With the invasion and subsequent advance of Federation forces into Imperial-held territory, the Edinburgh Army soon felt the increasing strain on their supply lines. Ton after ton of food, fuel, ammunition and other necessities needed to be transported further and further distances by the day, and raiding parties from the remnants of Imperial forces soon made the situation untenable. High command, swayed by the protests of Quartermaster General Arnold Hood, ordered the construction of defensive outposts all along the captured territory to ensure the safety of the supply wagons. Many of these bases, every one of them nicknamed 'Lindbergh Base' by their occupants, would be home to the men and women of the 101st division. Their posting changed weekly, often being sent to whichever outpost was closest to the front, but every time they left camp, they all knew that another 'Lindbergh Base' would await them at the end of their march.

As they entered yet another 'Lindbergh Base', Claude ran a critical eye over the encampment. Over 3000 soldiers would call it home until the front-lines advanced. The amenities the base had been built to include dwarfed anything a regular bivouac could provide, so the troops made the most of their time here. There was a nagging feeling in the back of Claude's mind however as if the comforts of Lindbergh Base was to be robbed from them much sooner than they would expect. Pushing that feeling to the back of his mind, at least for the moment, Claude looked to his squad, "Disperse and set up for the night, though I suspect that we'll be called into action so be ready at a moment's notice."

The squad began to disperse at that, Miles called his attention, "I'll get Hafen parked up then head over to R&D, see what they're working on."

Nodding, Claude made his way over to Jacob, Riley, Karen, Raz and Kai. Raz, naturally, took the opportunity to dig at the brass, "Huh, seems the Brass can actually get things done if they bother getting off their asses."

Jacob grimaced, "I wonder whose arm Quartermaster General Hood had to twist to get this approved. High Command doesn't normally spend this much on bivouacs."

Raz barely heard Jacob's reply as he was busy looking at a pair of people who stuck out like a sore thumb, an older man and a young woman. "Who are those people?"

Everyone turned to where he was pointing and Riley answered, "Naval troops, judging by their uniforms anyway, though what they are doing so far inland is beyond me."

Raz though was looking elsewhere, namely at the female officer "Check out the ass on that one! I'd swab her deck."

The thuds from his facepalming squadmates somehow went unnoticed by him. Kai's fist connecting with his temple however, did not. "How in the world did the army pass you through the psychological evaluation?" she growled before storming off.

Shaking their heads, Jacob, Karen, Claude and Riley left Raz to his own devices, hoping he wouldn't get into too much trouble. After a little bit, Claude turned to the others, "I better head off to the briefing, see if we'll need to head out." he said before turning to Riley, "Talk afterwards?"

Riley simply nodded and, after they shared a look, Claude walked off. Jacob smirked, "Looks like I'm going to be having a little 'chat' will our CO in the near future."

Riley spun quickly to face him, "Jacob! You will not!" she exclaimed before looking pleadingly to Karen, "Help me with your husband!"

Karen smirked, "Why? It'll be good practice for the future if we have any daughters."

Riley began chasing Jacob around the camp, Karen hot on their heels to ensure they didn't get too hurt.

Unaware of the events unfolding, Claude entered the Command Tent, being only the second person to respond to the call for the squad leaders of the 101st division, only being beat by Minerva Victor, leader of Squad F. A respectful nod passed between both of them. The relationship between the two squads had never been great, not least of which because she expected nothing less than complete and extraordinary success from them. It was understandable when her position as the ranking Lieutenant was considered, but Claude also knew that she also expected that of herself and her squad. She, on the other hand, held a great deal of respect for his skills, foremost of which being his "Wind Whispers" having seen them decide battles, even if it spurred a rivalry between them that was entirely one-sided.

A few minutes passed with no one else arriving. Claude, slightly unnerved, turned to Minerva, "Are we just really early or is there something else going on?"

Minerva frowned, "I'm not sure, though, considering the qualifications of our squads, it is possible that we're having a separate briefing."

Claude grimaced, "I hope whatever it is reveals itself soon. Fog is inbound. And soon."

Minerva closed her eyes for a second, "Do you have an idea of how soon? Perhaps a rough estimate?"

Claude thought for a moment, taking his knowledge of weather patterns and filtering it through what he had noticed throughout the day. "No later than 1600, though it could be as early as an hour from now."

Minerva sighed, "A seven-hour window, that's not great." she muttered before looking back to him, "Do you think it will last long?"

"Potentially, if it starts closer to the evening then I would expect it to last all night and into the morning," he replied.

Minerva grimaced but didn't get a chance to say another word as the Commander walked into the tent. "Apologies for keeping you waiting, but you have a special briefing and a few different objectives to the rest of the Division."

