Omega's Valued Prisoner.

Chapter 8: Strategy

"SHIT, THE DAMNED TOWER IS COMING APART!" shouted Osman "We gotta get out of here!"

"Too late man, if I am to die like this I have to say Mora."

"What?"

"Your tits are nice. I had to say it! It seems like everything is turning to shit and everyone is starving, but you kept a nice frame. They could be a little bit bigger." Tanner would say as quickly as possible as the ceiling collapsed. The stone from the top of the tower begins to fall off, but a large piece falls inward and smashes through the floor above them. Gyules grabs Mora and tries to shield her from it. Luckily their floor collapses and they fall through that and the floor beneath them. The stone that was to crush them falls above them blocking out all light. Except for Mora and a few Locusts, they land within the water of old sewer tunnels.

"Ah fuck...what is that smell...it smells like...the shitter hole after a night of Aiden's Cajin stew. Oh god!" Tanner said as he swam to the surface. He grips his nose to stop it, but ends up getting a piece of Locust shit on his nose.

"AH FUCK!" he shouted and began trying to wipe it off.

"I am so glad I wear a helmet right now." said Osman. Mora laughs a bit at their discomfort and then grips her cheek in pain, with an arm over his gut.

"Ow...I did a bellly flop on the pavement!" she whined. The Locusts and Gyules rush to her side.

"I am fine, I don't think I-ow!" Gyules pushes the Locusts aside and lifts up her shirt. Mora's has a large wound on her stomach that is bleeding profusely.

"Someone get some bandages or somethin! QUICKLY!" he shouted to the guys "Don't just stand there! If she dies Skorge will fuckin live!" he shouted. The Locusts storm off as quickly as they can. Aiden runs to Mora's side.

"You remember what to do, just keep putting pressure on her wound. Dammit Mora, why is it you can never go without getting hurt? You are like a fuckin damsel in distress."

"I can't help the tower fell apart. Its not that bad!"

"It should heal by quickly, as you seem rather good at healing." The Locusts return with a few more than before with cloth.

"That should suffice." said Gyules. He pulls off of his belt some medicine which he applies to the cloth and begins to bandage the wound. She wraps it around a few times. Gyules makes sure its applied and pulls down her shirt. He picks her up and holds her bridal style.

"We should get going. These tunnels do not seem too stable and we should get out before the minimal light in here is gone." said Gyules as he begins to walk.

"Locusts, you should lead the way. Your princess needs to rest for a while, but should be better and on her feet soon. Though that burn won't heal." The main Locust signals them to follow and they begin to follow him. Mora clutches to Gyules' arm and begins to pass out slowly. They would navigate the sewers and begin to see the Locusts had been digging tunnels through it. They can see within a few tunnels that there are miners digging and Golden Miners commanding them and giving them orders of where to dig.

Tanner begins to whisper a few wise cracks only for Gyules to whisper to him to shut it. As they delve deeper within they can see there are many more Locusts than they expected that just live within the tunnels in whatever they can, trying to maintain some style but it doesn't seem to be working well. They are lead to a set of stairs where they are lead up them and can see New Nexus. Mora has fallen asleep.

"We will start discussing battle plans when she wakes up." said Gyules. The locusts nod and then they guys begins to walk back to the Assault Derrick and the Locusts go to repair.

"So we are actually doing this?" said Tanner.

"Yup."

"We did see Skorge was alive, so its kind of in our best interest to take out a Locust big shot whenever we can."

"What if they turn on us in the middle of this? What if they Mora is just gonna use them to attack us and then go raid our home!" said Tanner "I will follow you to the end, but I am still questioning this."

"Relax Tanner, I have this planned out." said Gyules.

"I am fairly certain Mora will not turn on us though." said Aiden "As you even mocked her for, she likes it with us."

"I was just joking, but if you believe I was onto somethin, why deny it?" The guys arrive at the Derrick fairly quickly, as it is easy to see out of all of the half destroyed buildings. Aiden climbs the ladder first and then reaches down as Gyules lifts Mora up. He grabs her and pulls her on, then Gyules climbs up. Tanner and Osman follow.

"So what is this glorious plan of yours?" asked Tanner.

"Easy, I am going with Mora as we go to kill Skorge, once he is dead, I will contact you guys via radio and you run to the place. I will knock Mora out and we will sneak out of the battle with her as the Locusts deal with fighting other Locusts. We can claim she is wounded and we are going to heal her and then flee. No one will notice, until we are gone, then the Locusts return to this place and it collapses and they all die." said Gyules.

"That plan is...crap." said Tanner.

