Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 46: Milano’s decision

Eric held Mia as their three day vacation came to an end. He sat in bed, looking at her sleeping figure, and kissed her head. She stirred and looked at him, sighing. She decided to stop fighting him leaving. "Be safe." She said quietly. He held her in silence, letting his presence serve as the answer.

The drive to Hood Hill was monotonous as always. In the last few months, the Alliance and Battalion had cleared out a paved road. The drive was smoother because of it. Instead of fighting underbrush and grass, Eric now had to fight road rage when Humvees and LMTV’s moved at less than ideal speeds. He grumbled to himself after being stuck behind a slow moving convoy. "You assholes could have pulled over."

After arriving at his company’s staging area, Eric went to the command building. Slowly but surely, infrastructure was being improved. Where the command tent had once stood, a three story building resided in its place. Eric walked through the main entrance and nodded at the Staff Duty NCO. "The Staff Synch is in room 103, Sarn’t."

Eric nodded. "Thank you."

Arriving at the room in question, Eric sat at the leg of the table reserved for S2. There were three new placards at the table: S2 NCOIC, S2 OIC, and S2 HUMINT Section Chief. He sighed as he took his new place on the table. What had once been his own platoon had morphed into his own section. "Punished for being too good at the job." He thought while nodding to Hammond.

Milano walked into the room a few minutes later. "Sit down." He growled before someone could call the room to attention. "We are not doing that shit anymore." He then looked at Eric. "Welcome back Dryer. I hope you are ready to work again." Eric nodded, taking out his notepad. "Yes sir. My section and I are ready for anything you need us to do."

Milano leaned forward, his arms folded under him as he looked at the men in the room. "Gentlemen, this mission will not be like the previous battles we’ve had. We will not be able to use Armor, artillery, or air assets." A collective groan echoed in the room.

"We’ll have to think outside the box."

A tense silence stood over the room as pens were clicked and notebook readied. The usual background murmurs disappeared while Eric crossed his arms. He looked at the other S2 officials. The reality of this brief was setting in. Things were about to get up close and personal.

They were given twelve hours to prepare, so Eric headed back to his house. After parking his vehicle in the gravel parking lot outside of the village, he sat in his truck for a few minutes. "I wonder if this is what soldiers felt like in World War II." He thought as he turned the truck off and walked into the village. He walked through the main street, noticing visible changes to the infrastructure now that the soldiers had been here for nearly half a year. "Maybe it’s more of a town now?" He thought, looking up at the freshly built hotel.

At home, Eric sighed as he took off his hat and uniform top. He stood there while hugging Mia behind. She giggled in response as she pressed herself against him. "I made chicken pot pie. Would you like some?" He grinned while pinching her rump. "Please and thank you." He sat down at the table. "Man. You wouldn’t believe this convoy i got stuck behind today." She laughed as she handed the plate to him, sitting down with her own plate. "Oh?" She replied, used to his road rage at this point. "Yeah." He continued. "These assholes were going fifteen miles an hour the whole way to Hood Hill."

"Heh. Serves you right for going around the other convoy last time you were here." She said with a pointed glare, her eyes narrowing. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"I plead the fifth. I will neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have been going too fast."

"You know I saw you right?" She responded pointedly.

"Fuck."

That night, Eric packed his bags in silence. The couple had already said their goodbyes earlier, and he didn’t want to wake her up. He kissed her on the head gently, and looked down at the small bump. "Grow strong and fast, little one. I can’t wait to meet you." He said gently before walking out the door. A group of soldiers joined him. Wives watched silently in the distance.

At the vehicles, Eric looked around at the soldiers that would be joining him. Thirty soldiers in all had congregated at the vehicles. The atmosphere hung heavy as he approached. "Alright. There will be no easy or clean way to do this." He began, looking at the men. "We may not all make it out, but rely on your training and the advantages that this world gives you. If you lean back on your training and each other, we will all come back in one piece. We are not heroes, so don’t act like one."

He paused as he looked at the vehicles. "Move out."

The three day trek was made in half an hour. A small element was left behind to guard the vehicles as the rest of the soldiers headed up the mountains.

"Alright, Delta, are you in position?"

"10-4"

"Charlie?"

"10-4"

Eric went through each team on comms, ensuring that they were in position. A carriage was heading towards the Headquarters encampment. It was surrounded by twelve guards who were silently scanning the route for threats and traps. They were still roughly one hour out from HQ when one of the guards looked up, and saw shadows on the mountain. "Co-

The words were cut off from his throat as large cracks popped off. Each crack a death sentence. The carriage stopped, the driver noticing the commotion. "What’s going on?" The man said, hopping out of the carriage before he too fell silent.

The man left in the carriage grew impatient as he looked outside the window. He noticed the guards were falling one by one, and growled as he stepped out. "You bandits will rue the day we snuff you out of these mountains!" He growled. "I need to be at that encampment in thirty minutes. Let me go! If you don’t..." He stopped speaking as he made eye contact with Eric, the latter walking down the Ridgeline. "Ah. I ensure you we aren’t bandits." Eric responded while handing the man a quill and ink. "If you want to see your family again, you will write exactly what I say."

The man spat at Eric’s shoes, flipping him off. "And why should I do that?" He growled, he had listened to the first few sentences of what Eric said, and stopped him right there. "Even if I have all the prisoners moved there, nothing would change. I am not helping the enemy of my beloved empire."

Eric handed the man a picture, sitting down and crossing his arms. "I believe your daughter just had a little girl. Your wife is very sweet by the way. She gave me some good lemon juice as I sat there thirsty. Need i say more?"

The man gasped and fell against the carriage. He fell silent as he looked up at Eric with tears threatening to fall. "Please. Please don’t hurt them. They are my pride and joy. I’ll do whatever you want... and you can kill me afterwards... but please. Just spare them. They have done nothing wrong."

Eric sighed as he stood up from his rock. "Look. I will only do what is necessary to ensure those civilians make it back to us safely. In your books, they dissappear. You no longer have to worry about extra rations and supply. We get our civilians back, and you no longer have to feed two hundred extra mouths."

Ten days later, Eric stood on the ledge of a mountain. Civilians had slowly been shepherded into a large fenced in area outside of one of the encampments. Eric and his echelon had been watching from a distance as the aristocrat followed through on his word. "Man, that really is a lot of em’." Eric said as he looked at the men, women, and children gathered. Michael stood next to Eric, his arms folded as he watched family reunions and people meeting for the first time since their capture. "Can we even rescue this many?"

Eric felt a headache coming along. "It will have to be a staggered retreat." He mumbled. "This will not be easy or fun, LT."

"Alright, search the perimeter. Comms, get in contact with HQ. Make sure they use those drones to see if we are being followed. I don’t want to have to engage with empire forces as we walk down mountain passes with two hundred civilians." He sat down as his orders were followed. "LT, do you have anything to add?" Michael shook his head. "I am trying to learn from you so that I can be a good leader one day." Eric laughed and patted the man on his back. "Just worry about being a good person first. The rest comes naturally. Your men will follow you through hell if you are the first one to crawl into the fire."