In the control room, eight individuals relayed information from members of the First, Second, and Third Squads to members from the other Squad or their respective leaders, and vice versa. The current situation on the battlefield, casualties, updates on the enemy's movement, strategies—these individuals played an important role in employing the necessary stratagem required to accomplish Le Morte's mission on the island.
As for the base itself enclosing the control room, six hovering high-tech drones covered all sides of the forest. The drones' visual line of sight had a range of about half a kilometer at the very least. Aside from these drones, volunteers from the three Squads patrolled the woodland, reducing any chance for an ambush.
"Hey, it's six o'clock. Let's head back and switch with the others," said a brunette with an assault rifle in her hands to a dark-haired man.
"The one I'm switching with made a deal to come at seven though," said the man, "You go first."
"Um, okay. Have you told Commander Finnerty?"
"Yup. Don't worry, it's not like there's a bear around here. Even if there is one or two, I have a gun. So just go."
The man shooed his patrol partner and she pouted before leaving. After she traipsed through a few deciduous shrubs, scattered yellow foliage on the ground flew upward and got blown away by a sudden strong wind. The woman looked up at dozens of white birch trees in front of her and then at the orange sky.
"Suddenly windy, huh," she muttered.
The woman resumed her walk back to the base and when another wind blew at her face, she closed her eyes.
"Ack! Leaves all over the place!"
She shook her head and started to jog. A glint from a metal object caught her attention, and when she turned her head towards it, the object stabbed through her throat just as quickly.
"Gakh! Aacck..."
The woman dropped down to the ground after her assailant yanked the bloodied knife out. He wore black gears from neck to feet, goggles covered his eyes.
With a tap at an earpiece fitted to the man's ear, he spoke out, "Four tangos eliminated. We'll move to their hideout right now."
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
"J-Jessica, the drones are being destroyed one after another," said a woman whose desk was next to Jessica's.
Red tabs popped up on the screens Jessica and eight other members of Le Morte were using to monitor the situation outside. They responded by relaying the displayed information to respective leaders of the First, Second, and Third Squads. Swiftly, Jessica entered a few commands through her keyboard and her screen flashed—blue tabs replaced the alarming red tabs popping up before and illuminated the lapis lazuli walls of the control room with contrasting light.
The single, large curved monitor at the forefront of the room displayed what the security drones were recording through their camera. Ten split-screen—two rows of five—four of them filled with ominous black.
This meant four drones had been taken out by the advancing enemy. Seeing this, Jessica bit her nail as an image of soldiers in black entered her mind.
"Boss, enemies are approaching from both the southwest and northeast. ETA six minutes before they reach the base," said Jessica through her mic.
"I see. I'm on my way to the control room. Have others intercept them along the way," instructed Richarde at the other end, "Send Beatrice to the southwest and Vlad to the northeast. They'll become the focal point of our offense."
"Understood, Sir!"
Jessica relayed the message to the two mentioned individuals. They complied immediately and moved to the checkpoint where they would meet the few members of their respective Squads.
Beatrice, the one assigned to lead the First Squad's assault team stepped into the white birch-filled forest and halted when she saw her comrades.
"Eight of us. Is this enough?" said Beatrice to Jeremy.
"It will. We have to make do with this for now. There's a smaller chance of being exposed to the enemy if we move in a smaller number," replied Jeremy.
"Good point. Here's hoping that the Teria soldiers aren't too many. We don't want them to run past us straight to the base."
Beatrice's team split into two smaller groups and moved further from the base with their assault rifles. They had put on bulletproof vests and military pants before tackling the task at hand.
Jeremy's right eye peered through his rifle's optic mount as he inched through the area.
"Jeremy, we can use this wind to our advantage. What do you think?" said a man twenty-five degrees to Jeremy's left.
"Good idea. I'll tell the other group."
The deep orange sky cast pitch-black shadows onto the forest. Jeremy slowed his movement ever so often to check his surroundings. He pointed his assault rifle left and right.
"We can't hear incoming enemy's footsteps with this wind. We'll just have to rely on our night vision goggles," said Jeremy through his earpiece.
"B-But it's still during the day."
"The area is as dark as it can get for us right now. It's good enough."
