Welcome back, my friends, your families and your pets! I come to you with the next chapter of The Will of Resistance! Last time we saw our heroes, they stormed Alantian jamming station, taking it pretty easily, without losses. They lifted the jamming field and started jamming the enemies back. Also, they made contact with some allies. What will happen now? Read and see.
But before we get into that, reviews.
To Supreme Supra: Indeed.
Okay, with that done, let's get to the juicy stuff.
Chapter 43
,,Planning phase"
November 8, 2151
23:27
Hideout, command tent
"Hello? Is anyone there?"the radio asked.
Immediately, all colors returned to Ester's face. She jumped up from the chair and ran up to the radio, grabbing the microphone.
"This is major Ester Barkhorn speaking!"she exclaimed.
"Holy shit, it works!"surprised voice said."We aren't the only ones left!"
"Boss…"radio operator said.
"Yeah?"
"We have…more calls incoming…"
"How many?"
"Many…"
Saying that, radio operator pressed the button and soon, tens of voices started speaking through each other through the radio. Ester's mouth fell open at this, as she was still unable to believe, that this worked.
"Seems like you were right with these other groups."Dora elbowed Diablo lightly.
"Thank you for appreciating it."Diablo replied.
"Everyone, calm down!"Ester exclaimed into the microphone."All of you, speak one at a time!"
Voices calmed down.
"Before we get to anything else, I have to ask you all a question."White Squadron leader said firmly."I need to know sizes of your groups and what do you have at your disposal. It's very important."
And so, all voices started relaying information about their sizes and equipment they all had. As it turned out, there were many groups, which were even bigger than theirs, sizing at even five or ten thousand members. In terms of equipment, it all looked as good. Dropships, fighters, ground vehicles, hell it even turned out, that all maritime ships managed to hide in some large cave at the coast of Falmart.
At one point, familiar voice could be heard.
"Pina!"Ester laughed."Good to know you're still alive!"
"Good to hear you too, Ester."Pina replied.
"Can I ask, where you were hiding all this time?"
"We made ourselves at home in Mountain Range of Ice and Snow. It's cold and freezing here, but it also allows to fight against the enemy very well. It also allowed us to hide over fifteen thousand people, alongside their equipment."
"Glad to hear that. By the way, how did you made it out of Fort Terhis?"
"It wasn't easy, but somehow, we broke through them. Although…not without losses…"
Sudden sorrow in Pina's voice didn't escape Ester's attention.
"How large?"she asked.
"Around one hundred fifty soldiers died, covering our retreat. And…we lost Panache and Shandy."former princess replied."They literally shot their heads off."
"Crap."Ester sighed."I'm sorry to hear. But now I hope, that you are ready for payback?"
"Like never before."
"Glad to hear it. Stay safe."
"You too."
Pina ended the call and next ones came. And then, someone they didn't expect spoke in the radio.
"Captain Tyuule of Selene reporting."Tyuule said.
"Holy shit…"Ester was lost for words."You are…alive?"
"Yeah, although barely."former Battle Queen replied."Turned out, that ball aimed at us wasn't the destructive one, but some kind of EMP. It turned off our weapons, navigation and propulsion, but everything else is intact. Same for Hope. We spent long two weeks, rationing food and water, trying not to kill each other."
"Result?"
"There was one, short mutiny. Nothing we couldn't handle. These were just five people."
"Okay. Good that you're okay. We will find a way to get you on the planet."
"We'll be waiting."
Few more minutes passed and another voice chimed in.
"This is colonel Frank Harutino of Italica Garrison."the voice said.
"Glad to hear you, colonel."Ester nodded."Sorry, that I ask this first, but what about…?"
"Senators and countess? We got them out at the last minute. Countess' maids put up a good fight, they even killed some enemies, without a scratch. Although that…"
"Hm?"
"We lost some Senators and their family members. Senator Garcel is safe, but people like lord and lady Tyueli…"
"Sorry to hear that. But we're glad, that you are alright."
"Same. Hope to go and pay these bastards back."
"So do we."
The information flow continued, as even groups from Gernea and Orisia reported in. All in all, forces that still remained on the planet numbered at around one hundred and forty thousand troops. This was both good and bad news. Good, because it turned out, that Coalition's forces still had a fighting chance. Bad, because this meant, that through almost three weeks of guerrilla warfare, sixty thousand allied troops died. This also meant, that they had to be avenged.
When the last calls ended, Ester turned to everyone gathered in the command tent. She had a big smile on her face.
"We're back in business."she said.
