Hello in 2022, guys and may this year be better for all of us! Anyway, here comes the next chapter. Last time, we've seen Coalition landing in pretty…'peculiar' situation, with both Gates destroyed and their forces being cut off from Milky Way and all kinds of support. Now, on the run, they need to find a way to fight back. But how? You'll find out really soon.

Now, reviews:

To S31tora: Yup.

To Testing write 123: 1. If only I knew someone who could fill that role… 2. It may sound stupid, but could you elaborate about these articles? And rewriting it at this point is way beyond my patience…

To Supreme Supra: I take that as a compliment.

To Guest: I have plans…

Okay, with that thing done, let's get straight to the point.

Chapter 41

,,Done running"

November 4, 2151

10:44

Falmart

Lieutenant Tru'Prot of Nashini Republic Armed Forces stood on top of a roof of Human-made GAZ, looking through his binoculars. In front of him was open grassy field, but around six kilometers in front of him, he could see large forest. More of a wilderness than a forest, but still pretty good. They needed a place to hide.

"Have anything, Tru?"his second in command, Human corporal named Louise Sloane, asked, looking up at him.
"That large forest in front of us. Should be enough."Tru replied, jumping off of the roof.

"Just hope the trees are thick enough."

"They have to be."

Saying that, he looked back at the column of around thirty cars, APCs, IFVs and three tanks mixed into that. Soldiers were running around, taking care of the vehicles.

It's been over two weeks since the Shit Day, or simply S-Day, as everyone started to call it from the lack of better term. When order from Fort Terhis came, small section of Nashini Marines Tru was in command of, was going to Bargry, where they had to change soldiers occupying the city. Order from admiral Richards shocked all of them, but they had no time to think much, as sudden attack on Bargry forced them to quickly retreat from there. They had no idea what happened after that.

And so, they wandered the lands, hiding anywhere they could from enemy air patrols, biting back when they could and simply trying to survive in this situation. On the way, they were being joined by more allied troops, which survived the massacre, which occurred on October 19 across the planet. As far as they all knew, they could be all that was left of Coalition.

The only reason they survived this long, was that they quickly agreed, that they need to ration their supplies. Food was no problem, they were living of whatever they hunted. Animals, fish, birds…Whatever worked. Fortunately, most alien members of their group, which now had around two hundred men and women, had no problem eating at least one of these things. Fuel was no problem, either. All cars and trucks had hydrogen-powered engines. Much to their luck, at the end of Great Galactic War, hydrogen-powered engines for tanks, APCs and IFVs started entering common use and even luckier, Coalition forces beyond the Gate had all engines replaced with hydrogen ones. Refueling them was easy, as it could be done in two ways: you could just add hydrogen to oxygen, or pour water into the engine, wait for it to extract hydrogen and evaporate water and done. Of course, the second way took longer, but it was as the only thing they could do.

Ammo was their only problem. After two weeks of running and occasionally fighting off some enemy forces, they had sixty five percent of what they started with. Which was still a lot, but they had to watch out how many they fire.

"How's the refueling?"Tru asked, looking at the river near them.
"Going as always."Louise replied."A bit slow, but we should be done within next one and half, two hours."
"Good. Keep an eye out on enemy craft."Lieutenant grabbed his GH23 assault riffle from inside the car.

"And what are you doing?"

"I'll go and find something to hunt."

"We still have a lot of fish and more are coming in."

Here, she pointed at some soldiers fishing in the river.

"I know, but honestly, I want some land animal meat."
"As you wish, boss."

"Alright. You are in charge while I'm gone."

With that, lieutenant turned around and started quickly walking towards the forest.

Walking these six kilometers took him no more than just fifteen minutes. For Nashini, such distance was nothing hard, considering their height and length of legs. Few times as he walked, he turned back towards his group, as if he was fearing, that looking away from them for more than five minutes, would end up in them being dead. And he really didn't want this. They were his friends and new family in this strange, unexpected situation. This is why he had to take care of them as best as he could.

Standing at the edge of the forest, he heard something behind the bushes in front of him. He slowly approached the bushes and moved them away, revealing big glade, just beyond the tree line. This had to be his lucky day, because on that glade, he saw a small herd of around eight moose, with one of them, probably a male, being as large as him and he was 2.3 meters, which according to Humans was tall, but in Nashini standards, he was of average height. The large moose was also really muscular, which, hopefully, meant that it had a lot of meat in it,

Tru couldn't fire from his current position, because numerical low-hanging branches were obscuring his view a bit and he didn't want that. This is why he decided to go up, where, as he hoped, he's gonna have clearer view. And because back on his homeworld of Fyrra III he was the best tree-climber among the kids, he had no problem with that.

Putting all his strength into it, he climbed up the tree, grabbing on branches and anything, which could be a support for him. The problem started, when he couldn't find a good branch, on which he could sit. Fortunately, there was one just above his head and so, he placed himself on it and pulled the weapon from his back.

Looking towards the glade, he could see all the moose still in the same area and this time, there was nothing in the way of the bullet. Smiling, lieutenant looked down the sight of his weapon and aimed at the large moose. Animal just leaned for another bite of the grass and when it's head was back up, Nashini aimed at it. His finger moved towards the trigger. He slowly pressed it…

Sudden, muffled 'bang' filled the glade. Moose, which was Tru's target, fell on the ground, when high-caliber bullet made it's head explode, making one of it's antlers fly. Seeing what happened, rest of the animals ran away.

