After getting dismissed, Welkin, Alicia and Noctis left Varrot's office and met with the squad. Their next task was to conduct exercises with a Captain Herbert. Welkin thought that it was an opportunity to command his squad during a battle. It was a sort of a war game. Outside, The three met with the whole squad under their command. Alicia was surprised when the volunteers that she had with back in Bruhl also enlisted but with a few unfamiliar faces. Their last names were printed on paper and pinned to their left pockets.
"Whoah… I didn't expect you to join in the militia, Leonhart."
"Well, Melchiott. For your information, I and some of our colleagues just got off the range and they're ready to fight. Also, you forgot to apologize." He said, reminding of her the incident back in Bruhl.
"Oh… That…" She paused. "I'm sorry. I'm was only doing my job." She said with a hint of guilt.
On the other hand, Noctis could see his colleagues among the members in the squad. He was glad that they decide to follow him wherever he goes. Tidus and his group were also folded into the squad. Squall's group was also folded into the squad itself. Then, Welkin cuts off the chat and gossips.
"Ok guys, take five and listen. I'll be your commanding officer. Noctis will be my second-in-command. Now I don't make speeches. I know we've lost a lot of friends during when the first shots were fired but today, it's time that we go on the fields and fight back. We'll train ourselves to be more stronger and we'll learn how to fight back. For now, make sure you guys are ready for an exercise. Now let's go, we don't want to keep a Captain Herbert waiting."
Taking their rifles with them, They assembled in front of the Captain's Quarters where he was waiting for the whole squad. In fact, Herbert was a bit impatient and looked grumpy when the squad arrived. He seemed as if he was someone who'd torture a whole squad for all their troubles.
"WHERE HAVE YOU LADIES BEEN!? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY?"
"Sir, sorry, sir!" They answered.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR F*CKING EXCUSES! NOW LET'S MOVE OUT BEFORE I 4-F EACH OF YOU OUT OF THIS PLACE."
Within the squad, the members started to gossip about their temporary "commanding officer".
"Jeez, He's much worse than Varrot. Feels like he owns the squad."
"Heh, I wouldn't tell that to him if I were you, Argentum. He made us push-up for 5 straight hours." A woman with black hair voiced.
"I don't care as long as I don't get my arse kicked by Captain Fat-ass."
"Quit yer whinin', Argentum. You should know how he treats enlisted men for a change." Rosie answered.
"Tch." He muttered
Later, their strenuous exercise began. Most of them expected that there wasn't going to be any live shooting and they were right. All they did was running and jog the whole day. Captain Herbert's treatment was rather harsh as they expected.
"YOU! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"
"Private Oscar Bielert, Sir!"
Then He looked at a rather look-a-like of Oscar.
"AND YOU!?"
"Private Emile Bielert, Sir!"
"HOLY SH*T! WE HAVE TWINS IN THIS FUCKING SQUAD. YOU TWO ARE PERFECT FOR SHOWING HOW TO BOOST ON THAT WALL. GET OVER THERE AND BOOST YOUR TWIN."
The two immediately went to the stone wall and left their rifles on the dirt. When they got to it, Emile sat perpendicular to the wall and waited for Oscar to get up.
"Hurry up, I'm growing a beard here."
"I'm trying to. You just make me nervous."
Afterwards, They went back to the formation, feeling confident after their successful demonstration and didn't expect that they were to be given punishment. Unfortunately, they were wrong.
"IT TOOK YOU 2 FUCKING MINUTES TO GO UP THAT WALL! YOU TWO HIT THE DIRT AND YOU OWE ME FOR 2 FUCKING MINUTES ON THAT WALL."
Back in the squad, They started to gossip again.
"Can't this day get any worse?"
"Well Edy. This is the militia and you have to get used to it."
"Why do you care, Homer?"
"Nothing." He replied flushed.
A few hours later, They arrived by a barbed wire fence. On the other side were a flock of cows and the fence was built to keep them away from Fort Amatriain. Herbert didn't know about this. They didn't know where to go next and they seemed to be lost. Then, Herbert's assistant arrived to assess the situation.
"Why is there a fence here? Nash, the map, please."
Then Herbert looked at the squad. For him, they deserved a few minute rest.
"Gunther, Caelum, Get Squad 7 and take cover behind the trees and bushes over there."
"You heard the man, Get up!"
"C'mon, C'mon."
