Hello again my viewers, I have released this chapter due to crucial mistake on my part, I have not been addressing and answering my reviewers in my chapters. I didn't realize until recently that this is a major problem for users who only have guest accounts. I will be sure to be constant in addressing my reviewers in the future, so here are the addresses for the last chapter reviews.
Appleduck: Thank you! Yes it took me a very, VERY long time to come up with all that.
drax: Yeah, sorry for the vagueness, but if I gave away all the answers my story wouldn't be very mysterious or suspenseful would it?
Also big thank you to Book-Riley for the follow. Now for the chapter, this chapter is going to be split up into two parts. So, without further ado, here is chapter 9, part 1.
"For those of you who serve in the Navy, let me tell you, ground combat is an eye opener", you never realize just how cushy your job is till you've got laser rounds flying past your head."- Excerpt from an interview with a Federation veteran of the Great Galactic War
KND Arctic Base: Central Hanger- 10 minutes earlier
Numbahs 2552 and 1918 were supervising a group of junior cadets unloading weapons and ammo from the Moonbase ships when the first blasts hit. The startled cadets dropped their loads and quickly hit the ground as they were trained, Jonathan and Fritz stayed standing though. "Bloody hell, looks like they're early Wash", remarked Jonathan as he moved to help up some of the frightened cadets, "come on, get your butts off the ground and get back to work, those bombs can't touch you down here so get a move on!", he yelled at them. They snapped to obey, but the disturbance of it still showing on their faces. "Go easy on em John, it's their first real battle", eased Numbah 2552, he moved to take pick up some of the boxes the cadets had dropped, "still, if we don't get this ammo to the surface positions, it's also likely to be their last", he said in an undertone. "If these greenhorns had served during the Beach War then this wouldn't be a problem", boasted Jonathan, still shepherding the cadets, he too grabbed a box, "this is nothin, back then it was artillery barrages fives times a day, seven days week. Heck, even in those trenches I could sleep sound as a baby through a whole barrages and you'd still have to shake me awake", he laughed at his own comment. "Oh sure, sleepin through barrages is so easy, especially when you break into the admiral's soda stash before each shift", Fritz shot back, "hey!", exclaimed Jonathan indignantly, "I only did that three times! And may I remind you who was with me those three times?" Fritz grinned, "caught, but don't say that too loud, we wouldn't want Schmitt finding out where all his vintage root beer disappears to."
The two old comrades shared a laugh and left the hanger to deliver the ammo crates, on the way out they past Numbah 60, who was still trying to comfort Numbah 86. Fanny sat against the wall, knees tucked to her chest, she was still crying. Patton had his arm around her shoulder and sat next to her, normally the decommissioning officer would never allow anyone to do this to her, but today was far from normal. Patton, who knew absolutely nothing to say to a girl who had just watched her father be killed, simply sat beside her, offering her the warmth and comfort of his presence. Jonathan and Fritz stole a quick glance at the two as they passed. When they were a good distance down the hall and out of ear shot, Fritz remarked, "you know, I never thought I'd see the day when those two could be in a room without killing each other." "Times are changing Wash", replied Jonathan, "I just hope we survive to see what the world is like after this."
KND Arctic Base: Command Center- Present
"Damn, this is not good", remarked Schmitt, staring at the holo table as it projected images of the approaching Confederate army. "Judging by the disposition of their forces, I'd say that they're planning to take out the S.C.A.M.P.P. Cannons, then hit us with an orbital bombardment." "Is there any way we'd survive that?" asked Rachel, moving over to observe the holo table with Jack. "No, this base is deep beneath the ice, but ice won't stop a kinetic round from orbit", replied Jack, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, "theres no way we can hold out against this, so I'm putting my contingency plan into effect." Nigel frowned, "you have a contingency plan, what happened to 'all my plans have failed'?" "I said both my plans had failed", shot back Schmitt, "I didn't say that I didn't have more." Nigel rolled his eyes as Jack shot across the room. He ran over to the blacked out console that had been displaying the status of the treehouse worldwide before the Confederates had shot down the satellites, he quickly punched a few buttons and the image on the holo table was replaced by a revolving 3D projection of the Earth, showing the locations and status of the treehouse bases. "Before the Confederates shot down the satellites, the computer recorded all of the then current data on the tree houses", he quickly punched in a new set of orders and the display changed, showing the last recorded status' of the treehouse bases. Jack pointed at the image, "according to the data at least half the tree houses had been destroyed or taken, that was in ten minutes, its been", he checked his watch, "a half an hour, at the rate they were moving we would have lost the rest of Europe, South and Central America and at least half of the U.S., but that doesn't mean that the operatives at those bases were killed."
