Hardly could the lone Maverick in the wastes of this gray world have imagined anything more different from his home world. He looked around at the dreariness and alieness of this world, and thought of green Empyrrean, of the grass, the trees, the oceans, and especially the sun. All things in sight on this rock were dreary and gray. Dark bluish clouds always covered the sky, spikes and spires thrust their way out of the gray sand in places, and all was silent except for the whirring of metal extractors. [I could think of many better things to be assigned to guard,] thought Dantin to himself, [like the Commander. But best not to complain about it, that doesn't make it more bearable]. He wondered when he would have to fight and die for his cause, and if it was worth it. He realized that they never had clearly told him why he was fighting the Core. They were the enemy, and they must die. That was pretty much what he had been taught. Otherwise, he knew that they were not humans in battle suits, but human minds transferred into robots. That didn't satisfy him. He did not want to fight, and he did not want to die. But he knew the time would come.
Airman Amos Foster jumped into the cockpit of his newly acquired "Brawler"
class tactical aircraft.
"Good luck!" a pilot shouted to him as he also got into his plane.
The cockpit mechanisms whirred as his veiwpanel closed. Slowly the huge
door of the hanger lifted, revealing the dreary Temblor landscape. Excitement
surged through Amos as he thought of what was about to happen. His first
battle, what he had been dreaming about since he was a small boy! He pushed
up the repulsor controls and his plane slowly lifted off the ground perfectly
in unison with his squadron. The commander gave the signal and they shot
out of the hanger into the cold air of Temblor.
"All fighters, report", radioed the leader of the squadron. "Brawler
324, ready", radioed Amos, after all the others had.
"This is Brawler squadron leader - I have just received orders from
the main base that we are avoid encounters with any enemy units unless
it is unavoidable. Our main objective is to destroy key production structures.
If we encounter major resistance, we are to retreat back to base." The
squadron acknowledged the order and continued in silence until a red blip
popped out on Amoses radar grid.
"I have an enemy sighting here, in sector GC-5, northwestern corner."
"I see it, Brawler 324, it's a Geothermal power plant; Brawlers 310-18
come in from the west and annihilate the plant, Hawks 22-30, cover the
Brawlers. Brawlers 318-24, search surrounding area for any sort of defense,
Hawks 30-40, provide air support." ordered the squadron leader. Amos increased
his speed and dove toward the now-visible power plant. An A.K. was wandering
nearby. [How anti-climactic,] thought Amos as he let loose a barrage of
energy in the direction of the A.K. as he passed overhead. He pulled up
to avoid hitting a huge spire of blue rock. He glanced over his shoulder
and watched the rain of bright yellow balls descend upon the helpless A.K.,
and wondered what was on the other side of the spire. He reached the top
and looked over. He was totally unprepared for what was about to happen.
. . . . . . . . .
[So the puny Arm is trying to resist,] thought the mind of a Goliath
pilot. He viewed the impenetrable defenses of the Core base and reflected
upon his invincibility.
[We are the Core, the authority.]
[We conquer; we destroy.]
[None can stand in our way.]
[We will prevail.]
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 2
(Earlier...) Dantin watched as the squadron flew overhead. He recognized
‘Brawler' class gunships and ‘Hawk' class stealth fighters. Briefly he
wished he was up there, but he decided it was better to guard some remote
metal farm than to risk ones neck in air combat.
Long after the planes had passed over Dantin was shaken out of his
daydreams by a loud but muffled thud. It was as if something huge had exploded,
but that it had exploded far under ground. Thud ...thud...thud...Boom...Boom...BOOM!
Dantin was gripped by the sudden fear that they had found him. He realized
what the sound was. It was a long-range plasma cannon, a.k.a. ‘The Intimidator'.
The name fit it perfectly, in Dantin's mind.
The explosions were getting way to close. He cowered to ground in fear
as another thud sounded and a searing yellow ball of glowing plasma passed
overhead high above. The ground shook as it impacted about a kilometer
away. Dantin finally understood. It was only a matter of time: they were
just overshooting. It was the only major problem with long-range plasma
batteries, and repeated shots often corrected the aim.
"Private Dantin Heristal to Base 1." he radioed.
*KKSHHH* "This is base 1, what's the problem Private Heristal?"
"Metal Production Farm Ds-12 has been discovered by enemy forces and
is under long-range plasma cannon fire!"
*KKSHHH* "Are you in immediate danger of being hit?"
"Yes, I am"
*KKSHHH* "We will send assistance as soon as we can, but at the moment
we are also under fire. We..." *KKKKKKSSSSSSHHHHHHHH - click -
Dantin quickly shut his comlink off. He was all alone now. Something
had happened to the main base, and he doubted now that he would ever live
to see the sun of Empyrreon again. Thud. Dantin ran as fast as his battlesuit
would take him as a huge ball of plasma descended on the metal farm. At
the last second he dove into a crater. The shock wave passed over him,
and his ear receivers shut off to protect his hearing against the noise
of the explosion.
. . . . . . . . .
A legion of Core soldiers stood before Amos, their ranks marching off
into the distance. He sat stunned with fear at their endless numbers, and
vaguely noticed the radar jammers scattered among them. Many missiles appeared,
shooting up towards him from far below. Instinctively he pulled up and
increased speed, so as to escape them. But it was too late. "This
Brawler 324, all aircraft pull away and retreat, enemy forces sighted.
Repeat, this an emergency, all aircraft retreat!" Repeated missile
impacts deadened his sensors and comlink. He pulled the ejection drawstring,
and waited. Nothing. Oh, no... He thought. Sparks and smoke filled the
cabin, and the last thing he saw was his squadron being blown away trying
to save him before they finally retreated. All went black.
. .
. .
. .
. .
.
Chapter 3
"All aircraft retreat!" yelled Captain Thomas St. John into his comlink.
The remaining aircraft banked hard to the side and accelerated away
from the battlefield. He looked out of his viewpanel at the flaming
Brawler falling toward the ground and got a sick feeling in his stomach.
Amos Foster had been one of his best friends. The Core would pay dearly
for this.
. . . . . . . . .
The last of the cascading rocks reached the bottom of the pit where
Dantin crouched. Debris rained down on him and the sky was filled with
dust and smoke. He winced in pain as stood up and climbed out. Fires were
everywhere. The metal farm was gone, and the once gray sand was now black.
"Computer, analysis." ARMOR AT 40%, PROPULSION SYSTEMS AT 80%,
RADAR OFFLINE, WEAPONS STATUS: RIGHT CANNON, OPERATING AT 80%, LEFT
CANNON, UNUSABLE, COMLINK OFFLINE.
[At least I'm alive,] he thought. He started walking in the direction
he thought the main base was, or used to be. Once he got out of the smoke
and fire, he looked around. It would be dark soon, and he had to find a
place to sleep and hide. He walked for a while until he saw a huge spire
in the distance. Dantin headed toward it, for finding shelter there was
more likely than finding shelter out on the plains. When he got closer,
he saw something up against the spire. A ruined building... a Core Geothermal
Powerplant. [An old battlefield?] Dantin wondered. After closer examination,
he concluded that it was very new. The blast marks were fresh in the ground,
and the metal was untouched by corrosion. Dantin walked around it. A ways
behind it was what seemed to be the wreckage of a small K-bot, also with
blast marks surrounding it.
Dantin decided a recent battle site was not the place to hide, and
he would walk to the other side of the spire. After an hour of walking
he finally reached it, and immediately saw that a huge army had just passed
through. The sand was disturbed for as far as the eye could see, as if
tens of thousands of feet had trampled it. Blast marks and crashed
aircraft told him that they had encountered some feeble resistance.
Dantin whipped out his right cannon and pointed it into the fog ahead
where he had heard a sound distinctly that of a Core K-bot. He crouched
and waited his heart pounding. Suddenly, out rushed a firing A.K. It was
dead before it could acquire him as a target.
Before Dantin could acknowledge what he had just done, two more A.K.'s
ran out, followed by a trudging Storm. Dantin ducked the first rocket and
blew the second one up as it left its barrel. The resulting explosion destroyed
the Storm and one of the A.K.'s. The other A.K. was grievously injured
and limped off into the darkness, its remaining arm hanging by a strand
of twisted metal. Dantin couldn't bring himself to finish it off.
In the spur of the moment he had killed the others because otherwise
they would've killed him. He hadn't had time to think about it, it had
happened so fast. But couldn't kill anything helpless.
But other enemy units were near, and even completely healthy and undamaged,
Dantin couldn't fight them off forever. He needed a place to rest and repair.
He walked to the nearest pit and looked over the edge. Opaque white
vapor covered all of the bottomless pits on Temblor, and no one cared to
know what was under it, except air for thousand of feet. The vapor was
like water in some ways; for example, it rippled when touched or blown
on, and it was unbreathable. It was completely alien in some ways though.
It did not rise in air, it sank quite fast for a vapor-like substance,
it almost glowed, and some said it scrambled sensors. If they were right,
he could hide in the pit. He certainly did not want to fall thousands of
feet, but he might find a ledge on the side. It was worth a try. He pulled
out his grappling hook, attached it to a rock and lowered himself in.
. . . . . . . . .
"Oh no, oh no!" Sergeant Milo Homer watched the plasma fire as it flew
over his head and fell right on the outer defenses of the main base. Four
heavy laser towers and two missile towers exploded and left a gap that
significantly increased the chances of enemy forces being able to reach
the base. "Oh man, not again! Construction!" A Construction K-bot plodded
up to him.
"Yeah, we need some rebuilding done in perimeter defense, section 23,
it's been destroyed. Me an' my squad'll cover you."
"Yessir."
Ten A.K.'s ran through the newly created gap in the defense. "Ha! Is
that as good as they can do?" Laughed Homer. "Come on men, let's
go see who can blow up the most!" a cheer went up for this, and they set
off.
Homer opened up his EMG's and the A.K.'s went up in flame. "435, take
321 and 576 and cut ‘em off. I'll take the rest and surround the survivors."
