A/N Some mentions of gore and devastated bodies, war is not a pretty thing.
I am using an excellent French map of Lodoss done online, I am not claiming it as my own if my readers find it, just using information on it to progress my story otherwise I'd be stuck here for months and the detail of this map is amazing. I can't draw very well and have a significant handicap that prevents me from being able to draw/handwrite for long periods.
IFV – Infantry Fighting Vehicle (A mini tank for mechanized infantry, great off road capability, no big weapons like a tank).
APC – Armored Personnel Carrier (Holds a Draconian squad (12 men)).
Chapter 20: WAR
All across the border, from staging lands in the Elf forest, marine forces on the sea, or the muster points near the shared border, Draconian troops rushed to their posts. Being at a heightened stage of readiness, the 3rd army was preparing for a north and northeast sweep from the Elf city of Celeben. The 3rd army's objectives were to strike at the town of Turan, while sweeping behind to encircle the Allanian capitol from behind; then they were to strike at the town of Merthon.
The 2nd army would come from the Elf forest as well; based at the hidden outpost there. They were to strike the town of Eloran before crossing the Vercuurs River to complete the Allan pocket and lay siege to the capitol city with her forward heavy elements.
The 1st Army would leave New Vancouver, cross the border river and move for the town of Grander and engage the half of the Allanian army in that region. Once their objectives were met, they would move north and meet the 1st 3rd, 9th and 42nd Marine Corps; and they would be using the rivers and coast to assault the cities of Hertad and Bhuilan.
The 1th Draconian fleet would at the same time engage and attempt to defeat the Allanian navy, clearing the way for the 2nd fleet to strike the north of Allan and deploy the fourth army near the town of Turba and would seize it.
At the same time, the 22nd Marine Corps would use the river to enter the town of Zaxon all the while; the special units would strike any Allanian armed forces mustering or marching for war.
Draconian invasion 1st day
0700 hours
Muster point 3rd army
Lt. General (3-star) Estan commanding
"MOUNT UP, WE HAVE OUR ORDERS," he roared and the portal was opened and Draconia's secret forces were finally revealed to the world. At speeds beyond horses the runecrafted vehicles of Draconia sped forward. The 3rd army led by the 18th mechanized division rolled onto the plains and the opening moves of Draconia's Blitzkrieg doctrines were launched.
IFV 1088
"Allanian patrol, 20 strong," the sensor operator reported. The Draconian Manastorm IFV came with 6 recessed and mana-shielded runecrafted surveillance plates, which offered the crew inside full situational awareness around their vehicle.
"Copy, secondary guns," the commander ordererd. The turret spun around and the two Super Repeaters mounted on the IFV massacred the 20-strong hapless Allanian patrol, each spewing 200 bolts per second. "Patrol cleared, move on."
"Yes Sir," the driver responded as IFV 1088 continued on with the rest of the army.
Command Tank 03-01 (3rd army – Tank 01)
En-route to town Turan
"How far are we to Turan?" General Estan asked.
"Less than an hour sir, we should have the town in under 10 minutes when we arrive. Our APCs and trucks are keeping pace, and the garrison cannot be more than 300 tops, we will have over 30,000 ready to hit them in the first invasion wave."
"Good, to think, the largest offensive on Lodoss to date." 'With over half population in the military, we are hitting at most a total population of half million at best in the entire country; and we are throwing more than that in this invasion alone,' Estan thought to himself. "Have the motorized elements supported by three mechanized divisions and two armored and take Turan. The rest of us will spilt and swing to complete our other objective.
"Yes sir. Breaking off now," the aide replied.
With the orders send and the rumble of magically animated treads and magic enhanced wheels, the Draconian army sped by, leaving the trampled earth as a monument of their passing.
1 hour later
Turan - 0800 hours
Tank 03-09
"Palisade ahead, gates are closed, load hi-ex," Tank-09's commander ordered. The loader nodded and grabbed the runecrafted shell and rammed it into the gun's breach.
"Loaded."
"FIRE," BAM, the tank's front exploded in light, and the shaped charge slammed into the gate less than a second later. The wooden gates blew apart in splinters while the flame continued, barely abated to scorch the milita behind the gate leaving only carbon smears. What archery weapons the town had bounced off the shields harmlessly. "Gate guards surviving, switch to Ultras" The Ultras were gatling repeating crossbows, too heavy for anything but a city wall, tank or Draconian ship to carry much less fire.
