Dark demon

Like silky wisps of white clouds, floating faintly on the bright blue surface of the giant planet. The endless sea, mixed with the black and faintly green land tightly connected, colliding with a rough and twisted line. Sunlight slanting down from deep space divides the vast planet into two parts shrouded in light and darkness, but the edges are very blurred, with only a very regular, gradual separation.

The road leading to the S12 mine is pockmarked with craters, and lumps of black tar have risen from the ground, softened like the semi-melted solidified form of butter when heated and cooled. On the surface, there is a thick layer of floating soil. Occasionally a gust of wind blows, pushing the empty shell casings scattered on the ground to roll forward, making a "jingling" metal crash.

Black smoke mixed with hot flames rose from the top of the tower on the eastern side of the mine. A large pale blue square iron plate, about two square meters or so, hangs on the top of the tower. In the center of the striking Earth pattern are thick bullet holes left by GUESS Gauss rifle.

The outbuilding to the left of the central building had collapsed, and a gray-haired, middle-aged colonel in a blue-and-black camouflage uniform stood on the roof, tactical binoculars raised in both hands, staring in the direction of the distant sound of gunfire and explosions. Downstairs in the square, the 150MM main guns of several medium tanks constantly spewed flames and rumbles, and the ground beneath them shook faintly with each flash of dazzling red light in the direction of the projectile's landing point.

The deep winter wind, with a piercing chill. But over the S12 mine, there was a heat wave that would have scorched people alive.

Many factors determine the outcome of a war. Logistics, economy, manpower, weapons... The most important part of this is resources.

According to the Pan-Allied Military Strategic Intelligence Directorate, the S12 mine produces 6.43 percent of the Earth's combined resources each year. Because the mine was located near the junction of the two major forces, the Union stationed an entire special armored division here. At the same time, on the basis of the hollowed out abandoned mine, a huge and strong permanent construction group was built under the mine.

S12 is no longer a simple ore collection area, it has become an extremely strong defensive fortress. What is more terrible is that the automatic boring machinery hidden underground is frantically mining every day, and the weapon factories, assembly workshops, and ammunition production lines as supporting equipment are based on this, and a steady stream of new heavy attack locomotives, powerful heavy tanks, light armed helicopters... These armed vehicles greatly shortened the supply lines between the front and the cities in the rear. Supported by the S12, the Earth Federation's Line of Actual Control has been rapidly extending towards the outside world.

The Pan-United Forces simply cannot tolerate this. Under the careful planning of the General Staff Headquarters, at the cost of abandoning the front line of nearly 130 kilometers wide, five elite divisions were mobilized from the flank to carry out a surprise attack, and the defense line was directly inserted into the S12. In the face of the sudden change, despite the fact that the Earth Federation mobilized its reserves as quickly as possible, Fortress S12 suffered heavy losses in the face of an absolute disadvantage of more than sixteen times the enemy's strength.

It's only a matter of time before it falls.

Slowly lowering his binoculars, the Colonel's furrowed brows were still clenched together. He reached out and brushed off the dust that had fallen on his chest from the silver knight sword, the symbol of the Pan-Union Army, and shook his head with a faint sigh.

Most of the TR defenders of S12 have been killed in battle, and the actual functional part of the entire mine has been captured by more than 74%. However, there are still more than 500 remnants of the Earth Federation fighting to the death. They fought back with the strongest core of the mine control area. Although the shock troops of the Pan-United Army kept calling for their surrender, asking for peace talks, and even inducing various means to do their best, the response... Just a vulgar reply from the top commander of the other side - "Union bastards, I f*ck*ng f*ck you!"

According to the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff, the battle could last up to 26 hours if S12 could not be captured. This is a sensitive part of the Earth Federation's sphere of influence, and various reinforcements are moving at high speed from the east. Stalemate is a waste of time. Once the reinforcements arrived, there was no way back for the Pan-Allied assault troops.

