Gate: Army of the Earth Federation

AN: Here is Chapter 3. And for those of you not familiar with the phrase "Scuttlebutt" it's basically from what I heard Navy speak for 'rumors' or chat at the water cooler.

Chapter 3: The Battle for Italica

In a village tavern not far from Italica

"WHAT!?" A crowd of men cried in astonishment.

"These people actually fought off a Fire Dragon!?" One man yelled.

"Yup, took it's arm clean off" A waitress said as she served a few drinks.

"That can't be possible" One drunk man said.

"It's true" the waitress protested.

"Are you sure you didn't just get knocked out and dream it up?" another said.

"Fine, don't believe me, see if I care" the waitress said as she left to gather more drinks.

Nearby Pina with 3 others from her Rose Knights order were enjoying themselves as best as they could, and eavesdropping on some rumors, this rumor in particular caught their attention.

"What do you think?" Hamilton asked Norma the young knight sitting to her right.

"I think this place sucks, everything tastes terrible" Norma complained.

"Norma stick to the subject we're talking about the Fire Dragon rumor" Grey the older veteran knight said as he held his cup of ale.

"Your all being too loud, remember we're on a secret mission to Alnus Hill" Pina scolded. "Hamilton continue"

"Ok, as I said this rumor is spreading like wildfire, no pun intended, men dressed in green and riding great metal beasts while evacuating villagers from a town, were attacked by a giant Fire Dragon, and they managed to fight it off after severing it's arm" Hamilton said.

"That's a load of bull" Norma said.

"No it's not mister" the waitress said as she set a cup of ale down in front of Hamilton. "I was there myself" the waitress said. "I was a villager of Coda".

"You say you saw this beast yourself?" Pina asked.

"That's right young miss" the waitress said.

"What can you tell us about the men who saved you" Hamilton asked.

"Hm, I don't know I'm so tired" the Waitress whinned hinting that she wanted a tip.

Hamilton understood and held up a gold denari. "I believe you" Hamilton said as she held up the gold piece which was promptly snatched from her hand.

"Why thank-you young knight" the waitress said hugging the gold piece. "Though I'll have to tell you the whole special story for this. After we all left the village the men who saved us, The Men In Green, guided us to our destination, however from the glare of the sun, the Fire Dragon swooped in and burned much of our convoy killing men, women, and children. The Men in Green didn't waste any time, with their armored carriages and Iron Beasts roared as they attacked the Fire Dragon. Their smaller weapons didn't do much to it, however their biggest weapon mounted on their biggest War Beast painted green, black, and brown with a Grey cross like symbol on it's side, was able to wound the Dragon but couldn't bring it down. That's when they used a different weapon altogether, the weapon looked like a long metal rod with a long rope hanging from the back end. The Rod of Iron hit the Dragon and with a violent explosion ripped the Dragon's arm off it's body. And the Dragon, in pain, and in great fear of these Men In Green, flew off barely avoiding two more Rods of Iron which would have killed the beast if they hit" The Waitress said as she spoke every word with passion and sparkles in her eyes.

"Violent explosion?" Hamilton asked.

"Yup, and from what I heard this Rod of Iron comes in many different forms and can be wielded by a single person if need be" the waitress said as she set the rest of the drinks she carried onto the Knight's table.

"Did you manage to see any flag or any coat of arms on any of them?" Pina asked.

"Hm, actually yeah I saw four different flags now that you mention it" the waitress said.

"Can you explain them?" Pina asked.

"Of course, the one I saw the most of was a white flag with a large red circle in the center, the second most common one had three simple colored stripes, from top to bottom they were Black, Red, then Yellow. The next one only one person had this, it was a red, white, and blue flag, the blue was in the top left corner with a lot of stars within the blue box. The rest was a stripped pattern of red, and white. The last was much like the second but the colors on it were from top to bottom were white, red, and blue." the waitress explained having gotten a good look at all of the Earth Federation soldiers shoulder patches.

"Doesn't sound like the flag of any nation I know of" Grey said.

"Could they have been from the other world?" Pina asked.

"Possibly" the waitress said, "If they are, we owe them our lives, after all our entire village would have been killed had it not been for them" the waitress said as she walked off.

"If these people have the power to fight off a Fire Dragon then we are in trouble" Pina said as she took another sip of her ale.

Meanwhile at Alnus Hill

The refugees were given tents to sleep in until proper barracks could be built for the children to be given shelter. And they were treated to their first meal on base.

"What is this?" Leilei asked as she held a small can in front of here.

"It's called chicken rice, or our field rations" Kurokawa said as she grabbed the small lever and pried the top open to show a warm meal of rice with chicken bits mixed in.

"Oooohhhh" Every gasped as they beheld what to them was a real wonder.

They all loved it and went back for more, only the mess hall was closed so they had to wait for dinner before they could get more food.

Afterwards the tents were all set up and names were taken, the Earth Federation found themselves with two mages one of them the apprentice Leilei, and the mage Kato. The Apostle of Emloy Rory Mercury, and Tuka the orphaned elf from the burned down forest village, and 18 orphaned children.

After they were assigned their temporary accommodations they were free to explore the base and see what their world had to offer.

Leilei and Kato found themselves in a field that had been stripped of all grass and life, not that there was much there before after the Battle of Alnus Hill.

"What are they doing here?" Kato asked.

"I think they're building homes for us" Leilei answered.

"Oh good, I can finally get my books out of that accursed cart, having to shift all those books to find the one I need is taxing on my body" Kato sighed.

Leilei didn't answer as she wondered further into the construction field, where she amazingly found Tuka standing next to one of the large diggers with amazement.

"Tuka, is something wrong?" Leilei asked.

"No, it's nothing, I just thought that my dad would be disappointed that he missed seeing this" Tuka said with a pained look on her face.

"Excuse me" An American Engineer said as he approached Leilei and Kato. "I need you to leave, only Engineers are allowed here while we are working".

While Tuka and Leilei couldn't understand what was being said they could understand that the man wanted them to leave the area. Which was fine with Leilei, she could smell something good being cooked not far away.

Leilei found a large number of men working various tasks but it all seemed to involve food in some shape or form. She noticed that soldiers from various nations were all here cooking various foods but the Japanese however were cooking the most. She walked up to one man who was dealing with some weird white vegtable carefully cutting it and peeling it down in a thin film.

The cook noticed her and decided to try and help her understand what he was doing. "Oh, its called Daikon...Daikon"

"Daikon" Leilei said as she eyed each perfectly peeled roll of the vegatable known as Daikon with amazement.

Leilei found each moment amazing as she explored each station of cooks who all shared the names of each of the food they were cooking.

Not long after Dinner was ready and all the refugees were finally fed a full and proper meal. Itami however didn't have time to eat as he was summoned by his Major.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" A JSDF Major yelled at Itami. "It's bad enough that we aren't finished building all the fortifications yet, now you give us more mouths to feed and beds to fill" the Major scolded Itami.

"Now now Major, you can't give Itami all the credit." Akalu said with a big smile as he walked up behind Itami, "It was also my decision".

The Major just grumbled as he wasn't able to scold one of the highest ranking officers there. "Fine, just please don't bring us any more people to care for".

"Itami, I do need to talk to you" Akalu said as he turned to leave.

'Uh oh' Itami thought as he followed Akalu out.

After leaving the Major's office and out into the hall Akalu started talking. "I need you to take Major Eric and scout a trading town not far from here called Italica" Akalu said.

"Huh!? No I don't want to" Itami whined.

THWACK!

Akalu karate chopped Itami's head. "I knew you would say that, you will go and you will like it" Akalu said with a bored look on his face.

"But why must I go to Italica?" Itami said.

"Well the girl Leilei, found a way to help financially support themselves" Akalu said. "Apparently Dragon scales fetch a high price in this world, but we have no use for them as our Armor and weapons are far beyond anything they offer us" Akalu said.

Itami glared at Akalu knowing that that couldn't be the only reason.

"Fine" Akalu said as he saw Itami didn't believe him, we also need someone to scout Italica in hopes to build a FOB there, if you can make a deal with the local lord, or the mayor of the town then we can set up an outpost there to help patrol the land better, plus it gives us better knowledge of the economics of this world." Akalu explained.

Itami was more satisfied with the answer, but he didn't let up growling at Akalu. "And the reason I need you to take Eric is because we finally have an Air Base set up here, we need him to see how viable the idea of setting up a helicopter base or air force base there is" Akalu finished.

Itami conceded as he knew that this was going to happen whether he wanted to or not. "Fine when do we leave?"

"You guys leave tomorrow morning, until then, make sure that the refugees are being taken care of and not getting into trouble" Akalu said.

"What your dumping them on me? You brought them in too you know" Itami argued.

"Yeah but the good Major was giving you all the credit we wouldn't want to start confusing the poor major now would we?" Akalu said with a slight grin.

"I got yelled at" Itami whinned.

"And I saved you from a serious punishment" Akalu countered.

"You know I wouldn't be deserving of that punishment" Itami whined again.

"But guess who saved you from cleaning all the bathrooms, and scrubbing the mess hall, on his hands and knees no less" Akalu said.

"Grrrrr" Itami growled we was starting to really dislike Akalu.

Akalu just smiled and walked off. "If it makes you feel better you can take some of the refugees besides Leilei with you to help keep you company on the lonely journey" Akalu teased.

"HEY! NOT FUNNY!" Itami yelled earning a chuckle from Akalu.

"Go take a bath Itami, its late and the baths are finally set up" Akalu called.

"REALLY!?" Itami exclaimed as he made a quick beeline for the Japanese style baths. "Alright!" Itami cried as he rushed to the baths and literally jumped into one of the mens baths.

"Ah, this is heaven" Itami sighed not having properly bathed since he arrived in this world.

Just outside the base, baths were set up for the refugees as well with someone guarding the entrance to the girls bath in case any perverts got any ideas.

Tuka, Rory, and Leilei went to the baths at the same time, except Leilei decided to test out the Earth Federations biological warfare suits and came to the baths wearing a full body suit, with a gas mask on. Which gave Kurobayashi, who was guarding the womens baths at the time and a couple kids a quick fright.