In a few seconds it was all over. "Good work men, now let's go cover the
C-bot. Hey 435, wanna see my kill count?"
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 4
Amos awakened from unconsciousness slowly, as if climbing a long staircase.
He heard steady beeping in his dreams, and, as he opened his eyes, a blinking
red light.
[Hello, what's this?] He thought, [I'm dead? No, I can't be.] He pinched
himself. He could feel all right. [I must have hit the ground at an angle
and slid,] he thought, [but that can't be, because they would have captured
me. So where am I?] He looked around. The thing that had been beeping was
the REPAIR light on his cockpit comlink. From the looks of things, that
was all that had not been demolished. The viewpanel was shattered, glass
was everywhere, the floor of the cockpit had tears and bumps in it, and
he was trapped under a section of the twisted instrument panel. Amos felt
around for broken bones and felt a stab of pain in his ribs. One of them
was broken.
He looked through what was once the veiwpanel and saw that his plane
was on the edge of precipice. No, a ledge on a cliff. But there was a cliff
far away on the other side of the gulf, too. And, in fact, there were cliffs
on all sides. He was in a huge hole. [Now it would explain everything if...]
he looked up. Sure enough, there was a glowing, blue-white canopy above
him. [I've landed in vapor pit and I'm trapped,] he thought. [I guess I
either die sitting here or die trying to get out. At least there's a small
chance if choose the latter.] He proceeded to take out his vibro-knife
and flipped the switch. Nothing. He frantically searched for any kind of
tool, but everything had been destroyed or seriously damaged. His rib started
hurting again.
For the first time in his life he thought about dying. He thought of
his family and wished he could see them one more time. [If only I had not
taken them for granted,] he thought, [why was I so eager to leave them
and go join the army only to fight?] The more he thought of it, the more
he remembered the times when they put him first, before themselves, and
all the happy holidays. [Oh why was I so eager to leave?]
. . . . . . . . .
Dantin passed through the ten-meter thick layer of vapor without difficulty,
but he was surprised when he got through, for it floated, unlike vapor
that he had handled while in training. He had expected it to fill the pit.
Then he had an idea -
"Computer, temperature" he said. 85 DEGREES, it replied expressionless.
So that was why it floated! There must be a thermal vent in the pit, for
on the surface of the planet, the normal temperature was -40 degrees. The
heat made it float! [How convenient,] Dantin thought, [Now I must find
a good place to camp.] He looked around to find a ledge, a saw something
that almost made his heart stop. There was a ledge all right. And on the
ledge lay a wrecked and barely recognizable
"Brawler" class gunship aircraft. Something was moving inside.
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 5
A noise above Amos woke him, and he groggily looked up. Above him, just
under the cover of vapor, hung a K-bot, motionless, like a spider. For
a moment he was terrified, but then he realized... [I'm saved! A
Maverick, an Arm soldier!]
"Hey, down here!" he shouted, "Help me get out of this wreck!"
"Yes, Sir!" came the reply.
The Maverick leaped down and pulled in his grappling line. He then
ran over to the wrecked Brawler. "Don't worry sir, I'll have you out in
no time. How did you get here?" Amos told him the story as the pilot of
the Maverick climbed out of his suit. "Well sir, you're very lucky
to be alive" remarked the pilot as he cut him out.
"I think I've broken a rib," said Amos.
"Okay, I'll patch you up after we get you out."
After about an hour, with much help from the pilot, Amos finally got
slowly out of the wreck, so as not to make his condition worse. Dantin
wrapped his ribs after he was completely out. When they were finished
Dantin made a chair from the wreckage where Amos could sit, and he
started his repair of the suit. As he worked, Dantin told his story.
"Yeah, I remember that metal farm." remarked Amos. "We flew over it
early in the mission." Dantin remembered the flight flying over. It seemed
like that was days ago, though it was only this morning.
Soon the only light was coming from Dantin's one operating floodlight
on his K-bot, and a faint glow from the vapor canopy. Both men had finished
their stories and had relapsed into daydreaming and thinking. Soon they
were asleep: Amos on his makeshift chair and Dantin leaning on his Maverick's
leg.
. . . . . . . . .
Captain St. John rapidly decelerated to enter the hanger. The base was
in serious danger of falling, and he had to report the Cores' army. There
was not much time. As he jumped out of his Hawk he thought of Amos.
[Many more good men will lose their lives soon.] He thought sadly.
. . . . . . . . .
Commanders log, date: 10m, 11d, y2097 time: 2000 hours - START – The
first major Core attack is coming. By chance, a recon flight that I sent
out ran into it and most of the aircraft were destroyed, including the
flight sergeant. The highest ranking officer that remained reported back
to me and warned me of the incoming attack. All would have been lost if
it hadn't been for them. Now we have a chance for survival, slim chance
though it is. I have prepared the base for the attack, and now I have sent
orders to build more vehicles with long-range weaponry. I will lead the
defense attempts with the Spiders of the 12th division, so that I may capture
the units they paralyze.
- Commander James Alteren out. - LOG OVER -
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 6
Lieutenant Palin Sulaj marched his Shooter platoon to the trench. Reaching it, he enhanced his night vision sensors and saw a shadow advancing slowly far off in the distance. He looked to the side. The shadow army extended to the horizon on both sides.
. . . . . . . . .
Homer was ready. He had been longing for a real fight, being sick of
blowing down A.K.'s all day. The Commander's orders were out, and the soldiers
had been sent to their places, the fortifications were being built and
the men were waiting. The Shooters stood like statues in their trenches;
the aircraft sat on the runways. The zippers ran out on scouting missions
and the tanks trundled around on patrol. All cannons pointed north.
The base was constructed in the "Porcupine" fashion, heavily fortified,
but with minimal soldiers. It had four sections. The outer, or fourth,
section was ringed by heavy laser towers, missile towers, pop-up heavy
cannons and Annihilators and contained the trenches and the batteries of
plasma cannons. The third section was ringed in the same manner, but contained
the long-range and rapid-fire plasma cannons, Flakkers, Annihilators and
the EMP missile launchers. Fortification walls backed by heavy laser towers,
Flakkers and missile towers ringed the second section. It contained all
the unit production facilities. Double fortification walls and all the
other fortification weapons used to defend the other sections ringed the
center, or first section. This section contained most of the resource production
facilities (besides the metal and energy farms outside of the base).
Homer heard a rumbling and a gasp from his second-in-command. He looked
up and turned his night vision sensors to the highest level. A huge army
lay before him.
There was silence for a moment. Then all the cannons in the outer ring
began to fire. The night sky was lit up and the stars were no longer visible.
"Ha ha! Yeah! Come on men!" yelled Homer as he ran down the slope toward
the outer ring, followed by his squad. But then he heard a dull roar. It
steadily grew louder until he recognized it as the sound of Core aircraft.
A wing of Hurricane zoomed over them, dropping its payload of bombs directly
on the anti-aircraft defenses. Pieces of shrapnel filled the air.
Homer’s squad was knocked flat, and one did not rise. It was number
321, Private Derek Brown. 435 dragged himself painfully up and examined
him.
"He's dead", 435 said hoarsely.
. . . . . . . . .
In the time that Amos and Dantin spent together in the pit, they became
good friends. Dantin managed to get his Radar operating at 50% and repair
his armor and shields to 60%.
"What I would give for a C-bot", he muttered as he slaved away the
next morning on his left-hand cannon to no avail. Eventually he gave up
on it. He had repaired his suit as fully as he could, and it was time for
them to try to get back to the base. Dantin had made a backpack sort of
thing out of the wreckage and pilots seat of the Brawler. Amos would sit
in it with the one surviving environment suit they had found in the wreck.
He would need it in the -40 weather outside the pit. With Dantin's repaired
compass, they set out in the direction of the base. After a long while
they it became dark and they set up camp. In the distance, a red glow reflected
off of the cloud cover. The battle to save the base had begun.
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 7
Unexpectedly, the Core had started their attack by attempting to bomb
the base. The Arm had air superiority, so rarely did the Core start a major
attack with an air raid, and the recon flight had also not reported any
aircraft sightings in the area of the attack force. The Core had so retained
the element of surprise in their offensive, and succeeded in taking out
many of the anti-air fortifications.
The Arm air force was active however, and Captain St. Thomas was leading
several fighter wings at the moment to intercept the bombers.
" Flight Commander to Beta and Gamma flights, take out the support
and Alpha flight will take care of the bombers", ordered St. John. "Roger
that, Flight commander", the Flight sergeant radioed back. St. John banked
out as a bomber passed and fired a missile into its jet nozzle. It exploded.
"Oh man, first kill!" yelled his wing mate in surprise.
"Do I get champagne now?" asked St. John as his comrades laughed.
They swooped down on the enemy wing spreading death and havoc in the
air. "All right Avery, take the Vamps over there, I'm right behind you."
"Roger that, I'm on ‘em." Missiles shot out of the Vamps, taking out
three Hawks.
St. John first felt shock at losing his friends, but then his heart
hardened. Men were dying. Good men. It was no longer a game. His old hate
of the Core returned, and he was carried away in the endless battle, killing
other humans.
They were humans, he knew that despite the teaching that were pounded
into his head by the drill sergeants and instructors back home. The loss
of their body did not matter in the long run, at the heart and mind they
were only human, most likely with the same teachings pounded into their
heads. ‘They are the Core/Arm, they are the enemy, blah, blah, blah.' Each
was the same in their minds and hearts. Suddenly Thomas St. John felt despair
wash over him. This war, it would last forever. The sides were equally
matched and hated each other with the same intensity. He had fought all
his life, and he would fight for the rest of it. One man could not make
peace between the two sides. One side would have to be annihilated completely
before there was peace.
He fired his missiles blindly at the enemy...
"Thomas, snap out of it!" shouted his wing mate, Avery.
Thomas woke suddenly out of his despairing musings and saw that he
was firing his missiles into thin air, the enemy aircraft were gone. "Uh...
sorry guys" he said lamely. Avery could tell something was still wrong
by his tone, even through the slightly voice-distorting comlink.
