Operation Lord

__________________________________________

You shiver as the freezing air runs through your uniform.

"God, it's freaking cold down here." You speak as you fix the electrical unit to the F-16 at midnight, spot-up by floodlights and your handy flashlight.

After making final inspection checks, you see that everything looks alright. Whew. You finally have time to rest.

"Hey, everything done there? Our XO told you to get it done by 0300." You look up from the unit to see who it is, and it's your compatriot, Thomas.

"Yeah, that's all of them."

"Impressive, considering how you are shivering your balls out here in the night." You hear him chuckle.

"At least I didn't die from shock." You muster a laugh, but you see Thomas being disappointed in your pun.

You see him shrug it off, "From what I've heard, 1st Cavalry 3rd BCT is starting a significant operation tomorrow. Quite incredible with that scanty amount of planning time. Did you get a briefing on our current situation?"

"Got one, apparently we are in some world called Oyerat. Medieval swordsmen, everything. Just what kind of world is out there? Mythical dragons in the air?"

"Yeah, that's fucking insane. Except for the dragons you have mentioned. Heck, I don't know if there are actually any in this world. Apparently, we're under the Unified States. Our CO told us to wear some blue armbands of what looks like some top-down view of this planet."

"That one too, Thomas. It's the "country" that we're representing, and for us to communicate more easily with the outside world."

You look to the silhouette of what looks like a forest that you see in the daytime. That thing is darn huge. You saw in the world maps at the briefing how big the Grand Forest is.

"Hey, Jason-"

You hear his words getting blurred out as the incoming E-3 Sentry AWACS lands on the nearby runway with its soaring engines. It still sounds magnificent to you even after hearing it a bunch of times. You look at it, then back at Jason.

After you think it got to a reasonable sound level after seeing the E-3 taxiing off the runway, "What is it that you're trying to say?"

"Yeah! I'm going back to my post now! Do you wanna follow back?!" You hear him shout with his hands cupped at the mouth.

"Sorry, I can't! I got something else to do!" You shout back at him.

You see him turn back and running.

As you idle around on the apron, you look around and see the base lighting, aircraft taxiing, and then you look up to the bright starry night of Oyerat.

"Gosh darn, it's beautiful. When will the 3rd Wing be up there?" You murmur to yourself.

__________________________________________

"Tsutomu!"

"Tsutomu!"

"Tsutomu!"

"Tsutomu!" All I hear are some distant cries.

Tsutomu. Tsutomu. Tsutomu. The devil himself. The one who killed millions-hundreds of millions of people. Is it me?

How did I let this happen? Why? I don't know...

All I see is just darkness. There is nothing in sight, just nothing. No vision.

I feel my heart thrashing as I see a bloodied child with a troubled face...with what seems to be corpses behind her...

I can't take it...

Whatever it necessitates...I must continue.

I-I must endure.

...

I flash open my eyes. My eyes see just the blank ceiling in the dark.

My heart races. I need to breathe for a moment...

I sit up from the bed and, trying that, discern that someone's holding me down.

I look over to my left and see that it's Satomi with her arms and legs, hugging me inside the sheets. No wonder why my lungs can't breathe.

God-

How did she even get here? I'm trying to remember-aha!

She just won't leave me alone. Simple as that. I tell her to get another room, and she doesn't like it. She keeps on pressing me. I'm not taking the time to listen to her teasing. So, I give in and just screw everything. We did some talking there and recalling the events. Satomi was actually thankful for the thing's that I've done for her. It really touches me in my heart. I...appreciate it. It just makes me happy whenever I think of that.

Looking at the clock on the nightstand, it's a new day. Thank goodness. I wasn't sleeping for an hour. It's around five o'clock, I think.

I exhale. New day? Tons of things just happen yesterday. There are tons of meetings with the 3rd BCT and the 3rd Wing. Satomi was just not having it and sleep through everything. Haha. I did meet some wonderful people. It was nice.

Whew. Recalling those events is hard already, even when though yesterday. Although, I still can remember the thing's that I've done back on Earth. Disappointing.

