Chapter 54- United we stand
The Gallian militia had already left the base and was on its way to the East, to meet the Imperial Army. The Gallian regular army, however, was still inside the main encampment. Its commanders, Head General Damon, Captain Varrot and Princess Cordelia were inside the General's tent, the topic they were discussing was a very disturbing one, for it required the sacrifice of the entire Militia.
"You can't be serious!" Captain Varrot exclaimed
"I'm quite serious Varrot," General Damon said next, "The militia shall be deployed as a rear guard against the advancing Imperials, while the regulars, along with Princess Cordelia will pull back to Randgriz and begin setting up defences within the city. It's a perfectly sensible plan."
"General! Those are my men and women out there!" Captain Varrot argued, "If you think I will let you sacrifice the lives of thousands of my soldiers than you-"
"Silence Varrot!" General Damon roared, "You dare to call your group of farmers and peasants with rifles… soldiers?"
"They are soldiers General, just as good as any of your regulars." Varrot said, "My men and women have contributed just as much to this war as any of your regulars have. They've fought, died and done their duty just as loyally too."
Princess Cordelia wasn't sure what to say at that moment to make things right. So she quietly remained at the side of the table while Captain Varrot and General Damon argued.
"But my men and women have been in the army and trained far longer and harder than your conscripts have!" Damon yelled, "We'll need all of them alive if we hope to hold out in a siege that is sure to strike the capital of Randgriz once the Imperials rip through your militia stationed out in the East."
Varrot shook her head, "You make it sound like you already know what the outcome to this battle will be. My soldiers will not go down as easily as you think."
Princess Cordelia finally decided to side with Varrot on this matter. "General, I do not think it wise to abandon those brave men and women out East. Recall them and we'll all head back to Randgriz together."
General Damon shook his head, "Forgive me Princess, but what do you know of war?" Damon asked, his strong glare made the Princess look away, "If all of our forces pull out now, the enemy will be hot on our heels and pursue us all the way back to the capital and besiege us before we are even ready."
"It's a simple matter of strategy. We leave the militia here, to hold back the enemy forces while I- I mean we, yes, we retreat back to the capital and set up defences within the city. True, we may lose half of our forces, but the better half will survive. My regulars are far superior to Varrot's army of conscripts who up until recently never fired a weapon." Damon continued
Princess Cordelia lowered her head for a moment with sad eyes, and then looked over at Varrot, who was silently pleading her to listen to reason and not abandon the militia to their doom. But Princess Cordelia finally looked away and sighed sadly.
"I… do not know what to do." she said sadly.
"But I do!" Damon said, quickly exiting the tent and walking towards the middle of camp. Many of the regular soldiers who were standing around all watched Damon walk by, followed by Varrot, Princess Cordelia and the regular commanders and officers.
"This is an order!" Damon shouted with his hand against the side of his mouth, "Break camp! And prepare to retreat back to the capital!"
There were many appalled gasps from the surrounding regular soldiers; some quietly looked at each other, unsure what to make of this new order. And no one moved at first.
"Break Camp!" Damon shouted at the top of his lungs, spinning around in a circle with both hands cupped around his mouth.
"You cannot do this General!" Varrot cried angrily.
Princess Cordelia looked all around her, at the soldiers who were now starting to take down tents, running all around camp, trying to get everything ready and move out as fast as they could.
"No…" she said softly, she cupped her hands together and looked around for anyone who would listen to her. "Please, no!" she cried, looking at the officers and commanders behind her. But they looked away; they didn't dare oppose General Damon, the commander of the Regular army.
"General! I will not allow you to sacrifice my troops for anything!" Varrot cried, reaching down to her side arm pouch and unclipping the button. But two of the regular officers next to her each grabbed an arm and stopped her, then tried to keep her from struggling while a third quickly moved forward and took her side arm pistol from it's pouch.
General Damon turned and saw Varrot struggling with his officers, he then became enraged. "Guards, arrest her for treason! No one tries to pull on a gun on me, a General!"
Now even the officers turned and looked at General Damon, he was being unreasonable now. They to being leaders of men understood her frustration. So none of them moved or took her away like ordered, they just looked at General Damon with surprised eyes.
And even many of the regulars who were working on preparing to move out stopped and looked at the strange scene going on. Damon looked all around him; no one was moving or obeying his orders.
"Did you not hear me?" Damon yelled, "I said arrest her for treason and get back to work, we must move out as soon as possible!"
