Ch 335: A day on the frontline.

"No country would ever consider it an act of evil to deny a pig human rights.

Therefore, if you were to define someone speaking a different tongue, someone of a different color, someone of a different heritage as a pig in human form, any oppression, persecution, or atrocity you might inflict upon them would never be regarded as cruel or inhumane."

Vladilena Milizé, Memoirs.

Major Vladilena Milizé checked her appearance in the mirror, satisfied, and left her room. In the living room, she found her mother, her only living relative.

"Good morning, Mother." nodded Lena a bit stiffly.

"Good morning, Lena." nodded Margareta with an equally formal tone.

Lena's relationship with her mother was… strained. Margareta Milizé was a strong supporter of the theory stating that the Alba race was inherently superior to the Colorata, meaning everyone who didn't have silver hair, and Lena had for a long time tried to convince her that her view was ethically and morally terrible, but had eventually given up.

Lena would have much preferred living alone, and she suspected her mother would have as well. But with the Republic of San Magnolia losing half of its territory within the first six months of the war, the population living on the remaining 85 Sectors had increased by about 80%, and both renting and homeownership became prohibitively expensive. The two of them could just barely maintain their current house and expenses.

Admittedly, her house was much larger than most. An actual manor, although on the small size. But if Lena left, her mother would be unable to keep it and would be forced to sell it and find a smaller place.

It was also the house Lena grew up in, one of her father's mementos, and Lena was unwilling to lose it. So she would endure her mother's views.

With a small sigh, Lena looked down at the breakfast that her mother had already served. A few nutrient pills, a cup of tea, a fake steak made from wheat proteins, an equally artificial omelet, and a compote. The latter was the only food that contained natural ingredients, using raspberries from their small garden.

With the lack of space, and communications with foreign countries cut off by the Legion's Eintagsfliege clouds, natural food became a luxury.

As she started eating, Lena listened to the television, currently featuring another propaganda piece. It was so similar to the one she heard the previous day that for an instant, she wondered if those were recorded messages. Until the anchor actually said something new.

" …In preparation for the cessation of hostilities in two years’ time, the government has decided to gradually reduce the military budget. As a precursor to that, the seventeenth ward of the southern front will be abolished, and all forces stationed there dissolved and discharged."

Lena could read between the lines. They had lost the 17th ward, and the government had given up on even trying to take it back.

The 85 Sectors of the current Republic were protected by the Gran Wall, and beyond it was the no-man's-land known as sector 86, where countless internment camps had been built to hold the Eighty-Sixes. On the outer perimeter of sector 86 were strings of military bases entirely manned by Eighty-Sixes, and the frontline. The loss of the 17th ward meant several bases, each holding a squadron of twenty to thirty Juggernauts, their pilot and support staff, had been destroyed.

If the Legion ever managed to penetrate enough defensive layers, things would be catastrophic. The internment camps would be overrun without even a token resistance for lack of heavy weapons, and the Alba soldiers manning the Gran Wall had never seen combat.

The announced military budget reduction might even be true, as the civilians, believing the war was going well, were increasingly vocal about diverting more money from the military in favor of welfare and public works.

"Lena, isn't it about time you quit the army and find a groom from a good family?" asked Margareta.

Lena hid another sigh. The same conversation, almost word for word, every day.

Pedigree. Status. Standing. Lineage. Superior bloodline. Her mother was living in the past, clinging to this mansion built in the days when the Milizé household was still considered nobility.

"The Legion and the Eighty-Sixes are hardly matters the daughter of the great Milizé household should concern herself with." continued Margareta with the patient tone of someone believing that repeating this enough times would eventually make her daughter cave in. "I know your late father was a soldier, but the war is behind us now."

"Protecting the motherland is my duty and pride, Mother. And please don't call them Eighty-Sixes. They are respectable citizens of the Republic, same as you and me."

"How can you consider them members of the Republic when they’re stained with those filthy colors?" retorted Margareta with a disdainful sniff. "Honestly, even if you must feed livestock to have it do your bidding, what is the government thinking, letting those animals set foot on Republic soil?"

"There were even a few of them spotted near the military headquarters yesterday. I hear they even injured some officers. How dreadful. Walking around as if they owned the place. And to think, they may actually return after the war is formally over… To what extent will our Republic’s freedom and equality have to be sullied before they’re satisfied…?"

Lena sighed, knowing that continuing this conversation would be a waste of time. She hurriedly finished her breakfast and stood.

"I'm off, Mother."

…

"You're changing my assigned squadron?" exclaimed Lena, staring at the paper she had just been handed over by Division Commander Karlstahl.

This wasn't exactly a rare occurrence.

Juggernaut squadrons always fought an uphill battle. Not only did the Legion forces almost always possess a large numerical advantage, but their technology was also significantly more advanced. The Republic had managed to come up with an answer to the Legion's jamming using quantum links between the commanders and soldiers under their command, but that was not nearly enough to even the field.

Furthermore, the Legion never tired, never had morale issues, never seemed to be lacking reinforcements.

As such, squadrons were routinely integrated into one another or reorganized.

Still, it was a surprise for Lena as her squadron, Pleiades, had taken relatively few losses since she had been in charge of it, compared to the others.

"Your squadron isn't being reorganized or integrated." smiled Jérôme Karlstahl. "The truth is that another squadron Handler recently resigned, and we need to replace him as soon as possible."

"is it a defensive unit for some important location?" frowned Lena. "usually, units without a commander are simply placed on standby."

"Indeed. The eastern front's first ward's first defensive squadron, also known as the Spearhead squadron. It's a unit that consists of veterans from the eastern front. You could call it an elite unit. They all have chosen their own callsigns."

Lena raised an eyebrow, impressed.

Callsigns generally corresponded to the name of their squadron, followed by a number. Only those who had survived a year of service were allowed to change it and choose another.

Considering the horrific loss rate, only about 0.1% of Juggernaut pilots could claim this distinction.

"Well, the first ward is certainly an important location." pondered Lena. "And I heard this is where the Legion is pressuring us the most… What are the Spearhead squadron's responsibilities?"

"Night patrol, and they will support the day units whenever needed."

"Which means they do the bulk of the fighting." nodded Lena.

Legions units tended to favor night attacks, as they knew their sensors were better than human eyeballs in dark environments.

"Yes."

"I think this is too much responsibility to place on a novice like me, Sir." frowned Lena.

"Is that something a talented, aspiring officer who was the youngest and first to be promoted to major out of ninety-one alumni should say?" snorted Jérôme. "being too modest can result in angering other people, Lena."

"I'm sorry, Uncle Jérôme." sighed Lena, lowering her head.

Jérôme Karlstahl wasn't actually related to Lena, but he had fought alongside her father nine years ago, during the start of the war. They had been like brothers, and after his passing, Jérôme had taken care of Lena in various ways.

"I'll be frank with you, Lena. We don't have any other candidates for the command of the Spearhead squadron."

"Didn't you say that they are an elite unit? I would think being put in charge of that would be a great honor for any officer."

Not all Handlers took their jobs seriously, however. Some would watch television or play video games in the command room or leave it unattended altogether. Others would give their Processors terrible orders or not provide them information at all and watch as they died, as if it were just some movie.

Others would even place bets with their colleagues on whose squadron would get wiped out first. Lena knew that, of course. If anything, those who took their jobs seriously were the stark minority, but that was beside the point.

