Tyranny of Steel

Berengar sat in his office with a stern expression on his handsome face, and a disturbing telegram in his hand. Arnulf von Thiersee, a man who had been by Berengar's side since he was first reincarnated into this world, had ordered his troops to commit the unthinkable: to open fire on German citizens.

Luckily for him, the Colonel in charge of the First Colonial Expeditionary Brigade had enough sense to request further orders from the highest authority of the Empire, the Kaiser himself. Otherwise, this situation would turn into an unforgiveable act of treason.

Berengar knew little about the ongoing conflict between Arnulf and the people he ruled over. Reports from the Colonies were regular, but they usually included concerns about internal development, rather than external threats. After all, in this world, the Reich needed to fear only one army, and that was Japan's.

However, in his misjudgement Arnulf had disobeyed the primary colonial protocol, which was to conquer territory and spread the German Nation across undeveloped lands. He made petty alliances with the savage tribes of New Vienna, and had guaranteed their lands at the expense of German growth and prosperity. These actions were borderline treasonous, however, they were still tolerable, no matter how much Berengar may be enraged by them.

Why were they tolerable by a man who usually treated treason with a bullet to the brain? Because Arnulf was a war-hero, second only to the likes of Eckhard and himself. Not only was Arnulf involved in every major campaign leading up to the formation of the Kingdom of Austria.

However, he was also regarded as the General most famous for the early days of the Iberian Campaign, where Germany and its allies achieved victory after victory, rather than the current mess that existed in the region.

Because Arnulf was a war-hero who was beloved by the people, it would not be easy, nor wise, to get rid of him. Especially now when Germany was more united than ever before. However, one thing was certain: Arnulf's native wife was influencing him poorly, and that needed to stop.

Thus, Berengar was quick to put an end to this troublesome matter. He quickly spoke into his microphone, which sent a radio message to his personal aide, whose office was nearby, and issued his orders.

"Claudia, I need you to send a telegram to the SMS Emmerich, which is stationed in New Vienna. The message is as follows: By order of the Kaiser, all Colonial expeditionary forces are to belay the commands they have received from the Colonial Governor regarding the Colony of Berenwalde and return to their posts immediately. Any attack on Berenwalde and its citizens shall be seen as an act of treason, and shall be punished accordingly. As for Arnulf von Thiersee, he is to be formally summoned to Kufstein, along with his native wife, to explain his actions."

There was only static on the other end of the line for some time until a sultry feminine voice responded in the affirmative.

"Of course, my Kaiser, I will relay your message to the New World immediately. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Berengar shook his head with a smile on his face before responding to the woman's question in a gentle tone.

"No, that will be all, Claudia. I thank you for the assistance."

Upon hearing this, the woman known as Claudia quickly got to work fulfilling this task on behalf of her Kaiser. Meanwhile, Berengar sighed in relief as he thought about how much help his secretary had been to him these past few weeks. He really should have hired sufficient help a long time ago.

In truth, he had been doing far too much work himself these past few years. Now he had an entire staff to help him with his many responsibilities, and relieve the pressure of looking after the Reich's executive affairs by himself.

After receiving a notice from the woman named Claudia that the telegram was sent, Berengar sat back and relaxed in his office. He could not believe the words he had read, and was immediately concerned about the direction New Vienna was heading in. Hopefully, his orders would reach the colonial troops before bloodshed occurred. If not, he would have to severely punish Arnulf for his crimes."

Meanwhile, in the New World, the crew of the SMS Emmerich received their orders, and relayed to the field where the Colonial Expeditionary Forces were approaching their target. Deep in the woods outside Berenwalde, the Colonial soldiers marched forward with their heads on a swivel.

They were now marching into hostile territory, where the enemy was equipped with semi-modern weaponry. Though the G22 was obsolete by the standards of the German Army, and had largely been replaced in frontline service, it was still a deadly weapon in the hands of those who knew how to wield it. And make no mistake, the colonists of Berenwalde knew how to use these rifles, as they were the primary means of hunting across the colonies and the fatherland.

