Chapter 5: War of the Worlds.
October 10 -2029,Tokyo Great Base, Earth
Itami sorted through all his favorite mangas, this was probably the last time he could see the sky of Japan so if he dies he will die with his favorite manga. Finished sorting his mangas, he began the process of checking all the gears and documents necessary for the expedition.
The Global Security Council had declared war on the Holy Darwinian Empire, the entire world's military might about to fall down on them with the fury the world had never seen before, there were a lot of politics involved up until now, most of which Itami didn't bother to follow. The official aim was to force the Holy Empire an unconditional surrender and pay compensation for the victims of the Rumbling but the unspoken reason was to redirect the anger of the working mass, maintain the capitalist hierarchy and to conquest new territories. He would soon be deployed to Falmart for those reasons.
He would soon jointed the First War of the Worlds, fighting an alien races with magic.
He wouldn't be alone however, Itami would command the Third Japanese Special Task Force to support the vanguard armor formations of the Earth Expeditionary Force during their operations into the "New World". Japan wasn't really happy about the massive military forces in their capital but the huge FDI investment from the UEA was very attractive. Many Japanese officials thought that this would be easy money and the interdimensional war would be like a walk in the park.
But Itami knew better, thought. This war would be anything but easy, the Holy Empire was strong and it's population were tough-minded. The idea of anyone subjugating an empire of ten billion magicans and tough-minded citizens struck him as surreal, to say there would be a lot of casualties on both sides.
It had been a long six months, training with the United Earth Alliance Defence Force (UEADF) to integrate the JSDF Special Task Force into the command structure. Briefing, language classes, pre-deployment workups, heavy weaponry maintenance, Combat Jacket issue, Neuralink implantation, and many other woes that lead to a deployment had take up most of Itami and his colleague time.
All of that hadn't been the only things going on, there was many activites in the Tokyo Bay, where the UEADF were testing their own GATE prototype. Gathering data and carrying out reconnaissance had already begun to set the stage for the global invasion.
During this time, General Yōji father's, Minister of Defense Taro Itami, repeatedly calling to remind him to work seriously. Many of his peers also maintained constant communication with their families, some even had surprise meeting. Not everyone was so fortunate however and many including his friend, Lieutenant General Tommy Kennedy of the US Army, would have to go off war without seeing their love ones one last time.
Camp Fuji Motor Pool
The rest of the morning was relatively quiet, tankers, airmen and heavy armored infantries moved to and fro as they began loading up their machines for the journey ahead. Every so often some nervous laughter would follow the occasional yelling of a radio check or other pre-operation nuance.
Everybody already knew what was their mission, the preparation over the past 10 years up till now were very thoroughly but there were many who were still flabbergasted over the fact they were actually getting ready to go off into a different world.
As their first deployment no less.
Meanwhile, Colonel Takeo Kurata CO of the 1st Combat Unit joined the rest of his troop in looking over the new equipment his friend and CG Lieutenant General Yōji Itami had distributed among the 1st Combat Unit.
Most of it was the usual items; Combat Jacket Mk3, 20mm M47 assault rifle, all the tools they'd need to accomplish their mission. It was the strange weapons atop that caught their attention.
A RB4 disposable pile driver with 20 tungsten carbide spike and and a 200kg Vrataski 775 battle axe.
Kurata eyed one of the battle axe with a raised eyebrow. "Let me guess, that's for if shit gets too close?"
Lieutenant Colonel Sōichirō Kuwahara his Second-In-Command merely nodded as he made sure both of the battle axe and pile driver were in good order. "Yeah, you remember those big fucking battle-beast in the document? Well the generals thought that they might be an issue on the other side."
"And we can't rely on Lockheed AC-130 W gunship for that?"
"Well, stranger things have happened."
Kurata rolled his eyes. "Guess that explains the HTH course we went through." His gaze shifted over towards the battle axe. "A fucking battle axe course..."
Kuwahara checked the slide on the Vrataski 775 battle axe before letting it go back forward. "This is for Military police (MP) only."
"Wait the MP get a RB4 pile driver and a fucking Vrataski 775 battle axe ?" Kurata looked on increduously "That's some bullshit."
Kuwahara gave a shrug. "Well, not like we can shoot the 20mm assault rifle inside the base."
Kurata nodded in approval he'd had played enough game to figure that out.
As the tank platoon began finalizing preparations, the CO yelled at the top of his lungs. "Attention on deck!"
Like an assembly line of robots every Tanker there snapped to attention, the 1st Combat Unit commanding officer, Colonel Takeo Kurata had arrived to oversee his tankers his armored ace in the hole.
Kurata looked relatively young for a Colonel. He had the face of a charismatic young leader, an uncommon trait among the higher echelons of command.
"At ease Tankers, form a school circle around me!"
With a throaty roar, the Tankers all gathered around him, some knelt, some stood, but all paid utmost attention.
Kurata take a deep breath . He was prepping himself for yet another stirring speech.
"Tankers! How are we doing today?!"
Every Tanker sounded off at once. "Hooah !"
Pleased with the response Kurata continued.
"Tankers, let me tell you now; I am proud, the Commander is proud, your Prime Minister is proud, the Emperor is proud, and more importantly, the people of Japan are proud. You represent the strongest armored formation on the planet. Your tanks, the Type-47 Sheridan and the Type-92 Chamberlain, are the heaviest modern tank armed with the biggest and most powerful high-velocity guns. Your perfect score is a testament to the Japanese Self Defense Armored Corp's professionalism and strive to excellence. That was really nice, I won't lie about that."
Some laughter and "Kill them all " spread throughout the platoon's ranks as the Tankers responded to this praise. Crushing his cigarette under his boot, Kurata continued.
