The Will of Revenge

by Gamer83888

Fifteen years have passed since the event that changed history. Flare Prime, under the guidance of United Nations, prospers and develops. It's nations, united under the UNSA Andromeda Branch banner, look into bright future. However, old enemies long presumed dead or missing return to bring chaos. A new war is on the horizon and the outcome will decide the fate of billions of lives.

10. Part 2, Chapter 3

We're back once again in The Will of Revenge. Last time, we've seen everything kicking off in both Milky Way and Andromeda. Laconia and the rest of Galactic Concordance launched their war against UNSA and it's allies, immediately laying siege to Earth and Sol System itself. At the same time, SoS' fleets have moved into Andromeda Branch's space. Now, they will try and break the resistance of their enemies. But our heroes know, that they have to fight and win, because if not, both galaxies will fall into dark times.

But before that, reviews.

To Supreme Supra: No one would say it better.

Alright, now let's get into the action.

Chapter 3

May 27, 2166

03:04

Yer'o City, Republic of Q'e'r, Uriu System, former Unknown Regions

Since the end of Enean civilization, Unknown Regions gained their name from the fact, that none ship that went there ever returned. The reason for that was not any form of spacial disturbance or some anomaly, but the fact, that races living there were xenophobic and upon seeing unknown ship, they simply destroyed it. This continued for thousands of years, as these stars continued to be unexplored and concealed from the rest of the galaxy.

And all changed, when Exodus Fleet of SDF came to the Unknown Regions. They evaded destruction and after capturing some prisoners from a ship that had to destroy them, they quickly learned the fairly simple language of Turgan race. This allowed them to learn about the Star Congress, a form of international union, which held the peace among races of Unknown Regions. With that knowledge, SDF made their way to the planet housing the current Congress' meeting, assaulted it, massacred all the leaders inside and declared that now, Supreme Leader was in control.

Just like that, seemingly overnight, all of Unknown Regions became SetDef's playground. Next, they hid there for thirty years, using the assets of Unknown Regions to rebuild their power. After that, they launched the biggest war in galactic history.

Following the collapse of HO at the end of Great Galactic War, Unknown Regions became more open, although still held some restrain towards other races. They shared their knowledge and history with other races, some even making some alliances and contracts with wider galaxy. However, the idea of Star Congress was not brought back to life and centuries long feuds and conflicts erupted again.

Such thing happened with the Republic of Q'e'r, one of the Planetary States of the former Unknown Regions. After the fall of HO, the System State known as Empire of Uriu launched an attack on the planet. War lasted for two years, but after Q'e'ran forces managed to hold off Imperial legions at Battle of Yer'o, an armistice was signed.

Now, Republic, surrounded from all sides by fleets of the Empire, lived in constant battle readiness, as Empire still considered this single, icy planet as a rebellious province. And nobody knew, when will new war begin.

President of the Republic currently walked down the corridor of his palace after attending to a meeting with a representative from Hadadrian Commonwealth. The meeting was secret and was about the possible sell of Genran Tungsten, so they could improve their vessels. It went smoothly and soon, first shippings had to start.

He nodded his head to the two guards that stood on both sides of the door. As he stepped in and made his way to his desk, he didn't notice one of the guards reaching to his earpiece and whispering something. When President sat down behind the desk, guards nodded at each other and entered, closing the door behind them.

President looked at them, perplexed.

"What is?"he asked.

In response, two guards quickly grabbed their plasma SMGs they had on their backs. President widened his eyes.

"Wait…!"
Before he could say anything else, both guards opened fire, obliterating the President, almost completely disintegrating him. After their mags were empty, they looked at what used to be their nation's leader. They looked at each other.

"Inform general U'w."first guard said."Plan Starlight has begun."

Second guard went to do just that.

The event, later known as Night of Blood, played out all across former Unknown Regions, as nation leaders were assassinated on mass. Governments were being overthrown, militaries were sabotaged, infrastructure was destroyed. Planetary and System States fell into complete disarray.

But immediately after that, in all nations, certain politicians, military commanders or someone else came into action, quickly taking care of the damage and resolving the problems and capturing the 'terrorists'. Few days later, a special meeting in the former Star Congress building was called. Acting leaders of these countries declared, that this was the second biggest tragedy their countries ever experienced, surpassed only by the takeover done by SDF.

On that same meeting, it was said, that only way to not let any similar situation to happen again, former Unknown Regions had to stand as one, united. Nobody said a word against this statement. A vote was held and with everyone voting 'yes', the Unknown Regions were to act as a single nation.

Treaty of Hurgura thus was born.

May 27

04:01

Dortmund AFB

Ester was standing among the rubble of what used to be the airbase she commanded. Numerous wrecks were still burning, same as ruined buildings. She could see that place which used to be her office, was now nothing but a burning hole. She sighed deeply, as she knew, that this place will not be rebuilt by a long time.

"At least we killed all the Lacons."Norrine said, standing next to her.

"Yeah."Ester nodded.

The support the major called arrived faster than half an hour and immediately came into action, firing and dropping on Laconians from the air. Enemy air support was all but gone by the time they arrived and only stranglers remained on the ground. But cleaning them all up still took almost another hour.

Elsa, which held a phone to her ear, ended the call and approached Ester with worries expression.
"How's the situation?"Ester asked.

"It's worse than we thought."Elsa said."Laconian forces have landed all across the planet. They already taken some important cities, not only in Europe, but all around the globe."
"Cities like?"Norrine asked.
"Well, it would appear, that Hamburg is now a Laconian colony."Ester's assistant replied.

