Salvation war pdf

Mankind doesn't accept this and ends up at war with the forces of hell. This was originally written as a series of blog posts, and whilst I'm sure Stuart Slade proofread his own work, that is usually not that successful, so there The basic premise of this story - no spoiler, this actually happens just before the story begins - is that God is sick of mankind not obeying him and not worshipping him, so he declares heaven closed to mankind, says everyone is going to hell, and leaves Satan in charge.

This was originally written as a series of blog posts, and whilst I'm sure Stuart Slade proofread his own work, that is usually not that successful, so there are a fair number of spelling and grammatical errors. It's also very long, a bit over , words.

It's an interesting premise, and generally a fun read, but he is a military journalist, so he does tend to get a little over-enthusiastic on the minutiae of the weaponry.

This has convinced me to track down his published alternate history series and check it out at some stage. Nov 28, Raykoda1. Pretty damn good, although I am giving a looot of slack since it is unpublished, not formally edited, and given for free on the internet. If I bought it at a proper bookstore I might have ripped it apart for its sometimes clunky prose and typos, and by might I mean definitely. In this particular case I can't get too mad. I would still be pretty affectionate in my review since this is a incredibly likable "book", quotes used lovingly.

It has such a catchy and interesting concept, that it can't h Pretty damn good, although I am giving a looot of slack since it is unpublished, not formally edited, and given for free on the internet.

It has such a catchy and interesting concept, that it can't help but be captivating, and does remarkably well in not turning it into a cheap gimmick. Just a shame about the fate of the third book, though. Dec 05, Benjamin rated it liked it. I found the premise and thr setting very interesting, however one can notice the divergence of the writing style between the different contributors, as well as the extreme weapon obsession.

For less military savvy readers, it can get quite overwhelming to be faced with such a huge amount of differemt weapons and useless information about gun cartridges.

It was decent tho, and the few typos were tolerable. However I am not looking forward to reading the second book of the series. Jan 11, Anton Hammarstedt rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction-sci-fi , fiction-fantasy , fiction-rationalist. Setting presentation, design and originality how cool is the setting? Did events follow from motivations? Jul 02, Andy rated it really liked it.

An interesting premise that I have not encountered before. I like that he avoided the temptation to load it up with historical figures and for the most part it was a very enjoyable read.

May 04, Facedeer rated it liked it. MilSF crossed with Christian eschatology, but in a good way. The author of this series knows quite a bit about modern military hardware, perhaps going a bit overboard at times describing it, but that's really part of the fun here; you get to read lots of lavishly described battle scenes between the might modern-day Earth can field versus a bunch of demons that last fought bronze-age rabble and are going into battle expecting us to be impressed by lightning bolts and pitch forks.

It's not all cur MilSF crossed with Christian eschatology, but in a good way. It's not all curb-stomp battles, though, as the forces of Hell have a bunch of other tricks up their sleeves that makes things not quite so certain for the good guys.

While I liked the story overall, it could really use a thorough going-over by an editor or two. That would tidy up a lot of the little typos and technical glitches as well as trimming some of the excessive verbosity, and perhaps tightening things up overall. But as long as you go into this story willing to forgive a little lack of polish it doesn't get in the way too badly. The biggest obstacle to enjoying this book might be simply getting ahold of a proper ebook version. Lady I know said he is the sort of man every girl wants to bring home to meet her parents—and the sort of man every woman hopes will be around to escort her across a parking lot late at night.

Links looked up, the terrific noise of the firefight was joined by something else, a rhythmic throbbing that shook dust from the ceiling and caused the shelves on the wall to bounce. Over his head, the sky suddenly turned black and red as a hail of unguided rockets passed overhead to slam into the buildings opposite.

Idly, he [Commander Martin Winters] wondered what the Russians were recovering from Monino and whether the Chinese would let the Americans have their U-2 back. Then it struck him that this showed just how seriously humans were taking this war.

They were prepared to destroy their past, their history, their background, everything that they normally held dear if by doing so they could get one more combat aircraft, one more ship, one more tank into the battle zone.

