Disclaimer: I do not own Gate and its character but other characters than those belonged to me and RedSS.
Chapter VI: The First Encounter
31 May 1918, 08:37
Somewhere Near Craonne, Aisne, France
"$ #£€%€£?" An Imperial soldier shouted as he was watching the POWs working labour for his army, all of them looked tired and seemed to be hungry as they were forced to work like slaves. "$#/$€£$¥£!"
It had been few days now since the Imperial Army stepped on the soil of France and managed to defeat the enemy in this world... At least that's what they were thinking as they didn't know there are more of them out there, waiting to counterattack when the orders are executed from their generals.
In this moment, few buildings were built to provide comfort for Imperial troops but of course, not for their POWs as they were forced to build those buildings all the time. Even it was war crimes against POWs as it was written in 1907 Hague Convention but what do you expect from the country that slavery is still legal?
"So what do you think, Gene?" And yes, Eugene and Robert were among those POWs who were working labour right now as they were one of those who are digging the pit for dead bodMies of both sides. Their clothes were covered with mud and blood as they didn't have any chance to clean them yet. "Do you think their plan will work?"
"I-I don't know... I'm really hungry."
"Just hold on, mate and you will get some... If those bastards have some mercy on us today." Robert looked around as he wanted to see where is that Imperial soldier and after found out that he was gone, he kept talking to Eugene quietly. "Anyway, do you think it will work?"
"I don't want to say that it won't work because I also hope it will be like that but... Their plan is too risky, really risky."
"But it is only plan we have here or do you have better one?"
"No, of course not."
"We should have hope on it, Gene... We should have ."
"But what if we get caught?"
"Nope, we won't get caught, trust me."
"Why?"
"Just trust me, ju- Ouch."
"What's wrong?"
"My wound... So fucking hurt." Robert looked at his wound that he got after being stabbed by the German soldiers few days ago, even it was better now but it wasn't good enough and that made him do anything more difficult.
"It doesn't look good..."
"At least it looks better than yesterday... Let's get back to work or else, those Romans will give us punishment."
"Anyway Robert... When we will escape this place?"
"From what I talk with those lads... If there's nothing wrong, we will go tonight."
"What?! Are you serious?"
"We have to go tonight because tomorrow by morning, we will send through that bloody gate. To another world that we never see before and of course, it will be harder to escape from there."
"I don't know, Robert... I'm afraid we will get caught."
"Come on, lad. There are many people who have managed to get out from here in these past few days, even if I have never been to POWs camp before but I'm sure that these Romans' security is worse than Germans'.
"But most of them get caught later and they get killed, don't you know that?"
"I know, I know... But you need to think positive, kid. Our plan will work tonight for sure."
"How many people that will go tonight? Including both of us?"
"Well... Let me count... Around twelve people, I guess."
"Twelve people? I can't believe this..."
"That is from the last time I talked with them, maybe there will be more people when the time comes."
"What? But Robert... The more people we go with, the more chance we will get caught."
"I know that, Gene. Stop saying we will get caught, do you understand that? We will escape from here tonight, no matter what."
"Okay, okay... But will you go to talk with them again? Before the sun set?"
"Of course, mate. I have to go... To make sure that everything is in place."
"And which way we will go once we manage to escape from here?"
"Go down south or else... If we encounter with the Fritz then we might have to surrender to them."
"What?" Surrender to Germans?"
"At least I would prefer to be in their POWs camp than this bloody place." Robert looked around again to see if there is anyone hear what they are talking. "Well let's finish this, so that we can go and get some meal."
"Alright, mate... Alright."
Eugene continued digging the pit along with another POWs mixed of British, Germans and French... But he couldn't stop thinking about the situation he is in right now as he and other POWs will escape from here tonight.
Since these Imperial troops stepped their feet here, they had sent some of POWs beyond that gate and of course, none of their friends knew what happens to them as they had been vanished from this world once they stepped through the gate... The funny thing is that tomorrow morning, Eugene and others would follow those through the gate where he wouldn't know about his fate there...
So that's why they had to do it tonight before it is too late... They planned to take the key from one of the guards, get their captured weapons in Imperial armory and make their way out from here... Of course, it is easier said than done.
More than that, Robert's wound still didn't look good and that make it more difficult for him if he wishes to escape from here tonight... And Eugene also realized that Robert had been more aggressive in these past few days but he hoped it would better as it might be strain from these cruel labour works and doesn't not get enough rest.
