Disclaimer - I own Advance Wars! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(A couple of workers at Nintendo appear and beat up Ascension.)
Ascension: Let me rephrase that... I don't own anything in this fic except Red Sun, its COs, Azazel and several random extras.
*****
CHAPTER 3: INVASION
Kelalith rushed into the control room of a coastal base on Red Sun's eastern fringe, barely able to conceal his excitement. "Yal'Dan!" he shouted. "Yal'Dan!"
His friend acknowledged him. "I hear you, Kel. What happened?"
"Look at this," replied Kelalith. Yal'Dan snatched the piece of paper from his hand and read it thoroughly. His eyes widened.
"Holy... He actually..." stammered Yal'Dan.
"He did," said Kelalith. "Now let's get moving! This is an opportunity we can't afford to waste! Type up the conscription notices! Load up the APCs! Fuel the landers..."
"Calm down, Kel," said Yal'Dan. "Hmm... Premier Brin ordered us to mobilize our troops and set sail for Orange Star. So sudden... don't you think something's wrong? I mean, I heard there was an assassin in Brin's fortress just the night before. And they didn't get him..."
"Don't worry." Kelalith's voice was brimming with confidence. "I'm sure that he's just come to his senses. Finally. Now come on! You want to trash those easterners as well, don't you?"
"Well, if you put it that way, yes," answered Yal'Dan. "All right. Just give me a few days to get organized. By the way, is Cabal coming with us?"
Both men turned to look at the corner of the room, where a person was standing at the window, watching the going-ons outside. All through Kelalith and Yal'Dan's highly animated conversation, he had remained silent. Now, he turned to regard the other two with his eyes. No one had ever bothered to check what colour they were, simply because just looking into them gave one the chills. They seemed normal enough on first sight, but the light. That strange gleam, like frozen lightning, marked its owner as special in some unknown way.
"My troops are already ready for action," said Cabal in an emotionless voice. "You of all people should know, Kelalith." With those words, he left the room. Nobody dared ask where he was going.
Kelalith nodded. "He's coming."
"That's good," said Yal'Dan, thinly disguising his sarcasm. "Our enemies won't stand a chance against his stare.'
Kelalith regarded his companion with a suspicious eye. "You don't like him, do you?"
Yal'Dan's lips curled. "Let's just say I don't trust him. One fine day in the old war, he appears, orders our troops to follow him and crushes the enemy just like that. I don't even think Cabal is his real name."
"Well, whatever his name is, he seems loyal enough," said Kelalith. "I quite certain he's trustworthy. And he's saved our lives a few times."
"Then we'll just have to see what happens," said Yal'Dan. "I hope this upcoming battle will sort out everyone's true colours for good."
In another part of the base, Cabal nodded and switched off the listening device. "Yes, indeed," he murmured to himself. "We shall see what happens.'
*****
Meanwhile, in Orange Star, Andy, Sami and Max had had little rest since the victory party. They had a lot of rebuilding to oversee, as well as patrolling rural areas to keep an eye on Black Hole stragglers. There was a rumour that Hawke had taken command of them and was plotting his own methods for world domination.
"But rumours are seldom true," was Sami's reply. Her argument was that the small Black Hole parties scattered over Cosmo Land were badly organized and couldn't possibly be under any firm leadership.
As of right now, the infantry specialist was in a western province of Orange Star. The people there had reported sightings of Black Hole troops and, leading a small force, she immediately hurried to the area. So far, their searches had proved fruitless, but Sami believed that they could be found on some small islands off the coast. She was preparing her landers to set sail when she received a message from Nell.
"Sami, I heard you're leaving the mainland. Is that right?"
"Yes, ma'am," replied Sami. "I've got hints that our Black Hole friends are hiding on some islands several kilometres away from my current position."
"Well, Sami, if you're planning to check it out, I'd advise you to be careful," said Nell. "Our radars just picked up some naval units closing on those islands. They won't be here for a while, and there aren't a lot of them, but watch out all the same in case it's a trap."
