Rosie hadn't been exactly keen with leaving the kids behind, for some reason. Alicia watched the woman shifting uneasily on her makeshift seat:a box of supplies. She looked over her new SMG, a MAGS M4, with at least some hint of contentment. Aside from a slightly longer barrel and an extended mag, there wasn't much difference between it and the M3. Not like the new sets of stuff they've been developing back at base.
Similarly, Alicia and her scouts had received new, refurbished M4 rifles, in lieu of some of the newest developments. Same for the Engineers. The Lancers, meanwhile, received a couple new Lancaars and a new model of Mortar Lance. She wasn't sure how much it was gonna help in what was supposed to be a training exercise, but still, she figured better to have new kit than stay with the old.
She fished her pockets for the rosette of that Death Korps trooper, the girl, and pulled it out. She didn't remember if she'd had a chance to confront the Death Korps's colonel about the age, but she would when they returned to the front line or the kids came to join them. She hated the fact they weren't around, too, for some reason or another. She guessed that the fact they had the backing of this entirely new, ultra-elite army of other-worldly soldiers brought a sense of safety to her mind.
Sighing, the girl slid the thing back into her breast pocket, stood up and hefted her rifle, watching as ambassador Townshend, the man assigned to Gallia from the Federation to discuss a treaty of some kind, walked across the bridge to Federation territory. Operation Northern Cross, the Federation Army's operation to occupy the Eastern Empire's Capital, was in full swing as far as they were told.
She sighed, approaching Welkin, who was checking Edelweiss's supply of fuel over to ensure proper function, at Isara's request. The girl herself was currently busy, listening to what the Cadians had called a 'Vox Kit'. Their variation of the Radio, but that seemed to work pretty well with Gallia's own wireless system. Still, it had a wider band of transmission and a longer range. Long enough that, apparently, Isara had been discussing a few things with forward teams of the Guard.
"Hey, Is." Alicia approached her. The Darcsen girl waved and the baker asked "What's the word? The kids coming around?"
"Ma-err..." She caught herself, blushing for a moment, to Alicia's joy, then stated "The Colonel and his allies've just completed their mission in Barious. Sounds like they picked up even more extra help, too." She smiled, "If I'm hearing it right, they have their own wing of aircraft that they both managed to secure from the airbase and received when a new allied wing came in."
"Woah, wait," Rosie stepped up, grinning, "You're kidding me, right, Darkie? They got some of the stuff the Severan dived at us with during our Barious bout?"
Isara smiled at the somewhat more friendly 'Darkie' that Rosie said there, then stated "I believe it's an entirely different squadron. Yes, they may have acquired some of the equipment of the Dominate to repurpose for their own, but from what I understand, they have an entire Air Assault Brigade of the Aeronautica Imperialis, as one of the troopers on Vox called it," jumping off the Edelweiss after setting the vox's microphone into place.
Rosie smirked, "Then the playin' field's even again."
"That's good news, alright." Alicia smiled too, "I should bake some bread for those kids when we meet back up."
The redhead looked over to see Welkin heading to meet the Lieutenant of the Squad they were supposed to be playing along with. Some ranger boys from the Federation, if she read the briefing right. Alicia looked between the two girls, bid a quick goodbye to go meet the group herself and left Rosie and Isara alone. She looked to the girl, then jabbed a thumb toward Alicia's jaunty walk over to Welkin and said "You do know sarge's into your brother, right?"
"I figured." Isara smiled.
"Heh. Of course, you did..." Rosie rolled her eyes, "Aside from the new stuff they got, any news from the kids?"
"Oh, they're on their way. Scout units should be arriving at lunchtime, while the rest of the Regiment should be here by early afternoon according to Lieutenant Maaran's estimates. Though they're not coming with the Tallarn, as far as I've been told. They remained with Freesia's tribe to train them and bring them up to speed. Probably gonna hand them some new weaponry as well." Isara explained, looking ahead.
"Goodie. Means we won't be bored... Man, I can't wait to see these Feddies' reaction to them." Rosie smirked.
Isara's smile grew, "I see that you grew fond of them too."
