron grip, he twisted the legionary's neck hard, and sickening crunch sound was heard by those inside the pen. Within moments, the slave market was cleared of hostiles, as well as the resident merchants. All those left alive were the members of Black Eagle and the slaves kept in the assortment of cages all around them.
"All clear?" Cabanac's XO shouted as he swept forward with his fireteam towards the western entry to the market, as Staff Sergeant Fischer's fireteam secured the eastern approach.
"Clear!" Fischer yelled out, firing two shot from his rifle at two legionaries who tried running towards the slave quarter, gladius' at the ready. "We'll keep them back sir, let's get these people out of here."
"König, Haas, start getting these cages open, we got two minutes to get the hell out of here!" Cabanac ordered as he took aim at the lock on the central slave pen, and shot it off. He threw open the door and walked a pace inside, pausing to tap at his wrist console from which a holographic display of a woman came up. Continuing onward, his helmet visor turned clear, and he made his way over to a woman that his HUD had highlighted, and knelt down beside her. "Samantha Harris?" He said, watching the girl's eyes light up as he said her name.
"Yes!" The girl answered back shakily, eyes welling up with tears as she realized that her own personal hell had just ended.
"You're going home, Miss Harris." Cabanac said. "All of you are going home!" As he said this, many of those within the pen, as well as those in the surrounding ones, broke down in sobbing disbelief. They were finally rescued and they were going home.
"It's over," One woman whimpered as she staggered out of the pen, and collapsed into the arms of the team's medic. "It's finally over!" She said, gripping the man in a tight hug and crying into his chest.
"It is alright," He said in slow, accented English. "You are safe now."
"Darkstar Actual, this Black Eagle 159, all prisoners are secured, retreating to safehouse Alpha now." Major Cabanac said as he helped Harris out of the pen, and motioned for the others to follow.
"Roger that Black Eagle! You're in the clear right now, but you need to haul ass to the safehouse immediately!" Darkstar Actual replied over the comm. "Berserker's team just intercepted a group of legionaries trying to reach the slave quarter, so the path is clear for now!"
"Affirmative Darkstar," Cabanac said. "Let's go, we've gotta get out of here!"
"We have a problem, sir!" Sergeant König called out.
"What is it, Sergeant?" Cabanac said as he turned, and was greeted by the answer. The market held hundreds of slaves packed densely together in overcrowded cages. They could account for just shy of 100 citizens of Earth among the many hundreds of slaves present. But the rest were an assortment of elves, catgirls, warrior rabbits, and other various demihuman species. All of which looked hopeful at the handful of Austrian soldiers who were seemingly shepherding away a group of select humans, but leaving the rest of them behind. They all looked hopefully at commandos, hoping that these were the saviors they too prayed to their gods for.
"You won't leave us, will you?" One of the rabbit women asked, whose left ear was half cut off.
"Please take us with you." A male human pleaded.
"We can't just leave them, sir," Private Haas said. "We can't just take a few and leave the rest. It's not right sir."
"Damn it!" Cabanac cursed under his breath.
"I'm not going to just leave them here," Corporal Haas said as he took his pair of bolt cutters to the remaining cages, and broke the locks with trivial ease. "Come on, all of you!" Haas said in slow, heavily accented Saderan.
"You all safe now! We take you safety!" One of the Lance Corporals in his squad added.
"We're gonna get bogged down in these streets pretty damn quickly if we take them all," Staff Sergeant Fischer said.
"We'll get bogged down in these streets regardless of what we do," Sergeant König replied. "And I agree with Haas, we aren't going to leave them behind!"
"We better figure it out soon!" Lieutenant Bauer called out as the ground began to shake and many of the slaves cried out in panic and fear. From the east, an ogre was stomping their way at a trot, and would be on them very quickly. "Weber, load the Gustav!" Bauer ordered, although a bit late as the Private had already unslung it and had loaded a round in the breach.
"Backblast clear!" Weber called out as he pulled the trigger. A loud bang followed as the round left the tube and slammed into the ogre a split second later. The 84mm High Explosive round blew a hole in the beast's armor, which caused the armor to fall apart, leaving the ogre's chest exposed. Its bloody and gory chest, its heart exposed to the air, and beating furiously. The monster roared in pure anger and pain, and the look on its face became one of pure murder.
