Death toll: 32,830,983 total dead. (UN estimated Death toll for all conflicts tallied in Mirror Refraction, the official name for the games the foreigners started.)
Year: 2027 AD, (New Calendar) Refractional Century/RC, 001.
The sound of aircraft echoed through the airfield. A-10III's, F35's, F-18's, F15SE's, and AH84-Douglas' were readying to fly. Already, above were the flight wings of F18's, and a few F15SE's, readying to strike when enemy anti-air units are destroyed to prove air superiority and CAS.
US Air Force 19th Flight Wing.
KRAF 51st Air Control Group.
USAF 537 Air Lift Squadron
A few bow's AC130 AEWC&DC circled above. Drones were deploying from the bay in the hundreds, carrying explosive payloads, and were already heading towards targets in Pyeontaek proper. Any connection to any network or backdoor is closed to not get hacked and turned against them. Any circuitry or electronic components that allowed it to connect to any network were either taken off or were crippled till the bare minimum, was available and useless for the enemy to hack. Telemetry inputted a few minutes before the current time. Telemetry was inputted as to strike any possible enemy concentrations or units capable of changing a firefight or two, and not risk it being hacked and turned against the base. Already, the two bridges connecting Camp Humphreys were being entrenched with more enemy combatants as both sides try to secure a foothold towards the Humphrey military base, or in order to secure the base from crippling attacks against local military forces in the area. The loss of camp humphreys will devastate local forces as the fort is one of the largest bases in the korean peninsula, next only to seoul with approxminately 70,000 men at the start of the war, which was reduced to 50,000 strong. Most of that were logistics, maintenance, and economic personell which keeps the lights on the base and the soldiers fed.
In actuality, there are only 23,457 active duty frontline personnel on base, and 2000+ were already dead or were in the course of recovery from the attacks from the ASL forces. Amongst the soldiers, many looked at the situation akin to that of fighting a loosing battle. You know you can't win, but there's still some hope, or if there isn't, then fuck em' up till the losses are much higher than the people who died on the losing side.
Meanwhile, on the streets, the fighting grew intense. Ground forces are trying to push each other out of their entrenched dugouts or emplacements. Tank hunter and engineer platoons were having a hard time trying to advance as ASL ground forces were entrenched in nearby buildings, and the ASL knew that this world's armed forces wouldn't destroy buildings, as doing so would cripple the economic sector if they didn't mind the infrastructure aspect of the war.
The sounds of gunfire echoed through each building near the bridge areas that connected Pyeongtaek proper to Camp Humphreys. Enemy doll units, the equivalent of the marionette body system, the UN forces or US and British forces use to transfer souls who still clung to life as their bodies shut down, moved as if they were 'human'. Their heads, akin to that of a glorified helmet with sensors, didn't even budge as with each combat encounter, the ASL forces learned.
Gun emplacements near the entrance of the bridge open fired, mowing down the incoming enemies whilst other forces moved below the bridge via swimming or amphibious landing units like the M3 Fereday. Still despite that tactic, beneath the war raged on as the ASL thought of the same tactic. Using air power would only use up limited air resources in the ASL side, as shipping and assembly from the 'Crevasse' were relatively slow compared to fighting with a home field advantage. Trying to get into Camp Humphreys with limited air units, and only 5 TEMPEST's would be tantamount to tactical suicide as above, fighters circled like hawks ready to pick off the TEMPEST units if they ever appear in the water, even with the thing's codename 'Byte'. The fire rate was too low to overwhelm hundreds of fighter jets whilst maneuvering against incoming missile strikes to cover ground forces. One lucky strike from a volley of hypersonic missiles and they would be done for. That advantage was limited in a city, valleys, or mountain ranges, as natural barriers help hide the machines from sight and cause targeting systems to have a hard time tracking the fast moving machine with the radar cross section of a relatively large hawk. Couple that with erratic movements and high speed movement, and it would be a nightmare for targeting systems for missiles to hit.
To put it simply, air power was short, and even with the 'byte', they couldn't field them in sufficient amounts that would make a difference against the drones, and the fighters numbering in the hundreds, possible on the sortie or being readied for sortie from Camp Humphreys airfield.
