No Gods, Nor Masters

Italica Part 1:Besieged

HITMAN-3-1's vehicle was quiet for the day, save for the sounds of sobering rock music playing from a CD Player, with Kuribayashi processing the first up-close kill she had ever seen, her first headshot, being a boy the same age as Lelei, a girl who was with them. She stared at the floor as the transport trundled along. Meanwhile, Richard, Torres and Itami had agreed to send forward a platoon of Scouts with two Warthogs and a HMMWV that carried an M2 to make sure the next city was clear, all while Richard kept his eye on them via the Drone.

The next city over thankfully had the civilian population on the streets, according to the displays on the Drone. The Marines had taken a preliminary count of the soldiers and Mages they had killed during the battle in the previous town and had come up with about five hundred soldiers, the twenty mages, plus a hundred auxiliary troops, for a total of six-hundred twenty. According to Rory, that was about a standard local Garrison for a smaller region capital.

That didn't explain why there weren't any signs of possible resistance in the villages surrounding the main town, or any signs of the main force, for that fact, but that didn't matter. The UN had already mobilized a task force to garrison the town and surrounding area while the Main Force prepared to fight in synchronization with the UNSC's thrust. This whole plan relied on the UNSC and UN synching somewhat perfectly for the operation to push and RV in the town they were targeting.

"Hey," Torres started.

"Hm?" Richard raised a brow, not taking his eyes off the tablet that was linked to the Wombat drone following their scouts. The troopers had just dismounted and were checking the city's main boulevard. Now, calling this a city, rather than an overstretched town or commune, was a bit of a nice sentiment. It was still a trade center, it seemed, and a place where wary travelers would rest when heading on pilgrimage to the Holy Hill of Alnus, but otherwise?

The Civilians seemed to welcome the UNSC and US Marine scouts with open arms, waving to to them. Torres asked, "Do we have any intel on what the city we're aiming for is called? I wanna know something beyond City 01, City 02, et cetera. We ain't in freakin' Half-Life..." as he started packing the half-empty and empty magazines he had from the previous firefight with 5,56 from one of the cans aboard the transport.

"Anyone know?" he looked to the local girls. Lelei was still processing things herself, while Tuka was tending to her bow and Rory seemed the most content of all. The blood on the blade of her halberd had dried off, surprisingly, but they had managed to get her to clean herself. Tyuule herself was repacking her own magazines with extra AP and tracer ammunition, but she simply gave Richard a sad smile and a shake of the head.

"Italica," Lelei, surprisingly, spoke up. Everyone looked to her, which caused her to explain in a low voice, "I travelled through this place to Coda Village to study under master Cato... It is a bustling trade city, numbering twelve thousand inhabitants. It is also fortified. Walls several meters high surround it... The Formal Family rules over this land. They are kind rulers."

"Or were," Torres murmured, sighing deeply. Once he saw that took the attention of the entire transport, he sighed and explained, "One of the men belonging to the Imperial Army that invaded Ginza identified Count Formal's body before he fucked off with the rest all the way to Guantanamo. Least he identified the helmet, anyways. Fifty cals tore the poor son of a bitch to pieces..." and he lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag.

"Oh," Everyone let out the same dispassionate noise.

"Fuck me," Sighed Richard, rubbing his face and looking back down at the tablet. He zoomed in on the leading Scout Vehicle and saw that the sergeant they sent ahead, Tomita, gave a thumbs up to the Wombat. He said absently, but loud enough to be heard by everyone, "Sergeant Tomita just gave us the all-clear signal. HITMAN-3-6, -7 and -8 will be rejoining us soon..."