My thoughts come to an end when I hear knocking on the door.

"Come in," I speak to the door.

The door opens and what introduces into the room is a flash of light. I was nearly blind from that!

After a while, I can see that it's Captain Baker, Mason Baker, with some plates. I breathe in, and I scent trails of bacon and coffee. It smells kind of pleasant, actually.

"Ma'am, here's your breakfast of the day. There's a meeting at 0600." I see him place the two trays on the nearby table.

"Thank you."

"No problem." He exits out of the room and quietly closes the door behind him.

The room is now dark again.

I'm hungry. I'm just hungry. I shift Satomi's arms off of me and rise up from the bed. Stretching really does feel good!

All I hear now is just Satomi mumbling to herself. I ready up my AC uniform in OCP and wake up Satmoi from her slumber.

"What time is it?" She converses with a soft voice.

"Five o' six."

"Alright, thanks." I see her flipping to the other side of the bed.

"There's breakfast."

"Really..?"

"Yes, really."

She gets up from the bed and wears the AC uniform that I've created for her. She looks different from yesterday, somehow.

With the lights on, we sit on the chairs of the table and eat our breakfast.

"Satomi, I've been wondering...why were you asleep for the past meetings?"

"It's boring, and you don't even mention me at all." She replies.

"That's blunt. How about I make you involved in the meetings, say?"

"No! I don't want to!" She complains while her mouth is full of food.

"I'm just messing with you! I won't do that."

She swallows, "Really..?"

"Yes, really."

"P-Promise?" She mutters.

"Yes...I promise..."

Her smile appears, and I look away. I'm not going to let that appease me.

"Mm! Why you keep looking away!" She grumbles.

"I-I just can't look at you."

"W-Why!" I hear her fuming.

"It's too sweet." I chuckle.

I look at her and see that she's completely done with her breakfast. I guess she's hungry even after eating a grand dinner.

"Today is another day."

"Yeah...yeah..." She places her head on the table.

Gonna use this time to finish my breakfast too.

__________________________________________

Done. It's a fulfilling breakfast, probably the best one that I've ever had. I wake up Satomi from her nap, and the both of us went outside of the building. Looking up, the vivid orange and yellow colors of the skies of Oyerat are fascinating. It's just beautiful. Sounds of jets nearby kind of ruins it, but not bad.

Captain Mason was waiting for us in the ISV. Didn't know that. Woopsie.

The two of us got in. Carrying our weapons wasn't the best idea, as we had figured it out yesterday.

"That was quite a long breakfast you had there, ma'am." Captain Mason announces from the driver's seat.

As the winds flow through me, "There's nothing much. We're just taking our time."

"Mhm." He chuckles.

"Yes?" I question him.

"You two...did things?" I see him glancing back at me.

I breathe, "It's not what you would expect."

"I trust your words, ma'am." He laughs again.

"What is he talking about?" I hear Satomi talking.

"Random things."

"Okay!" She accepts.

"Well, ma'am. I believe what you've said." Mason concedes.

"Yeah, obviously."

After being a noodle flopping around with the flow of the winds, the ISV stops.

"We've arrived, ma'am."

"Thanks."

The three of us got off and walk into the meeting room where the Division Headquarters are.

I stop before the door, and I took a couple of breaths. This is big. I open it, and I walk in.

As Mason closes the door behind me, the whole room stands at attention.

"Commander," One of the men declares.

I walk over to the center of the table, "G'day gentlemen,"

I sit down on the chair, "How's the planning?" I shuffle through the documents that lie in front of me.

As others sit down, "It's going as expected." I look up and see that it's Major General Rodriquez.

I nod my head in agreement, "I will be negotiating with the town Lord, is that right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Rodriquez confirms.

"We received satellite reports at 0549 hrs that the Scanosians are starting to set up a camp south of Linton. It's in your folders." Colonel Becker acknowledges. I nod to that.

