GAH... I'm sorry, people, for taking so long.
Three main things delayed this chapter: (1) Metroid Prime Trilogy (so damn good), (2) Halo 3: ODST (also awesome), and (3) UNIVERSITY. But I'm guessing quite a lot of the authors are having the same reason for their delays.
But I digress. Without further adieu, here's Chapter 7.
Chapter 7: Battle on Two Fronts
A stream of soldiers was returning to the Gallian Army's forward base from various patrols. Quite a few were wounded, some on stretchers with lost limbs. The Imperial Army, its back to the wall, was putting up a fight.
The base itself had been made before the war started, designed as a waypoint between Naggiar and Ghirlandaio. The Gallian Army had recently ousted the Imperials from the place, and was now using it as a staging area to attack Ghirlandaio. Many tents littered the perimeter; the base wasn't large enough to fully accommodate the forces currently stationed there.
From her position at the top of a perimeter watchtower, Marina watched the men and women of the militia as they returned from their patrols. Seeing so many wounded brought a scowl to her face. A lot of the injuries and losses were unnecessary; it was all due to General Damon's eagerness to see the war end quickly, as well as his complete disregard for the lives of Gallia's people.
Still, as much as he was hated, Damon was still the highest ranked officer around. The chain of command was his only shield from a string of retribution for lives lost, though so far it had made a very effective shield. At times, Marina thought things would have been much better if one of the Imperials had killed the general ages ago. It probably would have done everyone a big favor. With the way things were, however, the likelihood of that happening was slim-to-none.
As she scanned the horizon, the faint sound of creaking wood caught Marina's attention. Someone was coming up the ladder. Turning, Marina saw that it was Welkin who had come to see her. She hadn't expected to see him of all people.
"…Something I can do for you, Lieutenant?"
"Catherine said you'd be here," said Welkin. "She knows you pretty well."
"…Get to the point, sir. What is it?"
"She also told me you'd probably respond like this. But alright; General Damon told me at the staff meeting that he wants to see you in his office at 1500 hours."
"…Great… what does he want now?"
"I'm not sure, and actually, that's something that's bothering me. Do you have any idea why he's asked for you specifically?"
"Haven't a clue…" After a short pause, Marina said, "Might as well see what he wants…"
As Marina turned to leave, Welkin said, "Hold on, Marina. There's one more thing I need to discuss with you, in private."
Turning back to Welkin, Marina asked, "What's this about?"
After a short pause, Welkin turned his head and looked down at a section of the camp. Following his gaze, Marina saw that he was looking at Alicia, who was busy trying to help Dallas and Jann with some laundry.
Then, Welkin said, "It's about something you promised to Alicia back in Plinth. I overheard the two of you talking."
Marina wasn't surprised to hear Welkin say this. Rather, it was probably better that Welkin knew about what Marina had agreed to do. It was, after all, a very serious task Alicia had given her.
"I… I just want to say that I appreciate you accepting her request. I don't think anyone else in the squad would be up for it."
"…"
"But I need to know for certain. If the worst should happen, will you really do it?"
"…Yes sir…"
Taking a moment to examine Marina's expression and voice, Welkin said, "Thank you. I know it's a lot to ask of you, but I had to be sure I could count on you."
The two then watched for a moment as Dallas accidentally tripped on a stray sheet, sending her and a load of socks tumbling to the ground. As Dallas began to sob, Alicia knelt down next to her and helped the girl to her feet. The gesture prompted Dallas to wrap her arms around Alicia in a bear hug, which caught Alicia by surprise and brought a very visible blush to her face.
"…Truthfully sir, I'd rather not have to be pushed into that corner if I can help it."
"Me neither. I mean, I don't want to lose Alicia, but… I also worry that her power may be too much for her to handle. But I plan to do whatever I can to help her."
"…"
Feeling that there was nothing more to discuss, Marina turned and climbed down the ladder, leaving Welkin in the watchtower to look down at Alicia.
Marina did her best to avoid speaking with anyone on her way to the command building of the base. Though a number of militia soldiers gave her approving glances and an occasional thumbs-up, she did not respond. She had never liked the attention she was getting for being publicized as a war hero.
As she neared the command building, she suddenly heard a voice call, "Sergeant Wulfstan! You have a moment?"
Sighing in discontent, Marina turned to see Ellet walking towards her, a pad of paper and a pencil in one hand. She had obviously caught wind of Marina's meeting with Damon, but Marina wasn't surprised. Ellet was very good at getting information; it came with her territory as a reporter. Still, she had proven helpful to Marina in the past, providing her with useful information at times.
"…What is it now?"
"A little bird told me you were headed off to see General Damon. Care to share why that is?"
"I'm just seeing what the fool wants, that's all."
"Ooh, touchy. As I understand it, the two of you haven't been on good terms lately."
"Just lately?"
Ellet couldn't help but snicker for a second. She then said, "I guess you're right. You will fill me in on the details afterwards, right?"
"I won't need to. You'll probably just spy on us by yourself."
"Sharp as a knife, I see."
Giving Marina a respectful nod, Ellet walked off. Marina guessed Ellet would look for a good hiding place near Damon's office so she could listen in on the meeting. In any case, Marina chose not to think about it as she continued on inside the building.
Within a few minutes, Marina reached the door to Damon's office, its entrance flanked by two Regular Army shock troopers. Many Regular Army officers who were in the halls were giving her nasty glances, but she shrugged them off. She knew they weren't content with seeing a militia "peasant" among the so-called elite of Gallia's military. Marina found it ironic; she could probably outshoot any of them.
As Marina walked up to the two guards, one of them said, "General Damon is expecting you, Sergeant Wulfstan. Go on in."
Marina said nothing in response as she turned the knob and the door swung open.
Damon's office was what Marina had expected; vain and gaudy, if only a temporary setup. A cabinet with numerous undeserved medals stood against the left wall, while several animal heads were mounted on the right. Of particular note to Marina was the mounted head of a grey wolf. Overall, the room was only slightly less bearable than Damon's office at Fort Amatriain.
Sitting in a fancy chair behind his desk, General Damon was helping himself to a glass of wine. The corpulent man had never made an effort to hide his habit of drinking, and so far no one had questioned or criticized him about it. Marina chose not to as well; nothing would have really come of it, anyways.
Setting his wine glass down, Damon said to Marina, "Ah, Wulfstan. I've been expecting you. Have a seat."
"…I'll stand, sir…"
Damon's expression quickly turned to a frown at Marina's answer. The only reason he put up with her attitude was because she had skill and the respect of the militia. Marina, seeing the general's expression, felt some satisfaction in knowing she was already pushing his buttons.
"Fine. Let's get straight to the point, then," said Damon. "Sergeant, I've got a proposition for you."
"…A proposition, sir?"
"Although you come from those commoners in the militia, the brass, including myself, can't deny your skill as a sniper. It was quite the same with your father, actually. A shame Marcus couldn't be around today to help drive those Imperials out."
"…"
"In any case, despite your current standing in the army, I feel that your talent would be of great value to Gallia as a whole."
"…What are you getting at?"
Ignoring Marina's disrespectful tone, Damon said, "There's been an opening recently at Lanseal Military Academy for a sniper instructor. I was planning to give the position to Captain Hazel, but he was killed two days ago while on patrol. As such, I'm extending you the offer for the position."
"…"
"The job's quite a privilege, actually. As a member of the Lanseal military staff, you'd be privy to receiving the best education Gallia has to offer. And that's–"
"I'll pass."
"–just for starters. You'd be – Eh, what?" Damon had not expected Marina's quick answer, nor for it to be a refusal.
"…I'm not interested, sir. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
As Marina turned to leave, Damon snapped, "You will stay where you are, Sergeant, until I give you permission to leave!" As the sniper turned back to him, Damon continued, "And you will explain to me immediately why you've turned down my generous offer!"
Marina almost scoffed at this. It seemed Damon was planning to force her into the position, all to further his career. With Marina teaching at Lanseal, Damon would be credited for making Gallia's snipers some of the deadliest in Europa.
"…When this war is over, I plan to return home, sir."
"Is that so, Sergeant? Tch, you're as stubborn as your old man. Turned down every offer he was ever given too, just so he could raise you to be an ungrateful brat."
Marina glared at Damon, but the man wasn't intimidated by her. He had no reason to be; barely five seconds away were at least ten men loyal to him. He knew Marina hated him, but where he was, she couldn't touch him.
Standing up, Damon said as he paced around his desk, "A war hero like you should know to do what's best for Gallia. And right now that involves a spot at Lanseal. I might not have Sergeant Melchiott's cooperation, but I doubt I'll need it if I can make Gallia's snipers the most feared in Europa!"
"…"
It was public knowledge that Damon had made an earlier attempt to 'recruit' Alicia into the Regular Army, but she had refused the offer, choosing to stay with Squad Seven. Princess Cordelia, who had paid a recent visit to the front lines to inspire the troops, had sided with Alicia, so Damon was left unable to do anything about it. Now, without having a Valkyria in his service, Damon planned to get the next best thing.
"Let's get something straight, Wulfstan," said Damon. "As long as I'm in command, you are required as a soldier of Gallia to follow my orders! Is that clear?"
Marina did not answer this, her silence showing her defiance. Then, to Damon's frustration, Marina turned and walked toward the exit.
"You get back here, Wulfstan!" Damon shouted.
As he did, the two soldiers guarding the door rushed in and blocked the exit. Marina glared at the two guards, who after a moment slowly stepped away from her, too intimidated to stop her.
Before Marina left, she said to Damon, "Tell me something, sir. Did you kill that wolf yourself or get someone else to do it for you?"
Damon made a short 'urk' as he tried to come up with a retort. When he said nothing, Marina smirked.
"Thought so…"
As Damon was left turning red with fury, Marina strode out of the office. Turning a corner, Marina almost laughed as she heard Damon shouting incoherent threats at her. She did, however, get the idea that the general wanted to throttle her.
And as she crouched below a window to the office, jotting down some notes, Ellet couldn't help but snicker. "Well done, Marina," Ellet said amusedly.
Fort Ghirlandaio stood towering over an open network of trenches, but it itself was dwarfed by a pair of tall mountains on its sides. Ghirlandaio was the last of the Empire's strongholds in Gallia, captured at the start of the war and used as the main Imperial headquarters. It was a suitable choice; Ghirlandaio was a virtually impenetrable fortress, only taken due to the efforts of the Imperial Valkyria, Selvaria Bles.
Within the high walls, hundreds of Imperial troops scrambled to fortify the base with antitank guns and machinegun nests. Outside, engineers carefully set dense minefields at choke points in the rocks, a mix of antipersonnel mines and antitank mines. The few tanks the Imperials had left were inside the walls being refitted with additional armor and, in some cases, larger cannons.
