Allison McKay never considered herself very special, nor very pretty, so to speak.
As a child, she'd never really come across as anything remarkable—her grades were average, her social life more so, and until the age of 17, she'd never even had her first kiss. In secondary school, she'd been too meek to be noticed by the more popular kids, but too social to fit in with the more reclusive ones, too.
All throughout her life, up until the point when she turned 19 and found out about the Empire still being alive, Allison had always felt a void in her life—as if she had no purpose in this world. Then, days after she turned 19 (there wasn't a party thrown), she stumbled into the Imperial world when she quite accidentally came across a recruitment drive in Horton, Surrey. There, she lay low and listened with rapt attention as the recruiter told his audience of the unknown world that had been kept secret, and their chance to serve the Empire.
For the first time in her life, Allison felt as if she'd found her calling.
She'd been found out, of course, and was about to have her memory wiped, when she pleaded with the recruiter to let her join the Imperial Armed Forces. Her begging lasted long enough to convince the recruiter of her sincerity and he acquiesced at length. Thus, she became a private in the Armed Forces.
Specifically, a private in the 96th Imperial Rifle Regiment.
Which was why she was now sitting along the side of one of the boarding shuttles making their way to the enemy airship.
Near the door to the cockpit, she spotted the platoon sergeant standing upright, his rifle in one hand, and his other grabbing one of the triangular leather holders hanging from the ceiling, so as to stay upright. Being a new recruit, though, she didn't really know her sergeant all that well, except that he'd been part of the 79th Imperial Highlander Regiment since before Serpent Fortress, where he'd been promoted to his current rank, before being transferred to the 96th.
His name escaped her, but she could swear it started with a D.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, as the room was suddenly bathed in a dim, green light. She watched her sergeant look up briefly and nod before lowering his eyes to his men and nodding.
"Alright, soldiers, check equipment!" he ordered gruffly. All around her, her platoon-mates quickly checked their ammunition supply, equipment, and rifles. She hastily moved to copy them as her comrades got ready to fight.
Once everyone was done, the sergeant nodded briefly again. "Very good," he said. "Men, you should all feel proud to serve in this great army! An army whose sole purpose is to defend the greatest bastion of reason and justice in the world! As we speak, we approach the enemy to do honourable battle with them! Control your urges, and give mercy to the wounded. Protect your brothers in arms, and fight with courage, and honour!" he told them.
"Imperium Aevitas!" Allison yelled with the rest of her platoon.
The sergeant nodded with a grim smile. "Empire Forever," he agreed. Suddenly, the dim green light shut off and a red one started blinking. The sergeant glanced upwards for a second before nodding to his men and putting on his helmet. With one final glance to them, he thrust his rifle upwards and yelled, "Imperium Aevitas!"
"Imperium Aevitas!" chanted the platoon as they all felt the transport finally land. The soldiers kept chanting it as the pistons hissed and the ramp lowered onto the ground. When the metallic ramp hit the hangar floor, the platoon gave a war cry before running down the ramp and into the awaiting hell.
Allison was, fortunately, not among those at the front, of which five were almost immediately killed upon getting off the transport. The redheaded teen looked around her briefly and saw other transports landing in the hangar, while other platoons engaged the enemy in front of them, who were putting up a tough fight.
Allison quickly made her way behind a crate and ducked as a killing curse flew over her head, taking her helmet with it. She quickly discarded the burning thing and whimpered as she saw one of her platoon mates run by and promptly get hit with a Reductor curse in the face, knocking the man onto his back as his head exploded. From her position behind the crate, she watched, horrified, as the man's hand gave a final twitch before settling on the ground.
Her attention was quickly grabbed, however, when she felt a hand grab her red uniform. Giving a scream, she tried to get away but the hand held her firmly in place.
"McKay!" shouted a voice. "Bring yourself together!"
Allison slowly looked up to see her sergeant looking down at her. It had been his hand that grabbed her uniform, and, though she expected him to look disgusted or mad, he looked worried.
"McKay, you need to keep moving! Come on!" prodded the sergeant as he tugged at her uniform.
Slowly, Allison allowed herself to be lifted onto her feet. The sergeant gave her an encouraging smile before nodding and running off towards the battle.
Allison merely watched as her sergeant ran into the thick of things, seemingly uncaring of the hundreds of spells flying around him. She watched him suddenly lunge forward, roll on the ground, before halting at a kneeling position and firing off three shots in quickly succession, successfully hitting all three targets. He then turned to face an approaching Death Eater and, flipping the gun around, swung the butt of the rifle against the Death Eater's head, dropping the Dark Wizard to the ground, where the sergeant finished him off with a shot to the head.
Allison gaped at the sight, and a quick look around her told her that many of her platoon-mates were, too. She watched her sergeant take a deep breath before turning to look behind him and seemed annoyed at the fact that she and her comrades were just standing there.
"What are you waiting for—an invitation?" yelled the sergeant. "Move!"
The order seemed to breathe life back into the platoon as Allison and her comrades began to run towards their sergeant, letting loose a shot here and there. The sergeant gave an approving nod before turning and charging the enemy again, his men right behind him.
