-=+ +=- [COMPLETED] The Second Universe -=+ +=-

Part 14: Destroy Tyranny

The idea, executed by the Enigma Corps PMC's CEO, the now decently infamous Tempus, worked surprisingly well. Thanks to the drones, F/A-95s were able to knock out the anti-aircraft sites rather easily. The vast majority of them had a fatal flaw. These batteries were literally linked to munitions depots, so when the main system blew up, the munitions all along the link would detonate in a catastrophic chain reaction.

Entire districts of the city-planet went up in non-nuclear mushroom clouds. While the buildings were strong enough to withstand the blasts at a distance, the foundations and ground they were built on was often not strong enough to withstand the blasts. Entire levels of the city collapsed onto each other, as the explosions had also taken support structures with them. Thousands of CROS vehicles were swallowed up by the holes.

The drone swarms continued firing at both mission objectives and targets of opportunity, and, while this was all happening, glows appeared in the sky very frequently. OFR naval vessels were now arriving near the planet, and they would often join up with their NWU allied formations. They helped level entire surface sections of city, specifically targeting business centers while letting their allies bombard other targets.

The planet's sole gray moon, pockmarked by craters everywhere, was not spared from the massive battle. A large CROS base located on its dark side, designated M3 by the CROS, is currently being attacked by NWU naval and air forces. Bombers fire off pointblank-ranged guided bombs from the planet's orange sun, then turning away to ensure they aren't hit by solar flares or coronal mass ejections, which, though not harmful, are generally unpleasant.

These guided bombs roar towards the moon, slamming into it in just a few moments. Bases, airfields, and refueling stations go up in explosions, and a second wave of bombs and missiles fired from the attacking fighters screams towards anti-air and other forms of defense. Thaumaturgic shields go down all around the base as the missiles detonate on target, and many of the fighters fire off countermeasures.

However, plenty of defenses still remain, and orders are sent out across communications networks for the fighters to simply back up from the base. The aircraft bunch up and teleport away, but in the process of bunching up, some are hit by SAMs and some now-active SPAA batteries. 

As soon as the fighters back up, some 20,000 heavy surface to air launch sites are activated, and those still active continue to target the fighters. There is a struggle to dispense munitions towards the enemy while dodging the missiles moving as fast as the jets can, and the sheer volume of fire knocks out a good chunk of fighters.

The SPAA batteries join in as well, firing their own missiles alongside their guns towards the attacking aircraft, but CASA-10Cs now emerging from portals dive onto the batteries and spray them with their beam cannons. Thanks to their different shape, the SPAA batteries have a difficult time locking onto them with missiles, instead spraying them with thaumaturgic lasers and whatever gun systems they have on board.

Some go down when their wings and engines are blasted off, but the overwhelming majority, thanks to the surprise of the attack, were able to hit plenty of targets. AHM-64s also joined in on the fun that the CASA-10s seemed to be having, leaving the planet's orbit and joining the attack on M3. Unguided explosives are launched from their wings, peppering the base.

While most don't hit anything of extreme value, the relatively low altitude of the aircraft is taken advantage of by the CROS infantry and ground units protecting the base. Surface to air launchers designated LLSA-117s are wielded by CROS troops as they attempt to evacuate civilians from the base, funneling them into designated escape buildings.

Escape rockets are not targeted by the NWU, and instead, MPH-07s and other vehicles are pulled and sent over to collect the civilians. The missiles often hit the AHM-64s, stealth disregarded, as their large frames and massive weapon loadouts make them relatively easy targets. APS and shield systems work overtime to protect the helicopters, but some are overwhelmed. Some structures on roofs begin to unfurl.

What looks like repainted archaic Paris gun-esque batteries are revealed to be behind the structures, and they now begin firing up into the air and towards targets. Most of the fighter wave that had retreated was obliterated by the ridiculous munitions utilized by the batteries, and the other aircraft are forced to retreat in order not to get wiped out by the gun batteries. Of course, the batteries fire at the retreating crafts, downing a good chunk of them before the skies above M3 are free.

Another base, designated M7 and located in the city, is under heavy assault as well. This base however, has already activated its large gun batteries. They didn't seem to matter however, as the assault on M7 was much more focused and determined than the M3 assault. Drone carriers did what they did best and dispensed low-end millions of drones to simply black out the sky over the base and attack it. 

CASA-10s drop from orbit and soar towards the base, their wing-engines blazing brightly as they dive on the defenses. Just like on M3, they bombard plenty of targets, but face much greater resistance. CROS fighters, namely the F/E-105 [imagine a magic sci fi F-15] and X/F-37s [like a SU-47] scramble out of portals and fly to intercept the CASA-10s. 

F/A-35s similarly drop from orbit and fire missiles, intercepting plenty of the CROS fighters. Those controlled by more skilled pilots perform TIGHT evasive maneuvers, turning towards the F/A-35s and racing towards them. Without an issue, the F/A-35s warped behind them at different times, their guns now pointed at the unfortunate CROS fighters and shredding their engines, causing a majority of the fighters to explode outright.

Three of them survive and go crashing towards the ground, impacting either streets or, for the unluckiest one, a corporate HQ. Smoke trails followed them all the way down, and the F/A-35s then focused on attacking M7. Heavy anti-air fire followed, but their teleportation capabilities allowed them to simply dodge the fire. A conveniently located F/A-35 saw a portal open up, and the fighter dove towards it.

The fighter entered through the portal, finding itself in an underground hangar. The pilots and ground crew look at the fighter awkwardly, thousands of thoughts going through their heads and the most shared one being 'how the fuck did that get in here?'. The F/A-35s pilot freezes for a moment, hovering the aircraft then shrugging and figuratively holding down the trigger. 

Gunfire and missiles roar down the hallway, blowing up fighters and killing plenty of personnel. Floating geometrically shaped refueling tanks are detonated by the gunfire, bathing the entire tunnel in multicolored fire. The pilot spotted a tunnel leading down, and this resulted in the pilot flying their F/A-35 towards the tunnel. Flying in, the pilot found another hangar.

The pilot first alerted the rest of the NWU's forces to their location, then doing exactly what they did to the upper hangar to this lower one. More gunfire, more missiles, more rockets, more bombs, and more explosions all went off. Thanks to this hangar not expecting to be entered by a fucking enemy fighter jet capable of VTOL, there were plenty of refueling tanks around.

It's safe to say that you probably know what's going to happen next, since the fighter simply sprayed its guns all over the area and detonated the whole hangar. By now, NWU forces were able to drop bunker-busting bombs in from the roof and were also now exposing the underground complex to the rest of the planet.

The complex had four cylindrical protrusions in each direction, which were the hangars, and what seemed to be a massive elevator the F/A-35 was hovering above. The fighter and its pilot simply flew through the roof and requested permission to use a nuclear airstrike, but was denied this not by command, but by the CROS. An anti-air gun managed to shoot the F/A-35's engines and wings, which forced it to retreat. 

(3922 words, 3750 is now the standard and if I go way above I'll move the extra text into the next chapter lol)

v1.0.0. June 13, 195- 2024, Release

v1.0.1. June 19, 2024, slight revision 

v1.0.2. July 5, 2024, slight edit