The first vehicles in the convoy were the Baneblade and the Leman Russes. Following them, the Chimeras, Basilisks and Sentinels, laden with troops and ammunition, moved quickly. And finally, behind them, came the Gallians' own convoy of armored vehicles. From aboard a Gallian Halftrack, Alicia, standing on her feet, watched as the Basilisks' raised guns hanged like an executioner's axe as the vehicles moved forward... She could hear the sounds of combat far ahead. Several smoke columns raised to the sky, entering the clouds that gathered above.

The girl sat herself down, gripping tightly her Gallian-M1 Rifle. She turned her gaze toward a redheaded woman with two buns on the sides of her head and a black choker. She wore light armor and, in her hand, was a MAGS-M1 SMG. The Gallian standard-issue SMG. The woman looked over the weapon, then turned to Alicia and spoke. "Hey, kiddo... You're our sergeant, right?"

"Uhm... Yeah." Alicia gave a nod. "I'm Alicia Melchiott."

The woman nodded and smiled "Pleasure." Extending her hand. "I'm Brigitte Stark. Corporal. Though most'a the people I know call me Rosie." and Alicia shook it. Rosie motioned to a tall, bulky man in heavier armor and with his left shoulder and arm covered by a shield, then spoke "That's Largo Potter. He's a Sarge as well, carries the heavy gear here."

Largo gave a nod to Alicia and added "I'm a Lancer."

"So." Rosie peeked out over the top of the vehicle. "What's with the kids in green?" She then sat down "You and the El-Tee know'em? And ain't they a little young to be hauling all that gear? Much more, to have that kind of armament with them?"

"The Cadians? Well... They kinda did rescue me, Wel-" Alicia caught herself before breaking protocol and continued "The Lieutenant and his sister from Bruhl. They're some sort of elite Army from what I understand..." She continued, arranging her rifle onto her shoulder "I'm... Not even sure myself where they're from. Sure, they said something about Cadia being their 'homeworld' but..."

Rosie snorted "What're ya sayin', they some kinda aliens? C'mon, you believe'em?"

Alicia eyed Rosie and pursed her lips... Rosie's smirk soon disappeared "You're kiddin', right?"

The Sergeant shook her head, a tinge of fear in her gaze as she explained "They've got... I don't even know what kind of weapons they are, but they literally melted through Imperial armor in Bruhl. That or left very heavy burn marks and cauterized wounds. So they were clearly not bullets, unless their bullets decided that they'd become superheated as they passed through targets."

"Damn..." Rosie's eyes went wide. "Well, remind me not to get on their bad side, m'kay, Sarge?"

"Will do." Alicia nodded. She looked around her transport and noticed several more people. A blonde-haired boy with blue eyes and wearing an Engineer's uniform was looking over his weapons and tools. Beside him, a dark-grey haired girl with pony-tails looked over her own Submachine Gun, a smile on her face. Following that was a black-haired girl with a fringe over her eyes looking over a sniper... She seemed dangerous. And last two in the transport were a boy wearing a strange eyepatch/monocle combo and his ginger friend, who, for a girl, seemed pretty happy to chat with him... Alicia contemplated their names after looking at their faces and took them as she spotted them:Homer Peron, Edy Nelson, Marina Wulfstan, Vyse Inglebard and Aika Thompson. The former two and latter two were friends, while Marina seemed... Distant.

It made sense, honestly. Marina was a sniper. You didn't become that way if you weren't even a bit distant...

An incredible explosion roared across the ranks, kicking up dust and causing a panic. Alicia gasped and stood to her feet, as did Rosie and the others... Ahead, they heard a secondary detonation and saw that the Baneblade's main gun was smoking. The Halftrack's radioman said to the back of the crew "Cadians just pinged the Convoy via Radio:Sorry for the shot, False Imperial position... Why'd they add the False?"

"They're apparently from some other Empire around. An Imperium as they call it." The driver responded. "Resuming travel."

And as the vehicles rolled past, they saw a crater on the hilltop across from them. An Imperial Anti-Tank position, destroyed in one shot. Corpses were sprawled across the hillside and the artillery battery itself was nothing but a faint memory... Rosie and Alicia looked toward the Baneblade and the former said "God damn... I'm starting to actually believe these kids are foreign... I think even our best artillerymen would've flinched at taking a shot like that."

"There's two detonations." Largo stated. "Did anyone see a coaxial gun on that turret? Something still anti-tank?"

"A 75 or so, if I recall." Alicia returned, surprised. "Why?"

