Battlezone II: Lost Legacy by Admiral Kelley
Part 2
Please observe that I don't own anything that originated from the Activision game Battlezone II and anything else is completely mine and is subject to my own unique brand of copyright law. Those who try to rip off my story or steal any of my ideas without at least mentioning where you got them in your story monologue will result in me sending a crack team of highly paid lawyers addicted to human flesh to come rip you apart piece by piece. Now with the legal crap out of the way I encourage you to sitback, relax, and enjoy reading Battlezone II: Lost legacy pt2 by Admiral Kelley and you are still encouraged to send me honest reviews or creative lies depending upon the content of your opinion so I can make part three better.
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It was an unusually windy day along Cores equator. Enough so that some of the turbulence got to even the most senior members in Wraith squadron who were now strapped into their Thunderbolt scouts magnetically clamped down to the deckplating in the underbelly of the Equinox where craft and cargo went instead of the troop compartment they'd arrived on the planet in. Gust after gust hit the Equinox, each time knocking it about and wiggling the securely clamped Thunderbolts causing them to occasionally trade paint with their wingmates because they were so tightly packed into the cargo bay.
"One minute to IP" came a voice over the headset radios announcing that the team was soon to be deployed for their first assignment since arriving. Slayer just hoped it wouldn't be their last.
"Wraiths, Comm. check, report in!" Slayer blared over the radio.
"Phoenix green across the board and ready to go!"
"Paddy here, systems prepped and pilot sober!"
"Pyro is active and ready to kick some ass!"
"Angel is armed and dangerous Cmdr.!"
"Steel is here and ready to serve!"
"Ten seconds to I.P. 9-8-7...." came the voice over the intercom.
"Okay Wraiths I'm ready to Rock!" said Slayer over the squadron frequency.
"Then were ready to Roll!" replied everybody else.
"So look out you bastards!" shouted Slayer to the outer hatches as they began to open.
"Beginning Insertion drop" came the cool voice of the Equinoxes pilot as she dipped the crafts nose so it was pointed down to the ground and fired the retros sending it up while at the same time flipping a switch which released the Thunderbolts from the magnetic locks dropping them out of the cargo bay like stones.
"Cause here we go!" was the enthusiastic reply shouted by the squadron as gravity gripped at their fighters and tried to smash them into the ground. But gravity's presence on this planet was not so strong and the Thunderbolts managed to get their ships lined up by pairs three in total and the pairs lined up one behind the other with Slayer and Phoenix in the lead.
"Beginning cork screw maneuver." said Slayer just as he executed a slow turn to port sending his ship into a terminating circle that would allow him to land on the ground at a reasonable speed. Glancing behind him Slayer could barely see through the mist his other pilots following his lead. It was, Slayer decided, a feeling like no other to be dropped out of a speeding dropship five kilometers up and unfortunately one that he never got to feel quite often. Below him the terrain was much like anywhere else on Core with the usual assortment of odd looking structures and bluish purple ground that looked like deckplates instead of terrain. It took a total of ten minutes of glide time before the ship hit the ground with a bonejarring thud. Slayer immediately sidestepped his craft to starport so the other ships in his squadron could land. Ordinarily the drops would have been made with engine assistance but the glare from them would be visible for miles and they were trying to be stealthy.
Looking out his canopy, Slayer waited until the third and last pair of ships landed before calling out. "Wraiths report in."
"Phoenix here."
"Paddy here."
"Pyro here."
"Angel has landed."
"Ach, I need an aspirin."
"Roger that. Slayer to Cloud-9 we have landed safely do you copy, over" said Robertson to his radio and the Ops center where General Alistar was probably watching them on the giant tactical display now.
"We copy Slayer, recon your objective then report back what you find." came the slightly static filled reply from General Alistar.
"Roger Cloud-9 Wraiths are on the move over and out." Slayer switched his radio back to squadron frequency. "Wraiths pair up and move out to the objective. Steel you and Angel take point and try to raise the firebase when we get within range."
"Copy Slayer, Steel and Angel are taking point."
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But unknown to the Wraiths their landing had not gone completely unnoticed.
"Master" came a quiet voice from the other end of the chamber directed to a thing that was not quite human, and not quite Scion but seemed to be a combination of both.
"What is it Drone?" said the thing as it put down a wicked looking instrument being used on a hapless human that had been captured in one of their early operations.
"One of our patrols have reported that a small squadron of scout ships have been dropped behind our lines and appear to be moving to the human outpost we pacified recently. Do you wish us to capture them like the others?" asked the pitiful creature.
"No, we have collected enough resources and are now ready to make ourselves known. Let them scout that outpost and then send a greeting party. Instruct the jammers to let them get one message out before they cut off communications with their headquarters. Then destroy them and leave plenty of evidence of a fight. Sticking their heads on a pike would be a nice way. Now get out of my sight Drone, I'm busy." the Drone instantly complied scuttling away to relay the orders from its master closing the doors behind it.
"Now where were we?" it asked the human as it picked up another instrument and jammed it into the humans mid-section sending the human into a world of agony and soaking up the delicious pain that coursed through its soul.
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"Centurion-4 this is Wraith squadron please respond, over." It was the sixth time Steel had made the call since they got within a decent range. But each time only silence had answered him. They were approaching 200 meters to target mark, well within communications range, which meant that the base radio had been knocked out by something and they couldn't answer or there was nobody alive to hear. "Steel to Slayer, I'm getting nothing Herr Commander not even static and were well within communications range."
"Copy Steel, you can stop transmitting just sit back and listen for awhile." replied Slayer as he piloted his ship through the canyon that led to the firebase. Three minutes later they had come within visual range at about 50 meters to the nav beacon. Slayer eyed the terrain map in his HUD and dropped some nav beacons to show deployment positions. "Right..., Steel I want you on the hill a nav1 given me a fix on anything that moves. Angel check out the tunnels at nav2 for any sign of recent activity, Paddy and Pyro make your way inside to the bases Ops center at nav3 and try to recover the sensor logs, Phoenix you and I are going to check the surface structures to see what condition the base is in. Okay Wraiths lets get it done and go home."
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"Copy Slayer, Paddy and Pyro are movin out." Paddy maneuvered his Thunderbolt along side Pyros and the two sped off to nav3 where the closest entrance to the insides of the base was. Along the way they passed several gun towers and Rattlers when they crossed the perimeter all of which were powered down. Farther into the base they found the Recycler and Factory and the Scion equivalents placed side by side also completely powered down. Eventually they reached their objective, which was a Relay Bunker in the center of the firebase. After parking their Thunderbolts Paddy and Pyro jumped out of their ships and proceeded inside.
"I don't like it here Paddy. This place crawls." said Pyro as Paddy forced the door open to the decontamination chamber beyond while Pyro arced his riffle left and right looking for targets.
"Calm down Pyro, if we find any banshees I'll let you have the first shot." said Paddy as he attempted to pry open the door on the bottom of the relay bunker. "Ugh, give me a hand will you these chamber doors are sealed up tight." Pyro complied adding his strength with Paddy's and soon both of the doors had been forced open then with their riffles drawn they entered the depressurized base to the Ops center beyond. Once inside they went over to the main console and used a small battery to turn it on.
"Retrieving data now" said Pyro as he stuck a disk into the slot and downloaded all the logs made in the past several days. Paddy took the disk from Pyro after the download was complete and he was disconnecting the battery. He then stuck it into his data pad to read what they had collected.
"Slayer to Paddy, do you have the logs?" the voice startled both men and Paddy had to wait for his heart to slow down before he spoke.
"Aye sir that I do but the data seems to be damaged and fragmented. Were going to have to get Steel to look over it once we get back, where do you want us now, over?"
"Scout out the rest of the installation and try to find out what became of the base personnel, over." said Slayer.
"Roger that Cmdr. over and out." Paddy picked up his pad and punched a button bringing up a map of the installation.
"Scout out this grave? Easy for him to say he ain't down here with the bogeyman probably lurking around." said Pyro in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't work.
"Stop that Pyro. Don't be given me imagination any ideas, I'm already havin a hard enough time not shooting every shadow as it is."
"Sure Paddy." said Pyro as he and Paddy forced the doors open in the Ops center, which led to the bulk of the base and found nothing as they scoured room after room.
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It was much the same for Angel as she flew her Thunderbolt through the unusually extensive tunnel system and finding nothing out of the ordinary except that the overhead lights were off even though they were supposed to have a backup battery system that lasted for weeks. She flashed her headlights down another corridor and once again finding nothing she then programmed her computer for a sensor sweep and sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. She stared at he tank-killer pulse gun wishing she could use it. Paddy had gotten it for her through a deal made with some R&D officer when he came strolling by their old base. The riffle was one of many juicy little bits of military hardware that Paddy had procured through the deal and since he knew she was into big guns he and the squadron had presented it to her as a gift on her birthday.
Angel was suddenly pulled out of her dreamy state by the beeping of her computer letting her know the analysis was done. At first glance the report seemed pretty unremarkable but then she noticed that sensors had picked up traces of ionized gas something that was left behind from the SP and AT stabbers on a Sabre. "Angel to Slayer I seem to have evidence of a fight down here. Somebody was unloading stabber rounds pretty excessively. I'll take an atmosphere sample to look at when we get back to base."
"Copy that Angel keep up the good work, Slayer out." Replied Slayer over the radio
Angel continued her survey of the tunnels finding more and more of the ionized gas and collected samples as she went.
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Slayer closed his command link to Angel then concentrated on inspecting the buildings. The first place he and Phoenix approached were the power plant clusters that fed energy to the ISDF buildings. What they found was very peculiar. "Phoenix can you get a reading on those power plants my sensors are reporting no activity."
"Negative Slayer," came Phoenix's confused reply after a few seconds of twiddling with her computer, "Looks like they're completely powered down."
"How the hell is that possible? Power plants can't just be turned off, at least not without visible signs of damage." Slayer asked.
"Well it is and experimental base sir, maybe they tweaked these power plants so they could do It." guessed Phoenix.
"But what good does it do to be able to cut power to the big guns you need for defense so quickly? Besides Intel is tellin me these are supposed to be ordinary power plants."
"Yea I guess, so where to next Slayer?" asked Phoenix as she finished her last sensor sweep and archived the data for later examination.
"Let's check the gun towers," suggested Slayer, "If theres to be any signs of a fight I'll bet we can find it there.
"Copy Slayer I'm movin out." said Phoenix as she turned her ship to port and raced off to the nearest set of gun towers taking a total of two minutes to cover the distance.
"Well thats damned peculiar," exclaimed Phoenix as she came within visual range of the main defenses composed of a well organized array of Rattlers, Guardians, and Scion gun towers along with ISDF gun towers.
"What'd you find Phoenix?" asked Slayer as he pulled up beside her Thunderbolt.
"Theres no relay bunker out here to connect our guntowers to a power source." Phoenix observed. "and those Scion lightning towers seem to have more power lungs than their supposed to."
"Looks like our guntowers feed off the excess energy produced by the lungs, Phoenix get me a reading on the lungs and tell me what condition their in." asked Slayer. Silenced answered him for a few seconds followed by Phoenix's confused reply.
"Sir, the lungs appear to be completely powered down just like to power plants."
"That is damned peculiar, all right le-" Slayer was suddenly interrupted in midspeech as his instincts noticed something amiss. Weather it was the way the scant light reflected off the surface or his mysterious sixth sense that tipped him off no one would ever know but all of a sudden one of the guntowers just didn't look right. Slayer altered his course and stooped just short of five feet from the tower.
"What is it Slayer?" asked Phoenix as she pulled up alongside him.
"This tower has a fresh coat of paint." Slayer answered simply.
"So what, the matinence people probably liked their equipment to look shiny and new why is that important?" inquired Phoenix.
"Because this paint is covering up battle damage." answered Slayer as he took a closer look and noticed the slapdash patchwork used to cover up gapping holes and then painted to give the appearance of a gun tower in pristine condition. Once Slayer and Phoenix knew what to look for they soon spotted other gun towers both Scion and ISDF with the same abnormalities.
"Slayer did Centurion-4 have any heated engagements after it went online?" asked Phoenix as she made recordings of what they were finding. Slayer queried his computer and came up with a negative.
"No Phoenix they didn't which means that this was left by whatever visited the base before it went off-line." stated Slayer as he formulated his next move, "Lets check the mobile turrets a little more closely." and putting actions to words Slayer hoped out of his Thunderbolt and walked over to the nearest Rattler 5 meters away with Phoenix following suit. "Hey Phoenix!" shouted Slayer over the radio, "Take a look at these canopies on the Rattlers." Phoenix did and was mildly surprised.
"Their fakes, the originals seem to have been melted off then replaced with these, and in a pretty big hurry too. No sign of the pilot anywhere."
"This doesn't make any sense to me," said Slayer while he examined the weapons systems and found them to be inoperable, "Somebody rides up in here, rips this base a new one, and then tries to hide it." Slayer scratched his helmet in confusion. Who the hell could have been responsible for this, was all Slayer could think of while he returned to his Thunderbolt leaving Phoenix to take snapshots later to be examined in more detail once they returned to base. Five minutes later she had finished and was climbing back into her Thunderbolt so they could finish their patrol. Now that they had a good idea of what to look for they searched the buildings again and found battle damage all over them this time. That along with the absence of any vehicles at all made Slayer a little tense about being here.
