Hello guys and gals, we're back at it, and if not in this chapter then the invasion WILL begin in the 5th, I promise you all. This chapter will be about planning for the most part. So without further ado, let's get straight to it.
Falmart, legionary fort at Alnus hill
Cornelius Severus had an easier time sneaking out of the camp than he'd thought, a lot of the legionaires on guard duty were part of the expedition, and had the same restless nights as he did, which made them tired, and lethargic. Everything went well, until he reached the eastern gate. The guards posted there wouldn't just let him through, if he was caught, he would be executed at best and his cohort would be decimated at worst, and he was sure that he would be one of the people being killed in said decimation. Luckily for him, the only guard that night was a trusted friend of his, Flavius.
"Hey, Cornelius wanna- what are you doing?" his cheerful face greeting him quickly turned suspicious upon seeing Cornelius' thick backpack on his back.
"I'm going home, I can't keep this up."
"What are you talking about, you're deserting? You know what the consequences of that are if you get caught, right?"
"I know, but the nightmares are just too much, and don't act like you're not having them also." -the dark bags under Flavius' eyes were proof of that- "So I'm going home, I miss it. I miss my wife, I miss my daughter, I miss my old friends from the village, I miss everything about my life before the Army. Even working from sunrise to sundown on the fields under the scorching sun."
"Okay, let's say you leave, what then, the Otherworlders are sure to retaliate, and we need every available soldier here. What will you do if we fail and they reach your home?"
"You saw what they are capable of, what we have here is not enough, not by a long shot, and they could be amassing for an attack as we speak! And I'm not planning on dying here. By the way, it was you who wanted any part of this, not me, I was conscripted, and I'm not a cattle to be sent into the slaughter on the whim of some emperor who hardly cares about us.
"I understand I truly do Cornelius, but what are you going to do, I mean how will you get there?"
"I'll make my way to Italica, then join the first trade caravan going through Segundum; and if I catch news of the Otherworlders successfully invading the hill, I'll tell my family to pack up. Last I heard the Cessanian provinces are rather peaceful and there's a need of settlers there."
"Well, good luck to you."
"What you're not coming?"
"I can't my friend, the Legion is my family. The only one I have left. I can't just turn my back on my comrades."
"Ok. I understand. Will you cover for me?"
"You have my word."
"Thank you friend, good luck to you."
"Good luck to you too, brother." said Flavius while giving a brotherly hug to Cornelius "Don't you dare forget about me, Cornelius, okay,"
"Never, brother. I'll keep you in my prayers" said Cornelius, struggling with his tears.
And with that, Cornelius departed and soon disappeared into the night.
Earth, City 17, Citadel, one week after the opening of the Gate
The Consul was busy, busier than usual. Afterall, he had a military organisation to reorganize, and implement reforms within. The Benefactors surprisingly were agreeable on most of his proposals, giving him extensive freedom of execution.
The enemy prisoners and dead were also examined and had their memory extracted, giving the Combine more proof that their enemy operated just like Ancient Romans. This also meant that their language was translated, and were implanted into the minds of Overwatch soldiers who were planned to be brought to the other side, in case they had to communicate with the locals.
First thing that came to the Consul's mind was a new aerial gunship, designed to work in a similar manner to dropships, but built with more emphasis on armament and armor, to provide it with better capabilities for supporting ground units, with less troop-carrying capacity, in contrast to the dropship's more transport-orientated role. The creation of the new gunship was done by feeding the blueprints of the Mil Mi-24 Hind and other similar helicopters into a Combine computer, tasked with "modernizing" pre-Black Mesa Incident weapons to Combine standards for Earth. The result was a combat helicopter armed with a pulse-machinegun which is used in its' Hunter-chopper counterpart, missiles and bombs, and with a troop-carrying capacity of 3. There are also closable weapon slits for the soldiers in the troop compartment. The first such gunships, designated 'Vultures' were completed within hours, and were field tested on rebel bases and headcrab-infested zones. The results, as expected, were resoundingly successful.
The second thing that was implemented was the creation of the Transhuman Overwatch Combat Engineering Corps, tasked with supporting regular Overwatch soldiers with the construction and demolition of fortifications, bunkers, bridges and barricades. Combat Engineers are equipped with regular Overwatch arms, though Mp-7s and SPAS-12 shotguns are their most common weapons. They also carry 5 grenades per individual trooper, troopers equipped with MP7s also have 6 grenades for their underbarrel grenade launchers, -in contrast with regular soldiers who have 3-, in addition to regular explosives, and field engineering equipment. Their uniforms are also distinct, with green tint and markings.
