Alright, here we are again. With the Ichroid threat taken care of, the war between Holy Order and Resistance continues. Also, soon, the story is gonna enter the decisive phase. It's gonna take some time, but all in all, it's gonna happen. After all, there are still some secrets that need to be unveiled.
Anyway, before that happens, let's get to the business, alright?
Chapter 35
,,Operation: Sundust"
June 21, 2150
11:44
Hyperspace lane
Ichroid Crisis was over and Galaxy was safe from massive extinction event. However, this didn't stop two warring sides from continuing to fight each other. Resistance only gained more stamina from the Crisis and they needed to quickly use it.
And so, war continued like before. Immediately after Resistance offensive was renewed, Terta Prime saw quick and swift liberation from HO occupation, allowing Tertans to regain their true spirit and push enemy fleets and armies out of their space. Everybody praised both Tertans as a whole and President Nequxorop for this. But, this praises were quickly cut short, when something scandalous came out to light.
White Squadron, as always when situation called it, again showed their abilities and wits. They managed to capture and interrogate Terta Prime occupation commander. After Dora took care of him, he gave them information, which shocked everyone, especially Aquexymeva. Thanks to video they received from him, they exposed the unwanted truth to not only the Galaxy, but Tertan people as a whole.
President Hemilin Nequxorop, former general of Tertan Empire military, Emperor Slayer, Father of the Federation…turned out to be a traitor. He was responsible for the defeats Tertan Federation took during the first years of war. By his order, military units were being withdrawn from places, which soon became targets of HO attacks. He sabotaged the defense of Terta Prime, allowing it to be occupied. And for what? For the promise of keeping power after Holy Order's victory.
This activated a true avalanche. Because President was on Terta when it happened, it wasn't hard to get him. Tertan special forces, under the command of Aquexymeva herself, stormed the Koronan Palace, former seat of Imperial power, where President resided and arrested him. All members of Presidential Family even sided with Aquexymeva. After that, President was quickly judged and executed for the highest form of treason the same day. After that, Aquexymeva was offered his place, but declined it, giving way for her older brother. He knew, that rebuilding the trust people had in their family will be hard, but decided to take this challenge.
Following that event, everything continued without a lot of news, except the fact that Nakata and Kilig became endangered by attacks. But then, the news that terrified all of Task Force 01 came.
White Squadron disappeared. After last mission, they were coming back on a Freighter, which suddenly vanished in hyperspace and nobody knew, where it went. But then, after a month of silence, White Squadron reemerged again. As it turned out, their Freighter had crashed on a forgotten colony of Mobius. Colony was known from a certain even. In 2078, when first people landed on it, a strange signal was detected coming from it and after that, colony disappeared. But now, White Squadron found out what happened. As it turned out, the planet was filled with Enean tech, some never seen before, such as high-level hyperspace drive, which was the reason behind planet's disappearance. But mostly, it was weaponry, which became a reason war broke out on the lost planet in 2137 between two sides: Federated States and United Republic. War, however, was a working of third party, or as entire Galaxy called it, Holy Order. HO's goal on the planet was to gain the technology that could allow them win the war with one blow.
This is why when Resistance learned about this, they mobilized all they could, which ultimately ended up being over one an a half thousand ships, all approaching the planet with hundreds of thousands of soldiers on boards. If what White Squadron was saying was true, then Holy Order needed to be stopped.
Among this force heading to the planet, was Task Force 01 and among it, Selene.
Members of the 1st Warrior Bunnies were doing quick check-ups on their fighters, preparing for the upcoming battle against Holy Order. Reports from several ships that have already appeared in Mobius' vicinity were saying, that this battle might belong to the biggest of the war.
"Agh, damn it!"Helley exclaimed.
"What happened?"Delilah asked.
"Fucking thing almost fried my eyes."one of snipers replied.
"Phew, good that you can still shoot."Emmy said.
"Shut up."
Delilah looked around. Since the end of Ichroid Crisis, for the first time, Selene received new pilots for the ship's wing. More Warrior Bunnies managed to finish the training under Resistance's supervision and were were assigned to the ship. Right now, entire fighter wing of the ship consisted of ninety six Warrior Bunny pilots, divided into ten platoons. All formed 1st Warrior Bunnies Fighter Infantry Battalion.
For now, only 1st Warrior Bunnies Platoon had any form of battle experience and everyone else looked up to them with almost religious feeling.
"You think these greenies will be able to keep pace with us?"Emmy asked, pointing at 2nd Platoon.
"They have to, if they want to live."Ves replied.
"I just hope they will be okay."Macy said.
Kenya hit her in the back.
"Oh, don't worry, Mai."she said."They were trained, they will do it."She leaned and whispered."But considering that this is their first battle, I don't see all of them returning."
Macy shuddered.
"Um…"they all heard.
They turned around and saw one of 7th Platoon members.
"Shit…"Kenya said.
"S-Sir…"she said."You think…we don't make it?"
Delilah sighed and came up to her.
"What's your name?"she asked.
Warrior Bunny immediately stiffened and saluted.
"Private Fedia, 7th Warrior Bunnies Fighter Infantry Platoon, 1st Battalion."she said from memory.
"Okay, Fedia, tell me. Why are you here?"Delilah asked.
"Because…I…I want to take revenge on Sadera for what they done to us."Fedia replied seriously."For what they did to my family and me."
"And what they did to them?"
"I had a husband and a daughter. Both were beheaded by Saderans and then, they…used me as a sex toy."Darker color flashed on Fedia's face, but it was quickly replaced by straight face.
"Exactly. You're not the only one who came through something like that."Delilah put her hand on Fedia's arm."This is why I want you to keep strong. Fight until you get what you want. And after that, kick some Saderan ass."
"But I still don't know, why do we have to be here."Fedia admitted.
