The Will of Revenge

by Gamer83888

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

30. Part 4, Chapter 4

Hello, I'm back with another dose of The Will of Revenge. In the last chapter, we returned to Earth for a short period of time to see how the rest of the former White Squadron, or at least the ones that stayed on Earth, were doing in the face of the ongoing Concordance siege of the planet. And if you're wondering, why we didn't see all of them, the answer will be delivered in the future. And some of them, you know. But for now, we shall return to Milky Way and see how the rest is doing.

But before that, reviews.

To Supreme Supra: Thank you very much, as always.

Okay, with that done, let's get this started.

Chapter 4

July 25, 2166

10:10

UNSA San Antonio, UNSA space

"Come on, you can do it Es!"Norrine exclaimed.

"Speak for yourself!"Ester exclaimed back.

"Have you learned nothing by the time I taught you?"

"Of course I did! But this is not fun anymore!"

The two of them were in the cargo hold of the Stealth vessel. Since the events that transpired over Chakdria and the discovery of the fact that Ester also had some kind of magical ability, Norrine did what she promised and started teaching Ester in how to actually use her new found power. They got to work as fast as they could.

First, major showed colonel how to actually control her power and activate it at will, like Norrine and many others did with theirs. It took numerous trials, but after two weeks of intense training, Ester finally managed to actually gain control of her power, which until then manifested only hen she felt some strong emotion. After that, they went to the second phase of the training, which was finding out how strong the power actually was. Until now, they confirmed that the weight of around fifty ammo boxes filled to the brim was not easy, but Ester could manage it. Now, she was told to pick up a really heavy thing.

A A-77 Behemoth main battle tank, part of the equipment given to the SOF's usage by UNSA. It was currently the heaviest tank used by African Union and United Nations and it was the perfect test subject.

"Come on, believe in yourself!"Norrine shouted."You can do it! This is just 105 tons of steel! It should be easy as farting for you!"

"Easy for you to say!"Ester replied, all red on her face.

Her hands were tightened on the frontal part of the vehicle. Honestly, she would want to simply turn around and hit Norrine as hard as possible. But if she did it now, with her power on, she would simply kill her and she didn't want this. Besides, she wanted Norrine to teach her and she shouldn't back away now.

The machine was currently hovering around five centimeters above the ground and it was slowly rising more and more, but not as fast as Ester and Norrine would like it to. Colonel slowly started to lose breath, but she didn't give up yet.

"Come on! Use your legs! Don't whine like a little bitch!"Norrine shouted.

"Could you be more nicer?!"Ester asked, shooting a glance at her teacher.
"I could, but everything is fair in love and war."Norrine just threw up her arms."But I believe in you! Show me what you can do!"

"Fiiiiiiiiiinnnnnneeee!"Ester bellowed at the top of her lungs.

She focused all her strength and thoughts on the machine in her hands. Her muscles tensed and she felt as if she was about to tear herself apart. But she knew she could do it. And soon enough, she felt the tank rise even higher and even faster. She straightened her legs and arms and before she realized, she stood there, a tank in hand, with machine in upright position. Some of the hatches opened, but that didn't matter.

Ester started breathing heavily. Meanwhile, Norrine looked at the woman holding a tank above her head and clapped slowly.
"Told you you can do it."she said with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, can I put this thing down?"Ester replied."I don't know, if I can hold it up for long."

"Oh, right, sure."

With that, Ester put down the tank as gently as she could. After that, she bent in half and started panting heavily. Norrine approached her and patter her back.

"I'm proud of you, my disciple."she said.
"Fuck…you…"Ester replied.
"I deserve it, yes. Wanna grab some cold drinks?"
"I'm down…for it…"
"Okay, let's go."

With that, the two simply left the cargo hold and went to the common room.

July 25

10:49

Common room

Once there, Ester and Norrine, as usual, met the Warrior Bunnies and Elsa, sitting there and enjoying their free time. When the two entered, everyone looked in their direction.
"Oh, Ester, how did the training go?"Elsa asked.
"Pretty well, although I had troubles lifting a FUCKING A-77."Ester replied, glancing thunders at Norrine.
"Are you mad at me for that?"major asked, rising an eyebrow.

"Maybe a little."colonel replied."Everything hurts now…"
She went in the direction of the couch and simply slumped on it. Macy was nice enough to pour her something cold to drink and give her.

"Thanks."Ester said, taking the cup.

"No problem."Macy replied with smile and sat down.

"Man, it became pretty boring by the last few weeks."Emmy said, pouting.
"I prefer this than constant battles."Kenya stated.
"And I don't."their team's second-in-command replied.
"I think we should be happy because of that."Heley stated."With so little to do, it must mean, that we're doing actually pretty well against the Concordance's forces."

And she was right. Following the resounding defeat at Chakdria, UNSA and it's allies really tripled their efforts. All across the galaxy, allied forces launched offensive after offensive after offensive, showing the technological and training advantage the allied forces held over the enemy troops, which mainly relied on older ships, like the ones taken from the HO, and conscripts. Some were small, aimed at regaining single planets, while others bigger, sometimes taking over an entire sector or two. With every day, Laconians and their allies were losing more ground and assets. Even in Hadadrian space, where shocking attack from Unknown Regions took place, situation seemed to stabilize. Hadadrians shook themselves from the initial shock and started slowly dwindling down enemy forces, slowing their offensive to simple grinding war of attrition, which was already foretold by the specialists to end in Hadadrian victory. Although not much was still known about the Unknown Regions, it was certain, that their resources and assets were less prepared for the dwindling supplies.

There were, of course, places where Galactic Concordance still triumphed. There weren't many of them, but the most notable were the Nashinian System and the Solar Corridor, as the long corridor between Solar System and Laconian space was called. It was still heavily defended, as Concordance hoped that if they actually menage to take over Earth, they will force the allied forces to the negotiation table.

"Honestly, this whole '2nd Galactic War' is kinda disappointing."Emmy stated, pouting.

