by Solea Razvan
The same was applied to the other vehicles, from war chariots to ships, to Pegasus, to Titans and even basic armor and swords.
The more deadly it looked the better!
For it was not unheard off for a force which had a superior number of armored units to lose a fight to an opposing one that had fewer heavies, but had such a high mass of infantry that where so convinced that their units where stronger than their foes, that the one’s with the fewer heavies actually received a magical bonus from the infantry! Not a big one but enough to tip the scale in their favor and win the day, fight to a draw or at the very least a pyrrhic victory.
The morale of a fighting force could be a decisive factor, since faith and beliefs could be powerful weapons and from the current belief the 378th had, and that they would succeed in their surprise attack, gave them a huge advantage and along with the element of surprise it tipped the scale in their favor. This was evident in the first hour of the battle since they were pushing the enemy back on all fronts.
“A fine starts sir, a fine start indeed!” Adrian said from his position next to Metty’s jeep as they gazed at the vanguard of their assault and it was doing a fine job of cutting the enemy to pieces.
In front of them their army was rolling up the enemy nicely, the artillery was doing an exquisite job of pinning down the enemy; the infantry and chariots where pushing them back and the cavalry was breaking their flanks.
“Let’s hope we have a good enough ending to this battle as its beginning, tell Tarkan to send half our forces to support the vanguard, the other half we will send as a flanking assault once we engage the enemy, and have Werner and his 88th ready in reserve.” Metternich replied.
“Yes sir, also complements of the 12th scouting group, the enemy’s cavalry are massing on the left side.” Adrian told him, he unlike Metternich was on an armored horse, since he had taken temporary command of the cavalry.
“Excellent!” his commander replied, with a smile on his face.
“And by excellent, I mean nuts and damnation, since it means those bloody monsters are heading this way!”
“You know what to do Adrian, just like Marengo.” Metternich said nonchalantly, but inside his stomach was aching and he was close to hyperventilating.
“Do you think it’s absolutely necessary sir?” his knight said, his voice filled with worry for his lord.
“I am afraid it is my friend, now begin the maneuver!” Metternich replied.
Adrian gave a reluctant nod, and moved the cavalry far way from where his liege was situated, leaving him with only an escort of about five other spider-wolf jeeps.
He was situated on a small hill about 200 meters in height, which gave him a clear view of the battlefield.
Metternich stole a gaze towards his side and saw that the flag of the commander was being raised next to him.
As he looked towards the enemy he saw that they were preparing to charge.
Apparently the sight of the enemy’s commander guarded by only a handful of troops and no Imperial cavalry in sight was to great temptation to pass up.
“I could still run, defect, I could order Butz to withdraw……….No!.....Not here……………And not now, it’s too dangerous! The jeep would eventually run out of fuel and if these troops see me run, the whole damn front would collapse!” Metternich bitterly thought to himself, as enemy arrows and lances were thrown from a distance at his position from the skirmish fraction of the enemy cavalry.
“I guess it’s time to get started, Butz retire the Guard behind the crest and give the order to prepare for phase one.” he said to his aide.
“Yes sir!” his aide replied and moved the jeep and its escort behind the crest of the hill.
“They come at us in the same old style.” Metternich said to his aide.
“Then we will just have to receive them in the same in style.” Butz replied with a smile on his face.
Excerpt from the memoires of Private Raz V’a van;
“We were the legionaries of Malus, the World Breaker”
I witnessed the portion of the battlefield where Metternich was positioned and what happened next was typical of the chaotic nature of war, the Commander was seemingly isolated and the enemy cavalry charged en masse after firing a few skirmish shots at him.
A cavalry charge was a truly devastating sight to behold, those who had fire or air weapons pointed their swords and spears forwards, turning themselves into a either a blazing fireball or a miniature hurricane, the ones who had water made a small pond around their horse and used that to create a veritable tidal wave out of their respective charges, one that was designed to break their foes and finally the earth side of them did the same as the water creating what can only be described as a miniature landslides, and a uphill one at that!
It was a terrifying sight, a flood, an avalanche, a hurricane, and a small volcano eruption all headed for our commander. But as they got to the crest of the hill all of a sudden explosions rattled them, I realized then that our small supply of mines that were too few to make a decent defensive perimeter had all been placed on that small hilltop, turning what was insignificant to the battle into the decisive factor!
As the enemy cavalry unknowingly stepped towards their doom, fire, water and air exploded from the ground beneath them breaking their charge, the troops at the very front were dead, the middle ones where wounded and the rear guard of the charge was tripping over their forward comrades.
And when those poor souls in the enemy cavalry thought it was over the earth mines sprang to life, forming battle Golems and upon taking the shapes of various beast and monster from mythology and some from your nightmares they started attacking and decimating them.
But these were not green troops, war had barely arrived to this portion of the galaxy, so these where still professional soldiers, they regained their senses, regrouped and started to reorganize themselves and push back the Golems.