"Must'a ranged the big gun shot based on it. That, or they really wanted that Anti-Tank position dead before it got a shot off at us." Largo snorted. "I'm starting to like'em." and he sat himself down. Rosie and Alicia exchanged glances and the redhead shrugged, before sitting herself down too. Alicia sighed, then followed. The rest of the trip, up to the hillside they were meant to set up on, was quiet.

Upon arriving, the Cadians and Gallians found themselves welcomed by a battered Regular Army battalion. Hill 171, as it was nicknamed, was the hill that overlooked one of the few large roads into Vasel City. It gave a perfect vantage point for the attackers, with a commanding view of the ruins of the city, the bridge and the . And a perfect place to set up artillery. The Gallians disembarked, with Alicia noticing the Guardsmen moving with heavy weapons toward half-circles formed of sandbag walls in which Gallian troops had taken up positions. The weapons were set up so they had a full, clean view of the hillside below.

The self-propelled Basilisk artillery pieces moved into position at the back of the camp and their crews began to set them up, while the Leman Russes lined up next to the Gallian Light Tanks. Cadian support units also moved in. Several Chimera transports appeared, hauling munitions for the artillery pieces. Spotters clad in green uniforms, with binoculars in hand and rifles on their backs, moved toward the sandbag lines and trenches and set up there, Vox transmitters in hand and began to call out targets via Radio.

Alicia noticed Welkin approaching her with Isara. The Lieutenant nodded to her and said "Well, looks like the Cadians asked to be allowed a 30 minuted artillery barrage to soften up whatever we're gonna engage down there..." And he looked over the edge of one of the Sandbag walls, at Imperial positions in the city's outskirts. Sandbags, reinforced houses, MG nests and anti-tank positions.

"... Like I said, I'm starting to feel sorry for the Imperials." Alicia murmured, watching as the Spotters worked their magic. The sound of whirring electrical motors came to them and both turned their heads to witness the artillery pieces' barrels raising into the sky at the same angle. The 132mm Earthshakers awaited for an order as they traversed and aligned...

And then the sky broke...

A dozen shells exited the barrels, milliseconds apart from each-other, arching into the sky to the point Alicia, Welkin and Isara could trace them with their eyes. The Imperial positions in the outskirts soon bore the full brunt of the first Salvo. Detonations rippled, the ground was torn asunder and the houses which were so carefully prepared collapsed upon direct impact. Imp troopers tried to run, but many found themselves falling into the pits of former artillery shells or died to the detonations.

A second salvo came. And nothing was left standing in the outskirt outpost...

Surprisingly, the guns fell silent. But they also left many of the Gallians with a deep fear and some tinnitus... The return fire was quick to come. Whatever buildings lay undamaged returned fire with machine guns and rifles from the far back. The snap of bullets passing by their ears did little to phase the Cadians, who returned fire from their heavy emplacements. The raging gunfire from the Heavy Bolters and Auto-Cannons that were set up permeated the air. Cadian troops moved in and took position in the trenches by the cowering Gallian Regulars and started snapping off Lasgun shots to counter the enemy's own rifle rounds.

Alicia and Welkin had found cover behind a few of the tanks, watching as Cadian forces streamed out of their vehicles and entered combat. Isara followed suite and stuttered "T-They didn't even wait..."

"I don't think they need to...' Alicia said, holding close her rifle. They watched as tracer fire streamed overhead, only to be returned in the form of high-caliber shells and laser rounds. The trio watched as Colonel Telos and the two majors currently present with him marched out from the vehicles, smiling. Matias had his hands behind his back and his weapons stowed. They saw him flinch as a sniper shot hit his carapace armor, but the bullet shattered to pieces without even denting the armor. However, part of it did leave a nice cut on the Colonel's cheek.

The man smiled "Ah, the symphony of war. It has certainly been a while since we've heard it."

"A day or two at most, Colonel." Colin corrected, almost indifferently, whilst staring at their troops returning fire, calling in artillery and running through basically every bit of training. The Heavy Weapons support teams were doing the Emperor's work too, their Heavy Bolters and Autocannons taking chunks from the Imperials' cover. The rocket-propelled explosive rounds from the Heavy Bolters did a fine job in really scarring any Imperial that survived the barrage of suppressive fire now being unleashed onto their little makeshift defense. Colin walked toward the edge of one of the trenches, rounds striking past him...

He was an imposing figure to the Gallians. A boy, probably 17, clad in an officer cadre uniform, standing there without a weapon in his hand, arms behind his back and simply glaring at the enemy. The Cadians were used to the Major's steely demeanor and appropriate lack of emotions. The man noticed an enemy Tank Platoon advancing through the rubble of the original bombardment and motioned to one of the Voxcasters. She handed him the com line and he spoke "Enemy Armor Formation approaching from former target coordinates of artillery. Redirect your fire there."

