Chapter 3: The Musen Incident

Chapter 3 The Musen Incident

I

     “April 15^th. Year 178. Today is the day that I will officially become a part of the military and be officially made the aide/adjutant to the Admiral Skye, while I have my doubts about how capable I am for the role I will do my best to fulfil my duties and to be helpful to the Admiral starting out by getting her good personnel so we may have a slightly easier time” this excerpt was taken from Nero’s diary about the situation which had been moving slower than anticipated thanks to a problem with scheduling which caused conflicts for politicians and therefore gave Hyde more time to think about her adjutant still however she decided for her ward in almost no time as she had a slight suspicion that he could be great for the post but only the passing of time would prove if her intuition was right as he began making the appointments starting out with Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Hiroshi Kotobuki, Deputy Chief of Staff Commodore Vinnie Masssaro and Vice Commander of the 9^thfleet Rear Admiral John Starr. While Kotobuki and Massaro were new to the fleet, John Starr was not as he had been the Chief of Staff for past expeditions led by the fleet, the reason he was made the Vice Commander was that thanks to him there would be 50/50 split in between the 4 major decision makers in the fleet with 2 newcomers and 2 who had been there already. He also chose him because of the fact it would be easier for him to help command the fleet in a short span of time as he had been planning in the advance statement that was given by the Secretary of Defence, Nero also wrote down on his journal “The reason I have even been given this opportunity is thanks to the government’s incompetency as they had set out Admiral Hyde to battle with only half a fleet and only a chief of staff, this would have been problem had the admiral not been a fairly competent” he wrote this the 16^thof April of the year 178 as he was finishing the paperwork for the appointments with help of the Directors of Joint Operations Admiral and Admiral Barack Biden. He would then set up a meeting next week for the Admiral to greet the people who would be accompanying her through life and death battles.

 

 

     On April 18^thSkye Hyde would officially go on and meet with her staff, they met in once of the smallest rooms of the military headquarters a room so small that on comparison to the others it almost seemed as if the higher ups had some sort of grudge against the Admiral however the real reason for them being in such a small place was that this sort of meeting didn’t happen often in fact this was the first someone would be doing this sort of meeting with no real expedition in the near future having been approved, the only reason the secretary of defence approved the meeting had to be thanks to the persuasion of the director of joint operations David Hopson and Fleet Admiral Trung Yin both of whom appealed in favour of Ensign Nero’s case of a meeting. As Hyde opened the door she first made eye contact with her chief of staff a man with dark brown hair which length came to his shoulders giving him a look similar to that of a hero of a legend which has been passed down through generation about a man with clear and cool artificial eyes whose talent while great was never truly recognized by many due to his personality, in fact the only thing making him not fit the description of that man completely were his eyes, while it is said that the man of legend had a stare similar to that of a dead person while Rear Admiral Kotobuki had some lively green eyes that looked as healthy as an asparagus,  he welcomed the Admiral and said that everyone was excited to be working under her command, he seemed like a composed, fair and talented man who spoke with an eloquent tone that had a small hint of deepness that would surely intimidate this younger guns on the fleet to behave properly, he then proceeded to introduce everyone on the room starting out with the Vice Commander John Starr who Hyde had already known for some time, the sigh of John’s familiar slightly darkened face like if he had a little bit of ash on it and his dark head of hair which was an extremely short length which made him look more like a “traditional” soldier than everyone else on the fleet helped Hyde feel slightly at ease knowing she will be working with someone she could trust. The Chief of Staff proceeded to introduce the last person a the table the Deputy Chief of Staff Commodore Vinne Massaro the man gave off a strange impression due to his dark beard covering most of his face along with yet another dark head of hair on the fleet which was slightly combed upwards. Hyde then began wondering if she attracted men with dark hair before sitting down.

     On the meeting Hyde would learn of the various achievements all 3 men had accomplished so far like how Commodore Massaro helped create a system on a POW camp, which allowed the people in it to live like regular people and even eventually obtain a citizenship for the legitimate confederation also how he helped fend off an enemy invasion on the frontier planet Musen on a ground combat battle what really sparked Hyde’s interest was that Massaro participated as part of the 4^thregimental squadron which is known as the most brutal squadron on the entire galaxy, their mere presence made the enemy tremble this was due to its refusal of using the specialized weapons which are like cubs although they can electrify the enemy that have been created opting instead to use tomahawks that shed an incredible amount of crimson liquid and with a greater range than anything new technology can make. The leader of this squadron was none other than Lieutenant Haylie Kagarmine whose birth name is still a mystery even to Skye. The chief of staff on the other hand hasn’t been involved that much on the art of murdering people by chopping their limbs off one by one but he had been involved in keeping people in line, he in fact was the person that pushed then Rear Admiral Naim Qaseem to put in action a risky plan which ended up working on the 7^thbattle of the corridor on the confederate year 173 this plan ended up nearly annihilating the Stalder fleet he also was the person in charge of calming down a prison riot on the year 171 which ended up with only 14 casualties thanks to his work. The meeting lasted for another half an hour as Hyde began to get along well with the personnel she also began to realize the reasoning behind her adjutant choosing such people, they could put people in order so that she could just worry about the actual tactics and strategies and then leave the troublemakers on the hands of her staff, she did have to ponder though if she was a terrible person for making the troublemakers have to be scolded by her chief of staff but she just shrugged off and finally excused herself from the meeting and left the room to find an Ensign waiting for her at the exit named Ivan Cherdyakov who asked for her autograph and she just reluctantly complied before leaving the HQ where her ward and her husband had been awaiting for her in their self driving car. She looked back for a moment through the glass at the Junior Ensign and smiled at him before leaving. She decided that Ensign shall be on her fleet.

