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Sonja had messed up. Big time.
She had followed the scattered trail of intel, finding, as she expected, the enigmatic mastermind behind the recent conflict in Cosmo Land.
Great. Except the part where winning strategies require troops. Sonja had forgot to bring backup, and it turns out she wasn't much more than a hostage without it.
And now she was stuck in this glass tube, forced to stand by helplessly and watch, while...
While...
Did he just send that anti-air battery to attack an APC?
She blinked as she watched Sturm's battle against the allied forces unfolding. He was rushing the center of the mountainous region with a phalanx of MD Tanks and anti-air, but the Orange Star forces seemed to be effecting rapid repairs just well enough to hold the front line.
Sonja took another look at the battlefield readout while Sturm chortled mechanically. Orange Star's one remaining Armored Personnel Carrier barely survived the hail of anti-air vulcan bullets.
There were two Green Earth battle copters in range. What possible strategic value...?
A thought formed in her head. But no, that would be absurd! Unless... No, that can't be. Surely.
The princess of Gold Comet dismissed the ridiculous thought, holding her poker face. Pushing her glasses up just once, she returned her eyes actively on the unfolding battlefield. With a slightly closer eye on the choices Sturm was making
...
Sonja had watched the Black Hole forces take a few rounds of punishment from her father's rockets and the tanks Commander Andy - it had to be Andy, the way those vehicles were fixing themselves - had managed to herd the Black Hole forces around, and had finally managed to push him back across the river. Sonja counted at least seven obvious mistakes, and about eighteen more subtle ones, that the head honcho of the invading forces had made in the interim.
"I've had about enough of these pesky flies!" Sturm fumed, smoke billowing from his odious breather. "Get a load of this! Meteor Strike!"
The monitor flashed to an image of darkness, punctuated by glowing pricks of light - stars? The camera zoomed in on a chunk of rock, and she realized this rock was suddenly being propelled towards the battlefield at speeds that were eye-popping even on a video feed.
Oh no! Sonja bit her lip. This madman had artillery ready in SPACE?! They're in so much danger!
But she was stuck, so she had no choice but to watch as...
As it landed on... She blinked again, and took off her glasses to wipe them on her necktie. She put them back on and confirmed that, yes, a pair of father's medium tanks, miles from the front line and not currently being manned, had been the target of that cataclysmic assault.
What?
Surely he would have rather knocked out the bomber up on the east mountains, no? I mean, if Commander Eagle gets that closer and builds another unit in that airport over there - which he will - he'll be able to turn those four medium tank platoons to dust in no time at all.
She couldn't help but murmur. "...chump."
"What was that?!" Or maybe it was less that she didn't want to help it. She was rewarded by a furious expression on Sturm's mechanized excuse for a face.
She had been right. "You're a chump." She cleared her throat. Time to be brave, Sonja. "Your strategies stink. You had the superior force, literal space missiles, cloning tech to mass-produce troops. And a not-insignificant terrain advantage, to boot. But you're losing. To a ragtag bunch of humans who hadn't ever run exercises together and, heck, weren't even friends this time last year. And it's because you're a stinky piece of scrap metal who gets too caught up chasing a shiny toy to realize you're about to get hammered. And how!" Outwardly, she was smiling, making a show laughing to herself.
Inside, she was still terrified.
"You INSOLent!!" The cybernetic menace sputtered, smoke belching out of his tubes. "I'll tear you limb from-"
"-Whoops, look like my father just shot down another one of your bombers." She pushed her glasses up. "Oh, make that both bombers."
"WhaATT?!!" He turned around like a kendo training dummy on a pivot pole. One that had just been hit with one of father's special finishers. Appropriate to the situation, actually. "EnoUGH! I will not be distracted by some foOLIsh girl! Not when my conquest is so close at hand! I'm beyond your petty tricks!"
"Good, because I'm not done critiquing your strategy." Sonja pulled out her pocket clipboard and began scribbling some notes as she continued. "Did you know that, despite an APC's ability to hold an extra unit and resupply units over a long-term engagement, that rarely comes into play except in long-term engagements? As in, in the excess of one month?"
He didn't look back at her, frantically issuing out commands in a desperate attempt to down a now-mighty air force. But he did grumble, "...I'm aware."
"Well, then it's very *interesting* to me that you chose to attack Orange Star's APCs several times when air units and tanks were also well within range." She punctuated the word, and smirked. "Don't you find that *interesting*? Sturm?"
"......"
"You know, for the price of two missile units, you can build three anti-air batteries. The latter tend to be more effective against bombers *and* copters." Don't stop now, they're beating him and you're getting to him. Stick that dagger in. "And did you know that Eagle's air units can move twice as fast? I feel like I ought to make sure that's a thing you know."
"......aaaaaAAAAAHHHHH?!" The robotic menace clutched his head in his hands, staring at a display now overflowing with red alerts. "WHY?!"
"Why, it's like I've been saying. You've just been making comically poor decisions. This whole time." Her voice was dripping with delicious sarcasm. Yes, she was enjoying this.
*BOOM*! The first explosion signaled the arrival of allied air support at the tower. "In fact. By my calculation, you've left enough of an opening that reinforcements should arrive in about..."
Sturm smashed a fist through the console, which exploded in a flurry of sparks. "You." Another punch. "Are trying." Another punch, reducing the screen to a pile of broken glass. "My patience." Sturm then turned towards her, a cold glow in his eyes and fists upraised.
Sonja lost her smile, then. He took a step forward, and she closed her eyes. At least I bought them some time.
*THUD*!
She opened her eyes and turned around to the door. *THUD*! Could it be?
*SMASHHHH*!
The steel door of the command chamber came crashing down. Max charged in through the freshly open doorway like a raging bull, picking out the metallic dictator and lifting his own beefy biceps into a fighting pose.
Sturm, also distracted by the noise, turned to the Orange Star CO and threw out an impossibly quick left straight.
Max, too straightforward to dodge, simply stepped forward into the punch and took it on the chin. He then met the Black Hole Commander with a right straight that sent him tumbling to the floor. "Hit the gym, bud!"
Sami was using the butt of her rifle to smash the glass tube keeping Sonja captive. Carefully. "Sonja, stand back!"
Sonja took a step away to avoid broken glass. Soon enough, Sami had made an opening wide enough to walk through, and when she finally made it out, she collapsed into the infantry specialist's arms. "That was terrifying. Thank goodness he was so easily manipulated."
The redhead grinned at her, and gave her a reassuring pat on the head. "So you were messing with his head in here, huh, kiddo? Figured you wouldn't take things lying down."
She closed her eyes and smiled, leaning into the tough, sinewy arms of the hardened commando. "Mmm, yeah. He really lost it when I pointed out how bad his decisions were. All that grand strategy to turn the nations against each other, and it turns out he's just *that* bad at tactics."
~End~