--- Earth, Philadelphia ---

January 27th, 2025

Corporal Sofia Everett jumps off from the back of the M1083 truck. "Good to be home."

She looks towards the city and sees smoke everywhere.

She was born and raised in this city. She has seen many things growing up here. Seeing it in flames terrifies her.

"Shit man," she says. "My apartment was downtown."

"I thought this was a joke," private Higgins said. "Just some riots again."

She wonders if her school is still intact.

"Let's go, everyone," Staff Sergeant Tucker said. "First squad with me."

As she walks with her squad, she passes a plaza. There are dead and wounded people everywhere. She sees one man missing his arm. People crying while others are looking for loved ones.

When she enlisted into the National Guard, she knew there was a possibility ok f being deployed to some foreign war. She never imagined seeing combat in her own city and seeing her people crying.

She follows her squad through the city. Fires everywhere, bodies everywhere. She hears weapons fire and people yelling in the distance.

She hears two of her fellow soldiers up ahead commenting on the burn makes on the building there passing.

"Keep moving," Tucker orders.

She looks toward and sees this dance club that is on fire. "Shit. I used to sneak into there."

"Sneak?" Hansen asks. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Maybe," she responds. She wanted to laugh, but seeing her favorite place burning. She can feel the heat even from a block away. "The owner didn't give a shit."

As they keep walking, she wonders if her friends got out safe.

She then this strange roar, followed up by yelling and screaming. Gunfire can be heard.

Tucker orders everyone to double-time it and everyone starts running.

As they run, they see this small car is flying through the air. A woman inside screaming for her life. The car ramps into a building four stories up.

She couldn't believe what she just saw. She was not able to stop and allow her brain to catch up because of her fellow soldiers screaming over the radio.

She rushes and the squad rushes forward to join the rest of the platoon.

She rushes around the street corner and what she sees is chaos.

A troll lets out a roar as it slams its large spiked club into a van full of people. A screaming people inside suddenly go quiet as blood sprays the windows.

She also sees this ogre beast reaching into a bus. It pulls out this man as he screams for his life. The ogre then eats that man and then reaches back into the bus.

"Get in the game Sofia!"

She rushes up behind her teammates as they take cover behind some cars. The thirty-five-size platoon opens fire at the two monsters and the Roman-like swordsmen on the streets.

She stands up and opens fire, killing a swordsman. To her surprise, the enemy infantry went down easier than she thought. With all that armor she assumed it would take more bullets.

The troll tosses its club at the truck some soldiers using, killing two and wounding three others.

With the combination fire, the troll finally dies. The ogre goes down an alley and flees deeper in the city.

"They are running!" she yells.

"Stay focus," Tucker says.

"Watch out!" a soldier yell.

She looks up and see this dragon coming down.

The dragon lands in the middle of the intersection. Once it lands it lets out this deafening roar.

She and most other soldiers fall from the intense wind from the wings.

As she gets up she notices a man on top of the dragon, which baffles her. "What the fuck is going on? A fucking dragon?"

One of her comrades helps her up as the other soldier's fire at the dragon.

Tucker then runs up. "You ok Sofia?"

"Yes Sarge," she responds.

"Good," Tucker responds. "Our squad heading out. We need to get to a police station that is under siege. The platoon is going to hold here and engage the dragon and these swordsmen."

She hears someone well watch out. Then, a fireball hits the building above them, spreading fire everywhere.

"I know that station," she responds as she takes cover from the flames. "There is an alley we can use as a shortcut."

As the battle rages, she follows her squad down the street. She sees destruction and bodies everywhere.

When they get to the main street, she and everyone else stop. "Sarge. The alley is right there."

"Holy fuck," a soldier says.

She looks at the main street more closely and sees what the soldier sees. The street is littered with civilian bodies.

As the civilians were fleeing they were run down and slaughtered by cavalry and wolves.

Then an arrow hits one of her comrades in the neck.

She then sees about thirty swordsmen executing survivors of the cavalry charge from before. She also sees a man with pointy ears, an elf.

"We need to get across," Tucker says. "Suppressive fire and move by twos."

She starts firing at the enemy as arrows hitting the cars around her. She takes out one of the swordsmen, the bullet going through his shield and armor easily.

She is surprised that this enemy is wearing metal for armor. Most bullets can go through metal that thick. These soldiers are better off wearing nothing.

