Part 1

Walter Sand, engineer first class looked down at the marching column of Peewee's, Fido's and other types of Battlesuit he could make out within the dust cloud. They were marching towards the Southern Plains, CORE commander 034-A3 had been discovered by a new kind of surveillance aircraft the VooDoo. This type of aircraft was developed by Walter himself. It was the first unmanned aircraft of the ARM; he had to pull some strings to get approval for the artificial intelligence part of the computer that flew the aircraft. But after he showed the pro's of an AI unit to the head of engineering Professor Bell the VooDoo was approved. Now he saw the results of his engineering skills: About 4000 men and women were going to battle because of
the VooDoo.
"Well, they were bound to go to war anyway, might as well be on account of my invention..." He took one last look and then he returned to his R&D facility.

Nobody knew this but he had been working on a completely new project for over 12 years now. For over 2500 years ARM had lost the knowledge of making Commander Battle Suits also known as Com-Bat-Suits. Of course they had tried to build ones, but they all were failures. One even blew up the eastern wing of ARM-Command-Centre-1, killing about 400 people with a shattering anti-matter blast. After that, all attempts on making a new commander were forbidden. That's why Walter had kept it a secret. After 4 years of research he thought that he had found a way of containing the anti-matter even within the immediate surroundings of a portable constructor ray. A new kind of fiber could contain it for several hours, but he never tried it for longer, mainly because he lacked time and he was afraid to leave it alone. That's why he just turned on the power and worked on the frame most of the times.

He turned on the lights of his R&D facility, it wasn't big, but because he was a class 1 engineer he could work here alone. If he had a bigger lab he would have to work with four or five co-engineers. Now he could secretly work on his Com-Bat-Suit project. He turned of the holographic wall and another room appeared, within this room a massive frame stood tall in the electric lights, even now, even when he had seen it over a thousand times he still was amazed by it's dominance… The nozzle of the great D-gun seemed to absorb all the light that shone on it. Massive shoulders held two arms, which looked like they could rip a Krogoth to pieces. The laser barrels shone darkly as if they had trouble containing their lethal load.
Walter held his breath. "What a machine…" He was still working on the cockpit though. It had been a problem because Walter didn't know what size the new commander would be. Most radar cockpits where custom made. Even when a commander builds a PeeWee Battle Suit, the clone that formed inside grew before the cockpit was made, therefore customised to the clone. Lacking that type of information, Walter had built a new type of cockpit , this cockpit would form  around his pilot right after he got in, therefore making it possible for anyone to pilot the new Com-Bat-Suit. He made some final adjustments to the left leg stabiliser and covered it with fibrous-fiber the main armour for the Com-Bat-Suit. It was about 30 times stronger than titanium and only 1.3 times as heavy. Also it was possible to make this fiber within a room instead of having to mine it at some godforsaken planet.
There, the new ARM commander was done... "Only nobody knows that but me." Walter thought.
 
 

That night, far away from Walter's bed, a war raged on the Southern Plains. The ARM Commander had no chance what so ever. Within a very large cave a stargate had been built. Of course that was missed by the new VooDoo - any plane would have missed that. When the ARM attacked they were stronger more powerful than the CORE; they even succeeded to destroy the CORE base. Just when they were starting to mop up the survivors and attack the CORE Commander, a ripple went through the battle field… Everybody knew what that meant - a stargate in action. Within the cave a new army arrived. One by one they entered the cave until the CORE force was all complete. Then the newly arrived CORE army walked onto the plains of the South…
Two Krogoths, 25 Sumos, 10 Levelers, 300 AK Infantry Kbots, 60 Thud Medium Artillery Kbots and 150 Storm Anti-Armor Kbots arrived on the battle scene. The ARM commander watched in horror how the newcomers were butchering his army.
He looked back at where they came from, ARM-Com-Centre-5, and signaled:
"This is ARM-Commander Wulf, come back…"
"This is ARM-Com-Centre-5 what is your situation? Over?"
" Wulf here, situation hopeless, all is lost, estimated losses over 80% and counting, overwhelming enemy forces came out of stargate about 20 minutes ago, it's the biggest  CORE-force I've ever seen. Over"
" We copy that, get out with as many troops as possible and regroup at Nav. Point Alfa Niner, over."
"10-4 I'll try but don't get your hopes up, over and out."
"ARM-Com-Centre-5 out."

End of Part I
 

Explosions, shrapnel and wrecks where everywhere. There was nowhere to run or hide, this was the end. Sergeant Timmons piloted her Warrior Kbot through the carnage that surrounded her, trying to stay alive as long as possible. She fired her  weapons into the back of a AK Infantry Kbot at close range, jumped sideways so that the S.R. missile that came rushing towards her missed her by 2 inches, and looked around for an opening were she could get out of this hell. She didn't even try to use the radio. All of her squadron mates were dead already…
Suddenly a roar went trough the battlefield. She saw AK Infantry Kbot's being flung around like little toys, massive anti-matter explosions disintegrated Slashers, Raiders and even a Sumo couldn't evade this outburst of destruction and crumbled to the  ground. In the middle of this tornado was ARM commander Wulf; he was death itself, as he stood there on a pile of destroyed or immobilised Kbots, spreading death and destruction around him. And every time he had the change, his massive arms pointed to the west.
"Regroup, regroup! There's a way out of here! Bearing 256! Regroup at Nav. Point Alfa Niner! Now!"
"That's it! The way out!" Sergeant Timmons rushed towards the fighting commander meanwhile she repeated the message on all frequencies of her com-link. Pretty soon she had about 20 followers as they were fighting their way to the ARM commander.
When they reached him he looked around as more unit's regrouped around the ARM commander there were about 150 unit's left.
"Ok, I guess this is all we can rescue here, let's go!"
They moved out, as fast as possible.
Sergeant Timmons ran as fast as her battered Warrior could, meanwhile looking around for potential dangers. Still explosions were everywhere but they were getting less. It looked like they were escaping. Nevertheless, still a very big force was chasing them, the bigger Battlesuits, which were slower, could get into trouble later on.
"Nav. Point Alfa niner, reached." Crackled her Nav-computer.
"Spread out and return to ARM-Com-Centre-5" Commander Wulf ordered.
 

Looking like a large fan the remains of the ARM force spread out in several directions.
"I'll stay here to buy you some time, get the hell out of here." Commander Wulf turned around and faced the CORE forces, they were still out of sight but they were closing in fast.
About 15 other battlesuits turned around also and joint commander Wulf in what would be their last battle. Timmons didn't turn around; her Warrior was so smashed up that she would be no help to the others. Instead she ran to the west, up a ridge.
There she turned around and looked at the ARM commander rushing into the CORE forces. Again spreading death and destruction around him. But there was no stopping them, pretty soon he and two Mavericks were the only one's left, all the others were dead. They fought a lost battle, the to Maverick's were simply overrun by a horde of AK Infantry Kbot's which on their turn were killed by commander Wulf's D-gun. The battle raged on for several minutes but then the CORE forces suddenly retreated, to get out of the blast zone. There was a bright white flash, and ARM-Commander James Wulf had stopped to exist… The enormous anti-matter blast completely destroyed the first horde of CORE forces and seriously damaged one of the two Krogoths.
Sergeant Timmons turned around one more time and ran away, there was no point in staying. "Let this sacrifice not be in vain ." She thought.

