Chapter 13 – The Naggiar Campaign - Part 6 Down and Dirty

Day three of the Naggiar Campaign had dawned for the two armies, and both sides knew that it would most likely be the final and decisive day. The Imperial Army made no secret of its intention to break the Gallian lines for good as the bulk of their forces had gathered toward the middle of the main battle front. On the opposite side, the majority of the Gallian forces had also focused most of their army to the middle, as per General Damon's orders. And entrenched in the front and center of Gallia's army was the Edy Detachment.

"This sucks..." sighed Ramona as she stood atop a box and looked over at the Imperial force on the other side through her binoculars. "Outnumbered, outgunned, and just about out-everythinged else."

"What else is new?" asked Ted as he began checking his rifle. "We seem to get stuck in these sort of situations a lot lately. Well, on the plus side we're never bored, right?"

Edy shook her head as she spread out a map that outlined the various units of the Gallian front line as well as projected enemy troop positions and attack routes. She sighed as noted that most of the arrows on the map pointed from the Imperial front straight to her group's position. Ramona hopped off of the box and looked at the map with Edy.

"Well if there's one positive thing to say, it's that our recon is accurate," she said. "Cuz it looks like every single Imperial out there is going to make a beeline for us."

"Hey guys," said Elysse as the pair continued to look over the map. "Uh, I think Squad 3 just showed up."

Edy and Ramona looked up to see Elysse pointing at five soldiers approaching them. One of them, a tall, muscular, black haired Lancer walked up to Edy and gave her a salute.

"Hector Calvey reporting for duty Ma'am!"

Returning his salute, Edy looked at Hector for a moment longer then at the four other soldiers near him.

"Uh you're all from Squad 3?" Asked Edy.

Hector nodded. "That's right."

"Didn't the Captain say that ALL of Squad 3 was going to assist us?" asked Ramona, arching an eyebrow at the group. "What's the deal?"

"...." Hector hesitated to respond as he looked back at his fellow 3's. After a moment he cleared his throat and delivered his explanation.

"You were told correctly. We five are all that is left of Squad 3."

"All that's....left?" asked Ted as he joined the group.

"Our squad was ambushed last night as we were preparing to relocate to this position for today's operation," explained Hector. "We don't know how the Imperials were able to get so close to our position without anyone noticing, but within minutes our entire squad was wiped out. The five of us were barely able to escape at all..."

"So I take it we will be without tank support?" asked a voice from behind the remaining members of Squad 3. Everyone turned to discover the cloaked figure of Eratria leaning against a nearby trench wall, examining a rifle in her hands.

"W-where did she come from?" asked one of the Squad 3 members.

"Uh, she has a habit of popping out from nowhere," explained Ramona as she glared at Eratria. "As well as being completely insensitive. Just ignore her..."

Hector shook his head. "It's alright. I'm afraid it's as she said; the squad commander and his tank were amongst our casualties."

"Sublime," sighed Eratria, lighting a cigarette as she approached Edy. "Well that makes our mission all the more challenging I suppose."

"If by challenging you mean impossible," replied Ted. "How are we supposed to launch an offensive without...offense?"

"Actually our mission was changed a little...Well, okay a lot. Now we have to defend the central front," replied Edy as she motioned for everyone to come look at the map. "As you can see, the enemy has massed most of its forces in order to strike at the center of the Gallian line, which is us, naturally."

"I see," said Hector as he studied the map. "The Imperials plan on breaking the Army's line in half...Then they'd simply surround the two halves and that would be the end of it."

"So what's the plan then?" asked Ramona. "The higher-ups can't possibly expect us to hold this position for long with just a handful of people..."

"Basically we have to defend the central front while the rest of the army attacks," explained Edy pointed out various areas on the map. "We have to hold out long enough for Welkin and the rest of the 7's to attack and claim this Imperial base."

"What's so special about that base?" asked Ted as he scratched his head. "Doesn't look all that important to me."

"...It's the main camp of one of the Imperial artillery squads," explained Eratria, pausing to to take a drag of her cigarette. "It seems Eleanor is planning on having Lieutenant Gunther's squad use the Empire's own artillery against them."

