Hi! It's me again. Coming to you with another chapter of The Will of Revenge. So, the war already enters it's first month and one could say, that a lot happened by that time. Can't argue with that, mainly in Milky Way. Meanwhile, war in Andromeda is still without a clear winner and only time will tell, who will come out on top in this conflict, especially on Taurus III.
But before we begin, reviews.
To RoySuperior: If it works, it works.
To Supreme Supra: Unfortunately.
Alright, with that done, lettuce begin.
Chapter 3
June 26, 2166
14:56
1st Armored Legion HQ, Apotium, Taurus III
Opening his eyes, general Margas had to squint his eyes because of the light that fell into his tent from the outside. The intense buzzing in his head made it hurt and he had to grab it, as if it had to help him ease the pain. One thing had to be said about Erecans: their wine was truly addicting and tasty.
The reason for his clearly visible hangover was the party which lasted throughout SoS' command echelons by the last four whole days. While the normal troops were constantly fighting for their lives, trying to expand the imperial zone of influence, officers and generals were partying hard by drinking, dancing and enjoying some more hedonistic behaviors. And all of this because of the news about fall of Utgard. They were lucky, that UTDF didn't use their current mood and started a counteroffensive in that time.
When Margas forced himself to fully open his eyes, he recognized his adjutant standing before his bunk.
"Watsit…?"general mumbled.
"Sir, you are needed in the command center."the adjutant said.
"Wai?"
"Attack on Lacinta Hill."
This made the general sober immediately. The headache and hangover disappeared as if someone used magic on him. Today, was the day.
After the fall of Utgard, he contacted the SoS' spy cells that were on the planet from the start of the war. According to plan, they were going to make full preparations and recon missions around the river crossing at Lacinta Hill. The strategic importance of that small town was that it held the biggest bridge that crossed the Jotun River, a big river and the biggest natural obstacle on the way of 1st Armored Legion and it's supporting units in their advance towards Leender. If they managed to get the bridge, they would be able to quickly move troops on the other side. If they didn't, then crossing the river through the pontoon bridge would take much longer, slowing down their advance even more.
Of course, they could also ask the air force to transport them on the other side. They had enough heavy and normal dropships to transport entire legion and several brigades, but there was a risk. Heavy dropships were an easy prey for enemy pilots, which, although in smaller number, still managed to deny the Sons air superiority. They shot down everything that was flying and even SoS' air defense had problems with them. So air transport was much more riskier than moving through the land route. And with their ships having orders to not engage any surface targets, so the planet's infrastructure wouldn't get damaged a lot to serve it's purpose as a supply hub for the assault of Flare Prime.
Quickly correcting his uniform and putting his cap on his head, general left the tent with his adjutant. They quickly made their way through the camp and got to the command center, which took the center of the town square of the small town. Most of general's commanders were already there.
Margas took the seat at the top of a table. He took off his cap and looked at the officers around them.
"I guess that our agents reported in?"he asked.
Operational officer nodded.
"Yes, sir."he said."Their commander, captain Augustus Maronius of Emperor's Intelligence Service and his team, reports his readiness."
"Alright then. Let us begin."
Operational officer nodded and turned to a screen, which stood in front of the table. On it, they could see the aerial view of the bridge's area, courtesy of a drone circling over the town. On the screen, they could see blue circles, which marked the EIS' operatives.
"Captain Maronius, you're go."
June 26
15:14
Lacinta Hill
Captain Augustus Maronius was nervous. It happened to him more often and the last month didn't belong to the calmest. Assassinations of C.Z.'s governors would leave their mark on weaker minds, but Maronius and his men belonged to some of the toughest in their profession.
They brilliantly fulfilled their first task. They seethed chaos and uncertainty in enemy ranks. This allowed them to hunker down and wait for another mission. And their time has come.
Captain's entire team was dressed in civilian clothes. Thanks to this, they didn't differ from numerous people now filling the roads leading towards the Soutlandian C.Z. And although intense controls of police and military, they managed to sneak through in the chaos of refugees.
