Re: Chapter 1: Heat Lightning
“The chui tells me we’ve got another one incoming,” Takeo reported to her squad, making a semi-formal note of what some had already noticed. ‘Takamori Saito’ appeared in tiny letters on each soldier’s HUD alongside the ones that were already there and the full list blinked into Saito’s. Now, they were all connected. Full introductions were likely to be cut short, though, or at least take place on the fly. “I’m told he has a better line to command — should help you, Suriyama.”
Just as she finished and Saito plodded against the current of Daisy-clad warriors moving the other way, Sashiko’s voice crackled through their suit communicators on the all-access band with a simple command.
“Kougeki kaishi!” she boomed, the mass of troops at the rally point immediately following her out into the field at a sudden, breakneck pace. As they charged, she sent out out the familiar Yamataian battle cry, “Dai Yamatai Teikoku! Banzai!” and many soldiers repeated “banzai” over their armors’ loudspeakers as they bounded over the beach toward the jungle’s edge. Some fired wildly at targets too far downrage to hit while others held their tempers. Controlled thrusts pushed a few overeager soldiers through the sky in massive, armor assisted leaps.
All the while, the Mishhuvurthyar forces in the treeline held their fire, clearly waiting for the Yamataian force to draw closer. In the air above, battlepods continued to help maintain superiority and strafed the ground every so often. Still, their main task was to block more ships from coming down, so the squadrons focused on that.
Back at the emptying rally point, Aoi, Sakura, Ojou, SeonJi, and Saito remained while their comrades conducted the main assault. Takeo was clearly in no hurry, merely standing while she went over maps and routes in her head and simultaneously monitored the Star Army’s push back. Soon, the six were the only ones left behind.
“Looks like they’re almost to the forest’s edge, we should go soon,” the heisho stated. “Takamori-hei,” she acknowledged with a nod before continuing. “We ought to get going before there’s nobody else left on the sand — we’d be too easy targets for those battlepods.
“Anything else?” Takeo asked, not waiting a second for anyone to answer as she began to run out from the rally point while waving a hand for the squad to follow. If the hei did have any comments, they’d be easy enough to answer on the move. “Lock and load!”
