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Around the NCR Embassy, the last of the NCR soldier's died, and the cheer of victory resounded and echoed thorough the strip.
They'd anticipated loses, but not like this - not all in one block of the city.
The fear of those recruits chosen for the primary charge was evident; scrawled across all their faces. These young men, some barely older than boys, had been told to lay down their lives in the heat of battle, having no way to escape from the fate that had just been assigned to them. And thought they were scared, they knew that had to. If they died purging the dissolute from Rome, then they died a good death.
A cacophonous thunder of explosions, gunfire and screamed broke the evening drew in. The red army poured in through the gate, recruits first, flailing their arms, clutching grenades white knuckled. Machine gun rounds tore through the Legion advance, ripped men apart, leaving red mist where once there was a person. Half the recruits were cut down at the halfway point between them and their target. The NCR were obviously shocked by this outrageous tactic - to charge the enemy head on at a choke point?! The Legion's number were overwhelming. For once the Republicans didn't have that advantage at their disposal. Wave after wave of the men clad in red came through the gates, and when it was time for the gunners at the rear to reload, that was when the bangs started.
Fallen legionaries in a last ditch effort for put an end to the NCR barricade, lobbed their precious ordnance into the the Republic's line.
It only took a few moments, but the NCR in Vegas were broken. Their resistance lay in pieces, literally, strewn across the Strips main road. Body pieces far from the rest of their owners. Unfortunately, most of those bodies were wearing red...
Lanius looked on, emotionless, his face as still as the mask he wore. He simply walked forward, into his surviving men, calling them forward to take what remained of the city in the name of Caesar. With one final look back at Titus, he pointed to the top of the Lucky 38 - we should claim that for Caesar.
For all the stoicism the man could muster, Titus was shaken. He'd never seen so many of his men die in front of him. His campaign so far had been so easy in comparison. At least now he had an easier task. There was no way that the NCR would be able to build opposition inside the casino.
He and the remainder of his centuria lined up outside the main doors. When they'd all caught themselves, loaded their weapons and readied their blades, Titus' new Decanus, Lupe, lead the survivors into the dark interior.
Aurora held the shaking slave girl's hair back as she puked against the fence, she coughed and shuddered, her stomach heaving and retching. it had been a horrendous day for the women, Running the gauntlet to Boomer's Territory, witnessing the leaders of the Boomers being hung by their own entrails, moving the Howitzers to a position to attack Vegas in the extreme heat of the Mojave wasteland and finally, after dealing with the noise of those weapons of destruction. moving the bloodied and dismembered corpses into piles.
They were all at the end of their 'second' wind of exhaustion, the girl's vomiting and shaking form was almost ready to collapse, Aurora supported her when she had finished retching, her stomach only bringing up clear bile now. they were in a small area beside Gomorrah, the smoke from the place not helping with the girl's upset stomach, the tench of burned men and women stuck to their clothes and hair, permeated their skin and made them both feel ill, but Aurora had managed to keep her stomach settled.
Black streaks of smoke now joined the blood, sweat and dirt that covered her skin, hair and Slave dress, which was even more ragged than it had been at the start of the day. there was a large tear in the back of the dress, leading to one of the shoulders, and it was constantly falling down her arm, revealing, in her opinion, a little too much of her chest to be 'modest'.
The 'shower' that she and the other girls had been treated to by the Soldiers back in Freeside had really been pointless, for they were just as filthy, if not more so now than when they had been before.
Aurora and the other slave girls were now set to finish the NCR body-moving, the ground was littered with bodies... or rather body parts, most of them had scraps of crimson armour or cloth, rather than the khaki of an NCR uniform. As she picked up the legs of an NCR soldier, detached from the body, nhe noticed Titus moving through towards the Lucky 38 with a group of his soldiers. his shoulders were slumped slightly, the body language of her master spoke volumes to her, he had lost a lot of men and it hit him hard.
She paused a moment to contemplate her Master's emotions, he cared for his men, unlike Lanius, who would throw them around like a careless child would throw a toy car or a teddy bear in a fit of anger.
she watched as the Soldiers entered the Lucky 38, anyone who was in there hiding, would not be feeling so lucky soon.
Ised could vaguely see the Group of men lining up in front of the large set of doors through the dusty-tinted windows, Her heart nearly burst out of her chest in fear. Reaching for her bag and pulled out another dose of Psycho and drove the needle into her skin feeling the effects of the intensified Adrenaline run through her veins. "T-two doeses...I-I'll be fine...Maybe make it through the first few without g-getting too hu-" A loud creak rang through her ears and she turned to see the doors of the lucky 38 beginning to open. "Nope, to drunk, can't do this.." Ised felt an unexplainable rush of fear and leapt to take cover behind the bar and lost her leg in the process.
She peered over the counter ever-so-slightly and saw her leg lay off center on the casino floor. "Y-you've gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me..." Ised thought to herself as she slumped back down behind the bar now totally defenseless.
