Chapter 3: The Bitter Pill of Life

Present time:

"After the battle of Vasel Bridge, I think you know what happened right?"

"Yeah… After the Gallian Army took control of the bridge, they began to use it as a vital supply route to all Gallian forces in the region. And it served as the first major defeat for the Empire."

"That's right. After losing Vasel, the Empire then began to attack Gallian towns and cities in the south in hopes of diverting the Gallian army from the Frontlines"

"But the army never pulled even one battalion from the frontlines right?"

"That's right… You see, back then, Gen. Damon was the head of the Gallian army."

"Gen. Damon? I read about him. He was described as a good general who fought for Gallia's independence"

"Fought for Gallia's independence? Ha! Don't make me laugh. That fat pig was nothing more than a power hungry general that fought for Gallia, not for independence but for fame. He was a selfish and egotistic maniac. If he truly valued Gallia's independence, then he would have sent at least a few divisions to the south to protect the cities and towns there but he didn't. Instead, he would have the militia take the job for him and then take credit for it all in the end"

"Wow… I never knew Gen. Damon was like that…"

"Don't believe everything you read kid… Some of those books are filled with lies written by those fat slobs in the military"

"So… what happened? How did the militia handle the situation in the south?"

"Haha… you seem to love my stories…"

"Well… I am a history teacher… so… it's pretty exciting; listening to the stories of an old veteran… and I want to know what really happened… "

"Haha! You're always one of a kind. Now then… here's the next chapter!"

Flashback

After the battle of Vasel Bridge, our squad was mostly sent in the south to provide security to the towns there. Sometimes, we get some action; Imperial soldiers appearing and we had to fight them but most of the time, it was quiet and peaceful. Most of the towns we were assigned to protect were hardly attacked by the Empire and to tell you the truth, it was boring. Hell… I still remember Cooper and Morris whining about it! But there was this one mission we took that gave far different results than we had anticipated...

"We're going to patrol Yuell now?" said Cooper in a lazy tone

"Another patrol mission?" Morris complained "Come on… when are we going to be called to the frontlines?"

"Guys, guys" said Croix "I know it's another 'boring' patrol mission but just bear with it. Who knows maybe we'll encounter an Imperial squad or something"

Boring or not, we had no choice. This was the mission given to us and we had to accomplish it.

We arrived in Yuell within a few hours and set up camp in a hill just outside of town. We coordinated with the Yuell town watch to find signs of any Imperial activity in the area. Over the next few days, it was quiet. Not a single Imperial soldier, it was turning out like the other patrol missions we did, peaceful yet boring. After that mission, I really hoped that it stayed that way… Unfortunately though, we got our wish of an "exciting" battle.

I was with Croix, patrolling the eastern side of town, when we got the news. Apparently, some of the town watchmen spotted an Imperial squad in a forested area just northwest of the town. Croix quickly mobilized the squad to investigate the forest. Although, Elena and Flunky stayed behind to defend the town in case another Imperial squad shows up.

It only took us 5 minutes to reach the Imperial squad stationed in the forest. They were apparently taking a break and we deduced that their target is Yuell. Wasting no time, we ambushed the resting soldiers and successfully eliminated the squad. As we began to debrief the situation, we saw smoke coming from Yuell.

"Is that smoke?" said Cooper

"Not a good sign…" said Croix as he pulled out a radio "Elena, what's going on?"

"It's bad!" she replied "While you guys were engaging the enemy in the forest, an Imperial Battalion suddenly showed up in the Northeast! We're outnumbered and outgunned!"

"What!?" said Croix "Elena! Sit tight! We're on our way!"

"Like I have a choice!" she replied

It was a dire situation. Turns out the Imperial squad, we intercepted, was a decoy to lure most of us out of town and enable the real battalion to attack the village. As we neared the town, we were faced with heavy enemy resistance.

"They've already taken most of the town!?" said Morris

"Looks like it!" Cooper replied

"Elena!" said Croix over the radio "What's happening?"

"Not good!" she replied "They're slowly overwhelming us! I got several injured town watchmen and civilians here!"

Croix kept silent for a while and then said "Evacuate everyone to our base camp! We'll meet you guys there!"

"Wait…" said Morris "We're abandoning Yuell!?"

"We have no choice!" said Croix "We're outnumbered and outgunned! We can't handle this kind of enemy force!"

And he was right. There had to be hundreds of Imperial troops trying to take Yuell. Some of them even wore uniforms different from the standard uniform worn by regular foot soldiers. I think I remember that some of them even wore masks. Nonetheless, I could guess that they wanted Yuell so badly that they sent in a lot of soldiers to capture it.

But Sonia was completely against the idea.

"Retreat!?" she said "I'm not going to run away from these bastards! I'll die before I run from them!"