Still, the 'bytes' were doing well enough in keeping enemy air power at bay as a few dozen 'bytes' managed to destroy their drone swarms aimed at the streets where concentrations of ASL forces gathered to overwhelm the ground forces and spearhead an attack on the camp.
On the ground, the fighting grew dogged. Firefights lit up the bridge, and bellow, amphibious units fought with anti tank missiles and CWIS units trying to stop the missiles from hitting amphibious units. The battlefield was deafening below. The constant brrrrtt and the discharge of missiles caused human ears to ring and grow irritated from the noise.
Then the first missiles hit.
In front of an amphibious unit was hit, and from that an explosion of gore hit the men with whiplash as the reality of war sank in to those inexperienced, as they believed the CWIS to be impenetrable but the volleys of missiles from both sides eventually will confuse targeting systems and cause some to prematurely be running out of ammo.
Chunks of flesh impacted the waters and dyed the yellow sea red with this first death. On some, much closer to the wreck of the first one that was hit, some swore they saw an eyeball floating in the water, gazing at them emptily and making them realize that not all things were fun and games.
Just as quickly as that happened, the Marines and infantrymen on those same amphibious vehicles started shooting their guns to try to hit the missiles, causing them to detonate prematurely. Then another one was hit, and the sea was started to get bathed in red. Some wanted to get away from this fight, but most resigned themselves to it, whether they liked it or not; they didn't have a say.
They fight for what's left, and mostly for the elite of the world. They were the backers and funded the operations. Simple as that. If they were to not fight for the interests of governments and by extension, the people living in it despite some of them which are already serving currently were being outright executed for not following retreat orders when in doing so causes more mass casualties than just reinforcing the area which might take less losses but the logistics will be shot as sending vehicles in an active combat zone with high chances of it blowing up is irresponsible, especially so when the world is at war would cause a problem in logistics later on in the war which was already strained enough as it was, they will suffer the consequences from minor severe punishments, to death, or the penal battalions. Losing one is not a problem, but losing dozens when they could be used in the future to send more equipment and items much more quickly?
To the command structure, it was a simple equation. Retreat and gather for a counterattack.
Those who did not follow would be given severe punishments depending on the severity of the fuck up. From severe punishments to downright execution, or going to the penal battalions.
In a report given by the mass media, the refusal of the retreat order in the battle of Paju by a commanding officer and a majority of the soldiers in that battle was seen as idiotic and idealistic. Many parents cried in outrage despite it being the wishes of their children to die on that hill. Their deaths would've been avoidable if they had just retreated. Many ifs were said that day and were seen as a tragedy that killed a thousand seventy-three men. Already, many of the civilians in the area were evacuated, but the soldiers fought on despite it being given the retreat orders.
To quote them:
"We'll be damned if we let these bastards go into the heart of the country. We'll stop this here and halt them from advancing even IF we die trying. To let these CLANKER bastards kill more people. Tsk. You lot disgust us! To hell with the command and the orders! We fight because there are people behind us! Not because we are paid to do so, but for the people who couldn't protect themselves." - the commander of 76th, 84th, and 90th infantry companies, alongside 34th marine infantry company.
Some of the soldiers and commanders survived the battle, but in doing so, caught the ire of the parents who had just lost their children.
"How could you do this?!"
"You let them die!"
"What kind of person are you! They were young! You let them die just so you could die on a piece of land that could be captured back later!"
"Because of you, my son is dead! You don't deserve to live!"
The commanders caught the ire of the parents as their sons and daughters were brought back in body bags. Their names etched in marble, and some that were marked as MIA were even put in the tomb of the nameless soldier. Many called for execution or demotions to the penal battalions.
The government and command structure didn't like what they did, and they obliged the calls for trial.
After the trial, the commanders were put to death for mass reckless endangerment and disobedience of lawful orders. The trial was rigged, and the jury was biased, as many had heard the story of the battle. Many were disgusted at the commanders as they allowed men to die on a hill that could no longer be defended. Many of the parents who lost their children in this 'reckless' action felt justified as they saw the people who should've said no die for the loss of their children.
It's a dog-eat-dog world.
The higher-ups of each nation made that as much of a spectacle as they could. Making up overly sensitive accusations for engagement and 'sympathy.'
