NationStates Jolt Archive

The sound of marching jackboots filled the air, thousands of feet marching in perfect unison. The civilians were forced to watch, forced to cheer, lest the Stormkorp battalions behind them slaughter them like cattle. This was what it had come to. Rethan had once been a great nation, noble, honour bound and free. It had been through difficult times, multiple empires had come and gone through its lands in its long history, but it had stood strong.

Now to look at it was enough to cause even the stoutest heart to falter. Massive Hive Cities, and Hive Factories rose into the sky, black smoke constantly belched into the black sky. The snow had even been turned a murky grey colour. The factories never stopped, the Birthing and Conversion Centres always churned out more and more of the new masters of Rethan, the abominations created by a warped and sadistic Imperial rule. The Rethast. And now Rethan was nothing more than a giant war machine, driven by the insatiable need for more human slaves, and the quest for the Rethast to become the new master race of the world.

Now the Rethast were ready. For over 50 years, the nation of Martoch, the last nation of the Ataster Federation, had stood beside the Rethast in peace. They had even learned to accept the mutants as equals. But it was not Equality the Rethast were after, it was total dominance of all humanity.

Thousands of the mutant soldiers marched across the Ortaren plains, with the dreaded Stormkorp following behind, and behind them the gruesome war machines of the Militocracy. They had gathered here to be presented before the Imperator, Vastari Lentar, himself. The human slaves of twenty different Hive Cities were forcibly assembled to cheer. They waited, for 2 hours they watched the army assemble in the freezing cold. Some collapsed due to hypothermia and were dragged away. The Rethast did not mind, they could handle more extreme temperatures than humans, and their Combat Suits provided a degree of protection.

Finally, a single figure appeared on a podium which rose as if from the gorund itself. Higher, higher, the Rethast Star billowing behind him. Lentar, here to witness the culmination of years of work, a new Master Race. And he was here to talk to them.

"My people. You are my children, my pride, my brothers. You have stood the test of time, fought off extinction, and now look at you. You now stand proud before me, willing to ensure our race lives on. I have never felt more proud to be different. To be better.

Tonight, we begin our attack on the last remnants of those who sought to wipe us out, who saw us as freaks. Even now, our agents have crossed the border to sow chaos and fear among the pitiful humans of Martoch. Their border defences are formidable, their intelligence agencies unmatched, yet we managed to break into the very heart of their nation. What does that say about human resilience?"

The soldiers cheered and laughed.

"Tonight you march on the Border Fortresses. Take them for our own, raze them if you cannot use them. Tonight, my brothers, we achieve Dominance. Tonight...we become the new MASTER RACE!"

A huge cheer erupted from the assembled masses. The humans clapped, even as looks of worry and fear crossed their faces.

It had begun.

"Commander Hale. You need to see this, sir."

Hale dismissed himself from the Officer's Quarters. He closed the door softly behind him as he left.

"This had better be good Seargent."

Hale followed the Seargent towards the Intelligence room. This room was the central hub of all Martochian intelligence, from spy networks to orbital satellites, everything came through this room. Hale moved over towards the Satellite section, following the Seargent.

"See for yourself, sir."

Hale looked down at the console, at the image shown before him. He gasped.

"Is this accurate?"

"100%, sir. Just came through from one of our satellites now."

"Print that image, I have a meeting to organise."
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Hale stood now before the President of Martoch, Luisco Harchasé and the various Aides and Army Generals. This news had to be heard.

"Gentlemen, I have some news of a most serious and grave nature. Just a mere two hours ago, I was shown an image captured by one of our Spy Satellites. I'd like you to take a look."

Hale pressed a button and the wall behind him was illuminated by the image. Gasps of shock passed throughout the room.

"This photograph was taken over the Ortaren plains in Souther Rethan. As you can see, their military has expanded far faster than we originally thought."

Harchasé stood up.

"Commander. This is worrying, but how can we be sure they are a threat?"

"Because, sir, the Rethast dropships have been seen flying near our Border fortresses. They have remained outside AA range, but it is obvious they're scouting us out.

If it comes to war, it is a war we cannot win. The Rethast military, as shown by these pictures, is larger than ours by at least 3 to 1. Combine that with the fact that they are more battle-hardened, better equipped, trained and their genetic makeup makes them tougher than our soldiers....we do not stand a chance gentlemen."

Silence filled the room. Harchasé was the first to speak.

"Get me a direct line to Imperator Lentars chambers. I need to speak with him immediately..."

The door into the room opened.

"Forgive me for intruding Mr. President, but there is urgent news..."

"It can wait!"

"It concerns the Bord..."

"Get ou..."

Hale raised a hand. "Wait...Mr. President, please."

