(Julius Carter)
After all these years I will have it. Caesar has agreed to send a Legate to aid me. I will destroy Lone Star, sure I will have to pretend to serve Caesar for a bit but by the time he realises I am my own man I will rule Texas and he won't be able to do anything.
One of my men pushes the door open and steps in.
"Boss. There here."
I rush outside to see it a large convoy of men advancing towards my encampment. I rush down from my office as the leader enters the Courtyard. He is a tall man dressed in heavy armour with a bull shaped Helmet and a legion banner above his head. Stood with him are two men dressed in similar heavy armour and a man with Black and brown feathers on his helmet and a shield with a bloody handprint on it.
"Legate Varo I presume."
"Mr Carter."
He nods assessing me.
"I will have my men set up a fort nearby would you permit me to lodge the Shield Bearer Corp here?"
The distane in his voice is palpable and even though I can't see the Shield Bearers face I can see it is mutual.
"Of course anything for the Legion."
Varo nods then retreats pointing out a hill his men begin marching in that direction. Meanwhile the man just stands there. Is he the only one? Suddenly he barks.
"AVE!"
Heads snap around and men rush from the formation to form up behind him.
"Where is our camp."
"There are rooms available in."
"No."
I look at him he's stocky, broad, dense. I can work with that. I turn and wave over Lieutenant Jacobson.
"Lieutenant be a good chap and show our friends to a good patch of dirt."
He nods and jogs off. They follow him walking rather that matching his pace.
{Recruit Decanus Shield Bearer Frank}
I don't like that man.
My Veteran Legionary crouches next to me.
"Are you going to sulk all evening?"
"That Carter profligate what do you think of him?"
"He is a rich and powerful man and an ally of Kaiser."
"He is weak."
"Careful now, we are here to aid him."
"We are here to win whether he comes out on top is not directly attached to that outcome."
He throws up his hands and walks off. I will be watching Carter.
(Julius Carter)
The Legion have been here a week. I must say they are very productive. They have constructed a fort and even stationed more of their men in my encampment. I might have to ask for their services to improve my office. I must admit that Varo is more than I bargained for, I was expecting one of their brutes like the one who leads the Shield guys but he seems to be intelligent, no where near my level but intelligent enough and the plan he is presenting as his own creation. It's an intriguing idea. Draw their forces to a battle where they are forced to grind themselves against us while raiding party's rush past them and target all military facilities they can find, stealing, destroying and sabotaging them before retreating. When the raiding parties are safe the main force disengages and retreats forcing them to retreat to their newly ruined facilities or chase us to our facilities. It might work if our teams can do adiquate damage in a short time and I have an idea of who we might send on the first raid.
2 days of preparation and we begin. The legion has split into 3 groups to do a pincer attack. My people are on suppressing fire or mixed in with the legionaries. I am at the back supervising.
Our scouts reported a large group of Lone Star men marching towards us. And the planes in the sky confirm it. The legion has deployed their gliders to fight distract them, even now the dog fight is taking place. Legion gliders are small big enough for a man and a rifle pulled by a small engine. Not much protection but a bugger to fight. The sky is lit up by rifle fire between the gliders and enemy planes and both gliders falling from the sky. Hopefully after this battle we will have air dominance over this region.
We are lay in wait. This road carves straight through the woods and we have taken advantage. The two legion flanks are waiting in the woods along with most of my mercs. The ditches at either side of the road have legionaries lay in them covered in much and dirt to disguise them. The rest of them are crouched both on the road and grass waiting for them to round the corner. As we wait we hear the noise of boots and men and women reacting to the air battle overhead. They reach the corner and stop seeing the ambush. The first row and the sides can barley react as bullets rip through them from the trees and the crouches legionaries. The first flank rushes from the tree line drawing their attention as the crouched legionaries open fire again. Then rush them while still firing from their hips. The second flank emerges behind them preventing their retreat and loosing a volley into their backs. They fire back but the legionaries don't run normally they dive, roll and jink several use others as leapfrogs making accuracy difficult while they recieve fire from 3 directions. The first flank reaches them first and in some cases literally leaps on them. I spot several legionaries slump but the rest get in close quarters. The sprays of blood in the air tell me they are winning. The main group reaches them second legionaries confuse their enemies by chucking their rifles at them then as they are momentarily distracted by the rifles the machetes come out and blood begins spraying. I wonder why I didn't spot him until now. His banner is most distinctive but he is almost in the battle already the shooting stops as the legionaries burrow into the enemy formation spraying blood everywhere. Varo grabs the commander and throws him. He clears his own men and his body dances through the air as bullets rip into him. He finally lands at an odd angle one arm twist under him his ass in the air and his face buried in the ditch. The fighting soon ends. They round up all who live and drag the legion dead, dying and injured from the road where they are assessed. The dying of the Lawmen are executed the rest lines up a man dressed unlike the other legionnaires walks down the row. He has less coverage in his armour and brown and grey plumes of hair on his helmet. I've never seen a man behead someone with a single blow but he does. He seems to assess each one individually. I sidle over to Varo.