At ARM-Com-Centre-5, the news of the death of Commander Wulf spread fast, and the rumour was that ARM-Com-Centre-5 was going to be evacuated within the next few hours.
Walter, who heard this rumours also, was working non-stop to get his Com-Bat-Suit battle ready. He still had to download all battlesuit, building and clone configurations, or his commander would be unable to build anything let alone save this planet for the ARM. As he was downloading, most of the remaining unit's who got out of the Southern Plains arrived at ARM-Com-Centre-5. It wasn't much, only 130 units made it back to the base. And most of them were smaller units, the bigger one's were outrun by the CORE and had been destroyed.
"Download complete." The computer said.
"Ok, now for the strategic analysis files and then I'm done."
At that moment an alarm when off.
"Red alert! Red alert! Incoming missiles! Red alert! Proceed to shelters at once!"
Walter looked at the computer screen. Downloading was still only at 14% he still had 4 minutes to go he would not make it….
"Ok, ok, stay calm, I'll keep on downloading for 2 minutes and then I'll take the suit to safety."
"Sir you have to……… My God is that…" A private stood in the door opening, he was staring at the brand new Com-Bat-Suit that filled half the R&D facility workshop.
"My god - you made a new one...But how? When?"
"We have no time to answer questions like that now! Can you help me get in?"
" But, but, what are you going to do with it?"
" I don't know.. Not yet anyway…"
"Ok, I'll help."
"What's your name private?"
"It's Black, sir."
"Ok, Private Black help me in…"
The still amazed man grabbed a nearby ladder and placed it next to the suit.
"Climb in, sir"
Walter climbed in and took place in the cockpit. Immediately after he sat down the cockpit started to adjust to his body, after about 12 second the adjustments were done.
"Ok," he told the private. "Now unplug the link with the computer and open the cargo doors."
"Yes, sir"
 

Walter closed the cockpit and took his first steps. It handled right, the left leg still needed some adjustments, but only minor ones.
'Ok, let's go!"
They started running towards the shelters. Walter in his Com-Bat-Suit and Private Black in the Warrior that was waiting for him outside. People who were doing the same and saw the new Commander, stop in their tracks, and pointed towards him.
"Look! Look, a new Commander!"
At that moment they reached the shelter, the sound of the missiles could already be heard in the distance. When they walked inside a mumble went through the crowd.
"A commander, a commander"
A Maverick came walking towards them, a big blue one with 'Lucy' painted on the side.
" I'm Colonel McFlint, welcome Commander."
"Uh, hi," Walter stuttered.
Could he tell them he wasn't really a Commander?
That he had never seen combat?
He looked around and saw a transformation go through the crowd.
One minute they were a hopeless bunch of people, and the next, after they had learned that there was a new 'Commander' they started hoping again, some even were laughing and cheering. He couldn't.

At that moment a new ARM-Commander was really born…

At that moment the missiles reached their destination. Within the shelters only a rumble could be heard, even a direct hit only caused some dust to swirl down from the ceiling. Everybody held his or her breath, knowing what was happening out there. After what seemed ages, it couldn't have been more that a few minutes, the explosions ended. Walter stood there listening, trying to hear something outside. After a while he turned around and noticed that everybody was looking at him. They were waiting for him to give a command, but what could he do? The real commander was dead, ARM-Com-Centre-5 was no more, and the remaining ARM forces that survived were looking at him to lead them…
" Well, it seems that I have little or no choice" Walter thought.
" Ok" He said out loud "We are in a difficult position here, CORE knows where our base is, well, were our base was… And we are desperately outnumbered. Nevertheless, I am not prepared to just hand them this planet, if they want it, they will have to fight for it!"
A roar went to the crowd, their spirits had been lifted because of the little speech and they were ready to take on any force that would oppose them.
" I have yet to work out a plan, but first we have to get out of here, now that CORE knows where we are, they won't wait to finish us off, so move out we are heading west."

Some debris was blocking the door but after a firm push, the door opened and revealed scenery that could only be described as 'Dante's Inferno'. Carnage was everywhere, thankfully due to early warning human losses were minimal. When they walked out everybody was stunned for a moment; even Walter looked around trying to recognise something. At that moment, battle hardened veteran as he was, Colonel McFlint started shouting orders.

" You heard the commander, get moving! We will head for the forests on the Western continent. Form a line and move out! PeeWee Squad Echo Alfa Niner and Bravo Epsilon Five, you are responsible for recon, if we make contact with any CORE unit what so every I'll have your liver for lunch, got that!?"
  "Ten-Four Colonel, Echo Alfa Niner out."
" Heya Colonel! If you only spot a CORE KBot, I will hand you my liver personally! Bravo Epsilon Five out."
"Cut the crap and get moving, Bravo Epsilon Five!" McFlint turned towards Walter.
"They are a good bunch, sir. Only sometimes they get exited a bit."
" So I noticed…" Walter replied. They started running to the west; Colonel McFlint was running next to Walter.
"Sir, can I talk to you? Of the record?"
"Of course, go ahead." Walter replied.
"Well, if you don't mind me asking ever since you walked in the shelter I have been wondering about this, where are you from? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you came, but there was no landing on this planet for the last few days and we don't have a stargate. How did you end up on this planet?"
Walter had been afraid of this question ever since he started posing as a commander. He had thought about an answer to it and memorised it.
"Then your data is wrong Colonel, there has been a landing on this planet the past few days, three days ago a special transport from planet Baker Six to the far moon of Gamma-Centauri-Eight, was attacked by some renegade pirates, the transport was shot down but escaped because of the fighter escort. Due to the heavy damage we had to crash land on the far side of the Eastern Mountains, all onboard perished, with the exception of myself."
Walter looked at the Colonel that was walking besides him, the Colonel seemed to swallow the story. Glad that was out of the way. After a while the two scouts reported back.
"Sir, Bravo Epsilon Five reporting back, all is clear ahead."
" Ok, Bravo Epsilon Five, report back with us in 10 minutes."
" 10-4, Bravo Epsilon Five, out."

They walked on for about three hours or so, Walter looked around, even with the robotic legs doing all the work for them the men started to show signs of fatigue. More important, he was at the end of his capabilities. So he signalled the Colonel.
" I think it's time to make camp, the men are tired. There is a small hill due North of here, will stay there for the rest of the night and move on with the first light. Relieve guards every 2 hours, they will need their rest."
"Yes, sir!"
The blue Maverick of the Colonel, affectionately nicknamed 'Lucy', rushed forward to make the arrangements.

That night Walter was thinking about the situation he got himself into. Being an engineer was quite different then leading an army. Luckily he have had some service time within the ARM forces (His engineering skills were only noticed after a month), and being a class 1 Engineer, he was used to giving orders, but what if they had to engage in combat? What would happen then? Would he crack up? Or would he face up to the challenge and fail miserable because of wrong orders? Was this the right thing to do? Or was he sending these 150 men and women to a certain death?
Walter lay awake for a long time wondering about these things, but finally fatigue took over and he fell asleep.

