Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Our Job

December 15th, 625

The “Ma Deuce” in front of me shook with every round, heavy bullets traveling at nearly 3000 feet per second to shred the monsters trying to claw down our vehicle. It only took short bursts in order to incapacitate or kill anything that came into my field of view.

Unlike with my other weapons thus far, when I empowered the belts of ammo going through the weapon, they didn’t simply gain speed. Instead, I noticed singular rounds punching far harder than they otherwise would. Perhaps the toughness of the bullet itself was enhanced, allowing them to pierce and pulverize bioarmor and flesh despite the poisonous magic behind them.

I held the trigger down when a group of 7 monsters all came running, sweeping over them and handing them 4 bullets each. One by one they either had entire limbs blown off or had their torsos caved in.

Little could prepare those within the Steed for the sheer visceral impact that each squeeze of the trigger brought. .50 BMG was not for the weak. Even my ears, as enhanced as they were, were ringing after just a few minutes, let alone the 10 that we had been fighting.

After I let off the trigger I heard yelling.

“-uck, John! Could you get any fucking louder?! You’ll pull the entire western front here!”

Nonnen massaged his ears, making me chuckle, my eyes still glued to our rear.

“Get used to it, old man! The future is now!”

“I’m gonna lose my hearing now if you don’t pipe down!”

“Hearing loss is a small price to pay for awesomeness! Contact!”

“Fuck!”

I heard his curse before drowning it out with pounding explosions. I knew it didn’t help that the barrel wasn’t entirely out of the Steed, the shockwaves bouncing off the walls a bit, but I had little choice. It wasn’t like I could properly mount this gun anywhere. I was barely getting by with the tripod like I was, the metal legs sprawled awkwardly across the passenger hold.

I fired off what little rounds remained before calling out.

“RELOADING!”

I threw the cover open, kicked off the empty ammo box, and summoned a new can. I went through the motions smoothly, getting the cover closed on a new belt in 1.82 seconds, the handle racked twice 0.4 seconds later.

The trigger depressed and the Browning rattled as the Steed continued to roll. The blizzard seemed to start slowing, the snow that touched the machine gun melting and releasing some steam.

Just as Harsha was able to speed up, so too did the monsters in pursuit. What little sun remained faded from the snow around us after another 10 minutes of retreat, my eyes resolving fewer enemies in the light but even more in the magic, my fire rate climbing as I sought to eliminate more targets.

My Psyka drained quickly despite my attempts to moderate. .50 BMG could suck down Psyka, that much was apparent. If I held back though, I wouldn’t be doing much damage to the incoming monsters. Bruises wouldn’t do any good. Each round that didn’t maim or kill was a waste that may as well have not been fired.

Several more minutes passed before my aerial chimed. It was Jasmine.

“Come in, Envoy.”

“I’m here.”

“I can’t get you air support. All aircraft are returning to immediate airspace. Not to mention the weather is too harsh for them, the Sovereign just gave the order to consolidate .”

“The fuck? Is there a Sovereign Class on the way?”

“I don’t know. Mother Bird just left for a meeting with all the Generals and Sovereign. I’ll let you know when they come out but the chances are high that everyone is getting ready for a siege. We’ve already recalled six of our farthest forward bases.”

“...Fuck!”

I felt my jaw clench as I swept another two dozen enemies. I could feel the Royals going around our flank, speeding past our Steed like we were standing still and going for the ones ahead of us.

Nonnen looked like he would jump out any second now. Those Brigadier Class Royals were getting close.

“What about our reinforcements?”

“I’m sorry. 2nd Battalion isn’t responding and 3rd Battalion is already on their way back. They’re over 60 miles away from the crags you told me to send them to.”

“We were their fucking supply post. Why did they leave for the base?”

“They said they encountered the enemy and took some casualties. The Brigadier heading them made the call.”

I felt a surge of rage that threatened to boil over, but I stamped it down and vented through the barrel of my Browning.

After some seconds I let out a long breath.

“We are outnumbered over 50 to 1. If everyone retreats without us, then we’ll be stranded in the middle of enemy territory. Is there anything you can do to help us?”

There was silence over the line for several seconds.

