Hey Readers, just thought I'd stop and say, thank you for all the wonderful, helpful and kind comments throughtout this story. I still love writing it, maybe one day I will go back and revise every single chapter. Truth be told, I was in RUSH mode because I started it afew months before University was supposed to start and I wanted to try and get it done before school started. So I was just dishing out chapters as fast as I could to get it done and out of the way before school. But now that it's going to be an entire year before I go back next fall...I can just relax and worry about nothing but work and...work...schools no longer a concern till next fall. So I'm going to try and concentrate on detail, pace, story and everything else that I should of long ago.
But enough authors notes, on to the story, enjoy!!
Chapter 36- Sniper's dread
It was another day of training at the militia base of Amatarian, located just outside of Randgriz city. Squad 7 was going through some bayonet drills with a female drill instructor, who had dark brown hair, very pale skin and the eyes of a serpent. Her name was Jane Turner, chosen by Drill instructor Rodriguez to help fill in temporarily as assistant instructor to Squad 7 and she certainly was a strict one. She walked up and down the line of soldiers as they went from one position to the next.
"Thrust!" she screamed, and everyone on the line thrust their bayonet blade, which was attached to the end of their rifle into the giant bag target, filled with straw.
"Develop!", and everyone twisted their rifle to the left, tearing into the bag.
"Guard!" and everyone pulled the bayonet blade back out of the target and brought it back into the 1st position, at the ready.
But Jane's eyes wandered over to a particular female soldier with blonde hair and a giant pink bow tied to the back of her hair. Her form, power behind her thrusting was extremely poor. she made her way over and stood behind her.
"What's your name soldier?" she asked, and the soldier turned around and looked at Jane.
"M-my name is S-s-su-" stammered Susie Evans, Jane could see the rifle shaking in her hands
"Why do you tremble before me as if I were an Imperial or even worse, a Valkyria!!." yelled Jane, Susie cowered back a few steps.
"By the…are you really a soldier??" asked Jane, she then grabbed Susie by the sleeve of her uniform and moved her back in front of the target for her bayonet training. "Now, get into ready position!!"
Susie nodded and got into guard position, "Thrust!" and Susie stabbed the target with her rifle bayonet, "Develop!" and Susie tried to twist her rifle, but her forward hand slipped, she quickly brought her hand back up and twisted her rifle finally. Jane rolled her eyes, "Guard!" and Susie retrieved the bayonet out of the target and brought it back into guard position.
"By the Valkyrur, I have never seen such poor form in my entire life." scolded Jane, Susie looked away. Jane then looked closer at Susie's face, getting very close to her, Susie whimpered in fear. "What's this…eye shadow, blush, lipstick…what do you think this is, Dancing School??"
Meanwhile all of the other soldiers had stopped training and were looking in the direction of Jane and Susie, this included Alicia Melchiott, who had just happened to be passing through.
"Are you royalty?, or Nobility or something??" asked Jane, walking around Susie in a circle, Jane then looked at Susie's hair and judging by how curly, shiny and proper it looked, bow-tie and all, Jane wasn't wrong. "You must be royalty, well that won't get you anywhere here!!".
"Time to see if you got what it takes to be a real soldier." said Jane and she grabbed Susie by the collar of her uniform jacket and began to lead her to a larger, more open space, Susie was stumbling and staggering as she was being dragged, her rifle dragging along the ground in her right hand . Other squad 7 soldiers in Jane's way quickly moved aside, clearing a path for Jane. They had no desire to get in her way.
Soon Jane found a large space and let go of Susie, who quickly recovered her rifle and held it in two, very trembling hands. Jane then took a few steps away from Susie and turned around.
"Now, stab me." instructed Jane, pointing to her chest.
"W-what?!?" asked Susie, her hands trembling even more, everyone could now see the rifle barrel shaking in her hands.
"Did you not hear, I said Stab me" repeated Jane, her eyes brows furrowed in an angry manner.
Susie looked around at the soldiers who were gathered around her, some looked worried, others confused.
Susie then brought the rifle into ready position, her bayonet blade up and aimed at Jane, but she remained where she was. Sweat could be seen forming on her brow, her breathing coming out in quick, panicked gasps. She then made a half-hearted lunge, but Jane swatted the blade away with little effort.
"Come on!, I said stab, not tickle!!" yelled Jane and Susie made another attempt, but Jane once again swatted her rifle away with no effort. "Come on girl!, you're the worst soldier I have ever seen in my entire life, now come at me!!"
