Colonel Miller listened to the tape recorder as the man was talking about the weak points of the tunnel leading into the Gate. There was a large possibility of mutants breaking through the abandoned ventilation shafts. With the help of some of the scientists, they could tunnel their way through and block or harass any access to the west.

There was knocking on his door, someone wanted a meeting with him. "You may come in." He stated. His office door opened as the commander of the Polis Rangers recognized the person in question. "Khan, do you have something important to say?"

The old man stepped forward and closed the door behind him. "On my way to your office, I overheard a conversation that someone from the Arbat Confederation didn't return to Polis after leaving the Gate."

The colonel knew there was something wrong. "How fuck do you know about the Gate?"

"I was passing by when it appeared." He replied. "After your men defended Polis successfully, I took the opportunity to see what was on the other side. Then I left."

"You didn't even come and warn us about it?"

Khan shook his head. "Should I have risked my life? If I had any chance to help you, I would have taken it, but they were everywhere. It was as if they were looking for something of interest, but once Polis routed them could I actually do anything."

"You were trapped?" Miller wondered.

"Yes, I could only sneak around so many men at a single moment, but their hounds would have spotted me."

"So you're here to tell me that one our translators left. Should I be concerned about it?"

The old man nodded his head. "Listen, I understand the practical position of Polis against the other factions, but I need you to listen to me on this. If this translator gets back to his superiors and leaks any information about a surface world where the grass is green and nobody needs to wear a gas mask, they will mobilize. If Hansa mobilizes their troops, so will the Reds and Nazis."

Then the colonel began to connect the dots. "Shit, it's going to escalate the situation. I'll send a couple of Rangers to put him down. We can't take any risks."

"Don't worry, I'll track him down and take care of him."

"You will?"

"I personally know the Ukrainian. He will listen to me."

Maxim squatted beside the wagon as his fingers were playing with a bolt as a way to kill the boredom. Shuhrat didn't like to talk, Timur liked to draw, and Alexsandr was too busy keeping his heavy machine gun ready. He wished something interesting would happen, not the bad kind at the very least.

Ever since Artyom, Uhlman, and the foreign girl left without him he was disappointed knowing what Uhlman told him. He was the only one who busted his ass trying to understand the language, but it was blessing in disguise. Whatever words he didn't encounter during the lessons could be fixed by simply hearing Artyom talk. Should the group split in two, he wouldn't have to worry about the other one since someone had a decent understanding of the language. Even if it was cheating in its own right.

His eyes looked at the palisade and noticed a person step out from behind the palisade, only to find a man who had the courage to talk with them. Unlike the other peasants he had seen his face before with the important girl in the red hair. The young man seemed reluctant to approach him, but still continued while his peers were busy behind the wooden palisade.

The Ranger straightened his legs as he slipped his bolt into his breast pocket. "May I help you?" Maxim asked, hoping the man would talk so he could practice this foreign language.

He nodded his head and pulled out a small pouch from his belt. "Yes, I heard you were trading armor out. I want to buy a set."

"They're not for sale. Sorry."

"I thought you were trading them out."

"Yes, we're trading them out, but only for shipments of food." Maxim explained.

The man nodded his head. "I see." Then he placed his pouch back into his belt. "The princess ordered all food to be used sparingly for the siege. You're not likely to get any until the bandits are dead or they lift the siege and leave."

"I know. It's the reason why my fellow Rangers are accompanying your leader to discuss."

"Rangers? I have never heard of them."

"We're foreigners. Not from around here."

"You must have seen plenty on your travels."

Maxim shrugged his shoulders at the thought. "That depends on how you define travels." Then he began to wonder if he could befriend someone of the populace. "What's your name, kid?"

He bowed before him. "I am Hal, son of the Italica blacksmith, you're grace."

Then he chuckled at the gesture. "No need to do that, I'm not nobility."

"My apologies, sir. I didn't mean to offend."

"None taken, I'm just correcting you." He replied. "Why do you want to buy the armor if you're a blacksmith?"

Hal paused for a moment. "I wanted to participate in the fighting, help defend my home before those bandits and earn some glory."

"Forget the glory and worry about your home."

The peasant was surprised by his reply. "It sounds like you've seen it before."

"Glory is overrated. Once you've had the years in my profession you would understand." Maxim stated. "It's an easy way to get yourself killed."

"I just wanted to help my town."

Maybe it was the Metro's harsh life ingrained into his mind, but he still wanted the cheer the guy up. He patted the young man's shoulder while a chuckle escaped. "You can still help out, but what do you plan to do with that armor once you get it? I'm a bit curious."

"The princess wants more able-bodied men to help in the defense, but there isn't enough kits to pass around." Hal began. "The knights already handed out the swords, but I don't feel complete without any protection."

"I see. Maybe I'll have a chat with my fellow Rangers to hand you a suit once they return."

