บท 16: Rescue

Yuri was taking a look through the binoculars while lying low in the snow on a cliff in a mountainous region. Beside him were Nataly and Tanya.

"Map?", asked Yuri while looking over to Nataly. She rummaged in one of her pockets and took out a compact folded map and a compass.

Looking over it after it was presented to him Yuri studied it a little.

"From the geography, I would guess this was a former mine for iron and the likes." He was looking through his binoculars again and sighed a little. "Pretty old though and abandoned. Makes sense they would hide here knowing the local ground better..."

Yuri was talking about the revolting party that was gathered in a camp at the foot of the cliff they were on.

"Some exercise this has become..." he handed over his binoculars to Tanya. "There are about 3 times as many enemies as we have soldiers. They still haven't found out about our presence so we have an advantage."

Yuri wanted to know how capable this little girl was. He did notice the fear the other cadets showed her and in his mind, it made little sense.

So he simply took her with him to quickly forge a plan on the go after gathering intel about the strength of the enemy. Maybe he could even get her to retreat. It still bothered him somewhat what this girl was in the military.

"We could distract them and kite some of their troops away from this location.", suggested Tanya after looking around.

"I thought the same. Some of the mages in the unit could use explosion formulas to make a big enough distraction in the vicinity. But there is a certain possibility they will not move far in pursuit. There is also something else. If you look further to the left you can see a few of our people being kept hostage."

Tanya nodded. "So the group that makes the distraction also needs to engage in combat. An ambush coupled with pinning the enemy down long enough so that the infiltration group gets the people out."

Yuri widened his eyes and looked at her. It was one thing to follow someone's train of thought that well but guerilla tactics were not yet widely spread.

Maybe there was actually something about this little girl and it felt unnerving somehow. He felt like her behavior was not even fitting her age. But then again who was he to talk.

"Correct...", confirmed Yuri. "Problem is we are working with mostly greenhorns here. Some off the men I can vouch for since I trained them but I am not sure about the others. Besides that, I will have to take some of the more experienced cadets with me to infiltrate to make it a higher chance of success. So I have to ask if you can handle command over the second group together with Eli?"

Tanya gave back the binoculars and nodded firmly.

"Don't worry about that. I am a mage myself so I know how we can handle it. We are also fighting against a barely trained militia."

"...Fine. Here, take a look at this." He pointed at the map again "There is a river running down at this position that was used to wash most of the ore. Execute the ambush around there. It is far enough to not let them notice our operation and we can later come and join up with you."

Tanya nodded to that plan.

"Now, let's compare the time. At 1410 we commence with the plan. Can you send over cadet Frünlich(Mika) and his rabbit unit? That is about all the units I will need."

Now it was Tanya that was surprised. "Are you certain? With those 4 you will be barely 6 men strong?"

"Don't worry about it. That is enough men. It´s all I will need."

Besides that Yuri wanted to make sure the others have enough firepower to stay alive on their own. But knowing Eli would be there he was sure he could hold out at least a certain time.

The biggest factor that bound them most was their ammunition running out too fast before they could infiltrate and get out.

"Understood." With confirming his order, albeit what looked with slight contemplation, Tanya crawled away and made her descend towards the other cadets to tell them the plan.

Shortly after 4 other guys came over. It was Mika and his unit.

"Hey there. Ready for some heroic actions you will be remembered by?", asked Yuri with a small smile.

"If anyone else would have said that I would have called them crazy. But I believe you, commander. If you think we can pull this off then so be it.", told Mika him back and the other three also nodded.

"Heh, it looks like all the training I put into you was not in vain. Don't worry. We will soon get back to a warmer place and you can enjoy your beers and celebrate about a victory and having done more than most other cadets could wish for. Maybe a few medals will wait as well, who knows."

Yuri smirked and looked at the time. Then a rumbling bang sounded a certain distance from their location and one could see smoke and debris flying upwards.

The soldiers that were below them got agitated as if a hornet's nest was pricked. More than half of them rushed off to the scene of the explosion.

Waiting a little bit more Yuri went into a crouching position. "Gentlemen, it is time for us to show these guys what it means to take up weapons against the empire. Nataly, take a sniping position and give us cover fire. Mika and the rest, on me!"

With that order, everyone went to work.

They quickly climbed down a rather blind spot that was now understaffed and came on the same level as the mine entrance.

Yuri let the guys spread a little and they moved slowly towards the point where their comrades were held.

At one point Yuri had to keep extremely quiet behind a small crate because a soldier was directly in front of him. He didn't notice at first because it looked like he was pissing not too far away to the side.

Yuri thought that he could get away pretty smoothly after waiting for a little but the person noticed a sound and looked in his direction.

So he had to act and grabbed the guy after kicking the backside of one knee and holding him in a choke after he lost his balance. All the same, he pointed his knife at his throat.

"Shhh...", hushed Yuri.

The guy was frozen solid in fear and Yuri slowly dragged him away to a location that was another blind spot where he finally stabbed him dead. He had no time to waste on choking him unconscious.

Then he took the guys rifle a proceeded on. The others from his unit also did a splendid job in keeping low and terminating a few other threats.

When Yuri was finally at the point where the MPs were held hostage he could see two guards.

Yuri looked over at Mika at another location and he nodded in return. Then with a simple and well-trained throw of the bayonet from the rifle, that he stole from the other soldier, he landed a clean hit into the head of one of the guards.

And Mika had simultaneously grabbed the other guy after positioning himself well enough and cleanly terminated him.

Then they went ahead and freed the hostages and gave them all the guns that they had picked up of the dead.

"Gentlemen, fire at will!" With that order, Yuri went behind cover and started firing indiscriminately at the rebels that were completely caught of guard.

It didn't even take long with all the support fire Nataly was giving them and the camp was cleared from any threat in no time.

"Good, this position is clear. Now we need to help out the second group. On the double!" Yuri started walking in front of the people.

The MP´s were frowning but still executing orders like machines.

The child in front of them that was walking over so many corpses in front of them seemed so surreal to them. Even more so than the fact they were saved by this child. Gratitude with a mixture of awe and fear seemed to seep into their hearts.