"Kid, I am honestly not sure how I feel about them. At this point, I am glad we got the backup, though. Seeing all the crap the Imps are throwing at us..." She shrugged, "Can't imagine fighting the Severan on our own, or anything else like the Necron..." And she shuddered. Isara winced, then nodded silently. Each and every member of Squad 7 was still affected by the presence of the alien machines of war on their planet. The redhead songstress sighed, then said "But then again, these are still kiddos no older than you, blasting at fellow humans with disregard... All because the Imps fired first, those morons."
Rosie let out a chuckle after thinking a bit more, "Still, better them than us."
"Agreed." Isara beamed, while Rosie stared forward. One of the kids, a short, brown-haired one with a tanker's uniform, was drooling over something. Two somethings, really, she soon figured as she saw his gaze switch between Isara and the Edelweiss. The redhead chuckled, well aware of Isara's fondness for Telos from their interactions. The poor kid was gonna have a field day.
She paused, noticing a Darcsen among them, bearing Shock Trooper kit. She hummed, approaching the line. She hummed, raising a brow, then looked back to see Lynn sat down with her would-be husband, Marina in the rear of a truck checking her sniper and a few other troopers. With a hum, she approached and listened as the male, long-hair-wearing Darcsen boasted "... We're the friggin' Rangers, ain't we? Why're we stuck on some playdate with civilians!"
Rosie scoffed, then said "Keep running your mouth, pal, and I'll show you what we 'civilians' can do."
Welkin had been dragged away to talk to Townshend for a bit in regards to the training exercise, with Alicia left to supervise the meet, so Rosie figured everything would still be running smoothly, seeing as to how the Sarge was one of the most welcoming of the bunch. Still... "Didn't know Darkies liked being shock-troopers. Must have a bigger death wish than most of your fellows."
"What was that?!" He growled.
"That's enough, Raz." Sighed the man leading the Squad, a short kid with brown hair, brown eyes and donning a standard khaki Federation battle dress meant for tank commanders, with all the stuff needed for such a command, including wireless headphones hanging around his neck. He looked over to Rosie and said "I'm First Lieutenant Claude Wallace, Squad E of the Federation Army Rangers."
"Corporal Brigitte Stark, Squad Seven, Gallian Militia." She replied rather proudly, then stated with a smirk, "No offense to you kids, but y'all don't seem too Ranger-like. Younger than I'd have thought."
"That a problem for ya, lady?" The Darcsen they called 'Raz', raised a brow.
"Nah," Rosie shrugged, "I've seen what youngsters can do if you train'em right." And she saw that garnered a few raised brows. With a smirk, she offered a calm, "So I'm gonna hold off on sayin' anything about you before that. Didn't think the Rangers hired Darkies, though, kid. No offense."
"Some taken." Raz snapped back, "You Militia any good in a fight, or are ya just running your lip?"
"I'm a shock trooper, so I'd say I'm doing pretty fine," She smirked, "Yo, Largo, back me up here."
"I don't think I need to, to be fair," The old man took a puff from his cigar, "We've been running with a bunch of angry kids enough to know how people like'em look. You lot look competent enough if you passed Ranger training."
"You bet your ass we are." Raz smirked, "Ain't that right, Claude?"
"For the love of god..." Sighed a black-haired girl behind him, rubbing her eyes. She looked up, then gasped as she saw the Sniper sat in the far back, checking her weapon. With a raised brow she asked, "Uhm... Who is that?" pointing toward the girl. Rosie looked back, then grinned as she saw the Sniper symbol on the girl's rather weird hat and on the poncho she was wearing. Of course...
"That's Marina, our sniper. Why?" Rosie chuckled.
"... Marina... You don't mean... Marina Wulfstan?!" The girl seemed in disbelief, but the moment Rosie nodded, a wide smile grew on her face. Raz paused for a moment, then looked to her and got a nod of confirmation. She said, to the surprise of the Sevens that came to meet them, "Corporal Wulfstan's become quite the tale spoken by Imperial troops. Not a lot of them know her name, but they know that if they heard her rifle ringing, they are probably the luckiest men in that engagement so far."
"Meant she didn't have her crosshair on their noggins." Largo quipped.
"Exactly. Excuse me, I have to go talk to her." She pushed through excitedly, but Rosie stopped her.
