When people think of urban warfare, they think of the battle of Stalingrad, the classic movies showing how Soviet soldiers suffer the battle both from the Nazis in front of them and from the irrationality of their Generals in the rear.
The truth is that urban warfare only becomes such a hell if there are enough fighting forces. We are talking about hundreds of thousands. But here there were not hundreds of thousands, there were a few thousands fighting in urban terrain. The battle would be over in a matter of days whether the forces loyal to Palpatine managed to drive out my division or my division managed to conquer the city.
Honestly I was betting on the latter, the surprise attack eliminated most of their prepared defenses and the surprise factor allowed us on the first day of battle to obtain half of the city.
Only some stupid general would comprise most of their forces in the battle for this city. So probably as we fight the enemies are preparing a new defensive line while our troops try to use the gap in the front to advance as much as possible.
"Something new Crazy Eyes?" Trut asked as he approached me, we were resting in the designated place to put the equipment stolen from the enemies, several pieces of self propelled artillery were forming a square of five per five. Next to them there were floating boxes where some disgraced ones of the first company were tasked with putting all ammunition, rifles and equipment the rest of the division was bringing on. Apparently our side of the civil war had a limited amount of weapon production and we were forced to steal anything that could be used. Honestly a good strategy, as we shared the same weapons there wouldn't be as much as logistics problems as they were in the World War in my second life.
"I am just enjoying the peace Trut." I said as I looked to the sky, it was blue and the only clouds were artificially formed by the smoke of fires inside the city and the burning corpses of the soldiers. Both enemies and allies. Crematory trucks came some hours ago and to avoid any possible plague problem they have started to deal with the problem.
Honestly just burning all of them was unethical. But efficient, very efficient. I have heard that the crematory trucks could turn a body into ashes half an hour, very fucking fast for the standard in my past two lifes. Hitler would have liked those.
"You enjoying the peace? You seem to enjoy war."
"How could I enjoy something that could kill me?"
"People smoke, drink, take drugs, marry crazy women or men. Addictions are addictions we want or not"
"Once a person said that 'it is well that war is so horrible or we would grow too fond of it.' I believe it was Robert E. Lee"
"Never heard of that guy"
"I read about him in a book. A great man, a great tactician, but he sucked in the strategic aspect of warfare and lost the civil war on his planet because of that. Well honestly there is more to that." I took a deep breath in that moment "I honestly could wish there was much more time to explain everything. So many times simplifications become so simple that they are lies. But if we don't simplify things we might make the debates too long and unnecessarily complicated"
That is what happened in my second life, my enemies simplified everything I did so much that my end was unavoidable.
Trut sat right next to me. The rest of the sergeants and soldiers of my platoon were playing with a ball far away. Only Trut and I were in this part of the area.
Enjoy the peace. I reminded myself, peace was a privilege and soon the Captain would be in the front, I had to enjoy every last second of this before returning.
"I don't understand, how can simplification become a lie? Isn't the idea of simplification to make things easier to understand?"
"Yes, but making it easier to understand doesn't mean it's true. Lets start with one thing, you were in prison because you raped a man, right?"
"Yes, in my defense, he said yes at the start, he later changed his mind but I was too much into…"
"No need to explain, I don't care, but you see the point. Everything holds a more complicated truth behind it, in the moment I said that you were arrested for rape you felt that it was a lie or it lacked truth so you defended yourself. Simplification can be lies. No, most simplifications are lies and I only say most because I am sure that someone can come up with an example of why that affirmation would be wrong. And can't you see? Me trying to explain to you this is taking much more time than just saying -All simplifications are lies-. Knowledge requires sacrifice and the sacrifice is your time. In this situation our time. But at the same time what I said is a simplification, falling again to the understanding that simplifications are lies. But even acknowledging this information I keep falling into the sweet trap of simplifying things because I don't want to explain every meaning of my words."
I sighed, in a perfect world everyone should be able to understand each other. Probably that would avoid so many wars and conflicts. Many wars happened because of distrust, one great example would be World War One. Some idiots blame it on Germany, other idiots on Austria Hungary, other idiots on Serbia, other idiots on Russia. And in the end everyone invented the lies that better benefited their own ideals. The truth behind why world war one started is distrust, misunderstandings and lies. That's why I take so much care to make sure that everyone understands exactly what I mean. Using a very simple wording that no man on this planet could misunderstand by another completely different meaning.
"I didn't understand shit," Laughed the man. I rolled my eyes, how one couldn't understand what I said? Literally I simplified the words to explain a more complex idea so he could understand it. But even then he fails to understand it!
Visha, where are you, I need you. This bald gorilla cannot be a serious pretender to be your replacement.
"Nothing can be done then."
"You just called me dumb, didn't you Crazy Eyes?"
"No, it's just that I do not have the patience to teach someone about my thoughts. I am not a philosopher that wants their thoughts to be remembered. My thoughts are for me and for anyone that wants to understand them."
Trut nodded, a little bit confused. "Honestly I would have preferred if you just called me dumb. You are too complicated."
I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the wind, ignoring Trut as he looked at me for some sort of answer.
I was so tired, I would really like to sleep forever and to wake up feeling well rested. Ignoring the idiots and the problematic people…
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I loaded my rifle as the blaster fire surrounded me, good things had to end and soon our company was sent to fight in the front, we were on street San Turin, a long ass street that was a literal lane in the city. And I was the vanguard to conquer it. I was surrounded by tall buildings that could hold defenders but I didn't have enough troops to clear them out. Yet my orders were to advance.
"Hey guys, any of you have a fucking rocket launcher? I think if we destroy one of those buildings we can close this street and call it a day."
My men laughed at my question, but I didn't understand why, it was a genuine question.
