Chapter 11: The First Wave

June 15th, 3234, 1215 hours

Fort Acorn

Great Forest

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Sally shouted at the top of her lungs. The entire mess hall froze mid meal and looked at the group. Chris took a small, nervous sip of soda. "I may have asked to form a mixed species squad in which we would be sent on the highest priority missions." "Is that it?" the princess asked through gritted teeth. "Well…no. Apparently these are the missions that…erm…not many people come back from…"

"YOU MURDERED ME, HUMAN!" Sally screamed lunging across the table grabbing Chris by the throat. "YOU JUST COULDN'T HELP YOURSELF COULDN'T YOU?!" "Sally…cannot breathe…" "WHAT DO YOU WANT?! HONOR? GLORY? PUSSY?!" She then let up. Her eyes widened and a look of sudden epiphany shone. "Oh my goodness the sun comes up at last! So that's what you're trying to do! You were trying to get close to me!" She released him. "Princess, that's not what this was about! You have a team that's been infiltrating this city since you were kids! You're adults now and Robotnik isn't going to hold back! You think he was bad then? Think of what he's going to do to you now! We have fucking starships filled to the hatches with missiles and MAC rounds. If he doesn't take that as a threat, who will?!"

"Come on! Get off him!" Jones barked. He grabbed Sally around the waist and pulled her. She went quietly. "Sir, what should I do with her?" Chris rubbed his neck. "Excuse me?" "She assaulted a senior officer. What should I do with her?" Chris shrugged and straightened his cap. "I refuse to press charges. Let her go, Sergeant." Jones raised an eyebrow. "Alright. You're the boss." He let go. "No offense, your Highness. Nothing personal." She nodded. "It's OK, Jones. Just part of the job."

"Nothing to see here, you lumps!" Jones barked. "Get back to filling your yaps!" The marines complied and turned to their meals. "Why the hell did you do that?" Sally hissed. "Because you were just angry. It happens some times. I remember when I was younger I beat, heh, I love this memory; I beat the shit out of my commanding officer. Truth be told, he started it but I still got busted for it. A week in the brig was it?"

"So, your motivation was to bring us all together to form an elite strike team?" "A mixed species elite strike team! This is both a social experiment and a military tactic. We're trying to mix both Mobians and Humans to see how they perform in combat. This has been attempted many times in history, but they have…fallen short with a few notable exceptions. This could lead to something amazing." Sally tilted her head. "Really?" "Yes. We already have permission on both sides for this. We are the first of these teams designated 'Omega Squad'." "Lieutenant, how many teams are lined up?" "We're planning over a hundred. We're the pilot program."

"That…sounds…EPIC!" Tails said jumping up. "Think of it! We're the first of a dynasty! Humans and anthropomorphics working together!" "Stand down, Private. We're still going to finish training. Three weeks from now we'll be getting our first assignment."

There was suddenly a siren on the air, a wailing sound that he heard many times before. "Oh no…" Chris said. "Not again." Not since Talahan… "AIR RAID!" a guard yelled. Explosions dotted the horizon and dots expanded into attack craft. "EVERYBODY OUT!" Vennettilli screamed. "GO, GO, GO!" Marines stood up to run. A laser blast tore through the roof and landed about a hundred feet back. Unfortunate Marines were caught in the blast. The fortunate were vaporized. The unfortunate were badly burned, screaming as their injuries stung. "MOVE! FUCKING MOVE!" Jones screamed, jumping on top of a table pointing to the exit.

"ATTENTION, ALL PERSONNEL, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, ALL MARINES, EVACUATE THE FACILITY. F-29s PILOTS, SCRAMBLE IMMEDIETELY. GUNNERY TURRETS, YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO FIRE ON ONCOMING AIRCRAFT. MECHS HAVE PERMISSION TO POWER UP AND-" The COM tower exploded in a shower of metal. The hulk crashed into the ground with a column of smoke rising into the sky. "Princess!" Chris said. "Where the fuck is she?! PRINCESS!" Among the cries, there was a small, "LIEUTENANT!"

