Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  After a month of this Dark Knight and his friends doing all manner of strange and unusual things, the people of Darsai took it in stride to wake up to find a huge iron ship docked behind the King’s castle. They had seen the Dark Knight walk into a cave and destroy a hundred men, catch arrows and defeat the finest swordsmen in Darsai. He had rid Darsai of all known traitors and had helped to relocate thousands from the coastal towns to the King’s castle. They just recently heard strange noises at night and were not allowed to look outside the castle to see what it was. Princess Tiffanis and her brother did sneak out to take a look; huge green machines with a yellow deer on the side were harvesting the wheat fields in 30 foot widths and filling floating wagons with grain. Behind them came big machines that pulled up the straw and made perfectly sized bales of them. The castle woke the next morning to find their entire wheat harvest neatly harvested and the grain piled-up and covered with some kind of strange clear waterproof material and the straw neatly bailed. Without explanation, the King had the farmers bring everything into the castle. The next day the fields were burned.

  The Dark Knight and some of his followers, Hunter had brought down most of his Marines to assist in training the Darsai army, had been teaching the King’s army how to fight hand-to-hand, making them do physical exercise, drills and make arrows in quantities too great to count. They reinforced the castle doors and cut down many of the beautiful trees that surrounded the castle. Often they would place targets in the burned out field and have the archers practice hitting them from the top of the walls. There was sword-fighting practice and all manner of weapons training. But this iron ship brought wonders beyond their imagination. A dozen men in strange dress and speaking a strange tongue used gigantic lifting devices attached to the ship to lift large crates and large metal machines from the inside of the ship and place them on the ground behind the castle. It was then carried into the castle with magic used by the Dark Knight and his soldiers. Hunter attached antigravity lifts to the crates so they could be easily moved inside. Only he and his Marines had any idea what they were. Some of the machines were so large ten men could sit inside. Two of them were so large they would not fit through the castles rear gate. The next day Prince Hunter poured a liquid that stinks into a hole in the machines and soon they made a horrible rumbling noise and began to move slowly away from the docks. They were moved from the river’s edge around the castle to the front gate and now sat in the large town square with hundreds of children climbing all over them.

  Hunter had to go to the Verron refinery and special order diesel fuel. The Russian’s had one 5,000 gallon fuel truck aboard the ship. He had to make a gateway back to Verron, drive it through, fill it up and return. It was one of the first things they unloaded so they would have fuel for the two T-72 Tanks, two MY-LB Armored Personnel Carriers and 3 Komatsu D61EX-23 Bulldozers. The bulldozers were put to use right away preparing the battlefield for the upcoming attack. Thousands would gather around to watch as they dug a moat around the castle and pushed trees over and out of the way. When the last of the equipment was unloaded Hunter had Captain Abarnikov moved his ship up the river and anchored it away from the shore. After that was done he and his crew, except for two who remained behind to guard the ship, did as agreed, they returned to help train the army of Darsai and to fight alongside them in the upcoming battle. When they began to uncrate the weapons and prepare them for use, the faces of those watching showed signs of fear, amazement and wonder at these strange weapons that King Darsai had gotten for his army; 5000ea AKM 7.62x39mm Assault Rifles, 1000ea AN-94 5.45x39mm Assault Rifles, 100ea Dragunov SUD 7.62x54mm Sniper Rifles, 10ea KSVK 12.7x108mm Sniper Rifles, 100ea PKM 7.62x54mm Machine Guns, 50ea Kord 12.7x108mm Heavy Machine Guns, 40ea AGS-30 Automatic Grenade Launcher, 1500ea MON-50 Anti-Personnel Mines, 500ea MON-100 APMs, enough ammunition to practice with and fight a war and much, much more.

