As dawn broke over the camp of the joined regiments, one of Cadian tank crews was inspecting their Leman Russ Vanquisher. The commander of the crew, a blonde girl around the age of 17, scanned the main road and the treeline for movement while her comrades loaded fuel and new energy cells for their forward-mounted lascannon. She hummed, lowering the binoculars and pulling up the microphone to her tank's internal voxcaster. She spoke, "Nothing in the line of sight so far." disappointedly. She put her binoculars back up to her eyes and looked toward the treeline again.

A distant rumble shook the ground near the vehicle depot. The woman blinked, looking in the direction of the rumbling, then squinted. Far away, she saw humanoid silhouettes advancing toward them, followed by that damn noise. As they came closer, she could barely make out the armor colors of the soldiers before the first enemy vehicle tore a tree out of the ground. She gasped, then pulled the mic again and called out "Possible enemy contact, due North! EVERYONE, TO YOUR POSTS!"

She ducked through the Commander's cupola into the tank, sealing it shut behind her and looking through the periscope as the Gunner and Loader, just awoken from their slumber, started preparing the main gun. With eyes wide, the woman called out "Enemy, I repeat, enemy Leman Russ battle tank approaching at our nine o'clock, surrounded by infantry! Driver, spin us the hell around, angle our hull! Loader!"

"GUN LOADED!" He cried, looking through his own periscope as the Gunner aligned the gun.

"Gunner!" The Commander demanded, gritting her teeth as she saw the Leman Russ's gun turn to face her, while soldiers of the damnable Severan Dominate's legions approached.

"Set!" The Gunner yelled as his scope settled on the weak casemate mount of the Heavy Bolter

His leader barked "Fire!"

"ON THE WAY!" He returned.

The Gunner stomped his foot on the fire pedal and the main cannon of the Vanquisher roared. The main gun recoiled back, kicking the heavy, empty shell casing out of the breech and into a basket below while the main body of the round hurtled through the air, slamming through a tree and into the front of the enemy Leman Russ, punching clean through the main gun and setting the tank ablaze. The loader rammed a fresh shell into the gun barrel, then cried again "LOADED!"

"Two more advancing fighting vehicles! One times light tank and one times Kronus-pattern Chimera! Both at roughly eleven o'clock!" The Commander cried as she saw Lasgun fire being exchanged now. Cadian infantry marched onto the scene beside them, taking cover beside the tank to engage the enemy. She looked down to the gunner of their Lascannon and ordered, "Take out the light tank! Vanquisher gunner, track and kill the Chimera!"

"Roger!" The two soldiers nodded.

The AT Gunner aligned his crosshairs onto the Chimera, then barked "Set!"

"Fire!" She ordered.

"On the way!" He stomped his foot onto the floor and the gun roared again. The shell skimmed through a thicker tree, barreling through the air and slamming into the main gun of the Chimera, side-ways, twisting the Lascannon mounted in its nose. The gunner swore as the loader slammed another shell into the breech and called the loading completion. The gunner yelled again, firing the gun and the massive shell hit the Chimera like an armor-breaking fist, shattering the vehicle and its occupants to pieces.

Outside, the Cadian troopers greeted the storming Dominate troops with bayonets, rifle butts and laser shots. A Cadian trooper rammed into a Severan one, hard enough to knock the man on his ass, before putting the barrel to his face and switching the Lasgun to full auto. The blasts disintegrated the Severan trooper's head, turning the ground a shade of ash and red. It didn't save him from the other Severan soldier who now stabbed into the young boy's side with a bayonet, throwing him to the ground and turning his rifle toward the boy's comrades.

Elaine lead the rearguard in the desperate defense of the Outpost, while the Colonel and others pushed forth. Rallying her squad, she motioned to the rear post with the Autocannon to open fire. The thunder of high-caliber slug weapons was the response. Rounds burst and spalled, splintering trees and halting the advance of the Severan Dominate troops like a stone wall.

