Chapter 19: The Call To Arms
I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE, ONLY MY OCS.
James had decided to begin the stratagy meeting the next morning as time was of the essence. With the Syllian military's arrival, they now had the forces needed to put Dalon back on land and at sea. At the crack of dawn, the military leaders of the Syllian forces met with the leaders of the Southlands races and numerous other important people. As soon as James, Greagor, Williams, Gerald, Abato and Alenkov entered the castle they were directed by a dragon to a large war room. The size of the room indicated it meant to hold a large number of military leaders.
The floor of the room was a map of the entire Southlands, cities, landmarks, and boundaries were all marked. A dragon spellcaster was currently working spells to show everyone what the tactics were to make sure nothing was misunderstood or misinterpreted. The spells made the armies different colors. Dalon's army was marked in black, the Syllians in blue, gnorcs in red, dragons in purple, cheetahs in green, atlawa in white, wolves in grey, and moles in brown.
As the Syllian officers walked in, they were directed by Spyro next to the dragons. The Guardians inclined their heads and James bowed respectfully. With the formalities out of the way, James turned to the map and nodded appreciatively at the size of it. Then he saw all the black markers indication Dalon's forces and shuddered. In one month Dalon had conquered nearly all of the Southlands except for the Warfang dragon territory. James looked over the map and tried to come up with battle stratagies.
As he was looking it over, the gnorcs, cheetahs, and atlawa started argueing over plans that they thought was best. The cheetah's plan was the first he listened to. Prowlus was motioning to the map and the dragon spellcaster was adding picture to the battleplan.
"I believe that we should focus on a full frontal assault, we push the enemy back through Avalar, unite with the other tribes that are there and push Malefor back to the Gnorc territory. Once that happens, we can end this war without any further conflict."
Kain, however, was quick to dismiss the plan.
"A frontal assault is all well and good Chief Prowlus, however, you are forgetting about the outlying islands. If we focus all our strength in the assault, what's to stop the forces on the islands from attacking our flanks or even besieging Warfang again? The answer is nothing. Therefore, instead of a frontal attack, we take the islands one by one, that way we will wipe out all resistance and still push Malefor back."
This time, Gnasty Gnorc pushed his way into the conversation.
"NO! These plans do nothing for the people I still have trapped in my lands! Even as we speak, my people are being forced to work for Malefor and this Dalon, building weapons and repairing machines for them. I say that we load our forces on those huge warships the humans have brought, sail staight to Gnorc Harbor and blast Malefor's fortress and destroy them in one swoop."
Both Kain and Prowlus disliked the idea.
"Yeah, and then what, leave our flanks open to the frontline troops and the islands? No this plan is ridiculous, hmph, what else would one expect from a Gnorc?"
Gnasty changed from his usual green to bright red and began yelling at both leaders. Skyclaw and the others who were not part of the arguement sighed and shook their heads. Just as it looked like it would come to blows between the leaders, a loud whistle pierced the noise and the leaders all faced James de Launces who was removing his fingers from his lips. Skyclaw, grateful for the interuption, nodded to James.
"You have an idea General?" James nodded and motioned to the board.
"Sirs, I have an idea that would solve all your plans and leave no gaps in our defences. As you know, the Syllian Army by itself numbers nearly fifteen thousand. Including the Marines we have twenty-two thousand, add the Aerocorps, Dragoons, etc., etc; we have well over twenty-three thousand five hundred soldiers who are combat capable. I'm sure that between your own forces, our numbers are that much greater."
James paused to see the reations of the other leaders, they were nodding at what he was saying, some had even went wide eyed at the number of humans that had come to their aid.
"I suggest take the best parts of each others plans and make one united force. Here's how I figure it: We know Dalon has forces here on the islands, he's had one month and slave labor to help him built a modern military network, this means rail lines, roads, telegraph wires, naval and air patrol routes, amongst other things. Now then, the best way to use the Syllian Army is to have them man the front line and push the enemy back. While they are engaging the enemy, we can take smaller units and assault the islands. Furthermore, we need to strike and reduce Dalon's forces and materials, so we'll have the Navy patrol the Southlands and engage any merchant or military traffic Dalon has. Meanwhile, we now have our bomber forces, we can build an airstrip here at Warfang and use the bombers to attack his rail lines and fortifications: softening them up for our Army. Everyone follow me so far?"
