Chapter 38
It was 7 pm on the 27th before Matt finished with all the paperwork he’d been assigned. He’d reached out to base command, and they’d decided that each member of Savage Company would read between 2 and 3 of the letters aloud during the ceremony. It would serve as a potent reminder in what would probably be the last such ceremony until the war was over. There just wasn’t likely to be the time or manpower for something like this again until Earth wasn’t under direct threat.
While he hadn’t had time to read the info First Sergeant Cabral had sent over, he had heard plenty of people talking about it and deemed it worth his time to stop by. Having heard several descriptions of the white glowing cube, Matt found the experience as described right up until he’d walked into the cloudy substance of the entrance.
The world on the other side was vastly different from how anyone else had described it. Instead of a world filled with shelves and a white, round desk with floating squares, he found himself in the same vast darkness he’d experienced on returning from the other world he and Lyndis had followed an elf commander into.
No voices called to him, and he again seemed unable to move. After what seemed hours, he found himself returned to earth.
Congratssssss!!
You’ve [error] with [error] and basic [error].
The system shop is unavailable to you as part of our deal. Death offers no exchange, only a way out.
The message Matt received was disconcerting, to say the least. He continued walking away, wondering what had happened. When he opened his character sheet to double-check, he found all of his gear, skill, and upgrade tokens gone, but his credit balance was the same. Nothing new had been added to his character sheet other than the increases in his aggregate stats due to his increased level.
With access to the system shop denied to him for now, he had no choice but to return to his on-base housing and call it a night.
The following morning he was awake early, checking over his dress uniform and making sure everything was inspection-ready just in case. At 0700 he left his home and made his way to the location Savage Company had been assigned to form up. The whole company was already formed up, dressed in recently checked dress uniforms. After taking command of the company from Lieutenant Soto, Matt marched the company to the base HQ.
Due to the sobre nature of the event, Matt felt it was inappropriate to call cadence, instead simply calling the same “Left…, Left…, Left, Right, Left.” every soldier was familiar with from the first day of basic training. When they arrived, Matt lined them up in the center of the area, providing space for the other formations that’d be joining them. The others present here would be the companies that had lost soldiers.
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The ceremony took 4 hours. By the end, many stories of heroism had been shared, and not a single eye remained dry. A few medals were quietly awarded, and then those present were released for lunch. Savage and Jaws companies were the only two present who would be joining the expedition to Fort Eisenhower.
Most of the soldiers in the company decided to eat at a nearby restaurant, but the officers were expected to meet with base command, where lunch would be provided. The meeting was relatively short and to the point, with very little of the ceremony and standing on precedent that Matt had grown used to during his career. Savage and what was left of Jaws, along with an escort of two companies of tanks and a platoon of supply vehicles, would make all possible speed toward Augusta GA, where they would wait for up to three days to conduct surveillance and meet any other reinforcing units.
At that point, Savage Company would assist Jaws Company and the other units present in retaking Fort Eisenhower or destroying key infrastructure and data backup nodes there before falling back. There could be no failure in this task. If the elf forces managed to crack the data repositories and network nodes present, Earth forces wouldn’t have any chance at communicating with anything more complex than smoke signals and shouted orders. In either case, any forces that remained standing would either stay on post or retreat far enough to avoid detection and await further orders.
If the base was retaken, and no other friendlies were able to respond, they had orders to hold the fort. If they were forced to retreat after destroying the designated targets, and no further orders were received in a month, they were to proceed to Atlanta and try to return the city to human control, rescuing any civilians they could.
After being dismissed, all 4 officers made their way to the staging point. As their respective units began to filter in, in groups of 2’s and 3’s, Matt felt a sense of determination building within him. The last 3 to 5 days had been exhausting in many ways, but they had ultimately led to humanity having a small chance. Now, Matt would have to shift focus to optimizing that chance. In spite of all that’d happened, the war was really only just starting.
Lyndis had managed to purchase something from the system store that she assured him would increase the combat effectiveness of any exo-mecha suits under her leadership, and most of the other pilots had managed to purchase upgrades of one kind or another that made the platform viable on the battlefield again.
The data packet First Sergeant Cabral had sent out had helped several people get a better grasp of what they would need, and while it had come out later than Matt might have preferred, every member of the company had a better idea of what they would be spending their currencies on in the future.
Matt and Captain Miller plotted several possible courses of travel depending on any number of variables, their companies forming up and checking gear one final time. Soon, the rumble of tanks could be heard rolling up, and only minutes after that the supply trucks pulled in. 15 minutes later, after each company commander performed a quick final check, Matt issued the order for his company to begin the march.
Roughly 200 soldiers marched out of the base, all of them having some experience fighting elves and being at least level 5. Only time would tell how many of them would survive the next two weeks.