“Krix are to the North of our Garrison, and we’ll slowly shift them to our East,” Cassie reiterates for Dante and Nadia, “This isn't an assault mission, it’s relocation. So, I want zero casualties,”
“Zero?” Dante stammers.
“How?” Nadia asks.
“It’s relocation you idiots, it’s pretty simple we just go to the site,” Cassie rolls her eyes.
“But-” They both stammer.
“You could work on your teaching skills, Heir,” Nadia comments
“What is this, the Academy?” Cassie scoffs, “I just explained everything to you,”
“What made you decide on this strategy?” Dante asks, trying to get more of an explanation than what was given.
“Experience,” She responds, “I’m familiar with the strength of our shields and the talent in the squad,”
“That’s still not an explanation,” Dante squints at her, wondering if she’s messing with them or if teaching is this foreign to her.
“Yes, it is!” Cassie gets defensive, “And I'm a great teacher! You all improved in the arena because of me,”
“No no, that was Melinda,” Nadia corrects.
“Ugh, brats,” Cassie grunts as Captain Hammond joins the discussion.
“It’s a classic evasive manoeuvre,” The Captain adds, “Segment the enemy and defend from the rear. You’d have learnt about it at the Academy,”
“That strategy is trash,” Nadia rolls her eyes, “A hack to the simulation,”
“Not at all,” The Captain laughs heartily, “It stems from an incredible, alternative system of strategies called ‘Defence’,”
Dante chuckles as he recalls the time Madam Liiv showed class thirteen the leaderboard. Mich hated the strategy and it looks like Nadia is in the same camp.
“He ran away from the battlefield,” Nadia says.
“He discovered the true strength of the Zo’an garrison,” The Captain responds with a stern expression, “Do you think it shameful to save the lives of a squad?”
“No-” She stammers, “Not at all, but-”
“That ‘but’ will lead to your entire unit being killed if you don't watch it. Check your pride and show Cassie some respect, Recruit,” He orders before leaving the conversation.
“Yes, Sir,” Nadia responds.
“See why we picked on you?” Clint comments.
“Clint,” Rebecca mumbles, “Chill,”
Surprisingly, Kabela subtly nods in agreement with Rebecca- signalling Clint to take it a bit easier on Nadia since he’s been in bully mode from the start.
“Ugh, alright,” He responds, “You’re asking good questions, Recruit. The Captain is right, but don’t forget that sometimes you save more lives when you fight,”
“That is true,” The Captain responds, “Which is why thirteen of the twenty-one units are engaging the enemy,”
“Best of both worlds. Right, Heir?” Kabela grins.
“Of course, and that's exactly how I explained it to you both earlier,” She folds her arm, “When can I head up?” She asks the Captain.
“The centre is approaching the target. It appears the Northern part of the garrison hasn’t engaged the Krix yet. I’d suggest we wait,”
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“Why wait?” Dante asks
“I wouldn't advise she strategize based on the image in her head rather than the image of the battlefield,” Hammond replies.
“Being over-eager will also get you killed,” Cassie comments.
“I see,”
As the drill beam train chugs through the muddied terrain of the fallen city, the entire convoy weaves its way through the collapsed skyscrapers. Blowing out various routes as it marches in a collection of units. They’re fifty-six hours away and just under two and a half thousand kilometres from the relocation site. Once the battle gets going, the garrison’s likely to slow down, and it wouldn't surprise Dante to start seeing that time go up. He’d have nightmares of the overwatch sim and the extraction time increasing right before a mission success- it always threw a wrench into his grade.
_OVERWATCH: UPDATE FROM COMMAND
_DETAILS: North of Garrison 1 has engaged in combat. Shield is at 97%.
“Okay then, let's open up,” Cassie orders.
Kabela and Clint both shift the necessary levers to loosen the hatch of the train cart and lower the stairs for Cassie to start ascending.
“Recruits on me,” She adds as she climbs out.
Dante and Nadia both nod and follow her up to the walkway along the edges of the Drill beam train. As Dante ascends to the top and stands to his feet. His eyes adjust to the sunlight as he jostles to the movement of the train- realizing the interior of the cart is stabilized to perfection considering how fast they're moving.
A bright explosion glimmers to the North of the train, five kilometres or so in the distance. The mushroom cloud splits in half as it brushes against the side of the shield and Dante follows the plume that flows over his head until he almost glares into the sun.
The shield goes overhead and covers the entire garrison- he had no idea the shields were just like the one at Vi. If it is the same shielding, then it must mean there are about four vehicles at each ‘corner’ of the Garrison that are hosting the shield.
“How does the shield work?” Nadia asks.
“The latest version is automated and uses the overwatch system to determine the limits of the garrison and maintain a border. There’s a central vehicle dedicated to hosting the shield,” Cassie responds before turning to point at a truck amongst the 21 units barrelling through the wasteland.
Like a massive fountain of light, Dante turns around to see a humvee with an orb atop it, beaming a light that splits into the shield dome in the sky.
“Another instance where the Academy is outdated,” Cassie says.
“What makes this better?” Dante asks.
“Fewer points of failure, and the now single host point is nearly impossible for them to access without destroying the shield first. They used to destroy host vehicles that were near the conflict, so the OWS came up with a solution,” She adds, turning back to the North and pointing at the limit of the shield, “We're taking fire from the direct North. According to the data, the Krix have a garrison of about 50 units, cutting off the Northern hemisphere. Considering this is a relocation mission, what would you suggest we do?” Cassie asks, looking at both Dante and Nadia with a blank expression.
“I’d engage them to the East, to prevent them from circling and clear that path to the RS,” Nadia responds.
“But we wouldn't need multiple troops to do it, just bursts from the drill beam, right?” Dante asks.
“Not bad, you’re about half a brain when you work together,”
“But what about our West?” Dante asks. It's still exposed.
“It is, and we have a few units readied up there too. But, our West face will become our rear defence once we slip to the North East, and start moving straight East to the RS,”
“What are the Krix using?” Dante asks, “Fifty units are a lot more firepower than what we have,”
“Right now they're using ranged air burst to try thinning the shield. They already know it won't work so they're probably figuring out a place to drill through,”
“And if they start drilling?” Nadia asks.
“We plug the hole with ours,” Cassie says with a grin, “They’ll line up real nicely,”
“There’s no way it’s that easy,”
“The Krix are computers. AI, sure- but they're calculated. If we play a clinical defense we can force them into a stalemate. The OWS has the same problem, it struggles to improvise- which is why it chooses to strategize the Macro warfare and allow us to manage Micro warfare,” Cassie continues to survey the landscape as the Northern gunner units start firing back, and the tracers warp through the shield, “We just need to keep moving. If we go too slow or get stuck, they’ll wrap around us and choke us out- Each breath we take will bring us closer to death,”
More data on the Krix appears on Dante’s HUD, alongside another order from Command.
_OVERWATCH: ORDER FROM COMMANDER PRESTON
_DETAILS: Approx. Thirty Krix units arriving in the North East.
“That’s bad,” Nadia turns to Cassie, “We need the East clear, right?”
“That’s right,” Cassie says before pointing at the hatch, “Time to head inside,” She tells Nadia and Dante as the sound of Hammond’s voice appears in their ears.
“Orders, Heir?” Hammond asks.
“Three shots to the North East- mark a line in the sand,” Cassie orders.
“Copy that,” Hammond says.
A loud hiss sounds from the drill, prompting Dante to look up at the giant barrel protruding nearly a hundred meters off the side of the train as its gear grinds and shifts to its alignment.
“Let’s go,” Cassie says as she starts making her way down the ladder, “This’ll do more than blow your eardrums,”