Vasel
Once Welkin was signed up and in his new uniform, he went to the captain's office. He stood outside the door for several long moments before finally knocking.
"Come in," a woman's voice said.
Welkin entered the room, noticing several others in there. He went to stand in front of the desk.
"Welkin Gunther, reporting for duty," he said.
"I'm Eleanor Varrot. But you will address me as Captain," she said.
"Yes, Captain."
"Now, I have placed you as Lieutenant of Squad 7. Miss Melchiott has been placed as sergeant in your squad. These gentlemen are your fellow Lieutenants. Get to know them before the meeting this afternoon. Also, I'd appreciate it if you could chose nineteen of these candidates to make up your squad." Varrot handed Welkin a folder with papers in it. "All of you are dismissed."
The group saluted, then left the room. Welkin began walking to his own office, but found a handsome young man with burnt orange hair and eyes standing in his way.
"I was in there, and you didn't even say hi to me. I thought we were friends, Welkin," Faldio said with a pout.
"Oh, I'm sorry Faldio. I'm just so busy getting used to this, learning what I'm supposed to do..." Welkin trailed off as Faldio stared at him.
"That's no excuse! You can't be too busy to say hi to your friends, Welkin!" Faldio took deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. "But, you recognized me, so I guess it's all right."
"Well, we were roommates. After living in the same place, how could I not recognize you?" Welkin smiled at Faldio.
"Ah... You have a point. As usual. Well, see you around Welkin." Faldio turned and left. Welkin continued to his office.
The door had a '7' engraved on it, so Welkin knew he had gone to the right place. He pushed the door open and entered, looking around.
"Doesn't look much different from my room. Could use a little nature in the corner, maybe. I'll just open the window for now."
Welkin went over to the window, tossing the folder on his desk as he walked by. The moment he opened the window, he took a deep breath. There was a gentle breeze, and Welkin was more than happy to stay there. But, he had to figure out his squad first. With a sigh, he returned to his desk and the papers waiting for him there.
A long half an hour later, Welkin had finally chosen the members of his squad. They were as follows;
Scouts: Ted Ustinov, Aika Thompson, Montley Leonard, and Noce Wordsworth.
Shocktroopers: Vyse Inglebard, Salinas Milton, Alex Raymond, Kevin Abbott, and Brigitte Stark.
Lancers: Nils Daerden, Hector Calvey, and Largo Potter.
Engineers: Herbert Nielson, Homer Peron, Dallas Wyatt, and Nadine.
Snipers: Cezary Regard, Emile Bielert, and Oscar Bielert.
"All done," welkin sighed. "I better drop by R&D Division now."
Welkin left his office, making sure to take the folder with him. A short walk brought him to the R&D Division, where mechanics were running around working on all of the tanks and tinkering with things. Two of them noticed him, and came over looking relieved. One of them had his eyes closed, brown hair, and goggles on his head. The other's hair was a dark green color.
"Hey! You must be Welkin Gunther, huh? Nice to meet you. I'm Leon Schmidt," the one with his eyes closed said.
"Leon! I'm sorry about him, Lieutenant Gunther. He seems to think everyone's his friend the moment he talks to them. I'm Kreis Czherny. Nice to meet you, " the green-haired one said.
"KC and I are your mechanics!" Leon said, obviously excited. "We've been waiting for you to show up for a while now. Hey, what's your relationship to Isara? She just won't shut up about you. We've tried getting her to talk about something else, but-"
"Leon! Let him answer the question," Kreis interrupted. Leon gave him a mock apologetic look, and stared at Welkin.
"Well, she's my sister. Look, I need to go. It was nice meeting you," Welkin said as he started walking off.
"Remember, if you need anything, just give us a call!" Leon yelled after him.
Welkin waved to show he had heard, and returned to Varrot's office.
"I've chosen my squad, Captain," Welkin reported.
"Good. Give me the list. I'll send them to meet you. Dismissed."
Welkin saluted, and left her office. He returned to his own office to await his squad. It took no longer than twenty minutes. The entire group of twenty stood at attention, making him feel nervous.
"At ease, Sevens. I just want to know who's who, and your ages."
It took less time than Welkin had thought it would for all of them to introduce themselves. Welkin made sure to take mental notes on appearances to tell them apart. There was a knock at the door as he opened his mouth to say something.
"Welkin. I'm coming in," Faldio's voice came through the door. A few seconds later, he was walking into the room. "I was just thinking. Since we're both here, I mean, if you don't have anything to do Friday," Faldio was cut off when they were called into Varrot's office. Minutes later, they were standing at attention in front of her desk.
"Lieutenants, we need to take back Vasel Bridge. It's an important supply route. Lieutenant Gunther, as our newest Lieutenant, I'd like you to be in charge of this operation. I'm sure we'd all like to see what General Gunther's son can do. Now, get your squad together and come up with something. Dismissed! The rest of you, wait here for further instruction."
