Chapter 13: Arrival of the Second Waves

The X-Wing rocketed over the rocky terrain toward the stationed Star Destroyers under a rain of blasterfire. The shots fired made a near-impenetrable wall of fire, keeping the enemy at bay and also creating a large dust cloud which soon covered the entire field between the Galactic Special Forces and the innumerous surrounding Trilac warriors.

"Commander! We spot enemy ground swarms coming from the Western Front! They have several teams of aerial warriors, but it's a lighter concentration than before. My guess is they're simply escorts for a ground assault. What are your orders?" Barks a Coyotebot over the communications screen.

"Tell me, how much longer will it take to complete the evacuation of the base?" asks Jason, hovering his ship over the Argo's bridge.

The Coyotebot responds, "We have cleared the upper levels, but there are still several more floors below the surface to clear. It should take us no more than 10 minutes."

Another Coyotebot reports. "Commander! The Trilac on the Western Front are amassing at an alarming rate, what should we do?"

"Well Jas, looks like we've got problems. If they all charge through the zone of heavy laser-fire, a good number could break through. At this rate we'll be up to our tails in them in a few minutes!" Fox is just stating the obvious, but he really just wants Jason to hurry up and think of something.

Jason looks toward the west. "Right. Deploy half the Argo's Y-Wing bomber squadrons. We'll bomb the hell out of their ground troops with quick runs. I'm sure a thousand Y-Wings all bombing at once should weaken them substantially."

Fox puts his hand on Jason's shoulder and says, "But Jason, even if your Y-Wings have been upgraded to have more speed, they're no match for the speeds these Trilac can reach in the atmosphere; they can chase down V-Wings! And there's no way the Wings can fight off those air squads while bombing at the same time!"

"Now now, ye Fox of little faith. I'm not done giving orders. Coyotebot, also deploy our new GSF Naboo N-1 Starfighter Squadrons. We should have 500 N-1s on board. (back to Fox) We've upgraded the old N-1 models. They have even better shields and firepower than their originals, and added cluster-seeker launchers on the wings between the engines and main body of the craft. Also, they have advanced engines giving them speeds even faster than our V-Wings. They'll be untouchable escorts for the Y-Wings." Jason smirks under his hat as he looks onward over the battlefield.

"Well well, I never thought you'd mass-produce your old ship from the academy, Jason!" exclaims Fox, sitting back in his chair.

"Heh, well now the Galactic Special Forces will have twice the strength as before. Our fleets will be even more unstop-" Jason is cut short by another transmission.

"They've broken through!" shouted a panicked Crystal as the monitors showed the Trilac rushing through the relentless fire. A good deal of them were being incinerated by the Destroyers' blasts, but many of them were making their way through the set area of bombardment.

"Sir, our Y-Wings and N-1s have been deployed and await your orders!" says a Coyotebot with a proud tone in his voice.

Jason smiles as he gives his command. "Commence destruction of the enemy wave! Y-Wings, just release all your firepower onto the ground forces – the N-1s will tear apart anything above 6 feet from the ground. Wipe out every single one of them with a swarm of our own! To all of you: good luck and God speed!"

-

"This is it!" cried the Coyotebot pilot of the new addition of the GSF Fleet, the N-1. He boosts ahead, taking point of the Y-Wing bomber squadron he was assigned to protect. After Commander Jason's order, he was well under way.

"Remember N-1 commander, you've gotta make sure nothing gets too close to us!" says one of the Coyotebots flying in the rear Y-Wing. "Let's just lay these things to waste and get back as soon as possible."

"No problem! You're my top priority, and by God you won't even get the paint scratched!" replies the point N-1.

The sky over the Western front darkens from the shadows of all the fighters in the air. Several minutes pass as the fighters travel the distance between the outpost and the enemy. Then the wave of green is seen just a few miles ahead as the squadrons increase their speeds for their run.

"We've got them in our sights! All bombers, unload your payloads now!" The transmission sent from the Coyotebot officer on board the Argo in charge of the sensors reaches all of the bombers out there. As soon as he finishes his order, the sound of the proton bombs impacting the waves of insects roared. It could be heard all the way back to the Star Destroyers which were still firing in all directions to cover the escape.