"I dont think we have rocket launchers, matter of fact I dont think we have even a fucking dinner, we running low on supplies" Commented the Commisar-Captain as he runned towards my cover, a blaster almost hit him but he slided and crashed against my cover, a old vehicle that was abandoned and worked well for cover.
"Captain, why are you here?" I asked, genuinely surprised. He never was in the frontline, why would he choose voluntarily to be in the frontline?
"Well, gotta earn my right to be Captain, no?" He laughed and then looked from behind the cover, only to sit again, back on the cover.
"Yep, we are absolutely fucked"
"Welcome to the front" I commented as I leaned my gun in the cover, shooting through one of the enemy soldiers face and making him fall to the cold pavement of cement, one of the soldiers' companions screamed something and tried to recover his body. I didn't doubt, a second shot killed the friend of the first one I killed.
"Don't you have any type of mercy?" Asked the Captain.
"Mercy is death, and I dont like death"
I took cover again, my platoon continued the combat, the sound of the blaster fire constantly pierced my ears, the screams of the wounded were like a melody in comparison.
"Why will we not have dinner?" I asked as I looked a little over the cover to see if I could kill some disgraceful idiot.
"Too many prisoners, they have consumed our medical resources and food. We will have to ration the food until the supplies come"
"And when is that?"
"Next week"
"You gotta be fucking kidding me, we will not eat for a weak?"
"Once a day, orders from the General, we didn't expect to take so many prisoners and in the early days the General fed them to their needs. Now we are without food"
A grande came close to the cover, exploding and making the dust go up. In the chaos of the battle this conversation was surprisingly normal, as if people were not killed constantly in this moment.
"Can I be honest?"
"Go ahead."
"The General had access to all the information, but he fucked up the numbers and now because of his fault we will eat once a day? I will not say what I would call him because I respect the hierarchy. But I have executed people for less, in fact, for much fucking less."
"You are a passive aggressive little bitch, ain't you?" Laughed Trut as he shouldered his guns and started to give suppressive fire with two rifles, one in each hand, squad one and two advanced by the flanks on the buildings, having constantly covered their left and right flanks. Maybe we didn't have machine guns, but we had Trut who had fast fingers and the strength to hold two rifles.
"And you are a maleducated soldier my sergeant. Fuck em up!"
"As you order Crazy Eyes!"
Together with him the third, fourth and fifth squads were giving suppressive fire. The amount of ammunition wasted in ensuring the first and second squad could enter the grenade throwing range was so much that I actually started to worry about our ammunition situation.
"How are we with ammunition?" I asked the Captain, he was talking with someone by radio, he didn't seem happy.
"Fucked up, like with everything. von Degurechaff, do you think we can conquer this street for today?"
"It took me three hours to clean thirty meters of this street, and this street is a kilometer long. In no nine hells I will be able to finish up this by tomorrow unless we have air support"
"The only air support are some hovercars with heavy blasters on them!"
"Then unless the front collapses we are going to stay here at least a week"
"Damn it, if there was only a way to fucking destroy the enemy defenses while protecting our troops advance…"
Yes, if only we had tanks like the Stug III, I fucking loved that tank, if I believed Gods were actually good I would say that it was a gift directly from God. But Gods did not exist and if they existed they sucked so be blessed german engineering. No, actually fuck you german engineering, most of our heavy tanks were so complicated to repair…
The first and second reached their destination, a covered alcove near the enemy position, they threw grenades that exploded right where the enemy was.
"Charge!" I ordered, being the first one to jump off the cover to inspire confidence in my troops. There was no chance of me dying after that surprise attack with grenades. So this was a free way to earn my troops and superiors respect.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Xiure Yuli was surprised, Tanya von Degurechaff was a monster, but she was also very intelligent, charismatic and brave. To be able to charge with a smile on her face, making her troops follow her with emotion. He knew he never would be like that.
He sighed, he was a coward in part, and a very human too. But this was war and he was fighting in it, he had to grow some fucking balls.
"One, two, three"
He also jumped over the cover, to his left and right the rest of the squads were advancing, he noticed how now the ones who had been giving suppress fire were the first and second squad that were on the front. So she did this, no? Two squads advance with the support of the other three squads. Then the two squads create a safe zone with their suppressing fire so the rest can advance. A very safe but slow advance.
Maybe she deserved the rank of captain more than him.
He finally reached the cover, right next to Tanya and Trut, the fourth squad was with them, most of them showed clearly that they were tired, the dust had settled on their bodies and they had some blood on them, probably from eating the ground to survive some attacks. In the end throwing yourself to a floor made of cement was hurtful and not safe for your body.
"Tell me von Degurechaff, do you believe we should advance or stop now?"
Tanya stopped to think for a moment, the rest of the squads didn't stop though, constantly fighting with the other side that was some dozen meters away. There were eighty soldiers, half of them had already died through the conflict with Tanyas platoon, in contrast Tanya's had only suffered three deaths.
It was a good trade, even if Tanya was used to having zero deaths on her side.
"Are we getting reinforcements?" She asked with her thoughts on seeing if everyone reached this position safely.
"No, we ain't getting shit"
"Are we getting artillery?"
"No, the nearest thing to artillery we have is the ones that we captured, they're in the outskirts of the city"
Tanya raised her eyebrows.
"I think I got an idea…"
"How good of an idea?"
"We could conquer this street for today."
"How can you do that?"
Tanya put a smile on her face so evil that Yuli could swear to the Gods that it scared the shit out of him.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two soldiers loyal to Palpatine smoked, they started being eighty soldiers and now were down to forty, the situation in this war was fucked up and sadly they couldn't get reinforcements. The Council that declared Anakin a traitor and began the civil war said that this planet, even if it's part of the Core, was not relevant so they wouldn't be getting support from the rest of Palpatine loyalists.
The Lieutenant leading his troops sighed.