November 9
02:43
Sadera, Imperial Palace
Complete silence filled the room, as Molt, Zorzal and Tyrranius just sat around a small table in Emperor's private chamber. Smell of wine was in the air, as one already emptied bottle stood on the table and second was halfway done.
"I have no idea how could that happen."Tyrranius said.
"Actually, we hoped you could explain this."Molt stated.
"If I could, I would."King threw up his arms and took a sip of wine.
After communications between Sadera, Trar and Old Port went down few hours ago, all three capital fell into panic. King Tyrranius immediately got into first free whirlwing and flew to Imperial capital. They had no idea what Zander was going to do, but they hoped he'll join them soon.
"I have a question."Zorzal said."That…'jamming facility'…how strong were it's defenses?"
"Well, it had a lot of automated defenses."Tyrranius replied."There were twenty guards, rest were just personnel."
"Maybe you should think of giving it stronger garrison."Crown Prince hissed.
"We should, but is it important now? It fallen anyways."
They all took a sip from their glasses. Right then, the door opened and none other than Zander stepped in.
"Look who finally showed up."Zorzal said.
"Is it my fault that we have communications problems?"Soutlandian kind stated."I can't hunt down my brother, his bitch and that bastard because of that."
He sat down and grabbed a cup, which was placed on the table.
"Pour."he said.
Zorzal grabbed the wine bottle and poured some into Zander's cup. King emptied it with one, fast sip.
"Fuck."he said.
"Even I can't argue."Molt sighed.
"How did that even happened?"
"We were asking the same question."
All three looked at Tyrranius. Alantian King just growled and put the cup down. He crossed his arms and sighed.
"What are you thinking about?"Zander asked after few seconds of silence.
"I was thinking, why didn't any of you thought about possibility that it implies."Tyrranius said.
"What do you mean?"Zorzal asked.
"Think about it. Enemy takes over our only jamming facility on the planet, enables their comms and disables ours. Don't you see it?"
Three royals looked at each other, as they started thinking. Finally, they realized.
"They must be planning something!"they all exclaimed.
"Exactly!"Tyrranius exclaimed, too."I have no idea what are they trying to do, but it's nothing good."
"They might strike at Sadera."Molt said.
"Or even Old Port."Zander added.
"This is why we need to focus. Keep your forces close to your capitals and don't let the enemy to get close. Otherwise, you might wake up with hand in the potty."Tyrranius continued."I will additionally send you some support."
"And what if they try and attack Trar?"Zander asked.
Alantian just scoffed and laughed.
"They aren't that stupid."he stated.
"Well, they took your jamming station…"Molt pointed out.
"This. Means. Nothing."King stated firmly."They don't even know, where our city is."
"Unless someone told them."Zorzal said.
All eyes turned on him.
"You have someone…specific in mind?"Molt asked.
"Diablo."Crown Prince replied without thinking.
"Like that would ever happen."Emperor got indignant."We don't know what happened with Diablo, but I'm sure he wouldn't betray us. Maybe they just got information from someone else they captured?"
"Maybe. But we can't exclude that possibility."Zander agreed with Zorzal.
Tyrranius took another sip.
"Alright, gentlemen."he said."We're gonna worry about that later. For now, let's just finish this wine and return to our businesses."
And they did just that. When bottle was done, all four returned to their duties, not knowing, what would happen soon.
13:15
Mountain Range of Ice and Fire
Ester was sitting inside of Nashini dropship, which came to pick her up not too long ago. The reason she was here, was that it has been decided, that a meeting of people from various groups of Coalition's resistance to discuss their next moves. And as a commander of her group, she had to go and take part in it.
Pina, having the best possible hideout of all groups, volunteered to host the meeting and now, dropships, evading all and any enemies that still patrolled the skies, started bringing the representatives in. Fortunately, in Ester's case, they didn't had to evade any enemy whirlwings and made it to the area relatively quickly.
"How long before we get there?"she asked the pilot.
"Just three more minutes."pilot replied.
"I didn't ask before, but how does this hideout could fit fifteen thousand people?"
"You'll see."
And three minutes later, she saw.
From behind the mountains they passed, a large river valley appeared, coated with trees. A blue line of a river was flowing through it, splitting it in two. And in that valley, she saw rows of vehicles, barracks and other stuff.
"How did you hid all of this without masking it with something?"
"Simple. These mountains are a great defensive position. We just put some SAMs on them and nobody gets past."
"I'm surprised, that our friends from Sadera didn't send something bigger here."