The doors of the lucky 38 now wide open Ised could hear the men marching in along with the loud chaos that still went on outside. "Looks all clear." One said before moving aside and letting a few more enter, they spanned out across the entire casino floor, a few even a bit to close for comfort. "
"What the hell..." A Legionary standing close to the bar noticed a strange metal contraption and picked it up. Ised's false leg was now in the hands of the enemy, he looked it over to try and decipher what it could be. "Don't pull the bar out, don't pull the bar out.." Ised thought over and over again before hearing a loud boom and seeing plasma splattered everywhere.
Anger filled her chest and she pulled herself up, slamming her hands onto the bar top. "You fuckin' morons! That was my leg!" As quickly as the Explosion happened more men rushed in aiming guns and blades at Ised. "W-why...why did I fuckin' do that..." Her voice was high and airy, her chest felt heavy and she fell back down behind the Bar.
Immediately Ised was pulled up from out behind the bar by her hair and two large arms wrapped around her. "Nope." Was the only thing she squeaked through crushed lungs before kicking the guy grabbing her from behind in the groin, his grip loosened and she broke free only to be man handled by several other men. Ised's head spun and she felt like she was going to black out. "Know what, fine I give up, to drunk to fuckin' put up a fight..." She relaxed her body and went limp, letting the men carry her outside before tying her hands together and dropping her on the ground.
Aurora wiped her brow of sweat for the umpteenth time, smearing dirt, blood and sweat across her pretty but exhausted features.
She watched as the men of the Legion came out from the Lucky 38 and threw a one-legged woman out into the street, she rolled down the long steps of the 38 to stop at the bottom near where Aurora was standing. Two Legionaries picked up the wretch and dragged her away mid-protest to Freeside.
Aurora turned around and walked into a Soldier, she gasped, "Oh, Please forgive me sir, I didn't know you were there!" she stammered. the Soldier looked at her, he was one of Titus' Decanii, "You are the NCR capture?" he asked her, "The personal slave of Centurion Vulcanis?"
Aurora nodded, "Do you have battlefield medical training?" he asked her gruffly.
"Yes, sir, i do." she replied.
"Good, report to the Old Mormon Fort, you will assist there." the soldier strode off
Aurora moved quickly to obey the Decanus, she entered the Mormon Fort to find that it had become a dumping ground for the captures. out the front of the fort, a makeshift medical area had been set up where injured soldiers were getting treated.
Within the Old Mormon Fort, injured men and women were everywhere, in various states of disarray amongst uninjured and frightened civillians who had been captured. Legion soldiers stood guard and had their weapons trained on the crowd, ready to kill anyone who resisted. The Followers of the Apocalypse, those who had remained, were kept locked up in one of the two towers. Aurora set to work, helping the slave masters sort out those who would live and those who would not. Basic triage ruled.
At the end of that exhausting day, there were only a few captures left to sort through, one was the one-legged girl who had been thrown out of the Lucky 38, Aurora had seen the look in the girl's eyes before, Drug addiction, most likely psycho. She knew that the girl before her had seen what was happening, and the fear was plain to see in her eyes, this girl didn't want to die, but Aurora knew that if she was seen in this state by the slave masters, that she would be killed, or crucified, either way, dead was dead.
"Stay here, and don;t do anything stupid." she said to the girl. She turned and looked for the Slave master,
"Sir, Forgive me, but I have a legionary with a bad cut on his arm, he will need bandages, have i your permission to go and collect some from the supplies?" the slave master grunted, too busy looking over the pretty girls and calculating how much they were worth. Aurora moved quickly, knowing that time was of the essence, she retrieved the bandages from storage , and some doses of fixer. she slipped the syringes of Fixer into the three bandage rolls and returned to the girl.
"Here," she said as she injected each dose after the other. "Stay calm, don't do anything stupid and you might just get through this alive." she said, trying to reassure the girl with a smile.
She moved away with the bandages in hand to the medical tent, she stammered out an excuse for their presence to her 'favorite' Decanus who was busy working in there as to why she had some bandages, and left quickly before any repercussions were meted out. She still had her suspicions about that Decanus... something wasn't quite right.
Aurora returned to find the Slave master's assistant looking over the one legged girl, she moved quickly when she heard him say that Ised was of no use.
"Forgive me sir, but this one is still of use, there are plenty of one-legged slaves at the Fort, they have their uses, food servers, washers, cooks. she may not be worth much with only one leg, but she is still useful." Aurora suggested sweetly. "We lost many slaves today in the Boomer's territory, and My Master, Prime Centurion Titus Vulcanis, will need them replaced." the Slave master's assistant looked at Aurora at the mention of her master's name, she smiled softly. The soldier knew that the Prime Centurion was high up, most likely to be the next Legate promoted. he nodded.
The slave master's assistant looked Ised over, "There is still some leg there, if we give the wretch a crutch she might be of some use, if not, she can work on her back." he said sneeringly. Aurora saw the girl gear up for a retort and interjected herself smoothly between the girl and the slave master's assistant, putting one hand behind her back and wiggling her index finger at Ised to warn her to be quiet
"Yes sir, Now, there was another slave over here that you may have an issue with..." she said, as she moved quickly to direct the Slave master away from Ised. Aurora followed the Solder, and turned her head back to Ised and winked.