"Scheise."Ester cursed."What else?"
"General Secretary, as well as other world leaders, are being moved into safe places. Harika already gave a declaration, that Laconian aggression will not be left without response, but currently, all forces in Sol are tied with Laconian fleets of armies. Laconians also did their homework and bombed all that could help us defend, like old nuke launch silos or storages of equipment we could use to defend."

"Fuck."both Ester and Norrine murmured.

"So…what should we do?"Elsa wondered.

All of three of them looked at each other, while soldiers continued to collect bodies and extinguish the flames. Suddenly, they heard shots. They looked in the direction of Dortmund.

"What's going on?"Norrine asked.
"It would appear, that Laconians at the same time attacked the spaceport."Elsa replied."And it would seem, that they took it and started moving into the city."

Hearing that, Ester immediately paled, as she realized that she forgot about something very important.

"KIDS!"she exclaimed.

Before Norrine could ask what she was talking about, Ester ran off in search of some working car.

"What the hell?"major asked.
"Colonel is worried about her adopted children."Elsa replied."She went to make sure, that they aren't hurt."

Norrine nodded and the two of them looked back in the direction Ester ran off.

Colonel quickly reached the parking lot and much to her relief, she saw that her car was still intact. She grabbed the handle and pulled it, but it was still closed. She pulled out the keys from her pocket and quickly opened the door. She jumped inside, started the engine, left the parking lot and started driving in the direction of her home, still nervous, but trying to keep calm to not crash or something.

As she was driving, she was watching the situation. Numerous families started leaving their houses and packing their belongings, trying to get as far as they could from the Laconian troops, which now operated within the city. Honestly, Ester wasn't sure, what they wanted to achieve. With Laconian fleets in the orbit, there was now way for them to leave the planet. And if the Laconians were so free in orbit of Earth, she knew, that they had to also take control of the rest of system's space. This thought made her shiver.

During the ride, she heard buzzing coming from her car's closet. She opened it and pulled out a hand terminal she always held there, for safekeeping, and saw an incoming call from a certain Warrior Bunny.

She accepted the call and put the terminal on the seat next to her. Soon, familiar voice came from it.

"Ester, are you there?"Delilah asked.
"I am."Ester replied."What's the case, Deli?"
"We just had a full on Laconian invasion of our training facility."Warrior Bunny replied."We repelled them, but lost some Fighter Infantry recruits and security."
"Well, welcome to the club."

"You too?"
"Yeah, over a company of Lacons tried to take my base. They failed, but they did take the spaceport and are currently moving further into the city. I'm currently going to my home, to check on the girls."

"Sure. After that, can you come to Hel?"
"Why?"
"General Secretary just gave an order to evacuate as many troops from Earth as possible, to aide other forces in battle. The ones that are left have to continue resisting the Lacos. We decided to go."

Ester looked at the terminal, but quickly looked back at the road, passing by a shot down Laconian fighter, which rammed into a building.

"Do you have some places left?"she asked.
"Yeah, we're taking only the recruits. Base's crew decided to stay."

"Where is the meeting point?"
"Moon."Delilah replied."Apparently, enemy ignored the Lunar Terminal. Remains of Home Fleet are gathering there."

Ester thought for a second.
"Alright. We're gonna meet in a few hours. Stay where you are."
"We're not gonna move anywhere."

"Alright. Later."
"See you."

Delilah terminated the call, while Ester continued to drive.

After few more minutes, she came to stop in from of a home, which she and Dora bought after the wedding. She jumped out of the car and looked around. It seemed that nothing bad happened in the area and neighbors leaving their home didn't pay attention to her.

Ester ran up to the door, opened them with a key and ran up the stairs. She opened the door leading to the room occupied by the twins and sighed in relief, seeing them, shaking under their quilts.

"It's me."she said softly.

Immediately, two girls jumped out of their beds and ran up to Ester, hugging her tightly and sobbing.

"Hey, hey, it's okay."Ester said, hugging them back."I'm okay."
"We were so worried!"Ursula cried.
"We thought you wewe huwt!"Conny joined her.

"I'm alright. But you should get dressed and pack the most important things."

"What? Why?"
"I fear that…I have to leave…for some time…"

Twins looked at their mother, but instead of protesting, they just nodded their heads, knowing what Ester's job is.
"But…you wiww come back…wight?"Conny asked.
"Of course I will. No matter how long will it take, I will come back."Ester promised."Until then, your grandparents will take care of you. Are you okay with that?"
"Of course."Ursula nodded seriously."We will make sure to not give them any trouble."
"Thank you. Now, hurry."

Few minutes later, the three left the house, Ester locked the door and two girls placed their suitcases in the trunk. Next, they all got into the car and started driving in the direction of the house of Ester's parents.

Colonel looked at her children from time to time, trying to see something on their faces and the only thing she did see, was fear. She wasn't surprised, she was scared too, but didn't want to show it in front of the two. She was mostly scared, that she had to leave them. She knew, that if she stayed with them, Laconians would not simply leave them alone. After all, Great Galactic War veteran would be a big trouble and possible danger.

She sighed deeply. She always wished, that these two wouldn't have to live through the same thing she did. After all, people born around the same time as Ester were considered a 'lost generation' for a reason. She was born two years into GGW and everyday since she was born, she watched news of Holy Order progress. She believed in victory, but sometimes, it wasn't so sure.

And when the time of peace came, when it was time to go their separate ways, almost all members of White Squadron knew, what they wanted to do after the end of the war. Except Ester. Dora also had this problem, but she left the military and for some time, they lived with Ester's salary. And now, she was a mercenary. And Ester? She didn't know how to do anything else. Being a soldier was the only thing she could do. She shivered.

"Mom…?"Conny asked.