Chris worked his way through the mass of men. Some of them got guns and started to shoot at the flying robots in vain. They were the first to fall. Machine gun rounds tore into them leaving bloody splotches on the ground.

Sally gasped in fear. A man fell to the ground. He grabbed onto her pant leg. "Please…help me!" Sally's eyes widened in shock as she saw his entire lower body was missing. She screamed and shook him off. The man gargled, blood bubbled in his mouth and he died. "Your Highness!" A voice said, heavily accented. Kersiac ran up to her. "Your Highness, I've got you!" "Vere?!" "Da, Your Highness! I'm here to take you away!" "Where's the Lieutenant?!" "He'll be here. For now, we need to move to the far gate!"

In his hand, he had a long tube that Sally assumed was a rocket launcher. "Anti-air missile." He explained with a smile. Picked one up as soon as I heard the raid!" One fighter swooped low. "I think I may have to use it. GET DOWN!" Sally hit the dirt. Kersiac sighted his weapon lining up the crosshair. The weapon beeped which signaled a lock. He pulled the trigger and a 120mm AA rocket zoomed from the tube and headed for the sky. Several sabots blew off and the missile streaked even faster. The fighter attempted to veer off, but it was too late. The missile struck under its wing and exploded. The fighter corkscrewed and zoomed over their heads. It landed in a bunch of trees and blew up." "That's the way we do it, bitches!" Kersiac crowed.

"Run! I'm right behind you!" He shouted to Sally. She nodded and turned to run for it. He squeezed off another rocket and hit the second fighter head on. It blew in half. One wing landed fifty feet to his left and buried itself in the mud. The second half spun into the trees. The third one however was much too big for him.

The ship looked like a heavy assault carrier. It was well over three hundred meters long and hovered over the camp. He roared a battle cry and launched rockets like crazy. Some found their marks and blew apart bulkheads and destroyed. The weapon ran dry and he tossed it aside. Vere pulled out his M39 Beretta and pumped off rounds. It did little good. Numerous turrets turned to track him. Kersiac dropped his gun and attemped to run, but the turrets opened fire and hit Kersiac in the abdomen. Sally screamed as Vere hit the ground in a bloody splash. She ran forwards and dragged him behind a truck. She looked at him. "Vere! No! You can't die! No! Stay with me!" Kersiac coughed blood and laughed. "Heh…I could have stayed in the Old Country, could have stayed and been safe." He laughed and felt his wounds. "We'll find help!" Sally said with tears in her eyes. "But I never would have met you then, vladarica." He looked at Sally with a sad smile. "Make sure the others watch out for you…Dobar, Sally. Dobar, i hvala." He exhaled and his head fell back. Behind his helmet goggles, Vere's eyes were glazed over. Sally fell back and started hyperventilating.

"Oh Jeez, oh God! Oh my God! Oh fuck!" "I hear something!" said a voice from beyond her hiding place. "Princess!" the marines rounded the corner. "Your Highness!" Lieutenant Vennettilli said. He then saw Vere's body. "Oh Jesus. Vere." She bit her lip. "He saved my life!" Her lip trembled and she started to cry. "Hecks, get her out of here." Chris said. "Geri, grab his tags." They both nodded. Hecks touched Sally's shoulder. "Come on, your highness. Let's get out of here." She nodded and grabbed his arm. "Please…I don't want to be here." "Alright. Come with me. I'll get you out of this place."

The turrets started to ping away at the truck. Bullet divots emerged on the cargo container. "Orders, sir?" Chris noted the turret. "We don't have anything big enough to take that down!" A couple 'Mechs lumbered outside. They were cut down by laser blasts. Their dead hulks were still. Their pilots didn't eject which meant they were dead.

"Everything we have will just be cut down, everything." "So do you have a plan?" Sally asked, on the verge of panicking. "Yeah. Geri, Hecks, go with the princess. I'll give covering fire." "Covering fire?! That thing will kill you dead!" Geri said. "Just do it! I'll be right out!" "Yes, sir." Chris knelt near the edge of cover, assault rifle in hand. "Ready? On three! One, two, three. COVERING FIRE!" He leapt out and squeezed off bursts. The bullets pinged on the ship's body. "Go! Move, move, move!"

