Warcraft: Arrival from the Stars
Disclaimer: Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment, Civilization by Sid Meier's, Firaxis games and 2k
How will the People of Azeroth Deal with an entirely new branch of Humanity, one with advanced technology that rivals anything seen by both the Alliance and the Horde.
Authors Note: my maths skills are a little rusty, also i have no prior military knowledge, so if something is wrong, inform me and i will see if i can fix it. Also mentions of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Survivors guilt.
Chapter 4: The Sound that strikes fear
Kozlov assumed an Isosceles stance, his eyes gleamed through the iron-sights of his Vikingr 45. ACP pistol... the reason why he was doing so was to show off to Anachronos the Slavic Federations's and by extension Earth's technological ingenuity, literally through the barrel of a gun.
Initially, it started off as a pissing match between Anachronos and Kozlov, with Anachronos not believing that Kozlov's gun was a threat to Anachronos, even when Kozlov disassembled and showed off his gun, and Kozlov doubted Anachronos's magic... the end result was a compromise, Kozlov would show off his Gun and Anachronos his magic.
Anachronos watched the General intently.
Kozlov positioned himself, he then looked through his iron-sights and fired at a target twenty meters away.
The 45. ACP FMJ round struck the metal silhouette with roughly 520 joules of force and caused the target to drop to the ground.
Kozlov quickly turned to his other target that was roughly 25 metres away, looked through the illuminated iron-sights and gave a quick double-tap.
The paper target took two hits centre-mass in the torso, the grouping barely two centimetres apart, Kozlov then sighted the next target, this one was moving side to side and was located 30 metres away.
Kozlov aimed through the Iron-sights, relaxed his muscles and took a breath... he fired once, the shot missing just slightly, but Kozlov just adjusted his aim slightly to the left and double tapped.
The whole time though, Anachronos was in in a slight shock, he had never witnessed such a fire rate before, and the calmness in the General only lead him to believe that he had used the weapon before, possibly in combat.
Kozlov sighted down on the forth target that stood approximately 50 metres away, the extreme end of a Pistols effective range, so it took Kozlov some time to aim down his iron-sights and steady his hand before he fired one shot.
Kozlov's shot hit the target on the right shoulder, this was a sign that Kozlov knew was due to him pushing down on the pistol prior to firing due to anticipation of the recoil forces, he deduced this from the shot placement being away from where he intentionally sighted, so he eased his grip slightly and took aim again before letting off another round.
This time, the shot was perfectly center of where Kozlov was aiming, the FMJ .45 ACP bullet tore through the paper silhouette target and struck the other side of the range.
Kozlov took two more shots, each one hitting roughly three centimetres apart before moving on to the next target.
Kozlov grinned at his next target, it was a ballistic gel dummy placed twenty metres away with anatomically correct bones and internal bag's of fake blood to simulate vital organs.
Kozlov aimed down the iron-sights, but before firing, he felt the need to brag to Kozlov in a friendly fashion.
"So Anachronos, still confident that i cannot beat you? eh?"
Kozlov then turned to face the target, eyed down through the iron-sights and fired his weapon rapidly until he ran out of ammunition and the slide of his Vikingr pistol drew back.
The Impact of the five rounds did plenty of damage to bones and vital organs that were struck, but Being FMJ rounds, they tore right through muscle and sinew without straying or moving much, the Exit holes where much larger and the bullets though tearing straight through the body with little if any tumbling, they did however instead create large shockwave's in the gel, this is what Kozlov knew as Hydrostatic shock, although that would probably not have been important as any opponent would not be surviving the hail of destructive firepower that Kozlov fired.
Kozlov was confident that his rounds would have gone through the steel plate Armour of the Aliens, provided that the enemy was at medium range and FMJ rounds were used, but seeing as Hollow point rounds were exempt from battlefield use following the rules of the Hague convention of 1899, he had no fear of his soldiers rounds lacking the ability to go through the Armour of possible opponents, but he had no doubt that any rifle round would be going through, unless they were hollow-point rounds, but even then anything higher than 5.56 would be tearing through no matter the selected ammunition, and the 20x102 mm Anti-Materiel rifles and Directed Energy Weapons that the Rangers wielded would be plain overkill.
Kozlov stretched his shoulders before pressing a switch on the side of his Vikingr pistol, withdrawing his empty magazine and placing it in one of his pockets before he pulled out a new magazine and pushed the slide in, when that was done he fingered one of the safeties on his pistol before placing his Vikingr pistol in his holster that was tied to his hip.
Kozlov then sighed and shook himself from the adrenaline high before turning to face Anachronos.
"So then Anachronos, let me see that magic of yours"
Anachronos, not one to be put out by the competition, shrugged his shoulders emphatically before replying back.
