The next day, at exactly five in the morning, the base is already gaining life as the recruits wake up early to start their duties. The same goes for the Barracks. It was already full of other recruits in which they didn't notice. Niela was awoken by the sound of faint activities just outside their rooms. The rooms are sound-proof, they cannot hear sounds nor the people outside can hear them. But it was too loud and squad leaders are shouting to call their squads in which penetrates the sound-proofing of the rooms.
Niela scratches her eyes as she opens them. She was curious about what's going now, which led her to crawl around and creep towards her glass door. Her eyes opened wide as she saw the vast amount of recruits walking around outside. She hurried back inside and looked at the radio on the wall. On its right side, there's a flip switch. She flipped it and a panel slides from its left side. It was a small monitor that displays the room numbers around her within rectangular frames. Her own room is in the middle and is colored green while the rooms nearby are colored gray. Her number was Room no. 47. She thinks for a second before using her finger to press a room. She pressed the room on her left, which is Chirlin's who have Room 46. Upon pressing, the radio made a single beep and Chirlin's room started flashing orange.
On Chirlin's room, her radio beeps and the room panel of the radio slides into view with Niela's room colored in yellow. Chirlin was awoken by it and quickly looked at the panel. "W-What!" She was still half-asleep, she panicked. She took a second before calming herself. "What's this..." She lazily observed the panel. "Niela...?" She noticed that it was Niela who's pinging her. She pressed the single red button on the radio. Once she did, Niela's room changed into green with a beep. "Chirlin? Can you hear me?" Chirlin heard her sister's voice through the radio. Her drowsiness disappeared as she did. "Niela...?" She called in a curious voice. "Look outside! They are so many!" Niela said with amazement. "Oh... The others?" She asked as she crawls towards her glass door. "You're right..." Her eyes scanned the whole area within her view. "What time is it?" She asked as she crawls back inside. She looked around to see if there's any clock. "Hold on..." Niela said. Few seconds later, Chirlin heard a click from the radio. "Ah! Here!" Niela found a button on the bottom of the radio. "It's 5:05..." She said. "Whaaat..." Chirlin whined and fell on her pillow face first. "It's way too early!" She said. Niela giggled on the radio. "That's why they don't allow children in the army. You need your sleeps" She teased her. "I'm no longer a kid!" Chirlin shouted.
"So, what do we do?" She asked. "Um..." Niela thinks for a while. Then suddenly the room on Niela's right lit up yellow and their room flashes orange. "Oh? Terra?" Niela pressed the button and both of their room changed green. "Niela! And... Chirlin?" Terra saw that Chirlin's room is still flashing orange. "Yeah, that's Chirlin" Niela responded. Then finally, Chirlin's room turned green. "Hey, hey!" Chirlin spoke to test if they can hear her. "Ah! Chirlin!" Terra became happy. "These things are very awesome and convenient, right?!" She said with fascination in her voice. "At night, we can talk to each other until we fall asleep!" She added. "I know right?! It's not as great as cellphones with their cameras and video calls, but it's better than nothing!" Chirlin agreed. "Yeah! It IS very convenient for the soldiers!" Suddenly, Kirin's voice broke through. "Huh...?!" The three of them got surprised. "Kirin?!" Terra looked at the whole monitor and saw no other rooms participating in their call. "D-Did she slept together with one of you?!" Terra sounded nervous, shock, jealousy, all kinds of emotion when one finds that their partner cheated on them.
"No, you silly. I have hacked into your call" Kirin cleared her thoughts. "Whoa! Amazing!" Chirlin was clearly amazed. "You can hack without getting detected!" She said. "Yeah" Kirin replied. Kirin's artificial eyes can hack through these radios undetected. However, she can make it obvious by allowing the radio to detect her. The rooms of each participant in a call will flash red with beeps to warn them that their call is either intercepted and broke their communications or someone hacked in and is listening to their conversation. "I can even expose myself at my own will" Kirin said. Then suddenly, their rooms flash red and beeps. "Ah! You're right!" Chirlin said. "Alright then. Quick instructions. If they started flashing red, your call is being Intercepted or Hacked. Interception is when the intruder breaks your call and stops you from hearing each other. Hack is when someone connects to your call without properly joining the call. They bypass the system in which they will have to send a request to the call and instantly join your call without alerting you or having your permission whatsoever. Normally, you would restart the call again to drive off the intruders, but that won't work. The radios can try to detect these intruders by troubleshooting. It reads the whole code of the radio and sees if there's any unwanted code added" Kirin explained. The only way to eliminate the Interception and Hacks is to press the radio's button four times to initiate a troubleshoot of the system and erase any unfamiliar codings that are added to the system. This can only be done by the main Caller.
