A/N : Okay, let's get to the battle with the E.D.F. against the Skaarj forces!
Jojo : Someone's gonna die?
Me : No, not now.
Boris : So, we're going to help those E.D.F. amateurs.
Me : Actually, Boris, they're not amateur. I mean, can you really call someone who drove the Skaarjs out of Earth on the first war 'amateur'?
Boris : For me, they're still amateur. (Drinking vodka.)
Me : BORIS! NO DRINKING ON A MISSION!
(Crash!)
Boris : MY VODKA! THAT WAS MY LAST BOTTLE! HWAAAA! (Sobbing.)
Jojo : Oh, boy...
Tabby : What's this Who-awful smell?
Jojo : Just Boris being alcoholic.
Disclaimer : I don't own anything I don't own. Tabby and Valerie are from .. (thanks for lending me the Characters!). Phoenix the E.D.F. soldier is mine.
Chapter 10
UT Taskforce - Earth Defense Force
JOINT OPERATION
The console went online, showing a couple of helicopters flying on Lousiana. After 5 seconds, the map moved to a group of Cicadas flying on the ocean.
"HQ, this is Epsilon team. We're approaching the island." said Isa.
"Copy that Epsilon one. We've scanned the surrounding area on the island." Xan replied as he moved the map again to the east. Now an Island appeared. There were white dots, and red dots. Some of them were disappearing over time. "It looks like the LZ is hot."
"That wouldn't be a problem. We can handle that."
"Straight to Hell"
Unknown, 0500 Hours.
Sergeant Jojo McDodd.
UT Taskforce - Epsilon
Status : Alive.
"Do you see anything?"
"No, sir."
I was placed as turret gunner on the Cicada. I didn't know why, but the Captain ordered me to man it, and not everyone else.
"Incoming missile!" warned Jayce.
"Jojo! Drop the chaff bomb!" Ordered Hande. I did so. A bomb engulfed with sparks was dropped from the right side of the turret. I saw a missile flew toward it and exploded upon contact.
"Good work."
Soon, an island appeared on my sight. Like what General Kriegor said, it was hot. Some stray projectiles even scratched the hull. I switched to Thermal mode. Soon, everything was black and white. I only saw some white figures, some with halo. I shot every halo-less figures.
"LZ's too hot, sir! We can't land in this situation!" cried Jayce. Suddenly, the Cicada was shaken heavily. "We're hit!"
"Jojo! Where's your chaff grenade cover!" Hande yelled angrily on my headset. I rubbed my ears and groaned in pain. I shouldn't have set it to max volume.
He had a point though. I was too occupied with the war below, that I didn't notice the alarm on the ceiling that would notify me if a missile was coming.
"Lower, Jayce. Land on that spot."
"Which spot, sir?"
"The one inside the forest." The Cicada flew onto the forest. What made me scared was, Jayce tried to get the aircraft through the woods. If it wasn't Jayce controlling the heli-like vehicle, I'd say it was a miracle that we could pass through them with only one or two minor bumps.
My heart was thumping even after the Cicada landed. Man, was that a crazy ride. I exited the turret controller room and went outside. Just as I stepped my foot on the grass, an ASMD beam scorched the tree just next to me.
Following me was Shingo, with a U.M.S. Rocket Launcher on his shoulder and AR770 akimbo on his belt. I loaded my U.M.S. C.A.R. with magazines. Just as I finished loading it, series of Tarydium shards was shot from behind the trees. "Whoa, that was close!" I exclaimed as one of the shards passed through my fur. I returned fire by using the second setting. The blast of the explosion ignited by the combined bullets knocked out the Trooper and cut the tree down. It fell right on the head ot 2 hiding Skaarj Assassins, without a doubt killing them
I dashed outside the forest, big mistake because once I was outside, the Skaarjs rained bullets and plasma shots on me. I quickly proned on the ground, using a big rock as cover.
KA-BOOM!
'Shingo's Rocket Launcher.' I thought. I got up and saw that my guess was correct. On the place where the Skaarjs that were trying to kill me were standing, was thick smoke screen.
"Looks like a mass kill." I turned to see Shingo loading his launcher with a rocket. But before he could fire it again, a stream of fire appeared on the road. The remaining Skaarjs were incinerated. I looked on the other side, to see 5 Earth Defense Force soldiers wielding some kind of flame throwers.
