Part 65: Mission 65: Fallen Angels

Before they started to work on the keys, Alliance scientists sent me a concerningly brief report about the mysterious magician our division had encountered at Medusa's Gate. Not only did it tell us nothing we didn't learn from our encounter with it, but the team responsible also seemed to be under the impression that I wasn't already familiar with demons.




I hoped that the group responsible for decoding the mountain key ritual would be more capable. Just to be sure, I turned nearly the entire budget of the division over to them until the task was complete. We weren't suffering many losses or doing much upgrading of our existing hardware, so we had plenty of resources to spare. I also used some of the funding to requisition top scientists from other divisions - no expense could be spared when the outcome of the war depended on this task. Every day that passed was another day the Forces of Darkness could position battallions around the barrier, and another day closer to the awakening of the Titan.




Our scientists knew the stakes too, though, and they worked tirelessly to decode the ritual. With all of the best minds in the Alliance working on the problem, we cracked it within days. There was another issue, however.



The ritual to remove the barrier couldn't be done by just anybody - it required an infusion of energy from someone with considerable innate magical power. Our best PARE officers all attempted without success. Finally, we tried reopening the Gate to Karedan-Ka and enlisted their assistance. Sil'Vain agreed to take part in the ritual; while he was reluctant to leave his homeworld while it bore the full brunt of the Forces of Darkness, he understood how important this was to the outcome of the entire war. He warned that it was absolutely imperative that we reach the sword first; the Forces of Darkness had no need of it, so they would almost certainly try to destroy it rather than capture it.

A few hours later, the last chant was uttered, the candles burnt to stumps, the ritual complete. The PARE officers attending and the Drunken Slavs waited with bated breath, all eyes on the barrier. Finally, it shimmered, then crackled, then faded away. The path to the Darksword was open.



Our tanks surged into the valley, our Hinds whirring and battlesuits jumping into formation behind them. Ahead, the familiar magical mist of the Forces of Darkness began to roll down the mountain slopes. The artifact that could win us the war was finally in reach. We just had to get there before the enemy did.

Mission 65: Fallen Angels

Attending:
Lazarus (Forlorn Hope, Mobile Infantry)
T. Hinman (Ethereal Corps, Mobile Infantry)
Habitually Red (Sane Max's Own, Mobile Infantry)
Gordon Frohman (Concerned Citizens, Mobile Infantry)
Solrick Skaft (Scion of Emer, Mobile Infantry)
Joe Moore (War Boys, Mobile Infantry)
"Doctor" Snark (Mage Killers, Mobile Infantry)
Emil Västerström (Trollhunters, Mobile Infantry)
Mael Radec (Radec's Rhinos, Destructor)
Svetlana Aliyev (Rusalka, Destructor)
Patrick Gallagher (Just In Time, Destructor)
Erik Spanner (The Toolbox, Destructor)
James "Griff" Griffin (Party Crashers, Destructor)
Basil (Paladin, Destructor)
Reginald P. Linux (Doom Squad, Leopard 2A5)
Grandalt Noddington (Tea Battalion, Leopard 2A5)
Hulk Hogan (The Hulkamaniacs, Leopard 2A5)
Aethereon Darkfyre (The Mary Sues, UDES)
Stephen Smith (The Counts of Monty Python, UDES)
Grand Inquisitor Solaus (Balkanian Inquisition, MLRS)
Michael de Boulogne (Chivalric Order of Saint George, MLRS)
Gregor (The Swell Swords, MLRS)
Pusher Bot (The Space Robots, MLRS)
Uzgob (Deff Skwadron, MLRS)
Anil E. Hilated, Esq. (Polite Obliteration, M106)
Cholmondely Featherstonehaugh-Smythe (Sphinx Battery, Roland)
Sigrún Raske (Skysmasher Brigade, Roland)
Roger Murtaugh (Less Than Lethal, Roland)
Bob & Doug McKenzie (Royal Canadian Red-greens, Mi-24)
Amerlia Earhart (Time Warp, Mi-24)
Vlasta Devínská (Paper Tigers, Universal 2R)
Charles C Thuluu (Strange Aeons, Universal 2R)



Mael Radec: Let's move carefully, people. They don't know exactly where the sword is. They probably won't take the time to search for it until they're sure they've won the battle.



Michel de Boulogne: Just took out a few troublemakers to the left, trying to flank us. Mael's right, we've gotta be careful.



Vlasta Devínská: Area's clear ahead of us. Let's see what's up that slope.



Joe Moore: Wait, they had an impassible barrier and they put ghosts on the other side of it? Their, like, one unit that can't take advantage of it?



Amelia Earhart: Hey, I'm always up for target practice.




Amelia Earhart: Oh. Those might be more of a problem.



Griff: Ground support coming in! Anyone who's got a shot on the flyers, take it!



Solrick Skaft: Lots of 'em buzzing around. Looks like Tarantula's pulling out all the stops.



Amelia Earhart: Whatever these things are, wherever they came from, missiles blow 'em up just like anything else!



Lazarus: Okay, we've got this! Their numbers are thinning, just keep it up!



Joe Moore: That's the last of 'em. Guess nobody told 'em we own the sky now!



Uzgob: Guess it's time to pick off the rest then.