"I let your radios detect me. So y'all be flashing red right now" Kirin said. "Yeah, and it's noisy" Chirlin responded. "Good. To troubleshoot, whoever started the call must press the button four times. They are the only person with the ability to do the other functions of the button during a call" Kirin said. "I have completely compromised your call, so I know who started" She said. "Niela, you press your button four times" She instructed. Niela was surprised and quickly pressed her radio's button four times. Then their monitors changed to a light blue screen with dark blue-colored flashing text saying 'Troubleshooting' with beeps going along with it. "Great. I can see the radio's working up and reading the codes. It would detect nothing because I'm not using any codes, but all of the goddamn hackers use codes. So, there's nothing to worry about. We are pretty sure no one else is being able to hack in the same way as I do" Kirin said. "Ooh..." Chirlin made a sound of amazement.
After a few seconds, the monitor made a short straight beep and the text changed to 'No Hack/Interception detected for a second. Then the text changed again to 'Send logs to CC?'. The Main Caller can send the log of their call to the Communication Center if their radio fails to detect any Interceptions or Hacks, just in case. "Niela, your screen should be asking you if you wanted to send a log to the CC" Kirin asked. "Yeah, it's asking me" Niela responded. "Well, obviously if you allow it, it will send a log to the Com. Center and they will read your logs. Try sending it, press your button" Kirin instructed. As she was tasked to, Niela pressed her button and the radio beeps with the text 'Log sent' before turning back to the original screen. "Alright, I saw the radio trying to send the entire log to the CC's network. I intercepted the request to not bother them since we are just testing" Kirin said. "Fun thing is we troll those intruders by displaying 'log sent to CC' whatever you do, even if you don't actually send the logs. They eventually found out that it's just bullshit and continued their intrusion" She said. "Wow..." Chirlin was very amazed. "That's all you need to know for now. Go ring Marve and Sterling. I want you all up here at Lonara's office. Lonara wants to see you before we depart" With that, Kirin left their call. "Wow..." Chirlin once again showed her amazement.
"Now it makes me nervous..." Terra was the opposite. "Kirin could just hack in like that, without us even knowing" She said. "I don't think she's just gonna listen to us like that..." Niela giggled. "Yeah..." Terra replied. "Ah. Call Marve and Sterling now! Chirlin, you got Marve's room right?" Niela asked. From the left, the first room was Marve's, then to Chirlin, to Niela, to Terra, and finally to Sterling. The rest was the other recruits. The two called them but it was only Marve who answered. "Ah... Is it time?" Marve asked. "Yeah! You just missed the cool stuff!" Chirlin said. "Huh?" Marve was curious. Chirlin explained what Kirin has told them while the two tries to wake up Sterling. "She's still not responding..." Terra said. "Oversleeping?!" Niela asked. "Possibly. She keeps saying how the beds feel comfortable than the ones in her home, so..." Terra agreed. She keeps calling over and over again. "How do I leave from here?" Marve was ready to leave. "Wait..." Niela stops him for no reason. "Why?" He asked. "Uh... Nevermind... Just be careful" Niela said. Then Marve made his way near his glass door. "W-Whoa... There's a lot of them down there..." He said. "Yeah. I was also surprised" Niela responded. Marve saw someone going down with the lifter from his left. "The lifters. How do I call them up here?" He asked. "Uh..." Niela tried to answer but didn't remember anything.
"Well, whatever. I can just call out somebody and ask" He said. "Wait! That's a little bit embarrassing!" Terra stops him. "What's there to be embarrassed about?" He asked, a little bit annoyed. "Well..." Terra couldn't say anything and let him be. After calling many times, Sterling finally answered. "Ah! Sorry!" She apologized. She sounded panicking. "A-Are we going now?!" She asked with sounds of her sweeping her bed. "Yeah, calm down. We just woke up either. Kirin called us and were told to go up to Lonara's office" Niela said. As she said, Sterling calmed down and focused on the radio. "Is that so?" She asked. "By the way. We slept in our own clothes... Weren't there any... pajamas?" She asked. "Do soldiers wear pajamas?" Chirlin asked. "Well... It all looks cozy in here, so I thought there are pajamas too" Sterling said. "It's still a barracks!" Terra laughed. "Maybe these white t-shirts are our sleeping dress" She said. "Well, I had a good sleep. So I guess it's fine..." Sterling sounded a little bit disappointed. "That's everyone! Let's go!" Niela told the group to come down.