"IT seems too risky, we might not be able to sneak into the base and we still do not even have how the strategy is yet. For all we know we could completely dominate his forces and they get to him before you do." said Osman.

"I do not know the details of the place, so sorry I dunno exactly what to do!" shouted Gyules.

"I think I have a plan." said Osman.

"That would be.." said Tanner.

"Gyules, threaten that if they harm any of us, you will kill yourself. Tell them we have a device in our armour that tells us if any of us are killed and Mora will explain how if you die her legs will blow off and she will bleed out."

"Best thing we got." said Gyules "...I won't actually kill myself if any of you guys die though."

"A warrior must persist." said Aiden "I am fairly certain we can trust Mora though."

"You put too much faith in her." said Gyules "As much as we help her, she is still a fuckin Locust. Until told otherwise by her mother she will never see as anything more than the enemy." said Gyules "Once this is all over and Skorge is dead, I am personally throwing her corpse down the river."

"You say that...but what about-" Osman elbows Tanner to get him to be quiet. Gyules lays down on the Derrick

"Here, I have been saving these, but do you want one early?" asked Osman pulling out from an ammunition pouch a cigarette.

"As much as I would love that, its yours." said Gyules.

"C'mon man! You seem quite stressed, it would ease you." he said.

"Meh, I am going to get some sleep, you should all do so also." said Gyules.

"On the hard Assault Derrick?" asked Osman. Gyules is already falling asleep.

"We have been up all day. If we do not sleep we will not fight as well, nor shall we plan as well." said Aiden. He begins to rest against the back of the Assault Derrick.

"I am going to sleep in the driver's chair. Then I won't have a bad back like them in the morning." said Osman.

"You know we should've brought our equipment." said Tanner.

"Who cares, and go to sleep. If Mora wakes up, Aiden will also. You know he is a light sleeper."

"Thats cause he sleeps with his eyes open!" said Tanner. The two looks to Aiden who already fell asleep and his eyes are wide open. Osman shrugs and merely goes to the chair. Tanner sighs is about to lay against the glass, when he gets an evil idea. He carefully picks up Mora and places her next to Gyules.

"Now if I am lucky, they will wake up in an awkward pose." he thought to himself and smiled at his work. Tanner snickers a little and goes to sleep against the side of the Rig's cockpit. Mora would awaken a few hours later and find herself clutching Gyules' arm, her face dug into the armour. She scoots back a little and grips her gut feeling a little sore but having healed quickly. She lifts up her shirt to see the bandages that are stained with her blood.

"You are awake." said Aiden. He groans a bit and stretches. Mora is startled to see him awake, jumping a little, but then turns to him.

"Y-yeah. You all fell asleep on the Derrick? The Locusts could-"

"I am sorry to say, but they do not trust the Locust. I trust that they will obey you rule, but I still do not feel safe by them."

"I would question it, but considering how they have been trying to kill you..."

" And succeeding. A great many warriors and innocents have been killed. I do not blame the Locusts, but I still understand them as a threat."

"You are...quite different. Why is that?"

"I was raised on Irohma Island, I learned views on war and fighting and in doing so I examined war. I do not hate the Locusts, they are my enemy, but I realize that they are only fighting. I realize also that you do not share the exact views as your mother. You do not hate humans."

"I do hate humans! They are scum that must die!"

"Yet you are conversing with one and have made friends with us. You cared for Gyules when he was feeling down, you have fought Lambent beside us, and you even speak our language fluently." Mora begins to bit her lip looking down, thinking.

"What is it that makes us scum? Think about that." said Aiden. Aiden shakes Gyules a little.

"Klaus, its time to get up." he said.

" Huh-what!" He looks around. "The world looks better in my head." Aiden awakens Tanner with a nudge.

"We are going to be plotting the battle soon, get up." said Aiden. Tanner mumbles a few things and waves his arm at Aiden. Aiden picks up Tanner by his shoulders and sets him down so he is standing.

"Fine..." said Tanner and began to walk into the cockpit to awaken Osman. Osman is awakened quickly and then gets out.

"I want breakfast."

"Its not that time of day..."

"I want breakfast!" whined Osman. The guys begin climbing down the ladder and then are approached by the Locust leader. Mora walks over to him and the two begin conversing as they walk over to where they discuss. The two talk in a Locust language that is difficult to understand and seems impossible for humans to perform, but yet Mora can speak it fluently.

"Why is she speaking that now...and maybe she isn't completely human." said Osman.