  The observation drones hovering above the planet revealed that the armies of Niccaros were no more than three weeks away from the castle and maybe one week, at most, before they reached the shore of Darsai and two weeks cross-land to the inland stronghold. Hunter prayed it was enough time. Vladimir gathered his new Russian mercenary friends and the half dozen Marines around for a briefing to show what his battle plan was and to get suggestions for anything they felt he could do differently. It was agreed that while Hunter and the Marines did most of the training, the ex-Russian commandoes would prepare the field of battle to give them an advantage, pointing out locations along the surrounding ridge where they would prepare hidden rifle, machinegun and mortar positions, that would be so well hidden you could walk over them and not see them. They had learned how to build them the hard way, by not finding the ones built by the Afghans they were fighting. A lot of Russians died from those well-hidden weapons hiding spots.

  After the moat was finished and flooded by the river, the Russians created a large minefield from the moats edge that extended 200 yards out from the castle. They next strung razor-wire from the river’s edge all the way around the castle to the edge of the river on the other side along the outer bounds of the minefield, installing MON-50 and MON-100 anti-personnel mines attached to the wire. They knew the wire would offer little resistance to an army in body armor, but they would pay dearly when they tried to move it or walk through it. They next randomly placed Russian made OZM-72 Anti-Personnel mines, their version of a U.S. designed mine called Bouncing Betty, throughout the battlefield. They were now in the process of digging tunnels and hidden machinegun and mortar nests on the ridge overlooking the battlefield.

  The archers had been training constantly and rarely missed anything. Hunter decided that men who could hit a six inch circle at 100 yards with a longbow should have no trouble hitting a much bigger target with an AKM 7.62x39mm Assault Rifle from 200 or 300 yards. He and Vlad gather the small 5000 man army and began to show them how the rifles worked. Making certain each handled one and even knew how to service and load his weapon. But the fun really began when they took them outside the castle walls for some target practice. He started with targets no farther than fifty yards. There were plenty of silhouette targets available aboard the freighter. Hunter, Vlad and the Marines spread out along the firing line and instructed 24 marksmen at a time, two each, and before long had the first batch consistently hitting their targets center mass and, after adjusting their sights, making a pretty tight shot group. As usual, some learned much faster than others and some were just natural born shooters. In a few days they had moved the targets farther and farther away and were quickly able to recognize who would be a good sniper or a machine-gunner and who would be operating mortars. After a full week of practice, the soldiers were moved inside and placed on the high walls of the castle. Shooting down at a target is a bit different than a level line of fire. Targets were placed at 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards. Just for fun Hunter placed several targets at 500 and 800 yards. After he and Vlad showed them how a sniper rifle worked and how to adjust the sights for varying ranges, about 100 men were issued Dragunov SUD 7.62x54mm Sniper Rifles. Hunter, Vlad and the Marines reserved the KSVK 12.7x108mm Sniper Rifles for themselves. To Hunter and Vlad’s pleasant surprise, the King turned out to be a natural born sharpshooter. Vlad spend a good bit of one-on-one time with him and the big 12.7mm Sniper Rifle. The entire army looked up to a leader that could use such a magnificent weapon.

  After a few hours of instruction the archers turned riflemen were consistently hitting the targets out to 300 yards and about half were very accurate at 400. The others watched with envy as the 100 were practicing their skills with targets 500 to 800 yards away. In their wildest dreams they could not imagine killing a man from such a distance, until Hunter and Vlad set-up targets at 1500 yards, both making perfect head shots with the 12.7x108mm Rifles. King Darsai made two excellent heart shots from 1000 yards; everyone was impressed and the King swelled with pride. Hunter had to harass his friend when they finished, saying, “Not bad for a Russian made rifle, but I believe the B
arrett is better.”