"We'd better get back to base and give you a check", said Avery worriedly.
"No, no, I'm fine", Thomas assured him, not feeling in the least better.
"I'll get over it. Let's get back to base though."
. . . . . . . . .
The Core army had halted after taking the outermost fortifications and
begun their attack with a swarm of level 1 K-bots and vehicles. Palin's
platoon and a squad of demo men were outside of the base, acting as lures.
The first wave of the Core land attack advanced quickly.
"Wait for it, wait for it!" Palin ordered his demo man. The Core army,
though set back by the heavy fortifications was almost upon them.
"Now!" yelled Palin. The carpet of submerged mines exploded under the
feet of the advancing army. The front ranks disintegrated and the flaming
frames of Core K-bots were flung into the air. Palin and his men immediately
faded into the darkness and fog behind them and watched as the outer most
fortifications took care of the remainder of the first wave. A group of
Storms, disoriented by the blasts, staggered onward only to be caught in
the crossfire of ten Heavy Laser Towers. Raider tanks regrouped out of
range and charged. They were cut down immediately.
Artillery fire flew over the head of Palin's hidden platoon, crashing
into the earth behind them and lighting up the surrounding landscape. The
Arm guerrillas grimly set and sprung their traps, endlessly harassing and
irritating the enemy army.
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 8
Dantin and Amos crouched on the top of a fairly small spire two miles
out from the base. They had made it thus far, over hill and spire, only
to find that their enemy, the Core, besieged the town. They looked down
on the scene from their hidden perch, sitting on a metal deposit that masked
their radar signatures from the enemy. They could see the enemy attempting
to breach the defenses in one spot. Supposedly. The enemy had been attacking
one spot with apparently weak units, drawing the Arm defending units to
that spot. Dantin could see movement in the Core ranks. Enhancing his Mavericks'
vision, he saw that a number of small vehicles and heavy K-bots were moving
forward. He saw their strategy immediately. They would go for the spot
in the defenses where the most defenders were absent, fighting the "diversions".
Ouch. An old tactic and the Arm had fallen for it. But wait . . . there
was also stirring in the Arm base. A squadron of fighters and bombers,
flying to intercept the attackers! So they hadn't fallen for the diversion!
"Yes!" Dantin shouted aloud.
"What, what is it?" asked Amos sitting up and grabbing a pair of primitive
binoculars that had come with the environment suit. They both watched as
the bombers decimated the advancing attackers. The remaining
Core units retreated to the nearest anti-aircraft unit as the Bombers
flew off. The Core would not again be so foolish as to stage another attack
without adequate air cover.
. . . . . . . . .
"Good work men" radioed the squadron leader. Avery Steele smiled in satisfaction. They had just foiled the classic ‘diversion and destruction' tactic without casualties to the squadron. But how long could they hold out? He knew the Core would not again make the mistake of leaving air cover behind. He had little hope, but he was determined to go out fighting.
. . . . . . . . .
The diversionary tactic had failed, and so Homer's squad returned to
his Lookout Post inside the fourth ring. Homer was worried about 435, though.
He seemed very sad. It seemed that the dead Private had been a good
friend to the new clone 435, the first, in fact that the clone had. They
sat there, all cheerfulness gone.
[No, men die all the time in wars,] he insisted to himself, [it's normal,
no big deal.] From his post he could see the far off Arm guerrilla task
force harassing a section of the Core army. Homer watched in fascination
as group of Freakers rushed out of the enemy ranks and suddenly and unexpectedly
assaulted the Arm task force. The leader of the task force, a Shooter,
fired one blast that took out four Freakers. As the Freakers regrouped
the task force organized themselves in ranks. Five shooters stood in front.
They would fire, drop back, reload and be replaced by five new shooters,
etc., etc. The Freakers were fast though, using their speed to dodge behind
obstacles and dart away, leaving the slower shooters behind. Finding a
small breach in the defenses guarded only by Light Laser Towers, they struck
and broke through the fourth ring. They ran toward the Lookout Hill where
Homer's small squad stood, knowing that these few men would be easy to
kill...
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 9
"Uh oh", said Amos as he watched the group of Freakers rush past the Arm guerrillas and break through the fourth ring. He saw the weary squad on the Lookout Post rise and start firing. All aid was far off for some reason; they were alone at the moment. The Freakers cut down five of them in the first volley, including their leader. The damaged Peewees only killed one Freaker. Amos wished he was in his Brawler right now, killing those accursed Core warriors. One Peewee still stood firing...
. . . . . . . . .
Pain.
It flooded over Homers body as he lay there on the edge of consciousness,
fighting against death. Where was 435? He was talking...
No, he had been -
‘ "Sir, be careful, I'll take the leader." ' He had fired, and the
EMG blasts had squarely hit the lead Freaker, destroying him. Homer had
fired too, but... Five Freakers had gone after 435 and five laser blasts
had ripped into his battlesuit, killing him. Homer also was hit, in the
chest of his battlesuit. He had gone down and now he was dying... He wished
he could see his wife and child one more time...
He blacked out, and then consciousness left him.
. . . . . . . . .
Peewee 576-b2045 stood over the motionless battlesuit of his leader,
desperately firing at the Freakers, which teasingly circled him, just out
of range. He knew he did not have long to live, but he would be dying in
battle for his cause, one of the greatest honors a warrior could have.
Still, he would have liked to be alive a little longer, so that he could
pay the Core scum back for killing his leader.
"AAAIIIIIHHHH!" a battle cry pierced the silence in his helmet comlink.
Turning, 576 saw one of the Freakers pointing his barrel at 576's head.
Everything went into slow motion.
576 knew right away that the Core soldier had not been the one that
had yelled. But... Who had it been then?
No matter though - it was the end for him. He raised his own guns with
the feeble hope that...
The Freaker fired and the bolt approached. 576 was hit by something
from behind and then showered by sparks. 576 lay there on the ground for
a moment, until he realized that, indeed, he was quite alive and unhurt.
He clambered to his "feet".
A tall, thin Shooter with a gold bar on his shoulder (1st lieutenant
insignia) towered over him, gun smoking, backed by his platoon. The leader
of the Arm guerrillas had saved him. His left arm had been half blown off
and was still sparking. And his numberplate had a name on it!
‘1st Lieutenant Palin Sulaj', it said. To be named was a great honor,
either that or it meant that you were a natural born.
"Well Private 576, it seems that we have a problem here," said the
Shooter, "I let some Core squad get past me and breach the fourth ring
without serious loss, and I didn't want to let your squad die, but nowI've
brought my whole platoon over here, I've left my post, and I've only saved
one of you!"
576 didn't know what to say.
"Hmmm. Well, let's see if we have some survivors here."
Four Peewees had not blown up upon being hit. One was alive.
"Well! It seems that your leader here is fighting for it! If medical
aid doesn't get here soon, though, he doesn't have much of a chance."
A huge medical hovercraft transport approached as the unsuited Palin
and 576 extracted the bleeding form of Sergeant Milo Homer out of the wreck
of his battlesuit. Medics rushed out with stretchers, loaded Homer on and
took him in.
The hovercraft floated away. Palin nimbly leapt up and swung into his
Shooter battlesuit.
"Sir, what will I do?" asked 576 in confusion.
"Well Private, how would you like to join us?" asked Palin, grinning.
"Fall in, my friend!"
. . . . . . . . .
Amos smiled as he watched the small Peewee join the tall Shooters and
march back to the battlefield.
Chapter 10
"Amos, do you think we'll ever get back to base?" asked Dantin.
"Of course!"
"No, I mean actually back in service, rescued. Our comlink is offline,
I can't use my flares, the
base is surrounded, and most likely, it will be destroyed."
Amos turned his face toward the base again. It had withstood all attacks
so far, but how long
would it last? The attack force was large, too large to fend off for
long. The fourth ring would
surely fall soon.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
- ORDERS FROM COMMANDER TO CERTAIN UNITS ON THE FIELD WILL BEGIN NOW.
-
START -
K-bot and vehicle factories have increased their production, as have
the training facilities. Five
guerrilla teams will be assembled, consisting of:
10 ‘Podger' class minelayer vehicles
20 ‘Shooter' class Sniper K-bots
20 ‘Luger' class Artillery vehicles
10 ‘Merl' class Mobile Rocket Launchers
10 ‘Penetrator' class Energy Weapon vehicles
5 ‘Phalanx' class Mobile Anti-air weapons
10 ‘Samson' class Mobile SAM launchers
5 ‘Jammer' class Mobile Radar Jammers
5 ‘Seer' class Mobile Radar vehicles
ADDITIONAL SEGMENT: These guerrilla teams will harass the enemy indirectly
by laying mines
and sniping. They will enforce the fortifications of the fourth ring.
-END OF ORDER #1
-ORDER #2 START:
Ten strike teams will be assembled, consisting of:
20 ‘Zipper' class Fast Scouting K-bots
30 ‘Bulldog' class Heavy Assault Tanks
30 ‘Flash' class Fast Assault Tanks
20 ‘Maverick' class Gunslinger K-bots
20 ‘Panther' class Lightning tanks
10 ‘Spider' class All-Terrain Attack vehicles
20 ‘Fido' class Four legged assault K-bots
10 ‘Samson' class Mobile SAM launchers
5 ‘Jammer' class Mobile Radar Jammers
5 ‘Seer' class Mobile Radar vehicles
ADDITIONAL SEGMENT: These strike teams will harass the enemy directly
with hit-and-run and
hit-and-fade tactics.
INDEPENDENT SEGMENT: Twenty teams identical to the strike teams will
be built following
the building of the strike and guerilla teams. These teams will assist
the fourth ring fortifications
in defending the base.
COMMANDERS ASSISTANT BATTLE STATISTICS:
Estimated number of Core deaths: 437
Estimated number of Core wounded: 204
Number of Arm deaths: 232
Number of Arm units wounded and/or missing: 46
Guerilla team #1, a platoon commanded by 1st Lieutenant Palin Sulaj
(Shooter 130-s7671) has
killed (both directly and indirectly) 241 enemy units. His platoon
lost 11 men.