"There are around twenty thousand counts of enemy units at the encampment, known as Objective Alpha. In the sixth image, that is the supposed leader of the twenty thousand men formation. The seventh image is their siege weapons, which appears to be trebuchets and battering rams." Becker looks like he's done with his statement.

I close the folder, "Looks good. No questions." I look at Rodriquez.

"May the room look at the screen?" Major General Rodriquez stands up.

As Rodriquez state out the plan from the presentation, "Our Commander will re-establish diplomatic relations with Lysander and assist the town guard in their defense. Once our Commander gives the signal, Artillery from the 2-82nd Field Artillery Rgt. will bombard Objective Alpha, the Scanosian encampment. The 1-227th Aviation Regiment will be raining hell after the howitzers fired for effect. The armored recon of the 6-9th Cavalry Regiment, followed by the 2-7th Cavalry Regiment, will be moving in afterward to secure Objective Alpha. The 2-227th Aviation Regiment will supply humanitarian aid when the battle is over. The Scanosians at Objective Alpha must not be alerted by our presence until friendly relations are established."

Rodriquez continues with his explanations, "Once our Commander establishes friendly relations with the town Lord, elements of the 2-7th Cavalry Regiment will be airlifted into Linton by the Black Hawks by the 3-227th Aviation Regiment."

"We've estimated that the town guard of Linton should be able to defend from the prominent siege with Chief Warrant Officer Hans, Satomi, Captain Mason, and our Commander."

"Why would our Commander be the one doing the talks?" I look to see who it is, and it's the Air Base Wing Commander, Brigadier General Mcgee.

"Well, the town Lord only knows of our Commander and Satomi. It would put a detrimental effort into the plan-"

"It's my doing," I explain to Mcgee.

"Alright." Colin Mcgee contends.

"The most critical part of this operation is for our soldiers to be affiliated with the Unified States. The blue armbands you're wearing is what says about this operation."

Hearing Rodriquez cough, "That's the main part of the operation-" He looks around, "anyone else has anything to say?" Rodriquez announces to the room.

The sound of air ducts, people coughing inside of themselves, and the shuffling of clothes is the most familiar sound I can hear.

I nod at Rodriquez, "Alright. At 0700 hrs, Operation Lord is a go." Some bored officers at the meetings made up that name. Heh. I could've made it Overlord. But I don't really want to mention those things at all.

As I stood up from the chair, everyone else did. I leave the room, with Mason, Hans, and Satomi following.

As we exit out the Headquarters, "Pleasure to be with you, ma'am." Hans steps into the front seat of the ISV.

"No worries."

The three of us took a seat on the ISV.

The rumbling vehicle speeds up, and the scenes of the base are pretty noteworthy. The Oyerat skies are becoming more filled with the haze of blue. I also added in an extra runway, and the ATC of Joint Base Central was dying inside. Hehehe! I specifically told the Post Commander to not utilize our stuff in the humanitarian aid. I've already created the supplies needed for the town of thousands in Linton. All of it is neatly secured inside the helicopters. The long work is finished for the crew members. I know how that feels.

"Oh, your guns are in the Black Hawk, ma'am," Mason says.

"Thanks..." I reply. I feel like dozing off to the hums of the Infantry Squad Vehicle.

"Are we going back there, Sayuri?" Satomi questions me.

"Yes, we are."

"Hm?"

In the distance, I can see soldiers rushing and shouting around, M1A2C Abrams tanks, Stryker Combat Vehicles, BFV's, LAV-25A3's, and JLTV's rolling out of the base. It's truly a city down here.

I feel the force of the vehicle slowing down, "We're here, ma'am." Mason says.

The four of us got off the ISV and step into the helicopter.

I grab our two flight helmets and give one to Satomi. The other two already have one. Satomi and I also found our nice guns.

As I swipe down the S1 with my hand, "Ma'am, it's a pleasure to be flying you to Linton. Warrant Officer James."

I jolt from what I'm doing, "Y-Yeah. No problem."

"Okay, James, don't crash here." Hans laughs as he gets into the co-pilot's seat.

