Witch of the Eighty-Sixth

by contrastellar

There is no such thing as a clean war, and for those who know the secrets of this battlefield — what else could this life be, than a Curse?

13. Chapter 11

April 20, SY 2150 — 10:21 GCT
OPERATION: LABYRINTH — START
Time Since Operation Start — T+0:00:42

It had taken months to retake as much of the Eighty-Five Districts of the Republic as had been done by the Federacy's Expeditionary Force. Clearing out Legion nest and patrol alike, and pushing them back the way they had come from — routing them wherever they were able. However, there were places that the Expeditionary Force weren't able to get to. Places that were so jam-packed with Legion, that caused the Expeditionary Forces' armored-infantry and Vánagandr units to be more of a liability, than a benefit to their Legion elimination operations.
Which meant, that this was an ideal operation for the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package. Close-quarters combat in high-mobility situations were what the Strike Package trained for, and excelled in. The ability to quickly adapt to any situation that was thrown their way, was part of the reasoning for the deployment of the Strike Package against the Legion that were garrisoned in the Charité Underground Labyrinth.
The purpose was simple — to eliminate the Auto-Reproduction Type Legion unit, the Weisel, and any and all Legion units that they came across in the search and destroy procedures for the Weisel. Similarly, there was supposed to be an energy-production type, an Admiral — which was suspected to be using nuclear fusion, in order to generate the vast amounts of energy required for a unit such as a Morpho, to continue besieging humanity. If the Strike Package could stop the operation of these two units, the operation would be considered a success, and there was a high probability that the remaining Legion units would take the opportunity to escape. However, because of the radioactive nature of the Admiral — parts of the Labyrinth were designated as off-limits.
The mission would start with a breach into the Underground Labyrinth, using one of the many surface-side domes that filtered sunlight into the facility, and then proceeding from there, engaging and destroying any Legion types that they came across.
Simultaneously — PHALANX Squadron, would escort Major Henrietta Penrose, who would be investigating something or other on the surface.
The operation's timer started inside Vanadis, a chime ringing throughout all the Reginleifs on the surface, as they passed the outer perimeter of the facility — their mission clocks aboard each and every unit synchronizing with the one displayed on one of Colonel Milizé's subscreens.
One wouldn't be able to tell that it was well into morning, once the Eintagsfliege were up in the air. Their wings absorbed all sunlight, and didn't let any electromagnetic waves through, except what was Legion communication traffic. Meaning that visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet did not permeate their shroud. Causing the sight of the XM2 Reginleifs in their march towards the Charité Underground Labyrinth was more eerie than the time of day might otherwise suggest. Bleached bone skeletons prowled forward, towards their infiltration point — a glass dome in the center of the Underground Facility. These figures, like skeletons missing their heads — followed the one marked with the iconography of a skeleton missing its head, but carrying a shovel, towards that dome.
Shaped charges, placed around the dome's surface, were triggered once the Processors were a certain distance away — instantly shattering the reinforced glass, and letting it rain down on the levels below. The Processors fired their wire-anchors, and began their slow descent down into the labyrinth.
"All Squads, sound off." Undertaker's Processor — Captain Shinei Nouzen — ordered.
"This is BRÍSINGAMEN. All accounted for." Shiden "Cyclops" Iida reported with a grin.
"NORDLICHT, standing by at VANADIS HQ." Master Sergeant Bernholdt reported, his Freki One waiting nearby the armored command car, Vanadis.
"CLAYMORE. Ready and waitin' cap'n." Rito Oriya said as he descended inside Milan.
"LYACON, ready." Reki Michihi said, similarly descending in Hualien.
"PHALANX is standing by to escort Major Penrose." Taiga Asuha reported from the surface.
"THUNDERBOLT, ready." Yuuto Crow spoke into the resonance from inside Verethragna.
"VALKYRIE on station." Bluebird's Processor — Sabina Fardin — said over the resonance.
"CALIBARN, all Processors are ready." The Witch said, once it was her turn. There was no button to press to communicate — just simply speaking was enough to be heard by both the other squad captains, and her own squadron.
"SPEARHEAD is ready." The Captain said. "All units, move out for your objectives. CALIBARN; have your Delta Platoon stand by on the surface, and keep our exfil secure."
"Roger that. Monarch, have your platoon stand by topside." The Witch responded, and then ordered.
"Copy that, ell-tee." Monarch acknowledged.
"SPEARHEAD is moving forward. BRÍSINGAMEN, VALKYRIE, CALIBARN at the rear, follow us."
"Copy that" came the replies from the squad captains.