A squad commanded by First Sergeant Milo Homer (Peewee 901-h6777) has
killed 28 enemy
units. His squad was destroyed, but he and one other soldier survived.
The main communications center was destroyed by long range plasma fire
early in the Arms
occupation of Temblor. The main base lost almost all contact with all
of the Arms' minor bases
and resource production farms. The Com Center has been reconstructed
recently and it has
received this information:
All minor bases and resource farms have been destroyed by the Core
attack force save one;
minor base no. 64c. This base had been growing during our loss of contact.
It has not been
discovered by the enemy so far. It has been built in underground caverns
and has constructed a
Armored Brigade. The Brigade consists of battle Hovercraft.
Information from air scouts confirm that the Core attack force consists
of two divisions of ground
units and ten squadrons of aircraft. The Core's weakness in the air
could be exploited. No
indication of their closing in has been seen yet.
Long range plasma cannons are offline due to lack of energy. There is
enough excess energy at
the moment to power ring fortifications, including the energy weapons
(Annihilators).
Construction of additional powerplants is recommended.
ADDITIONAL SEGMENT: Assembling of guerilla and strike teams has commenced.
-REPORT OVER *** COMMANDER LOGGING OFF-
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Commander Altaren turned off his battle computer and started helping
an Adv. Construction
vehicle build a Fusion reactor. He thought, analyzing many strategies.
He knew an air strike
would be risky, and until he had created a breach in the sedge, the
Armored Hovercraft Brigade
(He decided to call it the AHB) from 64c would be unable to enter.
Another possibility would be
an air strike followed by the AHB.
[With the strike and guerilla teams creating confusion in the Core
army it might work. . . Yes, it's
worth a try] thought Commander Altaren as he strode to the Conference
center. He would
discuss it with his officers and see what they thought of it.
Two hours later he came out of the Conference room smiling. They had
analyzed the plan,
refined it and all gave their approval. "Now, let's give the Core some
of their own medicine." he
whispered to himself. Maybe they did have a chance after all. . .
Altaren took a transport to the hangers. He had an air strike to organize.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
[Ouch] was the first thing that came to Homers mind when he awoke. [I'm
alive!] was a close
second. He opened his eyes to the white and brightly lit ceiling above
him. He felt naked outside
of his battlesuit. Homer rolled out of his bed and landed on the floor
more or less on his feet, but
the room spun around him and he was forced to sit down again. A harried-looking
doctor came
rushing in.
"Sir, you shouldn't be out of bed!" Homer stopped the doctor with a
wave his hand and asked
her anxiously what had been happening in the battle. "Oh, well I hear
that the Commander is
organizing an attack on our besiegers, but I'm not sure; oh dear, you
should be in bed and-"
Homers' heart sank. If the doctor was right, he would not be a part
of this attack, and he would
have to sit in this extremely dull hospital and endure the wait while
he ‘recuperated'.
[What a rip-off. I'm ready to fight.] Homer thought sulkily. Suddenly
the memories of his recent
close call with death came rushing back.
[I would have lost my life, and Aloren and Lucy (his wife and daughter)
would be alone. Ha!
Never thought of it that way. Guess I'd better be a little more careful.]
he thought. The fighting
spirit of this honorable warrior was not in any way quenched, though
he was a bit sobered. His
goal was to help in the fight and help as much as he could. Otherwise,
how could there ever be
peace? Although he did not know what peace was like, or what he would
do, he thought it would
be interesting to find out.
Chapter 11
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Amos opened his eyes. Crunch. Crunch.
A noise . . . Coming closer. Amos felt a sudden urge to run somewhere
and hide. He looked
across the small cave and saw Dantin's looming Maverick stir. It activated
with a quiet whir, and
suddenly he felt a little safer.
[Dantin hears it too?] thought Amos. The noise was getting louder.
Dantin, in his Maverick,
signaled to Amos to keep still. The huge Maverick lifted its cannon
and pointed it toward the
cave's opening. Amos's curiosity got the better of him. He turned over
and looked out and nearly
jumped out of his environment suit when he saw what it was.
A Core construction K-bot.
Amos was flattened to the ground as Dantins' Maverick fired three short
bursts. All three went
home and the C-bot exploded in a brilliant flash of light and a shower
of shrapnel. Dantin leapt in
front of Amos and absorbed the blast.
[WARNING, WARNING ARMOR LOW] Droned Dantins' helmet A.I. [REPEAT, ARMOR
AT 45%]
++++
- WARNING, WARNING CKB-141 UNDER ATTACK. -
[What the. . .?] Thought Core Decoy Commander CDC-205. He looked out
toward the indicated
sector and saw a distant explosion on a tall spire far away.
- CKB 141 PATTERN HAS BEEN TERMINATED BY UNKNOWN MEANS. LOCATION OF
TERMINATION SECTOR sw-089. SECTOR sw-089 WAS PROSPECTIVE SITE OF METAL
EXTRACTORS. THE METAL DEPOSITS IN THIS SECTOR HAD A METAL CONTENT RANGE
OF 2.5 TO 3.0. -
[What is this?] wondered CDC-205. [Did the Arm have a forgotten booby
trap out there or is
there some hidden enemy out in the wastes that we overlooked? Well
well, this should be *very*
interesting.]
[Orders from Division Commander CDC-205 will be transmitted now:
Thud TKB-165 will organize a platoon consisting of:
10 ‘Storm' class rocket K-bots
5 ‘Dominator' class Long Range Artillery K-bots
4 ‘Morty' class Long Range Artillery K-bots
5 ‘Pyro' class Flamethrower Infantry K-bots
1 ‘Voyeur' class Mobile Radar K-bot
This platoon will investigate the site in which CKB 141 was terminated.]
++++
TKB-165 was thinking dark thoughts at the moment. Rumor had it that
the CDC was planning an
attack to finish the Arm once and for all. The Core besiegers certainly
had the power to
completely annihilate the Arm base, and if there was going to be an
attack, TKB-165 wanted to
be a part of it. Now there was no chance for him to take part, because
the incompetent Decoy
Commander had ordered him off on some wild goose chase.
After about a half-hour TKB-165 had grudgingly organized the platoon
and soon they were off.
++++
"We've been discovered, Amos. They'll find us and kill us. We have nothing
to lose now." Dantin
said quietly. "If we leave this place we'll be visible on radar. We'll
have to signal the base."
Amos nodded in silence. He knew that no matter how they signaled the
base, the Core
besiegers would also be alerted to their presence.
"Okay, you've got the suit, you're the boss! Do what you want, Dantin."
Amos remarked gloomily.
The shape of Dantins' Maverick was silhouetted against the cave opening.
He stepped out,
pointed his gun into the air and fired. Ten times.
++++
[INCOMING DATA, PLEASE ACTIVATE ASSISTANT A.I.]
[Fine, just interfere will you! These #@$* assistant A.I.'s always seem
to come on right in the
middle of something important] Grumbled Commander Alteran to himself.
He had just started to
give orders to one of the strike teams. "Activate" He sighed.
[ASSISTANT A.I. ACTIVATED. INCOMING DATA TRANSLATED AND FORMATTED AS
FOLLOWS:
Scout aircraft have confirmed that each of the Core divisions are led
by a Core Decoy
Commander. Core Construction K-bots within the besiegers circle have
begun to build resource
production facilities and fortifications. IMMEDIATE DESTRUCTION OF
THESE STRUCTURE
AND ALL OF THE CORE CONSTRUCTION UNITS IS NECESSARY TO KEEP THE ARM
ALIVE ON TEMBLOR.
The construction of the guerilla and strike teams has been completed.
These tea--- ]
"Sir!" A voice over the comlink cut off the A.I.'s monotonous drone.
"This is Sergeant Steele of
scouting flight Gamma, we have sighted and Arm soldier outside of the
Core siege circle. We
are requesting permission to call in a transport."
"Hold on sergeant, what is this units status?"
"It is a Maverick K-bot sir. It appears to be damaged and it is about
to be overtaken by a Core
platoon."
Alteran swore under his breath. "Sergeant Steele, you get a transport
out there as fast as you
can and get Maverick to safety!"
"Yes, sir!" radioed the Sergeant.
++++
TKB-165 marched up the slope to the cave, his troopers following closely
behind. Rocks
scrabbled down the sheer face of the spire high above, blown down by
the high winds. The
clouds above writhed and twisted almost, it looked, in agony. 165 took
no notice of their majesty.
A trained killer he was; a trained killer on the hunt, determined to
catch his prey. It was getting
darker. He heard a rumbling. Turning, he saw a wing of Arm stealth
fighters approaching the
spire. 165 suddenly felt very visible standing on the side of a hill
with no cover anywhere near.
The closest cover was the cave that was currently inhabited by an Arm
soldier.
[If I could get their in time, I'll have adequate cover, *and* I can
take care of that pesky Maverick]
He thought (he had witnessed the momentary emergence and firing of
Dantin). A missile
slammed into the center of his formation, killing four of his men.
[I must survive.] Was the only
thing on 165's mind. He ran as fast as his robotic legs would carry
him toward the cave. He
could *feel* the confusion and anger break out between his remaining
men. It was too much for
them. They scattered. 165 looked behind him and laughed at their incompetence.
He was
almost to the cave.
[What do their lives matter anyway? I'm the only one that is valuable
here.] He told himself as he
ran into the cave (in his mind, he denied being expendable. He would
assure himself that he
was very important, but deep down he knew that he didn't really matter).
To change the subject, he again focused his attention on the cave he
had entered. It was then
he noticed the barrel of a gun pointed at his head. He heard a loud
boom and then he knew no
more.
++++
Two Hawks landed at the bottom of the hill, an Atlas hovering between
them. About them lay the
scattered wreckage of the poorly organized platoon of TKB-165. Hawks
patrolled the air above
them, watching for the enemy that would inevitably interfere with the
rescue efforts.
