“Federalist forces committed another offensive against Thein this early morning. Royalist and Federalist aircraft dueled in the skies of Orland, as Federalist armored corps punched through fortified defense lines manned by Royalist infantry. The 27th and 28th Armored Brigades however stopped much of the advance, which managed to push back Royalist forces nineteen kilometers from the original battle lines in just a few hours. Federalist forces seemed to have employed great tactical precision on Royalist forces, with heavy artillery and missile strikes hitting ammo depots, fuel depots, concealed SPG and artillery employments, fortified bunkers, and other targets that weakened the multi-layered defense lines of Royalist troops. Reports also came that multiple newly-raised all-women units of the OAF shattered way too fast during combat, with footage of multiple armored vehicles originating from these battalions seen ‘running’ on highways and roads during the opening hours of the offensive. The OAF is still containing the attack, as FOAF forces also suffer ever increasing losses the further they go through the layered Royalist defenses on the frontline.”
- Liberty One Radio
Northwestern Kusari
Laresh Region
July 4, 2025
6th Marine Regiment
2nd Marine Battalion
A Company
Man, are we really saving those Kusaris with just this?
Corporal Oakley Fried watched from his seat as their company’s new ICV-24 Stryders from 3rd and 4th Platoon passed by them. They were eight-wheeled armored vehicles, a bridge between the APC and IFV, that were being slowly sent to Marine and Army motorized units to fully mechanize them. He felt kinda jealous about it. Unlike his platoon, they were still driving around in their HMLV.
I guess those new 35mm autocannons sure do look kinda cool at least. Beats this unarmored thing and this crappy machine gun. Oakley thought, as he looked at the remote-controlled turrets on top of one of the Stryders passing him. Wonder if I can sign up to be a gunner on those things once we move into one. Hopefully, Sergeant Higgs can get behind that.
He looked at the newly promoted Corporal Timmy Huppert who seemed to be fumbling around with his rifle. Right then, Sergeant Mark Higgs called out that they would be moving out at once. Oakley just sighed, as he stowed whatever he was holding to the side, saying aye and moving his way to the gunner’s post.
In seconds, Corporal Jerry Kazper, their driver, pressed his feet on the gas, following the convoy of HMLVs from the rest of their company up ahead, while Oakley grabbed their heavy machine gun, and turned it to the side, sighing to himself as he looked at his watch.
04:32 hours. He yawned. Man…Kusari kinda sucks.
Below him, Timmy, Mark, and Jerry all chatted endlessly as they drove through the rough, Kusari countryside. Meanwhile, Oakley remained silent, just watching the badly paved roads, the muddy fields, and the still half-flooded rural houses that they were passing by. He especially found it jarring how, within two minutes, they passed by an obviously overly flooded rice field—the water seemingly brown in color
Wonder if it’ll rain that badly again tomorrow. Oakley thought, watching the small droplets of rain above him. They said the typhoon was already gone, so probably not, Oakley hoped. But really, it might still be there. Quite frankly, within twenty minutes, it was just the elevated road that they were driving on that was untouched by the deep mud and flood in the countryside.
Soon, they also passed by the remnants of the Kusari retreat on the road. Random T-96 wrecks. Then there were the BTPs and other Order Pact personnel carriers that were acquired by the Empire during the Cold War when Kusari and Hebei remained closely tied to the Larissan side. All of them were now nothing but wrecks. Many didn’t even have their personnel recovered yet, as Oakley saw a few rotting corpses of dead Kusari soldiers on the mud or the flooded craters around them.
Another hour passed, before they reached their area of operations near the frontline, as advancing KDUs managed to push a few kilometers against the CFN last night. They passed a battle-torn town, where a bunch of Royal Guard Löwes and M8 IFVs were parked, their crew and soldiers clearly still recovering from the harsh combat operations.
“Damn, look at them ladies,” Timmy said from below. “They look like they went through some tough shit, man.”
“Course they did,” Oakley said, eyeing a blonde woman on the side of a parked medical HMLV, her head covered by a massive bandage that blocked her left eye, with nurses still tending to her. In fact, as they continued, Oakley could see a lot more injured Orlishwomen being carried into parked medical HMLVs, which did numbers on his mind. “They took this place in a determined assault just hours ahead of us. They’re really fighting hard.”
“I guess…” Timmy said before Jerry laughed.
“Unlike us, and those in the Army, these ladies volunteered for this fight,” he said. “Course they’ll do decently.”
Oakley looked at one of the parked Löwes operated by this Royal Guard unit. Unlike the usual old Löwes operated by most Army and Marine brigades, it was clearly superior in equipment. Full standard issue multispectral camo nets, newer Matrix-2 ERA protection on the sides of its hull and turret, and those newer APS (Active Protection System) and remote-controlled machine guns on its turret were clearly installed on it. In comparison, most of the tanks he saw in the Marine Corps still used the old manned heavy machine guns, and they definitely had none of the newer upgrades.
“They’re getting all the shiny stuff,” Oakley said from the top, and he heard Sergeant Higgs grunt below.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Course they do,” he said. “They’re women.”
+++
They watched from a treeline as the battlefield became obscured by thick smoke. Heavy artillery from their organic self-propelled guns from the rear had been laying down smoke to prevent CFN forces from firing at them on their flanks for five minutes already. Oakley tried to breathe in deeply, as another barrage of smoke shells dropped.
Kilometers upon kilometers of the morning, muddy, and rainy fields, now obscured by thick smoke. Then, after that, they watched as the first actual artillery fire rained down on the enemy. It really was disturbing, Oakley thought, as he looked down on his watch again, before looking at the other vehicles of his company preparing on the road.
