the seige Part V
This is it, the last chapter in this particular story, hope you enjoy, wish more people would review
Akanekitty:Heh, well, it's not 'turnign out' in this story, it's only being hinted at, Those kinds of storylines take time to develop eh? This was written as an 'episode' so, things liek that need alot more than one episode to come out :)
I would like some reviews even thoguh this is the last chapter, it might convince me to blow the dust off the second story in this line, which has long sat idle.
"All positions report in ready to go sir, the creature is just over 700 meters away and closing."
Feral nodded to the report, looking over the map laid out before him one last time. Everything was in place; it just had to all come together now. A spot of water tapped down on the map, then another, and another. Feral looked up to glower at the rain that developed form a shower into a downpour in moments, "Forecast said clear skies. This can't be normal." He growled under his breath. The rain soaked his uniform through in moments; the discomfort was only a distant thought though. In less than a minute everything had just gotten one hundred times harder.
"Sir!" a waterlogged com-tech shouted through the growing din of the rain, "Thirty seconds to time."
There was no going back, no place to retreat to. As rain dripped off the ends of his whiskers Feral made a choice, "Send out the order, begin operation."
"We've got a green light Captain." The com-tech called over the rain.
Captain Chavez ran a hand back through her hair, pushing the sopping mess out of her eyes, "Light 'em up."
At her order artillery crews sprang into action, sightings and prep commands sprang throughout followed by a chorus of loud retorts as they let loose. Without hesitation the crews reloaded and set off again, and again. The sharp barks of the arty made the glass storefront next to Chavez rattle nervously.
"Is this it?" Callie asked from where she stood, just ask soaked at Chavez.
"This is all we have to do, Great Kat willing." The artillery let loose once more.
Felina hadn't been the only one to let loose a string of explicatives when the rain started, and now as she sat in the CGI imaging world created by the radar images her plane was receiving thunder rumbled through the skies, "Just what we need." She muttered. A sharper clap of thunder echoed, much closer than the first and her HUD painted images of the explosions ripping across the back of the Behemoth. Another set rippled across it's carapace, neither having any effect on the huge beast, as they'd feared, but it wasn't the beast Felina was concerned with. She held her breath as she watched the black shapes hovering over it. A third set of explosions tore into the Behemoth and the black shapes over it scattered, Yes! "That's our cue people, break off into pairs and hunt those things down. SWATKats you're with Phillips and myself." Felina triggered her afterburners and picked a target, "Phillips I'm on target Alpha 7. Watch my back, and get ready to backup the SWATKats if they need it. Razor, T-bone, you've got a fee reign, just call on us if you get in trouble."
Felina hit her burners and sped in on her target. Like clockwork she pulled down the lock on and fired off one of the new acid saturation missiles the SWATKats had prepped for this mission. Felina watches the missile speed towards it's target and....blast right through it. The moment the missile hit the target the HUD repainted the dragon five degrees up from where it had been. Pulling in on a tight turn Felina cursed, "This is Wing one to all Enforcer units, anyone else have a targeting malf up?"
"Negative W1."
"Negative."
"That's a Negative Lieutenant."
"No problems here."
Felina frowned and set her sights on her target again, "Phillips, I want another crack at this guy, I think I've got a targeting problem." Her wingman fell in beside her as she lined up the shot; the dragons were scattering farther now, but still none had turned on any of the Enforcers. Felina got tone and let fly with a second missile. Once more the missile struck the target... which was then painted 5 degrees up, "Damn!" Felina pulled off target again, "Phillips, my targeting system's gone to hell, I'm going to have to switch to visual. You have permission to break and engage."
Felina switched off the HUD and her virtual cockpit dissolved into reality. Her radar was still working thankfully, with the rain pounding away at her plane she could barely see ten feet. Keeping tabs on the radar Felina pulled herself in a long curve to get her out of the hotzone, just as she got around the turn her radio flared to life.
"This is W 5 mayday... ma..."
"Krud! They're coming back on us! These things can move..."
"Dickerson, Dickerson you there? Respond..."
Explosions lit the sky behind her and Felina's heart twisted in a knot, "This is W1, wingmen report."
"Damn, Dickerson's gone sir." These things maneuver like a..." The radio cut out to static again and Felina felt a chill down her spine. She got no more responses, the pilots were either too busy to respond, or unable.
"SWATKats, come in. This is Lieutenant Feral, what's your status?"
T-bone's voice came to life over the radio, "Up to our hips in Dragon Felina. If your HUD's down don't even think of coming back in here..."
The radio cut out but picked up again, this time it was Razors voice, "Lieutenant Feral, call off the Enforcers, this is turning into a slaughter."
Felina growled in frustration, it wasn't supposed to be going down like this her people weren't supposed to be dying, "No. We stay, If we don't clear these things away, they'll massacre the ground troops." Felina pulled her plane back around; the least she could do was provide a distraction that might let another pilot get a shot off.
Explosions blossomed overhead and daggers of light stabbed through the air at the hulking gray blotch out in the rain. Feral could only grip his cane in frustration as his enforcers sent volley after volley into the Behemoth with no visible effect. Above him Felina tangled with the dragons, a part of Feral's stomach turned at the idea of his niece in this last stand, "ComKat Green What's our time?"