"We're here for two reasons: first, HO is a danger not only for Resistance, but also for us. That';s why we have to fight them, so we won't need to live under their rule. Got it?"
Fedia nodded.
"Good. And second reason: you have to gain some experience. After all, simulators are not everything. If you learn to kill Holies, Saderans will be easy pray."Deliah ended with devilish smile.
Fedia returned the smile.
"Of course, sir."Fedia saluted.
"Good. So go to your team and get them ready for battle."
"Yes, sir!"
Fedia turned around and went to her team.
"Motivational speech from you?"Emmy asked."That's new."
"Shut up."Delilah replied.
Right then, her communicator came to life.
"This is Delilah, what is it?"she asked.
"We're about to exit the hyperspace."flight controller said."Get into your fighters."
"Copy that, Barry."Delilah replied and ended the call."Alright, people, the time is coming! Get in the planes!"
"Yes, sir!"all Warrior Bunnies exclaimed.
Quickly, everyone started getting into the planes and preparing hem for take off. Next, the PA system came to life:
"Exiting hyperspace in 3…2…1…Now!"
Ship exited the hyperspace and immediately, they all heard and felt the shaking from all the fire. If ship had to open fire immediately after exiting hyperspace, it meant that the situation was really hard.
"All fighters, take off, now!"PA system said.
Fighters started taking off and flew towards the hangar doors. As fast as they could, they crossed the barrier between the inside of the ship and space, finding themselves in the heat of the battle.
"Holy shit…"Emmy said.
"Yeah…"Delilah agreed.
Saying that the space around Mobius was crowded, would be an understatement. There was literally ship on ship. Sheer number of shells, lasers and missiles being fired literally could make you blind, not to mention how many enemy fighters there were.
"Do we know, how many of them are there?"Helley asked.
"I heard that some over two thousand HO ships."Ves replied.
"Holy fuck…"Kenya said.
Right then, everyone's radars were filled with information of enemy fighters approaching the almost one hundred fighters.
"All units, spread out and take down enemy fighters quick."Delilah ordered to all of 1st Battalion.
"Sir, yes, sir!"Warrior Bunnies replied.
All platoons flew in different directions, starting to take down enemy fighters.
Delilah dropped behind enemy MiG and fired her guns at it. Enemy pilot did not expect the attack and was easily shredded by the fire. Emmy fired a missile at enemy fighter-bomber, which didn't destroy the enemy craft, but shrapnel from the explosion managed to penetrate the sheathing, making smoke trail behind it. Emmy just finished it with her 50mm.
Kenya and Macy managed to 'sandwich' enemy fighter and then, they quickly flew in opposite directions and immediately scored two more kills on enemy fighters. Helley was being chased by enemy fighter and evading it's attacks. When she saw that the time has come, she performed Cobra and landed behind the enemy. Quick series from gun destroyed him.
"Ves, how are you doing?"Delilah asked.
"Pretty good."Ves replied.
Ves, on the other hand, had another task at hand. More precisely, she was supposed to test a new weapon designed by Resistance R&D: PL-88.
Designed by Chinese CATIC company, it was armed with warhead shaped like a needle, designed after Ichroid needles, which turned out to be good at penetrating armors of the best armored ships, even Hadadrian Super Battleships, which more defected to Resistance from Holy Order. This is why, after some research, this missile was created. It was supposed to be new, anti-Super Battleship weapon, but it was not tested in battle. And today, was the day.
Fortunately, as it turned out, there were a lot of Hadadrian Super Battleships, which meant, a lot of possible test subjects.
"Alright Ves, you go."Delilah said.
Ves turned towards the closest Super Battleship. Enemy fighters and PDC started firing at her, but she managed to evade all of that. And when she was several hundred kilometers away from the Hadadrian Super Battleship, she fired the missile.
Missile made it's way towards the ship and before anyone said anything, or before any PDC could react, it reached the ship and penetrated the armor. When it was inside, the nuclear warhead detonated and torn the ship apart from inside. Ship was divided in two.
"Holy shit, that worked!"Emmy said.
"All units armed with PL-88s, they are working!"Ves said to all other pilots armed with experimental missiles."Use them when you can!"
"Copy that."other users of PL-88 said.
"Okay, with this experiment done, let's continue the carnage."Delilah said.
With that, the team returned to focusing on battle.
12:02
Surface of Mobius
While the battle in space continued, the battle was also taking place o the surface, where Holy Order forces already landed and tried to take most important points on the planet. They already failed to take the capital city, which was now nothing but a nuclear crater, so they couldn't fail next time.
One of such points, was an Enean temple placed on Northern continent, serving as a weapon manufacturing facility. There, they were met with resistance of Federates States' 9th Infantry Division and United Republic's 79th Independent Tank Brigade. Over seventeen thousand Mobians had over thirty thousand Holy Order troops against them.
"Sir, I can see movement!"one of UR's troops said.
Colonel Vince Klees of Federated States Army grabbed his binoculars and looked in the direction pointed by the soldier. He was right. Enemy troops appeared on the field, for now only few of them, but there surely would be more.
"Send them some warnings."Klees said.
"On it."machine gunner said.
He aimed the machine gun at the enemy and pulled the trigger. Several bullets were sent towards enemy scouts, forcing them to hide.
"Maybe I should simply blast them?"machine gunner asked.
"Maybe, but not now."Klees replied."What about air support?"
"I can't contact our units, sir."communication officer said.
"They must be jamming us."
"Possibly."
"What do we do then?"a private asked.
Klees looked around and didn't say anything. He replied to this question so many times already, that he stopped liking it.
"Sir, more movement!"same soldier as before said.
"How many?"Klees turned to him.
"I think…that they're now getting serious…"
Once more, Klees grabbed his binoculars and looked in that direction. There, he saw a number of enemy APCs approaching their positions.
"Alright, get ready to fight!"Klees ordered.
