Santa Fe
July 12, 1863
The situation was very tense, at least several hundred people had managed to flee Albuquerque before the town was overrun, many bringing back stories of horror, while many others believed that even Santa Fe was not safe and decided to flee the territory altogether.
With the nation on high alert, many trains in the surrounding area around New Mexico and Arizona were stopped and requisitioned for military transport and supply. Since the enemy had yet to march on Santa Fe, supply trains loaded with men and supplies were being sent their directly to bolster the front line. Over the course of several days scouting parties were sent to observe enemy positions and report back when the enemy started marching north.
All across the southern end of Santa Fe troops and militia worked nonstop building defensive positions, by a stroke of luck several Napoleon 12-pound cannons were found in working order and several Whitworth guns were brought in by train.
While troops continued to arrive, Col Johnson was coordinating evacuations with the Territorial Governor Lionel Sheldon, many of the town's residents were in uproar, many refusing to leave, some saying that they would defend their homes no matter what. Despite many residents refusing to leave Johnson was able to convince many that this would only be temporary till the situation was dealt with. Suddenly there was a loud commotion coming from north-west end of town, a young soldier reports the situation, "Col we have a situation, Indians have been spotted."
Jumping up on his horse Johnson makes his way the outskirts of town, to see at least a couple hundred or more Navajo Indians on horseback. From his position Johnson could clearly see that the majority were men while many more were being looked after by the woman sporting serious wounds. Riding forward to greet the new arrivals, Johnson recognized the leader of this group as Manuelito Head Chief of the Navajo. Realizing that the Navajo were victims of the enemies brutality Johnson personally greeted them, "Chief Manuelito, Col Johnson 8th cavalry, welcome to Santa Fe, I'll have our doctors tend to your wounded, I believe we have much to discuss."
Chief Manuelito only nodded before saying something in his native tongue as his band of warriors and the wounded followed Johnson into town. After seeing that his people were being taken care of, Chief Manuelito followed Johnson and the governor into the district headquarters. Without warning Chief Manuelito started speaking, venom in his voice as he spoke, "why have you attacked my people, it's not enough that you take our lands, now you break the treaty, killing many Navajo, while taking many more away in chains while raping our woman."
Johnson was appalled from what he just heard, he knew the enemy was savage, he even remembered some of the rumors that had been circulating after the battle of Gettysburg about many people missing and many more dead and several having been raped. To hear that it is happening again was sickening, "Chief Manuelito, I can assure you that we are not responsible, but we do know who is." Manuelito remained stoic, Johnson wasn't sure his words were enough to convince him, however he did have one ace in the hole. "We have proof."
Chief Manuelito stared at Johnson for several minutes before saying, "Show Me."
A few minutes later a man in what looked like a long shirt that went down to his knees with a rope around his waist was forcefully brought into the building where he was tied to a chair, while two more soldiers brought in metal plated armor and a sword. Johnson realized immediately that Manuelito recognized the man before him as the enemy that attacked his people.
In one quick action Manuelito drew a knife and held it against the prisoners neck, murderous fury in his eyes. The prisoner was in pure panic begging for mercy, Johnosn wanted to say something but held back as he knew that if their positions were reversed, he would be doing the same thing. With a great yell Manuelito released the prisoner but not before leaving a large cut on the prisoners face. With that over with, the guards removed the now unconscious prisoner, calming himself, Chief Manuelito spoke, "you speak the truth Col; however, this cannot go unpunished I demand to know who is attacking my people and why."
With a nod Johnson said, "if you're willing to wait a little longer, I'll be informing my men as well since we learned about the attacks, they've been asking the same question."
"Very well," Chief Manuelito said as he walked out of the building.
A couple hours later Johson addressed the men on the situation, "MEN, ever since the fall of Albuquerque you have been asking who we are at war with, today I will tell you, their called the Saderan Empire, and both our nations have been in a state of war since the civil war. As I stated at Ft Union, during the battle of Gettysburg the Saderans attacked both Union and Confederate forces, while not much is known about them, we do know that they are seeking new lands for conquest and slaves." Many in the crowd talked among themselves, "now I could tell you what to expect however I don't believe that will be necessary for we will find out sooner or later."