"Shit!" Weber cursed as he loaded his second and last round into the Gustav's chamber.
"Let's go! We gotta go!" Major Cabanac called out, signalling for his team to rally up, and motioning them down the empty street towards the evacuation site. Another loud bang and the ogre let out a gurgling death rattle as the second round, an Area Defense Munition loaded with over 1,000 flechettes, acted as a point blank shotgun blast into the ogre's heart and lungs.
"Now we can go!" Weber said cheekily as more explosions began to rock the city, and familiar, yet unknown sounds of low flying aircraft engines could be heard. Looking to his right, Weber saw a warrior rabbit, a child by her size, with a broken foot who was desperately trying to keep up with her comrades, who seemingly ignored her. "I got you little one!" He said as he scooped her up with his left arm, and made his way with the fleeing masses of former slaves, and his fellow commandos.
"This is Black Eagle 159, all HVT's secured, but we ran into a bit of a problem!" Major Cabanac called over the comm channel.
"We can see that. I take it there was no option to leave them behind?" Flight Commander asked, not entirely seriously.
"Not unless I wanted half my squad to mutiny and take them anyway," Cabanac replied with utmost seriousness.
"Should have guessed that was the case." Irvine replied. "I got something similar from the German squad commander when he reported in about the slaves they rescued."
"Yeah, well there better be enough room for us to get them all out, or it'll be a slaughter!" Sergeant König interrupted.
"We already planned for this contingency, just get to the evac zone, and you'll be safe." Commander Irvine's replied. "I am uploading the location to you and the other teams HUD's. Get there and we'll be able to get them all out of here!"
"Yes sir, we will be there!" Cabanac replied. Shifting focus to his HUD momentarily, he saw exactly where the extraction point was located. 500 meters directly south, right outside the main gate to the city. And as Cabanac and his squad ushered the hundreds of freed slaves towards their destination, they soon realized how tall an order they were given.
While the barracks and wyvern pen around the gate had been smashed to hell and gone, there was still a lot of legionaries on the streets. Legionaries were also coming out of the buildings, and his already stretched squad, were stretching themselves even thinner to cover all the gaps, but it wasn't good enough. There was just too many of them and they were too large of a group. Panicked and pained shrieks came from the group as many were cut down by swords and spears. Black Eagle squad tried to defend their charges, but they were simply too outnumbered.
"THEY'RE ALL AROUND!" Private Weber yelled out as he emptied the mag of his StG 89 into a charging legionary, whose body fell forward and collapsed directly in front of the wounded bunny girl whose hands gripped his leg in a vice like grip that seemed almost impossible for a girl of her size. The girl cried out in a language he couldn't understand, but one word she kept on repeating transcended any language barrier.
"Momma! Momma! I want my Momma!" She sobbed out as Weber hurriedly reloaded, and lifted the girl back into his arms.
"WE CAN'T DO THIS ALONE!" Sergeant König shouted just before an arrow slammed into his helmet, staggering him, and disorienting him for a few seconds. That few seconds was all it took for an Immortal to leap from a nearby house, and land a blow that sent König flying into a group of civilians behind him. Looking up at his attacker, he noted the blue flames licking out from the eye holes of his helmet, and the glowing blue sword that was raised, and had begun to fall. But as the sword came halfway down, the blade was shattered by a bright blue-green projectile that tore through the Immortal wielding the sword. The loud bang that accompanied the projectile sounded as if it had come from a cannon. Another loud bang followed and another projectile blew the head of the Immortal apart, forcing the headless corpse to fall to its knees.
"Who said you boys were alone?" Came a strange, electronically modified voice over the comm channel. The voice was joined by gunfire from at least two dozen different sources, all of which sounded as if they were above ground level.
Picking himself back up and grabbing his rifle, he looked to the source of his good fortunes, and saw a soldier wearing an exotic and unknown set of Exo-Skeletal Armor, wielding what looked to be a miniaturized railgun with a glowing barrel. Standing to either side were two more soldiers in a similar set up, albeit with slight differences.
