“MN and CFN aircraft are battling for dominance in the Kusari subcontinent! Continued tactical and strategic bombing is being conducted by CFN airpower, aimed at rapidly destroying the Kusari State. On the other hand, Asanaian, Lorathian, and Orlish planes have been active round-the-clock in interception duties. The Mandate of Nations has warned that further attacks against civilian targets ‘will soon have dire consequences’, accusing CFN leaders again of war crimes.”
- Geopol Press
+++
West Orland
Duchy of Rimwurz
Site-07A
OHC High-Security Command Center
“We’re now two hours away from the start of Operation Sky Dagger,” a woman’s emotionless voice announced inside the Emergency Command Hall. “Operational units are now in place. 12th FS and 15th FS are now ready for takeoff. The 177th FS, 35th FS, 313th FS, and 5th BS are also in place and are preparing to take off from Yamakaze and Torinosu AB.”
Amelie wiped some of the sweat that threatened to form on her forehead as she watched the gigantic screens in front of them. The legions of military clerks working below them seemed to be speeding up their administrative duties. Officers of all ranks came and went inside the room, as they watched with bated breaths the situation on the ground.
“The 58th and 99th Strategic Rocket Regiments have finished their preparations and are now aiming their ballistic missiles at the saturation targets,” the announcer soon continued. “The 57th and 44th Strategic Rocket Regiments are now in transit toward their firing positions.”
Amelie almost felt his heart tighten.
“You look like you’re going to faint over there,” William pointed out beside her. Chief Air Marshall Zimmerman on the other hand just continued smoking his cigar. Behind them, General Albrecht couldn’t even be bothered to look at the screens, as he talked on the phone with someone. Amelie breathed out deeply.
“Look, it’s just all so sudden,” Amelie said, as she felt her heart rate quicken. “This is just…you know, this is the first time we’ll be striking deep into them. What if we lose these squadrons? What if…they just intercept all the missiles? What if they think we’re nuking them?”
“Look, you said it yourself,” William reminded. “We have to divert their airpower to the far east to relieve pressure in Kusari. The only way to do that is to strike from Asanai.”
Targeting a Larissan port city sounds harder now that I think about it. Amelie felt herself turning pale at the prospects. What about the civilians? The civilians would be in danger. Goddess…goddess I’m signing the potential deaths of thousands of civilians.
“If you need a tea break you can take it,” the Chief Air Marshall suggested. “We’re still a few hours away from the start of the raid anyway.”
“I still can’t believe I authorized this…” Amelie mumbled.
“I believe Nia ordered some sweets,” William pointed out. “That ought to calm your nerves down a bit.”
“Bribing your Queen with sweets just to soothe her moral problems is quite unfunny,” Amelie said, groaning a bit.
“Well, I don’t know. It might work…I guess," William said, as he shook his head awkwardly. “I mean, come on, you’re placing too much thought into this. It’s a necessary raid before the big operations. This ought to disrupt them. And hey, get their asses twisted when they lose Rivostov’s repair facilities.”
“And oil storage facilities,” the Chief Air Marshall added. “And SAM installations. Hmm…we might even get a lucky hit or two on the facilities where they store newly arrived missiles and munitions.”
“Optimistic…” Amelie said, quite skeptical. “We only have a few hundred planes for this operation…”
“Our B-4 Hawks carry twenty-four ASCMs each. And we got fourteen of them participating. That’s three hundred thirty-six stealth cruise missiles that’ll saturate every target we identified,” General Albrecht said. “They’d be overwhelmed in no time. The 5th Bomber Squadron alone carries a massive firepower. The seventy-two M570 MLRS from the 58th, 44th, 57th, and 99th Strategic Rocket Regiments puts that to nearly four hundred missiles, straight at one city.”
Yeah, I suppose we’re placing a lot of strike power against them. Amelie still felt a bit squeamish about the operation though. But the enemy might just detect it anyway and they just send hundreds of interceptors straight at the sky. Then we’re screwed.