In the air a few miles from Santa Fe several squadrons of the elite wyvern corps are approaching, as Santa Fe comes into view the commander grins. On the ground he can see what appears to be an army fortifying on the towns southern end, with a wave of his hand several wyverns carrying baskets with several occupants, fly ahead to begin mapping enemy positions. After a while the map makers return having suffered no loss much to the commanders surprise, "the barbarian fools, this will be yet another glorious victory for the empire."
"My lord, we have identified a number of enemy positions where enemy soldiers are located, we also found evidence of the enemies thunder tubes."
"Very well, with a wave of his hand the wyvern commander shouts, FOR THE EMPIRE."
While explaining the situation Johnson is interrupted when a loud screeching noise caught everyone's attention, looking up to the source of the sound the soldiers and residents of Santa Fe are thrown into panic, from the sky dozens flying creatures are seen diving down at the town. While the residents of Santa Fe scramble in a panic for safety, the soldiers and militia begin shooting into the air at the winged beasts. From the air the Saderan riders charge into the barbarians, using their lances and spears, impaling and cutting down the men in blue with ease. The commander watches with amusement as the barbarians use their cowardly thunder staffs, while many others run like cowards.
On the defensive line officers rally the men and organize a proper defense, although fighting against an enemy that can fly is difficult to organize, Johnson also present, managed to gather at least a couple dozen men for a firing line. Johnson watched as the beast and their riders swooped down on the town killing all in their path. Then off to the south he noticed a dozen of the beasts flying fast towards his position, "Get ready men, here they come." Waiting for the right moment the winged beasts came into range, "take aim, FIRE," all at once a wall of lead rushed forward in a cloud of smoke but to the men's shock not one of the beasts stopped, several of their riders were hit and their beasts flew off.
The remaining riders continued forward screaming like mad men, but before Johnson could give the order to fire again the beasts were on top of them. In a blink of an eye the beasts slammed into the men sending several flying, while several more had been snatched by the beasts claws. Johnson watched as the beasts flew up high and to his horror released his men, their screams were heard all over as they smashed into the ground.
All over Santa Fe it was complete chaos as men who fired their rifles at the beasts failed to bring them down, many had scored lucky hits and killed the riders, but the beasts just kept coming. Having been thoroughly amused the wyvern commander gave the order to end the attack. Johnson watched the carnage unfold and having avoided being killed by the beasts, he noticed a single rider wearing rather ornament armor and a red cape, watching the attack over the towns center as the other beasts began to fly away.
Johnson realized that this must be the enemy commander and wasn't about to let him get away without a fight, rushing to a nearby horse he jumped on and with a quick kick of his spurs he rode as fast as he could following the enemy commander. As Johnson got closer, he pulled out his Colt single action army revolver, (Colt Peacemaker) and began to fire. From the air the enemy commander was nearly knocked off his wyvern when the beast began to get aggravated, looking back he saw a barbarian on horseback following him holding a smaller thunder staff in his hand.
Realizing his pistol was having no effect on the beast Johnson continued to follow the enemy commander, approaching the fortifications set up by his troops Johnson reached out and grabbed a rifle from one of the soldiers (Springfield 1879 trapdoor) as his horse jumped over and rode out of town, where he saw the enemy commander had stopped and was waiting. Arriving on the top of a small hill Johnson and the enemy commander made eye contact, the wyvern commander simply smirked as he observed his challenger, as he began to laugh, "you barbarians are weak, the commander said mockingly, but since you wish to challenge me, I will give you the honor of a quick death."