And he drew his bolt pistol, checking the weapon and, after giving it an approving nod, drawing his Power Sword. He started calling out to the Gun Emplacements, giving them targets to focus on. Cadian Marksmen wielding Long-Las Rifles took the heads off of enemy officers while the Autocannons and Bolters simply let loose a hailstorm of fire.

The Colonel snorted "Of course, he'd be ordering them around." and he turned about, to Welkin, Alicia and Isara, a relaxed smile on his face, despite bleeding from the cut on his left cheek. "Ah, Lieutenant, Sergeant! A pleasure to see you again! And you as well, miss. I believe we've yet to be properly introduced."

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU HAVE A NORMAL START TO A CONVERSATION IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL OF THIS, KID?!" One of the Squad 7 soldiers, which Alicia recognized as Rosie, cried out, leaning against the back hull of one of the Leman Russes while the quagmire of gunfire, different commands and Cadians being calm and just doing their job. The other three gave nods of agreement.

"You must be a member of Squad 7! I'm Colonel Telos, 13th Cadian. And to answer your question, this is basically a normal day for us in the Guard!" The boy said calmly, before walking toward Isara, Alicia and Welkin, smile still standing "Fact is, this type of imbroglio is our normal Modus Operandi! Hell, my people missed having to deal with this kind of fighting. Some were even getting antsy."

"Good God in heaven, was Alicia not kidding about you guys being from another planet?!" Rosie balked, while Isara nearly tripped, falling to the floor. "LOOK AT THIS, COLONEL! WE'RE GETTING POUNDED BY ENEMY FIRE!"

"Correction:We're hammering away at them and they're returning fire." The Colonel returned as he leaned to help Isara up on her feet. He smiled, patted the dust off of her shoal and nodded, before turning to Rosie and continuing "We haven't lost a man yet. If you want to stay behind cover, be our guests! I've just had a talk with Captain Varrot and we're going to press this advantage as fast as possible."

"Colonel, with all due respect, if we intend to push, we're gonna need a lot more support! The Imperials are clearly quite dug in!" Alicia returned, holding her rifle. Matt's response was a light chuckle, before he turned toward the Basilisks and motioned to them. Then to the tanks they hid behind. Then to the Baneblade... Alicia pursed her lips and said "I retract my statement."

"Jesus Christ..." Rosie muttered. "Colonel, you are one crazy SOB!"

"Thank you, miss." Matt quipped with a foolhardy grin, then turned to Isara, Welkin and Alicia "We'll clear out their forward emplacements in no time and we require a squad to move around with us when we'll go to secure the Plaza that'll serve as our Forward Base. If your squad has problems with that, we can probably take another one, but right now, I'd really like to have a familiar pair of commanders from Gallia with me!"

Welkin looked to Rosie, who sighed and rolled her eyes before giving him a nod, yelling to Matias with a grin "We'll do it! Just promise not to let us get shot!"

"Stay behind the tanks. You'll be fine." Matt returned snarkly. "So, Lieutenant?"

"We're with you." Welkin gave a nod. "But like Rosie said, make sure you can cover my squad! I'd hate to lose people on the first Operation."

He nodded to the Lieutenant proudly "We can make sure of it. See you when the Armor starts rolling, Lieutenant! Sergeant! Corporals!" then turned to Isara and smiled. She felt her heart skip a bit, while the Colonel swiveled about and started calling out to the Commissar. Colin, in the meanwhile ,seemed to be quote-unquote 'enjoying' himself-His deadpan expression still there, mind you-whilst he fired his bolt pistol.

Rosie shook her head, grinning "Y'know? I'm starting to sense a connection with'em!"

Alicia chuckled... Then looked away, a bit scared. She noticed a Squad 7 Uniform in the trenches and saw the black hair of Marina. Her rifle was among the few Gallian weapons currently engaging the enemy to assist the Cadians. Her eyes were focused down the scope as she saw a Cadian approach, hauling a pack of stripper clips. He handed Marina three stripper clips of three rounds each for her sniper, then went on with the ammo carrying...

"It seems that the Cadians are helping out with more than suppressing fire." Isara said, looking at the Guardsman hauling ammunition.

Welkin nodded "Right... Rosie, Alicia, go gather the squad up, please. Isara, c'mon. Let's get to the tank."

The redhead hummed and said "Lead the way, sarge." before motioning with her SMG toward the other Militia troopers hiding behind the tanks and armored vehicles in the motorpool. The Cadian tankers quickly powered their vehicles and moved forward... The one with the cannon that had radiators pulled up beside the defensive position at the hill, traversing its turret and depressing the gun...

