As Edward and his squad guarded the corpse of the Stygian, he approached the still standing Askel, discussing something in hushed tones.
"Sergeants, on me!" Edward commanded.
Gilbert and Aisling rose, shaking off exhaustion as they approached his squad.
Edward wasted no time. "I have something to inform you, the Stygians are here to gather seeds."
Aisling and Askel barely reacted, their armored forms barely reacting.
Gilbert's helmet tilted slightly, his attention fully locked onto them.
"I guess I'll ask, when you say seeds, you're not talking about plants, are you?"
Aisling scoffed, her tone light but edged with dry amusement.
"For someone in your circumstances, you should've paid better attention in officer school."
Gilbert exhaled sharply, irritation creeping into his voice.
"I did, and I'm sorry to inform you that we didn't have that topic in class."
Edward's visor remained locked on Gilbert for a moment before he exhaled, adjusting his rifle at his side.
"Not plants," he confirmed.
Gilbert let out a slow breath. "Right. Thought so. Now, mind telling me what kind of 'seeds' they're gathering?"
Edward shifted, his tone measured.
"Genetic material. Human, specifically. The Stygians don't just attack for destruction, they also gather children."
Silence stretched.
Aisling, despite her earlier jab, tensed slightly at the revelation, her fingers curling around her tonfas.
"For what purpose?"Gilbert asked, his voice lower now, less casual.
Edward shook his head. "That's what we don't know. Or at least I am not privy to know. All intelligence points to processing facilities beyond the outer territories."
Gilbert's mind raced. Not just slaughter. Not just destruction.
"So how many children did they take?"
Edward motioned toward the corpse. "We don't know yet, this one is rather low on the totem pole. He was just here to see if he could pick up any stragglers while also disrupting our movements."
Gilbert's fist clenched, anger surging through him.
"So what are we supposed to do?" He demanded
Edward's expression remained unreadable beneath his visor.
"You continue along your route. Leave the children to us or the Major," Edward stated in a firm tone.
Gilbert's armored fist clenched.
"Wait, are you telling us to do nothing knowing children are being taken to god knows where!?" Gilbert said his voice raised in protest.
Edward did not flinch.
"Sergeant, you have received your orders. Now execute them!" Edward commanded in a sharp voice, leaving no room for argument.
Gilbert stood there, an air of frustration around him, but he knew better than to push further. With a sharp exhale, he turned away. Aisling walked past him, her shoulder bumping him.
"What do you think you were going to see in the military rainbows and bunnies?" She said
Askel walked past, nodding at those words
"She is right, Kruger, worry less about things you have no control over, especially when you are weak." He said
Askel and Aisling moved with precision towards their squads, retrieving the circuit gems from their fallen squadmates' command units. They moved with a solemn and heavy air.
Once done, they carefully secured the bodies, placing them in a sheltered position, hoping that retrieval would be possible at the mission's end.
Gilbert approached his squad. Their weary forms gathered around him, waiting for the orders amidst the aftermath of battle.
"Vivian, Adam, how are your injuries?" He asked as he looked at his most severely injured members of his squad.
Vivian, with a large patch by the side of her armor, crossed her arms.
"No need to worry, leader boy, I can manage. But the blind sniper over here, I am not sure about." She said, as she tilted her head at Adam, who sat in silence, a black fiber wrapping tightly around his eyes.
"How are you feeling, Adam?" Gilbert asked, his tone soft.
Adam didn't speak, yet despite the covered eyes, he still turned, as if staring at Gilbert directly.
"No need to worry, I patched up his right eye. The fiber as neurological optical connections, it will keep its nerves alive until we get back," Chen Mei spoke up, her hands adjusting her med packs
Gilbert nodded slightly, but then Anastasia began.
"It can also connect to his sniper scope, so he'll still be capable of firing. Once I fix his helmet's visor, he'll be able to see through his suit's cameras, at least until we return to the Citadel."
Gilbert scanned his squad, seeing the exhaustion weighing on them.
"Everyone else okay?" Gilbert questioned further
"Okay? No. But at very least, we're alive." Kean said with a weary breath, checking on his pistol.
Gilbert nodded at him before scanning the squad to see that no one else had anything to say.
"Okay, guys, we move out in 60 seconds," he instructed, turning away, leaving his squad to dwell on prepping to leave.
He walked toward the makeshift grave, eyes locking onto the simple, silent marker. The earlier battle scattered debris across it, but it remained intact.
With careful movements, he brushed off the rubble, ensuring it stood undisturbed, before returning to his squad.
Meanwhile, Edward's squad worked with practiced efficiency, extracting the Stygian's core before pressing forward.
Askel and Aisling's squads departed next, each sergeant offering Gilbert a curt nod before disappearing into the march ahead.
Gilbert's squad pressed forward, moving with methodical precision, checking every crevice and corner.
Each Styx they encountered was destroyed without hesitation. But Gilbert's movements were different.
His strikes carried more aggression, his force sometimes bordering on overkill. The squad noticed, but they kept quiet, unsure of what weighed on his mind.
When they finally took a short rest, Adam, who had been silent the entire time, stepped up beside him.
