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 4: STARFALL
Nell had summoned Andy and Max into a special room in the Orange Star HQ equipped with advanced technologies. Sami should have been there, but she was still suffering from a wound taken from the battle that morning. As the three COs sat down, the room went dark and a hologram of a certain person appeared.
"So, you are CO Cabal, I take it," said Nell.
"At your service," replied Cabal, bowing slightly.
"And what do you want?" demanded Max, pounding his fist on a nearby table.
"Nothing," answered Cabal, showing no reaction to Max's outburst. "I'm only here to give you some intel. The force you destroyed earlier today was only a small scouting party of a much larger army, called Red Sun by the way. Just thought you'd like to know."
"So that's all you're here for?" asked Andy.
"Hardly, my young friend," said Cabal. "My comrades-in-arms are planning to attack your country from three sides. One from the northwest, one from the southwest, and one from the center west. If I were you, I'd start building up defenses now."
Before any of the Orange Star COs had a chance to say anything, the hologram faded away and the lights came back on.
Nell, Andy and Max sat in their places, stunned from the impact of Cabal's words and the way he delivered them.
"Uh... could he have been lying to us?" Andy stuttered.
There was no chance of missing the uncertainty in his voice.
*****
Sami lay on a bed in a hospital not far away from the Orange Star HQ where the other Orange Star COs had met Cabal, or at least his hologram. She had been shot in the side of the head and was lucky to be alive.
However, since she regained consciousness, her thoughts had been very troubled. When she fell down on the battlefield, she could have sworn she saw a mysterious cloaked figure vanish into thin air. Later, while everyone was fighting, she dimly heard a voice above the noise saying something like, "The scales are balanced..." before blacking out. Was there really someone there? Was he the one who saved her from the Red Sun soldiers? Or was it just her imagination?
The sound of voices chattering snapped her back to the real world. A few Orange Star soldiers were passing by.
"Did you hear? We're going to war again."
"Oh yeah, I did. Nell told be just now. Some weird country called Red Sun or something like that."
"I heard that they've got nothing but foot soldiers."
"That's because they're stupid and don't know what tanks are."
Sami jumped out of her bed and grabbed one of the soldiers by the scruff of his neck. "What was that about?" she screeched.
"Um... Er..."
*****
"I thought you said you were going to guard the southwest personally, Nell."
"Well, that was my intention, but Sami somehow got wind of what happened and insisted that she should command a part of our forces. Oh, how I wish she weren't so stubborn!"
"Well, I suppose Sami could take care of herself just fine," said Max. "She's one tough nut."
"I hope so, Max."
*****
Cabal watched as Red Sun ships detached from the main fleet in formation. Kelalith would be leading the assault from the northwest, and Yal'Dan from the west. He was quite sure that the unearthly speed at which the vessels were going was due to his comrades' insatiable hunger for battle.
"Is that it? Do we order our ships to go faster as well, sir?" asked a Red Sun soldier.
"No," answered Cabal flatly. "Tell them to slow down."
*****
Andy had lined up artillery and rockets along the fields a short distance away from the northern shore of Orange Star. In front of these was a line of tanks and anti-airs. Although the latter were meant to be used against air units, they were also quite effective against foot soldiers. Squads of mechs complimented the ranks. It would be impossible to force an infantry landing on that beach, or so Andy thought.
Red Sun landers came into view, just like Cabal had said. The sight took Andy's breath away. He had fought COs from every country in the world before, but never had he seen so many ships at once. It was as if the sea was turning red.
The landers reached the shoreline sooner than expected, unloading so many soldiers that they seemed like one single, red creature rather than upwards of a million individuals.
Andy realized his first mistake when a hail of cannon fire from battleships cut down a portion of his troops. But it was too late now. The Red Sun soldiers charged as soon as the battleships opened fire, so impatient for combat that they actually trampled over each other to get to the front lines as soon as possible. Andy's troops held their ground and returned fire, but for every Red Sun soldier who fell, those around him fought with the strength of two.
The Red Sun soldiers fought like crazed demons. They took no time to aim, simply holding down the triggers of their guns and rushing forward recklessly without caring whether their shots connected or not. When out of ammunition, they didn't bother to reload, but instead resorted to melee combat. Andy was (un)lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a Red Sun soldier breaking his assault rifle over an Orange Star infantryman's head.
Within a few short hours, Andy found himself ordering his troops to retreat. Even his tanks and anti-airs hadn't managed to stop the Red Sun advance.
Though equally battle-starved as his underlings, Kelalith was not made a CO for nothing. As soon as he saw Andy's retreat, he ordered a swift regroup, and then sent his soldiers to capture cities along the coastline to secure their grip on the region.
*****
In the meantime, Yal'Dan's fleet was approaching the western side of Orange Star. Though his passion for war matched Kelalith's, he was able to exercise more self-control, hence able to sit down for a few minutes and formulate a strategy.
Though still somewhat battered from its previous battle, Max's air force had received a hasty resupply and was ready for another round of fighting once again.
The west coast of Orange Star had almost no beaches. Most of it were just cliffs. Theoretically speaking, Yal'Dan would be at a disadvantage with not a lot of places to land troops. Unfortunately, Max's lack of proficiency with indirect-fire units lost him the edge he should have had on higher ground.