"Gate cleared, " the gunner reported as the first wave of Draconian troops followed the tank and 3000 troops swarmed the village. The garrison was down to quarter strength in less than 3 minutes thanks to the powerful weapons and defenses boasted by the Draconian soldiers.
A Draconian squadron came across a woman trying to get her children into the house and she cowered in front of the Draconian soldiers disembarking from a large horseless wagon (military truck). The sergeant in charge turned to her.
"Madam, we are soldiers of Draconia, unless you're going to pick up a sword and start swinging at us, you have nothing to fear from us." Despite the assurances, the people of Turan were scared, but as time went by and the Draconian soldiers acted calmly and professionally as they cleared Raster's garrison from the town. Every care was taken to avoid civilian casualties by the Draconian soldiers as they secured the town.
Turan - 0821 hours
The town was cleared of Raster's loyalists before the colonel in charge of the attack left his tank and went to go greet the mayor.
"Your Worship, as promised, the soldiers of Draconia have arrived."
"Wel…wel…welcome to Turan… soldiers of Draconia, we've been waiting, though the means of your arrival was... unexpected," he glanced at the horseless armored wagon the man had climbed out of. "What is such a thing?"
"It is called a tank, devised by King Manaweaver and his advisors."
"Tank… a fitting name for such a device… Well, not that we would have much of a choice, even if we wanted to resist. As of this moment, I surrender the town of Turan to your governance," in truth the mayor was one of those wanting to become a Draconian citizen since the first war.
"Thank you Sir, continue on, King Manaweaver will be most pleased with your cooperation. We will be leaving a garrison here to repair and protect your village while we continue on."
"I would say good luck, but from what I've seen, the Duke's loyalists will need it more." The colonel grinned and nodded before entering his vehicle and aside from the 6000 left behind, the secondary elements of the 3rd army departed for the Romagne River.
2nd army
Muster point – Fort Shadow
Lt. General Valen commanding
The second army departed Fort Shadow at the synchronized invasion hour led by the 3rd, 5th and 12th armored divisions. With such a massive force the village of Eloran was hardly an obstacle and they surrendered at the promised arrival of Draconian forces. An hour later, the second army was near the capitol of Allan, her engineering corps moved ahead of the tanks and circled around the mustering and shocked Allanian army.
Tank 02-367
Allan 09:03 hours
"Allanian army ahead," the colonel said, halfway out of his turret like a good tank commander. "Load canister round," he ordered and 100 tanks in front of the Allanian army each loaded what amounted to a gigantic shotgun. Thousands of hypersonic steel ball bearings were fired into the Allanian army. The ball bearings broke bones, ripped flesh and turned 2/3 of one of the most powerful armies on Lodoss into something resembling the end product of a meat processing plant.
With a grimace, and silently thanking the smell and noise dispersal runes in his helmet, the colonel riding in tank 367 ordered his tank force over the bodies to attack the capitol of Allania. Gritting his teeth and swallowing against the nausea as at the sound of bones cracking under the treads of his tank, he had his tank load an armor piercing round and aimed at the gate of the city being shut.
"Fire," he ordered. The gun spoke, momentarily deafening the colonel despite the protections on his full-face helm. For a moment Colonel Darren thought he could see the sabots, which held the dart close to the barrel fall away before the round slammed into the glowing magical shield just raised over the Allanian gate. The metal dart being propelled by powerful magic runes, and while carrying no explosive charge, slammed into the gate at 2000 miles an hour.
The shield rang like a gong, visibly rippling with cracks appearing in it as it visibly strained against the AP round. The Allanian mage that had conjured the shield and was helping to sustain it cried out. The air was filled with the sounds of his bones snapping and he collapsed with unseeing eyes and visibly bleeding from his eyes, mouth, nose and ears as the shield drained all his strength to maintain integrity.
The second metal dart slammed into the shield and another two mages dropped in worse condition than the first. The third round from the colonel's tank was a hi-ex round that breached part of the now unshielded gate. Four other tanks joined the first and together they blasted down the great gates. The first wave advancing into the Allanian capitol consisted of 20 Draconian tanks, followed by 30 mechanized IFVs and another 30 APCs.
