I'm starting to shift toward thinking that maybe the Marines could pull it off. Could the marines rig up some 'tech' advantage using what they could find in the day and age? Timothy McVeigh blew up the FBI building using a fertilizer bomb. Is it possible to blow up a palace with sheep poop? What would happen if the Marines stormed Rome and seized their prominent leaders? The negotiations would begin. How many would kiss ass and try to buy favors (or their life) by lending their support? Could they garner support from hostile barbarians to augment their numbers?

DAY 3

Nelson and his command staff are stunned. Not one of his men speaks more than a dozen words in Latin. Nelson begins assembling a list of possible interpreters from his Spanish-speaking soldiers, and at the suggestion of a classically minded major he adds the dozen or so Marines fluent in German.

He pores over the inventories. His aviation fuel won't last longer than six months, the high-octane fuel necessary to run the Humvees maybe another year after that. He knows that he could technically rig machines to run on wood gas or even coal, but that seems highly impractical.

He has ammunition. He has fuel. He has food. He has medical supplies. But he doesn't have that much of any of these things. The 35th MEU was going to be dependent on a vast logistical pipeline from the first day of its deployment. He commanded one of the most powerful, terrifying forces in the world - especially in what appeared to be its new (old?) world - but it was one with a short half-life.

He calls in a few of his senior commanders. And Delacroix. A decision has to be made soon. The men are increasingly terrified and stunned by whispers of what the sequestered Sea Knight crews discovered. Soon, demands for information will come. After that would come the realization that any of these men had the power and knowledge to lead a kingdom in this world.

"We need a mission, and fast," Nelson says. "Or we're going to disintegrate and spread a civil war over this empire that'll leave it in such ruins the Mongols won't bother stopping here a thousand years from now."

Delacroix steps forward and says, "Colonel, I may have an idea."

As the conference progresses, a slight man is plucked from the swamp by two Marine sentries. His insistent declarations are in no language they recognize, although Private Hector Menendez finds something eerily familiar about it. What he wants is easy enough to understand, however - he wants to be taken to their leader.

And 50 miles to the east, the Praetorian Guard assembles at the head of a hastily assembled force of volunteers and grey-headed veterans recalled to the standard. A banner snaps in the wind. A horn blows, drums roll, and 10,000 men begin marching west.

 

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you act like Rome had all their legions just camped out around the capital doing nothing.
when Augustus ruled it was during the golden age of the Roman empire, their legions where off fighting wars on the borders trying to gain more land.

 

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Moral would be a huge factor when faced with superior tech. To the Romans, the marines would seem to wield god like powers. I don't think they would have to use up many resources to get them to surrender.

 

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DAY 4

The slight man is Sixtus Murena, the son of Senator Murena. It took most of the night, but his offer has emerged: the Republican faction of the Senate is willing to offer the 35th MEU a sizable fiefdom in return for attacking the Praetorian Guard and toppling Augustus. Through his interpreters, Colonel Nelson remarks dryly that a decision like that is above his pay grade.

The Praetorian Guard covered five miles on Day 3, and another twelve on Day 4 - a third of the distance to the 35th MEU's camp. Augustus himself is in the camp. He is also reviewing a steady stream of messages. Emissaries have been dispatched to every governor in the empire to be on alert, but only two legions have been recalled - Augustus is firm in rejecting rumors of supernatural powers and his calm, measured response is helping to soothe terrified Romans. The Senate has authorized the formation of two new legions from veterans of the Civil Wars. The question of their command is a prickly one - Augustus has no desire to inflame the Senate by promoting one of his favorites, but with the Praetorians on the march he cannot leave a Republican in charge of the only military force in Rome itself. He assigns General Marcus Agrippa to head the new Legio I Italica, and leaves the question of the second legion's commander open for the moment, tasking Agrippa only with overseeing its formation. Neither will be ready for deployment within a month.

Two Marines vanish from Camp Tiber (one of several unofficial names, along with Camp America, Camp Future, and Wonderland; Nelson is too busy to bother with an official one yet), as does one Afghan national. It is assumed they have struck out in search of adventure, or even in hopes of reaching their homes. Colonel Nelson is forced to order sentries to shoot to kill anyone entering or leaving the camp.

 

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DAY 5

First contact.

Sixtus Murena remains in U.S. custody, despite his increasingly agitated demands to return. Senator Murena begins to regret his rash decision to approach the Invaders: what if their camp is overrun, and Sixtus is discovered there? What if Augustus's spies have already noted his absence? He and his fellow conspirators debate and debate, but decide to do nothing but wait; they are comfortable men, and tempered by years of legislative experience to talk and observe. They are not men to seize the nettle. The fact that Augustus has an informer among their ranks is almost irrelevant.

The Praetorians close another 15 miles. The pace is exhausting for the hastily scraped-up auxiliaries, but marching on fine roads near Rome, even under 100-pound packs, is child's play for a Praetorian, a man who has never known air-conditioning, never sat in a cushioned chair, never greeted tropical storms or arctic gales with anything but Stoic resignation because he has never had a choice - unlike the men of the 35th, whose tempers are fraying under the stress of their predicament and their utter isolation.

