Priority: Siege of Italica

--HSS Normandy, 9th Terra Fleet, Spes orbit--

As soon as the fleet arrives, the construction ships immediately start building an Interstellar Gate so it can be connected to another Interstellar Gate that was built in a Gate Hub system while the fleet was traveling to Uros System.

Two Bastions, Normandy B1 and B2 are being deployed by the HSS Normandy to start their descending down to Spes. The B1 will be parked on top of Fort Alnus and B2 will head to Italica and time its arrival to arrive the same time as the ground forces. The relief force consists of one Bastion, the 2nd Armor Company transported by SD-20 Super Transport Ships, the 4th Marine Brigade transported by D-20 Transport Ships and 4 GS-12 Gunships from the, newly arrived through the gate, 6th Combat Aviation Brigade.

The battle plan is simple. Since the enemy is highly concentrated North and West of the city, the relief force will be split evenly and assault both sides at the same time. The Bastion will fly directly from Alnus to the city from the Eastside and make sure no enemy escape.

Admiral Hackett is sitting in his command chair on the bridge looking at the holographic image of the planet and talking to General Nguyen.

"The other continent is smaller than Falmart but visual scan detect ruins of an advanced civilization that we assume belong to the Prothean, General, but with the planetary shield up we can't get a detailed scan so I'm sending a team there" Admiral Hackett says.

"Right, I'm gonna need your construction team to help build a port at the planetary shield breach location. We're calling it Fort Ruby" General Nguyen replies.

General Nguyen and Admiral Hackett are good friends of the Bennett family, Admiral Owen and Ava's parents went through the naval academy together and later they met General Nguyen by chance and became a group of close friends. Hearing that name, Ruby, Admiral Owen knows it is named after the wife of his late friend.

"Do we have any intel on her?" Admiral Hackett asks with a softer tone and informal.

"Not yet, but we're looking as hard as we can. We'll get her back" General Nguyen pause for a while "Dead or alive…".

"How's Ava holding up?" Admiral Hackett says "Poor thing, first her father now her mother. No matter how advanced we get, war is still tearing families apart".

"She's a tough kid and a good soldier, she'll be fine" General Nguyen replies.

"I hope you're right, went you know where Ruby is, you tell me. I'll unleash the full might of the 9th Terra Fleet to get her back if I have to" Admiral Hackett then returns to his formal tone and continues "To update you on the system's status, it's clear for now. Sensors detected a ringworld around Uros and ruins of cities on the 3rd planet. I'm sending 2 task forces to investigate them and will have the intel updated when we know more. Hackett out".

--Italica--

The 5th SIF is taking position on the Northern wall of Italica as it faces the main enemy camp. Princess Pina wants the UNE soldiers to bear the brunt of the bandit army while the rest of her knights and legionaries will defend the West wall where there's a smaller enemy present. The militia with low morale and no training will defend the East wall as the enemy present is almost none existence according to the intel provided by the SIF.

As per Ava's order, sentry guns are deployed on the wall along with the SIFs and SAT8s, TACNet control mortars are deployed behind the wall. The APC and IFV parked as far away from the gate as possible but still keep a full line of sight of the already weakened gate to prevent the enemy from breakthrough. She also ordered all torches to be put off so the enemy cannot see their position as well as troop composition.

Recon drones are keeping eyes on the enemy at all times and making sure that they make no unexpected move. Ava left Rob and Lucas to stay in the main keep with Pina while 2 other SIFs to stay with the West and East wall for communication.

Ava is kneeling behind a parapet observing the enemy camp. After a while, she looks back and sees Lelei and Tuka are walking up the stair and approaching her.

"Keep your head down, what are you doing up here it's dangerous" Ava whisper to them.

"We come to see if we can help you, Commander. I know you and your men are powerful but my spells can help. Tuka is an elve, she is good with arrows and enhances spells" Lelei says.

