LIBERI FATALIS: The Therianthrope Chronicles

by Eddie-E

A crossover between Ace Combat, Katmandu and another, surprise famous furry comic. A Japanese scientist during the onset of World War II in Europe devises a groundbreaking theory of evolution whose effects will resonate not only on Earth but also throughout the universe for centuries to come. Rated M for language and mature situations.

4. ANDIS

ACT IV ANDIS I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. Thomas Jefferson

SD 195-05-20 Planet Derzon, Near Andis airspace

-"How does it feel to fly the ATF-X, Lieutenant?"- A male voice was heard behind the radio. -"I suppose it's a very different sensation from flying an aerodyne, isn't it?"-

After several minutes, Erma Felna and her squadron were flying over the skies of Derzon with the new combat fighter prototype, the ATF-X. While the ATF-X could not be said to be so aesthetically eye-catching compared to the ILR's R-101, at least the fighter was as fast, and at least, in Erma's opinion, as effective as its Lepine counterpart.

-"It feels a little bit... strange, so to speak."- Erma responded, trying to put into understandable words the feeling she felt about the sensation that the young pilot felt in her body at the time.

-"The same goes for us as well, sir"- Drumbo replied as well, who was Erma's second-in-command at the time.
-"Well, that's very understandable."- The male voice continued to explain to Erma in detail. -"You are wearing something we have called a "G-Suit" that you wear on your legs and abdomen. That is to prevent you from losing consciousness due to the gravitational forces exerted by the speed of the aircraft, and we would not want to lose a very expensive prototype for something as trivial as that."-

-"Excuse me, but I don't think my life and that of my flight mates is anything you might call trivial, if you'll excuse me."- Erma replied angrily to such an affirmation made by the male voice.

-"Oh! I'm so sorry, Lieutenant, I didn't take that little...thing in consideration."- The male voice tried to apologize, although it was clear that he wasn't very straightforward about it.

It is much more than obvious that that male voice was that of one of the members of EDF's Intelligence Division. Due to the sound produced by the aircraft, Erma could not tell who exactly was the person who was talking to her, but for the young pilot, that was the least important of all her problems she had at that point.

For Erma, flying an aircraft as fast as a fighter was a completely new experience for her, and in other circumstances, it would have been a very exciting experience, as she was the first person in the EDF to experiment with a completely new technology such as the use of fighter jets.

But even she knew that she and her men were nothing but glorified guinea pigs to test with a technology that had been stolen from the hands of the ILR without them noticing it to date, and that had not been tested until then, so whatever mistakes or failures they might have with the ATF-X prototypes they would pay for... with their lives.

-"WARNING! WARNING! Unidentified aircraft detected at 11 o'clock."-

The formless voice of the Net alerted Erma to the presence of possible ILR aircraft, as she and her men quickly approached the city of Andis.

-"Can you tell us what kind of enemy units they are?"-

-"Negative, I can only say that they're approaching to the position of your squadron right now."-

-"Thank you."- Erma thanked the net for its reply. -"Damn, they probably slowed down to pass themselves off as aerodynes so they could take us by surprise."-

Erma thought at that moment, without commenting anything to her men to avoid any unnecessary speculation. Obviously, her silence did not go unnoticed by them.

-"Sir, are you all right? You were very quiet for a few moments."- Drumbo asked after seeing that his superior officer was suddenly and unexpectedly silent.

-"It's nothing, I just got pensive, that's all. However, prepare to engage the enemy units if necessary."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

-"Also, we need radio silence, since we must have any advantage that can be useful to us and we do not want to make our presence known immediately."-

-"Understood, sir."- Everyone in the squadron replied as quickly as they could to her.

---

II

-"Damn, this is more boring than I ever thought!"-

These words perfectly described how Lieutenant Ruby felt in those moments: To have to fly over the city of Andis with his squadron without anything else to do but to watch that no EDF enemy unit came close to the city, something that seemed difficult, because there were no more enemies left.

At that time, the ILR had full control of the city and there were only a few hotspots of resistance by some EDF forces that were still trying to recover the city by all means. They knew that the EDF reinforcements were already on their way and that it was only a matter of time before they tried to reclaim the city.

-"How's it going down there?"- Ruby asked the captain of the Hifusah on the radio.

-"We have some pockets of enemy resistance out there, but it's only a matter of time before reinforcements reach them. But if we're lucky, we can inflict very severe damage on them once they're inside the city."-

-"Oh, I see."-

-"And how are you doing?"-

-"What can I say? I'm very bored and I'm getting really tired of flying for hours without anything to do."-

-"Don't worry, because it seems your boredom is about to end, as an EDF's enemy unit is approaching the city in a few minutes."-

-"Really?"-

Ruby began to look at his radar and realized that his captain was right, as several enemy units were approaching Andis quickly in his direction.

-"Okay, looks like five enemy units are approaching the city."-

-"You think you'll take care of them?"-

-"Considering that it could be aerodynes, I don't think there's any problem for me and my men to get rid of them, Captain."-

-"In that case, take care of them."- The captain remarked, as he sent to his R-101 the details of the enemy unit approaching his squadron. -"The enemy is approaching one o' clock. You are allowed to open fire at your discretion as you see fit, but be very careful anyway."-

-"I will."-

-"Good luck!"-

-"Lieutenant, I've received the information sent from the Hifusah. There is not much information about those enemy units other than that they are EDF, but they approach at a variable speed. Proceed with caution."- The voice of the Net was heard, informing about the data just received from the air fortress.

-"Thank you."-

Once he already had the necessary information, Ruby proceeded to give some orders to his men, as they headed northeast of the city.

-"All right, everyone, listen up. We will proceed using a delta formation, while we attack the enemy units as soon as possible. If all goes well, they won't know what hit 'em."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

Iqit Athuzhuzhuzh, Ruby's second-in-command, began to wonder about about the enemy units they intended to ambush, because he sensed something was wrong. As far as they understood, it seemed that the EDF units were aerodynes, but their speed was too unusual for an airborne vehicle of their kind.

-"Sir, can I speak with you?"-

-"What's the matter?"- The Lepine pilot asked in a somewhat distracted manner.

-"I suspect that the enemy units are not aerodynes, but something else."-

-"What makes you think they're not aerodynes?"-

-"Well, their speed is somewhat unusual for an aerodyne and as far as I can tell on the radar, their formation is not the same as that which would normally be used in such vehicles."-

-"Then what could they be? ACVs?"- Ruby responded intrigued by such a likelihood, for as far as he knew, the EDF did not possess fighter technology.

-"Could be, or maybe they have fighter jets like us."

-"Don't be ridiculous. If the EDF had fighters, we would have known beforehand. Besides, we have the surprise factor right now, and the only best thing they have those guys is aerodynes, so I don't think..."-

But before he could finish the sentence, a sharp and loud explosion was heard suddenly, causing Ruby's fighter to shake violently, barely giving him time to keep the aircraft from losing control.

-"WHAT THE HECK...?"-

After he was able to get the plane straightened out, he realized that one of his squadron members had just been shot down suddenly by a missile coming from the northeast, the same direction they were heading.

-"SCARLET 5 WAS SHOT DOWN! I REPEAT, SCARLET 5 WAS SHOT DOWN!"-

At that time, chaos gripped the rest of Ruby's squadron members, due to the suddenness of the attack, while Ruby himself could do nothing but curse those who did that. For him, every member of his squadron was an important person, not only because of their usefulness, but also because they were valuable lives that could not be replaced and seeing that aircraft in his squadron was shot down and his pilot probably killed, Ruby felt a sense of helplessness that he hadn't felt in years.

But Ruby knew very well that he didn't have time for regrets, and now the most important thing was to know who was responsible for the missile fired at them.

Meanwhile...

-"Looks like the surprise factor worked pretty well this time around."- Erma responded when she saw that the missile fired by one of her squadron fighters hit the target as she had planned. By using a variable speed, they passed themselves off as aerodynes, causing the enemy squadron to think they were weaker than expected, while surprisingly attacking them.

-"Yeah, they don't seem to know what hit them."- One of her squadron member responded in a cheerful tone when he saw that the stunt worked better than expected.

-"Indeed, but we must not lower our guard. Now we must finish them off before they have time to react."- Erma answered as quickly and coldly possible. -"Now all of us proceed to the specified direction and attack the enemy units at will."

-"Yes, sir!"-

Erma's squadron proceeded to quickly make their way toward Ruby's fighter squadron as they tried to assimilate what was happening. Seeing the EDF fighters, the rest of Ruby's squadron was stunned to see that they too possessed fighter technology, which leveled the battlefield substantially and neutralized the supposed advantage ILR possessed in the air at that moment.

