“MELODY!” the girls mother cried out in fear and desperation. Good, that was what I needed. That one voice would keep the Mob at bay for a short time. It is what I needed most.

“Let her go you Emperial Dog!” she screamed at me. I gritted my teeth and ignored the obvious slurs meant to cause someone utterly loyal to the Empire to lash out alone.

“You will get her back once all the Rebel Elements within your Village have been annihilated. Hand over everyone that is a Rebel, and I will allow you to join your children. “ I could feel the stirrings of a few in the back, the whispered mutterings. Perhaps it would go well, I could obtain the Rebels, and then destroy the Villagers.

Just as the first mutterings of handing over the people not of their Village, that had led so many of them to die started. That was when the Orange Rebels began to feel the tide turning, and spoke out in a loud voice, a voice I knew.

“Don’t listen to him! He will not kill your Children, he wants to use them against you!” Jerome...How in the name of the Empress had he been able to infiltrate the Empire's armed forces? That explained a lot however, and looking toward the voice I saw the rest of his men.

I felt the fire of retribution burning bright within me, traitors, deserters, infiltrators. “Jerome! You are a traitor to the Empire, to our Empress, and to General Azazel. You will be killed, it is up to you if it is quick and painless, or filled with agony.”

I saw him freeze, and then the little one whispered something. The Mob was still held back for fear that they would lose their children. I watched as the big black man raised his head, a sneer upon his lips. Then he shouted things that should never be said in front loyal, and fanatical Soldiers of the Empire.

“You know what I have to say about that? Fuck your Empire, Fuck your General, and if I ever meet your Empress, I’ll bend her over and fuck her up her lily white ass!”

Something deep within me snapped. Anything that may have saved them just went out the window. They could have been brought before General Azazel for judgement, perhaps even granted life in return for information.

“Lilith, bring an infant. I hear it bawling, and Melody, come up by me please.”

I waited, the soft shuffling of small feet coming closer. I looked down to see the child, Melody, and placed a single hand on her head. I spoke softly to her, encouraging her bravery. “You would have made a fine Soldier of the Empire, and served our Empress well. It is truly a shame what your Mother, and the other Adults have caused to occur. For that, I am sorry.”

She nodded her head softly, tears running down her face. She was so very afraid, yet she did what was to be expected of a loyal Citizen of the Empire, even for one so young, she was a Hero. I would ensure her name was remembered as such as well.

“Sir, the infant.” I turned toward Lilith and grabbed the Infant, its hoarse cries growing heavier at the touch of the cold metal of my Armor. I raised my voice to be heard, unholstering my Pistol and pressing it to the side of Melody’s head, saying to be brave before speaking to the crowd.

“You! The Mother of this Child, Melody, you get to choose. That Rebel Scum has ensured this happens, so blame him. Choose, your Daughter, or this Infant. Which dies and which lives?”

I heard Melody’s Mother start screaming. “Baby! Melody, baby, run to Mommy. Come here Baby, he won’t shoot you. Just...Just run to Mommy.” She was choking up, crying louder, heard above the screaming. A mother in pure desperation.

I pressed the gun a bit more firmly against her skull, whispering she was a Hero and would be remembered, then raised my Voice, all but screaming the ultimatum. “CHOOSE!! Your Daughter, or the Infant. Which dies?!”

Jerome screamed out above the crowd, almost instantly after mine. “He is lying!” followed by her broken sobs of “My Daughter, I choose for her...to live.”

I took the Pistol from Melody’s head and pressed it against the Infant's skull, just above where my arm held its head straight. I stared directly at Jerome, speaking loudly, forcing the Mob to see just what I was going to do, and ensuring they knew the cause.

“This is on you, Jerome, for forcing me to show them the Empire does not make empty threats.” I pulled the trigger, the bang and resulting echo of the gunshot was followed by the most profound silence. The blood of the Infant and the brain matter running down my armored forearm.

