The rolling hills of the Special Region were a relaxing sight to Viktor. It was probably spring time here, despite it being late fall in Russia. Distant forests and even more distant mountains passed them as they rolled by in their armored vehicle. The landscape helped him forget about what he'd done. Viktor rested his eyes shut as he thought of the beautiful landscape.
A distant crackling served helped calm him. It sounded like raindrops falling on a spring morning. The sound brought childhood memories to Viktor's mind. Scenes of him playing with his sister during the spring rains filled his head. He began to drift off to sleep.
Wait... that's gunfire.
Viktor jolted up from his seat. He listened closely to the crackling sounds. Definitely gunfire. It was coming from their west. Viktor wasn't aware of any other recon teams that had made it out that far.
He grabbed the BTR's radio. "Command, this is Shapka-213. We are hearing gunfire to the west of our current location. Do you have any other units in the area? Over."
"Reading you, Shapka-213, we are not aware of any units in that area. Move in to investigate then continue with your mission. Over."
"Understood, Command. Over."
His radio call had awakened the others in the BTR. They sat up with groggy faces, looking around confused. Viktor directed the driver to head east while they orientated themselves.
"Eh, what the fuck is going on?" Alina demanded.
"Why are we heading off course?" Luka joined in on the conversation.
"Just shut up for a minute and listen." Viktor raised his hand to silence them.
The faint crackling sound was getting louder by the second.
"Hear that?"
Igor nodded. "Gunfire."
"Exactly. Command says they're not aware of any Russian forces in the area, so we're going to check it out." He explained to them.
"Do you think its the Japanese?"
"Why would they be so far out here...?" Sergei wondered out loud.
Tomas sat up from his seat. "That's not the Japanese."
"How do you know that?" Alina questioned him.
"That's the sound of Kalashnikov fire. Last I heard, the Japanese weren't using Kalashnikovs." He explained to her in a deadpanned voice.
Igor nodded. "It has to be Russian then."
"Deserters?" It was Kilment who brought up the uncomfortable thought.
Viktor had to intervene before the conversation could damage moral. There are no deserters here, nor will there ever be. We're here to defend the motherland. No soldier would desert that cause."
"Then who could it be, sergeant?" Tomas asked him.
"I don't know. That's why we're going to find out."
Demian, who had so far stayed silent, finally spoke up. "I don't like this."
Nodded once, Viktor agreed with him. "Just keep your rifle up and be ready for anything." He said.
They sat in silence for the remainder of the short journey. Eventually, the BTR rolled over a hill revealing the source of the gunfire. There was a small group of men, maybe three or four, firing into a horde of Imperial soldiers.
"Holy god..." Sergei made the sign of the cross with his hand.
"Driver, get us down there!" Viktor ordered. "Gunner, fire at the enemy. Try not to hit our friendlies."
The BTR-82A immediately opened fire with its 2A72 Auto Cannon. Its cannon belched out 30mm high-explosive incendiary shells at a rapid rate. Unfortunately, they were on the move and thus the shells were highly inaccurate, but this didn't matter when their enemy was in a massed formation.
The shells impacted the formation of men, scattering body parts and sending men to the ground dead. They kept coming.
Inside the BTR-82A, each passenger had a firing port to give them the capability to use their small arms while still being protected. It was times like this that this feature proved exceptionally useful. The squad members opened fire with their kalashnikovs into the charging soldiers. Ever determined, the Saderans didn't stop.
Arriving near the small group of men, Viktor opened the entrance to the BTR and yelled at them. "Get the fuck in!"
Not in the mood to argue, they did as they were told and piled into the BTR. It was a tight fit, but they managed.
The Saderans were getting closer to the vehicle, in spite of the excessive amount of firepower being thrown at them. They needed to move.
"Driver, get us out of this place!"
He didn't need to be told twice. Instantly, they lurched forward and turned away at a faster than any man could run. Their pursuers were soon left in the dirt.
Viktor turned to the men they'd saved. There were three of them, wearing uniforms clearly not standard issue. He needed answers.
"Who are you? Command said there weren't any Russian forces besides us in this area."
One of the men, presumably their leader, looked down at Viktor's rank before he spoke. "We are Atlant-012. GRU operatives."