"You may want to stand back, perhaps ten metres back"
Kozlov shrugged his head side by side before walking backwards about 7 metres.
Anachronos stretched his legs and arms before he revealed his dragon-like form to an astounded Kozlov before opening his maw and spreading forth flames towards all targets, the Metal ones were blackened whilst the paper targets where scorched into ash and cinders, the Roaring flames created a large racket that doubtlessly would have traveled throughout the ship.
Kozlov had to concede to that point, Anachronos's display was damn impressive, but Kozlov still believed that Human Technology would still be far better than magic ever would be, but Kozlov would keep that thought to himself.
A group of several Soldiers rushed into the hanger armed with their Streltsy 7.62x51mm Assault rifles, each one aimed at Anachronos, but Kozlov raised his right fist in the air before waving it, the sign to lower their weapons, which they slowly did one by one.
Anachronos turned to face Kozlov before speaking
"So, what do you say now?"
Kozlov turned from facing his soldiers to facing Anachronos, the soldiers from the other side of the room formed up and began to walk alongside Kozlov.
"Well, you should have told me you where some god-damned dragon, that would have stopped me from nearly having a heart attack, is every damn species on this planet part dragon?"
Anachronos began to revert back to a Human before replying back.
"Oh yes, i forgot that you are new to this planet... i suppose since you did show me some of your technology, i guess i should tell you some basic stuff"
Kozlov thought back to some of the descriptions that he had heard from Ranger Paramonov, if Kozlov remembered correctly, Ranger Paramonov and second Lieutenant Strelkov whom described in some detail about several Large, Green humanoids as well as one very large Minotaur-like humanoid species as well, however what concerned Kozlov was the sighting of a third unidentified alien species as well as a fourth unidentified species that looked like a tiger and was ridden like a mount by the third unidentified species, however Kozlov would not mention that in his question due to the fact that Paramonov and Strelkov were too far away from the third and fourth species and that could have potentially skewed with Kozlov's diplomatic approach.
"Well i have heard of reported sightings of several large green humanoids as well as one of a single large, Cow-like humanoid as well"
Anachronos guessed that what the General had reported were of Orc's and a Tauren.
'this might be troublesome, especially with the recent militancy within the Horde and Alliance' thought Anachronos, but he knew that he had to explain to the General about the political situation.
"Yes, then those species, the Green ones are known as Orcs and the cow-like species that you mentioned must be the Tauren, they may not exactly like having you in what is considerably their territory"
Kozlov idly stroked his chin before replying, he felt like laughing in Anachronos's face, but resisted harshly.
'Orc's, really, does he expect me to believe that Tolkiens*2 fiction is in fact reality, that the Fanboys and the Gamers were right all along!' thought Kozlov in his head, but he had to assume anything was possible when it came to landing on a new planet, especially that magic could have also been a reality, so Kozlov had to take a neutral stance and be as unbiased as possible, but it was very hard, and Kozlov had to stay in the role of leader of the Slavic Federation's seed colony, he needed to get his head straight.
Kozlov took a breath and quickly reassumed the role as diplomat to Anachronos, so he asked the most natural question.
"I see... perhaps we can establish diplomatic relation's with these Orc's and Tauren, perhaps to establish trade or other such things in return for claiming this land?"
Anachronos scratched his neck before straight up replying back as to why that would be difficult.
"That might be difficult, as you know there are humans here, yes?, well the Humans from this Planet, known as Azeroth, are hostile to the Orcs and Tauren"
Kozlov had a great idea as to why any wars and factionalism would arise, humans themselves once killed over such trivial things as religion, race and colour, and still did so to the day Kozlov left Earth, and if the Azerothian Humans where the same, then it could have been for any reason, from land disputes or racial injustice, but Kozlov still had to know the details all in the role as diplomat.
"I see... can you explain the politics behind this or the reason why?"
"The Humans dislike the Orc's due to the Orc's invading from another realm called Draenor through the black portal... the Humans won two wars and ordered the Orc's into internment camps where they were forced to work for the humans and essentially became slaves"
Kozlov had a basic idea of what this Internment camp might have been like, and the image in his head was not to dissimilar to Hitler's concentration camps or Stalin's gulags from back in the 20th Century, but felt that it would be better to ask Anachronos exactly what an Internment camp was.
"An internment camp, is that like a Concentration camp?"
And then Kozlov realized that he had made a blunder, he had not explained about the existence of concentration camps, this meant that Kozlov would have to play history teacher, this blunder also illustrated to Kozlov that he had to be much more careful in the future when it came to dealing with others in a political and diplomatic fashion.
Anachronos responded to Kozlov's question with the most reasonable of questions.
"What is a concentration camp?"
Kozlov decided to give a brief explanation.