They moved on for days, following the same routine, CORE presence was minimal in these parts of the world. Once his radar picked up a distant Storm Anti-Armor Kbot on recognisance duty. They made an evasive maneuver and stayed out of the S.A.A. Kbot's radar range.
Finally the reached their destination, the Western Forests. These woods were so large that a complete army could disappear there for years. Also small mountains were present which gave a strategic advantage over attacking troops and more importantly, metal. Walter had figured they would need some time to rebuild all that was lost with the missile attack on ARM-Com-Centre-5. Also his geological scanner showed massive amounts of materials present. CORE facilities had been present here about 300 years ago, but after the ARM won the battle of Terra-4 (that's this
planet, aut.) all these facilities were destroyed. ARM headquarters decided that these minerals were to be saved in case of a universal shortage, that was the only reason there was still metal left in this soil. Walter looked around.
" Ok Colonel, this place as good as it gets… Deploy three scouts to map the immediate surroundings, and make them report back within the next few hours, I need that map urgently."
He checked his geo-scan and placed his first buildings : Three metal extractors on the best spots possible, making them work at 100% within the next hour. After that, energy plants were placed in a clean row next to them. Giving more than enough power for the metal extractors. A direct link to his Com-set gave Walter a real-time indication of metal supplies and energy storage. Next there was a KBot factory and a Com-Centre. Some men and women were pulled out of their Battle suits by Colonel McFlint to man these facilities. Step by step Walter followed the standard procedure of making a base. After a while he had a pretty good base settled
at the base of a small mountain. The Kbot factory, vehicle factory and aircraft factory were online and started producing unit's. Warriors, C-units and his own VooDoo were the first to be manufactured. Within a week the Western continent was fully mapped. VooDoo patrols were in the air 24 hours a day. The main base had been enlarged with Advanced facilities and larger combat units were being produced. Already a fully regiment of Warriors was ready for action and stationed on a smaller recon base on the South point of the continent. This base could be transformed into a naval base when the events called for such a transformation. Furthermore a fully equipped air base was constructed in the centre of the continent, six flights of Hawks and three AWACS were stationed here. Also two firebases were constructed on either side of
the main base. Of course every base was properly defended.
Meanwhile there had been some changes within the old army. Private Black, the only one that knew Walter's secret, promoted himself to Lieutenant and started to form his own squad. They separated themselves from the normal army by painting a red band across their front armor panel. They claimed to be the personal guard of Walter, or Commander Sand as he was now known. Walter figured it was all for the best. This way he could keep an eye on Lieutenant Black. Otherwise he might loose track of him and then the real story might come out.
Walter was sitting in the command module within the Com-Centre, when Colonel McFlint walked into the room.
"Sir, can I speak to you for a minute?"
Walter unplugged from the module and turned to the Colonel,
"Of course Colonel, what's up?"
The big man in front of him wasn't comfortable, he never was when he wasn't piloting his 'Lucy', but now this seemed to be worst then ever.
"Well, sir, we seem to have a firm grip on this continent, we are producing unit's so fast it's even getting crowded… Isn't it time to attack? I mean, we should be the same strength by now, even stronger. Why are you waiting so long? We even have no recognisance maps of the enemy, no intel, nothing, are we going to attack them?"
Walter thought about these questions a while, he had to go to battle sometime, but he
had been stalling for time. The Colonel was right of course, barracks were overcrowded and every hour new units were produced. He had thought about invading the northern polar cap, but that would just cost him resources and he would only gain a bunch of frozen water, no minerals were to be found there. Other than that, the only option he had were the Northern Plateau, he still had no data on that area, but his Strategic Analyses Files showed that CORE had left that part of the world alone last time they were here…
"Ok, you are right, I have been waiting to long, this is what we will do, sent out patrols toward the Northern Plateau, VooDoo aircraft will scout it out first, but I want Arm forces present there. Use three battle clusters of Bulldogs and Fido's. Start prepping them now, the rest of the forces go to second state of alert, with the exception of two flights of Hawks, I want them on stand by and ready to fly, in case of CORE presence on the Plateau. If you have any troubles suppress it."
The man in front of him nodded and saluted
"Yes, sir!"
When he walked away the uncomfortableness of the Colonel had dropped to a normal level, he even started to whistle when he walked out of the room. Walter heard him shouting orders outside, even within the Command Module.
After a few minutes the whole base seemed to be buzzing, the men and women going to the Plateau were ready within an hour and a transport unit was on standby on the centre square. The VooDoo's were launched and the first data started to come in. For now the Plateau looked empty, but still a great area had yet to be scouted.
"This is Transport unit Papa Zebra, come back."
" This is ARM-Com-Centre You are cleared for take off, VooDoo's report that the following coordinates are clear of CORE presence and provide a safe landing zone, Seven-four-niner-Bravo-zero, come back and repeat."
" Coordinates received, seven-four-niner-Bravo-zero, affirmative, E.T.A. 1400 hours local time. Transport unit Papa Zebra, out."
"10-4 Papa Zebra, watch your six, ARM-Com-Centre, out."

Captain Timmons, (she had been a Sergeant before but because of the increase in combat unit's, the survivors of the Battle of the Southern Plains had been the first to be promoted due to experience) was the only one piloting a Warrior Kbot inside the transport, she was CO of the scouting party and all the battle clusters were formed by Fido's and Bulldog's. She had simply refused to give up her Warrior after her promotion and assignment to these clusters. Her CO, a man called Foster, wanted her to pilot a Fido like the rest of her units. After a strong exchange of words, Colonel McFlint came over and asked what was going on. She explained and was allowed to keep her Warrior. McFlint seemed to understand the attachment a person can have
with his or her suit.
After a two hour flight they arrived at the landing zone, the plateau was a strangely elevated. It didn't have a slope but stood out of the ground like a fortress, as far as Timmons could see, a huge wall of stone rose out of the ground, her geo-scanner showed little metal and that's why CORE left it alone. Nevertheless when metal could be mined somewhere else this would make an excellent place to build a base. Enemy forces would have to climb an at least 150 feet wall with little or nothing to hold on to. Of course defending the entire plateau would not be possible but one side of the base would be protected against an enemy ground attack. Her tactical display showed that her forces started to scout the area, they had orders not to go to far, but
she kept an eye on them just to be sure. In about two hour's they had scouted about 20 square miles and she called back her troops.
"The rest is up to the VooDoo, this is all we can do here, wonder what is next."
After a while all the troops reported back except one.
"This is your CO, Fido-Gamma-eight what is your situation, come back."
No response. She repeated herself, "This is your CO, Fido-Gamma-eight what is your situation, come back."
Still no response.
She wondered was had happened, she kept an eye on her tactical display, if he was attacked she would have noticed.
"This is the CO of scouting group Alpha-one for ARM-Com-Centre, we seem to have a problem here, one of my Fido's is missing, please advise."
"This is ARM-Com-Centre for Alpha-one, we have three VooDoo's enroute E.T.A. in five minutes, they will scout the area where the Fido was last known to be."
Captain Timmons looked at her tactical display and noticed the three VooDoo's coming in from the west, they turn to the last known position of Fido-Gamma-eight and started their recon flights. Captain Timmons watched them carefully as they were scouting the area. Suddenly, one by one, the blimp's representing the VooDoo's disappeared from her screen.
" This is ARM-Com-Centre for the CO of scouting group Alpha-one, come back."
" This is Alpha-one for ARM-Com-Centre, do you have a sit-rep? Over."
" The three VooDoo's reported heavy concentration of CORE forces, before they got shot down. Data indicates a medium base present at co-ordinates niner-three-five-Delta-four, it is placed on the eastern edge of the Northern Plateau, surrounded by three lines of defences, the first line consist of heavy pop-up lasers, the second a line of Doomsday devices and finally a battery of Gaat Guns. Furthermore images indicate at least 2 squadrons of Goliath tanks and Mobile
SAM-units, 1 Battle cluster of Leveler's and at least 60 AK infantry Kbots. These numbers can be unreliable because of incomplete data. Due to heavy enemy firepower hold you position and wait for reinforces. A.T.A. two hour's. If engaged, report to
ARM-Com-Centre and fall back, no need for heroism here, got that?"
"10-4, ARM-Com-Centre, we could use some fire support here, request air cover, over."
"Affirmative Alpha-one, two fight's of Hawks are en route to your position, ETA 30 minutes, ARM-Com-Centre out."
"10-4 Alpha-one out."
"Captain, this is Bulldog-Papa-Zulu-one we have incoming enemy units coming from the south, heading 020, do you copy?"
"Alright boys and girls, we have our orders, fall back."