As things seemed to be becoming bleak for the commander, a sudden trumpet bugle was heard and I witnessed some of the rear units of the cavalry turning their heads to see what was going on, they had only a few moments to see the Imperial cavalry lead by Commodore de Morowetz doing a counter charge on their rear, which plowed through them like hot knife through butter, those that were at the front of the formation tried one last desperate charge trough the Golems in the faint hopes of reaching Metternich, but their effort was for naught, for right behind the crest of the hill, was the 88th which greeted the enemy cavalry with blood and iron, our iron their blood.”
Private Raz V’a van; Imperial Engineers Corps
Adrian hacked and slashed his way through the enemy cavalry, cutting fire swords, water axes, air spears and earth maces and flails, after a few moments of the combinations of being trapped by the mines and being flanked by the Imperial forces, the Volunian cavalry broke and ran, only to be chased by the Imperial cavalry and for what was left of it to be cut to pieces.
7:03 Local time
“My lord, are you alright?!?” Adrian asked him as he looked at Metternich who was holding a wounded soldier upwards, with one of the soldier’s hands over his shoulder.
“Fine and dandy, but our friend here requires medical attention, also Adrian I want you to give the orders to get the reserves ready to advance as soon as Tarkan requests it, Butz I want word of Valyria’s situation, tell her not to overdo it, if she can just prevent the enemy on the hills from reinforcing the rear then that’s enough, she doesn’t have to take the heights.” The Commander of the fleet replied as he handed the wounded soldier to an ambulance squad.
“Yes sir!” Butz and Adrian replied as they went to carry their duties.
Metternich gave a quick look around him, as the faces of the soldiers who had up until now where filled a mixture of hope with apprehension, uncertainty and sometimes downright contempt and hatred for their new commander where filled
with respect, awe and the beginning of loyalty and dedication.
So he gave them all a genuine smile before returning to his jeep, it never hurt to be liked by others.
378th original position, Valyria’s command post.
7:03
Valyria watched from her vantage point as her troops demonstrated against the enemy stationed on the hills.
For now everything seemed to be going smoothly, so far her troops were in a heavy skirmish with the Volunians. It was a fight that could be maintained for a long period of time, despite the fact that the enemy before her had a more elevated position and greater numbers.
She achieved this by moving her units to the foot of the hill, where it was so abruptly angled that the enemy could not lower their artillery enough to shoot a decent barrage on them.
This allowed her to maintain her front and actually give her smaller attacking force an advantage over the larger and better positioned enemy units.
“All seems to be going well.” she muttered underneath her breath.
“Ma’am, major Evans is reporting that the enemy is intensifying its barrage on her flank.” one of her aide said.
“The enemy is starting to organize its defenses, have all of our earth breakers fire on the enemies right flank, then move to the center, then towards Evans on the left, then back right and so one. That will confuse the enemy, making them think we have a much stronger forces than what we really have and take the pressure of Evans.”
“Also order the following: the forces that we have in reserve will begin an extended patrol to deceive the enemy of our true strength and position, fire, disengage, redeploy and fire once more, that should confuse them.” Valyria sad to her aide and he quickly send the orders down the line.
As she continued to receive dispatches and give orders to her subordinates her mind flashed back to the very beginning of this operation.
********************************************************************************
“I have never seen something like this before, using our ships as giant bulldozers and the uprooted trees as a road is such an absurd idea!” Valyria said to Tarkan.
“Perhaps, but so is our current situation, also when you think about it, all we really needed to clear a path through the woods was something big and heavy enough to plow through it, we never really thought about this, since we see the ships as tools of war, not construction equipment.” Tarkan replied to her.
“That’s not a very funny joke Tarkan.” she said to him.
“What do you mean?” He asked and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Everyone thought of an idea like this, but no one voiced it, since no one wanted to risk losing what little we had left and be the one to blame if things went from bad to worse.” she replied.
“And what grounds do you have for such a conclusion?” he asked her, an amused smile on his face.
“You’re absolutely right, I have no grounds for it, it’s not like I went to school with most of you and had known and fought alongside you all for years, no sir! I have nothing that would give me the necessary means of reading my colleagues thoughts!” she replied and tried to stiff a laugh on her insect like features.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself!” Tarkan replied with a chuckle, to which Valyria gave in and indulged in a brief one herself.
“Anyway let’s hope this all goes well, I’m dressed for victory not defeat.” she said.
“That is not a problem for me.” Tarkan said with a smile.
At this Valyria raised a confused eyebrow at Tarkan, daring him to elaborate, at which he replied with a smile on his face.
“My wardrobe has clothes for both disasters and blessings.” he said and what followed was a moment of silence, during which Valyria looked at him with a surprised expression, before finally giving in and laughing out loud. Tarkan joined her as well and their laughter helped defuse if only temporary their trepidations for the upcoming battle.
