《HAVEN: THE SKY SCRAPER》Book 1 Chapter 7: The Capital
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The capital remains largely intact with its battlements and soldiers making ready for battle.
Originally built on a hill, it is surrounded by a square wall, with a fortress at each corner point.
The main palace at the top of the hill, the cathedral and the university are the most iconic structures within the capital's walls.
"Now that is one heck of a capital city" Angel remarks as he steps out of the chinook.
TV reporters can be seen dotted about the place wearing bullet resistant vests labelled 'PRESS'.
'We're here, live, standing outside what many are now calling the new front lines' one can be heard saying as they pass by.
'We are getting reports that Silverpeak has fallen' another can also be heard commentating.
As they approach the main gate's, they see Marissa and the rest of their troop they had become separated from, well, what's left of them.
Only half of them seem to have made it out alive from Sliverpeak.
"Sweet, can finally get something proper to eat" Daniel mutters quietly.
Michael gives him a kiss on the cheek after hearing him say this, suddenly realizing how fatigued Daniel looks at this point.
"Glad you could finally make it" Marissa greets them in her usual sarcastic manner.
"Fucking hell, it's good to see you guys" Thomas states and grabs some of the troop to give them a hug.
"We will be stationed on the battlements, generals' orders" she explains whilst beckoning them all to follow her through the main gates.
"But first, I think we should all go and get something to eat" she continues.
"Yes please" Daniel replies in relief.
The troop follows her over to a nearby food establishment, further up the street.
They line up and are given some soup and piece of bread, that Angel is actually willing to eat this time.
"Thank you" Daniel says gratefully to the lady handing out their sup.
They all eat their food quietly, and can't help but notice that people around them are staring at one person of the group in particular.
"You stick out like a saw thumb in that uniform" Daniel tells Angel softly as he eats some bread.
"Well I am rather dashing in it" he replies cheekily with a wink.
"Why does everyone call you Angel? surely that isn't your real name" Daniel asks.
"No, no it isn't, it's actually my surname, it became a nickname I received from the other Haven soldiers, referring to me as an angel of death" he explains stating the last part half-heartedly.
"Hurry up and finish eating, we're heading to the battlements" Marissa instructs everyone.
"I'm using the toilet first" Daniel states, and wonders off to use the restroom.
Some of the others follow suit and use the limited time they have to quickly use the facilities.
"It's getting dark" Michael mutters, noticing Angel using his radio.
"MOVE OUT!" Marissa demands, and they follow her towards a large stairway leading them up to their position on the battlements.
"What a view" Thomas remarks as he leans against the edge of the wall.
"Where's Angel?" Daniel asks.
"No idea" Michael replies.
"Fucking hell, is that more Haven soldiers?" Thomas asks.
Everyone presses themselves up against the battlements, trying to get a closer look at this approaching platoon.
Heavily armed, and equipped with the latest in military technology, even a small group like this is a force to be reckoned with.
'Are you getting this' a report asks her cameraman as they rush over to film the soldiers.
'We're here at the capital of Stannoss, and as you can see Haven soldiers are now arriving, completely contradicting the hard-line message that Haven has all but abandoned the country' she starts to commentate.
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Some of the soldiers either wave at the camera or make funny hand gestures as they continue walking past.
They march right up to the main gates where they are greeted by Angel.
After a short conversation, it's clear who's in charge as the troop follow the instructions given to them, Angel with a few of the soldiers, walk in the opposite direction as the rest of the troop head up to the battlements, taking a position next to where everyone else is positioned.
"It's not much, but it is a relief to see them" Daniel states quietly as he watches the Haven soldiers loading one of the long-range guns.
Angel at this point has hitched a ride on a helicopter, and is making his way towards the palace.
"I'm so tired" Daniel mutters as he rests against the wall.
"We can rest soon" Michael tells him, before giving him a kiss.
"You can rest tonight; the enemy will be here by morning" Marissa informs them all as she walks past.
"Get some rest Danny" Michael comforts him, softly kissing him on the cheek before helping him to sit down and covering him with a blanket.
Angel jumps out of the helicopter along with the other Haven soldiers, and make their way towards the main entrance of the palace, not before taking his metal mask off that is.
Walking through the palace he asserts his authority to anyone who attempts to stop them, simply showing them his metal and glass ID tag that hangs around his neck.
