An AH-64D Apache gunship sliced through the air, its pilot, Captain Jual, scanned the battlefield below with intense focus. The thrum of the engines and the whir of the rotors resonated in the area menacingly as they darted through the sky, weaving through the air as they evaded enemy fire.
"We've got multiple hostiles spotted near the northwest corner of the encampment. Let's take 'em out," crackled the voice of his weapon officer, Lieutenant Ethan, through the intercom.
"Roger that, Ethan. Going in, now," Jual replied, his hands steady on the controls as he guided the gunship towards the designated area.
Below, Annonrial forces scrambled in disorganization as the gunship unleashed a barrage of fire from its autocannon, tearing through enemy positions with precision. Jual banked sharply to evade incoming fire, keeping the Apache's nose pointed towards the enemy.
"Nice shooting, Jual! Good hit," Ethan chimed in, his voice with satisfaction as explosions erupted on the ground below.
"Thanks," Jual responded with a hum of satisfaction as he scanned for more targets.
As they circled back for another pass, "Target-rich environment to the east," Jual spotted a convoy of enemy vehicles attempting to flee the area. "Got it," Ethan said so, after aligning — without hesitation, he armed the Apache's rockets and unleashed a volley towards the fleeing targets.
"Direct hit," Jual announced, a hint of triumph in his voice as the enemy vehicles erupted into flames and scattered throughout the roadside.
"We've got more hostiles incoming from the south. I'm vectoring in the other gunships to provide support," Ethan informed him, his voice calm despite the seriousness of the situation.
"Copy that," Jual replied, his eyes scanning the horizon for signs of the enemy.
As they zeroed in on enemy forces, Jual deftly maneuvered the Apache, ducking near the ground and weaving through incoming fire while maintaining a steady stream of return fire and passing overhead at high speed. The ground erupted in flames and explosions as the gunships engaged the enemy in a strafing fire.
"Nimrod 4! Watch your six! Missiles! Smoke in the air!," came the warning from another gunship pilot.
"Flares! Flares!," Jual instinctively responded, his fingers tightening on the controls as forcefully drift the gunship into the air, "Flare out," Ethan responded in followed suit on the sound of missile locked, as burst of flares lit up the sky and the missiles thrown off course, setting their proximity fuse into the nearest heat source. Then, Jual narrowly evading the aerial explosion — locked onto the origin of the attack — several infantries in his sight and proceeded to engage them with autocannons as they scattered in return fire.
"We're low on ammo," said Ethan to Jual as they made a highspeed fly-by over the scattered infantries.
"Coordinate with the FARPs in the rear,"
"Affirmative..." Ethan responded, his voice low as he communicated with the rear line in southern Philades. A minute later, he spoke up again, "Let's head to Point India, we're clear to refuel and rearm there."
"Loud and clear," Jual acknowledged as they began to withdraw from the scene. In the horizon, their ground forces soon appeared as lines of tanks and other armored units blitzed on the ground. "The Annonrials are about to get a taste of our ground units," Jual remarked with a smile. They moved towards the rear line to some of the FARPs, together with other gunships, to refuel and rearm in these temporary facilities perilously close to the frontlines to return to the fight.
Annonrial 14th Field Army
On the ground, frenzied and disorganized units of Annonrials were scattered, sporadically fighting back in the midst of the turmoil caused by the ballistic missiles slamming into their encampments. Then, followed by several helicopter gunships ripping them to pieces and adding chaos and pressure to their situation as they roamed the sky undeterred. Nearby, an officer barked orders as he captured several Annonrial infantry huddling in the trenches in fear. "Fools! Those enemy aircraft! Shoot them!" he commanded. The soldiers finally began to regain their senses and attempted to stand, but a rocket hit the nearest tent, sending the soldiers who had tried to stand back into the trench in fear.
Seeing their pathetic state the officer immediately grabbed them one by one, "stand up you morons, standup!," He shouted as he kicked them out of the trenches and pointed on the low flying high speed helicopters of ASEAN that are moving left and right like a locust. "What are you waiting for! Fire!," He shouted and the infantries immediately fired their battle lances and continuous stream of fully automatic electromagnetic launcher rifles of Annonrial zapped through the air as they attempting to engage enemy aircrafts. But to no avail, the helicopters are simply to far and too fast to be chased by flesh and unassisted targeting by normal being.