"There's too many of them!" Croix said "We can't handle that many enemy soldiers!"

"If you want to retreat, it's your choice!" she replied "But I'll never run away from these bastards!

She then made a mad dash and broke through the Imperial blockade.

"Sonia!" Croix shouted "Damn! Paul, Cooper, Morris; find a safe route back to our base camp! Me and Aster will go and get Sonia!"

"What!?" said Cooper "No way! We're coming with you!"

"There's no time!" said Croix "Elena, Flunky and Yuell's town watch are severely outnumbered! They need reinforcements to secure that hill!"

"But…" said Morris

"NO BUTS!" Croix shouted "That's an order! Now move!"

Disgruntled, Cooper, Morris and Paul were forced to follow Croix's orders. And as they left, me and Croix headed into town to find Sonia.

It was a difficult objective to achieve as the heavy volumes of Imperial forces made it hard to even move from building to building but we managed to find Sonia inside a destroyed bakery.

I called to her

"I'm not going to run!" she said "You might as well save your breath!"

"Sonia!"Croix said "Don't you see? We're outnumbered here! We can't take all of these Imperials on!"

"I'd rather die then!" she replied

"Why?" Croix replied "What will you lose when you retreat?"

"The Empire…" she said "… they took everything from me!"

"So that justifies killing yourself over them!?"

"Yes!" she replied "That's the only thing keeping me alive!"

"Stop this bullshit!" Croix said "We're retreating and that's an order!"

"NO!" Sonia replied "I'll die before I run!"

Having had enough, Croix slapped Sonia.

"You listen here!" he shouted "We've all lost something because of the Empire! If you die here, what will that accomplish!?"

Sonia seemed to be shocked at Croix's sudden change of personality but I could see her getting angrier.

"NOTHING!" Croix said "That won't accomplish anything! You'll just part of a long list of dead Gallians! I know how you feel but dying because of this!?"

"You don't understand!" She said "I have no other reason to live…"

"Then find one! I'll even help you, if you want!"

It was one of those rare moments that Croix put on a serious face and tone. Sonia seemed to be at a loss for words. She just stared at Croix for a few minutes. But the sudden ricochet of bullets brought us back into reality.

"It's not safe here!" I said "We need to move!"

With that, Croix reached out his hand to Sonia. It took a while before she took Croix's hand. One problem down and now another… With Sonia finally with us again, we had to find a way to push through the heavy concentration of Imperial forces and escape Yuell. It was a miracle that we even managed to escape the building we were at. However, as we were about to traverse the alleyways, a tank shell hit the building on our left. The resulting debris fell and I was separated from Croix.

"Aster!" he said "You ok?"

"I'm alright!" I replied "Go on without me! I'll find another way around town!"

"No way man! I'm gonna find a way to get to your side! Just hang tight!"

"There's no time!" I said as the bullets started whistling through my location "I'll find a way!"

"Fine…" he replied "But you better get out in one piece, that's an order!"

"Roger!" I replied

As the Imperial forces closed in, I quickly ran to the alleyway behind me. Dodging bullets, tank shells and grenades; it was the one of the most intense firefights I ever participated in the entire war. Just then, as I ran inside a destroyed building, the floor collapsed and I fell to the building's basement. My leg was caught by pieces of debris when it fell from the floor. It was heavy but I managed to push it out. Unfortunately, the situation got worse, a small Imperial squad caught up with me, among them was a woman, based on her uniform, she seemed to be an Imperial officer.

They all had their guns pointed at me. I slowly stood up and pointed my rifle at them.

"Drop your weapon Gallian" she said

"I'll drop it when I can't even breathe anymore" I said as I readied my rifle

"Are you Gallians really this stupid?"

"I guess we are… At least, we're not scavengers desperately stealing supplies from a country that has nothing to do with them!"

"Ooh a smart talker" she said "We got a smart talker"

She then shot me in the leg with her pistol. I dropped to one knee but despite the pain, I still held on to my rifle. She then walked to me and pointed her pistol in my head.

"Well… well" she said "That's one less smart talker in this world…"

As I closed my eyes and awaited my fate, I suddenly heard gunshots. I quickly opened my eyes and saw that she was shot in the hand. Someone was shooting at the Imperial soldiers. The woman quickly ordered her men to shoot back but they could not find the source of the shots and thus, were forced to retreat. As the Imperials cleared the building, Sonia and Croix jumped down from the hole in floor.

"You ok?" he said

"I'll live" I replied

"You're ok" he said as he pats my back "We're gonna get out of this!"

He then picks up his radio and said

"Good shooting Paul! Now, get back here! We gotta get outta here while the Imperials are confused!"