20 minutes before armored elements hit Allan.
Having launched from the hidden base deep in the Elf forest, the forward special units Condor, Blackwing, Phoenix, Goldwing and Eagle brought their specialized systems online; the air was quickly filled with the WHUP-WHUP-WHUP of spinning rotors. These specialized craft were the resulting product of five years of research, then another five years of trial and error. Their creation meant that while powerful, their numbers were somewhat limited. Regardless, that meant 5 squadrons of attack helicopters, plus the 3 squadrons of jet fighters belonging to Drake, Hawk and Wyvern squadrons. This airforce meant that Draconia had considerable force projection throughout Lodoss, and able to attack or strike with limited warning.
Mounting gatling crossbows and runecrafted missile tubes and hardpoints, all were ready for their maiden actual combat mission. One was special as it carried sound broadcasting runes and a track to be used at the behest of the King's suggestion. Quickly lifting off the ground, the five squadrons broke off to assault their various targets with Eagle, Condor and Phoenix heading to the Allanian capitol; their mission, to execute surgical strikes on Allanian military high value targets, namely the small mage guild, the main barracks, officers and the muster squares.
20 minutes later, ETA 10 minutes to target.
The 36 attack helicopters flying higher than any of them could imagine moved onwards, the crews discussing various things.
"Eagle 1 to Eagle 7, assume attack formation."
"Roger that Eagle Lead, we're going in."
The Commander of Eagle one turned to his subordinate. "We'll come in high out of sun, when we're about 5 minutes out we'll put on the music."
"Music?" The subordinate asked in surprise.
"A track King Manaweaver wanted us to play, something to awe and terrify our target. All right boys, make it loud, time to play," the Commander clarified. The Commander in particular had been exposed to King Manaweaver's plans here and he understood the reference. The music began playing and Ride of the Valkyries was played for the first time to the general population of Lodoss to hear.
The helicopter continued flying to the music, shifting about in the air as they approached the city of Allan.
At that moment Raster was giving a speech to the men in the square.
"You are one of the finest armies on Lodoss, you will crush the Lizard loyalists and bring us rich lands that are rightfully ours… What is that music?" He demanded as the copters approached the city and the sounds of their rotors were now audible to the forces gathered at the Allanian royal muster square. "What are those things?" He demanded to the gawking aide beside him. The Duke had only a moment to notice the Draconian symbol on the front as the music swelled again.
On the helicopter, the pilots waited for the right moment as the music swelled before they hit the launch runes on their control sticks. The tubes on the sides of the helicopters lit up as the rockets launched at their various targets. Hi-ex rockets hit guard towers protecting the keep and destroyed the gate controls.
A military cart was overturned by the shockwave of a rocket detonating near it while the spilled soldiers were turned into porcupines by the troops onboard the helicopter.
Sporadic fire from an Allanian archer or crossbowman pinged uselessly off the shields protecting the Draconian air forces; while the shooters had to move quickly or be shot themselves. Unfortunately for the Allanians, being exposed meant that their armed response forces were mowed down by the initial assault.
Two rockets slammed into the gates of Raster's keep, shattering them and blowing bodies all around. A Tri-shot ballista was hit by another rocket, but was protected by a mage; the mage shielded the anti-siege weapon but paid with his life as powerful focused energies competed with his reserves. With the mage dead, another rocket obliterated the ballista in a shower of splinters and metal.
Coming around again for another pass, the helicopters could see the approaching armor of the second army. Realizing that phase two of the operation was coming, the strike leader used the second pass of his squadron to clear the keep's courtyard.
Repeating crossbows of all sorts fired into the gathered squares of Allanian soldiers. In a few minutes Raster went from glorifying Allania's armies to gibbering in fear as he watched Draconia utterly massacre his forces in mere minutes. Tens of thousands of men in armor were slaughtered and yet the civilian casualties were at a bare minimum from what little the Duke could see on his raised platform.
He couldn't help but stare as the strange machines landed and dropped off a squad of Draconian troops before lifting off again. He watched the troops quickly blow through the few guards that were struggling to form up before a few hundred Draconian soldiers stormed the vulnerable keep while others held the courtyard.
