As the retaliation strike was underway, huge troop movements were taking place back in Avalon Island and on each of the Edenian carriers in the fleet. The Aeolus Air Force had mobilized its entire transport fleet and was even printing more; massive ET-14 Argo transport jets, based on the Antonov An 126 airframe, were rolling out of the hangar one after another. They only stopped to load full complements of troops in each jet.After the jets were loaded, they immediately took off and headed toward the carriers in the distance, where they landed, disgorged their troops, and immediately returned to Avalon Island to pick up another load.At the same time, amphibious landing craft were also loading up and bringing full complements of troops to the enormous aircraft carriers. The fleet was still relatively close to Eden, at only roughly 500 kilometers away, so the trip was short enough that the landing craft were heavily overloaded for the trip.As the troops were being transported, a major
EV Beowulf, somewhere high above the Pacific Ocean.To the sailors crewing the enormous vessel, everything had returned to normal and it was no different to them than any other day. Whether on the surface of the sea or flying in the stratosphere made no difference to them. If anything, it was perhaps even more relaxed as there were no exterior operations while at altitude, so they were restricted to the areas inside the ship to perform their duties.Exterior duties, while flying, had been delegated to maintenance bots that were controlled by a subroutine of the AI, Beowulf.For the passengers, on the other hand, things were a bit more exciting. Once they had been loaded into their assigned drop vehicles, they had logged into VR and were conducting training missions in environments that simulated the areas they would soon be deployed to. Athena didn’t request a 100% accurate simulation, as that would be rather processor-intense, but for the simulated environments to be accurate while t
Somewhere over the coast of California.Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Station North Island had both scrambled all of their pilots and put everything in the air that had guns. Some of the crop dusters in Southern California, being retired Navy and Air Force veterans, had heard the news through the grapevine as well. And being infected by a greater-than-normal amount of “good ole’ American YEEHAW” had volunteered to strap guns to their civilian planes and join the war effort.All of them, active duty and volunteer alike, were in the air like a swarm of bees as they awaited the arrival of the EV Beowulf. Not that it would do much good, really, considering that the Beowulf had a much higher flight ceiling and cruising altitude than any current-generation aircraft, whether military or civilian. Even the vaunted Dragon Lady could only reach a cruising altitude of around 21 kilometers, a far cry from the Beowulf’s 60.Still, they would pose an issue to the invasion forces that would b
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.An enormous shadow was cast over the entire city as the EV Brunhild passed over it. The shadow didn’t linger long before moving, and in fact, never stopped. Then, shortly after it passed, a screaming whistle grew louder and louder as four angular teardrop-shaped objects came crashing down in Aterro de Flamengo, a park that bordered the city’s waterfront and several of its storied favelas. An enormous cloud of sand and dust was raised by the impacts, making it impossible to see the objects hidden within, had there been anyone on the beach to witness the impacts.The hiss of pneumatic pistons triggering was followed shortly by a single resounding thud and a brief breeze that blew the dust cloud in swirling circles. Soon, the dust cleared, revealing four yeet pods, their hatches lowered into ramps and ten ARES troopers standing in neat formations in front of each. With each squad of troopers was a Mk. IX Cerberus Mulebot loaded with bulky boxes filled with gear.W
Fort Bragg, North Carolina.Members of the 82nd Airborne, one of the United States most elite infantry brigade, were rushing to set up defensive positions. Though Fort Bragg was where they trained and they had already-existing defensive positions set up for mock battles, those were nowhere near the things they actually needed to defend. That design philosophy was coming back to bite them in the ass at this very moment in time.The EV Beowulf had already landed troops between Fayetteville and the storied fort and, having learned their lesson from the air assets in California that had survived for a staggering six seconds, the jets and hastily armed civilian aircraft at Simmons Army Airfield and Pope Field had been grounded until the enormous carrier had passed. Thus, pilots were still sitting in their aircraft in their hangars, awaiting a go order that would unleash what they thought was all nine levels of hell upon the Edenian invaders.This was AMERICA! This was THEIR country! THEIR
TICK“Sir, the first line of defense in Los Angeles stopped responding,” the Cheyenne Mountain liaison officer said.TOCK“Fort Eustis surrendered.” A hub of transportation and aviation was lost.TICK“Fort Smallwood lost connection to Cheyenne.”TOCK“Houston just went dark.”“Space Force Command is down.”“Mar-A-Lago….”“Fort Knox has….”“Coronado….”TICK“The Pentagon is being contested,” came another report.The bunker below the situation room was in a frenzy, as it seemed like there was a competition over who could deliver the worst news to the president as fast as possible. Each analyst and liaison officer was shouting to be heard over the others, and that was just the most important information. The stream of defeats seemed endless and came in faster than even an entire large room like the one they were in could contain.Base after base and city after city fell to ARES forces in every state. The NORAD joint bases fell just as fast, despite Canada having basically no dog in this
“Welcome! We apologize for the lacking ceremonial niceties, but the situation was rather urgent and we prepared as best we could.”A stunningly beautiful woman was being led into a very luxurious meeting room, accompanied by a few seemingly standard-issue bureaucrats and a security detail of tall, well-built men in modified ARES uniforms with shields instead of stars on their shoulders.“No problem, Prime Minister Netanyahu. We’ve been in worse places,” the woman replied with a brilliant smile on her face. She took a seat across a conference table from the Israeli prime minister, accompanied by the bureaucrats. The security detail stood behind them, their impassive gazes and alert eyes seeming intimidating without being angry.“So let’s discuss the terms,” she continued, the smile leaving her face.“Please state your terms and we’ll try to accommodate them as best we can,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. He appeared to be much more calm than the members of parliament seated beside him and th
Avalon Island.Aron walked into a small, dark room with a table and three chairs. A hanging light swung over the table, its dim light barely illuminating anything and leaving most of the room in the darkness as it swayed to and fro.“Long time no see,” he greeted the two men seated at one side of the table.“I don’t remember us having met at any time,” George Morgan replied in a quavering voice. He couldn’t hide his nervousness, earning him a slightly disappointed glance from his father, who was in the seat next to him.“But we’ve been conversing with each other for quite a long time, now, haven’t we?” Aron sneered as he took a seat across the table from the Morgans..“We have?” Aubrey responded in mock surprise. “Perhaps there was the illusion of a conversation, but in order for a conversation to happen it requires two people, no?” He folded his hands and rested them on the table, a slight smile on his face. “So it can’t be a conversation. To me, it seems more like a lecture.”“Fine,