Confused, Tru started looking around, trying to locate the source of the shot. Finally, his eyes stopped on pretty unnatural, shape on the other side of the glade. As he looked closer, he recognized Human Omar IFV painted in masking camouflage, hiding at the edge of trees. And next to it, he could see a figure slowly rising up, clad in ghillie suit, with long sniper riffle in it's hands. It's head turned and they both looked at each other.

Nashini slowly climbed down the tree and approached the dead moose, alongside the figure. As it came closer, he recognized a Human female with Asian face features, with face painted with camouflage paint.

They stood in front of each other for few seconds, not knowing what to say. Finally, Tru coughed.

"That was my moose."he said.
"Sorry, but I was faster."she said with smile.

Another second of silence.

"What's your name by the way, soldier?"girl asked.

"Lieutenant Tru'Prot."Tru replied.

"Ensign Yuko Hagamoki."Yuko introduced herself."What are you doing here?"

"I decided to hunt for some meat to eat. My group is lately eating nothing but fish."Nashini explained.

Yuko risen her eyebrow.

"Your group?"she asked.

"Yes, two hundred men and women."

Bright smile appeared on Yuko's face, as she threw down her riffle and started clapping wildly.

"Praise be the Lord!"she shouted."We thought there are no more of us left!"
"'Us'?"Tru asked, surprised."There are more?"

"Sure! Didn't notice that Omar there?"

Glancing at the said IFV, Tru saw it's crew looking out through the hatches and giving him a salute.

"I wondered how you got it here…"Nashini admitted.

"It acts as forward guard post."Yuko explained."Except me and the guys there, there are two thousand people and tens of vehicles hiding in this forest."

"HOW MANY?!"Tru asked, shocked.

"That many. Just come to the forest with your group, we'll be happy to accept you into our hideout."

"Sure thing!"

Next, he remembered one thing.

"What about the moose?"Tru said, pointing at the dead animal.
"We'll get it to our hideout and prepare it for you and your team. Let's say, that you got it."Yuko winked.

"Sure. We'll get there in two hours."

"Got it."

As quickly as he could, Tru ran through the bushes, while Yuko and crew of Omar took care of the moose. Nashini ran through the open field like crazy, approaching his group. Seeing their de facto leader, all soldiers turned their attention at him, wondering what made him rush towards them so fast.

He stopped in front of surprised Louise, which talked to one of the tank gunners about remaining tank ammo.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down…"she said."What is it?"

"We…don't…need to…run anymore…"he said between breaths.

"What do you mean?"confused woman asked.

"I just met more allies. They are hiding in that forest."lieutenant said after regaining his breath.

Hearing this, soldiers started looking at each other, murmuring, whispering, mostly exited, but also shocked and surprised by this message. By all this time, they thought they were all that was left of Coalition forces in Special System. And now, they had hope, that there was someone else still alive and they might find shelter.

"You serious?!"excited Louise exclaimed.
"Serious as fuck!"Tru replied with smile.

Soldiers suddenly erupted in cheers.

"Okay, people, when we finish refueling, we're going to meet them."lieutenant ordered.

"Yes, sir!"came the unanimous reply.

And so, the refueling continued for the next two hours, as soldiers awaited it to end with anticipation. When it ended, soldiers loaded into vehicles and drove towards forest. After entering it, they got anxious for a second, before seeing a Shakayan soldier dressed in standard USK Army uniform and overlay of leaves, masking him. He showed them to go down the side route and they complied.

They saw first sign of Coalition's presence in the forest appeared few meters later. Leopard 5 main battle tank dug into the ground, covered with masking net on top. They watched the vehicle as they passed and soon, more familiar signs started appearing. Bunkers made of earth and wood with machine guns, soldiers on the sides of the road aiming at said road, and two Minotauro 2B wheeled tank destroyers, dug in just like the tank.

Thirty vehicles passed by all of that, with soldiers looking in awe and not believing it was actually happening.

"Holy fuck…"Louise said from back seat of GAZ.

"Yeah…"Tru replied.

Soon, more soldiers appeared. They were tasked with leading all kinds of vehicles being part of Tru's group to respective masking spots. Meanwhile, Tru and Louise made it to the bigger glade, which was covered by various tents and workshops. They even saw two radar vehicles and large masking net spread all over their heads, attached to the trees.

"Wow…"Louise said again.
"Yeah…"Tru said again.

Right then, he was approached by Yuko, which he recognized, although she didn't have the ghillie suit and pain anymore.

"What will you say?"she asked.
"I'm really impressed, that you managed to hide all of this here."Tru admitted.

"Well, at the beginning, there was only slightly over twenty of us."Yuko started explaining."We found this forest and quickly made ourselves at home. Luck would have it, that we managed to contact some allies. Next, comms went down and we just waited. And in that way, we built this little safe heaven, from which we sometimes make raids on passing enemy foot patrols."

"With what results?"Louise asked. In their fights, they mostly had to run.

Yuko scratched back of her head.

"Mixed. Sometimes, we kill some of them, sometimes we just have to fall back."she replied."But we're doing our best here. Now come on, I'll introduce you to our boss."

The two followed the Japanese to the largest tent, which stood in middle of the glade. Soldiers looked at the newly arrived, giving them warm smiles or looks. They were always happy for more allies to come, although the forest was barely fitting them.

They entered the tent and saw some computers, desks and one holo-table in the middle. There, they saw the commander of the 'base', talking to a woman with bunny ears on her head.

"You sure, Delilah?"the commander asked.
"Yes."Delilah replied."As far as we know, there will be another patrol flying through here in two days."

"Sounds good to me. You can go."
"Of course."
Delilah saluted, turned around and walked away. Tru and Louise looked at the woman as she left the tent.