The three set off running across open ground. Sally stumbled. "Keep going! Don't look back!" Chris screamed. A turret unfortunately had the idea to change targets. It fired at the group. The blast hit Geri in the leg. His limb vaporized and he howled. Before he could cradle the leg, a second blast reduced his upper torso to a skeleton. "NO!" Chris screamed and ran for him. Bad choice.

He picked himself up off the ground and fired shots at the turret. One of the machine gun turrets trained on him. He barely made it past Geri's corpse when a small round ricochet off the ground and hit him in the kneecap. "ARGH!" He yelled. "AAAHH!" He then said attempting to put weight on it. Chris limped to the next available cover. "LIEUTENANT!" Hecks said. "Let's go!" Chris urged. They ran for it. A trio of F-29 Hellcats roared over their heads and engaged the Assault Carrier. "Thank you flyboys!" Hecks said. This gave them the chance to escape. Chris lost his balance and hit the ground. He slammed the ground in pain. "OH FUCK! IT FUCKING KILLS!" "Grab him." Hecks said to Sally. She nodded and picked up the man and slung an arm over her shoulder. "You OK, LT?" Chris snarled. "I've been better!"

"Alright, find a stick, this is gonna hurt." Chris found a long twig and lodged it between his teeth. "Hit me!" he said and bit down hard. Jones took a pair of tweezers and stuck them into the wound. Chris writhed in pain and howled. He bit down harder. "Come on, stay still. Almost done!" He found the bullet and grabbed it. Unfortunately he hit a nerve. Chris bit so hard he broke the twig. He screamed loud, the trees echoing the painful cries. "Got it!" Jone said pulling the tweezers out. A small lead bullet was in the instrument's grasp. The Sergeant then put biofoam over the wound. Sally asked, "What's that?"

"Biofoam. Means exactly what it sounds like. It's foam that's a sealing, clotting, and repairing agent. You can sew up a cut or fill a laceration. Biofoam will pull you through. Chris calmed down slightly. "Oh yeah…that's the stuff."

The Hellcats were not faring well. One was shot down the minute they engaged. The second was suffering engine damage and the leader was panicking at the yoke. His wingmate took a laser blast. His plane flipped over and ploughed into the forest. The leader then looked into the center of the ship. A red ball was forming. As all soldiers know, Red is the worst color of the spectrum. He tried to pull up but the beam caught his plane. It tinted red for a second and exploded.

The Marines watched in horror as the camp was reduced to a crater. Planes came from nowhere though and assaulted the Cruiser. Apparently the local military took notice to the robot ship. A hundred miles from the city was too close. Missile impacts splashed across what they suspected to be shields. Suddenly, a streak came from the sky and impacted the Assault Cruiser. The Cruiser broke apart and vanished in a flash of light.

"Holy shit." Jones said. "It's Eggman." Sally said. "I know it, I know it!" "Where did the missiles come from?" Hecks asked. "Looks…like the Indomitable felt left out!" Vennettilli said leaning on a tree. "Attention, are there any survivors? Somebody respond!" Jackson grabbed the radio. "This is Jones. We have survivors. Estimated fifty Marines. We need dustoff. We have wounded, repeat, we have wounded." "Copy that, we'll send Pelicans for you."

"This was uncalled for." Chris said. "He had no right to do that…" Sally knelt down to Chris' eye level. "He doesn't care. You told me that. Doctor Ivo Robotnik is a genius, but he is insane. Do you know what he wants to do with this planet when we're dead?" "Indulge me." "Strip mine. He has no relatives, no heirs; he just wants to burn as many worlds as he can to expand his empire. Do you know what your appearance has done?"

"I don't know." "It's bolstered his confidence! It's caused him to build more and more. Take that cruiser! I have never seen that model before! It's too close too! We're not even a hundred miles away from the city and he has a fleet coming after us. He killed two of us already." "Yeah. He has." "Step up your game. You have to protect me." "You seem very prepared to dump responsibilities on us little people." "That's your job isn't-" she clamped her hand over her mouth. "What did you say?"

