The Salvation War: Pantheocide. Part Eighty One Up

[Arachnidus]

I always figured him and Satan to be from a different species of humanoid, one even bigger and more personally powerful than the winged humanoids/angels/devils. "Titans", perhaps, as opposed to "Humans" and "Angels/Devils"?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that, because the environments the species developed in were not entirely the same, they may have evolved entirely different to the point where the laws of biology may not totally apply in all areas. Bubble Worlds are non euclidean, what's not to say that the biology isn't also completely outside our laws of conventionality?

[LadyTevar]

Now that I think of it... For once that poor Tank Brigade is NOT the "first In". British SAS now have full bragging rights to say "WE GOT THERE FIRST".

[Night_stalker]

Normally, I would question HOW we managed to get people into the Eternal City. Then I remembered the infiltraitors are the SAS. They do that sort of mission for fun!

[LadyTevar]

Normally, I would question HOW we managed to get people into the Eternal City. Then I remembered the infiltraitors are the SAS. They do that sort of mission for fun!

Sometimes, you just gotta live up to the Reputation.

[Mr Bean]

By the way, I did some maths. So far, the TSW stories have had a total of more than 1.6 million reads.

210,625 on this thread
114,912 on the 1-76 chapter full story thread
222,000 on the old thread
So five hundred thousand and change. Over half a million where does the other million come from?

[Stuart]

By the way, I did some maths. So far, the TSW stories have had a total of more than 1.6 million reads.

210,625 on this thread
114,912 on the 1-76 chapter full story thread
222,000 on the old thread
So five hundred thousand and change. Over half a million where does the other million come from?

The Armageddon threads including the consolidated thread.

[Arachnidus]

Normally, I would question HOW we managed to get people into the Eternal City. Then I remembered the infiltraitors are the SAS. They do that sort of mission for fun!

Send an SAS squad to the gates of the city, give them a shovel and six hours and you'll have nice, fortified tunnel, complete with a refrigerator, electricity and a plasma screen TV that gets cable. Oh, and a burning city.

(if this were Call of Duty, the consequences would be far more drastic, likely equivalent to a Michael Bay film)

[MrCIA]

Normally, I would question HOW we managed to get people into the Eternal City. Then I remembered the infiltraitors are the SAS. They do that sort of mission for fun!

Sometimes, you just gotta live up to the Reputation.

Leaving notes on the queens bed table does tend to give you something of a reputation.

[Edward Yee]

I think this is absolutely true. Nuking the Incomparible Legion of Light was really sick making stuff for him, particularly since he's no doubt been made aware of what the radiation induced cancer does to second lifers. I think he's going to resist using more nuclear weapons on second lifers unless he has absolutely no other choice on the matter. That's why he's going to take Michael's surrender.

Not to mention that the "200 million" is angels only, not any Second-Lifers inside or outside of the city walls.

Remember the previously-reported slums, and the previous experience with Benedict -- which Petraeus is probably aware of thanks to the unit in contact being Spearhead Battalion. If we extrapolate that to be at least a majority norm as to Second-Life sentiment, perhaps even among the "urban" Second-Lifers (less happy with their situation but more in contact with the angels), then we're talking values dissonance en masse, but not (yet) people who'd actually want to make trouble for us and seem willing to at least peaceably coexist with the First-Lifers -- "Stockholm syndrome" (not really), but NOT the enemy.

Not sure what the timescale is here, since Stuart stopped attaching dates to the chapters? But yeah, for those not completely caught up story-wise: in a very short time frame Petraeus has just been responsible for at least a "mere" quarter-million deaths, somewhere between that and half a million, easily out-killing several wars' combined casualties and Hiroshima/Nagasaki in one initiation, and he already had to take a few hours' off. Now imagine if the only choice he had left was to specifically order the deaths of more beings than much of the 20th century's wars, BOTH World Wars combined.

Unholy shit I would not want to be near him if he ever made the call to do the latter....