"Was exploring outside, borrowed this, but now I'm all sweaty" Leilei said as she took the mask off.

After entering the baths.

"Ah this feels nice, I'm amazed they made such baths in this place" Rory said as she sank slowly into the hot bath.

"I've never been in a bath indoors before" Leilei said.

"Why's that?" Rory asked.

"I used to be part of a nomadic tribe so all I got to bath in were rivers and ponds" Leilei answered. "Didn't you have a bath at the temple priestess?"

"Call me Rory" Rory said.

"Ok, you can call me Leilei" Leilei replied.

"Yeah the temple had a luxurious bath, but since I'm an Apostle I'm fated to roam the land so getting such a warm bath is uncommon for me" Rory answered. "I heard your learning some of their language"

"Yeah, there is still a lot I need to learn, but I'm starting to understand certain words and phrases" Leilei answered.

"That's good, I wonder how often I'll get to bath like this though" Rory said.

"Itami said that the baths will be open all the time so everyone can wash every day" Leilei said.

"Really?" Rory said. "That's good"

"Itami? Is that the guy who saved me?" Tuka asked finally breaking her awkward silence.

"Yeah, it was Itami's unit, along with Lt. General Akalu their strategist, and Major Eric, their Air Force commander" Leilei answered.

"Why did you want to know?" Rory asked with a mischievous grin on her face seeing Tuka smile happily after learning her rescuers name.

"Oh, I was just curious, plus I was wondering what they would have wanted in return, after all supporting us shouldn't be cheap, we would need a way to support ourselves or we may have to sell ourselves to them, the Men in Green" Tuka said.

"Earth Federation" Leilei said.

"What?" Tuka said.

"They call themselves the Earth Federation, they are warriors from a variety of countries in their world. Japan the biggest contributor so far was attacked by the Empire, that's why they're here." Leilei said.

"Really? Japan must be a powerful country then" Rory said.

"Actually Japan is a rather small nation" Leilei said.

"Really? Then which is the strongest nation?" Rory asked.

"Apparently there are three large and powerful nations in that world. The United States of America, The Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China" Leilei said.

"How much larger are they than Japan?" Tuka asked.

"No idea, all I know is that Japan is an island nation, the rest are continent nations so many times larger." Leilei explained.

"Wow, I would like to visit that world sometime" Rory said.

"Yes, a whole world beyond the gate that we know nothing about" Leilei said her eyes widening just thinking about the amount of new information she could learn from this world.

"But what are we going to do about supporting ourselves?" Tuka asked.

"Oh, I asked Akalu, and he said that we can collect Dragon's scales just beyond Alnus Hill" Leilei said.

"Really!? But Dragon scales fetch such a high price" Tuka exclaimed.

"Apparently they don't need dragon scales, they have no use for them, so Akalu said we can have them" Leilei said.

"Oh that's interesting, and where will we get to sell these scales?" Rory asked.

"Akalu said we can sell them in Italica" Leilei answered.

Meanwhile in a town not far from Italica

Princess Pina found herself in a small church staring down the broken and defeated form of King Duran of Elbe. "King Duran?" Pina said.

"Princess Pina?" Duran replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I was searching for information about the enemies on Alnus hill when I heard that someone of noble birth survived the battle and was recovering here" Pina explained. "King Duran, what happened?"

Duran only growled having to bring up memories he would much rather keep repressed. "We were defeated that's what happened" Duran answered.

"What do you mean, King Duran that's not a lot of information" Pina said.

"Princess Pina, the allied nation army fought to the end, remember that, but against weapons of thunder and fire, and their lightening arrows tore our formations to pieces" Duran answered. "We thought we were fighting the enemy of our nations and the empire when it was the Empire we should have been worried about the whole time" Duran said,

"What do you mean?" Pina asked.

"The Imperial army disappears and gives us no information on the enemy, we stay to fight with honor yet die like dogs. Pina the Empire used the occupiers of Alnus Hill to destroy us so we wouldn't be a threat to a weakened Empire" Duran explained.

"Your Highness, I may not have heard with any clarity on what happened on Alnus Hill, but please tell me, what is it you do know about the enemy?" Pina asked.

"Princess, if you who know nothing want information, you are not going to get it from a broken king. If you wish to know what it was that destroyed the Empire and the Allied nations armies, go to Alnus Hill and see for yourself" Duran answered.

Pina knew she wouldn't get anything else out of Duran and decide to leave, and the secret of Duran's location to stay secret.

"Princess, are you going to tell us to charge up Alnus Hill?" Hamilton asked looking rather worried about the possibility.

"No, I'm not that foolish, we need information, but even a surviving noble of the Battle of Alnus can't tell me anything, we will have to head to Alnus ourselves, but we have to make a stop at Italica first" Pina said.

Meanwhile back at Arnus Hill

It is now the morning they have to leave and Itami got a rather aggressive report from Kurabayashi, Itami was checking web updates now that an internet antenna was put up in the Earth Federation's base, but Itami was so deep into the new updates he had missed the past few months that Kurabayashi had to kick him to get his attention.

"OW, Kurabayashi what was that for?" Itami asked.

"The Recon unit is packed and ready to go" Kurabayashi said. "All that is left is for you to go get Major Eric before we leave" Kurabayashi said.

"Fine, I'll go get Major Eric" Itami sulked not wanting to go out on another recon mission so soon after getting back.

Eric was in Akalu's office talking about what his job would be on this recon mission to Italica.

"You want me to go see if an air base can be set up at Italica?" Eric asked.

"Yup, you are the air force commander right now so you will need to go" Akalu answered.

"But Akalu I'm a Marine Officer, I know virtually nothing about Air Base requirements" Eric whined.

"You don't need the fine details of how to make an airbase yourself Eric, you just need to see if there is enough open land to create an air base there, if there is none then it isn't a viable option, if there is a lot of open land then we will make an effort at least" Akalu said.

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Come in" Akalu said as he turned his attention to the door.

Itami opened the door and saluted before entering Akalu's office. "I'm here to inform Major Eric that our Recon team is ready to go" Itami said.

"Excellent, Eric will be down in a moment" Akalu said dismissing Itami. Itami closed the door behind him as he left for the recon group. "I'm sending you with five American Marines, I figure that if anything they'll help you feel more comfortable, plus one of them had worked closely with the Marine Air Force, which is something you will be entrusted command of sooner or later. He will be able to offer suggestions and ideas to help you make a decision" Akalu said.

"But what if we come across a political situation or where a good strategist is needed?" Eric asked obviously worried that Akalu's intelligence would be needed on this trip, this was not Eric's specialty.

"We've been working together for 6 months now Eric, I'm sure that you've picked up enough to survive, and even if it's beyond your ability, we now have the Runway, and the Helicopter pads ready now, it'll only be a couple hours flight to Italica" Akalu said.

"Oh yeah that's reassuring" Eric said.

"Trust me Eric I would much rather go on this recon than have to talk to the Japanese Diet but they need someone to talk to on this side, and you certainly don't want to talk to them" Akalu said.

"I guess" Eric sighed.

"Then give it your all my friend" Akalu said as he watched his friend leave his office.

Eric met up with Recon Group 3 and the 5 American Marines with their Humvee and left for Italica immediately. The recon team didn't have the Leopard 2A6, the Bradley, or the BMT-72 this time, so they would be lacking heavy firepower if they came up against any dragons. As the Recon team left the base and the base passed out of sight the trip was quickly becoming rather dull for Eric, he had grown too attached to Akalu's company to feel comfortable around anyone, but the American Marines seemed to notice and tried to cheer him up.

"So Sir, what is it like working with Lt. General Akalu?" A Marine asked.

Eric looked at him and realized that it was the same Marine that voiced opposition to Akalu leading way back when Ginza was attacked. "Oh its you" Eric said.

"Yes, Lance Corporal James Duncan" The marine introduced.

"Duncan, huh, well it's hard to say" Eric said. "He's a great leader".

"Good to know sir, but I'm more wondering how he is to you, he hasn't been abusive with his authority has he?" Duncan asked.

"You still don't trust him do you?" Eric asked.

"I think I'll have to pass on to the next life before I trust a Russian officer" Duncan answered.

"That's not really fair Duncan" Eric said.

"I'm well aware of that sir, but please understand that's just who I am" Duncan said.

"Ok, no he hasn't been abusive or anything like that, did you have a complaint?" Eric asked.

"Nope, he's been an honest leader so far, but I heard that NATO wanted him gone and replaced with an American Admiral" Duncan asked.

"Where did you hear that?" Eric asked curious how such a secretive meeting got leaked.

"Officially Scuttlebutt sir, but General Marcus is the one who told me" Duncan answered.

"Did he now" Eric said. "Do you think Akalu should have been removed?"

"The Patriotic side of me is saying yes, but the other part of me is saying that it would be a bad idea" Duncan answered.

"And why do you think that is?" Eric asked.

"No idea sir I was hoping you could tell why it would be a bad idea" Duncan said.

"I'm sorry to say that I don't have an answer for you Duncan" Eric replied. "Maybe later"

"Ok sir, but can you tell me why you trust him so much?" Duncan asked.

"First it was a gut feeling, now it's because I know that Akalu has fought battles that I'm too much of a coward to fight" Eric said referring to the political battles, and intelligence battles that Akalu seems to thrive in.

"Your a marine sir, your not a coward" Duncan stated.

"On the battlefield I'm not, but if I had to stare down a bunch of politicians performing an inquiry I wouldn't have a clean pair of pants left" Eric chuckled.

"Ha, is it also true that Akalu also objected to something you did in the fight with the dragon and protected you from an inquiry?" Duncan asked.

"I don't know about an inquiry but he did convince Lt. General Hazama that it wasn't anything to pry about." Eric answered.

"What did you do sir?" Duncan asked now having the attention of every other marine there including the driver.

"When the dragon was fleeing, I ordered our Bradley and the Russian BMT-72 to fire their ATGMs at the Dragon. If they hit and the dragon survived it may have opted to lash out at what remained of the refugee convoy" Eric said.

