The weapons in this were taken or were based off units from the game, Tom Clancy's Endwar and as such belongs to Ubisoft.

The individual chars however are property of me and Cydra.

Collins was originally the property of KnightCommander who helped me testrun this story when it was being posted on a old forum and is used with his permission

Authors note: This story is completely unrelated to mine and Cydra's saga stories.

Third energy chronicles

Book 1

chapter 1

If one had the opportunity to see the streets of London following the blast, the first thing that would come to mind is "nuclear holocaust". The streets and buildings were nothing more than piles of rubble. Overturned cars were scattered every five feet it seemed, and the sky was a dull orange pierced every once in a while by deadly lightning.

At first there had been lots of survivors...not all of them human. But over the years, while the rest of the world went to hell, people had vanished. The remains of the new commonwealths military had struggled and failed to maintain order. As far as Collins knew from fragmented radio chatter years ago, the European federation had its hands full.

Collins, a thickset Irishman with a gruff attitude and an eye for his surroundings, picked through the rubble, searching for anything that might possibly be of use. The rest of his group, holding scavenged weapons were looking around. "Hey, we should go. Those damn raptors probably raided this block ages ago. They've been a pain ever since they got the hang of tin openers."

"So it would seem," Collins said in his thick brogue, "I can't find a blasted thing in this rock pile." Collins finally managed to uncover the door to the old shopping mall's stock basement. It did look deserted. One of the group rushed forward...and vaporised as he tripped a claymore someone had set up. A raggedy guy in a shop uniform, holding a shotgun came up the steps. "THIS IS MY STASH! SOD OFF!" he yelled and fired wildly.

The rest of the squad ducked behind cover. Collins drew his M1911 and put a .45 slug right into the man's chest. The guy crumpled. "Damn...the whole world really is down the crapper," said Collins's brother, Alex. The basement had obviously been lived in for a while. Several skeletons in similar uniforms and a few in SWAT ones were lying around. "Cabin fever," said one, looking at a can of spaghetti.

"I'll say," Collins said, putting his gun away. Collins holstered his gun. "C'mon, let's get this stuff," He said, "Whatever's left." Just then, they heard the familiar thumping of a helicopter's rotors. Their lookout ran down. "It's a chopper...a Russian one. I knew those dino's were made by the Russians," he said, grinning. Alex smirked. "Told you not everyone was toast," he said to Collins. The group ran out to see a Hornet chopper hovering near the ruins of parliament. Several figures were seen abseiling down. At the same time, several energy bursts could be seen in the permanent cloud. "It's gonna earth."

"Everyone, head for cover!" Collins shouted. The guys quickly found some rubble piled high and dove behind it. The energy rounds smacked into pile, causing some chunks of rubble to drop down and nearly hit the men. Alex peered out. "Is it over?" he said before a fourth round shot into his chest. He seemed confused before shimmering into nothing. A minute later, several troopers in Russian Spetnaz Guard Brigade gear jogged round the corner, guns raised.

The squad snarled and loaded their weapons. Collins released the safety catch on his rifle and slipped a fresh clip into his M1911. Another group appeared on a rooftop, aiming down at them. The line separated to let a 22 year old white male, wearing a camouflage uniform and glasses. "Ok...which ones are the Collins brothers?" the person said, unphased by the guns.

"Who's asking, borsch sucker!" He shouted, angered by the sight of seeing his brother vaporized. The guy shrugged. "Vulture Brigade...FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE...put those guns down, men," he said turning to the others who reluctantly lowered their rifles. "We got your S.O.S.," he said turning back before spotting the scorch mark where Alex had been. He had a good idea what had caused it...10 of his men had been vaporised the same way upon landing.

"What the hell went wrong?" Collins asked, "My brother is dead." The guy turned and looked at him. "So's my sister, join the club. Now, there's a raptor pack between us and the evaq zone, wanna visit Minzk?" he said. The rest of the squad nodded approvingly. "If the deal comes with a five star hotel room and a four course dinner in the Winter Palace, then fine." The guy smirked. "You got it...name's Lynch, but everyone calls me Matt," he said. "Nice ta meet ye," Collins said.

