First Light of a New Age

Chapter 180: Operation Silver Storm

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Second Civilization Zone, People's State of Xinhua, Austronesian Forward Base 04, Southern Coast of Xinhua.

4th Year of the New Age, Tuesday, 1st Week, 10th Month of The Father.

RIIIIIIIII—!

The warning sirens screamed through the entire compound as red emergency lights bathed every hallway and metallic corridor and flashed off armored doors and glass panels of Austronesia’s major military bases stationed inside Xinhua’s territory. 

Officers, soldiers, and engineers rushed in every direction, shouting over radio comms, and the sharp clatter of tablets and datapads pressed to their chests as they tried to keep pace with incoming reports.

Inside the main command center, a massive digital table dominated the room, displaying a live tactical map of Xinhua’s northern territory with Heihe City glowing blood-red at the center of the display. Around it, Austronesian and Xinhuan officers crowded shoulder-to-shoulder, shouting orders, relaying positions, and tapping through streams of combat telemetry.

“Report status!” shouted a Xinhuan operations chief as he slammed his hand down on a console hard enough to make a few datapads jump.

“Enemy contact confirmed across northern and western sectors of Heihe!” a liaison officer yelled back with panic. “The Immorgenarian Army’s vanguard breached the Great Border Wall at 0010 hours. The estimated strength we managed to find was…”

“...over four hundred thousand,” finished an Austronesian colonel grimly as he read on the numbers and incoming data pouring across his display. “Satellite recon confirms they’re pushing in three main prongs straight toward the city center.”

“But how and why didn’t we catch their movements earlier?” an official demanded in frustration.

“Because the Immorgenarians are infamous for their rapid deployment and adaptive mobilization,” came a calm voice from the far end of the room.

All heads from Xinhuan and Austronesian officials turned toward a commander of the base.

Brigadier General Ciaphas Cahyono. 

He stood there with arms crossed and a calm expression with the weight of a dozen campaigns behind his gaze. 

Everyone there knew his story of how he had led Austronesia’s first brutal engagements against the native races of the New World, where the Orcs had invaded Austronesia in New Guinea.

Ciaphas Cahyono was a famous war hero, who single-handedly faced an Orc War Lord with nothing but a chainsword and raw human will. Not possessing any mana or cybernetic augmentation yet able to slain it. 

“Four hundred thousand troops, mates,” Ciaphas said quietly. “They’re moving faster than even our worst projections. What’s the status of Heihe’s defenses?”

“The city garrison is holding, sir, but barely,” a Xinhuan colonel reported immediately as he scrolled through his feed. “Civilian evacuation’s incomplete while local militia are engaged in the west district of the city. Mayor Nie Yuan has reportedly entered direct combat personally against… the Beast Emperor Mufasa.”