Gray gritted his teeth. His eyes were glued to the radar display, where three dots in the formation of 'V' could be seen entering the base's detection range. The alarm was quickly raised, and everyone outside the command room got busy preparing for the enemy assault. Defensive emplacements, both air and ground, were manned. The knights got into their war mech while the mechanics did their last round of check on the machines before they sally out.

  He had prepared for this day for a long time. Sooner or later, the Federation would send someone to hunt him and his people down, but not this soon.

  The Federation should still be busy quelling the rebellion.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  The planet government would be too weak to attack them directly.

  That left only one other option.

  "Mercenary scums," the man said with a low voice. The planet governor most likely paid mercenaries to take care of them. Well, they would be in for a surprise. Gray and his men were still elite soldiers of the Federation.

  "Status report, Allen."

  There's sound of crackling from the room's speaker. "Mech inspection is finished. All knights ready to go," the leader of the knight responded.

  "Good. Your enemies are most likely mercenaries, so they shouldn't be much of an issue. However, still exercise caution. I don't want unnecessary casualties or loss of equipment."

  "Don't worry, sir, we will take care of them without taking even a scratch. Knights, rolling out."

  Gray moved from the radar screen to the huge window on the side of the room, watching as the mech brigade sally out from the base in the direction of the enemy.