Just before our N-1 squadron's commander forgot where he was while watching the bombing, a beep acknowledges aerial troops approaching on the radar. "Ok fighters, when they're within a half mile of us we all lock onto a section and we each fire two seeker-clusters, got it?"

His command is affirmed by the terms "Roger" or "Copy that." The N-1s blaze through the sky ahead of the bombers still raining destruction upon the masses of ground troops. As soon as the flying Trilac come within a half-mile, streams of vapor trails follow the missiles fired from the Naboo Starfighters. When about ten yards away from the N-1s, each missile splits into seven, which then go off to find different targets.

"Ha ha! Take that, you bug-suckers!" yells one of the Coyotebots as the seekers mow the sky clear. "Not too fun when we swarm with even more firepower, is it!"

The same sight isn't seen much throughout the air above the bombings, where several N-1 squadrons flew in to engage in numerous dogfights with the aerial menace. The N-1s greatly increased abilities made sure the hoard of flying insects were no match for them. These new ships may not be as stealthy as the V-Wing model, but definately superior in an aerial battle where no one's hiding.

-

"Commander Jason, the Y-Wings have almost completely taken out the enemy ground forces, butsomething doesn't seem right." says the Coyotebot over the communicator as he monitors the battle which began roughly 3 minutes earlier.

"What do you mean?" Asks Crystal, who has taken a seat at the command post. "We're winning, right?"

The Coyotebot looks up to her. "Yes, but I don't see any more of them coming in. It's like they've given up, and I've faced these things before - quitting isn't an option to them. It just doesn't seemright."

"Oh don't be silly! They probably figured that they can't beat us and they were tired of being crushed by our powerful weapons, so they went home!" says Crystal, gleefully shifting in her seat.

Jason speaks over the com screen. "No, he's right Crystal. I don't like it at all either. Do a full scan of the surrounding area again for any enemy swarms outside of the bombardment."

The Coyotebot at the scanners rescans the now deserted areas of mountains and plains and finds nothing. "Sir, they've left! There are none to be found, and scanners show the bomber squadrons have just wiped out the remainder of the wave outside of the bombardment barrier."

Jason ponders at that for a moment. The last wave was fairly big and it brought the deployed fighters and bombers a good distance away just to wipe them out. The heavy cannons were set to the locations where the Trilac swarms were closest to make a barrier, but that set the cannons to aim a few miles away. Now, they all seemed to have vanished. What could have happened?

"Dear God NO!" Shouted Jason upon realization. "Scan all areas within 100 miles!"

"Scanning" The Coyotebot didn't really see what could be so alarming, until it appeared on his screen. Life signatures, by the thousands, were as close as 2 miles surrounding the baseunderground. "Sir! We have enemy forces beneath the surface!!"

Jason's computer receives the data just acquired, showing large strings of enemy travelling under the rocky desert plains. "They must have dug tunnels long before this strike! They've gotten smarter! Seal up the hatches not taking in our refugees to make sure they can't get into our ships! Raise particle shields! Set all medium cannons as close to our location as you can without hitting any of our troops! Get the Raidens in closer to the Destroyers, and for God's sake call back the fighters and bombers we've deployed!"

Even during Jason's transmission of orders, the enemy began bursting through the ground, oozing out of newly formed openings in the planet's crust. They moved at alarming speed, bringing them a mile away from the Star Destroyers. There was no real time to defend against so many that came so close, so fast. Now they've reached within a half-mile of the Destroyers, who desperately activate the particle shields over everything but the open hatches. They may have had protection against the oncoming enemy, but the poor soldiers on the ground were few and far between, which made them less effective against waves of psychotic insects. The base and the escapees would be overrun in a matter of minutes – not enough time to save them all.

"We may have to leave them behind" mutters Commander Jason, shaking his head as the sorrowful thought of leaving creatures - metal or not – that could think for themselves yet who were so loyal to him behind to die. But now, that seemed to be the only choice; to sacrifice the few to save the many. The hand to save the body.

