Post by Sheng on Apr 26, 2024 0:24:08 GMT
"You knew, but you never truly believed. Not fully. That's common, so don’t worry about it. To know of the existence of something so… terrifying, so absolute, is not the same as knowing what it feels like any more than knowing how a car works will let you drive one.
You saw the broadcasts and you accepted that what they did was unfair, but you thought that was the extreme of it. You thought our anger was misled, or that what we were predicting was an over-reaction. That it deserved a boycott, not planning for an armed conflict.
‘The Crown was wrong to take it so far.’ Violent extremists resisting against a foreign coalition out of pride, right? But then the missiles hit and our very way of life was turned upside down. Suddenly, monsters are real and everything you thought you know is bullshit.
Sucks, doesn’t it?"
- M-A-A. O. Siermann. 66 AME
“The First Bastion”
Kingdom’s Standing Forces Muster Station
Northern Army Division, 30 kms away from the “Heros” Arcology
Altebrucke winced as another trio of fighters screeched overhead, engines ripping the very air around them apart as they banked to circle and keep watchful eyes out for any potential Mutagens trying to sneak their way towards the base. The Commander rubbed a gloved finger across his ear before turning back towards the gaggle of Officers standing in the lamp-lightened tent behind him, dust and gunpowder residue staining their wrinkly black uniforms as they pointed to several positions on the topographic map laid out before them and muttered about the best ways to conserve ammunition until the final logistical transporters could arrive. The preliminary bombardment had been going for three days now and several forward observers had reported that the Mutagenic Presence on the fallen Arcology had been thinned considerably as a result, but it was still just too high to send in ground elements. Altebrucke winced as a distant boom of thunder echoed out in the distance and rain continued to fall in a torrential downpour around them, the feverish patter-patter-patter of the droplets against the tarp above him drowning out all but the loudest of sounds. It was so loud he nearly couldn’t hear as the radio clipped onto his belt under his poncho crackled to life, with an individual on the other end saying “Crossguard, Scarecrow. Crossguard, Scarecrow.”
Altebrucke swore before reaching down and yanking the radio off of his belt and holding it up to his mouth, shouting over the screeching wind and plummeting rain whipping around him “This is Crossguard, send traffic!” A brief bout of static was his response before the voice replied in monotone; “Scarecrow transmitting. A report from Basilisk indicates an unexpected surge in hostile activity, a nearby U-A-V Squadron moved to intercept but was promptly mission-killed. Archangel-2 has also recently begun reporting a failure to identify, citing atmospheric influence.” And it was at that very moment as his hand fell back down to his waist that Altebrucke felt like hurling the radio out into the shrubbery and snapping it in half somehow at the same time all whilst screaming profanity to the high heavens.
Instead, he settled for letting a highly restrained sigh escape from his lips before raising the radio back up once more and responding “Crossguard copies all, Scarecrow! Pull back to Signal and report to the Contemporary Guard!” He barely heard the acknowledgement before he frustratingly clipped the device back down onto a hook on his belt and stormed over towards the table where the rest of the officers were conversing. He shook his poncho a few times as he entered the tent before yanking it off and tossing it haphazardly onto a makeshift coat rack before he stepped up to the table and entered the conversation.
One, a younger Ciarian woman, was pointing to a spot northwest of the fallen Arcologies’ Southern Gate where a large and red plastic circle had been placed to indicate higher Mutagenic presence. “The destroyers in orbit have completely lost all visual on the Arcology and terrain surrounding, prohibiting the continuation of the orbital bombardment. We’ve had to fall back on traditional artillery but with the smoke being generated even that is starting to become unreliable. Our scouts, both land and air-based, have reported an increase in target misses and collateral hits to the Arcology itself.” She held a hand up as another made to speak “Which I get isn’t a primary concern at the moment now that the civilians who could have, have been evacuated but keep in mind these are systems we will have to do additional repairs too and that will be neither easy nor safe for those involved.” One of the others, a Selenican clad in an armoured Battle Dress, nodded before he said “Lieutenant Steward speaks wisely, perhaps we ought to start thinking on alternative means of high-distance engagement- or, an alteration to our current methods. Perhaps a higher yield or even a different ammunition type? We have a series of mid-range cluster warheads we can affix to our missile pads as well as napalm and… don’t immediately bite my head off for suggesting it, but we do have low-yield nuclear.”
Predictably, several officers immediately began to voice their protest before he held his hands up and motioned for calm. Once they had quickly quieted he continued “I’m not saying we hit those in the Arcology, god forbid, but we COULD use them to thin out the hordes surrounding it. The warheads we have on are in the three to the eight-kiloton range, the walls of the Arcology would more than be able to resist the blast so long as we airburst the warheads at a distance of more than around a kilometre or two.”
The other Officers seemed a bit hesitant but all of them were at least considering the idea, which is when Altebrucke leaned in and pointed towards the circle Lt. Steward had been tapping as well as two other large circles near the Arcology. He looked over to the others and said “If we are to use them, we should detonate them in the centre of this horde and on the edges of these two. It would maximise hostile casualties whilst also posing the least risk to the Arcologies’ surviving infrastructure. It might also cull the numbers enough to enable the deployment of the rest of our ground forces when the remaining logistical apparatus arrives.”