"We are so fucked, what about the fuckers in front of us, have they tried anything new?" He asked one of his soldiers who looked over his cover.
"Nope, they are still in their cover."
There was a tense situation between both groups, they had a heavy fighting for the last hours and now both were resting. The lieutenant honestly didn't know why he was fighting. For an Emperor that was dead? A council that started a galactic civil war?
He felt dumb but he had no other option than fight or be executed.
He looked up, the tall buildings gave him security, these tall buildings made of durasteel where the pinnacle of civilization and maybe wars could destroy this nation, but the buildings would stay here to welcome back the civilians once the war is over.
A strange sound started to be heard, this sound was similar to a motor being forced to run at its maximum power. He approached the cover and looked up from it. Seeing the enemy, soon he realized what had his enemies brought up.
"Take cover!" He screamed as a two meter tall floating tank appeared through the street, it was shaped like a rectangle with a visor in its front, a big four meter cannon was pointed at them. It was one of the self-propelled artillery they had lost at the beginning of the battle.
"Fire!" Screamed a feminine voice from the other side of the front when an explosion took place in the end of the cannon, in less than a second their cover had disappeared and many soldiers were dead on the ground, screaming as durasteel parts that acted as sharpanel caused extreme bleeding and wounds .
The lieutenant rapidly got up and took new cover, his head was buzzing and he didn't understand anything. How did they get that? In theory the artillery division destroyed its equipment before losing it.
His body was screaming at him, saying to run away but he couldn't move. One thing was fighting infantry, it's a whole another thing facing their own self propelled artillery being used as a tank.
On the other side of the battlefield, inside the Class Buria Self Propelled Artillery, Tanya was in the position of commander, with Trut being the gunner of the artillery cannon and other two men of Tanya being in the roles of driver and reloader of the automatic reloader system.
The repulsor lift of the Buria made it float thirty centimeters from the ground and it was strong enough to just push most of the cover in the street, the vehicle could be described as a truck with armor and a big cannon on top, the simple look of it was also shown in spirit with how easy it was to drive the Buria and to use it in general.
A blessing considering Tanya converted a infantry squad into a self propelled artillery crew in a matter of two hours, the instructions were easy to understand and it was not hard to drive and shoot with it, although they couldn't use the Buria to its best capacities, it worked well enough as a support tank.
A second explosion rapidly hit the enemy position again, the rest of Tanyas platoon awaited for the Buria to be finished, a third explosion shattered the glass of the buildings around, the fourth explosion injured the only enemy soldier that had remained safe for this seconds of agony, the power of destruction the Buria brought to the street was only comparable with the artillery spells only Tanya could bring when empowered by the weird golden magic she could use in her second life.
"We surrender!" Screamed one of the wounded ones, the constant explosions in their position stopped as Tanya looked at them, the once forty soldiers and formally eighty now had only around ten injured soldiers, the Lieutenant laid dead in the floor with his body being nothing more than a red splatter of blood and organs in the floor, he probably was close to an artillery explosion thought Tanya as she looked to the injured.
"Captain, are we taking prisoners?" She said, looking back as the cannon never stopped to aim at them, they could try to take her out but they were too injured and scared to do anything. They just laid defeated in the cement, with the blood slowly leaving their body as none of them were in any condition that could be considered good.
"I am an officer Tanya, I will have three meals a day every day no matter what, but the more prisoners we take, the less you will eat… in the end these soldiers are worth more for our country than the prisoner soldiers like you."
Unbeknownst for Tanya, Yuli was testing her.
She slowly turned around to look at the wounded, she was given the right to decide over their lifes, this were not the artillerymen that fucked her up for days, they were probably just good people that found themselves in this useless civil war the same war she did.
But deep inside her, she felt envy. Why were they free and more valuable than her?
She was born in a prison and that's why she is a prisoner until the day she dies, she will have to fight a war for an Emperor she will never meet neither will care about, she will probably die one day of these as she no longer has magic to help her. Only her mind.
Life was unfair to her, why should she be attached to any morality? Not eating for one day while in combat? It could mean her death. And she might not fear death for she could
reincarnate, but she didn't want to die, she wanted to survive.
Was she selfish for killing these defeated soldiers for the small possibility that if she accepts them as prisoners it will affect even more how much she will be able to eat?
Yes, it was selfish, it was what a monster without a heart would do.
But to win wars, but to earn victory no matter what and to survive, you couldn't have a heart, you couldn't have mercy, nor morality.
Morality is a privilege of those that do not suffer.
She took out her pistol and started to shoot at the soldiers, some of them tried to run away but they couldn't for they were wounded, some tried to shoot back, but in the end their wounds made them miss their shots, on the contrary Tanya with just one shot killed each one of the soldiers like a cold blooded monster that didn't had a heart.
"Why not just shoot the cannon?" Asked Captain Yuli, honestly surprised by her decision and scared of her actions, but understanding why she did it.
"It would have been a waste of resources, we have limited artillery shells from the equipment we captured, shooting them with my pistol was just more economical."
"It was also less human." He commented.
"Why? Just because I didn't explode their organs and exposed their blood to the world with shrapnel? Maybe the human thing would have to end their suffering with a single artillery shell, but it would be a much more agonizing and traumatic death. Many times humanitarianism and economic efficiency does not match, this time it did Captain-Commissar"
Yuli touched the bridge of his nose as he looked to the front. "We could have taken one of them to interrogate."
"In my experience, foot soldiers don't know useful things except rumors, and the Lieutenant was dead, it was just a waste of time to interrogate one random soldier unless they had prepared defenses."
Yuli sighed.
"Let's advance then and hope that there are no ambushes ahead."
