The two-pronged assault had begun in earnest with a call for Artillery on the left flank of the base. The infantry platoon immediately north of the pond separating the starting location from the base, 15 soldiers of each present army(and, in the Gallian case, Militia) began their assault. Alicia elected to lead the team formed of Edy, Marina, Homer and Freesia, while the Crimson Army sergeant and Cadian sergeant cooperated with and assisted them and each-other as best they could.

Alicia popped over cover, gunning down one of the Severan Dominate soldiers with two clean shots to the head. The Cadian infantrymen followed, filling another full of holes with their las-weapons, before the CA infantry followed up with bolt-action rifles on the third and fourth bastards that followed in. Edy then ran toward a sandbag wall separating them from an Anti-Tank gun. She removed the cap off of one of her stick grenades, then yelled "Eat this!" as she threw it right between the gunner's legs.

The explosion gave the signal. The squadron pushed forward, rifles roaring and lasguns crackling as they pushed through, killing two more guards before punching through to the gates. Pushing first were the Crimson Army forces, the commander of which a Cadian trooper pulled back just as bullets raked the path they were on. The soldier looked to the woman, then called out to the rest of the squad "Enemy Machine Gun position! Ready Frag grenades!"

"Thank you." The girl nodded.

"Thank me by slaughtering them." He nodded back, pulling a thick, heavy frag off his belt and pulling the pin. He tossed it over the rock they'd taken cover behind while the Machine Gun continued to fire in sporadic bursts. When the first grenade out of the wave landed, the gun ceased its fire moments before the explosion roared. Four more Cadian frags landed in the base, forcing the enemy troops in defensible positions either to scatter or duck as the explosions sent a storm of shrapnel into the concrete and walls of the base.

The Cadian Sergeant, with Alicia close by his side, led the team forward, poking his lasgun out first and dropping a False Imp Shock Trooper with a clean headshot. Two shots struck his armor from a scout's rifle, but Alicia was quick to retort with her own, blasting the enemy's helmet clean off. She looked over to the trooper as he brushed off what would've otherwise been lethal wound and pushed on.

"C'mon, Alicia!" Edy pushed beside them, "Let's not get left behind!"

"Right." Alicia nodded. She looked to Marina and said "If you spot any targets of opportunity, an officer or some elite trooper, get'em. The rest of you, let's go!"

"I'll perch myself up on one of these embankments. Easier for me to snipe. Better line of sight." Marina reported, before going to climb. Alicia and the three other Gallians pushed with the Crimson soldiers, following the platoon of Cadian infantry in as the Severan troops came to meet them at full strength. Lasguns and autorifles met one-another yet again, the Cadian troopers crossing bayonets with the Severan's White Shields. Blades struck, clashed, lasguns cracked the air and sniper fire picked off the enemy's officers with disregard.

Edy met a Severan trooper at close range. She gritted her teeth, shouldering her SMG as the man charged her with an affixed bayonet, before squeezing the trigger. The weapon spit out half its magazine and several rounds struck the man's exposed midsection. He stumbled, his bayonet missing Edy's heart by inches and cutting her hip. She swore, watching the bastard go down, before yelling "I'm hit!"

"How bad?!" Yelled Alicia, sliding into cover behind one of the sandbag walls near her. She poked out and fired.

"Not bad! Just... Bastard scratched me with the bayonet..." The girl grwoled, before taking a knee behind cover. She fired blindly over her cover as the Crimson soldiers went into the enemy's tents, followed by Homer and Freesia. Gunfire echoed as the team cleared the encamped units inside, those few who were still getting their equipment. The massive warehouse building to the left of the camp was the only concrete structure here.

Marina reloaded, scoping in another sniper among the trees opposite of her. One shot sent the man tumbling down into the chainlink fence below. The girl followed up with another bullet to the head of a Severan officer that lacked a helmet. His squad continued firing, even with the officer down, exchanging fire with the Cadians. A machine gunner atop the buildings finally settled his machine gun onto one of the windows. Marina didn't even let him fire one shot, blasting him right in the temple.

She watched the body tumble out of sight, probably down the metal staircase inside the place, before switching her target. A Lancer carrying a mortar lance wanted to start bombarding the team. She squeezed the trigger, dropping the bastard and getting the lance to launch its shell into the floor, causing a detonation that sent a couple more Imps to hell.

Some of the enemy's soldiers started firing into the treeline. She slithered back behind cover, moving to reposition a few meters farther from where she had taken up positions. She took a knee, listening as the engines of Cadian, Gallian and Crimson tanks roared close by, to her right. And to her left, she heard another vehicle... Growling, she swiveled about, turning her rifle and scoping in the road.

A massive, heavily-armored tank crested the hill, followed by a squad of soldiers. It was unlike any Imp tank they'd seen to date. A gigantic main gun, heavier armor than most of the things they'd met so far and, well... Decorations worth those of an officer. And indeed, atop it, a man sat with a smile on his face. One of the enemy's Generals. Brown hair, a heavy armored vest underneath a brown overcoat and his right hand clad in heavy armor, with a beast's skull as a shoulder pad. Marina wondered if she should take the shot now.

