Welcome back to my story. Last time we've seen each other, war still raged on Taurus III and beyond. Plans are being made and forces are gathering. At the same time, Zorzal dreams about the quick victory, which his forces had to achieve within just a month, plotting and scheming. But as of now, he's not doing the greatest of jobs.
Okay, let's get to it, but before that, reviews.
To Supreme Supra: They're both power hungry maniacs, what did you expect?
Alright, let's go then.
Chapter 6
May 31, 2166
13:41
Planet Emloy, Flareian System
Sands and rocks of enormous desert seemed to stretch without end. Winds lifted up grains of sand and pushed them at the column of moving SoS' vehicles, which were moving towards their another target after yesterday taking Torda, a town just twenty kilometers East of here. Just yesterday, defending Falmartian forces retreated from the town after a fierce battle that raged since the invasion day. So SoS didn't have the satisfaction that came from pushing the enemy out as they wanted.
In one of the APCs, a clone with serial number E-857394, codenamed by some Skrill, sat in the open hatch of the turret that was placed on top of the vehicle. He, like many others, was cloned using the DNA of numerous soldiers that came with Zorzal. However, as all clones, he was given an ability to self-determine himself. None of the clones had identical character. Some were closed in themselves, others were ruthless while others even liked to help others…but only after being told so.
Skrill was one of the more open, bet still reserved clones. He often took part in parties and other such celebrations, while at the same time trying to not make a lot of contact with the others, except other clones.
"Hey, Skrill."he heard.
He looked to his side and saw Trios, another clone, with a missing eye, which was a mistake during the cloning process. Although that, he was a really good gunner.
"Yeah?"Skrill asked.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing. Just sitting here, watching the scenery."
Trios looked around the desert.
"Yeah, really nice scenery."he said with sarcasm.
"That was sarcasm."Skrill shot back.
"I know, I know. I'm just messing with you."
There was a moment of silence between the two.
"How long do you think all this will take?"Trios finally asked.
"I don't know. It had to be over in two days, but considering our progress?"Skrill threw up his arms."I dunno."
"I think you're too pessimistic. I mean, the operation is extending in time, but I don't think it will take a lot longer than planned."
"You're the one to say it."
"By the way, what are you going to do when it's all over?"
"Hm?"
"I want to become a football player. I heard this sport is really popular on Earth and in Milky Way, so maybe I would get into one of the more known teams."
Skrill risen his eyebrow. Actually, he didn't know what to do when the war was over. He did hear some of his fellow clones talking about what will they do, but he was never thinking much about. He simply decided, that he's gonna stay in the military after everything is done. That was the best he could do.
But there were two things both he and other clones serving in SoS' Army didn't know. First, they had accelerated aging process. Because of that, Xemth scientists were able to produce an army numbering hundreds of thousands of soldiers. And second thing, was the Signal Chip. Each clone has a special chip mounted in their heads, which after activation sent a signal through their body. This signal had the ability to accelerate the aging process even more, resulting in clones literally aging decades within seconds, until ultimately crumbling to dust. Zorzal constantly held the trigger to activate the signals in his office, so after the war was won, he could activate it and get rid of the clones which he didn't need anymore, so he could fill his army with Humans that were not made in a tank.
But these were not the information that the clones needed to know for obvious reasons.
As they were driving through the desert. With a corner of his eye, Skrill noticed a glimpse of light far in the distance, on one of the giant rocks that grew out of the desert. He lowered his visor and zoomed in, trying to find something, but the dust in the air was making it hard.
"Something wrong?"Trios asked.
"I think I see something."Skrill replied.
"What?"
"I'm yet to find out."
Skrill looked in the direction the glimpse came from for few seconds. Nothing seemed to be visible at first, before something happened.
More precisely, a four legged tank materialized out of thin air right on top of the rock. Soon, it was followed by two dozens of others.
"Shit!"Skrill shouted.
That was the last thing he did, before a shell fired by the four legged tank slammed into the side of their Mastiff and literally made the vehicle fly, as it flew several meters, doing several barrel rolls in the air, before crashing on the side of the road, with all passengers and crew killed.
Meanwhile, entire two kilometer long column found itself under fire from the enemy tanks. Shell after shell was leaving the barrel of each tank, decimating the vehicles that were driving in a nice, straight line in an open desert, with only a slight cover, that could save only infantry. Which, by the way, tried disembarking their vehicles, but was quickly taken out by a fire coming from the sky.
Everything lasted for only two minutes, before the entire column became nothing more than a bunch of smoking scrap metal. Bodies burned alongside the vehicles, while only sound heard was now the wind coming through the desert.
