Sovereign

“Queen Clericia Alois has been pronounced dead after severe complications with her sudden cardiac arrest that happened during the takeover of the Gallian military. Her tearful daughter, Queen Louise Alois has confirmed this over a press conference today that her mother died of natural causes, and that the people of Gallia must, ‘cease blaming and disobeying the new government’. The new Prime Minister of Gallia also said that he gives his ‘heartfelt condolences’ to the Royal Family of Gallia. Up north, the Gallian military however continues their operations unabated against CFN forces. With the Royal Guard of Gallia disbanded, the Gallian High Command and their local commanders are now exercising greater autonomy, with Gallian units now keeping up with Orlish and Lorathian units in conducting ‘mobile defense’ operations across the front.”

- Geopol Press

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Kingdom of Gallia

Near Brecille

November 22, 2025

I OEF Corps

C/4-5 Light Mech Brigade “Donnergrollen”

C Company was now sitting in an ambush position on the heights around the town of Brecille, which had been recently captured by MN forces. Niko Steinhauser, the Captain in charge of C Company, sighed boredly as he watched the highway and flat plains ahead of their camouflaged LSS Panthers.

I’m so damned thirsty, Niko thought, as he felt the sweltering sun’s continued assault on his skin. It was hot, really hot as Gallia’s summer season assaulted them in full. For some reason, he thought that he preferred Orland’s colder seasons than this. Sure, he’d be in thick clothing, chilling for hours as he and C Company watched sectors for any Federalist armored incursions, but right now. Goddamnit is it just so hot…

“Hey!” he called out. His two crewmen, his gunner, and driver, were both outside, plastering in foliage on their mech. Right now, their LSS Mech, which originally looked like something that belonged in the winter fields of Orland when they were rushed here a month ago, had its original camouflage fully changed to a woodland pattern. Alongside that, just like the rest of their company, they had been filling their mech with foliage both in its turret, hull and even gun barrel. “Are you guys hungry?”

His gunner, Corporal Armin Honigman, looked up with a half grimace as he wiped the sweat on his forehead. He had been attaching some vines to their gun for a while now, and Niko knew that sucked, because yesterday, it was him doing the job himself.

“Eh, later,” Armin replied. “I wanna finish this crap and get back there.”

“Yeah, you go eat now, Captain,” his driver, Sergeant Sven Bonsch said. He took his canteen and leaned on the side of one of their mech’s frontal legs. “I wanna finish this crap.”

“Ah, you two are such a bore,” Niko said, as he settled his hands and head near his machine gun. “Hmm…at the very least we’ll be rotated in a few hours.”

“We are?” Sven suddenly grinned. “Now that’s the news I like, Captain!”

“Shut the heck up about it for now,” Niko smiled. “Everyone else is still clueless about it. Don’t wanna have the gremlins become complacent.”

“Well, screw those up above!” Armin exclaimed. “We’ve been sitting in this same buttfucked spot for days already, outside of a few sorties. I’ve been very shifty about arty somehow hitting us.”

“Come on, you’re too paranoid,” Niko said. “Plus, we’re so dispersed that they’ll have a hard time doing it. Truth is, they had to keep us here because that highway was too valuable. And, someone’s gotta delay ‘em.”

“Yet we haven’t racked up a single kill yet,” Sven said, as he looked at one of the camouflaged and dug-in LSS Panthers fifty meters away from them. From a distance, it looked more like the treeline than anything too threatening. “I mean, they already have M3ATs covering this road up ahead of us. We’re practically redundant here. We should have been a part of the mobile reserve. At least we’d have proper damned meals.”

Niko shrugged, taking his binoculars to look at the positions ahead of the highway. While he couldn’t see them all, he could see a few M3ATs (M3 APCs converted to tank destroyers by arming them with ATGM launchers) that overlooked the road as well, all of them camouflaged and placed behind the tree line or the few small hills near the road.

But something caught his attention. In the distance, he could see a few smoke plumes rising. Not coming from the road, but from the flat plains northeast, perpendicular to the road they were watching. He suddenly pulled his radio, but already, their comms became alight, as rockets coming from the air suddenly slammed near their positions.

“Hostile Attack Helicopters!” shouted one of his Lieutenants over the comms. “Sir, we’re under attack!”

“I know that,” Niko replied over the comms. Below him, both Armin and Sven merely climbed back their mech in a calm manner, with Sven even shrugging and saying, “Alright, alright, I was wrong.”

Around them, the other crews also returned to their vehicles in an orderly fashion, while Niko gave his orders to watch for the attack. He contacted the man in charge of the sixteen M3AT strong Anti-Tank Company ahead of them. Their Captain, who was more experienced than Niko, seemed to be laughing when he opened his comms with Niko.

“Hey, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Course we are,” the man replied. “Keep watch of our flasks. We’ll deal with the first wave and their air. Seems like there’s a lot of food for us today, over.”

“Heh, I guess…”

“I’m on the controls!” Armin shouted from underneath him after he slid on the turret hatch, while Niko returned to his binoculars, watching as one of the M3ATs suddenly opened its first missile on an enemy attack helicopter. He followed it as it struck the distant Larissan helicopter after it tried a tight turn while leaving flares—dropping into the green fields in a fiery crash. Armin called him again. “I’m taking targets.”