Elaine ducked behind one of their Leman Russ MBTs and waved her Voxcaster operator forward, before plucking the mic and calling out, "Command, command, this is rearguard, we're engaged in action against False Imperial troops! Be advised, the enemy forces engaging us are Severan Dominate! They came at us from the trees with heavy armor and infantry support! Expect contact at any point!"

"Roger, rearguard. Hold the line as best as you can. We were caught in the ambush already while approaching the enemy base... I'll call up the Northern approach... See if they can't redirect some troops to assist." The Colonel seemed almost in disbelief. And who wouldn't be? The Severan Dominate had been contained on the Spinward Front. Perhaps the Fall of Cadia did more damage than they had anticipated and dragged some Severan bastards their way.

"Understood. Rearguard out." Elaine nodded, handing the com over to the Voxcaster, before calling out "We've got artillery in the far back! Direct their fire! I don't give a damn if it's danger close, we are not letting these bastards surround the Colonel and the Seventh Platoon!"

"Ma'am!" Nodded the Voxcaster, before she called upon the gunners and yelled out "Hammer, Hammer, this is central push rearguard, requesting Artillery, danger close, immediate north of our last reported position! three shells, each gun, Earthshakers! Times one shell for confirmation of coordinates! Break, break!"

"Rearguard, Hammer here, we copy. Danger close, three times three shells, plus one for confirmation of coordinates, immediate North, understood. ETA on landing, 15 seconds, stand by."

"Incoming, ten shells, fifteen seconds!" The Voxcaster yelled to Elaine.

The Lieutenant nodded, then cried out to her men "Ten shells! Danger close!" before gasping as she saw one of her troopers take a lasrifle shot straight between the eyes. The trooper collapsed, dead. The others following him took cover behind another Leman Russ as one enemy tank's shell flew just between them. A squad of Cadian troopers were caught in the blast, shattered by the apparently High Explosive shell. Elaine stared with disbelief at mangled bodies of her fellows, covering her mouth. She gritted her teeth, shook her head, then called out to the tank commander as she popped out of the hatch, "BLAST THAT FUCKING TANK! SHOVE A 12 CENTIMETER SHELL DOWN THEIR VIEWPORT!"

"Already on it!" The woman retorted, then called out to her crew, "Enemy Russ, at our eleven o'clock! LOAD AP!"

"LOADED!"

"FIRE!"

"ON THE WAY!"

The main cannon of the Vanquisher roared, shaking the ground as the massive armor-piercing shell flew. It punched clean through the MBT's forward-facing armor, before shattering the tank from the inside out as it struck and blew the ammunition racks. Shrapnel struck the back of the Severan troops as the Cadians slowly reformed into a coherent, powerful defensive force.

Up above, the first artillery shell whistled. It landed square in the midst of a group of about three dozen Severan Troops, killing several and stunning the rest. The Voxcaster pumped a fist up into the sky, then called through the mic "That was a dead-on shot, Hammer, good effect on target! Send the rest!" and drew her Lasgun. She poked past the Vanquisher and opened fire toward a squad scattered among the trees.

The Lieutenant, meanwhile, couldn't help but smile an evil smile as the first shells landed...

They could still use backup, though...

Randgriz. Almost a day prior.

The Princess had been reading about the impact that the Cadian forces have had on the morale of their own troops. From the recapture of Aslone to the battle for Vasel and the subsequent advances into the Kloden Woods. She was amazed by the sheer velocity with which these young soldiers had fought. The fierceness. It was a welcome sight to behold, one that would ease the pressure off of the Gallian troops insurmountably...

"Your Highness..." She heard General Siegfried's voice call. She turned to face the man, a smile on her face. Some guests were said to arrive yesterday, in the port of Anthold. And indeed, walking in, clad in the white uniform belonging to a defunct nation's armed forces, a Royal Guard unit, with the general and the defended royal at the front, marched in.