The real problem is that there are many vehicles between her team and the enemy, making it harder to take them down quickly. The ones who were out in the open, using their shields as cover were quickly taken out. The others are proven harder to kill.

When it is her turn, she rushes down the street, using the cars as cover. She sees dead bodies in some of the cars, as many of them were killed while inside.

As she gets to the other side of the street and sees the enemy pushing up a catapult. She and two others start shooting at the people around the catapult, however the artillery piece fires.

The fireball hits a gasoline truck close to the rest of the squad. They rush away as an explosion happens.

From the blast she backs away, protecting herself from the intense blaze. She can hear the screams of two of her squadmates as they burn. She also sees three of the enemy soldiers engulfed in flames as they were too close. She can see that the enemy did not understand how and why the truck exploded.

"Shit man," a soldier says. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Shut up," she responds. She hears Tucker giving the order to take point. She just keeps watching the soldiers falling over engulfed in the flames.

She sees Tucker get in front of her as he makes her look at him.

"Keep your head in the game Sofia," Tucker said. "We need you to get us to that police station or they are all dead."

She looks at him with respect. Tucker has been in the National Guard for a long time. He was there in the city trying to stop the Marxist Riots five years ago.

"Follow me," she said and starts running.

She understands how important it is to get to the police station and help hold the line. Their job is to just hold back the enemy until the regular military gets here.

Because of Hollywood, most people think the military can respond within seconds of a crisis. While there are rapid response units, that is not the standard for most of the military. Mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers and hardware takes time. Time which Philadelphia does not have.

The squad moves through the city, using the alleys and back streets to move around. During this, they could hear the sounds of battle all over the place. The sound of buildings being destroyed, people crying out, and more.

She stops and kneels. "Sarge. The police station is three blocks in this direction."

She then hears a large explosion from that direction.

"Sounds like they are facing hell," a soldier comments.

"Yeah," she replies. "I wonder if Tiffany’s Expresso is still standing. This really pisses me off. Five years of rebuilding for nothing. My school, my first job all gone."

"Don't worry Sofia. We will bust these bastards nuts." Private First-Class Parker says.

"Alright team," Tucker says. "We will get to the street and see the situation. However, we must link up inside with the police and SWAT and hold out until the rest of the 48th National Guard division arrives."

"And then the rest of the Army," Parker states.

"Let's go!" Tucker says.

"Wait," a soldier in the back says. "Listen."

She looks around, hearing nothing. She is about to respond, but then she hears a sound. A faint scream. "It sounds like a woman’s scream. Begging for help."

"I hear it too," Tucker said. "We know where to go so Parker, Sofia, go check it out. If someone needs help find them and bring them to the police station."

She nods and heads out. "Follow me, Parker."

She moves through the alley and stops. She breaks into the back of a Chinese restaurant. "This is another shortcut. I used to eat here when I was a kid."

She stops at the restaurant’s large widow and looks over. "See you there."

"Right in front of the gas station," Parker said.

She looks closely and sees three men and one of those pointy eared men.

She hears another scream and notices a woman on the ground.

"Bastards," she said. "Ok. I will cover you and pick them off. You go in and save the damsel in distress. Then we will rush to the police station."

"Roger that," Parker says.

She sees Parker moving outside, using the cars as cover. She looks up and sees an F-16 Fighting Falcon taking out a dragon. She is happy to see this, showing the first signs of the American counterattack.

She looks out and aims her rifle. Once Parker gets close, she opens fire, taking out one of the soldiers that were watching the rape.

At the same time, Parker opens fires at the soldiers, flanking them. This forced two others out of cover where she could pick them off.

Once Parker confirms that they are dead he rushes over and helps the naked woman off the ground.

She gets out of the Chinese restaurant and takes cover by a truck. She waves at Parker signaling that she is going to cover them.

Down the street she sees more strange enemy soldiers coming up. She fires her M4, taking out the leading scout. "These people are everywhere."

As she unloads her magazine she turns around to retreat. Right then she sees a Dark Elf standing right there. Before she could aim her rifle, the elf moves towards her and knocks the rifle out of her hands.

She tries to swing a punch, but the elf blocked her. She cannot believe how fast the elf is moving.

She feels him grabbing her arm and getting tossed around. She hits the street pavement hard and rolls.

She stops and then feels this boot on her back, preventing her from standing up.

She looks up and sees this man in Roman armor standing there.

"Good catch," the man says.

