A blazing wall of lead surrounds the Husky as a hostile force mercilessly fires on its targets. But like a raging rhino, the TSV shrugged off the rounds as the heavy armour and bulletproof glass protected the marines who were held in their places as the Sergeant recklessly but skillfully smashed through the enemy lines and dash away to safety.

Sergeant Jude drove the TSV as fast as the vehicle could go, carefully but hastily following the route to the nearest village. Alistair takes a sigh of relief and relaxes. He rested on the back of the seat uneasily as his mind was constantly conflicted by the thought of this mysterious land and what attacked him and his men.

"You ok sir?" Jude asked as he saw the uneasiness on the Lieutenant's face.

"Just keep your focus on the road, Thompson." The Lieutenant replied. "Just remind me to never use open radio ever again."

"What's with this place?" Croft asked with curiosity as he scanned the surroundings on the back windows. "We just got shot by a company of Hooligans in medieval costumes and a bloody lance that shot a rocket out of it! Just what the bloody hell is going on?!"

"We're as clueless as you, Croft," Alistair answers calmly as a large smoke trail was beginning to be visible in the distance. "I just hope we can get some answers with anyone but them right now. I also bloody hoped that Thapa and Macmillan are still alive."

David's eyes were then saddened by the mention of the names, "I just hoped that Thapa and Macmillan hadn't got themselves killed yet," David said with concern.

"Knowing those two... They're likely giving those bastards hell right now."

****

Dodging volleys of bullets through the wood, the two marines rush toward the village in hopes of getting a better chance of survival.

Hastily, Tej let out a burst of fire from his rifle, surprising his enemies as he and his Scottish partner retreated. They both use the trees as concealment and fire their weapons when it's necessary, hoping to slow down their advance.

A bullet narrowly misses Tej by an inch but that didn't cause a flinch from the Nepali. He angrily returned fire toward his enemy and quickly took him down. Soon another squad of enemies arrives to reinforce the current force assaulting the marines.

"Jesus. Just how many are there?!" Tej exclaimed, frustrated by the endless waves of enemies.

"Just keep holding them back!" Scarlet replied, "We're nearly at the village."

Seeing an opportunity to move, the two marines ran as fast as they could to the exit of the forest. As they emerged out of the forest a small explosion erupted on the floor as a tank shell landed near them.

Tej's vision was temporarily blurred by the smoke as it clears he realises that a tank was aiming its turret toward them.

"Oh, shit..." the two marines cursed.

Quickly the two marines dash away from the Tank as well as incoming fire from the enemy's rifles. They both ran to an abandoned farmhouse and took cover in its walls. The Tank was about to fire its high explosive round but another tank round ricochet from its cheek current causing the whole tank to face a new threat.

From a distance, Kai was observing the scene from afar, trying to figure out the whole situation. She saw two soldiers engaging the imperial forces but none of them looked to be in any other squad, if not the whole army. Their equipment and uniform were not like anything she saw before.

She tugs her Darcen partner to her attention and points out the two unknown people who are fighting the imperials.

"Hey, Raz. Do you know who they are?" Kai curiously asked

Raz shrugs his shoulders and faces Kai with confusion, "How should I know? They're fighting imps right? They got to be on our side."

"But their uniforms, they're not part of the Federation."

"Different this, different that. I don't care! They're fighting the Imps and I want in." Seeing both the tanks and imperial infantry distracted, Raz vaulted over the sandbag and charged at the imperial soldiers once again. "Come at me Imps!"

Kai seeing her comrade charging ahead had no choice but to comply as his life now again is in her hands, "Better know what you're doing Raz." she whispered.

Meanwhile, Tej and Scarlet stubbornly defended their position. One by one they took out each enemy as they aggressively advanced toward them. Tej peaked over the cover to get a glimpse of the tank which is currently engaging in another tank in the distance. In fact, two opposing military units were engaged with one another and Tej and Scarlet was in the middle of it. Confusion was the only thing both marines could express, just what is going on?

Soon the Marines would find themselves fighting for their lives as the unknown soldiers were starting to open fire at their position.

"Fucking Christ! We're surrounded!" Tej cried as he returned fire to the enemy.

"Just drop every last one of them!" the Scottish Marksman exclaimed.

Suddenly, the two heard a loud battle cry heading towards them, it was a blue-haired male with a submachine gun. He was dressed differently than the others but that didn't stop Scarlet from locking her sights on his head, but unexpectedly he opened fire at the opposing forces.