"All targets neutralized."Seyi said in the radio."Good job, everyone."
Sounds of confirmation came from the two companies of walking tanks, while Seyi relaxed in her commander chair.
"Another day in the paradise."Yuzu mumbled.
"Hallelujah."Michael sighed.
As everyone in Andromeda galaxy, news of the invasion by unknown enemy were a shock to them all. First, the news of terrorist attacks all across the Andromeda Branch's space, then stations going dark and finally, a fleet of warships appearing in the orbit of the planet, bombing the AATIS systems and sending landing troops to the surface. And before the communications were cut off, the news about Intergalactic Gate being closed.
Alarm was declared in all military units across the planet, as well as local National Guard forces. Immediately, Falmartians started mustering everything they could, even pulling out some stuff they had in magazines. And it wasn't long, before command of their brigade decided to offer their help to governor Diablo. He, of course, accepted and over five thousand battle-hardened Japanese Marines, veterans of Anti-Holy Order Campaigns moved to battle, accompanied by two companies of prototype Type-63 Walking Tanks.
And so, by the last several days they were helping in defense of the planet, mainly by ambushing enemy convoys. This was made really easy because of two features of the Type-63: a mounted optical camouflage module and combat drone. Thanks to the camouflage, they could become completely invisible in all environments, while the drones could strike enemy from the skies.
Currently, Jester King's drone returned to it's resting module.
"Report it to the higher ups."Seyi told Michael."I will inform the others that we're going."
"Understood, boss."Michael replied.
Seyi, in the meantime, activated her comms.
"This is Jester King to all vehicles. We're returning to base, over."
"Understood!"all vehicle commanders replied.
Walking Tanks then started turning and walking off the rock. They formed a single line and started making their way towards their base.
"How many shells did we use today?"Seyi asked.
"Six."Eiko replied, checking the ammo storage."Additionally, around fifty rounds from the drone."
"That's good, right?"Yuzu asked.
"Yeah. Not much and we still have plenty of ammo…"
"…but?"Michael worded the unsaid.
"…but no matter how you look at it, sooner or later we will run out of ammo and then there will be nothing to stop them from shooting us."
Immediately, grim atmosphere filled the insides of the tank. It was a fact that everyone of them knew. Ammo would run out the longer the conflict drags on and who knew how long will it take. More possible outcome was that they will simply have to start throwing their vehicles at the enemy.
Seyi opened the hatch and looked through it. The wind touched her face and she took a deep breath.
"That's not how I imagines our first actual war."she thought.
She always imagined, that if the worst came to pass, then their crew would be sent to the frontlines to fight the Laconians, which, considering the closing of Intergalactic Gate, certainly had to make their move. And this meant, that somehow, they sneak past the UDG and took control of Angier System. And the most painful thing for Seyi?
She had no idea what was happening with Yuko.
If the Laconians took Angier System, then they were on the way straight to Earth. Who knew, maybe they even already took it over? Questions were the only things that currently filled Seyi's head. And she was terrified to know the answers.
"Jester King, come in."a voice said in her radio.
Seyi quickly responded:
"This is Jester King, what is it?"
"This is major Ishikage."
Ishikage. Commander of the armored battalion in which structure their two companies were integrated.
"What's going on, sir?"
"Our scouts are reporting, that enemy troops are gathering for a mass assault on village of Tesara. We want you to join the rest of the unit. We will reinforce the defending units of National Guard there."
"Understood, sir."
"Godspeed."
With that, major disconnected. Seyi quickly slid back into the vehicle.
"Ishikage called."she announced.
"And?"Yuzu asked.
"We are to join the rest of the battalion and reinforce Falmartian National Guard in Tesara."
"Where the hell is this?"Eiko asked with risen eyebrow.
"Let me check…"Michael said, looking at the map laying on his side. Due to the destruction of all satellites in the planet's orbit, this was their only option."Got it. It's one hundred and twenty kilometers South of our current position."
"How long before we get there?"Seyi turned to him.
"If we go on full speed, four hours."driver replied.
Seyi nodded. She again activated her communicator.
"To all units, we're to rejoin the battalion in the village of Tesara, one hundred and twenty kilometers South. Full speed and let's get there."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
Soon, all twenty four vehicles were speeding through the open desert, leaving behind the burning remains of the enemy convoy.
May 31
14:12
Leender Air Force Base, Leender, Taurus III
Pressure pushed Dora into the seat. The world behind the cockpit of Eurofighter Cyclone picked up on speed when she pushed the throttle forward, making the machine accelerate. The craft, loaded to the brim with bombs and air-to-air missiles easily took off and flew into the blue sky. Alongside her were three more machines, tasked with bombing enemy columns currently making their way through the Nordian C.Z.