"If we were talking about any other squadron, you would be right." sighed Jérôme. "But the captain of the Spearhead Squadron, callsign Undertaker, has scared the other candidates away. There are rumors about him. According to them, Undertaker has a tendency to… break his Handlers."

"Huh?" blinked Lena. "Isn't that some kind of ghost story, Sir?"

"If it is, it is based on a grain of truth, my dear niece." replied Jérôme as he massaged his temples with one hand. "It is a fact that an unusually high number of Handlers who were in charge of Undertaker's present and past squadrons have put requests to change their assignments or even resigned altogether. Some had requested transfer immediately after their first sortie, and some have even committed suicide after resigning, although we are unsure as to whether it's related."

"Suicide, Sir?"

"It's rather hard to believe, but… they claimed they could 'hear the voices of the dead' during some sorties."

"If you are against the idea, you can refuse, Lena. You can retain command of Pleiades, and as I've said, Spearhead is a gathering of veterans. From what I hear, Resonating with them during sorties isn't advised, so we could very well leave command to those in the field and provide minimal monitoring."

Lena thought for a few seconds, then nodded to herself.

"I'll do it. I'll put all my efforts into serving as the Spearhead squadron's commanding officer."

Protecting the motherland was a Republic citizen’s duty and pride. Being put in charge of a unit that stood as the vanguard of the war effort was all she could ask for, and letting this opportunity pass by was unacceptable.

"You can do the absolute minimum. And, refrain from interacting with the Processors too much."

"Knowing one's subordinates is part of a commanding officer's duties. So long as they don't reject me, I'll make every effort to interact with them."

"Good grief..." sighed Jérôme. "By the way, speaking about interactions, I heard you spoke to the four Eighty-Six who caused a mess downstairs and were arrested. Where did you meet them before?"

"Yesterday was my first time meeting them." blinked Lena. "They were very strange. They asked me questions about the Colorata and ethnic groups as if they had never heard of it before."

"Do you know where they came from, or how they managed to go through the Grand Wall and reach the headquarters undetected?"

"No. They didn't speak about it, and I only spoke to them for maybe two minutes. Did they say anything to the guards about their actions in the HQ?"

"Only that they knocked down Leblanc because they heard him taunt and mock his squadron's Processors as he sent them to a suicidal charge, and then beat up other officers when they called them Pigs. We checked thoroughly, and they didn't try to access any sensitive system or database."

"We don't know how they managed to reach the basement without being spotted on the way in. The only clue we have about them is that the one with the long black hair got angry and said, I can quote the exact words because the guards asked me about it…"

Jérôme took a paper from a drawer and started to read.

"If we hadn't been asked to save your rotten country, if not for the children and a handful of decent adults in there worth protecting, we would just sit back and watch as the Legion devours you all. You do not deserve salvation, but we will give it to you anyway, even if we have to shove it down your throats."

"Oh… that is… quite the declaration."

"Some of the guards have tried to… extract actual answers from them. Let's just say that more people were sent to the hospital. And more still when they tried to subdue them. It turns out that the four of them are very skilled in unarmed combat. They aren't trying to escape and are relatively cooperative, but they aren't letting anyone restrain them, either. It seems they're waiting for something."

"I do not have a clue about what Akeno might have meant." frowned Lena.

Jérôme nodded. He knew that if Lena possessed important information, she would have reported it immediately.

"The higher-ups suspect that they have been sent by another nation and have somehow passed through the Legion-held territory and ours, all the way to the capital. But since enhanced interrogation failed to deliver any result, they have decided to try something else. And that is where you come in, Lena."

"Where I come in?" blinked Lena. "Do they want me to come to the guard station and ask them about it?"

"Not quite." sighed Jérôme. "They have simply noted that those four have been the most talkative when they interacted with you, who has earned a reputation of pampering your Processors, and so they decided to send them to the Spearhead squadron where you will be able to have regular conversations with them in an environment that should make them lower their guard. They think you will be able to learn more about them. At least, that's the rationale they gave me. It sounds a bit fishy to me. I think they just want them gone, preferably killed in battle in short order. Try not to get attached to them."

"I… understand." sighed Lena.

…

"So you accepted the offer in the end? You really are a weirdo, Lena." declared Henrietta "Annette" Von Penrose.

"It's just a ghost story, Annette." shrugged Lena as she put her patient gown on a hanger and started putting her uniform back on. "An excuse soldiers cooked up to skip work."

After leaving the Division Commander's office, Lena had a few things to do to assume command of the Spearhead squadron, and the first on her list was to recalibrate her Para-RAID, the device that allowed the Handlers to establish a link with the soldiers of the squadron they commanded.

The Para-RAID took the shape of a thick disk, and once put on, would be pressed against the Handler's nape by a silvery strap acting as a wide choker. It allowed the Handler to share the senses of any soldier, using a quantum transmission that was impossible to jam.

In practice, Handlers only chose to share the soldier's hearing, as it gave them a good sense of what was happening, and sharing vision often led to sensory overload.

"I don't buy the whole ghost story." replied Annette as she entered new settings into Lena's RAID device on the table. "The old guys probably made that up so they'd have something to gossip about. But it's true. One blew his head off with a shotgun."

"Really?"

"Yes. We got a request to check that it wasn't some Para-RAID malfunction. Resignations aside, word tends to get out when someone kills himself."

"And what were the results, Annette?" asked Lena.

Annette's father had been the creator of the Para-RAID device, and she had significantly contributed to it. After his passing, she was the lead expert on this technology and naturally worked in the Army's Headquarters.

"Who knows." shrugged Annette.

"What do you mean, who knows?"

"I mean that device presented no anomalies, and I couldn't make any real analysis with the subject being dead. I told them that if they want me to look deeper, they should bring me that Processor, Undertaker. But the boneheads over at Transports started spouting dumb stuff like 'we don't have room for pigs in our flights.' "

Annette snorted indignantly as she leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms.

Lena knew that Annette didn't share most people's opinion on Eighty-Sixes. But she also did nothing to criticize the propaganda, considering that Lena's righteous stance would only harm her friend while not changing anything.

"If they'd brought him over, I'd have been able to pick apart his brain and investigate. What a lost opportunity."

"That's a bad joke, Annette." chided Lena.

"Right. Lena, you should transfer to the lab after all. The way things are now, the military's nothing more than unemployment relief. Everywhere but the lab is full of idiots from the higher sectors who couldn't hold a job."

"What are you going to do in two years once the Legion isn't an issue anymore? Having 'former military personnel' on your resumé isn't going to turn heads during peacetime. Especially when you will be compared to those drunk fools."

Lena smiled. In two years, all Legion units will shut down. That was a fact the Republic deducted by inspecting several Legion units they’d seized. The Legion’s central processors had a fixed lifespan programmed into them: fifty thousand hours of operation time per version. In other words, just shy of six years. The Empire likely added this design element as a fail-safe to ensure the Legion didn’t go berserk and turn on them.

And since the Empire was presumably destroyed four years ago, all of the Legion’s central processors should break down and cease operation in two years’ time. And indeed, the number of Legion they had detected on the battlefield had been gradually decreasing over the years. Units that hadn’t received the latest updates had begun shutting down.

"Thanks for the offer. But right now, we are at war."

"Yeah, but this doesn’t have to be your job." insisted Annette, unwilling to back down.

Seeing that Lena wouldn't budge, Annette vented her frustration on another matter.

"Whatever the truth is, that's one messed up Processor we are talking about. Who knows what to expect from him… And besides, there's no telling if the Para-RAID is actually safe.