The button which was used to close the glass door will open the door again and call a lifter automatically. They realized this as soon as they pressed them. Everyone made it down except Chirlin. "What is she doing?" Niela looked up to her room and saw the lifter is being used by somebody else. "It's a single lifter. What will the soldiers do when something urgent happened and they had to go all out?" Sterling observed the lifters. The other lifters have two soldiers with them. Most of them are friends with each other. "Jump" Marve said. "There's no way!" Terra laughed. "I bet there are some features there that we haven't known yet" She said. "You're right" Marve nodded. "There she is!" Niela said, making them turn back. They saw Chirlin along with a female soldier on the lifter going down. After that, they separated. "What the hell..." Chirlin looked very embarrassed. "It's so awkward when you have to go along with the others on the lifters..." She complained. "You'll get used to it. Are you an introvert by any chance?" Marve sounded curious. "I'm not" Chirlin sounded annoyed. "When I was studying, I was the leader of our class!" She boasted. "Like a class president or something?" He asked. "Ugh..." Chirlin was disgusted by what he said.
"Only attention whores and wanting to get fucked by the teachers will do those roles... I lead real deal warriors!" She said. They weren't sure how to answer her. "Anyway! Let's get going!" Niela then hurried them and they walked towards the exit. On the outside, they met Kirin. They were both surprised. "Oh for fuck's sake, should have waited for more minutes..." Kirin facepalmed. "I was about to go there and make a scene" She said, looking back to the squad. "Anyway, let's go. Lonara wanted to talk to you" Kirin turned her back on them and walked away. They followed her back to the main building. On the inside, Kirin glanced behind her. "Did you sleep well?" She asked. Niela looked at the others and see. "Yeah. We got our rest" Niela responded. "Good. Because in a few hours, you will be facing Zakanas and probably some Narukh'za on our way to the N6. I will NOT allow you to sleep during travel" Kirin said, then quickly regret it. "Well... that's a little bit too mean. But try to stay awake for the rest of the travel" She said. They stopped before the elevator and called. "How far is it?" Terra asked Kirin.
"Very far" Kirin replied. "I guess more farther than how long we traveled from your hometown to this base" She said. "Are we riding a Shuttle again?" Terra asked nervously. "If you want, we can. But, have you ever rode a Lancer?" Kirin asked. Lancer is a hoverbike made by the Arkula. It is fast and shows little silhouette, making them hard to hit. It is armed with dual machine guns mounted at its front fairing. However, its weakness is High-Explosive rounds as it is lightweight and can be easily blown away. It is shaped like a sports bike but no wheels and just like the rest of Arkula's vehicles, they share the same theme. "The civilian variant of it is pretty expensive, but y'all looks so rich" Kirin said. Lancer (C) is what they named after the civilian version of the Lancer. It has reduced speed and some devices that are military-grade are changed. They also made it so its body can be designed for the owner's preferences instead of its default Arkulan theme. "Oh please. Even my father can't buy those" Terra said. "Really? I thought you were rich? That your parents earn a hundred thousand Xier a month?" Kirin smiled at her. Xeir is the Kryok's currency. Even the Narukh'za and the Krygstek uses this. "That's not..." Terra was beet-red on the face. "A single civilian Lancer cost ten million Xier. Only those rich bastards whose depressed because they can't think of what to buy can buy something like those" Kirin said. "But there are some good people out there who rent their own Lancers for those who need it. Or those who wanted an installment agreement. So I'm guessing you have ridden at least one" She said.
"I did" Terra said. They were bewildered and looked at her as if she was the daughter of a very rich family. "You're very rich..." Chirlin said. "Not really..." Terra shyly scratched her head. "We own some businesses, that's all" She said. "How many steaks have you eaten this year?" Marve jokingly asked. "Huh?" Terra laughed awkwardly. "Now that you think about it, Terra is the richest person here in our squad" Kirin turned back at them. "Sterling have her parents living on the red side, Marve here got a small happy family. The Harvons here, well... They had the worse event in their lives. And that leaves you" Terra pointed at Terra. "Both of your parents are working their asses running your 'some' businesses. The top businesses on Kryok, that is" Kirin said. "Your body also looks like they are being maintained by your family, I mean COMPLETELY being monitored unlike us who just eats to live" She said. "Eating for fun" Marve cackled. "Hah, exactly" Kirin winked at him. Terra was red all over her face as she looks down in embarrassment. "Don't worry. We're all friends here, no hate. Seriously" Kirin taps her shoulder. "This stuff also shows that no matter our status in life, we can stand up together no problem and do our best for our country" She said then turned to the elevator. "And your wealth doesn't matter in wars" She said nothing else after that, leaving them the serious atmosphere as they wait for the elevator.
