than to kill him on it.
-Robert H. Butler
((this event follows what, barring a miracle must inevitably happen to the first assault by the Hagalz line against archos's position))
*Archos had learned quickly that the whole of the WO air corps had gone to prevent Tsana Dragonesti from making her invasion. Its hard to hide the flight of a hundred very noisy planes. Archos realized that THIS was his chance to once and for all break the air power of the Warlock Order. This was his deed:
A plane may fly for some hours, when it arrives, it must drop its payload (in the case of a bomber) or enter combat air to air or air to ground, (as in the case of a fighter/fighter bomber)
but eventually the plane MUST land to refuel. if it does not, it crashes. And to land, it requires a long stretch of level ground. this means that there must be either a place for it to land and resupply, OR, it must return to its place of origin or an allied base.
Archos knew that the WO had taken a calculated risk in going to attack Tsana. He admired the skill of their commander, who would make such a daring gamble to ensure the survival of the nation, but he overlooked one calculation. You cannot hope to hide so many. And once they were gone, Archos ruled the skies until they returned. And he did not intend to let them return.
Once they had gone a great distance, 8 flights of Dragons, including the 1+ flight on loan from the Alante, and the air corps sent by manshoon, were sent out after them over a land route, as circitous as possible to prevent to much early detection. but once they had gone far enough, and it was decided that the planes must have surely finished or failed in their bombing run, they launched into the air.
It was there that they would meet the much depleted air force of the WO. they would be running low on fuel, and likely on munitions. and the corps sent by Archos would meet them fresh and eager to destroy.
((here is to sum up. the planes would have used up a large part of their fuel GETTING to their destination, then making their attack, and once finished, they'd have to leave. this means that when they meet archos's air corps. they're tired, some are dead. and running low on fuel and munitions. when Archos's men force the engagement, its not so much meant to destroy them in combat, but to force them to ditch. once in battle, they inevitably must run out of fuel and crash to the earth. some pilots might live, most would likely not, and even if they all did, the planes would be hopelessly destroyed. especially since archos has opened part of his hand, and revealed that he does have relative tech, riders or dragons would have now been armed with guns with which to do battle. a good risk, and no doubt yer attack would slow down tsana, however in this battle, the result is inevitable. bombers are to slow, fighters would be depleted, and the natural result being that 9 parts out of 10 of the air corps would be utterly ruined.))
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