"Delilah is de facto leader of 1st Warrior Bunnies."Yuko said."They were one of the first units to get here after us."

"I heard about them."Tru said."They are the first unit made out completely of locals."

"And I heard there were some Faliens before S-Day."Louise added.

"Yeah, there were, but for now, mostly in support units."Yuko replied."Now come, let's introduce you."

The three approached base commander, which was looking at something on the datapad.

"Ester, these are the guys I told you about."Yuko said as they stood beside the commander.

Ester looked at them and smiled.

"Hi there."she said."Major Ester Barkhorn of White Squadron, welcome to our little safe heaven."

"Not so small."Tru said, pointing back.

"Yeah, there are many of us…"She smiled even wider and scratched back of her head."But we still keep it under the radar."

"With this many men and equipment?"Louise pointed back."I'm impressed they didn't find you yet. Especially with their air patrols."

"When there are some patrols coming, we just turn off everything and keep quiet until they go. Fortunately, they never decided to land troops, even after we attacked some of them."

"Lucky."Tru nodded.

"But enough of this."Ester clapped her hands."Go and make yourself comfortable. You deserve some rest."

"Yeah. Do you need anything else from us?"

"No. You can go for now. I just wanted to see you."

"Okay then."

With these words, Tru and Louise saluted, turned around and walked out of the tent. They took a deep breath and exhaled.

"What do you say?"Louise asked.

Tru looked at her and smiled.

"What I think?"he replied."I think, that we finally can stop running."

14:54

Sadera, Imperial Palace

Last weeks were very important for Saderan Empire as a whole. After finalizing the last things with King Tyrranius and Clan Ektrim, full-on modernization of Imperial Army started. Spears were replaced by evapguns, wyverns by flying machines and new, anti-gravity light land vehicles in place of horses allowed soldiers to move faster and better respond, especially when they had to again establish their dominance in newly created provinces where former Allied Kingdoms were.

In palace's throne room, things also looked different. Mainly, rows of desks with devices similar to computers, operated by Ektrims, as well as Ektrim version of large, round holo-table, which constantly showed hologram of the planet in the air.

Standing at the table, were Molt and Zorzal. Both Emperor and his sons had face expressions, which could simply burn anyone who looked them in the eyes. Molt was also pounding on the table with his fingers.

"Where the hell is he?"Zorzal asked.
"I don't know. But when he gets here…"Molt replied.

Finally, the main door opened and person they awaited appeared. Tyrranius approached them with a brisk step and smile on his face.

"Molt, my friend!"he said immediately."Why did you call me right now? I was currently talking with King Hipitos of Clan Fargor about their healing pod technology."

"You lied to us."Molt said slowly.

Smile quickly vanished from tall man's face.

"Lied? How did I lie?"he asked."I kept our side of the deal. You get Falmart and Western Orisia, we get Araluen and Kingdoms of West."

Both looked at the hologram of the planet, which showed their current influence zones. Currently, purple, which represented Sadera, covered basically all of Falmat, with only few white spots and former Blessed Empire of Orisia, while blue, representing territories of Alantian Clans, covered entire coastline of fourth continent, which they called Treruna, as well as all of Araluen and Kingdoms of West.

Not to mention color green, which represented Soutland. When Zander learned of alliance between Molt and Tyrranius, he quickly demanded to also be included. And so he was. Tyrranius threw Soutlandian army some weapons and let Zander play his war games, as former prince quickly occupied Dublia Island and started campaigns against continental Orisia.

"We're not talking about that, you ignoramus!"Zorzal shouted.

Molt lifted his hand to silence his son, before he went further with this.

"You lied to us about Otherworlders."Molt precised.

"Oh no, you can't tell me I lied about that, that's for sure."Tyrranius scoffed."I gave you weapons to deal with them."

"That, you did."Emperor agreed."Thanks to you, they are broken and disorganized. Many are dead or are our prisoners."
"So what is the problem?"

Hearing this, Emperor just slammed his fists into the table.
"The problem us, that you promised to completely eradicate them!"he shouted."Meanwhile, for two weeks, there are reports flooding of more and more attacks performed by their remaining forces, or about meetings of our patrols and their columns! Why are there still groups of them running around?!"
"Yeah, why?!"Zorzal added.

Tyrranius wasn't even moved by this. He was well aware of groups of enemy survivors performing guerrilla warfare against Saderan Empire. And after first shock and awe, they started giving Saderans losses, after knowing where to shoot. But this didn't change anything, mostly thanks to what Clan Ektrim was doing.

"Why do you think we are responsible for that?"king asked.

"Because you gave us all the weapons!"Zorzal replied.
"Listen here."Tyrranius came closer to the Crown Prince."Our weapons and machines are all good. If you think, that you can just throw incompetence of your soldiers on us, then you are very, VERY wrong."

Crown Prince tried to reply, but seeing how Tyrranius looked at him, he just shut his mouth.

"Besides"king continued"they must be good in these kinds of things. Not my fault, that they know where to hide."

Molt tried looking away, but Tyrranius didn't allow him.

"Is this everything you wanted?"he asked.

"Yes."Molt replied.
"Good."Tyrranius turned around."Now allow me to leave. I have to finally press Hipitos into sharing that technology with us and other clans."

The two watched him leave.

As this was happening, prince Diablo just stood on the side, looking at the picture he took from the wallet of that woman back in Fort Terhis. For some reason, he just couldn't stop thinking about both her, the child in her arms and man he saw on other photo. Thoughts were going through his head and he didn't knew what to do with them.
"Why are you standing like that, brother?"Zorzal asked, wrapping his arm around Diablo's neck."What do you have?"
"It's…"

Before he could finish, Zorzal grabbed the photo and looked at it. He smiled.

