The First Contact War

by 1Ragnarok1

In 2621 a Galactic Republic vessel is found in the Orion Arm, this springboards the United Earth Government into a galaxy at the start of the Clone Wars. A war that will test the 2nd UEG Expeditionary Force as well as the UEG finding out where it fits in this new galaxy, and their new neighbours.

14. Assault on Vasel

The First Contact War

Chapter 14 Assault on Vasel

2622 June 30th Earth Standard Calendar, Luke Sparrow with elements of the 3rd armored Division, Squad 7 preparing to assault the city, outskirts of Vasel, 11:00 am.

The OAG campaign of shock and awe had been methodical and ruthless after the breakout from the beachhead. The droid's lines were overwhelmed before they could be set up. With the new SA10c-Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft, the Droids never stood a chance. The SA10c-Thunderbolt was every grunts new best friend, it had 30mm plasma Vulcan minigun and could hold everything from missiles to smart-bombs. With it Luke and Kilo squad were now outside the 2nd largest city on Ryloth. Welkin Gunther, the leader of Kilo squad was a tactical genius if a bit nature lover and kind hearted, His sister Isara Gunther was and amazing mechanic who operated a tank called the Edelweiss, a homemade tank that had the best amour Luke ever encountered. Alicia Melchoitt, the 2nd in command seemed all right in his opinion, while the rest of the squad was a bit hostile towards him for being a 'foreigner', the squad having come from a moon called Mistral, known for its Xenophobia. It also didn't help that the Company Commander was from the same moon and was a complete fucking idiot who couldn't plan a decent attack.

"This is their plan?" muttered Luke in disbelief.

He and the rest of the Squad had gathered next to the Edelweiss and had just heard Welkin relay to them what the Army's plan was for retaking Vasel. Jack and Alicia were facing them, trying to help dissuade their worries while Welkin was looking at a large map being held in his hands. The squad heard what the plan was and to say that it was crazy would be a gross, understatement.

From what the Intelligence Division of the army found out, the town was being defended by elements of the CIS 3rd Infantry Division. They're numbers in the city totalled about one and a half thousand battle droids. They had situated five hundred troops on the Western portion of Vasel and placed the remaining thousand across the river to defend the Eastern portion of the city. The droids were being supported by about twenty tanks and a handful of other vehicles. They also had with them heavy machine guns, mortars, anti-tank cannons, mines, and tank traps.

The plan called for the OAG forces to attack the droids by entering through the main road into the city. There they would break the CIS defences and move on to the town hall. The town hall was where the enemy had set up their command post on the western side of Vasel. It stood right next to the town square which was right across from the drawbridge connecting the two halves of the city across the river. They would then cross the river and take the Western half before the droids could recover. Though the plan sounded solid on paper, the reality was much different.

From what their Intelligence Service also found out, the droids had entrenched themselves well within the city. They had expected the OAG to make their assault from the main road. So they placed most of their forces in the western half on that road. This would ensure that the OAG would be utterly destroyed or at the very least severely crippled should they attack. And if by some chance the OAG managed to make it past them, they had several surprises waiting for them. They made use of the streets to create kill zones in multiple key locations. Several main streets inside the city had been barricaded off to lure the OAG into their trap. And if the droid's position was lost they could simply raise the drawbridge, denying the enemy access to the other side of the city.

The combined Army and Marine soldiers totalled about one thousand men and women. They also had about two dozen Titan tanks. They're numbers were supposed to be slightly larger. But the loss of so many of Lieutenant Read's soldiers caused their forces to be somewhat undermanned. This only added to their already major problem regarding the defences.

And as to make matters worse, they would receive no support whatsoever from the OAG Navy Air Arm, this was because the CIS had started a bombing campaign of every Twi'lek settlement that diverted all Republic and OAG fighters to stopping the attacks. Other than that, the only other problem that the soldires had was with the plan that their superiors had drawn up.

"This isn't a plan. It's a suicide run!" bellowed Vyse.

"Are they trying to get us all killed?" questioned Aika.

Alicia could see how upset the squad members were. She could see exactly why. The plan that Company Commander Damon came up with was more likely to get everyone killed than allow them to retake Vasel from the CIS. If they were going to win this battle, then they would have to find an alternate way into the city. One that wouldn't lead them into a hailstorm of death.

"I understand that you guys are upset-" spoke Alicia before she was interrupted by Edy.

"Upset? Darling, upset doesn't even begin to cover it," yelled Edy.

"I'm inclined to agree with her," noted Luke "We had suicide missions in the Special forces that had better odds than this. Fighting insurgents was one thing. But fighting the CIS is a whole different level of tough"

Luke had done similar missions during his service Mimban. During the war, the CIS outnumbered the Marines 3 to 1, just like how the CIS outnumbered them right now. Luke and his men would often have to go on missions against overwhelming odds in order to defend a recently liberated town or taking a heavily fortified position. Though the odds were always against them, Luke always found a way around it and managed to lead his men to victory. But there were differences between then and now.

"There has to be a way into Vasel without getting ourselves killed in the process," suggested Coby. Just after he said that, Welkin took his eyes off the map and announced "And I think I just found our way in." Everyone looked at him with surprise. They wanted to know how exactly he managed to find a way around the droid's formidable defences.

Welkin laid the map on a large wooden crate in front of them for all to see. The map showed the entire Western half of Vasel. It included all of the major buildings, the surrounding terrain, and all the possible routes into the city. The map was marked with a black pencil where the droids had built defences. As their Intel reported, it seemed that most of the droids were situated on the Western entrance into Vasel. There were also smaller little defensive redoubts deeper inside with the largest redoubt placed around the town hall. Even on paper the droid defences seemed scary. Welkin pointed to an area set at the southern outskirts and then began about explaining his plan.

"This is an old map of the city. It shows that there is a small side road that leads into the city from the south. The road is still there, however there is a large and tall line of thick hedgerows covering the road and extending eastward straight to the river, and westward towards the small forest. If we break through the hedgerow, we can enter the city, bypass the enemy, and head straight for their command centre. All of this while coming from the one place they won't expect us to enter," he explained thoroughly.

Karl looked at him puzzled. She asked him while scratching her head "Breaking through the hedgerow? Is that even possible?"

"Not likely," explained Nadine "Hedgerows here are thick and pretty strong. And our tanks don't have the strength to break through."

"The Army's tanks no. But it's possible with the Edelweiss," corrected Isara.

"She's right. I've heard about what this tank did at Bruhl. If anything can break through that hunk of shrubs, it's that thing," supported Salinas. Salinas always had a thing for tanks. And the Edelweiss was by far the best tank he had ever seen. And he was just itching to see this thing again.

"And the one thing that the clankers have right is this. Your Generals are total idiots. They know the exact area where we'll attack. But the one thing they don't expect is being attacked from the one place that they think is unlikely. And that gives us an advantage," added Luke.

After Luke finished his comment, Rosie let out a light scoff. Welkin noticed her and asked "Is there a problem here Rosie?"

Rosie raised her eyebrow upon noticing that her called her by name instead of using her rank. "What? Not going to call me Corporal Stark?" she asked.

"I prefer being informal with my squad mates. Helps bring down the barriers," he explained.

Rosie was left momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected the kid to be so informal. He certainly wasn't what she expected from someone who came from a military family. Nether less, she ignored how stunned she was and set about explaining what was on her mind.

"Well let me just say this. This whole plan: I don't like it. How do you know this is going to work? What happens if your little toy gets stuck in the hedgerows? Or what happens if the clankers have defences set up on the other side? Explain that then," she asked with some anger in her voice.

Welkin said nothing for a short while. Instead he surveyed the members of his squad for a few second before finally breaking his silence and pointing out "I know this is going to work. And I know this for several reasons. One: I studied Natural Science at the university. I know plants and animals better than anyone here. The second reason is because this is one thing our enemy won't expect"

The squad now looked at him, getting intrigued by what he was telling them. They didn't know where this was heading, but for some mysterious reason they wanted to continue listening.

"Our enemy is strong, stronger than any enemy we have ever faced before. But for all their strength they have the same amount of arrogance. They think that they've won this battle. That we can't fight back. But they are wrong. They know where we'll attack, but they don't expect us to have any sense as to hit them from the flank. Furthermore, they wouldn't expect us to do anything as audacious as what I've explained to you. This is why we'll succeed. This is why we will win today," said Welkin with a sense of fire and passion within his voice He took another good look at his troops and asked them one final question. "So what do you think, will we win?"

His answer was given when the whole squad shouted unanimously "Yes sir!"

And with that, Kilo Squad hurried to gather the gear they would need in order to execute Welkin's plan.

---

Outskirts of Vasel

1130 hours (11:30 am)

The OAG forces were hidden at the edge of the forest, just within 200 meters from the town itself. They waited silently, hiding behind the bushes, trees, and rocks as they awaited word to start the attack. Faldio hid behind a bush next to Lieutenant Read as both of them surveyed the area before them. The land was mostly flat grassland with some scattered cover consisting of large rocks, trees, bushes, small ridges, and the remains of a low stone wall. Finally, there was the paved road that ran straight into the city.

The droids were situated right where the road first connects to the city. There were about five AATs spread out across the line. The droids dug a long trench line that seemed to stretch along the entire perimeter of the town. The trenches were filled with droids, weapons pointed straight at the forest as they waited for the OAG to start their attack. Some of the houses also appeared to have machine gun teams set up inside on the top levels. This would give them extra protection as well as a good vantage point in order to mow down the enemy attackers. And where there are machine gun teams, there will undoubtedly be snipers as well. Finally, the droids had placed tank traps behind their tanks, blocking the Titan tanks from access to Vasel. So before they could bring in their armor, their Engineers would have to remove these infernal contraptions.

Knowing that the time for the charge was drawing near, Read took a look around her to see if all of their men were in position. Each of them were exactly where they were supposed to be. But just as she finished sizing up their forces, she noticed something was missing. She felt like she knew exactly what it was, but for some reason she couldn't put her finger on it. Something's wrong here, but what? she thought. Then it suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. Welkin and Kilo Squad were nowhere to be found.

To find some answers she nudged Faldio and asked "Hey, where's Gunther?"

Faldio look around and realized what she was asking him. But before he could respond, he could hear Captain Varrot shouting from behind them. "Everyone get ready, the operation is about to begin," she announced. The air was now filled with cocking of weapons and the loading of magazines as the Marine and Army forces made their last minute preparations. While they were doing that, Varrot put a hand to her helmet to her helmet comm. Once all of the noise had finally stopped.

"commence operation!"

The OAG emerged from their positions in the forest. With a loud and defiant battle cry, they charged at the droid lines with all their might and as fast as their legs could run. Several of their tanks soon emerged after them. They adjusted their speed so that they wouldn't outrun the infantry but could still keep up with them. From the droid lines, they watched as the humans drew closer, waiting for the right moment to open fire. When the men had already advanced fifty meters towards their positions, the AAT's fired their cannons with a series of resounding booms. Two of their shells missed and exploded harmlessly upon impact with the ground. Another two shells struck the ground as well, with several servicemen killed from the shockwave of the blast the shell exploded. The final shell, made contact with one of the tanks. It struck the tank's turret but ricochets off.

As the Marines drew closer, one of their men stepped on a small metallic device sticking out of the ground. The moment that he took his foot off, the device shot up into the air revealing itself to be a small cylindrical canister. Once that canister was five feet into the air, it detonated, sending waves of shrapnel into anyone close enough to the explosion. This continued for several seconds as over two dozen more of these devices were unknowingly launched into the air by an unsuspecting boot tread.

These were S-Mines, more commonly known as 'Bouncing Betties' to the OAG. These were the standard CIS anti-personnel mine in service. These were one of the more feared weapons that the CIS created. They were designed to be launched into the air once they were triggered. And once the mine reached a height of five feet, it would detonate, and send its payload of shrapnel against any enemy infantry near it. And these mines caused a great toll on the OAG forces.

The shrapnel cut into their bodies, carving themselves deep into their flesh and destroying their insides. Some were lucky as they died instantly due to their close proximity from the blast. Others were not so lucky. Those that were farther from the blast were not killed, but the shrapnel caused grave wounds, the shrapnel entering through the joints of the armour. They fell to the ground, screaming and crying in agony as they writhed on the ground from the unbearable pain. Marines that were passing right next to them grabbed them by their fabric hand hold on the back of the armour and pulled them to cover behind the ridges for their safety. The then ran back towards the droids while the medics stayed behind with the wounded to ease their suffering and heal their wounds.

Despite these obstacles, the Marines continued to charge. Undaunted by the fire from the CIS tanks, they only stopped their charged when the cannon fire was joined by the rattling of machine guns and the loud bangs from their rifles. The Marines broke their charge and ran for the nearest cover that they could find. They had managed to reach within 50 meters from the droid lines, and were now engaging the enemy with small arms fire. The droids fired on them from both the trenches and from the houses through the windows and door frames while the Marines fired from behind tree trunks, stone walls, and ridges.

The CIS tanks continued to fire at the OAG tanks, keeping them pinned down behind the ridges. Whenever the chance would present itself, the OAG tanks would peak out of cover and fire a shot at the enemy and quickly fall back. They had to fire quickly before the droids could reload, their shots tended to miss the intended target. Two shots managed to pierce the frontal armour causing two fireballs to engulf the two AATs.

Faldio and Read took cover behind one of these ridges along with several Marines and fired upon any enemy foolish enough to stick their heads out of cover. Faldio took aim with his AC-160 rifle at a droid armed with a blaster rifle in the trenches and fired twice. The first shot missed, striking the ground while the second shot buried itself inside the droid's head as he fell backwards, disappearing back into the trench. Read used her AC-30 carbine gun and fired on a droid hiding in a doorway armed with a blaster rifle, emptying her entire magazine as she riddled its body with plasma.

As they both ducked back into cover to reload, Read reminded Faldio "Where the hell is Gunther? We could use his tank right about now"

"I don't know. But I know he can't be far," he answered. Suddenly a tank shell hit the ground directly in front of their cover, sending dirt and debris high into the air, some of them falling down upon them. On instinct they ducked their heads and covered them with their hands. As the last of the dirt settled down, they saw Captain Varrot accompanied by two soldiers running towards their position. When Varrot approached them she knelt down as to use the ridge to protect herself from the enemy fire.

"Lieutenant Read, status report," ordered Varrot.

"Looks like Intel was right. These bastards were definitely ready for us. I don't know if we'll be able to so much step foot in Vasel," she reported back. Right now, the offensive had halted just outside the city. And without any kind of support, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to advance any further without their entire force getting annihilated. Varrot suspected that this might happen. She knew that this plan was doomed to failure from the moment she read it. However, they still had Lieutenant Welkin and the Edelweiss. With them they still had a chance to win.

"Lieutenant Faldio. Get Lieutenant Gunther and his squad up at the front. Use their armor to take out the tanks," she suggested, in an attempt to turn the tide of the battle.

Faldio and Read looked at each other with a look like something was wrong, which there was. Varrot noticed it and asked sternly "Is there something I should know?"

The two of them looked back at Varrot with the same look on their face. A few seconds later Read admitted shyly "Um, we can't find him."

"What do you mean 'you can't find him'?" she asked Read with a mixture of surprise and anger in her voice. She didn't think that Gunther would be the type to suddenly disappear under her watch.

Faldio clarified "What she means is that we don't know where he or his squad is right now"

Varrot looked over to Faldio's left to see a Regular Engineer behind their cover carrying a large radio on his back. "You private, what's your name?" she asked him. The soldier turned to Varrot upon hearing her call out for him and answered her "Private Michael Stark, First Company,"

After his response she ordered him "Get on that radio and contact Lieutenant Gunther. I want to know where the hell he is right now."

---

Southern Outskirts of Vasel

Kilo Squad had gathered right next to the hedgerow that blocked their southern entrance into Vasel. They were prepped and ready for the fight, with their weapons loaded and their gear at hand and ready to go. Welkin and Isara were inside the Edelweiss, backing it up so that they could take out the hedgerow with one fast blow. Welkin had ordered the squad to rush through the opening in the hedgerow immediately after the Edelweiss had passed through. As the Edelweiss was preparing to burst through the hedgerow, Luke nudged Alicia's arm and said "I bet you twenty bucks that this plan actually works"

Alicia looked at him bewildered and questioned "We're about to start an operation and you want to make a bet with me?"

Luke just simply shrugged his shoulders and replied "I got nothing better to do"

Alicia simply let out a sigh and rolled her eyes before giving in and saying "Alright, twenty bucks if this goes well"

They then turned their heads looking towards the Edelweiss. Welkin and Isara had moved the tank fifty meters away from the hedgerow. This is to make sure that the Edelweiss had a good chance to build the necessary momentum in order to reach its top speed that would enable it to successfully breach through the hedgerow and create a pathway for the rest of the squad to pass through. Once that was done they would move on to the enemy command centre and enact the next stage of Welkin's plan.

Inside the Edelweiss Welkin sat inside the turret eyeing the hedgerow through the main cannons sights. The squad were lined up along the hedgerow on both sides with them leaving a space between them large enough for the tank to pass through. Welkin smiled a little bit seeing how well everything was going so far. Now he was simply hoping that nothing unexpected would happen and jeopardize the safety of his squad.

Isara was checking the dials and switches to see that everything was in place and that there were no problems, not that she was expecting any. Ever since she was old enough to handle a wrench she had taken a great deal of time and hard work into keeping the Edelweiss in ready condition. She was very meticulous with her work. Every socket, every dial, every square inch of the Edelweiss she poured her heart and soul into maintaining it. This tank was her pride and joy, and she would always take great care of it. Once she was finished she took a few moments to stare at her handy work.

She was brought back to reality at the sound of her brother's voice. "We ready to go Is?" he asked her.