"Taskforce!" One of the soldiers called us. We dashed toward them, "Good to see you all made it."
"Yeah. What's that?" asked Shingo, pointing on the flamethrower the soldiers holding.
"UA69 'Vulcan' Flamethrower. Nastiest weapon we got here. Too bad we're running out of fuel. By the way, name's Phoenix." He offered a handshake.
"McDodd." I responded his handshake. "Did you found the base?"
"They said it's just a few miles from here. Want to tag along?" Phoenix offered.
"By all means."
They were right. A big base was just in front of us. "Hey, look. Wasn't that your friends?" Phoenix pointed to our left. I looked at where he was pointing, to see Valerie and Mariana running with Quad-Shotguns. They also had 2 E.D.F. troopers equipped with M700 Crowd Pleaser Shotguns.
The Skaarjs that were positioned on the gate didn't see us, but they saw Valerie and Mariana's group. The Berserkers jumped off the wall and tried to hold them back, but to no avail. Every time they got close, the shotguns barked, throwing them away and killing them at the same time. Somehow, the shotguns could block the plasma shots from the raziks. Looks like they were thick enough to hold some projectiles.
"Sniper on the tower!" Phoenix's friend yelled.
Suddenly, one E.D.F. trooper got shot right between the eyes. We quickly hid on the grass. Shingo aimed his Launcher on the the tower and activated his Rocket launcher guided mode. He fired the rocket and guided it to the tower to get a precise shot.
That did it, the explosion hit the wooden tower, which fell on the grass, along with the Sniper on it.
The gate on the wall covering the base opened, revealing a tank with twin plasma cannons. "Well, time to call for the big guns." Phoenix said, pulling out a Target Painter, a gun that was used to pinpoint a target for an airstrike or bombardment. He pointed the gun at the tank, then put it back on his back.
"Wait for it, wait for it."
For awhile, nothing seemed to be happening, until suddenly, it was raining bomb from above. The bombs hit the tank, utterly destroying it into pieces. "SPMAs always come in handy." Phoenix said.
"Yeah, but we got a rocket launcher you know?" I replied. Phoenix ignored me and moved forward, which was a mistake because another Skaarj Sniper shot his leg from a palm tree. He fell flat on the grass, face first. I reacted before the Skaarj finished him off. I launched my bullets, secondary mode. The bullet exploded and cut the tree down. The Skaarj hanging on it also fell down. Ouch, that's gotta hurt!
"Epsilons, regroup on the western side of the base!" ordered the captain. Acknowledgements were heard several times from different places.
"Phoenix, the Captain just ordered us to regroup on the western side! You need to go on without us!" I informed the incapacitated trooper. He just nodded, which was enough for me. I quickly gave a sign to Shingo to follow me.
It didn't take long for us to get to the place the Captain ordered us to regroup on. We were the last one that arrived, though.
"Okay, everybody here? Alright, we're going to the wall to get the overview of the base. It's also the fastest way to get to the base, and of course, to wreak havoc on it." Hande told us his plan fast.
"And how're we supposed to get up?" I asked.
"Hang on." Hande turned on his headset. "Pilots, on your positions." Suddenly, Cicadas appeared from the skies. "Pull out your Hoverboards."
I pulled out my hoverboard from my bag. I didn't really know how that fits on my bag, but why should I care? The Cicadas lowered to the ground. "Now, grapple!"
Just as Hande said "grapple", we pulled out our particle grappler and shot it on the Cicadas. We were pulled up as the aircrafts flew to the sky.
"Now, release the grappler!" Hande ordered again as we flew high enough. We did as he said, and landed safely right on the top of the wall. "Alright let's get to the post over there." He pointed to his right. We followed him to a tower attached on the wall.
As we got inside, a Skaarj Officer with an Automag pistol greeted us, just to be blown up to the next universe by Tabby's AVRiL.
"Whoa, check it out! We got a jackpot" exclaimed Ramirez, our ace sniper.
He was not entirely right. I mean, I wouldn't exactly call it a 'Jackpot'. We just found the Skaarj weapon cache, and from what I read, their weapons were not really as good as ours, which were made by the Axon Research Corporation, the corporation that made the bestest weapons, or so I heard.
Ramirez picked up the hunting rifle hanging on the wall. "My favorite weapon all the time." He said.
