The lost soldier (re-write)

The early battles

YN and his class are watching as the expeditionary force boards the troop ships

YN: It's been a long time since I have seen so many men under arms.

Ruby: I've never seen so many soldiers before.

YN: These men aren't soldiers, they're mercenaries. They fight not for country, but coin.

Yang: Is this what it was like in the army?

YN: Similar, the army was far more organized.

They intend to sail to the port of Pyritva and equipping themselves with the necessary gear before marching to Olikyirsk. In all honesty the "troop ships" are whatever they could get their hands on. Mainly cargo steamers and river transports. The officers and the "new army" soldiers managed to get their hands on some ferries so they had a better go of it. It started off fine but the seams and cracks began to show. One of the cargo ships sprung a leak so they had to seal off two compartments and the troops that would be in those compartments would have to be on deck, with the other troops that were already on deck. A quarter of the troops got seasick and they just threw up or lied down where they could. Some troops even climbed onto the roofs of the ships so they could lie down. Jaune, Nora, Yang, and Blake got sick and they had to be confined to their bunks, not that it did much good for them.

When they finally got to Pyritva, it took three days for everyone to regain their health. And even then, the equipment was sorely lacking, there weren't enough trucks for all the troops and the armored vehicles were not what YN was promised. The staff cars were in horrible shape. The seats were damaged and the doors had bullet holes in them, and some wouldn't start.

The food was enough, but it wasn't going to be nice. It would be salted pork, potatoes, rice, and hardtack for many of the meals. The sea air had also rusted the breach of two light field guns shut leaving them with only ten. Not every officer would get a gun. Long story short, most troops would have to march and fight on poor rations and with little support. When they started the march two trucks broke down and had to be abandoned and were put to the torch.

Once the force was finally mobile with decent speed, YN sent team CRDL and their force, minus the armor and guns, up ahead in order to take the brunt of any ambush that YN was sure would happen. Out of all the teams they were the least well equipped. YN took their "new army" troops and a good portion of their "liners" and replaced them with the "dregs" While the typical officer is supposed to have one thousand "liners", fifty "new army" and five hundred "dregs" YN comprised their units of one fifteen hundred "dregs" and fifty "liners". Needless to say, YN holds a grudge.

The first engagement was disastrous, it happened when Sky's force took gunfire and was fired at by a cannon. By the way, the "dregs" do not use smokeless powder due to their weapons. When they were routing they were understandably screaming. Cardin then thought his force was being charged so he ordered them to fire into the charging mass. That debacle ended with three hundred "dregs" killed in action, one hundred missing, presumed deserted.

A stray round caught Sky in the leg, luckily for him, it wasn't fatal, but it'd mean that he'd have to be sent back to Beacon so that he could be operated on properly. Understandably the morale of team CRD plummeted. The force that was previously under Sky's command was divided up. The "liners" were taken from team CRD and they were replaced with the "dregs" who were also used to augment the rest of team CRD.

The column only stopped for long enough to bury the dead and to get a little rest. Team CRD would again be sent at the front of the column. YN commands this so as that better troops won't be waisted.

The first battle was when they unintentionally marched straight into the flank of a defensive position. The "dregs" charged in a human wave style assault. They took heavy casualties but they managed to overwhelm the enemy with sheer force of numbers. They then held the line long enough for the combined force of team RWBY and JNPR to arrive and definitively rout the enemy forces.

Out of the five thousand six hundred "dregs" that assaulted the line one thousand four hundred lay dead with an additional thousand wounded. Regardless, this was a victory and It boosted morale. The stores of food and equipment were plundered and the expeditionary force had their first decent meal in a long time. The "new army" was equipped with captured light machine guns and assault rifles. A massive boost to their capabilities.

The armored vehicles were able to have some much needed maintenance. And much to the interest of everyone, they captured some trucks. That would mean that even fewer troops would have to walk. And much to the interest of the officers, especially YN, was the capture of three staff cars. They then converted the three old staff cars into armored cars and they made camp for the night.