Chapter 3, Picking up the pieces
"In total over five hundred people were killed in the attack. Another three hundred or so were injured. And there are still over two hundred fifty confirmed missing from the island. We're told US forces suffered only minor casualties. But this does still include three servicemen killed in action, and at least sixty four wounded"
The president picked up the remote, and turned the TV off. "Three soldiers. We lost three."
"Out of a battalion sized unit, and a surprise attack on a nearby ally; That's not bad really." Said the Vice President.
"I know that." Replied the President. "I'm more concerned with the fact a battalion sized unit went up against an enemy that was superior in strength numerically, but was at the bottom of the tech tree. And we still had three KIA. Not to mention the civilian casualties. This damn gate could have opened anywhere. And it opens on our doorstep."
The Vice President looked at a sheet of paper with some notes on it. "There is concern another may open. The entire world is on high alert. China, Russia, Japan, all of NATO. Every military base in the world is on lockdown. Fighters in the air, Ships at sea. Nobody wants to have this happen to them."
The president nodded and replied "That's understandable. Now we have to figure out what the hell to do."
The aftermath
Once the battle was over, the clean up began. US forces rounded up and disarmed a stunned medieval army. Or what was left of them. Between the fighting in the city, and fighters attacking the reinforcements on the road; There really were not many soldiers left. All of them were stunned and broken by what happened. The damage to the city itself was minimal. In fact most of it was caused by the US Airforce. It was limited to a stretch of road leading north from the police station, With some minor damage to buildings along the western beach. The President already made a promise to repair the damage to the people of The Bahamas.
British soldiers had arrived at homestead Air Reserve base in the early evening. They were immediately transferred to Bimini by ospreys. Only a single battalion was sent, so they worked with US forces to secure the island and clean up. Three days after the attack the bulk of the British forces arrived aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth. US forces then began to pull out. Leaving the island in the capable hands of the Royal Navy.
The enemy was about the size of a brigade when the counter attack began. Of the two thousand or so enemy combatants, about two hundred survived the counter attack. This came with a big question. What to do with these POW's?
Just who are they
Manius sat in a room alone. Metal floor, Metal walls, Metal table. This whole room, This whole ship he was on was made of metal. The fact that it floated was not his question. He had been a sailor all his life. He knew displacement mattered, not material. The worrisome part was the size of the ship, and the fact it was made of metal. He could never have dreamed of a ship this size. This thing must be made of more metal than the entire imperial army had access to. And there were others. Though this strange ship was the largest, it was not alone.
That morning he was brought aboard one of the other worlders aircraft? He did not know what to call them actually. They were not dragons. They seemed to be a machine of some sort. The empire had machinery of its own. Mills, wells, presses; Even some telescopes and time keeping devices. But nothing that could fly. And certainly nothing that could build a ship of this size. He got a good look at some of the enemy ships. Each one was massive. Easily dwarfing anything in the Imperial fleet. Then they approached this monster. More an island than a ship. With a flat top and two structures on one side. Along with many more of these 'artificial dragons' as he took to calling them.
Two men entered the room. To his surprise, one was able to speak his language. Well, good enough to converse with anyway. Although the language was similar to his own; It was almost as if they were using a different dialect.
In an adjacent room.
Agents from MI6 watched the interview on a TV screen. Through observations done on the prisoners the past few days; They had already figured out that the enemy's language was Latin. Or very similar to it. It had barely been a week since the attack. But already people were itching for revenge. Both in America and Britain. With the entire world on high alert, everyone was keeping one finger on their triggers.
Earlier that morning the agents were briefed on known knowledge, Such as it was, about the 'Gate' and the invaders. They also learned of the general civilian reaction to this event. Fear and amazement, But most of all anger. The scientific community was in total shock. Something just appeared in this world that broke all known laws of physics. Everything about this gate was theoretical. Long hypothesized, but never tested or proven. Until now anyway. Already there were scientists itching to get close to the gate. But no one would dare go anywhere near it.
The US had sent a Littoral Combat ship to provide close in security. But the water was so shallow even it couldn't get too close. Though it was able to position itself to safely use its 30mm guns in case anything else came through. Though it would be shooting from more than six miles. Helicopters and shallow bottom vessels were watching the structure like hawks. If anything came out, it would be destroyed almost immediately. If anything approached, same story.