"You heard him boys, forward!" She screamed as her squads started to move forward with the Buria slowly marching behind like a caring mother that protected her children.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How the fuck did you get that idea?" Asked Colonel Octavio Ortorio to Yuli, while the orders were to take the street by the end of the day the Captain archived to take it in hours, when the Colonel asked him how he did that he answered that he used one of the captured Buria as a tank to support his troops.
The holographic image of the Captain showed how he was actually somehow ashamed of this situation, taking without permission a recovered vehicle from the enemy could have led him to very big problems if it wasn't because with his actions he delivered results. In the end the armed forces had a rule of just forgiving anyone who delivered results, this was a hard lesson they learned from executing several heroes of battle fought against the forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems when they invaded the planet.
Improvisation was most of the time an enemy of discipline, but if you end up killing all your heroes because they have to improvise in order to win against the droid armies of Grievous then you would soon lose the war.
"Do you know how much in trouble you would have got in if you lost it?"
"The enemy doesn't have piercing or explosive equipment, it is a safe bet that will help us to speed up the invasion of the city"
"Yes… I guess you are right, are the Burias really so easy to handle?"
"After the war against the droids we lost most of our trained crews so the designs are now apparently so easy to handle that you can train crews in days."
Honestly to Ortario it was incredible that his friend had so many innovative and useful ideas, during the time of Grievous invasion both were scared little bitches and he always had to save Yuli's life from death, now he was a proper man and apparently had grown some balls.
He was honestly impressed.
"Alright, you have my permission to take the rest of the Burias, tomorrow your company will take on the task of reaching the outskirts of the city and divide the defensive line of the enemy in two pockets."
"Understood."
The comms went off
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obscurity loomed over the planet as the darkness of a moonless night took place, all around the city the soldiers warmed themselves in different and varied ways, nights were a moment of peace most of the time as both sides passed to the defensive. A moment to prepare reinforcements, secure the lines, count loses, recover the dead.
Sporadic fire could be heard occasionally but it wasn't serious fights, rather small chances of killing an unaware enemy on the other side of the battle. Only in those small moments where one soldier would expose himself would the peace be destroyed for the seconds the brief conflict lasted.
Explosions happened on the main street of the city, a twenty wide long street that ran from the Skywalker loyalist side of the city to the Palpatine loyalist side of the city.
Consecutive explosives hammered the defensive line, the autoloaders of the Burias worked at maximum capacity ensuring a constant fire over the defensive lines of the Palpatine loyalists. Flares flew upwards illuminating the city as a general offensive of the 1st Brigade commenced. Tanya's platoon had become the sole armored support for the entire division and as part of a plan between Tanya and the Captain their objectives were to breach the front line by coordinating Captain Yuli's company and armored support, using the rest of the brigade to saturate the front.
The Captain and Tanya watched from their commanding positions in their personal Burias as the enemy troops died under constant artillery fire, their ears were hurting from the constant sound but the security of their commanding posts was worth any hearing loss they could gain from this activity. And even in the darkness of the night the flares and the explosions gave enough light constantly that allowed both to see the battlefield.
"Captain, the enemy is retreating, the surprise attack has been a success." Tanya reported through her radio, her Platoon that was in charge of the Burias -even though if some of them wanted to be in the front- advanced slowly behind the troops as the front advanced, Yuli was part of this advance, because even if he was Captain and he could order his Buria to stop and be in the rear, he trusted Tanya with this part of the plan, so the best he could do was allow her to shine the same way she shined when she assaulted the front in a night attack.
"Why didn't they expect a night attack? It is literally how we entered the city" Asked Yuli, actually concerned with how this plan worked twice.
"Old habits die hard, it is difficult to adapt to the evolution of the battlefield for incompetent officers. When everything falls apart the bad officer will rely even harder on traditions and habits to keep normality while the good officer would adapt to the situation in order to accomplish his mission the best way possible."
Yuli felt honestly hurt, Tanya was calling him incompetent and also his superiors. If she did it on purpose or by accident he couldn't tell.
"How did you know the enemy had incompetent officers?"
"I didn't"
Something inside Yuly's head exploded, falling apart, like throwing thousands of dishes throughout the stairs, Yuli.exe stopped working.
"The fuck do you mean you didn't know?"
He was convinced by her that she had a great master tactic that could grant victory in the city, he then had to convince Ortorio that he had a great master tactic that could grant victory in the city and then Ortorio had to convince the General about this plan. And she said that she wasn't sure this was going to work?!
She was crazy, that was the only explanation he could come with.
"If he was competent he would have had the troops prepared for a night battle, if he was incompetent he wouldn't. His competency or not were not relevant for the operation as it will succeed no matter what due to the factors accumulated in our favor. The officer's incompetence just meant how fast we could achieve our success. Total victory is ours unless a new factor would appear that changed the battle drastically out of my estimations"
"We have few Buria, do you really believe that is a changing factor?"
"Yes, the difference between having them and not having them is so great that only by having it I can consider victory ours unless something drastic happens. Yet there are more factors in our favor. Before this operation I carried out an infiltration operation behind the enemy lines, I kidnapped two officers and tortured them while you were convincing and organizing the troops.They told me all I needed to know, they are running out of supplies fast and are expecting reinforcements. Also, out of fear that we would use artillery strikes against their position they narrowed the defensive line, covering more of the city but making the defenses smaller.. By narrowing the line they didn't have reserves or a defense in depth. A simple breakthrough will mean our victory."
Yuli, didn't know what to think, he simply was too overwhelmed by her, it was like she was five steps in ahead of him, like she thought things no one else thought, like she had some type of privilege information only accessible to those that could read her mind. What type of reading did she do? In fact, since when did a prison library have books about war? What were the possibilities, that a military genius since birth had been born in a prison and was a prisoner for the crimes of her parents?
What were the chances that somehow she ended up in a penal division, what were the chances that she ended up under him.