Ava admires their bravery "Alright, you can stay but you can only engage when I say so and keep your head low. Are we clear?" she wants them to understand the risk they are taking.

"We understand Commander" Tuka replies with Lelei nodding in agreement.

Ava commands a SAT8 to get to them and replicate 2 sets of earpieces then teaches them how to use it.

"It has been confusing me, Commander. Yesterday, you could have turned back and left. Why did you stay? These people are your enemy" Lelei asks.

"You are partly right. The knights and the legionaries are our enemies but the people of Italica are harmless and innocent, if we left they could be killed or worst. They are in need of our help and we are helping them" Ava replies.

"But why? You're putting the lives of you and your men at risk to help people you don't know, what benefit is it to you?" Lelei continues.

"Our history is full of wars and conflicts, each more deadly than the last and it almost destroyed our civilization. You see, through war, we realized that life is fragile and every lives, no matter who or what you are, deserve to live" Ava pause to take a look at the enemy camp then turns back and continues "War is an atrocity committed in the name of survival, we kill our enemy or they kill us. But those who do not wish to fight will be spared and the crime they committed will be judged fairly in court. So we have rules on how to treat our prisoners and civilians, it is not perfect but it helps remind us of what we are fighting for".

"What are you fighting for?" Tuka asks.

"Freedom and the right to live" Ava replies.

"There's more reason for you to be here isn't it?" Rory says as she jumps up the wall to the group.

"Keep down" Ava orders "And yes, I want to show the Princess what we are capable off. I want her to fear us and help us make peace with the Empire".

"In other words, you want the Empire to surrender to your terms" Rory smirks.

"Yes," Ava replies.

"You people are cunning, I like it. I will help you achieve your goal" Rory jumps up on the parapet.

"Get down!" Ava pulls Rory down to take cover. It surprised Rory how strong these UNE soldiers are, not anyone can just pull an apostle down like this.

She then gives Rory an earpiece and teaches her how to use it.

"Commander, we have Bravo movement outside of the West wall. Over" Ashley reports as she keeping eyes on the holographic screen in the APC displaying the recon drone's vision.

"Copy that, this is Hermes lead to West wall position, tell the knights to get ready for contact. Over" Ava replies.

"Roger that, Hermes lead. Requesting reinforcement. Over" the SIF on the West wall says.

"They're on their way. Over" Ava replies and checks TACNet for enemy's composition then continues "Ash, 4 men, 3 sentries, 1 mortar, 2 SAT8s go!".

"Roger that, on my way" Ashley replies then rushes out of the APC.

4 other SIFs grab the sentries and mortar then jump on the roofs after Ashley and head to the West wall.

"HQ, this is Hermes lead, the enemy is assaulting the wall, repeat, the enemy is attacking the city. We'll hold as long as we can, have the missiles ready to launch" Ava calls HQ.

"Roger that Hermes lead, reinforcement ETA 1 hour. Missiles are ready to launch on your call. Over" Chris replies over the radio.

On the West wall, Norma and Grey are running along the wall trying to keep the knights and the legionaries in order. Suddenly, thousands of torches light up not far from the wall revealing an army of bandits who are cheering and yelling for blood.

The night is darkest before the sun is up so the defenders can barely see what the enemy has. Being ex-Imperial soldiers, these bandits know very well about siege tactics. The bandit leader signals their archers to fire a volley of arrows at the wall.

"Arrows incoming!" the SIF yells. His TAC suit allows him to see through the darkness and detect the incoming volley.

"What?" Grey and Norma are confused as they cannot see anything but then they hear the sound of the incoming arrows.

"Arrows!" Norma yells as the defenders duck their heads behind the parapets. However, a few unlucky ones still get hit.

"Archers return fire" Grey gives the order for the defending archers to return fire, but there are only a few of them, and being untrained, their arrows fall short.

As the bandits were firing the second volley, Ashely and her team arrive.

"Set the mortar on the roof, sentries there, there and there" Ashely gives orders as TACNet relay the information to the others letting them know exactly what to do.

