Demon Clans of Arnfair & Sarus #4
Ch13: Rising Tide
"These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war."
President Ronald Reagan, 6 Jun 1984, Normandy Commemoration Ceremony
Valerian Observation Tower
Rapun 18, 1037 IC
06:37:42 hrs
Harper and his platoon of SEALs had been observing the enemy naval installations and fortress from atop the observation tower for the remainder of the night prior.
After they had cleared the site of guards and setup their weapons and surveillance equipment, they had kept a constant watch on the enemy installation. So far, no alarms had been raised, and there was little activity to speak of.
There was barely even a ship on patrol in the waters near the towers. Although this could be because observation from the ships at night with only torches could only be so effective. And they probably didn't expect anything to slip by at night.
Instead of attacking in the morning, Harper elected to instead hunker down and observe the fort's activities for the day, and before calling it in.
As the sun rose and dawn broke, the team was able to see the layout of this enemy location.
The two cothons sat at the edge of land near the mouth, positioned so that their entrances opened up into the bay and allowed for easy access. There was an external wall on the outermost layer protecting the cothons, with a pair of towers at the bay's mouth. And at the center of the bay was a fortress with a central tower and port.
All in all, it was quite an impressive location, despite the fact that it was more of a stepping-stone location for sea routes rather than a major hub for naval power projection.
As the layout apparent with the rising dawn sun, the SEALs began formulating their plan of attack, while Harper listened on.
"That's quite the impressive setup they've got there. It's a well-defended location, and it's closed off from the outside."
"True that. I'm seeing only one major road into that fort, and that's only from behind that central keep."
"I don't suppose we could sneak in the back door through the road around back, huh?"
"…Technically, we could split up, but that would put us at a higher risk. Remember, we still need a few guys to hold here to man the mortars and control our drone. Not to mention you'd probably want a couple snipers to hold here."
"Then the only way is straight up the middle, through the front door of the bay?"
"Sure, if we swim in submerged, and at night."
"Maybe we could observe further, then decide our next course of action?"
"We should definitely observe further. Once we can get more operatives across, then we could attack from the front and the rear."
"I'm in favor of that. Harper, what do you think?"
"…That last idea sounds good. Although, before we conduct an all-out assault, we should look around for intel first. Maybe get maps of their major sea routes, locations of other naval bases, rosters on their naval strength, and the like."
"Alright, we got ourselves a plan, then." And with that, the SEALs continued their surveillance, with the enemy none the wiser.
Fort Sarus Carmona
Rapun 18, 1037 IC
09:12:47 hrs
Praefecti Sisenna Del Hiberius exited his residence, and stood on the balcony of the central keep. He looked out over the bay, gazing at the view afforded him, taking a moment to admire the modest strength he currently commanded as it was gathered in one location.
He was the admiral of the Imperial Navy's 25th Fleet. And as such, he held power over a considerable amount of strength.
Like all high-ranking military officers and wealthy individuals, he had his own bedroom chambers. Unlike many other officers, except perhaps for other high-ranking navy officers, his chambers had a greater number and variety of exotic items beautifying his residence.
It could be attributed to the fort's location as a stepping-stone for major sea routes.
This also allowed him to have a larger retinue of personal servants.
Said servants had already served him a breakfast, and now he was taking a moment to admire his forces before going about his daily duties.
Rather than putting on his armor, he instead opted to wear only his ornate toga and outer cloak. It wasn't like he was expecting an imminent attack.
Like so many other soldiers and officers within the Empire, he was aware of the expeditionary force's attempted conquest through the Gate. Unlike some of the others, however, he hadn't heard about the fate which befell them.
That left him fully confident that they had subdued whatever lay on the other side, and were now on their way towards total conquest.
He was confident that with a force of that size sent into the other world, they could conquer whatever lay beyond.
He was there when the expeditionary fleet had made a stop at his fort, stocking up on provisions before weighing anchor and sailing off into unknown waters. Seeing so many ships gathered in one place – all three thousand of them – had made his heart swell with pride and confidence.
He was certain that with a fleet so large, along with an army numbering well over half a million men from the strongest army on the world, the Empire could conquer anything that lay beyond the Gate.
It had now been over a month ago since he last saw the fleet leave his port. Since then, not a single ship or soul had returned with news, a report, or even for a resupply.
Of course, he wasn't worried just yet. They were conquering a whole new world, after all. The campaign could simply be taking a long time, or that they had already subjugated a region of land, and were now consolidating their hold on their new conquests. Or, they could simply be reveling in their easy victory, enjoying the spoils of war before continuing the campaign, and their search for more treasure.