"You really would like it to last another twenty years?"Ester asked."No, thank you. I spent all my childhood and teenage years in the time of war. I would not like my adulthood to look the same."
"We know what you mean."Norrine said, nodding her head.

She sat down on the couch, but right as she did it, they heard a voice coming out of the PA system:

"Commanders of the SOF, report to the briefing room."

"Ah, shit."Norrine stated.

"Well, I guess wait time is over."Ester said, standing up."Let's go."

Delilah put down her drink and followed after Ester and Norrine.

July 25

11:04

Briefing room

Ester, Norrine and Delilah stepped into the briefing room, where their briefing officer already stood behind the podium, waiting for them.

"Ah, good to see you again, ladies."he said.

"Same here."Ester said, sitting down.

"So, what juicy stuff do you have for us today?"Norrine asked.
"I will keep this briefing as brief as possible. No pun intended."

He pressed the button and the screen lit up, showing the map of Milky Way. On it, except the standard blue and red colors marking the allies and Concordance, there were also green and orange, which represented Hadadrians and invading Unknown Regions forces. The reason for this was that Hadadrians didn't officially decided to join the allies forces and only sometimes asked for some supplies needed to continue the fight, while it wasn't still confirmed if Unknown Regions actually stood with the Concordance or simply decided to use the turmoil happening in the galaxy.

"As you are probably aware, the last few weeks were really good for us."briefing officer said."Our forces made huge progress all along the frontline, pushing enemy forces out of some of the occupied areas."

As he said that, blue color on the map moved a bit forward, pushing the red back.
"However, as you are aware, there are two areas, where the harshest fighting is taking place and where enemy forces are making progress."he continued."Forces of Laconian Republic and their allies are still strongly present in the Solar Corridor and Nashinian System. Although Nashini are doing their best, the sheer numbers possessed by the enemy are enough to almost overwhelm them. Planets Konro, Lit'Riz and Poliaunus have already fallen and Nashina is under heavy siege. Fighting also continues on the surfaces of moons of the gas giants. Meanwhile, in the Solar Corridor, Laconians are using our own defensive systems to hold off our advances. The whole area is in one giant stalemate."

Right then, Delilah's hand lifted into the air.

"Yes?"he asked.
"We already know that."Delilah said."Why are you telling us that?"

"Because we have a new plan."

They all looked at the map again and this time, they saw numerous yellow dots appearing, not only int allied and Concordance space, but all across the Milky Way.

"What are those?"Norrine asked.
"These"briefing officer replied"are all the pirate bases across the galaxy we know of."

Everyone started thinking about what this information could mean. The gears in their heads started turning, when finally Norrine said:
"You're not trying what I think you're trying to do?"
"We're gonna try and get the pirates on our side."briefing officer replied."We're gonna make them attack enemy supply routes and if that works, we will make life even harder for Lacos and their chums."

Delilah whistled.

"Now that's some plan."she admitted.
"So what?"Ester asked."We have to go around all these bases, asking politely of PIRATES want to help us win the war? Well, this is gonna be interesting."

"Not exactly."officer said.

Ester risen an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"There is a less known fact about the pirates in our galaxy. While they are typical pirates, stealing, plundering and murdering, there is a hierarchy in their ranks. And while they all operate in different parts of the galaxy, they still answer to the single individual, known as the 'Pirate King'."

"Pirate King?"Ester asked."First time I hear of him."
"He's a very secretive individual. He almost never leaves his main base station, known only as 'The Eye'. Nobody knows where the base is. And that's why we have to find it."
"Well, if the duty calls…"Delilah stated.

"But as I said, we have no idea, where The Eye is. We have to find a way to, well…find it. But it won't be easy. We…"
"I can help with that."

Everyone looked at Norrine, who seemed weirdly tense.
"Help with what?"Ester asked.
"With finding The Eye."Marines major replied.

"Wait, how?"Delilah asked.

Norrine looked away from them.
"I know…a person."she replied."She knows the location. She can help us. But we didn't speak in a few years and…I don't know what happened to her."

Everyone decided to not question what they just heard. For now.
"We can help with that."briefing officer stated."We can use the ICTA assets and locate that…friend of yours. Who is she?"
Norrine looked at Ester and Delilah.
"Can we talk in private about it?"she asked."It's a…sensitive matter."
"Oh, of course. Could you…?"Briefing officer looked at Ester and Delilah.

"Sure."the two of them replied.

They stood up and quickly left the room. They turned and marched down the corridor towards the common room.

"Something is fishy about it."Ester said after a few minutes.
"What do you mean?"Delilah asked.
"Doesn't that seem weird to you? That Norrine happens to know someone, who knows the location of the SECRET pirate base?"
"Now that you put it that way…yes. It does seem weird."
"Something isn't right here. I should know."
"Let me guess. You saw her personal files?"

"More like 'personal lack of files'. You did too? Why?"
"I was curious."

"We gotta finally question her about all that. She has too many secrets. I mean, she couldn't just spontaneously pop out of nowhere?"
"True that. But for now, we have to just let it slide. After all, we actually could use the help of those pirates."

"Can't argue with that."

With that, they continued on their way, with the problem of Norrine's secrets temporarily out of their minds.

July 27

07:12

Briefing room

Two days have passed since the briefing and since the search for Norrine's 'friend' started. This is why it was a bit surprising for Ester and Delilah to be called to the briefing room so early. Once they were there, they saw the briefing officer standing behind his podium, as usually, and Norrine, sitting on one of the chairs. The other two commanders sat down alongside the Marines major.

"I guess you've been busy since we last seen each other?"Ester asked.

"Pretty much."Norrine replied, shrugging.
"And did you found anything?"Delilah asked.
"Yes, we did."briefing officer confirmed."But for today, I will let major Bauer explain."

Saying that, he stepped down from his podium and Norrine stood up. She entered the podium and pressed some buttons. The screen turned on and it showed a map of a star system with three planets and it zoomed to a desert world.

"Alright."Norrine begun."As you know, I know someone who actually can point us in the direction of The Eye. For now, I will not say who she is."

"Naturally."Ester thought.