She looked up to him and replied back "Roger. The Edelweiss is ready to go"

Welkin gave her a slight nod and said "Alright then. Full speed ahead Is. We got a battle to win"

Isara immediately took the wheel of the Edelweiss and hit the gas pedal as hard as she could. The tank lunged forward, gaining speed with every few seconds. Isara perfectly aimed the vehicle within the gap between the squad members. About a dozen meters from the impact point, the Edelweiss had managed to reach its top speed of 60 kilometers an hour. When the vehicle hit the hedgerow, the shrubs and branches that made it cracked and gave way instantly, allowing the Edelweiss to pass through the hedgerow perfectly unhindered. It rolled forward for a little bit until it came to a grinding halt, Vasel, and a road that led directly into it, just a few feet in front of them. The rest of Kilo Squad took advantage of the opening that Welkin created and flooded through, taking up positions around the Edelweiss and behind some of the buildings in front of them.

Once the squad had regrouped on the other side of the hedgerow, Welkin opened the turret hatch and stood through it in order to command his squad directly. Now that they had cleared the hedgerow, they now had a clear shot towards the town hall. But just as Welkin was about to order his squad to move forward, one of his Engineers, Karl Landzaat, stopped and informed him "Lieutenant, Captain Varrot's contacting us. She wants to talk to you."

That's probably because she knows that we're gone, he thought. When Welkin took his squad to execute the plan, he kind of left the Captain out of the loop. Mostly because he didn't think that she would approve of it. So when the time came to do the plan, they moved southward while the rest of the main force wasn't looking. He had hoped that she wouldn't notice, but Karl's words just shattered that hope. Welkin knew that he couldn't just ignore her trying to contact them, so he had no choice but to accept the call and try to convince her that this would work. He signalled Karl to hand over the radio, which he did. Welkin then grabbed the phone handle attached to it and answered "This is Lieutenant Gunther of Kilo Squad . Is there a problem Captain?"

"Lieutenant, 'a problem' would be putting it lightly," said a very irritated Varrot. "Where are you and what are you doing? We need you here to help breach the line," she informed him.

"Ma'am, we're south of your position. About to enter Vasel from the south and make towards the enemy command center," he reported in the most straightforward way he could.

There was a moment of silence before Varrot asked "South? How did you manage to get past the Droids?"

"Ma'am, I don't think now's the time to discuss this. My squad is in position to hit the heart of the enemy. We can bring this battle to an end right now. Please, let us do this," he pleaded, trying to get her to allow their plan.

There was another moment of silence that lasted a bit longer than before. It seemed to go on forever as Welkin waited for a response, hoping that it wasn't a no. Then on the other end he heard Varrot's voice speak once more "Alright then, do what you have to do. We'll keep the enemy distracted so that you can proceed. Take out the command center and push them back. But remember, you and me are going to have a talk when this is over"

Relieved that they had been given permission to carry out their plan, Welkin ended the call saying "Roger that Captain. And good luck out there" After he handed back the radio beck to Karl, he turned to his men and ordered "The enemy is ahead. Take out their center of operations, and this fight is won. Kilo Squad , move out!" He then signaled with his hand to move forward and everyone followed the Edelweiss as it led them through the streets of Vasel.

Kilo Squad moves swiftly through the streets of Vasel. Advancing cautiously to avoid being ambushed. So far they hadn't come upon any CIS forces within the city. Even when they would pass by the redoubts the droids had set up if they needed to fall back. Some of the older members of the squad began to think that they were walking right into a trap, while the others just couldn't believe how good their luck was. They continued to advance through the city until they reached a line of buildings that separated them from the town hall. In order to see what they would be up against, Welkin set several Scouts into one of the buildings to see what the droids had defending the town hall.

When they returned they laid out the situation before them. Past the houses, there was a large courtyard between them and the front of the town hall. There was also another courtyard behind the building that separated it from the bridge. In the courtyard in front of them, the droids had a single platoon of thirty men along with a few spider droids. They had set up sandbags along various points in the courtyard for cover and the spider droids were all stationed in a single line. They had no heavy weapons with them, at least none that they could see. They couldn't tell what was inside the town hall or in the courtyard behind it, but it was most likely that there were some kind of enemy force in both of them.

"I don't get it. Normally, the droids would have a bigger force defending their HQ. How come there's only a platoon here?" wondered Largo, putting his knowledge of droid tactics from previous battles to use.

"Maybe what Welkin said was true. They're overconfident," suggested Luke as he pointed to Welkin, who was still standing through the Edelweiss's turret hatch, and was looking at the map of Vasel to figure out a strategy on how to take the town hall.

"Maybe. But I wouldn't count on what the 'Lieutenant' says very much," stated Largo, saying the word Lieutenant with a hint of distaste.

Luke looked up at Largo and asked "You don't think much of him do you?"

Largo just stood there, not even turning to look at Luke. He then said "Kid, I went through four years of hell fighting the Insurrectionists in the War. My friends and I crawled through dirt, mud, and sand to kick them out of Tempest Sector. Now here I am almost twenty years, doing the exact same thing, but now taking orders from some other kid who knows nothing about what we went through"

Seeing that Largo seemed a little upset by his question. Luke just looked away from him and replied "Okay, never mind. Just forget I asked"

After he had said that, the two of them looked at Welkin who was ready to give them their orders. He yelled loud enough for everyone to hear but not loud enough so that the droids couldn't hear them. "Alright, here's what we'll do. We'll split into two groups and attack the enemy from the two entryways into the square. I'll lead one group with the Edelweiss while Sparrow here leads the other group. We'll attack simultaneously, as to catch the droids off guard. Expect the enemy to reinforce their position with their forces from the town hall and in the other square. If we work together, stay in cover, and keep our heads down, we can succeed here," he said.

"Those spiders are going to be a problem. If we don't take them out quickly, they'll tear us apart," noted Wavy.

"That's why we're here," explained Hector "We'll take out those tin cans in one shot."

"Exactly" supported Welkin "We'll have Snipers and engineers set up inside the buildings here. Snipers, target the enemy officers while the engineers will help take out the armour along with their defences if they get the chance. When I give you the signal. You fire on the enemy and the rest of us will begin out assault. After we begin our attack you can exit the building and join us on the ground"

"No offense, but I prefer to stay away from the front," mentioned Cezary.

"Well I'd prefer to be back home in the UK thousand lightyears from here instead of fighting a war but here I am so shut up and do your job jackass," said Luke in a clever comeback which some of the squad member laughed at.

"Just out of curiosity, what is the signal anyway?" asked Elysee.

Welkin simply smiled and answered with "You'll know when you see it." He then turned to his men and finished with a final order. "Alright then, Snipers and engineers take up positions. Everyone else split up into two groups and follow either me and Sparrow onto our designated points. Alright everybody, let's move!"

Kilo Squad was now in position to attack the droids. Largo along with the engineers and Snipers had taken up positions in the buildings near the windows. They were hiding from the as to keep themselves from being spotted too early and ruin the attack. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad had split into two groups in order to attack the droids from the two opposing sides of the courtyard. Welkin's group was situated near the left entrance into the square while Luke's was positioned at the right entrance. They too were hiding behind the buildings to avoid being spotted. The two of them had divided up the marines to help form their strike forces. The two of them would lead their strike groups down opposing sides of the courtyard with the exception of the Edelweiss taking the lead from the centre.

The people that made up Luke's unit had Aika Thompson, Freesia York, Ted Ustinov, Melville Young, Montley Leonard, Susie Evans, Ramona Linton, Rosie, Vyse Inglebard, Salinas Milton, Jane Turner, Edy Nelson, Wendy Cheslock, and Hannes Salinger, Nadine, Homer Peron, Herbert Nielson, and Karl Landzaat. Welkin would be leading his group from the Edelweiss.

Before he could begin the attack, Welkin took a last quick peek at the droid forces that he was up against. The droid soldiers seemed calm, in fact they were relaxing. They didn't think that they were going to be attacked since they battle was being waged far from here on the outskirts of the city. They probably thought that they were simply just going to relax here for the rest of the battle. And probably for the rest of the war as well.

He then turned his gaze towards the right entrance. And from behind one of the buildings he could faintly see Sparrow signalling to him that he and his men were in position. He put on his radio headset to talk to the rest of his forces and see if everyone else was ready.

"Alright here's what's going to happen. When Sparrow's men give the signal, the engineers will take out their armour and defences while the Snipers eliminate a few of their officers. Our two groups will attack simultaneously to ensure we use this surprise attack to our fullest. Everyone, take out as many soldiers as you can before they can organize a defence," he informed them.

From the static in his headphones he could hear Rosie's voice speak into it from the radio. "Leave the offense to us," she reminded Welkin.

Welkin confirmed with "Alright then. Thanks for the reminder. Once the droids recover they'll likely bring in reinforcements from nearby. Be ready for anything, including tanks"

Once again his headset crackled to life with Largo's voice coming out of it this time. "How long do you think I've been an anti-tank man?" he asked him "A couple of AATs ain't no sweat," he added.

"That's the spirit Largo," encouraged Welkin with a grin on his face. "Now get ready to fire. Be ready to attack the moment Sparrow's group gives the signal," he notified.

From inside the houses overlooking the courtyard, the engineers and Snipers began readying themselves for the attack. The Engineers primed their SMAWs while hiding near the windows on the ground floor, ready to attack once the signal was given. These would no doubt come in handy during the fighting ahead.

The Snipers took position in the building directly opposite from the front of the town hall. They positioned themselves on the top floor, giving them a clear vantage point over the courtyard, enabling them to spot multiple targets. They placed themselves on opposite ends of the buildings in groups of two, as it was customary for snipers to travel in pairs, though Marina quite loathed the idea due to the fact that she preferred to work alone. She and Cezary took one side while Oscar and Catherine took the other end. They were already crouching at the windows, staying in the shadows to avoid being spotted. Their rifles barely stuck out of the windows as they looked through the scopes of their rifles, scanning the courtyard for officers and other lucrative potential targets.

Meanwhile Luke's men were finally ready to begin. After Luke finished loading a fresh magazine into his M416, he turned to Aika and asked her "Are ya ready?"

She nodded in affirmation as she showed him her rifle. She had attached a grenade launcher underneath her rifle near the muzzle. The grenade being used was the same grenade that their infantry was carrying, being inserted into a small hollow tube handle first. The device was linked to the trigger of her rifle so it allowed her to fire the grenade without firing a bullet at the same time.

Luke turned to the courtyard and pointed at a lonely parked truck.

"See that truck over there? Blast it to pieces," he ordered Aika.

Aika then took a few steps forward ahead of the group before kneeling in the middle of the road, the truck squarely in her sights. She took her rifle and raised it into the air in a steep acute angle. She waited a few moments before firing, steadying her breathing to avoid missing her target by a few mere inches because her aiming was off a few degrees. She applied slight pressure to the trigger, readying herself to launch her deadly package into the air.

Without a moment's hesitation, she pulled the trigger, launching the grenade into the air once she was one hundred percent sure that she had it right on target. The grenade flew through the air, spinning as it was glided through the air. It began its descent once it reached its maximum height. As it continued to fall to the ground, it's path for descent got it closer and closer to the truck. It landed a few feet from the truck, it's forward momentum forcing it to continue forward. It clattered forward along the stone courtyard, only stopping when it was under the truck, directly underneath where the truck's engine was located.

It laid there, completely silent, until it triggered the explosive charge inside the casing. The grenade exploded violently, causing a chain reaction with the truck. Some of the red hot shrapnel released when the grenade exploded forced itself upwards, cutting its way through the metal parts of the engine. The damage the shrapnel caused would have just made the engine useless if not for one of them carving its way into the container that carried the gas for the truck. The red hot shrapnel, combined with the gas and fumes in the tank, created a violent result. The gas ignited, resulting a violent explosion that came out of the truck. It engulfed the truck in a ball of red fire and black smoke that caused the Separatist soldiers in the courtyard to either run for cover or turn their head to the sound of the explosion while ducking on instinct at the same time. Others that were near the truck when it was destroyed were killed instantly in the shock wave from the blast and were thrown like rag dolls across the courtyard.

Realizing that the explosion was the signal, Largo and the engineers sprung into action. They stepped into view from the windows and fired their warheads at the confused and bewildered droid forces. Largo along with Jann, Nils, and Hector fired at a line of deactivated spider droids all nicely in a row. The droids did this to help protect against anyone tampering with them. It also made them easy targets for enemy forces. They fired their warheads, each one flying through the air so fast the naked eye couldn't catch them. They hit their targets, slicing through their thin armour like a hot knife cutting through butter. Each of the Spider droids were knocked out of action as they became engulfed in a large explosion. The remaining engineers fired the warheads into the courtyard itself, hoping to knock out any defences or droids caught in the blast. Two of the warheads missed completely, exploding harmlessly in the courtyard. The others struck hard, some obliterating lines of sandbags as the rest killed groups of droids stumbling around, trying to figure out what was going on.

Then the Snipers came into play. During the initial carnage caused by the grenade fired by Aika and the devastation created by the engineers, they had been keeping tabs on where the enemy officers were as events were playing out. They never left their sight as the crosshairs of their sniper rifles continued to keep a calm and steady bead on their heads. After the explosions had subsided, the four snipers fired their weapons in harmonious sync, knocking out four droid commanders simultaneously with a single, fatal shot to the head. They fell to the ground, slumped over the pavement, dead as door nails.

Now that there was just enough carnage and confusion going on, the time had come to launch the full force of the attack. Welkin climbed back into the turret and quickly readied the main cannon for battle. Then he yelled into his radio headset as loud and clear as he could "Kilo Squad. move out!" And with that the Edelweiss moved forward at full speed followed closely behind by Alicia and the other Squad 7 members. Seeing them move out, Luke's group followed suit and moved out towards the droid defences.

For the Droids in the courtyard, they stood around, still trying to figure out what had just happened. Their light vehicles had just been destroyed along with several of their defences and killing almost two dozen of their people. Had they just been attacked? It was most likely, but by what? OAG soldiers? No, the OAG were all on the outskirts trying to desperately break through their lines. Could it have been enemy artillery? That was more likely, but how? The hits were seemingly all too accurate to be artillery. They would have needed a spotter in order to convey the coordinates for where the artillery should strike. And that would of been more improbable due to the fact that the droids had complete control of Vasel. What the hell had just happened?

As they stumbled around, licking their wounds and scratching their heads, a single droid closest to the two entrances into the courtyard began hearing a strange noise coming from one of those entrances. He quickly grabbed its rifle and began slowly walking towards the entrance to investigate. As it drew closer, he could hear the strange noise grow louder and louder. It was as if whatever contraption was causing it was drawing closer and closer to the courtyard at an amazingly fast speed. The sound was vaguely familiar to the soldier, as he had remembered hearing something like that somewhere. it suddenly hit him as he remembered what it was. That was the sound of a tank. Maybe it was one of their AAT coming back to help investigate what had happened.

Its thoughts soon turned to shock and fear as he saw the tank coming around the corner. It wasn't one of their tanks. The color scheme was that of OAG tanks and the design was similar to their tanks but it wasn't a model he had ever seen before. When he saw soldiers dressed in armour with the same colour following behind the tank as well as from the other entrance into the courtyard he suddenly realized what was going on. They were being attacked by the OAG marines.

In complete panic he ran to his comrades as fast as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs and arms flailing wildly in the air. Trying to warn his comrades he yelled as loud as he could "They've broken through! The OAG are here!" Its fellow soldiers turned towards him to see what all the commotion was about. Only after a second after laying eyes on him did they notice the Marines charging behind him. The rest of them immediately fell into panic as they wildly raced around to try and organize some kind of a response to what was happening. Most ran towards the town hall to take position behind the sandbags. A few stayed behind and fired their weapons at the Edelweiss in a vain attempt to try and hold them.

The lasers ricocheted off the Edelweiss's hull like rocks thrown upon a building. It's coaxial plasma machine gun unleashing a long burst at the droids. The plasma buzzed all around them due to the Edelweiss's aim being off a little due to it charging forward. But little by little they were all struck down by the machine guns withering fire.

Kilo Squad continued their advance up until they reached the wrecks of the truck and the spider droids, still smoking from the recent bombardment. The Edelweiss stood between the wrecks, angling itself into a wall to protect the squad from enemy shots. The squad took cover behind the Edelweiss along with finding cover behind the wrecks and a few lines of sandbags situated in front of them. By this time the droids had gotten their bearings together and had establish a small defensive line. The remaining droids in the courtyard had taken positions behind the few sandbags that were directly in front of the town hall. And the droids that were already inside the town hall had broken the windows with their weapons and were now taking pot shots at Kilo Squad from the windows on all five floors. Kilo Squad responded in the same manner, firing at any droids crazy enough to stick their heads up.

Things were that way for a while until the droids set up a machine gun on a second-story window just above the front entrance to the town hall. They had set it up on a bipod and fired upon the marines from above. It currently had set its sights on Alicia, Rosie, and Largo who were being pinned behind a wall of sandbags. Using it as a shield to protect themselves from the immense amount of laser that the weapon was firing at them.

"Goddammit! How did the droids get this much firepower?" yelled Rosie as she tried to wrap her head around what was going on.

Alicia looked at Largo and asked him "Was it like this during the War?" After she said that, a few lasers hit the sandbags near her head, causing her to flinch and squeal a little in surprise. Largo managed to answer her question with "Yeah. Though they seemed to have improved their arsenal since then"

"One thing you can trust about the droids," announced Luke who was firing his M416 from cover behind one of the wrecked spider droids. The trio looked towards him as he fired another burst from his gun at one of the droids firing from the windows. He then ducked back into cover before finishing with "They're really good at designing things to kill people with"

"Well, we're going to need to figure out a way to deal with them so we can take the building," informed Largo taking into account their current situation.

"Leave that to me," shouted Welkin. Now they all looked to see him out of the turret hatch. He was manning the plasma machine gun mounted on the turret to try and give suppressive fire for his troops. His plasma either pierced the thin walls travelling into the interior of the building or striking the bodies of droids firing from the windows or from behind the sandbags. He had managed to kill about ten with this method so far, but he had an idea as to how to end this much quicker. Letting go of the heavy machine gun, he climbed back into the Edelweiss and closed the hatch leading into the tank.