"This is like the frikin Twilight Zone come to life Slayer, what do you suppose did this?" Phoenix asked while making more records of what they'd found.
"It could be the rebel Scions that gave us such problems through the wormhole but I'm pretty sure we got most of them before we came back, if any did follow us back through I don't think they'd have nearly enough units to do something like this. I'm still wondering what happened to the base personnel."
"Well after seeing this I bet it isn't very good." Phoenix added in.
"I agree" replied Slayer as he maneuvered his ship to the next building to do another scan for more battle damage which was turning up with more and more frequency than Slayer would have liked.
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"Find anythin Pyro?" Paddy asked as Pyro sifted through the CO's quarters.
"Not a damn thing Paddy this whole place has been flooded with Cores atmosphere and nothin organic to indicate recent presence survived!" complained Pyro who had searched through the umpteenth officers quarters in search of where the hell everybody was.
"Well take your pictures and come on out man, theres one more room to try then we get out of this spooky hole."
Down the corridor they were in and to the left was another corridor which ended in a set of double doors.
"Man I hate this fucking place!" said Pyro as they made their way to the last room.
"Cant you for once be positive Pyro?" asked Paddy
"I positively hate this fucking place!" answered Pyro.
"Damn man, can you be any more negative?" Paddy asked rhetorically though Pyro didn't take it that way.
"I really hate this fucking place." said Pyro prompting a grin from Paddy as they reached the door and started to pry it open. Once it had been opened all the way they stepped in expecting to find yet another empty room but most definitely not.
"Faith in Begorah what the hell is this!" shouted Paddy as his helmet lights revealed the gruesome scene before him. Pyro leaped into the room after hearing his friends outburst.
"Paddy what th- Holy Shit!" was Pyros rebuttal as he too saw what lay before them. Strewn out along the room were the bodies or in most cases body parts of the Scion and Human personnel at Centurion-4. The entire room was filled to the brim with burned up bodies of soldiers who, judging from their death poses, were taken completely by surprise.
"Where are we Pyro?" Paddy asked Pyro who briefly consulted a map.
"The mess hall." said Pyro cringing a bit at the bad pun he'd just unintentionally made.
"Well how bloody appropriate!" commented Paddy through the gasps of breath he was taking to keep his dinner down. "Think we should report this?" Paddy asked as a joke.
"Uhhh yea go ahead and get Slayer on the horn. He'll want to know about this." replied Pyro as Paddy switched his radio to Slayers command circuit.
"Paddy to Slayer we've found the base personnel." said Paddy into his radio.
"How are they?" inquired Slayer.
"Medium rare sir" answered Pyro barely managing to swallow his bile, "Sir something came up in here and opened a big fuckin can of whoopass on these guys, everything is burned to a crisp and I can't determine the weapon used. I'll take a few samples for the forensics guys back home." he added.
Upon hearing this something inside Slayer clicked and he got a very bad feeling about being at this base and he always trusted his feelings, "Very well, take your pictures and samples quickly and get back to your ships. Emphasis on the quickly gentlemen cause were buggin out."
"Acknowledged sir" was the last thing Pyro said before closing the radio link then he turned to Paddy. "Hurry up and get some samples quick while I make a few snapshots for the album. I want to be far away if and when whatever did this comes back." and with that the two men hurried about their duties setting new records as they did so. In five minutes they had finished and were running flat out it for the exit. But the realization of the danger had come too late.
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"What the hell!" came Angel's voice over the squadron net. "Steel I'm getting some fruity seismic readings coming from the North. Please tell me it's only my twisted imagination."
"I am afraid not Angel" said Steel, "I have just started picking them up myself."
"Angel get out of those tunnels immediately!" commanded Slayer over the radio. "Paddy and Pyro just found an excellent reason why this is a bad place to be so get topside were buggin out! Steel meet her at the tunnel exit then escort her to the rally point at nav6 I have a feeling were going to get visitors."
"Yes sir!" replied Steel and Angel as they kicked their throttles up to full.
"Paddy and Pyro," Slayer called out next, "Where are you?" Slayer asked just as he noticed two shapes out of the corner of his eye.
"Check your 3'oclock sir, when the hell do we go?" answered Paddy.
"Yea lets shag it before something unfriendly pops out of the ground." added Pyro.
"First move out to the rally point and wait for Steel and Angel." Slayer ordered
"Copy that CO." said Phoenix as she and the others sped off for the rally point with Slayer in hot pursuit covering the rear.
Slayer then switched on his command line with their dropship and fired off a quick message, "Equinox this is Cmdr. Robertson. We require immediate dustoff. Head to the preplanned rondevue and wait for us, be advised there may be hostiles in the area." Slayer finished his statement and waited for a reply. Moments later his prayer was answered.
"Copy that Cmdr. heading to dustoff, see you there."
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Angel had cleared the end of the tunnel and saw Steel waiting when the strange seismic readings disappeared. "Uh Steel, the seismic readings just stopped."
"Ja, I know Angel just get out of there and lets move to the rally point."
"Copy Steel I've got your six." replied Angel as the two sped off to the rally point dodging Scion Guardians and gun towers along the way. When they finally reached the rally point less than a few minutes later their Squadmates greeted them.
"Bout time you got here." said Pyro in irritation. Steel then knew instantly that Pyro had found something horrible in the base to shake him to such rudeness like this.
"Sorry Pyro would you rather of had me fly through the gun towers?" came Steels sarcastic reply. But before Pyro could come up with retort a third voice interrupted their conversation.
"Listen up Wraiths were heading to the dust-off for extraction. Steel and Angel take point and lead us through the southeast canyon and make sure our path is clear. Phoenix and I will be right behind you and that leaves Pyro and Paddy to cover our asses." after giving out his orders Slayer paired up with Phoenix while listening to the replies.
"Acknowledged Cmdr. Steel and Angel are moving out." said Steel.
"Copy Slayer I've got your wing." came Phoenix's voice.
"Roger that Slayer, Paddy and Pyro are positioning for butt flap duty." came the eager reply of Paddy who couldn't wait to leave this grave, and with that the Wraiths lined up by pairs in their assigned order and sped off towards the canyon to the south east for their extraction point.
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Far away but too close for comfort a dark figure sat in front of a large screen watching the procession of ships as they sped away in hopes of escape. It amused him so that his master was finally going to let him destroy the vermin in those vehicles instead of capturing them and forcing him to look upon their putrid faces while he hacked them to pieces himself. There came a slight scuttling sound from behind him as a Drone skittered across the steely floor of the command room to its commander's side. "Sir our units are in place and ready to begin the ambush pending your orders." it said in an odd low watery tone.
"Excellent," came the rumbling reply, "Patch me through to the High Master at once and then leave my sight drone."
"As you wish commander." said the Drone as it moved off to accomplish its duties by tapping a few keys on a panel and then leaving his commander be. Seconds later a face appeared on the screen in front of the dark figure and smiled showing off a mouth full of crooked and extremely sharp teeth.
"Greetings Dimitry." said the High Master addressing one of his best field commanders, "What is it that you wish to discuss?"
"Master our units are in position to begin the ambush what are your orders?" asked the Dimitry bowing his head as he did so.
"Terminate with extreme prejudice of course, and remember to let them send out one distress signal, the time has come." after that the High Masters face faded out and was replaced by the overhead view of the Thunderbolts as they attempted to race to safety. Dimitry lifted up his "hand" and placed it into a slot in the console. This connected him directly to his units allowing him to issue orders as soon as he could think them.
"Yes the time has come," said Dimitry as he ordered his units to begin.
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The Thunderbolts sped along the ground at their maximum speed leaving a slight dust trail in their wake. They were approaching a hill that blocked their sight to the entrance of a canyon that would lead them to where the Equinox waited for their extraction. But their flight was cut short by the reappearance of the readings that had prompted their rapid departure in the first place only this time they were much stronger.
"Wraiths stow yourselves behind that hill there in front of us" said Slayer as he followed Steel and Angels lead. "What've you got of me Steel?" inquired Slayer as he brought his ship to a stop.
"The readings are much stronger now Herr Commander they seem to be coming from the entrance to the canyon, wait.. I've seen these readings before, this kind of seismic activity is associated with Maulers sir and a whole shitload of them at that!" Steels voice trailed off as he tried to get a precise picture of what was ahead of them.
"Phoenix to Slayer I have an idea," chirped Phoenix over the comm.
"Go ahead" came Slayers reply as he was reviewing Steels latest sensor readings.
"Sir why don't we have Angel hop out and get us some footage on snipervizz at what's blocking the canyon." offered Phoenix.
"You hear that Angel?" asked Slayer over the radio.
"Yessir I did!" Angel eagerly replied, happy for the chance to use her tank killer even if she didn't get to shoot somebody. She quickly jumped out of her vehicle and climbed slowly till she was almost at the top of the hill. While lying prone she pushed her gun up the slope until it peeked over the top. She then flipped a switch on the sighter scope and a small screen appeared inside her helmet showing her what her scope saw, and her scope saw some very bad news. "Uhhh Slayer I think you'd better have a look at this" said Angel.
"Patch it through to my HUD" commanded Slayer. Up the hill Angel obeyed, flicking a switch located on her helmet sending the image to Slayers video feed in his HUD. After a few moments of delay the signal came through and what Slayer saw on his screen was a chilling sight, blocking the entrance he saw two Attila walkers supported by four Griffin rocket tanks but it didn't end there. Scattered among the odd towers that dotted the landscape he counted no less than fourteen Maulers and twenty Sabres making a vain attempt to hide themselves for an ambush.
Slayer whistled at what he saw then got on the horn with to the rest of his squadron. "Wraiths I'm patching through Angels snipervizz to your HUDs, try not to feint." Slayer finished his transmission then broadcast the video feed to all the other ships while listening in on the radio for the comments about to pour in.
"Oh shit!" breathed Pyro as he got a good look at the picture on his HUD
"What he said!" exclaimed Paddy staring wide-eyed at the force assembled ahead of them.
"Somebody does not like us I see." said Steel who was still trying to get an exact count on what was assembled ahead of them.
"I think "does not like us" is a bit of an understatement in this case. Phoenix to Slayer, what do we do here boss?" asked Phoenix.
"I'm going to call this in to Command, Steel raise the dropship and have it abort their landing. Tell them to instead orbit our general location and be ready to pick us up in a hurry."
"Steel copies Slayer, I'll relay those instructions right away." Steel quickly set about his task while Slayer switched on the long-range Comm system aboard his craft and pointed the antenna to the nearest satellite.
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It had been a longtime since Robertson had checked in and General Alistar was starting to wonder if the Wraiths had met with the same fate as the other scouting parties they had sent out. Beside him he could see Padisha Burns was shifting his weight from foot to foot as if he was impatient but what few knew was that this was in Scion body language a sign of intense concern. Alistar was about to try to initiate some small talk when he heard a Comm panel in the far end of the circular room come to life with a crackling static filled message.
"Cloud-9 Th- is Wra- Squadron do yo- cop- over?" the voice was unrecognizable and the message badly filled with static. The technician at the station fiddle with some knobs and switches to try and make the message a little more clear. It worked because moments later the voice of Commander Robertson came through loud and clear.
"Cloud-9 this is Wraith Squadron do you copy, over?" In response Alistar yanked the mic. from the technician who was about to reply and spoke.
"Wraith Squadron this is Cloud-9 go ahead Robertson."
"Sir have you been monitoring us on the main viewer?" asked Slayer.
"Negative Commander our spy satellite in that area appears to have shorted out." grumbled Alistar who was still feeling some of the residual anger from that news which had come about ten minutes ago.
"Well then you'd better get a look at this sir." said Robertson who took the signal coming to his HUD and routed it through the satellite so they could see it on the main viewer.
Alistar looked to the center of the room where the large circular screen sat like a table with the center lowered into itself. At first there was only a slur of static but eventually the curtain of electronic snow gave way to a clear video feed that showed what could only be snipervizz. The number of ships didn't daunt Alistar since he frequently delt with forces on a divisional level but then again he wasn't facing this ambush with only half a squadron piloting scoutcraft. Then he noticed the markings on the ships and apparently so did the Padisha for he was the next to transmit.
"Commander Robertson would you please instruct your sniper to switch to thermal sights." a few seconds later the picture once again replaced by static as the video feed changed from one showing objects in the normal visual spectrum to that of an I.R. camera. The craft instantly became almost invisible since their advanced armor prevented most heat loss but the pilots were clearly visible. "It is just as I suspected," stated the Padisha, "those are not our pilots."
"How do you know Burns?" asked Alistar.
"These heat signatures are completely alien to me. Those pilots are neither Human or Scion personnel but those ships are from Centurion-4."
"Wraith Squadron we have confirmed that these are hostiles, do not attempt to engage move to ano-" Alistar was suddenly cut off by the reappearance of the static on the screen and the radio, but this time the signal didn't come back. "Damnit, Lieutenant reestablish contact with the Wraiths!" said Alistar to the technician at the Comm panel.