"You kill or die. That's pretty much it, money won't get you anywhere at wars. So in this squad, we are all equal" She said as she enters the cabin. They silently got in and they were lifted up to Lonara's office. As they wait, Kirin noticed that Terra was still uncomfortable. She sighed and rubs her hair. "Come on, there's nothing to worry about. We don't hate you or something, okay?" She said. Terra looked back at her and smiled. "Yes..." She nodded. "Good. Also, I don't want any of you turning emotional in the middle of a battle, alright? You can cry all you want after the battles. You could change a lot of things than crying to go home" She warned them. Despite that, no one responded and they remained silent. "You got that?" Kirin asked and they replied with a Yes. "Whoo..." Suddenly, Kirin exhaled and stretched her arms. "Never felt this strict before. Leading someone really changes you..." She said. They curiously looked at her. "I never been this strict before, nor do I give this weird atmosphere. The responsibilities really get on you and you will just become strict naturally to ensure that your people will become better and do a better job" She said. "Lonara was strict on me before too. I was pissed off why is she being like that, but now I understand" She said. "So don't be afraid of me, alright? I'm still that noisy Kirin that you always see or hear and idolized. Both of us are having our first time" She said.
In before, they were afraid of her strictness but now they are nervous upon hearing her include herself on 'first time'. Finally, the elevator opened and the same guards on each side of the way standstill. Lonara was sitting on her desk, with her arm on the table and her chin on her palm. She was waiting for them. "What took you so long?" She asked as they approach her. "They were having nightmares" Kirin joked, breaking Lonara's bored expression and giggled lightly. She then set her body straight and sighed. "So... You're going to Base N6 and travel to Valorna" Lonara started repeating their plans. Kirin, Niela, and Chirlin took a seat while the others remained standing. "You're going to use Lancers to get there for fast-travel. Travel from here to Valorna using a, uh... A Light fleet... Which consists of a single Porter, with five Starfighters and a single Kragnavaur as escorts. Are you sure about this?" Lonara asked Kirin but Kirin turned the question to her squad. "I've been preparing this since after we were done yesterday. So, go ask Niela here" She said, unsettling Niela. "W-What?!" She nervously looked at them. "Niela, I wanted you to be the lead in case I'm not around anywhere to lead you. So, I'd like you to start right now" Kirin said. At first, Niela was nervous. But she gathered her courage up. "Alright..." She nodded.
"You guys have anything to say about our plans? Once this is confirmed, there's no stopping this" She asked them. She made Kirin smile. "We're fine" Sterling said. Niela looked at them just to be sure, then turned to Kirin and nodded. "Yeah. We're set" Kirin turned to Lonara. "Oh, by the way. No Lancers. Sorry, I forgot to mention" Lonara apologized. "I'm NOT risking you rushing ahead as the Zakanas surface from the sands and shoot you. Lancers' speed doesn't guarantee your safety. So, I will assign a Porter to get you there. I will give you Starfighter escorts" She said. "Sounds good" Kirin nodded. "Also, your recent encounter with the Narukh'za and their interference with our CC indicates that they have started creeping around here. You don't want their lock-on missiles and their Demon Eagles chasing after you" Lonara said. "Wait, if you worry about their missiles and their 'crafts, then why are we gonna ride a much slower vehicle?" Kirin asked. "At least you're safe inside a vehicle. Much safer than being on a bike with your asses pointed at their missiles during your high-speed travel" Lonara said. "Whoa! Language, Lonara!" "Shut up..." Kirin jokingly scolded her and Lonara brushes her off. "Starfighters can't assist you properly with that speed either. So you have to-" "Wait..." Marve interrupted Lorana. "Sorry to ignore your advice, but I would suggest the Lancers. We will be off far away before the Zakanas detect us and surface. As for the Narukh'za... well..." Marve states his suggestion.
