“As we gaze upon our Mother, witnessing the Astrilucus Superficies which shine from Dorash sunlight, watching the beautiful colors dancing across the surface of our host Goddess.

  Yesterday, we endured decades of war. Our Legate, our Senate invoked the Principles of the Punic of total war until victory or death. No compromise, no surrender. The enemy provides no mercy for our way of life, and we answer in kind to the barbaric Crusaders and their false god.

  Time and time again, we meet the enemy bravely in battle but slowly retreat. That was until today, when we, the Legionaries of Hispana, learned that we are no longer fighting alone. Our mission was to contact an orilla people, a lost bloodline. A lost legacy rediscovered. We stand now, at Orackoo, within a forgotten region with a new ally, but our enemies wish to destroy this new alliance. Until the rest of our Legion is safely evacuated, our Centuria will fight beside our new American allies against the Unity.

  Depending on our defiance on these walls, tomorrow brings something different. This is something that the Legionaries have been fighting for twenty years and on three continents with a grand Coalition of nations, until we stood alone. But now, Tekali has repaid our courage with a new dawn—a new hope.

  Legionaries, embrace the War God Orgatrash volcanic flames to victory, as this is our time. Allow the deity of Trinith to harden your warrior spirit. Figran to reaffirm your courage. Isras to strength your duty to your country and Alagore” – Centurion Virion Gray-Death Tribe, 3rd Centuria, 1st Echelon

  May 13th, 2069 (Military Calendar)

  Orackoo, Hastsano Gap, the Velunara Protectorate

  Murbol Mountain Range, Nevali Region, Aldrida, Alagore

  *****

  The city sirens blared as the hostile bombardment struck the interior, causing significant destruction. Large explosions battered the enchanted wall, with a high volume of bolts and flechettes impacting the battlements, causing some to crack from the pressure.

  The defenders were heavily engaged. Shots and energy blasts struck the many concrete, wood, and metal fortifications. The Americans occupied heavy machine guns or took cover behind battlements—the few militia filled in any gaps or manned the ballistae. A small contingent of Legionaries was provided, as the Praetor understood the strategic importance of holding Orackoo.

  With the enemy pressing, Mathew Ryder rushed across the city wall, maintaining order among the fragile defenses. He barked orders, serving as the link between the three factions as they repelled the latest Unity attack and avoided a rout. Fortunately, a Legionary Centuria and an American company assisting with the siege provided much-needed professionalism. Because of them, it was the only reason they had lasted this long.

  Hearing Forest's warning about enemy airborne assets, the Comanche Captain looked up and saw multiple sprites—Unity green-glowing missile-drones—launched from the tree line toward the city wall. The sole Tawa laser battery opened fire, destroying some of the enemy artillery. Still, one missile rammed close to Ryder, knocking him over the battlement. But as he passed the upper stage, he felt someone grab his arm, preventing the fall.

  When he was pulled back to the battered wall, he saw Warrant Officer-1 Rommel King.

  “Thanks.”

  “I think you’re making this into a tradition, Boss,” King said.

  “I hope not,” Ryder replied, grabbing his rifle and looking out over the farmland.

  On the other side were thousands of Unity and Worathig warriors attacking the city. Their objective was to prevent the Hispana Republic from linking with the United States—which they had nearly succeeded in doing. With some clever tactics, luck, and the Unity airships being contested for the first time in twenty years, the X Legion was able to slip through and be evacuated from LZ X-Ray to Salva. The only problem was that such an operation would take days. This made Orackoo vital; if the enemy took the city, the landing zone would be compromised.

  “There’s no way we’re going to hold,” King said.

  “I know,” Ryder replied. “We need support. Higgins.”

  The two men rushed past battling allied warriors until they reached the Comanche section. They were bunkered down, having just repelled a recent assault.

  “About time you two showed up,” Wallace said.

  Ryder slid next to a scarred battlement where Higgins was kneeling. He grabbed the radio on his back and accessed DEFNET.

