3

The Delta Tactical Assault Team stood by, watching crestfallen as the military carrier swooped in, dispensing it's cargo, three armored shrike mechanized mobile suits, over a league from where they sat, high above the surface, where they could feel the presence of the Blue…lurking below, unseen.

"Damnit! Don't think they could drop 'em off anywhere near us…" Tommy was furious…In order to acquire the desperately needed Shrike support, they would have to make their way across that long stretch of sand…without being felled by the Blue waiting beneath the reaches of sand.

"Alright, team…we have only one choice, so there's no reason to sit around thinkin' about while we let the sun disappear behind them hills…I'm going to be as quiet and quick as damn well possible, and make it over to our Shrikes…I'll board one, and use it to cover the rest of 'yer, so that you can make it over here and take command of the rest…Alright?"

Three of them nodded…another came forward. "No! You're the best soldier out of any of here, Captain…we can't afford to lose you. I will go instead." Locke shoved a new clip into his rifle.

Tommy, as well as the rest, were saddened by this decision…They were all firmly expecting him to be killed in the effort. "Locke…you're either insane, or brave…let us hope it's the latter." Kitty tied a red ribbon of cloth around the boy's forehead, nodding confidently to him.

"Damn kid…you've surprised the hell outta me…" Tommy grinned to him, patting him on the shoulder and pointing his rifle out towards where the shrikes had landed. "You bring me back one of those babies…and you'll be the hero o' the day."

Locke winked recklessly to the rest, then dove off the edge of the mesa, and hit the ground sprinting.

He didn't care about death…he didn't care about chances anymore. Humanity had already taken the greatest chance, and he felt it his duty to do whatever he could, no matter the danger, to aid his comrades, and prove himself as more than just the "Kid".

He'd cleared half the way…not a Blue to be seen. A hill loomed ahead of him, and he set about climbing it in the quickest fashion he could muster. Scrambling up the rocks, gaining any hold he could in the jagged incline, he disregarded any pain in the journey…he was beyond feeling pain.

Upon reaching a level ledge near the top of the hill, he risked a moment to stop and catch his breath…such a risk that almost killed him.

A similar looking Blue to the one they had dispatched earlier rose ominously from the sand, somewhere near the base of the hill. It shook it's head, as if to shake off the mounds of grainy sand mounted there, then looked around…before it's eyes found Locke, a short distance above.

"Oh sh-" Locke didn't have the chance to curse the Blue before it was upon him. The massive insect's wings went to work, flapping at a blinding speed and emitting that eerie clicking noise that so many humans had come to fear…The Blue roared upwards, high above Locke, then took a dive down at the lone target…claws first.

Locke's eyes widened in momentary horror…He couldn't even imagine the terror that the people of Earth had to go through during the invasion of the Blue. He was too young to have any recollection of that time…and for that he was glad.

Stumbling backwards, Locke raised his rifle to aim dead center at the forehead of the giant bug…He shoved back on the trigger and a salvo of bullets came ripping towards the Blue. The beast screeched in pain, but, this seemed only to prod it to brave greater lengths to kill Locke…It was coming down at a dizzying speed, and Locke's aim struggled to follow the Blue as it moved so quickly…but he failed.

Locke gave up trying to hit the monster, dropped his rifle to dangle on it's strap below his shoulder, bowed to the oncoming Blue defiantly, then turned and ran to jump off the edge of the hill.

The Blue hit the hill with amazing force…sending up a dense cloud of dust and shifting dunes for dozens of yards away. Silence ensued, and Locke hit the ground, rolling, with a dull and painless thud. He stood quietly and looked to see if the insect was dead…he didn't dare stray back over the hill, as to not be ambushed again, or, be smitten if the Blue was still alive.

Moments passed…and, nothing. Locke sighed of relief and scratched his head calmingly…yet he was almost dropped in shock when he heard the clicking of the Blue's wings again. The same monster struggled up to the top of the hill, looking frantically around for a sight of Locke…it's pain was beyond recognition and the only goal it had left in life was to find and kill the one who had inflicted it. It was the madness of the Blue…something few humans knew.

