“Holy bollocks!” Urbs cursed as he sprung out of the bed and rushed for his coverall on the stool.

The entire city was blaring with ear-piercing emergency alarms and repeated sounds of the french horn. As Urbs rushed out of his quarters, he was greeted by a chaotic scrambling of soldiers. He briskly stepped into the operations room.

“Update,” he ordered.

“Room diam!”

The soldiers stood at attention.

“I asked for an update, not a bloody salute!” Urbs shouted.

Captain Steele pushed through the throng of officers.

“Sir, enemy sighted ten kilometres south from here. Strong firepower. Forty tanks, four hundred men, twenty copters.”

“Room diam!”

The officers stood at attention once again as Husker and Sergeant Pike walked into the room.

Husker acknowledged by giving a nod and said, “at ease.”

Urbs turned to look at Husker and nodded as well – a silent acknowledgement.

Husker could read Urbs’ thoughts. He replied, “it’s your game, Urbs. The Hustlers will do support.”

Urbs gave a weak smile before turning back to the large LED screen plastered to the wall. He raised his voice and commanded, “delta hunters take the main gates. I want all tactical positions covered. We are dealing with aerial combat as well. Prepare for air insertion. The rest go man your stations. We will take them out as they funnel into the city. I declare condition red!”

“We have incoming!”

The building gave a violent tremor. The enemy troops had launched a dozen rockets, destroying the city with shells.

Urbs then strapped on his yellow helmet, ordering Captain Steele to take command, “I’m going to command Alpha.”

Urbs rushed out of the operations room.

Husker looked meaningfully into Master Sergeant Pike and beckoned, “we have work to do too, Puke. Ready our troops for battle.”

Bright flashes filled the night sky. Delta Hunters squadron scrambled to the make-shift south gates and assembled their weapons. Two huge tanks rolled its way to the middle, blocking the entrance. This model was the most recent development, brought in from the capital a week ago and only assembled the previous day. The Ares was capable of withstanding more firepower due to its enhanced vibration-absorbent outer layer.

The state-of-the-art, ground-to-air anti-air weapon, Artemis, proliferated the grounds. The Artemis was equipped with an automatic gun loaded with 30mm calibre bullets, four autocannons loaded with armour-piercing shells and two heat-seeking missile pods. It was powered by an auto-guidance targeting system for maximum accuracy rates. Against the Artemis and Ares, the enemy, Phantasm, was courting a death wish.

As the Delta Hunters awaited engagement with jittery feelings, Commander Urbs took command of his Alpha Squadron and dispersed them into the various buildings in Odina.

Husker was not going to be sitting ducks. He positioned half his troops at the south gates and the other half to protect key installations, such as the power plant and the town hall.

A deafening blast echoed in the air. Phantasm had also deployed its troopers. Eight enemy tanks rolled down the front lines in rows of two. Following closely behind were two platoons of a hundred men.

CONTACTED!

Oclia’s troopers began firing their arsenal of weapons. The two _Ares _blasted rounds after rounds of large calibre, explosive shells. The first row of enemy tanks blasted apart after the fourth round. The second wave of tanks approached after the sixteenth round as the _Ares _did their job by eliminating the first wave. It seemed as though Oclia had the upper-hand in this battle. However, what could two tanks do to forty? Despite having superior firepower, they were still severely outnumbered.

Husker looked through his binoculars to assess the battle status.

“Oh crap,” he muttered, “these tanks are a different model from the ones we fought in the Evergreen…”

“How different? Seems like the _Ares _are still functioning well,” Pike asked.

“They’re smaller in size. The firepower is weaker and they seem to be able to take a lot less damage,” Husker replied.

“Isn’t that good? Weaker models mean that this battle will be easier,” Pike questioned worriedly. Though his logic was sound, Pike learnt to trust Husker’s judgement more than his own.

“It’s a diversion!” Husker exclaimed, “comms south gate and Urbs!”

It was too late.

The soldiers at the south gates stared blankly as a barrage of anti-tank, armour-piercing rockets smashed into the Ares, exploding upon contact and rendering them immobile. They were unable to respond as Phantasm soldiers marched into the city, undeterred.

Commander Urbs observed the battlefield from the top of the north tower. He had an uneasy feeling about how quickly the Ares wiped out the first wave of tanks. Something was really wrong if it was that easy. Also, despite holding on strong at the front lines, the Ares also took damage from the advancing tanks.

Captain Steele gave a passing comment, “sir, it seems like the enemy troops are no match for Ares.”

“No… I’ve read Husker’s report and watched the replay of the fight in the Evergreen. This fight is way too easy,” Urbs muttered.

After a moment of silence, Urbs’ eyes widened in shock.

“IT’S A TRAP! STEELE, PULL OUR FORCES BACK NOW!”

Before the order could be communicated to the rest of his soldiers, five enemy battle copters in an inverted ‘V’ formation zoomed in swiftly and fired anti-tank missiles at the two enormous tanks guarding the gates. After the smoke cleared, another eight tanks in rows of two rammed into Ares, successfully blocking the south gates. Phantasm soldiers rushed into the city through small gaps between the metal tanks. Another fifteen helicopters pierced through the city borders via the skies. Soldiers rappel down the transport helicopters into the city.

“Damn! This was their plan all along!” Urbs thought.

Three battle copters blasted into flames, the debris shooting from the sky. Every unit of Artemis was giving everything they had. More battle copters were blasted out of the air.

No good… Not good at all… The copters had fired every single ammunition they had. They were useless machines waiting to be destroyed, unless their destruction could value-add to the situation.

It did.

The debris showered down the sky, piercing through soldiers and tanks. Several buildings collapsed due to the impact of the blast. Phantasm soldiers were stomping over immovable troops from the south.

Phantasm had planned to funnel their way into the city. Urbs’ plan had back-fired. Instead of blocking the enemy out of the city, the enemy had boxed them in. Urbs clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Unknowingly, the enemy had forced him to play his best card – urban warfare – without reinforcement.

The formal master architect of Oclia did not like it one bit. He was not confident in winning this battle. Judging by the way the Phantasm commander strategised his troops, Arnold Urbs had met his match.