"We'll leave tonight and take the Chelsea Rift."
Jan looked at Alphonse in surprise and said, "And take the Rift Valley? Aren't you afraid that the resistance will tear us apart."
"The number of rebels in the Rift Valley won't be large, I estimate that there won't be more than three squads, besides, didn't the ace troop go there?" Alphonse said while putting Dialina's photo into his traveling bag.
"Honestly, I don't think the Ace Force is a match for them." Jan said as he swept the contents of his desk into his suitcase, "It'll take them two hours to get to the Rift anyways, the Resistance will have enough sleep."
"We'll head towards the Rift first, if things get bad we'll go around the west side of the Rift, I'll help you pack and you go find a flyer that's higher off the ground."
Hearing Alphonse's words, Yang put down the things in his hands and quickly ran out.
On the sand under the moonlight, Edward was laying mines according to the markings on the battle map.
This battle plan was made by Elina, and he was not surprised that Elina had such a high level of tactical talent.
Elina grew up with a meticulous mind and seemed to be forever curious about new things.
He clearly remembered how Elina used traps to capture the sand fox when she was a child, just to figure out how it was able to find water in the desert.
In no time at all, thirty infantry mines were laid, and he removed the two large buckets from his motorcycle and spread water around the minefield.
"Sprinkle them all, don't be reluctant to do so, in a moment if any of the sandworms cross the minefield the whole plan will be ruined." Elina instructed.
"Aye! Missy, I'm really impressed with your performance today! I always thought you'd just stay in the lab and mess around with some pheromones." Edward tossed the empty bucket aside and returned to the motorcycle ready to get another.
"Don't call me Missy, anyone but you." Elina's voice held some anger.
"Given your fierce behavior today, how about calling you Little Wildcat?" Edward stopped what he was doing and glanced toward the small fort.
"Given your ferocious behavior today, I'll call you Big Wild Ass from now on." Elina's laughter came over the intercom, tickling him.
Edward threw the empty bucket away and straddled the flying motorcycle and sped towards the west side of the Rift Valley.
Quickly, Edward selected a higher dune and ambled down on it, somehow remembering the birth certificate his adoptive father had slipped him before he left, he lifted a corner of his camouflage cloak to let in the moonlight.
Name: Edward Alec; Father: Londre Alec; Mother: Rhys Alec. Brother: Alphonse Alec, born in the year 3137 of the Imperial Calendar on the planet Dorsal, Canlad City, Third City District Hospital, at the same time as his brother, Alphonse Alec.
Edward sighed as he looked at the red baby footprint at the end of the document.
This brother of mine, I wonder how he's doing in Apeida City, if I were him I'd run tonight and take the long way around to Starport.
"Big wild ass, what are you doing?" Elina's voice rang out, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"I'm thinking about my twin brother, who should be in Apeida City by now." Edward said, picking up his EM rifle and examining it.
"You have a brother?" Elina felt a little incredulous.
Edward told Elina a stream of stories about how he met his brother, and the documents General Barr gave him, while checking the ammunition.
"Holy shit..." exploded Elina.
"You don't have to explode when I have a brother." Edward asked uncertainly.
"No, you turn the sights up to maximum magnification and look towards that f17." Elina's voice became a little panicked.
"Holy shit...ready ready ready! Stick to the plan!"
He shoved the file back into his pocket and set up his EM rifle in readiness.
"There's just that one clip of infra rounds left, so you've got to hit it right." Elina's voice was obviously very nervous.
"If you're nervous, go count sand." Edward adjusted his breathing and waited for the enemy to come into range.
"If the tactics don't work, I'm dead, a small fort this big is a target." Elina's ragged breathing came over the comm.
"Don't be afraid, if tactics don't work, I'll be right behind you, if you go to heaven I'll follow you to heaven, if you go to hell I'll chase you to hell."
Saying that, Edward pulled the trigger.
Sixty rounds were emptied in an instant, and as the Imperial soldiers realized the direction of the incoming attack and began to return fire in his direction, he slid down the reverse slope of the dune, and as soon as he ripped off his camouflage cloak, he rushed towards the other dune.
At the same time there was a violent vibration coming from the ground as several sandbags of varying sizes wriggled rapidly across the ground towards the marked Imperial troop carriers.
