***

--- Coan Forest ---

April 25th, 2025

It has been over an hour since everyone left the village. There are hundreds of wagons traveling in single file in this makeshift single lane dirt road. The Vanguard team is currently be escorting the caravan.

Once Sharpe's Vanguard team got out of the forest, he was able to report the situation to Vanguard Command. He informed them that a village was destroyed, and he believes that these people are the next target.

When he made the report with Sarah and Yang, he expected to get an ear full, especially about the girl. Not that they disagreed in saving her and the village but for getting involved and putting everyone at risk.

All the Colonel said was that he agreed with his judgment on the field and to remember that they might look Human, but they are aliens. He needs be careful not to get the unit killed because of it. That last part did bother him, however.

To his surprise, Sarah did not yell at him either. To his confusion, she seemed shocked and pleased. Since he first met her, she has been on his ass on every occasion, including the most basics of command.

"Goddammit... I fucking hate this. I left California to get away from the traffic...," Andrew said, frustrated in how slow everyone is going.

"Hey," Alicia yells. "Watch the language! We have a young guest remember."

The girl that helped to save from those four men, who might be some kind of slave traders. He took her back to the JLTV to keep her safe during this situation.

He asked Alicia to find something for her to wear, so she will not be naked anymore. The only clothing available there are extra adult military shirts and blankets. While it is not enough it has to do until they get back to base.

He shakes his head. "Be nice, both of you. Also, we should be there by nightfall, they did say the next village wasn't too far."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Andrew said, just frustrated on how slow everyone is going. "I do have to say boss that was pretty cool."

He looks at Andrew with a glare. "What does that supposed to mean? You thought I was a monster like those men?"

"Sorry sir," Andrew said, caught off guard by his reaction.

"Calm down sir," Alicia said. "He’s just saying that is was cool what you did. Most officers wouldn't do that."

He turns around to look at Alicia and then back to Andrew, realizing his mistake. "I am sorry and thank you?"

"It’s just cool," Andrew said again.

Sharpe can see that they think of him as some bland officer of some kind. He knows he has not had the best image, but he cannot believe that saving a kid from rapist pedophiles was an achievement. He did not realize how low his reputation is.

Some time passes and he adjusts himself from the boredom. In the boredom all, he can think about the new girl he saved. He takes a nervous breath and leans between both front seats, looking into the back of the JLTV. "How is our little princess? She looks better."

The girl is just sitting there in a seat. She is wearing his spare military shirt; it is long enough to cover her whole body. She is always wrapped in a blanket to stay warm. Alicia did a good job of cleaning the mud, blood, and other stains off her. He must admit she looks cute all cleaned up.

Alicia is leaning against the door, holding her legs like she is trying to protect her body. Her eyes still say that she is scared.

Seeing her in the position confirms his worse fears. Whoever those people were, they have beaten and raped her. Just imagining that fate angers him but he controls himself and forces a smile.

Alicia looks at him. "She is fine. I was about to clean her up. She still needs a real bath to get some of the stains off, but she is a good-looking lady. And a lady shouldn't be that dirty."

He chuckles at that comment. "You're in the wrong career then."

Alicia shoots him a glare. "I never said I was a lady." She then looks over to the girl. "But she hasn’t said a word. Probably scared to death. I bet we look very scary with our uniforms and weapons. I can't even imagine what she has been through."

He looks over to the girl. This was not the first time he ran into a situation like this. Once fighting Drug Cartels in Mexico and South East Asia. There is a lot of bad back on Earth, but he wonders if they could do something good here.

Deep down inside he just has this strange deep urge to help her. He has had it since he first laid eyes on her. While it would have been right to walk away and not get involved, he didn't know the situation, context, the culture, or whatever the other million reasons there could have been, every pulse in his body could not just walk away but wanted to help.

He can see that Alicia is right, she is scared to death. To her he and his soldiers must look scary, looking all different that the local clothes. What he and his people consider normal is very foreign to her. Just like the reaction by the Mayor when he saw the vehicles. He did not have a word to describe what he was seeing.

He takes a deep breath, lost on what to do. He looks to the little Optimus Prime figure that is tapped on the center of the dashboard. That little toy has been with him for a long time now, always something to focus on when in doubt.

Right then and he comes up with an idea. It is a stupid idea but when he was Station in Japan, he had to learn the local culture. It helped bridge the gap so he could work with them easier.

Without warning, he opens his door and gets out. The convoy is not going fast so he could just get out and walk. He then opens the back door and hops back in. As he gets in, he holds his index figure to Alicia, warning her not to jump down his throat for doing that.

