Nepgear watched the mass of white on the 2D map display amassing, filtering over the one bridge, and then building up on the other side. As she watched, she held her breath, expecting the enemy army to use its numbers to batter through her sister's second line of defense that had not even been established at that point. To the relief of everyone, the Lowee Army had instead wavered, as if unsure what to do now that they had accomplished their first objective of crossing the bridge. And in that time, Neptune was able to consolidate her second line of defense, more so now that word had arrived that Neptune's troops in her rear had finally captured a base. Radio chatter and visual displays had indicated that all of the base's systems were functioning and good to go.

But then, the Lowee Army had seemingly made its mind up.

"... Uh, Histy, I think I could really use those reinforcements right now."

This was her chance. Without hesitation, Nepgear spoke out. "Histoire! With your permission, I would like to take to the field, please!"

Histoire and Uzume turned with a surprised look. Nepgear continued, not wasting a second with formalities. "My sister is out there and there's little chance she can hold them back! She needs all the support she can get! Please!"

Uzume blinked and opened her mouth, but said nothing. Instead, another reply made it through. "Of course. Take all your troops that are ready and depart immediately. I will make arrangements to send additional forces that can be spared to your location under your command."

Relief and elation sparked within Nepgear as she received her approval. Even before Histoire was finished talking, Nepgear whipped out a quick salute and hastily departed from the room.

Remaining in the room, Histoire and Uzume only watched as their novice CO left out of sight. Histoire turned back to the map, but also kept an eye on her subordinate. "Is something troubling you, Uzume?"

The question caught the redhead by surprise. "Huh? Oh, nothing. As much as I'd like to get out there and crack some knuckles, I got no problems with you sending Gearsy out into the field. She is her sister after all."

Histoire nodded in agreement. It was perfectly nature for siblings to behave like this. And more importantly, with the war well underway, the Planeptune rookies will need all the experience they can get. There was no telling when this war could end.

And speaking of which…

Risking a turn away from the battle which could rapidly develop, Histoire faced Uzume. "Commander Uzume, if you don't mind, I have a special request for you, effective immediately."

Uzume's interest was piqued. "Oh? Alright, lay it on me."

Fishing a certain scrap of paper from the mound of reports, Histoire presented it in the open, bare to all eyes and attention. Within it, special orders were arranged. "It is a special assignment..."

The enemy advance looked like a horde of white scarabs as the Lowee Army renewed their drive towards Neptune's frontlines. With darting eyes, Neptune quickly ran another head-count: her tank unit, anti-air, the now-entrenched mech unit, and an APC that had just turned tail and drove away with their given orders. She glanced at her map: the new tank unit that she requisitioned was almost ready to mobilize; only mere seconds before they could arrive. And if she wanted reinforcements to arrive, Neptune will need to buy those precious seconds however she can.

Raising her head a little high, Neptune spied at the encroaching Lowee forces. Their armor were driving forward with intent, their cannons and barrels seemingly aimed at Neptune. It was clear that they knew where her remaining forces were.

Neptune ducked low into her tank, radio in hand. "Alright guys, here they come! We've gotta hold them back however long we can until we can bring in backup! Those snow-heads can try blotting out the sun with their… I dunno, snowballs, then luckily for us we'll fight in the shade!"

"Um… sure," a lone voice replied from the radio.

"Commander!" The unexpected shout from the speaker jolted Neptune like a cattle prod. "Wha-wha-wha…?!"

"Bravo Squad here! We're seeing hostile infantry and light armor moving at full speed past our position on the northern flank!"

"Say what?!" Neptune scrambled for the map to see a trail of white streaming around her current position, from both north and south. Along their path lay her scattered infantry units she had assigned to secure outlying outposts and settlements. The Lowee Army was snaking their infantry along the cracks in the Planeptune defense, all while attempting to smash the primary defense with their tanks; no matter where Neptune would stop them - and that was a big "if" - she could only lose. If Neptune was a self-assured commander, she would muse about the brilliance of the enemy move - that is, if her blank face didn't betray how alarmed she was.

"Aww shhhh-nitzles! Okay okay, everyone's who's with me, hold position! Everyone else, I'll need you to hold back their pincer advance! I dunno where they're headed, but they can't go any further!" Without waiting for acknowledgements, Neptune swiftly queued another order on her map, setting a rally point for her new tank unit the instant they were ready to move. Finished, she glanced up to see the white tanks suddenly within her reach, as both sides were just about to entire firing range.

"Fire!" A rhythmic outburst of thunder broke out. Cannon rounds from her tanks blunted the enemy advance like a proverbial wall. With the tanks having cleared off a salvo, purple-clad infantry now made their play, popping rockets from the bushes and shrubs. The fumes of rockets joined the wisps of smoke as blackened forms of Lowee tanks were all that remained, now immobile. But between the smoke trails, forms of more white vehicles could be seen rapidly approaching; with the first wave dispatched, they were prepared for Planeptune's welcoming party.

