"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), American Founding Father, lawyer, diplomat, architect, philosopher, statesman, and 3rd President of the United States

Third Person POV

Somewhere in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

"Fire mission!"

"Target acquired"

"Confirmed, this gonna be a big blow to them commies, sergeant."

Friendly unmanned eyes had gotten their result. No GPS, sure, but the M142 HIMARS have other means to actually blow stuff up!

Specialist Kenji Miyazono acknowledged it too well what was coming for them, as his more senior NCO commander ordered him to input all necessary coordinates on the truck's onboard computer as part of the fire control system, then the commander should calculate the best solution based on wind, range, and the munition available.

The affair was settled, and when the truck stopped, Kenji made sure the launcher got rotated and raised into the correct angle and elevation required before he pressed the launch button.

The jubilant crew watched as all six rockets went off the launcher pod, and soon, in accordance with the doctrine of self-propelled artillery, the sergeant called "Relocate, Reload point Kanagawa". And so the six-launcher strong 1st 'Nogizaka' Battery of the 113th SP Artillery Regiment concluded their fire mission with drone footage transmitted the damage assessment to each vehicle. For Kenji and his crew, the exact prey they targeted was multiple, now-busted, forward ammunition depots and vehicle assembly area used by North Korean IV Corps, the formation that were now trying to take back Kaesong. Other firing sections got various results, but generally hits were registered with many explosions over the horizon. According to the drones, other than targets mentioned above, it confirmed multiple hostile air defense and artillery batteries also got their due, both low and medium altitude ones.

"Ouch, gonna slow those bastards for a while as my sister, Kousei-kun, and the rest are on their way." muttered Kenji as the launcher truck sped away into the reloading position, with detours sometimes when there's high hostile drone activities, exploiting any holes within friendly electronic warfare. "And we still have bigger rockets to come" referring to the larger capacity Type 22 MLRS batteries filling the rest of the regiment.

....................................................................................................................................................

May 5th, 2026

0630 KST (Korea Standard Time)

North Hwanghae Province, North Korea (partially under South Korean control)

Third Person POV

Multiple sighs put the already heavy air inside the Type 22 even denser.

"I swear to Kami-sama, I gonna beat those commies and then, make her see the truth. Either we keep it, or I will go to the court."

"You're still thinking about it, mate..." it's the now Specialist Fuji Yashio speaking to PFC Kuniwo Terakawa, that former trooper of the 46th Regiment/13th Brigade that was roped in by the Nerima Division in during the liberation of Hagi City, subsequently his time with us was made official by papers from the Army clerk, added with his new qualification as a Carl Gustav gunner replacing the late Private Yazawa.

"Of course I can't stop thinking about how my Sasaki-chan is doing... Yashio-kun." In front of Yashio, his Chinese buddy Chen could only nod.

"Well, tell me about it, my girl's been acting strange lately. She might as well got laid now by some Keibitai guy that stays in Japan..."

Cpl. Taki Tachibana placed his reassuring hands. "Focus, Yashio, Terakawa. We've got a job to do out here. Worry about the home front when we get back."

Trying to lighten the mood, one of the newcomers to Nerima let her heart out. Private Megumi Han, one of the new recruits initially trained in the US. "Shichou can be right, besides, maybe they're just missing us like crazy, right? Or for some, are fighting in another part of this place..."

"Easy for you, your boyfriend is a Navy drone boat skipper..." Terakawa scoffed. Yashio added his thought too. "Or spending all our money while we're out here dodging bullets and bombs."

The squad FN Maximi gunner PFC Yoshiro Misawa, had listened to it all, joined in. "You know what I'm thinking about? Get my girlfriend to my home village, get married, then live a quiet life to grow rice and other things. Back to my ancestor's roots, and keep the village from disappearing."

"Good for you" it's Chen's turn. "But will she agree with you?"

"Gonna convince her, but I know her too well that she will wait for me and then so."

"I see, for me, out of piety, I gonna inherit my family restaurant with my little brother. You people should visit it one day."

Yashio replied "Oh yeah, Chen-kun! Thinking about that, no matter what happened later with her... my path has been set. I am gonna buy a konbini (1) franchise and start it. Imagine how people will react when they visit my place."

From the commander's seat in the turret, Sergeant Tsubaki finally addressed the troopers.

"That's the spirit, people. Keep those dreams alive. They're what keep us going out here."

"Thank you, ma'am".

....................................................................................................................................................

Same time and place

1LT. Kousei Arima

Only some slice of high-energy biscuits and coffee candy entered our systems as the march continues, but our own comfort, overall, was secondary matter.

"Minna.." it's my gunner speaking again.
"Sorry for another history lesson"

"Hey, go ahead, sergeant" I replied. "Anything to pass time"

"We're going to enter another ancient city in those people's history. Kaesong, ahead of us, was once the capital of the kingdom of Goryeo, or Koryo."