"She seems nice…"Zorzal admitted."I would like to make her my toy."

"I found it at her dead body in Otherworlders' fortress."Diablo said.

"Shame."Crown Prince's smile vanished."But if she was our prisoner, I would simply tear her clothes off and throw her on my bed."

"That's the only thing you do with women."Diablo thought, but instead of that, he said something else."Don't you see she has a child?"
"Did that ever stop me? I would simply smash this little shit's head and throw it away. That's the only thing it's useful for."

Diablo shuddered, hearing these words. He heard stories of brutality of Imperial Army, but only after Tyrranius came with alliance offer, all generals, senators, Emperor and Crown Prince started talking openly about it like if it was nothing.

"Guess you would too?"

"No…"Diablo replied.

"Eh, you should really start enjoying any form of spoils of war."Crown Prince stated firmly."If not, then you won't have any joy in life."

"I have enough joy in my life."

Younger prince took the photo out of his brother's hands and quickly left the throne room, with people looking at him, confused.
"What happened to your brother?"Molt asked.

"Who knows…But it's not my problem."Zorzal threw up his arms."I have things to do at my palace. Farewell, father."

Crown Prince then proceeded to leave the throne room too, going to his palace, where he wanted to spend rest of the day at pleasures.

Meanwhile, Diablo went to his room, still thinking about the words of his brother about the woman on the photo. Actually, there was a certain reason he took it. Not knowing why, but by looking at this woman, he could see a certain person in her.

Pina.

She looked pretty similar to his sister, which he didn't know what was happening with. After banquet for King Tyrranius after destroying Otherworlders' fortress at Alnus, he returned there the next day to inspect the ruins. He hoped, that he could find some traces of what happened to Pina, if she was still alive or dead. But he didn't find anything. At least, until one of patrols didn't report about a person similar to her, leading an attack against it.

Spark of hope appeared in him after hearing that. That maybe, just maybe, he could find her and bring her home. But instead, he heard the order from Emperor himself to kill anyone similar to Pina dressed in Otherworlder clothes.

"Maybe someone will be lucky and kill the treacherous viper and her knights."Molt said then with vicious smile.

For Diablo, this was the last thing he needed. He hoped, that at least for his daughter, Emperor and his brother will show a bit of mercy. With these words coming from his father's mouth, he had no further illusions, what this war has done with his father and brother. Only thing they wanted, was to kill anyone, who doesn't serve them or openly declares himself against them, like he did during Rondel Protest eight days ago, when some residents of Rondel spoke against presence of Imperial troops in the city. Result: thirty people dead, thrice as more wounded. Even mages couldn't do anything against power of Alatian machines.

Prince took a deep breath and finally made a decision about which he was thinking about for long. Now was the time.

19:43

Coalition's hideout

Rory was slowly walking through the camp set up in the forest by Coalition's survivors, watching what they were doing. Some were talking, others were eating or having simple fun, trying to forget their shitty situation. Demigoddess sighed.

In these two weeks since fall of Fort Terhis, she didn't have much to do, except scouting the area for the Coalition. How did she do it? Simple. She just left her axe and clothes behind, dressing in cloaks, shirts and anything else that they had and walked around towns and villages, scouting for patrols or any form of supplies. Fortunately, people were generous enough to give their food to girl in need, especially in times, when metal beasts patrolled the skies for Sadera. And when someone recognized her, she simply threatened to kill them, if they say something to passing patrols. As it turned out, even in these times, people still feared the wrath of gods and demigods.

After some walking, she reached the tent, which she occupied with Lelei, Tuka and Yao, which also engaged in guerrilla warfare performed by remains of Coalition. Both elves were working in silent scout and elimination team, which performed combat reconnaissance and eliminated enemies when needed. Meanwhile, Lelei, with her magic, helped to make place in the forest for Coalition's vehicles, as well as making the masking net look even more realistic, by enchanting it to look like real treetops, and helping with healing the wounded soldiers.

"Oh, Rory."Tuka said, as demigoddess entered the tent."You're back."
"How was the trip?"Yao asked, sharpening her sword.

"Boring as always."Apostle sat on her couch."Some kids recognized me, I gave them trauma, simple stuff."
"I wouldn't call that boring."Tuka stated, adjusting chord of her bow."Especially for these kids, poor things."

"Everyone has their own definition of fun."Yao stated."But I agree with Tuka. Wasn't that too extreme?"
Rory just threw up her arms and laid down.
"Where is Lelei by the way?"she asked.

"She…"Tuka wanted to answer.

Her words were stopped by person in question entering the tent.

Lelei was dressed in her usual attire, but on it, she had a white apron and white shawl on her head. Her right arm was decorated with white band with red cross painted on it. Apron wasn't fully white now, as it had multiple red, brown, black and other colorful stains on it.

Young mage came up to her couch and sat on it.

"Hard day at work?"Rory asked.

"Oh, Rory."Lelei said."Didn't notice you. Yes. I've been helping some soldiers, which wounds have reopened and needed treatment. I'm exhausted…"

Saying that, she put down her staff and laid down on the couch like Rory. But she didn't rest long.

"Rory, Yao, Tuka, Lelei."Dora said, as she looked into the tent.

"What is it?"Rory asked.

"All commanders and you are called to the command tent."White Squadron 2IC explained.

"Why?"Tuka asked.
"No idea. Ester said, that it's important."

"Okay, we're coming."Yao said.

