“Royalist forces clash again with Federalist troops over the Löt–Wuringen Axis today. Casualties run high, with thousands of troops dead while Royalist forces mobilize for mobile defense operations. Heavy shelling of approximately forty-thousand shells from both sides was recorded, alongside the launches of nearly three hundred or so ballistic and cruise missiles on tactical and strategic targets, most originating from the Federalists.”
- Liberty One Radio
Empire of Kusari
Near Rajabad
November 28, 2025
6th Marine Regiment
A Company/2nd Marine Battalion
Corporal Oakley Fried was peacefully snoring in his seat. He truly felt that he was somewhat in heaven for now. There was pure silence. Pure darkness. And he was dreaming about what appeared to be a beautiful—
“Wake up, dumbass! Hey! Hey! We’re Oscar Mike in twenty minutes!”
Oakley jumped at the violent shouts. He was being shaken quite vigorously by his friend, Corporal Timmy Huppert. Oakley wanted to almost punch his friend, but the marine simply groaned and pulled down his camouflaged boonie hat.
“Well give me two more minutes then, asshole,” he shot back. “I was in the best part already.”
“Best part? What the heck are you dreaming about?”
“Something I won’t ever attain,” giving up, he resigned himself and removed his hat. He then rubbed his eyes a bit as he sat upright. “Fine, fine, damn it. Ugh…”
“There we go,” Timmy grinned, then, he looked outside of their High Mobility Light Vehicle (HMLV) and shouted at someone. “Ay, sarge! He’s awake.”
Their team leader, Sergeant Mark Higgs, shouted back from outside.
“Oh thank heavens. Get that moron out here. And you too. We’re going to grab those extra ammunition and AT tubes. I ain’t riding out naked!”
“Aye, sarge!” Timmy replied, looking back at Oakley, who was still drinking water. “Hey, you heard him.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Oakley replied, as he closed the lid of his canteen. “Damned…I barely slept last night. And this bullshit happens.”
“Come on, bud,” Timmy laughed. “You still ain’t used to that? No one’s going to rotate us out of duty. Not at least until they figure out how to get recruits for the Marine Corps.”
“Whining about it makes me feel better.”
“Whatever you say, mate.”
Oakley yawned one last time. Then he finally stood up and left their HMLV.
The two of them immediately rejoined their sergeant, and they proceeded to the supply depot. Boxes of ammunition alongside four LATPM-12s were handed to them, and Oakley had the pleasure of being the one tasked to carry all of the four ATGM tubes. Thus, with two of them slung on his back, and two more on both of his hands, the trio walked back to their parked HMLV.
It was a pretty quaint and silent neighborhood. They were right beside the road, covered by the tree line. Only a few HMLVs of A Company were ahead of them, all of them belonging to 1st Platoon like him. Soon, however, two of the ICV-24 Stryders used by 3rd and 4th Platoon dashed on the road.
It’s going to be a long damned day again.
Within twenty minutes, they had all finished their preparations. Immediately, Corporal Jerry Kazper, their driver, pushed their HMLV ahead of the pack. As usual, Oakley was on the machine gun. He held his gun with a calm breath, as their group of vehicles dispersed themselves.
They soon parted ways as they reached the flat plains ahead of them. Craters, mostly filled with water, littered the greenery. And he could see that their driver was being extremely careful about it. Oakley listened intently on their platoon-wide comms. Their Lieutenant ordered them to treat any targets ahead as hostile.
Alright.
He doubted there would be any civilians left here anyway. The wartorn region had been badly demolished for the past few weeks. There should be nothing left. What he expected to be ahead of them would be a few hostile squads that watched over this sector.
“Stay frosty everyone,” Sergeant Higgs shouted from below. “Take your targets. Stay calm. We got drone support.”
“Aye, sarge!” Oakley, Timmy, and Jerry all replied at once. Their HMLV drove straight into one of the dirt roads that led to the village ahead. The first shots of the day finally opened up. Two explosions nearly blanketed both sides of their vehicle. But it was pretty weak and somewhat distant. Most likely it came from a mere mortar.
Still, it was enough to make Oakley lower his head. Soon, he could see bullets streaming out of the foxholes and trench lines that dotted the village ahead of them. Oakley steeled himself, grabbed hold of his machine gun, and began littering down lead downrange. He couldn’t exactly properly see who he was aiming at. He also had no idea whether his gunfire was even hitting anyone or not.
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But he kept it on. Below him, both Sergeant Higgs and Timmy were opening fire with their rifles. Bullets began pinging their HMLV’s plate armor. Oakley lowered his head slightly in response, using his machine gun’s shields as cover.
Ah, damn it!
He spotted something that drove out of the village’s entrance roads. It was a tracked PMB-2, a Larissan IFV. It was supported by a wheeled BTP-2 as well. Both of their autocannons were opening fire on the HMLVs from 1st and 2nd Platoon. But they weren’t aimed at their vehicle yet. Oakley heard their Lieutenant ordering them to focus on the enemy armor on the radio.
“Stop the vehicle!” Oakley shouted as he lowered himself. “Timmy, give me one of those LATPMs!”
“Gotcha brother!” Timmy replied. He hastily set aside his rifle while their HMLV pulled into a hard stop. Then, he took one of the AT weapons and handed it to Oakley's waiting hands. Oakley climbed back up to his firing position and aimed his LATPM straight at the active PMB.
