Duke Savage was in the process of cleaning his own personal Hammer. The little KBOT had been good to him, and had helped him many times in battle. Private 1st Class Mitchell came into the hanger, with a letter from the Commander on Prylexia 9.
"They’re back, sir."
"What? Who?"
"The Core, sir. They’ve landed on Prylexia 9. Again. The Commander needs your help." The private handed Duke the letter. It read:
Duke Savage: PVC CLASS XXR, TYPE 111: ID 45721
They arrived late last night, Duke. It was a real show. They had Goliaths and such, and really whooped our Bulldogs. They were no match for the Goliaths. It was quite a fireworks show. Our scouts report 2 Commanders in the area, arriving with the convoy. We are unaware of their intentions.
What could they want with our little planet? This is the 3rd time they have attempted to steal this planet from Arm grasp. It only serves as a refueling system for the Galaxia system. What could be so important as to risk 2 Commanders? Our research has shown nothing worth the risk. What is all the fuss about?
We have contacted the Arm high council, and they have agreed to send assistance. But that won’t cut it. We need experience. Our men are too young to understand what we’re up against. Most of them are rookies. I guess what I’m trying to say is, we need your help, Duke. You know the enemy better than anyone in the universe. Everyone knows you turned down level 10 because you wanted to stay in action. We are facing attacks soon, with very little to defend with. We are in need of a hero, Duke. Someone like you. Would you be willing to return to Prylexia 9?
-With Regard
- Commander Jenkins
"Prylexia 9. I haven’t heard that name in years. Heck, I haven’t heard that name in decades. Get me a transport outta here, Private."
"Affirmative, Sir."
Duke glanced at the letter again. "Well I’ll be . . ."
***
"But sir, be reasonable. I just don’t see the need to import some rebellious redneck from out of town."
"Listen, kid! That rebellious redneck you speak of has done more than you can possibly imagine. If it weren’t for him, you probably wouldn’t be here right now. And if you don’t shut up about it, I’ll have you DEMOTED! NOW GET OUT!" The Commander was red with rage. His SIC (second in Command) was questioning authority. How dare him.
"Yes sir." The SIC walked out of the Commander’s private quarters. "What was the deal with this guy anyway? What were they up against?" The SIC thought. He would have to run a datascan on this Savage character.
SIC Dryad was not one to kid. He did everything by the book, without question. If someone were to ask him which shoe to put on when you wake up in the morning, he would tell you to go read the book. Now, there wasn’t any book of course, he simply was implying that you should know without question.
[WELCOME TO DATASCAN]
[INPUT COMMAND]
{SAVAGE, DUKE}
[SEARCHING]
[DATA FOUND]
[RETRIEVING DATA]
[427 FILES]
[PLEASE DEFINE SCAN]
{HISTORY}
[SEARCHING]
[DATA FOUND]
[RETRIEVING DATA]
[1 FILE FOUND. VIEW?]
{YES}
DOB: MARCH 2, 5006
CURRENT RANK: PVC CLASS XXR, TYPE 111
ID: 45721
CURRENT LOCATION: TRAINING BASE ON YORKSHIRE 8438
CURRENT HOBBY: UNIT COLLECTION AND STUDYING OF ANCIENT WAR TOOLS
CURRENT UNIT ASSIGNMENT: NONE. HAS AUTHORITY TO USE ALL VEHICLES AND HAS HIS OWN UNIT OF ALL POSSIBLE.
LIFE ACHIEVEMENTS: SAVED PRYLEXIA 9 ON 2 OCCASIONS, ALL HOSTILE TAKEOVER ATTEMPTS. KNOWN FOR HIS RENEGADE LIFESTYLE AND WAYS. HIGHLY ADMIRES THE WORK OF WW2 GENERAL GEORGE PATTON. SAVAGE IS A STRATEGIC GENIUS AND IS KNOWN FOR HIS COLD WAYS. DUKE SAVAGE IS A THREAT TO ALL CORE ANYWHERE.
[END FILE]
[CONTINUE DATASCAN?]
{NO}
[QUIT DATASCAN?]
{YES}
[AS YOU WISH. HAVE A NICE DAY.]
