Author Note: Second chapter, and things are going to get complicated for Red Mesa...and Black Hole features! Thanks to you reviewers, you're the people who make us feel happy. Feel the love...^_^
Disclaimer: Advance Wars, Advance Wars 2, and their content are copyright Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Red Mesa and its CO's are mine. YOU HEAR ME? MIIIIIIIINNNNNNEEEE!
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Advance Wars: Red Mesa – Chapter 2: The Claw of the Enemy.
By CO Shade.
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Location: Schwarz Bunker, Under Black Hole HQ, Black Hole.
Time: 1300 Hours BH Time.
Hawke sat alone in his shadowy office brooding, accompanied only by a solitary mug of black coffee. He was thinking endlessly about how to do the one thing Sturm - he spat his name with contempt in his mind - didn't do. How to invade the rest of Cosmo Land and win. They had been so close last time...now they had had to waste two years rearming and building up their shattered economy. Every new plan Hawke made was looked at meticulously by the other Black Hole CO's, and every single one had a flaw. Some had several. His lowest point was when Flak pointed out three flaws in one of his plans. Since then, he had been put on a strict regime of low-caffeine drinks (which he was currently breaking) after he threw an unfortunate soldier at Flak in a coffee-fuelled rage. Hawke smirked. Flak had since vowed never to find flaws in his plans again to save more soldiers being thrown at him. Or at walls. But that wasn't the main source of his displeasure and general bad mood. He didn't even know what was the source of his main displeasure (hence the bad mood). It was something niggling at him - something he had forgotten. He took a long drink from his mug, realised it was now empty, and threw it at the wall opposite the door, shattering the mug on impact. "Blasted damned empty mug," he muttered. "I need more coffee..." He was just about to rise from his chair to go a stealthy coffee-recovery mission (the other CO's were patrolling the area around the coffee machine to make sure he didn't use it), when there was a knock on his office door. "Enter," He mumbled.
Lash peeked around the door she had just opened and walked in, and Hawke was immediately reminded of how much she had matured since he had taken control of Black Hole. Gone was the frizzy afro and her usual clothing: Lash's hair was loose now, down to her shoulders, and she wore a proper military uniform, unlike the other CO's. She had matured mentally too: She was still a downright genius, but she was now less childlike and playful, and was more formal than anything else. Hawke's mind snapped back to the here and now just in time to hear Lash speak. "You wanted to see me, Hawke?" She said. Hawke leant back in his chair, putting his feet on the table in front of him. "Yes. What have you been doing recently? I've seen no new inventions for a long while. Explain." Lash grinned, and dropped a folder on his table. "This is what I've been doing. You're gonna love this!" Hawke swung his feet off the table and leant forward to open the folder. He looked at the plans and photos inside. His eyes hadn't been that wide since he walked into the World Coffee Expo as a child.
"Whoa," Was all he could manage to say. "Lash, what could ever achieve this range and power?" Lash pulled up another chair and sat down across the table from Hawke. "An orbital missile platform, that's what. This weapon, fully armed, could strike all of Cosmo Land's major cities within a day." Hawke allowed himself a small whistle. "How long will it need to be put into action?" Lash took a sheet of paper out of the folder and scanned down it. "A few months to build, and one more to arm. shall I start on it?" Hawke handed the folder and it's contents back to her. "Definitely. We could - no, we WILL start an invasion in the meantime. Even if we're beaten back, with this we could win..." Lash nodded and left the office, leaving Hawke alone in a daydream of invasion, destruction and conquest.
Location: Command and Communications Room, Red Mesa HQ, Red Mesa.
Time: 0700 Hours OS Time, the next day.
Shade was sitting in his place at the semi-legendary Red Table in the Command and Comm Room. The Red Table had acquired its name from the fact that the Red Mesa CO's always, among other things, played cards, argued and held discussions and briefings there, with named places for each of them. Shade spun around in his chair just in time to see Cougar and Diesel, two of the other Red Mesa CO's, run into the room. "Back from intel duty, I see," Shade said. "You're late." Cougar looked disgruntled as he and Diesel sat down in their places. "You try getting intel and arriving back on time when Sonja's hunting for ya," He growled. "Diesel here had a dumb blonde moment-"
"As per usual," Shade said, smirking.
"HEY!" Shouted Diesel, flicking her blonde hair back. "I resent that!"
"Resent it, but don't deny it," Shade said, grinning. It was way too easy to annoy her. Especially with his intellect.
"-and nearly walked her recon team right into enemy vision range," Cougar finished. Shade folded his arms. "So, what did you find? Anything worth noting?"