"Sorry, kid. Feddie Star or not, a small preface about Marina is that she enjoys her loneliness. Trust me, a lot of us have tried getting her out of her shell to no avail, but she's doing just fine as a sniper, apparently, with minimum interaction" Rosie stated, then looked away from the seemingly-disappointed sniper and offered, "Y'all seem pretty at odds with working with a bunch of 'civilians', though, not that you look to be any better than us."
"Well, calling me Darkie isn't exactly earning you any brownie points, ginger." Replied Raz, crossing his arms to his chest. He got an elbow in the shoulder from the fourth member of what seemed to be the command unit. Or the fifth, if they included the tank driver. He sounded, "Ouch..." to which the woman chuckled. She shrugged, then looked to the weirdly-dressed blonde.
Rosie shrugged and surprised Squad E's commanders with her earnest, calm response, "Even our group'a'dark-hairs can tell you I don't have much of a fondness for the lot, but considering the shit we've all dealt with these past few months, we tolerate each-other a lot better... Doesn't mean I have to tolerate some newcomer kid who thinks he's hot shit because he ran the Ranger gauntlet in some cookie Feddie training camp, though."
"Okay, I think that's enough." Welkin said from behind Rosie, slightly startling the redhead.
"I agree." Claude voiced, looking to Raz with a frown, "We're here on a joint training exercise, after all."
"Fair enough, bossman," Rosie sighed, then defended herself, "I just wasn't taking some kid from the ass-end of the Feddie Army's elites bad-mouthing our squad."
"Again, Rosie. Enough." Welkin sighed as Raz scowled at the girl, then turned to see Alicia caught up with her mind in something. He could swear he saw her eyes flash golden for a moment as she stared at the Imperium rosary. He looked over to Claude and said "Why don't you and your squad join us in camp while we prepare for the exercise, Lieutenant Wallace? May help ease the tensions if our people get to know each-other."
"Much appreciated, Lieutenant Gunther." Claude nodded, then he yelled back "You heard the man, folks. Let's go. Miles, you mind bringing the Hafen in?"
"Not at all." The young man smiled, before dashing off to the rear as more Federation Rangers from the Regiment started coming in. Rosie sighed, then went back to her seat and took out a ration pack. She opened it, removed the candy bar and took a bite, before looking to Largo and the others. The sniper girl, which Rosie would later learn was named Kai Schulen, strode forward to meet Marina after all, the look of a fangirl on her face.
The redhead songstress chuckled, taking another bite out of the ration bar and chewing on it and her thoughts. Sure, the kids didn't seem half bad and she learned not to underestimate anyone or anything based on looks alone. She admitted, more-so to herself, that when she first saw the Cadians, she had her doubts about them. Then they went and helped them retake Vasel and showed brutal skill in combat and Rosie was just... Yeah... Not going to look that gift horse in the mouth any more than she had.
Of course, it didn't take long for them to be summoned up to the training area, meaning no real talk with any of the kids. She'd only met this sweet little thing called Nico, a fairly religious youngster. The Es and the Sevens would be cooperating on a joint assault across two areas. A sweeping tactic that involved them outflanking, engaging and synchronizing with each-other to wipe the enemy, which was being played by a bunch of troops from the two regiments clad in makeshift False Imp armor and carrying captured guns.
The guns in general were loaded with blanks for the exercise, due to a presumable lack of desire for allied casualties. Rosie looked across the chasm which was being crossed by a bridge, to see the Feddies already getting into position. Behind her, she had Marina, Vyse, Jane, Juno, Alicia and Aika, with the Edelweiss to their left thankfully, while the rest of the squad secured the second area to their right. Their pseudo-allies' tank, the Hafen, rested on their immediate left across, advancing with their unit. Opposing them were two elite squads of Rangers clad in Imp regalia, mounting defensive positions and an artificially-created high-ground for the Feddies to assault.
Rosie smirked, racking the bolt of her SMG, then looking to the Lieutenant as he poked out of the tank. He nodded to the entire squad, then spoke over Radio, "Squad E, this is Squad 7. We're ready to begin operations."
"Copy." Claude's voice answered back, "Operation's go."