They were fighting this war regardless of cost, regardless of effort. All that mattered to them was winning. Suddenly he felt quite sorry for Yahweh and Satan whose posturing had unleashed this fury upon them. By the way, it won't work in Real Life : museum warplanes have part of the engines dissasembled and no fluids in their systems for decades.

Unless people find a magical way to get all out of production for decades consumables ready to repair the plane nut and bolt, it won't even start. And even if all consumables were brought on the spot, it's still quicker and cheaper to build one more of the planes still in military service. Belial: There can be no denying this. We thought we were going to earth to exterminate the humans, but in truth exactly the opposite is happening. They have come here to destroy us utterly, to slaughter every demon in hell, and so far our armies have been as helpless against theirs as theirs once were against us.

The people on Earth had been cheering their armies on, and still were in some senses, but the film of the battlefields in Hell had stunned them. Especially the scenes along the Phlegethon River with the piles of mangled Baldrick corpses that went on for square mile after square mile.

For perhaps the first time, they realized the incredible disparity of firepower that had existed between the human armies and the Baldricks. The sight of the dead where the Baldricks had tried to fight tanks with bronze tridents had changed opinions in a subtle but very marked way. Humans now pitied the Baldricks who had stood so little chance and had died not even understanding what it was that was killing them.

It was rumored that change in attitude was also causing trouble in Hell, with the refugees from the pit unable to understand why the newly-dead from Earth should be sickened by the slaughter they'd inflicted. Benedict: We have much to be thankful for. We live in comfortable homes that are ours to keep. No soldiers come to burn them down in the night. We have our fields to tend and our crops to grow and they do not get trampled down or stolen.

We have clothes to wear, all we need to eat and much more besides. We live our days in peace. Truly, is this not the Paradise we were promised? Pantheocide: The pre-planned, organized and systematic extermination of gods. Tropes E—F. Early Installment Weirdness : Quite abundant with the way it was written. For example, early on, a demon calls razor wire "silver snakes" the way they are pictured later on, he would have recognized it as iron immediately , and dead people must learn foreign languages instead of knowing them automatically.

Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion : Even with the sheer numbers and special abilities on the demonic side, human weaponry and industry is just too much for them to overcome. Somewhat averted in the case of Heaven, who while they never invade are more capable than the forces of hell. Easy Logistics : Averted.

Every step of the way humanity must make sure that its industrial capacity is strong enough to supply the war effort - and indeed it has a lot of trouble doing so in the beginning, resulting in breaking out the museum pieces and many characters constantly worrying about fuel and ammunition supply.

As well, keeping the supply lines running is of paramount importance: the first thing humans do after securing a beachhead in Hell is to build a massive road through the portal , so the forces can be well supplied.

Elaborate Underground Base : Palelabor definitely counts, and according to the author is a reference to one of Stardestroyer. Yamantau in Russia, where a council of states behind the Human Expeditionary Army is essentially running the world with regards to the war against Heaven.

Several of them though had merely been "lucky" enough to have had demonic heralds proceed towards their capitals, hence the opportunity to gain early prestige by blowing said heralds away. Eldritch Abomination : Whatever is on the other side of the Minos Gate exists in a reality where the physical laws are so different that humans cannot interact with them, and vice versa. In contrast, the demons are doomed by this not applying enough for them with regards to humans. Additionally, the capital city of said abominations is not named R'lyeh.

Enemy Mine : Most of the nations on Earth barring a few exceptions have mostly set aside previous concerns and have united against the common enemies of Hell and Heaven.

The few that don't eventually come to regret it. Myanmar gets curbstomped after trying to exploit the global crisis to invade Thailand. North Korea considers invading South Korea, but realizes they have more to gain by joining the human alliance rather than fighting it. They're still dicks about it, though. Iraqi insurgents and even Al-Qaeda help American troops fight the demons in the Iraqi desert.

Major Warhol: discussing former Iraqi insurgents That many of you will be uncomfortable working with him and his men, but the fact remains that the Iraqi insurgents have had quite a lot of experience in running insurgencies recently and their people fought alongside ours in Hit.

