Bravado

Nighttime

Rock Castle outskirts

§

This was a common question that usually popped up in the minds of a soldier.

Why do you fight?

For glory? Honour? Money? For God? Country? Revenge? Or simply for a license to kill legally?

The reason may vary but the essence remains the same. That every warrior, soldier, or anyone always has and needs a reason to do what they do.

Everyone needs a purpose in order to accomplish or do something.

A driving force to keep them moving forward.

Everytime Allen thought about that, his mind turned homeward, to the place he left a long time ago.

'How long ago was it…..'

His memories were a bit blurry. Even now the image of his home was slowly fading away. The green grass field, the colourful flower fields, it was but a distant echo inside his mind now. Yet the thought of someday going back to that place was the only thing that kept him going.

Or was it?

Was it really the only thing he fought for?

He liked to wonder about that sometimes.

That maybe...

Maybe there's something else pushing him forward.

He found it not long after.

But it's not that he forgot about it accidentally, it's just thinking about it always left a bad taste in his mouth.

Yet it was something he had to do.

No matter what.

So he closed his heart and moved forward.

A part of him swearing to finish his duty no matter what, while another side of himself simply wishing everything would end quickly.

Once again, Allen heads into battle.

"All Hounds, status report." A voice came from the radio.

"Hound 2 here. Clear in my area."

"Hound 3, nothing to report."

"4 here, I'm seeing nothing at my end and also freezing my ass but it's not like anyone asked."

"Hound 5, all clear in my area." Allen answered without much emotion in his voice.

"Hound 6, area clear sir."

"Copy all. Continue on your route, we'll circle around one more time before going back." Came the order from their leader.

Currently Allen along with his squadron were assigned to patrol duty and were sweeping across the muddy terrain located just behind the fortress.

The sound of dragoon foot slamming down into the watery ground along the muffled echo of heavy downpour battering against the cockpit paired with the occasional thunderstorms had drowned the sound of fighting in the distance and helped set the dark ambience surrounding them.

"Seriously though captain. What the hell are we doing out here in the rain?" The complaint came from Hound 4.

"Weren't you listening the whole time or maybe you're just dumb huh?" The snickering reply came from Hound 2, Hound 3 also joined in laughing.

"I didn't remember asking you shithead."

"Alright that's enough." Their captain interjected. "But I do find it troubling that you didn't even bother to listen during the briefing, lieutenant." He directed it towards Hound 4.

"Wait no! I was listening, captain, honest! I meant why are we here as in why this place? There's nothing here! Why are we patrolling an area that the freddies don't even use?"

Just like he said, the area they're patrolling was virtually empty save for the rocky hills and bumps. There's a mountain a few kilometres east of their position, it was a regular sized mountain but it was also considerably wide and spanned across at least half the size of the plain itself.

The captain sighed. "Clearly you weren't. If you did, you'll know we're here to watch out for any federation units trying their luck escaping through here. We don't want any smartass on the other side leaving this place alive after all the trouble we went on hiding this siege of ours."

"I wondered how we managed to hide this large scale battle for this long. We're not exactly doing this quietly." Hound 3 mused.

"You can thank the folks at Intelligence for that. Thanks to their diligent work of feeding false intel to the federation command, we've managed to avoid the trouble of facing unwanted reinforcements from their side."

"Well cheers for that! I'll buy a round when we finally get a vacation and drink for them."

"Good lord. Lieutenant Wendel buying us a round? We're going to die tonight." Hound 3's teasing of Hound 4 was followed by a loud laugh from Hound 2 and 6.

"Why you little shit!"

"You guys are hopeless." Meanwhile the captain sighed at his squadron's antics.

In the meantime, Allen was keeping to himself and surveying the area with a watchful eye. It's not that he's being unfriendly, he just wasn't a very talkative person and definitely not one to join in a banter.

Besides, his mind was occupied by other thoughts.

'Making sure they won't escape makes sense. But they didn't mention how the federation units would escape.'

From his observations of the area, a vehicle with harsh terrain navigation capability was required to move around the area they're in, like the dragoon Allen and the others were using. Regular vehicles with wheels or tracks would have a hard time going through it, due to the surrounding area or the mountain foot that was rather dangerous to traverse through thanks to the unnaturally jagged rocky ground and many uneven surfaces that form lots of deep and wide trenches that are particularly nasty during the rainy season.

