Volume 4. Chapter 1: Duty Calls
86 – Eighty-Six

The stench of death lingered over the joint headquarters of the Federacy’s Western Front. The last operation had cost the Federacy hundreds of thousands of lives—four corps and over sixty percent of their total forces. Even transport vehicles couldn’t keep up with the removal of the deceased, temporarily turning the base into a morgue.

“The Eighty-Six strike force.”

Though spring had arrived, the air felt unnaturally cold as Major General Richard Altner, commander of the 177th Armored Division and the Republic of San Magnolia’s Expeditionary Unit, spoke the name …