"Well, I heard from some locals that are in our camp, that legends say of dragons, not as powerful as Fire Dragon or Elecdraco, but strong enough to deal with their flying machines."
"So, probably after losing some, they decided not to send anymore here?"
"Probably."
"And what about those legends? You met some of these dragons?"
"Well, I saw some from distance…One even tried to attack us, but after we fried him so hard that only skeleton was left, others are keeping away."
Ester nodded in her seat. The last thing they needed, was more dragons.
"We're coming to land."pilot reported.
Machine started touching down on a rock shelf, which overlooked the valley and had a path leading down. Side door opened and Ester stepped out, while pilot pulled up and machine flew to it's place.
White Squadron leader looked around and saw numerous soldiers, tending to mobile AA missile launchers, some radars and machine guns, which protected the path leading here and entrance to a giant cave. And that giant cave, was the place, in which the meeting had to take place.
"Stop, who's coming?"guard at the entrance asked.
"Major Ester Barkhorn, White Squadron."Ester saluted and handed her ID to the soldier.
Chakdrik Marine took it, examined it and gave it back.
"Welcome to Secure Valley."he said.
"Not creative name, if I have to be honest."Ester winced.
"We had more important things to do, that worry about naming this place.
"Understandable."
She walked into the cave and she noticed, that it was just an entrance to a much bigger system, as many corridors branched from the main chamber. Ester asked one of the guards, which way she should go, and was told to chose the right one. She did and after few minutes of walk, she found herself in another big chamber.
This one, however, was bigger than the entry one and was filled to the brim. Tables, screens and other things which made it look like a command center. Analysts and adjutants were walking around, looking at their tablets and reading something on them.
"Ester!"
Ester turned around and saw Pina approaching her. Former princess embraced her and received a hug back.
"It's so good to see you."Ester said.
"I feel the same."Pina smiled.
"Have you been taking care of all these guys and gals well?"
"I did my best. But although it's been almost two years, I'm still not as experienced as some. Grey and Hamilton helped me."
"Good for you, then."
Ester looked around one more time.
"Also, there is one more thing I wanted you to know."Pina said.
"What is it?"
Pina turned back towards the inside of the command center.
"Could you come here?"former princess said.
White Squadron leader risen her eyebrow, but soon, she got the answer, as familiar catgirl, dressed in her standard clothes, but with armband with symbol of Rose Knights appeared from behind the tables and stood beside Pina.
"Seyi!"Ester exclaimed in joy."So you're okay!"
"Y-Yes."Seyi replied.
"How did you end up here?"
"I managed to sneak out of Alnustown, while enemy soldiers were too focused on raping and pillaging. After an hour of walking, I managed to find Pina's group and they allowed me to go with them."
"Because, how couldn't we?"Pina added."I saw her several times with Yuko, so I knew who she was. Besides…we lost Shandy and Seyi volunteered to help me as my assistant."
Ester patted Seyi's head between the cat ears.
"Good girl."she said.
"Thank you."Seyi replied, also smiling.
She had to admit, Seyi came a long way. From beaten, scared kitty which she was after saving from the slave camp, to pretty confident and brave. Even she was proud of her.
"Now come. The meeting is gonna start soon."Pina said, turned on her heel and started walking away.
Ester was also about to go, when Seyi tugged on her sleeve.
"What is it?"White Squadron leader asked.
"I…wanted to ask…about Yuko…"Seyi said."Is she…?"
"Don't worry, she's okay. Only worried sick about you. I can even borrow you my hand terminal, if you wanna talk to her."
Sparkles appeared in catgirl's eyes.
"Yes, please!"she said.
"Here you go."
She pulled off the hand terminal and gave it to Seyi, which went to the side, searching through contacts for Yuko.
Meanwhile, Ester approached the holo-table, which was already surrounded by the officers and other representatives, which decided to come in person. Others were present in form of holographic lines with their names over them, projected in the air.
As people were gathering, Ester noticed an elder man, dressed in standard British Army uniform. After few seconds of thinking, she remembered who he was.
"Halt O'Carrick?"she asked.
The man looked at her.
"Yes."Halt confirmed."I represent Araluenian resistance. And you are…?"
"Major Ester Barkhorn, White Squadron."Ester introduced herself."We didn't had time to meet face in face, but I heard about you."
Halt looked at her for few seconds, before finally realizing.
"Heh. And I heard about you."He smiled under his gray beard."How is Dora doing?"
"Pretty good."White Squadron leader shrugged."Still mostly the same. Although, after we became a couple, she went down with her temperament."
