Gate: And So the United Republic Fought
[Planet Name Unknown]
Falmart
United Republic of States
Alnus Joint Air Force Base, Alnus Territory
Shooting Range
"Impressive. Very impressive." Said Itami as he inspected the paper target which was had a large hole where the center used to be. "Your grouping is very tight."
He was currently teaching Rory how to shoot but it seemed to be unnecessary. She was a prodigy and handled the weapon with the skill of a seasoned veteran. She explained that as the Apostle of the War god the use of weapons just came naturally to her. At first he was… apprehensive at having to teach Rory how to be a Ranger for a few reasons. One was how long it was going to take. Another was having her officially recognized as one. Last but not least was that he didn't want to deal with her constant flirting.
His first concern went out the window almost immediately. She was already a master in hand-to-hand and melee combat so that was out. She quickly learned the proper use, handling, and maintenance of firearms. The other things he planned on teaching her were things she already learned in her centuries of experience. The only thing he usually had to do was teach her modern techniques. There was only one thing he skipped which was Wilderness Survival. Rory knew how to live off the land well enough it was just that the Rangers had a bit of a tradition for new recruits. He freaked out when a couple of months into his training he woke up in the middle of a jungle somewhere with only basic supplies and a note with the words 'Survive' written on it. When they came to collect him 3 weeks later he was quite pissed. His self-preservation instincts told him doing that to Rory was a form of Demigod-Assisted Suicide…
The second concern died when he received a letter from the Ranger General himself! It said that he heard from General Harris that he was teaching a 'remarkable individual' how to be a Ranger. Once Itami thought she was ready he would come to Alnus and test her to see if she was Ranger material. If she was up to snuff he would induct her with no problems and all the privileges her new position deserved. The last issue surprisingly dealt with itself. Ever since he started taking her out her flirting dropped down to a tolerable level.
"Did I really do that good, Youji?" she asked beaming from his compliments.
"You shoot a lot better than most other Ranger recruits I've seen. It took me quite a while before my grouping got this tight." He said
"I had a good teacher." She replied flashing him a seductive smile
"No. You're just a very good student. Too good since I've ran out of things to teach you."
"Already?!" said Rory who had come to enjoy having Itami all to herself. "Are you sure there isn't anything else you can teach me."
"Well…" Itami said as his mind produced an image of Rory stranded in the middle of a desert before that image was quickly replaced by one of a ragged, starved, heat exhausted, and enraged Rory about to slice him into small meaty chunks. "Nope. There is nothing else I can teach you."
Rory pouted at first but that pout quickly morphed into a grin. "If so then why don't we got back to your room and~"
"Go down to Delilah's for a drink? Sure thing!" Itami quickly said before heading towards the refugee town at a brisk pace.
'Damn.' Rory thought 'Almost had him.' She hadn't had to try so hard to get a man in bed in all her life. Itami wasn't like any other man she's met. He's kind, compassionate, and was a mighty warrior despite his attempts to downplay it. She would normally try to seduce him once he got a couple of drinks in himself but she loved him too much for that. Besides Itami never drank enough that it clouded his judgement. She pretended to drink too much, despite her demigod status ensuring she'll never get intoxicated, in order to play the confused drunk girl not knowing what she was doing. Unfortunately Itami's damn chivalry got in the way. The only thing he did was remove only her boots & dress before placing her in bed so she could sleep it off. The one time she would forgive a man for doing something perverted…
She had to thank Risa for getting Itami to finally start courting her. Though that would be difficult to do after spiking her meal with large amounts of salt. It was on Emroy's orders though what exactly she did to earn this miniscule amount of his wrath he refused to elaborate.
[Planet Name Unknown]
Falmart
United Republic of States
Alnus City, Alnus Territory
Alnus City Public Library
Lelei wandered through the maze of bookcases in Alnus City's library. While it paled in comparison to the Rondel Library, The Imperial Library, and the Republic's Great Library it still boasted a fairly large selection. When she wasn't teaching URGF soldiers how to speak their language, translating, or hanging around Itami she spent her time here. The amount of knowledge this Republic had and made public was staggering. While they had no understanding of the arcane arts they far outstripped them in science & engineering. For a long time many skilled mages considered science and magic to be separate arts but what if they weren't? What if they were really just one and the same?
Magic was a form of energy manipulation through which its user could bend the world around them to their will. Despite that it still had rules. You couldn't make anything out of thin air for one. Though you could turn something into something else that didn't apply to everything which was a fact mages still trying to create a Philosopher's Stone knew all too well. The most skilled of mages were able to bend these rules but only bend. They could never be broken though her master Cato could do things with magic she could only dream of performing herself. It was why she sought him out to become his apprentice after all and why she still stayed despite his… perverted behavior.