"Oh, that's not what we heard at all" Duncan said.

"Really what did scuttlebutt say?" Eric asked.

"It says that Akalu ordered the attack on the fleeing dragon and tried to pin the blame on you?" Duncan answered.

It was suddenly clear to Eric where all the questions were coming from. "If you find who spread that audacious rumor, you tell them that is a bold faced lie" Eric said with nothing but anger in his face.

"My apologies sir, but understand that's all we have to go on" Duncan said.

Eric didn't want to answer any more he was away from his friend, tired, and hadn't slept well in a couple days, and hadn't been home in 6 months, and now his friend was having shameless rumors spread about him.

Duncan could tell he pressed some raw nerves and desperately tried to change the subject. "What are you hoping to do when we reach Italica?" Duncan asked.

"We have to see if we can get an airbase built there, however if there is no ideal room at Italica we will have to build an FOB without the airbase" Eric answered his mind abandoning his anger for the moment.

"Akalu sent me because he thought I could be a help to you sir" Duncan said.

"Your the one who worked with the Marine Air Force?" Eric asked.

"Yes sir, though I must warn you I'm not an engineer so I may not be able to answer all your questions" Duncan said,

"That's fine, anything will be a help" Eric said. 'What was Akalu thinking sending me, and someone who wasn't a proper air base engineer to inspect this area.'

Back at Arnus Hill

Akalu was still in his office working on a mountain of paperwork when a knock came to his door.

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Come in" Akalu said and saw Lt. General Hazama walk inside. "Hazama? To what do I owe the pleasure?" Akalu asked.

"I heard you sent Eric to scout Italica for the possibility of building an air base there, without a proper engineer" Hazama said. "What were you thinking?"

"Eric has worked with the Marine Air Force before, he's even flown a few jets before" Akalu said.

"But he's not a certified engineer, he won't even know what he's looking for" Hazama said.

"How difficult is it to tell that there is enough land to make an airbase?" Akalu replied a small smirk on his face.

"It doesn't take a genius, but you know Eric is a warrior, not an engineer or confident in much else" Hazama said.

"Don't worry, Eric's purpose as a Marine will have value on this recon, but he also needs to find some confidence in tasks outside combat" Akalu said.

"And you think sending him out there will work?" Hazama asked.

"There are two ways to deal with a lack of confidence, either deal with it slow with small tasks that can be easily achieved, or have him perform a trial by fire and succeed" Akalu said.

"What if he fails?" Hazama said.

"He won't it's not a difficult task, plus Eric will know if there is enough room or not. And this trial by fire will allow him to feel more comfortable with tasks not directly related with combat" Akalu said.

"So you did both?" Hazama asked.

"Of course, that is always an option is it not?" Akalu asked earning a laugh from Hazama.

"But anyway, I'm also here to talk to you about the Japanese Diet Summons" Hazama said.

"I'm not the only one they've requested anymore is that correct?" Akalu asked earning a nod from Hazama. "Who else did they summon?" Akalu asked.

"They summoned, Eric, Itami, and any refugees that we can send that were there when the Fire Dragon attacked. Apparently a number of governments are concerned about the number of civilian deaths in that incident, some think it was even the Earth Federation that did it." Hazama answered.

"Oh great" Akalu sighed. "What about the oversight committee, was that formed yet?"

"No, they're having trouble choosing delegates for that committee" Hazama answered.

"So it'll be just us, and the Japanese Government, which half isn't exactly in favor of military action in general, this'll be fun" Akalu sighed.

"I've also got some good news" Hazama added earning Akalu's attention. "Your father is going to be in Japan during the time of the Diet meeting".

"Well that's unexpected, do you know what for?" Akalu asked.

"Nope, it was mentioned that he wanted to talk to you" Hazama explained.

Akalu just sulked, this was going to be a fun trip back to Japan indeed.

Back with the recon group

Eric was working a simple plan with Lance Corporal Duncan in the Humvee when the convoy came to a sudden stop.

"What's going on?" Eric asked as he poked his head out the side window. "WHY DID WE STOP!" Eric called to the lead jeep where Itami was located.

"There's smoke!" Itami replied back to Eric pointing to the column of smoke in the distance.

Eric turned to the driver of the Humvee. "Marines I need to stay with the lead jeep for now, you guys just keep following the convoy ok?" Eric said.

"SIR, YES SIR!" The marines replied.

Eric rushed to the lead jeep where Itami, Kurata, Leilei, Rory, and Tuka were waiting. "Is it another dragon?" Eric asked.

"Unlikely" Leilei replied in Japanese.

"Since when did she learn Japanese?" Eric asked.

"I learned, back at Alnus" Leilei replied not taking her eyes off the smoke column.

"Wow, we've only been there a couple days, she's a quick study" Eric said earning an unseen blush from Leilei.

"Were's the smoke coming from?" Eric asked.

"It appears to be coming from Italica" Itami replied.

"Italica? Did they come under attack?" Eric asked grabbing some binoculars from his pouch and peered through them. He could just barely make out the walls of Italica and a thick column of smoke billowing out from it.

"Won't know until we get there" Itami said.

"Let's hope their defenses held if they did get attacked" Eric said as he and the others boarded the Jeep and made for Italica.

"I smell blood" Rory whispered as Itami got back into his seat.

"What was that Rory?" Itami asked.

"I smell blood" Rory repeated licking her lips which worried Itami and Eric.

At the Gates of Italica

"There doesn't appear to be any significant breaches to the gate or the walls" Eric said as the jeeps pulled to a stop roughly 100 meters from the gate.

"The gate and walls are badly damaged, it's likely they were attacked by a small army, but managed to repel the attackers" Itami said observing the burn marks and blood spatters all over the wall and embankments.

Inside Italica

"Who do you think it is princess" Grey asked Pina as she peered through a small slot in the gate's side door, and out at the Recon Team.

"No idea, I've never seen such carriages before, could those be the Armored Carriages of the Other Worlders that we've heard about?" Pina asked out loud now mentally berating herself for not getting a description of the carriages from the waitress.

Outside

"Have any of them tried to make contact?" Eric asked.

"I haven't seen anything, but there are definitely defenders on the top wall, maybe they're just paranoid since we aren't exactly normal out here" Itami explained.

"True, any ideas on how to approach this?" Eric asked.

"Why are you asking, aren't you the senior officer here?" Itami growled.

"I'm a combat specialist, my first thoughts are to take out the defenders on the top of the walls" Eric retorted .

Itami thought a moment and decided not to press too hard. "Yeah I guess that wouldn't be a good idea, well we'll have to introduce ourselves, Leilei, Rory, Tuka and Eric will come with me to meet them at the gate" Itami said.

"What? Why me?" Eric asked.

"Akalu sent you here to do a job yes? Might as well as participate" Itami said not wanting to let Eric just slide out of responsibility of the assigned task.

Inside Italica

"Someone's coming out" Pina said as she watched five people step out of the armored carriages. "Is that Rory Mercury?" Pina said spotting Rory with the group of five people.

"Rory? Did the church of Emloy join the bandits?" Hamilton asked.

"Don't know, I've never been fond of the church, but if she did I'm sure we would all be dead by now" Pina said turning her attention to the rest of the group. "Hm, a mage, and an elf, a deadly combination if used properly". It was the last two that really caught Pina's attention. "Men In Green?" Pina exclaimed as she saw both Itami and Eric walking towards the gate wearing their combat greens.

"The Men In Green are here?" Grey said shocked.

"Could they be here to take the town?" Hamilton asked.

"I don't know" Pina said as she closed the peeking slot in the door and turned to the rest of the town defenders who had gathered behind her. "It doesn't look like there is a lot of them there, not enough to take the town, but they were able to fight off a Fire Dragon" Pina thought out loud.

"Princess, what should we do?" Grey asked.

"I don't know, if they're enemies we can't let them in, but if the rumors about them are true then we don't stand a chance as it is. The rest of the Rose Knights will be here by midday tomorrow, and our current defenses consist of untrained and unarmored towns folk" Pina said,

KNOCK KNOCK!

Everyone by the gate including several towns men were suddenly on edge as they heard the knocks at the gate. Pina just stared at the door, unsure of what to do, but then a simple fact came to her that helped her decide what to do.

"But, if we can convince them to help, then we definitely will survive until the rest of the Rose Knights get here" Pina said as she unlocked the door.

"Princess wait" Grey said trying to slow the princess down.

"HA!" Pina cried as she pushed the door open with all her might. "W-welcome to Italica!" Pina yelled, but was surprised to see that she was largely being ignored, everyone on the outside of the gate was staring at the ground. "Uh, what are you staring-GAH!" Pina cried as she saw Itami's unconscious form twitching on the ground.

"Um, was that my doing?" Pina asked the remaining four people standing, all she received was a bland nod from the group. "OH NO!" Pina cried realizing she may have just doomed the town if these people were who they thought she was.

Pina managed to usher the group inside along with Itami's unconscious form, where Tuka proceeded to open Itami's water canteen and poured the water over Itami's face in hopes of waking him up.

"What were you thinking!" Tuka yelled at Pina. "Even a dwarf has enough sense to check before swinging a door open, that makes you no better than a Goblin!" Tuka continued to scold.

At that moment Eric's and Itami's radio started talking. "Captain Itami? Major Eric! Come In!" one of the JSDF soldiers cried over the radio.

"This is Major Eric" Eric replied through the radio.

"Oh Major your alright? What happened to Itami?" the Japanese soldier asked.

"We're both fine, Itami just got knocked out by the door" Eric answered. 'Honestly if this is the most action I see this entire trip I'll die of boredom before we get back to Alnus Hill' Eric thought.

"GAH!" Itami cried with a start as he regained consciousness startling Tuka, and Rory who were closest to him.

"What's Captain Itami's condition?" the soldier back with the rest of the recon team asked.

"He just regained consciousness, he's fine" Eric replied.

"Good to know what's our situation?" the JSDF soldier asked.

"Just sit tight we'll find out" Eric answered.