"So you are together, like, romantically?"elder Ranger asked, rising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Where we come from, it's nothing weird anymore."
He sighed.
"I guess I can't tell anything wrong about this."
"Seems like it. And by the way, how is situation in Araluen?"
"Could be worse. When these bastards hit Castles Araluen and Redmont, we started evacuating as fast as we could. But, unfortunately, as were were running, dropship evacuating King Duncan was shot down. No survivors."
Ester could clearly hear sadness in his voice. From what Dora told her, King Duncan and Halt had long history together, dating few decades back. So even for someone like him, it had to be a hard thing to experience.
"Baron Arald ended similarly. While evacuating Redmont, he got hit by one of these flying machines."Ranger continued."By all this time, we lost literally half of our newly trained army…"
"Half of your army…Five thousand?"
"Yes. Not to mention fifteen Rangers. Gilan, Maddie and Will are, fortunately, safe. Same goes for lord Anthony, princess Cassandra and Horace. Although, Cassandra was depressed by first few days after seeing the death of her father."
"I imagine."
As they were talking, last people confirmed their digital presence on the meeting. When that happened, Pina cleared her throat.
"I would like to welcome all of you here."she begun."First of all, I would like to ask for a minute of silence for those that didn't survive until now."
Silence hung in the air for exactly one minuted. After that, Pina continued:
"Last two weeks were hard for all of us, forcing us to constantly be on the run, trying to survive. But now, as we can communicate again and regained ability to meet face to face, we have to stand up and fight back against the enemy."
Everyone nodded or confirmed with some sound.
"There are many things we need to discuss. What do we start from?"
Right then, a Chakdrik corporal lifted his hand in the air.
"We should start by discussing who would be in charge of all our forces."he said.
"I agree."Ester added."Considering the fact, that admiral Richards' fate is unknown, we have to find someone, who will lead all of us."
"But who should do it?"Pina asked.
"I!"Tertan colonel exclaimed.
"No, I should!"voice came from the holographic lines.
"No, me!"
And so, the first-minute calmness of the meeting disappeared, as everyone started screaming through each other, trying to get support in becoming the commander of Coalition's forces. Add to the fact that they were in the cave and acoustics did the rest. Everyone outside could hear the shouting.
"EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!"Ester shouted at the top of her lungs.
All eyes turned on her.
"People, come on! What the hell are you doing?! We barely managed to regain contact with each other and you already start arguing?! What the hell?!"
Hearing this mouthful from someone like her, some higher-ranked people simply shrugged or tried to look away.
"Come on. If we don't agree with each other, this will end bad for us. We need to make it through, or all we were fighting for will go in vain."
"So, what do you propose?"Nashini colonel asked.
Ester took a deep breath.
"I suggest, that the person with highest rank among us should take over the command after admiral Richards."she said.
"And who is the highest ranked?"Gragonian lieutenant asked.
White Squadron leader smirked and turned towards the head of the table.
"If I'm not mistaken, that should be brigadier general Co Lada."
Some people literally had their jaws dropped and immediately looked in the direction of former princess.
"Brigadier general?!"Nashini colonel shouted."When did she get promoted?!"
"Half a year ago."Pina replied calmly."I received promotion after leading a successful assault on Saderan fortress with my Rose Knights only."
"How did that slip under our radar?"Colonel turned to his adjutant.
Adjutant just threw up his arms.
"But Ester…"Pina said."You sure I can do it?"
"If I didn't believe in you, I wouldn't propose you."Ester threw up her arms. Next, she turned to everyone else."Who agrees with this proposition, say 'Aye!'."
"Aye!"numerous voices sounded.
At the table, only three people didn't make a sound.
"So it's stated. Since today, brigadier general Pina Co Lada is the overall commander of remaining Coalition's forces across the planet."
Everyone who gave their support for Pina started clapping their hands, making former princess blush. She cleared her throat.
"I promise, that I will do my best."she said."But now, when we have this behind us, we should focus on other things. We need to find a way to defeat enemy forces."
"But how do we do it?"Halt asked."We have no idea where we should strike and how. Sadera is off limits."
"But should we really strike at Sadera?"Ester asked.
Once more, everyone looked in her direction, not fully sure about what she was saying.
"What do you mean?"Varian captain asked.
"We should strike were it will hurt them the most."Ester replied."Where they don't expect. Where nobody would be brave enough to attack."
"And you know such place?"Shakayan major asked.
"I do, in fact."
Right then, Seyi approached her and gave her back the hand terminal.