Johnson glared back, he was surprised when he heard the man speak in Latin or what he believed to be Latin as most of what was said sounded like gibberish. Regardless of what was actually said Johnson got the message clearly as the enemy commander and his beast charged at him. With another kick his horse reared up and charged forward, with luck he had managed to reload his pistol and began firing but with no luck. At the last second his horse was impaled, and Johnson was flung from his horse, after clearing his head Johnson heard the beast roar and laughter coming from the enemy commander, "As amusing as this is barbarian I grow board, so I will kill you now and move on."
Johnson watched his target fly over again as the winged beast came around, looking to the ground he found the rifle he grabbed nearby. After checking the rifle Johnson took aim as the winged beast came in for the kill, in the blink of an eye a single shot rang out across the hills as the beast pulled up from its dive and flew away. On the ground not far from him, Johnson saw the enemy commander slowly get up before falling back down to the ground in shock, walking forward slowly while reloading his pistol Johnson stood over his target.
The wyvern commander had been shot through the shoulder, but it was the shock of hitting the ground and being shot that took the fight out of him. He watched the barbarian approach him and stand over him holding a thunder staff over his shoulder and a smaller one in his right hand, before he passed out Johnson just stood there when he heard a group of his soldiers approach on horseback.
The attack was over as fast as it began all over people were still in a panic while soldiers did what they could to help, but the damage was done. While the attack was devastating on the troops it was the psychological effect that did the most damage, as many of the town's residents were seen loading wagons with their belongings and many of the militia had fled. Arriving back in town Johnson ordered a nearby officer to make a detailed report on all the damage and make a list of casualties and anything else.
Albuquerque
It was a glorious day for the empire, but more importantly General Gaius had received word from home that throughout the capital and the empire, he was being praised as the greatest General in history. Once again Gaius found himself smiling as he bathed in the glory of his success, the campaign against the barbarians was going better then he could have hoped. While enjoying a glass of the finest wine the empire had to offer, Gaius looked over a map of the empires new lands. His army was striking the barbarians fast and hard and winning each time. The only annoyance was the high casualty count but those were overlooked, as news of another victory arrived.
While reading the reports of the latest victory a noise in the corner caught his attention, looking over Gaius eyed his new toy with a smirk. The young woman who appeared to be in her early 20s was chained to a post, shaking in fear, as the demon that had taken her stared at her. Standing from his seat Gaius approached his new toy, smirking as she tried to back away shaking in fear. But before he could enjoy his new toy, he was interrupted when one of his personal guards came in and informed him that the wyvern corps had returned.
On the outskirts of Albuquerque, the wyvern riders landed and dismounted their beasts, the men snapped to attention when their commanding general started shouting orders. Entering the command tent Gaius was greeted by the rest of his generals, looking around Gaius was puzzled when he noticed the commander of the wyvern corps was not present. "Where is the commander of the wyvern corps."
"My lord, I regret to inform you he fell to the enemies cowardly thunder staffs." Gaius was upset, demanding answers. "My lord as per your orders the scouts mapped the enemy positions in the next town. The men in blue are building several lines of defenses southwest of the town along the main road, they're digging in and building up fortifications. Before returning several of my men reported sighting the enemies thunder tubes in a series of fortified positions behind their lines."
"It would appear our advantage of surprise is gone; but it does not matter, the barbarians will fall just like the others," Gaius said with confidence as the scouts continued explaining in great detail what they learned.
"My lord, I recommend we divide our forces, once we reach the town the main force will engage the enemy. While the second force marches northeast around this mountain forcing the enemy to focus all their efforts on us, while the second force attacks them from behind.
"Very well, send orders to the third legion" Gaius said as he and his officers planned for the upcoming fight.
July 18, 1882
Santa Fe
For over a week the army waited for the Saderans to make their move, while day after day more and more people arrived telling stories of the unbelievable horrors coming. Near the outskirts of Albuquerque 6 miles just east of Juan Tabo canyon up on the hills two scouts of the US 8th cavalry was watching the town for enemy activity. For several days they have been observing a large enemy buildup of troops and what one of them could only describe as medieval siege weapons described in history texts. "I still can't believe what I'm seeing," One of the men said as he looked through his binoculars.