The young Tsarina, clad in her officer's dress uniform and with a sword by her hip, much like that of her general's, tipped her hat, smiling. Older than Cordelia by four years, she had hair as black as the night, eyes as blue as the fair sea and a skin only slightly less pale than the whites of her uniform. She smiled at her Cousin, then knelt. The young Princess, meanwhile, showed the woman to stand.

"Cousin Ana..." Cordelia smiled.

"Cordi." The heiress-presumptive to the East Empire's former ruling family and commander of the remnants of its army nodded, standing up. The two met at the middle of the stairs and embraced each-other like old friends. The two gave each-other a once-over and Ana said "You grew a lot!"

"Heh. You too." The girl nodded, "Forgive me for being so direct, my dear cousin, but... What brings you to Gallia? I thought you and your brother were in Edinburgh."

Ana smiled, then waved her general forward. The white-haired woman stepped up, opening her gloved hand to reveal a pendant. Cordelia gasped as she recalled seeing that symbol. She looked at the two, then whispered "How have I not made this connection when they arrived...?" before taking the newspaper she had been browsing and showing the two photographs of the allied infantry.

Ana laughed a hearty, boisterous laugh, before calling proudly, "I'll be damned, general. We didn't hear wrong! They exist!"

"Soldiers from heaven..." Kolchak smiled, "Where are they now, Your Highness?"

"Uhm..." Cordelia flinched.

"Kloden." General Siegfried joined in, approaching the gathered trio, "They're working with the Third Regiment of Militia, General, heading there to secure the Imperial supply bases. Their leader's Colonel Telos, a rather young man."

Kolchak then looked to Ana and said, "Then there is where I will go with our troops, to find this Colonel and his soldiers." calmly. Ana nodded to the General, dismissing her as to allow the two cousins and General Siegfried time to talk. She marched out of the castle and down toward the main gate of Randgriz, a smile on her face and her hand on the hilt of her sword. Exiting the main gate, the woman found herself staring at an army of soldiers clad in the white uniforms and kit of their old people.

With her head held up high, she called out, "Tavarische! It seems our information and hope were not misplaced! OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS FROM THE HEAVENS ARE HERE!"

The soldiers called a rousing cry, raising high bolt-action rifles and letting the engines of their tanks, hidden behind the lines of Infantry, roaring. The General continued, marching between the lined-up men and women, "We have been blessed by He in Heaven! Blessed with a second chance! A chance to reclaim our homeland from the treasonous bastards that took it! A chance to realign ourselves, to fix the mistakes of our past! To atone to Gallia and to Mama Europa, our cradle, for what we've done to her in the First Europan War. Let none find you wanting as we march to help our brethren in the Wildwoods!"

"URA!" Chanted the troops.

"Let none find you wanting as you charge down our traitorous compatriots with your bayonets, as you welcome them with our tanks! As our allies witness the reawakening of this fine war machine! The foes have chosen their path! The traitorous Reginave have made their plans, assembled their armies, but they will regret the mistake they have made in that winter of 1917! We shall make them pay for every life lost!"

"URA!"

"For we are the SCARLET ARMY! WE ARE THE SPILT BLOOD OF OUR TSAR AND OF HIS FAMILY! OUR UNIFORMS ARE THE PURE SNOW OF OUR MOTHERLAND! OUR FLAGS BEAR THE TWO-HEADED AQUILA! OUR FUTURE IS BRIGHT, COMRADES! ONWARDS, TO KLODEN! TO GALLIA'S NORTH! AND THEN, TO THE FALSE IMPERIALS' CAPITAL!" The General bellowed, drawing her sword out of its sheath. It flared with a blue flame as her eyes shone scarlet, "ZA RODINU!"

