In 1994, the Dark lord Voldemort, known to some as Tom Riddle, was resurrected on the grounds of Riddle Manor through the use of an extremely dark ritual. It created a body out of his servant's hand, his father's thigh bone and his enemy's blood. He almost literally returned from the dead. Since then, Voldemort has begun a campaign across Magical Britain. At first his assaults were isolated, few and far between. But around 1995, he'd garnered an army of some three thousand wizards and magical creatures. With that force he began to take over some of the magical towns in Northern Scotland where retaliation would take time. After securing three towns, Voldemort's forces used blitzkrieg warfare across the nation taking town after town without much resistance.
The Ministry of Magic, the governing body of Magical Britain simply could not mass a force to stop him. With the outlaw of federal magical armies in 1577, no government could maintain a force any larger than five hundred persons. Therefore, there was little to stop the Dark Lord as his war machine tore across the countryside.
Around the same time that Voldemort began his advance, the Order of the Phoenix was recreated to combat the threat. This small force of two-three score used guerrilla tactics against Voldemort's Army, striking at isolated bases and occupied cities. The Order has to this day killed or captured two hundred and eighty-seven Death Eater soldiers.
In 1998, the remnants of the Ministry of Magic formed an illegal army, drafting any able bodied witch or wizard into its ranks. Using this force, the Ministry managed to stave off Voldemort's relentless assault and protect its territory in England and Wales. Voldemort's forces, stunned by their latest failure, drew back to their multiple bastions and occupied territories in Scotland.
On April 9, 1998, Hogwarts, the last remaining stronghold in the Light's hands, came under attack by four Muggles. These four possessed weapons far superior to anything the Light had ever seen and almost easily forced their way into Hogwarts Castle. The Muggles forced their way into the heart of Hogwarts and forced the destruction of the Well of Eternity. The resulting explosion killed three hundred refugees in the Castle and twenty soldiers. The Light's forces lost their final Bastion and retreated to the sea where they sailed south to England.
In May of 1998, the war bogged down. The front lines lay along the line of Voldemort's bastions. This impenetrable line of defense became the place where any battles fought between the two opposing forces took place. Offensives were few and far between as the power of defense outweighed the power of offense. For nearly a year, the two opposing sides licked their wounds and gathered their strength in anticipation of the battle ahead.
In January of 1999, the Ministry of Magic began Black Ops missions into Voldemort's territory. These small teams of soldiers went into Scotland and found the areas of strength behind the Bastion Line and relayed the information back to the Ministry. These teams also 'captured' the ruins of Hogwarts Castle from the Death Eaters. There was no engagement; the Death Eaters had no forces stationed there.
For several months, this period of Cold War blanketed the countryside. Intelligence was gathered, forces were garnered, and time was bided. The only important event that occurred was the fall of a Meteor into the Black Lake of Hogwarts.
May 25, 1999: Milky Way: Earth: Northern Scotland: Ruins
Cipher and Pixie sat contently on one of the rocks, soaking in the information. As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, Harry said: "Could we have a moment alone?" Albus nodded and the two pilots retreated behind a rock about twenty feet away. "So Pix, what do you think?"
"Well, they've been fighting a war for almost three years now," the other pilot shrugged. "They don't seem to be very advanced militarily."
"I know what you mean," Harry agreed with a sharp nod of his head. "To ban armies is about the stupidest thing anyone could possibly do. It invites disaster. Hell, this government lost an entire country to a band of rebels!"
"Now the question is 'do we help them?'" Pixie said.
"It depends," Harry shook his head. "If they have something of serious value to offer us, I might put in a suggestion but I won't help them blindly."
"By the sounds of it this Voldemort person only has a few bastions and with what I've seen of these people, they don't have advanced weapons," Pixie put in. "Depending on the strength of the enemy and these people's willingness to help us I'd say that we could probably take this guy out with an Armored Battalion and a Ranger Platoon or two."
"Yeah, and that's if we don't use Galileo or the Raiders," Harry nodded. He looked up at nothing in particular. "Okay, it's settled; if they have something of value to offer us, I'll take in Galileo's marines with two or three elements of Raiders above us. It'll be simple, with only five thousand enemy soldiers. Their spells fly slower than RPGs so dodging them won't be too much of a problem." Nodding, both pilots went back to the Waiting Wizards (I'm keeping that…).
