The beginnings of the mania of ambition? No, Signy hadn’t wanted this, she thought to herself. It was what was right. She was no longer feeble, and neither was this group of people under her, whether they were opportunists or believers, they’d be right to be behind her. It was a feeling she learned to like, still, this new fear she could inspire in people, the knowledge that she worked to create true and massive change in the world, to stymie the cynical march of reactionism that had felled a free and democratic nation. That grand design distracted from how lonely she had become, in her new place in the world.

Her new friends were historians and philosophers, strategists and tacticians. Most of them were dead. Once, she’d imagined them with Loch’s face, in desperation, but now…she held nothing but fury for that man. Burning hatred that he wouldn’t help her where she truly needed it the most, he got her so angry that she couldn’t think. At least try to be more than some formless shadow! You contemptible swine! Knock it the hell off, with this ceaseless mockery of my feelings! Am I a woman to you or a child?!

Grit teeth. Hot tears. She’d sent him away before she had become frustrated enough to shout at him, and she was good and cold now. This was what mattered, not whatever nonsense that still stuck in her head like a vestigial limb. Off with it, if it was going to get in the way. All the aid she’d accept from Loch now was whatever strings he’d pulled for mercenaries and “volunteers,” and that personal guard attached to her. She couldn’t accomplish anything if an assassin blew her brains out. Or cut her throat. Again.

“Generalmajor.” She addressed the leader of the assembled group she was now before, sharply, hands behind her back as her longcoat flapped in the gentle wind. “Your men are the First Republic Infantry Division, yes?”

“Aye, madam Minister,” the man snapped up to attention. He was much more respectful and reverent than most- the First Infantry had been made up of people from the first territories of the Republic, and the man had been a leader in the White Eyes, a group that had been one of Signy’s first supporters when this land was still new and strange. Yet the extravagant title showed the new barrier between them. “Fifteen thousand five hundred and forty eight men are assembled here to await your approval as soldiers of the Republic.”

The weight of that statement suddenly pressed on the Minister’s shoulders. You haven’t had coffee yet. Maybe this General would like to go get some? No, he’s not really your type, not pretty enough, not young enough, not in any way a prince…

And to everybody here you’re the Minister and nothing else.

“M’am?” the General coughed cautiously when Signy had clapped her hand against her face, twice.

“I’m fine.” The Minister looked across the nervous faces of the Soldiers of the Republic, their hats casting shade over their faces, no hopeful glint in that darkness. Not yet. Could they find inspiration in this plain northern girl who had the audacity to call herself a Shield of Liberty? “Let’s get this done. Show me around the battalions, then we’ll have them do a quick drill. There’s a lot to get done.”

The section of the Army of the Republic that was ready for battle had been counted at five infantry divisions and one mechanized/armor regiment, and unless there was a miracle, that’d be all that would be ready by the time she intended to get this war started. Fewer fighters than the Ellowian Army squatting here, far fewer, but she intended for them to have a pivotal role in the coming Alpha Two, so they had to be the best she could scrounge up. It wouldn’t be enough to fight the Netillians, of course, but it was enough, should she and her men be clever and steadfast, to trample the northern confederations that were readying to counter the new power of Mittelsosalia.

Like she’d done once before, she had gone out and met with the leaders of these confederacies. She’d met many of them before. Before, they had insulted her, made fun of her, assaulted her body like she was some wench instead of an equal. Now, they displayed a proper level of fear and respect. In not quite forgotten indignant and impotent fury, Signy had cried that she would kill them for their disrespect- now, they remembered that, and she had the power to carry out threats that had once been made in desperate protest rather than anything that could be actually done.

She couldn’t help but be amused by how a scant few of them groveled. Much less so by those whose disrespect had been replaced by an equal amount of wariness. That was fine, though. She knew her overtures landed on deaf ears.

That was why the deadline she gave them was false. The day they prepared for would be a week too late. There was no negotiation planned, and while they still plotted amongst themselves, these savages would be liberated, a mere footnote in Mittelsosalia’s rise.

-----

“Grandmaster,” one of Ellowie’s faithful in an old and forgotten uniform of the army saluted the appointed leader of Ellowie’s final stand against the East, “The Royal Guard are assembled with their equipment. We’re still waiting to hear the same from a few of the orders, but for the most part, we are prepared for the assault at dusk.”

“Good.” The Grandmaster declared with a clank as he rose, the plates of his armored suit shifting against one another. “Regardless of readiness, send out the command to synchronize time pieces, and to be ready to converge upon the exact time.”

The young man saluted again, and left. The Grandmaster watched him go, and ran his hand across the helmet lying on his table, the grossly flamboyant thing heavy as it was pretty. The children loved it though, just like they loved the armor, for all of how it was a sham. The Grandmaster was no deluded fool. The Royal Guard were not a Royal Guard at all, and for all the implied declaration, did not serve the King. The Orders were no brotherhoods appointed by the Cathedra to keep the peace of the land in a more just time, and the Grandmaster was but an aging man in an ill fitting suit of armor made for another time. It wasn’t for arrogance that such names had been chosen, though. In this grim time with no hope in the future, the vainglorious times that had long passed were the only place to find the inspiration to fight against the combined tide of Eastern Heresy and Western Socialism.

Those twin threats were worth any fight against them, no matter how bitter. The lands of Vinstraga were already being sapped of holiness as the Cathedra had been usurped by the false icon of the Kaiser Alexander, but the wayward churches that had been allowed to exist feebly where the Cathedra once had been were still more tolerable than the Church of the East, whom for all their claim to serve the same Justice, denied the West not only their self-determination, but also their saints and worship, that the Vilja Domkarl, Will of the Saints, the voice of the Judge to his creation, was but a charlatan.

The Socialists supported this destructive heresy for their own ends in a cynical bid for heaven upon earth that they deemed themselves Judge to pass. They allied themselves with this alien doom and forsook their countrymen for a utopia as impossible as it was arrogant. A curse upon them, and for their custody of the Cathedra’s holy men in Vitelia. Their time would come.

Yes, all the pomp and circumstance was but a standard to lead the lost to continue this war. This battle would be a beacon to those in the dark, that it was not all over. For the children, for those who had been abandoned and orphaned…Yet are you not using them as your own tool?

The Grandmaster, Ottoslaus Von Srebo, his very name a symbol more than anything, was kept awake at night still by this question despite having his answers. These answers weighed heavily despite them being all he could offer these poor youth, the future of this fair nation and its people. They could not go into the future a cowed and subject race. A proud death and obliteration was better than to become thralls of the heretic or utopianist.

Better still to live in victory, the Grandmaster thought to himself as he lifted his helm unto his head. Every name that belonged to a martyr for their nation, he had written down, committed to memory each night, for when the day would come that he would stand for each of these souls as valiant, the holy knights in a new age of heroes.

-----

You are Richter Von Tracht, Lieutenant Officer of Panzers for the Archduchy of Strossvald, and Coordinator Official of the Archducal advisory mission to Netilland. Now was the first time you’d actually felt like that in a while, even if you were now moonlighting as a go-between for insurgent groups you were supposed to be fighting against, as well as an indirect agent for the Ellowian Government in Exile and the Republic of Mittelsosalia. Such was the nature of being an Intelligence Office agent on top of all that, wasn’t it?

Much of the leadership of the unit you oversaw, the 1st company of the 5th Combined Light Infantry battalion as well as a few officers and NCOs of a compliment of armored cavalry sent as reinforcements by Captain Magnus Edelschwert to support this operation, was now assembled before you for briefing.
The purpose of this operation was multifaceted. Only you and your inner circle of officers knew of the objective to distract as many Twaryian forces from guarding Dymny from an assault by Eastern Resistance Army forces at sundown, but there was plenty of justification in the other goals of the operation.

“…Gentlemen,” you began in front of a meticulously scribed new projection device (apparently from old Ellowian stock somebody managed to “dig up”) that had been freshly donated by Maenesko, your voice far more confident than the last time you had to give a briefing, “Today, our mission is to give the Twaryians proper recompense for Gerovic’s activities, and to destroy their ability to make large scale, fast and powerful raids into our territory. Our targets in accomplishing that are a forward supply depot, and a motor pool that should contain a significant proportion of their remaining vehicles. With these two objectives neutralized, the Twaryians should be too busy with Insurgents to bother us for some time, especially without another Gerovic.”

You pointed to the marked units of those attended on the overhead projected image on the blank wall. “We will be making a large scale attack ourselves, utilizing most of the company as well as allied assets. 4th and 6th platoons will be making an assault from the north with support of our mortar section, as well as an armored car from Lieutenant Muller’s platoon to facilitate communications, and if need be, provide fire support.” Lieutenant Albert Muller was Captain Wielzci’s 2nd platoon commander, and for how plain his name was, he had come eager to help. “The rest of those assembled here,” 1st and 2nd platoons, your tank platoon, and most of Edelschwert’s commitment, “will be making a large scale maneuver into Twaryian occupied territory, with the goal of attacking a motor pool hidden in a village. The sheer mass of our attack should keep anybody in our way from putting up much a fight- if they run, don’t chase them too far, and if anything comes to us that we can’t fight off easily, we run. This is meant to be an easy operation, and if we don’t do it quickly and brutally we ought not to do it at all.”

Even Gerovic hadn’t attacked you with near a full company himself. He had leaned on insurgent power in what could be a bid of plausible deniability. That wouldn’t be the case here.

“If possible we’ll be trying to capture as much materiel as possible from the targets we strike, but whatever you’re forced to leave behind for whatever reason, destroy. We won’t be executing the operation synchronously, but we will set out at the same time- at three thirty, to return no sooner than six o’clock. Again, if you encounter heavy opposition that you cannot deal with in a simple and hasty manner, you’re to relay that up the chain of command and initiate withdrawal. Are there any…” a few figures moved into the room at the back- one you recognized in the glitzy attire of the Kommissariat…what was he doing here?

“Don’t mind me,” Kommissar Alrik Zohl smiled at you, the green haired man’s cheeks creasing deeply. “I’m only here to satisfy my curiosity. I can’t help but want to keep informed on important matters in the Border Zone.”

What was he doing here? Every other person in the room was now nervously regarding him as well, as he stood against the rear wall, flanked by what must have been an escort from the mechanized guards he was attached to. One was an absolute beast of a man who was clearly a heavily decorated veteran, and not wearing anything awarded by parade attendance, either. Was this intimidation? No, the Kommissar didn’t seem to be trying that at all, other than making the paltry gesture that he could go where he pleased.

Yet without even trying he was getting under your skull. Somehow, his presence prompted that awful itch from inside the head that made you want to hide away, in a disassociating pressure that threatened to spoil your focus. You hadn’t so much as seen him in a long time- was this new?

“…I…I see.” You shook your head, “I was almost done, only taking questions from the men before this operation.”

“May I ask questions?” The Kommissar stepped forward and put his hands on the back of an unoccupied chair.

“…Is it concerning Kommissariat business, or your personal curiosity?”

“The latter.”

“…I’d allow some questions after the briefing, and I’d rather not allow certain information to pass until after the operation takes place,” you dodged the Kommissar carefully. “This is more for the men involved in the operation.”

“Of course, of course,” Zohl shrugged, and took the seat nevertheless as the rest of the room tried to pretend he wasn’t there, and ask whatever queries they had.

-----

“What is he doing here?” you demanded of Von Metzeler irritably, more frustrated at yourself than your second in command, “Have you heard if he’s been prowling about?”

Von Metzeler frowned as he glanced sidelong at the Kommissar, everybody having emptied out of the room and back into daylight. “…I don’t know. It is not as though he is not expected to, but I doubt he has been motivated to search…this may merely be because of your refusal to correspond with him…”

“Like a jilted woman,” you cursed. What should you do about him, you wondered…

>Leave him alone. He wouldn’t find anything, considering he was dressed so gaudily in his dress of office, and interfering with him might be suspect.
>Have Von Metzeler stay with him as long as he was around. He could answer his presumably superfluous questions and be excused as a guide, of sorts.
>Personally confront the Kommissar. You weren’t going to stand for this. (With what, and how?)
>Other?

Past Threads are collected here: https://pastebin.com/UagT0hnh
Twitter for announcements and various horseshit is @scheissfunker

>>4378753
>>Have Von Metzeler stay with him as long as he was around. He could answer his presumably superfluous questions and be excused as a guide, of sorts.

>>4378753
We've got our excuses pretty well lined up for not joining his expedition, he just saw us plan out an attack requiring our whole unit and he can easily see that Richter is pretty physically and mentally fucked up.
>Have Von Metzeler stay with him as long as he was around. He could answer his presumably superfluous questions and be excused as a guide, of sorts.

Zohl might poke around the Ellowians too hard without a chaperone and Von Metzeler is already wise to his tricks.
The Kommissar will probably see through this but I'm sure he's aware of our disdain for him. I think he wants to corner Richter alone.
>Other?
There's a chance Zohl might try to kidnap the Twaryian prisoner we caught or extort us into handing her over. Maybe coach Von Metzeler to play ignorant about her whereabouts.

>>4378753
>>Other
With Von Metzeler see what he wants and get it over with as quickly as possible.

>>4378753
Supporting >>4378805. Better to settle this now and get him to leave than him trying to poke around when we're away.

>>4378738
Damn, Signy is turning into an imperialist.

>>4378753
Supporting >>4378805

>>4378756
Switching to >>4378805
>>4378889
>Inb4 Mittlesosalia becomes Netilland 2.0

File: maddy.png (4.35 MB, 3000x3000)

4.35 MB PNG

Maddy fanart that was made for a friend.

>>4378919
It was a friend who requested a pic of her naked then, huh.

She cute tho.

File: Ed4SAyHUEAAvqsB.png (1.01 MB, 1241x2042)

1.01 MB PNG

By the way:

>3 highest: Fie 3 times, because she's the only girl who didn't get fucked up because of Richter, so she has to be the strongest, right?

>3 lowest:
>All the Luftpanzer girls collectively, because I didn't play it
>Mathilda, because Mathilda
>The Major, who's so low she's not even on the pic.

File: image0 (2).jpg (144 KB, 1623x1256)

144 KB JPG

>>4378924
Thanks, and yes actually, this was the reference used.

>>4378795
Give him a tour guide and protect your acquisitions. Even if you're not really doing anything with it, like a hoarder. A hoarder of ecclesiastical property.

>>4378805
>>4378814
>>4378889
>>4378896
Get your backup and address this problem in the face and get it out of here.

Writign!

>>4378919
That's cute! but,
>>4378924
Yeah who would draw her even partially nude-
>>4378950
Oh, right.

>>4378930
Methinks you just have green fever. Also the deck doesn't have multiple cards in it, no three of a kinds allowed. Not until Mahjong at least.

>>4379298
>no three of a kinds allowed
I stick to my ridiculous claim.

>>4378919
can you link the full pic ?

“I don’t like the idea of leaving him alone and curious for any length of time,” you whispered furtively to Von Metzeler, who helpfully leaned down some. “Can you help me with this? I want to see what he wants and get him out of here, immediately. I’m especially concerned that he might seek out the prisoner I am keeping.”

Von Metzeler gave you a tired look, and said quietly back, “…Perhaps that is reason enough to do away with her, then…Whatever long term plan you had to avoid stashing her in a room, move to the end of it…If you think the rumormongers have fun with you and your retinue, you need not imagine what might happen if it becomes widely discussed that you are keeping a female prisoner of war in your care for an extended period of time for little presented justification…”

A reflexive cringe came before you properly thought of a reply to that. “Yes, well, I’ll be right on that, but that problem comes after this one.”

“…One moment…” Von Metzeler made for Krause, and they had a short conversation, before the mustachioed junior lieutenant left. When Von Metzeler returned, he still spoke in a low and soft tone. “..Frederick will take care of her if the Kommissar comes near…Women like him, so he should be able to take care of her without trouble…”

“Women like him?” You echoed, “How so? Why?”