"Spetsnaz..." Demian quietly muttered.
The man continued. "We were assigned to gather information on the Imperial Army's leadership, but we got ambushed by a detachment of their men while en-route. We were about to be overrun when-."
"When we arrived." Viktor finished for him.
The man nodded. "Precisely. You have our thanks sergeant, but we need to continue with our mission."
"We have our own mission, to secure a safe route to Bellnahgo. Currently, there's an obstacle in the way of that mission." Viktor knew that they would have to deal with the horde of men they had just run from. "Do you have any information on the enemy we just rescued you from?"
The Spetsnaz operative thought about it for a moment before responding. "We think there's around two hundred of them, probably less after casualties. They're staying at a nearby village known as Elna. The village was abandoned by its citizens when they came."
"Would you mind marking that down?" He handed the man his map of the Special Region.
Marking it with a pen, the man spoke again. "If that's all sergeant, we'll be going now. We need to get back to our objective."
"Perhaps we can give you a ride?"
He shook his head. "Unfortunately, its quite a tight fit in here. We'll make our own way."
Viktor understood. "Goodbye then."
The operatives got out of the BTR and started to jog away. Viktor knew the men hadn't told them the whole truth. That was just how Spetsnaz worked.
Viktor ordered the driver to head to the Elna's location.
"Sergeant, we're not going to be directly assaulting the town right?" Alina voiced her concerns.
"Of course not. If I even order something that suicidal, I hope you have the sense to put a bullet in the back of my head."
She chuckled at that. "As if we'd ever disobey your orders sergeant."
"Maybe not you, but I think Igor has been eyeing me up." He joked.
"Never sergeant!" The man in question raised his hands in mock surrender. "Well, maybe if you disrespect Sasha..."
"You've named your machine gun? You're more attached to that thing than Kilment is to his RPG. It's not good for your health." Tomas joined in.
"You're one to talk. I see you cradling that sniper rifle when you go to sleep. How are you going to get a girlfriend if that's the only thing you'll ever hug?" Kilment attacked him.
"And you're doing any better in that department? He shot back.
"Hey, hey. Maybe you two will have better chances now that we're in the Special Region. I hear they've got trolls here, it'll be a perfect fit for the both of you." Demian mediated.
"Fuck you!" They both yelled simultaneously at Demian.
"Alright, alright." Viktor defused the situation. "Anyone have some music?"
"I've got my phone, its loaded with good songs." Luka told him.
"That's bullshit!" Exclaimed Kilment. "All he's got are shitty American pop songs."
"What? And you prefer that old Soviet crap?"
"Its better than your fucking Lady Gaga shit."
"I suppose we should start praising communism then."
"Better a communist than an American lover."
The bickering didn't stop.
The BTR pulled up on a hill with a view point on the village and Viktor's squad dismounted. Viktor had made the decision not to get close enough for anyone inside to attack them, he didn't want to have to run from three hundred angry Romans. Taking out his binoculars, Viktor surveyed the village of Elna.
The streets were empty and not a single person was in sight to an uninformed spectator, it would seem that the village had been completely abandoned. Just like the other village. Viktor knew there were soldiers in the village. Hiding in ambush. Waiting to take them by surprise.
Viktor wasn't going to make the same mistakes twice.
The only question was... were there also civilians in the village? Sure, the Spetsnaz operatives had told them it was empty, but Viktor wasn't sure. He could see carts of grain on the side of the road and tools strewn around the buildings. Surely if the citizens had abandoned the town, they'd have taken everything with them.
Demiam walked up to him. "What's the plan sergeant?"
"Well... we can't exactly just roll into the village like last time." He said in a lighthearted voice.
"I don't know. I think if we piss Igor off enough, he'll do it alone." Demian's response was met with a grin from Viktor.
Viktor got back to business. "We know there's probably around two hundred to three hundred men in there. Too many to risk getting in close."
"Can't we just engage from range with our BTR's main gun?"
He shook his head. "We'd be firing blindly into buildings. I'm not sure how effective our high-explosive ammo will be against their stone buildings and we don't have enough armor-piercing ammo to waste it on blind fire."
Demian contemplated that for a moment before speaking again. "Didn't you say we had air support earlier?"