"Yeah?"Ester asked back.
"You should see this…"Ursula said.

She handed Ester her phone and colonel looked at the screen. She took a deep breath, seeing the headline, telling that Laconians took over and shut down Intergalactic Gate. Which meant…
"Dora…"Ester whispered, handing the phone back.

Her beloved wife was trapped in another galaxy, without a way to come back home. Could there be anything worse?
"Don't worry, mom."Ursula tried to reassure her."Mom Dora is strong. She will make it through. Right?"

"Yeah, mom Dowa wouwd nevew get beaten!"Conny exclaimed.

Ester smiled. At least these two had a bit of hope.

After few more minutes, they stopped in front of Ester's parents' house. They came out of the car, came up to the door and Ester run a bell. They waited another few minutes, before the door was unlocked and opened, revealing a surprised face of Clara.

"Ester?"Ester's mother asked."What are you…?"
"Mom, I have a request."Ester said."General Secretary ordered to evacuate as many troops from Earth as possible. I decided to go, too. Could you and dad…?"

Clara looked at her daughter, then at her adopted grandchildren. After that, she smiled and nodded.
"Of course. Who would I be to say no?"she said.
"Thank you. Really."Ester smiled back."I don't know when I will come back, but I'm sure I will. Trust me."

"I do, honey."

Next, the two proceeded to hug each other.

"What about me?"Daniel asked, standing behind his wife.

"Hi dad."Ester said."How could I forget about you?"

Ester's father trapped her in a bear hug.

"Kick as many Lacon asses as you can for me."he whispered into her ear.
"You got it, dad."Ester whispered back.

She hugged the twins one last time, before they entered inside with their grandparents. Next, Ester jumped back into the car and quickly drove back to the base, which, as she hoped, was still standing.

Now, she had to go through a conversation with Elsa and Norrine.

May 27

05:20

Gorgra border crossing, Skandian C.Z.

Ensign Ivar Fergusson, serving in Skandian C.Z. Border Guard for over a year, decided to go to the job on foot. Actually, it wasn't that far from his home, but as everyone in the last and a half decade, he started getting used to more and more comfortable life.

From his rented home to the border crossing, he had less than six hundred meters, but the new Volkswagen, the mark of his pretty good status, had to wait for it's turn.

Unnecessary anxiety which he felt since the time he woke up didn't want to leave him. Quite the opposite, it was growing stronger, making his hands shake. However, for the ensign, it was not the main reason to be worried. He had a lot of paper work to do. Trade between C.Z.s was going pretty strong, but today, there were no trucks or other cars going through the crossing. Still, the paperwork on Fergusson's desk wouldn't do itself.

As he walked, he noticed, that a briefing of morning shift was taking place in front of a container. Green uniforms of customs officials and camouflage ones of Border Guards, gathered in a circle, were visible from a long distance, as these were the only people on the crossing.

"Now, what do we have to do?"Not tall and stocky boss of the customs officials was doing various gestures."Even if we wanted to send off cars, we wouldn't be able to do it."

"What actually happened?"ensign Fergusson asked, standing next to his colleague.

"Around fifteen minutes ago, we lost contact with the Nordians on the other side of the bridge."Here, his colleague pointed at the bridge over the river separating two Colonization Zones."They just went silent, like that!"
"Did you call Erak City the delegation in New Hallasholm?"
"Sure, the old man is taking care of everything. They may tell us to close the border. You heard about what happened yesterday?"
"I did, but I don't think something will happen here."

Against his words, ensigns hands started shaking even more. Not wanting to discredit himself in front of his colleague, he put them deep in his pockets.

"Ivar, better check your gun, I tell you, it could be needed."
"If you want to make me feel better, then shut up."
"It's just a friendly advice. You heard what they were saying in the TV? Some motherfuckers attacked all across Flare Prime and governors were all assassinated. Nowhere is safe, certainly not in service."

"Sorry. You're right, politics will be politics, but some sheriff must work in town. I'll be back soon."

As he slowly walked towards the building occupied by their border unit, he heard some noise, similar to the sound of working lawnmower. At first, at the edge of hearing distance, but louder and louder with every minute.

Ignoring the sound at first, ensign stepped into the armory building. First, he looked at a stand filled with AR4 riffles, but decided, that taking one would be too much. Service pistol was enough for him.

He checked the mag, slid it into the handle and reloaded.

"Nobody will threaten me now."He tried to make himself believe, that 11mm toy will be enough to protect him from all bad things.

The noise behind the window, becoming louder and louder, could not be ignored anymore. It seemed, that from the Nordian side, some large, heavy construction equipment was approaching, bulldozers or some excavators.

Wanting to find himself among his colleagues as fast as possible, Fergusson ran out of the room and stood frozen in the door. In front of him, ramming the barrier with it's wide front, was driving a tank, which certainly didn't belong to any army that stationed on the planet. But after a quick look, he recognized the model, as he was interested in military vehicles of Milky Way since Internet was installed in Skandia. The vehicle in front of him, was Laconian-made Leonidas-21 main battle tank, but with markings he didn't saw before.

Twenty meters behind the first vehicle, second one was crushing the old Ford belonging to Ivar's superior. Guard stood there like a stone. His shape with a handgun in hand was clearly visible on the background of bright building. Column of armored vehicles rolling through the bridge didn't notice him for now, but it couldn't last forever.

Lightly armored recon vehicle, which Ivar recognized as Laconian-made R-1 Cyclops, until now covered by the armored column, showed itself in it's full glory. Series fired from 16,7 millimeter machine gun mounted in a small turret his the ensign, tearing him apart and throwing his body back into the building.

