Ch. 3

A few days passed and they had run out of new information. They reported back to Red River that the Judges most definitely had four Zoids, two black Republican Konig Wolves, and two white Imperial Great Zabers, and these four were apparently the leaders of the Judges.

"I think we should head in the direction they took off, maybe we can catch up to them," Daniel said as they sat around the Zoids.

"We have orders to go back to base and I don't plan on reporting back without you to help explain the stolen Command Wolf to the Captain," Melody replied with a slight chuckle.

"Oh that's right, Joyce and Nichalo over here stole a Zoid to get here," Michael said as he laughed at their faces.

They all followed their orders and reported to Captain Herman at Red River base a week later. Nichalo in tow with the Psycho Genosaurer he was given by his mother, and Joyce piloting the 'stolen' Command Wolf.

Captain Herman met them at the gates on foot, with a look of serious disappointment and a dash of concern on her face.

"Lieutenant Joyce Flyheight, you stole a Zoid for a joy ride over to the Wind Colony, Lieutenant Daniel Flyheight you let her, but since it was an emergency situation, I will forgive you this time. Get that Command Wolf back in the hanger now," the blonde woman shouted turning back toward the base.

Once they were all in the hanger Michael and Melody got a quick briefing, before being sent back out on escort duty to bring Emperor Rudolph to the Helic Republic capital for a summit meeting with President Herman, they would act as his personal Guard while they were there as well. Daniel and Captain Herman herself would be acting as the guards for the President.

"Get moving you guys need to be at Guylos in two days," Daniel said pushing Michael towards the Power Reinforced Command Wolf.

Melody and Michael arrived in Guygalos a little more than a day after leaving Red River base.

"You've arrived just over the record time," A couple of the guards of the palace said as they escorted the pair to the Emperor's throne room.

"What do you mean?" Melody asked genuinely curious as to what the guard was talking about.

"Raven set a time record that will never be touched with his Geno Breaker, Red River to Guygalos in less than twelve hours, the fastest time after that was set by a Major Wolf Novis in his Konig Wolf, Red River base to Guygalos in twenty six hours," the guard replied with a smile, not realizing just who he was talking to.

"You two came in at 26 hrs and 30 minutes, not bad for your first trip to town," Emperor Rudolph said with a slight chuckle as he stood to greet the two soldiers in front of him.

"Your highness, thank you for the praise," Melody and Michael replied while bowing.

"You two don't need to be so formal, your fathers never were so I won't ask you to be," the brown haired man said gesturing for them to straighten themselves.

As they walked through the halls of the Palace towards the waiting Whale King, Rudolph and Marian were telling stories of when they met Melody's and Michael's fathers.

"Irvine was constantly hitting Van, or making fun of him for something while we made our way back to the capital, but he never seemed to be more than two feet away from him in a fight, almost looking after him," Rudolph said as they entered the lounge of the Whale King.

"That sounds just like dad," Michael said sitting down across from the Emperor.

"And from what we hear it sounds like the two of you, constantly watching each other's backs," Marian stated rather softly.

"Your fathers were great friends to me and great Zoid pilots, I cried for them and prayed for you and your mothers when I saw the destruction that was left behind on that battlefield," Rudolph said somberly.

The rest of the first day of a two day trip was uneventful, and filled with laughs caused by the Emperor's experiences with their fathers. Melody and Michael did need to spend some time walking about the large Zoid, speaking to the crew; they also spoke to Rosso and Viola for a few minutes when they came in for a break from flying escort.

"So you two are Wolf and Irvine's kids huh, the looks are right," Rosso said with a slight amount of sarcasm.

"I think we've grown tired of stories of our fathers, sorry we just wanted to check in about how things were going outside," Melody said in a slightly colder tone then she had meant to use.

"Situation normal but things get awful boring when all you do is sit in a cockpit," Viola said getting a chuckle out of everyone.

"Listen I know you two don't really want to hear anymore about how your fathers did in the Guardian Force, but I can at least tell you I respected Wolf and Irvine a great deal and would have followed them to the end if I could have," Rosso said placing a hand on Melody's shoulder before leaving the hanger to get some food.

"He doesn't say that about very many people, the ones he does say it about he means it," Viola said before following her husband out of the hanger.

Back in New Helic City, Daniel woke early on the second day of his deployment as the presidential guard. Captain Natalia Herman was pounding his door down trying to get his attention; they had spent most of the night talking to the President about Van and the others.