We're allies now. Irish Civilian: Still, its good to see true fighting Irishmen all on the same side at last. Stevenson: And what happened to Elhmas note the angel that possessed Jesus? Michael: Most everybody thinks you killed him. Oh, not you personally, you humans. He was in command of the Incomparable Legion of Light when it was nuked. The Host is certain that he died there. Petraeus: Sit down Robert. What made you come to this conclusion? Robert E. Lee : Sir, for a week, I have been attempting to understand how your army works.

With the aid of a very skilled and patient tutor. Sir, I regret to say I have failed completely. I am not fit to command and I must recognize that as a fact. One day, perhaps, but not now. Tropes H—P. Healing Factor : Both demons and angels show a limited ability to heal and survive from very serious wounds, up to the point that they can barely regrow missing body parts. Memnon's wings didn't grow back properly until the shrapnel in them was removed, and Michael and Uriel had to undergo surgery to remove the bullets and missile fragments they were riddled with.

Heroic BSoD : President George W Bush has been going through one since The Message, which had completely tore apart the faith that had kept him going for most of his political career. GEN Petraeus ends up having to take a break for several hours, leaving General Sir Michael Jackson in temporary command after ordering the nuking of almost , angels and Second-Life humans , despite commanding US forces during the battles in Iraq early in Armageddon??? Heroic Sacrifice : Hamas agents join the fight against the demons at the Battle of Hit, by using suicide bombers.

Philip Phelan, a security guard at the New Market Mall holds back a demon to give some high school kids a chance to escape. One of the most awesome ones is Al Bundy tackling a demon. The former member of Hamas who drove a truck bomb into the foot tall monster ridden by the Whore of Babylon, slowing them both down considerably.

When he wakes up in Hell, it's half-jokingly remarked that there's a fair few virgins willing to give him a very pleasant welcome. The entire city of Tel Aviv being sacrificed by the Israeli prime minister - who was in it - so that the human alliance won't suffer a serious fracture, following the Tekuma unleashing her nuclear missiles thanks to Azrael's manipulations.

For further context, the Israeli interceptors could get all but one of them, and the rest were targeted at Arab capitals. Hollow World : Both Heaven and Hell are hollow worlds, where the inhabitants live on the inside of the planet.

This was inspired by the common usage that people live "on Earth" and "in Heaven" or "in Hell" together with classical "Golden Age" science fiction that featured hollow worlds. However, the trope is subverted since Heaven and Hell are not so much hollow as complex multi-dimensional shapes like klein bottles that have an inner surface but no outer surface.

Digging down from Hell doesn't lead to an infinity of rock, it merely brings the digger out somewhere else in Hell. However, God eventually defeated these various races of "gods", including the Olympians and Aesir, and drove them from Earth, before planting the belief that he is the supreme creator of the universe among the ancient Jews.

God did this because he needed to gain energy to travel between universes, much as it is later revealed that humans do after they die. However, a being of God's power needed much more energy. While this is the stated reason, it is implied that God simply used this energy to retain and gain power. Such energy could be gathered one of two ways, by human suffering, the method chosen by Satan , or through blind faith, the preferred method of Yahweh.

To force this faith on humanity, Yahweh used his powers to send all who did not believe in him to Hell, actually a rebel realm that broke away from God millenia before. This method of gathering power by blind faith worked until humans began to break free from the grip of religion in the Renaissance and started to discover the true nature of the universe through science.

This naturally infuriated Yahweh, who at this point literally believed his own lie that he was omnipotent, causing him to close heaven, condemning all humans to hell. In any case, heaven was not the paradise humans believed it was, but was actually a cruel and oppressive dictatorship, where humans were essentially slave to Yahweh and his angels.

In , God decided to declare the end of the world, and commanded all humans to die, stating that they were condemned to Hell, however, with the exception of religions fundamentalists, most humans did not not die, going on as usual until a demonic army of blasphemous demons arrived from Hell in Iraq. At this point God and Satan discovered that, while their superhuman abilities had caused them to stagnate at Bronze Age levels, humanity was now far more powerful, with weapons such as tanks, artillery, aircraft, and missiles allowing a multinational coalition to easily defeat the demons in Iraq literally invade hell.