"What?" exclaimed Lena, her eyes widening. "Wasn't it proved that the Para-RAID is perfectly safe?"

"Don't you know how the country works, Lena?" sighed Annette. "Even if they say it is safe in public, doesn't necessarily mean that it is true. This is a rushed technology we are talking about. Back then, we were desperate for anything that would help us bridge the gap between the Legion and us. The Para-RAID prototypes weren't exactly subjected to years of testing to learn about long-term effects."

"It's the same as the Juggernauts. Those things are little more than metal coffins on legs with a gun strapped to it. Once the higher-up decided they were good enough for their purpose, they cut off research to make better models and allocated the freed funds to simply make more of them."

"I… see." sighed Lena, now fully dressed. She took a seat near Annette, staring at the Para-RAID.

"This technology was actually discovered by inspecting people with, well, extrasensory perception. That's how they figured out what part of the brain to stimulate… Which is what this thing does. Those Espers could Resonate with other family members, to the Handler and Processor devices carry quasi-genetic information that identifies the users as relatives on the second degree. But we still don't know how the Resonance actually works."

"We put a safety on it to limit the risk of information overload and limit the usage time. There were cases before where Resonating for too long at maximum synchronization rate led to a collapse of the ego. You know what happened to my dad, right?"

Lena nodded. Annette's father had become mad during an experiment and shot himself.

"His device had accidentally been set to the theorical maximum. Some believed he connected to somewhere that lay beyond the human collective unconscious. If humankind as a whole was an individual, that place was the collective. Like I said, there's no telling what might happen if you use the Para-RAID too much… I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to a bunch of Eighty-Six, but if anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do…"

Lena winced at the genuine concern in her friend's voice, but shook her head.

"I'll still take command of the Spearhead squadron."

"Yeah, yeah. Like I said, you're a weirdo… While we’re on the topic of things that make you act weird… Lena, you up for some chiffon cake? It’s my latest work. Made from real eggs."

"Huh? Real eggs?"

Annette had to stop herself from laughing out loud as Lena looked up at her, an imaginary pair of cat ears perking up in attention. Lena was as much a girl as any other young lady her age, after all. Sweet things captured her attention in a heartbeat, and a chiffon cake made from real egg whites had become a rare commodity in the Republic

"Hmm… It won’t taste like cheese even though you didn’t put cheese in it, or be all charred and smoky, or look like a frog, will it…"

These were the impressions of someone who had tasted the cream puffs Annette had made once. That last comment was an abbreviated version of “the bulging, run-over corpse of a toad.” Putting aside its shape, Annette had somehow managed to replicate a toad’s color to a startling degree of accuracy.

Annette laughed as she stood and opened a small fridge, meant for other things than food.

"This one’s safe to eat. I had the guy who came over for my arranged marriage test them."

Although he’d fainted, frothing at the mouth after the fifth prototype chocolate.

"Then I guess that’s fine… But even if you don’t like him, be sure to give him some chocolate that’s actually safe to eat, okay?"

"Of course I will. I even wrapped it up all cute-like, with pink wrapping paper and a ribbon and everything. Even put a message card with a kiss mark on it that says, ‘To my darling Theobald’… Left it in the mailbox of the apartment he’s renting with his mistress."

It took Lena a while to decide whether she should feel bad for him or not.

…

"We are about to land, so prepare to disembark. Behave yourselves, or you'll be shot." warned the pilot through the flying transport's intercom.

Akeno glanced at the ten armed guards standing at the front end of the cargo bay. They looked back at her a little nervously, the grip on their rifles tightening. They had been briefed. They knew what had happened to the guards who thought they could tie down and torture Akeno and her companions.

"At last, we're going to get some fresh air." said Asuka as she lazily stretched.

They were sitting near the far end of the bay, on retractable seats affixed to the side. The bulk of the bay was taken by crates after crates, as well as three large shapes under tarp that Akeno assumed were Juggernauts.

The VTOL transport made contact with the ground and settled on its landing gear. The rear ramp was lowered, and Akeno walked out, followed by her companions. They were standing on a wide, flat ground covered in concrete. A short distance away were a large, rusty hangar, as well as a slightly smaller building, two stories high, that looked a little run down, with several windows having cracks.

About twenty people in brown military fatigues were gathering around the ramp. Behind them was a utility vehicle with a loading crane. They featured a wide variety of eye and hair color, but one thing that Akeno immediately noticed was that, aside from a middle-aged man, they were all young, barely adults.

One of them, a young man with medium height, red eyes, and short black eyes, walked to them with a small smile.

"Welcome to the frontline. I am Shinei Nouzen, callsign Undertaker, captain of the Spearhead Squadron. Please call me Shin."

"Thank you. I am Akeno Himejima." smiled Akeno, nodded. "Sorry if I'm making a mistake, but am I supposed to salute?"

A few chuckles came from the me and women behind Shin, and he shook his head, his smile widening a little.

"We are on the frontline. We do not care about formality here." said a young woman with blue eyes and long silvery-blue hair reaching past her butt. "I am Anju Emma, callsign Snow Witch. Call me Anju, okay? We're all a big family here."

"I'm glad to hear it. Those are my adopted sister, Asuka Shikinami Himejima, and our friends, Hippolyta and Aife."

"Pleased to meet you all. Just give us a bit of time to get used to piloting those Juggernauts, and we'll more than pull our weight." confidently declared Asuka.

"We don't doubt it, but we won't send you to battle until you're ready." nodded Shin.

"Call me Lyta." smiled Hippolyta. "I have a fond spot for brave soldiers."

"I don't know about brave, when I feel like throwing up before a battle." snorted a young woman with short red her as she walked forward to shake their hands. "I'm Kurena Kukumila, callsign Gunslinger. Welcome to our squadron."

"The lack of fear isn't courage, it is only foolishness." nodded Hippolyta. "But when the fight starts, you do not let it root your feet, right?"

"Of course not! There's no way I'll let my comrades down!"

One by one, the soldiers of the squadron shook hands with Akeno, Asuka, Hippolyta and Aife.

Meanwhile, Shin and the middle-aged man were cooperating with the crew of the VTOL aircraft and the utility vehicle, which seemed to be able to move on its own.

"I'll go help with unloading the supplies while the others introduce themselves, then we'll give you a tour."

"Ah, this is Fido." smiled Anju as she noticed Akeno's gaze. "He's a great help for the squadron, helping us reload ammunition on the field, or bringing back the damaged Juggernauts."

"An AI?"

"Yes. Shin's father was working on the creation of an artificial intelligence before the war started, and Fido is born from that research. He's a bit like our mascot. Be nice to him, okay? He can't talk, but he's a lot smarter than most dogs."

"Of course." nodded Akeno. "And who knows, maybe after the war, his inability to speak would be fixed?"

"That would be nice." smiled Anju. "You should have been provided with uniforms inside the supplies we're getting, and preparing rooms for you four will only take a few minutes. But you probably don't know much about the Legion, right?"

"That is correct."

"I will ask you four to find me in fifteen minutes, and I will teach you more about them." said Anju seriously. "Be sure to listen carefully. It's not only your lives that will be on the line when we will face them."

"I will carefully memorize your every word, Anju."

"Yes, we will." nodded Asuka before looking to her left. "I see a garden. You grow your own food?"

"That's the one advantage of being on the frontline." grinned Raiden "Wehrwolf" Shuga. he had green eyes and short dark green hair, and was the tallest man of the squadron. "We eat better than the white pigs."

