As the drop pod burst into the atmosphere and shuddered, Ral closed his eyes and silently felt the feeling of belonging to the Marines. For them, this feeling is wonderful and precious, and it is one of the few things in the army that is exclusive to them. They call it a "massage", although many recruits have a star in their eyes after the first "massage".

"Squad leader, when will you repeat the mission briefing?" Four-eyed questions rang out in the communicator.

“…… Wait for the landing module to finish massage. ”

The time of massage is a rare quiet time in the communication channel, and few people are willing to break the silence of enjoying the massage. In this way, in silence, they burst from the high altitude of the orbit towards the surface of Ciel.

As the violent shaking began to subside, Ral also opened his eyes, glanced at the other people standing in the drop capsule, and nodded, "Now for the last mission briefing." ”

"Our task is to cooperate with the 14th squad to occupy the hills of the 'Yumoyan' point, establish a blocking position as soon as possible to delay the Tadarin rapid reaction force, and the earliest evacuation time is expected to be 24 hours after landing. Our only tactical support is two 81mm mortars deployed at Point Morion, but the earliest deployment is expected to be four hours after landing. ”

“…… Another standard suicide landing? ”

"That's what we're doing, don't complain about Miles." Four-Eyes directly reprimanded Laal one step earlier, "If you have this time, you might as well think about how to rescue a few more people during the battle." ”

"Miles, after the capture of Yumoyan Point, the people of our class and class 14 will all rely on you and the medical soldier in their class." Ral's expression was very serious, "We don't have any medical support, and the only medical team under the company has given the B platoon of Keha Point. ”

"Gan, squad leader, won't you put so much pressure on people at this time to make me overly nervous and have a nervous breakdown at that time?"

"You're the least likely person in the class to have a nervous breakdown." Four Eyes rolled his eyes, "There are the most samples of you in the ship's laboratory, pervert!" ”

"Who's a pervert! I'm just interested in collecting specimens......"

"Alright, shut up. Now calm down and keep your strength, we don't have time to rotate until the second batch of reinforcements arrives in the landing zone. Wait until you survive 24 hours of continuous high-intensity combat and then discuss who is a pervert. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone fell silent.

Of course, Lal is scaring people, not to mention human beings, it is impossible for the 24 people of Tadarin's two reinforcement squads to withstand 24 hours of high-intensity combat, which tests not only psychological endurance, but also casualties. Maybe after 12 hours, these 24 people will be wiped out. Ral reckoned that they would likely withstand a heavy onslaught from Tadarin for a few hours, and most of the time they should face nothing more than the sands of Schill.

"Class 14, how are you doing?"

"In good condition, we'll meet at the B2 meeting point."

"Understood."

But things went badly from the start. The two mortar squads of the fire platoon of the 17th Separate Company, which was responsible for the first landing, were hit by Tadarin's ground-based orbital defense system and were completely denied, resulting in the loss of tactical support directly before the 17th Separate Company landed.

Douglas, the commander of the independent company, was forced to inform the whole company of the news after several fruitless contacts, which obviously dealt a serious blow to morale.

After the loss of mortars, the fire platoon was left with only two machine gun squads with two large-caliber machine guns, which were deployed to Kekha Point to cooperate with platoon A for defense.

In view of the loss of the mortar squad, the tactical significance of the Morian point was no longer very large, so Douglas asked the C platoon, which was originally responsible for capturing the point, to divide two squads to support the defense of Yumoyan Point, and the remaining one squad and platoon command squad were responsible for clearing out the possible Tadarin army at Morian Point.

In this way, the troops guarding the Yumayan point had 6 squads, 3 infantry squads and command squads of Platoon B, and 2 squads of Platoon C. Therefore, the platoon commander of the B platoon informed Lal of the change in the original defensive strategy, and the two squads of the C platoon were responsible for capturing the Yumoyan point and establishing defensive positions, and his 76th squad and the coordinated 14th squad moved forward to establish a secondary position in the direction of the Yumoyan point towards the Tadalin base, laying mines and obstacles, and at the same time taking charge of reconnaissance and early warning work. The remaining infantry squad and command squad of the B platoon remained unchanged and remained in reserve and established a reserve retreat position behind the Yumoyan point, forming a three-stage stepped defense configuration.

The main task of the secondary positions they were responsible for was not to fend off the Tadarin army, but to move and delay. When the Tadarin army arrived, they continued to attack Tadarin, attrition of the enemy's forces, and delayed the enemy's forces, while ensuring that the Tadarin army was always in sight and finding out the movements and intentions of the Tadarin army. If necessary, they set up defenses on both flanks of the retreat to Yumoyan, cover the defenders at Yumayan, and provide the necessary support for friendly counterattacks if necessary.

“…… What a hassle, so the guys in the C platoon just have to sit on the hill and watch us toss? ”

"It's nice to be recognized." Lal wasn't so negative, "At least we have reinforcements, and we don't need to stay on that hill." Speaking of which, it is thanks to the fact that the Star Spirit does not even have an artillery, otherwise the hill may have been leveled by Tadarin's artillery before the battle. You'll have to thank the platoon commander for not putting us in that position. ”

This kind of work is generally done by reconnaissance units, and reconnaissance units are generally elite units in the troops. Being able to be assigned to this kind of work can be regarded as the recognition of the platoon commander. Of course, in fact, these are basic combat qualities, and they have all been learned to do in the barracks. It's said that it is recognition, but it is better to say that they give themselves some psychological comfort, otherwise they will always feel uncomfortable looking at the group of guys lying in the trenches on the hill.

"One minute more is expected to land." Raal's Power Armor AI reminded.

"There's one minute left to land, everyone has a final check!" Ral opened the C-14's safety and shouted loudly in the squad channel, "Get out of the cabin immediately after landing, maintain the battle formation, advance to the B2 assembly point to meet the 14th squad according to the original plan, and remember not to fall behind!" ”

"Yes!"

As the Marines nervously examined, the drop pod opened its chokes and slowed down with a roar, then slammed into Ciel's surface at a relatively low speed. The first phase of the operation, codenamed "Excavator", officially began.