From inside the fortress halls, Cezary watched as a blond man dressed in a royal military outfit stepped into a staff car, accompanied by several elite soldiers in motorcycles and four light tanks. Prince Maximilian, it seemed, shared Cezary's belief that Ghirlandaio would fall to the Gallian Army. Yet the sniper found it strange how the prince was still so confident of success, despite his position.
Soon, the staff car drove out of the rear end of the fortress, accompanied by Maximilian's escort. Cezary continued to watch as the prince's group disappeared down the road leading to the Empire.
"I'm impressed you're still around," said a voice down the hall.
Turning, Cezary saw one of Maximilian's top officers, Major General Radi Jaeger, strolling toward him. The Fhiraldian veteran had his usual laidback expression on his face; Cezary found it amazing how Jaeger always seemed to be in a good mood, even when things were at their worst.
Leaning against a wall, Jaeger added, "Many of the men thought you would have fled by now."
"The thought had crossed my mind," said Cezary.
"I don't doubt it. This is quite a corner we've been backed into. And to think, only a short while ago we were on the brink of victory. We were too confident that we would succeed, and we paid the price."
"Confidence had nothing to do with it, if you ask me. Your Azure Witch just couldn't cut it when it mattered."
"Perhaps. However, believe it or not, His Grace hadn't initially intended to win this war using her power. We hadn't suspected that Gallia would put up such a fight. But as things dragged on, it became clear that would have need of the Valkyrur's power."
"And even that wasn't enough."
"You sound as if you aren't surprised at what happened."
"Don't let me fool you. Melchiott's little rampage was a surprise for me too."
"Hmm… You refer to her by name?"
"Yeah, I know her. What of it?"
Jaeger paused for a moment, and then said in a more serious tone, "A word of advice, Mr. Regard. Some of those men out there won't be so forgiving toward your background."
"Are you done yet?"
"Apparently so."
Jaeger strode past Cezary and disappeared down the dark hallway. Cezary scoffed at the general's warning; it was nothing new to him.
Besides, he had more important things to worry about.
Word of Damon's meeting with Marina seemed to spread around quickly. All over the base, militia soldiers were getting into arguments with Regular Army officers, openly protesting their "oppression".
As Marina walked through the tank pool, she turned as Catherine ran up to her and said, "You're just a stickler for trouble, aren't you?"
"…Someone needed to do it at some point."
With a short laugh, Catherine said, "I'm glad you did, actually. I only wish I'd been there to see the look on his face."
"…You know where Leon is?"
"Leon? Oh, he's with Zaka and Ramsey right now. They're busy refitting the Shamrock."
As Marina and Catherine walked through the crowds of militia soldiers, many gave their applause to Marina for standing up to Damon. Though Catherine smiled at hearing all the support, Marina chose to ignore it.
Then, a minute or so later, Marina saw the Shamrock. Zaka had his head sticking out of the turret and was speaking to Ramsey, who was busy fixing a heavy Gatling gun onto the tank. Leon was behind the tank making adjustments to its engine.
Walking up behind Leon, Marina said, "Schmidt, you have it ready?"
"Huh? Marina!" Leon said, startled by the sniper's sudden appearance. "Oh yeah, it's ready. It's over there on the workbench." Leon absentmindedly pointed out a nearby wooden table.
Turning to it, Marina saw what she was looking for. A new sniper rifle sat on the workbench next to a box of rounds. Words etched on the side said "GSR-30"; it was Gallia's new version of the GSR, recently finished by Leon's team.
As Marina inspected the rifle, Leon said, "We used Kloden dark walnut in making the gunstock. I also had to make the barrel a bit longer to increase its accuracy at range. But I'm sure it'll be better than your GSR-20."
"…We'll see about that."
"We've already got some targets set up for you. Go ahead and try it out."
Marina scooped up one of the ammunition boxes and looked out at the targets Leon's team had arranged. They were quite a distance away, at least several hundred meters or further. Setting the ammo box down, Marina took out one of the rounds. It was a strangely long bullet, probably meant to pierce tough body armor.
Sliding open the loading chamber of the GSR-XXX, Marina inserted the new round and closed the chamber. Marina remarked how the parts didn't move very smoothly; Leon had obviously designed the rifle for performance, not ease of use, by making the rifle's parts sturdier and more rigid.
Balancing the rifle in her arms, Marina took aim down the range at the closest target. Looking down the rifle's scope, Marina immediately saw a difference compared to her father's old sniper scope. The magnification was significantly higher, more than what Marina was used to. Unfortunately, Leon had told her before that the rifle would be incompatible with her old scope; she would have to adjust to the new one.
Then, as she placed her sights on the closest target, Marina realized another factor to the rifle. It was significantly heavier and more difficult to aim than the GSR-XX, likely due to the stronger materials in its design. The elongated barrel only added to the weight and balance issues. Marina was forced to kneel down in order to keep the weapon straight.
Realizing that Marina hadn't fired yet, Leon asked, "Is everything alright, Marina?"
"…It's heavy…"
"Sorry, but that wasn't something I could really work around. I had to make the rifle stronger so it could fire at longer ranges, and this was the best way I could think of."
"…I'll make it work…"
Straightening the rifle, Marina took careful aim at a target. It was extremely far away, nearly 800 meters. It was a range even Marina had difficulty with; stray winds or other factors could easily blow a shot off course. In addition, she would also need to take gravity into account; the shot would likely lose momentum and drop at such long range.
Marina lined up her shot and fired. Through her scope, she watched as a hole was blown in the bull's-eye of the wooden target. The bullet had flown exactly as she had aimed it.
"…Not bad…"
As Marina opened the loading chamber, Leon said, "Oh, by the way, nice job sticking it to the general."
"…Thanks…"
As she finished reloading, Marina took aim at a second target and fired.
Stomping around angrily, Damon continued to curse Marina for her defiance. Among all the militia soldiers he had had to deal with, Marina was one of the most troublesome. She was considered a role model by the men and women of the militia, and having her arrested for insubordination would surely have dire consequences. He would've just left her alone, yet she was a source of dissention in the militia that had to be squashed, so that others wouldn't follow her example.
For the longest time, Damon hoped that one of the Imperials would get lucky and kill her, but no such luck came to him. Now, she was more threatening than ever; her latest act of defiance was stirring similar sentiments in the militia. Reports were coming in all over of cases of insubordination from militiamen against Regular Army officers.
Stopping for a moment in front of his desk, Damon turned to his aide and said, "Lieutenant, I need you to deliver a message to Sergeant Vargas. Tell him and his crew to meet me in the munitions warehouse at 2300 hours tonight. And keep it quiet. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" said Damon's aide.
Outside Damon's window, Ellet quickly jotted down the time and place of Damon's meeting, grinning all the while.
With a silent giggle, Ellet said, "Now this is a scoop!"
The sound of running water drowned out most other noise from outside the women's locker room. For the most part, however, the room was empty. Steam had engulfed the far corner of the showers.
Standing behind a set of white curtains, Marina had her head beneath a running showerhead. She raised her face to the showerhead, allowing water to flow across her. The feel of warm water cleansing her skin was welcoming after a long day.
By her own choice, Marina had come to the showers alone. Whenever the other Sevens were around, talk often degenerated to comparing breast sizes or something similar, something that Marina hated being a part of. She was also rather modest about her own features; that enough prompted her to take her showers alone.
Being alone had also given her time to think about the earlier events of the day. It hadn't taken long for her actions against Damon to have an effect on the army. All over, militia soldiers were refusing orders from Regular Army officers who were loyal to Damon. It wasn't a full-scale revolt – the Imperials were still regarded as the enemy – but it was certainly having consequences. Over twenty soldiers had been arrested for starting fights; thankfully no one from Squad Seven had suffered that fate, though Alex Raymond had come close.
Still, these things made Marina ponder whether or not she had done the right thing. She had no intention of being Damon's pawn, but she wondered whether or not she could've been more tasteful in her refusal. Then again, etiquette was never her forte.
Then, Marina heard the echo of footsteps approaching her. This came to her alarm; the other Sevens never chose to interrupt Marina while she was bathing, especially after she had once caught Ted peeping at her. He had ended up receiving the beating of his life from that incident; it served as a suitable warning to the others. Unless Ted hadn't learned his lesson from before, Marina guessed that it was someone else.
Judging by the day's events, she guessed it could be one of Damon's men. Maybe his earlier threats hadn't been so hollow after all, Marina thought. Maybe he really did want her dead. And in her current position, she was cornered – a worst case scenario for any soldier, let alone a sniper.
Still, it seemed rather ridiculous that someone would try to kill her while she was in the shower. Surely someone would catch the culprit. Either way, it didn't matter to Marina whether the footsteps were coming from an assassin or some perverted rookie. Whatever the case was, she didn't plan to be caught off guard.
As the footsteps got closer, Marina stood in place as she slowly reached for her Colt, which lay on a shelf normally meant for soap. She had a habit of keeping it nearby at all times; her father had taught her never to leave herself unarmed if she could help it. Clasping the gun in her hand, Marina reached for the shower curtain.
In a swift movement, Marina tore the curtain away, covering her body with the sheet as she raised her gun. To her surprise, no one was there. Her eyes twitched around as she looked for any sign of an intruder. There was nothing.
Then, she heard a small "Moink!" come from her feet. In a reflexive movement, Marina swung her pistol downward, pointing the barrel straight at Hans. The porcavian squealed loudly as he darted out of the locker room, terrified of Marina.
Almost immediately after Hans vanished, Marina's livid expression gave way to embarrassment. The piglet hadn't known any better.
"…"
With an awkward sigh, Marina slowly flicked the safety switch on her Colt, disarming her pistol, and placed it back on the soap shelf. She then turned the valves of the shower, cutting off the flow of warm water. For a few seconds, all that could be heard was a slow dripping sound from the tap.
"…Dammit…"
Darkness crept slowly over the Gallian camp. Though a few tent lights were still on, most of the militia and Regular Army had turned in for the night. A few soldiers stayed awake, manning watchtowers and patrolling the nearby woods.
At the south end of the camp was a large warehouse. The building had recently been filled with ammunition and fuel in preparation for the siege on Ghirlandaio. Crates of tank shells, rifle clips and explosives were arranged messily throughout the warehouse.
Behind a pile of ammo crates, Ellet waited out of sight as she watched the entrance to the warehouse. Damon hadn't shown up yet, despite what Ellet had heard. It was now almost 11:15PM, but no one had come to meet with him.
She wondered whether or not Damon had canceled the meeting or not. Ellet sighed in disappointment; this wasn't the first time this had happened to her.
Then, Ellet heard the echo of approaching footsteps and snapped her eyes forward. Damon was at the entrance to the warehouse, followed by four other men. They wore the emblem of Damon's personal tank crews.
