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Titus had felt this was too easy the second they'd left the officer's tent. All of a sudden, a veteran ranger had walked down to the tents, holding a sniper rifle. Those rangers could see through the dark with their helmets. Relying on technology because they lack to skill to defend themselves fairly. Scum.
"What are you doing out here at th-". The ranger stopped mid sentence as a knife found itself lodged in the space between his helmet and his riot armour. The Legionary yanked the blade from the profligate's neck.
"You fool!" Snapped Titus to the legionary, under his breath. As the ranger fell to the ground, the others on watch by the big house turned to see to fake NCR troopers with their red armbands standing over the ranger's corpse.
As the rangers approached Titus and his men, he knew the time for subtlety had passed. If they were all questioned or caught up in the murder of this ranger they would be discovered eventually. Better to attack when they still had the element of surprise, and while the numbers in the camp had been whittled down to essentially just the rangers. Luckily, none of those rangers who had witnessed this had reported inside, but Titus was more than prepared to lose a few lines of recruits to clean them out.
The centurion told his men to follow his lead. He raised his hands as two of the four rangers outside came up to the group, their weapons aimed, their fingers on the triggers. As one bent down to see if the dead ranger was still breathing, the other held his aim. Faster than either party could react,
Titus lunged at the ranger who was checking the corpse, grabbed his brush gun, and turned it on the second ranger, using his brute strength to position the first between him and the second's rifle. The second fired at Titus, hitting the first ranger between the shoulder blades. At almost point blank range, the riot armour did not stop the round from severing the human shield's spine. Smirking, Titus dropped the human shield and pulled the trigger of the brush gun, sending the wide, heavy round through the face piece of the second ranger's helmet.
The sound of gunfire was the Centuria's signal. With a battle cry from the hills to the west, 60 legionaries charged, their cowboy repeaters and machetes raised, some preparing to rain throwing spears into the crowd of rangers now gathering at the main entrance to the building.
"Now it begins..."
The disguised men all drew their NCR sidearms, most wishing they had their own gear.
The Veteran rangers, fresh in from Baja, instantly jumped into action - they weren't the kind to be paralysed by fear like the average trooper. They filed out of the main doors on the east side of the building. As they rounded the corner to discover the legion intruders, and spot the centuria running at the Camp from the hills, the first ranger's corpse fell by their feet, thrown by Titus. Seconds later, the grenades the centurion had hidden in the pockets of the ranger's coat went off.
Before the dust had settled, Titus and his veterans were on the disoriented foes.
Aurora looked around at the chaotic scene before her, being in the supply division, she'd never really seen any combat, nor had she ever fired a weapon in defence or attack against the enemy.
The smell of blood and bodily fluids attacked her senses, gunpowder burning, the noises of men screaming, groaning, dying assaulted her. It was no wonder that men returned from battle 'shell shocked'.
Sejanus pushed her down behind a bunch of crates and went to help with the dispatching of the Rangers, reminding her that she was still armed as a human bomb by showing her the detonator with a look that said "Move and I'll blow you to kingdom come"
Aurora nodded her acknowledgement of the fact that Sejanus still held her life in his deadly, blood stained hands.
The battle sounds reminded her of the drums that her Father's tribe had used in their ceremonies, dull thuds and sharp taps tattooing their beats through air and flesh, metal, wood and canvas. She heard the truck's engine blow as it took too many hits from errant bullets, it would soon explode and send out some shrapnel and a nice bit of radiation as its fusion fuel cell went into mini-meltdown, Aurora knew she was too close to it, and decided that if she was going to explode, it would be on her own terms.
As men screamed and died nearby, she moved slowly, unseen by any Legion soldier, they were all too busy trying to kill the Rangers to notice the former NCR soldier moving away to a safe distance.
She took cover again near another large crate, and watched. The sounds of gunfire began to die down as more rangers died, and their numbers dwindled to a couple of still able-bodied Rangers.