'That rules out the ground route, and that leaves the air. If so then we wouldn't be of much use.'

As far as Allen knew, they only sent a bunch of light dragoon squadrons to patrol the area, meaning everyone was using the same Locke model. Which by all means, lack an anti-air capability, sure they have an advanced plasma launcher but it's only useful against ground targets, it can't properly be aimed towards an aircraft.

'Better than nothing I guess.' He didn't know what their commander was thinking and it's too late to complain, so he just kept quiet about it.

'Guess they're counting we might get a lucky shot.'

But then Allen reconsidered the situation with the weather included.

'A storm of this size is bad timing for aircrafts, even a transport plane or a dropship would have to fly low in this case.' Allen surmised they must've taken that into consideration when sending the dragoon squadrons on patrol.

On the bright side of his situation, Allen was able to get a spare Locke dragoon since his usual one was critically damaged and required extensive repair. He was glad of it because entertaining the idea that he had to go on patrol on foot under the rain sends chills down his spine, both figuratively and literally.

"Yo Allen. You've been real quiet, you still mad we left you earlier?" Hound 4 tried to tease him but Allen ignored him.

"Man, it's like talking to a stone."

"That's why he's more popular with girls than you, lieutenant. Us girls liked the brooding type of guy rather than loudmouths." Hound 3 joked, earning another laugh from Hound 2 and even Hound 6 had a hard time not laughing.

"Oh shut it."

"That's enough! Keep your mouth shut and eyes open. And leave Dietrich out of your silly antics." The captain ordered and they immediately quieted down. Though Allen can imagine the grinning image of his usual partner, Hound 3.

She was, for some reason, really liked sticking close to Allen, by now the two of them were like best buddies. He thought at first it was simply because the two of them were both of the same rank and that they're always partnered for a mission.

But his guts were telling him it's not just that.

He didn't really mind though, she can be overwhelming sometimes due to their polar opposite personality but Allen and Hound 3 fit quite well together as partners.

After a long while of silence with nothing but rain to listen to, they finally found something of interest.

"Captain. I'm getting something." Hound 2 reported. "Inbound from east, distance unclear."

Allen's radar was also picking up activities as he was the closest one to Hound 2 as both were positioned on the east side. While the Locke did come equipped with a radar and scanner system that can pick up any signature with precise accuracy, it's only good for around 250 meters at best, 300 meters is the maximum but at that range the radar were already playing guessing.

'They're probably still outside optimal detection range, since it's east then they're comin' from the mountain.' Allen turned his attention to the somber summit on the horizon. 'Couldn't get accurate reading thanks to this storm too.'

The terrible weather has taken a toll in their overall detection and communication system. Although the usual radar or transmission technology used by the empire had come a long way to being able to operate in extreme weather, the thunderstorm that descended upon them has enough electromagnetic current that mimics a jammer in full power. They still can see and hear, but it's like diving into muddy water without goggles and ear plugs.

Even their HUD was glitching now and then due to the electromagnetic interference.

Thankfully short range communication like the direct link comms commonly used by dragoon squadron was functioning normally, so Hound squadron were having no problem talking to each other.

"All units halt." The captain commanded. "Hound 2 confirm reading."

"Confirmed. I'm getting… one… no two signatures- ah scratch that.. one. Dammit, the interference is damn annoying."

"Sentinel, this is Hound lead. We're picking up some two signatures in our sector. Please advise. Over."

"Sentinel… bzzzt… Negatory Hound lead…. bzzzt Zero signature on display. Over."

"Roger that Sentinel. Hound 5, Hound 6. Anything on your end?" The captain inquired.

"I'm picking up activities but nothing clear." Allen reported, followed by Hound 6 who also was positioned at the east, although quite far back from Allen.

"Nothing on my display sir."

"Alright. We're moving east to get a closer look. Standard formation and keep your eyes open fellas."

"Roger that." Everyone said in unison.

"All patrol squadrons, this is Hound squadron, be advised. We picked up movements in the east, distance unclear, moving to confirm. Out." The captain reported as they began moving eastward.

A few solid minutes had passed and nothing showed up in front of them, so far everything was quiet with the occasional thunder and the sound of fire fighting filling the gap.

Heavy silence settled between all six of them as they slowly combed the area and kept a close eye on their surroundings.

"Hold!" Hound 4 suddenly stopped them. "Picking up signatures."