Ellet watched as the five men came under a light in the warehouse. The group's leader, a sergeant, was completely bald, though his face was broad and muscular, much like the rest of him. Though he appeared a strong soldier, he also bore a sinister look on his face.
This was what she had been waiting for. Ellet quickly snapped a hand to the audio recorder strapped to her shoulder and took out a microphone. As she adjusted the microphone's sensitivity, she slipped an earphone on, wanting to listen to her recording as she made it. In addition, the earphone kept the recorder's playback from being heard by others. The echo of the warehouse would make it easy to hear and record sounds.
"You guys keep a lookout," the sergeant said to his lackeys. The recorder played a garbled sound to Ellet, but a quick adjustment fixed the problem.
"Vargas," said Damon. "I'm sure you're aware of today's fiasco with the militia."
"Yes sir," said Vargas. His voice was somewhat deep, grim, and quite pleasured.
"Sergeant, I've been merciful so far with these peasants, but I am not about to let Wulfstan's actions go unpunished. I'd have court-martialed her for insubordination, but such action would likely lead to a full-scale revolt. She's well-respected by many of those peasants, and I'm not about to make a martyr out of her. I need her to be removed… carefully."
"What did you have in mind, sir?"
"Wulfstan's going to be on a patrol tomorrow near Ghirlandaio. It'll essentially put her behind the enemy lines, near Dahlen and Egeln."
"You intend to send her on a suicide mission, sir? I don't see how I fit into this."
"You're to make sure she doesn't return, Sergeant. Whether or not the Imperials get her, I want Wulfstan dead! Understand me?"
Ellet's eyes shot wide open in surprise. She hadn't imagined Damon was as infuriated with Marina as to attempt to kill her! Then, Ellet grinned with intrigue. This scoop would be enough to shake the whole Gallian Army, and would surely see Damon removed from command for conspiracy to commit murder.
"If you're forced to kill Wulfstan yourselves, however, I want you to make it look like an accident. And make sure you take out anyone else who's with her; I don't want any witnesses."
"Understood, sir."
"I knew I could count on you, Vargas. I chose you and your men for this mission because you're one of my best tank crews. Wulfstan won't stand a chance against the four of you!"
As Damon chuckled loudly, Ellet murmured, "That should do it."
Ellet moved a hand to shut off her recorder. But as she did, her arm rubbed against one of the knobs, turning it. A high-pitched whine screeched out of the recorder, much to Ellet's horror. She snapped her hand to the power switch, shutting down the recorder and silencing the noise. But it was too late. The whine had echoed loudly through the warehouse.
"Eh? What was that?" Damon hissed. Next to him, Vargas looked around for the sound's source.
Ellet began to sweat profusely as Vargas and his three cronies searched for her. The reporter slowly began creep through the warehouse, trying to stay hidden. If she could make it to the exit, she would be safe.
Bit by bit, Ellet moved slowly toward the exit while Vargas and his two henchmen searched the piles of crates. Damon, on the other hand, looked around nervously from side to side. It was clear he was afraid of being caught; a scandal like this one would not only ruin his military career, but would also face him with the possibility of a prison sentence or execution.
Nearing the exit, Ellet could see dim moonlight creep through the cracks in the door. She was almost there.
But then, the sound of a gun being cocked made her freeze.
"Well, well, what have we here?" said a male voice.
Ellet spun around to see one of the scouts aiming his pistol at her. The others were moving in to assist him.
As Ellet stood up, one of the tank jockeys said, "Hey, I know her. She's the broad from that radio. Probably thought she'd get a big story right here, huh sweetie?"
"Yeah, a really big one," said Ellet, trying not to show fear. "Gotta say, General, you need to lighten up a little. I mean, trying to kill Gallia's best sniper because she's making you look bad? That's a little harsh, don't you think?"
Smirking, Damon said, "You misunderstand the point, reporter. Wulfstan's a major source of dissent in the militia. The peasants have made a hero of her, and just like their hero, they follow her example and undermine my command! Those fools need to remember their place, as men who have to follow MY orders, just like her!"
"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, she's respected because she has skill, something that inspires more than a few soldiers. And I don't think she has anything to do with how the militia sees you. Today, she was just telling it to you straight: those boys and girls out there aren't your chess pawns."
Now infuriated, Damon shouted, "Get her!"
Vargas' henchmen advanced on Ellet, their guns trained on her. Ellet nervously backed away, trying to find an opening to escape from. But as she did, she accidently backed right into Vargas. Before Ellet could react, Vargas wrapped an arm around her neck, putting her in a choke hold. Ellet's glasses fell from her face, breaking as they hit the ground.
Ellet tried to scream for help, but her cries were hoarse and weak from a lack of air. She tried to kick at Vargas' legs, something that quickly annoyed him. Then, one of his henchmen ran up to Vargas and swung a fist into Ellet's stomach. Stunned, Ellet's struggles stopped, prompting Vargas to drop her to the ground.
As the reporter lay dazed on the floor, Vargas popped open her audio recorder and removed the cassette tape from it. He then crushed the tape beneath his boot.
Drawing his pistol, Vargas said to Damon, "Should I finish her off?"
Quickly pondering, Damon said, "No, no, too many people will ask questions. Just stuff her in one of the crates for now until I can come up with something."
Ellet blacked out before Vargas' henchmen grabbed hold of her arms and legs.
Sitting on the cold stone of Ghirlandaio's parapets, Cezary looked out at the plains leading into Gallia. There was no sign of movement. Looking up, the sniper gazed at the stars, which were joined by a crescent moon. The night truly was beautiful.
Cezary, however, was left unable to fully appreciate the night sky. Much to his annoyance, Jaeger's warning from earlier was stuck in his head. Though the general had been right, Cezary couldn't understand why Jaeger had given him that warning. Why was an Imperial general from Fhirald looking out for him?
Then, Cezary heard a set of footsteps on cobblestone approaching. Turning, he saw three Imperial soldiers approaching him. All three wore a curious sash on them of a golden lion grasping a similarly-golden sphere in its paws. Cezary recognized it as the symbol of the Purists, a faction in the Empire that believed the Imperial army should only consist of pure-blooded Imperials. They clearly had an issue with Cezary being a Gallian.
Turning to his comrades, one of the Purists said, "Told you we'd find this Gallian rat out here."
"Care to tell us what you're doing out here, rat?" said the second Purist.
"What, can't a guy enjoy a little fresh air?" Cezary said arrogantly.
Offended, the third Purist said, "Feh, typical. Rat thinks he owns the place just 'cause he thinks he's on His Grace's good side."
"I say we teach this rat a lesson, guys," said the first Purist. "Let him know his place and all."
As the second Purist cracked his knuckles eagerly, Cezary got to his feet and slowly reached for a pistol strapped to his belt. He knew the Purists probably intended to kill him, and wasn't about to let them off easily.
"Hehe, look at that," said the third Purist. "The rat thinks he's a real badass with that little gun."
"Guess we're in luck, guys," said the first Purist. "Now we've got a good reason to kill this rat."
"And what reason would that be?" said a familiar voice.
Caught by surprise, the Purists turned to see Jaeger walking toward them. He had obviously seen everything. The Purists quickly saluted him.
"G-General Jaeger, sir!" the second Purist stammered. "What are you doing out this late?"
"It's so nice out that I felt like going for a stroll. Coincidentally, I couldn't help but notice the three of you threatening Mr. Regard here."
"Sir, with all due respect," said the first Purist, "we can't afford to trust him. He's from the enemy side, sir!"
"I'm well aware of Mr. Regard's heritage, as I'm sure you are aware of mine. Care to place me in the same boat as him?"
"N-No, sir!"
"Then, on my orders, you are to leave Mr. Regard alone. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir!" the Purists said in unison.
"Good. Now I'd like to speak with Mr. Regard privately, if you don't mind."
Not needing any further instruction, the Purists took off. As they disappeared into the halls of Ghirlandaio, Cezary moved his hand away from his pistol.
"You're quite fortunate, Mr. Regard," said Jaeger. "If you had killed one of those men, you would have been shot on sight."
"Why do you care?"
"I have my reasons. You and I share something in common: neither of us was born in the Empire, yet we serve her armies as though we were her native sons."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm not in this cause of some patriotism crap…"
With a short smile, Jaeger turned his back to Cezary and said, "I thought I should let you know, a group of my men and I are going to be on patrol tomorrow afternoon. I'd like you to join us."
"Patrols aren't my thing."
"Please, I insist. Or would you rather remain here in the presence of the Purists? I can hardly keep my eye on them while I'm away."
"Tch, fine."
"Glad to hear it. Meet me at the front gate at 1500 hours. I'll be expecting you."
As Jaeger walked away, Cezary glared at the general. Cezary knew he was up to something; he just didn't know what it was. Whatever it was, the sniper suspected that it wouldn't be a good thing for him.
The next day came with a clear sky and warm sun. By noon, many militia combat patrols had been deployed near and along the Imperial lines, watching for any possibility of a sneak attack from the Imperials. Gallia had the upper hand, but quite a few believed the Empire wouldn't be ousted from the country without a significant effort.
Creeping through a thick set of trees, Marina crouched as she moved slowly from tree to tree, following closely behind Nadine, Montley and Nancy. She constantly turned her head side to side, looking for any sign of Imperial forces. Her group's route was dangerously close to the Imperial lines. They also weren't given any vehicular transportation; nearly all of the vehicles and tanks were being prepared for the siege on Ghirlandaio, which was scheduled to start the next day.
Marina grimaced as she dwelt on her current circumstances. In truth, nearly every patrol that day was being taken too close to the Imperial lines, with virtually no armored support. Marina couldn't help but suspect that Damon had made it that way just to get at her. It wasn't the first time he had done something that underhanded; the invasion of Fouzen was rumored to have been meant to get Welkin killed.
Regardless, Marina decided to keep her focus on the patrol. She would have time to dwell on politics when she got back to the base.
Then, Nancy suddenly asked, "Umm, Marina?"
Jolting, Marina almost brought her new rifle's barrel up to Nancy's head when she managed to catch herself. Nancy yelped as she stumbled back, tripping on a set of tree roots and falling flat on her back. The whole event was a mix of amusement and shock to Nadine and Montley.
Nancy whimpered a silent "Owie" as she pushed herself up. Montley helped Nancy to her feet as he asked, "You okay, Nancy?"
"I'm– I'm alright. Just a little bump." Turning to Marina, Nancy asked, "What'd you do that for?"
"Yeah, Marina?" Nadine added. "She just asked you a question."
"…Let's keep moving…"
As Marina strode past them, Nadine whispered to Montley, "Hey Montley, doesn't Marina seem a little… edgy lately?"
"Yeah, I know," Montley replied. "It's kinda scary, actually."
"Marina's always scary," said Nancy. "Even when she's being nice…"
"You can talk about me behind my back when we're done this patrol," Marina said sternly, having overheard the others.
