Chapter 9: Invasion of Italica

"Assassin X-ray this is Spartan 5, fire mission, Grid coordinates 1-6-Tango-3-6-7-3-7-8-9-2-4-5, AG, fire for effect, over." An NCR Ranger said from his concealed location near the tree line. In front of him was an open field, about 1,000 meters long, and a large walled village was in the distance. He had binoculars and a radio with him, calling out enemy positions as he saw them. There was a loud BOOM that came from behind him, followed by a whistling sound that passed over him. Moments later, there was a large explosion 100 meters in front of the wall.

"Assassin X-ray this is Spartan 5, target, miss. Adjust, 100 meters, 12-o-clock, over." there was another BOOM and once again the artillery round screamed over his head. The explosion went over the wall this time, but from his vantage point the Ranger could tell it landed near the wall. He could see the movement of soldiers all around the area, running in circles and unsure of what to do. This is likely the first time these filthy tribals ever saw modern weapons of war. The Ranger smiled at how similar this was to the NCRs conquest of tribals in the East and North of California.

"Assassin X-ray this is Spartan 5, target, mark. Repeat, over." He said as more artillery rounds began to fire. Other forward observers began calling their own targets, ranging from suspected supply storages, military barracks, and government complexes. A few would even create holes in the wall with direct hits, creating openings that the PA can exploit when they send in their heavy weapons. Combat Engineers will then move in to clear the rubble in the holes and breaches in the wall to allow for quick access into the city.

Never before has a city in the Empire been attacked from the ground and the air.

The wind blew the waist high patches of grass all along the outside landscape of the city. The breeze blew the blades of grass, masking the stalking predator that was concealed in the field.

NCR 1st Recon, the best sharpshooters in the NCR. Not even the Rangers compared to their amazing sniping capabilities. It's not uncommon for a Sharpshooter in the 1st Recon to be capable of hitting a man from 1,000 Meters away with iron sighted rifles. They were masters of camouflage and very patient predators. They were known to wait in a single spot for days at a time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike their prey.

The sharpshooter took his position 500 meters on the outside of the wall, his body covered in natural vegetation that he plucked from the surrounding environment. His prey was anyone on the wall that was of high value, such as an officer or JSDF personnel. He was armed with a bolt action hunting rifle with an 8X powerful scope. He didn't use a bi-pod and preferred to simply rest the gun on his arm, as he always felt that bi-pods interfere with crawling. They always snagged on something. Most missions he even preferred to abandon the scope, but for this one he needed to positively ID individual targets.

Since radios were expensive, snipers typically didn't get them for solo operations. They were trusted to know what to shoot at and avoid being detected by the enemy. The sharpshooter preferred it anyway, to him this was nothing more than a shooting gallery, no different than at the festivals he grew up attending.

He looked through the scope and adjusted the focus so he could clearly see his targets. It was like the Legion, officers always waved their dick around with their fancy clothes and armor. It's almost impossible to not notice them.

He waited for the deafening sound of an explosion from the artillery rounds, that way the sound would mask his shot. He could stay in his position longer since no one would be able to tell where the shot came from. Aiming at the guy with the most expensive looking armor, he fired right as an explosion sounded.

It took a second, but the bullet reached its mark, ending the mans life. The soldier he was talking to just froze in complete horror as his superior fell in an explosion of blood.

In the corner of his scope he saw a red headed female running up to the downed man, her face riddled with fear. Next to her was another female, but with long black hair and wearing JSDF armor. The sharpshooter simply looked for more targets, he refused to ever shoot or harm a woman.

He began to take fire from the JSDF soldiers that were stationed on the wall. They had no idea where he was so they couldn't effectively engage him outside of suppressive fire. He decided to risk one more shot before relocating, which was dangerous but 1st Recon was never above a little bit of danger. He took aim at one of the JSDF soldiers and prepared to squeeze the trigger.

Itami climbed the wall after he was called by Kurokawa. He saw her treating an injured imperial officer who was shot in the chest, his armor providing no protection from the round.

"Sir, we're taking accurate fire out there. I think there's a sniper located in the field." She said to her leader.

"Kurokawa, for now focus on helping that man. The rest of you lay down suppressive fire in that field. Try to flush out the sniper." He shouted out orders and was returned with his men saying roger.

Itami took aim with his rifle and began to fire it in the direction of the shots. This sniper did not telegraph himself in anyway. There was no sound or muzzle flash, just more piled up bodies. He didn't want to risk his soldiers being killed but knew he had to engage anyway. He also felt like hitting himself for coming to Italica in the first place.

"Sir, we can't find him any..." Kurata said but was cut off for some reason. Itami guessed it was from the nearby explosion and startled him. Itami continued his fire for several more minutes, barely able to hear kurokawa say something from behind him.