    “By the look in your face it seems like you are pleased yet annoyed at the same time” reciprocated Admiral Odenwitz. “Well they all seem like excellent officers but they don’t seem any lovely at all, if you get what I am saying.” Said Hyde leaving her husband absolutely lost and just scratching his ruffled hair as he looked at their ward for guidance yet he said no word instead he just shook his head back and forth almost as if saying he was helpless, Karl couldn’t stop and think that the newer generations had lost respect for their elders however he also realized that young people gain their independence by abusing of their guardians. Their car ride continued with various conversations ending on the same way almost as if it was some sort of comedy shtick and it continued even after reaching their home. The next weeks passed by without anything happening it was just their simple life almost as if they were not all military personnel it was like if they just were any regular family that is if in such a family the child cooked most meals and had to force his mother to stop sleeping when it is already the middle of the day. That was their life as described by then Ensign Quay, Nero was a responsible young man, Karl was a slightly more responsible man but he had no talent whatsoever for any home skills and Hyde although gifted with a brilliant mind had no talent for cooking, cleaning or anything that a long time ago made a woman her friend Haylie would often joke that Hyde was in fact useless from the neck below often refuted by Karl who said she was useful from the torso below too. Nero would often not understand what Karl meant when he said that but now that he was older he could understand and as such Karl stopped saying it and just agreed that she was indeed useless from the neck below and even added that if it wasn’t for them being at war she would be poor and homeless while someone like Siegfried Stein could probably get by his looks alone. Historians when bored have often debated whether that was an insult to Sieg or a compliment to Hyde but no conclusion has been made and none will probably be ever given as even Nero later wrote he had no idea what it was meant to be. In the end however their peace and seldom was broken just at the start of May that is when an incident occurred at the building where the High Council was about to begin a meeting for voting about launching a military expedition into enemy territory.

 

 

II

   On May 2^nd, Year 178 there was to be a meeting between the high council to settle the matter of an expedition in name of democracy, liberty and freedom against the “evil” forces plaguing the galaxy and stealing the name of their benevolent confederation for their own greedy and corrupt ways however that meeting never came about as upon reaching the building the chairman of the high council found that the precious structure had been surrounded by a significantly worrying amount of people all with signs on their hands that read messages going against the interests of the chairman, as such he had to step off his car and demand that all people dispersed claiming that they were obstructing an important government building and that they had no right in blocking the entrance to the Supreme Chairman following this words a young man of 28 years of age going by the name of Ermenrichvon Ellwangen laid down his sign and stepped in front of the man ruling his nation thing that Chariman Dwight saw as if the man was challenging his authority which made the Chairman’s grey eyebrows rise like the tone of his voice as he continued to demand the protesters moved out of the way and allowed his passing, however von Ellwangen moved a bang from his hair which was the colour of wood of which his fortitude seemed to be made of bang that was obstructing his eye as he parted his slightly chapped lips due to air’s intensity and spoke “We will not move sir, you say we have no right to be obstructing this building and that we have no business here but you’re wrong for we have learned through various media outlets that this meeting will propose the idea of a large scale military expedition that will certainly see many of our people die. We do not desire war but I personally am not entirely against it even if this war is meaningless but what I personally cannot stand is that people like you have ended the democratic ideals of our founder Sire McGuiness who on his original ideals and views said that the people should have a say in all important political matters, for a while you complied with his views but for some reason that will probably never be explained you have shifted his views from that of more direct democracy into a more representative one not only that but one in which the representatives are corrupt and inefficient yet you claim that we must go to war for his ideals and beliefs of a free nation while you hide behind a desk-“ He was going to continue and speak but he was interrupted by the chairman who added that even if the ideals of sire McGuiness were those of a direct democracy in which the citizens had a say in the government they had always since the Confederation began chosen a representative making the nation be one that has always been a representative democracy and not a direct one that shifted due to corruption, the chairman seemed to had spoken with complete confidence but his words didn’t go through von Ellwangen who knew his words were lies since he himself never said that the nation had ever been a direct democracy instead he was trying to imply that used to be more direct, like how at the beginning of the confederation while the High Council was representative the true decision making usually relied on the people who would vote on whether a law should be passed, they also were allowed to revoke elective officials of the High Council although that never happened and the citizens usually were the one putting down initiatives such as the initiative to include classes on politics on schools from a young age so they could learn how to use the massive amount of freedoms they had at the time, he knew this yet he didn’t try and refute against the Supreme Chairman instead he opted to just nod his head and returning to block the entrance to the building. This incident would have gone by unnoticed in most cases but due to a coincidental moment of distress around the nation, that was not the case that moment would be the one that would be pinned down against the Confederation’s anti-war movement even if it was obvious to everyone that they had nothing to do with this that being a new attack on the fringe planet Musen.

 

 

     Planet Musen was one of the smallest planets on legitimate territory in terms of civilian population with only 350,000 people living in its only city this was due to the way this planet was used by the government, planet Musen was the richest planet when it came to natural resources on the Noriom arm it is estimated that about 37% of all war resources were taken from this small planet which is also the reason that for a long time the planet has been targeted by the Crux-Suctum Confederate forces in an attempt to make the war near impossible to fight for the legitimate government. Most of the invasion ended in failure thanks to the fact that Musen Military base has been guarded by some of the best the land troops the Confederation has had throughout its history including of course at the moment the 4^thregimental squadron led by Haylie Kagarmine whose real last name is still unknown to this day but for the first time in history this invasion had a slightly different variable when compared to the others. The squadron commander still hadn’t arrived on the planet after leaving the capital from Hyde’s promotion whether this was a mere coincidence or a perfectly manipulated plan by Fleet Admiral Siegfried Stein has been debated by historians by a long time, but what had no need to be debated was the amount of blood this invasion shed, and the invasion began at the 1563 hours at which time the protesters around the High Council building left which would have allowed the council to make their vote on an invasion but instead they had to focus on what happened on the battlefield. 