A whir of energy passed through the lines, muffled by the constant exchange of fire... The tip of the weapon's barrel heated, electricity arching off the radiators... And it shot with a sharp hiss, heat escaping the muzzle as a boulder of azure fire hurtled toward an enemy position and struck. The concrete, brick and mortar from which the building it hit was made of immediately boiled and vaporized, as did every man inside. The temperature in the center of the Plasma Ball reached almost 10,000 Degrees Celsius... But the release of energy in the explosion was far hotter.

The building collapsed, but no one inside was alive to witness it. They and whoever was below had been burned to a crisp by the heat wave of the Plasma tank's shot. Gallians stopped their movement, even as the artillery barrage began anew, to regard the massive tank's steaming muzzle. Largo watched ground turn to glass and cool after the shot and said to fellow Lancers and other Gallian troopers present "Yeah... We definitely don't want to get on their bad side..."

"What the Hell was that?!" Alicia went bug-eyed, staring at the plasma blast as it dissipated...

Isara's eyes glistened, with both fear and excitement... She murmured "That was a round of pure, contained energy..."

"... I am genuinely getting more scared of them by the minute..." Alicia responded. The Gallians then went and took to boarding their vehicles. Three Cadian Chimeras, with full squads, followed in the Vanquisher and Punisher, which in turn flanked and followed in the Baneblade. Alicia and the others were seated aboard a fourth Chimera, watching as crew-members prepared for battle, their turrets rotating to meet the oncoming threat.

The mechanical screeching of armored servos came from their left. Advancing in a wedge formation, the Sentinels charged in... One of them had a rather precariously large flamethrower attached to its side mount instead of the Lascannon. The vehicles barreled through makeshift barricades, their cannons thundering as they moved. The Cadians fired from aboard the Chimeras, manning back-mounted laser weapons and the turrets.

Alicia braced with the rest of the squad in the Chimera as gunfire pinged the hull of the vehicle. They heard the thunder of the Edelweiss' cannon and a muffled explosion...

"God, I hope they just took out an enemy tank..." One of the others in the squad muttered to herself. A dark-skinned girl with black hair caught in a bun and a fellow scout. The group was lit red by the faint lights inside the Chimera. Alicia looked forward toward the Voxcast operator on the right of the driver. He gazed back to the platoon, a young boy with pale blue eyes and platinum hair...

"PREPARE TO DEPLOY!" He yelled back. "WE ARE APPROACHING THE SQUARE!"

The Gallians looked to each-other and soon readied weapons. Alicia felt a chill shoot up her spine. She racked the bolt of her rifle just as they felt the vehicle stop and looked toward the others. Largo nodded, Rosie was locked and loaded, Marina zeroed her sniper and the others aboard soon came to the same conclusion... The rear hatch opened and the pinging became actual gunfire. Rosie grinned, then called out "After me, Kiddos!" as she jumped out and took a right. A pair of scouts, the tan girl and another with blonde hair and glasses, took positions on the left and opened fire.

Alicia and the others piled out into line of sight of the battle. Lasguns snapped and cracked, autocannons chattered and boots thundered against the pavement as Cadian troopers piled out. A cannon boomed over Alicia's head and a building collapsed across from them, on the other side of the square. The girl took cover beside a pair of Cadians with a heavy weapon:A bolter, of all things, then cried "WHAT THE HELL DID WE HIT?!"

"An entrenched enemy, Sarge!" The loader called out, then turned to the gunner and pointed "Vico! I'm seeing an MG nest in that building to our close left!"

"Got'em!" The gunner responded, staring through the emerald sight of the weapon and squeezing off a burst that knocked the dust and hell out of that building. Alicia stood up and shouldered her rifle. She sent three bullets down range into the chest of an East Imperial that was trying to get to cover in front of them, or throw a grenade. She looked to her right to see that a Cadian squad disembarked and took positions beside the Chimera transport as it too fired its Las-Cannon. The Sentinel walkers danced around enemy gunfire...

And the one with the Flamer let loose its weapon. The men it hit began to melt as if they were metal in a forge, their bodies merging with the armor in a gory show of the Cadians' power. Rosie was flanking the enemy's position and firing her SMG, alongside a few other Shock Troopers like her, when she saw the use of the Flamer. She swallowed empty, then knelt and changed her magazine.

"God damn, can these kids get any scarier..." She muttered to herself, before peeking over and watching the burning men... She gagged, then shook her head, eyes wide "I'm not asking anymore..."