Six days later, Southern Florida
MacDill Air Force Base Auxiliary Field. The US Military quickly hired a construction company to build a small temporary prison for the enemy POW's. Prefabricated buildings, Several fences, Dogs, and patrolling soldiers were used. The facility was built to hold the captured enemy until it could be decided what to do with them. Britain was going to want justice, and the world wanted answers. Intelligence gathering had already started. Several captured soldiers were found to be commanders, Though most were foot soldiers. They were more than ready to spill the beans on the other side of the gate. Apparently they were still shaken up about the battle. From their point of view, they attacked the gods themselves.
CIA and MI6 agents frequented the holding facility. Interrogations were a daily occurrence. Bit by bit they pieced together what happened. And about where the enemy came from. There was apparently a whole other world on the other side. In addition to the soldiers, Some intel was also captured. This included a crude map of the Empire, and a simple nautical chart of the area around where their gate was. The enemy vessels were also being analyzed. And then the bodies of the enemy soldiers, and those small dragons.
Broward County Medical Examiner's Office
The UK government flew in experts in biology and several other medical fields to oversee the autopsy of KIA soldiers from the other side of the gate. A Human was to first be examined, mostly because they wanted to see if they really were humans, or just happened to look so. There were also some human-animal hybrid people to examine, and what was apparently an elf. But the most interesting one was the winged human. Broward County offered unlimited use of their facilities for this task. An offer that was graciously accepted by the UK.
It was found that the humanoids were indeed mostly human. Aside from minor physical differences, most likely due to their civilization; Their biology was largely the same as people from Earth. The winged humanoids, Referred to as a Monarch by the prisoners. Did have mostly hollow bones. And their organs were smaller and had less overall mass when compared to normal humans.
However, the beast-men were a different story. Not only was their biology completely different from the humanoids that came through the gate. Their DNA was vastly different as well. It almost seemed like these creatures came from another world different from that on the other side of the gate. This led to several theories of the gate connecting worlds and the inhabitants crossing over.
There was one other disturbing thing about some of the beast men. The ones being referred to as ogres and orcs. Their stomach contents included human remains. And relatively fresh ones at that.
Falmart. Sadaran Empire Senate Chambers. Two weeks after the attack.
There were no survivors of the expedition into the other world, say for the few that returned on a single ship. Once Manius reported securing the island town, several captive natives were transported by ship back to Falmart. Several ships began running back and forth from the gate to Mare-Oppidum. Three of these vessels were sent through only to discover a counter attack in progress. Though they tried to return, only one ship made it back. And all aboard were traumatized. Speaking of dragons with devastating fire ball attacks, and the city clearly aflame.
The Senate was called for an emergency session. What should be done? Should they expect a counter attack from the other world? The ships did not report seeing any enemy vessels, but seeing as though that island held a city; surely they existed. And that meant they could lead a counter attack into Falmart.
The senate debated. For several hours. A majority of their troops were still at Mare Oppidum, and Saltwood keep. But with the onset of fall approaching having too many troops in a single location may put too much of a strain on the local food supply. They had plans on pillaging supplies in the other world to sustain an army of this size. But since the expedition failed, and the water over there was too shallow to send larger, more capable ships; The decision was made to recall the bulk of the army. They could be sent back if need be.
That just left monitoring the gate itself. Though no attempt was made by the other side to enter, That didn't mean they wouldn't try. So it was ordered that there will be regular patrols of the Blue Sea, in the area surrounding the gate. At Least one vessel should sail by the gate every four hours.
Oval Office, 2 months after the attack.
The President was in a meeting with the Joint Chiefs. The topic was the gate itself, and what to do about it.
"People of the UK are angry." Said the president. "Payback seems to be on their minds."
"Can't blame them." Said the chief of Naval Operations. "More than two-hundred Bahaminians were abducted. And given the intelligence reports, We all know what's happening to them." There was a brief moment of silence in the room.
The president looked at the Commandant of the Coast Guard. "How's our security?" he asked.
"We've stepped up patrols by both ship and aircraft along the Florida coast. I doubt anything slipped by the brits, much less our patrols. It's been two months and nothing has come out of the gate."
The president nodded before addressing the room again. "I believe the British are going to want retaliation. They are going to want their people back. They will probably ask for our help since we have sizable basses close by. I plan on assisting them with more than just logistical support however. So I need to know how effective our weapons and tech will be on the other side."
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force spoke next. "Firearms will work, I'm sure. Maybe slightly different if their planet's gravity differs from ours. The problem is going to be navigation. We will be reliant on terrestrial and visual navigation. This means no GPS and no tech dependent on GPS. No satellite recon, no extreme range communication. Even data link will be limited. It will be as if we were back in world war two."