 

     The invasion itself had a rather ordinary beginning with the invading land troops making their base on a mountain distant from the only habitable city in the planet, actually this mountain had been used as a base before by the Revolutionary Galactic Confederation in the year 171, invasion in which thanks to the help of then Lieutenant Siegfried Stein the Revolutionary government was able to obtain valuable information about the planet’s climate, resource locations and military bases coordinates. The fact that at the current time of the year the planet which is essentially one giant tundra is at its peak of frigidness was no coincidence, this was a deliberate move by the invaded forces who seemed to be keen on using the cold to their advantage while completely disregarding the fact that the enemy might be prepared if such a thing occurred. 

 

      The goal of the Revolutionary force was to occupy the planet but not for its resources instead the occupation of the planet would help the military by having a bridgehead that leads directly into the “Legitimate” territory but for that they would need to completely defeat the regimental squadrons on the planet numbered around 120,000 soldiers however between those 50% of them belonged to the squadron led by Lieutenant Haylie usually without the commander the forced would be led by the vice-commander however Lieutenant Jr Grade Sung Cho had actually accompanied the commander on her trip. With no one to take command the cream of the crop in land battles would be like wild boars and while their destructive power would be inmense with no organization whatsoever their defense would surely crumble quickly for that reason the other regimental squadrons all told the Haylie squadron to protect the city and the people in it, but by doing this they had put themselves as a disadvantage now they only had around 46,000 men while the invading forces had 28,000 men on the planet with 24,000 more men seemingly close to reaching it not only that but due to the High Council being kept out of their official meeting building there could be no official say as to how the situation should be resolved this meant that the planet Musen would have two choice either surrender or fight bravely until the Lieutenant could arrive organizer her forces and storm into the battle like a thunder. For this they would fight a defensive battle meaning they will use a forest through which passage is mandatory in order to arrive towards the city to defend the planet by having each squadron fight on one sector this would leave the original plan the revolutionary forces had out in the cold as they had though of encircling the enemy to meekly shoot them away but on the other hand due to the squadrons dividing now every separate squadron was about 9,400 men therefore being at a disadvantage against the invaders, in order to defend the squadrons had set themselves up in a way as to the first squadron to enter into battle would act forward posts and strongpoints and delay the attack as much as possible following them the second squad would act as front lines once the first squad’s thin defence is penetrated behind them the third squadron would act as both a reserve and as artillery support groups attempting to take down enemies from a far the final squadron then would be acting as sort of a barrier line to prevent a breakthrough as much as possible. The battle was finally starting.

III

       The Revolutionary forces were scaling down the mountain they had taken as a base towards the dense forest, the only way for a human to reach the only city in the planet without going around into more dangerous areas of the freezing planet. As the soldiers began reaching the bottom they were quick to find a cover whether behind a tree or attempting to camouflage with the snow using their special cold resistant armour, which managed to blend in perfect with the environment. Seeing no enemy soldiers at a distant range the commander of the operation Commodore Packwood lifted the darkened visor of his headgear so he might see better before signalling some troops to stay behind and advancing forward of his units telling them to move as well with caution and with their eyes and ears on alert for anything out of the ordinary. Commodore Packwood was respected man in terms squadrons due to his willingness to always be in the front lines directing the battle at the moment even though if he were to be taken down it would be a more blood for the Revolutionary ground units.

Packwood signalled his troops to wait but one young man who had just joined the army mistook this for a signal for moving forward and as soon as he went past the trees right in front of the commander a long blue laser went through his skull tainting the pure snow with the kid’s blood. The commander looked down for a moment before grabbing his rifle, pointed a large tree branch hanging above the place he believed the laser to come from, he aimed carefully as his men looked at him when he pulled the trigger cutting the large branch enough for it to fall as a scream is heard of a man who certainly out of fear and shock became paralyzed before being deafened by the sound of a thump as the snow around the branch was transformed into a pond of rubies. In this simple manner the first two casualties for both sides had occurred, Commander Packwood then looked at his men and silently told them to go and take cover once he himself reaches a place of safety, and so he sprinted to another tree with the pace of gazelle even though his destination was extremely close in an immediate response his men went and took cover one block of trees forward of where they originally were, that was when in the midst of all silence a slight sound could be heard it was undeniably the sounds of footsteps going towards the tree in which the commander was hiding behind of, getting louder and louder before stopping.