From aboard the Edelweiss, Welkin witnessed the developing slaughter. Where the East Empire's forces formed a ragged defense, the Cadians were thorough in putting together a hard offense. The Cadian squads advancing across the side, into the alleyways to enter buildings, the Lasgun fire from inside said buildings and the Vanquisher tank beside them firing a shell big enough to turn one of the houses on the right, that couldn't be breached, into rubble, told him as much. He eyed an Imperial Light Tank that attempted to advance on them and fired his own cannon, punching clean through front armor...

Then he realized...

"Where's the Colonel's tank?" He asked over radio, firing again...

"Sorry we're late, Lieutenant. Had to take a route that was full of enemy Light Tanks." Matt's voice came through, jovial...

And Isara gasped as she saw it breach through from behind the Imperial defenses... its massive hull-mounted mortar roared and the supersized shell exploded a barricade in the center of the square... Following it, the Punisher appeared, its turret traversing to face the enemy platoon on their left, or in this case, the Baneblade's right... Its cannon rippled with anger and the pavement, building and Imperial troopers that were hit by the burst were littered with holes, or in the lattermost's case, outright turned to mist...

The Cadians cheered at the sight. Hell, even most Gallians were elated... As the Imperial troops inside the square attempted to recover and retreat, they were gunned down by the Guardsmen with impunity. Their laser weapons mauled and burned the Imperials that attempted to fall back... One snapped off a shot as he tried to run and the round hit one of the Guardsmen that were advancing in the square straight in the goggles, which broke as it punched through... The Guardsman dropped to the floor, bleeding from where his eye used to be... A Lucky shot...

... And Alicia saw it... She thoughtlessly charged into the line of fire, toward the Guardsman, dumping rounds from her Gallian M1, before trying to drag the armored kid back behind cover. A pair of Cadians noticed the event that just unfolded before them and looked to Alicia... They joined her, one holding position over the two whilst firing his Lasgun and the other assisting the girl as she dragged the wounded Guardsman back.

Alicia watched as the Guardsman that covered them followed... The two set the wounded one down and Alicia took off his... Her helmet... And staggered, her eyes wide. Blood spattered across the face of the young, lilac-eyed girl, a seemingly younger girl. Her eye was missing and the back of her head had been burst open, blood seeping down onto the pavement...

"Motherf..." Growled one of the Cadians, laying the girl onto her back. He took his helmet off, revealing a boy around her age... Probably a close friend of hers. He gritted his teeth, shouldering his Lasgun and spoke"Ryne... Bastards..." Before crying out in an anger punctuated by the fact he shouldered his Lasguns They killed her! THE BASTARDS GOT THE LIEUTENANT!"

Suddenly... A squad's fire focused onto the retreating Imperials. And Alicia looked with surprise at how quickly the Cadians came to their senses and began an offensive maneuver, supported by a Chimera lascannon's continuous, hellish burst of fire. They didn't even scream anything, just focusing fire on a mass of retreating, steel-armored bastards. A handheld flamer belched hot Promethium... And Alicia witnessed it all.

The Cadian Squad marched forward, their Lasguns cracking the air with the anger of a dozen young men and women that had just seemingly lost a close friend... Alicia looked into the helmet, to see the blood splattered and she tossed it aside, staggering and dragging herself back. She felt a hand grip her and drag her back into cover and she looked up, to see the tanned girl, Freesia, with a grim look on her face, put her behind a block of stone and duck.

Freesia swallowed, looking at the corpse of the Cadian girl, a beautiful youth torn away by war, then turned to Alicia and said "I'm so sorry, sarge... I... I saw the enemy sniper, but I didn't have time to..."

"It's okay... It's..." Alicia nodded weakly, the grip on her rifle tightening... She looked over to see Rosie take cover beside the kid's body and drag her into cover as well, before shaking her head. Largo joined her with two lancers, shouldering his weapon and firing at an Imperial tank that attempted to outflank the Cadians' own... The girls then looked to the screams of dying East Imps, to see the Squad pinning them to the floor and straight-up executing them... Either via shot to the head or a bayonet to the back, without even hesitating.

"Dear God..." Rosie averted her gaze, going pale. She knew this was gonna be war, but they could've just... Shot them from a distance, or let them retreat. Not that. She closed her eyes and shook her head, waiting for the gunfire to quiet down. One more roar from the mouth of the Punisher Cannon signaled the end of the engagement... The square went dead quiet, as quiet as the corpses littering it...

No East Imperial soldier of the Ninth Mechanized Company managed to retreat...

All were now either dead or dying on the paved floor of the square...