Southern Glory (E.E Closed)

[FS_America]

Futilities of War
Fort Watch

As the sound of Heavy Repeaters chattered away and the death dealing booms of the forts cannons intermixed with the cracks of musket fire and the clangs of powered bayonets meeting power swords. The Screams and cries of Americans Killing Americans. Dunn could only sigh and shake his head, it had been a recent appifany come to him as a round had exploded into the shields of the fort a round that if it had gotten through would have turned him into a mist of blood leaving very little to be picked up after the battle. Still he had realised the futility of the war he was fighting, it was only a few years ago that he might have served with some of the men who where now part of the Confederate forces.

Still he was an officer of the Federated States of America, and he was fighting to keep the women and children of his nation safe from outside aggressors be they Americans or Dutch or even filthy Communist alien Scum. he had taken the oath to do his duty and that's what he was going to do. Even if both sides had fallen into the trap both sides had sworn never to do again... Dunn Silently cursed the European power players mainly the Dutch as he ducked down and let off a few rounds from his Linier revolver at one of the engineer teams that where making there way to the walls. Mean while in the courtyard the Infantry men continued to pull out of the courtyard whilst it was true the Initial barrage from the Heavy Repeaters had torn down some good Union Soldiers the Sophisticated equipment they deployed allowed the gunners to see through the smoke through the use of thermal sights.

The onslaught continued inside and out as the remaining infantrymen in the courtyard started to make a ring around the outside taking cover behind trucks over turned carts and behind the concrete pillars that formed the edge of the Courtyard. Dunn wouldn't give up this post it was the last point before Asheville itself and the millions of Innocent Americans that lived behind the wall. on the walls the remaining soldiers continued to fire on the troops outside combined cannon fire and musket fire makeshift explosives thrown over the ramparts to try and hinder the progress of the engineer teams making it ever closer to the walls.

Hawking's Division
Asheville

General Hawking smirked as he looked over the horizon through his binoculars the landscape bombing up and down as the heavy thuds of the CP-5 echoes over the heavy mechanical while. Blow the CP marched the 12th Division, dubbed by most of the lads marching below as "Hawking's" Division. 19,000 soldiers, backed up with 3 more infantry regiments that had managed to make it to Asheville to reinforce Hawking and the remnants of the 2nd Rifles Brigade that had valiantly defended Fort Spencer a couple of days prior. They marcher to the pan flute and drums masses clouds of dust being kicked up by the precisely drilled boots impacting the floor. It was times for Hawking's hour to shine. Whilst the Confeds where occupied with taking Fort Watch he was braking out so to speak he was to mart and surround the Confeds who if Dunn had predicted correctly, would still be fighting for the control of the fort by the time he got there. Then it would be onward to Knoxville to show the confeds that their war was futile.

Hawking looked to the holographic display of the terrain then to his second in command. Major Lennox was a tall man with wavy dirty blonde hair and a handle bar moustache that put Lincoln beard to shame, always dressed immaculately he stood there waiting for Hawking to come over. Hawking smiled and stepped over to where Lennox was, "Hows it looking Major?"

Lennox smiled and pulled the cigar from his mouth. "Well General, the move is unprecedented I don't think the Officer in command of the Confed forces in the valley will expect such a bold move, and with allot of there listening assets concentrating on the assault on Knoxville and in the Southern line, I don't think they know what where doing at least not yet."

Hawking nodded and pulled the hologram scrolling towards the image of Fort Watch encased in an orange bubble denoting the shield of the fort and the blocks of Red showing the Confederate formations. "Hows Dun holding out?" Hawking inquired whilst still staring at the holomap

Lennox took a drag of cigar savouring the taste before exhaling a moment later. "No official word from himself his aide told me he's down on the ramparts in the thick of it... just how he likes it, how ever there have been garbled reports of Cavalry within the walls and there setting up siege equipment within the forts shields. However the bulk of the forces are still holding outside of the shield."

Hawking nodded and mused for a moment "Are the mortars guns sufficiently cooled?"

"Yes Sir"Lennox replied smiling immediately falling into step with his superiors train of thought.

"Good you have the co-ordinates passed on to the gun commanders, Lets see if we cant give Dunn some breathing space until we get there." Hawking looked to Lennox saluting back to his major before moving back to the balcony and looking through his binoculars. It was a risky move the shells could just as easily fall on the forts shield than the Confederate soldiers but he needed Watch fly the Union flag for his plan to succeed in the time frame planned. He needed to be at Knoxville within the week and needed to have dealt with the Confederate army within the next two days. He would drive on and he would only stop to crush his wayward brothers of the south then proceed to burn a bloody path into the Confederate States.

[Empire Netherlands]

Above Knoxville

As Nothling made another pass at a group of marines he was suddenly surprised to feel a violent shake, rapidly followed by hist controls getting sluggish. His immediate though was that he had taken a hit from something but then he heard his rear gunner shout "Sir we got a cavalry man clinging to the tail."

"Blow him off I can fly this plane without the tail so I don't care about collateral damage." Nothling responded back, annoyed at the daring of these Americans. Who the hell jumps onto a plane to try to take it down? he thought as his rear gunner opened fire, the rounds either smashed off the tail shield or missed the cavalry man. Nothling dueled with the now very tail heavy plane as he tried to keep them from smashing into any tall buildings, something he realized he wouldn't be able to keep doing much longer.

"Get that guy off now, I can't keep control like this much longer." Nothling shouted to his rear gunner, only to hear a loud bang and see blood shoot through the cockpit. He risked a quick glance back and saw that the cavalryman had somehow pulled up out his pistol and had blown his rear gunners brains all over the cockpit.

Fuck this he thought as his plane refused to pull up any farther, an office building looming ahead of them.

"Eject! Eject!" he shouted at his radioman and heard the rush of the ejection seat. Before he ejected himself he jammed the throttle to minimum, slammed his foot onto one of the floor pedals and pulled his joystick around, swinging the plane 180 degrees, one of the wings smashing through a chimney but the plane continued on its course. As soon as the maneuver was complete he yanked the ejection cord and shot out the roof of his plane, watching as the craft smashed into the office tower tail first. His parachute activate but he was to low to the ground for it to fully work and his ejection seat smashed through the roof of a neighbouring building.