"Eat lead imps!"

Raz unloaded his entire magazine onto the imperial troops, catching most of them off guard. This gave time for the two marines to return fire on the enemy.

"Fall back! Use the trees as cover if you have to."

Shocked and confused, the shock troopers began to fall back into the wood as they were being pushed back on all sides, this wasn't what the mission was supposed to be like.

Raz dove into the marine's cover and hastily reloaded his weapons. The two marines only stared at the Dacsen with confusion.

"Who the hell are you?" Tej asked in a demanding tone.

"Oh is this what I get for saving your asses?" He replies aggressively.

Tej only rolled his eyes in annoyance, "I'm Lance Corporal Tej Thapa, 40 Commando of the Royal Marines."

"Marines? What are you navy boys doing this far inland?" And since it starts with royal, are you part of the federation?"

"We're from Britain, not any part of any federation." Scarlet replies. "Oh, sorry for the late introduction, I'm Lance Corporal Scarlet Macmillan."

Raz took a second to take in all the information but relies on that he had the battle to win. "Well what matters is that you're fighting the imps so you both are in my good books, so let's keep fighting and save the chit chat after we win."

The two marines nodded at each other. "Agreed." they both said.

With this confirmation, Raz smiles and rushes out of cover and charges at the imperial forces. Tej fixed his L3A1 bayonet onto his SA80 rifle, intending to follow the blue-haired soldier into the fight.

"Mac, cover our six."

With Scarlet complying, he rushes out with his bayonet fixed and rushes at the enemy with Raz.

Raz found an imperial soldier and fired a burst at him, effectively killing the soldier. He aggressively pushes forward guns blazing.

Tej charged into the wall of lead as fast as he could, focusing on staying alive. He kept his eyes peeled on the trees and on the rear of the tank knowing those places are the most likely where the enemies could be hiding.

Tej then spotted two imperial soldiers who were focused on Raz. He hastily shot one of them and quickly impaled the other.

The force of the impact of the bayonet is so quick that the soldier didn't feel a thing, Tej also made sure that the soldier is actually dead by putting a bullet into the soldier's skull after he fell to the floor.

The imperial soldiers desperately attempted to land a hit on neither Raz or Tej, none had succeeded. Raz aggressively barges into one of the imperial solider to the ground before filling his body with multiple bullets. Raz smiles in satisfaction at what he had done before moving on to the rest.

Meanwhile, Kai saw Raz and the unknown soldier go all out at the imperial troopers like they were nothing to them. She then spots one other soldier in the sandbags near the housings, shooting at the enemies from the rear. Kai sharply made her move and repositioned herself next to the soldier in the sandbags.

Scarlet wiped her head toward Kai, "Who are you?"

"I'm Sergeant Kai Schulen. I'm part of the 32nd Armoured Ranger Battalion, Squad E."

"Rangers? You don't look like yanks."

Kai raised her eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

"Ignore that. I'm Lance Corporal Scarlet Macmillan, Royal Marines, 40 Commando, Oracle Squadron."

Scarlet aimed down her scope to assist both Raz and Tej. She fired one shot and killed an imperial soldier who had his gun pointed at her partner.

"Hey... errr...Scarlet wasn't it?"

"Yeah?"

"Royal Marines. I've never heard of them before. What battalion are you from?"

Scarlet chuckles, "Believe me, love. It's one hell of a story".

Seeing the enemy falter had boosted Squad E's morale, and they started to slowly advance past the windmill and approach the forest. Claude too was confused about who the new people were but his mind was too occupied with his engagement with the imperial tank. It was a good long minute of exchange fires.

"Miles!" Claude cried. "We need to get close to the rear of the imperial tank!"

Claude knew tank warfare very well. He knows that every tank has a ragnite reactor on the rear and that they were the most vulnerable.

Miles put the tank into its low gear and quickly the Hafen moved up the hill.

"Lancer team, suppress the tank." Claude orders on the radio.

All of his Lancers acknowledged their commander and started to launch rockets from their lance-like weapons. Scarlet was left in awe by the pure ridiculousness of the weapon's design, making her wonder why such a weapon was accepted by the forces, just what kind of place is this?

The imperial tank once again fired at the Hafen as it slowly advances. Luckily the Armour piercing round managed to hit the slop armour of the Hafen and bounce off.

"Miles! Get the Hafen to the rear of the tank!" Claude orders.