Right then, first laser shots flew over his head. HO APCs already opened fire at them. They couldn't leave it like that.
"TOWs, go for it."Klees said.
Two TOW missile positions were soon engulfed by white smoke and four anti-armor missiles flew towards the incoming enemy force. High-explosive warheads were clearly effective. Three of them pierced right through the armor and made three vehicles explode, slashing with burning parts in all directions. Fourth missile missed it's target, but it sill managed to inflict damage on incoming enemy troops when it exploded between them.
"Good one!"colonel cheered."Second salvo…"
Before Kless could finish, both positions were covered by large piles of dust and fire.
"Sir, enemy artillery, incoming!"comms officer said.
"Get down!"
Everyone that could quickly ducked behind the cover, before first plasma shells hit the ground. Everything around was suddenly muffled by explosions. Dirt, metal and body parts were flying in all directions, while screech of torn metal was getting through them. Screams of wounded were quickly cut short, when second salvos managed to score hits in their places.
Kless was surely not expecting that. For the twelve years he's been fighting Republic, he never found himself under such highly concentrated artillery bombardment. It seemed as if HO was preparing for the final push.
Few seconds later, the bombardment stopped and everyone could stand up.
"Report casualties."Kless threw into the ether.
"This is Xin, no casualties."one of infantry commanders reported.
"Lascyk here, five killed, eight wounded, two tanks destroyed."armored platoon commander reported.
"Kole reporting, seven dead, nine wounded, two IFVs down."mechanized company commander reported.
"Two out of five TWOs gone."TOW commander reported.
"They're coming!"a private shouted.
Klees looked at the foreground before their defenses and saw Holy Order units approaching their position in armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. He could also make out shapes of several tanks between them and some infantry following them. Probably vehicles had more soldiers inside of them.
"All units, open fire, don't let the enemy get to the temple."Klees ordered."If they do, they will have access to a LOT of Enean weapons. We can't let them have it!"
"Understood!"all other commanders replied.
Without taking much longer, the orders were given to all units and entire line erupted with fire directed towards approaching Holy Order units. Of course, enemy started returning fire, as APCs and IFVs stopped and opened their back doors, letting soldiers out. Machine guns on Mobian lines were managing to mow down some of them, forcing them to quickly hide.
Klees heard regular pounding. Masked tanks decided to finally open fire at the approaching enemy. Colonel saw one of tank shells hitting HO APC in the front and literally throwing it on the back. Next, vehicle exploded, sending burning parts in all directions. Other shells made real massacre among the approaching infantry.
"Haha, eat this!"Lascyk laughed in the radio.
"Continue firing, Lascyk."Klees ordered.
"On it, sir."tank commander said."We will…Whoa!"
"Lascyk, what's going on?"
"The tank is…floating!"
"Lascyk, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about…SHIT!"
Before Klees could ask any more questions, he had to quickly duck down, when four remaining tanks from Lascyk's platoon flew over his head and slammed right into the defenses. After few seconds, they exploded, killing everyone around them.
"Sir, what was that…?"one of soldier asked.
"I think I know."Klees replied.
When he was a kid, his grandfather used to tell him the stories of an alien race, which could pick up things with the force of their mind. He grabbed his binoculars and looked into Holy Order lines. It was quite chaotic in there, but if his assumptions were right…
There it was! Short, gray-skinned alien with big head and dark, shining eyes. It had no suit or other kind of clothing and followed advancing soldiers.
"Oh, no, you little bastard."Klees said.
Another bunch of defenses started to float up into the air, so he had to act fast. Colonel grabbed his riffle and looked at the Fez'Kilig through the sights. Alien seemed to literally heat up the air around it's head while using it's powers. Suddenly, he looked right towards Klees, but colonel didn't flinch.
He pulled the trigger and first bullet flew towards the creature. It hit right in the middle of it's chest, making it stop using it's telekinesis. Soldiers and weapons fell on the ground where they stood before. He fired second time and another bullet hit the alien in the left leg. Third bullet hit the right, forcing Fez'Kilig to knees. And fourth bullet ended it.
Four bullet hit the alien in the head, making it literally explode and send a heatwave around it. The heat which accumulated in Fez'Kilig's head came from the fact, that when the race used it's powers, their brains were heating up to really high temperatures, which were not hurting them, but when the brain was destroyed, the entire heat was being freed and could burn anyone in close vicinity. Just like it now did to Holy Order soldiers surrounding the Fez'Kilig.
Klees, though, had no time to celebrate his kill, because one of communication officers patted his arm.
"What is it?"Klees asked.
"I just called Retion Air Base."officer said.
"And?"
"They were just bombed, all dropships and fighters destroyed, no way air support for us."
"Damn it."
"Incoming!"
Explosion erupted in the trench next to Kless'. Enemy tanks started opening fire, now supported by Holy Order VVI-45 assault guns.
"TOWs!"Klees ordered.
"Sir, TOWs are out."one of his officers said.
"What? When?"
"Two were destroyed by the falling tanks, last got shot to bits."
"Fuck."
Without TOWs, their situation just became worse than before. They only had several shoulder-fired AT missiles, not to mentions, that none of their vehicles had any kind of TOWs mounted on them. They could destroy few of the enemy vehicles, while others would just simply drive over them.
"What are the orders?"officer asked.
"Just fight, we're not giving them this temple!"irritated Klees shouted.
He was not the type to throw soldiers at the enemy without thinking or send them to their deaths, but now, they had no other options. It was victory or death.
Time after time, HO tanks and assault guns fired shells at them, exploding in the defenses. Laser guns on the APCs were shredding Mobian soldiers and throwing their parts in all directions. It seemed, like they really won't be able to last for too long.
"Sir, can you hear that?"one of soldiers asked.
"Hear what?"Klees asked back.
"Just listen."
