YNA 1, Wednesday, 1st Week, Month Of Noah

The recovery process had already begun, however there were still some people who were left without jobs, for example, like the elderly who had lost their families, remained unemployed. So, in order to amend this problem, the government prioritized the welfare of the elderly.

Respecting the elderly was paramount, as they had built the foundation upon which the newborn generation is currently standing. Instead of offering jobs, the government provided them with homes, hired staff to care for them, and allocated a reasonable amount of monthly allowance.

To generate more employment opportunities, the government made a move to conscript workers and streamlined the bureaucracy, where a massive amount of red tape would be removed. Furthermore, only eligible people could work. Those above the age requirement were elderly and will be given homes, while those below the age requirement are to study mandatorily. Stopping education isn't for it will delay the growth of the Empire, and so the government mandated schooling and increased teachers' salaries.

A lot had to be sacrificed. To prevent the skyrocketing of all prices, the government decided to extend the price freeze to every aspect of commerce, not just on food.

This was a heavy blow to the economy, but to prevent the Empire from sinking further, such measures are needed. However, in every disaster, there is always that silver lining in the sky, and so they sped up the process of going back to the gold standard. That is because they are no longer in a world where paper money has any worth. In times like these, something of value must be the one that is circulating in the market.

Even though such stringent measures were placed to stabilize the economy and the masses afloat, there were still some people who were dissatisfied with it, particularly among the wealthy. Just the thought of losing vast sums of money heavily angers them.

But the biggest problem was the old guards of the old system, the oligarchs who escaped the mass purge of the past, are now on the move. Their greediness knows no end, and the government had to take care of them, for the sake of the Empire, before they even bloom.

The Imperial Secret Police has now taken its move. Even though the existence of the Secret Police was already known to the masses, they still didn't bother with it, as the secret police's job is to eliminate those who are a threat to the state, and the wellbeing of the state is the wellbeing of all the masses.

As of now, they've received reports of multiple sightings of armed militias surfaced across the nation.

The time to take care of these threats has come, and so a bloody street-to-street battle will take place in various provinces of the empire.

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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, Tanjung Redeb, In The Skies Above Tanjung Redeb.

YNA 1, Wednesday, 1st Week, Month Of Noah

Tanjung Redeb, one of the first cities devastated by the first wave of demons during the New Year Tragedy.

Shortly after the war's end, signs of a militia group emerged within the ruined city, and the Imperial Secret Police investigated the place, only to discover that one of the largest rebellion groups they had yet to eliminate were establishing a Headquarters there.

Therefore, they will send an Elite Task Force to deal with them.

In the outskirts of the city where there is only woods and mountains, a loud sound started to grow nearer.

Suddenly, two helicopters appeared, flying side by side and can be seen heading towards the scenery.

Inside one of the helicopters shows a black-haired person seated with narrowed eyes and comms on his head

"Echo 3-1 to Charlie 2 actual," he said a bit tiredly.

[Go for actual,] a voice responded

"LZ is in sight. Looks like our boys are right on time, Colonel." said the man in a disinterested tone.

[Roger 3-1. Hitman team is locked and loaded for assault. You are green to go.] the Colonel confirmed.

[Watcher to 3-1, how copy…] a woman's voice interjected.

"Section team Laswell, send traffic." Answered the man in a much brighter voice.

[Don't forget to target the rebel leaders...] she reminded him.

As the squad leader conversed with high command, the helicopter stopped moving, and a door opened to its side, which showed a group of six soldiers in it waiting for something.

"I have fought literal demons from hell. A group of rebels won't scare us," The man in the helicopter said, as he hooked a rope and kicked in it to make it fall.

[Understood. Just locate the rebel leaders and get off the X before the tide turns,] the woman responded.

Behind the man named Riley, the soldiers went to the rope and descended, Riley followed as he approached the rope.

"Copy, Watcher, we'll handle it," he said, gripping the rope and sliding down.

[Charlie two actual, this is Hammer 2-1. Hitman chalks on deck. We're RTB,] crackled a voice over the comms.

Riley pulled out his rifle and gave the order, "Let's move."

[All Hitman teams, push to your set point,] came another directive.

"Roger, on the move," one of his comrades responded.

"We need to keep this on a tight loop. High command said that the rebel leader is on the move tonight," Riley cautioned.

"Hey, what are the odds we run into the rebel leader?" an agent asked.

"He wouldn't be caught dead out here," another commented.

"Psst. Heads up." one of the squad members made a sign for everyone to stop.