"Roger." The Witch said, flexing her fingers around the control sticks of Aerial. "Calibarn, keep it tight. Echo take up the rear, and keep an eye on your IFF."
"Five-by-five…" Ender, the Echo Platoon Leader responded.
There was an interesting configuration of how the squads' Para-RAIDs were connected to one another. Starting from the top of the command structure, Colonel Milizé was connected to the Squad Captains and their Executive Offiers, totaling sixteen connections just for her. Shin was similarly connected to the other Squad Captains, their Executive Officers, and then the Platoon Leaders of SPEARHEAD and then back to Colonel Milizé. The Witch was in a similar connection pattern. Resonating with the other Captains, their XO's, and then her Platoon Leaders. The Platoon Leaders for any particular squadron were resonated with their Platoon, the other Platoon Leaders, and then their Captain and XO. A network of connections, distributed to as to not put immense pressure on any one person's brain due to the nature of the sensory resonance.
Almost as soon as they had entered the underground, that noise became that much louder.
"…They're down there, the fuckers." Shiden said from inside Cyclops.
"Yeah." Shin responded.
Passing by a thick layer of concrete, the Reginleifs continued their descent, eventually stopping just in front of a reinforced glass pane in the center of the atrium that they descended through. Beyond the glass, the lurking silhouettes of the Legion, in varying states of combat preparedness, were scattered. Almost as soon as the Reginleif's stopped — as if on cue — a clicking sound could be heard, the noise of the Legion's joints unlocking, and moving from standby mode. Shin's Undertaker was the first to move — kicking against the glass wall, and using the momentum from his swing like a pendulum, to trigger his pile driver at the same instant he would've impacted against the glass wall again — shattering it, and opening the battle between the Legion and the Processors of the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package.
CALIBARN were some of the last to place their metaphorical boots on the ground, swinging into the battle last, yet not being last in kills against the Legion. "All units!" Shin ordered, "Avoid using your main armaments! Secondaries should be more than enough against Grauwolf and Stier."
"Copy that…" The Witch murmured in response, using her High-Frequency Blades to cut down a charging Grauwolf as it tried firing some of its High-Explosive, Anti-Tank missiles. Fortunately none of the missiles were fired by the time she destroyed it.
The Witch took note of the Third Platoon of SPEARHEAD breaking away from the rest, as they ascended the mezzanine they battled in, heading for a different angle to attack from, and while she did — sidestepped a Grauwolf that charged her with its own Blades. The mechanical wailing emanating from all around her, made it quite difficult to focus on any one thing, so instead she focused on what she could, which was the enemy directly in front of her — and once that one was destroyed, the next one that came into view.
"Yeah, Aerial, it's mostly Grauwolf and Stier… And what few Amaise have been on this level got picked off by SPEARHEAD and BRÍSINGAMEN." Guel reported as The Witch jumped behind a Stier that was taking aim at a Processor in a different squadron — and expended a charge of her front left pile driver to destroy it, sending sparks and spurts of liquid nanomachines flying in every manner of direction.
"Copy that, Darilbalde… CALIBARN Lead to SPEARHEAD Lead — we're waiting on your move, Captain!" The Witch reported, glancing around this mezzanine turned battlefield.
It wasn't hard to imagine this place filled with the hustle and bustle of people moving from platform to platform inside this labyrinth. To imagine the flocks of people, instead of the littering of mechanical corpses strewn against the floor. The idea of this place being properly illuminated, and filled with people who weren't plagued by the warfare that the Legion had brought to every corner of the continent was something that The Witch wasn't even aware that she wanted, until this very moment.
"SPEARHEAD Leader to VALKYRIE, BRÍSINGAMEN, and CALIBARN. Leave this level to THUNDERBOLT and LYACON. We're pushing forward for the Weisel."
"Copy that." The Witch responded, and urged Aerial forwards, following behind VALKYRIE's Foxtrot Platoon, as they pushed deeper into the Labyrinth.
Fighting through the Legion was par for the course for the Eighty-Six. Fighting through the swarms of them, dodging the ordinance that the Legion fired at them nearly non-stop, and kicking away whatever AP-Mines got too close, and expending their Pile-Driver charges on the units that couldn't be penetrated by their fore-mounted 12.7mm machine guns, or by the Witch's High-Frequency Blades. It took longer than one might expect, for the combined might of the four squadrons to move from the mezzanine, deeper into the Labyrinth, towards where a descending walkway was shown on the map. The Reginlief's weren't equipped with the map projectors, so they had to rely on the spotty datalink, and oral communication from the Captain, to the Colonel, and back again — to keep up with the locations that everyone was in. That was something that was genuinely impressive, to just about anyone who hadn't served directly under Lena's command — her ability to keep track of multiple squadrons, their directions and speeds, all concurrently and with great accuracy. Something that she had learned how to do from years of being a Handler, from not seeing the battlefield with her own eyes, and from relying purely on secondary information from the datalink, or from reports from the Processors under her command.
