Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Aut Vincere Aut Mori
The war between Light and Dark has raged for years, and every day territory is lost to the Dark Lord. Then a string of events turns the world on its ear most violently...
?Blocked
A/N: Once again I would like to thank all those who have put this story on their favorites, alerts, whatever. Character positions are still open. Review to let me know how you like it.
Aut vincere aut mori
Almaty, Kazakhstan
1444 GMT (8:44 PM Local), 2 December 2001
The people of the Republic of Kazakhstan had not seen many of the effects of the war, or thought of the terrors that would soon be upon them in their full terrible forms. The first snow of the year was falling on the city of Almaty and no one in the city knew the danger the pure white snow held. The storm front that was over the city held billions upon billions of dust particles that had been kicked up from the nuclear strikes against the dragon nesting sites all across Eastern Europe. Not only that, the clouds also held the radioactive byproducts and unused fissile material from the 475kt warheads of the Peacekeeper missile, which included I-131, Pu-239, Cs-137, unused U-235, H-3 (tritium) and Ba-141, all of which are highly radioactive and deadly to organic life. As the snow fell, children came out to play in the white wonderland, and young couples went for walks through the city on romantic evenings, all of them unknowingly causing their own deaths. Over the next week, the entire region near Almaty would see a dramatic rise in radiation poisoning, and more than 450 thousand would die within the first month. In time, Almaty and the area surrounding it would gain the moniker of 'The devil's winter home' and would receive almost 350 rads of radiation from the nuclear detonations over Europe.
DFXQ FPZQ JMWQ QOBW KKTA KGVO
RAF Lakenheath, near Suffolk, the United Kingdom
1527 GMT (3:27PM Local), 2 December 2001
Military aircraft from the continent had been landing almost non-stop at the SAC airbase unloading troops and equipment to help the British Fifth Army secure the East, Southeast, and the East Midlands of England. The British third Army, under Major General O' Connelly, would secure the West Midlands and the Southwest, and after those areas were secure, they would join up with the British Second Army and form the South English Home Guard. The British First Army would secure the Northwest, the Northeast, and the York's & the Humber, and then form the North English Home Guard. However, the securing of the British Isles would take the length of the entire war and then quite a bit longer after that. The Kingdom of England would not be under the rightful rule of the Queen for several years to come, and even then, the rest the Commonwealth would be in political turmoil. Spanish, Italian, and Greek troops were supplementing the badly depleted forces of the British Army, and within the next week, troops and technical support from Switzerland would be arriving. This would be the first war that the Swiss people had participated in since the 1815 Congress of Vienna, in which Switzerland had declared itself permanently neutral. However, the threat to the freedom of the entire world posed by the Dark Lord was so great, that the National Council voted unanimously for the declaration of war to eradicate this threat to humanity.
The US 93rd Fighter Squadron, aka the Makos, was flying close to non-stop because they had been charged with defending the whole of the East and Southeast of England from threat fighters. The pilots thought this to be one of the dumbest assignments in the entire war, because so far the enemy, meaning the wizarding forces of the Dark Lord had not fielded any aircraft, and most likely don't even understand what they are. Just as some of the F-16C fighters flying over the Thames were about to turn for home, their onboard radar sets picked up some RAF Harrier jets heading straight for them. They might have completely dismissed this as the RAF helping them out, but one of the pilots noticed that one of the IFF transponder codes was set to 7700, which declared an air emergency, and yet the aircraft was flying normally. The pilots spiked the aircraft transponders of the bogey squadron to confirm their identity, as the 8492nd Air defense squadron, but not one of the pilots answered, not even to acknowledge themselves as friendlies. After three minutes of trying to contact the Harriers, the American pilots finally called RAF Middenhall to identify the fighters, because they were based at Middenhall. However, repeated calls to all ground stations met with absolutely nothing coming back at them, even form the other planes in their flight, and with each unsuccessful radio transmission, the pilots became more frantic.
The American pilots switched over to weapons free mode, moved into attack formation, and then split up into two groups to perform a high-low attack maneuver. Both of the pairs of F-16C fighters locked onto one of the four Harriers, and moved into range for the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. The pilots tried one final time to contact the fighters, telling them that if they did not answer, then they faced their own destruction. Just as before, the only response they got was static and silence from both the ground and the newly reclassified bandits. Each of the fighters moved swiftly towards the Harriers, the pilots called out FOX 2, and each aircraft launched a single Sidewinder at the Harriers. Each of the IR-guided missiles struck their targets true and fast, and in less then a single minute the entire flight of Harriers was falling quickly to the bottom of the English Channel. When the fighters touched down at Lakenheath at 1613 GMT, instead of a heroes welcome they met with MPs, and furious RAF flyers, who were incensed at the actions of their American 'allies'. They later learned that the Harrier squadron slated to be their replacements was the one they shot down, and that all the ground radars showed the Harriers with normal IFF codes. This incident would hamper UK-US relations for months, and cause massive amounts of distrust between the two countries armed forces for years into the future.
