Army Dreamers

Prologue

The year is 1999 of the 'Leap Era'. Half a millennium has passed since the Black Death took over the Continent of Urosa*, from which new civilisations arose from the ashes. Rebuilding, technological advances and repopulation followed and led to the people living on the reborn Continent through what was proclaimed as endless peace.

Until now.

On November 11th 1998, the Principality of Lausenheim* and the Confederation of Simfonia* both declared war on the Concert of Urosa* in an effort to establish their 'New Order'. After 80 years of peace, the Continent of Urosa has once again plunged into the horrors of war, this time with modern weapons exploited by its established powers.

The initial fighting lasted for two months and Saw both Factions exhaust their arsenal with their populations fleeing their homes for safety. Slaughter followed during the following battles as the Concert of Urosa struggled to repel the advancing hordes of Lausenheim. Lausenheim's army now sits at the doorstep of their neighbouring country to the west - Lechia. The Republic of Lechia braces for what's next.

Chapter 1: "Invasion

January 17th

The lush fields of Lechia that lie along the Keshesun river are met with a seemingly peaceful morning, as the sun rises from the west. The Keshesun river, sacred amongst the Lechian people gave them life during the dawn of their civilisation, this year seems unusually shallow. A drought has hit Lechia the previous year, and even now when it's January, it seems that Keshesun shall remain dry for a long time. Looking over from Southern Keshesun is a group of three men in Dark grey army uniforms. These military men are part of the Lausenheim air force, and today on January 17th, Lausenheim was preparing its invasion of Lechia. What they were seeing over the dried up river was the city of Orka, a historical trading centre that laid along the river, it is now a modern city with a population of 150 thousand.

As the three men looked at the skyline of Orka, a fourth one would join them, wearing a dark red uniform with a black scarf around his neck. A small necklace could be seen as well, sporting a golden Eagle. That was the symbol of the Confederation of Simfonia. In terms of appearance, while the three all had their hair cut and could only be recognised by their facial features that ranged from scars to a fancy mustache, The captain had rather long brown hair that was reaching his shoulders. Along with that, he was always wearing a pair of shades as if to hide away his eyes.

One of the three men would turn around to acknowledge their guest with a grin, greeting him - "Good morning, Captain. Today's the day?"

-"Mhm. I've heard that Lausenheim has declared war on Lechia this morning. How are we feeling gentlemen?"

The captain would ask as he reached in his pocket to light up a cigar. The three men all turned towards him, exclaiming - "Good, Sir!" in unison. A confident grin could be seen on the captain's face while the three soldiers looked at him, with one of them asking -"Do you have any plans for today's mission?"

-"I always have a plan. Let's go inside"

The gestures to the group as they walk to a sizable tent they slept in. Next to the tent lay four planes, all equipped with weapons for air combat as expected. They were all AD-12 "Falcon"* models. Although the first three all looked the same with their pilot's names on the side being the only difference, the fourth one had its own paint scheme; A Fully white body, with a blood red left wing, and a golden Eagle painted on the upper side of its body. Although the captain's name couldn't be seen, the names of the three pilots were - Heron, Lynx and Coyote.

Inside the tent the three men sat down with the Captain pointing at the map. From their makeshift airfield, towards the city of Orka - "At 1100 we will sortie and begin our air raid over the city of Orka. Orka is a crucial town for Lechia and is one of the three big cities along the Keshesun River, seeing that it's a trade center and all. The mission will be an aerial attack on Lechian defense and infrastructure. It's been reported by the Lausenheim intelligence that there are five Batallions in Orka, including a Tank group and an obsolete Anti-air system, so our mission should be simple on paper. We will all carry one unguided bomb so use it wisely. The point is to paralyze the defenses of Orka so our Lausenheim comrades can safely march in with no resistance."

The captain explained to the three as they had their last preparations. To them, this was a simple mission that they have done many times, and they all knew what to do.

