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"Though I fly through the Valley of Death, I shall fear no evil. For I am at 80,000 feet and climbing!" - Sign over the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base in Kadena, Japan
Sorry about the one-day delay, I had to attend a friend's graduation party. Also, I GRADUATED. HURRAH! No more high school!
0155 May 14th, 2020 CE
0357 Sun 44th, 196 AE
Port City of Ilysesari, Elven Nation
At this point, the size of the National Navy could be considered pitiful. It had been reduced to barely 30% of its size since the start of the war. With their consistent failures, they have fallen out of grace with Tarron.
Three battleships, an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and eleven destroyers were still in the waters next to the port. Eight submarines were also docked. Elven sailors milled about and tended to their daily duties.
Dozens of Harpoon missiles streaked through the sky towards the fleet
The first missile smashed into a docked destroyer. The destroyer exploded as its ammunition cooked off. The pier next to it was completely destroyed and the blast wave from the explosions knocked many elves further in the port off of their feet. The naval base alarm blared. Another Harpoon missile struck a battleship but did minimal damage. Elves rushed towards the circular sandbag positions that contained AA thauguns. Orders started being thrown around by multiple officers.
“Man the AA guns!”
“Load them!”
“Move!”
Spinning the adjusting wheels, the 88 mm AA thauguns and the 20 mm AA quadthauguns were quickly turned towards the sea where the arrows were seemingly coming from. Black puffs of magi-flak filled all areas of the sky. They had no idea what they were shooting at since they couldn’t find what was attacking them but they knew they were being attacked.
The Harpoons streaked through the skies, unaffected by the magi-flak. Explosions occurred on ships after ships.
Inside the large building, not that far from the port, Admiral Ylyndar Kelrie listened to his adjutant who had just rushed in.
“Admiral. We are under attack. The human arrows are destroying our ships.”
“How bad is it?”
“We are taking heavy casualties and the anti-aircraft thauguns are ineffective.”
A large explosion shook the building. Tiny bits of the ceiling fell to the floor. Ylyndar wrinkled his nose.
“What was that?”
His adjutant looked around.
“Um, not sure, sir.”
The last thing Ylyndar saw was his adjutant being flung towards him as the building behind the adjutant seemingly disintegrated in a bright flash.
Tomahawk cruise missiles flew down onto various parts of the Ilysesari Naval Base. Explosions after explosions rocked the area.
Elven gunner officers started pointing above.
“They are coming from above! Adjust the guns! Fire! Fire! Fire!”
Some of the AA thauguns spun upwards. Suddenly everything in the AA emplacement was flung forward as a Tomahawk struck nearby.
Some elves stepped out of buildings and onto the road while others peered out from their windows. Afar, they saw smoke rising from where the naval base was. Multiple explosions could also be heard. Concerned murmuring started amongst them.
“Oh my Goddess.”
“What’s happening?”
Port City of Jahlean, Elven Nation
Ara ran out of the barrack building. Multiple explosions had jolted her awake. She came onto the street that had a good view of the naval base.
“What the…”
Plumes of black smoke rose to the sky from there.
0202 May 14th, 2020 CE
0401 Sun 44th, 196 AE
Afvalin, Elven Nation
Anfalen, the head of the Intelligence Department, was in Tarron’s office talking with him.
“Spying on the humans will be impossible. Any elves we send can’t just wear hoods the entire time. It would look too suspicious.”
“Can’t you find a way to make our ears seem less pointy?”
Anfalen vigorously shook his head.
“Even if we cut off a portion of the ear, it won’t look correct.”
An urgent knock came on the door and someone entered without permission. Annoyed at being interrupted, Tarron looked around Anfalen.
“My Leader, this is of utmost importance, you need to evacuate now! The inferiors have launched an attack!”
Tarron’s eyes grew wide. He got his coat and walked into the hallway of his office. Other elves we’re running around in a panic. Some were carrying important documents or objects while others just rushed for the exit. Anfalen and the messenger followed Tarron out into the hallway. Tarron turned to the messenger.
“Give me a report right now. What is happening?”
Tarron started walking towards the exit.
“We have reports coming in of explosions occurring at the port of Ilysesari. We have lost contact with multiple of our southern air bases but some of them have sent distress messages.”
“Did the detection stations not detect anything?”
“They were the first things we lost contact with. We tried contacting them around 30 minutes ago and they didn’t respond. We thought some communication systems there might have broken.”
Tarron frowned.
“You fool! Didn’t I give explicit orders to inform me of any unusual activities?”
Although a bit fazed at Tarron’s anger, the messenger stood his ground.
“My Leader, that was only if the detection station reported any unusual activities.”
“Losing contact is unusual enough.”
They exited the building and walked towards the road. Multiple cars were lined up on that road. Tarron walked close to one of the cars with the messenger and Anfalen quickly following. Then a loud boom came from behind them. A blast wave pushed Tarron and the others onto the ground.