"Fire" she gives the order to open fire.

The 6 SIFs open up hails of bullets which kill many bandits in seconds. Sentries guns, mortar, and SAT8s also unleash their firepower on the bandit army.

"Knight Grey, what…what sorcery is this?" Norma is terrified by the amount of killing power that a few of these other worlders display.

"This is only a few of them, imagine an army of many thousands" Grey says as the image of the Rose Order gets cut down by gunfire going through his head.

"The enemy is charging" One of the SIF calls out.

The bandits after the initial shock, charge like madmen to the wall and scale the wall with ladders. Despite the incredible firepower of rapid-fire weaponry, the sheer amount of enemy allows them to reach the wall and climb on top to star melee.

"Commander, something is happening to Rory" Jimmy says.

"Rory talk to me?" Ava asks then turns around and looks at Rory sitting against a parapet looking all red and exhausted.

"All these souls, they're coming too fast. I can't hold it anymore, please let me fight!" Rory yells.

"Alright go!" Ava says. Although not understand what was that about, she knows apostles can't be harmed by normal men using normal weapons and she doesn't want whatever Rory was going through to be a problem. Therefore, if letting her fight is the solution then so be it.

"Commander, the enemy on the North is rushing to the West wall as well" Jimmy looks down at the enemy camp and reports.

"Roger that. You guys follow me, take the IFV" Ava takes most of the SIFs with her leaving only 4 men, a few sentries, 2 SAT8s and the mortars behind to guard the North wall in case of a sneak attack.

"Wait, Commander, we want to come as well" Lelei shouts.

"Both of you get in the IFV" Ava orders Lelei and Tuka to go with the IFV.

"Commander, the princess is rushing to the front line" Rob reports.

"Damn it, roger that. Jimmy you go find the Princess, she must not die!" Ava needs Pina to live or the whole operation would be for nothing.

"Copy that, don't worry Commander I'll keep her safe" Jimmy peels off the team and head to the direction of Pina.

Ashley orders the SIFs and the SAT8 to protect the stairways and keep the bandits from getting off the wall into the city. One of the SAT8s was getting overwhelmed by the bandits, despite sharp claws and powerful gun it cannot kill the enemy fast enough. The bandits try to pin it down by hugging its legs and gun on its back but as they struggle, the beast keeps killing and throwing them away. A few bandits charge in with robes trying to tight it down and success despite losing their lives to its claws and gun.

Some of them trying to kill the SAT8 by chopping it with axes and swords without success. Suddenly, Grey comes up behind them. He stabs one on the back and parry another then kick him off the wall. After killing all the bandits around the SAT8 he cut the robes and back away.

The SAT8 gets up and stare at Gery, which scare him for a little. A few bandits charge at them but the gun on SAT8's back cut them down easily. Grey ready his sword and stand next to the machine to face their enemy.

"You and me, metal beast" Grey say as he slashes a bandit killing him.

Norma and another knight are fighting back to back bravely. An arrow hit the other knight in the neck which cause her to start chocking on her blood. Norma use his shield to cover more incoming arrows and stab a bandit in front of him. He hears a short burst of noise behind him and quickly turns back to see 3 bandits fall on the ground dead and there are burning holes on them.

Looking up he see an other worlder female soldier , Ashley. He knows she saved him from a certain death and nods his head as a thank you. Norma looks around and see Grey is fighting along with a metal beast, looking down the route to the keep he can see Pina and Hamilton is riding toward the battle.

A battle cry from the bandit pull him back into the battle. More and more bandit are getting up on the wall and starting to overwhelm them despite the help of the other worlders and their strange weapons and beasts.

Suddenly, the bandits on the wall drop dead as Ava and the reinforcement arrive. Instead of jumping to the wall and join the fight in melee, she use the advantage of the advanced range weapon and precision aim to take down the enemy on the wall from rooftops near the wall. This raise the morale of the defender and the bandit is pinned on the wall.

