VR WARS Volume II - Coalition Army

LOOMING THREAT

Droplets of water plummeted the dry earth, evaporating as quickly as they had touched the shallow ground forsaken from heaven’s watery blessings. The battle-hardened lieutenant could do little to shake away the shivers from the recognition given to her as her back trembled ever so slightly, and her left arm did its best to conceal her watery eyes from her subordinates. For the surviving members of the exhausted and beaten 1st Company, the kind words conveyed by their Commander to most made it look like all their hard work had been worth it. Angelo’s way of inspiring them, going so far as to transmit his appreciation for their actions, personally invigorated their beliefs in him even further. Contrary to what they were subjected to not long ago when Valadão and the members of generation Prodigy ruled over them, their new leader gave them not only self-respect but something to look forward to. Each battle won, and each accomplishment achieved, whether by brave individuals or entire squads working in tandem, no longer were forgotten or, in the worst cases, looked upon as an action to take away the spotlight from the Elites. Instead, they were congratulated, exalted, and rewarded. Angelo had established in all of them a vision, a collective dream that their futures could be preserved and not forfeited. He even went so far as to give them proof to back it up; all of his heroic actions served to embellish his right to crusade in his own way, consequences be dammed.

Once subjected to harsh treatment, unfairness, and mockery, the UAT of today was a place where they could feel safe, knowing that their best interests were safeguarded by a person who genuinely cared for them. Or so he wants us to believe. Mara’s apprehension made her all the more skeptical towards Angelo’s true nature.

“Doc, how many of those injured can resume combat operations?”

“…”

“Oi, Mara…” someone behind her quickly elbowed her slightly in the gut to wake her up from the trance of thought she was locked in. “…He’s talking to you.”

“Wha–Oh, hum…one second,” Mara answered awkwardly, making Angelo frown an eyebrow at her. But as she opened her menu window, the information coming from her mouth in an orderly fashion soon put to shame her previous answer. “Fourteen should be walking about in thirty minutes; eleven are still in the yellow zone, with HP’s lower than 40% and will need to rest another hour for their injuries to heal.”

“…And the rest?”

“They are going to have to fight as they are,” Mara communicated the message, looking guilty at the man she had taken a leg to her side.

The ‘Angel of Death’ walked past Lieutenant Cristina to where Mara and the wounded student she had taken care of were, examining the man himself. “So for now, the 1st Company is at 50% combat effectiveness…that’s not enough. Cris, I’m putting you on the reserves.”

“B-but…sir!”

“Marco and his Tigers are two hundred meters deep to your left, and the rest of Big Richie’s Battalion should be here soon, so wait until they move past you and join the rear to get your strength back. There’s plenty of fighting ahead of us, so don’t stress about it.”

Those last words might’ve come up as a motivation factor for the battered students of the 1st, who viewed it as a chance for them to prove themselves once more on the battlefield and kill the Iberian students they hated so much. Mara’s interpretation, nevertheless, was entirely different…none of us are going to get out of here alive, again. It was the last thing to cross her mind as the shrinking silhouette of Angelo slowly faded from sight.

With the forward elements of their battalion arriving shortly after Angelo’s departure, Mara and her companions in the 1st Company could rejoice momentarily, for they now had, at the very least, a window of respite.

Battleground: Right

UC sector of operations,

49km to Kursk

Having obliterated the enemy in front of them and pushed 29km deeper inside the IF’s defensive perimeter, the advance led by Commander-in-Chief Rui on the right flank could be considered the swiftest of them all. That was the reality the UC faced during the first hour of the engagement. However, the situation had changed dramatically when the UAT overshadowed their advance, throwing everyone into disarray.

Periodically transmitting the situation as a whole on the entire battlefield, sharing their concerns, and thinking up new ways to tackle the incoming obstacles, Rui managed to envelop all of the Iberian forces facing Coimbra, effectively destroying them within an hour. A thousand Iberian students had succumbed within minutes at the cost of only a few dozen casualties to Rui’s forces—a resounding victory. One that served only to strengthen the Prodigy led UC to their almost divine right to be at the head of the country.

As the wind picked up, spreading smoke and the ashes of the IF’s demise far and wide, the armored thrust of the UC kicked up into a new gear to make up for the lost time, trying to match the dauntless UAT in the center. According to Pedro’s report, the combined Mirabilis and Terras Unit were facing stiff opposition at hill 253.5, and the advance on the left had practically come to a halt, which poised the concern that they wanted to avoid all along…

If the right flank becomes stuck as well while the UAT keeps its momentum, they will become the target of the same envelopment tactic we’ve used here. When that happens, the IF will be able to defeat each of our units in detail…all because of him! “That f*****g mongrel!!!” His shouts threatened to deafen his closest subordinates, except for Mariam. She could only hear the incoming transmissions through her intercom and had little to no time to comfort her partner’s insecurities. “Shush, Rui! Give it a break already; you’re making this harder than it is…Roger, Unit 12, proceed to grid 0-4, once you’ve reached the river hold for Units 14 and 17.”

