The Liberation of New Guinea

It was four in the afternoon on April 28, 2082 as the naval fleet approached the coast of New Guinea. 

At the front of the fleet was a massive frigate known as the Invicta, a battle-scarred vessel that had taken its first mission years past, trying to launch a naval attack on enemies in the NADP-PCDP-AFC war. Aboard the long-lived ship was an equally experienced captain by the name of Cassius Finch, who had fought, in fact, against the revolution in Luna years ago. He was surprised they'd allowed him to take the position, but no matter — he was as loyal as they came, now that the war was over. In fact, he regretted not seeing what they were trying to bring to Luna back in those times: peace and freedom for all.

And this battle was more than just another step in an ongoing war, inevitably ending in death and devastation to both sides. This was for something far more. This wasn't an attack. It was a rescue mission.

Ten thousand Rimskayan civilians taken to New Guinea, forced to labor in a colony established by Dreamistan -- they would all be freed by the end, or so he hoped.

He walked through the Invicta, seeing the rest of the crew preparing for the battle that was soon to ensue. The ship had become a second home of sorts to the captain, who had spent the moments of peace between the war against Guoryou and this one rebuilding it, fixing the damages from the last war; he thought the name fit well, as it had been struck but never sunk, despite its numerous battles. And yet, somehow, he was afraid it'd be the last time.

On the ship's deck was one of the newest of the soldiers aboard the Invicta. He could not recall her name or who she was, but she was familiar.

She startled at his approach, seemingly distracted by something. Fear, perhaps? He realized, then, that it was her first time actually approaching enemy land. She had fought valiantly to defend Luna's coast back in the past war; a different ship, a different time, but the same enemy. He searched his mind for her name and it came to her at last. Reyna Corbin, who had proven her immense aptitude for the job only a year past, when she was twenty-seven; she had chosen to enlist to protect her people after the death of her family in the past war.

"We will survive," he said, as if he knew. In reality, nobody knew how war would end, not even those at the head of the nation. But in this battle itself, his authority was second only to the fleet's admiral and the military commander -- he was to help make the decisions, to succeed in the battle and in time, the war. "We're going to make it out of here and take our allies to safety as well."

"I trust that we can make it," she said softly. "But I'm still scared. I don't know why. I've never actually been this far from home before. I just keep thinking back to the last time, when I couldn't save my family from their attack..."

"Dum spiro, spero," he said in response. "It's Latin. It means-"

"While I breathe, I hope," she translated, surprising him for a moment. "My father used to say that, years ago. He fought in the revolution. He told me about this one time that President Aquilla told him — not just him, but the entire group — to keep fighting after a hard loss. He said that kept him going, and since then, he said it himself, when the times got difficult."

It was at that exact moment that the ship trembled with an immense impact. Alarms began blaring; it was a sound the captain was used to at this point. Corbin was silent, but her face betrayed terror. Yet, she prepared the anti-aircraft guns, getting ready to destroy the Dreamistani planes stationed to defend New Guinea.

———

Alongside the Invicta were several amphibious ships, meant to land on the coast and bring soldiers into the actual island to rescue the people taken prisoner by the enemy. At the command, the ships dispatched their soldiers. The troops approached the barricade keeping the prisoners in. It was a difficult battle with many casualties on both sides, but Luna's troops pushed through and broke through the fortifications.

The conditions in the place almost scared Carina Wolfe, a longtime soldier — and she had faced similar ones herself, as a soldier who had been captured by the loyalist side in Luna's civil war years ago. She recalled what she had heard about the citizens' capture: that they would work for nineteen hours a day in 'punishment' for something they had done — and yet, they had committed no crimes. She didn’t want anyone to face what she had gone through — she was new to her job back then, only twenty-one years old and trying desperately to stay alive. It made her think of the nation’s founder, who had been captured and brutally executed by a hostile nation as part of terms for “peace” in a past war, despite all she had done to help Luna. She had wanted the best for the world, and they killed her anyway.

Wolfe fired her gun three times; down fell three Dreamistani soldiers, and she could not help but feel remorseful for their deaths along with all the others who had died in this fight.

It will save more lives, she thought as she kept going. This is for our allies. We will save them.

The air was thick with the smell of blood and acrid smoke as the colony began to burn; someone had set a fire in the distance, and it had spread, in time.