"Uh, Captain, this is Fido-Alfa-ten, we have about 30 incoming unit's from the east here."
"Ok, no need for panic, we'll head north, bearing 030, we can get out of this. Move out with maximum velocity!"
"#@@, this is Fido-Alfa-two, we have incoming bandits from the north, we are surrounded! My tactical display shows over 50 unit's bearing 190, they are after us alright!"
Timmons looked around for a way out but they were completely surrounded by enemy forces.
She opened a frequency to all channels,
"This is the CO speaking, we have incoming enemy unit's from three sides and one side is a long way down a 150 feet cliff, so we have to fight our way out. We have incoming Hawks due in about 20 minutes so we just have to hold out for that long. Return to the landing site and dig in! You have about 5 minutes to create some cover for yourself! Let's go, move, move, move!"
All of her units made a 90 degree turn and raced back to the landing zone. The three clusters made a quarter circle that reached from cliff to cliff. Firing their weapons into the ground they moved large amounts of rock that formed a small barrier between them and the CORE units, it
wasn't much but it had to do.
Fido's formed the first line of defence, and they were given cover by the high velocity plasma-guns from the Bulldog's. All of the faces inside the combat units were grim, determined to claim a large toll for their lives. Nevertheless they were facing overwhelming odds, three battle clusters of Fido's and Bulldogs, about 50 men and women, against at least 90 enemy units. Timmons finished her defensive ridge and started looking for the enemy, her tactical display showed incoming units but she wanted visual contact to estimate their strength. Suddenly a flash of sunlight reflected of metal in the distance, and their
enemies came in sight. "My god, "Someone whispered," They have Sumo's…"
"Ok, people heads up here they come!" Timmons shouted, she opened a link with ARM-Com-Centre,
"This is Alpha-one, we have a problem here, we a surrounded by enemy troops, at least 90 units will engage us any moment now, Sumo's are present and we are dug in at the landing site. Please tell the Hawks to step on it, because we won't last for very long against these guys!"
"Affirmative, Alpha-one, ETA Hawks 12 minutes, can you make that?"
"Will sure as hell try, Alpha-one out."
"Good luck Alpha-one, kick some @ss out there!"

"Here they come!"
One of the Fido's stood up and yelled.
"Take this, you filthy excuse for a calculator!" and fired all his weapons. The nearest AK infantry Kbot lost both his legs and fell down, after about half a second he burst out in flames. After that a fighting frenzy started, enemy units poured over the small barrier and were fighting at close range with the Fido's, The Bulldogs, which were somewhat to the back, took out what they could, it was a good strategy and enemy loses were big. Captain Timmons fought her way toward a breach in the defences; a Sumo was trashing a Fido while another tried to take out a Bulldog. They took a pounding but the Bulldog swirled around and fired rapidly at the Sumo. It fell under the rage of the plasma rounds. Timmons fired her gauss-gun at close range into the
mainframe of the Sumo to make sure it didn't get up again. Then they pushed the frame around to fill up the gap in the defences. Nevertheless the other Sumo was still within their line of defence, and attacking the Bulldogs in the back of the lines. The big Kbot downed two, but others made short work of him, almost disintegrating half his frame, because of heavy plasma bursts. After that every CORE unit fell back and regrouped, giving the recon group Alpha-one a chance to take a breath and count their losses.
 

"Battle clusters I need a damage report, A.S.A.P."
" Battle cluster one, Fido-Alpha-one here, we lost about 60% here, we had two Sumos to take out."
" Battle cluster two, Bulldog-Papa-Zulu-three here, we lost our CO and about three units other that we are fine here."
" Battle cluster three, Fido-Gamma-one here, we lost about 40 % here, we only had to fight AKs here."
Timmons made a quick calculation, she had about 28 units left and this was only the first run, the Hawks were still about five minutes out. The CORE had regrouped and attacked again, this time they had centred their attack at the place where the Sumo filled up the gap in the defences. The Fidos of the first battle cluster were fighting with all their bravery but were pushed back nevertheless.
" Bulldog-Papa-Zulu-six to ten support cluster one, or we will get overrun, the others take out what you can!"
Timmons rushed towards the problem and started wasting a Leveler which came over the barrier, it's massive gun wasn't useful in close range combat and was finished rapidly by 2 Fido's and Timmon's Warrior.
"Captain," Her Com-link crackled," There are four Sumos headed your way, it's getting dangerous there!" Timmons looked up from the downed Leveler and noticed the quartet of Sumos rolling towards them firing their weapons non-stop at the barrier, which crumbled to the ground.
'That's it, we're lost…" Timmons thought, she turned towards the Sumos and started shooting all of her weapons into the group, the Fido that were next to here followed her example but the massive Kbots weren't impressed, they just rolled on firing their double barrelled weapon's into the ARM lines, taking out unit after unit.
"This is Hawk Flight Condor-one and Condor-two, Captain please take cover it's time
to lay some heat on these suckers!"
About twelve Hawks flew in at low altitude and fired their rockets into the CORE-lines, wreckages of Kbots and Levelers were flung back as little toys and the four Sumo's attacking the ARM lines were annihilated by the almost 30 or 40 rockets fired at them. In one pass the CORE forces were completely broken, some units retreated and the rest was easily disposed of. Captain Timmons looked around, the landing site was turned into a crater landscape, downed Kbot's littered the ground, ARM and CORE intermingled. Between these dead and wounded units the remains of recon-group-one wondered around, looking for friends or their CO. There wasn't much left, cluster one had taken the worst damage, only two units were still operational and four were wounded, the rest had been killed. The second cluster had lost ten units and there were six wounded, four were still operational.
The third cluster was still at operating strength, but only barely, they had lost six units and two were seriously damaged. All in all Captain Timmons still had the capacity over 14 units, she had started with 50…Twelve would recover but the price had been very high. Enemy losses were high also, around the landing site they counted 30 AK infantry Kbot's, 15 Anti-Armor Kbot's, 20 Levelers and six Sumo's which were killed in the battle. The rest of the units were being chased by the Hawks and disposed of one by one.
 

