Another idea in my skull that refuses to be left alone. Oh well, I've updated my main story twice, may as well do this.

'Ah, it's a great day.'

The traveler's thoughts echoed the day perfectly. A bright sun burned merrily in a blue sky with scant clouds to hide it's majesty from the green hills and valleys. Windmills littered the countryside and turned lazily in a slight breeze, peace in the very air.

A scene very much at odds with the war it was caught between.

But such thoughts did not impeded the traveler's steps, he was far too determined to reach home and see his sister for the first time in almost six months. But, his passion reared it's head as he passed a stream.

"No way!"

He dashed to the side of the river, peering through the reflection to see a rare sight.

"Wow! Moving up stream early this year huh? Wonder why."

He placed his pack on the ground and took out his notebook, far too engrossed with marking his observations to notice the trucks and people trundling down the road behind him.

Or the patrol walking up to him.

He heard a gun cock behind him. "Freeze! Put your hands where I can seem them!"

He froze as instructed and raised both his hands slowly.

"Stand up."

He did.

"Turn around."

He turned slowly, not wanting to get shot. He was met with the sight of two men, town watch by the looks of them, and a girl wearing a modified version of the men's uniform.

"I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name stranger?"

"Me? Uh… my name's… Welkin. And you…?"

"The girl with the gun, that's all you need to know. Now, I'm curious what you've been writing in that little book of yours. We've had reports of Imperial spies in the area."

Welkin recoiled, surprised. "What? This, this is nothing! I swear! I was just sketching the fish…"

The woman gave a condescending chuckle. "Oh, I'm sure. You do know there's a war going on right? We'll talk sketching down at the station and maybe you can tell us who you work for too. If it's not Imperial than the Federation's the only other answer."

"Take him away."

The two watchmen grabbed Welkin's arms.

He sighed as they led him away. "Thanks fish."

Ten minutes later

The woman was flipping through his book from what he could see, but he'd been too busy trying to keep one foot in front of the other to try and reason with her. Then again, she seemed determined about him being a spy.

"Flowers, Fish, Bugs, you have just about everything in here don't ya. I'll admit they're pretty good."

Welkin saw another opening. "See? I really was just sketching, no spying involved."

The woman huffed. "Please, this could be a kind of code. I'm not stupid."

Welkin almost blinked. Well at least she took her job seriously.

'I just hope Is will forgive me for being so late.'

"Welks!"

Welkin smiled. Speak of the devil.

A young woman ran up to their little party, obviously distraught. "Geez Welks! What have you done this time?"

Welkin gave a sheepish grin while the other woman tried to puzzle out who she was.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, wait! You're the one that lives in the old genera's house!"

The girl smiled. "Yes, my name is Isara; I'm General Gunther's daughter."

The woman relaxed a bit. "You do know that the town's supposed to evacuate right? We were given till sundown to leave."

Isara nodded. "Yes, my brother's come from the capital to help me. Though…" She giggled. "It'll be hard for him to help if he's in your custody."

The watchmen's jaws fell open while the woman gave Welkin a surprised look.

Then she pouted.

"Damn it."

She waved off the two watchmen and pulled the book out of her pack.

"I'm sorry. I was just doing my job though, you were marking something in your notebook and protocol demanded it. Again, I'm really sorry."

Welkin waved her apology off. "It's fine; I can understand why that would look suspicious."

Isara jumped in. "Welkin's really passionate about nature. He's even going for Biology major at university."

Welkin rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I've been told that I get so engrossed in my studies that I forget where I am, what's going on, or if someone's watching me. It's led to more than one misunderstanding and let's leave it at that."

Everyone chuckled, the atmosphere much more relaxed.

A crack shattered the air.

"Everyone down! That was gunfire!"

They hit the dirt and looked around. "There!"

A trio of men in metal armor were running down a slope, guns in hand. Another series of cracks rent the air soon followed by the screams of civilians being gunned down. One of the soldiers pulled a grenade and threw it just below the truck, destroying the vehicle a moment later.

The two watchmen began to return fire but a quick shot from one of the soldiers killed one of them instantly.

"Mrs. Melchiott! We need to move or the people will be in danger!"

The woman snapped out of her stunned stupor. "Right!"

She turned to Welkin after scooping up the dead man's rifle. "You said your name was Welkin right? Can you handle a gun?"

