0702 April 5th, 2020 CE
0631 Sun 5th, 196 AE
Outside of the jungle
“Dammit!”
Colonel Trakkas stood with hands on his hips as he looked at the wreckage of a Knight. His regiment had caught up to the 37th which had been stalled by an attack. Nearly a hundred magitrucks, magipanzers, anti-aircraft thauguns from the I Battalion of the 37th Magipanzer Regiment were destroyed. The attackers, the special human aircraft, also got away. He was pretty sure that the 5th Magipanzer Division has so far suffered the most casualties out of all other divisions in this war.
Even though the special human aircraft seemed slow and cumbersome, his anti-aircraft thauguns haven’t been able to shoot any of them down. This time, the 88s were completely blinded by the jungle.
“Should we retreat and regroup before starting another push?”
The commander of the 37th Magipanzer Regiment looked at COL Trakkas whilst saying that. COL Trakkas stood there staring at the destroyed magipanzer. He looked into the sky and thought for a bit. Before long, he came to a conclusion.
“Push forward. There’s a reason why the human aircraft are constantly retreating. They need to reload. We have to take advantage of this and overrun their airbases. Or at least get to the other side of the jungle and set up defenses so that they can’t attack us anymore. My II Battalion will take the lead this time. We don’t need the infantry on foot anymore.”
Magusian Secondary Defense Line
“The Apaches only gave them a short pause. They seem to have reorganized and are continuing. They definitely aren’t flinching.”
Lieutenant Colonel Parker nodded at that statement. He already knew that it was too hopeful to think that they will.
“Get the men ready for an engagement.”
It wasn’t going to be an easy fight against such a large number of tanks.
Hundreds of miles to the west
Charred magipanzers littered the plains yet again.
The 25th Magipanzer Corps, part of the Western Army, came to a standstill. Because of the heavy losses, the commanders of the magipanzer divisions were unwilling to advance further. Against orders, they dug in.
0723 April 5th, 2020 CE
0641 Sun 5th, 196 AE
Jungles
COL Trakkas heard a voice through his radio. It was the commander of his II Battalion
<<<“Colonel, we have come up to a couple of destroyed Stallions on the road.”
“Keep moving forward, I will inspect them once I get there.”>>>
Colonel Trakkas once again stood in front of a destroyed magipanzer. This time, it was a Stallion.
“These are from the recon units.”
His aide slid his hand on the blackened armor of the Stallion before coming to a conclusion.
“Seems like they got attacked by those human aircraft. I’m seeing the exact same damage.”
“Only having those weapons is not enough to stop us. All we have to do is to destroy their airbases to prevent any more attacks.”
“Even more reason to get there as fast as possible, then, Sir.”
A few minutes later
A soldier looked out from a bush using a pair of binoculars. He watched as the tanks whizzed by.
<<<“Command, I’m seeing columns of tanks coming down the road in the jungle.”>>>
Because of the thick canopy, the Air Force’s high-flying drones were having trouble keeping track of the Elven tanks as they drove through the jungle. Infantry was sent into the forest to keep an eye on them.
In an effort to also slow them down, the recon forces came well prepared.
A rocket from an AT4 slammed into the side of a speeding Knight. Its turret flung into the sky at the impact. Another Knight behind it crashed into its mangled metal corpse.
As the recon force quickly went back deeper into the jungle, their commander looked back.
“That should give them a shock.”
<<<”Why are we stopping?”
“Colonel, one of the Knights in our formation was blown up!”
“Is it those human aircraft, again? ”
“We don’t know. We aren’t seeing or hearing anything. It seemed like some anti-tank gun hit it at the side.”
COL Trakkas bit his lip. A big huff came out of his nose.
“You are positive you don’t see anything?”
“Positive. We sent infantry to investigate our surrounding area and we have found nothing.”
“Continue forward.”>>>
<<<”Command, the elves don’t seem to be stopping.”
“That was to be expected. The Apaches didn’t scare them. I don’t expect you guys to either. Just continue harassing them”>>>
0815 April 5th, 2020 CE
0707 Sun 5th, 196 AE
Magusian Secondary Defense Line
Humvees sat in several dug up positions with sandbags around them.
“Fire!”
A TOW missile slid out of the tube that sat on top of one of the entrenched Humvees. It flew towards a small tank that was barely out of the jungle.
A fiery explosion engulfed the Stallion’s turret as the TOW missile blew up in the air on top of it. The turret popped off during the explosion.