“...I’m sorry, John. There’s nothing. Until the blizzard clears I can’t get planes or helicopters out, and there aren’t any forward bases nearby…”

I could hear her get emotional, but with the dire news, I felt nothing other than calm wash over me.

We were alone.

I clicked my Aerial.

“Alright. We’ll figure it out.”

I ended communications with those words, looking back toward Nonnen.

His eyes met mine.

“We’re not getting any help. Our only reinforcements have abandoned us.”

“...Shit.”

He closed his eyes. To the side Umara dipped down and looked at me.

“We’re outnumbered 50 to 1 and they have nothing to give us but their condolences?”

“Pretty much.”

“We’ll be surrounded before long. We’ll have to cut dead weight.”

“Yeah.”

“Then after that we’ll be outnumbered 200 to 1.”

“Yup,” I gave her a small smile, “is that enough of a challenge for you special operators?”

She grinned, “It’ll certainly look good on our growing list of accolades.”

“You guys are crazy.” Nonnen shook his head, staring out of the back hatch with a grim look.

I smacked his leg from where I sat behind the Browning, “Hey, prioritize survival. We can evade this force entirely, and you’re more important than that entire Battalion. Don’t do anything fucking heroic.”

“And leave over 300 people to die?”

“Those 300 people mean nothing before the power you possess,” I suddenly stood and walked up to him, staring right into his eyes, “I loathe throwing away lives just so higher Authorities don’t have to go out and fight, but you’re actually doing something with your power. We will fight as long as we can but make no mistake, it’s our job to come out of this, not die with dead weight. I don’t care what you need to tell yourself as long as you do your job and live to continue doing it later. That’s how we get the most value out of ourselves.”

“...You’re talking like an intelligence agent again.”

“It’s a numbers game, Nonnen,” I looked back out at the incoming hordes, “We’re the outliers worth far more than our Authority, and you’re an unacceptable loss. Accept that, and let me handle the rest of the troops. Don’t make me worry about you.”

I sat back down behind the Browning, my thumbs hovering over the trigger.

“Get ready to fight.”

……

Jasmine stared at the Aerial in front of her, her hands trembling for a moment as she glanced at the map next to her.

She could see the bird icon on her map representing the Snow doves and the battalion they were escorting. The recent addition of a massive cluster of red arrows was added on top of them, threatening to drown them.

There wasn’t anything for dozens of miles. Nothing could help them, not in any meaningful time frame. They were already getting attacked, and the blizzard was keeping the Steeds from moving fast. They’d be surrounded before she could even get a helicopter over their heads, and by that time they’d either be wiped out or halfway to it.

She quickly wiped one of the tears that escaped before it could wet her cheek, taking some deep breaths.

She didn’t have anything to worry about, she reminded herself. If she knew John, then he’d cut off the weaklings and escape with those who mattered. He wouldn’t allow himself or the Snow Doves to be slaughtered.

It was why she always had confidence in them. Other platoons, other battalions, other armies might be destroyed and slaughtered weekly, but not them. They were the ones who always came back. They had lived too long, fought too long, had surpassed too many tribulations to die like this.

But they still needed support. They needed to get back home. Something was happening and Jasmine would be a fool not to see it in advance. She wouldn’t let them fend for themselves after barely escaping with their lives.

But she couldn’t do anything until Polly left that room. They had been in there for 20 minutes, which meant decisions were being made about the war as a whole. The fact that she wasn’t allowed to sit in on it meant that they were running numbers and calculations that would decide the fate of over 200 thousand soldiers.

A fate that likely spelled death for the majority.

She glanced at the battalion that had decided to return to the Treehouse instead of returning to the supply post. They hadn’t done it out of malice. The Brigadier simply believed that they would be healed and refit faster than at the supply post.

The issue was that he had abandoned his post entirely. If he hadn’t, the Snow Doves wouldn’t be outnumbered at the highest Authority on top of every other damnable disadvantage. They would have a far higher chance of coming out with the majority of their combat power intact.

Instead, there was an unacceptably high chance that they wouldn’t be making it out at all. John could be ruthless but Nonnen wouldn’t abandon everyone simply because they could predict the outcome. That meant it would be him pitted against two Brigadier-class Royals, placing him in extreme danger.

