Okay, just to clarify stuff, TXLonestar character, Tony Dracker, did win the simulated battle by landing on the enemy flag when he finally crashed.
Also, for the benefit off my readers I shall now detail some of my major influences (all of which I would recommend, incidentally) in the production of this particular participation-style fanfic, which are as follows:
The Ancient War by Moonyasha )
(Insert title here) by Black Hole Army Commander )
X-Wing novels by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston (Bantam Books) Note: The X-Wing series consists of nine full novels set after the events of Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi.
Anyhow, time to continue with the story:
Chapter 3: The Defector
It had been about two weeks since their training had started and Omicron Company were almost ready for front line duty. They'd have to be, Garth mused, because lately Chazidi forces were striking more boldly and frequently, seemingly willing to throw away any number of zoids in the pursuit of victory, but still entering each engagement with swarms of zoids so massive that they had to destroy at least some of their adversaries. Something had to be done about them and quickly, otherwise there would be too few zoids left in both the Helic Republic and the Empire combined to stand a chance against the Chazidi war machine.
Meanwhile, in the base canteen, the rest of his company had assembled, swapping stories, trading chores and doing just about anything else they thought they could get away with, up to and including an out of tune rendition of the Guylosian national anthem by Gavin Wilkinson and Michael Jenson, which sent everyone outside the Omicron Company running from the canteen in terror before Michael's twin sister Maria got the pair of them to stop singing, mostly by threatening to get out her brother's embarrassing baby photos if they didn't.
"Hey," Brady shouted across the roar of conversation to Riley Hikada, "What do you think tomorrow's conference will be about? Do you reckon they're finally sending us out to the front line, or something?"
"I hope so," she replied, "I'm just about ready to teach those guys why they never should have been born. The main problem with going on the offensive, as I see it, will be defeating those mobile fortresses they use to defend their territory".
Brady winced at the reference to the three Ultrasaurus, which roamed the main Chazidi landmass, each armed to the teeth with Plasma Particle Cannons and fully laden with enough zoids to lay waste about ten cities, these Mobile Fortresses would, in the hands of even the weakest enemy commander imaginable, prove to be a serious stumbling block on the way to winning this war.
However, at just that moment the base's alarm klaxon sounded, telling all zoid pilots to get to their machines immediately. Once inside their zoids they were briefed by the base commander, who told them their mission was to track down and either capture or neutralise a renegade zoid pilot, who with his modified high speed Liger, which he had dubbed the Liger Saix, was in the process of attacking a small township whose only defence was a single Cannon Tortoise platoon.
With their mission explained, the zoids of three out of four of the base's companies mobilised, Omicron Company providing the only air units of the group while Theta and Gamma companies, under the command of Garth's former team-mates, Captain Jake Sanders and Brevet-Captain Adrianne Tovas provided the vast majority of the ground troops for this operation, Theta Company providing the heavy weapons zoids while Gamma Company provided the High Speed zoids.
They spread out, hoping to entrap even the blindingly fast Liger Saix in this way by cutting off all of its escape routes. Luckily, the Cannon Tortoises of the township under attack were in experienced hands and were still holding out against the assault of the Liger Saix, and its pilot, Kaze Holimion, relaying data on its location to the three companies of reinforcements. The airborne and high-speed units quickly bypassed the town, turning to cut off the other routes into it, meanwhile the slower, more ponderous Theta company moved in on the nearest approaches to the city, blocking them with what were mostly Dibisons, Elephanders and Ursazerks. On the North-western and South-eastern approaches Ligers, Zabers and Helcats appeared, augmented by the occasional Wolf or Fox that represented Gamma Company, along with the disparate ground zoids attached to Omicron company, then finally, breaking through the clouds, the remainder of Omicron company, who had gotten there first but remained in hiding, joined the battle.
"Took you flyboys long enough," came the growl from Captain Jake Sanders, commander of Theta company and Garth's ex team mate.
"Sorry about that folks," Garth replied, "we got hungry busy waiting for you folks and headed back to the base for a bite to eat." Everyone knew of course that this hadn't been the case, but it was normal practise for the pilots of airborne zoids such as Stormsworders, etc. to overemphasize the speed of their machines and to underemphasize the speed of the ground units arrayed beneath them.
But then, the battle began, airborne units providing sensor data to the heavy guns of the Elephanders in an attempt to pin down the Lightning-quick foe, but somehow failing as the pilot continually modified his speed to throw off the targeting of his adversaries.
