Chapter Three

I eased the Brood through the coursing stream. Overturned and flaming vehicles dotted a land bridge as an infantry battle was taking place. Bodies flew off the bridge, leaving the stream below a pale red. The explosions of fragmentation grenades sent wreckage and mortar soaring through the air. I activated the jump jets, launching my Radeon over the horrific scene. The colony was just ahead. I was greeted by a hail of gunfire crashing into the titanium hull of my vehicle. A quick scan of my radar showed the presence of three Radeons. A beep sounded from my HUD. I hit a button and a message played.

"Arrow One to unidentified Radeon, get out of the city or die. The region is under control of the Triads now."

The three Radeons were of the Scourge variety, though heavily modified. They brought their weapons to bear on me. I became a little nervous at the fact that I was staring down the barrels of three .50 cal Vulcan cannons. I keyed Falco's frequency on my communicator.

"Falco here," Falco replied.

"Do you have any way to take over that cruiser soon?"

"Not on my own, but I can disable it so it can't take off."

"Can you still get to that Wolfen II?"

"Yes."

"Hurry to disable the big bird and get to that fighter. I'm gonna need air cover other than Fox."

"On my way! Falco out."

I switched my communicator to the enemy's frequency. "Brood to Arrow One. I'm asking you to leave. Get out, and live to fight another day." The only reply was a hail of gunfire. Well, so much for diplomacy! I strafed to the side to avoid the fire of the weapon and got a lock with my LRMs. In need of assistance, I switched to my team's frequency. "This is Brood. I have reached the opposition in the colony. They're Dark Arrows. Green One and Green Two, get your asses over here!"

I launched the LRM, but it missed, careening into the ground. I switched to my autocannons and began to charge the enemy Radeons. The shells pounded into the hull of the lead Scourge, knocking it back. When I came within range, I activated my laserblade. My target took a short amount of time to recover, then activated a dual-set of VibroBlades. The two vibrating blades were made of diamond-coated titanium, and could cut through just about anything. The fool… I thought. My laserblade can cut through those VibroBlades easy. Unless… I swung the blade at him, but he blocked with his. An odd shimmer surrounded the VibroBlades. ElectoShielded. Not bad! He attacked with his blades. With a few quick parries, I knocked them away and pressed an attack of my own, stabbing and slashing. He successfully blocked most of them, knocking them away. With a more powerful swing, I knocked the metal giant back. While he was stunned, I thumbed the trigger of my autocannons, which at this close of range peeled away most of the chest armor and knocked the Scourge over. One of his teammates came up to my left side, re-aiming his Vulcan cannon at my Radeon. A swift flick of a control yoke, and his Radeon was cut down, like scissors through paper. The other one couldn't seem to get a bead on me, so he couldn't get a shot off without putting himself in danger. The knocked over Scourge raised his arm to attack, but my laserblade beat him to it, severing his Radeon's arms.

"That fighting style…" the enemy said. "Starfyre! I should have known. Never should have ran, boy. You wouldn't have had to live a life like this one."

"Go to hell, Kuzgun," I growled. "You never saw what your precious Emperor really was, the tyrant!"

"If you didn't resist him, you would have had a comfortable life in my Radeon lance. But you had to be the goody-two-shoes and try to 'save the galaxy'. He was our savior."

"He was your end, fool! He would have killed you."

"You prick! I was his second-in-command. He would have done nothing to me!"

"ARRRRGH!" I impaled his Radeon on my laserblade, destroying the stabilizers and rupturing his fuel cells. An escape pod jettisoned through the cockpit of the Scourge.

"Good bye, boy!" After that statement, a hail of Vulcan fire erupted around me. I looked toward the last Scourge only to see it go down under a barrage of bullets.

"Tengo down, Green Leader!" said a voice over my communicator.

"Thanks Zanar. Fox," I said, "all Radeon resistance is down."

"Skies are clear, Dezu. We got the bastards on the run."

A loud beep sounded as I received a message. With a few button presses and a flick of a switch, the communiqué played.

"Unidentified Radeons! We have taken some prisoners, namely one Jewels Aeon, and unless you give us what we want, they will die. If you get us transport to Char, we'll let the hostages go free. If you don't," the voice said simultaneously with the cocking of a pistol, "they die. I give you three hours."

Oh hell. "Fox, get us out of here. Good job, boys."

We were in the war room of the Great Fox, trying to come up with solutions for this problem. After a half an hour of pouring over maps of the area, we found a way. The enemy cruisers were destroyed on the most part, except for the one Falco sabotaged. I looked at the clock. Two hours left.

