-snip
The moon was high in the sky when the group of men and women arrived at the last dune before the beach. The walk to the beach from the fortress further inland that their helicopter had landed near had taken a few hours, and it had slowly become darker as they advanced towards the beach. Their progress was further hampered by the Dune Defense Zone, the sandy hills where Arman had given orders to build bunkers and coastal batteries months earlier. Every fifteen minutes they arrived at a checkpoint, although most soldiers stationed there immediately let them as soon as they saw the party consisted of their Khan and some of his most important generals. A few asked some questions because they were suspicious that the Khan himself suddenly came by the checkpoint they were stationed at, but upon the needed reassurance that they would not be fired or demoted the generals and Khan together with their escorts were let through. With every checkpoint they passed however, the escort of soldiers that they had originally been placed with grew, as the leaders of the various checkpoints would risk losing some soldiers and having a slightly weaker outpost over the Khan and members of the Kurultai dying and them getting blamed for it.
General Anderson and General Nurzhan kept squabbling all the way to the shore. Even when they were all required to change into outfits more appropriate for possible combat while they were flying towards the inland fort, Gen. Anderson kept shouting to Nurzhan about "his extreme bluntness and stubborness" as she was changing into combat gear from a private area in the back of the aircraft. Nurzhan on the other hand, mostly just misunderstood what she was saying, due to his lack of understanding of both metaphors and social situations. General Yun stayed quiet as always, choosing not to interfere in the constant rivalry the other two generals seemed to be having. Yuri never really minded the constant arguments between the two ever since he had chosen them for his Kurultai. It was actually quite helpful that they were constantly trying to outdo each other, and it was funny to see as well. However, it did not help at the moment, as they were trying to not get seen by these potential new enemies, and he silenced them both with an angry look.
Finally, they arrived at the last dune before the beach, and they all crouched down to stay hidden. The original escort squad leader peeked over the hill and immediately pulled back his head with a shocked expression on his face.
"What is it?" Yuri and the generals asked in unison
"A fortified encampment, right there, on the shore." The squad leader replied.
The Khan requested the man's binoculars and did looked over the dune.
"There's at least a thousand people holed up in there, maybe even more. Tell your men to spread out around the dunes, and get them ready to shoot if needed. General Anderson, I want you to call in a few fighter planes from the nearest airbase, tell them to patrol around the area. General Nurzhan, contact the nearby forts and tell them to send more soldiers to our position. I also want our coastal guns online ASAP."
Both generals did so immediately. First to say anything was Katie "I contacted the airbase, but the quickest their planes can be here is in a few hours." "Our coastal guns are ready, but it will take a while for these new soldiers to get here." Arman said thereafter.
And so they waited for a while, all silent.
"You know, frankly I expected something like this to happen." General Yun said suddenly. "We have no navy at the moment."
"Yeah well, the Core hasn't build any ports here yet, and you know landships can't float." Yuri replied. The refusal of the Khaganate to have a proper navy was well known with other empires and nations they had contacted previously. Instead, when the Khaganate's armies needed any naval operations done, they would call in assistance from the Core, the AI reponsible for running the AIR. This AI controlled and built another branch of robots called the Naval Military Robots, which are based on various sea creatures the Khaganate found on ocean planets they had colonized and conquered.
"The Core should hurry up with this then, but they can't now with these people here."
The waiting continued.
After what felt like, and was in fact, hours, the backup they required had arrived. Several K-7 'Gopher' APCs arrived and stopped near the shore, and soldiers jumped out, going towards the soldiers already sitting on the dunes, while F-5 'Marauder' strike fighters flew overhead, ready for any command to attack. It was at that moment the Coastal guns activated, slowly rising up from their hidden positions in the dunes, and turned around.
A fifth man joined the members of the Kurultai. It was Stephan Michel, one of the best diplomats of the Khaganate. Yuri had requested his presence earlier as they had encountered unknown, but organized people and the man obliged, being transported all the way from the Lanist Khaganate's capital. The Khaganate's response was ready.