[Run, run!] said a little voice in Dantins head. Amos was in his seat/backpack
structure on the
Mavericks back. Thunder rolled in the distance. The hawk canopy slid
open and a small figure
jumped out, dwarfed by the size of his craft. He was shouting.
"Run! They're coming!" He yelled. Dantin ran. The two escort Hawks
lifted off the ground a
ways, as if nervous. Four rockets streaked from the gloom behind it.
All but one missed, but the
one that hit hit squarely. Dantin now stood under it, and as it lowered
he fired in the direction the
rockets came from. He was rewarded with a shower of sparks and then
an explosion. His
battlesuit was latched to the Atlases belly and was raised high above
the ground. They rose
higher and higher and suddenly Dantin could see for miles around. The
Arm base, the Core
siege, the wastes and spires. The Atlas was damaged, so it had to move
a little sluggishly, but in
a half-hour they were settling on the ground inside a heated hanger.
As soon as Dantins feet hit
the ground he kneeled and thanked God. He and Amos had made it against
all odds and now
they were back with their friends and in relative safety. It was more
than he had hoped. Now,
possibly he would be able to see the sun of Empyrrean again and walk
on its' green grass.
Thomas St. John and Avery Steele emerged from their Hawks and walked
toward the hulking
Maverick to congratulate Dantin. As they neared Amos jumped from his
hiding place on the
Mavericks back. Thomas nearly fell over and Avery shouted for joy.
Could it be their seemingly
long-lost friend.
"What in Empyrreon are you doing here Amos?" spluttered Avery as soon
as he regained his
breath. Thomas just smiled as if he would split his face.
"Well, I heard you guys were in trouble and I decided that I was too
valuable to just die, so I
came to help you this time."
"That you are, my friend" said Thomas as he hugged Amos.
"Once we get rid of this siege we can get mess and I'll tell you the
story, but right now me'n
Dantin are really hungry so could you possibly escort us to the mess
hall after we report?"
"No problem Amos, we look forward to it. Uh, could you introduce us?"
asked Avery, looking at
Dantin, who had emerged from the Maverick and was standing nearby looking
awkward.
"Sure! Dantin, these are my good friends Avery and Thomas. . ."
So the first part of this story ends, with all who were in danger safe
for the moment and reunited
with friends.
-by Daniel (A.K.A. Rookie 1)
Thank you for reading.
------------------------------
Part II
Chapter 1
Time: The beginning of the Galactic war
Place: A young Temblor
Temblor had been picked by the Arm for colonization because it was impossible
to live on.
Supposedly. Four thousand years ago the planet was different. The glowing,
blue-white "Vapor"
covered the entire surface of the planet, and only the spires peirced
the canopy. No living thing
had ever been seen on its surface. The temperature was -250 degrees
Fahrenheit. The vapor
was almost a life-form though, for it thrived in the cold and clean
air. If exposed to too much
heat, it would slowly decay. The hazard of falling in one of the bottomless
pits was increased
greatly because the vapor scrambled sensors and completely obstructed
ones' vision. It was a
perfect hiding place.
Throughout the course of the war, increased activity on Temblor caused
global warming, which
in turn triggered the decay of the vapor.
The Hunter was a wanderer on Temblor. A Core experimental K-bot from
the beginning of the
war, he had been ordered to search for the newly christened "Arm" rebels.
He stumbled on the
first Arm colony, but the sentries were alerted and he was damaged,
his comlink destroyed. He
was forced to wander the wastes of Temblor, searching for his outpost.
During the time of his wanderings, his base was attacked by the Arm
colonists and the Core was
driven off Temblor for the time being. The Arm colonists relocated
their hiding place to a
different planet. When the Hunter finally reached the original location
of the Core base, all that
was left was smoldering wreckage. Objective #1 was unattainable. His
mind shifted to objective
#2: Hunt down and kill all Arm units.
Four thousand years after the Arm colonists had left he was not an
out of date, obsolete relic of
the past, for the time and money-consuming galactic war had slowed
the advancement of
technology almost to a standstill. He was as deadly as ever, and he
would find prey. Objective
#2 would be attained.
Unknown to him, both the Arm and the Core had come back.
The Hunter still hunted, oblivious to the change.
One day, during his wanderings he saw a pit that was different. The
agitated vapor canopy was
swirling and writhing and breaking up. This vapor suddenly was blown
off, and it almost
disappeared until it settled in the footprints of a large something
that appeared to have been
running. . . out of the pit? The Hunter locked on to the footprints
as a dog to the scent of a fox.
After four thousand years, he found the enemy.
++++
"Sir, the communications link with Base 64c has been re-established."
"Thank you, Private Vlar" Alteran smiled. "64c, 64c, come in please."
he radioed.
"Sir! This is 64c reporting in, all units present and accounted for,
our whereabouts, and
existence for that matter are still unknown to Core. Sir!"
"Good, good. Could you connect me with the your commanding officer?"
"Sir, Yes, Sir!" A pause.
"Sir, Colonel Manti reporting as ordered, Sir" replied a new voice.
Commander Alteran relayed his strategies. In case the reader has not
been present for previous
chapters, I will now bring you up to date.
In their advance toward the Arm base, the Core obliterated all minor
bases and outposts with
incredible efficiency, except one underground base called 64c.
64c specialized in engineering and researching hovercraft and other
vehicles that were not
mass-produced, but used only for unusual purposes. Before all this,
longe-range plasma
cannons had destroyed the main bases' communications centers. The Arm
was almost helpless
to the Core seige that followed soon afterwards. 64c had been aware
of all that had had
happened but they were unable to communicate because of the situation
until the Core had
arrived when a crude system of communication was developed. Now, though,
radio
communications have resumed due to the rebuilding of the com centers
and fusion plants. It was
found that 64c had a hidden brigade of advanced and altered battle
hovercraft.
Commander Alteran (Commander of all Arm forces on Temblor) compiled
a plan for the
redemption of Arm forces. He has assembled a number of strike, guerilla
and defense teams to
create havoc in the Core seige circle while the Hovercraft brigade
approaches and attacks.
Hence Commander Alteran hopes to destroy - or at least disperse and
damage - the Cores' main
force. His plan has been analyzed and approved of by his fellow commanding
officers. All the
Arm forces are preparing to carry it out.
++++
The Hunter approached a huge army as he hunted for his prey, but he
took no notice of them
and they took no notice of him because did not wish them to. They were
battling his enemies
anyhow, so he did not disturb them with his visible form. He entered
the fourth ring of the base,
but was not aware of it. Only one tall, thin form of some sort of humanoid
stirred in partial
awareness as he passed.
[Familiar, is it not?] his insane mind whispered. [A person encased
in metal that makes it strong.
Yes, familiar it is.] he thought back. [Did I not kill them a time
ago? Yes, methinks I hunt one
now. No matter, this one shall die soon enough]
‘Sulaj' said the device on its' chest. The only one that would ever
know. The Hunter would have
taken care of him, but he was not the Hunters' prey at the moment.
[Yes, yes, later he will die. Shall we kill him now though? He *knows*
of us.]
[No, doesn't, he can't. We musn't or they'll all know of us.]
And so the Hunter went on until he came to a large building.
[Scale it, we must. The prey is inside, yes. It is in the body though.
What will it do when it sees
us?]
[It will die]
‘The body' was in fact a Maverick battlesuit.
++++
Palin Sulaj snapped up his rifle and pointed it into the blackness that
wrapped him. Something
cold had brushed him and he felt terror creep over him. He felt a stare.
He felt cold, and
suddenly he saw the silhouette of a terrible thing, short-legged and
long-armed with long, thin
spikes on its shoulders. Then it was gone.
Chapter 2
"So here hath been dawning
another blue day;
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?"
-Thomas Carlyle, excerpt from *Today*
++++
Palin Sulaj snapped up his rifle and pointed it into the blackness that
wrapped around him.
Something cold had brushed him and he felt terror creep over him. He
felt a stare. He became
cold, and suddenly he saw the silhouette of a terrible thing, short-legged
and long-armed with
long, thin spikes on its shoulders and glowing eyes. Then it was gone.
Palin groped for his
comlink and flipped it on.
“First lieutenant Sulaj reports that an unknown unit, presumably unfriendly,
has entered the
base.”
-KKKSSSHHH- “Warning acknowledged, Lieutenant Sulaj. We are detecting
a fluctuation on our
radar right now. Looks like it started right about where you are now.”-
“The unit appeared to have a cloaking shield that was failing, sir.”
-KKKSSSHHH- “Uh-oh. The fluctuation is headed toward battlesuit quarters.
Now it’s fading.
Looks as though that nifty little cloak shield re-activated. Lieutenant
Sulaj, return to post, we’ve
got this under control. Base one out” -clik-
++++
Dantin walked slowly down the corridor to the battlesuit quarters in
his Maverick. He was about
to put away his ‘suit and retire for the night. But then his radar
beeped. He checked it and saw a
red blip on the screen, strangely appearing and disappearing. Each
time it reappeared it was
nearer to him, and then it disappeared altogether. . . and suddenly
all his sensors shut off.
“Private Dantin Heristal to Base one” he tried his comlink. Nothing.
He checked the indicators
on his plasma cannon. It, at least, was up and running, as were his
locomotion systems.
*Cachunk*. Swiftly Dantin turned, fluidly bringing up his double cannons.
But there was nothing
behind him. [My imagination?] he wondered. [Couldn’t be]. He began
to slowly back down the
hallway. After a second the wall he stared at began to distort and
ripple. He blinked and the wall
returned to normal. [What is happening?] Then, all of a sudden, there
was a blinding light and
the *air* distorted like quicksand, as did everything around Dantin.
A hideous black shape
emerged from the light. It was hunched over with its long arms hanging
near short, powerful
legs. Though Dantin could see it was not an organic thing, its body
looked somehow sinewy and
altogether evil. Long spikes protruded from its shoulders and he could
see that its fingers had
claws like liquid mercury. In stark contrast to its utterly black body,
its eyes shone a pure white.
[What is it?] thought Dantin. Somehow it heard him.