“Good, good,” Niko said, as he took the radio again, and ordered his Company to take their targets. Already, the friendly Anti-Tank Company ahead of them began their feast on the foolish Larissans charging on them, firing their ATGMs in a scattered manner at the approaching Larissan vehicles. “Wait for my signal.”

Niko began searching for anything he could pick. Due to the fact that they were kilometers away, they looked more like dots to him. But he could see one promising target. It seemed to look like one of the newer variants of the T-18 MBT, with those large angled ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) blocks on its turret. It was charging madly at them, its main gun firing continuously, alongside its brethren.

Suddenly, the first hits of the enemy artillery began hitting them. Nika ducked a bit, as one of the hits slammed just a few hundred meters in front of them. Around him, the treeline and hills were struck by explosions, forcing him down back inside the turret. He however went back up to close their hatches to button up inside.

He immediately made his way to the commander’s sights, trying his best to return to the target that he wanted, as explosions rocked their vehicle. It was getting closer and closer, but he could see on the tactical map that no one in their units was budging.

“We have our targets,” one of his Sergeants called. “Permission to take fire, Captain!”

“Do it,” Niko said on the radio, before turning to Armin, who also already eyed the same target as him. “Hey, care to take the shot?”

Armin grinned, as he moved their turret, and gun straight into the direction of the rushing T-18. Armin then looked at the gunsight after they ranged it and the mech’s software automatically fixed their gun with the right elevations to hit their target.

“I can do it!”

“Then take it,” Niko ordered. In seconds, his gunner took the shot, and Niko watched in his sights as the T-18’s ERA armor resisted the shot. Niko frowned. “Do it again! APFSDS! Aim on the same spot you targeted!”

Another slam of their artillery momentarily blocked their vision, but the moment it cleared, their autoloader slammed the next round right on time for Armin to fire their main gun again on the enemy tank. Niko watched as the round slammed straight into the T-18’s turret, grinning to himself as it stopped its advance.

“I think I got it!” Armin shouted. “Double tap?”

“Yeah double—”

Before Niko could give him the order, the enemy tank’s turret cooked off and exploded violently, flying off in the skies as was customary with Order Pact designs.

“Good work!” Niko said. “Next, aim on that one, next to it. It’s an IFV!”

“Taking aim—”

Yet suddenly, an ATGM slammed into the Larissan IFV, stopping it in its tracks. Already, many of the enemy vehicles were deploying heavy smoke on the battlefield, which forced them to rely on thermals, but Niko could see that his company and their friendly company already downed dozens of CFN armor on the fields.

“Alright, find another target then,” Niko ordered, as a boom slammed near them. For a second, the lights on their vehicle flickered, with the sound of the explosion banging hard on their ears. Niko and Armin both held their ears with a grimace before they returned to their controls. “Damn it, their artillery…”

“Two-One is hit!” Someone shouted in their comms. “Someone check on them!”

“Their legs are gone!” Another one reported.

Niko took his radio.

“Check on them,” he ordered. “Then get back to your vehicles. Don’t be out and about during the shelling, over.”

Niko returned to his sights, checking as the enemy became closer and closer. In fact, when he looked back, there were already more than four or six dozen vehicles rushing through the flat lands ahead of them. Many even already reached the highway, with their infantry dismounting en masse as the vehicles continued raining their fire on them.

Niko watched as two more ATGMs slammed straight into two distant tanks, both of them stopping on the thermals, with one exploding violently after its blowout panels cooked off. But regardless, they were being overrun.

I think we delayed them long enough.

“All units,” he called. “Cover our friendly company. Prioritize enemy tanks. Don’t let them get shot while they withdraw.”

He tapped into his comms with their sister company’s commanding officer, and as expected, the man told him that he and his men were withdrawing. They already lost three of their M3ATs to the artillery barrage and the Larissan tanks.

“We’ll cover you guys,” Niko said over the radio. “Just retreat in good order.”

“Copy that.”

Momentarily, Niko peeked at their positions, as they fired a few more ATGMs at the enemy, before booting out of the treelines. Nearly a dozen M3ATs rushed away, driving into Niko’s company as they deployed a smokescreen on their tracks. Determined fire came from C Company, pinning and suppressing the overwhelming enemy tide as best as they could.

Armin himself went overtime firing their main gun again and again. Kills after kills were racked by the young gunner, and by the time their friendly company managed to escape the battlefield, Niko counted four kills for their mech. But already, the fires being directed at them had reached the point of holding their position becoming untenable.

“We’re calling an airstrike to cover us,” one of his Lieutenants said. “We can withdraw by then.”

“Gotcha,” Niko said, as he ordered Armin to take fire on another Larissan IFV. Again, on the thermals, the IFV merely stopped into a dead, fiery halt after their shot perforated its thin armor. “All units begin the retreat. We did our job well enough.”

One after another, the mechs of C Company began standing up from their entrenched positions under heavy fire, as suddenly, four LF-12s flew low on the battlefield and dropped eight guided bombs on the advancing CFN forces.

Niko sighed to himself as they drove away—watching the one disabled LSS Mech that they had to abandon. Thankfully, no one on its crew died.

And they inflicted heavy casualties again on Larissan armor today.