"Alright." James flicks the switches of the Black Hawk. The vibrations and the whirring sounds of the helicopter flow through me. Oooh!

As the bird ascends from the ground, we're now airborne. Looking down into the area below me, I see columns of vehicles rushing down the asphalt-laid roads set up by the engineers. They worked tirelessly to bring these roads to nearby Linton, with some distance before the town itself, of course. Round of applause. I remember what used to be flat plains is now an enormous dang base.

__________________________________________

"What ho! Got some drinks over there?"

"Nah, man, we fucking ran out of it before we even got here!"

"Seriously?! You're joking, right?"

"I'm serious, not joking. Haha!"

"Fucking hell, we should've stocked up more on supplies."

"Jokes on you, we're getting the supplies today."

"You mean that fucking town right there?"

"Yeah! Loot, pillage, rape, do everything!"

"These fucking pieces of shit wouldn't give up, wouldn't they? They should've heard of us fucking up Hillford something?"

"That means we do more."

"Hey, what's that flapping sound?"

"What sound?"

"I don't know, that one that goes whop-whop."

"You're fucking dreaming from the drinks you don't have, haha!"

"Fucking right! I must be dreaming. God spede you."

__________________________________________

The helicopter I'm riding on is flying low. So dang low. It's like touching the tip tops of trees with the landing gear. The one thing that I know we're here is that long trail of smoke coming from the town.

"Don't worry, guys. James won't crash." I hear Hans chuckling from the cockpit.

"Yeah, I hope so." I see Mason preparing the Gatling gun.

During the trip to the Lord's town, Satomi keeps on hugging my left arm while resting. I know, but I don't know why.

"Contact on our four!" Mason shouts.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT.

My body tilts slightly to the right as the helicopter gets hit by something. I look around to see what the heck just happened, and there's some kind of blood on the flooring.

As I feel like we're level, "Gosh darn, Mason! What is the god's name is that?" Someone shouts from the cockpit.

"Some kind of weird-looking beast that can jump up here, Hans."

"Well, in this world, it sounds believable!" Hans laughs with him.

"Besides that, we've alerted ourselves with that Gatling gun."

Mason looks at me, "Ma'am, your safety is our utmost importance."

"I appreciate it, but things will be a bit more difficult from here."

Even after all of that, Satomi is still asleep. I guess she's actually dead.

I can see the voyage coming to a close as the colorful, vast fields and the stone walls of Linton are visible.

"Touchdown!" James shouts.

I remove the flight helmets from Satomi and from myself and push her paper body onto the ground, and the three of us got off ordinarily.

As I look around the grassy area that is being swept to bits from the blades, "Clear," Mason says.

The helicopter takes off and quietly disappears from my hearing. The calm nature really fills me up.

I feel a tap on the back and see that it's Satomi.

"Why am I down on the grass?"

"We're here now."

"Oh." I see her preparing her HK416C.

I pull out my glass tablet. Basing it on my Intelligence Initiative, the guards of this town are actually disconcerted by the Lord. Hm.

Looking at the two of them, "Don't get too tense here. It will be alright."

"You sure? We don't know what those spears and swords can do." Hans replies to me.

"Yeah."

"Alright."

As we approach the northern gate of Linton, the iron door is down. I can see some silhouette of guards on top of the stone walls up there.

"Hey!" I shout to the guards up there.

One of the guards looks down on us, "Blue armbands! Raise the gate!" He shouts back at his men.

The gate rolls up, and two guards are presenting in front of us.

"Please, follow me." One of them converses.

I follow him, and the three others start to follow behind me.

The town's atmosphere is so different. There is no one on the streets. I see one resident in the houses, peaking down on us, but closes the wooden window once I catch an eye on him. Guards are running around the area, clanking their armor throughout the streets.

As we are escorted into the inner walls, we soon enter the castle of Linton.

The two guards brought us into a familiar area. This is where Satomi and I first met the Lord. It's another room with a table and chairs.