All are to follow their agenda of gaining more power. The incident only hastened their process. Using this as a crutch for the military to become more centralized. Where they could use it for their own desires with little to no pushback. Claiming anything that goes wrong as just an 'accident'.
Lives were just a number in the statistics that could be replaced; raw materials and things already built are not. They are finite resources that are slow to be replaced, and the raw materials for them are finite. Losing one or more would mean it would take weeks or months to replace. Couple that with the logistics of the war, the constant shifting borders, the conflicts, and a few rolls of the dice chances, the logistics strain were great enough to make even the logistics of the US forces and it's allied states be hard pressed to keep track of logistics orders. In some cases, it wasn't even enough. Some logistics corporations were bought out by the militaries as to keep up with the logistical needs of the world. Even so, the lives lost were certainly finite resources, as these lives had more experience than the next generation that will replace them. This measure was also to ensure they still have enough powerful fighters that will continuously grow and defend them in case of an emergency, as the ASL, or God forbid, the will of the planet decides to think this is an unwinnable battle and unleashes the ten guardian animals on the planet.
On the other hand, vehicles and equipment that cannot be sold were being transported with conventional logistics in large amounts, but the logistics of doing so would be a nightmare, with thousands of vehicles alone. Imagine that with tens of thousands each week, replacing everything lost in war. The same goes for non-combat vehicle fuels that were sold in the markets of
But I digress on that tangent.
As the battle raged on, the soldiers of the human side became more and more desperate, trying to halt the ever-increasing horde of faceless machiness. Each time one was destroyed, many more came from the city. It looked like the city was crawling with them. The machines ran towards the line of fire without a care of their own. The bodies piling up and the machines moving atop their own.
Click.
Click. Click. Click.
Multiple weapons simultaneously ran out of ammo, and the horde of machines knew of the opportunity this gave them.
With horrifying numbers, the machines raced like a tide of angry ants.
"Men! Use any means necessary! Magic! Ammo! Hell, even melee weapons! Use it. To those with money left on them, buy ammo!" A commander shouted as he brought out a black box.
"Get back! Clear the area!" He shouted as the box opened to reveal a tube with a magazine on it. The box turned into an emplacement with a clear fitting hole on it that would fit the mysterious tube.
The soldiers who were manning the machine guns earlier quickly moved.
"Retreat further in the ack! Those with Borealis AT-6 II's move to the front! Fire by volleys. Don't aim at anything near the structural supports!" The battlefield commander shouts. The men who had these weapons quickly moved into the front whilst those who didn't retreated further back in case they suffered or died by friendly fire. The ASL forces, noticing something was amiss as the soldiers were retreating, leaving only a few on the front, quickly had their free 'Bytes' attack those holding these weapons. The soldiers' faces paled seeing their commander and allies being shot and having their chests caved in with a hole larger than a fist and smelling of burnt meat, they ran. A mass of soldiers ran from the new weapons the enemy fielded.
After that, all hell broke loose on this particular bridge.
Soldiers running and going for a fighting retreat, whilst some ran over each other, causing a stampede as they tried to run away from the new enemy field units. The stronger ones fought back, using their better reaction time to try to dodge the deadly beams of light. The more successful ones managed to run and jump towards the 'Bytes' and throw projectiles at them. Only for them to dodge the attacks and kill those men with a beam to the face. The bodies landed on the ground with a sickening splat.
The others who still considered fighting decide to take a gamble.
Soldier 457&92#52: Distract the enemy. Any of you. Those with ammo try and shoot it with volleys and volleys of bullets. Rain Bullets towards the skies in big enough volumes; eventually, one or more of those hit something important.
Soldier 52%7&*218: Are you insane?! You'll only draw its ire towards us!
Soldier 63781@$%9072: He's got a point. Eventually, one or more bullets will hit.
Soldier 457&92#52 has made a poll
117 are voting
64 vote yes
53 voted no
Soldier 457&92#52: Okay lets start! Everyone either buy some ammo or shot already, whilst some of us try to distract these things!
Soldier 52%7&*218: Y'all are insane!
