In the boundless desert, there was a small black dot lying on a sand dune.
Edward slapped the controller on his wrist, "Damn it! Why does it break down at this moment?"
With a beep, the intelligent AI of the controller came back online.
"Activate camouflage mode."
Following his voice command, the cloak on his back began to change color and finally blended with the sand dune. As a top special forces operative, he was on his 210th mission since joining the rebel army. Each time, he infiltrated deep into enemy territory alone, and each time, he completed the mission successfully.
"Where is the convoy?" he said as he picked up a high-powered telescope and looked towards the horizon. His mission this time was to take out the command vehicle of an Imperial reinforced regiment.
"Susurrus... They set off two hours ago. According to calculations, they are still about seventy kilometers away from the Kambold region." A not-so-clear voice came through the earphone.
"That means the swarm is coming soon." He said and raised the telescope to increase the magnification.
A few scattered flying objects in the distance were flying towards him. These small, palm-sized, arrow-like things were Swarm Type II. They flew fast and had powerful detection capabilities. Especially on the bare sand dunes, any slight movement would be detected by them.
Even though they had no attack power, with the precise strikes of the ground forces' firepower, they were still the worst nightmare for the rebel guerrillas. Often, after the swarm flew by, the fierce firepower bombing of the howitzers would follow.
But Edward wasn't worried at all. He was equipped with the finest individual camouflage cloak. This cloak was made of a large number of fish-scale imaging materials. Under the control of the intelligent AI, it could optically blend completely with the surrounding sand. Even lying in front of the enemy, he couldn't be distinguished.
"Susurrus... The signal interference in the Kambold region is getting stronger. The communication is about to... Susurrus... Special operative... Wish you..."
"Wish me luck." He finished the unfinished words in the communicator and looked up at the sky.
An abnormal star was shining even during the day. He knew it was the Imperial battleship Marceau in synchronous orbit.
Three years ago, the newly independent Dossas Star State was attacked by the Empire without a declaration of war. The fleet was destroyed. Since then, the rebel army's communication had been fully suppressed.
In the early stage of the war, the rebel army was beaten back steadily. Even so, after three years of hard fighting and the successful application of the environment and tactics, the rebel army gradually achieved some results and finally launched a full-scale counterattack.
"You don't have many days left." Edward murmured as he looked at the approaching swarm in the distance. Then he lowered his head and buried his face in the shadow of the cloak, avoiding the upcoming swarm reconnaissance.
In the shadow of the cloak, he thrust his hand into the sand and grasped the electromagnetic rifle buried inside. This gun was a birthday gift given to him by his adoptive father on his sixteenth birthday. It was also one of the few high-tech gadgets that his adoptive father, who was the leader of the rebel army, could give to his child.
At that time, he didn't like it until he fired the first shot.
At that time, he went to a village to deliver a message to the rebel commanders there for his adoptive father.
But when he arrived, the Imperial army had already occupied the village. Several soldiers were burning, killing, and looting in the village. The old, weak, women, and children in the village were already lying in a pool of blood.
Those Imperial soldiers were gathered around a fire not far away, cooking and chatting and laughing about something.
He hid in the dark, his heart burning with anger. He raised the electromagnetic rifle and tightly squeezed the trigger at those unprepared Imperial soldiers.
Sixty bullets in a magazine were emptied in an instant. Looking at the empty magazine alarm that kept flashing on the gun, he came to his senses and released his finger. He rushed forward, picked up a stone, and pounded the dying enemies.
He didn't stop until those Imperial soldiers were all motionless. Then he sat down on the ground, panting heavily. The pleasure of revenge made him tremble uncontrollably.
A faint buzzing sound pulled him back from his memory. He knew that the swarm reconnaissance device had just flown by. Edward raised his head and looked at the approaching convoy through the telescope. The logo of the Imperial Lynx Regiment was clearly visible on the vehicle body.
This kind of troop transport vehicle was huge and floated about half a meter above the ground as it moved forward. Their armor was thick. Not to mention an electromagnetic rifle, even some individual howitzers couldn't do anything to them.
But he wasn't worried at all. He had some special information bullets in his hand.
These bullets were provided by the research department. The warheads were filled with pheromones that could drive the sandworms deep in the sand dunes crazy.