By some miracle he survived the hard landing, not without a few cuts and bruises. Undoing the safety clasps he made a few wobbling steps out of the seat before he regained his balance. Turning back to his ejector seat he pulled off the WR 2 attached to the seat and hung it over his shoulder, along with a the extra clips that were also attached to the seat. From his pocket he also withdrew his linear revolver, a special piece he had been given along with his Ace Ribbon. He checked to make sure all six rounds were loaded before he headed down onto the street, trying to make his way back to Confederate lines, and hopefully find his radioman along the way.



Jacksonville Florida

The great monster of a gun was on the move again, rotating away from the north and instead turning its barrel south. After settling into firing position the crew recieved their new firing solution and munition call. The gun commanders mouth almost hit the ground when he saw the shell they were supposed to be firing. The round was designated D78, and admittedly he barely knew what it was. All he had been informed was that only a direct order from High Command would allow its use and to handle it very carefully. A few minutes later the massive loader crane pulled the shell out of its storage, revealing the unusual casing the round had. Even with the extra time they took to make sure the shell went in smoothly it was soon loaded. After another loud boom emanated from the gun the crew turned it back northwards, wondering just the result was going to be from that shell.


Panama Canal

Vlamingh ducked as linear fire sweeped over the trench. They were so close, the enemy fort couldn't be more then a few hundred meters ahead of the Dutch infantry, who were hiding in former American trenches. The troops had learned the hard way that approaching the fort was suicide, the Americans had mined the approaches like the dishonourable cowards they were and the only places that weren't mined were out in the open and left the troops exposed.

Now they hid in the trenches as artillery pieces were being brought ashore. Already Vlamingh knew the plan had fallen apart, mines hadn't been expected this deep into the canal and the American resistance was proving much greater then expected. Even with the support of the Mk XX tanks they hadn't been able to reach the fortress before the Americans had gotten prepared. The remaining Mk XX's had been firing away at the fortresses from as close as they could risk, most working on wearing down the fort shields and the few that got close enough tried to fire at the walls themselves.

As another barrage of linear fire tore into the ground infront of the trench Vlamingh heard static coming through the headset built into his hat, the static cut out a moment latter then a voice came over the radio, hard to identify through all the noise.

All troops keep your heads down and keep your eyes away from the fort, support is coming in.

Deciding that questioning the voice probably wasn't going to get him anywhere (even if it was an enemy signal he was already pretty much doing what it said to do) Vlamingh put his eyes to the ground. He then heard what sounded like the roar of dozen of Adalaars, the noise quickly growing in intensity to the point that he nearly pulled his eyes to the sky to see what was going on. Then the ground shook enough to cause him to fall forward, followed by a light of such great intensity the sides of the trench seemed to have been bleached white. Then came a wave of heat, dust, and concussive force, causing Vlamingh's ears to pop and he could swear some of his skin on his back was burning.

The wave passed and all that was left was a deathly quiet as dust and smoke covered the ground and sunk into the trench. Then he heard regimental drums begin to beat out their rhythm, Charge, Charge, Charge they repeated. Vlamingh pulled himself up to the top of the trench and shouted with all the voice he could muster

"Follow me to glory. For the Empire!" He heard the shouts of men beside and behind him as he charged into the smoke, his mens cry's joining thousands of others as they ran. They didn't care if the fort had survived or not, this was the only chance they would be getting to end this.

[OOC: Done]

[Solar CSA]

Knoxville

Thirty "Lassie" ground attack aircraft sailed over Knoxville, they had just arrived from the closest airfield. They flew in groups of five, in the traditional V formation with the lead aircraft at the tip of the attack, flanked by two of his comrades on either side. They swooped in for the kill looking for the perfect targets, large groups of marines were the best victims. Their speed, agility and shielding were great at protecting the planes from enemy gun fire. On the offensive each bore three heavy repeaters, two at the nose of the aircraft, and one manned by a gunner near the tail of the aircraft, aiming backwards to fire on any survivors. The planes would fly over their targets, opening fire on the exposed infantry, then as they fly over the gunner would pick off survivors with the repeater on the back. Occasionally explosives were tossed over the side into a midst of enemies to wreak havoc.

The shields had been powered down, since by now the salvo of landing pods had ended. This allowed for the Lassie and Adalaar fighters to perform at maximum efficiency. The Americans had sent in a large fleet of fighters, intelligence suggested that the number of aircraft reached over one hundred. Upon hearing his news the officers commanding the defenses laughed, many of the younger officers were scared out of their minds, but the veterans knew this would end up being a disaster for the Yankee air force. Commanding that many planes over hostile territory bristling with enemy fighters and fortified to the teeth with AA placements, while at the same time avoiding friendlies and identifying enemies, after already having taken a beating from Onthos AA vehicles, AND leaving the rest of their nation exposed was a novice mistake, the Confederate officers wagered that at the end of this battle the Yankee general responsible for approving this would surely be stripped of his command and reassigned to desk duty.

Private Rodriguez, part of a Cuban platoon setting up defenses watched as a Dutch plane crashed, and rushed got to the scene with the rest of his squad. His sergeant remarked that it seemed that it was the plane commanding the squadron. The four Cubans soon found the bloodied up pilot and his radio man, one of their riflemen waved his arms and shouted in Spanish franticly until a medical team rushed to the scene, checking the two men for any severe injuries. The four men watched the medics and spoke to each other in low voices, contemplating that they would soon be facing similar casualties if the American broke through the outer defenses.