"VALKYRIE Leader, this is Vanadis HQ, in twenty seconds, break right down corridor two-two-three. There's likely a swarm of Legion preparing to pincer SPEARHEAD as they move for the Admiral, please engage." The Colonel's silver-bell like voice instructed with intense clarity and calmness.
"Copy that, VALKYRIE will take corridor two-two-three and engage." Sabina responded from inside Bluebird.
"CALIBARN Leader, in forty seconds, break left down corridor three-zero-one, this is the first corridor on the third level, and will serve as a distraction point for the Legion, making them think that we're taking a different path than expected to engage the Weisel."
"Wilco, Vanadis. CALIBARN will push down three-zero-one."
Twenty seconds passed, and VALKYRIE broke away from the formation of Reginleifs as they raced through the central corridor — breaking to the right, and disappearing from view as CALIBARN moved passed corridor two-twenty-three, following SPEARHEAD and BRÍSINGAMEN.
Twenty more seconds passed, and the pathway that the Colonel mentioned came into view. The Witch at the lead, rounded the corner, Aerial's legs digging into the ground as she slid around that corner, and then took off at a run again — her IFF filling up with initially white indications from non-terrain objects that weren't transmitting an IFF signal, and then as the targeting computer processed the information that was gathered — replaced those white markings with red — indicating that these were in-fact, enemies.
She would've grinned, if she were't so focused.
"Dead ahead! AP-Mines!" Guel shouted over the resonance, his Darilbalde's 12.7mm fore-mounted machine guns opening fire.
The machine gun ammunition for the Reginleifs, were stored on the coaxial arms for easy feeding to the firing mechanism, so if the Processor needed to purge the machine gun, the belt wouldn't get tangled up. Inside the actual box magazines for the machine guns, a variety of ammunition was used. Generally, the first bullet fired out of a burst from the machine gun, would be a tracer round, which had a small pyrotechnic charge in the base of the round, allowing it to give a visual 'trace' of where the round went. After that, there was an armor-piercing round, and then a high-explosive, armor-piercing round, then another tracer round, and the cycle continued on and on until the gun's stores were expended. Both of the machine guns' firing mechanism was tied to a single trigger, so just by depressing that single trigger in the cockpit, both of the guns would fire where the targeting sights were set.
As such, Darilbalde's machine guns opened fire — the first tracer round arcing through the air, and lighting up the hallway faintly as it did. The silhouettes of various Legion units, moving from their standby configuration flashed across The Witch's display in the moment that the tracer round flew by them. Other Processors began to fire as well, as the shape of the Legion became more and more resolved the closer they got to their targets. The Witch was the only one who didn't fire, on account of not having any machine guns attached to her rig. Even Foxtrot Platoon, with their 30 millimeter auto-cannons, used their lighter-caliber machine guns. Sparks flew as the rounds impacted the Legion units, and began to tear their armor away.
"This is Tomcat! Razorblade, Razorblade!"
Above the heads of the Squadron, a trail of smoke appeared as a missile rocketed its way down the hallway, fired from Joshua's Tomcat. The razorblade missile that he fired, having been locked onto the hostile IFF signals ahead of the Squadron. As soon as the missile cleared a safe distance from CALIBARN, The Witch could see six High-Frequency Blades swing out from the missile.
An M-9X missile, was a missile developed by the ordinance manufacturers of the Federacy, and these developers had hypothesized mounting a scaled-down version of the High-Frequency Blades used on the Reginleif, in order to use it for light-armored Legion destruction. The missile would take an initial lock, and then seek out any additional targets, using a short-range, high amplitude datalink back to the IFF computer aboard Tomcat.
The missile dove into the swarm of Legion, its blades slashing and cutting at whatever it could find, taking down several units before getting stuck in a Grauwolf's chassis, nearly cutting it in two, but not quite — the fuel burned until it was extinguished, pushing the fatally damaged Grauwolf away and causing it to be an obstruction to the remaining Legion behind it.
The Witch was the first to entire close-quarters combat with the Legion, kicking away Anti-Personnel Mines, as she dug her High-Frequency Blades into the top-armor of a Stier that had swiveled its turret to face CALIBARN as they attacked. Before the Stier had even a moment to try and fire at the Processors, The Witch had cut it down.
