It had been a day by this point since the battle took place around the Valkyrian temple. Sitting by the pit as it was being filled up with pounds and pounds of sand brought from far away by the Engineer Corps of the First Youth, Matt watched as the Necron's last few disabled and destroyed comrades were being buried in what was once their tomb and now, a mass grave for both them and the soldiers of the two sides of this war.
He'd taken the list of active-duty personnel with him, writing off names as per the reports of his subordinate officers. A lot of red on the ledger, too many names, too many fine men and women dead and too many platoons that had to be merged to get back to full strength. He sighed, then stood up, turning only to see a Cadian approaching him. The soldier saluted his Colonel, then said "Sir, Lieutenant Landzaat is requesting your presence within the Temple Ruins... He has found something disconcerting."
"Lead the way." Matt nodded. The two walked around the massive hole, past a group of Gallian soldiers as they talked between one-another, Sevens among them, then took the stairwell up to and into the temple, entering the main corridor. Faldio peeked from around the Valkyrian Spiral door and waved the Colonel over with his escorting Guardsman. They entered the antechamber and Faldio saluted. Matt saluted back and said "What happened?"
"Well..." The man looked over to the writing, pointing at the now-recognizable Necron Ankh...
... Oh, no...
"WHAT?!" Alicia balked, eyes wide as the Colonel rubbed his eyes. Within the command tent of the Regiments, almost an hour after Faldio briefed him, Matt had brought forth what little Faldio managed to translate of the writings to the others. The girl looked at the map they'd laid out, pointing at the possible locations of the other Pylons. Near the Barious Badlands, several unnatural hills rose high above the ground, providing perfect overwatch for the enemy's forces situated there, currently.
"I'm afraid I made it perfectly clear, Sergeant..." The boy sighed, leaning back, "The Badlands' hills are believed to be containing a row of Pylons within them, I've already deployed a scouting battalion to the area and, according to them, the enemy has set up camp there, either by the False Prince's will, or because they had nowhere else to retreat to. I believe we can all collectively agree that, even if the Necron Lord may be dead, these Pylons cannot stay in the enemy's hands."
"Our men need rest, Colonel." Captain Varrot replied, "I understand your desire to avoid a repeat of the battle here, but..."
"We can wait until midday, Captain..." Matt replied, "I, too, understand the need for rest, believe me. But my men and I both know what must be done."
"I see..." The Captain sighed, "Understood."
"That means we will not be bringing heavy armor into this one... It's very likely the enemy has only infantry and is unaware of what they're perched up on." The Colonel stated, "I'd recommend we only take the Edelweiss this time around, alongside three platoons' worth of Guardsmen. I will be leading the attack, personally, on foot, with the Lieutenant's tank beside me."
"Sounds good to me." Largo smirked, "Been a while since we've seen you outta your tank, kid."
"She's out on the count of repairs." Matt nodded, then smiled back as he arranged his armor. He continued, circling a rear area of the badlands and saying "We still have artillery if things get hairy, though. More specifically, our light mortars on the Heavy Weapon Teams are already mobile. I'm not gonna go, throwing 132mm Earthshaker shells into the mix at the risk of awakening the next Tomb Guards all over again."
"Quite cautious." Welkin remarked, "Which I can understand... The Necron weren't exactly a pleasant surprise to wake up to after seeing a Valkyria on the enemy's side."
"Besotted bastards, the Necron..." The boy sighed, "We won, at least. Your planet is safe for the time being."
The multitude of Gallian officers present paused. After another moment of deliberation, they agreed:Squad 7, Landzaat's Squad 1 and three Cadian platoons, led by Colin and Matt, would proceed to secure the Pylons and the camps sat atop the hills of sand and rock that had grown around them. The rest of the Third Regiment and the 13th Youth would proceed to clear out a more major enemy encampment immediately due North. Matt was sat atop the Edelweiss with his officers and a cadre of three Guard Lieutenants.