Cougar motioned to Diesel, who gave him a folder. He opened it and dropped it's contents onto the table. "Sonja's going over the entire area with a fine comb. She's determined to find something, but since we've been using you units-"
"They haven't seen anything apart from what looks like heat haze." Shade finished. "Shrouded units rock. Anything else?" Cougar nodded, and said "Sonja's here in person. She arrived last night in a T Copter from Yellow Comet." Shade nodded. "If things get troublesome, I'll use my EM Jamming Power," He said. "There's no way she can see through that. But then again, she'll figure out someone's trying to stop her..." Cougar picked up a sheet of paper from the table. "Also, Orange Star spy satellites have been focused on the desert since yesterday." Shade scowled, but was saved from answering by Swift appearing on the main communications screen. "Swift! Why aren't you here?" Shade asked. Swift put an airforce helmet over her head and opened the visor. "I want to know if you'll let me do aerial recon on Sonja," She said. "Can I?" Shade nodded. "Go ahead, but if you get spotted, on your own head be it." Swift smiled. "Thanks. We're using shrouded spy planes, so we won't be seen," She said. And with that, she disappeared from the screen. Shade turned back to look at the reports on the table. "Shouldn't go tempting fate, Sarah..."
Location: Runway 3S, Red Mesa.
Time: 0710 Hours OS Time.
Swift and four other pilots taxied in their spy jets along an underground runway into takeoff position. she radioed the other pilots, and said "Right. We exit on the south side of Mesa 3, opposite to Sonja's recon team, swing around, and do a fly-by. Get as much info as you can." Swift watched a takeoff countdown appear on her HUD, and she fired her engines up, hearing the other jets do the same.
3...
2...
1...
The jets' engines flared and roared, and they started to move forward along the runway, gaining momentum by the second. They passed a row of sensor beacons on the runway, and the wall at the end of the tunnel slid down, letting sunlight stream in. The jets streaked out of the opening, rising rapidly into the small clouds above. Swift checked they were out of the range of any means of detection, and opened a comm channel to the other pilots. "We're clear. Shroud in five seconds." She said. "Five...four...three...two...one...shroud!" Swift hit a button in front of her, and heard the hum of the shrouding device behind her as it powered up. She looked to her left. The two jets she could see were rippling like heat haze...then they faded out of sight. "All shrouded and ready to roll, ma'am!" One of the pilots said. "Engines to full, all scanners on," Swift said. She circled back round, leading the other four jets back over Mesa 3, dipping down out of the clouds. There was Sonja's recon team, a string of yellow dots and tents off in the distance, rapidly getting bigger.
Suddenly, one of the pilots gave a frightened yell. "Residual charges from the shrouding surge Sonja detected! We're flying right into them!" Swift saw the shroud integrity meter on her HUD go haywire, and disappear. "ABORT! ABORT! The shrouds have failed! Get outta here, we're right above Sonja's recon!" She yelled, seeing the her fellow pilots' jets ripple back into view as they scattered and flew back towards the mesas. "Great," She groaned as she swung her jet back round and followed the others back home. "Just what we need..."
Location: Yellow Comet Recon Outpost, Lynx Desert, Orange Star.
Time: 0730 Hours OS Time.
Sonja yawned as she walked out of her tent, a mug of coffee in her hand. It had been a long flight from the palace at Yellow Comet, and she had only just slept off the jet lag. She checked her watch. "Seven thirty? I'm late!" She ran into the open-walled intel tent (conveniently placed opposite to hers), taking a sip of coffee as she hurried over to some Yellow Comet technicians sitting at computers. "Anything yet?" She asked them. One of the techs shook his head "Nothing, ma'am," He said. "But...what the Sturm is that?!" Sonja followed his bewildered stare, to see five sleek jets just appear out of thin air in front of them. Quick as lightning, she put down her mug of coffee (accidentally spilling it over an unfortunate tech and scalding him) and whipped out a pair of binoculars. The jets scattered and wheeled back towards the mesas in the distance. "Red..." She said after a while. She put down her binoculars and looked at the techs, all of them (except one, who had gone to get treated for coffee-related burns) at a loss for words. "No country has red units...call a Cosmo Land CO conference! We're dealing with a new country here!" The techs immediately started sending transmissions to the other countries, while Sonja dashed back to the T Copter that had brought her to the desert. "Take us to the Heaven's Eye! We need to get to the bottom of this!"
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End of Chapter 2
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Author Note: Second Chapter, and STILL no real military action. But in Chapter 3, Orange Star and Blue Moon-
Shade: Who are a bunch of aggressive land stealers, if you ask me-
Shade! Have you read the script?
Shade...Maybe.
Do I have to send in the Inland Revenue to break your legs for no particular reason?
Shade: O.O Inland Revenue? *Long and drawn-out scream*
Exactly. Roll on Chapter 3! At the Heaven's Eye (which is a neutral island used for CO conferences) , Orange Star and Blue Moon decide to take back the desert (well, Blue Moon wants it for themselves) and we finally see Red Mesa, and Shade, in action against Max! \/\/00T!