"In a few days you will be flown off to Tokyo to join your brothers in arms, all of you will all march towards the GATE after the UEADF vanguard force, this war is to revenge for our lost one. It a testament to our power and indomitable need for justice and freedom. Believe me gentlemen justice will be served for the cataclysm they caused. You will be the spearhead to lead our JGSDF army through, your tanks will blast away the enemy and our nuke will light up their continents. The people of the world want revenge too, they lost a lot of people tankers. They want answers for what happened and we will be there to help them find those answers one way or another. Our purpose is to bright hellfire to anything beyond that GATE and make them regretted that they have ever setting foot on this world, no one has any real idea what's beyond that GATE and how strong these enemy, but if there's anyone who knows how to charge into the unknown and blast the hell out of the enemy, it is the armored corps, Oorah?"
At once all the tankers responded to this question, their lust for battle clearly evident in their reply.
"Oorah!"
"Damn right, these past five years you have trained and interacted with the UEADF, you know how they do business and they know how we do business. That been said, support them, work with them, but above all learn from them as they learn from you rah?"
"RAH!" once again every Tankers responded the same as before, their Espirit de Corps invoking a strong reaction within.
"These assholes don't have the nuclear firepower we have, they don't have the technology we have, and they most certainly don't have the heart we have. They maybe very big, fast, strong, nearly immortal and have powerful magic. But you will charge through there asshole and you will kill them all, you will make them regret every life they took that day, but don't forget we also have rules."
Kurata put his hands behind his back. "Controlled chaos gentlemen, controlled chaos. In a few hours you will joint a parade in Kyoto. Shaking hands, kissing babies, march around the city, show the heavy weapons all that shit. Am I clear?"
Once again he received the answer he was expecting. "Oorah!"
Satisfied, Kurata took his leave wishing them best of luck. As he reached his Oshkosh L-ATV he turned around. "Now let's
show the world the best parade of their life eh?" With that, he took his leave.
No sooner had Kurata left , Kuwahara clapped his hands together. "Alright Tankers get these tanks prepped and ready to fucking roll!"
As tankers began to swarm over their machines, the lieutenant colonel chuckled. "Red carpet ain't gonna roll itself out."
Nakagyo Ward-Kyoto
The drive to Kyoto had felt like a long one, owing in no small part to the super heavy tanks being part of a massive convoy. Every turn had to be careful ground guided with separate roads being blocked off in order to avoid any potential accidents.
Japanese citizens watched wide eyed as UEADF equipment lumbered by; tanks, missiles, trucks and armored vehicles of various types. It had been ten years since the Rumbling destroyed their city but even now they couldn't quite comprehend seeing such a massive buildup of arms and armor in their own backyard. Some people waved and cheered while others simply stared and shook their heads.
Nothing would ever be the same in Japan and the rest of the world after such disaster.
Eventually the convoy made its way to the rebuilt Kyoto city hall, the entire city still showing signs of the cataclysmic event even after extensive repairs carried out by Japan. What was eerie was the fact that most of the area was almost a ghost town, what little number of civilians remained watched from beyond barricades or paid their respects at a nearby victims memorial. It wouldn't be until later on that the troops would find out that entire blocks had been effectively cordoned off in order to enact a sort of pseudo DMZ.
Once the convoy got in place and accountability carried out, the troops went about getting into formation for the inevitable pep talk.
Inevitable in that everyone could see high ranked UEADF officials and Global Security Council world leaders including the Prime Minister of Japan Motoi Shinzō, the group on a stage complete with a podium. All the troops stood ramrod straight and listened intently as one by one each of the VIPs began their talks, Motoi Shinzō being the first.
Well, most of the troops.
Itami listened to the Prime Minister alongside his fellow UEADF commanders and tried his best to keep his focus as well as avoided the intense glare from his father.
Between the new appointment by his father and fact he was actually deploying, the young general was anything but excited. All he had wanted to do was continue his enlistment in peace and use it to support his hobby. Now here he was appointed to command a task force with 32,500 troops and getting ready to be sent off to a hostile alien world and to fight nigh-immortal giant Titan.
At least he wasn't alone and not in front. No that "honor" belonged to the Vanguard Army Group, a special army group comprise of many elite armored divisions from the Big Five, not that many of the Japanese troops were complaining. The Vanguard in front meant they'd be the first to be thrown at whatever lay on the other side which made sense given their reputation. The Vanguard Army Group was manned with veteran soldiers armed with the newest weapons so they were known for being thrown at things and crashing right through.
Itami's train of thought was interrupted as the Prime Minister began his speech.
"My fellow humans, for today we all stand shoulder to shoulder against a threat that engulf us all. Truly, in these desperate days, if we do not hang together, we will all hang separately. Today, there are no, Japanese no Russians, no Americans or Chinese or Australians. We are all humans together and it is to each other that we must look for our survival. We cannot hope for aid or help from others, we stand alone with only each other and the tools of our joint ingenuity to protect us.
As of this day, we find ourselves embroiled in a war, a war we must win completely and utterly. Today, we find ourselves allied with our former enemies, they are our brothers in a wider struggle, on all of those who have brought humanity so much pain and suffering ten years ago."
Motoi motioned to the other gentlemen that had taken a stand during his speech before continuing.
"In the war we are about to fight, we will take casualties, probably more than at any time in our history. But we are comming. Humanity is coming. We will not stop, we will not cease, we will not fail. No matter what it costs, no matter what the sacrifices we must make, no matter how long it takes, no matter who we trample on the way, we are coming to revenge for our lost ones. On that promise may our enemies rest in an uneasy and frightened sleep.
With this Resolution has finally been adopted thanks to the efforts of officials from all national governments, and now at last we are ready to dispatch the full might of Earth's military to Falmart and brought them to justice ..."