"I'm attempting to sir but the signals being blocked by something!"
"You mean were being jammed?" asked Alistar.
"Yes sir." replied the Lieutenant bringing to Alistar a sickening realization.
"Red Alert! deploy all defenses, scramble the pilots to their ships, get those ground troops dug in and tell them to be ready for an all out assault." in response to Alistars order klaxons and lights started blaring through out the base rousing personnel out of their sleep and some from out of the bars. Sober pills and caffeine capsules were ingested as Humans and Scions scurried about the base to their battlestations. But just as in Wraith squadrons case the realization of the danger had come too late.
"Sir!" yelled a pale faced commander from across the room, "Outer defenses to the North report a large enemy assault is underway."
"Sir Eastern defenses report they are under attack!" shouted another commander.
"Communications from Western and Southern defenses posts
are reporting that they too are under attack sir!" shouted a third voice. Alistar looked around the command center which minutes ago had been a sleepy room with only a few officers on duty. Now it was stuffed to the brim full of commanders and majors issuing orders for their troops to move into defensive positions.
"Damn!" whispered Alistar as he looked onto the view screen at the battle unfolding before him. He then realized that all eyes were upon him awaiting his orders. Taking a deep breath he pushed Wraith Squadron out of his mind and concentrated now on his armies' own survival hoping that Robertson could fend for himself while their comrades were otherwise occupied. It was going to be a long day.
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"-move to ano-" suddenly the transmission was cut off. Slayer leaned foreword towards his computer and attempted to reconnect but to no avail.
"Steel I've lost contact with Cloud-9 and cannot reestablish. See if you can get a signal through." Steel complied, attempting to send out a signal to the satellite but not succeeding. Curious as to why he wasn't coming through Steel listened in to airwaves around him to hear what was going on. He quickly had to stop listening after a high pitched whine erupted out of his internal speaker, a whine which he knew quite well.
"Slayer we are being jammed!" shouted Steel turning Slayers stomach into an icy lead ball. If they were being jammed somebody knew they were there, and if they knew they were there then...
"Uhhh commander one of the Maulers is looking at me." interrupted Angel.
"Angel get back to your ship and get ready to run!" shouted Slayer as he powered up his ship and made ready to bag it. Scanning his terrain map for some sort of salvation he grinned when his eyes fell upon a sector named Murphy's playground. Slayer locked in the coordinates and fed them to the rest of the Wraiths just as Angel finally made it to her cockpit.
"Slayer the enemy is charging our position!" Steel announced seconds before it registered on everyone else's radar.
"Wraiths pair up and run for Murphy's Playground we might be able to lose them there!" then suiting actions to words Slayer and Phoenix surged ahead to the west where there was a narrow canyon that went on for a few klicks before opening up into Murphy's Playground and their only chance for escape. Milliseconds later the other Wraiths followed as fast as they could.
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Steel had already anticipated Slayers order and was in the process of turning when it was given. Though he and Angel were already moving before anybody else their starting position meant they would be in the back. Steel raced his craft as fast as it would go and then some with Angel following on his right slightly to his rear. Eventually he gathered up enough courage to glance over his shoulder to see what his sensors could not show him, he almost wished he hadn't. Despite their speed he and Angel were only 50 meters away from the hill when they came.
Reaching the top and leaping off to sail through the air, Maulers appeared over the hill in pairs followed shortly there
after by the slower Sabres which upon seeing the escaping ships opened fire with SP stabbers rounds attempting to make use of their superior range but not hitting anything and only succeeding in making it harder for the escapees to maneuver. The Maulers, however, had no such speed limitations and ran on their spidery legs at an ungodly rate for something so huge slowly gaining on the Thunderbolts as they sacrificed tiny amounts of speed to maneuver clear of the SP rounds landing with uncomfortable accuracy.
Steel checked his sensors once more keeping an eye on the Maulers as he entered the most dangerous part of the terrain. The long canyon which offered very little room to maneuver and gave the Maulers a chance to catch up and use those damn FANG cannons once they were right on top of him. Ahead he could see the other Wraiths gain speed finding that they didn't need to maneuver anymore since the Maulers were blocking the shots of the Sabres and they didn't carry any sort of long range weapons. Or at least they "thought" they didn't. Steel quickly ran a few speed calculations and found that the Maulers wouldn't be able to gain enough ground to make use of their FANG cannon before the Wraiths could escape into Murphy's Playground. He even started to relax a little but his break was cut short by a blinding flash to his right side directly between Angel and himself.
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Had it not ment that somebody's destruction was coming about the intense beam of lighting that suddenly appeared between Steel and herself would have been a beautiful and awe inspiring sight, but the only feelings this particular beam elicited were that of surprise and fear. Before Angel had time to react the beam snaked its way to the right and latched onto her craft. The effect was instantaneous as she was shaken hard and thrown about by the powerful weapons grasp. Warning lights and alarms shrieked within her ship alerting her to massive system failures as the beam of energy melted its way through the light armor and fried the delicate circuitry within. She only had one chance to get away, she had to punch her engines up to full and use her emergency boosters and then hope beyond hope that she could break out of its grasp before it was too late.
Programming in the correct sequence she flipped the manual override which would initiate her boosters while attempting to keep the engines running at full power. At first she only heard the shrill whine of her crafts computer as it continued to report the ships worsening condition, then over the din of commotion she felt the low thrum the one time boosters made as they added in a kick to her declining speed. Through the sparks and smoke of her cockpit she could make out the other Wraiths speeding along attempting to avoid her fate slowly pulling away from her but then they seemed to slow in their rate of departure and ever so slightly she could see that she was pulling out of the Arc stream. Her attacker however was not going to give up that easily. Once the Mauler that had snagged her realized what its target was doing, and further more realized that its target would eventually succeed made one last attempt to strike a killing blow.
Angel was starting to fill up with the hope that she might make it out alive but her attacker had other ideas. Before Angel could fully comprehend what was going on the Mauler used the grasp it had on her ship to lift the Thunderbolt into the air and then smashed it into the left canyon wall right above Steel. A Thunderbolt is composed of the most advanced armor and structural engineering known to man but the impact against the wall shredded half the ship off like so much paper. That impact also nearly knocked Angel unconscious and ended up breaking a few ribs despite the padding in her seat. The Mauler, seeing that its target was still mostly alive, swung the ship into the other wall ripping gaping holes in the armor and exposing new areas for the Arc stream to fry. One of those places was the ships ammunition compartment
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Steel could only watch silently as his wingman was thrown against the wall directly above him. As he sped along he could hear the pinging sounds made by debris from Angels wreaked fighter bouncing off his hull. Then he saw the ship reverse direction and slam into the other wall ripping off what was left of the stabilizers and tearing out new holes in the ships skin. Moments later he was blinded by a flash as her fighters ammunition cooked off forcing him to look away. When he looked behind him again all that was left of Angel's fighter was a rapidly dissipating ball of shrapnel left far behind. He called up Slayer to report what everyone already knew.
"Steel to Slayer, Angels ship is gone. I didn't see her eject. These bastards have Arc Stream cannons sir, recommend we-" Steel was cut off by another flash of light that passed inches from his hull leaving an impressive scorch mark. Looking back he saw the same Mauler that got Angel zeroing in on him and firing a....Blast canon? His assumption was later proved when another finger of pure destruction reached out to touch his ship again narrowly missing him. Steel reacted quickly to inform his Squadmates of this newest threat. "Steel to Wraiths the enemy is packing Blast cannons!"
"and Mortars!" chimed in Pyro just as a round landed directly ahead of him, the shrapnel tearing small chunks out of his armor. Seconds later seemingly hundreds more fell from the sky adding another danger that the Wraiths had to dodge.
Steel bank sharply left and right attempting to throw off the aim of the Mauler but the narrow canyon provided the perfect shooting gallery. Steel saw the Mauler swivel its head, charge up, and fire. He made a desperate swerve to the left and kept the beam from cutting him down the middle but it instead hit his engine significantly reducing its efficiency and dropping down his speed just enough to allow the Mauler to gain on him. Steel suddenly felt his hair stand on end before taking a look back to see why. Snaking its way across the canyon floor faster than he could fly he saw the wormlike blue tendril of energy from an Arc Stream cannon.
In seconds it would connect with his ship and then it would be over. As a final act of self-preservation he flipped the switch to fire his emergency boosters.....nothing happened. Annoyed he ran a quick diagnostic to see...that he had no boosters because that last hit had severed them from his ship. Steel cursed under his breath, there was no time, the Arc Stream would be on him in moments and he could not hope to defeat a charging Mauler in a Thunderbolt. Steel had given up hope when up in the sky he saw a bright light between the smoke trails left from the Mortars, and knew that he once again stood a chance.
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Zeroing in on her target Angel blazed out of the heavens on jetpack wings towards her target. With the ease of a veteran she kept pace with the Mauler just over its "head" and gracefully brought herself down atop it with a thump by cutting off her packs engines. Finding the rhythm in the Maulers gait she stood up and placed the business end of her tank killer atop the clear canopy. The resulting contact made a strange clicking sound prompting the pilot to look up right into the face of a weapon designed to bring down anything it was pointed at. Though Angel couldn't see its face through the helmet it wore she was positive the expression would have kept her laughing for weeks. Angel pulled back slightly on the trigger and was immediately hurled into the air by the guns potent kick back. She slapped her thigh, hitting a touch pad that reignited the jetpack shooting her forward like a rocket.
Steel looked behind him just in time to see the now pilotless Mauler continue its dead run. But with no one to guide it the machine swerved wildly left and right smashing into walls until it finally tripped over its own legs and fell to the ground. The Mauler directly behind it leap over its fallen comrade to pick up pursuit but unfortunately for it the first Maulers Arc Stream was still active and latched onto its underside pulling it down and into the path of a third Mauler who proceeded to crash into it. The resulting fireball was visible to all the Wraiths and they let out a cheer over the radio. Steel looked up just in time to see Angel fly over him like a rocket to the far end of the canyon only a few dozen meters away. Steel threw Angel a salute, which she attempted to return but ended up clutching broken ribs.
"You owe me a drink Steel!" called Angel over the radio.
"You shall have it, and it will be from my private stash." Chuckled Steel as he checked the progress of the remaining Maulers. There were still plenty left but that wreak had halted their pursuit and it would take precious seconds to climb over the wreckage and continue so now all they had to do was worry about dodging the equally deadly mortars.
"You shall have it, and it will be from my private stash." Steel chuckled. Slayer decided to ignore Steels "private stash" which was probably full of something illegal, then again all the Wraiths had some stash of something illegal including himself. Slayers train of thought was suddenly interrupted by his sixth sense turning his blood cold as he suddenly realized that there was a new threat which was later confirmed by an odd radar hit up ahead. Slayer peered through the canopy but couldn't see a thing through the smoke and dust kicked up from the Mortars. Annoyed Slayer sent out a radar pulse straight-ahead and looked at the picture it generated for him. After a few seconds of study Slayer knew why his blood had turned cold, waiting for them at the end of the canyon were two Attila walkers. Thinking quickly Slayer formed a plan.
"Listen up Wraiths," called Slayer, "we got two walkers blocking us up ahead. We only got one shot at this so listen up." Slayer then proceeded to explain his plan. When he finished Angel vectored upwards and out of sight, Phoenix pulled up even with him with Paddy and Pyro ten meters behind also pulled up even, Steel pulled up as close as he could with his damaged engine and tried to keep even with everyone else. Good, Slayer thought everything is in place. They were now two hundred meters to the canyon exit and Slayer still could not see the Walkers. At one hundred meters Slayer could make out their sillouhettes through the Mortar induced fog.
50 meters....
40 meters.... They passed out Mortar range
30 meters.... The enemy prepared to attack
25 meters.... Slayer got on the Squadron radio
20 meters.... "Open fire!" Slayer commanded while depressing the trigger on his flight stick. Golden fire erupted from the nose of his ship as the chaingun rounds tore through the air straight for the walkers. The first round didn't even have time to hit before others fired from Phoenix joined it at chewing away the armor and causing minimal damage to the walking giant. Then Paddy, Pyro, and even Steel added their firepower to the punch shooting out volley after volley of Fire and Forget missiles. The rockets screamed through the air like demons slamming into the Walkers tough hides causing them to quiver and shake but once again inflicting negligible amounts of destruction. At 15 meters the Walkers fired off shots of their own. 10 meters and the Wraiths were still firing but also dodging the beams of death erupting from the Attila's Blast Cannons, Slayer chose that time to broadcast a quick message.
"Angel now!" and less than milliseconds after the order was given a flash was seen behind the walkers and then suddenly the left walker, specifically its left ankle, erupted into flames as something tore into it from its weakly armored backside completely separating it from the rest of the leg. With one of its legs rendered useless the left walker was now unbalanced and fell on top of the right walker who was in the process of turning knocking it down. 5 meters away and the left walkers pilot must have accidentally hit the trigger because white fire erupted from it square into the other walkers cockpit killing its pilot, immediately after a shot from the right walker came out missing the cockpit completely but instead hitting the left walkers fuel cells lighting them off and simultaneously finishing both of them for good. 3 meters away then Slayer and Phoenix activated their VTOL boosters and barely jumped over the top of the wreckage and straight through the fireball.
