-Vulcanous 2nd, 687 of the Imperial calendar
Linux Appius felt sweat run down his faceas he stood in formation as their commander Legatus Dax who looked at the recently formed legion of boys and men. They all came from the lands that once were the kingdom of Eden, which like many nations before was conquered by the empire and it's people turned into nothing more then serfs to the cores provinces and especially to the city of Sadera, capital of the empire.
In his twelve years of life he knew little of the outside world and like so many from his home village was forced from the grasps of wailing mothers to be soldiers in the Imperial army but they were different, you could say special. They were one of ten legions equipped with the state-of-the-art Kanonis, weapons that could blow back the barbaric Other-worlders or so they were told.
The 170th "Zufmuut" legion wore a cobalt blue overcoat, white trousers, slick black buckle shoes and a black Tudor flat cap which was wildly different then the average armor clad Imperial soldier and the other special legions.
"Comrades!" He spoke grandly, "After today, you'll be soldiers in his majesty's army. You are the tip of the spear that will drive the barbarians out of our world and bring glory to yourself, you're families and your empire!" Unbeknownst to Dax some of the Edenians rolled their eyes at his words. "Our enemies have powerful magic but they cannot match our courage and dedication to the great Zufmuut! We will crush them will ease! We will be victorious! "Gods grace the empire!" The legatus shouted and the soldiers repeated the phrase loudly but most believed in the opposite.
While the younger and more naive of them believed they possibly had a chance at victory, but the more wise of them knew otherwise.
-Vulcaneos 7th, 687 of the Imperial calendar
His hands shook as he rammed a lead ball down the barrel of his hand-Kanoni, desperate to shoot the enemy before he could shoot him. The Zufmuut legion had ambushed a convoy on a ridge overlooking a pass in the Southern Dumas mountains. Given no more then forty balls for each soldier meant they couldn't fight for long but wouldn't let that stop them for if they preformed poorly in battle then their families would suffer the wraith of the Oprichnina.
After both Solin and ball was firmly at the base of the barrel he took out a small bottle filled with Solin powder, dumped just enough in the pan, blew on his burning cord and attempted to acquire a target. Through his notch roughly two and a half actus away was a iron carriage that the other-worlders used as cover. 'Come out.' He silently taunted, 'Come out so I can shoot ya!' In a bat of a eye a small form peaked out from the iron wagon, startled he instinctively pulled the trigger and the hand-kanoni let out a loud Bang! Instantly a ball tears through a other-worlder's knee, shattered the bone and causing him to fall down before his ally dragged him behind the iron carriage.
It had only been about ten minutes and soldiers had stopped firing in volleys and more independently in the chaos of battle, screams could be heard of men being hit by the enemy's Kanonis. Suddenly there a blow of a horn and he prepared his nerves as three large Kanonis let out thunderous roars, sending large iron balls into the rock face just ahead of the convoy. Linux watched as it collapsed from the impacts and giant pieces of rock piled up, blocking the road forward.
This had been there plan all along, the rock face had been weakened by heavy autumn rains and magically assistance to speed up the process, creating the perfect trap. Not realizing they were being fired upon by Kanonis they didn't see the gunners reloading and aiming from their concealed positions until it was too late. One iron ball completly missed, another directly hit a iron carriage, crushing the front while the third hit a man and took off his top torso.
With one iron carriage destroyed and the road blocked the other-worlders climbed inside their contraptions and sped away in the other direction, leaving a cloud of dust behind. Immediately they were all filled with joy, cheering and shaking fists in the air. They had won a battle, the first win against the Other-worlders and helpfully the first of many more victories to come.
Later that same evening the legion's camp was filled with music and laughter as the men celebrated. The pass had been blocked and denied the enemy one potential rout to Sadera. Linux however was far away from the celebration, choosing to sit on the bank of a stream that snaked it's way through the mountain side as the moon's light reflected off the water.
Suddenly he heard the sound of crunching behind him and pulled out his little dagger only it was only Felix, the man stopped as he pull up his hands. "Hey, carful with that kid." "S-sorry.." The blonde apologized, putting away the weapon. "Mind if I take a seat?" The boy shook his head and he sat down on the grass, Linux too sitting down.