Dora felt strange, sitting back inside of the machine, which she used to fly through her entire career in UNSA. Somehow it felt familiar, yet strange at the same time. Maybe because this particular craft was serving in Soutlandian Royal Air Force?
On the first day of the invasion, Dora did what she could to help in clearing the damage caused by the falling satellite and bombardment. She pulled several people from under the rubble, helped in getting them to hospital and more. But after that, she sat idly for few days, watching the information that were presented on the TV, which still worked thanks to the transmitters on the planet's surface, that needed satellited only to transmit news and other programs from beyond the planet.
And the news were not good, as it seemed. Although several small victories, which forced the enemy forces, so-called 'Sons of Sadera', as it was learned from the taken prisoners, to stop and refit their units, SoS was still pushing onwards. And they didn't seemed to stop for now. She just sat there, irritated that she can't somehow help.
But just two days ago, the newly created United Command of Defense Forces declared that all across the planet, recruitment centers were being opened for the people that want to sign up and join the fight. So without thinking long, Dora was the first to sign up and now, officially, she was major Dora Hiedel of Soutlandian Royal Air Force.
She was given some wingmen to command and until now, they sat in the base, waiting for the orders, that could come at any given moment.
The task they were given was relatively simple. Recon and bombardment of Fir'na-Utgard road, which according to information they were given, was the main route used by SoS in their offensive towards the Nordian capital. That was the task perfect for multipurpose machines such as Cyclones.
Ground crews, normally efficient in their jobs, now literally reached the top of Mount Olympus while preparing the machines to take off. In the air, Dora could appreciate their doings. Although it was almost a week into the war, ground crews will soon have to do miracles, especially when more and more tasks will fall on their shoulders. Each loss was painful for airwings defending the planet, as before this whole mess, on the entire planet, there were just four hundred machines, which in scale of a planet bigger than Earth, was not many.
They turned towards their target, flying over R08 highway which connected Leender to Nordian C.Z. and for the next few hours, they calmly flew as low as possible, but not too low. They didn't want to get detected by enemy air defense, nor to be noticed by enemy craft, which started to recently fly deeper and deeper into Soutlandian airspace. Down under them, they could see numerous civilian vehicles, full of refugees escaping the frontlines as far as they could. Dora didn't know what they wanted to achieve, but she hoped, that they will at least find a place somewhere safe.
Finally, after several hours, eight red dots appeared on the displays of the crafts. Activated radars of Cyclones surely had to warn SoS' pilots about danger, but due to the lack of sufficient radar network on the planet, she wanted to know of the enemy earlier.
"Squadron, turn off your radars."Dora ordered to the rest of her team."We're lowering the altitude to one hundred meters."
Radar echos left by the fighters of her squadron disappeared in the noise.
"Ready for the attack."
Activating their radars again, they lit up the targets. Each craft was armed with three AIM-222 missiles for long-range combat, three Boxer-3 missiles for ranges lower than twenty kilometers and two air-to-ground S-09 missiles. Not to mention the gun and 50mm cannon.
Computers mounted in noses of each missile locked onto target, directed by their radars. Dora switched the targeting system for Triple Twos and concentrated on her HUD, observing her missiles. Enemy machines, until now flying in compact formation, now spread out in different directions. Around SoS' crafts, flares and chaffs appeared, aimed to disorientate Defense Force's missiles. Dora's squadron also divided into two pairs. Getting closer to the enemy, her aircraft could observe the approaching dance of death as missiles struck their targets.
Three radar echos vanished like candles on a birthday cake after being blown away. Major's confusion, as she counted for a better result, was big. As she noticed, three Triple Twos targeted the same machine. Even if the best pilot SoS had flew it, there was no chance for him. Giant fireball lit up the sky for two seconds and vanished. Other two craft that were hit soon fell on the ground in fire and smoke. Remaining five didn't show any signs of fear, quite the opposite, they seemed to itch for a fight. Now Dora's team had to become targets.
SoS' machines, painted purple with both wings and ballasts in forward-swept wing configuration, lined up, locked on and fired. Ten missiles fired at Dora's squadron quickly reached them. Evasive maneuvers earlier made by them were now being made by defending pilots. Flying high upwards, major noticed a flash of light in the corner of her eye. It was lieutenant Ilvels, leading from second pair, falling towards the ground in tight loop.
"Eject!"
No response meant that either lieutenant was dead, or lost consciousness doing violent maneuver with his Cyclone.