     Even though he could not hear anything, the commander could feel the enemy soldier who he had been separated from thanks to Mother Nature whether it was simply the commander sensing the fear and patriotism of the enemy, awareness of his surroundings or if he was able to form some strange connection with the enemy due to their situation being the exact same in which whoever did the wrong move would perish even if the death of Packwood would mean the Legitimate Confederation would have secured a strategical victory has been debated by many with most historians arguing for awareness and most civilians arguing for the former but that is irrelevant what mattered most was the situation, in this cases most people would be in full alert with their eyes wide open ready to respond to whatever the enemy did but Packwood instead just grabbed his knife held it with his left hand and closes his eyes, he did this for approximately 4 minutes when a sudden rustling of the snow was heard he lifted his right arm with the knife’s sharp end pointing behind him as the enemy’s soldier face was finally seen by everyone only to meet a gruesome end as the knife was inserted into his left eye and consecutively moved into his right eye then into his forehead ending the life of who they thought was an unnamed soldier. The soldiers of the Legitimate Confederation saw this happen, the entire first line of defence whose only role was to delay the inevitable saw the man being stabbed on his vision and on the head such sights were not uncommon for them but this one had something that made the occasion special something that Commodore Packwood himself realized when looking at the corpse’s badge. The man was the commander of the squadron, the “battle” had only been going for around 25 minutes yet the first major death had already occurred. Commander Packwood having figured out who the man was ordered his troops to move forward as they did the Legitimate forces having lost their commander was not able to stay hidden and instead rushed out as well shooting with their laser rifles towards their enemy, it was a rather reckless act by both the Legitimate forces but also by Packwood had the reaction not been what he had expected then his troops would have just ran head first into enemy filled territory but in any case that was not in his mind anymore, the only thing he was thinking of was what would happen once they break through this line, he thought it to be too thin since as  they pushed back the enemy for half an hour the enemies became less.

      The ground troops just thought the military had given up showing a distinct lack of awareness of anything ahead of them however the commander thought that the enemy must instead be preparing some sort of ultimate tactic. In any case both were wrong although if one counted the fierceness of Haylie’s squadron a tactic then the commander was right in his thoughts. So just like that in a little over an hour and a half the Revolutionary forces lost the sight of their enemy, this was not because they had taken them all down or because they had given up on chasing instead it was part of a Legitimate tactic in which the line that had been broken through would regroup with the “main” forces and give information on the enemy as well as help out from a distance to the defence of the planet like a sort of reserve. As the battle was taking its start in the Fang system Liuetenant Haylie was informed of the situation while their crew was taking a small rest on the system’s supply base in which supplies from Musen were stored and sent to the rest of the territory, out of shock and perhaps a feeling of guilt at pursuing her own personal desires in a time of battle she threw the cup she had held in her hand into the floor shattering it into tiny bits. She seemed like she was about to scream but she sighed looked at her crew and ordered for everyone to drop whatever they were doing and helped her get to the planet as fast as possible which even with the fastest ship they had would take one full day although that was still the shortest route in the entire Confederation, she also ordered for nearly a quarter of the people in the station to come help her break the laws of the ship and attain a faster speed that what it is meant to have, she then hurried everyone to immediately get on the ship just drop everything they were doing, while going to the ship she asked her vice commander how long he believed the planet to hold on to what he replied that if the planet’s defences were smaller than the invaders then perhaps a day and a half would be more than enough for the Revolutionary forces to break through the lines maybe out of a lack of coordination, and so Haylie nodded and ran towards the fastest cruiser in the entire Legitimate forces the cruiser known as “Wolfgang” it was named in honour of a commander of legend renowned for his swiftness and quickness. Like that just 5 minutes after being informed of the situation she and her crew were already setting sail towards the planet all the while informing the rest of the Confederation on the situation.

     The High Council building, which was still being surrounded by the peaceful protesters, was at the time seen as an annoyance by the government and as slightly unnecessary by the civilians walking by it that was until Von Ellwangen saw a car getting closer to the building and then more and more came until he was able to see what the car’s had on their side it said “Military Police” unlike the regular police which was responsible of the internal affairs of the confederation such as robberies and murders, the military police was in charge of detaining criminals who were though to be collaborating with the Revolutionary forces. The military police however was extremely corrupt and was essentially completely controlled by the Supreme Chairman even when that does not fall under the Chairman’s jurisdiction instead it should fall under the chief of the police’s jurisdiction who at the time was nobody due to the former chief Lt. Commander Ralah Sanadiki being changed into the aide of Marshal Trung Yin, therefore Supreme Chairman Dewey Wright decided to make himself the one to protect external justice while living the internal affairs to each system’s police. As the first vehicle arrived out of it stepped the Supreme Chairman who was being escorted by two large uniformed men with rifles not too different from the ones being used on Musen at that moment. As more and more arrived the Chairman looked at the protestors and said “Under the name of the Military police, I am putting you all under arrest for treason and collaboration with the Revolutionary forces. Take them away.”  The protesters rightfully began complaining at this words claiming to be based on nothing, Von Ellwangen then silenced his people and walked towards the Chairman to ask how exactly they had collaborated with the Revolutionary forces by just using their right to protest. “Well had you not been here impeding the High Council’s entrance to this building we would have been informed of the moment Planet Musen was invaded immediately with the emergency lines on every planet that communicated directly with the High Council” to this Von Ellwangen pressed further asking just what proof they had. “We need no proof, if you are a traitor to the Confederation then you also lose all your citizen rights” Von Ellwangen then asked how can they strip them of their rights by calling them traitors when they had no reason whatsoever to call them traitors. The Supreme Chairman furious at his authority being questioned by the same man again ordered the soldiers to arrest him.

