The Seige of Belinsky

The war room was a flurry of activity. Generals and other upper officers debating tactics and pouring over maps while subordinates ran messages in and out. Had they been just a bit quieter they might have heard, had they scents of whisky and cigars not been so strong, had so any boots not been running around....they might have known to enjoy their last moments....

The far door to the room glowed for a split second, and then erupted in a shower of fire, splintered wood, and small pieces of shrapnel. The blast force knocked nearly everyone in the room to the floor, scattering papers to the wind. The doors on the opposite side of the room led into the central hallway. The afore mentioned shrapnel blasted out a section of the windows in the shape of the door, flecks of blood painting the rest.

The few that were not killed by the blast were dazed and confused from the shockwave. Rifle fire from the demolished door put the rest down quickly as Dormin and his team swept into the room. Dormin looked at all the faces and then cursed "They are not here, commander take half the team and keep their attention. The rest of you with me!" He shouted as eight of his men either finished off the wounded or leaned into the hall and started firing on the first responders. Dormin walked back into the dark servants passage, still hunting his prey.....

I stand in the ruined war room. Bodies and debris litter the floor with charred papers and shell casings. This is bad, and coming from me that means it's really f'ed up. 60% of the senior officers in the city were in this room when it happened.

Before that I was in the war room...."

"What's left of it that is........"

"According to one of the officers they had traced Lothars route through the palace. They entered through the servants locker room by the kitchen, the early staff has been........accounted for."

I shift uncomfortably as I prep the last piece on news. "The war room was preparing for the morning briefing. Right around twenty five percent of the cities officers were in attendance............" I let the words hang, no need to say what is known at this point.

My eyes snap up as my focus renews. I untie and change out the dressing on my hand again. "I have two orders, then I'm going to probably take a nap from blood loss.....

My father's closest friends had been in that room, people I had known my entire life. Their wives were close to my mother, their children some of my earliest playmates. Some of the last people on earth I actually trusted, and in barely a moment they've all gone.

The image of the room refuses to leave my mind, and I keep seeing the bodies scattered across the floor. A few I had recognized immediately, while others, the more mutilated ones, took a bit longer. The maroon waistcoat near the windows belonged to General Collins, when I was little he convinced me it had been blessed by Mother Mary herself. Now it was soaked in blood, his body practically mutilated from the shrapnel. His wife just had a baby boy in February, what are they going to do? And then there's Martinson's children, Kiev's wife, Leblanc's daughter, the list goes on and on.

Justin reads a report that the Espanian fleet has engaged with a Eurovna/Karoleva ship group but still bombarding the city. The Eurovan task forced was fighting in the field. Juste comes toward him and fight to thin and stall the Espanian advance

Field report-
Transmission lines discovered cut in multiple locations outside settlements.

Three reported rail tracks known sabotaged, one discovered undetonated and disarmed.

Communication lost with smaller towns in northern territories, near St Ramnova, port city of Alingsky.

Large groups sighted on move around the countryside, smaller groups assaulting patrols.

Fishing boats missing dock times to south.

Please advise.

-Field Marshall Burns

I read the report and grew mor

Major Alexi Voldon (NPC Espana Acting Commander)

The rebels did their job, and they did it well.......

Alingsky fell in less than a night, its wall defenders put to the knife without major incident and all of its communications cut so they couldnt call for help. My ship had been among the three that had entered the harbor while the rest blockaded. We disembarked and systematically swept through the town while the rebel marksmen covered us from the walls and rooftops. We eliminated the Korlovan soldiers and guardsman and rounded up the townsfolk. Our losses had been minimal since the alarms and communications had been cut, a textbook beach insertion onto foreign soil.

Our conquest had begun........

I met with the rebel soldiers commander, a younger man who looked like a blacksmith. He had lost barley a dozen of his 900 when they took the city in the early evening. My 1000 soldiers rounded the remaining townsfolk into the town square. I looked to him and asked "Are you prepared to go all the way?" He looked to the crowd and back to me, he looked nervous. I put my arm around him and sweep my arm in a gesture to them.

"You are rebelling against the king that these people blindly support. War has its casualties, you must be willing to gut this country to bleed out those who would oppose change. Make a better future commander, wash it in the blood of your enemies."

The commander stood and nodded his head grimly, signaling to his men to begin and I signal to mine. The town was cleansed of Korlovan loyalist's by midnight. The rebel soldiers and Espanan soldiers celebrated the foothold we had established as we watched from the small towns walls the lights across the sea blinking and growing closer.

The rest of the ships would be here soon.......

I pull myself away from the door and look at Charlotte, the horror I feel evident in my eyes.
"There's been an attack on the coast," I say quietly, repeating what I heard. "300 civilians were killed."

We would need Mendoza at the head of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd legions......close to 9,000 men on a forced march.....and possibly directly into a firestorm.

"We are on the precipice of total war...........any day now, perhaps even as we speak the Espanan Navy will be assaulting a port city with the aid of the majority of the rebel forces we have had training the past few weeks. Those ships will be carrying close to 8,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, and somewhere around 80 artillery pieces. The group that fought in the city yesterday will have deployed to the countryside and begun taking down telegraph lines, blowing up rail lines, and assaulting any supply convoys that pass near the city. You two need to get your thieves working as if this order was given yesterday; First secure all of the food stores in the city, either capture or destroy them. This city will need to fall quickly, and if it is done right it will be taken from the inside by the Korlova's own citizens that want the siege to end. I say to you again; capture and secure all the stored food you can find, destroy EVERYTHING else. Second is to kill any infrastructure, focus on any type of communications. This city needs to go dark as fast as possible to "

Viscount and Lord General Marcus Velan rides at the head of 8,000 Espanian infantry, the 500 Calvary are sweeping his sides and vanguarding his march. The rebels that Viscount Lothar had mustered protected the supply train, their officers guiding. He smiles to himself as he sees the new capitols walls, irritated that the alarm horns had sounded. But it made little difference.

My orders were also simple; gather your men and the supply caches left from Varraten's failure and head to the "haunted" forest outside of the capital and begin training drills.

Twenty make their charge, all dressed in brown coats with red slashes in them. The Officer that spoke with Dormin at their head. Guards are pouring out of the palace gates, heading to fight the fires they assume. The plaza that held the market is still full of people that are panicking and trying to get clear of the soldiers marching. The rebels line up, two rows of ten and the first rank kneeling, royal officers in their bright uniforms make easy targets standing so tall over th