Summoning The Pearl Of The Orient

Chapter 6 - The Opening Hours II

Malacañang Palace, Manila

President Peralta, accompanied by members of the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gathered around a table and directed their attention to a large television screen. The screen displayed live footage captured by an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial drone, soaring above the town of Gim.

Inside the room, a palpable sense of anxiety filled the air, as everyone stared at the screen with horror. The live feed revealed the town being burnt to the ground by Lourian soldiers, pockets of resistance by Qua-Toynan soldiers can be spotted but Peralta knew that they won't last due to the overwhelming numbers the Lourians have.

80,000 soldiers, twice the number that was reported before. It was anticipated that the enemy would be 30,000 men, enough for the Strike Eagles to bomb and kill with the Mk 82s. But with the increase of soldiers, the Strike Eagles had depleted their bombs in just a few minutes. They did inflict large amounts of casualties on the Lourian army but they still had 65,000 men against what remained of Qua-Toyne's defenses in Gim.

"This battle is going horrible..." Isidro commented, turning a blind eye from the death and destruction the Lourians have done. "We just only prolonged the inevitable through air strikes."

Peralta, though frustrated, agreed to the statement. Whether they sent their whole fleet of strike fighters or bombarded the whole area, Gim would still fall one way or another. 2,000 men won't be able to hold an 80,000 strong army coming towards them, especially when that army has surrounded Gim from all directions and had cut their escape route.

Everybody also knew the situation and agreed with the statement.

"...how many civilians are still stuck in Gim?" Peralta asked, his hands clenching the arm rests as he anticipates the response.

"It was reported that more than 10,000 civilians are still stuck in Gim when the battle started, sir." Army Chief General Samuel Ramos replied. "However, counting them now would be difficult. The breach that came from the east had encircled a large portion of the civilian populous and what remained of the Qua-Toynan Army."

"But by estimations, there will be less than 7,300 civilians left." He added. Peralta clenches his fists as Ramos continued. "As pockets of resistance are continuously eliminated, the civilian count may be reduced to mere 950 people left."

Peralta silently cursed on the dire situation. Even in another world, in war, civilians always die. Whether be it intentional or accidental, civilians are always caught in the crossfire between two armies. Now, they're watching civilians die every minute as the battle raged on.

"Where the hell are the Strike Eagles?" Vice President Centino asked him. "I thought the Air Force was supposed to sortie 4 planes in an interval?"

"We overestimated the ability of the Air Force to sortie planes with the estimated ordnance needed." Air Operations Chief LtGen Lucero responded. "Although we have a lot of munitions in storage, dropping more than 100,000 pounds of ordnance is going to hinder Broken Crown."

"And how so?" Centino asked her with a angered look. "Why can't do what the Americans did in Desert Storm?"

"That's because of shortage of ordinance." Lucero replied with a point. "Compared to the US and the rest of the major powers, we are limited to what we produce."

"Yes, we do have our own bomb factory but that factory is only one and can produce 70 bombs per 4 months." She added and she continued. "Not to mention, those 70 bombs produced are split between the Mark 80 series, the SDBs, Stormbreakers, and Paveways. This prevents us from producing one bomb in mass quantities as we need all bombs."