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Author's Chapter Notes:

This is a short little two chapter thing. The whole quarantine thing has given me time to edit some stuff and write a bit more. First will be up today, second part up tomorrow or Saturday.

The Sagant 23rd was not the most remarkable of regiments. It was one of thousands all across the Republic, fighting against the many menaces that bore down upon humanity. Sagant was a Hive Planet, cities covering the whole of the surface and so when it came time for tithes the most abundant resource it had was people. People that could hold weapons and be trained to fight among the starts. Being a tithe was a thing to be proud of for most upon Sagant. A great parade was held upon the world before the new regiments were sent off to do their duty.

Of course, all of that was the propaganda. The glory of dying in battle was rather lost the regiment after easily half of the numbers it had started with had died in its first 5 years of service. Those new recruits that were brought into the regiment were treated to a regiment of veterans, ones that had an idea just what the galaxy could throw at you. Among those that were the original tithes was Florina. Flo to her friends.

Sergeant Florina came from a long line of veterans from Sagant. Her ancestor had served in the 19th, the son after her in the 20th, and so on down the line until it reached her. It was rare for any enlisted family to last in such long service and to retirement no less. All of her family had reached ripe old age. That was because they followed the Rules. They had kept Florina alive and well for 5 years as well. The Rules were the code by which Florina’s family stayed alive. One. Always keep your head down. Two. Don’t rock the boat. Three. No heroics. Lastly, if a big girl told you to jump you asked her how high.

That of course led Flo to her rather unenviable situation. The Sagant 23rd had been stationed on a planet that was being overwhelmed by the Swarm. Of course, that also meant RGTS were around. The Silver Blades Chapter of RGTS had stationed one of their companies here and naturally that meant that they were working rather closely with the regiments stationed here. Most of the RGTS kept to themselves, not wanting to walk among the inferior humans. Of course, you had plenty of exceptions. Like these special examples.

Flo stood with her back straight as a trio of tall and rather beautiful women bore down upon her, dressed in military fatigues. There was a rather busty looking blonde with hair cut right below her ears. A dusky skinned woman with a particularly eye catching pair of violent eyes. Lastly a redhead with a particularly scandalous looking shirt that showed off her well-muscled stomach. Flo winced as the blonde pushed at her shoulder.

“Hey, you, aren’t you gonna apologize? You bumped into my friend here.” She gestured to the redhead.

The push was enough to completely shove Flo to the ground. Flo was not a weak woman by any stretch, the steel haired sergeant certainly able to hold her own. Compared to these RGTS however she might as well have been a child. She looked up at the three woman and cursed her stupidity for having drawn their attention. She inclined her head to the redhead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice you.”

Wrong choice of words as the redhead introduced her boot to Flo’s face. Not a kick but pushing her flat on her back and pressing the sole of the combat boot down on her. “Didn’t notice me? Well that’s rude; you humans should notice every RGTS walking around. Or did you mistake *me* for one of you?” She asked.

Flo squirmed and winced as the woman ground the sole of her boot into her face, getting dirt and mud all over it. “N-no, I just wasn’t paying attention. I’m not as attentive as an RGTS!” She managed to get out, muffled from under the boot of the other woman.

The redhead ground the sole of her boot in for a good few moments longer before lifting it up. “I can buy it; you humans are useless for anything I swear. Should just sit back and watch us do all the hard work.” The redhead remarked.

There was not a bone in Flo’s body that felt insulted by that. She was too eager to scurry away before they really got mean with her. Instead she just bobbed her head, not daring to stand up. “Y-yeah, we’re all real grateful you guys are here! I’m sure you’ll crush all those Swarm bugs!” She said, shamelessly feeding the ego of the three women.

The tanned one chuckled. “Might want to be more attentive, we might crush you by accident with the rest of the swarm. We can’t *constantly* be checking our boots for friendlies after all.” She mused.

Oh they’d do it as well. Flo recognized the type. They were new girls. Really young. Probably never actually seen the Swarm outside of a simulated environment. They’d absolutely crush their own soldiers by *accident* along with the enemy. Flo had seen it way too many times to count and would probably see it again. The steel haired woman bobbed her head. “Yes, of course, I’ll never make that mistake again. Thank you!” Flo said as she got up and scurried away into the nearest barracks.