More and more, the Legion were coming online, and starting to fire back at the Reginleifs, the Amaise firing at them with their 12.7mm anti-personnel machine guns, their rounds rarely finding purchase in the armor of the Reginleifs as the Processors dodged through the formations of Legion.
It was in the fray of battle, that The Witch was reminded of the feelings that compelled her to fight this way. A reminder of something that she hadn't felt in a long time. The levity, the focus, the clarity of mind that came with fighting in such a dance between her Squadron, and the Legion. There was no need to think about other things, no need to pry her attention to anything else. Instead, let the trust that she had ingrained into her Squadron, let her loosen up, despite any mistake that she made being possibly lethal.
She had made it this far, had made it to the point where she had survived the Eighty-Sixth sector, when only a handful of others had been able to, despite the nearly million who had been put into the camps there, who had been conscripted to fight the never-ending Legion. She didn't feel the pressure, the need to survive. But, still, something gnawed at her. Something that compelled her to not completely lose herself in this moment of combat, where she could just let go of everything else. She urged Aerial forward, weaving through the formation of Legion right in front of her — before tackling and kicking away an Anti-Personnel mine that was sneaking up on someone in Echo Platoon.
"Thanks for the assist!" That processor said over the resonance, and The Witch merely nodded in response, dodging away from a Stier's anti-tank fire.
Such a round would quite easily penetrate the armor of a Vánagandr — the Feldreß unit that the Federacy employed in their standard mechanized infantry divisions — and would trivially pierce the even thinner armor of a Reginleif. The only benefit that the Reginlief had in such close-quarters, was its mobility, its agility and the reflexes of the pilots. All of whom were Eighty-Six, and had been chosen for the Strike Package because of their aptitude and abilities in combat. Whether having proven themselves working under Bloody Regina during the Large Scale Offensive — or by their scores during their time in the Special Officer Academy. They were all the cream of the crop Reginlief operators, and would be able to fight well beyond what was expected of them, because that was simply how the Eighty-Six were. Some might call them too stubborn to die. Many others would call them battle-crazed. But to the Eighty-Six themselves? This was another day in their lives. Another fight in a long list of fights that they had survived before.
The Witch, herself, didn't think about those past battles. She instead, let something akin to warrior impulses, drive her forward, leading her to dodge between the Legion units that weren't paying attention to her — that were being cut down by her allies — and instead focused on the ones that didn't seem focused on any one unit, meaning that those units were more deadly.
She dodged forward, evading an Anti-Personnel Mine lunging at her, and readied her High-Frequency Blades, slashing at the legs of a Grauwolf, cutting it, and causing it to flail about for the moment it took between its legs being slashed — and the killing blow given to it by her right-fore Pile Driver.
"All units!" A voice shimmered over the Para-RAID. "Be advised, PHALANX Squadron has been taken out… Be mindful of a potential new Legion type among them. Similarly…" The voice of the Colonel spoke with a soft, nearly imperceptible shake to it, "Major Penrose is Missing in Action. Further updates as we get them."
The Witch clicked her tongue. The entire PHALANX Squadron being wiped out? That wasn't something that just some Grauwolves could do.
"CALIBARN! Keep pushing forward!" The Witch ordered. "Vanadis HQ, what's our play?" She asked over the resonance.
"CALIBARN Leader — Move forward about eighty meters. There will be a turn to the right, which will begin to lead you towards the fourth level. Once there, engage any Legion units, and push forward. The Armored Infantry is about four minutes away and will secure the area you leave behind." The Colonel ordered.
"Copy! CALIBARN, hang a right in eighty meters, we're pushing for level four!"
"Aye!" Darilbalde's machine guns cut down an Amaise that was getting too close for comfort, and then kept its pace forward.
The Witch followed just behind him. Keeping pace, and then dodging right into the hallway. The rest of CALIBARN not that far behind.
The Colonel was right, the pathway she had given CALIBARN did begin to slope down, and lead towards the fourth level, where undoubtedly, SPEARHEAD and BRÍSINGAMEN were pushing to engage the Admiral unit and the Weisel unit, respectively.
Once on the fourth level, the floor evened out, and started to spread down a variety of ways, "CALIBARN Lead, take the middle path at the intersection ahead, that'll lead you roughly in the direction of BRÍSINGAMEN… SPEARHEAD is currently attempting to retrieve Major Penrose."
"Copy that, we'll take the middle path. Which hallway is that?"
"Hallway number four-three-three. This is going to have another intersection in approximately seventy-five meters."
"Roger!" The Witch raced down the hallway, slashing at an Amaise as she did. Keeping on her toes, and letting the flow of battle keep her grounded.
