From the moment the radar worth tens of millions was wiped off the map, Skai knew the other side was planning to make a move on Homaku.

Without spending even a second mourning the radar's explosion, what came onto the battlefield immediately was—

Super Earth!

"Report, unknown electromagnetic signals have appeared to the south of Homaku and are closing in on the forward depth of our positions. We suspect it's the assault unit known as Super Earth!"

The signaler was practically shouting at the top of his lungs; Skai could hear him from far away.

Skai's nerves snapped taut in an instant.

"How many of them are there?"

He wasn't naïve enough to think what he'd seen that night was all of them. These past few days those bastards hadn't stopped attacking; there was no way a hundred men could put on a show like this.

"Their numbers are unknown, but before the drone was shot down the footage showed at least 17 transport trucks, plus a lot of drones following along."

A lot of drones?

Skai had seen those things; they were almost the size of a hovercar, and extremely maneuverable.

Good thing it was the radar that got blown up and not the air-defense vehicles. Without radar, they couldn't fight beyond visual range, but short-range air defense was still available, and they had plenty of man-portable air-defense gear as well.

"Notify the frontline command post to strengthen defensive preparations and brace for contact. Have the fire support company adjust their guns and be ready at all times to suppress enemy firing points." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

After issuing his orders, he picked up the landline beside him.

Yes, a landline.

Funny to say it, but they were still using infrastructure the government had left behind a hundred years ago.

Though the Havana Drug Trafficking Group currently controlled the four western provinces, they didn't develop any light or heavy industry. They put their whole heart into the drug market and naturally couldn't care less about infrastructure. If something came up, they just made a phone call and that was that.

Cell towers?

As long as there was signal in the city, that was good enough; long-distance issues could be handled with a phone call all the same.

If you really spent big money to build it up, you might just be tailoring a wedding dress for another warlord. Worst case, you'd never earn your investment back.

So when it came to infrastructure, not a single dealer gave a damn.

Roads just had to be good enough for their cars to drive on,

Phones just had to connect when they dialed,

The water just had to be drinkable.

In a single phrase: "Make do with it."

Skai did have a networking kit in his hands, but it could only cover a radius of a dozen or so kilometers; anything beyond that was no good.

He dialed his immediate superior's number and said tensely,

"Sir, our reconnaissance has detected large-scale enemy troop movements heading toward Homaku. I request that the nearest units hit their rear and annihilate the intruders."

Skai was indeed a little worried that Super Earth might come at him hard, but he couldn't very well beg for help before the fighting even started, so he took a roundabout tack.

What he hadn't expected was that his superiors already knew about this, and even a bit earlier than he did.

Lieutenant Colonel Hardlin, stationed in the rear at Da Haguai, said,

"I've received intel that a large amount of dense electromagnetic signal traffic suddenly appeared in the western Pig Bay region. It's obvious that a major force is massing there. Judging by the direction, they seem to be preparing to launch an attack on Buena Ventura. What you're facing may only be a feint force. The electromagnetic signals are much weaker than they were two days ago, and they're all concentrated at the head of the column. Just make your defensive preparations."

In other words, he could forget about reinforcements; he was to sit tight and hold Homaku while the neighboring units went off to support the next sector.

Hardlin's intel obviously wasn't something Cuba could obtain on its own. It came from satellites the European Space Agency had deployed, then shared with them.

As for the European Space Agency, the Cubans believed them one hundred percent. The other side had no reason to deceive them.

"Yes, sir."

Though unwilling, Skai still relaxed a little when he learned that only a small feint force was coming his way.

As for the radar vehicle losses…

Best not to report those; it wouldn't be too late to mention it after the fighting.

And to be honest, even if Hardlin ordered the neighboring battalion over to reinforce him, Skai had his doubts they'd actually come. The two sides had bad blood: Skai had snatched a shipment from them, and they'd had several clashes over it afterward, almost escalating into a full-blown shootout.

——————

Six in the evening, August sky already at dusk, the blood-red sun sliced in half by the pitch-black earth, tree shadows stretched long and thin, the forest in the distance a solid wall of darkness.

On the far side of a hillside several kilometers from the forest, Captain Miguel of the infantry company in the frontline command post was very pleased with his own sound judgment.

"Good thing I set up drone recon ahead of time, or we wouldn't even know how we died."

"As expected of the Captain, you even guessed this."

"Cut the crap. Tell every squad to stay on high alert. The enemy could show up at any moment."

Trenches had really come into their own during World War I, thanks to massed artillery. Both sides had to squat in them and wait for the shelling to end before daring to poke their heads out and charge, so the trenches were dug long and dense.

Even in 2076, trenches still existed; they hadn't vanished with technological development. The difference was that instead of people crammed together in them, they'd become squad-based trench positions, spread out much wider.

In an era where offense trumped defense, you wouldn't find a second type of fortification on open plains that was both concealed and capable of withstanding artillery besides trenches.

And they were cheap.

A trench only took a 20-dollar shovel plus muscle to dig, and it worked better than all sorts of fancy defensive structures.

Chances are, even in a space age where people fought with laser rifles, trenches wouldn't disappear. Conventional rounds could at least kill with shrapnel and stray bullets; laser shots hitting mud and failing to penetrate meant literal zero damage.

This battalion, the one that had been butting heads with them back in Camaguey, dug their trenches pretty well.