Back with Captain Herbert, He, Pvt. Nash and Pvt. Jane Turner were still having no idea where they were.
"So, what do we do here?"
"Uhm... Sir, maybe we can go over the fence."
"O really? THAT'S NOT THE POINT JEEZ. Where the hell..."
Meanwhile, the whole Squad took cover behind the said area a few meters away from the fence. When they arrived there, the Squad rested and awaited further orders. Hours later, many got impatient as the time passed by. Many wondered what was taking for Captain Herbert so long, especially for Edy.
"Man, how long do we have to stay here?"
"Relax Edy, at least it's better than we're in a battlefield."
Then Emile had an idea. He spoke with the squad about his plan to play a trick on Captain Herbert. The 'three' didn't want to do this but they just gave their approval.
"Now, can anyone impersonate Captain Varrot?"
"Well, I know that a certain 'someone' who's up to that job." Noctis said, smirking at Prompto with his arms crossed.
Prompto tried to politely say his protest.
"Oh no, no way…. I don't want to do that… Imitating Cidney is enough but this is too far."
However, the whole squad tried to insist. For them, it was better to be in trouble for doing a trick and lose their weekend passes than to actually be forced through physical training, something which the whole squad couldn't handle. Well, except maybe for Largo.
"Argentum! Please, just today." Homer pleaded.
"C'mon, Don't sis on us now." Tifa voiced.
"Don't worry, We won't tell anyone else." Zell assured.
"Just do with anything you've got. He's not gonna know." Welkin encouraged.
"Do it, please." Susie said.
"I'm with you on that." Rosie sided.
"Go ahead, make us laugh." Alicia added.
"C'mon, you cheeky bastard. I'll give you my extra rations." O'Hara tried to convince.
Prompto couldn't even say no even if he wanted to. Having no choice, he tried to remember Captain Varrot's voice and accent. As he tried to protest for a second time, he thought to himself that maybe there's nothing bad with imitating his superior's voice and accent as long as no one tells it to anyone or even get himself in trouble for being a troublemaker, which he obviously is.
"Ok just this once." He said.
"Hell yeah!"
"Nice, Nice."
"Ok, keep quiet. Let me do the talking."
Back on the fence, Herbert was still having problems with navigating on where they are located within the map.
"We're right here. We could go to this intersection here…..."
"No, no, We'll get lost if we do….."
"Well at least it'll be more safe."
Herbert sighed. "Goddamn…"
Then, Prompto started his antics on his temporary superior.
"Is there a problem, Captain Herbert?" He said, imitating exactly Captain Varrot.
The Captain raised his voice. "Who said that!? Who broke silence?"
Then, his assistant told him and was aware on whose voice it may be.
"I think it's Captain Varrot, sir."
Herbert was puzzled. He knew that it was impossible for Captain Varrot to join with her Squad. Little did he know that it was actually an antic on him of getting him fooled.
"Captain Varrot? What is she- Did she join us?"
"I don't know. Maybe she joined up in the middle with the Squad, sir."
Prompto continued his antic and plucked up enough to copy Captain Varrot's voice on the exact tone and sound.
"What is the goddamn holdup, Mr. Herbert?"
The squad gave out silent laughs while some tried not to laugh to prevent them from getting caught.
"A fence, Ma'am. Uhh…Umm.… A barbed wire fence."
"Oh! So that's the problem… This ain't no walk in the park." Prompto replied, maintaining the impersonation.
"Keep it up, Argentum."
"Shh…" He said.
Then he continued after a short pause and a catch of breath.
"Now you cut that fence and get this goddamn squad on the move!"
"Yes Ma'am!"
A few hours later, The exercise was over. The Squad was dismissed after and had hit the bunks. However, The cows stampeded through after the fence was cut and were inside Fort Amatriain. Captain Herbert had a lot of explaining to do. When the squad found out about it, They all just laughed and toasted to Prompto for his almost perfect impersonation.
That evening, Noctis and Welkin were returning to their quarters after a long day's work. Just as the two were going back, Their superior arrived from their backs.
"Gunther, Caelum."
They turned their backs to see Captain Varrot.
"Oh, Ma'am. What brings you here in the middle of the night?"
"I came here to inform you both that you will go into action a few days. I do hope that you've remembered all the training you've got with Captain Herbert though I'm sad to hear that he's reduced to just being a reserve. Anyway, I'm giving your squad double rations before you go out."
The two men smirked, remembering of what had happened to Captain Herbert. Varrot noticed their faces.
