“With the activation of the old Earth orbital relays and weaponized satellites, Selfian forces have brought the Roland army to its knees. Fresh from his conquest of the Cintelli Theocracy, King Consort Jack Cordellica, son of the infamous Queen Slayer, now turns his attention towards Windermere and the last bastions of the Roland army. Could this be the dawning of a new age? This researcher is on his heels as to what comes next”- Loyd Hawk On his Talk to Ya Podcast.
****
Aboard the Fuck You Roland, Jack rubbed his head from the headache forming in his mind as he sat at his desk being yelled at by the voice coming from his intellipad.
“For the last time, I don't remember any of that,” Jack said as Ada continued to yell. Of course, all he remembered was drinking tea given to him by Kamila, but both Sahaqiel and Lilith were being oddly quiet about the event.
“How could you not?! There's white stuff everywhere! Leona still can't walk straight and all Kamila does is blush and day dream about yo-”
“Daddy!” Celeste called out, appearing into view.
“Hey honey,” Jack said, a wide smile on his face, happy about the interruption. “How's your day princess?”
“Good! Ho-sook got me candy!” Celeste exclaimed, hyperly bouncing up and down whilst flashing a smile filled with colorful leftovers.
“Ah… Really? I'll have to talk to her,” Jack smiled outwardly, regretting putting the teenager on bodyguard duty.
“Well at least she's having fun.” Sahaqiel said before Celeste was dragged off of Ada’s bed by a certain green-haired Duchess who waved to the screen before leaving.
Suddenly footsteps vibrating against the floor nearby, judging from the gait it was Jessica here to get him for his briefing.
“I’ll be right there!” Jack called out before turning back to Ada.
“Oooh. You aren't off the hook mister!” Ada hissed before her expression softened, “Please be safe, I love you. I don't want to be a single mother.”
“You won't be, I love you too,” Jack said, kissing her hand and placing it over the screen before he signed off.
Taking a moment, Jack eyed his system, having selected his new class, Wind Seraphim, his attunement with the wind had escalated his sensitivity to changes in the air. This included the vibrations of people walking including the sounds and noises of a thousand souls moving in tandem on the ship.
It had taken a moment, but thanks to Sahaqiel he was able to suppress the noises.
Was he stronger? Not much, his natural mana manipulation was stronger than the system taught skills, but it at least augmented his skill set.
Jack donned his uniform coat adorned with medals and exited his cabin, walking towards the ship's observation deck where he could see the bulk of his troops mustered below.
Three thousand infantrymen, including one platoon of tanks, a company of MECHFrames and one squadron of fighter pilots with a wing of bombers. The SIA: Fuck You Roland was a King Raven-Class airship, one of six in service to the Selfian Imperial Air Force.
With its array of support weapons, 120mm and 380mm cannons, it could take on an entire city whilst fending off demonspawn attacks with its CIWs.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The same kind of ship that had taken on and held off an entire Cintelli invasion force to buy Frelia time.
Now it was underway to join the assault on Windermere with its entire arsenal under Jack's command.
“Lord Consort,” Jessica said, bowing her head. “Admiral Skirita and Director York are waiting for you on the command deck.”
“Then let's not keep them waiting,” Jack said, turning with his adjutant following him.
“His Majesty, Lord Consort!” Jessica announced upon entering the bridge, summoning all hands to salute their king.
Clean shaven, hair cut, Jack held all the markings of a military officer. Enough so that Admiral Skirita and the former sergeant turned Director, Mr. York, did a double take upon eyeing the man who had once been a wide-eyed teen.
“At ease,” Jack said, waving the soldiers off as he walked to the holodeck. “Admiral, bring me up to speed.”
Director York smirked, “You heard the King, Admiral,”
“We are an hour away from the Windermere staging point,” Skirita said, the gray-haired officer sitting on his command chair and beckoning to the display that showed all fifteen battle groups descending on the fortified city. “Once we link up with the other battlegroups, we will disembark our ground forces before moving to skirmish the Roland Air Force.”
“Skirmish? Why not try and achieve air dominance?” Jack asked, eyeing the army of land ships, aircraft, and battlegroups surrounding the city.
At Skirita’s command, Lieutenant Harper stepped forward, changing the screen.
“Roland forces are dug in and have at their disposal a retinue of anti-ship emplacements protected by mage officers and MECHFrames. Combined with their Air Fleet, a full frontal assault on their forward defensive line would result in a forty-five percent combat effectiveness reduction of our forces,” Lieutenant Harper reported, a fancy way of saying a lot of people would die. “We've had the AIs run the analytics and multiple battle sims, and while victory over Windermere is guaranteed, the casualty rates to blitz the city are unsustainable for our ongoing campaign.”
“So what's our plan?”
“Our airships on station will only be able to provide limited air coverage for our ground forces until those guns are down. So the first stage of our operation is to locate and eliminate the enemy emplacements. Given the situation, it is highly probable that Roland command is aware of our intentions and have stationed mage officers to protect their defenses. So it will be a heavy fight. After the enemy AA are dealt with, we'll move in with the rest of our fleet to destroy the enemy trenches before assaulting the city proper.”
Jack studied the map, looking for Colette's position.
“Okay, before we begin our assault I want to issue a call of surrender to the Roland forces,” Jack said, surveying the gathered officers. "If we can reduce the casualties we ought to try. I want a unit dedicated to accepting prisoners and housing them.”
“Yes,” Skirita said, “I'm aware of your special situation. Make no mistake Lord Consort, while you are officially in charge of this campaign, operational command still belongs to me. You are here as a special attache, if your actions jeopardize the security of our war effort, I will do what needs to be done in order to fulfill our Queen's orders. ”
“I understand,” Jack replied, all too happy to relinquish tactical command to someone else. After all, his skills were best suited to punching things rather than planning and strategizing. “What can I do to help?”
Skirita glanced towards the Director who stepped forward, “We've identified multiple named mage officers on the battlefield, several members of House Light and Charlemange that are personally leading the defense alongside their retinue of knights. To expedite our assault, eliminating these targets would greatly ease the pain of our ground forces. Opening up breaches in the Roland defense and demoralizing their soldiers.”
Harper transferred a list of targets to Jessica's intellipad who handed it to Jack for review.
“There's well over a dozen awakened here,” Jack frowned. “Some have anti-army skills…”
“With the firing of the orbital arrays most of the Roland forces have congregated to defend their remaining bastions. Before we begin our assault, we'll deploy an anti-army skill for a clash to nullify further anti army skills.”
“This is a target rich environment, why not hit them from afar?” Jack said, parroting something he once heard Selfia say. “Why not fire the lasers across the trenches? Smoke them out?”
“Technical issues related to heating and repair mostly,” York replied, the balding blonde man frowning. “Most of the satellites are refurbished old-earth tech. Not to mention needing the satellites in proper orbit to fire, the weapons are a strategic tool with limited use, not something we can use at will.”
“Great,” Jack muttered, “Hard way it is then. What about demonspawn activity?”
“Swarms are being dealt with, we've got reserve units dedicated to their interception and elimination. The battlefield is secure. You just need to focus on your tasks. We'll handle the rest sir.”
Jack sighed slightly.
“Alright, keep me updated,” Jack said as he readied himself for war.