"ZA RODINU!" The soldiers cried, before moving on to board the tanks they had. Several dozen troopers fit on to the back of the mainstay battle tank used by the Scarlet Army. Bearing a red star with the Aquila on the turret, a 76mm cannon in said turret, as well as two 7,62 Machine guns, one coaxial and one in the turret, by the loader, the tank had a slanted forward plate. Though thinner than a standard armor plate, the cast armor proved efficient at an angle. The turret was set further forward, to allow the engine compartment to house the powerful engine on the tank. Two radiator strips ran down the left and right top parts of the vehicle's engine bay, venting the heat from it.

This was the Type-34. The design for this semi-modern tank was the only thing that the former Tsardom's troops could escape with before the Reginave family took over. They were easy to produce, easier to arm and easier yet to operate. They had received a few upgrades along the way, but they were still mostly the same tank. As the convoy formed, the General boarded a much bigger, more heavily-armored tank...

A 122mm gun in the turret, with an MG off the side, a rounded-out turret with the same red star and aquila and much thicker, more angled frontal armor and a 12,7mm Machine Gun set just above the commander's cupola on a rotating pintle. The tank was a prototype vehicle wielded only by the General. The Hammer Heavy Tank was a Federation prototype based on the T-34, but upgraded and upgunned.

Following it, a more box-like design for a turret, with a massive 152mm Howitzer and a heavily armored main hull rolled up into the formation. The massive gun was meant for fortification-breaking and had been field-tested by the Atlantic Federation on enemy defensive positions rather successfully under the command of Scarlet Army forces. The Korr-Viktor KV-2...

It and the General's tank were the only type of their respective kind... For now. And the first to bear its fangs against the foes.

Present day.

The Colonel and advance team had caught wind of the trouble that the rearguard was having. Of course, it wasn't long before the Severan forces smashed into the side of the joint assault on the supply base too. Having emerged from a clearing close to the base, the Severan forces were now pinning down the joint unit with concise, focused Lasgun, cannon and machine gun fire, supported by Imperial troops that were guarding the approach to the compound of concrete, steel and wood that stored East Imperial supplies. Several bunkers and AT positions littered the treeline, firing a continuous stream of rounds downrange.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Rosie murmured as she ducked under a wave of Lasers heading for them. One of the kids caught in the shots collapsed, dead before he even hit the ground. She caught herself before she could let out a string of swears. She crawled up to the boy, checked his pulse and shook her head, "He's gone!" as she readied her SMG.

"Get back into cover, corporal!" The Colonel called out as he motioned to an assault squad to outflank the enemy. He looked over to the camp, watching as more of the Dominate's forces marched forward. The allied tanks had formed a perimeter by the main road leading out of the place, only about 700 meters away from the base. The Colonel heard and felt the shaking of the Baneblade as enemy shells struck it time and again. He picked up his Voxcaster mic and asked "Rearguard, status!?"

"Colonel! Thank the Emperor you called! We have good news, rear is secured!" The officer laughed heartily, "And the False Imps and Severan traitors have a few new enemies coming their way! Don't shoot at any tank in olive drab paint, nor soldiers in white, sir!"

"... Roger..." He seemed almost dumbfound. He looked back to his men and women and called out "Watch your fire! We seem to have gained some new allies! Don't shoot at any infantry wearing white, or at any tank in olive colors!" before hearing a rumble behind them. He looked back, to see trees falling under the weight of something massive. He went bug-eyed as two vehicles in green paint drove past the perimeter, stopped and fired their main guns at the Imperial bunkers. Two positions exploded in a blaze of blue and red.

Off the backs of the long tanks, infantry in white uniforms stepped off, cycling the bolts of wooden rifles. One of them, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, who bore a scar across her right eye, smiled at the Colonel, nodding and almost flinging her strange hat, an ushanka with a red star emblazoned on the forehead, off her head. She wielded an LMG of some kind, with a thick, air-cooled barrel and a plate-style magazine on the top.