Slayer and Phoenix landed with a inaudible thud then proceeded along 50 meters to stop by a hill that marked the entrance to Murphy's Playground named after a one Commander Ian Murphy who's squadron had vaporized an entire Scion assault force by getting them to split up among the many hills and ravines that dotted this particular area then picking them off one by one. But then again Murphy had a full squadron piloting Sentinels, Attilas, and all the other powerful little goodies that one was usually deployed with. Slayer knew better than to try any heroic shit like Murphy. His pilots were severely outgunned and were facing an enemy with obviously new weaponry and tactics. They had to get out of there and report what they had found but whoever the hell was commanding these forces obviously didn't want him to. Slayer waited as Paddy and Pyro easily jumped the wreckage and moved to join him. Steel barely made it over and sparks were visible as the bottom of his hull scraped against what was left of the walkers. He quickly flew over to joined them. That left Angel who gracefully landed beside Steels ship.
"Our pursuers should be at our position within eight minutes Herr commander." Announced Steel.
"So we'd better hide while the hidings good." Said Pyro.
"My thoughts exactly Pyro," commented Slayer, "alright this is what we do, first we split by pairs and get as lost in here as we can, second Phoenix and I will try to contact the dropship and have it meet us here," Slayer said dropping a nav in the other ships HUDs, "on hill 738, Third we'll regroup on hill 738 in one hour for extraction remember to maintain radio silence and no God damn heroics! You see a bad guy avoid him at all costs we don't know what these fuckers are capable of." Slayer looked around to all the ships in front of him wondering how many he would see again in an hour. "Understood?" asked Slayer.
"Yes sir!" everyone called out.
"Then move out, I'll drop a video beacon so we can get an idea of how many of those bitches are coming after us. Frequency Gamma.9." and while the others flew off in random directions Phoenix and Slayer remained long enough to drop a video beacon then flew off. Five minutes later their pursuers came through and promptly destroyed the video beacon. It took them only a matter of seconds to do it but that was all the time the Wraiths needed.
Slayer looked over a freeze frame of the footage shot before the video beacons destruction and counted up the ships he saw. 11 Maulers, at least 15 Sabres, plus a few mixed platoons of Warriors and Lancers, and there was just the slightest bit of a Griffin in the picture who would no doubt be guarding that exit. Slayer cleared the picture from his HUD then powered up and made ready to move to hill 738. Beside him Phoenix did the same and they both moved out each sending a silent prayer to their comrades hoping they would make it through.
"This is Commander Robertson to Equinox do you copy over?" it was the eighth time Slayer had made the call since reaching hill 738. All the previous seven had answered him with static. For a few moments there was nothing but then suddenly his receiver crackled to life.
"Commander Robertson this is Equinox, glad to see somebody is still alive down there."
"We do our best, listen Equinox we need immediate extraction proceed to hill 738 in Murphy's Playground and be advised there are confirmed hostiles in the area."
"Roger that commander Equinox proceeding to hill 738, ETA fifteen minutes. Good luck down there."
"We'll need it Equinox see you in fifteen, Robertson out." Slayer closed the command link and resumed scanning with passive sensors for any hostiles. Currently there was nothing within range of his scanners that he could detect but passive sensors could very easily miss something a fact that had proven itself many times while he and Phoenix made their way here. Slayer was tempted for a moment to send out a radar pulse but that would be the equivalent of launching a signal flare to any enemy with halfway decent detection equipment.
"So what do we do now Slayer?" inquired Phoenix who has hidden behind one of the unusual tree-like towers that circled around hill 738. Slayer responded from behind one of the huge pillars of light that served as his cover.
"We wait for the others." Silence ensued after that. It was fast approaching one hour since the Wraiths had split up and by now if they survived they should be arriving any minute.
"Slayer I've got two feint signals coming over hill 737 just behind us." Phoenix suddenly announced. Slayer checked his sensors again but came up blank, he then realized that Phoenix was closer to the hill, which explained why he couldn't see them.
"Friendly?" inquired Slayer who was aiming his crosshairs towards the hill in case the answer was no.
"I can't tell, there doesn't seem to be a transponder signal coming off them. Definitely not vehicles though."
"I copy Phoenix, disarm the FAF missiles and wait until we get a visual before we fire." Slayer finished then punched up his visual enhancer and looked the hill over visually for any sign of activity. A short while later two figures appeared running around the base of the hill in the general direction of hill 738. Both of them were carrying a pulse riffle in one hand and clutched a black box in the other. They were clad in the usual ISDF orange flight suits though they were spotted with scorch marks. The pair ran from tower to tower until they had reached Slayer's position. Up close Slayer could see that he two had been burned pretty good but not enough to compromise their suit integrity. The two stopped a few meters short of his position and the taller of the two, no doubt Pyro, took up peeking around the side of the light pillar looking for followers. The shorter one who had to be Paddy walked right up next to Slayer's ship and sat down next to it leaning back against the nose.
"Well fancy meeting you here Slayer." said Paddy.
"Looks like you two had a close call." commented Slayer.
"Lad a "close call" doesn't even begin to describe what we went through." Replied Paddy between gasps of breath. The two of them must've had to run like hell to make it here on time.
"I'm sure it'll make an amusing story during the AAR meeting."
"Oh that it will sir." laughed Paddy. But just then Phoenix interrupted.
"Phoenix to Slayer I've got two more signals coming in from the same direction Paddy and Pyro came."
"Friendly?" Slayer asked once again.
"One of them is definitely a vehicle sir, the other one appears to be on foot." Phoenix reported.
"That'd be Angel and Steel, late as always." commented Pyro.
"Its good to see you too Pyro." Steels voice rang out over the secure radio just as he and Angel came into view. The two must have had quite an adventure out in Murphy's Playground because Steels ship was now adorned with multiple burns and a large dent in the nose from some impact. That same impact could probobly account for the missing stabilizer that appeared from this distance to have been torn off, and limping beside his damaged ship was Angel who seemed to have picked up a few more injuries on the way here.
"Did you get us a ride out of here CO?" asked Angel who from the sound of it was in an uncomfortable amount of pain.
"The Equinox will be here in," Slayer checked the clock in his HUD, "five minutes. You and Steel move to Phoenix's position and hold up there." Angel nodded her head in agreement and limped off as fast as she could. Steel attempted to follow but halfway there his antigrav engines shut off and sent his ship plowing into the hard surface of Core hopelessly bending his stabilizers out of alignment. Seconds later Steel emerged and anyone listening in on his radio would have heard a violent string of German cursing before he reached into his now useless cockpit and yanked out a black box. With a final kick to the ships side he drew his riffle and stalked off towards Phoenix's position.
As promised five minutes later the Equinox appeared hovering over hill 738 preparing to land. Th Wraiths then ran from hiding place to hiding place until they had reached the top of the hill, just as the Equinox was preparing to touch down. The Wraiths formed a semi-circle in front of the Equinox as a defensive line and waited for the ship to land. Slayer glanced behind him and watch the loading doors open before when the Equinox was three meters to the ground and made ready to pilot himself into the cargo bay.
"Wraiths lets go ho-" Slayer called out but was suddenly interrupted by a flash of light from behind hill 737. Slowly a glowing cylinder of fire came into view racing for their position hungry for destruction.
"A Comet XL!" Pyro shouted.
"Wraiths scatter! Equinox abort landing I repeat abort landing!"
The Wraiths complied running or flying for cover as fast as they could. The Equinox flared its engines and raced up and away heading north. Slayer had just gotten his Thunderbolt behind a tower when from behind him came a deafening boom audible even through Cores thin atmosphere. When he stole a glance behind all he could see was a huge fireball where moments before all of Wraiths had been standing. When the dust settled all that was left of hill 738 was a bubbling pool of bio metal. Slayer attention was torn from the pool by the shrieking of his radar informing him of hostiles in the area, a great deal of hostiles in the area all racing for their position.
Phoenix glanced out from behind the tower she was using for cover and noted that where she had been seconds before was now a deep pool of steaming bio metal. Her radio suddenly came to life pulling her back to reality.
"Slayer to Wraiths we have incoming hostiles from hill 737!"
Phoenix looked at her radar, which wasn't reporting anything in the area. She looked again and realized her radar had been melted off in the fireball. She shot her craft out into the open to face this newest threat. Over hill in front of her the enemy came. Warriors and Lancers flew off the top followed closely by Sabres and Maulers all running, all firing. There were too many to count they seemed to blanket the ground and rush at them begging for the chance to blow them into a million pieces. On instinct the Wraiths opened fire with everything they had. Angel blew off the leg of a Mauler and sent it stumbling. Paddy shot away his pulse riffle while Pyro threw demolition charges until he ran out and then took up firing his pulse riffle with Paddy. Slayer and herself let loose with chaingun and FAF round but nothing they did could stop their relentless advance.
"Wraiths disengage and fall back to the north I have a plan!" Slayers voice suddenly shouted over the radio. Far away Phoenix could see the other Wraiths slap their thighs and shoot up on jetpack wings flying away. Slayer and herself turned around and ran off north with what seemed like an entire army on their heels. Mortars, Missiles, Blast cannons, and stabber rounds exploded all around her as she flew forward jinking and swerving to throw off their attackers aim but still receiving battle scars across her hull from one too many close calls. All around her she could see the other Wraiths were having similar troubles as they flew straight ahead into.....Come to think of it Phoenix didn't know where they were heading.
Phoenix pulled up a terrain map from her ships database and eyed what was ahead of them. Two hundred meters more and they'd have to jump a ramp like hill and beyond that lay...nothing. Beyond that hill was a two kilometer wide canyon with a twelve kilometer deep drop in between the two edges.
"Slayer have you gone mad?" inquired Phoenix.
"No time to explain just take my 9'Oclock and do what I do!"
Phoenix did as she was told and soon the two were racing up hill. 10 meters more and they would fly off the edge.
5 meters.......
3 meters.......
1 meter ....... Then suddenly they sailed off into the sky. Slayer abruptly pointed his nose down and raced to the canyon floor. Phoenix followed suit and flew straight down confident this was the end with her nose pointed at....The Equinox? Before she could utter a sound of surprise she was swallowed into the open cargo bay and her ship brought to sudden stop by the magnetic lock cracking a few ribs from the force. As she glanced out behind her she could see the other Wraiths get swallowed up as the ship raced nose upwards for the sky. First in was Steel who hit the back wall, now the bottom floor, feet first and rolled to make room. Second in came Angel who hit the back wall on her side and appeared to be knocked unconscious. Steel dragged her out of the way just in time for Paddy to come crashing down and get his right leg bent in at very unnatural angle. Pyro followed, his fall cushioned somewhat when he fell on top of Paddy. Once everyone was in the outer doors cranked closed and sealed with a familiar and comforting thump.
The ships orientation changed abruptly as it cleared the canyon edge and switched to horizontal flight dumping the Wraiths who had been on the back wall to the floor eliciting a few groans. Explosions could be heard from outside and the Wraiths quickly grabbed hold of Thunderbolts to keep from being thrown about by the Equinox's evasive maneuvers. Minutes passed like hours as missiles exploded outside the hull and stabber rounds impacted the armor attempting to tear the Equinox apart but to no avail. The dropship dived into the canyon to evade and in mere seconds had passed out of the enemy attackers firing range. The shaking and rumbling of battle was eventually replaced by familiar air turbulence letting the Wraiths know that they were finally safe.
"We've cleared the fire zone Wraith Squadron you can relax now." Came Equinox's pilot over the intercom as she flew skyward back to Cloud-9. The Wraiths all breathed a collective sigh then Paddy spoke up.
"Commander I don't know weather to by you a drink or shoot you in the head!" Paddy exclaimed the pain from his leg very clear in his voice.
"Your alive aren't you?" replied Slayer.
"Unfortunately yes!" said Paddy then turned his attention to Pyro who had landed on him earlier. In minutes they would be trading jokes back and forth and generally warming the atmosphere. Phoenix had clambered out of her ship and was assisting Steel with Angel and eventually getting her to a semi-conscious state. Slayer jumped out of his ship to stretch a bit then sat down and leaned against the Thunderbolts hull. Just as he predicted minutes later Pyro and Paddy had everyone else in the squadron laughing and joking. But for Slayer now was not the time for him to feel safe enough to joke. A new enemy had emerged, a new war was breaking out one that might engulf this entire planet, and there was no doubt in his mind that he and the Wraiths would be sent to the front lines again to do what they do best......Fuck the enemy over then live to tell about it.
END...Part2
This here seems to be a good place to leave you hanging. Just who is this new enemy and why does one of their commanders have a Russian name? You'll find out in the next installment of.
BATTLEZONE II: LOST LEGACY by Admiral Kelley
My e-mail address is now up in my author profile so if you have any and I mean ANY suggestions that could make this story better I want to hear them. Or you could leave your suggestion in the review box it makes little difference to me.