It was at this point that Brady Cryer and a couple of the other Command Wolf pilots charged into action, despite orders to the contrary, evading the Elephander barrages with almost as much ease as their target as they slowly closed with the Liger Saix, their zoids going as fast as they theoretically could and overheating all the time as they were pushed far beyond their safety limits. Finally, just as the Liger Saix turned towards the oncoming Wolves, Brady got a target lock with the powerful double-barrelled beam cannon on the back of his Command Wolf. Firing, he watched in disappointment as the Liger Saix brought up its shields to block the shot, and then, activating its three booster units began to charge at a speed that was unbelievable even for a zoid and pilot of that calibre. Brady, however, had an idea as the mighty zoid charged towards him, and had the Elephander pilots target the area directly in front of his zoid, firing everything they had when the Liger Saix was directly in front of him, which they did, collapsing the shields of the mighty zoid, just as Brady brought his command Wolf up on its rear legs to slam down on top of the Liger Saix. The manoeuvre was ultimately successful, with the front left-hand leg of the Liger Saix being severed just as Brady's Command Wolf was slammed against the wall of the local police station. Brady's zoid was out for the count with a command system freeze, but the Liger Saix had been severely damaged in the exchange.
However, it had been too much to hope for that such a skilled pilot would be alone and it was now that the various zoids with which he was allied, all of them belonging to the Chazidi air force and army revealed themselves.
The Captains surveyed the enemy force before them, counting up the sheer number of zoids arrayed against them, which ranged from the Spider-like Raknix and the Salvodile to the mighty Ragnaroth, an evolution of the Redler that had been stumbled upon only four years before, and that only by a team of Chazidi zoid pilots. Then, in a snap decision they ordered the charge, Garth swooping into the cloud of Ragnaroths at the head of his airborne forces while the units on the ground, which incidentally included none of Omicron Company's naval might, charged to engage with the deadly Spider and Crocodile zoids that the enemy sent against them, many being defeated, at least for now, by the jaws and missile launchers of the Salvodiles or the leg-joint mounted blasters and razor-sharp mandibles of the Raknices.
The battle did not last long, although there were rather too many casualties for the liking of any of the officers, let alone the unit medics and technicians, but the fact that they had won against a force numbering threefold their total number of zoids demonstrated that all three units were in top shape, each of them having held their own, despite not knowing the weak points of these enemy zoids.
The next day, all of the top brass arrived at Red River base, where they were stationed, for the conference that was due to occur that day, with such commanders as Major Jamie Hermeros, who was Garth Meyer's direct superior and commander of the renowned eagle company, and also Captain Bit Cloud of the elite Omega company, as well as the Guylosian commander in chief, Emperor Felix, whose personal bodyguard, an elite Iron Kong unit called the Imperial Phalanx were to guard the base during this particular strategy session.
Finally, once all of the commanders at the conference had arrived, and the zoids of their respective units were parked in the main courtyard of the base, and in the hangars of the base, and on the ground outside the base, the conference was ready to get underway. Unlike the other officers of Omicron Company, Brady Cryer, who had been injured in battle the previous day, although he would probably be fighting fit in two days time, was not part of the meeting, it having been decided that he needed to recover from his injuries far more than he was needed in the conference itself.
Anyhow, Brady had pretty much free run of the compound and, at the present moment, his only worry was the state that his Command Wolf was in following the battle the day before, given that it had taken far more of a pounding than he had and was currently under the intense scrutiny of the base technicians, who were wondering themselves how much life his trusty zoid had left in it, given that he had pushed it so far beyond its safe limits yesterday. It had been arranged, however, that until his zoid recovered (assuming, of course that it did recover) he was to use a Juggernaut series Command Wolf whose pilot had been killed in an ambush five days before, when an enemy Gunsniper had put a single shell straight through the cockpit canopy, blasting straight through the head of the pilot. Admittedly the Command Wolf in question had needed a bit of cleaning and patching up in the cockpit, whose new chair was now a uniform grey instead of the patterned crimson of the chair taken out after the battle.
Meanwhile, in the briefing room where the conference was taking place, the various commanders had just about seated themselves along with their various adjutants, the positions at the head of the table going to five particular officers: first, General Stefan Reibach, formerly president of the zoid battle commission; Major-General David Morgan, an officer in the Helic Republic Intelligence Division; Colonel Rufus Smythe, an ex-officer of the erstwhile Guardian Force (which, contrary to popular belief was not disbanded following the defeat of the ultimate Death Saurer, but was instead absorbed into the regular armed forces of the coalition at the beginning of this most recent war, over two hundred years after the defeat of the Death Saurer) who was now in charge of special operations, or spec. ops. as they were known in military parlance; fourth was the emperor Felix, purely out of deference to his rank, and fifth was Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Elliot, commander of the imperial base at Dragonhead and the final mastermind of the operation that would be unveiled today.