"Her father is RAAM, of course she has a few genetic advantages. Course for all we know she has a scaly vagina." said Tanner. Mora hears that and points to Tanner. The Locust leader slams his Hammerburst II into Tanner's bald skull. Tanner grips his skull in pain and shouts a curse at him as the guys hold him back. Mora smiles evilly and then continues talking to him. The guys arrive in an old building with half of the roof destroyed. Inside is a desk with several Locusts of different classes looking at it.

"I had them set this up so you and I can plan this, Gyules." said Mora "Turns out they already knew where Skorge lived as he tried to recruit this settlement and a scout was sent to investigate it during the attack and our nap. Skorge is currently set up within an old Pendulum Wars base." she said. She shows that they have a makeshift model made of the base and the area out of stones and random objects they could find to get a basic idea. The base is tall and build into a wall with a military built wall in front of it. On the corners of the walls are guard towers with smaller rocks that have written on them in the locust language: Brumak. It appears to be located within a canyon as there are several raised areas around it that could act as cover.

"So...this is what we got? What kind of classes of soldiers do we have?" asked Gyules.

"We have actually a lot at our hands. We also have several other groups of Locusts coming to help with the fight, so our numbers are uncertain but more than theirs. We have five Brumaks as you saw and every class of Boomer except the Mauler and flame boomer. We have Grenadiers, basic drones, snipers, and grapplers. Few Reavers and no Corpsers besides the smaller variant I am sure you have seen, but only a few of those. One of our groups is bringing for us three Siegebiests, basically like a catapault. Rather than Reavers for air support we have two Gas Barges that can transport troops and fire at the enemy. There are Berserkers, but they refuse to employ them in the battlefield and risk them. Females have become a tad bit rare lately."

"How is it outside of the fortress? Know of any of Skorge's troops?"

"Skorge has many Kantus under his employment and has the fortress filled with many drones. He bears quite a few boomers as well and probably a few berserkers they may release when they get desperate. What I am worried about is, though we lack detail on it, is that they received some of mothers special Armoured Kantus. You have obviously faced those as when you took me you killed a few. He obviously has Reavers, in case you can't tell, by the walls are two Brumaks. There are probably no Corpsers other than the smaller ones, but its something to worry for. Few wrenches, but tickers a plenty. We believe they are using something new also, serapedes."

"Serapedes? Like the little ones that seem to get everywhere?" asked Osman "I hate those things, its hard to crush them and they always glow in night."

"They bite also." said Tanner "Ever been bitten by one? Its feels like they zap you a little

"Thats a different variant, they gathered giant ones that can zap you when it gets close."

"Weird...but I can see how that would work." said Gyules "Is that all?"

"Yup, he isn't as well supplied as we thought, but we caught him early as most Locust settlements received a visit from him asking to join his forces." stated Mora "More join him every day, so we have to hit him early.

" Oh, then this should be easy!" said Gyules "We approach him with a formidable force of drones, maybe a few Corpsers, basically close quarter combatants. Our own forces will be marked and once our soldiers are within the area we shall attack. Osman, you, and I, will be dressed in Theron robes, I am fairly certain we lost a few to the Lambent in this attack so there are some to spare. The armour might be cumbersome on your Mora, but you should be fine. We will remove the armour and the soldiers will attack. I will signal them when to attack. As we march there, the large columns there will conceal our Boomers. Our Brumaks will join us, but remain outside by the column since they can't enter. They will think they are with this. When we attack I will contact Aiden via radio who will lead the Boomers and they will unleash their Boomshots onto the Brumaks and guard towers and the Brumaks will unleash their rockets. Depending on the amount of Boomers, we may or may not kill the Brumaks instantly. Also depends on their size and health. Once they are dead we will have Grapplers come down from the rooftop and begin invading the upper levels of the base."

"That base has security." said Tanner.

"How would you know?"

"I am a former Gorasni and that is a famous Gorasni base. We slid it right under the COG's nose. The base was armed with turrets that could mow down most anything. If we enter and begin to overpower them, they would turn on the turrets and its bye bye good guys."

"Dammit! What do we do about that?" asked Gyules.

"Cut the power. The base had solar panels a little bit off from it. I will take a squad of Locusts and you give me the signal and I will cut the power. We will have to kill the guys guarding it though."

"Thanks Tanner." said Gyules.

"Just hit Skorge in the nuts for me, will ya? I always wanted to have a religious leader hit in the nuts, even better when its Pope Locust."

"Whats a pope?" asked Mora.

"Religious leader. Hey do your Kantus mo- wait its not even worth asking." he said.

"Well, everything sound good?" The Locust leaders and the Gears nod.

"Then get us the armour, we march." said Gyules.

The End