Bishop didn't waste any time having his new zoid repainted in the colors of the US Military. It was given a camouflage paint job to blend in with the forest and was given a US Flag on its head. I wondered why he didn't just give the gun tiger to one of his pilots but shrugged it off. Probably better to have one on hand in case something happened I guess.
In any case it did seem to boost morale. I heard the soldiers talking about it all over the base, about how their leader was more than just a paper-pusher, although the fact that I was more than just a thing to be piloted apparently escaped notice. I didn't mind really. I was focused on other things, like the prisoner who managed to capture.
So far he wasn't talking, so I managed to arrange a… special means of talking him.
We left him in the far end of a dark hanger with only a single lightbulb illuminating directly over him. It was a bit unorthodox but it would work well with my plan. Waiting until it was night, we checked the security camera to make sure he was still awake before opening the door and letting me walk in.
"Who's there?" I said nothing as I slowly walked towards him at a pace I hoped would make him worried.
"You won't get anything out of me!" I started growling as I approached him.
"I-I mean it! I won't talk!" As I stepped into the dim light I looked directly at him.
"J-just leave me alone!" I roared right in his face.
"A-alright I'll talk I'll talk!" I signaled the interrogator, Lieutenant Bill Bates, and he walked in as I backed away into the darkness.
Bates didn't waste any time working the prisoner over. He told us everything and if he started to clam up a little I reminded him I was still in the room with a growl or a roar. We learned a lot about our enemy in the short time we had that prisoner in that hanger, but not as much as we'd hoped. The prisoner was transferred to a holding cell as my team, Kinzoku, the command staff and squad leaders gathered in the support hanger for a briefing on what we've learned.
Bates took center stage. "Thank you for coming. Now as you know, we've yet to put a name or a face on our enemy, until today. Thanks to the efforts of General Bishop and Commander Shadow we've been able to learn just who we're dealing with." The insignia we've seen on some of their zoids appeared. It was a red saber tiger's head on a golden shield with a par of lightning bolts crossing behind it.
"They call themselves the Zoidian Armada and if you've ever seen any Saturday morning cartoon with the classic villain, you can put your money on them wanting to take over the world. The prisoner we extracted the information from admitted that most of their zoids are computer controlled, drones basically." I nodded, then spoke.
"Not exactly. All zoids are living beings, but only the H-type zoids are naturally sentient. The others either have an advanced artificial intelligence, a pilot or are running on a basic remote control interface. The third ones aren't the brightest and are more like wild animals trained to follow specific commands or are slaved to a central system."
"What would happen if we took out whatever commanded them?" asked one of the squad leaders. I thought about it for a moment before answering.
"Think of it like a loyal dog trained to do one thing, follow orders. It would continue to follow the last order you gave it, even if it means its death."
"So it wouldn't change much?"
"No, it wouldn't be able to adapt as quickly without its commander though. It would have to rely on its instincts for battle instead of having to take orders." That seemed to satisfy the squad leader's curiosity and Bates continued.
"We got lucky here, the main Zoidian force here are reserves from their base in the mountains, which isn't actually a military base. It's a factory."
"What do they make up there?" asked Bishop. Bates glanced at me then back to Bishop.
"They make every zoid you can think of, minus a few of the larger models. However, it was only recently created, about six or seven months ago it actually came online. This facility was in the process of making a unit of H-types like our allies here but we have reason to believe that they are in the process of making more heavy duty units to counter the H-types."
"How heavy duty are we talking about?" I connected to the screen and put on Shield Ligers, Iron Kongs, Red Horns, and to top it off, a Gojulus. I gazed around the room, gauging the reactions. The general reaction was grim. Most already knew about my own capabilities and how my shield could shrug off most attacks the military could make on a one on one basis, but an entire squad of shield ligers could probably destroy this base with little backup. Not to mention the idea of Iron Kongs and Gojulus backed up by Red Horns didn't help the mood. I decided to help lighten it.
"Which is why I have plan." I just thought of it really, and I surprised most of the room with my statement. "I just came up with it right now actually, but with a bit of refinement it might work."
I took control of the screen and brought up a 3D map of the entire area, including what we knew of the mountain factory. "We have to rush that base with two forces, a smaller commando force to shake things up and the main force to come in and clean house." I brought up several dots at the base of the mountain and highlighted them. "Myself, Rush, Rev and a team of infantry will ascend to the factory from here while the main force," I put on a bunch of other dots at the base, "advance from here, drawing all the attention they can, advance from Yankee Base to factory, but will stop to engage any enemy force that that crosses their path."
Everyone present looked over the plan, murmuring amongst themselves. Eventually all eyes were on Bishop who was deep in thought. After several minutes of silence, he looked to me. "How sure are you that you can take out that base?"
"As sure as these guys love to blow stuff up." There was a collective chuckle in the room.
"Then I approve of this operation. Everyone, prepare to move out in two days."
