(OOC Cue thematic music: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I05rrkffzdc [/url])

[color=9e0b0f][u][b]Legions of Caesar Lucius, Arizona - Road to Phoenix[/b][/u][/color]

Digging his hands into the warm sun baked earth, Lucius scooped out a small mound of the dry red soil and dusted his hands with it. As he did so, he said a silent prayer to Mars and asking the God of War to bless his chosen field of battle. He stood up and surveyed the landscape. Behind him, a retinue of heavily armored mounted praetorian stood silent watch. Among them was Legate Aurelius of Phoenix, his second in command and General of The Eastern Legions. 

"As good a place as any for a fight I suppose," Lucius remarked as he stood up and wiped his hands with his own red cloak, which he summarily unfastened and tossed to a nearby attending legionary. 

"I never did like Arizona," Aurelius commented gruffly as he watched Lucius mount his war horse.

Lucius gave his Legate a sly look, "Then you're unfortunately named old friend..."

Aurelius grumbled, "I served The Legion in Arizona and commanded the veterans of Phoenix. So I was named thusly. But I never enjoyed the climate. Too hot: always preferred Colorado. Good country there. You remember the Summer Campaign?"

"Aye I remember," Lucius said with a nod as he took a deep drink from his waterskin, letting some of the liquid drip down under his armor to cool his neck and chest, "I recall you nearly drowning in that spring we found because you'd been so excited you forgot to remove your armor."   

"Mars above those were some battles too.." Aurelius mused, "It was glorious...fighting hill tribals all day and then bathing in the springs with a woman or two in the evening."

"Or in your case, three or four," Lucius quipped. 

Aurelius laughed, "And to think now I stand here devoted to one woman, who'd flay me alive if she heard those stories."

Lucius gave a chuckle of his own, "As would my Hannah." His thoughts then drifted briefly to his wife, imagining her tender face before the sound of fast approaching hoof beats woke him from his revelry. 

"Caesar!" The horsemen said as he pounded his chest his salute, "The army of the NCR President approaches. Just as you said."

"Thank you Centurion, dismissed," Lucius replied. Which was followed by a second salute from the rider as he galloped onward. 

"Mad fool," Aurelius scoffed.

Lucius shook his head, "Not mad. Supremely confident perhaps. He's hellbent on reaching Phoenix to win a quick victory. He wants to humiliate us, not conquer us. He's moving too quickly for his own army though and now its been split." 

"He'll regret that before the day is over I expect..." 

"No, he'll regret far more than that," Lucius replied as he strapped on his plumed helm, "Signal the Centurions." 

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The sounds of rolling vehicles and quickly marching men and horses filled air as the army of President Kimball rolled into the valley. The army was beset by thirst: the soldiers for water and the vehicles and tanks for fuel. The tremendous dust they were kicking up with their movements further obscured their vision. Only the lead vehicles had an unobstructed view of their surroundings. Heedless of the surrounding danger, the NCR forces pressed on deeper. Suddenly the fast moving vehicles started to become bogged down in unexpectedly muddy soil. What had previously been a dry and arid landscape, had now become a quagmire. The Legion had diverted the waters of a nearby stream into the valley, soaking the earth and caking it with mud. 

Once the army was fully committed and now nearly at a halt due to the terrain, Lucius sprang his trap. Legionaries armed with anti-tank weaponry and missile launchers, partly supplied by The Brotherhood, launched the initial attack. Some of the missiles veered off from their intended targets, but several others struck home sending a cascade of panic surging through the NCR forces as a number of their heavy tanks and vehicles went up in balls of flame. 

Great horns began sounding from all sides, and the NCR troopers were suddenly aware of the sight of crimson clad legionaries appearing from the hillsides and descending on the mobile column with a fury. They came in from both sides of the valley and the NCR forces immediately began attempting to throw up a defensive line. Gunshots resounded on both sides but the Legion forces kept their momentum, moving forward and crashing into the NCR column. 

As the fighting commenced, Lucius waited with his men directly in front of the advancing column, obscured by a small hillock. Quietly, he observed the battle, and watched carefully for the opportunity he was looking for. The Legion force that assaulted from the north side of the valley began falling back as he'd ordered them to. He trusted his Centurions to know the right moment to proceed with the feign and they hadn't disappointed. As the Legionaries pulled back, the NCR forces on the north side of the valley began pushing forward, chasing after them: flush with a taste of victory. Once they'd done so, a gap began appearing in the NCR column, nearly splitting the two defensive lines in half. It was exactly the moment Lucius has been waiting for. All this time, he'd been holding his Legio I Arizona veterans in reserve: until now. Now he would strike where the NCR were most vulnerable. 

"Go!" Lucius ordered as he drew his gladius, "Drive for the gap!"

With that, Lucius and his horsemen burst out and over the hill they'd been hiding behind and surged forward, followed closely by a wave of veteran Legionaries. They began closing the short distance between themselves and the NCR rapidly, and the surprised NCR troopers immediately turned to face the new oncoming threat. They began opening fire but the mass of Legionaries and horsemen pressed onward, heedless of the oncoming fire. Lucius spurred his men forward to close the distance quicker,

"Come Legionaries ride with me! Ride! Ride!" He shouted over the echoing din of the battle. They were mere yards from the troopers now, and he could see the horror in their eyes as Legion cataphracts thundered towards them.