“…I do not remember…” Von Metzeler indeed had lost his foundational memories with a man you had every reason to believe was his best friend, but part of you suspected he also just wanted to get this over with without any potential objections. “…let us see what Zohl wants…”

With a nod, you looked back over to Zohl, who…hadn’t been watching either of you at all, to your relief. He looked as though he was in a museum with how his eyes wandered over the dingy buildings and frosted roads, dirty snow piled up where there was space for it. “Ah,” he smiled at you and Von Metzeler as you approached him, bowing, “Hello, Von Metzeler, was it? I haven’t seen you since you and your lovely friend dined with me. How is she doing?”

Von Metzeler stiffened. “…Well enough…”

“You and Von Tracht have not been doing the same, though, have you?” He played up a woeful expression as he looked between Von Metzeler’s missing arm, and half of your face. “My deepest condolences, that you are wounded so for the sake of my country.”

My own deepest condolences that I’ll see your country toppled, you thought with spite. “What do you want?” you demanded, “You didn’t come to peek in on our briefing.”

Kommissar Zohl didn’t stop smiling, as he put his hand to his chest and made a hurt coo. “You act so coldly to me, despite my attempts to be cordial. I suppose this commoner cannot demand the favor of my lord, though. I would have thought that my part in placing this UGZ under your sole control,” his eyes flicked all about like a child stepping into a playroom, “Would be more appreciated, but alas. As for why I am here, oh, but you are such a fascinating band. When I spoke with Von Metzeler over dinner, I described to him how I find my fellow man to be the most interesting of studies, and you Strossvalders have been very interesting. Interesting in different ways, and, ah, it is part of the duty of a Kommissar of State Security to investigate the interesting, after all. Interesting things, such as your recent disfigurement…” Zohl’s eyes were dark pools as they drilled into your face, “Did you know, noble Coordinator, that the Twaryians do not use the same chemical weapons as other countries? Their only foes refused to use them, so they have a vulnerability in protection, as well. Similarly, it is rather unlikely that insurgents would have access to flayer gas, isn’t it?”

You remained silent, and looked down your nose at Zohl.

“There is also your history to consider. While you have been here, you haven’t been suspect, no, far from it! Yet it is impossible to ignore your illustrious history, as before you came here, you were not Coordinator, but Kommandant, for a state that has become antagonistic to Netilland’s interests in Sosaldt. You also socialized with their leader, and were gone for a period of time shortly after. You see, Von Tracht, it isn’t that you are viewed as a risky individual, but that in my idleness resulting from your excellent work, I simply must go looking for interesting things. Leisure must be balanced with work, after all. Ah, if the Minister of the People returns, would you care to take her to enjoy dinner with me? She must have quite the mind and soul. Women with her influence are rare, after all.”

“I don’t think so,” you said flatly, “You misinterpret our relationship.” It was a poor bluff, but you couldn’t admit to anything more than past professional service.

Yet Zohl had hooked himself on a tangent. “Women have more interesting souls than we do, Von Tracht. The people of the mountains even believe such, that one compared to the other is like two different bodies of water. Men’s souls are more broad, like a blue sea, while women’s souls are like pools that teem with life. Similar, but so different.”

“…Are you leading up to something?” you asked with a weary frown, “I don’t really want to talk to you, I just want to know what you want so I can help you with it and have you be on your way.”

“Indeed,” Zohl’s smile, that constant irritant, never seemed to fade. “Did you receive my letter with my proposal?”

“I did.”

“And?”

“…I’ve already arranged something for her. I can’t hand her to you.” Another quick bluff, but what Von Metzeler said about having to get rid of her was relevant regardless of whether or not the Kommissar was dissuaded.
Though he didn’t seem to care. With a slight shrug and a sigh, he intoned lackadaisically, “Then I’ll just extend the offer to whomever the transfer is to.”

We’ll see about that. “Was there anything else at all?”

“A tour of this place would be pleasant. Despite what some might think, the desolation is quite inspiring, romantic, even. I would like to see how the transfer has gone, with the transition from the enforcement from penal troops to the combined infantry. The Combined Infantry are an interesting experiment in themselves, after all.”

“…We’ll have to move out in some hours. Lieutenant,” you said to Von Metzeler, “Could you escort the Kommissar? I’ll take care of everything to do with the platoon and the company.”

“…Yes, of course…” Von Metzeler stepped forward, “…The standard patrols will be ending soon, as the men mobilize for the operation, but there is some time before that…”

As Von Metzeler led the Kommissar and the two Guards escorting him away, you cursed under your breath. Couldn’t Zohl have joined Gerovic and Bertram in leaving you alone, but of his own volition? What a pain in the ass. Von Metzeler gave you a glance as he left, as if to say, hurry up. Concerning the girl, of course. Zohl wasn’t actually restrained from doing whatever he pleased, as a prominent member of the Defense Party- if you wanted to protect your prisoner, you’d either have to make it an actual problem for him to arbitrarily find and pick up, or loose her some other way.

What do you care? She’s a prisoner of war, not an innocent civilian, was the logical thought, People must know something of this Kommissar’s character. Do what you’re supposed to do with prisoners of war. She’s not supposed to be your problem. It’s the responsibility of whomever is up the chain, who is probably more able to resist him anyways. Yet, you had personally captured her. Or was it because she looked like Maddalyn, that you were soft on her? Either way, you had to actually decide if you were getting rid of her, and if so, how you’d do it before you couldn’t have a close eye kept on Zohl by a figure you could trust to get firmly in his way close at hand.

>Screw it. Pass her up the chain, it was what you were supposed to do anyways. It was the best you could do.
>It wasn’t proper, but Zohl couldn’t get his hands on her if you just drove up to the border and kicked her over it, could he? Maybe you could do such on your way out on the raid?
>Just keep her under guard with the platoons present here, as you have been. Anything else was too sketchy, even if this was a perpetual indecision.
>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t the right person to handle this in the first place.
>Other?

>>4379445
>partially unpeeled
This is a blue board.

File: 1546145366546.jpg (78 KB, 669x696)

78 KB JPG

>>4379465
That is the full pic anon

>>4379522
>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t the right person to handle this in the first place.
I honestly don't give a shit. There is only one red haired girl I give a shit about and she's a country away. I'm more than willing to feed the snapping beast that is Zohl so he'd stop finding our activities so darn interesting, but keeping the poor girl out of his hands is the more noble choice and what are these Strossvald if not noble to a fault.

>>4379522
>>Screw it. Pass her up the chain, it was what you were supposed to do anyways. It was the best you could do.

>>4379522
>>It wasn’t proper, but Zohl couldn’t get his hands on her if you just drove up to the border and kicked her over it, could he? Maybe you could do such on your way out on the raid?
Let him go on his own psychedelic demon-fighting armored car raid if he wants a prisoner so much.

>>4379522
>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t the right person to handle this in the first place

>>4379522
>>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t t he right person to handle this in the first place.
Time to cast the first level IO spell "disappear person".

>>4379522
>Screw it. Pass her up the chain, it was what you were supposed to do anyways. It was the best you could do.

>>4379522
>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t the right person to handle this in the first place.

>>4379522
>>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t the right person to handle this in the first place.

If for whatever reason this doesn't work:
>It wasn’t proper, but Zohl couldn’t get his hands on her if you just drove up to the border and kicked her over it, could he? Maybe you could do such on your way out on the raid?
She won't have time to warn anyone and this will definitely keep her safe from Zohl.

>>4379522
>>Screw it. Pass her up the chain, it was what you were supposed to do anyways. It was the best you could do.

>>4379522
>It wasn’t proper, but Zohl couldn’t get his hands on her if you just drove up to the border and kicked her over it, could he? Maybe you could do such on your way out on the raid?
Suppose our "plans" for her were to use her as a guide during the raid. Suppose she also escaped in the process.

>>4379522
>Trust Krause to get rid of her, like Von Metzeler advocated. How he did it, you didn’t care. Frankly, maybe you weren’t the right person to handle this in the first place
>>4379298
I feel like we've been building to a mahjong death game arc for a while. I'll be disappointed if we don't have a whole thread of mahjong nonsense vs zohl with zero tank related content

>>4379604
>>4379777
>>4379781
>>4379902
>>4380218
Cast disappear person. You're a natural at this Spook thing.

>>4379619
>>4379782
>>4380025
Pass it off to the proper authority. Well, not your authority.

>>4379632
>>4380044
Back over the border with you!

Writing. This was pretty much the last issue before you, you know, actually go out to deal with problems you can solve by shooting them.

>>4380218
>I'll be disappointed if we don't have a whole thread of mahjong nonsense vs zohl with zero tank related content
Clearly he's more a shogi enthusiast.

>>4380383
I know of hot-blooded manga about mahjong, but not about shogi, which makes shogi the inferior game.

Enough of this. It was time for this shackle you’d locked around your ankle while in the midst of a drug-induced hallucination to be taken care of, by your own trusted people. If Zohl wanted a Twaryian prisoner so much, he could drive over the border himself and into demon infested voids. You went back for the garrison quarters and caught up with Krause- he hadn’t quite returned, as you found him in between, though you didn’t assume it was out of laziness. From how he was perusing the street vendors’ wares in this alley, he was on the lookout for something.

“Hey, Richter,” Krause said to you, hands hooked in his pockets. Apparently a salute wasn’t forthcoming, not that you were going to demand one here. “Break away from the Defense Party early, then?”

“Yes. That thing Von Metzeler told you to do,” you looked around to make sure that Zohl hadn’t suddenly sprouted up behind you, “Can you get on that? Right away?”
Krasue frowned. “Has the situation changed?”

“No. I just need it all off my mind. I want to focus entirely on this battle coming up. Make sure everything can go as well as it can, and I need that woman and Zohl’s want for her out of the picture. I don’t care how it’s done. I don’t think it’s best for me to handle right now anyways.”

“That’s alright,” Krause’s gaze returned to the stands, “I was working on that anyways.”

“You were?” A look to where Krause was looking among boxes on shoddy stands. Threadbare clothes, meager secondhand stock repaired to some usefulness with what was available. There was better even in the UGZ at this point, but ragpickers were never out of work anywhere. “I see.”

“It’s a simple magic trick, but a decent one, especially since he’s looking for a woman. Slighter girls can be turned into young men pretty easy, and red’s simple to turn black. The tricky part is getting her to trust me when we can’t speak a single word to each other, but I’ll figure it out.”

“…You make it sound so simple and easy.”

“For me, it is. I’ve had plenty of practice.” Krause tapped a hand on your shoulder, “You don’t have to worry about a think. Frederick’s got this. Let the war thirsty nobility handle the war, and the dirty urban delinquents handle dirty delinquent affairs, yes?”

If you could handle it, you supposed. “Right. Thanks.”

“Keep it together, runt snuggler.”

You paused, not sure what to think of that one, but went on your way without something to spoil your last expression of gratitude.

-----

You were never fond of the city, or anything approximating a city. Too closed in, too smokey or dusty, depending on the place. Then again, the city you had the most experience with was Strosstadt, which for being the economic and industrial heart of the Archduchy was an utterly filthy city outside of the spaces more frequented by the Archduke or the high nobility, which earned their patronage with beauty and sensation rather than raw output.

Just the thing to clear your nerves was to walk about with the preliminary reconnaissance squads, who checked the routes you’d be taking from your territory…and would go a bit further in, should they not encounter anybody who’d disagree with such. They’d been made from the groups that had done plenty of work trying to counter Twaryian raiders before Gerovic took raids to a newer, more active level. It was best to listen when they said they felt you should hide, or move somewhere else.

“Your gut thinks faster than your mind,” A squad leader told you sagely as you crunched through snow, “They work off the same principle, so really, on a good day, we chase them out without even seeing them. Better that way. They’re good shots. At the same time, they won’t take a shot if they don’t think they can get away with it…’course, we work the same way, if we think there’s more of them, though that didn’t happen often.”

“Not getting into a firefight sounds good to me.” You said, the pain in your leg starting to flare up again when you were almost sure you’d gotten over spall flying into it. Not losing any more fingers would also be pleasant. “Not until I’m in a tank.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” the squad leader said, holding up his hand for his team to stop. “A look around here and we should be good. If your leg’s gone bum you shouldn’t be dancing over the border.”

The place you were in at the moment was near devoid of cover. The Squad Leader had said that was better for this. Less places to hide, and when in your own territory or looking over, that was better. In the woods, he’d said, you were much more likely to be surprised and not be able to get away from the worst things to be surprised by. He looked around the white plain through his binoculars, and with a click of his tongue, put them back in their pouch.

“Can never be sure if a few aren’t watching real still-like from the trees or a snow pile. Have to count on getting lucky with how much ground there is to cover, and if they’re spooked enough by insurgents they won’t go around in small groups, or by themselves. There’s certain plenty of shots that go out that weren’t from us, at least.”

The Vengeful Phantoms, you thought to yourself. If you were a Twaryian, you certainly wouldn’t want to go out in mere pairs for anything where those sharpshooters might be prowling. You briefly imagined what it might be like to linger in a land crawling with even just a dozen Bertrams, and shuddered. The leader waved his finger around, and you all started heading back to the UGZ.

“It’s a good thing attack planes aren’t allowed in the border zone, or we wouldn’t have it so easy,” one of the troops said brightly.

“Yeah, until the Twaryians decide to get creative on what constitutes an attack plane. Like they’re creative on what constitutes a mine.”

“Pardon?” you coughed at that.

“Yeah,” the squad leader reaffirmed that fear, “Minefields are explicitly banned by treaty, especially concealed, but they carry the things themselves, we think they use them like demolition charges. It’s just a case of explosives when you think about it that way. I hear they’ll tie a bunch on a rope and sling them out in front of vehicles, or try and slide them under things if they only can get one. Real dangerous when you’re going through close terrain, you know, like you guys will be.”

“…Great.” It wasn’t something you could deny. In fact, that sounded near exactly what had happened to you when you were being escorted back by the Iron Hogs from the last leg of your return trip. This operation would be during the day, but it was true enough that you’d be passing through the woods, where your visibility would be worse, and hiding places for the enemy more numerous, in exchange for your approach being much more masked.

“Hey, you’ll just have to be lucky, right?”

“…” You didn’t know if you were feeling fantastically lucky at the moment. Either your luck would be looking up after all you’d gone through now, or you’d just run out.

-----

The assembled force now under your command, even just half of it, already looked quite fierce as you climbed into the X-51 and poked yourself out the top of the tank. Two infantry platoons, supported by captured assault cars, and ten armored vehicles, with the combined might of your armor platoon and those from Edelschwert’s company. So much force made you feel confident, but you were still wary of what the scout team leader had said about the Twaryians using mines in that offensive fashion- if any of your vehicles were immobilized, the chances of you managing to repair it and extract it were miniscule, considering the quick nature of this operation. Then again, would you need the vehicles themselves after this? You’d be happy to just get out with as few hurt as possible.

File: finalraid_pre1.jpg (639 KB, 2000x1796)

639 KB JPG

The wide route through the woods in the first place was intended to evade the most likely defensive positions anyways. The biggest threat you expected was at your subunit’s target- the hidden motor pool, where you expected at least a few tanks to be left over from the battles that had taken place. There hadn’t been any neat timing considered to strike both the supply depot north and the motor pool at the same time- just that both were being attacked and raided and then left as quickly as possible. After all, should the enemy be too much to handle in one place, the plan was to retreat anyways.

The best case scenario for you, though, was to manage to strike the motor pool before the enemy could make their vehicles ready for combat, which would probably mean that you would have to strike near at the same time or before the north infantry contingent did. However, if you didn’t arrange a time for them to move out or strike, you’d have to rely on one radio- a risky move, since you’d also have to be operating under radio silence once you set out on this, as to not give listening posts even the slightest early warning.

Yes, rapidity of the strike was what would carry the day, hence why all mechanized assets were combined. Yet you were still wary. The fastest movement would necessitate the infantry being unable to escort the vehicles, which meant anybody you did run into would most likely be able to have the first chance to attack you. Risk and reward. Yet were you willing to take that much a risk for this?