As far as the citizens of Berenwalde were concerned, these soldiers were traitors to the crown, and because of that, they had no intentions of standing by and waiting to be attacked. They had been anticipating an armed invasion from the south for some time and had been preparing for the eventuality. Thus, before the Kaiser's orders could reach the Colonial forces, they had walked right into a trap.

At the front of the Colonial Army's lines, a young man carelessly stepped forward and triggered a tripwire which was connected to a cluster of grenades. The explosion blasted the poor lad to bits and claimed the lives of his nearby comrades.

This booby trap was the first domino to fall. Immediately after it went off, smoke and thunder filled the woodlands as the Berenwalde citizens opened fire on the advancing army without a hint of mercy. Though they were severely outnumbered, they hid well within the woods. Dressed in makeshift camouflage, these men fled through the smoke of their gun fire deeper into the woods after firing their first shot, forcing the inexperienced Colonial troops to rush after them and into another trap.

It was only after this initial exchange of gunfire had occurred, claiming the lives of several dozen German soldiers, did the orders to retreat come over the wire. The telegraph operator, who used a portable device, gazed in horror as he read the message. He quickly searched for the Colonel where he handed off the message with a guilty look on his face.

"Sir, these are the orders from the fatherland. The Kaiser has commanded that we return to New Vienna, and leave Berenwalde be..."

Colonel Bartolde Von Tettingen immediately cursed in response to this news. He could not believe he had marched his brigade north and into an ambush. Several dozen of his soldiers were dead, and a hundred more were wounded.

Though a few men had survived the attack relatively unharmed, mainly because of the advanced body armor that they wore, others were unlucky and were either killed or wounded by shots to the head or other unprotected regions of the body. Those who were struck on the plate could count their lucky stars that the Kaiser had invented a body armor capable of protecting them against such advanced munitions.

Normally the colonel would obey the orders of the Kaiser, and withdraw at this time, however several hundred of his soldiers had chased after the obvious feigned retreat. At this very moment, they were likely suffering from booby traps and ambushes placed in advanced by the insurgents.

He did not have the nerve to leave the poor sods behind, and quickly made up his mind. The colonel gritted his teeth before giving the order that would sour relations between Berenwalde and New Vienna for decades to come.

"We have no choice. We have already been engaged by the enemy, and our boys have chased after them. I will not leave a man behind, and because of that, we must engage the enemy. After retrieving those lads, we will return to New Vienna with our heads held high! For Kaiser and fatherland!"

With this said, the German soldiers roared their battle cries as they rushed into the woods to support their comrades, who had foolishly chased after the feigned retreat.

At the front lines of the colonial dustup, the Colonial soldiers fired their shots towards the fleeing enemy before racking their bolts back and chambering another round. This was the advantage of the g25 rifle. It had a built in five round magazine and allowed for rapid follow up shots. The colonial forces would chase the fleeing enemy, then kneel and fire a shot, before chasing after them again, and racking their bolts at the same time.

It did not take long before the overwhelming volume of fire began to claim the lives of the fleeing insurgents. However, they were too spread out and easily able to blend into the environment. Thus, it was unexpected when the German soldiers rushed forward and found themselves engaged by men hidden in the bushes with their bayonets affixed.

A wall of bayonets rushed into the unarmored necks of the colonial soldiers claiming their lives and tossing their fresh corpses aside. By luring out these few hundred men, the colonists had evened the odds, and were quick to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately for the Colonial soldiers, they had rushed ahead without attaching their bayonets, and because of this, they immediately fell at a massive disadvantage. The battle continued for some time, killing plenty of men on both sides, however in the end, the German reinforcements arrived, and opened fire on the Berenwalde citizens, killing most of them, and scattering the rest.

After achieving a bloody victory, the Colonel gave the order to fetch the corpses of their dead, and return to New Vienna. This small conflict would cause Berengar a massive headache in the coming days as he awaited Arnulf's return to the fatherland.