"General, you must try to calm yourself." Cordelia said softly
But the General was throwing a tantrum like a child, now he was stamping his feet against the ground and waving his arms up and down. "Obey my orders now! Obey me! Obey m-"
But his shouting was cut short by a flying fist to his face, his hat falling off with the sharp movement of his head to the side, but he was still standing. Now, with his nose bleeding and seeing some stars, he looked over and saw Vyse Inglebard shaking his head, "Coward." he said, he then punched General Damon hard in the stomach, causing him to lurch forward, next a knee was thrust sharply upward into his face, knocking the fat bastard backwards, onto his back, unconscious.
"Mister Inglebard…" Cordelia said softly.
"Vyse… I don't know where to start with you." Varrot said, officers still holding onto an arm each.
Vyse looked over at the officers holding his Captain, "Release her!" he ordered, the officers responded right away and let go of Captain Varrot.
And now, even more Regular soldiers were approaching the strange spectacle. All were looking down at General Damon, then to Vyse, no one quite sure what was going on, or quite what to make of it.
Captain Varrot walked up to Vyse and looked him in the eye, "Before I say anything else, let me ask… what are you doing back here?"
Cordelia nodded in agreement, "I thought you had wished to return home," She said, "So how come you have returned?"
Vyse shook his head, "I returned because… I wish to fight for Gallia, our home, once more."
Cordelia's eyes widened, "Our home?" she asked.
Vyse nodded, "I have lived and fought here for many months now, and my connection and love of this land has become just as strong as my love for my homeland. That being said, I would no sooner abandon Gallia, than my true homeland of Arcadia if it were in danger of being conquered by evil invaders."
Cordelia held a hand against her heart, touched by Vyse's devotion to Gallia, "Vyse…"
"There's a war to be fought, and won," said Vyse, turning back to Captain Varrot, "So Captain, if you'll return me back into active service, I'll gladly rejoin Squad 7 and help you fight the Empire once more."
Captain Varrot was listening to Vyse's request, with her arms crossed, but didn't answer for a few seconds. She then walked up to Vyse, "Do you know what's going to happen out there?" Varrot asked, pointing to the East.
Vyse shook his head, Varrot then continued. "Right now the Militia is alone and greatly outnumbered, by at least 3 to 1. And we've lost many of our tanks to that powerful Valkyria. And once she arrives on the battlefield, she'll easily wipe holes in our lines with that lance type weapon that she wields into battle. And what's left of our forces will undoubtedly be hammered relentlessly by the massive Imperial force that'll be following right behind her."
Varrot lowered her head, "In all honesty, I think you were better off leaving while you still had the chance. We have no defence or ability to fight back against that Valkyrian woman, Selvaria Bles. This is a battle where the odds are greatly greatly in the Imperials favour."
Vyse took a step towards Captain Varrot, "So you think that victory is impossible, out of our reach?" Vyse asked.
Varrot looked back up, "I didn't say that!" she said sharply, a small smile then spread over her lips, "I was just about to say that it would be quite difficult."
Vyse grinned back at her, "I always love a challenge!"
By this time, thousands of Regular soldiers were now crowding around the Princess, the unconscious General Damon, Vyse and Captain Varrot.
"So what do ya say Captain, will you give me another shot?" Vyse asked with a grin.
Varrot smiled and nodded, "Very well, you're returned to active duty status as of this moment."
Princess Cordelia looked down at the unconscious General Damon, then all around her and was surprised to see that everyone, including Vyse and Captain Varrot were looking at her, like they were waiting or expecting her to say something or command them to do something.
Princess Cordelia's hands were trembling, but she clenched them together and walked over to a nearby blue and white Gallian jeep and stood in the back of the topless jeep, looking out at the sea of soldiers in Blue, Black and gold uniforms of the Regular army, now it was her turn to be brave like Vyse Inglebard.
"Soldiers! My fine soldiers!" she said aloud, everyone becoming absolutely silent, "Right now, thousands of our fellow countrymen are making a desperate stand against the advancing Imperial army. They are greatly outnumbered and without hope of victory if we do not rush to go help them.
General Damon would have us abandon them and flee back to the Capital of Randgriz. But these are our not just our soldiers. These people are our brothers, and our sisters. These people are our family and our countrymen, and we cannot forsake them."
There were many heads nodding in agreement amongst the vast sea of soldiers.
"I know what the odds are of our success, but I also know that I will not abandon my people. We face a tough and determined enemy, whose military mighty is greater than ours at the moment. So I shall not order any of you to accompany me, but I go now to save these brave souls gathered in the East… who will come with me?" Cordelia asked loudly.
And not even 1 second after Cordelia finished her speech, Vyse walked up to her and stood in front of the jeep she was standing inside, the first volunteer. Captain Varrot followed immediately afterwards and sided with Princess Cordelia. And all at once, thousands of soldiers began to walk forward, some even stepping over top of the unconscious General Damon, cheering loudly, so loud it all blended into one deafening uproar. All of them, siding with Princess Cordelia to rush to the aid of the Militia.
