Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 30-6: Seeing the Elephant (Part 6)

Private Julia stops for a moment, hearing the whimpering sounds of a kid in a corner of the drydock. Half surprised and half not, Julia turns to the source, seeing a visage of a little girl, hiding and sniveling behind a cargo container. Sighing, Julia approaches the girl, bypassing a few displaced tools on the darkened floor. When she rounds the cargo container, Julia comes to see a girl in a tattered sundress, barely ten in age. The little girl is hugging her knees, her head down as she tries to stifle her whimpers.

Feeling her string being pulled, Julia crouches down to the girl's level, her Kar98k is laid on the floor. "Hey there, kid." Julia greeted the girl while unstrapping her helmet and putting it away from sight. The girl twitches at her words, letting Julia know that she is not in the mood to speak, yet.

Julia sighs mentally before, very slowly, raising her arms at the girl. The girl shudders when Julia lays her hands on her shoulders. Then, much to no one's surprise, Julia gently pulls her into a hug, her hands patting the girl's back to calm her down. "There, there... No need to cry, dearie, I am here. If there's anything wrong, you can talk to me, your sister here, alright?"

To further calm the girl down, Julia sings a folk tune that she knows every single Spanish must have heard ten times in their life... Gosh, Julia hopes this works. She has never dealt with a crying little girl before so she is completely stunned if this one turns out to be hard to placate. Fortunately for her, the little girl speaks upright when the song is ending.

"My ma... She sang it to me earlier." The girl said with a hitch in her tone, causing Julia to wince. She is careful not to show her dismay to the girl though. "But the soldiers, they... they took her away on their boat! Mama... Mama tried to grab me but... She couldn't. The bad men were too strong, they dragged her on the bridge."

"I..." Feeling the girl's back shivering again, Julia quickly says. "What's your name kid? I bet your mother gave you a cute name."

"...Sofia." The girl replied weakly.

"Alright, Sofia. I am Julia. You can just call me sister like you just did." Julia introduced herself. "I am sorry to hear that your mother has been taken away by bad people. But Sofia, listen to me."

"Yes... Sister?" Sofia replied, leaning in closer to Julia.

"Do you know what my job is, Sofia?"

"I saw you fight bad people... Are you a knight?" Sofia asked.

Julia smiles, not wanting herself to chuckle at the comparison. She had never thought of herself like that, only as a soldier, albeit a good one. "You can say it that way, Sofia. At the end of the day, I fight for what's good in the world. So Sofia..." Julia then pats the young girl on her hair. "As your knight, I promise to bring your mother back. Believe me when I say that."

"And when you're feeling lonely..." Julia then reaches her hands to her neck, pulling out a chain necklace with a cross and dog tags bearing her... Knightly information. Julia detaches the necklace before putting it on Sofia. "You can hold onto this, knowing that you are, in fact, not alone. God is with you... I, am with you."

Sofia, with red eyes, gingerly brings up the necklace to examine. "Pinky swear...?"

Julia chuckles. "Pinky swear. Now let's get you somewhere safe. Remember, if you're feeling lonely, or even scared, just hang on to that necklace and think about me, about our Lord, ok?"

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"You know," Parker trailed off while looking at Julia with one necklace less. "That was nice of you back there."

Julia winces, talking back to her Lieutenant. "So you saw it, since when?"

Parker shrugs while peaking out the dusty window to gaze at the street. There are signs and sounds of combat all over the town, Barton's company is pushing them hard alongside Colonel Sawyer's. Words come down the line earlier that the Spanish Inquisition sent in more troops after hearing Sardegnians kidnapping town people. "From start to finish, I guess? Saw the girl when I was on the catwalk, and was getting down to help her get to safety when you arrived. Stopped to watch ever since. Speaking of that..."

Parker then reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small circular chain with a piece of dull metal clipped onto it. Julia looks at Parker as if he had grown a second head, knowing full well what the object is. "You have got to be joking..."

Handing it over to Julia, which she then inspects with heavy scrutiny, Parker jests a bit morbidly. "A soldier shouldn't go out without her dog tags. If the worst is to happen, how can I identify your body to go talk to the girl?"

Julia levels a glare at the Lieutenant. "Ha, ha, ha... Very funny." Nonetheless, Julia still chose to wear it, though she had it hanging on one of her legs instead of her neck. "Thanks anyway, I can see that you took your time finding the material and carved my name on it, at least. Although the material leaves much to be desired."

"What can I say? It's not gem or gold, but it gets the job done." Parker replied with a smirk before frowning. "Look alive, I see movement just outside the perimeter."

Julia raises her rifle at the ready. "They're already attacking?"

"Probably just a scouting element. They need to gain intel on us before delegating a force. After all, they need to weigh just how many bodies they need to pull out us, the needles in their ass." Parker explained before motioning for the Witch that was lent to him by Langley. The Witch nods before checking the information with the others that are in the air.

Julia interjects her opinion. "There's also the argument that they can send a major force to secure the harbor. With a cursory glance, there are a few vessels that seem to be in working condition."

"Yeah... If they're seeking to pull out just the upper echelons with those then we may be in trouble."

"Do you think they know that we're guarding civies still?"

"Most definitely. But I don't think civilians would be their top concern after what just happened earlier. They would rather deny everything, preferably wiping us all out, civies included." Parker hypothesized.

"Then you reckon how much trouble would that land us in?" Julia asked.