"...which is the origin of the word Korea." I added

"... and it's also a center of ginseng production in Red Korea." said Watari without looking at us for obvious reasons. "Sergeant Lee Min-jung, that South Korean national team player, told me. His father likes ginseng while (he bought it) not from the North, through."

"Well" I replied.... "Everyone, keep your eyes peeled. We don't know what's around the next bend, anti drone and air defense folks had reported shooting down six scout birds (drones) of the enemy and counting, while our multicopters had engaged several pockets of infantry inside the treelines including three AT team."

"Hey, Lieutenant, you ever hear the one about one of the drivers - 2nd Platoon - who went to the bar in Seoul?"

I answered "Can't say I have, Kitazawa. Where's the bar?"

"Somewhere in the famous Gangnam District" the gunner smiled.

"What happened?"

Kitazawa replied "Well, he walks in, and the bartender says, 'Why the long face?'"

Everyone chuckled softly, appreciating the diversion.

The gunner asked again. "Speaking of faces, did you guys hear about the soldier who joined the army because he wanted to face his fears?"

Then it's Watari who asked. "What happened, rikusou?"

"Well, of course he then got sent to the infantry, to face the enemy!"

It seems that the whole turret itself had erupted in laughter.

Suddenly "Incoming!"

Now the Nokors and probably the Chinese backing them had realized our arrival as a whole force. Something that we expected, through, with their greetings using 152 and 155 mike mike shells intermeshed with drones, despite the recent destruction of some of their forward ammo depots and guns alike.

"Cicada 6 Actual to all Cicada unit"

Seconds later, all systems acknowledged the upcoming message.

"Be advised - fresh intel indicated that there will be change of mission. Cicada 21..." it's the new code for our brigade "... head towards the town of Kaepung, coordinates as the following... Element of Korean 30th Infantry Brigade of the 9th Division "White Horse" are holding the area with a task force from the 30th Armored Brigade, but are now under heavy attack from hostile IV Corps element, with their II Corps in support of them, with a lot of drones to back them, and possibly foreign legionnaires of the so called "anti imperialism brigades"... from there, it's all set that Shirasagi shall cross the Ryesong River into South Hwanghae Province, while South Korean VII Corps will attack through the Kaesong highway... In short, we're going to cover their left flank. Bridging assets from corps and foreign volunteer reserve from Division are on standby."

One of my command display soon showed the current situation in the vicinity of Kaesong.

"They (Koreans in Kaesong) are being hard pressed, the Indonesians bolstered them... that 30th tank brigade of theirs are spread out, infantry support duty... plus extra eyes and robotic support from US 300 ACR, our own 1st Cavalry, and friendly choppers, flying napping the earth strictly under drone cover of their own, as bait of air defense... also the former industrial area in particular is heavily fortified." I muttered.

"You hear it all, people." said Colonel Yong-su to us, before ordering us to head accordingly towards the objective, double time as intensified artillery barrage came down from both sides.

Our path towards the objective was the same route as the Koreans used,  in which we had to take longer, around the hill route,.using smaller village roads, as the main road was too close to the Ryesong riverbank area, with recent recon reported multiple anti-tank missile and kamikaze drone teams are waiting for us to cross.

We reached one settlement on our way, flanked by two forested hills and a small lake. What could possibly go wrong in this geographical setting? Many.

"Drone swarm incoming, deploy jammer, countermeasures! Bastards must managed to slip a recon bird (for targeting!)"

It's not long before anti-air guns in our sector started opening up on the oncoming mix of FPV drones and factory-made explosive munitions, along with the directed energy battery. Without further delay I ordered. "Gunner, UAV, AA cannon!, driver, make sure that we're keep moving!"

"On the way!" the turret mounted 25mm went to life.

"Careful not to hit friendlies"

Easier said than done, thanks to the immediate response of the UAV company's specialized drone interceptor platoon whose assets had also been inside our battlespace.

Unlike our first engagement here, we got three ground drones covering us. It also opened up, as friendly eyes confirmed that hostile robots alongside manned anti-tank troopers were also on the move towards us, their missiles are ready.

"Shimata!" (Damn) "Arashi 3-2 is hit! Catastrophic!"

Nothing we can do as Team...

"10 drone... 11 drone... running low on 25mil ammo, sir!" Kitazawa's warning was the last that I want to hear.

"Help us.." I whispered, and the answer was instant, with the said interceptor drone unit began crashing into hostile ones, especially octocopters bearing droppable mortar bombs or RPG shells, while smaller ones got serviced by cannons of all kind as well as hand-held anti drone guns manned by South Koreans that garrisoned the said settlement.

After three main gun shot targeting North Korean light infantry present in the hills, we decided to move, giving the rest of our engagement to follow on forces as well as our drone cover...

...........................................................................