"I'm a pretty good cook, and baking is a hobby of mine." smiled Akeno. "If you let me into the kitchen, you won't regret it."

"That is good to hear." smiled Anju. "I am good at cooking as well, if I do say so myself, but I wouldn't mind some healthy competition."

Akeno and Anju smiled at each other, their eyes blazing, already thinking that they would get along great.

…

Fifteen minutes later, Akeno, Asuka, Aife and Hippolyta sat in front of a white board with a metallic back layer, and Anju used magnets to pin large photos of various types of Legion units.

From a drawer, she also took a handful of inactive mechanical butterflies, small enough to hold in her palm. Akeno took one and examined it with interest. It was very light, with wings feeling like the thin plastic sometimes used for grocery bags, and a thin body. It barely weighted anything.

"Those are called Eintagsfliege. Their role is to disrupt radio communications. Seeing a cloud of them on the horizon is often the first sign we have of an incoming attack."

"I heard they were also used by the Legion to power their larger units." said Akeno.

"That is not quite correct." smiled Anju, taking from another drawer more mechanical butterflies. There were some very minor differences in design.

"Those are named Edelfalter. Just like the Eintagsfliege, their wings can collect solar power. However, the Edelfalter are unable to use jamming. What they do instead is draw energy from another Legion unit called Admiral and transmit it to the combat units. I do not have any picture of an Admiral to show you as they stay far from the frontline and we never actually saw them. They are essentially fusion reactors on legs."

"The Eintagsfliege are controlled by large flying Legion units named Rabe." said Enju, pinning on the white board the picture of a steel blue aircraft that looked more or less like a kite. "Those are approximately 120 meters long and fly at an altitude of 20 kilometers, far from our reach. They direct the swarms of Eintagsfliege and collect information for the Legion. We do not know how many Rabes there are."

"That is it for the Legion's non-combat units. It doesn't really matter if you don't memorize their names or something, since only the Eintagsfliege are an issue for us. However, please pay attention now."

Anju pinned another picture, showing a humanoid shape with stilts for legs and arms, a fairly thick, blocky, dark green body, and a white head, smooth aside from a single camera lens and a fake human mouth.

"Those are self-propelled mines. They can run about as fast as a human. You need to shoot them before they can get close, and the farther, the better. If you kill one at more than about thirty meters, your Juggernaut will likely be unscathed."

"If one explode within ten meters, however, you will probably die. And if it's in-between, you may very well survive, but your Juggernaut will take damage."

"Do they use ambush tactics, like burying themselves in the ground or hiding inside ruined buildings or dropping from rooftops?" asked Akeno.

"We haven't seen them do anything like that so far, thankfully." sighed Anju. "Those we see generally accompany the larger Legion units but do not particularly try to hide.

"Next are the Ameise. Our most common enemy. They weight about 10 tons and use two 7.62mm anti-personnel machineguns. They carry a fairly advanced Sensor Unit and are the scouts of the Legion. They are very lightly armored, and even the 12.7mm machineguns that equip some of our Juggernauts will chew through them in short order. Do not underestimate them just because they are light Legion units. Their own machineguns will just as easily chew through our Juggernauts."

"How do you fight them?" asked Aife.

"We try to engage them inside the ruins of a city if possible, to channel them into the streets and give us cover. We will ambush them from rooftops or side streets, then lure the pursuers into ambushes from other platoons."

"From rooftops? The Juggernauts can climb buildings?" wondered Asuka, and Anju nodded.

"Our machines are equipped with two Wire Anchors. We can use them to quickly climb a building or safely come down. Some of the Legion Units can't raise their guns very high, so this tactic allows us to inflict significant losses to them before we retreat and prepare the next ambush."

"Overall, the Ameises are a bit slower than our Juggernauts in a straight line, and most of all, they do not turn fast. When we face them, we don't fight face to face. That is suicide. We use the terrain as obstacles to flank them, kill one or two, and move behind another obstacle before they finish turning.

"But what if we have to fight them on an open field?" asked Hippolyta.

"The land here is very hilly, so we generally can at least hide part of our machines. But if that isn't possible, we can only charge them while jumping to the sides to try to evade their aim, and hope we won't be unlucky." sighed Anju, pinning another picture on the white board. This one was visibly much larger and looking more heavily armored. "Next are the Löwe. It means Lion in the Giad Empire's language."

"The Löwe weight a hefty fifty tons and are armed with a 120mm smoothbore cannon and a coaxial 12.7mm machinegun. If they hit you, you probably won't survive. And our Juggernaut's 66mm cannon can't penetrate their armor from the front, and not often from the sides. Those Legion are very dangerous. We typically deal with them by splitting up. When they try to engage one group, others will slip into their backs, where their armor are thin enough that one clean hit is generally enough."

"I also mentioned that some Legion Units couldn't elevate their guns enough to hit targets on rooftops. I was thinking about the Löwe. Their guns have maybe somewhere around 20 degrees upward angle. They can increase that by using their legs to get more incline, but they aren't able to hit Juggernauts hitting them from above, and their top armor is even thinner than their rear armor."

"One thing to note about the Löwe are that their sensor suite isn't that good. They often rely on a nearby Ameise for accurate targeting at range."

"I see. Are they hardened against electromagnetic pulses?" asked Akeno. "Has it been tried?"

"That's a good question, but I'm not actually sure." frowned Anju. "Maybe early in the war, but the Headquarters aren't exactly forthcoming with information they decided we do not need, and we do not have the means to generate EMPs in the first place. Our Juggernauts would also be affected."

"There are three more Legion Units we have to go through. The Stachelschwein, the Skorpion and the Grauwolf."

"The Stachelschwein is strictly an anti-air unit, armed with rapid-fire autocannons as well as heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles. We were told there was a lot of them in the early days, and they are the reason the Republic lost all of its air force. Nowadays, they have disappeared from the battlefield. We do not know if the Legion decided to recycle them now that they aren't needed anymore, or if they are stashed in a hangar somewhere."

"The Skorpion is essentially a howitzer or multiple rocket launcher with legs. It provides artillery fire for the Legion Units. Without any kind of armor, they are easily destroyed, as long as we get a shot at them."

Anju put another picture on the whiteboard.

"Finally, the Grauwolf. Ask us what Legion Unit we dislike the most, and a good half of us will name the Grauwolf. They are almost as big as the Löwes, but only weight twenty-five tons and are lightly armored. The reason for their lack of armor is that they need to move fast, as they are primarily made for melee combat. They are armed with two long vibrating blades on their front legs, as well as a missile launcher holding six missiles that they can fire all at once if they decide to. And you need to be very vigilant. The instant you see some coming in your direction, you'll have only a second to jump to the side or hide behind a building. Those missiles use thermal seekers, but they have difficulty turning once they have acquired significant speed."

"I have a question." frowned Aife. "The Legion doesn't seem to be using missiles a lot. Is there a reason for that?"

"We do not know." shrugged Anju. "Although we are grateful for that. Shin thinks that the Legion possess a blind spot about missiles because they themselves have good active defense against them and are projecting that capability on us."

"It may be a simple matter of them not having the infrastructure to build them in large quantities." suggested Akeno. "Missiles require specific chemicals like explosives, and they may not have judged the investment of upscaling their industrial capacity in this specific field to be worth it. It's not like they're losing the war as it is… Anju, I noticed that all members of the squadron wear a small metal clip on their left ear. I hope we won't need to have it pierced."

