Chapter 4: The Barious Desert
Things weren't going well with Karl so far, ever since the incident with Cezary Regard and Rosie Stark, almost everyone in the squad ignored him, in fear that they will be isolated from their squad members as well for being a "darcsen lover". Karl ended up eating his meals while sitting at a table by himself. He was pretty lonely by himself, until the two darsens Rosie pointed out from the other day approached him.
"Hello, mind if we sit with you?" asked the darcsen with glasses.
Happy that someone finally decided to actually sit with him, he enthusiastically said, "Sure!"
The two darcsens introduced themselves.
"My name is Wavy." said the darcsen with glasses.
"And I'm Nadine" said the long haired darcsen with a friendly smile.
They sat together and ate. Karl learned from his newfound friends that Wavy was a schoolteacher from his hometown, and that Nadine had a master's degree in literature. Then, they started to ask Karl questions.
"So, what made you join the militia Karl?" asked Wavy
"Well, you see, my fiancé, Lynn and I were separated when we were supposed to evacuate Fouzen. An imperial raid attacked and we were separated by the crowd. I'm not sure whether she made it out or is still in there, but I'm hoping that I'll find her if I joined the militia."
"How do you know she's still alive?" Nadine asked
"Nadine!" Wavy snapped
"Oops" Nadine quickly placed her hands over her mouth with a guilty look.
Karl suddenly frowned, he never thought about if Lynn was even alive. And if she wasn't, what would he do? He wouldn't have any purpose if she wasn't around in his life.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that! Cheer up!" Nadine tried to reassure him. "There's no guarantee she's dead either."
Then the intercom activated. "Squad 7 report to the hangar! We have a new mission" Lieutenant Welkin Gunther's voice echoed throughout the mess hall.
-
Everyone in Squad 7 was all lined up and standing at attention in front of Welkin. Karl was quite amazed at how orderly everyone is, normally there would be large unruly crowds when in the mess hall.
"Squad 7, we have been given orders to investigate possible imperial activity in the Barious Desert ." Welkin said. "Our mission is to verify that they are there or not, and if possible to exterminate it. We will be leaving tomorrow."
Most of the squad moaned no anticipation. It was hot in the Barious Dessert and they were not looking forward to it. For Karl this was going to be his first real battle. He was nervous and sweated profusely even after the announcement ended. But then he remembered that his new friend Wavy and Nadine will back him up, and he felt a little better. As the squad was getting ready to head back to their quarters, Karl felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Kevin Abbott from yesterday.
"L-listen, I'm sorry about Cezary yesterday. He can be rather aggressive." Kevin said.
"Oh, don't worry about it, it's not your fault." Karl replied.
"Well anyway, I want to say good luck tomorrow on the mission , I'll help you out if I can."
"Karl smiled and said "thanks"
-
It was afternoon in the Barious Dessert, everyone was rather miserable in the heat. Thankfully, the Lieutenant brought watermelons for everyone to help cool down. Unfortunately they didn't had very long to enjoy their snack.
"Squad 7, combat formation!" ordered Welkin from his tank, the Edelweiss.
Karl was placed with the Edelweiss itself, his duty was to keep the Edelweiss in tip top shape throughout the operation. With him was coincidentally, Kevin to give him cover, unfortunately also with him to provide cover was Rosie.
Rosie glared at Karl and told him, "Listen Landzatt, I'm only protecting you because I was ordered too, so don't think were friends ya got that?"
Karl said with a slightly nervous tone, "T-think nothing of it."
Before he knew it, there bullets flying everywhere. Karl tried to remain calm as he kept pace with the Edelweiss. Kevin and Rosie followed. Suddenly, he felt a bullet flew right by in front of him, he turned to see and imperial cocking a rifle at him.
"Ah- ah!!" Karl shielded himself with his hands, hoping he'd miss. But after a few seconds, he looked and saw the imperial lying dead on the ground, Rosie and Kevin took care of him.
-
Meanwhile, Wavy and Nadine were accompanying Largo and his fellow lancers, Jann, and Walter to provide cover fire and ammunition as they held back the tanks rolling towards them. A tank rolled up and fired a mortar at them.
"Get down!!" Largo yelled.
They all hid behind the sand bags and the mortar exploded harmlessly right in front of their cover. The three lancers all fired their lances almost at the same time obliterating the tank.
Jann cooed, "Nice work Largo!! You know how to work it!"
Walter felt a little dejected when he congratulated Largo, after all he helped too.
Wavy then saw a glare off a sniper rifle from the distance, by the look of the direction it was pointing it was aiming straight at Nadine, who was out in the open carrying fresh ammunition for the lancers.
"Nadine look out!" He pulled her down just before the bullet hit her head.
"Nadine looked at the hole the bullet left and let out a sigh of relief. Then they both quickly hid behind cover.
-
Eventually, the battle was over. Squad 7 was able to capture the enemy's base. Karl felt a huge since of relief that he was able to survive his first battle. And was even more relieved knowing Wavy and Nadine survived as well. In fact, everyone who fought in the battle had survived with just a few soldiers who had to be under the medic's care. He was also really amazed at Welkin, he was a great leader even considering his age and the short amount of time spent in the militia. He was definitely Belgian Gunther's son alright.
As the sun set, he thought that they would finally head back to base and rest up a while. But then he felt a violent tremor, and almost at the same time, Welkin ordered everyone at their stations. Karl wondered what was going on, his question was immediately answered when he saw something huge in the distance. And it was heading right towards them…