1LT. Kaori Arima

After our first encounter in the vicinity of the old Korean DMZ, some of the infantrymen and women opted to be sitting on the top of our carriers in lieu of being inside. Officers couldn't say much with the fact that there're so many things, especially explosive-packed drones, that would turn our brand-new Type 22 IFVs into death traps.

We're roughly 4 km from a bedroom community town called Kaepung-2 when we had to dismount, again, exactly because of those little robots.

"Take the anti-drone guns and machine guns first." That's what I ordered before I went off the turret from the commander's hatch. "Don't go too far from the tracks unless necessary"

"Find some cover on the treelines, people!" barked the NCOs. Tsubaki's squad was the first to start their anti-drone work, to the point that she decided that she should operate one of the counter-drone guns to allow her system specialist to focus on the small, short-range squad multicopters. While it's allowed in our manuals, according to my instructors, it was uncommon for squad leader to use it pre-war.

Not far from the track... "Cicada, Cicada, this is Kirin 4-7 Foxtrot." my RTO Uesaka at work.

Added with the knowledge that our directed energy and drone specialists were also doing their work, a leeway had been given to the mounted element.

"Pick your targets, Kirin 4-7".

Stalled multicopter drones and ground robots of the KPA and PLA quickly became an easy prey for air-burst 40mm cannons and .50 cals of the Type 22 IFV, in addition of our own robots, followed by factory-build winged kamikaze drones "Lancets" that were heading straight towards our armor.

In the meantime one kamikaze operator of ours reported snipers, and my display showed how they had dispatched them, plus coordinates of up to two drone operators of the reds.

"Thank you Koreans. Two less operators." I muttered, as a message to my radio showed how their artillery worked with our own drones and had serviced them properly. Then, I head to the position of Kurosawa's squad out of concern on their position as they were dealing with KPA shock light infantry forces; those bastards were particularly adept on ambush after all.

"Be advised" it's the Captain speaking "Our American friends managed to spare some robots, do not shoot at them. Also a word from Cicada 6 that a platoon from the Fiji Battalion 1st Company is on it's way."

"Understand, Kirin 6, over and out"

Then a close screech - cover had to be taken!

Followed by an explosion. Mortars.

"Kirin 4-6 do you read?"

"Kirin 4-6, respond, please respond"

Dang.

I went on and picked the radio from Uesaka, laying down there, incapacitated and screaming. his leg was a mess. Luckily it's still functional.

"This is 4-6 Actual, I need medic, RTO hit by mortar... Uesaka Kiiroi (Yellow), I repeat Kiiroi."

"Stay still!" I went on to Specialist Uesaka - it was just three days after he got promoted from PFC -  and grabbed a torniquet from his kit.

Remembering the procedures was hard, especially with my own responsibilities as a leader in tactical sense, but I could only hope for the best as I applied it near the busted leg area, in the name of stopping his bleeding.

I called the nearby green Private Megumi Han, who's covering me all the time.

"Uesaka is Yellow, Private Han, you're now platoon RTO, tell HQ." - Even with the replacement, I cannot left him. Then just in time a pair tank-like robot, recognizable to me as something belonged to America, passed through, followed by two of our own Type 24 wheeled ground bot. I could tell it's being operated in largely autonomous mode as one UGV swerved it's turret left, spewing automatic fire from it's machine gun and autocannon.

"You gonna make it, remember, private!"

"Medic, be advised, now we are taking over"

The arrival of our platoon medic, Sergeant Rena Hayashi and her stretcher bearers was a relief.

And so he would be on their care. Then, I decided to head towards where I last saw the UGVs were.

"About time ma'am." A brief greeting from Sgt. Kurosawa was enough to inform me on what happened.

We ducked as multiple buzzings and subsequent explosion shook the ground, while screams from other side means that it was our allied bomber multicopters dropping it's cluster mortar rounds, Nasty little things that was enough to defeat clustered infantry group similar to hand grenade or automatic grenade launchers. The attack was followed by cracks of tank guns, fortunately our own, as further radio chatters confirmed that the big guns were engaging hostile armor on their own.

Yet we still have losses, as so far, four men had paid the ultimate price to protect our advancing armor...

Above us as jet engine roars returned showing our fast air had once more been available and working to clear the skies above both North and South Hwanghae followed by beat of rotors and screech of rockets behind us, loud enough to announce the arrival of Apaches with the familiar camouflage and Hinomaru, as well as the similar flight of Apaches with darker colors, but we could still identify who's who with the Taeguk circle as well as the Hangul writing on the tail "육군" which means (Republic of Korea) Army in English.

I decided to call "All units, regroup on my position". Later, a "ping" on the radio, signaling the awaited arrival of our reinforcements...

"What's next, ma'am?" Asked Tsubaki on the net.

A/N:
(1). Convenience store in Japanese, or minimarket in Indonesia. Japanese konbini brands includes Lawson and 7-11.