Battalion Wars I

Chapter 20: Bridges on the River Styx

"Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment."
-Andre Maurois

June 18th 2015
0635-6:35 Pm
Lt. Eryk C
Aboard the Battleship Jefferson
7th Army Division; Delta Battalion

"Happy Birthday!" Shouted a chorus of soldiers as I entered the mess hall.

"This is a wonderful surprise you have planned" I said. "Nothing is more important than to celebrate are Squad leader and friends birthday" said Joe.

"Thanks guys it truly means a lot to me" I said. "Enough with this friendship shit" said Donavan. "Yeah lets cut the cake already" voiced Zach.

I walked past everyone and I was soon standing before the cake. "So how old are you now" Asked Donavan. "22" I Replied.

Miles handed me a knife and I slowly lowered it down into the cake . I then continued to cut my piece and put it on my plate.

I turned around and looked to see anyone that I knew had the next birthday.

"Who had the next birthday" I cried out. "I do" replied Miles. "Then you get the next piece" I said handing him the knife.

Miles quickly cut his piece and passed the knife onto the next person.

I grabbed a fork and began eating my cake. Shortly after I finished the cake Zach approached me with a tub of ice cream.

"Chocolate or Vanilla" asked Zach.
"Vanilla" I replied. He scooped some out and placed it on my plate.

I then began eating my Ice Cream. I quickly ate my Ice Cream and put my plate with the rest of the dirty plates.

Shortly after I finished the party began to die down and a lot of people left.

Suddenly the ship started to rock and I began to slowly make my way to the upper decks.

My squad followed close behind.

We soon reached the upper decks and we found that several Xylvanian Bombers were soaring around us.

The fleet was under a large scale assault by the Xylvanian Air Force. Probably in a last ditch effort to stop are Invasion.

But soon the Bombers were retreating and they had not even scratched the Fleet. I was aboard the USS Jefferson. It was a heavily armed Battleship.

I continued my journey up to the bridge.

When I reached the bridge I was greeted by the Captain. "Well Eryk what brings you up to the bridge" said the Captain. "The bombers" I asked.

"Oh it was nothing" said the Captain. "Really Tyler" I said crossing my arms as I waited for his response.

"Ok, so we saw a group of about 24 Xylvanian Bombers coming are way and as they got closer we opened fire and shot about half of them down and they then retreated" explained Tyler.

"So now what do think is gonna happen" I asked? "Well it could be build up for a bigger assault, but I'm not sure" voiced Tyler. "Well have your men ready and contact are Aircraft carriers and tell them to ready there Jets" I said as I walked towards the door.

As I was about to leave Tyler stopped me. "Oh and Eryk" said Tyler. "Yes" I replied as I turned around. "Happy Birthday" said Tyler."Thanks" I said as I left the bridge.

The fleet sailed for another couple hours without any trouble at all.

When we reached the coast me and my squad were taken to the River. As the T-Copter landed I saw what I had.