"Bring me the Aufsweir!" The officer shouted, realizing their small arms fire was essentially useless against the enemy aircraft. The nearest infantry began to set up the Annonrial's MANPADs, although they required a tripod due to their weight – standing at 80 kilograms, with the missile alone weighing 55 kilograms. It had a speed of roughly Mach 1.5 and a range of 2.8 kilometers, requiring a crew of 4. Then, they spotted a flight of 3 Apaches in the sky, and the officer pointed towards them, the infantry following obediently. "Fire," he ordered, and the propulsion system of the Aufsweir fired up as it immediately launched into the air, leaving behind thick purple smoke, closing in at high speed towards the enemy aircraft. However, the Apaches dodged and released bursts of flares, narrowly evading an explosion that ensued after the missile's proximity fuse kicked in. "How?!" The officer shouted, and soon ominously, the Apache turned its nose towards their location. "Run!" The infantry shouted, followed by the officer, as a hail of 30mm autocannon fire ripped through their position. Countless shards of wood, metal, and dirt flew as the burst of fire concentrated on their location. The exposed MANPADs launcher sparked and resulted into a explosion under the withering onslaught of return fire.
The officer and some of the infantry survived as they surveyed the aftermath, with up ahead bright noticable burning miasma leakage from the exploded MANPADs and unfortunate souls who were unable to react in time or were simply unlucky enough to be killed. The Apache had left the area. "Goddamn it," he murmured as he carefully peeked his head over, scanning for potential enemies flying around.
"Let's leave, this place is damned," he said to them, and the group of infantry followed him like chicks to a mother hen amidst the devastated encampments.
Then they sped up, but soon, thundering in the horizon, they looked back and saw a number of unfamiliar dark units. They initially thought they were Viracels, but those assumptions disappeared when the first round landed near them — causing a fiery explosion and the enemy gunships hovered over those unknown units without harm. It all meant one thing: they were enemy ground units. The officer paled in realization and immediately ran away upon seeing the situation.
"Follow me, fools! Move towards the north! The units there shouldn't have been damaged like these areas!" he barked as the enemy force rushed in massive columns. To add to the menace, additional gunships covering and escorting them from the sky appeared.
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A Southeast Asian Leopard 2 main battle tank rumbled forward, its massive tracks churning up the earth as it advanced—approaching the devastated Annonrial encampments. Inside, the tank crew remained focused and cautious, their eyes scanning the horizon for any signs of enemy resistance.
"Tango 5 to Enforcer 6, we're approaching the target area. Requesting updated coordinates for enemy positions," Lieutenant Chen, the tank commander, spoke into the radio, his voice steady despite the chaos outside.
"Roger that, Tango 5. Standby for coordinates," came the response from the Command vehicle.
As they waited for the coordinates, the tank's gunner, Sergeant Rolan, peered through the sight of the main cannon, scanning for any hostile targets. "No visual on hostiles yet, sir," he reported to Lieutenant Chen.
"Keep your eyes open. They could be hiding in those trenches," Lieutenant Chen replied, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
Outside, the tank's accompanying APCs and IFVs were busy gunning down the remnants of the Annonrial forces—anything moving or standing structures—to make sure there were no blind spots in their advance or captured by their thermals, their autocannons and machine gun fire raining down on the enemy positions. The air cover provided by the gunships above added to the overwhelming firepower, creating a seamless barrage of destruction on the surviving Annonrials in the cover.
Then, one of the trenches erupted in retaliation, guns blazing towards their tank, but the thick armor simply shrugged them off. However, the APCs and IFVs sprung out of action, pounding the trenches with their turrets.
"Enforcer 6, this is Tango 5. We're receiving heavy resistance from enemy trenches. Requesting air support to suppress enemy fire," Lieutenant Chen radioed in, his voice urgent. The Leopard 2, similarly to other armored units, supported by pounding the trench with its coaxial gun before resorting to firing its main gun, kicking significant mud into the air upon impact.
"Roger that, Tango 5. Air support inbound. Hold tight," came the response from the Command vehicle.
As they waited for air support, the tank continued its advance, smoothly rolling over the uneven terrain. Some of the mechanized infantry dismounted from their APCs and IFVs, moving to mop out the trenches and engage the resisting enemy forces on foot.
"Keep pushing forward," Lieutenant Chen ordered, his voice firm.
The tank's driver expertly maneuvered the Leopard 2 through the debris-strewn landscape, dodging wreckage and navigating around craters left by the earlier bombardment.
"Enemy spotted! 12 o'clock — engaging!" Sergeant Rolan called out, seeing an armored vehicle in the trench that finally rumbled to life — probably the enemy soldiers who were firing at them earlier in trenches finally came to their senses and used this vehicle in an attempt to escape — APCs being their nearest equivalent, his voice tense as he lined up the main cannon on the target.
"Fire at will," Lieutenant Chen replied, his hand hovering over the radio transmitter.