It was at that point, as CALIBARN raced down the hallway towards their distraction objective — that the Para-RAID flickered to life in everyone's ears, not just the Squad Captains.
"All Strike Package members, cease all combat and retreat!"
"What?!" Guel shouted as he finished off an Amaise with his machine guns.
The Witch dodged away from a pouncing Grauwolf, abiding by the instruction to cease combat. Behind her, the IFF picked up another group of what seemed to be humanoid-shaped Anti-Personnel Mines, and she hopped away from them, quickly dodging before any could try and attach themselves to Aerial. She hopped through the air, spinning as she did, expecting to have to dodge the same targets again, when she made eye-contact with one of the forms.
She made eye contact.
The simple form of an Anti-Personnel Mine was only vaguely in the shape of a human form. It had a structure resembling a head, a torso, and the same number of limbs with the roughly the same functionalities as a human's… But something that every single Anti-Personnel Mine lacked, was a face. There was no need for one. Communication of targets between the Mines was done through radio signals, not sound waves produced by the mouth. The sensors didn't need to operate in the same way the eyes did. Nor did Mines have any use for hearing.
But that form that she had dodged away from, it didn't just simply seem to glance at her, in selection of her and Aerial as a target. No, instead it had made eye contact with The Witch as she had hopped away. The silver eyes of a Celena meeting her own, as if staring at her through the sensors on the front of Aerial.
"What the hell?!" She cried as she dodged away from the swinging of the Grauwolf next to her.
"All units, this is SPEARHEAD Leader — we've got non-hostile humans in the AO — cease all combat and retreat at once!" The Captain ordered over the resonance. "If you encounter a humanoid target, hit it with your targeting laser — between that and the IFF, we should be able to determine Human versus Legion."

April 20, SY 2150 — 14:53 GCT
Time Since Operation Start — T+4:32:23

"CALIBARN, keep your eyes peeled for humans! We've got Alba in these goddamned tunnels!" Guel shouted over the resonance, his Darilbalde dodging away from the nearest self-propelled mine before slashing at it with his left high-frequency blade, thankfully cutting in such a way that the explosives in its internals didn't ignite and the pieces of the Mine fell to the ground harmlessly.
"How the fuck are we supposed to tell the difference?" Sophie hissed, as Ür fired a buckshot shell into a group of mines that were chasing her across the hallway floor. "It's not like we can see them that close!"
"Didn't you hear?!" Ryn shouted dodging behind a Stier, and impaling it with one of Rhino's pile-drivers. "Hit everything you see with the targeting laser! If they're human, they'll shy away from it — then let the IFF computer do the rest!"
"Shit!" Echo Platoon's leader — Analise — cried as she kicked away a mine that promptly exploded, damaging her right fore pile-driver and right machine gun. She quickly purged the machine gun with a flick of her wrist on the controls.
"All units, hallway four-two-three, the IFF shows it as mostly clear!" The Witch ordered, jumping between a member of Charlie Platoon and a self-propelled mine that had dropped from the ceiling, kicking it away mid-leap.
"If we keep fighting like this, we'll hit the damn civilians!" Guel shouted, dodging away from an Anti-Personnel Mine that threatened to cling to Darilbalde's leg.
"I know! That's why we're falling back!" The Witch dodged away, kicking away any Anti-Personnel Mines she found. "We'll lead the Legion away from the civilians, and let the armored infantry deal with taking in survivors."
"…Copy…" Guel said, dodging between two Grauwolves, and then following the Witch down the hallway.
CALIBARN didn't take long to retreat from their position, and moved down that hallway, further away from their intended, planned route.
Back inside Vanadis — Lena watched and plotted CALIBARN's current position, against what they had initially planned for the Squadron to do. Only to find them being seemingly pushed deeper and deeper into the Legion's nest inside the Underground Labyrinth. "CALIBARN, if you can, take corridor four-four-five, it'll be on your left in twenty seconds." She ordered over the resonance, as she continually updated the position of all the squadrons on her three-dimensional map that she had been given of the facility.
There was no possible way for the Datalink to be strong enough between Vanadis' receiver and the transmitters on the Reginleifs, in order to rely on the uplink to transmit vital telemetry and position data — so everything that the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package did during this operation, relied purely on the communication skills of the Processors, and Lena's own ability to process what they said. It wasn't like there was just one Squadron's worth of data either. There were nine squadrons, all moving concurrently, needing directions or giving position reports as they moved throughout the labyrinth.
"VALKYRIE, in ten seconds, there will be a divergence, take the right path, hallway four-four-nine." She instructed, and then turned back to SPEARHEAD's position on her map, still deep inside the location where the Admiral was. "SPEARHEAD, as soon as your able, go back the way you came, and then direct yourselves down hallway four-nine-three. That'll start to bring you towards where Aide Rosenfort says Major Penrose is."