Ramona's face brightened a little as she began to see how the Captain's plan was to unfold. "Oh, I see now! Welkin can then not only hit them with their own mortars, but can also hit em from behind with the squad too!"

Edy nodded. "The Captain thinks that will cause enough confusion to force the Imperials to retreat and allow the army to gain the upper hand...Or something like that."

"So,uh, how are supposed to hold this area?" asked Elysse after she cleared her throat. "I mean that's...a loooot of bad guys..."

"Well the Captain has a plan for that too," explained Edy. "But, uh it's kinda hard for me to explain..."

Eratria sighed and shook her head. "Allow me then..." Without waiting for Edy to respond, the cloaked soldier pointed at the group's position on the map. "The strategy is a 3 stage defense with...tactical retreat in mind."

"Okay that doesn't make sense," smirked Ramona. "We're supposed to defend by running away?"

"No, genius," growled Eratria as she flicked some cigarette ash at the model. "Like your lancer friend pointed out, trying to hold on to a single position against such a large number of...bad guys isn't feasible or even expected; instead we're to anchor the central line by defending it from these positions."

The group watched as Eratria marked three spots on the map with a red pen; number 1 was the stretch of trench where they were currently located, number two being Squad 6's base camp which was marked to be 600 yards behind the trench, and finally the site of a ruined a bunker that was a 1000 yards behind was number 3.

"Thankfully the Imperials have made no secret as to where they will strike us, and in order to break the Gallian line, they will have to first come through this specific stretch of trench that we are currently in," said Eratria. "Our goal here will be to hold them off until Miss Nelson here deems it necessary to fall back to position two..."

"R-right. To Squad 6's base camp," said Edy recognizing Eratria's hint for her to take over the mission explanation. "We should be able to hold that position the longest since there are already defensive structures and some turrets already in place. Marina and Homer are still setting up there in case any of you were wondering."

"Ah yeah, and since the trench in front if it is so deep, the only way to get there is by climbing ladders," Ted pointed out. "So, I'm betting we can last awhile inside the camp."

"Actually if all goes well on Welkin's end, we won't even have to go to position 3," said Edy. "I'll have to decide if we need to though, naturally."

"What about their Valkyria?" asked one of the Squad 3 members nervously. "H-how are we supposed to deal with her if she shows up?"

"I will handle her," answered Eratria as she tossed away the remains of her cigarette. "You will all stay out of my way if you have any sense or desire to stay alive."

"Well, better her than me," muttered a different Squad 3 member. "But...what if you...you know, don't beat her?"

"Then you can all just run around in circles and scream bloody murder for all I care," sighed Eratria.

"Well makes you so sure you can beat her?" demanded Ramona, poking Eratria on the shoulder. "This is a Valkyria we're talking about, not just some run of the mill grunt."

"Because," replied Eratria as she stood up and began to walk away, "It wouldn't be the first time I've faced one."

The group watched in silence as she disappeared around a corner.

"That's, uh a good reason..." said Hector attempting to break the sudden awkward silence.

Back in Squad 6's camp Homer and Marina were hurriedly preparing the defenses for the struggle that was soon to come. Homer had been working on a machine gun turret when he noticed Marina had been digging in a spot near the edge of the camp for a good ten minutes, and decided to finally ask why.

"This is where I'll be shooting from," explained Marina as she finished digging . "Since this base already gives me a decent vantage point of the initial defensive position, I won't have to use a tower and risk getting sniped myself."

"Oh, right. Of course," mumbled Homer as he completed his task. "Well, lucky for us, we're staying here when the fighting starts."

"Lucky, huh?" said Marina as she crouched inside the hole and looked through her rifle's scope. "Aren't you worried about Edy?"

Homer kicked up a small cloud of dust before giving his response. "She's a tough girl...She'll be alright. Of course I would rather be with her for the first part of the operation, but she decided this is where I need to be so I'll carry out her orders."