"Ow, what happened?" Itami asked.

"I never thought I'd say this but you got knocked out by a big door" Eric said with a slight smirk.

Itami just growled at Eric. "Are we inside Italica?" Itami asked.

"That's correct" Eric answered turning to the crowd of towns people. "So...who wants to explain what happened here?" Eric asked with all eyes automatically turning towards Pina.

"Huh me?" Pina said feeling put on the spot.

"Yes you" Eric answered. "Unless you weren't the one who just knocked my Lieutenant out with that big door back there" Eric said.

"You Fool!" Hamilton cried surprising Eric and the others. "Your attitude and tone is an affront to the Princess of the Empire Pina Co Lada" Hamilton said attempting to protect Pina from a scolding.

"What!? A Princess!?" Itami, Tuka, and Rory exclaimed.

"Young lady, she could be the Queen of England for all I care, I would still like an answer, and an apology to my Lieutenant" Eric said feeling slightly more confident about himself though a thought just quickly struck him. 'Wow did I just turn into Akalu for a second? This isn't usually how I act, I'm not a confident speaker. Is this what Akalu would even say?' Eric thought. Though he quickly cast that thought aside.

Pina decided that she should take them to meet the Lord of the Town, Myui.

"Italica has been under attack for a couple days now by a bunch of bandits, those who survived the Battle for Alnus Hill, and turned to Banditry" Pina explained.

'Man I'm getting better at their language I can almost keep up with what she's saying' Eric thought. "What's the condition of the town?" Eric asked.

"We've held out so far, but most of this town's defenders consist of regular townsfolk, almost no guards returned after the Battle for Arnus Hill" Pina explained.

"Casualties?" Eric asked.

"Many, I never got the total count, but the attackers now by far outnumber the defenders, if we can hold out till midday tomorrow the rest of my knights will be here to help" Pina said.

"And the morale of the town?" Itami asked.

Pina stopped for a second to turn to the Earth Federation soldiers and the three girls that accompanied them. "Dismal, I don't know if we can hold another night" Pina answered honestly before she turned to a door near them and opened it.

Inside was a rather luxurious room with two chairs sitting against the closest wall, and with a young girl who couldn't be older than 14 years old sitting in one of them.

"This is the Countess of Italica, Myui" Pina introduced.

"A lord at such a young age?" Eric asked.

"She turned 11 this year, her father died some years ago, and her two older sisters were already married into other families, so Myui by default is now lord of Italica." Pina explained standing next to Myui.

'There's no way she could lead a defense at her age, so it makes sense why Pina would do it' Eric thought.

"I-I-I welcome you to Italica" Myui said as she stood and took a slight bow welcoming Eric and his group in.

"Thank-you miss Myui" Eric said returning a slight bow and entered the room with the others.

"Now onto business, what is the reason you have come here to Italica?" Pina asked obviously taking charge of this meeting.

'Crap!' Eric thought. His first thought was to tell them that the Earth Federation wanted to set up a base here, but he quickly pushed that out of his mind. 'I can't tell them that, that would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Tell her that I'm just inspecting the land? No, they would want to know for what. Come on think of something' Eric mentally strained when an idea quickly dawned on him.

"We came here cause we had some items to sell" Eric said turning to Leilei.

"Yes, we have many dragon scales that we would like to sell here" Leilei explained.

"And where did you obtain these dragon scales?" Pina asked.

'Crap!' Eric thought again, he wasn't expecting that question. 'What do I tell her? If I tell her that we're from Alnus Hill, she may opt to kick us out. Think Eric' Eric strained again.

"Let's not get off topic" Itami jumped in earning a surprised look from Eric. "Can we sell these scales here or not?" Itami asked.

"No, all trade has been shut down considering this crisis" Pina answered.

"Aw that's a shame, we came all the way out here for nothing" Itami sighed in annoyance.

"You still haven't answered my question" Pina said returning to her previous question. "Where did you get those dragon scales?"

"They were gathered just outside Alnus Hill" Leilei answered without hesitation.

Eric quickly felt himself panic as he saw Pina tense up. "And are you soldiers from Alnus Hill?" Pina asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Itami asked.

'That's not going to calm her down' Eric thought his right hand itching to reach for his side arm in case Pina got aggressive. He knew he could handle Pina if she attacked, but this isn't how he wanted this meeting to go. However calming down is exactly what Pina did.

"I guess it doesn't matter, I have bigger issues on my mind" Pina answered her hand moving away from her sword. 'Plus I really need their help right now' Pina thought.

'WHAT!? ARE YOU KIDDING!?' Eric mentally screamed. 'THAT'S WHAT GOT HER TO STOP!?'.

"However" Pina continued and Eric immediately felt his mind race again, and his stomach turn. "If you are soldiers, and I don't care where you are from right now, I need to ask you something" Pina said.

"What is it you wanted to know?" Eric asked thankfully without his voice cracking under the mental strain he was currently going through right now.

"Would you be able to lend us your strength to help defend this town? I need all the help I can get" Pina asked trying her best to look calm and not desperate.

Eric thought about this for a moment, and then an idea came to him. "Of course we'll help" Eric said.

"What?" Itami said turning to Eric.

"Just go with it" Eric whispered. "We need to sell those scales yeah, plus we have a couple other tasks to complete as well".

Pina didn't hear what Eric was whispering to Itami but it bothered her that Eric was doing it at all. But she couldn't waste time, she needed to get these people to help defend the town until her knights arrive. "So will you help us?" Pina asked.

"Of course we will, but with one request" Eric said.

"What's that?" Pina asked.

"My Commander, Lt. General Akalu wants to work a deal with the town of Italica, he didn't give me details, but he did want to know if you were willing to at least speak with him" Eric said.

Pina was about to turn this down, but stopped when she remembered she needed their help, but Myui beat her to a reply.

"If you help defend my town I'd be happy to meet your commander" Myui said earning a look of shock from Pina.

'GAH! SHE BEAT ME TO A RESPONSE!' Pina mentally screamed.

"Glad to hear it" Eric said relieved that they had worked something out.

Pina quickly collected herself as she turned to Eric, and Itami. "Very well, I'll have you and your men guard the South Gate" Pina said.

Eric and Itami went back and brought in the rest of the Recon Team, and quickly relayed to them their mission of defending the south wall from attackers.

The entire town seemed to gather to see the mysterious warriors that had just agreed to help defend the town, then the town was abuzz with rumors.

"Is that the Men In Green?" One towns man asked as he watched the soldiers take positions on the wall.

"What? The same people who fought off a dragon?" Another asked.

"We may survive this after all" A woman said relief and hope filling her voice.

Pina and Hamilton were watching from afar as the Earth Federation Recon Group dismounted their vehicles and began inspecting the wall and the area around it.

"Those must be the Men In Green that we've heard so much about" Hamilton said.

"Must be, they even have the flags on their shoulders that the waitress told us about. But I only saw two of the four she mentioned" Pina said.

"Was it wise to let them in, they may be more dangerous than the bandits?" Hamilton asked.

"Hamilton, we don't have a choice, it's them or the bandits, and right now I have to trust that they will help us, cause if they aren't, we're doomed either way" Pina answered.

Eric and Itami were in the lead jeep and began radioing back to Alnus Hill.

"This is Major Eric Tanner calling Arnus Hill over" Eric began.

"This is Alnus Hill, good to hear from you Major Tanner" the radio man replied.

"Good to hear from you as well, has Akalu left to speak to the Diet yet?" Eric asked.

"No he hasn't, I-Oh he's right here" the Radio operator then handed the radio to Akalu.

"Hello my friend, how's the mission?" Akalu asked.

"I hate you, you know that?" Eric asked an irritated tone taking over his voice.

"Haha, well it sounds like your doing well then, did you find out what you needed about the FOB?" Akalu asked.

"No, I haven't had much of a look outside of the city yet, but I did manage to get a hold of the Countess of Italica, she said that she'd be happy to meet with you" Eric said.

"That's great, but I can't leave Eric, I still need to appear before the Japanese Diet, and so do you and Itami" Akalu replied.

"WHAT!?" Eric and Itami cried over the radio. "Why were we summoned?" Eric asked.

"Beats me, but you guys need to get back here asap" Akalu answered.

"Love to Akalu, but there's a slight problem" Eric began.

"What problem?" Akalu asked

"Italica has come under attack by bandits, and we, and a handful of knights are all that is currently defending Italica. The Countess said she'd be happy to meet you if we helped defend the town" Eric explained.

Akalu let out a long sigh on the other side of the radio before replying. "Well it seems I have no choice, after all I can't go to the Diet alone now can I" Akalu said.

"Great, how soon can you and reinforcements get here?" Eric asked.

"We have to get the unit commanders together and we'll work on a plan, I'll get a ground battalion ready and they should hopefully get there before dawn tomorrow" Akalu replied.

"And what about a helicopter squadron?" Eric asked.

"A couple of hours at top speed, but we have to do a number of checks, remember we just got the air base set up, we can't just launch them in a matter of minutes." Akalu explained.

"Alright" Eric sighed. "Just make sure your here by tomorrow to speak with the countess...please" Eric begged not wanting to go through that negotiation himself.

"Hahaha, very well my friend, I'll be there by helicopter tomorrow for sure" Akalu replied.

"Thank-you, Major Tanner out" Eric finished the radio conversation and turned to Itami. "Well looks like we'll have to appear before the Diet" Eric said.

"Yay" Itami replied in the most dull voice he could muster to show his lack of enthusiasm.

Not before long it was sunset and the town was settling down for a much needed rest before the attack by the bandits was sure to happen. Eric and Itami set up the soldiers on the battlements of the town walls and made plans on what to do when they tried to scale the walls. But Itami spotted a couple of sketchy looking riders just out on the road.

"Eric, I think I see some scouts" Itami said as he called Eric.

"Really?" Eric replied as he grabbed his binoculars and observed the three horse riders out on the road. "Yeah they look like scouts alright, how many men are behind them?"

"Don't know, but it couldn't be less than 800 men" Itami answered.

