Chapter 180: Wave of Promotions

The fighting continued past noon.

The infected around Ironford still numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but the movements Hans watched through his Virtual Radar had changed completely.

Groups continued toward gunfire.

Others wandered through the industrial blocks or followed infected moving in different directions. Concentrations that would have shifted together only minutes earlier now separated at intersections and entered different roads without correcting themselves afterward.

Matilda kept the First Mobile Company where it was.

"Hold the current sectors. Clear the immediate approaches only."

Anton and Sabine acknowledged.

Third and Fourth Platoons did the same along the sides, while Fifth remained around the support route and the Armored Command Truck.

Nobody chased the deeper contacts. There was no reason to. The nearest groups were already coming toward them.

South One continued firing through the western roads. South Two held the wider avenue farther south, while Guardian APCs and Vanguards moved whenever another concentration entered a better firing angle.

The noon replenishment made the difference immediately.

Machine Gunners who had been counting their remaining belts several minutes earlier continued firing from full allocations. Missile Infantry returned to the deeper concentrations. Guardian GIs resumed placing grenades across the road mouths, while the Vanguards and Guardian APCs no longer needed to conserve what remained from the morning.

Above them, the air battle had also thinned.

The gliders still moving over Ironford no longer launched in coordinated waves. Some left the rooftops individually. Others never moved at all.

Raptors Five through Eight cleared the contacts that remained high enough to threaten the aircraft.

The Strikers stayed with the company until the nearest ground concentrations broke apart.

Matilda began releasing the air package afterward.

"Raptors Seven and Eight, operation complete. Return to Airfield. Five and Six follow once the upper sector is clear."

"Seven receives."

"Eight copies."

Flight Operations took over their recovery routing. The other aircraft remained over Ironford for the moment.

Hans barely listened. His System interface was becoming difficult to ignore.

Promotion notifications had continued accumulating throughout the final defense. Most belonged to infantry. Conscripts, Army Soldiers, Scouts, Machine Gunners, Guardian GIs and Missile Infantry occupied most of the list.

Several entries farther down were considerably more expensive.

Hans opened them.

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[ Big Rhino promoted to 2-Star. ]

[ ... ]

[ Bastion One promoted to 2-Star. ]

[ ... ]

[ Raptor One promoted to 1-Star. ]

[ ... ]

[ Striker One promoted to 1-Star. ]

[ ... ]

------

There were more vehicle and aircraft promotions mixed among the remaining notifications.

Hans stopped at the first one.

Big Rhino. Of course it was Big Rhino. Big Rhino had been with him long enough that Hans was surprised it had not reached three stars yet.

He opened the Vanguard’s information.

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[ Vehicle Name: Big Rhino ]

[ Unit: Vanguard Main Battle Tank ]

[ Star Promotion: 2 ]

[ Primary Weapon ]

120mm Smoothbore Cannon

Current Shell Capacity: 95 shells

Effective Range: 3 kilometers

Base Fire Rate: 1 round every 4 seconds

[ Secondary Weapons ]

Coaxial 7.62mm Machine Gun

Current Ammunition Capacity: 4,300 rounds

Commander’s 12.7×99mm Heavy Machine Gun

Current Ammunition Capacity: 2,250 rounds

[ Additional Attributes — Cumulative 2-Star Effects ]

Main Gun Capacity: +45 shells

Coaxial Machine-Gun Capacity: +2,300 rounds

Commander HMG Capacity: +1,250 rounds

Cannon Reload Efficiency: +25%

Fire-Control Accuracy: +15%

Coaxial Machine-Gun Reload Efficiency: Improved

Crew Stamina: +25%

Movement Speed: +15%

Turret Traverse Speed: +15%

Shock Resistance: +10%

------

Hans stared at the primary weapon’s ammunition: ninety-five shells.

The last time he properly checked Big Rhino, the first promotion had increased the Vanguard from fifty to sixty-five.

Now it carried ninety-five shells by itself, and Big Rhino was hardly the only promoted Vanguard in the army. The full allocation was already available.

Big Rhino’s commander apparently noticed the same thing.

"Commander!"

Hans closed his eyes for a second.

"Come in, Big Rhino."

"Big Rhino has received another promotion!"

"I can see that."

"Ninety-five shells!"

"I can also see that."

A short silence followed.

Then the commander continued anyway.

"Big Rhino approves."

Hans closed the channel.

Matilda looked toward him from the other side of the Armored Command Truck.

He pretended nothing happened.

The next notification belonged to Bastion One.