"Deep shit kinds." Parker replied with a sharp breath.

The best they can do is to hope that their defenses will hold until help arrives, which from the look of it, may be delayed just a tad.

As Parker's platoon and the Witches see the Sardegnian scouts surveying just outside the harbor's perimeter, Parker feels restless when the enemy is just right there, pointing fingers at them. Hence, Parker taps Julia on her right shoulder, gesturing to her rifle. "Hey, can I borrow that?"

Though Julia raises an eyebrow, she still unsling her rifle before handing her Kar98k over to Parker. "What do you have in mind?"

Instead of answering the question directly, Parker checks the zeroing on the rifle, saying. "What's the range from here to there?"

"You're not serious are you?" Julia asked back. The Witch next to Parker though, replies professionally. "300 meters, give or take 20."

"Alright..." Parker adjusts the zero before bracing Julia's rifle on the window's ledge.

Seeing her leader has made up his mind, Julia just shakes her head, adding. "Wind is minimal, so just aim straight and you should be fine."

Smiling, Parker says. "Yeah, my money is on the guy with that stupid binocs..." At this distance, Parker can barely make out the equipment the Sardegnian scout is carrying. The Lieutenant exhales softly, before pulling the trigger.

A sharp bang is heard, one that echoes and startling the civilians tucked away in the slipway. When the civilians register the sound though, the bullet has already arrived at its destination, striking true at the throat of the Sardegnian. The soldier collapses, dropping his binoculars while clutching his neck where a fountain of blood is gushing out. The men nearby him immediately duck to cover while dragging the collapsed form of their comrade into safety. It doesn't take long before they disappear out of sight, probably long gone after five minutes.

After scanning for any more activity and making sure the coast is cleared for now, Julia comments, honestly impressed. "Ever thought about becoming a marksman, Lieutenant?"

Parker smirks, handing the rifle back to Julia after chambering a round. "Yeah well, a bolt-action isn't quite my style." He then pats his BAR which is rested by the wall. "I like my girl to pack a bit more oompf."

Julia rolls her eyes while the Witch interjects. "Boys, am I right?" She then says. "I'm Katia, by the way, and Staff Sergeant Langley sends her compliments."

"Tell her I say thanks." Parker nodded at the Witch before focusing back at the front. "Now, let's see how they will react."

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"In hindsight, I guess I shouldn't have goaded them in the first place!" Parker expressed as he ducked below the window.

Julia, who is similarly pinned down near him, quips back. "You think!? You bloody murdered their scout! Of course, they would be pissed!"

"Yeah well, I didn't think they would send tanks down here, alright?" Parker shouted back before turning to Katia. "Have the Panzers lined up their shot yet!?"

Katia, with a hand pressing her headphones closer to her ears, reports. "They're lining up the shot after taking care of a stationary AT!"

"Fuck! If they don't make it quick we won't be able to stop their infantries!" Parker complained before raising a loose piece of brick up the window, only for it to be shot to bits instantly. "Damn it! You reckon they have a sniper around somewhere?"

Julia shakes her head. "Hard to say with all the suppression they're dumping on us, LT."

Katia adds. "Sergeant Langley just said that once our tanks take care of the vanguard, her detachment will go and deal with our sniper problem. However, she may only be able to hit them once, maybe two before pulling back. They're more of them than we expected, sir!"

Parker winces. "Shit... That means the Sardegnians are really intending on getting the fuck outta here."

"Or wiping us all out." Julia added.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Julia, very helpful... Now that I think about it, they could just shell the living Hell out of us if they wanted to. They must be afraid of damaging the boats to do that. Guess we dodged a bullet there, literally."

"Uh, hello? We are still being shot at here?" Julia quibbled.

Katia interjects with a grin. "Look on the bright side, we don't have to escort a literal train of civies under withering fire." She then pauses before saying. "Heads up, tanks going loud."

On her cue, two booms can be heard just downstair and outside of the drydock building. What follows are two explosions that shake the atmosphere, causing the accumulated dust and debris from the drydock to fall down and causing Julia to sneeze.

"Achoo! You have got to be kidding me!"

"Bless you!" Both Parker and Katia said at the same time, reveling in the miserable look of Julia as she wiped her nose.

"Yeah, screw you guys too!" Julia snarked back but the pair laughed it off.

Parker then looks at Katia, who is now listening to a sudden update. Katia soon reports. "Tanks have knocked out their armored vanguard, temporarily blocking access to the harbor unless they flank elsewhere."

Parker nods. "Which should still fall under the line of fire from Rum's location regardless. I picked that mean spot myself after all."

"Right." Katia says. "But now they're deploying a smoke screen. Sergeant Langley thinks they would either use it to advance or remove the obstruction before pushing in. Either way, both sides will be blinded to one another for a while."

Julia comments on that. "Wait, if they stop firing at us, won't that make it so they will be paying attention to the Witches instead?"

Katia shrugs. "Not when we start grabbing their attention back."

Parker catches his jaws before it can drop. "You're not seriously asking us to shoot at them now? What if we hit the Witches when they deploy on the Sardegnians?"

Katia levels a confident gaze at Parker and Julia. "I will know when to give the cease-fire order, sir. The Witches know better than to be hit friendly fire."

Parker maintains a gaze on Katia but ultimately relents. "If they want a distraction, I will give them a distraction. Patch my words to all elements, suppressive fire into the smoke on my mark."

"... Engage!"