Near Dunkirk, the Nord-Pas de Calais coast, France
1632 GMT, 2 December 2001
A rogue faction of the Dutch military, along with many senior government officials, had ousted Queen Beatrix, the true ruler of the Netherlands, in the early hours of November 29. She had only just managed to make it out of the capital of Amsterdam, with her personal contingent of bodyguards that had been handpicked out of the best of the Red Berets, when the news of the nuclear strikes reached them. Moreover, they were about to cross the border into Belgium when the new provisional government declared war on most of its neighbors, and they outright annexed the Principality of Luxembourg and the entire nation of Belgium. From then on out the Dutch people were as persona non grata to most of the world, and the job of convincing the world that they were a government-in-exile became that much harder. They were trying to get to the temporary British capital of Southampton and declare their intentions to Beatrix's third cousin, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and hope to God that she believed them. After Britain was under control of the Crown, she would plead for help in removing the hyper-aggressive traitors from power and restore Beatrix to her rightful place. She could only hope that the French civilians did not catch her and her bodyguards before she could declare to the world that she is just as much a victim as all the others hurt in the war. Her bodyguards may be elite, but they could not hold off a mob of determined civilians for very long, before they would have to resort to deadly force, and that could only end badly for her and her people.
As she and her bodyguards approached the port facilities at Dunkirk, the task of staying hidden became that much harder. With every person they passed on the street, she felt another weight drop upon her shoulders, thinking that someone would have seen her picture and would recognize her. The provisional government of the Netherlands had capitalized on the confusion of the world, and had been proclaiming all the actions they had taken to be the express orders of their 'illustrious leader' Queen Beatrix, and had been running her picture near non-stop on the national television stations and the internet. The French government had already made Queen Beatrix #1 on the Most Wanted list, so she had to take extreme pains not to be caught, or she would face a long drop and a sudden stop. She and her entourage made it to the ferry dock well enough, but they soon found that the ferry was not a viable option. The prospect of staying in France was definitely not an attractive one, as every minute spent in the French port meant the chances of discovery increased. Not only that, the Dutch Army was barreling towards France and would be close to Dunkirk by the next morning if the Belgians couldn't delay them. Moreover, from the ease with which the fugitive queen and her guards had crossed the border, it was likely that soon the Dutch army would soon be breathing down their necks. The Queen came to a decision and ordered her guards to escort her to the French Presidential Palace in Paris, where they would put their case before Jacques Chirac, the President asking him to recognize her as a leader-in-exile. If that failed then she was truly out of options for both her and her people.
First US Marines division Staging area, outside of Los Angeles, California
1719 GMT (9:17 AM), 2 December 2001
The First Marine division was assembling in southern California in preparation for shipping overseas to a FOB (Forward Operating Base) in the Philippines, near Clark AFB. Once there the Marines would await tasking orders that would send them to areas all around Southeast Asia; and if necessary, they would defend the islands of the Philippines them selves against invasion by enemy forces. The United States considered the Philippines a crucial Coalition ally, and the nation received a defense priority status, which meant that whatever it took to keep the Philippines on the Coalitions side would be done. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff were mainly concerned with what would happen to reaction power if Clark AFB were destroyed or captured. However, the commanders of the First Marines were mainly concerned that they might be heading into another Vietnam, a situation that could turn sour very quickly. The men and women of the First Marines thought they would help rid the world of a racist and fascist movement that threatened the security of not only their country, but of their very freedoms that they held so close to their hearts. They were also fighting to avenge the deaths of over 35 million people incinerated by the New York detonation, and they wanted to pay back every ounce of suffering that the enemy had caused the American people. They did not care if they were fighting the Dark Lord's wizarding forces or the nations that had cowardly allied with him; they just knew that they were going to be a powerful force of righteous anger and awe-inspiring weaponry that would help exterminate this cancer of humanity.
The first Marine division was only at 15% battle ready status, and for the first few months of operations they would supplemented with National Guard troops, who would in turn, be replaced by fresh units of Marines once recruiting numbers climbed higher which they were sure to do. Logistical problems of every sort popped up all over the place: Mortuary Affairs and band units in the frontlines; about a quarter of the units present did not have enough weapons to fight even a small skirmish, and all sorts of other problems cropped up. The military analysts would call this period between the attacks and the Coalition's first major response, 'the Dark Age' as almost nothing of true military value would be achieved. The leaders of the United States Marine Corps would see this time as one of the most embarrassing in the whole history of the Corps, because they, the most responsive military force on the planet, were caught with their pants around their ankles. The Marine High Command however was determined to make up for their failure to react quickly by making damn sure that they were not flat-footed again. From then on, the Corps would consider this fight to be one of either victory or death, and they would see it through to the very end.
