Tyranny of Steel

Sergeant Major Lach Graf von Wickten sat within the cargo bay of a Ju 390 heavy transport plane. For the past eight hours or so, he and his company had been flying from Cyprus to Anangpur with a single purpose in mind: To capture the False Emperor of the Anangpur Empire. As for the rest of the two battalions' worth of Jaegers, their job was to secure the Capital in an airborne operation. 

The battle-worn veteran stared stoically at the red light that was displayed within the aircraft's hangar bay. The moment it turned green, the hatch would open, and he would jump out of the aircraft. It had been many years since he had been an average enlisted soldier, basking in the glory of the Kaiser's repeated victories. 

Now he was no longer so naïve, he was a veteran Jaeger, and a man who had seen his fair share of conflict. Hell, the scars on his face were proof enough about the action he had seen. Despite this, there was not a hint of emotion on his face. Why would there be? With the amount of men he had killed in war, to take another life was to add to a statistic, and nothing more. 

As for his own life, he already swore it to the Kaiser. He lived and breathed for the glory of the Reich, and nothing else. Though he had been given a noble title for his efforts, he did not desire it, nor did he crave for a large family, full of useless descendents. His place was on the battlefield, and he knew it.

Thus, despite the fact that he was about to jump out of a plane that was well over six kilometers in the air, there was not the slightest sense of dread in his heart, nor was there excitement, only mind numbing calm.

As the green light turned on, and the hatch opened, the veteran sergeant major racked the charging handle of his suppressed MP-27 submachine gun, ensuring that a round was loaded before taking his place on the ramp. Before the Captain of his company could even bother taking the foremost position, he had secured it for himself.

This was not an act of disrespect. Rather, the Captain relied on Lach to boost his soldier's morale by charging into the fray, headfirst, on every occasion. The sergeant major glared at his company before nodding his head once. His words were short, but to the point.

"For Kaiser and Fatherland!"

After saying this, he turned around and leaped into the air without the slightest hint of fear in his eyes. Lach continued to fall towards his destination, focused entirely on his landing point, rather than the men who had his back. Naturally, the rest of the company deployed, but he was too busy to see it.

With every second, he fell a few hundred meters. The earth's gravity pulled him closer to the ground as if it wanted nothing more than for him to turn into a giant pile of meat paste. While ordinary soldiers would pull their chute at roughly 185 meters. Lach continued to propel towards the earth below. It was only when he was sixty meters in the air did he pull his chute, which caught him in the air, and slowed his descent. 

It was the dead of night when the Sergeant Major landed in the Anangpur Palace's courtyard. Although he was the first to make his descent, he did not wait for backup. Immediately skulking in the darkness, he forced his way towards the palace gates where a troop of guards stood on watch. 

These men were dressed in medieval armor, and armed with Arquebuses, they were the esteemed Tiger Guard who were once loyal to Dharya. However, in the years of the true Emperor's absence, their allegiance had been swayed towards Chandra with the promise of wealth and women. 

The legendary Tiger Guard did not even see death as it approached them. Lach merely aimed down the iron sights of his suppressed submachine gun and pulled the trigger. He held the trigger just long enough to send three rounds down range and into the chest of his first target. 

The muffled crackle of subsonic gunfire was not nearly loud enough to stir the nearby sentries. Which Lach took advantage of as he rapidly shifted his target and plugged another three rounds into the next enemy.

For this mission, his unit had all been equipped with suppressed MP-27 Submachine guns, along with specialized subsonic rounds. The noise signature fired from their barrel was not only hearing safe, but only noticeable at close distance. 

Before the squad of Tiger Guardsmen could even react to this crackle in the darkness, Lach had rapidly shifted his targets and fired a small burst into each of their chests. The power of the subsonic 9mm round was more than enough to penetrate through their medieval armor, and puncture their hearts. One man gunned these so-called elite soldiers of the Anangpur Empire down in the darkness before they even knew he was there.

Following the spilling of first blood, the rest of Lach's unit made their way to the ground, where they witnessed his work. They could not help but be impressed by the man's professionalism. After killing five guys with three bullets each, Lach still had seventeen remaining in his magazine, which was more than enough to deal with a few more pests.

The Sergeant major did not hesitate, nor did he speak. He merely motioned in the darkness for the men of his unit to form on the door as he slowly picked the lock. While his company had landed in the courtyard of the Palace, the rest of the two battalions landed throughout the rest of the city. Their jobs would be to silently eliminate the garrison. 

After silently opening the door, Lach took point where he lead the members of his platoon down one hall, while the other progressed down the other. The moment they turned the corner, they witnessed a group of ten sentries, who they gunned down in a matter of seconds. The overwhelming volume of gunfire could barely be heard throughout the corridors as they made their way through the rest of the palace in search of the usurper. 

Like knives in the dark, the Jaegers dispatched every hostile they came across, as if their god was the reaper, and he had bestowed upon them the gift of death. Not even the servants of the palace were spared in fear that they would run to their master and alert him to the invasion. 

Eventually Lach found the bedroom of the Palace, where the target was sure to be sleeping. He once more alerted his soldiers to form up on the door, however instead of picking this lock he merely pointed the muzzle of his suppressor towards it, and fired a burst of rounds into it, which did the trick.

As the Jaegers moved into the room, they witnessed Chandra Tomara engaging in an orgy with his wives and mistresses. The sudden intrusion of camouflaged men shocked the arrogant usurper, who immediately called out to his guards for support.

"Guards! There is an intruder!"

Lach merely snarled as he approached the naked emperor, and pinned him to the bed. Meanwhile, his soldiers ziptied the women and tossed them into the corner of the room, where they pleaded for their lives with tears in their eyes.  The Sergeant Major had a completely stoic look on his face as he pointed his P-28 pistol to the back of Chandra's head and cursed the man out in his native tongue.

"Emperor Chandra Tomara, your reign has come to an end. You are coming with me. Now you can either put some pants on and come willingly, or I will put a fucking bullet in your brain and drag your corpse out myself. Choose!"

Chandra did not realize who was threatening him. Their uniforms were alien, and they masked their white skin with camouflaged paint. Thus, he foolishly tried to buy their loyalties.

"I don't know who you are, but if you let me go, I will give you untold riches, and however many women you desire. Did Asha send you? Please, I can pay you more than he ever can. Just let me go!"

This remark caused Lach to sneer in disgust as he pistol whipped Chandra across the back of the head and tossed him over his shoulder. After doing so, he pointed his pistol towards the naked women and gave a command to his unit.

"Take care of them, while I radio back to high command that we have captured the target." 

With this said, the German soldiers silently nodded their heads before raising their submachine guns and plugging a few rounds into the heads of the naked brides of the false emperor. Leaving behind no witnesses to their actions.

Thus Chandra Tomara had been captured, and nobody was any the wiser. As for the capital city of the Anangpur Empire, it was still under siege by nearly 2,000 airborne Jaegers. All the while, the shores of the Empire were under assault by thousands of marines and their armored vehicles.