     Von Ellwangen then said “That’s fine, you may arrest me and put me in a labour camp if you desire but only, only if you promise to leave everyone who protested with me alone, if you do not wrongfully imprison them as well. For now that they will seek justice and will do everything for me to obtain my rightful liberation but even if I do regain my rights as a citizen. I and everyone in the confederation will lose hopes in the government for why do our rights matter if you can strip them without justification? Are we an autocratic dictatorship in which we have no rights to protest? In which whoever is in power may do as they please? Ar-“ His last line’s was however cut short by one of the soldiers’ gun hitting him on the head making Von Ellwangen unconscious then he took him away into one of the military vehicles before he was taken away right after that the Chairman made it clear that whoever decided to stay on the building would be put on trial as well originally some wanted to stay but one of them reminded everyone of Von Ellwangen’s words instead of staying and meeting him in a prison they should go and meet him again once he is free from his wrongful imprisonment like that Supreme Chairman was allowed in the building who then communicated the situation to everyone who hadn’t been informed, he also scheduled a new High Council meeting to take place immediately in which they will discuss what to do if Musen is taken over, once all that was done he contacted the Admiral Karl Odenwitz who in fact was the man who informed him about the fact Haylie was not on the planet at the moment. The Chairman then made it clear to Karl that if he ever was indirectly responsible for a situation like this one again he would personally demote him, Karl just agreed although he thought this to be “wrong” why should he be held responsible for this? Even if it was his wife who pulled the planet’s commander out of it using her connections with the Director of Joint Operation and the Supreme Fleet Commander there was no reason for him to be held accounted for the Secretary of Defence’s decision to allow it to happen, he began feeling a tad bitter towards the Chairman but that was nothing new for practically everyone in the military. In fact nearly every major military man had voted for the Chairman’s opposition in the most recent election, and so he hung up the phone and went towards his living room to inform the situation to his ward and to Hyde.

 

     Hyde seemed disappointed at the fact her friend did not have the capability of getting to Musen swiftly, she believed that her friend most likely was stopping to take rests at every planet and base she could for that is something she did even in military school, Haylie in the end hadn’t changed much in personality she just became more ruthless in the battlefield. Nero then asked if not having the commander would really be a huge blow, after all the squadron is meant to be the strongest and largest in both nations. They should easily be able to break through the enemy attacks to this Karl said that with no competent leader then the squadron would be practically useless, he then gave the example of how a fleet could have the most exceptional crew in the entire galaxy but if they had an incompetent commander or no commander at all it will not be an effective fleet since they would lose organization quickly and would fall into disarray then Nero said if it is similar to how Admiral Stalder died in battle due to his own mistakes and ended up bringing down almost his entire fleet with him even if they had otherwise been a fantastic crew. Karl nodded and then continued saying that they were lucky to have a commanders like him, Hyde and Haylie whom the soldiers would follow every command of, he then said that if any of them every went against the government orders they’d probably be praised for it due to how the soldiers think of them to this Hyde said “I disagree with that statement, if we have more pull and power than the government then that would be a problem since the military should never be in charge nor should it hold maximum power, in fact it should have as little power as possible. Specially in a democracy.” Nero nodded in agreement to this thought and so did Karl although he seemed to agree with a slight hesitation almost as if he had said that to see if Hyde would change her values for him but he realized that the fact she fought for her values and thoroughly believed in them made her truly special. Like that their conversations drifted away into nothingness and the small aura of tension that could barely be felt was gone, and it would not return until the future when the incident that shook the Revolutionary Forces and even the Legitimate Forces so much that no battle between the two happened for a while. Back on Musen things had quieted down for half an hour as Packwood led his forces carefully through the forest, wondering when they would encounter the main enemy forces. Then he got a communication through his radio from the now Vice-Commander of the operation.

     The Vice Commander was a young man fresh out of the Military Academy 17 year old Junior Ensign Yi Sun-Sin he had been made the Vice Commander on the spot after he presented a plan for encircling the enemy. They would first most of their main forces into the battle and take up the enemy’s attention then once the reinforcements arrived which would be in just a couple of hours they will use the wider parts of the forest until they arrived at the enemy location then they would go on and attack the enemy from behind while the main forces would make a half encircling tactic so that they can encircle the enemy, the tactic in itself was not that great but since everyone else was only saying charge in and kill them all with sheer force, Commander Packwood decided that this young fellow would be the best Vice-Commander for the operation. The communicate was short and concise only informing the Commander that their reinforcements had passed through the half way point of the corridor towards Musen and would probably arrive in a couple hours thanks to the new fast travel technology in smaller vessels developed by the Revolutionary Government.  Packwood copied the message and added that they would be looking for the enemy soon so that once the fresh soldiers come, they shall immediately put the plan to action.  Following that the Commander and his troops continued to steadily make their way through the dense forest, the more they went through it the colder and darker it got, however the soldiers had a bulky armour that gave heat to their body at the expense of losing some flexibility and agility.  After around an hour of cautiously wandering through the forest an opening of light through the trees could be seen it was a semi large plain filled to the brim with snow, with some elevations that made it possible to hide behind, Packwood could sense the danger of the situation, it was clear that the enemy was more than likely hoping to use that land as a battlefield but he also thought that among this frontlines the enemy must have put some soldiers around the edges of the forest to attempt and catch and soldiers desiring to pass without fighting, he also might have thought that it could be a problem for their plan but in the end he concluded that the lines only must go so far as the Revolutionary forces were probably not going to spread their defence lines so thin, he ordered his troops to not walk into the snowy field, instead they will shoot through the dense snows until they hit an enemy once they do, their allies will more than likely come for their ally’s revenge.

