0613 April 8th, 2020 CE
0606 Sun 8th, 196 AE
Frontline
<<<“Fuck! This is Centurion 2-3, our main gun just got shot to pieces.”
“Centurion 2-3. This is Centurion 2-1. Pull back. Centurion 2-4, move in front of Centurion 2-3. Out.”
“Copy that.”
“Wilco.”>>>
Destroyed tanks littered the four-way intersection that was ahead. A medium tank and a couple of light tanks were still shooting at the four Abrams. They had taken out waves upon waves of tanks but it seemed endless. After dispatching the remaining elf tanks, only the sound of the burning elf tanks remained. They waited a few seconds.
<<<“Is that the final wave?”
“That seems to be the final one.”
“Ok, Centurion 2, push forward!”>>>
As they went forward, they stopped when they came upon another four Abrams. They were shooting down the road.
<<<“This is Centurion 2-1. Please identify. We are currently behind you. Over”
“This is Centurion 1-1. What took you forever. We had to divert our attention because of you slow pokes.”
“Too many fucking tanks. Centurion 2-3 got their gun taken out by these fucking bastards.”
“I think we are mopping up the last of them. I don’t see any more tanks up ahead.”>>>
After a few minutes, Centurion 1’s shooting died down.
<<<“Why haven’t you sent Centurion 2-3 back?”
“They are safer with us. Who knows when these pesky elves will show up behind us.”
“Well, we will be going back to support our infantry squads now. Centurion 1 out.”
“Good luck out there.”>>>
Centurion 1 pulled out of their street.
A few streets away
“Enemy tank!”
An elven medium tank appeared on the road. A TOW missile flew out of the box that was attached on the left side of the Bradley’s turret. It impacted the elven tank.
Another elven medium tank appeared. It came to a stop and it’s turret started traversing toward the Bradley. The Bradley’s 25mm M242 Chain Gun opened up. Loaded with the M919 APFSDS-T, it easily knocked the elven tank out with a few hits.
A few minutes later
“Seems like they’re running.”
Issac peeked around the corner of a building. A few elves were covering the rest of the elves’ retreat. Their Bradley laid down lead on the elves. Suddenly, a massive explosion hit the poor elves' positions.
“Well, now they fucking show up.”
After the sounds of battle died down, Staff Sergeant James ran up to the forwardmost Abrams.
“Where the fuck were you guys when we needed you.”
The person who had his upper body out of the hatch on top of the Abrams yelled down.
“We had to deal with a horde of elf tanks, mind you. If we didn’t, you guys would have been cut off and overrun in no time.”
Captain John Rose listened to the reports from his subordinates.
“The elves are retreating on all fronts in the town.”
“Good work. Secure the rest of the town.”
Less than 30 minutes later
“Elven counterattack!”
“Shit! They’re back already?! Didn’t they just run away?”
“They got fresh troops, it seems.”
“Fucking hell. Who we fighting? The goddamn Soviet Union?”
“Seems like it son. Seems like it.”
“Where’s our goddamn air support?”
“The Navy should have gotten to their positions about an hour ago.”
“They skedaddled.”
“Whaddya mean Sarge?”
“Elves had too large of a fleet to deal with.”
0630 April 8th, 2020 CE
0615 Sun 8th, 196 AE
Ocean many miles south of the Magus Imperium
5 Virginia-class and 2 Los Angeles-class submarines of Submarine Squadron 1 were quietly moving deep in the sea.
“Seems like the entire elf fleet ran with their tail behind their back all the way to their home.”
The speed of the Virginia-class and Los Angeles-class submarines were much slower than surface ships when submerged so they had trailed behind the main fleet. Now that the main fleet turned back, they continued.
“Our goal is to sink as many of their ships as we can. The focus is on their aircraft carriers though. It shouldn’t be long before they come back. In the meantime, we can blow up a couple of their transport ships to get them out.”
“Let’s get them then!”
“We still have to be cautious. We are expecting their submarine fleet to number in the hundreds. Even with our stealth, if we accidentally run into their patrol net, there’s going to be a fight.
“Couldn’t we have deployed the entire submarine fleet to deal with them?”
“Even if we did, the ocean is huge. We have only around 50 attack submarines. We are gonna expect some casualties if we tried to deal with the elves head-on. I tell ya, one Los Angeles-class submarine is worth a few hundred of the elf’s submarines.”
“We have the technological edge. There is absolutely no way that the elves can sink one.”
“Don’t be too overconfident. When something goes wrong, we are going to lose one. Trust me, something always goes wrong. It would look shit in the press when it does. Think about it. World War Two submarine sinks America’s modern submarine. Someones gonna get sacked if that happens.”
0657 April 8th, 2020 CE
0629 Sun 8th, 196 AE
Frontline
The Centurion 1-3’s main gun went off. It took out the Elven Tiger tank that was approaching. A flood of elven infantry and tanks were coming towards the town.
<<<“It’s a massive counterattack on the entire front.”
“Seems like their reinforcements got here.”