Doing a barrel roll, Dora noticed with fear, that Ilvels was just meters away from the ground. Chance vanished alongside orange-yellow flash among the trees. Quelling the anger inside her, Dora ended the maneuver and was again ready to fight. She will mourn the lost teammate later, now was the time for taking the initiative. The craft, divided by fifty kilometers at the beginning of the fight, were now in their sights. Although enemy machines looked similar, Dora could see differences in their construction, which meant that they probably interrupted some mission partaken by enemy bombers escorted by the fighters. Fortunately, they stopped them from whatever they wanted to do.
She led the sights at one of enemy sleekier, fighter-looking aircraft and pressed the button on one of the joysticks, releasing the Boxer-3. Missile freed itself from the pylon and skittered towards enemy, leaving a trail of white smoke behind. When enemy pilot noticed the danger, evasion didn't do anything for him. Oblique wing tore off from the machine, followed by the nose, when the rest of damaged wreck, in fire and smoke, flew towards the ground.
Now, Dora had five missiles left, gun and 50mm cannon. She was about to order her teammates to press on the attack, when she noticed that SoS turned their tails and started running. Together they lost four machines and the victory was certainly in Defense Force's hands. But the memory of shot down lieutenant left a bitter taste in Dora's mouth.
May 31
23:43
North of Erak City, Skandian C.Z.
The insides of Silent Skyhawk dropship, a Stealth version of normal Skyhawk, were weirdly calm and quiet. Major Madelyn Altman and several other Royal Rangers, under the command of lieutenant colonel Vincent, were going for their first mission in this war. After some talking, Araluenian agreed to join the United Taurusian Defense Force and moved into action. 'King Duncan' Mechanized Brigade was sent to help in Nordian C.Z., while 'Baron Arald' Infantry Battalion was sent to help Skandians. Royal Rangers were split in two groups, each numbering a thousand, and sent on different fronts.
Machine, hidden from radars by it's Stealth sheathing, was easily hidden. Maddie's platoon was loaded with weapons. Except of personal AR4 assault riffles, each Ranger also carried M22 sniper riffle and PI-33 for self-defense. It was a standard equipment of every Ranger after the post-war reforms. However, additionally, some Rangers had anti-tank Spearhead missile launchers. Team's machine guns section was made up of two RPD-6 8,22mm machine guns. Some AR4s also had 40mm grenade launchers mounted on them, deadly on short distances.
Combat readiness kept in power among the Rangers made everyone nervous. Information about invasion found some companies in training or in the field. Some speculated, that they will be landing right on top of main enemy HQ.
Remembering some bellowing comments of her fellow Rangers, Maddie smirked ironically. If that was supposed to happen, it was already way too late.
"They probably would sweep us off the sky before we could even get close anyway."she thought.
Half of the platoon was made up of seasoned veterans, while other half was made of apprentices. And sleeping in front of her, with his head bent to the side, was Lucas Terner AKA Stork, Maddie's apprentice. Under the mass of equipment and the vest, one could make out a chest lifting up and falling down. Rest of boys and girls tried to keep calm, but it was hard for them to do so.
Maddie twisted in plastic seat. But fifty kilograms of equipment slightly constrained her movements, so it seemed that she had to suffer a little more.
Side wind shook the machine, causing a sudden inflow of fear in the passengers. Second pilot, constantly looking at the instruments, now turned to the radio. His voice sounded in the speakers.
"ETA-five minutes."
Lieutenant Vincent, which until now sat without any movement, now started to move the rope in his hands. Methodically, he examined the entire rope up until the hook at the end.
"Two minutes."
Skyhawk, piloted with speed of five hundred kilometers per hour through much of the way, now visibly slowed down. It looked like the navigator lost a the target at the last minute.
Side door of the machine opened and Vincent hooked the rope at the handle. Gust of warm wind got inside. After three hours of flight, it was a nice change.
"Disembark!"Vincent's shout happened at the same time as the green light inside of the dropship.
Gathering at the door, dark shapes of Royal Rangers disappeared outside. When Maddie's turn came, she felt that riding down a rope, something that never before made her scared, now made her heart pound. Grabbing the rope, she glanced down to see how high they were.
"No more than ten meters."she thought and started sliding down.
She hit the ground hard, rolled to the side and took the firing position fifteen meters away. Silent humming of Stealth engines slowly disappeared in the distance.
Laying the high grass, she held her breath. Holding her riffle, she lifted up on one hand, searching for the other Rangers. Their blurred contours were visible only when they moved.
"We're moving."Lieutenant colonel Vincent didn't give them time to think."Team One, move."
