The pistol flashes contrasted the gentle rays of sunlight entering the windows. He had hoped blind shooting would be enough to scare away the intruders - it wasn't. Two troops in the same uniform as him ran through the door, one holding a pistol aimed forward and the other an entrenching tool. That was the last slice of battle these soldiers would experience, as darkness enveloped all three.
The large concrete slab fell with a great thwack, tumbling off of the cable rope attempting to pull it up. In the wreckage of the building, unluckily caught in the firefight the previous day, a gruesome scene was revealed. Three uniformed troopers in melee combat, cut short by the building's collapse. As the dust of the fallen concrete slab cleared, four palace guards ran up, and started inspecting the bodies.
"Nothing here major," declared the field medic. "Two soldiers from the sixth, just guards, against a sergeant from our regiment." The two other soldiers started dragging the bodies out, removing smaller rubble off of one's foot.
The major gave the three men a salute and started walking back towards the palace. He pulled the ID badge around his neck out of his shirt. 'Utterly ridiculous' he thought 'like a little badge is going to prevent infiltration'. He was not happy with the Planad's new directive, but unable to do much about it.
As he walked, he thought about how it could be possible for there to be no real trace of the attackers. So far only one hundred casualties and three armored cars were recorded as casualties from the sixth light regiment, with one additional utility vehicle abandoned. What worried him as well was the complete unpreparedness of the palace regiment.
In front of the palace was the newly established checkpoint, with three soldiers mounting a barrier and one makeshift pillbox with a machinegun pointed at new arrivals. The soldiers immediately recognised Varnik and gave him a salute which he returned. As he was about to walk past the barrier, a soldier, clearly stressed, halted him.
"Sorry sir, I-I'm going t-to need to see your b-badge. Planad's o-orders." the soldier stammered.
"Right. This stupid thing." the major replied sluggishly. He held the badge up to the soldier.
The soldier turned back, slightly more at ease, and shouted "Let him in guys". The barrier, which Varnik was already about to go around, lifted slowly.
In the palace, he headed to a staff recreation room that the APG had borrowed to organise quadrant search operations out of. Entering the room, it was completely blue, made so by the glowlight dangling from the ceiling. Computing machines and radio stations dotted the sides, each manned, with one large table in the middle.
A man sitting with his ear listening into a radio via headphones turned upon Varnik's entry and raised an eyebrow.
"Still nothing, just two troopers." replied Varnik to the unheard question.
The radio operator laid his headphones down and got up, following Varnik to the table - a map of the capital lay stretched across it.
"Major, troops reported quadrants three through seven clear. No luck so far on our side either. No new casualties to report." relayed the radio operator in a clear manner.
Varnik grew frustrated. He started speaking, talking quickly as his mind rehashed through the events. "I don't get it. We still don't know how they infiltrated the city. When the armoured cars rolled from the south, they were immediately engaged at the border, yet while that happened, several companies of their infantry appeared and surrounded the palace, as if carried by fog."
The radio operator observed the map. Varnik's eyes also scanned it. 'Was there something I have missed?' he thought to himself. His eyes scanned each district. He had already sent the unfortunate souls to check the sewage tunnels and got nothing. 'Think Varnik, think. How would you assault the capital?'
Azonis Central was situated on a grassland with a coast to its West and a mountain range far East stretching southwards as well. However it had been built next to what used to be a wetland - one of the rare humid locations on the planet. This was done so that supplying water and clearing a temperate livable climate would be easier. The original colonisation effort, starting sixty years ago, created several hydrology and climate tunnels to reduce the moisture in the ground and to redirect it into irrigation efforts further Northward.
Varnik considered this piece of almost forgotten infrastructure, coming to a conclusion. 'Those tunnels, I bet they could fit a person.' Varnik turned to the adjutant. "What if they used the old climate tunnels?" he asked carefully.
The adjutant took a second, taking it in. "I don't know sir, they'd need to use some sort of radio relay to communicate their assault from that distance which I doubt they had the time to take down in their rushed exit." he replied, disheartened.
Varnik asked "And there's no readings of radio signals coming from far North?"
The adjutant straightened his back, and raised his eyes off the map and looked up at the major. He gave an about turn and sat back down at his console, blurting out commands to the staff in the room. "Sweep North, distance: anything north of ten kilometers. Isolate signal. Major. We - we have a hit!"
The radio jockeys erupted in a slight celebration, several fist bumps circled the room.
The major felt relieved. For the first time in a while he had a little victory.
Then the adjutant turned back and threw his headphones down, connecting the radio to a speaker. Over the speaker, a rasp voice gave out information. "Palace regiment still non cohesive. Search patrols soaking up all of their time. Planning for partial exfiltration tonight. Lionhunter out. Message repeating." It was clear that the automated message had been repeating all throughout the day. The major's brief relief turned back into worry. This was bad.
The major commanded "Contact the colonel. Tell him I'm heading North." then, almost walking out of the room before halting and again commanding "Whichever company has the least wounded, contact them and prepare them on the outskirts to the North. We have tunnels to sweep."