Part 2
Please observe that I don't own anything that originated from the Activision game Battlezone II and anything else is completely mine and is subject to my own unique brand of copyright law. Those who try to rip off my story or steal any of my ideas without at least mentioning where you got them in your story monologue will result in me sending a crack team of highly paid lawyers addicted to human flesh to come rip you apart piece by piece. Now with the legal crap out of the way I encourage you to sitback, relax, and enjoy reading Battlezone II: Lost legacy pt2 by Admiral Kelley and you are still encouraged to send me honest reviews or creative lies depending upon the content of your opinion so I can make part three better.
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It was an unusually windy day along Cores equator. Enough so that some of the turbulence got to even the most senior members in Wraith squadron who were now strapped into their Thunderbolt scouts magnetically clamped down to the deckplating in the underbelly of the Equinox where craft and cargo went instead of the troop compartment they'd arrived on the planet in. Gust after gust hit the Equinox, each time knocking it about and wiggling the securely clamped Thunderbolts causing them to occasionally trade paint with their wingmates because they were so tightly packed into the cargo bay.
"One minute to IP" came a voice over the headset radios announcing that the team was soon to be deployed for their first assignment since arriving. Slayer just hoped it wouldn't be their last.
"Wraiths, Comm. check, report in!" Slayer blared over the radio.
"Phoenix green across the board and ready to go!"
"Paddy here, systems prepped and pilot sober!"
"Pyro is active and ready to kick some ass!"
"Angel is armed and dangerous Cmdr.!"
"Steel is here and ready to serve!"
"Ten seconds to I.P. 9-8-7...." came the voice over the intercom.
"Okay Wraiths I'm ready to Rock!" said Slayer over the squadron frequency.
"Then were ready to Roll!" replied everybody else.
"So look out you bastards!" shouted Slayer to the outer hatches as they began to open.
"Beginning Insertion drop" came the cool voice of the Equinoxes pilot as she dipped the crafts nose so it was pointed down to the ground and fired the retros sending it up while at the same time flipping a switch which released the Thunderbolts from the magnetic locks dropping them out of the cargo bay like stones.
"Cause here we go!" was the enthusiastic reply shouted by the squadron as gravity gripped at their fighters and tried to smash them into the ground. But gravity's presence on this planet was not so strong and the Thunderbolts managed to get their ships lined up by pairs three in total and the pairs lined up one behind the other with Slayer and Phoenix in the lead.
"Beginning cork screw maneuver." said Slayer just as he executed a slow turn to port sending his ship into a terminating circle that would allow him to land on the ground at a reasonable speed. Glancing behind him Slayer could barely see through the mist his other pilots following his lead. It was, Slayer decided, a feeling like no other to be dropped out of a speeding dropship five kilometers up and unfortunately one that he never got to feel quite often. Below him the terrain was much like anywhere else on Core with the usual assortment of odd looking structures and bluish purple ground that looked like deckplates instead of terrain. It took a total of ten minutes of glide time before the ship hit the ground with a bonejarring thud. Slayer immediately sidestepped his craft to starport so the other ships in his squadron could land. Ordinarily the drops would have been made with engine assistance but the glare from them would be visible for miles and they were trying to be stealthy.
Looking out his canopy, Slayer waited until the third and last pair of ships landed before calling out. "Wraiths report in."
"Phoenix here."
"Paddy here."
"Pyro here."
"Angel has landed."
"Ach, I need an aspirin."
"Roger that. Slayer to Cloud-9 we have landed safely do you copy, over" said Robertson to his radio and the Ops center where General Alistar was probably watching them on the giant tactical display now.
"We copy Slayer, recon your objective then report back what you find." came the slightly static filled reply from General Alistar.
"Roger Cloud-9 Wraiths are on the move over and out." Slayer switched his radio back to squadron frequency. "Wraiths pair up and move out to the objective. Steel you and Angel take point and try to raise the firebase when we get within range."
"Copy Slayer, Steel and Angel are taking point."
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But unknown to the Wraiths their landing had not gone completely unnoticed.
"Master" came a quiet voice from the other end of the chamber directed to a thing that was not quite human, and not quite Scion but seemed to be a combination of both.
"What is it Drone?" said the thing as it put down a wicked looking instrument being used on a hapless human that had been captured in one of their early operations.
"One of our patrols have reported that a small squadron of scout ships have been dropped behind our lines and appear to be moving to the human outpost we pacified recently. Do you wish us to capture them like the others?" asked the pitiful creature.
"No, we have collected enough resources and are now ready to make ourselves known. Let them scout that outpost and then send a greeting party. Instruct the jammers to let them get one message out before they cut off communications with their headquarters. Then destroy them and leave plenty of evidence of a fight. Sticking their heads on a pike would be a nice way. Now get out of my sight Drone, I'm busy." the Drone instantly complied scuttling away to relay the orders from its master closing the doors behind it.
"Now where were we?" it asked the human as it picked up another instrument and jammed it into the humans mid-section sending the human into a world of agony and soaking up the delicious pain that coursed through its soul.
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"Centurion-4 this is Wraith squadron please respond, over." It was the sixth time Steel had made the call since they got within a decent range. But each time only silence had answered him. They were approaching 200 meters to target mark, well within communications range, which meant that the base radio had been knocked out by something and they couldn't answer or there was nobody alive to hear. "Steel to Slayer, I'm getting nothing Herr Commander not even static and were well within communications range."
"Copy Steel, you can stop transmitting just sit back and listen for awhile." replied Slayer as he piloted his ship through the canyon that led to the firebase. Three minutes later they had come within visual range at about 50 meters to the nav beacon. Slayer eyed the terrain map in his HUD and dropped some nav beacons to show deployment positions. "Right..., Steel I want you on the hill a nav1 given me a fix on anything that moves. Angel check out the tunnels at nav2 for any sign of recent activity, Paddy and Pyro make your way inside to the bases Ops center at nav3 and try to recover the sensor logs, Phoenix you and I are going to check the surface structures to see what condition the base is in. Okay Wraiths lets get it done and go home."
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"Copy Slayer, Paddy and Pyro are movin out." Paddy maneuvered his Thunderbolt along side Pyros and the two sped off to nav3 where the closest entrance to the insides of the base was. Along the way they passed several gun towers and Rattlers when they crossed the perimeter all of which were powered down. Farther into the base they found the Recycler and Factory and the Scion equivalents placed side by side also completely powered down. Eventually they reached their objective, which was a Relay Bunker in the center of the firebase. After parking their Thunderbolts Paddy and Pyro jumped out of their ships and proceeded inside.
"I don't like it here Paddy. This place crawls." said Pyro as Paddy forced the door open to the decontamination chamber beyond while Pyro arced his riffle left and right looking for targets.
"Calm down Pyro, if we find any banshees I'll let you have the first shot." said Paddy as he attempted to pry open the door on the bottom of the relay bunker. "Ugh, give me a hand will you these chamber doors are sealed up tight." Pyro complied adding his strength with Paddy's and soon both of the doors had been forced open then with their riffles drawn they entered the depressurized base to the Ops center beyond. Once inside they went over to the main console and used a small battery to turn it on.
"Retrieving data now" said Pyro as he stuck a disk into the slot and downloaded all the logs made in the past several days. Paddy took the disk from Pyro after the download was complete and he was disconnecting the battery. He then stuck it into his data pad to read what they had collected.
"Slayer to Paddy, do you have the logs?" the voice startled both men and Paddy had to wait for his heart to slow down before he spoke.
"Aye sir that I do but the data seems to be damaged and fragmented. Were going to have to get Steel to look over it once we get back, where do you want us now, over?"
"Scout out the rest of the installation and try to find out what became of the base personnel, over." said Slayer.
"Roger that Cmdr. over and out." Paddy picked up his pad and punched a button bringing up a map of the installation.
"Scout out this grave? Easy for him to say he ain't down here with the bogeyman probably lurking around." said Pyro in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't work.
"Stop that Pyro. Don't be given me imagination any ideas, I'm already havin a hard enough time not shooting every shadow as it is."
"Sure Paddy." said Pyro as he and Paddy forced the doors open in the Ops center, which led to the bulk of the base and found nothing as they scoured room after room.
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It was much the same for Angel as she flew her Thunderbolt through the unusually extensive tunnel system and finding nothing out of the ordinary except that the overhead lights were off even though they were supposed to have a backup battery system that lasted for weeks. She flashed her headlights down another corridor and once again finding nothing she then programmed her computer for a sensor sweep and sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. She stared at he tank-killer pulse gun wishing she could use it. Paddy had gotten it for her through a deal made with some R&D officer when he came strolling by their old base. The riffle was one of many juicy little bits of military hardware that Paddy had procured through the deal and since he knew she was into big guns he and the squadron had presented it to her as a gift on her birthday.
Angel was suddenly pulled out of her dreamy state by the beeping of her computer letting her know the analysis was done. At first glance the report seemed pretty unremarkable but then she noticed that sensors had picked up traces of ionized gas something that was left behind from the SP and AT stabbers on a Sabre. "Angel to Slayer I seem to have evidence of a fight down here. Somebody was unloading stabber rounds pretty excessively. I'll take an atmosphere sample to look at when we get back to base."
"Copy that Angel keep up the good work, Slayer out." Replied Slayer over the radio
Angel continued her survey of the tunnels finding more and more of the ionized gas and collected samples as she went.
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Slayer closed his command link to Angel then concentrated on inspecting the buildings. The first place he and Phoenix approached were the power plant clusters that fed energy to the ISDF buildings. What they found was very peculiar. "Phoenix can you get a reading on those power plants my sensors are reporting no activity."
"Negative Slayer," came Phoenix's confused reply after a few seconds of twiddling with her computer, "Looks like they're completely powered down."
"How the hell is that possible? Power plants can't just be turned off, at least not without visible signs of damage." Slayer asked.
"Well it is and experimental base sir, maybe they tweaked these power plants so they could do It." guessed Phoenix.
"But what good does it do to be able to cut power to the big guns you need for defense so quickly? Besides Intel is tellin me these are supposed to be ordinary power plants."
"Yea I guess, so where to next Slayer?" asked Phoenix as she finished her last sensor sweep and archived the data for later examination.
"Let's check the gun towers," suggested Slayer, "If theres to be any signs of a fight I'll bet we can find it there.
"Copy Slayer I'm movin out." said Phoenix as she turned her ship to port and raced off to the nearest set of gun towers taking a total of two minutes to cover the distance.
"Well thats damned peculiar," exclaimed Phoenix as she came within visual range of the main defenses composed of a well organized array of Rattlers, Guardians, and Scion gun towers along with ISDF gun towers.
"What'd you find Phoenix?" asked Slayer as he pulled up beside her Thunderbolt.
"Theres no relay bunker out here to connect our guntowers to a power source." Phoenix observed. "and those Scion lightning towers seem to have more power lungs than their supposed to."
"Looks like our guntowers feed off the excess energy produced by the lungs, Phoenix get me a reading on the lungs and tell me what condition their in." asked Slayer. Silenced answered him for a few seconds followed by Phoenix's confused reply.
"Sir, the lungs appear to be completely powered down just like to power plants."
"That is damned peculiar, all right le-" Slayer was suddenly interrupted in midspeech as his instincts noticed something amiss. Weather it was the way the scant light reflected off the surface or his mysterious sixth sense that tipped him off no one would ever know but all of a sudden one of the guntowers just didn't look right. Slayer altered his course and stooped just short of five feet from the tower.
"What is it Slayer?" asked Phoenix as she pulled up alongside him.
"This tower has a fresh coat of paint." Slayer answered simply.
"So what, the matinence people probably liked their equipment to look shiny and new why is that important?" inquired Phoenix.
"Because this paint is covering up battle damage." answered Slayer as he took a closer look and noticed the slapdash patchwork used to cover up gapping holes and then painted to give the appearance of a gun tower in pristine condition. Once Slayer and Phoenix knew what to look for they soon spotted other gun towers both Scion and ISDF with the same abnormalities.
"Slayer did Centurion-4 have any heated engagements after it went online?" asked Phoenix as she made recordings of what they were finding. Slayer queried his computer and came up with a negative.
"No Phoenix they didn't which means that this was left by whatever visited the base before it went off-line." stated Slayer as he formulated his next move, "Lets check the mobile turrets a little more closely." and putting actions to words Slayer hoped out of his Thunderbolt and walked over to the nearest Rattler 5 meters away with Phoenix following suit. "Hey Phoenix!" shouted Slayer over the radio, "Take a look at these canopies on the Rattlers." Phoenix did and was mildly surprised.
"Their fakes, the originals seem to have been melted off then replaced with these, and in a pretty big hurry too. No sign of the pilot anywhere."
"This doesn't make any sense to me," said Slayer while he examined the weapons systems and found them to be inoperable, "Somebody rides up in here, rips this base a new one, and then tries to hide it." Slayer scratched his helmet in confusion. Who the hell could have been responsible for this, was all Slayer could think of while he returned to his Thunderbolt leaving Phoenix to take snapshots later to be examined in more detail once they returned to base. Five minutes later she had finished and was climbing back into her Thunderbolt so they could finish their patrol. Now that they had a good idea of what to look for they searched the buildings again and found battle damage all over them this time. That along with the absence of any vehicles at all made Slayer a little tense about being here.