-"SHIT! Since when does the EDF have any fighter jets?!"- One of the pilots in Ruby's squadron screamed as he saw the EDF fighters in his sights.

-"I was hoping they were aerodynes, and now you're telling me they're fighters?"-

All the pilots in Ruby's squadron were surprised as they saw the EDF fighters in their sights, as they didn't suspect they were going to face another squad of rival fighters in their faces. Ruby, who had barely recovered from the shock of losing one of his men to that missile that had come out of nowhere, began to try to put order in his ranks and try to counterattack the EDF fighters heading towards them.

-"Everybody, calm down! We need to be able to find a way to counterattack those fighters somehow!"-

Meanwhile, in Erma's squadron...

-"They don't seem to know how to react yet, judging that they're doing nothing."- Drumbo commented when he saw that the enemy fighters were still not much reacted to their attack, apart from returning to their original formation.

-"Then we have nothing more to lose and we can still give them a blow of grace."- Erma responded, while figuring out what to do next. -"ALL UNITS, FIRE AT WILL!"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

But before the EDF squadron could finish them off, Ruby's squadron quickly broke off their formation in an immediate attempt to distract their opponents' attention, causing Erma and the rest of her squadron not to open fire as they had intended.

-"What the..?"- Erma yelled when she saw that the enemy squadron broke up their formation.

As this happened, Ruby and the rest of his men flew in different directions to confuse their opponents. Then, all the fighters returned to their original formation at another point in the sky and proceeded to fly again in the direction of the EDF squadron to fight back.

-"They may have fighters, but we also know how to fight!"- Ruby gloated a bit for himself, seeing that he finally had a worthy opponent against whom to measure his strength and after days of facing aerodynes and other EDF airborne vehicles without anyone standing up to him. Now, he had that opportunity he had longed for so much and wasn't going to waste it at all.

-"Looks like we'll at least have something to entertain ourselves with after all."- Iqit replied, sharing the same sentiment as that of his superior officer and the rest of his men.

-"You're right."- Ruby replied quite quickly to him. -"ALL UNITS, PROCEED TO ATTACK THE ENEMY EDF UNITS ASAP!"

-"YES, SIR!"-

And without further ado, Ruby's squadron proceeded to head for Erma's squadron, attempting to attack them head-on. Obviously, Erma and her men would not stand there doing nothing and they proceeded to confront the enemy squadron as well.

-"ALL UNITS, PROCEED TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY AT YOUR DISCRETION!-

And at that moment, the EDF squadron launched a missile strike against ILR fighters, which are quickly evaded as they are still far away and having the advantage of anticipating them. Fortunately for Erma and her men, the missiles struck outside the city where they did not cause collateral damage.

-"Khai, that was close!"- Iqit was glad to see that they were able to evade the missiles without problems.

But before he and the others could cheer his way to victory, one of the EDF's ATF-Xs suddenly and without warning approached them, trying to target one of the R-101s, without them being able to do anything about it.

-"TARGET ADQUIRED, READY TO FIRE!"-

It turned out that fighter was from Drumbo, one of Erma's men, who had managed to have one of the ILR fighters in his sights, and without any hesitation...

-"FIRE ONE!"-

...And then the fired missile appeared on the radar of one of the pilots in Ruby's squadron.

-"Damn it, I got a missile in my tail! Evasive maneuvers!"-

The pilot launched several countermeasures to evade the missile as he engaged in desperate maneuvers to get rid of the missile behind him. Fortunately for him, the missile deviated from its target as a result.

But that pilot didn't take into account a small detail that no one, not even Ruby who was trying to analyze the battle flow, had taken into account: After firing the first volley of missiles against the R-101s, the ATF-Xs dispersed momentarily to be able to hit the ILR pilots from different angles, and thus increase their chances of hitting the target.

And thanks to that unexpected tactic, Erma, who by coincidence was in the opposite direction of the enemy pilot, took advantage of that opportunity to keep him in her sights.

-"FIRE ONE!"-

Due to the closeness of both jets to each other, the Lepine pilot was unable to evade the missile, and the projectile hit its target, destroying it completely in the air.

-"SCARLET 3 HAS BEEN SHOT DOWN, I REPEAT SCARLET 3 HAS BEEN SHOT DOWN!"-

Ruby can do nothing else but curse again the loss of another of his men. With the death of one of his pilots, there were only three pilots left, including Iqit and himself, which meant that there was a numerical disadvantage of 3 to 5 in favor for the EDF.

-"Damn it! Whoever the leader of that squadron is, he must be smart enough to anticipate our actions!"-

Ruby tried to think quickly of a desperate attempt not to lose patience when he saw how what appeared to be a normal mission was becoming a massacre from which there seemed to be no way out.

And with that pilot's loss, the morale of the squadron was starting to decline.

Meanwhile, in Erma's squadron...

-"I must admit it, but these new experimental fighters work much better than expected. It's only been five minutes since this fight began and we've already shot down two enemy fighters without much trouble. I wonder what else these machines can do..."- Erma thought after seeing how they had managed to cause considerable losses to the enemy squadron without much effort.

What Erma didn't count was that Ruby didn't plan to sit back and watch his squadron get decimated by her, and he was already planning to take some action.

-"All right, buddy, if you think I'm just gonna sit here and do nothing, you're REALLY wrong."-

At that moment, Ruby gave orders to his squadron, or at least the surviving members of his squadron, to try to do something about it before it is too late for them. Now Ruby's number one priority and his squadron was no longer to take down the enemy squadron, but to try and find a way out of there alive.

-"All right, listen up. I will try to distract the attention of the enemy squadron, while you two try to attack them from behind when they are distracted with me. If we're lucky, we can inflict some damage on them."-

-"Are you sure your plan can work, sir?"- Iqit asked, already with his spirits low, seeing that there seemed to be no way they could get away from this. -"Right now, we're at a serious numerical disadvantage to them. I would recommend that we should withdraw to the Hifusah or at least call for reinforcements, since there is no way we can get out of it alive."-

-"Yeah, and with all due respect, I feel the same way. The best thing would be for us to return home while we can, before we end up dead in this place."- The other ILR pilot seconded Iqit, who also didn't want to continue fighting a battle that seemed like they couldn't win.

Ruby, who was usually a very accessible person willing to listen to his colleagues and subordinates, could not believe that his own men were asking him to flee that battle, even if it seemed like they could not win.

And if there was one thing Ruby couldn't tolerate, it was cowardice.

-"In that case, and if you guys don't intend to follow me..."-

And without warning, Ruby himself broke up the training, stepping forward to his own flight-mates and heading for the EDF squadron to face them. For obvious reasons, Iqit and the other unknown pilot were stunned to see their leader heading for what appeared to be a certain suicide.

-"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? DO YOU WANT TO DIE?"-

-"Just wait and see what I'm going to do."- Ruby responded on the radio to his subordinate, with a certain aggressive tone of voice. -"I'm not gonna die so easily."-

Meanwhile, Erma and the rest of her squadron could do nothing else but watch as that lonely jet headed toward them...

-"What does that pilot intend to do? Does he want to die or what?"- Erma thought quickly as she saw Ruby's fighter heading toward them, in what seemed to be a certain death for him.

What Erma didn't count was that Ruby had several aces up his sleeve...

-"Okay, let's do it."-

And one of those aces was that he took advantage of the appearance of a thick grey cloud between his jet and the EDF squadron, so he could be able to enter it, and confuse the enemy squadron by not being able to see him clearly. To further confuse them, he threw several electronic countermeasures into the cloud from his jet to prevent Erma's squadron from accurately locating him, forcing them to resort to visual methods.

-"Damn it!, where'd that idiot go?"- Erma curses herself when she saw that she couldn't locate the enemy fighter inside the cloud, and when she saw her radar wasn't helping her either.

And then...

-"GOTCHA!"-

And before the rest of Erma's squadron could react, Ruby came out of nowhere and in one single swipe he set his sights on one of the ATF-Xs, and then he opened fire, managing to hit the target on one of them, and destroying it quickly. Obviously, Erma and her men soon reacted to such an event.

-"SIR, WE LOST ONE OF OUR MEN! I REPEAT, WE LOST ONE OF OUR OWN!"-

-"CRAP! How the heck did he get to do that?!"- Erma cursed her luck when she saw the suicidal maneuver that Lepine pilot managed to do in everyone's faces. -"EVERYONE, BREAK FORMATION!"-

Received that order, the rest of the EDF squadron broke up their formation in an attempt to prevent Ruby from attempting to attack them all with a single shot, and more if they were inside a cloud. Seeing that his enemies had scattered out of the cumulus, the young ILR pilot also stepped out of the cloud, but trying to make several turns in order to evade his rival fighter jets.