"Thank you, I was about to ask for it's return."Ester said.
"No problem. I finished talking anyway."Seyi smiled.
Catgirl left, while Ester put her terminal back on. She pressed some buttons, connected to the holo-table and soon, literal slide show appeared in the air among the officers. All of them looked at the city present on it.
"What is it?"one of officers asked.
"This…"She paused for dramatic effect."…is Trar, capital city of Alantian Clan Ektrim, the ones, which gave Sadera all these fancy things"
Once more, everyone looked at her, but this time in complete surprise and awe.
"How did you get that information?"Pina asked.
"Well…Diablo."
Hearing this, Pina immediately tensed.
"What?"
"Your brother decided to defect to our side and gave us all the possible intel we needed. We now know more about these Alantians than we could gather ourselves. Everything he told us, is placed in a report I wrote. I will send it to you after this meeting."
"Thanks…I guess…"Pina still tried to understand, if Ester was joking about her brother, or if she was actually serious.
"Great."Nashini colonel said."So we can attack."
Everyone nodded their heads. If they could perform a surprise attack on this whole capital city, they might have a chance of giving these Ektrims what they really deserved.
"Also, there might be one more reason for us to try and do it."Ester continued.
"What?"Halt said.
"You know…Our equipment. We can't run on it forever. Sooner or later, ammo will run out, vehicles will rust and electricity will end. What will we do then, cut off from Milky Way, with no way of resupplying?"
At this point, all officers were struck with realization. They were literally ashamed, that they didn't think about it themselves. No matter what they thought, Ester was much more smarter than them in some regards. If their ammo and other supplies will end, vehicles stop working and electricity will end, they will be defenseless. Their fate would be already nailed to the wall and it wouldn't be pretty.
"So, what you propose?"Tertan Beast Master corporal asked.
A sly smile appeared on Ester's face.
"If we want to attack Trar, we need to focus. We can't simply raise it with the ground. Taking the city should be our secondary target. In my opinion, we should try and lay our hands on Alantian technology."
Everyone gasped.
"Isn't that ambitious?"Halt stated.
"Ester, it's…"Pina tried to say.
"I know, crazy. But by these two weeks, I accepted a new motto."She crossed her arms on her chest."What do we have to lose?"
Silence hung in the air, as everyone started thinking about what Ester just said. It stayed like that for a minute or two, before silence was stopped.
"I agree with her."Chakdrik sergeant said."It might be our only hope of making it out."
"Yes."Nashini major nodded.
"Exactly!"Shakayan major added.
Soon, everyone started giving their support for this plan. Ester smiled slightly, although she knew, that if they had to do it, more lives had to be paid for this.
"So, we have at least the seed of a plan."Halt said."Now, we need it to grow into an actual plan."
"That we should do."Pina nodded."But first, I will read the report Ester prepared on Alantians. Then, I shall decide what to do."
"Yes, sir!"everyone said.
"This is all. Once again, I'm happy to see all of you alive. For now, this is it. You can return to your troops and prepare them."
All officers saluted and started slowly leaving the chamber. As this happened, Hamilton appeared and approached Pina.
"Hamilton, what is it?"former princess asked.
"First, I wanted to congratulate you being elected as commander of Coalition's forces."younger Knight said."Secondly, I have a report about…him."
Pina let out a long, tired sigh.
"What did he do again?"she asked.
Hamilton squirmed and looked at her tablet.
"Well…"
At the same time…
Near Kila Village
Kila Village was a small, agricultural settlement, pretty similar to Coda Village in many aspects. A bunch of houses, surrounded by a palisade, with it's people trying to live their lives as peacefully as possible, with bandits attacking from time to time. It was surrounded by numerous farm fields and there also was a small forest to the East. Normally, the whole area would look idyllic.
Normally, because today, there were piles of smoke coming from the village, as a bunch of Saderan soldiers decided to have fun and burn it. Of course, they didn't say anything to their superiors, not to get in trouble. They just came with their speeder and started pillaging what they wanted.
"Sir, should we begin?"Coalition soldier asked.
Colonel Anton Larik, commander of a small troop section, counting just fifteen troops, stopped looking through the zoom in his helmet and looked back at his deputy, a major.
"Yes. Let's show these bastards."Larik said with crooked smile.
Major nodded and turned to soldiers, which manned two mortars behind him. They were all hiding in a small bunch of trees and bushes, which overlooked the area. From this point, they could easily surprise the enemy.
"Fire."major ordered.