One guard knocks on the door, "The blue armbands have arrived, my Lord."

I hear a distinct voice on the other side, "Come on in!"

The guard opens and signals the four of us to enter. The Lord and his nobility were sitting down. The chatters of the room stop, and they all look to be in shock, except for the Lord.

The door closes behind me, and Satomi and I sit down on the remaining two wooden chairs. The room is still quiet as crickets.

"My Lord, is this the blue armbands that you're talking about?" One noble in some unique dyed clothing speaks out.

Lysander points at us, "Yes, yes. These are the ones that I'm talking about."

"But, my Lord, these are the ones who have committed heinous acts of murder in this town! And, you are forgiving them!?" The same noble shouts at Lysander. After that, the whole room erupts in discussions.

"Execute them!"

"Traitors to Skoaria!"

"Murderous magicians!"

Mason taps on my shoulder, "Is it time to leave?"

"No."

I hear the Lord slamming his fists on the table, "DO you understand what situation we are in, Darren Grey?"

"Yes, my Lord." He backs down.

"Alright! Stop the bickering."

As the room eases down, "WE are in a DIRE SITUATION. We don't have any resources to last the siege with the Scanosians down the road over there!"

"What makes these blue armbands from the Unified States so special? Lord?"

"They can do more than what you think. As I've mentioned, the nation is vastly superior to every country on this world."

"Pfft, how is that possible?" A noble smirks.

In my peripheral view, a gun is rising. Wait-

"The magician!" One yells.

BANG.

The room stops and looks at Satomi, then at the bullet hole on the wall.

"Is this enough?" She asks.

The nobles quietly relax and look back at the Lord.

"To cause that loudness," Someone murmurs.

"That was unexpected. What you've seen is the power that I'm talking about. This is why we are under the protection of the Unified States."

"Alright...we understand...where are the others from this Unified States?" Darren asks the Lord.

Lysander looks at me as if he doesn't know anything.

Alright.

I speak up, "Do you guys mind if you can walk with us to the southern gate?" The nobles look at Lysander for some approval or something. He nods.

I stand up from the wooden chairs and walk straight out of the door. The whole room follows the four of us.

Walking through the deserted streets and up to the stone walls.

In the distance, I can see the Scanosian encampment. The Scanosians are in gambesons, leather clothing, and some chainmail. The town guards are equipped kind of better with plated armor.

The nobles were slightly afraid to be up here and were hiding behind the stone grooves of the embrasures.

"What's the point of being part of the aristocracy of this town if you can't face the enemy?" The Lord shouts at them. They listened to the Lord and were being a bit more "brave."

My radio crackles, "Charlie Six, this is Central, status report, over."

I pick up my radio, "This is Charlie Six. We're doing pretty well. Currently on Objective Brahms, over."

"Wilco Charlie Six, 3-227th Aviation Regiment is flying towards Objective Brahms ETA fife minutes. Central, over."

"Copy that Central. Charlie Six, out."

I tune in to a different frequency and look at the glass tablet, "This is Charlie Six, fire for effect at Objective Alpha at 0732 hrs, over."

"Wilco Charlie Six, this is Steel Dragon One firing for effect at Objective Alpha at 0-7-3-2 hrs, out."

"If you may look at the skies ahead of the Scanosian encampment," I state to the nobles.

Murmurs arise from the group of nobles, "What are those dots in the sky?"

"What is she speaking to?"

"I don't know. Magicians?"

"What?"

They are already getting a bit more cautious with each second passing.

Then, I hear the sound of the helicopters. Here it comes. I'm hyping up.

"What is that beast!"

"Are those DRAGONS?"

I realize that this is a medieval world, and everything could be possible, "Rest assured, these are not flying monsters."

The three flights of Black Hawks are now visible to me to identify and are flying over the Grand Forest. The helicopters are emitting powerful whirring and roars from the blades over the town of Linton and the encampment. The Dark Colored beasts are hovering above the stone walls of Linton. Ropes dropping out of the helicopter, and soldiers with blue armbands and modern weapons are repelling onto the walls. It's an extraordinary sight of seeing soldiers repelling from the helicopters up in the skies.

