Gods Praise Chapter 3

Italus slowly regained conciousness. He looked around, seeing he was still in the airship and proceeded to drag himself out of the wreckage of the D.O.Dson Twin Engine Craft (the standard troop transportation for the Praetorian Marines and other Armed Forces of the Republic. He slowly crawled towards the broken open back-hatch of the space-able craft. He pushed the hatch the rest of the way open, using nearly every ounce of his remaining strength which wasn't very much strength in the first place.

Italus finally took account for his surroundings. Two other passengers, presumably from the other squad, were also dragging themselves from the wreckage. What had caused them to go down in the first place though? They hadn't been engaged by enemy fighters, no flak, then what? He looked up towards the sky, blood dotting his vision. In the distance there was a... Mushroom cloud?

*Forty Five minutes earlier*
"C'mon you lazy fuck ups! Breakfast's over." Italus said in a half yell to the rookies sitting around a table in the mess. "I've been assigned to escort you to the front and I'm not gonna wait for you rookie Praetorian's to finish your cereal. Move it." He ordered the seven man squad.

A grumble was heard as the members of the squad stood up to put their trays up. Italus stopped them. "Whoever just grumbled gained the whole squad five quick laps around the camp. Full gear. You've got fifteen minutes starting... Now. Emphasis on quick." He said pulling out his stopwatch and setting the time.

The squad didn't say a word before hurriedly grabbing their packs and putting their trays away. They all double timed it out into the compound. "Down to thirteen minutes ladies!" Italus yelled as they left the mess tent." He smiled as soon as they were gone and went to get his own food. The cook put the 'Slop' onto his tray.

"Nice work, sir." The cook said with a nod. "They ate almost all of my slop." He added.

Italus chuckled quietly. "It's fun being able to chew someone else out." He said to the cook before going to sit down with his tray. He quickly wolfed down the food being some of the less chewy stuff he's had this week. Anything tasted better then black bread, fake butter, and some sweetened water that didn't quite taste like water. Of course the slop was much better. Noodles, beans, and chunks of whatever meat the mess staff could scrounge up that day. It wasn't good. No, no, no, not at all. It was just better then the black bread.

The first person from the rookie squad came back as Italus finished his food. He checked the stop watch. "Four minutes fifty seven seconds. Not bad. Report to the D.O.Dson landing pad. Tell the officer on duty whatever your squad name is and he'll point you to the right ship. You've still got." He stopped to check his watch. "Thirty one minutes or so before liftoff. Stay out of the ship until the rest of your squad shows up and then wait for myself. Understood, Recruit... Claudius?" He asked, reading the name stenciled onto the solder's lower sleeve.

Recruit Claudius saluted him. "Gods Praise,  First Corporal." He said before leaving the mess at a jog.

The next to squad members came in and Italus told them to report to the landing pad. After a while he was waiting on one more. The stopwatch was now at ten minutes and thirty seconds. The last one came in finally at elven minutes forty five seconds.

"Lower Corporal, explain to me how the squad leader isn't able to run a distance of two miles and not come in first or second or third or fourth but seventh. You're supposed to be the leader of these men yet you can't stay ahead of them in a simple run. Report to landing pad. I'll meet you there and before you ask, no. I'm not your commanding officer. I'm just a First Corporal who outranks you and has the ability to order you. Dismissed!" Italus sighed.

The Lower Corporal saluted Italus. "Gods Praise, sir." He said, self-disappointment detected in his voice.

The First Corporal shook his head and grabbed a piece of fruit before heading out of the mess and turning towards the landing pad. Captain Evander had apparently come up behind him at a jog before Italus could notice him.

"Italus, I have good news!" Evander said while patting him on the back. Italus jumped.

"Sir!" He said turning around and saluting. "What is it, sir?" Italus asked after Evander returned the salute.

The Captain smiled and pulled a box from his jacket. "Congratulations, Legate General Vibious has decided, after some firm insistence, that due to your outstanding service with the Republic that you have earned these. Congratulations, Decanus Sergeant Italus. Your first assignment is Aurelius Squad. The one from the mess." Evander reported, handing the Fir- Legionnaire Sergeant the patch that fit over the old one.

Italus took it, put it over his previous rank, and saluted the Centurion Captain. "Thank you, sir." He said, saluting.

Evander saluted back and turned to walk off.

"Gods Praise, sir." Italus said before walking off back towards the landing pad. Time to get to know his squad.

It took Italus a minute before he found the rooks. "Aurelius, fall in!" He ordered in a yell. The seven quickly got into a line facing him. "Apparently being a infantry man is not enough for the higher ups. They want me to be your CO. I am in charge this squad which contradicts what I had just told the Lower Corporal here. He will be my second if I were to fall in combat. From now on you will address me as "Decanus Sergeant, sir. Or "Sir, yes sir!", I don't care about whatever personal problems you may have. We're at war. I will not have this squad, my squad being the only one left behind cause we had to stop to settle an argument. Is that understood you pansy ass motherfuckers?" The newly assigned Decanus Sergeant asked.

"Sir, yes sir!" They yelled simultaneously.

"Good. Recruit Claudius what D.O.Dson are we in?" Italus questioned.

The young man snapped to attention. "D.O.Dson Aquila three-one, sir." He reported.

Italus nodded. "Alright. Well don't stare at me dipshits. Move! Move! Move!" He yelled.

The soldiers, if you could call them that, scattered towards the airship weapons in hand. Gods, it was good to be king. Italus marched towards the D.O.Dson and walked inside the ship through the back hatch. He moved to take the Co-pilot's chair. "Pilot, initiate pre-flight check." He said.

"You got it, Praetorian." The man chided. "Engines check, wings check, pilot check, crew check. Good to go." The pilot said obvious sarcasm detected in his voice.

Italus gave him a death stare. "Are we good to go or not?" He asked simply.

"Everything's good." The man responded.

"Do we have clearance?" Italus asked.

"Rodger!" The man said, pulling the visor of his helmet down to cover half his face.

"Then fucking fly!" Italus yelled.

The pilot jumped in his seat. "Sergeant, calm yourself. I'm just a pilot, I'll get you to where your going and fast. Just strap in, Sergeant, and you'll be back to the front in no time." The pilot said, smiling.

Italus nodded. "Alright, sorry. Just a little stressed." He said with a sigh.

The pilot pushed... some buttons Italus guessed that they started the engines of the D.O.Dson due to the fact of them whining to life. "Ready for liftoff. Everybody strap in and prepare for the ten minute transit to hell. No inflight movie will be shown, regretfully."

One of his men faked an "aww" before liftoff proceeded. They were in the air in a matter of seconds due to the D.O.Dson's advanced thrusters.

The pilot flew forward towards the City-State of Cipius where the war was still being waged."Alright let's just-... I'm getting a lot of interference. Sergeant check that radar by your right arm, will ya?" The pilot asked, pointing towards a circular radar.

Italus glanced at it and looked back. "It's all staticy and shit." He reported.

The pilot looked down at several controls before gaping. "Oh fuck! Brace! Brace Brace!" He yelled before the ship went into a full three hundred and sixty degree spin. Italus stayed conscious for a minute before blacking out.