"Last time I heard of her, she was traveling around the galaxy."major continued."So we expected that finding her would take a few days, but as it turns out, it was much easier than expected."
"What do you mean by this?"Delilah asked.
"We searched for every possible trace of her ship and as it turns out…we found it in Laconian Coast Guard logs."
"That easy?"Ester asked.
"That easy."Norrine confirmed."According to the logs, she was stopped for 'trespassing Laconian space without permission' and 'criminal acts', although what these acts were is not specified."

Delilah and Ester looked at each other. The fact Norrine's friend was stopped for some criminal acts couldn't mean anything good. Or maybe these were some false accusations, because they thought she was some kind of spy. Whatever it was, they had to find out later.
"The planet you see here"Norrine said, pointing at the screen"is called Fortis II. It's a giant desert, used by Laconians as a prison planet. And from the information we got, she was transported there."
"So what? We're gonna assault the prison?"Ester asked.
"Not…exactly."briefing officer said.
"Once we found out where she was, we hacked into the database of the prison she is held in. And according to the information we managed to find, my friend is supposed to be moved to a different facility, deeper in Laconian space. The nearest spaceport is placed around two hundred kilometers from the prison, so they are gonna transport her in a convoy. With numerous guards as security."

"What did she do to get so much security?"Warrior Bunny commander asked.
"Apparently, she was to brutal towards guards and other prisoners. They are moving her basically to make her someone else's problem."

"That's interesting."Ester admitted."So. How are we gonna break her out?"

"We already have a plan."Norrine replied."We will send a small force to the planet, made of a hundred people, equipped with bikes and quads, to keep up with the speed of the convoy. There will also be a dropship supporting us from the skies. We go in fast, eliminate the convoy security as fast as possible, break out my friend and leave the planet."

"Sounds easy enough."Delilah stated.
"Although we all know, that it's not gonna be particularly easy."major retorted."These guards may not be regular military, but they will not give up their prisoner easily."

"This is why we have to beat the awareness of their loss into their heads."Ester stated."Alright. I approve of this plan."
"So do I."Delilah added.

Ester stood up and looked at Norrine.

"Let's go and tell the others about it. We're gonna break out your friend, whoever she is. And then, she'll lead us to The Eye."colonel stated.

"Good."briefing officer said, standing up."I will rely everything to Phil. You will explain it all to your soldiers. Let's do this break out."
"I always wanted to take part in a break out, if I have to be frank."Delilah said, also standing up."Let's tell the news. Emmy will be pleased."

"Certainly."Norrine said.

With that, everyone went in their own direction, briefing officer to the bridge and the three commanders to inform their soldiers.

Three hours later, the Stealth Frigate jumped into hyperspace, towards it's next goal.

July 28

14:23

Fortis II

The scorching two suns of the planet shun brightly on the desert landscape. Although the planet was mostly used as a giant prison, there were still many civilians living on it. This is why the highway leading from the capital of the planet to the other settlements around it was currently pretty busy with civilian vehicles going in both directions. The sparse greenery diversified the whole area, with palm-like trees hanging over the road and dwarf bushes littered around on the sides of the highway.

However, today, something else was happening. Driving down the road was a long convoy consisting of numerous vehicles of varying sizes, from trucks with machine guns mounted on the top of their roofs to simple pickups driven by two or three prison guards. Near the front of the column was driving another type of vehicle, an armored SUV, which held the one prisoner transported by the convoy. They were going to Nihera, capital of the planet, where they would deposit the prisoner to the crew from another prison planet.

"Man, this sucks."one of the guards sitting in the back of a truck said."It's so hot…I would give anything t be moved to some ice planet."
His companion looked at him from under the cap he had over his eyes.
"You serious?"he asked."I would never move out of here. This is the best job I could get."
"You're telling me you're actually liking this? The only hot stuff I like are ladies. Not deserts."
"Like what you have, or life will give you something worse. Besides, I knew a guy who got assigned to a prison on some ice planet. He got his arm frostbitten after standing outside on a duty. For just half an hour."

"It's still better than this."

Right then, their radios came to life.
"Smithsson, Onege. Watch the area. There might danger lurking anywhere."the voice of their commander said.
"Understood, sir."Smithsson replied and disconnected."How does he even know we're talking?"
"Remember, the hatch in the roof is open and he's right there."Onege replied, pointing at the hatch with machine gun on the truck's roof.
"Still, that's some good hearing considering all this noise."

"Didn't he got some cybernetic augmentations to his ears?"
"Yeah, I heard that too."

"Alright, just lay down and let's finish this quickly. After all, what's the worst that can happen to us here?"

Smithsson looked around at the desert and vehicles passing by.

"Yeah, you're right."he said and joined his companion in resting.

However, they were unaware of a certain fact.

"Xind, convoy's inbound. We're on."Ester said, sitting in the back of a dropship flying over the desert.

"Copy that."Xind, the pilot, replied.

It's been already six hours since they arrived on the planet. It took them nearly the whole day to sneak past the Laconian defense systems and patrols, but when they reached their target, they were met with surprisingly little opposition against them, as there were only three space stations in geostationary orbit of the planet, with space elevators attached to them, and just a single patrol craft was circling between them. Their Stealth capabilities allowed them to sneak past these negligible defenses and after that, San Antonio hid in the low atmosphere of the planet.

Meanwhile, the force tasked with breaking out the prisoner took off and was transported to the place which was supposed to act as their ambush area. They picked a hundred best operatives with bikes and quads driving capabilities suitable for the mission. After that, all dropships but one returned to the hidden ship and awaited the appearance of the convoy.

And now was the time.

"Over the DLZ now."pilot reported.
"Good, set her down and hold."colonel ordered.

She approached the side door, where Elsa was already waiting. Her teammate looked at her. When they told the others of the plan, Elsa didn't feel particularly certain of it, but she still went along.

"You okay?"Ester asked.
"Yes, and ready."Elsa replied, correcting her cap.
"Alright, so, you stay in the dropship on overwatch. We'll work our way up the line."Ester explained."Understood?"