Soon, two mortars fired their shots. Not long after, explosions appeared in the village. The troops didn't worry about civilian casualties, because they were well aware of the pile of one hundred bodies being burned behind the village. This is why, they didn't care, if their shells hit the buildings.
In the village, a band of twenty five soldiers which decided to have a field day, surprised by this sudden attack, didn't manage to hide fast enough. More and more mortar shells started falling on their heads and soon, from twenty five, their numbers lowered to seventeen. Their speeder, which was a bulky troop transport able to fill forty troops in, was not spared, when three mortar shells fell onto him, completely tearing him apart.
Larik, in the meantime, smiled under his nose, watching all of this unfold. After around three minutes of constant shelling, he stood up.
"Let's move."he ordered.
Not long after, he and eight other soldiers, five Humans, one Chakdrik and two Shakayans, started marching towards the village. Not stopped by anyone, it took them only two minutes and once there, they looked at the damage dealt. Smiles appeared on their faces, seeing body parts of enemies thrown around and remaining thirteen enemies laying on the ground, completely shaken.
"Gather these fuckheads there."Larik ordered.
Soldiers started quickly rounding up the survivors and putting them in one place.
"Did you get any of their equipment?"Larik asked his deputy.
"Unfortunately, sir."major replied."Same as always."
"Damn it."
Their sole purpose for this attack was to take enemy equipment, as always. It's not like they did care about the people, they never did. Their sole purpose was to capture enemy equipment and use it. But always when they were close to doing it, the equipment simply stopped working. It was discovered, that it simply used self-destruction method, by destroying it's electronics to a level, which didn't allow their repair. Vehicles didn't count. For now, they wanted only the infantry equipment.
"Once again, no gain from pain."colonel sighed.
"Seems like it. What do we do with these guys?"
Larik looked at the scared enemies, which looked at him, and smiled wickedly. Oh, he loved it so much. Seeing his enemies fear him. During the time in Milky Way, while fighting Holy Order, he earned nickname Bloody Scythe Larik for a reason. He never took prisoners.
"Deal with them as you always do."he ordered.
"Yes, sir."
Major came up to the rounded up enemies and stood in front of them. Next, he signaled to his soldiers to take the prisoners and led them towards one of the houses, which was not hit by mortar shell or burnt down.
"W-What are you…?"one of the prisoners, a young boy, no older than seventeen, asked.
"Shut the fuck up, fuckhead!"Chakdrik soldier shouted.
He came up to him and slammed in the face, making him fall onto the ground. Immediately, another prisoner knelt next to the kid.
"Please, don't do anything to him…He's just a kid…He didn't even want to be here…"the prisoner said.
"What are you doing?!"third prisoner shouted. He was probably the one in charge and looked like a fanatic.
"All of you, shut your fucking holes and get in!"major shouted.
Prisoners listened and soon, they were all pushed inside the building. The hut wasn't big, so the thirteen prisoners barely managed to fit in there. In the meantime, four soldiers stood on all four sides of the house, so they could look at all windows. Next, they reached to their belts.
"Throw!"major shouted, when cotters were pulled out.
Four grenades were thrown and flew inside through the windows. Prisoners inside, bunched together tightly, had no time to react. When grenades exploded, throwing chippings everywhere, the thirteen soldiers had no chance. Their screams where short and were cut off by the explosions. It wasn't an execution, it was simply a massacre. House was later put on fire, to make sure nothing will survive.
Larik, in the meantime, stood there, watching everything and smiling. Another job (mostly) well done.
Right then, his hand terminal came to life with incoming call signal. Colonel looked at it and accepted. Face of Pina appeared on the screen.
"Colonel Larik."she said coldly.
"Sir."Larik hissed.
He hated that bitch from the bottom of his heart. Not only because she was his commander and he never liked people telling him what to do, but also because she and her 'knights' were the enemy. Such traitors like her should be executed even by the side they defected to. That's the only thing she deserved.
"What did you not understand in 'don't do anything reckless'?"Pina asked.
"I understood everything, but I decided to ignore it."colonel said bluntly.
"You have no idea, what you are risking. What if you or some of your men fell into Saderan hands? I know Imperial torture methods, they would start singing immediately."
"Like that would ever happen."
"Seriously, Larik, calm yourself down. We are planning a big operation and if you screw up, then…"
"Big operation?"
"DON'T YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME!"
Behind Pina, Larik could see some people looking in her direction.
"You are ordered to come back to the Valley as soon as possible!"Pina exclaimed."We need to talk again!"
And with that, former princess disconnected, leaving confused Larik.
