To my surprise, this chapter came out rather quickly and smoothly. Hope you will like it. Lots more world building, teasing hints and some action to whet your appetites. For those reading my other fics, new content is in the works, and will be published soon.
Chapter 8
Despite all the excitement of the summer, Kane found his trip on the Hogwarts Express rather relaxing, allowing him to gather his thoughts. He had made the first major step in his plans, and soon the goblins will reap what they had sown for centuries, and what should have been done long ago would be finally done. Of course, if it was that easy to kill the goblins, wizards would have done it ages ago. What kept the beasts safe was their ability to imbue metals with magic, even though they had very limited ability to cast spells unlike humans. Still, this talent enabled them to arm their warriors with armor that resisted nearly all forms of magic as well as most conventional weapons, while their blades were enchanted with spells to cut through shields and protections. The Killing Curse was in fact invented in response to one of the goblin rebellions, as a spell that could kill the goblins despite their armor. In response to this, goblins began using shields as a quick and simple way to block a single curse to allow them to close in for the kill. The goblin rebellions were a very interesting topic, and perhaps the greatest driving force for invention in the history of the magical world, and now it seemed, the time had come to pit the cold intellect of the Brotherhood of Nod against the brutal cunning of the Goblin Nation. It would be a good test and training experience for the Militant Arm, which would be needed in what came ahead.
For all their cunning though, Kane had to smirk inwardly when he thought about the surprises he and his Science Ministry had cooked up for the upcoming war. The laser rifles had already proved their value, as the goblins couldn't even conceive something like that even existed, being just as limited in the use of technology as wizards, and they looked down on muggles even more than the snobbiest pureblood. Tests on prisoners taken during the raid showed the Tesla cannon was even more effective, the high energy electrical bolt reacted with the goblin armor in a very amusing way, creating an extremely powerful but short-lived magnetic field that drew anything metallic to it with great force while at the same time heating up the metal so rapidly the goblin inside was flash cooked, and the excess energy had a tendency to arc off towards anything made of metal around the target. All in all, it would be a devastating weapon against groups of goblins, he just wished the weapon wasn't so complex and expensive to make.
But, as powerful their new weapons were, they had too few to wage a proper war, and this is where the greatest discovery of Nod technosorcery to date came into play. Kane's conversion circuit not only allowed technology to work with magic, it also allowed magic to work with technology. Namely, the ability to augment the power requirements on Nod's mages with the massive Tiberium fueled reactors of their bases. Their first application of this method was setting up a factory that processed bullets by engraving shield and armor piercing hexes in runic forms on the copper jacket, then using a converter to charge the spell directly from the generators, allowing them to produce these rounds by the thousands while sparing their mages the monumental effort this would otherwise require.
Ordinarily, bullets would be useless against the heavily enchanted and thick goblin armor, but these new bullets more than equaled the playing field. As a bonus effect, this discovery would be just as effective if not more against wizards. A wizard that knew he might be going against guns would easily be able to protect himself even against automatic fire long enough to stop his attacker or escape if attacked from multiple fronts, and while the spells needed for that were difficult, they weren't something any half-way competent O.W.L. graduate couldn't do, but they had to know to cast them beforehand, as they were somewhat draining to maintain for long, so surprise would be the best way to attack wizards.
It was then his thoughts were interrupted by the train stopping and the light going out. A quick glance at his watch told him that they were still over thirty minutes away from Hogwarts, and even if they had arrived, they wouldn't have stopped the train so suddenly. He lit his wand quickly and opened the door. A quick look up and down the aisle showed him he wasn't the only one surprised and curious about their sudden stop. It was then he felt the sudden chill and heard the ominous hissing rattle coming from the wagon door. A rapid glance to the side showed him the sinister cloaked form of a Dementor climb in, causing everyone to retreat in their compartments, but for Kane, the creature's presence began to draw out memories, memories of a different age, of friends made and lost, and deeds done in the name of his Great Plan and the formation of the Brotherhood of Nod. Needless to say, few of these memories were pleasant, and the creature seemed drawn to the man with so much pain and misery it practically erupted out of him.
