It was a bright and sunny day about fifteen klicks outside of Zenebas City. Zaber Advanced Tactical Infantry Squad, or ZATIS for short, designation 'Delta 19', was out on a routine training operation. The skies were that kind of clear where you can see the various gradients of blue streaking across the vast nothingness above you, almost as though you were out in the middle of the ocean and peering down into it's depths, only up instead of down. It was actually kind of dizzying, but Captain Reed Richards didn't mind at all, he loved days like this. He loved to imagine all the families who would be out enjoying their day in the sun, playing catch with their children, or maybe some young lovers chose today for a romantic walk in the park. All of them oblivious to the looming threat posed by the ever present Helic Republic that threatened to crush their way of life at the first sign of weakness. That sign would not come on Captain Richards' watch.
"We are nearing the target zone, drop RADAR to passive scans only and spread out, maintain shoulder distance of one hundred meters. Prepare for Assault pattern... gamma." He paused for a moment and smiled, choosing a random formation for his squad to follow. The young captain was maybe in his mid twenties. His long, snow white hair was only a shade or two light than his pale skin, and all of that conspired to make his purple eyes just have this unnatural allure to them. A very average height of six feet, Reed was a little on the heavier side, just over two hundred pounds, but most of that was his muscle build, softened with just a little bit of fluff around the edges. He wasn't a ripped and chiseled body builder, his mass was structured more practically.
"Sir." Came the replies and the distance between each of the seven Zaber Fangs was opened to the specified measurements. The unit's movements were fluid and uniform, like they'd done this hundreds of times and were of a hive mind. They had, and they almost were. Delta 19 was a star unit in the Zenebas military, having not only survived, but excelled in every operation given to it since Captain Richards took command of the unit only two years ago. The youngest son of Duke Richards, Vizier to The Fuhrer himself, Reed became an overnight celebrity when he elected to volunteer his service to the Zenebas Infantry Corps, promising to stay in the ranks and do his civic duty until he was forced to retire, or until Helic had been crushed. He hadn't even completed basic training before The Zenebas Propaganda machine began pumping out recruitment posters with his name all over it.
From boot camp he went straight into officer's candidacy school, where he came out a lieutenant. His advanced training continued for another year as he studied tactics, weapons, zoid anatomy, mechanics and engineering. It was discovered that he had not only a knack for zoid piloting, but a passion for it like very few others before him. He was given command of Delta 19 as soon as his training ended, and since then, the unit had become a shining example of what Lord Zenebas demanded from his soldiers. All across The Empire, Reed's fame increased recruitment and retention, and subjects far and wide followed his achievements. With each successful mission, Reed received another commendation, another medal, another award. As a Captain now, he was already more decorated than many Colonels. His career had a very bright future it seemed.
Reed didn't care about any of that though, in fact, he thought it was a little silly when they'd awarded him a Silver Star just for clearing out a Helic 'Sleeper Trap' that consisted of a measly ten guysacks. Ten. Guysacks. And he'd been given an award for 'Exceptional Valor'. He'd started to contest the award with his Colonel, but Colonel Marx informed him that Zenebas was likely just playing up his celebrity status to keep morale high. It was silly, but Reed had to admit, it seemed to work. So he kept his reluctance to himself and smiled brightly for the cameras. He didn't fancy himself a hero, but if a smile here and a pose there could help bolster The Empire's defenses and expedite the end of the war? Then that smile would be genuine, and that pose as heroic as he could make it.
"We have intermittent contacts ahead, Sir. Aerial zoids." His sergeant came over the headset. "Looks like three, maybe four Pteras."
"I copy, Delta, aim high, weapons tight." Reed responded, issuing his orders. "This cannot be the entire unit. Command would not have sent us after four little Pteras units. Wait for visual confirmation before giving away our position." His eyes narrowed lightly as he kept his eyes over the horizon as his Zaber Fang charged forward. The Chrome-Silver Zaber was hardly intended for stealth, quite to the contrary, Reed's favorite tactic was making himself the apparent target of his enemies, drawing their fire away from his allies as much as possible and freeing them up to aim and eliminate targets. Just as he'd commanded his men to do, he elevated the 70mm hybrid chain gun mounted to the Zaber's back. A glimmer off in the distant sky drew Reed's attention and he toggled a switch with his left hand before pushing a few buttons, his cockpit's HUD displaying a zoomed view of the far off zoids.
"Sir, visual confirmation on five Pteras in formation. Looks like a Radome and four bombers... You don't think..."
"This is just training, Sergeant, calm yourself and complete the mission. If there were any such threat of a Helic Terrorist attack, Intelligence would have notified us by now..."
"Delta One Nine, this is Base Plate, over." Reed was interrupted.
"Speak of the devil..." Reed said quietly, keeping his eyes on that Radome before flipping another switch. "Base Plate, this is Delta One Nine Alpha, something come up? Over." Reed replied.
"Affirmative, Delta One Nine Alpha, be advised that we're detecting Helic aerial units in your vicinity. Your unit is authorized to engage at will, over." The radio responded.
"I copy, Base Plate, we have visual on five Pteras units, one radome, four bombers, preparing to engage. Heil Zenebas, over and out." Reed said before flipping the switch and taking a breath as he tightened his grip on the control sticks inside his cockpit.
"Heil Zenebas, Delta One Nine. Over and out." Base Plate responded.