Hearing the rumble of engines to the left, just above the path his strike team took, he saw two more similar tanks emerge, training their guns on the East Imperial buildings farther forward. Their coaxial machine guns let loose streams of bullets at the enemy, while the infantry disembarked and slid down to join the defense. A Severan trooper that had been repositioning caught a bayonet in the throat from another female soldier and was pinned to the wall, before an officer wearing a white peaked cap pulled out a handgun and blasted him right in the face.

Finally, from behind them, the rest of the strange armored column streamed in. Several more of those strange medium tanks, led by a heavy one with a 122mm and with a heavy tank bearing an interesting turret design bringing up the rear. The lattermost trained its massive 152mm howitzer toward an advancing Severan Leman Russ and fired. The roar of the cannon shook the ground as the massive shell hurtled through the air. It slammed into the side of the Severan tank and it burst ablaze due to the sheer weight of the explosion.

The 122mm on the leading heavy trained on an Imperial AT position. A short 75 shell bounced off the front and the return fire, a 122mm HE shell, blasted the enemy position, leaving naught but a smoking crater. Welkin appeared out of the hatch of the Edelweiss, staring at the markings on the newly-arrived tanks with awe. The same symbols as those on the Cadians' own... Except with a Red Star.

The Colonel and Lieutenant watched as, from the cupola of the heavy tank leading the assault, a beautiful silver-haired woman appeared. Her scarlet eyes met the Colonel's and a smile grew on her face. She offered a curt nod to the boy, greeting him, "Privyet! You must be the Colonel of the blessed Cadians!" and waving her dismounting infantry forward.

"May be! Who are you!?" The boy asked, looking her right in the eye.

"We? We are of similar blood to you, Colonel! My name is Andrea Kolchak and I am general to the Scarlet Army... Your humble allies!" She bowed. The Colonel looked to Welkin, who shrugged, before he gazed back at the General.

"An honor to meet you, general... Let us exchange tales when we're out of this battle!" The Colonel nodded to her, "Switch to Frequency 3 on the Voxcast-err... Radios! It's the common one for our forces and the Militia!"

"Of course!" She nodded back, before ducking back into the cupola of her tank. It seemed that, in this little pause, the Colonel's troops had gotten some reprieve, thanks to Kolchak's troops.

He pulled up his microphone, then called out "Lieutenant, we'll do as you said! Pick a squad of five to flank around via that path by the lake! I'll send five of my own with them!"

"And I, five of mine." Kolchak reported.

"Thank you, General... Armor standing at rearguard will provide cover as we advance! We'll take all four of our heavy tanks and move forward as one, providing a wall of armor for the rest of the infantry. We'll smash through their lines like a hammer." The Colonel explained.

"Roger." Welkin chimed in.

"Understood. We shall be right behind you." Kolchak finished.

"Alright..." The Colonel nodded. Outside, the assault team began to gather, with Rosie, Edy, Homer, Marina and Vyse representing the Gallians. The Cadian forces were represented by the two Karon siblings, Amy and two other Kasrkin. And Kolchak's troops? Two young blondes, one hauling a rifle, the other hauling a machine-gun, with a mix of Shock Troopers and riflemen behind them.

The woman with the LMG nodded, then said, "I'm Lieutenant Viktoria, this is my Sergeant."

"Lyudmila, though most call me Lyudi." The riflewoman nodded, "We're the Sixth Assault Squad. Give us a target and we'll break it."

"Good to have you, girls." Rosie nodded, smirking, "Didn't take your type for anti-Imperials, going by the names... You're the old Scarlet Army, aren't you?"

"That, we are." Vikki nodded, racking the bolt of her LMG, "Now, shall we?" and upon the nod of the Gallians and Cadians, the 15-person assault squad mobilized down the path, rolling under the cover of tank guns and MGs toward an encampment on the far side of the mall lake. It was an AT position, occupied by about a dozen Imperial troopers...

... It was time for the Scarlet Army to prove their mettle...