“Hey Mimi can’t catch me!”
“Bruno! Gosh-”
“You kids get back here!”
Waving tall grasses, brisk breeze rushing through the crisp autumn leaf filled trees, a babbling creak. Through the grasses two children ran with one ahead of the other, a boy in the lead and a girl trailing. Further back in the tree line stood a woman, considerably older than the two young kids. Her arms waved as the two ran through the tall grasses, many insects flapping into the air off the blades.
“Come on Auntie Lynne,” came the cry of Bruno who was leagues ahead.
A slight buzzing could be heard along the winds, the hum of motors.
“Children please, don’t go too far-”
“WHOA! Look at that!”
Bruno’s right arm extended, his pointer finger pointing to the air. Far out from the clearing, high above into the sky drifted large red objects. The dotted the sky in such few number though their size was considerable, perhaps a kilometer and a half away from where they stood.
“What are those big blagloons?!”
“Balloons Bruno, and those aren’t balloons, those are Zeppelins from The Church you dork! Just look at the insignia on their sides,” Mimi called back.
Lynne slowly began to approach, her eyes locked to the sight of the airships as they glided across the skies above the further out forest, “That’s part of the Eastern Fleet, General Taido’s unit. There are just dozens.”
“Auntie Lynne, where are they going? Are we at war with someone?”
By this point Lynne had caught up to the two children, slowly approaching from behind. Without word she placed both hands on their shoulders, her eyes not moving, “War with something, the monsters in the mountains.”
Silence fell over them as they watched the Zeppelins move further and further away towards the backdrop of large mountains beyond them.
“Mother and father will be avenged, right?” Mimi murmured, a slight sob behind her voice.
“We can only hope sweetie, we can only hope. The Light of The Church is with us all, that’s all we really need to stay strong against our enemies.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHj4HPRRZU
661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrh8hQE9Wlo
661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCzDFAhsO2
Through the sky the Zeppelins moved, their red exterior painted with the insignia of The Church, the golden cross surrounded by the Servant Orbs. Forty-eight Zeppelins of two hundred and fifty meters, fixated behind another thirty-three at one hundred and twenty-five meters, fronted by twenty-three at sixty meters which were more blimp-like. At the head of the fleet drifted a massive Zeppelin of over four hundred and twenty meters, decorated with gold and bronze supports on the outside. At the head was a dragon head mounted, catwalks all around the underside of the structure.
On those catwalks moved men in what resembled Knight Armor, though upon closer inspection held more of a plastic-like appearance. Some moved armed with rifles, others with pistols, a few with staffs and swords. Nonetheless they were soldiers painted with the insignia of The Church across their chest plates, visored and on guard. Metal hatches stood before the soldiers attached to the ships, hatches shielding metal-lined corridors of twisting steel.
Inside many a man moved in armor, armed and at the ready, shifting down hallways and through various rooms. Some rooms large, some rooms small. Off the bridge where many in officer attire, to port, drifted many differently dressed individuals all stationed around a single table. The lights dim, a pale dark emerald glow emitting from the table, control pads and sensors scattered. Wires ran around the table, some going in and some drifting out along the floor.
Just above the table, hovering in thin air, a display in the emerald glow of mountains, of forests, of plains, of the skies. Around it were many scattered in keen observation, some young, others old, some just like the hologram in appearance as they were present by such technology. One at the head of the table dressed in flaring attire and lite armor moved, his arm extended with a finger pointing at a position on the hologram.
"-and as reminder, this is a joint operation of the Revelations Project and Celeste’s own military, alongside some action by The Church with two separate advances to the Northern Quadrant and here with the Eastern Quadrant. We will be covering approximately a radius of four point two thousand kilometers South to North, and in between twenty to two hundred kilometers West to East depending on the area, to pacify a section of the Monster Mountains. There is an estimated one hundred and fifty-seven square kilometers of mountain just to start this assault off, and that does not account for the second expedition when that time comes to push further into the region which could turn into a push of eight hundred plus kilometers squared.”
“General Taido, might it not be wiser to involve all five of the armies and fleets in this endeavor?” came the voice of one of the officers, one decorated with several medals on the right side of his chest.
