Chapter 5: нападение

With preparations complete, we waited until nighttime before we converged on the main entrance. We knew it was only a matter of time before Squad 7 and Squad 1 made their move. We were divided into 3 jobs. Cooper and Flunky were assigned evacuate the Darcsen prisoners. Elena, Morris and Paul would attack the tank hangars. Finally, Me, Sonia and Croix were assigned to destroy the enemy barracks and ammo caches.

The waiting felt like it was forever. It really reminded me of Vasel... Just then, we heard explosions and gunshots. The guards by the entrance began to move frantically to quell the disturbance, leaving very few men to guard the way.

"NOW!" said Croix

With that, Elena broke through a weak link in the tunnel's wall. We managed to catch the Imperials by surprise and easily broke through the entrance, and eventually separated into our respective objectives. The fighting was intense; the Imperials were hell-bent in defending Fouzen. It didn't take long before the Imperial artillery platform arrived. It seemed that Squad 1 and Squad 7 anticipated its arrival and planted bombs in the railroad tracks. However, the explosives were not enough to destroy that behemoth. Despite being damaged by the bombs, the locomotive's main cannon was still operational and they aimed it towards the fleeing Darcsens. We then heard an Imperial Officer saying,

"Squad 7! Lower your weapons and surrender! If you don't I'll shoot at the fleeing Darcsens!"

Such an underhanded trick… Using civilians as hostages… It was clearly a coward's act!

"What do we do Croix?" I asked

Croix kept silent and as I looked at Sonia, I could see how much rage was building up inside of her. If we lower our weapons, we'll be captured and those Darcsens would be most likely recaptured themselves… If we continue to fight, he'll fire onto those Darcsens… With those in mind, the memories of the previous day came rushing into my head… Most of the men I marched with didn't stand a chance against the onslaught of that locomotive's cannon… The answer was clear, at least for me. We had to surrender or we'll risk killing hundreds of Darcsens; men, women & children and that was not a sacrifice I was willing to take…

"We have no choice…" said Croix "… we have to surrender…"

"What!?" said Sonia "We're going to give up just like that!?"

"Sonia…" I said "We can't risk the lives of those Darcsens…"

I think Sonia realized it when I told her. She was clearly frustrated with the situation. But as the 3 of us were about to surrender, the firefight continues.

"What!?" said Croix "They're gonna keep fighting knowing what's going to happen next!?"

I quickly looked at the locomotive and as promised, it fired one shell… That one shell… I couldn't do anything. I could only watch and see it release its deadly payload onto those Darcsens. They didn't stand a chance… and to make it worse, we knew that Cooper and Flunky were there helping in the evacuation…

Back to the present:

"Before I continue my story… Can you tell me how you, Cooper and Flunky survived?"

"Haha… I guess I'll squeeze in my perspective of the fighting then…"

Flashback (Popuri's viewpoint):

As usual, every night, the Imperial soldiers would tell us to go inside these sheds used to house animals. The smell was unbearable; I haven't even mentioned how they fed us… Anyway, I heard a few grunting noises from outside. Almost immediately, the shed's doors opened…

"We're not enemies! We're here to rescue you!"

Those words… they were the most pleasant words I ever heard… I was finally free. However, as we fled, we were spotted by the Imperial guards and they began shooting at us. My only family, my brother was shot in the stomach. I tried crying for help but everyone was too busy running and the men who tried to rescue us were too busy fighting back to even notice me.

"Be strong… Popuri… Be strong…" my brother kept saying those same words over and over again as he began to shiver. In just a few minutes, I was alone with my dying brother, the other Darcsens and the militia were already far away. I prayed hard that someone would save my brother. Just then, an Imperial soldier came behind me and pointed his gun to my head.

"Never should have tried escaping" he said

I was so scared that all I could do was close my eyes and fearfully await my death. I then heard a gunshot near me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that the Imperial soldier was shot in the head. I looked to my left and I saw 2 men come by.