"Sorry to ask but isn't the road from the city towards here are supposed to be clear?" He asked. They were all looking at him as he spoke, then turned to Lonara. Lonara leaned back to her chair. "Well, we can't secure the roads twenty-four-seven because of the obvious" She said. "This base is too far from any settlements. We are isolated here. It would take years to secure the whole road for a single day" She added. "I see... But the Lancers will really make our trip quick. I guess you could, like, go and send some of those floating ball bots ahead and see if there are any Narukh'za?" He asked. "I really don't think the Zakana will be trouble when we are traveling with speed" He said. Lonara was led to thoughts. "Like I said, It's risky. You never know what's actually gonna happen. But..." She sighed. "As much as I hate you jumping into danger, I will consider it. I will take the risk, so think this through" She said. Niela turned to Marve. "Marve, are you sure about this?" She asked. "Yeah. I mean, Kirin said that she prepared this..." He looked at Kirin and she nodded. "I did. But it's as dangerous as Lonara hinted. It's up to you if you want to stick with her idea" She said. Niela then faced her squadmates. "Guys, what do you think?" She asked them.
"I'm worried about the Narukh'za..." Sterling said. They all turned to her. "Their missiles and Demon Eagles are our threat. Especially their explosive rounds" She said. "We can send a scout ahead to see who's in the way" Marve said. "Hmm..." Sterling placed her hand on her chin and quietly thinks. "Not to forget their Wreckers. If I remember correctly, they are the scraps from our Lancers. Then they were put back together and arms them with gatling guns and lock-on missiles" Sterling said. Wreckers are built together by scraps of the Arkulan Lancers destroyed in combats. With their variants, they are now armed with gatling guns, with Armor-Piercing, or High-Explosive rounds to choose, and lock-on missiles. The guns are mounted at the front while the rockets are on each side of the body. The Lancers strikes fear on the Narukh'za when they were first deployed in combat against them. This made them focus on killing the driver or disabling the vehicle for capture or salvage. The Narukh'za endured a full-year of disadvantage on agile vehicles since the Arkula was quick to realize their intentions and modified the Lancers with self-detonation. After that, they were able to capture one and learned how to disable the Lancers for salvation. Since the Narukh'za got their own version of the Lancers, Arkula removed the self-detonation devices from the stocks and changed the productions back to the original Lancers.
"If not the missiles, they will be the one chasing us. And maybe, just maybe. They will capture us and use us for ransom or torture us for fun" She said. "I saw them do this to some of our neighbors, they never came back. If they can do this to their own people..." She added. "But..." Terra tried to speak but was pressured by their gazes. "Uh..." She tried to remember what she wanted to say. "Go on..." Niela smiled at her, calming her down. "Swarm... In case of the Narukh'za guarding the sands, they can swarm us easily with Porter's speed and make the gunfights deadlier unlike the Lancers, where we are at blinding speed" She gave her opinion. Chirlin suddenly gasped, getting their attention. "Huh?! If not being chased by high-speed Narukh'za vehicles, then it is being swarmed by them?!" Chirlin has both of her hands on her cheeks. "How about the Porter's time leap?!" She asked. "It's out of the options. The Porters' engines are disabled for a minute after using them. And the distance of the Base N6 is not worth risking it" Lonara said. As they previously mentioned, the Porters have the ability 'Time leap' or simply teleport. Its time leap jumps the Porter away with fair distance away from its current position, with a downside of its engine stalling for exactly a minute after using the ability. Its thrusters are modified so it can boost-start to quickly move ahead after a stall.
"If you want. We can delay the travel and destroy any Narukh'za shop around here and drive them away here, lessening the risk" Kirin suggested. "But I was excited..." Chirlin's spirit has gone down and slides down a bit on her chair. "Doesn't that will make them angry? They might send down more and go at us heavily" Sterling asked. "After we clean them out, we move quick with the Lancers. What matters is we are able to reach Base N6 as safe as possible. Lonara will handle the rest of the troops that they might send here for revenge" Kirin said as she looks at Lonara. They both nodded. "Plus, we gave them a warning. We will consider small fights as only territorial or resource conflicts. If we lose a few good troops, we lose the competition. We leave them with their prize. We get more kill, we won and we keep what we were fighting for. They go far from this simple rule, inflict more damage to our troops, it is a declaration of war. They take more and more resources or territories, this will end with the same result. It's really like a competition, if they can succeed on driving us away, they win. But there are limitations on what they can get and if they plan to insist, it is war" Kirin said. "If that's your whole deal, then attacking us as we harmlessly travel to N6 will cause war then? They don't want that yet, so they're not gonna, right?" Niela asked. "They will consider us as a convoy carrying supplies. It's all gonna end up with the resource conflict scheme" Kirin answered.
