CH 274

Great Melee 1

Kisei’s group flies right straight toward the basin that has turned into a battlefield. The Noredians were so preoccupied with infighting that they didn’t notice their approach.

“We hit their strikers first, commence the attack!”

Pointing her sword at the [Renions] who were taking cover behind a rock, Schleer shouted her command. At the same time, the [Mistilteinn]’s shoulder-mounted blaster cannon roared. A high-power beam pierces through the rock surface, causing a small explosion.

“Newcomer!?”

“That beam color, it’s the Calencians. What troublesome timing……..!”

A storm of beams and shells followed Schleer’s opening shot and the [Renions] rushed out from their cover in a hurry.

Suddenly, a number of shells impacted the rock and exploded, dyeing the icy surface bright red.

“Muh, ships’ turrets?”

Seeing that, Schleer groaned. The [Renions] which were the target of the bombardment panicked and scattered in all directions. Since they do not have the composure to take evasive actions now, they manage to shoot them down surprisingly easily.

“That explosion must have at least been caused by a 30cm turret or above. Our artillery unit is still in the rear…….it must be one of the Noredian ships then.”

“It would be nice if we can know who’s who now. We might be shooting at our potential allies after all.”

“Certainly, the force we have here is by no means large……creating more enemies unnecessarily will be bad for us. Schleer, why don’t you leave this place to us and try calling them on the common line?”

“……….right.”

Being stopped from continuing her assault, Schleer frowned. If they’re going to do that then they should have tried contacting the Noredians in advance and launched a coordinated attack. That said, since the storm rendered their long-range communication unusable, that was probably impossible. Moreover, since her initial command did give her soldiers a boost in morale, it was not a bad thing.

“This is Schleer Henrietta, Commander in Chief of the Calencian army. Those who wish to surrender, identify yourselves. I don’t know what is going on here but if you don’t express your desire to surrender, I will order thorough extermination.”

Increasing the output of her comm, Schleer arrogantly declared so that those who wish to surrender can not ignore her. There was nothing but static for a while but a few minutes after that, a reply came through.

“This is the former deputy commander of the Imperial Guard Fleet, Martial Lord Yaris Contram. We are ready to surrender but we are currently having trouble suppressing dissidents. Since they do not wish to surrender, they are your enemy too, no? Let us cooperate and take them down.”

The voice was hard to hear because of all the static but Schleer let out a sigh of relief. She doesn’t know how much of what Yaris said is true but it is certain now that there are at least some units that wish to surrender to Calencia.

“Don’t mess with me!”

“You’re the traitor here you damn rebels!”

The common line is open to everyone on the battlefield so even the ‘dissidents’ chimed in. However, hearing them, Schleer pursed her lips. This is going to be difficult.

“I appreciate your willingness to cooperate but……our side can not tell the difference between your side and the enemy. If you can not have your soldiers identify themselves somehow then we will have no choice but to attack indiscriminately.”

The other side sounded a little arrogant but they are still trying to secure their position after their surrender and there is a clear difference between those who surrender obediently and those who surrender after a fight. She knows that they are shrewd but Schleer decides to accept the deputy commander’s surrender.

Still, both the surrendering enemies and their enemies, in general, are using the same type of weapons. Certainly, the current Calencian army also has former Noredian forces fighting for them but they are distinguishing themselves with a big white stripe on their machines. The surrendering enemy is not the same and this is not the time for her soldiers to hesitate to shoot.

“I am going to have the units under my command set the navigation lights to flicker…….I’d like you to distinguish them as much as you can.”

“N, Navigation lights, is it……..”

There were light emitting devices installed on strikers’ heads and shoulders to prevent them from colliding with other strikers when flying in a dark environment. The same goes for ships. However, it would be extremely difficult to be on a lookout for such things in the middle of combat.

Thinking so, cold sweat ran down Schleer’s forehead.

Still, this is probably the best they can improvise at the moment. After all, there’s no time to modify their IFF identifying system.

.

.

“Understood. ………also, there’s one last important question. Where’s the Empress? Calencia must secure her to end this conflict. Of course, if she’s still alive that is………”

“She’s currently missing. We’d been able to confirm her presence until about 10 minutes ago but unfortunately, she has eluded us. We wanted to capture her but………..”

“In other words, it’s confirmed that she’s alive.”

Since they’ve already come this far, they need to pin the blame for this war on the Empress. If it’s confirmed that she’s alive then both sides would absolutely need to secure her into custody.

“I will contact you as soon as we locate Her Majesty’s whereabouts. So for now, please help us suppress these dissidents.”

“Understood.”

In the end, they could not afford to leave a hostile force alone so albeit annoyed, Schleer agreed.