She decided that this 3rd Battalion would be the first to face whatever abomination the Sovereign had called everyone into a meeting to discuss. They had already committed an offense worthy of being stripped of rank. Of course, nobody would actually strip a Brigadier’s rank over something like that, but they had also never been placed in this situation before, let alone one where such a decision actually resulted in the worst possible outcome instead of merely being symbolically wrong.

If they came out alive, she’d let them bitch and complain to her about what it was like to be dreadfully outnumbered all they wanted.

There was a sudden sound at the door. She looked up and saw Polly walking into the office.

Jasmine carefully asked, “How was it?”

Poly sighed, sat down at her desk, and wiped her face, remaining silent for several seconds.

Then she lifted her head and zoned in. It looked like the next few weeks were going to be rough.

“The Sovereign has confirmed that the enemy Sovereign Class is making its advance. Apparently the blizzard is its doing. It’s covering the advance of its armies. It’s working because we can’t see anything and the magic within the snow is scrambling our sensors. We’re lucky that communications are still able to get through. Still, we can assume that over a million monsters are about the lay siege to this place, based on our Sovereign’s words.”

“...I understand. I have a report regarding the Snow Doves.”

“Something happen?”

Jasmine nodded, “They encountered a high average force of over 20 thousand and are retreating from the supply post. 3rd Battalion abandoned the post earlier so the Snow Doves are outnumbered by about 50 to 1, with the enemy having one Brigadier Class more.”

Polly frowned and looked at the map, seeing the obviously dire situation. She sighed again, massaged her temples, and glanced at the map one more time before giving the order.

“We’ve brought back most of our aircraft so get three helicopters in the air over their position. Tell the doves to head east and escape the range of the blizzard, because it’ll be diverted toward the Treehouse and it’s only encompassing a certain range. Most of them won’t survive so give the Snow Doves a place to escape to. Make sure the helicopters are there to meet and extract them.”

“Copy. I’ll send the orders now.”

“Hang on.”

Polly called before Jasmine could run off.

Her face grew even more serious than it had been.

“Jasmine, that Sovereign is coming with an army that’s going to overwhelm the Treehouse. None of us are under the illusion that we can hold our ground. We’ll damn well try but the generals are already taking measures to ensure their escape to Stronghold Charlie. We'll see how many work but if you and I want a chance, we’re going to need the Snow Doves with us. I’m willing to bet that the Scourge will march on Stronghold Charlie as well.”

Jasmine stared silently, realizing what they had been talking about in that room. They were already prepared to lose everything. They would throw every soldier in the Treehouse at those monsters in an attempt to slow their advance, all while the Generals, Marshals, and likely the Sovereign retreated.

Those who didn’t have the connections nor the rank to be in the know wouldn’t have a clue as to what was happening until that Authority 12 was already at the walls. By then it would be too late to retreat with hope of escape, and the blizzard meant that even intelligence agents were unable to get an idea of what was coming.

Jasmine wasn’t sure how to feel about being one of the few who knew. It felt wrong, somehow.

Polly continued, “I need you to go grab supplies for two months, put it in this storage ring. And keep those helicopter pilots attached to the Snow Doves. Don’t let them receive other orders. We’ll need them if we want to get out of here alive.”

“Copy.”

“I’ll have more for you later. Do what you need to do for now,” Polly looked into Jasmine’s eyes, “Remember, this is when all of our investments pay off. Let’s get out of this alive. We can make it up later by leading other troops to victory.”

“...Is it right?”

Jasmine muttered, feeling her emotions swell once more, “Is it right to use all these people as sacrifices for our survival? Shouldn’t we be dying with them? We’ve already killed so many…”

“It is our job, Colonel Jasmine,” Polly glared, “To lead troops from a position of dedicated intellect and strategy. We do no good with a blade and are less than valuable dead. We do not kill people. We guide armies to battle and help them gain victory with the advantages our intellect affords them. You will continue to do your job as I’ve instructed and you will let me worry about the decisions that must be made, as I’ve sworn to do. Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Jasmine saluted with a tear in her eye. Polly looked down at the Orb on her desk.

“Go and get our Doves back to base. They are your sole focus alongside the extraneous tasks I’ve given you. With any luck, they won’t be among those we’ll have to mourn after the events beginning this day.”