It was time for the conference to begin, and so, with everyone rising to share a salute, the meeting began.
"Okay," began General Reibach, "you all know why we're here today, and so, without further ado, I shall unveil Operation Fortress, in which we hope to create a foothold at the heart of enemy territory through the capture of one of the three enemy Ultrasauri, which they use as mobile fortresses."
There were scattered murmurs as the full extent of the master plan of the coalition high command was revealed.
"Now, you may be wondering why each of you was selected. Well, as you all know, each of you has been submitted to a major security evaluation during the last month, and all of you passed with flying colours, and each of you, including those here who are only in command of units in training, were the best loyal men that we could find.
Now, I shall hand over to Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot, who will detail the various phases of this particular operation," and with that, General Reibach was seated.
Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot stood, selecting a piece of paper from his briefcase, and walking to the front of the briefing room, that he might project details onto the large screen in the briefing room. "The first phase of the operation," he started, not wanting to belabour the details more than he needed to, "is to actually locate and pin down one of their mobile fortresses. This shall be the responsibility of units under the command of both Colonel Smythe and Major-General Morgan, with intelligence locating, with any luck, the weakest of the three fortresses and Special Operations troops disabling its drive systems and as much else as possible directly before the remainder of the operation begins. The next phase of this operation will be that of inserting the vast majority of our troops within striking distance of the disabled fortress, and this is the phase which will require the most explanation, so let us begin: This insertion will, due to the size of both the Chazidi Navy and Air Force be difficult, particularly due to the number and calibre of their zoids, although relatively few of their pilots can bring out the full potential of the machines which they are given. Therefore, we have decided that, to best escape the detection of our full forces, we will be delivering forces to the war theatre underwater, given that by doing so we avoid the detection of their airborne zoids, whereas our Hammer Kaisers and Whale Kings could not evade naval detection by means of aerial transportation. This also means that any enemy targets that our transport crews will face on the way across will be a lot slower and more easily targeted, both by the weapons systems of the transports themselves and also by those of the Warsharks and Hammerheads which will provide the transports with an escort. Moreover, this will be preceded by a series of aerial hit and fade assaults in other regions, designed to both weaken their airborne forces and lead them away from believing that we will mount a naval assault. The next part of this particular plan is perhaps the most crucial. Because the vast majority of enemy beaches have been littered with obstacles to prevent a landing, we have concluded that our heavy weapons units, or at least some of them, must be deployed while their transports are still underwater, walking up the slope to the beach in question from a depth of 90 yards, and more importantly doing so in incredibly heavy and unwieldy zoids which are not designed for amphibious combat. Of course these units will also be supported by units of marines, but those marine units are not particularly suited to defeating some of the heavy artillery emplacements that will overlook the beach.
And so the briefing continued, detailing every last step of this particular operation, and covering various contingency plans in full prior to simulations of the basic mission while spec. ops. and intelligence put the final preparations into play, ready for the military campaign of the century.
Then, once the discussion of operation fortress had come to an end, matters turned to more recent issues, such as the defector incident of the day before, whose perpetrator, the mercenary Kaze Holimion was currently occupying a prison cell on the base prior to his interrogation and execution (this is war, defection is a form of treason, with an added charge of destroying army property and assaulting superior officers to boot, and during war time at least the rules are clear, the death sentence must be given to the accused). But more importantly the less cut-and-dried issue of repairs and replacements of the zoids damaged in the skirmish was raised, with the decision to bring in the research and development experts, who had recently discovered a brand new repair/upgrade method, being reached, mostly because of the sheer number of zoids that would be needed almost immediately to properly train for, and later execute operation fortress.
Meanwhile, in Chazidi territory the Whale King "Seahawke" was returning from a routine patrol, its commander, on this occasion Colonel Zack Casage, longing for shore leave after such a long patrol duty. But more importantly perhaps, Colonel Casage was looking forward to returning to the base because his new command vehicle should now be ready, a combat machine from which he could truly dominate the battlefields, the Shadow Fox.