      Like so in the middle of the large trees blue lasers began to manifest themselves, first from one side and then from both sides of the field’s entrance back to the forest. The entire area was covered with the mortal rays which could kill a human in an instant, one side the one from the Legitimate forces was shooting with no semblance of order, firing at every place they could in an attempt to strike a mortal wound on the enemy while the Revolutionary forces was shooting at the various hills of snow and also concentrated their fire at places they saw any rays coming from, even though their ways were different they both had the same idea to strike the enemy and make them come out whether they would show themselves for pride or for being incompetent mattered not, as the small bumps of snow to shoot at became less and less Commander Packwood changed his rifle’s view from shooting at the rays coming from within the forest to a very small bump in the snow close to his men and shot at it, suddenly the snow around the bump just a little bigger than an ant colony began to taint the pure snow with the red of blood. That moment made Packwood realize that the Legitimate forces had used their special heat resistant armours to bury themselves slightly under the snow to get behind them come out and make the Revolutionary forces fight a two front battle then as they would get pushed back forces would come form the sides and completely encircle them until they were completely annihilated. Packwood for that reason ordered his men to shoot at the smaller bumps in the snows instead of the ones that could probably hide a person or two, like that in just around 5 minutes the small number of 40 Legitimate soldiers perished in the snow, Packwood was baffled at the small amount of soldiers that were sent since they probably would not had been able to successfully carry an encirclement with such little forces if they had gone through. As his thoughts were on this a barrage of light came their way piercing through of his men’s chest, he peeked slightly to the field hiding behind one of the most forward trees to see the image of various shadows coming from the forest getting closer and closer before hiding behind the trees that were one step before the white fields, then some of the men behind the trees began to rush out to this Packwood’s men asked to rush as well but he denied them and said they should shoot them from the trees while most agreed to this some of his men rushed out anyways and they were met by what seemed like long range shots right to the head.

      This shots had come from general reserve artillery group who at that moment were being commanded by Lieutenant Jimbo who was the current commander of the operation, he originally had been in the front lines like Packwood but moved to the reserve group who he then pushed back further, gave long range weapons and gave the duty of shooting down any enemies that attempted to leave their hiding place in the forest, having given those instructions he went to the reserves and asked them to go forward, his original plan was to prevent a breakthrough into the city for as long as possible using 4 layers of defence first the thin line which was broken in a short amount time then the frontlines, then the barrier line and finally the reserves. In fact all the tactics he had employed up to now where with that in mind which is why he sent only around 40 soldiers to the plan to encircle the enemy but seeing the quickness at which the enemy commander was figuring out his plans, he had to change his strategy. At the moment they had to hold out for at minimum 20 hours and at the current rate they would more than likely only last a couple hours. So his new plan was simple, he would overload the enemy with a lot long range attacks, no way of escaping to the sides and no way of getting into the snow field. Their only chance of escaping would be to go back to their base, which would give Hyde a chance to return at her base. His plan therefore would make it so that they could withstand the battle by using the long range to their advantage, having given all his orders the Lieutenant returned to the front lines which at the moment were on a stalemate and with the now vastly superior firepower thanks to not being dispersed he ordered his troops to fire at the opposition, the light from the Legitimate forces was blinding to the Revolutionary forces who attempted to fight back but in the end could not direct their shots well causing some to accidentally shoot allies, or nearly cause fire in the forest. 2 hours, this new tactic of overloading the enemy with vastly superior firepower managed to make the battle go on for two hours with nearly no casualties. Only around 88 people in total had died in this part of the battle, his ultra attacking strategy was paying off but with the night beginning to set in the Planet Musen the temperature began to drop this was not really a problem for the soldiers thanks to the armoured suits they were wearing, but while the Revolutionary forces had suits with an organic rechargeable energy source, the Legitimate forces used an artificial energy source that made it so they had to leave their suit in a charging station at Musenpolis. This meant that once their battery drained they would lose their current advantage, the soldiers encouraged the commander to send some of them t recharge while others stayed but seeing how the battle had gone before he decided they should stay and continue at the current pace, eventually the enemy would surely run out of energy packs for their forces at which time the Commander of the planet would arrive and bring out her squadron to beat the enemy with their melee expertise. As such for a long part of the night, the battle continued in this way, light, which made it seem like it, was daytime piercing through the field and at times through people but for the most part a time wasting tactic by Lieutenant Jimbo.

 

   As this battle of attrition ran its course, in the HQ of the invading forces, the ships full of reinforcements began raining down dropping thousands of soldiers all of whom had to immediately report with a kid, a kid of thin complexion with slightly tanned skin, a thin point face and an unruly black head of hair. This made some of the veteran soldiers feel like Director of Joint Military Operations and Supreme Fleet Commander were taking the invasion lightly. This feelings almost made some of them commit a mutiny, however this thoughts died down faster than a sinking ship as the Junior Ensign Yi-Sun Sin told them of the current plan, they would go down and use the wider parts of the forest to exploit the thin defences at the sides of the enemy, so that they can eventually overlap the enemy and encircle them from behind which will allow Commander Packwood to mobilize his troops in a way which would encircle them from the front leaving the enemy isolated in between enemy fire. This plan was meant to begin in at the 0600 hours of the day that was until Yi was informed that a vessel was on its way to Musen. It had been not even 20 hours since they departed but due to Haylie’s persistence and fuel “management” the Wolfgang finally showed its true potential by obtaining a speed that at the time was completely unimaginable in fact it was even called impossible by some scientists, the work done by Haylie and her crew went down in history as the fastest crusade between the star system and Musen.