The tall hills rose like the spires of Hive Cities from the ground, even in height and distance from one another. The main camp of the enemy forces was situated atop the closest one. It'd been built up, sandbags lining the vehicle path up while MGs were aimed down the slopes to halt any advancing infantry. Beside the vehicle paths that led up in a spiral, there were metal staircases dug into the walls, to allow for infantry to rapidly ascend to the top, or descend to halt convoys.
There was also a line of hurriedly-dug trenches in which more East Imp soldiers sat. Those fuckers, conscripts like the ones they'd met a while back, scrambled the moment they saw the green and blue uniforms. The Cadians, Colonel included, disembarked from the tank and formed up with the Gallians. They looked up as sporadic gunfire started to fall down toward them, forcing them into cover behind the sandbags and trenches left by the enemy.
Matt took a knee, readying his Bolt pistol and nodding to Colin. He turned to Rosie and Alicia and said "Mortars can be ordered for suppressive fire."
Some of his Guardsmen already opened fire, their faces gloomy, dark. Alicia understood, the poor kids had lost a lot after yesterday. God only knew how many of them had friends buried or turned to ash by the Necron. She, herself, barely caught a wink of sleep last night. Nightmares and all. Looking back at Welkin, she could tell the boy felt the same, black bags under his eyes as he gazed through his binoculars.
She shifted on her feet, then nodded and said "I'll take a detachment up the hill. Call the Mortars."
The Colonel smirked, despite his tired face, "Starting to learn from us, Sergeant?"
She shrugged, "Hopefully, I don't kill myself or anyone I take in." before aiming her rifle and firing. The Colonel voxed in for their mortar Carriers to open up. The whistle of 80mm shells echoed through the air, before five thumps and then five more echoed from above. The mortars were airburst rounds, meant to concuss and shock the enemy. Clearly, it'd worked, since the MGs ceased fire.
Alicia looked back, then called out "Edy! Vyse! Rosie! Largo! Susie! With me! Frees, you take the others and secure the path for the Edelweiss!"
"You got it, sarge!" Largo shifted, standing up and hoisting high his newly-acquired Mortar Lance. Apparently, Fort Amaranthine's RnD Had been busy with upgrading their weapons. The Mortar Lance Lancaar-SH M-1 fired a mid-caliber mortar shell with all the accuracy of an AT lance and the strength of an HE Round. Largo let loose one of his own mortart shots, before hefting the weapon onto his shoulder and following the Sergeant as she climbed over their cover.
Colin joined them, his platoons close behind him. He raised his pistol and fired up at the enemy MGs as they started blasting at them again, before taking cover against the slope wall. He looked to Alicia, then asked "Who goes first, Sergeant?" with a smirk, his power sword crackling. The girl smirked back, then looked up and racked the bolt of her Gallian-M4 rifle.
She breathed in, then exhaled and stated "Fuck it. I'm going first!"
"You heard the lady, men! Covering fire!" Colin ordered. Lasguns shrieked, rounds piercing and ringing, flashing shots glancing off and boiling sandbags into glass. Alicia had made it to the halfway point of the latter as Susie followed her. Her more pacifistic friend held her M4 rifle close, climbing to help her. She smiled, then looked up and pulled a grenade from her belt. Pulling the bottom safety pin with her teeth, she threw it. A squad of Imperial soldiers that were coming down to hose the ladder with SMG fire ducked or died as the shrapnel tore into them.
Colin followed Susie up the stairs, laspistol crackling as he climbed with only one hand. The Edelweiss rumbled behind them all, advancing under the guard of the Colonel and his unit, as well as the half of Squad 7 that hadn't been elected to climb the walls. Tracers filled the air, the scent of ozone in the nostrils of the advancing, as well as cordite and gunsmoke.
Alicia had made it to the top, grabbing her rifle properly and clearing the path for the others to climb as she advanced. She fired into the squad of Shock Troops that had come to greet them as the rest of the squad climbed and joined her. Colin came after Susie and he went up-close. His blade drew blood as he cut into a Shock Troop and executed another with a lasbolt to the skull as the others climbed up.