"A concentration camp is a structure or area where people from certain fringes of society are forced to do hard-labour before either succumbing to the strain or are starved to death or in the case of Nazi germany where they were also lined up and shot or placed in small buildings called gas chambers where they were executed, or where they also burned the dead bodies for use as fertilizer, these people are chosen from amongst the populace by a certain criteria, such as those who dissent to their rulers or governments, or those whom do not fit within the bounds of a normal society, such as outcasts or homosexuals, my explanation was quite brief and i will tell you more details at a later date in time"
Anachronos wanted to know more, but decided that he had all the time in the world until his death, which he knew when it would occur, so he decided to answer Kozlov's question.
"The internment camp was very similar in function to what you call a concentration camp, however the Orc's were not starved to death and they were not choosen out from amongst the people, they forced all Orcs into Internment camps where they were used as a labor source where they could rebuild what they had destroyed in their previous wars, the Orc's were left in the internment camps to rot, at first the Orc's where restless, but overtime they lost hope and began to become sub-serviant and they lost all of their will, but an Orc known as Thrall, son of Durotan, wielding the Peoples hearts, he revolted against the Humans and the Orc's chose to fight beside him, eventually this Thrall alongside his peoples led an expedition to the Western lands of Kalimdor where they could live in a place free of Humans."
Kozlov had the basic outline of what had occurred, but he had to know as to how the Tauren come into the situation?.
"These Tauren, how did they come into play?"
"From what i have heard, when Thrall and his horde landed on the island of Kalimdor, they found a people at constant war with Centaurs, these where the Tauren, the Orcs, under Thralls command rescued the Tauren, and with the Forming of the Horde, the Tauren have been completely loyal to Thrall, with the general exception of the Grimtotem clan, or was it Grimtotem tribe?"
Kozlov wondered about the Horde and what it consisted of, so he raised the question.
"This Horde, what or whom does it consist of?"
Anachronos thought back on that question before replying.
"The Horde is made up of Orc's, Trolls, Tauren and the Forsaken"
Kozlov needed to know more about these Trolls and forsaken, as well as to what political stake the Azerothian Humans had on 'Azeroth', so he raised the question.
"What about us Humans?, are they a part of a faction or by themselves against a conglomerate of other species?"
Anachronos sighed before explaining the basics.
"The Humans are part of a political alliance known simply as the Alliance, which is between the Humans, Dwarves, Night elves and Gnomes, they are the political opposite of the Horde, until recently both sides enjoyed a peaceful existence, but certain events and figures have caused the peace to shift first to distrust, and eventually to war... as of now both the Alliance and the Horde are officially at war"
Great, Kozlov escaped the constant bickering and war mongering of Earth, only to now, ironically, have his own people to land on a new Planet where they must yet again possibly participate in new wars, but Kozlov felt confident in Earths technological achievements, which would hopefully be used to end a war before it could start, or be used to defend his colonists against any enemies that they might make, it was in this situation that Kozlov knew that he had to take the responsibility of leading the Colony and ensuring that its original purpose was met.
Ohanpa Earthtalon, after hours of tracking the odd mechanical cart-wheel tracks, he managed to find a large octagonal metal object that was currently stuck into the ground by large, buttress like supporting poles of steel, it seemed to rise up about four to six hundred metres in the sky and span an area of roughly nine hundred metres wide.
It was currently night-time, which gave Ohanpa a glimpse of the large lights that lit up the Octagonal object, as well as various moving lights that strode along the surface, like straying wisps that were common in the Forests inhabited by Night elves.
Ohanpa decided to approach the Object, seeing as that was the most likely chance to get into contact with the leader of the place.
It took him a further twenty minutes of walking before he finally reached to within four-hundred metres of the Object, but he was spotted by a group of Human guardsmen, each one held out their guns towards Ohanpa's direction, but not directly at him, they also each wore one odd glass like object over their left eyes that would not look out of place on a Goblin.
"You there... Do you speak english?"
Surprisingly, one of these Humans spoke common, much unlike the other Humans that he had met before who spoke in some unintelligible dialect, but Ohanpa had no idea what English was, so he decided to ask that very query as a question.
"What is English?"
However, instead of being answered, the guardsmen just gave him an order.
"Surrender any weapons, ...put your hands behind your back, ...you will not be harmed"
One of the other Humans spoke into a small cylindrical black device that looked to be fuzzy, but Ohanpa could not tell what was being said due to the Human speaking in a unintelligible dialect.
Ohanpa did not wish to be parted of his weapon, but he did not want to be perceived as a threat, it took him a while, but he eventually complied with the human's demand, thus Ohanpa lowered his broad-axe to the ground, then he proceeded to place his hands against his back.
The Humans lowered their guns, and three of them began to lead Ohanpa to the large octagonal object, Ohanpa decided to ask a question out of curiosity however.