"Expecto Patronum." Kane hissed the incantation and a large silvery scorpion shot out of his wand, snapping its pincers at the creature angrily. While the Dementor was shocked by the spell and busy warding off its pincers, the scorpion's stinger shot forward and stabbed deeply in the Dementor's chest, drawing out a sinister keening wail from the thing before it managed to flee. Kane knew the creature wasn't dead, merely injured. The only thing that actually managed to kill the beasts was Tiberium which forced the things to crystallize as it fed on their strange flesh and magic.
Fortunately for him, no one actually saw him cast a Patronus, which allowed him to return to his compartment in order to calm himself for the rest of the trip.
"It should have ended differently, brother. You could have stood by my side until the end, but you chose to act against me. I had no choice, Seth." A single tear rolled from his eye as his calm façade returned.
"Alright everyone, we have some big news to discuss. This mostly concerns the seventh years among us, but the others should pay attention as well." Jack Bradshaw, now in his seventh year was the unofficial leader of the Nod members, began their first meeting of the year a few days after term started. "Kane has declared war on the goblins. The Militant Arm is mobilizing in force, and while I have no details on when or where we'll attack it's expected to be sooner than later."
"About time. We've put up with the things for far too long as it is." Lisa Turpin growled. Considering her cousin was one of the casualties of network hub four, her anger was quite understandable.
"Our task here will be support those who have family and friends fighting. We have advantages, but the goblins are vicious things. There will be casualties." Jack reminded them.
"Brotherhood, Unity, Strength." Harry spoke up, drawing smiles and supportive nods from the group.
"Exactly Potter. As long as we stand together, the goblins don't stand a chance." Jack smiled as well and moved the meeting to other less serious topics.
"So, what have you been up to all summer?" Hermione asked once they were alone except for Luna, but the blond as usual was content to sit next to Harry with her arms wrapped around his and ignored their conversation.
"Traveled a bit, done some things for my teacher, and also finally met the Inner Circle." Harry smiled at his friend. There was so much potential in the girl he simply had to guide her himself.
"You met Miranda Lawson? In person?" Hermione exclaimed in shock.
"And the others as well. I take it you're a fan of Dr. Lawson?" Harry laughed as the girl nodded so quickly he was amazed her head didn't fall off.
"I'd do anything to meet with her. Anything." Hermione said firmly.
"Anything huh? Well, I can hardly refuse such a generous offer." Harry gave her a smirk that drew a shocked 'eep' from the girl when she finally realized her excitement on possibly meeting her idol ran ahead of her common sense.
"Harry, I didn't mean…" She began only for him to put a finger on her lips, silencing her.
"You said anything, Hermione. No going back." Harry gave her a chiding look. "Now, this is what I want you to do. You're going to stand up in front of us, turn towards Luna, and ask her to introduce her to her mother's favorite student."
"You prat. I was starting to have a panic attack." She slapped him on the shoulder, but not too hard.
"You can come over for Christmas. Mirrie will be there too." Luna spoke up, surprising the pair a bit.
"You sure I won't be any trouble?" Hermione asked, her polite nature warring with her inner fangirl in a rabid wrestling match.
"It's just me, dad and Mirrie. She won't mind. She always says I need more friends." Luna replied and put her head on Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes.
"Well, now all you need is to tell your parents about your Christmas plans." Harry commented and then blinked at the sudden dust cloud that formed in a line towards the door. "I think she might be a little excited."
The days passed on with little excitement until Halloween when the school was surprised with the news that Sirius Black had attempted to force entry into Gryffindor tower of all places.
"I still can't believe Black managed to get that far inside Hogwarts of all places. School or not, this place is very well protected." Hermione commented as soon as they managed to get some privacy a few days after the attack.
"The question isn't how he got that far inside, it's why he wanted to get into Gryffindor tower. Everyone says he's here after me. A man that was clever enough to escape from Azkaban wouldn't miss the fact I am a Ravenclaw." Harry pointed out.