Marina didn't respond as she looked through her scope at Edy's position, watching what appeared to be a fight between Eratria and one of the Squad 3 members. Making more friends I see...

__

Eratria was standing over a Squad 3 engineer who had dropped a box of ammunition, resulting in the contents being spilled.

"You clumsy fool!" shouted Eratria. "It's little wonder we're losing this war with idiots like you on our side!"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," replied the engineer as she began to pick up the spilled ammo.

"Ugh clumsy and a dark-hair," scoffed the woman as she glared at the Darcsen engineer. "Can it get any worse?"

The engineer bristled at the comment and stood up and faced Eratria.

"I have a name you know," she said, looking up at the woman's concealed face. "It's Nadine!"

"Yes, and it'll look great on your tombstone if you keep this up..."

Nadine did not back down, despite being far less intimidating than the other woman. "What's with you lady? Aren't we supposed to be on the same side?"

"...Whatever," mumbled Eratria as she turned to walk away. Suddenly a series of loud explosions near the top of the trench caught their attention.

"Has it started?" asked Nadine, tightly grasping her rifle.

Eratria looked toward the sky. "Indeed. The Imperials have begun shelling the area. We need to get back to Edy ASAP, so try not to slow me down."

"Are you always this full of yourself?" asked Nadine as she followed the older woman through the trench.

"All the time," replied Eratria without a hint of sarcasm. Nadine didn't know whether the response was serious or not but decided not to ask as the pair continued to sprint through the trench toward Edy's position. As they continued through the trench, orders for the Gallian forces started to come through on their radio, indicating that the beginning of Naggiar's final battle had finally begun.

"Eratria, where the heck are you and that engineer?" fumed Edy over the radio amid the sounds of gunfire and artillery shelling. "We need you guys now!" Her question was almost instantly answered; not by a vocal response, but rather the distinct smell of cigarette smoke. As usual, the odd Darcsen-hater had appeared out of nowhere, with the engineer in tow. How does she DO that?

"Here they come!" shouted Ted as he fired at a large group of Imperials who had begun descending down the sloping ramp thirty yards away that led into the trench.

As Edy prepared to fire at the approaching enemy, she heard the distinct crack of a sniper rifle from a good distance behind her position, and a second later saw one of the Imperial troops fall backwards, as he was the unlucky recipient of the bullet.

""You go Marina~" cheered Ted over the radio, only to be rewarded with the Sniper's response of "...Shut up."

Ramona glanced over at Ted as he let out a dejected sigh and let out a sigh of her own. He sure picked the toughest girl from the Squad...poor guy. A quick burst of enemy gunfire quickly returned her attention back to the battle as she ducked behind the line of sandbags the she and Edy were using for cover. Whoa, get your head in the game girl; I don't wanna repeat what happened at Marberry..

As she and Edy ducked for cover, Ramona glanced behind her position and noticed Eratria crouched behind some boxes, saying something into her radio. A few seconds later a massive barrage of artillery fire hammered the area near the trench entrance, causing the entire trench to tremor as well as forcing the Imperials who were lucky enough not to be blown away to temporarily retreat.

"Did you just do that Eratria?" asked Ramona as Nadine used the brief pause in battle to start distributing additional supplies to the group.

Eratria sighed and tossed aside an empty cigarette pack before giving an answer. "Obviously not, as I have no explosives on me."

"You know what I mean, smart-ass," fumed Ramona as she took some ammo clips from Nadine.

"I...might have authorization to call in artillery strikes," replied Eratria as she took a cigarette out of a fresh pack. "Hey, hurry up with that ammo, dark-hair!"

Nadine shot the woman an icy glare as she intentionally slowed down. "I would appreciate it if you would stop calling me that Miss!"

"And I would appreciate it if you got me some fucking ammo already!" Eratria shot back as she put the cigarette in her mouth.

Edy had heard enough. She angrily stormed toward Eratria and quickly removed the cigarette from her mouth as she was lighting it. "That's enough Eratria," she shouted as she looked up at the somewhat surprised face of the older woman...what she could see of it anyway. "I don't know what makes you think you think you can talk to her like that just because she's Darcsen, but I'll be damned if I let you do it any longer while I'm in charge here!"