Welkin saluted and left her office for the third time that day. When he returned to his own office, he was surprised to see that his squad was still there.
"We thought it would be proper to wait for your return, Welkin," Alicia said.
"Oh. Thanks, guys. It's a good thing you did. We have our first job. We need to take back Vasel Bridge. So, any ideas?"
"Isn't that your job?" Cezary asked. "I mean, you are the Lieutenant."
"Cezary, don't talk to your superiors that way..." Kevin muttered.
"Shouldn't we take back our side of the bridge first, Welks?" Isara said, coming into the room.
"Good idea, Is. Okay, Sevens! We're going to take back our side of the bridge. We can figure out what to do from there."
"I won't have to be near those filthy Darcsens, will I?" Rosie and Cezary asked at the same time.
"You really will need to learn to get along, you know," Welkin mumbled. "Come, on. Move out!"
A few hours later, they were in position to take back their side of the bridge. The squad was more or less divided in half, some with Welkin, and some in town.
"All right. Ready, Sevens? We need to clear this place of Imperials. They probably have tanks, so be careful!" Welkin lowered himself into his tank. "Alicia, go take a look in that grass by the bank. We don't want anyone sneaking up on us."
Alicia nodded and ran off, getting cautious close to the grass. While she checked out that area, Welkin put himself in motion. He drove the Edelweiss straight up the center of the road, crushing the sandbags and one of the shocktroopers there beneath the Edelweiss. Cezary took careful aim and shot a bullet into the other shocktrooper's head as he ran to avoid getting crushed. Welkin stopped at the top of the slope, right after the corner of the building. There was a tank over there, as well as quite a few Imperials. Welkin and the tank shot rounds at each other while the Imperials thought they could run past Welkin. Cezary, from his post at the bottom of the slope, picked them off as they came around the building.
Alicia seemed to be holding her own just fine, until a shocktrooper popped up out of the grass. She gasped and stopped, falling to the ground as he began shooting. Once he was out of bullets and had to reload, she made her move. He barely had time to kneel down when Alicia put a bullet in his head. She looked up toward where Welkin was, and started running up there to join him. There was an explosion when she got halfway up the slope, and the Edelweiss looked like it needed repairs.
"Hey, Dallas! Welkin needs help!" Alicia yelled. Dallas nodded, coming up beside her. She ran over to the Edelweiss, getting ready to repair whatever she could.
Cezary looked at the twins, who were on a roof, and nodded. Emile smiled.
"Time to go, Oscar. Let's make Him proud." Oscar nodded his agreement and they moved to the other side of the building. "Remember, if the fools leave an opening, take it. There isn't any room for mistakes. That's what Mr. Regard said."
The two of them looked down on their own camp, watching for any Imperials trying to be sneaky.
"Won't they know we're here, Em? I mean, they'd expect snipers, wouldn't they?" Oscar asked, worried.
"Nah. Imperials are arrogant. Why would they think we've got snipers? I mean, they probably think we're a bunch of good-for-nothing farmhands. Oh, there's one. Coming up from behind, the dirty trickster. Get him, Oscar!" Emile pointed him out, and Oscar took aim. The bullet flew home with near-perfect accuracy.
"Wow. Did you see him collapse? Let's find another one." Oscar said. Emile couldn't agree more.
In the camp, Vyse stood with Hector, bored out of his mind. He was supposed to wait for Welkin's order, but it was taking an awfully long time. And no Imperials had gotten close enough to pose any threat, either. He sighed, shifting position.
"Calm down, Vyse. You'll get your chance soon enough," Hector informed him.
"I know, I know. It's just so boring," Vyse whined.
"I don't mind," Herbert said as he approached. "That just means we have a less chance of dying."
"Have you seen anything, Herbert? I'm dying of boredom, here!"
"No, not really. Not that I've been-" Herbert was cut off when they could all hear the wall crashing down. That could mean only one thing.
"Finally!" Vyse yelled in joy. Hector put an arm out to stop him from running out there and getting himself killed.
"That was a tank. You can't just run out there. You'll get killed." He looked across the way, to Largo, who had seemed to have reached a conclusion. Hector went around the corner slightly, falling back when the tank shot it's cannon at his position. Largo ran a little ways out, followed by Rosie, making his way around it while Hector kept it occupied. The twins fired at Imperial Shocktroopers who came through the hole in the wall before they got a chance to shoot at anyone. Rosie kept Largo alive while he took aim at the tank's exposed engine. One shot, and it was a goner. The others ran out from where they were to get rid of the remaining Imperials.
"How's it holding up?" Welkin asked over the intercom.
"All right, boss," Largo responded. "There was a tank, but we dealt with it."
"Nobody was hurt, right?"