"What is that object?"
The soldier that was towards his back replied back with a very large smile and in an optimistic tone of voice that was clear to everyone.
"That there is the Seed ship, we came from space to settle a new home, the Colonists will tear it apart in time to form our new home city of Khrabrost..."
Anachronos was busy describing the bodily features and detailing the numerous species to the General when he heard a pinging noise emerge from one of the General's side pockets.
Naturally, Anachronos had to ask a question.
"General, what is that?"
The General reached out to his pocket and pulled out a clear, transparent object with numerous markings on it, the General then spoke up to Anachronos but his attention was fully drawn to the object in the General's hand.
When Kozlov heard Anachronos call him general, it reminded him that he did not announce his name once to Anachronos, so he decided that he would do so, as well as satiate Anachronos's curiosity about his Videopad.
"The name is Kozlov, General Kozlov, this is what we Earth Humans call a Videopad... do you want to see it?"
Anachronos was curious, and he definitely did want to see what these trans-dimensional Humans had developed, especially if they were anywhere near as developed as General Kozlov had said, so Anachronos walked up even closer to the General before looking into the device.
Kozlov then pressed a button and an image of a Human appeared on the device, this Human spoke, but in that dialect that Anachronos could not understand.
Kozlov seemed puzzled from what Anachronos could tell from his facial features, but the General then spoke back to the human on the device in that same dialect.
Kozlov then tapped the device before handing it over to Anachronos, Anachronos grabbed the device with both hands before listening to the General speak.
"Well Anachronos, it seems that there is one of those Tauren who have decided to come and visit, he should be coming over, i think you and me should greet him... as it would be nice having someone with background knowledge on Azeroth with me"
Anachronos had to agree with the General's statement, it made plenty of sense, it also meant that Anachronos would be able to tell if the Tauren might be twisting the Earth Humans hand's to gain inside knowledge to hand over to the Horde.
General Kozlov then held out his index and middle finger of his left hand and waved it about, the soldiers in the room observed the unspoken order and followed up behind the General, the General then tapped on Anachronos's shoulder.
"Well then Anachronos, lets see what this Tauren wants?"
-two minutes later-
Kozlov sighed, he stood in front of the Tauren who had his hands behind his back, Kozlov couldn't believe the size of the being as he stood at least eight or nine feet tall and was partially covered in blood, initially Kozlov had learnt from Anachronos about the species that inhabited Azeroth as well as their sizes, but mathematics and figures were no comparison to actually seeing one in person.
The Tauren spoke up in english... or common or whatever the language was called on Azeroth.
"There will be an attack on your people, i do not know when it will come, but it will come soon"
Kozlov was shocked by what he had heard, well not really shocked from what he had heard about the horde, but he knew that something had to be done.
Kozlov turned his head to face Anachronos before he gripped his Videopad out of Anachronos's hands, turned around to face a clear crystaline screen on one of the walls and motioned his hand with a sliding motion above his Videopad before pointing his index finger towards the screen, this action activated the television screen and this display shocked both Anachronos and the Tauren, but did nothing for the soldiers present in the room who had seen the technology all their lives.
Anachronos was about to speak up, but he shyed away after noticing that Kozlov was busy with his device.
Kozlov tapped on a few icons before displaying out a Tac-map of the surrounding area, it was not exactly clear due to the odd interfering energies that surrounded the planet, but it was good enough for most purposes, including military planning, however Kozlov would need eyes on the ground and in the skies before he could feel confident of engaging any opponent, even if they were back in the medieval/renaissance/industrial age or whatever else you could call it.
Both Anachronos and the Tauren knew exactly what they were seeing, they were observing a map of the Barrens and Crossroads area as well as parts of a blockish area, Anachronos did not know what the blockish area was, but the Tauren did, it was the city of Ratchet or at least parts of it, however the image was badly distorted on that part of the map so as to disguise the City as being anything but a city and more likely a feature of the environment, this information the Tauren decided to keep to himself.
Kozlov then turned around, flicked his left finger which the soldiers knew as a dismissal, thus they withdrew from the room, one soldier remained behind to undo the Tauren's restraint before he too left the room.
Kozlov rested his right hand against his Vikingr pistol, but he did so in such a way so that this action would be seen by both Anachronos and the Tauren and the message that the General was trying to demonstrate was clearly understood by both, 'make a move and i will fight back'.
Kozlov then turned to face the Tauren before speaking.
"Tell me, which direction do you believe that they will attack from?"
The Tauren walked up to the 'mystical device', flexed out his three fingered hands before he lowered his body to the device before lowering his hands to reach the device before motioning in a general area over the map that was within the North-western portion.
Kozlov then tapped on the Vid-screen which brought up a new mini-screen to appear, Kozlov pushed his index finger and thumb onto the device where it was scanned in.