He then sits down by the girl. He takes off his helmet, so he looks less threatening and sets it down next to her. He sets it down on the floor and looks to her. He reaches down into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone.

He takes his arm and wraps it around her.

He can see she is getting worried as her body closes, holding onto the blanket more tightly.

"It is ok kid," he said as he pulls her closer to him. He then shows her his phone.

The girl looks at him confused, not understanding what the device is.

He then goes into a download video app and plays an episode of the 1980s Transformers cartoon show. He then shows her the screen as he plays the show. "This is my favorite show. I love everything about it." He then points to his eyes and then to the screen, showing her to watch it.

As he starts to watch, he hears Andrew speak up in a thrilled tone. "Boss... really? You really are playing Transformers? You are a bigger nerd then I am I love it!"

"Wait... before you answer that," Alicia comments in the conversation. She looks at Sharpe with a confused shock. "You are telling me; out of everything you were allowed to bring here, was that..."

He looks at them and then back to her. "Ahh... I also brought Beast Wars, the Netflix version, and some other films... Classics."

Andrew burst out laugh, and Alicia shakes her head smiling, looking away. Enjoying learning a little about their boss.

"My boss is a child. God help us all." Alicia said chuckling.

"Wow... wow... wow... Come on. Transformers is the greatest thing of all. All kids love Transformers. And besides, I don't know what else to do." He said in a proud tone.

---

The girl is sitting on this semi conferrable seat, being far softer than sitting on wood. She finds this wagon very strange, the same with everything else these strangers have.

She stares at all three adult soldiers. They start to argue about what is on that strange small object that the man next to her is holding. But it seems they are having fun. Well, close to being friends at least.

But everything about them all is strange, all this seems strange. This weird metal wagon is nothing like she has ever seen before. The clothes they wear look different. They are not like robes or clothes she has ever seen either. On top of that this device in his have is also strange. It has what looks like moving pictures and sound coming from it. These people in this motion-picture device are so small and moving but they do not seem to be wearing anything either.

She was given to these slave traders three months ago, being sold by her kingdom’s noble class to the Empire. Since that day she was forced to travel thousands of kilometers, sometimes on land and other times on the river network.

Suddenly, she is trapped with these people. That man who is holding her next to her killed her slave traders, which is highly illegal by the Slave Guild.

To her surprise, the female soldier cleaned her body up to the point she enjoys her own smell again. No more dry stains and stickiness all over her body, especially between her legs. They then gave her this big shirt, blanket, and some food.

She is confused about why they are helping her, wondering if they know who she is or do they have hidden motives.

So far, she noticed that they have no idea who she is, and her heart is telling her she is safe for the first time in a long time. She just hopes that this is not a lie like last time.

What is confusing her the most is that they are clearly soldiers and yet there not like soldiers.

Soldiers usually take what they want from their enemies. They kill the men and take the women then rape them. They steal the livestock and any wealth they can get. Many times, soldiers go and take the ones they conquered as slaves. This is allowed under the Right of Conquest.

She looks back at the man, trying to figure him out. He looks and acts scary. How he killed her owners, only a professionally train killer could do it.

As these people talk to each other, she looks at the strange small box with the strange-looking people in the small object. One blocky red man fighting another silver blocky man. And then, there are Humans on there too. Is this all real? How can they fit in this small object?

She reaches out, wanting to touch the device, see if she can touch the people on it. But then she realizes that man holding it turns his head towards her and then smile.

"You like it?" He asked, looking at her. "Here, you can hold it. It is a great show."

"She won't understand any of it. It is kind of pointless. Maybe try something else," Alicia points out.

She can see the frustration in his face. It looks like he is trying to make her happy.

"I know your right, I am just…" The man next to her said, taking a deep breath.

She remembers that he called himself Sharpe.

After months of being brutalized and enslaved by those four mercenaries, for the first time in an awfully long time she feels safe. Even though she saw him kill them without any issue.

Looking back at the screen and seeing that this man called Sharpe likes whatever he is showing her. She reaches out and tries to take it, wanting to see why he likes it so much.

The girl takes it and looks at it, turning it around as she studies the phone. She is amazed at how light it is. She does not see any way to get inside it, so how are those people in there talking? That is when she notices that the people inside are just talking to each other and interacting with each other. Kind of like those theater shows back home.

She then looks back at him and speaks very softly. "What is this?"

That takes everyone by surprise like they were not expecting her to speak or something.