  While half of the Marines and Hunter continued to work with the men’s rifle skills, Vlad and the other half taught several hundred men how to use the AGS-30 29-round canister loaded Automatic Grenade Launchers, 2B14 Podmos 82mm Mortars and RPG-29 Reloadable Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher with thermobaric munitions and anti-personnel fragmentation grenades. Two of the Russian mercenaries were selected to teach about 50 men how to use the machineguns. When training began for the heavier weapons, the townspeople would line the walls to watch the explosions on the other side of the wall; round after round hit the intended kill zone from a weapon hidden inside the castle walls. How a man could hit such a precise spot and not even see it amazed even those who were learning to use the more sophisticated weapons. For the riflemen and snipers to practice more advanced skills, Hunter had the two 2-MT-LB Armored Personnel Carriers equipped with silhouette targets so the men could practice hitting a moving target. Numerous noncombatants were enlisted to be munitions runners, making certain that the men did not run out of the proper ammo. Hunter, Vlad and King Darsai had four of their best men search the ridge for the hidden gun emplacements. They managed to find only one, and that one only because the man who was searching lived his entire life only 200 yards over the ridge from the spot. He knew every inch of that ridge and nothing got by him. Their enemy’s scouts would not have that advantage. They spent many hours making certain the hidden gunners and mortars had plenty of ammunition; they could not afford to run out prematurely in the heat of battle. For that reason, the machine-gunners were carefully trained to concentrate their fire into the greatest number of people and not to waste dozens of rounds trying to hit individual targets, that job was reserved for the snipers and riflemen who would be on the ridge with them.

  At the end of the first week they were notified that the Niccaros armada would hit the coast within 24 hours. Hunter decided to put those arrows he had the soldiers make to a good use. He didn’t really want to get too carried away using The Power while on Darsai, but he didn’t want to foolishly waste any opportunity he could find to harass his enemy. On the evening the armada was going to land, he took five thousand archers through a gateway and lined them up along the tree-line of the coast with orders to fire flaming arrows at the approaching ships until the ships crossbows were in range then they would pull back and disappear through the gateway. If he could destroy even a fraction of the ships with fire or kill some of their people before they ever reached the shore it would let his enemy know that they were going to get a fight. But hopefully they would soon become comfortable with the fact that all they had was a bunch of bows and arrows. When Hunter opened the gateway and the archers began to fan out along the coast, he couldn’t help but notice that those people who had been too stubborn to leave were now fleeing the cities and towns along the coast now that the reality of several thousand ships coming their way had gotten their attention. He attempted to get their attention, and a few actually stopped to see what he wanted. He gathered as many as he could and told them to wait a few minutes and they could return with him to the Kings Castle. Many trusted this Dark Knight but most could only see the dangers from the sea and continued to run inland. Hunter prayed they ran far enough and stayed well hidden.

  At Hunters command, five thousand flaming arrows flew through the air hitting ships almost 400 yards from shore. There was such a constant stream of arrows that the night sky lite up like daylight as volley after volley of flaming arrows sailed through the air. Many of the sails began to burn and the oil and tree sap coated timbers began to catch flame. Most of the men aboard were too busy extinguishing fires to man very much return fire. By the time any crossbowmen loaded their weapons and found the proper range, Hunter had already pulled back and began his retreat, taking 500 town’s people with him. The damage was minimal, but almost all the sails were incinerated, forcing the long ores to be used. Several of the ships burned completely and men in armor trying to escape the flames quickly sank to the bottom of the sea. Two of the ships that went down had the holds full of Niccaros Zylners. Many men who had intended to ride into battle would now be walking. A great many crossbow bolts were wasted, over a thousand men were badly burned and a hundred ships would be incapable of making a return voyage, burning completely as they rested beached on the shore, those onboard barely escaping with their lives. As they charged into the trees, they soon found out there was no longer an enemy present. They then turned their attention to the large walled city at the mouth of the river and a couple of small villages along the shore. Those too foolish to leave decided to welcome their conquerors with open arms. The gates of the city were opened and offered no resistance. There were still about 4000 people along the shore. Every man and male child was brutally killed while their wives and daughters watched. The women were raped and many then murdered. The ones who appealed to the soldier’s basic instincts were taken to be camp to be slaves and prostitutes. They fortunately decided not to burn the towns to the ground. Instead, they stole everything of value, moved their wounded and rear-guard into the empty houses, made camp for two nights then headed inland.