Colin danced among the Imperial Shock Troopers, whatever shots that hit from the SMG fire were bouncing off his breastplate and he was killing more than they were shooting. A few conscripts broke and ran, but found themselves shot in the back by Cadian Lasguns as the rest of Colin's squad clambered onto the hill. One of them crawled up to the cover these bastards had abandoned, manned one of the Machine Guns and swiveled it about, opening up into them with the most terrifyingly impassive expression the Gallians had ever seen in a kid.
Empty casings fell and rolled off the side, clinking together. The belt of the water-cooled enemy MG flapped and squirmed under the gun's continuous fire. Joined by a squad of Lasgunners and the Gallians, Colin and the gunner slaughtered the entire enemy force, with half the unit formed of a few Cadians, Susie and Rosie opening up with suppressing fire to keep the bastards atop the hill pinned. Two mortar shells flew from the Gallians' own lances and an enemy position went up in flames.
The Edelweiss soon followed close behind, with the rest of the assault unit. The Colonel met his Commissar and their platoons at the midway point. They nodded to one-another, before the Edelweiss continued up to the second level with its escort. Colin and the others of the Infantry assault climbed up another ladder to the midway point, under even heavier fire.
Colin cried out to his men and to the Gallians, "RALLY! FOR THE EMPEROR, LET NONE STAND IN YOUR WAY!"
The children of Cadia and their Gallian friends clambered to the top, even as fire rained down upon them. More lasfire filled the air around them as the Guardsmen provided cover. Alicia was, once again, first one atop. She gasped, dodging as a bastard thrust a bayonet at her side. It managed to scratch and cut pretty deep, but the girl was alive and no major organ was damaged.
She spun on her feet and dropped the bastard with two rounds. One of his allies soon found himself headless as Colin made it to the top. Lasbolts flew again, as did bullets and even a tank shell as they were joined at the top by Cadian troops and the Colonel. His own blade grew scarlet with the blood it had drawn. His bolt pistol thundered twice, blasting the head clean off an Imperial officer.
Alicia felt her wound, seeing Edy and Rosie stopping to check up on her. She waved the two shock troopers off, standing up and wincing as she said "I'll be fine! It's just a scratch! Keep pushing!" and urging her friends and comrades up the final ladder. Now, Imperial frags flew up into the enemy compound, blasts shattering, flowers of shrapnel blooming and lasers scarring and burning skin.
The sickly-sweet scent of promethium-laced burning skin came to the Gallians as they saw a Cadian Flame Trooper beside the Colonel, his heavy weapon belching scarlet-burning fire from its muzzle. The fighting grew fierce, up-close, in the 5 square kilometer radius of the top of the hill. Bayonets plunged through artisanal steel plate into flesh, lasguns flashed and Power Swords sang.
Alicia slammed the butt of her rifle into the face of an East Imp soldier, before bringing about the muzzle. She felt the air knocked out of her as a man charged her, pinning her against the wall and knocking her rifle out of her hand. He rose a knife to plunge into her chest. She struggled, catching the blade as the man pushed with all his overwhelming strength, two bloodshot eyes staring down the woman.
She gritted her teeth, glaring at the man, before her knee found his groin. He staggered and the woman kicked him back, scrambling for her sidearm and raising the gun. Twice the gun barked, two rounds punching through and flinging the helmet off the crazed soldier's head. She paused, her eyes registering a single marking on his cheek that she did not recognize.
She froze as a Lasbolt struck the Imp she'd first knocked down, drilling a hole square between his eyes. She looked over to see Elaine. The scout troop leader gave the Gallian scout a nod, before moving past her and firing. She slid Alicia's weapon to her with the back of her boot. The girl picked up her M4, before taking to Elaine's side as Rosie and the other Shock Troops, Jane included, showed up.
"You alright, Sarge?" Rosie asked, readying her SMG.