The president sat back down. If Hale had interrupted him, he had good reason. The Secretary continued.

"It's the Border Fortresses, sir. They say their power is down."

"WHAT! That's impossible, they are backed up three times by their own generators! It can't be done!"

"Not only that, but all radio and satellite communications are jammed, and our landline is becoming distorted."

Harchasé looked directly at Hale and met his eye. "Power outages in the Border Forts...Communications down...this can only mean one thing..." Hale finished the sentence.

"Invasion."

Generalmarshal Lukas Tasget was in charge of the invasion of Martoch. He was one of Rethan's finest Generals, and he was the one given charge over the attacks. He could think of no greater honour.

His command centre was located a mere five miles from the Border Fortresses of Martoch, ten massive bulkheads designed to prevent Rethast invasion along the narrow Huygen Gap. It was the only path between the two nation besides overseas, and Tasget needed the Forts intact in order to provide a stable base of operations....well, he only needed one intact...

"Commence Artillery bombardment. Have ground force move in towards Targets 5 and 6 in one hour. Has the 4th Air Wing been dispatched?"

"Not yet, sir. They leave Färher Airbase in twenty minutes."

"Excellent. With the power down their AA will be most inefficient. They are to attack Targets 1 through 4 and 7 through 10."

"Yes, sir."

"How long until you can get the power online...we need radar!"
"I can't say general, could be hours, could be days."
"Then you best get started! Report back to me in one hour with your progress."

General Carther was the commander-in-chief of the Martochian Border fortresses. A few hours ago, all power had been cut to the forts, and the backup generators could not be activated. Someone either with great skill or just plain lucky had hacked the systems. Now, Carther watched his top technician leave the room and close the door behind him. Carther glanced at his array of comm-screens before him. If any of the forts came under attack, he would have no way of knowing, communications were jammed.
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Captain MacGovern silently paced the walls of Border Fortress Securia, the eighth fort in the line of ten. To the east was Fort Thermopylae, the fort which housed General Carther and the comm-hub of the fortresses. To the west was fort Graceia, the ninth in the line.

MacGovern was the commander of Securia, and had placed his men on full alert as soon as the power went down, and had them man the AA and Cannon emplacements once the communications went down. Without RADAR, they could not detect approaching aircraft until it was too late, nor would their spotlights work to detect ground troops. They were blind, deaf, and dumb. In the fifty years since their construction...the forts had never lost all power. It was a worrying thought.

MacGovern turned towards his chambers when he heard an unnerving screeching. He listened carefully and only realised it was a Smart Bomb seconds before it slammed into the Forts south wall.

"Get the AA firing! Flak, Missiles, the works! Hook up the Batteries and get the spotlights working!"

The spotlights were switched on instantly, but the batteries would last only three hours. MacGovern hoped the power would be online before that. Looking west, he saw that Graecia was also under attack. Invasion... MacGovern heard another whistling sound, but felt nothing as the missile slammed into the ground six feet behind him. There was nothing left.
------------------
Carther looked out his window. To the west, flashes of light and the sound of flak indicated the forts in that direction were under Air attack. No doubt the enemy would seek to destroy the forts one at a time. Carther sat in his chair and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

He had no doubt everything would turn out as he expected....

OOC:Well, Martoch and I are finally free from work, so time to restart this!
_______________________________________
"Generalmarshal, forts eight and nine are recieving air bombardment. Artillery has targeted five and six."
"Estimated time until it's safe for ground forces?" asked Tasget.
"Artillery will fire soldily for an hour as you requested, and the Air Cavalry will radio us when they are done with the bombing."
"Excellent...excellent."
**********
"This is Viper 1-1 to Mercury 4-1. We are ready to begin ground run, stay behind us until you can release payload."
"Copy Viper lead, we are readying bombing bays. Commence attack run."
Viper 1-1 dived below the clouds his squad of 9 following behind him. He readied the missiles and MGs for a strafing run along the East wall of the Border Fort. He saw Martochian men scrambling to reaim the AA cannons, but they weren't fast enough. He loosed his missiles and pulled up, behind him, his squad did the same.
"Mercury 4-1, feel free to hit them. Have fun."
"Will do Viper lead. Let's show these bastards whose superior!"
Viper 1-1 looked back just in time to see the explosions of the Smart Bombs. He allowed a small smile to grace his lips.
**********
Kindralmarshal Ghant stared out at the assembled artillery. 70 Motile Artillery Vehicles, and 50 Heavy Artillery Cannons. This was going to sting.
"All artillery crews, please confirm range status."
Lights across his command vehicle lit up as each individual vehicles confirmed the range to targets.
"Okay gentlemen, fire when ready."