Wow, Dryad thought. This guy really was worth all the recognition he had been getting. Wow.
***
"What do you mean the power converters were delayed? I needed those yesterday!" Malachi was furious. He had ordered a set of new power converters for the revamp of the Peewee he was working on.
"Well, sir, they said that due to the recent Core movement, they couldn’t move. They’ll send a transport when the situation is handled."
"How can the Arm high council do that to us? We’re also running very low on Tryclo Batteries. How are we supposed to get more of those? Freak!" The massive figure of Malachi crawled our from under the Bulldog he was upgrading. The private who had been delivering the news was now shaking; he had never seen Malachi before, and had not expected such a well-built figure.
"Is that all they said?"
"Yes sir. It just came in."
"So they’re starving us, eh? Hmm. I was wondering when they would give up on this little base. Send them a message. Complain a lot. And also tell them Malachi is pissed. That’s all. We’ll just have to see what they have to say to that. Dismissed."
"Yes sir. Will send message."
"Hey, and kid, don’t call me sir. Just Malachi. OK?"
"Yes sir, er um, Malachi."
"That’s better. Now get outta here."
Duke Savage was on the transport, awaiting the specs of the base.
"Here they are sir. Sorry it took so long. The Arm High Council had a security breach." The assistant handed Duke the file.
"Thank you. Dismissed." The assistant turned and walked away.
Duke opened the folder to find a small base with virtually no defenses. What the heck is this, he thought. The base was set up in a square, and was somewhat symmetrical. It had a single Bertha in the middle, and a Sentinel on each of the four corners, along with an Advanced Radar. In the middle of each side was an L.L.T., and there was a Vehicle Plant and an Advanced Vehicle Plant, on opposite sides. That was it. Nothing more.
"Wow," Duke thought aloud, "when he said they weren’t prepared for attack, they weren’t kidding." This was serious now. He called to the assistant, "Get me a talk with the Arm High Council, PDQ."
"Yes sir." He came back a minute later with the visucom (Visual Communication Device).
"Duke Savage, I thought I’d never here that name again. How have you been?" It was the Arm High Commander on the other end. He was ecstatic to be talking to his old friend again.
"I’ve seen better days. Anyway, did you here of the situation on Prylexia 9?"
"A little. All I ever heard was they needed troops. So I believe we sent 30 Bulldogs, 3 squads of Hammers, and a few construction units. Why you ask?"
"Well, I’m sending you a copy of the base layout." He slid the paper through a part of the visucom and a copy came out on the Arm High Commander’s side.
"There must have been a problem. Where’s the rest?"
"That’s the problem, Commander. That is all they have. They asked me to come and aid them, so here I am, but they’re going to need a lot more than me just to keep that foothold. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and if you give me 10 Commanders, I can bring the base up to status hopefully quick enough to keep it alive."
"10 Commanders! Duke, I can get you 5, but 10 will be a squeeze. What will they be used for?"
"I was thinking 5 for perimeter defenses, such as Berthas, Vulcans, and Annihilators, and 5 for setting up factories and power and the such."
"OK. I’ll send all 10, along with 20 more Bulldogs, Zippers, Peewees, some scouts, Advanced Construction units, and some Jethros for AA. Does that sound good?"
"Yes sir. That would be good. I’ll be tracking the convoy all the way in."
"Is that all?"
"For now, yes."
"OK. Nice to talk to you again, Duke."
"You too. Out." The screen went black.
"DUKE! DUKE!" It was the assistant he had spoken with earlier. "Prylexia 9 is under air attack!"
"What? Oh my gosh. Tell me, what types of units are with our convoy?"
"Well sir, we’ve got 5 squads of Jethros, and 3 squads of Hawks."
"How many are in each Hawk squad?"
"9, sir. Shall I get them ready?"
"Yes, and tell the worst one to go and get lost because I’m flying with them!"
***
Malachi was now in his Jethro. Of course it wasn’t officially a Jethro. It had a Jethro body and weapon, but he had added the weapon off of a Hammer as well. The result was effectively a Level 1 Assault KBOT. It was certainly a nice addition.