"Milord we need to get you out of here… SIRE," Raster's aide shouted as he cowered in the corner of the door. He had to find some of Raster's forces and secure the Ducal chambers quickly but 12 Draconian troops came up the stairs behind them pointing their weapons at him.
"Duke Raster by order of King Xapferey Manaweaver you are to hereby surrender the city and lands of Allanian unconditionally." Raster just stared dumbly out at the courtyard as strange heavily armored horseless carts with long tubes pointing outwards moved into the royal square on strange treaded wheels. Raster was silent as he just let the troops take him and his aide into custody while the city fell around him.
At the same time as the air assault, having used bridging equipment to get over the Vercuurs, the forward armored, motorized and mechanized sections of the 2nd army had with liberal use of high-ex and canister rounds completely cleared out the Allanian forces based at and around the capitol. The secondary divisions of the 2nd army had completed the Allan pocket along with leading bridging units to cross the Romagne River. Within two hours of their arrival, the Allanian capitol fell to the Draconian forces, their forces unable to stop the tanks, IFVs, or motorized vehicles. The ferocity and suddenness of the helicopter assault, an attack that the defenders never heard of, much less knew how to fight against them. An attack that circumvented the walls and all strengths of a castle or fortified city was nothing Lodoss had seen aside from a few mages of legend.
Taking a quarter million troops, the Draconian forces began securing the city and suppressing any possible uprisings before the rest of the Second army linked with the Third to attack the city of Merthon.
First army muster point at same time of other armies departures
Newly promoted 1-star General Parn commanding.
Fresh from flag officer training and promoted by the king, Parn was directing the attack of the First army. Heading north through the town of Allanis, the town greeted the Draconian soldiers and vehicles first with stares then cheers as they drove by. This town in particular had been one of the foremost ones pressing for secession from Allania to Draconia especially with them being right on the border.
Pressing northwards, the Draconian forces encountered the remainders of the Allanian army and advanced on them at speeds and in numbers far greater than they were capable of. Nearly 24,000 Allanian troops busily mustering found themselves surrounded by more than 20 times their numbers.
"Allanian forces, I am General Parn of the First Draconian Army, you have one minute to throw down your weapons and surrender," Parrn shouted over the build in loudspeaker in his tank. Needless to say, faced with hundreds of thousands of repeating crossbows, the remains of the Allanian army did the smart thing and surrendered without any fighting beyond some glares from the officers. Parn left 20,000 of his command to police the prisoners before his forces departed for the town of Grander.
At Grander, despite the declaration of war, the town's main gates were open as they were about 3 days hard march from the border; plus the presences of about 24,000 troops of their army in Draconia's path lead to the belief that Grander was reasonably secure from attack. Acting under the assumption that they would have considerable warning if the Draconian army approached their walls, they allowed normal traffic for the moment. Not knowing about the speed or capabilities of Draconia's military, their mistake was understandable.
The warning came when the gate tower exploded from a tank hi-ex round and the Draconian forces poured into the open city, bypassing gawking civilians as they overran the town. Leaving 15,000 to secure the town, the first army relayed that their first objectives were met as they surged forwards towards the village of Hertad.
The first army was somewhat larger than the other two and spent the rest of the day setting up bridging equipment and consolidating their positions.
Invasion Day 2
Within the first day Draconia had taken almost half of Allania with their rapid and powerful military force. Cutting off patrols and independent army groups, surrounding them all in pockets that were closing in on them on all sides. Merthon surrendered to Draconia after seeing the Raster loyal garrison overwhelmed in 10 minutes. Hertad was a city ready to break from Allan and they welcomed the Draconian soldiers upon their arrival. Bhuilan capitulated after the Draconian soldiers arrived two at the town two hours later and captured the Raster loyal garrison.
That same time
Combined Draconian armada – 2300 ships
1st Draconian fleet –King's claw
Admiral Seltena commanding
Sailing and practicing war games far in the deep ocean, only connected to mainland Draconia through the expanded MIRN runecrafted systems and supplied by the mobile runecrafted shipyards combined with teleportation circles. The first female Elf in the Draconian navy commanded the first fleet forwards at the start of the second day of the invasion. The King's Claw as it was named consisted of 3 aircraft carriers, 105 battleships, 150 battlecruisers, 210 cruisers, 250 destroyers and 305 frigates. The other ships were assigned to either the 2nd fleets or task forces.