Klees started listening and between the shots, explosions and sounds of vehicles moving, he could hear the characteristic sound of jet engines. But where would they come from? This surely wasn't from Retion and all other bases were too far from here.
"Look!"one of privates shouted.
Everyone looked where he pointed and saw what he saw. A wing of dropships with United Nations markings approaching their position. They flew over their heads and towards approaching Holy Order forces. Seeing approaching enemy, HO soldiers tried to turn and run, but were not allowed to. Wave of unguided missiles shot from pylons under dropships' wings and flew towards the enemy troops. They started piercing the armor of vehicles and tearing flesh apart, as detonations made everyone cover their ears.
Some of dropships approached the defensive position and touched down. Side doors and ramps opened and soldiers started pouring out, followed by vehicles.
"Who is in command here?"one of UN soldiers asked.
"It's me."Klees said."Colonel Vince Klees, Federated States Army."
"Colonel Bjorn Homf, United Nations Marine Corps."UN officer introduced himself."I see you put up a fight here."
"Yeah…But it was a Pyrrhic victory."Mobian stated.
Homf patted his arm.
"Don't worry. We'll take over from here. You can rest."he said."Let's go and finish them off, people!"
"ORAH!"Marines replied.
United Nations vehicles allowed soldiers to get in or on top of them, while dropships took off. Soon, they followed the running HO forces.
"So…"Klees' deputy said."What do we do now?"
Klees just sighed and sat down on the ground, taking off his helmet.
"Do whatever you want. I'll take a nap here."he said and dozed off.
12:54
Orbit of Mobius
Fred was sitting in his chair, looking at the information coming from the battlefield. As for now, everything was going pretty good. Holy Order, completely surprised by the sudden appearance of Resistance fleets, was not able to shake themselves off quick enough and already large number of their ships were changed into simple wrecks or new stars. Their numbers were falling down like crazy, while Resistance scored only few losses.
"Anna, how are we doing?"admiral turned to his First Officer.
Anna grabbed her tablet and looked at what she got there.
"All according to plan."she replied."As for now, we landed forty thousand troops all around the planet, with thousands more coming to land. We're managing to push back all Holy Order assaults on Mobian positions and we currently crushed two groups of enemy forces. When it comes to space, we already managed to destroy three hundred enemy vessels and damage two hundred more. I must point out, that most of enemy destroyed ships are smaller vessels like Frigates or Corvettes."
"Thank you."Fred took sip of his coffee."What about White Squadron?"
Russian pressed something on her tablet.
"They reported just few minutes ago, saying, that they are approaching one of Enean temples, which is supposed to be a key to controlling this technology, that could help HO in winning the war."
"Good, monitor them."
"On it, sir."
"Sir, incoming call."comms officer said.
"Patch it through."
Hologram of Tyuule appeared.
"What do you need?"Fred asked.
"I just got call from White Squadron."Warrior Bunny replied."They request a support."
Fred and Anna looked at each other.
"Well, that was quick."admiral thought."If you have someone, send them."
"On it."Tyuule said and disconnected.
Back in the battle, Delilah and rest of her team continued to fight the swarms of enemy fighters and bombers. She just dropped behind another enemy and shredded it with short series from her gun. She was followed by Emmy and Macy, which 'sandwiched' enemy fighter and sent it flying into Nakatan Destroyer flying by.
"How many who killed?"Emmy asked."I killed eighteen."
"Twenty five."Delilah said.
"Twenty three."Helley said.
"Twenty two."Macy said.
"Twenty."Ves said.
"Same."Kenya said."
Emmy puffed her cheeks.
"Really, I'm the only one under twenty?"she asked.
"Pretty much."Delilah agreed.
Suddenly, she got a call.
"Delilah here, what is it?"
"Delilah, I'm sending you to the surface."Tyuule said.
"What, why?"team commander asked.
"White Squadron requested support. You are the best option."
"Eh, understood."Delilah disconnected and connected with her team."Girls, we're going to the surface. White Squadron wants some support."
"Understood."everyone replied.
Soon, rest of the squadron joined her and all flew towards the planet.
"Atmospheric flight in 3…2…1…Now!"Delilah said.
Six fighters started burning towards the surface.
On Selene, Tyuule watched a hologram of the six fighters flying towards the planet.
"Sir, 1st Platoon is on the way to the target."radar officer said.
"I can see that."captain replied."What about any danger for us?"
Radar officer looked at his radar and after few seconds, looked back at Tyuule.
"There is an enemy Heavy Cruiser coming at us, sir."he said."Orders?"
"I think you know."Warrior Bunny replied with smile.
All of the bridge crew smiled too. They served with Tyuule since the ship was integrated into Task Force 03 and knew, how reserved she was at the beginning, keeping in the back of fighting. But after almost a year, her style changed and became more aggressive.
"On it, sir!"main engineer said.
He turned to his console and few seconds later, ship started flying towards approaching Heavy Cruiser. Holy Order ship noticed this and started firing it's missiles, but all were shot down by Selene's PDC fire.
"First salvo, fire!"Tyuule ordered.
Soon, wave of missiles left the tubes and flew towards the Heavy Cruiser. Their PDCs started firing, but were less accurate and allowed large amount of missiles to pass through. Not long after, several explosions appeared on the hull, breaking umber of holes in it and destroying some weaponry.
"Salvo two, fire!"
Second salvo flew towards the ship and this time, it finished the job. Heavy Cruiser was no able to survive the second salvo, especially, when one of the missiles pierced the armor and managed to reach the reactor. Not long after, it exploded, engulfing the vessel and evaporating most of it.
"Enemy ship down."radar officer said.
"Good. Now, rest is with Delilah and the others."captain stated.
Ship then turned to support rest of the Resistance fleet with fire.