Finally, after a journey that seemed to last for hours, even though it took only seven and a quarter minutes, he was back aboard the Ultrasaurus "Bastion", whose hangar bay engulfed the Whale King as it descended, landing in what was a sparsely filled hangar, when studied with the naked eye, but, the Colonel mused, in the hands of the right commander, namely himself, and a group of competent zoid pilots, these few zoids (in comparison with the other two Ultrasauri and their selections of zoids) could prove deadlier than the Death Saurer itself. Sure enough, at the front of the amassed ranks of zoids was the black four-legged form whose yellow highlights told anyone that it could be nothing but a Shadow Fox, and beside it, its creator, Prisoner #38471, the supposed mad scientist doctor Leon.
Walking briskly down the ramp, Colonel Casage headed directly for the doctor and his new command zoid. "I see you've finished it then," he began, before doctor Leon, in his grandiose voice, interrupted him.
"I am proud," the doctor began, "to introduce to you, the zoid to end all zoids, the ultimate war machine, the Shadow Fox beta edition, whose already magnificent design has been enhanced by the addition of ultimate-X technology, putting it on a level with the best zoids the enemy have before you factor in its impressive array of weapons systems, some of which are alternative options that have only recently been developed." And so it continued, the doctor's voice reaching regular crescendos as he enthused about the best features of the new zoid and its special weapons, also describing other research projects he had begun that were of military significance.
It was at about this same time that the post conference meal was being held back at the Red River Outpost, and as Tony Dracker entered the mess hall he saw Harry Champ sitting across from the table where the pilots of the Imperial Phalanx were seated, barely touching his food as he stared at them with a single-mindedness that was beyond even his usual degree of single-mindedness. Sensing the despondency that lurked within the soul of this usually arrogant and egotistical warrior, Tony approached, eager to see if he could finally break the ice with this particular comrade-in-arms, who had, up until now perhaps, resisted all attempts to bond him into the group mentality.
Meanwhile, the twins Michael and Maria Jenson were at the centre of yet another argument, this time on the issue of whether Michael was pigging out having volunteered to eat the leftovers of those less hungry than the vast majority.
And these incidents were joined by what seemed like a thousand more incidents as the mess halls around the base were filled with troops from disparate companies of regiments who got up to everything from arm-wrestling to betting on the number of platefuls of food Michael Jenson would get through or the number of times he would insult his sister with a mouth still full of food (which ended up being 462 times, so Lance Thompson won, as he had made the closest bet with 459).
The worst incident of the gathering was undoubtedly the drunken arm-wrestle between Harry Champ and the nearly sober Bit Cloud, who wiped the floor with Harry (quite literally, but this happened directly after the arm wrestling match).
Anyhow, on that note (as opposed to any note that might be considered musical) I shall end this particular chapter, but before I sign off as usual there's a few things I'd better do:
Firstly, as a response to Kegger007, and as a general message to anyone out there who was wondering whether to get involved or not, I never turn down a submitted character, although I may occasionally rewrite them or something, and this is for Kegger007, if you were really serious about egging my house I would be forced to do something drastic, like shaving your head bald, that includes eyebrows, and feeding your hair to a chipmunk.
Then, as a final thought before I stop thinking for the night, I shall quickly draw up a list of Omicron Company personnel for y'all.
Omicron Company:
Name (Rank)Zoid:
Garth Meyer (Brevet Captain)Dragowing
Harry ChampIron Kong/Stormsworder
Delphi NeptuneWakeskimmer
Lance ThompsonGuysack (Amphibious Assault Version)
Ryu HakamiMecha Ryu
Ari Dayton (Lieutenant)Raynos (with added afterburners)
Ricardo "Jaws" DelmondoWarshark (recent model, extensively upgraded)
Fritz FalkeFalcyon
Gavin WilkinsonRev Raptor (X-Alpha Variant, Mk2)
Tony DrackerGriffin similar to battle cougar?
Riley Hikada (Lieutenant)Millennium Dragoon
Maria JensonZabbat (upgraded, with ATS missiles as main
weapon)
Jurgens "Red-Eyes" DrakeBattle Cougar
Michael JensonUrsazerk (fitted with anti-air cannons)
Aegis KeenBlade Liger
Brady Cryer (Lieutenant)Command Wolf (Currently in the repair shop)
Antonio DarkerHellfire Drake
Philip LoganNeo-Warshark
Marcus SaviriothStormsworder (Phoenix-type)
Rene SysenGeno Breaker
Support personnel:
Christine Price – Unit Quartermaster and transport pilot
Benjamin and Sebastian – Unit Technicians
Nathan Jacobs – Unit Cook, will be assigned to the unit when they move out as part of operation fortress.