The four stood up and slowly followed Dora to the command tent. There, they saw other group commanders (so commanders of other groups which joined Third Recon) grouping around the desk of communications officer. Ester stood beside him, waiting for everyone to gather.

"And they?"Tru asked, seeing Dora and four Falmartese appear.

"Members of our team…sorta."Yuko replied."They were also among us when we found this place."

"Okay."Louise replied.

Ester took one last look at everyone and cleared her throat.

"Is that everyone?"she asked and everyone confirmed."Good. Questions?"
"Why were we called here?"a Tertan major asked.

"Good that you asked."Ester nodded."I'll say it straight. We just been contacted by radio."

Murmuring immediately started among the commanders. Everyone was well aware, that after few days following the attack on Fort Terhis, all communication with entire planet went down and they couldn't contact anyone else except themselves.
"But how?"a Chakdrik asked."And how?"

"Signal is simply from unknown origin."Tertan comms officer said."We don't know who it is, but he found our frequency and is currently waiting for us to reply."
"Now, the only question is, should we reply?"Ester asked."This is why I wanted you all to get here. I wanted you to vote for answering it or not."

Commanders looked at each other.

"Why should we answer to that?"different Nashini asked.

"For two reasons."Ester said, showing her fingers."One, this might be our ally. Two, we might find a way to get out of this."

"And why shouldn't we answer?"Tertan asked.

"It may be a trap, or some kind of way to find where are we hiding."Ester immediately replied.

Commanders, Falmartese and members of White Squadron looked at each other once again, as they were thinking about these probabilities.

"So? Should we answer that call or not?"White Squadron leader said.

After taking a breath, they started voting. Hands went into the air and Ester started counting. She smiled, seeing that the ones voting for answering the mysterious signal, won literally by one. Among them, were all four Falmartese.

"Alright then. We do it."She nodded at the comms officer.

"Okay, here goes nothing."Tertan said and answered the call.

Everyone waited for few seconds in anticipation, before a voice finally said:
"Does anyone can hear me?"

Everybody slightly backed off, hearing the voice speak Sadera.

"Oh, hell now!"one Human said."I knew this was a bad idea!"
"Cut it!"Tru exclaimed."Now!"

"Right on it!"Tertan comms officer exclaimed.

"No, you needn't to be afraid!"same voice said."This is a direct and secure transmission, I'm the only one knowing about it!"

Although that, nobody felt calmer.

Ester approached the microphone and asked:

"Who are we even speaking to?"

"My name…is not important right now. The important thing is, I'm willing to join and help you in your fight."

White Squadron leader risen her eyebrow, looked back at everyone, threw up her arms and turned back to the microphone.

"Are you serious?"
"I was never more serious in my life."
"If so, then how do you want to help us?"
"First of, I want to join you, wherever you are. After that, I will give you any information you desire. So?"

Ester started thinking about what she just heard. If the person on the other side was telling the truth, then this might be their chance to finally strike back against Sadera and their new allies hard enough. If no, they will be all dead sooner or later anyway.

"What do we have to lose…"she whispered."I agree."

A unified gasp was heard.

"Ester, are you mad?"Dora asked."What if it's a plot to expose us? What if we aren't talking to a spy right now?"

"Considering our current position…"Ester looked at her."How much do we have to lose?"

This stopped any further commentary.

"And if they find where we are, we will be dead anyway."White Squadron leader added and went into Saderan again."What is your plan on getting to where we are?"
"I was planning on tagging along one of the patrols…"

"If so, then take the flying machine…"
"Whirlwing."
"What?"confused Ester asked.

"They're called whirwings."

"Then take…whirlwing with number six painted on it's side. It's the one that usually flies near our location. It will flyby in two days."
"Understood. How will I know, that I'm near your location?"

"You will see a huge forest."
"Of course. I'll try to make them land in front of it. Then, see you in two days."

"The call's over."comms officer said.

Ester stepped away from the communication post and turned around to the group, which stood behind her. They all had worries expressions.
"What ave we done…?"someone whined.

"We're doomed!"someone stated more openly.

"Calm down, calm down."Ester said to all of them."All in all, it's a great opportunity for us."

"Opportunity?!"another Chakdrik shouted."We're fucked! Fucked even more than we already were!"

In response, Dora came up to him and hit him with her fist in the face.

"Get your shit together!"she said.

"What, you suddenly agree with this idea?!"Chakdrik asked.

"I don't agree with it at all."White Squadron 2IC replied, looking at Ester."But Ester is right. We're dead anyways, so why shouldn't we try?"

Once more, complete silence filled the tent. All commanders were thinking about the opportunity they might have got in their hands. Besides, they agreed to answer the call, so they would be equally responsible for their deaths.

"I guess it's our best option."Tru said, looking at Louise.

"We did good by these two weeks anyways."his deputy agreed."It can't last forever."

"Even I can't run forever."Rory stated.

"You say that only because you have the biggest chances of surviving…"Tertan captain mumbled.

Slowly, others started showing their support for this decision, some with more enthusiasm, others with less, but ultimately, everyone agreed, that this was their best chance at turning the tides of this war once again. After all, one information could have more power than strongest ship or gun. "So, what's that plane?"Yuko asked.

"Plan?"Ester smirked."We wait two days and at the time patrol comes, we wait for it. And hopefully we take it for us. So get ready. You can leave."

With these words, everyone left the command tent and went to prepare for what could happen in two days.