As if on cue, Allen's radar also picked up movements from the same direction he saw earlier.

"Distance is… what the hell- 80 meters coming up front!?"

At Hound 4's startled revelation, everyone shone their dragoon headlights to said direction and searched around them but found nothing, not even their visual scanner picking up anything of note both ground and airborne.

"Hound lead to Sentinel, we're picking activities in the radar but no visual whatsoever, please advise. Over."

"Bzzzzt…. Hound lead. Satellite imaging and long range… bzzzt… have negative results. Heavy interference present… bzzzt.. in your area. Over."

Allen can feel the confusion growing amongst his squadmates.

'Hound 4's reading can't be wrong since I'm getting the same distance…'

'If they're airborne, then it's going to be harder to confirm. Aircrafts can fly well beyond our detection range.'

'But it's kinda unlikely because this storm would swallow them whole if they try to fly high into the clouds.'

'So how….'

As Allen was wondering why they're seeing nothing, several flying objects descended from the black clouds above them and revealed themselves to be federation dropships. Allen counted at least a dozen of those heavy duty transport aircrafts flying past them. From their trajectory, it's clear they're heading directly for the fortress.

"The fuck!?"

"Those crazy bastards were flying in the storm clouds!"

Allen finally realised why they were picking up signatures but unable to see them at the same time.

Those dropships were using the clouds as cover to hide themselves, but they were also flying low enough as to not get caught in the worst of it, hence why Allen and the others were picking up their signature.

"All units in this channel, this is Hound lead! Be advised, multiple heavy class federation dropships inbound for Rock Castle! I repeat, multiple federation dropships inbound for Rock Castle!"

A sudden buzz in activity spread all across the communication channel as everyone received the information. Sentinel was already busy relaying orders when suddenly all the voices were drowned by a static sound.

"What happened?"

"I think all radio contacts are being jammed save for direct link. Radar and scanner are out too."

"Things just kept getting better by the minute." Hound 4 complained with a huff.

"Captain, sir! What'd we do now?" Hound 6 asked while slightly panicking.

"We need to rendezvous with the other squadron first. Any words from them?" The captain turned to Hound 2.

"Negative, we got cut off too and I'm seeing no sign of them. Captain, I think we need to withdraw to our base if we want to regroup."

The captain agreed with Hound 2's suggestion. "Good idea. We need to get there ASAP if we want to get a sense of what's happening."

Allen can hazard a guess of their current situation but he decided to stay quiet for the time being.

"Wait, shouldn't we assist our allies in the fortress? Those dropships are heading there and are probably dropping reinforcements as we speak." Hound 3 interjected, but Allen was quick to explain.

"We won't be of much help there. Our dragoon isn't exactly equipped for close quarter combat or even suitable for it."

The Locke dragoon, while possessing high mobility and speed, and very versatile when used in open areas, were also useless in urban or close quarters combat. Not to mention their design already made them an easy target when used in such an environment.

"Exactly as Dietrich said. Anyway let's move on, I have a bad feeling about this."

Per the captain's order, the Hound squadron turned around and followed the path back to the former eastern frontline with great haste. Along the way they met Jackal and Beagle squadron, a fellow light dragoon squadron that were sent out to patrol the area and part of the same light armored company.

"The hell just happened? I thought they said them freddie won't be getting any backup!?" One pilot from Jackal squadron raised the question, they too had seen the dropship heading for Rock Castle flew past them. Meanwhile Hound 2 was kind enough to provide an answer.

"Obviously they just found out what's happening. I dunno how but I can't imagine them being happy 'bout it."

It took them a short while to return but eventually they reached the ground that was until midday, a site of a week-long battle, and what they saw currently unfolding there was a disturbing sight.

"Oh fuck... that's definitely bad." Hound 4's loud remark perfectly summarised the entire situation.

There's still no communication whatsoever from their superior, but they could make out what's happening on their own.

"Captain, Look." Allen directed their attention towards the east gate.

He had noticed many movements across the former battlefield and around the east walls, the gate in particular. Didn't take him long to recognise it as the imperial forces who were retreating from the fortress, putting two and two together wasn't hard.

"They're being pushed back."

"That's ridiculous. We have a division sized army attacking the place from all sides! Those dropships can't carry more than a company." Hound 2 voiced out what was on everyone's mind at the moment, but the answer to their questions soon presented itself.