-"Apparently, they just realized my plan that I had in store for them."-

Ruby realized that, even though he was dealing with an enemy squadron that was using a technology that was relatively new to them, they didn't seem to act like complete novices. At least it was more than evident that they, or at least the leader of their squadron, were people who possessed an above-average ability to adapt to a completely new situation as was that battle they were waging in the skies of Derzon.

In comparison, it took Ruby and his men several months to get used to being able to fly their R-101s, which required new tactics and flight methods that are not possible with a regular aerodyne. On the other hand, and if Ruby could compare his situation with that of his enemies, it was more than obvious that they were trying to improvise as best they could, as if they had no other option but to be the guinea pigs when trying out those new fighters they were using in that battle.

And indeed, Erma and her men were both trying to survive that battle, as well as trying to figure out how to pilot those new fighters without dying in the process.

To begin with, Erma was not used to resist very intense G forces, much more than those exerted by an aerodyne or events that forced her to resist very intense speeds in spacecraft or ground vehicles. Normally for anyone else who had no experience in this type of situation, they would have lost consciousness or worse. But fortunately for her, the fact that she had trained very hard before, combined with the fact of her own Feline biology, made her very resistant to the G forces the aircraft exerted on her.

But that doesn't prevent her from not feeling sick about it at all.

-"Khai! I never imagined that the G forces of this thing were so damn intense!"-

Erma was trying to keep an eye on the ILR's enemy pilot that she was trying to chase, while she realized that the pilot was much more skillful than she expected, compared to the other pilots. It was more than evident that Lepine pilot was probably the leader of his or her squadron, which was right, but obviously she had no way of finding out. Meanwhile, she had to find a way to fight back before that pilot did the same.

And to do so, Erma decided to undertake a very risky manoeuvre: By pulling up the throttle of the jet, Erma quickly ascends steeply towards the sky in order to take a turn in the opposite direction to the one she was going at that moment, something that in modern aviation would be called an Immelman turn.

That way she could go against Ruby's R-101 in a surprising way, because he didn't expect Erma to do such a risky stunt, taking into account that she and the company were piloting what in practical terms were nothing more than prototypes and it was likely that Ruby would think at the time that no one would be so crazy to do something like that.

-"WHAT THE HECK..."-

Ruby took several seconds to react to Erma's maneuver, and the only thing he could do at that moment was to make another evasive maneuver, in this case doing a dive towards the city.

-"Let's see if you can do something while I'm flying over the town!"-

As he descended into Andis, Ruby hoped Erma would not hunt him down and attempt to attack him there with the risk that any missiles or vulcan fire she might have misfired could target the city and cause collateral damage. What he didn't count was that Erma wasn't willing to let him go so easily...

-"If you thought I'd let you go so easily, you're wrong."- She thought at that moment as she headed for Andis.

Meanwhile, Drumbo, Erma's second-in-command, could not believe what his leader was doing at the time.

-"Lieutenant, what are you up to?"-

-"Drumbo, I'm going to chase that jet, I'm pretty sure it's their leader. You and the others take care of the other enemy fighters while you're at it."-

-"But he's flying over the city! If something happens..."-

-"I already know that! I'll make sure to get that idiot out of there as soon as possible."-Erma shouted to her subordinate as she saw Drumbo's objections about her pursuing Ruby over Andis. -"Please, trust me!"-

Once that was settled, Erma headed for Andis trying to follow Ruby, who was already flying over downtown. The young ILR pilot, seeing Erma's guts in following him in such a risky place for both of them, decided to accelerate as much as he could in order to avoid her.

In theory, the R-101 Delta is a very fast and superior fighter compared to aerodynes, which could only fly at lower speeds and could not do the same maneuvers that a jet of the same size could do. That allows Ruby to perform countless maneuvers to theoretically evade anyone who stood in front of him. Obviously for Ruby, he never considered that the EDF could count on fighters, which were being secretly developed through photos obtained as a result of espionage. While EDF now knew how to develop fighter jets, unfortunately they only had the knowledge of how to develop the basics, but not their most essential characteristics, so the ATF-X Erma used did not have the same perks as Ruby's R-101 had at the time.

In spite of all that, that doesn't prevent Erma from trying to chase Ruby through some cunning maneuvers, knowing that neither she nor he could open fire on Andis, something that surprised Erma greatly, who didn't expect an ILR member to bother not to fire on a terrain that was friendly to her, but not to him.

-"Damn, whoever is piloting that thing knows how to fly right!"- Ruby cursed his luck, after seeing Erma's maneuvers to chase him across the city.

In an attempt to get Erma off his back, Ruby headed for a moderately tall building that was located in the downtown area, in order to make Erma crash there as a victim of inertia and unable to evade the spot in time.

-"All right, let's see if you can avoid THIS!"-

And a few feet away from the building, Ruby managed to evade it in time, hoping that his enemy who was chasing him would hit the structure...

What he didn't count was that Erma, in a desperate attempt to avoid crashing into the building, climbed almost vertically just a few yards before reaching the place, while the jet thrusters, along with the speed of the vehicle and the sonic boom, broke the windows of the building as she climbed up quickly and flew over the building without much of a hitch.

-"That was close! I hope there's no one inside that place!"- Erma sighed as she saw that she was able to avoid colliding with the building by sheer miracle.

Ruby, on the other hand, wasn't happy that his plan to take down Erma didn't work. Even if Erma's ATF-X wasn't as fast as his R-101, Ruby couldn't get rid of her, and the worst thing for him was that only Iqit and another pilot were left standing, which were being chased by Drumbo and the two surviving pilots of Erma's squadron.

-"DAMN IT! That bastard is so persistent!"- Ruby cursed when he saw that he couldn't find a way to do something against his enemy that he had behind him. -"Come on, Ruby, think something..."-

At that time, Ruby realized something he could use to his advantage: South of the city there was an industrial area full of factories and warehouses. If he could approach that place, he could use the constructions, which had more complex designs, to make Erma crash there again, no matter how good she was flying that fighter jet. Ruby had the advantage that, before he could fly a R-101, he had some experience flying aerodynes over narrower buildings and places, which led him several times to receive a dressing-down from his superiors, but that was also something that led him to be chosen to pilot the first ILR fighters, and now he is willing to use that experience to fly over that industrial area to get rid of the EDF pilot he had over his tail.

-"Let's see if you're good enough to evade all those buildings and not crash into them!"-

Ruby then sped up as fast as he could, and he headed for the industrial zone as Erma tried to reach him.

-"What's that jerk trying to do?"- Erma asked herself as she also went to the industrial zone, trying to catch up with Ruby.

Once in the industrial zone, Ruby descended his jet as low as he could, trying not to crash into the factories and warehouses that were there. Erma also proceeded to do the same, but taking care not to descend too much, and at the same time trying to keep Ruby in her sights.

Ruby knew very well that his R-101 was not an aerodyne, so he could not fly vertically or at a slower speed, but that did not prevent him from doing several risky manoeuvres, such as flying over the roofs of the factories and even flying over or even between the different types of stairways and pipes that were everywhere in an exceptional way.

What he didn't expected as well was that Erma could do the same thing as Ruby, and she kept chasing him all over the industrial area. Although the ATF-X was not as fast as an R-101, its speed allowed Erma to reduce it to acceptable limits in order to fly safely into the area. The fact that it was a little smaller also helped.

Seeing that he couldn't get rid of the EDF pilot, despair began to take hold of the young Lepine pilot, seeing that nothing of what he was doing seemed to make Erma crash, and the worst thing for him was that he couldn't do any more evasive tactics inside the place either, due to the risk of colliding with any pipe, building or ladder that was all over the place. Firing back at her wasn't an option either, as the place would likely explode along with both of them, not knowing what dangerous substances were in that area.

Until Ruby came up with a great idea...

Once he was able to get past an area full of pipes, while Erma had him in his tail, in a sudden action Ruby ascended as fast as he could, so he made a U-turn, with the jet down, and with Erma still at a low altitude. That sudden maneuver managed to surprise Erma, while she tried to react somehow.

-"WHAT THE...!"- She yelled, while trying to react.

At that moment, Ruby descended again on another U-turn, only this time he managed to keep Erma in his sights, and Erma barely had a few seconds left to react in time.

-"GOTCHA!"-

Meanwhile...

-"Lieutenant, you have a bogey on your six, please evade!"- The Net, at least the one used in Erma's fighter, warned her in an attempt to protect her.

-"OH, SHIT!"- Erma cursed loudly, since she couldn't find a way to evade Ruby's jet, since she had to avoid crashing with anything from the industrial zone.

