--- Outskirts of Fortress Legrath ---

December 9th, 2025

Lieutenant General Stanford gets out of his HUMVEE and walks up to the forward. Up ahead are his soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division, Colonel Robert Barnes command.

He got reports from all the frontlines of soldiers from Krysist army all crucified. A clear warning to NATO forces of a fate of what they would do to us if captured. Which is debatable if they could capture a NATO soldier. He ordered across the board to stop to cut down these men and give them a proper military burial.

He didn't want the sight of these dead bodies to lower morale of his expeditionary force as they passed. While they were the enemy, they fought honorably, putting up a brave fight against a far technologically superior force.

This has confirmed what Major Sharpe and Princess Pina stated, that there is a power struggle within the Empire. With Krysist gone, he has been informed this new leader of Empire forces, General Herm.

All he knows about this man is what Pina quickly told him. That he led a detachment to Earth, and he has new allies that she doesn't even know about. The description both gave him sound like that green pig beast that the Rose Knights captured and surrendered to his people.

While he wanted to keep that pig beast in Alnus, but he was overruled by the White House. The pig was taken to Guantanamo Bay to be 'debriefed'. He thought that was a mistake however he from clues he got from General Donald Grant that he didn't want the CIA to get their hands on it.

This news and the situation with the crucified soldiers forced him to slow his operational plans down until he had a better understanding of the situation. His original plan was just to move in fast and hard, taking the fortress with overwhelming strength.

He always wanted to take the fortress intact. It has a key strategic location, and the unusual size of the facility makes it a possible well-defended position for future NATO operations. He assumed early on that Legrath had a culture and prestige role within the Empire because of its size and importance to the Imperialist Army.

Besides bombing it with a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast or known as MOAB to destroy it. Taking the fortress and planting the Stars and Stripes on the towers will be a massive propaganda victory through all of the Empire. Besides, a place like this would have many secrets and treasure deep down inside, assist that might be worthwhile to NATO war efforts.

He sees Colonel Robert standing by some of his Officer staff.

When he walks up, he sees what they are looking at. Fortress Legrath.

"Lieutenant General," Robert welcomes him.

"Colonel," Stanford replies. "That is one big dirt pile."

"I told you we should have invaded the south," Robert replies with a smirk.

He shakes his head as he heard that. Rumor has it that the Kingdom of Toumaren has these amazing beaches. Beaches usually meant woman, at least that is what his friend Robert is implying.

"Maybe in the next war Robert," He replies, grabbing his binoculars. "I won't tell your wife you said that though."

"So, there is going to be another war?" Robert says joking. "And besides, my wife likes it when I am off at war. Apparently, I make a mess at home. Anyway, should we storm the place?"

"Not yet," He said. "However, if anyone leaves the fortress to take them out."

Then he sees a few more officers walk up. Colonel Shunya Kengun from Japan, Colonel Brad Wing from the United Kingdom and Colonel Léonard Chapelle from France.

"Why are we stopping?" Chapelle demands as he walks up.

"You're kidding?" Wing asks, half surprise by Chapelle's question. "Didn't you see the bodies?"

"Of course, I did," Chapelle shoots back.

He sees this HUMVEE pulls up, coming from another 1st Cavalry brigade up north. General Harold Kurt.

"Why are we not advancing?" Kurt asks.

"Nice to see you again Kurt," Robert says. "Long time no see. How are the kids, still have the wife? Did you finally get that promotion at the office, etc."? He finishes with a sarcastic tone.

"Knock it off Robert," Kurt said as he walks past him.

"Yanks," Wing comments as he crosses his arms.

"We were just figuring that out Colonel," Chapelle said.

He looks at them all, seeing they all want to just go. This is the final quarter, and everyone wants to finish the game. The finish line is so close, and everyone wants to give the Imperialists the final punch. His question is, which Imperialist do we punch?

"We are holding off for a few days," He states. "That is my call."

"Let's just go in there and finish this," Chapelle demands.

Robert looks at him. "In a hurry Frenchie? Trying to prove or write something?"

Chapelle looks to Robot. "Not all of us shy away from a fight."

"Knock it off you two," Kengun said. "We have a job to do."

"Thank you, Colonel," He says to Kengun. "Look, we need this fortress to increase our presence in the region. In twenty-four hours, we will regroup at my CP and I will go through the new invasion plan."

"That Pacific or East coast time sir?" Robert asks.

"Knock it off Robert," He responds. "Have your units be ready to move. When we storm, we hit hard. In the meantime, begin shock tactics. Flare-up the fortress during the night and smoke them."

"Terror tactics," Wing states. "Fun."

As his officers walk away, he looks back to the fortress. For some reason, it reminds him of the Trojan War. An invading force coming and laying siege to a massive fortification.

The Greek Army had to hide some of its forces inside this large horse. The Trojan Army believed it was a peace offering to the gods, wanting to end the war. Believing that the war was over, they brought in the Trojan Horse inside the city, bypassing the tall city walls. The Greek force opened the gates and cleared the path inside the city.

"Hmm," He mumbles to himself as he thinks of the historical context.

While the situation is not the same, the basic idea seems to work.