"But we're harmless!" Chirlin said. "Well, they're gonna blame us for not bringing enough security for the 'convoy'" Kirin said. "This is annoying..." Niela said. "Then, the only option is really driving them off from around these areas" She asked. Kirin nodded in response. "Either that, or we go risk it and drive Lancers full speed" She said. "I'd say, YOLO..." Chirlin smirked. They quietly stared at her. "Yolo?" Sterling sounded curious about the word. "You... You only live once... so that's why, let's just go and risk it..." Chirlin awkwardly explained. "Huh?" Despite trying her best, Sterling was still confused. "Shouldn't it be like, You only live once so do what's right?" She asked. "W-Whatever..." Chirlin brushed off the question. They were left confused but let go of it later. "So?" Lonara broke the silence. "I'd say, we drive them off here" Niela gave her suggestion. The others think for a while. "I guess I will go with Niela..." Terra said. "I also go for Niela" Kirin said. "Same here..." Chirlin raised her hand. All's left is Sterling and Marve. "What? You all went for that idea, do we have any choice now?" Marve said as they were waiting for them to answer. "So, you're gonna delay your travel to Valorna? How a killjoy these Narukh'za are, right?" Lonara giggled, though they felt sad for them.
"Then I will start sweeping the whole area and look for any Narukh'za outposts. If there is any, You will come to the Com. Center with me and plan our assault on each outpost" Lonara said. "How about I lead every troop on the battlefield?!" Kirin asked. "Hm?" Lonara gave her a curious look. "Normally, you will be the one controlling the whole operations right? How about I control the whole assault? Like, you know, how many tanks or how many 'crafts will be assigned, something like those...?" She said. "Ah. You thought I will assign you to one of the squads that will take part in the operation? No, it's your idea, it'll be in your control. I will just watch over your deployments and set your limits" Lonara said. "Sweet! Alright!" Kirin stood up with high energy and claps. "So, that's that! We will be visiting Valorna soon. We got some Narukh'za fucks to drive away!" She said. "Language, Kirin" "Shut up!" Lonara teased her and Kirin brushed her off. With that, their plans are cut short by the possible threats and risks along their way towards their first step. They didn't waste any more time and prepared everything.
Kirin and Lonara visited the Communications Center and sent out some Skybots around the base. With that, they flew away from the base in every direction. After the lines of computers lies the big screen, it is accessible by the touchpad in front of them. The Skybots have a white circle icon with their numbers in the middle. They are slowly distancing themselves from the base. It can display the whole planet but it is zoomed in a bit to their location. Lonara was dragging the screen around, watching the Skybots go. Without realizing themselves, the two were nervously waiting for the Skybots to stop and turn red on the screen. "They have come too far now, aren't they detecting something?" Kirin asked. "Apparently not" Lonara replied. Not long ago before the Skybot on Northwest beeps and became red. "Narukh'za base detected! Skybot 5!" A female personnel shouted. "Sending image now..." As she said it, an image taken by the Skybot was displayed on the right upper corner of the screen. Lonara used the pad to drag the image closer. The image contains few Narukh'za structures and multiple soldiers that are moving around. Most of the vehicles that are visible are tanks and wheeled vehicles only. The Skybots didn't saw any spacecraft. The outpost was fairly small and it looked like the soldiers are moving around carrying their equipment, as if they just recently moved.
"Great. They don't seem to be carrying any heavy equipment. Just small arms" Lonara said as she examined the image closer. "This will be our first target then" Kirin said but Lonara quickly looked at her as if she was wrong at something. "No, no..." Then she shook her head and turned back to the map. "Another base has been spotted! Skybot 3!" A male personnel shouted. The Skybot on the West turned red. "Sending image now!" He shouted. Just as he said, another image has been sent at the corner. Lonara did the same thing and brought the image closer. This time, there are multiple tanks guarding their buildings. Looking at the base, it looked like some sort of arsenal, a base for resupplies for any operations they conduct. "This looks like a stockpile outpost, a logistics base... Are they planning to expand here?" Lonara whispered. "If we destroy that base, we will deal a considerable amount of damage to their supplies in this area. Good shit" Kirin said. "These Narukh'za..." Lonara sighed. Last Skybot from Southwest of the base has detected one more outpost and its image was sent to the screen. The other Skybots that went on the direction to the nearest town didn't detect any outpost.
