"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live."

- Adolf Hitler.

15/5 2035.

Oberkommando HQ, Germania, Großgermanisches Reich.

Generalfeldmarschall Gottfried Kürger looked over the plans made on the hologram screen in the war room. This colony, which was not too old, was the talk of all of the Reich. Attacked by aliens and occupied by aliens. As long as this was true, the Reich was losing prestige, fast. The Führer had ordered them to take it back, and he wanted it done yesterday. The SS was breathing at their necks, and Gottfried was losing sleep over it.

He took another puff of his cigarette as he pondered on the situation at hand. It was hard to wage a war against an alien force of which you had no intel on. It didn't help that communication had been cut off from the colony. They were flying blind here. Gottfried stroked his chin.

"Is everything set?" He asked. The other field marshals, Generals and Admirals looked at him.

"Of course. We are simply awaiting your approval." Generalfeldmarschall Jonathan Thälmann replied as he straightened himself out, they all did. Despite most of the men in the room sharing the same rank as Gottfried, they all saw him as the top dog. The very head of the German war machine.

"Your plan can't fail, Herr Kürger. We will make sure of it." Admiral Axel Kiesling assured Gottfried. Both Großadmiral Gerhardt and Luftmarshall Stroman were not among the crowd gathered here, but they were on the phone.

"Let's go through it one last time." Großadmiral Gerhardt's voice said over the phone.

"Surprise and speed will be the key to winning this. The enemy believes they have already won, and are just holding out for a peace deal. Let's prove to them just how wrong they really are. First-" Gottfried pressed a few buttons on the console, a simulation of the scenario came up. In hologram form, it showed the colony, and the estimated enemy strength. "It will be a combined assault from all branches of the Wehrmacht. The Kriegsmarine will be the launch of the first phase." Gottfried said.

"Both the third fleet and the Fifth Fleet have been mobilized and stand ready. We will pour out of the relay at precisely 0400 hours, Germania time. The third fleet will engage the enemy fleet. Distract them from the colony. The fifth fleet will bring carriers and troop transports. The sixth fleet will be on standby in case it is needed." Gerhardt explained.

"After the kriegsmarine completes the first phase, the luftwaffe shall come in." Gottfried gave the word to Luft Marshall Stroman.

"Indeed. Our forces stand ready. The carriers on the fifth and the third fleet have already been packed up with fighters. Our main job is to ensure domination over the skies of Göringstadt and provide ground support. The fighters on the third fleet will harass the enemy, and deal the heavy blows that the massive warships cannot." Stroman explained, and he spoke with great confidence, like he always did.

"The final phase falls on us, gentlemen. The Heer, with support from the Fallschirmjäger divisions and the Marinesoldaten battalions, will land once a clear beachhead has been made. The Invasion will be one based on speed. We will have the intivative. True Blitzkrieg, cut off supply and force them into submission. It will be search and destroy after we gain the upper hand, mostly with the use of air assault." Gottfried explained, all listened eagerly. It was as if in that moment no competition existed in the Wehrmacht. Only pure hatred for an alien force. "Our number one priortity besides retaking the colony is intel gathering. We need to know everything we can about the aliens, so we can strike them in their land. And spill their blood." Gottfried had gone over this a hundred times by now, but he needed to make sure they all knew.

Gottfried looked over his fellow fieldmarshal and generals. "Are there any questions?" He asked.

"Sir, how many men are we deploying?" General Heider asked through the thick smoke of Gottfried's cigarette in the ashtray. Gottfried picked up the cigarette and took a puff of it.

"2 divisions of Fallschirmjäger, 2 divisions of Marinesoldaten, as well as 6 army divisions and 3 panzer divisions. All in all, about 130.000 men… Some of the best troops. And if that wasn't enough, we have another 150.000 men on standby for quick deployment if necessary. Does that answer your question, General?" Gottfried asked, the General nodded and gave a quick Yes Sir. "Any additional questions?" He looked over the General staff, and no one said anything. "Then It's showtime. I'll call the Führer. Sieg Heil."

"Heil Germania!" They all said in almost perfect union.

Gottfried walked over to the telephone in the center of the room. Direct hotline to the Reichskanzei. He picked up the phone, and waited no more than a few seconds before a voice appeared on the other end of the line.

"Yes?"

"Mein Führer… Everything is ready. We await only your approval." Gottfried formally requested.

"You have my approval to launch Fall Rückgewinnung. Sieg Heil." Ulfric was devoid of his usual emotions when he uttered those words.