"Is there a problem?"
"Uhh, No Ma'am! We appreciate that."
"There's another news. Mr. Caelum, I've promoted Enlistee Argentum to T-4."
"T-4? What rank is that?" asked Welkin.
"Oh! I forgot to tell you didn't I? Lt. Caelum told me about the ranks they had from where he was from. I've also known from the start that he's not from here judging by his appearance. It's a technician rank and Argentum will be responsible for holding the radio."
"I see." He turned to Noctis "That's a good contribution."
"Well, so that communications wouldn't get messed up. Rikku also had the idea of it."
"Ok, that's enough you two. Get some rest. Good night."
"Good night, Ma'am." They replied.
The Next Day
"*COUGH" *COUGH* *COUGH*" ARGH... What is this place?"
The next morning; Welkin, Isara, Noctis, Rikku, Leon and Kreis (two mechanics who are working in the militia's R&D facility) went to the storage warehouse of the Gallian Armed Forces. Apparently, there were many heap of armored vehicles, tanks, weapons and other equipment that were due for scrapping for use in other development. The storage room was dusty and many things were left to rot. Some even started to rust. Welkin noticed the numerous equipment which had been of no use for many years. What exactly they are doing was something that Rikku needed to do... Make something big.
"Welcome to the Gallian Army's storage warehouse. Apparently, Von Damon is planning to turn all of these into scrap. Initially, these were for the militia." Leon said.
"Hmm... It seems these equipment are dated from the First Europan War." Welkin noticed.
"Indeed it is. It's quite so old that it wouldn't be of use for the militia anyway."
"But exactly what are we doing here?" asked Kreis. "We're not supposed to go here."
"Don't worry. Captain Varrot's gonna vouch for us. I spoke with her the other day." Welkin assured. "Ok Rikku, do your job."
Rikku started to look around for things that she could make use of. To the left were tank parts and the her right were scraps of Gallian tanks. There was even a prototype left to gather cobwebs. It was a big and large contraption with the lid to the engine deck open. This tank had large roadwheels but no turret. The others went near it to see what Rikku's up to. She noticed that it had extremely large vertical springs inside the roadwheels.
"I've never seen something like this before. What is this tank?"
"Apparently, it's nicknamed a Christie. If I remember correctly, when the Gallian Army had it tested, it has an extremely large range of movement which gave it a very impressive cross-country performance and traversal. The problem was it was prone to rocking and it took a large amount of space in the tank so the Gallian Army rejected it."
"How awful. But still, I think I can give this tank a little make over. I'll try my best to give it a make over and up gun it."
"Good luck with that." Leon voiced, thinking she wouldn't make it.
"Another thing, what gun is that? lying near an engine" Rikku pointed.
"It's a 77mm gun and a Meteor engine. Apparently it was supposed to be used for this tank but it wouldn't fit because it was so small."
"Good. Then I'll take those too for the make-over."
"Wha- Are you serious about that?" Kreis asked, shocked.
"She is, Kreis. I know Rikku very well so just let her do her thing." Noctis pleaded.
"But I warn you, that 77mm gun wouldn't really fit onto the turret. The turret ring's too small. You need to make a bigger turret to contain the damned thing."
"It'll be fine! I think I can actually give this thing a make over, Al Bhed style."
"Ok then. So you need the prototype tank as well as this gun and the engine requisitioned."
"Yuppy Duppy. If we can move it over the to Militia garage, I might be able to get this thing back in running order so we can use it."
"Ok then. I'll go ask the warehouse manager if we can have it."
Leon returned quite soon.
"Ok. The warehouse manager said we can have it towed over to the militia garage. But he reminded us that this tank really wouldn't be of good use."
"That's a big mistake." The Al Bhed remarked. "Is the towing lorry outside?"
"It is."
"Ok, Let's get this thing over to our garage and give it a small restoration."
Everyone worked fast to get the prototype onto the heavy equipment transporter. It was initially difficult to load the tank hull onto the flatbed but it was soon carrying the tank itself along with the turret and the gun that was made for it. Once it was settled, they returned to the militia garage where it was to be restored by Rikku and the other engineers.
Back in the barracks grounds, many Squad 7 members were preparing for next day's operation.
The Crack of Dawn
The morning before the day of the operation, The whole squad had a check on their equipment for the battle. They were on an empty field with their equipment on the cloth covering the ground. The Edelweiss was being loaded up with a few shells. Noctis then arrived a few minutes later with a different weapon on hand, as well as Rikku. The two then placed it on the makeshift table beside the Edelweiss. Welkin went to check on what was it about.