A nervous young Kat clipped off each word to try and sound professional, "We Are, T plus five minutes Sir."
"Damn." Feral hissed, two minutes past the time Marcus was supposed to take his shot. In this mess, Feral doubted that was going to happen at all. Feral set his jaw and glared out into the rain, half musing that he might wish the monster away. Something caught his eye though.
Snatching up the binoculars from his command table Feral scanned around the feet of the Behemoth. The rain made seeing anything almost impossible, Feral switched the binoculars over to IR and cursed, "Captain!" he bellowed, "Tell your men to rerig weapons, Pop safeties on my order. We've got incoming infantry. ComKat Green, send that order to B and C companies. Look to the ground people, they're on their way."
Feral looked through the binoculars again; confirming it wasn't just a nightmare. A mass of those freakish mutants from the base swarmed around the Behemoth's feet. Feral drew his own pistol and set about removing the civilian safety as best he could by feel. He kept his eyes glued to the binoculars, watching the mass. All around him silence had replaced the sound of gunfire. Explosions spoke out far off overhead, but on the ground only the quiet click of weapons being modified could be heard. That silence seemed to drag out, Feral fumbled with the powerpack for his pistol, he used to be able to do this in his sleep. Just as the safety came free the swarm surged forward. Like a tidal wave the beasts ran over the open ground, Feral dropped the binoculars and slapped his pistol's powerpack back in place, "Here they come!"
The mutant's body made a far off splating sound as it hit the bottom of the belfry. The bell still swung, ringing a low sonorous tone as the rifle fell from Marcus' hands. Another mutant lay dead beside him, he could just barely make out it's shape in the gloom. He fought his breathing, trying to get it back under control. This time the numbness wasn't going away. Marcus crouched to pick up his rifle again, and this time couldn't get back up. His breath echoed through the hollowness in his chest, blackness inked it's way through the shadows of his vision. He pushed himself to his feet, only to fall forward onto his face again.
Captain Chavez had lost count of how many volleys her crew had fired by now. The thunder of the big guns mixed with the thunder in the air in a constant scream of noise. No word from the advance elements, no word from anyone. A comKat pulled her from her thoughts quite literally, tugging on her shoulder, "Captain!" The anxiety in his voice was liquid, "Captain, a call from the front!"
Chavez snatched the receiver from the panicked Kat and put it to her ear, "This is Captain Chavez."
"This is Captain Strauss, C company. Chavez, you gotta reset your target aspects, bring it up one K." Static ate through the transmission and Chavez thought she heard screaming in the background.
"That'll put us dropping ordinance right on your position Strauss."
"fzztt Know. We've been overrun. rrrrzz mutant infantry zzzsssttt A company gone... commander too. crackle For Great Kat's sake, drop that fire on us or no one is coming home!..." The signal cut out sharply, Chavez didn't even bother trying to get him back online, "Gunnery Sergeant! make your range five hundred meters, sustained barrage."
"Yes Sir!" the response came, Chavez clenched and unclenched her hands, fighting down a rising sense of dread.
"What's going on captain?" Callie asked. Chavez had forgotten she was even here, too late to get her out now.
"Thing's aren't going according to plan."
The first volley went off, then a second, after the third fired it struck Captain Chavez, they were still using the AP ammo planned for the beast, they needed to switch to frag ammo if they were hitting infantry now, "Gunnery Se..." Chavez was airborne, the wind ripped from her lungs, just as she was able to draw a breath the hard ground crushed it from her again. Her ears were ringing, and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Still, everything worked and Chavez pulled herself up to her knees. Two of the artillery pieces were gone, flaming wrecks. A dragon was shredding what had been the command tent as the support staff ran. Chavez tried to shout an order, but her voice wouldn't' work. She coughed and spat. And looked up again just in time to see the nearest Artillery piece unload into the grounded dragon. The frag shell blew the beast one hundred ways from Sunday, sending pieces of burned flesh everywhere. Chavez pushed herself up on one knee and was about to stand when she saw a pack of greenish mutant feleniods break from a nearby building for the artillery pieces, "Heads up!" she shouted, her eyes fell on something beside her. The storefront had blown out spraying the street with it's contents, army surplus. Scooping up an old sabre Chavez ran for the fighting.
"Take the two at nine o'clock" Razor directed, cycling through his remaining weaponry.
T-bone followed the suggestion, using the radar to guide him as he pulled up on line with two of the remaining dragons, "I make one more after these Sureshot, we're almost done."
"It's a good thing too, we've only got four missiles left, and the enforcers are all out." Razor lined up the shot as T-bone held the TurboKat on target.
"Gotta give 'em credit for hanging in here though." T-bone commented.
Razor was silent as the lock's lit up across his screen, then triggered a pair of his new Medusa missiles. The missiles streaked out after their targets. On impact they injected a special chemical mix into the dragons, something that only worked on their altered chemical makeups, without the info from the raid Razor would never have been able to make them. The chemical caused their tissues to calcify in moments, and the two dragons fell from the sky, breaking up as they went, "Bingo!" Razor grinned and slapped the back of T-bone's flight seat, "What were you saying T-Bone?"
"Ahh, skip it. So, where's the last one?"