Welkin snapped back to reality and grabbed the gun she was offering. "Right, I made it through basic at least."

Melchiott, as Welkin dubbed her for now, nodded. "That's more than I was hoping. Any way they're likely nothing more than a small scouting team so we should be able to eliminate them if we're careful."

Welkin nodded. "Alright. Is, stay down until we're done ok?"

She nodded and Welkin dashed off to join Melchiott behind a stone wall.

"Ok, one of them is isolated from the others over there." She pointed to a lone soldier just a head of them. "The other two are further back, likely trying to find Drew. We have the element of surprise for now but after we drop him the others will take notice. Ready?"

Welkin nodded but had one question. "Who's going to take him though? If we wanted to be smart about this I'd recommend you take the shot while I give covering fire to let you move up. There are some sandbags a little further up for cover and I'm not one to question good fortune."

Melchiott smirked. "I like your thinking Welkin. Alright on three."

She placed her rifle over the lip of the wall and felt time slow down as adrenaline rushed through her. She adjusted her sights, placed the crosshairs over his head, and fired.

Two shots barked from the rifle and slammed into the soldiers helmet, the first concussing him and the second punching straight out the other side of his head, killing him instantly.

Welkin shot up and began to fire at the others, driving them into cover and letting Melchiott move up. He ducked back into cover as the soldiers returned fire but Melchiott was in their blind spots now, and she used it to her advantage.

'Aim, breathe, fire.' She thought as another soldier entered her sights, pulling the trigger when he stopped to reload his rifle.

Another two shots barked and he fell just as easily, slumping against the wall where he'd taken cover.

'Two down, one to go.'

The last enemy scout had taken refuge behind another wall, bullets digging divots in the wall from the other watchmen's fire. Melchiott waved for Welkin to join her while the scout was distracted.

"That was amazing! You're quite a shot!"

She preened a bit at the praise but shook it away. "Now's not the time for compliments, we still have one more to go. He's pinned by Drew right now but his ammo's going to run out eventually, I need you to add to the cross-fire until I can toss a grenade on his head. Either he'll bail and get shot or be blown to smithereens."

Welkin nodded. "Alright, here goes."

He popped out and began firing at the wall the scout was hiding behind. He'd timed it well since the watchmen had to duck back and reload so the scout stayed pinned.

Melchiott dashed from her cover and made it to the scout's wall just as Welkin had to duck and reload.

'Ok, twist the cap, pull the chord, and hit the deck.' She recited in her head, pulling out one of her grenades.

She set the timer to five seconds and yanked the rip cord, tossing it over the wall and rolling away. She didn't hear anything a moment later as a roar assaulted her ears and she din't hear anything further until her ears stopped ringing.

When her hearing came back the shooting had stopped. When she stood up, she found the wall and surrounding area destroyed but no body.

"Did you get him?" She called.

"Yeah! He bailed a second after you tossed the grenade and I put two shots in him!"

She sighed, glad it was over. "Alright! Gather up the bodies and bury them! We're not animals."

Her last words were whispered but her orders were clear and the watchmen set to work while Welkin walked up to her.

"It's really starting. In some corner of my mind I guess I just wanted this to all pass by, that our town wasn't important enough to be attacked."

Welkin nodded in sympathy. "I understand, but that's why we need to defend it right? To keep that town together and ready for all of us to return."

She chuckled dryly. "University and good with words? What else can you do? Drive a tank?"

Welkin chuckled, waving to Isara on the opposite hill. "I can't but she can."

Melchiott blinked but sighed. "Never mind. Let's get back to town for now, I need to report this anyway."

Welkin laughed. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Actually, before we go, I don't think I ever actually caught your name."

She blinked. "Oh, sorry, my name's Alicia Melchiott. Pleasure."

They shook hands.

Alicia laughed as Isara finally joined them. "I don't know why, but I feel like we'll be seeing each other quite a bit from now on."

Welkin and Isara smiled too.

"Funny, I have the same feeling."

Ch. End

This is just an introduction everyone, just me feeling out the story and what I want to do so it's a bit short. When I eventually get to the squad members I will go with my personal favorites that I used and no one elses.

Also, let's just say there's going to be a logistics error later that makes this a bit more fun.

Anyway, enjoy!