*Dung! Dung! Dung! Dung!*

Four high explosive fragmentation rounds detonated around the lancer which effectively killed most of the troops, and lead the rest to make a swift retreat.

From a distance, a massive vehicle rushes to the frontline causing most of Squad E to be in awe. It was not like any vehicle they'd seen before; even Miles, an expert in Federation vehicles, can't distinguish the design.

Sergeant Thompson parked the TSV a few feet away from Tej as he and Scarlet together stood at attention. The Lieutenant opened the hydronic doors and exited the vehicle, followed by Jude and then David. Tej swore he could hear 'Mama Mia- by Abba' playing from inside the TSV, honestly, he isn't surprised, It's David's favourite song after all.

Lieutenant Alistair and Sergeant Thompson hastily exited the vehicle, while David stayed on the gun turret, fingers on the trigger in case of any hostile actions.

"You two ok?" Sergeant Thompson asked the two commandos and they gave him a nod in confirmation.

"You know us, Sergeant." Tej chuckles.

Alistair sighed at Tej's face drenched with blood, though he was unsurprised.

Alistair smiled in relief before facing Claude and the rest of Squad E. "Tej, who are they?"

"Friendlies, sir. They helped Mac and Me." Tej replied.

More marines' arrival had caught Squad E's attention, especially Claude's. He, Raz and Kai then walked up to the marines and greeted them.

"Hello there, sorry if I interrupted you. I'm Lieutenant Claude Wallace, Commander of Squad E." Claude warmly greeted. He raised his hand towards Alistair for a handshake which the British Lieutenant obliged.

"I'm Lieutenant Alistair Marsden, Royal Marines, 40 Commando. I'm the leader of this squad, Lieutenant Wallace." Alistair saluted.

Claude returned the salute, "It's nice to meet you, Lieutenant. Though I'm slightly confused about who you are. Are you part of the Federation?"

Alistair's eyes squinted with confusion, "Federation...? Sorry, I don't know what you mean by that."

"You don't know the Federation?" Claude asked with curiosity, how could someone not know what the federation is?

Alistair could see the tension rising by the second, the other soldier's troops started to become suspicious and a few readied their weapons. Alistair cursed at that moment, he was utterly confused about his current situation, his mind was panicking as a hundred thoughts started rushing through his head. Then he stopped, he was overthinking everything and forget the one question her was dying to ask.

"Lieutenant Wallace, may you give us information on our current location?"

Claude looked at the Marine with utter disbelief, 'how could he not know where he is?'

"We're in Europa." The Gallian commander said

"Europa?" Alistar Parroted. "You mean Europe? But that's not possible, We are thousands of miles from mainland Europe. We're supposed to be in Afghanistan."

Claude tilted his head with confusion, "Europe? Afghanistan? What's that?"

"W-what?! I'm sorry but you can't be serious, right?" Alistair titters. Upon seeing Claude's and the rest of his team's confused faces he could tell that something was wrong.

Sergeant Thompson went up to his commander ad whispered, "What's going on sir?"

But Alistar didn't reply, He maintained focus on Claude and the rest of his team, Just who are these people?

"Lieutenant Wallace, may I see a map?" Alistar requested.

"Oh, err... ok?" Claude took his issued map to Alistair.

"Who are you, people?" Alistair muttered.

Claude squinted his eyes in confusion with the comment, "Lieutenant Alistair? What's wrong?

Alistair reaches for a map of his own that he kept since he was first deployed to Afghanistan. It was an information map of Afghanistan, he gave Claude the map which he accepted and to no surprise, Claude was full of shock and awe as he looked at the map.

"I'm sure we can agree something is off about this, Lieutenant," Alistair said.

Claude nodded in agreement and sighs in defeat, "For now, Lieutenant."

"Thank you." Alistair smiles. "Oh, Lieutenant Wallace, Is there any chance you can take me and my Squad with you? We're just lost at the moment."

Claude rubbed his chin as he thought of his decision, should he let them come with the rest of his squad back to base? What if they're imperial spies and leak information about their operations back to them? But his instinct keeps telling him something else, his curiosity was tempting him to take them back.

"Hey Claude, are you seriously considering taking them back with us?" Kai asked. The dark-haired sniper was getting more anxious at the thought of bringing a bunch of strangers into the federations base. She saw the map that the Lieutenant gave Claude and she too was surprised but yet she was not convinced.