"We're all fine."
"All right, now move in and take back the town."
Hearing Welkin's order, the shocktroopers moved into town. Vyse went trigger-happy on every Imperial he saw, taking care of most of the problem. Aika ran through the battlefield to take the camp. The shocktroopers killed the last of the Imperials as she made it. Welkin hopped up out of his tank.
"Good job, Sevens! We've taken this side of the bridge. The Captain should be pleased. Now, we just need a strategy for the other side..." Welkin seemed to go off into his own little world as they stood, waiting for his next order. "We need to go down to the river. I need to check something." Welkin ran off to the riverbank, sliding to a stop before he landed in it. "It doesn't look too deep... We could probably cross it if we could just find a way... Oh, look. There're some fish in here. They're so beautiful. How are you? If you don't mind, we need to cross through your home sometime soon."
"Is he talking to the fish? ...I think the Lieutenant's crazy," Cezary said, talking to Kevin.
"My brother isn't crazy!" Isara said, standing behind the two of them. Cezary turned to say something, but appeared to have changed his mind.
"I don't know how anyone can stand being around those filthy-"
"Cezary!" Kevin hissed at his friend, wanting him to shut his mouth.
"It's true, Kevin. They're filthy, good-for-nothing little-"
"Cezary, stop it. You're not being nice at all."
"Well, why should I show one of them any kindness? They don't care about anyone but their own people, and don't think about what anyone else thinks."
"That's a little hypocritical, isn't it? We haven't been showing them much of those, either. Maybe if everyone was a little nicer to each other and got over these petty issues,"
"Kevin, they destroyed the area of Barious. How could we possibly forgive them for that?"
"You don't even know if it was them or not! There's no proof linking the Darcsens to that," Isara yelled angrily.
"Now, now. Cezary, apologize to Isara." Welkin was coming over with an irritated look on his face.
"I'm sorry, Darcsen," Cezary said sarcastically.
"Good. Isara, do you think we could use those things you were making? The ones that are supposed to make it so you can get a tank across a river?"
"It'll take a while, Welks. I'm not even entirely sure they'll work properly," Isara said.
"Well, at least try Is."
It was nightfall by the time Isara was done. Welkin stood, looking out across the river. the Edelweiss was next to him, fully prepared for its travel through the river. He looked back at his squad, and smiled.
"Ready? We're going to take those Imperials by surprise, and take back the rest of Vasel. It's the dead of night, so they shouldn't be waiting for us. We shouldn't need to worry about tanks, but I want Hector to come with me, just in case. Cezary, you're coming with me as well. Herbert, Salinas, Alex, and Montley will come as well. The rest of you, make sure the Imperials don't take this side back," Welkin ordered. "Alicia, you're in charge on this side."
It didn't take long for them to cross the river. Welkin looked at the members of his squad that surrounded him. He nodded, and Montley ran off. It didn't take long for Montley to return.
"No one's out. We could just go in and occupy their main base. They don't even have scouts on watch duty." Montley gave his report quickly and quietly. Welkin nodded.
"All right. Alex, get in there and occupy their main base. Contact me when you're done. The rest of you, make sure none of the Imperials wander out for any reason and alert the rest. The last thing we want is for them to be on the offensive."
Alex nodded, and ran off , following the road. He looked around, making sure no Imperials could catch him off guard. Not that he was expecting any to be out. But his mother always said, "It's better to be safe than sorry, Alex. Remember that before you get yourself into more trouble than it's worth." He smiled, thinking of his mother.
Get a hold of yourself, Alex. You've got a job to do, he thought. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
As he neared the enemy main camp, a feeling of unease settled in his stomach. It was almost too easy. His mind was screaming at him to retreat, to get out of there before something happened to him. But he ignored those thoughts, and continued approaching the building. Alex stopped just outside the door, gently pressing his ear against it. He didn't hear anything, and assumed nobody was up. Still being cautious, he pushed the door open. Alex looked around the corner of the doorframe. Still nothing. He went around the corner into the room. His grip tightened on the gun in his hands as he made his way across the room. It didn't take him long to find his way to the commanding officer's room. Alex pushed the door open, to find the man starting to sit up in his bed. Alex reacted quickly, shooting the man in the head before he knew what hit him. He went over to the desk, going into the top drawer in search of a key. He found it under a stack of papers, grabbed it, and left the room. Alex ran to the building on the right side of the bridge. He stopped in front of the door, unlocked it, and entered the control room. Once the door was shut behind him, he contacted Welkin.
"Lieutenant, I've taken back the bridge," Alex said as he pulled the lever to pull the bridge up.
"I see. Good job, Alex. Our mission is done."
Within minutes, the city of Vasel was back under Gallia's control. Squad Seven returned to Headquarters after handing the city and its remaining Imperials over to the military.