13:13
Mobius' airspace
Warrior Bunnies were already inside of the planet's atmosphere, easily evading Holy order units trying to block the way. While going there, they managed to easily destroy several enemy fighters, which were already operating within the atmosphere. Now, they were going to support the White Squadron.
"So, where do we have to go?"Emmy asked.
"I'll try contacting Ester."Delilah said.
She activated her radio and started transmitting.
"This is Warrior Bunny 1-1 to White 1, respond."she said.
Silence.
"Warrior Bunny 1-1 to White 1, answer."
Again.
"Oh, come on, really?"Emmy asked.
"I will try more."Delilah replied.
"Hello, Delilah? Is that you?"Ester sounded in the radio.
"Finally. How are you?"Warrior Bunny asked.
"Pretty well, we stopped years long war, discovered HO plot and fond out two mercenaries supporting both sides of the conflict, were in fact working for Holy Order."Ester replied."So, in short, nothing interesting."
Delilah sighed.
"Alright, where are you?"
"I'll send you our coordinates."
Not long after, information appeared on Delilah's visor.
"Okay, we're going there."
She pulled the pilot stick and put the machine on the right side. Other followed her and were flying in the same direction, which was around one hundred kilometers East of their current position. According to computer, they should reach the place within just four minutes at the current speed.
After that time, what they saw, made them wide-eyed. Giant, ten kilometers tall, metal tower, hovering over the ground. It was covered by black-green metal, shining in the bright sun. Not to mention, that the green parts were also shining with their own light.
"Wow."all Warrior Bunnies said.
"Impressive, right?"Ester said in radio.
"Yeah…Where do we have to land?"Delilah replied.
"Somewhere in the middle of the tower, is a landing pad. You will recognize it after dropship standing there."
"On it."Delilah replied and disconnected."Let's go."
Six craft flew towards the middle of the structure and circled around it for a second, before Macy noticed the landing pad with older model of dropship standing there.
"Well, we're landing then."
With these words, they flew towards the pad and extended their landing gear. Next, they turned on their VTOL engines and slowly touched down next to the dropship. They all got out and grabbed their weapons. After checking the ammo status and equipment readiness, everyone looked at Delilah.
"Let's go."she simply said.
Group started running after her. Fortunately, there was only one way and it hopefully led to White Squadron.
"Man, how advanced someone had to be to build this?"Ves asked, looking at the structure around them.
"They said Eneans were even more advanced than any civilization currently living. So I guess that very."Helley replied.
"Shame Ichroids made them go extinct."Kenya stated.
"Yeah…"
"Hey, here!"a familiar voice said.
The six looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ester waving at them, accompanied by the rest of her team. They approached them and quickly shook hands.
"Good to finally see you."Ester said.
"Same."Delilah replied."You know that you scared command so much, that they almost lost their pants?"
Everyone laughed.
"I imagine."Ana said.
"So."Emmy said."What is it you need our help with?"
"Well…"
Ester turned towards something and Warrior Bunnies looked in the same direction. What they saw, was a giant door.
"That's a big door."Macy stated the obvious.
"Yes. And we need something big to destroy it."Dora said."I hope you have some explosives?"
Delilah and the rest looked at each other. Of course they had. Every soldier in UNSA was equipped with at least one C4 charge. You never know, when you can need it.
"Sure."Delilah said, pulling out her C4 from backpack.
"Good. Now, we just need…"Ester tried to say.
"Look out!"Jackie exclaimed, pointing at something.
What they all saw, was a smoking dropship approaching them.
"Who is it?"Fatima asked.
"Wait…"Liz said, activating zoom in her visor.
And when she did that, she widened her eyes.
"HOLY SHIT!"she shouted.
"What?!"Ester asked.
"Look at this!"Liz replied.
Ester and Dora also activated their zoom and looked towards the dropship. Because it was older model, it still had plexiglass in front, so seeing who was the pilot, wasn't hard. And what the two saw, was a pair of well known mercenaries. One wearing green-tainted armor and helmet and second, wearing simple Marine Corps outfit and a mask with red eyes.
"You shitting me?!"Ester exclaimed."Dora, you said you got rid of those two!"
"Well, duh! We dropped a fucking spaceship on them!"Dora replied."We thought it should kill them!"
"Whoa re they anyway?"Delilah asked, also using zoom.
"Dexter and Ravage, two mercs fighting on both sides of Mobian Civil War. Turned out, they wanted to turn on a doomsday device, which could destroy a life on an entire planet by altering the magnetic field and staying safe in the control center. Dora and Aqi managed to stop them."Ester explained.
"After that, we turned around the power of the device and crashed HO ship which was on the orbit right into it, thinking, that they died with the device."Aqi joined.
"Seems like they didn't."Helley stated.
"Yeah…"Dora replied.
"Look out!"Yuko shouted.
Everyone quickly jumped aside, when dropship piloted by two mercenaries simply crashed into the ground. It moved for few more meters, before finally stopping place, motionless. Machine laid like that for few seconds, before it's frontal window was literally kicked out and two mercenaries crawled out of it.
"I told you to land normally."Ravage said.
"Yadi, yadi, yada…You think that I care? Besides, I couldn't miss a chance to get them."Dexter replied.
"You really are reckless."
"And you are emotionless machine."
They looked around and saw all members of White Squadron and Warrior Bunnies slowly standing up.
"You really don't know when to surrender, do you?"Dexter asked.
"Fuck off."Dora replied.
"Hahaha! Still sharp. Nothing changed by these few hours."Mercenary waved her off."Sorry, but we have to take care of something."
"Yes."Ravage simply said.
They started walking towards the main door inside the structure. They stood in front of them and Dexter started doing something on his hand terminal.
"No you don't!"Ester shouted.
She pointed her riffle and them and pulled the trigger. But before bullets hit them, Ravage turned around and deployed some kind of holographic shield, which stopped the bullets.