"Yes."corporal replied.

"First time breaking out someone out of the hands of their captors?"

Elsa tilted her head.
"Yes…? Why do you ask?"
"Oh, it just reminds me that one mission we were sent on during the GGW. HO almost killed us, but we got the VIP out and got out. Although I spent two weeks in hospital after that…Ouch."
"You never told me about that."

"You know, I have a lot of secrets."
"Yeah…"

Right then, they felt the dropship touching down and bumped their fists, before opening the door and walking out of the machine.

Outside, they were met with the sight of Norrine, standing next to a military-issue cross bike. She was dressed in only her camo pants and short sleeved T-Shirt, without her helmet, but with goggles on her head and shawl. She also had her BRUISE assault riffle strapped to her back.

"Norrine."Ester said."How are the others?"

"All set. Ready to go at any moment."major replied, saluting.
"Good. Let's hope your plan works."Elsa said.
"I also want it to work."

She then put the goggles on and covered her mouth with her shawl. She nodded her head and revved the engine of her motorcycle.

"See you down the road, ladies!"she said and drove off, leaving behind a big cloud of dust.

Ester and Elsa stood there for few seconds, watching her go.
"Alright, I'll be off now. Good luck up there. Just be careful, okay?"Ester said.
"Of course, I will do my best."Elsa replied.

"Good."

Ester then looked at the cap on top of Elsa's head.
"You look cute in it, you know?"

Hearing this, corporal visibly reddened on her face.
"S-Sir, we don't have a time for something like that. We have a mission to do."
"There's the Elsa I know, ha! Don't worry, I'm just teasing you. Let's get this mission done and we'll be home before dinner."
Then she ran towards a pickup which stopped nearby. She activated her radio and said:
"All stations…we're on the move!"

She jumped onto the back of the vehicle and watched as the rest of their group passing by, driving bikes, quads, other pickups and three trucks to join Norrine in the chase after the convoy. Ester turned towards Elsa and gave her one last nod, before her pickup followed. Elsa nodded back and quickly jumped back into the dropship, which started taking off, while she attached a safety rope to her belt.
"Alright Xind, let's go."she said.

"Copy that."Xind replied.

Dropship quickly joined the rest of the group and followed them above their heads,

"Everyone, we're doing a comms check."Norrine said."Report."
"Good copy."Ester said.
"Ready."Delilah said, sitting in the cabin of one of three trucks.

"Check."Elsa said.
"Loud and clear."Xind said.
"Enemy convoy just passed us. We'll be right behind them."major reported."We've got only one shot at this, so be careful."
"Xind, use the ravine for cover."Ester ordered the pilot.

"Roger that."

"What vehicle is she in?"Emmy asked.

"In the armored SUV near the front."Norrine replied.

Vehicles were driving up a hill leading towards the highway, while dropship continued to fly low through the ravine towards the target.
"We hit escort vehicles first. Then we rescue the VIP before they can reach the planet's capital."Ester said.

"Watch your fire, this highway is still full of civilians."Norrine pointed out."We wouldn't want to be accused of war crimes, do we?"
"Nope."Ester replied."Although…Laconians already did it to me."

Elsa remembered that time when she was browsing the Internet and was shocked to see an article about another update to Laconian list of war criminals. Lacos updated that list basically every week, adding newer and newer names to it. Most of them were probably fake, or the accusations themselves were fake, but in the last update, Elsa was shocked to see Ester's name and photo there. According to Laconians, Ester was responsible for genocide, attacking civilians and allowing her subordinates for the same. When Ester herself heard about it, she burst out laughing for a few minutes.

"Yeah…"Delilah said.

"Colonel, we're in range."Xind reported.

The group already reached the highway. In front of them, they could see the last vehicle of the enemy convoy, an Fenris MRAP. Fortunately, it didn't have a machine gun on the top, otherwise it would already mow down several soldiers that were driving next to it and behind it.

"All stations, weapons free!"Ester ordered.
"Alright, we're moving in!"Norrine added.

One of the operatives on bikes drove up to the MRAP and reached out, attaching an explosive to it's side. Before Laconians realized, said operative slowed down and got far from the car, pressing the detonator and tearing the vehicle into pieces. Immediately, Laconian prison guards on the truck driving in front of the MRAP turned and opened fire on SOF operatives and the dropship.

"They know we're here now!"Elsa exclaimed.

She looked down her sights and pulled the trigger. Her first bullet scored a direct hit on one of the guards, which fell backwards and off the truck, only to be driven over by one of SOF pickups a second later. Elsa continued to fire, clearing the truck in a few seconds.

"Good one, Elsa!"Ester praised her.

"They're down, keep pushing!"Norrine said.

She drove up to the front of the truck and fired at the cabin with her pistol. Bullets hit the driver, causing him to turn the wheel and drive off the road, where he proceeded to crash. Meanwhile, other operatives also continued to fire on the prison guards on other vehicles, who were also responding with fire, but SOF was mobile and agile enough to evade their shots. Another truck got hit in the engine and stopped after a few seconds of driving. As one of the operatives passed it, he threw a grenade inside. Prison guards inside the truck were quickly taken care off.

All the time, they were also being passed by numerous civilian vehicles, who now started to panic, seeing what was going on on the road. Because of that, it became harder to evade them, as their movements now became much less predictable. But also because of that, some operatives could show off their driving skills.

"There are more in the pickups in front of us!"Emmy reported.

She fired her machine gun from the back of the pickup she was driving on. She especially picked up AP rounds for this missions, so she could cause even more damage than before. And it was showed, when a lightly armored picked was literally shredded to pieces by armor piercing bullets. Prison guards inside had no chances.

"Got a visual!"Elsa said.

She took another pickup as her target and fired at it. She quickly dispatched the two guards in the back, before aiming at the driver's cabin. She fired at it, killing the driver and making another vehicle drive off the road.

"Throwing Molotov!"Norrine said.