"Yes sir!" Miles replied

The Driver traverse the Hafen up the hill and drove to the rear of the imperial tank. Panic then soon erupted for the imperial tank crew as they know what would happen if a round hit the ragnite generator directly, some of the crew then started to exit the tank and ran towards the woods. The Hafen's turret slowly turns in the direction of the tank and aimed at the exposed blue ragnite reactor.

Seeing an opening Claude took his chance and ordered, "Open fire!"

The ragnite reactor lit up into a fireball, causing the tank to be nothing but a burning hulk of metal, its turret flew into the air as the remaining ammunition on the tank detonated. The remainder of the crew didn't even have the chance to escape the fiery mess. By now the Imperial forces have exhausted all of their men and morale on the battlefield, and now are calling for a full retreat. But some Imperial soldiers stayed behind as rear guards for the others.

"Shit they destroyed your tank! Where's the lancer!" An imperial soldier said as he made his way towards the forest.

"They're almost here maybe if we could hold out a bit long we could launch a counter-"

The Third imperial soldier slaps his younger soldier, It was the commander

"Don't be a fool. This battle is lost and we already substantiate enough casualties for one day."

"But what about the lancers sir?!" Another soldier asked

The commander sighed, "Even if I tried, those boys from that squad rather die fighting than retreat. We still got another day to fight and I dear hope we get reinforcement for next week

"What are your orders now sir?"

"Withdraw from this area and return to base." With that said the other troops followed their commander out of the engagement zone. But some stubborn soldiers stayed and carried on fighting, even when the retreat has been cleared.

Seeing the mass retreat, Raz gave a joyful cry and shouted, "Heh. Anyone else wants to try it?! Squad E doesn't take shit from anybody!"

Raz then heard a loud yet disturbing snapping sound from behind him. He hastily turns around to see what it was, only to find a dead body on the floor. Tej's face was sprayed with blood as he pulled the bayonet that was lunged into the imperial soldier's neck and saw the darcen's horrified look.

"Watch your back mate."

Tej proceeds to continue his assault forward, but as for Raz, he continues to stare at the body for a few seconds before following Tej in his assault. Seeing that brutal demonstration Raz had never seen something that horrifying in his life, making him wonder, 'Who are these people?'

Squad E's troops sweep the area clean of the enemy forces, there was very little resistance at the end and that's all they need. Seeing the Imperial soldiers running for their lives has to be the most satisfying sight of the day.

Claude got out of the commander's hatch and assess the battlefield, to say he was disappointed. Raz quickly notices his commander looking around in distress, "you alright, Claude?" The darcen asked.

"The flowers..." he mutters

"Urr... Oh. they didn't stand a chance either." he said half-heartedly.

Meanwhile, Tej walked up to Scarlet and Kai and gestured at his Scottish partner to come over. "Got any calls from the Lietuanat yet?"

"No...What's taking the Leftenant so bloody long anyway?!"

"No clue Mac, guess we just have told their commander our story ourselves." Tej turns his head to get a glimpse of Claude, the his judgment he looked to be a young adult somewhere around Tej's own age or possibly younger.

Claude looked at the marines suspiciously and quickly faces Raz. "Hey, Raz do you know who they are?"

"They said they were Marines," Raz replies. "They just came out of nowhere with Imps tailing them, not to mention they got one hell of a fighter."

"It still could be an imperial trick." Kai interrupted, catching the two's attention. "They said they're from Britain. I don't believe that I've gone crazy but since when there's a country that is called Britain?"

"Hmm... Kai does have a point" Claude said, rubbing his chin.

"Oh c'mon Claude! Do you think they'll go that far just to kill their own guys just for the sake of being spies or whatever they're trying to do?"

"I don't know Raz, but we must think of any possibilities. For now, I say we got to be suspicious of them until we find some legit answers."

"I agree." Kai added, "We shouldn't trust them... Yet."

Unknowingly Tej and Scarlet hear their entire conversation, but they've expected this exact scenario in their minds. To them they're just strangers that they've never seen before, they have all the right to speculate.

Tej was about to reach for his radio but before he could even reach into his pouch, he heard trouble. Four imperial soldiers armed with lancers came out of the woods.

"DIE YOU FEDERATION DOGS!"

*Dung! Dung! Dung! Dung!*

Tej turns around to only have a massive grind on his face. In the distance, a lone TSV could be seen driving towards them.

"Finally..." he muttered.