Sheepishly, the three Sevens decided to keep quiet as they followed the sniper.
Not being on one of the patrols brought mixed feelings to Catherine. On one hand, she wasn't around to look out for Marina; she had specifically ordered Catherine to stay in the base, not wanting her company. Catherine could only guess why.
On the other hand, Catherine had some free time on her hands. And she knew just how she was going to spend that time.
Standing outside the munitions warehouse, Catherine walked up to a supply officer guarding the entrance. As the sniper approached, the officer stepped toward her and said, "This building's off limits to you grunts. General's orders. Now get lost."
Smirking, Catherine pulled a small handful of ducats out of her pocket and asked, "I just want to have a little look inside, that's all. Would twenty ducats get me that?"
Now showing signs of anger, the supply officer said, "No, but it'll get you three months in the stockade! Now beat it before I call security!" Then, when Catherine tried to haggle further, the officer put a hand to his sidearm. "Last warning, peasant!"
Sighing, Catherine turned to leave. But as she did, a young voice suddenly hollered, "Aisha gonna catch you, Hans!"
Running toward Catherine and the supply officer was Aisha, who was joyfully chasing a squealing Hans. The piglet scurried toward the officer, running in between his legs. Unable to stop, Aisha yelped as she slammed into the officer, knocking her to the ground on her behind.
"Owwww…" Aisha moaned as she rubbed her posterior sorely.
Angry with the child, the supply officer snarled, "Watch where you're going, you little brat!"
Insulted, Aisha shouted, "Don't call me that, you big meanie!"
Laughing, the officer said arrogantly, "Oh yeah, brat? What are you gonna do to stop me?"
Now fuming, Aisha raised her head to snarl at the officer. In response, the officer shoved her back with an open hand to her forehead, knocking the junior shock trooper down again. Recovering, Aisha furiously ran at the officer and kicked him in the shins. The officer yelped shortly, but it was apparent that Aisha had only made him angrier.
"Why you…!"
The officer struck Aisha in the forehead with the back of his hand. The girl shrieked as she was knocked to the ground. Now crying, Aisha tried to stand back up, but the officer walked over to her and pulled her up by one of her pigtails, causing her to shriek loudly. As the officer lowered his face to hers, Aisha glared back at him, despite having tears flooding her eyes.
Raising a fist, the officer said, "This is why I hate kids."
Just before he struck, the officer stopped as he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned just as Catherine said, "It's not nice to hit children, you know."
A second later, the sniper's fist smashed into the supply officer's head, sending him to the ground. Aisha stumbled back a bit upon being released, but managed to regain her balance.
As Catherine massaged her fingers, which were lightly bruised, she turned to Aisha and said, "You alright, kiddo?"
"Aisha's alright, Missus Catherine," Aisha said as she rubbed her forehead gingerly. "Umm, thank you for beating that meanie up."
"It's no problem. If anything, I should be thanking you. He was in my way." Opening the door to the munitions warehouse, Catherine asked the junior trooper, "Care to join me?"
Not needing much convincing, Aisha followed Catherine into the munitions warehouse. As they entered, Hans scurried through the door just before it closed.
Marina looked out of the trees through her new sniper scope, taking care to remain hidden. Through her scope, she watched as two Imperial scouts walked outside a two-story wooden lodge. Through its windows, she was able to make out at least three more Imperials, though she assumed there would be more inside. Marina guessed there were no more than ten soldiers garrisoned at the lodge; it wasn't large enough to accommodate more than that.
The lodge stood looking down at a crossroad leading southwest from Ghirlandaio. A sign at the crossroads had the names "Dahlen" and "Egeln" etched on arrows leading south and south-southwest, respectively. The lodge itself was likely being used as a makeshift warning station, so that the Imperials at Ghirlandaio would be alerted to any enemy advances and would have time to organize its defense. It wasn't a major obstacle, but it was still an obstacle nonetheless. It would have to be taken out.
The problem was that the group had no lancers, and Nadine didn't have any high-explosive charges on her. Since the group was a patrol, they were made to travel lightly; they didn't even have that much ammunition. They couldn't just blow the lodge down; at best, they'd be able to capture it or weaken its garrison.
Either way, it would be easier said than done; the Imperials usually had at least one heavy machinegun for such outposts. Given its position, it had a perfect field of fire to any direct assaults. Marina only had her new GSR-XXX and three others with her, all utilizing Gallian-SXX rifles. The Imperials had a significant advantage in firepower.
Still, experience had taught her that superior weapons didn't win battles. Mobility, deception and caution could defeat any weapon on the field of battle. It was what had allowed the Sevens to survive for so long in the war with so few losses. And again, it would keep such a task from being impossible.
Even so, Marina knew this was going to be tough.
Her train of thought was suddenly disrupted as Nancy asked, "So, umm, Marina? What're we gonna do about those Imperials?"
"Come on, let's just get in there and take those Imps out!" Montley said impatiently. "Ahh! I can't just sit here!"
"Cut it out, Montley!" Nadine hissed. "Marina's thinking."
"…Will all of you shut the hell up?"
Realizing how much they were distracting her, the three Sevens quieted down. Free of any distractions, Marina continued to watch the enemy soldiers.
Then, unexpectedly, one of the Imperial scouts took a defensive stance as he looked in Marina's direction. He must have caught a glimpse one of them; it was probably Montley. He was never any good at stealth, and his jittering only made him easier to spot in the brush.
The Imperial scout turned to his ally and said something Marina couldn't make out. He then signaled to another soldier in the lodge, who went to alert anyone else inside. The two scouts then began advancing slowly toward the Sevens' position.
"…Great…"
Now trembling, Nancy squeaked, "W-What are we gonna do? Should we run?"
Marina turned to the others and made a series of hand signals, trying not to make any noise. The order was to spread out, maintaining their cover and maximizing their field of fire against the enemy position, while forcing the enemy to spread out its own fire. Each one nodding, the others Sevens crept away behind the bushes as the two Imperial scouts approached.
A moment of sneaking later, Marina turned toward the lodge and raised her GSR, directing the weapon at an Imperial who was standing right at one of the windows. Briefly turning to her left, she saw Nadine make a small hand signal. The others were ready to begin the attack. Marina made a return signal, ordering the others to fire on the approaching scouts first. Nadine nodded before passing on the message to Nancy.
Marina's crosshairs met on the helmet of the Imperial inside the lodge.
"…Rest now…"
The rifle blared as its round flew out like an arrow, striking the soldier in the head. He dropped like a stone.
As Marina reloaded, the other Sevens opened fire, cutting down the two enemy scouts before they could react. As the scouts dropped, shouting voices could be heard from inside the lodge as four more men scrambled outside. One of the windows swung open as an Imperial brought up a heavy machinegun to the windowsill and fired down at the brush below.
After firing a blind burst of rounds at the enemy on the hill, Nancy detached her rifle's clip to load in a new one. But as she attempted to reload, she shrieked as a burst of machinegun fire raked the tree she was hiding behind, sending splinters flying everywhere. In doing so, she ended up dropping the magazine.
"Aah! My bullets!" Nancy squeaked, diving down to try and retrieve her ammo.
"Nancy, look out!" Nadine shouted.
Nadine's warning startled Nancy, causing her to trip and topple to the ground. Miraculously, the accident ended up saving her; a pair of rifle rounds streaked just over her back. Moaning, Nancy scrambled around for her ammo, not realizing the gunner was training his machinegun on her.
The gunner never got a chance to fire. Blood spattered out behind him as a sniper bullet penetrated his skull and helmet. The gunner keeled over.
Marina didn't immediately reload her weapon, choosing to quickly change her position as a shock trooper fired a burst at her former position. Ducking behind a thick tree, Marina turned to Nadine, who fired two shots at a scout, hitting him in the torso. As Nadine looked at her, Marina made a hand signal, ordering the engineer to attempt to advance as soon as possible. Nadine nodded as Marina slid open the loading chamber of her rifle, ejecting the spent cartridge.
Nadine brought her rifle up and fired, striking a shock trooper in his knee. The Imperial barely managed to stop his fall, kneeling on his wounded knee as he turned his submachine gun toward her and fired a burst. Nadine ducked down with a yelp, letting the bullets pass over her back. As the Imperial's clip ran out, Nadine rose back up and put another round into the wounded shock trooper, finishing him off. At the same time, Nancy shot down another scout who was holding position outside the lodge. She then ducked as a scout fired down at her from the lodge, though he quickly met his end to Marina's GSR, a shot through his head.
With only one soldier left outside of the lodge, Montley shouted, "We've got them now! Let's go!" He then sprung out of the bushes and charged up at the lodge.
"Montley, wait for me!" Nancy shouted as she jumped out to try and follow her impatient friend.
Nadine and Marina, however, chose to keep behind cover wisely. As the two scouts had left their cover, the heavy machinegun opened up again. Another of the Imperials had taken the first gunner's place. Montley yelped as he scrambled away from a line of bullet fire.
Nancy, on the other hand, tried to aim up at the gunner as she ran at the lodge. In her usual clumsiness, she tripped on her own toes, shrieking as she landed face-first in the grass. The gunner took advantage of this and swung his machinegun in her direction. Seeing the gunner aiming straight down at her, Nancy squeaked as she ducked her head down, hoping the end would be quick for her.
What happened next was quite the opposite of what Nancy expected. A single loud bang shot out, instead of a steady pattering. Quivering, Nancy looked up to see the gunner was gone. Marina had shot him down. Nancy sighed in relief. She seemed to be having blessed luck that day.
Up in front of the lodge, the last of the Imperials, realizing he was hopelessly outmatched, attempted to flee. He barely made it five steps before a burst of rifle rounds struck him in the back. The soldier toppled to the ground lifelessly.
Seeing no more hostiles, Nadine ran out from the brush to join the two scouts, who had reached the lodge. Montley was the first to enter, rushing inside almost carelessly. Nancy followed shortly afterward.
Within ten seconds, Nancy appeared in the upstairs window and shouted to Marina, "All clear!"
Finally coming out from the trees, Marina slowly walked toward the lodge. As she did, she looked at the bodies of the Imperials her group had just killed. Their armor seemed shinier than most other Imperials; they were probably new recruits. Backing up this theory was the fact that these men were terrible shots, a result of having newer weapons in terms of polish, and the soldiers being rather trigger-happy.
As Nadine reached the front of the lodge, met quickly by Montley, she heard a man groaning in pain and swiftly turned to the source. One of the Imperials was still alive, but had a bullet wound in his gut and was bleeding rapidly. His breath was hoarse. Blood was seeping out of his mouth. To Nadine's shock, he barely looked seventeen.
"He-Help me… P-Please…" the Imperial gasped painfully.
Montley and Nadine looked down at the wounded Imperial, taking pity on him. Nadine slowly moved in to try and help the boy.