"Ahh... I didn't know if you could understand us." Sharpe said and then smile. "This small thing in my hand is what we call a phone. It allows us to talk to each other at a far distance. It also can hold moving pictures like this. This is my personal favorite one called Transformers. It is about robots… tall metal people from another world."

Right then Sharpe begins to explain the basics of the show, who are the leaders and factions, and what is going on.

She tilts her head a little confused. He seems to be very into this show. She then looks at the 'phone' and back at him, pointing to the people on it.

"Are they alive?" She said in a broken, tired voice.

Both him and the female soldier chuckle. The woman name Alicia speaks first. "No dear, that is just a show. Entertainments, for children." But when she noticed her glancing at the leader. "Children of all ages."

Sharpe looks at her. "You're not going to let this go, are you? I am your boss."

"A boss who brought children shows with him." Alicia makes her final point and looks away, chuckling.

"Greatest shows ever," Sharpe said with a proud full tone.

Before she could say something, a sudden loud roar is heard. She sees that talking box on Alicia station and the dashboard begins to speak. But this time, they all look serious suddenly.

He speaks into this other strange device, having a conversation with someone who is not in the metal wagon. Amazed by that she wonders if the talking boxes are magical is some kind.

"Roger that, we are on our way," Sharpe said like he is talking to himself. "Alicia, stay here. One of the wagons broke and the accident is blocking the caravan. Steele, you're with me."

After he said that, they grab those long gray looking sticks and leave the metal horse.

She looked over to Alicia. "Alicia...? Right…?" Again, in a broken, tired voice.

Alicia looks over at her and then smiles. "Yes, that is my name. What is yours?"

She hesitates to say her name. They are strangers and do t feel comfortable yet to say who she is. "Why did that man help me? Am I his slave now?"

Alicia looks to her, thinking about her response. "No, slavery outlawed in our country. We consider it a mortal sin."

"But… why…," she tries to say and coughs.

Alicia hands her a water canteen. "Its water, drink."

She takes it and drinks.

"The reason he saved you us because what those four men were doing was wrong," Alicia said. "No child should be a slave, especially to a cute girl like you."

She thinks for a moment on what Alicia said. She looks down at the phone, seeing that show continues to play. She looks back up to Alice. "My… name is Selina."

Alicia smile at her. "That is a cute name, I like it. Do not worry, you are safe with us. Also, you don't have to watch that."

She looks at the phone and sees the tall red color box man that Sharpe called Optimus Prime speaking about something. Clearly, this thing is important to him, so she wants to see why. "This looks, interesting. Can I still watch?"

---

The convoy has been going slow. With all the wagons and the number of people being escorted, it is like a massive traffic jam. Major Sharpe plans to help these refugees get to a safe location, away from the village the dragon destroyed. However, it is taking far longer than he thought and he is concerned that the dragon might appear soon.

As the wagon convoy moves, he cannot help himself from looking at the mirror, with the angle towards the back of the JLTV. In the mirror, he sees that young girl. Alicia told him that the little girl calls herself Selina.

As Sharpe looks back be feels very dumb now showing her that show. She probably had no idea what was going on and he wonders if he simply scared her more.

That is when over the radio, Second Lieutenant Johnson calls out. "This is Vanguard-7 Alpha, contacting Vanguard-7 Lead, over."

He notices Johnson urgency in his voice. However, though, this could just be a regular update like last time when a wagon broke down. He looks away from the girl Selina and picked up the radio. "This is Vanguard-7 Lead; I am reading you."

There is a short delay in the reply, with some static.

"What the hell is that?" Andrew asked as he leans forward.

"Sir, we have a bogey, I think the dragon..." Then the radio goes silent.

"Johnson...!?" Sharpe yells at his radio. But then they all see a large fireball upfront of the convoy. The dragon wiped out many wagons.

"What the fuck is that?" Andrew asked, leaning closer to the front window.

They all watch the giant inferno, appear. The flames consume six wagons in one blast.

Suddenly, Sharpe can hear Johnson M2 Browning .50 caliber and Mk 47 Striker from Randy vehicle.

Andrew speaks first. "I think they are still alive." His voice sounds like he is struggling to speak. "I hear weapons fire."

That is when they see the massive dragon that flies pass, letting out another breath of fire burning everything in its path. Another three wagons suddenly caught ablaze, killing everyone around them.

As all three of them stare out the window at the blazing inferno, he points to his left to an open field. "Andrew, head to the open. We have to draw the dragon away from the convoy."

