3 July 2021, Capitol District
Tavaris Mulligan, a young Officer in the Emmerian Army, and a 29-year-old vet from the Estovakia-Emmeria war, was enjoying the afternoon of Ulysses Day, and he spent the day mostly around the Statue of the Golden King. He was with a group of friends, also vets from the war. He was always fascinated by the fact that an asteroid had nearly wiped-out civilization and that he got to bear witness to it. He remembered sneaking out of his parent's house to this very spot to view the fragments as they hurtled down to earth that night.
"Yo, Taurus, you alright over there?" his friend asked. "You've been staring off into space for the longest."
"Yeah, yeah… I'm just reminiscing about the planetfall." He said with a smile.
"You do this every year. You just stand there with a goofy look on your face while everyone is just going about their day."
"Steven calm down." A young lady was with them, Steven's girlfriend Delilah. "Maybe this is how he copes with it."
"You didn't lose any family to that thing, neither of you did." Tavaris sighed. "I, however, did. I lost an uncle who was close with my mother. He was in Farbanti on business when it hit. Anyways, I still remember seeing those…huh." Something had grabbed his attention. The civilians around them were starting to crowd a few blocks down.
"Somethings going down over there. You wanna take a look?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, I think I do." The group of three began making their way down the road when they heard a roar from what sounded like the impossible.
"What the hell?" Tavaris looked on in amazement when what seemed to be a dragon flew overhead and a horn sounded. What followed was something he never thought he would see in person again. His fellow Emmerians, the ones he had fought and bled for, running away in fear from a foreign foe. All he could do, was head into the fight.
Gracemeria Air Base…
For the first time in six years, the alarm sounded on base. Enemies were advancing through the streets of Gracemeria, killing police and civilians alike. Airmen and soldiers alike rushed to their vehicles, ready to advance into the city under any circumstances to repel the attackers. The Republic was once again being invaded and the military being mobilized.
A young helicopter pilot attached to the "Dragon Busters", would soon live up to the units name. He was soon tuned into the radio, listening for any calls for close air support, but it was mainly just the tower controller hurriedly getting the aircraft into the air. The rotors on the young man's helicopter began turning, increasing in RPMs until the distinct humming took over through his headset.
"Jack, you ready to rock?"
"Lets kick some ass, D-Ray."
"Tower, Shooter team is moving out."
"You are cleared for takeoff, Shooter, good luck." The engine increased in power and the Apache Squadron took off from the air base. They climbed up to about 1000 feet and maintained that height for the duration of their short flight over to Gracemeria.
Meanwhile, crossing Kings Bridge was a small detachment of the Emmerian National Guard. It consisted of a few M113's, a couple of VADS, a Gepard and a Singular Chieftain MBT. They were the ones to spearhead the counterattack from these foreign invaders. Up on top the MBT, codenamed Rhino, was the unit's Commander. He was trying to get a hold of anyone higher in the chain of command, but to no avail. The only responding unit was a Helicopter squadron that was still a few miles out.
Once they arrived I to the city, they were greeted crowds of civilians and police officers that were bloodied and beaten.
"What the hell is happening out there?' he heard the commander of Rhino say. "It's the war all over again!"
"Unlike that war, we're not giving up Gracemeria without a fight. Even if we have to, I'm not retreating." Tavaris stated. A screech came from overhead.
"THAT'S A FUCKING DRAGON! SHOOT IT!"
Tavaris looked up at the beast circling them and promptly heard the unmistakable sound of the Vulcan canon open up and shred the beasts wing clean off. The beast tumbled out of the air, throwing what seemed to be a person from it and crashed into the water. "Good shot, let's keep moving." The more they pushed into town, the more and more carnage they saw. Even seeing a human dressed in clothes worn by ancient warriors. No matter what they were, the soldiers dismounted and began to repel the attackers killing their fellow people.
In the skies above, D-Ray and Jack, along with their squadron were already hard at work clearing the skies of Wyverns and taking out enemy soldiers on the ground.
"Remember Jack don't hit our guys and target the people on horses and wielding swords. I'm relying on you not to cause any considerate collateral damage."
"I know, D-ray, I know!"
"Looks like our boys on the ground are just getting into it." He quickly changed frequencies to contact the ground forces. "Ground assets this is Shooter 1, we're currently mopping up any stragglers falling behind the main force. Recommend getting the civies to Kings Bridge if possible."
"Roger Shooter, we'll try containing them as best we can. Rhino out!" Even from above he could see the military units were doing a number on the opposing forces, with some of them heading back to some sort of structure a block away from the Golden King statue. "Shooter to HQ, we've found the possible location of their approach."
"Attention all units. Invasion forces are being pushed back and have nearly been eliminated. Tank units and Air units are to engage any remaining forces in the city and around the Golden King. Push these attackers out of our city." D-ray could only smile, as he was already carrying out those orders. Over the course of the next few hours both the Gracemeria Police Force and the Emmerian Army repelled the attackers. When the battle was all said and done, the Emmerian forces remained on top in terms of casualties. Not a single Soldier was lost. Civilian casualties, however, were in the high hundreds, with over a thousand reporting serious injuries from cuts and other wounds. Tavaris's group was on the front lines along with soldiers attached to his unit once they showed up. The three harkened back to their days in the army, taking out any warrior that came their way, even killing a few of them thanks to Tavaris and Steven carrying their switch blades. They would be commended for their efforts in preventing further casualties, along with other off-duty servicemen and women taking part in the battle.
Word about the attack was felt all over the Nation, and forces from every corner of the country were put on high alert in case anything like the attack on Gracemeria were to happen again. Over the next few days, the military was mobilizing forces for a counterattack into what they called the "Unknown Region." Harkening back to the days of early exploration, this New World was deemed a threat to the people. The governing bodies all agreed to send in a force to capture a foothold in the Unknown Region so that they could protect both sides of the Gate, as to prevent another invasion attempt.
Those days of mobilization had passed relatively quick, with the area within a mile of the Gate having been evacuated and surrounded by the Army. Tavaris and his crew were pulled back from leave, where Tavaris was put in charge of the unit that would be making the initial push into the Gate. The Steel Gunners, the unit that took back the airbase from the Estovakians all those years ago, were going to be the first to take the Gate completely. M113's, Gepards, Challenger 2's and newly acquired M109 Paladins from the Osean Army were poised to head into the Gate. APC's carried their infantry support, as well as any equipment that the soldiers needed. Nothing was left to chance. A small containment building was erected around the Gate, as to keep any invaders out until the military had made its push through. The doors were opened, and every vehicle started their engines.
"Gunner 1, ready to rock." Tavaris said into his headset. "I'm assuming everyone can hear me. A few days ago, we came under attack from forces on the other side of this thing. I know some of you, if not most of you know about the loss our people suffered." He paused, remembering the war and the invasion attempt. "But nothing is ever free in this world. Everything has a price, and today we're making those who lie on the other side pay for what they did." He said, checking his watch. It was nearly time. "So, as a pilot I once knew said; 'May the Golden King smile upon us!'" He gave the signal for the column to advance and lowered himself into his tank. "Driver, advance. Loader, get a HESH shell loaded." The tank lurched forward, with Delilah at the controls. The loader put a shell into the breach called that it was ready to fire. The tanks continued forward soon being enveloped by darkness. Tavaris peeked through the commanders' scope and lined his sights up on the light at the end of the tunnel.
No going back now.