"It's not showing up on Radar..." Razor fidgeted with the radar controls, trying to figure out where the last dragon had gone. T-bone switched back onto the enforcer channel, the chatter on it before had been so thick neither SWATKat could think.
"-ayday mayday, someone help me out here guys."
"Felina!" T-bone blinked as her voice came through the radio, he thought she'd left a long time ago.
"I've got one on my six and I cant' shake him, Afterburners are gone.. Steering's melted.."
"W1 This is Phillips, I've got nothing left but guns. Moving to your six."
T-bone keyed in the radio, "Pull back Phillips, We've got missiles, and we're good to go."
"Sure thing SWATKats, it's all yours."
T-bone Keyed up the enforcer tags on the radar, and sure enough There was Felina's plane. No radar image came in behind it though. Still he pulled around to get in line behind her plane, "You ready Sureshot?"
"This thing's still not on Radar T-bone. targeting isn't picking it up
either. You're going to have to get damn close for me to aim visually in this soup."
"We'll get in close enough." T-bone gritted hi teeth, nothing was gonna hurt Felina, not while he still breathed. The radio came to life again as T-bone eased up the throttle, wanting to gain without running into the dragon.
"Whatever you're doing do it fast... I'm losing control..."
T-bone hit the mic button, "Don't worry Felina we're on-" A fireball blossomed through the gloom up ahead and static shot through the radio, "Felina?" T-Bone turned up the radio's volume, "Felina!" no response. T-bone Gunned the throttle, and almost ran right into the dragon. It twisted one way and he the other at the last second. T-bone pulled a High G turn that slammed him back into his seat, trying to reacquire the dragon through the rain.
"T-Bone, T-BONE!" Razor struggled to get out the words as the G forces crunched him back in his seat, "Get a hold of yourself.. We can't hit anything .. like this."
Razor's words hit home and T-bone eased up, a little, "We're taking this bastard DOWN Razor."
Razor loaded up his last pair of missiles, "Roger that buddy. I'll smoke him for ya."
"For Felina." T-Bone hissed, through the murk of the rain he caught it, the dark shadow of the dragon. T-bone kicked the TurboKat over to hover mode to keep from blowing past it. In the rain the TurboKat was just about as fast as the Dragon in hover mode, if much less maneuverable, "Get him Sureshot."
"Consider him got." Razor lined up the shot against the murk, all targeting useless with the dragon not on radar. Razor aimed, fired, corrected, and fired again. The first Rocket sped past the Dragon but the second hit home, calcifying it dead on the spot.
"That's it then," Razor shook his head, "That's all we can do." Below them the real war was going on, Razor wondered how they faired. As he peered out through the rain he heard T-bone shifting through com channels, "Felina?... Felina come in. Felina, are you there? Respond please." Razor opened his mouth to say something, but decided to just let it go.
The feeling was still gone, but the light came back. Wet, water, dripped down over his face. Marcus opened his eyes and was staring out into open air, the side of the tower blasted away by something. Out in the rain a darkness slowly shifted, the behemoth. That's right, he was supposed to stop it. He tried to move his right arm no feeling, but he saw it move, picked up the rifle. He pushed himself up, and the world spun, colors exploded across his vision. Breathing didn't seem to help at all. His legs moved him to the edge. then gave way. He laid down in a firing position. Rain soaked through his fur and clothing. There was no line of sight to anything on the beast, much less it's eye. Marcus peered down the scope at a shadow, and the shadow peered back. A part of him noticed he didn't have to steady himself before he took the shot, one plus. He aimed, adjusted, and knew it was good. As his mind sent it's last command it sighed a tired sigh and slept. Marcus never knew weather his hand completed it's last assigned task.
A roar ripped through the air, a deafening shudder that rocked the TurboKat. a dark shadow reared up from below. The behemoth bellowed out, hurt. It lurched to the right and began to fall, "T-bone." Razor yelped. No response, he reached forward and gave his friend a knock on the helmet, "T-Bone! get us out of here!"
T-bone pulled himself from the radio and looked up into the descending blackness. Instincts took over from a shocked mind and he hit the afterburners hard, pulling them out, and away from the collapsing giant. The rumble as it struck the earth resounded and echoed back from the buildings back in downtown MegaKat City. As they died away, so did the rain. A soaked stillness filled it's place, looking down Razor surveyed the devastation below. Everywhere, destroyed buildings, and, it looked like bodies... The front Enforcer position seemed to be smashed. And there, not fifty yards from Chestnutt street, the line of last defense, the behemoth lay seemingly untouched, sprawled out on it's back.
"Kat's alive...." Razor heard T-bone utter the oath he was thinking, then shook his head, "Doesn't look like there's too many of those down there..." he replied grimly, "Try taking us back to the rear position."
"No can do Razor. We're on fumes now. I can't VTOL again or we're done. We'll have to come back on the bikes." As they flew back, Razor caught a glimpse of the rear position, it didn't look much better than the forward one.