Two people showed up before the walking squad, speaking in Indonesian.

"Lewat sini, di atas sini!" ("This way, up here!")

"Aku mendengarnya, dari balik punggung bukit!" ("I heard it, over the ridge!")

"Shit, they heard us," muttered a squad member.

"Hei, aku mendengar sesuatu... (Hey, I hear it again...)"

"Siapa disana?!" ("Who's there?!")

"Ayo maju, tunjukkan dirimu!" ("Come forward, show yourself!")

As the figures approached, Riley took his weapon to his eye, peering through the scope and creating a zooming effect to get a clearer view of the men.

Eyeing the two of them, Riley quickly pressed the trigger, throwing two rounds right in the head of the approaching figures, who dropped lifelessly to the ground.

"Post up on the ridge and let's get the lay of the land," Riley ordered.

All the squad moved up to the ridge before them, showing off an entire facility with lights everywhere, making white dots on all the buildings clouded at night.

"Echo 3-1 to Blue Viking 5, call for fire. Stand by for target confirmation," called Riley.

[Copy 3-1. Viking standing by,] came the response.

Riley pulled out a binocular from his pocket. The scope started to glow green, showing perfectly what was up ahead of him in the night.

"Judging by the amount of lights on several buildings over there, they might be important, especially that one ahead, it appeared to be a factory," Riley marked.

"They probably use it for weapon production," answered the squadmate in a worried tone.

"Let's recon the area, make sure there's no rebel army nearby down here," suggested a squad member.

Riley moved to the left side of the city to observe.

"One in the tower. Left side high, no arm. Patrol vehicles. Contractors."

"Security, good targets," the squadmate approved.

"There are also guarded weapons over there," an agent pointed out to a covered up and tightly guarded weapon.

"Judging by its size, it might be a weapon against infantry," another remarked.

"I doubt that," Riley sighed as he put his eyes off the binoculars and pressed the comms on his ear. "Blue Viking 6, this is Echo 3-1. Troops in the open, south gate. Confirmed to be rebels, you are cleared hot."

[Roger 3-1. Target acquired. Weapons free ETA for 5 minutes,] came the reply.

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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, In an Military Airfield

YNA 1, Wednesday, 1st Week, Month Of Noah

At a nearby military airfield, a pilot and his co-pilot were preparing a bomber plane for takeoff. After buckling into his seat, the pilot began flipping switches and running through the usual pre-flight checklist.

"Batteries okay, checking brakes and hydraulics," the pilot said.

"Check!" replied the co-pilot.

"Fuel tanks? Tanks one, two, three, and four?"

"Check! All good!"

"Okay, signal to start number one!" the pilot ordered.

The co-pilot leaned out of the side of the cockpit and gestured to the ground crew that they were starting the number one engine. The pilot pushed down on the starter switch for the number one engine and held it down for about fifteen seconds, while setting the hand primer with his other hand and gave it a few good pumps to get the air out of the primer lines.

Once he was done, the co-pilot unlocked the fuel mixture controls while the pilot pressed down on the mesh switch. The co-pilot immediately pulled the engine one fuel mixture lever all the way back to full rich mixture when the engine coughed and roared to life.

The pilot checked the oil pressure gauge that slowly rose up and hovered around the 70 mark before testing the RPM of the engine by adjusting the throttles to one thousand.

Once satisfied, he nodded, "Signal the guys we are starting Number Two!" he instructed.

The whole process was repeated for the second engine, and soon the bomber was ready to take off.

"Omega Tower, this is Blue Viking One, request taxi instructions for flight over," the pilot radioed.

[Blue Viking One, you are cleared for runway zero one to the southwest, over,] Omega Tower responded.

"Blue Viking One, Roger, requesting wind information." the pilot continued asking.

"Omega Tower, wind at North north East, speed, fifteen klicks, over."

"Blue Viking One, Roger, out!" The pilot ended the radio comms and said to his co-pilot. "Let's go!"

His co-pilot gestured to the ground crew and they rushed over to remove the wheel chocks and other equipment before giving the pilots the all-clear signal. The pilot returned the salute of the crew ground as he taxied the plane to the runway.

One by one, the bomber planes eased out of the hangars behind them and lined up for their turn on the runway.

"Alright! Let's go!"

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The Elite Task Force of the Imperial Secret Police had gathered at the rendezvous point near the gate leading into the city. They hide among the shadows of the forest, while waiting nervously for the planes to arrive to kick-start the whole operation. The members constantly checked their watches and fidgeted around with anticipation hanging in the air.