With a deafening roar, the main cannon unleashed its deadly payload, sending a DM-11 high-explosive round hurtling toward the enemy position. The impact sent dirt and debris flying behind as the enemy APC was over-penetrated, but the round successfully erupted a few inches away from exiting the thin armor of the APC, resulting in a shower of flames.
"Direct hit," Sergeant Rolan exclaimed, a hint of triumph in his voice.
"Good," Lieutenant Chen praised, his eyes scanning for more targets.
As they continued their advance, communication between the tank crew and their air and ground units remained constant and cohesive. Updates on enemy positions, requests for fire support, and forecasts of the situation outside were relayed seamlessly.
Then, a gunship rained down rockets on the trenches, creating spectacular walls of flame and explosions, then slowly hovered overhead as it opened fire with autocannons unrelentingly. It then proceeded to leave the area as the mechanized infantry bust towards the trenches, engaging hostile Annonrial survivors, cleaning the area in minutes after a short firefight.
"Enforcer 6. Enemy resistance ceased. Requesting permission to push forward and secure the northern area," Lieutenant Chen radioed in.
"Negative, support the AO and mop up any remaining hostiles," came the response from the Command vehicle.
With orders on the line, the tank crew moved around their guns and small-caliber weapons trained at trenches and standing Annonrial facilities, their Leopard 2 leading the charge with infantry moving behind them as they cleared out the remaining enemy forces and secured the area.
"No tanks as of yet?" asked Rolan.
"The enemy intact armor is around in the north. The brasses are careful not to push the enemy too hard so they won't run away once we move in pincer maneuver, likely as we surround them from the left and right flanks and cut off their retreat," Chen said to Rolan. "Even if they manage to bypass our attempts to cut off their escape, their only way out is the bridge up north, but it was already destroyed. The river cutting between Najar and the Salju Mountain range is too deep to be passed by vehicles either way, they would drown in attempting to cross. To the west, there's a forest and rolling hills. They could find cover there, but appears the higher ups planned to firebomb that area later, it seems," he said in a low voice over the radio.
"Really?" Rolan questioned.
"Yeah, and the gunships are being refueled and rearmed in forward armed and refueling points right now. Once they're completed and return here, they'll probably begin thrashing any major air defense units on the Annonrial side so our F-15s can begin bombing them from a lower altitude with dumb bombs and napalms," Chen explained.
"So we'll wait here until they finish the cleanup of air defense?" Rolan inquired.
"Nah, probably not. We're going in to smash them on the ground and air. The helicopters shouldn't be enough to annihilate the enemy air defenses to bits," he said to Rolan.
Soon, they began to spot on the horizon, muzzle flashes and explosions resounded 300 meters away to their left, almost hitting a BRDM. "We got armor contact," Chen said, as multiple Annonrial armor units appeared. "They're launching a counteroffensive," he added, as Southeast Asians and their allied forces began redirecting their efforts from mopping up to targeting the newcomers. The gunships overhead continuously fired rockets and ATGMs, steady in the air. However, soon enough, streams of light — tracer rounds drowned the skies, hitting one of the Apaches as its wingling produced smoke in the sky before crash landing. The other gunships began to move frantically as they dodged and moved into attack formation.
"Holy shit," exclaimed one of the crew members.
"They got SPAA. Redirect kamikaze units for its destruction, ASAP," Another one ordered through comms.
"Enemy MBT sighted, multiple contacts," reported another.
"Missiles!" shouted someone else.
Uttered over their radios chaotically as the two forces met in knife range, the Leopard slowly accelerated with other units as they began firing in retaliation.
"500 meters, APFSDS," called out one crew member.
"Identified!" responded another.
"Fire!"
"Rounds away!"
Then the Leopard 2 tank gun roared to life as they blasted through the air. However, their rounds fell short by a few meters in front of their targeted Viracel.
"Loading!" called out another crew member.
"Adjust it!"
"420 meters! Fire!"
"Rounds away!"
Their second shot left their muzzle with a bang and hit their intended target squarely in its turret, penetrating all the way to the ammo racks behind their loading mechanisms, followed by a short circuit and then an explosion while still moving, it's already destroyed but it was nothing but mobile burning coffins.
Then a strong thud hit them, shaking the inside of the tank. "Fuck, what was that?" one of their crew members asked.
"They ain't penetrating this tank, just continue forward, don't stop," Chen said as he looked around the periscope. He couldn't see any actual damage, probably just a glancing hit on the side if the base where the rocking motion originated. "Any compromise in the movement?" he asked the driver.
"We're moving alright, not sure about reversing. Looks like we could go without an issue," the driver responded.
"Onto the next target—*clang!" Then they got hit once more, interrupting Chen's words. "Fuck those idiots shooting at us, they're accurate as fuck."