"Again!" Another round of shots rang out. And like before, their rounds hit their marks but this time, their targets answered with their own volley. The mass of the tank buckled as Neptune slipped from her perch.

"Owww..." She gingerly clambered back on her feet, the world within the armored body rumbling and quaking from the war; the tank crew engrossed in their tasks. Neptune pulled herself above the tank's hatch to assess the situation. Braving the drizzle of dirt and enemy fire, Neptune's defense was holding for now: her tank and mech units were reporting minimal damage despite being on the frontline, her anti-air element holding position just behind. Ahead, more and more Lowee vehicles crowded in plain view, all lining up for their shot at the Planeptune forces.

A white angular box slowly trundled to Neptune's right, its exterior almost masked by the smoke. Her foot jerked forward, smacking soft backside. "Hey! Bust that tank over there! Over there!" Neptune exclaimed, frantically pointing. With a faint, annoyed grunt down below, her tank's turret cranked its way. Off to her other side, a Lowee armored car swung around only to be stopped dead in its tracks (or wheels) by a rocket. An enemy tank slowly trundled into firing range, only to be pestered by cannon-fire from a nearby Planeptune anti-air vehicle; the enemy was too close and too many for a Planeptune trooper to ignore.

Neptune flinched as another of one her tanks bit the dust. Her units holding the defense were all taking losses, their combat effectiveness slipping with each engagement. With this many Lowee targets, she could hold the line for only so long. The radio net was abuzz with activity.

Neptune brought up her map and was bombarded with visual information: her bazooka-armed infantry were bereft of their primary ammo, her tank and anti-air units were barely holding on with below-average combat effectiveness, her scattered infantry had been getting trounced by superior Lowee numbers.

With so much stuff going on, Neptune didn't have time to think - or at least, think carefully. Her finger quickly dashed across her map, her mouth just as swift. "OK, mechs! Yeah, you guys! Fall back here!"

"Hey, take that guy over there! Then you follow up with a KO punch!"

"You, you, and you. Yes, you! Get over to this spot! And you, you get over there and get workin'!"

"Commander?" Neptune peered up from her map to meet worried eyes of a fellow Planeptune soldier. "... We're going to get through this, right?"

"Of course!" Neptune answered with bravado. "They may have numbers on their side, but everyone knows that smarts and guts win the day! We'll show 'em how high-level we Planeptune Army are! Remember: believe in me who believes in you!"

A beat followed suit, as the trooper was left baffled at her goddess CO's example of dramatic encouragement; even the outside world remained in silent bewilderment. The awkwardness held until the tank buckled. Squawking, Neptune scrambled back to work at which point her radio buzzed to life.

"Commander, we're approaching your position on your six!" Neptune popped her head out of the hatch to see a handful of boxy but sleek tanks approaching behind her. She didn't need to see their emblem to know whose side they were on.

"Oh that's swell! You get over here as soon as neppingly possible to back us up (and yes, 'neppingly' is a word now)!"

Her reinforcements zoomed right up to Neptune, the defense line now bolstered by a renewed line of steel and guns. With the sudden influx of enemy cannonfire, the Lowee advance hesitated. Like a struggling mathematician suddenly greeted with new variables, the enemy attack noticeably ceased as they reassessed. For the first time, Neptune could actually breathe.

Ram stamped her feet in a fit once word got back to them. "Oh darn it all!" she cried, "We were wearing ourselves out trying to bust through them and they just rolled in reinforcements!"

Rom tried to assuage her sister's irritation. "Um, it's just a few tanks, Ram. It's not like they sent an entire army at us." She peeked back towards to where the main Planeptune defense held. Even from afar, the tall pillars of black smoke left a tell-tale mark of battle, accompanied by craters and husks of destroyed vehicles. What surviving elements of the Lowee armor she and Ram brought had pulled back. While they paused to lick their wounds, reports from Lowee pincer attacks were mainly positive as their drive proved the flimsiness of the Planeptune defense at their flanks. With little resistance, the path to the enemy HQ was laid bare.

Soon, it wouldn't matter if their foe held the defense at the center.

"Commander! Forward element A here, enemy resistance has just pulled back. Permission to pursue?"

Rom stumbled for the radio. "Um, no, don't chase after them. Just keep heading towards their main base!"

"Roger!" Rom imagined the platoons of their infantry and transports scuttling across the green Planeptune countryside, the rolling plains and long distance concealing any direct line of sight she has with them. Commanding from across the other side of the river, while it deprived the twin sisters of any excitement, guaranteed some bit of tranquility far from the fighting.

Ram had simmered down as she stomped over to the table. "OK, fine! We'll let them keep that stupid forest for now. We'll keep them distracted while our other army go for that HQ like you suggested."

A mischievous grin spread on Rom's face. "Yeah! And they try to protect their base, we'll hit them when they're at their weakest!" She stifled a girlish giggle. "That's a real great plan, right Ram?"