Though now with the assault of Allania underway, the ships broke into their various task forces to assume their patrol areas while the first fleet sailed northwest towards Allan.
During the intervening years, Xapferey had released cannons into his naval forces similar to what was found on Earth in the days of the ancient naval struggles of Europe. Ultra repeaters firing light explosive or armor piercing bolts backed the rear loading cannons.
The jet fighters launched from the aircraft carriers to begin the strikes against Allania. Flying rapidly towards the mustering Allan fleet, the jets ambushed them, having little warning the jets began their first attack run.
Draconia war room that same time
In front of a screen, Xapferey, his family and various other officers and system operators were watching the screens. Deedlit even having seen simulation results still couldn't believe what she was seeing. In a day, their army had overrun half of Allania, the capitol had fallen along with many other towns that were either ready to secede. Now on the second day, they were ready to overwhelm the last of Allania's major military forces.
"Drake, Wyvern and Hawk squadrons are locked on target," the operator reported.
"Fire at will," Xapferey ordered.
"Fire at will," the operator relayed to the jets.
Jet fighter 0-1 Drake lead.
"Drakes we are weapons free, Drake One fox one."
"Drake Two fox one."
"Drake Three fox one," on and on it went until all 36 jets launched their missiles at the Allanian fleet leaving 144 ships in burning ruins from their missiles.
"Drake Leader this is Wyvern Leader, we are commencing direct attack run."
"Copy Wyvern Lead come up to the cruiser analogue on my two, I'll cover for you."
"All flights guns, guns, guns," Wyvern lead ordered once their missiles were depleted. At the order, 36 jets switched to their ultra repeaters and began firing exploding bolts into various ships and generally wreaking havoc on the once ordered Allanian armada.
At the same moment, the King's Claw came into firing range of the beleaguered Allanian vessels. Seeing the Draconian flag on the strange metal behemoths approaching them, all of a sudden, the strange flying machines broke away for three of the larger ships among the approaching fleet. As the fleet came forwards, their bows lit up with thunderous bangs and tremendous flashes of light. The cannons of the Draconian First Fleet tore through the wooden Allanian ships like tissue paper as they continued through the last of Allania's military forces to take the river ways and deploy marines to secure the northern towns.
At the same time the First fleet decimated the Allanians, the Second fleet went north and deployed the Fourth army to take the mountain town of Turba. The Fourth army, unlike the other armies, was far less mobile on flat terrain, as their equipment was geared for mountain travel. As such they secured several key passes before driving towards Turba, with the lighter tanks leading the charge. The Fourth army was also slower as they carried supplies for the populace, who were suffering due to Raster's taxes. Still despite Allania's massive defeats, they were still a military force and wanted to make sure that any remnants of the Allanian navy or army didn't try to hold the populace hostage. Once the town was secure, they would set up field guns to watch the passes and make a lethal gauntlet for any attacking ships.
Once arriving in Turba, having shredded the few Raster loyal forces in the region, the Draconian forces deployed inside the welcoming town and began distributing food and winter supplies to cheers from the villagers.
Invasion day 3
The third day saw limiting Draconian movement as they firmly secured the realm of Allania. Their victory was all but assured, and while they may have been Allanian forces missed by the attacks, eventually they would have to surrender. Outnumbered, outgunned and with a populace that welcomed the Draconians, what remained of Raster loyalists would have no chance in dislodging the invaders. Allan now was part of Draconia, and the other nations were fine with the war originally; but the question was, how would they react now seeing the terrible might Draconia could unleash on their enemies? Only time would tell, and the spies of the other nations would need time to spread the news giving Draconia time to consolidate their defenses of old and new lands
A/N BAM! How'd ya like that? I've been planning this for a long time, as had Manaweaver, using the replicator systems on the Flyer and the shipyards to create the first runecrafted assembly lines. More and more were created until Draconia could supply teir rapid and modern forces, which had spent time training in isolated areas of Naushindtor Forest/Forest of No Return. The Elves helped provide areas of great secrecy to train and wait until the time came; and I gave hints at Draconia's modernized magically based forces. Enjoy, next chapter the nations of Lodoss react to Draconia absorbing one of the oldest kingdoms in not 3 years, not 3 months, but in 3 days.