Fort Watch

Four grenadier engineer teams never made it to the walls, their dead bodies lay around the fort as a testament to the Yankee's determination to hold this fortification. One squad gave up and scattered dropping their equipment and running from the heavy fire they were advancing against. Two engineer teams rushed through the fire and explosions, and met up near the wall. They charged and set they're explosives, the two teams put all they're explosives on the same spot to maximize the damage done to the walls. They scurried for cover before the charges detonated, the engineers smiled and waved at their comrades who were now advancing towards the breach, before two mortar shells wiped the two teams off the face off the earth. The Grenadiers shuddered at the thought that it could have been them, but charged the hole. Throwing grenades into the hole before pouring through it.

Shells now fell around the Grenadiers killing those too slow to get out of the trajectories of the mortars first volley. Inside the courtyard the Slavers and Cavalry faced another dilemma, their engineers set another round of explosives, and they reassured their officers that this time it would be enough to get through the walls of the command hub. Andrew shouted over the noise of explosions into his communications system, ordering two squads of slavers to wipe out any more resistance in the courtyard, he turned just in time to avoid exposing his eyes to the bright flash of light as the explosives detonated, hoping this time it would be enough to get into the command hub. Even though the repeaters were taking a toll on the Slavers, they're excellent morale kept them fighting, they knew there was no turning back no, it was kill or be killed, and they would take no quarter...

By now The line infantry and the rest of the Corps had completed their sweep up of the lands surrounding the fort, and they had created a pocket around Watch. Any Yankees who would try to escape would find no where to go. As soon as Watch fell the large amount of men not in Watch would head out towards Asheville, they would set up a perimeter roughly twenty miles from the city and prepare for their siege. All of that would only be set in motion when the fort fell, the commanders were sure that this plan would succeed, unfortunately they could not predict the breakout in the preparing in Asheville.

[FS_America]

Flames By the sea
Panama Canal

Sargeant Marcus Williams grunted as he suddenly and quite violently entered the real world once again a sharp gasp to fill his lungs his eyes focussing on the dirt and grime that covered the trench to the Pass. All around him sounds played out the dying screams the survvers valliant faught back at the dutch onslaught all seemed to behind a glass wall to him as he picked himself up instinctively grabbing his musket and stumbled towards the nearest soldier the world quickly coming back to clarity as his suit injected the Stims into his body. Although it looked like an archiac 18th century garb underneithe was a complex battle suit designed to protect him from area of effect weapons like the massive attack that had knocked him unconcious for a few moments.

He had to guess the suit had brought him back from his unconcious thoughts, and probably quickly to he still felt his skin burn from where he was exposed to the brilliant heat of the weapon the Dutch had just unleashed. Marcus had no time to to care nor to look at the fate of the fortress at his back not at the moment, down slope the sound of bugel and drum beats signified the Dutch where advancing and with the inital shock of the dutch attack the american line was in disarray.

Standing propperly now Marcus imposed his authority with out even shouting an order instead he stepped up onto a raised firing position looked behind him the remainder of his Detachment quickly pressed up against the trench. Marcus smiled despite the dutchmans clear suprior firepower they didnt have the American resolve to see this through.

"Phillips and Jones get on the Gattling gun the red of your ready your weapons, i dont care what happens in the other trenches! we give em hell and make em pay for every Inch of ground they gain.... HOORAH!"

A plethora of Horreh's and woops came back to him as the men of the garrison prepaired to repell the Invaders or die trying.

As the Dutch advanced the dust and smoke dissapated slowly but surely the Fort came back into view its protective bubble no longer visible, the blue shimmering dome of the forts void shields no longer gave off its protective ward leaving its own fortifications the last defence of the fort hard. Masonry and concrete work capable of withstanding Linear cannon fire for a while but nothing to the extent the once powerfull shield afforded the position. Still Undetered the Americans fought on Mortars began to fire explosive shot exploding over the heads of the dutch peppering them with Shrapnell and anti personell rounds.

whilst they started to move equipment and wounded over to the last line of defence. The ancient shielded Carrier that sat in the bay, its once massive runway home to two large Linear cannons that looked out over the Panama canal. If the worst came to the worst they would fall back to this position and whether the storm as best they could.

When They go Marching In
Knoxville

Booke ducked down as rounds flew all around him quickly reloading his Musket he sat there for a few moments and took in his situation. they had entered knoxville a few days ago, but quickly things had gone to shit. They had made progress but at a cost of structure and men. Battalions where split up all over the city he now faught along side men from 3 other Battalions in his regiment half of his orignal squad was gone and his Sargeant had taken responsibility for the stragglers they had picked up as they went along. They all fought on with the beleif that General Hawking would be here soon and Knoxville would be the sign that the Confederates could never win this war no matter how much help they got from the dutch.

Next to him a hulking Edonite ducked down his four grey arms grasping a multi barreled musketof which he began to reload with two of his arms looking down booke the alien smiled a rather cheeky grin before Booke himself got up from his small bit of cover and let off another musket round. Around him a plethora of weapons where unloaded on the Confederate Position just up the street. Muskets and Repeater rifles designed for such a fight where being deployed against the Defenders. In some cases to great effect, in others entire units had been decimated at the hands of the Confederate elite slaver units.

Again Cavarly charged passed 6 of them bounidng forward shaking the ground under there heavy armoured boots sabres charged and held alot they aimed to smash into the Confed line and brake them to allow Booke and the Makeshift Battalion to press onto the artillery peices. Firing another musket around Booke watched as one of the Cavarlymen fell dead his body rolling as his momentum carried him on. The Charred remains of the Cockpit open to all to see. Booke grimaced a pang of worry suddenly appearing in his gut.

"Fix Bayonets!" the Call came down the line as the Major rallied his men. "The Battallion Will Advance!"

Booke gulped looked to the edenite next to him who simply put his cap on his head the Meatcleaver of a Bayonete on his cannon humming loudly Before stepping out of his cover along with the rest of the Battalion as they marched forward a couople of step men falling to the ground as enemy fire flew all around.

Then came the Order everyone was waiting for.

"Charge!"