The rest seemed to slowly be warming up to the idea, with Steward and the Selenican nodding their heads in support. Altebrucke waited a few more seconds before saying “Does anyone have any sort of objection? I know it is an… extreme measure, but in this situation failure to act swiftly might be equally- if not more costly.” The others leaned in and took a closer look at the map, pointing out and calculating distances between the three large circles and the Arcologies’ outer wall, each of them trying to plan or account for some sort of error or drawback, but when it was all tallied the cons were just too few and too minor compared to the alternatives. And slowly, one by one, they all leaned back with a wary acceptance signed into their expressions.
Two Hours Later…
Altebrucke held the PDA away from his ear as Ethelinda continued “-and I swear to Christ, Fennec, if I hear about even one of those missiles going so much as a metre off-course it’ll be your head!” Altebrucke hid a smile by biting down on his lower lip, meanwhile, now that the rain had let up, three sixteen-wheelers were slowly pulling into dugouts with the help of a few pairs of engineers who were holding marshall sticks and directing the drivers where to go. He turned away from the scene before bringing the PDA back next to his ear and saying in a calming tone “Of course, Ma’am. I will personally ensure that the weapons are utilised safely and effectively. They won’t even be so much as armed without my direct supervision.” He then quickly moved to turn on background noise suppression as a large mechanical whirring sounded behind him, the massive pointed missiles that had been resting on the backs of the trucks slowly being pushed up to a fifty-degree angle by sets of hydraulic lifters.
The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds before Ethelinda said with just a sprinkle of nervousness; “Is this truly necessary, Commander? Nuclear weapons utilised just outside of an Arcology..?” Altebrucke’s amusement quickly dissipated at that, a careful frown replacing the poorly concealed smile as he responded, “Truth be told Ma’am, it should have been their first response.” Ethelinda was silent. “Heros would have known well in advance about an attack of this size and with the numbers that descended upon them, missiles should have been the first thing fired their way. The residual radiation alone would have bought the Arcology enough time to call for reinforcements, that they didn’t may well have been one of the final nails in the coffin for their survival.” Altebrucke looked back around before saying “Nevertheless, we’ll investigate the matter once the Arcology is reclaimed.”
Altebrucke’s bicoloured eyes narrowed as the missiles locked into place with a quick blare of a siren, personnel hopping down from the trucks and sprinting away as coolant began to vent from the bell nozzles at their rear. His free hand tightened into a fist, leather scrunching up as he said to Ethelinda “Of that, I’ll make sure…”
The Promise of Saint John
Capitol of the Kingdom of Altar
Cairn, “King’s Hill” Arcology
Ethelinda watched with bated breath as the UAV’s camera panned to three objects streaking through the air, Heros’ ruined walls and shattered dome visible just on the edge of the horizon. The situation room sat in an uneasy silence as government advisors and military officials all watched with her, the smell of cheap cigarette smoke and last-minute air fresheners tinged at her nostrils but went mostly ignored. A black film came down over the camera as the first of the missiles went up in a tremendous white flash, a faint buzzing passing through the drone’s microphone as the camera distorted briefly before returning to normal. As a tremendous ball of liquid fire, not unlike the orange star that hung above them, slowly crawled up towards the sky and parted the clouds, Ethelinda recalled Oswald’s words.
“And they responded with hellfire!"
Two more flashes, each in quick succession. Another burst of buzzing and another brief period of distortion before the film finally raised itself shakily off of the camera, unveiling three titanic pillars of molten material, flame and radiation slowly rising from the ground. The very clouds around them are split apart by ungodly forces projected by the energy unleashed by such explosions, rings of vapour forming and rocketing out around them with equal ferocity. Ethelinda reached down and pulled a cigarette out of a carton left on the table, the cheap tan filter was shakily stuffed into her mouth as she looked around for a lighter only to have one carefully placed into her hand by a tired-looking General. She nodded to him before she flicked it to life after a few times and lit the end opposite of her mouth, taking a deep draw on it as she watched the trio of newly formed mushroom clouds slowly lose their incandescent orange glows and continue to rise into the sky.
“So Damn stability! And Damn the status quo!”
Finally, before they could watch anymore, the clouds in front of the drone seemed to ripple faintly before a sudden wave of heat distortion materialised in front of the camera before the drone suddenly found itself being blasted off course, the device spinning aimlessly for a few seconds before the screen went static-y and a red text bar displaying [SIGNAL LOST] started flashing. Ethelinda let out a shaky breath followed by a brief bout of coughing before she turned to the rest of the table, the others releasing sighs and breaths of their own as they recollected themselves. Ethelinda meanwhile closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, lost in her thoughts.
“And so we will march forward, to reclaim our rightful homeland, with Unparalleled Force!”
And as everything was whirling around in her mind, despite everything that she had seen and that she had been put through, she knew. She just KNEW that this was somehow only the beginning. As she leaned back in and started to open up a conversation, one treacherous part of her mind quietly asked itself;
“What did I just let you start, Oswald…”