"Yes..." His hesitance showed. Viktor wasn't sure he was willing to call an airstrike on a village that might have civilians in it.
"Well, why don't we use it? The Spetsnaz man said the civilians had evacuated, so there's no reason not to."
Thinking it through, Viktor couldn't come up with a better plan for approaching the village. An airstrike was the most effective way to deal with any hostile forces in the area.
He made his decision. "Alright, I'll call it in. After it hits, we'll head into the village to clear out any survivors." Viktor was careful to leave out his concern that there might be civilians in the village.
"330, we have a request for air support north of Oryol Base. Can you comply? Over."
Flying high in the air, the jet pilot finally got his first call. As standard protocol, there were always at least a few planes in the air to act as fast response for any ground forces in need. Up until now, no one had needed air support.
"Copy that, command. On my way to target. Over."
330 maneuvered his SU-34 Strike Fighter onto his new course. His radio blared up again.
"330, ground forces have lit up the target for you. Over."
"Understood, one minute until destination. Over."
The SU-34 was one of the most modern strike crafts the Russian Air Force had available to them. Typically, they were used in Syria due to the constant action there. But the Russian Military had been pulling all stops for the Special Region. This was one the first flights for the jet in the Special Region. This was one of the first flights for the jet in the Special Region, as it was only very recently that Oryol Base had finished its airstrip. Due to this, all eyes were on 330 and his jet's performance in the new world.
While the Russian Ground Forces may have been unstoppable to the Empire's forces, the Air Force still had to worry. There were multiple reports of dragons both existing and being a threat to air power. It was one of the main reasons that helicopter use was currently being limited until further information could be gathered about the capabilities of dragons.
330 spotted his target, a small village that looked to be abandoned. He contacted command. "Approaching target, preparing to release explosive ordinance." His jet came ever closer to the village. "Dropping payload."
The jet flew over the village as two KAB-1500L bombs dropped. The laser guided bombs impacted the small village, unleashing 1,500 kilograms of explosive force each.
"Payload dropped, returning to Oryol Base. Over."
There's nothing left...
Viktor walked through what used to be Elna village. The stone buildings that had made up the villager's homes were now just piles of rubble. There were also plenty of bodies in the rubble. So far all of them had been wearing armor which helped relieve Viktor's fears about killing civilians.
Every once and awhile, the squad would find someone still alive in the village. Each time, they put a bullet into the wounded soldier's head and kept moving. It was more of a mercy kill than an execution for the Saderan soldiers.
They quickly discerned there was no remaining threat in the village and left in the BTR.
While the rest of his squad celebrated their success against the Imperials, Viktor couldn't help but feel guilty. They had destroyed the homes of at least a hundred people, probably more. These people wouldn't have a home to return to if peace was ever made, they'd be refugees.
Still, they'd done well and Viktor was being too hard on himself.
At least two hundred enemy soldiers had been killed. Enemies who had invaded Russian, seeing its destruction. The invaders had thought themselves invincible. They'd committed crimes against the Russian people without any fear of retribution. But now, like the German Reich before them, Russia was here to take its vengeance.
They continued on their way.
For the sixth time that week, Tullus found Cheslav's eyes staring through his soul.
He'd been moved to a new cell. Instead of the dark shack he once inhabited, he now sat in a plain concrete room. Blinding magical lights came from the ceiling illuminating the sparse furniture in the room, two metal chairs and a metal desk. There were no windows in the room, the only feature on any of the walls was a black pane of glass that Tullus couldn't see the point of.
"What is your full name?" Cheslav asked the same question he'd already asked many times before.
"Tullus Co Creseces." It was best to answer despite the futility of each question.
"Where do you live?"
"The city of Rondel. I am an Imperial citizens." He wondered if he'd ever see the magical city again.
"Who do you live with?"
"My wife and two children." With every minute, Tullus became less certain he'd be reunited with them.
"What is your rank in the Imperial Army?"
"Legatus." That was what he had last been, though Tullus wasn't sure if that had since changed. He didn't even know if anyone knew that he was alive.
"What is the location of the Russian citizens your forces captured?" There it was, the question Cheslav had been so focused on. The one Tullus didn't have an answer to.
