"Let's get back to the half-track." Brooks nodded and ordered the team back to the half-track. Brooks and Grant crawled down the hill before jogging back to the half-track. They climbed in, "We're all here. Let's get out of here before the Imperials spot us."
"Rolling." The half-track turned around and headed toward the Gallian lines. They picked up Moss and the poisoner along the way.
"Brooks, you're an asshole you know that?"
"No, I didn't actually. I trust he behaved."
"Didn't say a damn word. It was actually kind of nice just walking through the county."
"Really? Well, if you want to, you can walk all the way back to our lines."
"No thank you ma'am. As nice as walking through the country is I'd rather not got shot."
"Fair point."
They road in silence until they got back to their lines. The half-track rolled into the captured Imperial camp and they dismounted. Two scouts took the Imperial off their hands. "Grant, Brooks, I take it the mission was a success."
"Went off without a hitch sir. We even captured a prisoner."
"Damn fine work. I suggest you use this time to get some R&R. I don't know when we'll get new orders." They saluted and Jackson returned it. "It was a pleasure working with you Brooks." They shook hands and he walked away.
"Looks like we've got some downtime."
"I heard we captured some Imperial weapons. Want to put them to the test?"
"Sure. I've got nothing better to do." Thomson and Richard walked off.
"Hey! Chole!"
"What's up Jess?"
"Nothing much. My squad just finished patrolling the perimeter. You want to catch up a bit? I mean, the last time we saw each other was three years ago and a lot has changed since then."
"Sure, maybe you can tell me what you've been up to while I've been in the army."
"Only if you tell me what you've been doing the last three years."
Chole smirked, "Well, prepare to be disappointed because I can sum it up right now."
Jess rolled her eyes and pushed her. "Smartass."
"So, what have you been up to the last three years?"
"Honestly, not much. I mean, the village hasn't grown much in the last three years so there isn't much to do. The only real thing of note is when I moved to a small city to learn how to teach. I was living there when the war broke out so I enlisted. What about you?"
"Honestly, not much." Jess laughed and Chole smiled at her. "Come on, you've been in the army for the past three years you can't tell me you haven't done anything."
"It's the truth. When you're in the army during peacetime there's not much for you to do. Before EWII broke out my days were pretty boring. Once it did break out everything changed. The army was put on high alert and that came with increased and harsher training, war games, and border patrol. Once the government implemented an extremely limited peacetime draft I helped train the new recruits."
"Any of the recruits step out of line?"
"No. The drill sergeants made sure they stayed in line. I do have a story about when I was on border patrol. You want to hear it?"
"You really need me to answer that?"
"I guess that's a 'no' then."
"W-NO! I mean YES!" Chole burst out laughing while Jess glared at her. "You're a bitch."
"Hahaha, yes, yes I can be." She laughed for a few more seconds before she stopped. "Okay, I'm done. So, where was I?"
"A story when you were on border patrol."
"Right, Right. We were patrolling our border with Wesel a week after the war had started. We knew the Imperial army was pushing through but the patrol had been fairly quiet. We were just about done with it when we spotted two men walking across the border. They were rightfully shocked when our tank rolled in front of them. The lieutenant demanded to know why they were crossing the border."
"They stuttered a bit before they said they were visiting family across the border. The lieutenant asked for their passports and they slowly pulled them out. The sergeant looked them over and handed them back when he saw that everything was in order. They were relieved but then the sergeant told them they would have to be searched due to the Imperial army being nearby. They grudgingly spread their arms and legs and we searched them. We didn't find anything but when we went to search their bags they got real defensive."
"The sergeant wasn't having it and ripped the bag from one of the guy's hands. Suddenly, he pulled a gun and shot the sergeant; a barrage of bullets tore in both of them and they fell to the ground. Our medic was helping the sergeant when more gunshots rang out; we took cover and returned fire. The tank put a shell where the shots seemed to be coming from and they stopped. We held position while the lieutenant informed our superior officer. We left after a second squad arrived at our position."
"That's a hell of a story. Did you ever figure out who you were fighting?"
"The squad was in agreement it was the Imperials."
"Damn. And I thought our first engagement with the Imperials was at Ghirlandaio."
"Nope. Our first engagement with the Imperial army was at the Gallian-Wesel border."
Bang...Bang...Bang!
Ratta ratta ratta! Ratta ratta ratta ratta! Ratta ratta! Click!
Thomson lowered the ZM MP, "Hold fire for a minute."
Richard lowered the ZM SG and reloaded it. "Let's see how accurate you were this time."
