Just before dawn, the Eratix organized a three-pronged assault against the survivors of the destroyer Butt Scratcher. A decoy attack at the northern blast wall while a true supporting attack on the west side at the base of the surrounding hills and the real main attack on the fences in the east.

The plan did not work out as they intended though since the decoy attack was successful to surprise the defenders that they almost took it without casualties. The desperate company commander in the north requested reinforcement and the western defense line sent one of their company to assist. Just then, the attack on the west materialized and the defenders were also caught off guard. The Company that was en route to the north, therefore, was not able to support both the western or the northern line. Surprisingly, the main attack on the east is the one that did not succeed, mainly because of the timely arrival of the small but deadly Brykar squad.

After learning the situation, Commander Burgo in the eastern defense line organized his defenders for a counter attack at the rampaging Eratix in the north and west.

A single blackguard appeared at the officer of the stranded company and ordered them to return to the command center to bolster that defense. They arrived just in time to bolster the defense of the central command, and then a sudden vicious counter attack to the Eratix flank and rear finally broke the Eratix forces.

But they were not out of the picture yet, junior commanders rallied the Eratix and stayed at the northern blast door to regroup.

In the meantime, Commander Burgo and the Codex return back to the central command to consolidate their much smaller line, knowing that the Eratix will come again.

****************

The Eratix attack was defeated partially because of the fact that their main forces, Two thousand of their most experienced and best-trained troops, is not with them. Instead, they are 12 miles away in a plain field.

For the last 4 hours, the Eratix were organizing themselves for an ambush and they were led by the young Askalar-Subana. Now everything was in place and his men were ready.

A sizable portion of the heavy weapons they were able to get their hands on for the last 2 years were invested in this engagement, a huge testament to the elders' trust in Askalar. The ambush force possesses 4 AKN heavy plasma tripod guns, 9 Gauss-2A Magnetically Propelled Rocket launchers, and 6 positronic dual-tube medium mortars with just over 300 anti-personnel type 2 Avin-S6 grenade ammunition. He also has an entire company of well-trained Eratix snipers armed with the classic but still effective Randa-79 Beam Sniper Rifle, the famous Velashan grunt killer.

Askalar positioned his forces in an L formation parallel to the single main road that will enter the town of Shuyani and then to the spaceport beyond. The small line of the L formation is directly blocking the road with earth embankments and dry moats. 300 meters to the left of the road are low hills covered by thick trees and beyond that is the warehouse district of the city of Arabex. covered by the treelines lies the majority of Askalar's forces, including 2 of the Heavy plasma gun and the rest of the sniper company. Also, about 400 regular Eratix militia armed with assault needle rifles are dug in ready to rain bullets in the whole length of the road. Behind them in a small clearing is where the mortar team are setup and surrounding them are 300 shock troops that Askalar personally trained himself. At the flank of the sniper company spread out in the tree line is a smaller force of about 120 Ertatix flanking force just sitting inside the thick trees and waiting.

To the right of the road are the vast desert wasteland and the planet's vast ocean. Nothing awaits you there but death.

The armored convoy tasked to save the VIP in the Eratix spaceport is made up of well armed professional Barker Commandos. The sketchy information they received that late morning made their planning and preparation incomplete but they were professional and they left the base with every intention to help despite their ongoing tension and rivalry with the mainland K28 empire.

Operational convoy manual stated that vehicles should have an interval of 50-100 meters apart and they followed that doctrine to the letter. Unfortunately, hours of delays from unending Eratix road blocks made them weary and discipline became lax. As they entered Eratix territory, no less than 200 roadblock embankment had to be destroyed in order to continue the movement of the convoy. They do have 2 recon team ahead of them, but one was trapped in a side alley after taking a wrong turn, and the second one, well, they simply meet up with the recon team because of the continuous delay. It didn't help that after the initial excitement, the only danger they receive came in the form of civilians throwing rocks at them, and inside the battle tanks and APC's, it was hardly a threat to them. After 6 hours of continued delay and slow moving, the Barker soldiers were weary, hungry and bored out of their mind. Therefore it was not a surprise when military discipline became obviously severely lacking when the convoy entered the final road toward the spaceport.

The blocking force was an exact replica of the other earth embankments that so far delayed the convoy, that's why its appearance in the road was not met with more concern. What broke the Barkers from their stupor was the massive explosion of the IED inside the abandoned bus near the road.

By that time, the convoy spacing is barely the length of a vehicle. Even then, it should not have surprised the tank's onboard computer since the Barker's Tushava mark 2 MBTs is on par with the best tanks available to the galaxy's superpowers. Its active scanners should have detected any anti-vehicle mine's proximity scanner or the radio telemetry of an activated bomb, however, the IEDis as crude as it could get. At the second to the last window of the abandoned bus is a small plastic explosive hanging openly and with askalar's direct order, 6 of the best Eratix snipers opened fire at that particular explosive causing it to go boom and then detonate the massive IED under the bus chassis. The bomb is made up of high-grade fertilizer, detergent, and animal oil. The resulting explosion destroyed the two trailing battle tanks and severely damaging the APC in front of them.