"Just glad we're fighting enemies we can actually deal with for a change, Rosie." The girl smiled, then paused. Wow, she'd really taken after the Cadians right now, to the point she was thankful she was getting to kill enemies that were human. It shook and surprised her, but she cared little right now. She spun her rifle around and used the hardwood stock as a bat, spinning and knocking an Imp down again before putting two rounds into his exposed back.
Elaine nodded, then said "Not bad, Sergeant." hoisting her Lasgun and firing. Her platoon also joined, followed by Susie, a bloodied Juno and Freesia, as well as other scouts. Juno had her bayonet fixed and a half-empty magazine she'd just exchanged for a fresh one. She wiped her glasses of blood, approaching a stunned Alicia, before smiling meekly.
"It's bad?" The bespectacled blonde asked, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Horrific." The Sergeant remarked, "How?"
"One of the Colonel's troopers is carrying a weapon he called a plasma rifle... It boiled a guy alive in front of me and splattered me with... All this..." She motioned to herself. She gasped, pushing Alicia aside and parrying the strike from a sword with her rifle. She kicked the man away and thrust the bayonet into his chest. He dropped back into the barracks he'd come from.
Alicia now noticed that the girl wore a pendant around her neck. An Aquila made of gold and soaked with blood. She smirked, then asked "Got that as a gift, Juno?"
The girl blushed, though it was mitigated by the blood that covered her. She sputtered, before Alicia, Elaine and the others chuckled. Elaine patted her on the shoulder, then said "You'd make a fine Cadian woman, miss Coren," then she tilted her head toward the other barracks in the line for her squad to follow. The Cadians split, leaving the Gallians for a moment to comprehend what they were seeing.
Elaine kicked the first door in, by her side Trooper Haley, carrying a Heavy Stubber. They cleared the room with gunfire and bayonets, leaving a mix of dead soldiers and officers in the small bunk area, before they exited and joined the rest of the squad. Alicia waved her fellow countrymen, the Bloody Juno included, into the battle, crying out "LIKE THE CADIANS, FOLKS! FIX BAYONETS!"
Glistening, polished blades, unused 'till now by the Gallian soldiers, came out of clean and crisp leather sheets, locking neatly onto the lugs at the font of each Gallians' weapon. Alicia had fought by these kids too long not to catch some semblance of knowledge about their usage of close-in combat. She, Rosie and Susie kicked in a door. The young, fearful blonde of the squad followed close behind her Sergeant and old friend, firing her weapon into the room hesitantly at any shadow that moved and wore neither blue, nor green.
Susie gasped, pushing Alicia aside and hefting her rifle up. A Power Sword cut through the wood and steel, splitting the weapon in twain. Susie rolled to the side, but still found herself caught by the searing blade's strike. She yelped, gritting her teeth and, with a hate in her heart she hadn't felt before, drew her pistol and shot. The officer that had attacked her, a tall, lean man with a single, maddening marking on his exposed shoulder, took a whole magazine of nine-mil to the chest before collapsing, his Power Sword, a wretched, scarlet thing, clattering to the side.
Susie felt her wound and cried out "MEDIC!" as Rosie and Frees joined her.
Freesia shuddered, as did Rosie, both staring with wide eyes at the cauterized wound. Susie had a deep gash in her side, a vertical swipe that could damn well have taken her whole left arm and leg off, but that had just narrowly missed. It did leave a pretty nasty wound on her arm and had damn near taken her left thumb. She held onto her burnt arm, watching as one of their triplet doctors ran inside. She smiled at the doctor, then said "How do you girls hear this well?"
"A trained doctor hears the call for help even in the most gunfire-heavy situations." Replied Mina, probably, as she wrapped the girl's wounded arm in a gauze that was doused in antiseptic and disinfectants. Susie cringed, feeling the sting and hearing a slight sizzle as the chilly bandage touched her still-hot skin. The doctor chuckled, then said "It's superficial. May not even scar."
