AN: My first AW fic. This idea I got from a session of literature class that covered the German 'Sturm und Drang' movement, which basically meant the increase of interest with folk tales such as the Grimm brothers' compilations. What am I talking about, you ask? Well, you'll just have to read it to get it. On a side note, this is slightly AU, since in this fic, Hawke's Black Storm doesn't kill Sturm, but just renders him almost virtually incapacitated.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the AW/2 COs, nor do I own AW and AW2… in the sense of copyright law. However, I do own copies of them, so there :P

The Shades of White and the Shades of Gray

An Advance Wars fic

By Fizzy 13

Prologue: Orbital Dilemma

"I told you already, sir! It's very important! Reconstruction of the Death Ray will just have to wait!" Lash had been pressing the urgency of the current matter - no longer in her childishly evil and playful mood - for the past two minutes or so, justifying the reason on just why she had barged into the throne room whilst Hawke was in the middle of his daily afternoon coffee sipping ritual. The said event would take hours to complete, and it was taboo for anybody, especially other COs, to disturb him while he was at it.

Ever since Hawke took over Black Hole after Sturm's defeat, quite a few things have changed, including, of course, the chain of command. Other than that, Hawke had apparently declared every third week of April as 'National Coffee Week', in which every possible festivity designated to commemorate the power that coffee provided was dished out in a span of seven days. Not that the quiet commander actually attended his celebrations, or anything, but a declaration was a declaration. Furthermore, he ensured no threat would come to his power by incarcerating Black Hole's former dictator in a suspended animation chamber designed to keep him there just about... forever. Or so Lash had put it.

Invading other territories wasn't exactly his priority at the moment, since he was too engrossed in basking in his newfound glory - exactly ten days old - to even bother doing anything about those meddling COs whose rock solid coalition currently dominated the majority of the continent of Macro Land.

"Fine, fine, go ahead and tell me… I might consider having you arrested if you stay in here any longer." The Commander-in-Chief of Black Hole calmly stated. He quietly took another sip out of his cup, immediately refilling it afterward.

Lash breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he was going to listen, instead of just sipping his coffee arrogantly all afternoon long, which was technically what he'd been doing for the past week and a half since Black Hole's mortifying defeat. "For the past three days our intelligence system has been picking up coded messages from an unidentified source somewhere on the Terra Land continent."

"And how does this concern us? Is it meant for Black Hole, or the countries in Macro Land?" Hawked calmly sipped again, reveling in the exotic bitterness of what resided in his cup. He definitely preferred good old brewed coffee to pathetic three-in-one instants. The quality was far superior to that of the latter.

"At first I thought it was for some other territory and that our radio posts were just picking them up by chance, but then I noticed two anomalies…" Hawke nodded, giving her permission to continue, "First, when we traced the transmission's projection path, we realized we were the only country to have receptors within range of actually receiving the transmission as it passed by. Second, when we tried identifying the language, it was a perfect match with Lord - I mean - Sturm's native tongue…"

"So you're telling me that more likely than not, these coded messages are for Black Hole, more specifically, Sturm." Hawke took a longer sip than usual, apparently downing every last drop. His coffee pot had also been empty for the past minute or so. His afternoon coffee ritual was officially over… a lot earlier than scheduled. "Do you think you can decode them?"

"I'll have to say no to that, sir. Sturm was careful enough to keep the data on his native language nowhere near our understanding. None of the mainframe computers have anything on it. The only reason we figured that it was in his tongue was a funny little word Sturm liked using in his private quarters." Lash paused, as if trying to give effect to what she was going to say next…

It just happened to be that moment when a generic Black Hole space marine barged into the throne room, disturbing the building tension. "Lord Hawke! We've just received a Priority One image transmission from our observatory on Mt. Availos! They've sighted a large concentration of unidentified satellites in high orbit right above the citadel!"

"What!?" Hawke resisted the urge to show everybody that he had actually lost his cool that very moment by jumping out of the throne and shaking the whole story out of that soldier. How could anybody have snuck up on their advanced early warning system just like that? It was totally inconceivable. Stay calm... we can get out of this... "Lash, do we have anything we can use against those satellites?"

She smiled that evil little childish smile she usually wore whenever baring another one of her 'toys' and brought out a palm top computer, tapping on its touch screen a few times to bring forth a holographic display of what appeared to be some sort of modified missile launcher. "Behold! The Anti-Satellite Missile Launcher! I call it A-Sat for short. It's capable of firing a laser-guided missile up to an altitude of 400 miles, just enough to take out a wayward satellite and then some! In short, we're gonna have us a falling star show this afternoon!" Her smile widened. She was going to enjoy blowing those things out of the sky.