"Don't even try. I have with me a micro-nuke."Ravage said, pulling out a cylindrical object."If you kill me, his thing will explode and we all go down."
"Really?"Arlette asked.
"Really what?"Rvage asked.
"This is it? You want to simply die for Holy Order?"the French continued.
"They pay us really good. Or at least they promised to pay us."
She laughed dryly.
"You really believe they pay you? More likely, that they will pay you with bullet in the back of the head."
Ravage didn't answer. Instead, he seemed to…hesitate for a bit?
"I…"
"Rav, stop talking to those loser and let's go."Dexter said, grabbing his weapon from his back."We have something else to do."
As he said that, the door started opening, revealing a long corridor. Two mercenaries quickly ran inside.
Meanwhile, everyone started quickly getting up and grouping up back together.
"Well, that was an explosive entrance."Macy said.
"You think it's a joke?"Helley asked.
Macy just shook her head.
"Stop talking and better let's move!"Emmy exclaimed.
"Ester?"Delilah asked.
"Yes. Let's go."Ester said.
With that, the group followed the two.
Few minutes later…
After running inside the structure, White Squadron and Warrior Bunnies were greeted by large number of turns and bends, had to sometimes stop to think where to go, not to mention the situations, when they had to split, because they had several ways, which ultimately turned out to lead to the same place.
"Who the fuck came up with this idea?"Yuko asked.
"When I meet any Enean, I'll ask them."Liz replied.
"I was just asking."Japanese tried to defend herself.
"Cut the chat, ladies."Ester said."We don't know, what awaits us in here. We need to stop these two from whatever they are doing."
"Right!"everyone replied.
Suddenly, Emmy jerked up.
"What is it?"Dora asked.
"They are doing something in there, I heard it."Emmy replied.
"Yeah, we all did."Delilah confirmed."Like…clicking something."
"Damn it!"
The group started running faster than before, hoping, that they will stop two mercenaries, before they manage to do whatever they were doing. They were directed by one thought only: if Holy Order wanted it, they had to get it first.
"Just behind that corner!"Delilah exclaimed.
And she was right. Seconds later, they reached their target.
"Wow…"Emiko said.
They found themselves in a giant hall. It was in dead center of the Enean tower, which was hollow inside. Giant, green beam of energy was going from top to bottom. Particles of the same green energy were circling in the air, glittering like little stars in the sky. There was a walkway around the walls of the hall. There also was some kind of extended platform, which stopped just in front of the giant beam.
And on that platform, was a pair of mercenaries, with one of them tinkering something at a holographic console.
"You two! Stop!"Ester exclaimed.
Dexter and Ravage turned around. Dexter had a triumphant smile on his face.
"Too late."he said and pressed the button.
"NO!"Dora exclaimed.
Soon, everything broke loose. Green beam suddenly gained more energy and expanded a bit, now being twice as large. All particles in the air started surging with energy and approached the beam, flying into it. Beam expanded again and this time, it fired a ball of energy high towards the ceiling of the tower.
White Squadron and Warrior Bunnies looked at Dexter and Ravage.
"Time out."Dexter stated.
At the same time…
Space around Mobius
While all of this was going on, battle around the planet started turning more and more in Resistance' favor. Holy Order was starting to lose more and more heavier of their ships, like Battleship, Carriers, Cruisers and even some Super Carrier were destroyed through join effort of the joint fleet.
"Anna."Fred turned to his FO."Reports."
"Enemy force was reduced more than a nine hundred ships, sir. Our own losses are just over three hundred by now."Anna replied.
Fred winced. That's what he wanted to evade, piling losses. This is why most of heavier vessels had additional escort of smaller ones. But well, sometimes, nothing can be fully predicted, especially in such chaos as now.
"Sir, we're getting strange readings."radar officer said.
Admiral immediately turned towards him.
"What readings?"he asked.
"Large amounts of ionized energy just started popping out around the planet. We don't know, what it is, but we…"
Radar officer was cut off by something, that happened seconds later. All across the planet, eight large beams shot from the atmosphere and connected right above the north pole. Next, they started expanding, until they created a circular shape. Then, this circular shape opened, showing large amount of asteroids floating around it.
Everyone on the bridge looked at this with wide open eyes.
"Anna, what are we looking at?"Richards asked.
Anna quickly looked at her tablet and pressed something. She was silent for few seconds, until she finally replied:
"Our science team just scanned it. It appears to be a quantum transferring device, capable of moving particles of mater from…"
"Speak like a Human, damn it!"Fred exclaimed.
"It's a teleport, sir."the Russian said.
"A teleport?"admiral blinked a few times."You're shitting me, right?"
"That's what the eggheads say."Anna just threw up her arms.
"So this thing can transport stuff from point A to point B?"
"Pretty much."
Admiral was about to say something, but stopped.
"Wait a second…Let's say that here, we have point A…Then where is point B?"he asked.
"Good question, sir."Anna agreed.
The two started thinking about possible options. There had to be a reason why this thing was activated.
"Sir, captain Tyuule on line."comms officer said.
"Give her here."Fred said and hologram appeared.
"Sir, we're observing large amount of enemy vessels turning towards…that."Warrior Bunny said, pointing at the teleport."Orders."
Even before she ended talking, the two knew what was going on.
"Shit…If they wanted to get here to have something to quickly win the war…"Fred said.
"Then that must mean that point B is…"Anna continued.
"…in Sol!"they both exclaimed.
Fred quickly turned back to Tyuule.
"Captain, tell everyone to immediately stop any enemy trying to reach the teleport!"he ordered.
"Yes, sir!"Tyuule replied and disconnected.
"Anna, contact Sol and tell them to search for any trace of anomalies in asteroid belts and if they find any, they have to send forces there!"
"On it!"
Anna turned around and activated her tablet. Fred looked at the teleport once again and waited in anticipation for what was going to happen.