He began walking, and than saw the size of the attack force. The sky was almost black with fighters and bombers. He got to jogging, and than broke into a full scale run. He immediately began targeting bombers, as the fighters couldn’t do a lot against the base. He had taken down 7, and had only been injured once. Suddenly the skies above screeched. He looked up, and saw 3 squads of Hawks.
"Malachi to head Hawk. What are you doing here?"
"Malachi, this is Duke Savage. I’m here to help out, and I brought these Hawk squads. Let’s cut the chatter and kill some of these guys, OK?"
"Sounds good. You target bombers, and my ground grunts will take out the fighters. OK?"
"Good plan. Out." Malachi began switching his gimble lock from bombers to fighters, when a Hurricane came from behind and made a run at him.
"Son of a . . . somebody get this guy off me!" Before he had finished his sentence, Duke Savage had tailed the guy and taken him out.
"No prob, Malachi, just remember that." Savage made a swift turn left, and targeted the next bomber.
"Thanks. Out."
Within 10 minutes of sharp moves by the combined efforts of Savage and Malachi, the incoming fleet was decimated. Nothing remained but scrap metal. It was a battle to be remembered, two men taking out virtually taking out a whole invading fleet. The grunts and other Hawks had done very little. Most pilots and grunts didn’t even hit a target. It was a bittersweet moment. Sweet for Savage and Malachi, and bitter for all others. It also helped out greatly that the Core aircraft were mainly rookies, it was probably their first dogfight, and now was their last.
***
"You got us 10 Commanders Duke? How did you manage that?" The Commander of Prylexia was astonished.
"I’ve earned his trust saving this planet twice, that and the Battle of Bogredon. It also helped when he began to realize the severity of the situation."
"So I see. When will they be arriving?"
"I guess in a day. That reminds me, I need to notify the training camp and get them to send me a couple units."
"So what do you have planned to do with the 10 Commanders, anyway?"
"Well, in a nutshell, I was planning on establishing more perimeter defenses and more factories. If you don’t mind me asking, why was this base so small in the first place?"
"I guess there was never any real need to advance. It was a push to build the Advanced Vehicle Lab. There was just no real need. Heck, the newest thing was have is the Bertha in the center of the base, and we just built that the other day, because of the new threat."
"That’s what I suspected. I image it was also had with the Faulkener Migration two years back."
"Ya, that was kind of a pain. It really screwed up our radar towers. They went ballistic as every flock past. It was incredible the machines couldn’t tell the difference between metal and featherfur."
"They’ve fixed that now, I’ve heard."
"As a matter of fact, the fixer of the bug is walking by right now. Hey Malachi, come sit down, have a beer." The massive figure called Malachi took a seat across from Savage.
"Would this be Duke Savage, the man who saved my butt earlier today?"
"Yes it would be. Nice to meet you. You're the one who fixed the FMB, right?"
"Yup. It was just an error in code. Took all of a minute to fix, but months to find."
"I could see so. I read about the whole thing in Trinity Holozine. Not a bad article. Made you look real good."
"Thanks. Hey, bartender, give us 3 rounds. It’s going to be a long night . . ."
A massive power-surge slowly overwhelmed the base. A bright light coming from outside grew steadily brighter, and eventually outstandingly bright. Duke Savage slowly awakens, grabs his laser pistol, and peers out the window. The intense light immediately blinds him.
"What the heck is going on?" He groggily walks outside, pistol still in hand. The light is gone now, and what is visible is a huge transport, sporting 10 Commanders and multiple other units.
"Wow. I wasn't expecting you this quick . . . how'd you get here so fast?" One of the Commanders stepped forward. He was apparently the leader of the group, set apart by the red and blue stripe running across his arm.
"Commander Sumner, sir. We took a wormhole in the Red 1 System and it got us here. Smooth ride, too."
"Wormholes tend to do that, Sumner. Take your men and move out across this perimeter into a line. Meanwhile, I'll be getting some pants . . ." Savage moved back into the bunk, slightly embarrassed.
***
"I'm picking up very strong energy readings, sir. Ratings off the charts. I'm getting a 451K in the center. Something's happening. Something big, sir."
"451K? Jeez. Run a scan on the perimeter of the base. Probably the Commanders coming in. They would have needed a good-sized transport, wouldn't you say Mayhem?"