Two days later…

11:43

Sadera's foregrounds

The normal view of wyvern stables and farm fields, which usually covered the foregrounds of Imperial capital, was replaced by the sight of something completely different. Tens of whirlwings, tasked with anti-guerrilla actions against remains of Coalition both in Empire and beyond, were sitting on the ground, as Alatian ground crews performed maintenance on them. Saderan ground crews were still not qualified enough to do it on their own.

Captain Leonius slowly walked between the rows of the machines, smiling under his breath with satisfaction. He was among the few first to go through training with evapguns and he was damn proud of that, knowing that he would be spreading Emperor's wisdom with new power equal to Gods themselves. For him, Alatians were just a tool to gain power. Soon, they will also kneel before Emperor Molt and glory of Saderan Empire. But before that, they still needed to take care of what remained of barbarian armies of other world.

He slowly approached his whirlwing, with number six on it's hull, preparing for the next patrol. There, he saw his eight men, alongside Alatian technician, which was making last corrections to the machine.

"Aaaaaaand…done."technician said."All should work now."

"You sure about this?"Leonius' deputy, Maximus, asked.

"Yeah. I changed the converter and energy should flow as it was going before."technician replied, cleaning his hands with a rag."All working as if it was new."

"I hope so, we barely made it back last time when it cracked."Leonius said, standing next to the group.

All eight soldiers quickly stood at attention and bowed to their leader.

"Captain."they all said.

"Enough of this. We're already ten minutes behind schedule, we have to go already."captain stated."Get on-board."
"Of course!"soldiers replied.

They all quickly ran inside of the whirlwing. Leonius, in the meantime, came up to the technician and shook her hand.

"As always, thanks for taking care of this."he said.
"No problem."technician replied with smile."We're here to help. Of course we take care of this. Now excuse me, but I have five more machines to take care of."

"Of course."

Technician started walking away, with Leonius looking at him.

"Enjoy until you can…"he whispered."You will be our subjects sooner or later…"

Captain was about to enter the whirlwing too, but was stopped by someone saying:
"Captain!"
Leonius immediately turned around and saw a well known person approaching him, dressed in the Alantian armor. He quickly fell on one knee and bowed.

"Prince Diablo. I didn't expect to see you here."
"Well, captain."Diablo said, crossing his arms."Many things I do are unexpected."

"I know."Leonius quickly nodded."What is the goal of your visit?"
"I would like to come with you."

Leonius looked up at the prince, widening his eyes.

"But…Your Highness…It's dangerous…"
"Dangerous?"
"Otherworders may appear and attack us. What if…If they get lucky and kill you? Or simply take you in their custody?"

Diablo looked down at the captain with the most intimidating and disgracing look he could muster, giving the captain chills.

"Are you implying, that I can't take care of myself?"prince asked coldly.

"O-Of course not…"
"Then there is no reason for you to worry. Let's go."

And with that, prince simply marched into the machine, not even looking at other soldiers saluting. He made his way straight to the pilot's cabin, where he sat on the seat usually taken by Leonius, right behind the pilot. The pilot also gave Diablo his honors and as prince ordered, machine started to slowly take off. Then, it turned and flew in it's usual way.

Later…

Chill wind was going through the open plain in front of the forest, moving the grass in direction it was going. Leaves on the trees were humming, forest animals were going about their day, not knowing what was going to happen today.

"Keep quiet."Ester said in radio.

Her, as well as twenty other soldiers, together with the Leopard 5 tank, were sitting in the bushes, waiting. If the person that contacted them two days ago was serious, then they should soon be here. And if not, then that means that they were fooled. But for now, they simply waited for the patrol.

Ester used zoom in her helmet to search for the patrol far in the air, but for now, there was no trace of any possible enemy.

"You really think this will work out?"Dora, hiding next to her, asked.

"It has to."White Squadron leader replied."Otherwise, we're screwed."
"We were screwed anyways."2IC said."But tell me. Do we really have to leave that machine unscratched?"
On yesterday's briefing, preparing them for this action, Ester made it very clear to everyone, that she wanted the whirlwing to stay untouched and undamaged. Asked why, she just said, that they might need it in the future, if it will work out. So, everyone taking part in this action, had to watch out.

"It might help us move around."Ester replied."It will be easier to fly around, pretending to be them, right?"
"Can't argue with that logic."Dora admitted."And why didn't we take Rory?"

Dora was well aware how disappointed the Apostle was, when she heard, that she's out of this mission.

"We don't need her right now. Later is a different subject."

"That's also logical."

"See? You finally agree with me."

"I still don't like what we're doing right now…"
"I told you multiple times. It's our only option for now."
Right then, their communicators signaled incoming call.

"Ester, Dora, this is Yuko."Yuko said.
"What is it?"the two asked at the same time.

"I can see the target incoming, look East."

The two quickly looked in the direction pointed by Yuko and after zooming, saw incoming enemy machine. Characteristic shape and four rotors couldn't be mistaken for anything else.

"Okay, we see it."Ester said and changed to open channel for everyone to hear."Stay sharp, don't do anything until I give you my order. If it flies by, don't do anything, too."

"Understood."soldiers replied.

And so, they watched the whirlwing slowly but surely approaching their forest. For few minutes, it seemed as if it only fly away, like it usually does.
Aboard, captain Leonius looked through the frontal window of the machine, sometimes glancing at prince Diablo. Captain still wondered, why would Emperor's son go with them now of all times? But who he was to say no to member of royal family?

"Nothing here, captain, as always."pilot reported.

"Understood."Leonius said."Turn South and let's get out of here."

"Yes, captain."

Diablo looked at them.
"Now's the time."he thought.

Immediately, he bent in half and started making noises as if he was in complete pain. Leonius quickly jumped to him.