“Y-you...How could you! See that, see what Monsters the Empire are!” The big black man screamed, his voice growing high pitched in fear. The people didn’t hear him, they were still in shock. I allowed the limp infant to fall to the ground, the thud of its little body seeming to echo out, and the sound magnified. A single instant, that one defining moment where I could see them warring with whether to charge out and risk the lives of the other Children, or turn over all of the Rebels.

I switched our comms to the private channel. “Azza, are the Shuttles surrounded, or in danger?”

“Sir, no Sir.”

“Gabrial, is the Primer ready?”

“Sir, yes Sir. Whenever you are ready.”

“Wait until we are in the air. The results will be large.”

I kept my mic on the private channel, but keyed it off for the time being. Instead I watched the Mob. Their eyes slowly turned to hatred, I raised a hand and I heard the movements of my Men behind me as they raised their weapons. I knew they were aimed at the Children.

“Give us all the Rebels within this town, and they live. Fail to do so, and every one of you will die, and while you may overrun us, that will not save your Children. Make your Choice. Strangers that ensured this fate upon you, or your Children.”

It was an obvious choice, and they took it. Fools that they were, they took it. I had Orders, and it amazed me that Jerome did not know. All Military personnel on this OP were meant to know the true goal...Unless General Azazel knew that they were Traitors? It was possible. He had a large information network, and countless Spies seeded throughout his Quadrant. No doubt he sent them to be a further test. I doubted he meant for them to blow their cover to spectacularly, no doubt because my Men and I refused to trust them, or our constant arguments.

They had likely had enough, and chosen to act before they believed my back up plans were in motion. I watched as the Mob turned upon itself, shoving and pushing each Orange clothed Rebel into the Open, chief among them the five Support Squad Members that were, in truth, Rebels.

Them I would give a very different death, chief among them for such a reward was Jerome. Several Rebels struggled as they were being forced out of the Mob, screaming and crying that this was not right, that this Village was going to die because they could not sacrifice a few Children. How right that one was.

“Shoot the ones fighting the Most, Castielle.”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

A single shot rang out every few moments as more and more Rebels were being led out. The shots ended in a Rebels skull exploding outward once the Bullet penetrating them. They quickly stopped fighting the inevitable, for what reason I did not know.

Between us and the Mob, knelt the Rebels. Fully three hundred, at least. They had been bound by the Mob, and could not move. The few that had tried to get to their feet and run were quickly shot and killed. Their fates were sealed, and they knew it. It did not stop them from screaming that the Villagers were wrong, that now they would all die.

I personally silenced those, no need to make them start thinking, remembering what happens to some Villages, or settlements within the Empire that had Rebels within. No need to Remind them of Gala Prime, and the Planet searing all for a single Rebel enclave.

“Gabrial, Castielle, Lilith. Kill them all, leave the five Traitors alive. Make sure they see and hear what is happening to their fellow Rebels.”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

As one they moved up beside me, taking a full step forward as they brought up their AK-99’s in fully automatic mode, and opened fire upon the kneeling, and defenceless Rebels. Their screams and the sound of rhythmic gun fire in controlled bursts was like icing on the cake, an old saying, but accurate.

It took a full ten minutes to kill them all, aside from the special five. The Children behind us had long since gone silent, too afraid to utter a sound after seeing what happened to the Infant. I moved forward, Lilith, Gabrial, and Castiell’s guns trained on the last five survivors. The Traitors, the Test, for that is what they had to be.

They were the wrench thrown into my plan, the thing designed to make sure my first OP, supposedly simple and easy, did not go as planned. To make me think, to change, to grow as new situations were thrown at me. The Academy had prepared us for countless scenarios. Including the fact our Generals may very well test our abilities to see if we had been worth the price of acquisition.

I moved forward, Jerome and the little man cursing me, throwing slurs left and right. I believe the smaller one just insulted the Empress, once earned Jerome my special execution, with the little man I just drew my pistol, aimed and fired without looking. It cut his words off half way, and he fell forward into the red/brown mud created from all the blood and bodies.