A moment later a electronic ping sounded and Kozlov knew that he had full authorization, thus Kozlov tapped on another icon and brought up a new mini-screen onto the Vid-screen, this screen was also known as the 'Master-key' screen which allowed Kozlov to assume full control of any device on the Ship.
Kozlov gave a quick command that ordered all Audio and Visual devices on the ship to activate, the reason was so that Kozlov could issue orders as quickly as possible, normally Kozlov would have to walk through the ship and give orders to soldiers by word of mouth due to the lack of communication devices that could function without Satellite's in space, fortunately the Ship carried a Satellite as well as a launching station and hopefully within a year or two the communication problem could be rectified, but for now Kozlov would have to make do.
"This is General Kozlov, i have just received news of a possible threat, i am asking that all civilians evacuate to the Ship for safety until the threat has passed, if any colonist does not hear this announcement, please pass on the word and make sure that they evacuate with you, Stay calm and line up in two lines in a mannerly fashion, all soldiers are to assemble in Hanger bay three for immediate briefing, End Transmission"
Kozlov then repeated the same recording, except this time he spoke in Russian.
"Это генерал Козлов, я только что получил известие о возможной угрозе, я прошу, чтобы все гражданские эвакуировать на судно для обеспечения безопасности, пока угроза не миновала, если колонист не слышит это объявление, пожалуйста, передайте слова и убедитесь что они эвакуироваться с вами, сохраняйте спокойствие и выстраиваются в две строки в воспитанный моды, все солдаты должны собраться в Вешалка заливе три для немедленного брифинге, Конец передач"
When Kozlov was finished, he turned off the Vid-screen and turned to face the Tauren before issuing something totally unexpected.
Kozlov reached out his right hand and gripped onto the Tauren's left hand, the Tauren had no idea as to what was happening, but he decided to go with the moment and see what would happen, the Human shook his hand up and down about three times.
A moment later, Kozlov lowered his right hand and issued his sure-felt thanks to the Tauren, Kozlov always gave special treatment to those whom did something out of their way for no reason and without the prospect of physical gain, especially since this Tauren had told a Human, one of the Horde's enemies, of an impending attack by what Kozlov assumed was issued by a Horde member or members, Kozlov however was careful as well since this could be a ruse by the Horde to put a spy within his ranks, but he later dismissed that opinion, a Tauren spy would be very noticeable to a people's whom had only ever seen or encountered only other humans their entire lives, and a stray Tauren would attract all the Attention.
"What is your name?"
The Tauren stuttered for a bit as though he were surprised by the General's reply, but he thought that no harm could come out of telling the human his name.
"I am Ohanpa Earthtalon"
Kozlov raised his right hand to his forehead before giving the Tauren his reply, Kozlov also couldn't help but try a winning hearts and minds approach that could possibly override any negative relation's or view's that might be gained in the event that the approaching Horde force were destroyed by Kozlov in an ensuing battle.
"I am General Kozlov of the Slavic Federation, Ohanpa Earthtalon, if there is anything that you would like, food, water, transport or any other request that i am able to comply to, just ask me and i will see that you are treated well, you have gone out of your way to assist the Slavic Federation and it is only right that i assist you in any way that i can"
Ohanpa was shocked by the generosity that he had received from the human, he would definetly go back to the Horde and inform his people of their Generosity, as to what the Human could do, well he could provide transport so that he could bury his dead companion, Karzurful Tuskrunner before rot or anything like that could set in.
"Is it all right if i ask for transport, i would like to bury my friend before he can decompose?"
The request was very odd, Kozlov thought, but it was also quite reasonable as well, though Kozlov had but one question to ask.
"How did your friend die?"
The Tauren responded calmly.
"one of your humans shot him in the leg, the wound at the front was easily healed, but the back end... i was unable to treat the wound and he died"
Kozlov took a guess as to what could cause a tell tale injury like that, and only rounds from a large caliber rifle could do such a thing, but Kozlov guessed that the round was possibly from a 7.62x51mm or 7.62x54mm R round as those sounded most consistent with Battlefield wound reports back on earth, bullets within calibers of over .30 where much more likely to have large exit holes than other smaller caliber rounds, although 5.56x45 NATO FMJ rounds were an exception due to the high pressure propellants used in those rounds. *1 (refer to bottom for details)
"Alright, i will see what i can do, in the mean time i want you and Anachronos to stay here until i return"
Dorolak Thunderrage and Grutur'Gar Warhand arrived at the crossroads by dawn, and at the end of two hours they had managed to gather a force of some 300 Orc's, 40 troll's, 3 Tauren and best of all, one Goblin zeppelin that Dorolak managed to entice into joining with the promise of capturing new and advanced technology that the Humans wielded, and this Zeppelin was now armed with a few cannon since the Goblins were now joining the Horde.
