Chapter 112 - Journey To The West
DDay +31
Three days have passed since the Battle of Surabaya. The four hour battle between 10,000 men against millions of zombies had ended with a tactical retreat.
Farell moves the 10 battalions back to the south across the paddy fields which slow down the incoming hordes and then crossing the small river. The 10 battalions finally retreat by the brigs type ship through the river back to the Madura island.
The four hours battle had a death toll that reached almost a thousand fighters, one-third of it come from the convict fighters who were fighting on the front line. But within the short battle, the Star Army was able to kill approximately a million normal zombies and more than thirty thousand red zombies.
By the end of the battle, there were 12 convict fighters who were able to finish their targeted 20 red zombies bounties. Most of them have been collecting their kills for a couple of days. These 12 men were given the choice to either go free or join the Star Army as a full-fledged citizen. Surprisingly, all 12 men chose to rejoin the Star Army. In the end, all 12 were assigned as the unit leaders of the convicted fighters..
Not only they were awarded as full-fledged citizens, but they were also assigned as unit leaders as there were none of it at the moment. Thus, their status in the Star Army is also now comparable to the elite soldiers. Unlike the other convicted fighters who only receive one food vouchers, these 12 men receive three vouchers per day.
Due to the way the Star Army treated these 12 men, it made the rest of the thousand convicts more motivated to try harder on the next upcoming battles. Later on the more convicts fighters turned into regular fighters, the more competitive it is to become unit leaders, therefore more quality fighters and leader will emerge.
The Star Army spends the last few days resting. Theo organized simple funeral services for all of those who died during the battle, including James Randal\'s six bodyguards.
Looking at the bodies burning and thinking about those that they have left on the battlefield, Alex wondered as the commander in chief if his decision was right. One thousand men died for items that may or may not be useful for the upcoming battles.
But then again, as much as it hurt to see the people\'s sacrifice, with the million zombies they have exterminated, the fighting experience of the Star Army has rose along with the tens of thousands of spirit stones they had collected, in the end, he\'s sure he did the right thing.
Alex makes sure that all of the fighters that participated in the battle will receive their rightful spirit stone rewards. He then started to recount their numbers.
With the addition of new fighters and new survivors, the population of Bangkalan city had grown even more.
Bangkalan Base>
Area: 65 hectares
Total Survivors: 271,722
Defense Team:
Colonel Dion\'s 5 Battalion: 4,822 men
Dario\'s 5 Battalions: 4,673 men
Ruslan\'s Madura Fighters : 1,876 men
Farell\'s Division: 7,655 men
Donnie\'s Tiger Units: 50 men
That\'s almost three hundred thousand people living in the Bangkalan Base, these numbers are quite huge compared to the other survival bases in Alex\'s previous life. Although, other than the army, most of these people have no fighting experience. They have been too relaxed for the past four weeks. This will be problematic in the future as Alex needed more fighters.
After hours of strategic meeting with Farell, Donnie, Cahya, James, Dario, and Ruslan. the next planned finally drafted.
Alex first priority is always to save more people, second is to prepare the base and strengthened the survivors, therefore Alex assigned each the leaders with task
Farell and Dario all ten thousands more fighters will go separately heading down south of the Surabaya city all the way to the south coast to search and rescue more survivors. The convict fighters also being divided into these two groups, these people eager to go battle and finish their bounty as soon as possible.
Alex gave Farell one main objective, near the city of Malang on the south coast there is one particular important place. It\'s the location of PT Pindad factory. Indonesian main defense industry company and exporters. Farell division objective is obviously to collect as many weapons, bullets, armed vehicles and also artillery.
Next task is to increase the fighters numbers out of the 270.000 survivors. At that day, 50.000 selected to be trained as fighters. All able-bodied man, age 17 to 50 preferably without family to take care off.
Donnie tiger platoon will be in charge of training. This will be the same basic training as the one thought in StarBase. Basic hand to hand fighting movement technique, weapon combat, formation training, and survival training. Alex left 5000 spirit stone as a reward for the top 10% talented fighters from this batch.
Colonel Dion 5 battalion army of 5000 was disbanded and merged into the 50.000 new recruits. the colonel itself was removed from his rank. The last few days Alex has the chance to know more of this Dion, he got into his position trough connection channel, he is not really a fighter, but Alex finds him trustworthy. He is apparently a very good administrator, therefore Alex gave him the army administrator position. He would probably become one of the busiest people onwards, especially with the army is expand.
The other plan is to start packing up and move all the rest of 200.000 men. These people will be moved by sea using the Brig ships into the Star Base in Bali. Cahya the ex-governor will be in charge of this task, moving 200.000 plus men, supplies, equipment using the limited brig ships are not an easy task.
Considering the number of ships and the size of transports, Cahya approximates the back and forth trips from Surabaya and Bali would take about three to four weeks to finish. Therefore Alex set the new recruits training by Donnie and the mission to the south by Dario and Farell will need to be wrapped up with the same schedule. In four weeks all civilians will already be moved to Bali and there will only be armed fighters ready for the next phase.
Alex asked James and his team to move to Bali as well, but he refused. James wanted to be in the center of it all. Although he was a businessman, like himself this James has a lot of fighting spirit in him. Therefore Alex agrees to take him and the rest of his bodyguards.
Alex then gave the laser weapon research and equipment to Cahya to be given right away to Doctor Rachel research team in Bali starbase. The priority is not the weapon itself, but the technology to convert spirit stone into an energy source. Although Alex has a laboratory and scientist prepared at the base, Alex unsure if there would be much success with the project, he can only hope for the best.
Thinking about Bali, make Alex think about his family, Alex write down a letter to be given to his wife Devita and also note for his daughters. He predicts he won\'t be home for another month and maybe more.
Lastly Alex gathered up Ruslan and his 2000 fighters to come along with him. Alex added another 3000 Madurese locals especiaĺly the one who has experienced with the mutated cattle. Alex has big plans for these hundred of elephant size cattle. Alex took 300 of these mutated cattle, the rest will be sent to Bali base with Cahya.
Alex team, James and his bodyguards plus the Madurese fighters all 5000 plus 300 mutated cattle carrying supplies prepared by James, heading for a journey to the west into the central Java.
"Time to meet up with Rico."