------

[ Vehicle Name: Bastion One ]

[ Unit: Guardian Armored Personnel Carrier ]

[ Star Promotion: 2 ]

[ Primary Weapon ]

30mm Autocannon

Current Ammunition Capacity: 2,500 rounds

Effective Range: 1 kilometer

Base Fire Rate: 200 rounds per minute

[ Secondary Weapons ]

Coaxial 7.62mm Machine Gun

Current Ammunition Capacity: 5,100 rounds

Side-Mounted Smoke Grenade Pods

4 charges

[ Additional Attributes — Cumulative 2-Star Effects ]

Autocannon Capacity: +1,500 rounds

Coaxial Machine-Gun Capacity: +3,600 rounds

Autocannon Reload Efficiency: +25%

Fire-Control Accuracy: +15%

Smoke Cooldown: -15%

Crew Stamina: +25%

Movement Speed: +15%

Turret Traverse Speed: +20%

Resistance Against Melee Claws: +5%

Shock Resistance: +10%

Door Deployment Speed: +10%

------

Bastion One had gained another large increase in ammunition, but the other improvements mattered just as much. It could move soldiers faster, deploy them faster, remain steadier under explosions, and stay in a firing position longer before ammunition became the problem.

That had already been enough for an extended fight. The second star gave it another thousand rounds for the main weapon alone.

More importantly, the rest of the improvements remained centered around what the Guardian APC already did. It moved soldiers faster, opened and closed its ramp faster, stayed steadier under explosions and could remain in a firing position longer before ammunition became the problem.

Hans closed the panel.

The aircraft were next. Raptor One’s entry carried its first star.

------

[ Vehicle Name: Raptor One ]

[ Vehicle Type: Raptor Air Superiority Fighter ]

[ Star Promotion: 1 ]

[ Primary Armament ]

[ 25mm Internal Rotary Cannon ]

[ Current Ammunition Capacity: 1,160 rounds ]

[ Precision Missile Bays ]

[ Air-to-Ground Precision Missiles: 6 ]

[ Air-to-Air Interceptor Missiles: 6 ]

[ Local Radar ]

[ Detection Radius: 2.5 kilometers ]

[ Additional Attributes — 1-Star Effects ]

Cannon Capacity: +240 rounds

Air-to-Ground Missile Capacity: +2

Air-to-Air Interceptor Capacity: +2

Missile Lock Speed: +10%

Pilot Stamina: +20%

Maneuver Fatigue: -15%

Evasion Chance: +10%

------

Hans paused. The missile counts were full.

Raptor One had already spent several weapons against the Broodmother, the Hive structures and the final freight-complex strike. The promotion restored them anyway.

Raptor One’s voice entered the channel before Hans closed the panel.

"Command, One."

Hans already knew what was coming.

"What?"

"I appear to have been rewarded for excellent performance."

"You were rewarded for killing things."

"That is what I said."

Hans dismissed the channel.

Raptor Two laughed somewhere over Ironford.

Matilda did not react.

Hans moved to Striker One.

------

[ Vehicle Name: Striker One ]

[ Vehicle Type: Apache Heavy Attack Helicopter ]

[ Star Promotion: 1 ]

[ Primary Armament ]

[ 30mm Chin-Mounted Chain Gun ]

[ Current Ammunition Capacity: 1,600 rounds ]

[ Missile and Rocket Systems ]

[ AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles: 10 ]

[ Rocket Pods: 2 ]

[ Rockets per Pod: 40 ]

[ Local Radar ]

[ Detection Radius: 1 kilometer ]

[ Additional Attributes — 1-Star Effects ]

Chain-Gun Capacity: +400 rounds

Hellfire Missile Capacity: +2

Rocket Capacity: +8 per pod

Rocket Accuracy: +10%

Missile Lock Speed: +10%

Crew Stamina: +15%

Hover Instability: -15%

Damage From Small Arms: -15%

------

Like Raptor One, Striker One’s promotion restored what it had spent during the operation and increased the new maximum at the same time.

Striker One was still over the eastern side of the company.

Its gunner apparently discovered the same thing a moment later.

"Striker One. Stores replenished after promotion."

Matilda checked the aircraft marker.

"Received. Remain with South Two until its immediate approach is clear."

"Striker One copies."

Hans closed the panel.

The promotion list remained much longer than the four entries he had checked.

More second stars appeared among the armored units. First stars had begun appearing among the newer Raptors and Strikers as well, mixed between the infantry promotions earned throughout the morning.

He did not open all of them. There would be time for that once the company was out of Ironford.

Outside the Armored Command Truck, another Vanguard fired. The shell landed somewhere beyond the western intersection.

Hans looked back toward his Virtual Radar.

The Hive was gone. The army he brought to kill it was already stronger than the one that entered Ironford that morning.