"You won't." smiled Anju. "They're clips. Those are communication devices. They let us speak to each other during battles without the Legion being able to pinpoint our position, and they also let us pair with our Handler's Para-Raid device."

"Our what?" blinked Asuka.

"The Alba officer that will be giving us orders." replied Anju with an eyeroll. "Although the last one was in hysterics by the end of last battle, and we're apparently getting a new one. They use something called a Para-Raid that will let them share our sense of hearing as well as talk to us, individually or to the whole squadron. Do not ask me how that works, we weren't told."

"Well, I have told you what we know about the Legion. I'll take you to Lev, the man in charge of our Juggernauts' maintenance. He must have received communicators for you girls among the supplies. And if not, I think we have spares somewhere."

Akeno nodded, and with her companions, followed Anju out of the building, nodding to her new squadron mates whenever they crossed paths.

Inside the hangar were over two dozen Juggernauts. It was the first time Akeno could get a good look at them, and… she wasn't impressed. The machines could move on four long, thin legs. Their body was about four meters long and 1.5 meters high at its thickest point, and a three meters long, 66mm cannon was fixed on top, with an oversized ammo clip hanging from its back just under the cockpit and engine bloc. The cockpit's canopy was opaque, made of what seemed to be aluminum. Just in front of the forelegs were two harpoon launchers, each with about sixty meters of steel wires linked to the harpoons.

Most of the Juggernauts were also equipped with two two-meters long steel blades extending from the front like tusks, but joints at their base showed that they could be moved to the sides to act like a sharp bumper. Those who didn't have blades were instead equipped with two heavy machineguns.

The only middle-aged man of the squadron, Lev Aldrecht, was hunched over a leg joint, wrench in hand. He straightened as he saw them come closer.

"Lev, do we have communicators for our new members?" asked Anju.

"Yes, should be inside the third crate by the door…"

Anju nodded and walked to the pile of crates, rummaging inside.

"So, how are you guys taking it, now having to fight with us?" asked Lev.

"I have a good first impression about the squadron's members, and I think we'll get along. But I'll be honest, I'd feel better if we didn't have to do it in those rust buckets." bluntly said Asuka.

"Asuka, don't be rude!" winced Akeno, l thinking that Asuka's words might offend the very guy who was maintaining said Rust Buckets, but Lev only grinned.

"It's fine. Those of us who are going to take them into battle have a right to be critical of them, and it is true that their design has a lot of problems. They've been hastily built and are not anywhere near as good as they could have been. But don't call them rusty, unless you find some actual rust. It implies that we don't maintain them correctly."

"Point taken, I apologize." nodded Asuka. "But back to your question, the four of us aren't strangers to fighting. Once we get used to them, I think we'll become some of the squadron's best pilots."

"Those are bold words." chuckled Anju as she returned, holding a few small boxes. "Every member of the squadron is a veteran with years of experience. Here."

"Asuka is quite prideful, but she has reason to be." shrugged Akeno as she accepted one of the boxes and took from it a small metal clip, about two centimeters in length She adjusted it on her ear lobe, where if held firmly but not painfully. "She had excellent reflexes and great spatial awareness. Once you see her in action, I don't think you'll regret having her by your side."

"That would be great."  nodded Anju.

"Alright. It's about time for launch. There's a tradition in the squadron. See those four Juggernauts in the corner? You girls need to choose a callsign for yourselves, then paint a personal logo on your machine's canopy, and use a knife to engrave your callsign under the logo. Normally, you'd have to be Spearhead-25 or something during your first year, but we don't care about those rules."

If you're bad at drawing, feel free to ask Shin, he'll make one for you. You will find painting supplies inside that locker."

"Why use a knife to engrave our callsigns when we can paint it?" asked Akeno, and Lev sighed.

"That's where our tradition comes in." said Anju quietly. "Whenever one of us do not return from the battlefield, we will cut the part of their Juggernaut's canopy that has their callsign on it, and keep it in a box. So we can remember everyone, and carry a part of them wherever the squadron goes."

"I understand." quietly nodded Akeno.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it." said Anju.

A few minutes later, Akeno was giving the finishing touches to her logo, a white dragon. She took a steel knife and engraved under it her chosen callsign, 'Albion'.

[Should I consider it as impersonation or be grateful that you remember I am here?] joked Albion in her mind.

[I see it as an acknowledgement. You may not be able to do much without a body, but you are still by my side, day in and day out. You stand with us.]

[I approve. Bear my name proudly, Akeno.]

After she was done, Akeno put the supplies away and checked with the others. Asuka, perhaps unsurprisingly, had chosen 'Red Empress' for herself and was already asking Lev if she could paint her whole Juggernaut red.

Hippolyta was drawing a female warrior wearing a white toga and holding a bow and chose 'Amazon'.

And Aife, having little interest in appearances, had her callsign 'Lancer' above a minimalistic blue spear.

As they were almost done, they heard a voice through the metal clip on their ears.

"Handler One to all units of Spearhead Squadron. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I will be serving as your commanding officer starting today."

Akeno nodded to herself, having recognized Lena's voice.

"Pleased to meet you, Handler One." replied Shin's voice. "This is the Spearhead squadron's captain, callsign: Undertaker, speaking. I've been informed of the change in Handlers. I wish you luck in your endeavors going forward."

"I wish the same to you. I look forward to working with you, Undertaker… And I happen to have met briefly with the people who just joined your squadron. Would it be possible for me to speak to them?"

Lev, who had been working a few meters away, looked at Akeno with a raised eyebrow. Eighty-Sixes from the internment camps weren't exactly supposed to rub shoulders with Alba officers.

"…I have no objections to this, Handler One, but they may not have received their communicators yet."

"Lev, how do I speak with this thing?" asked Akeno as she pointed to her ear.

"You press the lower part twice."

"Thanks… Hello? This is Akeno, do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you." replied Handler One.

"This is Lena, right? I thought I recognized your voice." smiled Akeno.

"That is correct. I am happy that the four of you are well, although being assigned to the frontline without being given a choice is a hard punishment…"

Akeno mentally checked her quest tab. The first one, the one that had required them not to disclose her origins, had been marked as fulfilled already, so she assumed they were now allowed to speak about it. Not that she intended to just tell them everything right away.

"…It's fine, Lena. We intended to be on the frontline from the start. But maybe I should call you Handler One?"

"Let's keep the formal speech for when there is an operation underway. But if you wanted to join the frontline, there were far easier and less risky ways, you know?"

"Sure, but that wouldn't have been nearly as satisfying. We got to teach painful lessons to those disgraces pretending to be officers!"

"And I hear that you later sent quite a few guards to the hospital as well."

"I won't accept blame for those guys." snorted Akeno. "We were just minding our own business in our cell when they tried to tie us up and torture us. So we taught them another lesson."

As she talked, she noticed a few members of the squadron enter the hanger, including Shin, looking at her strangely. She glanced at Lev with a raised eyebrow, and he shrugged with a small smile.

"You're broadcasting to the whole squadron, just so you know. Private conversations can only be initiated by our Handler."

"Oh. Well, it doesn't matter. We were careful not to cause any death or serious injury, so it's good."

"It's good?!" exclaimed Lena with a strangled voice. It took her a moment to regain her calm. "Why did you join the frontline, Akeno?"

"To fight the Legion. What else? Although I must say, being able to grow and eat our own food is a powerful incentive."

"Maybe I should join you guys." said Lena with obvious envy in her voice.

