-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Turian Invasion +27, Turian fleet, Earth Orbit
It had been nearly a month since the start of the invasion. It was almost time for his force to report back in to command, and he would have to regret that he would need to call in reinforcements. The huge attrition his forces had suffered, had resulted in his forces to be pushed to a few select cities and regions. But it seems the enemy had exhausted themselves and were retiring for a while. His battlegroup was far too spread out to cover every emergency with artillery, and the humans had plenty of manpower and artillery to throw at his forces.
"Sir. I am detecting over 1,000 missiles coming from the planet's surface. Nearly all of them have radiological materials inside." His sensors operator reported, however he seemed nonchalant about it.
"Time until impact?" Desolas asked, swallowing his panic.
"Oh, well…. Carry the three, and subtract 5 to be sure… Around 4 hours."
Desolas actually had to pause in disbelief, "... Okaaaaay. Get me a line to the ground commanders. Inform them they will be without orbital support for the next, shall we say 5 hours. The Battlegroup will patrol around the system and investigate the relay to see if anyone has tampered with it." Desolas ordered calmly.
"Stupid morons. They must be desperate to launch that many nukes knowing they would never hit us." One of his officers commented as the order was given and the entire battlegroup FTLed to the relay.
Just as planned by the humans, who continued to manufacture, load and launch nuclear armed satellites, breaking several treaties to bring weapons into Earth's orbit. When the Turians returned, they would be in for a surprise.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
3 miles North of the DMZ, Kaesong, North Korea
The North and South Korean army was preparing for the largest offensive in Korean history, to drive the remaining Turian brigade out of the peninsula. The Turian forces had established a defensive line along the DMZ. Bad move, since it was well within North Korean Artillery batteries, and South Korean air power, and both sides knew the area like their own backyard.
Airstrikes and Artillery would grind them to dust and massive amounts of manpower from half a dozen nations would converge and annihilate the enemy locations, emphasis was on taking prisoners and salvageable equipment however.
This bunker had been made in the '70s by the North Korean Government, fitted out with massive artillery cannons. Unfortunately for the North Koreans on the outset of the war, a lack of ammunition and trained crews forbade its use as an outdated piece of equipment. But now with the Chinese providing ammo, and the South Koreans security, the North Korean crew had enough shells to fire continuously without resupply for 24 hours.
Flipping on the lights for the control room, a team of North and South Korean fire control officers started to interface with the dusty old instruments, adding computers and lights, "Quick, get to position, the global artillery barrage starts in 10 minute! I want a CP established in 5 minutes!" A South Korean colonel shouted to his men, as they did their best to turn the aging bunker into a serviceable HQ.
His North Korean counterpart was also yelling similar orders, and both sides artillery teams were being briefed on how long they were exposed to fire.
On the surface of the bunker, dozens of self propelled artillery vehicles were organizing themselves stealthily, trying not to draw the ire of the orbital artillery the Turians had. But they were all excited, Chinese, American, Japanese, North and South Koreans, and when the minutes ticked by, the signal flare was fired into the twilight's air.
"Fire!" The order didn't originate from one source, and with an excitement that electrified the air, it could almost have been said that they attacked simultaneously. But all were deafened as the big artillery guns within their bunkers opened their firing slits, and fired.
At the same time, the KPA had launched the attack with all they had left, 479k men, 2k artillery pieces, 1.72k tanks and more than 600 combat aircraft. It was the largest offensive operation by the KPA since the beginning of the war. This was not including the nearly 25k soldiers the chinese had sent as an expeditionary force, or the South's combined total of nearly equal numbers in everything, thanks to support from the Japanese and the Americans.
As soon as the thunderous roar of thousands of artillery pieces began, all pretense of stealth in operations was lost, thousands of tanks had their camouflage netting removed and their engines gunned to charge the turian lines, and end the battle as swiftly as possible, so that they may be redeployed to the coastal china plain, to assist in crushing the larger Turian forces there.
The Turian's reply to the armoured assault was to dispatch their armored forces to take care of the northern push since it was closer. The sheer scale of it all was actually lost on the Turian commander, who believed it to be simply impossible, and suicidal of them, to have that many armored vehicles pushing, but even so his own armored force was outnumbered 20 to 1, and he assumed a fluid defensive posture to attempt to avoid the enemy artillery currently falling like rain.
"Enemy tank!" The Korean tank crew yelled, as the turret of the T-62 turned towards a Turian tank, the Turian had missed their first round, and was cooling his barrel, the T-62 retaliated with its buddies. It's 115 mm cannon, along with nearly ten others, blew the tank to pieces.
Despite the tactical doctrine of the Turian commander, he had woefully underestimated just how many tanks had been sent against him with their corresponding airpower. his counter attack had been repelled, and the south's tanks were moving in like a flood. And he had to contend with the artillery suppression, and the blind dropping of incendiary packages from the North aircraft, as well as precision bombing from the south.
Even as he thought, desperate trench fighting was occurring, all around his outer perimeter a literal wall of men advanced under artillery barrage creep, a tactic perfected by both sides since the beginning of the conflict. And his forces could do nothing with their few machine guns as they had been targeted and destroyed with artillery. Already half his lieutenants were dead, and the other half cut off from escape.
Kang, Cha, and their team, were also participating in the battle. They had been ordered to capture the Turian commander, and force them to surrender, since their platoon was already behind Turian lines. The constant barrage of artillery meant they had to use the underground tunnels constructed by the North. Even the Turian command center was not safe to walk around, and the Turians had made an underground complex using the premade tunnels.