"That's a problem" Eric said.

"Agreed, we only have 20 men here all combat personnel but we won't be able to hold this area all on our own" Itami said.

"Is the princess aiming to have us die in the fight?" Eric asked suddenly feeling a little annoyed at the possibility.

"Yeah, but however there is a method to her madness" Itami said earning Eric's attention. "She's hoping to have the bandits attack the south gate so that we can kill as many as possible before she has to confront them in the streets. Plus this point is the farthest from the Countess's mansion, so it's safer that way" Itami explained.

"So with just 20 of us here she's using us as bait for an attack" Eric realized.

"Yeah" Itami said.

"Do you think we should just abandon the town? I don't appreciate the thought of being used as bait" Eric growled.

"What would Akalu say?" Itami asked knowing it was the only way to convince Eric not to go with his impulsive idea to abandon the town.

Eric took a moment to think, and he remembered what Akalu said to Duncan the day they helped defend the Palace in Ginza from the Empire's army.

"He would say that I would be depriving our soldiers their purpose in defending the innocent" Eric said with a slight smile along with Itami. "Well we can't run now, we'll just have to be sure to not let them scale the wall" Eric said as he watched the scouts ride off.

"Is that why your helping the princess?" Rory asked. "Even though she's from a nation that's supposed to be your enemy?".

"Well it is to defend the people" Itami answered smiling at Rory.

"Your not lying are you?" Rory asked earning a look of confusion from Itami. "Just so you know lies taint the soul, so why are you helping the princess?"

"Well, it is to defend the people, and to show the princess that it's better to be friends with us than to be enemies with us" Itami explained earning a smile from both Rory and Eric.

"How splendid!" Rory cried in a wave of joy.

"Huh?" Itami said confused

"Your going to show her your might to drive such fear into her so that she won't want to fight you anymore, what a splendid strategy" Rory cried in delight.

"Um, that's not what I meant" Itami said.

"Forget it Itami, she's already drawn her own conclusion" Eric sighed.

"If that is your strategy, then I'll gladly help you" Rory said grabbing hold of Itami's arm and began hugging like a beloved toy.

"Um ok" Itami said obviously uncomfortable with Rory now hanging on his arm.

Eric watched Rory now start cuddling Itami's arm and not let go, with every effort of Itami's struggle to get her to stop she just held on more and her cuddling got more intimate. Eric stood there watching and could almost swear there was a law some where that defined what Rory is doing to Itami's arm as molestation. Suddenly Eric remembered what Akalu said about keeping an eye on Itami and Rory.

"Huh, so is this what Akalu said for me to watch out for between you and Rory? He did say that some inappropriate flirting would happen." Eric asked remembering that Akalu mentioned to be careful of letting Itami and Rory together alone.

"OH TELL HIM TO GROW UP!" Itami cried.

Rory however not having enough tormenting Itami, now grabbed and started snuggling Itami's chest, which only made Itami more uncomfortable. Eric however was now grinning.

"Oh I am so reporting this to Akalu" Eric said with a mischievous smile.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Itami cried.

At the bandits main camp

Night had just set and all the scouts had returned to the main camp, their commander eagerly awaiting the news of their findings.

"Well, what did you find?" the bandit leader asked.

"We checked all three gates, the south looks the least defended, but there's a problem" the scout said.

"What is it?" the leader asked.

"The ones who occupied the top of the south wall were all wearing a strange green uniform and weapons I haven't seen before" the scout explained.

"Men In Green!?" The leader gasped, he'd heard the rumors, he wasn't interested in taking on the ones who could fight a fire dragon. "What of the other walls?"

"The other walls are defended by towns folk, and the few Rose Order Knights that have helped defend the town" The scout reported.

"Huh, doesn't sound right, why defend the south wall with so few men, and reinforce the others" the leader thought outloud. "I'm willing to bet it's a trap, those can't be the Men in Green, that settles it, we will attack tonight at the East Gate, foolish knights think we'll fall for such an easy trap at the south gate" the Leader declared earning a cheer from his men. "We will dine on rich food, and all the women we want after tonight lads" the leader said earning another cheer.

Back at Italica

Pina was standing at the West gate with Hamilton and half the defending villagers, she had Norma, and Grey guard the east gate with the other half of the defending villagers. Pina eyed the South gate where Itami, Eric, and the rest of their group had set up their defenses. Hamilton caught Pina eyeing the south gate.

"What is it your Highness?" Hamilton asked.

"Nothing" Pina replied.

She turned her eyes back towards the Western fields straining to see if the bandits were in the field.

'When the bandits take the bait I'll have all the towns defenders gather at the south gate behind the barricades, from there we'll have the advantage of forcing the bandits to fight in tighter quarters it'll drag the battle out' Pina thought.

But out on the East Gate Norma was listening to the defenders whisper about their disapproval of Pina's strategy.

"What is that princess think she's doing, sacrificing the Men In Green just to get a cheap victory" one defender said.

Norma bit his lip as he fought back the urge to retort to the man who would dare speak ill of Pina. Norma just kept his eyes on the eastern fields as he watched for enemy activity, but with the night dark so thick he couldn't see past 100 feet beyond the wall.

Suddenly a number of small lights appeared in the fields, Norma watched intently at the lights as they quickly got closer, and larger.

"TAKE COVER!" Norma cried as a number of flaming arrows flew over head.

Most of the arrows flew over head hitting some nearby houses, or bounced harmlessly off the stone wall of the town. Norma took a moment to look around to see if anyone was hit. Thankfully no one seemed hit.

"We're under attack! Archers return fire, don't let the enemy climb the wall!" Norma cried.

The bow men of the town quickly complied as they struggled to fight off the attackers but a strange gust of wind deflected most of the arrows.

Norma looked past many of the bandits and saw a Harpy like girl with green hair chanting a spell stirring up the wind.

"A Spirit Weilder? Not good" Norma said though clenched teeth.

Pina still at the west gate suddenly noticed shouting and bright lights appear at the east gate. She could hear the cries of the bandits as they lauched their relentless assault upon the east gate.

"No" Pina gasped. "They were supposed to attack the south gate!".

"Princess, we have to go help" Hamilton said.

"Yes, let's go to the east gate" Pina commanded as she lead her half of the defenders to the east gate.

At the south gate Itami, Eric, and Rory were watching the battle at the east gate unfold.

"I guess we didn't come out as good enough bait" Eric said.

"It's 3:11 a perfect time for a night raid" Itami said.

"They may be bandits but Pina did say that they were remnants of the allied armies we fought at Alnus Hill" Kuribayashi said.

Eric could hear the screams of the injured and the dying grow as the battle started to take place at the top of the town wall.

"Best get Alnus Hill on the radio and tell them that we are under attack and should get the helicopter squadron here as soon as possible" Itami said.

"Agreed" Eric said grabbing his radio. "This is Major Tanner to Alnus Hill does anyone copy?"

Eric let the radio go silent for a moment as he eagerly awaited for a reply.

"This is Alpha Hotel 3-2 go ahead Major Tanner" A radio operator replied.

"Alpha Hotel 3-2, reporting from Italica, the east gate has come under attack, I say again the east gate has come under attack we need support ASAP" Eric ordered.

"Copy that Major Tanner, I'll notify the Helicopter support group, Alpha Hotel 3-2 out." The radio operator replied.

Eric hung up his radio, now it was a matter of holding out a couple of hours before their air support got here, or their ground support, it should have left a few hours ago but Akalu never radioed him to let him know if it left or not.

"Should we go help them?" Kurata asked.

"Did we get any request to reinforce the east gate?" Itami asked.

"No" Kuwahara replied.

"Then we need to wait here" Itami said. "Pina is the commanding officer here, we need to wait for her request".

Eric thought about this for a second, while it was true that Pina was in charge of the defense of the town, having to wait for her request for support seemed like a foolish idea, and one he was growing to hate by the minute. But Itami was right and he was a soldier at heart, he needed to wait for a request.

Meanwhile at Alnus Hill

"Report to the First Helicopter support squadron, Italica is under attack, to your stations" The loudspeaker blared.

A fury of feet started running everywhere, engineers, pilots, gunners, soldiers, and other aircraft personnel began flooding the Helicopter landings to load up and warm up the helis engines.

Akalu walked with three Russian Marines towards a Canadian Griffin Helicopter assigned to their support squadron. Akalu walked up to the ready helicopter when a soldier ran up to him.

"Sir!" The soldier announced himself.

"What is it?" Akalu asked straining to talk above the helicopter engines.

"I thought you would want to know that the ground battalion you sent is still a couple hours away." the soldier reported.

"That means the helicopter squadron and the ground battalion will arrive roughly at the same time, a perfect show of force, but weirdly coincidental. And that's assuming nothing goes wrong for the battalion." Akalu said. "Thank-you for the information, go tell the radio operators that all our forces will be there in roughly 2 hrs" Akalu instructed.

"Yes Sir!" The soldier replied saluting and made his way back to the base.

"ALRIGHT LET'S GO!" Akalu yelled as he boarded the Griffin.

And with that, 2 AH-1 Cobras, 2 Apaches, 2 Ka-52s and 12 transport helicopters took to the sky and made for Italica.

Back at Italica

"Alpha Hotel to Major Tanner" Eric heard his radio buzz.

"This is Major Tanner" Eric replied.

"The helicopters are off ground and on their way ETA 1hr 50 minutes" The radio operator reported.

"Great news, Major Tanner out" Eric said as he hung up his radio.

"AH!" Eric and Itami turned as they heard Rory moan as if she was in deep pleasure.

Rory was leaning against the wall of the town twitching and fidgeting quite aggressively, her cheeks were red and her hands were floating all over her body. Her moaning didn't help either.

"What's going on?" Itami asked.

"The spirits of those who died in battle are passing through Rory's body onto the afterlife" Leilei explained.

"But why is she acting like that?" Eric asked.

"The souls passing through her body acts like an aphrodisiac to her I guess" Leilei said.

"Please tell me you know how to make it stop?" Eric pleaded, he had to be honest, Rory behaving like that wasn't helping Eric feel better to say the least.