The JLTV gets off the road as Sharpe reaches for the radio. "Alicia, grab the Stinger. I will tell Randy, team, to set up the Javelin. Johnson and we will act as bait so they can kill the bastard." He said in a calm tone.

"Roger Major," Alicia said and go into the back of the JLTV and grab the anti-air weapon.

He looks at the open field as he explains the plan to the rest of the team, studying the landscape. He sees that they have room to move around so they are not pinned down here.

The JLTV moves off the road and into the nearby plains. The vehicle bounces around because of the rough terrain. He gets out of his seat and head into the back. He then opens the hatch that is on the ceiling of the vehicle. He then opens it once it is unlocked.

"Move aside dear," Alicia said to Selina. She moves to him and begins to hand him the FIM-92 Stinger.

He grabs the Stinger from Alicia but then looks over to the little girl. He can see that she is terrified of what is going on. "No worry kid. I do this all the time. Go sit in the front seat next to Andrew. Now."

Selina starts heading upfront to get out of the way.

As Selina gets into the front passenger seat he looks out and sees Johnson vehicle. The 50. Caliber is going off.

The vehicle is bouncing a little as they start to circle the field. He hears the Flame Dragon give another roar as it does another fly by.

"Sir look!" Andrew yells.

He looks to the left and his eyes widen with amazement and fear. He sees this massive red beast land on the ground. At first glance, he assumes the Flame Dragon is one and a half football fields, maybe two.

"Alright," he said. "Alicia open the top hatch. I am going up top to take a shot. Tell Johnson that."

---

Rory Mercury jumps out of a wagon she was riding in. She sees the legendary Flame Dragon, amazed by the fight. In the nine-hundred and sixty-one years, she has been on this world, she has never seen the Flame Dragon before.

As she looks around, she sees many wagons on fire and the people that got caught in the strike screaming as they burn to death.

She looks back at the Flame Dragon. The legend said that's nothing can beat it, nothing can kill it. All it leaves behind is ash and death.

Out in the field, she sees two of the strange Other Worlders wagons driving around, fighting the Flame Dragon. She cannot believe that they are trying to fight the monster. She wonders if they do not know nothing can kill it.

However, she realizes these Other Worlders are not normal. They have strange equipment and she saw what they did back in the village, helping these people. She is guessing maybe they could pose a challenge to the Flame Dragon.

Rory is standing there watching these strange warriors fight the dragon in their metal wagons. Watching as they fire these loud rapid arrows from their wagons. It is clear though that whatever weapons they are using is not having any effect.

All the refugees around her are panicking but also watching the fight. She then looks over to her left and sees the other one of the metal wagons. She sees these two strange soldiers come out of it, one holding this long looking tube.

The two strange-looking soldiers are yelling at the people around them to get back and give them some room. She sees them setting something up.

She looks back at the battle. From one of the metal wagons, this massive arrow looking weapon came from one of the horses and head straight to the dragon.

The dragon moves away but the large arrow follows it, she thinks it’s an amazing magical ability. But then the dragon uses its fire breath to destroy it.

"Hmm..." Rory thinks about what is happening.

She was able to sneak onto one of the wagons when they were leaving the village. She was planning on killing them there but was wondering why they were rounding them up. At first, she thought they were enslaving them, but it looked like the villagers were going willingly.

Instead of killing these strange-looking soldiers right away, she decided to hitch a ride and see what happens. Seeing this was a good chance to get some good intelligence on these Other Worlders before revealing herself. If anything, they should take her to their basecamp. There she could kill them all at once and end this.

The Flame Dragon arriving changed her plans. As she watches the battle, she is impressed with what is happening. 'The weapon they are using, and the green metal wagons are nothing like she has seen before, everything about these people is strange.

For some reason, something is telling her to help them, that they are not the enemy. A voice.

She then looks over to the two soldiers. "Hey, can your magic arrows kill the beast?"

One of them looks over to her. "Ahh... I don't know if the missile can kill it, that thing is huge. But it will do some serious damage that is for sure. But it seems that it will just destroy the missile before it hits."

This older, more experience looking man walks up to her. "We need it not to move. It is barely in range as it is."

She smiles hearing that. "Leave that to me." She realizes that the dragon just needs to be distracted enough for the 'missile' arrow to hit. She then pulls out her halberd and charges down into the battle.

---

"Damn... Alicia, do we have another missile?" Sharpe comes down from the open hatch.

He fired the missile, but the missile went off in a wild direction. A Stinger missile is an infrared homing surface-to-air missile. He is wondering all the intense heat coming from the Flame Dragon might be messing up the sensor, making it useless.