When he ordered his men to cease fire his ears were ringing and he could barely hear. The attack was so sudden they didn't have time to put in their issued ear protection. Itami was almost sure he is partially deaf from all the gunshots and explosions. It felt like his ears needed to pop.

"Sir..." Kurokawa said somberly.

"What's is it sergeant?" Itami turned around and saw why she was somber. Kurata had been shot in the neck by the sniper. It grazed the side of his neck but Itami could tell it severed his coratted artery. Kurokawa was desperately holding some gauze against his neck to try and stop the bleeding but it wasn't enough. Kurata was beginning to pass out from the blood loss.

"Kurata..." Itami whispered in fear. "Kurokawa, we have to move him!" He shouted to his medic.

"Sir, if we move him without keeping pressure on his neck he'll bleed out." She said.

"But what else can we do, we need to call for a MEDIVAC." Itami said.

"I can't stop the bleeding." She said as tears began to fall.

Kurokawa was no stranger to blood. She's never had to treat a battlefield casualty, but she did treat casualties in field training or at the range. Accidents that happened during training and shooting events. But this was different, she can't save him. She could see the light fade from his eyes as more blood got past the gauze that was applied to his neck.

With one last cough of blood, Kurata passed out from blood loss. In about 15 minutes he would be brain dead from lack of oxygen. There was nothing they could do.

Itami just stared at his otaku friend. They both arrived at the unit together, him a new lieutenant and Kurata a new private. They were fast friends from their mutual like of anime and manga. They were always together and always talked about their hobbies. They even spent time outside of work to pursue their hobbies together.

Itami had no words, no one else's death affected him quite like this.

"Incoming!" Kurokawa screamed as an artillery round landed near their position. She hit the ground but Itami refused to move, he just stared at his lost friend. "Sir, we have to do something." She said.

"We'll fall back to the government complex and radio for immediate CASEVAC." He said. "We'll then begin preparations for a defense while we wait for backup." Itami picked up his dead friend and started carrying him away from the sniper. He couldn't do anything against the snipers but he needed space to think.

He won't let another friend die.

"Please sir Itami, is there anything you can do?" Princess Pina asked the JSDF officer.

"I don't know." He said. "Our back up is on their way but I'm not even sure they could stop this invasion." He looked away from her.

"How can an army be capable of such destruction?" She asked herself.

She spent her whole life preparing for this chance, the chance to prove her worth as a warrior and as a leader. But now there is nothing, no victory of honor, just an impending defeat. Her mind was filled with the horrors of what would be done to her. She would probably be sold as a slave or married off to a high ranking officer. She may even be tortured and shared among the soldiers for entertainment. Such thoughts kept her awake during the night.

Then there was the nonstop sounds of thunder and fire. Their siege weapons would not stop and reduced much of their supply and military assets to rubble. If this continued the whole city would starve in a matter of days.

"Sir." The sergeant major called to Itami. "We have command on the line, they are sending a large AirAssault force accompanied by American special forces and SEALs. They'll arrive within the next hour or two." He said and went back to the radio.

"Understood sergeant major." Itami replied.

"Who are they?" The princess asked.

"They're our allies and some of the best trained soldiers in our world." He replied.

The entire building had been turned into a makeshift CP, with maps of the entire city dotted with objects to represent friendly and enemy positions. Itami had been working with the princess to mount a defense, since he had more training and experience in this kind of warfare.

Itami started to cough again, this time violently. Kurokawa ran up to him to make sure he was ok. She noticed there was blood on his hand.

"Sir, what's wrong?" She asked him.

"I'm fine." He protested but began to stumble slightly.

"You haven't been feeling well lately sir." Kurokawa said. "I've noticed it for a while now, you're sick." Itami pushed her away.

"I said I'm fine sergeant!" He raised his voice, causing her to step back slightly. She knew he was angry, they all were. Kurata was a very good friend of his, probably his closest one in the unit. She knew he was beginning to become emotionally unstable.

"Sir, I understand you outrank me, but as the medical professional here I am ordering you to allow me to look at you." She stood her ground. In many cases a medics word out ways most others. It even is blind to rank. However Itami would not budge.

"I told you I'm fine sergeant. Return to your duties." He said angrily and walked away. Truthfully, he felt bad about what he said to her, but he wasn't in the right state of mind. He was in shock and felt extremely sick. He kept it a secret, but he even started to develop sores on his body. It was like the top layers of his skin were starting to peel off.

kuribayashi ran up to him from her assigned spot. "Sir, we have a huge problem..." She trailed off.

She lead Itami out to the main balcony and what they saw made them regret coming here alone.

World War Two era bombers flew overhead towards the north of the city. As they did men began to jump out, followed by parachutes deploying, having them gently float to the ground. Twin bladed helicopters flew over some of the buildings in the city and had light infantry me. Repel off of them. Some had armored men that used a kind of winch system to lower them due to the weight. Small enemy groups breached the city and now they were being attacked on two fronts. This situation was getting worse by the moment.