Bright red lights sliced through the air one after another from beyond the east gate and pierced anything they could find. The ensuing explosion engulfed the surrounding area in flames.

Emerging from the gate with death trailing on its back, was a dragoon, a model everyone participating in the war were familiar with.

A bipedal and vaguely humanoid war machine, standing at five meters talla and armed with various weapons such as; missile launchers, high caliber guns, and laser weaponry capable of burning through most armor like tissue papers.

It was the Spartan, the federation made medium class dragoon, created with the prioritization on firepower and protection without sacrificing mobility. Although it's a bit slower than the Imperial made medium class dragoon, it certainly boasts more firepower and is a terrifying opponent to meet in combat.

And now a dozen of them were busy annihilating the retreating Imperial army.

'Safe to assume they brought an entire battalion of dragoons as reinforcement or maybe even more. That means there's at least 50 of those things.' Allen concluded after seeing how the imperial forces were being pushed back.

He's well aware how dangerous those Spartan dragoons are especially in urban or close quarter combat unlike the Locke, without proper dragoon support the Imperial army didn't stand a chance against 50 of them.

'No wonder they got pushed back that quickly. Though since we're out in the open now, the Ofnirs can join in.'

While the federation Spartan was indeed a formidable piece of engineering, it still fell short against the infamous land cruiser of the Empire, the Ofnir dragoon, a mech that looked like an actual T Rex with firepower reminiscent of the monstrous reptile's own strength.

Just like the Locke, the towering mech was unsuitable for close quarters combat inside the fortress due to its wide proportion. But the open field was where it truly shined.

Just as Allen was thinking that, he could now see several Ofnirs marching up to meet the Spartans in combat, firing their large artillery gun as an opening act.

Seeing the battle ensuing in the distance, one of the Locke pilots near Allen finally raised their voice. "What're we gonna do now?"

The leaders of each squadron shared their ideas, starting from the Jackal squadron leader. "We're joining the battle obviously! We can't let the freddies push us back after everything we did today!"

The squadron leader of Beagle also shared the same idea as Jackal. "Agreed. We can't let them gain even more momentum now, the reinforcement is unexpected but we still held the advantage here."

Surprisingly however, Hound squadron's captain stayed silent.

'We're outvoted anyway, and outranked too.' That's what Allen thought was going on in his captain's head when he observed the situation.

Unlike the Hound squadron whose only a six unit squadron, Jackal and Beagle were a full sized squadron of 12 dragoon units. A six unit squadron is usually led by a captain while a full sized squadron would be led by a major. As in the usual case of several squadrons working together, the one commandeering them would be the highest ranked officer.

'Either Jackal or Beagle squadron will take the lead. Though I think the major from Jackal would be the one taking the reins here.' Allen surmised while watching from the sidelines.

But before they could even make the decision, a sudden chain of explosion turned the entire imperial temporary base located in their eastern rear line into a destructive painting of red and orange.

Confused exclamations popped up one after another among Allen's present group as they watched their rear line swallowed by flame.

It took them a while for the shock to wear off and to understand what just happened.

"Oh fuck, don't tell me those freddie bastard is also there." Hound 4 said in a disbelieving tone.

Allen quickly remembered the speculation he made earlier that day. 'They actually caught us in a Hammer and Anvil maneuver.'

If irony was a comedy, Allen would be laughing his ass when he saw how the situation was turning. In any case, he realised their chances of surviving were going lower and lower by the second.

'Huh, I think they're trying to kill us all right here and now.' Allen figured if they're using the same strategy the imperial army used in his earlier engagement, that would mean the same thing was happening on front as well. 'Bloody hell, they literally turned the table on us like this.'

As Allen was thinking that, his captain suddenly spoke to the Jackal squadron leader.

"Major Briggs, sir. I propose I take my squadron to check on our rear base. We might still be able to salvage our situation and arrange a counter attack."

"Good idea captain." The major gives his assent. "Jackal and Beagle will join the front line."

"Good luck sir."

"You too, captain. For the empire!"

With that parting words, the 24 Locke dragoons marched towards the raging battle by the grey field between the giants.

Meanwhile Allen and the others remained standing there motionlessly before finally trailing behind their captain.

"Captain, I don't think there's anything left over there." Hound 3 offered her opinion, which the captain replied with a weary tone.

"Obviously private, that's why we're leaving."

The captain's reply was certainly baffling that Allen had to do a figurative double take.