"Lieutenant Flyheight, get a move on, we're late for the guard change out," the blonde woman screamed through the heavy wooden door.

"Alright, I'm coming Captain," Daniel said as he pulled on his uniform, the one his father wore when he was in the military. As they walked the halls they spoke rather casually to each other. 'Natalia seems to have dropped the formality, must be when she's on duty that she prefers formality,' Daniel thought as they arrived at the Presidents room.

"Alright you two, you're late, what's your excuse?" Rob asked from behind his desk.

"Sorry sir, due to being able to sleep through a sand storm in the middle of the day, I have a bad habit of over sleeping," Daniel said with his most formal tone and a salute.

"It's alright this time, because your only a minute or two late," Rob said with a slight grin. Daniel glared at Natalia for making it seem as though they were twenty minutes late.

"Sir, permission to smack the Captain for nearly knocking my door off its hinges this morning?" Daniel asked with a little less formality and a tone loaded with hatred.

"Permission denied, firstly she's my daughter, secondly it seems like a bad idea for your career," Rob said with a slight chuckle at his daughters relieved face, "Lieutenant Flyheight, work on that bad habit of over sleeping either way and Captain, try not to break any more doors, you're dismissed."

As soon as the pair was out the door, he looked up and shook his head at how much Daniel reminded him of Van.

About two hours into their shift, Daniel and Captain Herman felt the ground under their feet shake, nothing big but something like a Zoid would cause when it took a step. They ignored this event with all the Zoids standing guard walking around. Two minutes later the wall in front of them disappeared in a wall of flames.

"GET THE PRESIDENT; I'LL SEE WHAT'S GOING ON!" Daniel screamed as he headed through where the wall used to be.

"Dad, we've got to go," Natalia shouted as her father came around the desk.

"Where is Daniel?" He asked as they ran through the doors to the office.

"He's checking the area," Natalia responded as a Rev Raptor, painted all black came through one of the walls.

"I just hope he went after a Zoid," they both muttered as they stood defenseless. A blue and white Great Zaber came through the wall tackling the Rev Raptor.

"Captain Herman, get him out of here NOW, Mr. President there is a clear path to the hanger, just try and stay under my Zoid," Daniel said as he turned the Zoid to face out the hole he just came through.

Captain and President Herman ran as quickly as they could, Daniel held back on the controls, leaving himself open to attack. The Great Zaber took several hits but Daniel kept his pace so the pair running beneath him would be protected. When they arrived at the hanger, they had sufficient cover to move a little more freely, Rob made his way to a blue Shield Liger, while Captain Herman made her way to her Zoid, a Shield Liger with a flame red paint job.

"We'll cover you all the way out, Unit one is taking on the enemy head on, it's the Judges," Daniel said with an unsurprised tone of voice. As they left the hanger Daniel noticed that most of unit one was out of commission.

"That tears it, Natalia get him out of here, I'll catch up," the blonde haired red eyed man shouted as he yanked the controls towards the enemy.

"Lieutenant you get back here and help me cover the President," Captain Herman yelled out.

"Captain, now is not the time, we need to move," Rob shouted through the com link.

"Captain, I'm already done here, let's go," Daniel shouted as he ran towards the pair, leaving a trail of dead Rev Raptors behind him.

Natalia was shocked to see just how fast the enemies had fallen but wasn't about to try talking about it on the job.

"Get on the com with the Emperor's Whale King, tell them we're headed to Red River base," Rob said as he pushed the Shield Liger to its top speed, leaving New Helic city at their backs and several friendly Zoids right behind them.

Meanwhile, Melody and Michael were walking around the Whale King when the alarms started ringing out around them.

"Report," Melody shouted into her radio as they ran down the hall.

"Rosso and Viola are in combat, and they need cover," a voice said from the other end.

"Get to the hanger Melody, your better in the air then I am," Michael said as he ran towards the Emperor's lounge. Melody ran to the hanger and jumped in the first available flying Zoid, a black Redler.

"Michael, what's going on?" Rudolph asked as the younger man burst through the doors.

"We need to get you and your wife to someplace safer," the brown haired man said before calling for a few more men to help him cover the Emperor and his wife.

Outside Melody was maneuvering the Royal Redler she'd taken from the hanger just like Rosso and Viola's Storm Sworders.

"You're doing very well young lady," Rosso said through the com as he downed another all white Pteras, "Seems your father was a good teacher."

