"As old men talk of rights and rebellion, as women rally young men to defend her order 'for she will surely reform it', we drown the voices of the true victims of this conflict. How can they be heard? The Dead Generation is supposed to be the ones asking if they will have rights, but they're too busy dying in the armies of both sides. And these two sides will abandon them like a tossed toy afterward. Indeed, there will be no justice for them."

- Anonymous Columnist featured in Liberty One Radio.

+++

Queen's Bunker

Broadcast Studio

Amelie looked down at the microphones in front of her. With the intensifying battle raging in Heiflitz, it was now her duty to at least be a morale booster for her troops. William suggested that they would probably be more motivated to "keep fighting" if they heard their Queen personally over the radio.

It made sense, she thought to herself. They're fighting for me. She told herself. For my throne. They joined the Royalist ranks instead of the Putschists because they believed she would be the better leader. The better side.

But now, with them closing on the Royal Capital's last land connection to the rest of Royalist Orland, their formations were disintegrating. They were defecting, deserting, surrendering, or routing in the face of the Putschist advance.

Of course, the attacks on the bridges were the main reason. Anyone would feel fear when their means of escape in battle were being systematically dismantled. But, they needed to keep holding. The retreat must not be a rout, William said. And thus, she planned that her words would improve the morale of the rearguard.

She gave one final check for her script. It wasn't really a word-to-word script. She imagined a scripted piece would not translate much to the hearts of those fighting to the death for her. Instead, it outlined what she would talk about.

Men's rights.

Defense against radicalism.

And her promises.

"Is it ready?" She asked, and the radio operator gave a thumbs up. She took her headphones so she could hear how she sounded on the radio and pulled the microphone a bit closer.

One last breath.

"Brave defenders of Heiflitz," she opened, as she thought of her next words. "This is your Queen speaking. I may be far from you, and I may not be fighting side by side with you, but I can see…no, I can feel your efforts and sacrifices at this very moment."

She looked at her first bullet.

"It must be a dark and…painful reality for you down there,” she said, keeping her voice soft and melancholic. "A terror beyond most would experience. I can imagine you lying there, knee-deep in the rubble. Desperately firing your rifles, your guns. Passing the ammunition to your comrades-in-arms as bullets and bombs fly above you."

She gave herself a pause. Their attention must already be on her at this point. And she really wanted to get close to their individual minds by addressing them directly. She had to pour in her emotions for this.

"But you're there. Holding the line as best as you can. Perhaps you're not perfect. Perhaps you are shaking in fear, thinking that you need to flee now. To run. To desert, or to raise that white rag that you plan to stick into your rifle. But you don't.

"I do not know if you believe in the words of my Government. If you believe our promise that you and your fellow brothers will receive the right to equality with us women, or not. Lamentably, I have no arcane ability to touch your very inner being to know. In fact, no, no woman I know can do that. I doubt any one of us can do it. But I do know that you are fighting for our cause at this very moment. Even when every fiber of your being, your instincts to survive tells you that it isn't worth it. That you should save yourself instead of dying for a Kingdom that left you.

"Those doubts are normal. Those instinctual drives of normal. You are not a coward, young man. You are not. If someone tells you that you are less of a man for quaking in fear, then I tell you, you are the best soldier I've known for facing that fear and holding the line. And I will not listen to anyone who badmouths the soldiers under me for cracking, for you are human.

"I am not here to tell you not to step back. I am not here to tell you to stand tough at all costs and withstand all those assaults. I am merely here to tell you, all of you that I…I believe in you. This battle isn't the last, reprieve is far, and many of you will die. But I know it is within you to fight back. For you've always already fought. I believe in you, do not forget that."

Amelie ended her speech with that. She certainly felt riled up herself, and her blood was still pumping.

I hope that worked. A tiny voice behind her head said. I hope it did.

+++

Halia

Near Emerald Bridge

William looked down for a second after her speech ended.

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Damn, I'm gonna cry.

"Gee…she really has it in her, doesn't she?" One of the officers who commanded a REGAL SAM Battalion said. They were all gathered in a tent beside one of the deployed Phased Array Systems that dotted the south side of Halia, which faced Heiflitz and the bridges. "Women can really get into your head at times."

"Yeah, well, speech's over, let's not dally around." William declared as they turned their attention back to him. "Is the deployment complete?"

"For the most part." One of the officers replied. "The 19th is still setting up their Phased Array though. Will take a while."

"Six battalions? I assume you all are now coordinating as one."

"Yes, we are. Fourteen enemy Zappers already tried to make a score. We forced them off their attack runs. Though, we do need extra interceptors within the next few hours."

William looked back at one of Halia's main logistics organizers. He brought Major McKenzie with him to take notes. SAM interceptors from Rebenslof were already starting to dwindle in the frontlines for weeks already. And William wanted that fixed.

"Major, do we have the capacity?"

He flipped his notes.