"You're right—"
Bullets pierced through the man's torso and he fell down, followed by another teammate at the easternmost position in the group.
"Tsk!" Jeremy flitted behind a white birch tree shadowed by the sun on the horizon. He clasped his rifle's handguard and pistol grip. Looking through its optical scope, he shifted his aim from the left side hastily to the right.
Stolen story; please report.
Jeremy pulled the night vision goggle resting on his forehead and a slightly high-pitched 'iiink' sound filled his ears. Purple soil and dark trees entered his vision just as quickly; but no sign of enemy soldiers whatsoever in the vicinity. He considered his options, and once he was certain that they'd taken cover as well, Jeremy took the time to reveal his situation to Beatrice's group.
"I'm ahead of you. Give us a minute or two. Don't get yourself killed!" said Beatrice through his mic.
"I won't, Beatrice. It's not my time yet."
Jeremy had his back against the tree bark as his rifle swerved back and forth between his two exposed sides. His eyes kept track of the leaves' movement, and when a few halted in mid-air as if it was obstructed by something, Jeremy's eyes opened wide.
His goggles picked up a purple fluorescent outline in the shape of a man, reddish-orange color filled the space inside the outline. The man had his rifle aimed directly at Jeremy.
"You've gotta be—" Jeremy spun his body to the left and stepped into the other side of the tree before bullets whizzed past his head.
"That's one! Where's the rest of them?"
Gunshots rang out as the Teria soldier aiming his weapon at Jeremy inched closer. Jeremy, on the other hand, knew he'd to kill the Teria soldier before the rest of them came out of hiding.
Holding onto this thought, Jeremy crouched to one knee and after expelling a breath, he quickly let himself fell to the ground and out of cover. His eyes spotted glowing orange heat through his goggles before pulling his rifle's scope into his line of sight.
He fired his rifle, and the enemy's body shook violently and collapsed.
"Get up, get up, get up! Take cover!" Jeremy said to himself as he ran to the safety of another large tree. But this time, after a dozen seconds, he found himself facing three Teria soldiers who revealed themselves out of hiding.
He lifted his own gun in response when suddenly, his enemies fell one after another. Gunshots rang out and two of the Teria soldiers descended down to Earth. The last enemy was nonplussed when his teammates died in a mere two seconds.
"No way!" The Teria soldier took three to four instinctive step-backs when Beatrice emerged from a tree seven meters away. He pulled the trigger as his mouth screamed through the black mask in a vain hope to kill the young woman. Beatrice lowered her body and slid across the ground in the next moment—avoiding the hasty shots fired.
When Beatrice had slid to the Teria soldier's side, she pulled out a single-action revolver from its holster and shot overhead. The bullet cut through the air and shattered the man's jaw before it went through his skull.
"Phew... You're lucky we were near! You could've been dead a few seconds ago," said Beatrice as she opened her revolver's cartridge.
"No kidding..." Jeremy breathed a sigh and lowered his weapon. "You brought a revolver with you? That's a first. You usually would, um, bring a Glock or ones who can fit 9mm Luger cartridge during missions. Smaller, less recoil..."
"I wanted to test this out. Ever since I saw the blades Gawain brought in, I have this itch of wanting to get myself into close combat. Anyway, don't let your guard down. There must be more of them nearby."
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
In the northeast of the birch-populated forest, a battle arose between the eleven members of the Second Squad and about a dozen Teria soldiers.
With darkness slowly engulfing the forest, night goggles helped immensely in the Squad's retaliation. Though even with it equipped, their fewer number couldn't hope to match the enemy, as the Teria soldiers went to their flank and started to dwindle down their number even more.
"G-Get back! Get behind the trees!" hollered a man, "What are you doing!? Get—"
The man waved his hand towards his teammates at the rear and bullet went into his head in the next second. Before his body collapsed, a fusillade of bullets tore through his arm and pulverized his torso almost immediately.
Those eight people at the rear quickly retreated further back. They took cover behind the trees, panting and sweating after five minutes fighting the Teria soldiers. One dared to poke her head out to locate the enemy and a bullet pierced through her left eye and she fell.
"H-How are we going to get that sniper!?" said a man with chestnut-brown hair whose eyes were on the woman's corpse. He held his rifle close to his chest, his back pressed against the tree bark.