  Vlad and Hunter selected good ambush sites along the Niccaros path and repeated the surprise attack with his archers three more times before they reached the flat plains fifty miles from the castle. His men were too vulnerable out in the open, so the ambushes stopped while the approaching army made camp for two more days to recover from the archers accurate arrows. They had mostly lost Zylners and unarmored camp followers in the attacks. But somehow, between the attack from the shore and the three ambushes on land, they had lost almost 10,000 men and never once saw an enemy soldier. The rumors were spreading through the camp of a mysterious Dark Knight. Almost all of the women taken hostage had either seen him or heard of him. They told the tale of how he singlehandedly killed 500 soldiers and hanged all of the Kings traitors. Every time the story was told the numbers got larger. The commanders had to reassure their suspicious men that the enemy was not invisible; he just knew the terrain very well and was afraid to face them in battle, so they took shots at them and ran. The second night King Ronar and two of the priests of Nicci sacrificed one of the children they had taken captive and assured them that the Goddess Nicci would give them victory in battle.

  While the Niccaros Army General and King Ronar were shoring up the confidence of their soldiers, King Darsai and the Dark Knight were getting into place. The noncombatants were moved into the cellars and lower levels of the stone structure deep inside the walls of the castle. The snipers were adjusting their sites and firing positions, the mortar teams were once again drilling each other on adjustments to be made as the Russian spotter called coordinates from his position atop the wall. Everyone made sure they had plenty to eat and plenty of water to drink to last them through what may be a long battle, depending on how King Ronar decided to fight this war. If he simply surrounded the castle and held them in siege they had enough food and water to last for many months. No one believed he would be patient enough to wait them out. With almost 200,000 soldiers he would no doubt decide to take the fortress. By now he would be feeling pretty confident. He had virtually no resistance on his way cross-country and his men were getting restless for action and revenge for those lost and injured.

  Hunter and the other spotters had seen numerous scouts along the ridge checking out the situation. He had ordered that none of them be hindered from their duties. He wanted them to see a well-fortified castle and an open field prepared for battle. Hunter, Vlad and King Darsai breathed a sigh of relief when the Niccaros scouts had searched the surrounding ridge three times and found no enemy traps or ambushes.

  When the Niccaros broke camp after their evening of sacrifices and prayer to Nicci, everyone in the castle knew that it would take two days to cover the 50 miles from their camp site to the Darsai fortress. They no doubt would camp the night they arrived and position themselves for attack the next morning. Everyone inside the walls was wondering if their preparatio
ns had been enough. They still did not comprehend the massive firepower in their possession. Those archers who had gone out and shot at the massive enemy convoys could only envision the large numbers of soldiers spread out for miles along the road that led to them and the huge siege engines that were being drug behind hundreds of Zylners. Although they had fired their rifles, shot their mortars and machineguns, they had never witnessed the destructive power those little pieces of lead traveling 2200 feet per second can cause to anything that is in their path. Almost every one of the Darsai archers would much rather use their longbow than these noisy weapons that hurt their ears. Hunter knew that as soon as the battle began they would quickly change their mind. The night before the battle, with almost 200,000 soldiers camped out of sight over the ridge, just over a mile away, the men were in position and alert to any surprises. There were none. King Darsai, Prince Hunter and Vladimir made their rounds along the walls, checking the sniper positions, double checking the overlapping of machinegun fire, making certain the rear river approach to the castle was well-protected and that the mortar squad was confident of their ability to follow instructions from their spotters.

  The emplacements along the ridge were being commanded by the Russians from the smuggler ship. They had taken to the locals and several of the men had already asked if they could stay in Darsai when this was over. They were looked at as heroes and saviors of the people. Everyone marveled at their knowledge and physical abilities. A few were even picking up the local language. Two already had girlfriends and wanted to marry them. Pyotr, the ships engineer was constantly going around showing people how to improve things. He had built a few gas lamps, a water pump and a cross-cut saw, showed them how to get more heat from their forge in the blacksmith shop, and how to make a cast-iron stove for heating and cooking. Little did they know that still in the hold of the ship were two CAT 3612 Diesel Generators, with the ability to generate 5300 kVA each; if he could get his hands on enough wiring, the King would soon live in a lighted castle.