For a few second the four of them wondered what the hell he was going to do next. Suddenly, the Edelweiss began to aim it's cannon straight at the front door of the town hall. A few seconds after pinpointing where the shell would hit, the Edelweiss fired its main gun, the shell striking right in the middle of the door. The explosion from the shot was so massive that it created a massive hole in the front of the building. Almost the entire front portion of the town hall had disintegrated into thousands of pieces of rubble that flew all around them through the air. The droids that were on the street were pummelled from sheer force of the rubble colliding with their bodies. The members of Kilo Squad however managed to avoid it by quickly using their covered to shield themselves from the blast. When the dust from the explosion settled and the rubble stopped falling, they peaked their heads back out and saw the devastation the shell created.

Rubble littered throughout the ground in front of them, with heaps of it surrounding the building. The droids in the courtyard laid dead upon the ground, their bodies bruised and bloody from the blunt force trauma given to them by the rubble. Flying gently through the air were hundreds of shreds of burnt paper. These must have come from documents littered all over the building. They then saw that at ground zero of where the shell hit, the inside of the town hall was so demolished that only a few of the supports along with the rear wall remained standing. It was also safe to assume that most of the Separatists hiding inside the building were killed, wounded, or dazed from the impact.

"High-explosive Plasma shells," noted Luke "Always good for demolishing buildings"

"Tee hee hee. Kaboom," mumbled Cheslock who was standing beside Luke, staring at awe at the devastation the shell created with a large grin on her face.

Alicia peaked her head from cover to survey the damage. She judged that from the scale and impact, that it was probably safe to try and see if the building was secure. She looked to Sparrow and ordered "Gather some men and follow me. We're going to see if anyone survived that"

Luke nodded in agreement before looking at the solder next to him and yelled "You buggers heard the lady. Get moving!"

Alicia vaulted over the sandbags followed closely by Luke along with several other Squad members. The rest of the squad stayed behind, watching as their comrades moved forward to confirm whether the building was clear. They advanced steadily and cautiously over the rubble and slain bodies of their enemies. They had their weapons drawn and ready, scanning the remains of the building for any droids who survived.

Just as they were about to enter what remained of the building, one of them spotted a hand sticking out from behind the ruins of a wall holding a torn piece of white cloth. They immediately froze where they stood as the figure came out from hiding, revealing itself as a female Twi'lek soldier. She appeared to be the same age as Alicia, except slightly taller. Her clothes were covered with dust and torn in several different places. She appeared to have a large cut on her leg and blood was very slowly coming out from it. Her face held the expression of a person defeated and without hope. She slowly limped towards kilo Squad hands raised in the air, still holding that white cloth.

She didn't make two steps before Jane took aim with her sub-machine gun and fired a quick burst before Noce grabbed her gun by the barrel and diverted its aim away from the soldier before she could continue to fire. The burst she fired missed the soldier who has instinctively dropped to the ground to avoid being shot. The soldier then laid on the ground, quivering like a scared child while shielding her head with her arms.

Noce and Jane were still wrestling each other for her the gun before Luke got in the middle of them. He wrenched the gun from their hands and pushed the two of them away from each other. "Enough, both of you!" he shouted to the both of them. Before he could say anything more, he looked to see Welkin strolling towards them with an angry look on his face. He stopped in front of Jane and demanded "Would you like to tell me what the hell that was all about?"

Jane answered him with nothing but silence and the same angry look that she had on her face from day one. After a few seconds of nothing Welkin looked towards luke and Alicia and signaled for both of them to follow him. The three left the group and walked over to the CIS sympathizer still quivering on the ground. She looked up to see the three of them standing in front of her. Slowly she got back up on her feet, seemingly shook up from Jane trying to kill her.

Seeing how scared she was Welkin put his hands in view to show her he wasn't going to hurt her. He then stated calmly and in a soft voice "It's alright. You're going to be alright now" His words seemed to have a calming effect on her as she seemed to become a little less tense. Wanting to keep the conversation going he nudged Luke in the shoulder and told him "Ask her if she speaks any English."

Luke then relayed the question to the woman whom responded modestly with a stutter "Um...little bit." Her accent didn't sound southern-like exactly. More likely that she came from a region in Eastern Ryloth.

"Is there anyone else inside?" asked Alicia.

"Yes...yes," the Twi'lek mumbled.

"Can you tell them to come out?" she asked.

"You...not shoot? Right?" she questioned in English as best as she could. She was still a little worried that someone like Jane would shoot at them again as they exited the building.

"We won't shoot. You have my word," Welkin assured her.

The woman looked at Welkin not sure whether to believe him or not. She thought it over a few times before coming to a conclusion. From his looks and how he spoke, the young man seemed almost genuine. Maybe he meant what he was saying. With a deep sigh she turned towards the building and shouted "Eti kella. Etum a nepas de tu" Then out from the wall walked out about a dozen Twi'leks soldiers. They looked like they were in the exact same condition as she did, all with their hands raised. They calmly walked out and formed a small line beside the woman.

When they were all finished lining up. Welkin look over back to the main group of Kilo Squad and ordered "Largo, Rosie. Take a few people and have these people situated. And keep Jane away from them, their prisoners of war now"

The two of them nodded and went on to gather a group to lead their new friends away. Welkin then turned over to Alicia and Luke to give them their orders. "Alicia, take Noce and Jane somewhere away from all of this. I'll deal with them later. Sparrow, take what's left of the group and search the building. I'll go and inform the Captain that we've taken the town hall via radio" They nodded in agreement and set out to follow their orders.

Welkin then left them and approached Homer and Ramsey who had just finished setting up the radio. He told them to make contact with Varrot and inform her that Kilo Squad had succeeded.

---

2622 July 1st Earth Standard Calendar, Luke Sparrow with elements of the 3rd armored Division, Kilo Squad Western half of Vasel, 10:30 am.

Boom! An AAT tank fired another shot at the Marines defending the Western bridgehead. The shell let out a kind of shriek as it blazed through the air. The shell was intended for one of the Edelweiss but the droid gunner was probably off his aim just a little bit because the shell instead struck the ground mere inches from the tank's treads. The force of the explosion caused the tank to rock a bit, probably shaking up the crew inside a little bit too. It fired back at the droids, but it had the same result as the last one. The shell struck the sloped frontal armour, deflecting the shot upward in the air with its impact causing very little damage to the tank itself.

The battle over the bridge itself had become somewhat of a stalemate early on. The Marines and took cover behind the piles of rubble and some of the tank ruins that were scattered across the bridge. Leftovers from the initial Droid conquest of Vasel. The Edelweiss was behind them, taking pot shots at the advancing droid forces and then retreating back into cover before they would have a chance to return fire. The pathway across the bridge was very wide, about the width of four city roads lined up side by side. The droids placed four AAT tanks in a line to act as the spearhead of their big push. They acted as a shield for the infantry advancing behind them, who continually peaked out of cover to fire on the OAG infantry. Their tanks were advancing at a snail's pace.

Luke fired a burst from his M416 at the droids. From this distance Luke had to set up the M416 on its bipod that came out of its grip, allowing him to steady my aim. Everything seems to be going to hell. he knew he'd been in worst situations but he couldn't see a way to beat this. If the droids kept this up, they'll be rolling over out corpses within half an hour. He looked again down the sights of his weapon and line up on a lone droid that's been firing from the side of the AAT tank on the far left. Slowing my breathing, I line up the sights directly with his head. With a simple tug on the trigger, the M416 empties the last of its ammo on the droid. He appears to stumble a bit before finally falling hard upon the ground.

A soft smile appeared on his face. Suddenly he saw one of the droid tanks begin to line up another shot. And from the direction it was traversing and the angle of the gun, it looks like it was going to be aiming right for him. Instinctively, he rolled over and crouch behind the pile of bricks, dust, and other debris that he was using for cover. He didn't think that this will offer much protection against a tank shell, but it was better than standing out in the open with a target painted on his chest. For some reason he got an idea, he peaked his head out to see the tank fire it's salvo. he waited for the blast, knowing it was aimed for him. But instead, the shot flies over his head, so close that he could feel the air ripples through over his helmet and the whistling as it flew by.

He looked back behind him to see a group of Marines from Bravo Squad and the rubble they were using from cover destroyed in the hit from the tank shell. It must have been a high explosive shot because the size of the blast was immense. Rubble flew everywhere with much of it being shot upwards into the air. He tucked my head in to his chest and clenched his helmet to his head as the rubble came crashing back towards the ground. A few of them hit him on their way down, but it didn't do much to wound him. Just pound him up a little bit.

Once the falling rubble had subsided, he raised his head to take a look at the position that was hit. He could only gaze on emotionlessly at what he was seeing. Their cover had been completely torn apart. Whatever soldiers that were there were either vaporized by the blast or laid across the battlefield. A few were already dead, with some of their limbs separated completely from their bodies and strewn across the ground as if they were rag dolls. Some were covered in blood, crying in agony as they writhed on the pavement like babies. Their cries silenced as machine gun laser ripped into their flesh. The cries were replaced by utter silence, and they laid upon where they died, their faces frozen with pain.

"Sir!? Sir! What do we do Sir? Sir!" these words brought Luke back to reality from his thoughts. He searched around and found himself being shaken by Private Oscar Bielert, one of their snipers. He had taken cover behind the same cover that Luke was using and noticed that he was dazing out. When he was asking him what they should do, he got nothing but a blank stare from him. Out of ideas, he grabbed him by his duster and began violently shaking him, hoping to knock him back into reality.

"Okay, okay, you can let go of me now Private," ordered Luke, now having regained control of his senses. Oscar, realizing that he was still clutching Luke's duster, let go of him and grabbed his sniper rifle that was still slung over his shoulder. "So what do we do now?" he asks, keeping his head down to avoid the incoming machine gun fire coming from the droids.

Luke looked at him puzzled with his request. "Why are you asking me? Your Lieutenant's over there," he questioned pointing at the Edelweiss which had just finished firing another shot at the enemy before retreating back to cover.

"I'm not running all the way over there, dodging all these lasers flying all around me," explained Oscar. Luke took a few moments to ponder what he just said before understanding what he saying. If he tried to get to Welkin by running he would have most likely gunned down by the advancing droids. He surveyed the area around him and saw Largo and Rosie taking cover behind a large pile of rubble on the other side of the bridge. Rosie was firing a AC-160 she had managed to get her hands on while Largo had a rifle instead of the AC-30 he usually carried.

Luke knew that he had to reach them so that they could at least come up with a plan together. But he still had a small problem. The AATs that were slowly advancing towards them were still blasting away at them with cannons and machine gun fire. Now the commanders of each of those tanks were standing through the top turret hatch. Luke wasn't worried about the lasers coming from the hull and machine guns. But those guys firing away at him from on top of the turrets could hit him more accurately and were more likely to kill him.

But he had Oscar with him, and that helped give him a plan. He looked over to Oscar and told him "Use your rifle and take out one of those gunners. Once you take out one of them I'll run as fast as I can towards the next piece of cover. We keep doing this until I get to Largo and Rosie. Got it?" Oscar nodded in acknowledgment as he took his rifle and loaded a fresh clip of plasma into the magazine. He then placed the butt of his rifle against his shoulder as he looked through the scope to line up a target. From the magnifying lens he was looking through, he was lining up the crosshairs upon the machine gunner on the far left of the line of tanks. Oscar calmly steadied his breathing as to not throw off his aim, and with a slight pressure on the trigger the rifle fired a single shot that landed squarely between the gunner's eyes. The force of the impact sent him backwards before he slumped forward, disappearing behind the tank.

"Go sir, now!" yelled Oscar as he loaded the rifle for another shot. Without a moment to lose he got to his feet and dashed forward towards the first piece of cover he could see. He charged as fast as he could, trying his best to not get hit by the droid lasers whizzing by his head as the droids simply fired at what they saw as a Marine who had leaped blindly out of cover. As Luke was rushing he kept hoping that that he would be lucky enough to not be killed by his plan which seemed crazy now that he was actually doing it. When he was within a few feet of the piece of cover he instinctively leaped forward, landing on his side right behind it. He then slowly got back up, kneeling behind the pile of rubble. Luke peaked his head up and managed to catch a glimpse of Oscar sniping another gunner in the line along with a second one a few seconds later.

Once again, Luke got back on his feet and ran towards the next piece of cover, this time it was the next one that Largo and Rosie were behind. He had managed to make within a few yards of them before an explosion directly behind him sent him flying forward, landing only directly behind the two. In his mad rush towards the two, he failed to notice one of the AAT taking aim at him with its main cannon. The turret of the tank slowly traversed as it tried to keep up with the running Brit. Thankfully it fired a second too late, landing directly behind Luke. The blast managed to daze him and give him a few cuts and bruises, but not kill him. If The tank had managed to fire at the right moment, Luke would have been most likely killed in the ensuing blast.

As for Luke himself, he was slowly getting back on his feet due to being knocked down from the sudden explosion.

"Hey, Kid. You still breathing?" came the gruff voice of Largo Potter as he helped the dazed Luke back onto his feet. He then guided him towards their cover and laid him down beside it, just between the two of them, making sure he was out of the way of enemy fire. He and Rosie may not like him that much but he was still their squad mate so they were at least worried about his wellbeing. Sure enough, Luke managed to let out with a groan "I've been hit worse than that. And will you stop calling me 'Kid'? I have a name"

"Hah. I think we can take that as a yes," laughed Rosie with a slight smile forming on her lips. She handed Luke his weapon which he accepted. She then popped out of cover to fire another burst of plasma but immediately ducked back down when a few droids opened up on her with their blaster Rifles. As she got back down she mumbled to Largo "Shit. We can't stop these guys. There's too many of them"

"We have to hold out," bellowed Largo "We can't let these bastards reach the other side of the river. Keep fighting."

"Easy for you to say," mentioned Luke as the three of them simultaneously popped out of cover and fired their weapons at the advancing Droids.

---

Welkin's POV

I fired another shot from the Edelweiss's main cannon and Isara moved the tank back into cover. The same thing that we had been doing for the past half hour. So far we had managed to take out a few of their infantry, but their tanks were still operational. The constant stream of fire coming from their cannons were keeping us pined behind the two large stone pillars at the mouth of our bridgehead. Blast it! If we don't do something soon, we're going to be overrun. The Edelweiss's armor is strong, but I doubt that it's tough enough to withstand continuous firepower from four AAT. Looks like I'll have to get out in the field for this one.

Without a second thought, I ripped off my radio headset. I looked to Isara and said "I'm going out there. Keep the Edelweiss out of harm's way until I come back"

She responded back to me with "You got it Welks"

I grabbed my holster with the pistol still inside along with some ammunition for it before attaching it to my belt. I opened the tank hatch leading outside, climbed out of the tank and leaped off of it. I began to run towards the front lines where my squad was fighting. I charged through the hail of lasers, moving from cover to cover as I tried to keep myself alive long enough to get to my men. After moving through several lines of Marine squads, I managed to see that my Squad was at the front of the line along with Bravo Squad, both bearing the brunt of the droid onslaught. Faldio and Alicia were firing from behind the pile of rubble in the middle while Sparrow, Rosie, and Largo were doing the same from the right.

I was hiding behind a piece of cover behind them. I needed to get their attention so I shouted to Faldio "Hey guys!"

Faldio managed to hear me and looked back at the sound of my voice. Once he saw me, he signalled with his hand for me to advance forward. I did as he instructed and found myself crouched next to him behind the pile of rubble with my pistol in hand.

"Looks like their throwing everything they have at us," I commented.

"Yeah, no kidding. We have to think of a way to turn them around or we'll lose the bridgehead," added Faldio, peaking his head slightly out of cover to survey the CIS forces pressing in on them.

Faldio was right. We had to do some quick thinking if we were going to turn the tide of this battle. Following Faldio's example, I took a look at the enemy forces without peaking my head out to much as to draw their attention. Or their bullets. The four AATs were still in a line formation, pretty much blocking the entire pathway across the bridge. They were still firing away at them with their cannons and side mounted guns. They had been firing at us for half an hour with those things non-stop. It left me wondering how many rounds those things carried. And now some of the infantry were marching in front of them, right in the open, weapons drawn. The laser coming from the AATs guns were keeping us pinned down while a small squad of droids, maybe about twenty of them, were moving in front of them at the same pace. They would probably kill the Marines they would come across as they were hiding behind their cover. They would be able to eliminate the Marines defending the bridgehead, then move on to hit the main camp.

I then began thinking of a way to beat these guys. We couldn't take them in a head on charge, that'd be suicide. Mainly because we'd be mowed down before we ever got close to them. We could try and fall back to the actual entrance into the bridge and try to create a kind of killing field. No, that wouldn't work either. The sheer force of the droid assault would just simply plow through us. Ugh, how were we suppose to win? It's not like we could simply hit...them...from...behind.

Suddenly, a thought just popped into my head. I remembered hearing that the Vasel bridge has steel walkways on the sides large enough for a small car to drive through. If we could get a few soldiers onto them. They might be able to sneak past the tanks and hit them from the rear. The closer they were to their rear, the farther they would be from harm. It's the last thing the droids would expect.

I turned over to the others on my right and yelled as loud as I could over the sounds of battle "Largo! Rosie! Take a few soldiers and try to flank them! Use the walkways on the sides of bridge! See if you can get them to lay off their attack a little bit!"

"Are you crazy?! What if they see us?" shot back Rosie.

"You got a better plan Stark? If so, why don't you enlighten us? Because how can it possibly be any worse than what we're doing right now?!" mocked Luke, letting loose another burst with his M416. This only seemed to infuriate Rosie as she turned to look at him with a disgruntled look on her face. "Why don't you shut your face Brit?! And would you stop calling me Stark?!" she yelled back.

"Start calling me Sparrow, and I might consider it," he countered.

Largo, who had to listen to the whole thing decided that he had heard enough and stepped in to break up the squabble. "Alright you two! Break it up! Save some of that anger for the droids! Let's just get this job over with," he shouted.

The two of them stopped bickering for they both knew that Largo was right. So they decided to go along with the plan. Then continue their previous conversation later. Rosie and Largo looked at me and nodded, showing that they understood my orders. Before they could proceed with the plan Sparrow looked at me and asked "While they're hitting these guys from behind, what are the rest of us going to do?"