"Big operation?"his deputy asked."What was Cocktail Bitch talking about?"
'Cocktail Bitch' was the nickname used by Larik and his men to describe Pina. Of course, Pina herself didn't know about it."
"I don't know. But what I know, is that I will have a mouthful from her once we're back."colonel groaned."Let's go. There's nothing left for us to do."
Few minutes later, Larik and his men left the area, leaving only death and burning village behind.
November 14
17:53
Hideout
It's been five days since the meeting in Secure Valley. After that, the planning on Coalition's side went into full motion. Pina quickly read through the report prepared by Ester and also had a meeting with Diablo, face to face. After learning what she wanted to learn about Alantians, she and her inner circle went onto planning.
First, they needed to know, what are they dealing with. For that reason, they contacted Tyuule and Anna, which still resided in their ships. Fortunately, scanners and cameras aboard were still working, what allowed them to make a quick scouting of the area the operation had to take place in. Both Trar and it's surrounding island chains were photographed from space and materials sent to analyze.
Analysis showed what everyone knew: the only way to attack the city was from sea. Fortunately, there were four Tertan Heavy Dropships, which could be used for this task. There was also a need for some kind of forward operating base. As it turned out, one of the island chains near Trar was perfect for that. Not too far, not too close from the city; just enough distance, so operation could be commanded from it. Immediately, Pina ordered forces to move and occupy the island chain. Once there, a small landing field was built in record time of only two days, by simply getting rid of several trees. After that, command equipment and some vehicles were moved there. All right under the noses of blind and deaf Ektrims. Alantians also tried to retake the jamming facility twice, but it's defenses held them off.
Equipment from all Coalition cells that survived from the attack almost three weeks prior also started flowing in and soon, majority forces needed were ready for the operation. Their biggest weapon was the surprise factor and they all knew that.
For now, all cells that had to add their forces into the operation just awaited the order to gather. After all operation was scheduled to commence on November 16 and they just had to wait.
Ester stood in the landing spot, where Daredevil normally landed. Machine was still there, but it was changed. Instead of purple and black colors of Sadera, it was now painted into metallic and blue of UNSA, it's name painted with large, white letters on it's left side. Fearless, in the meantime, was taken care of in Secure Valley, where it also got a new paintjob and now, it awaited it's order to move out in the island chain. Other than that, both didn't change.
"Magnificent, isn't it?"Dora asked.
"Yeah."
"Can't wait to kick some more Alantian ass in this."Wide smile appeared on Dora's face, as she imagined the fear of their enemies.
Her girlfriend patted her arm.
"You will have your time. Just wait two more days."she said.
"You really thing it will work?"Smile vanished, replaced by worry.
"It has to. It's our last chance of gaining anything. And if it won't then…well. We can all just wait for death, or simply give ourselves into slavery."
"True."
The two turned around and went back into the camp. From the hideout, only White Squadron, Falmartese and the Daredevil were to participate in attack on Trar. Others had to stay and protect the hideout.
"Rory is literally jumping from happiness."Dora said.
"You surprised? She is also keen on repaying the Alantians for what they did."Ester replied with smile.
"And who isn't? These bastards killed sixty thousand of our own, destroyed both Gates and trapped us here. Sure people want to see them beg for their lives."
"And they will. I promise."
"By the way, Jackie called."
Ester blinked. After it was decided that the landing in Trar will take place from aboard Tertan Heavy Dropships, it was discovered, that one of them didn't have a pilot. Because of that, Jackie quickly volunteered. Normally, someone would have problems with this but for now, when they didn't have time to lose, they simply went with it and after accelerated, ten hour-long training, the Minenian had all things needed to pilot the giant machine.
"What did she say?"Ester asked.
"She's currently on her way to the island chain base to join the African Union ships and other three dropships which are already there. She'll be awaiting our arrival."
"I just hope nothing bad will happen to her…"
"Hey, she's been through worse. She'll manage."
Right then, the two saw Yuko quickly running in their direction. Japanese stopped in front of them and saluted.
"Whoa, what is it?"Dora asked.
"Pina is calling us. She wants to talk to the two of you."Yuko replied.
"Okay, let's go."Ester said.
The three quickly marched to the command tent. There, Yuko left, while the two commanders quickly came up to the holo-table. Notification about a call was being displayed in the air.
Ester pressed one of the buttons on the table and soon, window with Pina's face in it appeared.
"Good to see you."former princess said.
"What is?"Ester asked.
"I'm calling commanders of all cells to personally tell the attack plan to those, which didn't take part in the meeting two days ago."
