Capítulo 17: Squad Story: The Riverwood Bargain
February 7, 1941
"Finally some time off…" Drifa said stretching her arms
"It's only a few hours when you think about it" Edna replied with a sigh
"Come on. Don't be a killjoy. You have to learn to loosen up from time to time"
"You know, Drifa… Sometimes, I wonder how you managed to get into the police force with that laid back attitude"
"I just know when to let loose if the time allows it. You should try it sometimes, Edna. It'll help reduce those wrinkles inn your face. Maybe a guy will finally take interest in you once those wrinkles disappear"
"Sh-Shut up!"
"Hey. Isn't that Sonia? "
"Huh? Where?"
"Over there by the ammo cache"
"Yeah it is her"
"Want to go say hi?"
"Eh why not?"
The two then walk towards the Darcsen soldier as she was looking at a photograph
"Hey Sonia" Edna said as she and Drifa sit down "Where's Aster?"
"Hi" Sonia replied while pocketing her photograph "Aster's by the cliff. Smoking again"
"Really? Hmm… Well I guess this is as good a time as any"
"Good time for what?"
"I've noticed that Aster's kind of… uh… different. You see I knew Aster way back. He kept mostly to himself but he was didn't really sulk or at least not as much as now…"
"So you can see it too"
"Kind of obvious when you look at his eyes… Mind if I know what's been troubling him?"
Sonia then stares at Aster, who just lit another cigarette, as Desmond walks in and sits near Drifa.
"Is it story time?" he asked
"Desmond?!" Edna responded
"Well. Well. If it isn't the rookie"
"What do you want?"
"Whoah there. Retract those claws. I'm as much as an old friend to Aster as you are"
"What?"
"It's true" Drifa added "Desmond used to live in Riverwood"
"Him?" Edna said "He used to live there? Ha! That's laughable"
"Doesn't really matter if you believe it" Desmond replied "But this isn't about you, is it? We're all talking about Aster, right?"
"Ok. Ok" Sonia interjected "Let's not get at each other's throats"
"She's right" Drifa said "Sonia. Can you tell us what you were going to say?"
"Ok"
I'm not sure if you guys know but I served alongside Aster and the others during the war. I was a… totally different person back then. But thanks to Croix, I managed to loosen up over the years. Maybe it was because of that, I decided to move into Riverwood after the war.
Aster was devastated by everyone's deaths. I mean he's the only one to survive. I always knew that he was haunted by their deaths but it didn't seem so bad up until 3 years ago.
You guys may not know it but there was an Imperial officer who defected to the militia during the war. Her name was Emilia. I don't know the whole story but she and Aster were very close. I'd say that they may be an item really but he always denies that. Thinking back, I realize that Emilia did have quite an impact in Aster's life…
1937
Riverwood, Gallia
I assume you all know, at least, what generally happened throughout the civil war. I don't know if you people know this but after the GRA took control of Randgriz in September, they began raiding the provinces for supplies, equipment, manpower, and Darcsens. Many towns and villages were burned down because they failed to meet a quota or refused to hand over some Darcsens.
Up until October, the civil war barely touched Riverwood. We had the occasional raids but the town was far enough from the frontlines that we managed to live in relative peace. After Randgriz fell, refugees started flooding into town and most of them didn't even come from Randgriz. No. Many of them came from the towns and villages the rebels destroyed.
October 10
I was hunting some boar in a forest just outside of town. The forest was really close to the border but it was the best place to hunt so every time I go hunting there I always go to the nearby Imperial garrison to inform them of what I was doing. Their racist side comments aside, they always allowed me to hunt. That was always the norm every few weeks to the point that some of the Imperials already know me by face.
Anyway, I was hunting some boar when I spotted the silhouettes of 2 people. I was kind of far from them so I couldn't really make out who those people were. Now, before moving into Riverwood, I had a long standing hatred for the Imperials. I was a totally different person than I am now so with that context, I was a bit suspicious of the 2 silhouettes.
I silently crept closer but by the time I got to their location, there was only one person there and that was Emilia.
"Emilia?" I said emerging from the bush I was hiding in
"Sonia?" she responded "What are you doing here?"
"I'm hunting the kids' dinner. What are you doing here?"
"N-Nothing… J-Just going for a walk"
"Quite a far walk. You know, Aster may get worried"
"Oh come on. I am not a child, let alone his child!"
"Sure. Sure. Anyhow, I have to go back to hunting. See you later"
"R-Right. See you later"
October 17:
At around 9 in the morning, a squad of rebel soldiers arrived in town and demanded that Riverwood hand over all the Darcsens in town. You heard that right. The GRA demanded Riverwood hand over all Darcsens, not just the refugees.