The weapon that Rikku had looked a bit weird. It's magazine was located on top with a banana-shaped magazine. It's barrel was detachable and to Welkin's eyes, it looked like a machine Gun.
"What's that?"
"A Light Machine Gun." Rikku said. "I decided to use my knowledge of what I learned from father. We just like to do things with our own hands. You should know that an Al Bhed like me is good in making stuff like this."
"Al Bhed? Never heard of that before."
"Well Lieutenant, I'll tell it to you someday."
"Looking forward."
Then, Rosie arrived to inform Welkin that checking was almost finished just as she sees the weapon that Rikku had.
"What is that?" She asked.
"A Light Machine Gun. I call it Bren gun. It features a detachable barrel in case it overheats, magazine on top for ease of reload, it's easy to field strip, fires a .303 cartridge and you could even carry this while you fire. Care to demonstrate, Noctis?"
"With pleasure."
Noctis took the weapon and slung it over his shoulder. The gun was heavy and he had to fire it from the hip. He loaded 1 magazine and cocked it full. Finally, the weapon was ready to fire. Noctis took a few step forward and began firing. The firing speed was so fast that Noctis could finish off a whole 30 round magazine in just 9 seconds and reloading for just a second. Welkin and the others were amazed at this impressive weapon.
After 2 trials of magazines, Noctis returned the weapon and took his own invention. Noctis's weapon had a drum magazine that could hold 50 rounds and a compensator to reduce recoil. It also had a vertical foregrip that allowed the gunner to take it down if recoil gets high.
"Guys, Meet "Tommy". It has a 50 round drum magazine, a compensator for the recoil and a foregrip for ease of handling. Just watch this."
Noctis loaded up his invention and fired on the same target that he fired with the Bren and just like the Bren, Welkin was rather impressed. Rosie on the other hand was even more. It was faster to fire than her machine gun and felt like she wanted to own one. After his demonstration, He looked at Rosie and had 'that' look on her face.
"Hey, your turn." He said.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Rosie took the gun from Noctis. After learning on how to use it, She started to fire the gun. To her amazement, it was something that she hasn't seen before and enjoyed it at first light. But the thing that she noticed the most was its intense recoil when firing it simultaneously. She needed to pull the gun down in order for her to remain in target.
After she fired it, she returned it back to its owner.
"Great gun. Make me one someday." She requested.
"I'll see to it." He smiled.
"I'm really impressed by these creations, Noctis."
"Well me and Private Rikku had some talk days ago about integrating our technology together. We didn't have enough materials to do the initially aimed weapons so we took whatever we could."
"Impressive intuition." Welkin complimented.
On the other hand; Zell, Rosie and the others were preparing their rations. On the other hand, Irvine couldn't do anything but brag about his stuff while preparing.
"So I got a three day supply of K-rations, chocolate bars, candy, powdered coffee, sugar, matches, compass, bayonet, entrenching tool, ammunition, gas mask, musette bag with ammo, my weapon, my .455, canteen, Hawkins mine, two grenades, smoke grenade, TNT, THIS bullshit, and a pair of nasty skivvies!"
"What's your point?" Juno (who is Welkin's admirer and fellow schoolmate)
"This stuff weighs more than I do. I still have my G-1 Rifle that jams on me too much, a fucking bino and my fucking grenade launcher."
"Why you still keeping your scope?" asked Quistis.
"I could use a scope."
"Yeah. One hit on that Imperial Emperor and Cordelia renames this day to Irvine Kinneas Day and you're being paid 10,000 grand a month." Catherine (a fellow sniper) added.
"I'd love that, O'Hara. Heck, I might as well get married to Selphie once this bloody war is over."
Later, Welkin, with Noctis stood before Squad 7 and announced an inspiring speech.
"Guys, this isn't going to be a walk in the park. This is the real deal. We maybe few but if we unite together, I know we can get out of this alive. We may not be familiar with each other but we can learn to make new friends. Tomorrow, we're going to Vasel and fight with the Imperials on their game. We're gonna retake that bridge soon and if we do, We've got those Imperials running soon. And from the words of Noctis, United we stand, Together we fall. Let's bring the fight back to the Imperials."
With that said, the Squad was dismissed and prepared for their first taste in combat.