Some of them already started to run and tried to draw the fire towards themselves. Most already started shooting when the flying drones that shoot out lasers that literally could turn them into donuts aimed for their comrades. A hail of gunfire greeted the flying drones. The firing of a couple of dozen guns had deafened a lot of the soldiers.
"FUCK I CAN'T HEAR SHIT NO MORE!" One shouted as the event caused his ears to bleed despite the earmuffs that blunted the sound to safe decibels.
"IM BLEEDING IN THE EARS?!"
"SHIT!'
Still, the gunfire continued. The ghetto version of a CRAM, except the targeting system was human eyesight.
Poor man's CRAM.
Except it was quite literal as men started to fall with a hole in a body part. Bodies fell on the ground with sickening thuds, and the smell of blood and bile permeated the air. The bile, blood, chunks of burnt flesh, and organs fell on the pavement. The owners forever lost to the sands of war, faces forever looking like the last expressions they ever made alive. The people who still had their faces. Those who did not will have their families grieve over a corpse without any facial expression to remember them by. Fathers, sons, nephews, nieces, daughters, mothers. All gone in a couple of days.
Even so, that slight window caused by that distraction, the distraction had cause the fire to be temporarily diverted. That was enough as the bullets struck true.
Crash.
More and more of these unknown drone units fell.
One,
Two.
Four.
Three.
Then the firing stopped as 80 of the 116 men was left standing. The fighting had gone on a standstill as the battlefield was temporarily silenced by the destruction of the mysterious brand new units the ASL fielded.
Bang.
Then, fighting continued as ASL forces moved to try to overwhelm the remaining forces left on the bridge. The men on the bottom on the amphibious units faired much more better all things considered. Yes, there were bodies on the water, people with loved ones, but compared to those above, it was rather tame as most of the forces below survived the assault. Many of the survivors grimaced, whilst others threw up from the carnage. Some were new to death and had only been deployed recently. Spent bullet casings and equipment fell into the watery depths. The soldiers on the surviving amphibious units continued on the plan as the base's protection hinged in the successful implementation of the plan. Already, the men below had heard the chaos above and grimaced as to some it dawned how dire the situation was. From above, they could smell burnt flesh, and from the cracks on the bridge, some blood dripped on some unfortunate sap.
"Ewwww..." Said sap was slapped in the head for saying that.
Gunshots and bodies fell on the ground by the dozens. Humans and machines alike, but mostly comprised of machines. Servos and parts clanging to the ground. On the naval front, the hulls of amphibious units and some ships that were fortunate or unfortunate enough to be in this operation exploded. The crews were handling the chaos as more and more cannon and missile fire was exchanged.
Brrrrrtttttt.
Brrrrrrtttt.
Brrrrrtttttt.
CRAMS and their crews, and soldiers with available ammunition, fired without a care for ammunition conservation.
"Protect the crews and the ships! Don't let any missile hit!" Naval guns fired as the captains authorized the use of the naval guns of the patrol ships, as missiles were running low. Enemy amphibious units, sleek black VTOL hovercraft with point defense weapons, anti-tank, and anti-ship weapons, started to go down as point defense couldn't intercept everything.
*Boom*
The explosion echoed as more and more guns fired at the VTOL hovercrafts.
*Boom*
More guns were fired simultaneously.
*Boom*
One of the missiles hit and sank a patrol ship.
"Shit!"
"Destroy them! Kill these bastards!" One shouted as from the deck, the soldier just saw his friend blow up into chunky salsa, and said chunks floated on the water like some sort of fucked up floatie. His eyes dilated, and his fists clenched so hard that they bled.
The scene was permanently etched into his mind. One moment, he was spotting for the guns, and noticed an anti-ship missile heading towards that patrol boat. He watched the trajectory, and with a horrified expression, he saw what he expected the trajectory to be. He watched as one of the people on the ship's deck, who was his friend, was doing some resupply for the CRAMs getting hit by the explosion that tore through the hull of the patrol ship. His friend exploded, body parts strewn on the water as the pressure wave tore chunks of flesh from the body. His head plopped on the water; the back of it had shrapnel as large as a finger sticking out of it, his eyes forever widened in horror and realization. Face contorting to an 'Oh fuck' before he gets decapitated, and his body be torn apart. Piece by bloody piece.