>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
>Keep it slow and careful, dismount the infantry. It gave the enemy more time to be ready for you, but could they be ready for the amount of force you were bringing? Certainly not.
>Other?
Also-
>Agree on a synchronized attack with the infantry attacking the supply depot. That would result in maximum confusion- should you not raise an alarm on the way.
>Make a disjointed attack between the two of you. It would distract the enemy north anyways, a diversion for what was ultimately a diversionary attack anyways.
>Other?

>>4380479
>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
>Agree on a synchronized attack with the infantry attacking the supply depot. That would result in maximum confusion- should you not raise an alarm on the way.

Whole point of this is to catch them while they are unprepared, even if we are guaranteed to come across checkpoints and hurdles with us racing along the road.

That and if the depot gets hit too soon all we will find is an empty garage.

>Other?
If the armor bungle the surprise completely then radio the depot team to attack immediately. At least then any enemy reinforcements might split up some.

>>4380479
>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
Speed is crucial here.
>Agree on a synchronized attack with the infantry attacking the supply depot. That would result in maximum confusion- should you not raise an alarm on the way.
Though if they start hearing heavy gunfire from down south then authorize them to go loud prematurely. Maybe bring a bunch of flares with us?

>>4380479
>>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
>>Agree on a synchronized attack with the infantry attacking the supply depot. That would result in maximum confusion- should you not raise an alarm on the way.

>>4380479
>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
>Agree on a synchronized attack with the infantry attacking the supply depot. That would result in maximum confusion- should you not raise an alarm on the way.

>>4380479
>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
>Make a disjointed attack between the two of you. It would distract the enemy north anyways, a diversion for what was ultimately a diversionary attack anyways.

>>4380479
>>As Debon said, what was the mechanized assault if it was not fast? Risky, yes, but what of that?
>>Agree on a synchronized attack with the infantry attacking the supply depot. That would result in maximum confusion- should you not raise an alarm on the way.
Strike fast or don't strike at all

>>4380492
>>4380494
>>4380509
>>4380532
Attempt the synchronized hit,
>>4380491
With contingency in case of bungling it.

>>4380512
The dissenting disjointing.

Writing now.

Wasn’t it time to begin putting the so recently re-learned theory into practice, you thought with a flash of energy. Yes, Debon advised throwing caution to the wind to strike as hard and fast as possible, but the whole purpose of a tank was to be fearless within it, while striking terror into the foe. Like any weapon, one had to believe in those qualities for it to work at all, else the tank’s steel may as well be transfigured to lead, as he put it. Take back your steel! You must do it now, while the Fear cannot infect your heart!

“Radio check, Blade One. After this check, we will exclusively use flags, hand signals and speech to communicate. Respond- Blade Two, Dagger One through three, Cloak Actual, speaking for Cloak One and Two.” All platoons relayed contact one by one- communications within the platoons were their own deal. “We proceed as discussed. We don’t stop for anything. If anybody gets stopped somehow and can’t keep going, you can expect to be helped if you need it, but we aren’t stopping the formation. Make any last preparations. We leave in five minutes.”

“Gee, boss,” Hans said over the intercom as you switched to it instead of a radio you wouldn’t be using for a while now, “Radio silence, my favorite stance. Guess I’ll kick back and take a nap.”

“He’ll jump out again and you’ll have to chase after him,” Stein said, half chastising you.

“He hasn’t been shot yet doing that, has he? Be a pal and give him some of your charms. Not like they’re helping you, right?”

“…Actually,” you said to Stein, off the intercom, turning to your flank where he was hunched over in the turret basket, “Can I get one of those?”

Stein blinked at you. “Are you messing with me, Commander?”

“I’m actually not.” You said dully, “I’ll take any edge I can get.”

Stein stared at you, then reached into his collar and pulled out an impressive string of carved charms of wood, stone, and shell. You knew your gunner was superstitious, but this was quite beyond what you’d last seen of his display of that. “Just one will do,” Stein said, practically in response to your surprise, “It’s just that they, well, have to work for you. They’re different depending on exactly what you want.”

“I want to not be shot.” You said plainly. No, wait. “…I also want my friends to survive.”

Jorgen made some snide remark about homosexuality as Stein fingered through his charms and picked two of them off. “Any edge you can get, right?”

There were a few other things you could think of, but the more you pondered it the more you began to accept that you’d eventually just take every single one of Stein’s charms. You simply nodded, and took them to put around your neck…and realized that they weren’t alone there. Judge Above, you still had that old necklace…

Rolled 2, 1, 2, 4 = 9 (4d4)

“Thanks. I’m about as ready as I can get.” You flipped out your watch. One minute. “Almost time. Driver, are you ready?”

“Deafsroonallcorrrrns.”

“It sure does.” Another look at the watch. “We’re heading up the tail of the formation, echelon left. Gunner, watch to our north east. Driver. Forward.”

The assault group began its movement, a river of metal and soldiery breaking over the snowy ground. A chill ran down your spine as you beheld it, popping out the turret again. You hadn’t been in something like this since Sosaldt- and perhaps, the next time wouldn’t be too far away, should you fight alongside the Silver Lances. The battle with Gerovic had been a desperate, inglorious defense, a fight to survive. Being on the attack was just healthier for the spirit, and being behind all this might…did wonders for the Fear’s attempts to cling onto you as the anticipation before battle began to stroke at your brain.

The forest where you intended to make the initial penetration dissolved into view- an initial glance with your binoculars through the stink of exhaust smoke and kicked up snow flicking over your face and stinging half of it, the other half no longer able to feel such small things. Nothing. Whatever opposition was to face you would not reveal itself so soon.

>Rolling for Encounters

The Twaryians were absent for your initial entry, but from the rear of the formation, you expected the first encounter to happen completely out of your sight anyways, as the mechanized unit began to navigate the loosely spaced trees, weaving widely wherever the foliage grew too thick to reliably navigate without fear of getting stuck. It wasn’t easy driving- even though the undergrowth was barren and the ground was level, many plants were sturdy stemmed enough to remain an inconvenience.

Huddled low in the turret, you flinched as the chattering sound of a Twaryian machine gun blasted off to the front. In radio silence, you had no way of knowing exactly what it was- only the flag signal relayed backwards, Infantry Contact, medium. Enough that they felt they could fight you, maybe delay you, even with the Armored Cavalry’s powerful armored personnel carriers and their unit’s tanks leading the formation. The formation rattled and skidded, crunched to a halt- before, as your teeth grit hard enough you feared they’d crack, the trucks in front began to move again in spite of the gunfire, now being replied to with the crackling of the two centimeter cannons of the APCs. A signal belatedly sent back- Pass, Pass. No objection from you, so long as you kept mov-

CRACKOOWWW!!

The thunderclap of an anti-tank rifle sounded out as a tree nearby had a splintered hole rent in its side. No, you weren’t safe yet- keep moving.

“Driver, forward!” You commanded your vehicle forth, “Keep on those trucks’ tails! Gunner, shoot to the eleven o’clock, beyond the vehicles we’ll be passing!”

“At what?”

“Just shoot, damn it!” it didn’t matter if you hit anything or not, the anti-tank riflemen had to be kept from taking a second shot at anything besides the trees.

“Yes sir!”

Your heart was already thudding in your throat as you retreated into the safety of the turret. It was alright- you were running, escaping.

CRACKOOWWWW!!

“Fire that cannon, damnit, Stein!” you shouted in your gunner’s ear, “Shoot at the shadows if you have to!” The X-51 had no coaxial gun, the only machine gun was in the hull, to be operated by Hans when he was without radio duties while also presented with a target. Hell if you were turning the tank and diverting movement, though. The cannon barked obediently, and though you had no clue where it shot or if it had any effect, the clank of the recoil mechanism gave you just a hint of reassurance that you weren’t powerless. You didn’t even recognize another shot being loaded and firing- your commanding was done, you couldn’t help but hide until you were away from this.

The gunfight began to grow more subdued behind you, not by any decrease in the volume of fighting but by the forest put between you. You finally allowed yourself back out…to see that the armored personnel carriers weren’t following you, they were still engaging the infantry. Damnation- hopefully they’d try and catch up. You wanted everything you could for the fight coming up, not the fight that was this far before the objective itself, potentially alerting the whole damn sector to what you were plotting.
No, you were still far off enough that they couldn’t suspect anything. There very well could have been something else entirely you were suspected of attacking here. You could press on- and press on you would. Yet, your front arc had decreased in power.

“…Driver,” you panted as your heart started settling back into your chest again, “Pass those trucks ahead. I want us in front of their element, alongside the other tanks. I’ll signal for them to allow us by, and for the platoon to follow us.”

Finally back out of the turret, you racked your brain for basic flag and signal lessons that you’d half forgotten, and somehow managed to get the trucks in front to slow down a little. Over some distance, you steadily got beside, then passed them, with the irregular speed the that was the reality of this terrain. You had to appreciate the skills of your driver- you couldn’t imagine driving over this crap yourself at the pace that was being made now.

…Wait, you were at the front of the formation now. A bulge in your throat was swallowed, as you turned your eyes front, scanning the trees for enemies that would hear and see you first- damn that T-16 in your platoon was loud, this close. Was it possible that the enemy would assume it was one of their own? If you were only so lucky- the Strossvald blue on it now, while fashionable, destroyed any doubt a Twaryian would have if it was truly one of their T-16s or the sole one intact that had been captured.

…Suddenly, a barely perceptible rustling in the bare brush off to the front and right. Only a moment to decide that it was something.

>No stopping- keep forward!
>Order your driver to halt; enemy front!
>Evade to the left. It’d ruin the formation, scatter you in the time you wouldn’t have to warn them, but you needed to not be the first hitting whatever this was.
>Other?

>>4380907
>Evade to the left. It’d ruin the formation, scatter you in the time you wouldn’t have to warn them, but you needed to not be the first hitting whatever this was.
It's not an animal, they would have been scared away for a mile from the noise of the tanks. Anything close now wants to be, and we don't want that.

>>4380907
>Order your driver to halt; enemy front!
Reverse even, if it's below gun elevation.

>>4380907
>Order your driver to halt; enemy front!

>>4380907
>>No stopping- keep forward!

>>4380907
>Order your driver to halt; enemy front!

>>4380907
>Evade to the left. It’d ruin the formation, scatter you in the time you wouldn’t have to warn them, but you needed to not be the first hitting whatever this was.

>>4380907
>Order your driver to halt; enemy front!

>>4380907
>Order your driver to halt; enemy front!
If it's within the firing arc get Hans to open up with the MG as well

I am up
>>4380911
>>4381039
Left

>>4381017
Through.

>>4380916
>>4380989
>>4381024
>>4381070
>>4381089
Front!

Update soon.

>>4381542
A question: Does the ban on artillery in the border zone extend to rockets?

“D-D-Driver, halt!” you stammered into the intercom, ducking, “Something to the front right! Enemy, maybe!” No definitely.

“Front right,” Stein repeated, and the turret groaned as it turned. “I don’t see anything.”

“Me neither, boss,” Hans’s voice crackled up, “I’ve got the better weapon for it too. Can you turn this thing right a bit if we’re stopped anyways?”

Your approval wasn’t required as the tank pivoted appropriately. Why were you this on edge from thinking something might be there? You held your head in a palm, and gripped the edge of the cupola above you again. “…Can you shoot up that area? Just do it.” It definitely wasn’t an animal. Animals were frightened away by multitudes of vehicles such as this.

The cannon barked obediently, followed by a few unenthusiastic bursts from the machine gun, but beyond the rumble of engines, there was utter silence both in response and accompaniment. You dared to venture upwards and out again, and looked about- to your left, the tanks and trucks of the left echelons were continuing, barely minding your sudden stopping and shooting. You whipped your head back to your tanks following you- Von Metzeler was clearly inside his tank, but Krause was looking at you from the tank beyond, the X-20; he stared at you with a confused look on his face, put a questioning hand in the air next to him. You looked back to where you’d initially seen the ever so slight movement…nothing, besides the new scars of the area having been fired upon. It hadn’t been your imagination, had it? No, you were sure…

“Kommanderr,” Jorgen tapped you in the side, “Lesgaetmoven’.”

“…Yeah.” You straightened your cap… or tried to, as the normal fingers you’d use for that basic action weren’t there anymore. “There was something there, I know it…” More an insistence to yourself than to your men- you knew they trusted you. They just didn’t know if you trusted you. “Driver, forward, again…” You waved your hand to the rest of your formation to move again. It was a nerve wracking delay, but ultimately, a temporary one.

You still kept a keen, but uneasy eye on where some ghost of the forest had spooked you.

A diversion to the plan came when you reached the paved road- theoretically, you’d have kept to the forest, but the left element had assembled on the road, as though asking a question- true enough, if speed was your focus, that road went straight by the village where the motor pool was, albeit with a small detour needed, and it would be a hell of a lot faster than navigating more woods. You acquiesced- You took your place third in what was a new column formed on the road, before you set off again- much faster.

The reality of going on a road though, you knew full well from your time here, both in Netillian and Twaryian territory, was that there’d eventually be a checkpoint.
The formation suddenly halted fast enough that you were almost bucked over the cupola and thrown out of the tank, and you’d scarcely recovered when the front of the formation unloaded everything it could, just after it had passed a large open space and was entering the edge of some woods again.

“J-Judge Above,” you gasped after you’d come back out of the rabbit hole you’d just been spooked back into. The intensity of fire wasn’t letting up- if anything, the response was the Twaryians proclaiming that they were plenty up for a fight. The Combat Car up front had already veered off the road to join the line, while the trucks dipped into the roadside defilade, the surprise of 1st Platoon’s soldiers fading to grim acceptance as they began to pile out. They must have sensed that this wasn’t something they could blow past like last time.

Yet, could you? Fifty per cent of your remaining force being tied up with a checkpoint wasn’t great, but who knew how long it could take to wipe this away? You didn’t hear heavy anti-tank weaponry reporting back, but you did hear the heavy clatter of some sort of heavy machine gun. Every moment counted in seizing what surprise remained. Could you risk heading up with much less than you set out with, to seize the total benefit of going quickly in the first place?

>This might be too great a force to leave behind or try and run by. Get on line with Lieutenant Muller’s tank platoon and destroy the checkpoint forces, whatever they were.
>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.
>Break radio silence- at this point, you were more than halfway there at this point, you needed to restore proper communications to have a proper picture of things.
>Other?

>>4381547
It does, yes. It's more a concern of size and range than delivery method, though, really.

>>4381563
>>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.
>>Break radio silence- at this point, you were more than halfway there at this point, you needed to restore proper communications to have a proper picture of things.

>>4381563
Tanq do you mind just marking where we are on the map right now?
Also is all this heavy resistance because of the rolls?

File: currenposition.jpg (75 KB, 674x441)

75 KB JPG

>>4381571
>Tanq do you mind just marking where we are on the map right now?
Sure. You can't be sure of where Edelschwert's infantry are at the moment, but you left them a fair ways back.
>>4381571
>Also is all this heavy resistance because of the rolls?
It is, but it's not as heavy as it could have been. You are driving right through a lot of enemy territory, after all.

>>4381563
>>Other
Let our tanks push forward, dismount half of 2nd Platoon behind the checkpoint so they can wipe it out ASAP.
>Break radio silence- at this point, you were more than halfway there at this point, you needed to restore proper communications to have a proper picture of things.
Get the Ellowians to commence their assault if they haven't already, that may buy us some time.

>>4381563
>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.
>Break radio silence- at this point, you were more than halfway there at this point, you needed to restore proper communications to have a proper picture of things.

>>4381563
>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.
>Break radio silence- at this point, you were more than halfway there at this point, you needed to restore proper communications to have a proper picture of things.

>>4381563
>>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.

We cannot let a whole bunch of T-15/16s startup ready for us.

>>4381563
>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.

>>4381563
>>Lead 2nd Platoon and your tanks through the chaos. If you could catch the motor pool people unawares, the first few volleys of shots would prove more valuable than any number of reinforcement.

I am no longer dead/in an rpg session.

>>4381568
>>4381607
>>4381628
Break through, and commence the chatter again.

>>4381591
As before but split forces to hasten clearing the delay.

>>4381645
>>4381646
>>4382025
Keep quiet on comms, bust through.

Going loud on all bands, then. Writing.