Sound of tank threads went silent and the time has come for infantry transports and self-propelled artillery. After almost three hours of shipping from orbit to the surface of the planet and securing both landing zones, 1st and 2nd Armored Legions were moving into offensive. General Margas' Legion started moving North-West from their LZ, towards Leender, while Kerrel and his Legion started crossing the Skandian-Nordian border. And while that was going on, more and more units started landing on the planet and as of now, it seemed, that there is no force able to stop them.

May 27

05:30

74th Mechanized Brigade, near the town of Reta, Nordian C.Z.

Colonel Gron Ortanson, commander of 74th Mechanized Brigade, rubbing his eyes red from tiredness, reached for a cup of coffee. Two hours ago, he was woken up by a call from Utgard, capital of Nordian C.Z. In that call, he learned, that Taurus III is being invaded. He didn't believe at first, but when a video showing parts of Pentrum Station falling on Leender was sent to him, he realized, that it was true. He quickly dressed, woke up the entire unit and gave the order to move out. However, in an hour, only two battalions were mobilized. He had nothing else to work with, so after ordering his deputy to oversee the mobilization of the rest of the brigade, he moved out with these two battalions, which now, after getting more information from the HQ, set up a defense perimeter, fifteen kilometers from one of enemy landing zones.

The road he defended was going straight towards Utgard and twelve kilometers behind their lines, there were crossroads, which turned towards the border with Soutlandian C.Z. It was the fasted and most comfortable way to the two cities, what gave Gron a headache. After all, from the information given to him and his troops by shallow defensive intelligence, enemy, these 'Sons of Sadera', had one division-sized and two brigade-sized units moving towards his two battalions. He could count on help from 5th Armored Regiment, which moved to nearby Skalbjorn Woods, but it wasn't enough.

Remaining two brigades from his division were still further North and wouldn't come here very fast. Entire Joint Corp was still mobilizing and who knew, how much will it take. They were at war for almost a day and only now they started getting it together.

He moved the canvas covering his tent's entrance and walked outside. His eyes turned towards the Type-020 armored personnel carrier. His unit received these newly-introduced Chinese machines just two weeks ago. But he had enough to only equip one battalion, others had to use older Type-11s.

Tanks were even worse, because his unit was equipped with only older Panther 5 tanks, and in older variants EUJM had laying around. Nothing compared to the newer machines, such as these Panther 7s or Leopard 6s. Only if they had better funds…

Approaching the field command center, placed inside of Catcher APC, he corrected his bright blue beret and went inside. As it turned out, just in time. At his sight, comms officer turned around and said:
"No contact with Fir'na. They aren't responding for ten minutes, colonel."
"You tried the normal phone?"
"Yes. Same result."

Ortanson didn't think that the garrison would stop responding so suddenly. If it happened, it wouldn't be their fault. There were few explanations in colonel's head. The most possible one was that the crew of the OP was taken out by enemy scouts and it could mean only one thing.

"Transmit to all units: PEGASUS."

Lieutenant's eyes became big as saucers. This signal meant, that enemy contact is more than probable.

"Get moving, lieutenant! I think that we don't have a lot of time to lose."

He didn't stop talking yet, when 178mm shells started exploding around them. Barrel artillery, much more accurate than rocket artillery, was pounding every position in the forest. Nearby explosion shook the command vehicle and sound of dirt and stones bouncing off the armor were heard inside. Holding onto the side of the vehicle, Gron cursed. In panic, he wanted to lay down on the steel floor, but but quickly got a hold of himself. Another explosion shook the vehicle.

"Where is my helmet and vest?"he thought, looking at the various equipment laying around. Few ore deep breaths returned his senses and ability of clear thinking."Give me battalion commanders."His words were barely audible through all these explosions.

"Yes, sir!"
Lieutenant, happy that he can do something, started manipulating at the radio, calling out the code names of various units.

"Granite, Granite! This is Rapier! Do you copy?"

Granite, Ortanson's brigade armored battalion, was used as a reserve.

"Sir, Granite isn't responding, same with Topaz. Only contact is with Sapphire."

Mechanized infantry battalion, placed the furthest West, turned out to not be under attack at all. Probably enemy missed it's position, allowing it to get ready to fight. Artillery onslaught started moving further back, giving the shaken defenders a time to get ready. Gron walked out of the vehicle to take a look at the result. What he saw, was not good. From some places, black piles of smoke were coming. Probably artillery shells hit some vehicles, changing them into burning piles of scrap.

Tens of overturned trees and earth littered with crates completely changed the landscape from few minutes ago. Hill, on which Gron was, was the only one in the area. The view from it was perfect to observe the movement happening on the route leading to Fir'na, a town founded by Nashini refugees from Milky Way.

After jumping into partially burred trench, Ortanson ran towards the observation point. Passing by a corpse of one of company commanders, he noticed a binoculars case next to him. Not thinking much, he grabbed it and ran further.

"Is radio working, sergeant?"Question directed towards one of the brigade's veterans resulted in a smile on soot covered face.

"Everything always working with me, boss."
Not very regulatory response was met with Gron's nod. If he had more battle-hardened people in his brigade, like this one non-commissioned officer, which made it through two Anti-HO Campaigns, then their enemies would be turned into a wet stain.

Artillery fire, which lightened for a little, now intensified again. Fortunately, now, these were only mortar grenades.
"They're preparing for the attack."sergeant said, kneeling next to Ornatson, looking at the foreground.

Around twenty enemy tanks were moving in a wide formation on both sides of the road. Gron had to blink a few times, as he was surprised to see Laconian tanks in use of Sons of Sadera, but that wasn't important now. Time after time, white smoke came out of their guns after they fired towards silent Nordian positions.