...

The new group walked through the deserted streets, shining lights into darkened ruins and down alleys. A trooper with the nametag, 'Techo', on it said, "The pack's round the corner...damn," as he peered round the corner. The raptors seemed to have been literally torn apart. Some had also been burnt too. Matt stared. "What could have done this?" he said.

"I don't know," Collins said, "But whatever it was, it has power behind it." Collins approached the corpses. He prodded the largest one, the barrel of his gun flaking off bits of the charred flesh. The corpse suddenly hacked and turned to look weakly. The whole group immediately aimed at it. Matt walked up, pushing Collins's gun down. The raptors eyes had the tell-tale blue hue of a mutator variant dinosaur.

It reached under and produced a single egg and stared up at the humans before it. "Please..." she said weakly before falling still. The egg rolled across the tarmac and stopped against Matt's foot. Techo snatched a flamethrower off a soldier and aimed at it. "I always wanted omelette," he said till Matt raised a hand.

"Don't," Matt said. Collins was surprised. "What are you doing?" he said, "Are you on drugs or have you gone completely off your rocker?" Matt looked. "It's a kid. I'm a scavenger, probably mental and with access to the WMD weapons from WW3..But I'm not a kid killer...no matter the species. We can always hand him into the Coalition when he's hatched," Matt said. Techo shrugged. "Least he admits he's mad," he muttered to Collins as the evaq chopper flew overhead and landed at the end of the street.

...

The chopper buzzed over the North Sea until it came upon what at first appeared to be a massive artificial island. Soon, however, it turned out to be a massive aircraft carrier, complete with a sea of choppers littering its flight deck... the USS Darkus. Matt looked over at Collins. "You like?" he yelled over the chopper's engine. Several Russian Su-38 jets could also be seen through an open deck lift. "We got it off the Enclave." Techo, who was holding the egg laughed. "Well...we stole it actually...they weren't using it," he said as he caught Collins' gaze.

Collins kept thinking about the few close scrapes he had had with the raptors. Twice he nearly came close to ending up as the main course. He stared at the egg. He crossed himself. Matt noticed. "You wanna go live in the Coalition? Fine...you wanna kill that kid? Fine...just remember...I may hate dino's I've met...but not ones that haven't hurt me yet. If you touch that egg's contents before it does something to deserve it, you can swim to Europe," he said. The chopper finally landed and the team began to pile out. A few deck crew looked shocked but were silenced as Matt stared at them. It was obvious who was in charge.

Collins just scowled. He had seen the damage some of the reptilian bastards could cause, the almost pleasured look in their eye they got when they made the kill, as thought they enjoyed it. He kept a tight grip on his rifle. "I can tell," Collins said abruptly, "Give us a good reason to join you guys." Wilson smirked. "No meat eaters in our settlements. We get food from the farms but no dinos allowed in our towns, or even over the border." he said.

Collins smiled. "I suppose that's reason enough," he said. "What do you guys think?" Most of the squad agreed. One said, "Not a chance...if he really hated dino's then that egg would be omelette." Wilson glared. "He just judges guys by their actions," he said coldly. Obviously Matt was a popular commander. Collins nodded. "I guess we'll all in agreement then," he said, "We're in." Matt was behind them. How he'd gotten there wasn't known but it made most of Collins' squad jump. "Good to hear...wanna hear your first duty? A test as it were?" He waited then said, "You're on guard in the infirmary...the egg stays safe..." Collins hated the idea, absolutely despised it, but orders were orders. "Alright, men, let's go," he said.

...

That night, the crew were sitting in the guard station next to the infirmary. "This is dumb," said the person who'd mentioned the omelette comment. "We could easily get outta here. We shouldn't be taking orders from a guy like this Matt." A few others nodded in agreement.

"Zip it, all of you," A burly sergeant said, "Mouths shut and stay put." Collins said, "Orders are orders. The bad feelings lasted the rest on the night till a group of guys in EFEC commando gear relieved them. They came onto deck to see Copenhagen on the horizon. It was worryingly silent. "Don't worry, not many cars there, most vehicles are coalition military now," said a sentry.