"Let's see..." Lonara dragged the new image near. The base has a big portal and the Skybot caught a Devastator coming out of it. It is moderately guarded by foot soldiers and tanks and the other structures looks too big to consider the outpost as small. It was understandable for them since they had a portal built in it. "This one...!" Lonara gasped, worrying them all. Devastator is named after the main heavy tank of the Narukh'za. It has the thickest armor of all Narukh'za ground vehicles, making it look very bulky and easy to be recognized from a distance. As it is said as bulky, it doesn't have any sloped armor. They wanted to block any attack purely with its thick armor. With its incredible size, its tracks are thicker than normal and are doubled on each side that can crush any small vehicles that it climbs into. It is armed with a 120 mm main cannon and Zat-5 machine guns as a coaxial gun. Based on the Arkula's observation of the tank, it is very technological inside and contains a lot of high technology devices that are very helpful at battles. Some have said that it can hack into frequencies and listen to any radios within its range but it was only fear-driven rumors and has yet to be officially proven. "Are those the portals they have stolen from the Krygs?!" Kirin said as she leans closer to the screen. "Now they're using them to transport their vehicles here!" She shouted. "We got to destroy that portal!" She pointed at the image as she looks at Lonara. "Yeah, definitely. But we have to be careful here, you're not just gonna dive in there" Lonara said.
"Then we got to move quick!" Kirin said. "Yeah..." Lonara waited for the other Skybots but they have seen none and were commanded to fly back to the base. "Good. There is no base between us and the Nirinaya..." Lonara sighed in relief. "Alright, there's the Narukh'za outposts that give threats on your travel. Screw them up and quickly make your way to N6 as soon as possible. And then towards Valorna" She said. "Mark them!" She turned to the personnel and shouted a command. With that, the map put landmarks on the locations of the outposts. "Alright, there's the outposts. It's up to you on how you will approach them, but I will still be watching over you..." Lonara taps Kirin's shoulder and walked away. "That Devastator..." Kirin whispered to herself but loud enough for Lonara to hear and turn back. "If you want, we have a single Gallant parked in here. Use it with care" Kirin quickly turned back as soon as she heard the name from Lonara. Gallant is Arkula's only deadly Tank Destroyer. It is armed with a single 203 mm cannon mounted at the rear of the tank. There were no support guns and it is turretless. Its main cannon looks bigger than the actual tank. Along with its big muzzle, it strikes fears to most of the enemies who have encountered them. "Sweet! I didn't think we have one of them locked up here!" Kirin grips her fist in excitement. "Time for some cleanup then... Call my squad for me, will ya?" She asked Lonara. "Sure..." Lonara replied.
On the outside, the squad was waiting. "I wonder what made Kirin plan on visiting the Earth..." Marve asked. "Is there something wrong with it?" Niela asked. Marve cackled. "She's the one shouting at them Narukh'za about leaving us alone during Zakana's invasion" He laughed. "Now that I remember..." Sterling giggled remembering the scene. "Maybe she wanted another competition? Or rather, wanting to warn the population there about the Narukh'za's possible invasion" Terra said. "Who knows..." Marve shrugged. Then as Lonara called them inside as she made her way out. "Go on inside. Kirin's waiting for you" She said. As Lonara walks away, Marve whispered to the squad. "Alright. We're planning our first assault now. This is very different from what our original plan was. So get ready..." He warned with a sigh. Then he led the way inside. They walked straight to Kirin with fascination. They were looking all over the place until they reached Kirin. "Ah! There you are..." Kirin faced them and they were terrified. The place was dark and was lightened only by the monitors and the big screen, making Lonara's face hidden but her glowing light blue eyes. "I hope you took the time I let you spend on the shooting range because we will be taking down Narukh'za outposts!" She said with energy. "I believe in y'all..." She said as she turns back to the screen. She used the pad to drag the images of the outposts. "So!" Kirin half-turned to the squad, leaning on the console with her left arm. "These are the outposts we have detected during the sweeps. They are fairly weak so this shouldn't be a problem" She said. "But the reinforcement they send at you is the problem" Sterling said.