Chris actually stood up. He pointed to Sally using a long branch as his cane. "You don't care about us at all! Is that all we are, cannon fodder? We just throw ourselves in front of the guns and hope that we pile high enough to protect you?" "No! Lieutenant! Before Kersiac died, he said-" "I don't give a fuck! I will not be insulted like that! You will not treat my men like they're nothing. How dare you…In fact, I was sorry I was ever paired up with a spoiled brat like you!" He turned to limp away. Hecks looked at Sally.

"Look, Princess. Chris has had a hard life. His parents died when he was 16. He was devastated by the death. Then he was drafted by the military two years later. He saw many brave people die on Talahan V, a planet where we had a war a couple years back. He lost his best friend on that rock. We all lost someone we cared about.

"You see, Sally, that's the thing about Marines. We're brothers and sisters. If one dies, the other gets affected. Sure we're all soldiers and when our number's up, our number's up! Just remember to be considerate of other people's feelings. I don't like being talked down to like that either. I happen to have a girlfriend that cares about me and I don't want her to know I died needlessly. Your Highness…" Hecks began to walk away when Sally said, "Wait, Private!"

"Yeah?" "How exactly did they die? The Lieutenant's parents?" "He never told me anything. Hell I wasn't there when it happened. Why would he tell me?" He turned to look at the sky. Chris was sitting by a tree watching the remaining jets circle the area where the camp once stood. She decided to walk over. "Lieutenant?" "What the hell do you want?" "I just wanted to ask…how did your parents die?" He looked at her with a curious glance. "You have an expert sense of timing, you know that? People just died. Two people, whom I thought I was going to get to know, DIED. This entire camp, burned to the goddamned ground! I don't think this would be the best time to ask me about my life of misfortunes!" He grasped his kneecap. Apparently stress made the wound hurt. "Just beat it. Please. Ask me anywhere but here and now!" She frowned. "Alright, I'll go."

Pelicans descended from the sky, one with a Red Cross spraypainted on the side. The tires descended and Marines flocked from cover. "Let's go! In the Pelicans!" The pilots said over the loudspeakers. "The medical pelican is for the wounded only! Get the hell off and into your own transports!"

Chris hobbled over to the medical dropship. A crew chief helped him into a seat along with other Marines. To his surprise he saw Tails there. "Hey, yo, Miles!" Tails opened his eyes and groaned. "Lieutenant?" "How you doing, kid?" "My head hurts." Chris saw that a gash was on his forehead. It had clotted but dry blood stuck to his brown fur. "You'll be OK, kid. You just got a scratch compared to some of these guys." A gurney was wheeled to the dropship. A wounded human Marine was writhing as a red splotch was forming around his chest. "Get him stable!" A medic said. "Yes sir!" the crew chief replied. A few minutes later, the Pelican was filled up and it started to rise into the sky. Chris let his head hit the chair and he fell asleep. It had been a long day for all of them.

This was an act of war. Nothing could redeem this. It seemed that Doctor Robotnik was serious about his claim to declare open war on the humans. They attacked a human training ground, destroyed the training ground and in the process, killed hundreds of young men and women both human and mobian! Andsworth angrily rounded the bridge of the Indomitable. They were lucky to launch those missiles when they did. He had a feeling that they would have just burnt up on reentry anyway. Casualty reports just came in. From recoverable evidence, they determined that about three hundred seventy nine people died. Unfortunately they couldn't find any more bodies other than ashes. Whispers in the wind, gone forever.

"Lieutenant Velo, open a link to the palace." "Aye sir." Jack responded. He promptly began opening a channel. A video conversation started. King Max answered the call. "Admiral? Have you just heard?" "I saw it, your Highness. We were the ones who destroyed that cruiser before it had the chance to do more damage!" "Right. Gerome, this has gone on long enough. We can't simply turn a blind eye to what this madman's doing. We need to take action and take him down!"

"I agree! I think it's time we started deploying our new 'investment', your Highness." "Make it so, Admiral. We need to win this war. We aren't cut out for this." "Oh believe me, your Highness. Eggman won't know what hit him. He just picked the wrong humans to mess with."