"Call our artillery."
"Yes."

Positions of Nordian 145mm M909 SPH guns were hidden eight kilometers beyond their lines, in the forest.

"Major, you're to open fire on the rode towards Fir'na."Ornatson ordered and his words sunk in the sea of sounds.

Nordian positions finally responded. Guided anti-tank Fang missiles flew towards the approaching Leo-21s. Soon, artillery shells also started exploding among the tanks, changing the previously idyllic foreground into a moving, black carpet.

Although all their tries, more and more Leo-21s were leaving the smoke, quickly approaching the brigade's positions.

"If we don't do something, they'll break through."sergeant noticed.

First enemy tanks were just two kilometers from their positions.
"Try contacting Granite."

Further waiting could bring irreversible damage. Moving his tanks, Ornatson knew that he that he was ridding himself of rear guard, but tired infantry would not hold much longer against this mass attack. He carefully watched the enemy, he saw another line of armored vehicles approaching. Mastiff APCs, also produced in Laconia, moving several meters behind the tanks, now started accelerating. Some of them, hit by Nordian artillery, stopped in place, throwing parts of burning scrap everywhere. Others fired smoke grenades, to hide themselves from the sight of anti-tank crews.

"All units, all units! This is Granite!"Sudden voice in the receiver filled Gron with indescribable relief.
"Major, I'm happy to hear you."

"Same here, colonel. We had some problems. Their artillery damaged our communications."
"What casualties do you have?"

"Two vehicles destroyed, three damaged."
"I thought it's gonna be worse."

Gron didn't lose time for further conversation, seeing first Nordian Panther 5s opening fire with their 140mm guns.

SoS' Leo-21s, which made it to eight hundred meters from the Nordians, started hitting defenders' positions with a hailfire of machine guns and guns. But every enemy tank was at a fingertip, so every Nordian shot hit their mark. Technological advantage Sons had before, on longer distances, meant nothing on the distance below one thousand meters.

Looking at the foreground, Ornatson noticed, that one of the Leos got hit on the side. Pile of smoke started exiting the hatches, from which stunned tank crew started jumping out. Fire of Nordian MGs cut two down when they jumped off the turret. Few meters to the side, one of the Mastiffs started spinning around it's own axis, before falling over and erupting with orange flame.

From his observation point, colonel could see wrecks of over forty vehicles, which just few minutes ago were deadly danger for his men. First attack completely fell apart, but he won't be so lucky the second time.

"Sergeant, transmit to all units, we're falling back."

He could assign the victory in this battle to himself. He turned out to be a pretty good tactician on modern battlefield, but he also didn't want to be stupid. Both sides were just starting to learn how to behave in actual battle. He couldn't have any delusions. If they won't use this moment to retreat, enemy artillery still firing on the back line will once more hit his forward positions.

"Colonel, we're going."he heard the sergeant saying.

Behind him, infantry started loading into IFVs and APCs, hurried by the orders of NCOs.

"Artillery, once more."
He received the receiver almost immediately.

"This is Rapier 1, give us smoke. Target and coordinates are the same."
"Understood, over."

Eight Nordian cannons opened fire, this time with smoke shells. When the last carrier was taking Gron, the horizon was covered in smoke, which in turn covered the retreat of lonely battalion.

May 27

06:09

Over the Baltic Sea

Formation of ten dropships were flying over the calm waters of the sea, as low as possible, to avoid being detected by Laconian craft, which already started patrolling the skies. These ships were carrying not only Ester, Norrine and Elsa, but also all troops Norrine's squad, which she didn't want to leave to Laconians. After a quick call to Delilah, it was confirmed, that additional thirty soldiers will fit aboard the vessel they had to use and get off the planet.

The three were sitting in the leading machine, with Ester constantly rubbing her hands.

"Why are you doing this?"Norrine asked.
"I'm just stressed."Ester replied.
"About what?"

"Well, I had to leave my children behind to get off the planet. You wouldn't be stressed about that?"
"I think I get it."

Major then pulled out a canteen and opened it. Immediately, insides of the dropship were filled with familiar smell.

"What do you have there?"Elsa asked.
"Whiskey."Norrine replied."Always helps me when I'm stressed or scared."
"Really?"
"Yeah."

Elsa rubbed her chin for a few seconds.

"Can I have a sip?"she asked.
"Sure."

Norrine handed the canteen to the secretary, which took one, quick sip and gave it back. She shook after that.
"Strong."
"I never take others. But it doesn't affect me, since I have a strong head."

"Elsa, I never knew you drink."Ester said, honestly surprised.

"I also need a stress relief."Elsa grinned.

"Then give me, too."

Canteen was handed once more and Ester took a long sip from it. She wiped off her lips and returned the flask to it's owner.

"Colonel, we're about to land at Hel Peninsula."the pilot said from the cockpit.

"Understood."Ester replied.

Few minutes later, ten machines started touching down at the airstrip of the only Falmartian base on Earth. Soldiers quickly disembarked from them and soon, they were in the sky again. Ester and her companions, in the meantime, looked around. They saw numerous burning wrecks and hangars on the airstrip. Some of them were Laconian, but most was certainly the equipment used by Falmartian Fighter Infantry.

"This place seen better days."Norrine stated.
"Yeah."Ester agreed."But better let's go and search for Delilah."
"There is no need."Delilah said.

The three looked to their side and saw the Warrior Bunny approaching. She was accompanied by the rest of her team.

She and Ester shook hands.
"Good to see you."Ester said.
"Same."Delilah replied."How long has it been? Two, three years?"
"Something along those lines."