A quietly terrifying whisper echoed through Dantins head:
[The Hunter I am called. Four thousand years have I hunted and I have
found my prey. No prey
has ever escaped me. No exception will you be. The Core I serve. You
must die.]
The Hunter’s arms lashed out with fearful speed and knocked out Dantins
cannons. Instinctively
Dantin took a defensive stance, and as the creature leaped at him,
he kicked up with his
Mavericks heavy leg. The blow might have badly hurt it, but managed
an almost full block while
still in the air so that it was only thrown against a corridor wall.
Dantin lunged for his guns, but
again the Hunter’s long arms stopped him like a steel wall. Dantin
crashed to the ground. He
grabbed one of the arms but he was not expecting the small Hunter to
be very strong. The
creature picked him up off the ground and hurled him down the corridor
as if he was a pebble.
As soon as he hit the ground the Hunter was on top of him, tearing
into his suit with its mercurial
claws. The claws seemed to cut metal like butter. A strong left hook
sent the Hunter to the
ceiling, where it stayed, to the astonishment of Dantin. It scurried
along the ceiling like a great
black spider. Then it vanished. Suddenly Dantin was beset upon all
sides with terrible blows
until consciousness mercifully left him.
++++
Sgt. Milo Homer, followed by his trusty squad, rounded a bend in the
corridor and watched in
horror as a seemingly lone Maverick was beaten and bashed by an invisible
tormentor. After
only a moment the Maverick fell to the ground. The ground and walls
around him rippled and in
a burst of light the tormentor was revealed. The squad came to life.
“C’mon boys, get ‘im!” shouted Homer as opened his EMG’s on the black
shape.
“Give it to ‘im boss, that’s the way!” they whooped in approval as
they added their guns to the
barrage. The creature sidestepped the blasts and then, without a sound,
walked through the
wall as if it hadn’t been there. Indignant huffs came from the squad.
“ ‘owd ‘e do that, boss?”
“Tain’t fair”
“Where’d ‘ee go?”
“I dunno boys, but this poor ol’ Mav’rick here needs some patchin’
up, doncha know.”
“Roight you are, boss, roight you are” was the unanimous reply.
A grave Peewee called 435 came forward, exited his battlesuit and extracted
Dantin from the
broken Maverick.
“His name is Dantin Heristal, Private.” Said 435 quietly.
“Ha! He’s the one that was lost in the wastes for all that time, wasn’t
he? With that Brawler
pilot?”
“Yes” said 435.
“Hold on. That thing was huntin’ for Mr. Dantin, right?” asked Homer.
“Possibly” said 435.
“I just had this really wild idea”
“Really” said 435
“Ah, never mind.”
Just then the medics arrived and took Dantin away to the hospital.
Homers squad quietly
returned to their posts.
++++
[Wasn’t my fault. Help came. Resistance unexpected. We must default
to next prey, yes, we
must.] So ran the Hunters thoughts. On the track of Dantin, he had
found the discarded
backpack used by Amos, and the wrapping that had helped mend his broken
rib. The ‘next prey’
was Amos Foster. After that he would take care of those who had seen
him.
++++
“Sir, remember that intruder alert earlier?”
[Of course I do] thought Alteran.
“That intruder just attacked and injured one of our soldiers and then
he disappeared again when
aid arrived. He has a cloaking shield, so we don’t know where he is
currently!” a young sergeant
almost shouted.
“Curse the timing” muttered Commander Alteran. “All right, Sergeant
Lake. Tell the units to keep
their eyes open and we’ll try to get him before we initiate the attack.”
“Sir, yes sir!”
++++
Dantin sat bolt upright on the hospital bed.
“Amos”, he croaked hoarsely, “Amos is next”. The Doctor was there in
an instant.
“Whoa, lay back down, son, it’s all right. Tell me what troubles you.”
“The Hunter is going after Amos next! Amos Foster! Hurry!” with that
he passed out.
“Better call the brass about this one.” muttered the doctor.
“Are you sure, doctor? He may just be delirious.” worried a nurse.
“I have a feeling this may be important”
++++
“I know one person he might call Amos.” said Sergeant Lake.
“Good. Well, I hope you can figure this out, Sergeant. Good luck” said
the doctor through the
comlink.
“Thank you, doctor.” Lake turned off the comlink. “Commander?”
“Yes, Mr. Lake?” Alteran sounded a bit impatient.
“Sir, we’ve found something about this intruder.” Lake told him.
“Quick, Mr. Lake, locate Airman Amos Foster now and get him a guard.
You know the drill.”
“Sir, yes sir!”
Chapter 2.3
“Man, after what I’ve heard about this thingy, I don’t feel much safer.”
Amos Foster said to Palin
Sulaj as he looked out the apartment veiwport at the ranks of Spiders
and Shooters outside.
“Actually, I feel kinda claustraphobic.”
“They will protect you with their lives” said Palin, who was standing
at ease near the doorway
with his equipment. Amos looked at him. This guy was a true warrior,
he could tell.
[The strong, silent type], he thought, and he laughed nervously.
[You will die!] suddenly and unexpectedly was roared at him and he fell
to the gound shaking.
Curiously, no one but him heard it.
[Telepathy. . .] Despite the fact that Amos was the sole reciepient
of the slightly frightening
message, Palin seemed to have caught on pretty quick. He was yelling
into his mike that *it* was
here, and then he was helping Amos up. The roars echoed through Amoses
mind, fading away.
He was terrified. Palin glanced out the window and whispered a curse.
The Shooters and
Spiders were gone, and the ground where they had stood was rippling.
A beam of light shot up
and a barely visible form took its place. Palin recognized the Hunter
immediately. It crouched
down, preparing to leap.
“Fire.” said Palin. Dozens of bright yellow beams lanced out of the
dark, but the Hunter
absorbed them and seemed not to notice. “Okay men, plan 2.” radioed
Palin. The Hunter took a
flying leap toward Amoses apartment. The Shooters had not expected
this. Twenty beams
intersected on the Hunter’s former co-ordinates.
*Cachunk*
“Company has arrived” whispered Palin.
++++
“Ha-haaa! I was right ol’ buddy!” shouted Homer in triumph. “I knew
that that ‘bot was hunting
those two.”
“Really” said 435.
“Yeah, really!”
“Shhh!” said 435. Homer’s squad was nearing Amoses apartment. It was
easily found,
especially because of the two dozen spotlights shining directly on
it. Shooters and Spiders
encircled it, their guns trained on the roof. Homer’s squad was now
nicknamed the
“extermination squad” because they had been given the job of hunting
the Hunter when it was
indoors – the Spiders and Shooters were much too large and slow for
that job, so they took care
of the outdoors.
“All’s well, men?” yelled Homer.
“All’s well Sar-geant!” they shouted back.
“Train as you do!”
“Do as you train!”
“Yeah baby! Let’s go get ‘im!”
The squad bashed down the door and ran through the hallway.
++++
“Run, Foster” said Palin.
“No problem – wait a sec. . . you’re not staying, are you?”
“Just run, Foster you fool!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going!”
Amos had no intention of going. He ran out the door and to the com.
He reached out to pick it
up, but just then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The
door he had just gone
through was rippling, liquified. Uh-oh. He knew what that meant. He
peeked through a crack,
unable to contain his curiousity. The Hunter stood there, its full
nine feet, Palin dwarfed before it
at his six feet. In his mind, Amos could hear their mental conversation.
[Aside, human. You are not my prey. The prey must die. Aside, aside.
If you do not alter your
position, kill you I must.]
[Feeble machine. You have no power over me. I will not move while I
still live.]
[You are brave, human. More than humans usually are. . . For this,
kill you I will not. But my prey
you are not. And you shall be moved.] With a flick of his finger the
Hunter knocked Palin to the
far side of the room and broke his leg.
[Uh-oh, gotta go. . .] thought Amos.
[HUMAN FOOL, I AM NOT SO EASILY ESCAPED]
An idea struck Amos. [You didn’t get Dantin, did you?]
[He. . . resisted unexpectedly. Take care of him later, I will.]
Through the crack Amos saw Homer’s squad creep up behind the Hunter and raise their guns.
[You’re weak and insane. You can’t catch me.]
[Thinking you are tricking me, you do. Not so easily tricked am I.]
With that, the Hunter turned
with amazing rapidity into a crouching position facing Homers’ squad
and lashed out with its’
liquid mercury claws. Three Peewees fell sparking and lay still. The
Hunter leapt over them and
slashed down two more before it met the EMGs of Homer. It screamed
and arched its back as it
died. Light flashed and danced in Amoses head and all around thing
were momentarily liquified.
A chair leaning against the wall was slowly falling into its rippling
face. Then, with a flash the
Hunter disappeared forever and things were once again solid. Things
were all normal, except
the chair that was halfway in the wall and halfway in the room.
Palin lay on the floor unconscious, one leg twisted abnormally, broken.
Five of Homers’ men lay
still in their ‘suits.
“Foster”
Amos looked up. Milo Homer looked as though he would cry.
“Call the medics, quick.”
As he left for the com, Amos heard Homer muttering brokenly.
“First Brown, now 435. C’mon, stay with me buddy.”
++++
“Commander Alteran, the intruder has been exterminated.”
“Good. Commence Plan 1, Sergeant Lake.”
“Very good, sir.”
Like a shadow in the night they came. Responding to the call for help,
the Arm AHB flew silently
over the plains to the break the siege that their friends had been
under for so long.
“Long live the Arm” whispered a Hovercraft pilot seconds before they
hit. They crashed onto the
enemy like a wave, using numbers and the element of surprise to cause
chaos and confusion.
Core units were hopelessly overwhelmed. The main base responded by
sending out their
soldiers, sandwiching the enemy.
The Core recovered from their shock with amazing speed. They lashed
back, driving away the
main bases opposition. The Arm AHB were not so easily put off, however.
They broke through
the siege circle, disintegrating any semblance of order, rushing to
base one’s aid.
