Part 22: Mission 22: The Titular Desert

While we knew we'd struck a blow when we captured and destroyed the enemy's portal, the real significance of the event didn't sink in until our scientists informed us of their findings.




The portal wasn't a one-off. It wasn't a prototype, or an auxiliary route, or an incidental tool. The portal was part of the backbone of the enemy's entire logistical network.

Wherever the Forces of Darkness established themselves, they created these portals. Once a portal was created, it could be used to instantaneously travel to or from any other portal on Earth. As long as they had these, the crudeness of their armies and their reliance on dark age technology didn't matter. In the blink of an eye, they could send soldiers and supplies halfway around the world. Wherever we fought them, they could bring the brunt of their forces upon us whenever they needed to. Nowhere that had a portal was safe.

Our division was the first to discover and destroy one of these portals. They had now become top-priority targets for the entire Alliance.



It was the destruction of this portal that had given us the opportunity that now lay before us, the first such opportunity the Alliance had gotten since the beginning of the war. With the portal destroyed, the enemy was cut off from reinforcements on this front. Their remaining forces had retreated to a hilly area to the east, preparing for their last stand. There was something about this site, something beyond its defensability, that had the enemy determined to guard it with their lives. It was almost certainly connected to the magical activity we'd seen ever since the Forces of Darkness had taken the area. Great rolling banks of clouds seemed to sweep in from nowhere, unleashing violent electrical storms that dispersed just as quickly as they had formed, and great stone buildings resembling Gothic castles and cathedrals had appeared overnight.

Among those defending forces was a confirmed Veiled One - Tronndor, the Supreme Commander of the Forces of Darkness in the Middle East. And for the first time since the war had begun, it had nowhere to run and no help on the way.

Mission 22: The Titular Desert

Attending:
Joe Moore (War Boys, Mortar Infantry)
Lazarus (Forlorn Hope, Flamethrowers)
Habitually Red (Sane Max's Own, Flamethrowers)
Solrick Skaft (Scion of Emer, Flamethrowers)
Bonaventura Ferrer (Confederacion, Heavy Infantry)
"Doctor" Snark (Mage Killers, Commandos)
Logan "Hardtack" Smith (War Dogs, Commandos)
Amina (Les Amazones, Piranha)
Erik Spanner (The Toolbox, Piranha)
Patrick Gallagher (Just In Time, Elmag 1)
Svetlana Aliyev (Rusalka, Elmag 1)
James "Griff" Griffin (Party Crashers, TAM)
Mael Radec (Radec's Rhinos, TAM)
Basil (Paladin, STRV)
Anil E. Hilated, Esq. (Polite Obliteration, M106)
Grand Inquisitor Solaus (Balkanian Inquisition, M106)
Ash Kleef (Ashsavers, Humvee)
Catherine Ulysses (Smart Patrol, Humvee)



Hardtack: ...Jesus fucking Christ. It's blood as far as the eye can see. How many people did they kill?
Solrick Skaft: It's unreal. They must've wiped out whole cities to get this much.
Bonaventura Ferrer: It was the Veiled Ones who commanded these slaughters. They sent their armies to butcher us, but they hid in the shadows while we killed their minions. Today, we'll send a message. They're going to learn they aren't above consequences.



Catherine Ulysses: You heard Bona, let's take it to 'em. I'll check the left. Jesus, it just keeps on going. I've seen adult anime less bloody than this.
Basil: ...You watch anime?
Catherine Ulysses: Look, all I'm gonna say is, spend enough time on the internet and you see some shit.



Ash Kleef: Guess that leaves me on the right, then.




Catherine Ulysses: Got eyes on a couple golem platoons. I don't plan on getting close enough to see what else is there.



Catherine Ulysses: How about you, Ash? You see anything?



Ash Kleef: ...Yeah, you could say that.



Ash Kleef: I think I just found what the enemy was protecting here. It's a magic well, and it's the biggest one I've ever seen.
Mael Radec: Give us numbers, Ash.
Ash Kleef: No can do. Sensor started showing crazy high values that just kept climbing 'til it finally gave me an error.
Catherine Ulysses: You serious? That well would have to be bigger than all the ones we've taken combined to do that.



"Doctor" Snark: Sounds like prime real estate to me. Let's move.



Basil: Massed formation time again, huh? Leave it to magical bullshit to bring obsolete tactics back into style.



Ash Kleef: Oh, shit.



Ash Kleef: Strap in, everyone. The enemy's playing for keeps this time. Golems, mri, towers, the works.
Amina: Well, I think we all knew this was coming. No doubt we're gonna have to grind up every one of them to get to the wizard.
Patrick Gallagher: Let's just hope we don't get ground up too much in return, huh?



Ash Kleef: They're getting a head start on that! Help!



Catherine Ulysses: Elves coming from the valley! They're flanking us!



Solaus: Not for long.




Patrick Gallagher: Guys, a little help?



Erik Spanner: Fuck! I don't think they're getting any closer. We've gotta come to them!



Solaus: Here we go.



Mael Radec: You all know what to do! Priority targets first!



Erik Spanner: I don't wanna die! I haven't even gotten a chance to shoot these fuckers!




