(Note: I do not own anything. This is purely for entertainment purposes.)

Farmstead 10 miles out from Vasel

0936 hours (9:36 am)

Squad 7 along with the remaining Gallian Regulars were nearly done with securing the farmstead, or what was left of it. They checked out the remaining building to see if the Germans left any surprises left for them. It was normally a German tactic to leave armed booby traps in place when the enemy would capture the position. The enemy would then unknowingly stumble upon them and be killed, ensuring fear and chaos within the enemy forces. They searched the farmhouse, the remains of the silo, barn, and other buildings but they found nothing. The Germans must not have had the time to set them up. Or maybe they didn't think that they would need to and thought that they could easily repel the Gallian forces.

After that was done they set about doing other tasks before they would continue on to Vasel. They had moved their remaining vehicles and equipment down from the hill and positioned them next to the farm. Some were collecting the weapons dropped by the enemy, others stripped the farm of anything that was useful, and others gathered the dead and placed them into the trucks in sealed body bags. Meanwhile, Welkin, Alicia, Largo, And Rosie were discussing about their next move and those who weren't doing anything were engaging others in small talk.

Jack was leading a few members of Squad 7 in loading the dead into the trucks. With him were Scouts Juno Coren and Wavy, Shocktroopers Nina Streiss and Coby Caird, Lancer Rosina Seldon and Engineers Karl Landzaat and Herbert Nielson. Their Squad Medic Fina Sellers was keeping count of the bodies that they were loading in. She had just finished helping tend to the wounded and was asked by Jack to help establish a body count. Each body bag was being carried by two of them and they were nearing the end of their task, though they weren't going as fast as they should be due to one particular member.

After helping Juno load another body onto the truck, Jack looked to see Herbert lying on the grass, staring up at the sky with a blank look on his face. He had been lying there since the fighting ended. Even though Jack ordered him to help out. It seems he instead decided to simply do nothing. Jack just slowly turned his head left and right and thought to himself That report wasn't kidding. The only way to get this guy to do anything is to find some way to motivate him.

Juno noticed his reaction and informed him "This would go a lot faster if he'd help us."

"I know, I know," confirmed Jack "the problem is how to get him to help."

"What are you going to do?" she inquired.

He started to think about how he was going to handle this situation. Since he was a superior officer he could try and punish him for not following his orders. But then again he doubted that even that would work. Then it suddenly hit him, an idea. He knew just how to get that lazy blob off of his ass.

"Juno, go help Fina with the body count. I going to have a little chat with Nielson," ordered Jack. Juno simply followed his orders and went to talk with Fina. Jack then looked over to the others and shouted out "Streiss, Seldon."

The two women stopped what they were doing at the mentioning of their names. They both looked to Jack who signaled with his head for them to follow him. The three of them walked over to where Herbert was lying. Jack stood by his feet staring down on Nielson who appeared to be sleeping away. Nina and Rosina stood a few feet behind him, just out of his view.

Jack used his foot to slightly nudge Herbert's feet. This appeared to be enough as Herbert opened his eyes and then lifted his head up slightly to see Jack standing right in front of him.

"Funny thing Private. I don't remember giving you permission to ignore your job," informed Jack.

Herbert continued to look at Jack with a look of boredom on his face while complaining "I don't feel like doing it right now. Find someone else."

Jack began to slowly make his way towards his right side. A he was walking he spoke again to Herbert in a more stern voice "So you're just going to ignore any orders that we give to you then?"

"Yep. I have no interest in working right now," responded Herbert as he laid his head back on the grass.

Getting a little frustrated by his seemingly lack of motivation, Jack took his left foot and placed it upon his chest. He applied some pressure on his foot to get his attention which he did. Herbert then tried desperately to get Jack's boot off of him but no matter what he did it wouldn't budge. Jack was applying enough pressure so that Herbert would feel it but not enough for it to actually hurt him. He then knelt down next to him while keeping his foot placed squarely on his chest.

"Let me clarify something with you. This is the Militia, not your goddamn country home in the godforsaken desert. You know what that means? It means that we have something called the 'chain of command'. Here's how it works: Officers like me tell you what to do, AND YOU DO IT! End of chain. It also means that you don't get to sit on your ass and ignore your job simply because you don't feel like it at any given moment!" hollered Jack. The way he was presenting it began to scare Herbert. And it was visible on his face. The color in his face seemed drained and his eyes were open with fear.