Mile High Club
Airspace Above and Around Knoxville/Asheville Areas

Thrum of the Impeller thrusters softly rumbled through the cockpit of the Sabertooth as its pilot second lieutenant Phillips survayed the the ground below him, the computerised cockpit allowing him to survay every angle with very little hindererence. He and his squadron had been stalking to skys for a few days, scrapping with the Confeds every chance they got the ground below was littered with wrecks. He had already had his fighter patched uo several times it had become obvious now that the wings of his craft had been patched up but the confed flags sprayed onto the fusselage of his fighter plane also told of the many fire fights he had been in and his skill.

Phillips pulled himself from his recollections and found him self looking onto the horizon and Knoxville off in the distance, wondering if the boys on the ground had managed to do there jobs yet. Phillips wanted so bad to fly down and help them out but command had seen fit to put him on a patroll run around Asheville to keep out any Air assests the Confeds had so they couldnt alert there troops in the pass about the Brake out Hawking was commiting to. most of the Airforce 9th Airforce had been commited to this operation whilst elements of the 8th had been tasked to cover the troops in Knoxville and fight off the Dutch and Confed forces in that area.

He had heard that the 8th elements had been banged up badly but they where still operating keeping the the dutch busy creating the vail needed to protect Hawking and his army long enough to take the confeds by suprise and knock out the guns that posed such a threat.

Against All Odds
Fort Watch

Dunn locked swords with his massively larger partner his own power sword locking with his, in a futile attempt to combat the mechanical servos of the Power Armoured form of his Slaver counterpart, the cleaver of a sword came down and down again each time threatening to overwhelm him and slice him in two, yet the nano-weave skinsuit under uniform just allowed him to keep himself from being turned into a bloody mess. A swift boot to the carapace of the Slavers chest allowed him to quickly scramble back up the stairs gaining a hight advantage over his pursuing enemy, brining his blade down in an accurate arcing strike down on the Slave only to have it batted away almost sending him spinning to the floor. A few ducks and side steps later Dunn once again found himself on the receiving even of a massive armoured fist to the chest sending him flying across the walls upper level and landing with a heavy thud.

Groaning the sounds of boots pounded past him as several of his men ran past taking up a a two line firing position 3 kneeled down and another 4 stood up then with a loud clatter of musket fire they all fired in unison. Dunn could only smirk at his mens competence he had trained them well and whilst the Courtyard was a loosing battle, his men where pulling out of the courtyard in an orderly retreat, men where dying but wasn't a rout more a tactical withdrawal to more defensive positions around the fort.

"Dem Confed bastards are running from the walls they just planted Something!" came a cry from another section of the wall the Sergeants voice boomed over the Intercom, how ever he was to late as soon as he finished shouting the section of wall erupted flinging rock, and men into the air as a massive fiery explosion roared after them engulfing all in that area. The entire fort shook at the force of the explosion kicking up more dirt and acrid black smoke to obscure the battlefield further. Dunn looked on awe struck at the massive explosion that had just made a whole wide enough to fit a regiment through. The Fort was silent for a moment then slowly but surely the battle began again as the Yankees picked them selves up.

Dunn swore quietly as he picked himself up rubbing his ribs, he was sure several where broken despite the Nano-weave under armour no flesh and blood man came away from a punch from power armour with out something broken at least, and the searing pain every time he moved or took a breath only served to back up his theory. using his sword to prop himself up he looked over the wall at the mass of Confed forces that where arrayed on the outside. It was only a matter of time and they would be pouring into the breech. But they weren't done yet, Dunn just hoped that his luck would hold out just a little longer.

Help was coming and he intended to be alive to see it.

Over The Hills and Far Away
General Hawkings

Hawking trained his eyes on the holo table that took up most of the room in his command CP, unlike most of the other CP-5's in service his own had been converted into a mobile command tent and unorthodox move by any other standards but for Hawking the cramped space worked it provided a protected command point where he could command and follow the happenings of the wider war whilst he marched his own forces to battle, and besides he detested those smelly four legged monstrosities that so many in the military coveted. Hawking shivered at the thought of being bucked off a horse before pulling him self back into the real world moving the view of the holotable to Fort Watch moving in rhythm with the CP's own movements. Zooming in he showed the fort a new hole now gouged into one side of it the fort was still coloured blue to show it was still in Yankee hands. Hawking new that this was only a matter of time before the fort fell and if confeds took it he would have to spend considerable time getting them back out of it.

This he couldn't allow to happen, looking to the other command staff he who stood around the table in the cramped room.

"Gentlemen time is of the essence now what do we have to hamper the Confeds advance on the fort?"Hawking zoomed the table out again showing several Red blocks denoting Confed battalions, Hawking mentally thanked the drone that where still in the are allowing him to see the movements of the confeds and what they where doing.

"General Major Waters of the 90th Artillery Regiment says he has his mortars set up and trained on Fort Watch, we also have the CP's artillery cannons and missiles, we could blanket the area around the Fort to hamper the confeds from getting in, it could buy us enough time to get there." Major Kingston spoke pointing with his finger making a semi circle arc around the fort to indicate what he meant.

Hawking nodded "Good idea coordinate with Waters and what ever else you can get a hold of. Colonel Farnborough I want you to take the lead column and quick time it to Fort Watch, do everything in your power to back up the defenders I will follow up with the main force and sweep what's left aside and then we must move quickly onto Knoxville Time is of the essence here is this understood?"

Hawking got back several acknowledgements and salutes and watched as his command staff went about their jobs. He himself sitting down in his chair looking at the two Union Flags draped over the wall behind him. Several minutes later and the first booms of artillery rang out as the 9th Artillery batteries opened up sites trained on the ground around Fort Watch High Explosives rounds began to carpet the area a trickle at first but growing in intensity as more and more guns joined in once they has trained there sights, soon a hail storm of shells where falling around Fort Watch chewing up the hilly ground and anyone unlucky enough to be around them when they went off.

From the formation the leading Infantry trucks suddenly sped up Colonel Farnborough in his leading jeep sped forwards leading the forward elements comprising of the 133th Infantry Regiment and what was left of the 2nd Rifles Brigade that had valiantly defended Fort Spencer.

[Empire Netherlands]

High in the Sky
Above Knoxville

"Beep. Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Beep. Beeeeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beep."