After she said, she threw a Molotov cocktail right into a cabin of another truck. The whole frontal part of the vehicle burst out in flames, as driver was quickly consumed by them. For some reason, the truck sped up and rammed into a vehicle driving in front of it. They both drove off the road, where they proceeded to explode.

But then, a new problem appeared. Another Fenris was driving in the convoy, but this time, it had an MG on the roof. One of the prison guards manned it, firing at the operatives trying to surround it.

"Damn it, we can't get close!"Norrine exclaimed."Elsa!"
"Got it!"Elsa replied.

She aimed at the guard and pressed the trigger. A red mist flew into the air and his head exploded and he fell into the vehicle. After that, one of the Chakdrid operatives drove up to it and threw a plasma grenade into the machine gun nest. It exploded few seconds later, breaking all the windows of the vehicle.

"That's what I like!"Norrine laughed."Good shots, Els!"
"Thanks!"Elsa replied.

However, she was not given a lot of time to celebrate. A hatch opened in the roof of another truck and another guard peeked through it. He was carrying a shoulder-fired SAM.

"Shit!"Xind exclaimed."Enemy missile lock!"

Elsa didn't waste any time. She pulled the trigger on the guard, but he was wearing a body armor, so it was harder to get rid of him. But Elsa unloaded an entire magazine into him, throwing him off balance and throwing him back inside the vehicle. He must have accidentally press the firing button, because immediately after, the truck exploded.

"Fucking hell…"Xind sighed.
"Move up!"Ester ordered.

The pickup she was driving on then sped up and approached another enemy MRAP. She pulled the trigger on her under barrel grenade launcher and the projectile slammed into the driver's door. It was torn of from it's hinges and fell on the highway, while Ester opened fire, shredding the driver and the person sitting next to it. After that, she threw a grenade inside to finish the job.

"Check fire on that pickup."Norrine said in the radio."There is a really adrenaline hungry friendly there."
"Just thinning the herd."Ester stated.

"Like old times."Delilah said.

Elsa was already targeting another truck. Guards on it seemed to better organized, as they lined up next to the edges of the truck's platform, two watching the right, two watching the back and two watching the left. But no matter how hard they tried, it didn't save them from Elsa's accurate fire, which quickly took them out, throwing some of them off of the truck, while others fell back onto the platform.

A hatch opened up in he roof of the truck, with machine gunner already setting up his weapon. But before he could do anything, another pickup approached it and Delilah leaned out, pulling the trigger. She unloaded into the machine gunner, forcing him back into the cabin. Next, she shredded the driver, making yet another vehicle drive off the road.

Right then, however, something unexpected happened. One of the civilian vehicles, which constantly passed by the mobile battle, was driving so carelessly, that ti rammed right into another SOF pickup. Both vehicles turned into a fireball.

"Damn it!"Emmy exclaimed.
"Watch out for more!"Norrine ordered."Don't let anything like that happen again!"
"Understood!"all operatives replied.

Elsa was reaching for a sparse magazine, when Xind exclaimed:
"Fuck, they are locking onto us again! Dropping flares!"
A crest of flares then shot out from the dropship. The good news was that it locked onto them. The bad news was that it locked onto the one closest to the machine.

"Hold on!"pilot shouted.

Elsa grabbed tightly on the nearest handle, right when missile exploded. Shrapnel from said missile managed to reach and pierce the hull of the dropship. It immediately started spinning in all possible directions.
"Fuck! We've been hit!"Xind stated the obvious.

Elsa's grip turned out to not be strong enough. She fell backwards onto the floor. But right then, dropship tilted hard to it's side, making her slide out of it. She let go of her riffle, almost hitting her head on the highway. There was also a car which almost ripped her head off, but the drives evaded her, or maybe she evaded him. She really couldn't tell in such situation. She still thanked the rope for saving her life.

"FUCKING HELL!"Elsa exclaimed at the top of her lungs, as bikes of SOF drove by her.

"Xind, what's your status?!"Ester asked in distress.

"I got the control back, but…"Xind replied."Colonel, Elsa fell out!"

Ester felt something twist in her stomach,

"Say again."she demanded.
"The corporal! She's gone!"pilot repeated.

Elsa quickly reached to her belt and grabbed her sidearm. She then turned on her radio.
"I'm not dead! I'm hanging from this godforsaken rope!"she shouted.
"Holy shit!"Xind said in awe.

Dropship was still flying over the highway towards the enemy convoy, so Elsa decided to not sit idly and wait. Although she was hanging upside down on the rope, which made aiming harder, she still aimed with her pistol and opened fire on the guards on the truck they were passing by. Too stunned by the display before them, they didn't react in time as one or two of them were hit by Elsa's fire as the dropship flew by.

"Pull up! Pull up!"Elsa exclaimed.
"Trying to…!"Xind replied.

Right then, someone threw another Molotov at another truck which immediately turned, temporarily blocking Elsa's path. She held her breath, waiting for impact, but fortunately, the vehicle quickly drove off the road.

"Shit, shit, shit!"Elsa shouted.

Several more civilian vehicles passed her, barely evading her.

"Elsa, what's your status?!"Ester asked.
"A bit busy right now, sir!"Elsa replied.

Another enemy vehicle exploded, hit by a missile, almost swapping Elsa off of the rope.

"Fucking shit, pull up!"she shouted towards Xind.

"Shit! Enemy missile lock!"pilot exclaimed.

Corporal saw enemy soldier with the missile launcher on the truck right in front of her. She also noticed, that the truck was transporting some ammo and fuel. Adding two to two, she aimed and pulled the trigger. Bullet reached one of the fuel barrels and exploded, starting a chain reaction which turned the whole vehicle into a giant fireball.

"Outstanding, corporal!"Xind told her.

Elsa looked forward.
"There is a truck in front of us, get us over it!"she said.
"I'll try!"

Dropship started flying towards another truck, this one with tilt covering it's back, lifting a bit higher, until Elsa was hanging right over the vehicle.

"That's the highest I can go…You have to cut loose!"Xind said.
"That was the point!"Elsa replied, already grabbing her knife.