Then, Nadine shrieked in surprise as a gunshot rang out and a bullet went through the young man's forehead. Without even a whimper, the Imperial slumped over, dead.
Shocked, Nadine and Montley turned to the source of the shot. Marina's Colt was billowing wisps of smoke from its barrel. A moment of silence passed before Marina flicked the safety switch and returned the pistol to its belt holster.
Appalled, Nadine exclaimed, "Marina, why did you do that?"
"…His fate was already sealed…"
Now trembling with a mixture of anger and sorrow, Nadine said, "You… Are you really so cruel, Marina? I could've saved him!"
Marina swung around, glaring menacingly at Nadine. For a moment, Marina and Nadine were left staring at one another. Nadine did her best not to be unnerved by Marina's piercing eye, but couldn't stop herself from sweating. Then, a few seconds later, Marina broke her stare and walked past the Darcsen engineer.
"…No, you couldn't…" Marina then glanced at Montley and said, "Leonard, search the place for intel."
"R-Right…" Montley replied nervously.
Aisha was awestruck by the amount of ammo crates that filled the munitions warehouse. Even though much of what had been inside before had been dispensed to the Regular Army and the militia, approximately one-third of the warehouse was still crammed with ammo crates. Some were over twice as tall as she was.
As Aisha looked around in awe, Catherine was busily inspecting labels on some smaller crates. So far, she hadn't found what she was looking for: extra GSR-XX rounds. Though Catherine knew she would get a standard load-out for the Ghirlandaio siege, she always liked it more when she had extra rounds at her disposal. Unfortunately, it was never easy convincing the Quartermaster to give her extras; nowadays he wasn't accepting any of her bribes for fear of being caught by his superiors.
With mild frustration setting in, Catherine turned to Aisha and said, "Hey Aisha? Can you help me look through these crates? I can't seem to find any sniper rounds."
"Okay, Missus Catherine!" Aisha said enthusiastically, skipping over to look through a pile of ammo boxes.
Another minute or so passed, but neither Catherine nor Aisha had any luck. Catherine was left wondering if she were searching the wrong end of the warehouse.
"Moi-oink! Moink moink!"
Turning, Catherine saw Hans trotting quickly toward her with something in his teeth. As Hans stopped next to her, she saw that the piglet was holding a pair of glasses, apparently broken.
"Who'd you swipe those from, Hans?" Catherine asked, lowering her hand to take the glasses.
As Hans dropped the glasses onto her hand, Catherine took a close inspection of them. They were oval-shaped and quite fancy, with a lightweight metallic frame. They were clearly prescription glasses; even with damaged lenses, they made anything she could see through them fuzzy. They had to be quite expensive.
It was at this moment that Catherine recognized the glasses, and realized who they belonged to.
"These… these are Ellet's glasses."
Another realization hit Catherine: Ellet never went anywhere without her glasses. She needed them to see straight. A cold chill ran down Catherine's spine. Something must have happened to the reporter.
"Hans, where did you find these?"
With a short "Moink", Hans sped off down an aisle of large crates with Catherine following close behind. A few seconds later, Catherine saw a few tiny shards of glass on the ground, likely the rest of the broken lenses. But there was no sign of Ellet.
Then, as if on cue, Catherine heard a faint banging sound, as if someone were pounding on wood. The sniper slowly moved in the direction of the sound, drawing her pistol. With each step she took, the noise became steadily louder and closer.
Turning a corner, Catherine raised her pistol cautiously. Then, she saw one of the large crates shudder slightly, as if something inside were trying to get out. Catherine immediately realized who it was.
Running up to the crate, Catherine shouted, "Aisha, I need a hand over here!" Knocking on the side of the crate, Catherine said, "Ellet, is that you? Are you in there?"
Inside of the crate, Ellet tried to speak, but her mouth had been gagged and her wrists and ankles were bound by rope. She was struggling to loosen her restraints, but Damon's men had done their job well; the ropes wouldn't budge.
However, in her struggles, she had managed to loosen the cloth gagging her mouth. With an extra series of jaw movements, she finally managed to free her mouth from the cloth gag.
"H-Hey, who's there? Lemme outta here!" Ellet shouted.
"Ellet, its Catherine O'Hara! Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of there!"
"Catherine? Oh, am I ever glad to hear a friendly voice!"
"What are you doing in there?"
"A group of Damon's tank jockeys stuffed me in this thing!"
At that moment, Aisha skidded to a stop behind Catherine. Turning to the junior, Catherine said, "Aisha, get me that crowbar over there!"
Looking to the side, Aisha saw the crowbar and ran over to pick it up. When Aisha brought the crowbar back, Catherine took the heavy tool and attempted to pry open Ellet's crate with it.
"Don't worry, Ellet! You'll be out in no time!"
"Wait, Catherine, listen to me! Where's Marina?"
"Marina? She's out on patrol, why?"
"She's in trouble! The guys who stuffed me in here – General Damon sent them out to kill her!"
Horrified at this news, Catherine turned to Aisha and said, "Aisha, go find Captain Varrot and tell her what's happened! She has to warn Marina!"
Aisha immediately sped off toward the exit with Hans in tow. Meanwhile, Catherine began to hack away at the crate with the crowbar, wanting to get Ellet out as quickly as possible.
Sitting inside his personal tank, the Lupus, with his head sticking out of the turret hatch, Jaeger's eyes scanned through the various Imperial soldiers. Some of his best men were already gathered with him for their patrol, but he was still missing one man.
After a moment, Jaeger caught sight of him. Carrying his GSR-XXR, Cezary paced toward Jaeger's group. The sniper was now wearing a black Imperial uniform, though he had removed most of the armor plates, notably the chest rig. Since he technically wasn't an officer, however, Cezary had no rank emblem on his uniform.
Grinning, Jaeger said to Cezary, "I'll assume it fits, Mr. Regard?"
"You've been taking measurements of me when I'm sleeping?" Cezary asked sarcastically.
Chuckling, Jaeger answered, "If you were a woman, I'd have answered yes." This brought a few laughs from Jaeger's men.
Next to the Lupus, one of Jaeger's men said, "Sir, we're bringing the Gallian?"
"There are a few things he and I need to discuss, Sergeant. All I ask is that you work with him if we should run into trouble. Of course, you'll all have permission to shoot him in the back if he tries to abandon us."
Jaeger chuckled as he finished his sentence, leaving Cezary unsure whether or not the general was joking. He probably wasn't; desertion was a capital offence in the Empire.
Finishing his laugh, Jaeger said, "You're all ready then, Mr. Regard?"
"What's with the charity, Jaeger? Why go through all this trouble over my hide?"
Though his men didn't understand what Cezary was asking, Jaeger had been expecting this. Cezary, it seemed, wanted to get to the point.
"Why do you ask, Mr. Regard?"
"Pretty much everyone else here'd like to take a piss on my carcass, and I don't blame them. You, on the other hand, you're a general, and you're sticking your neck out for me. I wanna know what you're expecting to get out of all of this, because I seriously doubt it's loyalty you're after."
Jaeger's tone suddenly turned serious as he said, "You're sharper than you look, Mr. Regard. And you're right; my good graces aren't going to be without a price."
"So what is it you want?"
"Information."
"Huh?" Cezary hadn't expected this from Jaeger.
"You were once a member of Squad Seven. And by extension, you were once led by someone I've been quite interested in for some time."
Cezary caught on quickly. "Tch, you mean Gunther, right?"
Nodding, Jaeger said, "Precisely. Welkin Gunther, son of the late General Belgen Gunther. I'd like to know whatever you know about him."
"What's there to know? He's a nature freak and a dark-hair lover. A real pain in the ass if you get to know him."
"That's not quite what I had in mind, Mr. Regard. I was referring to his abilities as a leader. Knowing how he thinks and fights would give me a distinct advantage against him. You tell me whatever you can about his tactics, and I'll see about getting you a nice position as, say, a captain."
With a smirk, Cezary answered, "Is that it? Heh, alright. You got a deal."
"Good. Climb aboard. The rest of you, let's move out!"
Cezary climbed aboard the Lupus as Jaeger's men marched out of Ghirlandaio.
In one of the bedrooms of the lodge, Marina cautiously searched through a number of the Imperials' belongings. Most of it consisted of materials used for rifle maintenance and beer bottles. To her disappointment, Marina found nothing of real use. This outpost obviously hadn't been considered important by the Imperial command, or the personnel who manned it.
Looking out one of the rear windows, Marina was able to see Ghirlandaio in the distance, about two kilometers away. Peering through her sniper scope, Marina could barely see hundreds of Imperial soldiers working away at setting up the fort's defenses.
Entering another room, Marina saw Nadine in the middle of checking an Imperial's body for a pulse. The Darcsen slowly removed her hand as a saddened look appeared on her face; none of the Imperials they had fought had lived through the attack.
Marina walked over to Nadine and said, "If you're done with that, contact Lieutenant Gunther and give him our position."
"Wait, Marina," said Nadine. "I… I just want to apologize. You were right; I couldn't have saved that boy."
"…"
"I guess I just lashed out at you because I– we've all come to see you as a bit… well, heartless."
"…You wouldn't be completely wrong…"
"Huh?"
"In my position, I can't afford to show mercy to my enemies. Any enemy I allow to escape is one that could come back to kill us."
"I… I guess so. But that boy, he was dying. He couldn't have harmed us."
"…Do you know why I always aim for the head?"
"It's the surest way to take out an enemy, that's basic training."
"That's half of it. The other is so my enemy dies quickly, and so he doesn't even know he's dead until after the fact. My father taught me, as a hunter, never to make my prey suffer when it dies, but to end it for them in one stroke."
Nadine realized then why Marina had shot the boy. The realization came with another: Marina wasn't as merciless as she had once thought. In fact, she was quite the opposite; she was sparing each of her victims a slow, painful demise, by killing them instantly and decisively.
"I… I never knew that…"
"…You done with the guilt trip already? If so, radio Lieutenant Gunther and give him our position."
"R-Right."
As Nadine removed her radio and began adjusting its frequency, she and Marina heard Nancy shout, "Hey, Marina! There's a tank coming our way!"
"Don't worry! It's a friendly!" Montley added.
Hearing this, Marina found it odd that a tank would be this far out on its own. All of the Gallian armor was supposed to be back at the frontline base, preparing for the siege on Ghirlandaio. The patrols weren't even given motorcycles or jeeps for transportation.
As Marina pondered this, Nadine said over the radio, "Seven Actual, this is Seven Six, reporting in. We're about two klicks southwest of Ghirlandaio, at the crossroads leading to Dahlen and Egeln. We've captured an enemy lookout post at the crossroads, and are awaiting further instructions, over."
In her earpiece, Marina heard Welkin answer, "Understood, Seven Six. I'll have Seven Three meet you at your position. Hold until then. Over and out."
