Advance Wars: Endgame
Chapter 6

By RocketDarkness

Drake felt the ship shudder again, and this time he heard faint shouts from ahead. He continued to push forward, despite the harsh rain beating against his face and obscuring his view. A strong wind blew that moment, sending his captain's hat flying into the sky. Drake cursed at his luck, but made his way to the Control Room. As he shoved open the door, the few crewmen that were inside turned and gasped.
"Captain Drake, we're under attack! A patrolling battalion of Blue Moon subs has engaged us!"
"Well, they shouldn't be much of a problem for our cruisers now, should they?" Drake was miffed. 'I made my way here for a simple sub attack?'
"Well, sir, it's not that simple. I think they're calling in an air strike." At this, Drake stopped. His first thought was to repeat what he had already said, but realized that with this attack he could easily send their entire plan up in flames. He thought for a second. 'Would it be worth the risk?' The crewmen waited quietly, allowing him time to decide.
"Take out those subs, and then make haste for the closest neutral islands!" They had to set up a temporary command headquarters, if not to just avoid a quick rout via bombers. The man at the communications radio quickly repeated the command to the rest of the navy. His own subs were able to launch a surprise attack on Blue Moon's, making quick work of the poorly trained units. "Must have belonged to CO Grit, seeing as how badly they fought," Drake commented, to no one in particular. He glanced out the window, and decided to stay in the control room. Having his cabin far away from the rest of the crew was a bad idea, in retrospect. He shrugged. Live and learn. He sat down, and listened to the rain pounding on the windows, and the wind howling as it tried to enter, but to no avail. Looking through the window, he watched the remote, tropical islands directly in front of him grow larger.
--
An hour later, and it was still raining. Drake reached to push his cap out of his eyes. However, he found only hair. Cursing, he pushed his messy hair out of his eyes. Despite his age, he still had a full head of hair. 'Mixed blessing, I suppose.' He looked out the window, and down into the rough whitecaps. They slammed against the hull in a seeming hatred of the intruding ships. The water continued its futile attempt to liberate itself. Although it wasn't able to cause any damage to the ships, it did make for a bumpy ride. Drake closed his eyes, and concentrated on the waves more. Suddenly, there was peace. He opened one eye, and realized they had sailed into the large alcove in the islands. The water was much calmer, almost serene in nature now. Up ahead the landers hit the rough shore, and opened their gates to allow the infantry access to the sandy beach. A few ran into the bushes, seasick. Most, however, were used to being on the water often, and began to scout the island. The cruisers and battleships simply dropped anchors, while the subs simply surfaced. He reached back into his jacket, but the pocket was empty.
"I'll be right back, I left my telescope back in my cabin." With that, he left the room and headed down the walkway.
--
Four bright green numbers stared at Sami from the darkness. She squinted, trying to interpret what they said, and figure out what they meant. Suddenly, a soft beep emanated from the source of the numbers, and they changed. Only three numbers now. Sami turned away from the lit numbers, not wanting to concentrate on what they meant. Nothing could be done about it, anyways.
--
Nell sat in one of the chairs around the War Room desk, not moving. She breathed lightly, a nearly unnoticeable line of drool coming from her open mouth. Papers were scattered across the desk and floor, and a half-empty cup of now lukewarm coffee sat on the desk as well. This was the scene that greeted Sami as she walked through the doorway.
"Didn't get any sleep either, Nell?" No response. Sami sat down in the chair on the other side of the table. She considered waking her up, but decided against it. The only place she could shed her burden was in her dreams, now. Before she used to simply spend time with Max, but now… Sami got up and left the room to get some more coffee beans for the machine. Nell had exhausted the supply attempting to stay up all night.
She continued down the hallway, towards the small reception room for the War Room floor. No one was here, yet. Sami glanced at the calendar on the desk as she passed, and something caught her eye. A small note was circled in bright red ink, and she stepped in for a closer inspection. It read, "Speech; 10 A.M., Live broadcast." She looked down at her watch. 7:30 A.M.
"Nell! Wake up!"
--
Nell glanced from behind the curtains, nervous. 'At least I'm not the President. He's going to be delivering the really bad news…' It was like a horrible sea of Sturms…the camera's protruding lens as that horrible nose. Nell shuddered, and forced it out of her mind. She had been able to nearly forget about all the pain and misery that war had caused, and with Max, she was able to keep it at bay. But now, with the state being at even more dire times now, they had come flooding back. She sat down, suddenly disoriented. Nell thought back to before even that war, to when Green Earth and Orange Star had been considered one. They had split up when before she was born, but they kept much of the government the same. Both had Presidents, they were the only countries that did. Blue Moon and Yellow Comet both were ruled by the military. In her opinion, transferring power from the military was the right thing to do. Until now, Orange Star and Green Earth were no longer concentrating on conquests; instead, the country was given the opportunity to prosper.
Nell snapped back into reality. Listening, she realized the President was coming. She could distinctly hear aircrafts overhead. Upon closer concentration, she decided that she should be out there to greet the President as he landed. She stepped out from the curtains, and stepped down from the stage into the crowd of eager reporters and politicians. She tried to push through, but she only managed to wedge herself between a particularly large tripod camera and a small group of reporters who were trying vainly to get closer. Nell stood on her toes, if not to simply get a glimpse of the landing. The helicopters slowly descended, covering those who were able to get the best view in dust.
She grinned at the irony as the news crews attempted to clean their camera's lenses in time to take suitable footage. The small helicopter came to a stop, and the door slid to the side, revealing two large bodyguards, who stepped to the side and pushed back the crowd, which was trying to get as close as they possibly could.
Giving up all hope of seeing anything, Nell began to push her way out of the crowd, and back onstage. She sat down behind the curtains, and listened to the energy of the crowd. She was glad she didn't have to be in command of the entire nation; she could never stand up to so much pressure. Well, maybe if Max was there…she shook her head, clearing him out of her mind bitterly. Checking the mirror one last time, she realized how close she had been to sleeping through the event. 'Thank God for Sami…' Putting her head back, she stared at the wooden ceiling behind the curtains and concentrated on the sound of the fighters overhead, patrolling the sky like an invisible, untiring guardian.
Shouts of excitement came from the crowd, and she peeked out of the curtains one last time to see what they were so riled up about. She saw nothing. Then, in the sky, she saw tiny specks of blue. 'Much too small to be actual units…' Suddenly, out of the clouds, a small squad of Blue Moon fighters blazed through the sky, following their already-launched Air-to-air missiles. As she heard the explosions go off in the sky, the memories of the first attack flooded back. Nell knew she had to get help, and Sami would be her best bet.
But it was already too late. Blazing scraps of orange metal came plummeting from the sky, causing the tightly packed crowd to attempt to disperse. Unfortunately, gravity won the race. With another bone-wracking explosion, the once-fighters were driven into the ground, sending heat and shrapnel into the terrified crowd. Nell turned away, as the crowd was torn apart by flaming debris. Blood covered the ground, as thick as ketchup. However, the smell was unmistakable. Screams could be heard, desperate cries for help that would not be answered. Sobbing came from much of those alive, too weak to even believe in a sanctuary from the pain. It was then Nell realized that she too was screaming, and she clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle the horrible sounds that reminded her all-too-well of the death around her.

A/N: Thinking about it, I decided it would be too short if it stayed on the path I had originally chosen to reach Point A. After a good deal of thought and time away from the fic, I've decided on what else to add. I don't like this chapter too much, but if I can just get through this one section without losing too many of you readers, I think the eventual product will be much more satisfying. As always, comments are welcome, even flames. You know where to contact me.