Soon she would have to set out to Rondel so she could be recognized as a full mage. She needed to come up with something to get the mages at Rondel to take notice of her. Master Cato always talked about, well bragged really, how he went from apprentice to mage. He proved his theory that magic could be channeled through other items rather than staves with rare gems embedded in them as was commonly accepted. To prove his point he used a simple wooden walking stick to cast a variety of spells. Granted this require large amounts of energy and practice but he proved it could be done. As his apprentice it was expected of her to come up with something just as brilliant. Maybe she could combine her understanding of magic with the Republic's science and create something that would not only change the very foundation of magic but society as a whole?
AN: Wanted to show what Lelei has been up to. She is immersing herself in the collected knowledge of the Republic trying to learn all she can and possible use it to enhance her magic. It will be awhile before her work bears fruit but the payoff will be worth it.
[Planet Name Unknown]
Falmart
United Republic of States
Fort Alnus Joint Air Force Base, Alnus Territory
Lieutenant Yeager's Office
Now this was certainly interesting. Delilah just sent him a letter about a dark elf causing quite a stir in her tavern. She came here looking for the 'men in green' no doubt referring to the URGF's green BDUs. She brought with her a large diamond that Delilah said was worth at a considerable amount of gold denarii which when converted to Republic currency totaled to… whoa. That amount would certainly cover the URGF's operational expenses in the region for a month at least. Or give him additional funding to expand the DRI's efforts here. What General Harris didn't know wouldn't hurt him. If the reward wasn't enough motivation then the target certainly was. That damn Fire Dragon.
The URGF had been looking for it after Itami encountered it but it seemed to have disappeared. Turns out it was hanging out in Elbe Kingdom making a mess of the dark elf's home of Schwartz Forest. Over half of her tribe had fallen to the dragon and they needed help. The diamond she was offering was more than enough to pay for any expenses, getting a group of demi-humans indebted to them was worthwhile, and honestly the death of that dragon would be doing everyone a favor. The question was how were they going to deal with it? Ground attack was out of the question due to the distance between Elbe and Alnus. It would take a day or two to get a sizeable enough force there and that was if they found a clear path. No. They would need to meet this dragon on its own turf. In the air.
Yeager opened his filing cabinet and pulled out the folder detailing all air units transferred to Alnus. Let's see what he had to work with. Well that was interesting. It seemed Mobius Squadron was recently transferred from Fort Murphy Joint Air Force Base near Delta City to Alnus. Mobius Squadron made headlines years ago after breaking every single record at the academy. Based on their scores in the simulation they could very well win an air war at by themselves. What were the Air Force's Star Pilots doing here? Oh he saw now. Officially it was for a training exercise. Alnus was becoming very popular with the Air Force since its skies were devoid of any aircraft allowing them to do or test anything they wanted. Well it looks like that training exercise just became a live fire one.
[Planet Name Unknown]
Falmart
United Republic of States
Fort Alnus Joint Air Force Base, Alnus Territory
Base Psychiatrist's Office
"So Tuka tell me how are you feeling today?"
"I'm feeling okay, Dr. Keller. Though I'm still not sure if I should be here." The elf girl said looking around the office nervously "I'm not sick."
"Don't worry I'm not that kind of doctor." He said giving her a reassuring smile. "You have been having problems with your father if I'm remembering correctly."
"Yes I've been looking for him everywhere but I can't seem to find him."
"Really? Why don't you tell me about him? He should show up eventually."
As the elf began telling the Doctor about her father and her childhood he quietly took notes. This was a case of denial based PTSD and one he could do in his sleep. The trick was to not tell Tuka her father was gone but get her to slowly come to that realization herself. Granted he had never done anything with an elf before but despite the difference in species and age seemed to act like an average girl in her late teens.
He should finish with Ms. Tuka in a few weeks if they have a session every other day. Then it was back to dealing with the traumatized survivors of the Battle of Alnus and Italica. Despite being a psychiatrist attached with the URGF he seemed to be spending more time with Special Region natives rather than Earth natives.
AN: Sorry for the length of this snippet. I just wanted to spend a moment to show what Tuka's doing. The Itami of this universe did what the original Itami should have done. Sent her to a therapist! I know the manga and novel handwaved this away saying the JSDF's psychiatrist couldn't do anything but I'm calling that a load of crap.
I'm not a student of psychology but it looked like Tuka was suffering from PTSD which a military psychiatrist should be more than capable of treating or at least dealing with! Sorry I just needed to get that out. Back to our regularly scheduled (HA!) program.