"At the moment, we are still requisitioning for more shipments from Rebenslof. The last shipment is now down at twenty-five percent of its original volume. We will try to get it here as quickly as possible though."

"But in the next few days?"

"...I'm afraid SAM interceptors don't just materialize out of thin air. We would have to wait for the shipments. It shouldn't take more than three days though."

Damn it, so if we run out of missiles by nightfall, we're fucked. These guys are going to have to ration it well.

He turned back at the gathered group of officers. Already he could tell that they knew what he was about to say.

"Gentlemen, I believe you've heard the conundrum we find ourselves in." They all nodded. "As such, I have one standing order. Priority targets only. Stretch those interceptors as long as you can. Do not let them get those bridges, but do not run out of ammunition. It's a tall order, but…"

What could he say? Oh, that.

"Remember. Her Majesty believes in you. It is quite ridiculous, faith does not expand our interceptor stockpiles, but it won't hurt. Good luck."

The two of them left the tent. Outside was a flurry of activity. Just a mere glance at the bridges, and he could see the occasional columns of tanks and the HMLVs passing through from Heiflitz.

The ongoing retreats were spaced deliberately to prevent them from being a juicy target. It would be an awful result if a bomb was dropped and the bridges went down while an entire battalion of tanks was in transit, after all.

But that meant the retreat was going slow. And there were still troops fighting in the city proper to hold off the Putschists. A considerable number of troops would be cut off should the bridges get bought down.

And we're running out of interceptors. Damn, this entire thing.

"Do we really have no other sources of those SAM interceptors?" William asked McKenzie, who shook his head.

"Nope. Practically no factories are online in Halia. And all of those stored have been used up. This battle has been long. We're completely reliant on them to supply us because everything is gone."

That made sense. William already knew the volume of sheer consumption each day of the frontlines. Each day, they had to get in so much munitions alone that of course, there wouldn't be anything left inside the city that wasn't sourced from the north.

Practically everything came from Rebenslof and the Free Confederation because this was an industrial war that tossed everything to the meat grinder. And Halia didn't have any significant industry left to supply the battle. This city was a ruined slag, and its entire workforce had been evacuated or conscripted.

It was twistedly ironic in a way. Both sides, regardless of who won, would be rewarded with nothing but a city of rubble. William had to give it to them, they may have not taken the crown jewel of the matriarchy, but they sure did reduce it to rubble.

At the very least, the road, subway, and rail systems of the city still functioned. Quite frankly, they targeted the electricity grid and the factories (and as he expected from those extremists - the noble and residential estates that housed the matriarchs they hated), instead of roads and railway, as such, he knew that their capacity to move in supplies wasn't as badly mauled.

"But you can ship them quickly should they arrive?" William asked as the two stopped in front of a road where a column of Löwe's was parked.

"We can. We'll prioritize the interceptors over everything else. Everyone is on the same page anyway. Our boys in Heiflitz are the priority."

"Good."

+++

Heiflitz

H-0 Tower

General Holl silently watched the Emerald Bridge as night fell. The gunfire and explosions from the west side of the city were still ongoing, as almost eight of his brigades that were now assigned for the rearguard role held on to the city center.

He did listen to the Queen's speech over the radio. It was broadcast in open frequency, as it did not contain any military intel. He even believed that many on the Putschist side probably listened to it.

What he didn't expect was that his troops would actually believe her words and fight hard. He expected that the Heiflitz City Hall would fall by three in the afternoon, but it was already night and the 73rd Infantry Brigade kept the City Hall and the surrounding blocks under their control.

The explanation of course was simple. Many of these men also signed up to protect women, even when they felt slighted by them, for their vague sense of duty and honor - to women. Hearing a young woman, their Queen, openly telling them that she believes in them was like a drug to keep them on the line.

It was so ironic. He almost felt an uncomfortable fear from it. Women truly held a death grip on the minds of men. Mere sweet words and they would rally to fight. Subtly, he could only give a little thanks to the universe that their new Queen wasn't a malevolent one.

An aide reported to him that two more brigades successfully reached Halia. He gave the aide a nod and told him that his next set of orders was to prepare the next fallback line. He expected that the defenses on the current lines wouldn't last any longer than three more hours.

Before the aide left, however, another launch of SAM interceptors from the riverbanks took their attention. The night sky also lit up, as AAA gunfire opened up in tandem. There were three, no, four missiles that detonated mid-air.

Then - Emerald Bridge lit up. Crap! The AAA gunfire already shut down, and both he and the aide, and he imagined, everyone was focused on the Emerald Bridge. It was smoking, and he could see tanks and vehicles backing off from the bridge.

Damn it! The bridge didn't collapse, it seemed, but it was damaged. It didn't seem safe to cross anymore. And it was the biggest bridge they had to Halia. The retreat would absolutely be delayed again. Damn it!

It seemed that this night would be nothing but bad for him and his troops.