"God damn it! There has to be another way!" shouts Jason. But just before the enemy passes the quarter-mile mark, a hail of laserfire rains down from the sky above, holding them off as confusion sets in. Down came 4 GSF Star Destroyers, laser cannons blazing. Jason smiles and breathes a much needed sigh of relief as they rip open the ground with their heavy cannons and vaporize many enemy strains with the assistance of the already established Destroyers' medium and heavy lasers.

A familiar deep, noble voice is heard over the com, accompanied by Storm Eagle's visage on the screen. "Commander Jason, we have arrived to assist you. Please know many more of our attackers are on their way – almost 3 times what we're holding off now. We need to make haste."

"Of course, but I'll have to get out of the X-Wing if the battle's gonna get too close to this base, or I'll risk our own Coyotebots' lives. Mobilize some dropships and get some Coyotebot teams down there, but make sure their transports remain on standby to get the heck out of there as soon as possible." says Jason, now feeling that the battle has turned to favor the Galactic Specials down there still making their way out.

"On my way. (To the Coyotebot in charge of the Eagle Sonata's communications) You heard him, tell the drop teams we have ready to deploy! Also, send out 20 squadrons of B-Wings, with 5 in each squad, to help reinforce the perimeter around our forces immediately! In the mean time, I shall go with our teams down there." Says Storm, walking onto the bridge's teleporter.

"Hey hey HEY! No chance in hell you're going down there without us, polly!" Crush runs into the transport room along with Overdrive Ostrich, who smiles and gives a thumbs up.

"Yeah Storm! This will be a can of cake for us!" shouts Overdrive as they beam to the docking bay.

-

Under a minute, most of the troop carriers had reached areas all around the base and the B-Wings had just begun to move out. The new support in bombarding the enemy successfully holds them at bay, with fire not only coming from the Destroyers, but from the stationed ground troops, Raidens, B-Wings, and the occasional revenge shot from an escaping battle- weary Coyotebot. Jason also sets foot on the ground, and is met up with the three Reformed Mavericks, Storm Eagle, Crush Crawfish, and Overdrive Ostrich.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning! Smells like victory!" jokes Jason, yelling over the sound of gunfire with a quote from the movie Apocalypse Now.

But before the others could say a similar greeting, Jason puts his hand over his scouter to listen more clearly to the transmission coming in. "Commander, I have grim news. The long range scanners on the Argo show the enemy's third ground wave is approaching our outer rim of fire on all sides. Storm was wrong about it being 3 times larger: They've gotten way more troops from what seems like thin air. Our defense now should be able to hold them off for more than enough time, but further scans show caves miles below the surface, which could be used to sneak under us. We can't really tell where these tunnels lead, but it's a safe guess that none lead underneath the structures. For right now we're safe. Another estimated 5 minutes is all we need to clear out of here though."

Crush opens and closes his claws in frustration. "Man, what is this? Is the planet's core made of these things? Come on! How can they just keep coming?!"

"I don't know, but get ready for anything. They've become far more vicious than before, and my guess is they've mutated or evolved rapidly somehow, giving them the ability to move much faster than our data shows." Jason puts his hand over his lightsaber, still in its holster. "I have a feeling we'll have to go in for close-range fighting once they start attacking again."

Storm violently stretches his wings open with a mighty flap. "I swear to send them beyond the depths from which they came if they dare oppose us!"

Overdrive nods. "Yeah, I can't wait to try out my newest upgrades. I say bring it on!"

"Dude, you are SO much cooler before a battle." says Crush, giving Overdrive a light shove. "Not saying that makes you cool, just cooler."

Just then, scouters all over the base went off, showing their owners the latest developments. The enemy forces outside relentlessly threw themselves into the explosions created from the bombardment, not caring for their personal waste of life – but none made it through. The deafening screams of perhaps millions of bugs plagued the air for miles. Despite this, no team leader flinched; no Commander or Maverick faltered. Their attention was elsewhere, concentrating on the ground which began to move.