"Well get used to it, because its right there in front of you, but I know what you mean, after what the Col told all of us, I thought he was drunk, but there's the proof right there."
Putting down his binoculars both men continue observing the town for seral more hours before a horn is heard in the distance. "Jesus Christ," one says as the hairs on his neck raise up. From the town several thousand enemy fighters can be seen marching north out Albuquerque.
"We need to get back to Santa Fe and inform the Col."
Several hours later, Col Johnson was having a drink in a nearby saloon when one of his men came rushing in, "Col the two scouts you sent to Albuquerque have been spotted and their riding fast." Taking one last shot for the road Johnson rushed out of the saloon.
Arriving on the edge of town the two scouts arrived along with a dozen cowboys, both scouts and were injured, one had an arrow lodged in his shoulder while the other had a rather nasty cut on his left leg. "Col, the Saderans are on their way."
"Understood, were you able to find out how many."
"At least 15,000 men, and another 5,000 of those fantasy creatures, they also have siege weapons."
"Very well, what happened to you two."
"Oh, nothing serious sir, as we were riding down off the Sandia mountain, we were intercepted by a couple enemy scouts, they nearly had had us, but thanks to our new friends, we took care of them."
"Good, Sgt. get these men to the infirmary." As the men were taken to the doctor Johnson looked out at the never-ending desert before him, ever since the war ended, he had been training and eagerly awaiting his next chance to go into battle again.
While lost in his thoughts Sgt. Morgan walked up to him, "Col sir."
Snapped back to reality Johnson issues his orders, "Sgt. Morgan, at best guess it'll probably take the enemy a day maybe two at most to get here. I want the men on full alert and to be ready for anything. We know they have cavalry, and they can be here much quicker, when the night watch starts, I want the men to change out every two hours."
"Yes sir."
July 20, 1882
Johnson awoke to the sound of a horn and the church bell ringing frantically, dawning his uniform he rushed out of his quarters, saddled his horse and rode for the defensive line. Arriving at the defensive line Johnson rushed into a nearby building and onto the roof, what he saw made his blood run cold. Approaching from the south a wall of shining metal armor, swords and other weapons of ancient times shined in the morning sun. Looking through his binoculars Johnson could see thousands of enemy warriors eager for battle, but what caught his attention was the thousands of beastlike creatures he had hoped he'd never see again, clad in leather armor snarling and roaring.
"Col, what are your orders," an officer said as he rushed up onto the roof.
"Get ready for a fight, make sure the men are well supplied, we must stop the enemy here."
"Yes sir."
After giving his orders another horn sounded off, Johnson watched closely when his blood went even colder, as the light of the sun dimmed, and it didn't take an expert to know what was happening. In the few seconds it takes to blink a wall of arrows came raining down over the south end of the city. It was chaos as soldiers were struck down with nowhere to hide. As quickly as it started, another wave of arrows came, many on fire, those who were fortunate enough to not be hit watched as several building caught fire.
After several waves of arrows, the assault stopped but was not over, suddenly a large flaming boulder smashed into another building, destroying it with ease. More boulders smashed into the town, but many missed the buildings and simply smashed into the ground. Having returned to the roof he had been standing on Johnson watched as the enemy laid siege the Santa Fe. From his position Johnson spotted a rather fancy tent with a man wearing finely decorated ornament armor, (mostly for show) sitting on an equally decorated chair drinking and laughing, watching the attack rip apart Santa Fe.
That's it, two can play at that game, Johnson said to himself, "RUNNER," Johnson shouted as a young private arrived, "take a message to the artillery crews, all guns, FIRE WILL." Acknowledging the order, the young private ran to the commanding officer for the artillery.
Within a matter of minutes, the napoleons and Whitworth guns were armed and ready, "FIRE." With one order all the guns fired off in a symphony even General Washington would be proud of. However, Johnson was no fool, while he may not have played a major part in the war, he knew enough to know that the enemy would soon charge their positions in a full-frontal assault. The question remained, when would the attack come, but most concerning was, could they hold the enemy back or would Santa Fe fall, only time would tell.