****************************************************************************
She lowered her field binoculars as a smile appeared on her face as the flashback ended.
“You do actually have exquisite taste Tarkan and a beautiful wardrobe, please be safe my friend and come back alive, I do not want you to earn your place in the Hall of Heroes in this Force of Creation forsaken place!” she thought to herself.
378th corps flanking force, Tarkan’s position.
7:08
Tarkan looked at his division as it was pushing back the enemy and saying that he was happy was an understatement if there ever was one, things were going well and with reports coming in that the enemy cavalry was routed and destroyed, the situation seemed to be getting better and better.
“This is Commodore Tarkan calling in, we have identified the locations of the enemies rear units, we are ready for phase two, repeat ready for phase two, I am requesting support the from 88th.” he transmitted to his commander and used his binoculars to more once more observe the battle.
“A fine pattern we are weaving here today, a fine one indeed!”
Excerpt from the diary of Lieutenant Alexander Mackintosh.
Despite my more than unconventional and borderline on insubordination ‘report’ the commanders where far too busy trying to get a grasp of the situation to deal with me, or at least for now they were too busy to deal with me.
“Move units from the hills and towards the supply base, if we can hold it then we can repulse the enemy. Tell the commanders on the hills to launch a full scale offensive, since the enemy before them is only a delaying force.” General Al Hambra said to his subordinates.
General Pompeii was giving orders to our own forces to pull out of the frontlines and send troops towards the supply dump to support our counterattack, when I received another message from our forces there.
“General! Major Dantuine reports that his forces have been nearly pushed out of the supply base, the enemy has overrun almost three fourths of it!” I said to the general.
“Transmit that information to the troops, also let them know that three months worth of food rations are in that base, that should motivate them to get it back.” he replied and I could see the logic in that, I just hoped it worked.
Lieutenant First Class Alexander Mackintosh, command staff member, Federal Expeditionary force.
U.F.O.P section of the supply base.
7:28
The forces of the Federation were being beaten back on all fronts from the supply base and the mixed force of infantry and navy personal were all too happy to pursue them.
As they were pushed back, the Federals noticed a shadow behind them, the retreating forces looked at it and saw the hand of God, or rather one of his servants in the form of a priest.
“Evil is amongst us! Stand back, this calls for divine intervention!” The priest said and ran in front of the nearest Imperial squadron.
The first soldier charged with his flame sword and slashed at the priest; he sidestepped, grabbed the soldier’s hand with his right arm and then gave a powerful jab with his left, one that shattered the soldier’s arm at his elbow joint.
He then ducked out of the way of another one’s water lance attack and gave a powerful sweeping kick which hit the second soldier’s knee cap; the third soldier fired an air arrow at the priest and a fourth one took out his earth mace, activating the magic within it.
The mace’s metal began to rotate and oscillate into a deadly spherical chainsaw-like pattern.
The priest simply caught the arrow and threw it back at the third soldier, impaling his bow drawing hand while side stepping the fourth soldier’s mace, tripping him and as he fell down the priest gave a powerful kick in the soldier’s side, shattering his ribs.
“He’s a monster!” one of the Imperials shouted, as he witnessed four of his comrades being taken down effortlessly.
“No I’m not, name’s Alexander Turneissnen Herman Eist, but my congregation calms me A.T.H for short; and I kic
k ass for the lord!” The priest shouted to those gathered and the remaining Imperials quickly retreated back to their main group, giving the federals some respite.
“Wait, you’re nickname is A.T.H?” one federal soldier asked.
“Yes!”
“And you’re family name is Eist?”
“Yes, of course!”
“So you’re A.T.H Eist, the priest!?!”
“Yes, I know! But my parents gave me the name and I love my parents, so just call me Turneissnen!” he told them.
After talking with them and making sure they where alright Turneissnen turned towards the direction of the enemy; he took what looked like one big club from his belt and pointed it towards the Imperials.
“Now then, the people in front of us are heathens and it’s our holy duty to preach the word of God to them, so let us go and spread the gospel!” he said to the assembled troopers who rallied behind him as he led a counter-attack on the Imperial assault.
378th corps, Metternich’s command position.
8:23 Local time.
As he observed the battle before him, his comm crystal shimmed indicating that he had a new message.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Sir, complements of Commodore Jackson, we have our report on the Federal Forces there.”
“Well go on man, people are shooting at me!” he thought to himself as everywhere around him the battle raged on with fire and sword.
“Sir, from enemy prisoners and our own scouts, we’ve discovered that the Holy Knights stationed here have been recalled back to Galiana, apparently yesterday was their last tour of duty and they’ve been rotated from the frontlines with a fresh new battalion of non Holy Knights!” the communications officer replied, his voice barely able to contain his enthusiasm.
“T-this means that this planet is now beret of Holy Knights!”
