I Must

The Imperial Orbital Paratroopers besieging the village were caught completely off guard by the sudden attack.

From the drones being jammed to the mortar smoke rounds landing, then the Mobile Infantry charging, the whole sequence took only a few minutes under Amber's watchful eye.

The Plasma Grenades launched by the Mobile Infantry's electromagnetic launchers burst in midair, and 120 mm mortar shells landed right behind them.

The two ranging rounds struck not far from the mortar position, kicking up clouds of dust.

Private First Class Ryan and the other Mobile Infantry slowed slightly and crouched low.

Ten seconds later, the corrected second mortar salvo landed.

The high-explosive shells fired by Indirect Fire Group B hit dead center, landing squarely in the mortar position.

The tremendous force of the 120 mm shells hurled dirt into the sky.

Then came another salvo.

Before the dust and smoke from the explosions had cleared, the Mobile Infantry accelerated into another charge.

Ryan and several other Mobile Infantry armed with 40 mm grenade launchers kept pouring fire onto the mortar position, following the targeting guides on their visor HUDs.

At the same time, the roar of an engine suddenly grew louder beside them.

The Mongoose 4 armored vehicle accompanying the Mobile Infantry accelerated too, surging through the gap between the two squads.

Naturally, Amber had no intention of making the Mobile Infantry take on the Holy Spirit head-on.

After all, their weapons could damage the Multi-legged Combat Vehicle's external observation and radar components, but they would have a hard time penetrating the "mechanical spider's" armor.

The Mongoose 4's 40 mm Chain Gun, on the other hand, was more than enough to crack open the Holy Spirit.

What was more, at Amber's request, the crew had switched the 40 mm Chain Gun over to depleted-uranium armor-piercing rounds.

Even so, it remained a dangerous challenge for the wheeled armored vehicle's crew.

Granted, they could riddle the Holy Spirit light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle with depleted-uranium rounds from the Chain Gun.

But its 120 mm Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon would not even need an armor-piercing round. A single ordinary high-explosive shell could easily blast the armored vehicle to pieces.

It was a contest like a Wild West Duel.

For both sides, whoever fired first would survive.

And this time, luck once again favored Amber and the Federation soldiers under his command.

Or rather, in Amber's plan, the Mongoose 4's odds of survival were close to ninety percent.

When the commander spotted the Holy Spirit light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle through his sight and the thinning smoke, the vehicle was hurriedly retracting the gun spade beneath its "rear."

Its rear-mounted turret was rotating left, while the 120 mm Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon, which had been elevated high for indirect fire, was shifting back to direct-fire mode.

The eight biomimetic mechanical legs along its sides were struggling to turn the hull.

But either the Plasma Grenades or the 120 mm high-explosive shells seemed to have damaged their electromagnetic joints, making the legs move slowly and awkwardly.

The Mongoose 4's commander knew he had a once-in-a-lifetime opening.

For Multi-legged Combat Vehicles, especially ones that could switch between combat modes, the dozen or so seconds spent changing modes were when they were most vulnerable.

Guided by the commander's gaze, the Mongoose 4's turret turned with an electric whine, bringing the 40 mm Chain Gun onto his line of sight.

The crosshairs for the 40 mm Chain Gun settled over the Holy Spirit, whose side was fully exposed as it turned.

The Mongoose 4's commander hit the fire button without hesitation.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

The heavy report of the Chain Gun became an orange "whip" that lashed across the Holy Spirit's hull.

A row of ugly holes instantly appeared along the side of the sleek silver-white light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle.

As the Chain Gun fired, Amber's private instructions echoed in the commander's ears:

"Forget the rear section and the unmanned turret. Aim for the front section. That's where the crew compartment is."

And now the commander faithfully followed Amber's instructions, raking the front crew compartment with fire.

At a range of just over a hundred meters, the Holy Spirit was too close for the Mongoose 4's 40 mm Chain Gun to miss.

The driver inside the Holy Spirit's forward crew compartment felt no pain. He was reduced to a spray of blood.

The Multi-legged Combat Vehicle soon stopped moving. Keeping its Chain Gun trained on the mortar position, the Mongoose 4 drove around its flank.

The Mobile Infantry did not slow down either. After tossing two more Plasma Grenades into the position and sending two nearby soldiers to finish off any survivors, the rest continued advancing with the wheeled armored vehicle.

Taking the mortar position was not difficult. Caught by the Federation Mobile Infantry's surprise attack, its defenders had almost no chance to fight back.

The real challenge was the Orbital Paratroopers on the main front and the Holy Spirit in conventional combat mode.

Lieutenant Andrew learned almost immediately that the mortar position had been wiped out.

It was not just the explosions and gunfire coming from that direction.

On the command interface inside his visor, the icons for the two mortar teams and the driver of a Holy Spirit light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle lost their vital-sign readings one after another in quick succession.

The encrypted data-link channel was still working despite the enemy's electronic attack.

At least it let him see the casualties his unit was taking.

Lieutenant Andrew looked toward the mortar position, but a vast cloud of anti-infrared smoke blocked his view. Switching his optical sensors to infrared did no good.

After providing fire support, the enemy mortars seemed to have resumed firing smoke rounds into the area.

The wall of smoke they had laid down completely separated the Empire's frontal assault force from the mortar position.

The other Holy Spirit had already turned its hull, but after aiming its rear-mounted Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon for some time, it still could not fire.

"No. I have to regroup my forces!"

Andrew knew the Federation attack could not be coming from just one direction. Especially if the enemy was a mechanized unit, as seemed likely, they would use their mobility to swing around the flank and establish crossfire.

If so, the troops he had positioned on the other two sides of the village were in danger.

Those ambush teams consisted of only two squads of Orbital Paratroopers, plus Portable Electromagnetic Cannons assigned to bolster their firepower.

With that in mind, Lieutenant Andrew was about to order the signaler to fire a green flare, using the most primitive means to tell the ambush teams to retreat.

Then the portraits of one ambush team's members went dark on his command interface.

"****!"

Thanks to everyone for the monthly tickets~

P.S. Today's second chapter will be posted a little later.