After the rebels left, I approached Aster. "Please tell me the mayor isn't just going to hand us over"
"Relax. The mayor told the rebels to give us an hour. So we have an hour to prepare"
"Prepare?"
"Yeah. We'll show our reply loud and clear"
"Oh that's good"
I was really happy to hear that nobody in town was willing to surrender to the GRA. This actually inspired some of the refugees, including some Darcsens, to join in the defense but we didn't have enough weapons to arm everyone. This forced us to literally fight with only 1 gun. The town watchmen had to lend their pistols so everyone has a weapon.
An hour later:
True to their word, the rebels return within the hour but we greeted with the barrels of our guns.
"What is the meaning of this?!" the rebel leader shouted "You all dare to oppose the Archduke?!"
"We swore fealty to Archduchess Cordelia!" Aster shouted back "Riverwood has no obligations over you!"
"Death it is then!"
We opened fire the second those rebels raised their guns. One went down but the other 2 mnaged to find cover.
We carefully planned out our formation. Most of the town watchmen, including me, were stationed by the entrance arch. We fortified our positions with sandbags and some leftover steel from a building the town recently demolished.
It was an uphill battle for the rebels to even reach the entrance arch. Aster and the other town watchmen had been planning Riverwood's defense in case of a rebel attack since the civil war started. Though the rebels were just as relentless. No matter how many we gun down, more just keep coming. It's almost as if they sent an entire battalion just to capture refugees.
"TANKS!" a town watchman shouted as 2 Gallian light tanks speed through the enemy squads and fired
"Shit!" Aster shouted as we all ran away from our positions "RUN!"
The entrance arch took 2 direct hits causing it to collapse. A few town watchmen got caught in the rubble. They were still alive but they were stuck and the rebels finally managed to advance.
Aster quickly reorganized everyone and got us to go back and help the wounded but there was no way to move the concrete without the right tools.
"We can't get them out!" a town watchman said
"Rebels are getting close!" another town watchman reported
"No!" Aster retorted, firing on the advancing rebels "Find a way! Everyone who can shoot, help me keep those rebels out of town! Th-"
Aster was cut-off by another 2 tank shells, destroying part of the outside wall.
At the same time, a couple of refugees ran out holding a few sledgehammers. They wasted no time in smashing the rubble and freeing each pinned body part, piece by piece.
With the rescue covered, I quickly ran to Aster.
"I need a lancer!" he shouted as a town watchman, in the building on our left, fired a rocket
He managed to destroy one tank but the other retaliated with a shell that demolished the building's 2nd floor.
The rebels intensified their approach but, by then, the trapped town watchmen were free so we quickly ran to the 2nd defensive line in town square. We took cover behind some fortified kiosks and buildings.
The rebels poured from the hole in the wall and what's left of the entrance arch but we were ready to greet them. Between us and the rebels is a somewhat big stretch of open area surrounded by a few buildings.
They got us pinned down by heavy machinegun and tank fire but once the tank was halfway through that open area, Aster gave the order by the radio. "NOW!"
On cue, a town watchman fires a rocket from one of the buildings, destroying the tank. The second the tank explodes, more town watchmen and armed refugees emerge from the surrounding buildings and opened fire on the rebels.
It was a trap we set up. The rebels walked right into a killzone we established and boy was it a slaughter. In less than a few minutes, we were pushing the rebels out of town.
We were ready to call it a victory but then, the rebels had another surprise. Surprisingly, a single rebel, wearing some kind of weird metal armor, was walking towards town while the other rebels were running away.
I don't know how to describe his armor but all I can say is that I've never seen an armor with what looks like spiral antennas on the back. That and the ridiculous mask the rebel was wearing. But what got my attention was the cannon, the shield, and that blue glow.
The rebel fired a shot from his cannon, destroying the entrance arch further. There's no mistaking that straight blue beam. That was a valkyrur's beam.
The rebels were so serious in purging us Darcsens that they were willing to send those kinds of weapons against small towns.
We threw everything we had at him but me, Aster, and Emilia all knew that it is useless. We faced off against a valkyrur before and fighting one head-on is suicide. I could feel the morale sinking but we were already committed in this fight so Aster had us regroup.
Addendum:
Emilia stared at the enemy soldier as the town watchmen frantically set up defensive positions around her. She was deep in thought and seemed to be pondering something.