Aut vincere aut mori
Almaty, Kazakhstan
1444 GMT (8:44 PM Local), 2 December 2001
The people of the Republic of Kazakhstan had not seen many of the effects of the war, or thought of the terrors that would soon be upon them in their full terrible forms. The first snow of the year was falling on the city of Almaty and no one in the city knew the danger the pure white snow held. The storm front that was over the city held billions upon billions of dust particles that had been kicked up from the nuclear strikes against the dragon nesting sites all across Eastern Europe. Not only that, the clouds also held the radioactive byproducts and unused fissile material from the 475kt warheads of the Peacekeeper missile, which included I-131, Pu-239, Cs-137, unused U-235, H-3 (tritium) and Ba-141, all of which are highly radioactive and deadly to organic life. As the snow fell, children came out to play in the white wonderland, and young couples went for walks through the city on romantic evenings, all of them unknowingly causing their own deaths. Over the next week, the entire region near Almaty would see a dramatic rise in radiation poisoning, and more than 450 thousand would die within the first month. In time, Almaty and the area surrounding it would gain the moniker of 'The devil's winter home' and would receive almost 350 rads of radiation from the nuclear detonations over Europe.
DFXQ FPZQ JMWQ QOBW KKTA KGVO
RAF Lakenheath, near Suffolk, the United Kingdom
1527 GMT (3:27PM Local), 2 December 2001
Military aircraft from the continent had been landing almost non-stop at the SAC airbase unloading troops and equipment to help the British Fifth Army secure the East, Southeast, and the East Midlands of England. The British third Army, under Major General O' Connelly, would secure the West Midlands and the Southwest, and after those areas were secure, they would join up with the British Second Army and form the South English Home Guard. The British First Army would secure the Northwest, the Northeast, and the York's & the Humber, and then form the North English Home Guard. However, the securing of the British Isles would take the length of the entire war and then quite a bit longer after that. The Kingdom of England would not be under the rightful rule of the Queen for several years to come, and even then, the rest the Commonwealth would be in political turmoil. Spanish, Italian, and Greek troops were supplementing the badly depleted forces of the British Army, and within the next week, troops and technical support from Switzerland would be arriving. This would be the first war that the Swiss people had participated in since the 1815 Congress of Vienna, in which Switzerland had declared itself permanently neutral. However, the threat to the freedom of the entire world posed by the Dark Lord was so great, that the National Council voted unanimously for the declaration of war to eradicate this threat to humanity.
The US 93rd Fighter Squadron, aka the Makos, was flying close to non-stop because they had been charged with defending the whole of the East and Southeast of England from threat fighters. The pilots thought this to be one of the dumbest assignments in the entire war, because so far the enemy, meaning the wizarding forces of the Dark Lord had not fielded any aircraft, and most likely don't even understand what they are. Just as some of the F-16C fighters flying over the Thames were about to turn for home, their onboard radar sets picked up some RAF Harrier jets heading straight for them. They might have completely dismissed this as the RAF helping them out, but one of the pilots noticed that one of the IFF transponder codes was set to 7700, which declared an air emergency, and yet the aircraft was flying normally. The pilots spiked the aircraft transponders of the bogey squadron to confirm their identity, as the 8492nd Air defense squadron, but not one of the pilots answered, not even to acknowledge themselves as friendlies. After three minutes of trying to contact the Harriers, the American pilots finally called RAF Middenhall to identify the fighters, because they were based at Middenhall. However, repeated calls to all ground stations met with absolutely nothing coming back at them, even form the other planes in their flight, and with each unsuccessful radio transmission, the pilots became more frantic.
The American pilots switched over to weapons free mode, moved into attack formation, and then split up into two groups to perform a high-low attack maneuver. Both of the pairs of F-16C fighters locked onto one of the four Harriers, and moved into range for the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. The pilots tried one final time to contact the fighters, telling them that if they did not answer, then they faced their own destruction. Just as before, the only response they got was static and silence from both the ground and the newly reclassified bandits. Each of the fighters moved swiftly towards the Harriers, the pilots called out FOX 2, and each aircraft launched a single Sidewinder at the Harriers. Each of the IR-guided missiles struck their targets true and fast, and in less then a single minute the entire flight of Harriers was falling quickly to the bottom of the English Channel. When the fighters touched down at Lakenheath at 1613 GMT, instead of a heroes welcome they met with MPs, and furious RAF flyers, who were incensed at the actions of their American 'allies'. They later learned that the Harrier squadron slated to be their replacements was the one they shot down, and that all the ground radars showed the Harriers with normal IFF codes. This incident would hamper UK-US relations for months, and cause massive amounts of distrust between the two countries armed forces for years into the future.