“Captain Damerick, the thought has been considered and unfortunately both The Church and His Majesty objected in the event that the West or South are invaded. The Central Army is all we have access to in the event that we need backup, otherwise this operation is dead in the water.”
“General, while I agree that the time has come for this, that it is far too long overdue, why involve the Revelations Project like this? They are Darkling Hunters and defenders in time of war, not lapdogs to the military. The Church has spoken about this prior,” came the voice of one of the holograms, the voice of a younger looking woman.
“Director Yuno, with all due respect, Darkling sightings are rumored to be heavy in this area. I say rumored because of all the false tips we have received in recent years. Plus there are creatures here my men alone can not defeat without reinforcements.”
“At that General, why only a handful? Forty of C-Class, thirty-three B-Class, eleven of A-Class, and three S-Class. And mind you, that’s spread between General Revan’s Forces as well as your own. You could have at least attempted to get more of the Warriors if you needed them. Darkling sightings within the mid-section have declined rapidly in recent years, and unlike the other armies, they are manageable and movable.”
“Director, all due respect, I think it doesn’t matter,” came the voice of a young girl who slowly began to approach the table.
Stopping she moved an arm, brushing her black red-tipped hair out of the way of one of her magenta eyes. Raising her left arm she quickly pointed towards the map towards the mountainous region, “We’re not unleashing a full campaign, only a spearheaded front to push the monsters back with potential to break further ahead in the future should we desire. We Warriors even in short number can help alleviate many of the problems that the two armies might experience. Taken in half, it’s at most seventy-five thousand square kilometers per army, arguably sixty thousand each depending on how far we go. And its not like monsters inhabit every square meter.”
“You speak your mind far too easily Sinno.”
“Director she isn’t wrong necessarily. Yes, it sounds like a lot of land in the long run but it is unlikely that we will find clusters of monsters every square kilometer. With any luck we might come across a group or species every hundred.”
“You can count on Shadow Squadron General,” Sinno said, “So what’s the plan?”
“The fleet will divide into three and head to different regions with a spread of a couple hundred kilometers. Once base points to land the ships are established, we will deploy stealth squads with Warriors at the head along with several garrisons of soldiers. They will split up and splinter throughout their respective landing zones to survey areas of note and any and all monsters we might need to be made aware of. Once enough data is recovered we’ll deploy our full forces.”
“Why not just bomb the bastards outright?” a younger man questioned, one who looked to be barely into his twenties.
“Because Zayden, that might do more harm than good. The purpose of the scouting parties is primarily to find any and all tunnels where monsters, or Darkling, could emerge from. If we just bury them in a wave of rock with bombardments, they could eventually find their ways out right behind the main units and flank us. Not to mention in the past we have lost many a ship to flying monsters the size of houses, sometimes bigger. Our airships are not the most maneuverable in formation or even alone for that matter. After my predecessor’s attempt to pacify the mountains where he lost fifty ships, I intend to take this more carefully.”
“Fifty!?” came the cry of another.
“Yes Rhett, it was considered a complete blunder on the military’s part. That never went public either, though it was hard to cover up.”
“So what happens beyond the scouts?” asked another.
“They’ll take notes and keep moving ahead. Once able, we’ll deploy all as I stated into the mountains to hit what we can. If applicable, then we MIGHT just bombard and attempt to land further into the mountains. Expect this operation to take considerable time. We’ve estimated for the last four months of spring to the six months of Summer into the six of Fall, maybe with a wrap up by the end of the first month of Winter before the heavy snows fall.”
“Oh god, I don’t want to stay here THAT dang long,” the last to speak spoke again.
“Then hope we can push harder than we’re anticipating Yato. The strategy is about as simple as it’ll get and as fast as it’ll get.”
At that moment a hatch on the left side of the room opened from which a man in uniform entered, pressing the door open to the wall, “General Taido, we’re five minutes out from out launching point.”
“Thank you Armagiaus. Everyone make your final preparations. Captain Frankie, I’m assigning you and the three hundred and twenty-second division to back Shadow Squadron’s, well, back.”
“Very good sir,” came the reply of a man standing two paces away from Sinno.
Sinno nodded with a step back, “We’re ready General, we won’t let you down.”
“Heh, I knew you’d say that. Then with that, to all of you, good luck… and may the Light of The Church be with us all.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ryd2FbNrc