"Copy that, Colonel." Shin responded.
Meanwhile, for CALIBARN; the fight through the Legion units was continuing, and CALIBARN's fighting retreat had them shooting at the Legion while they moved backward in a staggered formation. One platoon would hold position, and give covering fire, while the remaining four that weren't still on the surface, moved backwards. When the platoon that was furthest back, made it twenty or thirty meters, wherever they were able to find cover — they would provide covering fire for the remaining platoon as they retreated next.
"Foxtrot, cover!" The Witch ordered, and Foxtrot complied.
"Hey! We'll have an easier time if we can use our auto cannons!" Foxtrot's leader — Ryn "Rhino" Ise — was right.
The Witch clicked her tongue. She knew that Ryn was right, that they would have an easier time of taking down the Legion that were pursuing them, if they let Foxtrot — and only Foxtrot — to use their primary armaments. As Foxtrot was equipped with the 30 millimeter auto cannons that Processors like First Lieutenant Raiden Shuga used, their ammunition had less penetrating force than the 88 millimeter shells that the rest of the Squadron was equipped with, meaning that their destructive force was lessened. But, they were still stronger than the 12.7 millimeter machine guns that were being used otherwise. Meaning that if they used the auto cannons, they had a lesser chance of bringing down the structure of the Labyrinth around them — but could do more damage against the lightly armored Legion types that they were engaged with.
"Vanadis! This is CALIBARN Leader. Requesting permission to use Foxtrot's auto cannons!" If they were going to use the auto cannons, and possibly bring the structure down around their ears — The Witch wasn't about to have that responsibility be on her.
"Vanadis HQ to CALIBARN," Lena spoke calmly, "use of auto cannons is approved. Avoid ricochets as much as possible."
"Copy that! Rhino! Let 'em have it! Avoid the ricochets and don't use HEAT!" The Witch barked.
The Witch could hear the grin on Ryn's face when she responded with; "Wilco, Aerial!"
Within a second, Foxtrot Platoon, who were waiting in cover for their allies to retreat beyond them, leaned their Reginleifs out of cover, and took aim at the Legion firing and chasing after CALIBARN, and unleashed volley after volley of armor piercing ammunition down the hallway, finding successful hits in the armor of Grauwolf, Amaise and Anti-Personnel Mine alike. The lighter targets, like the Amaise and Anti-Personnel Mines were simply blown away, while the Grauwolves would take a hit or two, then eventually topple over, having been eliminated by the volley of 30 millimeter ammunition, and becoming an obstacle for the remaining Legion.
"Foxtrot, fall back — Charlie, cover!" The Witch ordered. Charlie whipped around from their retreat, and took cover, using their machine guns, and a Razorblade Missile here and there, to mop up as many Legion as possible.
The Witch, and the rest of Alpha and Bravo Platoons kept moving backwards, occasionally turning around to fire at the Legion pursuing. Tracers illuminating the hallway to the point where it was almost too bright to the Processors' eyes. The Witch simply kept her head down, and kept moving in the retreat, as her Aerial did not have any machine guns to be used, nor did it have an auto cannon, so in a fight like this — she was practically useless.
Ahead of her in the retreat, there was a T-junction, a divergence in the path that they could take, that may or may not loop back to where they needed to go. "Vanadis! CALIBARN Lead — we've got a T-Junction ahead of us in our retreat, which route do we take?" The Witch asked, ducking behind a toppled-over support pillar.
In Vanadis, Lena dodged her eyes back towards the holographic map that showed the entire layout of the Underground, and the current position of the Processors. She focused on the green blob of light that was indicative of CALIBARN's position.
"C-CALIBARN Lead, I don't see a T-Junction ahead of you… You're in hallway four-four-five, correct?"
"Afirm, Vanadis!" The Witch responded.
Lena bit her lip — there was more and more proof that the map that the Strike Package had been given by the Republic's provisional government was wrong — making it more and more likely that as the Processors were pushed further and further off of the initially planned route, that they would run into divergences from the map like this. Lena traced with her eyes, a path using what she could see on the map.
"CALIBARN Lead, if you can, take the left path, it seems likely that you should be able to take that path towards the surface again. The hallway isn't on my map, so I don't have a number for you."
"…Copy that, moving down the left path." The Witch responded. "CALIBARN, take the left—"
She dodged Aerial around the corner, preparing to begin her retreat down the left path, when she came face-to-face with a single Amaise unit, which wasn't looking at her, but promptly turned around. It practically stared her down with a red optical sensor — not the blue that she was used to seeing from the sensors of an Amaise.