The urgent beeping went out over all South African pilots radios. They all knew what it meant and rapidly disengaged from the fight, retreating toward Jacksonville. A number of Sabertooths gave chase, looking for easy kills on the reatreating, and mostly out of ammo, Adelaars.

The South African airforce was not done yet though, no it was no where even close to done. The FSA had committed its forces and most were likely running low on ammunition and fuel like the retreating Adelaars.

Air Captain Stevenson had seen many of his comrades go down that day, even fellow Air Captain Nothling had been shot down, well more like pulled down from what he saw. As it was though he was not thinking about his lost comrades, instead he was trying to keep himself from being shot down by a pursuing Sabertooth. He was dodging left and right when his radio flared up again.

"Beep. Beeeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beeeeeep. Beeeeep. Beeeeeep."

Stevenson smiled as he pulled his plane through more maneuvers, mentally counting the seconds passing. He got to fifty five before the Sabertooth behind him came under a hail of fire, its shields failing and the plane exploding in a spray of wreckage. A Mk 110C, one of the newest Mk110 models, shot out of the clouds above. Moving at speeds no Adelaar could hope to catch, and even on his own radar and detection systems Stevenson couldn't pick up the plane. It wasn't alone either, more and more of them began streaking out of the clouds at breakneck speeds, running through the few Sabertooths that were still in pursuit. The streaking planes then shot off to engage the air forces over Knoxville and any where else they could go without being pegged by AA fire.


The Cavalry Arrives
Minutes from Knoxville

"Well it looks like we finally arrived."

Those words were going through just about every single soldier in the South African Cavalry, who had advanced ahead of their infantry to help relieve the CSA troopers in the city. Tanks, Hussars, Dragoons, and Cuirissars all looked at the smoke rising from the city. With a cheer they advanced into the city to finally get a shot at those damned Americans.


That Bloody Canal
Panama Canal

The Dutch weren't done with the artillery yet. From the sea came the concentrated and long whoosh of thousands of rockets, finally having been reloaded on the decks of the landing craft. The sky filled with the bright streaking lights which impacted around the fortress again. Many of the rockets fell short and the Dutch troops found themselves under fire from their own artillery. Luckily their shields stopped most of them, but their was still a trail of dead already, both from enemy fire and their own.

Vlamingh, who's regiment had managed to weather the rocket barrage and enemy fire fairly well, jumped into the next American trench. Firing his auto pistol into an American soldier who was unfortunate enough to be infront of him. Around him the trench turned into a brawl as more and more Australians, jumped in and began the dirty work of melee, alongside corpses that had been hit moments before and fell into the trench. About a hundred feet down the trench a Mk XX drove over firing its cannon as fast as it could into the cloud of smoke that obscured the fort.

Out in the bay a wing of Valk Bombers made a run at the American carrier, trying to distract it long enough for Australian destroyers to move into torpedo range.

[Solar CSA]

Knoxville

The Americans had broken through the perimeter, despite heavy losses and deteriorating organization the Yankees outnumbered the Slavers by too much and the elite units were forced to withdraw. Most of the units made it back to the second line of the defense further into the city linking up with the Cubans, the units too far out picking off marines fled into the neighboring hills and forests. Overall the bloody skirmishing tactics employed by the Slavers had worked, and if the Confederate officer's predictions were correct it would play well as a form of psychological warfare sending panic into the hearts of all marines when they hear the whirs and hums of the mechanical components of the Slaver's armor.

A narrow street led to a large avenue, the avenue led into squares and plazas further leading to the train station, city hall and other important places, but the fighting always started in the narrow streets. In one particular narrow street, twelve cubans warily looked over their makeshift fortifications of rubble and bricks creating a wall from one side of the road to the other. Behind them four slavers stood looking down the road, the four elite solders had pulled out of the perimeter after the platoon had been ambushed by a combined force of Cavalry and Marines, for worthless meat sacks the marines were pretty deadly when paired up with heavier units. Two Cuban 16 Pounders peered over the improvised wall, suddenly and without warning a group of yankee cavalry rounded the corner bounding towards the defenses. The first to notice were the cubans who frantically shot the cannons and their rifles taking down two of the cavalry, and another limped forward keeping up with the rest of the cavalry. Panicked cursing in Spanish turned the heads of the four Slavers who immediately set into action, majestically breaking into a sprint they engaged the Cavalry up close and personal. One of the slavers threw an uppercut at one of the American Calvary, the punch connected ripping off most of the suits face. The others collided with their mechanical opponents, but the shouts and screams of american soldiers grew imminent and soon a group of marines also round the corner, and bayonets raised they charged. The Cubans, while jittery and scared managed to fire off a volley at the charging soldiers before engaging them with their own bayonets. Like two waves the men crashed against each other impaling and massacring each other, shrouded in vapor and smoke.

While the Americans had breached the outer defense they're tactics still revolved around charging with the cavalry and following up with the marines, unfortunately since they were no longer in the rural regions of the city, in the narrow street charges like those were easy prey to well prepared albeit nervous Cuban infantry. The Brigadier looked over the Holo-Map, having already made a note of how the attacking forces had entered the city proper. Still he was more relaxed, now the Slavers could concentrate their forces into a smaller circumference and the Cubans were numerous enough to hold their forces for long enough for the Americans to either starve or be encircled by Confederates. An officer approached him, shooting him a salute the man relayed a message,

"Sir, we've received news from the front. Intel suggests that Dutch soldiers have arrived in large numbers outside the city, we haven't been able to estimate how many though the force seems sizable. We've even been in contact with some of the Dutch officers, the situation looks good for us sir." Cheering, clapping and relief went up all around the bunker, smiling the Brigadier loudly responded to the officer,

"Excellent! We'll win this after all!" He turned to a soldier, "Patrick! There you are, grab the bottle of whisky out of my desk, I was saving it for the end of the battle, but now the end is near after all!" The officers gave out another cheer for the Brigadier and most took a drink. They all remembered they still had a job to do, and the celebrations were short lived and soon the men were back hunched over maps and listening at radio frequencies. More good news filled the radio waves, now even the Dutch air force joined the fight pulling out it's Adelaars and bringing in their newest designs.

