Welcome to Moscow

Moscow, the city has entered winter.

The Grand Hall of the Kremlin is adorned with red banners and the imposing emblem of the Soviet Union. A podium is set up, and an assembly of military officials.

There is an awarding ceremony here.

The one who was responsible for giving medals was the general secretary of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev.

This is one of his weird hobbies, giving a bunch of medals to his soldiers and generals.

One notable example is Brezhnev awarding himself the Victory Medal, the highest military decoration, despite serving as the political director of a corps during World War II and not commanding any battles.

In the original timeline, Brezhnev self-awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" on his 60th, 70th, and 72nd birthdays.

To achieve a fourth instance, the law was amended in 1980 to remove the restriction of a maximum of three awards for the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union." In 1981, Brezhnev legally obtained the fourth "Hero of the Soviet Union" title, making him one of only two individuals in Soviet history to achieve this feat, and the other one is Marshal Georgy Zhukov.

Brezhnev also causes the widespread distribution of awards, such as the Lenin Order. In the entire Great Patriotic War (World War II), only 41,000 Lenin Orders were awarded, but in the 45 years of post-war peacetime, 360,000 were distributed. Examples of excessive awards include Marshal Dmitri Ustinov receiving 11 Lenin Orders.

Under his influence, North Korea even extended this tradition after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, making all their generals have body armor that is made of medals. 

"Colonel Alexei Chernov, award with the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union'."

As his name was called, he walked up to the stage, saluted Brezhnev, and walked close to him.

The audience applauds as Brezhnev approaches, presenting him with the prestigious Gold Star medal and the Order of Lenin.

"Your deeds, Colonel Chernov, exemplify the spirit of our great nation. You have defended the principles of communism, stood against the enemies of socialism, and, in doing so, have become a beacon of inspiration for all Soviet citizens."

"All for the Motherland!"

Luckily, more people will need to be awarded today, so Chernov does not need to kiss Brezhnev for Brezhnev's weird way of greeting.

"General Ivan Petrov, awarded with ..."

"Colonel Dimitri Romanov, awarded with..."

The awarding ceremony lasted for almost a day, it ended before the day became dark.

All the officers in the Grand Hall will now have their dinner here.

Chernov is enjoying his one also, the General Secretary has too much to talk about and also too many medals to give, causing him to be hungry.

At this time, a colonel came to him.

"Comrade Colonel Chernov, I am Dimitri Romanov, I have heard your story in Vangazi."

"Comrade Colonel Dimitri Romanov? I think I have also heard your story in Riga, you are the Commander of the 24th Tank Training Division, am I right?"

"Yes, you are right Comrade."

Both of them have a great conversation with each other.

In the conversation, Romanov also said that the 24th Tank Training Division has also been awarded the title of 'Guard' due to their performance.

He also thanks Chernov for commanding the 4th Guards Tank Division to arrive in Riga quickly.

"Nice to know you Comrade Romanov, you are a brave and smart military man, hope that we will have more chances to cooperate in the future."

"You too, Comrade Chernov."

After the battle at Vangazi, he also separates from both of his uncles, only knowing that both of them have some other mission.

They then leave the hall as the dinner ends.

However, it is still not the time for Chernov to go home.

"Comrade Chernov, Comrade Chairman wants to see you, please follow me to Lubyanka."

A major reaches Chernov just as he walks out of the Kremlin.

He knows the times have come, it will decide the destiny of his mobile task force.

Ten minutes later, 

Chernov has reached outside of the Andropov office.

He tidied up and walked in with Andropov's permission.

"Comrade Chairman, Commander of the 'Apex' mobile task force, Colonel Alexei Chernov reporting."

"At ease Colonel."

 Andropov then raises his head was originally looking at papers.

"I believe you have a brief idea why I call you here, I will just say directly, even though your mobile task has suffered great casualties, it will not be disbanded."

Listen to what Andropov said, Chernov finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The mobile task was built, organized, and trained by him directly, he does not hope that it will just disband as he thought.

"However, I have a very important and highly classified mission for you, and I could not think of anyone besides you who has the experience fighting both with the undead and the orcs. And in this mission, you will directly report to me, no one will have to right to stop and disturb you."