"How did you know they weren't lying?"
"There are three type of men, the ones that fear pain so much that they will succumb before even torture, those that have the will to resist but will succumb after a lot of pain and those that will never surrender. The thing is, you don't know if someone is any of those three or if they are lying. So I did something very simple, I tortured both, in separate rooms, I had been requisitioned for the task. By the end of the day both screamed the same information without knowing there was another one of them. Apparently both were the type that fear pain so much that will succumb before torture. Sadly I had to be sure that they weren't lying"
"What happened to them?"
"Before I killed them they thanked me for my mercy"
Yuli was a Commissar and she was a prisoner, he could kill her right now and save the galaxy from this monster. Victory at any cost was not an ideology Yuli accepted and if Tanya was something it was the definition of victory at any cost.
He took out the gun of his holster, Tanya was right next to him in her Buria, he had a clean shot and her platoon were prisoners, they probably wouldn't care if he killed her as long as they could live. He could also say that she rebelled or was a danger for the army.
She was a monster, and she had to be stopped.
His body was almost all inside the Buria except for the top part of the torso and his head, he pulled his right hand from the inside of the Buria with his pistol ready to shoot. He took a deep breath as the Buria advanced behind the infantry. Fighting stopped one minute ago as the enemy troops had retreated.
Yuli felt bad, but, torturing two men that told her the truth, executing people that had surrendered, killing the artillery men, all the things she had done.
When he offered her the opportunity to decide the fate of the ones that surrendered, he wanted to see if she had any type of humanity left. She executed them the worst way possible.
She had consumed any tolerance he had.
He pointed his pistol to Tanya, who was looking to the side contrary to where he was.
A loud explosion was heard and Tanya screamed.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The smell of fire and burned bodies surprised me as I opened my eyes. Blaster fire was constant, much more intimidating than before, I looked around and felt a trail of blood falling from my head.
"Crazy Eyes, are you alive?! They have hit Yuli's Buria with something!"
I looked around but I was only greeted by the cold durasteel of the Buria, I didn't remember anything of what happened, I was just looking around the front and then a blaster fire and an explosion. After that I didn't know what happened.
Wait, they had hit Yuli?
I rapidly stood up, fighting to get myself back to the position of commander of the Buria, but pain tried to make me surrender, like it laughed at my intention to be strong in this war. Yet, my mind had more power than my body, ignoring the pain I stood up and saw the battlefield, the battle was raging on as the troops that were retreating rapidly organized themselves and prepared a defense. Either if it was due to the competence of the non commissioned officers or the commissioned officers I ignored it. I looked around me and all Burias were in good condition but retreating, in front of me, around a hundred meters, a singular Buria was destroyed, touching the floor its repulsorlift probably had failed after the attack.
"How long have I been unconscious?!"
"I don't know! A minute?! I tried to take out this damn thing from the front I couldnt fucking watch your ass Crazy Eyes!"
"Fuck me, the Captain, has anyone rescued him?!"
"Not that I have seen!"
I breathed the cold air of the night as it pierced my lungs and throat, the blood that fell on my face was so cold, I wanted so badly to sleep, to rest. Was…
Was I wounded far more than I expected?
Fuck, it didn't matter.
"Fuck it, I am going to save the Captain, keep firing at the enemy postion, did you hear me you fucking gorilla?!"
"Aye to that"
I jumped off the position of commander as I touched the floor. Instead of landing with my usual agility I fell straight to the ground, my motor skills were bad, but it didn't matter, I had to save the Captain-Commissar. He was my friend and most importantly he could save me from being a prisoner forever. I just had to convince him to make me a free citizen and part of the armed forces if necessary after showing my competence. That's why I pushed so hard with all my abilities in favor of this damn division.
I had to become a fucking free citizen no matter what!
I started to run, yet at each step I was so close to falling to the ground, I didn't have my rifle with me but I did have my pistol. Taking it out of the holster I pointed forward as I started to run, the battle was almost in melee range apparently but it was much forward. I had to rescue Yuli and identify the threat that could destroy our Burias.
The hundred meters felt more like a kilometer but I finally reached my destination, part of the Buria was burning but thankfully not the turret where the position of commander was occupied by an unconscious Yuli. I climbed it and reached him, he was bleeding with shrapnel wounds and some fire damage to his body, but he looked alive. I took him with both my hands and tried to pull him out of the turret.
I slipped and I fell off the turret, falling to the ground with Yuli. The pain increased in me as the back of my head had a constant pain that wouldn't allow me to think and I was crushed by Yuli unconscious body.
I tried to move, I tried to recover, but blood started to slowly leave my body as the pain forced me to fail all my attempts to get out of this situation.
"Captain Yuli, here the second platoon, we have archived a breakthrough, we will try to flank other enemy units"
I felt proud that Yuli had implemented my plan exactly how I explained it to him. Any platoon that achieved breakthrough had to surround and flank other infantry enemies in order to achieve overwhelming supremacy and destroy as much of the enemy infantry as possible.
Yet, there was only one part of my plan that failed, they had anti tanks guns or at least powerful explosives, that singular thing had ruined everything. This would be my fault, both if the captain dies or if the offensive fails because of the absence of the captain.
I couldn't allow that to happen, as I bled out and as the pain didn't allow me to live in peace. I took the radio.
"This is Lieutenant Tanya von Degurechaff, the Captain is unconscious, there is no time to reorganize the command structure nor are there other higher officers so until our Captain recovers his conscience I will be giving the orders. First platoon, continue to give artillery support to the front, second platoon continue your flanking operations and help the third and fourth platoon. Fifth platoon, status of your situation"
"Lieutenant Rob here, we are winning, but those fuckers have explosives, I have lost ten of my men allready"
Those were the ones that hit us?
