Chapter 29 Part 1 of 2 (Patreon)

“What the hell are we doing out here?” One of the artillery corporals complained.

“What we’re doing corporal,” Acosta’s tone dropped. “Is we’re checking and sighting in our guns along the southern artillery positions. You see The Silaz’s are a paranoid bunch. No matter what branch they’re in. All through the forests there are pre-set artillery positions. We’re going to check them, make sure that they haven’t been messed with and that they’re free of debris and ready for us to use.”

There was a whistle up ahead.

“Not everything we do is just for fun Corporal,” She finished off and headed up to the front on her mount.

“What you got Jakovac?”

“Found it. Just up ahead.”

“Lead on.”

They rode ahead of the main group. The ground kept going up, reaching a grassy knoll covered in weeds bushes and trees. In the middle, nearly hidden in the thick bushes a boulder peaked out.

“Lets clear it up shall we? Plant Command,” Her spell spread over the area. The bushes and vines pulled back, the trees moved backwards the covered knoll was cleared, a path opening up in the rear leading towards Vuzgal. It was wide enough to allow a cart through as  the last vines uncovered the mortar firing pits and positions where formation plates could be secured.

“Bring it in!” Acosta said as the new artillerists and mages looked around the forest that had turned into a series of .

“All these locations have been covered in different ways to hide them from passerby’s.” Acosta got off of her mount the tree cover only started at around three meters up.

“If you look through the trees you can see rocks. Each of those are reference points to sight your mortars into and get dialed onto target.”

She moved to the boulder that reached her hip.

“Clean.”

Her spell took all the mud and dirt off of the stone revealing markings.

“These are also reference points.”

“Your squad leaders all have range cards, now we’re going to go through setting up and tearing down. Back up to the entrance. You have all trained in this. It is a core skill of the Vuzgal Artillery. You must move in, ready your mortar and be ready to fire within minutes and move in the same time. With these same tactics we were able to hold back the Blood Demon Sect and we will be using it constantly to fight the Willful Institute and the sect bastards they brought with them!”

Acosta checked that they were at the entrance of the opening.

She checked her watch.

“Go!”

The first squad went around counter clockwise to the position at Nine O’clock with the other squads filling into the positions behind, from the nine o’clock to twelve o’clock, three, six and linking up to Nine O’clock.

Mortars were pointed forward and checked with sights against the different markers as Acosta moved her mount around, watching them all and taking mental notes.

***

Major Kanoa walked into the command center. Colonel Domonos was leaning over the main map, looking at the surrounding mountain ranges talking to his Majors and Captains.

A group of first lieutenants were waiting off to the side.

Lieutenant Colonel Zukal spoke into Domonos' ear.

He looked up seeing Kanoa.

"Alright gather around."

They moved in close to the map.

"As you know the enemy is coming for us from every direction. We have them moving up the roads in the East and West," He used a map pointer to circle the markers that were updating, crawling forward at the edge of the map on either side.

"Good thing is that we have everything in Vuzgal vallye covered in sensing formations. We get real-time information on just where the enemy is on the roads and in our forests. In the north," Domonos circled the mountain range.

"And the south East and West."

He circled on either side of Vuzgal and looked at the officers around the table.

"That's where we're expecting the enemy to appear and it is a blind spot. Once the enemy enters the valley from these locations they are Four days march away from Vuzgal. First Lieutenant Lei what do mana barriers need in order to have the greatest effect?"

"Heat dissipation, access to mana stones, centrally located, even clear terrain."

Domonos waved his pointer, halting Lei.

"Even and clear terrain. Very good," Domonos pointed at the map. "None of those mountain passes look like even and clear terrain. Hell, once they get into the valley they have to cross through the damn forest to reach a road or Vuzgal. In those mountain passes they'll be pressed together in close quarters. Many paths are in valleys or areas bracketed with stone on either side. Even if they have mana barriers there are going to be openings. What do mortars need to know when hitting the enemy? First Lieutenant Cardoso?"

"Where the enemy is."