"Who is he?"
"A slave Master."
"Why is he dressed that way. He doesn't fit your men."
"He is a servant of Legate Augusta and wears the regalia of his Legatus"
He walks up to us wiping the blood from his machete with a cloth.
"Mighty Legate my count has 27 prisoners. 17 male and 10 female. The men can be trained but the women will need to be stored until the next caravan can collect them. Very well."
He bows then retreats. I'd prefer it if they didn't steal all my future subjects but this is the price of their help.
{Recruit Decanus Shield Bearer Frank}
What manner of total imbecile sends a SHIELD company to blow up an air field? If he was legion id beat him into the ground and demote him to slave.
"Recruit Decanus Shield Bearer we are ready."
The leader of this group of mercenaries seems to agree. At least he is smart and we can work together. Our men are arrayed surrounding the airfield. 3 roads go into the airfield. I have placed 2 columberia on each road and the other 4 are in the forests on either side.
"Form up."
I join my men in tower formation the mercenary leader radios her teams with the order. Then she crouches behind me and places her rifle on my shoulder. She has supplied my men with ear protection for this mission. I have no desire to test her claims about how loud rifles are.
"Forward."
Once again this is relayed. We pick up our shields and begin our advance. As we emerge from the forest I can make out the others already engaged in for fights from the roads. There is a shout and bullets hit our shields causing them to wobble but they hold we continue our advance.
"Drop!"
The bottom line drops the shields slightly allowing the mercenaries on our shoulders to open fire even with my ear protection my ears ring.
"Advance."
We lift the shields closing the rows and continue to advance. The moment we are close enough. The top row disconnects from the bottom and they crouch behind us holding their shields slightly higher.
"GO!"
We rise and run holding our shields out. I can't see what I hit but a kick sends the man to one knee and I stab my knife into his leg as I walk over him then his throat. We continue the mercenaries following us. I can see a few shields lay in the road to my left but the majority are out of view and hopefully doing the same. I pull a grenade from my bag pull the pin and lob it at a plane. A few seconds later the plane lifts and falls. Its wheel collapsing and its body crumbling. The defenders are retreating but every now and then they collapse as our mercenary allies pick them off. They are rushing towards a building at the centre. Must be defendable or a weapons store. I drop another grenade under a plane and continue moving. Something rips across my face and I fall backwards blood splashing into my mouth. The mercenary commander crouch runs up to me rapidly applying some plaster to my face.
"If they get defensive positions in that building we are in trouble."
"I agree."
I climb to a crouch then scream.
"RETREAT REVERSE FORWARD!!"
I can feel the confusion from the mercenaries as my men rush the building.
"THE WINDOWS."
They understand and slam their shields into the windows two blockade the door as I run up pulling my sword. The building is wooden. One of my Prime Shield Bearers runs up holding a hose grinning at me.
"Fuel"
I nod and he begins spraying the building with it then one shield bearer drops his shield slightly allowing him to feed the hose into the building through the window. I light my sword and trace it over the soaked walls which catch. Soon the building is ablaze and we retreat as the hose catches and soon the fuel tank begins to melt into itself.
"Grab anything salvageable and destroy all the planes."
Men and mercenaries rush around grabbing any discarded weapons or valuables. I grab my primes.
"How many?"
"I've got 1 dead mercenary and 2 injured shield bearers."
We tally up and it comes to 1 dead mercenary 11 injured shield bearers and 6 injured mercenaries. Not bad for a group being sent to do a job we aren't trained to do.
"LETS GO!"
We form up and break into a jog for the return journey.