"Wow what? Captain, what did you just say?" Hound 4's disbelieving voice was more than enough to represent the Hound squadron.

"Look, even halfwits like you guys would surely know this battle is done and dusted. We already lost."

Everyone was suddenly silent, in a way, their captain just said out loud what was on their mind. Still they have their own doubts.

"But captain, sir… if we're not going there then where-" The captain cut off Hound 6 before he could finish.

"We'll withdraw from here, there's an FOB not too far away, about two or three clicks east. It'll take us a day or two and a half to get there if we hurry."

Allen sort of remembered the Forward Operating Base the captain spoke of, but that wasn't the problem here. What the captain just said had implied something dangerous.

"Captain, you're not saying we should desert, right?" Hound 2 shared his worries.

"Desert? The hell you on about? We're going to another military base in a tactical retreat, if we're deserting then I would've taken y'all to a bar next town and drunk us all to death."

"He does have a point." Hound 4 seemed to agree with the captain's statement, although Allen thought he was just agreeing with the drinking part.

"But captain, there has been no withdrawal order from Sentinel or even anyone."

"Seriously lieutenant, look around you. There's nobody important enough left around here to give that order." The captain yet again rebutted Hound 2's argument. "Besides, it'll never come down even if we still have communication with Sentinel."

"Huh? Why?" Hound 4 chimed in.

"Just think about it. We've suffered nothing but defeat all over verdania, the high command can't and won't accept any more humiliation. In the end I can guarantee they will definitely order every last one of us to stand here and die."

"That's insane…"

"That's the reality of our situation. Four years ago, that might sound heroic, now it's nothing but needless bravado."

Nobody argued with the captain's words.

"Well… I don't know about you guys but I'm not wasting my life for a lost battle." Hound 4 was the first to open his agreement, much to no one's surprise.

"Respectfully sir, I do think surviving is the best course of action. I- we can't earn our paycheck if we're dead after all." Hound 3 declared confidently. "And I'm sure Al here thinks the same." She even managed to drag Allen into her argument.

"We have to deactivate our tracker before we leave. This storm is disturbing all electronics but I don't wanna take chances." Allen suggested after being inserted to the conversation.

"Good idea as always Al."

"Umm… lieutenant, sir. If I may, I do think retreating is the best course of action. I mean, if we live then we can fight another day…" Hound 6 added timidly. This surprised Allen because he thought the rookie would stay silent the whole time.

"See Vigo, our squadron has more sensibilities than whoever the fuck is running our entire military nowadays."

"Haaah… whatever." Hound 2 sighed at the captain's word and everyone decided to just follow the man leaving the battle.

Unfortunately the Hound squadron didn't get far. They were halfway through the field and were approaching the rear line when they saw something strange happening there.

There was heavy fighting going on, they were already expecting that, even now their scanners were picking up glitchy enemy signatures left and right around their rear line, but the next thing that happened left all of the Hound squadron in complete bafflement.

"What the.. what is that!?"

Allen was drawn to where Hound 4 was looking at and he too saw it.

Standing amidst the burning rubble that was the imperial rear base, was a giant.

It wasn't an exaggeration on their part, it was an actual giant. The real size of that thing was unclear but Allen was certain it was bigger than any if not all dragoons he ever saw. But that wasn't the most surprising fact of the giant they're seeing.

It was the fact that the giant looked ominously humanoid, it looked eerily like a Knight in full armor with a modern flair.

"I've never seen that kind of mech! Is that even a mech?"

"Captain, what the hell is that thing!?"

"You're asking me? I don't even know what I'm seeing right now!"

The confusion among the Hound squadron was not surprising at all, even Allen was speechless himself.

But on his part, it wasn't a confusion that came from disbelief, but rather…

'Oi oi oi! Why did they deploy those things here of all places.'

As if it heard what was on Allen's head, the giant machine turned towards where Hound squadron was and aimed its weapon at them.

"Oh fuck!"

"Evasive maneuvers!"

All of them sprang into action and scrambled away, barely evading the incoming fire that tore through the air and caused an explosion big enough to leave nothing but a gaping hole.

"Holy shit… Captain what'd we do now!?" Hound 4 shouted over the comms.

"What else!? We shoot our way through!"

An uneasy feeling settled on the pit of Allen's stomach as he gripped the controller tightly.

'This is going to be one hell of a fight.'