Back at the ARM-Com-Centre, Commander Walter Sand was sitting in his command module, he had observed the battle trough the tactical uplink. His doubts were bigger then ever, because of him 25 men and women had been killed. If he had just…No, the deaths that had occurred were not his fault, CORE had killed those men and women there on the Northern Plateau, not he, and this made him even more determined to crush the CORE. No, crushing would not be enough. He would annihilate them, totally…
A CORE AK-infantry-Kbot was standing guard on the most western guard tower of the CORE base on the Northern Plateau. After standing there for over three days, he was getting bored with the job. Nevertheless, he made sure that he didn't neglect his duty, additional personality programming made sure of that.
" Unit 10-45b-23 report."
" Unit 10-45b-23 reports no sign of flesh."
" Affirmative. Your duty ends in four hours."
" Copy that, out."

After all his years in service of the CORE, he would soon enter his 10th year, he still wasn't used to being called 10-45b-23, his real name, Glenn Saunders, wasn't used here.
He wasn't completely satisfied with his service though. Face it, an AK-infantry-Kbot isn't the biggest unit around, they are quite expendable even. Because of this it was remarkable that he was already 9 years in the army. The average life span of an AK was usually about 3 years at the most. That's what made him so mad, the CORE promised eternal life and then sent you to the front to be cannon fodder. This wasn't his idea of eternal life.
"Unit 10-45b-23, we are registering prohibited thoughts, seize them now and report to
maintenance ASAP."
" Copy that, out."
He made sure he stopped thinking about eternal life and the CORE and made way to maintenance. It would be a shame if, after surviving over 43 battles he would be erased over a thought. The Central-Consciousness didn't like bad thoughts about the CORE. Nevertheless CORE wasn't living up to his expectations.
" CC reports heavy ARM forces are en route to CORE base on Northern Plateau, we cannot allow this facility to be claimed by the ARM. Destroy any opposition, do so now."
10-45b-23 didn't know what to think, it would relieve him from being re-programmed for now, but would he still be around to be re-programmed after this battle?

The larger suits were already attacking the first wave of Arm-units while he was still waiting for his squad to arrive at the scene of the battle.
" This is unit 01-01b-23 all units of battle cluster Beta-twenty-three-AK-infantry regroup at Nav. Point 362. Do so now."
" This is 10-45b-23, copy that, out."

He heard his cluster members reply to the order of the CO, nevertheless he was the first to reach the Nav. Point, the battle raged about 3 clicks from here but even here the far away rumble could be heard. One by one his cluster members arrived and the last to reach the Nav. Point was the CO if his cluster. His CO was a rookie, he had never seen battle before and
10-45b-23 wasn't all too happy about that, one wrong order and they could all be killed.
" Beta-23 this is your CO, the battle is 3.143 clicks from here we should be there in about 4 minutes and 24 seconds, when we arrive we stay together in a diamond shape and try to take out as many units as we can. If you get isolated we will not come looking for you, so stay with us. Follow me."

In exactly 4 minutes and 24 seconds they reached the scene of the battle. Wreckages of all kinds of Kbots, vehicles and airplanes that were killed lay here, some CORE-construction Kbots where reclaiming some of them, they would be used against the ARM once again.
10-45b-23 was kind of lagging behind out of consciousness; he still didn't trust his new CO.
All of a sudden a squad of Zeus Kbots walked on to the small field they were just crossing. It was al over very quickly, his CO foolishly ordered an attack rush on the other squad, 10-45b-23 saw it all happen, his golden rule of survival had always been that you don't mess with guys that have bigger guns especially when they outnumber you. So he ignored his CO and dived into a burned out Raider. The Zeus Kbot was much more powerful then a small AK, a few bursts of their shock-guns made quick work of his entire squad, he saw some of the debris land by his optical sensors.
Nevertheless his squad had succeeded in taken out two of them and seriously damage an other.
"Quite an achievement." 10-45b-23 thought bitterly. He duck away even deeper when the Zeus squad walked past the Raider he was hiding in. He could here them speak.
" Are you ok, Bob?"
"Ya man, everything is cool, those AK's sure blow up pretty no?"
"Yep, did you see that CO? Man, I have never seen so much stupidity in any CORE unit, that fool really thought he had the eternal life. You know, sometimes I wish they had faces so I could see their expression when you blow them to pieces…"

10-45b-23 sat in that Raider for about twelve minutes after he dared coming out. He saw the remains of his squad still burning and smoking on the edge of the small field. He slowly walked over to them, looked down and pumped an extra round in the now dead CO.
"Blundering fool!"
"This is CC to 10-45b-23 your subconsciousness is blocking some of your additional personality programming. Report to nearest Construction unit for a field-maintenance, personal file is not functioning as it should.
"Computer," 10-45b-23 said
"Ready."
"Disconnect from CC, capture imminent."
"Affirmative, disconnecting."
He could almost feel his connection with the CC being terminated. A big silence came over him, CC was always giving some sort of data to him or his computer but now that had stopped. Normally he wasn't able to lie, due to the additional personality programming, but now that his subconciousness had messed that up, he was able to lie and tell his computer that he was about to be captured, resolving in the disconnection from the CC. If he had tried that himself, without clearance, CC would have deleted him; it demands complete and total loyalty. Now he was free to do what he wanted, CC though he was either dead or captured. He was probably already forgotten. He started making his way to the west, the last information he had received
indicated that the ARM forces where located there.
He was going to do what no CORE unit had ever done before : Surrender…

10-45b-23 was walking ever deeper within ARM territory, somehow he wasn't spotted. Nevertheless, it couldn't be long before that happened. His radar indicated several units coming in from the west. He turned towards them and started walking. After a few minutes he came eye in eye with an ARM-warrior, a red band was painted over its front armour panel. It raised its guns towards the sudden CORE tread, but Glenn opened a radio frequency.
"Wait, wait! I'm 10-45b-23, my name is Glenn Saunders, I surrender…"
"What?! No way, you're going down boy! CORE doesn't surrender!"
He fired his weapons and hit Glenn in his left shoulder joint.
"No, I mean it, I surrender!"
"D@mnit, you mean it, don't ye? Ok, I'll call my CO, he'll know what to do, being LT and all."

"LT, you copy?"
"This is Black, what's up?"
"You won't believe this but I got an AK here that want's to surrender… What should I do?"
"Are you kidding?"
"No, man! I'm serious!"
"Ok, ok, I'll be right over, ETA 3 minutes."