"I've seen guys like you during my time in the U.S. Army. Guys who didn't do what they were told because they didn't feel like it! You know where those guys are now? They're buried six feet under at Arlington cemetery! Do you want that to happen to you?" he asked. Herbert nodded with a no because he was just too scared to know what would happen if he said "I don't care".

"Well good then. Because I don't care how long this war takes, if I have to kick your ass every minute of every day until this war ends in order to get you to do something then so be it! And if that doesn't work, I'll get these two over here to do it for me!" he yelled while pointing at Rosina and Nina.

Herbert looked over to see the two of them beginning to crack their knuckles. Herbert knew that these two women were focused when it came to exercise and muscle. And they wouldn't hesitate to show it when asked. Instantly thoughts began to flood his head, scary thoughts about what the two of them would do to him at Jack's orders. He now suddenly began to feel the desire to actually do what he was telling him to do.

"DO, YOU, UNDERSTAND, ME?" questioned Jack, enunciating every word. Herbert this time nodded in affirmation. Jack then got up on his feet and took his foot off of Herbert's chest. Jack then finished off his rant with "Now get off your ass and go help the others load the dead into those trucks now Private!" Herbert then scrambled onto his feet and ran off to do his job as fast as he could before anything happened to him.

Jack looked to Rosina and Nina and ordered "Make sure this guy doesn't lose his 'motivation' again."

They nodded in agreement and went back to helping the others who along with Nielson, were almost done loading the bodies. Jack went back to see how Juno and Fina were doing with the counting. As he was approaching them, he saw Juno looking at him with a sly smile on her face while Fina just stood there with the clipboard in her arms. When Jack reached them she pointed out "I saw what you did there."

Jack let out a light laugh at her comment. Out of all of Welkin's friends, Juno was the smartest of them. She could always tell when something was up with them. She knew exactly what kind of tactic Jack was using back there.

"Um what exactly 'did you do' there?" asked Fina.

"Intimidation. Scare the guy so much he'll do exactly what you tell him to do. Works every time. God I forgot how much fun being an officer was," he explained.

"You weren't really going to kick his ass were you?" she asked inquisitively.

"Nah. I was just kidding with him. But let's not tell him about that shall we," informed Jack.

Now it was Fina's turn to laugh. She let out a slight giggle out at Jack's comment. Her moment of happiness was shattered when Jack asked her "How many did we lose today?"

Her face turned somber as she took the clipboard and began to read the information that she wrote on it. "Squad 7 didn't receive any casualties. Other than a few scrapes and bruises, everyone's okay."

"What about the army? What were their losses?" asked Jack.

Fina took a deep breath before announcing "Sixty men dead. Another forty men wounded."

Jack could spout out no other word for the news that he just heard other than "Shit". The Regulars now had two thirds of their forces out of commission. Add the six tanks and their crews to that roster, Read's company was now severely depleted in terms of armored support and manpower. This will have serious consequences on them when they link up with the others at Vasel.

Meanwhile back at the Edelweiss, Welkin was discussing about the previous battle with Alicia, Largo, and Rosie while Isara was doing work on the tank. The battle had been a costly one. A lot of good men and women were killed fighting for this place. And a lot of the Regulars were not happy about it.

"God, how many people died here today?" asked Welkin solemnly.

"I don't know Lieutenant," said Largo "But I'm pretty sure that it was too many."

"It's that damn girl Read's fault. If it wasn't for her, then maybe a bunch of them would be still alive," pointed out Rosie.

"How is she taking it by the way?" wondered Alicia.

"I don't know. I'll go check on her," said Welkin as he went to go find her. Welkin searched throughout the farm until he finally found her siting outside the farmhouse. She was sitting on an upside down steel bucket. Her uniform, face, and hair were dirtied due to the fighting. She had taken off her hat and her hair was now out of a ponytail and was flowing freely in the calm breeze. She was staring at the ground, with a look of defeat and despair plainly placed upon her face.

Concerned about her, Welkin asked "Are you all right Read?" Read didn't budge at that. She didn't even look up from the ground. She just continued to stare at the ground in complete silence for a few seconds more. After that she finally broke her silence and said "One hundred men."

Welkin was confused by what she had just said. One hundred men? What's she trying to tell me? He soon got his answer when she spoke again. "Your Quartermaster just told me how many men I lost. 60 dead and another 40 wounded. Two-thirds of my company are gone, and it's all because of me," said Read sadly, tears just starting to form in her eyes.

"It's not your fault," assured Welkin "It was a well laid trap. There was no way you could have known about it."