Once inside she could hear them laughing to themselves as they continued their walk. No doubt anyone in camp would think twice about bumping into them accidentally. Flo had just had the misfortune of being the example. There were plenty of people that would have protested the treatment she had gotten. Plenty of people that would have argued with the trio. They would have gotten it much, much worse. It was just a lot easier to nod your head and agree that you were weak and pathetic compared to the RGTS.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Flo slammed herself right into the side of a wall, narrowly missing a jet of greenish ichor that flew through the shattered window to her right. It hit a man that had been too slow to find cover and he screamed as his armor and flesh started to melt away. Another blast hit him and his skull ended up being exposed before his corpse fell over. The acid projectile continued to sizzle away at the floor, making holes in the concrete floor.

Three seconds on, three seconds off. That was the rule for the swarm acid projectiles. She counted under her breath as more acid flew through the windows, fired from organic cannons upon the body of lesser swarm troops. “Now! Volley fire!” She commanded the rest of her squad.

Everyone came out of cover after the three second mark and opened up on the dog sized insects, laser rounds frying through their carapace and sizzling into their flesh underneath. They were extremely stupid creatures with simple thought patterns. They had no idea how to take cover. They only knew how to fire their weapons. The volley shredded through the monsters out in the ruined streets, spraying yellow blood upon the ground and sending gore flying all around.

“Move up! Next building!” The sergeant ordered.

The assault on the city of Tarken had come much sooner than anticipated. The guard had wanted to wait for more reinforcements from the neighboring sectors. They had been vetoed by the RGTS who wanted immediate action. As such the assault was with far less guard troops than would normally be on such a thing. The casualty reports coming through were staggering, though no shock for the Sagant 23rd. They had fought Swarm all their service. They were specialists aside from the new recruits.

As Flo stormed out into the streets with her men she could see the carnage and the destruction. The city had been hit first by the Swarm invasion and one couldn’t see a living soul around, only bones here or there. No moss or mold or insects. Everything had been stripped of life in this city, all to feed those goddamn bugs. The air was filled with their fighter craft dueling with massive winged abominations and the ground shook with the force of artillery barrages in the distance. As well as the rumbling of RGTS steps in what Flo hoped was the vast distance.

She kicked open the door, leading not with her rifle but a rather shorter submachine gun, the weapon far better suited to close quarters combat. The ones leading the squad inside after her bore shotguns. It was just as well as when the entered they found a number of rather twisted looking Swarm grunts lunging at them with razor sharp claws. They leapt up into the air, ready to rend them limb from limb.

Florina didn’t hesitate to level her weapon at the bugs, firing with a full auto burst of hot lead. The shotguns from the men at her side roared to life and blasted them into a fine cloud of yellow gore. Behind them were another trio and Flo ducked. As did those at her side. When the ducked, the men outside the door turned the corner and let loose with a barrage of laser fire, bathing the room in a red lights show. When all was said and done the building was cleared of the Swarm.

Florina led her men through the building, only to find that the other half of it had been completely destroyed. Blown up by artillery by the looks of it. Unfortunately that rather left little cover as a group of the acid spitters were milling about in the building opposite them. They immediately opened fire on her squad as soon as they saw her, the wet tearing sound of their weapons being fired still as disturbing as the sight of the acid melting a man.

Florina hit the deck as soon as she saw the sight and fired away, switching to her rifle seamlessly and letting loose a short controlled burst of laser fire. Two of her men were hit directly from the blasts and went down screaming. This wasn’t good. There was no cover here; they were going to be picked off with ease. “Fall back; we’ll lead them into a kill zone in the other building!”

As soon as the Swarm soldiers paused for three seconds the woman stood and followed after her men. They would pursue. Once the Swarm had a target in sight they’d pursue with animal doggedness. They needed to make it back to the other building or they’d be caught with limited cover. She was breathing heavily and adrenaline was pumping through her veins as she assessed that she had five other people left in the squad. They needed to meet up with another squad. Regroup.

Flo could see the doorway and her men making their way across the street. She was almost there- BOOM!

There was a ringing in Florina’s ears as the steel haired woman was vaguely aware she had been flung back against a wall. Hard. Enough that she had trouble catching her senses. She blinked as she tried to reorient herself. The doorway and indeed most of the wall had been completely blasted away. Her rifle lay nearby, snapped in two. Florina coughed, blood tinging her lips as she managed to make out the sight beyond the rubble. In the place filling the street was a single armored boot. She could see it through the gaping opening that had replaced the wall.

An RGTS she realized. What the hell was one of them doing in this part of the city!? They were supposed to be further to the north where all the big Swarm monsters were. She was vaguely aware as well that the single armored boot had completely crushed her squad. Florina stared at the boot beyond with no small amount of shock, her ears slowly coming back to her. Enough that she could hear booming words from on high.

“I’ll crush all of you little fucking bugs! Can’t believe these human are having a problem with *this*!”

