Whenever the Charlemagne and the Scara, the local Fridayn forces always cheered for their arrival!
The blue-and-gold expert rifleman ch and its ever-present honor guard beca an extrely iconic sight on the battlefields of Marrakath III. Even the propaganda broadcasts of the Friday Coalition started to parade the magnificent sight. There was just sothing about seeing an expert ch acting in complete coordination with many other quasi-expert expert chs that allowed the combination to stand out!
"It’s Venerable Larkinson!"
"What an impressive unit!"
"We’re saved! Those Hexers are dood!"
Just a year ago, a third-rater such as Ghanso could only look up at the second-class ch pilots of the Friday Coalition. His humble birth and origin caused him to develop the impression that the Fridayn were all giants in his mind.
Yet now that he had the privilege to pilot a fantastic if demanding second-class expert ch, he no longer felt lesser to his current comrades.
The Fridayn were human as well. Their ch pilots might enjoy a better upbringing and gone through far more rigorous training, but the differences weren’t as great as he imagined.
Even so, he still felt strange when the Fortune Legionnaires all cheered at him in the sa way the soldiers of the ch Corps used to do so. No matter their class, they respected his battle prowess and the efforts he made to support them in the field.
Ghanso felt proud he could make a difference in this foreign battlefield.
He was also glad he could help the Fridayn win the war. No matter the current nature of his status, he still considered himself a Brighter at heart. Both were enemies of the Hexadric Hegemony.
Even if Ghanso hadn’t been compelled to serve under the Coalition Reserve Corps, he still would have rooted for the Fridayn, because the Hexers posed an existential threat to the way of life of his ho state!
Therefore, even if he fought under the flag of the Friday Coalition, he still perford his duty to the Bright Republic!
The sa could not be said for the derelict Larkinson Family and the outright treasonous Larkinson Clan, but that was sothing for Ghanso to consider for another day.
Right now, his Charlemagne and the Scara flew low over the partially-cratered battlefield of so sort of urban stronghold. Whatever civilians who lived here had long been pulled out, thereby allowing both sides to fight against each other at higher intensities.
Ever since the Battle of the Marrakath Systems moved to the surface, the fighting actually took place on both land and in space!
Up above his head, the spaceborn elents of the Opal Tridents and the Wrathful Doves constantly struggled for orbital supremacy. Neither side went all-out as orbital supremacy could never be truly achieved until all of the enemy ground forces were defeated.
The threat of deploying hidden surface-to-orbit weapons on any point of the globe was not negligible!
This was especially so in second-class warfare where the power levels of weapons was significantly greater. Back in the Bright Republic, the sa threat was much less acute due to the difficulties in overcoming so much air, gravity, distance and other practical constraints.
All of this ant that Ghanso and every other surface combatant did not need to worry about getting shot at by a rifleman ch floating in high orbit.
That said, the Hexers did everything they could to overrun Marrakath III! After establishing a beachhead at great cost, the female-led forces expanded in every direction and constantly wrestled away fortified city after fortified city from the entrenched defenders.
Each city, built and reinforced with strong exotic alloys that were just as resilient as chs, practically turned into ruins by the ti the Hexers succeeded in forcing the defenders to pull back!
No matter how hard the defending forces resisted the indomitable Hex Army, the latter always threw more and more ch regints at the defensive lines until the job was done!
"Break through no matter the cost!"
"The Marrakath Systems belongs to the Hegemony!"
"Boys must submit!"
Whenever Ghanso heard the Hexer chs broadcast these slogans, his blood boiled.
The Hexers were evil! They sought nothing less than to repress every man! Such a travesty must not spread in the galaxy!
His comm crackled as one of the CRC officers assigned to coordinate his actions directed him to his next battle.
"Venerable Larkinson, there is a local underground industrial complex called the Beehive that is under heavy attack. While the Fortune Legion anticipated that the Hexers would prioritize the Beehive during their general advance, we did not expect them to form a spearhead and thrust ahead of their main line so soon. A considerable amount of industrial equipnt and supplies are still being loaded onto transports."
"Am I being sent to relieve the defenders of the Beehive?"
"Not quite, Venerable. Our strategists believe that the Hexers have grown impatient and overconfident this ti. The forces they invested in this assault are overextended and can easily be cut off as long as we block off their escape route."
Ghanso frowned. "I’m not sure whether it’s wise to underestimate the Hexers. This slls like a trap."
"Even if that’s the case, we need to grasp at every opportunity to delay the Hexers. The Opal Tridents has already mustered a strike force to cut off the Hexer assault chs, but we would like you to be present as well in order to guard any accidents and thwart any Hexer expert chs that might appear."
"Roger that. Send the coordinates and route."
A short beep sounded out in the cockpit as the Charlemagne received the files.
The Charlemagne and the Scara accelerated slightly and flew along the route designated by the CRC. It was usually a bad idea to stray from an assigned route as there was a decent chance of stumbling upon Hexer chs.
While Ghanso did not mind beating up Hexer chs whenever he caught sight of one, he could not let these minor encounters delay him from fulfilling his primary goal!
As the Charlemagne continued to generate hopeful cheers and well wishes from the Fortune Legionnaires on the ground or in the air, he soon reached the Fridayn ch forces that had gathered to cut off the escape route of the attacking Hexers!
"It’s Venerable Larkinson!"
Ghanso perford his customary greeting with his fellow comrades before he piloted his ch to a small collection of Friday n expert chs. A knight ch, a swordsman ch and a light skirmisher supported the operation.
"Hello."
"Larkinson."
Ghanso frowned. "Three lee chs is not enough to cover the thousands of regular chs marching underneath us. Why aren’t there more ranged chs of our caliber?"