“Ugh”
Tarron groaned at the pain from hitting the ground very hard. Still on the ground, he lifted his head and looked behind him. The messenger and Anfalen, who were behind him, were also lying on the ground. With groans coming from them, they were clearly alive. The building he had just exited was now just rubble. Black smoke rose. If he had been warned a few minutes later, he would have died in there. Elves rushed up to him and lifted him up by the shoulders.
“My Leader, we have to go”
Hearing a loud noise coming from the sky, Tarron and all the other elves looked up. An extremely fast object flew by overhead.
Nase Ancalen Air Base
The rubble shifted. Vulmon coughed as he hauled himself out of the wreckage of the hangar he was in. Covered in dust, Vulmon looked around. The runway had been cratered at multiple places. Strewn bits of aircraft laid everywhere. Most buildings were rubble just like the hangar he was in.
A couple of minutes later
Jasathas Mountains
Colonel Hamon Yelric sipped his tea as he studied the blueprints of the Ea-196. An aide opened the door without knocking and ran into the office.
“Colonel! We have reports from Command that the capital is under attack. We have received orders to repel the enemy.”
Hamon looked up in a jolt.
They were in one of the few buildings that were concealed by the forest of the mountain. A runway ran from inside the mountain to the outside. From a few buildings, elves ran into the mountain.
“Move them out! Move them out!”
Ea-196s ‘Hexeri’ were pushed out of the mountain opening. The Ea-196 was an aircraft with a weird tube under each wing and no propellers. They were quickly pushed onto the runways by the ground crews and their pilots climbed aboard them. A loud whirring sound seemed to come from the tubes as the first one started going down the runway at incredible acceleration. One by one, 87 Ea-196s took off.
Washington D.C.
Inside the Situation Room, Cralson was giving a briefing to President Haye.
“We are not exactly sure how their communication systems work so we don’t have any airstrike targets pertaining to that.”
“So we have absolutely no capabilities when it comes to destroying their communications?”
“Sadly, yes. Magic is being a major obstacle here. Well, however, compared to the magic in fantasy stories, it doesn’t seem that capable.”
Afvalin, Elven Nation
A convoy of cars sped through the streets of the Elven capital. In one of the cars, Tarron looked out the window. In the distance, arrow-like objects flew at seemingly immeasurable speeds. A large explosion rocked where it had just passed. Tarron stared at that area.
“That’s the High Command Office… how do these humans know?”
Anfalen, who was also in the car with him, answered.
“The humans could have inserted spies among us.”
“How would they have gotten here then? We are on an island far, far away from any human settlement. It would have been obvious too since their ears are not pointy.”
“I don’t know, my Leader.”
Tarron put his hand to his mouth and sighed through his nose.
“This is bad.”
He looked at the front of the car where the messenger and the driver were sitting.
“Inform those who are still alive that we are beginning Operation Continued Arrow.”
The messenger nodded.
“Also tell the Great Magus to flood the city as a last resort.”
In a field in the Elven Nation
“We got reports of something occurring in the capital. Information is a bit fuzzy though. We are having trouble reaching the High Command Office.”
From his entrenched Knight, Colonel Ranaeril Krisbanise looked down at his communication officer. Around him were other magipanzers, anti-magipanzer thauguns, and trenches with infantry in them.
“That’s concerning. If you receive any orders, tell me immediately.”
Hearing a weird sound from the sky, Ranaeril looked up. Then an explosion blasted his magipanzer to the side. More and more explosions occurred. Within a few minutes, their entire defensive position was blasted to charred remains.
0213 May 14th, 2020 CE
0406 Sun 44th, 196 AE
In the skies over the Elven Nation
Captain Damon Smith shouted at his men in the MC-130.
“We are green light! Jump! Go! Go! Go!”
One by one his men jumped out of the door of the plane. With the last of his men off, Damon jumped out too. The air rushed up towards him as he fell. Below, he could see the parachutes of all the men who had already jumped and the men of the three other MC-130s. Even further below was a large pasture of green. He quickly opened up his parachute and started floating down. Before long he rolled onto the ground. Getting himself out from under the parachute and packing it up, he quickly got to the others.
“Let’s go!”
In the air over the Elven Nation
Larrel Araqen sat in the cockpit of his Ea-196. He had a stern and determined face. He thought back to the last time he had talked with his friend, Elator. He remembered how excited he was to tell Elator that he was going to pilot this new aircraft. Turns out, that was the last time he was ever going to talk with him. Larrel only recently learned that the invasion of the Empire has been going disastrously. Most civilians weren’t informed and it was treasonous for military personnel to spread this information so Larrel was sure that Elator’s family didn’t know that Elator perished. Now he was going to face the humans that killed his friends. Larrel placed his trust in his new mysterious non-propeller aircraft.
A squadron of F-16s went deeper and deeper into Elven airspace. Although most of the Elven air bases in the northern part of the country have been confirmed to be destroyed, they had to be vigilant for any surprises.
<<<“We got multiple bogies ahead. Seem to be moving faster than normal Elven aircraft.”
“Those are confirmed bandits. You are free to engage.”
“Roger. Fox three.”>>>
AIM-120 AMRAAMS flew forward from the F-16s’ wings.