[Planet Name Unknown]
Falmart
Skies over Elbe Kingdom
The calm silence of the skies over the Kingdom of Elbe was broken by the roaring of 5 F-22 engines. These F-22s belong to Mobius Squadron. The best fighter squadron in the entire world or at least they like to tell themselves that. There hasn't been a war between the nations since the Second World War. All of their sorties had been against barbarians. While the barbarians were a lot of things 'actual military threat' wasn't one of them. Sure gunning down a company of spear wielding barbarians was fun the first couple of times it quickly grew stale due to the unfairness of it all. Occasionally the barbarians would get ahold of something heavier like some old WW2 AA or even a Destroyer but these moments were few and far in between. They've never even shot down another air target outside of simulations and war games since the barbarians lacked the skill & resources to put even a triplane in the air.
To put it simply Mobius Squadron was bored. When that Lieutenant Yeager came up to them and offered them the chance to fight an actual air target they accepted without even learning what it was they would be shooting down. When they learned it was a gigantic fire breathing dragon their reaction was… interesting to say the least.
"After several years of shit assignments we finally get to fight an air target and it's a big ass dragon!" said Tom 'Lancer' Phillips, callsign Mobius 3 "Our prayers have been answered!"
"Let's see if god can gift us a case of beer and some hot girls next!" said his brother Joe 'Greaser' Phillips, callsign Mobius 4.
"I'll pray to that!" said Franklin 'Hunter' Wells, callsign Mobius 5
"While you guys do that I'm going to pray for more air targets!" said Kathy "Gust" Rogers, callsign Mobius 2
"God. I change my mind" said Joe. "Please give us more air targets."
"To think our first air to air fight outside of war games would be in a world that hasn't even invented indoor plumbing let alone an airplane." Said Tom
"Hey at least it's better than waiting for the barbarians to figure out how to build one." Said Frank "Those bastards can build a goddamn destroyer in secret but a triplane is beyond them."
"Blowing up that destroyer was fun though!" said Kathy
"That was one time though." Frank complained "Usually we're gunning down infantry or the most terrifying of foes. The dreaded parked truck."
"Makes me feel a bit bad bringing a jet to a gun fight." Muttered Tom
"Just remember all those times they shot at you and those feelings should subside." Quipped Joe
"Thanks, bro. I think…"
"I heard that the ground pounders hit this thing with .50s and a LAW but it only drove it away. Are we carrying anything that can actually hurt this thing." Asked Kathy
"We've been given some harpoon missiles and our guns have been fitted with armor piercing ammunition." Said Joe "We should be fine."
"This dragon is a reptile right?" asked Frank "Doesn't that mean its cold blooded? Our heat seekers won't lock on."
"Nice to see you paid attention in science class, Frank. Maybe you aren't a dumb jock after all." Said Tom
"For that I'm kicking your ass but no one still haven't answered my question."
"Don't worry, Frank." Said Kathy "The brass foresaw that problem and gave us radar guided missiles instead. Dragon is big enough to show up on radar."
"Yeah but now we have to worry about the missiles locking on to any overly large flock of birds." said Joe
"Alright guys cut the chatter." Said squadron leader Henry 'Ace' Wells, callsign Mobius 1. "We're approaching the Schwartz Forest. Keep an eye out for that dragon."
After a minute of flying Mobius Squadron caught sight of the dragon flying above the clouds. It was then they noticed something that was definitely not mentioned in the report. There was more than one dragon. Two smaller dragons were flying alongside the much larger one. Were the smaller ones its offspring? They'd have to report this.
"Alnus Base. This is Mobius 1. Please respond, over." Said Henry
"We hear you Mobius 1. Have you found the target?"
"Yes sir but it seems our dragon is a she. It has two smaller dragons with it most likely its offspring, over."
"Roger, Mobius 1. Your orders still stand. Kill the dragon and its offspring."
"Copy that. Mobius 1 out." Said Henry "Alright guys you heard him."
"This is where the fun begins…" said Frank as he began to lock on to the dragon
Giselle was a good apostle. She always followed her mistress' commands no matter how depraved, cruel, or outlandish and when you were the apostle of Hardy this was a common occurrence. Hardy always had a soft spot for the dragon people and gave them her blessing. It was because of this they could live in relative peace without fear of being conquered by the Empire who was too afraid of Hardy to even think of defying her. For this her people had been Hardy's loyal servants for centuries. When Hardy selected her as her apostle when she came of age she felt exhilarated to serve her goddess.