By morning, Dorolak and Grutur'Gar's army had all assembled and were ready to march, the Zeppelin went on ahead to potentially scout out any enemies and then return to inform them of anything.
For 8 hours, things were uneventful, however, on the ninth hour of marching, they spotted something in the skies, it was sleek and grey, but it was no bird and it was no zeppelin.
About two seconds later, the Goblin zeppelin fired their broadside cannons in an attempt to hit the unknown object, but the cannonballs missed drastically as the cannonballs moved too slowly and the object moved too rapidly.
The Object then maneuvered around the zeppelin and rose high up into the air for about twenty to thirty seconds before it changed course and did a massive dive downward at an angle of roughly 5 degrees facing downwards at the Zeppelin, two seconds later all hell broke loose when smoke emerged from the tip of the Object.
The Goblin-built zeppelin was completely torn to shreds as lines of bright red streaked down from the skies and tore their way through the zeppelin and then impacted on the ground, explosions skittered here and their against the zeppelin and against the desert sands.
There was no way that a single Goblin could have survived that maelstrom of destruction, small explosions tore their way through the desert sands.
This event could be seen many miles away, and the constant moaning sounds of streaking explosions traveled through the breadth of the desert sands, the sound of cool air rushing through amongst the ground to rapidly replace the heated air caused many an Orc, troll and Tauren to feel a sense of dread at the sudden icy chill they felt as the wind brushed past their ears, and then four to five seconds later emerged one droning noise through the sky.
That one sound caused the hearts of many to flutter.
About five minutes before the air attack
General Kozlov couldn't help but be amazed at the beauty of the landscape, completely hostile to all of Kozlov's senses of what he felt comfortable to, and the heat was unbearable to Kozlov, especially since Kozlov and most other's of the Slavic Federation were raised in very cool climate environment's, especially Kozlov who was born in a rural village not to far from the outskirts of Siberia, and yet it was untouched, unscathed, pristine, and Kozlov would try to keep it that way as far as he could.
Kozlov's view skittered up and down for a moment as his Missile Rover jumped over a nearby dune and sand was blown up into Kozlov's face, Kozlov dusted himself off while the driver apologized.
"Don't apologize over something that you cannot control"
Kozlov then turned his head to the back seat of the Rover where Anachronos was sitting, Anachronos was surprised initially by the Rovers, but that wore off, however he liked how fast they could drive, and he was also curious to see what would happen.
Kozlov turned his head to view the overhead flying TacJet, the sound of one approaching gave Kozlov a tremor in his hands that wouldn't stop shaking, and his mind strayed to thoughts that he always sought to avoid... memories of watching his friends being consumed by the missile fire and the roaring guns, the Supersonic sound of the jet engines roaring past his head, circling around and around, always trying to hound him day in and day out, the worst was surviving... surviving where his friends did not, the survivors guilt was the worst, he knew it was irrational and yet he could not help but think that it should have been him that died instead of his friends...
Anachronos looked out at the object as it passed through, it made him curious and he turned around to ask a question, it was then at that moment that he saw Kozlov shaking his hands erratically, and Kozlov's face was scrunched up as if reliving painful memories.
"General Kozlov... General Kozlov?"
When the General did not reply, Anachronos reached out with his hand's to see if Kozlov was fine.
Kozlov felt something on his shoulder and he quickly shook out of his memories and he returned back to the present.
He quickly turned his head where he saw Anachronos with a confused expression showing on his face, but Kozlov decided to answer Anachronos's unasked question with the truth.
"It was nothing Anachronos, just PTSD"
Anachronos wanted to know what PTSD was, so he asked the question.
"What is PTSD?"
Kozlov looked down to look at his hands, hoping that the shaking would stop soon, he then turned back to face Anachronos before giving him an answer as well as a brief telling of Kozlov's first battlefield experience.
"PTSD is short for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, when i was young, about nineteen or twenty, my country was at war and national conscription was announced, me and my friends and one of my cousins, we all drew the card, two days later we were shipped off to Saint Petersburg for military training, Three months later we shipped out to Hungary, a week later Hungarian Rebels capture war ordinance and use it against us, at first things were fine, but then the Kavithan Protectorate show up with their Air force seeking to take Hungary for themselves... all of my friends were killed and my cousin... and i survived because their dead bodies shielded me from the blast of a missile strike, to this day i still remember the sounds of those Jets hovering up in the air, striking down my family... its because of them that i am here today, they are the reason why i went to university and studied to become a Cosmonaut, i served in the Army until i became general so that i could see that War would never again cause harm, but that is irony on my part i guess, since now i might myself make a decision that could cause harm to those on the other side"
Anachronos could not understand anything about the locations or the countries or factions, but the tone with which Kozlov conveyed his story across, and the haunting story made the air within the Missile Rover reach an all time high, but Kozlov decided to change the subject.
