Chapter 4: The Impenetrable Fortress

Present time:

"Next part of my long story is the liberation of Fouzen…"

"I remember Fouzen… It held a lot of painful memories… "

"Yeah… I remember after the liberation, Cooper, Morris and Flunky would play with you. Were you forced to work in the mines?"

"Yes… I was only 7 years old but the Imperial Soldiers didn't care. They were even worse than the prejudice we received from the Gallians… All because of the 'Darcsen Calamity', that doesn't even have a single shred of evidence…"

"Well… the truth behind this so called 'Darsen Calamity' is still a mystery… Whether it's true or not, doesn't matter. What matters is what your race will do from here…"

"Yeah… although Gallia is now more accepting of Darcsens like me but there are still those who persist the prejudice…"

"Let them… that old way of thinking will die out eventually. I mean you guys were allowed to have last names just a few years ago right?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right…"

Flashback:

June 1935. The militia was sent to liberate Fouzen after the military failed twice. At first glance, it was an honor because the militia was assigned to single-handedly liberate an important military target but if you ask me, I say it was that pig Damon's excuse to kill the entire militia because we've been gaining most of the credit for Gallia's victories…

"So Fouzen's our next target?" said Cooper "That doesn't seem too bad…"

"I heard that the army failed to capture it twice…" Morris added "How do they expect we can do it?"

"Come on!" said Croix "We got this! Don't let Yuell get you all down… Let's redeem ourselves and make this mission a success!"

Everyone was silent for a while but to our surprise, Sonia broke the silence by saying,

"Let's just get this over with…"

Since it was an order from the top brass, we had no choice but to deploy. As I was preparing my equipment, I saw Croix walking towards the living quarters. I followed him and I saw that he was meeting Sonia

"Sonia" he said "You feeling ok now?"

She maintained her silence

"I hope you'll think about it… about finding another purpose in life…"

"Mind your own business" she replied

"Don't be like that…" Croix replied "You're part of this squad and as a commander, it's my job to make sure you and everyone else gets out of every mission alive. And besides, I know how you fell… I've been there before…"

"Huh?" she wondered "What do you mean?"

"Me and the other boys" Croix said "We're all orphans. All of our parents were killed during the 1st Europan War. I saw with my own eyes how those Imperials killed my parents and it's still smeared into my brain. I was so determined to kill Imperials at a young age that I ultimately dragged my other friends into my rants. The turning point came when we snuck into the town watch's armory and stole several rifles. I played around with the rifles, pretending to shoot Imperials, and because I had no training yet on how to properly handle one, I accidentally shot Aster. He was rushed to a hospital. The doctor said that he was lucky that the bullet narrowly missed his heart. After that, I realized how my thirst for revenge may ultimately cause harm to others… I don't want you making a mistake like that which would end in the death of a squad mate. Remember, we've all lost something but if we let that vengeance consume us, we'll be dragging along a lot of people with us, whether we like it or not."

Sonia kept silent

"It's almost time for us to deploy" Croix said "Let's go"

Back in the present:

"Croix shot you before?"

"Yep… He was a different person in the early years of our friendship. Consumed by hatred against the Imperials, he would always go into places we were not supposed to go and drag us along with him. We always get into trouble every time we do that."

"Sounds like you guys were such a rowdy bunch of kids…"

"Haha! That we were."

Flashback:

We, the entire militia, reached the outskirts of Fouzen in just a few hours and within that time; we hardly encountered any enemy resistance. It almost seemed like reaching Fouzen was too easy. I should have guessed the Empire had a reason to not attack us during our march to Fouzen.

"There it is!" said Croix as he points north "Fouzen… Alright guys! Let's redeem the name of Squad 9 by taking Fouzen!"

With that somewhat inspirational speech, we began our march. However, after a few minutes, I saw a projectile headed our way. At first I thought it was a mortar shell. I shouted "Incoming!" and after that, the entire battalion scrambled to avoid the shell but it was too late, the shell opened, revealing its deadly payload. Bombs were falling everywhere. It was pure mayhem. I lost sight of my squad and I was too busy dodging bombs to look for them. However, I couldn't dodge those bombs forever, one detonated so close to me that it sent me flying and I hit a destroyed tank. I was shell-shocked. Time seemed to have slowed and I could only hear a ringing noise. I tried to stand up but ultimately, I collapsed into the ground; I guess the force of the blast was stronger than I thought. As everything started to turn black, I saw a lone figure run towards me. Before losing consciousness, I heard the person say "I got you buddy!"

The next thing I remember, I woke up in a cave.

"You awake?"

I looked over to my right and I saw Sonia

"How are feeling?" she asked

"Still a little shaken up but I'll be alright…" I replied "Where's everyone else?"