Come on. Come on! Take that lock, damn it!
A burst of bullets out of nowhere nearly forced him down, but he managed to fire off the missile from his weapon’s tube. It immediately rose to the sky and zoomed straight into the Larissan PMB. Another AT missile streaked from an HMLV that was parked a few meters from them, striking the enemy BTP.
By the time it was done, however, two of their friendly HMLVs had been shredded. Their marines had already dismounted, some of them dead and injured.
“Damned Larissan bastards!” Sergeant Higgs shouted. “Keep moving, Jerry. We’re going to try and overrun them!”
“Copy, sarge!” Jerry replied. At once, Oakley felt their HMLV zoom forward. Around them, the various vehicles of A Company also joined, all of them charging straight into the lone village. When he returned his hands to his machine gun, he watched as dozens of enemy soldiers began climbing off their positions and running.
Oakley grinned, as he pulled the trigger. They wouldn’t be able to escape this time.
+++
“Ow! Wait, wait—!”
Oakley couldn’t stop shouting and whining as a healer mage carefully extracted the bullet stuck in his shoulder. The battle earlier was short but hard fought. Unfortunately, he had been nicked by a rifle round while he was going ham with his machine gun. The woman treating her, a fellow from the Royal Guard that he didn’t even know, seemed disinterested as she placed the bullet in a tray.
Her hand glowed again briefly, as she closed his wounds. It felt warm, itchy, and painful. The entire process of her pulling out the bullet was way too painful. She wasn’t using any spell to kill his pain.
“There,” the woman said, sighing. “You should be good now.”
She nodded, took her medical kits, and left him to tend to other wounded soldiers in the infirmary. Timmy soon entered the room he was in, and the marine rushed in his direction as Oakley carefully touched his closed wound.
“Ay! Are you fixed now?”
“I think so,” Oakley touched his wound a bit. It was still pink, and slightly hot. And when he touched it, it was still sensitive. “Gee…that shit hurts.”
“Seems like she rushed it,” Timmy commented.
“Fair anyway. There’s hundreds of injured buggers here,” Oakley touched it again, and hissed. “Okay, screw this shit. I’m not touching it again.”
“Yeah, just let it finish healing for a day or two,” Timmy gave him a thumbs up. “You did well. You almost died though.”
“Yeah, but we could have died if I didn’t expose myself for that shot,” Oakley shook his head. He remembered that Larissan soldier that he peppered with bullets. He was carrying a portable AT tube with him. He could have used that on their vehicle. “Anyway, how’s the village.”
“Captured,” Timmy replied, grinning a bit. “B Company took over it. C Company is also advancing on the next village. We’re going to get recalled to replace their depleted boys once they’re done. Then we’ll man that position until tomorrow.”
“Crap,” Oakley shook his head as he stood up and grabbed his shirt, uniform, and equipment. “We still got a lot more work to do then.”
“Afraid that’s the case. Especially with the talk coming around. They say these are just preparations,” Timmy frowned. “Think about it. Behind us is the Kusari capital. Of course, they’re doing all of this before the big event.”
Oakley listened to Timmy’s ramblings as he quickly wore his clothes back on. He took his combat vest and wore it, before turning back to Timmy.
“Yeah, well. Until they call for it, it might just be hearsay.”
“Of course, they won’t tell us their plans clearly, we’re just grunts. But you can smell it. They’re going to want to push those bastards off their capital. And they’re going to use us.”
“Tough luck then,” Oakley grabbed his helmet and rifle. He then immediately slapped his helmet on his head, not bothering to tie it to his chin. “Let’s just go.”
“Aight.”
The two of them rushed out of the infirmary, and then straight into the rest of the newly established forward site. It was inside a town, and there was barely anyone inside except for a few hundred personnel. Three Löwe EP4Bs from the Royal Guard drove rapidly on the highway in front of them. They dashed straight into the direction of the frontline.
Oakley turned to his side, glancing a bit at the marines playing board games on one of the tables they had set up. He then looked away, back to Timmy, who was already walking in the other direction. Oakley immediately ran to catch up with him. Timmy seemed to be opening a paper wrapper. Then, he popped a chewing gum in his mouth.
“Ay, by the way,” Timmy started, as he chewed on it. “Serge and 1st Platoon are over there. They’re probably having a meal already. The whole platoon.”
“That’s cool then,” Oakley said. “Do they have proper food?”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m telling ya. Local Royal Guard girls are operating from this town too. So their kitchen has lots of real food. El-tee managed to haggle with one of them to give us some extra beef. Real beef, man.”
“Shit, how’d they even ship that kind of stuff to them,” Oakley asked, narrowing eyes. “Those are luxury crap.”
“I dunno, you ask them. And I don’t mean shit beef like, corned beef or friggin canned shtick that we get, I mean, like real ones. The ones you can turn into a proper steak.”
“Damn…” Oakley grinned, already feeling hungry. “Alright, how did they cook this time?”
“Roasted it on one of the ovens that the cooks from the Royal Guard bought. It smelled good,” Timmy nodded enthusiastically. “You know, those bastards might eat it all first before we get there. I’m running.”
“Same.”
Immediately, the two ran ahead at once. There was good food for once to be chased after all.