"Ahh... yeah, just one," Alicia said nervously now. She pulls the last missile out of the box and hands it to him. "What are you planning on doing with it? It is worthless against that thing."

He takes the missile and thinks. "Andrew, slow down for a second. Alicia, contact Bravo to fire when I distract it. They should have the Javelin ready by now."

Just like the Stinger, the FGM-148 Javelin is an infrared homing missile. However, it has a far better tracking system allowing it to hit its target. He is hoping the more advanced guidance/control will be able to bypass the intense heat around the Flame Dragon and hit it.

All Randy needs is one good shot. If the Dragon takes off again then they are all dead. The Javelin is not an anti-air missile and they are already pushing the range of it.

Before Alicia could say anything, he then opens the back door and jumps out. When he hits the ground, he rolls around on the ground and recovers himself. Once he is recovered, he gets on one knee and sets up the Stringer, lining up the shot.

The dragon currently is facing away as bullets from the other JLTV be firing at it. Then he fires the missile.

The Stinger missiles move through the air but as it gets close it steers away, unable to track through the intense heat. It explodes close to the dragon head, spreading shrapnel all around.

The dragon lets out a roar as it feels the shrapnel hit its eye.

He stands up and drops the Stinger, being useless now. He grabs his radio. "Spread out and concentrate fire until the Javelin is ready to fire. I will keep the bastard on me."

The Flame Dragon ignores the .50 caliber fire from Johnson JLTV and looks directly at him.

He looks up at the Flame Dragon, seeing that he got its attention. He can tell that the dragon is pissed now, and he is perfectly fine with that. The goal was to distract it.

Not knowing what else to do, he then pulls out his M1911 Colt pistol, that being the only range weapon he has on him. He aims it and fires, trying to keep the attention on him. He can see the three bullets he fires did nothing to its scales.

The dragon lets out a painful roar and then release another long fire breath all over the ground. The blast gets closer to his position.

"Oh shit...," he said as he falls back on his ass from the blast.

He closes his eyes from the heat as the blast gets closer. The blast goes right by him, the heat is intense, feeling some burns on his arms.

The fire breath goes out and then Sharpe looks around, confused about what just happen. He knows he should be dead, no way the dragon could miss him.

As he looks up and around, he sees right in front of him is this strange-looking field or shield around him. It reminds him of that shield he saw at that Imperial camp(1) but this time it is protecting him. It looks like some kind of magical field from some fantasy game or film. Either way, it just saved him from burning to death.

The strange shield disappears, and he looks behind him and sees this blue haired girl in green dress while holding a staff. Both her and the staff are glowing, clearly showing that she did some kind of magic something that saved his life. She then falls to her knees as she breaths heavily.

"Hey boy," this feminine voice said.

He looks to his right and sees this small looking girl standing there, about the same size and age as Selina. "Kid! What the fuck are you doing down here? This is dangerous!"

"One!" the girl said, holding out her index figure towards him. "Never call me kid. I am hundreds of years older than you mortal. I am Rory Mercury, the Apostle of Emroy. The Demi-Goddess of War, Death, Darkness, and Love."

Rory then looks at him and smirks. "I am impressed, mortal. I talked to your friends and they told me what to do. I will take it from here."

As he sits there, he sees Rory spinning herself. Watching her is making him dizzy but he cannot believe how fast she is going. She as picked up so much speed that he cannot see her anymore, just a blur.

Rory then stops, tossing her halberd towards the Flame Dragon. It flies through the air as the Flame Dragon begins releasing its fire breath.

The halberd hits the lower mouth of the Flame Dragon, forcing it to release its fire breath into the sky, away from anyone.

He cannot believe what he just saw. A twelve-year-old girl just tossed a weapon at least two kilometers away and hitting the monster hard enough to deflect its attack. He realizes how little he understands this world.

He sees the Javelin missile from the Vanguard-Bravo team flies. The missile explodes close to the dragon’s arm. The blast tore the right arm off the dragon.

The Flame Dragon lets out a loud and painful scream. Besides continuing the fight, the dragon extends its wings and flies away.

Sharpe starts to laugh. He cannot believe that they have beaten that bastard.

"I don't believe it," Rory said. "You actually defeated the Flame Dragon. Not even I can defeat such a monster."

"Good old US tax dollars there," he replied.

He then looks at the girl who called herself Rory.

As Rory walks up to him, she looks to be twelve or thirteen-year-old. She is wearing this black dress with red frills, black stockings supported by garters, and a red boot.

