TF Amethyst

The Riders and Weapon Officers from 71st Mohawk Regiment flew in high spirits. At a distance of 5 km from Sommer Island, they asked the permit to enter before circling the island. They had to wait until Command Center switched the main air defense system into manual mode before going deeper.

It was important but not complicated procedure. Therefore, a few moments later the Riders and Weapon Officers had landed in landing pad almost simultaneously. Then, as Riders and Weapon Officers made a preparation for second sortie, the ground crews fetched fresh water for the Cloud Hawks. Meanwhile, the commander of each Squadron gathered in briefing room.

Brigadier Ugla calmly opened the meeting, “Anything to share, Gentlemen?”

Captain Ra’ak, the commanding officer of 71-2 Squadron replied first, “We eliminate all Riders and carrier ship in the east, along with dozens of destroyers and cruisers. Zero casualty on my men.”

Captain Nadak added, “Same with 71-3, we totally eliminated Riders and carrier ships in the west, along with some cruisers and destroyers. Zero casualty on my men.”

“Well,” Captain Jaseek scratched the back of his head as he said, “After eliminating their Riders, my men focused on attacking their cruisers and destroyers. We sank around 70 destroyers and cruiser, but zero kill on their carrier ships.” 

After contemplating for a moment, Brigadier Ugla then said, “If everything goes as we planned, then we will wipe out around 40-50 percent of opposing warship before sunset. That will be a great score for the first day of versus contact.

However, it was not worth to celebrate unless we win the whole contest. So, stay sharp."

“”“Aye Sir.”””

The three captains under Brigadier Ugla's command calmly replied. Then, they casually enjoyed a glass of cool and refreshing isotonic water. This short break was also meant to give the Cloud Hawks a time to catch their breath, before they began the second sortie.

However, the calm atmosphere turned tense as Rear Admiral Norrak suddenly entered the briefing room and said, "We face an emergency on Buriek's east coast. Makai Riders really got us over there.”

In an instant, a big question mark appeared on Brigadier Ugla's forehead. It was estimated that Battle Group C have around 1200 Riders to support their landing operation on Buriek’s east coast, while Buriek Guard only deployed 230 Riders to confront it. At first glance, the difference in number was huge. 

However, of the 230 Buriek Riders deployed to secure Buriek's east coast, 102 of them are Tom Gum's graduates. And it was expected that in the first day of versus contact, each Tom Gun’s graduates would be able to kill 4-6 Makai Riders. 

Based on 71-1st Mohawk Regiment’s experienced, this expectation was actually still too low. As Brigadier Ugla believed Tom Gum's graduates would easily kill 7-8 Makai Riders in their first meeting.

'It seems an unforeseen circumstance just showed up.' In a tense tone, Brigadier Ugla then asked, “Admiral, is our Riders suffered a defeat?” 

“Not tactically, but strategically.” Rear Admiral Norrak replied as he approached the projector in the room. After inserting a memory card, he then turned the projector on. In an instant, the map of Buriek’s east coast was projected on the display board.

"What the…" After seeing that the area up to 200 km from the coastline was full of red and black marks, Brigadier Ugla immediately turned his gaze towards Rear Admiral Norrak. “Did these marked area suffered Riders' attack?”

After heaving a deep sigh, Rear Admiral Norrak explained, “Areas with black mark are the one that has suffered Makai Riders' attack. As for the red ones, they are the settlements we predict to be the next target."

"These many had already suffered the attack?" asked Captain Ra'ak.

"Unfortunately, Yes," Rear Admiral Norrak replied in bitter tone. "As you already knew, we only deployed the counter measure to fight Riders in big cities, while the villages and small settlements around it have no defense to face a direct attack from Riders.

And Makai Riders performs their attack in a small team of 8 Riders to maximize their hunting radius. As a result, our Riders cannot cover all areas that must be protected."

“Damn, with their huge number, I can't believe they will avoid frontal contact and choose harassment attack,” Captain Ra’ak said in an annoyance tone.

Rear Admiral Norrak nodded before adding, “And so far they had already deployed 960 Riders.”

“That’s a massive harassment attack.” Dark cloud filled Captain Nadak’s mind as he imagined that a village or small settlement would instantly get destroyed by direct attack from eight Cloud Hawks.

After heaving a deep sigh, Captain Jaseek added in a tone full of regret, "We should not refuse TF Amethyst's offer to deploy their air defense system in the Buriek's east coast. We are overconfident on our new capability."

"There is no point in regretting it. We have something more important to do." Brigadier Ugla then looked at Rear Admiral Norrak. "Admiral, what order we had to carry?"

“Command Center in Lumark City asked 71st to be sent as reinforcement to hunting Makai Riders.”

“We don’t mind.” Brigadier Ugla firmly replied, “But, even the closest area is almost outside our combat radius. Once the hunting is done, we will not able to return over here immediately, and had to land in nearby base.”

"No worries,“ said Rear Admiral Norrak. "I and Ser Gillray have agreed that hunting Makai Riders is top priority. As for this Radar Station, we will managed to defend it as long we didn’t tried to launch ambitious offensive.

Moreover, after you eliminated all opposing Riders in the area, the reinforcement from Sandhur Region immediately took off and would be arrived in 2-3 hours. At least, we will survive for the next few days.”

“I see. Then we will be on our way.”

After giving a small salute to Rear Admiral Norrak, Brigadier Ugla and his Captains then went to landing pad. As there was not much time available for briefing, Brigadier Ugla decided to give his Riders the brief on the way.

Coincidentally, a moment after they scrambled Command Center in Lumark City sent tactical data regarding the situation on the battlefield base on a real time development. Therefore, Brigadier Ugla could divide the hunting area for his 71st Mohawk Regiment more effectively. 

Wasting no time, Riders and Weapon Officers from 71st Mohawk Regiment then flew towards their designated area in a small team of two Cloud Hawks.

---

In a neat formation, 40 Buriek's destroyers surrounded Sommer Island. These destroyers took position at a distance of 50 meters from the beach, and a few hundreds meter from each other. Their main objective was to become the first line of defense in blocking Battle Group C's landing attempt. At first, every single one of Buriek’s sailors thought that their job would be quite easy. Especially after they saw how Buriek Riders eliminated the opposing Riders along with some of their main warships.

Unfortunately, the flow of the battlefield went into undesired direction. Buriek’s sailors had to lose the precious aerial support from Buriek Riders, right when the opposing side launched their landing attempt.

From destroyer Levi-01's deck, Lieutenant Mirriz observed the incoming landing boats, tightly followed by their destroyers and other warships. Then, he turned his gaze towards Captain Phoker who stood next to him.

“Capt, they attack in full strength from the first wave."

“It seems so. Well, their numbers is sure intimidating, but we have better weapon system and they don’t have a clue about it.”

“Aye Sir.” 

Then, as soon as the incoming warships entered Molotov catapult’s effective ranges, Captain Phoker ordered, “Lieutenant, give them a taste of hell.”

After an ear to ear grin, Lieutenant Mirriz happily replied, “At once, Sir.”

Wasting no time, Molotov catapult’s crew on Levi-01 started launching salvo. On a ship's deck that constantly went up and down over the waves, performing accurate salvo was not easy. However, the incoming warships were tightly covered the sea surface, so all Molotov cocktails hit a target fatally.

*****