Which is strange, as at times that's actually what I wanted him to be forced into doing in this story just to see what would happen next.

(if this were Call of Duty, the consequences would be far more drastic, likely equivalent to a Michael Bay film)

If this were Call of Duty, they'd have to be watching their backs due to Petraeus being an American...

[Werrf]

Thus, the British Readers should rejoice. Their Military Ops are (UnOfficially) the First Living Humans inside the Eternal City.

Hey, I was rejoicing when Vulcan and TSR-2 took to the skies again. Everything after that is just gravy

Having said that, I hope we'll get to see the Vulcans in action...I love those plans, be a shame to just retire them again...

[fnord]

I wonder where the SBS boys are? Happy to let the SAS hog the limelight and incoming enemy fire?

[Edward Yee]

Possibly the limelight, but what incoming fire? They're fucking ninjas, mang.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're being held in reserve though in case of the potential for the lake coming into play, or as a ready reserve in the case of unexpected hiccups for the Regiment.

*Then facepalms at realizing that JSOC might have been behind on what I'm now calling "the New SOF Olympics" because the American powers that be didn't think this far, unlike the other HEA component countries*

[Arachnidus]

Possibly the limelight, but what incoming fire? They're fucking ninjas, mang.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're being held in reserve though in case of the potential for the lake coming into play, or as a ready reserve in the case of unexpected hiccups for the Regiment.

*Then facepalms at realizing that JSOC might have been behind on what I'm now calling "the New SOF Olympics" because the American powers that be didn't think this far, unlike the other HEA component countries*

More than likely. Enterprise would be the main lead into the lake, but seeing as the HEA is a joint venture(durr), no doubt the SBS and other world naval powers would pick up the slack behind it. Besides, isn't the "lake" kinda massive?

[Night_stalker]

Nah, the SBS might be hitching a ride in on the BB-63, better known as the USS Missouri. Plus, who says the Angels have a navy anyway?

[Nematocyst]

Uriel, do we know for certain that he was biologically an Angel?

He can't be anything but. Yahweh didn't have wings.

[EdBecerra]

People need to remember the scale of the W54. At the most, you're going to get a city block with it's max setting of 22 tons of explosive power. So your target needs to be specific, close and unmoving.

Unless you pack cobalt around it. Yay for Cobalt-60!

Ed.

[EdBecerra]

"I can honestly say that Her Majesty's Armed Forces have no covert operations groups stationed outside The Eternal City." Sir Michael Jackson sounded positively righteous.

I wanna know how the SAS got inside. That story would be badass in and of itself.

At least Michael is thinking. A grand council of angels as a ruler, with Michael the 'first of equals'?

Damn, I completely missed that! They're INSIDE already?!

GO, SAS!

Damn, Mike's good at the technicalities...

Ed.

[Arachnidus]

Nah, the SBS might be hitching a ride in on the BB-63, better known as the USS Missouri. Plus, who says the Angels have a navy anyway?

Odds are, they don't, they never needed one, but remember the whole bit where the lake is unimaginably deep? Indigenous lifeforms could be a problem, not to mention that it's essentially a sea. Besides, nothing's more imposing than a massive naval force. If the angels think tanks are impressive, wait until they see a full fledged aircraft carrier.

[Akalabeth]

I'd estimate about 2,000 (loyal) readers from that. Consider that those numbers increment each time anyone returns to the thread. That makes the discussion ones too inaccurate to say for sure, since each new discussion thread means several people return to see that post. Guessing, I'd say each reader returns twice per page seems fair on average.

150 pages * 2 = 300 views, per user. 210,000 / 300 = 700 users in this thread.

For the completed story thread, each user would return about once per chapter. 115,000 views / 76 chapters = 1500 readers there.

Add it together and round off to get 2,000, give or take several hundred. That's pretty impressive - a very large fraction of the board population.