"ROB, contact Falco. I have an idea," I commanded. A few seconds of silence filled the room. Then the communication system crackled to life.

"Falco here."

"Falco, what is going on in that cruiser?"

"Well," he said, "they still have control of it, but they haven't found the problem with the engine yet."

"Falco," I said, informing the former officer, "we have a hostage situation here. They want transport back to Venom. I have an idea, but I need your input."

"I'll help the best I can. Shoot."

"My team will help you overtake the cruiser. We go in and wipe the bridge clean. How bad did you mess with that engine?"

"Just disconnected it."

"Well, we fix it and offer it as their transportation. They don't seem to be as stupid, so they probably won't release the hostages until after they get to Venom. My team will hide somewhere in there. They board the cruiser and after we get out of the atmosphere, we take the bastards down there. Sound good?"

"I like it. I think that I got you some new friends that are itching for a comeback."

"Good. We'll be there in thirty."

"Got it. Party at thirty. Falco out."

I looked around the war room to see if anyone had any objections. There were none. My men got up and walked to their quarters to get their weapons. Fox looked over at me.

"And why didn't you ask me if I was ok with this?" he asked.

"Because you won't be risking your team and we won't be using your weapons. We may need some ammo, though. Do you carry 10mm hollow points?"

"Yes, but if you want, we can lend you our energy weapons."

"No thanks, Fox. We kinda been using our weapons exclusively. Anyway," I requested, my finger dug into one of the maps, "could you pick up some of my men from this point?"

Fox sighed, annoyed with his friend's antics. "No problem, Dezu."

"Fox, you're a lifesaver."

The kevlar armor was weighing my shoulders down as I walked into the docking bay, loading my weapon. It was a WP-10 assault rifle with a grenade launcher, laser sight, and integrated suppressor. I chambered an anti-personnel grenade into the barrel, shoving the last three into my pockets. I closed the chamber and engaged the safety. As far as I was concerned, I was ready to go. I grabbed my helmet from the rack and strapped it on, the infrared mask rattling. The sound chilled me. Or was it the sound…

To my side was Lieutenant Zanar Chrons, pilot of the Radeon Kerrigan, which was a highly modified version of the Zelot. He was a friend I met while on Venom. He's a little hotheaded sometimes, but I would trust him with my life. He finished loading his Samurai 9mm handgun, engaging the safety just as I did. He had his WP-10 strapped on to his back for the time being. He filled his pockets with extra clips for the WP-10 and holstered his pistol as we approached the rest of the squad. They were similarly armed and all were chatting nonchalantly about the battle at hand. Unlike them, I was rather high-strung. Jewels is in there. I was loosing my nerve. Any second now…

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" I screamed. "Shut up! Shut the hell up!" There was a sudden silence; all eyes were on me. I was shaking from the overwhelming stress. I took a few deep breaths, tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Man," Zanar said. "Man, just calm down. I know what you're going through, but now is not the time."

I wiped the tears of anger away. "You're right, Zanar. When we deploy…" I started, wiping my face. "When we deploy, we will meet with a small group of resistors. We will move north with them, toward the landed cruisers. We will infiltrate the cruiser Dementia through the cargo bay and storm the bridge. Then you two," I said, pointing at two of my troops, "Zanar, and I will wait inside, hidden, as we pick up the enemy force with the hostages. Whatever happens, we have to eliminate the threat and save the hostages before we exit the atmosphere. Got it?" They nodded their heads. "Good. Suit up. We drop in five."

There was a loud crash when the dropship landed. The helmets and masks enveloped our faces as we exited the ship, weapons ready. After everybody was out and away, I signaled to the pilot, pointing my thumb up. The sun was setting as he returned the signal and lifted off. I waved my guys to follow me. We weaved in between cars and debris to the north, eyes constantly alert. After we reached the rendezvous point, I switched on my bonemic, a little microphone/speaker that stimulates the bones in your inner ear, and listened for a minute. The codeword came through the mic. "Brooding".

"I hear you, guys. Where are you?"

"Look for the light." A few buildings up, a small light flashed in a second story window. I pointed to it and made a waving gesture to my troops. They followed, maneuvering around the wreckage. We stopped just short of the door, which was enshrouded in a deep darkness.

"Eyes on, boys," I commanded. With a tap of my visor, the infrared goggles came on, slightly illuminating the surroundings, and outlining the living and warm in a red light. I entered the building cautiously, greeted by three warm red shapes. One of them, a wolf, extended his paw toward me in a friendly manner. I slowly lowered my weapon and grasped it.

"Hello, captain. The name's Eki Sunxi."