"Don't expect much I'm still not used to the recoil on the gun." He grabbed the target sheet and brought it back. He whistled, "Yeah, that's bad. That's a lot of spread between shots."
"Does that mean their SMG is inferior to ours?"
"No, but I guarantee propaganda will make it seem that way. The accuracy has nothing to do with the gun it uses a more powerful cartage then our SMGs so it has more recoil. How's the sniper rifle?"
She aimed down the scope, "It's good but I wish it had more magnification." Bang!
"How much magnification does it have?"
Bang! "3.5x. I'm used to the 4.5x our rifles use. One of the advantages because of that smaller magnification is that you have more visibility through the scope." Bang! "It doesn't have as smooth of a trigger pull as our rifles." Bang! "Nor is the action as smooth." Bang! She placed the rifle on the table and garbed the target sheet. She brought it back, looked at her hits, and nodded. "Despite those flaws, it's a good rifle."
"That's high praise coming from you." Thomson picked up the MAGs M1 SMG and fired at a fresh target. Richard picked up her GSR-1 and fired.
Ratta ratta ratta!
Bang!
Ratta ratta ratta ratta ratta!
Bang...Bang...Bang...Bang!
"I'm still going to use my GSR-1 though."
"Same. Well, I'm off to get some sleep. See ya Richard."
"Bye."
Bang!
"...Bullseye."
One day later
Inside one of the many tents Squads fifteen and eighteen were enjoying their R&R. "Read'em and weep boys."
"Goddammit York! How are you so good?"
"Let's just say I know a guy."
"You know a guy? Does he know another guy?"
"Yes. And he knew a guy."
"Wait, what?"
"Nothing, just an old joke. You want to play again?"
"No, I've had enough of my ass being kicked in cards."
York shrugged and shuffled the cards. "Suit yourself."
While York prepared to kick Cole's ass again at cards Blake and Justin were arm-wrestling, although, no one was paying attention to them. Blake slammed Justin's hand onto the box and stood up. "Yes! Three in a row! Who's next? Moss?"
"Hell no. I'm a scout you'd beat me easily."
"Sharp?" A snore was his answer.
"Come on, does no one have the balls to face me?"
"You're a lancer, Blake. You have more muscle than anyone here. Can't say the same about your brains though." Sara smirked at him, "Ouch. That one hurt a little. Guess I'll just have to find other lancers to wrestle." He left the tent leaving Justin with a sore hand. "Damn. That hurt."
"I told you it was a bad idea."
"Yeah yeah."
Chole looked up when she heard the tent flap open and saw Blake walk out of the tent. "Where's he going?"
"Wow, you are really oblivious to what happens around you when you're writing."
"Nothing I haven't heard before. Now, where is he going?"
"He's going to go find some lancers and challenge them to an arm-wrestle. Hopefully, one of them will beat him and he'll stop going on about how strong he is."
"One can hope."
"Hey, what are you writing anyway?"
"A letter. I promised my mom I would at least write to her once a week."
"Ah." The tent lapsed into silence for the next few minutes. Chole finished writing her letter and slipped it into an envelope. She placed it in her pocket and pulled out her diary.
"...So, has anyone ever been to Vinland?"
"Vinland? No."
"My family went there for a week-long visit but I don't remember any of it. Why?"
"Just trying to start a conversation."
"Alright, fuck this!" The squads looked over and saw Cole shoot up from his seat and glare at York. "You're fucking cheating York! There's no way you can win four games in a row!"
"You want to make it five?" Cole stormed out of the tent. York turned to them, "Anyone want to play?" They just gave him deadpan looks. "Right. Guess I'll have to find another squad." He stood up and walked out.
"Well, that lasted about as long as I thought it would."
"So, I take it York cheats."
"We've never figured that out, actually."
"Remind me never to play cards with him."
"Noted."
A/N
This story is not dead! I'm very sorry for the over three months it took to get this chapter out. I will finish this story I promise you that. Now, on to a bit of lore that I created.
The Gallian-Wesel border incident took place five weeks before war was officially declared between the Empire and the Principality of Gallia.
During a routine patrol squad forty-four encountered two males crossing the border. When they attempted to search their bags one of them shot their 2IC. The two males were killed quickly afterward. What followed was a short firefight between squad forty-four and unidentified forces across the border.
When Lieutenant Wright was debriefed about the incident his superior officer, Captain Matthews, ordered the whole incident covered up and had Wright swear his squad to secrecy under threat of treason.