Read let out a light scoff before commenting "That's easy for you to say. Your squad didn't have any casualties because you didn't foolishly lead them into a trap. You guys just rolled right in at the right moment and drove the Nazis out. You didn't make a mistake like I did."

"Mistakes are a part of nature. You can't be right all the time. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and use them to improve your judgement in the future," encouraged Welkin.

Read now looked at him, her look of sadness now replaced with irritation. She quickly got off the bucket and walked over to Welkin. She stopped just mere inches from him. Welkin could see that there was a sign of pent up anger inside of her that she was about to let out.

"Do you not have any idea how hard this is for me? My family has defended Gallia for generations. So when I was born they expected me to take up a rifle and do the exact same thing. I worked my ass off at Lanseal to become the ideal officer. I did this to make my family proud of me. And here I am, given my first command, and I've royally screwed it up. You think this is easy? That the mistakes that you make don't matter. Well stand around our fallen and ask them if our mistakes don't matter. The silence is your answer," ranted Read, making sure that Welkin understood how she was feeling.

She then stood there, waiting for the answer. She didn't expect what Welkin was about to say next. "I do know how it feels," responded Welkin. She stood there surprised by what she just heard. How does he know how I feel?

"My father is regarded as a hero by the entire country. He saved Gallia from Germania during the Great War. Now that this war's on, people expect the same things out of me. They expect me to be this valiant hero charging straight at the enemy leading us to victory. I don't think I'm like that. But that doesn't mean I'm at least going to try. I'm going to try and be a soldier to make my father proud. I don't know if I'll be good at it, and I know that I might make mistakes along the way. But what matters most is that I try my hardest," he explained.

Read took a few moments to let that all sink in. She now understood how he could know what she was feeling. He's the son of General Gunther himself. It was natural that others would expect the same things that they would from his father. There should be a lot of pressure on him as a result, yet he didn't seem affected or burdened by it. He knows that he's not like his father, and has little combat experience, but he's still going to try no matter what.

Maybe that's what she was missing. She was so focused on honoring her family's military tradition that she tried to do everything perfectly. She tried to do everything right and make sure that she wouldn't make any mistakes along the way. But that's not possible. Nobody was perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. All she had to do was at least try her best.

With that, Read took a deep breath before asking in a calm voice "So you think it's that easy huh? That I can just straighten myself out and try my best?"

"I don't think it would hurt," he admitted.

Read seemed to think about it long and hard for a few moments before announcing "Alright then, I'll give it a shot. Rally your men, I think we've been delayed long enough. Don't want the others think that they're going to have all the fun without us." She then took her officer's cap, placed it back on her head, and walked away to gather her men while Welkin did the same.

Outskirts of Vasel

1005 hours (10:05 am)

The Gallian Army and Militia units that would take part in the attack on Vasel had gathered behind a small forest on the outskirts of the city. The operation to retake Vasel was to happen at 11:30. Varrot however was worried, since without Read's company or Squad 7 they couldn't execute a critical part of the plan.

Faldio stood next to her wondering the exact same thing. They two of them should have been here by now. He kept wondering in his head what was taking them so long.

They stopped wondering when they saw their convoy arriving. However they noticed that something was wrong. The Edelweiss was leading the convoy. Following it were the two tank destroyers, the half-tracks, and finally the trucks. Where's the rest of the group? wondered Varrot.

As the convoy arrived and everyone started exiting the trucks. The two of them walked over to Welkin to find out what had happened. When Welkin noticed Varrot approaching him he snapped to attention and gave a quick salute. He didn't have a chance to say anything before she asked "Lieutenant, where's the rest of the convoy?"

"Gone ma'am," he responded. He then pointed over to the trucks where some of the Regulars along with Read and Carter were unloading the dead from the trucks. Welkin continued with "We were ambushed at a farm 10 miles from here. Most of Read's company was wiped out in the attack, along with all of our light tanks."

"How many men do you have left?" asked Faldio.

"I still have all the soldiers in my squad left. We didn't suffer any casualties. Read still has about fifty men left along with about forty wounded to take care of. We still have the Edelweiss and the tank destroyers as well. Other than that, not much else," explained Welkin.

"Well," informed Varrot "I hate to put you and Read's men back into the field, but we need everyone who can fight so we can retake Vasel. Follow me, I'll brief you on the plan and you can then relay it to your squad."

As usual, if you have a question or comment about this chapter or the story in general, simply send me a PM and I'll answer as best as I can. Also, don't forget to leave a review and to leave a comment on my Valkyria Chronicles Forum as well as to add to the polls I have there.

Until then,

- Heinkelboy05