Turns out Paul didn't follow Croix's orders and stayed behind. He was the one who shot at the Imperial squad that was about to execute me. They patched me up as best they could and we went off. It took about 10 minutes or so but we managed to escape Yuell and meet up with the other squad members in our base camp.

Back to the present:

"Wow… that's amazing being able to survive from a situation like that."

"Yeah… we managed to survive somehow… but the bad news just kept coming…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…"

Flashback:

"What do you mean my squad's being ordered to pull out!?" Croix shouted

I overheard Croix's conversation with command over the radio

"Command's ordering us to abandon Yuell and these civilians!?" That's what I thought at the time.

"It's our fault it fell to the Imperials, so we'll be the ones who'll liberate it!" Croix said

I guess Croix is as frustrated as all of us… I mean, we fell right into their trap. Whoever their commander was, he or she was smart enough to outwit even Croix.

"Yes… I understand… No mam… Yes… Affirmative…"

It seemed Croix couldn't convince command to let us stay and liberate Yuell.

Later, Croix had us gathered together to tell us about the current situation. Although, Flunky and Sonia were busy tending to the wounded.

"What!?' said Cooper "We're being pulled out!?"

"I know…" said Croix "… I tried convincing command to let us stay and liberate Yuell but they've already assigned a different squad to do it…"

"What squad?" Morris asked "and why them!?"

"I don't know the specifics. All they told me was that the 422nd Squad was sent to liberate Yuell."

Back in the present:

"I never heard of the 422nd Squad of the militia or even military. Who were they?"

"Squad 422… I remember hearing rumors about them. I heard that it was a penal squad composed of Gallia's most hardened criminals whose charges range from mass murder to even treason. But those were just rumors I don't know if it's all true but one thing's for sure, they existed."

"Weird… Why wasn't there any record?"

"Kid… The things you learn in history class and in history books are merely the 'known' accounts with a couple of lies and sugarcoats but there are several things that happened in the war that were not 'officially' known. My squad's deeds are an example."

"I guess you're right…"

Flashback:

To continue my story, we were forced to pull out of Yuell within a few hours. It was another major blow in our morale. Not only did we already fail in defending that little town, we were also not allowed to liberate it. You can just imagine all that guilt we all felt. But at the very least, most of us helped in tending to the wounded. And as we did that, a young girl approached me.

"Um… Do you need some help?"

Based on her appearance, I could guess that she was 13-15 years old. I told her to wait and I went to Croix and asked him if she could help. Croix answered "The more the merrier" and so I told the girl she could help. You know, I was impressed. She had ample knowledge on what to do on what kind of injury. It's almost as if she was a field medic.

"How did you learn to do that?" I asked

"I-I'm an aspiring doctor…" she answered

An aspiring doctor… That's pretty rare and a volunteer at that. After a few hours, we managed to treat all of the injured and our expected time of departure was fast approaching. I turned to the young girl and thanked her. I also asked her name. She paused for a while and then she said "Cossette Coalhearth"

Back to the present:

"Cossette Coalheart… Later on, she would become one of the famous cadets from Lanseal who would help quell the Rebellion during the Gallian civil war"

"Oh right! The Civil war! Where House Gasernarl rebelled against the monarchy because Princess Cordelia was a Darcsen!"

"That's right… I never thought that young girl would become a major player in that war… I guess life likes to give us a couple of tricks and coincidences…"

"Yeah… So… what happened next? Did you meet this Squad 422?"

"Yes we did…"

Flashback:

As we were about to leave, a military caravan arrived. The soldiers weren't dressed like regular Gallian Militiamen or even Military personnel in fact; they wore an almost all black uniform. This must the penal squad we've been hearing about.

Croix approached their squad commander.

"You're the 422nd squad?" he asked

"Yes…"

"Well good luck in taking Yuell back!" Croix said "Can I ask for your name?"

"Its best you don't know my name…" the man replied "Just call me No. 7"

"No. 7?" Croix wondered

Weird right? Even the names of the squad members are top secret and they're only referred by numbers. I guess even the Gallian Monarchy has its secrets… And the fact that these soldiers officially have no names means that they were also expendable… With that, we packed our belongings and left Yuell to these men…

"You think it was a good idea to leave that town to a group of known criminals?" Cooper asked

"It went from the top brass themselves…" said Croix "…and I don't want to believe in rumors so quickly… and judge someone based on them…"

"I guess you're right…" Cooper replied

I took one last look at the evacuation center we hastily put up. I could only hope that this penal squad would help these people more than we did… And they did… based on the reports, Yuell was liberated but no credit was given to this 422nd squad, in fact; that pig of a General, Damon, took all the credit in its liberation and blamed the militia for its capture in first place. Although, it wasn't far from the truth, that pig didn't even try to help those people and yet he took credit for it all… But we and the people of Yuell know who the true liberators were.