Eratria stared at Edy for a moment before snatching her cigarette back. "As you wish," she muttered as Nadine hesitantly walked up and gave the woman some rifle clips. Eratria quickly snatched them and motioned for the engineer to leave, which she gladly did.

The awkward silence that followed did not last long as more Imperials appeared at the trench ramp, guns blazing. As Eratria and the others returned fire, she could not help but wonder why the enemy attack was fairly light considering all the radio transmissions confirmed that the main part of the Imperial force was bearing down on their position. As she watched another Imperial get picked off by another of Marina's impressive shots, she saw several Imperial lancers suddenly appear at the top edge of the trench, their launchers aimed directly at Edy and Ramona's position. After shouting a quick warning at the pair, Eratria took quick aim at one of the lancers, drilling him in the head with a well placed shot. As he fell into the trench, Edy and Ramona quickly moved away from the sandbags they were hiding behind, and not a moment too soon, as half a dozen lancer rounds hammered the area. The resulting explosions sent Edy reeling back toward Eratria as Ramona slid in behind the sandbags on the other side of the trench where Ted, Hector and the other Squad 3 members were using for cover.

"Are you alright Sis?" asked a concerned Ramona as she watched Eratria grab a slightly stunned Edy and guide her behind the boxes she was shooting behind.

"Yeah..."groaned Edy as she quickly shook her head to regain her bearings. Looking back to the trench ramp she watched as more Imperial soldiers rushed in, thus making an already bad situation even worse.

"Elysse, can you and Hector get some rocket fire on those guys?" asked Edy as she and Eratria attempted to apply some kind of suppressing fire on the incoming soldiers.

"Rodgerrrrr," answered the female Lancer. Wasting no time, she and Hector each fired a round in the middle of the soldiers sending the ones near the blast flying. It didn't slow down the remaining troopers much however, forcing the two lancers to quickly duck back for cover.

"Yo, this ain't working too well Edy," Ted yelled as he fired at the rapidly advancing Imperials.

After lobbing a grenade, Edy turned to Eratria to see that she was was once again speaking into her radio.

"...am requesting an artillery strike in zone H, coordinates one-four-zero-point-eight-five."

"Ma'am that's practically right on top of your position!" replied a voice on Eratria's radio.

"I'm aware," snapped Eratria as she tossed the remains of yet another cigarette away. "So don't miss."

Upon hearing the exchange Edy gave Eratria a look of absolute disbelief. "Eratria did you just call down a strike on top of us?"

"Yes," said Eratria with a smile as she lit another cigarette. "Hang on to something."

"Brace yourselves everyone!" shouted Edy as she and the rest of the group braced for the impending blasts. Looking up for a moment she saw that Eratria was still standing, taking a drag from her cigarette as the Imperials charged ever closer as if she was completely oblivious to the danger that she herself had put the group in.

And then came the deafening blasts of artillery fire. To Edy it felt like the whole trench was about to collapse on top of her as the ground shook violently, over and over. What was only seconds felt like an eternity to her but when the bombing finally ended she found herself completely covered in dirt. As she stood up she saw she was not the only one either.

"Ugh my uniform's all dirty!" fumed Ramona as she shook the dirt off herself. "What the heck Eratria? You do know that could have killed us? Are you completely insane?!"

Eratria, who hadn't bothered to shake the dirt off her uniform, simply looked at Ramona and tilted her head, remaining silent as she held her cigarette that somehow remained intact.

"...Right," sighed Ted as he looked around the trench to see that Eratria's close call was not without merit as there was no sign of any Imperials in or near the trench.

"Hey Edy, are you guys alright?" asked Homer over the radio. "That last mortar strike looked awfully close..."

"Yeah we're all okay," answered his girlfriend. "Eratria's either really good with calling those in or just really lucky..."

"Sorry to interrupt, but there are more enemies bearing down on your position," said Marina over the radio in her usual stoic voice.

