515 Battle Tested (1/2)
Originally, the Imperial soldiers had scorned the need to hide underground like rats but after experiencing the first bombardment of the city from the flying ships, the senior officers had wisely followed the advice of the Sage and moved their entire command staff down underground. Most of the officers were new to this kind of warfare as not much officers survived the war with the UN. Now they all surrounded the table covered with maps of the city and its surrounding areas under the light of dozens of glow lamps.
”Report! The sky raiders have returned!” The messenger cried out. ”Two fleets! One from the north west and another from the north east!”
”So they split their forces to attack the city... hmmm...” Knight Colonel Sander rubbed his carefully maintained goatee as he stared down at the map of the city. ”The north sea wall will come under attack here and... here?”
The cloaked Sage leaned forward, his cowl hiding his features in the shadows as he replied. ”This round... I guess they will just attack us from range... Have the cannoneers take cover and the mages continue to protect the guns.”
”Why?” Knight Colonel Sander asked a simple question as he gestured the messenger off to carry out the orders.
”In the first attack, they know that our cannons can sting...” The Sage replied in his strange accent. ”Now they will kept away from the range of cannons... They will just keep to beyond the range of our cannons and drop plunging fire down onto our defenses.”
The Knight Colonel had a deep frown on his face as he digested the information. ”So they will randomly bomb the city? But won't they destroy the city? Don't they want to raid the city for supplies and gold?”
The Sage nodded, ”I guess their intentions now are no longer about raiding the city anymore. It should be a matter of pride for them.”
Seeing the Knight Colonel nodded as if enlightened by his words, Leung let out a small sigh of relief. He had been coming out with random nonsense all along and so far, he has been lucky as most of his predictions or advise as he constantly called them to be, came close to hitting the mark.
”This kind of war is confusing,” The Knight Colonel confessed. ”Even with dragon warfare, it always has been simple, clearing the skies, and dropping firebombs to troops...”
”Thankfully, you are here to led us into the new age!” The Knight Colonel grinned, looking like a certain someone's kindly uncle. ”Or this city would have fallen long ago!”
Leung nodded sagely and racked his brain for a quote he read from his many E novels during his time as a recruit trainee.
”War never changes... Only the weapons changes... Yet it is not the weapons, but the men who handle them, who win victories... And now we are battle tested!”
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Off the Western Coast of the New World, UNS Vengeance, Flag Bridge
Ford was seated behind his desk at the spacious Flag Bridge which a tactical plot table occupied the center of the bridge together with a small staff that manned the various stations around the bridge.
He set the latest communique down as his mind raced. High Command, in other words, Captain Blake, had sent word that the Empire of Bluewood, their enemy ever since they landed on this cursed planet, was asking with somewhat polite words if they were attacking and raiding their northern shores, which struck Ford as ironic.
Must be the new child Emperor that Tavor had propped up there, thought Ford who brought up an image of the northern coast of the Empire on his display. ”Wait a minute... That bastard!”
”He knew something like this would happen!” Ford exclaimed to himself as he came to a realization of why Tavor wanted the UNS Vengeance to head north to the Empire instead of heading towards the Isles. ”That sneaky bastard!”
He shook his head in admiration at the devious mind of the Intelligence Officer. Tavor must had foreseen the Empire would assumed and put suspicions on the UN if they were attacked by the Old World force, dubbed Group Alpha since flying ships and aircraft would seem similar to the locals here, as they do not have the knowledge to tell the different apart.