"Phew..." Susie sighed, leaning her back against the wooden wall of the barracks cabin with a smile of content.
Rosie breathed a sigh of relief, then said "You've gotten a bit more bold, eh?"
Susie shook her head, "Alicia was about to get hurt... I'm not letting my friends die."
"Good girl. Rest a bit now, kiddo." Rosie placed a hand on her non-wounded shoulder. She stood up, hefting her SMG up and looking around. Alicia gave the all clear with a handwave, before approaching and comforting Susie as the doc tended to her. The redhead Shocktrooper said "I'm taking the rest of our platoon and helping the others clear out the rest of this place."
Alicia gave her comrade a nod. Rosie ran out of the place with Freesia and, now, Edy and Homer by her side as explosions thundered off to the side. Largo was supporting an advance of Cadian troopers toward what looked to be an ancient ruin. How had they missed it? The damn thing was the size of an old Yggdist church, for God's sakes. She shook her head, waving forth her Shock Troop and joining up with the Colonel and Commissar near by one of the sides of the ruin. She asked, "Where do you need us?!"
"The Lieutenant's gonna need infantry cover! He's bringing in the Edelweiss to bombard these bastards out of their cover!" Matt told her, then he pointed back at the tank as it advanced. Its escort infantry, Cadian and Gallian alike, kicked in doors and cleared even more buildings:Command building, a motorpool and a storage area. The fact this hill was even big enough to support so much stuff was surprising.
Rosie nodded to the Colonel, patted him on the shoulder and said "Take care, kiddo!"
"You too, corporal! You too!" The boy nodded to her, more friendly than in their first encounter, but still slightly cold. She got it, she'd basically shit-talked his prospective girl, but that was the kid's fault for going for a Darkie. She looked to see Isara appear out of her tank's cupola, poking out and firing at an Imperial Lancer that had snuck between a row of barracks.
The Shock Trooper surged forward, raising her bayonet and crying a raucous battle cry. Bounding across the rows to the tank-buster, Rosie had made quick time in but a few seconds. The man hadn't even had time to align his lance to fire before he found himself impaled on Rosie's SMG bayonet. The girl gritted her teeth, twisting and extracting the blade before putting half a magazine's worth of ammo into the man's exposed side. He collapsed, a trail of blood left on the wall, his lance falling to the floor. Rosie looked to Isara. The young girl smiled at their savior, before Rosie said "Keep driving, Kid! Cadians need you!"
She nodded, diving back into the tank without another word. Rosie looked to see Freesia and the rest of her squad join in. The desert-bred girl said, "That was rash as all hell, Rosie!"
"Well... I am a Shock Trooper after all..." The girl shrugged, "C'mon. We got more rooms and alleys like this to clear, so no more of these fuckers show up."
"Aye!" The others nodded.
The Edelweiss proceeded in its advance, Welkin looking down the scope of the guns and firing ahead with the tank's coaxial machine-gun. Rounds pinged off what looked to be stone pillars and broken chunks from the edifice ahead. By the design, that ruin here, atop the hill, was not of Valkyrian origin. No, something felt far more familiar about it. He said, "Switching to mortars... You alright, Is?"
"I'm okay, yeah." The Darcsen girl nodded, smiling, "Rosie just saved us."
"I saw." Welkin smiled back, then asked "Mortar."
"Loaded." Isara reported as the tank's Autoloader whirred, "You can see that already, Welks."
"Right... Ready to fire." He said, switching to the Mortar Sight. He gasped, watching as the Eastern Imperial soldiers raised a white flag from behind cover. He lowered the weapon, appearing out of the top of the tank as their leader, a female, stood to her feet, waving the white flag and tossing both her pistol and her SMG aside. She was a conscript, a black-haired woman with pure amber eyes.