"Alright, you've made your case," Harry nodding to Dumbledore. "Now, I am considering offering my country's help if you have something of value to offer us in return. Is there anything that you have that'll help us?" Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak but Harry cut him off. "Also, I don't care about domestic issues right now, only militaristic ones. If your magical abilities can aid us in a large way, I'll put a recommendation in to the President."
"We do not understand your military ways," Dumbledore nodded. "Most Wizards do not like killing. However, we do have spells that can aid in many other ways, such as space distribution. I'm sure that if you knew our ways something would be of value to you." His voice almost sounded pleading. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.
"Well, if that's…" Two MF-01 Raiders flew overhead and banked around to get a better look at the group below. "Okay, there's our ride," Harry nodded, returning his eyes to the three wizards. "No promises but we'll see what we can do."
May 30, 1999: Milky Way: Earth: Northern England
Harry and Larry walked around the base camp of the Allied Forces in the English Theater. Marines and Wizards scurried about as the Allies tried desperately to prepare themselves for the coming offensive into Voldemort Occupied Territory. Scouts from the Galileo's fighter squadron had confirmed the existence of the Bastion Line and significant areas of operation with the Death Eater Forces.
Within a week of reporting their plans to the President, a science team examined some of the spells that Wizards could use and were almost drooling over in Area 51. They really wanted to get a Space Expansion Charm to stick in the newest Fighter so that it could carry two dozen missiles in an internal compartment. The President gave the go ahead pretty soon after.
The two pilots stepped into the Ground Headquarters of the operation where Dumbledore, Alastor Moody and Neville Longbottom along with three other American Marine Generals were planning the attack.
"We have a few Abrams that should be able to take out each Bastion with relative ease, provided we have sufficient ground forces to back them up," one of the three Generals said pointing down at a Bastion in the dead center of the Area of Operation. "However, those Reductor Curses that you showed us the other day have me worried. I don't think our armor will be able to stand up to that very many times."
Moody nodded. "I'll have one of my best men in each of your tanks. They can form shields that'll protect the armor while you attack. These tanks of yours would probably be able to blast through the walls around the Bastion with relative ease so entrance won't be a problem. However, they will have a lot of ground troops in the vicinity…"
"Just leave that to me," Harry cut in, making his presence known. "I'll be leading one of the ground teams that'll infiltrate the fortress. Your spells may be powerful, but our weapons are designed to kill a lot of people in quick succession with as little damage being done to our own men as possible. Provided you can give me some of your shield men we should be able to retake the area pretty easily."
One of the generals turned to Harry. He was a Major General. "Colonel, I wasn't aware that you would be in the ground team."
"Well, our planes were destroyed in what started this whole operation," Harry shrugged. "We can't exactly fly in without planes now can we? I have experience in ground combat so it shouldn't be a problem." He took a step forward and looked down at the map. "When will the operation begin, sirs?"
"Ideally we'll attack tomorrow night," the same General offered. "From what these good fellows have been able to tell us our enemies won't have night vision equipment. We'll take them out before they can even see us."
"I like this plan," Harry smiled at the six men. Pixie smirked behind him. "I just got back from talking with the new CO on the Galileo. We'll have Raider air cover throughout the operation. Now then, if I may be so bold as to ask, sirs, what shall we do after we retake the fortress?"
"We have another group of nine Abrams and one hundred and twenty Marines landing where this Hogwarts used to be," a General answered. "After retaking the Bastion we'll begin a Blitzkrieg attack. We'll cut off the supply routes to the remaining fortresses and move north through the country and eliminate Voldemort's main Areas of Operation. Air strikes will hammer against the remaining Bastions while our forces move through the entire country and eliminate every area on this map. Then we'll start searching for the remnants of whatever forces are left."
"So it's a straightforward smash, bash and slaughter?" Harry simplified with a smirk. The General nodded contently. "This is good. We don't even have to get rid of our socks." Without waiting to be dismissed, he turned tail and left he tent.
(End Chapter)