Cha had traded in her sniper rifle with a shotgun, as well as most of the team, but the Squad support weapon teams took the front, it was so loud thanks to the artillery barrage, that they could have set explosives off and no one would have been wiser.
Moving through the complex they already had killed several Turian patrols, sentries, and personnel; they got in the way, they ate bullets.
Stacking up on the command center after shooting the two Turians at guard with their suppressed weapons. They tossed in half a dozen flash bangs, and then nearly 40 men and woman charged into the command center. Clubbing, beating, and stunning the turians within. Since it would be hard to determine who would be the man in charge, they took no chances and captured more than two dozen Turians.
"Eagle 2-6, this is Red-1 we found the enemy command center, coordinates 25'18'32 North 24'12'52 East! Requesting to pull out!" Cha's squadmate radioed.
"Understood. Pull back immediately, if possible, complete your secondary mission." An american sounding voice spoke.
Kang, nodding, pulled out the alien data device. Inserting the device right into their communications device, it began to automatically play a message demanding the surrender of the Turians.
The remaining Turian, realizing victory was impossible, and annihilation in minutes, surrendered all across the Korean DMZ upon hearing on all of their channels the message for surrender.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Calais, France
Turian forces had been pushed from mainland France into the Norman coast. Ignorant as to the true intentions to the old and dilapidated bunkers along the coast, they inhabited and refurbished them for their own needs. Controlling an area from the coast and ten miles inland around Calais.
Despite being on the off foot for the last week, they had created a solid defense line along the Calais beachhead, using the ancient World War 2 era German Atlantic Wall, as a defense from Human airstrikes and the odd scouting boat. The city's suburb was turned into a proverbial quagmire of defensive positions, traps, and redoubts. A fortress in all but name, to prevent a NATO and Soviet offensive. The human's plan? Reduce the entire city to rubble using artillery and airstrikes for a full hour, then descend upon it with 4 separate attacks from all directions, the Warsaw Pact will attack from the East, the British was to launch an amphibious landing from the north and west, the French and Americans would strike from the south.
Outside the city, tank commander Nathan Delafosse was observing the city as artillery shells began falling like rain. It would be his unit, the French 1st armored division, that would have the honor of spearheading the attack on the city.
Looking at his time piece, he knew that the creeping barrage was beginning, "2nd Platoon forward!"5 AMX-30Bs, along with dozens of APCs and IFVs containing a whole infantry company launched the attack under heavy fire return fire. Heat mirages bloomed as several napalm bombs dropped into the forest where a Turian AT platoon was hiding in, incinerating them in seconds under the intense heat.
"Loading HEAT!" Nathan's loader yelled as he put a 105 mm HEAT round into the gun.
Acquiring a target Nathan gave the authorization, "Fire!" His AMX bucked under his seat as it fired at a dug in Turian IFV, blowing up the whole thing, and killing most of the crew.
"2nd Platoon, we're nearing toward Phase Line Phoenix, take out any hostile survivors you encounter!" Nathan ordered as the AMXs reached a mile into the enemy's lines. To the East, Soviet armored forces were sweeping in as well.
Phase line Phoenix was the codename for the town square of an outlying French burg, barely a mile into enemy territory. The supporting French and American infantry, covered by tanks and IFVs, began to set up an ammo and supply dump on the square, alongside a command post as they dug in hard. The Tanks already needed resupply in shells and bullets, and they needed to top off their fuel.
"Enemy MG emplacement 5 o'clock on the balcony, fire canister!" Nathan ordered as the AMX fired its main gun at the balcony, destroying the gun and killing all its operators as the hundreds of little bullets in the canister shot shredded the enemy. Several Mi-24 and AH-1 attack helicopters appeared as well, and start cleaning the surrounding area of any alien presence.
"Town square secured, we are ready to commence 2nd phase of Operation Raging Thunder." Nathan announced. His platoon's job was over, they would be clearing the way for further platoons and companies to push deeper with more specialized assault tanks and weapons.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Soviet Hotel Class Submarine K-19
The crew was working around the clock, Moscow had just ordered nuclear attacks on alien vessels in orbit. Their ship, refitted with ground to orbit missiles by the americans, had left to the Atlantic to launch its payload.
"Maintain speed 8 knots! Maintain course 2-4-0!" Vostrikov ordered, as he grabbed his launch key around his neck and walked to the launch console, Polenin, the political officer, punched the key in alongside Vostrikov, completing the Soviet's standard three-man rule for nuclear weapons release.
"Hatch number one, two and three open, silos free of water!" The launch operator announced.
"Fueling in progress." A crewmember reported as the meters started to rise.
"Comrade Captain, Moscow has confirmed nuclear missile launch. They wish us luck." The radioman reported as he received authorization from naval command.
"Fueling complete!"
"Ready for firing sequence!"
"Launch number 1 missile!"
"Launching in 15 seconds: 15...14...13...12...11...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... Launch!" The officer counted before the missile flew off, propelling itself into the sky towards orbit
"Launch second missile!" Vostrikov ordered as the second missile was prepared for launch.
"Second missile away sir!"
"Sir, we have reports of nuclear launches all over the world: US, China, UK, France, North Korea, India, Pakistan. Everyone is launching their nukes as planned!" Polenin reported as a US sub nearby also launched modified Minuteman SLBM.
"So...it has begun in earnest. Whatever happens men, it was an honor to serve with you all."
Humanity had learned a lot from the third world war, and even the Turian conflict. Earth is our planet, there's no need for us to fight for it. Nationality, Religion, and Ideology doesn't matter. Capitalist, Communist, Asian, European, African, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist. We all had one thing in common, we are all human… And we hate invaders of all kinds...