Feral awoke to the sun in his face. And a pain through his chest. He tried to get up, but he seemed stuck. Opening his eyes he saw the problem, a spar of concrete sticking through his chest. Feral hissed as his mind told him he should be feeling pain right now. But he knew there wouldn't be any. Slowly he reached up with his hands, and pulled. Inch by inch he hauled himself off the spar, all two meters of it. As he slipped free to his knees Feral felt the odd sensation of the cool wind blowing through the foot wide hole through his chest. He waited, on his knees, the only thing he could do. His eyes roamed the immediate area. This had once been a schoolyard he thought. Hard to say for sure. First those things, then the artillery fire. It had been insane. Feral counted three dead Kat's within sight as he waited for the wound to close. The silence was a good thing, it told him the beast was dead. There was no way it could have moved on already. Feeling the last of the skin seal over Feral stood up. He winced, still tender within. One hand went to the hole in his Officer's coat. Without hesitation Feral removed the coat, no desire to have to explain THIS little secret. Picking his way over the rubble Feral made his way back out across the field of the dead.
T-Bone pulled up to a stop beside Razor as they came to the Enforcer position. Kat's bustled about here and there, some carrying messages, some tending wounded, some just looking lost. In the shade of a half collapsed Tent he saw Captain Chavez and two more Enforcer Captains conversing.
"There's our answers." he pointed to the trio and Razor nodded. Together they made their way through the busy camp, not a single enforcer bothering to stop them, and came up to the Captains.
"Captain Chavez?" Razor asked to cut through the hushed conversation the officers were having.
Captain Chavez turned to look at them. She was a sight, an old sabre, broken off half way down the blade, was stuck into her gunbelt and gauss covered her right eye, "SWATKats, good to see you made it out in one piece. Felina was worried."
T-Bone sprang to life faster than spring flowers, "Felina? She's alive?" Chavez nodded slowly, "She's being treated right now. She ejected from her plane, but burning shrapnel from it did a number on her. Not life threatening though, She's a Feral, they pull through." At that Chavez winced, as did the other two captains.
"Speaking of Ferals." Razor piped up, "where's the Commander?" Chavez lowered her head, "Missing, we've got an unconfirmed report he was KIA. But having been gone this long, it's almost a sure thing. We picked up any walking wounded we could and medivaced any worse that we found with the choppers. Still, we haven't found his body yet."
"And You won't for a long time if I have anything to say about it." Feral's rough voice cut through the air like a knife. The whole group looked up to see Feral walking towards them like something out of a movie. Battered pistol slung at his hip, his jacket missing, wearing a replacement, non-officer's jacket, still open and undone, and not a scratch on him.
"Commander!" Chavez piped up, her cry was echoed by the other two Captains.
"Captain Chavez, Captain Holtz, Captain Juno." Feral nodded to each in turn, "Where's Captain Strauss?"
The look of relief turned to one of grim reality across Chavez's face, "Dead Sir."
Feral nodded, and folded his arms, "What's the count?"
"Your daughter is wounded, but alright, over in the med tent. Strauss is dead, along with 86 more from The infantry Battalion, and another 54 wounded. My support Company took 15 dead, 34 wounded. We lost 5 pilots and 7 planes. All the arty is shot." Chavez paused, then added, "The Deputy Mayor is at Jacob's Mercy Hospital right now, she got cut up pretty bad."
Razor and Feral's voices overlapped, "Callie?" But Feral's was louder and he pushed on, "What was the deputy Mayor doing here?"
Chavez held up her hands as it to hold back a wall, looking between the two of them, trying to decide who wanted the information more, "She came in just as the operation got started, I tried to keep her out of trouble, but she vanished during the assault. They found her near the command tent, dragon's claws." Razor turned on his heel, but a heavy hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned back and looked up at
Commander Feral the worry in his face surprised Razor, "She's probably still on the table SWATKat. There's nothing we can do right now. You'll have no trouble from my enforcers if you want to see her while she recovers."
Razor nodded, and tried to relax some. Chavez added on another item, picking through her mind and the clouded events, "We haven't heard from Marcus Kaque yet either. No one scouted his position yet. We were going to organize a party as soon as we could."
Silence descended among the small group as the noise continued around them. Feral turned and looked back towards the corpse of the behemoth, "Don't. Don't send anyone out until you've started the grave detail."
"Commander?" Captain Chavez held out a hand palm up in a questioning gesture.
Feral's hands clenched as his sides, then unclenched slowly, "You can handle the details Chavez. I've got a stack of letters to write." there was a waver to those last words, and Feral never turned around, he just walked off towards one of the few remaining jeeps.
The sharp click of boots brought Razor back to the present. He turned and saw Chavez saluting. The look of pride on the older She-Kat's face was almost an aura, but as he followed her gaze Razor couldn't tell if she was saluting Feral, the fallen, or the living. Maybe a little bit of all three. After a moment Captain Holtz snapped to as well, and Juno. Even though he wasn't in uniform Razor turned alongside them and brought his hand up. T-Bone did the same and they stood as one, the sun shining a low red as it sank towards the horizon. The salute lasted forever, yet was over all too soon. Chavez spoke in a much quieter tone, "We've got things as good as they can be handled SWATKats. Thanks for your help, thanks for everything." With that she turned back to the other two Captains and began giving out orders once more. Razor turned to T-bone, a hint of dampness touched at the edges of his partner's mask. Razor was glad his own features were hidden too, "Let's check on Felina first. Then Callie?"
T-bone nodded, "Sure thing, Sureshot."