Those adult female sandworms could be twenty meters long. Their huge and hard mouthparts could even bite through a troop transport shuttle at one go. Their bodies were covered with scales, and their hardness could resist the shooting of electromagnetic rifles to a certain extent.
Those huge monsters also had an extremely sensitive sense of smell and could distinguish prey within ten kilometers. They swam very fast in the sand, and those huge troop transport shuttles couldn't escape from them.
They also had a strong sense of revenge and showed no mercy to the invaders who destroyed their larvae or eggs.
Last time, Edward went to the sandworm lair to search for these eggs to collect pheromone raw materials for the research department. Unexpectedly, he was discovered on the spot.
During his frantic running, he accidentally broke an egg, which attracted several sandworms to chase him for dozens of kilometers. If the flying motorcycle hadn't been very fast, he would have died in the mouths of the sandworms long ago.
He dug out the sniper electromagnetic gun from the sand in front of him, adjusted it, set it up on the sand dune, took out five green bullets from the pocket on his chest, and pushed them into the gun chamber one by one. The information bullets were precious. He had to hit the target at a distance of five kilometers.
Looking at the Imperial troop transport convoy passing through the sight, he spat to the side, "I'll spare you this time."
He aimed the sight at the command vehicle at the rear of the convoy and made the final calibration, waiting for the target to enter the range.
He didn't understand the instructions given by the commander. Why let the Lynx Regiment pass and only take out the command vehicle?
An order was an order. He drove away these unnecessary thoughts from his mind, held his breath, and pulled the trigger five times. Then he clearly saw four green dots appear on the black vehicle body where it was hit.
"Got it."
He didn't care about the bullet that he didn't know where it hit because he knew that hitting one was enough.
He pulled back the electromagnetic gun and quickly buried it. He also lay face down on the sand, motionless, trying to avoid the upcoming swarm reconnaissance. This time, his shooting direction must have been exposed. As long as he wasn't detected by the swarm, he could retreat unscathed.
Inside the compartment of the command vehicle, a young man in an Imperial lieutenant colonel's uniform frowned as he looked at the two red arrows, one on the left and one on the right, moving south on the battle map.
"Lieutenant Colonel Alphonse, you don't need to worry at all. As long as the Battle Bear Regiment and my Lynx Regiment arrive at the designated positions on time, they will form a pincer with the defenders in Rilda and surround the rebel army.
Victory belongs to the Empire!" The major saluted after speaking.
He knew that Rilda was a wedge that had advanced into the rebel-controlled area and was of great strategic significance due to its high terrain.
In any case, it couldn't be taken by the enemy. The two reinforced regiments' left and right thrusts into the battlefield could both relieve the siege of Rilda and surround the rebel army.
But the data on the battle map still made him a little worried.
"That's not what I'm worried about, Major." He pointed to the attacked location marked on the battle map and said, "Eight out of ten times, our logistics supply convoys sent to Rilda were attacked by sandworms. Isn't this frequency too high?"
"Lieutenant Colonel, this season is the breeding season of sandworms. The sandworms are very aggressive this season. We tried to change the route, but it had no effect." The major said, but in his heart, he was full of disdain for this twenty-year-old superior.
"Is there any new news from the surveillance system on the starship?" Alphonse asked as he lit a cigarette.
The battleship Somma in synchronous orbit was monitoring the shrinking area of the Imperial army's power around the clock. He couldn't figure out why there were always rebel armies suddenly appearing in strategic locations to launch attacks on them. "No large-scale military movements of the rebel army have been detected." The major said indifferently.
"Something feels uneasy." Alphonse exhaled a mouthful of smoke, as if he wanted to expel the worry in his heart as well.
"Report! News came from the Battle Bear Regiment. They were attacked by a large number of sandworms." The communicator said.
"What's the loss situation?" Alphonse sat down.
"Seventy-five people were injured and thirty-one were killed. The vehicles were severely damaged." The communicator read the battle report with his head down.
"This is not good!" Alphonse crossed his legs and fell into thought.
The major opened the car window to let the smoke out.
"Lieutenant Colonel, you don't need to be so worried.
The number of the rebel army is only about three thousand. The defenders in Rilda are only seven hundred. They only dare to surround but not attack.