"You'll do that?" He wondered with surprise.

"Again, it's a maybe, but we didn't come all this way to your town with suits of armor if we didn't know what to do with it."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome." Maxim replied. When the peasant departed away from the Ranger, he sighed at the thought of the possibility. "You people need some hope."

After the Third Recon Team was allowed into the town, Itami and some members of his unit were brought into the Formal manor. It was a large building compared to the others and if the decorations within its halls were anything to suggest the family had some degree of wealth. However, he noticed the maids consisted a mix of humans and demi-humans.

As the rabbit maid brought him to the door with his company, the lieutenant simply could not forget those transmissions. Was there a potential for conflict in the Special Region for the Russians? He didn't want to think it was possible and hopefully the Russians were sensible if found.

When the doors opened, Itami and the few members of his team were brought into a large room with two chairs on the other side. One seat was occupied by a small girl in her pre-teens, but the second one was owned by an older girl with burgundy hair. Of course, she was taller while three knights beside her appeared to under her command. She must have been Princess Pina, the one who requested their presence.

Yet, there was a small detail that didn't blend with this room. Unlike the girls sitting down in their dresses, two men clad in black stood before her, conversing with the princess in the Imperial tongue. Their equipment looked familiar, but some of the weapons on their person appeared to be makeshift weapons. Then the princess turned her head towards him, noting his arrival.

The two men in black turned around, revealing their faces. However, one of their helmets had white letters… written in Russian.

Itami's sergeant walked beside him and commented on the foreigners. "Lieutenant, what are the Russians doing here?" She began with a tone of concern.

"I don't know Kuribayashi." He answered. "I hope they have a good explanation why they're here."

When they caught the attention of the Russians, the older one smiled and waved his hand at him, but when he tried to speak it was only in Russian. However, he glanced over to his partner and talked with him. Was he a translator?

After the older man finished talking with him, the younger Russian soldier met the gaze of the lieutenant. "My friend, Uhlman says hi." That was strange from him. This man somehow knew how to talk in clear Japanese. Even with the accent, it sounded like he was talking in Japanese all of his life. There wasn't even a single ounce of the Russian struggling trying to talk to him.

The lieutenant waved his hand in return before they departed from the princess. When they passed by their number, Itami noted the various items on their person. Aside from some old Kalashnikovs, the men had shotguns made out of various materials anybody could see in their kitchen. It was very surreal to see Russian soldiers carry something like that with them. Their military would have bought better weapons to replace them, but why do they have a frankenstein of a shotgun?

He heard the princess speak in their native tongue, catching him by surprise after seeing the Russians leave the room. He didn't understand what she said, given his initial success with the survivors of a village he saved. "Lelei, could you help me out here?"

The young blue-hair girl walked beside him with a staff in hand. "Yes, what do you need?"

"I'm still trying to understand the Imperial language, but could you fill me in on what the princess is saying."

She nodded her head. "I understand." Lelei replied, acknowledging what he was asking her to do. Be her translator. "What the princess asked is who are you and what are you here for?"

Lieutenant Itami stepped forward and presented himself towards the princess and her retinue. "Your highness, I am Itami from the JSDF." He paused for a moment, allowing the young mage girl to translate his words. "We are here to trade, but we don't know why the town looks so heavily fortified."

After he was done, the princess spoke up. "The princess asks are you the enemy from the other side of the Gate?"

He nodded his head.

Then she continued. "Why would you be trading with an enemy? We are still at war, don't you know that?"

"Yes, but it's not for my country. We have refugees under our care; however, they came here to trade with this town."

"Her highness is okay with the refugees trading, but she wants us to meet with the bailiff."

"Who?" The lieutenant asked.

"Legal consultant." Lelei answered. "To watch over the transaction."

"I see."

After the young mage talked back to Princess Pina, the princess began to ask. Then Lelei translated. "She wonders why you are here then?"

"Tell her it's to protect the refugees."

When she was told of this, she nodded her head before replying back to the mage. "The princess asks for your help in the meantime."

"Help? Why is that?"

Lelei relayed his question back to her, but then the princess spoke in great detail. "The survivors of the armies you have defeated now turned into brigands and bandits. Since the garrison can do so little against so many, I am worried if Countess Formal would live to see past the siege. It is strange to ask for an enemy's help, but it would help the peasantry not live under these conditions."

When the mage was finished, Sergeant Kuribayashi raised her voice. "Lieutenant Itami, we're only here to protect Lelei and Tuka while they're trading. We can't stay here and fight."

The lieutenant noted her concern. "I know that, but how long till Lelei and Tuka finish their trade before we get attacked."

"We can't stay here and fight it out."

Then an interesting thought came out. "I know that, but Third Recon doesn't have to be the only one fighting this out."

"With all due respect sir, what are you talking about?" Kuribayashi wondered.