Aurora spotted Titus, bloodied from his deadly efforts, relishing the battle and blood of his enemies, dealing death to the last of the Rangers outside.
She looked to the ground; the body of a Ranger was nearby, his .357 Magnum revolver laying a meter from her. She bent down and picked up the weapon. She checked the ammunition in the barrel, there was one bullet left.
He would be the first man she killed. Perhaps the only man she killed if she wasn't killed first.
She stepped slowly, the weapon held in a two-handed grip, its modified long barrel pointed down, she watched him as she moved. She felt every rock beneath her Army-issued boots. She took a deep breath and aimed for him; she gently caressed the trigger and almost lovingly squeezed it.
The last round rocketed with the explosion of gunpowder and forced its way through the barrel, the air and the head of a fallen, but not yet dead NCR Ranger who was aiming his own .357 for Titus, unseen by the Legionaries.
His head exploded, his blood splattering Aurora's body and face. She held the now empty gun still in her hands, still pointed at where the Ranger's head had once been. Her heart drummed a racing beat within her chest. Her lips parted still from the breath she took before she squeezed the trigger, exactly as she'd been shown in basic, one foot forward to take the recoil.
She didn't see who took the gun from her and escorted her away, her mind wasn't with it, She'd killed her first man, one of her own men, one of her people as he tried to kill a man who she knew was her enemy.
It made no sense to her.
Behind the Mess Tent, the truck's engine exploded
Warm sticky blood spattered the back of Titus' legs as the downed ranger's head burst open. He looked behind him to see the dead man and Aurora holding a magnum with a smoking barrel. His bloodlust faded momentarily, giving way to a little shame. His pride was hurt, being saving by a women. A slave no less!
The outside was taken, his centuria lightly damaged by the assault, and the remains of the camp hidden inside their building - soon the be the Centurion's new outpost.
Titus stormed up to the slave girl and slapped the weapon from her hand. No woman would fight for him. He growled at her, but was unable to berate her; she had just saved his life. Titus would never admit to anyone a slave had saved his life, and if she mentioned it to anyone else, he'd have her on a cross before she finished her sentence, but deep down he was grateful.
He had an idea to clear the interior. Without any explanation as to what he was doing. Titus tore off Aurora's NCR fatigues to reveal the C4 strapped underneath. He threw them to the floor, and took all the explosives from her before telling one of his recruits to keep a close eye on her.
The Legionaries had been wise enough to stay away from the open doors of the building - the rangers had their .50 cals all aimed at that small opening. Titus reached Sejanus, at the front of the legionaries waiting by the entrance. He didn't bother to ask why the Decanus had left his slave unattended - that would come late - he just took the detonator from Sejanus and pushed him aside.
"You. Look inside quickly and tell me what you see!" he barked to a recruit. Hesitantly, the recruit stuck his head in through the door, peeked around, and withdrew it just before a round embedded itself in the door frame just inches away.
"They're using the reception as cover. There's only a handful, and Hanlon is there."
"Excellent," Titus growled as he strapped the bomb vest to the recruit. "You've done Caesar proud, boy. You know what to do."
To anyone outside the Legion, this level of zeal and fanaticism would look mad: the recruit legionary sprinted full pelt straight at the reception behind which the last of the rangers were taking cover, taking a few small rounds to the chest, before diving over the surface top of the desk and landing in a crumpled, bloody mess by the rangers' feet. A moment later, the reception wasn't there.
Aurora's shocked mind regained control as Titus grabbed her uniform and ripped it from her.
She had no idea what he was going to do, her worst fear that he was going to rape her in front of his men was proved unfounded as he removed the bomb vest from her, ripping the duct take that held it in place from her body, leaving red weals and eliciting a sharp intake of breath from her.
She stood there in her suddenly inadequate bra and fatigue pants. The cool night air met her skin causing it to go to gooseflesh. She shuddered as men looked upon her body; the scar on her lower back itched where the duct tape had been ripped from her body.