Susie then made a full effort to hit Jane, but Jane skilfully side-stepped, grabbed the rifle with both hands and pulled it out of Susie's hands, then struck her hard in the stomach with the rifle butt, immediately turned the rifle around and struck Susie across the face with the wooden butt end of the rifle, sending the poor girl to the ground. She then stood over her, bayonet blade pointed at Susie's neck, directly over the jugular and glared down at her.
"You'll have to do better then that if you want to survive in battle." said Jane.
"Enough!!" said Alicia's voice, and Jane turned to see the red and white headscarf wearing girl running towards the two. She then knelt down beside Susie, who was holding her cheek in pain and sobbing loudly. "What in the world are you doing??"
"Teaching a lesson that must be tough." said Jane, tossing the rifle on the ground next to Susie. "She should either learn from it and toughen up, or quit being a soldier. Her life and the life of your squad mates may depend on it." and with that Jane dusted off her hands, turned and walked away.
"Now that's the kind of gal that makes a squad leader." complimented Wendy, snickering and grinning.
"Whoa…and I thought Drill Instructor Rodriguez was a tough man." said Cherry.
Vyse and Aika just looked at each other wide eyed, both too surprised and shocked to say anything.
Meanwhile, Catherine O'Hara, Elysse Moore and Homer Peron were all kneeling next to Susie Evans as she lay crying on the ground. Alicia held her hand and sat her up. "Don't worry Susie, I promise you that I will do my best to see that she is punished. This goes way beyond what is expected of an instructor." said Alicia.
But Susie shook her head, her sobbing stopped momentarily as well, "No…no s-she is right." sobbed Susie, she then lifted her head, her eyes red and puffy, a dark black bruise on her left cheek. "I have to become stronger if I am to make a good soldier, father would of wanted it this way as well…so let Jane be."
Alicia was surprised at her old friends seemingly renewed attitude, but smiled and nodded her head. "Alright, if that's what you want. I'll support it." said Alicia
Catherine and Elysse helped Susie stand up and supported her, one under each arm and walked her back to the squad barracks, the rest of the squad was following behind them.
Later into the evening, the entire squad was back in their barracks. The place was filled with talk and laughter as everyone went about their free time routines. Card games were going on, groups were talking, and everyone was having a good time.
Vyse and Aika were walking around the barracks together, seeing what was going on and how everyone was doing. Their first concern was checking up on Susie Evans, who was sitting on her bottom bunk, with Elysse and Dallas on either side of her. Elysse was holding an ice pack to Susie's cheek and Dallas was gladly holding onto Susie's hands, comforting her.
"Oh…look what that evil woman did to that pretty face of yours." said Dallas, patting Susie's hands with her own.
"oooouuuuccchhhh….this looks like it huuuuurrrrrttttssss sssssooooo bbbaaadddd…." said Elysse in her extremely slow, laid back manner of speaking as she removed the ice pack and looked at Susie's cheek.
"Don't worry guys, I can tough it out." said Susie, a small smile forming on her mouth.
"Hey Susie." said Vyse, giving a wave as they walked up to her.
"Sup!" said Aika, cheerfully
"Hello, Vyse, Aika." said Susie, giving a polite nod and smile.
"Are you alright?" asked Vyse, seeing Susie's dark bruise and gritting his teeth as if he could feel her pain.
"Yes, thank you for your concern." said Susie, smiling once again.
"That Jane Turner…she's something else…" said Aika, everyone nodded.
Vyse then looked towards the back of the barracks and he saw Nadine, sitting alone on her bunk. Recently she was doing better, but she still wasn't her very cheerful self. So they bid farewell to Susie and made their way over to Nadine's bunk.
"Hey…" said Vyse, giving a weak smile and Aika waved
Nadine looked up at Vyse and nodded, but didn't say anything. Vyse and Aika then sat on either side of Nadine.
"How are you doing?" asked Aika, placing her hand on Nadine's shoulder.
"Alright…better…" said Nadine
"Well, I'm glad to hear that." said Vyse, "It's been three weeks now and I still can't believe she's gone."
Aika gasped slightly, and reached around Nadine and smacked Vyse in the back of the head, "VYSE!!"
"No no…he's right, it has been three weeks." said Nadine, "Maybe it's time to start moving on….I suppose…"
"Excuse me…" said a soft, female voice and everyone looked towards the front of Nadine's bunk and saw Alicia standing there, hands behind her back. "Do you have a moment, Nadine??".