"Alright, sevens! Let's start the training! Remember, coordination is key here! We have a set time limit! Advance!" Welkin called to his squad over radio. The tank started rolling forwards moments after, with the Hafen to their left doing the same. Advancing under a whittling barrage of would-be bullets, the teams found themselves taking cover behind the tanks.
Except for Raz, apparently.
The madman was charging forward. He'd already managed to take two people out by sheer luck, but Rosie had actually seen and heard examples like Raz on what not to do as a Shock Trooper. She heard Gunther call him in, but they continued to advance steadily, unlike the man. The snap-crack of a sniper round echoed, somehow loud enough to be heard and one of their opponents threw down his weapon as they advanced.
Followed up by another on the Feddies' side.
And another on theirs.
Had the two Snipers challenged each-other to a shooting competition while the rest of the squad wasn't paying attention? Huh, funny to think that, but no time for that right now. Rosie jumped forward, leading her platoon of Shock Troops and 'raking' enemy cover and troops with heavy automatic fire. Jane joined up, a grin on her face as she laid down enough fire to fully suppress a Scout.
Following up, Vyse popped over and lit up a couple more with Aika as support. They heard the rattle of the Feddie SMGs to their left and saw Raz and another Darcsen striding forth while the others moved with the tank, cutting down the number of enemy troops as they went. Alicia joined the redhead and her shock troops with her scouts, one of which got sniped just before reaching cover and had to withdraw.
"That Darkie's nuts. He's gonna get himself killed out there..." Rosie murmured, watching as Raz ran forth once more, leapfrogging from cover to cover and firing away with a dumb grin on his face and his SMG in hand, then she shook her head, "Eh, whatever..." Why'd she care anyways? He was just that, a Darkie, "C'mon. We gotta get to our object-FUCK!"
A whistle echoed and a 'paint' shell fell inches away from them. One of the mortar-men of the enemy team, haulable mortars like lances and the stuff that that blonde girl, Riley, seemed to have, being a surprisingly common development as of late, having fired a zeroing shot. Marina's rifle snapped again and Rosie saw the man throw up his hands in disappointment before walking off with his kit.
"That was close..." Aika quipped, then chuckled, "Not close enough, though."
"Amen. C'mon. Enemy camp's dead ahead." Alicia replied confidently, "Rosie, you with me?"
"Right behind ya, Sarge." Rosie nodded, reloading her SMG. With hand signals, the two coordianted the assault alongside the Edelweiss, despite the little coordination between the squads. Welkin and Claude had even reprimanded their respective units in regards to that, but little seemed to be done in terms of actual cooperation. Hell, Rosie knew as much when they'd accomplished the objectives too late.
Fourty seconds too late, to be exact, damned be that Dark-Hair... Berating him probably wasn't gonna help.
"... You gotta be kidding me." Sighed Rosie, rubbing her eyes as she plopped herself down onto a seat, "Kid, you're gonna die out there if you keep doing shit like that."
But she was glad to be able to do it. Damn Feddies.
"We're shock troopers, lady. We're supposed to be first! Seriously, if you'd have kept up with us, we'd have managed this thing!"
Rosie rolled her eyes, "Alright, Ranger-Boy, listen, the fact we lagged behind was because whatever supposed support we were supposed to get from your squad never materialized! If you'd have had our backs like we had yours," which they did, in the terms of openly providing defense when their sniper ran out of ammo, suppressing enemies with the 'Weiss's mortar and damn near 'dying' to take out an enemy tank on Largo's part, "we'd have made it to the objective with little to no losses and actually got this shit done."
He growled and was about to say something, but he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. He looked up to see the sniper, Kai, Rosie had learned, sighing. "She's right, Raz, leave it," she said to Raz, then looked to Rosie, "Sorry about that. Our squad isn't exactly used to working with really anyone outside Federation regimental forces... And clearly not with fellow countrymen."
Rosie paused, "Wha?"
"Yeah... Didn't anyone tell you? Most of the command group hails from Gallia. Me, the Lieutenant, Riley and even Raz."