As the transmission ended, Marina decided to look out the window, down at the crossroads. Sure enough, a turquoise Gallian Heavy Tank was coming down the road toward the lodge. An emblem on the side showed it was part of the Regular Army; specifically, it was a tank from General Damon's armored regiment. Various scratches and scorch marks on the paint showed the crew had loads of experience.
The sight of the tank made Marina's eyes widen in shock, for its main cannon was pointed right at the lodge.
"Get down!"
Marina rushed away from the window as the tank fired. On the ground floor, Montley and Nancy could only stand numbly as the explosive shell struck the front wall and detonated.
At the same moment, inside the tank, Vargas watched as the lodge started to burn. Below him, Vargas' tank driver said, "Nice shot, boss. You get her?"
Peering through his visor, Vargas watched as a black-haired woman stumbled out of one of the destroyed rooms and into the hall.
"Nah," said Vargas. "She's still alive. Get another shell ready."
As Marina stumbled into the hall, her rifle drawn, Nadine shouted, "Marina, what's happening?"
"Downstairs, now!"
Marina took the lead as she and Nadine quickly rushed down the stairs. Cautiously turning toward the entrance, Marina saw the wall had been blown away. Flaming bits of wood and splinters littered the floor, intermixed with blood.
Nadine's expression turned to horror as she said, "Oh my God…"
Montley and Nancy both lay on the ground. Montley had taken two shrapnel pieces and a series of large splinters to his chest and neck. There was no doubt he had been killed instantly by the explosion.
Nancy, on the other hand, was bleeding from a gash on her forehead, and her round glasses had been cracked. Splinters dug into her left leg and arm, with a piece of shrapnel dug into her lower torso. Her eyes were wide open, and she was twitching violently. Frightened moans escaped her lips.
Immediately, Nadine rushed over to Nancy and grabbed the scout by her collar. As she did, she was forced to duck her head as a burst of machinegun fire streaked into the lodge. Nadine dragged Nancy back further, soon receiving assistance from Marina. The effort left a small trail of blood in Nancy's wake.
Upon pulling Nancy to the rear of the lodge, Nadine said to Nancy, "Nancy, can you hear me?" Holding a hand to Nancy's face, three fingers extended, she said, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Nancy didn't respond, continuing to convulse and whimper catatonically.
"…She's gone into shock… She needs a medic or she'll bleed to death."
Just as Marina finished her sentence, a loud boom signaled the tank's second shot. A large hole was blown in the left corner of the front of the lodge. The room above it came crashing down, lacking any support from below. Dust and smoke flooded the lodge.
Looking out at the burning front of the lodge, and at Montley's body, Nadine said, "Why are they firing at us? We're on the same side!"
Scowling, Marina said, "…I really pissed him off that much, huh?"
"Huh? What are you–"
Before Nadine could finish, the Gallian tank fired a third shell, striking the upper floor of the lodge. The Darcsen yelped as dust and burning floorboards tumbled down from above. To her relief, none of the debris landed on them.
Acting quickly, Marina said, "Get on that radio, now! I don't care who hears us!"
As Nadine scrambled to reactivate her long-range radio, Marina took a smoke canister off the engineer's belt and tossed it outside. Seconds later, grey clouds spewed out of the canister, enshrouding the lodge.
Rosie wiped the back of her hand against her forehead, rubbing sweat off her brow. Her group, consisting of herself, Cherry, Vyse, Aika and Fina had recently finished dealing with an eight-man Imperial patrol. Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, as Fina didn't really count as a combatant, her group had suffered no casualties, primarily thanks to Vyse and Aika.
Much to Rosie's surprise, Vyse had succeeded in taking out three members of the enemy patrol using a pair of cutlasses, which he had brought with him when he and Aika had first come to Gallia. Aika managed to defeat two others with a large, curved weapon, which she called a "boomerang". Rosie wasn't complaining, though; their unusual fighting skills had proven extremely helpful throughout the war, and so far they hadn't been killed using them.
At that moment, her crew was en-route to reinforce Marina's group, which had just captured a lookout post at a crossroad near Ghirlandaio. Though she knew she would somewhat appreciate Marina's company, she didn't see the sense in holding a position so far forward. Without significant reinforcements, the position could easily be overrun or destroyed, along with anyone still in it.
Just as she was contemplating this, Rosie's earpiece came alive.
"Mayday, mayday! This is Nadine! Is anyone out there? Mayday!"
"Nadine, what the hell's going on over there?"
"We're under attack! It's a tank from the Regular Army!"
"What?" The news that the tank was an allied one was startling, to say the least.
"It attacked us without warning! Montley's dead, and Nancy's in critical condition!"
"Hang on, we're on our way!"
"Hurry, Rosie! We can't hold out much–"
The signal suddenly died out, replaced by loud static.
Alarmed, Rosie shouted, "Nadine? Nadine, come in! Do you read me? Nadine! Dammit!" Turning to Cherry, Rosie said, "Cherry, you and Aika radio the boss and let him know what's going on, then catch up with us! Vyse, Fina, let's move!"
Sprinting off to the east, Rosie ran as quickly as she could with Vyse and Fina in tow. As she ran, Rosie worried that they would be too late to help Marina and Nadine.
Nadine looked in despair at her now damaged radio. Two pieces of shrapnel from a tank shell had punctured it. On one hand, she felt she was lucky to have not been hit herself; on the other hand, they were now cut off from any assistance. She would never be able to fix it in the field, if at all.
Looking over at Nancy, Nadine saw the girl was turning paler and paler by the second. She was bleeding to death, and now was having trouble breathing. Scrambling over to Nancy's side, Nadine pulled a Ragnaid capsule from her belt and activated it, administering the medicine to Nancy. It wouldn't save her on its own, but the engineer hoped it would slow the bleeding.
Beside her, Marina tried to peer through a cloud of grey and black smoke, trying to see the tank. It was too thick to see anything, but she knew the tank was still there, waiting for them to try and escape. Once they did, it would blow them away.
Marina regretted not having access to an antitank lance; she hadn't brought along any of Squad Seven's lancers since she wanted to move quietly. Now, that decision had turned into a costly one. Even though Nadine had grenades, they wouldn't do any good against the tank from the outside. Trying to get in close was out of the question; Marina guessed the tank crew had enough experience to know how to counter such a tactic, and would be expecting it.
There was only one real option: retreat. Easier said than done. On foot, even a heavier tank could outrun Marina's group, especially if they would have to transport Nancy. In addition, the tank had an excellent position to cut off their escape to the west or south. The only way out was to the northeast, toward Ghirlandaio. If they went that way, they ran the risk of encountering more Imperials.
Marina's thoughts were disturbed when she heard the lodge creak loudly. The support beams were clearly starting to fail; if they didn't evacuate the lodge, they would be buried alive. The fact that it hadn't collapsed already was a miracle.
Marina scurried over to the back door of the lodge and swung it open. Turning to Nadine, she said, "Out the back! Now!"
Not wasting time, Nadine wrapped her arms around Nancy and began dragging her out of the lodge. As she got outside, another shell hit the lodge, causing an eruption of splinters from the roof. The lodge's creaking turned to loud cracking noises.
The two Sevens dragged Nancy away as the lodge came crashing down. Dust and flaming bits of wood were sent flying in all directions. Any that struck the Gallian tank bounced off harmlessly.
Inside his tank, Vargas whistled as he said, "Ain't that just beautiful?"
"No way Wulfstan survived that," said one of Vargas' crewmates.
"Take us up there. The general said to make absolutely sure she's dead, and I plan to make sure she is."
Behind the now-ruined lodge, Marina was left choking on dust and smoke, as was Nadine. Marina, however, kept her rifle ready; the crew of the tank would surely check to see if she had died.
Then, she heard Nadine shout, "Marina, over here!"
Turning, Marina saw that Nadine had laid Nancy down next to an old Imperial halftrack, which had been stored away in a camouflaged shed. The halftrack, however, looked extremely old and worn from use. It likely wouldn't take anyone very far, or very fast. Its condition was probably why the Imperial garrison hadn't used it.
As Marina rushed over to her, Nadine said, "Maybe we can get away in this."
"…"
Marina took a moment to mull over her options. The halftrack barely looked functional, and by reputation they weren't that fast, sacrificing speed for thick armor. Even a heavyweight tank wouldn't have too much trouble catching the halftrack. Fighting was also out of the question; the halftrack only had a light machinegun as a weapon, meant for infantry. It would have no effect on a well-armored tank.
There was also another issue: Nancy. The halftrack was sure to be a much more violent ride in comparison to a military ambulance. With the injuries she had sustained, she was just as likely to die from riding in the halftrack as to the Gallian tank.
In any case, Marina suspected the Gallian tank crew was only after her. Nadine, Nancy and Montley were just in the crossfire. General Damon, it seemed, was serious with his death threats this time around.
Coming to a decision, Marina walked over to Nadine and said, "Give me your smoke grenades."
Confused, Nadine removed the smoke canisters from her belt as she said, "Huh? What are you gonna do with those?"
Taking the grenades, Marina added, "Move Nancy into those bushes and stay out of sight."
"Marina, what are you–" To Nadine's shock, she saw Marina pull open the driver-side door of the halftrack. "No, don't you dare! That's suicide!"
"Those guys are after me. I'll draw them away. Once you're clear, find the others and tell them what happened. Keep Dufour alive until help arrives."
"No, you can't do this! You'll die!"
In a louder tone, Marina snapped, "That's an order, Corporal. Now get out of here!"
Nadine flinched as Marina nearly shouted her order. She clearly knew what she was getting herself into. To Nadine, it was beyond crazy.
As Marina dropped her GSR and the smoke canisters into the passenger's seat and climbed in, Nadine saw there would be no stopping her. Cursing herself, Nadine wrapped her arms around Nancy and carried her out of the shed, running as quickly as she could into the nearby woods.
Inside the halftrack, Marina checked the wheel. To her fortune, one of the Imperials had left the keys in the ignition. Turning the key, Marina heard the halftrack sputter as its engine stalled. Frustrated, Marina tried it again. Again, the engine stalled.
She turned the key a third time, stepping on the gas pedal as she did. The engine roared to life, followed by a loud chugging sound. It was in bad condition, but it would have to do.
Inside his tank, Vargas peered through the wreckage of the lodge. He could see a few Imperial bodies, but no sign of his target. His gut told him, however, that she was still alive.
Then, to his surprise, Vargas saw a vehicle drive out from the trees, or rather a small shed that had been camouflaged. It was an Imperial halftrack, barely functional, and with a black-haired woman in the driver's seat.
Vargas smirked. Marina was more resourceful than he'd anticipated. But now she was fighting on his terms, and to his advantage. The halftrack's armor wouldn't last long against his tank's cannon.
"Bad choice, Wulfstan," said Vargas. Then, shouting to his crewmates, he said, "Let's run her down, boys!"