Riley glanced at his watch, seeing the seconds counted down away to 2300 hours. He peered up at the dark skies, waiting for the signal that would initiate the mission.

"Any time now boys."

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The bomber planes had been stripped of all onboard weapons and unnecessary crew, leaving only the pilot, co-pilot, and a navigator-radio operator.

The extra weight removed allowed it to carry more ordinance and fuel for the trip to the city and back as the travel time was roughly five minutes to the target and another five minutes back.

Hardpoints on the wings carried extra fuel tanks to give the planes more flight time and internally, they carried a mixture of napalm canisters and 250 kg high-explosive cast-iron bombs.

Each of the three bombers held six napalm canisters and twelve 250 kg bombs internally and each was assigned to a specific target that they had all been briefed and tasked on before beginning the mission.

The pilots all wore night vision goggles inside the cockpit and they easily saw the glow of the city as they approached from an altitude of 1,200 meters above ground level. The planes slowly dropped their attitude till they reached roughly 500 meters above ground level and the bomb bay doors cranked open, ready to unleash their deadly payload.

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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, Tanjung Redeb, In The Outskirts of Tanjung Redeb.

YNA 1, Wednesday, 1st Week, Month Of Noah

"What is that?" Riley suddenly jerked up as sirens started blaring in the city. "Did they find us?"

"No..." his squad mate said as he peeked out of their hiding spot. "I... I think they spotted the bombers!"

Riley frowned. "Damn it!"

They could see dozens and dozens of rebel soldiers rushing out from the barracks and other dwellings as they ran to manned their defensive posts. Flares shot into the sky, casting a harsh, flickering light over the city.

The siren grew in intensity as more of the city became alert. In the illumination of the flares, Riley finally saw what had made him feel uneasy about all this time.

The covered up and tightly guarded weapons turned out to be some sort of anti-aircraft guns!

A rebel soldier climbed into the seat and pulled the gun mounts to rest against his shoulders. Two long, thick barrels pointed skyward as other rebels loaded thick boxes of shells into the gravity-fed bolt mechanism of the AA guns.

"Oh shit," one soldier of the Hitman team cursed as they stood up from their hiding spot and stared at the closest AA gun on the roof of a building. The gun roared and spat bolts of yellowish beams towards the sky at some unseen target which the men knew must be their bombers!

"We need to take out those AA guns!" Riley shouted urgently. "Move out and engage!"

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One of the pilots frowned when suddenly he noticed his night vision appeared to be glowing brighter and brighter as he approached the city. He pulled his goggles up and cursed as he saw the city had flares over them and suddenly, what seemed to be streaks of light flickered towards his plane.

"Shit! We are under fire!" his co-pilot screamed as a couple of holes appeared in the hull next to him. "They've got anti-air guns!"

"Blue Viking Six to Omega Point! We are under AA fire! Repeat under heavy AA fire!" the pilot yelled into the radio as he pulled the bomber up. "FUCK!"

"We are in the bombing range!" his co-pilot yelled as he poked his eye on the bombsight, seeing the infra beacons blinking away on the ground beneath him. "What do we do?"

"Fuck!" the pilot cursed as the AA fire knocked him off course, "We line up again and complete the damn mission!" he barked, gritting his teeth and maneuvering the bomber back into position.

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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, Tanjung Redeb

YNA 1, Wednesday, 1st Week, Month Of Noah

"Give me more 20mm shells, you buffoons! Now!!"

A rebel soldier sat on the pedal seat of the anti-air gun and yelled at the rest of his crew who handled large metal blocks each containing 20 shells of 20mm ammunition to hurry up.

The support crew shoved the ammo stacks upside down into the feeding well of the dual cannons, and the rebel manning the weapon pulled the bolts back to load both cannons, aligning a crude wire sight made from two 'O's, and he stepped on the pedals to rotate the turret with the squeak of poorly oiled gears.

Resting the 'C'-shaped gun butts over his shoulders, he swung the guns upwards into the night sky that were illuminated by dozens of flares.

Suddenly one of his support crew yelled and pointed to the sky. A pale 't' shape could be roughly seen against the pitch black of the night as the aircraft had its belly lit up by the flares.

Distant roars of the other AA guns could be heard as they too, targeted the aircraft. Flicks of glowing darts of tracer fire arced into the night skies, chasing after it.