Back in the tower…
"What the hell did you do?!"Dora shouted.
Dexter laughed.
"We just made this war a hell lot easier for our employers."he replied.
"Within few minutes, entire HO fleet will appear in Sol and take Earth, forcing Resistance to surrender."Ravage said.
"Like that's ever gonna happen."Ana said.
"It will, believe us."Dexter stated."But now…"
Two mercenaries pulled out their weapons and aimed them at the group.
"We have some unfinished business, ladies."Dexter stated."You still didn't paid us for revealing our little plot."
"And we never will."Ester said."Besides, there is only two of you against all of us. You think you stand a chance?"
"Then why don't we even things out?"Venomous smile appeared on Dexter's face.
He again pressed something on his hand terminal and soon, something started happening. More particles appeared in the air and started gathering in front of two mercenaries. Next, there was a flash of light and where the particles connected, stood several machines. They had a torso shaped like a standard, triangular shield, with arms and legs made out of long, triangular modules. The limbs were not attached to the bodies, but just hovering near them.
"What are those things?"Aqi asked.
"Just some Enean security."Dexter replied and pointed at them."Fire."
Enean machines pointed their arms at them.
"Hide!"Ester and Delilah shouted.
Everyone did as they were told and quickly ducked behind any form of cover they could find. As they did that, Enean machines started firing green balls of plasma at them. Fortunately, covers, also made of Enean materials, were able to withstand the impacts.
"I have a question."Macy said.
"Yes?"Ana, hiding with her and blindly firing over the cover, said.
"How is that guy capable of controlling Enean stuff?"
"Seems like HO gave him some kind of computer code they created using Enean tech."Yuko replied from behind the second cover."I gotta get that when we get them."
"No time for that, Yuko."Dora said.
She looked over the cover and aimed her weapon at group of machines. With pull of a trigger, she sent several bullets towards the group. Bullets managed to hit one of the machines and pierced it's armor. It fell on the ground and it's limbs stopped being attached to it's body. Also, all green lights on it turned off.
"I got one."Dora reported.
Next, she quickly hid behind the cover, as several machines turned towards her.
"What about the others?"Lena asked.
"The hell if I know."Aquexymeva replied.
She put her weapon over the cover and fired blindly. Helley looked out of the cover and took a shot with her riffle. Precise shot literally torn apart three machines. But again, she had to hide not to get hit.
"If it continues like that, we will not do anything."she stated."Every time we kill some, new ones take their place."
"Yeah."Emmy said."Any ideas?"
"Head empty…"Ves said.
"Same."Arlette said.
"I have one!"Macy said.
"What do you mean?"Delilah asked.
"Yuko, Helley, do you see Dexter?"
Two snipers looked out of their cover a little.
"Yeah."the two said.
"Can one of you try and shoot his hand terminal?"
"I can try."Yuko said.
She leaned from the cover and looked down her scope towards Dexter, still pressing something on his arm.
"Got it."Japanese said.
She pulled the trigger and bullet flew towards the mercenary. It pierced right through the hand terminal, making it explode.
"AAAAAAAARGH!"Dexter exclaimed.
He looked at his hand, which was almost completely gone because of the explosion.
"YOU BITCHES!"he shouted.
"Now what?"Kenya asked.
Macy responded by pulling out a grenade.
"Oh, I see what you planning."Delilah said, also pulling it out.
"On my mark…"Macy said."Throw!"
Everyone threw out their grenades, which landed between the group of Enean machines and explode, massacring them in an instant, sending parts of armor in all directions. Machines couldn't even say a word in that regard, when another wave of killing came. Everyone jumped from behind their cover and finished whatever was left of guardians of this place. Soon, all Enean machines were destroyed and no more appeared.
"That was easy."Lena said.
"Yeah. Now, them."Dora said.
Everyone looked at two mercenaries. Dexter had literal fires in his eyes.
"YOU BITCHES! IF YOU THINK, THAT YOU WON, THEN YOU'RE WRONG!"Dexter turned to his companion."RAVAGE! TAKE CAR OF THEM! I'LL GO AND SECURE THE TRANSPORT FOR US!"
"On it."Ravage replied and pulled out his weapon.
Dexter, in the meantime, left the platform and chamber itself, leaving only White Squadron, Warrior Bunnies and Ravage.
"Let me take care of that."Dora said.
She gave her weapon to Ester and went forward.
"So you want to face me alone?"Ravage asked."Very brave of you. But when I…"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"Dora shouted and charged at him.
Mercenary, surprised and stunned by this turn of events, couldn't react in time. Dora ran into him and rammed with all her weight. Mercenary staggered backwards, before reaching the edge of the platform and almost falling, before Dora caught him.
"You…"he said.
"Rule number 1: don't let enemy surprise you."Dora replied with smile."Didn't they tell you in training, buddy?"
"You won't win."
"We shall see."
Without saying anything else, she let him go and he fell into the green beam. His scream pierced the air for few seconds, before he was changed into a cloud of particles by the beam. Everyone had their jaws dropped.
"That was easy."Kenya said.
"And it had to hurt."Liz summed.
"Yeah…"Ester said."Deli, what about Dexter?"
Delilah focused her hearing, until she heard the footsteps.
"If I'm right, he's around halfway through the corridor."she replied.
"Let's go then!"Ana said.
And thus, they followed Dexter.
Later…
Dexter quickly ran out of the Enean tower and started looking around. He had to quickly get out of here. On the way, he heard Ravage's scream, which could mean only one thing. He was dead. Motherfucker…Said to be one of the deadliest mercs in known universe and yet, he got easily killed by bunch of teenage bitches and ladies with rabbit ears. Who the hell heard about anything like that happening before?!
Now, to get to that dropship these girls came here with. He hoped, that he'll do it before…
"Stop!"he heard.
Mercenary turned around and saw White Squadron and Warrior Bunnies, aiming their weapons at him.