Fort Watch

A little over a hundred soldiers had been rounded up, lying down on the plaza outside the main building of the fort the men were guarded by Grenadiers forcing them to remain prisoners. With Americans still in the fort the Yankee artillery would be forced to keep their fire away from the fort itself. Some men had tried to get out of the fort, only to be imprisoned by newly arrived Grenadiers, and the others were stopped as they retreated out of the plaza and forced back to the plaza. The battle had moved out of the plaza and into the building, Slavers had forcibly entered the building only to be meet by fortified stairwells and determined men. While the slavers were superior, they were outnumbered and Andrew ordered any soldiers out of the building and into the plaza, he immediately began working on communicating with the Fort's commanding officer,

"We warned you to surrender! You have brought this upon yourself, the blood of your men is on your hands! The fort is surrounded, artillery blocks your exits and we have soldiers in the countryside around this fort, there is no escape. End this now, or we will be forced to pursue you into the building. You may have larger numbers, but we have more explosives and we will block you to kingdom come, and lets not forget your loyal comrades out here on the plaza! We have soldiers out here, being disarmed and tied down. You are prisoners in there, you will die if you do not surrender, its up to you. Do you wish your men to survive?" Andrew winced as he heard the sound of screams coming from outside the fort. Grenadiers had breached the walls, but soon artillery began pounding the area around the fort, though by the end of the first volley which was inaccurate and landed in the forest and hills several hundred meters from the fort many of the soldiers had already entered the fort and the rest retreated back up the mountain shrouded and hidden by the forests, "I also speak to you, the foot soldiers of the Northern States! Your commander may decide to give up your lives, if he does do not accept such an order, or you will be killed, revolt! Mutiny! Surrender and we will be merciful. Its up to you." An officer leaned over to Andrew whispering into his ear,

"You think it'll work?" Andrew scoffed,

"If they're not suicidal it will." The two men nodded and chuckled waiting for the commander to respond.

[FS_America]

Blood Soaked Flag
Panama Canal

The screams of the dying filled the air, only drowned out by the screams of men fighting in close quarters trying in a futile effort to scare there opponent into making a mistake or running away only to be bayoneted or shot in the back. The crack of musket fire and the clacks of repeater fire sounded in the distance with the odd Unharmonious boom from the cannons on either side

The Americans whilst being beaten where far from broken the Garrison fell back in an orderly manner in many places, forcing the Dutch to pay for every trench and inch of ground they gained. The defence had not gone to plan in other places with the 301st in full retreat beaten back by a combined Artillery and Infantry assault.

Marcus didn't care about the information coming in over his display about the strategic balance of the battle. Running his sword through an unfortunate Dutch soldier that had gotten on the wrong side of his blade he pushed the pour sod off with his shoulder look took stock quickly the heat of battle had taken over and all around him the blood soaked and smoke filled trench Americans fought Dutch Australians tooth and nail. Brining up his Linier revolver a Smith and Western Type 103 Revolver he opened fire on another Dutch soldier that had come running out of the smoke screaming his bayonet charged, only to be sent flying backwards by the immense power of his revolver.

Running through the smoke she ducked dodged and stabbed his way through the myriad of fighting until he reached the entrance to the command bunker of the trench, jumping in narrowly avoiding a grenade that showered them all in dirt.

"Fuck me there everywhere!" Came a voice over the coughing and spluttering.

"Where screwed they got us pinned down in here!"

"Fuck that shit man!"

"Quite All of ya!" Marcus Shouted instantly getting there attention as he propped himself up with his sword. "We are Infantrymen of the Federated States man the fuck up!" Marcus grunted as he moved further into the makeshift bunker ignoring the pain shooting down his left leg.

"What are we going to do Sarge?" one of the men asked as he kept a keen eye on the door his Musket loaded and primed.

"What any good Soldier in this situation would do, Rally and show these Dutch bastards a good what for!" Marcus smirked and he grabbed the flag draped over the wall. Finding its polarm and attaching it to it. Turning to his men sword and flag in hand he smiled.

"For the Union!" Marcus screamed as he once again charged out the door to the bunker followed by a squad of screaming soldiers behind him. Leaping into the smoke they fought up onto the ridge of the trench. Waving the flag Marcus bellowed out orders as others saw the flag and began to rally.

Steel City
Panama Canal

The Carrier was the last obstacle in the canal for the Dutch, a massive Steel city with its shields clearly visible. It stood like a Goliath defending the bay, although strictly moured and now no more than a fixed weapons platform, its open deck replaced with two large linier cannons. It still imposed a sense of might and majesty like it once had before it had been mothballed and turned into a harbour defence.

Klaxon's blared as sailors and soldiers scrambled across the decks as the first bombs impacted across the ships impressive shielding. Almost instantly in retaliation CIWS and Flak fire erupted into the sky. Its gigantic Linier cannons began to adjust there Firing attitudes already facing the mouth of the canal and the lay it wasn't long before the Poor Australian destroyers where in firing range. Like the Dutch railway Artillery the cannons let out a deafening boom as there cannons spewed out fire and smoke as they shot their high explosive rounds at the incoming Dutch Vessels.

In the Corner
Fort Watch

Dunn Sighed as dust fell from the ceiling, it had all gone to pot so quickly. His plan had been working he had managed to box in those damn Confed Bastards in the courtyard, then the wall blew and things went from good to bad very quickly. HE and roughly 30 men had hold up in the forts command centre.

His command feed told him that roughly 300 of his regiment where still alive either incapacitated captured of dotted around the fort in defend able hard points like the towers and the armoury. The silence pulled Dunn from this thoughts looking up and then to some of the others in the command room he frowned the entire place had gone deadly silent, as if the Confeds had just packed up and left.

"Whats going on?" he whispered as he looked over the command table at the door as if expecting slavers to come charging through.