  “Comanche-Lead to Minutemen-Actual.”

  When he heard his Colonel answer, he continued,

  “Hostile forces pressing against Orackoo, Sir. Requesting reinforcements.”

  “Captain,” Hackett said, “we have to hold that city until the evacuation is complete.”

  “We might need more troops.”

  “I have nothing left to spare,” Hackett said. “2nd Battalion is covering your northern flank while the 1st is on your southeast. Best I can do is give you priority status for missile artillery.”

  “Roger that. We will hold.”

  As the Comanche Captain returned the radio, a projectile impacted the city wall. The kinetic force caused the crystal to glow, absorbing the attack. He then told Higgins to contact the 4th MDTF for missile artillery support.

  On Earth, cannon-like attacks continued to hammer against the city wall. Just like Salva, the reinforced concrete with built-in enchanted crystals hardened the wall, deflecting or absorbing most kinetic and energy attacks; however, one of the crystals broke, creating a significant hole in the fortification. This forced one of the Legionary mages to rush over and cast a barrier to protect the vulnerable section.

  When the American Duke rushed over to re-encourage the Nagal human defenders, he saw the enemy shifting tactics; they believed they had found a weak spot. After ordering the Militia and Legionaries to repel the invaders, the Comanche warrior raised his M31 and fired at the enemy.

  He lowered his VISOR and saw dozens of digital markers appear. Some were different colors, depending on their meaning. When he recruited the city to join the Americans, Alpha Company had deployed to defend them and placed markers all around the area—just like at Salva. Because there were no military grid maps in this sector, those soldiers digitally marked the landmass with augmented reality VISORs, enabling fire support using visual range rather than grid coordinates. It was not a perfect system, but an acceptable substitute.

  American mortars fired from the three platoons in the city, striking pre-marked locations, followed by two Skylance loitering munitions launched from the Arsenal Chippewa at LZ X-Ray, hitting targets of opportunity. The sole Tawa laser point-defense provided by the 101st engaged dozens of falling shrouds and suicidal seekers, eliminating nearly half.

  With the Crusaders navigating through chest-sized stalks sticking from the ground, the terrain hindered the attackers while providing some cover. However, it also allowed some to reach the base of the wall.

  Fraeya rushed across, casting ice where the enemy congregated to make them slip or trenches to prevent the placement of gravity lifts. She then created a large hovering water ball, forming tentacles to strike the attackers.

  As the battle unfolded, large enemy columns hid behind remotely controlled construct-walls that provided light arms protection. This forced Barrios and other rocket-armed soldiers to focus fire on the formation or use Orackoo’s two heavy accelerator ballistae to neutralize the threat.

  As the enemy advanced, a mage cast a barrier, shielding a large group carrying a gravity lift. Ryder accessed his augmented settings and placed a red marker on the mage.

  Without waiting for orders, Forest utilized the digital markers to guide Natilite to her target. Once she spotted the enemy mage, she fired her M66, an anti-material weapon designed to penetrate light armor—or in this case, battle mages. The .50 caliber bullet burst through the barrier, killing the dark elf Crusader. The enemy squad, now vulnerable, was quickly torn apart by allied warriors. The Comanche sniper team focused on other high-value targets—commanders, mages, and weapons.

  Ryder noticed the Unity’s first wave was becoming disorganized, but the second wave was clustering as they reached the center of the stock field. He contacted the platoon mortar squad to readjust fire at the red markers on his HUD, targeting slowed enemy groups.

  More sprites descended from the clouds and landed inside the city walls, destroying multiple buildings and setting several ablaze. Seeing the destruction, many Nagal militia began to flee in fear. Others were struck by shroud fire, one screaming in pain as a crystal exploded into flames—prompting Sergeant Marcos Gonzales to rush to the wounded.