"We'll give them some suppressing fire. We keep the droids distracted on us while they work behind them. That work for you," I said. Sparrow just simply shrugged his shoulders and responded "Well I've done worse things in Delta. This can't be anything different"

"Alright then. Once we get them suppressed you two gather the group and make for the walkways on either side," I explained. The two of them once again nodded in understanding.

Wasting no time, I immediately gave the order "EVERYONE! I WANT SUPPRESIVE FIRE ON THOSE DROIDS NOW!" I shouted. Suddenly all the Marines on the bridge popped out of cover and began firing away at the droids. The droids who were standing in front of the tank were immediately cut down while the stragglers managed to make a break for it to the rear of the tanks. Now all of their attention was on us. It was exactly what we needed if Largo and Rosie were going to be successful.

---

Welkin's POV End

Largo and Rosie, along with their small handpicked team were slowly and quietly making their way to the droid's flank via the walkways. They had taken along Karl, Oscar, Cherry, Ted, Wendy, Kevin, Theold, Yoko, and Catherine as their group to take down the droid rear. The walkway was elevated a few feet below the bridge so they made use of it by crouching down and keep their heads down so that they wouldn't be discovered early, only peaking them up slightly to see how close they were getting to the enemy lines.

When they took another peak, they saw that they were right next to the side of the AAT on the droid's left flank. At point blank range, their SMAWs would have the hitting power to pierce right through that armour like the blade of a hot knife cutting butter. Unfortunately, they realized that behind the AAT was a full company of droid infantry ready to attack at a moment's notice. Luckily they hadn't noticed them yet so they still had a chance to inflict some damage on the enemy armour before they could realize something was going on.

Luke looked behind him to the group and whispered "Alright, Roise and everyone with a gun in front. Theold and Yoko stay behind and knock out this tank" Theold and Yoko readied their SMAWs while everyone else crawled forward, leaning against the side of the bridge for cover, creating a kind of firing line. Meanwhile Theold and Yoko had finished arming their SMAWs were now aiming them at the tanks' side armour at point blank range.

"I'm sure this'll make me a hero yet," said Theold happily. Yoko simply shook her head in disbelief and scolded "Blowing up one tank doesn't make you a hero. You could take out a dozen tanks and I still wouldn't call you a hero"

"Aw, just shut it 'Granny Smith'," replied an annoyed Theold. And without another word both of them fired their SMAWs near simultaneously, both slicing through the armoured plating. The shells moved through the armour, leaving two circular holes red hot from the heat of the penetration. There were a few second where nothing happened. In fact, nothing happened after the shells went inside. Theold began to scratch his head as he wondered why nothing was happening. Finally, after a few moments of scratching and wondering he admitted "Well. That was anti-climactic"

And as if on cue, the shells explode within the tank. Smoke and fire shoot out from the hatch as well as the two holes where the shells had entered. Theold and Yoko had to duck down to avoid the fiery heat and smoke billowing from the tank. The Droids in the rear were so caught off by the explosion that many of them dived to the ground for cover, not knowing what the hell had just happened.

"Okay, I spoke too soon," commented Theold as he poked his head back up. He looked to Largo and asked him "Do you think they noticed that?". Largo just shook his head at the thought that he had just been asked a stupid question. Before he could answer, a droid who had dived to the ground caught a glimpse of him and exposed his position. He quickly got back on his feet and fired a few shots at him with his rifle. The first bullet missed which helped warn Largo to the imminent danger. He ducked behind cover as the droid kept firing. Soon, his comrades caught on to the Gallians as well and followed suit, firing their weapons at them as well.

"There's your answer jackass!" shouted Kevin before firing a burst blindly at the droids with the others following suit a few seconds later. By now the droid tanks had become aware as to what was going on. One of the AAT began to back up to deal with Rosie and Largo's group while the other two moved forward by themselves to continue annihilating the Marines. The tank that was backing up began to turn hard to the right to bring it's thick frontal armor as well as it's machine guns and the main cannon upon the small Militia group.

"Like, how are we supposed to deal with them now Rosie?" exclaimed Cherry. Ideas began to run through her mind as Rosie tried to think of ways to deal with this when a thought began to pop in her head. She turned her head and yelled "Wendy! Get Bielert and Landzaat!" She then pulled out a stick grenade from her belt. Rosie finished with "We're gonna take that oversized tin can out!" Cheslock simply pulled a smile on her face and gathered the two other Kilo Squad members for Rosie's plan. The two of them along with Wendy had managed to grab a grenade as well.

When she saw that they were all ready to commence she announced "On the count of three, we move. One. Two. Three!" And with that the four of them jumped onto the bridge and charged towards the tank as it was turning. As they were running, the droid troops were now taking pot-shots at them while Largo and the others were trying to keep their attention focused on them. They were mostly successful but there were still a few droids firing at Rosie's men. One of the droids took aim with his rifle and fired. The shot struck Oscar in his right leg, just above the knee. He fell to the ground, face first, clutching his wound as he screamed in pain. Karl, who had noticed Oscar's wound, stopped running and instead pulled up Oscar and began to drag him back to cover. With Oscar's arm over his shoulder, they hopped back to Largo's group while Karl pulled out his pistol and fired a few pot-shots at the droids himself. Just as they had managed to reach the safety of the group, another bullet struck Karl in the side which caused him to let go of Oscar as the both of them fell in front of the others. Ted and Cherry dragged the both of them the few more feet to cover and began to try and cool the burn marks.

Wendy and Rosie continued charging at the AAT which was now facing directly at them, side mounted guns blazing. They advanced from cover to cover as they reloaded, inching ever closer to the tank. Often they would have to fire a burst from their weapons at the droid soldiers firing at them. Even taking a few of them down along the way. But as they got closer, intensity of the fire got larger. One of them would have to take out the tank while the other would keep the droids occupied. Before Rosie could decide who would be that person, Wendy immediately jumped out and began to climb the side of the tank, grenade and AC-30 gun in hands. Lasers being fired from the droids either whizzed by her head or pinged off the tank's hull, missing her by mere inches.

As she neared the turret hatch, one of the tank's crewmen came out and pulled out his pistol in an attempt to stop her. He pulled the pistol a few seconds too late however as Wendy squeezed the trigger on her carbine and riddled the torso of the crewman with bullets. Dead, he slumped back down into the turret hatch, leaving some blood behind on the turret. Once he was gone, Wendy took out her grenade, pulled out the safety pin, and hurled it into the tank before jumping off and landing back on the ground. A few moments later, the grenade exploded inside the tank, killing the crew.

Rosie let out a smirk as she heard the boom coming from inside the AAT. They had managed to knock out half of the enemy armour, one more than she had expected. They had little time to celebrate however. There were still two AATs left along with about a hundred Droid soldiers. They would have to regroup with the others and get Oscar and Karl a safe distance away from the fighting.

From the safety of the OAG camp, the Army soldiers listened to the sounds of battle coming from the bridge as the Marines were struggling to hold the line. Mary Read stood among her soldiers as they could only imagine what was going on. Judging by the series of explosions, the screaming, and the amount of gunfire, they could only conclude that the Marines were being wiped out. Some of the Regulars muttered in disbelief at what was going on.

"God, they're getting massacred"

"Poor bastards"

"What the hell are the droids throwing at them Lieutenant?"

Read seemed to ignore the soldier's question. She appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. Her men should be helping Lieutenant Gunther and his men hold the line at the bridge, not hide like cowards back at their own base. Her men are soldiers in the Army, it was their job to defend their systems from foreign powers like the CIS. Turning on her heel, she looked to Carter and announced "Sergeant. Ready what's left of our company and prepare to sortie. We're going toward the bridgehead" Carter, as well as her men had a look of surprise on their faces as they heard her orders. Wanting to make sure that they were all on the same page, he asked "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking ma'am?"

Mary simply nodded her head as a response, a smile forming on her face. With this new information, Carter stared at the man and yelled "Well, you heard the lady lads! Get to your vehicles. We go to war!"

The Marines had now fallen back to the very end of the bridge. Aside from Kilo Squad, most of the other squads were now severely depleted from the fighting. They were running dangerously low on ammunition, and the droids were quickly closing in on their positions. Everything seemed like the battle would be lost, and only a miracle could save them now.

"I am officially starting to regret my decision to volunteer for the Marines," whined Cezary.

"I'm beginning to agree with you," added Ramona.

"If those tanks don't wipe us out that infantry will," informed Luke as he let out a salvo of shots from his M1911 pistol as he had run out of ammo for his M416. He knew that their position was hopeless. Their engineers had run out of rockets and the Edelweiss had no more shells left as well. And he highly doubted that they could try what Rosie and Wendy did with their grenades a second time. Without any anti-armour weapons, they were officially screwed. Just when things seemed like they couldn't get any stranger, Alicia noticed Marina step out of cover, exposing herself completely towards the advancing Separatists. "Marina, get down! You're going to get yourself killed!" shouted Alicia. But Marina simply remained silent like she always was, raised her rifle, and took aim through the telescopic sight.

Through her sight she surveyed the enemy as they advanced towards them. She paid no attention to the droids whose lasers simply whistled past her head. Instead she took aim at one of the remaining AAT, more specifically, the one on her right. She knew that her .50 Plasma bullets would have no effect at all on the tank. Its armour was simply way too thick to be beaten by a lone sniper. But from all her experience in hunting she knew one thing: everything has a weak spot. And for the tank, that was the viewing port for the driver. The driver had a small view port on the sloped hull in front of him so that he could use it to more effectively drive the tank. It was covered with bulletproof glass but do to the fighting, it was mostly cracked and on the verge of breaking. One well-placed shot would probably be enough to shatter the glass completely and kill the driver. And one shot was all that Marina needed.

Once she had the shot lined up, she pulled the trigger on her rifle. The bullet exited the barrel with the sound of the gunshot piercing through the air. In her mind Marina could see the bullet flying through the air in slow motion. Watch, as it glided past the incoming lasers, shells, and incoming droids. And finally, she saw the glass view port shatter into many pieces as the bullet finally hit home and struck the driver in the head, killing him instantly. The tank began to swerve left and right before turning completely to its right and ramming the side of the last AAT. It began to push the tank along its side, screeching along the bridge as it made its way closer to the edge of the bridge. Soon the tank collided with the steel bars on the bridge and busted through them, leaving the tanks to simply run off the edge of the bridge into the river below.

"After that day, I had a whole new level of respect for Marina. She managed to take down two AATs with a single shot from a sniper rifle. Before that day, I didn't even think that such a feat was possible let alone thought that there was anyone alive crazy enough to try it. But she managed to convince me otherwise. From that day forward, I began to think of her as perhaps the best sniper in all of the OAG, and if so, Galaxy itself." -Luke Sparrow

Everyone one stood in awe at what Marina had just accomplished. They simply stared for a few seconds with their mouths agape before returning back to reality and returning fire back at the droids. The droids, now without any armour support, decided to simply charge the weakened Marine line, and charge they did. But just when they were about to reach them. Three massive explosions struck the troops at the head of the charge. Killing about twenty or more in the blasts. The Marines looked behind them to see Read's company along with three tanks coming to support them. With their new reinforcements, the marine's vigor was renewed with both Army and Marines now charging straight at the droids.

The Droids retreated towards their side of the bridge, their forces steadily being dropped by the plasma and shells coming from the OAG. They chased the droids for so long they became completely oblivious, not even realizing that they were nearing the droid side of the river. They realized it only when they were greeted by shells from droid J-1 cannons and machine gun fire. The machine gun's cut down several servicemen while their J-1's knocked out one of the army tanks. The fire became so intense that explosions and ricochets began to surround them. Ultimately the OAG withdrew their forces and retreated back to their side of Vasel, bringing the droid counterattack to an end.

---

Western Vasel 1530 hours (3:30pm)

By the skin of their teeth the OAG had managed to hold their ground against the CIS counterattack. But their losses were very severe. They had lost a lot of manpower in the attack. Though High Command managed to send them some reinforcements from their Battalion along with a few other Marine squads, it was clear that they wouldn't manage to survive another attack if the Droids managed to mobilize another force against them. They would simply have to wait and hold out until the Army could send in the entire Battalion to help relieve them. As distasteful as that seemed for any of them.

The Marines were tending to the defences if the droids would attack again. It was mostly placing the sandbags or reloading their weapons and tanks. Due to them being short on ammunition, they took the weapons and ammo from the dead on both sides and distributed them among their soldiers. Soon the OAG forces in Vasel were equipped with both OAG and CIS weapons. They had also scavenged whatever useful equipment that could be found from the wrecks of the AATs. Meanwhile, Captain Varrot was discussing with several of her officers as to their current situation and their next move.

Near the edge of the river, Welkin and Mary were walking alongside the edge of the river side by side, discussing the events of the previous battle. "I have to admit, I didn't expect you to come and help us," noted Welkin.

Mary shrugged her shoulders before admitting "You did the same for me back at the farm. I figured that this was just me returning the favour"

"Either way, I wanted to thank you," said Welkin. Read was caught off guard by Welkin's sudden kindness. Her cheeks began to blush and she ran her hand through her hair. She looked away from Welkin a little bit before stuttering the words out of her mouth "Um, yo-your wel-welcome, Lieutenant Gunther"

"You can just call me Welkin you know," he clarified to her. She looked at him with a happy yet innocent look and replied "Alright. You got it...Welkin" She stared at him for a few seconds before stuttering out once more "Um, I um, need to get going. Sorry" The next instance she bolted off without saying another word. As she left, her face had a mixture of happiness and embarrassment.

Welkin watched her walk away, confused by her sudden change in behaviour. Suddenly, he felt someone bump his arm, and looked to see Sparrow, seemingly enjoying himself. The fact that Sparrow found something amusing didn't normally bother Welkin. As long as it didn't have to involve with him that is. Though for right now, he couldn't help but wonder what was so funny. "What?" asked Welkin inquisitively.

"Oh you know. I just never figured you being one to get the ladies to like you so much if you know what I mean," said Luke, almost like he was singing it to a tune. Welkin simply stood there confused as he was a few minutes ago. He had no idea what Luke was even talking about. "Um, what exactly do you mean?" he asked, hoping that Sparrow could at least clarify what he was saying.

When he said that however, Luke's expression vanished as soon as it appeared. "Seriously? Did you not see how Lieutenant 'Ice Queen' made a complete 180 in her personality when it came to you? You didn't see how her frozen heart simply melted by your words?" he questioned.

"Did you just call Mary the 'Ice Queen'?" asked Welkin, noticing Sparrow's choice of words.

"Yeah. I heard it from her Sergeant. According to him, when she was a cadet at Lanseal Academy, she had no shortage of guys trying to score a date with her. And from what he told me, that list was long. Every time one tried to ask her out, she turned them down, and harshly. Hence the title, 'Ice Queen'," he explained.

Welkin pondered that information for a bit. So they call her that because any guy that tries to approach her gets shot down. But when she talked to me she seemed different. Not the cold demeanour she had when they first set off from Amaranthine but, more like an innocent schoolgirl. A schoolgirl who has her first crush. Wait, a crush? Is he saying that Mary has a crush on...? Welkin immediately realized what Sparrow was talking about. Upon realization, he began to wave his hands back and forth before frantically saying "Wait, wait, wait! I-It's not like that. T-This is completely unrelated"

Sparrow however, wasn't buying any of it. "Right. So her blushing face and running off without saying a word was just a spur of the moment thing?" he interpreted.

Welkin tried to form a response but the words just couldn't come out of his mouth. No matter what he tried, he just couldn't find the right words to say. It wasn't that he didn't think of Mary as a woman, he just didn't think of her that way. Of course when you took into account her brains and beauty, he could see why any guy would fall for her. But he didn't see why they expected he would as well. Finally, he gave up trying to make up an excuse and gave a weary sigh. "Is there a reason you came here to see me other than to just annoy me?" he asked, hoping that there was an answer that would get him out of this.

"Actually yes. Varrot wants to see you. I think she's going to tell you guys about the next stage of the operation," said Luke. Welkin let out a sigh of relief as he began to walk away towards Varrot's command tent. He was just thankful that the Captain had wanted to see him. It saved him from any further embarrassment at the hands of Sparrow.

Once he knew that Welkin was no longer within earshot of him, Luke said to himself "I gotta tell Faldio and the others about this," before running of in order to get to them before Welkin did.

It took Welkin a little longer than expected to find the main camp. Due to the counterattack they had to move the camp further away from the bridge, so it was a little harder to find than Welkin originally thought it would. Thankfully, after a few misplaced turns he managed to find it after all. Though he was glad to be away from Sparrow and his questions about him and Mary's supposed 'crush' on him. If there even was a crush being discussed here. Sometimes Welkin wondered if Sparrow just did this simply because he enjoyed seeing Welkin irritated.

As he walked through the camp he was met by cheers and congrats from many of the Marines and Regulars he passed by. It seems that Kilo Squad's actions at the bridgehead didn't go unnoticed. All the way to Varrot's tent people looked to him and said 'Hey, Gunther. Great job' or 'You saved our skins here Lieutenant'. A few of them reached out to him and shook his hand as they said it or gave him a friendly pat on the back. Welkin simply replied back with a 'Thank You' along with a few 'Your Welcomes'. He had to admit that it was nice to be recognized for something, though he wasn't sure that he would be able to handle all the attention that things like this would give him.

He was making the last leg of his trip to the command tent before he was stopped by a pair of soldiers from the Regulars, a man and a woman both seventeen years old. from the look on their faces they seemed eager to tell him something. Before Welkin could say anything, the man asked him "Are you by any chance Lieutenant Welkin Gunther, Kilo Squad?"

Welkin straightened his posture before responding back "That's correct. I'm Lieutenant Welkin Gunther"

Upon hearing this news, their faces lit up with surprise and happiness. The two of them gave Welkin a quick salute before the woman introduced them. "Sir, my name is Private Katy Borin and this is Corporal Samuel Hastings. Our fathers served together under your father General Belgen Gunther during the Insurrectionist War," she explained.