July 22, 1882
For two days straight the Saderans sieged Santa Fe, but what should've been an easy victory, turned into a stalemate as both sides pounded away at each other. Gaius had believed that after a short bombardment, the enemy would fall into disarray and then he would send in his forces and annihilate the barbarians. Instead, the men in blue stubbornly held their ground, while their thunder tubes were effective in causing heavy casualties.
The day before, the wyvern corps had attacked the thunder tube positions and managed to damage or destroy a couple, but the rest were untouched, and many riders had fallen. That same day a combined cavalry and wyvern attack aided by the demi legion, attacked but were repulsed several times, the loss to the cavalry and wyvern corps was bad but still acceptable. But no matter how many times Gaius ordered a barrage of arrows and boulders, the men in blue stubbornly held their ground. He knew they outnumbered the enemy and could easily annihilate the enemy but his master plan to take this town required patience.
"My lord, the barbarians continue to resist, and we are running low on arrows, our supply of boulders and pitch is running low as well," the commander of the artillery said as he and the commander of the imperial archers pleaded for the attack to commence."
"If we are to take this town my lord then we must strike now, while their vulnerable, our numbers will surely crush them, as our army cannot be beaten," a noble said arrogantly as he drank another glass of the empires finest wine."
"Send my legion in my lord, we will crush them as we have all the other barbarians," the youngest commander said with blind arrogance as he continued to gloat that his legion was all the empire need to win the fight."
Gaius sat as he listened to the nobles and his generals plead with him to begin the attack, "No," Gaius said as he looked at the commanders before him. "We will wait for the second force to arrive, once they're in position then we will attack, not before. With that said Gaius dismissed them and he went back to watching the siege.
Several hours later, a lone wyvern was spotted over the town, when informed of this Gaius summoned his commanders. "prepare your legions, we will wipe these barbarians out."
The commanders all began to cheer as they started shouting, "FOR THE EMPIRE."
Back in Santa Fe Johnson was going over battle plans with the commander of the militia and Chief Manuelito. While Manuelito favored using guerilla tactics attacking and running while forcing the enemy to over stretch their supply lines in order to avenge his people, Johnson was focused on fighting a delaying action, so as to allow reinforcements to arrive at Fort union. However, most of the reinforcements were still days away from arriving at Fort Union and supplies were taking too long to arrive.
Suddenly a war horn was heard, and the church bell began to ring again, "Col the enemy is advancing."
Rushing back to the defensive line, Johnson rallied the troops, "This is it men, we must hold Santa Fe at all costs." Johnson said while he observed the enemy formations as they marched forward. Despite having only 5,000 troops the men were ready for a fight. The order was given to open fire, all across the line artillery smashed into the enemy inflicting heavy losses on the legionnaires, despite the losses, Saderan forces kept pushing forward, determined to avenge their fallen comrades.
As the Saderans closed the distance, the order was given to the artillery to use Canister, a deadly but effective round used to great effect in previous fights, the only downside was only the napoleon guns could use this type of ammunition.
After several volleys of canister shot, the enemy came into rifle range, all along the line the infantry readied their rifles. (most consisting of spring field model 1873, 79 and 1880 breach loading rifles, with the cavalry using either Winchester or Henry repeating Rifles) (while the militia were using a variety of repeating lever action rifles.) "Make ready, the men lifted the rifles; Present, the men aimed their rifles as the enemy continued to march forward, FIRE." Thousands of rifles fired at the enemy; many legionnaires falling to the wall of lead.
"Reload," Johnson shouted as the men began reloading their rifles.
"Firing by company."
"READY." Johnson shouted as he watched the enemy march forward.
"AIM," the men aimed their rifles at the enemy as the enemy marched at a faster pace.
"FIRE." The second volley was just as devastating as the first, as dozens of Saderan legionnaires fell at once, the rest kept moving forward.
