Part 30: Mission 31: Hell Riders in the Sky

We had a few preparations to make before we began our counterattack. First came the announcement that R&D had perfected the new Tanarit armor. It was the lightest armor we'd produced to date, and as strong as Evadit. Any vehicle we fitted with it would be both faster and more durable.




With the development of Nordia cannons and paranormal infantry, new weapons research had been promising lately. Our engineers turned to a new project intended to develop laser turrets that would be suitable armaments for main battle tanks.




Our scouting platoons had been annihilated in previous battles, so we needed replacements. With the enemy's increasingly dangerous weapons, and our inability to get more survivable scouts, we needed to change our strategy. From now on, each scout Humvee would be accompanied by a UDES tank platoon with turrets retracted, each moving forward alternately. The Humvees would spot the foe, and if they came under fire, the UDES would draw fire while they escaped.



For extra protection, one of the UDES was fitted with Tanarit armor. I would have liked to have it fitted to both, but our ability to produce Tanarit was limited, and fitting even one UDES platoon with it put a strain on our supply.



We also upgunned The Toolbox to Nordias, since replacing the UDES's armor with Tanarit would take a while.



The laser turret mount, unfortunately, would not prove helpful to us. The new vehicle that incorporated the design, the Strahler, was built from the Piranha's chassis. The engineers responsible for this decision cited concerns over the lack of availability of main battle tanks and the need for an option for heavy weaponry on more freely available vehicles. The Strahler's laser turret was, in fact, even a little more effective than the cannon of an MBT. But Piranhas, even with Tanarit armor, were not durable enough for what we were facing.



The next weapons project, we were assured, would be a new tank cannon. Hopefully, it would be one that was useful to us.



As soon as the new equipment was installed and our units that had suffered losses returned to full strength, it was time to start the offensive that would deal one side or the other the biggest blow since the war began.

Mission 31: Hell Riders In The Sky

Attending:
Lazarus (Forlorn Hope, Flamethrowers)
Habitually Red (Sane Max's Own, Flamethrowers)
Solrick Skaft (Scion of Emer, Flamethrowers)
T. Hinman (Ethereal Corps, Flamethrowers)
Logan "Hardtack" Smith (War Dogs, Paranormal Infantry)
Joe Moore (War Boys, Paranormal Infantry)
Patrick Gallagher (Just In Time, Elmag 1)
Svetlana Aliyev (Rusalka, Elmag 1)
Mael Radec (Radec's Rhinos, M1 Abrams)
Erik Spanner (The Toolbox, M1 Abrams)
James "Griff" Griffin (Party Crashers, M1 Abrams)
Basil (Paladin, M1 Abrams)
Jorji Costava (Cobrastan's Best, M1 Abrams)
Isara Gunther (Edelweiss, M1 Abrams)
Aethereon Darkfyre (The Mary Sues, UDES)
Stephen Smith (The Counts of Monty Python, UDES)
Anil E. Hilated, Esq. (Polite Obliteration, AMX-30)
Grand Inquisitor Solaus (Balkanian Inquisition, AMX-30)
Gregor (The Swell Swords, AMX-30)
Michael de Boulogne (Chivalric Order of Saint George, AMX-30)
Billy Mays (Infomercial Men, Humvees)
Langdon Alger (Red Sprites, Humvees)



Aethereon Darkfyre: My turret is withdrawn, so that I may not unleash the full extent of the power I've been cursed with.
Billy Mays: HI, BILLY MAYS HERE WITH THE NEW HUMVEE, FOR WHEN YOU NEED MAGICAL HELLBEASTS FOUND FAST. COMES WITH A MACHINE GUN ABSOLUTELY FREE!



Stephen Smith: God, is the Alliance that desperate for recruits? Those two probably deserve each other. I guess you and me are taking the north, Langdon.
Langdon Alger: I can tell you the shouty guy was overselling Humvees.
Habitually Red: I've seen enough of them explode to know that.



Aethereon Darkfyre: And there's the damned flag of the Forces of Darkness, those who destroyed my village and killed my friends and parents before my eyes and against whom I've dedicated my life to seeking revenge.
Solrick Skaft: Yeah, we get a lot of those.
Billy Mays: ARE YOU LIKE AETHEREON? ARE YOU CARRYING OUT A LIFELONG VENDETTA AGAINST OTHERWORLDLY INVADERS? HIT 'EM WHERE IT HURTS WITH THE NEW STRAHLER! ONE ZAP, NO MESS!



Billy Mays: ORDER TODAY AND OH JESUS THERE ARE CRUCIFIED BODIES HERE.



Aethereon Darkfyre: Golems too!
Mael Radec: Alright, lure 'em back here. We'll set up to take out whatever chases you.



Aethereon Darkfyre: I thought these UDES were supposed to be practically invincible? Half of them are out of commission already!
Erik Spanner: Better hurry your ass back here, then!




Joe Moore: Here they are!





Basil: Nothing too impressive. Maybe they lost all their good stuff when they attacked.
Hardtack: I wish I had your optimism.