“We have most of the front covered. The Magusians are plugging the holes but I don’t think they can hold.”>>>
Ocean many miles south of the Magus Imperium
Submarine Squadron 1 continued to silently swim through the water of the ocean. There were four groups of elf submarines nearby.
“We are passing right under one of the submarine squadrons.”
“Can’t we just shoot them out the ocean?”
“When we are on the route back. I already don’t have a good feeling about this. Once we sink a few of their large ships, their gonna have their entire submarine fleet looking for us.”
“Eh, we can swim under them.”
“Hopefully they don’t have any weird magic shit that lets them detect us.”
“Well, seeing that we are currently under one, I’m betting they don’t.”
30 minutes later
Frontline
The lines held against the elven counterattack. The Magusians fought bravely and with support from a couple of Abrams, their areas held.
“We are stopping our advance and holding this area. There are millions of elves and thousands of their tanks swarming a few miles from us. It will be a death trap if we charge in. Reinforcements will be arriving soon.”
1322 April 8th, 2020 CE
Washington D.C.
“Ok, so the deal with the Magusians went through. We will be giving them the blueprints for M4 Shermans and P-51 Mustangs. They will be supplying us with most of the products that we are not able to produce domestically or get from the Northern Frontier.”
Secretary of State Katerina Clifford still remembers the meeting she had with Emperor Arstant. The footage for the Shermans and Mustangs were perfect since they were shown defeating weapons that were similar to the ones that the elves had.
“That sounds perfect.”
“Now Mr. President, onto the issue of democratization that you wanted to talk about.”
“Yes. I’m not seeing any progress with the Bem Kingdom and Mach Imperium. Can you explain that?”
“We’re in a completely new world and from what we know, no country in this world has tried any form of democratic government. We don’t know if the people will even accept a democracy. We don’t want something like the Middle East happening again here. From my plan, we are going ahead with a different approach to democratization. We gave the Iraqis freedom too quickly. It didn’t take long for it to go to shit. This time I’m suggesting we take it slowly and don’t force it on them.”
“Yeah, but the problem in the Middle East was because there were religious differences there.”
“Look, Mr. President, we aren’t going to come into this world and flip everything upside down. We aren’t exactly ‘crusaders for democracy’. We know even less about the people of this world than we do about the Iraqis. And look how well we did with our efforts to promote democracy in Iraq. 16 years and trillions of dollars yet we still face seemingly never-ending insurgencies.”
“I understand that but some from the press have started to question the lack of democratization.”
“Mr. President, we made deals with authoritarian governments on a daily basis when we were on Earth. We even have a history of propping up and supporting authoritarian governments that were beneficial to us.The media didn’t care when we made deals with the Saudis. You should know well that people complain more about our wars against terror in the Middle East than they do about our deals with dictators.”
“Then what should we tell the press then?”
“We will tell the press we are taking steps. This is completely true. We are improving the infrastructure and technology in the countries we have occupied. In addition, we will emphasize that we are being extra careful not to repeat the mistakes that we made in the Middle East.”
4 days later
Naval Station Norfolk
James leaned on the fence. Directly behind him was the ocean.
“We just returned to restock our missiles.”
“I heard what happened. How did the elves beat you guys back.”
“They got crafty.”
He was talking to Seaman Jay Duncan. They had been best friends since high school. Both of them had joined the Navy at about the same time.
“Seems like my ship will be going with you guys for this.”
“Aren’t we already stretched extremely thin?”
“I don’t think there's anything for us to worry about, the only enemies we have now are these elves.”
Whilst talking, James stared back into the ocean at a white-colored ship. It was a Legend-class cutter (also known as the National Security Cutter), one of the largest active patrol cutters in the US Coast Guard. Even though it was a Coast Guard ship, it seemed like something that the Navy would have.”
“Say, why is the Coast Guard here?”
“I think there was an incident of some sorts with a fishing ship. They probably caught too big of a fish or something.”
James chuckled.
“Don’t laugh at that. I’m not kidding. There are some unique fish here. It’s a world of magic, I won’t be surprised if a kraken actually exists.”
“That big of a ship for a small fishing incident?”
“No, I think it was a factory ship. Ya know, those huge ass ships used for fishing. We are using more of them because of the fact we can’t import such large amounts of fish like we did on Earth.”
“Must be a serious incident if they called out that big of a Coast Guard ship.”
“I think I heard that it went down. They are going on search and rescue.”
“Hm.”
Elves went from 3rd Reich to USSR real quick
you meam from 3rd reich to Italy(theyre cowards retreats),to USSR and soon they might even go Kamikaze
@Memecannister1991 is that a prediction?
@Memecannister1991 that is factually wrong tho, Italian have always been the German rearguard, in both russia and Africa.
Most likely a lucky shot at best. There have been cases in World War 2, when a Japanese light tank was able to incapacitate a 75mm Sherman's gun with a 37mm gun. The 120mm gun of an Abrams is a small target but it doesn't have the same Chobam armor protection as the rest of the tank.