The rebel swung his guns towards the fast approaching aircraft as the night sky appeared to glow with hundreds of flares. With his arms stretched out under the 20mm cannons, he squeezed the trigger on the pistol grips and the whole gun roared deafening with the recoil hammered painfully against his shoulder.

"Take these Imperialists down!" the rebel roared as he held down the trigger, watching the huge muzzle flash spitting out from the cannon muzzles.

Just a short several seconds later, the bolts of the cannons locked back as the magazines ran dry and the support crew snatched away the emptied magazines and replaced them with fresh mags, allowing the rebel to continue blasting away into the night sky.

"Yeah! Get so-"

Bang!

Before the rebel could react, a bullet struck his head, sending him flying out of the AA gun and slammed into the ground along with the lifeless bodies of the support crew.

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Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, East Kalimantan, Tanjung Redeb, In The Skies Above Tanjung Redeb.

YNA 1, Wednesday, 1st Week, Month Of Noah

"Break! Break! Break!" the pilot on one of the planes yelled into the squadron comms, "Break up and reform up for bombing run! It's going to be a hot run!"

The three bombers split their formation and broke away from each other as fiery bolts of tracers chased them. The tracers appeared to move so slowly from the ground before flickering past the bombers, which had climbed to higher altitudes.

"Shit, we can't do a low-level bombing run!" the pilot cursed as he left the dangerous airspace filled with flying lead. "Our accuracy will drop by a lot!"

"Just get me over the target, and I will do the rest!" his co-pilot bomber yelled. "You worry about keeping us afloat, I'll worry about the bombs!"

The three bombers, surprised by the presence of AA guns, had managed to escape the AA net over the city with a few torn holes in their fuselage.

This time, the bombers knew what the enemy had in store for them and they rose to an altitude of 750 meters above ground level before heading back into the fray.

With his eyes glued to the bomb-aiming device, the co-pilot of one of the bombing planes mentally calculated the distance and height and gauged the proper timing to release the bombs from experience gained from bombing the demons back in the New Year Tragedy.

He saw the pulsing glow of the beacon appearing on the bomb sights among all the flickers of tracers and flares. He adjusted the targeting crosshairs and said.

"Keep the plane level and speed constant! Bombing run lock in!"

"Got it!" the pilot replied as he calmed his nerves and kept the plane as level as possible while keeping his airspeed constant. He tried to avoid watching the glows of the tracers darting up towards his plane, knowing behind those tracers were more bullets following behind that were invisible to the eye.

The plane shook slightly as a few shells punched holes through the left wing, but the structure held.

"Shit!" the pilot cursed as he fought the controls to keep the plane stable. "Anytime now!"

"DROP! DROP! DROP!" his co-pilot suddenly yelled and flicked the bomb release switches.

Almost instantly, a rolling crank could be felt throughout the bomber as the bombs in the back dropped off in series. The bomber suddenly lightened, rising up as the pilot quickly applied power to the throttles and pulled the plane controls up, bringing them out of the danger zone.

His co-pilot pressed his face against the side windows and waited for the fiery mushrooms to appear in the city.

"Think we hit what we were supposed to hit?"

"Who knows?" the pilot growled. "Let the Imperial Secret Police sort them out. We delivered the package, and it's time to run! We’ve got our own problems to worry about."

He rapped the fuel pressure gauge of the left wing and said, "Those rebel bastards have damaged our fuel lines. Pray that we can make it home in one piece!"

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The MK II low drag general purpose bomb spun slowly on its axis as it left the bomb racks. It has a nominal weight of 250 kg but its actual weight with the fuse was closer to 257 kg. It arced beautifully with the rest of its brothers and sisters towards the ground, and just before it touched the ground, its extended-nose fuze slammed the fire runes together as it touched the ground first and ignited the 122kg of high explosive filling moments before the bomb touched the ground.

Instantly the building which the bomb impacted against vapourised from the blast for the sudden explosion. The concrete, wood and stone disintegrated, barely able to withstand even a split second of the force of the explosion.

Barely seconds later, the rest of the eleven Mk II GP bombs rained down in a vertical spread barely two hundred meters apart and everything in their path was turned to fire and ash instantly.

The six napalm canisters spun wildly as they descended, their high-drag design causing them to wobble from the shockwaves of the exploding Mk II bombs before hitting the ground seconds after the initial explosions faded.

The thin-cased canisters smashed apart and spewed a thick reddish liquid across the area before a fire rune ignited and set the whole mixture into flames, transforming the surrounding terrain into an inferno.

This catastrophic sequence repeated itself over two other locations, turning the city into a sea of fire.