"Your Highness, are you alright?!"he exclaimed.

"My stomach…"Diablo hissed.
"By the Gods…Turn around! We're going ba…!"
"No. Land here."prince ordered.

"But Your Highness, what if…?"worried captain asked.

"No. Just land. Maybe it will stop after few minutes. If not, then we will go."

Captain looked at the pilot, which had no idea who to listen to and just glanced at them and back at his console.

"Land!"Leonius ordered.
"Of course!"pilot replied.

Machine stopped mid-air and slowly started lowering itself towards the ground, as Diablo's groans filled the cockpit. It's belly touched ground and Leonius quickly made his way to the transport compartment. Soldiers inside looked at him, confused.

"What is happening, Leonius?"Maximus asked.

"Prince Diablo is in pain and ordered us to land."Leonius replied.

"What?!"they all exclaimed.

"He said, that if it won't stop after few minutes, we will get back to Sadera. For now, secure a perimeter around the whirlwing and make sure the are is secure."

"Yes, captain!"

Soldiers stood up, grabbing their evapguns and helmets. After putting the helmets on, they waited until the ramp falls down and quickly ran out of the machine, standing in defensive circle, just like Alatians showed them. The looked through their sectors of responsibility and after making sure that it was safe, simply stood there, keeping their weapons close.

Maximus activated his communicator and contacted Leonius.

"Area is clear. No enemies in sight."he said.
"Understood. Stay there and monitor the surroundings."captain ordered.

"Yes, sir."

As this was taking place, Ester and others observed enemies walking out of the whirlwing and looked to her sides.
"Yuko."she said in radio."How many do you see?"
"Seven."Yuko replied."There might be more inside, no idea."

"Understood. Can you pick them off?"
Yuko giggled.

"What sniper section would we be, if we couldn't pick enemies off?"she asked.
"Touche."White Squadron leader said."Take care of them. Aim at the visors and if that won't work, fire at the armpits or places where lower body armor connects with upper body armor."

These were the weak points of the armor that they discovered by the last two weeks. Sometimes they work, sometimes not.

"On it."snipers replied.

All five snipers looked down their scopes, corrected their aim according to the wind and were ready to fire.

"Take them out."Yuko ordered.

Soldiers surrounding the whirlwing still looked at the area and were honestly quickly starting to get bored.

"I have bad feeling about this."one of them said.
"What do you mean?"Maximus asked.

"This sudden pain of the prince…And why did he even come with us? If he knew that this will happen, then why?"

"Are you questioning decisions of Emperor's son?"

"Of course not, it's just…Something doesn't add up."
"And how do you know how to count?"
"My parents paid all they had to educate me. My mother even spread legs before the teacher."
"I did not know that."third soldier said.

"None of us did."Maximus laughed.

Soldier listened to that and frowned.
"Did I said something funny?"
"Of course."different soldier replied."You…"

Before they could say anything, he was thrown back by something, shocking all his companions. One of them ran up to him and with fear realized, that he had a hole in his visor.

"Enemy is near!"he shouted.
"What?!"Maximus asked.

Right then, four more soldiers fell on the ground, hit by invisible force. Only Maximus and theorizing soldier were left.

"I knew something wasn't right!"soldier exclaimed.

"Shut up! Stay here, I will go and inform Leonius!"Maximus replied.

Next, he turned around and ran into the machine. As this happened, soldier looked towards the tree line. There, he saw several figures exiting from between the trees and starting to run in his direction. He quickly tightened his grip on the evapgun and aimed it towards them.

"For the Empire!"he shouted and pulled the trigger.

Few blue beams flew over heads of approaching Coalition soldiers.

"Oh, you fucker."Dora said.

She aimed and fired back at the enemy. She unloaded full clip at him and because some bullets hit the weak points, soldier fell on the ground, with growing stain of blood under it.

"Me and Dora go inside, rest, secure the area and hide the bodies."Ester ordered.

Maximus ran through the insides of whirlwing and barged into the cockpit, stunning both Leonius and the pilot.

"What is the meaning of this?"Leonius asked.

"Otherworlders! They're here!"Maximus replied.

"Damn it! Pilot, get us…"
"I don't think so."Diablo stated.

Prince stood up from his place and quickly grabbed onto the sidearm version of evapgun, holstered on Leonius' hip. After taking it, Diablo pointed it right at captain's head, confusing and scaring him.

"Y-Your H-H-Highness…"Leonius mumbled."What…?"
"This war lasted for too long. And I'm gonna help to stop it."Diablo replied.

Then, he simply pulled the trigger and captain's head changed into red mist. Weapon was then pointed at shocked Maximus, Without much hesitation, prince pulled the trigger again and Maximus also was gone.

Terrified pilot started working on his console, but soon felt cold metal touching his neck.

"I don't think so."Diablo said in cold voice.

Ester and Dora reached the whirlwing and quickly jumped inside, running through the transport compartment and then, through corridor leading to the cockpit, stepping over Maximus' body and pointing their weapons at red-haired man, aiming weapon at the head of terrified man at the console.

"Drop your weapon!"Ester shouted in Saderan.

"I'm just making sure he won't make any troubles."the red-haired man said.

"She said, drop your weapon!"Dora shouted.

Man quickly lifted his hands up, dropping the weapon. Dora approached him and quickly put his arms behind his back, while Ester approached the pilot and gave him a solid punch right in the face, knocking him out.

"I, prince Diablo El Caesar, officially give myself to your custody."Diablo said.

"Keep your mouth shut, you're gonna talk when we allow it."Dora stated.