The sound of artillery fire was music to his ears.

General Carther sat slumped in his chair. Even with communications down he knew things were going badly. To the East, two of his Forts, numbers six and five, were being pounded by Rethast artillery fire, and to the west, Forts nine and eight were being hit hard by air attacks. His whiskey bottle lay empty on his desk, and already he had moved onto another. He stared at the ceiling and wondered just how long it would be until the next stage of the invasion began, the mobilisation of ground troops. Without communications, reinforcements could not be called in fast enough from the army bases, and at the rate the forts were falling, even with communications, they couldn't move fast enough to reataliate.

Carther poured himself another drink. Thoughts of his past, of his roots, surfaced. The memories...he downed the glass in one.
--------------------
Captain Sovien of Fort Dorien, the fifth Fort in the border line, stumbled as another artillery shell slammed into the fort. The Rethast had been at this for just under an hour now, 53 minutes to be exact. The fort was in ruins, and several collapses had rendered the underground sections useless. Normally in the event of an Artillery attack, air forces would have been dispatched, but without communications, that was impossible.

Another shell exploded somewhere overhead, causing dust to fall from the tunnel roof. Sovien's guard of 350 was dwindled to just 58. He had no doubt the other forts in the line were suffering the same fate.
--------------------
Fort Graecia lay in ruins. Bodies were strewn everywhere and the walls and most of the fort's buildings lay abandoned. Only the central tower stood as even a shadow of its former self. The last 79 soldiers huddled inside, checking ammunition. The bombing had stopped, but they could still hear the drone of fighters overhead. If they even tried to run...

One lone seargent stared out a nearby window towards Fort Securia. He gasped. Where there should have been a fortress of walls and towers, where spotlights and flak fire should have been streaming into the air...there was nothing. Just a pile of rubble. Useless to the invaders when they came...but obviously, they didn't care.

Within the thick walls, the shrieks of Smart Bombs went unheard. Thirty secconds later, the tower crumbled to the ground.
--------------------
Fort Six, Hagar, was faring better. The artillery had been somewhat unlucky, and a decent portion of the outer walls and inner buildings still stood. To the west, Fort Thermopylae was in perfect condition. The Rethast obviously had plans for that one. The garrisson slowly edged out of their bomb shelters, looking over head at the damaged towers and walls. They began to cheer, glee entering their hearts. They had done. They'd survived!

Their cheers were cut cruelly short by a low humming. It sounded like Bombers, certainly not artillery. The men rushed to the nearest AA emplacements as another sound reached their ears, this one a rumbling. It was only as the first of the 146 soldiers reached the walls that they saw the cause of the two sounds.

The humming? dozens of Rethast dropships.

The rumbling? Rethast tanks and APCs.

Fort Six had survived in decent, workable condition. And the Rethast wanted what was left....

"Generalmarshal, sir."

Tasget looked up from his book to find the source if the interruption. It was a lowly messenger.

"Sir, Kindralmarshal Ghant has reports on the artillery. They say Fort six is in working condition, but Fort five is too badly damaged. They were more effective then they thought they'd be."

"Very well, recall the forces dispatched to Fort Five. Continue the assault on Fort Six. Retarget the Artillery to Forts 1 and 2. Status on the Air Cavalry?"

"They've ceased attacks on Forts 8 and 9. They're preparing for Fort Ten now."

"Redirect some of their bombers to Forts 3 and 4. And get me a casualty report from them"

"Yes, sir."

Tasget returned to his book.
**********
"Dropship Three, prepare landing assault. You'll be deploying via combat Drop onto the Eastern wall with me and Dropship 2."

"Copy Dropship One. Preparing forces."

The Dropships sped towards the fort, nineteen one craft each containing a single squad of ten Rethast soldiers, and another two with Stormkorp squads. As the dropships neared the Fortress, the enemy AA emplacements opened up. Bullets ricocheted off the side armour, and flak caused the Dropships to shake. But the AA fire was few and far between. The Dropships continued on their course.

Below and a small way back, APCs and AAV-10 Heavy Tanks rumbled towards the Fortress. The Tanks had been equipped with LEF shells, (Light Explosive Fragmentation) specially designed for taking Fortified areas intact. The shells explosions would not damage the buildings significantly, but would spread a huge amount of shrapnel in every direction, slaying nearby infantry.

"Lead AAV, this is Carrier oh-six. Request covering fire as we approach. APC formation is increasing to maximum speed. We need the gates of the Fortress down so we can enter quickly and deploy infantry."

"Copy Oh-Six. We'll let you know when we're in range. Arming with LEF shells now. AAVs Seven and Eight, load HEC6 shells and target the main gate."

"Command confirmeds. Targeting."