"Tell me, what were you going to say about the Flying object?"
"You remember what i said to you?"
Kozlov shook his head before replying back.
"No, i just had the impression that that would have been something that you would have asked"
"Oh, yes i would like to know about that flying object"
Kozlov grinned before he gave an answer
"They are known as Tacjet's, they are Unmanned aerial vehicles, that means that their is no pilot inside the of the fighter, it is instead controlled by an operator on the surface"
Before Anachronos could ask another question, Kozlov heard a shouted call through his radio on his left hip pocket.
Kozlov grasped his radio with his left hand and slid down on one of the side slide buttons before speaking into the radio.
"This is General Kozlov, what is your situation?"
"General Kozlov, Staff technician Baltabev Artemovich reporting, Tac Jet three has a visual on a target, as well as possible sightings of mobile ground forces"
General Kozlov put his radio on the dash board whilst he reached out to retrieve his Video-pad, he then tapped the device and looked up Baltabev Artemovich in the personnel file, this was done to ensure that everything checked out, and everything was fine, so Kozlov reached out with his left hand towards his radio whilst at the same time with his right hand he set up a communication request with his Video-pad.
"This is General Kozlov, Staff technician Baltabev Artemovich, you should have a communication request on your Video-pad, transfer the Visual and Audio feed to my device and await further orders, over"
Kozlov heard an electronic ping from his Video-pad a second later, so Kozlov lowered the radio back to the dashboard before moving his head to observe the Video feed, there was a very slight time delay but the feed was very clear, although it was hard to see anything with the infrared sensors on.
Anachronos leaned forward to get a view of the screen as well.
Kozlov looked through the feed for a moment before he spotted what the technician had reported in about, one was what seemed to be a balloon like object that Kozlov thought looked reminiscent of a zeppelin but before Kozlov could get a detailed look, the view was flooded by heat signatures emitted on the side of the object, and the heat signatures emerged in a pattern that Kozlov instinctively knew as the reports of a weapon, probably that of a gun or some other similar weapon.
Kozlov reached for the radio and gave his instructions in a calm manner that was perfected over years of service.
"Baltabev, switch screen from Infrared scope to normal, maneuver around the target as best you can and give me a basic readout on the TacJet's situation, over"
A second later, Kozlov's visual feed changed from the reds and yellows and blues of the Infrared frequency to the normal yellow sand's and blue sky that made up the landscape, it also allowed Kozlov to ease his eyes and allowed him to far quicker point out objects due to the opponents colourful designs contrasting vastly to the colour of the desert.
The view changed dramatically when the Drone skidded and altered its stable course to maneuver around the enemy vessel, though Kozlov also caught a quick glance of numerous figures who stood out from the reddish-yellow desert like a sore thumb, but Kozlov could not get a second chance to observe the enemy as they were blurred by the rapid movement of the TacJet drone.
"General Kozlov?"
Kozlov brought the Radio up to his ears before he replied back.
"Kozlov here, where is my Sitrep? over"
"TacJet reads no damage, she is armed with a 25mm Autocannon and one Clusterbomb, permission to engage?"
Kozlov wanted slightly more information before deciding to engage the enemy, especially with consideration to the weapons.
"Kozlov here, i want more information on your ordinance, over"
It took a few seconds, but Kozlov received his reply.
"25mm Autocannon, Rate of Fire at selectable 3600 or 1800 per minute, armed with 4 Armour piercing discarding sabot rounds for every one High Explosive Incendiary with Tracer and Self Destruct round, approximately 1300 rounds in the belt, Clusterbomb is 400 kg with 190 Submunitions of varied Anti-Personnel, Anti-Tank and Incendiary charges, can set for large area of dispersal or for a concentrated area of dispersal, survival rate in impact zone is near zero, the bomb is dropped via freefall"
Kozlov quickly made his decision before giving his orders.
"Baltabev, negative on the Clusterbomb, i am not engaging ground targets, Permission granted to engage Air target, switch Autocannon to 1800 RPM and attack from a high approach angle, i want to avoid hitting any stray opponents with crossfire, highly doubtful, but if you can, i want the vessel disabled and not destroyed, my guess is that that vessel is like a Zeppelin, if you take out the balloon i bet you it will fall down like the Stock market of market of 2138, when the target is down, i want the TacJet to return back to the Convoy and scout out over our heads, over"
Kozlov dropped the radio back down to the dashboard before he returned to viewing the Visual feed, Anachronos was watching earnestly from the back seat.