Not being able to properly communicate with the unit had been killing you. It was liberating to finally ready your digit…no, another one, not the usual one…to flip the switch to broadcast to the company. “H-Hans,” you coughed, “get on the s-set, we’re breaking radio silence…” As soon as you heard confirmation, you switched from the intercom to the company net. “All elements, d-do you read me..? Cloak, commence assault now. Blade One and Dagger Two, push through this point while Blade Two and Dagger Two are engaging it…” You nearly choked on your words as gunfire crackled, even muffled outside the armor. “Er, belay that, Blade Two and Dagger One engage…” Did you have time to fuck up like that? Pull it together!

“Blade Actual,” Wielzci’s voice crackled over, “I’m taking the lead of the formation. Focus on the big picture.”

“Ah…Affirmative,” you said back, blankly. The intercom, next. “Mal, Wielzci’s…going to overtake us. Follow him.”

The radio was barking requests at you, but their voices blurred with the pinging of bullets off of armor, the explosions and chattering of gunfire…you couldn’t handle it. Not right now. You covered your ears without thinking, and waited for it all to go away…until the tank’s rumbling beneath you took you to a place where the gunfire was finally behind you. You were blind and deaf to everything else…but you could finally open your eyes. Weren’t you supposed to be better now?

“…Dagger Three, report,” you said, only to be cut off right at the end.

“Where the hell have you been?” came the demand and reply, “I’ve been trying to raise you this whole damn time!”

“Sorry, sorry,” You dragged your hand over your face, “I was…anyways. Report. Can you link back up with us? What’s your present location? Casualties?”

“Minor casualties. We’ve suffered some damage to the cars, and we didn’t drive them off until you were good and far. We’re still in position, but I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody was coming for us now. We’re right on the edge of another sector, so who knows what the hell’s coming our way. I suggest we pull out.”

“That’s fine…” you sighed, “More disruption is good. Double back to Cloak’s position and prepare to support them if they’re still in the field by the time you arrive.” Asking them to remain there alone was unreasonable, as was asking that they close the considerable gap by themselves. For them to just go back was safest. They’d done good work letting the rest of the formation proceed without being delayed.

“Affirmative. Dagger Three out.”

At least he wasn’t as mad at you anymore. Was Lieutenant Muller doing well? And Lieutenant Borscholm? “Blade Two, what…what’s your status?”

No response.

“They’re probably busy, commander,” Stein reassured you, “I saw what they were dealing with. It wasn’t a match for the tanks and the platoon we left behind. They’ll only slow them down.”

“Still though-“

“Kaullet, Kommandaerrr,” Jorgen talked over you in a rough, rocky tone of voice, “Daerrrfenn.”

They were fine? Probably, but…it didn’t feel good to have hid in your hole back there. You’d been able to set your nerves aside earlier, what had been different? Was it because…you weren’t running away, then? Was it so simple as drawing upon your aggression?

You’d find out soon, as you crawled out of the turret again. The village where the Motor Pool would be was coming up- you were down by more than half of your original force, which was now scattered all over the place, but you’d be arriving soon. Given that your objective was to be a diversion anyways, wasn’t this preferable, despite the chaos? For all the mess it meant for you, the Twaryians were likely just as horribly confused.

The formation veered off the road and for where the trees began to thin out…there it was. Almost a klick away, at the foot of the gentle hill. A rustic cluster of stone and wood houses with a plain dirt road leading in and out of it. It wasn’t as disguised as you might have predicted it to be, though. There were ramparts, troops in a state of alert…though you supposed that the actual concealed part was that there would be vehicles here at all. Not that you could spot any right away, though your binoculars, but that was a good thing, wasn’t it? It meant that they weren’t ready for the attack about to come…

>Open fire from here and knock holes in everything before you move in. The best way to initiate a surprise was with the first shot.
>Long range shots weren’t reliable, especially against Twaryian vehicles of unknown type. Close to a closer range, for better accuracy and power with the first volley.
>There was a chance that you could catch the vehicles unready to move, or even respond to an attack- could you risk being greedy enough to make a direct assault with the intent to capture what you could.
>Other?
Also-
>Time to see how well everything’s going. I need four sets of d100 for your people- First two for the northern infantry attack, latter two for the ongoing checkpoint fight. First, for the 4th and 6th, there’s a combat skill bonus of a whopping 80 for their experience and all the fancy gear they have- the armor harnesses will also reduce incoming damage, and for the 6th, there’s a significantly less whacky combat skill bonus of 50 for the stuff they have on them as well as having the support of an armored car. Then, for the Checkpoint fight, you have 1st Platoon with a bonus of 65 with their equipment and support, and then the armor platoon, who benefits from the enemy not having proper anti-tank equipment and thus having a roll unable to be beaten, though it can be mitigated.

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>4382774
>Long range shots weren’t reliable, especially against Twaryian vehicles of unknown type. Close to a closer range, for better accuracy and power with the first volley.

Not ideal when we don't see what we are up against but our guns are piddly and nothing gets an enemy alert than getting shot at.

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>4382774
>Other: half the tanks take long-range shots for suppression, half assaults from up close for accuracy.

>>4382817
>Our best trained and equipped platoon fails miserably
A good start.

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>4382774
>Long range shots weren’t reliable, especially against Twaryian vehicles of unknown type. Close to a closer range, for better accuracy and power with the first volley.

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>4382774

>>4382774
>Long range shots weren’t reliable, especially against Twaryian vehicles of unknown type. Close to a closer range, for better accuracy and power with the first volley.

Rolled 61, 66, 36, 82 = 245 (4d100)

>>4382817
>>4382866
>>4382879
Make sure your first shot is good.
>>4382862
Split things up.

Also these sorts of rolls are always higher better. Someday I'll actually solidify rules into something constant, but these ones with additive stuff for groups of people are higher better.

Rolling stuff.

Rolled 8, 7, 12, 9 = 36 (4d12)

>>4382923
So, the first couple groups have a combat skill of 50 (Twaryians are rather undergeared compared to you, now), the latter two have a skill of 35. No guesses why the variation might be.
Oh yeah, and the second set of people benefits from the Raider Leader damage reduction for Muller, and the Aggressive Leader for Borscholm.
So,
163-111, 5 degrees of victory
91-116, 2 degrees of defeat
99-71, 2 degrees of victory
73-117, Minimal Effect (The enemy can't significantly damage the tanks, but they have four degrees of damage reduction)

>>4382935
>All that damage reduction against the tanks.
Cripes, you hate to see it.

>>4382935
I see Richter's incompetence is contagious.

Where you were at would be an ideal shooting position…if only the target was closer. The fact of the matter was that Twaryian T-16s, to say nothing of T-15s, might be too durable to reliably engage from here. You had to get closer, and then, with more force to the shells and more accurate shooting, your all important first shots would find better purchase.

…Before you called the attack though, you checked again on the radio. “…All units, report.”

“Blade Two,” you felt a wave of relief when you heard Muller’s voice, “We’ve driven away the Twaryians encountered. Captured some.”

“Dagger One,” Borscholm’s glum voice, “Blade Actual, these soldiers are females.”

“Garrison troops, yes. We’re in their rear lines. It’s to be expected. Were you hurt badly?”

“Ten casualties, sir. They had armored cars with heavy machine guns, bursting projectiles. That was what caused most of the damage. Both of the cars were knocked out by Blade Two, though. Er, Blade Actual…the men really didn’t like finding out they were fighting women.”

“You don’t have to like it.” An official, canned response.

“…No. They really didn’t like it. I think it bothered them a lot.”
“Over in Sosaldt it didn’t matter a lick,” Muller cut in, “If they have a gun you take them down or they take you down. Are you taking any prisoner?”

“No. The room in the vehicles is needed for the wounded. Some of the men want to treat their badly wounded-”

“Then either set them loose or put a bullet in them. We’re not on a summer walk. Get with the program.”

“…As Blade Two says. You need to move as quickly as possible.” You wouldn’t have put it so coldly, but this was how it was, after all. “Cloak, do you have a status?”

“Hard to talk now, Blade Actual. Will report soon.”

Your tactical picture finally had some much needed detail. You could breathe, move again… “Blade One and Dagger Two. Here’s how we’ll do this. The objective is ahead. There don’t appear to be significant defenses,” Why would a simple village have heavy defenses anyways, after all. “But be prepared for that not to be the case. We’re going to advance to five hundred meters, and then open fire on targets and potential hiding places. The infantry will advance and clear the site under cover fire of the tanks. The tanks will move and fire to make sure we can still support you. Is that clear, all elements?” Steadily, the affirmatives and rogers came round. “Good. All elements, commence the assault. Echelon right formation, trucks behind until we stop.”

With a singular roar of the engines, an especially loud cry from the T-16, the vehicles moved off one by one. You continued to look through your binoculars as you bumped backwards and forwards over the ground, the snow no cushion to dips and rises. Whether it was more caution or paranoia you couldn’t say, but you kept as close an eye as you could on what could be seen of the village. There- you saw a pair of people clearly notice you and start to raise an alarm. Now was the crucial time- whether in the minute or so it took to close the distance, something else would be ready to get the first shot off at you…

No. They were prey. You were going to get them. Roughly a hundred and fifty more meters to go, you thought as you spared a look around your general surroundings, and noted the markings on the binoculars compared to how large the village structures were through its lenses.

Nothing was coming out to greet you as you began to slow. You had been as fast as you could, but…you also couldn’t tell where the enemy was if they were hiding-

“Target front, commander. There’s…a pair of guns!” Stein reported with a start, and you looked through the binoculars yourself. They were on the move- not ready yet. A pair of teams were pushing them forward still, between the buildings.

>Your gunner had an eye on them. Stop and open fire, report them to the platoon. (Medium DC, hits one)
>You couldn’t get those guns on a snap shot. Krause had an ideal platform in the X-20, however; shower the village’s arc towards you indiscriminately with anti-aircraft cannon fire. (Low DC, suppresses all)
>Compress the formation and have the T-16 on point. Use that armor for what it was good for until Wielzci could take out both of those cannons. (Significatly reduce gun's hit chances on you)
>Other?

>>4383031
>]>Your gunner had an eye on them. Stop and open fire, report them to the platoon. (Medium DC, hits one)

>>4383031
>>Your gunner had an eye on them. Stop and open fire, report them to the platoon. (Medium DC, hits one)

>>4383033
>>4383052
Fire that gun!
Give me up to 3d100, DC 60, averaged, roll under.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>4383086

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>4383086

>>4383091
>>4383097
Average of 38. Nice.
Moving along.

>38- Success
“Driver, halt!” you snapped in a mix of excitement and fear, but hell if you weren’t going to shoot out those guns before they could get in position. “As soon as we’re stop-huck!” The tank skidded to a halt, and you tried to gasp out, “Shoot when ready!”

“I have Armor Piercing Shot loaded!”

“Shoot anyways!” you snapped at Stein.

“Shit,” Stein muttered as he looked down the gunsight, “Firing!” The X-51 rolled back a little, then forwards again, and you watched the white streak of the shell’s tracer arc forward…then, through the binoculars, you watched it…knock right through the middle of the anti-tank gun. The crew transporting it were knocked aside, and they got up, mostly unhurt, but their despair at their gun being wrecked was clear.

No time to celebrate victory, you snapped your view to the left, where the other gun was rushing into position.

Schlunk. Another shell loaded. “Aychee,” Jorgen said quickly.

“I can’t believe I-“

“Targett, tarrrgaet!” Jorgen insisten.

“To the left of them, they’re heading for the first set of dugouts!” You glanced left and saw that while the other out commanders were looking for what you were shooting at, they might not have noticed yet- only Wielzci had stopped. “Hurry!” The gun slipped into the trench. “Damn!” You cursed and slapped the top of the turret, “Do you have eyes on the target!”

“Yes sir! Firing!” Stein hissed through his teeth. This target wasn’t a moving one, but it was lower down…a harder shot. Your teeth ground against one another as you hunkered down and waited for the shot…

>Roll up to 3 sets of 1d100, DC 70, averaged, roll under.

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>4383130

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>4383130
Satan guide my cannon

>>4383138
>>4383140
You ever forget how numbers work and make things easier instead of harder.
That said I'll count this as a win anyways because it was my bad, but I do have raids so I won't be around for a bit now.

Rolled 30 (1d100)

>>4383130

File: tcqscene164.png (590 KB, 900x624)

590 KB PNG

>57- Success

Out went the shot, the recoil barely affecting you this time as you stared through the glass. Snow and dirt kicked up right behind the gun; the gun crew collapsed behind it, and the gun bucked upwards. Damaged, perhaps not, but nobody was going to fire that soon.

“…Great shot, Stein,” you mixed your gratitude with the praise.

“…I can’t believe I made both shots,” Stein muttered to himself as the shell was ejected, clanking onto the turret floor.

“Sounds like you gave the Boss your shittier luck charms.” Hans snarked over the intercom, and you switched to the company network before you heard any other comment.

“Blade Actual to elements, my gunner has dispatched a pair of anti-tank guns. Keep an eye on that other one, it’s been de-crewed but not destroyed. Dagger Two, continue your advance, assault into the village. Blade One will support you.”

“Dagger Two copies,” Lieutenant Kristoph replied curtly. He must have been in one of the Combat Cars, equipped with short range and crude but durable radios. They were good platforms to lead from, to be true. You expected more defenders to come out, but besides pot shots from the town towards the advancing trucks, there was much less than you expected, after the initial effort with the anti-tank guns. If that was their best defense against what was coming, it made sense that they were laying low…but did it maybe mean that there wasn’t much here? Or that the best effort was being saved until the most decisive moment?

You didn’t have a view of the whole village. That was fine- the platoon was split watching over multiple sections. “Blade Actual to platoon, any visual?”

“…Negative.” Von Metzeler replied first, “Though this village may be occupied by…its original inhabitants, still…we should be cautious in where we choose to fire…”

“I agree,” Krause said, “We can’t just shoot into that village without any sure targets. At least, I sure won’t.”

“At the same time,” Wielzci piped up, “Hiding and making a sneak attack with their best equipment when we don’t expect it would be a very Twaryian thing to do, if they didn’t already attempt that. We’ve revealed our position, and they can use the cover of the village to orient themselves so that our numbers aren’t as decisive. In that case, we need to be the ones firing first.”

You squinted through your binoculars again. There was a truck…and that was all you could see right away. Could you fire first…or would you have to wait until 2nd Platoon got close to the town and could tell you what was where?

>There’s a suspicious target. Fire on…(What)
>Hold fire and wait. If they were hiding, you wanted to keep the initiative for when the Twaryians revealed themselves.
>Circle around the village. Maybe you’ll have better luck from another angle.
>Other?

>>4383781
>>There’s a suspicious target. Fire on…(What)
The truck with the hull MG, keep the AP loaded.

>>4383781
>There’s a suspicious target. Fire on…(What)
The house in the foreground, on the right. It has something that seems like nails holding it together. Also there's a track trail going behind it. And the smokectack has snow on top, which means that either no one fired it last evening, or it's fake. And the door has no stairs to it.

>>4383781
>Hold fire and wait. If they were hiding, you wanted to keep the initiative for when the Twaryians revealed themselves.

>>4383781
>Other?
It's hard to tell but there's either tire or tank treads leading to behind where that second anti-tank gun was destroyed. Maybe that leads to more hidden garages? Have some infantry carefully poke their heads around there.
Otherwise supporting
>>4383784
Until something else decides to join the fun.

>>4383803
Nevermind changing my vote to putting one through that house. I didn't notice the snow on the chimney, although I'm now more interested than ever on what those nails are for.

>>4383803
I'll support this as well for the main gun

>>4383781
This >>4383803 guy seems pretty sharp, let's put him in charge. Third for putting an AP round through the keyhole.

>>4383781
Supporting >>4383803 and
>>4383784

>>4383784
>>4383836
Blast the truck with the machine gun for being an overseas import. (It doesn't have a gun it's just a normal truck)

>>4383803
>>4383823
>>4383828
>>4383831
>>4383836
Shoot that suspicious building.
Alrighty, give me up to 3 sets of 1d100 then, DC 50, average roll under. Not passing isn't necessarily a failure.