"These fuckers need to die." He grounded out, teeth grinding against each other with rage.
A hand grabbed his shoulder. Looking at the hand, he looked at the owner only to see an Ensign with a Technical specialist badge give him a disapproving shake of the head.
"Let it be. That kind of anger will only be dangerous in the long term."
"CALM DOWN?! I JUST SAW MY FRIEND GET TURNED INTO CHOPPED MEAT AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN?!"
"YES! GETTING YOURSELF KILLED JUST TO KILL A FEW ENEMIES IS STUPID! LIVING ON TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY AND SURVIVING THIS DAMN WAR IS MUCH BETTER THAN DYING FOR REVENGE!"
Crunch
A fist fight ensued.
Left, Right.
Crunch.
Hit to the face.
Crunch.
A broken nose, the cartilage deformed, blood pooling on the ground as the injury made the nose bleed. The other's face contorted into rage as the fist fight became more heated. The thuds of flesh hitting flesh became more frequent as the fight raged on.
Squelch.
The Ensign crumpled on the ground like a thrown sack of potatoes as a kick to the nuts effectively crippled him due to the pain. A searing pain that felt like being branded by a hot iron skillet that was also thrown at you.
"HE WAS MT FRIEND! HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE LIKE THAT! THEN YOU TOLD ME TO JUST.... LET GO?! FUCK NO!"
"I'VE KNOWN HIM FOR SO LONG! AND YOU SAY THAT TYPE OF SHIT?! FUCK YOU!" He tried choking the ensign but was quickly stopped by the on-board MP crew.
[Starting]
[Permission to intervene?]
[Yes. Protect allied forces and provide close air support.]
[Unexpected resistance strength. Activating Grimm Protocol]
[Permission Granted.]
From deep in the city, a pair of sensors turned red.
[TEMPEST UNITS #21 and #35, Deploying]
The sounds of thrusters going full throttle echoed loudly deep into the war-torn city.
[MU-45G Block II (Civilian to Arm conversion kit)]
[Thrusters online]
[Circe, ODIN, Moa, and MEDEA operational systems optimal]
Inside the cockpits, screens lit up with telemetry and visuals of the surroundings. The pilots looked around inside the cockpit with awe as the screen showed them the outside world in crisp 12k visuals with high monitor refresh rates.
[Operating system fully online]
On the center of the front screen showed a video game like crosshairs that reminded James of Nuclear Option mixed with Ace Combat esk Crosshairs.
"Damn... This is so cool....." He mutters as he starts nerding out.
"Oh my fucking god... This..... Oh the crispness of the screens..." He touched the screen, and wanted to steal the minitors considering how good the screen were He could literally look at cracks in cement 300 meters away in high fedelity even though it was so small. It was only now that he noticed how crisp the screens were. Before, he was just trying not to repeat and crash again.
"Oh yeah. Gaming on these babies would be Lit as fuck."
'I wonder if i can buy this stuff or hell, even order these screens even if it costs thousands.'
"Command to Helios 1 to 5. Do you hear me?"
"Helios 1, I can hear you loud and clear."
"Helios 2, all systems clear."
"Helios 3, System nominal."
"Helios 5, All green." James was too busy watching the screen as he fiddled with the controlls.
Left hand button 3.
The middle finger moved.
Moving the left joystick forward and clicking the 7th button caused the machine to move its left leg. Doing the same caused the right to do the same.
"Okay, the articulation is good." He mutters as he decides to move both joysticks and 7th joystick button, causing the machine to do walking for the first five seconds of continious button and joystick pressure. After that 5-second mark, the machine starts to run.
"The movement is not bad..." He looks at the 8th button with tape stuck to it with 'Do not touch unless emergency' written on it.
He was really curious about that button, but the engineers told him not to unless it's an emergency.
N.E.A.R.M System.
Whatever the fuck that was. The engineers were tight lipped about the system. He asked about it but they were always dodging the question when asked. He asked the other pilots about there was something named N.E.A.R.M on their mechs but they shook their heads.
He sighs and pressed the top button on the joystick, and the running stopped. Replaced with the arm moving in the direction where the joysticks where heading. Seeing that had reminded him of a scene from macross where a valkyrie frame had a fist fight with another valkyrie frame. Pulling back the joystick and slamming it forwards with the joystick moving towards a location he wanted to hit caused the machine to do a punching motion.