"Yup. Purebred Darcsen from Gallia." The man declared with unmatched pride. Rosie took pause for a moment, sighing as her shoulders sagged. At least... Well... She knew her people were fighting somewhere else, she figured. If the kids had actually wanted to fight proper and kick the Imps around a bit, good on them. Though they must've been facing a lot of shit similar to theirs. Rosie wanted to ask about it, but before she knew it, the rumble of engines echoed across the joint camp. She gasped, standing up from her seat, followed by the Feddies behind her.
She smirked, "Oh, hell to the FUCK yes! The Kids are back!"
"Kids?" The two Feddies asked.
"Yeah! Our kids! The Cadians and their pals! C'mon, you gotta see'em!" She called out, rushing to meet the arriving squadron. Indeed, out of the thick forest marched the green-clad warrior children of Cadia and the Death Korps infantry clad in their desert tan kit, with the horses and Sentinels at the forefront. They came to the cheers of the Third Regiment, Militia, among them even Captain Varrot waving to those they'd missed for even a day.
Isara had been talking to Miles when she heard the first Sentinel stride in, followed by the horses of the Death Riders. She immediately jumped to her feet, much to the boy's awe, then ran joyfully to the rest of her squad, smiling broadly as she saw them come in. Despite it only having been, what, a couple days since their departure from Barious and the time they last saw the Cadians? It still felt like family was coming back.
Following up on the Sentinels and Rough Riders, the Chimeras and the anti-air batteries came next, then, the tanks, all of which were filled to the brim with soldiers hanging off the sides or sat on top, waving to the warmly-greeting Gallians with smiles. The artillery came next, their 132mm barrels and rocket tubes raised high in salute as Cadians waved back and Death Korps simply hanged onto the railings of their gun motor carriages.
While the Rangers seemed unimpressed with seeing the Imperial Guard's forces at first, they were soon taken aback to see the Baneblade rumbling forward, the Colonel and his officers sat atop it with smiles on their faces and waves of the hand. Colonel Stern sat there, sipping from a tin cup full of Amasec, her sword sat at her side as she watched the Gallians greet all of them, followed by the Fed troops.
"Wow..." Claude stated, stopping beside Welkin and a waving Alicia, "... I've never seen a tank like that before."
"That would be the Baneblade, Hammer of Faith. Colonel Matias Telos's own tank." Welkin smiled, crossing his arms to his chest, "It's only been two days but it feels like a lifetime since we saw them."
"They been around long?" Riley asked as she, a grinning Raz and a smiling Kai joined.
"Since the start of the invasion, really." Welkin stated, "Stuck with the Third Regiment like they're our brothers and sisters in everything including arms. And their Krieg comrades don't seem so bad either."
"Discounting their seeming fatalism..." Alicia quipped, smiling, then paused as her face shifted to surprise at her own disregard for the way she voiced it, "Oh... Wow..."
"Heh." Raz smirked, "I liked that one, Sarge."
"... So this is the stuff you folks had backing you up? It's, uh... A lot more than we thought when we were reading the papers." Claude asked. He watched as the Cadian soldiers disembarked their vehicles, greeting their Third Regiment friends with handshakes and hugs. Not even Welkin knew the kids had made actual friends among the lines, but he figured it best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. In fact, he'd just talk normally to the Colonel as she saw the boy descending from the tank.
Matt smiled at Welkin, taking his hat off, then said "Sorry we're late. I hope we did not miss that much."
Welkin shook his head, "Well, we just finished the training exercise, actually." And he winced, as did Claude, "It did... Not go that well."
Matt sighed, then looked to Claude and said "You must be the Federation officer."
"First Lieutenant Claude Wallace, sir... Commanding Squad E, Federation Rangers." He stared disbelievingly at the eighteen-year-old standing in front of him in full battle regalia. A boy. Probably younger than all of them. And commanding a regiment with that firepower. To be fair, Claude really did not expect to face folks like these here, "Sorry for the slow greeting, sir... I was taking in your age..."
"It's fine, First Lieutenant. It took the Gallians a while to get used to us too." He stated, extending his hand to Claude, "I'm colonel Matias Telos, of the Cadian Thirteenth, The First Youth. I'd take you to meet my officers, but they are currently busying themselves with..." He heard laughter, a breaking bottle and the cheers of some of his lads and the Gallians, "Discipline."
