The first screams General Dram heard among the trees brought a grim smile to his lips. The comm was military grade and extremely high quality, but it still did not quite convey the raw impact of hearing enemies burn with you own ears.
The Nightsisters fired back of course, with perverted version of the bow and arrow. Soldiers went down, but not many and not for long. The witches had certainly been repelled by the armored fire, but as the column ground on Max had the feeling that most if not all had retreated out of range. The fanfare and fireworks were keeping them at bay and providing an excellent screen, but they were costing time and resources to maintain. Even now he watched a unit pause to manouvre around an Occupier tank that was readjusting its position.
The sounds of battle up ahead continued to feed over the comm. They were catching up with the Grand Marshal and Commander Baize's first wave, but too slowly. They had to maintain momentum.
"All armoured units cease fire" Max ordered "flanking regiments peel off at intervals, form up facing our perimeter and move your armour to high ground. You're the rear guard while our core pushes forward. Core armor keep it moving, though stand ready to fire on any attacks in your field of vision". As they closed on the palace, the risk of attack from the rear increased. The second wave would leave a fifth of its strength actively guarding those rear flanks, and with their armored units stationery they would be quick to provide fire support from their vantage point.
The General turned his head, holding onto the back of the rolling Scorpion tight as he looked back down the column. "Rear units, send your treadspeeder troops up front". He would bring all treadspeeder equipped units towards the front of the column, enabling at least some of the second wave to spring forward to Altair or Baize's aid if required.
Dozens of tank barrels fell quiet and the partial silence that descended added a new level of eeriness to their approach. On one level it felt counter intuitive to stop firing, but if their forces were to combine on the palace quickly it was necessary. They would still be ready for anything, every man in Max's sight had years of training under his belt.
"Air command, this is Dram. Send a couple of XG-1s forward to spot" he requested. They had limited aircraft available, but the pilots would be well placed to any approaching threats and he heard their engines on the air within moments.
@Phoenix @Raydo @Altaris