"Why?"
"What do you mean, why?"
"Why do you surrender?"
"I've had enough, today my whole squad got shot to pieces because of a rookie CO. After 9 years of this kinda cr@p, I decided that I had enough."
"Ya, I know what you mean. I lost many good friends here. Most of 'em weren't even clones… But I don't understand something, how could you surrender, the Central-Consciousness doesn't
allow that normally."
"I owe all that due to a malfunction whithin my sub-consciousness. It overloaded my additional personality programming and because of that I was able to lie to the CC and tell it that I were in imminent danger of being captured."
"Yeah, what ever. Just hope that LT Black believes you."

A few minutes later a warrior again with a red band across the front amour panel came running onto the small field.

"So you're the AK that want's to surrender, eh?"
"Uh... Yes. I want to surrender."
"Well, CORE doesn't take prisoners, why should we?"
"Want do you mean?"
"What I mean, your filthy piece of CORE vermin, is that we don't take prisoners also!"

He turned around and signalled the rest of his squad to come near.
"Shoot that AK to pieces."

Glenn just shoot there waiting for the inevitable to happen. In his mind he smiled, at least he had chosen himself, the place, time and events that let to his death, not the CC.

"What the hell is happening here?!"

A loud voice made the warrior-squad jump up-right facing the enormous Battle Suit that had just entered the scene.

"Well, uhh, sir, uhh... We have captured a AK and were just about to kill it."
"I'm not an it, my name is Glenn Saunders, to the CORE I'm known as 10-45b-23, and you didn't capture me, I surrendered. There's a big difference!"

"Strange to say but the AK is right, I'm the only one capable of capturing a unit."

He turned towards Glenn, so that he could see his face. It was strange, only once before he had been face to face with an Arm commander. He would never forget that face; It had been a middle aged man, around forty or so, but those eyes…Because of them he had looked hundreds of years older. Not all like this man, he was around thirty, very young for a Commander, and this one didn't had that look in his eyes yet. He must be quite new at this.

"Well, better get to it then, huh?" He said
Glenn looked at him and told him he was ready.

"Good. Here it comes."

The ARM commander raised his nanolathe and a green wave of nanobots came over him…

Part 8 "A new beginning"

"Is it possible?"
"It depends one what kind of data you have in your system, about patterning. If you have enough
we should be able to reverse the process and put you in my cloning database. After that, it
should be possible to make a clone with your personality. Nevertheless, I cannot make you your
own body or guaranty that you keep your memories."
"I don't care, I want a body again. Smell the air, feel the sand, I really miss that."

After the capture of Glenn Saunders, former CORE AK Kbot pilot, Walter and he had spend
many hours talking to each other. Walter was called away several times, most of the day he was
busy running the Arm-forces, but if he had some spare hours, he made sure that Glenn was
nearby so they could talk. This was going on for two and a half weeks now. CORE had been
relatively quiet, after the battle on the Northern Plateau. VooDoo scout planes indicated that
they were reclaiming the base there and were moving out. Several bombing runs with eight
battle clusters of Phoenixes had damaged the base so bad that repairs would become to costly
and the CC had decided that retread would be to most reasonable option.

Walter and Glenn were walking around the ARM-Com-Centre on the nearby hills. Only after a
week Glenn had asked about the possibilities of getting a new body. Walter had looked into it
but still had some reservations about that. If the cloning process was complete it could be
possible that he had lost his memories, valuable memories which held information about the
CORE. In any way, the capabilities of Glenn as a small Kbot pilot could improve their pilot skills
for the PeeWee, Rocko, Hammer, Jethro and Zipper. If more of those units should live to get
veteran status, their kill ratio should improve drastically.
"So it is possible?"
"Yes, I think it is, but you have to understand my position in this. If you should lose your
memories, I could lose valuable information about the CORE. I cannot risk that."
"I understand, just let me know when you can risk it, will you? I can't wait to get out of this
frame…"

As they continued to walk across the hill an Atlas came snoring down, a big blue Maverick was
hanging under it. About 20 feet before it could land, the Maverick jumped down, landing right in
front of Walter.

"Colonel McFlint, what is the reason for this?"
"Sir, good to see you again, sir!"
"It's nice to see you to Colonel. Now will you tell me what is wrong?"
"We have a problem, sir. We have just received information that CORE is building facilities so
they can build a Krogoth, sir."
"Well, I see how that could become a problem, where are they building them?"
"East of the Northern Plateau, about four click from the coast, sir."
"I see…"
Walter turned to Glenn
"We shall have to continue an other time, Glenn, right now, as you have heard, I have more
urgent matters to attend to."
"I understand, sir."
"Good, this is Commander Sand for Atlas Rhino-seven, pick me up and drop me at the recon
base at the south point of this continent, over."
"That is a roger, sir."

The Atlas that dropped Colonel McFlint made his way towards Walter, picked him up and turned
south. After about a two-hour flight, they reached the recon base.
It was situated near the coast, some guardians and sentinels were the primary defence, with two
Big Bertha's to defend the base from any naval tread. The rest of the base consisted out of
barracks for the pilots, some maintenance facilities and an Adv. Radartower.

"This is Commander Sand to Atlas-Rhino-seven, just drop me on the beach right ahead of us."
"That's a ten-four, sir, Atlas Rhino-seven, out."

The Atlas dropped him where he had showed him and left. Walter had made this base when
they had just arrived on the Western continent, with the meaning that it could be transformed to
a naval base easily. He walked into the water and started constructing a shipyard. After that was
done he ordered the base to make three construction ships. He helped constructing the first
one, ordering it to build an advanced shipyard. Meanwhile the other two construction ships
made tidal generators and several torpedo launchers. When that was done, they spread out to
make an effective network of sonar detection devices. The advanced shipyard was producing
an advanced construction ship an in line for construction was a fleet of five Conquerors and
three Millenium Class Battleships. The other shipyard was producing Crusaders and Lurkers.
Walter returned to land and started building a hoovercraft factory. When it was ready, it started
producing 15 Transport Hovercrafts. Within a few days a complete ARM-fleet was ready.
Consisting of 20 Crusaders, 15 Lurkers, a medium Aircraft Carrier, 15 Transport Hovercrafts, 5
Conquerers and 3 Millenium Class Battleships. The recon army of Warriors were the first to
enter the transports, after them came three battle clusters of Bulldog's, 50 Flashes, 10 Lugers
and 15 Mer1's. Furthermore, there were about 40 Triton's waiting on the sea floor. Above were 3
flights of Brawlers and 4 flights of Hawks and on the mainland the two Adv. Aircraft Factories
were producing 20 Lancet torpedo bombers for naval encounters. Walter's invasion army was
ready…

The dawn was breaking, remnants of the mist hanging over the ARM-Recon-Base at the
southern point of the continent, were being blown away by a firm wind. The sea, only yesterday
a raging mass of water, was now calm. In the distance a battery of defenders-NS quietly rose
and fell with the waves.

Walter was standing on the beach looking over the sea; he had a hard time with the fact that he
was sending men and women to battle again. Today people were going to die because of his
orders…again. He would never get used to the fact that he could have such an impact on the
lives of so many people. Behind him the base was getting ready to pilot the fleet out of the
shallows. The fleet, massive in its size and power, was waiting for its orders near the shipyards.
The metallic footsteps of a Kbot walking towards Walter became louder and louder.

