Shi Lang issued commands for everyone and the group moved quickly. The injured were all riddled with fractures of varying degrees, so it will take them a few minutes to come back for duty. The medicine was all advanced.
The team leaders advanced and formed a circle around Shi Lang. The boy said, “We are changing tactics. We are going to move into four groups, Assaulters, Scouts, Medics, and Snipers.
Objectives are as such, Assaulter will engage in a gunfight to attract attention. Scouts will sneak through and dig out the mines. How many people have abilities similar to Amelia? Have them carry the dug-up mines inside the enemy lines. One trench at a time. Medics are spotters, their task is to alert the scouts of potential threats. Snipers will have to take engage the precise suppressed fire. Make sure our scouts sneak in and get out safely. Any suggestions?”
Jenkins spoke, “Amelia can erase her presence almost completely, why not let her stay inside the trench and report us if they have any specific movement? The rest can complete the sabotaging task.”
Shi Lang nodded, “I see no problem, but we have to make sure that her presence is not sensed, the telepathic ability mentioned in the data is a headache. We cannot let the enemy know our movements.”
The people nodded, Amelia was listening on the side. She was following beside Shi Lang this whole time, and she felt that this boy was deliberately trying to protect her. Although she was warm in her heart by his concern this was not the way she wanted to be, she wanted to be strong like her mother. She took a step forward and said, “Report, Group Leader.”
Shi Lang heard the formal and taut tone, he sighed weakly, and said, “Go on.”
Amelia took a deep breath and said, “This is a battlefield, we are all vulnerable to unexpected deaths at any time. reckon behind enemy lines is a calculated risk. I would like to take this task. This can greatly help us.”
Shi Lang could tell that no matter what he said, this girl will find a way to counter him and if he persisted a bit too much, it will make the other members of the group unsatisfied, after all, they were all in the same position, he was only a group leader, his first duty was to his whole group and not being partial to his girlfriend.
He was reluctant but nodded as he said, “You have the permission to move in and reckon, but if you sense anything unusual, retreat first and talk later. I do not want any of us to die in this. The higher-ups think too highly of us. This was a six-star Terran task, but they sent us ahead.”
The rest of the people nodded and expressed their agreement to the statement. They had to deal with six more trenches before they can get inside the palace at the back. Who knows what was being held by these people.
Amelia saluted him. Shi Lang said, “Scouts move out, Snipers on stand-by. The action begins when the assaulters will report back to duty. Take a breather and eat some energy bars. This is the first time we all faced a real battle we are slowly accumulating mental stress. It will show once the body is unable to hold, so replenish bodies.”
“Yes, Group Leader.” the surrounding people replied and they all moved to complete the instructions given by Shi Lang.
While Amelia infiltrated the fifth trench from the right flank and the scouts sneakily dug out the mines from the treeline. Sher-al and the high-level officers of Burats resistance were holding a meeting inside the high bunker.
An officer said, “General, these people are not attacking anymore. They must be preparing for a counter. Right?”
Sher-al nodded and another officer said, “Sir, how about we take the initiative? We can send in heavy machine gun cavalry to swipe the trenches and kill them.”
The general raised his head and said, “Jord(yord) do not be too hasty. They must be waiting for us to do something like this. They took out our heavy machine gun posts first, and they are aware that we have measures to deal with an EMP burst.
They must be waiting for us to send our people in. If their snipers took out our forces, then we will lose. The losses are already heavy. You also know, we have a limited force here. Just try and delay them for the night. In the morning, we will have special troop infantry arrive here from the hell banks.”
The officers all stood up. The special troop infantry was the elite of elites in the burats army and hell banks was a special camp where they were stationed. The officers all became happy. The meeting concluded that the enemy aimed to delay the intruding forces. The orders were sent out quickly.
Amelia was squatting in a corner like a cat hiding in the shadows. In front of her was a bunk where a few Burats soldiers stood. Suddenly a soldier came over and said, “Report Captain Shu.”
The captain nodded and said, “What is the order?”
The soldier relayed the whole order and left. The adjutant beside the Captain (Trench leader) said, “This is great, now we just have to hold these bastards back and see how they die when the special troops arrive in the morning.”
It was sunset already, which left Shi Lang and his team just a few more hours at hand. Amelia was listening to all this. Since these people could not sense her presence, she had become suspicious of the telepathy, but now witnessing that the officer came and relayed the order. Her suspicion had become confirmation. She smirked and sneakily moved away.
However, in her rush, she bumped into an officer coming around the corner. Her ability had a weakness, once she is touched, it will vanish. Every ability had such weakness. Amelia did not close her calm, the officer suddenly saw someone materialize in front of him out of thin air, and was stunned.
Amelia pushed her palm over the person’s mouth and then the dagger at the side flickered, leaving a violet line on the throat of the officer. Then she stepped back and vanished again before running back.
She underestimated the vitality and patriotism of these soldiers. The dying officer held, with trembling hands took out the pistol tied on his thigh and then took an aim and squeezed the trigger.
BANG!!!
A gunshot echoed in the fifth trench and all the Burats were alerted. The soldiers immediately acted.
A lot of voices sounded, “Who goes there?”
Amelia was not wounded, but her ability was disabled for the second time and this happened when she was near a bunch of soldiers. She did not wait and dropped a Phasor-nade on the ground. Then she ran leaving a strong explosion in her wake.
The strong explosion attracted attention from all sides. Shi Lang was about to ask for the situation when a voice sounded inside his visor, “Group Leader, Shadows are discovered.”
Shi Lang immediately said, “Provide cover and coordinate with the troops parallel to their position. Have them roll out some nades or smoke bombs and push back the enemies. Shadows retreat. I do not care what are you all doing, drop it and retreat, be careful the enemy has been alerted.”
Shadows, the code name they designated for the scouts. Shi Lang was not at ease when he saw his troops behind the enemy lines under enemy fire. He was aware that the people will not die due to the metal bullets thanks to the special armors and Terran dexterity, however, they will be wounded and that will delay the performance.
The snipers did not dare to delay the execution and delivered suppressing fire to the points where the enemy was trying to capture their comrades, they also had some of the soldiers on the parallel position drop out smoke bombs and nades just as Shi Lang said. The people were being rescued.
The place where Amelia collided with the enemy soldier was two hundred meters away from the place where the trench leader was. So, they did not think that she heard all this. They all thought that a soldier detected her presence and was killed.
Ten minutes later, Amelia and the rest of the scouts had been rescued from the enemy hands and they all stood in front of Shi Lang to report the status. Amelia looked a little paler, she had multiple fractures in her bones because of the bullets shot at her.
She saluted and said, “Group leader, I have some important intel…”
She did not give Shi Lang the time to ask how she was doing but told the boy about what the enemy was aiming at. The more she spoke the more grim Shi Lang’s appearance became. In the end, he said, “You know what guys, I really want to stick a long stick through the ears of these so-called higher-ups to see if they have brains inside their skulls or not. Motherfucker, sending my group to their deaths, old pieces of sticky shits…”
Den and the rest of the officers who heard all this through the monitor room could not help but spit out the liquor in their mouths. The soldiers on the side were all clenching their jaws to not laugh.
The old officer said, “Den, call them back. They have passed the test and they have passed splendidly. Your aim has been achieved, they all qualify.”