The Chief of Naval Operations spoke next. "This also means our long range weapons won't work. We already know the radars onboard our aircraft and ships were unable to detect the enemy air units until they were already within close range. If their planet is even slightly bigger or smaller than ours, The INS navigation systems on our weapons and aircraft will be off. Most certainly unreliable until a new LAT/LON system for that planet could be developed."
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force interjected. "About the radars. Our engineers think the wyverns as they are called were undetectable because they are biological and not metal. Their Radar cross section is small despite their size. That combined with their slow speed and the fact our Vipers were higher than them made detection difficult. But now we have their corpses and are already running experiments to increase our ability to detect them."
The Chief of Staff of the Army spoke next. "Even without our more advanced weaponry, our guns and vehicles will work. And that means we can still fight. Honestly our vehicles give us a bigger advantage than anything else. We can transport large amounts of supplies or soldiers. On top of that they can move in an hour the distance it would take a Roman Legion a day to march. This speed and capacity advantage should not be underestimated. I also recommend we talk to historians if we plan to invade the other side. If we know how the enemy will fight we can plan accordingly."
The Chief of Naval operation spoke again. "Getting troops, vehicles, and supplies there in the first place will be easier said than done. Reports estimate the gate to be five yards or so wide. No one has measured it exactly yet, but that's a narrow choke point. Most of our ships won't fit. Including amphibious assault ships. We'll have to come up with some other way to land troops. This also severely limits cargo capacity. About the only thing that will fit through an opening that narrow are LCAC's and Barges. That would severely limit the amount of supplies we can transport over there."
The meeting ran on for another hour. The president extended an offer to aid the British in any plan they chose to do. Offering not just the use of their bases, but even logistical and military support. The British accepted the request on the condition that they would be the ones in charge if an invasion was initiated. They also requested the US deliver a few Unmanned Surface Vessels to Bimini for a reconnaissance operation.
A few week later at Bimini
Under the watchful eye of the USS Little Rock, a group of three RHIB's approached the gate. Very slowly. Nothing had come out in months, But just in case anything were to appear; The boats were to head East at full speed, and let the Little Rock engage the threat. Their job today was to examine the gate itself, Mainly measuring its width and height, taking a sounding on the interior of the gate, and a water sample. They were to examine the material of the gate as well. It only took one boat to do this, but two were used to speed up the process. The third carried British sailors, all armed. Just in case.
The first boat pulled up alongside the gate, and a man attached a measurement line to it using a rapid cure glue. The boat then slowly moved to the other side. The man then held the line taught and took the measurement.
"Sixty feet exactly." The second boat then disconnected the measuring line and slowly moved into the gate while the first moved away to take some pictures from all angles.
The boat went in about fifty feet past the entrance, then turned around and held position. One of the men aboard was taking a voice recording describing the interior, while another took pictures.
"It's dark on the inside. But not like a tunnel, more like the night sky without stars. But I do see two stars. One sits directly above the entrance. And another star off in the distance. I assume that's a pointer to the exit on the other side. The water extends as far as I can see. Interior sea state is zero despite the exterior being two."
While this was going on another man took a look at a screen from the onboard sonar. "It's infanent. I've sent out four pings over the last two minutes and not a single one has returned." Having given up on the sonar he dipped a few jars into the water, then sealed and labeled them.
The last experiment was the easiest. The driver of the second boat picked up a radio, and transmitted a message to the first boat. They attempted this using a HF, UHF, and VHF radio. The first boat circled the gate outside. They were able to receive the transmission, but only when they were in front of the entrance. If they drifted too far to either side, the transmission would fade to static. All three boats then headed away from the gate back towards their base of operations.
Meanwhile a tug pulling two barges was approaching the island. Onboard these barges were two Unmanned Surface Vessels.
Falmart, Blue Sea. 3 Months after the attack
The Imperial ship Gaiete had completed its sail by the gate, and was heading back towards Mare-Oppidum to finish its four week patrol. They had two monarchs assigned to them for this patrol. One was below deck resting, while the other had landed atop the gate to watch for anything.
Suddenly the men called out his approach. "Small boats have emerged from the gate!" The Gaiete came about and called upon their mage to bring them full sail back to the gate.
As they approached they could make out three small boats. Two were holding a position near the gate, While the other was a considerable distance away. The captain analyses the situation. No doubt they were seen already. It would be preferable to capture the vessels occupants alive for interrogation.