Thus, Hiberius felt no concern, nor the need to bolster his security. This was only a stepping-stone location, after all. While it was true that much traffic came through here, it was located on one of many routes.
Its somewhat obscure location also helped contribute to its security, as it wasn't a major hub for trade or power projection. Many a foe had often overlooked this particular location in the past due to its lack of strategic importance.
With all this in mind, Sisenna strolled out of the fort and down to the docks to begin his daily routine.
While the more mundane daily tasks were handled by quartermasters and camp prefects, and the actual handling of the crews was done by lower subordinate officers in charge of individual ships and squadrons, it was the responsibility of the praefecti to conduct daily inspections, ensuring readiness, as well as handling administrative duties.
Currently, there were roughly four hundred ships in port, and only about a dozen more on patrol in the waters surrounding the fort.
There was currently no word back from the expeditionary fleet and no threat of attack, so a third of the ships stationed in port had been allowed to rotate out, and now the fleet was now at two-thirds strength.
Not that Sisenna minded; he was sure that even if there was an attack, it would probably turn out to be only a raid, most likely from simple bandits or pirates. Nothing that the Imperial troops and sailors stationed here couldn't handle.
With all this in mind, he shook his head slightly and lifted it in confidence, then proceeded down to the cothons to begin his daily duties.
He spent the majority of the day inspecting the crews, conversing with the many captains and officers of the ships, taking note of various aspects.
While some of the newer sailors were starting to get restless due to a lack of action, others placated them with the possibilities that could arise from being stationed at such a location.
Given that there fort sat along a sea route, the newer sailors were told of many possibilities: of riches, exotic goods, and slaves, all from faraway lands and distant reaches of the Empire. The mere thought of being able to "sample" some of the goods, namely female slaves, was enough to perish the thought of boredom, and they went about their daily tasks dreaming of what could be.
Praefecti Sisenna, of course, was privy to all this, and he too sported a hidden, mischievous grin as he passed by one of the khelandion ships whose crew was currently talking about "sampling" some slaves in the future.
Ah, the ease of being a sailor in the Imperial Navy. Just as much chance as getting booty as those in the Army, and sometimes, not having to work as hard as some of the legionnaires. They had to work to acquire the loot; for the sailors, sometimes the loot came to them.
Thus, the quiet day slowly marched on, the sailors going about their tasks of maintaining their ships, the officers supervising and partaking in the work, and Praefecti Sisenna making his rounds around the entire fort, inspecting the ship crews and the garrisoned troop compliment in the fort.
And all the while, their daily lives were watched from afar by a set of silent eyes, coming from the presumed safety of the fortifications they had placed their trust in.
Valerian Observation Tower
Rapun 18, 1037 IC
19:37:47 hrs
Another quiet day had passed for the men of Fort Sarus Carmona, and everyone had turned in for the night.
There hadn't been much activity around the fort on this day, except for the crews mingling about, and some taking their ships out of port for testing, and still others going on the daily patrol.
Yet, for all the mundane tasks that was done, nothing suggested that the men here suspected anything, or were preparing for an imminent event.
While the men stationed there had been busy during the day, at night, with all the men turned for the night, there was no activity to speak of. Even the few guards on patrol and on duty seemed to be lax in their jobs.
"Man, these guys stationed here are relaxed as hell." One of the SEALs commented, observing them through his high-powered binoculars.
"True that, it looks like none of them are preparing for anything." Another quipped back.
"You think that they're usually like this?"
"I wouldn't think about an imminent attack occurring on my home turf if I had sent an invasion fleet through just a little while ago."
"Yep. I think now is as good a time as ever to make a move. Harper, think we could move in now?"
"…Normally, I wouldn't take action after only one day of recon, but after watching these guys, I'm more inclined to do so."
"So what's our play?"
"Even though this should be a piece of cake, we could still get something useful from these guys. I say we dig around for intel first, then return here and call in the reinforcements."
"Sounds good, but where do we start looking? There are two large drydocks and a fort."
"I say we look in the main keep, where that head honcho is holed up. He's the best dressed guy here; he's gotta be the commander of the sailors stationed here." Harper stated.
"That's gonna be risky though. With a troop complement nearby, if they find any of their buddies dead in the morning, they're gonna raise hell." Another SEAL cautioned.
Harper smirked. "That's exactly what I'm hoping for." He said with an obvious tone of confidence, earning confused looks from the rest of the platoon. "As soon as we get in and find what we're looking for, we call in the reinforcements, and when they find their dead, we raise some hell of our own."