"Understood," Collins said. The silence was still nerve inducing, however. He was still used to the sound of cars in the background. It was obvious as the ship docked, lowering landing ramps, that Vulture Brigade were not popular. Dozens of vehicles and troops lined the dock, aiming as shore parties went down. A few guys were passing out what looked like shirt lapels. Matt grabbed one and clicked it on. "Translators...I'd take one if I was you." he said.

Collins took one. "Technology, can't live with it, can't live without it." He quipped. He wasn't exactly technoliterate. It was clear what the translators were for as several Stenosaurus went by outside the gate. It was wierd for Collins and the others. Nobody was running in terror and nobody was being chewed on either. One made its wierd hooting to Matt who answered, the translator speaking over him in the right language.

"Well how do ya like that, eh?" A Canadian private said. "Dino soldiers." Collins said nothing. Matt turned and said with a smirk. "Nope...apparently just taking a walk to the parklands." A black african in a blue camo suit was standing nearby. "Commandant Anlios?" said Matt. The commandant spoke in a strong kenyan accent. "Commander...there was no expedition to the dead zone authorized...you should be careful...one day you will overstep your boundaries."

"So there wasn't." Collins said. "Better to overstep my boundaries than have my men starve." Matt turned. "He was talking to me...Englands quarantined...hell if I know why." he said as the Commandant and his aide walked off. A light beeped on what had seemed to have been his watch. Matt obviously knew its significance as he turned and headed for the Darkus.

A trooper was standing guard. "Alert went off in the infirmary." the guard said. Matt paid no attention to Collins and followed the guard. Collins followed him deep into the steel bowels of the ship. The tight corridors were suffocating to a field man like Collins. "Bloody hell." He said. "I hate ships."

The infirmary where Collins and his squad had guarded last night was the destination. A faint scrabbling could be heard from the other side. Matt drew his pistol and nodded to the others. Collins cocked his M1911 and held it in an iron grip. He stared straight ahead, ready for whatever it was that was scratching behind the door.

Matt released the seal on the door and slowly opened it. He clicked the light on and saw that the egg had hatched, as judged by the empty egg shell. "Great..." he said, looking under a table. He didn't hear the claws on the table behind him and was shocked when something the size of a chicken jumped into his arms. It was the baby raptor. The little baby squeaked happily and snuggled up to Matt.

"You are the man who would become daddy to the lizard." Collins said. "How amusing." Matt glared. "We're not keeping him." he said, putting the dinosaur on the floor, only to have it jump back up. The glare he gave everyone said simply that the first humorous comment would be a death offence

Collins buttoned his lip. "And, what do we do with him?" He asked. "I don't suppose you have a nice family to put him with." Matt shrugged, handing the raptor over to Techo, where it bit him. "GYAH...we can't give him to the coalition...they hate meat lizards...OW!" he said. Apparently the raptor knew enough already to recognize the usual insult name for dinos. The raptor jumped back to Matt. "This sucks..." he said, noticing that the raptor had one blue mutator eye.

...

The gang had headed into town. Matt had introduced Collins to the last of his team. Sonya, an asian teenage girl who the sniper of Matts team. "So he imprinted on you?" she said, tickling the raptor under its snout, making it squeak happily. "I say we keep him...he's kinda cute."

"Cute now." Collins said. "Then he gets big... and hungry." Collins got a grip on his pistol. Sonya shrugged. "My base has a friendly raptor clan nearby." she said in a matter-of-fact voice. Matt had wandered off for a minute and stopped when a guy stopped him. "Mr lynch?"

Matt stopped. "Who wants to know?" The guy grinned. "Derek Colson." Matt stopped. "Hmm...I knew one once...a 'not a very nice person' merc who tried to attack New Anchorage in Poland...we kicked his...oh dear." Matt said as he twigged...around the same time Colson aimed a rusty uzi in his face. "Least you remember me." Colson said and would have ended Matt there and then, hadn't the baby jumped on his shoulder and dug his toe claws in to the hilt.

Colson yelled and tried to throw the baby off, only for Matt, Techo, Wilson and Sonya to blow his head off. The baby jumped off the falling body and ran back to it, snarling angrily at it. Collins had drawn his M1911. He stared at the body for a few seconds before holstering it. "I guess we won't be needing him around." He said.