"You're right. So why try to get into Gryffindor?" Hermione frowned.
"It seems there's more to this whole story then we know. I feel it's imperative that we get our hands on Black alive. There's a lot I want to talk to him about." Harry replied. Umbridge had provided him with every shred of info on the man, but it seems there was a lot they didn't know about the man too. "But it's not that important right now. What I'm looking forward is our campaign against the goblins."
"You know when the first attacks will take place?" Hermione asked curiously. Details on the operation were rather scarce. All she could learn was that troops and supplies were moved heavily towards areas where large goblin populations were known or suspected to be.
"Of course. The tenth of January. We'll hit four of their cities we know of. There's around two million goblins living in those. Kane felt that a grand opening move will send a strong message to the creatures." Harry grinned evilly.
"That's their most holy of days. Even Gringotts is closed on that day, and they never close otherwise." Hermione gasped in surprise.
"They have shown no respect to the lives and culture of all other races on Earth. Why should we do otherwise?" Harry shrugged.
"True. Well, I certainly am looking forward to hearing how the attack will go." Hermione added.
She wasn't the only one, as the planned date crept ever closer, the anticipation in not just the Militant Arm but all branches of the Brotherhood grew thick enough to cut.
Goblin cities were built deep underground in mostly natural caves which were excavated further as needed. The bulk of the population lived on the floor and walls in houses either carved from the cave rock or built from blocks of stone, while the richest and most powerful goblins lived in houses built in natural or artificially grown stalactites on the roofs of the caves. The closer one lived to the ceiling, the richer one was. Now, four of those cities were going to be attacked, and as much of the population slaughtered by beings they considered so far beneath them they might as well have been dirt.
The chosen targets were located in Egypt, Germany, France and England as they were some of the largest known goblin cities in the world. Commando teams had moved carefully through the tunnels days before and had cleared a route and staging areas near the targets, and soldiers had been trickling in ever since. By the time of the attack, teams were in place to ensure all routes in and out of the cities were secure so that no goblins could escape the impending slaughter or call for help.
A fact that helped them greatly was the fact that for the holiday, goblins would gather in the city's plazas to celebrate the occasion. Nod didn't know exactly what they celebrated, only that it was important to the beasts enough to have nearly every goblin in the cities to gather in the city's plazas where it seemed special structures were built specifically for use on this particular day.
"Man, if they only knew what was coming." One Militant snickered to himself as he and his team set up a heavy machinegun, one of three nests overlooking one of the two dozen plazas scattered across the city. The other plazas were similarly besieged.
"Quiet. We can't let them know we're here until Ol' Bessy starts singing." His squad CO hissed at him as he tapped the Yugoslavian made NSV heavy machinegun his team was manning. It was certainly beneficial for Nod to have such heavy presence in such a fractured and corrupt country. The war in Bosnia that was currently ravaging the region made it even easier to gather men and equipment. The nest was covered by a special camo tent that made them practically invisible in the gloom of the cave. Goblins had much better night vision than humans, but they could not see in pitch dark, since they were not originally a subterranean species, which meant there was plenty of lighting in the city. Even so, the soldiers were equipped with night vision gear to ensure optimal combat efficiency.
"This is Colonel Zelenkov to all teams. Fire at will." The voice of the operation CO came from the radio and the team grinned evilly behind their masked helmets as the gunner cocked the gun and aimed down into the crowd of goblins. A heartbeat later, a hailstorm of metal descended on the unsuspecting horde with a roaring echo that covered the entire cave in a deafening cacophony, mixed with the screams of the dying goblins beneath them.
With magical enhancement, the gun was reinforced, had near instant cooling, minimal recoil and each ammo box had ten thousand rounds among other enhancements. Considering the gun fired 12.7x108mm cartridges at over seven hundred rounds per minute, its use against mostly unarmored goblins was rather brutal.
While that was happening, Militant squads armed with rifles rushed across the streets, slowly and methodically clearing the buildings scattered across the city.