Anyhow, that's done so now I'll say the same old cliché, MP signing off.
Also, for the benefit off my readers I shall now detail some of my major influences (all of which I would recommend, incidentally) in the production of this particular participation-style fanfic, which are as follows:
The Ancient War by Moonyasha )
(Insert title here) by Black Hole Army Commander )
X-Wing novels by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston (Bantam Books) Note: The X-Wing series consists of nine full novels set after the events of Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi.
Anyhow, time to continue with the story:
Chapter 3: The Defector
It had been about two weeks since their training had started and Omicron Company were almost ready for front line duty. They'd have to be, Garth mused, because lately Chazidi forces were striking more boldly and frequently, seemingly willing to throw away any number of zoids in the pursuit of victory, but still entering each engagement with swarms of zoids so massive that they had to destroy at least some of their adversaries. Something had to be done about them and quickly, otherwise there would be too few zoids left in both the Helic Republic and the Empire combined to stand a chance against the Chazidi war machine.
Meanwhile, in the base canteen, the rest of his company had assembled, swapping stories, trading chores and doing just about anything else they thought they could get away with, up to and including an out of tune rendition of the Guylosian national anthem by Gavin Wilkinson and Michael Jenson, which sent everyone outside the Omicron Company running from the canteen in terror before Michael's twin sister Maria got the pair of them to stop singing, mostly by threatening to get out her brother's embarrassing baby photos if they didn't.
"Hey," Brady shouted across the roar of conversation to Riley Hikada, "What do you think tomorrow's conference will be about? Do you reckon they're finally sending us out to the front line, or something?"
"I hope so," she replied, "I'm just about ready to teach those guys why they never should have been born. The main problem with going on the offensive, as I see it, will be defeating those mobile fortresses they use to defend their territory".
Brady winced at the reference to the three Ultrasaurus, which roamed the main Chazidi landmass, each armed to the teeth with Plasma Particle Cannons and fully laden with enough zoids to lay waste about ten cities, these Mobile Fortresses would, in the hands of even the weakest enemy commander imaginable, prove to be a serious stumbling block on the way to winning this war.
However, at just that moment the base's alarm klaxon sounded, telling all zoid pilots to get to their machines immediately. Once inside their zoids they were briefed by the base commander, who told them their mission was to track down and either capture or neutralise a renegade zoid pilot, who with his modified high speed Liger, which he had dubbed the Liger Saix, was in the process of attacking a small township whose only defence was a single Cannon Tortoise platoon.
With their mission explained, the zoids of three out of four of the base's companies mobilised, Omicron Company providing the only air units of the group while Theta and Gamma companies, under the command of Garth's former team-mates, Captain Jake Sanders and Brevet-Captain Adrianne Tovas provided the vast majority of the ground troops for this operation, Theta Company providing the heavy weapons zoids while Gamma Company provided the High Speed zoids.
They spread out, hoping to entrap even the blindingly fast Liger Saix in this way by cutting off all of its escape routes. Luckily, the Cannon Tortoises of the township under attack were in experienced hands and were still holding out against the assault of the Liger Saix, and its pilot, Kaze Holimion, relaying data on its location to the three companies of reinforcements. The airborne and high-speed units quickly bypassed the town, turning to cut off the other routes into it, meanwhile the slower, more ponderous Theta company moved in on the nearest approaches to the city, blocking them with what were mostly Dibisons, Elephanders and Ursazerks. On the North-western and South-eastern approaches Ligers, Zabers and Helcats appeared, augmented by the occasional Wolf or Fox that represented Gamma Company, along with the disparate ground zoids attached to Omicron company, then finally, breaking through the clouds, the remainder of Omicron company, who had gotten there first but remained in hiding, joined the battle.
"Took you flyboys long enough," came the growl from Captain Jake Sanders, commander of Theta company and Garth's ex team mate.
"Sorry about that folks," Garth replied, "we got hungry busy waiting for you folks and headed back to the base for a bite to eat." Everyone knew of course that this hadn't been the case, but it was normal practise for the pilots of airborne zoids such as Stormsworders, etc. to overemphasize the speed of their machines and to underemphasize the speed of the ground units arrayed beneath them.
But then, the battle began, airborne units providing sensor data to the heavy guns of the Elephanders in an attempt to pin down the Lightning-quick foe, but somehow failing as the pilot continually modified his speed to throw off the targeting of his adversaries.
