He rushed to the place where he had parked his flying motorcycle, only to find it missing.
Looking around, he stopped a soldier who was carrying supplies and asked, "There was a flying motorcycle parked here just now. Where is it?"
"Oh, a sergeant from the Logistics Department rode it away just now."
In front of the Logistics Department's tent, Edward was angrily questioning the sergeant, "Why did you dismantle my flying motorcycle like this? I still have a mission to go on."
The sergeant looked innocent and said, "Miss Elina told me that you were going on a mission tomorrow and asked me to quickly dismantle it and clean the engine."
Edward looked at the flying motorcycle in pieces on the ground and shook his head helplessly, wondering where he could get another one.
"Hey, young man, do you want a ride?"
He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Elina, dressed in military uniform and a cloak, sitting on a pure black Imperial cavalry motorcycle.
"Miss Elina, I'm going on a special ops mission, not a picnic." Edward said helplessly.
"I'm all set! Ammunition, food, and water are all ready!" Elina saluted on the cavalry motorcycle.
"Alas, sergeant, please go and tell the general. Elina, you sit in the back." Edward jumped on the cavalry motorcycle and started the engine.
"So, Special Operative A19, where is our destination?" Elina put her arms around his waist from the back seat.
"Target, Chels Grand Canyon." Edward said and twisted the throttle.
Chels Grand Canyon was the only way from the starport to the city of Aipida.
Due to the bulky transport vehicles, they could only fly close to the ground along this road and couldn't take a detour. And Chels Grand Canyon was the most suitable place for an ambush on this road.
On both sides of the wide transport road, two rows of rock walls extended straight up, somewhat resembling a geological fault.
Elina looked at the canyon through the telescope and huddled herself up, trying to cover her whole body with the cloak. It had been four hours since Edward went to scout.
Eventually, her strong curiosity and boredom made her disobey Edward's order and press the button on the communication device.
"Edward, come in if you receive."
There was no response, which made her feel uneasy.
"Well, in that case, I'll go and look for you."
Thinking this, she no longer hesitated and opened the battle map on her wrist.
"There must be a few Imperial soldiers guarding both sides of the canyon. Edward's communicator last appeared, um, here. So he should be on the west side of the canyon now."
She patted the motorcycle hidden in the sand pile, checked the electromagnetic rifle, and walked towards the west side of the canyon.
At this moment, Edward was lying on the sand on the east side of the canyon, feeling very annoyed. He had been staring at the small fort in front of him for over two hours. "When did these two small forts appear here? They're not marked on the map."
Due to the suppression by the battleship in synchronous orbit, the rebel army couldn't update the battle map in time. These two small forts were set up on both sides of the canyon. If one was attacked, the other could quickly provide fire support.
"Edward, come in if you receive."
"Received, Elina. Stay where you are."
He tapped the controller that was flickering randomly and looked up to continue staring at the small fort in front of him.
"Can't go any further." He thought this and opened the sight on his helmet to look at the small fort. He increased the magnification and observed carefully.
The small-caliber energy cannon on top of the small fort was hanging down. Through the firing hole at the bottom of the small fort, he could vaguely see the soldiers moving inside.
"Can't get through here. Although there's a blind spot in the vision of this small fort, if I go like this, I'll be spotted by the small fort on the west side. If only the small fort on the west side could be blinded for a while."
Just as he was thinking this, he increased the magnification of the sight and looked at the small fort on the west side.
"Huh? What's that?"
He increased the magnification again and found that on the sand dune in the distance of the small fort on the west side, there was a very small and abnormal sandbag. It wriggled a few times and stopped, then wriggled a few more times and stopped again.
He quickly opened the communicator and asked uneasily, "Elina! Where are you?"
"I'm on the west side of the canyon, at... let me see..." Elina looked at the battle map. The whole area was divided into several small squares. She quickly found the row and column that marked her position on the map. The later the letter, the closer it was to the east. The larger the number, the closer it was to the south.
She said, "Near the sand dune at position C9 on the battle map. That's right." Elina's voice came through the communicator.