  Before they could escape the wall, Sergeant First Class Gregory Barrett grabbed one fleeing soldier and threw him to the ground. Standing atop the staircase and without a translator, the senior NCO shouted,

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Any of you stone faces even dare to abandon your post, I’ll rip your eyes out and feed them to my dog. Now FIGHT!”

  The commanding militia leader approached and assisted Comanche in reorganizing the troops. Barrett remained at the stairs, ensuring no one else fled. Once the ranks were reestablished, he patrolled the wall, barking orders to maintain discipline and reminding them they should fear him more than the Unity.

  “I’d hate to be on his bad side,” Fraeya said. “I’m surprised everyone understood him without an amulet.”

  “It’s not always about the words,” King replied. “It’s the tone that gets the message across.”

  “Is it just me?” Ford asked, ducking behind a battlement. “Or are they being sloppy?”

  “I think it’s just you,” Barrios said.

  “No, I mean it,” Ford insisted. “They’re just using wave tactics. At Salva, their strategy was far more clever than this.”

  “He’s right,” King said. “They’re trying to speedrun this fight.”

  “It’s because their objective is the landing zone,” Ryder said. “Not this place. We’re just in the way.”

  “That sucks,” Barrios muttered.

  “What?” Ford asked. “Feeling ignored?”

  “I’ve never been ignored in my life,” Barrios replied.

  “Then we should educate them why they shouldn’t ignore Comanche,” Wallace said.

  Comanche let out a soldiering RED MOON cheer before remanning their positions. The elite Minutemen team focused on repelling another wave. But it became clear Sergeant Ford was right—the enemy prioritized taking the City-State quickly rather than enduring a siege. Ryder could only assume they wanted to go straight to LZ X-Ray, and Orackoo was merely in the way. The truth was, given the weakened defenses, a proper siege would’ve already succeeded. Fortunately, it was a mistake the Allies could exploit.

  As the battle raged, a six-legged accelerator emerged from the forest, its circiletum extended just far enough to fire through the foliage. Fear spread as mana batteries charged the coil gun before it fired a blue shroud—a crystal-based projectile—impacting one of the defensive ballistae and freezing the Nagal, Lats, and Altaerrie operators in place. Then the walker disappeared into the forest.

  “That thing’s going to snipe us under the wall clear,” King warned.

  “Focus on the pressing infantry,” Ryder said.

  He then ordered the Hispanic Comanche to follow with his atlatl-guided missile launcher. They ran along the wall, passing dozens of defenders until they reached the last operational accelerator ballista.

  “Forest,” Ryder said over TEAMNET, “focus on the walker. Try to flush it out.”

  Barrios readied his missile launcher, waiting for the target to emerge. Ryder ordered the ballista to fire three shots into the tree line to flush the Unity walker into the open.

  The accelerator peeked out to take its shot. Natilite quickly responded, her bullet striking the front leg and causing a spill of Unity hydraulic fluid. The leg stalled, and the walker tilted under its weight. Barrios seized the opportunity and fired his Atlatl.

  The walker tried to crawl back into the forest, but the Atlatl was already locked on. It struck true, destroying the machine in a burst of colorful mana-fueled fire.

  The defenders cheered—briefly. Multiple glowing sprites bypassed the Tawa laser defenses and destroyed the point-defense system.

  “What was that?” Barrios asked.

  From the forest emerged two Titan-level constructs. Ryder lowered his VISOR, and Oracle—the US Military PI database—began scanning the threats.

  With one threat down, Ryder wanted to focus on the other Titan. However, he saw the Tawa explode from a railgun strike—not in the form of arcing artillery, but a direct shot. The city wall would prevent a line-of-sight shot, meaning only one thing.

  When he turned around, he saw others pointing at the skyline. A Unity Dragoon gunship was approaching, lobbing additional green-glowing missiles at the city.

  One of the other Minutemen teams fired an FIM-95 Arrow at the gunship, but it deployed its barrier, absorbing the missile. The airship then fired six sprites at the city while its heavy rallustum directed a shot at the defenders.