[You won’t take us so easily] Snarled a Core Pyro in his patterned
mind. He rushed down a
slope to the main battleground. There the light was red and the night
was made like day. The
thrill of battle filled him (if he was human, he could have said it
coursed through his veins),
though it was strangely unfulfilling. As he mercilessly melted a wounded
Peewee to a heap of
useless metal, he contemplated on that. It had always been enjoyable
in the thousands of
battles he had fought before – so why wasn’t it now? He was so deep
in thought that he didn’t
notice the Hawk’s missile until it had almost hit him. Of course, it
was too late by then.
A capable leader could have kept the Core under control. He could have
at least tried. The
Decoy Commanders were either dead or simply incompetent. The folly
of the Core Commander
was that he had expertly planned an effective and efficient siege but
left it in the hands of weak
men. The soldiers were scattering and fleeing, chased off by the Arm
units that finally had a
chance to release their pent-up anger in battle. Some, including Alteran,
did not approve of this
and thought it unprofessional.
“Call back the units, call them back!” he roared in his comlink. He
proceeded to give out a long
string of orders. “Gentlemen! I understand that you are angry, but
we will behave honorably in
all are doings! Understand? When you kill, you make it clean and you
make it quick. Nothing
justifies brutal killings. I don’t want murderers in my army. All right?
That is how I expect you to
behave. Now, let’s go and win this war!”
“Long live the Arm!” came the battle cry through the speakers. Whoops
and yells were heard
until Alteran shut his comlink off. [What a lucky man I am], he thought.
Chapter 2.4
A company of Raiders rushed down the slope of the hill, followed closely
by a group of huge Arm
hovercraft. The rearmost Raiders were torn apart by their blasts. The
hovercraft were in hot
pursuit, the noise of their mighty guns crying out over all the other
sounds of battle. Then, what
was left of the Cores’ small tank company split their formation, revealing
twenty Sumos directly
in the path of the hovercraft. The hovercraft struggled to keep themselves
under control as they
were hailed with laser fire. They could not turn fast enough and all
but the rearmost crashed into
the Sumos and their flaming carcasses plowed through these Core behemoths.
Little damage
was done to the Sumos and they plodded on. A rookie soldier might have
been deceived by
their snails pace, but whoever dismissed a Sumo as being slow and stupid
usually met his end
by incineration with heavy laser.
Alpha company and Gamma company executed a pincer maneuver, slicing
through an unlucky
group of Artillery K-bots. Dantin was in Alpha company. A Thud pointed
his double plasma
cannons at an approaching Flash, and Dantin fired. Five quick shots
and shrapnel flew from the
previously living Thud Artillery Kbot. The Flash zoomed by him and
blinked its outboard lights in
thanks.
A rocket flew by Dantin and impacted in the boulder beside him. He
leapt away to avoid the
sudden explosion and landed quite ungracefully in a shallow ditch,
sprawled on the ground. He
quickly picked himself up and aimed his guns at the Rocket K-bot. Plasma
balls shot through the
air almost to quickly to be seen, and the Rocket K-bot reeled and sparked
from the shots, his
Heavy armor generators failing from the strain. Dantin fired again,
and the Storm died a quick
and fiery death. Dantin looked around the small valley for more. Wreckage
lay here and there
like grotesque statues, but it was now devoid of life. A burning Weasel
careened past him,
ramped up into the air over a small hill and exploded on the other
side. Dantin walked up the
valley side and looked out over the battlefield, noticing an isolated
Zipper in the center of an
inferno. The fire had almost reached it and several Pyros approached
it, closing in for the kill.
They were out of Dantins range, but his conscience was screaming at
him to rescue that Zipper.
He ran in bounds down the hill toward them.
++++
Here in the sky Amos felt content. A soft whir was all he heard from
his craft. He banked left with
his flight, pulled up, and circled around. Long he had dreamed of moments
like these, when in
battle he could prove himself worthy to his superiors.
His craft became an extension of his body and he flew like a bird.
One watching who was tied to
the earth would have thought it all reminiscent of a school of fish.
All in harmony the ten ships
moved, as if connected. The enemy could not match their skills and
were cut down, one by one
and two by two. Planes of angry red dropped like flies, and the Arm
prevailed.
++++
Flames glowed red around her, encircling her, trapping her. Through
the fire, in perfect unison,
stepped six Flame-thrower Infantry K-bots, Pyros. Fireproof mechanics
whirred as their cannons
raised, and in that time she knew that this was her last moment in
this world. She had heard the
saying “Death is the greatest adventure” and now she was afraid. Would
she simply no longer
exist . . . blackness forever? The Ancients had once spoke of a Heaven
and a Hell, but she
knew little of their ‘primitive’ beliefs. Hell was a place where one
was perpetually burned, and
never died. Fire and death forever . . . forever. That frightened her.
Heaven was a paradise
where one was granted all desires and lived with the God of the Ancients
forever . . . forever. So
it was written in their Holy book, so they said.
What was it called? She knew not, it had been millennia since it was
written. No one had told
her much of the Ancients’ God – who, what and where he was. No one
seemed to know him
now. But then, life here was like hell. One was born; one killed and/or
was killed. Death was
always in the air, peace was nonexistent. Her mother had once told
her tales of what it was like
before the war. She was, after all, a natural born, born on an Arm-occupied
planet. There had
been peace there . . . she barely remembered it. Her mother had sat
on the side of her bed,
each night before she went to sleep, and told her the tales of the
Ancient times. She told of
when humanity knew of only one inhabitable planet, of when the only
wars fought were petty,
small things, where millions, and sometimes only thousands died in
them; of their religions, of
their nations, and sometimes she just spoke of the gardens and the
forests. She spoke of the
people and animals, and then they prayed at the bedside. Those were
happy times for Claire.
Very happy. Tears came to her eyes when she thought back on them.
She knew not what she was fighting for. Peace? Why? What was life here?
It was nothing. It
passed as the seasons. Heaven – or paradise seemed very attractive
right now. However, she
did not know the way there. Again she wondered where she would go when
she died.
She shut her eyes and waited for the killing blow. A wave of flaming
heat crashed into her and
she was tossed like a rag doll through the night air. For a moment,
she lay still on the cool earth.
When she realized that she was not dead, she opened her eyes and saw
a hulking shadow
standing over her. With a short yell she kicked up at it and rolled
to the side, coming up on her
feet, her laser pointing toward the anonymous silhouette. Immediately
pain overcame her and
she crumpled to the ground. She passed out. A short time later she
awoke. From her viewpoint
she gathered that someone was carrying her.
“Well, well, little warrior, coming around yet?” said a soft voice.
Looking up she saw a Maverick
helmet.
“Put me down right now” she hissed.
“I would obey you without hesitation, except that if I do, we’ll get
shot. They are following us. Ah,
look! A boulder. Well, little warrior, your wish has been granted.”
He quickly but gently lowered
her battlesuit onto the huge boulder and right away began firing at
something in the distance
that was not in her view. Several booms drifted around in the still
Temblor air. Not the only
booms, by any means. The huge battle was still on, at the main base,
presumably. They were
very near it. “They are gone” the Maverick said shortly and picked
her back up without warning.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“I’m sorry”, he said, “but I’m going to get you some medical attention.
You can’t walk by
yourself.”
“I certainly can.” She replied.
“All right”, he said, “Try it.” He put her down. She stood up, swayed
for a minute, and would
have fallen, but the soldier caught her. She cried out in pain from
her effort. “See?” he said, and
picked her back up.
It wasn’t so bad, actually. She couldn’t swallow her pride, though,
and thank him for it. The
Maverick walked for a while, carrying her still. A squadron of planes
roared over them and slowly
faded into the distance. She tensed up until he assured her that they
were friendly, and that the
Arm had won the battle.
“There is more to come.” He said, “Another battle will happen, next
time it will determine who
stays on this planet and who is annihilated.”
“I know” she replied, and faltered for a moment. “What happened – back
there?”
“I saw you standing like a statue in the middle of a bunch of Pyros,
and I killed most of them –
the rest ran. You were thrown clear and damaged by the explosions.
When I came to rescue you
I got a kick in the shins and nearly was killed by your laser.”
She blushed. “Oh, so that was you!”
“Yes, it was’ he grumbled.
“Sorry” she said reluctantly.
She could almost see him rolling his eyes beneath his Maverick helmet.
“I forgive you. We’re
getting close to the hospital. The Core is gone and we are safe for
the moment. Name?”
“Private Claire Lake” she said. “Yours?”
“If you don’t know, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Then they walked into the ‘suit hanger. Claire had not known that they
were *this* close. “Let’s
get you out of that ‘suit.”
He stopped and put her down. After a second, the Maverick helmet opened,
and a man in his
early twenties emerged. Claire told her Zipper ‘suit to open, and the
canopy lifted but she could
not move without pain stabbing through her. “Hold still,” said the
man. He took a stretcher from
the medical closet in the hanger wall. Very carefully he pulled her
out of the cockpit, picked her
up and set her on the stretcher. Claire heard a clopping, as of shoes
on a hard floor, and medics
ran in. Voices clamored and her rescuer was lost from sight. As she
was wheeled down the
hallway, she craned her neck to look back. The hangar was empty.
Part 2.5
“We won, Commander!”
“Mr. Lake, wait to celebrate until we’ve won the whole thing.”
Sergeant Lake glared at the Commanders back without any real ill will
and whispered a barely
contained ‘yes!’ He quickly sobered again. The part of the battle he
least liked was coming: the
loss tally.
A little later he reported the loss tally to the Commander and rushed
to the hospital. His sister
Claire had been injured. He had many questions for her once he found
that she was not
seriously injured.
“How do you feel?” he asked anxiously.
“I’m fine, David.”
“How did you get hurt?”
“I was in the battle, David. Fighting. Did you expect me to come out
unscathed?”
“I was worried, very worried. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Claire was
a bit surprised. David had
never been the affectionate type, at least at home. They argued a whole
lot.
“Thank you for thinking of me.” She said, genuinely grateful.
“You said you were in the battle. Medics didn’t pick you up?”