"Your pretty ch and your groupies already have that covered." One of the Fridayman expert pilots explained. "We’re basically here to prevent any of the witches from getting close to your chs."
"I don’t need your protection." Ghanso stated.
"Let us be the judge of that. If you think you have seen everything the Hexers are capable of in just a couple of weeks of fighting, then think again."
The hasty effort organized by the Fortune Legion went smoothly. Ghanso and his expert colleagues remained on standby as the regular chs overwheld the small number of chs that had been assigned to patrol and guard the supply line.
Whoever was in charge of planning the attack on the Beehive did not spend much effort into guarding the rear of the assault force!
The Hex Army was in trouble. Thousands of chs were trapped at the Beehive. While the Hexers were no doubt sending reinforcents to smash through the blockade, the Friday Coalition was moving in as well!
As long as the blockade could be maintained for an hour or so, the Fortune Legion could move over enough forces to annihilate the overextended Hexers!
"Here they co."
The Hexer lines moved. Nurous Hexer chs moved forth and began to probe the blockade forces.
After deploying temporary barriers and other fixed defenses, the Fridayn ch forces were already tough to deal with. The Hexers continued to sustain severe losses as their preliminary attacks were all crushed!
Ghanso directed the sensors of his Charlemagne to the fallen chs and grimaced.
"They look like male chs."
The Hexers callously expended a lot more male chs than female chs! The Hexer ch pilots who had fallen in this initial probe consisted predominantly of boys as well!
After testing the strength of the Fridayman blockade force, the Hex Army did not throw away more chs.
An hour quietly passed by. At this ti, the Fortune Legion was supposed to encircle and overwhelm the Hexers who attacked the Beehive, yet the news that Ghanso received sounded very different!
"This is bad, Venerable! The Fortune Legion’s other lines have co under heavy assault! The forces that they have assigned to sweep the Beehive of Hexers have been redirected to defend more important sites!"
"What?! This late? They should have been here by now!"
"Their progress was slower than anticipated as the Hexers at the frontlines have already been making so aggressive movents. Ah, I have just received a revised instruction. The Fridayman chs that you are overseeing must lift their blockade and make an orderly retreat to friendly lines. Their strength is sorely needed elsewhere!"
"What about the Beehive."
"We have already evacuated the most expensive and irreplaceable production equipnt. The rest are being scuttled as we speak. We—"
"..."
As Ghanso patched into the other communication channels, he received varying amounts of static. That usually ant that a lot of jamming went up in the surrounding territories.
"Enemies approaching!"
"They’re coming from two sides!"
The Hexers had finally made their move! Just as Ghanso expected, the Hexer assault forces wanted to break through the Fridayman blockade force with the help of reinforcents from the other side.
While Ghanso felt relieved that the reinforcents only consisted of a couple of thousands chs, getting pressured on two sides was not easy to deal with! If the Fridayn weren’t careful, they might get encircled instead!
"Have the Hexers gone crazy today? They’re already attacking dozens of fortifications at once!"
"Hey, Hexers are always crazy. It’s probably their general’s ti of the month today, so they’re being extra crazy this ti!"
After scanning the numbers of every force, Ghanso estimated that the Hexers had brought just enough chs to rescue their blocked compatriots, but not much more.
The ranged firefight proceeded normally. The Fortune Legion chs directed the majority of its ranged chs towards the reinforcents in an attempt to suppress them and slow their advance.
It did not work that well. The Hexers, eager to rescue their fellow sisters, pushed through the storm of fire by the hundreds, then the thousands!
The Charlemagne gripped its rifle tighter. Ghanso readied himself to resist the expert pilots that inevitably accompanied the masses of regular machines.
The mont that two tides of lee Hexers chs crashed against the Fortune Legion from opposite directions, it was as if a sandwich had ford.
The fighting at the two fronts had beco incredibly violent as thousands of lee chs tried to smash each other apart as brutally as possible!
Cockpits already launched from the backs of fallen chs left and right. Right now, few chs paid attention to them as the enemies in front of them posed a much more imdiate threat!
Considering the relatively even numbers, Ghanso expected the Hexers to get stalled.
His expectations were off.
One of the Fortune Legion’s lines actually started to buckle!
The reinforcents that advanced from Hexer-occupied territory fought harder and more valiantly than their Fridayman counterparts. At the sa ti, the Fortune Legion chs that had already faced off against Hexers several tis seed to move a bit more lethargically than usual.
This shouldn’t be possible!
"What is the matter?! Why is the Fortune Legion losing ground?"
The pushback the Hexers had already accomplished so far was incredibly alarming to the Fridayman commanders. If the Fortune Legion was already faltering at this point, then a total rout was inevitable!
A small hunch ca over Ghanso. He rapidly scanned the chs deployed by the Hexer reinforcents. He spotted several familiar-looking standardized Hex Army chs. He already morized their main characteristics. His cranial implant stored the rest of their properties and also contained detailed guides on how to exploit their weak points.
Yet despite the relatively complete database in his implant, Ghanso nevertheless failed to identify a distinctly new ch model.
It was rare for the Hex Army to field a new ch model!
Though it looked like a middling male knight ch, the way the Hexers and Fridayn chs fought around it was very unsettling.
Through the heavy jamming in the air, Ghanso finally managed to hear so disconcerting statents.
"These Hexer ch pilots are fighting twice as hard today!"
"What is this pressure? I feel like I’m being stared at by mother!"
"I feel it as well! The mont my ch steps closer, this sensation grows stronger."
"Just ignore it! Rember your training and steel your minds!"
A dreadful realization dawn on Ghanso.
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