"We got you covered, get those civilians to the extraction point!" Came the voice of the German squad leader as his team began raining fire upon the slowly decreasing number of legionaries in the streets around them.
"Ogre coming up the street!" One of the Japanese Operators called out. The beast stomped their way, shaking the ground with each footfall, and swinging a massively oversized club. A second later, more loud booms and bright flashes lit up the street, and three glowing projectiles ripped through the beasts armor as if it wasn't even there. The creature fell flat on its face, two smoking holes on its torso, and one in its head.
"Go goddammit!" One of the garbled voices called out again over the net. "Every last legionary that ain't at the palaces is converging on our position!"
"You heard him, men!" Major Cabanac said as he loaded a fresh magazine and rallied his men forward. "If we don't get moving, we're going to be overrun!"
On they went, tearing through the hundreds of legionaries who came to meet them on the street, leaving a bloody trail of carnage in their wake until they were but 100 meters from the main gate to the city, and to freedom. German, Japanese, and what Cabanac could only assume where the vaunted and secretive "Task Force Ghost" were leaping from rooftop to rooftop in order to follow and provide support for the team and the civilians they were leading out.
"We're almost there everyone, just a little bit further!" Sergeant König shouted to the mass of people following them. As tired, exhausted, and brutalized as they all were, the idea of freedom being just outside the main gate was enough to give them just enough energy to keep them going. All of them seemed to run faster at the urging and the realization that their nightmare was almost over. Then, a stream of blue bolts came their way, and three of Cabanac's team were cut down. Two of his men fell screaming, one did not.
"Incom-" The Japanese operator was cut off as a nearby roof was hit with a large glowing ball of light and exploded. One of the SOG's was incinerated instantly, while the other went flying into the air, before landing on the ground with a sound reminiscent of a watermelon being hit with a baseball bat.
Up ahead, they could see the source of their problems. Blocking their way out of the gate, was a mage, with about 20 Immortals, standing guard around many dead and wounded legionaries and Immortals alike. They had been expecting Cabanac and his team, and had them right where they wanted them. More bolts cut through civilians who couldn't fall to the ground in time, and another of his men was struck by three bolts to the chest, and crumpled instantly. Half of the Immortals focused solely on them, while the mage, a Human woman in her late 20's, with a horizontal scar across her face, focused her efforts with the other Immortals on the rooftops and surrounding buildings.
One by one, the buildings around them were either collapsing or set afire, and the operators atop them had to flee or be killed. Based on some of the chatter they could hear, there were more casualties among the Japanese and German teams, but the Ghosts were oddly silent. Of the buildings closer to the mage and her Immortals, windows and doors flew open, revealing crossbow armed legionaries who got their hits on the operators on the street. Cabanac and his team were being funnelled into a killzone and like rank amateurs, they fell for the trap. But how and why was there a mage and force of Immortals laying in wait around the main gate? Or were these Imperials just very lucky?
None of them had time to think about that. All Cabanac and his team were focused on was their immediate survival, which seemed less and less likely as the bolts continued to come their way. At least two of his team were dead, half were injured to varying degrees, and a bloody toll had been exacted on the newly freed slaves who hid behind whatever cover they could find, or simply lay on the ground, hoping they wouldn't be hit.
They had walked right into a killzone and were paying for it. Even as familiar sounding booms and flashes rang out behind them, and Immortals fell over as if they were bowling pins, the massacre continued. Even as smoke grenades were thrown out in front of them, and the vision of the enemy obscured greatly, their position was still very tenuous.
"They're tearing us apart, sir!" Corporal Kassel moaned as he clutched at his horribly burnt chest. A blast from an Immortal had vaporized his armor, and had just enough energy left to leave a terrible open wound, surrounded by burns across his whole chest. Corporal Westfall, the team's medic, had done his best to treat it, but he needed a trauma center. Facilities in Alnus or Iceland wouldn't be enough, they would have to evacuate him to Britain or Germany.