The End
This is it, the last chapter in this particular story, hope you enjoy, wish more people would review
Akanekitty:Heh, well, it's not 'turnign out' in this story, it's only being hinted at, Those kinds of storylines take time to develop eh? This was written as an 'episode' so, things liek that need alot more than one episode to come out :)
I would like some reviews even thoguh this is the last chapter, it might convince me to blow the dust off the second story in this line, which has long sat idle.
"All positions report in ready to go sir, the creature is just over 700 meters away and closing."
Feral nodded to the report, looking over the map laid out before him one last time. Everything was in place; it just had to all come together now. A spot of water tapped down on the map, then another, and another. Feral looked up to glower at the rain that developed form a shower into a downpour in moments, "Forecast said clear skies. This can't be normal." He growled under his breath. The rain soaked his uniform through in moments; the discomfort was only a distant thought though. In less than a minute everything had just gotten one hundred times harder.
"Sir!" a waterlogged com-tech shouted through the growing din of the rain, "Thirty seconds to time."
There was no going back, no place to retreat to. As rain dripped off the ends of his whiskers Feral made a choice, "Send out the order, begin operation."
"We've got a green light Captain." The com-tech called over the rain.
Captain Chavez ran a hand back through her hair, pushing the sopping mess out of her eyes, "Light 'em up."
At her order artillery crews sprang into action, sightings and prep commands sprang throughout followed by a chorus of loud retorts as they let loose. Without hesitation the crews reloaded and set off again, and again. The sharp barks of the arty made the glass storefront next to Chavez rattle nervously.
"Is this it?" Callie asked from where she stood, just ask soaked at Chavez.
"This is all we have to do, Great Kat willing." The artillery let loose once more.
Felina hadn't been the only one to let loose a string of explicatives when the rain started, and now as she sat in the CGI imaging world created by the radar images her plane was receiving thunder rumbled through the skies, "Just what we need." She muttered. A sharper clap of thunder echoed, much closer than the first and her HUD painted images of the explosions ripping across the back of the Behemoth. Another set rippled across it's carapace, neither having any effect on the huge beast, as they'd feared, but it wasn't the beast Felina was concerned with. She held her breath as she watched the black shapes hovering over it. A third set of explosions tore into the Behemoth and the black shapes over it scattered, Yes! "That's our cue people, break off into pairs and hunt those things down. SWATKats you're with Phillips and myself." Felina triggered her afterburners and picked a target, "Phillips I'm on target Alpha 7. Watch my back, and get ready to backup the SWATKats if they need it. Razor, T-bone, you've got a fee reign, just call on us if you get in trouble."
Felina hit her burners and sped in on her target. Like clockwork she pulled down the lock on and fired off one of the new acid saturation missiles the SWATKats had prepped for this mission. Felina watches the missile speed towards it's target and....blast right through it. The moment the missile hit the target the HUD repainted the dragon five degrees up from where it had been. Pulling in on a tight turn Felina cursed, "This is Wing one to all Enforcer units, anyone else have a targeting malf up?"
"Negative W1."
"Negative."
"That's a Negative Lieutenant."
"No problems here."
Felina frowned and set her sights on her target again, "Phillips, I want another crack at this guy, I think I've got a targeting problem." Her wingman fell in beside her as she lined up the shot; the dragons were scattering farther now, but still none had turned on any of the Enforcers. Felina got tone and let fly with a second missile. Once more the missile struck the target... which was then painted 5 degrees up, "Damn!" Felina pulled off target again, "Phillips, my targeting system's gone to hell, I'm going to have to switch to visual. You have permission to break and engage."
Felina switched off the HUD and her virtual cockpit dissolved into reality. Her radar was still working thankfully, with the rain pounding away at her plane she could barely see ten feet. Keeping tabs on the radar Felina pulled herself in a long curve to get her out of the hotzone, just as she got around the turn her radio flared to life.
"This is W 5 mayday... ma..."
"Krud! They're coming back on us! These things can move..."
"Dickerson, Dickerson you there? Respond..."
Explosions lit the sky behind her and Felina's heart twisted in a knot, "This is W1, wingmen report."
"Damn, Dickerson's gone sir." These things maneuver like a..." The radio cut out to static again and Felina felt a chill down her spine. She got no more responses, the pilots were either too busy to respond, or unable.
"SWATKats, come in. This is Lieutenant Feral, what's your status?"
T-bone's voice came to life over the radio, "Up to our hips in Dragon Felina. If your HUD's down don't even think of coming back in here..."
The radio cut out but picked up again, this time it was Razors voice, "Lieutenant Feral, call off the Enforcers, this is turning into a slaughter."
Felina growled in frustration, it wasn't supposed to be going down like this her people weren't supposed to be dying, "No. We stay, If we don't clear these things away, they'll massacre the ground troops." Felina pulled her plane back around; the least she could do was provide a distraction that might let another pilot get a shot off.
Explosions blossomed overhead and daggers of light stabbed through the air at the hulking gray blotch out in the rain. Feral could only grip his cane in frustration as his enforcers sent volley after volley into the Behemoth with no visible effect. Above him Felina tangled with the dragons, a part of Feral's stomach turned at the idea of his niece in this last stand, "ComKat Green What's our time?"