"We surrender!" She cried. The clatter of a dozen weapons echoed and twelve other Conscripts appeared from behind cover, their hands raised. Colonel Telos gave them a once-over, then motioned to two of his Guardsmen to go forward. Alicia followed and the Colonel waved to her. Everything would be fine. She saw the two Guardsmen, a boy and a girl, scouring the pockets of the Imperial Soldiers, before the girl gave a thumbs up.
The Colonel breathed a sigh of relief, lowering his bolt pistol as the Gallian tank drove forth. The Conscript officer breathed a sigh of relief, falling to her knees with tears welling in her eyes as she watched the Cadians disperse into the ruin behind her. The Colonel approached her, holstering both his weapons and stating "All is well... You will be treaded as Prisoners of War."
"I... We..." The woman stuttered, in complete disbelief. She swallowed, her face pale and tears streaming down her bone-white cheeks, "They told us you were gonna slaughter us if we surrendered... I... I had to try, though, for the sake of my men..."
"We're not savages..." The Colonel remarked, looking to Alicia as she walked up. The girl smiled at him, hoisting her weapon onto her shoulder by the strap. The Colonel turned back to the officer, then lifted her to her feet and stated simply, "And we will not execute anyone. Especially not after yesterday... I've seen your troop's combat badge among the officers that were with the False Prince."
"We were a rearguard unit..." The girl sighed, color returning to her face as she sighed in relief, "W-When we saw those... Things... Rising from the sands... And that guns did n-nothing to them, we held back."
"Smart," Matt nodded, his voice bitter. He looked to Colin and said "Have them taken to a barracks and keep them under guard. We will surrender them to the Third Regiment come first thing tomorrow morning." and he got a quick salute from the Commissar. The boy rallied a squad of Guardsmen, Elaine included, to get the Conscripts over to the barracks nearest to the edge.
Alicia walked up to Matt and said "That's a pleasant surprise."
Matt shook his head, "Only ensuring we keep some semblance of humanity... After we met the Necron in open battle, I don't think even we would fire upon the enemy so easily when they surrender." and he noticed the wound on Alicia's side. The gauze she had wrapped around it to stop the bleeding had a narrow strip of dried blood already coursing through to the other side. He pointed at it and asked "Are you well, Sergeant?"
She felt the wound, then shrugged and said "Doesn't even hurt anymore."
"Curious, but I am glad to hear." The boy said rather suspiciously. He craned his neck to the right, to see that the other camps had already been cleared and Lieutenant Landzaat's force was already making its way over. He turned to Welkin, gave the boy a tired half-smile, then said "I would recommend calling Captain Varrot through Wireless, to let her know our objective was accomplished."
Welkin smiled, nodding. They watched the kid step off...
... They'd been given order to hold the line. Someone from Gallian High Command wanted to speak to the Colonel in the morning, in the base they'd secured. He knew he wasn't going to like it, because he definitely knew who was coming to try and chew them out, but what could he do except wait? He sighed deeply, watching as the night sky in the distance filled with clouds. He could hear the rapport of thunder echo all the way over to them, flashes of lightning striking a valley in the far distance.
Huh... Curious...
"Hey, Colonel!" He heard a peppy voice call out to him. He turned to meet the woman, finding her to be Irene Ellet.
"Ah, the reporter." He smirked, then yawned, "What brings you out here?"
"Well, I wanted to ask your opinion about a few things! And we really haven't spoken all that much." She shot back, sitting herself down next to him. She looked over, saying "I've been sticking around in the shadow of the whole Regiment thing, taking photos, writing stories and stuff about you and your people, if ya wanna believe. Lieutenant Gunther already knows about the stuff I do."
"Which is?" The Colonel raised a brow.
"Uncensored access to the War Front for the Gallian people!" Ellet stated proudly, wearing her smile openly and her heart on her sleeve, "But... I managed to catch photos of the fighting you and our folks did yesterday."
"Oh..." The man winced, "Information of the Necron must not slip out... Not even one word or image."
"Why?"
"The Panic it would cause among your population... I am surprised you, of all people, are taking so well to the news that Xenos live under the very ground you and your people tread." He remarked, leaning back, "Not one word. Not even of the Valkyrian."
