“The Second World War marked a noticeable shift in military strategy. Artillery and gun emplacements, while still present, slowly became less and less prevalent; replaced by missiles, bombs, and other guided munitions. All the soldiers and artillery in the world means nothing if your enemy can fly over and bomb you into oblivion. Modern warfare is built on air superiority.”

-HCMC issued document ‘The Marine’s Guide to Warfare'

<§>

The top echelons of the Empire of the Horn were in a panic. The expedition through the Door of Faust had been an unmitigated failure. The nobles were blaming the commanders, especially Tribune Solar Storm, refusing to believe that the Empire had been defeated by mere humans. The 13th Legate, Solar Storm’s commander, was insisting that resistance had been expected, and that he had sent his first cohort as a scouting force mainly. Any future forays would be better prepared and informed.

At the end of the day what mattered to Star Chaser was that the Tribune had been quietly reassigned to another legion, and he would no longer have to deal with the annoying noble as a superior. The Praefectus had accompanied them through the Door and had been injured. This left Star Chaser, the Primus Pilus, as the most senior legionary available. He considered himself lucky that he had not been punished for the failed raid, but it seemed that his actions and conduct had placed all the blame on Solar. The 7th Legion was marching to join them, once they arrived they would push through and hold the Door, allowing more forces to move through.
Until then it was a matter of waiting, and preparing defences in the likely event the humans decided to enter Equis. A task that, in the two weeks since, had fallen to him, at least until a sufficiently experienced unicorn arrived to replace the disgraced Tribune.

The fortifications were extensive, albeit not as strong as they could be, Star was only mortal after all. Lines of trenches, palisades, and more stretched for almost a hundred feet around the door, carefully considered and planned to trap and destroy any human army that marched through. Additionally a dozen airships had arrived, bolstering them with airborne spellcasters and lookouts.

Star Chaser was pulled from his thoughts as the communication crystal on his table flashed, a rare item issued only when necessary. He accepted the connection and an image of a unicorn mare was projected inside his tent. Star recognized her as the captain of the Resplendent Solace, one of the airships. She looked at him with disdain, clearly upset that the Legate had seen fit to place a lesser race in charge of a unicorn.
“My crew spotted an object fly out of the Door and over the camp, I have sent fliers to shadow it.” She said matter of factly.
Star considered this development briefly, “It could be a scout for the humans, bring it down and take it to the Legate. Tell him that I believe it to be the precursor to an assault.”
“At your command, Centurion.”
Star ignored the jab at his rank, he frankly didn't care what she thought, stepping out of his tent he addressed the runner stationed there.
“You, inform the Legate that an attack is likely imminent, and that I am bringing the garrison to full readiness.”
He sighed as the runner saluted and took off. It was going to be a long day.

<§>

There were about two dozen people in the meeting room when Admiral Alexander Arashiro briefed them of the situation. Titus had heard it all before, of course, but it was nice to track the reactions of the men and women present. It occupied about 0.00000000142% of his processing power for approximately 4.197 seconds. He could have planned and executed 236 separate guided missile launches on targets of value in that time. He ran fleetwide diagnostics on the whole battlegroup, pinged every sensor node and listening post he had access to within six light seconds (each way). That slightly distracted him for another 17.934 seconds.
Several crew members (14) requested information or just tried striking up a conversation with him. That passed another 26.428 seconds.

God, he was bored.

As long as they were in friendly skies he couldn't do anything worthwhile. Some of the others were quite happy with the lack of action, in particular that fresh intelligence on the Edge of Light. What was his designation? Oh right, Baptiste! Regardless, they'd learn soon enough. He was itching for a good fight.

Oh, that was the data from the recon drone that was sent through the portal! Oh, what was this? Oh! The static picked up was fundamentally different from the kind on this side of the portal! That meant that is was, in fact, an alternate dimension or reality; not just a distant planet! That was good, it meant that bringing vessels larger than the portal was, paradoxically, easier. Wouldn't have to deal with transit lag, reconciliation might be more difficult though.

Right, back to important matters. The enemy defenses were extensive, but primitive, mostly earthworks and wooden structures. Those airships were interesting, the envelopes were much too small, however they were practically soaked in that odd energy that seemed to saturate the aliens. Analysis of the foundry showed them utilizing it actively and passively for a variety of effects, including flight with too small wings. Now thinking of the portal’s location Titus checked how preparations were going.
A multi-berth vtol fighter bay had been constructed, as well as a standby zone and numerous security measures. Three TAF-217 Sparrows were prepped and waiting for the go, along with a TAC-63 Mule. The sparrows would go through and clear the air around the portal, the mule would follow, escape the well, and drop an FTL homing beacon. The rest of the battlegroup would drop in, and then the real work could begin. With all this in mind Titus addressed the battlegroup commanders in their meeting.
“Officers, the recon drone was taken down, but we have actionable data. The pilots have been briefed and are all reporting green for mission execution. Admiral, we are ready to go on your command.”
The man straightened himself slightly, a look of determination flashing across his face, “You have execute authority,Titus, send them.”
If Titus had been human, he would have been grinning.

<§>

Ryan Silva took a deep breath as his canopy sealed over him. “Moment of truth.” He clicked his radio on and called out, “Viper 2, Viper 3, Trucker 7-1, this is Viper leader, check in.” The radio crackled before he heard the response.
“Viper 2, I read you Viper leader.”
“Viper 3, loud and clear.”
“Trucker 7-1, payload secure, we are ready to go.”
Ryan nodded in satisfaction.
“Appreciate the enthusiasm Trucker 7-1, but stay down, we gotta clear them out for ya. Home Plate, do you copy?”
He saw someone in the control room look up and wave at him. “Roger, this is Home Plate, comms checks are green. Viper flight, you are go for takeoff.”
Initiating his systems, Ryan felt his sparrow lift of the ground, gently guiding her into position he checked his sensors, all three members of Viper flight were lined up and ready to go.
“Viper flight, this is Viper leader. Execute”
He gunned the throttle and shot through the portal like a dart.
Immediately his canopy darkened, suddenly bathed in sunlight, and he pulled up and to the left. Looking to his left and right he made sure that Viper 2 and 3 had formed up on his wings.
“This is Viper 2, I tally about two dozen bandits, they're wide open.”
Ryan looked and saw what he was talking about. Floating in the air were old timey sailing ships held in the air by large balloons.
“Roger Viper 2, I see them” he said, “You are weapons free, repeat, weapons free on all targets. Mop up the air then hit the ground.”
The other two sparrows broke off as Ryan turned his craft towards the largest, and most decorated, of the enemy vessels. Hearing the tone of a radar lock he called out, “Fox 3 ripple!” And launched two missiles. He watched as they screamed forward and collided with the ship. He continued to observe just long enough to make sure it was down, then switched targets. It took less than ten minutes to shoot down every bandit, none even got close to landing a hit. After that the three sparrows began to bomb the enemy’s defenses, softening them up for the ground forces.

Once Ryan decides that they had done significant enough damage he sent the all clear back through the portal. He entered an orbit around the portal and watched as Trucker 7-1 came through and immediately went near vertical, going to break atmosphere.
“Viper flight, this is Viper leader, objective complete, let's go home.”
He watched as his wingmen went through the portal before coming in for a slow passage himself. Their job was done, now Battlegroup Theta had to do their part.

Author's Note

I'd hoped to get this out sooner, but that's just life.
Regardless, I'd love to hear what you all have to think in the comments!