"Sir?"

Walter turned around, a Zeus was standing behind him. He had to look twice but he recognised
Captain Timmons, one of the few pilots that had survived the battle on the Southern Plains. He
found it strange not to see her in her normal Warrior Suit.

"Yes, Captain Timmons?"
"Well, sir, as you see I have a new type of Kbot suit, some puny bureaucrat ordered me to get
rid of my old one. Despite of direct orders of Colonel McFlint, I might add, and now I hear that my
old squad is being deployed on the beaches of Faldor's Point! Well, the reason why I'm here is
that, I want to go with you…"
" Some one got you to give up your warrior? But that would be the same as taking 'Lucy' from
McFlint!" Walter thought for a while," Ok, listen up, this is what I'll do. First of all, get you out of
that Zeus, secondly get you a warrior, probably not your old one but it will have to do and finally
you will come with me to, what did you call it? Faldor's Point?"

She got out of the Zeus, Walter had never noticed it but Captain Timmons was a very beautiful
woman, somewhat short, but all Warrior pilots had that. She saw that he was looking at her and
started blushing. He pulled himself together as he turned towards the base and started walking.
After about 10 yards he turned around,

"Are you coming Captain?"
"Ehh, yes sir!"

Together they walked to the base, by now it was working in a rapid pace to get everything done
in time.

"This is Commander Sand for Kbot factory Delta-Vega-Twelve, come back…"
"…This is Kbot factory Delta-Vega-Twelve, we read you loud and clear, over…"
"What is your situation, Delta-Vega-Twelve? Report…"
"All's quiet, we have five Rocko's on the construction list and one in the oven, over…"
"Affirmative, I've got a priority order for you, I want a Warrior ASAP, I want it to be on the
Recon-Base in two hours, got that?"
"Ten-four, one Warrior coming right up! Delta-Vega-Twelve, out."
"Out."

"This is Commander Sand for Turtle Alfa-10, come back."
"We read you loud and clear, commander, what's up?"
"I have a Captain Timmons here who want's to be a part of our little excursion to what she
refered to as Faldor's Point. Over."
"Affirmative, tell the Captain that we depart in about 3 hours from now. If she isn't there by then,
we leave without her. Over."
"Copy that, Commander Sand, out."
" Turtle Alfa-10, out."

"Now if you will excuse me, Captain, I think I still have a lot to do before we leave. Good luck."
"Thank you sir."

The next three hours passed quickly, as Walter was giving orders. About halfway he got word
that the Warrior for Captain Timmons had arrived. She was the first to be on the transport.
"Typical…"
Again he went over the plans in his head.

Colonel McFlint was to lead the assault on the beach, second in command was Lieutenant
Black, both were to get on the beach in separate Turtle's. Intel had reported several coastal
defences, consisting of a web of torpedo launchers and Thunderbolt Floating Heavy Laser
Towers, also, as backup, about 20 Stinger Naval Missile Towers. It would be a combined strike,
the four flights of Hawks would destroy all of the torpedo launchers, then the subs would finish
the Towers. After that, they would face the land defences, the beach was filled with groups of
medium mines, and were backed by heavy pop-up lasers, behind that were several cannons
and missile towers to back those up. On the mainland were three Adv. Aircraft plants, with
provided heavy air support, and four divisions of CORE units were known to be present near the
Krogoth Gantry. This was a formidable defence to break trough. Nevertheless, coming in from
the mainland would be completely suicidal. Defences there were too tight.

The time had come to depart and the fleet started to make his way to the southeast. No Arm-unit
had been this far north after the defeat of Commander Wolf on the Southern Plains. Skeeters
were scouting the immediate surroundings for CORE Naval unit's, nothing was found. However
because of the Millenium Class Battleships and the Tritons on the bottom of the sea, they were
not making good speed and the risk of being detected was becoming bigger and bigger.

After a good ten hour, a CORE scout finally discovered the fleet. Hawks made quick work of it,
but it managed to give their position away anyhow. Soon after that they encountered an enemy
fleet.

"This is Skeeter Zulu-one, for Commander Sand, come back…"
"I read you, Skeeter Zulu-one, what is your situation?"
"Well sir, it's pretty obvious that they weren't expecting us here, all they have here are some
Missile Frigates and a Hive with two Vamps on it."
"Affirmative, I've already sent out a cluster of Crusaders and two Conquerors to dispose of them.
Out."

The cluster of Crusaders broke away from the fleet and engaged the enemy fleet. The to
Conquerors came about and started firing at the missile frigates.

"SIR, we are under heavy torpedo attack, I've spotted a Phantom, it most have erased the sub's!
Fire power indicates at least eight Leviathan Battle Subs present, I repeat, we are under
hea……………."
The voice broke away, telling Walter that he lost at least one of the Crusaders. Many in the
cluster there would soon follow.

"All units equipped with anti sub weapons, get the hell over there!"

"This is Crusader Vega-three, we have lost Vega-one and two, we have managed to take out
two Leviathan's and seriously damage another, but we are taking heavy casualties, about 45%
of the cluster is gone already! Get some help here!"
"This is Sand here, help is on the way, just hold one for a few seconds!"
"……………"

There was no response.

"D@mnit! Take out those subs, now!"
"This is Conqueror Beta-one my cluster reports taking out three of them. They're running."
"Affirmative Beta-one, search and destroy, I want all of them blown out of the water!"
"Copy that, Beta-one out."
 

It took until far after midnight to find and kill all of the subs. Battle Cluster Crusader Vaga was no
more, all of the units were killed in the Phantom-fiasco. The skeeter that had reported the fleet,
but had neglected to spot the Phantom, had been killed also. The construction ships were sent
to the scene to collect all the metal left there. After that all the damaged ships were repaired and
the fleet moved on.

That morning they arrived at the coast of Faldor's Point. On the bridge of one of the Millenium
Class Battleships, Walter was staring at the coastline. It looked peaceful now but in a few hours
it would be the scene of a havoc even Dante couldn't have imagined…

"Sir, we are two hours away from timepoint zero."

Walter turned around, almost troubled to take away his eyes from the beach. Colonel McFlint
was standing behind him.
"I know, what do you think Colonel, will we make it this time? We only won the battle on the
Northern Plateau because the CORE decided that it was time to leave. We lost nearly 600 men
and women there. Now we are faced with an even greater defence…"
"I will be honest with you sir, this battle will not be easily won. It will take many lives, however, if
we should wait until that Krogoth comes to live…… I've seen what they can do Sir…It was not a
pretty sight."
"I know that you are right, it's just……H.ell, never mind. This must be done. Bring all units on
highest state of alert."
"Yes sir..."
 

