March 15th, 2017 of the Gregorian calendar
Smith confirmed the kill as he saw the wagon packed full with Saderans blown to smithereens by his tank's M256 120mm smoothbore cannon. His tank platoon were chasing wagons that were retreating as fast as possible but were helpless against their enemy's weapons. To make things much worse was that were was zero cover as the land north and west of Sadera was plain land, dooming them. "That's the last of 'em." Relays Cowboy as they race past the scattered remains of their foes. "Good, now onwards to that damned canal!"
The Argenti canal ran from the Rho river just west of Telta all the way to the blue sea. The majority of reinforcements for Sadera had headed back north but some had used the town of Pratum as way to quickly transport supplies from, the air force quickly bombing any barge going downriver. A large concentration of Saderan infantry and ogres were defending the town though air strikes had devastated their numbers. This would strategically cut off Sadera from any reinforcements and make way from the storming of the capital. The platoon continued for sometime until they linked up with the rest force selected for this mission which was made up in total of twenty four tanks, thirty-six M3 Bradley IFVs and sixty M113 APCs carrying about fifteen soldiers each.
Smith looked down to his crew members, it had been a long seven months for them all. Williams had a sucker in his mouth which had been a familiar sight to see, Pérez finished taking count of their ammunition stocks before silently praying in Spanish, and Mckey had changed from the gullible recruit to a seasoned driver that knew his machine well. He then looked through his vision ports to see tanks as far as the eye could see, this would be absolutely over kill, even for any sneaky magicians who tried to hide in the upper floors of houses.
The plan was to smash any resistance outside of Pratum before supporting the infantry in clearing out the defenses. Meanwhile air support cover their flanks from above and give a bird's eye view on the battlefield. "This is Alpha-actual, we have enemy decepticons one klick away." Decepticons was a common nickname for ogres, the Saderans had begun to use them after the dumas fell but these proved just to be giant targets for the Apaches and even the Bradleys. "Rodger that!" Replied Smith before turning to Pérez and Williams. "loader! Load High-explosive. Gunner, you may fire at will!" "On the way!" Shouts back Williams as he fires off a round at an ogre that mere seconds later exploded into many bloody pieces.
The ogres were spread out in several long rows in front of the settlement though they were disorganized and went whatever direction he assumed wouldn't get them killed though that idea was quickly proven fruitless. Explosions further rocked the landscape as Apaches flew above, 30mm cannons turning the beasts into Swiss cheese. Then from the north came a pack of black dogs springing at them from at least twenty-one hundred yards away but several shots from a handful of M3s eliminated them quickly. The orgres to their defense lasted about thirty minutes but that was because of sheer amount that were present and the land was covered in countless corpses as the armored force closed in to take the town.
The tanks momentarily halted just outside of Pratum to allow the troops to dismount but the charge continued, now much slower to give the infantry cover as they entered. Then as they were about to enter the town, numerous windows of the two houses closest to them, arrows and magical orbs peppering the tank but bounced off harmless as it came to a stop. "Williams, shut them fucks' up." "Roger that!" The tank jolted as a shell was lobbed into the house on the left, obliterating anyone inside as the superstructure collapsed into itself. The turret then turned to the right where the fire immediately stopped but their fates were already sealed as everyone inside was reduced to red mist.
Mckey got the tank moving again and continued the assault. Soldiers ran into every house to clear it of enemy combatants as the armor took care of enemies in upper floors and even the rooftops, there was nowhere where the enemy could hide. Just as Williams was done with a pesky crossbow wielding legionnaire, Smith shouted, "Tangos up front!" About two dozen or so Saderans had ran out into the streets towards the canal that Pratum was on the edge of. "On it sir!" The turret motor could be heard as the turret moved to face the retreating soldiers. "Open fire!" RATATATATA went the coaxial machine gun as it mowed down the legionnaires whom stood little chance. He could see a man that had fallen down, most likely wounded, look up just in time to be squashed like a bug underneath a shoe. "Outta the way Caesar!" Said Mckey, "Desert taxi coming through!"
"This is Foxtrot-3 approaching the town center now." Just as Smith said that, a horse drawn wagon rushed in front of his tank, blocking the street. It was covered in metal platting and had a open slot where a dragon's head stuck out. Before the crew could do anything, a hot jet steam of fire shot forward and engulfed the front of the tank in flame. "Holy fucking shit!" Yelled Perez as everyone was jolted while Mckey swerved and inadvertently crashed into the corner side of a building.
"We got a flamethrower blocking the street!" Smith practically screamed into the comms. "Don't worry 'bout him, he done fucked up now!" Answered Thumper as his tank was on a street running parallel to the one Smith's was on. From what little visibility he had could see dog tag hunter turn its turret to the right, firing a canister shot into the wagon, tearing throw with ease. The contraption was swallowed by its of flames while two dwarves crawled out from a trapdoor on the bottom, screaming as their skin melted off their bodies. They were quickly put out of their misery by an infantryman who put a bullet each into their skulls.