Wolfe had her finger on the trigger as she walked into the mine; dim lanterns lit the place, giving it a dismal air. It still smelled vaguely of smoke, and she was afraid that it would have, by now, suffocated the workers, but as she went deeper, she realized that the flames had not yet harmed anyone. The innocent civilians who had been imprisoned by Dreamistan looked up at her arrival, some backing away in fear of whatever they thought was to come.

She heard the click of a gun and looked into the back of the mine, where a Dreamistani soldier was holding a weapon, ready to fire again; she fired her own into the distance and the soldier fell to the ground. Again Wolfe felt as if all she was doing was wrong. Despite her many years at war, she was not yet numbed to the horrors of the battlefield, if she ever would be.

“Who are you?” asked one of the prisoners — a child, really. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ll explain everything later. We have no time to lose,” she told the citizens. “We have to get out of here, before they send in reinforcements.”

So to the shores they ran, hoping to board the same ships that had taken Wolfe and the others to the colony in the first place; Luna’s aircraft continued their bombardment of Dreamistan’s troops overhead.

———

“Stop,” said an unfamiliar voice. “Or I’ll shoot.”

She whirled around to see a Dreamistani soldier with a gun to the head of the same child who had spoken before; he looked at Wolfe in terror.

“Don’t even think about it. Let me get them out in peace, and I’ll leave you alive to tell the story of how you failed.”

“You’re in no position to negotiate.” the soldier said. “Look around you. You’re surrounded.”

She took a glance around, and he was right; she was surrounded by Dreamistani troops.

“Now, drop your weapon and put your hands up.”

She obliged; her gun fell to the ground.

“Shoot them,” one of them — probably a leader of some sort — said; guns clicked around Wolfe.

“Wait!” she shouted. Heads swiveled toward her. “Do you think your superiors — whoever they may be — will want to see you murdering your ‘free laborers’? And besides, some of them are children! Can’t you see that this isn’t right?”

“They went against our nation, and they deserve to be punished for it.”

“The citizens of Rimskaya did nothing against you,” she said. “I am sure that most of you have people back home who you care about – siblings, friends, children, parents, anyone. So do all of us. Think about them before you pull the trigger. What if it was them standing here, utterly terrified? Would you still be threatening to end their lives?”

A couple of soldiers shook their heads; one looked her in the eye. “You aren’t going to convince us to take pity on you,” he said.

But she looked around to see that most of them understood. She was still alive, and so were the people of the liberated mine. The soldier who had first threatened them lowered his weapon, and around her, so did the others.

“Now, help me get them to our ships,” she said as the bombs still rained down on other parts of the colony. “You’re free to come along with us if you think your nation will condemn your actions in support of humanity; our leaders will most likely understand.”

“Thank you for the offer,” said the leader, who had dropped his own weapon as she spoke. “But I’ll stay. Dreamistan is my home, and despite this, I will not leave, and I am sure some of my men, at least, will agree. But you may take our weapons and arm those who can fight so more people can get out of here alive.”

———

In the end, it was five thousand Rimskayan citizens from several parts of the colony, sixteen thousand Lunar soldiers, and seven Dreamistani soldiers who got out of New Guinea alive. They didn’t forget the four thousand Lunar troops who had died, nor the uncounted number of Dreamistani ones, nor the massive civilian casualties. But the ones who were still there, at least somewhat safe aboard Luna’s ships, celebrated a massive victory, even in their state of shock and fear.

Cassius Finch and Reyna Corbin were aboard the Invicta, which still stood strong, with many others as they made their return to Luna, where the rescued people would remain until Rimskaya was safe to return to. The Dreamistani soldier who had first threatened Carina Wolfe celebrated alongside his former enemies. The Rimskayan child who had spoken to her saw his people being rescued, taken to a good place, and knew that, at least for a little while, he was safe. Wolfe herself was on another of the fleet's frigates along with the child and several citizens of Rimskaya, knowing that she had saved them, and that was what mattered.

And war still went on across the world, but for that moment, everything was just right.

—————

note: I just made this bulletin much longer than necessary because I started writing and then it just ended up this long and I didn't know how to cut it down without losing the interesting parts of each person's perspective, so I just left it at that. Don't call it unrealistic or anything — Luna's RP military is stronger than my in-game one and I'm not counting most out-of-RP events as happening within RP, so don't say that it's inaccurate since I made bad raiding decisions and got countered for the billionth time. My in-game military may be almost non-existent at the moment, but Luna's RP military has completely recovered from the last war and is now as strong as ever — definitely strong enough to pull off this attack.