"There is a local country in this world called Karak. Now, their diplomatic representative is coming to Moscow by train from Kyiv. From the order of the General Secretary, we are going to collaborate with them no matter how.

And you and your mobile task force mission is going to protect, monitor, observe, and record their use of magic, or even share with them the idea of socialism. It may help us in the future. Also, our branch in Kyiv and Sevastopol has already done some of the jobs."

Andropov passes a file to Chernov, inside are all the profiles of the coming people in the group.

The first page was the Captain of the team, Marcus.

And the next one is Serina.

"Beware of the sliver hair girl who is called Serina, our men predict that she could have some kind of ability, her actions and behavior are obviously different from others. Our men are aware that she sometimes has a weird emotion whenever sees our flag, and also how she reacts when she sees our great revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin Statue in Kyiv."

"However, we also predict that she will be the one who most likely accepts our ideology. The rest are either mercenaries who are just a bunch of people who will do anything as long as you pay them money or nobles who always look the others with arrogance and contempt."

"Only this girl, that we believe she is most likely from a civilian family."

It is difficult to change a person's temperament and every move, and the difference between civilians and nobles is also obvious.

"Any questions, Colonel?"

Chernov continues to look at the profile, and then only asks.

"Comrade Chairman, except for our ideology, should I answer their other questions? Or what should I or should not tell them."

"Well Colonel, you can just tell them everything you know, our culture, economics, technology, and others. They have a different way of developing their countries, so it is nothing to worry to let them know about, they can not make it. Perhaps some of them may also be attracted by our culture."

"Understood, comrade Chairman."

"Nice, you have one night to prepare anything necessary, they will enter Moscow around tomorrow morning."

As the sun rises, a train slowly enters the Paveletsky station in Moscow City.

Serina and his team walk out of the train, after days of sitting in the train making them feel bored and uncomfortable.

Even after seeing Kyiv, the situation in Moscow still stuns them.

Moscow has now turned into a snow-covered wonderland. The city's landmarks, draped in a blanket of snow, created a picturesque scene, and the frozen Moskva River added to the enchanting winter landscape.

In Serina's eyes, the red energy stream here is more majesty than in Kyiv, but seems like there are also some other colors mixed inside, which represent empire.

So, is the Soviet Union an empire?

Not waiting for everyone to enjoy the scene, a voice came into their ears.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Moscow. Me and my teams will be your bodyguards, I am the commander of them, and my name is Alexei Chernov. I am Russian and also Muscovite, I grew up in this city, so I will also be your tour guide."

"Since we are going to stay together for some time, why don't we introduce ourselves first."

A group of soldiers that consists of more than 20 people suddenly appears behind them.

They are soldiers who are different from others to those they have seen during the journey.

Everyone's faces are covered, uniform with camouflage, body armor, and other equipment that is better at a few levels than regular ones. 

Most importantly, looking into their eyes feels like looking into a horror monster's eyes.

At this moment, no one even dared to answer them.

"Captain, I smell from them, they fought with the undead and orcs."

One guy whispered in the captain's ears.

"Ah shit, what kind of monster have we met!"

Serina thinks of this in his mind.

"Hello ... I am Marcus, who is also the captain of this team."

With a feeling of apprehension, Marcus answers Chernov's question first.

"Great, how about you, girl?"

After listening to Marcus answer, Chernov then turns his head and asks Serina.

"Serina, I am one of the assistants on the team."

"Good, Sokolov, why don't you introduce yourself to the others?"

Sokolov salutes the adventure team and starts to introduce himself.

"I am Ivan Sokolov, I am from Leningrad, adjutant of Colonel Chernov."

"I am Nikolai Kuznetsov, I am from Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, sniper."

"I am XXXX, I am from Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, a machine gunner."

"I am XXXX, I am from Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, assaulter."

"I am XXXX, I am from Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR ...."

The introduction only continues for a few minutes.

"Well since we have a brief introduction with each other, I will then bring you all to the Kremlin, our foreign minister and general secretary are waiting for you all."

"Once again, welcome to Moscow!"