As the speech began to drone off in his ears Itami's eyes began to wander, eventually snapping onto the memorial. It was a simple thing, a few pillars of stone with the engravings of various names. However, wasn't so much the monument that caught his attention, but the ones in front of it.
It was the same girl he had rescued ten years ago, she had become a teen now, accompanying her being a man that Itami guessed was her father. The pair stood there their gaze resting on one name in particular, Itami couldn't read the name but he didn't need to.
It was her mother, the girl had come here to pay her respects on the day her country's military went off to avenge her mother's death and many others. Itami steeled himself and took a deep breath. He was worrying so much about his hobbies and simple life being interrupted that he forgot to remember exactly why he was here in the first place, the real reason for his enlistment. Or rather, what the primary reason for his enlistment was supposed to be.
To serve his country and defend his people.
The soldiers in front of him had been down this road before, lost brothers to war in far away places and here he was worried about having to leave his comfort zone. For just a moment Itami felt almost ashamed.
This war would be a chance for change, change within himself and making his father proud, he hope.
This is for better.
Itami gulped.
Or for worse.
But I'm still nervous…
Itami tried to get a grip on the jumble of emotions he was now feeling as the Prime Minister continued.
"The main force will come from the Big Five, but the GATE is in our land and as such, we will be more than advisory role, we will show those alien the strengh of the Japanese people. And together with the people of the world we will win. "
Next, the JSDF Commander in charge of the Japanese operation, General Hazama, took to the stage and begun addressing his men.
October 12 -2029,Tokyo Great Base, Earth
Dr Hange Zoë sorted through all the data, this was the final check so she need to make sure everything is normal for the expedition.
"Are you sure this Quantum Tunnel Stabilize is safe, Dr Hange ?" asked the SCAEF Liam Nuttall, looking a little bit concern about the weird looking massive machine in front of him.
Hange shot the Commander a quick glance and rolled her eyes.
"Commander, I already explained a thousand times. It's perfectly safe. Using the data from the original GATE in Ginza and the quantum locator we have been able to enlarge the Wormhole up to 5 km in diameter enough for our army and all their supplies to march through, the war will be on time, I assure you."
October 13 -2029, The GATE, Bay of Tokyo
The first combat forces that will go to war on Falmart was the Vanguard Army Group.
The main forces were the Anglo-American with 200,000 soldiers with 4000 Type-47 Sheridan tanks and 1000 Type-92 Chamberlain tanks along with many powerful weapons such as M370 MLRS, 203 mm M195 railgun, M65A 406mm Atomic Cannon.
The following were the troops of the Federal Republic of China that sent 200,000 soldiers, 2000 Type-47 Sheridans, 1400 Type-92 Chamberlain along with many Artillery, IFVs, APCs.
The United Republic of Europia along with Republic of India will send an equal army of 200,000 soldiers along with 3240 Sheridan and Chariot MBTs respectively.
Greater Russian Union will provide 200,000 soldiers with 1240 Type-92 Chamberlain tanks, 3000 Type-47 Sheridan MBTs, the famous Russian-made TOS-1D 320mm Multiple Incendiary Thermobaric Rocket Launcher, Iskander-W mobile short-range nuclear ballistic missile system.
Other countries will support with military forces after the Vanguard Army Group takes the hill.
The rest of the UEADF that would join later will be from Japan, Latin America, ASEAN, Arab World, even North Korea wanted to help, something unexpected but after one of the most horrible events of the 21st century, solidarity between countries was greatly increased.
The first to advance through GATE will be the United States, followed by the Russia and then the rest of the nations.
The objective was clear, it was to take over the Alnus Hill turned it into a massive base and then prepared for the inevitable offensive deep into the Empire territory.
The number of troops in the initial forces were sent to take over Alnus Hill may be an overkill but it was better to be safe than sorry, they should not underestimate the enemy.
Itami and the others VIP of UEADF are listened to the explanation about how the GATE worked as they walked, until they reached something like a huge hangar. This was the Tokyo Central Command.
It was a vast, windowless space, roughly four to five stories tall, with no windows. It felt familiar to Itami; it reminded him of the Tokyo International Exhibition Center.
However, he did not see folding tables there.
"Ah, it's a Shinshin."
There was a mockup of an experimental stealth fighter here, as well as kinetic kill vehicles designed to interdict medium-range ballistic missiles, among other things.
Technicians in white one-piece coveralls stood at the edge of this testing ground, arranging cameras and machinery to surround a central platform.
The floor was covered in tapes marking off squares in a grid pattern.
A frame of white ropes — resembling a jungle gym — hung in the air, also forming a grid pattern.
They brought Tuka to the center of the elevated platform. There were familiar faces among the researchers near her.
"Ah, Professor Youmei." said Liam Nuttall as he waved his old professor at the university.
"Ohh, you're here , is a big day , we are going to open a GATE through other dimension. I heard they were conducted experiments concerning the Gate using a magican as a locator right?"
Nuttall shaked the hand of his old teacher and answerd," Yes professor. There are unmeasurable number of worlds out there you need a locator to find a particular world among all the others."
Dr Hange Zoë was there as well, waving to them.
Elsewhere, a female technician was attaching electrodes to Tuka's head and various parts of her body.
Tuka did not seem to mind. Instead, she eagerly asked, " After this I can go home right ?" and nodded as she received her answer.
As the preparations proceeded apace, the world leaders - headed by PM Motoi — gathered around as well.
"It's rare that we're all gathered at a place like this," Itami muttered. After all, the people here were the sort he would normally only see in the papers and news.
"Idiot, it shows how important this Event is."