"Handler One, you naturally have the authority to perform an inspection at any time." said Shin with an even tone. But his very neutrality was a message in itself, and Akeno could almost see Lena wincing as she replied.

"I will try to come at some point, to introduce myself properly. Right now would be difficult. But I will contact you every day from now on, Undertaker, to nurture a good working relationship."

"Understood, Handler One." nodded Shin, staring at Akeno without blinking.

"Well then, I won't bother you anymore for now. Have a good day, everyone."

"Understood, Handler One. Have a good day as well."

A small green led on Shin's ear clip switched off, and he looked at the newcomers in turns.

"You know our new Handler?" asked Anju, and Akeno nodded.

"When we went to the capital, a bunch of officers called us pigs and started to harass us, so we started punching noses. A short while later, when we were going down a street and the Alba were gawking and pointing at us, she was the only person who actually came and spoke to us, without showing any sign of prejudice."

"Her name is Vladilena Milizé. For an Alba, she's a good person." said Asuka.

"Ah! I'd sooner believe in the tooth fairy." snorted Theoto 'Laughing Fox' Rikka, a short young man with jade green eyes and neck-length golden hair.

"I'm not going to try to convince you." shrugged Asuka. "Just keep an open mind and give her a chance."

"More importantly, how did you manage to reach the capital in the first place?" asked Raiden. "You had to cross minefields, the Gran Wall, and enter the capital all without any Alba spotting you?"

"We… got a little help, let's say." shrugged Akeno. "I know you probably have more questions, but everyone has a right to their secrets. How soon can we start training with the Juggernauts?"

"After lunch." nodded Lev, understanding that Akeno wanted to change the subject. Shin nodded and walked away. The others took it as a signal to give Akeno and the others some peace.

…

"You're even faster than Akeno." said Lev, impressed, as he stared at his chronometer.

"Well, they are nimble, for clanking coffins." admitted Asuka as she finished the obstacle course Lev had improvised.

Asuka possessed her own version of Noah's Martial Arts Mastery, giving her a deep understanding of every kind of weapon, and armed vehicles were considered weapons, as far as the skill was concerned. She had to fake a short period of awkwardness and learning for the first hour, and knew instinctively just how far she could put the Juggernaut before it would start taking damage.

"I refuse to think this is your first time." exclaimed Lev.

"Eheh. That's how great I am. Can we get to the firing exercises now? And can I paint mine red?"

Lev looked to his left at Shin, who shrugged.

"No on the color. You might get yourself and the rest of the squadron spotted, so don't be selfish about this. But yes, firing exercises are next. We will use live ammunition, so don't do something stupid and aim in anyone's direction." nodded Lev. "First, you'll do a series where you will have ten seconds to put as many rounds on the target as you can manage. We'll evaluate you on both speed and accuracy. Then, we'll see how you girls manage when you have to aim and run at the same time. Finally, you'll have to fire, jump to the side, fire again, and… Akeno, are you listening?"

"I am." frowned Akeno. The reason Lev asked was that Akeno had turned to the side, looking at the distance with a thoughtful expression. "…I just don't like how that cloud over the horizon looks. It’s a little too dark."

She didn't tell them that she felt a very faint electromagnetic disturbance from that direction, like static noise so faint she hadn't been sure was real or imagined. It was that feeling that had attracted her attention in the first place.

Lev and Shin followed her gaze, and Lev cursed. "Damn, it’s the Eintagsfliege."

"Undertaker to Spearhead squadron, Eintagsfliege cloud spotted. Gather in front of the hangar." said Shin after pressing his ear clip.

"I guess our live fire exercise is going to be very live indeed." chuckled Asuka.

Lev looked at Shin, who hesitated for a second, then nodded.

"I will pair you with four members of the squadron like you are their shadows. Follow their moves and do not take initiatives. You will probably have your own platoon after you become used to acting as part of the squadron, but not today. Understood?" warned Shin.

"Understood." nodded Akeno and the others.

…

Less than fifteen minutes later, Spearhead Squadron was taking positions in the ruins of a city that had abandoned for years, from what Akeno could see of the vegetation growing everywhere.

The scars of battles here and there proved that this wasn't the first time the squadron chose this location as their battlefield.

"Handler One to Spearhead Squadron. Sorry for being late, it took me a while to reach the Headquarters."

Lena sounded seriously out of breath.

"Undertaker to Handler One. We have sortied and are ready to intercept at point 204. The callsigns of the new units are Albion, Lancer, Red Empress, and Amazon. They are currently shadowing Wehrwolf, Kirschblute, Gunslinger, and Laughing Fox, respectively."

"…Understood. I'm updating the squadron's status on my screen… By the way, Undertaker. You seem to have mistakenly sent the wrong patrol report to HQ yesterday." said Lena with amusement. "In fact, you seem to have mistakenly sent the same file, every day, for almost five years."

Akeno's eyebrows shot up. Was Lena suggesting that Shin had faked his reports all this time? And that he had only just been caught despite being so blatant about it?

"…I understand, Handler One. It won't happen again." replied Shin, and Akeno got the distinct feeling that the whole squadron was holding their breath.

"It is the fault of the previous Handlers who couldn't be bothered to read the files you sent previously and notice your honest mistake." chuckled Lena. "But please make sure you send me the correct reports from now on. The radar shows that the lead Legion Units are about ten minutes away from your position, but that data may not be completely reliable with the Eintagsflieges' interference."

"Acknowledged, Handler One." replied Shin.

"…It seems you have taken ambush positions assuming the Legion will take the widest street." remarked Lena.

"We did, Handler One. That is the logical path for them to take. If they change their usual approach, we have fallback positions already determined."

"I see. Well, you have years of experience, so I won't try to micro-manage the battle and will only make suggestions if I see an opportunity or threat."

"We appreciate it, Handler One." replied Shin.

Akeno nodded to herself. So far, Lena checked all the boxes, as far as she was concerned. She didn't criticize the squadron's captain in front of his people, didn't fall into the trap of the new boss trying to fluff their image by bringing unneeded changes and breaking things, but still proved that she took her job seriously, and intended for them to do the same.

Akeno was pretty sure that if she had tried to take direct command of the Squadron in battle, they would just have ignored her and done things their way. After all, what could an Alba officer far from the frontline do? Come and punish them? The typical Handler wouldn't bother.

Minutes passed as Akeno felt the disturbance on her sixth sense slowly getting closer.

"They're coming into view." said Kurena. "…Typical diamond formation, a vanguard of maybe 40 Ameises, 5 Grauwolves, 8 Löwes, and more Ameises intermingled with the heavies. Range 500 meters... 400 meters…"

"First, Second, Third and Fourth Platoons, take position." ordered Shin.

Akeno had been assigned to follow Raiden, leading the second platoon. A unit of four Juggernauts (five, counting her) dedicated to fire support. Following Shin's order, she aimed her harpoons at the top of the building in front of her and started climbing it. In seconds, the rooftops of the buildings on each side of the main street were occupied by ten Juggernauts, hidden from the Legion's view.

Had Akeno been in control of the legion, she would have made sure that the cloud of Eintagsflieges above her contained thousands of reconnaissance drones. She supposed that this blind spot was deliberate in the fiction this world was inspired by to give the protagonists a chance against overwhelming opposition.

Down on the street, the lead Ameises advanced while checking the side streets, but failed to notice a few Juggernauts hidden inside the ruined buildings.

"The Löwes just entered the killzone." said Kurena.

"Open fire." ordered Shin.