"At ease, it's nice to meet the both of you," greeted Welkin. The three of them then began to talking about their fathers along with how they knew each other and the adventures their fathers had during the war. This went on for several minutes before they were interrupted by a man in a large brown trench coat and fedora, holding a flash camera in his hands. When he got closer, Welkin got a better look at him. He was a man of about twenty-seven years old, with short brown hair and green eyes. He approached them and introduced himself "Excuse me, Lieutenant Gunther? I'm Alistair Koller, a reporter with the Republic Times. Would you mind if I took a picture or two of you for the paper?"

"The Republic Times? That's an Republic newspaper. What are you doing here?" asked Welkin, noting the name of the newspaper. If he remembered correctly, Sparrow once told him that the Republic Times is 'the most popular and well read newspaper in all of the Republic and the 'Outer Rim'.

"The OAG is an ally of the Galactic Republic. One that we give a lot of support for. Plus, I'm a war reporter. It's kind of my job. I was hoping I could get a picture or two of the OAG forces here in Vasel for the Times," he explained.

"Alright then, I suppose I can work something out with Captain Varrot. I'll help you get your audience with her"

A smile then appeared on Kollers face as he replied happily "Fantastic! You are not going to regret this Mr. Gunther. Soon your squad will be on the front page of every newspaper in the Republic from Coruscant to Tatooine. Oh, that reminds me, how about a picture or two now?"

"I don't see the harm there. Can the two of them be in it?" asked Welkin, gesturing to Hastings and Borin. "Sure, the more the merrier. I'll also give them a few copies of the photo before it shows on the paper," accepted Koller. Welkin, Hastings, and Borin soon got together and posed for the shot as Alistair began taking a few photos with his camera. The light flashing brightly with each shot the camera took.

From a safe distance away, Rosie and Largo watched the scene unfolding with their disgust easily visible upon their faces. Here was their supposed commander, the young son of a war hero, a squad leader for barely a day, and was now talking to a reporter and posing for pictures. How obnoxious could one guy be? Is the fame already getting to his head?

"Ugh, now he's giving interviews? Who does he think he is?" questioned Rosie in disgust. She then sarcastically spouted out "Ooh, look at him, son of some big hero. Please, he's still a schoolboy"

"No kidding," said Largo, before lighting a cigarette and taking a puff from it. After taking it out of his mouth he added "A few little wins and suddenly he becomes the new Grand Duke. Ugh, I hate kids. Oh well, he'll learn soon enough. Only one thing matters out here in the field and that's experience"

"Yeah well, we better get going. The 'Commander' said that we're supposed to help build defences by the riverbanks," noted Rosie, emphasizing the word 'Commander' with disdain.

Kilo Squad was finishing their fortifications on their section of the river. While the others were building walls of sandbags, Luke was helping Isara with tending to the Edelweiss. Right now he was helping her load tank shells through the turret hatch. He'd grab the shells from outside and lower them down through the hatch to Isara who would place them upon the shell rack. Soon Luke grabbed the last shell and lowered it down to her. "Last one left," he said.

"Okay, got it," replied Isara as she slowly grabbed the shell and placed it upon the rack. Despite her small build, she was still strong enough to carry these shells for a certain amount of time. She then took a count of how many shells they had total, and found out that they were now fully stocked. The Edelweiss could normally carry about fifty-five SABOT shells, another twenty-five high-explosive shells, as well as having an extra rack that can carry another ten shells in case they would need to, bringing the total to about seventy shells in total. They also had four cases of plasma ammo, each one holding 2000 rounds, for each of their three machine guns. So they had a total of 24000 machine gun plasma rounds for their machine guns. Most tanks couldn't hold even half of that ammo cause you would have no more room left. But the Edelweiss had an enlarged interior that helped maximize space and efficiency, so that helped on the matter. This made the Edelweiss more heavily armed than any other tank on the battlefield.

"Hey Sparrow, could you pull me up?" asked Isara, raising her hands into the air. Luke simply reached down to her, grabber her wrists, and began to hoist her out of the tank. Once she had finally gotten herself out, they both jumped off the tank chassis back onto the ground. Luke began to walk away, but noticed that Isara wasn't following. He turned around to see her simply gazing at the tank, her hand gently placed upon its armoured skirts. As Luke walked back towards her, he noticed that she was too entranced with the Edelweiss to be aware of him. luke could see a small smile on Isara's face, which caused him to give a slight chuckle. That was enough to bring Isara back to reality as she jumped a little bit by the unexpected gesture. When Luke stopped chuckling her managed to ask her "You really love to take care of this thing don't you?"

"I do, yes," replied Isara with a small expression of sorrow upon her face "This is the all that I have left of my father"

"Your father? You mean Theimer?" asked Luke inquisitively.

She began to look down a bit and answered "I never really knew my father. He died when I was just a baby. Other than the pictures I have of him; I don't really have any memories of him. Or my mother for that matter. The Edelweiss is really all that I have to remember them by. That's why I take such good care of it. Welks and General Gunther are like family to me. But it would have been nice if I could have actually known my parents" As she said the final sentences, small tears began to fall from her cheeks and her voice sounded as if her emotions were somehow broken. Luke could see this and figured out that he had probably upset her.

Moved to try and calm her down, he slowly wrapped Isara with his arms and brought her in for a small hug. Isara grabbed hold of his shirt and began to cry more. Her tears causing the shirt to become wet and her cries muffled by the shirt as well. Look didn't have much experience dealing with feelings and emotions, especially comforting others, he just hugged Isara awkwardly. Luke simply patted her on the back and whispered softly "It's okay. Let it out" After a few minutes of comforting the poor girl, Isara broke the hug and wiped the tears from her eyes. When she seemed to regain her composure she upwards to luke.

"I'm sorry. I sort of lost myself for a moment there," apologized Isara.

"You don't have to apologize to me kiddo. If anything I should be the one apologizing. I'm the one who brought up bad memories," assured Luke. "I actually have a great deal of respect for your father," he noted.

Isara's face lit up with surprise. "You do? Why?" she asked. Luke turned his gaze to the tank as he explained to her "That man was a damn good engineer. We used a lot of his designs in the Marines. His designs have become the basis of our infantry weapons, tanks, planes, even our warships. I owe my life to a few of the things we built because of him. When I look at you and see how much you put into your work, I think I see your father in you." This caused Isara's eyes to brighten at the sound of his words.

"Seeing all that you do. It makes me know that if your father could see you now, I know that he'd be immensely proud of you no matter what," he finished as he patted Isara on the head.

"Thanks Sparrow. It's nice for someone other than my brother to treat me as an equal," mentioned Isara.

Luke let out a light chuckle at her remark before saying "I'm an Earthling, it's how we are. It doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, or your social standing. Darcsen or not, everyone's equal in our eyes"

"In other words, Earth is a land full of Darcsens and Darcsen-lovers," said another voice. Luke and Isara turned their heads to see Rosie standing a few feet away from them, arms crossed, with a scornful look across her face. He took a look behind her and saw that Largo was standing behind her. Luke's expression soon turned serious as hee asked Rosie very sternly "You have a problem with me don't you, also it was your people who forced them to leave your moon remember?"

"You're damn right I do!" yells Rosie as she stomps towards the two of them, closing the distance quite rapidly before stopping right in front of Luke, their faces about a foot apart. Her face had become tomato red from the anger that had been building up inside her and was now on the verge of coming out. "I want to know how you got let into the Marines anyway!" exclaimed Rosie.

"Oh it was quite simple actually. I just walked up to the recruiter and said 'Hello my name is Luke Sparrow. I'm from the United Kingdom and I'd like to enlist with the Marines. Though having previous combat experience tended to help a little bit too," mocked Luke.

"I can't believe they even let you guys in considering how you guys abandoned everyone during the Mistral-Calth War," commented Largo.

Luke seemed a little insulted by that and shot back "So it's our problem to get involved every time you once independent entities start to bloody each other's noses? We didn't become a superpower so that we would have to babysit you people"

"That's easy for you to say. Do you have any idea how many people died in that war? All because the UEG decided to sit on the side-lines and do nothing? Your people didn't suffer as we did so you don't get to talk like that!" criticized Largo.

Isara decided to try and step into the conversation. "You can't blame Sparrow or his people for what happened," she spoke.

"Who the hell asked you dark-hair?! You stay out of this!" yelled Rosie, now turning her anger over to Isara. Luke soon stepped between the two of them. "Another thing I just can't stand with. What the hell is with you people hating Darcsens anyway?"

"Read a history book! Their kind has a bad reputation and your kind defends them," yelled Rosie pointing her index finger at the both of them. Luke knew exactly what she was talking about. Though he didn't buy any bit of it. According to popular belief, three hundred years ago the Darcsens ravaged Mistral in what was called the Darcsen Calamity. They pillaged, burned, and massacred as they destroyed everything they touched. Only with the arrival of the Valkyrur family brought the Calamity to a grinding halt. As punishment, the Darcsen people were stripped of their last names, right to own property, and have for twenty years been the subject of racism, persecution, segregation, and hate crimes even since the UEG had intervened and annexed Mistral, as the hate crimes started to become genocide. The jobs they were allowed to have were that working in factories and the Ragnite mines, sometimes under gruelling conditions. In an attempt to try and clear their names, their people adopted a policy of non-violence. 'Darcsens do not retaliate' was the line they constantly taught their children. To take the blows given to them and not retaliate back. However, even though there was a large decrease of people who discriminated them, the persecution they had long endured still continued to this day.

Many of the Darcsens decided to flee from their persecution by traveling to the UEG. There they were given rights that had been denied to them for thousands of years. In the UEG they could own property, speak their minds, own their own business, and so much more. But what made them happy the most was how in UEG, it's people treated them as equals. The people accepted them regardless of their so called 'past'. That was due to the fact that although people in Mistral believed that the Calamity happened, there has been no proof whatsoever to support the fact that it happened. And OAG tended to believe in facts when it came to history instead of popular belief. So it stemmed to reason that Luke as well didn't believe in that either. And he was sure as hell that he wasn't going to take any of this from someone like Rosie or Largo.

"Oh, don't bring up that 'Darcsen Calamity' bullshit with me," complained Luke "There's not a shred of proof that it even happened. Even if there was, it doesn't change anything"

"Even if there was proof, how wouldn't that make a difference?" accused Rosie.

"Let me put it like this. Even if what they did three hundred years ago was true, THAT WAS OVER THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO! There's not a soul alive who's been affected because of it," explained Luke. "It happened a long time ago. Can't you guys just let it go and move on?" he questioned.

"No we can't. And we also won't fight with them either," pointed out Largo, taking a puff from his cigarette. Luke then turned over to Largo and began with "Okay now look here..."

As the fight was unravelling, Alicia was passing through the area when she noticed it. She could easily see that it was slowly escalating with each exchange of words and she began to be afraid that it would soon turn violent if she didn't do anything. She instinctively began to run towards the command tent to try and find Welkin. Hoping that he would be able to talk some sense into these people and get them to get along.

Inside the tent Varrot had gathered the remaining squad commanders from the Marines and the Regulars. She was going to inform them on the plan General Damon had given them in order to retake the Eastern side of Vasel. But before that she began to congratulate three of them on their performance during the Droid counterattack.

"Thanks to the efforts of Lieutenants Gunther, Faldio, and Read, we managed to drive back the CIS. The three of you should be proud of what your men and women have accomplished," she said.

The three officers gave her a quick salute before Faldio responded back "Thank you ma'am, we're just doing our jobs" Varrot simply gave them a smile before explaining "It's hard for anyone, let alone a few young Lieutenants to defeat a CIS counterattack. You three should consider yourselves lucky that your squads are still intact" Her expression turned more sombre as she explained next "Unfortunately, that may not be the case after the next phase of the operation."

The expression on Read's face soon turned out exactly the same as Varrot's. Reluctantly, she asked "This is going to upset me isn't it?" Varrot turned her head side by side slightly before informing them "The plan calls for the Marines to attack the enemy bridgehead via crossing the Great Vasel Bridge. The Regulars led by Lieutenant Read will join the attack after the Marines has finished their attack"

The three of them opened their jaws in utter surprise and dismay. Faldio and Welkin couldn't believe it mainly due to the fact that the Marines was once again being thrown into the fire as cannon fodder and as shields for the Regular's. Read couldn't believe it for two reasons. One was that her men were being left out of the fight, and the second was because of how the higher ups were so willing to throw away the lives of their soldiers.

"So what, their just handing us over to the CIS on a silver platter? How is that going to help us?" cried Faldio.

"I know how this seems. I felt the same way when I was a Marine. But sometimes being a soldier means taking on tough missions, even dangerous ones," said Varrot. Things between the Marines and the Regulars now were exactly the same as they were during the Great War. Nobody in Mistral High Command thought of the Marines as anything more than expendable soldiers. Sometimes she wondered if things would ever truly change. "I won't lie to you Lieutenant. Just breaching through the CIS defences alone is going to be difficult, if not impossible," she said disparagingly.

Before anyone could continue this conversation, Alicia burst into the tent. She instantly started panting as well as wiping the sweat from her brow, indicating that she had running here. When she had finally caught her breath she managed to blurt out "Welkin!"

"Sergeant Melchiott? What is it?" asked Varrot, curious as to what was so important. Alicia looked up to see herself surrounded by squad commanders along with Captain Varrot. She quickly summarized that she was interrupting something pretty important. She soon straightened her posture and apologized "Sorry ma'am. I didn't mean to interrupt"

"It's alright, we just finished. Now calm down and explain," assured Varrot.

"It's Kilo Squad. They...they're at each other's throats. I need Lieutenant Gunther to come with me and stop them. They're almost about to come to blows," she explained somewhat frantically.

"You want me to break it up? I don't know, maybe we should just let them have it out," explained Welkin, scratching the back of his head slightly. Alicia's mouth dropped before muttering out "What? You can't just ignore them." Welkin was the squad leader. It was his job to keep the members of their unit together. She just couldn't understand why he was going to just do nothing about it.

"I'm not ignoring them. I think that it's important for them to say what they're thinking. Butting heads over differing opinions can be one way to bring people closer together," reasoned Welkin, putting one of his hands on Alicia's shoulder to help calm her down.

This however did little to calm her down. She was still a little upset and annoyed by Welkin's insistence to do anything. She yelled at him "Look you can't just sit here while your squad is tearing itself apart. It's not right. Now come on!" She then grabbed him by the arm and ran outside the tent, dragging him right behind her.

After they had all left, one of the Regular officers commented "Looks like he has his hands full as it is" Varrot followed that comment with "It's all part of growing together as a team."

Welkin followed Alicia, trying to keep up with her as she ran through the streets of Vasel leading him to the rest of the squad. And after a view twists and turns they managed to catch sight of them up ahead. On the way, Alicia told Welkin that the fight was between Sparrow, Largo, Rosie, and Isara. But what they saw was nothing like what she had described it. It seems now that the whole squad was there, and a few of them were now involved in this. On one side was Rosie, Largo, Cezary, Rosina, and Theold. The other group was slightly larger with it consisting of Luke, Isara, Karl, Nadine, Wavy, Juno, Vyse, Aika, and lastly Marina, though why she was involved in this was a complete mystery. The rest of the squad surrounded them, watching as the fight unfolded between the two groups. So far the fight was simply them yelling and shouting back at forth with each other. And as Alicia and he drew closer, the louder it seemed to get.

Welkin immediately began to try and figure out a way to break up the fight. At first he tried to shout in order to get their attention, but it proved futile as their shouting simply drowned out his voice. He sighed a little bit along with shaking his head in failure. He would have to resort to desperate measures in order to get their attention. Without another word, he quietly pulled out his AC-9 pistol, pointed it upward into the air towards the enemy side of the river, and fired a burst of three bullets in rapid succession.

The sound of the gunshots seemed to work. They instantly stopped their arguing and looked turned their heads to face Welkin and Alicia. They parted a bit to show that Rosie had a grip on Sparrows brown armour. When she noticed the Lieutenant she reluctantly let go of him. Now that Welkin had gotten a hold of their attention, he became more serious. As he holstered pistol and began to walk towards the two opposing sides he yelled in frustration "Alright, now can somebody tell me what the hell is going on here!?"

"You really have to ask Lieutenant? It's either us or them pal," exclaimed Rosie. For a proper explanation, Welkin looked at Sparrow. Luke took a deep breath and explained "Corporal Stark and several others seem to have complaints about certain members of the squad"

"It's mostly about the Darcsens and foreigners in the squad," added Isara before Rosie grabbed her by her shawl.

"Will you shut up?! Who the hell asked for your opinion?!" she asked. Welkin soon grabbed her arm and got her to let go of Isara. He then stood between the two of them, looked at Rosie in the face before scolding her with "Keep your hands off of my little sister!"

The mention of 'sister' caused the squad members around them to gasp slightly and whisper among themselves. Largo and Rosie's group seemed baffled by what they had just heard. This little Darcsen girl was related to their Lieutenant. It was certainly a surprise to them that's for sure.

"Wait just a sec. This dark-hair here is your little sister?" asked Theold, still a little shocked by the revelation.

"How the hell is she your sister?!" questioned Rosie. Welkin then set about explaining how Isara was adopted by his family after her parents were killed.

"Sister or not, I'm not fighting alongside any of them," mentioned Rosina.

"I didn't take you for a Darcsen hater Seldon. What's your beef with them?" asked a curious Luke. She answered back honestly "Nothing personal. I just think their kind needs to toughen up a bit. Grow some muscle, you know"

"We can fight just fine without your 'muscle' thank you. And what makes you say we can't fight? Were fighting the CIS too," defended Nadine with Wavy standing right beside her.

"And Aika and I are here to help you guys same as Sparrow. What does it matter where we come from if we help with the fighting?" questioned Vyse. Cezery shot back at him with "Because this is the 'Gallian' Marines branch, and you guys aren't Gallian"

Rosie than pointed at Isara and the rest of the Darcsens and complained "And cause your kind has a bad reputation, and everyone knows it. How don't we know that you guys aren't planning to stab us all in the back?"