The leaders were all nodding and James gave the spellcasters time to give picture to the plans.
"Now then, we know Dalon is focusing on areas of mining such as Boyzitbig, Glimmer, etc. Our primary goal should be liberating these places, plus Gerald has informed me that the island called 'Concurrent Skies' has become the collecting area for the uranium. This area and Boyzitbig will need the greatest numbers because Dalon will no doubt have them well defended."
The leaders were nodding more enthusiasticly now, the spellcasters had made the Syllian Army form a 'block' on the frontlines, the navy had split into several task forces and were moving around the smaller islands and the Southlands as a whole, smaller landing forces were moving towards the islands and specks representing aircraft were flying over Dalon's territory.
"I propose that we set aside a minimum of five thousand to protect Warfang itself, then we send Army forces towards Dalon to stabilize the front line. We have several troop transports so we'll load up our specialist units on these ships, spare some destroyers, cruisers and maybe a carrier or two to the landing fleet. We will concentrate our battleships as the assault force to attack shipping in the area." Someone cleared their throat at that point and James turned to see Gerald looking worried.
"Something wrong Gerald?" Gerald nodded.
"We'll have to spare some destroyers and make sure their armed with depth charges. When I was being brought to the Poseidon, we spotted several U-boat class submarines in port at the docks. According to Maxie, the Praetorian Empire is in the middle of the largest recession they've ever faced, as a result, they are selling off their old model submarines like hotcakes, by my estimate Dalon has some thirty or forty Praetorian subs, however, I wouldn't put it past him to build some of his own." James nodded grimly and ajusted his plan slightly.
"Alright, let's see. Admiral Greagor, how many ships do we have in the fleet?" Greagor nodded.
"Lord General, we currently have three fleets worth of ships: We have twenty-five Battleships, four Fleet-class aircraft carriers, four Escort-class aircraft carriers, four Dragon-carriers, twenty Battlecruisers, fifteen Heavy Cruisers, twenty Light Cruisers, thirty normal Destroyers, twenty-three Escort Destroyers, fifteen Troop Transports, ten Supply Ships, and we also have fifteen of our own S-class submarines and three Submarine Tenders. All in all, we have one-hundred eighty-eight battle and sea worthy vessels." James whistled at the number of ships, nor was he the only one.
At once James saw looks of confusion from several of the leaders, Skyclaw asked the question on everyone's mind.
"General, what are all these 'classes'?"
"Your Majesty, classes is what type of ship it is: A Battleship is a flagship with thick armor and heavy attack abilities, they are akin to floating fortresses. The Fleet-class Aircraft Carriers are fully built aircraft carriers that can launch aeroplanes from their decks, they have standard armor and next to no ship-to-ship firepower, but they do have speed. The Escort-class Aircraft Carriers are cargo ships that had improvised decks placed on the deck and superstructure; these carriers share the speed of the fleet carrier but do not have the armor. The Dragon-carrier is a special carrier built for the Dracocorps that carries dragons to and from the battle without tiring them out with flying long distances unnessecarily. Battlecruisers are vessels that have the firepower of the battleship but the speed and armor of a cruiser. The Heavy Cruiser is just a bigger version of the standard cruiser. Light Cruisers are ships with high firepower, but destroyer level armor. Destroyers are high-speed ships meant to protect the main body of the fleet, they are equipped with cannons and torpedoes for ships, machineguns for airships, and depth charges for submarines. Escort Destroyers are smaller, faster destroyers that can engage enemy ships but have limited firepower. The escorts we have now have an armament of four cannons, twelve torpedo tubes, and two depth charge ramps. Submarines are vessels that can attack from underwater using torpedoes and use the deck cannons on the surface. They are the terror of merchant shipping, yet if they are surfaced, can be easily destroyed. Submarine-tenders are huge battleship sized vessels that serve as 'mobile ports' for submarines. If subs need repairs, fuel, ammunition the tenders supply them with what they need."
The leaders nodded slowly as if they understood the gist of it at least. James then addressed the council.
"According to the map here there are four major islands: Dante's Freezer, Tall Plains, Concurrent Skies, and Boyzitbig. As Boyzitbig is the uranium source for Dalon, we may need a larger task force: a task force of two Battleships, one Fleet-carrier, one Dragon-carrier, four Battlecruisers, two Heavy Cruisers, two Light Cruisers, four Destroyers, six Escort Destroyers protecting three Troop Transports and two Supply Ships. Any objections to this part?" No one moved or said anything. James nodded.