Unfortunately, it’d be stupid to drive around the soft, muddy ground, so they’d have to advance in a vulnerable manner on the highway (which was a better alternative to being stuck in the mud—no, in fact, the fields were straight up flooded here) and getting sniped by enemy armor), but, still, it’d be a risky assault.
Oakley momentarily grabbed his binoculars to look at the town they would be assaulting. Right as he placed it on his hands, three massive explosions struck it—leveling probably a good number of houses there. Considering that there were no defenses properly set up by Larissans and Poznekis in the area (they literally captured this place only a few days ago), Oakley imagined that the determined barrage would scatter them well.
But, to hope for that…
The order soon arrived. At once, he felt their HMLV advance with the rest of the company. They advanced in a very dispersed manner on the road, side by side, rapidly. Their radios were also constantly alight, as drone observer teams relayed the positions of enemy units in their comms. Oakley dutifully followed their directions, especially when the order to open fire was given.
He couldn’t really see anyone in the smoke-filled area that he was aiming at, but because the observer teams said so, he joined the rest of the company’s vehicles as they unloaded suppressive gunfire on it.
Even below him, Timmy and Sergeant Higgs joined in, taking potshots with their rifles at the horizon. Soon, however, they reached the town, and many of his fellow marines began dismounting their Stryders and HMLVs, while their vehicles began moving through different lanes. On the specific street where their team advanced, their HMLV became the lead assault element.
On the sides, the Marines from the Stryder platoons advanced side-by-side with them on foot, as Jerry drove cautiously on the Kusari neighborhoods. Oakley kept his hold on the fifty tightly, as he watched the houses and buildings in paranoia. The artillery had remained just as noisy, but strikes on the town itself had ended.
“Stay calm, everyone,” Sergeant Higgs said, his rifle aimed out of his door window. Timmy on the rear breathed in deeply, as they continued inching forward without hostile resistance. “The drones confirmed that there are no armored assets in this town.”
“Just footmobiles?” Oakley asked out loud.
“Most likely.”
The battlefield grew ever more silent, with just the sounds of their engines and the footsteps of the Marines on foot becoming audible. Oakley’s eyes darted left to right, up and down—he even eyed the sewer maintenance holes, convinced that there might be some Larissan or Pozneki infantryman just waiting there to pop a rocket on their face.
But nothing.
Damn it, just come out!
Oakley’s mental demands were unheard, as they continued deeper into the town. He looked to his side momentarily, looking at one of the advancing columns parallel to them, and they were doing the same as them. Their Stryders advanced at walking speed side-by-side with dismounted Marines.
“You guys think they fled?” Timmy asked as he looked up at one of the houses they passed by. “This place seems empty.”
“No, they probably didn’t,” Jerry thought, as he grimaced. Oakley then suddenly felt their HMLV come to a halt, which elicited a reaction from Sergeant Higgs.
“Jerry? What is it?!”
“I think I saw a ruffle somewhere,” Jerry replied, and Oakley began looking left and right again, his eyes trying to find any hint of movement. Beside them, the Marines on foot seemed just as confused as they dropped into cover before gunfire erupted around them. “I expected it!”
Oakley saw many of them on the streets coming out, with some even on windows of the buildings ahead of them. He took his targets, firing his fifty randomly at the general direction of the gunfire, as bullets began hitting their HMLV. He even felt a number of them slam into his machine gun’s shield, which made Oakley duck a bit.
Jerry drove their HMLV slightly to the right side of the street, while the HMLV behind them drove to the left side, allowing two machine guns to suppress the enemy ahead of them. Meanwhile, both Timmy and Sergeant Higgs dismounted on the road, their rifles turning hot while using their respective doors as cover.
Oakley on the other hand kept his machine gun firing, downing two, then three, then more. He wasn’t sure if they died, but one of the soldiers he machine-gunned, who was hiding behind a destroyed civilian car, was dragged by his buddy. Oakley naturally gunned down the enemy soldier trying to get his wounded brother out of combat, before switching to the next ones.
The skirmish soon turned into a blur for Oakley, with him just firing his machine gun as ordered, then ducking down to grab ammunition, before resuming his fire. He wasn’t really sure if he was even targeting anyone anymore halfway through it, as he felt his senses dulled, and his hearing blur.
Suddenly, an explosive blast struck the area directly in front of them, causing him and everyone else to duck. More artillery hits struck the town, which assaulted Oakley’s ears badly. But he rose back to his post, firing his machine gun on the flattened ruins ahead of them. By the time his hearing went back, he heard faint shouting behind him.
“Oakley! Oakley! Cease fire! I said cease fire!”
He immediately withdrew his hands from the trigger, realizing that there was no one firing back at them anymore. He looked below him, seeing Sergeant Higgs’ concerned expression. Then, he heard the screams from the injured, with calls for medics and what else was being given. Someone somewhere even seemed to be chastising someone for, “calling a braindead danger close” on them.
“Hey, you alright, man?” Timmy asked from below, and Oakley just nodded.
“Yeah, except for my hearing.”
“Huh?”
He can’t even hear me properly.
“I think you’re worse.”
“Oh, yeah, I think my aim sucked there, haha.”
Oakley just shook his head.
“Yep, you’re a lost cause.”
Oakley returned his attention to his overheated machine gun, touching it for a second, before cursing himself. Then, he cursed the annoying white noise that was still in the process of slowly dissipating from his ears. Even if we go home, we’d be deaf by then. Oakley could just do an amused chuckle to himself, before looking at the destroyed buildings ahead of them. This war sucks ass.