But that was assuming they would make it out of here. Something that most of them had begun to doubt, until half a dozen of the "Ghosts" appeared seemingly out of thin air, each spaced out evenly across the width of the street, and each holding a strange rectangular shaped device in their hands. As one, they each pressed a button on the devices, and placed them down in a hurry. Stepping backward a few paces, a loud buzzing sound could be heard, then suddenly a wall of light came forth from each, rising into the air, and to either side, interlocking with the other devices, and creating a solid wall of light.
A solid wall of light that stopped the bolts from the mage and her Immortals dead in their tracks. It was at that moment Cabanac and his team realized what they were seeing. They were looking at an honest to god energy shield. Not a trophy system that took out rockets and mortars before they reached their target, but an actual energy shield that absorbed the hits as if they were nothing.
"Gott in Himmel!" Lieutenant Bauer gasped.
"I'll be damned," Private Weber muttered as he held the still sobbing child in his left arm.
"You will not be damned if we have a say in it!" A very feminine sounding voice said as three beams of light connected with the shield, and seemed to not only make it grow in height and width, but also in strength. Three demihumans, an orc, a warrior rabbit, and a dark elf, advanced slowly but steadily, arms pointed forward as they each projected a different color from their body. "Where are your giant metal birds? I intend to see this vile bitch torn asunder by those explosive arrows they wield!" A tall, green skinned orc woman with white hair asked, her voice laced with venom.
"You know that bitch?" One of the Ghosts asked in the garbled voice their helmet gave off.
"I'm the reason she has that scar on her face," The Orc woman growled. "And why I have the ones across my chest and stomach." The rage and hatred in her voice and eyes was visible to all, and none wanted to get in her way. She seemed ready to leap over the shield and charge directly at the mage and her Immortal guards, but she would never get the chance. The roaring of engines and sight of five low flying aircraft brought cheers to the Special Forces operators and civilians who had been captured in Iceland.
Wraith Combat Drones, designed by the United States, Great Britain, and Japan, were the cutting edge of unmanned ground attack aircraft in the UNDF Air Arm. Capable of reaching speeds of mach 1 and with range and armament size equivalent to most legacy fighters still in use, Wraiths were a terrifying drone to face on the battlefield. And given that they were fully autonomous and made their own decisions, Wraiths were extremely deadly.
Missiles were launched and they flew into and exploded among the masses of legionaries, auxiliary, and Immortals in and around the main gate, to include the force that was bearing down on the assorted operators trying to escape. A mixture of high explosive and shrapnel based warheads made quick work of the vast majority of the Saderan forces on the ground. In fact, the only one who seemed to have survived the initial bombardment was-
"Well I'll be damned!" One of the Germans remarked.
As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, there was only one person still standing amidst the carnage. The female mage who led the ambush against Cabanac and his team, eyes glowing a bright blue the same color as the shield around her body. She looked up at the source of her misfortune, glaring impotently at the five flying death machines that now turned their autocannons against her shield. She winced and fell to her knees as she focused her energy into keeping the shield raised around her.
"There's no fucking way!" One of the Ghosts remarked as they deactivated their energy shield, and the remaining operators and their charges slowly inched forward.
The mage looked back up, this time at the operators, and more specifically, the three demihumans who were leading out front with the Ghosts. Her eyes burned even brighter as she caught sight of the orc woman, who had already pulled a purple glowing sword from a sheathe on her back, and made ready to charge at the Imperial.
"You will die!" She snarled, gripping the sword hilt tighter and leaping forward. The Wraiths ceased firing and pulled back as the orc woman began to approach the mage, and her shield began taking on an even brighter and less transparent glow.
"Not today, you orc scum!" Were the only words she spoke as the shield turned bright white, momentarily blinding all those looking in her direction. As the orc woman swung her sword and was preparing to make contact with the shield, it disappeared, taking the mage with it, and any hope of revenge for the orc woman.
The orc looked stunned for a few moments, looking back at where the mage once was, but was no longer. The look of rage on her face twisted into one of pained regret and sadness. Slowly, she put the sword back in its sheath, looked back towards the group, and motioned for them to follow.