At 4 in the afternoon, with humid temperatures roasting American and Roman alike, a unit of 50 Roman cavalry in glittering metal armor appear on the horizon. Sergeant Alvin McCandless shouts to his men, who take up position behind a line of sandbags. M16A4s are trained on the Romans, and a SAW is locked and loaded - .50-caliber bullets. Within five seconds, enough firepower to annihilate a legion is concentrated on Fulvius Bassus and his men.

Bassus approaches cautiously but holds his head high and keeps his horse trotting at a confident pace. The Invaders shout something, but he pays them no heed. They're too far away for a parley, and he's not even close to bowshot range. He will uphold the honor and dignity of Rome, and he will come in close enough to talk.

There is a sudden flash of light. Something erupts in a cloud of dust in front of his horse. A split-second later, loud reports echo through the air. Now the Invaders are shouting again, their voices now unbelievably loud, with a strange hissing behind them that distorts the sounds into something inhuman.

By reflex, Bassus and his men draw their swords. They should now return and report. But Bassus is years removed from service, and he is still getting reacquainted with the art of subordinating himself to commands. It is no longer easy for him to ignore the squirt of fear running through him, making his heart pound and his palms sweat.

He repeats his orders. They will advance and parley. The Romans move forward. They are still far from bowshot, and his reflexes are honed by years of civil war against his fellow Romans. He expects the call to parley, not a fight. He has a hundred paces to go.

Sergeant McCandless watches the Romans advance, ignoring his warning shots and calls to halt. Their swords are drawn. He does not know the range of a Roman bow. He only knows that they are closing. He doesn't know what kind of weapons they have. He doesn't know how to talk to them. His nerves are frayed after four days without sleep, nightmares about his family ripping him out of the few minutes he can eke out before taking another go-pill.

"STOP!" he roars. "F_____G HALT! NOW!" Five seconds.

"FIRE!"

The bullets arc forward. Marine marksmanship is the finest this world has ever seen, and Bassus and his men, trotting forward six abreast, make a fine target. They all drop. Horses and men shriek. McCandless orders men forward to take prisoners and dispatch the horses humanely.

Within five minutes, a Humvee roars up. Nelson roars at McCandless furiously. He is relieved. Urgent conferences are called. 50 horses are counted - and 49 Roman corpses.

 

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At that point in time, did they not still worship Apollo and Zeus? I would think that witnessing a helicopter flying around, they would attribute it to being something like Apollos chariot, not a "machine." What the hell kind of machine had Augustus seen to "know the difference" and declare it to be that?

DAY 6

Negotiations must begin. Nelson selects six men to head the team. Chaplain Garrity, the one man Nelson knows speaks Latin, is hunted down. He is found in a latrine, his wrists opened. The first suicide. Nelson selects Private Menendez to take his place as an interpreter; Menendez has been assigned to guard Sixtus Murena and has proven a quick study.

The Marine negotiating team heads east in an armed convoy; three Humvees with two helicopters riding shotgun. Nelson is uneasy about this show of force, but he can't take the chance of losing a single man in a fight against an entire empire. He is watching the stock of MREs dwindle rapidly, and the camp is burning through its fuel to boil the Tiber's water. Engineers have devised charcoal filters, but Fort Wonderland is low on wood, along with almost everything else. And now he has gotten word of what appears to be a case of malaria.

At noon, they meet a Praetorian patrol, doubled in strength since yesterday. Bassus was somehow unscratched. His report has sent the first real spasms of fear through Augustus. The Praetorians have begun adapting. They ready bows and javelins, not swords today. They are ten miles east of Wonderland. Roman spies have already established a screen around the camp, tightening the noose. Thousands of veterans are streaming into Rome as news of the Invasion spreads.

Nelson's second-in-command steps out of the lead Humvee, waving a white flag. He walks forward, his hands open. The Praetorians waver. Tales of Bassus's encounter have become rumor and legend already. The Invaders cursed him with magic. The Invaders broke a flag of truce. The Invaders devoured the corpses.

All it takes is one fool. One moment of rash terror.

But the Praetorians are the best their Empire has to offer. They are an elite, just as the Marines they face are. They are patriots, and they are cool tacticians. Eye to eye, the Marines and Praetorians take each other's measure. Today, things make sense.

"I am sorry," says Major Terrence Washington. He holds his hands open. "On behalf of the United States and the U.S. Marine Corps, I apologize deeply for the misunderstanding." His gaze is level and honest. He has fought in Panama and Iraq, Afghanistan and Iraq again. He has dealt with men who place honor above life. His eyes say what his words cannot.

Javelins are lowered. As are rifles. Across a hundred feet, and two thousand years, two men walk forward and clasp hands.

And Senator Murena hears of this that evening, watching the glow of the Praetorians' camp torches from his veranda, and seethes.

 

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So the 2000 Marines could train themselves in ancient weaponry and armor to be proficient enough to fight hundreds of thousands faster than the legions could get back to Rome... Got it.

 

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remember this movie?

 

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