Road bridge over Jotun River in Lacinta Hill was filled to it's limits. From the distance of three hundred meters, Maronius could see Nordian police officers trying to keep some kind of control over the situation. Although fall of Utgard, Nordians still tried to keep some form of control over their Colonization Zone. Not coping with the advancing crowd, they were becoming more and more brutal, often resolving to using the butts of their riffles on some more wayward escapees. Military boats were circling on the river. From what he observed, Nordian sappers were going to mine the bridge and got ready for it. Fortunately, there weren't many of them. Policemen were the bigger problem.
Captain looked at his watch and started wondering over the situation. When he was one hundred percent sure that he will be able to take control over the crossing, he had to give a green light to awaiting air mobile brigade. This airborne unit, equipped with powerful Iouan-made Figue-Z dropships, was to take over the western bank of the river and hold the beachhead until the arrival of armored units. Idea was good, but for Maronius, it seemed like some kind of second version of Battle of Vi-ilu, a landing operation, which became one of the greatest Erecan military failures. Coordinating several military branches was not an easy task, as one piece of the puzzle might not fit the others. This operation had a military character, it was different than sniping unsuspecting politician.
"You, you and you."Maronius pointed at some operatives"You're to join some group and cross to the other side. You'll start taking out the guards on my mark."
Short nods and the trio of operatives vanished in the crowd rolling through nearby.
Now, eliminating the sappers was the priority. Being aware of that, Maronius equipped his men with two sniper riffles, including the one he used to kill the Soutlandian governor. Weapons were disassembled and transported in sport bags they carried the whole way. Rest of the equipment were short, Erecan POKS riffles and a big amount of ammo for them. With approaching time of action, Maronius was slowly calming down.
June 26
15:42
Unified Staff, Leender
"Look here."Tim's finger landed on Lacinta Hill."If we won't quickly enforce the defense here, they might cut off the retreat of 10th Armored and 74th Mechanized. They are still blocking and slowing the enemy down, but who knows for how long…"
"It's clear they will be trying to take over the crossing. Is someone there already?"Harlen asked.
"Nordian sappers, tasked with mining the bridge. Nothing more."Tim seemed to remember something."But from the reports we received before the fall of Utgard, I learned that there is an AA company stationed nearby."
"Where are they now?"
Tim looked at the tablet.
"According to the freshest reports, which are from two days ago, in Septim."
"Tell them to move."
Tim went to the phone to give orders.
June 26
16:01
Septim
Leaning on the side of his vehicle, captain Beriolsson was carving a hole in the ground with his heel. Weird mix of fear, irritation and excitement filled the commander of nine self-propelled anti-air M75 guns.
The vehicle remembered the UNSA-SDF War, but due to the lack of funds of newly established armed forces, this was the best they could afford. The whole construction was started to get modernized in recent years, but it was still far behind the newer AA systems. The reason for so slow progress was of course the same as always: lack of money.
"Captain, staff on the line."Sergeant which ran up to him was looking worried."I think the adjutant of general Ordell."
The phone was in the nearby police station.
"By the way, that's scandal."he though on the way."We're in the middle of war and we lack the communication equipment."
Communication vehicle attached to the company got it's clutch damaged. Mechanics in that time just spread their arms helplessly, excusing it with different reasons. If it continues like that, they would probably have to start using carrier pigeons.
"Captain Beriolsson, reporting in."he said breathlessly.
"Why so long?"
"Eh…"
"Listen closely, captain."Voice on the other side was surprisingly clear."You'll move your guns to Lacinta Hill as fast as possible. You can additionally take every unit you meet on the way. If their commanders start arguing, tell them it's the order from Unified Staff itself."
"Yes, sir!"
"One more thing. Enemy contact is possible, so have your eyes peeled."
"Understood."
"When you take the position, report. I will try to send some comms equipment to you. And now, get a move on."
Beriolsson put down the receiver and went outside, where three lieutenants awaited him. When they came up to him, he could see an expression of grim stubbornness. They had enough of waiting after so long time. Two of them still had families in Utgard. And they wanted to repay to the Sons for whatever was happening.