"Are you suggesting they'd give us up to the CIS. Ha," scoffed Juno "The droids subjugate their own people. The droids would more likely kill them as soon as they looked at them"

"Or worse. They could be sent to the camps," added Marina, finally breaking her silence.

"Look the point is that we're on the same side here. Our enemy is on the other bank, not in our ranks," clarified Isara. "And I don't care what you say about me. I'm a human being, same as you. Besides, there's no proof to substantiate what you call the 'Darcsen Calamity'. It's a myth," she stated.

As soon as she finished, Rosie looked to her very sternly and proclaimed "Excuse me!? So what you're calling me stupid now?"

Welkin had however had enough and pushed the two of them aside. "That's enough. Both of you," he said.

"Okay boss-man. We won't fight alongside no foreigners or Darcsens. What part of that can't you understand," questioned Largo, as he took the cigarette out of his mouth, flicked it to the ground and crushed it with his boot. "Another thing we ain't doing, is taking orders from some hotshot greenhorn," he added with disgust in his voice.

Welkin took a few moments for those words to sink in. It was clear now that nobody in the squad was going to accept him willingly. They probably think he's too young or inexperienced for this job. So be it. If they won't accept him willingly than he'll make them respect him. And he had the perfect idea as to how.

"Alright fine. Now all of you listen and listen good. I'll have the eastern bank of Vasel back in OAG hands in 48 hours," he proclaimed. Largo along with the rest of the squad gasped in surprise and their eyes widened. "Now if my plan fails, which I doubt, I'll resign. Kilo Squad will be all yours Largo. But if my plan works, you'll take my orders and like it. Understood?" he finished

48 hours? How was that possible? There was over a thousand droids on the other side of the river. The combined Marine and Regular forces totalled only a few hundred. How was he going to take back the bridge with those numbers? If you compared the two sides, the droids had all the advantages over them. But Largo simply burst into laughter along with the rest of the squad. They couldn't believe that he would be so stupid as to make that bet. When they had all calmed down, Largo asked him "Your funeral boss-man. You sure about this?"

Welkin nodded his head and affirmed himself with a 'yes'. Largo was silent for a few seconds before saying "Alright, challenge accepted. I can't wait to see you hand the Captain your resignation. Let's go everyone." He signalled for the rest of the squad to followed which they did, slowly abandoning leaving along with him. Soon only Welkin, Alicia, Luke and Isara. Once they were all alone, Alicia grabbed Welkin by his tunic and yelled "What the hell is wrong with you? You just made a bet we can't win"

"Look Welkin, I get you want to earn these people's respect but this is just crazy," added Luke, showing concern for his comrade's choice.

Welkin managed to get Alicia to release him. As he straightened out his uniform, Isara began to apologize "I'm sorry Welkin. Sparrow and I were just trying to defend ourselves. We didn't mean for things to get out of hand"

"It's not your fault Is. This is war. Everyone's on edge. And this mission isn't helping either. It's little wonder the troops are all upset," comforted Welkin as he patted Isara on the head a little bit.

"But still, how are you going to take that bridge back in 48 hours?" asked Alicia, desperate to find out if he had an answer.

Welkin began to fidget a little bit as he nervously admitted "Well I don't know. I just have to figure out a way too..." he was just about to finish until all of a sudden his face lit up as if he had an epiphany. Luke looked at him and suddenly began to worry a little bit. He had seen that look before. And whenever Welkin ever had that look, that meant that he had come up with a crazy plan. "He's got the look. God help us he has the look" he wailed. Suddenly Welkin took off like a madman, ignoring the calls coming from Alicia telling him to come back.

"And, he's gone. This had better be good," mumbled Alicia.

Back at the command tent, Varrot was discussing with Koller about his offer to be attached to Kilo Squad as their reporter. He had aid out his case for it in front of her. He told her about how what he wrote could put pressure on the Republic Government to send more support to their forces, maybe even help them send the might of the countless systems from the Republic to help in several major offensives the OAG and Republic coalition were launching. In return he would write about Kilo Squad's accomplishments, and help bring publicity to the OAG Marines. Varrot took a few moments to consider the offer. It was true that the OAG would need more help in this war, they and the Republic clones would not be able to bear the burden alone. And the thought of other troops here sounded like a good idea. However, there was one small problem with the offer that she wanted to address.

"It seems like a good offer. However, I'm a little concerned about what you'll write. One wrong operation could reflect badly upon Lieutenant Gunther's Squad and by extension the entire Marines if you write about it," explained a concerned Varrot.

"Don't worry. One thing that we Republicians know a lot about is how war works. We know that not everything goes according to plan. They aren't going to go against you because of one bad battle. I promise you Captain, this won't happen," assured Koller, trying to calm her down a little bit.

Varrot took a deep sigh before saying "Alright then. It appears that we have a deal" Before Koller could say anything to reply, Welkin came into the tent shouting frantically "Captain Varrot! Ma'am, I need to speak with you!" Koller figured out that Welkin had something important to tell her, and since he had managed to get his deal, he figured that this was his time to make an exit. Once he had left the tent, Welkin got down to explaining.

"Captain, you told me if I ever had a plan I should run it by you first before acting on it?" he mentioned.

"Yes, but what is it?" asked Varrot, unsure as to where this was going.

"Because I have a plan. One that'll drive the Droids out of Vasel completely," he said.

---

A couple hours later

Welkin had asked Alicia to gather the squad together for them to hear about his plan that he had come up with to take back Vasel. They were brought by the river bank with the Edelweiss facing them by the side and covered by a large cloth. Some came immediately to the meeting, while the others they had to drag to this meeting, literally. They were about to start the meeting when Jack came dragging the last two people, Cezary and Herbert, with him by their collars. When they finally arrived, Jack lunged them both forward into the crowd before taking his place within the meeting. Once they had all gathered, Largo decided to get off his chest and asked Welkin "All right, let's hear this brilliant plan. And it's too late to back out. You got that? So let's hear it!"

"We're going to strike the enemy encampment on the East bank," said Welkin plainly.

"Whoa hold it. You're asking us to die for you!?" exclaimed Rosie, in complete shock by what she just heard. "One squad ain't breaching that bridgehead, buddy boy. That would be suicide," she claimed.

"We're not taking on the bridgehead," corrected Welkin. "We're taking on this," he said, pointing to the river next to them. "We'll use the morning fog as cover as we cross the river, then launch a surprise attack on the enemy garrison," he further explained.

"Aww c'mon, is this some game to you boyo? We're less than sixty soldiers here. The Droids have over a thousand troops on the other side. Swimming a couple of foot soldiers ain't going to do much if we don't have any tanks," criticized Largo.

"Don't worry, I have that covered. Is?" assured Welkin while looking to Isara as if giving her a signal. With a quick swipe, she pulled the cloth off the Edelweiss to show that it had some modifications placed upon it. There seemed to be metal coverings around the muzzle of the barrel, the turret hatch, and even covering the large Ragnite radiator in the rear of the tank. They could also see that she had placed a light projector on the side of the tank with a shutter. Along with a few other places, it seemed that she had somehow managed to place these on in a short amount of time.

"I've fitted the Edelweiss with water-resistant measures to allow for submersion. It'll only hold for a few minutes, but it should be enough to cross the river," explained Isara.

"And that is how we'll do it," added Welkin with great amusement.

"Hold on a sec. Ships pass through here. It's gotta be too deep for a tank," mentioned Largo.

"I have that covered. See that over there?" he asked, pointing at the reeds sticking out of the water.

"What is that, grass?" wondered Walter. Welkin nodded his head before replying "Nope. It's Mistle-reed. A tall aquatic plant found in the estuaries in some rivers. I noticed it earlier. This stretch of the river runs shallow. Shallow enough for a tank to drive across."

Largo opened his mouth to say something but all that came out was "Well...I, um...you see." Coby stopped him short implying "Forget it. One look at you and we can tell you've got nothing to say." He then turned over to Welkin and asked him "So what's the rest of this plan you got cooked up?"

Welkin gave a slight smile at Coby's question. It seemed like they were now beginning to respect him. All he had to do now was execute his plan and then he'd have them. "First, Isara and I will cross over with the Edelweiss and clear the shore of any droid patrols. Then I'll send a signal with the projector, telling the rest of you to come ashore in boats. Then we launch our attack on the enemy positions on the bank. Any questions?" he explained.

There was no sound coming from his squad for a minute before Luke raised his hand. Welkin noticed it and asked "What is it?"

"So this is your plan? Cross the river, land ashore, hope the clankers don't spot us, and simply walk right inside the city," he asked, hoping he got everything right.

Knowing that there was more to his question, Welkin responded with "Yes, what about it?" Luke soon set about explaining his case "Well it's like Largo said. There is over a thousand Separatist soldiers on the other bank. How is a platoon of less than sixty guys and one tank going to stop them? You're not some group of commandos here, no offense. How do you plan on getting past those odds?"

"I told you, I've thought this through. You don't need to worry," he assured him. Welkin than looked to his squad, looked therm dead in the eyes, and spoke plainly before them in a speech "Look. I know that none of you think much of me. You don't think I'm old enough or have the experience to lead you. But know this, I'm here for the same reason as you: to protect our homes. We've already beaten the droids three times already. Though these victories seem small, each one is a building block for a greater victory in the making. And hey, look at us. We aren't doing too badly for a band of misfits." Some of the squad members let out a light laugh at the remark. It's true that none of them were real soldiers, nor would they ever be. But their squad has managed to survive against all the odds placed against them. That had to count for something.

Wanting to keep up the momentum. Welkin walked over to the Edelweiss and climbed up on top of the turret. He looked over to see his squad mates looking at him to see where he was going next. They were already intrigued by his words. Now they were wondering what he was exactly going to say next. Welkin continued his speech with "We're going to fight. And we're going to keep fighting because that's all that we can do now. None of us had much of a choice. We didn't ask for this war, to be involved. It was our duty to defend others. Forced by a man who would see all of the galaxy under his rule if he could. But what they don't know is that when you're fighting in your own backyard, when you're fighting for families. The actual fighting hurts a little less. And it all makes a little more sense. Because for them, this is just some place. A piece of land they can conquer and claim as their own. But for us, this is different. For us, this is a home. It's where they were born, where they grew up, and where they'll raise their families. Our enemy would take that all away from them. Take away everything they and we hold dear."

Now he was getting somewhere. He had all their attention focused upon them. Luke could only look at his CO and smirk what he was saying. He makes a damn good speech he thought. Luke thought back to when he first met him. He heard Welkin was a carefree college student studying nature, now here was a commander over an entire platoon ready to lead them in a charge against the enemy. Most people would have that stretch out over a couple of years. But here he was, giving an inspirational speech in front of his men.

"The enemy we fight isn't one nation, one nationality, or one person. Our enemy is an ideology. One that millions of people across the galaxy, even from around the world have embraced. One where the strong stand tall and prosper while everyone left is oppressed or butchered. And I know that none of you will want to live underneath people like them. Our families, along with all of the galaxy are watching us now. And not just them, every planet back home and Ryloth is watching us as well. What do you suppose they'll see? A tiny group of systems struggling to fight the larger CIS? No. What they'll see are free men and woman, standing side by side against a tyrant. And what our enemy will see is the flash of our guns. They will hear our battle cries and they will see what Orioners can do. We will remind this planet and the galaxy that the CIS is not invincible. That they can be defied. That there are those who would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. There is a fire that burns in everyone of us. And I see that fire alive and well in each one of you. Every second that fire burns, is a message that freedom won't die easily. Here in Vasal we'll make our stand. Here we will show our enemy true defiance. And here, as we fight our enemy, we will yell in their faces "This is Twi'lek land. And if you want it, you'll have to pay for it with blood!"he finished. Once he had finished, most of the squad excluding Largo and Rosie, shot their fists into the air and let out a mighty roar. When they died down he climbed down from the tank and asked them one last question, "So what do you say? Are you in, or out?"

There was silence for a moment. Welkin thought for a moment that he had lost them. That was before Largo stepped forward and said "I'm in." Alicia followed along with Isara, and soon, one by one, the entire squad was signing on. When they all finished, they looked at Luk and Rosie, who were the only ones who answered. After a few moments of waiting for their answer Rosie finally broke her silence by begrudgingly saying "Fine, I'm in." Largo was silent for a few moments longer before saying "Certainty of death, small chance of success… What are we waiting for"

Now with the entire squad backing his plan, Welkin finished the meeting by informing them, "Alright, now get some rest. The operation commences tomorrow at dawn. Dismissed"

From not too far away, Captain Varrot and Koller watched the meeting while making sure that they weren't seen by the squad. Koller had a large box-shaped device on the ground with a pair of headphones attached to his head and a microphone in his hand, keeping it pointed towards the meeting. Once it was finished he flipped a switch turning the machine off. Varrot looked at him and asked "You got all that?"

"Yep. All I have to do now is edit it out and ship it back to the Republic. Maybe send a copy to OAG radio," confirmed Koller as he started putting away his equipment.

Varrot then returned her gaze over to Lieutenant Gunther, who was now talking with Alicia and Isara. Quietly she whispered to herself "There's a lot of his father in him. I wonder how much more there is? And where it'll lead him"

---

2622 July 2nd Earth Standard Calendar, Luke Sparrow with elements of the 3rd armored Division, Kilo Squad, Eastern half of Vasel, 0500 hours (5:00 am)

All was quiet on the droid side of Vasel. Many of their men were sleeping soundly in their bunks with a select few keeping their eyes trained on the bridge. Keeping an eye just in case of a OAG counterattack, though that seemed highly unlikely. With their small numbers combined with this morning fog it would be impossible for them to coordinate any successful attack on them. Right now they were simply waiting for their commanders to issue the order for them to cross the bridge again.

Patrolling right by the entrance to the bridge was a lonely droid. The morning fog that had arrived had managed to cover the entire area. It was so thick at the water and around the bridge that the droid could barely see anything about twenty feet in front of him. If the Marines did come across the bridge, his eyes would be useless by means of spotting them because once he did it would be too late. He would have to rely upon his sense of hearing to pick up the marching of boots or the roar of tank engines that would come across the bridge. Of course though, he wouldn't have too right now. When nightfall approached, the Droids used the bridge controls to raise massive drawbridge, denying the Marines a chance to counterattack. Since there was no immediate danger, he wondered why his commanding officer told him to keep watch over the area. That is if he could keep himself from powering down.

Ultimately, he reasoned that since it was unlikely that the Marines would attack, he decided that it wouldn't hurt if he took a quick power nap. He walked over to a small building next to the bridge. The building housed the controls and the generators which controlled when the bridge would come up if a ship came by. Thankfully for the Droids, this building was on their side of Vasel, out of enemy hands. The Droid strolled up right next to the door to the building, leaned against the wall, and quietly slid down until he was siting. He then took off the rifle in his hands and placed it by his side before going into power saver mode.

This meant that he was unable to hear the sounds coming from the banks on their side of the river. There were bubbles that were beginning to surface near the water's edge. Soon the bubbles began to grow in number and appeared more ferociously. Suddenly, the Edelweiss came out and made its way onto shore. Once it had completely settled on dry land, Welkin opened up the turret hatch and began to remove the waterproof modifications while keeping the projector on. As he was removing them he surveyed the area around him and saw that there were no droid forces in the immediate area. That could have only meant two things. Either they were completely unaware of their presence, or they were hiding somewhere in the dense fog. Welkin figured that it was more likely the first one. He then reached for a lever inside the turret which traversed the turret till the barrel, along with the projector was pointing towards the river. He then took the metal slider that covered the projector and slid it on and off in a Morse Code kind of fashion.

He then waited for several minutes, hoping that they managed to see the light even through the thick fog. Then a few dozen faint shapes began to appear in the distance. As these shapes drew closer, Welkin could now see that it was his squad slowly rowing towards the shore in small rowboats. He had instructed them to row slowly in order for them to not make any loud noises that would alert the droids to their presence. This operation depended on stealth and secrecy. And if the droids became aware of them before they could carry out their objectives then they would all be in very huge trouble. And by trouble, he meant dead.

Soon, the first boats managed to reach the shore, the squad carefully got out of the boats and pulled them onto shore. They had replaced their standard issue Marine weapons with captured droid ones since that was all that was available to them at the moment. But sadly, ammo for their weapons were low so they only had two to three clips or magazines for each one of them. They would have to take extra power packs from the enemy once they had killed some of them. Until then, they would have to avoid any unnecessary confrontations with the CIS troops. And if they did, then they would have to make every shot count. Once they had all gathered together, they along with the Edelweiss began to slowly make for the designated rendezvous point that Welkin had told them to go to, making sure that they could be as quiet as possible.

Slowly and surely they made their way through the streets of Vasel, trying to be as quiet as they could. The fog had lessened up a little bit so they could see a bit more clearly and farther than before. Unfortunately, this made them much easier to be spotted by the droids, which added only more tension to their seemingly hard mission. Each of them had their weapons at the ready in case they had run into any unexpected trouble.

They could have been moving a little bit faster if not for Oscar and Karl. Despite being injured during the droid counterattack yesterday, the both of them insisted fervently to take part in this mission, at least Oscar did. After much pleading, Welkin decided to let them take part as long as they would stay behind them at all times and not do anything reckless. Right now they were inside the Edelweiss since it would be safer for them in there than it would be for them out in the open with everyone else.

As they neared the end of the street and began to turn the next corner before the lead Scout, Ramona, signalled for them to halt. She then quietly asked for Alicia, Rosie, and Largo over to the front to see what she was seeing. They walked up to her and peaking around the corner slightly and saw the bridge along with the droid defences they had set up to protect them from a Marine counterattack. A set of four j-1 cannons, two on each side, had been set up behind a line of sandbags placed upon the sides of the main road to the bridge. With their range and hitting power they would be able to hold back their tanks without any little effort. They could also see that on the top floors of several of the buildings they had blown them open in order to place machine guns along with a few snipers to knock out the infantry. And from their position, they could mow down a lot of the infantry before they could cross the bridge. In what appeared to be a large parking lot, the droids had converted it into a tank depot. There was probably about a dozen powered down tanks parked there. Fuel containers, which carried fuel for the AATs, were scattered all around them, with the Fuel inside glowing blue in the dark night. There were also some strange objects being kept under large fabric covers. No one in the squad knew what were under them, but they could guess that it was most likely a certain kind of weapon.

