Chapter 3- Antoninus Thrax

" What is the plan for the battle against the sorrows Frumentarus Thrax."

Frumentarus Thrax was the head of the frumentarii of the legion and following the 2nd battle of hoover dam ending in a legion victory the war was still prolonged with Robert House's upgraded securitrons and the NCR giving their all in defending hoover dam. This prolonged the war making the victory not as decisive as it should have been. And also with Caesar dead Vulpes Inculta became the new caesar and following his coronation he ordered a portion of the spies to march to Zion Valley by having one of the prominent spy reporters of the Legion in New Vegas report on the radio in code of all spies who needed to report on Zion valley on a specific day. The reporter frumentarii was also ordered to report to Zion valley and on a specific date they will assimilate or exterminate the sorrows. This did put a heavy hit on the Legion's information network but Frumentarus Thrax was skeptical of the plan but made excuses that with the Zion Valley tribes support will counteract the hit on information and the relative inexperience in battle of the Frumentarii.

"With all the Frumentarii and the while legs tribesman here the battle for the sorrows camp will commence. The plan is we seize control of the sorrows camp and after that we pursue the white legs. A portion of our frumentarii will be at garrison at the sorrows camp since we are less inexperienced but the white legs are dissolute and can't be expected to do things on their own."

Maximus looking at Antoninus rather inquisitively asked " Frumentarus, Do you think Caesar Inculta is smart to let us spies abandon our post to help these white legs. I get that we have more manpower but can Mars civilize these dissoloute white legs or even the dead horses and sorrows we can potentially assimilate into the legion."

"Maximus, this can prove to be a good stronghold. We can do raids on New Vegas even with our inexperienced. We can also occupy some of the relatively undefended new vegas land if we do get that many tribespeople. But never forget that only through blood Mars will always guide us towards victory."

Mars is the ancient Roman god of war which the Legion worships. THis leads to the legions' hatred of the weak and belief that they will tame the wasteland with law and order.

Thrax however was skeptical of the plan though he didn't voice his concerns because he was a legion soldier and had to follow the commands of Caesar. This wouldn't help give the Legion a more decisive victory; it would just wear out the NCR more, losing the legion's vast information network.

A few hours later Thrax gathered everyone around to commence the battle.

"Hello my fellow comrades. We have been gathered here today for the will of Caesar or to be able to assimilate and join the legion. We will launch an attack on the sorrows camp. Maximus will garrison a portion of our troops once we take control of the sorrows camp and the rest of us will pursue the sorrows. True to Caesar and Mars"

The whole crowd was cheering "True to Caesar and Mars" even the white legs. Morale was high and then the battle commenced.

They camped near the sorrows and had a few troops pretend to be lost travelers. That gave them enough time to catch the people in the front by surprise, killing them but the other sorrows heard the gunshots but the whitelegs and Legion were already charging.

The troops with the close ranged weapons like shotguns and machetes tried to secure the bottom area of the camp while the people with the rifles tried to kill the people on top of the hill.

The bottom was rather scarce so they could deal with the troops but the people on top were butchering them so Thrax came up with a plan

He ordered his men and said "Riflemen run up the canyon and vanguard keep charging below and kill the people at the bottom of the camp."

He thought that the sorrows on top of the canyon would focus on firing on the riflemen charging up and the close-ranged vanguard would be focused on killing the people on the bottom and the people on top wouldn't have enough time to kill them or they would be too fast. Of course this was a gamble because if they killed the people on the bottom die the sorrows could flank them and Thrax could see the fear in the troops but the white legs want to join the legion so they have to follow the orders and the Frumentarii always have to follow their orders.

Thrax led the riflemen while Maximus led the vanguard. Thrax and the riflemen charged up the hill while the vanguard dealt with the people below. Some of the people on the hill were distracted with the riflemen but some were shooting at the vanguard.

The vanguard was being butchered with the combined effort of some people on top of the hill and the people below. But they were charging at a lighting speed and seemed determined to secure the area below the hill.

Thrax was leading the men up the hill. It was rather disadvantageous when charging up the hill due to having to go one by one. The current formation was Thrax and some troops charging up the hill while the reserve was in the middle ready to replace anybody in the front,right,left and rear.

They were being shot from everywhere but they had a lot of men and pushed onwards with them occasionally killing a few sorrows with their rifles.

Once close to the hill they charged up the hill and shot every sorrow in the way. This led to most of the people on top of the canyon focusing their fire on the riflemen allowing the vanguard to have an easier time securing the ground.

They secured the top leading to the remaining sorrows retreating down the hill and some surendering.

Some of the troops remained on the hill while some chased them down.

The sorrows were caught in between the vanguard and riflemen so both the sorrows facing the riflemen and vanguard retreated into the tunnel.

Maximus asked "Should we pursue them into the tunnel"

"No maximus we have lost enough men and who knows what is waiting for us on the other side."

Maximus, though slightly disappointed, agreed.

Following the battle the casualties were quite devastating for both sides. The Legion had 100 men and lost 30 with 25 injured. The sorrows had 70 men and lost 25 men. THey did gain an extra 5 sorrow men who surrendered but 3 were injured.

Thrax made a speech after the battle and said "This was a hard fought victory . Through our blood Mars gave us a victory. To any white legs or sorrows doubting the Legion let me explain why we are the hope for the future. We lost 20 of our frumentarii to go to zion valley but we still have a lot of frumentarri and the NCR has a hard time infiltrating into our territory. I am a capable leader due to destroying the mcarren monorail and framing a private for it. The legion has a sense of competition yet friendship. Me and Maximus has been friendly rivals since training as frumentarii yet we are friends and allies now even if we haven been focused on our frumentarri missions there is always a sense of a chain of command and working together. The NCR is not the future with their rampant corrupt breacuracy, nepotism and inflation and House isn't the future with his consumerism. True to Caesar and Mars. Our deceased comrades will never be forgotten and their sacrifice will help the Legion achieve victory."

The troops were hopeful and shouting "True to Caesar and Mars."