One of the pilots, 'Heron' looked disturbingly pleased with the premise of their mission as he held a cigar with his left hand. A chuckle would come out of him, and the man sitting next to him, Call-signed 'Coyote' looked well disturbed

-"Heron.. Come on now, I thought we talked about this"

The Captain of the group took note of Heron's wide grin as he approached him.

-"I don't want you to target civilians, Heron. We want to make this a lightning attack and wasting ammo on civilians instead of infrastructure won't help"

-"Fufufufufu… If you say so, captain. Though, I think I'm gonna have the high score today as well" answered Heron as he looked up at the Captain. The other two watched on, with the third man of the small group 'Lynx' added - "Sure. Just don't do anything stupid again".

An hour would pass. The four men had all put on their uniforms and entered their planes, switching them up as the beeping of the cockpits took over. The mighty whistling of their engines grew ever louder as the heat haze became more apparent from their engines. One by one, The captain would roll down the airfield, followed by Heron, Lynx and Coyote. The mighty jets would raise speed as they took off, their landing gear being switched off as they headed in formation towards the city.

Meanwhile in the town of Orka, the city right along the Keshesun - A dim atmosphere could be felt in the great city. A place which held 150 thousand people today looked like a ghost town. Many were in their homes, as the news of the war reaching their nation had spread. Along the once busy streets could be seen a Woman running. She wore a brown coat, too big for her smaller frame, and panting could be heard as she held a piece of the morning's newspaper in her arms. She ran towards a small house in the suburbs of the city, and with a key opened the door.

-"Sascha! Come here, we gotta leave!"

She exclaimed. The girl looked around the living room of the house, then the kitchen, all while exclaiming this person's name. He was nowhere

-"That fool is probably still asleep.. Sascha! If you're still sleeping, I swear.."

The girl ran upstairs and opened the door. To her surprise, this Sascha that she was so doubtful of was actually packing their suitcases. In his room, the bed had two full suitcases, on the night table was an empty plate and a cup, and even then the young man that was packing all of this could be seen with a piece of bread in his mouth. He would politely stop eating and look at the girl, before finally replying-"Lotti, you don't have to Scream. See? I was busy packing our stuff."

-"S-sorry.. Wait, so you do know about.. You know.."

-"Yeah. As soon as the news started showing Those troops along the border, I told you that we were next. For an older sister, you are quote naive, you dummy"

Sascha would jokingly finish as he finally put on a decent pair of clothing over his bare torso. A red jacket and a black shirt below it, Along with blue jeans.

Lotti was indeed Sascha's sister. Both had a similar appearance since they had slightly long black hair that she was covering their ears, and their faces showing their youth. Despite being strict on her younger brother she was glad to see that he was ready for this to happen; but as she joined him in packing up their stuff, they could hear a strange whistling noise, followed by a loud bang from their right. As Sascha opened the window of his room, they could see that the neighboring house was in ruins, effectively demolished with whatever that remained being on fire.

-"W-what was-" A wide-eyed Lotti fearfully asked, but Sascha grabbed her hand and dragged her downstairs.

-"They're here! Come on, let's go!"

From the outside of their house the citizens of Orka were running down the streets of their city. From the suburbs to the center of the town, where the Church bells were ringing. This ringing wasn't for a mass though, or a gathering. This was a sign that peace has ended for them, and now the invader has come to their home.

Sascha and Lotti had just left their house, their suitcases in their hands as they saw where their neighbors went.

-"Wait, where should we go?"

It was a good question by Lotti as she held her suitcase and looking at her younger brother - "Most probably to the center where the church is. They probably have something ready for us civilians."