The Stallion behind the destroyed one turned to the left side of the road and started to traverse its turret toward the Humvee. A TOW missile from another Humvee disabled it.
When the II Battalion had finally gotten out of the jungle after facing multiple attacks, they were immediately met with another attack.
<<<“Colonel, the humans have set up defenses right outside of the jungle. We are currently engaging them.”>>>
Colonel Trakkas wanted to throw something on the ground. He was tired of it.
The Stallion company had been ordered to retreat after their two losses. The humans seem to have placed a lot of anti-tank thauguns so the Stallions wouldn’t be effective. They needed something with much more armor.
A few minutes later
A Fortress smashed right through the two destroyed Stallions that had blocked the road. It traversed its cumbersome turret towards one of the Humvees.
The gunner got his finger near the trigger as the shot lined up. Just as it was about to fire, orange flames appeared on top of the Fortress, and then it exploded.
Colonel Trakkas huffed again as he listened to the II Battalion commander.
<<<“Their weird anti-tank weaponry destroyed a Fortress in one shot! Being destroyed by air is understandable because of the weak top armor but they are capable of penetrating the front armor! This is ridiculous! I thought these were heavy magipanzers?!”
“Can’t you rush them?! Why are you sending magipanzers one by one like an imbecile?!”
“The road isn’t wide enough and our magipanzers can’t traverse the jungle, sending them one by one is the only option.”>>>
Because of the time, it took to reload the TOW missiles on the Humvees, 3 had been positioned so that they could give a continuous fire if the enemy tried to rush out of the road. Luckily, only three tanks have shown up so far. Even though the elves had such a large number of tanks, they didn’t seem to be using it to their advantage.
During the entire time, Major General Bernart watched the American weapons with great interest. MG Bernart and Lieutenant Colonel Parker had repositioned the HQ to a small mound that gave them a view of the battlefield.
“What amazing firepower you have! What were those weapons you used to destroy their magitanks?”
“TOW missiles. It’s an anti-tank weapon.”
“An anti-tank rifle?”
LTC Parker wasn’t really a maker of the weapons, he just used them. So explaining the actual workings of it was too much of a hassle for him. He could but it wasn’t in his job description.
“Uhhh… yeah sure something like that.”
“Strangest anti-tank rifle I have ever seen.”
After a while
The destroyed pile of tanks started moving forward.
<<<“Shit! They are using the destroyed tanks as a shield.”
“These are top attack missiles, the destroyed tanks are only covering its front. Just keep firing.”>>>
The tank was destroyed in no time without even being able to shoot back. Unexpectedly to the crew inside, the destroyed magipanzers it used didn’t protect it.
A few minutes later
On a branch of a tree, Simon Holayra looked through his scope as he chewed on an army-issued ration cracker. Through the leaves, he lined up his scope with one of the humans manning the strange anti-tank thaugun. He much preferred his usual iron sights over the scope but using that in the middle of a jungle would have been problematic. His gun gave off a ‘crack’ as he squeezed the trigger.
An infantryman that was manning the TOW launcher slumped over.
“Shit! Sniper! They got Jones!”
At that moment, multiple bullets pinged off the Humvees.
“Enemy infantry in the jungle! Light ‘em up, light ‘em up!”
A full fusillade of machine-gun and rifle fire descended upon the forest. In addition, the Magusian soldiers that were sitting in the newly dug trenches behind the Humvees opened up as well.
In the jungles, the elves crouched on the ground. Hundreds of bullets flew overhead. Those who had been standing when the humans started firing had been either turned into red mist or were on the ground full of bullet holes. A commander shouted over the gunfire.
“These inferiors’ firepower is immense! Keep your head down and return fire! For the Vaterland!”
MG Bernard stared through his binoculars at the firefight in wonder. Especially at the American positions. Completely ignoring the current situation, he turned to LTC Parker to inquire about it.
“Are all of your soldiers armed with machine guns?!”
“No, just rifles.”
“But they can shoot nonstop!”
LTC Parker didn’t really like how much questions this guy was asking.
“Uhhh… well… basically think of a machine gun but the size of a rifle.”
“Amazing! Is your country willing to sell this to us? I guarantee that we are willing to buy your guns at any price!”
“I don’t have a say in this. You will have to ask my government. From what I know, it’s not likely. However, it is possible that we can give you some of our older versions.”
Radio chatter among the infantry nearly became a jumbled mess.
<<<“FUCK! They destroyed one of the TOW Humvees!”
“Tank front!”
“There still is goddamn snipers!”
