POV Chief Commander Kazuke (Galactic Empire)

"General Randov, we managed to locate the base of the Galactic Federation. Also, we found out that they are boring into the desert, at this moment we do not know why but we are doing our best to find out. Commander Hiron was extremely helpful in this mission. Without him, we would not have been that fast to find them. Therefore I propose to promote him after this whole mission is over."

I reported.

"Chief Commander Kazuke, exceptionally done! I will indeed consider your recommendation. Now that we have found their camp make the bombers ready! I want you to kill every one of them for their insolence of bringing the great General Randov in an uncomfortable situation!"

The holograph of the General shouted joyfully.

What a child, I thought.

"Prepare the bombers. We will depart with the whole army in twenty minutes."

I transmitted to every pilot in my unit.

Twenty minutes later were departed again with the whole army, except now we had several ships equipped with bombs instead of plasma cannons. We also suffered some casualties compared to the second time we headed out (the first time was the space battle.).

We breached the atmosphere with approximately 130 ships. We were heading to the desert in the south. We flew in a bat formation, which allows considerable speed with great flanking opportunities and increases the bombers' protection, as they are not grouped but split everywhere in the bat formation.

After another fifteen minutes of flying, we entered the range of the enemy radars. Just one minute later and we were already getting shot at by enemy long-range anti-air cannons. They were no more than a slight inconvenience. As we reached the firing range of the base, we only lost two ships to those.

"Engage, protect the bombers!"

I ordered.

Hell broke loose.

The Galactic Federation desperately tried to take our bombers down before they could do much damage. They were surprisingly successful though not without heavy casualties.

I was chasing mine to be the fourth kill of this battle when I noticed a hunter ship coming from the right, flanking me. I tried to somehow evade the plasma cannons but to no avail. The back of my two and a half meter long and one meter twenty tall ship got hit, which was instantly destroyed. Thankfully it did not explode, which would have resulted in my instant death. My chances of survival were by no means high, as my ship was starting to fall down from the sky without slowing down. As I had no energy because of the destroyed generator, I could not use the emergency stud. I desperately tried to open the roof of my ship, but it would not even budge.

Fifty meters below the ground, my adrenalin overpumped mind came an idea. I quickly pulled the plasma pistol from my waistline and shoot at the controls. The pressure holding the roof in place was released. I quickly climbed out of the cockpit and jumped, as the ship was nearly hitting the earth, and I did not want to be on it while that happens.

Everything hurt, but thankfully I somehow survived that jump, laying on my back in the desert.

I tried to get up, and with some work and willpower, I managed to. It seems that nothing serious is broken. I made a 360-degree turn to get a sense of my surroundings. Yellow desert as far as the eye can see. Also, my completely destroyed ship is burning out at the moment.

I sighed.

Suddenly the desert I am standing on starts to vibrate.

At first, I was very perplexed, but soon I came to realize that giant worms live in this desert. Sadly it was already too late for me at that point, as a wide-open mouth with a width of five meters was mere seconds away from swallowing me alive.

POV Chief General Rostov

To say I was anxious was an understatement. My first mission as a Chief General and with it, my reputation and future career advancements were on the line. It is easy and fast to promote from a new recruit to the Lieutenant's rank, for example. Talented individuals will take three years, probably less. When you hit the Chief Lieutenant's position, you will fastly realize that promotion is not so easy anymore. The reason for this is quite simple in nature. Soldiers at the rank of Commander and above simply don't die that often. At least for people in the military. They organize the battle through their lieutenants, who fight at the front. Sure, if their frontline gets completely wiped out, Commanders will die too, but that just does not happen that often, as taking such fights where this outcome is possible is a mistake per se. Another factor, of course, is that tons of people are hoping to get that job, so if you don't stand out, you will most likely die ten times over before you are even considered. Your only real chance as a soldier without connections is to accumulate massive military feats and perform outstandingly. Only then do you have a real chance of being promoted or getting the offer to join a special unit.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I myself only got promoted so fast after that lucky encounter with General Aquilla. As the real higher-ups don't care about a petite General, they will get their first impression from this mission. When we manage to secure this planet, my possible future will be limitless. At least as limitless as it can get for a commoner without real personal power.

POV Commander Miller (Galactic Federation, Orio)

As the second air battle on this planet is raging, we are all tense. No matter how many battles you have experienced, war stays war. The Chief Commander is subconsciously biting his nails, a bad habit of his when under extreme tension.

"Fuck"

Commander Alfons, my good friend, cursed out to my left. Another one of our ships has been lost. The only ray of hope is that one of our pilots, Pilot Stein, managed to take out the enemy Chief Commander Kazuke. Our hope was that they get in disarray and have worse coordination, though someone seems to have taken over after some minutes of disorder.

"How long do we still have to last?"

I asked the Chief Ingenieur standing next to me.

"Approximately ten to fifteen minutes."

He responded in a confident tone.

"How is the left flank doing, Lieutenant Walder?"

I asked my friend in the air corps.

"Sir, we are suffering some nasty casualties, but I am confident we can stop them from breaking through. How long do we still have to hold on, Sir?"

"Ten to fifteen minutes, Lieutenant."

I answered with a sight; all those great men and women dying dumped my mood immensely.

At least the relief and joy I will feel afterward will be immense as well.

I reasoned.

Maybe I will even get promoted.

I fantasized.

POV Commander Hiron (Galactic Empire, Orio)

I was devasted when Chief Commander Kazuke, my mentor and friend since I joined the army, was shot from the sky right in front of me.

I got consumed by rage and left formation, flying straight after the enemy pilot who murdered my dear friend.

I shot at him several times with my plasma cannons, every time without success. He evaded every salve skillfully. Sadly he already stabilized his ship from the evasion maneuver when my batteries were able to fire again. He must be an extremely skilled pilot, especially in dog fights, it seems.

POV Chief Commander Reymon (Galactic Federation, leader of the air troops, Orio)

I currently have a really nasty mosquito stuck at my back. I have to use all my skills to evade the above-average shooting skills of the Galactic Empire pilot. He seems to be in a frenzy because of the last ship a shot out of the skies. He even broke formation to chase me.

After I evaded several salves from him, I decided it was time to get on the offensive. I can't dodge forever, after all.

"jo, Rick buddy, could you help me out?"

I asked a friend of mine who was in the near distance.

"Sure, you need help with that eager one?"

He asked.

"Yeah, I will lure him to you. He broke formation; you just have to finish him off."

I informed him.

"Will do."

He answered.

I flew a right hook and heaved the ship up.

The annoying pest kept chasing me.

"We are coming."

"Sure."

Fifty meters away from Rick, the pilot finally realized what I was up to, but it was already too late. I kept flying towards Rick's ship, slightly below so he can fly above me and fire on my pursuer. Just like we trained.

The Galactic Empire's pilot tried to evade his looming doom by flying as much to the right as possible, hoping to get out of firing range.

When the salve of Rick hit the ship, it only managed to turn the course 90 degrees. As such, Rick's ship's whole valley hit the entire left side of the ship from the Galactic Empire.

It instantly exploded, the weak plating only able to protect against maybe one or two shots, and that only if nothing essential was hit, but not an entire salve, consisting of six rounds.

"Thanks, Rick, you have one good with me."

I thanked Rick, full of relief.

And that's why you don't leave formation. I'd rather have average pilots who follow orders and stay in line than a bunch of talented guys who are carried by their emotions, scraping the plan if it does not align with their goal.

As I returned to the frontline, I could see that the enemy seems to have gone into disarray. We probably managed to kill someone crucial for their chain of command.