Matt prodded the body with his foot as Coalition MP's rushed in. "What the...what happened here?" Matt shrugged. "Someone wanted payback..." he said. The two troopers looked at the ex-Colson, matching the guys face to their wanted list before dragging him off.

The raptor had jumped up to Matt's shoulder. "Ok...that was useful...almost wanna keep the little fella." he said, "I say you owe him one." Collins said in jest as he shouldered his rifle. "Maybe some juicy filet mignon." He said. The raptor turned and Matt could have sworn it glared. "We could always give him to one of these clans that Sonya loves to mention..." he said.

Collins couldn't agree more. The faster they got the raptor out, the better, in his mind.

...

The groups transport was waiting outside Copenhagen's security walls. Four BTR-112 cockroach transports with the Russian insignia half-painted over. "What ya think?" Matt said, acting like the four old transports were new Lamborghini's. "They look quite mean." Collins said. True, the twin cannons mounted on the turret and the fearsome art painted on the turret itself gave the vehicle a menacing look.

One of Collins team said. "You sure you're not spetznaz?" Matt grinned. "Last I looked I wasn't." he said, climbing up the rear ramp of the lead transport. Collins shrugged and followed him in. He took a seat next to a burly looking soldier. "Hasn't been your day has it?" He asked, seeing the trooper's tired expression.

The trooper nodded as the ramp went up. "Just another day." he said. A shaking signalled that the small group was underway. After a while, Collins got up and slid a firing port open. The group was driving along a half-overgrown road between wild fields that bore some old resemblance to farm fields. A small group of hadrosaurs could be seen in the distance.

"Can't escape the lizards, can we?" He said to himself, loading a fresh clip into his rifle and cocking it. "Spoilin' for a fight are we?" The soldier asked. "Never hurts to be prepared," said Collins. Another trooper looked out. "Oh...they're plant eaters...they're ok...for them." he said, spotting the hadrosaurs. "What? you think that the deserted towns food stocks would still be good after 6 years?" he added with a smirk before snatching Collins' rifle and passing him an AK-74u off the transports rack. "Those are much better." he said.

"Uh, thanks." Collins said. He stuck the rifle out the port. Several of the hadrosaurs honked at the metal intruder that had invaded their space. At that, several human heads peered up, unseen previously due to the height of the crop. "Coalition farmers...figures." said the trooper. "I wonder how they put up with these guys eating their crops." Collins asked.

The trooper shrugged. "You saw those dino's back in the city...they're just as clever as us...kinda takes the fun outta hating them...almost." he said.

...

It was 4 hours later. The last human had been seen 2 hours previously...though the skeleton had been pushing that a bit. Collins tried to stay awake. He was beginning to grow weary from the previous day's mission. He nearly dozed off again, and slapped himself. The little raptor had fallen asleep in an empty helmet next to him. Nobody seemed bothered by him, except Techo who was eyeing it in shock. "You're awake then...you missed it." he said

Collins barely heard him. He was still fighting sleep. At this the raptor had woken up as well and wandered over towards Matt who was also asleep, his hat over his eyes. "Bro...ther..." it hissed before settling down next to Matt. Needless to say, that woke Collins up faster then a tanker full of coffee. "Did that thing just do what I think it did?" He said, his eyes as wide as an architeuthis.

Techo laughed. "Yeah...he has to stay now...if only for humour purposes and to wake up newbies like you." he said. The raptor woke up again with a chirp and looked at them with a now noticeable intelligent gaze. Techo laughed again. "That's the boss...could sleep through an air raid." he said as Matt mumbled something about mutant cabbages and turned over.

Collins just continued to stare at the raptor. "Can all these things talk?" He asked. Techo shook his head. "Nah...I think it can cause it's only half mutator...all the mutator dino's can talk like natives." he said. "Mutators?" Collins asked. "Oh...they're mutant versions of their species...they can turn humans into their type of dino...the Coalition uses them to punish dino killers. I dunno the details...something to do with the third energy explosion." said Techo, bored.