I read all of Armageddon after it had already been written, although I didn't discover the cleaned-up thread until around chapter 60, but if someone started late and started with the cleaned-up thread they could account for a very small number of views. No way to really know those numbers, but my gut says the total would be a little higher.

[Negativedark]

Well I've been reading this for a while, and I guess it's time I got in on the fun of disscusion.
Micky-Lan surprised me with his wanting a group leadership. Of course this might help him look good to the earth goverments. But I wonder if we might insist on him putting Lemanual-Lan in. Sorta to keep an eye on him.
Infiltration probably wasn't that hard for the SAS. A city that size is going to have some chinks in the walls, and they weren't exactly trying to drive a tank division in. Wonder how far in they've gotten at this point, and if they've found out about Yah-Yah's demise yet.
I kinda wish that Micheal hadn't dumped Yah-Yah's corpse in the lake. It would have been ironic, and honestly a very clevear form of disrespect if he had handed "God's" corpse over to the scientific community for study.
So if other Pantheon's show up... Can Thor get royalties from his comics and upcoming movie?

[Edward Yee]

LOL at JSOC being so secretive that unlike the SAS, Stuart won't even allude to them. Though, that's not meant to take away from what the Regiment just pulled off, well done.

Although, considering that Jackson made no allusion to the SAS in particular out of "covert operations groups"... who's to say it wasn't actually the SBS, SFSG or even the SRR? Dun dun DUUUUUUN!

I wonder what'd happen if the Enterprise portaled in while Yahweh's corpse was being disposed of?

[nobody_really]

Thank you for the update, Stuart. It was a bit earlier than I expected, and am glad that it's here. I especially like the description of the details of the Eternal City's layout. And the following passages especially struck me:

"Two kilometers wide and dead straight.

I'm not sure what this really means in the Klein bottle non-Euclidean space that is Heaven. Oh, well. It's probably just a useful generalization as to what is going on.

We think there's around 200 million angels living in the City itself."

In an area that's comparable to the United States west of the Mississippi River. And the land is supposedly all usuable, so it sounds like they aren't bunched up too much.

We have to advance through 650 kilometers of urbanized terrain before getting there.

Hmm. Comparable to the distance between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Anywhere from a 6-10 hour drive depending on conditions and stops.

"I can honestly say that Her Majesty's Armed Forces have no covert operations groups stationed outside The Eternal City." Sir Michael Jackson sounded positively righteous. Asanee's head snapped around to look at him and one of her eyebrows was raised.

Why did you have to open your mouth, Jackson? Putting all those words together just means that some of those words are absolutely necessary for telling the truth.

Petraeus smiled. "I see the SAS are living up to their reputations then. I suppose it was to be expected. A coalition this big doesn't exist without this kind of thing going on. Just make sure that these groups don’t start stepping on each others' feet. Asanee, Michael, I don’t care how you do it but set up some sort of system so we don’t get mutual interference between these groups.

See? Petraeus saw right though your legalese. Are you still pissed off that you don't control your own corp? Get over it, already.

By the way, somebody better talk to our friend Gaius Julius about that as well. He's hired enough deceased special forces people to have something going. And he's not the kind of leader who'll miss a trick."

Wasn't Stirling one of those? And yes, the First Counsul is a "friend" about as much as Michael is to Lemuel about now.

In a part of his mind that was not involved in this battle, Michael still wondered at that. They could have stayed clear and had a chance of survival if things had gone badly. But they had given it up to stand beside him. That thought gave him much to think about but one thing stirred uneasily in his mind. I don’t deserve friends like these.

No kidding, you rat bastard. And when one of your friends decides to have a "chat" with you about Maion and the drugs, you're going to learn just how much you don't deserve those friends.

"There is much to be done if we are to survive. First, we must clear this place up." He looked down at the body on the floor. "Somebody throw that in the lake. Where's the Master Mason? Zacharael-Lan, take that throne down, break it up, chop it up, whatever. I don't care. Just get rid of it and throw the bits in the lake as well. Use them to weigh Yahweh's body down.