Near Dunkirk, the Nord-Pas de Calais coast, France
1632 GMT, 2 December 2001
A rogue faction of the Dutch military, along with many senior government officials, had ousted Queen Beatrix, the true ruler of the Netherlands, in the early hours of November 29. She had only just managed to make it out of the capital of Amsterdam, with her personal contingent of bodyguards that had been handpicked out of the best of the Red Berets, when the news of the nuclear strikes reached them. Moreover, they were about to cross the border into Belgium when the new provisional government declared war on most of its neighbors, and they outright annexed the Principality of Luxembourg and the entire nation of Belgium. From then on out the Dutch people were as persona non grata to most of the world, and the job of convincing the world that they were a government-in-exile became that much harder. They were trying to get to the temporary British capital of Southampton and declare their intentions to Beatrix's third cousin, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and hope to God that she believed them. After Britain was under control of the Crown, she would plead for help in removing the hyper-aggressive traitors from power and restore Beatrix to her rightful place. She could only hope that the French civilians did not catch her and her bodyguards before she could declare to the world that she is just as much a victim as all the others hurt in the war. Her bodyguards may be elite, but they could not hold off a mob of determined civilians for very long, before they would have to resort to deadly force, and that could only end badly for her and her people.
As she and her bodyguards approached the port facilities at Dunkirk, the task of staying hidden became that much harder. With every person they passed on the street, she felt another weight drop upon her shoulders, thinking that someone would have seen her picture and would recognize her. The provisional government of the Netherlands had capitalized on the confusion of the world, and had been proclaiming all the actions they had taken to be the express orders of their 'illustrious leader' Queen Beatrix, and had been running her picture near non-stop on the national television stations and the internet. The French government had already made Queen Beatrix #1 on the Most Wanted list, so she had to take extreme pains not to be caught, or she would face a long drop and a sudden stop. She and her entourage made it to the ferry dock well enough, but they soon found that the ferry was not a viable option. The prospect of staying in France was definitely not an attractive one, as every minute spent in the French port meant the chances of discovery increased. Not only that, the Dutch Army was barreling towards France and would be close to Dunkirk by the next morning if the Belgians couldn't delay them. Moreover, from the ease with which the fugitive queen and her guards had crossed the border, it was likely that soon the Dutch army would soon be breathing down their necks. The Queen came to a decision and ordered her guards to escort her to the French Presidential Palace in Paris, where they would put their case before Jacques Chirac, the President asking him to recognize her as a leader-in-exile. If that failed then she was truly out of options for both her and her people.
First US Marines division Staging area, outside of Los Angeles, California
1719 GMT (9:17 AM), 2 December 2001
The First Marine division was assembling in southern California in preparation for shipping overseas to a FOB (Forward Operating Base) in the Philippines, near Clark AFB. Once there the Marines would await tasking orders that would send them to areas all around Southeast Asia; and if necessary, they would defend the islands of the Philippines them selves against invasion by enemy forces. The United States considered the Philippines a crucial Coalition ally, and the nation received a defense priority status, which meant that whatever it took to keep the Philippines on the Coalitions side would be done. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff were mainly concerned with what would happen to reaction power if Clark AFB were destroyed or captured. However, the commanders of the First Marines were mainly concerned that they might be heading into another Vietnam, a situation that could turn sour very quickly. The men and women of the First Marines thought they would help rid the world of a racist and fascist movement that threatened the security of not only their country, but of their very freedoms that they held so close to their hearts. They were also fighting to avenge the deaths of over 35 million people incinerated by the New York detonation, and they wanted to pay back every ounce of suffering that the enemy had caused the American people. They did not care if they were fighting the Dark Lord's wizarding forces or the nations that had cowardly allied with him; they just knew that they were going to be a powerful force of righteous anger and awe-inspiring weaponry that would help exterminate this cancer of humanity.
The first Marine division was only at 15% battle ready status, and for the first few months of operations they would supplemented with National Guard troops, who would in turn, be replaced by fresh units of Marines once recruiting numbers climbed higher which they were sure to do. Logistical problems of every sort popped up all over the place: Mortuary Affairs and band units in the frontlines; about a quarter of the units present did not have enough weapons to fight even a small skirmish, and all sorts of other problems cropped up. The military analysts would call this period between the attacks and the Coalition's first major response, 'the Dark Age' as almost nothing of true military value would be achieved. The leaders of the United States Marine Corps would see this time as one of the most embarrassing in the whole history of the Corps, because they, the most responsive military force on the planet, were caught with their pants around their ankles. The Marine High Command however was determined to make up for their failure to react quickly by making damn sure that they were not flat-footed again. From then on, the Corps would consider this fight to be one of either victory or death, and they would see it through to the very end.
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