"Don't move!"Dora exclaimed.
"Like hell I will!"Dexter replied.
He set his arm in front of him and activated the holographic shield he mounted in his armor recently.
"You really think I'll give up so easily?"
"You should."Ester said."It's over."
"I do have a plan B, though."
Dexter turned around and showed what he had on his back, while still keeping his shield in front of him.
"Is that…?"Emmy asked.
"Ravage's nuke?"Dexter smiled."Sure. One your move and I blow it up. We all die."
"You really think, that we believe it?"Delilah asked.
"Why not?"mercenary asked back.
"We know, how much you value your life."Ester replied."You wouldn't be so stupid to do it. You really want to live."
Mercenary tightened his teeth.
"No…"he said."I won't let you dis…"
Before he could end, Ana fired her weapon at him. He deflected the shot. Aqi and Lena followed, with the same result. Next were Warrior Bunnies, but Dexter deflected all of their shots with his shield.
"You bitches…You don't think I was ready for that?"Dexter asked.
"But are you ready for this?"Dora asked.
While others distracted Dexter with their shots, Dora moved a little to the side and was now ready to finally deal with it.
"Catch this."she said.
She threw a grenade, which rolled under Dexter's legs. Mercenary wasn't fast enough to react.
"NO!"he exclaimed, but it was too late.
Grenade exploded, pushing him over the edge of the platform. Soon, he was falling down towards the Mobian surface, screaming and cursing both White Squadron and Warrior Bunnies.
"Well, that was even easier."Lena stated.
"Yeah. But now, we should get out of here."Delilah said.
"Sure. Let's go."Ester said.
Two teams went to the pad, where they left their machines. Once there, Warrior Bunnies got into their fighters, while White Squadron jumped into the dropship. All machines took off and flew around the Enean tower, which was still firing the beam into the air.
"Wow."everyone said, once they saw giant disk over their heads.
"I think we finally know, what HO wanted from here."Liz said.
"Seems like it."Ester replied.
"What do we do then?"Delilah asked.
"I have an idea…"White Squadron commander said.
She turned the dropship to face the tower. Next, she activated laser pointer attached to it's weapons compartment.
"This is major Barkhorn to fleet."she said in the radio.
"We hear you, major."radio officer at Hope replied.
"We're marking the target. Send a shell into it."
"And what is the target?"
"Something, that might help with that giant thing over our heads."
"Copy that."
Seconds later, Battleship fired it's main cannon and sent a shell into the atmosphere. Not long after, shell pierced through the tower right in the middle, causing an explosion, which broke the tower in half. The beam stopped firing into the sky, as both halves of the tower started falling towards the ground.
Mobian space…
"Sir, the portal is closing!"Anna exclaimed.
Everyone on the bridge watched as giant portal over the planet starts to disappear. Some Holy Order ships already crossed it, but not much, while the ones that were starting to cross, were met with bad surprise, when portal closed, cutting their ships in half. In short, HO forces in Sol were now cut off from the rest.
"Haha! That's what I like to see!"Fred exclaimed.
"Orders?"Anna turned to him.
"Orders? Simple. Blast all what's left of them to shreds!"admiral ordered.
And so it was. Suddenly, Resistance's fleet found new fighting spirit and started charging at remainder of Holy Order forces. As you might've expect, they didn't have a lot of chances.
Back on the surface…
White Squadron and Warrior Bunnies already landed far away from the place, where Enean tower fell from the sky and now watched the battle over the planet coming to a slow end.
"Well, seems like it's gonna end pretty soon."Emmy said.
"Yeah, now, when their 'great plan' failed, Holy Order will surely think twice, before gathering majority of it's fleet in one place."Liz said.
"You think they will manage to destroy all of the ships that came here?"Kenya asked.
"Nah, some will run away, but HO fleet surely won't stand up after such defeat for a long time."Ana stated.
"Yeah."Lena agreed.
Delilah looked around and noticed one thing.
"Where are Ester and Dora?"she asked.
"There."Arlette said.
Everyone looked in direction she pointed and saw Ester and Dora…hugging and kissing under the wing of the dropship. Warrior Bunnies widened their eyes.
"When did that happen?"Emmy asked.
"Well, Ester finally gathered enough courage to ask Dora out when we were in Mobius' capital, before it was nuked. Rest is just a history."Jackie said.
"I wonder if they already sleep with each other."Suvi said.
Everyone looked at her.
"I said it out loud?"she asked.
"Yes."everyone replied
"Well, fuck."
"You know, maybe we should just go?"Ana asked.
"Yeah…"Liz agreed."Tell the two we're leaving."
Few minutes later, everyone left the area, going towards Hope and Selene.
Battle of Mobius ended an hour later, with complete defeat of Holy Order fleet. Of course, some of the ships managed to escape, but they were mostly the smaller ones, with bigger vessels being in minority. With it being the biggest battle of the war, historians still argue, how many HO ships were destroyed or captured, but it's generally agreed, that between nine hundred and one thousand two hundred, including the ones that crossed into Sol, while it's known, that Resistance lost around three hundred seventy vessels of all sizes. Admiral Richards received official thanks from General Secretary for his decisions, which lead to such small losses compared to the enemy.
Without support of the fleet, HO ground forces quickly surrendered to joint Republic-Federal forces. Few days later, newly proclaimed President Natalie Jenkins declared the end of the civil war and reunification of the planet as Federal Republic of Mobius, which joined UN not long after. It became one of the more important naval bases of the UN.
With crisis at Mobius ended, Resistance could again focus on their main goal: bringing Holy Order down.
XXX
And there is another chapter finished. Next time, we will see the finale of Great Galactic War Arc. After that, we return to Falmart, where we see some more actions partaken by Resistance, as well as something, that could bring it to the edge of defeat in Special System. But that later.
Until the next one, see you!