Askalar did not have to order his men to open fire at the convoy, the explosion itself was the trigger. 12 hundred Eratix warriors open fire at the convoy. 4 heavy plasma guns concentrated their fire at the lead battle tank, and the intersecting attack overloaded the tank's main shield in a matter of seconds. The moment the blue shield winked out, 4 Eratix armed with MPGs stood up and targeted the same tank. 3 of them lock on to the tank using the digital scope then press the trigger of their weapon. Nothing happened but a buzzing sound coming from the weapon. Actually, the magnetically propelled rocket launcher's onboard computer is linked to the launcher of the fourth man. The fourth man was a battle hardened Eratix NCO and the most experienced user of the MPG. He waited until all 3 of his guys MPGs indicator are green before pulling his own trigger. Instantly, 2 missiles whooshed out of the MPG and 2.4 seconds later, another 2 more missiles followed their counterparts as they race towards the tank.

At this point, the MBT's active defense went online. A 270-degree coverage protected the tank. This was a deliberate design by the tank makers to make sure that infantry can still use the back of a tank as a mobile shelter. But inside the 30-meter coverage, the powerful onboard scanner is able to detect and calculate the trajectory of any incoming missile.

The first two missiles were detected and easily tracked. Two gun tubes appeared on the side bottom of the rotating turret and once the missiles were in range, both tubes fired a canister who then burst a total of 72 tungsten balls each and spreading into a cone towards the path of the missiles. 9 and 12 of the metal balls tore through each of the missiles respectively and disintegrated them into a ball of flame.

This is where the problem started since no matter how sensitive and powerful the active armor's scanner. It is still vulnerable from a massive shock. The thunderous explosion also temporarily blinded the tank's scanner and making it impossible for the trailing missiles to be traced.

The 12MB high-velocity sabot round hits the tank's armor then created a secondary explosion. This, in turn, pushed the uranium grade secondary dart inside the armor and then exploded a split second later inside the armor.

The barker's tank turret actually flew 10 feet in the air and cooking everyone inside. The howl of the doggies was so pitiful that event eh Eratix were glad when it died out.

The moment the tank shield dropped, the plasma gunners shifted their fire on the next tank in line. It too lost its shield in a matter of seconds from the concentrated direct fire. Only then did another team of MPG equipped Eratix stood up and did the same thing to that tank.

With the death of the first two tank in front of the convoy and the last two tank in the rear, the convoy itself was effectively trapped. To make it worst, Askalar ordered the mortar team to fire and they dropped anti-personnel shells against the convoy.

The type 2 Avin-S6 grenade ammunition were technically ineffective against the tanks but they savage the tank's shielding with multiple kinetic hits. The mortars fell into the sky and using a simple electronic system to detect the ground proximity, it detonates 15 feet from the air and then showers the ground with deadly shrapnels that pings the tank's shield. Add the relentless fire from the plasma gun and one by one, the tank's shield started popping like balloons.

The convoy commander ordered his men to abandon their vehicles and take shelter in the canal right next to the side. Many followed him but others stayed thinking that the thick army metal surrounding are far safer that out there.

They were wrong.

One by one the tanks and APCs around them blew up and they were helpless to stop it. One tank in a panic drove his vehicle right in front of another tank then veered to his left, crushing several soldiers who are pinned down and unable to move away.

In the end, the tank simply became an even bigger target and both the plasma guns and MPGs seek him out. He barely reaches 20 feet before the tank as nothing but a smoldering wreck.

Needle assault guns and snipers poured bullets into the now exposed Barkers. Askalar specifically trained his troops to find the officers and NCOs and making it that harder for the Barkers to rally and reorganize themselves. The 120 flanking force moved behind the convoy and they killed a lot of Barkers trying to sneak of the battlefield.

The Eratix were relentless. Firing at a fixed elevated point with the seemingly infinite amount of bullets, the Barkers were in completely disadvantageous position. And Of course, they fought back. One of the tanks were able to score a hit against one of the Plasma guns and blew it up. A corporal rallied about a dozen doggies and heroically charge one section of the tree line. They almost made it and the battle ended up in hand to hand, or in the barker's case, hand to fang, combat. The three surviving Barkers, including the corporal, who is already a victor of four duels, succumb to their wounds when another platoon was sent in the area to reinforce the Eratix ambushers. For the entire hour, the surviving Barkers hunkered down and using the bodies of their dead comrades as shields from the ever present sniper fire.

Only then did the 2 groups of shock troopers descended from the tree lines on both flanks and systematically killed the survivors on their way to the center. The survivors tried to fight back but they were still pinned down by the snipers in the tree and the shock troops simply threw grenades and plasma bombs while pouring needles in the doggies direction. In the end, no one survives.

The entire convoy was annihilated.