Anyway, he couldn't do anything but when the time comes tonight, it is their last chance to get out from this hell... He hoped that their plan will work, just only can hope that everything will be fine.
XXX
31 May 1918, 09:24
Somewhere to the Northeast of Soissons, Aisne, France
"So do you think how long we will arrive there, Syd?"
"Arrive where?"
"I don't know... Wherever we are going to right now, I guess."
"The I would answer it's not today."
"Hahaha, you are probably right... Since we don't have any bloody idea of our destination."
Sydney and Matthew, along with others of the 86th Brigade, were marching along the Aisne River as they were moving to the northeast where they will have to recapture territories back from invaders.
They just left Soissons this morning after they arrived there around evening yesterday... And without giving them a break, they had to move their feet again into enemy's territory where they don't even know who are those people.
Even they were supported by planes, tanks and artillery guns but with dragons flying above their heads made it more difficult for them to march forward that they needed to be on guard all the time or else, it would cost few lives of them.
"But do you think it is true about those invaders? It sounds too fantasy for me, I mean... A gate from another world appeared in the middle of battle between us and those Jerries... Still can't believe to hear it from our commanders." Matthew still kept talking about the invaders as he still wondered about them.
"I know but I have seen those pictures of them and the gate from Captain Spencer, so I know it is true."
"Then do you know where is our destination then, right?"
"Yes, I know... North of Craonne, where the gate is standing."
"Craon what?"
"Craonne, north to the Aisne River."
"Oh... You mean Aisne Sector, right?"
"Yeah."
"Jeez, that's long way. We might reach there few days... Or longer than that."
"Trust me, we will arrive there sooner than you think."
"I hope it would be like that."
Sydney looked back at the troops that marching behind him then looked in front of him... From his experience in the war, walking along the river is such a bad idea as it will give enemy about their location clearly... Especially when the enemy has dragons flying on the sky and ready to attack them anytime whenever they encounter with.
Then he looked across the Aisne river as he kept walking forward along with others, he found out that it was really quiet here... Yeah, too quiet to be true but at least it was what he wanted in this moment.
And then suddenly... Sydney saw something moving in the forest across the river... He stopped walking and stood there watching quickly... And he is right, something is moving over there.
"There is something moving over there!" Sydney shouted to his comrades in that area and they responded to it quickly, they all stopped marching and turned their attention to the another side of the river.
"Is it enemy?!" Someone shouted to ask more information.
"No idea here!" Without waiting, they began to aim their weapons at the other side of the river and were ready to fire if it is their enemy... Others were just stood there with no idea of what to do.
All of them waited and waited, waited for whatever or whoever come out and show up for them... It was still moving but this time it moving towards their direction as it could hear them shouting and after few moments of silence and waiting, it finally showed itself.
"Kamerad, Kamerad! Erschieß uns nicht!" That thing turned out to be a German soldier put his hands on the air with his rifle carrying on the back and he didn't wear helmet as he might lost it.
"Thanks God... It is Jerry." Sydney said that, feeling relieved to see that it is not invaders they are worrying about then he turned to his lads. "Alright, boys. Anyone speaks German?"
"Sir, do we really need to help those Fritz? I mean they ar-"
"Stop saying that, private." Sydney turned to see Captain Spencer walking next to you. "Do you forget what our commander told us? Rescue everyone trapped in enemy's territory, even they are Germans."
"I-I know tha-"
"Then don't say that next time." Captain Spencer turned to Sydney and Matthew who were looking at him. "So do you know what to do, right?"
"I know, sir... Anyone speak German?!" Sydney shouted to find interpreter in his division.
"Hey! Over here!" The sound came from the other side of the river, Sydney and others turned to see a group of five people; three British, one French and one German. "We are safe now, lads!"
"Are you British?!"
"And do you think what language I'm speaking to you?!"
"Sorry, mate. Just want to make sure if you are, so that we don't need interpreter... What happened to you?!"
"Some of us decided to left the town last night with the French Captain named Dufour... But we got encountered with those bloody Romans and got separated with our group!"
"Romans?!"
"Yeah... That is what we call them, those invaders from nowhere!"
"Aaaah, I see... Anyway, since you said some of us, so that means there are still some staying in the town. Which town, lad?!"