Within few minutes, platoon formed into a long, weapon-packed snake. Several kilometers in front of them, within the forests all around them, enemy was hiding. Stopping every few meters, Vincent checked the map.
Uncertainty of what was going to happen was depressing for everyone. For some of them even more, considering that it was their first actual combat mission in an actual war. Something like that was a real trial of character.
Another stop turned out to be longer than the previous ones.
"Road in the front."Whisper coming from the front spread along the snake."Team One, move."Vincent hurried his subordinates.
Some stooped shadow crossed the road. Crawling forward, Maddie found herself just five meters from the asphalt road. She awaited a conductive moment. She tensed. Right when she was about to start, hurried by Vincent, car headlights came from around the nearest turn.
Pulling the AR4 forward, Maddie flattened herself among the short bushes. Rest of the Rangers, led by instinct, did the same, trying to blend with the surroundings as best as they could.
There was no time for an eventual retreat. Unit taking position on both side of the road, in case of detection, had to prepare for battle. They weren't sent here to hide between the bushes anyway, but to fight the enemy. Lights were coming closer. Left one was blinking, as if speaking with Morse code. Relaxing the tensed muscles, Maddie looked down her sights, waiting for order to open fire.
"Hold your fire."Vincent whispered so that only the closest soldiers could hear. Looking into the lights, Maddie was relieved to see that it was a civilian vehicle, not recon machine of the SoS. If not Vincent's presence of mind, they would turn refugees into sieve. A minute later, the sound of engine disappeared in the distance.
"You got scared, didn't you?"Vincent's mocking tone was directed towards Rangers' apprentices."Now to the other side! Move it!"
June 1
00:23
United Staff, Leender
Inside the walls of the former C.Z. Operational HQ, people were constantly moving in all directions, carrying documents, reports and so on. It was like that since the day UTDF was created and although most officers from other C.Z.s couldn't come here due to enemy presence in the air, they were in constant contact with other Operation HQs. There were also officers from some units that had to take part in Offworld Storm, like commander of the 10th Armored Brigade and 92nd Mechanized Division, both of which were currently preparing to face off against enemy troops in Nordian C.Z.
And in the middle of all this, was general Harlen Ordell, unanimously elected commander of UTDF and main architect of the defensive actions. He spent several last days in the building, not even getting any sleep, trying to figure out what was gonna happen next.
As of now, he was standing at the tactical table with planet's map showed on it. Majority of the surface was blue, so under the control of allied forces, but the red cancer of the invaders was starting to spread really fast. Probably not as fast as SoS wanted, but still fast.
"Not so easy to crack, huh, bitches?"Harlen whispered.
"What was that, sir?"colonel Nashi'Rad asked, looking at him.
Harlen quickly shook his head.
"Nothing, colonel."he replied.
Rad looked at him for few seconds. As Nashini learned, it was easy to see, when Humans didn't have enough sleep. They then have dark circles and bags under their reddened eyes. And currently, Harlen had all of that.
"General, can I give you a suggestion?"Rad asked.
"Fire away."Harlen said and yawned.
"I think you should lay down and rest a little."
General shook his head again.
"I can't. In an hour, it will be a week since all of this crap started and I still need to find out how can we hold them for longer than few hours. They wanted an easy victory and we can't just let them do that."
"Considering that some prisoners revealed that they wanted to take over the plant in a week? I think we already broke their plans really well."
"But they are still moving forward! Something must be done! Speaking of which, how's the 10th Armored."
Rad looked at his hand terminal and the last message he got on it.
"Major Ifurius of RAACB reports, that brigade managed to rendezvous with elements of 74th Mechanized Brigade of Skandian-Nordian Joint Corp. They synchronized their network-centric battlefield systems and command systems with each other without much trouble. Currently, they're preparing for an attack on position held by enemy forces."
Harlen risen an eyebrow.
"A counterattack?"he asked.
"Only local."Rad replied."But we hope to at least disturb enemy operations in that area for a bit."
"And what forces stand in front of your boys and girls?"
"According to our scouts, they're gonna face vanguard units of the so-called 1st Armored Legion and few other units."
"1st Legion? I heard of them. Prisoners said, that these are the best of the best of their army, the ones which followed Zorzal since the very beginning, not some copies. Whatever this means."
"Apparently, they fought 74th Brigade since day zero and they did defeat them in few battles, like Battle of Reta few hours after SoS landed. I think their commander got a little angry, because previously, this unit was marching straight towards Utgard and now, it's going in the same direction as Nordians."