Following his father words, Defense Minister Taro Itami added, "The reopening of the Gate will shape world's future. Once we master the GATE technology, it will open a new horizon for the human race. The conquest of Falmart is just the beginning, the GATE have unlimited potential. The GATE is a cheap and easy method of interstellar travel, this mean mankind will have more worlds? We have to take from each other in an unsightly way because our world is too small. But if we could live freely over a multitude of worlds, we wouldn't need to envy, hinder and exploit each other! This is a blessing from god! We might have suffered in our cramped little world, but now we don't need to worry about that any longer. The ability to infinitely expand our borders will free us from the problems of ideological and religious conflicts! After all, you just need to go to a place where the people you hate don't exist. We can just draw our boundaries and never emerge from them."
"We will begin the opening sequence shortly. All personnel to your instruments and stations. Five. Four. Three…"
Everyone watched Tuka with bated breath.
Tuka closed her eyes, and incanted a monophonic verse which sounded like a pigeon whistle.
"Please look, the subject's brain wave patterns are showing surprising changes."
"The amplitude is off the scales. It's as though she's having an epileptic seizure… to think she could remain conscious through all this."
"Probably because it's limited to part of the cerebrum."
Not every part of the EEG display was flickering wildly. Other parts showed no changes at all.
"...Two. One. Contact!"
With the merest of movements, Tuka opened a Gate to another world before the onlookers.
On top of Tokyo Bay, the world twisted.
At first they thought the sea had collapsed, but then the earth groaned, followed by a sudden small earthquake, and then a black sun appeared at the top of what should have been the sky. It was a swirling sphere of red and violet, and looked very ominous. The seafloor of the bay should have been flat, but for some reason it seemed to have sunk downwards, like a funnel. It looked just like a 2D model of a black hole, the depression growing deeper the closer one got to the center, and there was a hole in the center of it that led to parts unknown.
"So this is the famous GATE !?"
Ass the path was opened, Vanguard Army Group begin to move.
Unknown Time, Gate Transit Tunnel , Route To Falmart
The ride had through the tunnel had been long and stressful. Once the Type-92 Chamberlain tanks entered the mouth of the gate the rest of the American and Russian heavy armored vehicles followed behind.
Illuminated only by the headlights of vehicles to their front and rear and the drones above, the massive Vanguard Army Group made their way through the dark void. Thank god it was a straight line from one side to the other side, so there was little room for error. No one dared to even test the theory of what lay beyond in the dark expanse to their left and right, but so far no one been whisked away into the void.
At one point during the ride, Lieutenant General Tommy Kennedy had even tossed a green chem stick over the right side of his Mobile Command Center (MCC). He had seen it had fly quite a ways before hitting a solid surface, but then again he couldn't be sure. He lit a cigarette before leaning over his 3-D map and staring into the void beyond.
Truth be told him and many of his troops in the US 3rd Armored Corps had actually gotten bored. Once the original track had stopped playing over comm, the soldiers began to amuse themselves by telling jokes and playing any songs they hadn't already played before.
Listening to the exchange over the net Tommy had sighed and adjusted uncomfortably in his seat. He felt boring so he called his good friend and comrade Lieutenant General Yōji Itami.
"Hey Itami, Do you think we'll see any cute Neko girls on the other side? I mean we've already seen High Elves and wizards, it only makes sense!"
Itami adjusted his peaked cap and Neutrallink before responding to his friend. "It will be great if we do, but I have a feeling that the tanks will scare them all away."
Not like we could bring them back, what a shame, Itami thought to himself. Kurata and Kuwahara were probably asking each other the same questions, being fellow Otakus like Tommy and himself they had to be just as curious.
Suddenly a voice came over all the comm channels. "All vics, this is Recon One, be advised we have eyes on a light at the end of the tunnel. Look sharp people."
"Well, that is it, wish me luck pal. "
At this remark everyone began to wake up, the boredom had been broken and units began to roger up. It was show time.
The troops doing a last minute check on their Combat Jacket and relaxed a little. They were ready for just about anything.
0600 Hours Local Time, Alnus Hill, Lemuria,Falmart
The firsts to came out from the GATE were over 200 DeltaQuad VTOL fixed wing surveillance UAV. They flew to the height of 50,000 meter in every direction. After confirmed there weren't any enemy in 500 km radius from the GATE, the main army started moving into the alien world.
There had been a moment of silence when the first allied vehicles emerged from the gate, the mighty Type-92 Chamberlain tanks led the way.
Immediately, UEADF's troops felt the increase in gravity and air light was also strange, that orange sunlight blushing lower in the sky to a pure spectral red Sol never achieves. Falmart noon had a warm tone, like perpetual afternoon, or gaslight, or firelight. Falmart's moon Oisin, which was twice as big as Luna, started to rise in the horizon. This was truely an alien world.
Large sloping fields of green, yellow and red as far as the eyes could see, massive mountains in the distance were coverd in a thick cloud. GPS navigational units began to static as irritated commanders tried their best to make heads or tales of where they were. Eager and nervous troops looked out of vehicle windows as they strained themselves to take in the sights all around them.
The human forces were well and truly in a different world now. There wasn't much time to gawk, however. No sooner had the first few thousands vehicles began to trickle through, radio reports started being sent down the line. Powerful optics scanned the horizon and sure enough the UEADF could make out any enemy forces amassing in the distance.
Back to business.
Allied forces began to dig in; men dismounted from armored personnel carriers, emplaced weapon systems were set up, MLRS batteries were sent up, mobile artillery began to elevate their guns and fighting vehicles prowled like big cats into defensive positions.
Just in a few hours an extremely strong defensive base began to appear on the ground of Alnus. If the enemy were bold enough to attack, they'd kicking over one hell of a proverbial hornet's nest.
Tommy dismounted from his MCC watching the scene unfold, it was nothing short of impressive in his eyes. The entire world uniting against one enemy outnumbered no less. This would be a story to be remember for generations.