And before she could do anything else, and making sure he didn't shoot at anything else, Ruby opened fire using the vulcans from his jet. The bullets were able to impact Erma's ATF-X fuselage and the back of the vehicle, causing significant damage.

Because of the damage to the fighter, Erma gradually began to lose control of the ATF-X, forcing her to leave the industrial zone and try to find a way to either return to the base or at least land in an emergency landing somewhere safe and controlled by the EDF.

-"WARNING, WARNING! SEVERE STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO THE AIRCRAFT'S FUSELAGE. LUBRICANT LEAKAGE WAS ALSO DETECTED."- The voice of the Net was heard inside Erma's aircraft as she tried to make a desperate attempt to regain control of the jet.

-"CRAP! I have to find a way out of this alive!"- Erma screamed aloud to herself as she desperately tried to manoeuvre the damaged ATF-X, as she waved the control stick of the aircraft and the thruster shifters, which barely responded to her commands. -"Come on, come on, answer! I don't want to die in this damn place, not now, much less later!"-

Meanwhile, Ruby had his sights set on Erma, who hadn't realized he was still chasing her, and Ruby was ready to give her the coup de grâce.

-"Alright, everything's going as planned."- Ruby was speaking in his mind about this, as he already had the ATF-X in his sights, ready to fire as soon as he could. -"Time to get it over with. It's nothing personal..."-

But before he could pull the trigger...

-"Scarlet 1, we need your presence from you and your squadron here in the north side of town. We have an enemy EDF force about to break into Andis and we need air support. That's an order."-

-"WHAT?!- Ruby yelled perplexed and annoyed to see that his chance to finish Erma was slipping from his hands. -"Can't you see I'm too busy right now?"-

-"We know that, but this requires your attention very urgently. We are not going to hand the city over so easily to them, and you are the only ones who can do something about it. The order came from the higher-ups, in case you ask."-

Ruby knew very well who that voice was: It was the voice of the captain of the Hifusah, and he knew very well that he could not disobey him in any other way, so, reluctantly, he decided to fulfill his order.

-"OK, understood, I'm on my way"- Ruby replied, and switched the comm to the rest of the remaining members of his squadron -"To all squad members, stop doing what you're up to now and return to formation. We were ordered to go north to help."-

-"What? Why now?"- Iqit replied in an annoyed tone. -"Just when we've already shot down one more of them...-

Because he was busy with Erma, Ruby didn't realize that Iqit and company had already shot down another EDF jet on their own, leaving both squadrons on equal terms. But now they had to comply with the orders received, demanding that they help their men north of the city.

-"I understand, but orders are orders, and these come from the captain, and I will not disobey him right now."- Ruby answered his wingman

-"I see."-

-"OK, let's go!"-

Ruby forgets Erma, and returns to formation with the surviving members of the squadron. The fact that he couldn't have ended the duel with her left the young Lepine pilot a bitter taste in his mouth, but he could do nothing more about it other than obey.

-"The next time we meet, we will end this unfinished little duel..."-

Resigned, Ruby and company retreated from the combat zone, while Erma, for her part, tried to do more than a supreme effort to try to get out of the predicament in which she was.

-"Come on, come on, please react, stupid machine!"-

But surprisingly, and when everything seemed all lost to her, the jet began to react suddenly to Erma's commands, when it seemed that the jet was about to crash. She couldn't understand why until now the vehicle started to react, and there were only two explanations: Either the ATF-X had a more damage-resistant design than it appeared, or a real miracle had happened at that moment.

-"Khai! Now it looks like the machine is working properly."-

But there was one detail that she had to work out. She had to find a way to land in friendly territory, since she was still on ILR-controlled turf.

-"Well, let's see. According to the computer, that highway appears to be in EDF-controlled territory, so there would be no problem landing there, don't you?"-

-"That's right, it may not be possible to return to the base, but at least it's possible to land safely in that area, Lieutenant."- The Net answered her.

-"In that case, let's get down there."-

Trying to maneuver the wrecked aircraft very carefully, Erma deployed the landing gear, which fortunately was intact and she arranged to head for the highway to land there. She knew she had to be careful, because her ATF-X engines didn't work, so she had to glide the aircraft, and a mistake could be fatal.

Fortunately for her, Erma succeeded in getting the ATF-X to land on the highway without much trouble, aside from the fact that part of the right wing of the aircraft was ripped to shreds when it hit a traffic signal made of concrete on the road, and that the aircraft itself skidded in U-turn, but beyond that, the young pilot managed to get to land unharmed and without further complications.

But she couldn't sing victory yet, because the jet fighter was so badly damaged by Ruby's hands, as by the crash landing that Erma had to undertake, that at any moment the ATF-X would explode.

But there was still something Erma had to ask the computer before she left.

-"Computer, Can you give me some actual tactical feed in your current conditions?"-

-"Negative, Lieutenant. My systems are being damaged by fire, and at any time this aircraft will explode, as the enemy ammunition damaged vital sections of the vehicle, in addition to power systems. I will not be able to continue to report to you once the communication systems are no longer in operation."-

Even if it was a machine, Erma couldn't help but feel bad about the predicament of her jet's computer, even though it was only a copy of the master computer, The Net, which operated inside the aircraft, so all she could do was give it a final farewell.

-"sigh"- Erma closed her eyes, with a rictus of sadness in her feline face. -"I understand, thank you for helping me anyways, it was a honor for me to be your pilot".

-"The pleasure... was mine too, Lieutenant."- The computer replied to her in a last attempt to give a farewell. -"Good... luck..."-

Next, and after Erma was several meters away from the wreckage of the aircraft, the plane blew up to pieces. Erma couldn't help but shed some tears for what had at least been her virtual flight mate in the last few hours.

-"Good bye, my good friend."-

---

III

City of Andis, A Few Hours Later

The EDF was already able to take control of the city from the south side, while the ILR still had control of the center, eastern and western areas, along with the northern sector, even though the EDF was trying to recover at least that last area. Meanwhile, the battle had become more fierce, and above all, more violent than a few days ago when the ILR had taken over the city.

The Lepines knew very well that they were at a numerical disadvantage against the EDF, but at least if they were going to allow their opponents to take over the city, at least they were going to make their victory as pyrrhic as possible.

And to achieve that goal, the ILR began resorting to various tactics and methods that elsewhere would be considered war crimes, including attacking EDF forces in civilian-filled residential areas, no matter the target is, the massive use of snipers to shoot anyone in sight, including innocents, shooting down aerodynes from commercial or residential buildings in order to get a response from the EDF and take both the sniper and the building itself (and yes, the ILR didn't even mind sacrificing some of its men to achieve such a trivial goal as that), among other dirty tricks.

The EDF is not far behind in causing indiscriminate collateral damage: In a desperate attempt to get the ILR out of the city, the soldiers did not hesitate to fire at any place where there were enemy troops, at the cost of causing costly or immeasurable damage.

In the midst of the city, meanwhile, there was a fierce battle going on, where the forces of both sides opened fire at each other mercilessly. Even knowing that they could lose this battle, the ILR would not allow the EDF to emerge as victorious as easily and they were willing to let at least their victory be as bittersweet as possible.

And in the context of these events, Erma Felna was trying to reach the city on her own, as no one seemed to notice that she was forced to land on the outskirts of Andis and had to walk to the city on foot. Luckily Andis was only two kilometers from where she landed.

-"Damn! Maybe it's only been a couple of kilometers, but it's very tiring to have to walk them without help!"-

At that moment, Erma received a call on her comms box.

-"BM to Felna, where are you right now?"-

-"I am in the outskirts of the city, trying to somehow incorporate myself into the current situation."-

-"We heard you were forced to land in an emergency. Why didn't you notify us about the incident earlier?"-

Erma responded with a rather annoying tone in her voice, seeing that her superiors began to worry about her just recently, when she had tried to do so when she was on her way to Andis, unsuccessfully.

-"sigh Well, I tried to do it a few minutes ago, but I didn't get an answer."-

-"OK. anyway, we have something for you: We have a squad that lost both their senior officer and their communications gear. We need you to join them and lead them."-

-"Roger, BM"- Erma replied as quickly as she could. -"Where are they at?"-

-"They're in an alley two blocks from where you are, heading north. You'd better hurry, because they need some help."-

-"Understood, sir."-

After walking to the right place, the young female pilot met the mentioned soldiers, who were somewhat nervous after their leader died in a confrontation with enemy troops. The soldiers, who were three men of different species, were members of the 24th Squad, and they were entrenched in the alley waiting for further orders or help.

The men themselves were surprised to see that their new leader was going to be a woman, even though at that critical stage they could not complain, despite their concerns about a lady being on the battlefield.