The war ended when the humans captured the city of Dis in hell, liberated the damned souls held in the "Hell Pit", killed Satan himself, and forced the surviving demon Lord Belail to flee to heaven. While the demons suffered massive casualties, with the exception of the destruction of Sheffield and Detroit believed based on outdated information that these were the human's main industrial centers by volcanic eruptions teleported through portals.

The easy defeat of the demons resulted in the combative conflict becoming known as the "Curb Stomp War". After the fall of Hell, humanity concentrated its resources against God himself. Initially, humanity could not figure out how to generate a portal into heaven, and was struck several times with various "Bowls of Wrath" as described in the book of Revelation, including causing red tides by introducing bacteria into the oceans and augmented hurricanes.

However, the humans simply use their modern technology to quickly clean up the ecological disaster, and while the hurricanes do some damage, it has little impact on the war effort. Find out how. Do it some more. Then tell me what you meant. But continue. Across the fields of burning rock where the souls of the dead were forever held in torment, the devils looked up from their work and shuddered in fear.

It is laid down by our immortal will that the heralds shall be forever immune from attack. If he had been human he would have lost control of his bowels several minutes ago.

Do they cry for my forgiveness? I blame this all on Yahweh. He was supposed to have softened this lot up, got them to believe anything and obey everything. I thought he had too. Abigor, you will rectify this. You command 60 of the 6, legions of Hell. You will take them and wipe these upstarts out. The impossible, the impermissible, the unforgivable has been done and we know nothing of this. Sire, we should find out before we invade, then we can inflict yet greater suffering and despair upon them.

What do you propose? There is one there, peculiarly susceptible to her charms who might be seduced into telling us what we need to know. Think, Sire, of his grief when he learns his lusts have betrayed all humanity. Former President William Jefferson Clinton jogged up to the restaurant and headed through the doors, his Secret Service detail following behind. He stopped to mop his forehead, his sides heaving with the exercise. He carefully did not look at the two Secret Service agents, he guessed that they were unmoved by his evening routine.

In fact, he doubted if they were even breathing heavily. Fortunately, the place was empty, or nearly so. It pretty much always was this late at night. He paid his bill and went to a table. The woman waiting politely by his table had a mane of jet-black hair that fell in curls half way down her back. Great, luminous black eyes and a mouth that promised everything imaginable without saying a word.

How in hell had she slipped in there? It was appalling, a total breech of security, one which the senior agent had to do something about. As he left the restaurant, the girl was trotting along beside him. Clinton kept throwing calculating glances at her, she was, perhaps, a little on the heavy side but that mouth was so enticing. It belongs to my bodyguards.

The agent sighed and did as he was told. A lot of the equipment in the back was classified. With slickness born of long practice, he spun around, racking the mechanism as he did.

The long roaring burst drowned out her scream and the blasts of buckshot hurled her backwards across the sidewalk, rolling her over as she started to fall apart. Their reactions were, under the circumstances commendable. They stopped their dive for Clinton in mid-lunge, spun, drew their SIG-Sauer Ps and each emptied all twelve rounds of. Clinton had dropped the empty magazine of his shotgun, loaded another and a second roar finished the job. The demon was dead, its bright yellow blood spreading across the sidewalk.

One man, obviously the worse for drink, staggered up and smacked Clinton on the back. Have a drink. The senior of the secret servicemen was speaking on the radio. Believe me, after going through that, I can recognize a fiend from hell. Francis Urquhart Aug 21, Joined Aug 19, Reaction score Ha, I remember this. Quite fun. Really showcased the difference between "esoteric" and "biggatons" to me. I am still curious on what you had written for Book 3 post-Michael, but eh, let's enjoy the journey first.

Typhonis Well-known member. Wasn't this first posted over at Stardestroyer. Typhonis said:. Last edited: Aug 22, But, that was asking too much.

And what were the Secret Service up to? Doctor Surlethe, the National Science Advisor is waiting outside, perhaps he can give you some more details. They tended to use such long words.

Like any good politician, Bush knew that the time taken to say a four-syllable word was greater than the attention span of the audience. A great achievement by the former President, but one that raises a few questions I think? Clinton was very lucky that the baldrick in question was a new type, one that apparently has some unnerving capabilities.

