Battle Cry (1984)

[Prydania]

The Open Ocean

The map of the world spanned the entirely of Kelman Winters' personal quarters on the Battle Cry, the flagship of his fleet. The map of the world. He'd seen it all his life. And yet he felt as if he were truly seeing it for the first time today. Not as a Prydanian. No...as a citizen of the world. The first of his kind. No, you couldn't fight the future. And he was going to teach that lesson to the world.

"We're close" Admiral DeZeller said, his thick Ozian accent managing to stand out even among such short phrases. "Oh Alexia...we are. To so many things."
"Are you sure? You want to do this here?" the mercenary-turned-admiral asked. "Many places to show might. Why here?"

Winters chuckled. "Because we must make it abundantly clear that we're not acting on behalf of any one nation. Least of all mine."
"As you say" the Ozian answered, giving Winters a short bow before leaving him to his thoughts.

"Fire the weapon. Now!" he barked in his native tongue to the workers in the bowels of the ship through a closed line.

And so it was. The stealthed mega-ship's primary canon was raised just as it finished powering up. Sunshine was live.

Alaterva, southern Midland, Prydania

The sun was just about to set below the horizon, the smell of the sea fresh even in the core of downtown. Beaconsfield in the Lowland was bustling with ads, diverse neighbourhoods, theatres, and some of the best shopping on the planet. Alaterva was more low key, with much of the city's historic charm still unmolested. Still? It was just as busy.

Alaterva Castle dominated the view out over the ocean, at the end of what was called the Royal Mile. The castle was old. Twelve Kingdoms-era old. King Vortgyn made it the unified crown's primarily residence in Midland back in the 11th century. It stayed that way up until the 1800s. It had, since then, served as a Royal Army base.
The fortification, on a hill overlooking the ocean, caught the sun just as it began its decent towards the horizon. From the right spot in town? You could see the light dance off of its magnificent spires.

A husband smiled as he stood back, watching as his wife knelt down next to their son to get a glimpse of just that. He'd been from Lowland himself. South Beaconsfield born and raised, if his Exhibition KC cap didn't give it away. His wife was from Alaterva though, and he found it touching as she was able to show their seven year old son the same magnificent sight she had seen every day growing up here.
The sun caught the spire just right, the dancing light truly making for a stunning show. And it got brighter. Even still...until it enveloped everything.

And the city burnt. Alaterva was under attack from the sun itself.

[Sovereign Dixie]

Aboard Winters' flag ship, Battlecry

   The seagoing behemoth cut through the waves at a speed exceeding thirty knots.  She displaced over eighty thousand metric tonnes, and was propelled by two nuclear reactors and four steam turbines, what had once been slated to become the HMS Queen Alexandria was now the centre of Winters' private armada. Encircled by nearly two dozen screening vessels the commandeered experimental battle platform had become a doomsday weapon unlike any the world had known.

  The bridge itself was revolutionary, the first ship to make use of the new LION defense system designed to intercept dozens of incoming targets from over a fifty kilometers away.  A soft green glow illuminated the CIC and made Winters' smirk of satisfaction at the Ozian's next words all the more inhuman.

  "Weapon fire was a success..." The admiral's zukava cigar trailed a halo of smoke around his head as it slumped limply from between cracked dry lips. "...target damage estimates seem to indicate a total loss."

  "Lock weapon onto the next target and fire when ready." The command rolled from Winters' tongue upon a giddy head high that was far more than just exposure to the second hand smoke. 

  A congested sigh was barely contained from the Admiral, though if Winters had heard it he showed no signs of caring. The Ozian forced a smile as he filled his mind with thoughts of the mansion he'd buy for himself after this job was over. "Yes sir, locking onto target."

  On the aft deck of the ship the mammoth turret groaned under protest as it strained to move to its operator's desires. Unlike most ships of her type, the battleship's primary weapon was not a rifled cannon but a pulsing deep violet ovular lens which vibrated the air for kilometers around with its ethereal hum.  Over the next two minutes that unholy moan grew louder, throbbing, warbling until with a crackling wail the beam of light shot forth into the atmosphere.

  Five seconds later, redirected from a low orbit satellite the beam cut its hellish swath across New Beaconsfield and the Confederate naval base burned.

[Prydania]

"Time to wake up cowboy" Ares barked, slapping an apparently sleeping Tom Clark in the back of his head, the rest of his face seemingly buried in papers. "Before two more cities are torched."