She quickly cut the rope with a single move and hit the top of the truck. Meanwhile, Xind flew away.

Elsa quickly looked up and immediately ducked down, when enemy from a passing pickup fired at her. She returned fire with her pistol, taking him out after a few seconds of fire exchange. After that, she slowly stood up on top of the truck.

"The convoy's giving distance, we have to move up!"Norrine exclaimed.

Elsa looked at the pickup. She gulped.
"Please let it work."she thought.

And with that, she made a great leap towards the pickup. She tightened her teeth and landed in the back of the pickup. Next, she climbed onto the roof and looked through the window in it inside. Driver didn't notice she was there, so that was good. Hanging on to whatever she could find, she came to the edge of the roof, reached down and opened the door. Next, she reached inside, grabbed onto the driver and, putting all her strength into it, pulled him out onto the road. Vehicle slowly stopped, so she quickly got off the room, jumped inside, closed the door and was quickly on the move again.

She activated her radio.
"All stations, I secured a vehicle."she reported."I still see the convoy."

"Good one on you, Elsa."Ester said."Keep moving forward towards the VIP."
"I'll get you some support."Norrine added.

"Got it! What's your position?"corporal asked.

"We're catching up."Delilah replied."Out."

To the left, Elsa could see Xind's dropship still smoking, but still flying after the convoy. But that wasn't important. She pressed the pedal and pickup quickly accelerated. She quickly joined and SOF pickup and bike exchanging fire with one of Laconian vehicles. Right then, the bike's tire was blown, making the driver fly over the front and land right under the wheels of approaching civilian vehicle, which drove him over.

"Damn it."Elsa muttered.

She then noticed machine gunner on the truck's roof aiming towards her. She ducked down right as the MG fired, shattering the front window of the pickup. But before more damage could be done, operatives from another pickup managed to shoot down the machine gunner, allowing Elsa to move on.

"Everyone, what's your status?"Elsa asked.
"Elsa, I'm in the truck about to pass you on the left."Ester replied.

Right then, she saw a truck passing by. Ester stood in the back of it and waved to her.

"Elsa, I want you to join me here. Can you do it?"colonel asked.
"I'll try."

She drove the pickup closer to the truck. Fortunately, there was a longer part of the road with no turns in front of them, so it would be easier for Elsa to change vehicles. But first, she needed to block the speed pedal.

Her eyes then fell on the CB radio attached to the dashboard.

"That'll do, I guess."

She grabbed the radio and unattached the hinges holding it in place. Next, she placed the it on the speed pedal and blocked the driving wheel in straight position. Then, she proceeded to grab onto the edges of the window in the roof and climbed out. She stood on the roof, trying to keep her balance, when she noticed the truck with Ester driving next to her. She braced herself like when she jumped onto the pickup and made a great leap forward onto the truck.

She almost overshot it, but Ester grabbed her and stopped her from falling off.
"Thanks."Elsa said.

"No problem."Ester replied."Good to see you in one piece."
"So, what do you need?"

"Not me, I decided that YOU need some extra firepower."

Saying that, colonel turned around, revealing an M75 grenade launcher on her back.
"Grab the grenade launcher."she said."And that assault riffle."She pointed at a riffle laying on the ground.

Elsa picked up the AR4 and then grabbed the grenade launcher.
"What gives?"she asked.
"We're getting close to the VIP, so they're changing tactics."colonel explained.

"How so?"
"We were chasing them…and now they're chasing us."

"Let 'em try."

"Good to see you in spirit. Check rear, Norrine's coming."

Elsa looked back and saw the bike driven by the major approaching them. There was also the pickup in which Delilah was driving.

"Huh, the gang's all here."Ester stated."It's getting serious now."

Norrine drove up to them.

"We've got a problem!"she exclaimed, screaming through the wind."Some of them broke off and are coming back this way! They'll try to box us in!"

"Not if we can help it!"Ester said.

Right then Elsa looked forward and widened her eyes.
"Here they come!"she exclaimed."Watch out!"

Norrine quickly turned left, barely evading the pickup going straight for her, with Laconian prison guards in the back. Two more soon joined it and after that, they made a one eighty turn and were now following them.

"Alright, now what is this shit?!"Ester exclaimed.

"These guys are nuts!"Emmy stated.

"Elsa, take them out!"Ester ordered.

"Copy!"Elsa replied.

Elsa quickly turned and aimed the grenade launcher. She pulled the trigger before enemy managed to shoot at them and one projectile flew right towards the first security pickup. It slammed right into the front window, broke it, exploded and flipped the whole vehicle over. Two other enemy pickups and allied vehicles had to make some work to evade the burning parts and wreck flying everywhere.

She quickly aimed at another, but this time, she had to duck when enemy started firing. But it didn't last long, as one of the bike driving operatives threw a Molotov and the gunner on enemy vehicle was covered in flames. Next, Elsa fired a few times, destroying the second vehicle.

"Elsa, secure that one and get to the front. I heard ours can't get near there for some reason."Ester ordered.
"Sure, but how do I get on that one?"Elsa replied."I can't jump that far."
"Don't worry, I have it covered."

Saying that, colonel approached the front of the truck and opened the hatch in the roof.

"Could you hit the breaks for a few seconds?"she asked the driver.
"Sure."driver replied.

"Elsa, grab something!"

Elsa quickly grabbed onto the edge of the truck's back. Not long after, she felt as the vehicle slowed down suddenly, almost making her fall over, but she managed to stand on her legs. At the same time, seeing the sudden loss of speed in the enemy vehicle, prison guards' pickup also hit the breaks to not ram into the truck. This made the gunner slam his head into the machine gun and stunned him.

"Now, Elsa!"colonel exclaimed.

Elsa didn't have to be told twice. She quickly ran to the rear of the truck and jumped onto the pickup. She quickly shot the gunner and pulled him out of his nest and threw onto the road. Driver, seeing his companion being pulled out of his place, wanted to pull out his gun and fire up, before his door opened, his seat belts were cut and he was pulled out himself, falling right under the wheels of SOF's pickup.