Hearing someone clearing throat, Ester turned around and saw Norrine and Elsa waiting.
"Oh, right."colonel said."Deli, meet Elsa, my secretary, and Norrine, major of Marines. Ladies, these are Delilah, Emmy, Ves, Macy, Heley and Kenya, members of 1st Warrior Bunny Fighter Infantry Battalion."
"Yo."Norrine said casually.
"Nice to meet you."Elsa said."I read about you in history books back in high school."

"You heard it, ladies?"Emmy exclaimed."We're in history books!"

"Yeah, nice."Delilah agreed."But that's not important now. You came just in time, we're about to depart."
"So, Lunar Terminal?"Ester asked.
"Yes. We're gonna sneak past Laconian blockade and go there."
"You have any other information."

Warrior Bunny shook her head.
"Nothing."she said."Everything is supposed to be told once we're there."

"And you know how bad the situation is? It seems like Laconians already jammed the internet across the whole planet."Norrine said.

Which, unbeknown to them, was true. Laconian hackers and electronic warfare ships started the complete blockade of all information coming in and out of the planet.
"Well, that sucks."Ves said.

"We're gonna worry about it later. For now, let's go. Our ship is waiting."Delilah said.

"Right after you."Ester said.

The group, followed by Norrine's soldiers, then proceeded to walk towards a small transport ship, which awaited just few meters away. There, they saw the Falmartian Fighter Infantry recruits already loading onto the ship, so they quickly joined them.

After they got aboard, the ship took off and took a way, that would take it around the Laconian ships and towards the Moon.

May 27

20:01

Underground Command Center, Sons of Sadera HQ

"As of now"general Mayo reported"our forces managed to expand out sphere of control on Taurus III for about one thirty leagues from LZ1 in all directions and for fifteen leagues West, North and South and five leagues East. Resistance met by 2nd Armored Legion turned out to be harder than expected."

"I heard about huge losses among out ranks."Zorzal said, hitting the weak point. Herm tried to stop himself from throwing meat. System doubling every action could take initiative from even the most active.

"Actually, they aren't as big as some would think. Most of our machines can be repaired. Our engineering units are already taking care of this. We also lost some aircraft, but Erecans are already delivering the KaLs for replacement. And there is also the case of Battlecruiser Molt Sol Augustus…"
"A great loss for all of us."Zorzal agreed."Shame that it went that way."
"But except of that, everything is going mostly as planned. Within the next three days, we should encircle Erak City."
"You know, when I look at this, I don't think we're gonna finish it within a week…"Emperor stated.

Herm looked at Havenius, which sat on the side of Zorzal.

"We might have actually underestimated our enemy and the operation might actually extend in time…"general stated"…buuut we still have and advantage over the enemy. Sooner or later, they will run out of men and ammo. We can supply our forces, they don't."

"Always something."

Zorzal nodded and looked at Havenius.

"General, could you present the situation regarding the rest of our current operations?"he asked.
"Of course. Captain."Havenius waved at the officer, which all this time sat at the end of conference table. After he made sure that it's about him, he stood up, cleared his throat and started reading.

"First reports regard our forces sent to occupy Narum Prime and Narum System."

"What do they say?"Herm asked.
"Narum is pretty much ours."captain replied."The stations that were in the system didn't put up any fight. Same with the planet itself. We bombed the surface and eliminated most of the enemy military presence there, although…"

Here, captain stopped and looked at Zorzal. Emperor risen an eyebrow.

"Well?"he encouraged him.

"Fleet overdid it a bit."captain replied."The bombardment lasted for three hours and as a result, twenty five percent of the planet's surface is pure glass."

Both Zorzal and Herm looked at the captain, not knowing what to say.

"Overdid it, huh?"general asked.

"Legate Nirus was really excited to use his fleet's full potential…"

"Okay, we're gonna talk about it later."Herm stated."Continue."

"Of course."Captain cleared his throat again."We also managed to take control over all space stations and outposts in Taurus System. This allowed our fleet to move and enter Flareian System, where we did mostly the same, taking space stations and outposts placed on moons of gas giants. Only facilities still under their control are the ones around Flare Prime and other planets from it towards the star."
"What about planet Emloy?"Havenius asked.
"Well, here situation gets a little tricky. Turned out, that a brigade of Japanese Marines was sent there for weapons testing. When our forces landed on the planet, they joined the defensive effort. But it's just five thousand people. Together with Falmartian forces, the entire defense of the planet consists of thirty thousand troops."
"Then we shouldn't have much problem with that, right?"Zorzal risen an eyebrow.

"Well…"captain said."Although these forces are small, they are mostly light, mechanized and motorized units. They are perfect for hit-and-run attacks. Not to mentions, that when it will come to urban combat, they might give us a lot of trouble."
"But when did we worry about losses?"Havenius smirked.

Zorzal and Herm nodded in agreement.
"Is that all?"Emperor asked.
"Yes."captain said and sat down.

"What do you say about all of that, sir?"Herm asked.

Zorzal stayed silent for few seconds, as he tended to do. He long ago learned, that keeping your subordinates unsure was the best way to control them. Fear was keeping them in line, after all.
"Continue your work."Zorzal finally said and stood up."I expect the best results and I want to see more reports about our victories."

"Yes, Emperor!"everyone replied.

Zorzal then went out of the room.

May 27

23:15

Jade Palace, Sadera

Blackout order plunged the city into chaos. Special police patrols were driving around, making sure that all lights were off. Saderan Garrison units were guarding the most important roads around the city, as well as it's insides. Control of documents was making any transit very hard and some roads were jammed with vehicles, be it mechanical or horse-pulled. If someone looked at it from the skies, he would see lights moving through the canyons made by the streets.

