Scarlet Devil Mansion, Gensokyo-5 Days Left
Patchouli and Koakuma were performing system checks on the missile defense grid while Flandre and Remilia were having a cup of tea and studying the magical map in front of them. Out in the garden, Meiling was practicing her daily Tai Chi routine but instead of using a straight traditional sword, she was using a Type 56 rifle. She had the bayonet extended and was becoming more and more comfortable with combining the firearm with her martial arts experience.
Remilia was still amazed by the change in her younger sister. The proud vampire would never tell anyone else but she was extremely grateful to Yukari and Eirin for helping Flandre out. Sakuya was sitting at a table off to the side, polishing her knives after cleaning her G36 and her service Karabiner 98K from the war. The fairy maids were performing their regular duties, such as bringing out tea and snacks.
A familiar gap opened up and Yukari walked out. Sakuya instantly had a tray of tea and snacks instantly ready for their guest. The gap youkai was a little jealous of how quick and efficient the maid was and wished her own servants were even half as good. Flandre had ran forward and caught Yukari in a quick embrace, which she returned with a pat on the head. Remilia gave her a nod of acknowledgement and took a sip of her tea.
"I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by," Yukari paused. "How are those scenarios that I told you about coming along?"
Flandre nodded, "I accounted for everything that I could think of. For the most part, if we can keep them at the boundary, then we have a good chance of stopping the entire invasion in its tracks. The boundary can reflect their artillery but not their infantry, cavalry or air units. We still have the Lunarians to count on but with the barrier up, they won't be able to send many troops. The most that they can send would have to be maybe a battalion or a brigade. I know that they're much more prepared for battle than we are but I doubt that even they can hold off entire armies."
"That's exactly what I expected from you, Flandre. It's a very thorough analysis, but I have to throw in another variable."
The entire room went quiet when they saw that Yukari had grown silent.
"The Great Barrier won't survive the first battle."
Everyone in the room was shocked at the announcement. Flandre began to go through the notes that she had taken when she had analyzed everything while Remilia kept staring at the map.
"Ran had told me that there have been fluctuations finally appearing in the barrier. When I took a look and ran some tests, it's obvious that it won't last for much longer. The time it would be most likely to break would be after the first wave of infantry and armor attacks. Without the barrier to reflect artillery, we're in for a bad time if we don't do something. That's where you'll have to come in."
"That changes everything," Flandre had to sit down. "We're going to have more casualties, more land lost, and more damage taken. Why is it doing this so fast?"
"I don't know but it's even more serious since I can't figure it out. And we'll have to go on the offense after the battle. This won't end until we've taken enough land for them to realize that we can't be pushed around."
"How much would we have to take for that to happen?" Remilia had finally looked up from the map. "Don't you remember the first Genso-Lunar war?"
"I knew from the start that it wasn't time for us to expand back then. But we don't have a choice in the matter now. Should we stand by, the outside will just continue to attack us again and again. We have to take the fight to them." Yukari sighed. "But I have another matter to discuss. I wanted to ask if I could have two guests of mine stay here for a little bit."
"Are you getting rid of your shikigami?" Remilia sat up.
"No, I'm going to keep them for a while longer. But I have the feeling that we'll be receiving two guests that share our feelings about this and will be willing to lend us some help. We do need all the hands that we can get."
Lunar Defense Crops Urban Training Base, Dark Side of the Moon-4 Days Left
Since she had passed the Line of Battle training, Reisen was ordered to practice mobile warfare. At the moment, she was in a platoon that was composed of her staff. They had been tasked with attacking a town that had been designated as a bomb making facility. To make the mission tougher, it was taking place in the middle of the night with only very limited starlight to see.
Reisen had arranged her platoon into two groups, one was going to go in and clear the buildings while the other would support by fire. As they walked toward the town, they were arranged in the modified wedge, two columns on either side of the road. Reisen was in the middle of the columns, with her squad leaders behind her. She carried her regular rifle, feeling a lot better with the longer weapon than an officer's pistol.
At the designated point, the two squads broke apart and began to head to their respective areas. Reisen was going with the support by fire team since it would give her the chance to keep her eye on the bigger picture and to adjust her forces accordingly. She had the signal operator stay close to her, keeping her in constant contact with the other squad. She checked the ammo in her rifle one last time and then waved her troops forward.
As she moved forward, it was quiet. The wind was blowing a little, making the leaves rustle in the night sky. Reisen's breathing was starting to speed up, partly because she didn't know what was going to happen when the shooting started. She kept looking around, aiming her weapon at every shadow that moved. What made it worse is that she had ordered the assaulting squad to maintain communication discipline until the attack actually started.