"Next is the inhabited island which is Tall Plains: a task force of one Battleship, one Dragon-carrier, two Escort-carriers, three Battlecruisers, five Light Cruisers, five Destroyers, four Escort Destroyers protecting two Transports and three Supply Ships. Sir Kain, is this acceptable to you? I know that you and your warriors will wish to liberate your island as soon as possible, correct?" Kain's eternal frown actually broke into a sigh of relief as he nodded.
"I thank you for valueing the recapture of our islands so highly. Yes, many of my warriors would like to recapture our home and save our families from this monster. One thing though, why so many carriers?"
"The answer is simple, your home is made of several medium and small sized islands right? This means that aircraft will be needed to fly over the other islands to perform recon and see where the captives are and spot anything of note. Plus, while the troops will be crossing to the other islands, the aircraft will need to provide cover as the troops island hop." Kain nodded with understanding.
"As for the other islands, Concurrent Skies is probably the stronghold here so, we will go overboard with the power here, better have too much force than not enough right? So: five Battleships, one Fleet-carrier, one Dragon-carrier, four Battlecruisers, three Heavy Cruisers, three Light Cruisers, four Destroyers, six Destroyer Escorts, protecting three Troop Transports and two Supply Ships. With your permission Your Majesty, I'd like to request someone who knows the layout of Concurrent Skies to go with the force. Do you know of anyone-" At that moment, Cynder spoke up.
"I'll go. Concurrent Skies was the fortress I used when I was Malefor's general, I know the lay of the land and plus, James, I have a request." James nodded to indicate that he was listening.
"That fortress has been nothing both trouble since the war. Apes have taken up residence there and attacked several nearby villages, plus, the local villagers are sure that the castle is haunted. In order to stop these problems, I would like to ask you to destroy the fortress. That fortress is only home to sorrow and evil; it needs to be brought down." Cynder saw James nod in understanding and she signed.
"Thank you General de Launces."
James saw a look of relief on both Cynder's and Spyro's faces and then continued with the battleplan.
"The final island is Dante's Freezer, judging by the name this place must be like Northumbria, as is such, I will be sending Northumbrian Mountain Guard there on one of the Transports, terrain wise, it looks like one large island and two smaller islands. Likewise, with the possibility of ice flows and bergs, we can't send thin-hulled vessels, only full combat ships and possibly submarines; it is submarine tactics to hide under an ice flow with only the periscope revealed. We'll send three Battleships, one Fleet-carrier, one Dragon-carrier, two Heavy Cruisers, seven Destroyers, two Troop Transports, one Supply Ship, also, we'll send three Submarines to act as a sonar screen. I'm noticing the closeness of Dante's Freezer to Tall Plains, I'd like to send one of our Submarine Tenders and a support fleet to the island. Is this alright Sir Kain?"
"Why do you need one of these submarine tenders near my home?"
"In the first place, the S-class submarines we have do not carry many torpedoes, second, their fuel tanks are not that big, once Dante's Freezer is free, those submarines will be set to patrol and they'll need a base to stop at and refuel. The location of Tall Plains is perfect. See here and here? There is a possibility Dalon could send his ships through these sea lanes and try to retake Tall Plains or launch an attack on Warfang. Placing patrols at these two junctions would safeguard Tall Plains from further threat of invasion." Kain at once understood and went to nodding vigorously. James in turn nodded and began looking at the map again.
"Your Majesty, what is this area here?" Skyclaw craned his neck to look at the spot James indicated.
"Why, that's Dragon Shores. It's a sort of vacation spot for dragons, why do you ask?"
"I would like your permission to place another of the Submarine Tenders at the place just off shore, when it comes to the Submarine Tenders it's all about location, location, location. Dragon Shores looks to be in the halfway point for the submarines patrol routes I was thinking of, it's in friendly territory so there's a small risk for attack, however the submarines are a sort of nautical shield that is nesseccary for island combat." Skyclaw thought about it for a moment, then nodded. A small marker indicating a tender's location appeared in the small bay next to Tall Plains and just off Dragon Shores.