-"You're right. Let's not waste any time now." The two would begin to walk along with the masses that were heading their way down the street. While they didn't see any threat yet, the church bells and men holding megaphones in their hands gave the innocent bystanders orders to evacuate now that the invasion had begun. The four planes which had departed for Orka had continued to wreak havoc, with one passing above the crowd of people as they watched how it dropped its bomb on a nearby factory, setting it ablaze. Lotti covered her eyes as the initial flash of the explosion blinded her, but Sascha goaded her on to keep moving - "Those bastards.. Come on Lotti, let's go to that church-"

Then all time would seemingly stop as a missile that was launched by one of the jets hit a nearby Truck. The explosion would blind everyone that was running along the particular street. The jet that launched the missile would fly over the bystanders now laying on the ground as the pilot looked from his cockpit.

-"It's like a video-game, this. All you do is pull the trigger and watch as everything burns!"

Heron exclaimed as he pitched his jet to its right side and dived towards another column of people that were running along the street. He laughed maniacally as he pulled the trigger, and the Deafening sounds of the machine gun would be heard as the plane's cannon shot at its moving targets, tearing the men, children and women to shreds.

As he laughed at the destruction he caused, the captain of this crew would soon contact him. The static of the radio was cut by the man's voice - "Heron, I said to target infrastructure, not civilians!"

-"Oh lighten up, will you, Captain? It's more fun when you count in the collateral damage!"

Heron exclaimed, much to the annoyance of the Captain.

The shrapnel caused by the particular explosion would spread all over the surrounding area, hitting the walls of nearby houses and the bystanders. Lotti and Sascha would dive during the explosion and lay on the tarmac. Shaking in fear, Sascha would open his eyes and look ahead of himself.

-"Lotti..? Lotti!"

To his concern, Lotti laid in front of him seemingly lifeless just like the other bodies around them. Another shell would hit a house behind them, its flash even outshining the Sun as Sascha crawled towards his older sister. Calling out her name, Sascha shook Lotti in an effort to wake her up, begging her to stay with him. As if the God's answered his prayers, Lotti would open her eyes.

-"S-Sascha… What.. Was that?"

Weakly, Lotti would ask as she looked at her brother, who helped her get back on her feet.

-"Oh thank goodness.. You had me worried for a moment.."

Sascha would reassuringly sigh, but Lotti's eyes would widen in horror at the sight that was in front of them. The two were the only ones standing, surrounded by lifeless, burnt bodies of the people that were just a moment ago running from danger. The stench of petrol burnt their noses and made the two struggle to breathe, and Lotti would cover her mouth as she looked down as if she wanted to throw up. Sascha would cover her eyes as he panted, exclaiming - "Don't look!" - before continuing to walk aimlessly. A man wearing a blue police uniform would wave at the two siblings, and it was easy for Sascha to spot him as he hastened his limping towards the policeman. They could see that it was a barricade set up by the Police department of Orka, with whatever car they could find set up to block the roads, and a dozen officers on every roadblock in an effort to slow down the advancing invaders.

-"Are you two the only ones here?"

The policeman questioned the siblings as they panted. Sascha nodded to his question as tears could be seen on his and Lotti's eyes. Both were visibly shaken by what had happened, and the policeman knew that asking them anything right now was meaningless.

-"Boy. Listen. Go to the center of Orka. The Zerostrasse shelter has been opened for the citizens to get inside."

Sascha looked perplexed at what he had just heard.

-"A shelter? What shelter?"

He asked, followed by a seemingly annoyed sigh by the officer as he tried to elaborate - "The Zerostrasse is made to shelter civilians in case of a military attack. Go to the center along one of the alleys and don't look back! Got it?"

Sascha nodded as he then looked on at the masses fleeing the scene from afar. They were running through the alleyways, where they wouldn't be in the way of the police trying to slow down the Lausenheimian army.

-"Oh my… young girl, stay still"

-"Huh? W-what?"

Lotti would look behind at the policeman that called her as he reached with his hand. He then showed just what he had seen on Lotti. It was a large piece of shrapnel from that explosion - sharp as a blade, it was as big as a rock and made Lotti realize how lucky she was. She could've been effectively stabbed by the thing in the back.

-"You're lucky you were wearing that coat, otherwise you would've been a goner for sure."

-"Y-yeah.. Should we.. Run?"