'It was over,' Samantha Harris thought to herself. 'Its finally over.' She had almost broke down and cried when the special forces team freed her and her fellow slaves from the cages they had spent weeks in. But when they finally escaped the city, and she saw the waiting aircraft sitting just outside the city gates, guarded by hundreds of American and Russian airborne soldiers, and was ushered aboard one of the massive planes, she did. Months of agony, despair, and feelings of hopelessness came surging forth, and poured from her like water from a running sink. All those who had been taken from Iceland that terrible day, and had survived long enough to be rescued, were no different from Harris.
No matter the gender, the race, religion, or sexuality of those rescued today, everyone cried. Cried tears of joy at finally being rescued, tears of sorrow for those who didn't make it to see this day, and tears of pain from the absolute hell they went through. For those native to this world, but also forced into the shackles of slavery, they too cried. Especially the nonhumans, who Harris had come to learn were horribly mistreated in this world. The rabbit women especially so. Saderan legionaries would often take them away for hours at a time to gangrape them. The physical and mental scars that had left on them...Harris didn't like to think about. Harris especially didn't like to think about the times she had been raped by those damn barbarians, but every single time she slept, she would see those men in her nightmares. And after being captive for so long, and raped so frequently, Harris had begun to think she was pregnant. She was very late and it didn't take genius to figure out why.
"I don't want to have it," She mumbled to herself, just loud enough that a nearby medic tending to an injured bunny child heard her.
"What was that, ma'am?" The American soldier asked, looking over at her.
"Get it out of me!" Harris mumbled again. "Please, get it out of me!" She pleaded. The soldier's eyes widened slightly as he realized just what she meant. Tapping his wrist console, he quickly pulled up her file with all her information on it.
"Sweet Jesus," He swore as he saw her age. Looking back at her, he nodded to Harris, and put on the friendliest smile he could. "We have medical teams standing by on the field right now. We'll get you taken care of when we land, alright?"
"Thank you," Harris said with a nod of her head. "Thank you so much!"
"I'm just sorry we couldn't have gotten here sooner." The soldier replied sadly. "But we made those bastards pay. Barely any of them left when we pulled out, and there'll be even less when we go back."
"Won't be much longer at this rate," An injured Austrian Special Forces soldier said as he slowly rocked a bunny girl to sleep in his arms. "And if those fucks don't surrender by the time we're ready to kick the door in, we'll burn that fucking city to the ground.
"Might just burn the city down regardless of how quickly they surrender," A tall orc woman sitting next to the man added. "Flare knows the Imperials deserve it. After everything they've done to us, their whole rotten empire deserves to burn!"
"What is she saying?" Harris asked as she looked over at the Austrian. The man smiled and said,
"She says the Saderans are gonna regret the day they ever fucked with us!"
Updated List of Cities Hit By Nuclear Ordnance During The War
- Location
- Reynoldsville, Pa
Looking at how long ago I made this, I figure it needed an update really bad. If you guys have any questions, go ahead and ask.
The America's:
The United States:
Texas: El Paso/Ciudad Juárez and Laredo.
California: San Diego, Oakland, and San Bernardino.
Utah: Salt Lake City
Nevada: Las Vegas
Louisiana: Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, Lockport, and New Iberia.
Florida: Clearwater, Largo, St. Petersburg, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale.
Mississippi: Gulfport.
Michigan: Detroit and Dearborn
Maryland: Baltimore
Ohio: Cleveland
Arkansas: Harrison
Numerous saturation strikes in and around hardpoints in the United States, which carried cobalt-60 warheads, combined with global warming, has rendered most of the Gulf Coast uninhabitable. Between radioactive contamination and rising sea levels only exacerbated by the First Contact War, only strategically important cities along the Gulf Coast are still inhabited by American, Canadian, and Mexican military personnel. The shipyards at Pascagoula and Mobile, the Naval Base at Pensacola, and CENTCOM Headquarters in Tampa Bay, are among those which contain any major human presence along the Gulf Coast.