“Who let the fucking tank through!”
“Keep firing, you idiots!”
“Man down! Man down!”>>>
The .50 cals on the Humvees didn’t let up as they continuously peppered the jungle in front of them. The infantry with their M4 rifles took shots wherever they saw an elf. The fire from the other side wasn’t as intense but an elven sniper was definitely picking them off one by one.
<<<”Where the fuck is that sniper?!”
“Man down! FUCK!”>>>
In the chaos of the firefight, a Knight was able to maneuver itself out of the jungle. The gun traversed directly to a TOW Humvee. It fired. The Knight’s shell smashed into the Humvee and it blew up in a blaze of orange. It wasn’t long before the Knight was taken out by a TOW missile.
Then a Fortress rumbled out of the forest. Stallions were right behind it.
LTC Parker sighed. He looked as the elven heavy tanks and light tanks came out of the jungles. If the elves kept on getting tanks through...
“I don’t think we can hold this for any longer.”
Then his radio made some noise.
“Anyone call for a guardian angel?”
The U.S. has intercontinental ballistic missiles... right? Those things have an insanely long range. Why can't the U.S. use their military satellites to pinpoint the central government palace - and their central military HQ - on the newly raised elf continent and then blow it up? (They should be able to do a pinpoint strike with just enough force to minimize damage to civilians and nearby facilities.) That would at least put their military forces in disarray for a while and encourage what is left of their government to reconsider their ambitions or give up and sue for peace.
For that matter, surely there is some sort of space-based weapons platform that the U.S. could try to place into orbit. I know the U.S. has had such things on the drawing board since before even the Reagan Administration. (Reagan was the one who announced the Strategic Defense Initiative and advocated the development of "Star Wars" weapons.)
If nothing else, couldn't they have NASA rush through a "solar sail" or Mylar mirror "solar energy" project and launch that into space? Imagine a simple space-based "umbrella" composed of highly reflective Mylar to focus several square kilometers of sunlight into one small spot onto the elf forces on the surface...
Heck, the U.S. Navy has been developing high energy railgun systems for their ships, capable of shooting projectiles at Mach 7.3 with insane amounts of kinetic energy.
The U.S. Navy has also developed a large, megawatt ship-mounted chemical laser to shoot down missiles.
There's also the Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser Testbed - a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser designed to shoot down enemy missiles.
Then there are the proposals for a space-based kinetic "intercepter" missiles - i.e., swarms of missiles in space to ram into and disable enemy missiles.
And lets not forget all the various, secretive DARPA projects, of which I'm sure a number of them have never been revealed to the public.
Surely, some of these projects could be rushed into production. This is a time of actual, full-scale war with actual casualties, so there should not be much of a ceiling for military expenditure. Besides, since the U.S. found itself in a different world, the government should not have to worry about paying off the interest of the National Debt to foreign debt-holders.
Some may argue that the U.S. has made agreements and signed treaties that would prevent it from, say, militarizing space or using nukes. However, those treaties and agreements were with nations on Earth. Those should not apply as they are no longer on Earth.
Also, think about it: For all anyone knows, when the United States was moved to this alien world, it was all that was left of Earth or it's inhabitants. They have no way of knowing if anyone else on Earth is alive. Nor can they be sure that they haven't been shifted into an entirely different dimension or whether they've been thrown forwards or backwards in time by, say, thousands of years.
Never mind that it is impossible to renegotiate these things: If any of those assumptions I just made are true and the nations they made agreements with no longer exist, then can those agreements still be considered valid?
I'll stop you right there
from top to bottom
All most all the USA's ICBMs are Nuclear (Like most of the Unclear armed states), unless your talking about Cruse Missiles... but another thing, is this planet the same? In all aspects? Is it larger then Earth? Is that atmosphere the same "thickness"
Star Wars was a joke/ruse to f*ck with the Soviets and was illegal 20 year before they fell to the NO ARM SPACE TREATY and shit.
We are still talking about NASA who at this point is practically a Civilian based organization, so they would have to set up a new one to handle military based sh*t in space.
The Railguns... The Military have already stated that the materials and tech for them is not ready yet. They tests have show that the Guns keep destroying themselves when firing.
"megawatt ship-mounted chemical laser" I have no idea so pass
"Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser Testbed" It's in the name, TESTBED. We have no real idea how far this is, nor the faults that it has or the combat abilities it would posses.