"Doesn't look like they've set up any major defences here. Why though?" wondered Alicia out loud, but in a whisper so that they didn't wake any sleeping Droids.

"With the kinds of weapons they have in their arsenal, they don't need much if they want to kill us before we even step foot here," replied Largo in the same hushed tone.

"That's good to know but how do we take them all out?" questioned Rosie, her voice just a little bit louder than the two.

Before they could say anything more, the AATs in the depot roared as their engines were brought to life. Crew members for the tanks sprinted in in groups of five as they entered their tanks to prep them for battle. While they were entering the AATs, the trio were beginning to hear the sound of marching boots coming down the road. From the glow of the streetlights appeared on the ground a long line of shadows that seemed to be heading towards the bridge. Alicia, Largo, and Rosie ducked behind the corner as to mask their presence while managing to keep an eye on what was going on. Soon, there appeared a formation of droids marching towards the bridge. They marched in a formation of ten by ten men, with their weapons presented as if they were on a parade. Eight of those one droid squares marched past the group and continued marching towards the bridge. After they had past them, the AATs at the tank depot moved out and followed behind them, using the sides of the road as they made their way to the front of the column. After they had all passed, Luke walked up to the trio and warned them "Those guys are heading towards the bridge!"

"We need to move closer towards the bridgehead. We'll be able to get a better look there," suggested Largo.

"Alright then, let's move. But be careful. They still don't know that we're here and I'd like to keep it that way," cautioned Welkin.

The Droid powered down by the control shed snored so loudly that somehow he had managed to not hear the noise of the loud thunder of tanks and the marching of his fellow droids taking position near the bridgehead. He continued to be like this for several more minutes before he was suddenly and rudely awakened by a voice shouting "Get up you lazy bum!"

He awoke flailing his arms wildly before grabbing his rifle and began pointing it erratically as if he was under attack. After a few moments he regained his senses and looked to see that it was now approaching dawn with the sun just peaking over the horizon, and there was another droid in front of him, hunched over and laughing his ass off. He quickly summarized that this droid was the one who had awoken him and apparently the sight of his dazed awakening was funny enough to get him to laugh. His expression began to form into a scowl as he got up onto his feet. When the other solider had dialled down his laughing a bit he growled " That wasn't funny "

The second soldier stopped laughing, stood up straight and replied gleefully " You're right. That was hysterical. You should have seen your reaction a few moments ago"

" What's going on?" asked the formerly sleeping soldier, wanting to know why he was so rudely awoken. His counterpart answered " The battalion is getting ready to move out. They need us to lower the bridge. Come on " Soon the two of them walked into the building. Inside there was a massive that took up most of the space. It was connected to a series of winches and pulley's that were used to raise and lower the bridge. There was also a control panel with various switches, dials, and buttons to help the process. And finally next to it was a large lever stuck into the ground which ultimately was the tool used to control the bridge.

As the first soldier went to work on the control panel, his counterpart stood guard next to him with his rifle. As the first soldier flipped the first few switches, the generator in the room began to power up. The large turbine that made up the centre of the generator began to spin slowly before picking up the pace. As it spun faster and faster, the ion drive used to power it caused the generator to glow blue and blue jolts of electricity to fire out from it, causing the guard to take a few steps back out of fear that he would be electrocuted. Once everything was set, the soldier operating the control panel reached for the lever and pushed it all the way forward. The Great Vasel Bridge creaked and moaned as the bridge was slowly lowered into position to create a straight and narrow walkway leading towards the OAG positions.

Kilo Squad managed to find a safe place to watch near the bridgehead. They hid next to a series of abandoned buildings that separated them from the Droid column while also keeping them away from view by the Droids inside the bridge control building. They had managed to get a better view of the enemy troops that were preparing to cross the first row there were four AAT's lined up side by side with two of the 100 man square behind them. It repeated itself three more times for a grand total sixteen AAT's and over eight hundred infantry, a battalion strong force that was dedicated to taking back the city once and for all. As the bridge gradually lowered into position, Welkin, as well as the others could tell that once those troops made it across, everyone was done for. Even though they had managed to repel the CIS troops yesterday, the force they were up against now was much larger than the previous one.

"That's gotta be a whole battalion. Most likely about eight hundred troops in all," said Hannes.

"Oh man, look at them all. We are so fucking screwed," said a worried Hermes.

"Well Lieutenant, what's your brilliant plan say now?" scoffed Rosie as she summed up their odds of success. She didn't know what had possessed her to agree to taking part in this mission in the first place, but now she was left wondering if she was going to even live to see tomorrow.

Welkin stood in view of his troops from the turret hatch of the Edelweiss. He pointed over to the the building placed next towards the bridge and explained "That building over there controls the bridge. If the Droids cross and we set the bridge to raise then..."

"We send an entire clanker battalion into the river," summarized Largo, with a slight smile appearing on his face.

"It'll help even the odds for us a lot," remarked Ted Ustinov.

"But we'll still have to deal with the remaining two hundred Droids left here," warned Catherine.

"Taking on two hundred droids seems like better odds than taking on a thousand of them," said Ted's friend Melville with Cherry adding "I like, totally agree with Mel here."

"Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it fast. Cause right now it looks like the clankers are about to move out," informed Montley, pointing at the bridge. The squad followed his gaze and saw that the bridge was now finally set in place. One of the tank commanders in the lead row of AAT's appeared through the turret hatch, shouted "Battalion, move out!", and the convoy began to move forward at marching pace across the bridge. Wanting to not waste this opportunity, Welkin ordered "Sparrow take a small group and get that bridge raised now!"

"On it!" responded Luke before pointing at Marina, Ramsey, Edy, Homer, and Ted to follow him. Slowly and quietly, they sneaked over to the control building, making sure they were unseen by the advancing Droid battalion. When they reached the door, Luke took point with the others standing right behind him. Luke turned his head to then, placed a finger upon his lips and uttered out "Shhhh,". The five of them nodded their heads in agreement before readying their weapons. Luke then returned his attention back to the door. With his right hand holding his M416 assault rifle level and pointing forwards, and his left hand quietly opening the door he led his group into the room where the two droids stood.

Their backs were faced against them and they seemed to be completely oblivious to their presence. When they were all in the room with their weapons pointed at the Droids, Luke broke the silence by calmly announcing in his best droid impression "Good Morning folks", his helmet managing to distort his voiceThe two droids turned around and the expressions on their faces instantly changed from being calm to surprise and shock. Standing right in front of them were six Marines, weapons aimed at them. At first the two droids thought that they could try and shoot back. But the fact that some of the Marines were armed with automatic weapons and the close range between the two groups meant that shooting back with their blaster rifles would be utterly fruitless. Even if the two droids could get a shot off from their rifles and managed to kill one or two of them, the remaining four Marines would still gun them down without a second thought. Armed with that information, the two droids dropped their weapons upon the ground and raised their hands into the air to surrender.

Luke, Edy, and Marina took the two droids and placed them in the other end of the room. While Luke and Edy keep their weapons trained on them, they had Marina do a pat down on them to search for any further weapons on them. Other than their bayonets, and a few stick grenades, there was nothing else of importance. Meanwhile, Ramsey and Homer were working on the control panel, trying to figure out how to set the bridge to raise while Ted stood by them by the large lever, watching the droids advance across the bridge from the window.

"Their almost halfway across! Can't you guys hurry it up?" asked Ted, in a more serious demeanor than his usual self.

"We're almost there. Just a few more seconds and, there!" shouted Ramsey as she and Homer finished the preparations for the bridge "Pull the lever, quick!"

As Luke grabbed the lever with both hands, he looked out the window one last time to the Droids and remarked to them with a smile "Hasta la vista," before pulling the lever back with all his might.

The Droid column continued to march across the bridge, now having past the halfway mark and getting closer towards the other side. Suddenly the bridge jerked under their feet. The troops and tanks stopped dead in their tracks as each of them began wondering what had just happened. Soon the ground beneath them began to shift and was becoming uneven. Soon, the realization hit them all like a rock: Someone was raising the bridge!

They broke formation, everyone and everything frantically trying to get back to their side of the river. But as much as they tried, their reaction was too little, too late. The bridge was now being raised at a steep angle. The troops lost their footing and began sliding down and falling into the river in droves. Some tried to hold onto the railing for dear life but they eventually lost their grip and joined the comrades in the river. The AAT's fared no better. Their gravity repulsion systems scraped the surface, tearing up the platform as they furiously drove the system to the breaking point. Once the bridge had gotten to a certain point, they too fell to the river, crushing any soldiers they landed on and sending the crews inside to a watery grave below.

Welkin and the others watched from their positions and let out shouts and cheers at the sight of the Droids falling into the murky water below. No one could blame them, they had just pulled off something incredible. The odds of the battle had now gradually shifted towards their side, so it was fine that they should celebrate a little bit for reason's sake. All around they shouted chants and insults at the clankers as they were consumed by the river below.

"Ha, ha, take that you bastards," laughed Noce.

"How's the water clankers?" exclaimed Claudia.

"I bet you didn't see that coming did ya?" shouted Alex.

"That only counts as one" Welkin heard someone mumble.

Unfortunately, they had forgotten about the remaining droid troops within the city. The sound of their cheering soon alerted them to their presence. When they saw their bridge being raised they wondered at first what was going on. Was there a malfunction in the control room? None of them knew. But now everything had been made clear. Somehow the Marines had crossed the river and had just taken out the majority of their forces. They had to be taken out and fast. The only question: Where the hell were they? Their answer came when one of the droids caught a glimpse of them standing by the railing by the control room as they continued to watch the droids fall. He alerted his comrades to them by shouting "The Marines! There over there! Blast Them!"before letting off a burst at Kilo Squad with his blaster rifle. His comrades followed suit and opened fire on their enemy.

The sounds of gunfire and bullets whizzing by their heads brought Kilo Squad back to reality as they ran back behind the building for cover, even taking a few pot shots at the droids as they ran. Once they had all gathered, Vyse, Freesia, and Salinas took positions by the edge of the building and began to return fire at the enemy troops. By now, the gunshots had probably alerted every droid on the East bank to the fact that they were there. And it was evident since the number of troops coming towards them and shooting at them seemed to be increasing. The sheer volume of fire being showered onto them was so intense that it had caused the trio to take cover behind the building to protect themselves.

Soon the squad heard a strange creaking noise and looked to see that the bridge was being lowered. Right after they saw that, they heard a loud bang and saw Luke laying cover fire for his troops as they ran to re-join the group. Salinas and Vyse joined him to help get the others to safety. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, hoping that they wouldn't get shot in the process. Once they had all safely rejoined the group, Luke ran towards them as well with them giving him cover fire as well. On the last leg of the run, Luke did a quick boost slide towards the group, narrowly colliding with the building.

"Cutting it a little close there, aren't you Commander?" uttered Largo before firing a shot from his AC-30 at a droid then quickly ducking behind cover.

"What's war without a little recklessness?" responded Luke as he got back on his feet. He then looked towards Welkin who was on top of the Edelweiss and asked "What do we do now? We're going to have every droid on this side of the river after us if we don't think of something fast?"

"Come on, it's just a bunch of soldiers. We can handle these guys. What else could they possibly throw at us?" questioned Claudia. Just as she said those words, Mica shouted at the top of his lungs "Oh shit! We've got tanks incoming!" And true to his word came two AAT tanks barrelling straight at them. Each of them fired a shell from their cannons with both shots missing. One shot simply hit the ground near their location and exploded harmlessly while the other smashed through the second floor of the building next to Kilo Squad and lodging itself in the building on the other side of the street. When the shell crashed through the second story it caused bricks from the building and glass from the window to shower the squad. Each of them covered themselves with their hands and arms to shield themselves from the falling debris. Thankfully by the time it was over the only injuries were a few minor cuts and scrapes. After the threat had passed, everyone looked at Claudia with a look on their faces that said 'You just had too say it didn't you?'. Claudia simply smiled sheepishly before admitting "Spoke too soon huh?"

"Oh, you think?" said Alicia sarcastically.

"Alright listen up!" announced Welkin, causing everyone to divert his attention to him. "The rest of the Marine forces are set to cross once the bridge is level. We need to keep the Droids occupied so that they can cross. We need to make for the bridgehead!"

"If it's one thing I know, it's how to keep a bunch of assholes occupied. Let's go introduce ourselves to the Droids lads," announced Luke. Welkin moved forward with the Edelweiss into open view of the AAT tanks. Isara traversed the tank so that it's frontal armour stood facing the AATs. The AAT's each fire another round at the Edelweiss, hoping to knock it out. One shot hit the sloped armour and was deflected while the other missed the turret by a few inches. The Edelweiss returned fire, knocking out one of the AAT tanks with a well-placed shot to its turret, blasting it to bits and engulfing the tank in flames. The remaining AAT began to back up towards the main road before veering sharply to the left and up the main road. The Edelweiss gave chase and followed the AAT towards the main road. The rest of Kilo Squad followed close behind, firing at the droid infantry who were retreating along with the tank.

Once they had reached the intersection that connected the bridge with the main road, they were met with another round of gunfire. The droids had managed to get crews to at least two of the J-1's and were now shelling at the Edelweiss, trying frantically to knock them out. The infantry had also gotten up with their weapons as well, and had taken up position behind the sandbags and rubble littered around the area. They were also using the adjacent building to try and hit the Marines from the flanks and from up above. The AAT tank that was previously being chased by the Edelweiss was now positioned behind the J-1's as support. In short, Welkin and his squad were up against a heavy wall of enemy fire as they tried to defend the bridgehead.

Even though the sun had now begun to rise, which brought enough light to help their aim, most of the droids that Kilo Squad was now fighting had been asleep up until now and they were only active due to the sounds of battle, causing them to grab their weapons and head out into battle in a hurry. As such they were slightly confused and low on power which hindered their aim.

"For once we catch the droids by surprise when they're not ready, and I still feel like they're going to kick our asses," complained Rosie as she popped out of cover from behind a ruined wall and mowed down two droids with her AC-160.

"If this war was supposed to be easy, we would have already won it by now," clarified Largo who was crouched next to her behind the same wall.

"Rosie, over here! We found something useful!" cried Hannes. Rosie looked to see him and Nils hiding behind a large object covered by a heavy cloth. He signalled for her to get over to where they were. Apparently whatever they found was probably very important. Waiting for the right moment, she bolted out of cover towards them. When she reached them, the two of them grabbed hold of the covers to reveal what the droids were hiding underneath. Rosie's eyes widened with shock as the object was none other than a separatist J-1 gun fully loaded with ammunition.

Rosie couldn't contain her excitement and let out a "Oh, hell yes! This is what I'm talking about!" The three of them then took up positions on the gun with Rosie sitting in the gunner's seat while Hannes and Nils sat flanking her in the loaders positions. Rosie grabbed a hold of a lever and began to traverse gun towards the droid lines. The droids had placed the gun next to the side of a building and angled it in a way that the building protected the J-1 gun from the other J-1's and the AAT tank. However, it placed them with the side of the droid infantry who were taking pot-shots at the Squad from a three story building in the opposing line of houses and behind the walls of sandbags across the road. Rosie looked down the sights and carefully lined up a bead on a large portion of the droids that were taking cover. The gun didn't have a trigger like modern firearms. It fired when the operator pressed his or her finger on a screen placed on the side. Once she was sure that everything was set, she slammed her hand down on that screen as hard as she could and unleashed a withering horde of fire upon the droids, the barrels rattling with each shot.

The shells tore through the droids, tearing through their metal bodies. Their dead bodies laid bullet riddled in the street, their insides completely turned to scrap. A few of them even had a gaping hole in their heads from when they took a shot there, with their minds now quite literally blown away. Some tried to run for cover or simply run in order to escape from the devastating firepower, but Rosie simply cut them down like rag dolls. She quickly made away with about a dozen or more so droids before the gun ran out of ammo. Hannes and Nils quickly went to work finding more ammunition for the gun. The droids on the ground took advantage of this and began to fall back to the line with the other J-1s and the AAT tank. Seeing this, Kilo Squad began to advance forward a bit more, just stopping a few yards forward of their previous position while taking some ammunition from their fallen enemies as they moved. As the squad was advancing, Rosie noticed that the droids inside the house adjacent to them were now apparently focused on them. From the shadows in the windows she could see them line up their weapons. And on the first floor, left side, they had brought up a machine gun with a bi-pod and placed it in a firing position.

Instinctively, Rosie yelled to her fellow soldiers, now finished loading the gun, as loud as she could "Get your heads down, quick!" They reacted to her instructions a split second before they became pelted by small arms fire from the machine gun and other various firearms. They didn't hit them, only absorbed harmlessly by the metal shield they were hiding behind. Regardless, the amount of fire was enough to keep them pinned down and prevent them from shooting back.

Alicia was sneaking towards the window where the machine gun was placed. She was slowly advancing towards them and keeping herself out of sight so they wouldn't notice her approach. She sneaked towards the window until stopping just outside the window, leaning against the wall to conceal herself. She was so close to the machine gun that she could just reach out and touch it. The buzzing sound the gun was making was so ear piercing that she was fighting the urge to cover her ears even with her helmet on. Thankfully however, the noise was just loud enough to cover what she was about to do next. From her belt she pulled out a grenade and then waited for the droids to reload. And with the high rate of fire, she didn't have to wait long. The gun stopped a few seconds later. As fast as she could, Alicia pulled out the safety pin and hurled the grenade through the window. She jumped back behind the wall just before the grenade exploded. Wanting to make sure she had gotten them, she leaped through the window, trying to catch a glimpse through the smoke caused by the explosion.