"we're fucked..." Kuribayashi said flatly.

"Yup..." Itami agreed. There was not much they could do at this point. They could only re-enforce their position in the main government Building and wait for aid from their allies.

To the south he saw large numbers of armored men slowly make their way to the breaches in the city. This battle was over... They could do nothing against such superior forces.

the sound of a low rumble caused the advancing BoS Knights to look up. In the sky they saw aircraft that didn't belong to them. They were approaching fast and heading directly for them.

In moments the entire formation scattered after the jets launched an attack using missiles and bombs. Most BoS Knights only suffered minor damage since the power armor absorbed most of the damage. Only those close to the missile hit were actually injured or killed.

In moments the PA began to order their air defenses out into the open. They were more portable versions of Mr. Houses laser defense system that was transported by truck.

Within moments they engaged, lasers shooting out and destroying the enemy jets that were in the air. The system was designed to knock nuclear missiles and bombers out of the sky, with resounding success. It had no trouble reducing the Emmy air power to nothing.

The main force continued their advance towards the breaches in the wall, occasionally shooting at any tribal they saw.

Once again however, the sky was filled with the sound of aircraft, but this time it was the enemy helicopters that were flying towards the city. Hundreds of large helicopters, bearing two distinct insignias, began landing troops within the city. Some were shot down by the laser defense system, but most made it with no trouble.

When the BoS Knights entered the city they were quickly met with enemy forces wearing a mix of camouflage uniforms. They were unable to damage the power armor with their low caliber weapons, but they engaged with anti-armor weapons and 50. Caliber weapons. Rocket launchers designed to pierce tank armor easily destroyed individual Knights. The 50. Cal weapons also made quick work of any knight that was targeted. However, the defending JSDF and American SOF were still outnumbered.

Defending forces began to bound backwards, taking some casualties of their own. Their plan was to attrit enemy numbers through ambushes and direct fire. I worked well, but they were losing too many men to the superior and heavier weapons of the attacking forces.

"This is Talon 1, we need Rangers here now. Send in a battalion before we are wiped out. Over." One of the commanders called over the radio. He was met with an acknowledged reply and told his me to hold their positions.

Vertibirds carrying patrol and veteran Rangers alike began to deploy inside the city. The Rangers quickly fast roped into action and began to return accurate fire.

The Rangers knew that the men with the old world flag on their shoulders were more skilled and elites in their own right, so they engaged the old world American soldiers and left the JSDF to fight the BoS.

one Ranger entered a building with old world soldiers inside and began to do his clearing procedures. He was alone and his lever action rifle was shouldered and ready.

He kicked down a door and entered into one of the rooms, shooting the round into one of the soldiers heads but didn't kill since his helmet deflected the round. The second one ran up to the Ranger and tackled him, causing him to lose his rifle. The Ranger noticed that there were 3 soldiers and the other was getting ready to shoot him. Thinking quickly he pulled out a throwing knife and threw it at the soldiers firing hand, causing him to drop the rifle.

All the while he was getting punched repeatedly in the face and the soldier even cracked the lenses of his gas mask. He returned with punches of his own and flipped the soldier on his back, now being the one to rain down punches. His injured buddy came up from behind and lifted him up in a half Nelson chokehold. The Ranger kicked him in the shin and managed to avoid getting stabbed in the front.

One soldier took out a semiautomatic pistol and was starting to aim it at the Ranger. The Ranger however took out his sequoia and shot the top of the pistol, causing the man to drop it. He then shot the knife of another soldier and knocked that out as well.

The soldier he shot in the head got up and kicked him in the leg, causing him to fall over. The Ranger quickly got up and unloaded his revolver into the chest of all 3 men, but aside from stumbling they were fine. He cursed to himself, remembering how good their plated armor was. With no time to reload he took out his trench knife and engaged the 3 skilled warriors. They surrounded the Ranger but his 25 years of experience made him able to match the 3 trained men.

The Ranger was cut multiple times but also gave some serious wounds back. After a minute of hand to hand the 3 soldiers retreated when they heard voices coming from downstairs.

The Ranger sheathed his blade, those men were able to hold off a veteran Ranger, not many people could do that, even if it was 10 to 1. He allowed them to retreat to fight another day, they have shown great promise and dedication to combat. They were well trained, but looked to be no older than 30. If they were as old an experienced as the Ranger they would have defeated him. The Ranger had illegally joined at 10 years old, and has been at war for 25 years. The primary factor of this fight was his experience and their numbers and it ended in a draw.

"you ok?" One of his Ranger buddies asked as he entered the room.

"Actually had a good challenge, don't know who those bastards are but they're good." he smiled.

"Pick up your gear and let's keep moving." The Ranger nodded and went to retrieve his fear that was scattered around the room.