He abruptly walks into a press conference that is taking place and sits down with the other soldiers at the back of the room.
The floor is lively with various reporters shouting over one another, trying to take their chance at asking a question.
General Scarlet is amongst the panel, which consists of herself, the prime minister 'Cornelius Silverton' and the minister of war 'Markus Stout'.
"Prime minister, why haven't you received any help from Haven?" a reporter asks.
"Haven has been very reluctant to send us any help, which is terrible given how dire the situation is" Stout replies.
"I would like to assure all our citizens that we are doing our upmost to defend our country" the prime minister states.
"Is it true that Silverpeak has been lost?" Another asks.
"Yes" Scarlet replies.
"Yes, miss Reeves" the prime minister points to one of the reporters and she stands up.
"Don't you think it's a little strange, that you inform the general public of one thing, and then Haven soldiers arrive here in Stannoss?" She asks.
"Haven have made it quite clear they will not be sending us any help" Stout remarks.
"That doesn't answer my question minister, as you know, there are more than a few rumours about yourself in particular, with regarding to corruption" she remarks back.
The secretary has a look of despise on his face at what she has just said.
Angel puts his hand up and Scarlet realizes that he and his soldiers are amongst the crowd.
"Well why don't we ask the representative from Haven itself, please" the prime minister suggests, and beckons Angel to stand up.
Stout is clearly uncomfortable with him being here, shifting about on the spot.
He clears his throat before speaking.
Some of the reporters realize exactly who he is, and start to ramble amongst themselves whilst scribbling down notes or trying to get the best camera angle.
"Do you take us for fools? Haven hasn't received a word from Stannoss in the last six months" he states.
"That's an outrageous lie!" Stout snaps.
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"At Silverpeak, you ignored the advice of your general to evacuate and save lives, sating and I quote …" Angel informs them as he takes out a recording device.
'I don't care how many of you die!' Can be heard playing over and over again.
"I've been scouting in this country for around two years now, every single report we have received over the last six months has either been fabricated, or a down right lie, and it all came from one person" he remarks.
"GAURDS! GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" Stout demands.
The guards look at each other, none are willing to go anywhere near him.
"Minister Stout, I am placing you under arrest for war crimes, get him" Angel instructs the soldiers next to him.
Stout attempts to run away, but Scarlet grabs him by the back of the neck and slams him down onto the table.
There is a huge commotion as Stout is taken away and the room is cleared.
After a short while of waiting in the hallway, a soldier comes to collect Angel and he follows swiftly.
Scarlet is waiting for him in the war room.
"Quite a spectacle you put on there" she remarks.
"Well I haven't been able to wind a certain person up recently, I thought this might get his attention" he replies with a smirk.
"They are advancing quicker than we anticipated" she informs him.
"So, what's your battle plan?" He asks.
"We have lined the grass plain with smoke bombs, once the enemy is close enough, we will fire more smoke bombs using the long-range guns" she replies.
"From there the zeppelins will take off to around twenty thousand feet and head over the enemy" she continues.
"You do realize flying objects of that size will immediately be detect on their scanners" he points out
"That's fine, the air force will protect them" she replies.
"Once the smoke bombs have gone off, the long-range guns and railguns will begin a bombardment, the rest will begin to fire as soon as the enemy is in range" she finishes explaining.
"I'll get my troop ready for battle then" he tells her, and heads out of the room.
Michael and Daniel are in each other's arms and fast asleep at this point.
"Two and a half days to go before we can get the hell out of here" Thomas mutters.
He takes a final look out to the horizon, before laying down and pulling a blanket over himself.
The following morning, they awake to the sound of commotion.
Daniel appears to be more glum than usual.
"Morning sunshine" Angel greets him.
"Hello stranger" he replies with a smile.
"Here, have my rations too" Angel tells him, handing him over some breakfast.
"I …" Daniel tries to say clearly embarrassed.
"Just accept it, I'm not taking no for an answer" Angel states as he walks away.
"Thank you" he replies begrudgingly.
Everyone eats their rations, taking the limited time they have to relax.
Civilians are pouring out of the city at this point and heading in the direction of east.
"Everyone's heading for the ships" Daniel remarks.
"You've got to loosen up and try to relax a little" Thomas tells him.
"We're in the middle of a fucking warzone" Daniel points out.