"Legio Invicta!" Lucius cried.

"LEGIO INVICTA!" Came the reply from his men. The horsemen dipped lances and plowed directly into the NCR troopers, trampling many and sending others careening to the ground. The cataphracts kept moving, using their speed and momentum to continue driving into the disrupted NCR column. As they did so, the Legionary Veterans who'd been charging behind on foot caught up and joined the fray. Lucius cut down an NCR trooper who'd been charging at him with a lowered bayonet and slashed into the face of another as he rode past him, his gladius now soaked in fresh blood. 

Lucius then snapped his attention to the northern hillside where now the Legion forces that had feigned their retreat were now swiftly returning, with added reinforcements brought up by Aurelius himself.

Now what had previously been an orderly defensive formation to repel the ambush, had quickly fallen into a chaotic mass of Legion and NCR soldiers. Lucius's men had driven straight down the center of the column and virtually split it in two, carving up the troops and forcing them to fight far more close quarters than they were used to. Most of the vehicles had all but become bogged down, with only a few of the lighter equipment able to move at all, either due to the mud itself or simply being hemmed in by others who were stuck. They were still able to bring their firepower to bear though, which they did at any cluster of Legion soldiers they could find sending gore and pieces of men flying into the air. The quarters were too close though, and often the tanks would end up blowing up some of their own men who were caught up in the fire. Battle-crazed Legionaries armed with grenades and other explosives scrambled up the tanks, tore open hatches, and threw their ordinance down into the hulls sending burning and disfigured men clawing out from the smoking innards to be dispatched with spears and machetes by waiting Legionaries.  

The battle had turned to utter madness and brutality, and Lucius soon found himself dismounted and fighting pell-mell side by side with several of his Praetorian guard. As he grappled with an NCR soldier who he'd only just managed to knock to the ground, an NCR Private armed with a bayonet charged at him yelling bloody murder, and caught him in the back. Lucius yelled in anger, his armor having thankfully protected him from most of the blow. In a rage, he turned and drove his gladius right through the exposed neck of the man and sent a gush of blood spaying from the ghastly wound. In a daze of both pain and confusion, Lucius wiped the blood of the man from his eyes and surveyed the bloodshed all around him. Through the dust and smoke of burning men and machines, he spotted the darkened silhouette of a figure. A man who was standing up out of a tank and directing men and soldiers about him through a radio held to his face. Lucius's eyes widened as if crazed by the sight of the man.

"Kimball!" He shouted manically and he desperately looked around him for his horse. He found it quickly and mounted up, spurring the beast onward towards the man in the tank. As he charged forward like a man possessed, he reached down and plucked a throwing spear from where it had been embedded in the dirt and held it aloft.

"KIMBALL!" He yelled again. This time, the man in the tank heard him. The NCR President saw the charging horsemen and he quickly reached for his pistol which was strapped to his side. 

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Lucius yelled madly in rage and launched the spear with considerable force at the President. Kimball opened fire and Lucius felt the bullets strike his body, sending him and his horse crashing to the ground. The spear, however, had found its mark. And it embedded itself into the chest of President Kimball with a tremendous sickening thud, impaling him completely. The President looked stunned and bug-eyed at the spear now erupting from his body before he spurt up a mouthful of blood and collapsed against the top of the tank. Dead.

Lucius stared up in a misty haze at the sky. He was flat on his back and a pool of blood was slowly growing around him. His thoughts once more returned to his wife as a squad of NCR troopers began to close in on him, bayonets raised and ready to skewer their hated adversary and the man who'd just slaughtered their President.

"Hannah..." He whispered, and closed his eyes. 

"To Caesar!" Lucius heard the words only faintly, but he soon became aware of a thunder of crimson bodies intercepting the onrushing NCR soldiers. They threw themselves at the troopers with no regard for their own lives or safety. A fierce back and forth began over the body of the fallen Caesar with the NCR desperately trying to claw their way to him and The Legionaries fighting ever more fiercely to protect him. After a bloody struggle, Lucius felt himself being lifted up and away. 

"Get him out of here!" He heard someone shout, "Get him out of here!"

The bloodloss weakened him, and Lucius felt his eyes closing. The sounds of the horror of battle faded and died away to black nothingness. 

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[color=39b54a]Midwestern Communications Outpost [/color]

A rapidly moving Legion courier had rode for miles after the battle non-stop to arrive at a Midwestern communications outpost, setup to help monitor the NCR presence in Arizona. He'd been forced to switch horses several times along the way and bore only a single small scroll buried in his brahmin skin message bag. He rode right up to the outpost and dismounted, handing the soldier on duty the message. It read simply.

[i]NCR incursion force ambushed outside Phoenix by Legions of Caesar Lucius and Legatus Aurelius. All killed or captured. Kimball is dead. Relay news to convention.[/i]