As one, Akeno and the other members of the second and fourth platoons moved forward to the edge of the rooftops, angled their Juggernauts down by pushing on their hind legs, and chose their targets.

Akeno aimed at one of the Löwes, remembering that their top armor was weak, and she should use the opportunity. She took a second to aim carefully, and pressed the trigger. The 66mm armor-piercing shell shot from the cannon at close to 1500 meters per second and impacted the Löwe's turret armor, and penetrated it, sending shards of steel blue alloy in all directions in the process.

The Löwe used a railgun and a coaxial machinegun. While the railgun fired depleted uranium penetrators that didn't need explosives as propellants, the machinegun used normal bullets, and some of the shards set them off. Half of the Löwe's turret blew up while its battery banks, suffering a direct hit from Akeno's shell, burst into flames, and the Löwe collapsed instantly.

Akeno lined up another target, an Ameise and fired another shot, making it explode. Her companions were targeting other Löwes of the Grauwolves, with great efficiency.

Two of the Grauwolves still had time to lift their missile launchers, open their trapdoors, and fire three missiles each towards the sky.

Akeno saw that two of the missiles were arcing towards her rooftop, and she jumped back along with the members of her platoon.

They were already using their harpoons to climb down from the rooftops when the missiles impacted, only succeeding in doing more damage to the building.

"Volley on its way." warned Anju.

She led the Fifth Platoon, specialized in Rocket artillery, and her Juggernaut had traded the 66mm cannon for two rocket launcher pods, and she flushed them on the street before disappearing back into the side street she had erupted from. Twenty-four rockets exploded, destroying the remaining Grauwolves and a number of Ameises.

The Legion had already taken heavy loses, with almost half of their Ameise gone, their Grauwolves destroyed, and four Löwes turned into burning wrecks. The Ameises accelerated and pursued the Juggernauts they could see in groups of four to six, only to fall into ambushes prepared by the other platoons.

Meanwhile, First platoon had abandoned the cover of their buildings and engaged the Löwes in close combat, killing one by a rear shot before the other three could react and turn.

One of them fired its 120mm railgun, aiming at Shin's juggernaut, but Shin had already started to evade, and the APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin-stabilized Discarding Sabot) round flew past his cockpit, missing him by only twenty centimeters.

Shin moved his left blade in position, slashing at the Löwe's legs as he ran past him, and the Legion unit lost parts of its three left legs

With its mobility greatly reduced, it would be an easy kill for the members of the squadron.

"We're about to support the first platoon and finish the heavies" said Raiden. "Albion, it's fine if you sit this one out."

"Thanks, but I'm going." replied Akeno.

With all the smoke coming from the wrecks, the battlefield around the surviving Löwes was obscured, hampering both sides. It was fine for Akeno, who could perceive them by their electric signature, and more importantly, the direction their cannons was aimed at. She was almost tempted to take a shot at the rear side of a turret, but refrained as she considered that her companions might view her as reckless, firing at random into the smoke and, for all she knew, possibly endangering the members of the First platoon.

Instead, she followed Raiden and the others as they charged forward, intending to reduce the range to the point that they would get some visibility.

As they closed, she saw two harpoons shoot up from the smoke, burying themselves into the top structure of an overpass. A juggernaut jumped out of the smoke, helped by its rapidly rewinding wires, and landed on the vertical structure fifteen meters from the ground.

The Juggernaut pivoted and, jumped back into the smoke, its two blades aimed downward like the fangs of a spider, and Akeno saw it land on the body of a Löwe, blades buried deep inside.

The Löwe collapsed.

"Good job, Undertaker." laughed Raiden when they came close enough to see through the smoke.

The remaining Löwe tried to aim at Shin's Juggernaut as he was extirpating himself from the wreck, only to take five different hits on its read body and rear turret from Kurena, Asuka, Lecca, Ochi and Io, the members of the Sixth platoon that specialized in Sniping.

There were only a few groups of Ameises left, and from the combat chatter Akeno was hearing, they kept falling into ambushes as they were led around trying to chase after the members of the squadron.

In less than two minutes, the battle was over.

"That was impressive, everyone." breathed Lena.

"We report no casualty, Handler One." said Shin, with the same voice that someone would use when stating it was raining outside. "We will send Fido to scavenge what we can and return to base."

"Yes, good job." replied Lena. "I'll take care of sending you more ammunition."

…

After returning to their base, Lev did a round of maintenance on the Juggernauts, and Akeno watched with amusement as he yelled at Shin for pushing his machine too far and causing excessive wear and tear.

She busied herself for a few minutes with the crucial task of petting TP, a cat, black with white paws that had decided to adopt the humans of the Spearhead squadron, then went to help in the kitchen. Whenever the Squadron returned from battle without losing anyone, they celebrated. They even managed to kill a boar and scavenge beer cans from an abandoned house, so they would have barbecue.

As they happily ate and drank, separating into small groups to chat, Akeno spotted Shin sitting alone, reading a book.

"What are you reading?" asked Akeno as she walked over.

"Second Variety, by Philip K Dick." replied Shin. Seeing her blank expression, he smiled a little. "I was written decades ago. This is a science-fiction novel about a war between two major countries that turned the world into a wasteland. A few surviving soldiers discover that self-replicating robots created by one of the two nations to assassinate the other side's VIPs have gained sentience and are plotting against both sides."

Akeno winced as she sat beside him.

"This is quite on the nose, considering how things turned out with the Legion. Even fictional works can be cautionary tales. But humanity only seems to be able to learn by putting their hand into the fire. Repeatedly."

"Indeed... You did well today, Akeno. Raiden told me you followed his directions instantly."

"Of course." smiled Akeno. "You guys have been at it for a while. That's your game, and I won't put the rest of us in danger by acting like I know better."

"Spoken like a veteran soldier." nodded Shin. "But that's what you and the others are. I can tell at a glance that you aren't just civilians fresh from one of the camps, and your performance earlier today confirmed it."

"I won't deny it." nodded Akeno. "It was my first time fighting the Legion, but I am no stranger to the battlefield. And so are the others."

"You fought against other people?"

"Sometimes." shrugged Akeno, watching Raiden and Theo set up five empty beer cans on a low wall. They were going to shoot them with their pistols, already making bets.

"And sometimes, we fought enemies that were neither human nor machines. But you wouldn't believe me unless I showed some proof, and I don't want to reveal those cards just yet. If you're curious, I will tell you all about it when our grand plan to defeat the Legion reaches the second stage."

"A grand plan? If it has any chance of affecting the squadron, you should tell me. If anyone dies because of information you withheld…"

Akeno smiled and lifted her right hand, enumerating.

"First, join the frontline. Second, get some combat experience against the Legion and nurture relationships with competent and experienced Juggernaut pilots. Third, capture at least one of the Shepherds. Those are the objectives we were given for the first stage."

"Capturing a Shepherd? That's… ambitious." frowned Shin. "They are cautious, and when one of them is present, the Legion acts much differently. Our ambush wouldn't have worked nearly so well if one had been there."

"Yes. And I interrupted your reading for a reason. I heard Raiden mention that you had some kind of sixth sense, when it comes to them. That you knew there wouldn't be one today." said Akeno.

Shin opened his mouth but didn't talk as shots rang out. Theo fired five times in as many seconds, but only hit two of the beer cans, at a distance of about 25 meters. That was already quite a good result.

"…Raiden always talks too much once he's had a few drinks." sighed Shin. "…But maybe it's better if you know, after all... My clan, the Nouzen, has a long history of martial prowess, dating from even before the invention of the Feldreb."