-"Hello."- Erma presented herself towards the soldier trio. "I'm Lt. Erma Felna, and BM sent me to help you. Are you the surviving members of the 24th Squad?"-

-"Yes, we are."- One of the soldiers reluctantly answered her. -"I'm Specialist Czimmer, by the way, and the other two are the Lt. Weadjhee and Lt. Krimble."-

-"Nice to meet you."- Krimble presented himself.

-"Me too."- Weadjhee follow him as well.

-"Is it true you lost your superior officer in a skirmish a little while ago?"- Erma asked Czimmer for extra questions about how those soldiers were in such mess.

-"Unfortunately, yes. Just as we were arriving in the city and as we were passing through this area in a mobile vehicle, we were ambushed by enemy units and our officer was shot dead in the head. Due to the suddenness of the attack, we didn't even have time to pick up his body, and we lost the vehicle as well."-

-"I see."- Erma replied. -"How long have you three been here?"-

-"About half an hour."-

-"Well, now I get it."- Next, Erma communicates with Battle Management about her current situation.

-"BM, Felna here, I'm already with the 24th Squad in the designated position, awaiting further orders."-

-"BM to Felna, We need you to go to the residential area in the western part of the city. You can go by going to the left of where you are."-

-"Roger that, we're on our way."-

Once Erma met with the soldiers, they went to the designated location, once they made sure there was no further danger.

-"All right, looks like BM wants us to go from house to house to find out if anyone's there. Make sure you do that, and be careful with any surprises that might come out." -

-"Yes, sir!" - The soldiers replied at her.

Having said that, Erma and her new comrades in arms headed for the residential area where they were ordered to go. Fortunately for them, there were no more enemy ILR units running around, since most of them had barricaded themselves in the center and northern part of the city, so they could go without further problems.

Once there, they began to inspect house by house in search of enemy soldiers who could still be hidden ready to counterattack. Fortunately for them, so far they had not found anything abnormal. It was also helped by the fact that most of the inhabitants of the city's residential areas had gone to take refuge in shelters, although unfortunately, there were still some bodies lying around, many of them both ILR and EDF soldiers, as well as some civilians who had the misfortune of being in the middle of the crossfire.

After several minutes of inspecting houses, they found what appeared to be a very large building, with no signs or callsigns to describe its function. The building was a one-story building, but it was quite large in length, and was the last building to be checked.

-"BM, Felna here, we have found a building that needs to be inspected."-

-"Understood, according to the cartographic data, it is a renewable energy plant that provides both electricity and water to this area. Have you seen anything strange out there, like a trap?"-

-"Negative, BM."-

Suddenly, Erma noticed a very strange smell coming from inside the building. For obvious reasons, she imagined the worst, thinking there might be toxic gases inside.

-"BM, there's a foul smell coming from that building. I don't know if it's from toxic gases or any other source."-

-"Can you describe the smell?"-

-"It smell like... something rotten, I guess."-

-"I highly doubt if it's any toxic gas, based on the description given. In any case, be careful when you go in there, and if necessary, use the masks you wear on your equipment if you notice anything worse.-

-"Roger that."-

Once they made sure there were no more surprises at the entrance to the power plant, Erma and company entered the building without much trouble. Once in there, they realized that the mysterious smell began to become more intense as they advanced into the place. The fact that they were anthropomorphics did not help their situation at all, since they were very sensitive to the smells around them.

And to make things worse, the place lacked light, since the enemies had blown up the energy sources inside, so they had to walk almost blindly, with the help of a flashlight.

-"Khai! The smell is getting more intense as we walk around this damn place. I wonder what it is?- Erma wondered to herself as she tried to see what was around her, in addition to finding the source of the foul odor.

After walking for several minutes in what appeared to be a maze of corridors, rooms and many dead-ends, not to mention several inoperative engine rooms, some of them appeared to have been sabotaged with explosives or firearms, Erma and her men finally found the place where the pungent odor came from.

And what they found there was perhaps the most disturbing sight that Erma and those men, who were veteran soldiers, would have seen in their lives.

Inside that room, which was much larger than the other rooms they had seen before, lay the lifeless bodies of dozens of Lepines, of all ages and genders, all of them had been dead for several hours, and above all, they had been executed with a shot of grace in the head.

It was more than evident that those Lepines killed were people who were against the ILR or who had been imprisoned by them, and executed afterwards. The ILR was infamous for having a racist and xenophobic policy of racial purity, and any Lepine who disagreed with them and found in their wake would end up paying the consequences.

Even though Erma was aware of that policy, according to what she had read in the history books both at school and at the military academy, that was the first time in her life she had the opportunity (so to speak objectively) to witness it in person.

And her answer to seeing such a nightmarish event was only to put her hands to her mouth in an attempt to avoid vomiting. Even her colleagues, who had already seen such unpleasant things in their military careers, could not believe that ILR would do such a terrible thing, much more so if they were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the whole affair.

-"BM to Felna, what's going on there?"-

-"BM, there are many corpses in this room, all of them from Lepines and all received the shot of grace."- She responded as quickly as she could, as she tried to keep her temper after witnessing such a disturbing sight.

-"How many corpses are there?-

-"I can only say that there are dozens of bodies here. Both men, women, the elderly and children alike. This is terrible on so many levels, that's all I can say about it.

After that, only a moment of silence was felt in that room, since even the BM could not believe what Erma had said about the place. It was evident that that place had been used as an improvised wall to kill all those people, and that stench was actually the smell of the decomposition of the corpses that were there.

-"Understood"- The BM responded with a dull voice. -"We'll send someone to take care of the place and the bodies. You guys get out of there immediately and get some air, that's all I can say."-

Afterwards. Erma and company left the building, relieved to be able to breathe some fresh air after seeing all those bodies. Erma was the one who was most shocked by what she saw and since she left the plant she had not uttered a word.

But despite all that, it was not yet time to rest.

-"BM to Felna, Keep in mind that there are still non-combatant civilians in the area, so be very careful who you shoot with those weapons."-

-"Understood"-

-"In addition, we need live prisoners and who have not been tortured or abused. That's very important to us for intelligence work. Is that clear?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

---

IV

Downtown Andis

After these terrible events at the power plant, Erma and the three soldiers she now leads headed into the downtown area to try to help the other EDF troops still fighting against their ILR counterparts in the same zone.

But, meanwhile...

-"MOVE!"-

A family of four people, two adults and two kit boys, all of them Felines, were forced to walk around the city as prisoners by two ILR soldiers who were pointing their guns on them while on the road. Both soldiers had very unfriendly looks, and were willing to shoot them if necessary.

-"What do you intend to do with us? We have done nothing to you people!"- The Feline wife said on them.

-"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS! NOW MOVE BEFORE I MAKE YOU REGRET OPENING THAT MOUTH OF YOURS!"-

The soldier kicked the woman in the groin, causing her to fall to the ground. That man, not satisfied with this, takes the woman by the neck and lifts her, while he continues forcing her to walk.

-"Please, I beg you, at least don't hurt our children!"- The husband implored his captors in an attempt to at least save the children's lives. The cubs were obviously terrified to see their parents being brutalized by those soldiers, simply because they were different from them.

-"We see that, now close that muzzle of yours if you don't want it blown to bits!"- The other soldier yelled at the man, while kicking him in his rear.

It was more than evident that they intended to do the same as their countrymen did in the power plant with the Lepines who disagreed with them, and they just needed a good place to serve as a wall, while they would be the firing squad.

What they didn't count was that Erma and her men were basically around the corner, watching them as they walked south. The young soldier could not stand by and watch such a ruthless scene, but she had to remain calm if she wanted to save the life of that family and theirs as well.

-"What are we going to do, Lieutenant?"- Czimmer asked Erma about her current plans.

-"Me and you will try to distract the soldiers, while the rest of you will try to snip them both away. Try not to shoot the prisoners. Is that clear?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

And without saying anything else, Erma and Czimmer immediately went into action, trying to get the attention of the Lepines. They both knew very well that they were taking a huge risk in trying to be their center of attention, since enemy soldiers held a family hostage and could kill them instantly.

-"Hey! What do you guys pretend to do with that family?"- Erma yelled at them, while pointing her gun on the ILR soldiers.

Both soldiers, seeing Erma and Czimmer, did not hesitate for a moment to open fire at them as they tried to use that Feline family as their shields; Needless to say, they weren't exactly happy to see them as well.

-"EAT HOT LEAD, YOU EDF SCUM!"-

While Erma and Czimmer were trying to distract the soldiers, both Krimmer and Weadjhee were making final preparations, while the former carried a sniper rifle ready to shoot one of the soldiers holding one of the hostages, the husband, in his hands, while the other ILR soldier had the woman and her children in his custody.