This made Kirin scratch her head. "Indeed. They like to throw everything at you if one of them calls for help, those aggressive bastards" She angrily whimpers as she furiously scratch her head. "Fuck it, we have a Gallant. We're gonna destroy everything they send after us" Kirin half-jokingly said. "Also, one of the outposts have a fucking portal and they are sending Devastators through it" She said, surprising Sterling. "Devastator?!" She shouted. The others almost jumped. "You sound so nervous. And its name already giving out hints" Marve gulped. "Yeah. Devastator is their finest heavy tank. They are extremely tough that can eat multiple anti-tanks before going down" Kirin said. "But our Gallant will melt those armors away, so fuck that Devastator" She giggled. "We just have to use her in the right way" She said. "I know that Gallant! It looks really big!" Chirlin said. "That's what she said!" Kirin laughed very loud and Chirlin followed after. The others were clueless. "You know that joke as well?!" Chirlin asked. "Of course... hah... I sat on the Internet for two months because of something" Kirin stops herself from laughing and was gasping for air. "Alright... So..." She weakly turned back to the screen. She dragged an image of the western outpost. "This outpost will be our first target. The place is guarded by multiple tanks and some infantry. If y'all want, we can save some of their vehicles and become a mechanized squad" Kirin winked at them. "Why don't we just grab some of our vehicles?" Chirlin asked. "To save our own supplies. There's an outpost of supplies waiting to be raided in the middle of the sands, so why not use them?" Kirin responded. "Don't we have a rule on military activities that disallow this certain action?" Sterling asked.
Kirin was found out and got embarrassed. "Wow, you do know a lot of stuff huh..." She shyly said. "Yeah. Actually, I'm trying to study why the Narukh'za separated from you. Then I have come to understand that they disliked your limitations at military stuff, and that led me to study your precious rules" Sterling said. "That rule also goes the same for the civilians. Obtaining and driving enemy vehicles is strictly FORBIDDEN. I can understand why. Friendly fire is what this rule is about" Sterling said. "Not only friendly fire. That rule also doesn't apply on vehicles alone, but to the suits and armor as well. We have our own insignias and designs on our armors and vehicles to resemble us as the Arkula, and the Narukh'za also have theirs to resemble themselves as one of them. If you're gonna use their vehicle, that will also mean that you are serving them under their insignias and with their own vehicle as well, making you a disgrace and a traitor" Kirin added. "You do know this as well, why did you try to make us steal their vehicles?" Sterling asked seriously, sending them chills. "Hehe..." Kirin childishly giggled. "I thought Lonara will make an exception..." She said. "If she kept letting you do what you want, that will give her a bad image that doesn't take her position too serious. She's letting you slip because you two are very close, so don't take advantage of that" Without her realizing, she was starting to lecture Kirin. "Right, sorry ma'am" Kirin scratched her head. "I-I'm not angry or something. I'm just trying to help" Sterling quickly apologized as soon as she realizes.
"I don't mind getting help from you, I'm very unstable myself. Even I can't help myself sometimes on doing something even though I know it's bad..." Kirin said. "I got Lonara into trouble many times" She giggled. She turned back to the screen. "And I just kept apologizing and she kept forgiving me, after a few days" She said. "She's a very good friend. Even though she inherited her father as the leader of the Arkula, she still hasn't changed a bit and acts the same way still when she's around her friends" She shook her head with a smile. "She's a very rare person you would treasure for..." She said as she looks at them. "That's why I need someone to hold me back... My father also mentioned that I was very irritating as a child, I guess I still had it in me" She smiled before turning back to the screen. "Alright, back in action..." As soon as she turns back to the screen, a male personnel spoke. "Kirin is actually kind and sweet. How cute" He teased, making Kirin turn back. "Who said that?!" She shouted but no one responded but their giggles. "Ah... this is why I don't like opening up to everybody, it's embarrassing" She sighed heavily. "Alright, here's the strategy. This one is a mile away from the West. If not capturing them, we're gonna blow this whole outpost down to ashes and damage their supplies. Once that happens, we will move on to the one on the Southwestern outpost. This is where the Devastator came out, after cutting their supplies, we can't expect any fast responding reinforcement when taking this one down. The one in the Northwest will be our last target, they are not that big and they will send weaker reinforcement" She explained her plan on them.
"After this one, we will head straight to N6 with our Lancers. Then we can finally continue what we originally had planned" She finished her explanation. "Alright, let's pack up. I hope y'all are ready for some action" She smiled and led the squad outside.