"Bingo without the formations to tell them the position of the enemy we're going to have to go old school. Maps and mark one eyeball. The Recon flights will spot the enemy, find out which passes they're using. Sharpshooter Squads, dropped off by Kestrel flights will observe the enemy and call in mortar fire. We will create a net of eyes watching every pass coming into Vuzgal Valley, extending the ground we control and observe. Now there are going to be locations where we don't have preset locations for our mortars or we just simply can't get our mortars to bear onto target. Those targets will be yours Major Kanoa."

"Sir?" Kanoa tilted his head to the side.

"The sparrows and Kestrels are fitted for close air support and bombing runs. We might not be able to hit the enemy with mortars but they can't escape the skies. I want them to come in dumb and happy, get all of our people into positon and hit the enemy all in one go. We use the element of surprise to hit them with mortars and bombs before they raise their mana barriers."

Kanoa looked at the map.

"Sir," First Lieutenant Cardoso raised a fist. Domonos nodded to him. "We're going to be spread thin."

"Yes, we just need to put our strength in the most essential places. All medics, engineers and CPD's thankfully have mortar and mage training and we can borrow more mortars from Alva. Scout Squads will be broken down into teams of two. Rifle Squads will act as support for the artillery platoons, unless we need more scouts, then they'll get a crash course on spotting and be pushed out as well."

With the Alvan's dedication to cross training, they can quickly switch from one role to another with minimal issues.

Kanoa held up a fist.

"Major?" Domonos asked.

"To cover that much and have down time for the birds I'll have to move my sparrow fighters in pairs. Then group them together again into their complete eight person wings before they can strike. I only have twelve Sparrow wings and twelve Kestrel Wings under my command here."

"Your sparrows have the highest altitude and the greatest speed in a straight line while the kestrels have a lower forward speed, once they dive their speed is nearly twice of the sparrows and they can hover. I plan to use your sparrows to drop fast and quick, come in low over the ground to rake the enemy in open ground where they have a greater chance to counterattack. In tight quarters where our mortars can't reach I hope to employ your Kestrels. Your airforce will play a vital role in the coming fighting. Also! The spotters will not be just looking for the enemy we will be using the new spell trap dispersal mortars." Domonos looked at Zukal. "Do you want to talk on them, you know more about them than me."

"Sure."

Zukal stepped forward.

"The spell trap dispersal shells are just what they sound like. Fired from a mortar these shells explode in mid air, releasing spell trap formations and throwing them out over a one hundred meter area. We can use them ahead of the enemy, covering the ground. While their mana barriers can cover the sky the trap spells will still work. They're ten centimeters by ten centimeters big. As the shell spins it throws them out on springs, it won't be a perfect dispersal and they are metal squares. They've been blackened but still they'll be visible on rocks and clear terrain. Spell formation shells on the other hand will be hidden. The entire shell is a spell trap. Once it strikes the ground the shell's outer formation activates, digging into the ground. The second formation activates, powering up, if anything comes within twenty meters then the trap spell will activate. It is much stronger than the spell traps that are tossed out of the dispersal shells."

"Once we know their routes of approach, the spotters will go out, survey the land and create regions covered in spell traps. Then they'll wait for the main body. On my command the sparrows and Kestrels will take off. Then the spotters will call in their fire, guiding it onto the sects. They run forwards they'll be in the spell traps, they retreat chase them with our fire."

The Lieutenants looked at the map, and to Colonel Domonos.

"Organize your people and coordinate with the airforce. Use teleportation pads and personal mounts were possible. Kestrels where its not possible. Make sure that they have exfil plans. We're going to need them back here. Once the enemy is in the valley our artillery platoons can hit them without needing spotters. Kestrels will be used to leap frog the artillery units back to preset firing positions. Sparrows will do strafing and bombing runs continuously. They're going to have to move through the treeline, we'll hammer them the entire way. Just as we did against the Blood Demon Sect, defense in depth with overlapping devestating mortar fire and spell traps."

Major Hall raised his hand.