She watched him order up a rally, lowering her rifle while several Imperial troops began to retreat. She dashed down the hill, toward Alicia and the others, stopping only when she reached the cover of a sandbag wall to yell out "Enemy heavy tank, just down the main road!" to Alicia. The girl nodded, turning to Homer and calling him up to bring the radio. The sniper looked to the entrance as their allies crested the small rise of soil leading up to the base. The first was the Edelweiss and the rest of the squad, with the Cadians following next and the Crimsons last.

Then, followed the Imperials' Heavy tank, appearing on the opposite side of the place. The Imp troopers all trained their guns on the advancing allied force, but a booming voice roared from atop the battle tank, "HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

Imp troopers turned toward the man at the top of the tank, while the Allies all looked with confusion, taking up defensible positions to face down the enemy. The General of the Imps hummed, scanning the base and noticing all the troops now inside. He sighed, then murmured something to himself, before calling out to the Cadians and the others, "Greetings, soldiers of Gallia! I am General Radi Jaeger! Don't worry, please! I mean you no harm... Not today, at least."

The Colonel appeared out of the top of his Baneblade, leaning forward onto the tank and demanding "And why should we believe you, False Imperial?"

"I'm only here to get my men out alive! You can have the base!" The man responded sincerely, "I can see when I and my men are beat! Especially with..." He motioned to the Baneblade itself "That amount of firepower in our face!"

"Believe me, General Jaeger, I don't trust a word coming out a False One's mouth!" The Colonel responded.

"Colonel." Kolchak came in. She looked over to Jaeger and said "Privyet, General! Long time."

"That it has been, General Kolchak!" The man smiled, "I thought you were in Edinburgh!"

"I came here as soon as I heard of the Cadians, comrade Jaeger." The woman smirked. She looked to the Colonel and said "I know I have done nothing yet to earn this favor, Colonel, but I can vouch for the General."

"You two got history?" Alicia asked.

"We do." Jaeger retorted.

"Went head to head during the Imperial invasion of Fhirald. He's a man of his word." Their General nodded, "I still owe you a drink!"

"After this war, maybe." The General smirked as the Colonel pondered the situation. He looked to Kolchak and around at his own troops, noticing few Severan infantrymen left alive. The Severan had become the main threat to him at this point. The Imps were an issue, sure, but he'd rather not risk losing his allies by not trusting them. He sighed, leaning back.

"Very well, general. Get your men out of here." The boy said, "Next time, the fates won't be so kind."

"Next time we meet, colonel," The man smirked "You, me, the Lieutenant and everyone else... Well, we'll get to test our wits. Thanks."

"'till then, General." The Colonel sighed, before pulling out his Vox and calling "To all units, the False Imperial general has come to get his pets. Hold your fire and let them retreat. Secure the bases while we're at it." and he turned to watch as the MBT and the soldiers started falling back. Jaerge gave the boy a salute, which he returned curtly, while waiting for them to vanish once more.

As the day passed, a Crimson Army garrison has taken over the base, with the rest of the allies milling about like it was business as usual. The Colonel was sat on one of the sandbag walls facing out toward Gallia and the Kloden Wildwoods, eating a ration pack while he watched more transport vehicles driving out toward the base. Gallian transport trucks hauled ammo from the place day and night, to see what they could repurpose for their use.

He looked to his right as he heard footsteps. General Kolchak joined him at the front of the base, a cigarette between her lips and her hand wrapped around the hilt of her sword. She hummed, taking a puff from the cig as the sun started to set, before speaking "Not bad for a first operation, all things considered..." before turning to the Colonel, "How do you feel, Colonel?"

"Good enough." He shrugged, "Considering we let an enemy general go."

"Thank you for that." She responded, chuckling, "I know I asked too much."

"You also assisted us when we got ambushed... I think we can overlook it." The Colonel remarked, standing to his feet, "We should pack our bags and prepare to leave. I think we will soon be handed our next operation."

"My soldiers are ready to leave whenever it is required." The woman nodded, before stepping into the base with the Colonel.

"Thank you, General." The boy remarked as they approached the lines, "Had it not been for your intervention, perhaps we would have suffered more casualties."

"'tis our pleasure to help fellows of our Faith. Even if we seem to call the One differently. To you he is the Emperor, is he not?" The woman asked as they passed by one of the younger officers of the Regiment, a Colonel herself with bright blue hair and eyes as she sang in the Crimson Army's ancient language, a song about battle and glory, presumably, going by how the troopers behind her followed up with the chorus.

"Yes." The boy nodded, "Do yours not?"

"We mostly call Him God. Our Emperor was the man that led the Eastern Empire into battle, before the Reginave family came to power." The girl remarked, "He died wielding a blade in his throne room, against a group of assassins, while we evacuated from the doomed country with his children."