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>4383881

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>4383881

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>4383881
Jeez

>>4383883
>>4383884
>>4383886
We could have used these rolls for earlier...

>>4383883
>>4383884
>>4383886
Nice rolls. Don't worry, it's impossible to miss a house.
Writing.

>>4383883
>>4383884
>>4383886
What the fuck

>>4383890
Hans jinxed Stein, obviously. Shouldn't have spoken aloud about the amulets, the spirits are angry now.

I didn't like the way that snow was sitting on the chimney anyway

File: tcqscene165.png (594 KB, 900x624)

594 KB PNG

>Roll Average- 92- You hit the House

“Stein,” you said, thinking aloud, “You see that house next to where the first anti-tank gun was? It looks funny, doesn’t it?”

“…You want me to shoot a house?” Stein easily interpreted, “What if somebody’s living in it?”

“Nobody’s living in it,” you observed, looking again as you spoke over the throat microphone into the intercom, “Look. There’s snow on the chimney, and what sort of house has no stairs leading up to the front door? Or bolts on the front?” They could have been nails, rivets, it didn’t matter. “Something’s fishy. Put a couple of armor piercing rounds through it. Hans, there’s a truck in the village. Do you think you can shoot it up?”

“Tsh, it’s a long shot, boss,” Hans complained, “Half a klick out, maybe a little more? Not going to get great shots.”

“I’ll walk you onto it if need be. Just put holes in it so it can’t drive off.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Shot ready, Commander.” Stein piped up.

“Fire.” The tank bucked backwards, and you watched the shot arc up, then down, into the flank of the house. Stonework burst all about, and fell around the relatively small hole. “Again.”

The next shot knocked out enough of the wall that it tumbled down, and you looked into the clearing dust to see what was inside that you’d been shooting at- though those two shots weren’t exactly square on to what might be inside…

A lump in your throat as you saw what was within. The looming turret, in the dim light, of what could only be a T-16- thankfully not the bulk or larger gun of a T-15, but still. Immobile, certainly, but it could still turn that gun even without power. The X-51 could penetrate its armor, but what a terrible shot angle you had from here!

The turret began to slowly shift towards you.

“Er, Commander?” Stein said nervously as the next shot was loaded.

>Take the shot!
>Evade! The hole in the wall restricted it much more than it did you. Move for another better shot- that house couldn’t be big enough for it to turn, even if it could.
>Try and shoot out more of the house, get some of the roof to fall on it. That could render it blind- helpless.
>Other?
Sorry that this took so long to get out for what it is, I kept changing ideas.

>>4383961
>>Try and shoot out more of the house, get some of the roof to fall on it. That could render it blind- helpless.

>>4383961
>Try and shoot out more of the house, get some of the roof to fall on it. That could render it blind- helpless.

>>4383961
>Take the shot then evade!

>>4383963
>>4383975
Bring the house down.
>>4383976
Shoot and scoots.

Give me another set of up to 3 1d100s, averaged, DC 60 Roll under. Less a matter of hitting anything than causing the sort of damage that's hard to just knock aside.

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>4384046
bang

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>4384046

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>4384046
come oooon

That's a nice 34 right there
Good job boys

>>4384048
>>4384058
>>4384061
Nice rolls, we should tell the other tanks and infantry what to look out for. Maybe we can get 2nd Platoon to capture that tank while they're digging themselves out?

Alright, I'm alive now. Writing.

>Roll Average: 34- Success

If you evaded, the T-16 might shoot at another tank in the platoon. If you fired and missed, or didn’t hit in a vulnerable place, it might shoot you, and your confidence in this set of vehicles’ armor was…shaken, the dull pain shooting through your leg a constant reminder. No, you had to keep it from shooting. Normally, that was something only able to be accomplished by shooting the tank itself, but in this scenario…

“Gunner, adjust your aim upwards, I want you to shoot the roof!” You said excitedly, “Bring it down on top of it!”

“You don’t want to shoot the tank?”

“Trust me.”

The shot went out, and you kept your eye on that roof, the T-16’s turret turning in the shadow under it, waiting to see if you made the right choice. As though pushed down upon by the finger of a giant, after the shell burst in the roof, first snow slid in, then a few bits of debris, then like dominoes, near a third of the roof. The much crap wasn’t going to be cleared away easily- not in the time before 2nd Platoon arrived.

With a refreshing breath of satisfaction, you switched from the intercom to the company radio network. “Blade Actual, Blade and Dagger elements, I’ve knocked a roof down on a T-16 type tank. Dagger Two, watch out for vehicles hidden in repurposes or false structures when you break into the village perimeter.”

Though, you had to wonder- shouldn’t there be more vehicles here? Maybe taking care of Gerovic had resulted in the withdrawal of Unit Four entirely, leaving behind little in the way of materiel. Granted, you hadn’t come here wanting to engage an equal armored force with having left behind half your people, but…it did give this more the feeling of janitor’s work than anything.

“Blade Actual, there’s been no sign of further vehicles moving in the village,” Krause said, “That was a smart shot, but I don’t think we should shoot more into the village. Any more’s gonna be guessing at best, from what I can see in there.”

“That’s fine. Just watch and shoot,” You let yourself relax.

“And watch for reinforcements.” Wielzci added.

Wouldn’t this be where reinforcements would come from, though, you thought.

“Cloak, what’s your status?” You asked the northern element. “Is your attack over?”

“More or less.” Muller’s armored car officer actually replied in full now, “Minor casualties. The Twaryians fled the place, and we didn’t bother chasing them. They put up a fight at first but once it was clear they were facing two platoons they withdrew south. They’re probably heading through the woods to you.”

“How many?”

“They looked to be around a platoon minus. They got knocked around, so…maybe two dozen. Cloak 2 pushed after them to keep them on the move, Cloak 1 is taking care of seeing what there is in the place.”

“We’re about to commence a direct assault on the second objective. We’ll move north an rendezvous once we’re through. Dagger Three should be moving over to you now.” Speaking of. “Blade Two, Dagger One, how close are you to linking up with us?”

“We’re moving,” Muller said, “We should be-“

Suddenly, machine gun fire. Not towards you, but from the village. You scanned for targets, but you couldn’t see where it was coming from- it must have been an angle you couldn’t see, but the trucks and infantry began to dismount at around one hundred to fifty meters from the village’s edge. Their combat car accompaniment returned fire with their withering amount of machine guns and automatic cannon, as well- this would be going much worse if you hadn’t gotten here so quickly, you realized.

>Time for 2nd Platoon to attack! Roll 2 1d100s, one for approach, the other for clearing. Their Combat Skill is at 55, presently, with all the vehicle support they have, including yours. The presence of tank hunter infantry means that they won't have difficulty with armor in CQC even if the vehicles can't get shots in on them.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>4385332

Rolled 30 (1d100)

>>4385332

Rolled 49, 29 = 78 (2d100)

>>4385334
>>4385336
Not terrible. Rolling against CS 50.

Rolled 4, 1 = 5 (2d8)

>>4385344
Assault- 113-99: One degree of victory
Clearing- 85-79: Plain victory
A relatively even fight, but the difference was made up with support.

Besides token support with machine guns at the initial start of the attack, your armor platoon ended up having little to do. Perhaps it was because of Kristoph’s impulsive and unintentionally independent method of operating, but he never asked for specific aid. The attack rolled into town, replying to every shot taken at them with much more than was given to them, and as 2nd platoon cleared out the village, kicking down doors and throwing grenades in, you saw any remaining resistance crumble. Only once was there some sort of complication- Kristoph had dismounted his car and looked at a shed that his men had pointed him towards. You expected a request for you to shoot through the building, but no. Instead, the tank hunter team came around, with explosive charges instead of their anti-tank rifles, and a muffled crack soon came from the shed afterwards. Thankfully, your effort with the T-16 hadn’t been wasted, you saw as the infantry investigated the partially collapsed building, and there was apparently no need to repeat the earlier performance.

“Village is clear, Blade Actual.” Kristoph reported to you soon after, “Only took a few casualties before the rest ran off- no prisoners. There weren’t many of them here. I guess they didn’t think this place was that important, at least, right now.”

You didn’t know whether to be disappointed or not. Maybe it hadn’t been long since this place had been important. Hollowing out buildings and having facsimile constructions to confuse onlookers was quite a bit of effort for only a few vehicles, after all.

“I’ll look around and see what’s here, and give you my report.” Kristoph said next, “With how many of us there are, I’d expect some help coming quick. I don’t want to stay long.”

>Roll 3 sets of 1d100 for loot. Two from the supply depot, one from the hidden motor pool. The Motor Pool already has the T-16 guaranteed.
>1-40: Basic Infantry Equipment
>41-50: Minor Intelligence
>51-55: Eastern Scripture, bilingual versions.
>56-80: Trinkets and Baubles (The troops find these interesting, but they’re of no use to the group)
>81-100: Support Weaponry (Mortars and Ammunition)
>91-100 (Motor Pool Roll Only): Unmolested Armor
Also-
>Remain in position. You wanted to be enough a threat to actually ensure a significant response would come over, after all, and the motor pool village was rather deep in enemy lines.
>Pull all troops to the Supply Depot location after your allies catch up, evading the enemy retreating from there. That way you could withdraw over the border at short notice.
>Shift your forces north to finish off the enemy fleeing the northern attack while the rest of your elements catch up. Best to do as much damage as possible in as little time, after all.
>Push your luck. Attempt to force a strong response, continue down the road and raid Almny down the road with your mobile force.
>Other?

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>4385376
>Shift your forces north to finish off the enemy fleeing the northern attack while the rest of your elements catch up. Best to do as much damage as possible in as little time, after all.

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>4385376
>Shift your forces north to finish off the enemy fleeing the northern attack while the rest of your elements catch up. Best to do as much damage as possible in as little time, after all.

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>4385376
Lucifer! I call upon thee

If we can re link up with the forces we left behind at the checkpoint then I'd say:
>Push your luck. Attempt to force a strong response, continue down the road and raid Almny down the road with your mobile force.

Whole point of this is to grab their attention.

If we can't or it will take too long:
>Shift your forces north to finish off the enemy fleeing the northern attack while the rest of your elements catch up. Best to do as much damage as possible in as little time, after all.

>>4385376
>Shift your forces north to finish off the enemy fleeing the northern attack while the rest of your elements catch up. Best to do as much damage as possible in as little time, after all.
We can decide what to do once everyone's together again.

>>4385376
>Push your luck. Attempt to force a strong response, continue down the road and raid Almny down the road with your mobile force.

>>4385376
>Push your luck. Attempt to force a strong response, continue down the road and raid Almny down the road with your mobile force.

Any civilians hiding in the village? Maybe we can ask them if and when the Twaryians reduced their presence here.

>>4385376
>>Shift your forces north to finish off the enemy fleeing the northern attack while the rest of your elements catch up. Best to do as much damage as possible in as little time, after all.

Finally back. Raid group managed to finally beat this tier (no thanks to me lol) so definitely not as tired as I'd normally be now.
>>4385380
>>4385383
>>4385395
>>4385723
Shift north and finish the stragglers before anything else.

>>4385385
>>4385417
>>4385444
Press while you still haven't run into anything that can resist your might!

Alright, conservative it is. Writing.

>>4385445
Also checking for civilians and asking for history, if any are present.

A report was forthcoming from both units shortly. 2nd Platoon had cleared off the debris on the T-16, and a look in the back of the shot up truck revealed a freshly delivered, pristine cargo consisting of equipment for a mortar battery, and plenty of crates of ammunition. Thank goodness you didn’t shoot it with an explosive shell, you thought. For the attack on the actual supply depot, though…

“They’re saying there’s nothing here,” Muller’s man reported over the crackling radio, buzzing in and out somewhat, “Nothing worth taking, at least. The weapons of the fallen, not really worth it. There was stuff here, but all that’s here now is junk, stuff like boxes of cigarettes, contraband dirty mags…all the actual supply’s been moved out a while ago and replaced with just crates. Who knows how long it’s been like this, might have been like this from the very start, eh?”

A pity. Good thing any loot was a bonus, rather than the actual objective. Yes, you’d told the men that both destroying the enemy and capturing what you could had been the objectives of this mission, not the actual purpose of drawing Twaryians away for the ERA’s attack, but still. “That’s fine. We’ve both captured equipment and denied the enemy assets at the motor pool. While our other element links back up, we’re going to cut off that band you drove off and finish them off. Maintain your position for now. South, right?”

“Affirmative. They went south, through the woods. Careful, Blade Actual. Don’t underestimate that bunch when they’re in good cover.”

“I won’t,” you reassured him, and took your headset off for a moment, let your ears breathe.

In the short while before you would set off again, you had a pair of tanks and their crews, Wielzci’s and Von Metzeler’s, stay behind to prepare the captured T-16 and the heavy equipment crates to be spirited away, ideally with the arrival of the forces that were on their way, but they’d been given the go ahead to flee with what they could if significant enemy forces rolled up. Like they very well could.

“Dagger Two,” you addressed Kristoph after all the men had been loaded up, the wounded left with a few minders in the village with the loot, “To say again, there is a contingent of roughly two dozen infantry retreating south in the woods from a confrontation with Cloak elements. Are you ready to move out?”

“I’m raring to go, Blade Actual.” Kristoph sounded almost chipper- the assault had gone relatively well, as had this operation. He must have been like a working mule smelling the barn. One last task. “With that shredder tank, anybody we run into won’t last long.”

True enough. The X-20 had earned quite a reputation after Anya had taken it out the day of Gerovic’s biggest raid and ripped apart Revolutionary League infiltrators that had been giving the infantry fighting them a devil of a time.

“We’ve hit the places we intended to. Proceed as cautiously as you need to,” you told Kristoph over the radio, “Let’s not be hit badly in the home stretch.”

“Copy that.”

It was easy enough to say that, but it would also depend on the approach. Hunting them down actively would ensure you’d find them faster, and you’d be more likely to not miss them, but if you had a firm idea of where they were going, then you could wait along the projected route and ambush them. That would be an incredible advantage, but if you guessed wrong…they could slip around you, or away. That wouldn’t do either…

>Actively hunt them down. You were a mobile force with armor, even reduced to the current task force. This enemy had no chance.
>Set up an ambush directly south, along the way to the hidden motor pool. Surely the two places were in communication, or linked somehow.
>Prepare an ambush directly in between the supply depot and the checkpoint you’d broken earlier. They would go towards where their stronger forces had been, surely?
>Other?

>>4386056
>Actively hunt them down. You were a mobile force with armor, even reduced to the current task force. This enemy had no chance.

>>4386056
>Set up an ambush directly south, along the way to the hidden motor pool. Surely the two places were in communication, or linked somehow.

>>4386056
>Set up an ambush directly south, along the way to the hidden motor pool. Surely the two places were in communication, or linked somehow.
Get Dagger Three to cover the other possible ambush location since Cloak should be fine for awhile.
Also tanq how long more until dusk(and presumably the assault) right now?

>>4386086
>Also tanq how long more until dusk(and presumably the assault) right now?
About an hour or two. The sun'll start properly setting by then.
Also I forgot to do the look for citizen thing. I'll get that next update.

>>4386056
>Other: look at the map for something else nearby that we can hit, like a telephone line or a bridge
If the depot and the pool were empty, our distraction maneuver was basically unsuccessful. Nobody will spare any forces to relieve a false position. We need to hit something important, or at least pretend we're going to.

>>4386056
>>Actively hunt them down. You were a mobile force with armor, even reduced to the current task force. This enemy had no chance.

Deal with them, group everyone together and we can pick another target for a stronger response.

>>4386100
+1

>>4386100
This.

>>4386056
>>Set up an ambush directly south, along the way to the hidden motor pool. Surely the two places were in communication, or linked somehow.

>>4386062
>>4386100
>>4386112
>>4386224
Active hunt.

>>4386066
>>4386086
>>4386892
Ambush time.

>>4386088
Try to find something else to draw more attention than multiple mechanized elements rampaging unchecked behind the lines.

