After I poked the remnants of the missile a couple of times, and made sure it is not going to come back to life and haunt me forever, I returned to the beach.

Meanwhile, I prepared the helicopters for take off. Two of them, to make sure at least one might survive.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the helicopter left the launch pad without making me use another fire extinguisher. The second one cleared the pad as well.

The helicopter headed to the beach. My plan is to use one of them, the second one, to correct the fire, while this one will be used to get ourselves some nice shots at the mayhem.

Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta

The crowd dispersed in terror when they saw the black machine approach. I did not fear for our lives, since we are not going to land on the pad. Unless the helicopter collides, we are safe.

“LET’S GO!” I dragged the reluctant girls inside. Well, knowing that I might be the only survivor if it crashes, I definitely am the last person to be concerned about my safety.

The second part of the exercise was attacking a coastal village. The kingdom set up two small villages. Even from the distance I clearly saw that there are a lot of people hidden behind the buildings, and everything is ready to burn it.

I might make a complaint about the bias of this exercise but… well… am I in any position to do this?

The kingdom’s fleet approached the village and fired a barrage of fire arrows. The village started burning.

Through the optics of the fire correction helicopter I confirmed that most of the damage was done by the burn-down-everything squad on the ground.

After the bonfire caught most of the village, some galleys headed to the shore. They beached themselves and their brave crew jumped off. Then Xera’s favorite part began – the Krusade.

Most of the job the sailors did was playing cards behind the buildings, carrying some empty barrels, secluding themselves with low-social-responsibility women, and drinking beer.

‘I wish I was there…’ I sighed while looking at the image from cameras.

“What?” (L)

“I say they surely do enjoy themselves!”

“That’s right! I wish I was there!” (X)

I glanced askantly at her but pretended it is alright.

“Delight, are we going to approach them?” (C)

“No, not yet.” A couple degrees more…

bang bang bang

Bom Bom Bom

I stirred the hornets’ nest. Now, the sailors suddenly understood what will happen soon. They rushed to the galleys like crazy. Some even without trousers. I did not wait for them all to be done.

The main guns fell down to their loading position and the turrets slowly turned to the targets. It was my mercy to them that I did not engage the electro-hydraulics and only used back-up hydraulic rotation. Which is painfully slow, but inevitable.

Only the stern turrets were loaded. ‘A’ turret breaches jammed dead, and ‘B’ turret was currently being flooded to avoid the ammo detonation.

[Mhm… I love it… I wonder what will happen if one day I have all of the turrets flashfire…]

BOOM BOOM

Two shells exploded within the village, and, luckily for the sailors, did that far away from them.

I wondered what do the spectators think of that but I can say for sure, the sailors that are currently on the beach will never dare telling anyone more lies.

When I started loading the second salvo, I had more malfunctions, fires included. Because of that I had to resort to using only secondary guns.

bang bang bang

bang bang bang

bang bang bang

Every 6 seconds a barrage of 12 shells was landing at the village. By this time the rapid unplanned evacuation was completed and scared sailors and support personnel oared as fast as they could.

With the corrections done and range measured, and thoroughly fired, the shells were accurately landing where I wanted them to land, decimating the target rapidly. When I was done with the first target, I headed to the next one.

After I made sure everything is proceeding smoothly, our helicopter headed back. It was surely not because all of us had a headache from the noise.

“The ground! The safe, and calm, and quiet ground!” Lily dropped on the sand and hugged it, whatever the way she could.

“I am the ground creature, so don’t take me anywhere else!” Xera joined her immediately.

“Oh, Gods… You two! You are a shame to our family!” Cherry was the only one who had some common sense. Though, it is funny to hear the chastise from someone who is holding my legs and shaking.

“Oh my, I thought you all were used to the aircraft by now.”

“She is the only one!” Both Xera and Cherry pointed at Lilith.

While I wondered what kind of sarcasm should I use, I had my cloak pulled. In a very rude manner.