-"Well, well, let's see, I almost have that big-eared bastard in my sights."-

-"Can you shoot him?"-

-"I'm almost ready"-

Krimmer knew very well that he only had one chance to shoot both soldiers without hurting the hostages, so he had to be as quick as possible to avoid further surprises.

And without further ado, the EDF soldier opened fire on the Lepines, blowing up the brains of those enemy soldiers. The action was so quick that even Erma could not see or react to what just happened.

-"WELL DONE!"-

-"YEAH!"-

Erma only managed to lift her thumb as a sign of approval for both soldiers, who had fired from the window of another building two blocks from the event. Her involvement in such a delicate situation was limited to shooting the soldiers to try to get their attention, next to Czimmer, while the others did the most difficult job.

And with regard to Czimmer, he met with the family that had been released to find out if they had no more injuries. In the case of the spouses, both are bloodied by the blood of the enemy soldiers that Erma and her men had barely finished, but apart from that they were fine.

-"Are you OK, ma'am?"

-"Yes, I'm OK, Thank you for save us! I already thought we were gone a few moments ago."- The woman said at the EDF soldier, trying to thanking him.

-"You don't have to thank us, we were just doing our job for the citizens of Derzon."-

The Feline husband joined his wife in thanking those two soldiers who had saved them.

-"Still, you have our thanks, I don't know what happened if..."-

But before he could finish talking...

BANG!

The deafening sound of what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon was heard, and that man, whom Erma and Czimmer had just saved a few moments ago, was shot dead in the back of his head.

-"WHAT THE...!"-

But before anyone could react, the same shots were fired at the woman's back...

-"NO!"-

It turned out that another ILR soldier, who allegedly accompanied his recently killed colleagues several steps behind in case they needed help in the event of surprise attacks by the enemy, appeared in the scene shooting at the civilians in retaliation for the death of his comrades.

The Lepine tried to shoot the kits, which were behind Erma, but his gun got jammed into him, so all he could do was run for his life. As for her, Erma was shocked to see what had happened, since she never imagined that anyone would be so cowardly as to shoot defenseless people just to get revenge.

But at the time, Erma couldn't manage to say anything else, and all she could do was give a precise order to her men. On the other hand, Czimmer had the woman's corpse on top of him, and his body was stained with the blood of that woman who just a few minutes ago had thanked him for saving her from the ILR soldiers.

-"He went that way, into that building, GET HIM!"- Erma yelled, with tears still in her eyes, while trying to catch the killer. -"Krimmer and Weadjhee, you two protect the cubs! I'm going after him!"-

Meanwhile, Czimmer was still in shock from what happened, and he couldn't do anything but sit there, with that corpse still on him. Next to him were the children of those dead parents, who wept at the sight of how their parents had been slaughtered in a wicked way by that soldier, who had killed them in an act of senseless vengeance.

-"Oh, no, no, no, no. This can't be..."-

On the other hand, the Lepine responsible for all this ran like a bat out of hell, trying to avoid the fury of his persecutors. In a desperate attempt to evade Erma, who already had him in his sights inside the building, the soldier jumped out of what appeared to be a porthole. What he hadn't noticed was that it was actually a window located on the second floor of that building, and the soldier fell into the ground for his disgrace...

...Or at least that seemed to be the case, since it first fell on a sheet roof that was below, and then fell to the floor. The impact caused the killer to break a leg, although at least he could be grateful that he was still alive.

But what he didn't count was that Czimmer, along with other soldiers he had called earlier about what happened to the family the Lepine killed, were waiting for him on the street, intending to kill him with their own hands.

-"YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! BLOWING YOUR BRAINS OUT IS TOO DAMN GOOD FOR A PUNISHMENT FOR YOU!"-

-YEAH, TAKE THIS, YOU BIG-TEETHED SHITHEAD!"-

The poor ILR soldier has no choice but to try to beg for his life, while he was brutalized by those EDF soldiers.

-"Please, don't kill me! I beg you!"-

-"OH YEAH? "I BEG YOU" MY ASS!"- Czimmer loudly replied while he kicked the Lepine in the face, causing him to lose some teeth.

Erma, who had barely exited the building as quickly as she could to get close to her colleagues, decided to try to stop her fellow soldiers from continuing to beat the enemy soldier who had killed both parents just moments ago. Even if she, like her men, wished like them to kill that murderer with her own hands, Erma was, before anything else, a soldier, and her duty as a soldier meant that the first thing she had to do was to maintain order, to uphold justice, and above all, not to let her personal feelings affect her work, even in cases like these.

Besides, there was the possibility that that soldier had shot at both parents because he originally tried to kill both Erma and Czimmer, but it was now up to the proper authorities to decide that. Not to mention that she had orders to take any prisoner alive without being beaten or tortured in advance.

-"Hey! What are you doing?! We have orders not to harm any prisoners, since BM wants them alive!"-

Czimmer could not believe that Erma, who was with him when that soldier killed those two Felines, asked him not to kill that ILR soldier, even if it was everyone's opinion that guy deserved to die for what he did.

-"WHAT?! Are you out of your mind? Didn't you see what this bastard did to that family? He killed the parents of that family and left their children orphans, and you still ask me to spare his life?"-

-"I know how you feel, Czimmer, but we have strict orders from BM, and no one's going to take the law into their own hands while I'm in charge. Am I clear?"-

-"sigh Yes, sir."- The EDF soldier angrily replied to her.

-"Now, bring me a first-aid kit and some handcuffs."-

After receiving what she requested, Erma proceeded to try to heal the wounds of the enemy soldier. Her face showed that she was trying to suppress all the anger she felt against that man, but her dedication to her work was more important to her than any kind of personal revenge, something that left her comrades in arms speechless.

-"Don't worry, you'll be fine soon. We'll take care of the legal issues later when you're in prison."-

The Lepine soldier, even though he was Erma's enemy, was surprised that that woman had taken the trouble to cure him, even though she was present when he killed that couple with their children beside him, who witnessed the crime.

-"Why are... you helping me?"-

-"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe because it's my duty as a soldier. That's all."-

-"It's the first time an EDF soldier has sympathy for me. Perhaps it isn't because...

BANG!

Before that soldier could finish speaking, the sound of what appeared to be a sniper rifle was heard all over the street, and that Lepine fell dead, with a bullet in his head, and all his brain matter was scattered over Erma's face and body, leaving her in shock for a few moments.

It was somewhat known that the ILR itself did not hesitate to kill its own men if they fell into enemy hands and did not proceed to take their own lives with their own hands to prevent any vital secrets from falling into the hands of the EDF. But on that occasion it was the first time Erma had witnessed something like that. Thankfully the enemy sniper only bothered to shoot his own countryman, but not Erma or the other soldiers, and then he fled as quickly as he appeared.

But Erma couldn't help but see that man, whom she took the trouble to cure, was now dead, but her own companions didn't seem too surprised by the sudden turn of events. For them, that Lepine got what he deserved, even if it was from his own comrades, but at least they wouldn't have to bother to do it on their own if they had the opportunity to make him pay.

-"Well, shit happens. At least this bunny prick got what he deserved."- Czimmer cynically commented as he shrugs his shoulders at the sight of what happened.

Once Erma regained her calm, all she could do was try to close the eyes of that dead soldier she had on her, cleanse the blood and gray matter she still had on her body, and with tears in her eyes, she gave some orders to the other soldiers around her.

-"Everyone else are relieved ASAP."- Erma said. -"BM, did you see what happened?"-

-"Yes, we already see what happened in your position. By the way, the reinforcements will be in the city soon enough for tomorrow. You guys go to the commercial area and wait for orders there."-

-"Roger that."-

---

V

Several days have passed since ILR invaded the planet Derzon, and only a few days since the EDF responded to this event. Although the intention of the ILR was, more than anything else, to provoke and measure the response capacity of the ConFed and its already mentioned armed arm, since it did not claim to be a permanent invasion, the damage caused was impossible to quantify.

Leaving aside the amount of material damage to the infrastructure of many of the planet's cities (although the planet itself was sparsely populated, compared to its closest neighbors), the number of civilian casualties already exceeded a thousand, caused by the actions of ILR, and collateral damage unleashed by the EDF in its attempt to drive ILR off the planet.

Even in spite of all this, the ILR did not think to give up so easily, and still did not stop in its attempt that at least the victory of the EDF was as bitter as possible. As a demonstration of this, they still had control of the central and northern zones of the capital Andis, and although they had already lost control of the other zones of the city, not to mention the other cities of the planet in the same way, they still maintained a very notable pocket of resistance in the regions where they still maintained control.

And that was very remarkable for Ruby and the few men he had left. He had already lost two fighters to Erma, but they could still face anything that came their way, especially now that the ATF-Xs that were left in the air after Erma's landed in Andis in an emergency had returned to their base after losing their leader and running out of ammo to fight them.