Princess Cordelia was so touched at the sight of the loyalty of her people that she brought her hands up and cupped them over her mouth, her eyes beginning to well up with tears.
And someone started a chant of "Cordelia! Cordelia! Cordelia!" and that chant was followed by the thousands of other soldiers gathered around her jeep. Soldiers were pumping their fists high into the air, weapons raised up in the air as well, some jumping up and down and clapping and continuing to cheer.
As everyone continued to cheer, Captain Varrot put her hand on Vyse's shoulder and got his attention. "Go Vyse, go and get ready to move out as soon as humanly possible." she ordered, pointing towards Squad 7's tent, "Now MOVE Vyse!"
Vyse grinned ear to ear, saluted her and let out a loud "Yee-haw!" and moved past the cheering soldiers as quickly as he could.
Within a matter of minutes he had his Gallian militia uniform back on, armoured pads included and he slung his machine gun over his shoulder, taking many spare clips of machine gun ammo from the nearby armory and putting them into the appropriate pouches and clipping grenades onto the back of his belt.
He was now ready to depart with the rest of the army, but as he was about to leave he happened to look over and see a pad of paper and a pen sitting on top of a nearby table. So he rushed over and began to write a message as quickly and as neatly as he could.
But soon he heard and felt the ground rumble with the rhythmic movement of thousands of pairs of feet marching left, right, left, and right. The sound of tanks driving away from the base followed close by, the entire army was now on the move, heading eastward to help the Militia fight the Empire.
And from the nearby entrance to the squad tent, Varrot stuck her head in. "Hurry Sgt. Inglebard, the army is already on the move and it's a long way until we reach the Militia." Varrot pleaded.
Vyse had just finished writing his letter and quickly looked it over.
It was addressed to his mother and father, a letter to be delivered in the case of his death.
"Dear Mother and Father
If you are reading this, then sadly it means that I have fallen in battle and shall not be returning home. But please do not weep for me; remember me for the actions I have taken on this, my last, great adventure. This land I am in now, this land called Gallia is so very beautiful. So lush and green and filled with the kindest and most generous people I have ever met.
If the two of you could see Gallia, you would know why I'm so ready and willing to sacrifice my life for this country. In all the places I have ever been, I do not think there is a place like it anywhere else. That is why I have given my life in service to this great country.
By now, I'm sure that Aika will have arrived back home. I sent her back to you, so that at least one of us shall survive and carry on the name of the blue rouges. She will undoubtedly be very sad and guilt stricken at my loss. She wanted to stay here with me, but I felt that the danger was far too great, so I sent her back. Please tell her that none of this is her fault, and that I'm happy that she stayed and fought with me as long as she did. She was a good soldier, but a better friend… there is none in the entire world better than her.
Good-bye, Mother, Father. Thank you for everything you've both done for me, I only wish I could have seen and hugged and kissed you one last time. And I only have one last request for the two of you… please take care of my darling Aika Thompson.
Your Loving son, Vyse Inglebard."
Once he had read the entire letter over and wiped away a single tear, he folded it up and rushed towards the exit and began to walk with Captain Varrot.
Outside, the army was moving in a giant column. Tanks were driving down the center of the road leading to the East and there were two giant columns of armed soldiers moving at double quick time on either side of the road. And nearby, watching the entire march was Princess Cordelia, still in the back of the jeep, awaiting Vyse's return. And when he and Captain Varrot reached the jeep, they both saluted the Princess. Captain Varrot got into the drivers seat, Vyse into the passengers side, with Cordelia in the back. The jeep then began to drive past the tanks and soldiers, moving to the head of the column. Along the way, soldiers cheered as the jeep drove past.
Vyse took a deep, nervous breath then looked back at Princess Cordelia who was in the back of the jeep.
"Something wrong Mister Inglebard?" she asked, slightly worried at his almost sad looking face.
"Princess… I have a letter here, something personal that I would like you to deliver for me… should I fall in today's battle." Vyse said, holding the letter out to her.
Captain Varrot looked over at Vyse, and was a bit saddened. It seems that even he understood how slim the chances for victory were now, even with the aid of the regular army. But he was still going, even though he once had a chance to leave.
Princess Cordelia nodded after a few moments and took the letter from Vyse, "I will do this for you Mister Inglebard." she said, "And thanks for staying with us. You do not know how much it means to have you here, fighting along side us, in battle for our home."
Vyse smiled and nodded, "Our home… our home…"
Captain Varrot nodded and reached over, placing her hand on Vyse's shoulder, "Our home…" she said while smiling.