"Feldreb?" frowned Akeno.

"That's the general name for legged vehicles. Juggernaut is the name for the model used by the Republic of San Magnolia. You don't have those where you come from?"

"No. On my latest battlefield, we used eight-meters tall humanoid machines with two legs and two arms called Knightmares, a word play between knights and nightmares."

"Knightmares? Are they better than Juggernauts?"

"Much better. Really, their only flaws were those inherent to having a humanoid shape, meaning limited armor thickness and tall profile... But you were speaking about your clan."

"…Yes. The Nouzen are Onyx, and as you know, our esper power is…"

"Wait wait wait, rewind back a little. What are Onyx? And esper power?" frowned Akeno.

"…You don't know about the existence of espers?" asked Shin, confused.

"I met a number of espers back home, and some people would consider me one, but what's that Onyx reference? You assign stones to your Esper powers?"

"Stones? It's about the Colorata groups."

"Ah, Lena mentioned something about that prejudiced nonsense when we met her. But we didn't exactly have time to elaborate, with the guards wanting to arrest us. Please explain this to me like I'm five years old."

"Your country must be a nice place…" wistfully said Shin. "The Colorata ideology is… complicated. It first separates people into two categories, the Vespertina, and the Non-Vespertina. The Vespertina is the collective name for all people originating from the West, characterized by pale skin."

"All Eighty-Sixes are Non-Vespertina, and part of the Orienta, Deseria, Austra or Meridiana sub-groups. More specifically, you and I are both Orienta, having dark hair and ivory skin."

"I'm following you so far." nodded Akeno.

"The Vespertina, on the other hand…" started Shin before being interrupted.

"Hey, Shin!" shouted Theoto, waving a hand. "It's your turn!"

Shin shrugged, drew his gun, and immediately shot from the hip, five times in quick succession. All beer cans jumped from the wall.

"Whoa. that is quite impressive." grinned Akeno. "I know of only one girl that could manage that. Mind letting me try?"

"I don't." shrugged Shin. "Just give them time to be well away. Are you the girl in question?"

"No. Chisato is deployed on another frontline, dealing with attacks from mutated beasts and religious fanatics, all while protecting a group of espers called witches from persecution by the locals. But I am a decent shot, I think, even if I'm not used to shooting without aiming."

When the beer cans were back on top of the wall, Shin lent her his pistol, and Akeno fired from the hips as well, letting loose five bullets in three seconds. Two cans were hit.

"Oy! We've got another great shooter!" cheered Raiden as Akeno gave Shin his pistol back.

"You would have hit all five if you aimed." guessed Shin.

"I would have." nodded Akeno. "So, the Vespertina?"

"…are divided into eight racial groups, according to their hair color. The Alba, silver. The Aurata, gold. The Aquila, black. The Caerulea, blue. The Ferruginea, brown. The Rubela, red. The Veridia, green. And finally, the Viola, purple."

"And each of those groups is further divided into one race or another according to eye color or variation of their hair color. Anju, as an example, is an Adularia of the Alba group, due to her silvery-blue hair. Had her hair been pure silver, she could be a Celena. Had her hair and eyes been silver-white, she would be an Alabaster."

"It is starting to become complicated."

"Right? It gets worse. Each of the eight primary groups have one so-called 'noble race'. And the members of those noble races often have one race-specific Esper ability."

"And you have one such ability, despite being a Non-Vespertina." nodded Akeno.

"I have. Esper abilities aren't exclusive to people with Western features. The Onyx group is the so-called noble race of the Non-Vespertina Orienta, although few of us derive any feeling of superiority from it. And many people from the noble races tend to avoid marrying out of their racial group, as genetic dilution will weaken the chance their children might be espers. Anyways, I am an esper to a very small extent, and I can perform some kind of telepathy with my older brother Shourei."

"…And my older brother, became part of the Legion."

"Oh. I'm sorry." quietly said Akeno, and Shin nodded.

"Shourei was a good brother, most of the time. But he also had his flaws. He was prone to fits of rage, and..."

Shin paused for a few seconds, lost in thoughts, then sighed.

"Since he became the enemy, I have felt his thoughts once or twice. I know he is obsessed with me, wants to kill me or make me join him… And I want to face him. I want to give him peace."

"I understand." nodded Akeno.

"So, why did I tell you all this?" shrugged Shin. "Somehow, I can feel it when a black sheep or a Shepherd is within, I don't know, maybe ten to fifteen kilometers. I assume this has something to do with the Legion's Shepherds all being part of a hive mind, and me somehow tapping into it through Shourei. But I cannot read any of their thoughts. I just feel a sense of pressure and a general direction."

"What's a black sheep?"

"We call normal Legion units White Sheep, or just Sheep, because they are easy to lead around. Shepherds are Legion units that have a live human brain and lead the Legion. And the Black Sheep, are those Legion units that use a decayed brain recovered from a dead Juggernaut pilot. They are more dangerous than the White Sheep, but do not give them orders.

"And can you differentiate between the Shepherds and the Black Sheep?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll count on you, Shin, to tell me when a Shepherd will show up… And since you told me so much, it's only fair I reciprocate. Ask me one question."

Shin thought for a moment, then nodded.

"How does the squadron fit in that grand plan of yours?"

"…This was probably the best question you could ask." smiled Akeno. "To me, you guys are friends and battle companions. And the future nucleus of the force that will defeat the Legion."

"The second stage will start when a few of my friends come to reinforce us. Some of them will launch an offensive against the Legion to get us some breathing room, while others will form a technical team that will take a look at the Juggernauts, and will work on designing something much better."

"We will count on everyone volunteering their knowledge and expertise then. Our squadron will be the first to benefit from the new Feldrebs, but we want to equip all the Eighty-Sixes in San Magnolia, as well as provide assistance to the other countries."

"This, and the intelligence we get from the captured Shepherd, will be the war's turning point."

"Assuming everything happens as you plan, it will probably take at least half a year to design a new Feldreb, unless you're speaking about a slightly improved Juggernaut…" frowned Shin.

"I mentioned the Knightmares. We started designing our own model from scratch and had the first prototype ready for field-testing in less than a month. Our engineers are that good, and they have created great tools to make their work more efficient. And this time, they already prepared the infrastructure for mass production. They will only have to input their design, insure an adequate supply of raw materials, and supervise as the production lines get busy."

"How will you even interrogate the Shepherd?" frowned Shin. "It would require specialized equipment, and we barely have enough tools here to maintain the Juggernauts."

"Tut tut, you only get one question." grinned Akeno, shaking a finger. "When the time comes, you will see. Then, I will tell you everything you wish to know. I'll stop bothering you. For some reason, Kurena is staring at me indignantly like I am stealing meat from her plate."

Shin nodded, and Akeno left to chat with the other members of the squadron.

Later that night, when most people were asleep and it was hers and Asuka's turn to stand watch, Akeno entered the hangar, took her smartphone from her inventory, and took dozens of pictures of her Juggernaut, documenting both its exterior and its insides.

She sent them all to Noah, who would redirect them to Tabane, Ernesta and Camilla in their unofficial R&D division, and to Da Vinci, so they could get started on understanding and creating the Feldreb model that would win the war. She intended to use feedback from the Spearhead squadron and integrate it on the final design as she had told Shin, but they would save time, and ultimately lives, if they got started early designing systems that would be unlikely to be modified, like the power source and sensors.