"Position ourselves between the gate and that lone vessel? Archers prepare for multiple volleys on my command!" The boats would surely be more agile than their ship. But with a mage on board they could pull some surprisingly tight maneuvers.
Archers were ready along both sides of the ship. They were now close enough they could make out people standing on the two boats closest to the gate. They were holding small objects and pointing them at the Imperial ship. But they did not look like weapons. More like small black boxes. They would hold them up to their face and follow the ships movement with them. Quite odd.
By now the imperial ship had moved to within range for archers. They held their fire for now though. They began to alter course towards the vessel that was further away from the gate.
"Archers, Fire a single volly in front of the vessel! Everyone else prepare for boarding!" The archers followed their orders. But not long after they lose their arrows the small vessel began to move at a rapid pace. Much faster than anything the men of the Gaiete had seen before. It practically turned in place to. And rapidly moved away then around the Imperial ship. As it came around the Captain managed to see into the back of the vessel. To his surprise he could see no men aboard. Not a soul. How was this vessel moving if no one was aboard? Who was controlling it, and from where?
It quickly made its way around the Gaiete before rejoining the two smaller boats and fleeing back into the gate.
British Prime Ministers Office, 2 days later
The prime minister was reading over the intelligence reports from the experiments conducted in and around the gate. As well as the brief amount of time spent on the other side. Intelligence gathered from interrogations, collaborated the images. This enemy possessed only wooden sailing vessels. Their tactics used in combat centered largely around ramming and boarding actions. Though some ships did have ballista onboard. This was intriguing. In their own history siege engines were used in naval combat. But only for shore bombardment. These ships apparently use them in ship to ship combat. Exactly how or for what reason is thus far unknown.
"The gate is only sixty feet wide". He said. "I'd assume that limits our military options?"
Another person in the room spoke next. He was the Chief of the Defence Staff. "Well we could use the Victory. It fits through the gate and out classes everything they have."
The PM laughs a little at this statement. "As much as I would love to see that, I think we should use our modern navy. It would take time to ready the Victory, and our modern ships are already ready to go."
The Chief continued. "The problem we are running into is twofold. Most of our ships have a beam that is too wide. They won't fit. The following can fit through; The duke class, The hunt class, River class, Sandown class, Archer, scimitar, and Echo classes."
The PM nodded. "I can't help but notice that it's mostly patrol vessels."
"And a frigate, yes sir." replied the Chief. "The other issue is getting the ships in position. They would have to cross the pond, we would be largely dependent on the Americans for port services. And any ship we send, is one less on our side of the gate." The PM nodded. There was a brief pause before he asked.
"Recommendations?" The chief responded. "I purpose we let the US make up the bulk of naval power in the campaign. Their ports are closer, and they have more capable ships that can fit through. For example, the Freedom class."
The PM cupped his hands on the desk. "What are the freedom class capabilities?"
"Put simply sir its a frigate pretending to be a patrol boat. Fifty-seven millimeter autocannon, short range anti-air and anti-ship missiles. Machine guns, Chain guns, Some of them can even mount lasers. Their largely considered a failed experiment. But they out class our patrol boats. And they fit through the gate. Honestly, That failed experiment may prove to be the best option in this situation. The Americans currently have one near Bimini and another is patrolling nearby. Other than the Duke class frigates they are the most tactically capable ships that will fit."
The PM nodded. "Makes sense. It would cost not insignificant amounts of time and money to arrange a task force. Especially when only some can fit through the thing."
After another half hour of discussion it was decided to allow the Americans to make up the bulk of the Naval power during the campaign in the special region. The Royal Navy will send two River class offshore patrol vessels, Two Hunt class mine-countermeasure vessels, two Astute class fleet submarines, a single Echo class survey ship, and a single Duke class frigate. They will join up with the American ships to form a task force to invade the other side.
"Now there's the matter of ground forces. Since we're letting the Americans make up most of the Naval power, I recommend we make up most of the ground power." The planning continues.
HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Major General Jaye Kendal sat down in a meeting with Admiral Nathan Owen and Brigadier General Marcel Byrne who represented the Royal Navy and Royal Marines respectively. The aim of this meeting was to decide upon exactly how the US military will aid their English allies. And their strategy will be on the other side.
"We already know what ships we can send." Said Kendal. "And our best engineers are working on a plan for ferrying in supplies. Unfortunately this will involve digging a thirty foot deep channel to the gates current position. Most likely via dredging. Obviously this will hurt the local ecosystem but the decisions have already been made. That covers getting in, and shipping. We need to focus on a war strategy."