Lotti would look at the policemen as they nodded to her question. Sascha would take Lotti by the hand and thank the officers as they headed towards the town center where the church bells rang. Above them, four war planes could be seen flying low along the city as they shot at any barricade they could find.

Occasionally, Sascha would look up to see what kinds of planes they were. While he was busy looking, he failed to notice one of the AD-12's diving towards him. 'Heron', the pilot of the said plane looked hell bent on wasting his ammo on civilian targets as he cackled at the sight of the two, his hand ready to pull the trigger and fire from his plane's cannon - "Here's another one for the list!".

-"Oh.. Oh God!"

Sascha exclaimed in pure fear as he froze in place. The deafening shriek of the Plane's jets pierced his ears as he closed his eyes, but Lotti pushed him off towards an alley - "Run you idiot! Come on!"

The Plane would pull up as it lifted itself up above, before seemingly flying back towards that alley. Heron in the cockpit, agitated that his two targets got away ramped up the speed of his aircraft, the noise of its engines becoming ever louder

-"Son of a bitch, you ain't getting away! Huh?". While 'Heron' looked at his targets, he failed to notice his radar picking up a singular Anti-air unit on his 3 o'clock. What he saw was a missile heading directly at him, and the missile would manage to hit the AD-12 Right in its right wing, causing it to break and for the aircraft to lose its balance and tumble from the air.

Both Lotti and Sascha ran as fast as their feet could carry them, but the next thing they saw was that same plane, only smoke was coming out of its engines, and sparks flew off as it was missing its right wing. An explosion followed as the plane was finally down. Both the Captain and his comrades saw how Heron's aircraft tumbled down to a nearby block of apartments, its body piercing through the buildings and leading one to collapse, raising a massive cloud of smoke, leading to the panicking crowd down below to get lost in the chaos.

-"Heron is down! That fool.. He should've listened to us!"

'Coyote' commented as he flew his aircraft over the scene that just took place. His words were answered by the Captain as he remarked - "It's too late to do anything about it now. Let's continue our mission. Coyote, Lynx; keep targeting infrastructure and Anti-Aircraft guns and don't target the civilians!"

-"Yes sir!" - His two remaining comrades exclaimed. The three planes flew in formation as they made a U-turn and began to scout all over the city for any additional targets.

The siblings ran along the alley for a few more minutes as they looked for shelter, and a sign at one of the crossings answered their prayers. The Zerostrasse shelter was right ahead of them in the town's Park which lay next to the grand Church of Orka.

-"We're here!" Lotti exclaimed with a relieved smile as two soldiers could be seen at the gate of the shelter. The two gestured for the civilians to get in, with dozens running inside while the horrible bangs of explosions in the distance could be heard, along with fire from machine guns. The panicking masses had become crowds that struggled to get in, with some ending up fighting as they now valued their lives more than anything. Lotti and Sascha have both managed to enter the shelter though, and by the looks of it the nightmare is over. What they saw was pure horror, and ruthlessness of their invader who shot at them as if they were target practice. Lotti sat down on a bench, next to a battered lady as she held onto her son. The siblings were surrounded by cowering men, women and children as the families called for each other, some probably lost during the assault, while many were dirty, dusty or had minor burns. The young girl had an empty look in her eyes as she looked down on the floor, and Sascha would then sit next to her.

The shelter was filled with chatter of the bystanders, wondering what will become of them now that they have lost their homes. They all sat inside this brightly lit up tunnel, in which sounds of explosions could be heard from the outside, followed by the earth shaking. Lausenheim's invasion of Lechia had begun.

Author's notes:

*Urosa - The oldest inhabited Continent of Planet Polaris.

*Principality of Lausenheim - A Germanic kingdom in the west of Urosa.

*Confederation of Simfonia - A union of smaller Island nations to the south of Urosa

*Concert of Urosia - An economic union of Urosa's Major nations. Cosavela to the East, Vurolia in the Center and Rheinland to the west along the Skip mountains.