"We're moving out in ten. In accordance with last orders, we have to defend the bridge in Lacinta Hill. The situation looks serious, if the order came from Unified Staff itself."
Platoon commanders looked at their commander without a word and servicely saluted. Beriolsson gave his honors and went to his vehicle.
Barrels aimed into the sky awakened anxiety and respect not only in him. Local inhabitants tried to stay away. Often only groups of interested children came closer. Until now, he took part in a fight only once. During the yesterday's air raid, 1st Platoon opened fire on enemy aircraft. However, outdated radars were not able to track the flying machines of unknown construction, so all struggles were for nothing.
Curtain of fire aimed to destroy enemy craft only amazed the people watching it like in theater. Captain Beriolsson only hoped that this time, their equipment will be more useful, and the task they had before them, more doable.
June 26
16:30
Field base of 100th Air Mobile Brigade, Nordian C.Z.
Between the areas of green grass, sheets of yellowish sand flew up. The area of the landing pad was surrounded by a forest and structures of the temporary barracks took over two and a half thousand square meters of the clearing, on which now Figue-Z and Figue-C dropships were standing in rows. The massive bodies of the first ones were painted with sand-gray camo rose over the flat ground. Standing in a hundred meter gaps, they were surrounded by numerous airborne forces soldiers. Widely open leading door in the back of each machine seemed to invite inside. Each Figue-Z could fit in around eighty soldiers or twenty tons of cargo. This put the heavy dropship in the first place of the list of the biggest dropships used by the Erecan Dominion.
Colonel Admitur was walking around the communication point like a lion in a cage. Straightened, proud posture and sleeves of uniform rolled up could not hide the fire raging in colonel's soul. Fire of impatience and hunger for action. His brigade's landing could easily make a mark on the fate of the war. Not slow fighting for Jotun River crossing, but capturing it would save many SoS' recruits lives. Asking look he was sending to the sergeant taking care of the radio didn't speed things up.
"Still no signal, colonel.
"There's still time."Admitur murmured to himself.
True, there still was time, but they couldn't wait constantly. Twelve Figue-Zs and ten Figue-Cs need no more than an hour for the flight. If they don't take off within the next ninety minutes, the twilight might change their plans. There was nothing worse for Admitur than a night fight. Manpower and equipment losses are higher then. It was also easy for a mistake and so-called friendly fire. Behind this euphemism, there was nothing else than a fratricidal fight.
Additional cooperation with allied armored forces could change the crossing in Lacinta Hill into a bloodbath. As if that wasn't enough, meteorologists reported possible weather breakdown. It could have good and bad sides, with majority of the bad ones.
Although all machines were equipped with Erecan navigational systems, they still had to rely on photos and maps provided by the fleet. This made the risk of flying into unmarked telephone pole or power wires more plausible, and he needed all his men to hold the crossing.
One of the comms officers, which was jumping from frequency to frequency, now seemed to get something interesting. Focused expression showed the seriousness of the transmission.
"Get it on speakers."colonel ordered.
One move of the hand and sounds of aerial combat filled the communications point.
"Watch your right, damn it, watch your right!"
"I can't see anything!"
"This is Leader 1, this is Leader 1! Enemy, ten o'clock!"
"Eject!"
Further words drowned in the scream of a pilot that was falling in a burning plane. Not waiting for an order NCO turned the radio off and silence filled the area. The fight they just witnessed had had an impression on them, even on Admitur. Not wanting to admit it even before himself, colonel looked with thunders at the guilty to god for spirit operator.
June 26
16:43
Lacinta Hill
Captain Maronius felt, that the time has come. His time. By the last hour, crowd rolling through the bridge almost completely vanished. It seemed, that bigger movement now happened to the North, at Yuon. Ten tired policemen and a sapper team setting up the charges were everything in his way. There was no reason to wait further.
Maronius' finger pressed the automatic emitter's button half an hour ago. Signal could only be decrypted by the receiver further to the South.
"We're go."Silent whisper was heard by the nearest standing operatives. The ones on the other side reacted to the movement of their commander and came up to the shore. Snipers, which long ago took their positions, now targeted the methodically working sappers, clearly visible in the light of the day.