A nervous young Kat clipped off each word to try and sound professional, "We Are, T plus five minutes Sir."
"Damn." Feral hissed, two minutes past the time Marcus was supposed to take his shot. In this mess, Feral doubted that was going to happen at all. Feral set his jaw and glared out into the rain, half musing that he might wish the monster away. Something caught his eye though.
Snatching up the binoculars from his command table Feral scanned around the feet of the Behemoth. The rain made seeing anything almost impossible, Feral switched the binoculars over to IR and cursed, "Captain!" he bellowed, "Tell your men to rerig weapons, Pop safeties on my order. We've got incoming infantry. ComKat Green, send that order to B and C companies. Look to the ground people, they're on their way."
Feral looked through the binoculars again; confirming it wasn't just a nightmare. A mass of those freakish mutants from the base swarmed around the Behemoth's feet. Feral drew his own pistol and set about removing the civilian safety as best he could by feel. He kept his eyes glued to the binoculars, watching the mass. All around him silence had replaced the sound of gunfire. Explosions spoke out far off overhead, but on the ground only the quiet click of weapons being modified could be heard. That silence seemed to drag out, Feral fumbled with the powerpack for his pistol, he used to be able to do this in his sleep. Just as the safety came free the swarm surged forward. Like a tidal wave the beasts ran over the open ground, Feral dropped the binoculars and slapped his pistol's powerpack back in place, "Here they come!"
The mutant's body made a far off splating sound as it hit the bottom of the belfry. The bell still swung, ringing a low sonorous tone as the rifle fell from Marcus' hands. Another mutant lay dead beside him, he could just barely make out it's shape in the gloom. He fought his breathing, trying to get it back under control. This time the numbness wasn't going away. Marcus crouched to pick up his rifle again, and this time couldn't get back up. His breath echoed through the hollowness in his chest, blackness inked it's way through the shadows of his vision. He pushed himself to his feet, only to fall forward onto his face again.
Captain Chavez had lost count of how many volleys her crew had fired by now. The thunder of the big guns mixed with the thunder in the air in a constant scream of noise. No word from the advance elements, no word from anyone. A comKat pulled her from her thoughts quite literally, tugging on her shoulder, "Captain!" The anxiety in his voice was liquid, "Captain, a call from the front!"
Chavez snatched the receiver from the panicked Kat and put it to her ear, "This is Captain Chavez."
"This is Captain Strauss, C company. Chavez, you gotta reset your target aspects, bring it up one K." Static ate through the transmission and Chavez thought she heard screaming in the background.
"That'll put us dropping ordinance right on your position Strauss."
"fzztt Know. We've been overrun. rrrrzz mutant infantry zzzsssttt A company gone... commander too. crackle For Great Kat's sake, drop that fire on us or no one is coming home!..." The signal cut out sharply, Chavez didn't even bother trying to get him back online, "Gunnery Sergeant! make your range five hundred meters, sustained barrage."
"Yes Sir!" the response came, Chavez clenched and unclenched her hands, fighting down a rising sense of dread.
"What's going on captain?" Callie asked. Chavez had forgotten she was even here, too late to get her out now.
"Thing's aren't going according to plan."
The first volley went off, then a second, after the third fired it struck Captain Chavez, they were still using the AP ammo planned for the beast, they needed to switch to frag ammo if they were hitting infantry now, "Gunnery Se..." Chavez was airborne, the wind ripped from her lungs, just as she was able to draw a breath the hard ground crushed it from her again. Her ears were ringing, and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Still, everything worked and Chavez pulled herself up to her knees. Two of the artillery pieces were gone, flaming wrecks. A dragon was shredding what had been the command tent as the support staff ran. Chavez tried to shout an order, but her voice wouldn't' work. She coughed and spat. And looked up again just in time to see the nearest Artillery piece unload into the grounded dragon. The frag shell blew the beast one hundred ways from Sunday, sending pieces of burned flesh everywhere. Chavez pushed herself up on one knee and was about to stand when she saw a pack of greenish mutant feleniods break from a nearby building for the artillery pieces, "Heads up!" she shouted, her eyes fell on something beside her. The storefront had blown out spraying the street with it's contents, army surplus. Scooping up an old sabre Chavez ran for the fighting.
"Take the two at nine o'clock" Razor directed, cycling through his remaining weaponry.
T-bone followed the suggestion, using the radar to guide him as he pulled up on line with two of the remaining dragons, "I make one more after these Sureshot, we're almost done."
"It's a good thing too, we've only got four missiles left, and the enforcers are all out." Razor lined up the shot as T-bone held the TurboKat on target.
"Gotta give 'em credit for hanging in here though." T-bone commented.
Razor was silent as the lock's lit up across his screen, then triggered a pair of his new Medusa missiles. The missiles streaked out after their targets. On impact they injected a special chemical mix into the dragons, something that only worked on their altered chemical makeups, without the info from the raid Razor would never have been able to make them. The chemical caused their tissues to calcify in moments, and the two dragons fell from the sky, breaking up as they went, "Bingo!" Razor grinned and slapped the back of T-bone's flight seat, "What were you saying T-Bone?"
"Ahh, skip it. So, where's the last one?"