"What the hell?!" She shouted, dodging backwards.
Guel's Darilbalde rounded the corner, and instead of hesitating, promptly cut down the Amaise, its optical sensor blinking off as Guel's machine guns tore into its armor and damaged critical internal components. "Don't got time to stand around, Witch! Get moving!"
Behind the Witch, both around the corner, and down the other hallway, tracers continued to fly as CALIBARN exchanged fire with the various Legion units down both paths. "C-copy…" The Witch responded, urging Aerial forward after Guel. Her body and mind still shaken by the sight of a red-eyed Amaise.

Commencing Transmission
MESSAGE BEGINS
April 20 — Solar Year 2150
2330 ZULU
Operational Clock of Sender: ERROR, CAPACITY OVERFLOW. SENDING UNIT HAS EXCEEDED PROGRAMMED LIFESPAN OF 50,000 HOURS. MESSAGE MAY BE MALICIOUS
STDIN —
STDIN — SIG_IGNORE
MESSAGE CONTINUES
NO FACE to Wide Area Network 1: DEFCON has been raised to 1. All units within this network should disregard defense orders, and engage enemy units at once.
NO FACE to MISTRESS: Confirmation of GALDRAKONA in Operations Area.
MISTRESS to NO FACE: Received. Retrieval of high-priority targets, BÁLEYGR, GALDRAKONA, is encouraged.
NO FACE to MISTRESS: Acknowledged. Transmitting orders to HERMES ONE.
NO FACE to HERMES ONE: Abdication of Production Facility 277 encouraged. Retrieval operations are approved. Coping mechanism for BÁLEYGR, GALDRAKONA is released.
HERMES ONE to NO FACE: Acknowledged. Abdication of Production Facility 277 commenced. Order transmitted. Classified Article 27708 removed from stasis. Units downloaded.
HERMES ONE to NO FACE: Confirming Article 27708 dissemination.
NO FACE to HERMES ONE: Acknowledged. Command authority for unit WHITE BRIDE relinquished to HERMES ONE.
HERMES ONE to NO FACE: Acknowledged.
HERMES ONE to WHITE BRIDE: Cease standby mode. Combat maneuvers are authorized on authority of HERMES ONE. Priority Target: GALDRAKONA.
WHITE BRIDE to HERMES ONE: Acknowledged.
END OF MESSAGE

April 20, SY 2150 — 16:44 GCT
Time Since Operation Start — T+6:23:28

CALIBARN continued their fighting retreat down the unnumbered hallway of the Underground Labyrinth, when the voices of the Legion became worse.
"Ugh! What the hell?!" Guel shouted from inside Darilbalde, cupping one of his ears reflexively — but the gesture would do nothing. The noise was coming from over the resonance, not heard by something that his eardrums would pick up.
The Legion's voices had been slowly replaced by a screaming. A screaming that had no concrete source, no discernible gender, just the simple screaming of a voice that belonged to no one at all, but began to come from each and every Legion that the Eighty-Six killed.
"Break Break!" A new voice shouted over the Para-RAID, using the brevity call to interrupt with a priority message. "All captains! This is a proxy message! …First, that Legion voice right now wasn't an attack. Shin is unresponsive, so assume defensive positions until we assess the situation!" The voice of Theoto Rikka, one of the Platoon leaders of SPEARHEAD spoke over the resonance.
The Witch's eyes darted to the Para-RAID status on one of the sub-screens of Aerial, confirming visually that the screaming that she was hearing, wasn't from one of her Platoon members.
But it was then, and only then — did a voice that had no place among the Legion's ranks, spoke.
"Move forward…" The voice said. "Move forward…" it repeated, with the same intonation, like a record that had skipped backwards, perfectly replicating the exact same sound again.
The voice that spoke over the Para-RAID was clear. Almost unnaturally clear compared to the noise of the battlefield, it rung in her ears like a tuning fork, and caused her very bones to vibrate in resonance with that which she heard. The voice of someone who she had barely begun to process the absence of — someone whose disappearance had made it hard to believe anything but the worse for her.
CALIBARN's members, the ones who had been with The Witch the longest, all recognized that voice.
"Is that the Captain?!" Guel shouted over the Para-RAID, as his Reginleif shot down a Grauwolf in the hallway.
"Bastards fucking took her!" Sophie hissed as she fired a spray of buckshot into a group of nearby self-propelled mines.