"Sir is onto it! Let him handle the sniper and we... er, the Teria soldiers up ahead!" said his friend taking cover five meters to his right, a brown-skinned man with thick curly hair, "Tell the others to regroup and cover the flank. We'll get those Teria soldiers one by one!"
Close to five-hundred meters far from the battlefield sat a Teria soldier who'd crouched on one knee. He cracked his neck, satisfied the coal-black sniper rifle in his hands killed a few of the resistance. After a few moments determining the wind's direction, he lied down on his chest and stretched open the rifle's arrowhead-shaped muzzle brake. This type of muzzle brake comprised of two tubings firmly attached at right angles below the rifle's long barrel.
The Teria soldier rested the muzzle brake back on the ground, but this time, he shifted his rifle's position somewhat to the left. His prey had taken safety behind a white birch's tree bark, but this didn't concern the man at all.
He could wait for the unsuspecting woman he caught within his sight to poke her head out, and then, it would be her demise.
"...I got you now," he said with a wide grin on his face.
Suddenly, a finger pulled a gun's trigger repeatedly and a loud cry echoed throughout the yellow forest.
"Aaagkhh... Urkkh... Since when... How can you find me here—Aaagkh!"
The sniper held onto his bloodied arm as he dragged his body away from a burly man with a scruffy grey beard and mustache. His grey hair tied into a ponytail. This man, Vlad Finnerty pointed his handgun in the sniper's direction and narrowed his eyes. Even though he had the upper hand, Vlad didn't finish off the Teria soldier.
"...Y-You could've shot me in the head, but why... ugh... Why did you shot my arm instead!? Are you toying with me, huh!?" said the Teria soldier, the blood flowing from his arm had slathered the yellow leaves underneath.
"One bullet for one of my men you killed. I shot three just now, so that arm of yours is as good as useless," said Vlad, his voice came out hoarse.
"H-Huh!?"
"Just one more. Stay still."
Vlad fired his handgun once and the bullet went straight into the Teria soldier's skull.
"Perhaps next time, you should take into account that as a sniper, camping at the same spot for a long while—even if you're invisible—will reveal yourself to your enemy. There can only be so many places for a sniper to shoot at us and on a windy day like this, you need to move to a higher place, like this small hill."
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
The six remaining Teria soldiers pressuring the Second Squad had moved forward, closer to the base. One of them sneaked behind using her invisibility and stabbed through a man's chest. The man's eyes bulged and not more than two seconds later, his body dropped to the ground. Another Teria soldier managed to get to the Second Squad's rear and lifted her rifle at one of the seven that had their backs facing her.
"I got you—" were the last words she uttered before a barrage of bullets shredded her flesh and she fell, defeated. A brown-skinned man with thick curly hair had shot her from her blindspot at point-blank.
He swiftly took cover behind a tree just as bullets passed him.
"How many more!?" he shouted at his mic, "We kinda need Sir to join the fray right now. Where is he!?"
A woman responded on the other side, tilting her head as a finger pressed onto her own mic, "He's on his way—Ah, no, Sir is right there!"
The man holding onto his assault rifle crouched and then poked his head out after hearing several garbled shouts.
Vlad Finnerty knocked one Teria soldier to the floor with his arm. In the next critical moment, surrounded by five Teria soldiers who had turned to face him, he charged at the closest one while carrying his assault rifle. He dashed her in the head and choked another with one arm—holding him captive.
The remaining three Teria soldiers floundered for a few moments. They dithered, glancing at the trees where the Second Squad was hiding anticipating a surprise attack from them. However...
Three drones emerged from the deep orange sky which pulled the Teria soldiers' attention to it. By doing so, they left a window of opportunity.
"Graakh!"
"Urkhhh!"
"Oohgg!"
Vlad let go of his assault rifle and slit the soldier's throat in his captive. He quickly picked up his gun on the ground and shot down one of the three distracted Teria soldiers.
His actions heralded a salvo of gunshots coming from the members of the Second Squad which killed off the remnant enemy soldiers.
"They must be more of them out there! Find them! Cull their number as many as you can!" shouted Vlad Finnerty as his men moved out of their cover.