Our Soldiers Are Engaging the Enemy

Once the ultrashort-wave reconnaissance and jamming vehicle began interfering with the Empire's drones, the two drone operators among the troops besieging the village immediately lost control of them.

Both the control signals and video feeds vanished. Though the operators could still make out roughly where the drones were with the naked eye, they could no longer issue them any commands.

The drones followed the last instructions they had received, flying farther and farther in one direction.

Before long, the operators lost sight of them entirely.

"Sir, someone's jamming our drones!"

At the report, Lieutenant Andrew of the Star Dragon Empire's Royal Navy, commander of this reinforced Orbital Paratroopers platoon, immediately concluded that Federation Military reinforcements had arrived. The Orbital Paratroopers belonged to the Royal Marines.

His forces were already stretched thin by the siege.

To concentrate enough troops to take the village, Andrew had also decided against assigning a security team to keep watch and cover them.

That aggressive gamble left the Orbital Paratroopers platoon blind to the surrounding area once its two patrol drones were gone.

And since the enemy had jammed both drones so quickly, they had to possess powerful electronic jamming equipment.

Most likely, it was an electronic warfare vehicle.

Their initial reconnaissance had found no such equipment among the Federation troops trapped in the village.

Otherwise, their drones would never have been able to scout overhead for so long.

That meant the jamming could only have come from another unit.

In Lieutenant Andrew's experience, a vehicle like that would never operate alone.

The Federation reinforcements were probably a mechanized unit.

Realizing the danger, Andrew was about to order the troops attacking head-on to pull back and take up defensive positions.

Then communications across the entire platoon went dead. Nothing but hissing static remained on the radio.

A warning flashed across his Tactical Visor: [Electronic jamming detected. Communications disrupted!]

The Orbital Paratroopers platoon leader had been advancing slowly behind a Holy Spirit light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle to the thunder of its Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon.

He immediately signaled to the communications soldier ten meters to his right.

The soldier had turned toward his platoon leader the moment communications went down.

Andrew's hand signal was simple: "Tell everyone to take up defensive positions. Now!"

The communications soldier broke from the assault formation and ran to pass on the order.

Two booms suddenly sounded behind Andrew. He whipped around.

Smoke from Anti-Infrared Smoke Grenades was rapidly engulfing the rear of the assault force.

Following the orders Amber had issued in advance, the electronic warfare technician jammed the drones, then waited for the H+8 mark.

At that point, he used the vehicle's electronic warfare module and the enemy communication frequencies identified through electronic reconnaissance to begin ultrashort-wave jamming.

In moments, every Empire soldier relying on ultrashort-wave communications was cut off.

At the same time, the two indirect-fire teams, already in position, followed the markings Amber had placed on the tactical map.

Each fired an Anti-Infrared Smoke Grenade toward the target area.

They only needed the smoke to cover the infantry's advance, so an approximate hit would do.

There was no need to adjust their fire.

After that volley, their next target was the enemy mortar position located by a reconnaissance drone.

The two indirect-fire teams quickly adjusted their mounts and reset the angles and bearings of their barrels.

At one team's loader's command, they fired their first 120mm High-Explosive Shells simultaneously.

As the Anti-Infrared Smoke Grenades spread a broad screen across the area, the two Mobile Infantry squads advanced in triangular formations.

At H+8, they crossed the assault start line Amber had marked.

They were now 852 meters from the Empire troops attacking the village head-on.

But those troops were not the target of the two Mobile Infantry squads or the Mongoose 4 supporting them.

Their targets were the mortar position 438 meters to their front left and the Holy Spirit Multi-legged Combat Vehicle operating in indirect-fire mode beside it.

Amber watched the assault teams cross the one-meter-wide white line.

Hidden behind a field ridge under Optical Cloaking, he issued the charge order through his command module.

"Fweee—!"

The shrill sound of the Simulated Charge Whistle rang in Private First Class Ryan's ears.

He knew it was the order to charge from Warrant Officer Amber—the Psychic Agent who had saved them from an ambush.

The prebattle plan and instructions issued to every member of the assault teams were clear.

Ryan immediately increased his Exoskeleton's power output. All eighteen Mobile Infantry soldiers, himself included, surged forward.

"Hah, hah... Command: inject Combat Stimulant!"

At Ryan's breathless voice command, the injection system built into his Sabertooth Type 2 medium infantry Exoskeleton delivered 8 mg of Amphetamine Injection into his muscle.

The specially formulated drug acted on his cerebral cortex and brainstem reticular formation within moments, filling him with a rush of exhilaration.

That rush quickly showed in his movements.

Already sprinting, Ryan accelerated again, each stride carrying him much farther.

All eighteen members of the assault teams followed the battle plan and injected their Combat Stimulants.

With their Exoskeletons boosting them to speeds far beyond any ordinary person's, they tore across hundreds of meters like a gust of wind.

As he ran, Ryan saw the assembly on the back of his squad leader's shoulder, ten meters ahead and to the right, unfold to reveal an electromagnetic launch rail.

A Plasma Grenade marked with a green ring around its body was already loaded in the rail.

The soldiers at the Empire mortar position and the Holy Spirit light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle in indirect-fire mode had realized something was wrong as soon as communications failed.

But they were a step too late.

"Bzzzt—bang!"

Power. Charge. Fire!

The four Mobile Infantry soldiers equipped with electromagnetic launchers hurled their Plasma Grenades off the rails in an instant.

The four little "sweethearts," their detonation sequences already set, shot into the air above the mortar position.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several brilliant fireballs, white tinged with blue, erupted from the mortar position.