"Hmm." Collins said. Mutation didn't sound pleasant. Teco shrugged. "They can reverse it...before I joined VB...I had to spend a month as a gallimimus...it doesn't hurt...but it ain't fun." he said. Collins smiled slightly. "I'll take ye word for it." He said.

Techo glared. "Laugh it up..." he said angrily. Suddenly the transport shuddered to a sudden halt. Matt woke up with a yelp and the raptor fell down with a frightened eep. "What the hell?" he said as the ramp fell down. The troops all on unspoken words grabbed rifles, rocket launchers and other weapons before running down the ramp. They were on another deserted road in a snowy forest. There was also a transport missing. "Where the other transport?" said Techo, worried. He was answered as the said transport flew over the top of the trees on fire. "The hell?" said Matt

Collins heard what sounded like skittering on the top of the transport. It sounded like...
"Bugs!" Someone yelled. "Huge ass ones!" It was a bug...a spider to be exact. Matt didn't recognize its species but when another transport turned its autocannons on it and effectively liquidized it, more of them skittered out the woods, spitting various things at the group. "This sucks...where's a giant rolled up newspaper when you need it?" yelled Matt, chucking an anti-tank grenade at another one.

"Those looked more like scorpions." A soldier said. "That's exactly what they were." Matt said. "Prehistoric sea scorpions. Very vicious, very deadly. They carry a potent poison." Matt looked as the rest of his troops drove the scorpions away with flamethrowers...right into the sights of four russian 'Ogre' tanks who turned their own flamethrowers on them. In a few minutes the insectoids were all dead. "Ok...shall we continue?" he said, "We must be close to Rovaniemi," he said. A few minutes later and a huge security wall, similar to Copenhagen's, came into view.

"I'll take it this is Rovaniemi." Collins said. "Looks like Fort Knox at Defcon 1." Matt smirked. "Used to be a Euro airbase...was overrun with t-rexs when we got here." he said as the transports rolled inside. "Now it looks like Airbase Rustoleum." Collins said. "Ever thought of giving it a paint job?" He asked.

Matt shrugged. "I like it like this...this is Techo's base anyway." he said. A few guards watched in surprise as the little raptor followed Matt into the base. "I swear that lizard thinks Matt's his dad." Collins said. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and followed them into the base. Wilson shrugged. "It keeps calling him 'brother' but who knows how those things think." he said.

"Brother hmm?" Collins thought. Then his stomach began to growl. He hadn't eaten since yesterday, and he was all out of rations. Wilson pointed. "Barracks are that way...food can be got opposite." he said, leaving Collins to settle in.

...

The next morning was more sunny, except for the arctic wind. Collins was first to notice that the wall facing into Russia was a lot more fortified, with even a few mounted TOW missile turrets mounted on the towers. "They're beefing up the wall." He said. "Are they that paranoid?" A trooper looked over at them. "You been into the Russia dead zone? Or have you been living under a rock?" he said before walking off, muttering.

"I must have been living under a rock." He said. "Care to enlighten the heathen?" The trooper muttered something in Russian and walked off. On cue the guns on the wall flared to life, firing at something unseen.

...

Collins walked towards where Matt was eating, intent on finding out what the hell they were camped next to. The little raptor was there again, eating what looked like sausage meat. "You mind telling me something?" He asked Collins. Matt looked up. "Like what?" he said rudely. "Like what in the seven circles of hell we're camped next to." He said. "It looks like a bloody fortress." Matt didn't answer him. "Hey, I think I see one of my men kissing your sister." He said.

Matt stood up and walked towards Collins till they were face to face. Had Collins been a bit calmer he would have seen how everyone was giving the two room. Matt suddenly swiped Collins legs out from under him and pressed his elbow on Collins neck. "We're not some poncy survivor colony...if you'd wanted that you shoulda stayed in Copenhagen...we're a fortress cause those scorpions from last night are puppies compared to what the Russia dead zone storm spews out...and if you talk like that again, you'll meet them first hand...clear?" he said.