"Heil Germania." Gottfried said as he put the phone down. He turned to all the others. "The operation has been greenlighted." He simply said.

16/5 2035.

German Cruiser, DKM Straßburg. Approaching the Mass Relay to Göringstadt.

For the last week Carsten had been waiting for this. He knew it was coming, and he simply couldn't wait.

Carsten Weidemann was an Oberfeldwebel, he earned that rank through sheer commitment. Having trained in Böhmen for over two years, he was ready for this. He had been the first one on the shuttle. He was itching to drop down on Göringstadt and give the aliens a little piece of hell.

He checked his parachute. He had never deployed in a warzone before, but he didn't care. He was confident in his abilities, he had been the best. He had chosen the Fallschirmjäger because they were the best. If only his grandfather could see him now, in his armor and compact rifle strapped to his chest. Carsten turned his attention back to his squad, all of whom seemed excited at what was about to happen.

"Feet up gentlemen!" the commander shouted through the radio. "Drops will begin shortly, everyone prepare and be on standby."

Soon enough the doors to his squad's shuttle opened up, and he was the first to stand at the ready. The wind came barrelling at him at violent speeds and for a moment he almost lost his footing. But Weidermann had trained for this, just as his comrades beside him did. The instructor held himself right beside the open shuttle doors.

"You ready for this kid?" he shouted out through the strong gusts of wind, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ready as I'll ever be." he gave the thumbs up and soon enough the metal on his feet gave way to pure nothingness.

Carsten remembered his training from the moment, who took a deep breath and looked down. They were close to orbit, just bordering what could even be considered a breathable atmosphere. That's what the rebreather helmets were for, a nice piece of German technology.

"Los Junge!" The instructor ordered, and Carsten stepped even closer towards the edge, and finally dropped out of the shuttle. They went one by one, in quick succession after him. He loved the freedom that came with the free fall. They had to get pretty close before they would deploy the parachute, mostly out of fear of enemies spotting them. It was a pretty clear day after all.

He looked around and saw all the others were just behind him. He checked his watch to see the distance to the ground. 4000 feet, that was his mark. He deployed his parachute, which went off without a hitch. It was a little too close for comfort as he landed in the midst of a thick forest. His parachute got stuck in the tree, but he was close enough to the ground that it really didn't matter.

Standard procedure was to secure the surrounding area. As he did as much, his squad came down one by one, and linked up with him in no time. He checked the thick tree lines, trying to see if anything was hiding near him, but it would appear they had deployed without issue.

"Orders sir?" One of the privates asked as he came up to Carsten.

"We proceed as planned. The jamming tower should be here somewhere. Let's go, we're wasting time." Carsten ordered, as they all did as such. As they walked through the bushes, Carsten reflected on how they hadn't met any resistance yet, he had expected to meet enemy troops the moment his boots touched the soil of Göringstadt. He pondered on it for a little while, but he shook it from his head. Good Aryans always follow orders.

The bush was thick and hard to walk through. The uniform, which was a bit baggy, was not really made for this. He was afraid some of the fabric could be torn. They really needed to armor it up a bit more, but that was neither here nor there. The fast deployed jamming tower was on the outskirts. From what they had gathered, it had been placed by the aliens in a hurry, but it was still guarded.

"Eckstein. You still packing that C4?" Carsten asked as he crouched down. They were no more than a hundred feet away from the jamming tower, which looked makeshift.

"Right here sir." Eckstein showcased the bag of plastic explosives to his commander.

"Jesus, put that thing away private!" Carsten ordered, he didn't trust that shit one bit. He knew that it was no more safe in the little bag than it was out in the open, but 'out of sight out of mind' was his motto. "Let's take this facility. We'll split up. Three of you lay down some fire from the front-" Carsten pointed to the front gate. "Two of you go to the back and fire your weapons. Just suppress, the last of us will push our way in through the side. Erkstein, once we are in there and have secured the area, you'll plant the explosives. Do you all understand?"

"Yes sir!" They all replied. He gave a nod to start the operation. There were at least a few guards there, and that meant that this was their meeting with their enemy. They all awaited Carsten's command to start firing. He wanted nothing more than to make this enemy suffer. They had humiliated the Reich, and for that they should die.

"Attacke!" Carsten yelled out, loud enough that even the enemies could hear it. They all started firing at the small installation. They emptied their magazines against the unknowing enemy, who fell before they really knew what was going on. If they hadn't attacked the Reich first, maybe Carsten would have felt bad for this...But alas.