He reached inside his jacket and pulled out the KND Code Module, "I'm glad I 'borrowed this from the Moonbase before we evacuated, now if I plug this into the holo display, input the data from half an hour ago and run a cross scan with the last global radar sweep, I should be able to determine how many operatives survived the initial attack." As soon as he did this, small clusters of dots began appearing on the globe, "YES!" exclaimed Jack, "now according to this data, most of the operatives in Europe and Asia survived the first attacks, I have no idea if this data is accurate now, but this gives us a good idea of what to think." Jack paced around the table in thought, "Arthurs wants to take the planet quickly, based upon what we've seen up till now, it seems that the Confederates are only targeting immediate threats to their invasion." He ran a hand through his hair, thinking, "according to the data the largest concentration of operatives is here, or was, still it's the most we have to go on so I'm ordering all remaining sectors to make for Moscow and dig in." "Why Moscow, why not another city", questioned Rachel, "New York is closer and much more defendable." "No, that won't work" replied Jack, "the data shows the strongest concentration of Confederate forces here in America, consequently all major American cities should be under attack right now." He went over to one of the computer consoles and started punching in commands, "Moscow makes more sense, its defendable and the metro system there is built to withstand everything up to and including a nuclear strike, that'll give us some protection." He accessed the remaining satellites and began bringing up the com systems, "also, according to the map Russia itself has been touched little by the opening invasion force, Moscow should be relatively intact and deserted of adults."
An air raid siren started blaring and Jack switched the monitor he was working on over to video chat, an image of Numbah 1918 came on screen. "Report", ordered Jack, "We've secured the front entrances and the areas around the main guns, but the enemy is pushing towards the perimeter, the shield is up so the bombers are heading off, but the outer defenses are getting pounded by artillery", reported Jonathan. "Where are you?" demanded Jack, "we're holed up in the fleet labs over on the west side of the base, I'm actually in your old office right now", replied Jonathan, "we could really use some reinforcements." "You'll get them", said Jack and then he cut the connection, turning to Rachel and Nigel he said, "grab some operatives and head over to Jonathan's position, give him some help while I send out orders to the remaining sectors." "Who died and put you in charge?", demanded Rachel, "last time I checked I was still supreme leader." "And last time I checked, you didn't know how to fight a war", shot back Jack, "don't argue, just go!" Rachel looked at Nigel for support, but he just shrugged and headed for the door. On the way out Jack called over his shoulder, "oh, and one last thing, when you see Jonathan tell him and Fritz to stay out of my stash this time!"
KND Arctic Base: Central Hanger
Nigel and Rachel rushed back down the passageways and into the hanger, there they found Nigel's sector as well as a several other junior cadets, that were cowering inside several nearby C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.s. Sector V greeted them and Numbah 5 said, "hey guys, what kept ya?" The pair quickly filled Sector V in on their mission, "what kinds of weapons do we have down here", asked Nigel. "Not much", replied Numbah 2, "the rest of the operatives took most of them when they headed for the surface, all we've got down here is a M.U.S.K.E.T. for each operative, two S.C.A.M.P.P.s and a couple of G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A.s." "It'll have to do", said Rachel, "Numbah 4, gather up those cadets and get them armed, we're going upstairs." "Yes ma'm", said Numbah 4, grinning with anticipation. Sector V and Rachel quickly chose weapons, they gave the S.C.A.M.P.P to Nigel and Numbah 4 while all the rest took G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. and they made their way up the forward passage to the surface. "So how do we get to the fleet labs?", asked Nigel, "the labs are a new section on the other side of the base", responded Rachel, "the passageways there are blocked by debris, so we'll have to detour via the surface and them take another entrance down into the western wing, but we'll have to cross the battlefield up top to do that." "Sounds good to me!" exclaimed Numbah 4, charging his S.C.A.M.P.P.