  It became apparent to the Comanche Captain that they didn’t have the weapons to counter the gunship. He switched to TEAMCOM and contacted the team’s Airman. "Higgins, I need air support."

  "Standby," Higgins responded. "Colonel Hackett reported that all air assets are occupied in the north. Unity Air Force is refusing to surrender the skies, and we are barely holding it."

  This response only angered the Captain. It was the reality of war. With limited resources and everyone needing them, leadership had to prioritize—something every American trooper had sadly become accustomed to in this war.

  He stood and stared at the approaching Dragoon as the airship covered the thousands of infantry approaching. With the failure of the shoulder mounted missile, two Tathlum fired from the Chippewa Arsenal VTOL from LZ X-Ray.

  A bright beam projected from the orb on top of the Dragoon, destroying the first missile. The second one dodged the beam but rammed into the barrier. After an explosion, the field around the Unity vessel disappeared with no damage.

  Natilite landed next to him, activating her energy shield to protect him from stray shrouds. "You should not expose yourself," she said.

  "Won’t matter in a minute," Ryder said, struggling to figure out what to do. He filtered through the options. The Air Force was struggling to hold the sky, meaning they had no assistance to offer. The only alternative was cruise missiles; however, Orackoo was too far away for them to be meaningfully useful without proper coordinates. That was when he came up with an idea.

  "Higgins," Ryder said. "I want a Grim Reaper. We’ll use it to take out the Dragoon."

  "A hypersonic for a surface-to-air?" Higgins said, surprised. "Will it penetrate its barrier?"

  "Yes—and we’ll find out," Ryder said. "Natilite will mark the target."

  The Templar heard her orders and headed to Kurt Forest’s spotter position to grab the laser designator. She then flew away to mark the airship. The Airmen also requested a hypersonic strike against an air assist, which confused the operator—but it was granted.

  These types of weapons had become as common as standard cruise missiles, focused on long-range strikes. Utilizing kinetic energy over explosives and designed for deep penetration of strategic targets, they allowed other ordnance to finish off the United States' enemies.

  This tactic wasn’t unknown within Army doctrine. There had been examples of hypersonics taking out aircraft—but that was with the full might of the American surveillance, communications, and tracking infrastructure built up over nearly two hundred years.

  Ryder was attempting to fire this Mach-7 missile almost blind, relying solely on their IRS Coeus drone and Natilite guiding the Grim Reaper to its target.

  With the hostile threats becoming overwhelming, he worried the militia would break down as they had already done just a few days earlier. The Legionaries and Americans held their ground, being professional soldiers. So he decided to deploy his Duke card and focus on the city militia. The Altaerrie officer marched across the city wall while barking orders to keep their focus on the enemy infantry assaulting the wall, allowing Comanche to tackle the Titan within the city.

  He stopped anyone who wanted to retreat—forcefully, at times—even standing in the line of fire to help motivate them. Taking the saying [lead from the front] literally.

  Unity started breaking the wall, but in limited numbers. The Legionaries pulled their swords and engaged the few hostiles, preventing the enemy from securing a foothold. Their new Hispana allies knew exactly what to do, and this provided relief for the Minutemen after a month-long siege at Salva, where such breaches were common.

  The Girallon stepped into an apartment complex, focusing on causing as much destruction as possible. A small explosion from Benjamin Ford’s underslung grenade launcher caught the Titan construct’s attention. It turned around, swinging its blade arm at the Sergeant and the Elf Girl.

  Fraeya didn’t hesitate—she was prepared. The ground next to them rose to a building story high. The giant blade was diverted as it sliced through the dirt, sparing their lives. The other arm adjusted its aim and thrust the blade toward the two. The Comanche mage sprayed ice over its arm before the Sergeant grabbed her, pulling the elf to safety as the melee arm rammed into the ground. She then continued spraying ice over the arm, temporarily trapping the Titan.