"Tell me something I don't know," sighed Edy as reloaded her weapon. "How many?"

"A lot," replied Marina as she looked through her scope at the approaching Imperials. "Also, these soldiers are all wearing some kind of black armor and they're being led by someone in really heavy looking armor and a gun that...Well, I've never seen anything like it to be honest."

Upon hearing this Eratria let out an audible gasp and let the cigarette that was in her left hand fall to the ground.

"What is it Eratria?" asked Hector as he and the rest of his squad mates looked at her with concern. "Something we should know about?"

"Edy, you need everyone to fall back right now," she told the group leader in an extremely concerned tone that bordered on fearful. "I'm dead serious."

"Wait, why?" demanded Ramona as she took more ammunition from Nadine. "It's been barely half an hour since the fighting started!"

"Those black armored troopers are part of an elite squad led by a man called Ty the Immortal," explained Eratria as she looked away from the group. "They're specialized in urban and trench combat and they will wipe us out if we stay in this position."

"Hey I remember Welkin and Alicia talking about some Imperial with that name," said Ted as he wiped some dirt off his face. "I think they said something about him being the one who took both Vasel and Fouzen; both in a single day."

"It's true," said Eratria as she picked up the dropped cigarette.

"Well it's just a name right?" asked Elysse as she fidgeted with her launcher. "He's not really immortal...right?"

"...We need to retreat back to the second position now Edy," was Eratria's only response.

After a moment of thinking Edy decided it was best to heed the older woman's advice. "Alright, everyone start heading back to the camp; Eratria and I will stay back to buy you guys some time."

"Let me stay with you too Sis," said Ramona as the others began to fall back deeper into the trench.

Edy shook her head as Eratria put in a fresh clip into her rifle. "I need you to be with the others," she told her friend. "If something happens to me, you'll need to lead them; got it?"

"Don't say things like that," sighed Ramona putting a hand to her forehead. "But...alright. Just be careful, you got that?" Turning around, looked back to Edy for a moment before running back through the trench to follow the others.

As she ran off, Edy's radio suddenly came to life as several panicked transmissions came in.

"The enemy Valkyria has been sighted! I repeat, the enemy Valkyria has been sighted on the eastern front! She's already wiped out Squad 6! Squads 2 and 4 are currently engaging her!"

"...She's heading here you know," said Eratria as she pressed herself against the left trench corner, breathing heavily. "Things may become....complicated soon."

Edy knelt down next to her and looked toward the ramp through her Mags sight. "As if they're not already...I just hope Welkin and the others take that base soon..."

"Edy, those troopers are almost in range," reported Marina over the radio.

"We'll be at the base in a few minutes," added Ramona. "Hang in there, okay Edy?"

As Edy continued to wait for the Imperials to appear, Eratria suddenly let out a loud curse into her radio. "That idiot Damon! He's redirected all the artillery toward the western front! I can't call in any more strikes."

"That's totally not where their Valkyria is!" groaned Edy. "What is he thinking?"

"The regular army is positioned there," explained Eratria as she also looked through her weapon's sight at the ramp. "I assume he's completely failing to fight back the Imperials there, as usual. You know, I wish he'd just do everyone a favor and go die in a giant explosion or something..."

Edy chuckled slightly at the woman's unexpected, or, more likely, unintended joke but only for a moment as suddenly the group of the black armored Imperial troopers that Marina had warned about appeared at the top of the trench ramp. Unlike the previous waves of attackers, these soliders seemed to be marching in a three soldier-wide formation and were advancing with an oddly slower pace as well.

"Enemy is in range," reported Marina. "Taking a shot."

Edy heard the telltale pop of marina's rifle and watched in disbelief as the shot deflected off of the helmet of Marina's target.

"!" Marina let out a surprised gasp over the radio as she witnessed the results.

"I told you, these guys aren't your average Imp soldier," growled Eratria as she began firing from her standing position behind the trench corner. "The soldiers in this unit aren't wearing the paper armor the usual grunt is issued. Also, the GSR your friend uses is meant for accuracy, not stopping power."