The one killed by Mr. Clinton was human sized and gave every appearance of being a human female, a very seductive one. It changed appearance into what we assume was its real form only when blasted with several dozen rounds of double-ought buckshot and automatic pistol fire. That means it could be anybody, you, me, anybody could be killed and replaced by one of those things. It means nobody is safe, one could materialize here and now. There are pretty much two possibilities. The first is that the succubus really is a shape-shifter and can teleport around.

If that is the case, then we can take the entire science section of the Library of Congress and toss it on to the landfill. Everything we thought about the physical world is wrong.

However, the other possibility is much more probable and something we can handle. This was going to be the tricky bit. Four syllables at least. Doctor Surlethe said ruefully to himself. Oh well, here we go. This leads to correlations between observable physical properties of the systems. For example, measurements performed on one system seem to be instantaneously influencing other systems entangled with it. This has been experimentally demonstrated within a laboratory and we are just beginning to appreciate the implications of the phenomena.

So, the succubus holds a mental image of itself in its mind and uses this ability to entangle the sense transmissions in those around it so it duplicates that image in them. In short, all those around the succubus see it the way the succubus wants them to see it. The city with one of the highest crime rates in America. Knocking off fast-food restaurants and shooting the staff is a daily event.

Or was, until the places started installing video surveillance cameras. Now, if I follow your explanation properly, the entanglement thing you talk about works on the energy fields in the brain.

The film should show us what is really there, not what it wants us to think is there. So, lets get that film. Mueller, III arriving to collect his video surveillance tapes personally. Director Mueller carried the tapes went back to the White House where they were set up in the projection office just off the Conference Room. By the striking of the hour, the audience had assembled and the tapes were run.

A jet black figure, human-sized but with a set of rounded stub horns and a long pointed tail entered through the open doors of the restaurant, only a foot or so behind the rear Secret Service man. By the time the doors had closed, it was inside. The succubus spoke with Clinton while he ate, then the two left together.

A few seconds after they left, there were the brilliant flashes of gunfire outside. It just makes us think it does, so you can start to look for your energy field, right? I doubt that this succubus thing that Bill killed so emphatically will be the only one that we run into, there will be more and we need to be on our guard against them. See that gets out as fast as possible.

The last few days had been tiresome in the extreme, ever since the announcement that all mediums were being tested so that their abilities, if any, could be used in the war effort went out, the Foundation had been besieged by applicants.

The big names, of course, had refused to show their faces. They were scared spitless of The Amazing Randi and with good reason. He knew the tricks they used and how to expose them, submitting to tests by him would destroy their livelihood. A few hours later, they had been on their way back, their fraudulent claims exposed and discredited.

Not one genuine medium in the whole lot. There was a time when that would have delighted me but not now. Guess that makes me agnostic. I know that the idea an agnostic lies between the extremes of atheism and religious fanaticism but it does not.

It is a separate line of thought. An atheist denies the existence of any sort of god, the theist affirms it. An agnostic believes that the existence or non-existence of a god can never be proven, the Gnostic believes that the existence or non-existence of a god is subject to rational proof. If I understand your position correctly, you were a Gnostic Atheist.

You denied the existence of a god and thought you could prove that your denial was correct. We know now that there is life after death. That is undeniable. We know that the afterlife is ruled by beings.

Why do you believe those beings are gods? We have already proved we can kill their servants with almost absurd ease. Why cannot we kill them as well? A soldier fights for those who cannot fight for themselves. Today we fight for all those who have died, who are being held in horrid slavery. We fight for all humanity, past, present and future. In this war, you are as much a soldier as I. How does The Message affect you and your people? Few of you are Christian.

I am a Buddhist, so are more than 90 percent of my people. The Lord Buddha was not a god, he was a man. Good rules that when applied mean one lives a good life. To us, being a Buddhist simply means following those teachings, I could give you a long lecture on what that means but here is neither the time nor the place. When we meditate we simply ponder the teachings of the Lord Buddha and try to seek enlightenment on how they can solve our problems.