Eager laughter filled the tank as it rolled after the lumbering halftrack. The tank's cannon blared as it fired a shot. The round passed behind the halftrack, not having been aimed properly.
Attempting to throw off the tank's aim, Marina swerved onto the road and sent the halftrack rolling down. The vehicle, to her prior worry, was indeed slow. She wouldn't be able to dodge tank shells or outrun the tank for long. She hoped she wouldn't need to.
From her hiding spot in the bushes, Nadine watched as the halftrack sped down the road toward Ghirlandaio, with the Gallian tank in close pursuit.
Welkin's expression was one of complete shock. Mere seconds ago, Cherry and Aika had radioed a message to him from Marina: a Gallian tank from the Regular Army had opened fire on her team. Already she had lost one man, Montley, while Nancy had been critically injured. And worst of all, radio contact with her had been lost.
The news chilled him to the bone. What could have provoked the Regulars into attempting to murder one of Gallia's best snipers? The Regulars despised the militia, for sure, but this was going too far, even for them.
In a professional manner, Welkin said, "Aika, Cherry, regroup with Rosie as fast as you can. I'll send the other groups to assist you as soon as possible."
Over the radio, the two scouts said, "Yes sir!" The transmission then cut off.
Just as Kreis was about to alter the radio's frequency, however, Captain Varrot entered the room. She was accompanied by Catherine, Aisha and Ellet, the latter who looked as though she had been buried alive.
"Lieutenant Gunther, we have a serious problem," said Varrot.
"You don't know the half of it, Captain," said Welkin. "I just got a message from Rosie that a tank from the Regular Army opened fire on Marina and her team."
"What?" The news was a shock to everyone in the radio station.
"What happened? Where is she? Is she alright?" demanded Catherine, her voice fast and panicky.
"I don't know, Catherine. We haven't been able to contact Marina's team for about ten minutes now."
Catherine was left petrified in terror. "No no no no…"
In her panic, Catherine backed up to a wall and slumped to the ground, murmuring in fear. Aisha knelt down to try and reassure Catherine that everything would be alright, but it didn't help much.
As this was going on, Ellet said, "Lieutenant Gunther, you have no idea how bad this really is."
"What do you mean? And Ellet, what happened to you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Listen, last night I was spying on General Damon. He was meeting with one of his tank crews. Damon gave them an order to assassinate Marina!"
"What? Are you serious?"
As Welkin said this, Ellet produced an audio cassette from her pocket and handed it to him.
"I recorded the whole meeting on this tape. Damon's flunkies caught me and thought they destroyed the evidence. Good thing I gave them the old switcheroo; all they broke was a blank."
Welkin stared at the cassette in his hand. It took all his willpower to keep himself from crushing the tape in his hand. Damon had gone too far this time.
Then, Welkin said, "Kreis, get in contact with all our teams!"
"I'm on it, sir!"
"I've dispatched a group from Squad Four to assist your men, but it will take some time for them to reach their position," said Varrot.
Though Welkin showed Varrot he was thankful, he kept his attention focused on the radio, and his mind stayed centered on Damon's conspiracy. He hoped he wouldn't be too late to save Marina.
The halftrack swerved around a corner as a tank shell glanced its rear. Not having hit at a correct angle, the tank shell ricocheted off and crashed in the woods. The impact, however, shook the wheel in Marina's hands, forcing her to compensate for the shock.
Glancing at her mirror, Marina could see the Gallian tank coming in behind her, already rotating its turret for another shot. She only had a few more seconds before the crew reloaded. Worse, she was on an approximate 100 meter stretch of road with little room to maneuver. The tank had an easy shot.
Reaching over, Marina grasped one of the smoke canisters and, using only one hand, pulled the pin. As smoke began to hiss out of the canister, she tossed it out of the side window. The canister landed behind the halftrack, creating a cloud of smoke.
With smoke blocking his view of the halftrack, Vargas scowled slightly. Marina's tactic was basic, but effective enough to throw off his aim. Still, he knew that Marina couldn't have moved very much in the narrow strait. Moving the cannon upwards, Vargas fired another shell.
The projectile whistled over the halftrack, impacting on the road about ten meters ahead and creating a small crater. The halftrack's treads easily rolled over the crater, only slowed down marginally.
Checking her mirror again, Marina watched as the tank steamed through the smoke cloud. Looking ahead, Marina saw that she was coming out of the narrow stretch. To her left, a grassy hill rolled upward next to the road. To the right was an open field, only marred by the remains of a tank beside the road. She now had room to maneuver.
Marina spun the wheel clockwise, causing the halftrack to lurch to the right. A second later, Marina realized she had made a terrible mistake. The ruined tank had been destroyed from the bottom up. That could only mean one thing. Marina spun the wheel hard to the left, but it was too late.
The halftrack buckled as it ran over a landmine. The right tire was blown to scrap, while the explosion threw Marina around in the driver's seat, causing her to hit her head on the dashboard. Adrenaline kept Marina from blacking out. The halftrack's armor had kept any shrapnel from hitting her, but a fire had now started in the engine.
Regaining her senses, Marina saw that the halftrack was now barreling out of control toward the ruined tank. Despite her best effort, the steering wheel failed to turn the halftrack. Marina slammed her foot on the brakes, but nothing happened. Unable to stop or steer, all Marina could do was brace for the impact.
The crash occurred quickly, yet the results were devastating.
Nadine knelt over Nancy's body, holding a blood-soaked cloth to one of her wounds. She had run out of Ragnaid, yet Nancy continued to bleed rapidly. The girl also continued to whimper from shock, now short of breath and barely moving. She was going to bleed to death at such a rate.
"Come on, Nancy!" Nadine said in fright. "Don't die on me!"
Nancy didn't respond to this, only continuing to whimper incoherently. Then, to Nadine's horror, she suddenly went silent, and her shaking stopped.
"Nancy? Nancy, NO!"
"Nadine! Nadine!" shouted a familiar voice.
To her relief, Nadine saw Rosie, Vyse, Aika, Cherry and Fina rushing up toward her. Fina made it up the hill the fastest and quickly set her med-kit down next to Nancy.
"Move over! Let me through!" Fina said rapidly, checking Nancy's pulse.
"Fina, please! You have to help her!"
"Aika, get me a blood pack and a Ragnaid capsule! Vyse, hold these over her wounds or she'll bleed to death!"
Aika immediately rummaged through Fina's med-kit for the requested items. As she did, Rosie said to Nadine, "Where's Marina? And where's the tank?"
"We found a halftrack in that shed. I tried to stop her, but–"
Realizing what Marina had done, Rosie stared down the road in disbelief. Sure enough, there were fresh tracks from two treaded vehicles, one set larger than the other.
"That idiot…!"
"Whoaaa… She's nuts," added Cherry. "I mean, does she even know how to drive?"
"Radio the boss. We need to let him know what's going on."
Cherry immediately went to work setting down her radio. But as she was resetting its frequency, loud static came from it. Someone was trying to contact them. Cherry immediately adjusted the radio, making the signal come in clear.
"Rosie? Do you copy? Rosie, please respond!" said Welkin.
Grabbing the phone attachment on the long-range radio, Rosie answered, "I hear ya, boss. We found Nadine and Nancy, but Marina's not here."
"Where is she?"
"Wish I knew. Nadine says she led the tank away in an Imperial halftrack."
"Rosie, listen carefully. Ellet and Captain Varrot just informed me that the Regulars in that tank were given orders by General Damon to kill Marina. You have to find her as soon as possible!"
"What do we do about that tank?"
"I don't care if they are friendlies. You're to treat them as hostile."
"Right. And the general?"
"Let me and Captain Varrot worry about that. Right now, your top priority is to find Marina and get her back to base in one piece. Understand?"
"I'm on it, boss. Rosie out." Rosie set the phone attachment back on the radio.
At that moment, Fina suddenly cried, "No, I'm losing her!"
Rosie turned to see that Fina was now in the process of removing Nancy's uniform and undershirt. The look on her face was one of fright as she placed her hands on Nancy's chest and began to compress it.
After several rounds of compressions, Fina quickly reached into her med-kit and pulled out a syringe and a small bottle of clear liquid. Filling the syringe, she then proceeded to inject its contents directly into Nancy's chest.
To Rosie's surprise, the results were almost instantaneous. Nancy made a loud gasp as she convulsed wildly, forcing Vyse and Aika to hold her down. Nadine quickly joined in helping them as Nancy began to wheeze loudly. Fina then activated one of her Ragnaid capsules, administering it directly to Nancy's chest.
"Whoa… Fina, what is that stuff?" asked Vyse.
"It's called epinephrine. It'll boost her heart rate for a bit, hopefully long enough for me to stabilize her."
"How come you've never used that stuff before?"
"Epinephrine is extremely dangerous. It's just as likely to kill you as it will save you. Medics are only supposed to use it as a last resort. Besides, it has some really nasty side effects."
"Talk to me, Fina," said Rosie. "Is she gonna make it?"
"As long as I can replace the blood Nancy's lost, she'll live for now. But she's gonna need a real doctor."
"Good. Vyse, Aika, stay here and help Fina and Nadine. Cherry, come on. We gotta find Marina."
"Right behind ya, Rosie."
Rosie and Cherry dashed off down the dirt road.
Inside the driver's seat, Marina choked on the smoke and fire that had begun to flood the insides of the halftrack. The heat was making it almost impossible to breathe. If the Gallian tank didn't kill her, the flames would burn her alive if they didn't detonate the gas tank. In any case, she didn't have much time.
Marina moved onto her back and began kicking away at the door. The crash had caused the door to jam, but it had also become loose on its hinges. With each kick, Marina felt the door begin to break away. With a fifth kick, the door was ripped from its hinges and crashed to the ground. Grabbing her rifle, Marina scrambled out of the vehicle.
As her feet touched solid ground, Marina saw that Vargas' tank had come out of the woods, and now had a good angle of attack. She instinctively dashed away from the halftrack as the tank's cannon fired. An explosive round hit the halftrack, creating a blast of fire and metal as the vehicle was blown apart. Marina yelped as the force of the blast sent her tumbling onto the road.
Dazed, Marina tried to stand. A trickle of blood had run down her face. No sound came to her ears, drowned out by a high-pitched whine. Her head was spinning, and her body ached, but she was still in one piece. Sound began to return to her ears as the shock passed. The first things she could hear were the crackle of flames, and the oncoming roar of a tank's engine.
Re-realizing her situation, Marina quickly pushed herself to her feet. To her dismay, she had dropped her rifle, which was now about four meters away from her.
Worse, Marina turned to see Vargas' tank had already trained its cannon on her.
"…"
Inside the tank, Vargas grinned as he watched Marina draw her pistol, knowing the effort would be futile. He then said, "End of the line, Wulfstan."
