AN: First things first: Marquis now has an assistant who will take care of uploading the finished chapters--me!
Also, another unnecessary review was left for Empire's Plight. Marquis replied quite colourfully, and I've taken the liberty of putting his response on his Profile page. Please note that while he has nothing against the American rebels, he is nonetheless extremely strict about interpreting history as it should be, as opposed to what you wish it to be. Whereas Mr. E Nigma had the usual tripe Marquis hears from pro-Republicans, Black has noted that he has fact.
Also, in regards to Sulu and this Sulu-centric chapter, please bear in mind that nearly all of his troops are Muslims (a religion Marquis admires), as well as a mix between Blacks and Arabs. In Marquis' own words: "Whatever those bigots (white supremacists) have to say, whites would be hard pressed to find better fighters than Blacks and Arabs"
Also, as a point of clarification, Marquis is pale-skinned.
General John Sulu.
The dark-skinned soldier felt himself snort in self-derision at the thought of his world-renowned title.
When the Empire had collapsed, he'd been a mere Lieutenant-Colonel, but his quick mind, and firm Imperial stance had won over the loyalty of the other Imperial troops in the African Corps. Months later, in order to compete with the other Imperial warlords, he was popularly raised to the rank of General, only ever deferring to Harry, whom he respected as both a soldier and a friend.
Nonetheless, he soon rose through the ranks of the many minor Imperial warlords to become the Fifth Lord of the Conclave. The reason for his "promotion" to Lord had been, "…for successfully pacifying and maintaining control over Imperial lands and preserving the Imperial Way…"
In a move that had essentially sealed Sulu and Harry's friendship, it had been Harry who had bestowed Sulu with the title of Fifth Lord.
Still, that did not mean that the two never disagreed.
For years, Sulu had vouched for a mass move against the British Isles, to reclaim the lost Imperial homeland. However, Harry had immediately shot down the idea, using the fact that the manpower needed would drain the other Imperial lands dry of any defence forces.
Of course, both men had shortly after descended into simple piracy and vied for control over foreign lands. Harry had carried on a war of revenge against the Americans and the Death Eaters, while Sulu had targeted the northern African lands, inciting the Arab Wizards to form a counter-organization called the Arab League. Not until Harry's commitment to Staples' cause did Sulu ever stop fighting the Arabs. Once Harry's course had been obvious, however, Sulu, too, had felt enormous guilt, and had immediately sought a peace treaty with the Arabs. He'd only managed to reach an accord mere days before Harry had called him up, informing him of the heir's survival.
Which was what led him to now be standing in the lead troop transport that the Retaliation was sending down to free the heir. Dressed in the beige uniforms of his elite Desert Raiders, Sulu gave every one of his men a stern once-over as the transport rattled now and then from turbulence.
"Brothers," he intoned, "the heir awaits. Our mission is simple: get the Imperial Heir out, and quickly. The Imperial Heir, whom great Allah has seen fit to raise to the throne of the blessed British Empire, must not be harmed!" he exhorted. "Remember your training, brothers, and remember your oaths. Allah-hu Akbar!"
"Allah-hu Akbar!" replied the troops.
Sulu knew he did not need to provide any grand speeches, like Harry and his men usually did. Sulu's men were the best at what they did. Special-Ops, silent operations, blitz attacks, and the like were all up the African Corps' alley. That was probably why Harry had determined that Sulu and his best were to rescue the heir—a most important and glorious task, indeed.
Sulu watched calmly as the small rectangular slit on the boarding hatch showed him that they were touching ground under heavy spell-fire.
"Lock and load!" called out Sulu as he watched the ground come up rapidly. "We're going in under heavy spell-fire, men!"
"Allah-hu Akbar!" replied the troops.
Sulu stumbled a bit as the transport landed roughly, shaking the compartment. He quickly regained his balance, however, and, making sure his helmet was well-fastened, turned to his men once as the ramp went down, shouting "Wahai Mohammed!" before running down the ramp and into the awaiting fire.