        

IV

 

      In a hurry Ensign Yi rallied up all of his soldiers and alongside them they began to quickly climb down the steep, dangerous and chilling mountain whose top they had made their base, due to the rapid way of their way some troops lost their grip and fell down to their death, the first man to touch the ground was Yi who shouted orders at everyone who followed suit, some went to the right to commit the overlap and others to the left, they were using up the widest parts of the forest to escape detection from the troops guarding the sides at the main battle although it could be argued that using such wide and mostly unexplored territory since at that time the guarding troops had joined in on the Legitimate strategy by attempting to half encircle the Revolutionary forces and drive them off the planet, once all the troops had began sprinting the Vice Commander made his way to the battle so that once everyone is ready he can do the signal that had been prepared and begin the tactic he had proposed. On his way to the Commander the young man saw various atrocities from blood that had frozen to the bodies of his fellow compatriots, but as a soldier he could not stop and pay respects since he had to arrive with his superior and not mourn the loss of precious human life. As he sprinted something began to cross his mind, he had forgotten something. He had forgotten his armoured suit that is not to say that he had running on his military uniform alone but that the suit he was wearing was one of inferior technology for the circumstances of the fight. His teeth began trembling perhaps not at the freezing cold but at the realization of what he had done however he could not turn back for his cold resistant suit, therefore he decided to just keep going through the silver forest until the glimmers of light could be seen, until his lies could see the glint of a thousand lasers. The shiner the light became, the more the pile of fallen comrades grew. Eventually there came a time when his sight was blinded by a light coming straight for him until it was blocked by a soldier’s body. Yi entered a small shock after seeing this nameless soldier sacrificed himself for him but a tap by the Commander of the Operation on his shoulder snapped him out of it “Vice Commander the enemy’s front is starting to push forward and the sides are beginning what seems a half encirclement. I think it is time to see if your plan will actually hold up in practise.”

      Following those words Junior Ensign Yi Sun-Sin nodded and as he an Packwood made their way back into the frontline of the battle he called the troops he had dispersed with an electronic communication. Meanwhile the Legitimate government Lieutenant who was essentially at the time the commander of Musen was pushing his men forward, he was attacking the Revolutionary forces from the front and the sides causing heavy damage although he himself lost many men. Eventually due to the pressure being put on them a substantial amount of revolutionaries stepped out of their hiding spots seeing this the Lieutenant ordered his troops to show themselves to the enemy as well and as the legitimate forces appeared attacking the revolutionaries from the front, the soldiers at the sides also started to show themselves, the dead bodies began to pile up on the snow so much that they could make a small mountain once they were completely covered in snow. The rays continued to appear and they kept going through the human flesh, making the thin layers of protection the skin gives, making every bone in the human body practically useless for once the armoured suits are penetrated there was essentially no chance you could make it out of the battle alive and due to the thinner armour being used by the Revolutioary forces it made it so that for around every legitimate solder taking down at that time 3 revolutionaries were taken down, it was clear to the Lietuenant who he himself was now on the frontlines firing at the enemy that his half encirclement was completed. The enemy had lost its cool and jumped straight into his entrapment, into his assured promotion for a distinguished service. Nearly every soldier protecting Musen felt accomplished with every man they took down even though they were people who not too long were part of their same nation, perhaps one could argue were still of their same nation they felt a sense of accomplishment and relief, for they were sure that now they would all be remembered as the heroes who stopped an invasion, that this half encirclement would be remembered by the generations to come, this sense of happiness, joy and the feeling of a great burden being taken off their shoulder lasted for a mere 5 minutes, for at around that mark of the half encirclement the Lieutenant who had so carefully planned this finally earned his promotion when he was shot down by an attack from behind. Some Legitimate soldiers and saw this and became confused making their attacks sloppy other simply did not notice.

     They all did however notice that the Revolutionary forces were dropping back of their men and in almost an instant their half encirclement was broken when an assault came from behind them, piercing through their flesh in the same horrifying way that they pierced their enemy’s flesh, had this stayed the way it was perhaps the Legitimate forces would have eventually turned the table even if they had no leader, they could perhaps found a way to come up with an strategy for survival against a two front battle but eventually, a barrage came from their sides as well. The soldiers now had no way to escape. Their entire vision was filled with fire both ally and enemy, some were given the mercy of instant death due to a mortal shot while others due to not recharging their suits had to battle while freezing. The plan that the Junior Ensign had come up with was actually working outside of theory although one could attribute this to the fact that the enemy was in a disarray with no one to take charge and were just fighting out of survival and while sometimes the desperate fight for survival can bring some ingenuity from people, that was not shown here instead what was shown was the slow decadence of the Legitimate forces who little by little were losing forces, who tried everything to stay alive but in the end the flurry was of too high an intensity for them to break through. The encirclement had broken the solider both physically and mentally, they had lost almost all their morale, it seemed like there was no hope of beating the enemy now that it was slowly but surely eating a way at the rotten corpse of the Musen garrison, as it was slowly peeling off the only layer of protection that the planet had, as it was getting ready to capture the planet, take the resources of the planet and probably go on to win the war. All was seemingly lost for the Legitimate forces who had now been subjugated to this assault for just 15 minutes yet already were on the brink of collapse until from the right side of the encirclement a sudden explosion came, engulfing that part of the forest on fire, the soldiers on that side were nearly all burnt to a crisp, the revolutionaries were shocked and dumbfounded at what had happened but were commanded by Packwood to keep firing until eventually from the left side another explosion game engulfing the forest on the flames of war. Then from out of the shadows came the fiercest, most brutal barrage of lasers that either side had ever seen as from the same part that the encirclement began, out came what must have been a large squadron.