"They're ramming the gate!" a legionary yells.

The already weaken gate is busted wide open after a few hits from the ram, which allow bandits to pour in and overwhelm the knights that were waiting for them in the gate's square.

Ava quickly evaluated her options then she hears Rory's mad laugh. She looks in the direction and sees Rory is dancing around with her oversize halberd cutting down bandits in armor with ease.

"Rory, get to the gate and stop them from pouring in" Ava orders.

"Understood, Commander" Rory replies in a flirty tone.

She jumps off the wall and land with a strong force on top of the bandit's formation in the gate's square and spins her halberd killing a dozen of them.

"You two get down there and help them hold the gate" Ava orders 2 SIFs to assist at the gate.

"Roger that Commander" the SIFs reply then jump down the square and toss 2 grenades killing a dozen more of the bandits.

Ava then orders the IFV, which just arrives, to protect the fleeing civilians.

Pina and Hamilton arrive with their guards just as a few arrows are falling from above. Jimmy pulls the Princess down and covers her with his body as his personal shield can easily shake off the arrows. However, before the arrows hit a strong force wiped the arrows off their initial trajectory and into the buildings around them. Jimmy looks up and sees Lelei's eyes stop glowing as she nods to him. Tuka is standing next to her firing arrows after arrows at the enemies on the wall.

A few bandits see the Princess and attempt to charge at them. Ava jumps to the building next to Pina's position and intent to kill those bandits but they drop dead before she could aim her rifle. TACNet displays a line of fire all the way from the keep's top.

"You're welcome, Commander" Rob says through the radio.

"You stole my kills!" Ava jokingly.

"Hey! There's plenty here that you can kill. Would really help a lot!" Ashley shouts over the radio as she kicks a bandit away and shoots him in the face.

Ava looks around and although the SIFs are holding their own as the bandits can't harm them, they are trying to ignore the SIFs and starting to overwhelm the knights and legionaries.

"This is not good, everyone falls back! Princess, tell your people to fall back" Ava shouts.

"Belay that order, this is Colonel Noah Miller of the 4th Marine Brigade, reinforcement is here. Let shows these people what we're capable of" Colonel Noah Miller says "To all unit, weapons are free. I repeat, weapons are free".

"A little late to the party sir" Ava says glad that the relief force is here.

"Sorry, Commander, we're gonna make it up by rocking it" Colonel Miller chuckles.

"Give them hell sir" Ava says with a smile that Colonel Miller can see on the holoscreen in his helmet.

Appear on the horizon are the SD-20 and D-20s escorted by the GS-12s soaring through the air to Italica. The transports carry tanks and troops inside while APCs and IFVs are attached to their belly by a magnet device.

As the transport stop about 300 meters (1000 feet) away from the wall and the bandits' formation to detach the APCs and IFVs then land next to them to unload troops, the GS-12 gunships fly ahead and clear the wall with their AI-controlled guns in 1 pass without any friendly fire.

The UNE ground troops start advancing and shooting after they have unloaded. The bandits are confused and panic which turns them into a mob and loses any formation cohesion. The result is they get slaughtered like fish in a barrel.

"This is Hunter 1-1 to special forces unit, be advised, we're going to clear the gate square please keep it clear of friendlies" the pilot of a GS-12 announce.

"Princess, tell your men to back off the square now!" Ava calls out to Pina "Rory, retreat!"

Rory ignores Ava as she's is high on her killing spree.

"Damn it, Ash I need you to get Rory off the square now!" Ava orders.

Ashley jumps down from the wall and grabs Rory by the belly then jumps away just before the GS-12 open fires. SWARM pods and rotary guns make short work of the bandits in the square to the horror of the knights and legionaries who witness the scene.

----

The knights and the legionaries are watching the slaughter in the city, on top of the wall and outside of the wall in pure horror. They try to grasp the reality of what is happening and what are those things that are flying and killing every bandit.