"Oh…Sorry I couldn't be there. I was doing…stuff."Ester smirked.
"What stuff?"
Ester glanced at Dora, which glanced back. Their cheeks became clearly red. Pina immediately knew and nodded.
"I understand. But now, allow me to tell you the plan."
Soon, a map of the area of operations appeared in the air next to Pina's window. It showed main island with Trar on it and the numerous island chains, which surrounded it.
"First of, I found a good person to command this operation on my behalf."former princess said, with a note of emptiness in her voice.
"So, who is it?"Dora asked.
"It's…colonel Anton Larik."
Silence hung on the link, as commanders of White Squadron let what Pina said sink in. they both heard of colonel Larik and his pretty…'unorthodox' ways of dealing with the enemy.
"I thought that you hate the Blood Scythe?"Ester guessed.
"Because I do."Pina admitted."However, I decided, that for this operation, we need a commander, which wouldn't hesitate when it came to risky moves. Also the one, which won't be scared to get his hands dirty when situation calls for it."
"Sounds just like the kind of person Larik is."Dora agreed.
"I know. Unfortunately."Pina said flatly."But now, to the main part of the plan."
Blue lines then appeared on the map, coming from several island chains and joining right on Trar.
"First phase of the operation, is a mass missile attack on the city."
"Hm. You sure this is gonna work?"Ester asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there are the drones."Dora pointed out."According to what we know from Diablo, these things could easily intercept the missiles."
"We are aware of that."Pina nodded."This is why our goal is to launch missiles from few different directions and in large numbers, from land and sea. Some of them are ought to get through and cause some damage."
"Okay, this part can work. What next?"
"Phase two, the amphibious assault. Our troops, carried by Tertan Heavy Dropships, will land in Trar and start taking over the city. We hopefully won't meet a large resistance, especially after missile strike and biolo…"Here, former princess stopped.
Ester and Dora looked at each other and risen an eyebrow.
"What were you going to say?"Ester asked.
Pina looked at the two for few seconds, thinking, if she should spill the news. After that, she sighed.
"It was last minute addition to the plan."she finally said."Some Nashini officers proposed, that we could use bio-weapons in this attack."
"Bio-weapons?"Dora asked, not hiding her irritation.
"I shouldn't be surprised. Other Human commanders I told about it reacted the same."
White Squadorn commanders had martial faces. Bio-weapons were still in Earth's arsenal, but due to Accord of Usage of Biological Material in Warfare, which was created as a part of SATO Creation Treaty, forbid the usage of bio-weapons, unless situation called for it or on small scale, like scaring enemy troops out of underground hiding. These rules were strictly respected and anyone that broke them were met with severe punishment, ranging from prison to even death.
However, other races like Nashini or Shakayans had no such limitations. Humans and Nashini might have been the greatest allies in the Milky Way, but the subject of usage of bio-weapons by Nashini indiscriminately during some conflicts was often met with criticism from Earth's side.
"If it's not a secret"Ester said through gritted teeth"what bio-weapon are we going to use?"
"Nashini so happened to have some Klofor handy. We filled some warheads with it. During flyby over city, missiles will spread the gas and then fall."
Disgust on the two's faces became more visible. Klofor was basically Nashinian version of Novichok.
"You have to understand."Pina continued."We're going to use it only to soften up the enemy. We will give our troops that will fight in the contaminated area protective clothing. Also, we will need Daredevil here."
"What for?"Ester asked.
"There will be a small team, which will try to take over the spire, which overlooks the city."Pina explained."According to Diablo, it's the thing that created the giant energy balls. We hope to use Daredevil and Fearless to support them."
"This sounds reasonable."Dora admitted.
"So, could you come to the command area of the operation?"
"Sure. We're gonna move out immediately. We'll be there tomorrow morning."Ester agreed.
"Good luck then."And with that, former princess disconnected.
Ester and Dora looked at each other again.
"Go get the others."Ester ordered."It would be good, if all of them were there, too. I also want Rory, Lelei, Tuka and Yao to come with us."
"On it."Dora saluted and left the tent.
Around fifteen minutes later, everyone from White Squadron, as well as Falmartese, gathered at the whirwing and soon, machine was flying to the area.
Unaware of what was about to come.
XXX
And here, we will end for now.
As you see, Coalition forces are going to do exactly the opposite of what Tyrranius expected. Will they manage to do it and take over Trar from the Ektrims? Wait for the next chapters and see.
Until then, goodbye and see you soon!