Now the rest of the SEAL sported grins on their faces, now the idea of what Harper had in mind.
"Sounds good to me. So how do you wanna play this?"
"Alright, here's the plan. Luke and Ben, you stay here and provide sniper cover. Alex, you control the drone and be our eyes. Everyone else with me. We're gonna swim across and sneak in the back door to get inside the main keep. Hooyah?"
"Hooyah." The platoon heartily guffawed.
"Alright frogmen, on me." Harper motioned for the rest of the platoon to follow, and they quickly and quietly hustled down the stairs of the tower.
On their way to the water's edge, they redonned their scuba masks, checked their wetsuits, reloaded their weapons, and recalibrated their XOS-17 special-forces-variant exosuits.
Harper and his platoon didn't skip a beat as they made their way to the small dock, and instead of slowly wading into the water, they dropped over the edge of the pier, the splashes barely making a noise. The operatives dropped into the water one after the other, in a line, and within moments, they were all submerged.
Instead of swimming along the seafloor, the frogmen instead opted to swim near the surface of the water. This way, they could have a better view of their surroundings as they covertly entered the mouth of the bay, as well as duck below the waves if a guard started to get a bead on them.
Thankfully, none of the guards took notice as a group of raiders slipped right into their own backyard below the waves. They didn't even think about looking down into the water for intruders.
Eventually, the operatives reached the far end of the bay, and slowly emerged from below, silenced weapons at the ready.
A pair of barely-awake guards on the dock greeted the frogmen as they climbed up. Several muffled shots quickly took them out. The chainmail and leather armor didn't produce much noise as they bodies dropped.
"Hostiles down." Harper whispered into his mic. As the pointman, he paused and took a knee, scanning his sectors for additional guards, while two men from his platoon disposed of the bodies by quietly dropping them into the water.
"Clear. Move up." The frogmen whispered, and the platoon silently crept forward. They advanced in a single file formation, their weapons pointed all around.
"Alex, how are we looking so far?" Harper inquired, whispering into his mic.
"You're good to go. Sensors are showing the camp is dead asleep, although it looks like there are a few guards here and there."
"Copy that. We'll keep an eye out." The operators silently continued their movements.
As they made their way through the fort towards the rear entrance, they did indeed encounter several guards. However, they were very scattered in their placement, and oftentimes, they were barely awake; essentially asleep at their post. These were eliminated either up close with knives, or with suppressed weapons.
"Another X-ray down. Harper reported as he took down another sleeping guard with his suppressed rifle, catching the body in mid-air so as no not make a sound when it hit the ground. He quickly hid the body behind some barrels before resuming to paying boogeyman.
After about fifteen minutes of creeping through the fort, the platoon finally reached the rear entrance. There was a pair of guard towers, manned by a pair of barely-awake guards. "Luke, Ben, Neptune. We're at the rear entrance. Got a pair of guards here. Need you to clear a path for us." Harper whispered.
"Rog'. We got you covered." Not a moment later, both guards slumped down dead.
"Clear. Ascension cables. Go." Harper ordered, and the team aimed their left arms, firing off grappling lines towards the roofs of the guard towers. A common attachment for exosuits was a small gun that fired a quad-weave titanium cable with a grappling hook. Although this allowed users to forgo bulkier climbing equipment, it did have limits, such as range and payload. Here though, the personal use attachment was perfect.
Within moments, the platoon had scaled the wall, and had climbed down to the other side. A group of eight guards, all asleep, awaited the team; these were quickly silenced.
"Got the central keep coming up. Eyes out. Let's do this quietly." Harper whispered.
The team quietly hustled forward, eliminating the two guards at the main door before stacking up. As point man, Harper gave a slight tug on the handle.
It didn't budge. Locked. He then motioned for a silent entry, and another team SEAL cam forward with a crowbar. With a fluid motion, he gave a quick push, and backed away, opening the door and allowing the team to swiftly enter.
Another pair of sleeping guards at a table were quickly eliminated, their bodies slumping forward. "Tangos down." Harper whispered. "Got a lot of places where that intel could be. Split up. Sweep and clear. Last man with me." He ordered over the mic.
The SEALs didn't waste any time in going off in different directions to do their dirty work.
Each room in the tower began to be quickly and methodically cleared.
Some rooms turned up empty, turning out just to be a storage room.
A few other rooms turned out to be a barracks block, and its sleeping occupants were swiftly silenced with either knives or suppressed weapons.
Every so often, the team would encounter individuals within the compound, and they were eliminated, regardless.
