The Dark Mage

Chapter 17: Yako Squadron Returns

   Ever since the former right paw-hand man Souzun Yako had sacrificed his future for the sake of his companions Ferrucyon Redd, Glacia Snow, and Fennec, the three Kitsune members of Yako squadron had started a new life together in the Confederate Republic of Szolsura. Fennec was a fennec fox Kitsune with 3 tails living life quite comfy with his 4-tailed arctic fox Kitsune girlfriend Glacia Snow. But of course, the two ended up getting drunk and yiffing leading them to become eventual lifelong mates as was the custom of Kitsune culture before the age of decadence that started in the 1840s and reached its true form in the 1960s onward. They then set out their wedding plans, even if their parents weren't allowed to leave the Kitsune clan for having less than 5 tails as privileges to leave the country was only granted to those who had 5 or more tails or had special permission as a soft power projection to make Kitsunes seem more powerful and capable than they really were to outsiders. But with Glacia and Fennec leaving the Kitsune clan for good and seeing how things were different in Szolsura, they had no desire to go back.

As for Ferrucyon, he had finally understood what Yako meant when he said that if he saw more of the world, he would understand why Yako didn't believe a word Inari said about the outside world or the political propaganda embedded into Kitsune clan media that projected a better comparative image of the Kitsune clan than what was reality. And having experienced the freedom to peacefully assemble and speak his mind how he so chose as was customary in Szolsura, it frightened him unsure of what to make of his newfound freedom from Inari's repression as a member of the lower class. And in this fear, he almost wanted to return to the Kitsune clan and live under Inari, because even though he didn't have many freedoms being less than 7 tails, he at least had the comfort of a strict structure on how to live his life. But with his close friends Glacia and Fennec, Ferrucyon was able to get by and his freedom to read real Kitsune clan uncencsored history and classics like the works of the 9-tailed historian and philosopher Amenhotep and the works of friar Victor gave him some connection to the life he had before leaving the country. And as Ferrucyon became more in touch with his true heritage that had been destroyed through vice and decadence, he began to abandon the modern ways of gluttony, lust, and avarice for the old Kitsune ways of honor, sincerity, and purity. And if that meant the modern Kitsune clan labeling him and other Kitsunes for following after the old ways as Nogitsunes, perhaps Nogitsune was no longer a mark of shame but a name of honor.

And while Ferrucyon, Fennec, and Glacia were sharing a house together that they already paid off, Ferrucyon retrieved the mail to find a draft notice. But rather than be separated by the draft the Szolsuran government put in place to draft members to fight the war against the Valkyries that had been going on since the victory of Glass Cannon, Ferrucyon, Glacia, and Fennec decided they would all enlist together. And their first mission was to defend Ironhenge.

Ironhenge Restoration

     With Ironhenge under the restoration, the project remained mostly hidden from prince Darius's notice as he was having lavish parties in the New Lunsaro palace and forcing queen Ariana to attend for his own amusement. After all, it was quite arousing for him to assert influence over such a powerful queen of such a powerful empire.

     Meanwhile, the Kitsune clan was taking in billions of dollars worth of money from the Confederacy of South Selene purchasing the high-quality components to rebuild Ironhenge. And even if the Kitsune clan couldn't mass produce things to the scale of other countries, it was unmatched in quality by all except the best the Americans and Szolsurans had to offer. And those high-quality components were needed if Ironhenge was to be made operational again and be better than the original Szolsuran-made system that had been maintained since its creation in the 1980s to make the Union of Selenese Communist Republic's entire arsenal of IRBMs and ICBMs useless during the height of the Cold War to its destruction in the 2101 during the Selenese Civil War.

     There was also the issue of the power consumption and long charging times of the original 1980s system that made up the railgun networks causing its 13 railguns to consume the power of 8 coal-fired powerplants while shutting down electricity in 13 surrounding cities. Now, with the Kitsune clan redesigning Ironhenge's components, it would now have its own dedicated power supply with more robust redundant systems and only need to draw on one external coal plant to increase its fire rate while being fully functional without it.

     Then with the Kitsune clan's modified KCAS-21 Coonhound air superiority fighters now much better than the Valkyries' stolen fighters and bombers, both the Confederacy and Selenese Empire had a weapons platform that could take on the large air forces of the Valkyrie kingdom with only a fraction of the air force needed. And if Ironhenge is to be rebuilt before prince Darius were to catch on, his space and air power will become all but meaningless, just like the Selenese Empire in its civil war against the Confederacy of South Selene until Natalia destroyed Ironhenge making a would-be easy victory for the Confederacy into a draw.

--------------Did you know this?

A Nod to Cold War History: During the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, he proposed an orbital defense laser system that would render the entire Soviet arsenal of ICBMs useless while the United States would still be able to hit the Soviets with impunity. But because of media mocking the idea calling it "Star Wars" after the classic film by George Lucas that was released in theaters a few years before, the original idea of Reagan's Iron Dome never went through to production. Ironhenge serves a similar function and is like if the Iron Dome was actually put into use but was a ground-based system rather than orbital. However, since Reagan, president Donald Trump is the first American president to revisit the idea of the Iron Dome and consider putting it into use under the Space Force branch of the military. So I guess if the first iteration of the idea was called Star Wars, if Donald Trump actually goes through with it we can call the orbital defense system Empire Strikes Back.