"To the first company, do not give support to the Fifth platoon, the enemy they are confronting have anti-tank capacities, second platoon, try to flank the enemies of the Fifth platoon. Now!"
"Roger that!" Answered all the lieutenants and Turt at the same time, in the case that I had lost the capacity to carry and give orders I had put Turt as my second in command, he already had taken that role as I was out, acting as the head of the first platoon.
I took a deep breath, I could ask for help but it would affect our offensive capacities, the Buria needed all the crew in order to be efficient, in fact probably the commander was the only more or less expendable gear of the Buria.
With all my effort I moved Yuli to one side, I finally achieved something, I stood up as I could, felt the blood soaking my uniform as I moved Yuli slowly to a cover near the Buria, around me the tall buildings didn't give any security but in the ground there were several places that could act as a cover, even if a good sniper in any of those buildings could take him down, I had to trust that there was not such a sniper right now there, waiting to kill me and the captain.
I looked to the Buria, the rest of the crew, part of my platoon, probably were still there, unconscious. I bit my lower lip.
What type of officer leaves his soldiers behind? In all my life I was expected to take care of my subordinates, this life is not different, and these troops, they were different, they were not the regular scum, they were the best soldiers I could find in the other platoons but for some reason no one wanted them. They were the elite between the elite that I had selected from the unorganized useless prisoners.
Losing them when I could save them would mean I would lose human resources because I am to lazy to fucking move with some minor wounds.
I moved again to the Buria, blaster fire flew all around me, explosions were continuous and the radio informed me constantly of where the troops of the company were and what they were doing all the time. After ten minutes I rescued the recharger of the autoloader and the gunner. But I still had to rescue the driver, I looked up, the stars could be seen as all the city had the illumination off, the sight was beautiful if it wasn't for some smoke flying up to the air. I had no strength left in my body, all my clothes were soaked in blood.
I had to rescue the last one.
"I have to fucking move, there is no time to be lazy!" I said as I stood up from the cover where I left Yuli and the other two, I moved again to the Buria and entered into it, the driver was unconscious as the rest and then I saw, in the durasteel armor there was a deformation, the explosive hit the front of the Buria, it didn't penetrate but the blast was strong enough to knock me and the whole crew unconscious.
I took the driver in my arms and moved slowly out of the Buria, the task was comparable to feeling all my body being crushed while I had to carry something, yet, I didn't allow myself to be lazy. After I left the Buria it was only a few meters until the cover, when I reached it I collapsed to the floor, I could barely move.
"This is second platoon, we have killed the enemy of the fifth platoon, we are going to encircle the enemies of the third and fourth"
I smiled, the breakthrough had been achieved.
I moved myself slowly so I could lay my back against the cover, I was surrounded by my unconscious comrades and Captain, I smiled at a good job accomplished. I could have been lazy and allowed them to potentially die as the Buria was on fire. But instead, I saved them.
I was a good officer, I was a good human resources manager.
In the penal division, desertion meant execution, cowardice meant execution, refusing your superior orders meant execution.
With that in front and no benefit behind, why would one charge against the enemy lines knowing for sure that he would die?
That's what Reu thought as he walked in the dark streets of the city, he was part of the second company and had escaped in the middle of the battle. Between the choice of death and living free if he achieved freedom, for him there was no decision to be made. He would die to try to earn his freedom.
But he was now lost in the city, he guided himself with the sound of the blasters, when they were strong he went in the other direction.
His rifle in his hands and with the darkness around him he finally achieved reaching a main street, from there he could run away without losing himself in the labyrinth of the city.
"Soldier, help me!" Said a feminine voice. It surprised so much Reu that he turned around, something like twenty meters away there was a burning vehicle of some type that he didn't know and in front of him was a very young woman covered in blood, just by a simple look he could tell that she was was bleeding to death, around her there were four people, of which one he identified as a commissar.
That meant she was a fellow prisoner, just as him, he approached her and looked closely.
"You are severely wounded, let me help you."
He was a medic before being arrested for insulting a rich person, just because of that insult he was forced to be a prisoner all his life, the government was an authoritarian regime that benefited from semi slavery work, he called the revolutionaries dumb idiots until he suffered the injustice in himself.
Since then he had also been a revolutionary, although he couldn't help much in prison.
"Done" He said, the head of the girl was completely covered in bandages and lodium, a liquid that helped to disinfect and stop the bleeding process, of course they would not give a criminal division bacta. Their lives were worth nothing, they had to cure their wounded with backward technology just because for their government they were expendable as a rifle.
Palpatinist, loyalist to Skywalker. It didn't matter which side of the planet you were fighting for, both were oppressive governments that ruined the lives of their citizens in their own favor, the revolutionaries were the only ones that were for the people by the people.
"Thank you very much, soldier" She said… "Can you please look after the captain and the rest, I don't want them to die"
She probably was half conscious, the amount of blood lost was dangerous and in the case he didn't find her she would have probably died.
He looked to the commissar, and instead of attending him first he attended to the rest of the prisoners, they were wounded but not severely, but probably would remain unconscious for an hour or more.
He looked to the commissar, he could heal him, but he already wasted enough of his time saving his comrades lives and they were probably searching for him. He already had done what any good person would do.
"Good bye," He said to the girl as he left her a bottle of painkillers and antibiotics. As an ex-medic he acted as the medic of his platoon so he had access to medicine.
"Wait…"
He was already leaving when she reclaimed his attention again, he turned around and looked her directly in the eyes, she was wounded, near collapse, yet she had her right hand pointed at him with her pistol pointing at him.
"You are a…" She almost collapsed in the same moment she said those words, but she kept herself awake with pure will. "Deserter"
He pointed his rifle to her.
"We all are comrades, I saved your life"
"Desertion… is penalized with death"
She had the finger on the trigger, she was almost near to death but yet she was more than willing to execute him.