They quickly gained on the little jamming station, they fired their rifles like crazy, never letting go of the trigger once they saw an alien. As they were in the thick of it, one of his team mates got killed, bullet straight through the head. It happened right in front of Carsten, enough for him to lose focus for just a second. He had never seen someone die before… It was so… Sudden. It takes only a second to die…

That only served to anger Carsten more. He could only see red. They had the nerve to take the life of a German? They would pay dearly. They breached the outer perimeter with lightning speed, and they all but slaughtered the remaining aliens.

"Get to work Eckstein! Blow this fucking tower sky high." Carsten ordered as he gestured to the jamming tower.

"Copy that Oberfeldwebel!" Eckstein planted the plastic explosives in record time. Hooked it all up so it was right for a big blast. They retreated to a safe distance, but not before making sure that their fallen comrade wasn't blown to hell with it. He deserved to be buried back home… Not here. "You should have the honor Sir." Erkstein handed Carsten the detonator, which felt comfortable in his gloved hand. Carsten eagerly pressed the button and watched the tower blow up. Nothing felt sweeter than seeing that.

And within a few seconds of the jamming tower getting destroyed, the radio came back online. They had all the different chatter from the fleet. "DKM Straßburg. This is Oberfeldwebel Carsten Weidemann speaking, third squad, 8th battalion, 3rd fallschirmjäger division 'Iron heart. Do you copy? Over" He asked, hoping that the cruiser hadn't been blown out of the sky.

"This is Hauptmann von Bothmer speaking. Reading you loud and clear, Oberfeldwebel. Since your signal is coming through, I would assume the first objective is done? Over" Mark von Bothmer replied, the captain of the company.

"Affirmative Sir. Do orders still stand? Over" Carsten asked.

"Yes Oberfeldwebel. Search and destroy, I'll update possible locations of enemy troops on your tablet. Good job on the jamming tower. Our Marinesoldaten have secured what's left of the city. We have them on the run." All of them cheered as they heard that. Good news so far. "We have managed to push out their fleet as well. Our fighters have air superiority. If you need air support, tune your comms to frequency 231 DR. How copy? Over" Von Bothmer asked.

"Good copy. We're on it, sir. We have one casualty, please advise. Over." Carsten asked as he looked back at the dead soldier. Poor soul. him as he made a note of the frequency for air support. Might come in useful later.

"Copy. Mark location of body and report to medical. Report back if need be. Over and out." And like that, they had just secured communication on the colony again. This would really help the effort in taking the colony back.

"Copy. Over and out." Carsten went to get the location of his dead comrade and relay it to medical. The body would be collected later.

"Orders sir?" One of the privates asked as they regrouped.

"Search and destroy. Let's move out." He ordered.

This climate, as well as the environment, was totally different than that of Germany back home. It's lush fields, and semi rain forest was something Carsten had never anticipated to be fighting in, though he had trained for it. His training did little to shield him from the humid heat. They had been searching the forests, trying to find holdouts. They stayed in direct contact with Command the whole time.

The main alien force seemed to have been defeated, but there were bound to still be holdouts. Most of the Marines and the Heer were already taking victory pictures, ready to be posted in newspapers in the Reich. Carsten could already picture it now.

Sieg am Göringstadt!

Though he pushed those thoughts out of his head. Unless every Alien on the colony had been either captured or killed, victory could not be declared. Carsten would be the one to do it. He knew it. Victory would be in his grasp. He would destroy every last one on the colony. For the good of the Reich.

A noise caught his attention. He gestured for his squad to get down and shut up, which they promptly did. Good Aryans follow orders. They all listened closely, trying to determine what the noise might have been, or at least for it to repeat itself. They heard it again, and this time it was getting louder. Carsten quickly gestured for two of them to follow him, as they moved up a bit.

As they came to a small dirt road, they saw what made the noise. A few armored vehicles were driving down the dirt path, escorted by perhaps a few dozen alien soldiers. They observed as the aliens moved forward. The Aliens seemed to be careful in their journey. No doubt they feared what could happen, perhaps they were holding out hope that they would be relieved soon, or that perhaps they could give the Reich one last bloody fight.

"This is Oberfeldwebel Carsten Weidemann speaking. Any fighters in range available for a bombing run? Over." He asked into his comms. A few seconds went by before a reply came.

"This is birddog 2-3. How can I be of assistance? Over." It was a fighter jet, probably close by.

