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It has been a long-held principle of warfare that only a desperate or supremely confident army keeps no force in reserve.  A reserve sacrifices immediate utility for flexibility that the rest of the army, pinned down in engagements, entirely lacks.  Fresh and energetic from anticipation, it can engage to support a battle at its critical point in the moment that that point proves critical, striking an exposed flank or a buckling formation or reinforcing such a weakness in one’s own formation to turn the tide.

Thus, possibly the most crucial aspect of a reserve’s capability is their power to strike at a time and place of their choosing.  For such a reason, cavalry and elite medium infantry have often performed this role throughout history.  Of course, these are limited in scope; a truly ideal reserve would be unseen by the enemy and so unable to have their responses predicted, while retaining all of the striking power and flexibility of target that more conventional forces are capable of.

Caroline Lidmann fell into her position in a crouch.  The warp from her prior location was smooth and practised, dropping her inside a bush on one of the hills to the West of the town of Labrador.  After hearing a similar soft thud behind her, she centred herself and lifted her gaze to watch the attack through Charter.  [i]Yeah, ‘less they’ve found some way to replicate or project Arm powers, they’re definitely here…  Come on, come on![/i]  She scanned across the bow, then the bridge of one of the Chinese transport vessels but there was no sign, not yet; nor had she felt the familiar tug of Charter pointing her towards a vital target.  All the while, her other senses reached out to her surroundings, a habit she’d picked up after one too many times being outflanked while in this precise state in training – she not only heard but [i]felt[/i] the blasts, echoing off the hillside and transmitted through the ground.

Her spare eye flicked sideways for a moment.  Her teammate – one ‘Nil’, who she’d only met shortly after teleporting into Lingayen and apparently spoke too little English or Filipino to communicate with beyond very basic small talk and battlefield orders – seemed remarkably calm, almost absurdly so given the context.  Callie had seen pre-battle jitters in almost everyone she’d trained alongside – they were nothing to shrug off – but this girl was just sitting there, still and silent…  Worse in this moment, her Arm [i]glowed[/i], something not entirely conducive to stealth.  Hopefully nothing to worry about, and what she’d heard about it would work extremely well in combination with Charter, but it did put her on edge ever so slightly.

She shook her head, then returned to surveying the area.  [i]Those aircraft are tearing into the city…  Response seems capable, though.[/i]  Back to the ships…  [i]Still nothing.

Wait, what’s –[/i]

The heavens unfurled, and from them speared a beam of brightest light.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5HmdHDlZUo]Callie acted before conscious thought[/url], not quite screaming into her radio: “Hostile code Glint confirmed, sir – engage?”

She needed to be fast.  She’d trained for that.

“Permission gran-”

[i]Let’s see how much you like those ships.[/i]

“Okay, we’re doing this!”  Callie pointed Charter down to the bay; in an instant, her focus zoned in on one of the warships, isolating.  [i]Deck gun fore; VLS fore; VLS aft.[/i]  The next: [i]Same again.[/i]  The next: [i]Deck gun fore; ASM mid; SAM mid.[/i]  Then the next, then the next – for each, distance and angles gauged, instinct granted by years of wielding her Arm; all the while, her other eye squinted against the light of the beam.

[i]Alright.  [b]Now.[/b][/i]

Energy projected; space warped.  Callie felt the familiar pulse sapping her, only barely – she didn’t need a large portal here.  Instead, high above the battlefield, a forty centimetre-diameter circle of space right in the path of the beam was suddenly next to one of the Chinese ships on the edge of their formation, as Callie joined near a league in half a tenth of a second.  Light lanced out from it, aimed to burn through multiple ships’ armour, the geometry aligning the strike with as close as possible to where she [i]thought[/i] each of their magazines were.

Then, as the beam left her first portal behind, she made another.

Then another.

A word back to Nil: “Once the beam stops, I’m opening a shot for you – as many as you’re able to bombard them with.”  Awareness open to await that moment.

And even as her mind and perception worked furiously, a third of her attention still trying to catch sight of the enemy Arms Masters aboard one of the vessels…  [i]Hope that learns you your lesson from…  What’s that green –

Right.  Good thing we have one on our side…[/i]

[@Gerlando]