Approaching the checkpoint at the beginning of the bridge, Maronius put his hands in his jacket's pockets. Under it, hanging on a leather belt, he had a short POKS riffle. In his pockets he also had a silenced pistol and a spring knife, which could be as effective in eliminating the enemy just like a series from assault riffle.
"Stop! ID control!"said tall officer in a field uniform and with a riffle hanging off his neck.
With great satisfaction, captain noticed that the rest of the guards didn't seem to care about the four people group trying to cross the Jotun River. Maronius didn't even pretend to search for his documents. With a wide smile on his face, he approached the officer, as if he wanted to greet him.
"Sure, just give us a minute."
Just five more steps, four, three. Captain pulled out his hands from the pockets, with one of them making a move resembling pulling out an ID. Policeman's face still didn't show anything except tiredness and boredom.
"Oh, here it is."
Jacket's zipper went down and riffle's barrel peeked out. Three bullet series hit the Nordian in chest and face, pushing him back with the hit power.
Fire from the remaining riffles fell on the unsuspecting people. Fired upon from the distance of several meters they had no chance. Their bodies fell over one another in a macabre mix of arms and legs. Splash of water signaled, that the snipers also went into action. Sappers, eliminated by precise shots, died silently, like their colleagues at the checkpoint.
Some civilian refugees, surprised by the gunfight, found themselves in a situation without a way out. Maronius could not let them go. His riffle's barrel looked for new targets. Men, women, children. There couldn't be mercy for anyone. Some fell immediately, others not. Single shots finished the wounded. A grim silence fell over the bridge.
"Bodies to the water, hide weapons and disarm the charges."
Maronius looked into the sky. Traces of fire exchange had to be hid. Getting rid of the corpses was not a problem. Only drying stains of blood on the asphalt were the signs of a crime, but that didn't matter. First raindrops fell on the ground.
June 26
17:07
Near Centrum
One of remaining Nordian special forces teams just found themselves near enemy artillery unit. Green trucks pulled artillery guns. Their crews with weapons in hand looked into the cloudy sky. On both sides of the road, runners and couriers made their way to their targets, enhancing the chaos. One of the Nordians didn't pay attention to it at first. After a moment, he couldn't ignore it. Like the sound of approaching storm, sound of dropship engines was coming closer and closer. On the horizon, black dots appeared, slowly turning into giant shapes of dropships. They were flying only two hundred meters over the ground.
Air armada flew over the Nordians with a rumble. The sight awakened some kind of anxiety in them. Sergeant in charge of the team crawled up to the comms officer.
"Transmit: RED DRAGON. Now!"
Unexpected attack warning went into ether.
June 26
17:30
Lacinta Hill
The rain falling stronger and stronger surely decreased visibility. The sky filled with clouds looked like a gray rag in the falling water. Low hanging clouds limited the air operations of both sides, but it didn't matter to captain Beriolsson. His only worry were enemy saboteurs which could operate in these areas. Anti-tank missile would easily tear through the thin armor of his M75. It was true that he had two platoons of motorized infantry following him, which tagged along on the way, but it wasn't enough to protect them from unexpected ambush.
"What to do?"he sighed."War never sticks to fair play rules."
There was no time for further grim thinking. The goal of their journey, a road bridge over the river, was already visible from the large turret of the M75. Driving closer, Beriolsson could not hide increasing fear. The damn checkpoints were supposed to be at the entrance of the bridge and there was nobody there, except some suspicious looking men.
"Stop."
M75 stopped no further than one hundred fifty meters from the entrance.
"Something wrong, captain?"commander of the 1st Platoon asked in the headphones.
"You can call it a hunch, lieutenants."
Four barrels, until not looking into the sky, now lowered towards the ground.
"Spread the company."he ordered."And we'll find out who we're dealing with."
One hundred and fifty meters further, captain Maronius looked at his watch. There were two minutes left before the arrival of the support, when enemy units appeared from behind the falling rain. Maronius quelled the growing irritation. That's why he eliminated the sappers, so they wouldn't blow up the bridge at the sight of SoS' dropships. And now, damn it!