"They went to scout the surrounding areas. They should be back after a while"

"Why didn't you come with them?" I asked

"Someone had to stay behind to look after you right?" she replied

"O-ok"

It was quiet… I could see it in Sonia's eyes… Her anger… I guess she was really frustrated with what happened that time… We then heard footsteps coming from the left. Sonia readied her weapon but quickly lowered it as we realized that it was just Croix and the others returning.

"Looks like someone's awake!" Paul said

"Finally!" said Cooper "How long were you planning on sleeping?"

"He doesn't really have any life threatening injuries" said Flunky "bruises, scrapes and the after effects of shell-shock, he's going to be fine. He just needs to rest"

"That's good…" said Croix

I called Croix and said "What happened back there?"

"Well…" he replied "… it looks like the Empire placed some sort of artillery platform in Fouzen. And it's not just a normal kind of artillery at that."

"Those eggheads in the military never even warned us that there was an artillery platform there!" said Morris "Are they trying to get us killed?"

"I think they are!" said Cooper

"Why do you think so Cooper?" Croix asked

"Well… it's obvious!" he replied "There's no way the military wouldn't have known that the Imperials placed an artillery platform there! I think they intentionally gave us faulty intel so that we'd all just literally march to our deaths!"

"But why would the military want to get rid of us?" Flunky asked

"Think about it!" he replied "The militia's been gaining most of the credit for Gallia's victories and I'm willing to bet that good-for-nothing general, Damon, wanted to have us all killed so he could take all the glory!"

"No use thinking about conspiracy theories guys…" said Croix

"Croix…" said Morris "… what's your take in this?"

"We have no proof that Gen. Damon tried to have us all killed." He replied "But I'd be lying if I said that I'm not suspicious of the true intentions of this mission. Nonetheless, it's still a mission and we have to complete it"

"How are we going to do that?" Cooper asked "We'll be torn apart the second that artillery platform sees us!"

Back to present:

"Cooper had a point; How were we gonna even step a foot into Fouzen with that artillery platform in the way?"

"So… how were guys able to reach Fouzen?"

"Croix found a map that shows the surrounding mines, both closed and operational, around Fouzen. We found that one mine in particular was big enough to fit even our tank and it also had a service tunnel that led to Fouzen itself. But the problem was avoiding the artillery because it was a notable distance away. Of course, walking during daytime would be suicide…"

"So you went during the night?"

"Yep… we decided to wait until 3am before we left. It was a foggy morning and we used the fog to safely move from our starting location."

Flashback:

We managed to reach the mine in one piece. It was big enough for our tank to fit but since the tank makes a lot of noise while moving, we had to scout out the area to make sure no one would notice us. After a while, we decided to set up camp near the service tunnel. Me, Croix and Paul then went ahead to scout out the area. However, the main entrance to Fouzen was heavily guarded.

"How are we going to scout Fouzen now?" I asked

Croix looked around and directed us to a nearby cave he found. We followed Croix's lead and amazingly, we found ourselves inside Fouzen. The cave turned out to lead on the top part of the plateau. We then proceeded to scout the area.

"We got a Darcsen concentration camp in the right, a tank hangar to the left but no sign of that artillery platform…" Paul reported

We then saw a train stop by the bridge. But it was no ordinary train… It was the artillery platform, the one that destroyed the initial invasion force.

"So that's the artillery platform…" said Croix "…Let's go back"

We returned to our base camp to report on what we saw

"How are we going to fight against that many Imperials, not to mention destroying that artillery?" Morris asked

"Squad 1 and Squad 7 should have already linked up with the resistance by now… So…"

"Wait…" Cooper interrupted "Squad 1 and Squad 7 are inside Fouzen too?"

"Yes… When we planned the invasion, we anticipated that the Empire would build a heavy defense in Fouzen since it's the largest ragnite mining town in all of Gallia"

"So we were the bait while those guys safely traversed to Fouzen?" Cooper said "We could have appreciated that piece of info..."

"We didn't expect the artillery to be more sophisticated than regular models. Had we known, maybe we could have taken a different approach. But the past is the past, what matters now is that we find a way to get through this"

"And how do we do that?" asked Morris

"Squad 1 and Squad 7 will most likely attack at night along with the resistance. Just like in Vasel, once they start making noise, we do what we can to support them."

"I hope this time we get more credit here than in Vasel…" said Cooper

Back to the present:

"Oh so you were the squad written in the history books that survived the initial attack and provided support from the caves and tunnels"

"Yep… that was us… where were you during that time?"

"I was with my brother… The Imperial Soldiers put us in animal sheds every night"

"That's the Empire for you… Their prejudice is much crueler compared to the other nations…"

"So… after telling them about what you saw, what did you guys do next?"

"We waited… we waited until nighttime…"