“You sonofabitch! I’ll kill you!” Another man within the squad lunged forward, I put a bullet into his thigh. It made him cry out in utter agony, and fall face forward while trying to grab it, yet unable to do so because of the restraints. “Fucker, fucker, fucker” His inane pain filled words were beginning to annoy me. I put one in his head, silencing him for eternity.

Two done, three to go. I reached them a moment later, and grasped the back of Jeromes neck, forcing it to turn and watch as I shot the man beside him in the shoulder. His screams of pain, followed by the word ‘Monster’ were very satisfying after what the big black man had said about our Empress. I shot the man again in his other shoulder, followed by one in the collar bone, just shy of a major artery. Then we spent the next five minutes watching the man bleed out, his breathing and hoarse grunts of pain slowly dying down to nothing. I ended it a moment before death with a single bullet to his curly brown haired head.

Then I forced Jerome to turn and watch the last one, the only female within his group. Attractive for a normal human woman. “Crawl away.” I said, my voice utterly devoid of emotion. I felt Jerome tense, and squeezed very hard on his neck, jerking his head to the side. Where the head goes, the body will follow, it stopped him from making a move.

I looked at the woman again. “Crawl. Away.” I made sure my words were clearly heard.

“Please, Captain, Sir, God, whatever you wanna be called, don’t do dis. She had nothing, she was follow…” I smacked him upside the head with the butt of my pistol, dazing him a bit.

“You no longer have the right to address me, Rebel. She will crawl, and you will watch. If you shut your eyes like you did for the man, I will make it last longer. Do. You. Understand?”

He nodded, tears forming on his eyes, perfect. I turned to see the woman, her eyes so filled with defeat and hopelessness slowly start to crawl, moving just her knees seeing as her hands were tied behind her back.

I waited until she was fully turned from me, and then I put a bullet in the back of her left thigh, just below her butt. She fell forward, and Jerome closed his eyes. “Crawl” I told her, and put another bullet just below the same in the span of a moment. Her screams went out as she fell forward.

I turned to look at Jerome a moment. “Open your eyes and watch her die, or I will make it last the rest of the day.”

He slowly, oh so slowly opened his eyes. Large tears streaming down his face as he muttered he was sorry. Over and over he repeated he was sorry, whether to me or the woman who was crying while face first in the blood mud I did not know.

“Crawl” I repeated, when she did not move I shot her in the foot. “Crawl!” She slowly rose and began to crawl in a dragging limp like motion. I knelt down, bending my knees to sit on my armored calves.

I shot her in her right shoulder blade, pitching her forward again. Following the scream I whispered into Jerome's ear. “You were sent here, by the general. You were the wrench to make me think, to ruin my plans. This is the only plausible reasoning, because you did not know our true objective. We are purging this Village, every last one of these people will die. You just ensured it happened far sooner.” Raising my voice I yelled for her to crawl, her sobs audible. A shot rang out from behind me, and I turned to see Lilith had fired her weapon. I looked down the flight of the bullet to see dust rising from the dirt at the feet of the Mob. They must have made a move.

“Shot anyone that goes past that bullet.”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

Following that, I shot the female once more, in her right thigh. Jerome was crying, but silent as he regarded me in open horror. “You could have spared her this, you Traitor. You could have ensured you and your men went back to General Azazel, or been given painless deaths. But no, you had to insult our Empress, you will be bathed in blood and steel as your penance.”

He looked at me then, really looked at me, or rather my Armor covered face. “Y-You’re a Monster, how could you willingly do this, to us, to those Children, to these people?” His voice was but a whisper at this point, his throat seemed constricted by emotion, grieve no doubt.

“Because it is our orders, because it is for our Empire, and Empress.” I stated with all the believe and conviction I had within me.

“How can you be so obsessed with this shit hole of an Empire?” I looked at him, and turned to see she had not begun crawling again. I aimed, and shot her heel, just at the edge of the bone. It caused a massive chunk to fly off, and she screamed and screamed from the pain. “Crawl!” I shouted over her yelling, and then looked toward Jerome.