"Yeah!" Ram pumped her fists into the air in victory. "I knew this Planeptune CO was a real pushover! And I bet Blanc will be so impres-"

"Commander!" Rom and Ram jumped at the sudden appearance of a Lowee soldier as she gave a quick salute, breathless. "There's an urgent report! You need to see this!" A slip of paper was hastily shoved into the sisters' small hands. The pair crowded to see what the urgency was inscribed on the report, and as they continued reading, whatever bluster they had of their assured victory evaporated.

"... What?!" exclaimed Ram. "Just where'd they show up from?!"

Neptune spied on the Lowee forces with care, their presence, though far, remained close to put her and her battered defense on edge (that or it was because of the binoculars). Although her soldiers had managed to blunt the enemy offensive, they were in no shape for another offensive. Worse, the enemy had made progress elsewhere: with her units scattered in her flanks, the Lowee Army was essentially free to do what they wanted.

Neptune judged the situation with frustrating scrutiny, attempting to weigh her options. But no matter how she tried to look at it (even tilting her map upside down), neither option was to her liking. Whether it was falling back to protect the HQ or holding her position, Neptune was caught between a metal dogoo and a hard place.

At least, until she heard a familiar voice over the radio.

"Neptune! Can you hear me?"

"... Nepgear?"

"I brought my forces with me to back you up." A cursory look at Neptune's map revealed that statement to be true, as her rear line was suddenly populated with an assortment of new sprites and indicators. Relief was brought by two factors: the purple hue of the friendly forces, and the mere fact that they outnumbered Neptune's.

"Neptune, let's win this together!"

A cocky smile spread across Neptune's face. "Right-o Player 2! Take care of the HQ defense for me, will ya?"

Far behind where Neptune sat within her tank sat Nepgear from within a Planeptune jeep. From the crested hill, the horizon of the battle was cast before her. Gazing to her front through binoculars, Nepgear knew her sister was out there, even if all she could see of where she was located courtesy of green thickets and smoke plumes. They were far, separated by the warzone, but despite this she could feel her.

And no distance in Wars Dimension would ever separate Nepgear from coming to the aid of her sister.

Hearing Neptune's request, Nepgear replied. "Understood! I've got your back!" She hastily cast her binoculars aside in favor of her map. Bringing up the all-too familiar display of her deployed forces, Nepgear looked ahead to ascertain her first objective: the white-clad interlopers of infantry and light armor that had surged ahead past the main Planeptune defense in favor of the enticing objective of their headquarters.

Nepgear strummed her finger across the display, issuing orders as fast as she worked. "Okay, let's split up: this group here will sweep north while this group sweeps south. Make sure to push the Lowee forces away from the HQ and Neptune's position." The gears of her tanks and APCs rumbled into motion before she even finished. Nepgear glanced back at her map and looked at Neptune's current forces. For a moment, she contemplated whether to reinforce the defense in person but she had spared no unit for such a task.

She sighed but shook her head; she couldn't afford to worry about the what-ifs or should-haves. The radio set burst to life with new transmissions as the map revealed to Nepgear that her forces had made contact with the enemy.

"Lowee infantry: 12 and 1 o'clock!"
"Covering fire! Stay in formation!"
"... Sustained fire! We got 'em beat!"

As she predicted, the sudden arrival of Nepgear's forces collided into Lowee's, and as they comprised of nothing heavier than an APC, they were left susceptible to even a lone tank unit. Bereft of any means to combating anything immune to bullets, the Lowee infantry were clearly no match. Within seconds, the Lowee maneuver to outflank Neptune and drive to her headquarters was dashed - all of this, presented to Nepgear on the animated 2D map.

"Excellent! Threat averted!" Nepgear enthusiastically reported. Immediately, she began formulating her next move. "On to stage 2!"

"Oh, what is going on?!" Ram whined loudly. After receiving preliminary reports of enemy reinforcements, new reports streamed in heralding the destruction of their forward troops. Needless to say, she was not happy.

"I-I think we should pull back," meekly advised Rom. "I-I don't think we can take on both Planeptune COs at once."

With a huff, Ram changed topic. "Ugh! Just who's leading the reinforcements? The other rookie?" Without even bothering to wait an answer, Ram rambled on. "Well, whatever! We'll just have to finish this the old-fashioned way! Come on, Rom!" Pulling out her map, Ram yanked her sister towards her, map in front and radios in hand.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do: forget about trying to do anything tricky! Tricky is boring and it didn't work! We'll just have to beat those purple-planet pinheads with the numbers we have!" Ram proclaimed boldly.

"Um, right! I want all units to double-back closer to the river," Rom instructed with a more calming tone. "Get all of our heaviest units assembled at the front and center. Please form up as nicely as you can!"

With orders - and a coherent singular thought - given, the deployed Lowee Army mobilized and repositioned accordingly. Whatever progressed they had gained from the pincer maneuver was lost in a single stroke, but it wasn't like they had much of a choice given the new circumstances. As their CO Ram said, there were no room for any more clever moves - enemy reinforcements saw to that. Their next maneuver can only take them straight to their enemy. And with Lowee numbers still healthy, there was still yet one trick up their sleeves:

A war of attrition.