"I Ainte got a clue Major" the Lieutenant replied looking out the window. "There just standing there"

"We warned you to surrender! You have brought this upon yourself, the blood of your men is on your hands! The fort is surrounded, artillery blocks your exits and we have soldiers in the countryside around this fort, there is no escape. End this now, or we will be forced to pursue you into the building. You may have larger numbers, but we have more explosives and we will block you to kingdom come, and lets not forget your loyal comrades out here on the plaza! We have soldiers out here, being disarmed and tied down. You are prisoners in there, you will die if you do not surrender, its up to you. Do you wish your men to survive?"

There was a pause as the booms of Artillery fell around the fort causing more dust and dirt to fall ontop of there heads.

"I also speak to you, the foot soldiers of the Northern States! Your commander may decide to give up your lives, if he does do not accept such an order, or you will be killed, revolt! Mutiny! Surrender and we will be merciful. Its up to you."

Dunn smirked and hung his head almost in defeat. Pulling out a picture of his little girl back home he smiled and ran a grubby thumb over the picture. Taking a deep breath he got himself up and punched in the command to hold for orders on the command table, the order patching through to the Union soldiers around the fort.

"Whats it gunna be sir?" the Lieutenant asked moving up beside him. "We will follow you all the way"

Dunn smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "No No im no Murdering officer... but I ainte no traitor either. Just one last thing we gotta do and then our jobs will be done here and eventually we will return home as heroes."

Moving across the Command room Dunn began punching in commands. "Lieutenant Ferra I want you to overload the shield generator, set it to cycle and close the vents, hurry im beginning lock out sequences"

Dunn didn't bother looking behind him the sound of scrambling and scuffling as people got to work was enough for him and within a few minutes Dunn had finished and Ferra had just come back. Dunn smiled as the lock out sequence came in place just before he broke the screen with the handle of his sword. Moving to the door he looked to the others before issuing another command over his neocom to lay down arms and surrender.

Nodding to the young lad that had stepped a white rag to the muzzle of his rifle the boy began to push it out of an open window.

"Alright you win! We give up We are coming out don't shoot!" Dunn shouted from behind the door. He waited a moment before slowly opening the door and stepping outside squinting at the sun light for a second. Stepping into the courtyard he looked at his counter part and smiled. "Nice to final meet ya"

Dunn looked about just as there was a low thud and rumble causing the ground to shake slightly, followed shortly after by the shield stuttering then dying completely.

Knocking Heads
Knoxville

The skirmish was in full swing now, as Yankee steel met Confederate, the two forces collided in a bloody brutal struggle for survival. The sound of musket fire and the clank of steel and the hum of powered blades mixed in an intoxicated fury around Booke as he ducked and knocked a Cuban bayonet of of the way before running the poor bugger through with his own, twisting and then kicking the man off his bayonet. he ducked and swung around two see the Edanite he had fought next to earlier unload a linier round into another unfortunate Cuban, after coming up what was essentially only the elite corps of the Confederate Army it was refreshing two come up against what they had been told about the confederate army.

"Booke!"

Turning he saw one of the officers they had joined up with throw him a satchel, his instincts kicking in he caught it and opened it quickly. Frowning at the charge he looked back to the Captain who had thrown it at him.

"Lieutenant Winchester is in a spot of trouble, take Li'Rouge and help him out." The captain smiled unleashing several rounds from his Linier revolver into some more Cubans before using his powered sabre to cut through a Cuban musket and place a boot firmly in the mans face.

Booke groaned. Winchester was a cavalry man and the last he had seen on the man he was taking on the Commanding Officer of the slavers that where at this junction. Li'Rouge had now made his way to where he was placing on of his four hands on Bookes shoulder he smirked. "Just think we are a shoe in for promotion if we take down one of those powered Fuckers"

Booke looked at him trying not to laugh at his accent it was a mix of what Booke could only describe as Russian and South African all at once. Ducking as a Linier round took off the top of the Car they where they were crouched behind, he nodded and tucked the Satchel under arm. Looking to Li'Rouge he nodded and made a run for it. Suddenly the ferocity of the battle hit him again like a deadly maze supported by the sheer size and strength of Li'Rouge Booke danced through the battle crowd slowly making his way to Winchester as he continued to battle it out with his Slaver counterpart.

Dodging bayonets and bullets Booke and Li'Rouge snook up to the area where Winchester was fighting no one liked to get to close to a power armoured duel to the death it tended to end badly for any one who did get to close. Leaving Li'Rouge to keep him covered book stared waiting for an opening. Winchester clearly saw him, and gave him the opportunity he needed. Winchester ducked down and slammed a power armoured fist into the knee of his counter part forcing his foot from underneath him before planting an uppercut into the head of his enemy.

Booke took the opportunity, racing across the distance he pulled the charge out of the satchel, as Winchester tried to hold the salver in place keeping himself close to negate the slavers ability to throw punches and use his sword, Booke slapped the charge onto the slavers back in-between the suits radiator vents jumping back he fired off his Linier musket into the slavers knee before retreating back before he could be turned into a meatsack ragdoll. The charge activated immediately after it was stuck to the Slaver the faint beeping of the timer as it ticked away its thirty second fuse counting down.

The rest of Knoxville was scenes just like the Avenue as combined assaults on Confederate positions continued hammer and chip away at there defences. Except the Union soldiers had started to dig in them selves using civilian buildings makeshift medical tents and hard points encase of a counter attack. It wasnt the ideal situation, and no commander liked the operation they had been sent into. Untill Reinforcements from Hawkings Army could arrive they would have to take out the Artillery Batteries and then hold out for as long as possible against any counter attacks that where coming.