"She killed a few of ours," the dark elf said.

She then feels the man kick her hard. From the kick, she rolls over twice holding her side.

She grew up downtown, living a poor life. She got into many fights, mostly with other girls. She remembers once getting into a fistfight with a dude and lost it. However, she remembers knocking a tooth out. Right now, she feels nothing but pain, never feeling being hit before with so much force.

The man walks over and grabs her. He lifts her and tosses her at the side of the car. "You inferior bitch. You killed my friends."

"Imperial," the dark elf said. "What are you going to do with her? We already killed everyone here."

As she listens to them debate what to do with her. She stands up holding her side. She feels like all the energy is out of her body. However, she looks inside the car and sees this dead boy. She can see the arrow in the boy's chest.

She feels a hand on her shoulder as she gets spin around, she feels a hard punch on the ground.

She falls to her knees and throws up.

She breaths heavily, hearing the two laughing all she can think is about that dead boy. Seeing the places, she grew up burned to the ground.

She sees the shadow of that man and the sword he is holding. She sees the sword shadow raise as the man prepares to execute her.

While her body screams in pain, her heart only fills with anger. She grabs a piece of glass next to her and rams it into the man's neck.

The man takes a few steps backward as he grabs his neck, bleeding to death.

While the man dies, she pulls out her combat knife and charges at the elf. She rams him into a van and starts stabbing him. "You bastard! You fucking killed my people. For what?"

"Treasure and honor," the elf says as he slides down to the ground dead.

She places her hand on her side, feeling a sharp pain. The Kevlar stopped most of the blade however it was somehow able to cut through.

She hears horns as soldiers marching towards her. She tries running through the street, trying to get to the police station. "I just have to make it, and everything will be ok. We will win."

She had to travel five blocks and hid a few times. When she finally got close, she saw smoke coming from around the corner. She knew there was a siege happening and wondered if the police and army blew the invaders away.

She summons what little strength she can muster and rushes over.

Once she gets around the street corner, she stops, and her eyes widen in the horror. She sees the police station engulfed in flames. Hundreds to a thousand of enemy soldiers celebrate their victory over the police.

She sees some police and Tucker's hands being nailed to a cross, being crucified. She sees about thirteen of these crosses with people on them, begging for their lives.

She falls onto her knees, holding her side. She does not know what to do. She saw the stores she used to go to. The apartment of one of her friends' homes, all destroyed. And now the police station with everyone in it dead or dying.

***

--- Fort Minick, Vanguard-7 Barracks ---

March 24th, 2026

Sofia Everett wakes up during the middle of the night. She is breathing heavily.

She places her hand on her forehead as she tries to control her breathing.

"Bad dream?" Alicia asked.

She looks over and sees Alicia sitting up in her bed. "What makes you think that?"

Alicia gives her a 'what the fuck' look. "Really? The yelling, screaming. The tossing and turning."

She gives her a 'fuck off' look and grabs her water bottle.

"Sofia," Alicia said. "You know, you can talk about it if you want? We all understand you were at ground zero. None of us were. If you just talked, we could help."

Hearing her say that annoyed her. "If any of you were there, none of you would have those alien brats around. I worked my ass off to get into Ranger School because I heard you guys were on the front lines kicking enemy ass. The first thing I found out is that you are working with the enemy."

"Not all of them are the enemy," Alicia responds. "We keep telling you that. They earned our trust."

Alicia pulls off the covers and sits on her head, looking at her. "Let me ask you this, if they are the enemy why are they nice to you and help you? Selina tried to be your friend. She has been through enough to be treated like that(1). And Selina, she was a sex slave before. She just wants to spread love and be loved."

Out of all the Girls she hates Selina the most. It is not anything she has done; it is what she represents. Her commanding officer Sharpe adopted an alien girl. She heard nothing but him and Vanguard-7 taking it to the enemy, and he adopted one.

When the shit hits the fan, she knows she won't be able to trust Sharpe in battle. His loyalties are divided.

"You should talk to the Colonel," Alicia said. "I know he is hard to approach but he is a big softy inside. Just don't start a fight, he fights to win. But he has been in your shoes. Trust me, no one liked him but he has grown. I hated him the most, the same as you. Trust me."

"Yeah. I am totally going to take life lessons from a thirty-year-old dude sleeping with his adopted daughter," she states in a sarcastic but degrading manner.

