"Morality is a mere farce of those that could afford such luxury. Equality cannot be achieved by being virtuous. Only through violence can rights be established and enforced."

- Provisional President Sullivan Rimpler's "Proclamation of the New Republic".

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June 12, 2024

14:00 Hours

City of Halia, Kingdom of Orland

The Battle of Halia

"William, why did we stop?"

"Another air raid."

The loud air raid sirens could be heard inside the SUV. Instinctively, Amelie looked up at the darkened skies, a result of the rampant fires that raged in the capital.

The cries of demise were deafening, and she could see many civilians scattering from the road, their hands on their ears as they ran for dear life. Orlish soldiers dismounted at the ground, barked orders, and directed these people to differing directions, mostly to nearby subway stations.

Amelie looked at William, as he calmly conversed to someone on his radio. Truthfully, the anxiety that waved over Amelie was overwhelming, yet she refused to squirm in her seat.

"W-William?" Naturally, the sudden crack in her voice betrayed her. William looked at her as if nothing happened.

"Nope, don't worry. They won't hit us. I doubt it. Or at least that's what the reports say."

"Can you at least be better at reassuring people?"

"I sometimes try."

Already, the distant booms of Halia's overwhelmed AA systems opened up. The rapid thuds of the RPDS systems played in tandem with the distant swooshes of the city's available SAM systems.

When she looked up at the windows, she could see faint explosions in the distance, alongside thin streaks of smoke that rose in the sky.

"There it is."

She noticed that William was pointing at something in the sky. She followed it, and her eyes fell on a distant, faint figure that she could barely see. The aircraft zoomed quickly over the city before it seemed to disappear from her view.

"Where did it go?"

"Southwards. Possibly going to turn westward to Heindhöff's lines."

"Where did it pass through?"

"Equene District." And just as he said that a massive bomb detonated in the distance. Amelie's eyes were affixed to the massive, orange, and yellow-tinted fireball, which rose as a massive black plume within seconds.

"Goddess…"

William continued conversing with his radio, his voice almost faint as her attention was fully focused on the terror kilometers away. It was so distant, yet so close.

"What did they hit?"

"HL East End Line."

"The what?"

"I mean, the subway system in the Equene District. Bunker buster. The bomb must have penetrated deep. They must be trying to hamper underground logistics."

"But…civilians are hiding in the subways."

He didn't reply further. His eyes didn't even shake as he stared at her, yet hers did. She could not believe it. To do such a thing…how could they?

"William…"

"What all of this means is that we need the damned air force here soon. We're moving. Don't get too distracted."

"I understand…"

He drove forward on the road, even with occasional stops as the crowds, rubble, and abandoned civilian vehicles blocked the road.

"Colonel Kleist is calling for us."

"Aren't we supposed to go to that hospital?"

"Not now. There's a situation developing in the frontlines." He turned the wheel to the left, and they passed through a wide avenue, its left side already cratered and closed off by warning signs.

"So we're returning to the Palace."

"Yes."

"Then please make haste."

"As you wish."

…

The Queen's bunker, as it was aptly named, was merely a few blocks away from the Palace itself. Buried deep under the Office of the Ministry of the Interior, it was an extremely classified building by the Royal Guard.

So much so that even the Queen was, to put it quite mildly, surprised when she had learned of it. Lady Lubaine herself was the one who authorized her to move to the bunker, alongside the command staff of the Halian Garrison and the main members of the Orlish Government who decided to stand their ground in the capital.

"It's so suffocating around here."

"Better than above. Would be dead if a bomb struck."

"What if those 'bunker buster' bombs were dropped here?"

"Look, this complex is 28 meters underground with 8 meters of reinforced concrete. If anything penetrates this place, and, we also have to assume that they found us in the first place, then the war is lost."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Alright, look, I was just asking."

"I get it."

The elevator stopped. Its doors opened, slowly revealing a busy hallway underneath. The two walked briskly, as troops, officers, and staff worked around the clock in the busy command center.

Soon, they found themselves deeper and deeper in the underground complex, as the lights in the metallic hallways seemed to dim and the people around became rarer.

The door was marked as, "Situation Room" and it was sealed by a heavy blast door opened for them to enter.

Once Amelie was inside, she was once again back in the same dreaded room where they had met again and again earlier. The room was filled with screen after screen, all serving a different purpose. Instinctively her eyes were locked at a screen that showed the "Known Enemy Positions".

So they're approaching us both through the Tor Bridge in the west and Heiflitz from the south. But we do seem to have some presence on that river…

"Your Majesty, may I have your attention please?"

Colonel Jonathan Kleist, perhaps, not the kind of man that Amelie knew much about. Recently, he had always been with her, as they discussed plans to defend the capital.

She had met him rarely, mainly, because she truly doubted his loyalties. Being the closest army officer of significant rank with her in the capital, she had always harbored suspicion against him.

However, his recent actions had proven that he was firmly on her side.

"Please, Colonel, begin your report."

He nodded as she took a seat.

"Your Majesty, the latest report from the OHC has been quite problematic. We have been receiving significant reinforcement, already six brigades were sent that had been in contact with the enemy in the Ludendorf bridge for hours, but it is not enough."

"Do explain why, Colonel."

"Heindhöff's attacks had not been limited towards Halia. Multiple fronts have developed, and the chaos and the fog of war are preventing us from properly assessing where the enemy is and where the frontlines really are, but what we do know, is that they are pushing at all sides, and as much as 40% of the country has fallen under the so-called Provisional Government's control."