[Solar CSA]

Fort Watch

A procession of shaggy looking down cast men filed out of the building, staring down at their feet the Yankees had surrendered and were being herded by the gigantic metallic frames of the Slavers. Soon a large group of men a couple hundred in size was sitting down having their feet and hands tied with down. Andrew watched the process of securing the captured soldiers, pondering his next move. Dunn was the last one to have his hands tied together and forced to sit down with the rest of the captured men. Andrew walked up to the front of the group with two other slavers behind him on each side making him seem so much larger in his hulking armor, tormenting them he started speaking to himself out loud, within earshot of Dunn and other prisoners,

"Hmmm... yeah, a strong looking bunch. They'll make excellent cotton pickers, excellent in deed." He turned to one of the slavers flanking him and winked, the man understood he was screwing with the prisoners and joined in,

"I dunno boss, they look like fighter's to me, they'd be better off mining for Claudia in our mines on Venus. Or better yet why don't we just shoot 'em all right here and end this madness." Andrew smirked as he heard some moaning and stifled prayers. He turned and looked Dunn in the eyes,

"Nah, this one right here. Dunn is it? He ain't no fool, he knows we'll kill 'em all right quick if they screw around." He spoke louder, loud enough for all the prisoners to hear, "Ya'll behave and we won't touch a hair on your pretty little heads, on the other hand if you force our hands and try to escape or some other unpleasantness, I can't restrain my boys from killing all of you." Several shots rang out as Slavers found men in the complex who tried to fight back, Andrew continued talking, "For now we'll stay right here." About sixty or seventy grenadiers stood around the circle of prisoners, muskets in hand they kept a watchful eye on their movements.

Andrew motioned for one of the Slavers to get Dunn up, a Slaver walked over and picked Dunn up as if he weighed less than a feather, a feat made possible only by their armor. Dunn was set down and escorted into the complex which by now was choked with dust and was darker than midnight. He was escorted to a room where four slavers had been waiting and had set up a chair and a lamp. On Andrew's command Dunn's bonds had been cut and he was sat down Andrew stepped outside for a moment and began taking off his armor, it took around six or seven minutes and when he stepped back into the room he motioned for the other slavers to exit. As the door shut behind them only Andrew and Dunn were left in the room, Andrew smiled knowing he could ask Dunn anything he wanted, and that if things got out of hand he still hand four slavers outside and a bowie knife in a sheath on his belt. He leaned towards Dunn and asked in a casual manner,

"So buddy, whats next? You expecting a rescue? You planning a rebellion?" Andrew drew out his knife and inspected the blade, running the flat side across his palm, "We both know you got something valuable to tell me, maybe about troop movements or supply lines? So lets not beat about the fucking bush, just come out and say it"

Knoxville

Initially the second defensive lines had been made up of roughly four thousand cuban irregulars. Though the number began dropping fast as they began pushing back wave after wave of marines. The confederates had no information about what forces the yankees had though they were confident that after fighting through the perimeter among constant ambushes they couldn't make much of an impact on the cuban irregulars, oh how wrong were they? The officers had overestimated the confidence of the cuban irregulars, which the makeshift fortifications choking the narrow alleys and streets was enough to keep the cubans in line against marines, when American cavalry charged if the cubans didn't see a slaver nearby more often than not they make hasty retreats. This created a confusing situation in which the majority of the second defensive line had held against the first American wave, an certain sectors of the defense collapsed and caused swathes of the city to be quickly overrun by American cavalry. Though the Yankees would soon come to regret it, their marines and Cavalry which managed to pass the defenses often got to far into the city and got lost, without a cohesive structure and communication they were easy prey to Slavers who circled them and ambushed the groups of lost federated states soldiers. The other parts of the defensive line were soon reinforced by a thousand or so cuban regulars who had been pulled away from the railway station after it became clear that there would be no drop pods landing directly on the rail guns.

A platoon of the Slaver cavalry sat the back of their horses, they were safely behind the defensive line and orders had come out that the cavalry were responsible for the counter attack. One horse sensed the nervous atmosphere and impatiently stomped the ground with its hooves. One private led his horse up to a hole in the fortifications made by assaulting marines, while cuban troops looked at the cavalry with awe. Soon the platoon broke into a gallop and thirty or so horses and their riders burst out from behind the fortifications, they followed the tracks made by marines who failed a charge and as the cavalry rounded a corner the men could see a platoon of marines in the distance who were trying to rally. With a loud war cry their sergeant spurred on the men and soon the horses closed the distance between the cavalry and their enemy. This particular group of marines was taken by surprise and was soon overrun. Those who were not trampled by the horses were soon shot down as riders brought their down horses to a trot halt and picked off men with their carbines. While this was a case in which the counter attack had been successful results from the counter attack had not yet come back to the officers, unfortunately for most of the cavalry the officers did not know that the Americans had already begin to dig in, so attempts at routing the marines weren't always as successful. The cavalry were supposed to have participated in the defense of the perimeter, though logistical problems caused the Slavers to have to take on most of the responsibility so it gave the horses and their riders and opportunity to rally and wait for their chance to strike as they waited behind the defenses.

Elsewhere a group of slavers stalked their prey through the city. Private Hunter was at it again, his platoon survived their ambushes on the perimeter and they were once again following marines and Yankee cavalry that overran parts of the defense through the city. This certain small group of American soldiers was composed of calvary and marines which had overshot their attack and had driven too far into the city. The group of Americans stopped at an intersection and it seemed that one of them was studying a map and the others looked quite disoriented and lost. Hunter had his shotgun at the ready, jumping into the midst of the Yankees was no longer an option since now the American cavalry gave the marines some brawn in melee. Two grenades flew through the air detonating around the group and at once the ambush was sprung, Hunter jumped out of cover with some other slavers and fired their weapons into the surprised soldiers. The slavers didn't resent their responsibility to shore up the defenses the Cubans had abandoned, the elite soldiers found it to be an honor to correct the errors of their inferior counter parts. And this was reflected in their strange revelry in the art of war.

The battle couldn't possibly last much longer, or at least that was what CO's were hoping for, with Dutch fighters in the sky and Dutch auxiliaries closing in on the perimeter the American's would soon find themselves in a meat grinder. Unbeknownst to the confederates a might American army was traveling from Asheville and if they reached Knoxville before the siege was over the battle and possibly the war could end in a devastating defeat for the proud south.