The only things that indicated that they were ever there, were destruction and a trail of bodies.
Typical SEALs.
Finally, the platoon regrouped at the top floor, and approached a pair of door at the end of a short hall. They even appeared heavy, and even through the night vision lenses and tactical augmented reality, they could tell that it had more ornate engravings.
"That's it. Head honcho's gotta be holed up in there." Harper whispered. "Weapons tight, we need him alive."
The team stacked up, ready to enter. One gave a yank on the door, and the team quickly entered. There was an even larger collection of expensive-looking trinkets compared to the rest of the keep, and had multiple adjoining rooms.
Finally, they reached the final room, and Harper with a couple SEALs stacked up, while the rest hanged back. "Remember, no shots fired." He reminded them.
The two nodded, and they swiftly entered. There was a single figure resting on the bed, and Harper quickly and roughly placed his gloved hand over his mouth, while his wingmen stood at the ready.
"I'm only going to ask this once. I want the maps detailing the sea routes used by merchants and the Imperial Navy, and the locations of your other ports." Harper quickly and quietly demanded in the alternate Latin, his tone of voice low and dangerous.
Praefecti Sisenna, for his part, was terrified. How could assassins have infiltrated his fort!? Ow could they slip pass all the guards and ships!?
He tried sitting up, but this man's arm was surprisingly strong, keeping him pinned down even though it was only over his mouth. Although momentarily, the strange man lifted the hand from his mouth.
"I'll never tell anyth—!" He bravely tried defying his assailants with his Imperial pride intact, but the man who questioned him quickly covered his mouth again.
It was only now that he saw two more figures standing behind the first one.
Now he was reconsidering his options. If these assassins were able to slip past the guards, they may very well be dead already. And he may not get a chance at revenge if he resists right away.
So, he decided to play along. He stopped for several moments, and raised his hands in a placating manner. The first man removed his hand from his mouth once more. "T-T-There. On the table. Everything you would want." He replied, pointing a shaky finger at the table on the far side of the room.
The first man looked briefly behind him for a moment, before turning back and pistol-whipping him hard in the head, knocking him unconscious.
Without another word, Harper went to the table and analyzed the papers, rummaging through them. Sure enough, there were maps, and what appeared to be rosters for troop strength and deployment schedules.
"Jackpot. Got a treasure trove of intel here." Harper whispered. "Team, guard the room." He whispered, and they quickly took up positions at the main door to the residence.
His exosuit's wrist-mounted holo-computer on his left wrist served multiple purposes. Like all others, it controlled various functions for the exosuit, but could also be used for a variety of battlefield command-and-control functions. He used the holo-scanner to analyze and copy the content on all the papers.
It took only a few minutes to scan them all. "Alex, I got the intel. Sending it to you know." Harper reported as he fumbled around with the wrist computer.
"Roger, Neptune. Receiving data know." Alex giddily replied.
"Team, it's done. On me. Let's get the hell out of dodge and rally back at the observation tower."
"Hooah." The platoon quietly affirmed, and they quickly began hustling out of the keep.
"Luke, Ben, we've got the intel and are heading back to you. cover our exfil." Harper ordered the two snipers.
"Solid. We're tracking you." The two replied.
It didn't take long for the team to exit to central keep, and make their way through the still-sleeping fort.
A couple times, the snipers took potshots, eliminating a wandering guard who was getting too close for comfort.
After what felt like an hour, and eventually, the SEALs were back at the bay. They didn't slow down as they all quickly and quietly dropped into the bay once more, swimming back the way they came, and after a brief swim and more hustling, were finally back at the top of the observation tower.
"Phew, that was quite the workout there, huh sir." One of the SEALs commented.
"Yeah. Not exactly my idea of a late-night workout."
"Don't start celebrating just yet tadpoles." Harper quipped back. "We still have a job to do. I'm calling it in."
He switched channels. "Warlord, this is Neptune Actual. Flash message."
"Neptune Actual, Warlord. Send traffic."
"Forward recon completed. We've acquired intel on the enemy's naval ops. Sending data now." Harper stated as he and Alex worked the tablets.
"Intel received. Good work, gents. We'll send it over to be analyzed."
"Roger that. We're a go for Phase Two. Send the rest. It's about to get really messy over here." Harper briskly replied.
"Copy on Phase Two. Sit tight, we're coming to you."
To be continued…
After-Action Report:
Forward recon of enemy naval port installation successful
Intel on enemy naval routes, port locations, and troop strength acquired
Green light on Phase Two underway; offensive operations to begin shortly…
End Report