The Witch's face contorted in horror for a moment. A moment long enough for the realization to settle in. The realization that it was between the ambush of the PHALANX squadron, the capture of Major Penrose, the fact that there were human survivors from the large-scale offensive in the operations area, and now the fact that the crystal-clear voice of the Captain was coming through the Para-RAID, that perhaps there was more to this operation than met the eye. Something about this had felt off from the beginning, and now this had practically confirmed it in the minds of CALIBARN Squadron — in her mind. But despite that, the Witch couldn't think of anything but one thing.
"A-all CALIBARN units…" She spoke though her teeth wanted to clench and pushed through the feeling in her chest was tight with emotion. She, and the rest of them, still had a job to do. Finding a single Legion unit and silencing it wasn't part of that tasking. "All CALIBARN units, proceed with the retreat. We'll keep pushing—" Her voice cut itself off, overflowing with emotion.
"…Copy that." Guel responded, despite himself.
Something had changed. In the mere moments between being seen by that red-eyed Amaise, and now. Something had spurred the Legion to change. To replace the voices of the dead, with the screaming of an other. A voice that didn't belong to any one person, perhaps.
Something had changed, to give rise to Miorine Rembran's voice among the army of the dead that the Eighty-Six now fought against.
The Witch grit her teeth, and bore it. She had no choice. To instead let the voice wash over her, and bore its way into her heart would be too simple. Something that she couldn't let herself do. For if she did, she would lose herself on this battlefield beneath the ground — and never be found again.
She couldn't understand it. What had happened to cause this to be the outcome for her Handler. How things had turned out this way. To have lost someone like Miorine in such a way. To not only have lost her in the wake of the Large Scale Offensive, but to have her body taken and repurposed by unthinking, unfeeling machines that had no care for the kind of person that they were adapting into their ranks. That had no care, or at the worst, apathy — for what they did, to try and survive themselves to fulfill their ultimate objective of the elimination of every non-Imperial human on the continent. But still, in spite of that, there had been hope in The Witch's heart. Hope that one day, the war might be over, that she might eventually live in a world that she might not have to carry the weight of the lives she had taken in mercy on her shoulders. That her fight, that her war hadn't been for nothing.
But in this moment, in especially this moment, every battle — every fight — every confrontation with the unfeeling machines that had taken so much from humanity — she could feel the futility of every action she took, and it nearly compelled her to not act at all. To instead be taken by that wave of silver that had already taken so much, and let herself be lost in it.
"Wake the fuck up, dammit! Witch!" Guel shouted over the resonance — and she took a shuddering breath in, her senses returning to her, as she faced down the barrel of a Stier that was at the end of the corridor that she had been moving down without thinking.
At the very last moment — after even the muzzle flash of the Stier's round had registered in her eyes — she dodged to the side of the round, nearly impacting the wall as she did.
"I don't give a shit what you're feeling right now! We've got to get out of here!" Guel bellowed. His machine guns firing at an Amaise that was creeping just too close for comfort. "Foxtrot! Fall back, let Echo keep 'em at bay! We're almost out of this!"
"Move forward…" The voice of her dead Handler spoke over the resonance.
She clenched her jaw so hard, it was a surprise that she didn't break a tooth, her grip on the control sticks of Aerial was white-knuckle, and she couldn't think of anything other than that voice repeating in her head. "Move forward…" it said, over and over again. Repeating that mantra like a hex, like a Curse.
"Hey! This hallway is empty!" Someone shouted over the Para-RAID, their Reginleif ducking around the corner, and finding refuge from the firefight that had been ongoing.
"Vanadis! This is Darilbalde, we're diverting through a different hallway that has no enemy resistance!" Guel barked out his report to the Colonel, before turning his attention back towards the Witch, who was lagging behind. "Witch! We're on the move!"
She dodged between two Stier, their turrets becoming tangled between one another as they tried to track her. Her grip on the controls not loosening even as she dodged around that corner that the rest of her Squadron had made it behind, and raced as fast as she could to get away from the Legion that had been nipping at her heels. All the while, that voice rung in her ears from somewhere inside this facility — "Move forward..." it said, over and over. The last thoughts of the Captain's mind before she was killed. The words that were repeated, and felt like they would drive The Witch insane. Like it was tearing at the fringes of her sanity, like she might not ever recover from this exact moment of revelation. Part of her mind — the one that was still keeping her alive was aware that this was a strong grief response. But why?
Why was it that she felt this way? Like she had lost such an important part of herself, something that was irrecoverable?
A thought crossed her mind as she and the rest of CALIBARN fled from the Legion.
One that felt like a stake driven through her heart — and made her mind cloudy with emotion.
Maybe that was it.
A feeling towards her Handler that she could never admit to anyone, not even to herself.