Amidst rounds of A-Air fire, Yal'Dan's cruisers released Battle Copters. Some of these met Max's in air-to-air combat, but others headed for the land. Vulcan fire tore into them and they countered with ATS missiles.
Max was in for a surprise. Though many of the Battle Copter missiles missed their mark, the ground which they hit started to burn. It was here that Max learnt that Yal'Dan had a habit of coating his units' projectiles with chemicals that burnt easily when heated. Already the flames were spreading. Most of the Anti-airs got away, but a few unlucky ones were caught in the inferno. The heat melted their treads, sticking them to the ground while fire slowly ate away the metal of the vehicle.
Battleship shells crashed onto the land near Max's massed ground troops. Again, the aim was poor, but the small craters the shells made started burning. Yal'Dan's cruisers then unloaded Transport Copters, which were in turn laden with foot soldiers wielding deadly flamethrowers. Landers forced their way onto the sparse shores along the coast, holding strange vehicles which looked like Anti-airs, but with shorter, wider barrels that shot streams of fire.
Within a short period of time, the whole place was ablaze. Yal'Dan's units were made to be fireproof and strode through the flames easily, but Max's troops had no such luck and were forced to retreat. Knowing well that his air units stood no chance against Cruisers, Max withdrew them as well. Like Kelalith, Yal'Dan decided against pursuit and instead ordered his troops to stay in the area while his landers finished unloading his army.
Later, while crossing a mountain, Max chanced a look back. There was no more plant life on the battlefield - it had all been burnt to ash.
*****
Sami was bored. She had forced information from the Orange Star soldier in the hospital that Red Sun was going to attack and insisted that Nell hand over command of one military division to her. However, her enemies were off schedule. She had been sitting in place for a long time and still there wasn't even a hint of red.
A soldier's voice startled her. "Ma'am! We've spotted Red Sun troops! They're a few kilometres northwest of here!"
Finally! Some action! "How many?" asked Sami.
"Not a lot. Less than a hundred, I would say. We don't know when they landed. I think they might have been trying to sneak up on us but got lost."
"Okay, soldier," said Sami. "Tell the troops to fan out and surround them. I'll be there in a few moments."
The soldier saluted and left, leaving Sami alone in the clearing.
Sami picked up her gun and was about to get going when she shivered involuntarily. Something was not right. Slowly she turned around. A cloaked figure was standing there, arms crossed.
Sami was a brave individual, but even she had to back a few paces away from the man. His eyes shone like polished ice, and the temperature around him seemed to drop. He stepped closer to Sami, who managed to keep herself from bolting away. As he got nearer, she suddenly felt something in her memory click into place.
"You..." she whispered.
"I see you recognize me," replied the figure. "That is good. Memory is a vital thing if one wishes to reach enlightenment."
"You are the one who saved me this morning, right?" Sami then noticed a familiar emblem on a corner of the man's cloak. "Red Sun! You're with them? Then why..."
The figure held up a hand for silence. "Yes and no. You might recall me saying that I serve the scales of the Balance - I do what I must, when I must. That is the only way to keep eternity eternal."
"Well, if you want to stick up for them, it's no use. I've already surrounded your troops."
The stranger nodded. "That is known to me. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't." His gaze pierced her. "Sami, you have been chosen to test one of my theories. It is said that, 'The hunter is become the hunted, and the hunted is become the hunter.' If this is true, my soldiers should be able to break through yours and turn the tables on you, don't you think?"
Sami was left speechless.
"Go and command your troops, Sami," said the man. "Correct and incorrect are like spring and winter: identical, except that they are different."
With those words, he vanished.
Sami blinked and tried to clear her head. Had she been dreaming just now? She decided to put such thoughts away and hurry to the frontlines.
"Ma'am, we have the enemy surrounded, like you ordered," reported a soldier. "They're all penned in in this forest. We're ready to move in and flush them out."
"Good," said Sami, feeling in control once again. "Order our troops to go in two groups, one staying back to make sure no enemy forces escape."
The Orange Star soldiers worked quickly and efficiently, but to their surprise, there was no one in the middle of the forest. They combed the forest carefully, but still nothing was found. Sami ordered a regroup back in the middle. Imagine her surprise when the Red Sun forces were waiting for her there! Surprised, the Orange Star forces scattered. When they organized up to go back and get the enemy, the Red Sun soldiers had vanished again.
Completely baffled, Sami ordered her troops to leave the forest, but they found Red Sun waiting for them outside, surrounding them on all sides. The Orange Star troops beat a retreat back into the woods, but no gunfire was heard. They risked going back out, and their enemies were gone once more.
Sami spent some time posting troops on all the edges of the forest, and once again ordered them to go in, taking their time to search every inch of ground. This time, many Orange Star soldiers spotted flashes of red and went chasing after them, but they found nothing and soon became hopelessly lost and confused.
*****
Sami herself had lost the rest of her small party and was wandering around willy-nilly. She didn't notice the figure that dropped silently out of a tree until it pointed a gun at her head.
"So you've got me now," she said fearlessly. "Go on then, shoot me. Hope you're happy."
The cloaked figure showed no emotion, but shook his head. "No. My theory has been proven right, and I am satisfied. To know how to take life, it is better to know how to spare it. Just like it is better to take than to spare. You may leave."
He turned around and walked away. Sami sat down on the spot, dazed. Who was this mysterious figure, and why did he act like he did?