The rest of the meeting was pretty much mundane, everyone argueing the finer points of James' plan. Gnorc was wondering why none of the plan entailed sinking the enemy's ships in Gnorc Harbor or pushing the front lines back. The dragons and wolves furvently protected the tactics of the stratagy. James assured Gnasty that the submarine patrols would also be doing searches near Gnorc Harbor to recon the enemy. James finished organizing the Syllian forces around midday, after that, the meeting was dismissed and everyone went back to buisness as usual.
James had taken the rest of the day to see the parts of Warfang that were still whole, or about as close to whole as they could get. He soon saw Spyro and several others dragons and other races gathered around the tents of the Mountain Guard and the Knights Corps. He immediately saw the cause of the interest. The Blue Isles Knights were holding one of their famous choriographed fights for the benefit of the people watching. If James was not mistaken, this particular fight was about how the Shogun Lord Akira ended the Shogun War by attacking the leaders of the Reformists. Everyone was watching until the end when infamous coward Daio 'stabbed' Akira in the back with a bayonette. He was then 'beheaded' by Akira's youngest son Sai. He heard his uncle's laugh then turned to see him walk up behind him. By this time, the Knights had ended their fight and now the denizens of Warfang were gazing at the Northumbrians.
Each Northumbrian soldier had their trademark white 'Snowman' uniforms. The common joke was that if a member of the Mountain Guard stood next to a snowdrift and didn't budge an inch, you'd never know he was there. However, there was nothing to joke about their weapons, in particular the large bolt-action rifles sitting on their crates nearby. Nor was he the only one. The cheetah named Hunter looked at the weapons and then at Sergei.
"What kind of weapons are these? They look to big to be what you humans call 'battle rifles'. Sergei nodded and stepped up to the rifle in question.
"This rifle is known as an Avalanche Gun. It is a special rifle that only exists in Northumbria. As the name suggests, it is used for clearing avalanche zones, however, in times of war these rifles also act as sniper rifles and anti-vehicle rifles. See this bullet here?" Sergei then held up a bullet that when held flat on his palm stretched from the tip of his middle finger to just past his wrist, the 'bullet' part was the length of his middle finger.
"This rifle is also called a 30mm High Velocity Cannon. It fires, as the name says, a 30mm round capable of penetrating two inch steel plate. The Avalanche Rifles have four types of these rounds: solid Lead rounds, Incendiary rounds, Explosive rounds, and finally Shotgun rounds for when the enemy gets too close for comfort. It takes two men to haul this behemoth around, one to carry the rifle and another to carry the bullets." Hunter looked at the crates and scratched his head.
"Why are there only seven of these weapons here?"
"Our nation lacks the materials to produce them in great quantities, also there is no need for an entire division to be carrying these weapons around. Up to today, only thirty of these rifles exist in the world, to show their rarity, each rifle is given a name and a number, this one here is number 03, 'Big Bertha'." He then turned and looked to the nearby soldiers.
"Hey you guys! Tell Rastinov to get his ass over here and clean this gun, this thing hasn't been handled or cleaned since we left Northumbria." There was a pause as one of the soldiers meekly spoke up. James couldn't hear what was aid, however, Sergei went completely red-faced.
"I DON'T GIVE THREE DAMNS IF HE IS THE DUKE OF VOLG'S SON; HE'D BETTER GET HIS ASS HERE BEFORE HE BECOME'S THE GOOD DUKE'S DAUGHTER!" At this, the enlisted soldiers scrambled to find the officer in question. Sergei calmed down and looked disappointed at the weapon.
"If only I had a week to train someone with a strong shoulder to fire this weapon, I'd relieve that arrogant jackass of this weapon and his duty. Sadly, I don't have anyone who can handle this weapon. You have to be physically fit and have a shoulder as hard as iron to handle the recoil of the rifle. Handle it improperly and well, I've seen recruits who've bloodied their noses, dislocated or broken their shoulderblades, one recruit thought to absorb the recoil through his brestplate, bastard lived, however, he was out for a while with a broken sturnum and some cracked ribs." Several soldiers winced at this. James honestly wasn't surprised, it wasn't uncommon for soldiers to try experimenting with different ways to shoot the 30mm monster. With the sun setting in the west, James returned to his quarters. Once there, he sent a runner for Admiral Greagor, Gerald, and the Turncoats.