"You ok?" one of them asked

I frantically told the person to save my brother. One of them then goes to my brother and begins tending to his wounds. I was only a little girl and all I could do was watch, it was a very stressful scene for me. But then one of the men came to me and said "Hey… It's alright… We'll save your brother… What's your name?"

"P-Popuri…"

"Nice to meet you" he said "My name's Cooper. I'm a Darcsen like you. Now, I need you to be strong. Your brother's doing what he can to survive and my friend here, his name is Flunky. He'll save your brother I'm sure of it!"

Cooper really did his best to comfort me. After a few minutes, Flunky picked up my brother.

"Is he ok?" I asked

"He'll be fine" said Flunky "The bullet didn't hit any important organs or arteries. We just need to place him in a safe place so we can give a more proper treatment before he could fully recover"

They managed to save my brother. I was so happy that I began to cry.

"Popuri…" Cooper said "It's dangerous here; we have to go, ok? Just stay with us!"

"Y-yeah…"

"Don't worry" Flunky said "We'll keep you and your brother safe!"

With that, we began our escape attempt.

I'll skip to the part when the locomotive fired that shell at us. As the shell revealed its deadly payload, Cooper quickly picked me up and he began to run. As the bombs began to detonate, he quickly made me lie on the ground and covered me. Flunky did the same with my brother. I could feel the Earth shake as the bombs exploded one after another. After a while, everything went silent. I opened my eyes and saw Cooper. He seemed to be in pain.

"Are you ok?" I asked

"I-I'm fine" he answered in a pained tone

Cooper tried to stand up but he couldn't. I saw several pieces of shrapnel in his legs. I quickly looked at Flunky but he and my brother seemed to be ok.

Back to the present:

"I remember Cooper came back with severe shrapnel wounds on both legs. They were quickly removed but he had to wear a special cast made by Flunky because the shrapnel burrowed really deep into his skin."

"Yeah… But thanks to those men, me and my brother made it out of Fouzen alive."

"Yeah… good to hear that's what happened? How's your brother by the way?"

"He's retired now. Right now, he's living in Fouzen."

"That's good to hear…"

"Yeah… so… how did Sonia react to the massacre?"

"Not too well…"

Flashback:

"You… You bastards!"

I didn't have to look. I knew from the voice and tone that Sonia was consumed by rage.

"Sonia!" said Croix "Calm down!"

But Sonia didn't listen. She dashed off ahead of us. My guess was that she wanted to reach the locomotive and kill the Imperial officer herself.

"Aster! We gotta catch up to her!"

I couldn't agree more. We quickly chased after her. She was able to kill an entire Imperial squad before we managed to reach her. Wasting no time, Croix quickly dropped his rifle and grabbed Sonia and proceeded to hug her.

"I know Sonia…!" Croix said "I know… so please… Don't do anything reckless…"

At first, Sonia tried to resist, but eventually, she stopped and began to cry in Croix's arms.

Just then, an explosion occurred on our left. Looking in that direction, we saw that the bridge, supporting the locomotive, had collapsed.

"Time to go!" shouted Croix

We ran as fast as we can to avoid the falling debris.

When the dust settled, Fouzen was liberated but at a heavy cost. Most of the Darcsen prisoners we were supposed to rescue were killed when the locomotive fired that fateful shell. Men, women, and children… the Empire really had little regard towards who they hurt as long as they get what they want.

Along with Squad 7, we aided in giving a proper burial to these Darcsens at least.

I also looked at Welkin Gunther. I saw how disgusted he was at the sight. It seems he wasn't the one who ordered his squad to continue fighting.

Back to the present:

"To this day… I still wonder who gave the order to continue fighting… Whoever did that has no soul. A soldier must obey orders but blindly accomplishing your mission while sacrificing innocent people will only make you nothing more than a pathetic and emotionless puppet."

"Don't stress yourself over it… It's been more than 50 years since then."

"I know… But you can't easily forget about any of the experiences you've seen there, even if it really has been decades…"

"Yeah… you're right…"

"But remember, with every dark memory, there is always a brighter memory to balance it out. Remember that…"

"Yes… I will"