"Why would you kill me?! For a government that oppresses us? What crime did you commit? What ridiculous law did you break? The government failed us and now they use us as expendable manpower for a civil war they started."
"I was born in the prison" She commented slowly.
"Then come with me! The revolution will be near, as the oppressive governments kill the poor and the oppressed in their wars, we the people are organizing a massive revolution to change the ideology and end the oppression!"
A blaster shot was heard, Reu fell to the floor with a wound in his right hand, the rifle flew out, so he lay disarmed, yet he didn't know if she did that on purpose or if she missed the shot.
"Fucking communist." She commented, coughing, for Reu it didnt made any sense what she said, what was communist?
"But you saved my life, treat my Captain and I will allow you to escape"
"Why, why support your oppressors?! All your life in the prison made you dumber than the average compliant citizens of this damned planet?!"
"Hierarchy, discipline, law, order. I respect them."
"Even if they are against you?!"
"That's capitalism, you fight no matter your condition or situation in order to have a better position, and through those selfish actions you help the economy and the society. I will become a free citizen, I will open a company somewhere and I will die free and with money"
She was fucking delirious, how a person could believe that you can advance in a system like this? She was worse than a conformist, she would collaborate with her oppressors if she perceived that she would gain some type of benefit.
"You are dumb, no, worse than dumb, you are a traitor to the people and good of the planet"
"Shut the fuck up commie, treat him or you die here"
The girl's response infuriated him even more, however he gave in, approached Yuli and in awkward minutes treated the captain, leaving him stable to survive the next few days.
"Can I leave now?" He asked, with his right arm wounded, his eyes fueled with hate.
"You know…" She started to talk, "I should…kill you… you will hate me all your life… you will be other Mary Sioux… that's my bad luck of always..:"
She laughed as Reu still didn't understand what she was talking about, except for the fact that she would betray her promise and kill him now.
"But…you don't have magic… you are just another man among a million that wants me dead… run, run and don't turn around. I will keep my… promise, I haven't seen you and you haven't seen me"
Reu gulped as he slowly turned around, expecting her in any moment to shoot him in the back, as she was probably lying, but as he advanced she didn't shoot, he started to run and she didn't shoot and when he escaped from her view he stopped running. He almost died there for an idiot, for helping others… but that was the spirit of the revolutionaries. To help the ones in need…
That girl… she was part of that system, one of the reasons why this system has kept itself alive for thousands of years, compliance and a false sense that the prisoners could escape their faith. The unprivileged begged for mercy of the privileged while the privileged laughed at them.
He will escape this nightmare and join the revolutionary numbers. He had to give his part, his experiences and his skills as a medic to the revolution. And if he has any luck, to reach a power of position to help those like that girl.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tanya opened her eyes, she was in a field hospital bed, some minutes after the deserter fled she had fallen unconscious. She looked around and saw Yuli reading a book and the rest of the crew talking.
She had saved their lives.
"How did the offensive go?" She asked, surprising all the present, a medic approached her and lectured the computer showing her vitals as the Captain looked at her with eyes of compassion, fury and shame. Had her plan failed so much? She asked herself in fear as the Captain did not speaked.
"We have won, the city is ours."
Tanya smiled, she had secured victory, she almost started to cry, not because she had survived, but because all her predictions, all the planification, everything made sense, the deserter was a fool that thought she needed salvation. She didn't, she would save herself, she would become a free citizen.
She would gain her liberty through battle.
"That's… great to hear Captain"
The Captain looked at Tanya that was near to crying and he for a moment felt like a monster. He almost executed this child, she was raised between criminals in a prison for the crime of being created by the love of two prisoners, she had been raised without a parenting figure, she had known war so young.
What did he expect of her? To act like the rest of the people he knew, that could access education, health, wealth systems. They had freedom and could study philosophy, and had the right to buy what they wanted to eat.
She was a creation of a system, a chimera of everything that is wrong with this planet. A child soldier that has been a prisoner since birth, does everything she can in order to achieve victory for a planet that had failed her.
She wasn't the monster, all this time he was the monster, for supporting the system, for looking down at the criminals. Yet, he dared to call her a monster, he even tried to execute her.
With what right, with what fucking right could he execute a child? She was born with nothing else than a system that oppressed her, she was a construction of her surroundings, it wasn't her fault to be like that.
"I am sorry… for everything" He commented, leaving Tanya without knowing what to answer, as she didnt know why Yuli felt bad, why he felt like a monster, as when he fired his pistol his Buria was hit with the explosive, making him miss the shot.
Tanya's death was avoided by the enemy actions.
"I don't know why you feel bad, Captain, but don't worry, we did our best and we dealt with the circumstances to the best of our capacities. With this victory I am sure we both will be able to live another day and defeat our enemies again"
Yuli bit his lower lip.
"Would you like to become my assistant? You would still be Lieutenant of the first platoon, but you would be the second in command in the company and well, my assistant in all matters related with the company"
Tanya was celebrating inside her head a complete victory, she ascended again without needing to do anything too relevant. She could savor becoming a free citizen after the civil war.
"Yes, I would like to be your assistant, thank you very much" Tanya answered with a smile.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The General looked at Captain Yuli, he was wounded but he was recovering, his heroism in the battle of the city was noted and he was going to be given medals to honor his bravery.
His trust in Colonel Ortorio after all his proposals, plans and improvisations increased so much that after Ortorio asked the General to talk with one of his captains he acceded. The Colonel and the Captain were friends and he as a General was used to one friend that gained a position of privilege wanting his friend to share that position with him. He wouldn't mind ascending the captain if he asked for it. Of course with the required support to him in any military council, in the end favors in the military runned the things around.