Probably since they can't maneuver in an urban setting
"We're in a completely new world and from what we know, no country in this world has tried any form of democratic government. We don't know if the people will even accept a democracy. We don't want something like the Middle East happening again here. From my plan, we are going ahead with a different approach to democratization. We gave the Iraqis freedom too quickly. It didn't take long for it to go to shit. This time I'm suggesting we take it slowly and don't force it on them."
It sounds like that Secretary of State doesn't know what she's talking about. Did she go over there in person or speak with the people who live there, actually asking common locals what they thought of the novel idea of a representative democracy? You can't know whether democracy would work in this new world if you don't encourage it. From what little we know about these people - especially on the island kingdom of Bem - it seems likely they would embrace it.
The conversations we glimpsed of the people of Bem revealed that they had not only a lack of confidence with their rulers, but were completely fed up with them - even before the Americans invaded. They wanted change. So it sounds like a ripe situation to encourage them to try a form of democracy. If nothing else, they could have some sort of "Senate" or "Council" like they had in ancient Rome or Greece - even if this, at least initially, is made up of nobles. But they should give the regular people at least some voice and make their government at least somewhat accountable to them.
And the current ruler of the Mach Imperium - that royal illegitimate who lived a quiet life until she was forced (without her say-so) by the Americans to become the leader of her people - she would likely be open to the suggestion of giving some of her responsibilities and authority away to representatives chosen by her people. She sounded bewildered and overwhelmed.
If America does not at least lean a little on Bem and the Mach Imperium to embrace some of the trappings of democracy, then it will not change. After all, the noble families will obviously cling to the wealth and power that they believe is their birthright. The peasants and common people believe they have no voice and believe that they have no say in the matter... unless they're taught otherwise. It won't change at all without some impetus for change. And impetus from within could take centuries without outside encouragement.
The situation in the Middle East - as well as their culture - is quite different to what we know of (so far) in this world, especially since Bem and the Mach Imperium sound more similar to Europe in culture.
A lot of people don't know or seem to forget that a significant part of the Middle East resembled the West and was becoming very Westernized around the 1960's and 70's... right up until the Arab Spring and the absolutely stupid involvement of western nations to protect the interests of oil companies.
If you look, there are historical photos and film of Iran in the 1970's that rather resembles Europe. Back then, the women were NOT all wearing Hijabs and Burkas. Indeed, the men and women there were mostly wearing Western-style clothing and the women wore makeup. There's even photos and film of them swimming and sunbathing on their beaches in skimpy Western-style swimwear.
I think they said earlier that they never had a successful democracy before, so they probably attempted, couldn't work out all the bugs, and decided that a monarchy was a lot easier.
Technically speaking, the United States is not a pure democracy, but rather a republic with representative democracy elements.
@AnimeaddictionV Per what this Secretary of State told the U.S. president:
"...and from what we know, no country in this world has tried any form of democratic government."
If it was stated or indicated earlier that they had attempted a democracy before - but it failed - then that would prove my point that this Secretary of State does not know what she's talking about at all. Indeed, she must be downright incompetent if she advised the president with those words that are so contrary to facts.
As for "not a pure democracy": Indeed. But there are different forms of democracy. And I would agree that a pure democracy is unlikely to succeed. (Among other reasons, it would be very unwieldy, having every citizen vote on all decisions all the time, with no representatives.)
@Xpacetrue It was stated by the Magusians that they had not had a successful democracy, indicating they had tried.
In addition to being unwieldy to count every vote in a large population, the other problems to pure democracy include mob rule and the fact that the minority is not represented properly. Plus we have the problems of much red tape and bureaucracy. It's been decades since we've had an Amendment to the Constitution.
Thanks for the chapter!
“Must be a serious incident if they called out that big of a Coast Guard ship.”
“I think I heard that it went down. They are going on search and rescue.”
Sounds like this may be foreshadowing of what comes next after they defeat the elves...
A friendly reminder that US Coasties nabbed a cartel sub full of cocaine
How the hell did they lost their main gun, i doubt tankers are that incompetent
''never underestimate the americans'' - some guy
I thought it meant the gun itself. Like they actually managed to hit the barrel. Even on a modern tank, it wouldn't take that much to break it.
A gun is only a steel tube. With the number of tank they have fight,one lucky shot can pierce it, breaking it. They have faced tiger and panzer 4 with 75 and 88 mm cannon, so even if they can't penetrate the tank, they won't have the same problems with the cannon itself.
As an Iraqi guy, I don't know what to say
Bradleys armors suck
It dosent matter if it sucks, it just needs to kill the enemy before they shoot back
@Synalra true but their aluminum whatever armor sucks
@Banana I'm pretty certain they upgraded the Bradleys with ERA and other urban countermeasures
@AnimeaddictionV they are still Frankensteins though
@Banana Never said they were perfect. Considering what came before them, like M3 Half-Track and the M113, they're a bit better.
@AnimeaddictionV yeah but
@Banana It's what the USA has right now, so there we go.
@AnimeaddictionV yeah and the U.S. Abraham engine suck
@Banana Again, this is what the USA has.
@AnimeaddictionV merica