"By the way", said Numbah 5, "what were you and Schmitt talking about?" Nigel and Rachel quickly summarized what they had learned to the others. "Thats an unbelievable story", said Numbah 5, "even compared to what we get into." "At least some it's true", said Nigel, "the Confederates are proof of that." "Hold on though", said Numbah 2, "something doesn't add up." "What do you mean Numbah 2", questioned Rachel. "Schmitt refused to tell you his age, right?" "Yah, I thought that was weird too", replied Rachel, "but he looks like a kid and he certainly isn't 5ft tall with facial hair, so there isn't much else to go on but his word." Numbah 2 shook his head, "impossible, remember what he said about that galactic war?", "yes", replied Rachel, seeing where he was going with this, "what about it?" "Jack said the war was 10 years long, if I remember correctly, he joined at age 9, the war must have ended before he joined so unless he was negative 1 when it started, he's obviously still lying to us." "You've got a point there", Rachel agreed, "so, he's still not telling us the the whole truth." "If he's lying about his age though", put in Numbah 5, "whos to say he wasn't lying about everything else?" "No no, that doesn't make any sense", said Nigel, "we know for sure the Confederates are Confederates, he doesn't have any reason to lie about the Federation, and the rest of his story checks out with what we know, so what would be the motive?" "Thats another good point", replied Rachel, "at the very least, he still has more things to tell us."
"Great, more secrets, as if we didn't have enough to worry about already", said Numbah 4." "Forget it for now, lets concentrate on the mission", said Numbah 1, "but when we get back I'm gonna have a serious talk with our friend the admiral." Rachel edged up close to Nigel so the others couldn't hear wouldn't hear what she said, "do you really think Jack was lying to us the whole time." "I don't know", said Nigel, "but if he was, he went to a lot of trouble to convince us." Rachel nodded and said, "I know, it doesn't make sense, but we've got to be more thorough when dealing with him next time." "Either way", replied Nigel, "something just doesn't add up, first his age and then remember, he avoided your question about the Confederates first visit and we still don't know the exact reason why they went to all this trouble to attack Earth." Rachel nodded again and said, "yeah, its an awful lot of trouble to go invading a planet right next to a Federation world just out of hatred, I feel like there's something else going on here, something bigger." Neither of them could elaborate, so Rachel moved in beside Nigel for the rest of the journey as they both continued thinking.
KND Arctic Base: Central Hanger- West Exit
They soon came to an exit door, guarded by two battered operatives holding S.C.A.M.P.P.s. The two exchanged glances before opening the huge doors for Nigel and his party. As the doors opened the operative were immediately thrust into a totally different world. The door opened into a long, wide trench, with embankments running along the inside for soldiers to stand on and fire over the lip. Inside the trench, all was chaos, operatives ran to and fro, carrying weapons, distributing ammo and caring for wounded. The zaps and zinging sounds of KND laser weapons could be heard all throughout the trench along with the discharge of heavier weapons. In the distance loud bangs could be heard followed by whooshes of air and loud detonations, the sounds of artillery, though who it belonged to was impossible to tell. Smoke clogged the air from rifle discharges and steam billowed in huge clouds over the lip of the trench from the massed volleys of laser fire. Here and there, scorched and bleeding operatives lay on the ground or in stretchers as battered nurses and doctors attempted to heal their wounds. All around was the stench of blood, ash and smoke, combined with the constant fire of weapons and distant, earth rattling explosions combined to make a scene from hell. This is what Nigel and his sector walked into as they exited the peaceful confines of the base. A huge explosion suddenly lit up the top of the trench and several operatives on the embankment were lifted high into air and thrown down through the cloud of fire and soot to crash bodily into the snow. Medics quickly ran to their aid as more operatives rushed to fill their place on the wall.
Nigel, his sector and the cadets, knew not what to do in such a situation, the cadets huddled together and murmured in terror and Nigel sympathized with them, Jack was right, he thought, we aren't trained for this. Nigel noticed a nearby operative who seemed to be trying to direct the chaos, he was shouting orders into a radio and making marks on a map laid out on a wooden board. Nigel ran over to him and shouted, "whats going on!" The operative looked up from his work and responded, gruffly, "I'm in the middle of something here, go bother someone else!" Then he recognized who Nigel was, "oh, Numbah 1, I didn't see it was you, what do you need?" Nigel yelled again, trying to make his voice heard over the clamor of explosions, "we need to get to the fleet labs, how do we get there from here?" "From here? Impossible", responded the operative, "this trench only runs along the outer perimeter of the central sections of the base. Access to fleet labs is a 100 yards away, cut off by the enemy advance." "We need to get there, is there any other way?" "No, we'd have to take those positions and there is no way I'm going out there", said the operative. Nigel noticed the operatives uniform was green and gray, the color of the KND fleet marines and said, "what kind of marine are you! Fine, as a sector leader I am ordering you to help us take that position." "With respect Numbah 1, its not your place to give me orders." "No, but it is mine", cut in Numbah 362, "and I am ordering you to follow his orders!" "But.. but... ugh, yes sir", replied the operative.