You won't really find other stuff on the map itself, but you have been around the territory before. Recalling something that wasn't important enough to mark won't be difficult.

Writing.

The group would be hunted down and finished off in an active manner, you decided, but you got to thinking as well- what if your efforts here would be seen as token by the Twaryians? You hadn’t actually done that much damage, when you thought about it. The objectives themselves hadn’t proven particularly significant. Yes, your forces were a significant hostile force within Twaryian lines, they couldn’t just let you have the run of the place, but had you properly caused alarm yet? There had to be something more you could do.

Maybe some more could be gotten out of the locals, who couldn’t be any friends to the Twaryians. You had asked Kristoph if he had found any civilians after clearing out the village- there’d been one family hiding in an underground cellar, and you had decided to let Von Metzeler question them. The Twaryian distaste for Ellowians had to be at least equivalent to how it was vice versa, and they spoke a completely different language, so you didn’t predict to be informed of much. It was better than nothing, however.

“…Blade Actual…” Von Metzeler’s voice crackled as you moved northwards with 2nd platoon, “…I have spoken with the villagers…It was only a man responsible for deliveries to and from the village, nobody else has lived in it for a while…they don’t know how the Twaryians have been operating, of course, but they did mention that there were definitely more vehicles…as of several days ago, most of them were moved away, however…”

So taking care of Gerovic certainly had something to do with it. “Did they say where?”

“…Negative. They do not know very much…but they also seem wary of working with us. I doubt that Ellowian opinion of Netillians or those working with them is very pleasant, after all…even if they do know anything else, I doubt they want to help us…”

“Keep trying anyways,” you said, “Thank you. Blade Actual, out.”

Even if the Ellowians here didn’t want to help what were just another set of occupiers, the fact remained that you had been around this territory. Almny was garrisoned, and a potential place to draw attention, but it was also unfortunately close to Dymny- but, there were other villages along the way, you remembered. Not towns as big as Almny and certainly not as big as Dymny, but places nevertheless. Additionally, if you doubled all the way back to the supply depot, the railroad wasn’t far away from there. Mucking with the railroad was against Netillian interests, but the Twaryians didn’t necessarily know that- chaotic Archduchy element that you were, with a bounty on your head and everything, maybe you’d do something as erratic as Gerovic and destroy the rails north? Or maybe, you could go east from there and raid the town on the other side of the hill? You didn’t know what it was called, it had never been relevant before, but the important part that it was away from Dymny, where forces needed to be distracted from.

Into the woods you went, looking towards where the long shadows of dusk became longer from the west, through the trees, and you wondered how much time you had before the ERA would begin their attack. They hadn’t exactly been specific as to what time they would start, after all, but you didn’t want to linger much longer after they began, if you’d be around at all. As it stood, as far as your men were concerned, your objectives had been completed. They didn’t know the true purpose of this operation. Supporting insurgents of any kind directly, after all, was in violation of at least the Netillian side of the treaties, no matter how Gerovic had violated them in the past. Deciding that you were going after some other unplanned target just to go after it would certainly annoy the men…and they might wonder what was actually going on.

The flickering of shade and sun strained your eyes, as 2nd platoon and the pair of tanks accompanying them (one of them yours) continued the hunt for the displaced enemy. Could they just pop up already, you thought irritably as you looked down at your watch, only for you to hear a warning shout, and one of the Combat Car machine guns begin to bark a chattering call to arms, swiftly followed by a reply from ahead.

You ducked in reflexively, and gestured forward. “L-look for targets, gunner!” you coughed out, though you had a feeling this wouldn’t last long.
>Roll 2 sets of 1d100 for combat. One is for 2nd platoon, the other is for the two tanks. 2nd Platoon has a CS bonus of 55 as before, whilst the armor has a roll only for damage reduction, but the X-20’s weaponry is quite fierce- damage done by the tanks will be doubled because of its presence.

Rolled 80 (1d100)

>>4387257
pew pew

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>4387257
Aha! Disproportionate firepower ENGAGE.

Rolled 19, 62 = 81 (2d100)

>>4387295
>>4387300
Very good rolls.
Let's see what the easterners think of them.

Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d8)

>>4387342
135-69: Six degrees of victory
94-62: Three degrees of victory.
Apparently they've had enough of this whole living thing. Latter dice is doubled against them.

You must have caught the Twaryians utterly off guard- the battle didn’t last more than a couple of minutes, if it could be called a battle and not an outright slaughter. You had ducked your head down for most of the opening, and that was, in truth, most of what had even happened. The barrage of fire from the combat cars, the sound of the X-20 ripping apart the woods with its twinned cannon fire, and the token effort from your own tank- by the time the infantry had disembarked from the trucks, there wasn’t much opposition left to clean up.

An eerie silence fell over the woods as the cannon and machine gun fire ceased, and the infantry looked from side to side, wary, but clueless, expecting a fight and arriving at a battle already won. What few potshots came after were replied to with a disproportionate amount of annihilating force, and when Kristoph sent men up to investigate, they found…nothing but the dead and wounded. Plenty of the latter, many quite seriously, but you weren’t here to take a swathe of prisoners. They were disarmed, and only very basically treated. You didn’t go and inspect things yourself. Much as your goal here was to cause chaos, and that the more Twaryians were dispatched, the fewer both you and the Resistance both had to deal with, this felt…off. Had you destroyed any non-insurgent unit so totally as this one?

“Any officers?” you asked Lieutenant Kristoph as he walked up to the tank to report further.

”One, wounded in the arm and leg. He’s been restrained and stuffed in a truck.” Kristoph looked over at the X-20, “That thing doesn’t fuck around, huh? How many of those do you Archduchy people have?”

“That’s the only one that exists,” you said. Though you wouldn’t mind if that wasn’t the case.

“Glad we have it, again.” Kristoph was rather satisfied with not losing any men, or even having injured from this brief battle, “Don’t want to jinx it though, huh?”

“The officer you captured,” you returned to a more relevant subject that didn’t make you think of twin-cannoned Twaryian meat grinders, “Did he speak New Nauk, by any chance?”
“Didn’t seem like it. Could only tell because he had a different look under the cloak.”

They could be useful, or important. Maybe. Without any Twaryian interpreter, though…

Damn it all, if Gerovic hadn’t killed Eakova, this wouldn’t be such a problem. You really hoped the Intelligence Office had nothing good planned for that scumbag.

“Coordinator, sir?”

“Ah,” you pinched the bridge of your nose and shook your head, “Sorry.”

“If we finished them off here, that’s mission complete, isn’t it?” Kristoph sounded rather hopeful. Thus far, you’d done nothing but win handily. He wanted to keep it that way. However, he would be disappointed.

File: finalraid_2.jpg (459 KB, 1500x1345)

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“Not quite,” you said, “1st platoon and Edelschwert’s people will be arriving at that village soon. We’ll collect what we got there, first off.”

“Yeah, yeah, but then?”

Well. You could count on the fact that your mere presence and running about was causing chaos, despite the sparse value of the actual objectives you’d cleared out. The Twaryians couldn’t just let you stay around, surely, for fear of you just wiping out more of their people, and ironically making things easier for the insurgents in another way that you hadn’t intended to do for them. At the same time, sunset was approaching, and you didn’t have much time left anyways.

Yet. There were a few places you could think of still striking at. A few small villages around that could have garrisons, loot, maybe. There was Almny, again, but that was quite close to Dymny and might not draw people far away. Then, there was a marked town far to the west. Maybe you could go that way?

Or maybe it was time to go back and not push your luck. You still weren’t sure how you would justify the extra running around to unplanned places to not only your men, but Edelschwert’s men whom had been loaned to you.

>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives. (Which?)
>Form a line of defense and hunker down. Be a persistent threat- demand to be addressed. (Where to sit?)
>It was time to go back. The ruckus you’d already caused would be plenty enough confusion, and you needed to be well and gone.
>Other?

>>4387581
>>It was time to go back. The ruckus you’d already caused would be plenty enough confusion, and you needed to be well and gone.
The Netillians are expecting to return to base already, and that's most of our mechanised forces. Plus we don't need to give either the Komissariat or Twaryians any suspicions about having contacts with insurgents.
However if the ERA launches their attack soon enough while we're on our way back this might give us an excuse to form the other half of the pocket.

>>4387581
>>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives. (Which?)
The first village closer to Almny. Threatening the city will guarentee a response I believe and then we can turn back.

>>4387581
>It was time to go back. The ruckus you’d already caused would be plenty enough confusion, and you needed to be well and gone.
If removing Gerovic really did get rid of his tanks and other extra supplies from the sector then we've done plenty to aid the ERA's chances of success already.

>>4387581
I think we should hit one more area on the way back, we aren't going to have access to this much mechanized capacity from Mag for awhile, and this is basically the only red arrow heh that the ERA has left in their quiver, we should make the most of it.

>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives. (Which?)
Either we hit the railroad and associated checkpoints to draw Twaryian units out of to later put them between us and the hopefully occupied Dymny if we want a big fight.

Or go south and hit those checkpoints from an angle they aren't expecting and set up an ambush for reinforcements either from another sector from the motor pool or from Dymny itself.

At the very least once we draw something significant we can run back to the border if we don't like the odds. They can't seriously ignore this many enemies just rampaging.

>Other?
An excuse for Kristoph: Richter is angry, damn angry in fact. Draw attention to his face and hand. Gerovic wasn't enough, if there was ever a chance for payback it's now.
The Netillians have the advantage here and if we show them just how dangerous this sector has become then we won't have to worry about night raids or Twaryian insurgent puppets anymore, hell maybe not going back over this goddamn border ever again.

>>4387630
Actually shit changing mine slightly, we should hit north
instead of near Almny. If we get too close with this many Netillians then the Twaryians will probably just sit in Dymny expecting that we will come knocking. If we head north then we'll clearly show that we aren't interested in invading and are just here to wreck shit so they can choose to let us or come deal with us.

>>4387581
>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives. (Which?)
Once we've linked up with 1st Platoon stop by the railroad on the way back and get the tankhunters to detonate some charges there. Shouldn't do too much lasting damage to the tracks but that should provoke some reaction at least.The northern contingent can start returning to base already.

>>4387581
>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives. (Which?)
Hit the railroad, say it's to prevent the Twaryians from sending another train of insurgents across the border for a time.

>>4387581
>Send the wounded and loot back right away.
>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives.
The village on the road to Almny. Justify it to Kristoph as taking a compensation for the poor loot we got.

>>4387636
Supporting this

>>4387600
Since people want to continue I'll switch to supporting >>4387636 >>4387641
Everyone else not involved (Ellowians, armored cars, wounded/loot) can leave first.

>>4387636
Supporting

>>4387927
Actually, we could ask for volunteers to continue our rampage. This way nobody will be annoyed.

>>4387931
I like this idea. Hopefully we don't run into the stiffest resistance yet afterwards, though.

>>4387931
There's a balance that needs to be kept IMO, while obviously we want the ERA to have the greatest chances of success we also don't want to trash this part of the border so badly that either the Twaryians decide to heavily reinforce the sector again before we leave or give the Netillians confidence to start another war like the Major was ordering us to not do.

>>4387948
I don't think we CAN trash this side of the border heavily enough without encountering the kind of resistance we've committed not to fight.

>>4387581
>>It was time to go back. The ruckus you’d already caused would be plenty enough confusion, and you needed to be well and gone.
If we cause too much trouble there's a risk the Twaryians will suspect that it's more than just a reprisal raid and will put all of their units on high alert, which is the opposite of what we want. All we want to do is provoke a reaction and distract the forces that will be in the best position to react to the uprising once it starts, which we've certainly done. Drawing more attention than that to this sector will just make things harder for the insurgents.

>>4387581
>Strike out at another objective/set of potential objectives. (Which?)
Hit the train tracks in the north. Gerovic attacked our base and sent a train full of insurgents to attack us, now we attack a base and blow up some train tracks. That sounds pretty justifiable all around, and I am sure the troops wouldn't balk at the idea of keeping more trains full of insurgents from showing up for a while.
Being closer to the border to dash back across if Gerovic's old armor force comes knocking is a plus too.

Long TTRPG game today, I'll count up and get on an update finally tomorrow. Just posting to say I'm not dead yet.

>>4389042
Live Strong, King.

>>4387617
>>4388102
Go home, young man.

>>4387607
Head out for the village midway and more down.

>>4387636
>>4387864
>>4387927
>>4387929
Strike at the northernmost town. At least, that's what I assume was meant by "north instead of near Almny." If I'm wrong in this assumption feel free to correct me, at least, before I post the update.

>>4387641
>>4387674
>>4388142
>>4387927
Hit the rails.

>>4387931
>>4387935
Ask for volunteers to reduce any resentment at being made to linger further,
>>4387630
And justify your own reasons for being motivated to redouble your efforts.

A multi-pronged operational continuation then. Rather daring. Writing.

>>4387717
Didn't catch you in the reply chain, but this is important nevertheless- sending back the wounded and the take, of course.

>>4389551
My bad, when I supported that I assumed it solely meant the rails since it was a target north of Almny.

>>4389551
Is the 'northernmost town' here the one just south of the rails or the one to the east of the hill?

>>4389681
The one marked that is the furthest north- east of the hill. The one by the railroad tracks is also "north," but that is also about the same distance from Dymny as the other proposed village in votes.

It wasn’t time to go back yet, you weren’t done. There were still other places you could strike at- the railway, and the north in general stuck out in your head as good targets that were far away enough from Dymny to not potentially tempt the Twaryians into expecting you to strike the town itself. That, of course, would be suicide; it wasn’t as heavily fortified as Kamienisty was, but it was still plenty well garrisoned and protected enough that you’d be bashing your head against a wall. Not that they knew you had that opinion.

It had to be made clear that you wouldn’t stop your rampage until the Twaryians sent out a force strong enough to stop you. However, motivated as you were…your men might not have been. Kristoph expected to be heading back now, and likely, so did everybody- this had been the stated extent of your operation, but you had to ask them to do more.

“After we rendezvous with the other units and gather at the supply depot,” you resumed, “I plan to continue this operation, possibly until nightfall. We won’t have an opportunity to deal this much damage again, so we have to take the opportunity that we’ve been given. We can do enough that the Twaryians won’t ever come across the border again…hell, that they might reconsider this Border Zone treaty completely, and we won’t have skirmishes anymore, anywhere.”

“…Uh huh,” Kristoph squinted at you, “I dunno, Coordinator, I don’t think that’s gonna happen with Twaryians, even if we flatten the whole sector.” From the look on his face he must have thought you were talking crazy, actually. That was fine, you could be a little crazy, so long as you made an argument for success.

“Look at me,” You rose out of the turret, and pointed at your face with your sole remaining pointer finger, covered though it was with bandages, “Look at this,” you said with growing excitement, as you held up a hand now missing two fingers. How this had actually happened to you hadn’t been officially stated upon- very few knew it was the result of a duel with an enemy of long ago. Here would be your story to anybody else. “We aren’t letting this off here. What’s been done to me, to us, they’ll be paid back in full and then some. The damage we’ve caused today hasn’t been enough to send a message, let alone accomplish the actual objective of castrating their ability to strike at us in force. I won’t demand you come if you don’t want to- once we congregate again, I’ll be asking for volunteers. Anybody else can go back.”

“…Uh huh.” Kristoph wasn’t won over, still. “Anybody can come with you if they want, Coordinator, but I’ll just tell you ahead of time, I can’t. Second platoon aren’t my men. I’ve had the luck to not get them hurt, but I can’t give them back to Abetz if I get them shredded like my guys were in UGZ-07. That’s not gonna be on me.”

“Understood.” Unfortunate, but understandable. “Get the men ready to head north, still.” You withdrew back into the turret, and got onto the Company network. “All elements, go to Cloak’s objective as soon as you can. We’ll be making further maneuvers once we arrive. I’ll brief you in person when you arrive. Those already present, dig in. Blade Two and Dagger One, collect the elements at the south objective and meet us north.”