He cursed, feeling a surge of horror as they didn't know when the next Annonrial round might penetrate their tank. Then, they got moving, accelerating and narrowly avoiding a collision with an allied tank in the area, which was circling around with a damaged drive train.
"Identified!"
"That armored vehicle in front!" said Chen as the gunner looked at it with focus. The armored vehicle they captured stopped, looking stuck in a ditch or crater. They didn't know, but it appeared the crew had yet to abandon it as its autocannons fired at their allies before redirecting to the Leopard. But it was too late to cause any meaningful damage as the Leopard fired mercilessly, an APFSDS streaking through the air. It sent the vehicle to kingdom come with a guaranteed hit, turning it into a burning hulk of scrap metal.
They proceeded to fire their coaxial guns, hitting the Annonrial armored units before firing their main guns once more, hitting their targets. The mayhem continued until additional attack helicopters reached the area upon finishing their refueling and rearming, raining havoc on the enemy forces. Drones weren't shying away either, hitting Viracel tracks or roofs with explosives in order to damage or disable the enemies in a frantic attempt to cause them to disarray, which was partially successful due to the majority of their kamikaze drones being geared towards surveillance, anti-personnel, and anti-light armored/vehicles roles, swarming the entire area.
Friend or foe, burning in the soil of Philades. Tanks treads rolling on the fields, gunships and swarming drones covering the skies, as infantry shouted, marched, and took action in their respective armored formations.
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Esthirant HQ, Southern Philades
In the frantic noise of people all around the room, the center was filled with live updates and field reports of the situation on the battlefield, with burning wrecks of Annonrial fortifications and assets being streamed in live.
"Why aren't the artillery units setting up? Get them moving, the vanguard has established their foothold in the enemy formation, right? Have them set in — on the double."
"Update: 2 additional Apaches lost, and 1 Hind lightly damaged but crash-landed."
"Major Vu is requesting additional drones."
"The strikes failed to destroy the AAA batteries, we can't se..."
The situation was erratic as they looked at the mounting losses on their attempt to destroy the Annonrials head-on. The officer in charge, General Nasir, looked at the situation with a bit of bitterness.
"We should have taken the cautious route, shouldn't we?" he said as he glanced around the room.
"Airstrikes until they were obliterated? We should have done that. We weren't expecting them to fight as fiercely as this," said his co-officer.
"At the moment, the casualties are within our conservative estimate of 'acceptable losses' that I didn't want to begin with," he said bitterly. Talks and opinions about the argument of this operation were quite hectic. Certainly, the end conclusion would be victory anyway, but the losses were a bit too painful to bear in their most dire situation. They had invested a lot of ground and air assets for this operation, with half of their stockpiles of missiles and almost all available aircraft in Philades being used to pull it off.
Though the counterargument to this ground operation, if they were to opt for a safer option, is that they don't have enough aircraft, missiles, and bombs to constantly attack the Annonrial formation with a dense anti-aircraft network. Even still, this doesn't guarantee their total destruction, which could evolve into a protracted war for their annihilation, requiring additional time, resources, and effort to do so. Thus, with a ground invasion, they could neutralize them from both air and ground as they surround and seal their fate. Additionally, there's the story of destroying the largest known Annonrial army formation in the third civilization, which should be a huge blow to the morale of hostile countries, including S'vam, though it's all speculation and dubious reasoning.
However, it was in fact, they were slowly moving away from the original plan of letting their enemies self-destruct on their own as there's no reason or gain to do a dangerous ground invasion, but the pressure of the potential arrival of the second Ravernal Empire exacerbated the situation. They wanted to end this war for good and fast — with priority of closing one front, the Philades, but risky war situations were needed, involving a mass land invasion on Philades. They didn't hope for total pacification of their enemies; insurgency, guerrilla warfare, and partisan actions were to be expected. All they needed was to destroy their very central nerve, and that would be more than enough for their goals of elimination of hostile effective centralized resistance and counteroffensive. Once it was achieved, they could face the Annonrial with all efforts directed towards them.
"Damn this place, why is there no end to war in this world," said Nasir as they looked at the situation and the quagmire that would later be called the First New World War.
"General!" interrupted one of his officers in a hurry.
"What?" Nasir responded sharply.
"There are unusual movements with the Annonrial fleet from the west."
Nasir looked at him with wide eyes upon hearing the words.
"Several fleets appear to be moving towards Rodenius and..." He paused, biting his lips in response. "Here," he continued.
"Great," Nasir ended with a sigh. He didn't know what to do anymore. All he could hope was that their air force and navy could stop them from reaching territories directly controlled by ASEAN or their allied countries.
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I'll work for another chap this week, expect one or two.