February 14, 1896
Amarna, Dominion
We landed in our small ship over a week ago. Olivier, Alistaire, a young boy named Lucien and then our guide Ashram made our way from the Port of Kubra to the small village of Amarna. While it might be small this is one of the major railway hubs in this part of the nation. Interior enough to avoid the ship based guns of our fleet but coastal enough to provide ample railway link ups to spread soldiers out quickly whenever necessary. Intelligence provided by the Al-Jarash rebels was spotty but that’s to be expected from the local rebels. They’ve been fighting here for liberation for nearly thirty years, guerilla warfare. The fact though that they are fighting the common enemy makes them an asset.
The objective is to disrupt the enemy lines and if possible take this hub out of commission for the time being. The landings by our forces took place four days ago, the soldiers passing through here have been numerous. The tan uniforms of the dominion forces are in stark contrast to the white uniforms of the Mattoran Army Regulars. They seem to be more well trained, equipped and versed in martial matters. Their soldiers march in perfect columns with great pomp and circumstance. The invasion forces though have been quite successful. What we have been able to glean from local sources is that Republican and Kingdom forces successfully established two beachheads. One at the Port of Nublar and one at the Port of Say’id. Both sizeable ports with piers and docks that will allow the quick disembarkment of troops and supplies. Should be good to help them link up eventually with one another.
General Snow and my old assignments are at Port Nublar. It’s the northernmost of the two Ports and the one we are to link up with when we complete our objective here. I hope to come through this without casualties on our side though I’m not sure we can manage that. Ashram says that I need to speak to his commander, the rather famous D.S. Lawrence. The man is a legend and has been here fighting the Dominion and their Mattoran lords for the last five years, having single handedly turned the Al-Jarashi from scattered tribal guerillas into more efficient and effective fighters. I’ll be meeting with him tomorrow to discuss assistance in attacking Amarna.