"Oh come on now, don't look so glum" he tries to encourage him and begins dancing
"What are you doing" Daniel asks trying not to laugh.
"Hey, you sexy thing, why don'tchya talk to me, woo!" Thomas starts to sing as he dances.
Laughing a little, Daniel walks over to him.
"Is that the best you can do?" He asks.
"Clearly, you are jealous of my mad skills" Thomas replies with a wink.
Gun fire hits the side of the battlements and three shots directly hit Thomas, his blood splatters all over Daniel.
"Ah … Ahh … AHHHHHH" Daniel screams, falling to the floor and clutching his head.
Screaming can be heard from the across the city as it is pelted with shells.
"DAN! Danny, are you ok?" Michael asks hurrying over to him.
"FIRE!" Angel can be heard demanding, and the long-range gun his troop are in charge of erupts into life, the sound of it is deafening.
A medic checks Daniel over and finds that there is nothing wrong with him.
"T … T … Tom" he stutters as he is helped to his feet.
"Snap out of it" Marissa instructs him.
"TAKE AIM AND, FIRE!" She instructs everyone else.
Various explosions, and rising white smoke beyond the wall, indicates that the enemy has arrived, the long-range guns fire off into the distance.
Before too long there is a wall of grey smoke.
The hum of zeppelins can be heard raising above the city accompanied with the whooshing sound of jets.
Immediately the railguns begin to fire along with the long range weapons, changing to live rounds instead of smoke.
"FIRE!" Angel can be heard shouting again.
Daniel doesn't know what to do with himself, and is quite dazed at this point.
The sounds of guns going off all around him is terrifying.
He looks over at Marissa who is clearly trying to ask him for something.
"What?" He asks.
"GIVE ME A ROUND!" He hears her yelling as he regains his composer.
"R-Right" he stutters, and picks up a shell, carrying the heavy object over to her.
She loads it into the gun and the rest of the team reposition its trajectory.
"FIRE!" She yells swinging her arm down as she does so.
Michael takes over for him and Daniel takes a look over the edge of the wall.
"Oh shit" he mutters, seeing the smoke has now cleared, he can make out a horde of Arma Piscinas, along with tanks and ground troops advancing on the capital.
In the distance, and slowly making their way towards them, is the squadron of Arce Caelos.
The wall directly in front of him, is struck and shattered by incoming fire and he falls backwards.
A zeppelin can be seen crashing downwards engulfed in flames, the metal melting off the structure as it does so, it erupts into a great explosion out on the battlefield.
The squadron of jets rushing through the air fire rockets at the enemy, in an attempt to protect the zeppelins.
"WE'RE GOING DOWN!" A pilot yells to the captain in one of the zeppelins.
"RELEASE THE PAYLOAD!" The captain instructs his crew.
Bombs begin to descend through the hatch at the bottom of the airship, destroying many ground targets before the airship itself explodes.
Part of the battlements are struck by enemy fire and collapses, taking a long-range gun with it.
Daniel rushes to bring rounds over to the gun as the city continues to get bombarded.
He looks over at Angel for a brief moment, and notices his arm appears to be injured, Angel looks back at him, he gives Daniel a thumbs up before continuing to instruct his team.
"FIRE!" Marissa can be heard shouting again.
A projectile hits the spot where Daniel is standing, and sends him flying in the opposite direction.
"DANNY!" Is the last thing he can hear someone shouting, before he passes out.
"This is general Scarlet all aircraft release payload!" She instructs them observing everything on screens in front of her.
The few zeppelins that have survived are exactly where she wants them to be.
One by one they begin to release their payload above the Arce Caelos.
The plan works perfectly as the bombs and rockets hit their targets.
The slow-moving Arce Caelos cannot dodge out of the way and begin to collide into one another, the sky is lit up with explosions left right and center.
In the confusion many of them crash into the ground not able to avoid hitting one another.
This little victory is short lived however, as the remaining zeppelins are shot down.
The onslaught from above, and the continual bombardment from the capital, has pushed the enemy back.
"General, it would appear that they are retreating" her subordinate informs her.
"Thank God" she replies with a sigh of relief.
The cathedral bells begin to ring marking an end to the fighting.
Although it was a short battle the damage to the capital is more than clear, even so, cheering and celebration can be heard across the city as the last of the enemy pulls back out of range.
"Ahhh, thank fuck for that" Angel remarks and collapses.
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