Eventually, she decided to quietly and quickly run to the town watchman's HQ while everyone else was focused in the fighting.
Once inside, she looked for a ham radio. Upon finding one, she quickly sat down and brought out a piece of paper from her pocket, in it was a specific radio frequency.
She quickly dials the frequency.
"You called?" a sultry female voice said
"You know why I called"
"So you have accepted?"
"You will follow your end of the bargain, correct?"
"I always do"
"Then yes"
"Very good. Consider your request done"
That single rebel managed to take back the ground they lost in less than 5 minutes. Having the destructive power and invincibility of a valkyrur, no one could stand up to that.
Several people had died trying to kill that lone rebel. It looked like the rebels were ready to burn the town to the ground since that rebel valkyrur would fire on empty buildings from time to time.
I can't remember when but, eventually, a couple of Darcsen refugees charged towards the rebel. They unloaded their pistols to no effect and started swarming the rebel but he easily shook them off and was about to literally obliterate a few of them at point blank range when, all of a sudden, Aster emerged from cover and started unloading his rifle.
Normally, his shots wouldn't do anything but I noticed the blue glow was gone and Aster's bullets were finally hitting. I rallied as many fighters as I could and we overwhelmed the rebel. It took several shots from various weapons around his body to finally put him down.
After that, we rushed to the entrance arch. Now that I think about it, it is kind of weird that the rebels didn't follow behind that valkyrur but all we found was a decimated rebel unit.
Destroyed tanks and so much more dead rebels than I first counted… Someone else took care of the rebels while that single valkyrur was terrorizing us but we never knew who did it though…
1941:
"So there" Sonia continued "Riverwood was saved and only the entrance arch up until town square suffered heavy damage"
"So what's this got to do with Aster's recent attitude?" Desmond asked
"10 town watchmen, 7 non-Darcsen refugees, and 9 Darcsen refugees died that day…"
"Does he feel responsible?" Edna asked
"I guess so… He still blames himself for the deaths of his childhood friends 6 years ago"
"What about Emilia?" Drifa asked
"Now that you mention it, I lost track of Emilia during the fighting but I saw her packing her bags the next day. I asked why she was packing and all she said was that she had to return to her family in the Empire"
"She went back to the Empire?"
"Yeah. She left a week later. Aster was sad but he seemed to understand but it was obvious he missed Emilia. After that, he developed a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and smoking on a cliff facing the Imperial border"
"Must be hard for him since we're fighting the Empire" Edna said
Sonia solemnly nods. "That doesn't even begin to describe how he feels…"
"But wait" Drifa added "You said Emilia defected to Gallia during the invasion, right? Why would she return to the Empire? Wouldn't she be executed as a traitor?"
"Yeah… I'm wondering about that too but I don't know why she decided to go home 2 years after her defection and now, she's still alive and serving in the Imperial army so your guess is as good as mine"
Addendum:
1937
Riverwood Border (Imperial Side):
Emilia walks into an interrogation room inside the Imperial fort, inside was a table and 2 chairs facing each other.
The former Imperial officer sits down on one chair as the door opens behind her. A woman, wearing a formal Imperial officer uniform, walks into the room and sits opposite of her.
"Major Lualdi" the woman said
"I got your message" Emilia replied "What is this about?"
"I will cut to the chase. You know you're a traitor, right? Aiding the Gallians in the last months of the war and also directly participating in the deaths of several Imperial officers and soldiers, my father among them.
"Let me guess. You are related to Lt. Kwad Tulius"
"What makes you say that?"
"Call it a hunch and the fact that you threatened an entire town… I don't know, it feels like those kinds of threats come with the family"
"Haha! You developed quite the attitude. Did you think there would be no repercussions just because you managed to kill most of the people who knew you?"
"Huh?"
"Your family in Lendorf? They are under Okhrana's custody now. They are still alive, don't worry, but… not for long"
"So the secret police managed to figure out everything…"
"I must commend your skills though. You were quite thorough in cleaning after yourself but you can't clean everything"
"Tch… You want me to return to the Empire and face execution?"
"Execution? If I wanted to do that, I'd already have you pinned to the wall and handcuffed right about now. No. I have other plans for you, major"
"What are these plans?"
"Work for me and I will ensure your safety and, more importantly, your family"
"Work for you? In the army? Tell me, how will you be able to prevent Okhrana from harming my family? You think they'd listen to an Imperial officer? You should know that they only answer to the Emperor"
"Ah but that is where you are wrong. Allow me to introduce myself. General Valerie Tulius. I am both an Imperial commander and chairman of the Okhrana"
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