But all this took a very sudden twist in a way Ruby didn't expect for himself.

-"Scarlet 01, please return to base. You have already done enough and we need to go home now."-

Ruby couldn't believe they were asking him to go back to the base and leave it at that. For the young Lepine, he thought he was going to win at all costs, not knowing that at no time did his own country intend this to be a lasting war. He had an score to settle with the EDF, and above all with Erma, although he did not know her identity on that time. And he didn't want the sacrifice of those pilots to be for naught.

-"WHAT? Are you asking me to come back when we can still win or do something useful?"- Ruby furiously replied to the Hifusah's captain, after hearing such order.

-"I know how you feel, and I feel the same way you do, but we can't afford to lose any more jets."- The captain calmy answered his angry subordinate, in an attempt to make him comply with his orders. -"Keep in mind that this fighter that you fly is still the first model that we have and we have only made ten of them, and of those ten we have only been able to find five pilots ready to fly them, among them you. We've already lost two pilots, and I don't want to lose men as valuable as you in a battle that's already lost.-

-"But, sir..."

-"Don't worry, this won't be the last time we face EDF, and you'll have your chance to make them pay for what they did. For now, get back to the base. That's an order."-

Ruby could only chuckle at such an order. Not only had he lost two pilots, but now his own country ordered him to withdraw from the battlefield in a way he considered humiliating. But now he no longer had any choice in this matter and he had to comply with that disgusting decision.

-"Understood."- Ruby replied. -"All units, RTB. You hear the man. Now, we have to comply."-

-"Yes, sir."- The rest of surviving Ruby's men replied.

And after that, Ruby and the other R-101s that remained in the air returned to the Hifusah to return home.

---

VI

After several hours of fierce fighting in the outskirts of Andis, the EDF had succeeded in expelling the ILR not only from the city, but from the rest of Derzon, partly because most of the ILR's military forces had concentrated in the capital, leaving the rest of the cities with only a few military units to invade them, the same ones that were expelled or destroyed without much difficulty. The only remaining pockets of resistance were concentrated in downtown, which the EDF was focused on eliminating.

And as this happened, we see Erma and her men in a trench waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Even though the intensity of the combat was already lower compared to what it was a few days ago, they still couldn't be confident that anything else would happen in those moments. Some ILR soldiers had control of some buildings, and it was now their duty to try to get them out of there.

-"Well, at least things are starting to get better now that the reinforcements are on their way."- Czimmer commented trying to see what was happening, after seeing and at the same time hearing that the intensity of the combat was becoming less and less intense and only needed the arrival of reinforcements to finish everything at once.

But in those moments, Erma was a little distracted, put after what happened with that Feline family, and at the same time with that Lepine soldier who was killed by his own men, she did not want to continue paying attention to what happened around her.

-"Hello?"-

-"I'm sorry, I was thinking about other things, but you're right."- Erma responded as quickly as she could, trying to disguise her depression after the above. -"If everything goes well, this could all be over by tomorrow, if nothing else happens."-

But before Erma could continue to speak, she heard a voice that was well known to her.

-"Hello there, Lieutenant."-

To her personal surprise, that voice turned out to be nothing less than that of Lt. Hotzektel, whom she did not expect to find there in that trench. He was supposed to be in that unit that Erma was originally going to lead if she hadn't been chosen to fly the ATF-X, but for some reason he was there on her side.

-"What the...? Hotzektel! What are you doing here in this place?"-

-"Well, it's a long story. We lost some aerodynes, along with some soldiers, as we landed because of some landmines that were on the ground. Because of this we were forced to walk around the city single-handedly."- Erma's Canine friend explained his situation and the reason why he ended there.

-"That must have been awful, but at least I'm guessing you're okay, right?"-

Hotzektel couldn't help but feel bad about having to explain the following to his friend.

-"Not at all."- He explained with a very somber voice. -"While we were in the city we were forced to fight several enemy units roaming the city, and I and my comrades in arms were forced to respond with lethal force. I don't like having to kill someone, even in self-defense, but I had no other choice, especially when we had to intervene to prevent some atrocity committed by the ILR against the civilian population of this city."-

Erma was horrified to hear that, given what she had just seen a few hours earlier.

-"Atrocity? What do you mean by that? Did you see any more of that?"-

-"Yes, we saw what appeared to be many places that were used as slaughterhouses to execute many civilians, both Lepines and also from other species. We managed to prevent some executions, but we could not avoid preventing others and on other occasions, we came too late to do anything about it."-

Upon hearing such an event, Erma's stomach began to spin about the disgusting actions of ILR in Derzon's defenseless population. One thing was to invade a planet in order to gain something for their benefit, another was to cause unjustified mayhem merely to provoke them, even if it was to be expected of the ILR, bearing in mind that they were infamous for having done even worse things in the last great war, including the use of nuclear weapons for even more ridiculous motives.

And also considering what had happened to her father, she had more reasons to be sickened by Hotzekel's observations.

-"The only thing I can do is hope that the spirits of those who have died can rest in peace."- Hotzekel concluded with the above, trying to give some spiritual meaning to all the destruction and bloodshed he witnessed along the way.

Erma couldn't help but agree with what her companion said, trying to hide her sadness for what she also witnessed.

-"The only thing I can say right now is at least I can agree with you..."-

Fortunately for all who were present in that place, the fighting was more sparse and less intense, once the other ILR forces were leaving the city, or were eliminated immediately, and in the case of Erma's unit, they no longer had to participate in those fights, as she and her men could rest in that trench for the moment. But despite all this, Erma still had the feeling that something was not quite right, even though, at least in the area where she and all the other soldiers were standing, the fighting had completely stopped. This was coupled with a message she had received from BM:

-"Good job, Lieutenant! We must congratulate you for maintaining the leadership of the unit you are leading at this time despite the loss of their former leader, and against all odds, continue to operate smoothly. We wish you the best, once all this is over...-

What seemed to anyone to be a congratulatory message, to Erma was in fact a kind of petition for her to continue on the battlefield, something that sounded almost like a bitter mockery to her. After witnessing all the bloodshed in the short time she's been in town, not to mention all she had to do while flying the ATF-X before she was knocked down and forced to land near Andis, Erma had no desire left to go on with all this madness, and she wanted it all to end.

But she could not afford to give up, and even more so when Derzon's civilian population was suffering the consequences of the actions of both the ILR and, ironically, the EDF itself in its attempt to expel the invaders from that peaceful planet. Due to many reasons, including the suddenness of the invasion, and the lack of adequate planning, not to mention the simple and plain desire to try to inflict as much damage as possible on the ILR, without measuring the consequences with respect to the large amount of collateral damage caused to the city's infrastructure, and most likely, to other cities on the planet, the population was already beginning to resent the very presence of those who were supposed to be their saviors.

And as she pondered on all this for herself, Erma and the rest of the other forces of the EDF were heading for one of the last sections of the city where there were some pockets of ILR resistance, which had barricaded themselves in some of the downtown buildings.

-"Oh Khai, I just want all this to be over, so the people here can take care of everything else. I feel like my head wants to explode any minute now."-

Because of all that happened so far, Erma's head was like a pressure cooker that seemed to explode at any time, due to the mixture of both physical and mental pain produced by the sheer senseless violence she had the misfortune of witnessing from her enemies, the same enemies who, in the past, did the same with her father years ago, and he barely left that predicament alive, albeit with very severe trauma.

But then...

BANG!

The sound of what appeared to be a rifle was heard and that bullet hit Czimmer's shoulder, the comrade Erma had at her side. Fortunately for him, since he wore both a bulletproof vest and flak armor, the bullet did not cause him any damage, but the kinetic impact caused the soldier to fall to the ground, screaming in pain.

-"SNIPER!"-

Without thinking twice, both Erma and the rest of the EDF forces opened fire on the attacker with whatever weapons they had at hand, which wouldn't have been a big problem by itself if it weren't for the fact that they were joined by a tank, and even two soldiers who responded to the enemy fire using rocket launchers against the building where the sniper was.

Thanks to the amount of concentrated fire on the building, it was more than likely that the Lepine sniper was already dead by then, but the place where he had barricaded himself now looked like Swiss cheese due to the large amount of damage received.

And regarding Czimmer, fortunately and after the rest of his teammates checked his wounds, the shot turned out to be a scratch, nothing that a little alcohol and a bandage couldn't fix.

But the same could not be said of the city's inhabitants, some of whom already had enough to see how those foreigners who had come to help them were only causing unnecessary destruction.

Among those inhabitants, a Feline woman, along with her children, went out into the streets to face Erma for what had happened, with a rictus of unwavering rage on her face.