“Because the Empire, and the Empress are all the hope Humanity has left. Because they are right, and your Rebel Scum do not have enough mental capacity to see it. Do you want her pain to end?” He responded with a nod of his head.

I aimed and shot her in her right thigh while she just got up. “I asked you a question Rebel. Do. You. Want. Her. Pain. To. End?”

“Yes you fucker, YES!”

“Then say that her Majesty, in all her righteous Glory is above contempt, and judgement. That you are sorry you even mention the idea of her nude and laying with a worm such as you.”

“Fuck you!” He said, the last of his bluster showing through. I sighed, aimed and shot the woman in her other foot this time. She had stopped moving, but she still screamed. A high piteous scream of agony.

“Fine Fine! Her Majesty, in all her Righteous Glory is above contempt, and Judgement. I am...sorry, that I ever mention her nudity, or the chance of her laying with someone as worthless as myself.”

I released my grip on his neck a moment, and patted his head. “Watch, as I end her pain.” I got up, and walked toward the woman that was about twenty feet from us where she lay, her screaming dying down at last. I used my foot to kick her over onto her back.

This set off another round of screams, I had enough of that however. I kicked her, hard, in the side and her screams turned into a fit of coughing, and moaning. The pain had stunned her a moment.

She looked up at me, when she stopped coughing, her clouded blue eyes filled with such despair, and hatred. I pointed my gun right between those blue, blue eyes, and pulled the tricky. Her body did a single jerking motion, nerves twitching after death due to a delayed reaction. Then I walked back over to the crying Black Man who was just staring at her body as if he had lost a limb.

“You bastard, you bastard, I...loved...Her” He continued muttering this sentence over and over for a few minutes, then he suddenly looked at me. If looks could indeed kill, I would be dead.

“I won’t give you the satisfaction!” He hissed between clenched teeth, and before I could fully register what he meant, he had put his tongue between his very white teeth and in the matter of seconds had bitten his own tongue off.

I felt my eye twitch in irritation. This meant if I were to dispense Military Justice, I had to make it quick, before he bled out. This would be another frustration. I ended his pain a moment later, a single bullet through his skull.

Once his corpse fell to the ground, I regarded it a moment before kicked him as hard as I could in the side, it sent his body bouncing a foot away from the force. The Rebel had denied me the right of torture for his Sacrilege.

I stared at his bleeding corpse a moment longer, then turned toward the gathered Mob, holstering my weapon as I did so. “You will all be escorted to the Armory and locked within while we take our leave of this Village. Your Children will be sent in after you are all within. If any of you touch the weapons, or attempt to attack us, we will butcher them. Am I understood?”

I heard the crying moans of several men and women as they saw their own children forced onto their knees, and terrified as they agreed.

We marched them then, to the Armory, filled with pathetic weapons, but a great deal of Ammunition, enough to turn this Village into a crater when the Bombs went off.

We arrived half an hour later, marching the Mob first, and herding frightened and disoriented children took more time than I expected. The fact that some Parents had tried to rush us to get their offspring had not ended well, their were fresh bodies lying in the Chaos of the path we had originally taken now. The Fools.

When we did finally arrive, the Entire Mob crammed themselves into the confines of the large structure that was the Armory. Then I did as I promised, keeping my word and sent in the Children, one by one. They were met with crying faces, and ‘strong’ arms to hold them and promise them lies that everything would be alright. When all but one of the Children had been sent in, I turned to look at Melody, ignoring her Mother's cries for her to go to her. Such a brave, brave Child. Willing to do so much for the Empire and our Empress, even while so very young. She would have been a glorious addition to the Empire as a Soldier, and when she died it would be a little less for a time.

Her memory would live on though. I took a knee in front of her, collapsing my Helmet into my Armor and looked at her, truly looked at this Child who had ensured their bargaining chip, sold her fellow Children to the Soldiers to be used as pawns in a game. Who stood bravely still, knowing I would have killed her earlier.