"We've lost all the districts in the southern portion of the city." Grey reported to the princess as she sat on the throne. "Those men from the sky have just breached the northern gate and are sending in their soldiers. We're unable to hold any ground. Even the soldiers from Alnus are unable to stop their advance."

"Then there is nothing to be done." The princess said solemnly. "I will raise the flag of surrender so we can save as many lives as we can, clearly the enemy has bested us."

"Your majesty!" Itami burst through the door. Pina looked at him with a bit of surprise. "We have transportation out of the city and need to evacuate everyone from the manor." He said.

The princess debated what he said, then she went over to the balcony to get a better look at the now ruined city. Smoke rose from all over the place, building were in ruin and the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning from those strange staffs filled the air.

Truly the gods have been angered, and they are now waging a war for control of this world, and the empire is now at war with both of these god like civilizations.

Regretfully she made the choice to surrender to the sand colored men. She only prayed that they were merciful in victory and showed honor towards her and the conquered city.

"Princess, we will give you safe passage into JSDF territory and asylum from the PA." Itami said.

"I can not, I can't abandon my duties as a princess and leader of the rose order. I will stay." She said with conviction, refusing to simply leave her comrades alone to their fate. Itami nodded in understanding and prepared to get on the last UH-60.

The courier knew the battle was over when he saw the flag of the empire lower itself from the manor in the center. His involvement in the battle was next to nothing, For once the NCR were able to hold their own and successfully defeat the combined empire and JSDF forces.

Nearly all hostilities ended and the JSDF were still in the process of evacuating important personnel from the manor. As long as the JSDF did not engage the PA, they would not attack the retreating helicopters or aircraft. Given how similar the JSDF were to their own people they followed a code of honor and mercy in their conflicts. Delegates learned that the JSDF allies outlawed attacking medical vehicles and personnel during evacuation, so the PA agreed to follow this as long as said vehicles and personnel did not attack them.

As the Courier reached the entrance of the manor, alongside the Colonel, he was greeted by the sight of a young beautiful woman with red hair and expensive armor. She looked nervous and frightened but she maintained her composure well enough. She looked at the Courier with a bit of fear, no doubt intimidated by his gas mask.

"Are you the leader of this tribal village?" The commander asked the young woman. She flushed in anger at being called a tribal, no doubt used to being the most advanced society in this world.

"I am princess Pina Co Lada, daughter of the Emperor and 11th successor to the throne." She stated confidently and with pride in her voice.

"According to the regulations of NCR and tribal interactions, signed by her madam president, you will surrender your authority of this city and its surrounding land and submit yourself for tribal rehabilitation and education." Pinya just nodded solemnly in slight fear, wondering what her fate would be. Her fear replaced any kind of anger she felt at being called a tribal.

"May I ask my opponents name?" She requested.

"Colonel Few, acting general and commander of the Elysium expedition." He said proudly. Due to the large amounts of casualties sustained in wasteland warfare, many commanders found themselves in commanding roles above their rank. Typically a major general, two ranks above Few, would be the commander. But desperate times.

"Then I, Pinya Co Lada relinquish control of the trading city of Italica to you." He bowed down and kneeled in front of the Colonel.

"Very well..." He said. "Sergeant." He called to one of his men.

"Sir." The sergeant replied.

"Detain the young princess for further questioning and interrogation for future operations. No doubt she has a wealth of knowledge on the enemies inner workings." The sergeant said roger and began to manhandle the princess, forcing her hands behind her back and securing them.

"What are you doing?" She asked in fear. "Release me, I will cooperate, I promise." She pleaded as she began to resist being taken away. Her allies looked at her in sorrow and pity, knowing they can do nothing to save her.

The princess screamed and fought as she was taken away, placed into a transport truck and taken away from the city. Once she was alone in the truck she broke down crying, ashamed at herself for losing this battle and terrified of what these savages would do to her. She hugged her knees to her chest and wept at her own misfortunes.

"Bit harsh, don't you think?" The Courier asked.

"So? She a tribal." The Colonel said and noticed the Couriers annoyed look.

"What are you going to do with her?" The Courier asked.

"She'll be rotated to Nellis for questioning and rotated back to our outpost in Elysium, then detained as a bargaining chip against the empire. Most of our interrogators are not allowed to enter the gate so she'll spend some time in Nellis before returning." He said.

"Doesn't the NCR have human Intel here?" The Courier asked.

"Yes, but our contractors in Nellis can avoid NCR laws against torture since they are not affiliated to the military." He said. "Don't worry, we will only use as much force as necessary and she'll be treated humanly by all NCR personnel." He said.

"She better, I hate unnecessary harm against tribals." The Courier said flatly, which was a bit of a threat.

He decided to get some rest and headed back to the main base, preferring to leave the clean up to the brotherhood and NCR.

Chapter 9: Invasion of Italica