He stood up and put on his helmet, then walked up to the lip of the trench, gesturing for Nigel's party to follow. When they got there, he said, "alright, when I give the order, stay behind us and run as fast as you can to the nearest entrance, don't stop and don't look back, except to take cover, got it?" "Got it", responded Nigel and the rest, "good", said the operative. He sighed, "I had hoped this crud would have ended with the Beach War, but here we go, over the top again." He blew a single shrill note on a whistle and immediately operatives in the trench rushed to fill all the spaces on the wall. The marine drew his weapon, a modified S.C.A.M.P.P., similar to the one used by Numbah 1918 and said to the assembled troops, "alright boys and girls, lets show these morons what we're made of, KIDS NEXT DOOR RULES!", he yelled and the crowd cheered. The operative turned back to the lip and raised his arm, then brought it down in a sweeping motion, "CHARGE!"
Up and over the top they went, in one big mass, screaming and yelling, weapons held high. Then the shooting started. Nigel say a clump of operatives go down immediately after exiting the trench, their bodies jerked spasmodically as rounds tore through them before they dropped, dead into the snow. He only had time to widen his eyes before ducking under another barrage of rounds that flew straight over his head. Once again, all was chaos, the operatives charged towards the Confederate line, running flat out, firing wildly as they went. In the distance, Nigel saw one or two enemy soldiers drop as lucky shots picked off their helmets and sent them flying backwards. But the Confederates had numbers and training on their side and their deadly accurate shots dropped dozens of KND soldiers, leaving them bleeding or dead in the snow. Nigel was still running, his breath came in ragged gasps and his feet moved clumsily through the thick snow, but he kept going. He had no idea where Rachel and the rest of his sector were. He was only aware of what was right in front of him.
On his right, a small squad of operatives who had been taking cover behind a snow drift, vanished in a ball of fire as an artillery shell landed right in their midst. The explosion knocked Nigel off his feet and sent him flying into a mound of snow. He groggily pulled himself to his feet, but quickly fell down on his knees. He felt dizzy and sick and was vaguely aware of a strange pulling sensation on his right arm. Pulling? He looked up and saw the marine from before grasping his right arm, trying to pull him up with one hand. In the other he fired his S.C.A.M.P.P. at something out of Nigel's vision. As the operatives pulled Nigel to his feet, he was curiously aware that the marine was firing his S.C.A.M.P.P. on full-auto, must be a new feature, he thought to himself, dazed.
His hearing wasn't working very well and he was vaguely aware of a distant voice shouting, "get up... get up" Wait what?, Nigel thought, he shook himself and his hearing popped back into place, now he could hear the marine. He was screaming, "GET UP, GET UP AND GET MOVING!" The marine shoved Nigel's S.C.A.M.P.P. back into his arms, he had dropped it when he fell into the snow mound and pointed toward the outline of an entrance in the distance, "get over there and get through that door, I'll cover you!" he shouted and began firing his weapon in short bursts behind Nigel. Nigel slowly as first, then quickly began sprinting towards the entrance. Another explosion sounded to his left and his feet faltered for a moment, but he kept running. I have to keep going, I have to make it, I will make it!
He made it to the entrance before the marine and jumped through the doorway. On the other side he was met by Rachel and his sector who had been waiting. Nigel let out a long sigh, "I was worried we wouldn't make it for a sec..." "GET DOWN!", yelled the marine from outside, then a massive blast shook the hallway and bright light filled Nigel's vision and he was partially aware of the feeling of flying through the air, before he smacked into something cold and hard and knew nothing more.
And that was Chapter 9, finally gave you some action huh? Well I'll leave you on this little cliff hanger, goodnight and please remember to keep reviewing!