She recognized the voice. The redhead from earlier. She frowned. That fucking moron. She was going to get herself killed out in the open like that. More importantly though, she was going to get *Florina* killed. The steel haired girl could hear them. The scrabbling of the Swarm bugs she had led here. Only now it was Florina stuck in a killzone. Not good. She needed to get moving very fast.

Flo staggered to her feet, her legs like jelly after being tossed back and she was fairly certain something was broken. Nonetheless she managed to force herself forward, clutching her submachine gun hard. She was, rather crazily, running right towards the armored boot that had crushed her squad. A single shift of her foot and that would kill Florina just as easily. However she had no choice. It was cover and if the option was melted by Swarm acid or crushed under RGTS boot then she was going boot.

She rounded the toe of the woman’s boot as she heard the roar of the giant’s gun above, exploding into the city. Crazy bitch, the job was to save the city, not blow it up. An acid projectile smashed into the toe of the woman’s boot, not doing much to the armor but narrowly missing Flo. The woman rounded the other side of the redhead’s foot just in time and winced as she noticed half of the corpse of one of her soldiers sticking out from under her foot. He’d never stood a chance.

She dove for the cover of the other building, not nearly as damaged as the last one and it was not a moment too soon. Above the RGTS had attracted the attention of one of the airborne insects which proceeded to ram itself right into her chest. It exploded into an acidic burst in a kamikaze attack, acid raining down around where Flo had just been standing. The redhead toppled back and fell with a great rumbling crash. Enough that Flo feared the building wouldn’t hold up. It shook at her very bones as the RGTS was toppled over.

She could hear her screaming, enough that it almost shattered her eardrums. The steel haired woman managed to look out into the street and wince as she saw her shrinking back down to a human height, struggling to get her armor off. Smart move but that brought problems with it. Namely that she’d have no more protection against the claws of the Swarm. She managed to get out of her ruined armor, shockingly, tripping and falling on the rubble her fall had created now only in a skinsuit.

The Swarm that had been coming for Flo ignored where she had fled and instead turned their attention to the exposed RGTS on the ground. Florina could see them leveling their fleshy weapons towards her. RGTS or no, she’d be melted into a puddle of slurry same as anyone else. “Run for cover you idiot…” She muttered under her breath from her own cover.

Instead of that of course, the RGTS picked up her weapon and fired off at the line of Swarm. “You bugs d-don’t scare me!” She shouted as she fired at them.

Florina could see how events would play out in crystal clear detail. They’d shoot at her and kill her. Maybe she managed to kill two of them, but she’d be very dead. Like insanely so. Flo could however use the opportunity to run the hell away while they murdered her. That was what the Rules would dictate. Never be a hero. Heroes die. Heroes get shallow graves. However Flo’s body acted on impulse, one that she would otherwise never have.

She stood up from behind her cover and blasted away at the Swarm grunts with a full auto burst from their flank, shredded them in combined fire with the RGTS. They didn’t expect it and never got a chance to get off a single shot. Of course that wasn’t the last of them. The rest of them didn’t have a shot on the redhead but they certainly had shots on Florina. Nothing for it, Florina surged forward.

Acid sprayed past her, narrowly missing her body. A gob of it came so close she could almost feel it sear away at her face. She dropped her submachine gun and pulled out her pistol and a knife. The last case scenario and the worst case but she had to do something. She fired into one of the monsters during her three second grace period. Her bullets smashed through the carapace. She smashed her knife up to the hilt into the eye of another of the Swarm, drawing a screech from it as she tackled the monster. It twitched and writhed as Florina forced it right in the blast of the last of its comrades. The acid melted away at the monster she used as a shield.

Florina shoved her impromptu shield away and fired the last of her clip into the monster, reducing it to a twitching mess on the ground. Florina let out deep and gasping breaths as she stood surrounded by the corpses of the Swarm. What… the hell had she just done? Broken one of the sacrosanct Rules of her family that was what. The steel haired girl had little time to ponder that as her attention turned to the RGTS. It was pretty easy now to see why she hadn’t run. Her leg was stuck under some rubble she herself had created.

Florina rushed over to the redhead, reloading her pistol as she did and holstering it. She was scanning the skies and the streets around them. Plenty of other Swarm would have noticed the RGTS fall down and would be on their way. They liked to take down the bigger things first Florina found. “Hey, you alright?”

The redhead looked at the woman approaching her in disbelief. “W-what chapter are you with?”

So she didn’t recognize her then. Well that was good. Would make this less awkward. “I’m with the Republican Guard. Sergeant Florina, Sagant 23rd.” The woman offered the RGTS a salute. “I saw you go down and figured you could use an assist.”