Of course, the goblins rallied quickly, with the already armored warriors rushing out to meet the attackers head on, while the rest moved quickly towards the armories scattered across the city.
"Persistent vermin, aren't they?" Colonel Zelenkov, a tall and dour-faced Russian man commented as he raised the Tesla cannon he was given for the operation at the squad of screaming goblins rushing his position. "Let's teach them a lesson. Commencing shock therapy."
The bolt of electricity lit the whole block with actinic light as it hit the warrior in the middle of the front line and arced from him to hit most of the remaining twenty as the sudden induced magnetic field smashed them together. The pungent stink of burning goblin wafted out seconds later, with only a few survivors that stood at the edge of the effect trying to weakly get back on their feet before several troopers gunned them down.
Despite the benefit of the initial surprise, Nod did suffer casualties, since even with the advantage of technology, they were massively outnumbered and were facing urban warfare with minimal intel since goblin cities were more or less unexplored by other races. Ambushes by goblins armed with crossbows, improvised traps or simply warriors jumping out of windows at Militant squads took a toll on the Brotherhood forces, but despite these setbacks, the goblins were losing badly. Too many had been gunned down in the initial attack, and the panic and shock that followed didn't help them much. Rushing the machinegun nests proved futile, and trying to escape to warn others about the attack only led them into the ambush sites Nod had prepared beforehand. As more and more sections of the cities were being cleared, the survivors were faced with increasing number of enemies from all sides, and over ten hours later, the Brotherhood were simply mopping up the few survivors left and had begun to take everything not nailed down before the engineers came and stripped the town to the bare bones.
In France, Colonel Zelenkov was standing in the central plaza which was quickly transformed in their operations center, coordinating the efforts of his men now that the fighting was more or less over. As a bonus for the smoothly organized attack, Zelenkov informed his soldiers that they could claim a single trophy from the city, as long as they could carry the item without impeding their mobility.
"Tell the engineers they are free to move in with the supplies. Contact central command and inform them that they can begin moving in reinforcements for the next stage. Fortify all exits from the city and deploy the sensor arrays. If any counterattack is launched by the scum, I want to be ready for them." Zelenkov ordered his aide, who was rapidly writing down the man's instructions.
"Excuse me Colonel? We were told to clear all prisoners with you." Zelenkov turned to see a young man with slicked back hair and short beard approach him, dragging a tightly bound and gagged goblin. His discrete markings denoted him as a sergeant. Nod rank markings were designed to ensure that officers weren't easily identified from a distance.
"What do you have there sergeant? Another goblin noble? We have a whole truck full of them." Zelenkov grinned.
"No sir. This is the city's forgemaster." This froze the smile in face as his mind thought about what the man said.
"You're sure?" Zelenkov asked firmly.
"I graduated with an O in History of Magic from the Academia de Brujeria of Tenochtitlan and a mastery on human-goblin history sir. I knew where to find him on this day, the sigils on his clothes, he tried to slit his throat when we hit his position and the fact other goblins tried to kill him five times while we captured him and transported him tell me that he's the real thing." The sergeant replied calmly.
"Good work, son. What's your name?" Zelenkov grinned widely. A forgemaster knew all the secrets of goblin metallurgy. He knew for a fact that Lawson would be very grateful to him for such a gift.
"Cesar Vega, sir." The sergeant identified himself.
"Your squad is here?" At Vega's nod, Zelenkov continued as he leaned down to write something on a piece of paper. "I want you to personally escort this creature to Temple Prime. It will be your responsibility that you hand him over to the Science Ministry alive and healthy. Is that understood, Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir." Vega was rather surprised by the sudden promotion, but took the orders and their prisoner and rushed out.
"Nice kid. He'll go far. Now, take a message. To Dr. Miranda Lawson…" Zelenkov turned to his aide with a grin. He was far from the only man that was after the woman rightfully considered 'sex on legs', and he wasn't above using any trick in the book to get what he wanted. And a gift of a goblin forgemaster would certainly get him at least a night with the usually aloof woman.