-----

It took half an hour, and the sun was starting to hang low enough in the sky to tint the white snow orange, but all of the elements involved in the operation returned to the captured supply depot unmolested. The scars of the recent battle remained- muted spatters of blood, blasts from mortar shells and munitions casters, and whatever the armored car accompanying the infantry had contributed. Any enemy dead had been piled in trenches, as out of sight and mind as they could be.

You knew that the longer you took, the more time the Twaryians might have to prepare a forceful response. So, after immediately sending the captured T-16 and the wounded and the loot back in a pair of trucks, you began a new briefing to the assembled leadership.

“The objectives we struck at have turned out to be quite minor. We’ve successfully dispatched them,” you laid out on the simplified map that you all had to crowd around, “But it’s not enough to truly damage the Twaryian operations.”

“We’ve caused significant casualties, though?” Lieutenant Borscholm interjected.

“Not to their most decisive elements,” you countered, “Our objective isn’t to trade manpower, it’s to deny resources. We need to cause more damage to do that, and to that effect, our next maneuver will be to the east, striking at the railroad, to damage it and prevent another stunt like Gerovic pulled with the insurgents in the train,” you pointed on the map, “And further east, to this town here. It’s bigger than the village we struck at, and likely more heavily garrisoned. It’ll be a more difficult target than we’ve encountered so far, but we’ll definitely cause an effect by storming the town successfully.” You looked up, and saw that your decision was…universally unpopular. Even amongst your comrades from Strossvald, you saw dissatisfaction.

“I know that this goes far beyond what I originally briefed for, and what I stated our objectives were…so I won’t order anybody who doesn’t want to do this to go along. I’ll only accept volunteers.” That didn’t exactly resolve much, as you glanced around again. “…I’ll…I’ll meet with you all again in ten minutes. Brief your men and return with whoever wants to keep going. Dismissed.”
Immediately after what was meant to be a dispersal, Von Metzeler and Krause followed you over towards the tanks.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea, Richter?” Krause piped up immediately, “It’s getting close to nightfall. Isn’t that thing supposed to start soon?” Both Krause and Von Metzeler had been apprised of the truth- they were privy to your escapades to catch Gerovic, after all, and knew decently well of the insurgency over the border. “We’ve done plenty. We don’t actually have to wreck the other side of the border to stir up a fuss. We’ve managed to avoid losing much, we should retire from the field.”

“…If you want to go back, you’re free to,” you said sorely.

“Don’t be a jackass,” Krause snapped at you, “Of course we’ll come with you, but I’m telling you that you don’t have to do this.”

“…Actually, I think that he does…” Von Metzeler said slowly, in contemplation, “…Ever since our conditioning was stripped, we’ve been made feeble, and…battle makes us, ever so slowly, less so…if this weakness has bothered Von Tracht half as much as I…there is no wonder that he seeks more battle. I do, too…even if it freezes me with fear…”

“You too, huh,” Krause said, shoulders slumping, “I’d say you’d both gone soft on Ellowians…actually,” he squinted at you with a skeptical glance, “If you’re doing this to impress a woman, I don’t think it’ll work.”

“Maddalyn won’t know of this,” you said firmly.

“That’s not what I…whatever. I’ll talk to my crew about this.” Krause turned to walk away, “What if you don’t get enough volunteers?”

“We’ll do what we can. Like I said before, if we run into anything we can’t handle, we’ll retreat.”

“Alright,” Krause nodded, turning his head to face where his body was, now. “I hope our luck stays strong.”

-----

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When your leaders assembled again, you were gradually informed that half your forces would be heading back. All of the Netillians had chosen to return; they had entered this operation with reduced numbers as it stood, and they wanted to keep it easy. Likewise, Wielzci had spoken with his platoon, and his second in command, and they elected to not push their luck. However, 6th platoon and Lieutenant Rybak…were entirely in attendance. They had something to prove, apparently.

So did Edelschwert’s men. They’d volunteered in the first place, after all. Perhaps they agreed that what had been won so far wasn’t enough to restore what pride had been lost, though their armored cars had been damaged, one enough to impair its mobility. It would be sent back, leaving you with but two. All of the volunteers in tanks remained- so the state of your force was one infantry platoon, albeit a sizeable one, a pair of armored cars and just over a dozen dismounts, and seven tanks. Enough, you hoped, to deal with what was left to face. Any heavy equipment was handed over to the volunteers- people going back would be walking, which was enough to motorize 6th platoon, and also give them a good level of support, with the mortars and the anti-tank section that elected to remain. Hopefully it would make up for how green they were.

As far as execution went…you didn’t expect opposition at a random point on the train tracks. What you were actually concerned about was the northern town, and anything potentially on the hill between you and it. There was also a village further south on the rails, that was an acceptable alternative, but the target you had had in mind was the more significant northernmost town on the Twaryian side of this sector. There was still time to adjust, however.

>Time for phase 2 of the operation. Pick what units to send on what paths/objectives, and who to assign to what task. Damaging the rails won’t take long- but the people doing that are unlikely to make it to a fight over the town, as least, not one that you should be staying for. Of course, if you have alternate ideas, you are free to write them in.

>>4389827
Send everyone to D and just destroy the rails there. Don't want our reduced forces to get split from aiding each other by the hill.

File: Phase2.png (1.12 MB, 1500x1346)

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>>4389827
>Other
Feint that we're pulling back entirely, while stopping to destroy the tracks just before we cross the border. After that cut across the Netillian side until we're clear of the hill and swing back south to hit the town.

>>4389827
On the bright side maybe us shedding our casualties and appearing as a smaller group will get the enemy paranoid that we've split up again.

I'm of two minds on it. If we want to inflict casualties and minimize risk we should do the feint plan which should cause some damage and salve Edelschwert’s boys some.

If we want to truly lure Twaryian forces into dealing with us we should concentrate on D and maybe slowly move up the rails towards Netilland wrecking what we can. If we get a response that's too much we're still pretty close to the border.

For now I'll support >>4389878 the feint plan cause there's still the risk of them thinking we're moving towards Dymny. Hopefully doing that much damage will force the Twaryians into doing goddamn something.

>>4389827
Also onboard with this >>4389878

>>4389980
Honestly I think trying to draw out the Twaryians at this point isn't all that useful given the assault is going to start soon.
Unless they're willing to chase us across the border it's not going to take them that much time to return to Dymny.
Focusing on eliminating all these minor garrisons seems like it'd be more useful to the ERA right now so they can focus on Dymny itself.

>>4389827
Supporting >>4389878

>>4389827
Since we have about the same size force that we took out either targets with, hitting the village at D then leaving a hole in the rails on the retreat should not be a problem.

>>4389827
>Travel to C, then if there's no enemy on hill 22 go raid D. If hill 22 is occupied, destroy that position.
My main concern is retreating past hill 22 from D. I don't want to suddenly discover an AT position there while we're being pursued.

>>4389827
>>4389878
>>4390561
Whatever we choose I'd also like to add on getting our mortars to do a brief bombardment of Hill 22. Hopefully that should suppress any Twaryians if there really are any up there.

>>4390709
They'll be unsuppressed as soon as the bombardment lets up.

>>4390724
If there really is people up there when we make our assault we can just suppress them again. Or just fire smoke on the hill so they can't see crap.
Tanq do our mortars have any white phosphorus rounds?

>>4390733
Also it's going to be nightfall soon so unless they use flares or lights (which WILL give away their position) their visibility is going to drop pretty fast.

>>4390738
Btw this is an advantage to hitting the railroad - we can use it as a guide to retreat in the dark.

I'm alive again.

>>4389841
Obsess over D. D's nuts.

>>4389878
>>4389980
>>4390014
>>4390023
Wreck the tracks then pretend you're going home. Except it turns out the home you're going to is their home. And you're unbuttoning your pants as you walk in the door.

>>4390561
Head for the hill. Then the D.

>>4390709
And dump shells on the hilltop.

>>4390733
>Tanq do our mortars have any white phosphorus rounds?
The light infantry attached ones do not, no. Their capabilities are relatively basic, and their smoke shells aren't phosphorous based. And indeed, when it gets dark, you'll want to be using your lights, but so long as you finish up before then, what's the problem, right?

Writing.

Once all the volunteer leadership was assembled once more, though the only remnant of your own men besides your Strossvalders being the frog faced Rybak was unexpectedly concerning, you swept right into your plan. It was quite an elegant one, if you’d say so yourself.

“First of all, we’ll swing to the east,” you dragged a finger across the map, “And damage the rails here. The panzerjager’s demolition charges should do a good job of making a mess of them, at least, in the short term, and to draw attention.” You looked up at the tank hunter leader, “How large are those demolition charges of yours?”

“Enough to make one of your pieces there look like lobster thermidor,” the tank hunter leader, a broad and tall man well suited to carrying around the heavy equipment anti-tank riflemen needed, said haughtily.

“I don’t know what that is,” you said back, returning to your briefing. You could assume that that meant they were plenty powerful. “After we take care of those tracks in a noisy manner, we’ll go back north over the border…then hook around further east, around that hill over there, and hit whatever that town is. We can be in and out proper quickly, hopefully before night falls. We’ll have the mortars do a sporadic bombardment of the top of the hill to dissuade observers or any unseen support position from interfering with us. Lieutenant Rybak, your new callsign is Dagger One, and you of Edelschwert’s cavalry people…you’re now Dagger Two. Blade callsigns have no changes. Any questions?”

“Has our objective changed?” Lieutenant Muller asked, holding a pinch of snuff to his nose, “You know what’s there?”

“Our objective is the same, but this is reconnaissance by fire,” you said with a matter of fact tone, “Whatever we find there, our aim is to destroy it if we’re able, and to withdraw if we cannot.”

“How d’ we know what we can’t handle?” Rybak asked, his red tint making him look particularly nervous.

“It’ll be obvious,” you said, “and if the situation changes in the thick of it, I’ll give the signal to pull out and have our retreat covered by our armor and mortars.”

“Will we have a time cutoff?” Krause asked next, “Or will we fight until it is either done or untenable, regardless of the dark?”

“We shouldn’t have much reason to stay after the sun sets,” you looked south, wondering exactly when at dusk the ERA intended to start their massive strike. You’d cleared away a lot of obstacles for them, by your measure. The Grandmaster had best be thankful. “Is that all the concerns? Alright. Mount up. We’re leaving as soon as we’re ready, and I want that to be a matter of seconds, if not minutes.”

You were all off like a shot in less than a minute, better than you could have hoped- but the Twaryians had had plenty of time now to potentially react to you. Your best bet was to try and outrun their reaction- the attack on the train tracks wouldn’t be thorough, but it would be quick.

Three quarters of the way over, when the tracks were getting close, Wielzci announced the presence of a tail, keeping well away. An armored car, apparently keeping tabs on you now. From how Wielzci put it, they were keeping far enough away to disengage if you tried to turn and take it on- pursuit was a waste of time. You took that advice, though the feeling of being watched…was unpleasant. Especially considering that car could be gathering a real response to you behind it.

The tank hunters jumped out of the car and hauled ass over to the railway as soon as the trucks pulled up by it, and the tanks formed a defensive half-circle to the southwest and east. They were probably working as fast as they could, but you blinked when you saw them digging.

“Can somebody tell them to dispense with the fanciness?” You asked over the radio, “We don’t have time for turning these railways into lobster.”

“…Blade Actual…” Von Metzeler’s response, “…Blowing explosives on top of the tracks will do little…consider how thick the rails are…”

“Fine, fine…” you sat back and pushed a finger into your cheek…the finger wasn’t there. You settled for your little finger. Back towards the direction where the distant blur of the armored car had faded away again, then all around…south, to Dymny, where you hoped that they were both not there, but also nowhere near you. In an open field like this, the Twaryian tanks held a clear advantage. They could engage you at a range where they resisted your shots, while you could not rely on your own protection against their cannon.

“Clear the area!” the panzerjager squad leader shouted out, and you ducked into the turret. A minute later, the ground shook, as a surprisingly muffled BOOMPH dipped you up then down, and despite thinking that you were safe, a shower of snow and dirt fell all over you in a powdery mist, clumps of soil bouncing down the tank. Something metal clanged down on top of the turret, and Stein and Jorgen both cursed in solidarity.

Peeking back out, you surveyed the damage through binoculars. A set of four small craters now bent the rails up, and had shattered the ties where the charges had been placed, rail spiked forced up, bent, scattered about. You knew nothing about construction and engineering, but you guessed that this wouldn’t take all that long to fix by a dedicated crew- it would mean nothing could go down these tracks until they were repaired, though, and in the middle of the open and with how close to your side of the border you were, it was possible you could interdict such attempts, on top of being able to observe them.

“That will have to do,” you said over the net, “All callsigns, let’s get moving. Mortars, begin bombardment of Hill 22, sustained.” A recent thing you had learned again. A barrage not meant to cause heavy damage, but when a shell was falling every half minute or so, it cut down on ammunition expenditure while keeping up pressure. The danger was, apparently, the risk of staying too long in one place inviting counter-battery fire, and the requisite need for repositioning ensuring that accuracy was an afterthought, but such things didn’t matter for you. Until you were ready to move in on the town, blasting the hill top with explosive rounds before shrouding it in smoke just before you needed the mortars again to support the attack would be enough.

Back over the border you went, letting navigation be worried about by those ahead. You felt the cold bite of winter night looming, and watched the sun turn darker as it sank towards the horizon- towards home. You breathed a long sigh out your nose, and wondered- where were those letters you had sent now? Maybe you could just…turn here and leave, follow them back.

“Boss,” Hans said over the intercom, “Don’t drift off yet, company’s trying to raise you on the net.”

“Feh,” you lazily flipped the switch to listen, “Ri…Blade Actual, speaking.”

“Getting tired?” Krause asked, “The mortars are about to lay down their smoke on the hill. Their commander wants to know if you’ll give them time to move into position to bombard the town, or if you’re going to just move along there. Since we don’t know anything about the positions they might have set up there, or what they have there, nobody will blame us for trying to take a peek before we go all in.”

“…But the longer we take on preparation, the less time we have before sunset,” you pointed out the other part of that statement.

“Right. And preparatory bombardment will let the enemy know we’re coming, on top of there being plenty of cover, since there’s houses…and the fact that there’s likely to be civilians still living in that town. So, personally, I’m not in favor of any preparation save for smoke.”

>You didn’t want to blunder into something you weren’t ready for at the tail end of all this. Sure, you’d scout it out from afar first before charging in.
>You didn’t have time to faff about with careful scouting. You were being tracked, and night was coming. You had to just charge right in there.
>The civilians would know to take cover. Have the mortars move to start explosive bombardment as you swung around to head south towards the town. This had to be brutal as it was quick.
>Other?

>>4391979
>>You didn’t have time to faff about with careful scouting. You were being tracked, and night was coming. You had to just charge right in there.

>>4391979
>You didn’t want to blunder into something you weren’t ready for at the tail end of all this. Sure, you’d scout it out from afar first before charging in.

tanq with the time spent with the Red Arrows and using their radio do we have their frequencies? Not to actively communicate but just to see if there's any reaction on the ERA's side to our excursion so far.

>>4391979
>>You didn’t want to blunder into something you weren’t ready for at the tail end of all this. Sure, you’d scout it out from afar first before charging in.
The objective never really has been to destroy things, sure it's nice but our real purpose has always been about getting the Twaryians to commit something to counter us and take them away from slowing down the ERA when they go to conquer Dymny.

If it looks too tough we can pull back, and if it looks feasible then our subsequent attack, even if it takes longer, should be unexpected by the enemy. Hopefully it also forces the Twaryians to finally poke their heads out.

Can they really afford not to send *something* if we return guns blazing over the border?

>>4392019
You do have their frequencies; if you like, you can indeed listen in, but it's likely you're out of range of much they might be using.

>>4391979
>You didn’t want to blunder into something you weren’t ready for at the tail end of all this. Sure, you’d scout it out from afar first before charging in.

>>4391979
>You didn’t want to blunder into something you weren’t ready for at the tail end of all this. Sure, you’d scout it out from afar first before charging in.

>>4392025
I'd guess that if the Twaryians really have withdrawn Gerovic's tanks from the sector they might not actually have any units with the required mobility or firepower to chase after us?
Without any nearby armour until it arrives from other areas sending those Moskity guys alone against our tanks would be pretty suicidal.