"Now, why are you here by yourself. You should be celebrating." Said Felix but the boy stayed silent, opting to just stare at the water. "You miss your village don't you? It's ok, I miss home too." "Y-yeah." The boy responded quietly.
The silver haired man put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "it'll be fine, You'll eventually get home once this damned war is over." Then Linux had a question, "Will we win?" Felix pondered for a moment before shaking his head, "No...no we won't. The enemy is too strong for the empire to face and we only got lucky today, next time things will be different so just keep your head do-" BAM!!! Felix was interrupted by a terrible explosion coming from the direction of the camp.
Without a second thought the two got up and sprinted as fast as they could, the dim glow of fire in the distance. Screaming became louder and hot smoke began to burn at their lungs as the full scope of the carnage came into view. What was left of the camp was a large smoldering crater with pieces of burned flesh everywhere and men with hellish wounds wailing in pain. "Oh my gods..." Linux was at a loss for words as he looked on at this horrible sight, "This is the wrath of the Other-worlders." Began Felix, "I fear that this war will be the end of our world." The boy reflecting on the man's words and wanted to go home more then ever.
-October 8th, 2016 of the Gregorian calendar
Reed sometimes hated being president as it truly was a demanding job. He had recently gotten word that a patrol of twenty-five men had been ambushed and pushed back by Soldiers wielding matchlock muskets and early blackpowder cannons in the Dumas mountains, losing four men and two others wounded. While this was really nothing more then a skirmish it worried him. The heavy armor like the Abrams and Bradlys couldn't go through most of the paths through the Dumas or Romalia mountains with the exception of the Appia and Dessria highways which would allow the Saderans to harass transport convoys, even if they could be dealt with ease it'd only take one lucky move to hamper with the fragile supply lines.
But there with every cloud a silver lining, The vassal states of Alguna, the League principality, Mudwan, Toumaren and finally Elbe had agreed to leave the war, freeing about 48,000 men for operations against the vassal states on the finger peninsula, a separate and mountainous peninsula just west of Alguna. Reed had make preparations to send a humungous force of 380,000 new recruits and reservists through the gate by the spring of next year.
He also wanted to make sure he could establish diplomatic relations with the various nations on Falmart to help facilitate peace and stability after the war's inevitable end. One step was meeting with King Duran of Elbe and of all people Princess Piña Co Lada, the Daughter of the ruler of the Saderan empire and third in line to the throne. Reed found her case interesting, she wished peace but also wished to continue Sadera hegemony that had lasted for centuries.
He had scheduled a meeting tomorrow and would mark the first ever inter-planetary meeting between leaders of foreign nations. It'd be big and would stur up a storm, both good and bad. The American people rightfully were furious and wanted vengeance but there was the danger of a civilian doing something drastic in the name of avenging the victims of Manhattan massacre.
Hell, he was walking on eggshells the moment the gate arrived as many want excess. NATO had offered assistance but he wanted to see if the Saderans would surrender when given a peace treaty, if not then the full might of NATO would be thrown down on those sad bastards.
Suddenly the phone rang and he picked up, "Hello?" "Hello Mr. President, I have urgent news." It was the secretary of war. "What's going on secretary Kane?" "T-the Merchants in a city called Agalo just north of Deabis are in a uproar about slavery being outlawed." 'Damn!' He cursed internally, he ordered that slavery be abolished in all territory annexed or occupied by the US in the special region in hopes of gain support of the emancipated slaves but the merchant class wasn't having a piece of revenue go away so easily. "Alrighty, send in the military police and to use tear gas to disperse them. If they don't then tell general Kowalski then he has permission to use lethal force if necessary . I don't want insurgents and kidnappers behind our lines." He commanded and Kane responded with, "Understood, have a good day sir." "Have a good day." And with that the call was over and now he had to deal with paperwork.
This is the shortest update time for this story ever! Although this is more of a filler chapter, It'll lead us to more important things. For clarification Legio CLXX "Zufmmut" translate into English "The 170th Legion of Zufmmut." Alot of Roman legions was named after gods they worshipped. Like we've seen before if given the proper opportunity the Empire can inflict causalities so our protagonists will have to be a bit more carful. As always thank you for your support, please leave a review down and I'll be back soon with another chapter.