Interior Coast of Alpha
Sosigenes could do nothing but wait, pray and offer libations. Against the hordes of airships and overwhelming air power, he was helpless: a Mk. VIII tank had limited top armour. So, he sat in the commander's seat of the great tank, parked in the cover of his garage, listening to the slaughter outside. LDF Eudapotamus: we are under heavy fire! Requesting permission... A loud noise, then static.
Fortunately, he had decided to withdraw his men from the death-traps that the fixed fortifications had become. They were now all positioned in houses where, he hoped, they would be relatively unmolested. And, so far, that had indeed been the case. "Major! The airship overhead: It's descending towards us!" "How long have we got?" "No more than a minute, Sir." "Zeus protect us," Sosigenes muttered, "Stand by to mop up the survivors!"
Thus, it came as a complete surprise to them all when the seemingly harmless damaged airship suddenly unleashed its cargo. The binocular-wielding observer gave a strangled gasp. "Balloons, Sir, thousands of them!" "What in Tartarus?!" But then the first of the bubbles burst and the Atreans deadly ploy was realised. "Close all hatches and prepare for sortie!" The men leapt into action with the efficiency that came from many practices. The mighty tank's hatches were closed and locked tight; vision ports closed; the 323 kW diesel engine roared into life. "Open the door." Through the small vision slit, Sosigenes watched as the garage door was slowly raised. Hades! Atreans! Thousands of them!
Well, there was no way he could extricate himself now. He poured the last few drops of sacred wine onto the floor of the machine. "Today, men, we fight for Prevania! Open fire!" He motioned to the driver. As his 300 odd troops started firing their weapons from the buildings, the thirty-seven tonne, ten metre long monstrosity emerged from its hiding place. Slowly at first, but accelerating to its top speed (9 km/h), it crawled towards the Atreans, QF 6 pdr 6 cwt Hotchkiss' and M1917 Brownings spitting defiance at the enemy.
He was almost certainly outnumbered, the enemy had total air supremacy, they had far superior training and weaponry. But Major Sosigenes was no fool - they had surprise on their side - none of the enemy would be expecting such an attack from such an antiquated machine. Furthermore, the Atreans would probably be light airborne troops, lacking heavy weaponry that could make a mockery of the tank's pitifully thin steel plating. As he charged (well, it was slow, but it was still a charge) forwards, he put his survival into the hands of the Immortal Gods.
Kryopulia
"Well, that rather depends on the financial situation after this is all over", Demosthenes replied, "It will undoubtedly have been very costly, so I will probably not have a huge budget to play around with. My basic plan is to raise the government income by increasing the rate of income tax for all taxpayers. This will be unpopular, but I hope to offset this by introducing some basic workers' rights and protections. On that front, there is a strong lobby opposing, so I will have to act slowly and cautiously.
"With this extra money, reconstruction of infrastructure and damaged homes will begin immediately. Another priority will be investment in science and technology - this was neglected by the previous government and I hope to rectify that. Unfortunately, however, it is inevitable that the armed forces will devour a large portion of the funds - both the Combined Fleets and the Army have been dealt grievous blows, which will need to be made good. And, I am most thankful that it is you who is exposing it and not an unfriendly power, our national defence seems sadly lacking. From what I'm hearing, the fortifications are taking a hammering, so the Department for Fortifications will be coming running to me for a new generation of better concealed and protected defences. All in all, I think we can manage it, but I'll be very busy for rather a while." He concluded with a wry smile.
When the letter arrived from KMKI, the Elektor was much surprised: they had been most ardent supporters of the regime. The rats were obviously abandoning the sinking ship. The bit about the Army shelling surrenderers was interesting - he would ask about it. He would like it to be a falsification but, if not, it was utterly heinous and unacceptable in a modern army.
Chiosanas
A wave of incoming cruise missiles was surely a most effective means of persuasion, and the Monavians were forced to re-target a significant minority of the missiles. As for the Katonazagians, well, the troops that remained at their posts fired a few desultory shots at the V-22s, but they all arrived at their destination with virtually no damage incurred. They would encounter no major counter-attacks: the LDFs were not up to the task, and the Katonazagians air supremacy ensured that the hardened RRF and SRF troops would never arrive. However, they would take large quantities of casualties: Prevanians were well versed in the employment of mines, and the enemy forces would stumble over many ad-hoc fields, in addition to the more comprehensive ones in and around the base itself.
The Fegosian Union had arrived in Prevania.
