Chapter 60:
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Matthew takes a picture of James and Andrew first before leaving, to document that they're okay. Afterwards, he and Ray left the room, and took the maintenance lift to go down to the ground floor quicker.
Fortunately, no one saw them quietly exit the staff shaft. Before they step foot outside the hospital, Ray shoots a quick glance at the digital wall clock behind the receptionist's desk.
The time now is 11:55 AM.
~~~
Ray asks Matthew if he missed anything important while he was oversleeping. Matthew admits in oversleeping himself, but after sharing a night with Miho, he had to wake up pretty early to take note of the important events going on this day.
"While making breakfast," he says, "I tune in my radio to different frequencies from my different parrots, and order them to report their status."
His parrots from the western side of the battlefield are working with the marines. The marines are facing the bulk of Chuck's forces more than Ray has, and Audie and his soldiers are so frustrated in dealing with them that oftentimes he had to go into forested areas to execute several of Chuck's personnel in secret, just to vent their anger.
Matthew knows he can't stop them, so he lets them be, but encourages them to be careful not to be seen by Major Ash or the judges.
However, while there are rather brutal stuff happening in the western side, there are also weird events Audie encountered such as mass desertion of Saunders troops, who immediately defected to Audie's side when he and his Aussie Marines rear their heads.
Audie thought of this as a trick at first, but when asked why they threw their patches down and pledged to help Audie, they replied, or the deserter leader replied that they're Army Infantry; the Saunders Army Branch is led by Brian, and he's not much of a popular figure. They also heard that Audie, the descendant of the famous war hero and actor, is on Ooarai's side, and they'd rather side with a war hero's grandson, great or otherwise, than an armchair General.
Two army battalions defected to his side, to which Audie... graciously and reluctantly accepts.
~~~
During their talk, they step outside and stop before the steps of the hospital, and sat down on the stairs to continue their conversation.
Ray asks if desertion and defection to side with the enemy is possible and legal in the Hohei-Dō rules of engagement. Matthew answers that it is possible, but the troops will guarantee to get an ass whooping when they get home. Although, it solely depends if the school has a court martial mechanism.
When asked about the court martial mechanism, Matthew shrugs and has no idea about it. Perhaps Anzu might be aware, but she's currently not around.
~~~
His parrots on the eastern side, where naval battles, bombardment, and skirmishes are common, reported that David and the Ooarai Navy are using guerrilla pirate tactics in the seas. They use hit-and-run tactics, pirate tactics, and night raids to weaken Saunders. Since there's a location limit in the battle zone, they can't go out that far or else they'll get marooned... and also get disqualified for going out of bounds.
Their successful occupation of a Saunders coastal outpost became a forward operating base for the Irish marines, who are fighting like guerrillas against Saunders. They don't intend to win a naval battle, especially since there's no flag ship. The eastern side of the battlefield essentially bogged down several Saunders battalions because of intense guerrilla warfare, and because excessive bombing is restricted, Saunders can't do much to the soldiers hiding in the trees.
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The Favourite Brother: Complex Edition
FanfictionForced into a position he didn't asked for, but is perfectly qualified to; bamboozled by corruption in the ministry of education, and surrounded by people who are looking up to him to do the right thing, Ray Gonzales has to do the best he can, in hi...