And because of the circumstances, Erma could not manage to say anything more than a kind greeting to that enraged woman.

-"May I help you, honorable citizen?"-

-"And you still got the nerve to ask us that, you stupid brat?"-

-"I beg your pardon, ma'am?"- Erma replied with a worried face.

The woman did not hold back when it came to shouting at Erma for everything that had happened so far, no matter how ungrateful she might sound to her saviors.

-"You idiots don't seem to give a damn about all the damage you can do to us. Look at all the damage that you, bunch of trigger-happy morons, caused to our city! Now we have to pay the consequences for your incompetence!"-

Erma remained silent in the face of such a statement, not knowing what to say to that woman.

-"And you, young lady, seemed thrilled to see how you destroyed that building, no matter if there was anyone else inside! Isn't your job supposed to be to protect us, and not destroy everything in front of you?"-

Again, only silence from Erma...

-"And if that doesn't cause you any reaction, you'd be interested to know what happened to my husband! Since your stupid little war started, he disappeared and I don't doubt that he could be dead! At least me and my little ones are alive, but look at them! Don't you care that because of you they lost their father? Doesn't that cause you any guilt?"-

And indeed, those kitten children were terrified that they had to listen to, and probably seen, all the horror of that senseless invasion that had broken out in their homeworld, and whose only sin was to be on the wrong side.

Erma only managed to say the following to that embittered woman:

-"I am... really sorry, Miss..."-

But before she could continue the discussion, one of the soldiers appeared to face the woman and kindly ask her to leave the place for her safety and that of her children.

-"We are very sorry about what has happened so far, ma' am, but it would be advisable for you and your children to take refuge in a safe place until this is over. Once everything is over, you can take your complaints to your local ConFed representative."-

The Feline lady, to say the least, leaves the place with nothing more to say, but with a visage of outrage that Erma had never seen in her life, leaving her paralyzed and unable to do anything else.

-"Are you OK, Lieutenant?"-

-"Yes, I think so."-

-"It seemed like she was really angry, although I don't blame her for what happened. If I were in her shoes, I would have said the same thing."-

But Erma wasn't going to let something like that stop her from doing her job. Now she had to be more careful not to provoke the anger of the local population by causing unnecessary damage, or at least keep her men from causing more harm than they should.

-"OK, we have a job to do. Let's go."-

-"Well, if you said so."-

Erma turns to see her own comrades in arms with a certain angry face, considering what had happened to that woman and her children a few moments ago. She could not afford to commit another blunder like opening fire indiscriminately against a building without finding out if there were no civilians inside. She knew that another mistake of those could be fatal for her and the rest of the EDF.

-"All right, everybody, listen up. We have to make an additional commitment in minimizing damages to the civil structure of this city. You saw that woman's reaction a few moments ago, and apparently they're not very happy about our actions here, especially after what we did with the building."- Erma spoke very seriously with her colleagues to make sure they understood the full extent of the matter. -"Because, if we continue to act as we have done so far, nothing we have been doing to help the people of Derzon will have been of any use to them if they see our collateral damage first and start thinking about whether it is worthwhile to remain a member of the EDF after what happened. Is that clear enough?"

-"YES SIR!"

---

VII

After hours of searching for some ILR members who were still hiding inside a building in the city, Erma and several soldiers approached what appeared to be a rather luxurious building that seemed to be abandoned. But thanks to intelligence information they had received a few hours ago from some residents of the area, it was said that there was a source of resistance that was still hidden inside. Now it was Erma and company's job to eliminate that pocket that could be there.

But despite what might seem like a very simple job, they should be careful not to cause any more unnecessary collateral damage, and above all, more civilian casualties. Just a few hours ago a group of soldiers entered a building in search of more Lepines that might be hidden in a facility, but they confused some EDF Lepines with those invaders of the Republic, and opened fire on them, resulting in an injured civilian. Fortunately it could have been worse, but Erma couldn't afford to make a crass mistake like that.

-"All right, pay attention: We have a report that there is a possible source of resistance inside that building. We don't know how many of them are, and how armed they could be, so for this operation two units will enter there: ours and another one that will enter through the back door."- Erma explained the details about the operation on her men. -"We have to be careful when shooting there, so that we don't hit either some of our own or any civilians who might be inside. The last thing I would like to hear now is that there have been civilian casualties at our hands."-

And without further ado, Erma and her men entered the building, ready for anything that might appear before them. To their misfortune, the building was completely in the dark, since the enemy soldiers had destroyed all the illuminations to have them the surprise factor in their hands. And if that wasn't enough, the building was quite large, about ten stories high, so they had to walk dark inside the halls and down the stairs.

But this was nothing compared to fatigue, along with the physical and mental pain Erma Felna was suffering at the time. Since before she had arrived in Derzon, she had had to endure a lot of humiliations for the simple fact of being a woman, including lending herself as basically the crash dummy to test a prototype of combat fighter jet, then losing it to enemy fire, having to walk for several kilometers without help to Andis and witnessing the extreme brutality of the ILR in her own face.

And on top of that, the person she once loved, Tavas Ikalik, turned out to be not only a first-class coward, but also a very manipulative man who saw in her how to advance in his own personal career.

And after going up many stairs that seemed to give way to nowhere, and not finding anything, she just wished it all would be over and she could go home.

-"Khai, I just wish that all this madness would end and return home, the only thing I have seen so far here are just death and destruction everywhere, and too many innocent victims..."-

At that moment, a very loud noise had just been heard, but Erma, who was thinking pitifully about herself, had not paid attention to what was going on around her.

-"Once this is over, the first thing I'm going to do is take some..."

But as she climbed up to what appeared to be the top floor, she and her men found something really unpleasant: A full ILR unit was there, waiting for them there to ambush them, and finish them all off.

-"KILL THEM!"

At the sound of this order, the Lepines soldiers opened fire on Erma and her men, who barely reacted in time to evade the enemy fire. At that moment, everything became very confusing, because the place was dark. The EDF soldiers knew they had been ambushed, but they had no idea how many enemy soldiers were there, so all they could do was shoot almost blindly, and pray they didn't hit one of their own.

-"OH CRAP, NO!"-

Erma only thought about this as she shot blindly without thinking twice at anyone with long ears and cotton-tailed. But unfortunately none of the bullets seemed to hit the mark.

-"OVER THERE! KILL THAT BITCH!"-

And in that instant, an enemy soldier opened fire on her, causing several bullets to hit her body. Fortunately for her, the armor she was wearing cushioned the kinetic impact of the bullets and prevented them from entering her body, but in that instant, Erma felt as if a car had hit her in that instant, and the impact caused her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

But before she could fall to the ground, she quickly opened fire, and from a single quick crack, she manages to kill three of her aggressors, including the one who shot her in the first place. Meanwhile, the other members of Erma's unit were responsible for eliminating the rest of the other soldiers who were still there.

At the end of that caotic moment, the result was six Lepines soldiers dead, three of them at the hands of Erma. But the result of this was a dead EDF soldier, and Erma, who lay on the floor unconscious, while the other members of her unit were trying to find out if she was alive.

-"BM, we have a injured officer! Requesting medical assistance ASAP!"-

-"Assistance on the way, hang in there!"-

These were the last words Erma heard before she lost consciousness. Then, she is taken on a stretcher to an aerodyne for the transport of wounded persons to an unknown destination.

-"How bad are her injuries?"

-"According to the scanner, she has several broken ribs and some internal damage, fortunately nothing that puts her life at risk. If it wasn't for that flak armor, she wouldn't live to tell the tale."-

While she was being taken out of town, all present could witness the magnitude of the damage done to the city of Andis by both sides. And while the Extraplanetary Defense Force achieved its goal of expelling the Independent Lepine Republic from Derzon, there was nothing to celebrate at the time: The damage to civilian infrastructure is unquantifiable and it will probably take decades to fully recover, and although the number of civilian casualties was not as high as one would have expected from a conflict of this nature, the sheer brutality and ferocity of the fighting, as well as the tactics that ILR used against the civilian population of the planet, especially against the Lepines who lived there, will leave a mark on the collective minds of all the people of Derzon for the generations to come.

And most likely they will not forgive those responsible for this, be the EDF or the ILR in the same way, especially those who lost all their belongings, and above all, their loved ones, and especially those who even lost their parents, with respect to the children, some of them were wandering the streets of the city desperately looking for their families, not knowing that some or all of them could already be dead.

All this happened while a macabre, almost black rain fell on Andis, while the EDF soldiers were still there trying to find any other pocket of resistance, no matter how small, within the troubled city and the entire planet.

This is how the story of Erma Felna, her chronicle, develops from this moment onwards...

END OF ACT IV

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