"This is like the frikin Twilight Zone come to life Slayer, what do you suppose did this?" Phoenix asked while making more records of what they'd found.
"It could be the rebel Scions that gave us such problems through the wormhole but I'm pretty sure we got most of them before we came back, if any did follow us back through I don't think they'd have nearly enough units to do something like this. I'm still wondering what happened to the base personnel."
"Well after seeing this I bet it isn't very good." Phoenix added in.
"I agree" replied Slayer as he maneuvered his ship to the next building to do another scan for more battle damage which was turning up with more and more frequency than Slayer would have liked.
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"Find anythin Pyro?" Paddy asked as Pyro sifted through the CO's quarters.
"Not a damn thing Paddy this whole place has been flooded with Cores atmosphere and nothin organic to indicate recent presence survived!" complained Pyro who had searched through the umpteenth officers quarters in search of where the hell everybody was.
"Well take your pictures and come on out man, theres one more room to try then we get out of this spooky hole."
Down the corridor they were in and to the left was another corridor which ended in a set of double doors.
"Man I hate this fucking place!" said Pyro as they made their way to the last room.
"Cant you for once be positive Pyro?" asked Paddy
"I positively hate this fucking place!" answered Pyro.
"Damn man, can you be any more negative?" Paddy asked rhetorically though Pyro didn't take it that way.
"I really hate this fucking place." said Pyro prompting a grin from Paddy as they reached the door and started to pry it open. Once it had been opened all the way they stepped in expecting to find yet another empty room but most definitely not.
"Faith in Begorah what the hell is this!" shouted Paddy as his helmet lights revealed the gruesome scene before him. Pyro leaped into the room after hearing his friends outburst.
"Paddy what th- Holy Shit!" was Pyros rebuttal as he too saw what lay before them. Strewn out along the room were the bodies or in most cases body parts of the Scion and Human personnel at Centurion-4. The entire room was filled to the brim with burned up bodies of soldiers who, judging from their death poses, were taken completely by surprise.
"Where are we Pyro?" Paddy asked Pyro who briefly consulted a map.
"The mess hall." said Pyro cringing a bit at the bad pun he'd just unintentionally made.
"Well how bloody appropriate!" commented Paddy through the gasps of breath he was taking to keep his dinner down. "Think we should report this?" Paddy asked as a joke.
"Uhhh yea go ahead and get Slayer on the horn. He'll want to know about this." replied Pyro as Paddy switched his radio to Slayers command circuit.
"Paddy to Slayer we've found the base personnel." said Paddy into his radio.
"How are they?" inquired Slayer.
"Medium rare sir" answered Pyro barely managing to swallow his bile, "Sir something came up in here and opened a big fuckin can of whoopass on these guys, everything is burned to a crisp and I can't determine the weapon used. I'll take a few samples for the forensics guys back home." he added.
Upon hearing this something inside Slayer clicked and he got a very bad feeling about being at this base and he always trusted his feelings, "Very well, take your pictures and samples quickly and get back to your ships. Emphasis on the quickly gentlemen cause were buggin out."
"Acknowledged sir" was the last thing Pyro said before closing the radio link then he turned to Paddy. "Hurry up and get some samples quick while I make a few snapshots for the album. I want to be far away if and when whatever did this comes back." and with that the two men hurried about their duties setting new records as they did so. In five minutes they had finished and were running flat out it for the exit. But the realization of the danger had come too late.
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"What the hell!" came Angel's voice over the squadron net. "Steel I'm getting some fruity seismic readings coming from the North. Please tell me it's only my twisted imagination."
"I am afraid not Angel" said Steel, "I have just started picking them up myself."
"Angel get out of those tunnels immediately!" commanded Slayer over the radio. "Paddy and Pyro just found an excellent reason why this is a bad place to be so get topside were buggin out! Steel meet her at the tunnel exit then escort her to the rally point at nav6 I have a feeling were going to get visitors."
"Yes sir!" replied Steel and Angel as they kicked their throttles up to full.
"Paddy and Pyro," Slayer called out next, "Where are you?" Slayer asked just as he noticed two shapes out of the corner of his eye.
"Check your 3'oclock sir, when the hell do we go?" answered Paddy.
"Yea lets shag it before something unfriendly pops out of the ground." added Pyro.
"First move out to the rally point and wait for Steel and Angel." Slayer ordered
"Copy that CO." said Phoenix as she and the others sped off for the rally point with Slayer in hot pursuit covering the rear.
Slayer then switched on his command line with their dropship and fired off a quick message, "Equinox this is Cmdr. Robertson. We require immediate dustoff. Head to the preplanned rondevue and wait for us, be advised there may be hostiles in the area." Slayer finished his statement and waited for a reply. Moments later his prayer was answered.
"Copy that Cmdr. heading to dustoff, see you there."
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Angel had cleared the end of the tunnel and saw Steel waiting when the strange seismic readings disappeared. "Uh Steel, the seismic readings just stopped."
"Ja, I know Angel just get out of there and lets move to the rally point."
"Copy Steel I've got your six." replied Angel as the two sped off to the rally point dodging Scion Guardians and gun towers along the way. When they finally reached the rally point less than a few minutes later their Squadmates greeted them.
"Bout time you got here." said Pyro in irritation. Steel then knew instantly that Pyro had found something horrible in the base to shake him to such rudeness like this.
"Sorry Pyro would you rather of had me fly through the gun towers?" came Steels sarcastic reply. But before Pyro could come up with retort a third voice interrupted their conversation.
"Listen up Wraiths were heading to the dust-off for extraction. Steel and Angel take point and lead us through the southeast canyon and make sure our path is clear. Phoenix and I will be right behind you and that leaves Pyro and Paddy to cover our asses." after giving out his orders Slayer paired up with Phoenix while listening to the replies.
"Acknowledged Cmdr. Steel and Angel are moving out." said Steel.
"Copy Slayer I've got your wing." came Phoenix's voice.
"Roger that Slayer, Paddy and Pyro are positioning for butt flap duty." came the eager reply of Paddy who couldn't wait to leave this grave, and with that the Wraiths lined up by pairs in their assigned order and sped off towards the canyon to the south east for their extraction point.
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Far away but too close for comfort a dark figure sat in front of a large screen watching the procession of ships as they sped away in hopes of escape. It amused him so that his master was finally going to let him destroy the vermin in those vehicles instead of capturing them and forcing him to look upon their putrid faces while he hacked them to pieces himself. There came a slight scuttling sound from behind him as a Drone skittered across the steely floor of the command room to its commander's side. "Sir our units are in place and ready to begin the ambush pending your orders." it said in an odd low watery tone.
"Excellent," came the rumbling reply, "Patch me through to the High Master at once and then leave my sight drone."
"As you wish commander." said the Drone as it moved off to accomplish its duties by tapping a few keys on a panel and then leaving his commander be. Seconds later a face appeared on the screen in front of the dark figure and smiled showing off a mouth full of crooked and extremely sharp teeth.
"Greetings Dimitry." said the High Master addressing one of his best field commanders, "What is it that you wish to discuss?"
"Master our units are in position to begin the ambush what are your orders?" asked the Dimitry bowing his head as he did so.
"Terminate with extreme prejudice of course, and remember to let them send out one distress signal, the time has come." after that the High Masters face faded out and was replaced by the overhead view of the Thunderbolts as they attempted to race to safety. Dimitry lifted up his "hand" and placed it into a slot in the console. This connected him directly to his units allowing him to issue orders as soon as he could think them.
"Yes the time has come," said Dimitry as he ordered his units to begin.
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The Thunderbolts sped along the ground at their maximum speed leaving a slight dust trail in their wake. They were approaching a hill that blocked their sight to the entrance of a canyon that would lead them to where the Equinox waited for their extraction. But their flight was cut short by the reappearance of the readings that had prompted their rapid departure in the first place only this time they were much stronger.
"Wraiths stow yourselves behind that hill there in front of us" said Slayer as he followed Steel and Angels lead. "What've you got of me Steel?" inquired Slayer as he brought his ship to a stop.
"The readings are much stronger now Herr Commander they seem to be coming from the entrance to the canyon, wait.. I've seen these readings before, this kind of seismic activity is associated with Maulers sir and a whole shitload of them at that!" Steels voice trailed off as he tried to get a precise picture of what was ahead of them.
"Phoenix to Slayer I have an idea," chirped Phoenix over the comm.
"Go ahead" came Slayers reply as he was reviewing Steels latest sensor readings.
"Sir why don't we have Angel hop out and get us some footage on snipervizz at what's blocking the canyon." offered Phoenix.
"You hear that Angel?" asked Slayer over the radio.
"Yessir I did!" Angel eagerly replied, happy for the chance to use her tank killer even if she didn't get to shoot somebody. She quickly jumped out of her vehicle and climbed slowly till she was almost at the top of the hill. While lying prone she pushed her gun up the slope until it peeked over the top. She then flipped a switch on the sighter scope and a small screen appeared inside her helmet showing her what her scope saw, and her scope saw some very bad news. "Uhhh Slayer I think you'd better have a look at this" said Angel.
"Patch it through to my HUD" commanded Slayer. Up the hill Angel obeyed, flicking a switch located on her helmet sending the image to Slayers video feed in his HUD. After a few moments of delay the signal came through and what Slayer saw on his screen was a chilling sight, blocking the entrance he saw two Attila walkers supported by four Griffin rocket tanks but it didn't end there. Scattered among the odd towers that dotted the landscape he counted no less than fourteen Maulers and twenty Sabres making a vain attempt to hide themselves for an ambush.
Slayer whistled at what he saw then got on the horn with to the rest of his squadron. "Wraiths I'm patching through Angels snipervizz to your HUDs, try not to feint." Slayer finished his transmission then broadcast the video feed to all the other ships while listening in on the radio for the comments about to pour in.
"Oh shit!" breathed Pyro as he got a good look at the picture on his HUD
"What he said!" exclaimed Paddy staring wide-eyed at the force assembled ahead of them.
"Somebody does not like us I see." said Steel who was still trying to get an exact count on what was assembled ahead of them.
"I think "does not like us" is a bit of an understatement in this case. Phoenix to Slayer, what do we do here boss?" asked Phoenix.
"I'm going to call this in to Command, Steel raise the dropship and have it abort their landing. Tell them to instead orbit our general location and be ready to pick us up in a hurry."
"Steel copies Slayer, I'll relay those instructions right away." Steel quickly set about his task while Slayer switched on the long-range Comm system aboard his craft and pointed the antenna to the nearest satellite.
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It had been a longtime since Robertson had checked in and General Alistar was starting to wonder if the Wraiths had met with the same fate as the other scouting parties they had sent out. Beside him he could see Padisha Burns was shifting his weight from foot to foot as if he was impatient but what few knew was that this was in Scion body language a sign of intense concern. Alistar was about to try to initiate some small talk when he heard a Comm panel in the far end of the circular room come to life with a crackling static filled message.
"Cloud-9 Th- is Wra- Squadron do yo- cop- over?" the voice was unrecognizable and the message badly filled with static. The technician at the station fiddle with some knobs and switches to try and make the message a little more clear. It worked because moments later the voice of Commander Robertson came through loud and clear.
"Cloud-9 this is Wraith Squadron do you copy, over?" In response Alistar yanked the mic. from the technician who was about to reply and spoke.
"Wraith Squadron this is Cloud-9 go ahead Robertson."
"Sir have you been monitoring us on the main viewer?" asked Slayer.
"Negative Commander our spy satellite in that area appears to have shorted out." grumbled Alistar who was still feeling some of the residual anger from that news which had come about ten minutes ago.
"Well then you'd better get a look at this sir." said Robertson who took the signal coming to his HUD and routed it through the satellite so they could see it on the main viewer.
Alistar looked to the center of the room where the large circular screen sat like a table with the center lowered into itself. At first there was only a slur of static but eventually the curtain of electronic snow gave way to a clear video feed that showed what could only be snipervizz. The number of ships didn't daunt Alistar since he frequently delt with forces on a divisional level but then again he wasn't facing this ambush with only half a squadron piloting scoutcraft. Then he noticed the markings on the ships and apparently so did the Padisha for he was the next to transmit.
"Commander Robertson would you please instruct your sniper to switch to thermal sights." a few seconds later the picture once again replaced by static as the video feed changed from one showing objects in the normal visual spectrum to that of an I.R. camera. The craft instantly became almost invisible since their advanced armor prevented most heat loss but the pilots were clearly visible. "It is just as I suspected," stated the Padisha, "those are not our pilots."
"How do you know Burns?" asked Alistar.
"These heat signatures are completely alien to me. Those pilots are neither Human or Scion personnel but those ships are from Centurion-4."
"Wraith Squadron we have confirmed that these are hostiles, do not attempt to engage move to ano-" Alistar was suddenly cut off by the reappearance of the static on the screen and the radio, but this time the signal didn't come back. "Damnit, Lieutenant reestablish contact with the Wraiths!" said Alistar to the technician at the Comm panel.