She still feels that but it dulled somewhat now that she knows Hardy on a somewhat personal level. Hardy could be inconsiderate, impatient, cruel, and childish at times but at others she could possess wisdom and foresight that those close to her would not expect. She remembered when that one priest began publically insulting Hardy. Giselle expect Hardy to send her to kill him but Hardy said no when she asked saying she had something special planned. The priest found himself surrounded by vicious demons and monsters of Hardy's realm but instead of attacking they pampered him and followed his every command. She also had various misfortunes befall the town where he lived. The townspeople grew more and more suspicious towards the priest who publically insulted Hardy, but had her servants wait on him hand and foot. Eventually when the plagues, famines, and droughts grew too much they ended up lynching him.
Giselle found herself where this cold calculating Hardy had come from but it was quickly replaced by the Hardy she was very familiar with. The constantly bored one. Her duties as an apostle seemed to almost constantly consist of alleviating her mistress' boredom whether it's fighting her way through a bandit encampment using nothing but one hand or sowing discord among the mortal races. Her mistress' favorite thing to do was opening the Gate. She did it every century or so bringing in new races & cultures to as she put it 'liven up the place'. Hardy couldn't actually see the worlds she was connecting theirs to. She did so randomly and without a worry or thought. Giselle had privately wondered what would happen if Hardy ended up opening a Gate to a world with the power to conquer theirs?
Still she had a mission to complete. Hardy had tasked her to find one of her greatest creations, the Fire Dragon. She created it since in her opinion and unstoppable monstrosity that would awaken every century to wreak havoc among the mortals was absolutely hilarious. She awakened it decades early for this very same reason. Unfortunately it was injured in a fight with those soldiers from the other side of the Gate through what Hardy called 'very interesting means'. Giselle privately hoped Hardy wouldn't have her tangle with them next since if they could survive let alone injure the Fire Dragon then they are formidable indeed. Currently the dragon was making a mess of the Schwartz Forest and the dark elves that lived there. The dark elves weren't very high on the scale for Hardy's favor. Almost everyone in Falmart believed them to be untrustworthy Hardy included. If the dragon needed to replenish her strength on one tribe of dark elves then by all means.
She was currently riding on the dragon's back taking to a dormant volcano not far from Schwartz. It could stay there and tend to its offspring in peace. Hardy created the Fire Dragon without the ability to breed but recent changed that since these newcomers could kill it fairly easily. If they were staying then the amount of Fire Dragons needed to increase.
Suddenly Giselle ears twitched as they picked up a sound. This sound was very far away but she could still hear it and it was getting louder. Soon her ears were bombarded with this roaring sound. She then spotted five… things flying towards them in formation. They were shaped somewhat like arrow heads but she couldn't figure out how something without wings could fly. She guessed it had something to do with this roaring noise. Giselle then felt her scaly skin begin to prickle. It was all over her body and had no identifiable source. Then without warning this flying arrow shot something toward them. It was on fire since it left a trail of smoke behind it. This burning lance flew towards them like it had a mind of its own and struck the dragon in its side. She gasped as the lance exploded upon striking the dragon to which it roared in pain. More of these fire lances shot out some heading for her & the dragon while the others went for the hatchlings.
One hatching manage to dive out the way quick enough but the other wasn't so lucky. It fell towards the ground with a feeble cry. Enraged at the death of its hatchling the dragon began futilely breathing fire towards the flying arrows who easily dodged it. Giselle tried to rein the dragon in but its rage completely consumed it. It continued attacking the flying arrows with reckless abandon. It even attempted to swipe at one with its clawed hand when it got to close. One of the flying arrows began flying straight towards them and instead of firing another of those burning lances it shot a bunch of small projectiles. It riddled the dragon with them until Giselle felt three hard things hit her. Looking down at her shoulder she could see a large bloody wound. Then without warning there was this intense burning sensation. She had been attacked with all-manner of things during her time as an apostle but nothing burned like this! What was this thing made out of!? Equally painful feelings from her lower back and thigh told her she'd been hit there as well. All she had to do was bear it until her wounds healed. Though it looked like she wouldn't get that opportunity.
Two flying arrows dived towards them releasing two burning lances each. Two of them hit the remaining hatchling with caused it to explode into an unrecognizable pile of blood and flesh. The Fire Dragon once again roared in outrage but was unable to do anything as the other two burning lances hit it on its back. Right next to where she was sitting… The dragon gave a weakened groan and plummeted towards the ground unaware that its passenger wasn't with it. Giselle tried with all her might to unfurl her own wings but the burning from her wounds coupled with the bits on the burning lance lodged within her she screamed as she fell towards the ground.