"Thanks, Norrine!"Elsa said.

Norrine simply saluted and left. Meanwhile, Elsa jumped into the car, took the wheel and pressed the speed pedal. She passed by the truck Ester was riding on and started making her way towards the front of the column.

"This is Xind."the pilot said in the radio."The column is turning. They're driving off the road. They will probably try to lose you."
"Let them try."Emmy said.

"We're following."Norrine said.

Hearing reports about the commotion happening in the back of the column, the commander decided to change the field for a more rough terrain, where he hoped to shake off the pursuers. This is why he ordered all his remaining forces to turn off the road and hoped they will not be followed. Unfortunately, he didn't get what he wanted and SOF was now pursuing them through the off road.

Elsa was still trying to get to the front of the column, passing by the enemy vehicles which tried to stop her, but were quickly distracted by approaching SOF operatives, which started eliminating them.

"I'm getting to the front of the column."Elsa reported.
"Good. Norrine and the others are covering your back, so don't worry."Ester replied."Tell us what you see when you get there."
"Copy."

Right then, she noticed something happening in the front. One of the vehicles broke formation and was getting out of the column. As she got closer, she started to realize what they were dealing with.

"Whoa!"she exclaimed, as a series of 42mm bullets passed her by the length of her hair.
"Elsa, you got anything?"Ester asked.
"They have an APC!"Elsa replied.
"So this is why others couldn't get to the front."Norrine said."I should've known!"
"What do we do now?"Delilah asked.

Elsa started thinking. At the same time, she was doing her best to not get hit by the fire from enemy APC. If it happened, she would be gone before she would know it. Right then, her eyes fell on an approaching side road. An idea appeared in her head.

"I have a plan."she said in the radio.
"We're all ears."Ester said.

Right then, Elsa turned into the road and started accelerating. APC seemed to lose interest in her, as it simply continued to shell anyone who tried to approach it.

"If I'm lucky, this road will lead me right next to it. I'll try speeding as much as possible and get close to it."Elsa explained.

"Elsa, you know it might not work?"Delilah asked.
"You only live once, right?"

There was a moment of silence on the other side, as everyone probably thought about the plan. Finally, an answer came from Norrine:
"Alright. Go for it. Just don't get squashed like a fly."

"Got it."Elsa replied and floored the pedal.

The vehicle shot forward down the side road, hidden by the trees growing between the main part of the dirt road and this side path.
"Xind, how does it look?"she asked the pilot.
"It seems you're already at the level of the APC."Xind replied."I hope you know what you're doing."
"So do I."Elsa thought, gulping."Here goes nothing!"

And with that, she turned the wheel.

Pickup drove into the vegetation and after breaking through the bushes and trees, it jumped on the road next to the APC. Working quick, Elsa climbed out through the machine gun nest and jumped onto the APC. Her vehicle then turned hard right and started somersaulting.

Meanwhile, the crew hatch in the APC's turret opened and one of enemy crew members looked through it. Elsa quickly got to work, pulling out her knife and stabbing the man in the neck. Next, she reached to her belt, pulled out a grenade, pulled out the cotter and threw the grenade into the turret.

"Elsa!"she heard someone scream.

She turned her head left and saw Emmy standing on the back of a pickup. She was waving at Elsa, so she quickly jumped from the APC onto the pickup. Emmy grabbed her to help her land carefully and the pickup's driver slowed down, allowing the APC to surpass them. Few seconds later, grenade exploded, igniting the ammo and making the turret fly high, before it crashed on the side of the road. Wrecked APC, in the meantime, stopped.

"Great job, Elsa!"Ester said on the radio.
"Thanks."Elsa replied."Although I thought it wouldn't work at one point, haha…"

"How does it look?"Norrine asked.
"There is only a few vehicles left. You took care of most of them."Xind reported.

"Alright. Xind, block their way with the dropship. Everyone, let's end this."Marine major ordered.
"Yes, sir!"operatives replied.

Xind quickly proceeded to do what he was told and, careful not to strain the machine, flew the dropship to the front of the enemy column and descended in front of it, with the chaingun aimed right at them. This forced the column to stop in it's tracks.

At the same time, SOF operatives reached the area. Their vehicles started stopping one by one, too.

Elsa and Emmy jumped off of the back of the pickup and immediately were almost hit by enemy shot.

"Alright everyone, our target is the black SUV at the head of the column!"Norrine exclaimed into the radio."Move forward!"

All around, prison guards started to get out of their vehicles, only to be immediately targeted by the SOF operatives. In the front, Xind was shredding everyone that tried to get out or fire a missile at him. Caught between a rock and a hard place, they were unable to somehow turn the situation around. Prison guards were falling one by one, with knowledge that they failed their mission big time.

"I see that SUV!"Elsa exclaimed after a few minutes of clearing the area.

"Let's go then!"Norrine said.

She quickly started running towards the SUV, followed by Ester, Elsa, Norrine Delilah and Emmy. However, right as they approached the vehicle, they heard a commotion inside. They all stopped in their tracks, as SUV started shaking. They all looked at each other.

"Norrine, is that supposed to happen?"Delilah asked.
"Well…"Norrine started.

But before she could finish, the back door of the SUV opened and someone flew out through them. A Laconian prison guard landed at the feet of the five. They all noticed, that his neck was twisted at an unnatural angle.

"Finally, someone came to bust me out."a resounding female voice said.

They all looked up from the dead guard and saw the owner of the voice. It was an imposing, humanoid, lizard-like creature with visible womanly features. She had a row of spikes on her head going down her spine and her mouth was full of sharp teeth, which she showed in a wide smile. She jumped out of the back of the SUV and approached them. Ester, Elsa, Norrine, Delilah and Emmy had to look up, because the lizard woman was over two meters tall.

Ester leaned to Norrine.

"You've got to be kidding me…"she whispered."Is that…?"
"My friend? Yes."Norrine replied.
"And what is she exactly, I never saw this race before."Delilah asked."What is it?"

"This, my dear…"Marine major replied."…is what we call a Native Martian."

