"Show me."
The MDC soldier stepped closer and pointed farther north on the local map.
"The freight line bends underneath the next block, then crosses below the old smelter annex. There should be another maintenance access here."
His finger stopped beside a cluster of buildings.
"Should?"
"The workers used it before the Event. I haven’t been this far inside the district since then."
The squad leader nodded, marked the location and sent it through the tactical network. The new route appeared on the displays of the nearby Golden Eagle units, followed by a second marker from somewhere farther north.
There were already infected moving toward it.
Hundreds of outlines filled the underground passage ahead. More were gathering inside the surrounding buildings, while several heavier contacts moved between them.
The squad leader looked toward the road.
"Keep moving."
The first Guardian APC rolled forward.
The MDC soldier hesitated for a moment before following the infantry beside it.
Golden Eagle’s advance did not stop with their squad.
Another group was moving through the parallel industrial road to the west, while armor farther south crossed an intersection that the infected abandoned only minutes earlier.
Gunfire echoed between the buildings from several directions, mixed with the heavier reports of autocannons and tank guns.
Then something much louder passed overhead.
The MDC soldier ducked by instinct.
Two Apache Heavy Attack Helicopters crossed above the rooftops and continued north. He looked up and saw the second helicopter bank around one of the taller industrial buildings.
"It’s those things again!"
The helicopters disappeared behind the buildings.
"Griffon One-One’s on the stage. I got your markers, Spear One-Two Actual."
Several seconds later, a series of explosions rolled across the district ahead.
The squad leader checked his display. One of the larger contacts vanished while another remained.
Griffon One-One turned back into view between the buildings. Its cannon flashed.
Rounds struck the upper floors of an old processing plant where a mass of infected was moving toward the street. Windows shattered across the structure as several contacts disappeared from the tactical picture.
The rest changed direction.
They moved toward the eastern side of the building instead, but the Riflemen were already facing it.
The MDC soldier stared at them. None of the infected had reached the windows yet.
"Contact east side," the squad leader said.
The Machine Gunner dropped behind the remains of a concrete wall and braced his GPMG across it. One of the Army Soldiers took the next opening.
The infected reached the windows, exploding the glass outward.
The Machine Gunner fired before the first body could touch the street.
His weapon hammered through the narrow road, catching the leading infected as they climbed over the broken frames. The Army Soldiers joined him from the side, their heavier 6.8 mm rifles punching through the bodies crowding the openings.
More infected forced their way through.
The Guardian APC moved several meters forward and turned its turret, opening fire against the incoming group.
The front wall of the building disappeared behind dust and fragments of concrete.
The infected still inside changed direction again.
The squad leader watched them move deeper through the structure.
"Don’t chase them. They’re changing directions!"
His soldiers stayed where they were.
The MDC soldier looked toward the building.
"Are they retreating?"
"No."
The squad leader turned toward the next intersection.
"They’re looking for another way out."
The MDC soldier opened his mouth, then stopped.
A low series of impacts reached them from farther north. It didn’t sound like gunfire, but rather something heavier.
The first shell landed beyond the smelter annex.
The blast rose above the rooftops.
A second struck several hundred meters away from it, followed by a third and fourth across the northern approach.
The MDC soldier flinched as another explosion rolled through the valley.
Golden Eagle’s artillery continued walking across an area he could not see.
On the squad leader’s display, several large concentrations that were moving toward the western advance disappeared beneath the fire zone.
The infected turned away from it, some moving west while the others pushed onto the streets to the south.
Both directions were already covered by Golden Eagle formations.
The squad leader barely reacted to the explosions, letting the fire mission trap the infected waves beneath endless shrapnel and shockwaves.
His concern remained the underground passage. The first outlines were reaching the maintenance access the MDC soldier had marked.
"Squad, movement underneath. Watch out!"
The Guardian stopped beside the intersection.
The Riflemen spread around the vehicles. Two Army Soldiers entered the ground floor of a damaged machine shop, while the Missile Infantryman moved behind the APC where the building gave him enough cover to work.
The MDC soldier looked around, then down beneath him, but found nothing and felt nothing.
A second Guardian from another squad crossed the next road and stopped with its weapon facing the same block.
Farther behind them, a Vanguard changed position until its main gun had a clear line toward the northern intersection.
The MDC soldier looked from one vehicle to another.
"Where are they?"
The squad leader pointed toward the pavement.
"Under us."
The MDC soldier looked down again. This time, a dull impact came from somewhere below the road.
The ground shook.
The Riflemen raised their weapons.
The Missile Infantryman took one step farther behind the Guardian.
A service hatch near the smelter annex jumped from its frame.
The MDC soldier froze when he realized that something was striking it underneath.
How the heck did they know where the infected would come from?