Thirdly, the artillery capabilities of the Overwatch had to be improved. There weren't any satellites on the other side of the Gate, making their Annihilation Mortars useless, until they gained a foothold there. So they needed something more direct. The creation of new artillery guns had the same methods utilized with the creation of the Vulture gunship. Only this time, the computer received the blueprints of howitzers, field guns and other types of field artillery, such as the Archer, the Pzh 2000 and the KRAB artillery systems; the computer was tasked with rolling all of the blueprints into one model, using combine technology available on Earth. It resulted in the creation of a 152mm-calibre gun-howitzer capable of firing at a rate of 28 shells per 3.5 minutes, with a maximum range of 55 km. Said shells are sensor-fused and precision-guided, and contain a capsule of dark-energy plasma in addition to it's HE core. Essentially making it into the artillery version of the AR2/OSIPR The artillery system is designed so that an APC can tow it, and dropships are capable of carrying it in its compact form. The artillery system is equipped with automatic loading and targeting systems, -though these tasks can be performed manually as well, if the situation requires it- bringing the minimum crew down to 2. The artillery system was designated 'Hellion'. The first batteries were completed within days and were field tested on rebels and antlion hordes. The results were deemed successful.
Several more reforms and projects had their groundworks layed, and would be implemented once the need has arisen for them, but for now, these were sufficient.
All these changes were for naught if there weren't any soldiers to operate the new equipment and fulfill the new roles, so CP officers across the globe were recruited and transformed into Overwatch soldiers -numbers were high as by now the news have spread across the globe-, as well as citizens arrested for grave offences such as rape and murder. Captured rebel fighters also had the same fate. Their memories and mind wiped, replaced with combat tactics and maneuvers and unwavering loyalty to the Union.
The Consul was filling 'paperwork' -reports, proposals to the Advisors, you name it- thankfully he was assisted by an administrative AI graciously assigned to him by the Advisors. His work was interrupted by a video call from said Advisors. He quickly accepted it. On his screen was divided with images of the "faces" of the Shu'ulathoi. he also noticed Breen was part of this call.
"Invasion approved. Parameters: maximum indigenous casualties: 4 000 000 000, not including indigenous military forces. Primary Objective: Subjugation and/or destruction of the native country of the "Saderan Empire" within the first 35 planetary rotations of the invasion (from your point of view), these numbers are subject to change based on reports from the invasion force due to lack of information. Following the achieving of Primary Objective, your task is expanding the borders of the Union on the planet by subjugation and/or destruction of any neighbouring indigenous nations, until the entire planet is under control." wrote the Consul's screen. Neither him, nor the Administrator dared to object or interrupt because they were already stretching their patience thin, and these terms so far were relatively reasonable and acceptable.
"To achieve said tasks, Overwatch personnel with a maximum number of 15 000 are approved as initial invasion force, accompanied by synthetic and mechanical assets you currently have access to, as well as anything you can gain access to during the invasion. You are also authorized to deploy the offworld synthetic units that assisted in the initial attack; both on the other side of the portal and on this planet. In addition, you can request the recall and redeployment of an Overwatch unit currently on offworld-duty. Invasion is to commence between the following 14th-19th planetary rotations. All of your reports concerning the invasion will go through us to our Overseer. Failure to achieve objectives will result the dismantling of your species. That is all." And with that the Advisors hung up.
"So we're really doing this, Dr."
"Yes, Consul. I trust you can gather our forces for the invasion in the coming 2 weeks?"
"Yes sir. I must say the troops are quite eager, me included. You know, when I was first assigned as Consul, I thought I would be directing the elimination of rebels and mopping up zombie hordes and antlion nests. And maybe reclaiming Xenian wildlife out. Not with leading an invasion into a fantasy world."
"Indeed, my friend. Don't forget that the fate of our species is decided by this operation. You know what the alternatives are, if you can call them that."
"Yes, Dr. You can trust me, and you can trust our soldiers."
"Thank you, Consul. Good luck to you." and with that Breen ended his call as well.
Back to the boring part, no rest for the wicked mused the Consul.