The redhead blinked. “G-guard? No way, there’s no normal human that would just charge those bugs like that.” She said.

She was shellshocked. Florina at least was familiar with that expression as the shaky mannerisms. Flo could sympathize but now was not the time to be dealing with this. She got down on her knees and started working to free the woman’s leg. “Doesn’t matter who I am, ma’am, we need to get off the street to somewhere safe.”

“B-but the battle, m-my sisters have to be avenged.” She babbled, looking confused as though she hadn’t thought to free her leg.

Not good, this one wasn’t mentally sound at the moment. If she went and did something stupid it would get them both killed. “Listen. We can avenge your sisters. But first we need to get you off the street. You don’t have armor. Your leg might be injured. You’re a liability like this.” Could still probably crush Flo’s spine with a pinkie but still.

“I-I…” Her eyes were unfocused, Flo needed to get her to focus. Her hand moved without thinking.

SMACK

There was a sharp sound of flesh upon flesh as Florina slapped the redhead. It had actually broken a couple of fingers she was pretty sure, the steel haired woman wincing hard at the sound of snapping bone. “I am ordering you, as a sergeant, help me free your leg and let me take you somewhere safe. *NOW*!” Flo barked in a voice she typically reserved for new recruits.

That seemed to knock some sense into the redhead at least. “U-understood!” She said as she started tearing away at the rubble with a pace that Flo couldn’t hope to match with her now broken fingers on one hand. The redhead pulled her leg free at last and staggered slightly but seemed to be able to walk. Flo nodded to a building nearby. If there had been Swarm inside they would already have been out here attacking. “In there. Come on.”

Had she really just slapped an RGTS? There went another rule out the window. Oh she was so dead as soon as the RGTS came to her senses. If she was lucky she’d be dead actually. It was a pretty gross crime for a human to assault an RGTS. Why the hell had she bothered to save this stupid smug bitch? Too late for regrets now. Flo opened the door to another room inside the building. Looked like an apartment complex. The ground still periodically shook outside from artillery and no doubt other RGTS.

The steel haired woman slumped back on a rather dusty looking couch and winced as she held her wounded hand in her other hand. With the adrenaline wearing off she could feel the pain now. She looked up at the RGTS. A young thing it looked but still easily a head over her. “We’re going to hunker down here for a second, alright?”

“Right. Understood.” The girl nodded.

Flo reached into her breast pocket and used her good hand to pull out a pack of smokes. The grey haired woman placed on between her lips and pulled out her lighter with shaking fingers. She lit up the cigarette and took a long drag before exhaling a toxic cloud above her. Nothing like a smoke to remind one that they were still alive.

“Got a name? Or just red?” Flo asked.

The RGTS nodded. “Sona.”

“Well Sona.” Flo leaned forward, sticking the cancer stick between her lips as she rifled around in her ammo belt and pulled out two clips for her pistol, placing them on a table in front of her. “I’ve got two mags left for this. I doubt somehow that skimpy suit of yours is hiding extra ammo for that big honking rifle of yours. Unless its between your tits.” Flo said at length.

The woman frowned. “If you are a human you are being very cheeky you know.” The redhead remarked.

“I just fucking slapped you, think that’s about as cheeky as it gets.” Flo said as she replaced the clips on her belt. “So we’ve got whatever you have left in that rifle. Plus about three clips of small arms fire. Left my combat knife in that one Swarm bug.” She mused. “Two grenades. Couple of flares. That’s about all we’ve got between us as far as I can see.”

Sona frowned. “I can grow and-!”

“Get melted by one of those fliers now that you ain’t got any armor.” Flo finished.

Flo pulled out a map and placed it on the table. It was marked with the site of the major offenses. She pointed to the southern part of the large city. The RGTS leaned in to look it over with her. “Way I see it. We got two options. Try to find some friendlies by heading south back towards the main battle line. Or head east where we’ve already cleaned out most of the bugs. From there we can make it back to our lines. Then you can have me massage your sore feet from walking so much, or whatever you RGTS gals do.”

The redhead actually managed a chuckle. A bit of levity. Good. Meant the shock was probably starting to wear off. “I’ll hold you to that, Sergeant. In any event, we should head south and see if we can run into any allies. They might have supplies for us. Medical supplies would be especially appreciated. In your case I can imagine.”

Flo nodded. “Was my thought of our best chance as well. We head south then after we catch our breaths. No growing. Last thing I need is a giant puddle of gore.” Flo couldn’t believe this. She had expected a standard offensive but now here she was with an RGTS. Well, she supposed stranger things had happened.

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