TF Amethyst

Observation Post Northeast Corner, FOC Venom

10:40, 28 Oct 2025

Forward Operating Camp Venom was located right next to the intersection towards Levsait, Raisait, and Lagra City. It was about 2 km south of border fence that separated Sviek and Tuscan Region, and 12 km from the nearest forward camp in Levsait and Raisait.

In total, FOC Venom was manned by 400 TF Amethyst personnel, 500 Tuscan Guards, and 900 Buriek Guards. It had four outer walls 300 meters each, with a height of 6 meters and a width of 4 meters.

As a forward camp in an entry into vital area, it had main objective to holding back the advance of Battle Group A from Kingdom of Makai, which would come from Sviek Region in the north.

In the last 24 hours, FOC Venom had entered the alert status three times. The first was at midnight, the second was at dawn, and the third was right after the talk between Viscount Issel and Count Isak ended.

Command Center in Castle Lagra was also emphasized that there was a high possibility Battle Group A would launch an offensive once Count Isak's convoy passed through the border. Therefore, the Observation Team in the northeast corner of FOC Venom immediately went on standby when they saw a cloud of dust in the south.

Without Delay, a Corporal immediately directed the Long-Range Digital Camera supported by a tripod towards a convoy of approximately 60 horsemen. Not long after that he got the ID confirmation.

"Sir, this is our VIP."

"Keep observes them," The team's leader briefly replied, without moving his binoculars from the huge concentration of infantry along the border. 

"Aye Sir."

Soon, the convoy arrived at intersection that connected the three main roads. Without slowing down, they continued move north, and once they passed the border, sound of trumpets was immediately heard.

Then, thousands of infantry that were already stand-by before the border fence for two hours moved forward. The infantry were divided into 100-men columns, where in each column there were 4-5 iron ladders specifically designed to climb the wall of a fort.

Without difficulty, the first 90 infantry columns knocked down the wire fence, along with the big and bright warning 'Trespasser will be shot to the death, survivor will be shot again'. With A light but steady step, the trespasser then jogged to FOC Venom.

Wasting no time, the leader of the observation team pressed PTT button in his chest. He realized that Command Post must have seen the trespassing through Reaper, but he still had to do his job to give a sitrep from Ground Observation's perspective.

"Northeast Corner to Command Post, do you copy?"

[Loud and clear, Northeast Corner, go ahead.]

"We have massive trespassers on the fence, I say again, we have massive trespassers on the fence."

[Received and understood, be advised for combat alert, Command Post over and out.]

---

A moment after Command Post received the sitrep from OP Northeast Corner, alert alarm immediately rang to every corner of FOC Venom. Crew of Mortar 120 mm, Mortar 60 mm, and Automatic Grenade Launcher Mk.19 immediately prepared their weapons. M1151 Ripper and M1151 M2HB also took their positions.

Meanwhile, Shooters armed with HK M110A1 7.62 mm and AWM 338 Lapua Magnum ran to their nest in the outer wall, along with Fire Support Elements, Buriek Guards, and Tuscan Guards. 

And because behind every outer wall there was a pile of sandbags that formed a wide stairs, every wall defender could go up and take their position almost at the same time. In less than a minute, every post on the outer wall had been manned.

M110A1 Shooters and AWM 338 Shooters swiftly cocked their weapons, and then calmly looked at the approaching human waves. At the same time, their spotters were busy loading every spare magazine they managed to collect for the past few days.

In front of human wave tactics, shooters would have too many targets. So, instead of guiding them to eliminate high value targets, the spotters chose to make sure that their shooter could shoot continuously without tactical pause.

As for the crew of M240 7.62 mm, they were always on standby on the outer wall in turn, with weapons in a ready to fire condition. So, they were the first element who entered combat ready as soon as the alert alarm rang. In fact, they casually opened a piece of gum and put it into their mouth as other personnel ran to their position.

Then, as they calmly chewed the gum they put their index finger above the trigger nest, while their thump reached out the fire-selector lever. Now, they only needed to wait for any prey to enter their designated target area at the range of 800 meters.

As for Tuscan Guards and Buriek Guards, they stood neatly behind the rifle teams. They would only go into action when enemies reached the base of the outer wall and tried to climb it. As for now, they only had to wait vigilantly.

---

Command Post, FOC Venom

11:09, 28 Oct 2025

With a serious expression, Colonel Glass looked at the footage of aerial reconnaissance from MQ-9 Reaper. With steady steps, 30 infantry columns moved south to the north outer wall, 30 other columns flanked to the east before turning toward east outer wall, while the last 30 columns flanked to the west before turning toward west outer wall.

And those 90 leading columns were followed by thousands of other columns which extended up to 7 km. Colonel Glass immediately turned to an analyst sitting next to MQ-9 Reaper’s sensor operator.

"Jackson, have you got the final headcount from Reaper?"

"Not yet, Sir." Analyst Jackson immediately directed his gaze to the result of auto-head count that was processed by computer and said, "Right now, the number is 130 thousand, and it keeps increasing.

Enemy second camp 10 km from the border also began to move their personnel. The initial estimate is 12 thousand light cavalry and 120 thousand infantry."

"Fuck." Colonel Glass cursed as he clenched his fist.

At the same time, Major Kimber, the XO in FOC Venom sighed deeply. "If only these bastards didn't exploit our ROE. We will finish this battle before it even starts." 

"Yeah," Colonel Glass replied weakly.

Normally, once the oppositions conducted an incursion, artillery strikes would be launched to their camps and the approaching elements. However, the opposition had placed thousands of children and women in their camp.

Along the route to the border they also built small lodging houses for thousands of women and children. With Rule of Engagement where the target of airstrike or artillery strike must be located 2 km away from civilian settlement, the opposition's infrastructures and routes automatically became illegal targets for any strike.

It was also the reason why the opposition confidently established a giant camp with a capacity of 200 thousands personnel, only 2 km away from the border. And once the incursion started, they immediately put the women and children into rooftop of barracks or other buildings

Although IDG had confirmed that the women and children were slaves, TF Amethyst higher-ups couldn't just ordered the massacre of innocent people without solid justification.

However, the most vexing thing for TF Amethyst's higher-ups was that the main meeting room at Sviek Guard HQ did not have window or roof made of mosaic glass. Therefore, IDG couldn't predict what kind of strategy that Battle Group A would employ.

From the eavesdropping operation on some of noble houses in Sviek Regions, IDG only got info that from Regions which support him, Prince Makar obtained 1.1 million regular guards and militias.

Meanwhile, from the neutral Regions he managed to recruit 200 thousand mercenaries, consisting of veterans who were full of combat experience and youth without any experience but full of determination and well trained. 

And by no means these mercenaries were not cheap. Their payment must also be sent to their families through Mercenary Guild before the offensive. The reason was because the mercenaries were ready to die to fulfill their role as door kicker units.

Before the battle, they would consume courage wine that would turn them into a fearless and merciless combatant. And on the battlefield, they would kill anyone who didn't wear the same uniform, even if the target were their families. 

"Fuck shit." 

As Colonel Glass cursed one more time, the leading columns had reached a distance of 1.6 km from the north outer wall. In the end, Colonel Glass could only sigh in silence before turning his gaze towards communication officer standing next to Major Kimber.

"For now we will play by the book, send green light for rifle team, the target priority is ladder's carriers."

"Sir."

Without delay, green light for versus contact was sent to rifle team. Not long after that, the distinctive 'Bang!' of AWM 338 Lapua Magnum was heard in turn. 

*****