He recalls the Ranger's first mission to Legrath, Vanguard-5, and Vanguard-7 both used secret tunnels to bypass the fortress defensives.

"That could work."

***

--- Philadelphia City Park, US, Earth ---

December 9th, 2025

As promised, Sharpe took Selina to the city part to show her around. While it has not been much, she is enjoying better a better view of the city. With all of these tall buildings, there is a spot with green in it.

She thought there were a lot of people back in her capital city of Edmos and back in Alnus. Here, there are just thousands of people inside this city and she only seems a fraction of it.

As they are walking, she is holding onto his jean jacket that she got him for Christmas. He did not want her to travel anywhere alone and she had no intention to.

Selina stops herself to allow this couple by. They were riding on these strange devices with two wheels each.

She looks up as her new father. "What are those?"

"Those are bicycles. You balance yourself as your ride." Sharpe responds.

She looks back at the couple that is riding the bicycle. "That looks hard."

"It's actually not. Once you learn it, you never forget how to." He responds.

"Oh," She replies. "Can I try?"

"Well not now. I would need to get a bike for you." He says looking down at her.

She looks up and smiles but then she gets startled after this bicycle bell that goes off right as it passes her.

She then looks around the park and sees all these people playing these strange games, having walks, playing with dogs and much more. "Everything seems peaceful. If it like this everywhere?"

"If it was then there wouldn't be a need for people like me," He responds. "There will always be war Selina. It is a sad part of life."

"So, you think there never will be peace?" She looks up at him.

"I didn't say that," He replies. "Regardless of what the Media says, this is the greatest time of peace on our planet history. That peace was built off the backs of two world wars and a Cold War. One day Mankind might not fight each other but it is clear that there are bad people up at the stars who will want to pick a fight with us."

She watches more people doing their daily lives. "I guess you are right." As she watches, she wonders if this might be her future. Coming to places like this with her father and just have fun. Maybe one day when she has children, she can take them to places like this, away from the brutality from her world.

She begins to think about her world and her country again. Seeing this city again has shown her how different both worlds are. "Do you think our world will end up like this one day?"

Sharpe sits down on the grass and looks around. "Probably. Maybe in a hundred years, there will be places like Italica and Alnus will start having modern buildings. Why do you ask?"

She looks at him. She has been wondering why the Humans on their world has advanced so far. In the past, he has credited the Enlightenment but from what she understands, their worlds were technologically similar only about a thousand years ago.

She then looks up at the towering buildings. "Are all of your cities this big?"

"You are full of questions this morning," He says with a chuckle. "No, Philadelphia is about a medium-size city. You should see New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. Definitely Tokyo."

"How big are those?" She asks, looking at him. She then smiles and sits down on his lap.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't want to get my clothes dirty."

He sweats drops from annoyance. "Ok. Why don't you tell me?"

"But," She begins to say. "I don't know. I was not born here."

"Yes, but you have a phone," He replies. "You need to learn how to find the information yourself. Especially when you visit or even live in this world. In life, you don't want to rely on other people always informing you."

"Because they might lie to you?" She adds.

"Correct," Sharpe said. "If you need to learn something, you should try and find out for yourself. So, pull out your phone and tell me."

She smiles at him and looks away, pulling out her phone out of her jacket. She then surfaces the Internet with his help and looks up each city that he mentioned.

When she saw the numbers, it shocked her. Tokyo seems to be the largest city in this world with thirty-eight million people. That number has to be bigger than all of Falmart and that is one city.

She looks up as she sees this bird fly pass and lands on the pathway. She sees a few of these same looking bird gatherings by this older looking woman as she feeds them.

"Are those the duct tape?" She asks as she points to the ducks.

He suckles. "There just called ducks."

"They are cute. Can I go see them?" She asks all excited.

After a moment of thinking, Sharpe agrees. "But when we walk over there, we need to be quiet. We don't want to scare the ducks away."

She nods her head and stands up, following him by holding onto his jacket sleeve.

When they get close, she notices these ducks all have different clothes. Some are a solid color while others have different colors. They also have these strange flat feet, very different than the birds in her country.

"Hello mam," Sharpe said. "My daughter here wanted to join you in feeding the ducks. Is that ok?"

The older women look up at him and then at her. "That would be wonderful. She looks adorable. Come walk over here quickly."

She is hesitant to let go of Sharpe's sleeve but decides to go. She walks over and scoots up on the bench the lady is sitting on.

"What is your name?" The older lady asks.

"Selina," She replies.

"Nice to meet you, Selina," The older lady said. "My name is Amber."

"Nice to meet you, Amber," She replies and then looks down to the dozen or so ducks. "I see there are different ones. Which one is turned into tape?"

Not getting a quick answer she looks to Amber. She sees her looking up at her new father and sees that his eyes are closed.

"You really convinced her of that?" Amber asks with a giggle.

"What is wrong?"

"Nothing Selina. Just feed the ducks."

She looks back at Amber.

"Your father is a silly one. That's good," Amber said. "Now take this and slowly tosses it on the ground." She hands her a small bag of duck food.

She grabs it and then tosses a small handful of food on the ground. She watches as the ducks make these cute 'quack' sound as the waddling over and start eating.