Before the special infantry troop have gathered at the assembly hall, Captain Wright along with the platoon commanders are discussing at his office. "...from a previous meeting with the General of the Army, we were informed that they have detected the I.E.A. approaching from the eastern coasts—"
The platoon commanders have been expecting these as they already heard the spreading rumors.
"And according to intel, there's around 70,000 I.E.A. soldiers, or a whole 'Field Army' to be exact, making their way to the coast. Right now, the ones stationed at the district are 1 armored brigade, 3 regular infantry battalions and 1 airborne troop which estimates around 13,000 E.D.L. soldiers..."
They were all quite overwhelmed with the numbers mentioned by their captain. I.E.A. can effortlessly sent out a huge number of soldiers as they have the upperhand when it comes to their population. As many people have been lured by the ideals and purpose of that organization, they were made to fight for what they believe in.
E.D.L. only has a population around 6.8 million with atleast 359,000 soldiers, whilst I.E.A. has about 11.2 million with 724,000 soldiers. There's a huge difference in numbers which can be a big disadvantage, however E.D.L. has enough soldiers that can defend and protect their own people.
"...and for the case of the Special Infantry Troop, I decided to have the Platoon's I and III to be first deployed while Platoon's II and IV remain and wait for their turn in the battlefield, is that understood everyone?!"
"Sir yes sir!!" All of the platoon commanders answered in unison.
"Alright, I'll be contacting Captain Zahi to assist us for a faster transportation later on. I'll be right back after this call, and prepare yourselves! We'll have to gather all of the special troop in a half an hour." Wright left them at his office for a moment to make a call.
All of the platoon commanders in the office were shrouded in exhaustion and weariness, but they were all still determined to fulfill their roles and responsibilities as soldier of the E.D.L.
"...it hasn't been even long and they already plan on striking again. Does the people of I.E.A. never heard of peace?" Bernadette mumbled and yawns.
"What do you expect? Peace is something to be fought and earned for in this time and age." Gunther said.
Devian chimed in. "Pff, peace is more like period of time for preparation for the next battle. And that shitty I.E.A. is always more than prepared."
"I sometimes wonder why we still have to go through this war. If the I.E.A. is so much capable on its own, then why can't they just venture out into space by themselves already?" Bernadette wondered, tilting her head with her hand on her chin.
"They said I.E.A. takes interest on E.D.L.'s resources." Gunther simply answered.
"How shallow some men can be."
"Just because of resources??... fighting over material objects without regard to life is just insane, what cold bastards they are..." turning to Raphael that remained silent the whole time. "...say, what's your take on this?" She asked.
Raphael then coldly glares at her. "I don't care talking about pointless things right now."
"Tch, even making a conversation with you is difficult—"
"But more importantly—" all of a sudden, Raphael Novick aims his shifter rifle at his fellow platoon commander which was immediately blocked by Gunther. "Raph!! What do you think you're doing!?"
"I wasn't trying to kill her." He said.
"What the hell man!? If that wasn't an attempt to kill me, then what was that for!?" Bernadette can't believe the stunt he just pulled.
He puts down his arm and weapon, maintaining his glare at her. "I've heard you broke one of your subordinate's leg during training. You're unfit as platoon commander for harming your own allies!"
"Unfit my ass, you just tried to harm me just now!!"
"This is just a mere warning, Ritter." His eyes sharpens as it met hers.
"Oh is it?... since when have you ever been concerned for your subordinates!? You break limbs and legs of your own platoon members when training on a daily basis!" Bernadette couldn't stand the hypocrisy, but she knows well what drove him to speak like this. "—this isn't about harming subordinates, isn't it? It's this one person you only care about."
Raphael flinched.
"Unlike you, I don't really harm my subordinates way too often, and there was only one person that I 'accidentally' hurt in that kind of degree this past month." The other two who were listening was quite intrigued by this confrontation.
"...I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Just admit it!! You're obsessing over this woman named 'Claire Duvent'! What the hell is your relationship with her?" The name drop wasn't much too surprising for Gunther and Devian as they already knew of this before.
Although Raphael continued to act ignorant. "Tch, all I'm saying is you should quit doing harmful trainings to your subordinates. Don't try making an issue out of this."
"But you're the one that started it!—" before the situation can take to a worse turn, they all got back on their seats when Captain Wright goes back inside his office. "I have unfortunate... did something happened here?" He can sense something different in the atmosphere of these platoon commander.
Devian shakes his hand, dismissing the thought. "Not at all, Cap. So you were saying?"
"Ah yes. Captain Zahi won't be able to lend us a hand with the transportation, so we'd be using the good ol' truck. It'll take about 14 hours to get to the district of Serendipity by that vehicle, now we should get going as early as possible."
"Understood, Captain!"
After that, the platoon commanders have messaged each of their vice platoon commanders to notify their fellow subordinates to gather at the assembly hall. Soon, the 5 leaves the Captain's office to meet up with the whole troop in the venue. "I apologize for this sudden gathering. Tonight, we face yet another trouble with the I.E.A. So I must remind all of you to prepare yourselves for another battle!!"
Everyone have become fully awaken by the Captain's words.
Another battle awaits them all, with uncertain results and even more deaths, still they all share one common goal in mind—"And this time, let's make sure to pay I.E.A. with one hell of a fight they'll never forget!!"