  Bruno Barrios aimed the M116 MAAWS recoilless rifle and fired. As the Girallon broke free from the frozen trap, the rocket impacted its arm, severing it. In conjunction, Fraeya lifted the ground into a compacted brick before launching it at the Titan, causing the giant construct to tip backward. As the pilot raised the machine’s right leg to adjust, the Elf Girl shook the ground with a quake spell, causing the four-armed war machine to topple onto the ground.

  Charlie Higgins rushed over, holding his radio. "Boss. Grim Reaper incoming."

  "Wings!" Ryder asked over TEAMCOM. "Missile inbound?"

  The radio was static, so he turned to the sky. Their Valkyrie warrior was hovering close to the airship, evading small arms fire from the Dragoon-type crew. The entire time, she remained close, keeping her target designator locked for a secure hit.

  In the blink of an eye, the first missile flew past the Dragoon as the gunship dodged left. Another came directly at the airship, but the anti-gravity engines thrust downward in an emergency deep dive, barely avoiding the second hypersonic missile.

  One more Grim Reaper flew past the city and directly into the now-exposed top. The gunship barriers formed but quickly collapsed as the missile's momentum penetrated the shield. The missile rammed into the top section, causing a large explosion before the Unity ship broke apart.

  The two sections crashed into the ground, triggering secondary explosions. For a moment, the giant airship listed north before dropping from the sky and landing against the Crusaders who were attacking the city.

  Natilite flew over, dodging enemy fire, and landed next to the two.

  "Good job." Ryder saw the Valkyrie point behind him and knew what she meant.

  The Girallon stood tall. Its two elecprobus fired into the city, igniting many of the wood buildings.

  The construct prepared to strike at Fraeya and Ford again, but its midsection split in half from a powerful explosion.

  "What was that?" Higgins asked. He then placed his hand on his helmet radio, reporting that Alpha Company said the subsequent evacuation convoy had arrived, and Colonel Hackett had redirected some of their escorts to assist the Orackoo siege.

  Ryder looked up and saw the smoke trail from the missile coming from the sky. Exiting the clouds were three helicopters—a manned Cheyenne II with its two drone wingmen, Chickasaw IIs.

  The three helicopters flew past the Nagal City-State, lobbing unguided rockets and streams of chain gun fire into the enemy infantry outside the city. The enemy assault quickly broke apart and scattered, with the Worathig Orcs breaking ranks first, fleeing back into the forest as they were the least disciplined. The Crusaders were forced to reorganize and conduct a forced retreat.

  With the imminent threat neutralized, the three attack helicopters took defensive positions, hovering above the city walls. Additional aircraft flew from the clouds—Bluejay drones. They found open spaces within the city and landed, opening their side doors. While smaller than most combat helicopters, they were still the size of a medium van, tasked with carrying supplies to soldiers on the front line and, if needed, transporting wounded back to base.

  "About time the cavalry arrived," King said as he rushed over.

  "What do you want, sir?" Barrett asked.

  "Until we get orders to retreat, we hold this city," Ryder said. "Barrett, make sure Comanche is resupplied and help get the wounded to the temple or one of the Bluejays. Natilite, take Fraeya and focus on the militia. Make sure their needs are met. King, we’ll work on preparing our defense for the next wave."

  "Needs?" Natilite asked. "What will that mean when I tell your American friends for supplies?"

  "She has a point," King said. "I doubt there are enough resources in those drones to support everyone here."

  The Captain saw their points. He had grown used to the standards at Salva. Without needing an order, American and Salva military personnel quickly put aside any differences and shared resources out of necessity. That wasn’t the case here, and he could already see some American officer denying critical aid to the city militia or the Legionaries.

  Rommel King approached, lifting his VISOR over his helmet as he stared out at the battlefield. “That was one hell of a round. You know they’ll be back.”

  “Yes, they will,” Ryder responded. “Get Comanche restocked. We have to hold this place for three days.”