Lanna's War

65

An hour later Lanna surveyed the damage, and it was costly. Hundreds of vehicles were destroyed, and at least three hundred Lunar lives were lost. In addition, five hundred were injured. Fifty alone lost their hearing from cannon fire.

Lanna sent Tanis to the triage to receive proper treatment for her wound. Then she helped tally each piece of equipment and dead body for the official carnage report. Massive craters from the bombardment, and smouldering wreckage
frustrated their progress.

When Lanna and the other officers decided they had surveyed all the death and destruction, they sped off to rejoin the retreating force.

Lanna was thankful she survived the battle unscathed. It was horrific, but she pushed it from her mind and focused on Bryce instead.

She recognized her surroundings as they drove by retreating Lunar fighters. Tall, rock outcrops piercing through the grass plain surrounded them. To Lanna, they vaguely resembled high-rise buildings. They were in The Tors and would soon be close to Kaikos and Hercie.

After hours of evading the enemy, Lanna and the Lunar force made it to the edge of the twin cities. They passed the line of Dragon Spear cannon protecting the city and into the siege line. As they drove into the main corridor of the frontier camp, Lanna noticed many tents had been set up haphazardly. Amongst them, exhausted soldiers lay about or wandered around.

The truck came to a screeching halt near a large tent. Lanna and the three officers she accompanied hopped out. They entered the tent and made a report to a captain she didn't know. Immediately after, she headed to find Martin to inform him of the Atrayean stealth ship. Her plan afterward was to sneak out and find Bryce. Her stomach twisted at the thought of leaving the army again, but at least her conscience would be clear.

She hunted for Martin calmly at first, but each time someone gave her a fruitless hint on his location her heart sank.

Paranoia set in like in a bad dream. She ripped open tents indiscriminately, discovering soldiers and officers in various states of dress and in various states of intimacy, but to no avail. She began shouting for him like her brother's life depended on it.

"Martin!"

Finally, she found him in a segregated area speaking with Haste and an array of radio speakers. She barged in. Haste and Martin stood in front of a long table. Martin was relieved to see her. Haste was annoyed.

"Lieutenant Leroy, what the hell are you doing here?" Haste demanded.

"I have something to tell both of you- all of you. It's urgent." Haste and Martin looked at each other.

"We're in the middle of informing the other militia factions on recent enemy movement. Our business is urgent too. Take a seat and wait, Lanna." Martin said to her.

"I don't care!" Lanna blurted. The room was silent. Then Haste cleared his throat.

"What you have to say had better be good, Leroy. Now, sit down and wait."

Lanna seated herself and kept quiet.

"As I was saying, the Atrayean Navy has almost certainly sent a Serenity-class super-carrier to Chariot." Martin stated.

"Commander, our intel on super-carriers indicates that their movement is heavily controlled by Treyjen, and he almost always restricts them to the Viiridan frontline. So, if you're right then you realize the order to send such a ship here would have to come from Treyjen himself." Said a Grasslands general named Cross through a speaker.

"Yes, I realize that, but here's why we're certain. At approximately an hour after sunset, the bombardment of Last Fjord began. The city was hit by hundreds of high velocity torpedoes from an origin that was well beyond our sensors. All of our reports indicate that they targeted our anti-air cannons and sensor disrupting technology with high precision. Alanza-class, and the even larger Infinity-class ships are not capable of this kind of precision from altitudes beyond our sensors."