"First company reload, second company ready, take aim, FIRE," one officer shouted, Volley after volley of rifle fire continued to cut down the legionnaires. While regular soldiers were following military protocol, many in the militia had prior military training or had fought in the war. Most just fired at any available target of opportunity, many of the militia were keeping scores just for the hell of it.
Despite their heavy losses the Saderans were determined to draw blood at any cost. From the sky Saderan wyvern riders dove on the union lines. Dozens of men were shocked as the beasts swooped in, dozens were killed instantly as the riders struck hard impaling soldiers with long pikes, but the real target was the field guns.
Union forces are struggling, as Saderan forces close the distance, rifle fire continues to decimate the Saderan ranks. Then without warning, the auxiliary beast men emerged from the Saderan lines, many jumping over the defenses cutting down all in their path. The few field guns not damaged, continued to fire, stopping the strange creatures. Many shouted insults as the enemy fell back in disarray, but the real challenge was about to come.
While the battle had just begun on the south end of Santa Fe, the second Saderan force made its way into the town. The legionnaires had expected heavy resistance but were surprised when all they met was a handful of peasants firing the rumored thunder staffs, killing several Saderans but were quickly cut down. Despite having orders to advance on the enemy from behind, many of the legionaries including their commander rushed off into the town in search of treasure, the few remaining towns folk were caught by surprise as the enemy began breaking down doors and looting, while others having captured several of the local woman, decided to reward themselves.
Back on the defensive line, another wall of arrows rained down, killing or severely wounding dozens. When the arrows stopped battle cries could be heard from the enemy lines, the Saderans charged forward many jumping over the defensive line and cutting down every union soldier. Taking quick action, the artillery tried to fire but could not get a shot off as their own men were engaged in deadly hand to hand fighting.
In the midst of the fighting, a lone legionnaire charged at Johnson screaming like a mad man but was shot in the head at the last minute. While the fighting continued a Navajo warrior came riding fast shouting in his native language. Nearby Chief Manuelito was struggling to fight against the armored men, when several gun shots dropped his foes. Turning towards the shots, one of his warriors on horseback shouted at him before being hit by an arrow. In a mad dash Manuelito continued fighting as he looked for Col Johnson, when he finally found him, he rushed over shouting, "Col, enemy has been spotted in the town." As if to prove his point Johnson saw many civilians and militia rushing towards the defensive line followed by hundreds of Saderan legionaries.
Thinking fast Johnson shouted, "fall back," those who were not already engaged in the fighting quickly followed the order, while most of the militia were already fleeing. In the chaos Johnson managed to find several of his commanders and ordered them to withdraw their men and head for Fort Union. As the men began to retreat, he ordered a rear guard, "now's are only chance boys we must buy as much time as we can, prepare to fire."
As the legionnaires continued to draw blood, Gaius had entered the town when he noticed the men in blue falling back, "the enemy is retreating, stop them." They Saderans were met with a wall of lead, many having been hit at point black range, but despite the fire power, the Saderans continued fighting killing all who tried to run.
Despite a desperate rear guard action Johnson and his men were almost overrun but were saved when Chief Manuelito and his warriors charged into the legionnaires. An hour after the battle, the Saderans had finally stopped their pursuit giving Johnson and what was left of his men a much-needed breather, but they still had a long march back to Fort Union.
With the battle over and the town secured, Gaius ordered his men to stop and declared Victory. All around the legionnaires cheered, as they went about to find treasures. However, it didn't take long to find out why it took so long for the second force to engage the men in blue.
In his tent Gaius was furious with the second forces commander, he had given him clear instructions to surround the enemy and cut off the escape, instead he finds the second force looting and enjoying the local woman, resulting in the enemy escaping.
Two days later
After relieving several of his commanders and executing several of the barbarians, Gaius was given a full report on their losses, and it wasn't good. Out of an army of 15,000 over 8,000 were either dead or wounded in only a few hours of fighting, but the news wasn't all bad as he had learned that the men in blues casualty count was much higher.