"Alright, ladies." Reed poked at the men in his unit. "We have five Helic Tangos heading for the capital. I do not know how they managed to get this deep into Zenebas territory without being spotted until now, but I do know that they will go no further. Go weapons free. Teach these bastards what happens when you cross a Zaber's path. Heil Zenebas." And with that, all seven Zabers launched missiles and rockets at the five Pteras units, which scattered in response. Two of them were caught by missiles and destroyed.
"Tango down." Came the report from One Nine Delta.
"Check two!" One Nine Echo sounded off. Reed's Zaber fired it's boosters and took off after the radome unit, leveling the hybrid cannon and firing a continuous volley of 20 rounds per second into the air at it. Had it not already been daylight, the energy laced 70mm rounds would've lit the sky up around that unit. It barrel rolled and swerved to avoid the first few seconds of fire, and then the chaingun ripped across the bottom of the fuselage and an explosion powered down the magnesser wings that kept the zoid in the air. It was coming down fast and hard now. The pilot ejected.
"Tango down." Reed reported, but received no answer. Glancing at his radar screen, the other six Zabers had vanished. "Delta One Nine, report." He said as he turned around and started running back the way he'd come. They were nowhere to be seen. There hadn't been any explosions. There was no more gun fire either. "Delta One Nine, sound off!" He barked into the headset, but there was no answer. "Base Plate, this is Delta One Nine Alpha, please respond." Reed said, flipping his toggle. He heard only static in response. "Base Plate! Respond! What the hell is going on out here?!" He demanded. "Base Pla..." He was stopped by the tone that sounded off in the cockpit, accompanied by the red light whose label read 'lock on'. "Base Plate! If you can hear me, I am having some communications malfunctions and cannot locate my team. I am being engaged by the remaining two tangos. I will eliminate them and return to base. Heil Zenebas, Delta One Nine Alpha, over and out." He toggled the switch back and growled.
"Alright, Saba, it looks as though it is just you and me now, old friend. Let us show them that we are not so easily defeated as they!" And he pushed forward on the control sticks, hard, causing the Zaber Fang to hop forward and dig all four claws into the ground, screeching to a halt and allowing the two Pteras units to zip past. "Now I have you!" Reed grinned, locking onto the first one and firing his last volley of missiles. The fuselage burst into flames and the pilot may or may not have ejected. It was hard to tell a cockpit from that much debris, and he had one more active Pteras to worry about first. Turning around, he spotted the aerial zoid just as his lock on light came back on. His purple eyes widened as two missiles shot forward from beneath the Pteras' wings. "Oh boy... GYAH!" He cried out as he yanked back on the control sticks, causing Saba to take off running towards the missiles. "One chance... NOW!" He jammed down the foot pedals and the Zaber leapt into the sky, firing it's booster rockets, and attempting to jump over the missiles to evade them. It worked. The two missiles sailed underneath him, and the explosion behind him was gratifying as could be as Saba kept running forward, but at a slightly more comfortable pace.
"Now where did he..." BOOM! One of the two homing missiles had circled upwards and looped around, slamming into the Zaber's back and shattering the missile pods and hybrid chain gun. The Zaber Fang fell to the ground and the momentum made it slide across the ground roughly before rolling to a stop several dozen meters from the point of impact. Inside the cockpit, Reed was roughed up a bit, but his harness had kept him from suffering too much damage. "Ugh..." He grunted, shaking his head free of the daze. "No system freeze. Come on, Saba, we are not done yet!" He growled, the Zaber climbing back to it's feet and taking off running again. "Diagnostics running..." Reed spoke to himself as the computer screen ran a systems scan. "We have only the strike laser claws and the shock cannons left..." He chuckled. "We will have to make due, yeah?" He said as the lock on tone sounded again. "One more time, Saba, let us end this!" And he slammed on the brakes again, allowing the Pteras to, once more fly right past him. "NOW!" He yelled out as all three barrels of the shock cannon fired quickly. One of the Pteras' wings was clipped and the magnesser energy stopped, sending the zoid into a flaming spiral of a nose dive that ended in an explosion off in the distance.
"YES!" Reed cheered, thrusting his fist forward into the air inside the cockpit. "That is what happens when you mess with..." His lock on light came on again, and his eyes widened, shifting down to his RADAR screen. "That was the last one though..." He said. Missiles were suddenly coming at him from all directions. "DAMMIT! RUN SABA!" Reed yelled out, pulling back on the control stick and firing the boosters once more. The first explosion missed him, but the concussive force caught the back end of his jump, sending the Zaber sideways into a roll across the ground that ended with the back legs slamming into a boulder. Another warning light came on inside the cockpit indicating the left back leg had been wrecked by the impact and was inoperable. Still, Reed got the Zaber back up with three legs and started moving, flipping switches and toggles as he watched his HUD and RADAR.
"Where are they, Saba, I do not see anyone out there to..." Another volley of missiles went into the sky. "No, no, no!" He took off running again, only at sixty percent his zoid's speed, though, if he could get into the tree line, perhaps the trees would catch some of them and he could avoid a direct hit.
It wasn't happening. He was just too slow.
"Base Plate, if you read this, this is Delta One Nine Alpha. I am under attack by stealthy enemy force, at least ten zoids with heavy artillery. My Zaber is crippled and I cannot escape. Do not let them reach the city..." He swallowed and closed his eyes as the missiles closed in. "Heil Zenebas... Delta One Nine Alpha, Over and..."
Only static finished the message.