Sulu brought up his rifle and let loose a couple of shots, barely noting that the man after him had fallen. The prison was Sulu's only concern, and it lay right in front of him.
The dark-skinned warrior quickly took cover behind a small concrete wall—remains, no doubt, of some house that had been levelled to build the prison. Five others from his transport joined him behind the wall as another one of them fell forward, the Reductor curse taking a lethal chunk of his head away.
Sulu grimaced at the sight, though not one of his men blanched or went green from seeing their fellow brother die this way. Settling his stomach, Sulu peeked around the corner, noting the fact that there seemed only one way into the compound, and that way was heavily guarded.
'Well,' he thought, 'back to basics, then. If you can't find a way in…'
Sulu motioned to his demolitions expert to move further down the wall, as well as two more of his heavy-weaponry experts. Sulu then turned to his remaining men and motioned for them to open fire on the gate while he went with the detached group.
Sulu paid no heed to the subsequent explosion of noise as his men obeyed orders and opened mass fire on the gate. For his part, he went down the wall, with the demolitions expert and his two heavy-weapons experts. He dispassionately watched as his two elite regiments obeyed his orders and went up against the gate. Some of the men died on their way to the cement wall, while others never even made it off the transports. Others still never even made it to ground, with Death Eater fire shooting down every other transport, immediately ending the lives of an entire squad.
Some ended up lucky and managed to survive the crash, but overall, Sulu counted about a platoon's worth of casualties as it was.
Still, he had a mission to fulfil, and he'd be damned if he'd fail where Hawke had succeeded.
Turning to his demo expert, he said, "I want you to take advantage of the others' distraction and blast a way for us into that prison."
The demolition expert, a young man from Algiers, nodded. "Understood, sir."
Sulu nodded to his two heavy weapons experts then. "You two, provide cover for the private while he gets the job done."
The men nodded silently and, with a final nod, Sulu sent them on their way while he made his way back to the two regiments, who were rapidly running out of cover, what with the Death Eaters aiming heavily-powered Reductor curses at the waist-high cement wall.
Just barely dodging a cutting curse that would have severed his head, Sulu jumped forward and hit the ground near a sergeant, who was cursing as he used the wall to stabilize his rifle as he shot.
"Sir, we need to keep moving!" shouted the sergeant. "Blasted Eaters are taking away our cover!"
Sulu nodded. "I know! Just keep up your fire until the demo crew can get us another way in!"
Understanding flooded the sergeant's face. They were merely serving as a diversion. Heartened by this, the sergeant turned to both his left and right and exhorted his men to keep up their fire.
Sulu, for his part, squatted over towards the corner where he'd first been, and peeked towards the gate, seeing a couple of his men's bodies on the floor—poor souls who'd decided to charge the gate.
Sulu quickly drew back his head as he saw a Reductor curse coming right at him. While he was able to avoid most of it, the curse managed to hit the cement wall at such an angle that shards of the cement wall slashed at his face, causing the African general to howl in pain.
"Sir! Are you alright?" asked the private next to him. Sulu wordlessly nodded, a grimace on his face as he applied pressure to his facial wound.
"Goddamned wizards!" he spat. "Blasted spells!" He blindly fired a couple of shots towards the gate in revenge.
Suddenly, however, Sulu felt the ground shake as an explosion tore open a hole in the prison's defences. Grinning, Sulu turned towards where he knew a sergeant was and called out, "All troops to the breach! Storm formation! Find the heir and get him out of there!"
Sulu gave a relieved laugh as he slumped against the wall, the wounds on his right cheek flowing liberally, despite his pressure. They'd scar, no doubt. Still, if they could pull off the rest of the mission without a hitch, it'd be worth it.
Glancing in the direction of the pillar of smoke where the breach was, Sulu couldn't help but chuckle in relief as he slouched against the cement wall. Back to the basics, indeed.
For if you couldn't find a way in…well…
Make one.