As he made his way around the defenses with his troops his ears picked up the familiar Russian accent of the Russian Army General he had met back at Tokyo. The General pointed at the TOS-1D 320mm Multiple Incendiary Thermobaric Rocket Launcher as his men fussed about with setting it up.
Tommy and his subordinate approached him and began setting up next to him. "Nikolay! Good to see you, mind if we set up here?"
Major General Nikolay Tereshchenko turned towards Tommy and gave a thumbs up as he pulled up his helmet glass.
"Sure thing. Hope you got ear protection though." He gestured towards the large weapon system. "Once this thing gets going you're going to wish you had."
Tommy nodded. He had been very sure to pack as much PPE* as possible, even if it meant having to dip into his own funds to get it.
As the troops began to set up sandbags Tommy looked towards the anti-aircraft system. The nuclear tipped SAM Nike Hercules II. The Nike Hercules II was the improved version of the MIM-14 from the 1980s. Armed with a much cleaner 20kt W77 pure fusion warhead, it more than enough to kill any Wyvern Lord.
Tommy breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a platoon of Nike Hercules II elevating their missiles, their radars spinning rapidly as the turrets began tracking anything in the air.
The Holy Alliance Camp 700 Km North Of Alnus Hill
The Imperial troops were prepared for the opening battle to test the strength of the enemy on the other side, commanded by the Immanity Field Marshal Luflus; Elf Field Marshal Mokzas and the Dwarf Field Marshal were the brave soldiers who had volunteered for this suicide mission.
The three Field Marshals were planning the attack, although they had an unexpected gift.
King Duran of the Elbe kingdom and Duke Ligu of the League kingdom brought to them over 1,200,000 mindless Titan, that mean their troops number was now over 4 millions.
"My lords the enemy had come." A soldier run into the command bunker reported.
"So the time has finally come." said Field Marshal Luflus.
"Gather all the troops to their position." Field Marshal Mokzas ordered.
Field Marshal Thornog took a deep breath before starting his battle speech:
"We are setting out to fight a war unlike anything before.
The outcome had been determinated, but we aren't afraid.
The Holy Empire is a place of traditional and conviction.
A place where the strongest rule and those who achieve the most recieve the greatest rewards.
That is what set us apart from our enemy.
In the Empire, conflict is a part of life.
Conquest is a right. The strongest are entitled to everything they claim.
The Empire rule by the strongest, who is appointed by the Gods
themselves.
The Empire is the Strongest.
You are soldiers of the Holy Alliance.
The greatest army ever march a cross the entire world.
Take up your weapons! Charge into the heated battle and show them who you are!
Now the Earthling will face the true strength of the Holy Alliance.
Now they will face You! "
War cries burst forth from all across the battle formations, soldiers shouted in unison: "For the Empire, for Falmart."
"Feel the Imperium Wrath !" shouted Field Marshal Luflus.
Under his commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers transformed into Titan and bursted out of their underground bunkers. They summoned 3000 pieces of Titan Zorzal Siege Artillery and 1500 Odysseus Mortar then immediately fired its 27 tonnes shells, 91 tonnes mortars onto Alnus.
Command Center, Alnus Hill
Chinese General Lu Ganghu was reviewing the report on the progress of the base construction with his command personnel and the high ranks military officers from other countries.
Ganghu asked "how many troops have pass the GATE ?"
The first lieutenant Liú Yúndé responded "520,000 soldiers and are rising with more than 25 mechanized units, most were from US, Russia and China. The rest of the Vanguard Army Group will come in the next 12 hours. "
"Good,good" the general noded,showing his satisfaction." With an army this powerful no army will have the audacity to attack this base."
"Don't be so sure General Lu. We must not forget that the enemy capable of using magic. We don't know what secret abilities the enemy has. Each any every soldiers of the Empire can turn into a Titan that mean they are weapon of mass destruction themselves so the war wouldn't be completely unilateral," US General Randy Martinez said cautiously.
"But even with their abilities, our forces have an overwhelming technological superiority," said India General Salman Khan..
"We cannot underestimate them, Falmartian are nigh-immortal, it very hard to completly kill one. Their true bodies are encased in an almost indestructible superhard crystal. Even if we destroy their Titan bodies, as long as their real bodies are okay, they still can transform again. That mean we need to make sure every enemy we kill 100% death "said Russian General Vladimir Isakov.
"According to Count Colt Formal, the enemy have more than 100 million professional soldiers not couting magical also have many Special Operations Forces that are expert in asymmetric warfare." commented EU General Augustin Arceneaux.
The gigantic number, that surpass even a modern civilization, gave a chills in the back to everyone present, that number was so overwhelmingly large for a civilization that is still in the late Renaissance age (17th century) but considering the size of the planet and the Holy Empire that covered it entirely had poweful magic, you could understand the size of the Imperial Army.
Everyone knew that this enemy could easily destroy a modern army if they weren't careful, so they had brought all the firepower availabe even the lastest pure fusion bombs an the largest combined army in human history but considering the numbers and the enemy vast magical potential the last thing they wanted is a Pyrrhic victory.
"We all know about the great present threat from the Imperial Army, but there is a chance to cut down the enemy number. The Holy Empire isn't an unify entity, it has many autonomous regions and semi-colonial vassal states. Count Colt Formal, one of our most important prisoners, is the governor of an autonomous region himself he also know many leaders of the vassal states. The most powerful of those are King Duran of the Elba kingdom, and King Wagdran of Emor Kingdom. If we could provoke an uprising in autonomous regions and vassal kingdoms, it would greatly weaken the Empire total defense forces. " said Lu Ganghu.