“Pff…I don’t care what you say, I should be in the center! Not him, not that vagabond! He’s botching the entire plan!”

“…S-sir, you need to calm down. Getting too worked up might make the PXF log you out for safety reasons.”

When thinking about the Azorean man who threatened him, defeated him in a public duel, and crushed his forces in a series of mock battles that were part of their training regime, Rui’s heart skyrocketed to over 90 BPM, well above the safety limit of the PXF. Not once or twice, but countless times the PXF had sent multiple warnings of increased heart rate, one time, even forcibly logging him out to decrease his stress. In the middle of a battle, the rules were different; much like falling asleep while using the PXF, whoever found themselves forced or unintentionally logged out of the VR world could no longer rejoin the match for security reasons. If people could log in and out, they could check their opponents' positioning and transmit the information to others once back into the game. To oppose this, the PXF would isolate itself from the Bermuda System Server to ensure its owner would remain locked out for the duration of the battle.

And that was a risk the UC students were not willing to take, hence why they tried their hardest to make sure their Commander would not unwillingly forfeit the battle due to his loathing of Angelo, “Sir, watch your BPM! We can’t afford to lose you right now!”

“All right!” he launched one final burst of frustration into the air and took a seat, realizing the futility of his endeavors so late into the game. His eyes strayed over to Mariam in the back of the vehicle, diligently operating her station and relaying all incoming traffic over the radio equipment. Her long blond hair tied in a ponytail shape gave a brighter color to her camouflaged uniform. We’ve drifted apart and haven’t talked much since that dreadful ball…I should do something to make things right between us. “Rui, our forward units have reached the river Donets,” Mariam’s voice intertwined with his train of thought all of a sudden.

“Woah…that was fast, even for the heavy Tigers.”

“…No kidding, the Germans didn’t reach that place until the third day of the battle.”

“Their advance was checked all along, while ours isn’t.”

“Yeah! We completely crushed the IF on this front, ha-ha-ha.”

Aware that his tanks would be exposed when crossing the river, the UC infantry had explicit orders to cross the river first and establish a perimeter, but the elimination of the entrapped IF formations overextended their human resources. While the fighting had been quick and near bloodless, it made the majority of the infantry component lag behind the main force, so when the forward tanks arrived at the river, only a third of the infantry was with them.

In the far distance, long sand clouds stretched high up in the sky and extending over the land for entire kilometers, foretelling an imminent counter-attack posed at the UC’s positions.

“…Wh-what is that?”

“Seriously? Just how many of them are coming towards us?!”

“…Must be thousands….”

The looming menace on the horizon quickly evaporated whatever festival mood the UC students had gained. Instead of gathering the courage and preparing for the fierce fight, a resignation feeling abated over the higher ranks of the UC, leaving them with empty minds, dumbfounded by the mere sight of some dust in the far distance that their thoughts had ground to a halt. This could be bad…Ironically enough, the one man that had been bickering like a child not long ago was the only one trying to think up a counter. The sheer size of those clouds and the speed at which they materialize suggests the presence of tanks. But how many are coming? Do they have infantry support, artillery…? Where will they hit us? It’s got to be the river crossing! Such quick thinking made Rui analyze a series of scenarios to determine which of the outcomes favored him the most. Always a cunning fox, Rui’s ingenious ploys and diligent study of conventional tactics made him a capable leader that always chose to do battle when he knew he would come out victorious. And what he excelled at the most was in elaborating traps to choke the lives of his victims.

During the various training sessions, he had managed to lure Angelo to his killing fields and utterly annihilate him without breaking much of a sweat. Needless to say, Rui’s ingenuity at ambushes only worked to a certain degree; the UAT’s guerrilla approach and outside-the-box mentality within due time overcame the disparity between the two institutions. However… It’s not like they’ve had the time to adapt to our combat form, so we only need to win here once! If our Tigers and Panthers can cross the river, they’ll snipe those soviet T-34’s from kilometers away; without armor, their infantry will be cut to pieces by Pedro’s artillery…he assured me our calls for help would be answered. So the problem here lies in time…How much time will it take for the rest of the UC to cross the river? How long until the Iberian counter-attack hits?