Admiral Nathan Owen spoke next. "The task force of Royal Navy ships is being readied now. They will have to sail a bit slow since Patrol boats will be joining them. I already received word from your Joint Chiefs that vessels are already on the way to dig the channel. I estimate it will be ready in about a month, two at most. I also heard your task force is being assembled in Miami and will sail once ours arrives."
Then Brigadier General Marcel Byrne spoke. "So our first objective is securing the waters around the gate. Then the waters between the gate and this city." He pointed at a map that was acquired from one of the captured ships. It was primitive but did include soundings and even contours on it. "We will need to take this town, and take it quickly. Since supplies are going to be our limiting factor, we should focus on forcing surrender instead of outright destruction. We outclass them in every way except when it comes to local knowledge. So taking out their assets and out maneuvering them should be enough to do so while ensuring we use little of our precious supplies. If they're any kind of competent they will realise they lost and surrender quickly. But to do this we're going to need a way to land heavy armor and APC's. Along with infantry and ground vehicles."
Kendal spoke again. "We've already begun educating the selected Marine units on how this enemy fights. We also plan on staging an amphibious landing ship here in Bimini. We feel the best way to get supplies in is by barge. We plan to requisition six tug boats, and their crews. They will be running supplies back and forth pulling three barges each. Each barge can carry a lot of supplies, or vehicles. We also plan on staging some supplies at the harbor here in Bimini to minimize their travel time. Starting with the initial arms and fuel replenishment, and heavy construction equipment. We will need to improve or build facilities on the other side of the gate. This includes port facilities and an airfield. The president has instructed NASA to select and send some scientists and engineers to access space launch capabilities on the other side."
Owen spoke next. "So move in to secure the waters between the gate and this city. Then move in landing forces. Once the area is secure, start building. We should make use of Naval firepower to assist in the attack of this city. Our engineers have already devised a way to get INS guided missiles to work, least over a short range. They will be less accurate, but they will be usable. From what they told me we need to pretend the missile is on earth. Calculate the distance and bearing between launch point and target. Then input target coordinates that would match the calculated position. A nautical mile is a nautical mile. They said the missile will be accurate within five hundred feet so long as the target is within thirty miles. With short ranged drones we could probably get images usable for the DESMAC system. That will handle terminal guidance."
Kendal spoke again. "That covers our initial beachhead. Now we need a long term goal. President recommends chopping the head off this snake as quickly as possible with minimal loss of life. Avoid absolute destruction where possible, and take the enemy over."
Byrne spoke again. "Our government wants those who authorized the attack arrested and tried in the UK. From our intelligence gathering it was planned by their royal family, the Emperor and one of his sons in particular. Though it was approved by their senate. When we inevitably win we still need to worry about peace keeping. So arresting an entire government is inadvisable. But their chief executive cannot be allowed to walk free. So with that in mind we should attack their capital city and arrest the royal family as soon as possible. It will be heavily defended, but we can out gun and out run them. If we force the royal family to surrender we should be able to ensure peace for the most part. Its crucial that we find a temporary executive once we depose their Emperor. One their citizenry will follow. It's vital the citizens of the Empire know someone is in charge. Otherwise there will be a power vacuum."
5 months after the attack.
For the past several weeks small vessels, both manned and unmanned, were digging and dredging a trench to connect the gate with the deeper waters west of Bimini. They planed to be completed today. At the same time boats and USV did several recon missions into the other world. Primarily taking sonar soundings of the waters around the gate. They managed to determine the waters were around two hundred feet deep in the area around the gate. This combined with captured intelligence means they should have enough of an area mapped to safely operate their vessels. So long as their careful.
Warships began arriving the past few days. They were anchoring in a staging area about ten miles South West of Bimini. This included a Royal navy task force of eleven ships. Including four LCU's but mostly petrol and mine-sweeping vessels. Though there was also one Duke class frigate. American vessels were due to arrive over the next few days.
Supplies for the initial attack and defense operations were already prepared. This included Tanks and APC's from the Royal Marines. Standing By was a lot of construction and heavy equipment. This will be sent over as soon as the enemy port city is captured. Soldiers were being prepared as well. Though they expected this to be an odd deployment. After all their enemy was largely viewed as pushovers. And a modern city in the US was only a few hours boat ride away.
The date had been set, They were as prepared as they reasonably could be. All they were waiting on now was for everyone to arrive.