"To have it stop, she needs to fight I think" Leilei said.

Rory continued to writhe in pleasure as the battle commenced. And Eric was in a mental pickle, it would be more than an hour before reinforcements arrived and they have a young demi-goddess acting like she's in heat.

"AAAHHHHH!"

Eric was snapped out of his mental limbo as a high pitched female scream came from the east gate.

"Eric, the east gate is coming under heavy pressure, I don't think they'll last that more than an hour at this rate." Itami said.

"Weren't you the one that said we needed to wait for a request?" Eric asked.

"Yes, I was anticipating a request by now, but none have come, your the senior officer of this recon team, you need to make the decision now sir." Itami said.

Eric was going to take a moment to think about this but all he could remember was his answer to Itami's question 'What would Akalu say'. Eric turned to the entire recon group and smiled.

"Then our mission is simple, Itami take your team with the armored vehicles and make for the east gate on the ground, my team will take Humvee and follow" Eric instructed.

"YES SIR!" Itami and his group acknowledged.

Rory hearing all this, quickly got up and took off as fast as she could, jumping down off the wall and onto a couple of roof tops Rory quickly made for the east gate.

"Wow she's fast" Eric said. "Alright men let's go let's go!"

Itami and his group quickly jumped into their vehicles, and made their way through the streets towards the east gate. Eric approached the Humvee and then turned to the five marines that accompanied him on this mission.

"Ok marines" Eric said taking in a short breath. "Let's go kill some bandits"

"Oorah!" The marines replied.

Eric hopped into the car as Duncan took the wheel and they started to follow close behind Itami's unit.

The streets were a winding mess as they had no map to follow and didn't know the streets well, not to mention that not all the streets were large enough to fit such large armored vehicles. All they had to reliably guide them was the glowing orange light illuminating the sky that was now the east gate.

"Don't get us lost Kurata" Itami said as he held on to the door handle.

"Trust me, this is just like playing a video game" Kurata said as he raced down the streets.

"Not exactly a comforting choice of words Kurata" Itami said.

At the east gate, Norma and Grey were fighting along the wall barely managing to hold off the bandits who were steadily gaining ground as the civilians helping defend were no match for trained ex-soldiers.

Pina managed to make it to the gate finally to see the gate was completely over run with bandits now threatening to reach the gate and open it. She felt deep fear set in as she watched men drop left and right, the only ones barely managing to hold any of the lines were Norma and Grey.

"It fell so easily" Pina said.

She stood there shock setting in in place of fear as she continued to watch.

"Princess what do we do?" Hamilton asked.

"I-I don't know" Pina barely managed to say. "I didn't know that battles can happen so differently than my plans".

"FALL BACK!" Norma managed to cry as he slew a bandit. However he didn't notice a bandit sneaking up behind him as he confronted another bandit attacking him.

Norma suddenly felt a sharp pain as the bandits sword successfully made it's way through his armor and slashed his back. Quickly, but disoriented with the pain and shock from the sudden attack, Norma turned to attack the bandit who slashed him, only to have the bandit he was dueling with a moment ago run his sword through his back. Stunned from that, the bandit that slashed him first then ran his sword through Norma too killing him almost instantly.

Norma's balance gave way as he proceeded to fall off wall but was caught at the last second by one of the bandits that ran him through,

"The enemy's commander is down, this battle is ours!" the bandit cried as he held up Norma's limp body above the heads of the invading bandits.

Grey, Pina, and Hamilton stared in shock as one of their knights and a special friend had just been killed before their eyes and was used as a morale booster for the bandits.

"This isn't happening" Pina cried as she mentally began to break down. Her entire defense plan falling to pieces, and her knights now falling it was becoming too much for her.

"The wall has fallen!" A defender cried.

"We need help" cried another.

"Where's the Men In Green!" a third asked desperate for any hope to hang on to.

'They won't come' Pina thought to herself. 'Not after I used them for bait, and left just the twenty of them to hold the south gate, not even they will come to our aid now'.

"Fall Back!" Grey cried as he guided many of the defenders to the inner wall barricades.

The bandits rushed the barricades trying to break through them, but the defenders knew how to use the barricades to defend and managed to push the bandits back from the barricades.

"Splendid job" one of the bandits said in a hysterical tone.

But the bandit didn't stop, he grabbed one of the hands holding the barricades and pulled on a young male who was trying to push him off the barricades.

"it's futile" the bandit said happily as he reached his sword through and skewered the young man.

"No!" An older man cried as he thrust his pitchfork through the openings in the barricades and speared the bandit that stabbed the young man.

"Doctor!" He cried holding the young man's injured body in his arms.

The young man's chest began bleeding profusely, though not in an immediately vital area the wound was deep and the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

CRASH!

The older man turned towards the barricade to see that it had just been smashed through by a giant of a man wearing little to no chest armor and a thick helmet. But what was in his hand was a large spiked ball on a long chain. The large man stared at the older man holding the young injured boy and let out a frightening roar.

"RRRAAAAAHHHHH!"

The large man's yell echoed throughout the town as if to shake it to its foundation, every defender even Grey felt deep fear as the large man pressed forward past the barricades and out onto the main street.

'It's over' Pina thought. 'They've reached the main street, there is nothing we can do to hold them back now'

Pina's mind began to race as she could now see the future, the town fully enslaved, all the men killed, and all the women her especially turned to toys for the bandits to use a their leisure.

The large man with the chained Iron ball smiled as he watched the defenders too scared to attack but too determined to surrender. The large man readied his Iron ball once again to strike when a strange new noise cut through the air.

BEEP! BEEP!

The mains street behind the defenders lit up as the JSDF's and the Humvee's headlights appeared and blinded the large man.

"What the?" the large man asked as he shielded his eyes from the bright lights.

The main street that connected to the gate was large enough to fit 3 vehicles in it side by side, and was more than enough for the jeeps and Humvee to maneuver. The large man couldn't see a thing but could hear the sound of a car engine quickly grow louder.

"RUN HIM OVER!" A yell could be heard as the Humvee suddenly took the lead and rammed the large man.

The large man was thrown back after the front of the humvee connected with his lower chest, his ribs shattered, and his organs turned to mush from the impact. The large man was killed before he even hit the ground.

SPLAT!

The large man's body hit the ground with a sickening splat making every bandit behind him stall their advance at the sight of one of their biggest warriors taken down by a strange machine.

"MEN SECURE THE AREA!" Eric cried as he exited the vehicle closely followed by all five marines, and Itami's group.

"It's the Men In Green" A man said tears beginning to swell in his eyes.

"We may still win this" another cried causing the rest of the weary defenders to cheer finally finding a glimmer of hope.

"Ready!" Eric cried as he, Itami and the others formed a thin line between the defenders and the bandits.

"It's only a small number of them we can beat them!" A bandit cried earning a hearty cheer from the bandits.

Eric was about to order everyone to fire when another sound filled the sky.

"Hahahaha!' A hysterical laugh was heard above.

Everyone looked up to see Rory leap up off a house roof and land in the middle of the group of bandits. Rory smiled as she spun her giant halberd around and quickly killed 3 men with a single stroke each.

"Stop her!" A bandit cried as he rushed Rory only to be killed by Rory's halberd.

"Remind me to never piss her off" Eric said to Itami as he watched Rory swing her halberd around.

"HA!" A determined yell erupted from the Recon Team's line.

Eric and Itami turned to see Kuribayashi with her rifle in a ready position rushed the line of bandits.

"Wait!" Eric cried trying to stop Kuribayashi.

Kuribayashi didn't hear him, her blood full of adrenaline she rushed the bandits spearing one with her bayonet in the stomach and pushed him through the crowd of bandits. Kuribayashi then wrestled her way through the crowd to the opening that Rory created and proceeded to fight with Rory side by side.

"Darn she's lost focus of her surroundings" Itami said.

"Focus on the bandits closest to us, place your shots carefully and clear the area behind Rory and Kuribayashi, Fire At Will!" Eric ordered.

The Recon Team complied by shooting the distracted bandits closest to them, chopping the now thinned line thanks to Kuribayashi's combat skills quickly, revealing the large open semi-circle the bandits formed around Rory and Kuribayashi.

The rest of the Recon team relocated themselves closer to the court yard in front of the gate and continued shooting the bandits as they attempted to close the circle around Rory and Kuribayashi again.

"Don't let them close the circle!" Itami yelled as he fired his gun at three bandits trying to flank Rory.

The defenders along with Grey, Hamilton, and Pina watched as only twenty Earth Federation soldiers, and Rory were quickly regaining the lost court yard and chopping bandits down like it was child's play.

"We may actually win this" A defender said watching the Earth Federation soldiers work their strange but powerful magic.

Itami was commanding the left flank as they pressed further pushing the bandits back and not allowing them to surround Rory and Kuribayashi.

Eric was on the right flank doing the same with his five marines and a number of other JSDF soldiers.

Eric just finished reloading his third magazine when an arrow whizzed past his head. He looked up to see a number of archers readying their bows to fire at them.

"Marines! The Top Of The Wall, Kill Those Archers!" Eric cried as he and his five marines focused on the archers on the wall.

Screams of pain and death filled the air as a number of archers fell from the wall before they were even able to draw their arrows.

Not far from the town of Italica

Akalu was sitting patiently in the Griffin Helicopter as it flew towards the town of Italica. His head set was beginning to make his head hurt as he wasn't used to the headsets used in the choppers.

"Sir!" A Russian Marine said as he turned to Akalu.

"What is it Marine?" Akalu asked.

"I can see the ground battalion, they're right below us" the marine said pointing outside the chopper and towards the ground.

Akalu looked outside to see hundreds of vehicles and several tanks from different nations lining up through the fields as they approached Italica.

"How far are we from Italica?" Akalu asked.

"5 minutes sir!" the marine replied.

"Are we in radio contact with the ground battalion?" Akalu asked.

"Yes sir, they're on channel 2" the Marine answered. Akalu quickly switched the channel on his headset radio to speak to the ground battalion.