It became apparent to Hawke that using these 'A-Sats' was the only option he had, in case those satellites belonged to some unknown opponent from somewhere, that somewhere, he concluded, being the same origin as the transmission the little wiz kid had reported: Terra Land. There are no such things as coincidences… only accidents. If somebody in Terra Land with enough resources to build 'a large concentration of satellites,' as the soldier had put it, was reaching out to Sturm, and found out that he had been put in the ice box, he would probably be pissed of right now. "Very well then. Lash, prepare your A-Sats and triangulate the exact location of the transmission's origin. We're going to launch a counteroffensive on Terra Land as soon as those birds are downed."

Lash's reaction was quite expected. "Yay! We're launching an attack! Okey dokey, Hawke! You'll have your coordinates as soon as I finish playing with those satellites!" She scampered to the doorway and turned around one last time, "Toodles!" before disappearing into the hallway.

That was when the first beam hit them. Not only did it hit them where it hurt, it hit them hard. Several more came after this, each one destroying vital structures of the under-reconstruction fortress. Dozens of soldiers died in the attack. Hundreds of others were injured. Buildings, trees, and mountainsmelted as the pillars of light passed through them. Others that weren't close enough to suffer the aforementioned fate just burst into flames. The survivors of Black Hole's last encounter with the Macro Land Coalition had lost a massive number of their fellow men yet again, against an unknown aggressor.

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"Combat Satellites are in position and primed to fire, my Lord. Numbers three, seven, and twelve have already struck at Black Hole's citadel, while 13, 21, and 62 just razed several of their key bases, leaving them in utter disarray." The only illumination whatsoever in the room was a holographic model of Wars World, Surrounded by several dozen red, blue, and green dots, satellites. Six of the red ones were blinking rapidly, apparently above the relatively small island that belonged to Black Hole. "Striking with the rest now would render Orange Star, Green Earth, Blue Moon, and Yellow Comet completely incapacitated-"

"No, not yet... I do not squander the power of my precious Combat Satellites for something as insignificant as decimating entire armies that I haven't even fought with yet. The intelligence division did a grand job of getting me all the information I needed, but now, because of that, I feel the urge to engage them myself… to see what they are capable of doing - to see the reason why they managed to defeat Sturm twice.'' the voice that responded was full of air, almost artificial... "Are the Dragon COs in position?"

"Yes they are, my Lord. General Wyvern is getting impatient and has sent us several complaints about Yellow Comet's winter season being too cold to bear. His latest blog threatens to launch his attack prematurely if we don't give him permission."

"And when was this last blog transmitted?" The superior of the two inquired, his interest obviously piqued.

"Around ten minutes ago, my Lord."

"I see..." the voice's owner began to silently contemplate his next move. "Very well. Give Wyvern permission to attack. We shall see what happens when that pitiful backward nation is given a taste of our power..."

"But my Lord... It's not yet the appointed time... if they attack now-"

"Regent!" The voice cut off yet again, "Just… do it." The Dragon COs were extremely flexible, and could adjust easily to a schedule modified on such short notice, at their best when working together, although when it came to conquering an entire continent in the span of less than a week, it required the division of labor according to who was suited to where. When it came down to whoever was best suited to taking down the backward fools who resided in Yellow Comet, - as Regent's intel was infallible, having been one of its older COs - Wyvern topped the credentials. After all, Astra was the top dragon and decided everything that was to be done. Wyvern's unstable temper was best released on a nation that would have a hard time fighting against their advanced technology, even if their General was quite incompetent and rather wild, to say the least. And it was showing at that moment of truth when he had been given permission, that his impatience was indeed a force to be reckoned with.

What could Regent say? He was talking to the Supreme Commander of the White Pulsar Forces, and nobody, especially a certain former Yellow Comet CO, who now happened to be the Executive Officer, ever crossed the Supreme Commander of the White Pulsar Forces. He could only say one thing, "Of course... By your will, Lord Drang."

To Be Continued…

What's going to happen to Black Hole now that it's suffered a barrage of satellite fire? What has Drang in store for Macro Land? More importantly, what has he to do with Sturm? Who is Regent and why did he leave Yellow Comet in the first place? And how in the name of St. Andy Barclay is Yellow Comet going to react to seeing a dragon in their country? Only the next chapter can decide that.

AN: Like I said, my first AW fic. Please be gentle! On a side note, 'Sturm und Drang' means 'Storm and Stress', in case you don't know. And no, Drang's name has no symbolic meaning whatsoever, unless partnered with Sturm, whatever that means. In the meantime, please be so kind as to review this fic! Thank you.