"Don't move anymore. I can see you. Didn't I tell you to stay where you were? Why did you go there?" Edward set up the electromagnetic gun, ready to fire at any time to attract the firepower of the small fort on the west side and cover Elina's retreat. "I called you and you didn't answer. I was worried about you." Elina said and poked her head out to look around.
"Pull your head back and make the camouflage color a little lighter! I can see you clearly from the east side of the canyon." Edward glanced nervously at the small fort on the west side, fearing that Elina would be discovered.
Then he saw the small face quickly retract into the sandbag, and then the color of the sandbag slowly faded and finally blended with the surrounding sand.
"Is it that obvious?" Elina's tone was a little dejected.
"For a new recruit, you're not bad. Now slowly retreat to the hiding place. No, wait a minute. I've got an idea." Edward touched his nose and told her his battle plan.
On the west side of the canyon, Elina was lying under the camouflage net, desperately trying to suppress her excitement.
"Brother Edward, haven't you reached the position yet?" Her voice sounded impatient.
"Miss, I'm crawling forward. This is the third time you've rushed me in just ten minutes." Edward's voice also sounded impatient.
"Brother Edward, my hands are shaking..." Elina said and stretched out her left hand to hold down her shaking right hand. As a result, both hands started shaking together non-stop.
"Ah, it's normal. Elina, check your gun and ammunition. Do it a few more times." Edward's sigh also came through the communicator.
Elina started checking the electromagnetic rifle and information bullets over and over again. Finally, she simply grabbed a handful of sand and counted it.
"I'm in position. Retreat to the other side of the dune immediately after you fire. Let's start."
Hearing Edward's order, Elina immediately took out the electromagnetic rifle, opened a slit in the camouflage net, and emptied the magazine of all the information bullets into the sand pit in front. Then she put down the camouflage net and started moving to the other side of the dune.
The small sand waves stirred up by the shooting in the sand pit attracted the attention of the small fort on the west side. The small-caliber energy cannon on top of the small fort turned half a circle and pointed at the sand pit.
Before long, a huge rumbling sound came, and along with it were several huge sandbags moving at high speed on the sand.
Elina had already moved to the other side of the dune, but she didn't intend to lie down obediently. She didn't want to miss this exciting scene she had created.
She saw the several huge sandbags on the ground getting bigger and bigger. Several huge sandworms leaped out of their respective sandbags and rushed towards the sand pit one after another. The sandworms twisted together, roaring at each other and churning. At this moment, the sand pit was like a boiling pot, kicking up sand and dust all over the sky.
"Goodness, three queens." Elina thought to herself and thrust her arm into the sand to offset the shaking caused by the sandworms.
Several violent explosions were heard. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the small fort on the west side had now become a pile of rubble.
Inside the small fort on the east side, Edward was holding a bloody dagger and panting.
"It seems our trouble isn't over yet. When the sandworms retreat, I want you to go to the small fort on the west side and check the bodies first." Edward moved the body away from the control system and gave the order.
"What's wrong? Are you injured?" Elina's anxious inquiry came through the communicator.
"No, there were only two soldiers and a flying motorcycle in this small fort. I'm worried that the small team here has gone out on patrol."
Edward put the dagger back in its sheath and started checking the surveillance system on the control panel.
"Small fort on the east side, this is the patrol team. We heard an explosion. What happened?"
There were continuous inquiries from the communicator on the body. Edward chose to ignore them.
"There are seven bodies here and probably the wreckage of five or six flying motorcycles."
"You'd better come to the small fort on the east side quickly."
Edward felt very impatient at this moment. If the patrol team came back, he would definitely have to retreat from the small fort first. Once the small fort was lost and the other side called for reinforcements, his guerrilla mission would be in great trouble.
"None of the motorcycles are usable. I have to run." Elina's voice sounded a little dejected.
"Then you'd better start running now. Go to the control room of the small fort and aim the muzzle of the energy cannon at one o'clock. They should come from that direction. I'm going up now to reload the energy cannon."
"If I go to fire the cannon, where are you going?"
"There's a blind spot in the direction of one o'clock for the energy cannon. I'm going to find a high point to provide crossfire with you."
Edward reloaded the magazine and ran out of the small fort, dashing towards a sand dune.