"These people were claiming to work for that group calling themselves the Judges," Viola said as the last enemy went down.

"There are reports of an attack on the President's mansion, the President is safe the meeting will be moved, location to be given only over secured channels," an officer said from the bridge of the Whale King.

"Get back in now Melody, we're going to push this hulk," Michael said through the com links.

"I'm sure the Redler can keep up," Melody shouted as she turned to fly as an escort.

"Young lady, your left wing is damaged take that Zoid back in the hanger, that's an order," Rosso said in a rather cold tone.

"Yes sir," Melody responded as she turned and landed in the Whale King hanger.

"He only meant it to protect you," Viola said through a secured channel to the black haired woman's Redler.

Melody jumped out of the Zoid after nodding to Viola through the video link, she took notice of the damage to the left wing of the Zoid, a large sparking hole through the joint, one that would have had her leaving the skies ten minutes later anyway.

Two hours later they met up with the President's escort on the way to Red River. With both the President of the Republic and the Emperor of the Guylos Empire on the same Whale King, things were tense. They doubled the air guard, and had a unit on the ground running. When they arrived at Red River base they found that Dragon Head base had sent their Iron Kong unit and several Dark Horns to stand guard.

"Okay folks, let's get the royalty off this bird," Daniel said as he unloaded his Great Zaber only to stand next to the hanger ramp.

"Lieutenant Flyheight, you will get your attitude straight. Your highness I'm sorry for his disrespect." Natalia said as they exited the Whale King on foot.

"It's alright, I've dealt with his father's casual attitude as well, I can't very well berate him for his," Rudolph said while Marian nodded her agreement.

Ten minutes later they were all in the base and security was on high alert. Captain Herman was giving Daniel a stern warning about his informality while Melody and the others stood by, when the alarms went off all around them.

"This is Captain Herman, report the situation," the blonde woman said into a radio as they all ran towards the control room.

"Two unidentified Zoids approaching," a voice said through the radio's speaker.

"Do they have ID Codes?" Daniel asked taking the radio from Natalia.

"Yes Sir, but they're nearly twenty years old, last used ten years ago," the voice said.

As they ran through the halls the Lieutenants and the Captain turned towards the hanger instead of the Control room.

'Could it really be them? After ten years could it really be them?' Daniel thought as he jumped in his Great Zaber.

They met the two Zoids nearly on hundred miles from Red River Base, thinking just maybe a pair of long lost heroes had been brought back from the dead. A black and red Wolf type Zoid with long shoulder armor and drag fins on each leg and form fitted goggles on it head and no tail, along with a bright red Geno Breaker met them on the desert.

"What are those Zoids?" Captain Herman asked.

"That wolf, I've seen it before…DAD!" Melody screamed out.

"The red Zoid is the Geno Breaker belonging to Raven," Daniel said before hearing the jets of the Psycho Genosaurer behind him. Nichalo slammed the large blue Zoid to a halt as he spotted the Geno Breaker in front of Daniel's Zoid.

"Is that the Supersonic Wolf?" Joyce asked as she came up in a Command Wolf borrowed from the testing grounds.

"They haven't communicated with us yet, standing this close we should have heard something," Daniel said after a few minutes of standing on the field with the two Zoids.

"Melody, Michael, you two cover me I'm going out, everyone else head back to base I've got a nasty feeling about all this," the blonde man said as he opened the canopy of the Great Zaber after grabbing the pistol next to his seat.

"There should be a switch on, or near the left ear of the Konig, Dad used it to get in and out when mom slept in it," Melody said as Daniel approached the two Zoids. Everyone, including Captain Herman had arrived back at base and they were watching every move through the surveillance Pteras they had sent out.

"Lieutenant Flyheight, be careful," Marian said knowing he probably didn't want to hear her.

Rudolph took his wife's hand in his while President Herman stood arms crossed, once again reminded of the men he once called friends by their children.

'Always leaping before looking, just like Van,' the president thought with a quiet laugh. Rudolph and Marian seemed to see the same thing, and the three of them started laughing out loud, only to receive funny looks from the others in the command center.

"Daniel, open that hatch real slow like, we don't know what's on the other side." Joyce said through the radio. Instead of following his sister's advice Daniel threw the hatch open with one hand and grabbed his gun as quickly as he could with the other.

"Well this is going to be hard to explain I guess," Daniel said staring at a man he'd not seen in just over ten years, Wolf Novis.