    Packwood then saw it, the armoured suit who all the men on the revolutionary forces, the suit of the leader of the most brutal squadron in the whole galaxy. Haylie had arrived just five minutes beforehand already changed to her battle suit and in just 2 minutes got her forces rallied, gave them a simple tactic to strike some fear at the enemy and was now at the frontlines striking fear to her enemy with all of her squadron wielding rifles and a tomahawk, while also giving her men one final hope at survival. She reached for her back and pulled out her tomahawk, the axe/tomahawk that had killed many men of the Revolutionary forces and carelessly charged forward prompting her men to do the same and prompting the soldiers who had previously been encircled to fight as well against the enemy, Like so Haylie made her into the battle by cutting off her enemy’s circulation with her axe alongside her entire squadron. The true reason her squadron was strong was not just because they used axes or because they were all brawn, one could actually say that Haylie was highly intelligent in not using her rifles nor pistol that much due to the technological advances the melee way of fighting was given the backseat for the most part so whenever Haylie and her squadron entered the field being experts in close ranged fighting they made it hard for the enemy to fight back and on this battle this strength showed itself in a grander scale than before, as they made the pureness around them become unclean in just a few minutes. Swinging, mercilessly cutting off heads, tearing off the limbs of the supposed traitors and just living up to their name as the most feared squadron in the galaxy, however as they were dominating their battle the forces under Packwood’s direct control who were fighting using their rifles had the upper hand against the Musen forces. While commanding he kept an eye on  Haylie and couldn’t stop himself from respecting her in a way for being such a fearsome opponent. Eventually it became clear to him that as long as she was there that her squadron would fight on, he then had an idea which he conveyed to nobody instead he just send a message to one of his men fighting off Haylie’s squadron to return after retrieving a tomahawk from one of the beaten enemies. While awaiting for it he went over to the Junior Ensign and told him to retreat if things did not turn out how he hoped them from, he the told his troops to begin backing down and once he got the tomahawk he sprinted towards the enemy and made his way through the block his forces were holding off until he could see the enemy commander in sight and called for her, asking for a one on one bout. The commander of Musen at hearing this slid open the throat of the soldier she was fending off before making her to Packwood. She asked if he really wanted a one on one fight against her to what Packwood answered that to him it would be an honour to be the first and only man to wound the devil itself, it is said that Haylie cracked a slight laugh at this remark but that cannot be completely confirmed not denied, however what cannot be denied is that once Packwood had said that the Musen commander said absolutely nothing, she just did a gesture to her soldiers as to say do not interfere, something that Packwood did as well, seeing this left Yi speechless he wanted to go and stop the Commander from fighting but he had another responsibility to ensure that the soldiers get home which is why he started ordering troops to begin retreating back towards the operations headquarters.

 

     The battle itself had started to die down, but the tension in the air was higher than ever before. Standing face to face in the frigid weather were two important members of the land forces in both warring nation and it was nearly certain that one would not walk away by the end, they both grasped their battle-axe with both hands and took a flexible position for whatever they decided to do either throw the first strike or attempt to defend themselves from a one hit loss. It however did not take long before Haylie clutched her axe harder and launched her axe forward in an attempt to stab Packwood with the sharp end of the axe, Packwood reacted quickly and dodged the stabbing attempt although the quickness of Haylie was enough for him to not avoid being damaged completely as he heard the slight rasp of his suit ripping slightly. When he had enough balance after the dodge, he swung his own axe in an attempt to break through Haylie’s helmet, the Musen commander used her axe to defend herself by blocking the incoming attack and starting a small struggle with the enemy, seeing Packwood was obtaining the advantage in the struggle the commander of Musen used the end of her axe to push back Packwood for a moment so that she could regain her balance and get a better hold on her weapon. The fight had just started yet both were breathing like if there was no tomorrow, they were exhausted not physically but mentally, neither of them could afford to go down. Packwood who had been just driven off by Haylie swung his axe seemingly defying all laws of inertia as it came with even more power and speed than his last swing, Haylie ducked but the carbon blade managed to damage her helmet, she attempted to swing at Packwood’s legs but he managed to avoid it by jumping in a way that Haylie believed was reserved for fiction, the motion of swinging her axe with all her might caused her to actually drop her battle-axe and fall on the snow. Packwood seeing his golden opportunity was preparing to strike but Haylie quickly took out her gun and pulled the trigger making a glimmering saber of light appeared that would have surely; pierced through Packwood’s helmet had he not blocked it with his tomahawk causing it to split due to its force. Now both soldiers barehanded looked into each other and both pulled out their long combat knives. Haylie rose up and glinted her knife in a vertical arc. The blades clashed and burned their wielder’s eyes with sparks as they stabbed, slashed and knocked each other down and stopped each other’s blows in an equal dance not too dissimilar from that of a grand legend. They tried with all their might to bury their blade in each other’s flesh, the impeccable balance of their offense and defence was not so easily broken. Until Packwood caught a slight glimpse of his men, who were still fighting and showed no sign he retreat, he called out to them and ordered them to retreat in that split second in which he tried to save his men, his neck filled with the cold, sharp knife in Haylie’s hand stabbing which she immediately took out to stab at his liver piercing through the worn out armoured suit which had already gone through fierce combat. As he began to bleed he finally saw his men running away in retreat, even if it was disorderly he did not care as he only desired for them to live to fight another day. Most retreated although the few that stayed behind were all captured and sent to a POW camp. Haylie took out her knife once again and Packwood fell to his knees before . collapsing to the snow, half an hour later the Revolutionary forces retreated back to their territory and the third invasion of planet Musen came to an end, tactically the victory for the Legitimate government but strategically the winners were the Revolutionaries even if they did not fullfill their goals with 22,000 soldiers returning home and one commander lost while of the Musen forces 18,000 soldiers remained and they lost every regimental commander except for Haylie and her squadron’s main staff. In the end however what mattered was that the Musen forces had defected the invasion even if just narrowly

Author's Note

Any feedback is appreciated so that I can make the story better.