“You’re thinking about their response?” the Chief Air Marshall asked. “Well, it’s a night attack. We have our two LF-20 squadrons doing SEAD ahead of the operation. Then the missiles from the B-4 Hawks will be stealth missiles. The TSBMs from our Strategic Rocket Regiments will just mop up the rest. All while we pulverize them with further attacks from our follow-up squadrons.”
“And what about the civilian casualties?” Amelie asked, uneasily. “All of the targets are uncomfortably close to civilian areas. It’s like…you know, what if the missiles explode and hit people? Hell, there will always even be people there.”
“That’s just war, Amelie,” William said, shaking his head. “I thought you’ve long understood that.”
“Well, it’s easy to accept it if it’s the enemy doing it. But when it’s us…this is strategic bombing. It’s….strategic. It just leaves a bitter taste on my tongue. Strategic…strategic, every time you all say it to me, there’s always entire city blocks burning and thousands of innocent civilians dead.”
“And it’s the same this time. But unlike those bastards, it’s not like we’re dropping bombs directly at the civilians,” William smiled. “Look, if it makes you feel better, it’s us ordering this. Planning and executing it too. You just made the decision that you felt will save more lives from our allies. That’s it.”
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Amelie looked down a bit. She never realized it, but there were thresholds to things she could reasonably accept. Targeting military installations in areas still populated by civilians was something unusual to her. Even the military offensives she ordered nominally targeted military elements.
“Alright…” Amelie breathed out. “I’ll take a tea break. See you all later.”
“Don’t worry,” the Chief Air Marshall said. “If you have to close your eyes, we can do the operation ourselves—”
“No, I’ll be here while it happens,” Amelie said. “I will watch, and I want to see if the Orlish Military is going to cause civilian casualties directly because of an operation I sanctioned on civilian areas. Is that clear?”
“Clear, Your Majesty,” General Albrecht said, as he took his seat. “Clear as the night sky.”
+++
“The operation is set to begin in…five minutes,” William said, as he looked at his watch. He turned to Amelie. “Are you fine over there?”
“Yes,” Amelie answered bluntly. William seemed to be unconvinced, so Amelie pressed on and doubled down. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Well then, we’re going to get into it then,” William smirked. Soon the screens showed footage of multiple aircraft opening their thrusters on runways. One by one, they were launched into the air. Mostly LF-12s, but there were also B-4 Hawks and LF-20 Phantoms taking off in the darkness. They were shown on the screens with the green light of night vision cameras.
Amelie grabbed the handlebars in front of her, as each squadron that had taken off was listed by the announcer. Without her noticing, ten minutes had passed as they flew in range of their targets. Suddenly, a ring alerted her from behind. Nia tapped Amelie, and Amelie immediately turned back.
“It’s a call from Princess Kawasaki,” Nia said. “She says it’s urgent.”
“Aren’t they in constant communication with us?” Amelie asked the Chief Air Marshall, who simply grunted and nodded.
“Yes,” he took a sip from the glass of whiskey he bought in the observation area. “They’ve already got their air assets up to monitor the situation. Their air defense is also on high alert.”
“Their navy?”
“Same, of course,” the Chief Air Marshall nodded. Amelie rushed toward the phone and accepted the call.
“Your Majesty? Is that you?”
“Yes, this is the Queen of Orland,” Amelie said, as she turned back to observe the massive screens in front of her. Electronic maps zoomed into the northern part of Asanai and the easternmost territories of Larissa and Hebei. Her squadrons were now moving rapidly to Rivostov, which was close to the Larissan–Hebeian border. “The operation is now underway.”
“I know, I just wanted to keep in touch with you,” the Princess answered. “I’m in a high-alert meeting with my military staff as well. We’re watching it all unfold. Hey, do you think they’ll react harshly to this?”
“I hope not,” Amelie replied. “But knowing them, they probably will.”