Kozlov then saw as the drone veered towards the blue sky as it continued to rise further and further, and then the Tacjet did a quick flip before flopping down and accelerating fast towards the ground, at the four second mark, the Tacjet activated it's retro-boosters to position it slightly and angling it until there was a straight line from the front of the Tacjet to the center of the zeppelin, at that same exact moment the Tacjet recieved its wireless signal to arm its 25mm Autocannon, within a split second, the barrels of the gun began to power up and they began to rotate, with every rotation a new barrel fired, a new bolt was brought forward and another round chambered, this occurred thirty times every second, every single round travelling at 1,100 metres per second streaking towards the ground further aided by Gravity, every fifth round flew through the air and was heated by friction until the pyrophoric tracer material that coated every fifth round begins to spark up and ignite, heating the bullet to just over 500 degree's celcius as they flew through the air, waiting to impact on either the zeppelin and explode inside of the zeppelin or to drill their way through the sand below before detonating in a display of fire.
And one constant sight and one constant sound accompanied Kozlov's Visual and Audio feed, that of the Flames of a spurting volcano, and the sound of Purely mechanized destruction.
BBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!
Anachronos was shocked, he had never before seen such a display, and he now knew why Kozlov was afraid of being responsible for such a weapon of war.
Kozlov had confused feelings swirling within him, one was relief that the mission was so far successful, the other was guilt, guilt at possibly becoming his own family killer much like the Tacjets that struck down his friends and his cousin, but Kozlov knew that he had to fight for the Colonists under his leadership, it was for them that he was fighting, and any one who dared to raise a fist against one of them was to be his enemy.
With his new found resolve, Kozlov know had the will to continue on, he must end the ensuing fight peacefully, or else he would have to kill them, it was now or never!.
The rights of leadership where blurry and double edged, but Kozlov knew that he would make the right decisions, and he would not choke up on wrong ones done for what he felt were good for the people that he was fighting, he had one mission, and that was to ensure Humanities survival, and he would ensure it.
Onward's the convoy went, against the raging winds of the desert, Azeroth would have a new force to contend with.
Like a moth to a flame, the last vestiges of a humanity forgotten will swirl throughout, Azeroth is the flame and these humans are the moths, all in descent through space, propelled forward by engines of science that are even now blasting them ever closer towards Azeroth, already one has landed, but there is more to come, soon they will arrive one by one, step by step, this Humanity seeks to claim its place throughout the galaxy, either as conquerors or as uniters, they will carve their way into the destiny of Azeroth, and no nation will be untouched by their influence.
This humanity will be arriving soon, prepare thee well, for they may be more dangerous then even those of the scourge, you wield the power of time, Nozdormu, But you cannot stop me!
There is a saying amongst one of their books written long ago and forgotten.
"I am the way into the city of woe,
I am the way into eternal pain,
I am the way to go among the lost.
Justice caused my high architect to move,
Divine omnipotence created me,
The highest wisdom, and the primal love.
Before me there were no created things
But those that last forever—as do I.
Abandon all hope you who enter here."
This is the price of Immortality.
And then Nozdormu awoke, was this a dream or a vision?
Nozdormu shuddered, who dare had the right to invade his dreams, was it the scourge?.
'No, nothing quite as bland and boring as the scourge, i am a being with taste, i am known to the Humans as the morningstar, the light that guides them, i guide Humanity ever deeper into the depths, i am like you, immortal... the other titans called me rogue and had me banished to the dark regions, and thus I stood alone in the dark for so long, watching with my eyes at the creations of this new world, Earth, and i watched as even without our influence as it flourished through continuous stages of birth and death, comets stormed and lands formed, Rain fell and creatures roamed the earth, extinction and annihilation gave birth to new life forms, and out of these rose the Humans, understanding and logic all without a single guiding hand from a Titan... they have worked hard to be here, their were no gods to guide over them, and they claim no magic to corrupt them for they cannot feel magic or use magic, They are as the Universe should be, outside the meddling of coddled fools, outside of the Titans sight!, and yet they grew too powerful to contain, i had to guide them, i had to lead them here where the remnants can survive, and you cannot stop me!'
Nozdormu's brain hurt from the strain of trying to stay within contact of the voice that sounded throughout a great distance, and then their was nothing, nothing but a new sensation, the timeline was being altered!
*1
Determining the impact wounds of certain calibers will be influential in future chapters, because different civilisations will usually be using different caliber projectiles from one another.
For example, if Polystralia attacked a group of Azerothians and their main assualt rifle fires 6.5 Grendel rounds. If another Civilisation manages to figure out which type of round did that damage, then they can begin to pin-point out which Civilisation or civilisation's might have had a hand in killing the said Azerothian's. At the same time though it could also backfire if the Enemy civ in question has contemplated the above step and went for a different calibre round that is used by another civilisation.
*2
Lord of the rings and the Hobbits are copyright of Tolkien.