"Sergeant Malchiott!" said Aika and all three of them quickly stood up and saluted her, she smiled and saluted back.
"Please, call me Alicia and like Welkin said, don't worry about all of the formalities." said Alicia, lowering her hand.
"I just came by to say Thank you, thank you for helping Welkin." said Alicia to Nadine, "Being Darcsen like Isara, you helped him in a way that only you could when you let him hug you. It gave him one last good memory of how it felt to hug his younger sister", Nadine lowered her head and nodded. "I just hope that you do not feel uncomfortable around him now…"
Nadine shook her head, "Not at all, not if it helped our squad leader." said Nadine, "I'd do anything for Isara or any other of my squad mates if it helps them."
Alicia smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Thank you once again for helping Welkin…I'm sure Isara would appreciate it as well.", Alicia bowed and walked away.
"I'm sure that Isara is also happy you helped her older brother." said Aika, Vyse nodded in agreement.
"Thanks guys, you both helped me a great deal, I won't forget it." said Nadine, smiling brightly once again.
"H-hey, V-vyse." said a nervous sounding voice. Vyse turned to see Karl and Lynn standing side by side, Karl was holding one arm behind his back, looking very nervous and Lynn was holding onto Karl's other arm and smiling at both Aika and Vyse.
"What's up Karl?" asked Vyse, standing up and walking up to them, Nadine and Aika also stood up and watched on.
"G-got s-s-something here f-for ya." said Karl, and he brought his hidden arm forward, revealing a large, rectangular, felt box. He then passed it to Vyse
Vyse took it with both hands and looked down at it curiously, he then proceeded to slowly open it up.
Suddenly Aika gasped loudly, her eyes opening up, wide as saucers and she brought both of her hands up and cupped them over her mouth. Vyse's mouth dropped open, his eyes growing wide as well, "Oh…no way…"
Vyse then reached into the felt box and retrieved his signature black eye patch. But, the black frame that held the glass eye piece was fixed, the glass had been replaced and the strap had been resown and in better condition then it had been in years. It was like new, and this brought a tear to each corner of Vyse's eyes.
"Karl…wha…" said Vyse, looking up at Lynn and Karl.
Lynn chuckled happily, "We fixed it for you." said Lynn cheerfully, "We've seen you wear it since you arrived, we thought it best that we get it back to you as soon as we could."
Karl chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, "S-sorry it took so long, I w-wanted to make sure that it was p-p-perfect before giving it back to you." added Karl, "I just hope it's as good as it once was."
Vyse looked down at the eye patch and shook his head, "No…." said Vyse
Aika and Nadine gasped, Lynn's mouth dropped open in surprise and Karl looked away in shame.
"It's PERFECT!!, Better then before!!" said Vyse, grinning and laughing loudly, "Come here you!!". And Vyse reached forward and wrapped his arms around Karl, giving him a powerful bear hug that nearly suffocated him. This caught the attention of a lot of the other squad mates in the barracks, seeing Vyse laughing loudly, swinging Karl around in a circle as he hugged him.
"C-c-c…" said Karl in short gasps.
"What was that??" asked Vyse, loosening his grip around Karl.
Karl managed to release two words, "Can't…breath…"
"Oops…sorry about that." laughed Vyse, letting go of Karl once again and standing next to Aika.
Aika smiled, took the eye patch from Vyse and walked till she was in front of him. She then slowly put the eye patch on for him and stepped back and Vyse was filled with a sense of fulfillment, as if he had gotten a part of himself back that he had lost when his eye patch was broken by Cezary.
He then looked at Karl and Lynn proudly, "Karl…Lynn, thank you both so much." said Vyse, "I thought that I had forever lost this to my own stupidity when it got broken during our fight with Cezary."
Lynn shook her head, "No, it is us who should be thanking you." said Lynn, "You have shown us Darcsen a kindness that we have not seen for a very long time. The least we could do is give you back your cherished eye patch."
Nadine walked past Vyse and stood next to Lynn, "You never once judged me based on my hair and eye color, and you've always defended me when no one else would. I'll never be able to thank you enough for that."
Aika was starting to get teary eyed just from listening to all of this, Vyse noticed and reached back and pulled her next to him, and with his other arm, he wrapped it around Nadine. Karl and Lynn knew what to do and everyone formed up in a big group hug.