"The what?!"everyone whispered in surprise.

Native Martians. Every Human knew this name, although not many saw them. In an age long past, when Mars was a planet filled with beautiful oceans and lush jungles, Native Martians, or Terouna, as they called themselves, flourished as a powerful empire. Even before Tertans first discovered the hyperspace drive and they became the main power of the Milky Way galaxy, Terouan Empire spread across thousands of star systems thanks to a network of jump gates. However, following a cataclysm that was lost to history, Mars became the way it is now, while Terouan Empire collapsed, the jump gate technology was lost to time and the race itself spread out around the galaxy, slowly but surely heading towards extinction. As of now, there were only a few Native Martians left, serving as mercenaries or bounty hunters, as their martial culture made them unable to perform any other kind of job.

"When were you going to tell us your friend is a Native Martian?"Ester hissed with a reproach.

"If I told you, you wouldn't stop asking questions."Norrine replied casually.

"Oh, you bet we're gonna ask you a lot of questions now."Delilah hissed.

Native Martian approached the five and stood before them with her arms crossed. Her eyes landed on Norrine.

"Well, well, well."she said."Who do we have here?"
"I'm also glad to see you, Shiada."Norrine said.
"How long has it been? Six years?"
"Something like that."

Shiada then looked at the other four and the SOF operatives gathered in the back.
"Your new friends?"she asked.
"I had a busy time."Norrine replied."But that's not important right now. The important thing is, we need your help."
"Really?"Native Martian risen an eyebrow."In what?"
"We're explain everything on our ship."Ester replied."Will you come with us?"

Shiada looked around at the dead prison guards.
"Eh, why not?"she replied.

"Wait, really?"Delilah asked."That was easy."

"Yeah, if it's against Laconians, I will gladly help. They owe me a ship."

"What happened to the Grendr?"Norrine asked, tilting her head.

"You think I just let them catch me peacefully?"Shiada laughed loudly."Like I would ever allow that."
"Right. I forgot how much you like screwing with law enforcement."Marine major stated."Alright, let's get out of here. Lacos surely will try finding out who's trashing their backyard."
"You're right. Let's go!"Ester ordered.

Operatives quickly started jumping back onto their vehicles. Norrine abandoned her bike and jumped into a back of a truck with Shiada. Elsa wanted to go and join Delilah, but before she could, Ester stopped her.

"What is it?"Elsa asked.
"I'm proud of you."Ester replied.
"W-What?"

"You impressed me today. I never knew you could do all the stuff you did today."

"Honestly, I also never knew that…I simply went with the flow."

"Good on us. I will whisper a word to the right people for you to be promoted."

"Really?"
"Come on, you know me well, don't you?"
"I do. Thank you."

"No problem. Now let's go. Lacos will skin us alive if they find us here."

"Of course."

Next, they jumped into the back of a pickup and followed the rest. After a few hours of driving, they were picked up by the dropships from San Antonio and transported back to the ship, which then proceeded to leave the system as fast as possible, not even caring about hiding anymore, but Laconian ships were too slow to stop it before it jumped into hyperspace.

July 29

09:05

UNSA San Antonio, Uni System, allied space

The inside of Stealth Frigate's cargo hold was quiet. Numerous SOF operatives stood in rows, holding their weapons, dressed in occasional uniforms of their respective species. The commanders of SOF, Ester, Norrine and Delilah, stood in front of the soldiers, also dressed in such uniforms. Captain Phil and Vlad were also present.

In front of them stood four coffins. One covered with the flag of Chakdrik Collective, a rectangle divided with a line going from left upper corner to the right down corner, with purple on the one side and black on the other and three gray circles of various sizes representing the three moons of Chakdria. A holographic photo over it showed a young Chakdrik, barely one month old, which joined SOF just recently, signed 'Pvt. Orhaz Eraxta'.

Second was covered with the flag of United Shakayan Kingdoms, a tan rectangle with twelve gold stars representing twelve original kingdoms of Shakaya surrounding a single, big star, representing the King or Queen. Holographic photo of a Shakyan veteran missing one eye was showed on it, signed as 'Cpt. Engran Tobruda'.

Third was covered with flag of the UN, a standard procedure in case of soldiers of UNSA not born in any of Earth's countries, Planetary States or Systems States, but on one of colonies under the direct UN administration or simply serving in UNSA. The hologram showed a middle aged man with thick beard and was signed as 'Sgt. Mathias Chang'.

And the last was covered with the flag of India and hologram showed a man signed as 'Lt. Nahrma Radh'.

These were the only losses taken by the SOF in this operation. The four unlucky operatives which sat inside the vehicle rammed by a civilian. Unfortunately, it was impossible to retrieve their bodies, so the coffins had to be left empty.
"At ease!"Ester ordered.

Immediately, several hundred feet hit the ground.
"Dismissed!"Phil ordered.

Operatives, after giving their honors to their fallen comrades, turned around and left the cargo hold. Ester, Norrine, Delilah and Elsa, who came up to them, stayed for a few more seconds, before also turning and leaving. As they approached the exit, they saw Shiada standing at the door, leaning against the wall. After getting aboard, she received a uniform, which thanks to it's body size matching capabilities, was big enough for her to wear.
"So, what's gonna happen to them now?"she asked, nodding towards the coffins.

"They will be sent to their families. At least the ones that can."Ester replied."Only shame that they are empty…"
"Sometimes you just can't have everything."Norrine stated.
"True that."Shiada agreed."So, now that we're safe in allied space, will you tell me what you want from me?"

"Come on."Norrine said."I will explain everything to you."

Shiada simply nodded her head and the two left. Ester, Delilah and Elsa watched them go.
"There is some kind of tension between them."Delilah stated.
"Yeah, even I noticed that."Elsa said.
"We're gonna worry about that later."Ester said."For now, let's go and rest. I have a feeling that our next mission will not be easy."

"Yeah."the two agreed.

Next, they left the hangar too.

XXX

And we end here for today. As always, remember to leave a review, follow and favorite. It will be highly appreciated!