Griff: Everyone, focus on the golems! We can bring the tanks forward once they're down!



Catherine Ulysses: Is this all of them? Doesn't look too bad.



Lazarus: No it's not! There's more hiding on the other side of that dune!



Solrick Skaft: Killed the ka-orcs! Now if only I could actually do something useful.




Joe Moore: That's it! Just keep chipping away, we've got this!



Habitually Red: THERE ARE A DOZEN THINGS BETWEEN ME AND THEM, WHY DO THEY KEEP HITTING ME?



Patrick Gallagher: Lost sight on the golems, but they sure as hell haven't lost sight on us!



Bonaventura Ferrer: Wait, I've got it! Don't ignore the ka-orcs! They have to be spotting for the others! That's why they can hit us when we can't see them!



Amina: Mri down. I think we've just about run them out of anti-tank units! Then we can just roll up the rest.



Griff: Last golem's mine!



"Doctor" Snark: Ka-orcs are gone. That should keep the guys in back safe.



Ash Kleef: Shit, under fire! They had more towers in reserve!



Basil: Goddamn, aren't these things a recent prototype? I didn't think they'd built this many!




"Doctor" Snark: Ash, pull back! We've got your retreat covered!



Ash Kleef: Thanks, Snark. Cathy, gonna need you to take over recon duty!
Catherine Ulysses: Sorry, no can do. I've still got more than half my 'vees smoking here. I'd get pasted if I rolled out with all those towers around. The tanks'll have to find the enemy themselves for a while.




Patrick Gallagher: Elves down. Too bad they were the least of our problems.



Lazarus: Wow, are you guys all got so shot up you had to pull back?
Habitually Red: Dunno if you noticed, but they're throwing everything they have at us. I'm just glad none of us officers have died yet.



Bonaventura Ferrer: Towers hitting my position! Fire's thick, I can't-



Hardtack: Shit, Bona! Bona!



Svetlana Aliyev: Hardtack, be careful! All those towers are still out there!
Hardtack: I know! I'm working on changing that!



Griff: Last golem down!



Griff: And tower down!



Amina: We'll drive over mountains of their corpses if we have to!



Basil: Amina, I like your style.



Amina: Oh shit, they have more gol-



Svetlana Aliyev: Jesus Christ, we just lost Bona!



The hill Mael was sitting on was enveloped in a blue flash. When the light faded away a moment later, three of his unit's TAMs were simply gone. They'd disappeared in a blink, along with a good portion of the hill beneath him. It was as though an enormous finger had simply scraped them off the face of the Earth.

Erik Spanner: What the everloving fuck was that?




Svetlana Aliyev: Horde of trogs coming our way! Jesus, I've never seen so many!
Erik Spanner: Never mind that! What the fuck just hit Mael?
Mael Radec: There's only one thing here that could have that kind of firepower. Get ready, their wizard's here!



Basil: Cathy, what're you doing? I thought you'd pulled back for repairs!
Catherine Ulysses: I did. Ash is in even worse shape than I am...



Catherine Ulysses: ...and I'm pretty sure I just found the one target that matters.



Catherine Ulysses: Yeah, it's confirmed! I've got eyes on Tronndor! Sending you all his position now!



Anil E. Hilated: We've got a problem! Fire is ineffective!



Solaus: Confirmed! I dropped a shell right on the fucker's head! He's in a hole now and he didn't even blink!
Erik Spanner: The fuck're we supposed to do?
Patrick Gallagher: No other options! We've gotta keep shooting!



It was Patrick who figured it out. He launched a hail of ball munitions at the wizard, to no apparent effect. Then, while adjusting his coilgun, he fired a few stray rounds well to the left of the wizard... and the wizard stumbled.

Patrick Gallagher: Guys! I think he's using some kind of illusion spell! Try aiming about 30 meters to his left!



Griff: BULLSEYE! You were right, Pat! I guess he had some kind of shield spell, too - took a pretty long burst of .50 cal to drop him. We got him, though! We killed a wizard!




It was a grueling battle, and the most costly for our division since the war had begun. But we had won an unprecedented victory. We had killed a Veiled One.

Cut off from all magical support and reinforcements, the remaining enemy forces in the Middle East fell into disarray. Without any coordination, they were unable to prevent our division from withdrawing before they could inflict further casualties. No longer under the cover of magical fog or able to travel quickly, they proved easy targets for Saudi airstrikes. Bombs and missiles tore into their ranks day and night, and within weeks, Alliance auxiliary forces were able to kill or capture the few battered, exhausted survivors.

Our division had already made a name for itself in Eastern Europe and Britain, but once word spread that we had managed to kill a wizard and capture a major magical well, our reputation began to evolve into something else entirely. We were becoming known as a division that could do things no one else in the Alliance could do, and prevail time and time again against overwhelming odds.

It was in light of this that our new orders came in from Command. We were headed to the Russian steppes, to join up with the main front. This time, we'd be going where the enemy forces were strongest and the fighting was fiercest, where the Alliance was falling to its last legs. Our job was to lead the counterattack.

KILLED IN ACTION:

Bonaventura Ferrer
Amina