"The words alone may not be enough to convince him even if Count Colt and the King are close like brothers. We need to provoke nationalist uprisings and bribe local leaders in order for the local population to be, at minimum, neutral in this war.
In order to achieve this we need to show them that the Allied forces were simply superior in every way imaginable to the Imperial, we need to demonstrate them the power of our pure fusion bomb.
King Duran supposedly loves his people and will not fight a losing war if there are clear evidence of the horrible situation, without counting, he has been waiting for the opportunity to become more independent from the Empire for a long time." explained the American General.
"Hey, do you think it is strange that our enemy did not prepare for an impending attack, we shoud spot at least some Imperial divisions by now. Where are they? " Augustin Arceneaux asked curiously.
"Who know, maybe they are scare our mighty army. Or maybe they have some plan but no matter what tricks do they have we will crush them all." Lu Ganghu boasted confidently.
"We should not underestimate the enemy ingenuity. Arrogant is the mother of failure." commented French General Augustin Arceneaux.
Indian General Salman Khan sighed "Fine, I will have my men triple check the surrounding area just to be for sure."
Suddenly, the radar technician shouted " Commanders, massive incoming projectiles are detected coming this direction."
"Deploy all anti-air defense system ! It's an enemy attack! " shouted Lu Ganghu.
"Where did they attack from ? " asked Augustin Arceneaux.
"How come didn't we detect them earlier ?"
The order was executed rapidly. A tense buzzer rang across the base. Resting soldiers also rushed into their defense positions.
"Report from the radar station! Incoming projectiles approaching at high altitude from all direction! Distance 700 km! at an approximate speed of 9000 kmph."
"Shoot them down!"
UEADF had a very powerful multi-tiered missile defense system base on the one in Israel, but the magnitude of the attack was simply too large. Thousands upon thousands of 27-ton artillery shell pierced through the Arrow-2 missile defense line then the David's Sling defense line and finally the famous Iron Dome.
First the Zorzal artillery battery, followed some 15 seconds later by his bother the Odysseus mortar battery, unleashed their 27-ton artillery shells and 91-ton mortar shells toward Alnus Hill.
Long before their first shots landed the gun crews began the laborious reload cycle following a drill that would not have been completely unfamiliar to Field Marshal Thornog. It is possible, assuming they were looking in the correct direction, that some of the tank commanders may have seen the shapes hurling toward them, so large were the 27-ton shells.
It was over in less than five minutes before they were silented by UEADF nuclear counter strike. Each artillery fired 55 times, a total of 165,312 rounds from the Zorzal artillery battery combine with 82,358 mortal shells from Odysseus mortar battery rained down to Alnus Region, luckily long range artillery have CEP (circular error probable - the radius within which 50% of the shots impact) of 3km so most of them missed their target.
In that time six UEADF armored divisions ceased to exist. When the few survivors emerged from whatever shelter had somehow saved them from the fate of most of their squad mates, they were treated to sights that few men ever see. 141-ton tanks had been thrown through the air and now lay upside down, or on their sides, in one case a Type-92 Chamberlain superheavy tank had been flipped through the air to land on top of a Type-47 Sheridan heavy tank.
Sky Above Lemuria
The sun began to set and the horizon was slightly bright. 6 flying squadrons flew in the darkening sky. Each United Earth Alliance Defence Force squadron had 3 Tu-688 nuclear-powered ultra heavy bomber aircraft, and 12 J-86 fighters flew in front for escort.
Each Tu-688 bomber has four nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missiles attached to its wings. Far behind, an early warning plane was flying. Receive information from Boeing E-3M Sentry in real time, and wirelessly command the attacking unit from the base.
For this operation, the heavy bomber attack corps was called A1, and the J-86 unit escorting the heavy bomber attack corps was called A2.
"A1 this is Air Command, we are under heavy fire, conduct nuclear counterattack on enemy position immediately."
"A2 this is Air Command, A2 this is Air Command, the enemy Wyvern Lord interceptors from the enemy bases are on their way .Shoot down enemy's Wyvern Lords. repeat. Shoot down enemy interceptors."
Distance 190km, speed 2300 km/h
After receiving the order via radio
UEADF's proud air supremacy fighter, J-86 , who was escorting the Tu-688 bombers, ignited the afterburner, and two flames came out from each fighter in the dark night sky.
The rapidly accelerating J-86 jet fighters separated from Tu-688 bombers and disappeared to the west.
As the United Earth Alliance Air Defense Force's J-86 fighters from the UEADF Alnus Base patrolled the surrounding area, the Boeing E-3M Sentry detected approaching aerial units. Half of those blips went to the the A1 formation while the other half seemed to be guarding the enemy base's airspace.
The number of bright blips on the radar was 1400, which was such an overwhelming number. Moreover their number was not just large, their speed was up to 2300 km per hour, each of them had a wingspan of 120 meter so it can be guessed that these were aerial units with fighting capabilities equal to a battleship.
The enemy flying formations present significant threat thus nuclear tipped AMRAAM would be used.
About 72 UEAADF J-86 fighters were flying towards the Titan Wyvern Lord formation. Their objective was to secure air supremacy above the enemy base airspace while at the same annihilate any enemy air units.
The squadrons of J-86 had already detected a large number of air units comming toward them. The pilots followed the standard operating procedure in a swift and precise manner and prepared to engage the targets.
Their distance to the targets was already less than 100 km and inside the missiles' effective range.
From the radio communicators, a clear order was stated.
「Open fire!」
The solid fuel on the missiles equipped by the 72 J-86 began to ablaze.
From both hardpoints under the wings of the J-86, 288 medium-range AIM-125 nuclear tipped missiles were launched and then immediately flying at the Mach 5 speed. With a thunderous roar, they zoomed over the sky to destroy the Titan Wyvern Lords that were flying
A fraction of a second later the AIM-125's 15kt warhead detonated, marking the first combat use of a nuclear weapon in Falmart.