"Which means two things. Either they simply want to take revenge for all the defeats and knowing old school Saderans, I wouldn't be surprised, or they got new directives to take Leender."
"Both are possible, yes."
The door to the tactical room opened and Harlen saw Tim walking in. His adjutant came up to him and saluted.
"General."Tim said formally.
"Good to see you, Tim."Harlen looked at Rad."Colonel, can you leave us?"
Nashini just saluted and walked away. General once more looked at the USMC major.
"Relax a bit, Tim."he said.
"Forgive me for saying that, but you should relax yourself and get some sleep."Tim replies, crossing his arms on his chest.
"Rad told me the same thing."
"Because it's true."
Harlen waved it off.
"Anyway, what is it?"
"I have some reports from the frontlines for you, sir."Saying that, Tim handed the tablet to Harlen.
"Thanks. Let's see what we're dealing with."
General pressed the button, turned on the tablet and looked at the messages on it. He decided to go from the oldest. He pressed the message and started reading.
From: UTDF Intelligence Cell, Leender
To: United Staff, Leender
Agents on occupied territories report. Enemy continues shipping equipment and men from the orbit to the surface. Numerous units of heavy armor seen going towards Utgard and Erak City. It is possible that we have two additional armored legions to deal with, as well as six new brigades. It's possible they'll turn towards Leender.
"Great, that's what we needed."Harlen scoffed.
"That bad?"Tim asked.
"There are already too many enemy soldiers and vehicles on the surface and it says, that they constantly ship more and more."
"But they don't do it as fast as we expected."
"Probably that's why they want Utgard and Erak City. To use the spaceports and ship soldiers faster."
"Plausible. Very plausible."
Harlen looked at the next message.
From: Utgard C.Z. Operation HQ, Utgard
To: United Staff, Leender
Colonel Gron Ornatson reports. Large possibility of enemy using cloned soldiers to fill their ranks. Photos are attached to the message.
Harlen risen and eyebrow and pressed one of the attached files. In it, he saw numerous rows of bodies of enemy soldiers. This didn't impress him a bit. In the time he served in new soutlandian military, he saw his fare share of dead people in uniforms.
What actually got him scared, was the fact that every dead body wearing SoS' uniform which he saw on the photos, had exactly the same face. There were some differences, like scars or eye patches, but no matter how you looked at it, each and every deceased soldier on these photos had the same face.
"Holy shit."Tim said, when Harlen showed him this.
"My thoughts exactly."Harlen said."And the plan to simply stall them long enough for their manpower to end just flew out the window."
"Can't argue with that. Seems that whoever helps them, has access to some kind of cloning technology."
Right then, Tim simply giggled.
"What's funny about it?"general asked with a groan.
"Nothing."Tim admitted."I'm just surprised how repetitive history is."
"Oh?"
"Holy Order did the same. One of the races they conquered in Unknown Regions had very developed cloning technology. This allowed HO to fill their army with not only aliens, but also with clones."
"If you look at it from this point of view, then yeah, it's kinda funny. But when you look at it from our perspective, it won't take long for them to simply throw meat at us until we run out of ammo."
"That's what I am also scared of, sir."
Harlen turned back to the device and opened the last report.
From: Command of 5th Tank Regiment 'Solo Riders', Leender
To: United Staff, Leender
Command of 5th Tank Regiment reports possible biological attack. Around four hundred soldiers have fallen ill following eating dinner. Preliminary medical information points at salmonella bacteria. Until now, it was not discovered, how the attack was performed.
"Now this is some sick joke."Harlen stated, grinding his teeth."I was about to give them orders to move out and follow 10th Armored."
"That's actually unfortunate, sir."Tim admitted.
And another report.
From: UTDF Intelligence Cell, Leender
To: United Staff, Leender
Our operatives beyond enemy lines report, that immediately after occupying numerous villages and towns, enemy started purges. They began arresting local government members, religious leaders, teachers, scientific facilities workers etc. Until now, over twenty thousand people. They were loaded on trucks and sent in unknown direction. Entire operation is under supervision of one general Firius.
"Who the hell is this Firius?"Tim risen his eyebrow.
"I heard about him back in the day."Harlen admitted."His reputation was so big, that it reached even Orisia. In short, general Firius is nothing more than a butcher. In the times of Saderan Empire, he was the donkey work guy of emperor Molt. When it was needed to take care of some rebellious group, he was called and took care of that group by simply massacrying everybody related to it. And now it seems he does the same, but for Zorzal."
"Well, that sucks."Tim stated.
"Indeed."General nodded."Thank you for all that. You can go."
"Yes, sir."