Additionally, it didn't look like Nordians just wanted to go on the other side. Their commander apparently smelled the danger and spread out his vehicles.
Anti-air systems, useless against planes, would be great at shooting down slow moving dropships.
The vehicle driving in the front, with it's barrels lowered to the ground, slowly approached him. Maronius felt naked. His riffle was useless now. He could only stand there and look or run, but he didn't wanted it. The only hope was that close air support PI-904 dropships will arrive in time and pull the Nordian's attention from his squad. Just one more minute, maybe less, and everything might end well.
Beriolsson was still not sure. All of this might have been a tragic mistake and the people on the bridge might not have been saboteurs. To find out, they had to come a bit closer. Flash and explosion seemed to be just a lighting to him in the beginning. Only tall pillar of fire on the horizon pulled his attention.
"Captain, we're being attacked by dropships!"
"Fire! All vehicles, fire!"Beriolsson had no doubt anymore.
First thirty shot series flew towards running Maronius' group. Just like policemen and civilians shot earlier, they had no chance. AA bullets tore the bodies apart, throwing the limbs apart, making it unable to determine, who did they belong to.
But all this was just a prelude to approaching battle. Four PI-904 dropships tasked with covering the air mobile brigade's landing now played cat and mouse with Beriolsson's M75s. Nordian guns, surprised while taking positions, were easy prey. Right now, three of them already burned, lighting the area around them with an orange-yellow flame. Attackers' luck could not be eternal, though. Last platoon in the column started firing deadly rain of steel. Tracer rounds clearly marked the route of each series.
First of Sons' dropships got hit while making a turn, after which he fell down. His front rammed into the ground, crushing the cockpit and the pilots inside. One engine got loose and flew into the air, before crashing into a building nearby. More successes followed the first one. Second vehicle of 1st Platoon aimed at another charging PI-904. Small profile of the dropships didn't mean anything in the close range of the duel.
M75 fired first. Bullets hit the armored front of the dropship, killing the pilot and the navigator. The machine itself somersaulted hard and crashed into the right bank of Jotun River. Revenge was almost immediate. One of the two remaining machines opened fire on the Nordian vehicle. Fire pierced the turret and killed the crew. After a minute, black pile of smoke rose from the engine, marking it with another ribbon.
Meanwhile, two tracked Omars drove through the bridge to the other side of the river, cleverly evading the wrecks. Infantry jumped from the others. The took defensive positions to cover the bridge entrance. Beriolsson felt hot when a wave of heat overtaken him, caused by anti-tank missile fired by enemy dropship exploded few meters away. PI-904 that fired it now spun around it's own axis. Pilot lost control over the machine when Nordian fire broke off his tail. Controlled landing changed into uncontrolled disaster and PI-904 crashed into the ground. His fate was sealed by a anti-tank missile.
Captain looked outside. Situation seemed to be under control and there was no reason to hide inside the steel can.
"Holy shit!"
Transport dropships appeared in the gray sky. Wherever you looked, you could see, among the sound of the engines, shapes of SoS' machines. Surprise lasted for a moment. Slow and heavy, they were a great target for the defenders.
"Fire!"He didn't even need to say it again.
Deadly cannonade started reaping holes in approaching transports. Some of them, moving only twenty meters over them, made their way to the other side of Jotun River, trying to escape the slaughter.
"Gunner, aim for the ones over the river!"
Figue-Z, which max atmospheric speed was five hundred kilometers per hour, even at the full strength of it's engines could not escape the wave of tracer rounds. Thirty shot series sent after him were enough to eliminate the first airborne leviathan. Piercing the armor, rounds slaughtered the troops inside. Heavy machine, after losing control, fell into the river, throwing a fountain of water into the air. Dropship was floating on the surface for few more seconds, before plunging in it's deeps.
"Driver, to the bridge, full speed, to the other side!"
Now there was no second to lose. Decisive resistance on the northern bank made majority of Sons' troops land on the southern. Some of the smaller and more maneuverable Figue-Cs cleverly evaded the smoke and Nordian fire, leaving the range of fire, to touch down and drop their passengers.