"Right..." Claude chuckled awkwardly, extending his hand to shake.
A racking bolt and a snap-crackle-pop, then the scent of ozone. Everyone froze and looked back to see a shocked and confused Marina holding her GSR aimed toward something. A faint glint came from a bush in the far distance and the scent of ozone still hung heavily. "A hotshot Long-Las..." Voiced Matt, tracking what he now saw to be the vapor trail left by the energy weapon 'boiling' the faint traces of humidity in the air.
Claude smiled, then said "I guess Larks caught up, at least."
Matt paused, as did Colin and Amy, who were approaching, while Kai set a hand on her hip and smirked, shaking her head. Raz gave a wave to where he thought the shooter had been, then yelled "Thanks for the save, Mad Larks, you beautiful bastard!" toward the shade of trees. The whole squad looked to see a man clad in a green cloak, with a long face and sharp features grinning at them, a strangely personalized Long-Las in one hand.
"Ah. It seems Larkin did catch up." A strong, hard voice stated, garnering the looks of everyone. Matt stopped dead, while Colin and Amy's jaws seemed to dislodge as they saw the first man, a Commissar in full battle regalia, bolt pistol and an ornate ancient Power Sword strapped to his belt and blonde hair poking out from underneath his cap. He smiled at them, his gaunt face a welcome and God-Emperor given sight to the kids, "Ah... Cadians. As I thought when I read the reports."
"It seems that we are, in fact, not alone, are we, dear friend? And that the words from that local paper we've read ring true." A second, broad-shouldered Commissar with black hair, side burns and a warm smile said in a fittingly tough, hard yet smooth voice, hand clasped around the hilt of his Chainsword. Falling in behind the two were a pair of familiar, yet historic Imperial Regiments. On the left, behind the blonde man, were hardy, tough-looking men and women with smiles, blue tattoos, light Flak Armors, rifles with nalwood stocks and black hair and eyes, while behind the tough-looking black-haired fella with side-burns were a regiment of white-wearing, overcoat-clad, ushanka-toting and Lasgun carrying men and women, including a beautiful bombshell of a blonde inquisitor with a rosette around her neck, lightweight armor, a Power Sword and a friendly smile, unlike many of the Agents of the Inquisition.
"Holy Emperor and Throne and by Saint Ollanius Pius's dying words..." Matt felt his breath hitch in his throat, his heart racing as he stared at the two Commissars in front of him. Amy, Ace and Colin soon stepped up, taking off helmet and hat in respect to the soldiers before them. The boy spoke with the high pitch of a very big fan meeting his idols for the first time in his life, which was an undeniable truth.
"... C-Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and... Commissar Ciaphas Cain... The Heroes of the Imperium..."
"Alongside our regiments, the Tanith First and the Five-Ninety-Seventh Valhallan." Gaunt smiled broadly, seeing Colin and Amy among the ranks, staring with wide eyes at the living legends before them, but especially at Gaunt and at the Tanith First, their people, their kin... Gaunt spoke again, "Greetings, Colonel Telos... The Wall has been most informative of your doings here in Gallia. We were glad to know we had yet more allies around."
"Indeed. Greetings, children of Cadia." Ciaphas Cain, the HERO OF THE IMPERIUM HIMSELF, recognized the kids, "And to you as well, soldiers of Gallia. Though you may not know of us, the paper written by one Irene Ellet told us much of your exploits with our fellow Guardsmen." The man remarked, arranging his overcoat. It had been necessary lecture to read of the exploits of the great Ciaphas Cain and they knew of Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only through both ancient stories and the tales of Colin and Amy. Indeed, the two idolized that regiment since it was from their long-lost home.
Still... To see them standing in person before them was incredible. The sheer power these men and their troops emanated was an awe-inspiring sight to behold, a light in the darkness that seemed to be coming toward the world right now. Matt had always dreamt of meeting and shaking hands with both of these men ever since he was a youngster training on Cadia. His excitement was...
... Well, Matt was going to need a whole bottle of hardy Amasec and some medicine from the Regimental Medicae corps to calm down, to say the least.
And he was not much of a drinker, as his regiment knew. Colin and Amy both seemed to agree with him, though. As did Ace.