Henry smirked as the Fire Dragon went down from his combination of cannon fire and missiles. That dragon wasn't so tough when met with heavier firepower. This is why the ground pounders should leave things like this to the Air Force. His smirk turned to a frown as he caught sight of something fall off the dragon. Or at least he thought he did. His missiles had turned that dragon into mush. It could have been just a piece of flesh or something but since when was flesh blue and white? Still no use wondering about it now. Whatever it was will no doubt be pulverized from the fall. He then contacted command to inform them of their victory.
"Alnus Base. Dragon and its offspring have been taken out. We are now returning to base, over."
"Wow. That was quick. Looks like you guys certainly earned your reputation. We'll send out a team to contact the Dark Elves and collect the bodies. Return to base. You'll have a case of beer waiting for you."
"Delta City Special if you wouldn't mind, sir."
"I'll see what I can do. Alnus out."
"Alright guys you heard him. Let's get back to base and have a drink."
"Roger, squadron leader." Said Frank "I hope you guys know that the real pilots get more booze."
"Wait a minute! Where did that real pilot nonsense come from!?" said an indignant Tom
"You're not a real pilot unless you get a kill." Explained Kathy in a way everyone could picture her shaking her head "Everyone knows that."
"I never heard something like that." Said Joe
"Probably cause you're not a real pilot." Said Frank
"Only because you stole my kill! I had that little dragon dead to rights before you swooped in and took it down!"
"Early bird gets the worm." Said Frank with a shit-eating grin "Who knows how long it'll be before you get kills? If it makes you two feel better you can help us paint dragons on the sides of our planes."
As both Joe and Tom began to dissolve into a string of curses and insults Henry felt it was time to stop this before it could escalate further. "Stow it. All of you." He said in the tone that the squadron knew would spell absolute doom if they disobeyed… "Mobius 2 & 5. Need I remind you that the dragons you took out were hatchlings while I took out the parent? If you want to press this 'real pilot' nonsense then I certainly give you more responsibilities that fit your new standing."
Their silence and the snickers of Joe and Tom told him all he needed to hear.
"Good. Now let's head back to base. Real Pilot up front and everyone else behind!"
"Not you too!" moaned Joe.
Location Unknown
To say Hardy was angry would be an understatement. She was absolutely positively furious. This kind of anger meant a lot of people were going to die in the immediate future and maybe some of them would be connected to what made her angry in the first place. The source of her anger was the strange soldiers from beyond the Gate. They amused her at first with their slaughter of the Empire with their strange but powerful weapons. This amusement had gone down in recent weeks with their apparent disinterest on completely destroying it content to sit around their fortress. The Fire Dragon was her attempt at releaving this boredom until they Killed. It.
Not only that but they also injured Giselle who was possibly her favorite apostle so far. Hardy could still feel her meaning she was still alive though her life signs were very faint. This was the closest a demigod has ever come to death since the creation of the world and in normal circumstances Hardy would be impressed but not when it was her apostle. These newcomers had worn out their welcome. Let's see how long they last when they're completely cut of from home!?
As Hardy reached out towards the Gate to sever the connection between worlds she was surprised & scared to find two things. One was that she wasn't alone. There was another presence that she identified as a god like her but it was unfamiliar. This one must be from the other side of the Gate! Two was what had her fearful. This new god was stronger than her! She and Emroy were the central gods of Falmart's pantheon. All worshiped or at least acknowledged them in some way which gave them strength. How many worshipers did this god have!?
Hardy could feel the unknown god strengthen the bond between worlds and making it permanent! She tried to stop it but the god gently pushed her like one would do to a child. She could only watch as the god finished its work and upon seeing it she guessed that it would take every god in Falmart and those on the other continents to pool their strength to sever it. Easier said than done since they all hate each other and didn't interfere in each other's lands as a rule. The other god began to fade back through the Gate only to leave her a message.
For too long you done anything you wanted without consequence and due to your own actions you've unleashed something that will change your world forever. We may be gods Hardy but that doesn't mean we are without responsibility. You've dug this grave. Now lie in it...
Oh no... The other gods weren't going to like this...
AN: Hardy is in deep doodoo now! I'm basing how powerful gods are in this fic to how many worshipers they have. The god worshiped on Earth isn't the Abrahamic god of our Earth but very similar since all the nations practice an abrahamic faith. The Republic is protestant, Rome & Germany are catholic, Russia is Eastern Orthodox, and Carthage is islamic though for most of their history they were protestant. The population of their world is equivalent to ours with around 7 billion people. 7 billion worshipers compared to the few million a medieval society like Falmart would have? Needless to say the Earth god is ridiculously powerful.