"Wasn't your favorite weapon Sniper Rifles?" I asked, and just as I finished the sentence, he pushed a button near the trigger, and then a scope appeared from the left side of the rifle.
"You were saying?"
"Nothing."
Captain Hande just picked up another hunting rifle. "You planning to stay here, Ray?" He asked Ramirez. "'cause if you are, I'm going to enjoy shooting the birds too."
"Well, be my guest, sir. But didn't you mean lizard boys?"
"I think it has the same meaning. Jojo." I quickly turned to him as he called my name. "Lead the rest of the team down to the base. Ramirez and I will provide sniper cover."
As we rappeled down, a horde of Skaarjs, whether they were Warriors or Troopers, charged toward us like hungry wolves. Their eyes were filled with rage and killing spree.
BANG!
They quickly stopped as one of their comrades was thrown back, its head chopped off. Unable to find the source of the gunshot, they started charging again. Another shot was heard and another Skaarj fell dead on the ground, but it didn't stop them like it did before.
With numerous of battle cries, we dashed forward, despite the fact that we were outnumbered, a hundred to one. I pulled out my U.M.S. C.A.R. and emptied a cli[ pm 10 Skaarj Trooper, killing them in 5 seconds each Skaarjs. I didn't reload the clip, instead, I pulled out an Eightball Rocket Launcher and launched all of the rockets on all 6 barrels on the horde, killing numerous of Berserkers and totally vaporized a bunch of Gunners.
So far, my group had held the horde with any bullets, rockets, grenades, and plasmas, until our weapons were all empty, all at the same time.
"Oh, shit." I heard Jonathan muttered.
"Captain, looks like we're going to need you to buy us some time to reload." I reported.
"Have no fear, ultimate sniper here." Ramirez replied.
"Ahem, you're not the Captain, Ray." Hande said with a chuckle, "We'll handle those reptiles from here. No worries."
As he finished saying that, one Skaarj fell dead, followed by another. "Double kill!" Hande exclaimed in Tournament announcer-like tone. Another fell dead again. "Multi kill!" And so on...
"Mega Kill! ULTRA KILL! M-M-MONSTER KILL!"
And he continued as another Skaarj fell dead.
"LUDICROUS KILL!"
And again...
"HOLY SHIT!" The Captain exclaimed, still in announcer tone. "Well, I need to reload for some time, guess that's enough combo killing. You guys finished?"
"Lock and load, sir." I replied.
KA-BOOM!
All attention were diverted to the gate, which was blown to smithereens. The E.D.F. troopers appeared and blasted the Skaarj horde until there were only 50 left. The remaining Skaarjs decided to fall back for dear life. The E.D.F. approached us, holding shaped charges.
"Glad to see you all in one piece." said Phoenix when he saw us.
"Again, yeah. You made it here too." I replied, "What's the plan, then?"
"We need you to cover our demolitionists. We're planning to bring this base down with the shaped charges, and it's not going to happen if our demomen were dead.
"Alright, we'll cover ya." Boris replied.
"Er.. I'm the one in charge here." I said, but no one heard me.
"I think it's a good idea" said Tabby.
"I'm ready as I'll ever be." said Shingo.
"Good thing I got my weapons ready."
"Wow, this should be fun."
"AHEM!" I half-cleared throat half-yelled. "I said I'm in charge here! I'm the one making decision! Though, honestly, I'm going to agree with the plan." Just as I finished that, everyone sweatdropped.
"You didn't really have to say that then." Valerie said quietly.
"Alright, but you need my permission first."
"Yeah, right. Being the third in command and all. I should be the one in that position you know." Boris grumbled, which I ignored.
We didn't meet any resistance on our way to the gas tank we were going to blow up. The demolitionists were now placing their charges.
"How long is it going to take to set them all? It's too long already!" complained Tabby.
"Relax, it's not going to take really long." replied Celis.
KA-BOOM!
The gas tank just blew. Luckily we weren't close to the blast radius. But the explosion began to create a chain reaction that involved multiple tanks next to the gas tank that was just blown.
But to my surprise, the E.D.F. demomen were also caught on the explosion. It shouldn't happen unless the tanks were blown up prematurely.
"What the?" I spoke. My question was soon answered by a Skaarj Sniper appearing behind a pillar.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
BANG!
"ARGH!" My heart sank as I recognized the voice. I turned back, to see Celis falling on the ground. Her chest was bleeding.