"Of course."

With riffle's barrel pressed against his shoulder blades, Diablo was led out of the whirlwing, while Ester grabbed and pulled the pilot out. Soldiers on the outside already started taking care of the bodies, carrying them away into the forest, where they had to bury them. Two prisoners were also given to them, so they would lead them to their camp.

"Take care of these two."Ester ordered.
"On it."Chakdrik Marine said.
"Yuko."Ester turned to the hacker.

"Yeah?"Japanese replied, as she approached her commander.

"Learn how to fly this thing, fast. Can you do it?"

"I'll do my best. If I get few more people, I might have it figured out before evening."

"Good."

"Sir, what do we do with the prisoners?"Nashini soldier asked.

Ester looked in the direction of the two prisoners.

"The red-haired guy is to be interrogated at once."she ordered."Second guy…Tie him to a tree, gag him and place Xarar to watch over him."

"Can do."Nashini replied and walked away.

Ester looked at Dora.
"Let's go. We need to take care of our guests and new toy."she smiled.

"As you say."Dora replied.

Next, the two, accompanied by most soldiers and two prisoners, went back to the forest, while Yuko tried to find out how to control the newly acquired machine.

18:34

Hideout

It took slightly over three hours for Yuko and her quickly assembled team of technicians managed to find fully understand the controls of the whirlwing. Fortunately, most of the important things were already in Saderan, which helped a lot. When this happened, Yuko took off in the machine and, after Lelei and Rory managed to make a landing place for it in the forest by cutting down trees and making them vanish, whirlwing was now sitting on it's belly between the trees of the forest, with magical illusion of treetops, made by Lelei, over it. Now, they just hoped, that owner won't come for lost toy for some time.

At the same time, the interrogation of prince Diablo was underway, but for some reason, he didn't want to talk. And they couldn't use any Mind Fixers on him, because, well…Nashini lost all of them in attack on Fort Terhis.

However, prince made one condition, if he had to talk.

"He wants to talk with me?"Ester asked, surprised, after Nashini interrogator told her that.
"Exactly."Nashini replied."He said, that he will speak only with the leader of our group."
"He could say that earlier, instead of playing games with us for the past few hours."Dora stated, crossing her arms.
"That's what I thought."interrogator said."So?"

Ester sighed.

"Lead me to him."

The two started walking, but before she left the tent, Dora grabbed her arm, pulled closer and kissed.

"Where did that come from?"surprised Ester asked.
"I just…"Dora blushed."Be careful. We have no idea what sits in this guy's head. He might try to hurt you."
"He can try."Ester smirked.

"I know."Dora sighed.

And so, Ester went to the tent, which served as the interrogation room. On the way, she glanced towards the tree, where second prisoner was sitting, gagged and tied to a tree. Lone Xarar was sleeping right next to him. White Squadron commander smiled, remembering, how he almost shit his pants, as Tertan Beast Master explained what Xarar could do to him.

She entered the tent, walked up to the table in the middle and sat on a chair, right in front of the prince.

"So."she started."You wanna talk with me, Your Highness?"

"So you are the commander?"Diablo asked."I didn't expect that."

"I may not be the highest rank, but I built this place, with help of others, of course."She smirked."Alright…You said, when we captured you, that you are a prince, correct?"
"Yes. Prince Diablo El Caesar, son of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus."

Ester leaned back in her chair and narrowed her eyes.

"If you are Emperor's son, then why did you decided to help us?"
"So you recognized my voice?"
"Yes."

Diablo nodded.
"Pina."was his only answer.

"Pina?"confused Ester asked.

"Me and my sister were always…close, you might say."
"Habsburg style?"

This time, prince was confused.

"I mean, 'keeping the blood pure by doing it with your cousins or other family'?"

"Gods forbid!"Diablo exclaimed."Not like that. In a way, that we always stayed together when we needed. We were brother and sister in all meanings of this word. Because our father was mainly focused on our brother, as he is the Crown Prince, we had to support each other."

Ester scoffed.

"Well, I don't think you supported her a lot during the time she was working with us."
"When I first heard that she was in your custody, I wanted to go and retake her, but my father forbid this. Then, a word reached the Imperial Palace, that Pina is not your prisoner, but joined your war effort. And honestly, after hearing that, I was furious, both at you and Pina, knowing that she decided to stand against the Empire. But as the time passed, this fury vanished and I just wanted to bring her home, to talk and maybe explain some things. And when our new allies came, I hoped I will be able to do it. But our father gave an order to all our forces, all across the continent: kill anyone that looks like Pina. This was the last straw for me, as I hoped, that father will at least show mercy to his daughter. Then, I finally saw, what I didn't want to."
"What?"

Diablo looked her straight in the eyes.
"That my father, as well as my brother, are a pair of maniacs, which will do anything for keeping their position and power. They won't hesitate to kill anyone who just thinks against them."

Ester nodded and looked at Diablo. Honestly, when she saw him for the first time, she saw him as a pretty honest man. Maybe she was right, or maybe not, but she had to find out. And what he just said seemed pretty honest.

"Alright then. These new allies, you mentioned…Tell me more about them."She leaned forward.

"What do you want to know?"Diablo asked, also leaning forward.

"Everything."
"You're lucky, that by these two weeks, I studied their history and technology."

And so, prince started telling everything he knew about Alantians.

XXX

And done! Another chapter out of the way. This one had to serve more as an introduction to the situation two weeks after attack on Fort Terhis. I hope you got enough information from it. In the next chapter, we will continue fighting against Sadera and it's allies, so stay tuned.

See ya then!