When Beriolsson's M75 was halfway through the bridge, captain witnessed something amazing. One of the dropships broke in half and from it's cargo hold, a small, tank-like vehicle without tracks fell into the river. Unbeknownst to him, it was Erecan Ty-Lo III hover light tank, designed to support troops while landing before the arrival of bigger machines. It had high-powered plasma cannon, which could easily deal with the thin armor of the AA guns.
Captain was highly impressed by the stubbornness and determination with which the bridge was supposed to be taken. Overextending battle dried the ammo faster than he would like. All because he didn't have the appropriate knowledge of the situation. But that wasn't his fault. Who could have known something like that was going to happen? Although optimistic beginning, the end of the battle could be tragic.
Driving off the crossing, Beriolsson through that he had done it at last minute. First Sons of Sadera troops engaged Nordian soldiers defending the bridge entrance.
Series from riffles bounced off M75's armor and ricocheted tot he side. Captain had a dilemma of who to shoot first: circling dropships or more ferociously attacking ground troops.
"Fire at the dropships."he decided."If we'll have any ammo left, we'll smash the landing troops."
"Understood."Gunner activated the turret turning system and pulled the trigger.
"Unless they will hit us with a missile first."Grim thoughts didn't want to leave the captain.
Another Figue-C fell to the ground no further than four hundred meters from them, throwing white sparks on all sides. Fuel explosion, which happened a second later, sealed the fate of the crew and the passengers. Nobody living left the machine.
"Captain, there are no air targets."
True, last working dropships of SoS were turning South and left. Remaining sixteen turned into twisted metal eaten by the fuel burning inside, but this too was not to last. Thick rain extinguished the flames, leaving only black and oily puddles. The weight of the fight now fell on the infantry, but forty Nordian soldiers had two hundred enemy stormtroopers against them.
Colonel Admitur was one of the lucky ones that survived. He didn't burn, he didn't drown, he didn't crash in a falling dropship. Looking at the battlefield before him, he was sure that the fate was not particularly in his favor. Not only him personally. The fact that he let his brigade to be massacred, already made him a dead man in the eyes of the higher ups. Only taking this godsdamn bridge and holding it until the arrival of allied armored units could rehabilitate him.
Soldiers of the command squad surrounded Admitur from all sides. Stocky lieutenant with a cheek pressed against the butt of PEKS riffle fired short, well aimed series. Blood dripped from cracked forehead, but he didn't worry about it while eliminating enemies.
Admitur knelt next to him and pointed at a bunch of trees on the other side of the street.
"Lieutenant, take twenty and attack from the North. I'll tie them up with fight here."
Jumping from one hiding to the other, lieutenant's shape soon vanished in the smoke and fog. His screams calling commandos were heard by a short period of time, before being silence by the sound of four simultaneously firing GETS LMGs and assault riffles. If not the fact that Nordians were supported by two Omars and an M75, they would already be torn apart by SoS' fire.
On the southern side of Jotun River, situation of Nordian defenders was starting to get dramatic. Beriolsson almost gone deaf from the clamor of guns firing round after round.
"Two more series"the loader declared"and we can start throwing rocks."
One word flashed through captain's mind-'support'-but this persistently didn't want to come. Another series from MG clattered on the armor plates. Their adversaries were already pretty close.
Beriolsson, constantly glued to the periscope, now noticed a column of armored vehicles approaching from the direction of Lacinta Hill. It was opened by a tank. It's turret aimed straight and it's gun-straight at captain's vehicle. Heart in commander's chest sunk. Feeling he had only few seconds of life left, he turned away from the periscope and blinked. His eyes, suddenly, started tearing up. Whole struggle was for nothing. Sons must have crossed the river somewhere else and now readied to crash the already weakened unit of Beriolsson. Extending seconds flew by and the battle outside continued. Returning to the periscope again, captain couldn't believe in what he was seeing for few seconds. The tank leading the column was not Leonidas-21, but Panther 5!
"Damn it, they are ours!"
"And who did you expect, UNSA?"