"C'mon Kai, you gotta relax a bit." Raz interrupted. "They just helped us out with cleaning up some imps out of the federation territory. Not to mention they just save our asses back there. If they're imperial then why did they help us in the first place?"

Kai sighed in defeat; Raz does have a point. "It's up to you, Claude."

Claude nods at the dark-haired sniper before facing his British counterpart, "Lieutenant, I would be happy if you followed us back to our base. Maybe we can figure stuff out from there."

Alistair nodded in agreement. "We are happy to accompany you, Lieutenant, Thank you." The two Lieutenant shook hands and parted ways, Alistair and his marines walked back towards their TSV whiles Claude and his team walked back to the Hafen.

Before entering the Husky, Alistair looked toward Claude and his team. Upon inspecting them he found their uniform and weapons to be weird, they looked odd and outdated, especially their equipment. Their tanks resemble an M4A1 Sherman from the Second World War something he never thought he would see on the battlefield.

"Are you alright sir?" Sergent Thompson warmly asked as he saw his commander gazing curiously at the other army force.

"There's no turning back now, Thompson," Alistair said taking moment to glance at his team. "Hell, I'm even worried about what we might see."

***

The Journey to the base took at least one hour and a half to reach there, mainly because some of the solider is marching. Lieutenant Alistair was kind enough to let some sit on the trunk of the TSV as some are injured during that battle.

Meanwhile inside the TSV, Tej, Scarlet, and David were just singing to Bryan Adams- Summer of 69.

Just like in Afghanistan, Alistair was getting even more irritated by the three. He just wishes he could just throw that Speaker away, but he wouldn't have to listen to them much longer as the base came to view.

The Lieutenant saw many tanks that look to be the same model as Claude's tank. It drove over the paved road that connects the base to the main road. When Squad E entered the base through the checkpoint there were some warm welcomes from a few other soldiers but as expected all eyes were on the Marine's TSV.

One Federation soldier stopped the Husky and quickly the barrier was closed.

"Halt! Identify yourselves." One guard said.

Claude quickly notices the sudden confusion and orders the Hafen to halt. The Gallian Lieutenant walked over to the checkpoint and met up with the guard.

"They're with me, soldier," Claude said.

The guard looked at Claude with confusion as he laid eyes on the strange machine and its people. "Sir, but they're not from the federation..."

"I know." Claude interrupts. "That's why I'm bringing them in to meet with the base commander. They've helped us during the last battle with the empire."

The guard looked at the TSV with further confusion and was reluctant to let them through. But he knows Lieutenant Claude- many others do - and if he's saying these people helped him fight the imperials then they're no different from the rest of the soldiers in this base.

The guard waved the TSV through the gates, giving Alistair a sigh of relief and winding down the window.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. "

Lieutenant Alistair saw many tanks that look to be the same model as Claude's tank. It drove over the paved road that connects the base to the main road. When squad E entered the base there were some warm welcomes from a few other soldiers but as expected all eyes were on the Marine's TSV.

Inside the base, there were many buildings and a few vehicles that are similar to Claude's tank. There were many barracks which housed the soldiers in this base and other buildings which are used for storage and other purposes. It wasn't anything special compared to the bases he had seen in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"All eyes are on us," David remarked looking out the gun turret.

Tej nodded in agreement, "No shit." He added, "They're probably wondering why we're here."

"Yeah, they're probably wondering who and what we are," Scarlet remarked.

They followed the tank until it came to a halt. Sergeant. Thomson parked the TSV beside the Hafen and everyone got out of the vehicle and group up with Lieutenant. As for the rest of squad E in the trunk, they just got out and went back to their tents with the others or they just stick around near the tank.

Alistair was the first to exit from vehicle and then the rest of the squad followed suit. As he observed his surrounding area he can make out the confusion of the soldiers who were standing next to the camps. The main building that was nearby was probably the base's command centre while other buildings were for storage and other thing.

"This isn't bad. Old but not bad." David said, looking at the buildings.

"It looks like any old base," Tej said.

Scarlet looked at her comrades as she noticed the expressions of the soldiers around them. She was observing them closely. "Everyone seems to be nervous...like they're expecting something to happen."

Claude and Miles exited the Hafen and met with Lieutenant Alistair and his team

"So, how do you guys want to proceed?" Alistair asked.

"I've got a schedule to meet with the commander of this base right now. I can bring you over of you like," Claude replied.

"You sure about that? We might get in trouble for breaking the rules or whatever." Alistair said.

"We'll see what happens when you come along."