“You, Melody, are a Hero of the Empire. I will ensure that you are remembered in the Annals of this Squads Heros, for had this not occurred, I believe you would have made your way toward us, The Death Dealers, and become a great asset.”

I cupped her tear streaked face, she was still a Child, and still very afraid no doubt. I smiled at her, a real smile filled with warmth. The smile I obtained when thinking of our Empire. “I have one last objective for you, brave little Soldier.”

“Wh- *sniffle* What is it?” Her voice, so sweet and soft asked.

“Take this little black ball into that Armory with you, and when we leave, push the button. It is a Grenade, Melody, and it will kill you and everyone in their as well as act as the Trigger for the Bombs we have placed. Can you do that Melody? Can you do that for the Empire?”

She sniffled, fear showing in her eyes. She did not want to die, and I was not kind in asking this of her. But I did it anyway. I saw her straighten her small little body and nod her head taking the little black ball into her hand, the view of her blocked by how I was kneeling before her.

“You are a Hero, Melody, and a braver Soldier than any of us. We will Honor you.”

My Men echoed my statement. “We will Honor you.” Then i had her run as though afraid, not a hard feat, and fly into her Mother's arms. The Grenade safely away in a pocket on her dirty overalls.

“You may come out once we have lifted of!” I yelled at them, with the results being several screamed barbs and insults.

We moved to the Shuttle, not far away. I had Gabrial keep his weapons trained on the Armory and pounded on the door, speaking into the Private Channel after adorning my helmet once more. “Open the Shuttle Door. We are leaving.”

It opened slowly, to reveal Azza standing there with her gun drawn and aimed at us all before she lowered it. She was making sure. We entered the Shuttle and I went to the Cockpit to see the Pilot sitting there checking his systems.

“Take off, the place will blow after we leave.”

He nodded and after finishing the systems check closed the hatch, speaking into his Mic. “Victor 2, Victor 1, prep for takeoff finished. Birds to leave the nest, the Coo Coo is present, I repeat, the Coo Coo is present. (A.N he is referring to the Coo Coo bird that lays its egg in another bird's nest and once it hatches forces the other chicks out to their deaths.)

We took off a moment later, and when we were at the right Altitude we heard it. The shock wave of the explosion rattled the Shuttle as it rushed higher and further away to leave the orbit of the Planet while trying to outrun the blast. Melody had ensured the completion of our Objective, and had died a Hero of the Empire. I would personally place her name in the Logs of the fallen for my Squad, for she had died a ‘Death Dealer’.

I went to the cockpit, and banged on the side of it to get the Pilot's attention. He looked toward me with a questioning look. “Take us home, mission complete.”

“Sir, yes Sir. Might I add, Sir, job well done.”

I didn’t respond to him, I had already turned to take a seat next to Lilith. Her Helmet was off, and she appeared conflicted. “What is the matter, Soldier?”

“Those Traitors did not suffer enough, yet I would sacrifice thousands of their quality for but one more like the Child, like Melody. I wish we could have allowed her to live…”

I nodded my head, placing my hand on her armored shoulder a moment before taking it away. “I do as well, Lilith. But she died a Hero, a member of our Squad, though she was not one of us. I will be personally placing her name in the list of the Fallen, the first to die for the Empire within our Squad. I expect you to Purge when we return, as will I, as will we all. We cannot allow ourselves to feel.”

I looked at everyone, and they all nodded. The Child could not be allowed to place a root of pity, or remorse within us, and they knew it. We would Purge, and we would slaughter countless more for our General, our Empire, and above all our Empress...

Here you are my Lovely Readers. The end of their first Operation, and the Promise of so much more truly horrific things to come, horrific things that they themselves do.

Anyway, wished to state that this is the last chapter for a while. I am turning my entire focus back to DG and the promised Chapters and Christmas Special Chapter for December 24th. I will still write this story in my downtime, but shall not post it until after then.