"Head Shark to Battalion 1 Commander" Akalu said.

"Head Shark this is Colonel Francis" A reply came.

"Colonel Francis we are almost at Italica, I want you to spread your vehicles out to cover more ground, I want you to sweep the area around Italica clean of bandits while the helicopter squadron will help clean out the center, we're going to show these bandits that this is our territory" Akalu said.

"Gladly Head Shark. But I do have a question?" Colonel Francis replied.

"What's that?" Akalu asked.

"Depending on the number of enemies how close do you want us to get?" Colonel Francis asked.

"I don't anticipate an enormous number of them, but if you feel the need Colonel Francis, tear them apart, point blank if you have to" Akalu instructed peering down and spotted Colonel Francis standing out of the commanders hatch of a AMX Leclerc.

"Really? I don't fancy blood on my tank Head Shark" Colonel Francis replied.

"I'm sure you don't Colonel, but its either that or let these bandits kill our men and ravage that town" Akalu answered. He knew it might not come to that, but if the situation demanded it, he wanted no misunderstandings about how much they needed to drive these bandits off.

"Very well Head Shark, though I'll have you explain to my superior officer why my tank decided to take on such a unique camouflage. Colonel Francis out" Colonel Francis replied with a hearty laugh.

Akalu could only chuckle at the Colonel's choice of words. "Frenchies, always so concerned about cleanliness" Akalu sighed when a sudden thought occured to him.

Quickly switching the channel on his headset radio back to channel 1 Akalu started talking with the Choppers captain.

"Captain?" Akalu began.

"Yes sir" The Canadian pilot replied.

"Do you have speakers on this bad boy?" Akalu asked.

"Yes sir, did you want some battle music on? I've got flight of the Valkyrie ready to go" The Canadian Captain replied.

Akalu thought for a second he liked Flight of the Valkyries but he decided to go with something a little more fast paced and new.

"Do you have 'Rise of the Immortals' by Sound Adventures'?" Akalu asked.

"Yes as a matter of fact I do, is that the one you want sir?" The pilot asked.

"Yes Please" Akalu replied. "This is going to be fun"

The Canadian pilot turned and spoke to his co-pilot who switched on a couple of dials. A screen appeared near him listing a large number of music tracks. The co-pilot selected Rise of the Immortals and it began to play.

The music was immediately heard by all surrounding forces and Akalu began to feel his head beat to the music's pace.

"There's Italica, Hostiles sighted!" The helicopter pilot cried over the radio as the walls of Italica came into sight, and the hundreds of bandits swarming the city.

Akalu turned to one of his accompanying marines. "What channel to contact everyone?"

"Channel 4 sir!" The marine replied.

Akalu quickly changed the channel on his headset and he spoke. "All Units, Attack!"

Inside Italica

Eric loaded his sixth mag and was about to continue firing at the bandits when a strange music was now heard filling the sky.

"What's that?" A Duncan asked turning to Eric.

"Reinforcments" Eric answered as he peered over the wall at the rising sun in the distance.

All the bandits turned to look east at the rising sun, the direction the music was coming from. What they saw suddenly made their hearts stop cold.

A long line of strange vehicles both on the road and throughout the farm fields raced towards them, and with what appeared to them as flying armored carriages filled the sky.

BANG! BANG!

A series of loud bangs were heard as a Leclerc in the lead with a T-90AM, Challenger 2, 2 Leopard 2A6's, and 2 M1A2 Abrams all fired HE shells announcing their introduction to the battle. The rounds impacted the front lines of the bandits sending bodies and pieces flying everywhere.

The Attack Helicopters strafed the ground with their mounted guns chopping down a large number of bandits in the process.

The Ka-52 carrying a large payload of rockets turned around and lined itself up with the wall and strafed the wall with it's rockets taking out most of the bandits on the wall, and knocking down most of the ladders.

The line of armored vehicles stopped 100 meters from the bandits and unloaded all their soldiers from inside the APCs. The Soldiers lined up with the vehicles and tanks, and began firing at the crowd of disoriented bandits.

"Run!" A bandit cried before being chopped down by AM-14 fire.

"Damn You!" A bandit archer cried as he notched an arrow and aimed it at the advancing Earth Federation soldiers.

But before he could fire the arrow an Apache helicopter gunned him and a group of bandits he was near down.

The armored vehicles, tanks and men began a slow advance as they shot at any bandit that didn't surrender immediately.

"Retreat! Retreat!" another bandit cried causing several bandits to run in all directions.

The Armored Vehicles on the flanks of the battalion's line responded by chasing down the runners and either gunning them down or chased them until they were too tired to run and surrendered.

"Great job men, prepare to secure the outer walls of the city" Colonel Francis said over his radio.

The tanks, men and armored vehicles broke the line as they began to virtually wrap around the city to ensure that nothing got in or out.

Eric's group along with many bandits watched overhead as an AH-1 Cobra slowly circled over head.

"This is Cobra-1 to all friendly forces on the ground, you have 10 seconds to clear the area before I fire on all tangos inside Italica by the gate" The attack helicopter pilot relayed over the radio.

'CRAP!' Itami thought. 'Kuribayashi, and Rory are in the line of fire'.

Itami quickly turned to Eric. "Eric! Grab Kuribayashi I've got Rory!" Itami cried as he rushed forward to grab Rory and bring her out of harms way.

Eric heard Itami's call and quickly rushed over and picked up Kuribayashi and carried her over his shoulder. Kuribayashi protested profusely wanting to fight some more and insisting that she could walk on her own. But Eric wasn't going to risk that as he heard the Attack Heli start it's countdown.

"10...9...8...7...6" The Cobra pilot counted.

Itami managed to grab Rory and carry her bridal style away from the bandits with little protest from Rory thankfully.

"5...4...3...2...1" The pilot finished counting and began firing his nose mounted Gatling.

BBBRRRRRRTTTTT!

The terrifying sound of the Gatling rang through the air as the bullets fired on the bandits kicked up dust, and dirt obscuring any visual of the bandits. The only thing left that could be heard from the bandits was their screams as they were mercilessly chopped down by the Cobra.

Pina watched in horror and absolute amazement as she witnessed the devastation of just one of these armored flying machines against bandits that had broken into the town and threatened to over run them just minutes ago.

The Cobra finished firing as the remaining bandits scattered back through the gate and to the outside in hopes of escaping the Attack Helicopters wrath.

"To all friendly units, the gate is now clear remaining tangos are fleeing. Sending in the clean up crew" The Cobra pilot said.

Pina watched as several more helicopters filled the sky above the court yard. Several ropes dropped down from each chopper and several men began rappelling down much to Pina's and the towns folk amazement.

'What is this thing? An Iron Pegasus? I-is this the power of the Other Worlders? The Men In Green?' Pina mentally asked as she got a good long look at the AH-1 Cobra before it turned and left making room for more transport helicopters.

As the soldiers landed on the ground some set up a small perimeter, while others formed groups of 4 and began searching through the town. Eric set Kuribayashi down and noticed one soldier walking up to him.

"Major Eric Tanner?" The man asked.

"Yes" Eric replied.

"Lt. Will Davis Royal Canadian Army" The man introduced himself saluting Eric, Eric saluted back. "I have orders to secure the town, any information you can give me would be of great help."

"Focus on the wall and the main streets, there shouldn't be any bandits left in the city, but to be safe the Countess is currently in her mansion. Be careful with her, she's only 11, plus we have 3 knights here and a large number of frightened towns folk." Eric said as he pointed at the large mansion at the back of the town.

"Roger that" The Lt. Acknowledged.

"Wait!" A voice cried, it was the older man who helped the young boy who got stabbed during the fight. The man ran up to Eric carrying the body of the gravely injured boy.

"It-It's my son, he's badly wounded" the man cried with tears in his eyes.

"He needs medical attention fast. MEDIC!" Lt Davis cried.

3 men ran up to the distressed father and the injured son, and immediately began to provide medical attention.

Seeing that the medics were handling the situation Lt. Davis turned to his increasing number of men and began relaying instructions to secure the wall, and the countess's mansion. The soldiers gathered and began spreading throughout the city, with some people beginning to cheer as they rushed to their assigned posts.

"Princess, the Men In Green are beginning to occupy the city, what should we do?" Hamilton asked.

"Don't do anything" Pina said.

"What?" Hamilton gasped not expecting that answer.

"You saw what those things can do" Pina said referring to the Attack Helicopter they witnessed only moments ago. "We may be able to kill a few of them, but in doing so we would bring the wrath of these Men In Green down on us and likely the people too. In asking for their help, I may have just given Italica to them on a silver platter" Pina sighed.

"But what should we do?" Hamilton asked. "We can't let you get captured"

"There is nothing we can do" Pina replied. "We won't be able to out run those things, and the countess is in no position to oppose them"

"But you swore to defend the town" Hamilton countered almost pleading for something that they could do.

"But it wasn't I that saved the town Hamilton, it was the Men in Green, plus they have their army here, Myui won't be able to refuse them" Pina said calmly now resigned to her fate. "The town will likely be rounded up and turned into slaves, or tribute will be demanded, and even worse Myui would likely lose her position. If they demand our surrender I would be tempted to grovel at their feet and beg".

Hamilton could only look at Pina feeling helpless, if Pina said there was nothing they could do, then they must have truely lost.

After all the remaining bandits were rounded up, and the town fully secured. Akalu finally set foot inside Italica where Eric and Itami were eagerly waiting.

"Good to see you both survived" Akalu said as he walked up to both Eric and Itami.

"Not without a lack of trying though" Eric sighed rubbing a sore shoulder.

"I'm sure it wasn't" Akalu laughed. "Is the entire town secure?"

"Yup, a few bandits were found hiding in town, one even took shelter in the town's out house can you believe that?" Eric said gagging at the thought of swimming in all that waste just to hide.

"We must have made quite the impression" Akalu said between laughs.

Akalu walked past Eric and Itami towards Countess Myui's mansion with Eric and Itami close behind.

"The Countess is waiting to meet with you" Eric said.