Falmart, Imperial Capital City of Sadera, Imperial Palace, 11 days after the expedition across the Gate
Legate Sextus Galba was on the road with his entourage to the capital, to personally give his report to the Emperor, Molt Sol Augustus. They were almost constantly on the move, their tired horses replaced at Imperial posts along the way with fresh, rested ones. The Emperor and the Senate had to know about the dangers beyond the Gate as soon as possible.
He was the legatus of Legio XVI, and the de-facto general of what remained of the expeditionary force, after the death of General Constantinus, who held the Gate against the enemy until the end, allowing him and many others to escape. At the moment, Claudius Tullus, his second-in-command was commanding the forces around the hill.
Currently he was waiting to be admitted into the Throne Room, his anxiety was almost palpable. After a period of waiting that felt like forever the guards finally opened the doors for him.
At the far side of the Throne Room was sitting the Emperor himself in his majestic throne, accompanied by his two sons and his daughter; Prince Zorzal El Caesar, Prince Diabo El Caesar and Princess Piña Co Lada, in all their royal splendour, flanked by guards.
He made his way before them, immediately kneeling in their presence, bowing his head.
"Your majesty, I have terrible news; the expedition has been a total failure, out of the 12 legions that set forth only, 3 have remained capable of fighting, morale is at an all-time low and desertion has been posing significant problems, no matter the public floggings the decimations, the promises of extra payment, nothing seems to help."
"How did this happen, Legate?" was the response of the Emperor
"Their weapons, their magic, they outclassed us in almost every way. We easily dealt with their militias, but their flying monstrosities eliminated our wyverns, and their soldiers reacted quickly to our attack, their training was on par with our praetorians, our beasts were no match to theirs... Their weapons all did the same magic; loud pops accompanied by flashes and lightning-fast blue darts coming out of their black staffs. We had no choice, we had to retreat-"
"COWARD! You should have shown those savages the meaning of Saderan honour and held your ground, like Constantinus did! You are a disgrace to the Saderan people! YOU-" shouted the infuriated Zorzal.
"That's enough Zorzal," intervened Molt "defeats tend to happen in war, but no matter, no one can stand against the Saderan Legions. Those Otherworlders will learn soon enough. And as for you Legate, you are to hold the Holy Hill of Alnus, 6 legions will be sent there to lend aid. Do not let them take a foot of our soil. Is that clear, Legate?"
"Yes, my liege, and I forgot to mention that enemy prisoners were captured, around 200. They are on their way to Sadera's slave markets. We also acquired some of their weapons, they are on their way to Rondel as we speak."
"Very well, Legate. You are dismissed."
Galba stood, saluted and made his way out of the Throne Room.
"Father this new enemy, I have no doubt that this is the offset of a new crisis." said Diabo, who was quiet during all of this.
"You already want to surrender, brother?" asked Zorzal
"Of course not, Zorzal, it's just that I have a bad feeling about this."
"I share your concerns my son, but not your pessimism. Our soldiers' numbers, training and equipment are second to none. Saderan might and way of life will prevail in the end, like it always has. Saderas Invicta!
Author's notes: And that concludes this chapter, it might not be good but I'm trying my best. I also have not one, but two requests to you, dear Reader.
Firstly, help me expand the world of the Gate, since I'm planning on detailing the Overwatch's invasion of the entire planet I'll have come up with some new factions, empires and regions, since there isn't a lot of lore about the world beyond the Saderan Empire, so I must ask you this: Should the world beyond the Gate be similiar to our own at the peak of the Roman Empire with humans being the dominant species and fantasy elements thrown in the mix here and there, or should I make it into a Warhammer fantasy/Warcraft -like world with an abundance of fantasy species, elements, and whatnot? Suggestions are appreciated.
Secondly, since the Gods of Falmart are not going to be happy about the Combine's invasion, they're bound to run into some troubles. Firtsly, Giselle will awaken the Dragon, though not immediately, and the Combine will need some sort of air-superiority fighter. I want you to come up with that fighter, it can be similiar to our own jets, it can be a synth, it can be a completely autonomous drone, whatever you want it to be. You get to come up with its' abilities, weapons, speed, everything. Just don't make it too OP. If I can't decide which one'll be the winner, I'll take inspiration from ALL of them to some degree.
Anyways that's it from me for now, take care and I'll entertain you next time with a cross-dimensional invasion in the next episode. Until then, goodbye!