Sharpe slowly gets up, leaning on his good knee. "Thank you miss for the help, you're a brave young girl."

She licks her lips and smile. "You and your people were the brave ones here though. And you look good."

He looks to Rory confused by that. "Ahh, ok..." He then looks to the blue hair girl.

"And I am happy to assist strange sir. My name is Lelei La Lalena." Lelei said.

"You did that strange shield thing?" he asked.

"I don't understand," Lelei asked. "Who else would do the shield? I am the only mage here."

"Mage," he said, confused by the term. "A magic-user. Cool. Thank you."

Both JLTV drives up to them and they get out of the vehicles.

"Major Sharpe," he said to them. "My name is Major Sharpe, leader of this unit."

Alicia walks up first. Before he could say anything, she slaps him in the face. "Never do that again sir or I swear I am going to kill you myself." She said angrily. "I will be the one who has to report your death and that will not look good."

"...ouch... you know I could court-martial you for that," he replied as he places his hand on his cheek.

She points right at his face. "I dare you to. Now get in the jeep."

***

--- 33 minutes later ---

Vanguard-7, the Mayor, Rory, and Lelei are gathering around his command vehicle. They are all taking notes on the damage from the battle. Major Sharpe is currently sitting on the back of the wagon which is right next to his vehicle.

Specialist Jerry Williams is currently treating his leg from when he jumped out of the JLTV.

"Ouch," he mumbles.

"Stop moving sir," Jerry said.

"The damage is very bad," the Mayor said. "I think a hundred and thirty people dead? Thirty wagons have gone. It is hard to tell."

"Well there wasn't much we could do," Randy said. "The dragon came out nowhere. We should be lucky that was all who died."

"This man is correct," Rory said. "All of you could be dead."

Johnson walks up. "Everything checks out sir. We should be ready to go in five."

The Mayor takes off his hat and takes a deep breath. "We can no longer follow the old plan."

"What is that?" Johnson asked.

"We have sustained too many losses," The Mayor said. "The path seems to be more dangerous now. If we are going to reach Marals then we must leave the old, sick, and wounded."

He could not believe what he just heads. "So, you are just going to abandon these people?"

"We have no choice," the Mayor explains. "Anyone who doesn't have a wagon has to find their way. We do not have the means to transport everyone anymore. If the dragon comes back, we all will die."

He thinks about that, not liking what he is hearing. He was about to say something, wanting to chew him out and lecture him about responsibility. But right then a sharp pain goes through in his wounded leg. Jerry treats it and applied pain to prevent him from speaking freely.

The Mayor thanks them for protecting them and walk away.

Alicia walks over holding the radio. "Vanguard Command is on the horn. They want to speak to you. It is Lieutenant Sarah."

"Perfect," he said as he takes the radio. He just risked his unit lives just for the Major to morally betray him. Therefore, the Army said don't get involved. "Johnson get everyone secured as best as you can."

"This is Major Sharpe," he said.

"Major," Sarah said. "I just for Alicia report. Your orders are to detach from the refugee convoy and head back to base. ASAP."

He thinks about it and looks around. "The Mayor is leaving us right now. However, he is leaving about a hundred people behind."

Sarah takes a breath. "I know you are trying to help sir however orders are to wave them off and head back to base. Do you acknowledge it?"

He looks at everyone as they listen to the conversation. He sees the refugees that been abandon walking over. He sees Rory and Lelei standing there looking confused about what is happening. He looks over to his vehicle and sees Selina looking through the window.

He takes a deep breath. "Order confirmed."

"Roger that," Sarah said.

Rory speaks first. "What is happening?" She said, all happy and confident.

"We have to leave you all to," Alicia said, not happy by the order.

"You are kidding?" Jerry said. "Sir, rules of war say that we are responsible for these people."

They all look to Sharpe for an answer. He looks back at them all seeing that everyone waiting for his order.

Sharpe then hops off the wagon and look around. He sees all the remaining family members; many are parentless children or just families with nothing. Based on what he just saw, leaving them will result in certain death. There is no way he could accept that.

He raises his hand and waves at everyone. As he expected everyone, the refugees and his Ranger look confused. "There. I waved at you all. Now we are heading back to base. All of us. Rangers, gather up, and roll out."

"You think command would allow that?" Johnson asked, speaking freely.

"Not if we tell them. But we are not abandoning anyone. Get ready to leave in five." Sharpe quickly responds.

Johnson and the other under his command give him a salute and then head out to get everyone ready to leave in their vehicles.