As the wall is cleared, Pina with the knights rush up to the wall where they meet Norma and Grey are looking down to the slaughter outside of the wall. They both seem speechless and looking down, Pina could see why.

"Metal dragons, metal beasts….monsters" Hamilton shook up as she witness a Lancer fire it main gun and the HEIP explode evaporating and killing dozens of the bandits.

"Haha like shooting fish in a barrel" David gets excited next to the group of knights

"What?" Grey looks and confused.

"Old Earth saying, Shooting-fish-in-a-barrel" David explains.

"Earth?" Pina asks.

"It's… never mind" David says with a chuckle.

"This is Normandy Bastion 1 to all units, we're joining the party" Captain of B1 announced over the radio.

A massive flying fortress descends through the clouds and smokes with it's weapons raining plasma beams and rounds down the enemy on the ground. More GS-12 gunships are launched from the B1 along with SF-40 fighters.

As soon as the B1 appears, the bandits realize that all hope is lost and drop their weapons to surrender.

At this moment, Pina realizes that the rumors are all true. The Empire has made a powerful army, which rivals the gods themselves. If this is the full might of the other worlders then she must try to make peace, it is the only way to save the Empire from complete destruction.

"Is this the reinforcement the commander talked about?" Grey asks.

This UNE military, these other worlders that he has been hearing about. The Empire propaganda made them out to be barbarians and inferior people to the Saderan. This is the army that killed their best legions at Alnus. The 60 thousand strong bandit army was annihilated in mere minutes just by a few thousands of them and there's this flying metal fortress.

"This is who we went to war with?" Pina mumbles and looks at the faces of her knights "This is the end of the Empire".

Rory has been standing on top of a tower watching the UNE troops at work. She has never seen such a force before. Although she has seen smaller forces destroy bigger ones but never such tiny army could destroy 60 thousand strong army in such a short time. The well-organized assault, the skills and the professionalism in combat that the UNE soldiers display tells her that these so-called other worlders are well versed in war.

This is the first time Rory has witnessed the UNE forces in combat other than the 5th SIF and it is more than she could ever expect. Seeing the bandits just evaporated from some of their weapons, she knows that they could easily kill her.

----

Ava is in the gate square asserting the damage of the battle. The marines are organizing prisoners in the square for a headcount. Gunships patrolling overhead and transport dropping off medical supplies to treat the wounded civilians, knights and legionaries alike.

"Commander, can I have a second of your time please?" Pina says as she stands next to Ava, behind her are Grey, Norma and Hamilton.

"Yes your Highness?" Ava turns and looks at Pina.

"Thank you for saving us, you could have left but instead, you brought the full might of your military to save Italica. We and the people of this city owe you" Pina says.

"You welcome your Highness. However, this is just a tiny fraction of our military. It's nothing" Ava says as she can see the terrified looks on the knights' faces.

"Ti…tiny? You mean…I want to talk with your leader" Pina struggles to make words out of her mouth.

"Commander, General Nguyen is on his way here. ETA 2 hours" Ashley runs up to Ava and reports.

"Great timing. Your Highness, you will be speaking with my superior officer on whatever matter you would like to discuss. We'll meet you in the keep." Ava says with a smile.

Pina leads the group of knights back to the keep, UNE soldiers are everywhere helping the wounded and the civilians. They even help the knights and legionaries that are in pain.

"Are we so little to them? This horrible killing power is just a tiny force to them? How are we to fight against such a force? Can the gods even fight them?" Pina says as she walks.

"Maybe there's still hope Princess, maybe if we unite all of Falmart against them" Norma says with a little bit of fear in his voice.

"Are you blind? You have seen what their so-called 'tiny force' is capable of. What do you think is going to happen if they bring their full might down on use? There must be peace, there's no other way for us to survive" Pina yells at Norma.

"We are here for you Princess, whatever your decision is the Rose Order will be with you to the end" Grey says as he puts his hand on Pina's shoulder.