"It's not showing up on Radar..." Razor fidgeted with the radar controls, trying to figure out where the last dragon had gone. T-bone switched back onto the enforcer channel, the chatter on it before had been so thick neither SWATKat could think.
"-ayday mayday, someone help me out here guys."
"Felina!" T-bone blinked as her voice came through the radio, he thought she'd left a long time ago.
"I've got one on my six and I cant' shake him, Afterburners are gone.. Steering's melted.."
"W1 This is Phillips, I've got nothing left but guns. Moving to your six."
T-bone keyed in the radio, "Pull back Phillips, We've got missiles, and we're good to go."
"Sure thing SWATKats, it's all yours."
T-bone Keyed up the enforcer tags on the radar, and sure enough There was Felina's plane. No radar image came in behind it though. Still he pulled around to get in line behind her plane, "You ready Sureshot?"
"This thing's still not on Radar T-bone. targeting isn't picking it up
either. You're going to have to get damn close for me to aim visually in this soup."
"We'll get in close enough." T-bone gritted hi teeth, nothing was gonna hurt Felina, not while he still breathed. The radio came to life again as T-bone eased up the throttle, wanting to gain without running into the dragon.
"Whatever you're doing do it fast... I'm losing control..."
T-bone hit the mic button, "Don't worry Felina we're on-" A fireball blossomed through the gloom up ahead and static shot through the radio, "Felina?" T-Bone turned up the radio's volume, "Felina!" no response. T-bone Gunned the throttle, and almost ran right into the dragon. It twisted one way and he the other at the last second. T-bone pulled a High G turn that slammed him back into his seat, trying to reacquire the dragon through the rain.
"T-Bone, T-BONE!" Razor struggled to get out the words as the G forces crunched him back in his seat, "Get a hold of yourself.. We can't hit anything .. like this."
Razor's words hit home and T-bone eased up, a little, "We're taking this bastard DOWN Razor."
Razor loaded up his last pair of missiles, "Roger that buddy. I'll smoke him for ya."
"For Felina." T-Bone hissed, through the murk of the rain he caught it, the dark shadow of the dragon. T-bone kicked the TurboKat over to hover mode to keep from blowing past it. In the rain the TurboKat was just about as fast as the Dragon in hover mode, if much less maneuverable, "Get him Sureshot."
"Consider him got." Razor lined up the shot against the murk, all targeting useless with the dragon not on radar. Razor aimed, fired, corrected, and fired again. The first Rocket sped past the Dragon but the second hit home, calcifying it dead on the spot.
"That's it then," Razor shook his head, "That's all we can do." Below them the real war was going on, Razor wondered how they faired. As he peered out through the rain he heard T-bone shifting through com channels, "Felina?... Felina come in. Felina, are you there? Respond please." Razor opened his mouth to say something, but decided to just let it go.
The feeling was still gone, but the light came back. Wet, water, dripped down over his face. Marcus opened his eyes and was staring out into open air, the side of the tower blasted away by something. Out in the rain a darkness slowly shifted, the behemoth. That's right, he was supposed to stop it. He tried to move his right arm no feeling, but he saw it move, picked up the rifle. He pushed himself up, and the world spun, colors exploded across his vision. Breathing didn't seem to help at all. His legs moved him to the edge. then gave way. He laid down in a firing position. Rain soaked through his fur and clothing. There was no line of sight to anything on the beast, much less it's eye. Marcus peered down the scope at a shadow, and the shadow peered back. A part of him noticed he didn't have to steady himself before he took the shot, one plus. He aimed, adjusted, and knew it was good. As his mind sent it's last command it sighed a tired sigh and slept. Marcus never knew weather his hand completed it's last assigned task.
A roar ripped through the air, a deafening shudder that rocked the TurboKat. a dark shadow reared up from below. The behemoth bellowed out, hurt. It lurched to the right and began to fall, "T-bone." Razor yelped. No response, he reached forward and gave his friend a knock on the helmet, "T-Bone! get us out of here!"
T-bone pulled himself from the radio and looked up into the descending blackness. Instincts took over from a shocked mind and he hit the afterburners hard, pulling them out, and away from the collapsing giant. The rumble as it struck the earth resounded and echoed back from the buildings back in downtown MegaKat City. As they died away, so did the rain. A soaked stillness filled it's place, looking down Razor surveyed the devastation below. Everywhere, destroyed buildings, and, it looked like bodies... The front Enforcer position seemed to be smashed. And there, not fifty yards from Chestnutt street, the line of last defense, the behemoth lay seemingly untouched, sprawled out on it's back.
"Kat's alive...." Razor heard T-bone utter the oath he was thinking, then shook his head, "Doesn't look like there's too many of those down there..." he replied grimly, "Try taking us back to the rear position."
"No can do Razor. We're on fumes now. I can't VTOL again or we're done. We'll have to come back on the bikes." As they flew back, Razor caught a glimpse of the rear position, it didn't look much better than the forward one.