"I-I don't know." They'd been over this before. Tullus knew what came next.
"Not good enough, Legatus." Cheslav's voice seemed to get more menacing every time he repeated that line.
The switch was flipped, the pain entered Tullus' body. Since he first experienced this pain, Tullus had since learned it was called 'electrocution'. Apparently, it sent tiny lightning bolts through his body, another one of the strange men's mysterious magic. No matter how many times it happened, the pain never dulled.
"Are you ready for answer?"
Tullus shook his head. "I don't know..."
Cheslav nodded slowly. "Would it help if we got you some water?
Tullus shook his head.
"A good bath?"
Tullus once more shook his head no. Didn't the man know that nothing he did would help?
"How about your wife's corpse?"
Tullus blinked twice.
"Well?"
"M-my wife is in Rondel. You can't touch her..." Tullus said the last part mainly to himself.
"Didn't you hear? Rondel has been captured. We have your family in our custody right now." The Russian spoke as if he was stating a basic fact.
Tullus' heart rate spiked.
"I'll give you five seconds before I give the order to execute her."
He had nothing to give the man.
"Pyat." Cheslav spoke his native language.
Tullus had nothing that would protect his family.
"Chetyre."
He dug deep into his memory, trying to find a scrap of any information relevant.
"Tri."
All his life, Tullus had the same slaves care for his household. He never questioned where they'd come from.
"Dva."
Maybe someone else can tell him.
"Adeen." Cheslav walked towards the door.
"Wait!" Cheslav halted his movements. "I-I don't have what you want, but I know someone who does."
Cheslav headed back to the table and sat down in the metal chair. He smiled at Tullus. "I'm glad you've come to your senses, please continue."
It was getting late. The delays that they had suffered had turned what should have been a single day's trip into something much longer. Viktor was about to tell the driver to pull over so they could set up camp and get some sleep when he spotted smoke in the distance.
Looking through his periscope, he could see several plumes of smoke rising from behind a nearby hill. They didn't look too large, so he assumed they must have been campfires or something similar. Viktor doubted anything large was burning.
He viewed his tired and exhausted men. If this was another fight, he doubted they'd be operating at anywhere near full capacity. Still, Viktor couldn't just let a potential threat go unchecked. Exhausted or not, they had to soldier on.
When the BTR rolled over the hill that blocked their view, Viktor initially thought they'd discovered another army.
Masses of covered wagons were parked up near campfires. There must have been at least a thousand people in the area. Tired as he was, Viktor nearly ordered the gunner to open fire to cover their retreat. Fortunately, he took a second look.
None of the men he could see were wearing armor or Imperial colors, the camp was completely unorganized, and not a single banner showing any allegiance was risen in the sky. These were not soldiers, these were refugees. Viktor guesses they must have been the villagers that had fled Elna and perhaps a few from other villages as well. His official orders from command were to attempt friendly relations with any civilians showing no hostility. He couldn't exercise those orders at the other village, for obvious reasons, but perhaps he'd have better luck here.
"Driver, bring us into the camp slowly. We don't want to scare anyone."
"Going to be friendly this time?" It was Alina who spoke, always the curious one.
Viktor yawned. "That's the plan."
Reviews:
YourMomBob: I only upload if I had free time or energy to do so. For now, I'll temporary halt writing the next chapters of my stories until I uploaded the whole chapters.
EvilTheLast: You forget that, should the world found out that Japan is using extreme force towards its enemy like in WWII, massive protest would erupt in not just the international community, but also in Asia.
kasrkinsquadtrooper: I don't know what you mean but I still don't have a Gate/Hyperdimension crossover timeline to this day. You can look at my profile of course but its empty for now.
Maroon567: You know that this isn't my story right? You can check my A/N at Chapter 1 about it. Although I got permission from the author's friend right after positing the fanfiction, its unlikely I would continue this story since I am already have two Gate crossovers to work on.
Outside of this though, how are you been? Haven't seen you since Chapter 14 in my Gate/Hyperdiemsion crossover.
Arms Dealer: Sorry for this, but I just re-posting the famous deleted story in Gate fanfiction. Thank you for personally posting the weapons Russians used though. It would be useful in my Gate/Hyperdiemsion crossover story. :)