"Hahahaha! Oh yeah this is cool.... Beats being in a stuffy parameters the engineers made me do! Always using the guns and not trying out the full articulation...." He mutters as he started messing around with the machine.
"Helios 4, All clear!" James shouts through the comms. With that he tried boost straffing as he activated thrusters only for the screen to blare with a warning.
[Weapons blocked]
"What the hell are you doing helios 4?! Stop dallying around and return to formation for flight so we can deploy you." Shouted air control.
"Okay! Shesh...." He sighs, and returned back to deployment formation.
The test flight moved one after another. Thrusters hummed as one after another, the MA's flew to fight.
"Hey, anyone want to talk before we die?" James asked, mind wandering to what everyone thinks of what they are doing now.
Remmy answered first. "Well i just hope we survive. God knows how many times i've heard horror stories about TEMPEST units." He sighs loudly in the comms, his voice wavering for a bit but quickly recovering with steel clearly evident in his voice.
"They chose us for a reason. We are the most qualified. To let them down now is to let them die and making their sacrifices null."
"Fight because there are people counting on us." A laugh cut Remmy's voice.
"hahahha! I can get to that. heh. You aren't as much of an ideologue as many are." Xylos voice came into the comms.
"Unlike some of us, you have an idea on why many fight. Tell me, what else do you fight for?" Xylos asked. Remmy thought about it for an honest couple of seconds before answering.
"For my sister. She's been there for me since i was a kid." Then Xylos let out an uncharacteristic laugh.
"Oh~ sweet home Alabama ~" Then the comms heard a guitar riff.
"W-wha" James couldn't help but laugh at the joke.
"I-I do not think of my sister that way!"
"Okay buddy..." Xylos said sarcastically. The comms went silent but you could feel how Remmy was silently screaming and telling himself it wasn't the case.
"Okay stop it right there, Look at the telemetry." Sirius said as the coms pinged with a few enemy strike capable drones.
"Test out the weapons first." James decided to test out the blocky shield which looked like a slab of metal.
[100 mm rail cannon selected.]
The slab of metal quickly morphed into a small artillery like piece with a shield covering it similar to that of a shield guns from gundam.
The crosshairs quickly became more defined and turned into a dark green circle reticle with a diameter of 30 cm.
[Not recommended. Use 30mm vulcans on the head.]
'Wut?'
Nobody had told him that the head sensor had this feature. Although judging from the war thunder incidents and incidents like these, it was justified.
He decides to up the thrust, and went closer to the drones.
[Head mounted Vulcan selected]
The crosshairs quickly narrowed into a small red dot.
Quickly moving near the drones, he aimed the guns.
Brrttt.
Brrttt.
Brrrrttt.
The drones quickly went down as a hail of 30mm gunfire destroyed them.
"Incoming drones!" Shouted Sherlie through comms as more strike-capable drones appeared on the battlefield.
Brrtttt.
The MA's quickly fired their head vulcans as more and more drones appeared. Then more and more of them came out of the woodworks like ants seeing sugar.
The nearby air forces quickly moved in as to maintain superiority.
Explosions, and the firing of guns echoed throughout the battlefield. The fighters overwhelming the drones in firepower alone. Whilst the arial battle continued, the jets took off through the air carefully without sticking together, the lessons learned from past battles making the pilots more cautious when it came to sticking together.
Drones tried picking off the MA's but were quickly picked off by either the fighters or the head vulcans of the gun.
The MA's straffed as more and more drones tried to strike the machines down. Using the thrusters, the MA managed to dodge a lot of the gunfire and missile. The thrusters coming in cluch as James narrowly dodged a missile to the back thruster.
A second later, the sound was reminiscent of static from a nuclear explosion is heard.
[TEMPEST UNIT DETECTED!]
'No shit sherlock.'
A few seconds later, from pyeongtaek proper, a pair of mech's appeared, pairs of eye sensors appearing red.
Battle Commence
Tempest Units 2x
Rewards: $300,000 each, Exp bonus (Large), Restoration/potion of age regression (16 years) 1x each.