Looking at the arch in the distance, with its titanium and steel gates and a concrete shield of fifty-five meters thick, impenetrable even by a direct hit from a 300-millimeter superheavy train shell, the colonel felt an uncontrollable rage. He gritted his teeth hard, clasped his hands together, and opened them quickly. The edge of the lips, pressed together into cold lines, slowly revealed a hint of cruelty.

"Carry out the backup plan and withdraw all combatants within fifteen minutes --"

...

The gunfire died down, and through the electronic surveillance cameras, the Earth Federation soldiers who were holding the fort could clearly see the dozens of Pan-Allied combat vehicles that surrounded the intersections on the screen turning around, and the six twin rotor transport planes gathering infantry in the open space. As for the direct artillery positioned at the main passage passes, the operators have all been withdrawn.

"What do they want?"

"Is the Union retreating?"

"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements must have arrived --"

Cheer, doubt, fear... All kinds of unconfirmed speculation, among the survivors quickly spread. Due to the combined telecommuting barrier effect still in place, the Remnants have so far been unable to contact the Earth Federation Headquarters. Whether the opponent attacks or withdraws, their only response is to stay here and hold.

And it's not just the soldiers who survived. In addition to a team of experts sent by the Federal Academy of Sciences to the mining fort as early as two weeks ago to investigate resources and evaluate equipment production, there are several military families who withdrew from the living quarters to the fort. One of them was the wife of a dead division commander.

She was nine months pregnant and could give birth at any time.

...

On top of the mine's central building, a light helicopter loaded with crew has lifted off the ground. The middle-aged colonel sat by the open cabin door and looked with mixed expression at the majestic building in the distance which was connected with the mountains.

In order to take S12, the Pan-Allied raiding force sent out no regard for the flank. With the fierce situation of completely abandoning logistics supplies and rushing all the way, under the support of the absolutely superior air force, the direction of the mine was stormed. As the core of this joint operation, gather all the troops around the area, and attack the Earth Federation defenders at the same time, and contain them from all aspects. Seventy-six hours of intense assault, with more than 30,000 casualties, finally cleared all the armed positions outside Fort S12, and the spearhead of the attack directly into its interior. Unfortunately, the pan-allied forces that had broken through barriers had stopped at the core of the fortified fortress.

As a combat and production fortress, the S12 is truly solid and hard to impress any opponent. Even sophisticated ground-penetrating bombs mounted by heavy bombers cannot penetrate the underground protective layers of titanium steel and reinforced concrete. After suffering heavy casualties of nearly 30 percent, the Pan-Allied 63rd Panzer Division, which was the main offensive force, finally broke into the interior of the mine. By this time, however, the advance support forces of the Earth Federation had reached the perimeter of S12 and engaged the defense of the 197th Infantry Division. In desperation, Colonel Crummer, who led the special Forces in a desperate assault, could only be forced to evacuate under the lead.

Even if you go, you must leave enough "gifts" for the Earth Federation.

At this thought, Colonel Crummer pressed his lips and stared coldly at the "pin" shaped building that had been blown up with holes and bullet holes and was gradually shrinking in sight as the landmark building of Fortress S12. Then he slowly looked down at the watch on his wrist. When the second hand constantly rotating along the bezle overlapped with the top "12" word at the end of the moment, he put on the goggles slanted into the chest pocket, pulled together the right middle and food fingers, raised them high to the front of the forehead, and let go in a gesture.

"What we cannot have, you will never have." Hum..."

With a final, heavy twang of unmistakable hate, there was a sudden explosion in the direction of Fortress S12 of a fiery glow more glaring than the sun. In an instant, the shock wave of the explosion covered an area of tens of kilometers. Everything is completely enveloped by a circular, diffused energy field. After nearly half a minute, a strong shock spread hard, and under the inky goggles, the red and black flames mixed with each other formed clouds of oddly colored smoke, crowding each other and winding up into the sky. Eventually, it evolved into a very brilliant and frightening small mushroom cloud.