Awww, crud, I was hoping to have that dictator's head on a stick, make him a Goddamn tourist attraction like Uriel.

"We'll hold the meetings up there and they will be free for all to watch."

So, like Gaius Julius you want C-SPAN? I don't know how long that is going to last.

"Of course we do. We make peace with the humans as fast as we can, before they start shooting. Remember what they did to the Incomparable Legion Of Light? They blew it up, so decisively that the smoke from its destruction darkens our skies and chills our air. They did that with one of their bombs and that one far from their most powerful.

I guess Michael doesn't know exactly how powerful our nukes are. I have the impression, from an uninformed citizen's point of view, that 1.2 megatons is way on the far side of the median size nuclear device we have. That impression could certainly be wrong, and I'll accept anyone's facts who is more knowledgable than I.

"What of us?" The soft, sibilant voice from the leader of the choir grabbed at Michael's attention. "What do we do?"

Uh oh.

"Anything you like." He looked at the members of the choir with sympathy. They were the last survivors of their kind, an ancient race that had been first seduced and then enslaved by Yahweh. When he had tired of them and found others to take their place, they had been cast down. Some might survive in the very depths of Hell. If so, the humans would find them and look after them.

"We know of nothing to do. Except to sing praises."

Michael-Lan shook his head. "Don't worry. We'll find an honorable place for you."

Almost certainly far easier said than done. Especially if The Eternal City is going to be under a fractious military occupation. Even if Michaels plan works as well as he could imagine, the aftermath is going to be pretty bad. He is close to being directly involved causing hundreds of thousands of premature human first-life deaths and destroying significant amounts of Earth's ecosystem. That means he isn't going to simply start being Mr. President without some significant questions needing to be answered, and probably some pounds of flesh being extracted.

Then, a thought occurred to him. "Charmeine-Lan, go to the Montmartre and tell the guys there that they can stop playing now. Thank them from me for everything they've done. We've won. All of us."

I suppose that depends on how you define "all of us." Angelic society won't survive this little brouhaha.

So, again, thank you for the update.

[Night_stalker]

LOL at JSOC being so secretive that unlike the SAS, Stuart won't even allude to them. Though, that's not meant to take away from what the Regiment just pulled off, well done.

Although, considering that Jackson made no allusion to the SAS in particular out of "covert operations groups"... who's to say it wasn't actually the SBS, SFSG or even the SRR? Dun dun DUUUUUUN!

I wonder what'd happen if the Enterprise portaled in while Yahweh's corpse was being disposed of?

Well, it means the yard dogs will have some really nasty stains to remove. Good point on the various British Special Forces. It just seems the most likely unit to send is the SAS.

[Pelranius]

Uriel, do we know for certain that he was biologically an Angel?

He can't be anything but. Yahweh didn't have wings.

Just because Yahweh doesn't have wings (or working ones) doesn't mean that others of his species can't have wings themselves. The Leviathans don't have wings (at least not ones capable of flight) but they still count as Demons.

Incidentally Stuart, how many copies of TBO have been sold? I sent one to my honors adviser.

[westrim]

Dear god, man.

It's generally best not to be opinionated and an idiot. A couple tips:
1. Sir Jackson wanted them to know; he just didn't want to tell them.
2. Julius is very much their ally, but they're wary because he's an ambitious ally. In what way is that comparable to Lemuel/Michael?
3. I get that people hate Michael for crossing some moral lines, but do they honestly expect him to just die? Lemuel may well confront him, but short of Michael letting himself be killed or Lemuel sneak attacking, he's just too powerful with assistants who are too loyal and knowledgeable.
4. Abigor was part of a power structure that tortured and ate humans, yet he was accepted; why would Micheal be different? He was still a soldier carrying out orders when the bowls were poured, and most if not all were directed at legitimate targets. He's the humans best hope of not having to commit a slaughter.

I could say more, but unlike you I can KIS.