Alicia looked to the ground to see the blood soaked corpses of two Twi'lek CIS sympathizer soldiers. One was lying against the wall next to the machine gun. He appeared to take the brunt of the blast. His right foot along with most of the lower portion of his leg were blown to bits, leaving a bloody stump in its place. He had also sustained significant shrapnel wounds to his torso, and his face was so wounded that he was barely recognizable. The remaining Twi'lek in the room had similar injuries, but somewhat less gruesome. He was slightly farther away from the blast and only received shrapnel wounds. He was lying on his back, arms spread out like an angel. He had gotten most of the hits in the chest and facial area, blood pouring out from the more serious wounds. But was most disturbing was his eyes: They were wide open and looked as if they were staring at Alicia in a blank, lifeless stare.

Alicia suddenly became sick to her stomach and began gasping for air in a violent nature. She collapsed to her knees, eyes watering and thoughts racing. She thought she would be used to this. She had fought in several skirmishes already. Bruhl, the farmstead, Western Vasel, she had killed her fair share of soldiers. But they had fought at each other at a distance, not close like this. She hadn't seen the kind of carnage and bloodshed like what she was seeing now. Seeing this made her question if she was losing her very sanity. Is this really what war is like? Am I really capable of doing things like this? she thought to herself. She soon realized what war was really like. And it had shown its true face to her. She felt the urge to take off her helmet and vomite.

Her moment was interrupted when the house began to shake and the sound of large calibre gunfire began to fill the air. She clutched her head and dived to the ground as her body reacted on its own. What she didn't know was that her little stunt with the grenade didn't go unnoticed. Rosie had taken advantage of the situation and opened fire on the Separatist troops that were positioned on the higher floors, unloading the J-1 cannon on both upper stories completely. The shells went through the brick walls with ease, even demolishing a few portions in the process. It caused debris to shoot into the rooms, ripping through the droids with ease and causing them to drop like flies from each hit they received. After the gun ran out of ammo for the second time, Rosie stepped off along with the others once she figured that the droids in the house were all taken cared of.

The Droid Commander in charge of the J-1 crews bared witness to the destructive firepower unleashed upon his fellow troops by the J-1 gun. The sheer shock of the attack, coupled with the brutal wounds that it had afflicted, had somewhat shaken the droid's resolve a bit. After the firing had subsided, looked forward only to see the Marine squad they had been shooting at along with their tank had now taken advantage of their pause to resume their advance towards their position. The OAG tank halted its advance for a moment before firing a shell at the AAT tank parked next to the anti-tank crews. It went straight through the front armour and exited the back, making its way cleanly through the engine before finally striking another building behind them. The AATs engine had caught fire due to the hit. Smoke began to billow out from the holes that the shell created as well as from the tank hatches, implying that smoke was now filling the inside as well. The hatches flipped open, with more smoke pouring out as well as the tank's crew, desperate to escape their burning tank. As the crew collapsed onto the ground, their faces were shown to be covered in soot. The worries of the officer were only added when one of the crew members gestured for him to look at what was coming up behind the Marine squad.

The officer took a look through his binoculars and saw that the rest of the OAG forces, both Marine and Regulars, were charging across the bridge to join the fighting across the river. Now the droids had reason to worry. With most of their forces sent to a watery grave, the OAG now had a real shot at retaking the city. And with the number of tanks and infantry coming across right now. It would only be a matter of time before his crews would be overrun. In an effort to try and save them, he put down his binoculars and ordered "Withdraw to the temple. Fall back!" The crews dropped everything as they abandoned their guns and made for the other end of the city.

Kilo Squad continued to pursue them until they reached the J-1s. Once they had completely stopped, Welkin opened the turret hatch and looked behind to see the rest of the Marines pour out of the bridge and begin to fan out in different directions throughout the city, determined to root out any droids hiding within. But as the main force moved into the city, two Army tanks, as well as two small squads of Regulars trailing behind them, moved towards Kilo Squad. They stopped just short of the group. The two tanks opened their turret hatches and out appeared Lieutenants Faldio and Read.

"You did a fine job here Welkin. I'm still amazed at how you managed to pull this off let alone convince the Captain to go along with this," commented Faldio with a smile upon his face.

"Yeah, but the plan's only halfway done. We still have a lot of work to do," clarified Welkin.

"I agree. While the rest of our forces circle around, clearing out the Separatists on our flanks. We should move out through the middle and clear out any enemy holdings. Then we meet the others and combine our forces for a joint attack on the remaining enemy troops," informed Read.

Welkin nodded in agreement before given out the remaining orders to his troops. "Alright then. Rosie, you and Sparrow take the Marines and lead the column. Largo, have the remaining troops stick with the tanks and offer fire support. Alicia will..." Welkin was about to continue but noticed that something was off. He looked around for a moment before realizing was wrong: Alicia was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Alicia? Anybody know where she is?" he asked, hoping someone had an answer. There were a few moments of silence before Dallas spoke up and explained "I think Miss Alicia was still in that building back there"

"What building?" questioned Read.

"The one that we turned into Swiss cheese over there," explained Jack as he pointed towards the building. The others looked to that same building, still somewhat smoking from the havoc unleashed upon it. Soon, thoughts of worry began to appear in Welkin's head. The amount of damage to the building made him begin to think that Alicia got hurt during the fight. Was she injured? Is she even still alive? he thought as he tried to figure out what to do next. He soon cleared his mind before issuing another set of orders to the group. "Sparrow, Take my place here on the Edelweiss. I'm going to check up on Alicia and see if she's alright," he said. Before anyone could object he had already hopped out of the tank, his M37 plasma pistol in hand as he raced over to the building.

As the others watched him run off, Faldio only broke their silence by saying "Well you heard him. Sir get up onto the tank. Once you're up and settled, we move out. No more questions, we've wasted enough time already."

Luke opened his mouth to object but nothing came out. Instead he let out a sigh and replied back in a mumble "Fine." As Luke climbed up the Edelweiss and into the turret he thought up in his mind What is it with Welkin and women? He's known Alicia for little over a month and he's already racing off to save her? He's known Lieutenant Read for a few days and he's gotten her to develop a crush on him. Is there something here that I'm missing? Does he have some kind of charm on him or something that makes ladies like him? Luke let those thoughts go away once he was inside the gunner's seat inside the Edelweiss. Once Faldio saw this, he then gave the order for everyone to move out. The Edelweiss led the column, followed by the two light tanks and infantry. All heading straight for the City hall.

Welkin peered through the shattered window to see what it was like inside the building. He saw debris and shell casings littered about the floor and large craters in the walls for when the shells tore through the building. But Alicia was nowhere to be found, which only made him want to investigate the area more. He slowly moved towards the door to open it. He had barely touched it when the remains of the door fell apart and collapsed onto the floor, creating a loud crash as it landed. Welkin cringed for a moment after it fell, knowing now that any chance of finding Alicia stealthy had just dissipated in an instant.

Welkin made his way past the ruined door and began calmly strolling through the front rooms of the house, pistol raised, in hopes that Alicia hadn't been killed. After going through a few rooms and turning up nothing, he managed to stumble upon the room where the CIS machine gun team had been killed by Alicia's grenade. Avoiding the elephant in the room, meaning the dead Twi'leks, he spied something else entirely. He noticed boot treads in the dust that had littered the floor, boot treads belonging to OAG Marine boots. And there were more, creating a small trail that went out of the room.

During his nature walks, Welkin had become quite the adept tracker. He could easily identify a specific animal based on their footprints, the spacing between the individual steps, and the pattern in which they moved. From that experience, he could summarize that Alicia was at some point in this room before leaving. And judging by how far apart the individual steps were, she apparently left in a hurry. The question that appeared at the moment was why? Was she running from the enemy? No, not likely, if it was that then there would be more than one set of treads. Maybe she was chasing someone? No again. Just doesn't seem likely Welkin thought. What was certain was that Alicia was definitely trying to get out in a hurry.

Alicia barrelled down the alley like a madman, hoping to find someplace quiet and solitary. After a few solid minutes of running, she managed to find a quiet place near the end of the alley that connected to the street. There was a large dumpster that stood next to the door where she laid her back against before sliding down to the ground and onto her knees. Alicia's eyes began to water up and she soon lost control over her emotions. She began to sob and wail uncontrollably as the thoughts of her actions began to haunt her to no end, her cries only muffled by the pop of gunfire and the boom of explosions. She had managed to escape that building while Rosie was shelling it. And it was a good thing too. If she stayed in that room with those two dead soldiers, she would have lost her mind right then and there and scream in agony for what she had done. Those two men she had killed looked no older than she. And now they laid dead their own land. Is this what was has become? Young kids killing each other without any sense, mercy, or compassion? she thought, trying to figure out the reason for this. She tried to reason that this was necessary and it was all to defend the Galaxy. But no matter what she told herself, no manner of self-talk could stop her from crying her eyes out in grief.

She cried for several minutes before suddenly she heard the door on the other side of the dumpster fly open and hit the wall with a loud thud. Instinctively, she managed to muffle her crying and crawled quickly behind the dumpster to avoid being spotted. The sounds of footsteps hurriedly racing out and away from her towards the street. The sound stopped after a few seconds. Curious, Alicia peaked from the corner to see what was going on.

And true to her thoughts, she could hear the sound of a tank, thundering towards their location, coupled with the sound of machine gun fire. Alicia looked out at the street to see droids running for their lives, blue plasma from a machine gun flying all around them. Some tried to fire back at whatever was chasing them, but were cut down by Plasma bullets and slumped down onto the ground. Alicia's full view became blocked due to a OAG Titan tank appearing in front of the Droids on the other side of the street, it's side completely exposed to them. It had stopped so that it's gunner could line up the gun to fire on the three droids just up the ally from her. The turret traversed to line up the shot and fired. The flash of light that covered the tank in a split second was all Alicia needed to confirm that the shell had hit its target Before moving on.

It appeared that the Twi'lek CIS sympathizer managed to avoid the same fate of his comrades, though not completely unscathed. He had a massive cut on his forehead with blood pouring down over his face. His left sleeve was torn to shreds with his tunic and pants slightly hinged from the heat of the blast. It appeared that he had received wounds on his arm as there was also blood flowing down his arm and on his hands. He looked up. He spotted her. For what seemed an eternity but onl lasted a few seconds he began to race towards her.

Wasting no time, he quickly knelt on top of her. With his bloody left hand, he grabbed hold of her throat and began to squeeze it tightly. Alicia frantically tried to wrest his hold on her all the while struggling to breath as he continued to constrict her windpipe. But it was all in vain as his grip was too strong despite his wounded arm. The Twi'lek then reached for his belt with his free hand and pulled out a knife with a deep serrated edge, the blade glistening from the light of the morning sun and orange flames. Alicia's eyes widened with horror when she realized what this meant for her. She doubled her efforts to resist and break free but she hadn't managed to even loosen his grip on her. The Twi'lek stared at her with a demented and sadistic smile on his face as if he was going to relish what he was about to do next.

"Quit your squirming you Human rat!" he spat out at her, showing the blood that had filled his mouth. "You're going to die here. Just like every one of your kind," he continued before raining the blade high over his head, pointing it downward towards Alicia. "I'm going to make you bleed. Like a stuck pig," he claimed before preparing to lunge the knife into Alicia. But before he could begin, the sound of three gunshots pierced the air. The Twi'lek seemed to pause for a moment. His blade fell out of his trembling hand before he looked down to see three bloody holes in his chest, grouped very tightly together right where his heart would be. Blood began to pour out of his mouth and onto Alicia's tunic before he fell on his side, letting her go and falling off of her in the process. Alicia looked up to see Welkin standing a few yards in front of her, pistol aimed with the barrel still smoking.

After a few moments of standing still he rushed over to Alicia, placing the pistol back into his holster as he ran. Once he reached her he slowly got her to sit up as he checked her for injuries. Other than a blood covered throat as well as a bump on the back of her head, there was nothing very serious. He then noticed how Alicia wasn't speaking so he decided to speak first. In a soft and concerned tone he asked her, "Are you okay?".

"A little shaken, but I think I am," she responded though there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "Why are you here?" she asked.

"You ran off without telling anyone, so I came to find you," he answered truthfully, choosing to ignore asking her again based on the tone of her voice.

"But what about the rest of the squad?" she asked, concerned about what he did with them.

"It's alright. I left Faldio and Mary in charge. They're moving up with the rest of the army to take the enemy command centre. Which is where we should be going now," he explained.

---

0712 hours (7:12 am)

Boom. An explosion by caused by a shell from Faldio's tank had just annihilated another CIS MG position. By now, the column led by Kilo Squad were pushing the droids back towards their command centre in the city hall. Even though they faced some stiff opposition, they were finally clearing the way towards their final objective. Now they were on the final stretch of the trip, with the church right in front of them. The CIS flag draped from the bell tower over the front door standing apart from the grim landscape.

Luke led the group from the Edelweiss with Read and Faldio's tanks flanking it on both sides and the infantry spread out around them but not far away as well as a few of them riding on the rear of the tanks. In front of them were several groups of Separatist troops fleeing from them into the safety of the interior of the building. As the man got inside, they quickly closed the massive wooden doors to prevent them from entering. Meanwhile a squad of Droids remained outside to try and prevent the Marines from capturing the city hall. The odds however were against them since they were only a group of infantry up against an even larger group supported by three tanks.

"Alright we're drawing close now. Everyone start squirting that area ahead. Let's finish this now," ordered Read from her tank.

"Roger that, ma'am," responded Luke as he cocked the handle on his LMG-5 and letting loose a hail of fire. The rest of the tanks followed suit as well as the infantry. Firing every rifle and machine gun they had at the droid positions. To the Droids outside the church, they kept themselves hidden behind cover as the volume of Plasma bullets around them increased each passing second. Due to their programming, many tried to fire back with their own weapons but were cut down the moment they popped out of cover, reducing their numbers quite rapidly. And the Plasma that didn't strike them or the area around them instead struck the building. Breaking its ornamental windows and burrowing themselves deep within the walls and the heavy wooden doors as well as causing damage to the inside when some passed through the shattered windows.

As Luke was peppering the enemy, his gun jammed. When he moved to clear the jam he looked to see Susie, one of the soldiers riding on the Edelweiss, simply stare at what was transpiring in front of her with a frightened look on her face. In fact, it appeared that she hadn't fired her weapon at all during the entire battle.

Luke grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her violently, grabbing her attention. "What the hell are you doing? Shoot now!" he yelled at her.

"What do I shoot at?" stuttered Susie.

"The clankers you dumb broad. Kill the fuckers before they kill us all!" he explained before returning to his gun, which after a few moments he had un-jammed. He quickly got his finger back onto the trigger and continued firing away at the enemy. Susie hesitated for a moment before closing her eyes shut and fired forward blindly out of fear. The trio of tanks soon halted a dozen meters from the city hall doors and with their machine guns, cleared out the remaining droids outside its walls. Once they were finished Luke looked to Faldio and said "See if you can clear us a way in."

Faldio responded to that by ordering the crew of his tank to fire upon the doors. The tank turret traversed to the right before it lined up with its target. And with a mighty thud it's 120mm cannon fired. Colliding with the door and breaking it off their hinges while simultaneously smashing them to hundreds of splinters.

"Come on kiddos, let's get into the fight," shouted Rosie enthusiastically while signalling for the others to follow her lead. She then charged forward, with the rest of Kilo Squad following right behind her. Not only that, but they were also being joined by Luke, Faldio, and Read who had climbed out of their tanks and grabbed a weapon from one of the dead CIS soldiers. When they entered the city hall, they expected to be met by groups of soldiers armed and ready to kill them. Instead they walked in to see a Droid Commander, slumped dead on the other side of the floor along with almost two dozen Separatist troops standing up, weapons on the floor, arms raised high, and all shouting frantically at them "We Surrender! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

"Get on your knees! Jane and Coby, cuff them," ordered Faldio. The three of them followed those orders. Once Luke translated what Faldio wanted to tell them to the few Twi'leks present, they all unanimously got on their knees where Jane and Hannes tied their hands behind their backs. The rest of the squad set about securing the room, while the Regulars searched the basement and the bell tower for other foes, though turning up empty handed.

"Lieutenant Landzaat," called out a voice. Faldio looked behind him to see Largo standing in front of him. Largo continued with "The buildings secured. No more krauts inside. And we just got word that the remaining droids have fled the city."

"What about Lieutenant Gunther and Sergeant Melchiott?" asked Faldio, concerned about his friends.

"They'll be here," answered Largo. Faldio let out a light smile before looking over at Luke and ordering "Contact the Captain and tell her what's happened."

"Roger, dodger," he replied before taking a radio and dialling in the correct frequency to contact Varrot. Soon the radio crackled to life as Varrot called from the other end "This is Captain Varrot here. What's going on?"

Luke let out a hearty laugh before explaining "Start drinking your champagne Cap'n. Cause the droids have fled the city! Vasel is ours again!"

Luke and Welkin walked into the command tent where Captain Varrot was to hand in their reports. Luke noticed how everyone was crowding round the Radio.

"Why's everyone crowding round the Radio?" Luke asked. All he got for a reply was a "Shhhhh". Luke and Welkin walked over to see what everyone was listening too.

"Yesterday, 1st of July, 2622. A date which will live in infamy, the Orion Arm Government was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Chorus Federation.

The Orion Arm was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Chorus, was still in conversation with its government and its leader looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Damocles systems.

Indeed, one hour after Federation air squadrons had commenced bombing in the OAG Moon of Oahu, the Federation Ambassador to the OAG and his colleague delivered a formal reply to our Secretary of State due to a recent message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Concordia from the Chorus Federation makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Chorus Federation government has deliberately sought to deceive the Orion Arm Government by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Concordia System has caused severe damage to OAG naval and military forces in the region. I regret to tell you that very many OAG lives have been lost. In addition, OAG ships have been reported torpedoed on the trade routes between Concordia and surrounding systems.

The Chorus Federation has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Damocles area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the Orion Arm have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy, Marines and Airforce, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defence. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the Orion people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of Parliament and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Parliament declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by the Chorus federation on Sunday, July 1st, 2622, a state of war has existed between the Orion Arm Government and the Chorus federation"