"The town? Oh its name is..." But before that Briton could say the answer, an arrow from nowhere flew out from the forest and nearly hit him but it fell down to the ground. "Shit, they are here! Those Romans!"
"Sie sind hinter uns!"
"Nous devons traverser la rivière à la nage maintenant!" Without waiting, the French soldier left his rifle and jumped into the river as he tried to swim across the river.
"Jeez, they are here now... Quick, lads! Jump into the river and swim here, we will cover you!" Captain Spencer shouted as he ordered his men to ready their weapons and to shoot enemy if they appear.
"Alright, mates. Get in position and fire at will! You know what to do, right?" Sydney shouted to hurry others as they were following Captain Spencer's order.
The group swam across the river, even the water current is really strong but it wouldn't stop them from trying to reach the bank... They were on the half way when invaders came out from the forest and showed themselves.
"#$&€%#$ $#%!" One of them shouted as he was going to fire an arrow against Sydney and his men. Bang! But he was stopped by one of the best sharpshooters in the 29th Division before others would shoot at them mercilessly without stopping.
Both sides exchanged bullets and arrows but the 86th Brigade managed to take all of them down as they had more advanced weapons... And when the last shot was fired, the silence came in... On the other side of the river, many bodies laying on the ground and their blood flew into the river... You can say it is not a battle but more like execution by firing squad.
"That is last one of them, right?" Captain Spencer asked his men to make sure if there is more of them.
"I guess, sir... But even there is more of them, I believe they would run away already after they saw what we did to their friends." A private crouching on the ground said as he was changing drum magazine for his Lewis Gun.
"Hahaha, what a humor you get there, you... Jeez, I always forget your name."
"Private Richard Townsend, sir. Do you forget about me already?"
"Oh I see... Stubborn and impulsive but great handle with machine guns."
"That is the only thing you can remember about me, sir?"
"At least you should proud of that, lad." Sydney interrupted the conversation of both. "I think that is all of them, sir. They were probably patrolling the area."
"Maybe you are right on that."
"Sir, we got them out from the river now. What should do next?" Suddenly a young corporal asked after he managed to get the group come out from the river safely.
"Send message to our commander and bring them back to Soissons... But before doing that, let me ask one of them for few questions." That corporal went away and came back with the same British soldier talking with Sydney earlier.
"Thanks for saving us, sir." That Briton saluted to Captain Spencer. "Do you want to ask me?"
"Yes, we want to know few things before we will march deeper into enemy's territory... First, do you have any idea who are those people?" Captain Spencer pointed to invaders who were already dead on the other side of the river.
"I-I don't know, sir... They just came out from nowhere few days ago. From what I have seen, they just only use swords and bows... But with numbers and monsters they have, they could just outnumber us easily."
"We already know that but thanks for telling... How many of them out there?"
"Not sure, sir but I guess around 200,000."
"And the last one, which town did you leave last night? There is some still trapping there, right?"
"Oh about that, it is Bo-... Bou-... I forget its name already sir."
"Or you mean Bourg-et-Comin?" Sydney interrupted both and showed the map to that Brit, pointing to the location of Bourg-et-Comin."
"Yes, it is that town, sir."
"Alright, thanks for answering our questions. You can go now." That Briton was brought away as he was going to send to Soissons along with others... Captain Spencer turned to Sydney as they were going to discuss something a little bit. "Seem like we have a job to do now."
"But that town is not so far from here, we might reach in one day or two, sir."
"I hope it would be like that... Alright everyone, let's go."
The 86th Brigade continued marching into enemy's territory after their encounter with invaders from another world for the first time... But somehow, on the other side of battlefield, Alexandros and Brandus were also going to encounter with their enemy for the first time and that is when both of them knew their army is fighting with wrong enemy.
XXX
31 May 1918, 11:05
Somewhere to the Southwest of Craonne, Aisne, France
Imperial scouting troops were marching through the countryside of France... There were still many shell holes and abandoned trenches around as Imperial Army didn't know what to do with them but left them where they are. They were marching toward the south, hoping to get good information about their enemy's country... Yeah, it will take for a while to do that.
"I hear there is a river down there." And of course, Alexandros and Blandus were among them as they were having conversation. "And our enemy call it the Aisne River."
"Aisne River? Well maybe we can rest there tonight, right?"
"Yeah... I want to take a bath in the river."
"Me too, Brandus."