General Grey walked down the corridors of the building, making his way towards the Conference Room. All across the corridors, he could see Rose Knights, armed in all kinds of weapons, from simple pistols, through SMGs and one even carried a full-on machine gun. All of them had earphones sticking out of their ears.

Four Knights forming a wall in front of the door to the room stepped aside, letting him pass.

"Welcome, general."one of them said.

"Welcome."Grey replied."Is everyone inside?"

"Mostly. Some ministers died yesterday in the Senate. Minister Velanius was assassinated in his mansion just three hours ago."

Hearing this, Grey risen an eyebrow.

"What was the Government Security Service doing at that time?"
"Three of their officers also died."

Grey cursed in his mind and nodded. Next, he pushed the door open and the Knights closed it behind him.

First person to notice him, was Prime Minister Garcel. His pale, tired face turned towards him and he gave a smile. Looking at it, Grey could say, that both of them were through a lot in recent years.

"Good to see you, general. Please, take a sit."Even PM's voice, hardened in political debates, was hoarse.

"I'm also happy, Prime Minister."They shook hands and Grey took a seat next to Pina and Hamilton.

"Alright, let's not waste more time. Ladies and gentlemen, in current hard situation, most of the tasks will be taken care of by the military officials."Pina said."General Grey, in cooperation with Minister of Defense, should deal with…Let's just say it straight. With unexpected aggression."

Approving murmurs went through the room. Minister of Defense and Grey looked at each other and nodded. This was their job and such things simply hardened them even more.

"We all know general Grey's competence."Sherry said."I think we can be calm about it."
"Indeed."Garcel agreed.

"Now, general, could you…?"Pina turned to Grey.

General nodded and grabbed a bunch of papers from his briefcase.

"As you all know, around 01:20 hours, unknown forces jumped into Andromeda Branch's space from within Andromeda."

At the same time, MoD's assistant placed a plastic folder in front of everyone gathered.

"Not long after, our systems were hacked and we received a message from our queen's long lost brother, whom we considered deceased, alongside his army. As it turned out, he's very much alive and now, with his new army, equipped by some yet unknown ally of theirs. However, it might be possible, that their generous allies from Andromeda might not be their only allies."
"What do you mean by that, general?"Minister of Education asked.

"Open your folders on page 5."

Politicians quickly grabbed the folders and opened them on said page. There, they saw some documents and a photo, of surprisingly high quality, showing a heavily damaged tank, abandoned by it's crew. It had the old Saderan flag, which was now used by Sons of Sadera, painted on it's side.

"What you see here, is one of the last photos we received from our forces on Emloy."Grey explained."The machine you see on it, is without a doubt a Laconian-made Leonidas-21 Main Battle Tank."

"Laconian?"Hamilton asked."How did Zorzal put his hands on Laconian stuff?"

"It's possible, that SoS managed to send some spies into Milky Way to scout the field. And when they learned that Laconia might share similar goals to theirs, they contacted the Laconian government and made a deal with them, although we don't know what deal. After that, SoS's spies started smuggling blueprints of Laconian weaponry into Andromeda and further, to their allies, which then started manufacturing it."Grey explained."At least that's the theory we came up with."

"And the worst thing is, this theory might be completely true."Pina said."After all, not long after SoS invaded, Intergalactic Gate went down. We tried to reopen it, but all efforts failed."
"So that means, that we can't count on the help of UNSA."Garcel said.
"Well, that's what we get."Grey threw up his arms.
"What do you mean?"Minister of Transport asked.

In response, Grey just looked at him with fire in his eyes.
"For years I have been trying to push through projects of expanding our armed forces, so that we could defend ourselves without the help of Earth, Mars or any other power. Not only me, all my counterparts in other countries also tried."general replied."After all, I always knew that situation like this could happen. Andromeda is still a new place for us and we had no idea what could wait there and at the same time, we had Lacons in the Milky Way. I don't mean we should cut ourselves off from UNSA, but only that we wouldn't be so reliant on them. I know we had a limited budget, but we could try and negotiate a bit more."

"General, I think that you're forgetting yourself."Minister of Internal Affairs said.

"No, general Grey has a point."Pina said, trying to calm down the coming storm."After all, our entire defense strategy relies on bilateral help. If UNSA was attacked, we go and help defend them. If we were attacked, we had strength to only hold off enemy for the time when UNSA mobilizes to help us. We really should focus on ability to defend ourselves without any foreign help, especially in cases when we don't have access to Milky Way."

Silence fell in the room after these words. Politicians were well aware that both Pina and Grey were right. Most of them never considered such scenario, when UNSA isn't there to help them win.

"Alright, let's not argue."Sherry said."It's the first day of war, we can't just let our arguments blind us. After all, we have to make sure we won't be executed by the enemy."

Everyone nodded. Grey cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry, that was unprofessional from my side."he said."But now, we should continue. Next on the list…"

He stopped again, when he felt vibrating in his pocket. He pulled out his mobile phone and looked at the screen.

"Excuse me."

General went to the side, accepted the call and talked for few seconds. After he was done, he returned with the same face as before. However, his tone now changed to ice, as he said:
"I just got information from our space defense. Enemy Frigate-class vessels just jumped at the very border of planet's atmosphere and fired three missiles onto the city, after which it managed to jump away."

Temperature in the room immediately lowered by few more degrees.

"What's the chance that this building will be hit?"
"Small. And if it comes to that, the area is defended by some of the best anti-missile systems we have at our disposal. Unless they have chemical or nuclear warheads, then accuracy is the secondary priority."