"Then there are the proposals for a space-based kinetic "interceptor" missiles - i.e., swarms of missiles in space to ram into and disable enemy missiles." Goes against the NO ARMING SPACE TREATY, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty)
No comment on DARPA
Regarding rushing projects... unlikely knowing how the US treats it's soldiers also unless the Elves pull a "NO U" they wouldn't risk they soldiers lives with, what could be amounted to "Untested and Unproven" Equipment. Also the USA has National Debt to it's self from f*cking around with try to save it's citizens
In regards to treaties signed, they are laws passed by congress so they would have to be removed by them or just a Executive order the cancels all foreign treaties.
No comment on the "WTF is going on at Earth"
I agree with the last statement, treaties can be forgotten mainly due to them becoming common sense but non the less
I DON'T CLAIM TO KNOW ALL!
I'm just a Aussie from the land down under.
@Royal_Jeager Thank you for the analysis. Hmm... You bring up several good points. A couple of reminders, though:
It's clear that the Earth in this story is an alternate Earth with several differences from the one we live in. For example, the President of the United States (and other prominent characters) in this story are fictional.
Also, over 8 months have passed from the day the United States was transported to this world (July 18th, 2019) to the day that news of a mysterious new (elf) continent rising out of the ocean became public (March 21st). Similarly, over 2 months passed from when the U.S. was transported to when the Machians demanded that the U.S. become their vassal state.
The reason I bring these up is because:
(a) The technology and equipment the U.S. of this story may or may not have are not necessarily the same as the Earth we're familiar with and...
(b) Considering the unknowns of this new world they find themselves in - without even one ally they can rely on - and considering the hostile nations they've encountered, the U.S. military-industrial complex has surely been working behind the scenes. Surely, they'd want to adapt their arsenal and strategies to their situation in this new world. And, likely, they'd want to develop at least some new equipment to better fit the situation.
All most all the USA's ICBMs are Nuclear (Like most of the Unclear armed states), unless your talking about Cruse Missiles...
That is a good point. However, I wonder how difficult it would be to remove the nuclear warhead from an ICBM and replace it with a conventional one. And, as I pointed out, many months have already passed (i.e., over 6 months from the initial hostilities with the Machians). How long would it take to do such a conversion into a conventional weapon?
Anyway, the story has already described the ample deployment of conventional missiles against Bem and the Mach Imperium, including cruise missiles such as the Tomahawk. The advantage of an ICBM is, obviously, being able to reach a target very far away (and the enemy presumably being unable to shoot it down).
The enemy this time is on a continent well over 6000 km away. Conventional missiles like the Tomahawk have much less range - probably 2,500 km or less. Though, a submarine can sneak up on the enemy and launch such missiles when they approach within range.
...but another thing, is this planet the same? In all aspects? Is it larger then Earth? Is that atmosphere the same "thickness"
Interesting point. Though, I'd point out that in Chapter 13 ("Invasion of the Bem"), the attack on Bem started with a large number of Tomahawks and other missiles, accurately taking out military installations and other key targets. It sounded to me like these missiles were deadly accurate.
Modern guided weapons can use a combination of INS, GPS and radar terrain mapping to achieve extremely high accuracy. Even if a missile is off target due to a difference in atmosphere or something, I'd think the guidance could correct for this.
Star Wars was a joke/ruse to f*ck with the Soviets and was illegal 20 year before they fell to the NO ARM SPACE TREATY and shit.
Again, this is an alternate Earth, so it may not be fair to assume everything was the same on their Earth. Besides, for everything about military weapons and projects that become public knowledge, how much else do you think goes on that never becomes public or only becomes public a number of years later? And who is to say that they never developed a certain amount of Star Wars technology without actually launching any?
We are still talking about NASA who at this point is practically a Civilian based organization, so they would have to set up a new one to handle military based sh*t in space.
It wasn't long ago that Trump announced the formation of a "Space Force". Or, should we assume that this was a political stunt or another joke/ruse to f*ck with the Russians or Chinese? And, again, this is an alternate Earth. Also, who knows about secret black projects?
"megawatt ship-mounted chemical laser" I have no idea so pass
"Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser Testbed" It's in the name, TESTBED. We have no real idea how far this is, nor the faults that it has or the combat abilities it would posses.
Technology is moving faster than you think. Just in the last month a bunch of new articles about laser defenses and other cutting edge weapons came out. For example:
Lockheed Martin Shows New Airborne Defensive Laser System for F-16 and C-130
Lockheed lasers being fitted on Army trucks and Air Force fighters over the next few years.