He could call himself experienced, but he wasn’t someone who could predict the future. With how complex Silverpeak’s underground systems were, it was almost impossible to point your gun in one direction and be completely certain the infected would even be there.
And that was just what he had seen from these Golden Eagle units.
The metal cover lifted several centimeters before dropping back into place.
The squad leader looked toward his soldiers.
"Here they come."
The hatch exploded upward, followed by several infected climbing through at once.
Gunfire filled the intersection.
The first Rifleman dropped two before they cleared the opening. Another fired into the group behind them while the Machine Gunner shifted his GPMG and sent a burst across the pavement.
More infected forced themselves through the hatch. Then another access point farther down the road broke open.
The second Guardian fired into it.
The autocannon tore across the entrance before the crowd could spread into the street.
The MDC soldier pulled his rifle up and joined the Golden Eagle infantry beside him.
For the first time since entering the district, he stopped trying to understand how they kept knowing.
There were too many infected coming out of the ground for that.
Above them, the Apaches circled toward another part of the Hive.
Farther north, the artillery continued firing.
And across Silverpeak, the advance kept moving.
...
The infected continued climbing through the broken access points, but never reached the road in numbers large enough to endanger the GEA squads.
The first group was eliminated under rifle and machine-gun fire while the second Guardian kept its autocannon on the farther opening. The infected tried to spread around the wreckage, only to run into another squad advancing through the side street.
The MDC soldier fired beside the Riflemen until his magazine emptied. He dropped behind the Guardian to reload.
Another explosion rolled through the northern district, kicking up dust beyond the rooftops.
The Golden Eagle soldiers around him ignored it.
The Machine Gunner changed position as soon as the pressure on his side weakened. Two Riflemen crossed the road with him, leaving the Army Soldiers to cover the access point while the Guardian moved ahead.
The MDC soldier finished reloading and followed.
"How many more are there?"
The squad leader checked the tactical picture.
"At least tens of thousands more."
The MDC soldier took a deep breath.
Gunfire continued from the next block, and the squad leader pointed toward it.
"Come on. Over that block behind the service building!"
...
The same thing was happening across the rest of the western approach.
The Hive kept moving infected toward whichever streets appeared less defended, only to find another Golden Eagle formation already shifting into position.
When one concentration moved north, artillery struck the routes behind it.
When another pushed through the industrial buildings toward the west, an Apache pair crossed the district and attacked the exposed mass before it reached the next road.
Other formations continued forward beneath the cover.
The western force gained another two blocks, and in no time, three.
When the first squads reached the old smelter annex, the fighting behind them had already moved somewhere else.
The Hive was being pushed inward in a war it once thought it could easily win.
It was not dying yet, but it was slowly losing its ground.
...
Brandon watched the changes move from the wider command picture.
Blue formations continued moving around the central districts while the red concentrations withdrew deeper toward the Hive.
Several outer routes that remained contested that morning were now behind Golden Eagle’s forward positions.
Other sectors were still fighting.
That was fine for him.
The operation was progressing, while another System notification appeared in front of him.
------
[ Unit Promotion Achieved ]
------
Brandon dismissed it, but new ones appeared before the first fully disappeared.
------
[ Unit Promotion Achieved ]
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[ Unit Promotion Achieved ]
------
He dismissed the next notification and opened the force summary instead.
The individual alerts condensed into a longer list.
More continued appearing from the western and northern approaches while other units accumulated progress toward their next promotion.
Brandon scrolled farther.
The infantry units gained promotions the fastest, as usual. Every street cleared and every concentration destroyed pushed another group closer to promotion.
The armored units moved slower, and it was not because they lacked targets.
Several Vanguards and Guardians had already accumulated large amounts of progress throughout the Silverpeak campaign, but reaching the next promotion required more than it did for a regular infantry squad.
A few were getting close anyway, and they were bound to be put into temporary holding positions.
Brandon closed the detailed list.
Veterans kept on piling up, while fresher units had to be rotated in time for maximum promotion efficiency.
This had been Hans’s doctrine long before Brandon was even put into commission, and it was about to be the same for the rest of the campaigns.
Brandon enlarged the southern staging areas where two fresh rotational forces were already waiting behind the main advance.
Fresh Riflemen and Army Soldiers formed most of their infantry strength, supported by their own specialists and enough armored vehicles to move with the advance. Additional armor remained farther behind them while Fires and Air continued supporting the entire operation.
Brandon opened the local command channel.
"Forward commands, begin preparing rotation once your current objectives are secure."
Acknowledgements returned from several sectors.
The plan was already laid out.
Max promoted units would hold captured positions and secure the routes behind the advance.
Units that still needed more promotion can remain forward where the fight needed them.
Brandon looked at the battle again.
The Hive was still there, but it won’t be for long.