When it had spotted Locke again, it screeched deafeningly and tried painstakingly to take flight again…and, although he could tell the monster was in anguish, it would stop at nothing…save death.

Locke tore a fragmentation grenade from his belt, flipping out the pin with his thumb and hurling the small device with all the strength he had, up the hill straight towards the Blue…

It fell short, yet served it's purpose. The grenade sent a sheet of blinding sand up against the Blue, raking it's view and sending it into a blind frenzy. Locke roared in anger and fired several bursts with his rifle, all straight at it's head…before the insect fell to the ground, it's head punctured with bullets and grenade shrapnel.

Locke smirked and dusted off his gloves…and as he turned to continue on to his destination, he heard a call of cheering and congratulations from behind him…maybe the team had finally accepted him?

---

The next day brought the team's first opportunity to flush out some of the Blue in the area…Leon and Locke manned the two Grapple Class Shrikes and took to patrolling the area, routing out any Blue that they found, and pointing them out to Kitty…who manned the Sniper Class Shrike, sitting atop a mass of rocks in the distance, ready to cut down any Blue with ease and precision.

Tommy and John sat idly on the mesa, in attempt to set up radio communications with the other two teams supposedly stationed in the sector.

Since noon, there had been little to no sign of any movement, ally or enemy, nearby. "Maybe you scared 'em away, Locke?" He heard Kitty's com-link and laughed.

Tommy, at length, held up his radio link to the shrikes, and spoke distractedly. "Maybe one o' you should go check out the hills to the north…y'know, where we saw the gunfire. Maybe it's someone we know."

"I'll go…I don't think I'll be running into any more hidden Blue this time…" Locke chuckled and turned the twenty foot tall mechanized suit, and set out across the desert hills.

The Armored Shrike resembled something of a towering suit of army…except, very modernized and wielding a deadly grappling arm designed specifically for special purposes, and, of course, dispatching Blue….In these times, almost everything militant was designed with the Blue in mind. Humans could no longer afford to fight each other. If they wished to preserve their race…it was the Blue they fought, and no one else.

It wasn't long before Locke came over the raise that he had seen the gunfire erupting over earlier. He took a moment to examine his surroundings…and when he spotted a massive, cavernous hollow in the side of a mountainous heap of boulders, his curiosity overtook his logic and common sense…and, that is where he headed.

The sun's ray cut into anything that stood in it's reach in the expansive Sahara Desert, the same way it had for thousands of year…It was one of the few things that the Blue hadn't been able to change. The cave's entrance was mostly illuminated by the light of the beating sun, yet the cool, calming shadows inevitably fell around it's interior. Locke clicked on the searchlight mounted on the shoulder of the great Shrike, and the cave proved to be oddly shallow, yet adorned with several ledges and niches all around it's arching dome shape.

Locke focused for a moment to scan every inch of the cave…and, when his eyes fell on a pile of mutilated corpses in the center of the cavern, laying hunched against the wall, he was struck with an unnerving horror. "My god…" He dropped out of the cockpit of the mecha warrior, and dared to venture over to the carcasses…They were dressed in Second Earth military uniforms.

"The Charlie team…?" When it dawned on him, the fate that had befallen the soldiers, he was horrified.

But…Why didn't they try to get help? Why did they just stay in here and waste away? Couldn't they have come out? Many thoughts ran through Locke's mind, but, it was only a matter of moments before the truth came to him…In the form of dozens of Blue.

The silence was shattered awfully as a chorus of hustled clicking filled and echoed through the cave. Locke wheeled around to see at least a score, if not two, of Blue emerging from beneath the sand near the mouth of the cave. Their presence was menacing and sinister…and their faces, although unable to express, seemed to smirk in delight across the cave at Locke. He was trapped this time…no way for an astute escape anymore…he had only a single choice; To go down fighting.

Although, when the time came to serve a valiant and heroic death, falling at the feet of the enemy, while inflicting as much pain and death as he could…Locke realized that he had left his rifle in the cockpit.