When we pray to him, we simply are asking him what he would do under these circumstances. Any question of gods or devils is quite irrelevant to that center core belief. In my country, we are animists, we believe that everything has a spirit that lives in it, a spirit we can talk to and who will talk back to us. On another level, what does affect us is the assertion that all humans go to eternal punishment no matter what they believe. The Message made no distinction between the religions or stated that one would be exempt while another was condemned.

All humans are subject to the same fate. So we fight. Yet, for all our efforts we have not come up with one single person who can actually speak to the dead. What if there are none? What if the dead are indeed beyond contact? Perhaps we should consider the possibility that so-called mediums cannot speak to the dead but that those who can speak to the dead are not mediums.

After all, let us suppose that one can communicate with the dead. What will we learn? That the dead are subject to an eternity of hideous torture, without hope of end or reprieve.

That the same fate awaits us all. Now, the grieving family of a dead person turns up on our doorstep. They want reassurance, they want to know that their beloved husband, or wife, parents or children have gone to the better place promised, that they are happy in their afterlife.

Would you tell them the truth? That a terrible fate has fallen on them and that the same awaits their relatives? Such cruelty would be inconceivable.

Thinking about it, The Message itself was an act of diabolical cruelty, one that only a truly foul mind could conceive. When Satan had proclaimed his dominion over the Earth and proclaimed that all its souls belonged to him, regardless of virtue or cause, he had fully lived up to his reputation.

What would you do? Looking at those who hear voices, voices whose messages are so dreadful that they have driven the listener insane? All through history there have been those who have claimed they have heard voices that drove them to acts of rage or despair. Suppose they really did hear voices, either accidentally or deliberately. In ancient times, such people were described as possessed but in our arrogance we assumed otherwise.

We assumed that they were sick, that they had a mental defect that we could treat. Perhaps they were not, perhaps they really were possessed by the demons who now assail us. That they were victims of the hideous game we are now playing to its final act. That will be a long job. We are looking for specific kinds of people, those who hear voices that drive them insane.

I think computers can help with this, we need to have the records searched so that we can find the most promising cases. Then we can bring them here. From Florida.

A well-fed tiger that was eying a small animal with the thought that it had just a little room left in its stomach. How is the research going down there? Randi had pointed out that the skills needed to expose a fraud were different from those needed to conduct an experiment.

What we need you to do is to get as much information on such cases to us as possible so we can start working through them. Also, I read the note about the search for energy fields? Thank you General, and good luck. A new front had been opened against the forces that were threatening humanity. While the armed forces were picking off the baldricks who appeared in earth, science and reason were striking at the very heart of their power. For the first time since The Message, Surlethe felt good.

Francis Urquhart Aug 23, CarlManvers Writers Blocked Douchebag. Joined Aug 22, Reaction score 15, Location Philippines. Guardian Box cognitohazard. Francis Urquhart said:. Yes and no; its been cleaned up and polished a lot since then. Guardian Box said:. What exactly do you mean by cleaned and polished?

Is it only in technical aspects like grammar and flow, or will the actual story change in some ways? CarlManvers said:. Rocket J Squirrel New member.

Joined Aug 15, Reaction score 1. I read my spouse the opening scene and when I said the line "Hold my beer" her eyes got huge and she became an instant fan. Also that it would fit in her favorite TV series 'Supernatural'. His troops were formed up on the field, awaiting his inspection. By far the largest force that Hell had ever sent to another world yet it was only a tiny fraction of the army that Hell could deploy if it wished.

There were 6, legions in hell, a total of 44,, demons under arms, a mighty host that had never in its history been deployed against a single foe. There had never been a single foe whose ability had demanded that level of force. Always, those lower down the scale of existence had cowered in fear when the demons had arrived, genuflecting at the appearance of the creatures from a greater dimension. Mostly, the armies of Hell had never been needed, the Heralds had been terrifying enough to put their victims into a state of catatonic terror.

Only, not this time. This time the creatures from the lower dimensions had the temerity to fight back, even more than that, they had killed the Heralds. That had disturbed Abigor more than he let on. If the Heralds could be killed, what did that mean for the demons in his ranks? The Heralds were deliberately created to be awe-inspiring, terrifying by virtue of their size and apparent invulnerability, yet the humans below had fought back and killed them. Individually, the demons in the ranks of his legions were much less formidable than the great Heralds.