The sounds of gunfire suddenly rang out in the night. On the far left, between two buildings, the flashes of gunfire were moving in every direction. Since Reisen's squad was still on the road, they immediately ran to the left side of the berm and dropped to the prone. The moon rabbit crawled beside her machine gunner and began to direct fire. She could make out her troops running towards a building and stacking up against the wall.
Reisen's nervousness had left, replaced by the boost of adrenaline. She could see enemy troops begin to rush out of a building to the right, and directed fire in that direction. The gunfire forced them to fall back into the building and kept them from returning fire effectively. From inside the target building, there were flashes of light and the sounds of explosions.
"First team, stand by for mission update," The signal operator had received a message from the higher ups. Reisen began to look around, a mission update usually meant that something didn't go according to plan. She started to expect the worse and was looking for possible avenues of attack or escape. She heard her other team yell out clear and held fire when they rushed out.
"First team, a building to your east has been found to house opposing staff. Find and clear that building out."
She finally began to relax again. A search and clear mission wasn't as bad as having an entire company attack from behind. Getting her squad together, the moon rabbit moved toward the building. Once they were there, they stacked on the wall with her second in line. She motions the last one up and has her check the door. The door is cleared and kicked down.
They immediately rush into the first room, sweeping their weapons into every corner. Reisen kept her weapon on safe but had her finger ready to switch to burst in an instant. Once the first room was clear, the squad split up and Reisen led her team up the stairs. So far they had found nothing but were still staying sharp. Outside, the sounds of gunfire had gone silent, which meant that the action outside had ended.
Reisen takes a corner at high ready and comes face to face with an enemy staff member. She immediately switches from safe to burst and fires a three round burst directly into their chest. She kicks the body out of the way and rushes into the room. She instantly jumps back as a hail of gunfire was aimed at her. The rest of her team catches up and one of them preps a grenade. Reisen catches it and throws it into the room.
The grenade makes a loud ping as it bounces off the wall and she hears someone yelling. It goes off and the entire squad rushes into the room. They find that the explosion had taken out all of the staff in the room and had knocked a briefcase off a shelf. Reisen picks it up and looks at her pocket watch. From the door being breached to now, one minute and thirty seconds had passed.
Reisen has her team run down to the first floor, regroup and stack up inside. She yells out to make sure their own troops don't shoot them and rush out. Seeing the other squad some distance away pulling security, she has hers reach the road and then gives the signal to run back to their rally point.
Once they had dashed to the rally point and got accountability, they formed up into the modified wedge and walked back to their patrol base. Reisen had tied the briefcase to her pack after she had done a preliminary search. The stars had finally come back out and were providing more light. It seemed to be a dream after all the fighting earlier. Then something fell in front of her and started to spark and smoke.
"Aw, shit." That was all Reisen could do, tired as she was from all the running and shooting and she was suffering from an adrenaline crash. The grenade kept smoking and sparking then it just sat there, it turned out to be defective. Then gunfire came from their right side.
The moon rabbit dropped to a knee and began to return fire when a senior sergeant yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!"
Not having to be told twice, she got up and ran for all she was worth. The rest of her squad followed suit and struggled to keep up with her. She could hear the zips as bullets missed her by inches. Looking back, she counted her entire squad still following her. Then she ran into a tree.
Her helmet took most of the blow but couldn't do anything for the embarrassment. Reisen shook it off and kept running. The run felt like it would never end but they finally reached their base. She gets accountability again and hands over the briefcase to the training officer. She decides to leave the paperwork until after she gets some food in her stomach.
She's already dropped into a seat and was eating some bland rations when a messenger brought a communicator to her. She gives a nod of acknowledgement and answers the call. It was Toyohime and she sounded worried.
"Reisen, I'm sorry to have to interrupt you during your training, but we need the 4th to go into stand by status. Master Eirin has just called us and said that the outside world has given them a deadline to stand down. Right now, there's only four days left. Your regiment will be the first on the ground to support the Gensokyo Defense Force until we can get the others ready. Be realistic, how ready can you be in three days?"
Numbers began to spin around in Reisen's head. Food, sleep, water, and ammo had to be considered. The regiment was 5,000 strong, and it would take a bit of time to get everything on the move. But they were Royal Foot after all.
"We can be at 100% readiness in three days, Princess."
"Good. You should be prepared for a high number of enemy troops, armor, and aircraft. The GDF says that they should be able to keep the air clear but will have some trouble handling armor and infantry due to their low numbers. I'll send you a full briefing later but you'll basically going in to provide infantry support. Humans have evolved some since we left but it's the numbers, not their ability or lack of, that we should be worried about."
"Yes, Princess."
"Reisen, make sure you do your best and come back. Yorihime and I miss having you around."
With that, the royal cut the call off, leaving Reisen with her plate. Not feeling hungry anymore, she calls for her staff to join her in the HQ. She can tell that the next three days will be long.
A/N: Their training mission was the same one that I had to do in basic. Right down to running into a tree.