She has heard stories that Sharpe and Selina sleep in the same bed. She saw that when they were on the mission to Camp Galileo.

After saying that she sees Alicia grab her and flips her on the ground.

"You fucking bitch!" Alicia yells. "That is way past the red line. Show some respect! That is my niece!"

After Alicia lets go she gets up and glares at her. "Fuck off."

"What the fuck?" Alicia says in confusion. "God, I wish I knocked your lights out last time(1)."

She then gets out of bed and grabs her pants. She puts them on and leaves. "Going to go sleep in the HUMVEE."

She walks through the barracks lounge room and sees Andrew and Hamilton sitting on the couch watching the romantic film, 'The Notebook'. It was one of her favorite movies growing up and it just pisses her off more that Andrew is showing Hamilton it.

Andrew looks over. "Sofia?" He asks confused. "Where are you going?"

"Shouldn't you be in the shack?" she responds angrily.

"Frost's girlfriend flew over and now I cannot get in," Andrew replies.

"Which is fine,"

She then heads to the front door but hears Hamilton speaking.

"Ahh… if you are going outside shouldn't you grab a jacket?" Hamilton said, concerned.

She stops and notices that she has her tank top on. She gets angry hearing that because Hamilton is right. She walks over to the closet and grabs a jacket.

She walks outside, ignoring them. She walks over to the HUMVEE and gets inside. She locks all the doors and lays down. She brings her legs up and holds herself. Then, she cries herself to sleep.

***

--- Fort Minick, Training field ---

March 24th, 2026

Pina is standing there, arms at the ready.

"That is right," Ling said. "Good balance Princess."

She glances over and sees Corporal Ling Fanghua and Sergeant First Class Shino Kuribayashi standing there. Both are training the Rose Knights and the Militia on basic marshal arts for close-quarter combat.

She looks over and sees each Vanguard-7 members and Rose Knight paired up. They wanted the Rose Knights to practice against a professionally trained soldier, to give them an idea of what combat is like. Sharpe believes because the enemy specializes in close combat, it will be wise to know how to fight without a weapon.

So far in this training, she has found it extremely exhausting. During her Rose Knight Academy days, she thought Grey’s training regiment was hell, but this Ranger training has been insane. She feels like she has never worked so hard in her life.

When Sharpe said they had to go through specialized training to continue following his command she agreed thinking it was going to be easy. Some of her Knights were insulted by the idea since they already have seen combat and they have already proven themselves in battle. She quickly learned how wrong she was.

She looks back at the girl named Sofia. Something seems off with this woman. While everyone else seems to be levelheaded, not trying to hurt each other Sofia seems to be very hostile towards her.

"Princess, Sofia, stop," Ling said. "Pina, I want you to practice defense. You will need to learn how to block."

"Ok," she said and got in the defensive stance they showed her. "Bring it."

"Everyone, begin," Shino orders.

Suddenly she sees Sofia’s fists flying at her. She blocks the punch and then again. However, each punch hurt her arms, like Sofia was throwing too much strength into her punches.

"Hey," she said. "This is training. Not a real fight."

Sofia ignores her and continues her attack.

"I want you all to get used to the movements," Ling said. "Starting tomorrow you will be getting more advanced martial arts, Knights. There are many benefits of martial arts."

Ling starts to walk by everyone as they train. "Martial arts help your reflexes, mobility, body strength, physical and mental health, and much more. As you already know Knights, men have a greater advantage in physical strength. It will be wise not to get into a fistfight with one."

Ling then stops, holding out a hand to make a point. "However, brute strength doesn't equal to guarantee victory. Martial arts teach you to use your opponent's strength against them, giving you the advantage. Their strength becomes your ally."

She agrees with Ling there. She has fought men before without weapons and she found it very painful. However, she learned early on that with a weapon the fight becomes more balanced. Sharpe had her Knights watch a video by Shadiversity about how women are able to defeat men in battle because they are well trained and have good weapons. Sharpe said he wanted the Knights to know weapons are the great equalizer in battle.

She takes a step back, trying not to get hit. "Sofia, this is training. No need to punch so hard."

"You want training, you got training," Sofia said.

She moves her arm and blocks it. She feels a lot of pain from the punch. "Ouch…" She rubs her arm. "What are you doing? What is your problem with me? Are you having your monthly bleed?"

That only pissed Sofia off. She gets into an attack stance. "You bitch, you want to know my problem? You killed my people and I have to play nice."