Collins managed to choke out a "crystal." Matt took his elbow off of his neck. Collins took a deep breath. Matt waited as Techo and Wilson helped Collins up. "Since you're so curious...you're on patrol in that area...something's stirred up the locals...so you're going to Chernobyl to see what's going on." he said. The raptor leapt down and followed Matt out.

"Oh, wonderful." He said. "The hotbox of the East." He said. The Chernobyl area was still hot with radiation from the accident so long ago. Wilson said. "Not exactly Chernobyl. There was a survivor settlement set up near it recently...on the hot zone border...comms went dead a night ago...ah well...good luck." he said and walked out too

...

Collins assigned men were waiting near a squad of 'badger' transports. "Man...the boss must be mad to put that newbie in charge." said one, getting a few chuckles. His name was Pvt Donalds according to his tag. "Quiet." Collins said as he boarded one of the transports. He grunted as he sat down. He did not like the idea of going anywhere near Chernobyl.

The area behind the east wall looked like something from a fantasy novel. Some of the eyes peering out from the forest around the road were definitely not human or dinosaur...only a few had two eyes. "I don't like this at all." Collins said. Whatever was hiding in the shadows, they gave him the creeps.

The ride seemed to go on forever, strange noises and snarls coming from the undergrowth all the time. Finally a town could be seen. "About time." said Donalds. "I'll say." Collins said. "Alright, everyone keep your eyes peeled. I don't want any ambushes." The town was a mess. A few younger versions of the scorpions from the previous day were munching on what looked like one of the residents and fled as the transports approached, but apart from their lunch, there were no bodies or blood. Nothing to show a struggle had taken place.

"This is too weird." Collins said. He loaded his rifle and held it in front of him, keeping his eyes peeled for anything. After half an hour, it was clear that the party had been missed as far as a fight went. Whatever had hit the town had finished long before. "This is useless. Maybe they just headed for Coalition territory?" said Donalds, after checking the 15th empty house.

A whirring noise came from the nearby alley at that and a boxy droid rolled out into the open. "What the? It's one of those fancy American robot jobs." One of the soldiers said. Collins nodded. He held his rifle high at the drone, in case it was hostile.

It was. The drones chaingun barked and dropped three men in red clouds before anyone realised it had fired. At the same time, 3 more drones rolled out of hiding places, firing at the team. "Cover!" Collins yelled. The soldiers hide behind walls, buildings, anything that looked like it would protect them from bullets.

Not much of the buildings helped. "The transports...their missile turrets will rip those things apar...gak!" said one trooper next to Collins a second before a round shot through his throat. "Damn it all!" Collins roared. "Anybody have anything that can kill these things?"

"We gotta get back to the badgers." yelled a trooper. Another peered out and yelled. "Rockets!" One of the drones had rocket pods mounted on the side of the turret. It fired a random shot, aimed to knock troops out of cover. "Stay down!" Collins shouted as the rocket impacted. "Everyone on me!" He shouted. The soldiers, trying to stay in cover, formed up on him. "Let's go!" He said, making a run for the Badgers.

The group all ran out, the drones turned slowly to aim better. A rocket landed near a few of the gang, scattering them. Collins was first to the transports, climbing in and pressing any button he saw to try and power the weapons up. The rest of the soldiers barely made it in alive. "Get those turrets online!" Collins shouted.

One, a transport driver, pushed him aside and pressed a button. At that, the blue dish mounted between the missile launchers fired a rippling pulse with a painful screech. The reaction was impressive as two of the drones exploded there and then. The third let out a plume of smoke and stopped. The fourth however, the one with the rockets was fine and kept shooting till the driver pressed another and a TOW rocket blew it in half.

"Nice shooting." Collins complimented him. The rest of the squad stepped out again, in time to see a guy in a black version of the armour that the JSF used, running for it. A guy next to Collins fired a shot into the guy's back, dropping him. "Gotcha." He said. "See you in hell." Collins just wiped his brow. "What are the Americans doing out here?" He wondered aloud.

The group walked up to the prone body. The guy in the armour wasn't American. His armour had a snake head symbol on it and the words 'Vipercorp Security' on it. But the best was next. The eyes were still open, staring into oblivion but that wasn't the creepy part…they were reptilian...

End of chapter 1