The backup plan was to detonate tactical nukes that had been installed in the entrances and exits of Fortress S12, ventilation ducts, tunnel staircases, and production workshops.

In order to achieve the desired effect, the Pan-United Army demolition personnel even went to the abandoned mine. Whether or not this massive explosion can destroy the fortress, the radius will be contaminated with radiation for more than 100 kilometers. No one could get in or out, let alone serve as a backup base to support the war effort.

In the distance, the core of the explosion, like a thunder-like "rumbling" sound. The main mountain range, which makes up S12, begins to collapse in a southerly direction, pushed by a huge amount of destructive energy. A few minutes later, all that remained of the Colonel's vision was the thick cloud of dust that covered the sky, and the column of clouds that still hung over the top of the mine like a great exclamation mark.

At the same time, deep underground, which Colonel Crummer could not see through with his eyes, the pregnant woman lying in the corridor outside the core control room, also with the help of several soldiers, stretched out her neck and kept making non-human screams.

The huge shock of the explosion caused a captain officer, who was half kneeling beside him, to suddenly lose his balance, his body tilted, and he could not help throwing himself over the pregnant woman's protruding stomach. The sudden collision and squeeze tore at the nerves, and the pale woman's eyes suddenly opened wide with a terrible scream that almost punctured her eardrum. This violent movement seemed to drain all the energy stored up in her body, and the shrill cry ceased with the violent shaking of the ground. When the captain supported the ground with his hands and stood up again, the woman was no longer breathing between her nose, and slipped out from between her legs, a mass of red meat wrapped in blood, amniotic fluid, and mucus, and connected to the umbilical cord, and suddenly burst out the first cry of a newborn baby in this strange world.

...

The battle came to an end without a definite outcome. Neither the Pan-United Forces on the offensive nor the Earth Federation on the defensive side achieved the expected results.

The former killed more than 70,000 soldiers and lost more than 100,000 square kilometers of land on the eastern side of the front as bait. Although the latter suffered few casualties, they were unable to use Fortress S12 again. The powerful nuclear blast destroyed all the buildings above ground, and all the outer empty tunnels deep underground were contaminated, even by automatic boring machines. The strong radiation environment directly interfered with the radio waves emitted from inside the base, coupled with the destruction of all facilities in the outer and central layers, and the distress signal sent before the big explosion became the last record of information about the defenders of the fortress in the Earth Federation Military archives.

After the war, the Joint Conference of the Earth Union Army severely punished a series of ineffective generals and personnel. In particular, the commanders of the troops who failed to rescue them in time were even tortured and sent to the gallows. The delay caused immeasurable losses - the researchers on the mission at Fortress S12 are the National Academy of Sciences' leading authorities on astrophysics, quantum mechanics, warp dynamics, and more. Their collective demise has directly delayed the technological superiority of one aspect of the Earth Federation for at least a decade, if not more.

No one thinks there are survivors inside S12.

The nuke from the Pan-Coalition military unit, it just wiped out the entire mountain. Even if the underground part of the protection performance is superior, even if it can withstand the explosion, it is impossible for anyone to walk out of the inside alive. Besides, the outside world is full of terrible radiation that can't be seen by the naked eye.

The Earth in the year 2263 has not changed much from 18 years ago.

The sky is still shrouded in thin clouds, and under the continuous push of high-altitude air currents, the light clouds continue to change a variety of complex and strange shapes. Gradually, the broken clouds were disturbed to reveal a clear blue sky. The sun, like a flame, shoots down, searing the parched and cracked earth, frantically evaporating every bit of water the heat can catch.

Wei Wen was half squatting between two rocks, holding the tactical telescope in his left hand. While carefully observing the hill to the north of the rock, he turned his head from time to time and glanced at the radiation meter held in his right hand. In the middle of the fan-shaped screen, the red pointer representing the actual amount of radiation fluctuated every time, causing his heart to strain and twitch.

Four soldiers lay low and waited nearby. Like Wei Wen, they all wore combat armor. It's standard prote