"Loud and clear, ma'am."
*****
"Captain, land ahoy!"
The captain of the Red Sun battleship squinted and leaned over the railing at the front of the ship to look. "Yes, I see it. Probably some islands," he said. "All right, we land there and see what's around. Order the cruisers to stay back and protect us from possible air assault."
A short distance to the northeast, Cabal's battleship was safely hidden behind some reefs, in a terrific location to observe the Red Sun and Orange Star fleets approach the cluster of islands. "This should be interesting," he mused, looking through a pair of binoculars.
*****
Sami threw herself between some rocks. Another round of assault rifle fire bounced off them, sending powdery fragments of stone everywhere. She hurriedly made a report through her radio.
"Nell, this is Sami. We're under attack by those unidentified forces you told me about earlier. We tried negotiating, but they're quite clearly hostile. We might need some backup soon..."
A strafe of bullets shredded the rocks around Sami. A shard of stone grazed her cheek, causing her to wince and take back the previous word she said.
"I mean right now! And try to get air units - there must be a thousand of them! All foot soldiers!"
Nell's voice came through the radio, barely recognizable due to the static. "Is it Black Hole?"
"No, ma'am. I've never seen them before. They're all in red!"
"I see. I'll send Max along with reinforcements. Hang in there!"
Teeth clenched, Sami gripped her gun tightly and jumped out from behind the rocks, firing wildly. Several Red Sun soldiers fell. Sami felt hope rising in her heart. From her past experience, seeing their comrades die usually made other soldiers panic, run, retreat or simply falter in their attack. But not this time. As soon as the dead soldiers hit the ground, the others suddenly surged forward with renewed vigour, their eyes ablaze with the flames of vengeance. Surprised by this turn of events, Sami froze for just a moment, enough time for the frenzied Red Sun infantry to close in.
A barrage of bullets ripped into the berserk warriors, ending their existence. At that same moment, half a dozen Orange Star soldiers rushed over to help Sami.
"Ma'am! Are you all right?" asked one of them.
"Good enough," answered Sami. "Thanks for saving me back there."
"Pardon me?" said the soldier, genuinely confused. "We just got here. We thought you shot those reds."
"I didn't," retorted Sami.
"Well, neither did we."
"So, if it wasn't you or me... who was it?"
The Orange Star soldier was about to reply when a squadron of bombers streaked over them, dropping explosives onto the masses of Red Sun troops below. In the distance, battle copters and fighters could be seen approaching.
"CO Max has arrived," said Sami, relieved. "Rally the surviving troops. We'll concentrate our attack on their western flank."
*****
The cloaked figure stood on the side of a hill, camouflaged against the scenery. In his hand was a smoking gun. His expressionless eyes followed the action on the battlefield.
Max's air forces seemed to have the upper hand, but that was until the Red Sun cruisers came into view. A-Air fire ripped the sky, instantly reducing many airbourne units to scrap metal. The few artillery units Sami had turned their attention to the cruisers and unleashed a salvo of shells.
Now both sides were even. Sami and Max were outnumbered, but their tactics were superior. The Red Sun had more troops, but they were all foot soldiers with such an insane lust for battle that they left themselves vulnerable to enemy fire.
The noise of gunfire deafened both sides to the calm voice of the cloaked figure.
"The scales are balanced, so I shall take my leave now. If anything should happen to upset this balance, so be it. All wrongs will right themselves in time, and all rights will wrong themselves in time."
*****
The battle was over. Orange Star had won the fray, though just barely. Fortunately for Sami and Max, Andy had arrived in time with a naval force, circling round the islands to surround the enemy. No prisoners were taken. All the Red Sun troops fought to the death with such zeal that they became stronger and stronger every time they got hurt. Some of them even continued fighting after taking wounds that should have been fatal.
The Orange Star COs were now back on the mainland, nursing their wounds. Never since the final battles against Sturm had they been so hard-pressed for victory.