It was at this point that Brady Cryer and a couple of the other Command Wolf pilots charged into action, despite orders to the contrary, evading the Elephander barrages with almost as much ease as their target as they slowly closed with the Liger Saix, their zoids going as fast as they theoretically could and overheating all the time as they were pushed far beyond their safety limits. Finally, just as the Liger Saix turned towards the oncoming Wolves, Brady got a target lock with the powerful double-barrelled beam cannon on the back of his Command Wolf. Firing, he watched in disappointment as the Liger Saix brought up its shields to block the shot, and then, activating its three booster units began to charge at a speed that was unbelievable even for a zoid and pilot of that calibre. Brady, however, had an idea as the mighty zoid charged towards him, and had the Elephander pilots target the area directly in front of his zoid, firing everything they had when the Liger Saix was directly in front of him, which they did, collapsing the shields of the mighty zoid, just as Brady brought his command Wolf up on its rear legs to slam down on top of the Liger Saix. The manoeuvre was ultimately successful, with the front left-hand leg of the Liger Saix being severed just as Brady's Command Wolf was slammed against the wall of the local police station. Brady's zoid was out for the count with a command system freeze, but the Liger Saix had been severely damaged in the exchange.
However, it had been too much to hope for that such a skilled pilot would be alone and it was now that the various zoids with which he was allied, all of them belonging to the Chazidi air force and army revealed themselves.
The Captains surveyed the enemy force before them, counting up the sheer number of zoids arrayed against them, which ranged from the Spider-like Raknix and the Salvodile to the mighty Ragnaroth, an evolution of the Redler that had been stumbled upon only four years before, and that only by a team of Chazidi zoid pilots. Then, in a snap decision they ordered the charge, Garth swooping into the cloud of Ragnaroths at the head of his airborne forces while the units on the ground, which incidentally included none of Omicron Company's naval might, charged to engage with the deadly Spider and Crocodile zoids that the enemy sent against them, many being defeated, at least for now, by the jaws and missile launchers of the Salvodiles or the leg-joint mounted blasters and razor-sharp mandibles of the Raknices.
The battle did not last long, although there were rather too many casualties for the liking of any of the officers, let alone the unit medics and technicians, but the fact that they had won against a force numbering threefold their total number of zoids demonstrated that all three units were in top shape, each of them having held their own, despite not knowing the weak points of these enemy zoids.
The next day, all of the top brass arrived at Red River base, where they were stationed, for the conference that was due to occur that day, with such commanders as Major Jamie Hermeros, who was Garth Meyer's direct superior and commander of the renowned eagle company, and also Captain Bit Cloud of the elite Omega company, as well as the Guylosian commander in chief, Emperor Felix, whose personal bodyguard, an elite Iron Kong unit called the Imperial Phalanx were to guard the base during this particular strategy session.
Finally, once all of the commanders at the conference had arrived, and the zoids of their respective units were parked in the main courtyard of the base, and in the hangars of the base, and on the ground outside the base, the conference was ready to get underway. Unlike the other officers of Omicron Company, Brady Cryer, who had been injured in battle the previous day, although he would probably be fighting fit in two days time, was not part of the meeting, it having been decided that he needed to recover from his injuries far more than he was needed in the conference itself.
Anyhow, Brady had pretty much free run of the compound and, at the present moment, his only worry was the state that his Command Wolf was in following the battle the day before, given that it had taken far more of a pounding than he had and was currently under the intense scrutiny of the base technicians, who were wondering themselves how much life his trusty zoid had left in it, given that he had pushed it so far beyond its safe limits yesterday. It had been arranged, however, that until his zoid recovered (assuming, of course that it did recover) he was to use a Juggernaut series Command Wolf whose pilot had been killed in an ambush five days before, when an enemy Gunsniper had put a single shell straight through the cockpit canopy, blasting straight through the head of the pilot. Admittedly the Command Wolf in question had needed a bit of cleaning and patching up in the cockpit, whose new chair was now a uniform grey instead of the patterned crimson of the chair taken out after the battle.
Meanwhile, in the briefing room where the conference was taking place, the various commanders had just about seated themselves along with their various adjutants, the positions at the head of the table going to five particular officers: first, General Stefan Reibach, formerly president of the zoid battle commission; Major-General David Morgan, an officer in the Helic Republic Intelligence Division; Colonel Rufus Smythe, an ex-officer of the erstwhile Guardian Force (which, contrary to popular belief was not disbanded following the defeat of the ultimate Death Saurer, but was instead absorbed into the regular armed forces of the coalition at the beginning of this most recent war, over two hundred years after the defeat of the Death Saurer) who was now in charge of special operations, or spec. ops. as they were known in military parlance; fourth was the emperor Felix, purely out of deference to his rank, and fifth was Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Elliot, commander of the imperial base at Dragonhead and the final mastermind of the operation that would be unveiled today.