"Move, move, move!" Shouts are heard from the 2-7th Cavalry Regiment.

The looks on the people here are funny.

The soldiers secure their area, and the Black Hawks fly out of the town as its powerful sounds fading away.

"You haven't seen all of it yet. Take a look at the dull camp over there." The people on the walls are looking at the encampment. I assume they are expecting the worst.

"T-The Scanosians are attacking!" The formations of men and their wooden siege weapons are marching down the fields.

I hear the faint booms of the artillery firing in the distance.

"D-Does the Scanosians have a magician!?" One scream.

KABOOM.

The whole area around the encampment erupts into a frenzy of screams, explosions, and rumbling. Clouds of particles emit up to the skies above. The stone wall I'm on is rocking hard, and the loud blasts of the explosion fluctuate through my body from the air and are ringing my ears.

After a while, the explosions stop. The dust settles, and the grass hills, once an encampment, are now filled with craters, dirt, and dying men. Just thinking of that fills my stomach.

"W-Well...that's our demonstration."

No applause, just people in shock.

Thunk.

Swords and weapons are dropping on the stone from a distance.

"T-The whole army got obliterated!"

"What kind of power is...this?!"

The Lord seems to be more afraid of me than the dying Scanosians over there.

Lysander kneels to me, "I humbly submit as vassal to your grand nation, madame."

I look at the nobles, and they were visibly scared of me looking at them and were doing the same thing as the Lord. The guards were caught off-guard...and were kneeling too.

"It's alright. You may rise."

Lysander looks kind of relieved?

"To be assisted by a nation this...powerful, we appreciate it." The Lord quietly speaks.

"Aha...okay! I won't be that rude to you. I-I think this is just a misunderstanding! Um, you will still be under the control of this town, Lysander."

He looks at me and smiles, "Thank you."

"Oh, you guys can stand up." The ones who are kneeling stood up.

My radio crackles again, "Charlie Six, this is First Attack Two. We're approaching Objective Alpha. Requesting orders, over."

"We will speak after this at that dining room. You guys can do whatever you want. We are handling this situation at the moment."

"Madam, how will you inform us?" I see that it's Darren Grey asking.

"Your Lord will notify you later on in the day."

The nobles all nod at me and casually walk down the stone wall. The Lord is somehow not leaving with them.

"Anything you need?" I speak to Lysander.

He brushes his chin, "Nevermind, I will mention it next time we meet later in the day."

"Alright. Also, inform the residents of Linton that this siege is over."

"I will do what I'm told, madam." He walks away with the guards of the walls.

The radio speaks again, "I repeat, this is First Attack Two. We're approaching Objective Alpha. Requesting orders, over."

I pick up the radio, "This is Charlie Six, First Attack Two, you may disengage Objective Alpha, Over."

"Wilco Charlie Six, disengaging Objective Alpha, Over."

"Well, that was quite an event, yeah?" Mason blurts out.

"Quiet. We still have more to do."

"Alright, ma'am."

From the crevices of the embrasures, I look out to the encampment, and it's filled with town guards. They seem to be rounding up any Scanosians that manage to escape the fury of our raining hell. Looking at the dead bodies of the Scanosians, some are splatters of meat, bones showing from the wounded, blood painting the dirt and grass, and intestines falling off of one of their fallen comrades as I see one of them trying to save each other. Just...why...never mind.

"It's quite disgusting over there," Satomi says as I see her leaning on the wall.

"You're not fazed by that?"

"Maybe. I'm trying my best."

"That's impossible."

"Anything is possible. The operation planned for these Scanosians to actually put up a ferocious resistance! They got ravaged, just like that!" She cries. Her face looks pale.

Regardless, beyond the encampment are scores of Bradley's, M1A2C's, Strykers, and other vehicles driving down the flourishing green hills. I feel like we overcompensate the strength of this world.