Neither Claude nor Minerva made any comment as he continued, "The nearby town of Riene houses one of the most important hubs for Imperial Communications for the surrounding fifty miles. It'll be your job to secure it so we can continue our attempts to break the Imperial codes and use the hub for our own purposes." he explained as he then looked at them both, "Squad E shall knock on the front door and Squad F shall enter through the back one, or make their own."

Claude looked at Minerva, "Do you think you'll need the grenadiers more than my team or will you be fine without them?"

Minerva thought for a moment, "Potentially, though not as much as you're going to need them." she replied before looking pointedly at him, "You are knocking on the front door after all."

The Commander interjected, "The Imperials have deployed a heavy tank squad to Riene for defence and we are believing that they are using decoys to boost their numbers. Relay the real tank's locations to Fire Support and try to avoid collateral damage."

Nodding, Minerva and Claude walked off to their squads to relay their mission. It didn't take long before they were assembled, though, with the glare that was being directed at Jacob by Riley, Claude was gonna have to find out the story behind that. "Alright, we're to head into Riene and create a distraction for Squad F, our goal is to secure the town and Imperial communication equipment and relay the coordinates of the Imperial Heavy Tank squad in the town to Riley's Grenadiers so they can destroy them."

Raz scoffed, "Figures, I score a hot date with a Navy Babe and we have to go into the field."

Kai narrowed her eyes and slapped the back of his head. "Did you lose your hearing in the last battle? She shot you down, you idiot! Hard!"

Claude pinched the bridge of his nose. "Raz, if you get Court-Martialed for your behaviour, I'm not defending you." Turning to the rest, he simply said, "Gear up! We move in twenty minutes! And prepare for Close-Quarters-Combat, the weather is gonna take a turn."

It didn't take long for the squad to get geared up, but it proved to be a fruitless attempt as the fog rolled in thick and fast. "I can barely see my hand in front of my face," Raz grumbled.

Jacob spun around, "Pipe down! Lest you bring the whole Garrison on us."

Raz muttered something under his breath, but Jacob was already turning away and lept onto the Hafen, "Gonna be damn near impossible to get a shot off sir."

Claude frowned, "Take the scouts around the long way, try and open up the gate. Identify what you can and report back."

Jacob nodded, "Aye sir."

Quickly grabbing the scouts, Jacob rushed around a few side streets, the scouts trying their best to keep pace with him. Much to their surprise, the Imperials didn't notice them until they were on top of each other. However, instead of firefights, Jacob went straight to his fists and knife, leading for the others to follow suit.

Curtis could hardly believe their luck, "How is it this easy?"

Jacob finished neutralizing the Imperial he was dealing with and took a look at their handiwork. "Imperial helmets aren't designed with the best field of view in mind." he simply said, moving off to the next group.

The scouts blinked. Whereas normally Jacob's voice held such warmth and light, now it was cold. Almost mechanical. However, none of them had the time to deal with it since they had to follow him.

On the other side of the gate, Claude began to grow worried. He expected to hear something by now, but all he could hear was the blowing wing. All of a sudden, the front gate flew open. "Hurry up! Imperials are sure to know we're here by now!" Jacob shouted.

Sure enough, the battle was joined. Claude called out to Jacob, "Jacob! How many?"

Jacob fired two shots in rapid succession, something practically unheard of as the sniper rifles used by the Federation Army were single-shot bolt-actions, before responding. "I counted four on our way to the gate and I see one just ahead. There's one last one we need to scout before we make the call to Riley."

Claude nodded, "Squad E! Move out!"

It didn't take long before they had confirmed that they did have six Imperial Heavy Tanks to deal with. However, it was then that they encountered a problem. "Claude! I can't raise Fire Support or Squad F!" Miles called.

Claude blinked. He knew that Riene was a communications hub, he should have known that the Imperials would be able to jam theirs. looking to the skies, something caught his eye. An old signal tower, long since made obsolete with the introduction of radios. At that, an idea struck him. "Jacob," he called out, drawing the attention of the sniper. "See that Signal Tower?"

Jacob nodded, "Aye, you thinking we use it to signal Riley?"

Claude nodded, "Top row should read 715, then use the middle row to give bearing relative to the tower and the bottom row should be distance. Ring the bell five times to catch her attention."

Jacob nodded, "She'll definitely recognize that." he remarked before hopping off the Hafen, "Blackwell, Leach, Berkeley, Bryce, with me, quickly now!"

