The Base Is Under Attack

During the Empire's orbital strike, Yasin Base had been spared one fate thanks to the presence of undercover agents and Federation personnel who had "defected."

The Federation soldiers here had not been hit with tactical hydrogen bombs.

Instead, they had been served airburst tactical thermobaric bombs.

The soldiers at the Armed Forces Day celebration, in particular, had been wiped out almost to a man.

Commander Adam, who had finished his song, had "just happened" to be inspecting troops near the base's air raid shelter when the orbital strike began.

He had thus been lucky enough to escape this wave of tactical missiles.

The other soldiers had not been so fortunate.

Before they could recover from the orbital strike and figure out what had happened,

they saw Imperial orbital drop pods screaming down to the ground, plunging straight through the base's remaining antiaircraft fire.

When they saw squads of fully armed Orbital Paratroopers charging out of those Drop Pods,

the surviving soldiers finally understood what had happened.

The Empire had invaded.

The first to fight back were the surviving soldiers who had been on duty at Yasin Base.

Most of their guard posts had been singled out in the first wave of strikes.

And with the base's power station destroyed, most of its Automated Defense Weapons had also stopped working.

But these exoskeleton-equipped soldiers still rallied swiftly under their officers and attacked the Imperial Orbital Paratroopers who had already breached the base.

Supported by several Multi-legged Combat Vehicles, the Mobile Infantry held the base's main road with everything they had.

Then, relying on the overwhelming firepower of the vehicles' Electrothermal-Chemical Cannons and Small Charged Particle Cannons, they pinned the Imperial Orbital Paratroopers down at a street corner.

After landing, Viscount Ankarin stepped out of his Drop Pod and joined the nearby members of his "Noble Squad."

What he heard over the shortwave communications channel were calls for support from several advance squads under his command.

Through the battlefield command system, Viscount Ankarin also saw that of the first hundred Drop Pods deployed by his regiment—each capable of carrying five men—

only fifty-six had reached the ground intact.

"Pah! Those intelligence bastards can go eat shit!"

Looking at the heavy losses his troops had suffered during the drop, Viscount Ankarin irritably lifted his faceplate and spat.

"And to think they had the nerve to tell us at the prebattle briefing that we'd 'lose no more than twenty-five percent of the airborne troops'!"

Frowning, Viscount Ankarin shook his head and chambered a round in the Gauss Rifle mounted beneath his arm with a click.

Then he looked at a nearby Orbital Paratrooper who had just emerged from his drop pod and said,

"Dale! Battlefield command is yours. Take the boys and secure our assigned sector!"

Although Viscount Ankarin was a veteran Orbital Paratrooper, he was not particularly accomplished at tactical command.

As a result, battlefield command of the Blood Dragon Regiment actually fell to his battalion commanders.

On the battlefield, the viscount served more as a "hero unit," bolstering the morale of friendly troops.

"Understood, my lord! Go enjoy the battlefield to your heart's content."

The tactical commander named Dale shrugged, clearly accustomed to this assignment.

"Hahahaha! Of the regiment's four battalion commanders, you understand me best!"

Viscount Ankarin laughed and led his "Noble Squad" off in another direction.

Before leaving, he remembered to turn back and add one more instruction.

"Oh, and pick up the pace! Our Blood Dragon Regiment can't lose to the other units!"

"As you command."

Like a stage actor, Dale bowed in the direction Viscount Ankarin had gone.

When he turned around to face the other soldiers, his demeanor had become completely serious.

"You heard the viscount! Who are we?"

"The Blood Dragon Regiment!"

"What is the Blood Dragon Regiment?"

"The Emperor's blade!"

"Good. Move out!"

Satisfied, Dale swept his hand forward as he looked at the Orbital Paratroopers around him, whose morale remained high despite their devastating casualties.

At the same time, he began directing the troops into battle through shortwave communications and the battlefield command system.

"Merge the survivors of A and B Companies under A Company's commander! Support the advance squads and stabilize the line!"

"C Company, follow me into the buildings and prepare for demolition work!"

"Fire support team, move to the area I marked and look for a chance to take out the Multi-legged Combat Vehicles!"

"Electronic countermeasures team, deploy electronic warfare Drones and begin battlefield jamming!"

"Communications team, start guiding the follow-up troops in for their drops!"

Meanwhile, Viscount Ankarin, who was leading his Noble Squad toward the Communications Center, soon encountered a counterattack from surviving Federation Military troops.

As time passed, more and more surviving Federation Military soldiers dug equipment out of the rubble and joined the fighting.

The pressure on Viscount Ankarin's advance toward the Communications Center kept mounting.

"MBT! Eleven o'clock!"

A slightly panicked call suddenly came over the communications channel.

The system had only just marked a purple "high-threat unit" icon on Viscount Ankarin's faceplate HUD.

A second later, a programmable high-explosive shell streaked across the street and burst in the path of the advancing Imperial Orbital Paratroopers.

Boom!

The shock wave from the high-explosive shell knocked the viscount clean off his feet.

He struggled up from the ground, then staggered behind a broken wall.

Seven or eight dead Orbital Paratroopers lay where the shell had exploded.

Nearby, wounded soldiers sought the nearest cover with help from their comrades.

Viscount Ankarin peered out from behind the broken wall as a gray main battle tank clad in thick composite armor smashed through a perimeter wall like a wild beast.

Its 155mm Dual-Purpose Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon looked menacing in direct-fire mode, pale smoke still drifting from its recently fired muzzle.

The Twin-Mounted 35mm Automatic Chain Gun atop its turret spat tongues of flame.

The hail of rounds swept across the street like a giant broom, cutting several Orbital Paratroopers who had failed to dodge in half at the waist.

The Chain Gun did not care whether anyone was a noble. Anyone it could cut in half would be cut in half all the same.

Viscount Ankarin felt little sorrow at the sight.

Both he and the other members of the Noble Squad had long since prepared themselves for this.

Rather than waste time on grief or fear, they were better off figuring out how to deal with the tin can in front of them.

"**** (an Imperial curse), why does a Federation base still have an old relic like this?"

"Eh, our border bases have plenty of tanks that haven't been retired yet, too."

"Besides, old or not, this thing really does the job when it counts."

The pinned-down members of the Noble Squad grumbled over the communications channel.

But they were not simply waiting behind cover.

The MBT's main gun kept roaring at steady intervals.

If they did not do something, it would not take long for its 155mm high-explosive shells to demolish every building nearby that could serve as cover.

Several Orbital Paratroopers carrying antivehicle weapons crept around to the flank under covering fire from their teammates.

A moment later, several top-attack missiles flew out from behind the surrounding buildings.

But just as the missiles plunged vertically toward the tank, a dazzling white flash erupted along with the flames of the explosions.

"Fuck! It's a Deflection Field!"

Prematurely detonated by the powerful magnetic field surrounding the tank, the missiles ultimately did no more than coat the top of its turret in black scorch marks.

"Squad leader, we can't handle this thing! We need a more powerful weapon to fuck it up!"

"Understood. I'll have them drop a Titan!"