"Gerald, I'm sure you're curious as to why I called you here. The answer is that even though you have willingly helped us and the Warfang defenders fight off Dalon, the fact remains that you and the Blackguards assisted Dalon in this invasion. A telegram that arrived this morning was from the council ordering your immediate arrest for treason." Gerald and the Blackguards tensed, however, James lifted his hand and indicated to calm down.
"However, I have no intention of listening to the council. As you know, I have been given the rank of Lord General by His Majesty the King of Syllia. To what that portains to, I have the authority to grant pardons to you and your men. That way I don't lose a friend and several valuable soldiers. As far as I'm concerned, your men are pardoned, however Gerald, there is one more thing. I noticed you and your men's uniforms are still in Dalon's colors, so I pulled some extra uniforms out of our supplies and I found one suited for you old friend." Gerald raised an eyebrow as James walked to the wardrobe ans his jaw dropped.
James was holding a blue Dragoon's uniform, complete with red sash and beret, however, instead of Gerald's former rank of Lieutenant, there were Captain's bars on th shoulders. It clicked what James was doing, he was granting Gerald amnesty for being in Dalon's Blackguards and was welcoming him back to the Dragoons, as a friend, and as a brother.
"Your men have similar uniforms waiting at the supply office, however, I wanted to give you the news myself. Congratulations. Oh, and Captain, on a further note, the soldiers in the Turncoats are now yours to command. Furthermore, I'll be adding unassigned soldiers to your new company. I hope you're ready for your first fight as a company, you'll be going with the Concurrent Skies Task Force, as am I. We leave the day after tommorow, so use tomorrow to get your equipment squared away and introduce your men to their new company soldiers. As of tomorrow, we're at war against Dalon and Malefor." Gerald nodded, took the uniform and left the room. James smiled as he heard a small whoop from his old friend. He then turned to his other guests.
"Admiral, I want the submarines to begin short patrols tomorrow, station the first sub tender at Dragon Shores in case the subs need refueling and rearming. We don't know Dalon's naval strength so tell the sub crews to expect anything and everything. Thanks to Gerald we now know of Dalon's sub force and his flagship. The ships I did not assign to the islands reclaimation, I want either patroling or protecting Warfang." Greagor nodded, saluted, then left.
James turned to his desk and sighed. On the horizon, he could see storm clouds building in the direction of the Island hopping force.
(I must remember to tell the quartermaster to stock the ships with extra seasickness pills,)thought James, (otherwise, the soldiers will be puking their guts out instead of fighting the enemy.)
As the clock in his quarters struck nine o'clock at night, James went into the ajoining room to find Lysa already sound asleep in the bed. Seeing her at peace like this James smiled.
(If not for her, I would have gone insane long ago. She was my guiding light after the loss of my parents and siblings. I probably wouldn't last a minute without her by me.)
Yawning greatly, James removed his dress uniform and set it aside, then climbed into the massive bed next to his wife. Upon feeling his touch, Lysa shifted and rolled into his embrace, and for the first time in a long while they fell asleep in each others arms.
Okay, tactics and battleplans made, the battle for the Southlands are about to begin. And for those of you wondering, I included a list of ships because I wanted to show that even though the Syllian forces now have carriers, they are still dependant upon battleships and battlecruisers, much like the world was at that point in time.
In the 1910's America and England were the only countries that had metal dreadnaught-class ships. In fact, when the British first launched HMS Dreadnaught, the German navy had been trying to keep up with building wooden and ironclad vessels (Civil War and Spanish American War tech). When the Kaiser learned of the Dreadnaught, he ordered the entire current navy scrapped and a new series of ships to be built using dreadnaught schematics.
Also another little fact here: the S-class submarine was an actual submarine class in the US Navy during post-WWI. The first was the S-18-class which was built during 1918. The next S series was the S-42, built in WWII. While from different decades, the submarines were technically the same: both subs had a max surface speed of 13 knots, and a submerged speed of 9 knots. Both had only 4 short torpedo tube and could only fire the antiquated Mark 10 torpedo. Furthermore, the S-series had a crush depth of 230 ft, and first models (until 1939) had no Anti-air defences. The first S-18 AAdefence was a platform welded to the conning tower and a single 20mm AA gun mounted to it. When WWII broke out, most S-class subs were sold to Austrailia or the British Pacific Fleet near Singapore while the US Navy went on to build the Porpoise-class fleet Submarine.