"I see..." The Colonel hummed, "Was your emperor blessed by our own?"

"I'd believe so." She nodded, "He wore the Aquila pendant. Last I spoke to him he mentioned it being a thing his family had received several centuries ago, if not outright millennia."

"Ah..." The Colonel hummed. This was a revelation worth its weight in Gold. He smirked, then said "Well, you do remind me of a certain Imperial Guard unit I've read up on. The Valhallan Ice Warriors. Uniforms match, somewhat."

"We'd be honored to meet our counterparts in your world." The woman answered respectfully, before turning toward the tank depot just outside the base, adding "Now, I shall return to my tank and prepare to depart. We shall see each-other on the next operation." and giving a quick salute to the young man before she left. The Colonel saluted back, smirking, then hummed.

"That, we will. Best of luck, General." He said as he moved toward his own tank. Noticing Isara sat off to the side with the rest of her squad, he tipped his cap to her and she smiled, waving back. Before long, everybody had boarded their respective vehicles and transports and the units took off back toward Randgriz. In accordance with that, the Cadians had also returned to Kasr Creed, which had so far been strengthened by the Techpriesthood to the point its exterior walls actually had proper ferrocrete in them.

Kasr Creed

... As the next day after the assault came, Matt had started looking through the few files he'd managed to write for his Regiment since their arrival. Supply requisition forms, armament req forms, food, things like that. He'd sent them to the Gallian battalion aide nearby, at Forth Amaranthine, to ensure they had enough food and basic items to survive unto the next incoming battle.

A knock on his door got the Colonel's head out of the papers on his desk. He looked up and said "Come in." as he arranged a stack of unfinished req forms neatly, setting it off to the side. A lieutenant stepped inside, bringing his hand up in a salute and beaming. The Colonel stood up, saluted, then said "At ease, Lieutenant. What's the situation that's got you so happy?"

"Sir! Tenth Company is here!" The man reported, "All 500 of them and the artillery and logistics equipment we thought lost."

"What?!"

He had to see this for himself. Marching down to the main road of the encampment with an escort retinue of a dozen Guardsmen by his side, as well as Colin and Amy, the boy caught a glimpse of the man leaning against the gate, a self-sure smile on his face. Alexander 'Ace' Harkon, the supply corps Major assigned to the First Youth, stood before them, a pair of lilac eyes staring from underneath a peaked cap. On his back was a heavy-duty backpack of the Imperial Guard, stocked with everything from foodstuffs to some of the Adeptus Munitorum's specialized cogitators and data pads.

"Ace!" Amy called out, grinning, "It took your sorry arse a while!"

"Kind of hard to find directions when one half of this country's shooting at you and the other's cocksure enough to talk shit, Amy!" Ace retorted, straightening up. He saluted the Colonel and Commissar, then said "Major Harkon, First Youth supply corps reporting for duty. I and my Company rocked up kind of late to the party, according to some of the locals we talked to on our way over."

"Emperor's blessings, major, at least you showed." The Colonel smirked, looking at the two Manticore MLR Systems that the corps had brought, alongside a dozen supply Chimeras, ten more Basilisk cannons and two Siege tanks. He laughed as he saw the Captains, commanders and Lieutenants popping out of the hatches with smiles on their faces. He called to them, "Our vehicle depot is immediately to your right, people! Bring the vehicles in! Major, you and your Munitorum dataslates are with me. We've work to do organizing this mess!"

"Sir, yessir!" Ace nodded, watching as the gate propped open. He saluted Colin as the two passed by one-another and the Commissar actually smiled a cocky smile at the boy.

"This bids good news..." Colin observed, "Emperor's blessings upon us all, it means all of our Regiment could've survived..."

"Hey, maybe we'll run into'em soon." Amy beamed, looking as the armored vehicles entered the base, "Might give us one helluva boost against those traitors from the Severan Dominate."

Several Cadians from their main artillery company came to meet their old comrades, laughter echoing throughout the walls of the compound as the soldiers hugged, shook hands and talked with one-another about the tribulations of their travels while Colin and Amy watched. Panting and the sound of footsteps took their attention to the right, to the sight of a young man in Gallian infantry clothing. He was clearly a scout, going by the equipment, but he also had a bag over his shoulder. A messenger's bag.

He saluted, speaking through heavy breaths, "Sir, ma'am... I'm looking for Colonel Telos. A letter from one of Squad 7's members."

"Huh. Curious." Colin hummed, then turned to a smirking Amy. He, too, realized whom this was from, noting "Follow me, Trooper. The Colonel's room is right in the command building."

Oh, young love. Colin had seen Matias and Isara interacting before, quite a few times actually. He'd even joked about it at some point(if his stoic behavior allowed for his words to be construed as jokes), so it was only natural. He liked the relationship that seemed to be blooming between the Colonel and the young Corporal, a very endearing sight indeed.