"Ahor said they would come from all directions," Encer told the others in his unit.

"Quiet. Ten seconds."

The calculations had been relayed to them by Mavis, who hadn't been wrong so far, luckily.

His unit leader, a former mercenary named Larm who looked like he ate nails and thumbtacks for breakfast, had stationed them on the third floor of an empty bunkhouse. Once the mattresses were set up in front of the windows, the three squads in different parts of the building took cover and waited.

"Three, two…"

Right on time, the object struck a few hundred yards away and the whole unit immediately got to work.

The mattresses were torn away to reveal a smoldering windowsill covered in broken glass. All three salvaged Z-6 rotary blasters were propped up and prepped just in time to see the object melting and revealing the Blood battalion troopers waiting underneath its surface.

"Let loose!" the merc cried into his comlink.

Encer, the two other gunners in their unit and units in other buildings simultaneously caught the troopers in overlapping fields of fire, cutting most of them down before they even had the chance to disembark.

"That's not like any troop lander I've ever seen," Larm whispered. Encer had never left Nordic in his life, so he just decided to take his word for it.

As the last of the black metal fell into pieces, volleys of blaster fire were finally returned by the Bloods. Heavy speeders had finally made their way through the bombed-out streets, but had arrived far too late to provide support to their infantry.

"Cease fire. Rear guard, meet me in the lobby," the merc said into his comlink, before turning to Encer. "Hold tight kid. Don't fire until I say so and make sure you keep Command alerted to anything you see outside that window."

"Yes, sir," he said, moving the gun out of view and pulling out his electrobinoculars.

"And if they breach the building, scuttle the gun and get out. It's not worth your life."

He reached down and shook Encer's hand. "Thank you, sir."


"How are things on the ground?"

"We're killing a lot of people, if that's what you want to hear."

Ahor smiled, though his eyes remained glued to the image of Nordic. The last of the spherical drop pods had landed moments ago, with no more in sight. "With how quickly their speeders are sweeping through, I don't think any more landers will be coming."

"Are you certain of that?"

"In war, you can't be certain of anything," he told her, flatly. "Two thirds of their forces have made it past the bridges. Detonate the charges at the entrances."

"Yes, sir."

Mavis relayed the command. Moments later, several buildings collapsed near the bridges. They crushed any Bloods unlucky enough to get caught underneath, but also fell directly into the street to block access.

"Ahor, they still have reserves they can bring in."

"I know."

Mavis looked down at where he was staring, and to her surprise the energy signatures from the heavy speeders showed them moving forward, rather than pulling back to help clear the rubble.

"Word still hasn't gotten back about their losses," Ahor said. "They're moving forward to link up with the forces they dropped further into the city, rather than be sitting ducks."

"Not all of them." Mavis pointed to one of Nordic's furthest edges, where the speeders had formed a semi-circle around the pile of rubble.

"That commanding officer is the furthest from the drop zones. It's a good call."

"Engineers are already moving up to clear the pathways."

"Let them. All of this still works in according to the plan," he said, his voice growing even colder. "Isolate, encircle and destroy."