"NO!" I rushed to the Sniper, Nighthawk bared. With an uncontrollable rage, I slashed the Skaarj into pieces.
"NOBODY! TOUCHES! MY! DAUGHTER!"
I was controlled by anger and rage, not by my own thought. Soon as I regained my senses, I saw what I had done. The Skaarj was torn apart. Every part of it were scattered anywhere.
"Jojo..." I heard Celis' soft voice from behind. She was standing weakly. She had a bandage on her chest, which was tinted with dark red colour. Valerie was on her side, with her hand on Valerie's shoulder. I saw Valerie's thumb pointing up and her wide smile.
"Don't worry, Jo. Everything's okay" said Tabby encouragingly.
I quickly hugged Celis without saying anything. I felt tears dropping from my eyes. "Don't worry, Jo. I'm still here." She said.
I released Celis and wiped my cheeks. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Hey, I was meant to be 'super soldier'. That little wound would never kill me."
I was about to say something, but another explosion was heard, followed by another ones. "I think it's the sign to leave."
We arrived at the wall shortly. The Cicadas had landed on the ground. I saw Jayce stepping out from her aircraft. "Wow, you really did a good job setting the entire base ablaze. Where's the cap'?"
"On the tower. Oh, there he is!" I pointed on Hande and Ramirez, who were rappeling down.
"I just had a report that E.D.F. had lost some transportation. I guess we need to take them back with our aircrafts to ensure their commanders' safety." Hande said.
"What about you?" asked Jayce.
"Don't worry, I can use their Class A Fighter. You know, the one that can carry a lot of passengers. Ah, there they are!" Big-sized fighters landed on the ground next to the Cicadas. "You coming Jo?"
"By all means."
I entered the fighter after Hande did. Shingo just came and rushed to the fighter too. "And what makes you think you're coming, Shingo?" Hande asked.
Shingo blushed, and was about the step out. His face was filled with embarrassment. But then Hande chuckled and said "Oh, no. I'm just kidding. Come on."
The ship flew after some E.D.F. troopers also entered, making the ship full. "We're going to land on station Romeo Zulu 6." said the pilot. "It's the nearest landing zone from here. We're at Bingo fuel, so the ship can't fly any further."
Just as I thought I could relax, the ship was shaken really hard. "AA missile turrets! Hang on!"
BOOM!
This time, the alarm was sounded. The whole fighter went red. "Mayday! Mayday! We're falling down to the forest! Mayday! Mayday!"
"Shit! Where the hell are the parachutes!" cursed one of the E.D.F. troopers.
As the ship crash landed, debris were falling. I saw a big pipe fell on Hande's head, knocking him out. The others were trying to get outside, but I was stuck on the corner.
As the debris stopped falling, I tried to lift the pipe up. "Sir, wake up. Sir." I shook the Captains body.
Blood was oozing from his forehead, but he was still alive. I just hoped the pipe didn't cause any brain damage, but knowing the Captain, that would be the last thing that could ever happened.
"Sir, get up."
A/N : Okay! We reached the end of the long chapter!
And Ending Disclaimer :
Shaped charges are like C4s more or less, from Unreal Tournament 3. Cicada and Hellfire SPMA are from UT3 too. UA69 'Vulcan' Flame Thrower is Unreal II : The Awakening weapon, as well as the M700 Crowd Pleaser Shotgun. Quad-Shotgun is unfinished weapon in Unreal Original Episode. Skaarj Hunting rifle is also from there. U.M.S. C.A.R. and U.M.S. Rocket Launcher are from Unreal : Return to Na Pali. Lastly, the combo killing from 'Double Kill!' to 'HOLY SHIT!' are from Unreal Tournament 2004, as well as the Target Painter weapon, except it is supposed to call Phoenix Bomber, not SPMA bombardment.
I don't own all of them!
Class A Fighter is mine though.
Jojo : Whoa, I'm becoming a badass fighter here.
Me : Indeed you are.
Ramirez : Sniper rifle rules!
Me : Ray, I was the one sniping most Skaarjs. So far, no one thanked me.
All : ... (silence)
Me : Alright, I'm off.
Tabby : Hey, how're you doing Celis?
Celis : The chest still hurts.
Valerie : Don't worry, I got the medical kit right here!
Tabby : You're a medic, Val?
Valerie : Yup, haven't I told you before?
Tabby : No, you haven't.
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