Boeing's mobile laser gun successfully defended convoy against drones
And, again, who knows about black projects? Surely the military keeps some secrets.
The Railguns... The Military have already stated that the materials and tech for them is not ready yet. They tests have show that the Guns keep destroying themselves when firing.
Even so, technology marches on. Just over a week ago, an article came out talking about how they adopted some of the tech in the Navy's railgun program to develop extremely high speed (Mach 5), extremely long range and highly accurate guns to shoot down all sorts of things:
U.S. Army guns, which were originally designed to rain explosive shells on the enemy, can now engage low-flying aircraft, cruise missiles, and likely drones.
According to Air Force magazine, the Paladin fired a new hypersonic Mach 5 hypervelocity projectile and successfully intercepted the target. The Hyper Velocity Projectile, or HVP, is made by BAE Systems and uses technology developed for the U.S. Navy's railgun program. The result is a howitzer round that flies faster and can be used to precision-target ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft, ships at sea, and targets on the ground. BAE says a Paladin howitzer can fire the HVP to a range of up to 43 nautical miles, and fire six rounds per minute.
Railgun or not, these sound very impressive to me.
Regarding rushing projects... unlikely knowing how the US treats it's soldiers also unless the Elves pull a "NO U" they wouldn't risk they soldiers lives with, what could be amounted to "Untested and Unproven" Equipment.
Granted, there are inherent dangers to rushing things as well as in putting too much faith into something that needs more testing and more training in its proper use. And there are definitely advantages to using the tried and true.
Still, I think you and I have different interpretations of "rushed project" and "unproven equipment". For example, Trump says his administration has slashed red tape to achieve the fastest-ever launch of a vaccine trial for this new virus. And he signed an executive order to tell regulatory agencies to look at more than 600 regulatory actions taken during the coronavirus pandemic and inform the White House which ones should be made permanent. There is cutting red tape and then there is the literal form of rushing.
In regards to treaties signed, they are laws passed by congress so they would have to be removed by them or just a Executive order the cancels all foreign treaties.
I suspect that it wouldn't be much of an obstacle. The President is given certain powers during a time of war. And you did admit that it is only common sense to suspend such treaties due to the fact that they are no longer on Earth and can't even contact the nations they signed the treaties with.
@Xpacetrue
Fair my good sir. I concede the field. I must do a little more research.
On the regards of "Rushed Projects" I think that was a miss in translation, I read it off as the thing the US did in WW2 where they had sh*t being made for the Army before testing. It going to fight. Then the Army saying that this sh*t wasn't tested at all, and then said thing being made is cancelled.
But non the less... it is good to find another Military minded person.
For instants of what I call "Unproven or Untested" Would be the F-35 when it firsts came out, now its good but the hell it was to the Air Force.
And the M-26 Pershing "Poorly tested" and when it came into combat it broke down so often the the US Army gave up, Example in the Koran War the US Marines could use their Pershing since the Army gave up and there was a stock pile within cyan covered hands.
Leaving the Tanks that my nation Australia who uses the M1 Abrams that they bought back in 2007 and now? They are looking at buying some Challenger 2s to replace them, then got the M1A1s due to the Engine being "f*cking annoying to fix." that quote came from a friend of my who is in the Cadets.
But everything for me anyway is Unproven until in Combat and war games don't count that's more... Testing under stress? I would say.
look like AC130 has arrived
AC130 Gunners asking command what their target is.
"See that forest?"
"Yes."
"Turn that Forest into California and set it on fire."
AC130 goes FIRING MY WEAPONS
Couldn't they send in some bombers and lay down a field of hurt? It's not like their puny, magic-based antiaircraft will be able to reach a modern bomber, especially since these things didn't even have the range to shoot at those helicopters.
Alternatively, couldn't they deploy napalm? At the minimum, it would clear out the jungle the enemy has been using for cover. And it might be enough to kill them, disable their vehicles, suffocate them, or scare them into a retreat. Even merely deployed in front of their advance, it would force them to halt or change course.
Hah first thing to mind is an AC-130 lol
thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter!
Or maybe a brrrrrrrrrrr... a10 thunderbolt
The incomplete knowledge of the author (and drama via plot) is beginning to show.
An airborne unit at battalion level has access to supporting mortars...even 81mm (and 60mm) mortar shells function thru tree canopies.
“Man down! Man down!”>>>
eagle down, eagle down (meaning death of American soldiers)
I was wondering why the navy wasn't launching cruise missiles at Strategic Elven locations. Surely the recon drones would have scouted them out by now.