Fate of the Empire

It was about six in the morning; the sun was just beginning to emerge over the buildings; Felix stood at an open window of one of the many in Griffenheim that overlooked the Griffking river, his rifle resting on the sill. He, along with almost all of the Imperial forces in the city, were in position on the south side of the river, leaving the northern city unguarded in favor of forcing the Republicans into a bloody assault across the Griffking. Most of the bridges had already been demolished, and most that remained were rigged with explosives waiting to be detonated whenever the Republic's forces attempted to cross; and it did not take them long to get there. It was mid-morning when their forces could be seen advancing down the streets on the other side of the river, and as soon as they came into view, the Imperials open fired.

Felix had, admittedly, never used a rifle before then, or handled any variety of firearm; he had intended to follow his father into the field of electronics research, not join the military, and had never had much interest in weapons or warfare, but he ended up not having a choice in the matter. The rifle he wielded currently, as he had been told, was a Vinnin, now outdated by over two decades, as modern rifles were much more difficult to produce this late in the war, so most conscripts, such as himself, were equipped with outdated spares and afforded only the most basic training in their usage in order to more swiftly reinforce the line.

He, and the fourteen others with him - situated six griffons each on the second two floor, with three more crewing a machine gun on the fourth - in the building, took aim at the Republican troops and unleashed their own hail of lead upon them, and though he had never thought himself a military griff, nor that he would become on, he felt quite at home in a firefight. In front of him soldier after soldier fell to the torrent, but under the cover of their tank, the Republicans were able to push up to the river. As two of the tanks, accompanied by several infantry, made it to a bridge that he was overlooking, the explosives were detonated, sending them all into the water.

The Republicans kept up their assault, and by now had been able to move their own griffons into position in buildings on the opposite side to provide fire support for those still in the streets. This forced Felix and his squadmates into cover much more frequently, interrupting their continuous hail of bullets, and he saw the griffon across the room from him take a shot to the chest and fall to the floor; the medic that was present immediately ran over to the fallen soldier, but did not remain there long; there was nothing he could do for a dead griffon.

Felix risked a quick few shots out the window after reloading, and had peeked out just in time to see a rocket knock out another tank, as well as another wave of Republicans flying full speed over the river toward them; he managed a few well-placed shots, sending three of them back to the ground, but many still made it across, and the return fire sent him back to cover. He heard the gunshots and shouting from the upper floor double in volume only moments later, indicating that enemy troops had landed on their roof and made their way inside. No longer able to utilize the window effectively at this point, he crouched low, motioning his intention to his squadmates, and ran for the stairs, followed close behind by a comrade. Without much thought, they bolted up and burst through the door into the ongoing fight. A fellow Imperial lay dead on the floor, with the other two presumably in cover in an adjacent room, pinned by the Republicans; one of them was trained on the door, but Felix's sudden entry still caught him off guard long enough for him to put two rounds into him before he could return fire.

Storming the room together, Felix and his comrade were able to clear the five remaining hostiles; not before his compatriot took a bullet to his back leg, though - a non-fatal wound, but it did elicit several expletives from the griffon. One of the Imperials they had just rescued ventured a glance out the door after the gunshots had ceased, and then he and the other with him joined Felix and his wounded companion; one of them was Dietrich, the officer in charge of Felix's squad, and the only griffon whose name he had managed to learn after his hasty reassignment and shuffling toward the frontline - no doubt something that had occurred with many of the conscripts. Their injured comrade's shouts of pain proved to be the only words they would be able to make time for, however; fighting broke out on a lower floor, and more Republicans came in from the roof. The griffon who had survived with Dietrich, the assistant gunner for the machine gun on that floor, had kept his eyes on the stairs, and put several bullets into the first unfortunate Republican to appear in the doorway. Any more that were following him, rather wisely, were hesitant to join him.

With the shots and screeches from below growing closer, likely their fellows being killed or forced upward, Dietrich waved for everyone to take cover in the room he had just left, the assistant gunner keeping his submachine gun aimed at the stairs as they filed in. A few more enemy griffons made an attempt to enter from the roof, but each joined the first in death. None ever came up from the lower floor; Felix assumed the others were holding successfully. With the stairs covered, he moved to the window and peeked out. Several wrecked tanks were strewn about the opposite bank, and countless bodies lined both sides; what was most striking to him, though, was the significant decrease in movement on the Republican line. The battle had raged for hours; hours which Felix only just realized had passed, seeing that the sun was now setting - it had felt to him as if the Republicans had been able to cross and engage them in their own buildings after only minutes. He returned his attention to his immediate surroundings at a shout from the officer, who was now ordering them to rejoin their squad downstairs, as there was still no sign of hostiles from the roof, with the goal being to assist whoever was left, and perhaps get their still-bleeding comrade to a medic - assuming one was still alive of the two that had been present in the building. Moving toward the stairs then down, they emerged into a surprising scene: most of the squad had managed to group together on that floor and hold against their attackers, with only one loss being apparent. Both medics were still standing, currently tending to another griffon who had taken two shots through his right wing; one came over to help the leg-wounded griff as soon as he noticed him. This would mark the end of the close-quarters carnage they had experienced so far.

With their situation stabilized, and two soldiers assigned to watch the exits, the rest could use the ammunition that remained to retake their original positions at the windows and fire upon the Republic's forces that remained. No more attacks were made by their foes, and Felix and his squad held their position for the next six hours - along with the rest of the Imperial forces on the south side of the river - until the last Republican soldier could just barely be made out fleeing over the river in the now-moonlit night.