Chapter 289: the black week

>THE BLACK WEEK>

This flashed on the holographic screen as a series of edited opening scenes quickly followed in rapid succession. A lot of edited graphics took the screen for about a minute before the real footage started.

The screen background took on a blood-red tone, making Clark stiffen as his nerves became stretched taut. Then it started…

…

“Sir, the terrorists stayed through to their claim. There have been reported attacks in 7 vantage points, the city’s emergency security guards are already stretched thin”.

“By your orders, we intend to send reinforcements immediately”. Sergeant Maria had a distressed but serious expression on her face.

“Have you contacted the commissioners?” Corporal Cinnabar also had a serious expression on his face, his tone now deeper than ever.

“No, sir. We were waiting for your input”.

“Ok, call them now”.

After an intense section of discussion through virtual projections with the city’s commissioners, the Corporal taking the helm of the Dragon military division finally made his decision.

“Maria, Daniel, Dave, mobilize all the soldiers of the military division excluding only those that will stay to safeguard the division base headquarters”.

“Yes, sir”. Saluting, all 3 Sergeants quickly stormed out of their superior’s office to go and implement his orders.

10 minutes later, the whole Dragon military division of Vatican City was aroused and riled up for battle. Under the leadership of their Corporal, the raging soldiers went out to vent their anger on their archenemies.

Hundreds of military armored vehicles, ultra-long ranged cannoneer military vehicles, skirmishing exotic bikes, artillery exotic vehicles of the hard-puncher baseline, exotic tanks, and lots of other military utilities were brought out for this decisive battle.

The military base woke up like an enraged beast.

They didn’t need a speech from their Corporal. Just a battle cry was what was needed to completely rile up all the soldiers, they stormed out of the military base the next moment.

…

“South-west Vatican City, Chandelier Residential District, 2 company of terrorist soldiers have attacked from the flanks. A battalion just arrived; our defense is crumbling! We need reinforcements!”

A soldier’s voice sounded in the background amid rapid breaths and gunshot sounds. Red was the dominant color as explosions were already rocking the battlefield.

“We are losing soldiers; our defense is being stretched thin. Some terrorists already broke through our defense line, the civilians are already under attack”.

“We need reinforcements now!”

As the Sergeant leading the Chandelier district kept on asking for reinforcements, they were still steadily holding their defensive line against the battering attacks of the terrorists.

Blood flowed like a river; their comrades died every second but none of them flinched. This was what they trained for all these years; they were ready to give their all to safeguard the lives of the vulnerable civilians.

As the terrorists kept on butchering into their ranks and the defense kept on dwindling like a dying candle flame, hope came.

“Our reinforcements are here!” “Reinforcement is here!”

“For Sparta! For Vatican City! For Major Clark!”

Despite shouting such chants energetically in an aggressive tone, the leading Sergeant was still able to keep every soldier under control till the reinforcement got to their position.

His face was now relieved a bit. He could see that the reinforcement was from the Dragon military division, and their number was up to a battalion.

“This is Sergeant Maria of the Dragon military division; I’ve been ordered to take charge from here”. As soon as she arrived, Maria put down her foot to establish her authority which the acting Sergeant did not protest against.

As soon as she got the overall authority that she wanted, she started barking out orders at the pace of a machine gun.

“Tom, take the exotic blockade platoon forward to hinder the forward push of the terrorists. Form the turtle shell formation and stand your ground!”

“Daniel, take your machine gun platoon and set up the perfect shooting line range, make sure you petter the beasts with your rounds. I want to see some blood; I need them bleeding fast!”

“Raden, you know the drill. This is war, we don’t need to preserve resources. Set up the exotic bomb impassable domain immediately!”

“Yes, Sergeant”. As these soldiers pointed at went out to fulfill the orders, Sergeant Maria continued barking orders to her soldiers to rally and organize them for the decisive push.

“Let’s teach these beasts the lesson of a lifetime. We are the ‘II Dragon Battalion’, we do not flinch at the sound of a gunshot, we charge at it. We crave blood when we hear blood”.

“Soldiers, charge with me!”

Sergeant Maria was not content with staying behind walls to command. As soon as she gave the basic command to stabilize the situation, she charged out with her battalion of soldiers.

The force of 800 soldiers all armed to the teeth charging out was extremely intimidating visually, but this did not deter the Persian tigers terrorists.

The terrorists who had an overwhelming advantage of superior numbers and experts rushed fearlessly outwards to collide with their prey.

With a booming sound like that of clapping thunders, the 2 battalions collided in a very eye-catching manner. After the collision came battle, the melee soldiers of both sides went berserk immediately.

Gunshot sounds filled the battle, accompanying the sounds of energy shields popping, and swords stabbing flesh to form a chaotic cacophony of noise.

Sergeant Maria was like a demon goddess on the battlefield. She was not content with fighting the minor battles with her soldiers, she sought out the leading executioner of the terrorists.

With a bloodthirsty gleam on her face, she carved a forbidden path of blood and body parts to locate her opponent.

When they finally met, the battle was legendary!