Feral awoke to the sun in his face. And a pain through his chest. He tried to get up, but he seemed stuck. Opening his eyes he saw the problem, a spar of concrete sticking through his chest. Feral hissed as his mind told him he should be feeling pain right now. But he knew there wouldn't be any. Slowly he reached up with his hands, and pulled. Inch by inch he hauled himself off the spar, all two meters of it. As he slipped free to his knees Feral felt the odd sensation of the cool wind blowing through the foot wide hole through his chest. He waited, on his knees, the only thing he could do. His eyes roamed the immediate area. This had once been a schoolyard he thought. Hard to say for sure. First those things, then the artillery fire. It had been insane. Feral counted three dead Kat's within sight as he waited for the wound to close. The silence was a good thing, it told him the beast was dead. There was no way it could have moved on already. Feeling the last of the skin seal over Feral stood up. He winced, still tender within. One hand went to the hole in his Officer's coat. Without hesitation Feral removed the coat, no desire to have to explain THIS little secret. Picking his way over the rubble Feral made his way back out across the field of the dead.
T-Bone pulled up to a stop beside Razor as they came to the Enforcer position. Kat's bustled about here and there, some carrying messages, some tending wounded, some just looking lost. In the shade of a half collapsed Tent he saw Captain Chavez and two more Enforcer Captains conversing.
"There's our answers." he pointed to the trio and Razor nodded. Together they made their way through the busy camp, not a single enforcer bothering to stop them, and came up to the Captains.
"Captain Chavez?" Razor asked to cut through the hushed conversation the officers were having.
Captain Chavez turned to look at them. She was a sight, an old sabre, broken off half way down the blade, was stuck into her gunbelt and gauss covered her right eye, "SWATKats, good to see you made it out in one piece. Felina was worried."
T-Bone sprang to life faster than spring flowers, "Felina? She's alive?" Chavez nodded slowly, "She's being treated right now. She ejected from her plane, but burning shrapnel from it did a number on her. Not life threatening though, She's a Feral, they pull through." At that Chavez winced, as did the other two captains.
"Speaking of Ferals." Razor piped up, "where's the Commander?" Chavez lowered her head, "Missing, we've got an unconfirmed report he was KIA. But having been gone this long, it's almost a sure thing. We picked up any walking wounded we could and medivaced any worse that we found with the choppers. Still, we haven't found his body yet."
"And You won't for a long time if I have anything to say about it." Feral's rough voice cut through the air like a knife. The whole group looked up to see Feral walking towards them like something out of a movie. Battered pistol slung at his hip, his jacket missing, wearing a replacement, non-officer's jacket, still open and undone, and not a scratch on him.
"Commander!" Chavez piped up, her cry was echoed by the other two Captains.
"Captain Chavez, Captain Holtz, Captain Juno." Feral nodded to each in turn, "Where's Captain Strauss?"
The look of relief turned to one of grim reality across Chavez's face, "Dead Sir."
Feral nodded, and folded his arms, "What's the count?"
"Your daughter is wounded, but alright, over in the med tent. Strauss is dead, along with 86 more from The infantry Battalion, and another 54 wounded. My support Company took 15 dead, 34 wounded. We lost 5 pilots and 7 planes. All the arty is shot." Chavez paused, then added, "The Deputy Mayor is at Jacob's Mercy Hospital right now, she got cut up pretty bad."
Razor and Feral's voices overlapped, "Callie?" But Feral's was louder and he pushed on, "What was the deputy Mayor doing here?"
Chavez held up her hands as it to hold back a wall, looking between the two of them, trying to decide who wanted the information more, "She came in just as the operation got started, I tried to keep her out of trouble, but she vanished during the assault. They found her near the command tent, dragon's claws." Razor turned on his heel, but a heavy hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned back and looked up at
Commander Feral the worry in his face surprised Razor, "She's probably still on the table SWATKat. There's nothing we can do right now. You'll have no trouble from my enforcers if you want to see her while she recovers."
Razor nodded, and tried to relax some. Chavez added on another item, picking through her mind and the clouded events, "We haven't heard from Marcus Kaque yet either. No one scouted his position yet. We were going to organize a party as soon as we could."
Silence descended among the small group as the noise continued around them. Feral turned and looked back towards the corpse of the behemoth, "Don't. Don't send anyone out until you've started the grave detail."
"Commander?" Captain Chavez held out a hand palm up in a questioning gesture.
Feral's hands clenched as his sides, then unclenched slowly, "You can handle the details Chavez. I've got a stack of letters to write." there was a waver to those last words, and Feral never turned around, he just walked off towards one of the few remaining jeeps.
The sharp click of boots brought Razor back to the present. He turned and saw Chavez saluting. The look of pride on the older She-Kat's face was almost an aura, but as he followed her gaze Razor couldn't tell if she was saluting Feral, the fallen, or the living. Maybe a little bit of all three. After a moment Captain Holtz snapped to as well, and Juno. Even though he wasn't in uniform Razor turned alongside them and brought his hand up. T-Bone did the same and they stood as one, the sun shining a low red as it sank towards the horizon. The salute lasted forever, yet was over all too soon. Chavez spoke in a much quieter tone, "We've got things as good as they can be handled SWATKats. Thanks for your help, thanks for everything." With that she turned back to the other two Captains and began giving out orders once more. Razor turned to T-bone, a hint of dampness touched at the edges of his partner's mask. Razor was glad his own features were hidden too, "Let's check on Felina first. Then Callie?"
T-bone nodded, "Sure thing, Sureshot."
The End