Not long after, the first sandworm leaped out of the sand towards an imperial troop carrier and lunged at it, directly tearing that troop carrier to shreds.
All the troop carriers stopped, and one by one, the soldiers came out in a line and started to return fire at the sandworms that leapt out of the sand while moving.
"Fire! Force them into the minefield" Edward shouted as he ran.
Two consecutive blue dots of light appeared in mid-air, followed by the sound of explosions.
The Imperial soldiers were defenseless against the incoming energy cannons and could only move in the direction where there were no sandworms.
"Why didn't you explode this mine?!" Elina shouted anxiously.
"What's the hurry? If you want to explode it, you have to wait until they're all inside!" Edward climbed up the dune and looked towards the direction of the minefield.
Rumbling, the explosion of the mines was devastating to the huddled Imperial soldiers, those who didn't have the time to step into the minefield didn't dare to move casually anymore and were forced to fight with the several huge sandworms that came after them.
Those Imperial soldiers who didn't dare to move casually became living targets for the energy cannons, and every shot from Elina took away the lives of several Imperial soldiers.
"Load!" Elina shouted into the intercom.
"Roger that." Edward poked his head over the dune and started shooting at the Imperial soldiers fighting the sandworms.
His precise marksmanship made him harvest the lives of the Imperial soldiers like a scythe, whoever the sights holstered the next moment would fall to the muzzle of the gun, regardless of whether he was moving, or stationary.
Even so, the sandworms also lost the battle with the imperial soldiers, the largest of the sandworms with a miserable hiss slowly fell to the ground stirring up a burst of sand.
Gradually some soldiers began to shoot towards where Edward was, and the bullets landed on his side stirring up a shower of sand.
"Does it take this long to change a bullet?"
A bullet grazed his helmet and the powerful impact brought him down on the sand.
Edward quickly scrambled to his feet and took a few steps down the dune leaking his head and began returning fire.
An explosion exploded through the pile of soldiers, and Elina changed ammo before beginning her fire suppression again.
Edward moved towards the dune where the ambush had just begun, trying to get to that dune before Elina finished this clip.
Climbing up the dune and looking out over the battlefield, the remaining dozen or so Imperial soldiers were looking around nervously with their EM rifles raised in both hands.
"Keep fighting?" Elina asked.
"Cease fire, they surrendered."
Edward stopped Elina from firing and stood up to look at the Imperial soldiers.
But the sandworms of Dosas had no intention of letting them go.
A huge sandworm suddenly appeared from under the feet of several soldiers and swallowed them in one bite.
The remaining soldiers rushed to fire back, but their now thin firepower couldn't do anything about the behemoth in front of them, and they were wiped out by these behemoths in no time.
"Elina, you guys are really making unbelievable weapons." Edward said as he stared blankly at the dune that had been churned into a large crater by the sandworms.
Alphonse was pacing anxiously back and forth in front of the officers' quarters.
Hearing a horn honk, he looked towards the source of the sound and Jan was sitting in a speeder waving at him.
He picked up his bags and walked quickly toward Jan. He asked, "Can this car go through the desert?"
Jan's hand stretched out the window patted the body and said, "No problem, grab the car, the Ace Force has been on the move for half an hour."
Throwing his luggage into the back seat, he jumped in the car in a hurry and signaled Jan to get going.
"Just moments ago, reinforcements from the Resistance arrived at the rear of the Battle Bear Regiment, slicing it into six parts in a back-and-forth attack." Jan swung the control stick and traveled through the streets of Apeida City.
"Hey, three years ago, when the Imperial Army started attacking the planet Dosas, we destroyed the Resistance's flagship, the Marnier, with a thunderous force, and then captured seven starports and eighty percent of the important cities in Dosas along the way in a triumphant manner."
Alphonse murmured dreamily, "Why is it that in just three years, we can't even hold on to the few city fortresses we have left."
Yang consoled, "Don't be discouraged, we have accomplished the task that the empire gave us to observe, success or failure is not for us to decide."
"But I failed to accomplish what my mother commanded me to do." Alphonse said, pulling out a document in a ziplock bag from his pocket, the bright red footprints of a baby clearly visible on the document.