The Wyvern Lords formation was, not surprisingly, devastated. Any Wyvern Lord were within the 100 meter instant kill radius of those weapon would instantly caught fire or suffered structural collapse from the massive overpressure of the detonation.
These Wyverns were the lucky ones, with their real body killed also instantly. The remaining unlucky Titan Shapeshifters, survived the initial blast, but they exposed to a extremely large amount of radiation. They were also, uniformly blinded by the sudden, utterly unexpected and totally unimaginable, appearance of a second sun less than a half mile off the nose of their Titan Wyvern Lord wings.
"A1 this is A2, we have eliminate the enemy air unit, be advised large enemy presence north of your POS, enemy force estimated to be at least 12 division strength or greater, over."
"A2 this is A1, solid copy on your last, move away from your current position, we will deploy the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal to neutralize the enemy. How copy?"
"A1 this is A2, solid copy on all, give em hell."
A total of 72 nuclear armed Kh-47M2 Kinzhal were launched from 18 Tu-688 bomber. Each carry a 15 kiloton warhead flew straight towards the Imperial artillery position. A fraction of a second later those warhead detonated with the power of a thousand sun silenced the Imperial artillery barrage forever.
Alnus Hill, FOB
The barrage of artillery bombardment was stopped, however by this time tens of thousands of soldiers had died and the UEADF army formation was in chaos.
Field Marshal Mokzas
At a considerable distance of 20km of the UEADF's base, in a massive carefully concealed underground camp, an Elf Field Marshal, after teleported to his base, was watching the events with his great vision.
Mokzas's ambush plan had succeeded beyond even his wildest hopes, inflicting losses that were on a scale close to WW II than anything seen by the Allies since 1945. While the "Earthling" had a toehold on the Motherland, the Field Marshal and his trusted comrades were certain that the decadent Earthlings would pay heavily for every inch of land and sue for terms and end the War once and for all now that the cost was so clear to them.
Mokzas together with every junior officers present at the emergency staff meeting held during the landings, listened to the reports of UEADF personal and heavy weaponry losses like they were watching a Gladiator match, roaring with pleasure when informed hundred of UEADF super heavy tanks had been destroyed (probably a reference to the many Type-92 Chamberlain tank and Type-47 Sheridan tank, were destroyed after taking multiple hits from 2500 mm shells from Zorzal artillery battery combine with 3300 mm mortal shells of Odysseus mortar battery).
"Field Marshal Mokzas we have lost contact with Field Marshal Thornog artillery units."
"Field Marshal Thornog and his men have returned to Emroy's Field of Hero. They have completed their mission, distracting the enemy air force, now it our turn to fulfill our holy duty."
"Released the mindless Titans !" Mokzas commanded.
With those words the battle began. From various well-concealed underground camp millions of mindless Titans climbed out of their hiding place and rushed to UEADF base. Various in size from 5m to 60m, the mindless Titans formed tidal waves of destruction heading toward the chaotic base.
"Titans, move on and destroy all obstacles" screamed the Elf Field Marshal.
The mindless Titans force continued to run towards its objective. As they dashed, you could see a recently planned white sign written in Falmartian Latin.
Warning: "This land belongs to the UEA, keep the distance or we will use force to eliminate any threat."
"These invader think that they can scare us with those pathetic words, this lands will not belong to them soon or later they will be expelled from this world ," said a centurion
"What's those things ?" asked a soldier from a far away.
In a few seconds one of the armored Titan received a barrage of M36 Artillery Rocket from the M370 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System).
The M36 rocket is the main ammunition of the M370 MLRS, Each M36 rocket carries up to dual purpose 2,576 M77 DPICM submunitions detonated by impact at a maximum range of 64 km. Employing the M77 submunitions a M36 rocket can cover an area of 0.92 square kilometers.
They were used in conjunction with the famous Russian-made TOS-1D 320mm Multiple Incendiary Thermobaric Rocket Launcher to devastating effect, nearly wiping out the first wave of the Titan tsunami but ultimately made few kills - Titans with limbs and torsos blown off could still advance and regenerated quickly so long as they had an intact nape or nerve system and some means to drag themselves forward. As the mindless Titan became more tightly packed, the MLRS lost effectiveness, with the thick swarms of Colossus and Armored Titans reducing the possibility of a head wound significantly.
The second barrage came from Type 99 240 mm Self-Propelled Howitzer stationed on a hill to the rear of the infantry. They fired fragmentation shells which had even less of an effect than the MLRS barrages. The artillery strikes depended on the "balloon effect," which by proximity to an explosion would cause the liquid in the victim's body to burst. This did not occur, however, because of the Titan's coagulated blood together with their super regeneration and gigantic size. Therefore, SNT (Sudden Nerve Trauma), which "just shuts down vital organs like God flickin' a light switch," did not happen either.
After this, the infantry, armor and air support opened fire on the "Tidal waves of mindless Titans". Firing on the Titans were the full military might of the United Earth Alliance Vanguard Army Group: Type-92 Chamberlain and Type-47 Sheridan tanks, 203 mm M195 railguns, Oshkosh's L-ATV, mortars and several AH-64X Apache helicopters. All of these held sustained fire for a time in what was likened to "a meatgrinder, or a wood chipper... until the anti-tank ammunition ran out.
Anti-Tank rounds like HEAT or Sabot shells have great effect on the individual Titan, but there were simply too many Titans which mean on a larger scale they had little to no effect on the swelling tide of mindless Titan.