"We'll talk about it after I finish talking with the princess." He replied. "Lelei, tell the princess about those men. Who are they?"

When Lelei finished translating his words, she was ready to give the answer back to Itami. "She says that they are the Polis Rangers of the Spartan Order. I believe they are your men?"

That was a strange title those men fancied themselves with. "No, they're not." He answered. "We don't have any soldiers like them."

Silence entered the room, perhaps it was about the two strangers she was talking to before?

Shuhrat turned the knobs while his needle was changing to a specific frequency while Uhlman stood beside him. When he finished preparing the radio for them, he gave a simple thumbs up and backed away from their only long-range radio.

Uhlman squatted before the radio set while thanking the quiet Russian for his help. "Kuzmich, are you there?" The Ranger asked.

Sounds of shuffling came over as a heavy breath came over the radio. "Da, what is it Uhlman? Did you finish the transaction?"

"No, we're in a bit of a pickle. Turns out we can't trade the armor for food."

"Why not? It's not unreasonable."

"No it isn't, but they're conserving their food to last out a siege."

"A siege?!" Kuzmich exclaimed. "What the fuck did you guys get yourself into?"

Uhlman chuckled at the thought. "A long story short, turns out the bandits that forced those refugees into our care have this town under siege. We're thinking about helping the locals out so they can take our armor and hand us food afterwards."

"Shit, the colonel is not going to like this. How long do you think you can hold out?"

"That probably depends on how much ammo we have at the moment. We can't use up all of our bullets dry since we might have to break out and come back to you. However, I do have some interesting news."

"Do tell, I'm hoping it's some good news."

"I think we stumbled upon some Japanese soldiers earlier."

"Japanese soldiers?" Kuzmich wondered. "They don't have a military they have a… self-defense force. Hold on a moment, you think that Japan survived the bombs?"

"Maybe, but all I know is that they seemed surprised to see us."

"Have you made proper contact with them yet?"

"No, not at all." Uhlman answered. "We just got out of a meeting with a princess."

"A princess? This world is getting weirder every day."

"It's almost as if we were in a fairy tale."

"Ladna, see if you can get some help from the JSDF and maybe you could break the siege. It would be better if it was the army, but don't get yourselves killed over nothing." Kuzmich warned. "You guys stay safe."

"No worries. My jokes will keep them away."

"Very funny. Good luck out there."

When the meeting with the foreign soldiers were over, Princess Pina and an older knight walked together in the cold corridors of the Formal Manor. "Grey, do you think the enemy will turn on us as soon as the bandits are broken?" She asked her mentor, the man who taught many of the original members of her order.

The older man's sabatons scrapped against the cold stone. "It is possible, but they are so few compared to the number of militia soldiers we have. However, I don't think they would want a fight with us."

"Why do you believe so?"

"They came here for their own reasons. I don't believe they would go through all the trouble of fighting us once they're done with the bandits. Unless they thirst for blood, it's likely they'll leave Italica and return to their masters." He theorized.

"Still, we should prepare for the worst."

"I don't think we can. The militia and the garrison have terrible morale. Some of the young men have thoughts of leading the troops out and fighting the enemy before they could bring another assault."

The princess shook the thought out of her head. "As glorious as it would sound, it would be a slaughter. We are lucky that we have enough weapons to supply the troops and a good cavalry charge might give us less men to defend Italica as a result."

"Perhaps we could risk giving enough food for those foreigners to hand them the armor." Grey suggested.

Then the duo stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Those supplies are meant for the entire town. If we share those food with us, they'll leave us to the bandits."

"I understand, but we must consider our position."

To Pina's surprise, she heard a voice behind her back. "Your majesty, I hope I am not interrupting anything."

The princess and her mentor turned around, only to find the woman who accompanied those foreigners. Now that they were behind closed doors, there was a sense of relief to discuss what she knew about those men. "Lady Milena Ela Varnia, what brings my father's agent in Italica?"

Author's Note: Wanted to jump-start my mind a bit. I think I got caught up in the moment before I realized I was doing a bit too much.

muratira: The GateJapan self-declared that the area 100 miles around Alnus Hill is Japanese territory. Yes, it sound stupid, but Japanese in this anime/manga/LN truly believe that territory is theirs.

Psihopatul: These lips are sealed.

Assistant Elite General Matteo: This isn't the first time someone tried this idea. I recall some Fallout/Gate fic where the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel stomped them.

Sky Urchin: Cut the developers some slack. They are an independant studio that just raised the bar in the RPG genre. It's rare for this to happen in the gaming industry. Besides, those glitches are more of an annoyance than game-breaking.

Guest: Read Tachanka's info and re-read the fanfic again. Details, details…

headreviewer mk2: Read the fanfic again.

TheShadowOfZama: Danke Schoen.

Bruva Boreale: Spasibo.