Making a Break for It

"Since no one in your unit can take over command right now,"

"Under Federation field regulation DT5237, I'm temporarily assuming command of your unit until we link up with other forces."

"Any questions?"

"No, sir!"

Amber nodded in satisfaction, then quickly used his personal terminal to obtain command authority over the Mobile Infantry platoon.

A command module appeared on his wrist terminal and along the right side of his visor HUD.

It showed the current positions and status of the soldiers and armored vehicles belonging to D Platoon.

With that done, Amber looked toward the slope where he and Isabel had been hiding and beckoned.

"Friendly coming in. Don't fire."

A moment later, the Mobile Infantry watched someone covered in backpacks run down the slope.

"This is Captain Margaret, a medical officer who broke out of Yasin Base with me. She'll be traveling with us."

Amber patted the backpacks hanging from Isabel.

"A few of you, give the lady a hand with her bags."

The nearest Mobile Infantry soldiers immediately stepped forward and took the backpacks off Isabel's Exoskeleton.

For a unit fresh out of battle, a doctor was a godsend.

Isabel no longer wanted to keep up her "mask" and pretend to be at ease with these Federation soldiers.

But they greeted her warmly and helped lighten her load.

Then she saw the youthful faces beneath their helmets, and the blood still flowing from so many of them.

Isabel finally sighed and took the medical pack off her back.

"Wounded, come over to this vehicle! Count up whatever medical supplies you have left and tell me!"

Amber smiled at the female spy's unexpected response but said nothing.

Then he turned to the uninjured Mobile Infantry soldiers.

"If you don't need treatment, send four people to higher ground to keep watch!"

Once the four sentries had left, Amber marked a location on the command module's map.

"You two, go to this position and bring back that 120-millimeter mortar and its ammunition!"

"Everyone else, sweep the battlefield! Finish off anyone who needs it and collect every usable weapon and round of ammunition!"

"Get your asses moving!"

"Yes, sir!"

Amber gave the unit little time to rest. Even the wounded received only emergency treatment from Isabel.

They could not take the fallen soldiers' bodies with them, so they dug graves and buried them on the spot.

Every second counted. He had to get the unit moving toward a seam in the Empire's encirclement as soon as possible.

Only a few hours had passed since the Empire began its large-scale orbital drop.

Not many troops had actually landed yet, and most were Orbital Paratroopers. Few HCP units had come down.

The surviving air-defense units were still fighting desperately to intercept them, so the Empire had not yet gained air superiority within Robert IV's atmosphere.

That made this the best chance to move fast and escape the Empire's encirclement.

But as the air-defense units were gradually wiped out, the Empire would soon gain control of the skies.

Then an Aerospace Transport would land carrying heavy equipment and all kinds of vehicles.

Empire surveillance Drones would appear overhead, too.

Amber and the others would have to lie low by day, move by night, and carefully avoid reconnaissance units.

For now, D Platoon still had five Wheeled Armored Vehicles.

One of them was running only because the unit's surviving mechanics had gone to enormous trouble to repair it.

But D Platoon had lost so many soldiers in the ambush that the five Armored Vehicles left were enough to carry everyone remaining.

Amber had not had a chance to examine these vehicles during the battle.

Now he finally had time to check their configurations.

The Mobile Infantry were equipped with Mongoose Mark IV 8-wheeled armored vehicles.

They were the most common wheeled armored vehicles in the Federal Army.

Their modular design allowed them to take on different roles by swapping out key equipment.

Of the two destroyed earlier, one had been a command variant bristling with antennas like a hedgehog, and the other a standard troop carrier.

Of the five remaining, three were standard troop carriers.

Another was a communications relay variant topped with several dish antennas.

The last was a VHF reconnaissance and jamming variant with an extendable mast antenna, commonly known as the Electronic Warfare Variant.

While the soldiers boarded, Amber walked around all five Wheeled Armored Vehicles.

In terms of firepower, the five remaining vehicles were not particularly strong.

The communications relay and Electronic Warfare Variants had no turrets because they carried specialized equipment.

Each standard troop carrier's unmanned turret had only a 40 mm Chain Gun and a coaxial 12-millimeter machine gun.

Apart from the Mobile Infantry's own anti-vehicle missiles,

this unit had almost no way to fight heavily armored targets.

But Amber was not looking for a fight with the Empire's troops.

He wanted to skirt their encirclement and get out fast.

For that purpose, the communications relay and Electronic Warfare Variants were more useful than the others.

Once the last Mobile Infantry soldier was aboard, Amber raised his hand and circled it several times to signal “Move out,” then quickly climbed into the Communications Relay Vehicle.

The communications squad had been made up entirely of recruits, and only one had survived the battle.

None of the other enlisted soldiers knew how to operate the electronic equipment.

So Amber and Isabel had no choice but to step in for now.

Isabel sat at the communications station, curiously testing the bewildering array of screens and buttons.

Amber dropped into the seat beside the sole surviving Communications Officer. The Armored Vehicle shuddered slightly as it started moving.

"So what's the situation? Can we contact any other units?"

Amber removed his Tactical Visor and put on the vehicle crew helmet and headset.

The visor had a universal connector, but using it was still a little inconvenient.

"Sir, communications are patchy right now."

"The Empire's earlier orbital strikes destroyed a lot of our signal relay stations, so units can only communicate using their own equipment."

The young Communications Officer scratched his head and pulled up a set of data on the screen.

"But I don't know why there's so much radio interference. Connections keep dropping in and out."

Hearing the Communications Officer's words, Amber tilted his head, thought for a moment, and soon came up with a likely cause.

"Probably because the Empire dropped a lot of tactical hydrogen bombs earlier. It shouldn't last too long, though. They weren't detonated directly in the atmosphere."

"That must be it. If they had detonated in the atmosphere, radio wouldn't be the only thing affected. Even satellite relays would probably have problems."

Amber was about to ask the Communications Officer to check whether they could connect to the battalion- and company-level Edge Network or the brigade- and battalion-level backbone network.

Then a startled cry came over the communications channel.

"Good God, look up at the sky!"