Captain was so happy, that he didn't notice the irony in mechanic's voice. Nordian Panther 5 tanks and wheeled Catcher APCs started laying fire on SoS' positions. They, unable to withstand such a wave of steel, started a chaotic retreat. Single groups of soldiers jumped on their feet to get away from the fire. Beriolsson was hit the most by the fact, that none of them even thought of surrendering. They had no chance and yet they fought on. Fatalism joined with fanaticism turned them in almost perfect soldiers.
Commander of Sons' brigade felt thrills going down his spine, seeing a tank approaching him. The platoon sent to push Nordians back from the bridge entrance was inches from it, but now everything fell apart!
"Where the fuck is the missile launcher!?"he cried at the soldiers closest to him. He was answered by silence."Damn it, where is this fucking missile launcher!?"Admitur looked around with fury in his eyes.
"I think there…"one of the company commanders said, running up to him and pointing at a destroyed Figue-C.
"How many men do you still have?"
"Thirty, but some are injured?"
Numbers on Admitur's watch didn't want to change faster and it seemed, that perfectly designed plan turned out to be a failure.
"Gather all still able to fight. We're falling back. Leave the wounded, let the Nordians take care of them. Get a move on."
Smoke arose from the barrel of a tank, when cannon fired towards LMG position. Carefuly crafted operation aimed at accelerating the victory turned out to be a miss. To Admitur, it resembled pre-Gate warfare than a strategic, maneuver war.
June 26
17:59
1st Armored Legion HQ
Silence hung in the air over the table. On the screen, symbols representing allied units vanished one after another. Soon, there was no blue on the screen, only red. All officers quickly looked at the general.
If he tried to hide the fury that was growing inside him, he wasn't doing a good job at that. He was shaking and his face was red. One could even swear, that there was steam coming out of him.
"Turn that off."he said through gritted teeth.
"But my lord…"tactical officer said.
"TURN THAT OFF!"
Hearing the shout of the general, tactical officer quickly turned off the screen. When this happened, general simply stood up, turned around and left the tent. Others just watched him go, not doing anything.
June 26
23:02
Unified Staff, Leender
The mood in the room was grim. Harlen, whose tension was taking it's toll, moved the holographic symbols on the map with his shaking hands. This task actually belonged to younger officers, but sometimes, it was hard for him to get rid of old habits.
"We were damn lucky today."Tim said, standing next to him. Next, he put both his hands on the table, looking at the map.
"I wonder how much of it are we gonna have?"
"They also make mistakes."
"As of now, much less than we do. But you know it best."Harlen said.
General got his hands off the map.
"The frontline is still suck in Nordian C.Z. But sooner or later, they will get here."
"Think we should evacuate already?"
"Well, some of the younger officers are already packed and waiting."
Both laughed silently.
"We sent some more troops to reinforce the defense of Lacinta Hill."Tim reported.
"I doubt they would try to get into the same place twice. I bet they will set up a pontoon bridge somewhere and cross in that way. It will slow them down, but that doesn't mean anything. And we will stay with our pants down and with a pretty, but useless bridge."Harlen stated.
"Yeah…"major sighed.
They stood silently for few seconds, with only sounds of analysts taking care of their businesses accompanying them. But soon, they were approached by Rad.
"What is it, colonel?"Harlen asked.
"I'm getting reports from Sigis."Rad reported."10th Armored Brigade and 74th Mechanized Brigade are on their way to Lacinta Hill. They are going to cross the bridge and reinforce the defense on the other side of the Jotun River."
Harlen looked at the tactical map and squinted his eyes. These two brigades were the last units South of Lacinta Hill.
"Tell them to blow up the bridge after they get on the other side."he said.
"Understood."Nashini saluted and walked away.
"So we're blowing it up anyway?"Tim risen an eyebrow.
"As I said, pretty, but useless. And these two are the last units we have on the southern bank, We can give up Lacinta Hill, but we won't give Sons and Zorzal this satisfaction."general explained.
"Whatever you say."
"Alright. Go back to work. Come to me when you get something interesting."
"Can do."Tim smiled.
With that, he turned and walked away as well.
XXX
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