Newly Found Commanders
Prologue
After Inquisitor lord Manessa had interrogated Andrew and Halle they were both sent back home to Valhalla. The supreme commander of all Valhallan forces summoned the two to a conference of which they attended in full dress uniform. When the conference was over they walked out with gleaming smiles. The good news is Andrew had been given command of the 487th Valhallan Mechanized, as for Halle she was given command of the 487th Valhallan Sniper Corps. The bad news, their regiments were given the objective to retake Constantinople II; the two shuddered at the thought. "I can't believe it, Constantinople? Again? I still get horrifying flash backs!" Halle said as she reached for the read out of her new command. "I know, many of my friends died there and I wished that I would never return for as long as the Emperor wanted me to live." They began to pack, for once again, a trip to the hated planet. Halle and Andrew knew that bad dreams would fill their minds for as long as they stayed there. They prayed for the Emperors strength and they knew they would have to rely on each other once again.
The Valkyrie gunships began their decent to the drop zones just outside of Constantinople; they wouldn't be bringing in the mechanized until they secured the armor landing zones, set up a perimeter defense and supply lines. Andrew stood by the door, his hand latched to the roof bar. He looked back at his command squad, Dylan, the man who carried the meltagun, Julia, the 487th flag bearer, Emily, the assigned Commissar, Natgar, the vox operator, and Jerome, the medic. He held up ten fingers as the aircraft began to shake from flak. As they came closer to the ground, the flak shells soon began piercing holes in the side; beams of light could be seen in the darkened compartment as they waited for the jump signal to turn green. The door squeaked open and they were clear. Andrew unlatched himself and fell through the door, he felt like he was at storm trooper training again, except the fact that he was being shot at. He pulled the rip cord and his parachute fluttered open, 'Thank the Emperor that the preliminary bombardment did its job, without it jumping would have been suicidal.' He slowly fell to the ground and rallied up his squad, Andrew's objective, find the landing zone for his mechanized and secure it.
Halle watched from the top ball turret of a marauder bomber as the Valkyrie gunships pulled up into the clouds. She hopped down and gave thumbs up to the pilot, he nodded. The whole 203rd Valhallan Bomber Wing dropped over 70,000 pounds of bombs on top of the surrounding anti-air platforms below. Halle fell over as the Bomber shook. She yelled at the pilot, he didn't respond. Halle ran over to the pilots who were both slumped over one's head was blown off and the other had blood running down his face, 'Damn flak!' she thought as she removed one of the bodies and sat in one of the bloodied seats. She lost one of the engines and another was on fire, they weren't going to stay in the air, "Brace for impact!" she yelled as the aircraft entered a screaming dive. They hit he ground and slid 400 feet before they came to a stop, the rest of the crew was dead and Halle was barely conscious.
"You're clear for landing, bring in the Tank hunters." Andrew said over the vox as large transports brought in the bulk of Andrew's section. Emily walked to Andrew and handed him a data-slate, "One of the bombers went down, and Halle was on board it." Andrew gasped, and signaled his Tank hunter commander, Maynard. "Yes sir?" he said, Andrew signaled in another transport, "Your platoon with me, load up with as much fuel and ammo as you need, if there's any questions tell them its orders from me." Maynard nodded, 'It may not be part of the Imperial motto but I won't make the same mistake again, I lost Ricardo, I won't lose Halle!"