Green faces of the ministers, Hamilton and Pina, paralyzed by the unexpected news, shined in the light of the lamps.
"Don't worry, if the worst comes, we can evacuate to Secure Valley with dropships."Prime Minister turned out to be the biggest optimist.

From behind the window, covered by a heavy curtain, the sound of air raid alarm could be heard. Most citizens of Sadera knew this sound from various ceremonies or parades, but nobody expected it to work because of the reason it was created for. Extending silence was interrupted by a far off explosion.

MoD's assistant, with a phone constantly pressed against her ear, listened to the information coming from the Air and Space Operations Center.
"First landed in Akusho, it hit buildings."she declared.

Next explosion was quieter.

"Second hit near Deliv Tower 6, but didn't seem to touch the structural integrity of the building. And third hit just outside the walls. No information about contamination. That's all for now."

"You think they aimed at something?"Minister of Education asked.

"Hard to say. Maybe it wasn't about any target, but only to give us a scare."

"Where the hell was our fleet and orbital defense? They should do something!"

"I talked with admiral Tyuule."Grey said."She's still trying to form a perimeter around the planet with the help of our allied fleets. It's harder than it seems, considering the losses we took yesterday in attack on our main anchorage."

"And what about some kind of fleet counterattack?"

"We tried."General winced."In two hours, we gathered a task force of twelve ships, three hours, rest from Skandia, Araluen and Soutland."
"And?"Pina asked.
"When they activated their hyperspace drives, enemy Dreadnaught appeared out of nowhere and destroyed the task force, after which it simply jumped probably back where it came from."

"Just great…"

"Now, considering enemy's goals."Grey again looked into his papers."Without a doubt, their main goal is Flare Prime. However, it appear that before a full on assault on the planet, they want to deal with everything else, such us taking the remaining planets. After all, that already took probably all of our space installations except the ones around Flare Prime. Narum Prime can already be crossed from the list. Taurus III and Emloy might defend, but I doubt it will be long before they fall."

"Crap."Minister of External Affairs said.

"Indeed."Pina agreed."But now, let's talk economics. Due to the fact that Minister of Finances died in the attack on Senate, I asked acting CEO of Trade Corp to look into it. Tuka?"

CEO of Trade Corp nodded and stood up. She looked at her tablet.

"After carefully examining the confirmed and theorized losses, we could have sustained from around one to six million denari, counting lost infrastructure, resources and equipment."Tuka replied.
"Less than expected."Sherry said.
"Mainly because most of the infrastructure and equipment we had at our disposal was financed back in the late 2150s, when UNSA was pouring money into development of of the three systems. We started financing everything only six years ago. But, mind you, these numbers will only grow as the war continues. We lost Intergalactic Gate and Gods only know how much will that cost us, let alone the whole destruction this will cause."

"You have some estimates on that?"Garcel asked.
Tuka nodded.
"We estimate, that if the war lasted for at least three to six months, we will lose somewhere between three to seven billion denari."

Someone in the back whistled, while the politicians and military official just had displeased faces.

"We need to quickly come up with something."Pina said.
"Already ahead of you, Your Highness."Minister of Defense said."Right, general Grey?"
"Yes, mister minister."Grey nodded.
"What do you mean?"Minister of Tourism asked.

"We already dug out the War Directive No.1, which I have here."general said, pulling another folder from his briefcase."We're gonna nationalize and militarize most important branches of industry to aid the war effort. Fortunately, we did invest in advanced manufacturing facilities and factories aimed at production of military equipment, as well as obtaining licenses to produce weapons in our country. We also helped our allies with the same. We have resources and we actually already gave orders for our factories to start working twice or even five times as much as before. Not only that, but we also plan to start a mass mobilization."

Politicians and Tuka nodded in admiration.

"I'm impressed."Prime Minister said."However, I need to ask about how long will it take for the mobilization to take effect?"
"Not only that, but what is the state of our resources and military equipment reserves? For how long can they last?"Sherry asked.

Grey looked at Minister of Defense. He nodded at the general.
"I won't be lying."Grey said."The mobilization, along with the basic training, might take from one to three weeks. When it comes to our resources reserves, we can go on for about one and a half to four months. Situation with equipment is that we do have some of it stored in magazines spread around the country, but with the current situation, we can't ship it out to the invaded planets. However, due to the enemy's advantage, we might not have that much time. Who knows, by the end of the months, they might start landing troops on Flare Prime."

"Doesn't that sound a bit too pessimistic?"Minister of Education asked.

"I'm rather optimistic."Grey rebuked."If we don't do our best, they might be here by the end of the next week."

Once more, silence fell in the room. Nobody was brave enough to say anything. Only MoD and Grey had poker faces.
"Before we finish, I would like you to look through the folders you were given. After that, Pina, look at the documents attached to your. They're at the very end."Grey said.

Politicians then read through the folders, which showed the most important information from the ones they talked about. After few minutes, Pina pulled out two documents from her folder, signed as 'Full mobilization regulation' and 'Regulation on martial law'.

"The only thing they lack, is your signature, Your Highness."Minister of Defense said.

Pina didn't think long. She signaled for Hamilton to bring her the pen and with a swift motion, she signed the two documents, which were then given to the MoD. He looked at them and nodded.

"Now we can finally begin our work."he said.
"May the Gods watch over us…"Pina whispered.
"May they do, Your Highness."Grey said.

XXX

We're gonna end for today. First clashes are already taking place on Taurus III, while Earth is under still under Laconian siege. Also, something is happening within the Unknown Regions. Our heroes must quickly get it together, if they want to stop the worst from happening. But what will come out of all this mess in Milky Way and Andromeda? Wait and find out.

For now, that's all. As always, leave a review, like and favorite. It will be highly appreciated! See you!