"Its getting real hot in here sir." Comments Pérez as he attempts to cool himself off. "I know, but if someone wasn't so clueless then we wouldn't be halfway into a house now would we?" Mckey turned his head around very quickly, "What'd you mean?! The tank's on fucking fire for Christ's sake!" He retorted, "How are we going to get out without burning ourselves?" He was right, the liquid napalm like supstance had covered where the driver's and turret hatches were at so they were stuck until someone took out the fire and even then they could scold themselves getting out.
But Thumper had been so kind as to under cover from their allies used a fire extinguisher to douse the fire with thick white foam. After the tank had cooled as the battle now over, the crew climbed out all cover with sweat from the heat. "Holy shit Thumper, I owe you one." He chuckled as he shook hands with the fellow texan. Then he could hear a small crowd forming around, turning to see a dozen curious onlookers staring at him and the tank which had its paint peel off from the heat. Suddenly a little boy, no older then ten, slowly walked up to him with big blue eyes and unkept black hair. "M-mister..." He asked, Smith at this time becoming pretty good at understanding Latin could understand him perfectly. "What is that?" Pointing to the tank that had now gotten its out of the new entrance it had made. He actually never named his tank, not because he didn't want to, he just couldn't find a name suitable. Then it hit him, "Well...this is what we call a dragon slayer my boy!"
March 16th, 2017 of the Gregorian calendar
The commodore could only grin as his ships went in for the kill, his enemy sleeping soundly. The ships were well equipped for night engagements while the calm water would make targeting easy, all he had to do was wait for the signal. The pirates were told they were to shoot a flair the next day but the US navy would destroy two birds in one stone on this fateful night. The real signal came in the form of explosions that rocked the fleet stationed there, the P-3 Orions above dropping a number of Mk82 bombs. "All units engage!"
The craft raced to form a line to form a barrier at the mouth of the atoll as they fired upon Ezimaas' ships. The night sky was alit with burning ships while sailors let out a collective howl as they begged for rescue. This was as one-sided as you could get, an absolute massacre. The commodore then could see about ten or so ships attempting to get their cannons into range but he'd put a halt to that. "I want our guns to blow them to bits." He ordered, the Typhoon quickly began targeting the Avionese who were quickly sunk in just a few seconds.
Even the mightiest of their ships exploded into massive fireballs as the Solin compartments were hit by griffin missiles, wiping out the smaller ships nearby. Then he could see that despite the fate of the vessels before them, the rest of the enemy force slowly pushed past sinking ships in an effort to swarm them with numbers. But this too would be propelled, his ships just needed time to wipe them out. By this time the sky turned purple as the sun began to rise over the horizon, allowing the Avionese the ability to actually see their adversaries.
The bay was filled with debris with men flaying about in the water, giving the crews at the least a chance as these rudimentary rafts could be used to hopefully reach land. Walter through his binoculars could see that most of the alliance ships were either sunk, burning, or ran aground while the rest were trapped by a wall of wrecks that made movement through the shallow water impossible without tearing out the bottoms. "This is commodore Walter, hold your fire." The response way delayed but soon all ships stopped bombardment, turning the water quiet except the cries of dying sailors. He then tuned onto the speakers installed for this except purpose. In the best Latin he could muster said, "Sailors of Avion, your ships have been sunk, your comrades are dead, you are trapped. Surrender now and you'll be able to live to see your families. Please raise a white flag or clothe to signify that you wish to stop this bloodshed." Very quickly he could see white flags desperately being waved, causing him to form a smile.
Mars 16th, 688 of the Imperial calendar
Artus was horrified at the news, "W-w-what!" He gasped as ambassador Parker explained what had happened earlier when he first awoke. Ezimaas and most of the other nobles who had conspired against the Americans had been eradicated, their combined fleet gone with thousands of sailors dead. The American fleet before the sun rose attacked the fleet at Felxa atoll, putting them in an inescapable deathtrap.
"Im Afraid so emperor, they have been neutralized. I understand that this could be seen as an act of war, but they wished to attack us first. Had we not discover their plans sooner we would've had to declare war on Avion. He realized once again how powerless he truly was in this situation, unable to do anything to give his nation a favorable stance. "Before it would..." His mouth was dry but he pushed on. "But considering the situation we both ourselves in, there need to be no war between our great civilizations."
The man who had the color of dark elves smiled, a smile that politicians gave to appear more likable. "Im glad about that, the United Stares will happily compensate the family of the lost. They'll receive two suwani each and the men taken captive will be released very soon. And we'll just say Ezimaas was attempting a coup against you to prevent rebellion from the general population." This was quite generous of them, just to hide a battle? He shouldn't have been surprised for this was the Americans, always eager to conjure up a deal, people of merchants with the powers of demigod armies.