Music: Back in Control by Sabaton

6 years, 2 weeks, and 4 days since exile
1 month into Unification Wars

Rainbow Dash's men had landed on a large beach about a month ago. After rallying up and making sure everything was accounted for, they began their march, having an objective to reach on the other side of the peninsula to help with the campaign. Most of this time had been spent on the march, over 1800 hobnailed boots beating into the hard dirt of the old, Pryhan-era road system.

Of course, they had encountered a few small towns, or caravans, or simple wanderers. With them traveled a Pryhan official, who would talk with the mayor, or the caravan leader, or whoever they encountered. This was mostly to see if they would join the Empire, and the plans they had for the Peninsula. Many of the towns agreed to join them, liking the idea of protection from brigands, while still having their own autonomy. In some of these towns, they would get food or other supplies. In others, they would get volunteers; those that wanted to help them.

After a few weeks, they had learned of a large Brigand gang, nestled in the mountains. They learned this from a small town, called Fresi, which was being extorted by them. The gang, calling themselves the Marked ones, would come into town, and go house by house, taking what they wanted. Their leader, Santiago, told the mayor that it was for protection; that if he didn't let his men do this, he couldn't control them, and they would burn the place to the ground. They agreed to join the empire if they could get rid of them.

And so, here she was, hovering over their camp. Said camp was built out of the ruins of an old Pryhan fort, the familiar layout of a permanent Castrum having long since fallen to ruin. Sections of the wall that had collapsed were filled in with wood scraps and heavy bits of stone, with a similar pattern of structure, had been given to the various buildings around the Castrum. Brigands roamed around; some were sharpening weapons, others were sleeping, while most were just sitting around, taking stims, drinking, or playing small games.

Rainbow had told Vexillum about her plan after a quick flyby of the base. She'd deal with the sentries on the wall, which were few and far between when compared to an actual Pryhan fort. From there, she would fly back and have the artillery blow a hole in the walls, aiming for the weak points. After that, it was just a matter of sweeping in to crush anyone that got in their way.

Rainbow got back into the air, using the light cloud cover to conceal herself. As she got close to the wall, she took note of how many, or rather, how few of them there were. For a gang of, at least, a hundred people, only about five sentries manned the walls; two in the old crumbling towers, the rest walking back and forth across the walls. Rainbow snorted: Well, it's their own fault. It just makes my job a lot easier. Let's get this show on the road!

Rainbow tightened the straps on her plumed helmet, then dove down. The tower ones were first to go; simple, quick stabs to the neck. The ones on the wall were far enough of apart from each other so that she could just do a rapid burst of speed. After she cut down the last one, she looked down into the encampment. None of them seemed to notice her, and so she smiled and took back off into the air.

Soaring back to her position, she ground to a halt in front of some of her officers. Smiling, she said, "Dominatus. Light it up."

"With pleasure, Praetor." With that, he lifted up a whistle and gave a harsh blow on it. Behind her, loud clicking sounded for a few seconds before a pair of fireballs fly over her head. They sail into the wall, smashing apart the wooden part of the wall. Lots of loud yelling echoed up from the walls, likely the brigands scrambling around, getting weapons.

"Secundus. Cicero," she said. After the Tribunes came up to her, she said, "Sound and advance. The rest of you, hold position. I'll send up a signal if we need you."

The two of them walked off, and Rainbow cracked her neck. She knew first-hoof what these kinds of people did. What they were like. Even if they weren't like Dermot or Crimson, they still stole from others who were actually trying to make a living. She would enjoy this.

She took off as the signal horns of the two maniples she told to advance. The two made their way up the hill around the fort, closing in on the hole in the wall. A few brigands ran up to the flaming wreckage of the wall, then turning back and running back inside when they saw the advancing Pedes. Soon, larger numbers of them came back to the walls, some of them armed with slings.

Those with melee weapons prepared to charge up, likely working up the nerve to charge into a wall of shields. Meanwhile, those with ranged weapons began to take potshots, heavy rocks and crossbow bolts flying toward the block of Pedes. A few near misses later, the officers yelled, "Lock shields!" The oval wooden planks raised up a little bit above their shoulders, the projectiles bouncing off the moving wooden wall. As they got up to the wall, another yell went out: "Charge lances!" With a loud "Hurrah!", the wall of iron tips were presented to the brigands. That was the last straw for them, and they fled inside.

She flew over the wall, looking for groups of them rallying. However, most of them, didn't want to fight. Many of them threw down their weapons and surrendered. The Pedes broke formation, sweeping through the fort in search of anyone remaining. Several of them did try to fight, but they were quickly cut down by the sheer numbers and better skill of the Pryhan soldiers. Within a matter of minutes, they had complete control over the fort.

She landed inside as her man began assembling the prisoners. When the rest of her regiment arrived inside, she said to Cato, "Send eight men down the hill back to Fresi and the other nearby towns. Get the mayors up here. Tell them since they suffered under these, Degenerates, the most, they can decide the fates of the majority of the survivors."

"Praetor," he said, saluting her. He then walked off barking orders to the lighter armored soldiers. Rainbow then turned to the survivors. Well, survivors wasn't the most appropriate term; most of them surrendered, and in fact, only fifteen out of a hundred and twenty-five of these bastards.

One of them, a young bighorn, said to her, "W-wh-what d-do you mean, m-majority?"

She looked down at him, then straightened up to address all of them. "Alright, you fucking bastards. Who among you were officers, or had any position of authority. Any of you bring them forward, I promise that you will be protected from retribution. So, who was in charge?"

The massive numbers of them looked and talked among themselves. Then, loud yelling broke above the eerie quietness, with five of the creatures were pushed to the front. All of them had large tattoos across their faces, and had better-looking armor. Pedes grabbed them before they could turn around and attack their men or try to run. She walked up to the one in the middle, who was the biggest and most likely the leader.

"So, you're the scumbag who leads this bunch of petulant children, eh?"

In response, he spits in on her. Likely meaning to hit her on the face, it instead hit the cheekpiece. He then said, "Fuck you, you crazy bitch."

She wipes off the saliva on the cheekpiece, then smiled back at him. "Wow, you must be a blast at parties." Turning to Vexillum, she said, "Crucify them."

The brigands being held up started to struggle harder as they were dragged off to another part of the ancient fort. She turned to one of the NCOs watching the now hundred and five brigands, telling him, "Watch them. Make sure they don't do anything stupid." He saluted, hailed her, and began barking orders to the other nearby men. Turning to the officers, she said, "Clean up and burn the dead, count our own casualties, and set up camp inside the walls. We'll move out in a few days."