"Hostiles spotted in the forest, stand by for coordinates. Over" Carsten said as one of his men searched up the exact coordinates needed for a precise air strike.

"Copy. Standing by. Over." Birddog said.

"Birddog 2-3. Hostiles spotted in grid ref: Julius-Nordpol-6-2-9-Übermut. How copy? Over." Carsten ordered.

"Good copy. Bringing in heavy bombing in 2 minutes. Get your people back about 300 yards and into cover. This is gonna be a big over. Over." Birddog replied, and they instantly ran back from where they had come. It was a race to get as far as away as possible.

"We're clear. You're good to go. Over." Carsten gave the final confirmation.

"Copy that. Coming in hot. Over." And with that, Carsten looked up as he heard the roar of the fighter as it flew by. It dropped a massive load on the unsuspecting aliens, who probably only had a few seconds to react to the sound they had heard in the sky. His squad cheered as they saw the burning wreckage of what used to be armored vehicles, the charred bodies of what used to be aliens.

They checked the site for any survivors. Orders were to take any left standing prisoner. Intel was still what the Reich needed in this war. They checked each and every body, trying to see if there was someone not burnt to a crisp. Seemed no alien had survived the ordeal, a shame. He would have loved to extract some information.

"Oberfeldwebel! I think one might be alive over here!" One of the privates yelled. Carsten hurried himself over, and the private was right, he was alive… Barely…

"Hand me my medi-gel! We have to keep this alive!" Carsten ordered, and the team medic was quick to come and help. He had no experience treating a burn victim, much less an alien one. But luckily, Medi-gel seemed to be universel in it's healing capabilities.

As they were working on getting the alien stable, shots were heard. They all took up positions. "What was that?" Carsten asked as he readied his rifle once more.

"More of them are coming this way sir! Orders?" Eckstein replied as he watched more than a few dozen aliens heading down the dirt path.

"Stay in cover and open fire! NOW!" Carsten quickly ordered. A grand fire exchange began as the Aliens stopped their advance, but only briefly. No matter how you slice or dice it, the Aliens had superior numbers in this instance, and due to how close the aliens were to them, air support wasn't an option.

As the seconds passed, it seemed like that they traded kills, and within 5 minutes, over half of his squad was dead. He was running on pure adrenaline, an unimaginable high flowing through his body with every shot of his gun. Every German life they took, he would take 10 of their lives. So he fired, he fired every goddamn bullet in his gun, to the point of it overheating. He would never surrender. Their offensive was meaningless, the colony had been liberated, and even if they managed to kill his squad, the rest of the German army would breathe down their neck.

5 more minutes, and only Carsten and Eckstein were left alive. The Aliens were still coming, they had been reinforced, and were still numbering close to 30 attackers. They had scored a shot on his right leg, and it was bleeding profusely. Normally he could patch it instantly with medi-gel, but his medic had kicked the bucket and was lying dead in a compromising position. A ragtag of a makeshift bandage would make do instead. Carsten knew they were fucked. He looked at Eckstein, who was having trouble keeping it together.

"Eckstein." He said as he loaded the last magazine into his compact rifle.

"Yes sir?" Eckstein asked, trying to calm his shaking.

"When I say go, you run like fucking hell through those tree and you don't stop until you see friendlies. You got that Junge?" Carsten asked.

"Yes sir… What will you do?" Eckstein inquired as he gripped his rifle tighter in his hands.

"What any good Aryan should do. Make sure they don't fucking win. Are you ready?"

Eckstein nodded.

Carsten picked up his comms again. "Birdog, I have another target for you. How copy?" Carsten asked. He was surprised his hands weren't shaking. What he was asking for would ensure he wouldn't survive, but he would live on in the hearts and minds of the German people forever.

"Good copy. Where do you want me to make another run? Over" Birddog asked.

"Same location. I'm stuck here with hostiles pressing down on me. Fucking burn them for me, will you? Over"

"Copy that. May God be with you. Over."

Carsten didn't need God. The only thing he hoped for was that his sacrifice would put a smile on the German people. Knowing that the fallschirmjäger always get the job done.

"LOS JUNGE!" Carsten yelled as he forced Ecksteinto run for the trees as he laid down some suppressive fire. When he looked back, Erkstein was gone, which was good. Only now had his adrenaline finally die down, and he had finally understood the scale of what he had said. Yet he didn't care.

Carsten heard the roar of the fighter as it approached again, and the last image that came to him was that of a bomb descending rapidly right above him, followed by light, and then nothing.

Good Aryans die for their country.