Svetlana Aliyev: Hell Rider! Take it out!




Isara Gunther: That wasn't so bad. We're lucky it decided to charge in alone.



Jorji Costava: Ha! Maybe they should just send rock breakers!
Mael Radec: Well done, Jorji! Okay, change of plans. Langdon, you sweep the southern bridge with Aethereon. Billy and Stephen, you'll stay up here to help us spot and draw the enemy out.



Langdon Alger: I sure hope there aren't any more riders down here.

Back north...




Anil E. Hilated: Throwers! Haven't seen those in a while. Shame they couldn't stick around a bit longer.



Stephen Smith: More coming! There's at least one golem out there!



Michael de Boulogne: Not for long.



Langdon Alger: I think this plateau might be the same one you guys are bombarding. It's pretty big, but pretty empty.
Aethereon Darkfyre: As empty as my cursed life.



Erik Spanner: It's about to get emptier!



Solaus: They have the high ground and we're still pasting them!



Stephen Smith: Jesus, I'm under heavy fire here!



Stephen Smith: Weren't these things supposed to be practically invincible? I almost got wiped out!
Hardtack: Goddamn! Alright everyone, stay back. We aren't going anywhere near that bridge until we've thinned them out!



Griff: There they are. Let's flatten the whole place!
T. Hinman: But it's a plateau. Plateaus are flat.



Michael de Boulogne: We'll crater it, then.




Gregor: Gregor thinks perhaps we can have that hill to ourselves now.
Mael Radec: Let's find out. Billy, Stephen's still patching up. Have a look and see if it's clear, but be careful.



Billy Mays: THANKS RADEC. JUST DESTROY THIS ONE BALLISTA AND YOU'LL SEE IT'S ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CLEAN. NOT AN ORC OR ELF IN SIGHT, GUARANTEED!
Mael Radec: ...Right. Okay, you all heard the man! Take out the ballista!



Michael de Boulogne: Done. Everyone up!



Patrick Gallagher: Shit shit shit!
Stephen Smith: Pat, you alright? What the hell's going on back there?



Patrick Gallagher: These things came out of nowhere! They literally just fucking appeared out of thin air!
Anil E. Hilated: What? How?
Patrick Gallagher: I DON'T KNOW, FUCKING HELP.
Solaus: We'll send supporting fire your way as soon as we can!



Lazarus: God damnit. Guess we're on our own for now... Shit! The flamers don't hurt these things!
Habitually Red: They're fire orcs, Laz! Shoot something else and leave the riders to the others!



T. Hinman: This is to my satisfaction.




Svetlana Aliyev: Done. But seriously, what the fuck. I thought they could only move between portals?
Griff: They must have some other teleportation bullshit they can do. Whatever it is, looks like we'll have to start watching our backs.



Michael de Boulogne: Glad you guys could handle that on your own. We got dragged into a fight when we reached the north end of the plateau.



Mael Radec: Let's make sure they regret it.




Langdon Alger: We're just west of you guys. There's another red banner here, and on the other side of a valley we can see hell riders. There's probably more baddies lurking nearby, but we're gonna pull back before we're spotted.



Anil E. Hilated: Sit tight, we'll be right there with you. We just polished them off here.

A few minutes later...



Jorji Costava: Someone has to draw them out. Job is for UDES, right?



Svetlana Aliyev: Looks like this time, it's for all of us.




Gregor: Ha! Is all you've got?



Patrick Gallagher: Doesn't look like it! Shoot 'em!



Aethereon Darkfyre: Faced with such a threat, I'm forced to unleash my power on the foe. My descent into darkness continues.



Mael Radec: God damnit, Aeth. Almost everyone here's killed more trogs than they can count! It's not a big deal!
Aethereon Darkfyre: Author's note! I'm tired of people telling me this! Aethereon is DIFFERENT, okay?
Isara Gunther: At first I told myself he was better than a gap in the line, but now I'm seriously having second thoughts about that.



Solaus: Nice how we don't need flamers to deal with the skellies anymore.
Erik Spanner: Too bad now we have MOTHERFUCKING GHOSTS to deal with.



Stephen Smith: I think we wiped 'em out.



Anil E. Hilated: Apparently not! I'll bet there's more lurking to the north. Stephen, do your thing.



Stephen Smith: Fucking golems!



Michael de Boulogne: Only so much one platoon of 'em can do.
Mael Radec: Did you see anything else up there, Stephen?
Stephen Smith: Nope. Hill's cleaned out.
Mael Radec: We've secured the area, then. Guess what your reward is?
Erik Spanner: Booze?
Griff: Shuteye?
Langdon Alger: A promotion?
Mael Radec: Nope! We've got a schedule to keep. Everyone regroup and get ready for the next push, your reward is more blood.



As soon as everyone was ready, the division pushed west. We'd managed to bypass the hill we had lost in the enemy's last major attack, moving in to cut a path between it and the enemy's headquarters. While the UDES tanks hadn't proved quite as invincible as we'd hoped, they'd taken the brunt of the enemy's force and survived, and our new scouting doctrine had been proven.