They were formidable enough, that was true, their tough hides were impervious to arrows and the blows of swords yet would that be enough? What did the humans have that could kill so effectively? There was another point that worried Abigor. The Heralds had been killed, what had happened to them? The rulers of Hell knew what happened to those on the lower dimensions, their creation and life built up a form of energy that, when they died, boosted them over the threshold and translated them to the next level of dimension.

Unfortunately for them, the energy needed to surge the occupants of this reality level was much greater. The creatures from below suffered in their afterlife to provide the creatures of this level with theirs.

But suppose the beings who lived in the reality above this one adopted the same philosophy. Was there a super-Hell that awaited Abigor and his kind? The infantry in his legions were crashing the butts of their tridents against the ground as Abigor rode past on his beast. The information he had was that the humans lived mostly in cities, that meant the war would be one of sieges, the cities fighting from behind their defensive walls in a series of last stands.

That would put a premium on his infantry, his mounted and flying legions would only be of use in isolating each city before the infantry besieged and destroyed it. It had been done before, Abigor knew that human myths were full of stories of cities that had been besieged by hordes of monstrous, inhuman foes.

Now they would find out where those myths had come from. The horns sounded, their wailing drowning out the crashing cadence of the trident staffs. The legions did a right-face, towards a black dot that had suddenly appeared against the roiling red smoke of the sky.

The dot expanded, opening a gate into the lower dimension that had dared to defy the will of higher beings. This was the critical stage, the energy gradient ran steeply from the lower dimensions to the higher, it was relatively easy for the higher dimension beings to gain access to the lower, much harder for the lower dimensions to ascend. Only opening a portal could ensure easy access between the dimensions.

Yet that same energy gradient meant that once a portal between the levels was opened, it would be very hard to close. Size also was a factor and this was the largest portal that had ever been created. Just how hard would it be to close again? Abigor had an uneasy feeling that nobody had thought to ask that question. The portal reached its full extent and the horns wailed again. Abigor lead his host forward, into the black circle of the portal and from it into the brilliant yellow light and the clear blue skies of Earth.

Direct feed to us, to Washington and to Moscow. Task Force Iron also had a direct download from Russian satellites and other recon capabilities but it was the RQ-4B Global Hawks that were the key asset.

Nobody knew where the attack would come, on paper it could be anywhere but Iraq had been a leading bet. The association of old legends and the fertile triangle of the Tigris-Euphrates was too powerful to ignore. High above the desert, the Global Hawk turned lazily, its long wings biting at the thin air. Its stabilized cameras focused on a strange sight in the desert of Western Iraq, a black oval that had suddenly appeared in the stony wastes, one that spread even though it had no apparent substance.

The cameras zoomed in on the strange spreading stain that still grew beneath it. If the guesses were right he was looking at something humanity had discussed, described and occasionally cursed but never actually seen, the mouth of Hell itself.

The black shadow had stopped spreading and seemed to be holding its breath. The image enlarged in a series of jerks as the operator clicked up through the zoom scales. The group of figures resolved, one huge figure surrounded by a group of others. Then, another smaller group appeared out of the shadow, followed by lines of others. If we only had the assets within range. The UAV operator dialed his cameras in again.

I make it 81 ranks, each of 81 baldricks. I guess that gives us 6, down there. About a brigade-sized formation then? And that would make the smaller sub-divisions battalions. This was translating raw numbers into a structure that could easily be understood — and to the people in this room, what could be understood could be destroyed.

Once structure, form and numbers were evaluated and put into context, destruction was a matter of planning. Even as it was completed, a third square started forming to the left of the first. Still the figures poured out, new squares forming until the line had seven in all.

Even as he did so, the line of seven squares started to move forward and another wave of black figures poured out, forming into squares exactly as their predecessors had done. The command center was utterly silent as the imagery poured in from the cameras on the Global Hawk. The second line of squares was finished, moved forward and a third row started, then a fourth. By the time the figures ceased to pour out, there were eight rows in all, 56 of the black squares spread out on the Iraqi sand.

Seems to run in nines.