Duom Asderordia War - North Theater

Admiral Goldwheel paced about the bridge of the DNK Adam Flynt, holding a half-eaten bagel in one hand and a bottle of pineapple soda in the other. He didn't want to show it to his crew, but he was nervous. Lox, carbonation and pineapple went poorly, but he soldiered through his odd meal, turning to his charts one last time. They were a mass of overlapping battle plans, expected enemy positions, expected friendly motions, and where his own ships were to be.



Goldwheel collapsed into his seat, his legs tired from pacing, as his force steamed about, keeping near the Divinian vessels. The sword he was given by Minister Lucas awkwardly jutted into the chair, and he took a moment to correct his posture, finding it fitting more comfortably. There wasn't much to do but to listen to reports, and hope that everything went according to plan now.



Not much to do. Load a volley of high explosive, and wait for the enemy to start bearing down on them.



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Ronald Decker was one of the lunatic men. He'd been to Asderordia before, and to Leng, and to New Respite. He'd been a mercenary in Kaskader too - all because of one, simple thing. He liked the feeling of blood on his hands. He liked being able to take what he wanted and burn what he couldn't. Sitting in a tiny, tinny landing ship, checking his rifle one last time, knowing his machete sat sharp in its sheath, knowing his pistol was already loaded and ready, made him jittery with impatience. The captain slowly brought the vessel to bear, swerving erratically for fear of the mines that had harried the initial clearing force. Decker clicked his tongue impatiently, waiting for the actual rush of combat once again. Suddenly, a great explosion occurred, and he saw on the beaches ahead of him a sudden burst of flame, spraying sand everywhere and annihilating a few Divinians who were advancing ahead of him.

Inwardly, Decker thought for a moment. Where were the machine guns? The enemy trenches? The enemy? This seemed like artillery, but where were the troops. Looking up and scratching his chin at this conundrum, he squinted. It looked like a pill in the sky, that's what it did. He counted them carefully, thinking. There were at least twenty of these pills, just floating above the beach. Was it some kind of weapon? He watched something falling, and then traced it to the sea, where a large explosion and blast of water followed.

"Airships?" A man sitting next to Decker muttered, in a well-off Providence accent. Decker turned, looking at the man, no, the boy. A thrill-seeker like him, but of a higher breeding, Decker surmised.

"Airship?" Decker asked him, cocking his head, "whatever it is, they're dropping bombs."

"Airships. They're filled with hydrogen gas, which floats," the man said, "quite an interesting piece of technology. My father thinks they'll replace ships one day."


Decker saw one of them suddenly burst into flames in a tremendous white blast. He then smirked, hearing the report of naval gunfire. 

"Seems they can hit 'em up there," he said.
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"Keep up the secondary battery fire - our primary guns can't elevate high enough to hit those damn things," Goldwheel commanded, sketching out a picture of the airship over the sea to send to someone, "but one good shot and they go up in smoke. Those threes are doing wonders," he shouted to the gunnery crew, peering up at the sky through a small telescope. Using his eye outside the telescope to sight, he then turned and closed it, looking through the telescope as he saw a Duomish airship take a hit directly to the cabin, blasted open from the bottom. The gutted vessel then, over the course of about thirty seconds, fell into the sea, erupting with a great blast of fire. Goldwheel smirked as his fleet turned to present more guns to bear on this new, unusual threat. In short order, fire from his vessels and the Divinian vessels had scattered this force.

Still chewing on his bagel, he put his soda down and produced a fountain pen from his pocket, deciding to start writing a letter.

"To the Honorable Ministers Lucas and Arthur...
Enclosed is an image of a new Duomish weapon - the bomb airship. I suspect that aerial combat may be an increasing part of future wars, and we must be prepared in the event this technology - or some unforeseen other mechanism of aviation - is developed. The construction of a gun that can fire high explosive at an angle greater than 70* above horizontal, ideally at a rate of at least 30RPM, will be tantamount. This is not to be a low-velocity weapon like a howitzer, but rather a high-velocity weapon to hit high targets. Estimated altitudes of combat will be approx. 3KM for airships - may increase further as technology progresses.

-Admiral Goldwheel"