Coriolanus Act Scene 1.4.2

Scene 1.4.2

Before the gates of Corioli

The troopers have the Bacterial and Chemical Command tent setup in minutes. It was easy with the power poles and then the joining of the power cells to build the field over it. Once it was done, the commanders of the Roman Elite Troopers were called. They marched out of their armored carriers and convened towards the command post. There was Titus Lartius and Caius Marcius with their aides and officers. They were dressed in their battle fatigues; triple shades streaks across their overall uniform, while the on their waist was the personal blaster and power saber. The last was the mark of the Noble that were promoted in battles. The saber was stored in the short scabbard, and when drawn out, it would expand to three times its length on the blade which was made of pure laser properties with the sharpness to cut any surface.

The assembled Roman victorious commander had repelled the enemy from their borders to then outside of the Volsces capital of Corioli. The city was a splendor to be feast with its sky high towers and surrounding deep moats that protected it. Its walls still protect the city from intruders, but it will not be long before it collapsed like the other three cities taken by these commanders.  Titus Lartius and Caius Marcuis had taken only three weeks to march here on a front where the resistance was minimal while the battles were fought at the cities. The Volsces knew that their armored was weakened by the hidden strategies of the Romans, and had retreated to protect the cities. The Volsces had the upper hand in the trooper strength and had preserved that advantage to draw the Romans to fight in close combat.

Titus Lartius had directed his officers to preserve the cities structure and led the battle on foot. He would have lost if not the division of the elite troopers under Caius. The later men were as hardened as their leader both in tenacity to win and also the barbaric contempt for the lowly Volsces. They had held no prisoners in their campaign be it a trooper or child. They just kill or trample them cripples to avoid them taking the same course when they grew older. Marcius himself was a vicious fighter in the battles with no regard for personal safety or mercy given by him to anyone including his own men. He scorned them for their status as Commoners, but they could not have hated him for the winning strategies he deployed. He had called his own men as killing machines and given a free hand in the task.

“I cared not for your blood or kins except you kill when I tell you so. Be it Noble or Commoner, or Volsces; none is be spared I say so. God have mercy with you if I find otherwise in you.” Marcius once threw a trooper to beneath the tank tracks for disobeying his order.

“Yonder comes news; a wager they have met.” Marcius told the other. The communication signals at the siege of Corioli had been erratic with the constant jamming by the Volsces. Much could be said of the Volsces who were technological advanced than the Romans, but their war strategies were not to par with the Romans. One of it was the jamming which the Volsces had used to advantage over the Romans thus disrupting or confusing their commands at times. Such was the concern of the Romans, that they fell back for the antiquated methods of using body messengers to carry the vital commands.

“My carrier to yours, no.” Marcius heard from Lartius. The commanders took pride in their carriers; for it was like their extended home on the battlefront.

“It’s done.” Marcius replied. The other agreed and they smiled. Wagers were their entertainment during the respite between battles. They bargained on the spoils of war, be it the captured equipments or even the non-combatant which they took as slaves. Such was the bounty of the war.

The messenger approached them and handed over the new order which was to proceed. Marcius looked to the weary trooper. A Commoner without doubt and yet he tires on a run like this. Such a pitiful lots these Commoners.

“Has our General met the enemy?” Marcius enquired on the other.

“They lie in view, but have not spoken yet.” The messenger replied and then left for General Cominius Camp. Lartius laughed at that reply.

“So, the carrier is mine.”

“I will buy it back from you.” Marcius counter offered but Lartius laughed off the buy back.

“No, I’ll not sell nor give it; lend it I will. For half a hundred years.” Lartius mocked the other. He then turned to the signals trooper. “Summon the town.”

“How far off lies the armies?” Marcius asked.

“Within this mile and half.” The messenger indicated with his arms.

“Then we shall hear their tanks, and they ours.” Marcius looked to his rear. The Romans did not have many tanks compared to the Volsces but the ones they have held the superior firepower. He was proud that still many had survived the battles. He heard naught of the Volsces tank. Maybe he thought a request for surrender will quicken the ending of the war. “Now, Mars.”

Marcius wished to the skies. The Romans had worshipped the God of War in their daily prayer for the victory. “Make us quick in work that we with the saber may march from hence to help our fielded friends.”