"This is Commander Sand to all units, today we are faced with one of the biggest battles we
have yet fought. Many of us will not make it. Many will. We must not forget that what we are
doing here is for the greater good. CORE must *not* be allowed to prevail on this planet, ARM is
not as strong as it once was. CORE is winning this war, but we could make a difference here.
By winning this battle we will not remove the CORE from this planet, however it will be a major
step in the right direction. Keeping this in mind I for one are determined to win today. I hope you
are all with me on this one…"

A silence fell over the entire fleet, but after a few seconds a roar went trough all its units, they
were ready to take on the CC if they had to. A speaker crackled :
"This is Colonel McFlint, all units to their assigned places, timepoint zero is in five minutes."

The fleet scattered, all were heading towards their assigned spot. The turtle's with their precious
load formed at the rear. The Hawks and Lancets that were due to attack all of the torpedo
launchers took off and flew away to initiate their attack run.

"Time point zero in, ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…NOW!"

At that exact moment the first Hawk missiles hit their targets. A few seconds after that the
Lancets launched their torpedos. The Conquerors assisted with their long-range cannons in any
way they could. After the first wave of attacks the CORE defences came online, immediately
taking out most of the slow Lancets. Most Hawks came trough however and started their second
run. Most of the torpedo launchers were destroyed after that.

"This is Hawk Alfa-one for Commander Sand, sir tell the subs to engage, they won't be bothered
by torpedo launchers anymore!"

So far so good, the subs would have a field day with the towers.

Most of the towers were destroyed but closer to the beach the sub's encountered several Adv.
Torpedo Launchers, because these were submerged they were overlooked and caused several
sub's to be destroyed. At that point the Crusaders and Conquerors moved in. Aided by the subs
and Hawks they took out the last of the coastal defences, again losing several ships to
torpedoes and laserfire.

Now the real battle could begin as the Turtles move forward to deploy their load.

One of the first to be killed on the beach was Lieutenant Black, fanatical as he was, his squad
rushed forward attacking on of the light laser towers, forgetting about the minefields…
As he blew up, the only one that new Walters' secret was gone.
Walter watched it with mixed feelings, on the one hand someone was killed, on the other hand,
he had never liked Black. He used his knowledge to get promoted several times and made his
own little army. People were starting to wonder why Walter tolerated so much from him.

Lieutenant Black wasn't the only one that was killed by the mine fields, several squad were
completely obliterated by heavy mines, but after a while mines ran out and the units could push
on towards the dunes.

"This is Warrior Gamma-fourteen, for Colonel McFlint! We are taking heavy fire from those
pop-up laser towers, we are pinned down here, we have lost our CO and Captain Timmons is
taking command, but we need air support here!"
"That's a negative, all Hawks are in dogfights with CORE fighters and all Brawlers are deployed
elsewhere. You are on your own."
"I mean it! We need backup, our warriors don't have the range to take them out!"
"First of all if you aren't CO of your squad, you have no authority to request air raids secondly
we don't have any! The best I can do, for now, is sending some rocko's to your position to help
you out, but that's it. If you want more you'll have to contact Commander Sand."

Captain Timmons dug in deeper as laserfire melted the sand around her to glass. This was
hopeless, they were sitting ducks out here! The promised Rocko's didn't make it, they tried but
got pinned down also, this time because of heavy Mortie fire. The remnants of their attempt
were still smoking, as they lay dead in the sand. Meanwhile her squad was still taking
casualties, already about half of them were killed. The warrior next to her got hit in the front
armorpanel, his plasma storage got hit and imploded in his chest. It would just be a matter of
time before they would all be killed.

"This is Colonel McFlint for Commander Sand, come back…"
"What is it Colonel, I'm noticing that there is less progress, it is getting crowed there, you must
push on, otherwise one bombing raid is enough to stop our invasion from happening!"
"I know Sir, we are having troubles with the pop-up laser towers sir. One group is completely cut
of from us, sir…It's Captain Timmons squad, she is in deep trouble, don't think anyone from that
squad is gonna make it…"

Walter cut of the contact he had with Colonel Mcflint, it was his fault she was there…
With the other killed Kbot-pilots he could live, because CORE had caused them to die, but
Timmons…No, if she would die there on that beach, he would never be able to forgive himself.

"This is Commander Sand for Turtle Delta-6, have you already unloaded your load?"
"That's a negative sir, I still got four decoys and a C-Kbot in my hull."
"Make yourself ready to go to shore with another passenger…"
"10-4, sir."
 

The turtle shook a little as it hit the main land, the cargo doors opened and the arm reached
inside to drop him on the beach.

"Be careful there sir!"
"Thanx, Turtle D-6, C-Bot you're with me, stay close and behind me, report any damage you
receive."
"Affirmative sir, you can count on me to stay behind you alright…"

They made their way towards the pinned down Rocko's. Because of the four 'other' decoy
Commanders the fire didn't concentrate on them. That's the only reason they made it…
When they reached the Rocko's Walter asked about the position of the Morties and of Captain
Timmons.

"Where are they?"
"Just beyond that hill over there, but we haven't heard from her for a few minutes… They are
probably dead by now."

"We'll see that when we get there…"

A determined grin grew on Walters' face, he cloaked…

As a shimmer he walked over to the Morties, they didn't notice him. Right in from of them he
uncloaked, raised his D-gun an fired…He had never fired the D-gun before and hopelessly
missed, however, the impact from the D-gun made the ground shake heavily, making the Morties
lose balance. As the D-gun re-charged they tried to get back on their feet. They weren't fast
enough… The dark anti-matter came in contact with the first Mortie, transforming it into pure
energy, after that it went on and totally obliterated the rest of the Mortie squad. Being detected
now as the real Commander, CORE focused all available firepower to him. He re-cloacked but
still took considerable damage. He looked at the last known position of Captain Timmons and
rushed over there as fast as possible.

There was no movement…
"Captain?!"
No answer…
He walked around, still cloaked, looking for her Warrior suit. He found it, she was near dead and
couldn't answer his questions, but gratitude and affection reflected in her eyes. He let the green
wave of nano-bots repair her battered body and suit.

"Don't move, or they will start shooting again…"
"Thank you…"
"Anytime."

He stood up facing the dunes, walked over towards the pop-up laser and uncloaked.
He saw the trap doors open as the guns raised to fire upon him. He fired his D-gun as fast as
possible, taking out four towers, nevertheless he couldn't help being damaged severely by
enemy fire.

"Ehh, sir? Need a hand?"

The C-Kbot assigned to him, had bravely made his way across the beach to his position, his
Kbot showed signs of some damage but nothing serious. He repaired Walters Com-Bat-Suit
As quick as possible, but wasn't able to completely repair all damage. He was still on half
damage.

At that point, all of the ARM-units that were on the beach were directed towards the breach he
had created within the CORE defences. They made their way trough it and outflanked the rest
of the defences.

He walked back to the position of Captain Timmons, as she stood up, a smile came upon her
face. Suddenly however her face showed pure horror.

"Watch out!"

Walter turned around, a Doomsday Device rose up and turned his main turret towards Walter.
With his current damage a blast from it could be fatal!
He raised his arm and fired his D-gun…Not fast enough though, a large blue beam broke free
from the turret and hit him directly in his chestpanel. Walter felt his amor melt away and was
knocked down by the impact. He smelled the burning of flesh. The last thing he saw was
Captain Timmons bending over him, after that all became black…