A short while later, Vyse and Aika walked past a card game that was going on. They saw Catherine O'Hara, squad 7's most skilled card player, playing with afew others squad members. So, naturally curious, they stopped and watched. Catherine was looking at her cards with her bright blue eyes, her pile of money was the highest. She was then looking up at Edy Nelson, Homer Peron, Audrey Heitinga and Juno Coren. Each of then furrowed their eyebrows and growled slightly as they looked back at her.
Edy Nelson looked over at Homer ,"Homer…The last of our money rests on this hand. So if I lose, you had better win."
"You mean the last of my money…" said Homer softly, Edy slammed her palm against the table
"What was that??" she screamed.
"N-nothing Miss Edy" replied Homer, sitting up straight once again.
Juno smiled and laid her cards down, "Straight, anyone got anything better??" asked Juno, tilting her head and smiling.
Audrey sighed and placed her cards face down, "I'm out…again…" she sighed.
Edy looked down, her shoulders were moving up and down like she was crying, but slowly she raised her head and she could be seen laughing. "Hahaha!!, gotcha Juno!!" said Edy, laying her cards with a full house as her hand. "Who's the best, I am!!".
Meanwhile Catherine was sitting back in her chair, slowly rocking back and forth as she waited patiently for everyone else to finish.
"Then I'm sorry Miss Edy…sorry I have to do this to you." said Homer, laying his cards down and revealing four of a kind.
Edy's eyes grew wide, "H-homer…you…you beat me…" said Edy, slowly sinking back into her seat. "But that doesn't matter, with that hand there's no way Catherine can beat you."
Catherine sighed and held her hand to her head. "Oh dear me…what ever is a lady to do…" said Catherine, slowly shaking her hands back and forth. And she folded her cards back up into her hands and sighed.
"See, I knew it, you're the best homer!!" said Edy, she then reached towards Catherine's money pile, but Catherine placed her hand on top of Edy's hands, stopping her.
"Homer…I do apologize and hope that you won't hate me for this." said Catherine, she then placed her cards on the table. Revealing a royal flush, all hearts, she then winked and smiled a sly smile, then collected everyone else's money.
"Impossible…" said Edy, she then banged the table once again, "OH Homer!!, This anger…I'm gonna take it out on YOU!!" and with that Edy grabbed Homer by the front of his uniform and hauled him away.
"Yes Miss E- *SMACK*", Homer didn't have a chance to finish before Edy delivered a powerful punch across the cheek, sending him flying towards the back of the barracks.
Meanwhile Catherine was happily counting her winnings when she happened to notice Vyse and Aika nearby.
"Evening Chaps, care for a game of cards??" she asked.
"Umm…" said Vyse, in the background they could hear Edy giving Homer a beat down for losing.
"Oh don't worry, I'll go easy on you guys, I promise." said Catherine, who was now shuffling the deck of cards, giving an innocent smile.
Aika shrugged, "We have earned a lot of ducats during our time of service and not been off base much…" encouraged Aika, gesturing with her head towards the table.
Vyse looked over his shoulder and saw a crowd gathered around Edy Nelson as she slapped Homer around while holding onto him with her other hand. "How could you lose all our money to that woman!!"
"Uh…guess it couldn't hurt…at least not as much as it does for Homer, Aika's not as violent as Edy is." said Vyse.
"That depends on if we win or not." teased Aika, giving Vyse a shove towards the table.
Vyse and Aika then sat down with Catherine across from them and she began to deal cards out, humming a tune as she did. But suddenly the front door to the barracks opened up and they saw Welkin, Alicia, Largo, and Rosie entering the barracks. And immediately everyone stood up and came to attention.
"Sorry to barge in so suddenly, but we've got new orders…" said Welkin.
"Sir, yes sir!!" said everyone in unison.
"Our target…Bruhl…" said Alicia.
Everyone gasped, Bruhl wasn't a target of any real importance, military wise.
"Captain Varrot assigned this mission to use specifically." said Welkin, "It…it's mine and Isara's home town.", now everything made sense. "I know it may not be of any real value in this war, but, it would mean a lot to me and the other Bruhl residence in squad 7."
There were no objections from anyone in the squad barracks.
"Then let's go boss, let's go to Bruhl and get Isara's home back!!" said Aika, balling up her fist in determination.
"Let's kick those imps outta there!!" said Vyse.
"For Isara!" said Nadine, Lynn Karl and Wavy all nodded.