"Yes. That's what it is. I know it."
"He's right, Commander Johnson. 10 Commanders all in a line."
Mayhem immediately spoke up. "Get me Hurricane's in there now. We're about to pull a Pearl Harbor, boys. They're all lined up, with nowhere to go, than . . . BAM! There go our bombers, with their first run. From that point on it's just child's-play, Commander."
"If I could have met Julius Caesar, General George Patton, or anybody else you have been, I would bow down to their genius. You, my friend Mayhem, you, are a Genius. Pure and simple Genius."
"Thank you, Thank you, but get those bombers on the way. We can't waist time. Move, Move, MOVE!"
"Affirmative, sir."
***
Duke Savage suddenly felt sick to his stomach. A sudden twinge had caused massive pain to run down his left side. He felt the pain for a moment, and than it disappeared. He looked up and saw all 10 Commanders, all in one line. Something wasn't right. Something was wrong, very wrong. He sprinted out of the room, and called an Advanced Construction KBOT over. He ordered it to make a 4 Flakker square, and for the 10 Commanders to help with each. He had realized that the Core were watching him, and that's how they knew when to attack. Within two minutes the square was complete. Duke was calmer now, but he could begin to hear the screech of Hurricane bombers in the distance.
"Commanders, arm your D-Guns! They're coming in fast, so you'll have to guess." There were 15 Hurricanes, all closing in fast. "Not yet, not yet, almost there, NOW!" A giant blast of energy went at the planes. They were all destroyed. Shrapnel from the Hurricanes slowly came down, doing minimal damage to structures. A possible doomsday had been stopped.
***
"He knew it! How did he know they were coming?!" Mayhem was furious. He knew there was no way Savage could have seen, heard, or even picked the planes up on radar at that point. Commander Johnson was simply stunned.
"How could he of- how did he know- what happened? We just lost our ten best pilots."
"It was gut instinct, Mayhem. Some have it, others don't. He has it. That just means we'll have to make our own rules to win this campaign, Mayhem"
"You're right, Johnson. We'll just play hardball."
***
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! They're watching us!" Savage was furious. He was pacing in the Prylexian Commander's office, yelling at the top of his lungs. The imported Commanders outside could hear him.
***
"Jeez, you really don't wanna piss this guy off. I haven't heard Commander of Prylexia talk for the past 10 minutes. What's the guys name, anyway?" Clark spoke. He seemed nervous.
"The guy getting yelled at is Wesley. The dude doing the yelling is the famous Duke Savage." Sumner explained. It was his job as lead to keep the group in line.
"That means nothing to me. Explain, please?"
"He's only the best war hero ever. He saved this planet twice, and was the main factor in the Battle of Bogredon. That's all I can really tell you, off the top of my head."
"Wow. Sounds like somebody to suck up to . . ."
***
"Have you got any dignity, at all? They've got cameras, everywhere!" He looked around the room. In the cornet was a small sphere. "There's one, even." He reached for his laser-pistol and shot it. It made a loud noise, and lit the room temporarily with light.
***
Outside, all of the Commanders take a few steps back simultaneously.
***
"Jesus, Duke, was that really necessary?"
"Don't talk to me about necessary, Wesley! Was it necessary for you to sweep this place of cameras? YES! Did you? NO! Don't even get me started on what's necessary!"
"But still, you did just put a hole in the wall, Duke."
Duke turns around and pulls out both laser-pistols this time. He points at the wall, and begins rapidly firing at nothing in particular. He stopped 10 minutes later, and when the smoke cleared, there was a 2-meter circle missing in the wall.
***
"You think we should go in there?" Webster spoke up.
Sumner comes up behind him and cracks him in the back of the head with his D-Gun, causing a loud metallic thud.
Sumner replied, "Do YOU want a 2-meter circle missing from you? Shut up and get back in ranks."
"Yes sir."
***
Duke pockets the pistol-lasers, and turns to Wesley. "If you don't get your stuff straight, and fast, I'm going to have the Arm High Council all over you so tight, you're grandkids will need to hide." With that, duck stepped out of the Commander's bunk, through the hole in the wall. "By the way, you can put that on my tab."
And with that he was gone.
-----------------------------