"It kind of goes against the very thing I swore my paper would be, Colonel." She stated.
"This fight was not part of the war proper. IT was survival... Your paper says it'll speak only the truth about the War." He said simply, much to the surprise of Irene. He chuckled, then said "Colin once brought the paper over to me, Ellet. I read it in the morning, as a break from doing paper-work for our Regiment. You stated so yourself in the motto of the 'Writing on the Wall'. The intent to 'Bring only the Truth of the Gallian Front to the people of Gallia and, perhaps, to the world'. This was not a battle of that war. What happened before was. Of the Valkyria, you can speak... But not the Necron. For your sake and the sake of your folks."
"I..." She paused, slightly conflicted.
"Don't... You know I'm right." He shook his head, "Much as I hate it, the secrets of the Necron will be buried with all of us who witnessed them. Emperor forgive me, we will be the ones to keep watch on these pylons, in case the Ancient enemies ever 'wake."
"Kind of an eternal watch, huh?" The reporter remarked, noticing the tired, distant look of the Colonel. She sighed, then smiled and said "Alright, I'll... Find away to spin what happened near the ruins some way or another... Can't promise ya anything, though, Colonel." To be quite honest, she could find some way to properly spin it, if she delayed the printing by a day or two. Eh, better that way. She bid goodbye.
Matt glanced over as he heard another pair of footsteps. Lighter than Ellet's, of course, because they belonged to her. Isara stood there, looking at him with a hint of worry and tired eyes. He made one hand motion for her to join him and she sat herself down near the edge. He stared forward at the night sky as the storm raged on ahead, then said "Night's not gonna get any easier, is it?"
"Doesn't look like it..." She answered, shuffling closer, "You okay?"
"Mhm..." He nodded, "We lost a lot."
"That's... War..." Isara sighed.
"At least your squad got off without much damage. I'm thankful for that." He sighed, then smiled sadly at the girl.
She smiled back, then blushed, averting her gaze. By God, he seemed more open than before. She shifted, looking forward at the storm, listening to the drumroll of thunder and stating, "That's a weird storm. Dry thunderstorms are usually a midsummer thing." as she looked forward. Clever of her, she thought, to change the subject. Matt leaned forward, taking his binoculars out and looking through. A string of rock faces and mountains surrounded a small valley, but the sight of where the thunder and lightning was coming from was obscured by the dunes.
"Huh..." He murmured, lowering the binoculars, "Strange indeed. You couldn't sleep, right?"
"Huh?" Isara raised a brow.
"The Necron are an undead nightmare. I'm not surprised neither you, nor most of your folks, could sleep properly. Hell, I barely got any sleep last night. I guess that I also made the decision to come here based on a sleepless mind. This could even have been an enemy's ambush, with the words I exchanged with their enemy general..." He sighed, rubbing his eyes, "I need some sleep."
"Then let's go... The officers' barracks isn't far from here. Huh?" She stopped, turning to see Alicia strolling toward the ruins. Matt stood up too. The two kids looked to one-another, then moved to follow the Sergeant. As they walked, the Colonel managed to get a better look at the ruin itself. The arched windows, the vaulted ceiling and the jagged corners of stained glass still remained in their frames. Ahead, a rising stage with what once used to be a lectern. Scattered amongst these were various artifacts, buried within the sand.
The Colonel and Isara watched as Alicia knelt and lifted a pendant of some kind. It glistened in the moonlight, a faint gold that the Colonel gasped at. The Sergeant of the Gallian seventh hummed, looking around at the place. She looked at the pendant in her hand as she walked out of the ruin, clenching it in her fist and with clear intent to talk to someone of Imperial origin. An Aquila. The girl had found an Aquila pendant buried within the sand.
Matt hummed as he realized. The Ruin.
It had once been a building that belonged to the Imperium. An old Church, perhaps.
Golden Throne...