Further reinforcing Eratria's claim was the fact that none of the bullets that either Edy or Eratria fired seemed to have any effect on these new soldiers beyond slightly slowing their pace.

"Uh...this isn't working," said a very nervous Edy as she reloaded her weapon. "What do we do?"

"We fall back," answered Eratria as she paused to knock the ash off her cigarette. "Run to those boxes on the other side; I'll cover you. On three."

Edy nodded and crouched down. She closed her eyes and began breathing deeply as Eratria began counting. If there was any doubt left in Edy's mind about trusting Eratria, this was the time to erase them.

"Three!" Gathering every bit of her courage, Edy stood up and bolted for the other side. As she ran Eratria emptied her rifle's clip at the advancing Imperials. It was enough to throw off their aim as their shots fell just behind Edy as she slid feet first behind the boxes. After a quick self-check to make sure she was still alive, she looked back at Eratria, who had switched out her rifle for her two handguns.

Oh, I guess I have to give her some covering fire too, thought Edy as she got back to her feet. But before she could do or say anything else Eratria suddenly bolted from her position and ran towards Edy, firing both weapons at the Imperial soldiers as she did so. About two-thirds of the way through she suddenly dropped to her knees and slid on her armored kneepads the rest of the way as she emptied the rest of her clips, ejecting them as she reached Edy.

"Let's go," said Eratria as she got back to her feet and began reloading her weapons. "The others should be at the second position by now."

"O-okay," replied Edy. Just then, however, a large shadow appeared from above and an instant later a large Imperial trooper landed the ground near the pair. As he stood up, Edy saw that he was equipped in the same thick black armor and helmet that the other Imperial Elites wore. The weapon he held in his hand looked like one of those big Gatling-gun type machine guns she had seen used as the Shamrock's main gun on a few of the squad's missions.

"Oh, God," whispered Eratria as she holstered both of her handguns and drew her sword. "It's him...Ty the Immortal."

As the trooper turned and faced the pair, the rest of the Imperial Elites quickly fell in place behind him.

"Going somewhere?" laughed Ty as he pointed his weapon at the two Gallians. As he examined them, it seemed almost insulting that all he had to face were two females, one of them still just a girl. "This is the best Gallia has to offer?"

Eratria quickly moved a visibly shaking Edy behind her with her right hand, and as she did so, removed a small cannister from her belt.

"We gunna kill em now, Sir?" one of the troopers asked.

As Ty was about to answer, he looked at Eratria a second time and then her sword. "Wait...That sword...It's you! I don't believe it! How many times do I have to kill you?!"

"Until you get it right," answered Eratria through her clenched teeth. "Which is a concept you still fail to grasp it seems."

"Stinking half-breed!" shouted Ty as he pointed his weapon at Eratria's head. "I'll make sure to finish the job this time!" Before he could fire it, however Eratria tossed the canister at him and immediately turned around and grabbed Edy by the wrist and began to run. The cannister suddenly burst into a bright, white, flare-like explosion that blinded the Imperials.

"After them you idiots!" shouted Ty as his vision slowly returned. "I want that woman dead!"

"I take it you two have some kind of history?," asked Edy as she followed Eratria through the trench.

"...No," replied Eratria, not wanting to explain herself.

"Well, for someone you don't know, you sure seemed pretty scared of him," Edy shot back.

"So says the girl who nearly wet herself upon seeing him," countered Eratria as she rounded a corner.

Before Edy could think of a comeback, Welkin's voice suddenly came over the radio.

"Edy what's your status?"

"Welkin, we've lost the first trench and are heading for the second position," Edy reported as she continued to follow Eratria. "What about you guys?"

"We're about to begin the attack on the targeted Imperial camp. Try to hang in there alright?"

"Will do," replied Edy in her best cheerful-I'm-not-worried tone. Sure, hang in there Edy while the whole of the Empire is bearing down on you and a bunch of bulletproof Imps are chasing you. Oh yeah don't forget about their Valkyria! Try not to get vaporized 'kay?

What a splendid start to the day.