She looks at her confused but then realizes the issue. "I denounced the Empire. My Knights and I are helping you to overthrow my brother."

"Do you think I care about politics?" Sofia responded in an angry tone. "You attacked my city. I lost so many friends. Business, places I grew up, my first apartment, my first job, my school, were all burned to the ground and destroyed. Most of my unit was killed just trying to delay your people's attack."

Sofia swings a punch at her. "I saw what happened at the police station. Fifty-seven policemen, National Guardsmen and militiamen slaughtered or were crucified by your people. You people are no better than ISIS, burying people alive and such. You all deserve a bullet in the head but here I am training my enemy."

She doesn’t know how to respond. She realizes that Sofia is not like the other Rangers, Sofia lived and fought in the city the Empire attacked, Philadelphia. She saw everything the Empire did to her people and she can see it has scared her deeply.

How the Empire and other kingdoms fight, what they did at Philadelphia is normal. By Earth standards, it is considered barbaric. She first learned this with Sharpe and Anderson after the Battle of Italica(2).

"I don't know what you want me to say," she responds. "I was not there, and I was a foolish girl back then. Naive of the world."

"That won't bring any of them back!" Sofia yells and punches her on the cheek

She falls on her butt, placing her hand on her cheek. "Ouch… Hey… oh shit…"

Sofia gets on her and starts trying to punch her.

She places her foot upon Sofia's chest, pushing her back. Sofia grabs her leg and flips her around, twisting her leg.

"Stand down Sofia!" Carlos orders.

She looks back and sees Shino grab Sofia, trying to pull her off. Ling grabs Sofia's other arm and both overpower her, forcing Sofia to let go of her leg.

"Let go of me!" Sofia yells as she struggles.

Hamilton drops to her side and holds her. "Are you ok Princess? Can I get you anything? How is your leg."

"I am fine Hamilton," she responds and then thinks. "Water please."

She sees everyone stop their training and watch the fuss. She then sees Chief Master Sergeant Carlos Cruz walk over. He goes right to Sofia and grabs her shirt. He holds her close and while she cannot hear what he is saying, it did not sound good.

Sofia quickly calms down and shrugs him off.

"To the stockade now," Carlos orders. "And tomorrow you will be doing five kilometers."

Randy walks over and starts chewing Sofia out. He then escorts her to the base guardhouse.

Carlos looks at everyone with a glare. "What are you all doing? None of you stopped the fight or continued your training. Inaction gets you killed and allows this crap to happen. You either act or you don't now get back to training!"

She cannot believe how serious this man is. She thought Sharpe was no bullshit, but Carlos is on a whole other level. Everyone quickly got back to training.

Carlos then walks over to her and kneels. "How is the leg?"

She looks down at her leg and back at him. "I am fine. But it does hurt."

Carlos nods. "Sorry about that. Where is that…. Oh."

Jerry, the Vanguard-7 medic rushes over and starts looking at her leg. "It looks fine, but I don't recommend her going back to training today. I let it rest for a day, maybe two."

"Fine," Carlos said. "It is better not to push too hard. Besides, we need to let that pretty face rest."

She looks at Carlos, blushing. She watches him walk away to take care of the training.

"Christ, I see why he and Sharpe like each other," Jerry said. "There are both flirt monsters."

"Ahh yeah… I see that." She responds, not knowing what else to say.

Hamilton rushes over with a bottle of water. "Here you go, Princess."

She looks at Hamilton and smiles. "Thank you, Hamilton."

"Hamilton," Jerry said. "Can you take her to the infirmary? I want her to rest there for a bit."

As Hamilton helps her get up, she looks to where Sofia went. She should have expected to meet a soldier who was directly affected by her people's surprise attack. She has gotten too use to the other Rangers and how well they treated her and her Knights.

The only other time she has seen that much hatred was with Sharpe early in the war. Especially after their argument after their attack on Sadera(3). Everything became personal to him and she had to find many American slaves to regain his trust.

The truth is she fully understands how Sofia feels. She was just as angry when the Rangers attacked Sadera to free their people(4). She saw thousands of Royal Guards die from their attack. Homes, businesses, citizens, all destroyed during their attack.

She had to learn to let that anger go because, in the end, it was her people's fault. The attack would never have happened if they never attacked and kidnapped their people. She hopes that Sofia can find a way to move on.