Allison charged a particular series of crates, where several Death Eaters were taking cover. She and four others jumped onto the crates and onto the awaiting Dark Wizards with guns blazing. Allison herself shot one in the chest as she kicked one who was getting up in the face.
She briefly heard her companions shoot the remaining Death Eaters and looked around her, trying to find her next objective.
The answer came quickly to her as she saw the sergeant motioning for them to follow him.
"Come on!" she urged her companions as she set off in her sergeant's direction. Her four companions gave her no answer and simply followed her.
When the group reached the sergeant, he gave them a once-over before nodding. "Good work," he told them. Allison felt herself blush with delight and so tucked her head down, much to the rest's amusement. "From the look of things, the Seventy-Ninth will be taking care of securing the hangar. We're to move on ahead and secure the bridge," he briefed them.
The sergeant turned to a fellow sergeant and nodded. "You take your platoon through the right entrance. Second platoon will take the left," he informed another sergeant. "First platoon will follow me through the centre entrance," he informed his men. "Questions?"
"Where's the Lieutenant?" asked one. "Where are the officers?"
"No officers on this raid, boys," replied the sergeant. "They're being kept onboard the Retaliation to keep the guns working."
Some murmurs of disagreement were heard, but there was general acceptance of the situation. The sergeant looked around briefly and, hearing no more questions, finally nodded.
"Alright. Time to press our advantage. Second and third platoon, good luck. First platoon, on me. Move!"
With that, the group dispersed.
Almost immediately, Allison hated their luck. It so happened that the centre corridor was the enemy's staging point for a planned counterattack. Thus, when the 42 remaining men in the platoon charged through the entrance, the enemy simply opened fire on them, almost instantly killing 7 more.
Allison cursed as she ducked behind a steel beam, just as a Cruciatus hit the other side of it. She was thinking of what to do next when the sergeant suddenly joined her behind the beam. She was about to ask him what he was doing there when both of them winced as a Reductor hit a nearby wall.
"Damn, that was close," yelled the sergeant.
"What now, sir?" asked Allison over the explosions as she watched the remaining men in the platoon duck for cover.
"Uh…" replied the sergeant as he looked around him. His eyes spotted a crate within lunging distance and turned to grin sloppily at Allison. "Cover me!"
"What?" asked Allison, just as the sergeant lunged for cover behind the nearby crate. "Oh, son of a—" she cursed, before briefly coming out from behind the beam and firing off a couple of rounds at the enemy. She quickly ducked soon after as retaliatory spells came flying towards her.
She was about to curse wildly at her sergeant when she saw him dig out a couple of MP grenades.
"What the hell are you doing?" she yelled over the explosions. The sergeant turned to grin.
"Watch!" he yelled back before getting to his feet and suddenly flinging both grenades in the direction of the enemy. Allison's eyes widened briefly before she immediately made herself as small as possible behind the beam, just as the sergeant ducked behind the crate.
The resulting explosion of both grenades shook the very corridor as the Reductor spells within the projectiles ripped apart the enemy's cover and several of their men.
As the explosion died out, the sergeant jumped to his feet and exhorted, "Charge, men!"
With that, Allison came out from behind the beam and, running right behind the sergeant, attacked the Death Eaters' position.
Hours later, the platoon was still fighting its way towards the bridge, finding the opposition impressively stubborn. By now, the 50-man platoon had been cut down to a mere 28 men. The group had just recently lost another 7 men when they stormed a mess hall.
Now, they found themselves holding firm cautiously in front of a closed door, which none of them wished to open, after the previous five ended up in ambushes.
The sergeant himself was looking at the door cautiously. Even if the door was only open for a second, it was time enough to give the enemy an opportunity to release some mid-level spells. With one medic down and already 22 soldiers dead, he couldn't afford to simply charge.
"What seems to be the problem here?" asked a familiar voice. The sergeant turned to see Major-General Potter standing there with his Coldstream Guards. He immediately saluted the man whom he'd followed for the past two years.
The general saluted him back briefly before repeating his question. The sergeant looked at the door briefly and explained the situation.
Allison watched as the general nodded as the sergeant explained his fear of another ambush. The general seemed to know the sergeant, judging from the two's relaxed body language.
"So the door's the problem, Douglas?" asked the general.
'Douglas!That's his name!' thought Allison, who'd been embarrassed at not knowing her sergeant's name.
"Yes, sir. I figured, maybe blowing it up would give enough cover, to rush through and get some cover, but we don't have enough explosives," replied the sergeant.
Allison watched the general contemplate the door quietly. He gazed at it for some time before nodding. What came next surprised her.
The general drew his pistol and handed it over to his guards, who were now looking distinctly unhappy.
"Sir?" asked her sergeant, puzzled.
The general glanced at the sergeant for a second before turning his attention back at the door. "You and your men wait here. I'll take care of this," explained the general.
The sergeant—indeed, the whole platoon—gaped at the general's announcement. The sergeant seemed about to protest when the general suddenly opened the door and dashed inside, just as the Coldstream Guards closed it.
Everyone was left gaping at the door.