File: Spoiler Image (59 KB, 220x125)

59 KB PNG

*cough*

>>4391985
Get right in there! You're here to win!

>>4391992
>>4392025
>>4392033
>>4392034
Slow, slick, careful. Losing a couple of fingers and half a face cools the head a little, hopefully.

Writing.

>>4392612
Seems legit.

…You could afford to be careful, you thought after not much consideration. It was far from timid to make sure not to blunder into a defeat right when you were doing so well before. If it didn’t look like a fight you could win, you could just pull back as planned. Simple.

“We’ll have an advance party look around the north of the town,” you declared over the radio, “All elements, hold back. I’ll take a combat car forward myself.” The low slung vehicles would escape notice much more easily than a tank, after all, and despite them being painted blue now, they were still Twaryian vehicles. Maybe with the retreating sun the blue would blur into black from afar?

Just about right on the border, you dismounted and put yourself in a combat car manned by 6th platoon’s eager volunteers, people whom some might call collaborators, but honestly, you thought that they were certainly more excited about the return of the Monarchy than the dominance of Netilland. They were all rather young; all of the men in the car with you couldn’t have passed their second decade.

“You’re the coordinator, huh?” the driver stared at you instead of the land in front as you drove along, “What happened to your face? It wasn’t like that last I saw.”
“Eyes front. Keep focused.” You didn’t want to talk to this kid, not when there was plenty else to pay attention to than chatter. “That goes for all of you.” If they wanted somebody to be nice to them they could look to Rybak. For you, they had a job to do. To avoid being noticed, you kept a more steady pace- less snow kick up, less noise, and you did your best to direct to defilade rather than advance straight on. The delay would be worth reducing the risk, though.

When the town crept into view, you ordered them to stop, and crunched forward on the snow to have a look- a breath onto your binoculars’ lenses and a rub with your sleeve’s trim first. They’d inexplicably had crap on them from when you’d taken them out last.

“…Tch,” you weren’t very happy with what you saw of the town, but it could have been expected for how close to the border it was. “Entrenched guns, at least two…” You couldn’t see what type, only that they were definitely there, sunken in the ground under tarp roofs covered in snow. Very difficult to spot from the air. Two guns wasn’t impossible to take on, but what could be further inside the town? This wasn’t like the village, you didn’t have a full picture of the place just from the outside; only the perimeter. The troops were absolutely on alert, though. You’d kicked a nest, and you didn’t see many troops up and walking around. Just the movement of a few within trenches and foxholes. The more eagle eyed and properly equipped for observation among them probably saw you, but you were rather far away to get a real shot at.

…Best not to tempt more snipers, you thought as the chilling freeze of the fear responded to the idea that crept into your head in a lively fashion indeed, almost choking the breath from your throat. But yes, a perimeter of anti-tank guns, assuredly no mines, due to their illegality (and the fact that if there had been any you’d have run over them earlier in the raid escapades), this looked doable…at least, harassing the perimeter would be easy. There couldn’t be much worse hiding deeper in the town. It’d be silly to hide something fierce enough to intimidate you in this situation.

“Uh, Coordinator,” one of the 6th platoon people coughed, the one on the two centimeter cannon in the rear, looking through its magnification scope towards the hill. “I think something’s coming from the southwest.”

“Oh?” You looked in that direction; indeed, from the wispy remnants of the smoke barrage that had been laid upon the hill, something…was moving through it. You couldn’t see it too well through your binoculars, but the shapes didn’t look familiar. Slightly lopsided like the light T-8s, but also somewhat different? Definitely not T-15s or T-16s. They did look like vehicles, with the squat form of tanks. Damn- had you taken too long? If you’d just rushed here, you certainly would have gotten here before those tanks did.

Yet. They were here, and not south. Was that not what you wanted? Also, who said you had to face those tanks at the village? Maybe you could face them on the hill where they were now?

No, that wasn’t necessarily the best idea, you thought again. These weren’t familiar models, and at this rate you’d surely be fighting them right as it got dark. You didn’t have a clear idea of their numbers, either. Their position at the hills told that they must have been positioning to prepare against a further move by you. Maybe a result of that mortar barrage?

It was time to head back, certainly, now. Even if a sharpshooter couldn’t quite reach out to you, a tank cannon probably could.

>Were you supposed to be intimidated by this? Commence the attack. You’d take on the town, its guns, its troops, and these tanks as well.
>Pull back, stay across the border. You were done here. No way would it be worth the risk to press on now.
>Finally, fellow tankers to duel. The town could get stuffed; you’d reposition to advance on the hill and take on these new foes.
>Other?

>>4393068
>>Pull back, stay across the border. You were done here. No way would it be worth the risk to press on now.
Our Strossvalders already said they didnt want to die for Netilland. And this seems like a good way to die for nothing. If they've comitted armor assets here, then their not at Dymny and we've done our job of luring them out.

>>4393068
>>Pull back, stay across the border. You were done here. No way would it be worth the risk to press on now.

>>4393068
>Pull back, stay across the border. You were done here. No way would it be worth the risk to press on now.
Much as tank battles are cool and the boys could both use some "practical terror" >>4393115 makes a decent point. If we leave then those tanks wasted their time getting here and if it took us half an hour to get here from the woods, then it'll probably take them at least that long to get to Dymny when we leave. Hopefully the real fireworks can start before then.

>>4393068
>>Pull back, stay across the border. You were done here. No way would it be worth the risk to press on now.
Major says don’t give the Nettilians any big victories. We could probably win this, especially if the vehicles that showed up are not any kind or real tank, but it would take a bit more doing than the trampling of the garrisons we have done so far.

>>4393115
>>4393312
>>4393327
>>4393444
Mom says I have to go back before dinner time.
This is according to plan, after all. Writing. Doing more than one update a day, finally. Need to get back on the ball.

You put your binoculars back down again. Plenty of energy had been felt in going and doing more, but now? Things didn’t seem so easy, and with your blood a bit cooler, you reconsidered your string of victories. Maybe the Netillians had been keen on going back, but you were plenty willing to keep going- what would happen if you won too much, and your attitude became infectious?

Then, with a flash, what the Major had explicitly told you not to do entered your head. Just a few victories wouldn’t be enough to cause a change like that, would it? No, the uprising to come would be the main cause of upset here, not anything the Netillians did, sure. It still made the bile rise in your stomach nevertheless.

But you wanted to win more. You wanted to fight. Breaking away was the wise choice, but…something in your very blood protested. Not in the mind, where the Fear was ever present, even suppressed like it had been over time, but…elsewhere. This wasn’t about you, though. This was about your men, Hans’s weary request that your comrades didn’t want to die fighting a nothing war in a strange land, the Intelligence Office’s strange plans, and the phantom pain still dully lurking where your fingers had been. It…could wait.

“Let’s get ready to go back,” you told the soldiers around the car, “I’ve seen what I needed to.” Immediately, you got on the radio as you started moving. “All elements, I’m on my way back.” Nothing more. You would announce your intents to end this operation here once you got back to everybody. For all you had difficulty finding anybody who spoke Twaryian, you had no doubt potential listening posts might understand you, and you felt safer just relaying this in person than speaking in code.

Back along those same tracks to get here you went, watching the sun make its ever quicker descent. The Eastern Resistance Army would surely be making its move soon- you weren’t sure whether to hope for their success or not, but you’d done your part in their plans. Those tanks you saw must have been deemed to be the best response to your own force, and far from Dymny as they were, they wouldn’t be able to return right away, especially since they likely wouldn’t bother going back until an alarm was raised at all.

It was good enough.

-----

“That’s about the state of things,” you summarized what you saw to the newly assembled officers, “So we’re going to head back. Sixth Platoon, you’ll take defensive positions near New Jorgenstohn in case of immediate reprisals, but they should know they had this coming for a while. They shouldn’t strike back too hard. Everybody else…we’ll hold in reserve behind Sixth Platoon until the danger’s passed for the night. Lieutenant Muller, Lieutenant…” you choked a bit to feign you couldn’t recall the infantry leader’s name. “Sorry. Thank you both for coming, you were a big help.”

The two Armored Cavalry officers saluted synchronously. “Coordinator, sir.” Muller said stiffly.

Lieutenant Rybak seemed a bit disappointed when he turned away. Maybe he had been hoping for the same manner of victory you had in mind, but his unit had taken losses anyways. They were green- best to recuperate, you thought, for this operation.

“So,” Krause spoke to you again, “What cooled you off? It couldn’t have been that there were tanks. Don’t think anybody’s forgotten that, officially, you went absent without leave, stealing military equipment, and charging into a line of tanks back in Valsten.”

“No, it wasn’t that,” you shook your head, “I think…that it was a fight we could win. But I also thought that it was a fight where the win might not be worth it.” You slumped your shoulders, “It’s…complicated. That, and there’s the other thing.”

“Right,” Krause nodded, and clapped a hand on your back, “Besides, if we get into many more fights without Creampuff, she’ll feel left out.”

You couldn’t help but feel bad for the headache the Twaryians were in for, though, as you went back towards your tank. With what would be happening over the border, your own men wouldn’t be sleeping tonight either, you bet, but all you had to do was listen, and wait.

A far off crack, to the south, and a pillar of smoke suddenly blooming into the air, even from as far away as you were.

“…Let’s get out of here,” you said hurriedly to Krause, “We’re through.”

-----

The last vestiges of the sun were dipping below the horizon, and the stars were out, but you were still in the field, near a clutch of collapsed old stone huts north of New Jorgenstohn, between the town and your old, ruined camp. A furious fight sounded like it was taking place to the south, and you were thankful to be having no part in it whatsoever. Despite your advice for 6th platoon to take up defenses, that was more for if any Twaryians were forced over the border than a concern for Twaryian counterattack. After the ERA uprising, you doubted if they’d be coming over the border in any capacity at all while you were still here. No commander could justify wandering over here after what would happen tonight.

Though really, there wasn’t any shortage of insurgents behind your own lines. You just had the good fortune to be in league with them.

For now you tried to enjoy the night for what it was- Maddalyn’s scarf at your throat, your crews loitering about. An eye was kept out and no fires or lights were allowed, but quiet conversation was. You just stared at the stars, for now, sitting atop the X-51’s turret. Trying to remember constellations you’d forgotten. At least you still knew where the North Star was.

The grinding noise of vehicle motors to the north. All of the tanks had their engines off, to conserve what gas you’d spend today (quite the amount), so you heard it quite clearly. Twaryians wouldn’t be coming from the north- certainly not today. You took a look through your binoculars, and saw the dark, but recognizable shapes of the Mechanized Guards’ armored personnel carriers driving down the road.

“What is it?” Stein asked up to you- others had heard the new noise.

“The Guards unit,” you looked away from the binoculars and down to your gunner, “Who knows what they want. Probably nothing to do with us.”

Despite your hopes, a single APC drew off the road and towards your unit, stopping a good distance away and disgorging the figure you wanted to see again least today, escorted by a pair of veterans.

“Coordinator Von Tracht!” Kommissar Zohl called out, bowing slightly as he came up beside the tank, “How good it is to see you tonight.”

“What do you want,” you growled, glaring down at the mosshead prick political officer.

“With you? Nothing, I just came by to say hello. I also wanted to inform you that I deemed it necessary for this company of the 13th Mechanized Guards to take position at points along the front here. There was a large explosion reported approximately forty five minutes ago, and I requested an Autogyro still in flight peek over the border at it. The Twaryians are dealing with an absolutely massive uprising, it turns out. So, I thought the front in need of reinforcement.”

“I already have men guarding the UGZ and the Colonial Town,” you said blankly, “We’re here as backup.”

“But insurgents may try to flow over the border in unguarded places, and you cannot guard it all, yes? Or perhaps Twaryians will try and flee over to maneuver away? I just thought to help, my good fellow.”

“I can’t stop you.” Taking advantage of the chaos, are you? There isn’t an altruistic bone in your body, you stain on the world.

“I wanted to make you aware of the tactical situation, was all. Ah, and Sector Command says that nobody is allowed across the border, at present. Any who attempt to cross are to be disarmed and taken prisoner, and if they resist, driven away.”

“Right.”

“Good night, Coordinator,” the Kommissar bowed again, “I certainly hope that you’ll be able to count the stars all night.”

“Hmph.” You’d make him count stars, if you could. He wasn’t given any more mind tonight as he left. You just hoped he wouldn’t find some excuse to try and call you for help.
Well, maintenance hadn’t been done on the tanks for a bit. It was about the right time to have an unfortunate breakdown.

-----

The same night…

>The Resistance's Knights of the Royal Guard make their charge!
>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.
>Von Tracht encounters a Situation.
>Some other fascinating perspective?

The third is basically skipping ahead further- if you’d rather not indulge in any very short dive into an alternate perspective with tank fighting, then you can just pick that and stick with Richter.

>>4393701
Damn all of these seem pretty interesting.
>The Resistance's Knights of the Royal Guard make their charge!
>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.
Either one is fine for me.

>>4393701
>I'm down for anything really.

>>4393701
>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.
All options are good but seeing what's happening in the world beyond Ellowie would be nice.

>>4393701
>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy

The first two both sounds good but let's see what's happening closer to home.

>>4393701
>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.
Honestly though I wouldn't mind taking an intermission and covering both before we move on.

>>4393701
Well, well, well, looks like we lucked out by not attacking at the same time as the ERA. Seems that Zohl is suspicious of us and really has been trying to trap Richter this whole time.

>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.
Let's see if Von Neubaum and Loch are getting along.

>>4393701
>>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.

>>4393701
>Some other fascinating perspective?
Away in the corner of a seedy bar in the burgeoning republic, a sauced, newly minted Major attempts to play a broken piano...

>>4393701
>Tensions between rivals spark north of the Archduchy.

The fall guy had never been to Sosaldt before. He hadn’t heard it was a nice place for, well, anybody, but the more fun rumors made it sound like a happening sort of place at least. This Wossehnalia place was way ritzier than he expected out of a place he’d heard described as a total shithole. The castle in the middle, the absolutely massive monolith built on a hill, the honest to goodness skyscrapers that looked really out of place amongst the more typical two story squat wood and brick buildings that made up most of the city. The streets were chock-full of Republic Army folks. An inspection today, apparently, that just got done with, letting the soldiers loose on the bars and brothels.

Normally Roth-Vogel’d like to go and share some drinks with some strangers. There weren’t many Republic Army folks that didn’t have an interesting story, from who he had talked with, but for once he wanted a quieter place. Something different from his usual of loud music, dancing, and brawling, though not any less drinking. He was on duty now, after all, even if he was pretending to be a mercenary. Talmeier couldn’t wreck his shit for being drunk, but now as the senior authority, he had to set a precedent. What a drag.

The place he ended up going to was some place called Die Brauhaus- some Pretender business, that had a branch all the way out here. The only Strossvalder Roth-Vogel had ever met was somebody he wouldn’t have minded killing, but that was a while ago now. Maybe he could have a nice experience with their culture for once. For what it was, which by all accounts, was impersonating what they thought high society was. Stuffy tight-assed role-players. Not that Strossvalders thought any better of the people of Czeiss, anyways.

There were a few Republic soldiers around the place, and a few of what must have been Ellowian folks, by the uniforms you hadn’t seen before- it was pretty good looking, all things considered. The paint was new, the furniture was nice, there was a great big set of glass windows to look in and out of- the place was proud of itself, or at least, the brand was.
Which was why the busted player piano stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Hey, barkeep,” Roth-Vogel leaned on the bar, “What’s up with the piano? It looks like somebody got jammed into it ass-first.”

“That’s because it was,” the lady running the joint told Roth-Vogel, “The Kommandant picked a fight with a Northern Lord while he was here, and he was thrown through the piano. We bought a radio to replace it, the piano’s worth more now. People come to see the Piano that the Kommandant’s Ass was Thrown Through.”

“Heh heh,” the paratrooper slid onto the stool, “Give me three fingers of whiskey, on the rocks. Shot of honey. A couple lemons. You got those, right?”