“No . . . a strange man rescued me. The battle was still going on,
and the Core was coming our
way, I think. He killed the pursuers and then carried me back to base.
I haven’t seen him since.”
Claire, actually, wished that she could see the man again and thank
him. She didn’t tell her
brother about her embarrassing experience when he first found her,
though.
As David left, he asked the medics outside who it was that had rescued
his sister. Only one had
seen him.
“The soldier who escaped from the destroyed metal farm with that pilot”
the medic said. “Think
‘is name was Dintin or sumthin’.
“Private First Class Dantin Heristal” said David Lake. He was a little
amazed. The guy was a bit
of a celebrity in the main base, he decided the reason for his sister
not knowing him was that the
infantry didn’t get much in the way of news.
“Yeah. ‘Scuse my memory.” Grunted the medic.
++++
“Hey, loverboy!” Amos greeted Dantin the next day. “Heard about your
rescue of the little lady
zipper last night. Woohoo! Talk about a knight in shining armor!”
“Shut up, Amos.” Was the reply from a peeved-looking Dantin.
“No problem, Dantin.” Amos chuckled.
“Amos, what would you have done in my place. Watched her die there?
I think not! You would
have done exactly what I did, which was bring her to the closest aid
as fast as possible.”
Amos looked at his feet. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”
“I knew you didn’t mean it.” Dantin put up his towel on the rack. Amos
grinned mischievously.
“Soooo, you gonna visit her at the hospital today?” he said.
“Maybe”
“Oh, Dantin, I’m so glad you came to see me today!” Amos said in an
unrealistically high
imitation of a woman’s voice.
“Shut up, Amos”
Amos laughed silently.
++++
When Claire awoke she found herself looking at a pot of flowers.
[What?] They sat still on her bedside dresser, freshening up the otherwise
sterile-looking room.
A small card was on them. She reached over and read it.
‘From the Maverick’ it said. She smiled. Hydroponically grown, and
purchased from the hospital
gift shop, no doubt, but it was the thought that counted, and she had
been wondering if he
would remember her. She wished that she knew his name, though, so that
she could thank him,
for now she seriously regretted not doing that while he was with her.
“Ma’am?” said a voice from the door. Claire glanced up. A nurse peeked
in. “By tomorrow you’ll
be completely recovered and after a good nights sleep you can go.”
“Thank you nurse.” The nurse left. That night, before she went to sleep,
Claire remembered to
say her prayers . . .
++++
“Well boys, how are we doing?” asked St. John over his comm. Voices
responded instantly from
the other planes.
“Great, Captain.”
“Wonderful, sir.”
“Never better.”
“I dunno sir, I’ve never flown a real plane before. What does this
red button do? The one with
the yellow stripes around it? Just wanted to know, ‘cause I pressed
it. There’s some little
numbers counting down now.” a voice said in false bewilderment/amazement.
“Foster, you idiot, you’re going to be the death of me someday.”
“That’s A1C Amos Foster to you, Captain St. John.” Amos replied haughtily.
“Since yesterday,
so there. ‘Tis a shame you missed the promotion ceremony.”
“Hey, I was escorting the women to the door, mister high-and-mighty.
Shame you missed that!
Swooning all over me from the ‘heat’, so they were.”
“Sure, Cap’n. Afterwards during social hour they complained to me that
you were the most
boring person they’d ever seen. They said said it never even crossed
your mind to be romantic.
Ha! So there again!”
“Okay Amos, enough of that, we’ve got a mission.” said St. John, “everyone
ready to go blast
the stragglers?” After a chorus of hearty ‘Ayes!’ they were out of
the hanger and again swooping
over Temblor.
“Bravo one reporting enemy sighting, sector Dw-09. We appear to have
a group of small
vehicles on our hands here.”
“Roger that, Bravo one. Bravo flight, take the vehicles, Peregrine
flight cover them.” The aircraft
swooped down toward the crevice and sighted the vehicles.
“Uh-oh, we got Coppers here. Sir, may I suggest that the Hawks do the
first run?”
“Good idea, Steele. Bravo flight, peel left and follow the Hawks in.”
“Ten-four, Cap’n. Bravo flight moving into attack position and readying
for our run.”
“Ten-four. Peregrine flight, take Talon formation and fire A-S missiles
on my my mark.”
‘Coppers’ were Core mobile flak vehicles, not good at targeting fast
aircraft like Hawks, but they
could do a lot of damage to the slower Brawlers.
++++
A Core Copperhead heard a roar through his audio sensors and he warily
pointed his twin flak
cannons toward the sky. Dots in the sky . . . tiny dots. Oh, action.
Time to swat down some Arm
flies again. This was his job, and he had no problems with it. He quickly
issued a warning that
enemy aircraft were in the area and set about to targeting them. Heh,
the Arm vermin were quite
puffed up over their last victory . . . time to burst their bubble.
BROADCAST ITEM (CORE Copperhead d4123-56704): Arm aircraft approaching
at
coordinates 250:2539
NARROW BAND MESSAGE (CORE Copperhead d4123-56704): Requesting permission
to fire
BROADCAST REPLY (CORE Commander DS422-53791): Permission granted: Fire
at will
CONTAINED ITEM (CORE CKV 2-45): Coordinates supplied to all units in
the area. Firing
commencing: 10:23:45.
NARROW BAND MESSAGE: (CORE CKV 2-45): Arm aircraft have commenced firing
on minor
base 12b-03. MB 12b-03 is under heavy fire. Assistance requested.
NARROW BAND REPLY: Assistance denied.
AUTOMATED RESPONSE SYSTEM: The pattern and chassis of CORE CKV 2-45
has been
terminated.
The Copperhead scanned the area with his visual sensors. Already the
first couple of missiles
had taken their leader, a Construction Vehicle. Things did not bode
well for this camp. Even if
they did get rid of this threat they would be without a leader, and
he suspected that no-one back
at the main base really cared. Well, they’d have to find someone.
Dozens of small infantry and scout units scurried about the camp, preparing
for an airstrike. This
camp was situated in one of Temblors’ many metal-rich crevices. The
walls of the crevice were
steep enough to keep all but the most agile units out – or in, depending
which side they were
on. Air defense was heavy here, and the sluggish Copperheads were now
struggling to keep
their sights on the speedy Hawks. Missiles began to appear like smoking
rain, and in unison
they slammed into their targets. Smoke and fire billowed from the crevice.
Inside, there was a little bit of confusion. The Copperhead realized
his arrogance when a
projectile from a rookie hit him and he had approximately two hundredths
of a second to think
back on his life before he exploded, taking out his fellow Copperheads.
A Crasher cursed as he watched the valuable Coppers go up. He stood
on a boulder and picked
at the Hawks with SAM’s, and finally the one he had been shooting at
started wobbling as if a
drunk was piloting it. The Hawk burst into flames and then plunged
downward to the surface,
where it made a large crater. He would have aquired another target
except that the smoke kept
him from seeing the other planes. Then it all stopped. No more missiles
deafened the Core
soldiers. The Crasher examined what he could see of the camp through
all the smoke. The
Metal Extractors had mainly been replaced by craters of blackened earth.
The earth was rent in
places, and one severely damaged infantry ‘bot staggered forward, tripped,
and fell in. A flash of
light emitted from the tear, followed by billowing black smoke. A CKB
plodded out of the
haziness and began to nanolathe a new Metal Extractor.
[Well, that was fun] thought the Crasher. [What is that humming noise?].
The hum grew
gradually louder. A hundred EMG blasts seemed to have been fired in
the general direction of
the nanolathing CKB. It continued its construction project, oblivious
to the burnt and melted sand
flying up all around it. The sand turned to a dirty glass and the firing
stopped. The CKB finished
the Extractor and tried to move, but it was firmly anchored to the
melted ground. Its mechanisms
strained and then gave out in a shower of sparks. It slumped over.
The firing resumed,
peppering the ground, destroying the rest of the camp until nothing
was left except the boulder
in the middle of the crevice.
++++
“That’s it, boys. We’re done here. We’re heading back to base.” Said
Captain St. John. The
pilots sighed in relief. St. John began radioing information to the
control towers at the airbase.
“When I get back to unit quarters, I’m gonna take long, hot shower.
Oh! Gives me chills down my
spine just thinking about it.”
“Hey! Military bearing, Foster. We don’t want to hear about what you’re
going to do when we get
home.”
“Sir.” Amos said. “Hey, Cap’n, do you get bigger showers when you become
an officer? We
NCO’s have like one square foot of floor space in our showers. I think
I’m gonna convert my
whole bathroom-“
“Foster, would you like to stay A1C for more than one more hour?” St.
John interrupted him.
“Yessir.”
“Then shut up.”
“Sir.” A moment later: “I was wondering earlier why I didn’t meet many
babes on the job, and
then I remembered that we don’t have any in our flight! I am greviously
wounded by this kind of
punishment we lowly flight members are subjected to.”
“It’s not a punishment. The girls come in droves to apply for a position
in this flight when they’re
told that I’m the flight commander, but when the find out that *you*
are in it, for some reason they
hastily back away muttering excuses and-” St. John was stopped by an
indignant flurry of
speech from the com.
“What! What kind of women are those? Why, every lady with class thinks
I’m the most dashing
guy they ever saw!”
“Okay, cut the chatter. We’re nearing base. Amos, ready for your shower?”
“Sir, you said cut the chatter.” Amos said in an uncharacteristically
serious voice.
“Hah! Since when did you take orders from me?”
“Always did, sir.” Amos said in the same serious voice but managed
to insinuate a hurt tone into
it at the same time.
“Well, I’m glad to see you’re finally coming to your senses.”
++++
The Crasher crawled out from underneath the large boulder, his once
shiny ‘suit battered and
dirty. He had become afraid and hidden in the last battle, and that
was not acceptable. He dared
not report the loss of this camp, for he knew he would be asked how
he had survived.
Automated self-destruct was not permitted unless he was ordered to
die, so he pointed his
missile launchers at the ground at his feet and fired. A pillar of
flame consumed him and he was
no more.
--------------------------------------