As the squad split off to conduct the plan, Claude organized the remainder to hold the Imperials off long enough for Fire Support to destroy the tanks. Thankfully, a rapid increase in Imperial causalities made their comrades less eager to advance. Then, all of a sudden, Claude heard a knocking on the side of Hafen. Turning out of his hatch, he was greeted by the sight of Minerva and Squad F joining them, "What in the name of the Valkrur did you do? We excepted to run into at least a token guard, instead, there was nothing until we got close to you!" she shouted.

Claude grimaced, "I wish I knew! Comms were cut though!"

Minerva's eyebrows shot into her hairline, "How are you planning on calling Fire Support then?" she asked.

Before Claude could answer her, the tower's bell was rung five times. A few seconds later, the distinctive whistling of mortar rounds could be heard and explosions soon followed. "Like that." he finally said.

Smirking, Minerva turned back to her squad, "We hold here until all of the tanks are out of action! Christal! Take a group to the Signal Tower to give Squad E some reinforcements!"

After that, it didn't take long before the Imperial tanks were taken out of action. Much to Minerva's and Claude's surprise, the Empire then withdrew rapidly. "Should we pursue?" She asked him.

Claude thought for a moment, "I don't think that would be a good idea. They could be drawing us into a trap and our mission is to secure the equipment here."

Minerva nodded, "I still think this feels odd."

"Agreed," Claude replied. "I will have Squad E here just to be safe. I'll handle the reports." to Minerva's agreement.

Once Claude finally got out of debriefing, he left straight for his tent and, much to his surprise, he found Miles, Raz and Kai already there. The grim looks on their faces surprised him, "What's up?"

Raz sighed, "Imps rigged the whole town to burn. I'm not sure where they got all that Napalm, but if not for Jacob, they probably would have set it off and the first indication we would have would be the skyline burning."

Claude looked at his maps on his desk. Within a moment, he was engrossed in trying to figure out the Imperial's endgame. Seeing their boss distracted, the three left him, knowing full well that there were only two people who would probably pull him out.

An hour later, Claude rubbed his eyes. He was known to have a habit of working out every possibility in a battle, even the unlikely. And though it wasn't the sort of thing that he needed to worry himself with, he still did it, if only to put himself more at ease. Just then, someone rapped on one of the poles of his tent. "Enter!" He called.

Much to Claude's pleasure, Riley came in. "Hey, you doing okay? You missed dinner."

Claude winced, "Debrief took a bit then I got sucked into work. Sorry about that."

Riley nodded before sitting beside him on his cot. "That's fine, I just got a bit worried that Command was keeping you." she murmured before leaning into him and taking his hand, "July 15th is a few months away," she remarked.

Claude smirked, "Jacob and I knew that you would get the reference to the Starchild festival."

Riley smiled and closed her eyes, "My Grenadiers thought I was crazy, but when our spotters reported destroyed tanks they quickly fell silent."

Claude hummed, before looking at her, "I was surprised you had forgiven me for what happened. And I'm sure the others were too."

Riley winced, "Jacob's parents in Edinburgh took me in after Dad died." she began. "Eventually, some of the more stubborn members of the family finally got me to let go of my anger at you. They made me see that you weren't at fault at all. If anything, you were to praise for making sure that I survived."

After a moment of silence, she looked up at him, "What about you? I couldn't get a straight answer out of Raz or Leena."

Claude winced, and at first, Riley cursed her stupid self, thinking she had dug too deep to fast. However, Claude soon spoke up. "After you left, it became a blur. I don't even know how much time had passed since every day seemed to merge into one," he whispered. "I know that I'd spend my days just staring into the skies and that's when I became so attuned to the weather patterns. But beyond that? I don't remember anything else until I enlisted and started training at the academy."

Riley was shocked at how much damage her young angry self had done to Claude. "I'm amazed you even let me back into your life after what I had done to you." she murmured.

Claude raised an eyebrow, but before he could say how important she was to him, her eyes closed and exhaustion took over for her. Gently smiling and rotating, he eventually got them both under his blanket and joined her in sleep. It wouldn't be until the next morning until either of them woke up, but, for that night, Claude and Riley got the best night of sleep either of them had had for years.

Phew, Chapter 3 up.

I have a Discord where this, and other stories, are discussed as we write them. Invite code: BSdFMH3

I've been working on this story the most of the two that I'm working on since this one didn't have chapters banked up. I'm hoping that I can get chapters out sharpish, but am not holding my breath as I now have to work on my other story as well as this one and School starts in two weeks.

Regarding the reviews. I'm glad that people are enjoying this take on Valkyria Chronicles 4 and that there's not any backlash against what I've done with Riley and Claude's relationship.

Until Next Time: Stay Safe