"It's hard, isn't it?"
Gilbert exhaled lightly, adjusting his grip on his swords.
"Oh, you talking now? But yea, it's hard," Gilbert said, his voice sounding confused. "Sometimes, I wish I could hold onto that naivety from the orphanage. But every day, I see more proof that it's impossible."
Adam turned his head slightly, despite his blindfold, he looked straight at him.
"Would you go back?"
Gilbert hesitated, staring up toward the empty sky.
"Is that even possible?" Gilbert asked, letting out a low chuckle.
Adam just stared at him.
"But if?" He asked persistently
Gilbert exhaled again, then shook his head.
"No, I wouldn't." Gilbert replied, " I wish for my naivety, but I fear what would have happened to us if we stayed not knowing, would the powers at be just discard us like they did those of this town?"
Silence fell between them.
The ground rumbled violently, shaking dust loose from nearby ruins.
Gilbert's squad snapped to attention, scanning their surroundings.
"There!" Kean shouted, pointing towards the sky.
Observing the direction he is pointing, they saw their fleet intercept a non-Federation ship, its quad booster design and obsidian gray hull sleek, shaped like a symmetrical spearhead.
The White Horn fleet kept it pinned, their weapons flaring, forcing the vessel to stay low and maneuverable.
Then, a stray laser cut through the sky, shattering a rooftop above them, sending chunks of debris crashing down toward their position.
Gilbert's voice cut through the chaos over the comms.
"Everyone, take cover!"
He pivoted instantly as he went for cover, his shoulder-mounted assault rifle igniting, firing into the largest falling pieces, splitting them into smaller fragments, trying to minimize the danger before anyone was crushed outright.
The squad scrambled, diving for safety, shielding themselves as dust and rubble pummeled the ground around them.
Above them, the intercepted ship flared its boosters, attempting to break free, but the fleet wasn't giving it any reprieve as they kept it trapped in the city limits.
The dust began to settle, leaving behind the remnants of shattered stone and fractured metal. Gilbert scanned his squad, ensuring everyone was accounted for as the rubble finally stopped falling.
William pushed himself upright first, shaking off the loose debris from his armor, his spear and shield still held firm in his grip.
Kean coughed sharply, waving a hand through the air to clear the dust, checking his pistol charge with a quick glance.
"Functional but annoyed," Adam remained steady, leaning on a wall behind Gilbert, his posture controlled.
"Status check," Gilbert called out, his voice cutting through the fading chaos.
"Still breathing," Vivian muttered, wiping the dirt from her visor.
Chen Mei and Anastasia were already moving, assessing wounds, stabilizing armor damage, and ensuring no one had sustained anything critical.
As the squad regained their footing, Gilbert turned his gaze upward, following the fleet's continued pursuit of the unidentified ship.
Major Cade's voice cut through the comms, sharp and commanding.
"Attention! All squads, rush toward the gathering point, abandon all previous directives. This town will be cleaned! I repeat: abandon all previous directives, this town will be cleaned!"
For a brief moment, silence hung over the battlefield.
Then, chaos erupted.
Every squad broke into a sprint, forcing a mass retreat toward the town center, their previous orders now meaningless in the wake of the sudden command.
But the Styx reacted too, as if receiving orders, their behavior shifted violently, turning berserk, attacking anything and anyone that crossed their path.
"What the hell is happening?! Why is the town being cleaned?" Kean shouted over the comms, his voice sharp with urgency.
He sprinted ahead, helping to guide the squad toward the most optimal route, dodging unnecessary battles, ensuring they kept moving.
"What exactly happens during a cleaning?" Anastasia asked a keeping stride with Chen Mei, careful not to slow the squad down.
Chen Mei didn't hesitate.
"They seal and gas the town, obliterating everything, down to the smallest microbes in the soil." Chen Mei explained to her in a flat tone. "And if that doesn't work, the Federation gains another lake."
The squad fell into silence, the words settling like cold steel against their thoughts.
Then, Gilbert suddenly stopped. Adam, running beside him, mirrored his movement.
"What is it?" He asked
"What are you two idiots doing!?" Vivian's sharp voice cut through the comms as the rest of the squad halted in confusion.
Gilbert didn't answer immediately, his head turned sharply, scanning, listening
"Listen closely," he said. Then he heard it.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
A child's voice, faint, desperate, echoing from a partially collapsed building nearby.
Gilbert's breath halted for a second
"There is a child still alive in that building!" Gilbert shouted as he sprinted toward the structure.
Vivian blocked his path, stepping in front of him.
"What are you doing?" Vivian snapped in an irked voice. "This town is going to be cleaned, meaning. That child is already dead."
Gilbert punched her in the helmet the moment the words left her mouth, causing her to stagger.
Before he could strike again, William stepped in, grabbing Gilbert's arm, holding him back, his grip strong.
"How could you say something like that?" Gilbert shouted, struggling against William's hold.
Vivian recovered quickly, her stance firm, her tone unshaken.
"You need to understand, this is how the world works," Her eyes locked onto him. "If you have a problem with it, learn to adapt the weak always do."