Tim saluted, turned on his heel and left the room. Harlen returned to looking at the tactical map. He growled, seeing as red symbols representing SoS' forces moved. He didn't even want to comment on this.
"Are you alright?"
Hearing this question, Harlen immediately turned around. Seeing Imri standing there, with her arms crossed, he threw up his arms.
"Why shouldn't I be alright, Ims?"he replied.
Queen sighed and came up to him.
"When did you sleep last time?"she asked again.
"Few days ago. Sorry that I can't join you and the girls, but as you see, we're in a bit of a predicament."
Imri looked at the tactical map. Even as someone who didn't have a lot of contact with the military, she was smart enough to know, that giant red stain on the map was rather bad sign.
"How did you even get in here?"Harlen asked again.
"I'm the wife of the king. That's enough."Imri smirked."Anyway, I came here to see how you are doing. And because Ellia and Nina wanted to know how are you."
"Ellia, I can understand."general admitted."But Nina? I thought she is more occupied by her phone."
"She's still your stepsister. Of course she would be worried about you. I am too, so you know."
"Thanks for worrying for me. How are you three doing, by the way? I forgot to talk to you since all this crap started."He tried to smile, but didn't have enough strength to do it.
Imri took a deep breath, exhaled and fell on the nearest chair.
"They're managing, somehow."the queen replied."Ellia is worried about what might happen in the next few weeks. Nina is always trying to cheer her up."
"In times of need, she can behave like a good sister, huh?"Harlen mused.
"She's doing her best. Like you."
"Yeah."
There was a moment of silence between them.
"If there was a way to get you out, I would, really."general finally said.
"You don't have to tell me that."Imri smiled."And thank you for worrying for us."
"We're family, right? And I should thank for you worrying for me."
"No problem."
They both laughed, turning some heads in their direction. Harlen looked at the staff officers in around.
"What are you looking at? Focus on our work!"he ordered.
Immediately, everyone lost interest in the two of them.
"Harsh."Imri stated.
"Sometimes you have to. Especially when you're fighting a defensive war against an enemy which has advantage over you."Harlen replied.
"Understandable."
Saying that, she stood up and came up to him. She put a hand on his arm.
"I'll go now and tell the girls that you're alright. But Harl?"
"Yes?"
"Get some sleep, man."
"Okay, okay, I promise to get some sleep."
"Good. Bye."
"Bye."
He watched her as she walked out of the room and after that, he returned to eying the map. Alright, where to kick SoS' asses now?
June 1
01:04
Ranholm, Nordian C.Z.
Entire main square of the town was filled to the brim with military vehicles in SoS' colors. The town itself was now turned into the HQ for entire 1st Armored Legion and all the units that advanced with it. They took the town without a single shot, only with inhabitants shooting them annoyed and outright antagonistic looks. It was sure, that sooner or later, the populace would start making problems.
This is why they simply executed some civilians as a way to say 'hello'. With that, nobody would rebel.
General Margas sat in his staff, surrounded by his officers. He looked at them in silence, allowing their anxiety to grow, just like Emperor liked to do.
"So."he finally said, making his subordinates jump."What do you have to say?"
Officers looked at each other. They were aware that their commander was irritated because of two reasons. First of them was the fact that they still couldn't put their hands on the Nordian unit that constantly made their lives harder since day one. They were getting away from them every time, always retreating before 1st Legion could actually develop their offensive. And they gave them bigger losses than expected. The second reason why it was like that, was that they were ordered to stop their offensive towards Utgard and follow said Nordian unit in the same direction they were retreating. So, he was simply mad that someone else would take the glory for taking over the Nordian C.Z.'s capital. The fact that his new task was actually taking Leender, the biggest city on the planet, didn't help it.
Finally, colonel Geded lifted his hand.
"Yes?"Margas turned to him.
Tanks commander stood up and cleared his throat.
"Well…"he started."We managed to finally find out what unit was giving us all these problems."
"And?"
"According to our scouts and the prisoners, we're dealing with 74th Mechanized Brigade of Nordian Armed Forces. It's a unit filled with veterans who fought in numerous Anti-Holy Order Remnant Campaigns after Great Galactic War, so they're not new to fighting an actual battle."
"That would explain a lot."one of recon commanders said."They are tough to crack and do know their stuff. So we shouldn't be surprised, that they manage to fall back when needed."
Margas shot him a glance.
"Yes, that does make sense."he admitted."Alright then. We have to get to work, gentlemen. We're already a week late with the operation. We have to get it together and finish it as fast as possible."