It was time for the conference to begin, and so, with everyone rising to share a salute, the meeting began.
"Okay," began General Reibach, "you all know why we're here today, and so, without further ado, I shall unveil Operation Fortress, in which we hope to create a foothold at the heart of enemy territory through the capture of one of the three enemy Ultrasauri, which they use as mobile fortresses."
There were scattered murmurs as the full extent of the master plan of the coalition high command was revealed.
"Now, you may be wondering why each of you was selected. Well, as you all know, each of you has been submitted to a major security evaluation during the last month, and all of you passed with flying colours, and each of you, including those here who are only in command of units in training, were the best loyal men that we could find.
Now, I shall hand over to Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot, who will detail the various phases of this particular operation," and with that, General Reibach was seated.
Lieutenant-Colonel Elliot stood, selecting a piece of paper from his briefcase, and walking to the front of the briefing room, that he might project details onto the large screen in the briefing room. "The first phase of the operation," he started, not wanting to belabour the details more than he needed to, "is to actually locate and pin down one of their mobile fortresses. This shall be the responsibility of units under the command of both Colonel Smythe and Major-General Morgan, with intelligence locating, with any luck, the weakest of the three fortresses and Special Operations troops disabling its drive systems and as much else as possible directly before the remainder of the operation begins. The next phase of this operation will be that of inserting the vast majority of our troops within striking distance of the disabled fortress, and this is the phase which will require the most explanation, so let us begin: This insertion will, due to the size of both the Chazidi Navy and Air Force be difficult, particularly due to the number and calibre of their zoids, although relatively few of their pilots can bring out the full potential of the machines which they are given. Therefore, we have decided that, to best escape the detection of our full forces, we will be delivering forces to the war theatre underwater, given that by doing so we avoid the detection of their airborne zoids, whereas our Hammer Kaisers and Whale Kings could not evade naval detection by means of aerial transportation. This also means that any enemy targets that our transport crews will face on the way across will be a lot slower and more easily targeted, both by the weapons systems of the transports themselves and also by those of the Warsharks and Hammerheads which will provide the transports with an escort. Moreover, this will be preceded by a series of aerial hit and fade assaults in other regions, designed to both weaken their airborne forces and lead them away from believing that we will mount a naval assault. The next part of this particular plan is perhaps the most crucial. Because the vast majority of enemy beaches have been littered with obstacles to prevent a landing, we have concluded that our heavy weapons units, or at least some of them, must be deployed while their transports are still underwater, walking up the slope to the beach in question from a depth of 90 yards, and more importantly doing so in incredibly heavy and unwieldy zoids which are not designed for amphibious combat. Of course these units will also be supported by units of marines, but those marine units are not particularly suited to defeating some of the heavy artillery emplacements that will overlook the beach.
And so the briefing continued, detailing every last step of this particular operation, and covering various contingency plans in full prior to simulations of the basic mission while spec. ops. and intelligence put the final preparations into play, ready for the military campaign of the century.
Then, once the discussion of operation fortress had come to an end, matters turned to more recent issues, such as the defector incident of the day before, whose perpetrator, the mercenary Kaze Holimion was currently occupying a prison cell on the base prior to his interrogation and execution (this is war, defection is a form of treason, with an added charge of destroying army property and assaulting superior officers to boot, and during war time at least the rules are clear, the death sentence must be given to the accused). But more importantly the less cut-and-dried issue of repairs and replacements of the zoids damaged in the skirmish was raised, with the decision to bring in the research and development experts, who had recently discovered a brand new repair/upgrade method, being reached, mostly because of the sheer number of zoids that would be needed almost immediately to properly train for, and later execute operation fortress.
Meanwhile, in Chazidi territory the Whale King "Seahawke" was returning from a routine patrol, its commander, on this occasion Colonel Zack Casage, longing for shore leave after such a long patrol duty. But more importantly perhaps, Colonel Casage was looking forward to returning to the base because his new command vehicle should now be ready, a combat machine from which he could truly dominate the battlefields, the Shadow Fox.