"I'm attempting to sir but the signals being blocked by something!"
"You mean were being jammed?" asked Alistar.
"Yes sir." replied the Lieutenant bringing to Alistar a sickening realization.
"Red Alert! deploy all defenses, scramble the pilots to their ships, get those ground troops dug in and tell them to be ready for an all out assault." in response to Alistars order klaxons and lights started blaring through out the base rousing personnel out of their sleep and some from out of the bars. Sober pills and caffeine capsules were ingested as Humans and Scions scurried about the base to their battlestations. But just as in Wraith squadrons case the realization of the danger had come too late.
"Sir!" yelled a pale faced commander from across the room, "Outer defenses to the North report a large enemy assault is underway."
"Sir Eastern defenses report they are under attack!" shouted another commander.
"Communications from Western and Southern defenses posts
are reporting that they too are under attack sir!" shouted a third voice. Alistar looked around the command center which minutes ago had been a sleepy room with only a few officers on duty. Now it was stuffed to the brim full of commanders and majors issuing orders for their troops to move into defensive positions.
"Damn!" whispered Alistar as he looked onto the view screen at the battle unfolding before him. He then realized that all eyes were upon him awaiting his orders. Taking a deep breath he pushed Wraith Squadron out of his mind and concentrated now on his armies' own survival hoping that Robertson could fend for himself while their comrades were otherwise occupied. It was going to be a long day.
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"-move to ano-" suddenly the transmission was cut off. Slayer leaned foreword towards his computer and attempted to reconnect but to no avail.
"Steel I've lost contact with Cloud-9 and cannot reestablish. See if you can get a signal through." Steel complied, attempting to send out a signal to the satellite but not succeeding. Curious as to why he wasn't coming through Steel listened in to airwaves around him to hear what was going on. He quickly had to stop listening after a high pitched whine erupted out of his internal speaker, a whine which he knew quite well.
"Slayer we are being jammed!" shouted Steel turning Slayers stomach into an icy lead ball. If they were being jammed somebody knew they were there, and if they knew they were there then...
"Uhhh commander one of the Maulers is looking at me." interrupted Angel.
"Angel get back to your ship and get ready to run!" shouted Slayer as he powered up his ship and made ready to bag it. Scanning his terrain map for some sort of salvation he grinned when his eyes fell upon a sector named Murphy's playground. Slayer locked in the coordinates and fed them to the rest of the Wraiths just as Angel finally made it to her cockpit.
"Slayer the enemy is charging our position!" Steel announced seconds before it registered on everyone else's radar.
"Wraiths pair up and run for Murphy's Playground we might be able to lose them there!" then suiting actions to words Slayer and Phoenix surged ahead to the west where there was a narrow canyon that went on for a few klicks before opening up into Murphy's Playground and their only chance for escape. Milliseconds later the other Wraiths followed as fast as they could.
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Steel had already anticipated Slayers order and was in the process of turning when it was given. Though he and Angel were already moving before anybody else their starting position meant they would be in the back. Steel raced his craft as fast as it would go and then some with Angel following on his right slightly to his rear. Eventually he gathered up enough courage to glance over his shoulder to see what his sensors could not show him, he almost wished he hadn't. Despite their speed he and Angel were only 50 meters away from the hill when they came.
Reaching the top and leaping off to sail through the air, Maulers appeared over the hill in pairs followed shortly there
after by the slower Sabres which upon seeing the escaping ships opened fire with SP stabbers rounds attempting to make use of their superior range but not hitting anything and only succeeding in making it harder for the escapees to maneuver. The Maulers, however, had no such speed limitations and ran on their spidery legs at an ungodly rate for something so huge slowly gaining on the Thunderbolts as they sacrificed tiny amounts of speed to maneuver clear of the SP rounds landing with uncomfortable accuracy.
Steel checked his sensors once more keeping an eye on the Maulers as he entered the most dangerous part of the terrain. The long canyon which offered very little room to maneuver and gave the Maulers a chance to catch up and use those damn FANG cannons once they were right on top of him. Ahead he could see the other Wraiths gain speed finding that they didn't need to maneuver anymore since the Maulers were blocking the shots of the Sabres and they didn't carry any sort of long range weapons. Or at least they "thought" they didn't. Steel quickly ran a few speed calculations and found that the Maulers wouldn't be able to gain enough ground to make use of their FANG cannon before the Wraiths could escape into Murphy's Playground. He even started to relax a little but his break was cut short by a blinding flash to his right side directly between Angel and himself.
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Had it not ment that somebody's destruction was coming about the intense beam of lighting that suddenly appeared between Steel and herself would have been a beautiful and awe inspiring sight, but the only feelings this particular beam elicited were that of surprise and fear. Before Angel had time to react the beam snaked its way to the right and latched onto her craft. The effect was instantaneous as she was shaken hard and thrown about by the powerful weapons grasp. Warning lights and alarms shrieked within her ship alerting her to massive system failures as the beam of energy melted its way through the light armor and fried the delicate circuitry within. She only had one chance to get away, she had to punch her engines up to full and use her emergency boosters and then hope beyond hope that she could break out of its grasp before it was too late.
Programming in the correct sequence she flipped the manual override which would initiate her boosters while attempting to keep the engines running at full power. At first she only heard the shrill whine of her crafts computer as it continued to report the ships worsening condition, then over the din of commotion she felt the low thrum the one time boosters made as they added in a kick to her declining speed. Through the sparks and smoke of her cockpit she could make out the other Wraiths speeding along attempting to avoid her fate slowly pulling away from her but then they seemed to slow in their rate of departure and ever so slightly she could see that she was pulling out of the Arc stream. Her attacker however was not going to give up that easily. Once the Mauler that had snagged her realized what its target was doing, and further more realized that its target would eventually succeed made one last attempt to strike a killing blow.
Angel was starting to fill up with the hope that she might make it out alive but her attacker had other ideas. Before Angel could fully comprehend what was going on the Mauler used the grasp it had on her ship to lift the Thunderbolt into the air and then smashed it into the left canyon wall right above Steel. A Thunderbolt is composed of the most advanced armor and structural engineering known to man but the impact against the wall shredded half the ship off like so much paper. That impact also nearly knocked Angel unconscious and ended up breaking a few ribs despite the padding in her seat. The Mauler, seeing that its target was still mostly alive, swung the ship into the other wall ripping gaping holes in the armor and exposing new areas for the Arc stream to fry. One of those places was the ships ammunition compartment
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Steel could only watch silently as his wingman was thrown against the wall directly above him. As he sped along he could hear the pinging sounds made by debris from Angels wreaked fighter bouncing off his hull. Then he saw the ship reverse direction and slam into the other wall ripping off what was left of the stabilizers and tearing out new holes in the ships skin. Moments later he was blinded by a flash as her fighters ammunition cooked off forcing him to look away. When he looked behind him again all that was left of Angel's fighter was a rapidly dissipating ball of shrapnel left far behind. He called up Slayer to report what everyone already knew.
"Steel to Slayer, Angels ship is gone. I didn't see her eject. These bastards have Arc Stream cannons sir, recommend we-" Steel was cut off by another flash of light that passed inches from his hull leaving an impressive scorch mark. Looking back he saw the same Mauler that got Angel zeroing in on him and firing a....Blast canon? His assumption was later proved when another finger of pure destruction reached out to touch his ship again narrowly missing him. Steel reacted quickly to inform his Squadmates of this newest threat. "Steel to Wraiths the enemy is packing Blast cannons!"
"and Mortars!" chimed in Pyro just as a round landed directly ahead of him, the shrapnel tearing small chunks out of his armor. Seconds later seemingly hundreds more fell from the sky adding another danger that the Wraiths had to dodge.
Steel bank sharply left and right attempting to throw off the aim of the Mauler but the narrow canyon provided the perfect shooting gallery. Steel saw the Mauler swivel its head, charge up, and fire. He made a desperate swerve to the left and kept the beam from cutting him down the middle but it instead hit his engine significantly reducing its efficiency and dropping down his speed just enough to allow the Mauler to gain on him. Steel suddenly felt his hair stand on end before taking a look back to see why. Snaking its way across the canyon floor faster than he could fly he saw the wormlike blue tendril of energy from an Arc Stream cannon.
In seconds it would connect with his ship and then it would be over. As a final act of self-preservation he flipped the switch to fire his emergency boosters.....nothing happened. Annoyed he ran a quick diagnostic to see...that he had no boosters because that last hit had severed them from his ship. Steel cursed under his breath, there was no time, the Arc Stream would be on him in moments and he could not hope to defeat a charging Mauler in a Thunderbolt. Steel had given up hope when up in the sky he saw a bright light between the smoke trails left from the Mortars, and knew that he once again stood a chance.
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Zeroing in on her target Angel blazed out of the heavens on jetpack wings towards her target. With the ease of a veteran she kept pace with the Mauler just over its "head" and gracefully brought herself down atop it with a thump by cutting off her packs engines. Finding the rhythm in the Maulers gait she stood up and placed the business end of her tank killer atop the clear canopy. The resulting contact made a strange clicking sound prompting the pilot to look up right into the face of a weapon designed to bring down anything it was pointed at. Though Angel couldn't see its face through the helmet it wore she was positive the expression would have kept her laughing for weeks. Angel pulled back slightly on the trigger and was immediately hurled into the air by the guns potent kick back. She slapped her thigh, hitting a touch pad that reignited the jetpack shooting her forward like a rocket.
Steel looked behind him just in time to see the now pilotless Mauler continue its dead run. But with no one to guide it the machine swerved wildly left and right smashing into walls until it finally tripped over its own legs and fell to the ground. The Mauler directly behind it leap over its fallen comrade to pick up pursuit but unfortunately for it the first Maulers Arc Stream was still active and latched onto its underside pulling it down and into the path of a third Mauler who proceeded to crash into it. The resulting fireball was visible to all the Wraiths and they let out a cheer over the radio. Steel looked up just in time to see Angel fly over him like a rocket to the far end of the canyon only a few dozen meters away. Steel threw Angel a salute, which she attempted to return but ended up clutching broken ribs.
"You owe me a drink Steel!" called Angel over the radio.
"You shall have it, and it will be from my private stash." Chuckled Steel as he checked the progress of the remaining Maulers. There were still plenty left but that wreak had halted their pursuit and it would take precious seconds to climb over the wreckage and continue so now all they had to do was worry about dodging the equally deadly mortars.
"You shall have it, and it will be from my private stash." Steel chuckled. Slayer decided to ignore Steels "private stash" which was probably full of something illegal, then again all the Wraiths had some stash of something illegal including himself. Slayers train of thought was suddenly interrupted by his sixth sense turning his blood cold as he suddenly realized that there was a new threat which was later confirmed by an odd radar hit up ahead. Slayer peered through the canopy but couldn't see a thing through the smoke and dust kicked up from the Mortars. Annoyed Slayer sent out a radar pulse straight-ahead and looked at the picture it generated for him. After a few seconds of study Slayer knew why his blood had turned cold, waiting for them at the end of the canyon were two Attila walkers. Thinking quickly Slayer formed a plan.
"Listen up Wraiths," called Slayer, "we got two walkers blocking us up ahead. We only got one shot at this so listen up." Slayer then proceeded to explain his plan. When he finished Angel vectored upwards and out of sight, Phoenix pulled up even with him with Paddy and Pyro ten meters behind also pulled up even, Steel pulled up as close as he could with his damaged engine and tried to keep even with everyone else. Good, Slayer thought everything is in place. They were now two hundred meters to the canyon exit and Slayer still could not see the Walkers. At one hundred meters Slayer could make out their sillouhettes through the Mortar induced fog.
50 meters....
40 meters.... They passed out Mortar range
30 meters.... The enemy prepared to attack
25 meters.... Slayer got on the Squadron radio
20 meters.... "Open fire!" Slayer commanded while depressing the trigger on his flight stick. Golden fire erupted from the nose of his ship as the chaingun rounds tore through the air straight for the walkers. The first round didn't even have time to hit before others fired from Phoenix joined it at chewing away the armor and causing minimal damage to the walking giant. Then Paddy, Pyro, and even Steel added their firepower to the punch shooting out volley after volley of Fire and Forget missiles. The rockets screamed through the air like demons slamming into the Walkers tough hides causing them to quiver and shake but once again inflicting negligible amounts of destruction. At 15 meters the Walkers fired off shots of their own. 10 meters and the Wraiths were still firing but also dodging the beams of death erupting from the Attila's Blast Cannons, Slayer chose that time to broadcast a quick message.
"Angel now!" and less than milliseconds after the order was given a flash was seen behind the walkers and then suddenly the left walker, specifically its left ankle, erupted into flames as something tore into it from its weakly armored backside completely separating it from the rest of the leg. With one of its legs rendered useless the left walker was now unbalanced and fell on top of the right walker who was in the process of turning knocking it down. 5 meters away and the left walkers pilot must have accidentally hit the trigger because white fire erupted from it square into the other walkers cockpit killing its pilot, immediately after a shot from the right walker came out missing the cockpit completely but instead hitting the left walkers fuel cells lighting them off and simultaneously finishing both of them for good. 3 meters away then Slayer and Phoenix activated their VTOL boosters and barely jumped over the top of the wreckage and straight through the fireball.
