The Battle of Spartania, Part 2: The Fall of Sentois and Medaris's Broadcast (Full Text)
Type: Narrative — Canon History, WW3-Era (Full Text) Status: ⛔ SUPERSEDED — NOT CANON (see note below). Full text preserved per archival standard for historical/development-process record only.
Direct continuation of Part 1: The Shapas Desert and the Initial Incursion.
⛔ NOT CANON — superseded per creator correction. See the notice on Part 1 — the overall campaign arc has been discarded as non-canon.
Bronson's Halt
January 20, 1976, 1 PM: Bronson sights Sentois's buildings 40 miles distant and, with supreme confidence, orders a halt: "Take a nap, get some rest, smoke 'em if you got 'em." Sentois, watching the massive dust cloud approach then inexplicably stop, is left in tense uncertainty.
Bronson's Ultimatum and Colonel Price's Stand
Bronson, aware the Desert Rats' reputation means victory will come at real cost, sends: "Surrender or withdraw." Colonel Price, CO of the Sentois force, refuses:
"My orders are to fight — and hold. I intend to do just that."
Price's plan for the night of January 20: fight until 0600, then withdraw west into the desert, avoiding further contact, turning north after 2 days to rendezvous with Spartania's rearward detachments 40 miles west of the city.
Cobra Strike
At 3:30 PM, with no surrender received, Bronson orders "Cobra Strike" — artillery and missile deployment, aircraft on standby. At 5:44 PM, watching through binoculars, Bronson notices dust clouds suggesting Sentois may already be attempting to slip away — he orders Colonel Bozeman's force, initially turning south, to instead swing north, cutting off the escape route to Spartania 500 miles northwest, sealing any retreat.
The Bombardment
At 5:55 PM, acting on instinct rather than waiting for full positioning confirmation, Bronson launches the artillery barrage. Shells devastate Sentois's fortified positions — supply depots, command centers, defensive lines. Aircraft follow, striking remaining pockets of resistance. By 8 PM, the defenders — caught between Bronson's artillery, Bozeman's blockade, and continuous airstrikes — have nowhere left to retreat.
Medaris's First Public Broadcast (8 PM, January 20)
As the battle rages, Jon Medaris appears on television and radio across the desert for the first time — his first public message ever. Dressed in desert garb of dark chocolate-brown robes with black stitching (not traditional white), piercing blue eyes, stern weathered face, appearing roughly 45-48 years old:
"The Shapas belongs to us. It belongs to the desert dwellers, the tribes, the men and women who have lived and died here for a thousand years — it is our home, not yours. My forces are at this moment engaging the last Imperial defence before Spartania. We will take Spartania... I brook no resistance. I harbor no delusions. This desert belongs to the people who built it — who work in the mines and oil fields, who bear the incessant heat and dust, who work 6 days a week just to keep you in fine clothes and pretty cars and wine and fine dining. You — will pay. We will not show mercy. We will not hesitate. We will not falter. We take no prisoners. You have been warned."
The Internal Tension: Medaris vs. Johnson
✅ Confirmed dynamic: Medaris founded the Desert Empire; his aide Andrew Johnson (the real one, distinct from the general of the same name) recruited Bronson and most other field commanders — largely former oil field, mine, and blue-collar workers. Medaris is the fiery public visionary, willing to sacrifice everything for the cause, sometimes playing commanders off one another to build support. Johnson is the reserved, calculating moderator, repeatedly ordering troops to follow the Yalk Convention (the post-WW2 "Rules of War"), which prohibits unnecessary death or injury. Despite Medaris's chilling "take no prisoners" rhetoric, Johnson ensures it is not actually followed in the field — no indiscriminate killings, no scorched-earth tactics beyond necessity.
Appearances
- Creator-provided detail (ChatGPT export, "Continent Topography and Climate" — see RAW SOURCE, conversations-001.json #19)