The defending side became sturdier after Sergeant Maria’s arrival with reinforcements, but the fact was still there that the terrorists came with significantly more soldiers than them.

As the battle kept on dragging out under the rain of explosions, gunshots, cold weapon stabs, and death, more and more terrorists started slipping through the defense line to access the civilians being protected inside.

A massacre was already going on inside, but Maria could not order her soldiers to stop and go back to help.

If she did that, it could quickly lead to a breakdown of their battle formation which could quickly escalate and snowball to a complete wipe-out of both the defending soldiers and civilians.

The battle dragged on for 2 days without any rest as more reinforcements kept on joining both sides, taking the scale of the battle to increasing heights.

During these 2 days, hundreds if not thousands of civilians already died to the tyranny of the terrorists. The visual effect was traumatizing, dead children, couples, old men, and women, the sight was pitifully bloody.

Sergeant Maria already adjusted her tactics following the increasing tide of death. She compacted her defense perimeter every 2 hours, but the terrorists were still overwhelming them.

This was her best. She felt inadequate at such a moment seeing so many innocents die, she felt angry at herself for not being a superhuman.

She already requested reinforcements countless times back to the Dragon military division headquarters, but she always received a negative reply.

The Chandelier Residential District was not the only district that was under attack, every single area of Vatican City was under attack. The situation here was even among the better ones.

Even the government building where the commissioners of the city took refuge was under attack, this only showed how pessimistic the city’s chances of survival were.

The terrorists really came with vengeance, they intended to use the death of hundreds of thousands to pay for the death of their Commander who died to the loathsome Major Clark.

Though Sergeant Maria’s defense battle was intense, it was far less intense compared to what was going on in the government building where the commissioners took refuge.

Corporal Cinnabar was already battling for 3 days straight with his soldiers. Of course, he was exhausted but his eyes never showed that. Only the burning will to inflict more damage on the opponents blazed in his eyes.

With the elite combat brigade of the Dragon military division behind him, the fire of battle burning in his eyes never got extinguished.

He was not the one giving orders though, he was the one leading the charge. His second in command, Corporal Damn was the one who stood behind the army, leading the combat brigade behind the scenes.

The task of leading and regulating over 8000 soldiers in a fast-paced defense battle was daunting in the 21st century, but the introduction of implants in this era simplified the task a lot.

Despite the hundreds of feedbacks being sent to him every minute, Corporal Damn was able to sort everything out and to make sure that the government building defense did not fall apart.

Of course, there were casualties, but casualties are always in every battle.

Despite the tenacious will of the soldiers, after weathering the offensive of the terrorists for 4 days straight, their defense power started waning.

More deaths began being recorded, more civilian deaths started reaching the upper echelons, internal disorder and chaos started threatening to destroy everything from the inside.

The stress was too much, the 5 commissioners could not take it anymore.

Head Commissioner Patrick had a weary look on his face, he hardly slept for the past 5 days. “Make the call”. He said wearily to his assistant.

This order was all that was needed. The neighboring cities that were watching this patiently, waiting to harvest benefits jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the Vaticans.

After negotiations, reinforcement in terms of money and soldiers finally arrived from the neighboring cities.

The resistance became much harder, pushing the terrorists back. To cut down on their losses, the Persian tigers made a last offensive push for another 2 days, reaping thousands of lives before they retreated.

The battle was over, but Vatican City became just a ghost shell of its former self.

The deed was already done, there was nothing that could be done again. The commissioners just decided to dive in deeper, they borrowed more money to assist in the fast recovery of the city.

This large pump of money led to the misguiding situation that Clark saw on returning.

At the end of everything, the casualties were an outrageous 465,000 dead civilians and 19,000 dead soldiers.

>THE BLACK WEEK>

With this as a closing flashback remark, the recorded footage of the battle finally came to an end.

…

For over 15 minutes, Clark just kept quiet staring in a daze after the projected video ended. He knew that his actions had repercussions, but never in his dreams did he expect so many casualties.

He felt angry at himself. He felt angry at the laidback, uncaring, and exploitive attitude of the neighboring cities at such a delicate moment.

For the Spartan army, he didn’t know what to feel. He knew that the army couldn't react to every military situation across the whole republic. If it was so, the Mocans could easily take advantage of it to attack.

Despite knowing this, he still felt angered.

“Major”. The head commissioner finally gathered his nerves and called out softly after the eerie silence of the past 15 minutes.

Clark took a deep breath and stood up. “Prepare for a counterattack!”

“What?” The commissioners were shocked, becoming distressed immediately.

“I understand your reactions, but this is not an impulsive decision. I’ve always dreamed of the day when Vatican City will be completely free of terrorists, and I think the day is near”.

“Just focus on mobilizing the city’s normal soldiers and police force, I’ll handle the Dragon military division. You’ll receive the details later”.

“For the borrowed money and the economic situation, leave it to me”.

A dangerous gleam flashed past his eyes. “I think these cities will have a rethink when a Captain speaks with them”.

“A Captain?”

The commissioners were shocked, they turned to ask but Clark was gone.