"But of course, we might encounter with our enemy and that would take longer for us to reach there... More than that, I am still afraid of them."
"Them? Who?"
"You know them... Iron Birds."
"Aargh, come on. It can't be... There is no way they can have birds made out of iron, even in our world."
"But this is not our world, right? We still don't know much about what our enemy have... And what they can do."
"You are overthinking, calm down and focus on what we are doing right now."
"Okay, okay."
Both Alexandros and Blandus stopped talking as they kept walking forward along with their comrades... Alexandros then looked around, he just realized this place is quite peaceful and beautiful that it reminded him of something... Something that he nearly forget about it.
"So Alexandros... Where are you come from?" Suddenly Brandus asked a question that he didn't want to hear.
"W-What?"
"Where is you hometown?"
"Why I have to answer that?"
"Come on, we are friends, aren't we? Or you have a reason that you don't want to tell me?"
"It is... You know, complicated."
"Complicated? Well you still can tell me, I will try to understand."
"It's um... Let's say, I don't have home."
"What? No home?"
"I-I... I was in the group of nomads. You know them? Those who always move to one place to another place without staying anywhere too long."
"Oh I see... But it's not complicated that I won't understand."
"I just think that you might don't know nomads."
"You think I don't know nomads? Many of them usually stop at my village for some supplies, so I know who they are."
"Then where are you com-"
"Everyone stops moving!"
Suddenly a commander, who were leading the group of scouting troops, ordered to stop... Few seconds later, they could hear the sound of something working on the sky toward where they are right now.
"What is that sound?"
"Shhh, be quiet."
"Don't tell me... Iron Birds?"
"Prepare for you weapons!"
Without drawing their weapons, the thing that made the sound showed up... It wasn't just only one but three flying on the sky and for Imperial troops, they call it "Iron Birds" but for us, we call it "Fighters".
"Look at that, the Iron Birds!" With that, some of them began to panic as the rumor was true about them.
"Calm down, don't be panic! Get in tortoise formation!"
Then the whole group got in the tortoise formation as they thought it would help fighting against those fighters... From their roundels, these two fighters were belonged to British Royal Air Force and it seemed their job is to destroy any enemy on the ground.
Then suddenly the machine gun was fired on the Imperial troops mercilessly and the tortoise formation didn't help them. The British fighters managed to take down some of them without doing anything much more than firing machine guns on them.
Seeing some of their comrades died and how powerful the enemy that they are facing right now made some of them began to panic and run for their lives... Some who still had bold decided to fire arrows on British fighters which of course, it didn't work as they were too high for arrows to reach.
Then the fighters began to fire on Imperial troops again and more of them died... You can say this is more like massacre of British fighters than battle between both sides.
"Run! Run!"
"Get in the cover!"
"All of us are going to die! Do something!"
The troops began to run away from the fighters but it didn't help as the fighters were faster... And in the middle of this chaos, Alexandros and Brandus were crouching on the ground as they were hoping not to get killed by the Iron Birds.
"We can't stay here forever! We have to get out from here!"
"To where?! Don't you see how fast those things are?!"
"How about those trenches over there?!" Brandus pointed at the abandoned trenches that they just passed few minutes ago. "We can hide there until this is over!"
"Sounds good! Let's go!"
Both of them stood up and began to make their way to the trenches without looking back, their comrades died one by one around them... Then suddenly a machine gun fired in front of Alexandros made him to stop running or else, he would get killed.
"Keep running!" Branuds shouted as he were still running but then he was shot on the leg by one of those fighters.
"Brandus!" Without waiting, Alexandros rushed to his friend and helped him to the trenches quickly as the fighters still doing massacre around them and when they reached there, there were many dead bodies of their enemy in the trenches as their army never come here before, so they still didn't clear them."
"Get in that hole!" Brandus said as Alexandros was taking him inside the hole but before they would get in, Alexandros looked back to see those fighters still flying on the sky and firing their machine guns on his friends...
"Get in there now, Alexandros!" Brandus said again and both of them got inside of it, hoping that this would be over soon.
But it would take a while until those fighters are gone away... As they were in the dark hole, they could hear sound of machine guns firing and their comrades shouting and screaming... They would be the sounds that both of them couldn't erase from their heads, every time they close their eyes like they were nightmare.
To Be Continued
Another chapter again! Sorry for taking so long and feel free tor review, so that I can improve my writing skill and others! Thank you!