“The 5th Bomber Squadron is now in range…” the announcer said. Suddenly, the icons of the planes belonging to the 5th BS began releasing these masses of blue projectiles. They began turning away, as the missiles streaked straight into the Larissan city. “Payload is now delivered. No complications. Operation Phase One is proceeding well.”
Amelie held her breath, as the fast-moving 12th and 15th Fighter Squadrons streaked close toward Rivostov. As the minutes passed, red dots began appearing on the maps. The announcer spoke again.
“Phase Two is now commencing. Hostile air search radars spotted. SEAD operations will be underway.”
The Chief Air Marshall took a brief phone call before he placed his phone back in his pocket and turned in Amelie’s direction, smirking a bit.
“Now, watch,” the Chief Air Marshall said, as General Albrecht crossed his arms.
Streaks of missiles came out of the dispersed air units of the 12th FS and the 15th FS. Unlike the missiles released by the bombers earlier, they were faster. Immediately, launches appeared from the CFN side. They were responding.
“It looks like they spotted our attack at last,” Amelie said, as she watched her stealth squadrons turn tail after they launched all of their missiles. “Are they going to get them?”
“Not at this range,” the Chief Air Marshall said, nodding to himself. “We fired them at nearly thirty kilometers…watch, all those launches…those missiles won’t have enough time to get into the air and get energy to intercept our attacks.”
One by one, the missiles of her stealth squadrons struck identified targets. Within just a minute, Amelie watched as dozens of radar icons were removed from the map. William seemed impressed.
“Phase Two completed,” the announcer said. “Enemy air defense has now been rendered temporarily inoperative. Our Strategic Rocket Regiments will begin launches in ten, nine, eight…”
The screens turned into the shores of the Asanaian Empire. In the darkness were the many dozens of spaced M570 MLRS platforms that were assigned for the operation. The moment the countdown reached zero, the darkness was lit as each MLRS platform released a massive Tactical Strike Ballistic Missile (TSBM) toward the night sky.
They then lowered their launchers and began driving away. On the map, a new wave of ballistic missiles appeared, also moving faster than the missiles released by the 5th Bomber Squadron.
“Phase Three is now commencing. Saturation bombardment is synchronized to begin in ETA-8 minutes.”
Amelie turned to William.
“Eight minutes?”
“Yep,” William said. “Our stealth missiles are subsonic. So we launched them earlier. Our land-based missiles however are supersonic. We timed the operation well so that they would arrive at the same time.”
“Alright…” Amelie leaned into her phone. All she could do was chat and chat with the Asanaian Princess as her missiles raged toward the Larissan mainland.
Suddenly, red angry blips appeared, all heading straight to intercept her missiles. Yet, almost no one reacted.
“Hey…is that…normal?” Amelie asked, and the Chief Air Marshall simply nodded. The announcer soon answered Amelie’s incoming question.
“Confirmed launches of one hundred sixty Larissan interceptors. Friendly missiles are now at ETA-3 minutes to target. Hostile air defense has been sufficiently suppressed.”
William laughed.
“That means, we disabled most of their launchers," William explained. "Now, they can only deal with less than half of our missiles. Behold, the power of a good SEAD operation.”
“TSBMs are now entering terminal phase,” the announcer said. "Hostile interceptors are now targeting friendly ASCMs."
Amelie waited as her missiles crept closer. The map showed the Larissans intercepted half of them as they reached the final phase of their travel. Yet, with hundreds of her missiles getting through, the result was clear. Detonation after detonation. A round of applause roared inside the hall.
“Retribution at last!" General Albrecht declared, smiling. “Sweet, ain’t it?”
Amelie could only stare at her work. More detonations. More targets were destroyed. All she could see however was the electronic map depicting areas that were struck. But that didn’t trick her.
She knew that she must have killed a lot of innocent people in that city while they were sleeping.
“...No, it's not,” Amelie weakly said, as everyone else celebrated below them.