"But how?"another officer asked."Enemy resistance is much bigger than expected. Not only that, but we expected the populace to see us as liberators and instead, they're openly rebelling against us."
"True. I heard, that two days ago, ten soldiers were found in the forest, all simply stuffed with stab wounds. A group that size surely had to be attacked by a group twice the size."the air force officer said.
"Stop spreading defeatism."Margas growled."Such rats will sooner or later be taken care of. Firius is looking into that."
Officers winced. Firius was not held in high regards among SoS' higher ups. Only Emperor and his closest coworkers, like Margas, had some respect for him.
"Now, let's talk about tomorrow. We have to prepare to give further chase to that brigade. What are they doing now?"general asked.
"It would appear, that they're preparing defensive positions."Geded said."Likely expect our attack that we're planning for the morning."
The conversation in the staff continued for the next two hours. In the meantime, on the side of one of the roads, a shape of large Leo-21 was standing, masked with branches and bushes thrown on it's armor. The crew stood outside of the machine and were drinking some coffee they got from local shop.
"Cooooooold."Aulus said, shaking.
"Yeah, nights on this planet are surprisingly cold."Jeos agreed."Weird."
"I guess this is just how it is."Decimus threw up his arms.
For the past few days, they were hard at work doing their job in service for the Sons of Sadera. After that skirmish near the river, their unit was used as the one that fought in the vanguard of every attack on every position of the enemy. They scored a few successes, but unfortunately, although they managed to break through, enemy often managed to run away before the actual fight could start. But honestly, they did not have a problem with that.
"I knew this won't go well."Aulus said.
"Hm?"Decimus risen an eyebrow.
"How long has it been since we started this? A week. It had to be over in that time. And what? We're still struggling to get one bigger city."gunner stated.
"But it is said, that not all plans survive the first contact with the enemy."Jeos stated.
"You're saying that, Mister Fanatic."Aulus scoffed.
"What did you say?"
Decimus sighed.
"Guys, it's not time to argue."he said."Let's not talk politics, or either way we're gonna go crazy."
"You suck at such speeches."Aulus immediately replied.
Decimus just waved it off. Fortunately, his interruption was enough to stop the political argument that was about to start between the two. They stood in silence for another few minutes, looking forward towards the darkness beyond the town.
"You heard we captured some prisoners?"Jeos finally said.
"Really?"Aulus risen an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yeah, earlier today, some enemy saboteurs were caught in the forest by the Dahvii."driver-mechanic said.
Hearing the name 'Dahvii', Aulus shuddered.
"Don't mention that name in my presence."he said through gritted teeth."These things creep me out."
"They're just machines."Decimus said."And they're under our control."
"Yeah, tell them that."Saying that, Aulus pointed behind them.
Turning around, the two remaining crew members looked in the direction he pointed. There, they saw a group of four robots. They had main body made up of three modules, one for legs to attach, one in the middle and one for arms and head. Their legs were nothing special, but their long arms ended with long 'staffs', as Erecan scientists called them, although they looked more like enormous blades. Their heads were long and had some kind of pincers on their faces and red, glowing eyes.
One of the machines then looked in their direction. This time, all three of them shuddered.
"Alright, agreed."Decimus said."Dahvii are terrifying."
Right then, all four machines started changing. Their heads turned upside down, so the pincers pointed up, next their arms were turned around with the staffs now pointing back and arms above their heads. And finally, robots leaned backwards and simply turned into four-legged machines.
Next, they went away.
"Who the fuck came up with that design?"Aulus asked."And why do they transform like that?"
"Ask Erecan designers."Jeos replied."Anyway, coming back. They caught some saboteurs."
"And what about them?"Decimus asked.
"These saboteurs…were Araluenian Royal Rangers."
"No shit."gunner said."So that means…?"
"It would appear, that all those troops that only came here for maneuvers, finally went into action. And that means, that our job is gonna be even harder."Jeos stated.
"Well…crap."Aulus summed.
"Not only that, but my buddy in the intelligence gave me some info."
"What kind?"Decimus asked.
"Our scouts reported, that this Nordian brigade we're chasing rendezvoused wit a full armored brigade of Falmartian Army. And this armored brigade is supposedly enough to equally face us in open battle."
Decimus didn't have anything to say about that. The news brought by their companion were really not something to be happy about. If they actually had a full-fledged, rested and battle-ready armored brigade against them, then the next battle they will fight might actually turn completely against them.
XXX
And there is the end of this chapter. And let me be honest with you, I just don't know what to say on these A/N at the end, so I will just keep it short from now on.
This is it for now. As always, leave a review, follow and favorite. It will be highly appreciated. See ya!