He pointed at a screen that showed a map again. Orland, being a nation with two coasts, seemed almost split into three. In the center, a massive blot of red was clear, which almost split the Grand Duchy and the Free Confederation, which were situated on the east coast of Orland, from the Archduchy of Löt and the Duchy of Oldrach on the west coast.

All that connected them was what appeared to be a gradually thinning stretch of territory in southern Orland.

Of course, in the middle, and from its center up north, all of the Free State of Wuringen and its occupied states were red, with a massive cross that symbolized all territories it held.

What further worried her, was the fact that they were fully connected to their northern neighbor, the once Kingdom of Lieplatz, which had been overthrown by another junta earlier. She dreaded the possibility of them aiding Heindhöff.

The view shot a chill up Amelie's spine.

My Kingdom…

"Currently, heavy combat has been recorded in the Ludendorf Axis, specifically here, but also the Westlauren Axis and the Löt Axis. It would appear that they are also attempting to capture the City of Rebenslof up north, and the City of Thein in the west. And that is why reinforcements are taking their good time to redeploy here."

Amelie mused that, yes, indeed, her position in the capital was at great risk. But to flee was no option, not yet. She needed to be at the helm, at the capital. The fall of Halia would mean defeat, regardless of whether she escaped or not.

With such motivation that flowed into her veins, her eyes almost glowed. While she feared and doubted, she had already declared not to surrender. Regardless of how much the war situation deteriorated.

"Colonel, then what is the plan?"

He pressed something on the device that he held, as the screen changed. The map focused on the Halian frontlines, and two unit insignias appeared on the side of the screen, alongside two blue arrows that ran through Heiflitz - the city on the southern bank of the Ludendorf River (and of Halia) straight to another river east of the city.

"These two brigades arrived from the south 3 hours ago. These are the 123rd Air Assault Brigade and the 54th Light Mech Regiment."

Immediately, William shot up from his seat.

"Wait, a mech brigade? Aren't those things still experimental? We don't even have many of those things."

"Indeed."

He pressed the device again, and the screen showed an image of what Amelie would describe as a fearsome mechanical spider. The thing had six legs, with a massive cannon affixed on top, almost as if it was a tank with legs. Truly, she sometimes marveled at men's infinite ingenuity in creating metallic abominations to murder more souls.

"The M20 Light Support System, or the 'Panther' is a new experimental breed of Orland's armored vehicles. They were developed with Orland's new robotic technologies in the late years of the Great War, as a way to break the stalemate in the trenches. Currently, we believe these things would do well in urban environments against conventional armored vehicles."

His voice turned grim.

"And that's why the 54th is being redeployed here. We know that the Putschists bought these things, and they are currently ravaging our Löwe's in urban firefights, and High Command would not allow such a situation in the capital. More would be sent, but the 54th would serve as an effective rearguard in these towns and hold these bridges for a while."

Rearguard? Amelie had researched a bit about military terms. A rearguard unit was placed at the rear of a retreating army, usually to hold the enemy at bay and buy time.

Indeed, the Orlish Army was in a shattered retreat at the moment, but she didn't feel that a rearguard action was something good either. Most of the time, rearguard units were decimated in the Great War, unable to hold overwhelming assaults and being destroyed in desperate last stands.

"How long would they need to hold out?" Asked Amelie, as Kleist turned back to her.

"At most, around a day to 2 days at maximum, as our units in the east reported that Heindhöff's column is approaching Heiflitz. We might also detonate these bridges anyway."

"Detonate?"

Her reaction was reminiscent of any civilian upon hearing such nonsense.

But those bridges are a part of Orland's infrastructure!

William turned to her. Naturally, being militarily ignorant, for lack of better terms, he had to explain to her clearly the necessity of such a tactic. Civilians, indeed, how tiring.

"Detonating bridges is a way to deny an advancing force access to a river crossing. However, we can not conduct that immediately. Intact bridges are necessary if we wish to retake these lands."

She didn't like the sound of it. It was almost as if they were destroying their own to deny the enemy access. That reminded her of those history lessons. Scorched earth tactics, and…all the nasty things she heard about it.

But…if it's what must be done, then I have no choice.

"I see…then do we have to detonate it immediately?"

"We will find that out as the situation develops."

She turned back to the Colonel. She had ordered him (as he and William were de facto in charge of the defense of the capital) to prioritize evacuations of civilians both from Halia and Heiflitz. The recent strikes had especially shaken her, as she thought that many of her subjects could at least take shelter in underground air raid shelters and subways.

Clearly, that had not been the case.

"Colonel, how are the evacuations?"

"They are ongoing, but many difficulties are present with the constant air strikes. I'm afraid that we would need more SAM systems to cover our airspace or friendly aircraft to at least wrestle some air superiority back into our hands. Otherwise, the trains and convoys departing Halia would be under constant bombardment."

Amelie nodded. So that was the situation. Indeed, the air situation above Halia had been their greatest problem since the start. The constant bombardment and lack of air defense had left Halia devastated.

She made up her mind.

"Then I'm directly calling the head of the Air Force."

"But he's already working on-" Kleist tried to explain.

"I need him to work faster. What was his name again?"

"Lewis Zimmerman, Your Majesty. Chief Air Marshal Lewis Zimmerman."

She repeated his name a few times to herself. She wanted to make the call to him immediately.

"Then get me on a line with him, now."