The hordes continue to close in J-86 fighter jets launched AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon, dropping hundreds of thousands of explosive devices. The bombing run decimated the oncoming wave and resulted in a few moments of eerie silence as the dazed and confused soldiers recovered from the shock of the nearby explosions. However, even more Titans shuffled up the road to take their place.
At that point the battle started turned into utter chaos, as the soldiers on the ground saw an oncoming wave of millions more Titans emerging from the smoke clouds from the bombs that had taken out the first several hundred thousands. Reconnaissance images from the DeltaQuad VTOL fixed wing surveillance UAV system still showed a horde of millions of Titans stretching back into the horizont.
To turned the tide of battle the UEADF using M65A 406mm Atomic Cannon to drop several 16-inch W29 nuclear artillery shell on the Titans hoping to neutralize the Titans surrounding Alnus in one sweep. The 40 kiloton shells accomplished its purpose of destroying the majority of Titans on the battlefiel . However the joy was short-live because the enemy next suprise.
The situation seemed to progress as planned for the Holy Empire Army, the mindless Titans was fighting against modern forces distracting many of their enemy firepower from the main thrust.
15 meter underground under Alnus Base there were hundred of 35 meters long Graboid worms. Under command from Field Marshal Luflus they had taken advantage of the distracted UEADF army and dug underground under their feet. Each Graboid carried 10-ton of Wildfire in their stomach ready to explode.
"Our time has come ! Tell the troops, detonated the Graboids then follow their tunnel and attack." Ordered Field Marshal Luflus.
Despite the success of devastating the enemy's army, the battle is being more bloody than many would expect.
Approximately 60,000 soldiers are currently dead because of the great artillery that only through pure firepower of nuclear armed Kh-47M2 Kinzhal that they could be quickly defeated.
In the skies the Wyvern Lords approach but thanks to the anti-aircraft forces they are very badly injured they will not last long in a close confrontation.
But as always things can get worse quickly. In some places it felt like little tremors, it was not necessary to think too much to know what was going to happen. Hundred of massive explosions rocked the base. The Graboids suicide attacks proved to be very effective. It caused more than 70,000 casualties and threw the base defence into utter chaos.
"They're coming out of the ground." screamed a wounded American soilder.
After those words, Heavy Infantry Titan, Centaurs Cavalry Titan, Warrior Bunnies Assassins, Armored Ogres Titan and Mithril Gollems began to leave the earth trying to kill everything in their path using magic and JoergMachine Bow although they were not the only beings that appeared.
The strongest version of the golems, the Mithril Golems was a great threat that caused quite a few casualties before being destroyed by being as resistant as a heavy modern tank.
The Graboid great worms that were 35 meters long with armored heads quickly attack then return to earth, any soldiers who were not in a solid place were in danger of being devoured.
The last ones were the fire Volralden Warriors Titan that had the ability to dig like the grabiodes and had two types of explosive magic: a low-power lightning shockwave fired from its horns and a single high-powered explosive magic only that was threw fire from their mouths like the Wyvern Lord but less powerful.
His unexpected and surprising attack caused serious casualties and the only thing that prevented it from becoming a total massacre was how slow the majority of Imperial army came off the ground and the predictability of their attacks helped contain the majority of the attack exceptions were the last three.
To put salt to the wound, 3 Titan Wyvern Lord squadrons had finally arrived and instead of attacking by air using fire ball they decided to support the ground force by droping giant flechettes like heavy bombers, despite being badly injured they were still a major threat.
The number of casualties continue to increase dramatically in the next few hours, if the Holy Darwinian Empire were fighting against Japan or Germany in 2019, they would have an overwhelming victory and the fate of the world would be uncertain.
Aftermath
The total losses from the actions on October 15th, 2029 were, even with 10 years of preparation, mind numbing. Total Allied casualties from all three waves of attack exceeded 310,000 men, including nearly 262,000 killed in action.
Imperial troops, mithril golems, war beasts and mindless Titans losses ( mainly Armored Titan, but also Warhammer Titan, Beast Titan, Jaw Titan and Colossus Titan ) are estimated to have been nearly 4,500,000 with nearly 99,7% of that complete destroyed and less than 7,000 total prisoners taken.
To provide perspective, American losses on the 15th of October, 2029, exceed those for any YEAR of the 1941–1945 Pacific War. Not just personnel losses, UEADF Vanguard Army Group had also lost well over half of their modern tanks inside of the Alnus Hill region during the First Battle of Alnus Hill, many of them never getting off the flatcars which were being used for transport.
Statistics:
UEADF:
Combat forces: at the beginning 520,000, at the end 1,000,000 troops.
Lost: 261,860 KIA
Injured: 48,923
Nearly 15,000 damaged or disabled vehicles in various stages of repair/recovery
Falmart:
Soldier Combat Forces: 300,800
Auxiliaries Forces : 4,200,200, over three million mindless titans, one million mithril gollems, and a hundred thousand beasts.
Lost: 287,300 soldiers killed and almost all Auxiliaries Forces were destroyed, approximately 30 escaped.
6,500 defectors and 7,000 prisoners.
XXXXXXXX
The public option about the first battle of Alnus was greatly divided. On the one hand, this was undoubtedly a great military victory. But on the other hand, the loss in both men and materials were enormous. The Holy Empire had proved itself to be a tough nut to crack, some people feared that the UEADF would bleed white even with massive international renforcement.
The Allied leaders began to reconcile themselves to the reality that the flickering hope of a continent-wide collapse of Imperial resistant due to overwhelming technologies of the modern military was nothing but a naive dream, the War would have to be won with steel and blood, not pamphlets. From now on tactical nuclear weapons would be widely used to extinguish the enemy resistant.
Author note: Sorry for the wait, I was pretty busy with my life. So here is the first battle. Please enjoy and feel free to leave constructive comment. Sorry for my English. I'm not a native speaker.