"Are you enjoying the food?" The General asked Yuli, both were sitting in the outskirts of the city, lavish meals were all around the table, so much food that Yuli was sure his entire company could eat from it and all of them would be full. Why then did his general eat all this food while the soldiers ate once a day?
"Yes, I do General, thank you very much for your consideration"
The General nodded with satisfaction as he cut himself a piece of bistec and ate it, accompanied with one of the finest wines he had access to.
Yuli stopped eating after some courtesy bites. He was hungry but he felt like he would vomit for each bite he took to this food, the injustice was too big for him to support.
"I have heard you have been a key element to the offensive that has conquered the city, I am glad to hear that and I have contacted with my fellow generals of the Military Junta, they agree with giving you a medal for your bravery and leading your troops from the front"
Yuli would feel happy about it if it wasn't for the fact that he falled unconscious and almost all orders were given by Tanya.
"I am thankful for that." answered Yuli as he drank some water instead of the wine.
"Yes… so… Ortorio has talked me about you in a very good light, I was thinking about the possibility of offering you the privilege of asking me anything, I believe if you want I could pass you to an actual division instead of this shitty penal division, or maybe an promotion, would you like to have your salary raised? Ask me anything"
Yuli owed Tanya a lot, not only for how much she had helped him but for how he almost killed her while she wasn't the monster, this society was the monster.
"I would like to make Tanya von Degurechaff, Lieutenant of my first Platoon to be my assistant, with a state salary according to her rank and position"
The general looked at him with surprise, the general was fat, bald, and very ugly in appearance and though some scars in his face showed that if he had a glorious past, it was so many decades ago that it didn't actually matter anymore.
"Are you sure about that? You will use this favor I am giving to you for something so stupid like that…? Oh, I get it now"
The General smiled, understanding why the captain wanted a very young woman as his assistant, without knowing that his understanding was completely corrupt and false.
"You like them young, alright, I don't mind it, yeah, I will do it"
"I think you misinterpreted my intentions" Commented Yuli as soon as he realized that his General was worse than he thought before.
"Yes, yes, everyone says that, do not worry, who hasn't had a favorite female soldier in the army as an officer, and the younger the tighter, also she is a prisoner, is not like she can reject you. You can leave, I will grant you her, do not worry" He commented with a mangy and disgusting grin, Yuli felt angry at him yet he decided not to fight him for his clearly demeaning comment and decided to leave the camp.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first company was resting in the outskirts of the city facing the enemy direction, they had destroyed the enemy and now awaited orders while resting and some units were cleaning the streets of any enemy left behind. Some deserters of the division escaped but the first company was the company with an incredible number of zero deserters.
Tanya's campaign of killing deserters in the early days had been useful to avoid desertion in the battle for the city.
As the company laughed, played, slept or kept guard watching over the horizon, Yuli looked at a shop, behind the glass there was enough food for thousands of men, some citizens were living their normal life in the city even as the battle was going on yet in this part there was no one.
He took a cigarette and started to smoke from it as he took a rifle of one of his soldiers that were resting. He broke the glass of the supermarket with butt of the gun, no alarm sounded and he smiled as he continued to break the glass enough so a person could pass without damaging itself. His body still had bandages from the wounds yet it was clear that he already did not feel pain for how he moved.
"As the fat fucker of the General keeps eating lavish meals you all eat once a day. That's kinda unfair, I think for saving this city from the tyranny of the Palpatinist you all deserve a little bit of payment, you can take anything to eat or whatever except alcohol, do not worry of punishment, as I will take all responsibility"
Slowly, the ones that were resting approached the commissar, some entered the supermarket others looked at him with surprise, likely not knowing what to do. But as soon as they got through the glass the soldiers saw someone eating sausages like it was the last day he would be alive everyone started to enter in an organized way.
Under Tanya and the Commissar vigilance, no one dared to act as a savage, yet they ate like ones as soon as they were inside the supermarket. Tanya approached Yuli with a worried face.
"Why?" She asked,
"Because this world isn't fair, so fuck the world, my troops will be well fed no matter what, you can go in, you should eat also, you clearly haven't eaten anything good all your life…"
"I am not hungry…"
She was so used to not eating that for her two meals a day was a privilege, yet her morality didn't allow her to sack the business of a good man that had probably abandoned the city fearing the war and when he will return will see his market destroyed and sacked.
"Wait for me here" Said Yuli, as he entered the supermarket, some minutes passed and Tanya noticed how her hands were shaking without her being able to stop it, she hide them in her uniform, that was a common thing since she left the hospital, she didn't knew if it was a problem of her body or mind. But neither of them were good news.
Yuli appeared after a few minutes from the supermarket, in one of his hands he had a chocolate cake and in the other a bag of things she didn't know.
He approached her and sat on the floor, she mimicked him and sat too. He opened the plastic that had cake inside and took from the bag two forks, he gave one to Tanya and kept one for himself.
"We are celebrating your promotion to be my assistant officially, second in command of the company and with an official salary"
She was completely surprised by the good news, yet she felt reluctant to feed herself with the cake.
"You have stolen it… this is illegal…"
"Would it stop being illegal if I paid in one bank paying terminal all my money for all the problems caused? Five thousand credits, it might not cover all the sacking, but I think it covers this cake and the things I brought to you"
"Did you… really do it?"
"Yes"
For Yuli it was cute that Tanya acted as a monster, yet felt so scared to break the law, probably a trauma of her being in prison since birth.
She took one piece of the cake and ate it, after that she took one, and another, she started to cry as for the first time in years she had eaten something sweet.
"Thank you" She said, with her mouth full of cake and tears falling from her eyes.
"Its okay, you don't owe me anything, instead, I owe you everything"
He almost killed an innocent soul, he had to pay for his crimes. He would protect her and make her a free citizen as soon as he could, it's the least he could do for her.