Marina refused to flinch as she awaited the final shot. She raised her pistol to the tank.
A loud boom sounded. It was followed by a burst of fire and metal from the right side of the Gallian tank as a hole was blown in its plating.
Recovering from the shockwave, Marina turned and saw that her savior wasn't exactly what she had expected. Taking advantage of the surprise attack, she scrambled over to her rifle and snatched it up.
Inside the tank, Vargas groaned as the shock of the impact passed. Looking down, he saw that one of his crewmates had taken a piece of shrapnel to his neck—he was bleeding out. Grimacing, Vargas rotated the turret of the tank toward the source of the shot and peered through the visor.
"I-Imperial tank! 2 O'clock!"
About fifty meters away from Vargas' tank stood an unusual black-and-crimson tank, which looked more like a mobile cannon. The main gun was enormous, and its armor was sloped like the Edelweiss', only not quite as curved.
Marina looked on in mute surprise. She had seen this tank, the Lupus, before in the Kloden Wildwoods. It was Major General Radi Jaeger's personal tank destroyer.
Inside, Jaeger kept his visor focused on the Gallian tank. Though he hadn't actually expected to get into combat with a lone tank on the patrol, he was making the most of the situation. He found it odd, though, that the tank was attacking another Gallian soldier: a lithe woman with short black hair and pale white skin, carrying a long sniper rifle. She wore the uniform of a militia soldier, having few remaining armor plates. A patch on her shoulder showed she was a sergeant.
Most interestingly, she unmistakably matched the description of a Gallian hero who had, supposedly, lost her life at Naggiar. Clearly, the rumors were false.
Deciding to mull over the details later, Jaeger turned his attention back to the Gallian tank, which was now aiming its cannon at the Lupus. Jaeger wasn't worried; despite the Gallian tank's firepower, it stood no chance against him.
Looking down at his driver, Jaeger said, "Hold her steady. They'll soon realize we have the upper hand."
Inside the wounded Gallian tank, Vargas snarled as he shouted, "Fire!"
An explosive round careened out of the Gallian tank's cannon. To Vargas' shock, the round glanced off the side of the Lupus' armor, flying into a tall tree behind it and detonating on impact. The Lupus had taken no damage besides a paint scratch.
Now panicking, Vargas shouted, "Forward, full speed! Now!"
The tank barely began to roll before the Lupus fired again, sending a high-explosive round into the tank's treads. Metal screeched as the Gallian tank grinded to a halt, unable to move. From where she stood, Marina was knocked back slightly from the force of the explosion, though she stayed standing.
"Boss, I can't move her!" shouted the tank driver. "We're sittin' ducks!"
As the third crewmate began to try and force open the lower hatch of the tank, Vargas looked in horror as more than ten Imperial soldiers sprung up from behind cover, and advanced on the tank. Then, Vargas watched as the Lupus directed its cannon at him and his crew.
Just as Vargas shouted "Everybody out!" the Lupus fired a third round. The high-explosive round penetrated through to the innards of the Gallian tank, swallowing up Vargas and his crew in a wave of flame. Then, a second explosion burst from the tank as its ammunition was set off, blowing its turret clear off the lower half. As fire and smog bellowed out of the ruined tank, its turret crashed to the ground unceremoniously.
Marina watched for a moment as the tank burned, but then realized that she now was in the presence of at least a dozen Imperial elites. Still holding her rifle, she raised her Colt at the closest approaching Imperial. She intended to fight to the death.
Then, all of a sudden, a bullet struck her pistol, causing Marina to yelp as the gun was blown out of her hand. As the gun clattered to the ground, Marina grimaced as the Imperial elites began to surround her. She instinctively raised her GSR, quickly shifting between targets in an attempt to fend off a melee attack. Her eyes narrowed.
To Marina's surprise, none of the Imperial elites fired, simply choosing to surround her instead. A few seconds later, Marina turned to see the Lupus rolling toward her. The Imperial tank destroyer stopped a few meters in front of her.
The hatch of the Lupus' turret swung open as Jaeger stood up. Marina directed her rifle at him, watching cautiously as the Imperial general leapt to the ground. Jaeger's movements seemed casual to her; it was as if he did such a thing on a daily basis.
With a grin, Jaeger strode toward Marina and said, "Well, well, isn't this an unexpected pleasure? The infamous Marina Wulfstan, I presume?"
"…"
Continuing to stride toward her, Jaeger added, "I've heard a lot about you, Miss Wulfstan, though I must admit I hadn't actually expected to ever meet you in person. Reports said you were dead, after all."
As Jaeger neared her, Marina almost thrust the barrel of her rifle into his nose. The Imperial elites reacted immediately as multiple rifle cocks were heard. Marina's move was enough to stop Jaeger, though he retained his confident expression.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Jaeger pushed the barrel of Marina's rifle away as he said this.
Taking a step back, Marina took aim again as she said, "Not much to say, except that you should've stayed in your tank."
"You intend to take me with you, is that it? Where's the sense in that when I'm willing to let you live, provided you drop your weapon?"
"…"
"Do us both a favor, Miss Wulfstan. After all, I did just save your life."
Something about Jaeger's words seemed genuine to Marina. He didn't seem to necessarily want her dead. If he had, he probably would've just stayed inside his tank and finished her off. Still, a part of Marina told her not to give in to his request.
Jaeger made a short grin as Marina's rifle clattered to the ground. Then, in a lightning fast movement, Marina drew a combat knife from her belt and swung it at Jaeger. To her shock, he caught her wrist and jerked the blade aside. Then, in an instant, Marina found herself trapped in Jaeger's grip, her knife on the ground and her right arm pressed against her back.
"I've had more women try to stick a knife in me than you'd believe," said Jaeger.
"…"
Marina smashed the back of her head into Jaeger's chin, stunning him and causing him to release his grip on her. As a sharp sting rushed through her head, Marina stumbled forward, but quickly recovered. Turning to the Imperial general, Marina saw his lip was bleeding slightly. Jaeger rubbed off a small amount of blood with an amused smile.
With a laugh, Jaeger said, "You were right. She's quite a fighter."
Marina quickly found out who Jaeger was talking to. Scowling, Marina watched as Cezary appeared from behind the Lupus and walked toward her with a smirk on his face.
"…Thought I smelled a rat…"
"Nice seeing you too, Wulfstan," Cezary sneered.
"…How'd you get someone like him to trust a traitor like you?"
"That's simple," said Jaeger. "We have a good deal in common."
Marina didn't understand what Jaeger meant. Regardless, she felt it was unimportant.
Gesturing to his men, Jaeger said, "Take her into custody."
Turning to Jaeger, Cezary said, "All due respect, but if you want my opinion, I say you should kill her now while you have the chance. Better yet, allow me."
Cezary drew a pistol and placed the barrel right at Marina's forehead. Marina chose to stare back at him defiantly, not afraid to die.
But to her surprise, Jaeger pulled Cezary's gun away from her and said, "We'll be taking Miss Wulfstan back to headquarters, alive and unharmed, Mr. Regard."
"What?"
"Be patient, Mr. Regard. Rest assured you'll have your chance to finish your little vendetta. But being Gallia's top sniper, her capture will surely inspire our men."
"Tch…"
"Do you have a problem with my orders?"
After a short pause, Cezary uttered through his teeth, "No."
"Good." As he walked back toward the Lupus, Jaeger added, "Take her away!"
Two shock troopers moved in to restrain Marina, who wisely decided not to fight back. She knew she had no chance of escape at the moment. She chose instead to glare at Cezary in contempt.
But before the Imperial soldiers reached her, Cezary unexpectedly swung a punch to Marina's cheek, knocking her to the ground. Lying on the dirt road, Marina winced as she tasted blood.
Turning back quickly, Jaeger watched Cezary as he walked past him. As he did, Cezary said, "One for the road, sir."
"Fair enough."
Jaeger climbed back into the Lupus as two of his men hauled Marina to her feet. A third soldier gathered up Marina's weapons.
But as she was led away at gunpoint, the Imperials failed to notice a small piece of metal drop from her hand.
Coming over a hill, Rosie was met by a disturbing sight. The wreckage of a Gallian tank littered the road, accompanied by a burning halftrack. Dozens of fresh tracks led in and out of the area, one set which was of a tank's treads. Marina was nowhere to be found, dead or alive.
Cherry followed Rosie down to the road to inspect the wreckage. "Whoaaa… talk about road kill."
For a minute, Rosie and Cherry searched through the wreckage, but found nothing. Then, Rosie spotted something on the ground, giving off a glint of what remaining sunlight was available.
As Rosie went over to inspect the object, Cherry said, "Hey Rosie, what'cha find?"
Rosie scooped up the small object with a look of dismay on her face. It was a pair of dog tags with the name "Marina Wulfstan" embedded on them.
"Cherry, radio," Rosie said.
Kneeling down next to Rosie, Cherry handed her long-range radio's phone to her. Cherry made a quick adjustment, patching in to Squad Seven's frequency.
"Boss, this is Rosie."
"Rosie, have you found Marina?"
"No… But I found her tags."
Welkin made a concerned sigh, but then said, "Have you found anything else?"
"Nada, boss. Not even a body, besides the guys in the tank."
After a short pause, Welkin said, "Rosie, tell me everything you can about the scene."
A few minutes passed as Rosie did her best to explain every detail of the scene. Welkin was left with a great deal to consider: the wreckage of the Gallian tank and the halftrack, the presence of Imperial footprints and tank tracks, a curious lack of any stray bullets or spent cartridges and, perhaps most importantly, no bodies besides those of Vargas and his tank crew. There wasn't even a blood trail to suggest Marina had been wounded. The only indicators of her presence were the destroyed vehicles and her tags.
After pondering the facts, Welkin said, "Rosie, you and your team are to return to base for now."
This order was met with confusion by Rosie and Cherry. Rosie then said in disbelief, "What? But we haven't found her yet! Marina could still be out here!"
"Judging by what you've found, I'm guessing that the Imperials have taken her as a prisoner. If that's so, there's nothing we can do for her right now. I need you all back at base to prepare for the siege tomorrow."
"So we're just gonna ditch her?" asked Cherry.
"I didn't say that, Cherry. All I'm saying is that I don't want to lose the two of you as well in a rescue attempt, and I don't think Marina would want you doing that for her anyways. Don't worry; if the Imperials have Marina, we'll get her back. But if we're to do that, we'll need to do it during the siege."
Begrudgingly agreeing with Welkin's point of view, Rosie placed Marina's tags into her satchel. She then said, "Come on, Cherry. Let's get going."
Reluctantly, the two Sevens began to make their way out of the area.
End of Chapter 7
Well, that's not good, huh? Marina's in for it now...
For sure, next chapter is the siege of Ghirlandaio. But that's surely gonna take a while, as unless I put most of my focus into university work, I'll end up being mutilated by it.
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