Griff: Kind of weird that the ghosts can't scale these cliffs. Why would that matter? They can roll over rivers just fine.
Uzgob: I leave those kindsa questions to the weirdboyz.



Charles C Thuluu: More where they came from, out east!



Emil Västerström: There's nothing they can do to harm us if we strike from the air! Nothing!



Charles C Thuluu: ...Uh, you sure about that?



Gordon Frohman: Quick, unload on 'em! Hit the ones closest to the trucks first!



Solrick Skaft: God damnit, I forgot how hard these things are to kill without flamers!
Charles C Thuluu: Oh, shit, here one co-



Charles C Thuluu: It's a good thing you were there, Darkfyre! Your UDES saved me!
Habitually Red: Don't encourage him, Chuck.
Charles C Thuluu: Look, I thought his rambling was a fate worse than death, but that was before I was trying to outrun killer fog in an overloaded truck.
Aethereon Darkfyre: A fine turn of phrase, Charles! I may just make it the basis for my next poem.
Charles C Thuluu: ...Actually, can I re-weigh that preference?




Vlasta Devínská: You'll get another chance, Thuluu! Though I imagine it'd be pretty hard to die to this bunch.



Vlasta Devínská: See? Grandalt didn't even come close!
Grandalt Noddington: I wasn't trying to die, Mr. Devínská.
Vlasta Devínská: I mean, it wouldn't have been a bad try if you were. We've lost plenty of our own because they were the first ones to roll in and shoot.



Bob McKenzie: Should be much more manageable with all our tanks waiting to greet them, eh.



Griff: There we go! Just sit back and wipe 'em out as they come.



Basil: Oh, hey! These guys again. Well, we took 'em out last time, I think we can get 'em all before they can reach us.



Patrick Gallagher: Shit, demons!



T. Hinman: Air support will be un-available. More winged hu-mans are here.




Doug McKenzie: We've got wings too, eh.
Bob McKenzie: And ours are rotary!



Solaus: Usual tactics apply, demons first! They can hit us from behind. Whatever the box-things do, they'll have to get past our Destructors.



Erik Spanner: Now that that's done, we can focus on what's important - making sure these bastards don't kamikaze us!




Pusher Bot: Possible danger identified. Slizoids are so forgettable, we may possibly forget them entirely.
Svetlana Aliyev: Just think if one went undiscovered for weeks! It might be able to damage one of our vehicles in that span of time!



Doug McKenzie: Looks like there's a few more angels out there, eh.



Bob McKenzie: A few, a lot, something like that.



Joe Moore: Shoot 'em down! We've got to cripple them in one volley, or they'll be taking a few of us with them!



Solrick Skaft: Shit, looks like that includes me!



Solrick Skaft: Okay... that wasn't too bad. If that was all they could do, I think we're safe.



Gregor: Better, ground battle is already won! You have help soon.



Basil: Fucking Slizoids, man. Why do they even bother?
Patrick Gallagher: I guess the Forces of Darkness figure if they've got 'em, they might as well-
Basil: No, I mean why do the Slizoids bother? Man, if I was a Slizoid, I wouldn't even get up in the morning. I'd start to, and then I'd just be like, "Oh, right. I'm a Slizoid. I have no possible reason to get up or even exist."



Sigrún Raske: Sometimes I feel that way as a SAM operator. Today is not one of those days.
Griff: Hey guys, look. The fog's beginning to clear away. I think we got 'em!
Charles C Thuluu: Confirmed, magical signature's receding! The area's clear!
Mael Radec: Excellent! Call in the recovery crews. They'll be waiting for our signal.
Reginald P. Linux: We did it! We got the sword! Then that means...
Mael Radec: It's time to get ready. We're going to finish what the Forces of Darkness started.



We'd gotten lucky; we'd destroyed the barrier quickly enough that the Forces of Darkness couldn't field any armored vehicles. We would have had a much more difficult battle on our hands if we'd had to face Mammoths and Fortresses.



The recovery team didn't waste a second. The helicopter dropped off the crew at the cave containing the sword before the fog had even finished dispersing. At the end of a perfectly carved hall of pure crystal, lying on a pedestal, was the artifact we had sought for so long. What nobody had known, not even the ghost of Bauron, was that it was being guarded by a colossal, pale dragon. In one terrifying moment, it sniffed the air, then looked at the recovery team.

The dragon, luckily, was not like those that fought for the Forces of Darkness. She, Maghira, had sworn her service long ago to Bl'ina, the god who had originally hidden away the sword here. She was a psychic of incredible power - within moments, she had dug through the crew's minds and learned everything about why they were there, from the conclusion of their search back to the beginning of the war. This was, in a way, quite helpful to us, since it left her with no reason to suspect our motives. Knowing that Bl'ina would not want our world threatened by invaders from beyond, she turned over the sword to us, though declined to aid us in battle.




The darksword was ours. For weeks, a battle had raged across the Himalayas for this sword, a battle we had fought with tanks and helicopters to recover this weapon. An antiquated weapon. A weapon that was the key to winning this entire war.

We had the Forces of Darkness backed into a corner. We had the weapon that could break their last defense. The time had come to drive them out of our world once and for all.