As it stands today in 2081, all of Florida south of Tampa Bay, is mostly abandoned due to tainted water supplies, and radiation. The same applies for most of coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Coastal Texas is mostly spared the
Brazil: Brasília, Rio de Janeiro
Mexico: El Paso/ Ciudad Juárez, Laredo, Mexicali, and Tijuana.
Chile: Talca
Europe:
France: Toulouse, Toulon, and Nice.
Italy: Rome
Spain/Britain: Gibraltar and Malaga.
Turkey: Izmir, Sirnak, and Adana.
Russia: Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Nazran, Grozny, Sochi, Rostov on Don, and Belgorod.
MENA
Libya: Tripoli
Egypt: Aswan and Port Said.
South Africa: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, East London, Durban, and Port Elizabeth
Israel: Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth, Jericho, and Bethlehem.
Iran: Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, and Hormoz Island.
Syria: Homs, Hama, Idlib, Ar Raqqah, and Aleppo.
Iraq: Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah, Basra, and Kirkuk.
Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Mecca, Medina, Buraydah, Tabuk, Jeddah, Damman, and Al Khobar.
Bahrain: Manama
Qatar: Doha
UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, and Al Ain.
Kuwait: Kuwait City
Oman: Muscat and Sohar.
Asia:
Pakistan: Karachi, Hyderabad, and Multan.
India: Varanasi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
China: Lhasa, Kunming, Baise, Tiandong, Nanning, Chongzuo, Sanya, Xingyi, Pu'er, and Hong Kong
Singapore: Singapore
Republic of Korea: Pyongyang
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City
Australia: Sydney
The America's:
The United States:
Texas: El Paso/Ciudad Juárez and Laredo.
California: San Diego, Oakland, and San Bernardino.
Utah: Salt Lake City
Nevada: Las Vegas
Louisiana: Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, Lockport, and New Iberia.
Florida: Clearwater, Largo, St. Petersburg, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale.
Mississippi: Gulfport.
Michigan: Detroit and Dearborn
Maryland: Baltimore
Ohio: Cleveland
Arkansas: Harrison
Numerous saturation strikes in and around hardpoints in the United States, which carried cobalt-60 warheads, combined with global warming, has rendered most of the Gulf Coast uninhabitable. Between radioactive contamination and rising sea levels only exacerbated by the First Contact War, only strategically important cities along the Gulf Coast are still inhabited by American, Canadian, and Mexican military personnel. The shipyards at Pascagoula and Mobile, the Naval Base at Pensacola, and CENTCOM Headquarters in Tampa Bay, are among those which contain any major human presence along the Gulf Coast.
As it stands today in 2081, all of Florida south of Tampa Bay, is mostly abandoned due to tainted water supplies, and radiation. The same applies for most of coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Coastal Texas is mostly spared the
Brazil: Brasília, Rio de Janeiro
Mexico: El Paso/ Ciudad Juárez, Laredo, Mexicali, and Tijuana.
Chile: Talca
Europe:
France: Toulouse, Toulon, and Nice.
Italy: Rome
Spain/Britain: Gibraltar and Malaga.
Turkey: Izmir, Sirnak, and Adana.
Russia: Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Nazran, Grozny, Sochi, Rostov on Don, and Belgorod.
MENA
Libya: Tripoli
Egypt: Aswan and Port Said.
South Africa: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, East London, Durban, and Port Elizabeth
Israel: Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth, Jericho, and Bethlehem.
Iran: Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, and Hormoz Island.
Syria: Homs, Hama, Idlib, Ar Raqqah, and Aleppo.
Iraq: Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah, Basra, and Kirkuk.
Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Mecca, Medina, Buraydah, Tabuk, Jeddah, Damman, and Al Khobar.
Bahrain: Manama
Qatar: Doha
UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, and Al Ain.
Kuwait: Kuwait City
Oman: Muscat and Sohar.
Asia:
Pakistan: Karachi, Hyderabad, and Multan.
India: Varanasi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
China: Lhasa, Kunming, Baise, Tiandong, Nanning, Chongzuo, Sanya, Xingyi, Pu'er, and Hong Kong
Singapore: Singapore
Republic of Korea: Pyongyang
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City
Australia: Sydney
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