"Guys…thank you…" said Welkin, "Also, let me introduce you to your newest squad member." and Welkin side stepped and revealed Kreis, the engineer from the R&D department, looking very nervous.
But Kreis managed to stand up straight and give a proper salute with good posture. "Good evening guys…the names Kreis, I'll be the Edelweiss's new operator…I know I will never be as good as she was, but I will do my best." said Kreis.
Everyone clapped and some whistled, welcoming Kreis to squad 7.
Welkin then looked to Catherine and waved her over, curious, Catherine made her way over to him. While Alicia went and retrieved Marina, Squad 7's other sniper. Vyse and Aika waited patiently at the card table, but watched as some sort of discussion went on between them.
Catherine's expressions went from one of surprise, then concern, and finally to what looked like dread, Marina's expression remained unchanged throughout the discussion. The two girls then saluted Welkin and departed, Catherine looked lost in thought as she walked back to the card table.
"You alright, you look like you've seen a ghost…." said Vyse.
This caused Catherine to look up at Vyse with what looked like shock, then slight anger, "How could you say that!!" she cried, quickly gathering up her money and departing from the table, but she did not return to her bunk, rather she left the barracks completely.
Aika's expression became angry and she smacked Vyse in the side of the head with her open palm, "Vyse, how could you!!" said Aika in an angry tone.
Vyse shook his head, "What…I was just joking…"
"Well, don't" said a stern, cold voice and they saw Marina Wulfstan approaching them, "I saw what happened and thought you should know. We just learned that the Imperial unit known as the Oka Nieba will be present in Bruhl. They are…sniper killers…"
"Catherine has encountered this group before and has lost many of her fellow sniper comrades in the 1st Europan war. They are the most dangerous type of enemy for our type of unit, snipers. As they only go after other snipers, they'll ignore any other target until they're considered a threat…understand. Even if the Princess herself were on the battlefield, they wouldn't go after her.
So for Catherine and I, this mission is going to be extra dangerous. "
Aika and Vyse nodded, Vyse felt extremely bad now.
A short while later, Vyse left the barracks and proceed in trying to find Catherine O'Hara. After some asking around he found her in the R&D department. She was retrieving for sniper rifle, which in in a black case. It had been sent in for some maintenance, as she didn't spend as much time as Marina in self-maintenance.
Vyse gulped and approached her, "Hello, Miss O'Hara." said Vyse, Catherine turned and saw Vyse and gave a slight smile.
"Well, now that certainly is a proper and gentlemanly greeting." said Catherine, "But I'm a little busy at the moment. So if you'll excuse me", and she walked past Vyse, case in her right hand and moved towards the exit.
"Marina told me about…what Welkin said to you." said Vyse.
Catherine stopped walking, "I see…so the young lady told you about my past?"
"Well…not in great detail, but she did say that you encountered the Oka Nieba during the last war. And that they're an anti sniper unit."
Catherine gestured for Vyse to follow her and together they walked in the dark, clear night, back towards the barracks. "Figures they would be sent to a place like Bruhl, with all of those tall buildings, excellent places for snipers. To be honest, I'm surprised it's been this long into the war before we encountered them." said Catherine
"Well, I just wanted to apologize for my earlier remark." said Vyse.
"And I apologize for my outburst." said Catherine, "I forget how young the rest of you all are, compared to this old lady. Most of you weren't even out of grade school before I was fighting for Gallia in the 1st Europan war."
"If you don't mind me saying, you look extremely beautiful for your age." said Vyse, grinning sheepishly.
"Haha, thanks dear, Like a fine wine, I'm aging gracefully." said Catherine, patting Vyse on the shoulder.
"Yep, getting better with age." said Vyse
"I meant more wise and insightful." said Catherine.
Vyse and Catherine then stopped in front of the main barracks doors, "I have a proposal, If our leader will let me, I'll volunteer to accompany you during the Bruhl mission, I'll protect you from the Oka Nieba unit during battle."
"Thanks lad, but I'll be fine, I've encountered them before and survived, I will do so tomorrow." replied Catherine, she then stretched her arms out to her side, forming a bicep pose with her left arm and patting her bicep muscle with her right hand.. "I may have gotten a little older, but this body of mine is still useful. And I'm still as good of a shot as I once was. Thanks for the concern though, it warms this old heart of mine"
"I see, well all the same, good luck tomorrow…" said Vyse, he then extended his hand out and Catherine smiled and shook his hand.
"Good luck to you to, Vyse Inglebard." said Catherine.