Chapter 2 - What goes around, comes around

Administrator Posts : 88 Join date : 2016-01-28

Arnon's capture weeks ago was a stating point for the Human Forces. After taking the Control Outpost, they directed most manpower to Centauri and engaged in a long border skirmish along Machariel. During that skirmish, a 2 week long trench war that gave very little progress to either side, yet usurped the need for manpower on both sides, the human military and navy had finished developing their most dreadful weapon so far. The Annihilator Dreadnought. Heavy armor that was a meter thick, heavy artillery cannon installations that had the firepower of 4 Anti-Air Artillery Cannons combined. It was a monster created and put into labor. The behemoth was built in the Arakai forest, and then moved through Eystur to Arnon, where the rest of the Human Fleet was waiting to escort it to the heart of the Demon Invasion Zone. At the helm, a brand new person in the war. 24 years old, the youngest captain yet had shown extraordinary skills and aptitude to running a fleet in the Academy, allowing her to participate in the race for commanding this bulky beast. One she clearly was victorious in.

While the trench war near Machariel was still being fought, the massive fleet flew at slow speed and off the radar without any radio contact and most systems offline towards the landing zone, passing quietly and undetected passed Cynabal. The Demons had no way of knowing they were coming and as such were unprepared. Frigates were still grounded and fighters in the hangars. The first moment the fleet was spotted, alarms went off. Demons rushed to battle positions, while both Naya and Roach were being informed. Both of them, having been picking up the pieces after the Warleader was torn to pieces, talked for a minute about what the best course of action was. After the shortest debate in history and the quite possibly worst situation, they sent out the order to retreat all forces from Cynabal, Astero, Urlen and Machariel. The accumulated strength of them all would be able to deal with this attack, and they could retake positions later anyway.

As Roach was setting up defenses, Naya communicated with the other outposts and occupied locations, recalling all forces, when a heavy shock went through the ground, followed by an immense boom, breaking the sound barrier and most, if not all, glass in the landing zone. In shock for several seconds, Naya eventually regained her composure and managed to get up, shaking of what hit, scanning the horizon, until she saw the source. Outpost Cynabal was covered by a massive plume of smoke, almost mushroom shaped. Under that, she saw a wall of sand moving towards them. Communications were down and the shockwave of sound had brought most of their forces in disarray. Some degrees to the left, she saw the human fleet still approaching, before they were swallowed by the sand from visual. Roach came running down from the catwalk above her. "You see that? The hell was that?" Naya couldn't answer it. Even in the Demon world, something like that never happened. Not she, not him, not even the king could create such power. She was mesmerized by the cloud coming their way, until Roach shook her up and snapped her out of it. "We gotta go. We can't hold this. Fighting that is stupid, and suicidal. Get ships up to defend us while we evacuate as many as we can. The more we evacuate, the more we can fight with at a later point. Ships are expendable. Go!" Roach nodded in agreement before warning her she had better be on one of the first transports out.

The accumulated fleet, which showed very little promise without the reinforcements of Cynabal, hovered over the Landing zone, while transports were moving as many Demons and what material they could get over to the Supply Gate. Naya stood next to the gate, supervising all that went through. From where she stood, she had the ability to keep a perfect eye on the approaching enemy fleet. They were close. Possibly a minute out of weapons range. Or so she thought. While Naya was at the gate, Roach was trying to reorganize the defenses, being on their Flagship, a cruiser with serious armament. It was the center of their defensive fleet. But they had no knowledge of the dreadnought that was on its way to rain down destruction. Keeping his eyes on the fleet, he suddenly noticed minor flashes, almost neglegable, at the enemy fleet. Roach narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better look, but the answer became obvious once explosions tore a frigate on their portside to shreds. Top armor flew off like it was paper, the front disintegrated and finally a hit tore the engine compartment apart, causing the frigate to slowly spin towards its right and go down on the ground, landing on several structures, luckily abandoned. He'd never seen anything with that range of firepower and immediately ordered the fleet forward. He knew it would mean his doom, but if he could buy the rest time, he would gloriously do just that.

One Frigate destroyed and another damaged, the two fleets finally met in weapons range several kilometers away from the landing zone, which by now was mostly abandoned. Roach had not seen a ship in design or firepower like the Dreadnought before him ever in his life. Where the Demons fought on strength, willpower and sheer ability, they'd stagnated. He realized now that the doom of the Demons in this invasion was not incompitence of leaders, but the sheer fact that they did not progress. They did not evolve. The humans however did. They developed new weapons, new ships and now had all cards in their hands to wipe out this invasion. They'd been so blind. A shock through the hull of the Cruiser snapped him back into the there and then, causing him to shout around orders and aimed all firepower at the Dreadnought. The monster of a ship brushed off half the incoming fire as insignificant, the armor taking many hits before it even started to buckle. There was nothing the demon fleet could accomplish there, and as a last resort, Roach rushed towards the piloting controls and set the cruiser on an impact course. If he was going down, at least he would take them with him. The last thing he remebered, was a massive shock going through the ship as he was launched forward, into the controlpanels, when the ship crashed into the Dreadnought.

The human fleet had cleared most opposition. The demon fleet was gone, lying in the fields behind them, destroyed and smoking, while the Landing Zone Base was now in human hands. Naya had escaped along with most of the demon forces through the Gateway and were regrouping in the Demon World, only just learning of the events that took place on that end. Inside the wreckage of the flagship, on the remains of what once was the bridge, a single demon survivor woke up. Impaled in the side by a metal shard, he managed to get up and look upwards, through the massive hole of what once was the front of the bridge. A clear blue sky, not a single cloud to be seen. Around him, nothing but destruction and death. Luck or simply tough, he did not know and at that point, did not care. The invasion had ended. Their presence in other outposts cities or the likes would soon be eradicated entirely. His best bet was to find a way back to the Demon world and make the best of the situation. He had a lot to report. And a future to secure ...

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The Demon Invasion had ended. Human Military has prevailed in creating the Dreadnought and winning the Demon - Human War with the use of said Dreadnought and the use of the newly designed nuclear warhead. Eystur, Algogille, Brybier and Dodixie have been released of the emergency state, allowing the military forces to return to their lives and jobs. Centauri, Arnon and Astero are in full military control and will be cleared of any booby traps, Demon stragglers or other dangers. Cynabal has been disintegrated and a several mile radius around it has been quarantined in relation to nuclear residue. It has become a strict no-go zone.

Naya: Escaped to the Demon World and is aiming for the Throne.
Roach: Survived the Fleet Battle and is stuck in the Human World.

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