"Good, is she unharmed?" Akalu asked.

"Yup, the Canadians did a thorough job of making sure she remained that way" Itami answered.

"Anything I need to know before I speak to her?" Akalu asked.

"There are two things" Eric began. "First the countess is only 11"

This made Akalu stop in his tracks. "Really? Only 11 and a Countess at that age? What happened?"

"She lost both her parents, we never got the details how, she had two older sisters but they married into different families" Itami explained.

"And undoubtedly the sisters were trying to seek some form of control over their youngest sister" Akalu said resuming his walk towards the mansion.

"Yes they did" Eric answered. "Second thing, we have the princess of the Empire here"

Akalu stopped for the second time, this was just getting better and better. "The Princess of the Empire?" Akalu asked turning to Eric.

"Yup, she's third in line from what I understand, she took charge of protecting the town" Eric explained.

"Interesting" Akalu said as he resumed his walk towards the mansion for the second time. "Let's see what she tries to do"

Akalu, Eric, and Itami walked up to the mansion where they were greeted and let in by the Canadian Soldiers who were charged with defending the mansion. Not long after that Akalu found himself in an audience room with Myui sitting at her chair with Pina sitting next to her, and with Grey and Hamilton on either side of Pina and Myui. On the other side of the room a number of townsfolk invited to see the meeting watched and observed.

"You must be Countess Myui" Akalu said spotting the young girl sitting next to Pina. "I'm Lt. General Akalu a commander of the Earth Federation" Akalu introduced himself with a slight bow.

"I'm Countess Myui of Italica, I-I welcome you" Myui said obviously nervous.

"No need to be nervous young countess, I'm just here to make a request" Akalu said.

"W-what request is that?" Myui replied her voice still shaking.

"The Earth Federation is in need of setting up a base beyond Alnus Hill, and we would like to set up a base here at Italica" Akalu explained.

"Absolutely not!" Hamilton cried stepping in front of Myui and Pina. "This town is under the protection of the Empire and Pina Co Lada, Princess of the Empire" Hamilton said standing her ground.

Akalu looked on unamused. "And who are you young lady?"

"I'm one of the Rose Order of Knights, my name is Hamilton" Hamilton said trying to sound as strong as she could.

"And is it a habit of the Princess to have others speak for her?" Akalu asked.

"This is an affront to the Princess you will treat her with respect" Hamilton demanded.

"You misunderstand miss Hamilton, if the Princess has a problem I'm sure she's strong enough to confront me about it herself, or is she so weak willed that she'll have a lacky do it for her" Akalu said obviously throwing an insult at Hamilton.

Hamilton was about to retort but Pina interrupted.

"Yes, I can speak for myself" Pina said.

"Very well then, do you have an objection to us wanting to set up a base here?" Akalu asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do" Pina said standing.

"And does the princess care to tell me what that is?" Akalu asked egging her on.

Pina stopped for a moment, she didn't know what to say after all how well would 'You will leave this place at once or you will suffer the wrath of the empire' go with people that could burn the capital to the ground.

"I-I want to know what it is you plan to do after you establish this base of yours" Pina demanded.

Akalu was beginning to enjoy this, Pina obviously had no leverage against Akalu except that Akalu wasn't going to force it on Italica if they didn't want it, but he didn't need to let her know that.

"The purpose of the base is to fulfill the same purpose that my army accomplished here today, to help protect the people from bandits who are infesting the lands" Akalu explained.

Akalu saw Myui's eyes light up in interest, now he knew he had her attention, it was a matter of having Myui choose Akalu over princess Pina and her knights.

"Is that all?" Pina asked.

"Is there something else you were expecting?" Akalu asked.

"Yes, like what will happen to the towns people?" Pina asked.

"Nothing" Akalu answered.

"What do you mean nothing, your not going to demand tribute or enslave anyone?" Pina asked.

"Tribute? No, not at the present time, the Earth Federation has no need for tribute, all we would like is the ability to perform trade within the town to help understand the economics of this world. And as for the slavery, you seem to have me mistaken for your own empire princess" Akalu said making Pina go stiff as a board.

"W-w-what about Countess Myui?" Pina barely managed to asked.

"What about her?" Akalu asked.

"Will you remove her to gain control of the town?" Pina asked.

"Again princess you seem to have the Earth Federation confused with your own Empire, our concern is not Myui or her position, she can keep her position and her tribute from the town. We have no interest in changing such things" Akalu answered with a big smile on his face.

Hamilton was really beginning to hate this man he was almost tormenting Pina and enjoying it too. Hamilton was one step away from drawing her sword and attacking Akalu, every word he said oozed with venom in her mind.

"I assume that your army will control the laws of the town then?" Pina asked.

"My army will protect the town and it's trading abilities, but unless otherwise asked by Countess Myui herself, providing law and order to the town will not be a responsibility we will leave to the towns people themselves." Akalu explained.

Akalu could now hear whispers growing from the observing towns folk, some now beginning to question Pina's intentions as if she was seeking to control Myui and keep control of Italica for her own personal gain. Akalu watched Pina struggle, the whispers of the towns folk weren't helping her anxiety either.

"Y-you would yield all these things, the rights of the victor?" Pina asked.

Akalu only smiled and continued to explain. "Princess, while we have gotten off track I'll explain this clear and simple. We're here to request of Countess Myui the ability to have a base here in Italica to provide protection and patrols against banditry and lawlessness. If the countess herself doesn't wish it we will leave and she will not see any of us again until the next bandit attack. Even if she accepts this base she's welcome to ask us to leave any time she wants. Of course leaving immediately would be out of the question, but if she wants us to we will leave. The choice is purely hers, and hers alone" Akalu explained fully.

Myui who had been listening intently suddenly felt put on the spot, she looked at her hands as they grasped her dress tightly. All she knew is that after this, she wanted to guarantee the safety of her town and her people. Sure the knights and Pina did a valiant effort in helping the town but even with their help they were almost over run. The ones who saved the town was this Earth Federation, and it was they who could protect the town, not to mention that with all the other things like law, and trade was still left as is or up to her, she couldn't see a down side to this. But even if there was, one thing was certain, Italica couldn't stand up to another bandit attack without the Earth Federation, with them, another citizen in town wouldn't need to fight again.

"I accept" Myui said earning the shock of Pina, Hamilton, Grey and all the observing townsfolk. "I accept your request to set up a base here assuming what you said about us governing ourselves, and still being open to trade being true, I will allow you to set up a base here" Myui answered.

Akalu gave a huge friendly smile at hearing this. Pina and her knights were now stricken with grief, it was their worst fears come true, they had hoped to convince Myui not to accept anything the Earth Federation was asking or offering so that they could also remain safe from the Earth Federations judgement.

"And what about us?" Pina asked eyeing Akalu worriedly.

"What about you?" Akalu asked.

"Are you going to take me prisoner and use me against the empire?" Pina asked.

Akalu quickly turned to Eric. "Eric, what was the purpose of our army coming here?" Akalu asked.

"Um, for the army it was to provide support and defense to the town of Italica" Eric answered.

"Well princess, it seems we didn't come here for you, so as far as I'm concerned you're free to do as you please" Akalu said eyeing Pina.

"What?" Pina said shocked. "You're seriously just going to let me go? Even stay here? Why?"

Akalu walked up to Pina and reached a hand out and held her chin in his hand. "If you think that it's wrong that I simply let you go, I'm sure there is something else you could do to win your freedom" Akalu teased.

Pina suddenly went bright red and took a quick step back, Hamilton and Grey reached for their swords. Hamilton was the first to draw and strike at Akalu.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Hamilton cried swinging her sword at Akalu.

Akalu without moving a single step simply swiped Hamilton's hands forcing her sword to deviate from it's intended target, Akalu's head. Akalu then grabbed Hamilton's throat and held her in the air with his other hand taking the sword out of Hamilton's hands, after he had Hamilton's sword out of her hands and into his he let go of Hamilton. Hamilton coughed as she staggered back. Grey didn't move from his spot.

"My apologies" Akalu said as he held Hamilton's sword to his side. "But you all are amazingly easy to rattle" Akalu said.

Pina just stared at Akalu her face still somewhat red from what Akalu just said and teased her with. Eric and Itami looked on amazed, both of them had their hands on their side arms ready to jump in, but Akalu proved it wasn't necessary.

"My deepest apologies countess Myui" Akalu said turning to Myui. "I'm sorry you had to see that, but if you still wish us to be here, I'll take my leave and my army will set it's base up here"

Myui didn't take any time to think on this.

"I still accept your request for a base here" Myui said, then she turned to Pina. "As for you princess, you have proven yourself and your knights with this incident a liability to the safety of this town, at the earliest time convenient to you, you will leave Italica" Myui said.

Pina was shocked and horrified so was Hamilton and Grey.

"Countess Myui, if I may make a suggestion" Akalu said. "To help ease tensions and other such issues, I would like Pina to stay in Italica until our base is finished then that way she can go tell the empire with nothing but the honest truth about our actions here. And if we can, we'd like to sign a treaty between us and the Princess to hopefully end hostilities between the Earth Federation and the Empire, then that way Italica doesn't suddenly find itself in the Empire's cross hairs, plus after seeing my army's abilities she is likely to be more interested in peace than in continued war between us, isn't that right princess?" Akalu said smiling a very cold smile.

Myui took a moment to think about this, but her decision was almost obvious, the lessening of tensions between the Earth Federation and the Empire would be only a benefit to Italica at this time.

"I agree, the princess can stay, and if she wants to she can sign the treaty" Myui said as she stood up. "This is my will, are there any objections?" Myui asked finally taking charge of the meeting.

"As long as it means me and my knights can go free" Pina said.

"Princess, you and your knights are free to go with or without this treaty. I'm just hoping to start a process to end the war" Akalu replied.

"Fine, agreed" Pina gave her answer.

END

OMG I'm finally done, I was having the most trouble on how to end this chapter, isn't that kinda weird? Man this was a lot, I've gotta dial it back or I'll be writing 100k word chapters before long lol. Anyway Please review and tell me what you think.