Slayer and Phoenix landed with a inaudible thud then proceeded along 50 meters to stop by a hill that marked the entrance to Murphy's Playground named after a one Commander Ian Murphy who's squadron had vaporized an entire Scion assault force by getting them to split up among the many hills and ravines that dotted this particular area then picking them off one by one. But then again Murphy had a full squadron piloting Sentinels, Attilas, and all the other powerful little goodies that one was usually deployed with. Slayer knew better than to try any heroic shit like Murphy. His pilots were severely outgunned and were facing an enemy with obviously new weaponry and tactics. They had to get out of there and report what they had found but whoever the hell was commanding these forces obviously didn't want him to. Slayer waited as Paddy and Pyro easily jumped the wreckage and moved to join him. Steel barely made it over and sparks were visible as the bottom of his hull scraped against what was left of the walkers. He quickly flew over to joined them. That left Angel who gracefully landed beside Steels ship.
"Our pursuers should be at our position within eight minutes Herr commander." Announced Steel.
"So we'd better hide while the hidings good." Said Pyro.
"My thoughts exactly Pyro," commented Slayer, "alright this is what we do, first we split by pairs and get as lost in here as we can, second Phoenix and I will try to contact the dropship and have it meet us here," Slayer said dropping a nav in the other ships HUDs, "on hill 738, Third we'll regroup on hill 738 in one hour for extraction remember to maintain radio silence and no God damn heroics! You see a bad guy avoid him at all costs we don't know what these fuckers are capable of." Slayer looked around to all the ships in front of him wondering how many he would see again in an hour. "Understood?" asked Slayer.
"Yes sir!" everyone called out.
"Then move out, I'll drop a video beacon so we can get an idea of how many of those bitches are coming after us. Frequency Gamma.9." and while the others flew off in random directions Phoenix and Slayer remained long enough to drop a video beacon then flew off. Five minutes later their pursuers came through and promptly destroyed the video beacon. It took them only a matter of seconds to do it but that was all the time the Wraiths needed.
Slayer looked over a freeze frame of the footage shot before the video beacons destruction and counted up the ships he saw. 11 Maulers, at least 15 Sabres, plus a few mixed platoons of Warriors and Lancers, and there was just the slightest bit of a Griffin in the picture who would no doubt be guarding that exit. Slayer cleared the picture from his HUD then powered up and made ready to move to hill 738. Beside him Phoenix did the same and they both moved out each sending a silent prayer to their comrades hoping they would make it through.
"This is Commander Robertson to Equinox do you copy over?" it was the eighth time Slayer had made the call since reaching hill 738. All the previous seven had answered him with static. For a few moments there was nothing but then suddenly his receiver crackled to life.
"Commander Robertson this is Equinox, glad to see somebody is still alive down there."
"We do our best, listen Equinox we need immediate extraction proceed to hill 738 in Murphy's Playground and be advised there are confirmed hostiles in the area."
"Roger that commander Equinox proceeding to hill 738, ETA fifteen minutes. Good luck down there."
"We'll need it Equinox see you in fifteen, Robertson out." Slayer closed the command link and resumed scanning with passive sensors for any hostiles. Currently there was nothing within range of his scanners that he could detect but passive sensors could very easily miss something a fact that had proven itself many times while he and Phoenix made their way here. Slayer was tempted for a moment to send out a radar pulse but that would be the equivalent of launching a signal flare to any enemy with halfway decent detection equipment.
"So what do we do now Slayer?" inquired Phoenix who has hidden behind one of the unusual tree-like towers that circled around hill 738. Slayer responded from behind one of the huge pillars of light that served as his cover.
"We wait for the others." Silence ensued after that. It was fast approaching one hour since the Wraiths had split up and by now if they survived they should be arriving any minute.
"Slayer I've got two feint signals coming over hill 737 just behind us." Phoenix suddenly announced. Slayer checked his sensors again but came up blank, he then realized that Phoenix was closer to the hill, which explained why he couldn't see them.
"Friendly?" inquired Slayer who was aiming his crosshairs towards the hill in case the answer was no.
"I can't tell, there doesn't seem to be a transponder signal coming off them. Definitely not vehicles though."
"I copy Phoenix, disarm the FAF missiles and wait until we get a visual before we fire." Slayer finished then punched up his visual enhancer and looked the hill over visually for any sign of activity. A short while later two figures appeared running around the base of the hill in the general direction of hill 738. Both of them were carrying a pulse riffle in one hand and clutched a black box in the other. They were clad in the usual ISDF orange flight suits though they were spotted with scorch marks. The pair ran from tower to tower until they had reached Slayer's position. Up close Slayer could see that he two had been burned pretty good but not enough to compromise their suit integrity. The two stopped a few meters short of his position and the taller of the two, no doubt Pyro, took up peeking around the side of the light pillar looking for followers. The shorter one who had to be Paddy walked right up next to Slayer's ship and sat down next to it leaning back against the nose.
"Well fancy meeting you here Slayer." said Paddy.
"Looks like you two had a close call." commented Slayer.
"Lad a "close call" doesn't even begin to describe what we went through." Replied Paddy between gasps of breath. The two of them must've had to run like hell to make it here on time.
"I'm sure it'll make an amusing story during the AAR meeting."
"Oh that it will sir." laughed Paddy. But just then Phoenix interrupted.
"Phoenix to Slayer I've got two more signals coming in from the same direction Paddy and Pyro came."
"Friendly?" Slayer asked once again.
"One of them is definitely a vehicle sir, the other one appears to be on foot." Phoenix reported.
"That'd be Angel and Steel, late as always." commented Pyro.
"Its good to see you too Pyro." Steels voice rang out over the secure radio just as he and Angel came into view. The two must have had quite an adventure out in Murphy's Playground because Steels ship was now adorned with multiple burns and a large dent in the nose from some impact. That same impact could probobly account for the missing stabilizer that appeared from this distance to have been torn off, and limping beside his damaged ship was Angel who seemed to have picked up a few more injuries on the way here.
"Did you get us a ride out of here CO?" asked Angel who from the sound of it was in an uncomfortable amount of pain.
"The Equinox will be here in," Slayer checked the clock in his HUD, "five minutes. You and Steel move to Phoenix's position and hold up there." Angel nodded her head in agreement and limped off as fast as she could. Steel attempted to follow but halfway there his antigrav engines shut off and sent his ship plowing into the hard surface of Core hopelessly bending his stabilizers out of alignment. Seconds later Steel emerged and anyone listening in on his radio would have heard a violent string of German cursing before he reached into his now useless cockpit and yanked out a black box. With a final kick to the ships side he drew his riffle and stalked off towards Phoenix's position.
As promised five minutes later the Equinox appeared hovering over hill 738 preparing to land. Th Wraiths then ran from hiding place to hiding place until they had reached the top of the hill, just as the Equinox was preparing to touch down. The Wraiths formed a semi-circle in front of the Equinox as a defensive line and waited for the ship to land. Slayer glanced behind him and watch the loading doors open before when the Equinox was three meters to the ground and made ready to pilot himself into the cargo bay.
"Wraiths lets go ho-" Slayer called out but was suddenly interrupted by a flash of light from behind hill 737. Slowly a glowing cylinder of fire came into view racing for their position hungry for destruction.
"A Comet XL!" Pyro shouted.
"Wraiths scatter! Equinox abort landing I repeat abort landing!"
The Wraiths complied running or flying for cover as fast as they could. The Equinox flared its engines and raced up and away heading north. Slayer had just gotten his Thunderbolt behind a tower when from behind him came a deafening boom audible even through Cores thin atmosphere. When he stole a glance behind all he could see was a huge fireball where moments before all of Wraiths had been standing. When the dust settled all that was left of hill 738 was a bubbling pool of bio metal. Slayer attention was torn from the pool by the shrieking of his radar informing him of hostiles in the area, a great deal of hostiles in the area all racing for their position.
Phoenix glanced out from behind the tower she was using for cover and noted that where she had been seconds before was now a deep pool of steaming bio metal. Her radio suddenly came to life pulling her back to reality.
"Slayer to Wraiths we have incoming hostiles from hill 737!"
Phoenix looked at her radar, which wasn't reporting anything in the area. She looked again and realized her radar had been melted off in the fireball. She shot her craft out into the open to face this newest threat. Over hill in front of her the enemy came. Warriors and Lancers flew off the top followed closely by Sabres and Maulers all running, all firing. There were too many to count they seemed to blanket the ground and rush at them begging for the chance to blow them into a million pieces. On instinct the Wraiths opened fire with everything they had. Angel blew off the leg of a Mauler and sent it stumbling. Paddy shot away his pulse riffle while Pyro threw demolition charges until he ran out and then took up firing his pulse riffle with Paddy. Slayer and herself let loose with chaingun and FAF round but nothing they did could stop their relentless advance.
"Wraiths disengage and fall back to the north I have a plan!" Slayers voice suddenly shouted over the radio. Far away Phoenix could see the other Wraiths slap their thighs and shoot up on jetpack wings flying away. Slayer and herself turned around and ran off north with what seemed like an entire army on their heels. Mortars, Missiles, Blast cannons, and stabber rounds exploded all around her as she flew forward jinking and swerving to throw off their attackers aim but still receiving battle scars across her hull from one too many close calls. All around her she could see the other Wraiths were having similar troubles as they flew straight ahead into.....Come to think of it Phoenix didn't know where they were heading.
Phoenix pulled up a terrain map from her ships database and eyed what was ahead of them. Two hundred meters more and they'd have to jump a ramp like hill and beyond that lay...nothing. Beyond that hill was a two kilometer wide canyon with a twelve kilometer deep drop in between the two edges.
"Slayer have you gone mad?" inquired Phoenix.
"No time to explain just take my 9'Oclock and do what I do!"
Phoenix did as she was told and soon the two were racing up hill. 10 meters more and they would fly off the edge.
5 meters.......
3 meters.......
1 meter ....... Then suddenly they sailed off into the sky. Slayer abruptly pointed his nose down and raced to the canyon floor. Phoenix followed suit and flew straight down confident this was the end with her nose pointed at....The Equinox? Before she could utter a sound of surprise she was swallowed into the open cargo bay and her ship brought to sudden stop by the magnetic lock cracking a few ribs from the force. As she glanced out behind her she could see the other Wraiths get swallowed up as the ship raced nose upwards for the sky. First in was Steel who hit the back wall, now the bottom floor, feet first and rolled to make room. Second in came Angel who hit the back wall on her side and appeared to be knocked unconscious. Steel dragged her out of the way just in time for Paddy to come crashing down and get his right leg bent in at very unnatural angle. Pyro followed, his fall cushioned somewhat when he fell on top of Paddy. Once everyone was in the outer doors cranked closed and sealed with a familiar and comforting thump.
The ships orientation changed abruptly as it cleared the canyon edge and switched to horizontal flight dumping the Wraiths who had been on the back wall to the floor eliciting a few groans. Explosions could be heard from outside and the Wraiths quickly grabbed hold of Thunderbolts to keep from being thrown about by the Equinox's evasive maneuvers. Minutes passed like hours as missiles exploded outside the hull and stabber rounds impacted the armor attempting to tear the Equinox apart but to no avail. The dropship dived into the canyon to evade and in mere seconds had passed out of the enemy attackers firing range. The shaking and rumbling of battle was eventually replaced by familiar air turbulence letting the Wraiths know that they were finally safe.
"We've cleared the fire zone Wraith Squadron you can relax now." Came Equinox's pilot over the intercom as she flew skyward back to Cloud-9. The Wraiths all breathed a collective sigh then Paddy spoke up.
"Commander I don't know weather to by you a drink or shoot you in the head!" Paddy exclaimed the pain from his leg very clear in his voice.
"Your alive aren't you?" replied Slayer.
"Unfortunately yes!" said Paddy then turned his attention to Pyro who had landed on him earlier. In minutes they would be trading jokes back and forth and generally warming the atmosphere. Phoenix had clambered out of her ship and was assisting Steel with Angel and eventually getting her to a semi-conscious state. Slayer jumped out of his ship to stretch a bit then sat down and leaned against the Thunderbolts hull. Just as he predicted minutes later Pyro and Paddy had everyone else in the squadron laughing and joking. But for Slayer now was not the time for him to feel safe enough to joke. A new enemy had emerged, a new war was breaking out one that might engulf this entire planet, and there was no doubt in his mind that he and the Wraiths would be sent to the front lines again to do what they do best......Fuck the enemy over then live to tell about it.
END...Part2
This here seems to be a good place to leave you hanging. Just who is this new enemy and why does one of their commanders have a Russian name? You'll find out in the next installment of.
BATTLEZONE II: LOST LEGACY by Admiral Kelley
My e-mail address is now up in my author profile so if you have any and I mean ANY suggestions that could make this story better I want to hear them. Or you could leave your suggestion in the review box it makes little difference to me.