Finally, after a journey that seemed to last for hours, even though it took only seven and a quarter minutes, he was back aboard the Ultrasaurus "Bastion", whose hangar bay engulfed the Whale King as it descended, landing in what was a sparsely filled hangar, when studied with the naked eye, but, the Colonel mused, in the hands of the right commander, namely himself, and a group of competent zoid pilots, these few zoids (in comparison with the other two Ultrasauri and their selections of zoids) could prove deadlier than the Death Saurer itself. Sure enough, at the front of the amassed ranks of zoids was the black four-legged form whose yellow highlights told anyone that it could be nothing but a Shadow Fox, and beside it, its creator, Prisoner #38471, the supposed mad scientist doctor Leon.
Walking briskly down the ramp, Colonel Casage headed directly for the doctor and his new command zoid. "I see you've finished it then," he began, before doctor Leon, in his grandiose voice, interrupted him.
"I am proud," the doctor began, "to introduce to you, the zoid to end all zoids, the ultimate war machine, the Shadow Fox beta edition, whose already magnificent design has been enhanced by the addition of ultimate-X technology, putting it on a level with the best zoids the enemy have before you factor in its impressive array of weapons systems, some of which are alternative options that have only recently been developed." And so it continued, the doctor's voice reaching regular crescendos as he enthused about the best features of the new zoid and its special weapons, also describing other research projects he had begun that were of military significance.
It was at about this same time that the post conference meal was being held back at the Red River Outpost, and as Tony Dracker entered the mess hall he saw Harry Champ sitting across from the table where the pilots of the Imperial Phalanx were seated, barely touching his food as he stared at them with a single-mindedness that was beyond even his usual degree of single-mindedness. Sensing the despondency that lurked within the soul of this usually arrogant and egotistical warrior, Tony approached, eager to see if he could finally break the ice with this particular comrade-in-arms, who had, up until now perhaps, resisted all attempts to bond him into the group mentality.
Meanwhile, the twins Michael and Maria Jenson were at the centre of yet another argument, this time on the issue of whether Michael was pigging out having volunteered to eat the leftovers of those less hungry than the vast majority.
And these incidents were joined by what seemed like a thousand more incidents as the mess halls around the base were filled with troops from disparate companies of regiments who got up to everything from arm-wrestling to betting on the number of platefuls of food Michael Jenson would get through or the number of times he would insult his sister with a mouth still full of food (which ended up being 462 times, so Lance Thompson won, as he had made the closest bet with 459).
The worst incident of the gathering was undoubtedly the drunken arm-wrestle between Harry Champ and the nearly sober Bit Cloud, who wiped the floor with Harry (quite literally, but this happened directly after the arm wrestling match).
Anyhow, on that note (as opposed to any note that might be considered musical) I shall end this particular chapter, but before I sign off as usual there's a few things I'd better do:
Firstly, as a response to Kegger007, and as a general message to anyone out there who was wondering whether to get involved or not, I never turn down a submitted character, although I may occasionally rewrite them or something, and this is for Kegger007, if you were really serious about egging my house I would be forced to do something drastic, like shaving your head bald, that includes eyebrows, and feeding your hair to a chipmunk.
Then, as a final thought before I stop thinking for the night, I shall quickly draw up a list of Omicron Company personnel for y'all.
Omicron Company:
Name (Rank)Zoid:
Garth Meyer (Brevet Captain)Dragowing
Harry ChampIron Kong/Stormsworder
Delphi NeptuneWakeskimmer
Lance ThompsonGuysack (Amphibious Assault Version)
Ryu HakamiMecha Ryu
Ari Dayton (Lieutenant)Raynos (with added afterburners)
Ricardo "Jaws" DelmondoWarshark (recent model, extensively upgraded)
Fritz FalkeFalcyon
Gavin WilkinsonRev Raptor (X-Alpha Variant, Mk2)
Tony DrackerGriffin similar to battle cougar?
Riley Hikada (Lieutenant)Millennium Dragoon
Maria JensonZabbat (upgraded, with ATS missiles as main
weapon)
Jurgens "Red-Eyes" DrakeBattle Cougar
Michael JensonUrsazerk (fitted with anti-air cannons)
Aegis KeenBlade Liger
Brady Cryer (Lieutenant)Command Wolf (Currently in the repair shop)
Antonio DarkerHellfire Drake
Philip LoganNeo-Warshark
Marcus SaviriothStormsworder (Phoenix-type)
Rene SysenGeno Breaker
Support personnel:
Christine Price – Unit Quartermaster and transport pilot
Benjamin and Sebastian – Unit Technicians
Nathan Jacobs – Unit Cook, will be assigned to the unit when they move out as part of operation fortress.
Anyhow, that's done so now I'll say the same old cliché, MP signing off.